Farewell Part 1: The DSA affair

23rd December 2010. So, the dance club that I've joined since Year one-DanceSport Academy (DSA) has take up a large chunk of my uni life. Most of my friends are dancers. And so I guess they are the people that I would really like to say so long, farewell to before I fly off. Therefore, I've planned a dinner, in Holland Village. Although there were only 8 of us, but I am sincerely very happy. Thank you Chek Lee, Duy, Hanh, Bao, Joyce, Chin Yun and of course Ethan for making yesterday's dinner so fun.

It started with Bakerzin Lunch with Chin Yun and Ethan. We had pastas! Some were nice, some were just so-so.

Seafood Pasta

Pork loin Pasta (Taste like sweet and sour pork)

Oglio Olio with crispy bacons and mushrooms

Brastwurst Pasta

Then we headed on to Orchard for some winter clothing window shopping and also to meet Joyce. Chin Yun suggested it but in the end, only Ethan and I bought it so winter wear. Haha anyway we gonna miss Chin Yun after this because she'll be flying off to the US on 31st December. Hmph..Joyce was still no where to be found.
To Chin Yun: Do take care of yourself in the US.

Chin Yun and I

We walked and walked and walked, from Orchard to Chinatown where we had our KOI bubble tea and also to meet Joyce. Oh I guess I'm gonna miss KOI when I'm in UK. And guess what, Chin Yun had her first KOI ever. After bubble tea and some shopping at Chinatown, we walked to Tanjong Pagar. Ethan managed to capture some interesting photos. But we still couldn't find Joyce. And we rested in Tanjong Pagar where we started to look at maps of Europe, UK and US. Such exciting thing to do when you are really travelling there, looking at places you are going to go, probably going. And it is also very exciting to be able to locate the places that you have heard before but never ever know where are they. I am sure that I will have so much fun.

So, we still couldn't meet up with Joyce. And we decided to head on to Buona Vista to meet everybody. Well, as expected, everybody was late. So the three of us waited, waited and waited when finally everybody arrived. And we walked to Holland Village, takes about 10 minutes to have our Mexican Dinner at El Patio. They have free Nachos.

Free flow of Nachos

Yes, free flow of Nachos if you can eat 10 buckets and still stuffed down their Buritos, Quesadillas or Fatija. The food are worth trying but they are quite pricey. This is what I had.

Tex-Mex Crispy something 

So we talked and laughed and cam-whored while munching away our Mexican delights. On that night, I actually picked up a few interview skills from everyone. I hope the next time I have an interview, I'll be able to nail that interview and get what I want.

Chek Lee and Joyce

Bao, Duy and Chin Yun

Hanh and Bao

Although not all friends that I wanted to meet were there that night, I thought the night ends well. But everybody was too tired to stay on and accompany Chek Lee for a drink, maybe due to long hours of shopping and may be due to energy drain from exams.

DSA has been a big part of me and will continue to. DSA is a one big family that I will miss and never forget when I go to England. I hope the juniors will continue to improve their dancing and that DSA will reach further milestones in competitions and performance during this half a year. So long farewell DSA.

Pre-Post-Exam post

Okay so after two weeks of battle, sleepless night, zombie-like days, I am finally down with one paper. Yes! One final paper on Wednesday! This is getting really excited as the semester seems so so long this semester. During exams, I sort of had a "reunion" with my family...on the virtual world that is. So, off they went to places that are so familiar to me such as Kedah and Melaka and savor all the delicacies that I miss much (Kedah's assam laksa, chendol, ais-kacang.....the list never ends). And off they went for chats and laughter and cam-whoring session without me. And I shouldn't continue on because I'll only sulk, sulk, sulk and sulk. Haha. I never knew how much I missed all of them. It's been a year since we've all met. And it will be another year when we meet again. *Sigh*

And within two months time, I'll be leaving home again but this time to a place which I am clueless about. For all my life, I've never taken airplane for more than 5 hours and now I'm gonna take a 14-hour flight to England. I am going to travel around countries where people might not even speak English. Yeap. I am finally leaving my comfort zone and I am finally reaching out for my dreams, to study in a Western country. This still seem very surreal although everything has been confirmed. Nonetheless, I am still very very excited about it. Too excited until all the study mood has gone. Too excited that I want to just pack up everything, wind the clock fast-forward so that I will be on that plane the next day. Too excited to go through four seasons (But I think at most it'll only be 3). Yes there are so many excitement lying ahead for me and I am really really looking forward to go.

