Everyone Loves Danping!

Short post

2005-10-03T03:16:00.000-07:00

Heyo all.

Just a short update. The old punk is getting slightly better. Thanks to all those lovely people who send their regards. I am sure ah mah will appreciates it. Yesterday evening, she drank a lot more water and could say "goodnight" to us. Now, I am hoping she can go back to shouting "Ah Har, Ah Har!" at the top of her lungs soon. I promise not to get irritated that she gets my name wrong.

Erm. Okay.

At least, not very irritated...

Ah mah, get well soon, ok?

I love the world and everyone loves Danping!

My grandma is sick

2005-10-01T05:06:00.000-07:00

This is a sad post. My granny, aka the old punk, is sick. Really down.

She has not said any crap for the entire day and only took in two measely mouthfuls of porridge, some water and four panadols. I know that this day would come sooner or later all along. But it is really hard to see her so weak and lifeless. I tried giving her water this afternoon but she don't want to drink at all. At that time, i felt so helpless to see her slipping away that i started crying. She won't even call me "Ah Har" now.

There is really nothing much we can do now, except to check on her every once in a while and let her rest. Everyone in the family is still carrying on with their usual activities, like watching tv, or doing housework, but I think, deep down, we are all feeling a little sad.

I am a free-thinker but i pray that ah mah will leave peacefully and painlessly.

Ah ma, i love you.

I love the world and everyone loves Danping!

2005-07-17T02:55:00.000-07:00

Hey, anyone there?

I haven't been blogging for ages it seems. Somehow, after starting work proper, I have been holding back the urge to blog. There are just too many considerations for me to blog. While i would love to share with my friends the horrors i have encountered in school daily, much of these horror stories are best kept away from the public's, and hence, the Internet's, view. There is simply too many things that i can't say comfortably to everyone and anyone. Sad.

So i guess it's goodbye for now. Maybe, just maybe, after my three year-bond, I would be back in full force.

Ta-ta.

I love the world and everyone loves Danping!

Hokkien jokes

2005-05-11T10:04:00.000-07:00

I guess i am slow, but still, I couldn't resist sharing this bit of Singapore National Education (SNE) taken from mr. brown's site with you guys.

16. That NTUC bought over the premises formerly occupied by happening (but broke) club, Embassy, located at Esplanade and plans to renovate and rename it "NTUC Club".
With the new club, NTUC hopes to acquire "a hip quotient".
So the next time your Ah Beng friends ask you, *"Ai ki NTUC, mai?"
**"Tiao bu ah si buay chai?"
*("Do you want to go to NTUC or not?")
**("To go dancing or buy groceries?")

I dunno why, but somehow, crap in Hokkien always get me in stitches.

And there is this hokkienlang guy, whose entire blog is in the Hokkien dialect. Now, that is something.

Me: Wa ma si ai eng Hokkien blog, tat si wa boh gao steady. Wa eh Hokkien si puah tang zui nia. Ko leng wa aw pai qia wa eh ah ma lai bang wa blog.

PS: But last time I checked, the site is down. Probably because of the millions pouring in from Tomorrow.sg that choking up the bandwidth. Hopefully it would be back soon.

PS: PS: And also, thanks to Rong who immediately thought of me when she saw the hokkienlang guy blog.

I love the world and everyone loves Danping!

2005-05-10T01:28:00.000-07:00

Just a little update on my grandma.

She had her arm cast removed last week in Alexandra Hospital. For those of you who had never witnessed the cast removal process, it was a rather scary process. Freaking, actually, i would say. The cast was removed using an electric saw. I guess it would be a less frightening experience if had the saw been slightly smaller and a lot less loud. As a spectator, I felt positively frightened when Mr. Cast-Removal first switched on the electric saw. I guess ah ma is also rather alarmed when she heard the loud motor noise from the electric saw. If she had been mobile, i guess she would have jumped right out of her arm chair, snatched the electric saw out of Mr. Cast-Removal's hands and whacked him hard on the head with her casted right arm. Unfortunately, she was not, and she could only glare at me and my mum accusingly, and mumbled something about how clever we all are to trap her into the room. I couldn't really hear her clearly as her voice was soon drowned out by the sound of the electric saw grinding loudly away on the arm cast.

Five minutes, and many long, unhappy glares later, we were done removing the cast and ah ma's right arm is back into view again. After a very long wait and a very short look by the bone specialist, we were told that ah ma's right arm is recovering well. As a additional precaution, the specialist told us that we could get a wrist splint fixed for her, and so, like the average kiasu Singaporean family, we did.

Here's ah ma, with her new wrist splint replacing the cast.

This is taken this morning. She is enjoying her mid-morning coffee in her blue plastic cup.

Ah ma seems to be looking better these days. I think it is the cast. Or rather, the absence of it. She is able to pinch things using her right hand now. Which is somewhat dangerous. Think i better go keep my letters out of her sight first... ...

2005-05-08T01:55:00.000-07:00

You Belong in Rome

You're a big city girl with a small town heart

Which is why you're attracted to the romance of Rome

Strolling down picture perfect streets, cappuccino in hand

And gorgeous Italian men - could life get any better?

What City Do You Belong in? Take This Quiz :-)

Find the Love of Your Life
(and More Love Quizzes) at Your New Romance.

I love the world and everyone loves Danping!

What is safe to blog about nowadays?

