ikea timbre.

nope this is not a post discussing the vast amount of trees sacrificed for ikea's profit margins. nor did i mispell the title. 'cept for maybe the stroke ontop of the e of timbre.

it was the outline of the after work programme last thurs, where i finally met up with jc people. was meant to be just a dinner with the girls at ikea, but since they had programmes extended till late at night, i thought i might as well join in since it was vesak the next day.

so after a meal of meatballs, salmon, chicken wings and mushroom soup, we trained down to timbre, cut the queues and had alcohol and roast duck pizza.

band was nice, food was good, and we all got cosy. ten adults in six chairs, lol.

for a recount from another perspective, visit becky's blog at http://lemonbarleystrawberry.blogspot.com.

sometimes...

i wonder why people think i can create essays out of succinct points. where no elaboration has been provided. it's like giving me a needle and some thread but no cloth, and asking me to produce a jumpsuit.

sorry jumpsuit fever. not that i own any. yet.

so yes due to the aforementioned circumstances, i have next to nothing to do in the office. except glancing out the pull/push glass doors just in case anyone important comes in and catches me facebooking.

kind of have financial independence now. like, i manage my own money and all. even received my cpf letter last night, welcoming me as a member to the cpf board. (wth, just cuz i received my first contribution i gain membership?)

so with that freedom to spend, inevitably i get abit tempted to snag pretty clothes from blogshops. but, must be the chinese in me, i never could bear to transfer money over. gah! i guess physical shops work better for me. less time for personal reflection, especially with salesgirls breathing down my neck most of the time.

nssl results out, says me. because i haven't heard from the nssl people. i'm glad a more deserving person got the top prize. not too bad for me either, a third, though it means a prize worth just a little more than 20% of the top prize. why the difference so big! 950 and 200 leh. but of course, a little money's better than none at all. so i can hit physical shops and get, let's see, flats, heels, jumpsuit, blazer. all with 50 bucks, is that possible? because, the chinese in me again, i'm gonna share the money with the family. i know daddy needs a new keyholder. and brother needs more pants. mummy, i'm just gonna let her decide. mothers never seem to want anything new.

ahhh. counting my chickens before the eggs hatch.

first, with 158 votes, audrey! even though i don't understand what's with the europe thing.

second, with 104 votes, michael. he was leading for like forever, until audrey finally caught up. i didn't want michael to win top prize cuz i don't like the message trey's sending to jesse here.

third, with 68 votes, me! 300+ friends, 300+ wall messages and many many status links, but just 68 votes): oh well.

fourth, colin, with 56 votes.

fifth, 30 votes, karina.

sixth, 30 votes, aileen.

and the rest, who definitely put in effort as well:

a leap of faith

just took that one small step for somebody else but a big step for me.

i clicked on the bubble that said "nus arts and social science", meaning i'm rejecting ntu's offer or psych. so after i send in my form p and nus receives it, i'll be officially an nus student.

omgomgomg. i. am. going. to. uni.

this phase of mine prolly makes zero sense to everybody else, but i know at least one person feeling the same way. ytd at the fass open house, i walked past this girl telling her friends how magical it was, "anyhow take a levels also can end up in nus".

my exact sentiments. i rmb telling A, that time i met D and her for lunch after an interview, that i reallyreallyreallyreally think i'm gonna have to retake my a's. but look where i am now.

even though i have been brutally rejected by some organisations for certain things, i'm glad that this twist of fate had occurred, for me to land a place in fass. and i'm gonna continue taking german. a secret wish of mine, to locate my host family. the internet hasn't been working in my favour to help me accomplish that.

still many questions i have about uni. when do i start bidding for my modules, do i not have class everyday, will yog make my grades fall, when do my parents start paying tuition fees, how do i select my modules etc etc.

just finished watching goh keng swee's state funeral. a few days back i wrote a fb message @george yeo and @ vivian balakrishnan, asking if i could pull strings to get an invite to the ceremony. george yeo (or his secretary) replied that only official invites from pmo count. i.e, no i can't go.

i can't figure out why he thinks i know wht pmo stands for. but i do la, prime minister's office. because of the first ever event that i emceed, the goh came from pmo. sorry digress.

i think dr goh's grandniece's awesome. i was listening to/watching the prev four eulogies, all they dd was to make me yawn alot. but hers actually made me cry. did a check on fb, apparently she's younger than me and in vj? or did i find the wrong person.

just a little extra info. i went to dr goh's wake ytd, and in the signing book, i said i want to be as great as he was.

my email thread with "fedex"

so one fine day in april i got another of those scam award emails in my mailbox. but this time i decided to reply to see what happens. here're the print screens of my email thread with mr david mark, supposedly from fedex but internet sources have also linked him to several credit card companies.

didn't even bother to put in my name, lol.

the next email was on the same day, awhile after.

didn't even tell him i got the info from google maps lol.

then i got bored so i stopped replying. but mr mark was adamant. four days later:

never replied, and he never got back to me either. lousy.

time passes, things happen.

hard work gets one far, but does it guarantee a happy life ahead?

as i spammed my fb friends to get them to vote for me for nssl's competition, i came across so many friends who are going places higher, places better.

i've got to know these people because of my relatively high psle results. it was that three digits that brought me this far, i guess. without it i don't think i would have been able to experience that psychometric test. without it i won't have been sent so many scholarship invitations. without it i won't have had the opportunity to study german.

my results have definitely deviated from the norm, i.e. the people who scored that high then. there are people going to law school, people going to med school, people going overseas, people having to defer ns, but i'll be here, in singapore, in nus, in fass.

i think i have wasted quite abit of taxpayers' money, but well, i'm happy with what i have.

the future's uncertain, but i have people to endure this journey with me(:

Dr Bob Moorehead

The Paradox of Our Age

We have taller buildings, but shorter tempers; wider freeways but narrower viewpoints. We spend more, but have less. We buy more, but enjoy it less. We have bigger houses and smaller families; more conveniences, but less time; We have more degrees, but less sense; more knowledge, but less judgment; more experts, but more problems; more medicine, but less wellness. We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get too angry too quickly, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too seldom, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom.

We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often. We’ve learned how to make a living, but not a life. We’ve added years to life, not life to years. We’ve been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet the new neighbor. We’ve conquered outer space, but not inner space. We’ve done larger things, but not better things. We’ve cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul. We’ve split the atom, but not our prejudice. We’ve learned to rush, but not to wait. We plan more, but accomplish less. We write more, but learn less. We build more computers to hold more information, to produce more copies than ever, but have less communication.

These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion; tall men, and short character; steep profits, and shallow relationships. These are the times of world peace, but domestic warfare; more leisure, but less fun; more kinds of food, but less nutrition. These are days of two incomes, but more divorce; of fancier houses, but broken homes. These are days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throw-away morality, one-night stands, overweight bodies, and pills that do everything from cheer to quiet, to kill. It is a time when there is much in the show window but nothing in the stock room. Indeed, these are the times!