Wow.

This is such an awesome video!

http://en.tackfilm.se/?id=1267346794922RA29

Study + Shopping.

Kai's attempt at wearing a sundress

The day started off with me waking up at about 8.45 a.m. when piano lesson starts at 9 a.m. As you can imagine, I rushed out of the house and got there 5 minutes late. The original plan was to wake up at 7 so that I will actually have enough time to practise before I actually go for the lesson.. Too bad! Ended up practising in the lesson itself and getting complained at again =/

Today was actually quite busy and I was practically rushing from place to place. Right after piano lessons came Biz Law tutorial that was rescheduled because the tutor had to go to hospital on Thursday. Some of them were asking if they could sue him for a breach of contract since there was no variation clause. lol! Frankly, Biz Law is one of my better liked subjects. I guess it's because I always wanted to do law before I got told that I am not good enough for it. -shrugs- It's interesting nonetheless, and I am doing it without the pressure of what the Law students are facing. So no complaints!

Right after Biz Law was the GCube Group Meeting over at the Fellowship of Evangelical Students (FES) office in Bugis. We talked about the 7 tenets of Modern Enlightenment today.

1. Supremacy of Reason
2. Subject-Object Dichotomy
   
3. Elimination of Teleological Purpose
4. Distinction between Facts and Values
5. Optimism in Progress
6. All Problems Are Solvable in Principle
7. Humans are Emancipated and Autonomous Individuals

To actually discuss all of these points would actually take 3 hours. Trust me, I just discussed it with a whole class just now. So I shall just talk about what my takeaways were.

The lesson made me realise that a lot of the mindsets that we have right now, and that we take for granted, like how Science is placed above Religion, and how we view Scientific Fact as Truth, are actually products of the Modern Enlightenment. And these suppositions need not necessarily be true!

The course that I am currently studying now on Einstein's Relativity and Quantum Mechanics actually disproves the myth that Scientific Fact is the ultimate and unchangeable truth. Firstly, what Newton establishes as the Law of Gravity is replaced by Einstein's more wholistic Theory of Relativity which has been proven to explain more phenomena. Subsequently, this Theory of Relativity causes its own downfall by predicting the existence of Singularity - that is the possibility that everything can exist at a single point, such as is the case in a black hole when spacetime is warped.

Then Quantum Mechanics gets thrown into the picture and we realise that very small particles can in fact, exist in the same space. Also, we realise that the observer, that we once thought to be neutral and independent as what Subject-Object Dichotomy postulates actually affects the system as in the famous example of Schrödinger's Cat.

So now we are actually beginning to realise that a lot of the things that we take for granted might not be true after all. We are not able to be independent of nature, as Global Warming has been proving to use these years. Not all things are solvable as demonstrated in Quantum Physics.

I think I could go on about every single point and bore you to death, but I think I shall stop here. The greatest thing that I took away today was actually the fact that we would not be able to know absolute truth. Truth belongs to God and we can only catch a glimpse of it. It is also very exciting to know that we are part and parcel of history and how we are now is actually affected by what happened in the past. It would be egotistical to think that we can be totally autonomous of anything for we are always bound by ourselves.

I wonder if we would be able to look back at this time in the future like how we looked back on the 400 years of silence to see God's hand at work here as well. But I guess that is something only time can tell us.

ANYWAYS! Back to my day.

So after the brain draining GCube, I went out with Kai to Bugis Junction for some shopping. I was trying to look for a new backpack while she.. was looking at shoes? We ended up spending most of the time looking at shoes. LOL. But hey, it was FUN!

Ate at Thai Express and took a whole bunch of photos =) We seriously need to hang out more!

C Cups!

Found this on my Facebook feed. TOTALLY LOL! There's a translation for you if you are totally clueless about Cantonese!

Ng ga ching, you cheap bastard! Before you got me, you did whatever I asked of you. After you got me, we had to go Dutch on everything. Ok, that was still fine, but then you started complaining that my tits are AA cups and too small! And you dumped me because of that?

Today, 3 months after we broke up, I want to show you something. Now, take a good look, I have a C cup! Don’t you regret dumping me now? And I bet you want to do me again, right? But sorry, you don’t stand a chance anymore. I won’t see you again and I will NEVER let you touch my C’s.

Ng Ga Ching, you could say I’m a bitch or that I have princess syndrome, but whatever it is, you can never say that I am small again. Look at them, they are C’s! You don’t even have a C on your school certificate.

The Devil is in the details.

I have added some minor touches to the blog like increasing the size of the Post Title, adding a background to the same, and adding my very own twitter logo =)

Designing your own stuff is so therapeutic it rocks!