2005-05-06T21:18:00.000-07:00

Yeah. Bet everyone's heard about the former scholar who had to shut down his blog after he got a legal letter from the A*Star people. I can't decide which is more unfortunate: having to remove one's blog from blogosphere or having annoying legal emails sent when one's facing the university exams.

Sigh.

So what's really okay to ~~bitch~~ blog about nowadays? I surely dun want to receive and try to understand legal letters sent to my house in the middle of the school term when i am drowning in marking stacks of homework and late submissions. Some more my Englrish not that good. Understanding that cheem legal terms can kill people, you know? (That's why so few law students survived till their graduation. Those few that finally did become full fledged lawyers are rewarded with high social status and could charge their clients crazily high fees for their lawyerly services. But i digress.)

So what else could I blog about? Something that is safe, but annoying, and that won't threaten legal actions against me, regardless of how unfair i might be?

My ah ma (grandma), of course!

2005-05-06T21:17:00.000-07:00

This is taken on the second day after ah mah came home from hospital. Check out that huge white plaster cast.

Dun play play ah. My ah ma is a kongfu expert okay! Watch out for her iron-claded arms...

2005-05-06T21:13:00.000-07:00

This is one of the most recent shots of my ah ma. See that huge gauze dressing on her forehead? Her lastest summer collection 2005.

She bumped her head a few days after she returned home from her two-week vacation stay at Alexandra Hospital. The wound resulted when she lost her balance and fell down the side of her chair after an afternoon shower. The ony eye-witness, Dad, was ready to call the ambulance again when he saw the huge amount of blood flowing. Thankfully, the blood stopped rather quickly for this 90-year old punky grandma of mine. After much panic, gauze, cotton wool, and some bandage tape later, ah ma is up and smilin' again.

That old punk.

Waaaaait a minute!

2005-05-02T02:10:00.000-07:00

Wah kao!

I just re-visited my own blog page and saw this psycho monopolising my tagboard -- he typed like a thousand comments into the tagboard until finally, the tagboard only display his, and no one else, messages of smiley faces. Not exactly the way to put a smile on someone's face, huh.

Strange ah. The inn-ther-net. Like also got some weirdo doing things like that. I hope at least that makes him happy. that nutcase. jiar bar sio eng.

chey.

I love the world and everyone loves Danping!

I am back!

2005-05-02T01:58:00.000-07:00

It's been a long time but, yeah, Danping is back. Will blog more about my grandma and her 'iron' arm soon. (erm. I hope.)

I love the world and everyone loves Danping!

Hey, I read too!

2005-02-18T19:34:00.000-08:00

I just finished reading two books recently. It’s been quite a while since I managed to find nice novels and it’s been an even longer while since I managed to finish reading them. Man, even I am impressed with myself.

*Looks pleased*

*Looks very pleased*

*Looks very very pleased*

Ok. I will stop being annoying. The books.

The first book that I had read is “By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept”, by Paulo Coelho. For the uninspired, Paulo Coelho is the writer of “The Alchemist”, which is supposed to be a very popular and successful book, which I wanted to read but never got the chance to. (Also, rather amazingly, Yurong remembers the book as the book that my ex-boyfriend used to read, but I had completely no recollections of that. Isn’t that spooky?)

Anyway, back to “By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept”. It’s a nice book to read. It’s written from the perspective of a girl, whom met up with a friend from her childhood days and re-found the courage to love. It wrote of things that struck a chord in me. Of wanting a stable life, with a stable job and a foreseeable future. Of giving up our dreams in the name of growing up. Of the internal struggle of not daring to love. It was as if the writer also knew what I am going, or had gone, through, and managed to verbalise those very subtle emotions and thoughts that I am unable to express. It was nice to read all that.

But the book is also rather difficult for me to fully understand as it talked quite a bit on Christianity faith. The book talked about the churches, people speaking in tongues, people with healing powers, and the Lourdes. The male lead is actually some sort of seminarian, which, till now, I am still not quite sure what that means. I guess the book might have been even better for someone who can understand all that religious jargons. I think I am still more used to the idea of Dua Pek Gong and The Goddess of Mercy, lah.

After departing from all the religious talk, I went on to read the second book “The Hiding Place” by Trezza Azzopardi. It was a totally different book about the lives of Frankie and Mary Gauci, with their six daughters, told from the perspective of their youngest daughter, Dolores. They lived in too small a house, with too many children. Frankie always gambled away more than he could afford to, leaving Mary to fend for herself and her entire family. If “By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept” is romantic and dreamy, “The Hiding Place” is certainly like a reality TV show, with sometimes too much harsh truth in it. The book tugs at my heartstrings without being overly melancholy. It was really a good read.

Are you going to start reading too?

I love the world and everyone loves Danping!

Leaving Hall

2005-02-02T03:10:00.000-08:00

Heyo, heyo…

Within 2 hours time, I would moving my hefty desktop home from hostel. And that would mark the beginning of the Painful Process of Moving Home. Besides, the hefty desktop, I still have tones of notes and textbooks, bags and bags of clothes, pillows, toiletries, and groceries, and bowls, and mugs, and dunno-what-else, to bring home.

Awww.

I would miss hall life.

I would miss having a nice bed to sleep during the 4-hour breaks, while my course mates have to wander aimlessly in school. I would miss the LAN cable connection in hall. I would miss having a roommate to chat, and to bicker, with. I would miss the nice Malay cleaning auntie of my block. I would miss sleeping until 7.50am on days where I have an 8.30am class. I would miss the Hall 14 canteen mee-pok uncle. I would miss all those Vietnamese hostelites living on the same floor as me. I would miss the chao-ah-beng complaint IC of Block 69. I would miss the smelly, perverted-infested laundry room.