After exams, it is gonna be party, meet-ups, good byes and back onto the dance floor. Yeah I miss slipping into my dance shoes, listening to Latin musics and move around with my partner. Miss the days that all dancers would just hang out in the dance studio and dance, laugh, argue, cry, sweat...

Every back home holiday is a rush one. This time, I'll finally have the time to meet up with my friends that I've never met for a long time. I've made a list on who to meet, who to say good bye to. Topping the list are Hui Qian and all my other girls as well as my A-Level mates (I think it's been two years since we've met). Next will be... Only then I realised, I actually have friends that can be counted using all my 10 fingers. Haha such an antisocial I was last time. Anyway, really hope to meet up with more people that I've missed for long time before I fly off.

I shall hit the books again. Merry merry Christmas everybody.

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas

心动

After watching 星光大道 this week, I fell in love with this song again

过去让它过去， 

来不及，

重头喜欢你，

百云缠绕着蓝天，

如果不能让我门永远走在一起，

也至少给我们，

怀念的勇气， 拥抱的权利，

好让你明白，我心动的痕迹。

Exams

Tomorrow marks the first day of exam in NTU (I am lucky that I only start on the 14th and lucky enough to only have 5 modules). Anyway, this sem is a haywire one. Maybe it's the effect from YOG. But I am so dreading for this semester to finish. My daily life gone upside down. From sleeping at 3 am and waking up at 9 am to at times sleeping at 11 pm and waking up at 6 am. Haha, yeah crazy. I am still a normal person. Some people, example boyfriend who has paper for nearly everyday (and goodness sake on a Saturday--never before in NTU since we were here), is leading zombie-like life. Really impressed by boyfriend who managed to cope with such heavy load and still a first class scorer.

Anyway, shall give myself a little treat after all these. Good luck to NTU peeps, happy holidays to the others and Merry Early Christmas :)

Christmas Came Early

26th November. Exactly one month away from Christmas (and few more weeks to exam), Santa decided that boyfriend and I needed an early Christmas celebration! In our mailbox, we got a white christmas invitation. Yes, we are that lucky!

White Chirstmas

Haha got ya! Actually, one week ago, we liked the Bakerzin's Facebook page and got rewarded by them (as promised), in terms of vouchers.

Greetings from Bakerzin

So, off we went for our scrumptious dinner. We reached about 7.30 pm and it was full house. To be honest, this was my first time having anything from Bakerzin. I heard that their cakes are good, but well, I don't have the extra money to splurge. So the vouchers actually gave me a chance to patron their store.

Bakerzin@ Jurong Point

Since Christnas is around the corner, the shop has the Christmas decoration. And they have nice menu!

Christmas Decorations: Their Christmas Pastisseries

Menu: Visual Memories

Boyfriend and I had the 1-for-1 Pasta Voucher. He had Baked Shell Pasta with Seafood and I had the Tuna Pasta (a lil' spicy). 

Baked Shell Pasta with Seafood served in an aluminium tray and has cheese on top. The baking time will take about 15-20 minutes and it was really good.  First the seafoods are really fresh and they baked the pasta with wide variety seafood like calamari, fresh mussels, prawns and the normal crab stick. With not much seasonings and pasta dressing, the cheese and freshness of the seafood actually compliment each other. While being tasty, the cheese does not overwhelms.

Calamaris

Fresh Mussels

Tuna Pasta is a little bit spicy. But it's just nice for me as I love spicy food. One draw back about this dish is they have generous servings of onions and garlic. But, it's strange that after I had it, there's no garlic after taste. Back to the pasta, it's a bit dry when I took the first bite and the tuna is a bit...coarse. However, as I finished my plate, I gradually like my pasta more.

  

From the menu, the serving of the food looks quite small and I always have the impression and serving at cafes like this will not be very big. Well, out of expectation, both of us actually felt stuffed after the meal. So, it's worth the money. (Maybe it's because of the bread we had before pasta was served).