Bibliophilia.

I went back to the Hullett Memorial Library back at RI with Chow today.

I was a librarian some 6 years back and it is always heartening to go back to the HML to find everything just the way it was. There is something wonderful about the ambience and smell of the place that calms you, together with Kevin Kern forever playing in the background.. Part of the reason why I love reading books is also because of the beautiful atmosphere of the library.

It is pretty amazing how Ms Many still remembers my name. I think she, together with Mrs Yap, could possibly the only two people left in RI who remember me. After all, it's been 6 years.

News from Mrs Yap is that they are thinking of usurping the Shaw Foundation Ceremonial Hall to change HML into a 3-storey library. That's all fine and well, but I really hope that they could somehow preserve the basement as it is. Look at how RI turned out after all the renovations. Frankly, I preferred it when it was still red-bricked and other-worldly. Right now, RI feels like an industrial estate with only green and white everywhere.. EEKS!

Here's some reminiscing of the old times where we used to do counter duty. In fact, we did help out for a while in the counter today. How cool is that?! Ahh, memories!

Return Stamps!

Records of our visits to the library. Rich obviously wrote for all of us!

Anyways, our visit coincided with the Swimming Carnival, so we managed to pop by the swimming complex to visit some of the teachers. I was pleasantly surprised that Mr Tan Puay Hock remembered that I was from Chinese Drama. Wow. As usual, Chow was more recognisable but Ms Tang did spot us and talk to us for a bit =)

You know, you really cannot deny that RI gives an excellent education.

The Girlfriend.

I think I might have neglected this blog a little because school work has been piling up, and I have been busy with my new relationship!

It feels only fitting though, to PDA in my own blog instead of on Facebook or anywhere else. So if you are a loyal reader (I honestly don't know if there are any), here's hearing this from the horse's mouth;

I AM ATTACHED! YAYY!

Isn't she the most gorgeous girl you have ever met? =D

I don't know what I did to deserve her. Hahas.. And who would have thought I would be the first person to get out of JEDIT?

Not liking the photo on the right. A little too corporate for a personal blog, duncha think?

I need to start taking more photographs of myself! First thing: CUT HAIR!

New layout.

正所谓说到做到。

I spent the whole evening changing my blog layout while Kai was comforting Ryan.
And now I am totally in love with it.

Are you? Leave a comment.

I think it's about time I changed a layout.

I went for my first GEM tutorial this morning, and it was the weirdest tutorial ever.

I deliberately went to Science earlier so that I could find out exactly where S11 was. It was all a little confusing because S11 didn't really have a main entrance and I had to find my way through S12. I took a dump before I got there too. Hahas.

So when I finally got there, I realised that it was a Lab Briefing Room. The tutorial was strange on a few levels. Firstly, I was struck by how small the group was. There must have only been about what, 6 people? The whole atmosphere was also very awkward because no one knew anyone else.

The tutor was also a little uneasy/awkward/apprehensive when he delivered his summary of Time Dilation and Length Contraction. The worst part is actually the tutorial itself, because I really couldn't get what he was trying to say. I mean, the concepts sound familiar and I understand the explanations, but it was really difficult to wrap my mind around the things that he said. Take for example the Apparent Rotation of objects that are moving really fast. It's just really hard to visualise and imagine myself looking at these things =S

Anyways, that was the tutorial.

I think the highlight of the day was that I lost my wallet. Remember that dump I took? I left my wallet on the toilet paper box and went for my tutorial. I only realised that my wallet was lost when I received an email from a research scientist telling me that he found my wallet. I had to go all the way back to Science again from Biz just to take it back. But really, THANK YOU MR. RESEARCH SCIENTIST! Few would be so kind as to take that extra step to email me. Not to mention the fact that he took it out of the toilet. I know for myself that I would never take a random wallet out of the toilet and email the owner lorh. Thank God I found my wallet!

Anyways, that was it for my short short day in school.

I also went for dinner with Cheeks and Yen Chin. We were supposed to have dinner with Eng Keat too who was flying back to Oz, but he couldn't make it. So it was down to us three musketeers again. Frankly, I realise miss the times in CCC. Now that I don't have a church, I really treasure the fellowship that we once had and how I would look forward to going to church every Sunday because of the people I know there. I didn't think it would be such a big factor before I left, but now I am beginning to realise it.

Anyways, we talked about how our lives were seemingly meaningless, but agreed that there is never any overarching great meaning for anyone's life, just the daily doings of God's bidding that accumulates to a well-lived life. I managed to share some of the things that I learnt from the Gcube bible study yesterday too. Really struck by how God speaks through everything.