Erm, ok, maybe not the last bit. But I guess I would miss my hall life.

I think it gets even sadder because I also associate staying in hall with studying days. Yes, I know I am a “working” adult now, but I am still think of myself pretty much as a student, rushing reports, doing projects and attending classes day to day. And maybe dreaming in class as well. Sigh. Soon, I would be standing in front of the class, trying to teach Pythagoras’ theorem to a bunch of people who didn’t really want to be there. Think I would probably get my retribution, plus interest, then for not paying attention in class. Good luck, Danping, good luck.

Ok. Gotta go. Dunno when I would blog again. I am supposed to fix the phone jack thing back into the computer on my own. I really wonder if I am able to manage. Hmmm. I guess I would need more good luck. Hope my computer will manage to pull through.

See ya soon! (I hope.)

I love the world and everyone loves Danping!

The Dolphin Lagoon Trip

2005-02-01T01:45:00.000-08:00

Smiles! That's me and Zhixiong on our way to Dolphin Lagoon last Sunday...

We were there with Zhixiong's sister, Hongwei (Zhixiong's good pal), and Shuling (Hongwei's girl). We were there to see Zhixiong's best friend, Youren (total hunk, total hunk!!!), in action. Youren is working as a trainer with Dolphin Lagoon and, yes, he gets to cuddle up close to the cute pink dolphins for a living! How cool is that?

What's more, he had invited us to a real treat -- A Swim with the Dolphins!!!

Actually, it was part of his birthday present and surprise for Zhixiong. Can you imagine that?? A best friend that plans big birthday surprises for Zhixiong, went on graduation trips with him, and he's a total hunk to boot? Wow...

2005-02-01T01:41:00.000-08:00

My first hug with a real dolphin! This is Jumbo that i get to hug. Man, he's really huge!

Oh, by the way, the guy behind me wasn't Youren. Pity, that i haven't got his photos for that day with me... Anyway, this guy is another trainer that was with us that day.

2005-02-01T01:39:00.000-08:00

And this is Zhixiong, having a handshake with Jumbo.

Look at how pink Jumbo is!

The older a dolphin is, the pinker he is, and sweeter he looks. How lucky. I wished human beings were like that too... The older we get, the pinker and more radiant we are, and the prettier we look. Anyway, back to Jumbo. He is the great male dolphin in our Dolphin Lagoon right now, something like the King there.

After our swim, we got to enjoy a really nice (and improved) dolphin show, with Youren as one of the trainers on the show. This show was really miles better than the one we watched on 2nd January, which was a depressing pouring day. The act was longer, the dolphins did more stunts, and yes, there were the otters that could pick up rubbish, as well! Neat.

After the show ended, Youren also treated us to a lunch of fish and chips at the Lagoon... What a sweet guy he is...

Thanks a million, Youren!

KTV Outing with my JC bunch!

2005-02-01T00:08:00.000-08:00

There. A shot of the old 98S24 bunch.

We've counted. It's been 6 long years since we've graduated from junior college!

Goodness me! Had it been that long?? And i kept thinking that JC was just something that happened a couple of years ago... Have I really grown so much older and wiser?

Or is it only older?

Anyway, from left, that's Huixin, Taso, Ah Goh, Ruyih, me, Suzhen, and Kang Chee. Cheers to you old boys and girls... Take good care, won't ya? The good old times....

Woof, woof

2005-01-28T05:52:00.000-08:00

Look at this, look at this!!!

Introducing my new handphone cover -- Wuo Wuo!!!

Isn't it simply cute??

Ho ho ho....

I got it from the school bazaar today!

I first saw it on Wednesday, but I decided, very rationally, not to buy it for practical reasons. It didn't really protect my new darling Samsung phone, the cover doesn't really fit perfectly, and most important of all, it's furry and will get dirty over time. And consider the fact that my handphone follows me everywhere, it will not only get dirty over time, it will get very dirty over very short time.

But then over a period of two short days, the impractical airhead in me finally surfaced and I could finally contain it no longer and bought it anyway! Wahahahahaha! I don't know why but I feel so happy after that...

His name is Wuo Wuo. Same as the name I call all dogs in the world. But my doggie will also adopt my surname, which is Wu. So officially, its full name is Wu Wuo Wuo. Hoohoohoo... I am so funny!

Lalaladida!

My Sister's Wedding

2005-01-24T09:44:00.000-08:00

There!
My sister's wedding last December!

2005-01-24T08:41:00.000-08:00

A shot of the cousin jie-meis and the bride-to-be (all without makeup... snigger, snigger... Lucky, i was the one with the camera...) From the left: Kaixin, Kaili, Huimin, Bride-to-be-Danyi.

2005-01-24T08:39:00.000-08:00

And here's a shot of the bride (with makeup) and my grandma (aka Old Punk).

Does it look like Old Punk is trying to run away from my sister's clutches or something?

Muahahaha....

2005-01-24T08:32:00.000-08:00

Here's a shot of my mum and sister!

2005-01-24T08:30:00.000-08:00

The happy bride and groom!

2005-01-24T08:29:00.000-08:00

The bride and groom and all the bridesmaids and best men. Oh yes, check out that fat cousin of mine on the left. Looks like he owns the place, hor? Muahahhaha....

My New Samsung Phone

2005-01-24T08:24:00.000-08:00

Oh yes, I need to show off my NEW SAMSUNG PHONE!!!