Free flow of Bread and French Butter

Service wise, I really need to give thumbs up to ther serving crew. The waitres/waitresses are very polite and helpful. I felt so welcomed in  the store. They try to run to meet all demands of customers although it was full house and there were only 5 of them? Too bad I can't work in UK. I would really love to try FnB work although I know it's such hard work. But seeing the smile on the face of your customers, it's just priceless.

P/S: Our bill was $S20 only!!! :)

It's just so easy to be happy

After watching this video, I just realized how easy it is to be happy. Look at the mom. Although her son was born deaf but the cochlea implant brings so much joy to her because she knows her darling baby can hear her now. The baby, Jonathan, was also so amused (that he dropped his pacifier) and happy to hear the mom's voice.

Yeah, sometimes as we grow older, we actually forget how lucky we are and how easy it is to be happy. At least, we have perfect hearing. Unlike Jonathan who needs to rely on his cochlea implant probably for his whole life. Well, one good thing his he can switch it off when he does not want to hear anything. (That's supposed to be a lame joke).

Sometimes, going through my social networking friend's status is just so depressing. Everybody is complaining. The tests that are coming, the heaps of assignments they need to do, not enough time, not enough money, stress from work and study blah, blah, blah. Everybody is "FML"-ing. But little to none of us (including myself) actually thinks that we are so lucky to have all this (although it's not positive). Imagine you are not born who you are now, I guess there will be no more exams, assignments, friends, shopping, clubbing, etc etc...Work, yes there will be work, more work in fact, labor jobs since young and even high level of stress when you can barely feed yourself with 3 meals a day.

So the next time anybody thinks that their life is so miserable (including me), do take a second and think about other people that are more miserable than you. Our lives are not so miserable after all, with shelter, food and bed.

What makes you fat?

I do not meant to show off but ever since I came to Singapore, the first thing that all my friends, family and relatives said to me is: "Aiyorr...why are you so thin? " Well, I really don't know. Since I started dancing/studying in Singapore, supper seems to be more prevalent. (When I was at home, I kept to the strictly no meals after 8pm). I ate more McDonald's as it is the cheapest fast-food option in school, I have suppers at least twice a week. This semester, since I always need to work late, I have late dinner (sometimes McDonald's, sometimes heavy food like rice). And almost everyday, I'll have instant noodles/rice/pasta + processed meat/real meat for lunch and dinner.
However, I still think that I didn't change too much. I still weigh the same--50kg, I still have my big thighs, and I still have my big butt. And I will whine occasionally to boyfriend about that. Hahaha
Yesterday, he came across this article and asked me to read it.
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/10/what-if-the-leading-cause-of-weight-gain-wasnt-food-at-all.php
If you are too lazy to read it, let me just summarised it for you:
In US, a researched was conducted to a group of 10 overwight people. They have the same daily diet, same exercise capacity with different sleeping hours (one group 5.5hrs and the other 8.5). This study was carried out over 14 days and the group with 8.5hrs of sleep actually lost more meight than the other one! The reason for it is because, when we stay awake late at night, we often crave for heavy, fatty foods. Just think about it, the later you stay up at night, the more you get hungry. And what are the things available in the middle of the night? 24-hour McDonalds and Mamak. If you count the calories....well, you know what I mean.
So, what are you waiting for, set your bed with nice, comfortable bed sheets and comforters, hug your favorite pillows and teddy bears and sink into that deep sleep while burning some fats. But of course, a healthy diet and exercise is also a must. :D
* I am cutting down consumption on McDonalds and fried food for one month coz I had too much of those for the past one week :D

Told you I'm a nerd! 

Pigs!

This morning, as I was feeling bored studying, I went to TED's website and found this video. Well, her research definitely give pigs all around the world a whole new meaning to live.

Since the olden days, people always think that pigs are lazy and useless. Their lives revolve around eating, sleeping, reproducing, and getting slaughtered. Ermm, not that they don't now but hei look at the "pig guide book" Christien produced, they have some 130 industrial uses other than making hams, bacons, "bak kua" or "bak kut teh" :)

Ha...pigs, I hope that you guys are reading this (wahahaha, I'm going crazy) but let's appreciate pigs more after this right. Let's just don't think that they are for gourmet purposes only. They could be the core of all industries. Yeah pig, you are that important.