To skip to the present, here I am back in front of my computer at home. I have to complete my DSC project research and my GEM revision, but I am really quite tired. So I think I am just going to bathe and sleep for a bit before I wake to fight again. TATA!

At FA lecture.

I decided to seat myself right at the back of the lecture theater because I was feeling emo and anti-social. What better thing to do when you are emo than to keep to yourself and indulge in self-reflection by blogging?

Well, before long I saw K and we started talking about Bizad Abroad. Should I go? Because of Rag and FOC, I have long thrown away any thoughts of going on summer programmes, internships or overseas. When I looked at the schedule though, I realised that Bizad Abroad would not clash with FOC or Rag!

So. Should I stay or should I go?

Time for a miracle!

I have decided to REALLY start exercising. Run every day. Because IPPT is coming before I know it!

This means that I probably would have to speed up my mugging and give up time that I can spend with kai =( But hey, that would make our time together more precious eh? ; )

Another unproductive day =(

My sweet slumber was interrupted by a phone call to tell me that the praying that I was told was in the afternoon was in the morning after all. That means I had to go around with only 4 hours of sleep again. And it was pretty much rushing to change and to wake my dad up before we rushed to my grandma's place because my auntie had a 1 o'clock lunch appointment to meet.

Dad did his usual "knowledge sharing" sessions while we were on the way there. You know, there are brief moments when he isn't the obnoxious and self-righteous person that he is, when he is quite pleasant to be around. Like when he's talking about the world, about Confucianism, Buddhism, etc etc. I really felt right there in the car that it was quite a gainful monologue.

Anyways, we reached my grandma's at about 11 am and we just packed all the fruits and left. The feeling was really weird because there was basically only my dad, my auntie and me. Usually there would be a lot more people, and normally I would be off at church.. Well, I guess this isn't a normal year.

Well, when we finished with all the rituals and burnt the necessary annual offerings, I sent my auntie to Vivocity before going back while Dad continued his preaching about the world. Isn't it ironic how we all dislike him and yet he seems to be the person who has taught us the most? I mean, I learnt my homeworking skills from Mum, but I learnt to love reading from my Dad. He used to make us read classics and books and reward us with money after we finish the book and give him a review on it. When you are young and restless, the money really helps =) Hmm!

After reaching home, I went on the meet Pamela after SO MANY MONTHS! I think I last met her when I just started Uni around Sept? I wanted to update her about Kai Li and also to catch up. She's actually deciding whether to do Masters, a step that my sister is considering too. Honestly, I think Masters are only good when you have had some working experience to back you up so that you will know what is relevant. But then again, a sponsored Masters programme is an opportunity too good to miss eh! You decide.

Oh, we went to Sembawang Shopping Centre, by the way.. I haven't been there since the last time we went there for zi char. Seems like the place has developed quite a bit and the whole shopping centre is new! We had some awesome 白米粉 and then went to have desserts at MOF. I have come to the conclusion that I don't really like red bean nor matcha green tea =( It's all too... powdery!

Anyways, all the while when we were having desserts, there was this guy singing at the first floor called Su Yi Quan I think. Is it just me, or are singers who can hit really high notes in now? -__- I don't like.

Chatting with Pam is always fun lah. Because she does most of the talking =X I don't really like to start conversations, I guess. It's a skill I must learn lah. But I think I will only get to it when I really have to. Continuing conversations is my specialty =) Together with being retarded, that is. Hahas..

Well, now I am back here. Time to start WORK! Target to finish FA tutorial in 2 hours and go running! WATCH ME RAWR!

time ZOOMZ!

Most of recess week was eaten up by the Chinese New Year visiting and playing mahjong here and there. I can't believe it's already Sunday!

How did I manage to get to the last day of recess without really doing work? And I have to present my FA tutorial on Tuesday and have a Quantum Weirdness test on Thursday. How cool is that?! =S

To digress a little, the whole of today was spent on two events.

Firstly, some of us from the class went for Bryan's book launch over at Old Parliament House. Whilst it is quite cool to have a classmate who is an actual author, the book launch turned out to be a platform to promote NYAA relentlessly. Every other sentence made had those four letters. 0_O Anyways, I was there up til about 12pm? We left for lunch at Raffles City after that.