There.

Doesn't it look charming?

Very nice. Very nice indeed.

And very appropriate for a charming person like me.

Yes, I can hear you are agreeing wholeheartedly with me. Good.

Actually, getting a new phone is a very big deal to a techno-phobic person like yours truly. First, you need to get use to all that terminology that the phone salesmen would use. Annoying meaningless acronyms are used over and over again until you can take it no longer. E330C, N6170, LG C110, WAP, JAVA, GSM, GPRS, MMS, SMS and ASS. It is almost like I am in the army.

Then, you have to scan the papers each day to look for phone adverts to get a good feel of the market rates for mobile phones today. And more importantly, make sure you don't miss out on some fabulous deals and stupidly purchase the most expensive handphone available in Singapore.

After, the doing the paper research, (sounds cheem, doesn't it?), you still have to go down to Singtel shop to take a good long look at your intended phone behind the showcase. And then, spent the rest of the time careful not to get trampled to death by the Mystery-Woodlands-Crowd-That-Hogs-The-Singtel-Shop-At-Causeway-Point. Very unfortunate to buy a new phone and lose three of your toes in the process, you know?

Then, after all that trouble, you finally bought the phone, in the escort of boyfriend, sister and brother-in-law, and you get to the worst part of the New-Phone-Experience - data entry. Wah lau eh. I didn?t know I had so much phone numbers in my old phone. It's been over a week since I bought the phone and I am still at entering the "L" people numbers into the new phone. Still, I am optimistic that I would be done entering all the data by the Chinese New Year - Year 2006.

But seriously, it was tough switching phones. The saddest moment must be when the Singtel lady asked to pass up my old Nokia 6510 for the trade in. I have got like 10 secs to say goodbye and you know how hard it can get. Those lovey-dovey SMS, old birthday wishes, the countless birthday reminders, the monophonic "Long Vacation" ringtone? Oh man, I got to stop, if not, I would sob inconsolably again... It was like going through a breakup. Only that I have the next boyfriend's arms around me right away. Or rather, I have my arms around the new guy right away.

2005-01-24T08:22:00.000-08:00

Like that?

Muahahaha?.

Oh yes, forgot to mention the best part of my phone!

2005-01-24T08:21:00.000-08:00

I can play Puzzle Bubble on it!! You know, the game where you try to burst three or more bubbles of the same colors together? Yeah. The inverted, colorful version of the Brick Game. It was really shiok to play the bubble game while waiting for the bus! Bus no come, I also no scare liao. Can play even longer what.

Back to school, back to school

2005-01-17T19:44:00.000-08:00

Today, I decided to blog again. I have realized that there must a positive correlation between my blogging frequency and the drudgery of my workload.

Boring industrial attachment – Setting up of first blogpage
Final Year Project – Weekly blogs
December vacation spent doing FYP – Daily blogs
Final Year Project nearing the damn deadline – Hourly blogs
Job searching and bumming – Low or no blogs
NIE semester 1 – Some blogs
Vacations – No blogs

And, ah, you have guessed it right!

I have got loads of school work to do again. I am back on the laborious stretch of spending prolonged periods in front of the computer terminal, doing and trying to do work. Sigh. The term has indeed started. *Glums*

This term is going to be much shorter then the previous one, with only 6 weeks. After that, I would be sent to feed the insatiable appetites of young sharks, oops, I mean, young minds. Whooopee! I almost can’t wait.

But I digress.

As I was saying, this term is much shorter and I have fewer modules to clear. The only unfortunate bit is that, because of the shorter term period, the intensity and the frequency of my classes increase. Now, I would have to face the same lecturer for a total of 4 hours each week, instead of the usual 2, i.e. twice as seong and four times as boring. Oh, goody, goody!

The other unfortunate bit is that I have 8.30am lessons for 3 out of 4 schooldays. This makes going home daily quite impossible and I have to stay in hall if I do not want to risk being trampled to death the insane NTU 179 crowd each morning. Or, by the crazier NIE 199 crowd. Sigh.

But I remembered that I read somewhere that there is good in everything, just that sometimes it is much obvious and I have to search for it. So, I guess I must be less cranky and think of happy things and find some goodness in the 8.30am class. Hmm. So, what is it? Maybe it is that I now get to wake up at the same time as my roommate and bond while walking to school every morning? Instead of letting her see me lie in bed like a pig while she scrambles for her horrible Chinese lessons? Yes. That must be it. The goodness that I have managed to search in the horrible 8.30-ness.

Speaking of horrible Chinese lessons, I am convinced that, if there is one person that suffering more that I do for school, it must be my roommate. She has lessons stacked one after another for a full five-day week and her discussion forums are all in Chinese, which looks damn scary from where I am sitting. The last I heard was that her Chinese department has robbed her class of their precious March holidays. Ah, the sad, sad tales of the sad, sad people.

Ok, I guess I would probably stop here. Haven’t been blogging much and my fingers are tired already. Think I would try to blog again soon, about my NEW SAMSUNG PHONE. For a handphone-dinosaur, I finally have a phone with the MMS function! I will blog about the insane satisfaction I get from downloading MMS, games and other cool stuff soon. If, I manage to work out how those stuff works, that is…

Ciao!

I love the world and everyone loves Danping!

2004-12-23T09:47:00.000-08:00

HO HO HO!

MERRY MERRY CHRISTMAS!

I love the world and everyone loves Danping!

Where has Danping gone?