And they are such cute pets to rare (Only applied for teacup pigs). And yes I know I am a nerd :D

Marina Bay Sands. You took our S$50

So the almighty Marina Bay Sands, developed by Las Vegas Sands officially opened in June. But we were too busy to head over there and finally last Saturday, boyfriend decided to bring me on a date there. (Of course with his new baby-DSLR). So after morning work in the library, we took a bus and headed to Marina Bay and walked towards MBS. The weather clearly did not gave us a good sunny day for a visit. Boo..

Anyway, we went through their shoppes which is still under construction. So now what we can see is just this.

 Although it's still under construction, but I am sure that when they are fully open, this is another place for "tai-tai"s to shop for branded stuff. Oh and boyfriend and I were so lucky, because there was an advertisement shooting taking place right in front of our eyes. We couldn't really recognize who's the ambassador though.

Ambassador coming out from the shop

The director and cameraman

After having enough "sight-seeing" on the shooting set, we continued walking around and towards the main attraction of Marina Bay Sands.

No! Not the Skypark, the Casino! Yeah, I need to announce this but this is the second time that I actually entered a casino. And I would also need to announce that I play zero card games. Yes I'm card noob. But anyway, we visited the casino because we can still enter the place for free. For Singaporean/PR, they'll need to pay and entry levee of S$100. Inside the casino, saw slots machines, table games and a lot of uncle, aunties and tourists gambling their money away. Boyfriend was so tempted to gamble and me on the other hand was not. But, according to boyfriend, since we were there, we can't just walk around and do nothing. Yeah and so there we were, changing our money to chips. He started off with Blacjack (totally no idea how to play) and lost his bet. With one more chip in hand, I decided to try my luck on the 'big-small" game (which I also have no idea how to play) and we lost our last chip :(. WE'VE LOST S$50!!!!!! It's just not our day:(

Looking gloomy like the sky outside after losing S$50

I felt so so sad after losing that $S50. Oh dear, that was bad. Losing money for nothing. *Sigh*. After "grieving" for the lost money for 10 minutes, we continued exploring around the area. We wanted to go up to the skypark (the ship thingy that you see on top of the building is actually a garden) but well, we need some ticket to gain access.

 Since we had lost our money earlier, we decided to cancel the skypark visit plan and start camwhoring. "Photo-takin" therapy, you may call this. But it really helps.
There are actually a lot of attraction surrounding the Marina Bay Sands, including the Merlion opposite, which is near the Esplanade, which is also where the FI Night Race runs.

 So, I guess we were lucky again (not lucky for gambling though), as the FI was having their practice race. From where we were standing (outside MBS), we could here the zooming of each cars, the engines roaring. But of course we couldn't really see everything closely as everywhere was cordon off. But when we walk along the double helix bridge (it is really modelled against our DNA), black canvas blocking the view of public actually drapes down. And being all tall, we just need to tip-toe to get a glimpse of the track and of course the race itself. It's pretty exciting as I never see the race off TV before

If you can see, it is the Ferrari:D

The double-helix bridge modelled against DNA (they even have base pairings on the walkway and if you can see again at the sides, there are black canvas blocking the public from viewing into the race track).

After watching the race for two laps, we decided it was quite boring and continued camwhoring around the area.

 

The Singapore Flyer

A date to remember

Ahh~~~ Yes, 3/9/2010 a date to remember. I finally had the chance to meet up with that someone that I missed a lot. Best friend from high school. We shared so many things from the past, studying, Girl Guiding, gossipings and fooling around. She never fail to make my life colorful. Both of us had our fair share of ups and downs time and I was so lucky to have her by my side when I needed someone. Hui Qian

So,met her in Mid Valley the other day, with her BF. Had a simple lunch at i-Dragon, Cititel. Simple lunch short meeting time. But that's enough. I just missed the days when we would sit down and talk and laugh, but well after high school, we went separate ways and it's tough for us to meet. However, we still do make effort to meet up once in a while and have a nice lady/girl chat:D

