When the reunion session came to an end, "Another year has passed"-that was what I thought. Strange. There wasn't a surge of emotions, besides perhaps at a fleeting, ephemeral moment, when I felt a sudden wrenching of the heart... (haha) There weren't as many audience and singers as the previous years'. Though lacklustre, I am glad I came. It meant something to me like it was through carolling when a strong desire to be in vjc choir was first established... (: We get to see our friends, seniors, mr kwei, it is still a call for celebration? (: I hope vjc choir will keep singing at raffles hotel on Christmas day every year... I am going to bring my children there to listen to the choir! :D

It was great spending christmas with my favourite choir people. (My family went to Malaysia.) There are some things we mind and care a lot for and yet these feelings may not be exactly reciprocated or "duplicated" like how we have ermmm... committed ourselves to when we were in their shoes. Maybe we over-generalise... oh well, things can't be that bad! :D I better start writing letters, and making my gifts that I have procrastinated ever since SOV! I am such a lousy friend. heh.


Thank you for the cards and gifts and love!

Should I even attempt to start writing christmas cards? Madness. I want to but I don't want to start knowing that I can't finish. I am becoming lazier after the exams... This is so horrible. I need to get my life back in order! Carolling is not as fun as the past two years'. No panicking, no excitement, no arguing, no fighting... all you have to do is to turn up OR not turn up... it doesn't matter cos'' your presence is not 'compulsory'... and SO FEW YEAR 2 SOPS! It made everything seem so BLEAK. ok, I still have other yr twos... yr ones around... (: Those yr twos who say they will come but they didn't... ARGHHHHH. I want to box your faces. hahaha.

Anyway, that aside, the trip to China was not bad. I like learning about Chinese history and I really think it is a shame if chinese does not know chinese stuff... HAHA.. or in fact, chinese, for that matter. There were so many intricate details about their architecture, design, food, clothes... Our ancestors were really geniuses, weren't they? Oh and I have heard from the tour guides regarding their impressions of Singaporeans. The most common one was how we are unable to express ourselves- we don't laugh out loud, we don't talk a lot. Another interesting point was how the tour guides think their previous singaporean customers all seemed very demure and ''obedient"-they would appear to agree on everything and once they got home, they would file a lot of complaints. One tour guide told us it is funny how Singaporeans seem to take a lot of pride in the cleanliness of the garden city... so when he went to Singapore, he was quite determined to find some dirty spots... and he did! He told us he saw cans, bottles, bags in Singapore River and he took a photograph of it! I was laughing to myself-serve them right... well, when that tour guide told his singaporean clients after that trip about his 'discovery', one of them said the rubbish floated all the way from Malaysia. like what!!! The tour guides thought our tour group consisted of Singaporeans but ironically, it is a bus that was 7/8 made up of Malaysians or people originally from Malaysia... It was rather hilarious because I think my parents and their friends on board were nothing like the non-expressive sort-they were in fact rather frank and they cracked a lot of stupid jokes on the bus.

The whole portrayal of Singaporeans was erm... I guess, Singaporeans reading this... should go and think about it how prone you are to comparing to the food, roads, people, etc to that of Singapore... and how you complain, complain, complain... haha. Darren was saying when he was in HK with his classmates, it was extremely to identify the Singaporean tourists... They have CERTAIN TRAITS. Coincidentally, there is a talk show next week about how Singaporeans behave overseas... I caught the trailers and I was like THAT ALL SEEM so FAMILIAR.

I try not to complain too much... (:but I guess I could not really appreciate the oily and salty Chinese food... I have weird stomach pain in the later part of the trip. oh and I like Beijing better than Shanghai... It is older and has a stronger rustic charm but you can see the beginning of deliberate urban renewal... hmm. Many hutongs were torn down and they have English words splattered all over which I think are an insult to the 5000 chinese history... they become bars and pubs and cafes... The cosmopolitian setup will serve the Westerners well, won't they? Is that the only way to woo foreigners? Everything is done in preparation for Beijing 2008. Nonetheless, it is a huge affair, yet I think in some aspects, they 'abuse' this tag to advertise and sell not really related products or services which in the end, did get on our nerves... The touting culture and the whole deceptive "i-give-you-something-free-but-actually-when-you-are-there-we-will-talk-unstil-your-heart-softens" and "it-is-government-related-you-are-protected" concept offset the beautiful memories we have of Jiangnan, Shanghai and Beijing. The Chinese are even more competitive than Singaporeans-there is no queue and first-come-first-serve basis-basically whoever dares to push to the limits wins. I have heard some of them speak English better than most Singaporeans... They are really serious. So think about it, they can speak excellent Mandarin and English and they are knowledgeable, witty, practical-er, excuse me, where do that put us? It is like you witness how everyone in China tries to cling on to this ladder to the great Beijing 2008 and claim a part of China's economic success as their own... We all feel a twinge of sympathy especially for people left behind in this mad race to the frontline to receive and tap the foriegn/foreign currency and resources... I feel quite disturbed and I don't really know what to make of this INCOME DISPARITY(???)It is more of just an income really, more than some absolute numbers... it is the lifestyle... the kind of commitments they have to stick at a tender age and here we are in Singapore, AFRAID of commitments, of working... We are lucky. We have a choice. They don't.

yes, merry christmas, everyone.

NAKATA IS IN TOWN! I have to say this because he is the epitome of japanese men. Alright alright, HYPERBOLIC. hahaha. It happened that a few nights ago, Jolene and I were swooning over him as we caught him on tv. I think the show was telling us about his 'retired''life... and the moment, the shot of nakata in a smart suit in an interview came on, we were like oooh and ahh. He is a good, charismatic speaker and (he is cute)... usually Japanese will have this very heavy accent when they speak English. For him , it was almost non-existent... okay, I have to think of a way to swerve from this adolescent-like moment...