2004-11-29T12:23:00.000-08:00

Goodness me! It has been over three disgusting weeks since my last blog! That is not quite forgivable for any self-respecting blogger, with an *ahem* extremely, wide readership! My readers would begin to feel depressed each time they clicked on my blog and discovered that there is still no news from their favorite blogger! They would start to either binge like crazy or chew on their own nails (usually fingernails, but sometimes, toenails, as well) or click “REFRESH” on my blog page every 0.243 seconds to help them take away part of the grief of missing something terribly important in their lives -- me, their favorite blogger.

OH, MY POOR READERS! I SHOULDN’T HAVE LEFT YOU WITHOUT A SINGLE WORD FOR WEEKS AND WEEKS! OH! MY BAD! MY WRONG! MY MISDEEDS! FORGIVE ME, MY READERS, FOR I HAVE SINNED! PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE FORGIVE ME AND STOP BINGEING AND STOP CHEWING YOUR TOENAIL TOO, YOU DISUSTING UNHYGENIC IMBECILE!

Good.

Now, where was I?

Oh, yes. My lack of blogs. My bad. You see, I was enjoying my wonderful holidays.

Oh, let’s make that, my wonderful paid holidays.

Oops. I didn’t mean to sound sarcastic but well, my job gives me paid holidays. How does that compare to yours?

Wooo-hoo-hoo-hoo.

Eat your hearts out, you losers.

(Of course, my job also gives me tests and reports and endless lesson plannings and meetings and higher risks of heart attacks, but let’s not go into that today, ok?)

Anyway, let’s not digress. The updates.

Well, all is well here with your happy blogger. Despite my long disappearance, nothing much has changed for me. My boobs are still the same size, my sex remains as female, my chicken pox scar on the forehead is still there and I still have curly hair. I am sure you are relieved to hear all that. Personally, I think it would be very disturbing if my friends that I have not seen for a month has decided to change sex or get their boobs fixed. These are earth-shattering decisions, leh. I hereby appeal to all my friends to email me to inform me their earth shattering decisions and I want to be there for you. And maybe when two person go fix their boobs, it will be cheaper too.

So what have I been doing?

Well, I have been away on a short trip to Bintan with Zhixiong. And his entire family plus their spouses and plus their friends. So it was hardly some kinda kinky getaway, as some of you (yes, you!) might be thinking of. It was a bright sunshiny kind of family holiday, spent bumming away in the resort villa, which was super luxurious. It was a huge villa in the Bintan Lagoon Resort, that comes with 3 living rooms, 1 dining room, kitchen, 4 bedrooms, private swimming pool, BBQ pit and a personal buggy!!! How neat is that?!

Private swimming pool… Ahh…

The only flip side of the trip was that the resort which we went to cater for mostly Singaporean, Japan, and Ang-moh tourists. So you can well imagine how bloody expensive things are within the resort. A bowl of ice kacang costs S$5 there! FIVE DOLLARS leh! For ice kacang?? Siao. I didn’t try it but I think with the exorbitant price that they are charging, they very well be serving me gold shavings on top of MY ice kacang.

Despite the zero shopping possible, the trip was still pretty enjoyable and fun as I could swim and play as much as I wanted! The swimming pools were nice, but the best was the beach with all those surfs. I realized that surfs are probably a lot nicer and enjoyable if you dun have to approach them sitting in a kayak with the nagging worry that you would somehow break your neck or dislocate your arm. *Shudders at thought of Ramunia*

Other than the Bintan trip, I am also busying myself with the preparations (read: shopping for my dress) for my favorite sister’s wedding on the 5th December. My sis, being the capable and non-bossy bride she is, has most of the things nicely prepared and her only pre-requisite for me on her wedding day was simply to get a nice dress for the evening. Although that seemed like an easy task initially, it took me no less than 5 trips to town to find the perfect* dress for the evening. What seemed like a simple quest, turned out to require the most complex decision making skills of the century.

Just for how the top-part of the dress would look like, it would be something like this:

Long sleeves, short sleeves or no sleeves?

Sleeves or spaghetti straps?

Thick or thin spaghetti straps?

Ribbony spaghetti straps or stringy spaghetti straps or lacy spaghetti straps?

Wait, or should it be tube top??

Do you.. do you feel slightly dizzy and nauseous just thinking about these questions? Trust me. It was almost as bad as watching the Blair Witch Project or hearing people talk non-stop about hamster varieties and hamster habits during dinner time. Your vision blurs and your stomach starts to churn. And, remember, that is only for the top part of the dress. What about the bottom part? The middle part? The color? The material? Pass me the paper bag, someone.

*The dress was supposed to be perfect. But I couldn’t manage it. By the end, my head hurts and my feet can’t go on any longer. I bought the dress that showed the least of my flaws. Ah yes, did I mention that I pity all those guys out there that are being forced to shop with their girlfriends, mothers, wives or mistresses? I think you guys deserve a pat on your backs. And add a beer, as well. Poor souls.

Another thing that I have been doing recently is that I have been reading. It started as an effort to act more intellect and deep than I currently am, in order to suit my future image as a respectable, well-read teacher. You want your kids to be taught by someone who only read Cleo magazines, Singtel bills and Courts discount leaflets, meh? So, I decided to read some books and I started with Mark Haddon’s “The curious incident of the dog in the night time” (see previous blog entry). Now, I am reading a book by Graham Swift titled “Learning to swim” that I got from the National Library. I borrowed it because I was bored and desperately looking for something to read other than “The Xerus who nearly wasn’t and other stories”. “Learning to swim” is a compilation of short stories. The stories are quite easy to read but the characters in the stories are all a bit crazy and have immoral fantasies on their parents or daughters. Eh… I think Graham Swift is either very cheem or very perverted. Anyone who would like to defend that Graham Swift is some pervert is welcome to email me and explain that entire book to me.