Since I had some time in between the book launch and the KRT gathering in the evening, I decided to go home to do some work. Yet somehow I ended up cleaning up my room. Now all the JC stuff has disappeared, and the shelves are slightly neater. Even though the table still looks quite cluttered. I am considering thr0wing away the CDs, cos they are the ones that are taking up the most space =S BUT I LOVE MY CDS! Oh! And I found my long lost baptism cert! How cool is that? Hahas.. There were quite a lot of cards from the past that I looked through from my memory shelf also. It struck me that Cheeks has sent me a Christmas card for every single Christmas eh. I think it's a tradition that I should start too. A little care goes a loong way!

So! I met the kayakers for dinner at Phin's Steakhouse. Coincidentally, it's the same place Kai Li and I went to the last time, and I remember having quite bad steak there =S This time I ordered medium raw, but it still came medium. But aiyah. It's not so bad lah. I shall not complain.

Anyways, we basically ate with a vengeance. After the steakhouse, we went for Ji De Lai for desserts. They have really good durian rice rolls there! OMG. Love it. Unfortunately a lot of people don't like durians. =( We had tang yuan there as well. Honestly, I think Ji De Lai is better than Ah Chew Desserts ehh!

After desserts we went back to Bugis to draw money before heading down to Thomson for another round of dimsum. And now here I am back home! FAT AND FED. LOL!

Heartbreak Warfare.

I heard this song once on 91.3FM and it was love at first heard.

See ya!

We sent Ivan off to Sydney at T3 this morning. He's going off to study Civil Engineering at University of Newcastle and his whole family went off with him for a short trip. How cool is that?!

Anyways, it was only when I read Rich's note to Ivan that I realised that it has been a full 10 years that we have known each other. A decade! Looking back, we really shared many beautiful memories and experiences together. Climbing mountains and hills, clubbing, bitching about teachers, playing DotA, visiting homes, or just hanging out. I am so so sooo thankful that I have this bunch of friends with me in my life =)

Although we probably do not share much, as Kai Li observed, there is a certain peace when we are together. Almost as if our personal struggles are put on hold for a moment while we enjoy each other's company.

Ivan, I am gonna miss you for your strength and steadiness. Of course, I can't deny that I will miss your home and the games, but more so for the company of you, all the small little idiosyncrasies that make you you. Like disliking flowers *ahem*. And eating steaks =) Or suaning me about not utilising my PS3...

Have a good time in Oz, and remember that we will always be here waiting for you to come back! In the meantime, go get some of those Asian girls! LOL! Don't get killed by paper balls, like I said! =P

(I realised that I should have taken some photographs of the scrapbook that we made. Haix!! I think I need to use my camera more again!)

团圆饭

Here we are back at Tan Long's place for what has become our tradition: the reunion steamboat dinner =) This year is especially important because it marks Ivan's departure for Aussieland for university education, and also because JEDIT is officially becoming JETI. =DD

There's the usual steamboat and mahjong, and that's all we really need to have a jolly good time with old friends =) Somehow everyone is still the same after all these years, and somehow even though some part of our lives are screwed up in one way or another, when we are together, things are merry and the world seems less bleak. =)

Anyways, we are still updating Ivan's farewell present, which is a scrapbook of photographs over the years, and Ivan is still oblivious about it. Hopefully he likes it, because I made it =P

Here's to many many years of friendship ahead of us!

Sometimes it is good to disappear for a while from all the bustle and stress. Which is exactly what I am attempting right now. The semester is passing so fast that I don't even really have spacetime (Einsteinian!) to listen to my own thoughts. So here's some time gleaned from ponning my Biz Law and Quantum Weirdness lectures to actually settle down and type out something that is coherent.

I have been feeling quite vexed of late. It's really a combination of many different factors - stress from school work, stress from XOXO, the website, lack of money, etc etc. I guess what really gets to me is this perpetual feeling of rushing and the feeling like I don't have enough time to do things that I want to do. I feel as if I am just barely clearing all my work each day and before I know it, the next day starts and new work piles up.

What I need is some respite and escape. Haix. But it looks like I can only get that once I finish all my work. That means I have to start mugging really hard and really fast. God help me. =(

It was supposed to be shopping night for the both of us today, but I decided to invite Cam as well because he seemed to be quite affected and emo. That was how we the 3 of us ended up going to Vivocity together for shopping.

The night started out with us looking for Ben's shoes and buying them for him as a present, and eventually evolved into shopping for my Chinese New Year clothes. Hmm. To be honest, I didn't really have fun =( Cos I felt really fat for the first time in a long time, and all the clothes I chose were deemed ugly. Don't like to shop under negative environment.

I did manage to find jeans though, so it wasn't half bad. Just that I didn't manage to talk to hotcakes a lot, and we had to be wary of Cam's feelings. Haix.