A date to remember is also the day when I realized that my home country, although trying hard to improve everything, still facing trouble with the lack of cooperation by its people. Why do I said so? Well, to Mid Valley, I took the "almighty" KTM (sort of like MRT in Singapore). I was very happy to see one whole carriage dedicated to ladies only, called the "Ladies Coach". But throughout the journey, to and fro, I do not understand why there are men/boys on that particular carriage. It's like they have the other two carriages to choose from, but they still love the middle carriage. While they are inside the ladies only carriage, don't they feel embarrassed/weird as all eyes are on them? Don't they feel that it is inappropriate for them to be there, since it was stated that it is for ladies only? Or is it that they don't know how to read the instructions at all? Or whether they are some transsexual/ lady man?? Well I don't really know the answer but, I think the company should take note of this. Isn't it ironic that in the first place you want to avoid all the sexual harassment  and to protect female commuters, but there's noone who's actually there to observe/enforce the whole idea? If there's no improvement after one year of launch, isn't it better to abolish the ladies only carriage and revert back to the original carriage?

Anyway, I have never had good impression on KTM. But that's like the only transport I could take to KL (apart from bus) when I do not have my own car and no one is willing to send me down. I understand that change cannot be achieved in a few years time. But I was thinking if only people are willing to be cooperative, think a little further, observe a little more and be more considerate, maybe everything will change. But, I know that ideal conditions can diverge pretty much from actual conditions. Until one day people start to change, I guess many of us still have to cope with the public transport conditions here.

Girl, I am still very happy to meet you. May we meet again in December. *Loves*    

P/s: All the pictures are with the friend. So, no pictures this time:D

A new DSLR experience

I confess that I am a techno-noob. Let me give you a little history on my tech-gadgets history.

1. Never had a computer at home until I was almost primary 6 (note that that was year 2000).
2. Never had a mobile phone until I finish my secondary 5 ( year 2005) and my mobile phone was still a hand-down by dad. Guess what's the model? It's....the....legendary...Nokia....3310. Yep!
3. 
4. My first lap-top was when I came to university (year 2008).

So, as you can see, I am not the tech-savvy person. And oh did I mention, my first digital camera was when I got together with boyfriend (Year 2008)? Well I guess some of you are ROFL (roll on the floor laugh)-ing, and wondering am I joking or what. But no, I am telling the truth! 

When Boyfriend borrowed Joyce's DSLR, I was quite scared to handle it. I am supposed to be his photographer-of-the-day for his scholarship receiving ceremony, graced by Ms. Grace Fu, Senior Minister of State (National Development & Education). I only had one night to practice how to handle that big camera. I was really, really worried that I would somehow clumsily dropped the camera and....well, thank god everything went well. So below are the photos that I took on boyfriend's "historical" day. Yeah. 

Disclaimer: Not that my skills are good, but the lens is superb. It's what they call the prime lens. I did learn something. The lens that I used was a 50mm, or so called the potrait lens. It'll make everything look oh-so-awesome, including my not-so-pretty face. 

Venue: Orchard Hotel, Singapore

Pretty little flower

Boyfriend and another scholar from the same sponsor

The scholars of Capitaland

Receiving the award from Ms. Grace Fu

The scroll, up-closed

Yummy fruit tarts. Had about 10 of them :P

Looking good ;)

My not-so-pretty face

So finally I've settled my hand on the high-tech camera. But if you asked me, I will not invest money on this machine. No doubt it produced pictures that can take thousands of breathe away, but I thought that I am not any creative person who has great ideas to transform a normal look into a beautiful masterpiece. I just need a camera to lock up all my memories shared with my loved ones. Of course different people has different thoughts. Just a piece of my mind.

Hope you guys enjoyed my photo and my not-so-pretty face. :D

P/S: As I said, I am not a tech-savvy person, it was my first time playing L4D2 the other day. It reminds me why I've hated computer games, PS games or any other games so much. I am always a game-noob. I was last when I played Need For Speed with my brother and now I am still last (killing only 12 zombies) when playing with my friends. *Sigh* And that was my first time going to a LAN shop:D