Well, I hope he is only very cheem and not perverted.

I hate to think that I have spent tons of time reading something written by some freaks. That time would have been better spent re-reading “Ikea’s Catalog 2005”. At least I would have known how does the newest dinnerware from Ikea looked like or how much the table lamps cost.
Anyway, it seemed like my attempt to appear more intellect and deep is not working too well. I think I would probably go back to reading children’s books and women’s magazines and furniture catalogs soon.

Ok. I think I would end here. It is bloody late now and this makes for a bloody long blog entry. Any longer, it would be able to wrap about the circumference of the Earth.

Oh yes.

One last thing. And it is damn IMPORTANT!

THIS IS OFFICIALLY MY BIRTHDAY WEEK! IT IS MY BIRTHDAY WEEK, THAT MEANS I AM THE BIGGEST SHOT AND I HAVE THE FINAL SAY IN E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G!!! KOW TOW TO ME, EVERY TOM, DICK OR HARRY! KOW TOW TO ME, EVERY JANE, LUCY OR MARY! KOW TOW TO DANPING BECAUSE EVERYONE LOVES HER! BWHAHAHHAHAHAHAH!

What do you mean when you say I am obsessed about my own birthday??

I love the world and everyone loves Danping!

The curious incident of the dog in the night time

2004-11-05T09:54:00.000-08:00

The curious incident of the dog in the night time by Mark Haddon.

I have been reading! i have been reading! I just finished this book and it's really neat!

"I not ah lian hor. I got read book one, leh! Some more this one got no pictures inside one leh!"

This is a book writing from the point of an autistic child called Christopher. He knows all the prime numbers up to 7,057 and all the countries in the world and their capitals. He relates well to animals but has no understanding of human emotions. The story starts off with Christopher's neighbour's dog being killed and he sets to find out the 'murderer' ala Sherlock Holmes-style. In the simple words of the 15-year old child, we see how he views the world and how he reasons things out. It is also through his eyes, we get a peek at the lives of the people around him.

It is a wonderful* book. Really.

Read it quick and let me know what you think of it.

*Even for ah lians and himbos. It is a fun book. Good for holiday reading

Bandura, Piaget, Skinner

2004-10-28T02:40:00.000-07:00

Why must I compare and contrast the different learning theories?

*Glums*

Module PED515 – Educational Psychology.

Make me compare and contrast the different learning theories of Bandura, Piaget, and Skinner and list their key similarities and differences.

*Grumbles, grumbles*

Bandura is a piece of cloth that you can tie over your head
Piaget is the brand of watches.
Then, Skinner, mah… I think Skinner is like saying someone is all bones and no flesh. "Eh, look at that Skinner. "

Ho ho ho! I am so funny that even my own toes are laughing!

I love the world and everyone loves Danping!

I have been eating non-stop

2004-10-27T22:43:00.000-07:00

It’s only 12.30pm and I have only been up for less than 4 hours. However, unlike my unlucky roommate who had a diminishing appetite, I have eaten away the food supply meant for a small village in the last four hours. For the record, I had devoured 1 cup of Milo, 2 slices of bread with ham and cheese, no less than 7 pieces of Pringles, 1 cup of Lipton Herbal Infusion Tea, 1 cup of coffee laced with Baileys (oh, glorious Baileys!), and a quarter of a loaf of bread. Oh yah, did I tell you that I am still feeling a bit hungry right now?

Kao.

What’s wrong with me?? Hey, there, my digestive juices! You guys are working too hard and too long. Stop working now! Stop!

Seeesh….

Now, what shall I have next?

Hey! That’s right! Mashed potatoes! Goldhill Mashed Potatoes -- Four Cheese or Butter and Herbs? Maybe I would just have both.

I should really join Suat Ping on her butt growing mission, hor?

Oh yes, something quite out of the point. Did you hear Huang Pin Yuan's new song on radio?

"Qing ren... Qing ren..."

Yeah. Yet another cheesy song by Huang Pin Yuan.

"...Wo zhen me neng gou wang ji ahhhh..."

Oops. Sorry. Can't resist it. I hope the song is ringing in your head as well now. It's been haunting me the entire ("Qing ren, qing ren...") morning.

Excuse me, I will go make my mashed potatoes now.

I love the world and everyone loves Danping!

404 Error

2004-10-27T19:02:00.000-07:00

Remember seeing those awful 404 Error Pages when you are searching for something online?

You guys should look at this.

I never spent so long looking at an error page before.

I love the world and everyone loves Danping!

The day after the freak incident

2004-10-25T08:59:00.000-07:00

Bad news sure travels fast and far.

By now, the entire village knows about the freaking laundry room incident that I had last night. And the reactions I got were, so far, generally kind. Hardly anyone dared to laugh right in my face when I told them what had happened. For that, I am beginning to think that Singaporeans are a kind and sympathetic breed of people. But maybe, they did not quite dare to laugh, as I was fuming mad and looked ready to kill when I was telling them my story.