I just told myself in the end not to be frustrated lorh. Even though I was really feeling quite sian myself due to the general crappiness of this semester so far and all the work I had to do.. Aiyah. I just need some time to sort myself out, and actually start exercising so that I can get the endorphins running!

Today.

Good morning whoever is there reading this!

I have just reached school and am blogging from the Bizad Club Room. My eyes hurt from dryness, and my plan to swim is foiled by the fact that my useless MNO lecture starts in roughly 40 minutes. I am listening to Pomplamoose on YouTube and basically started typing this because it is rather therapeutic for a person who lacks sleep.

Anyways, if you are interested, the plan after I finish this post is to walk over to the canteen to get myself a chicken pie and hot tea for breakfast, before I start doing my Financial Accounting tutorial.

Afterwhich, I will update the Project XOXO blog with the new packages that we are coming up with. >.<

I actually have half a mind to miss the MNO lecture.. Unfortunately frivolous lectures are only interesting if they are held by ang moh lecturers and not a linguistically confused lecturer who came from SMU. Yes, I am freaking biased. So sue me.

XOXO is killing me X__X

Flashback.

I was over at my grandmother's place today because we had to give bak gua to my Auntie. Normally we would stay for dinner, but she had to do spring-cleaning so she gave us notice beforehand that she wouldn't be cooking dinner for any of us.

Well, basically the point of this entry was just to chronicle this sudden memory I had while I was sitting in the kitchen talking to my auntie and my grandmother. I sudden;y saw my grandfather chopping the chicken again on the floor, or mixing eggs for the luncheon meat omelette he used to make. It was such a vivid memory of him cooking..

Then the memory shifted to how he bought a new stove which was still the same stove that was there. Has it been 8 years already?

I guess Chinese New Year was always his busiest, preparing food for his whole family to eat. That was when everyone was still around.. My younger uncle has since disappeared, and everything has changed. My elder uncle stays away from home most of the time and my auntie is just stressed.

And this CNY promises to be the one with the least number of people with my brother in Sweden and Mum's foot bound up =(

I wonder if we would have been happier if ye ye was still alive. -shrugs-

CNY.

This Chinese New Year has especial little atmosphere. Bro is away in Sweden, and Ma is down with her foot surgery. That leaves my Dad, who might as well not exist, and my Sis.

HAIX. What kind of 团圆饭 is this?

G3

Kai Li and I went for the G³ bible study yesterday. It was basically a missions-oriented bible study programme to prepare us for mission work. I decided to go because I have never went on a mission before, and I thought this would be good exposure =D

It wasn't the first session yesterday, so we actually already covered the biblical history that could be found in the bible. As such, what we covered yesterday was mainly

1. Early Apostolic Church (1st, 2nd, 3rd C) and the Great Persecution
2. Medieval Roman Catholic Era of the Crusades and Colonialism
3. Protestant Reformation

To be honest, if I never went on this course, I would never have learnt or really bothered with Church history. But now that I have, I am beginning to see my faith more clearly in the lens of history. And suddenly what I have seen to be gospel truth has become something that is fluid and changeable with the passing of time according to God's Will.

Take for example our view of salvation as the Messiah coming to save us out of our depraved world. Did you know that such a soteriolistic view was not present in the Old Testament? In the past the Jews saw time as the age here and now and the age to come without any "external time" such as eternity. Such ideas only caught on in the New Testament.

Now, does that mean either of the views are wrong? I don't believe so. Often our perceptions of what is said in the Bible is different from what is actually said. Is heaven a place, or are we called to wait for the Kingdom of God to come when God creates a New Earth?

Suddenly a lot of my assumptions are put into question. Do you really know what you know?

My car has been drinking lots of petrol lately, so I decided to come to school by public transport for once today. Guess what? I was late. For 20 minutes. I decided not to go for it in the end because I would probably miss it anyways, and I would just leave a bad impression. =(

Anyways, I had lunch with Teckie and went to check out the CAC performance at YIH. I think the performance was not bad, but the venue or decor really didn't do them any justice. The stage was huge and bare and the booths looked like there were floating in the middle. HMM.

And now we have to figure out what to do.......

Disgruntlement

Creating posters are starting to drive me crazy. I created 3 yesterday, I am going to make another one tonight on top of MYOB. Haix.

I am running behind my tutorials too. MNO and FA tutorials today were left undone. I just hope that I can somehow stretch time tonight to finish everything. =(( Disgruntled!

Now that I have that timetable of mine, I think it's time to regulate my life and stick to it as close as possible, even though I think I probably will not start running today. Haix.

ORDER ORDER!