While a lot of people have blogged about sdd and exhibited their photos, I have not! I wrote the entry halfway and was attracted to the more appealing hot japanese swimmers(sheesh, another of that MOMENTS) in Doha. ah, I am actually a TEAM SINGAPORE supporter. I screamed and cheered so much for remy ong, tao li and sun bei bei, ok. alright, so I am going to rewrite about that whole SDD thing. I guess it wasn't as fun as I thought it would be but everyone looked pretty/handsome that night. All the make-up, hair, dresses... All the being ''wrapped up in our own worlds""... It was quite irritating seeing the trouble we had imposed on the people who were serving us. Sometimes, there wasn't even an apology for the inconvenience we had caused, we just happily assumed that it was our prerogative and right to jostle and push, take picture and look pretty... oh come on, don't give me the diva attitude.

My classmates were lovely and spontaneous, clique or no clique... we rocked big time! We were rather crazy. Shawn and his band started playing and you know being very supportive and loyal friends, Bernice and Jolene, grabbed us on stage (I think it is both of them) with a few other tsd people. It was insane because the hall was rather dull and we were like dancing on the platform. It was embarassing yet fun-must do something unplanned once in a while. I am reading chick lit now-it is like don't you sometimes just hate how everything is measured in seconds, minutes and hours... how ur schedules/study timetables used to be like so structured and organised... we need a break from organisation and TIME. (It is human-imposed!) I know I can't stray far though-there is still this innate desire for rigidity and limitations because there come CHALLENGES! haha.

My choir friends! I think we are a special bunch.(: Amazingly, we managed to gather all the year twos outside the ballroom. (It was done by the sweeping-down method.) We took batch and section pictures and then sang together! I MISS SINGING. like ahhhhh. Seeing all those 'singing' expressions on my friends as we stood in a circle was heartwarming... I was swiveled into the 'mood' too I wish though at the moment, for my singing voice to come back to me! We ended off with "The Shower". Thank you, everyone there! (: Sopsies, altos, tenors and basses!

I chilled out with my classmates after prom. It wasn't exactly chilling-out. We went to mos and I totally love that room. okay, It is the most 'tame'' room(NO SMOKE) with the best music, I reckon. Ryan and adrian were like our guides. Eventually, my other other classmates(Serene babe and co) came too and samuel and co were there so we all kinda did our crazy dance along with the retro music. I love "Take on Me"! It was a great song to loosen ourselves. I concluded though that clubbing isn't my thing. There were a lot to pay for like after clubbing, my throat ended up hoarser and I had to walk back to the hotel, barefooted. The stupid killer heels. I still love them anyway. They are gorgeous. :D

THIS IS THE FUN PART. (I sound so loserish...I rather be intellectual.) I might not aspire to be an avid clubber but I adore the boardgame-CRANIUM! We decided not to sleep in the end because it was already like 4 plus am when we got back to the hotel. Cranium is the ultimate nut-cracker. My team (Talia, Meredith) rocks! It was very funny, watching your friends act or having your friends collapse with laughter at your nonsensical antics... well, at least you do not have to shout/strain your ear to hold a conversation. It was thrilling and yet homely and WE GOT OUR BRAINS working despite the lack of sleep. I want to play the game again. ((:

VJC was pretty amazing. I bonded more with my old friends-my momos-what can I do without both of you! There are the geogers as well, my new friends -okay Bev is considered old, we were japanese classmates but people like winnie, nelson, celine, samuel (so many others)... (a55) jolene, ryan, josey, sherene, yingying, junyi, huiqing(she told me she knewabout my atrocious handwriting and passion in lit back in dhs!), meredith, Elaine and Qiuyi...the tsdians- yeekuang, cheryl, talia, steph, sam, mik, marcus... ANYWAY, I dreamt about JOSEF TAN last night. What a fright. Huiqing was in my dream too. I woke up, bewildered. It was something like I offended him by saying he couldn't get us As with his teaching (sth like that) and he was like ARE YOU SURE, apparently affronted and I felt bad because I was not trying to convey that message- I can't remember why I went to talk to him anyway. I told huiqing my troubles and I approached him again to apologise... the rest I couldn't remember. It was really scary... as in I was not even in touch with geography the past few weeks. Horrible dream. okay, back to where I was. The choir friends! Jean and of course our new zealand friends, katie, katrina and clayton we have made because of the opportunity given by vjc. (katie is going to pursue psychology! coolness. (: His cutie brother is all grown up! jeannette is like gaga over him. ) There is andrew and dunmanians like grace too and my buddy for (oops!) NINE YEARS(!!!) berdine geh!

I am so lazy to post photos now. Next post alright! (: I have to wake up early. It's DUNMAN HIGH TIME tommorow! :D

I am so crazy about Les Miserables now. I went online to search and watch the different renditions... I feel like buying/borrowing the dvd. I definitely want to catch the Japanese production too. They have some good voices and actresses there. (:

For the first half of the musical, I was pretty distracted because I couldn't find my phone. The second half is much more appealing. I think it is amazing how they coordinate and come together and put up such a musical with so few people! They changed their costumes so many times... okay, it gets a bit confusing at times but it is incredible like how one person needs to take on so many multiple roles. (: "On my own" is so sad... I love Eponine. She is so self-sacrificing. I heard Marie couldn't stop crying while watching that scene.

Well done, juniors. (:

The birthday boy and his enormous cake!

Kenny and his vicious look