If I were to categorize the responses, the females’ responses were more emotionally concerned and the males’ were more technically concerned. The girls generally went “Oh my”, nauseated look on face, “eeew”, and then followed by a “are-you-okay” question. The guys, on the other hand, were more concerned with the technicalities. Their responses were more like “You sure it’s semen ah? Not some badly-dissolved soap ah?” or “How did you think it got there?” or “How long did you leave your clothes in the machine exactly?” Gender differences.

Anyway, I went to the hall office to report the case this afternoon. I was quite nervous about reporting it as I was afraid the office aunty would simply tell me that it was my imagination and send me away. So I kept rehearsing what I wanted to tell them, over and over, such that once I stepped into the office, I managed to rattle off my entire freak incident in less than half a minute’s time to make sure the aunty listened. Thankfully, the aunty never chased me away and referred me to her supervisor, which was a rather young and pretty lady. So, in front of that supervisor, I went over the entire story again, this time with taking breaths in between the narration. She was nice enough and listened to me through out. Then, I filled in some forms and she kindly told me that if I am uncomfortable, she could help me change rooms. While it was reassuring that she didn’t think I was cooking up a hoax, it was rather disturbing that she seemed to think that the pervert are targeting me and my roommate. Shucks. Just when I thought that I loved staying in my room...

But at least, the hall office changed the laundry room code right almost immediately after i made my report. Now, that's what i call efficient.

Currently, I am super suspicious of all guys living in my block. Just now, I just saw one of my male neighbours in Canteen A and happily waved. Then, suddenly, I realized that “hey, this could very well be the pervert!” and froze my hand in mid-wave. Awkwardly, I managed a forced grin and, at the same time, tried my very best to give a “I-may-look-friendly-but-dun-you-dare-to-mess-around-with-me” kind of look. Eee. How can I wave to a pervert candidate? Pui, pui, pui.

Oh yes, Zhixiong was really sweet today. He saw the SMS that I sent to him this morning and he actually came all the way down to NTU just to check how I was doing. It was really nice and comforting to see him out of the blue. Somehow, with him around, I felt more secured and comforted. Thanks, man!

I love the world and everyone loves Danping!

Perverts

2004-10-24T10:08:00.000-07:00

WAH LAU EH! THERE ARE REALLY PERVERTS LIVING IN MY HALL!

:(..

Feeling angry, sad and disturbed now. Pissed. No. It's bloody pissed. My freshly washed bra is tainted with some pervert's semen. And I actually only found out when I was trying to hang out my clothes to dry AND I ACTUALLY TOUCHED IT! :(

YUCKS. The thought of it is nauseating enough.

If I find out who that idiot was, i will make him masturbate with Ah Meng's underwear. NNB.

I am suspecting anyone with a dick right now.

I love the world and everyone loves Danping!

Po-la-la-la-Polly!

2004-10-24T08:15:00.000-07:00

Shit man.

Just now, my hall neighbour's younger sister came into my room and showed me her favorite website. Then, in that scary place, there is this band where they sing horribly haunting songs that i couldn't get out of my head...

Po-la-la-la-Polly....

And I realised I am singing that song now as i am typing this blog! Aaargh!

Go away, go away. Bad song. Bad song.

I love the world and everyone loves Danping!

Moments moments moments

2004-10-17T23:42:00.000-07:00

Yaaaaaay!

I just finished my super sucky micro-teaching session. And yeah, i managed to smoke through that 12 min of microteachingm, armed only with my wit and on-stage charisma. I never knew that there is so much heartache behind a simple Physics class on the Turning Effects of Forces... Pui.

Anyway, here's one for the geeks:

The student dashed into his physics professor office.
Student: Sir, do you have a moment?
Physics Professor: Yeah, sure. About which point?

Get it?

If not, sorry, but you do not qualify for a geek. Yet.

I love the world and everyone loves Danping!

Erik's Farewell

2004-10-17T22:21:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday evening, we went for a dinner at Tastegood (kopi tiam lah) in Changi Village as some sort of farewell party for Staff Erik who would be transferred from Changi Sea Sports Club to Kallang Sea Sports Club. It is also a mini welcoming party for Jeff who is being posted over to Changi.

And this is the shot that all the girls took with him. Erik is the only guy in the picture. Goodness know why he have to give that awful smile...

2004-10-17T22:14:00.000-07:00

Another shot with all the babes but without Erik.

2004-10-17T22:13:00.000-07:00

And this is me with my favorite acquaintance, Instructor Giam.

Look at that tee Giam is wearing?

That was in support of Rong and Songsheng in their perverted attempt to go to Yunnan to dig ~~shitholes~~ biotanks. Each tee cost a ~~hefty~~ mere $12. But erm. For the sake of helping mankind, surely you won't mind buying a tee from the duo. Tee comes in four colors; black, dark blue, maroon (like Giam's) and kaki (like sai). More details could be found on Rong's Blog.

Rong, don't say I never help you ah...

2004-10-17T22:03:00.000-07:00

And finally, a shot of Erik and Jeff with all the boys.

Erm. Yes, i took this shot and it was a bit shaky. But aiyah, it's for you readers own good lah. Why would you want ugly people to be in sharp focus, right?

Muahahaha...

2004-10-17T01:44:00.000-07:00

Help!!!

Serene came to my hall and terrorized us!!! Look at all that stuff that she spewed all across our beds! Omigod! How can someone mess up a place so much in like less than 12 hours??

Perverts are everywhere

2004-10-16T02:18:00.000-07:00

The most disturbing things that happened to me living in hall took place last night.

Last night, I decided to do my laundry and threw three laundry bags into one of the washing machines in my hostel laundry room. As usual, I left my red pail on top of the washing machine to indicate that somebody’s clothes are in the wash and if my clothes are done and others need to use the machine, they could drop my clean laundry into the pail and start with their load. And I went on to do my other stuff.

About an hour and a half later, I went back there hoping to collect my clean laundry. And to my shock and horror, two of my laundry bags containing my underwear went missing! If you reasoned that some blur cock probably took my laundry by mistake, then what about that one laundry bag of socks left in the machine??

I was both shocked and badly irritated. It is really disgusting to know that there are some perverts probably living in the same hostel as me and worse still to realize that the pervert has cleverly taken away your favorite undergarments! Wah lau eh, if you must steal, can’t you just like take one or two of the older pieces? Need you take the entire laundry bag of underwear, new and old?? And why the hell did you leave that bag of socks behind?? You did that just to freak me, didn’t you??

At that point, I was really pissed and started to curse fervently that whoever took my laundry bag to be cursed with a shrinking dick. Of course, it had to be a guy who is so perverted to take my underwear! What do you mean that the thief could be a female? If the thief was a female, she probably would have taken away the bag of socks too. Hey. Wait. If the thief was a female, then, I would also curse her to forever have boyfriend with a shrinking dick. Anyway, as you could tell, I was pissed.

After cursing and swearing for half an hour, I decided to go back to the laundry room again and maybe, hopefully, I would bump into the thief.

Me: Hey, thief!
Thief: Oh, how did you know that I stole your underwear?
Me: It must be you. You are wearing them on the outside now.
Thief: Shit. I shouldn’t have wore yours the Superman style. It makes me such an obvious thief. Oh yes, speaking of Superman, did you know that Christopher Reeves passed away? He’s only 52. Such a pity...
Me: Oh yes. It’s a shame… He’s my first Ang Moh idol. I was totally mesmerized by him in the movie “Somewhere In Time”. And, hey, what are you doing back in the laundry room now?
Thief: Oh. I was trying to see if I could manage to steal somebody else underwear as well. I would like to pass them to Dobby, the house elf in Harry Potter, remember? He would love them so much…

-_-“

Yar. That was a really lame idea to think that I could go back to whack the thief on his head. But still, I went down to the laundry room again.

And this time, guess what?

My two laundry bags reappeared in that same washing machine and it would have looked exactly like how I would have expected them to look half an hour ago, only without the bag of sock. Even the lid of the washing machine is slammed shut. Imagine if I didn’t go pick up my laundry half an hour ago. I wouldn’t even suspect a single thing! Eeew.

Goodness knows what the thief has done with my underwear during that time! My gosh…

My roommate tried to pacify me by telling me that probably someone really took it by mistake and then dropped it back into the machine. Yeah, that could be true, but the socks??

Eeeeew.

Perverts. Must be some perverts hanging in NTU. *Scowls*

Anyway, I restarted the washing machine with my recovered underwear and threw in double the usual amount of washing powder. I am still undecided if I would end up wearing those pieces again.

Perverts.
I love the world and everyone loves Danping!

2004-10-13T09:04:00.000-07:00

Me and Zhixiong!

Glorified Placemats

2004-10-12T22:30:00.000-07:00

To the un-trained eyes, this looks like any random shot of a normal snacking moment in hostel -- Hot tea and a half-eaten green tea tofu.

Or is it?

Please look carefully at the piece of rough paper lining the table.

Yes, that was my FYP thesis, now a glorified placemat. Look at the two bloody diagrams to illustrate the implementation of logic cones. It took me like a million years just to draw that on MS Word then. Sigh. Those were the dreadful FYP days.

Well, at least some good came out of it -- Placemats.

The Dunkers

2004-10-11T10:54:00.000-07:00

This is a shot taken during Lance and Yiling's birthday celebration about a month ago. Neither of the two stars were in the photo but you could see a rather pathetic soul in pink, seconds before she was being "dipped" into the pool.

The breakdown is as follows:
Left hand: Ang Beng Hwei
Right hand: Vincent Wong
Left foot: Goh Kiwi
Right foot: Cedric Lee Chee Keong
Equally evil were those standing by the side and laughing their ass off: Toh Zhihao, Richard Lim Ban Seng.

As the Chinese saying goes: “You chou bu bao fei jun zi”(English translation: "A hero would always avenge himself")

You guys better watch it....

Booger

2004-10-06T20:06:00.000-07:00

Can't resist linking up this Mr Brown article on my blog about the booger issue and the real Engish meaning of "lampas". Go read, go read!

I love the world and everyone loves Danping!

Nice Pictures @ Rong's Blog

2004-10-06T19:04:00.000-07:00

For those of you keen for some nice photos of your favorite blogger, please point yourself to Rong’s blog, October 4th and October 5th entry, to find out more about what your favorite blogger was up to over the last weekend – supper with the girls and parade watching with the youngs.

Will blog more tonight, hopefully. Met a couple of old friend with surprisingly lower social skills then me (what’s the world coming to?!) and I need to bitch about that. Tonight, bah. I try. See ya!

I love the world and everyone loves Danping!

New Police Story

2004-10-05T10:45:00.000-07:00

Yeah... I can't quite believe it myself too. I actually went to watch a Jackie Chan movie!

*Imitates Jackie Chan voice*

"I LOVE HITACHI!"

"Welcome to Hong Kong!"

*Shudders*

When the show first came out on the trailers, I told Zhixiong to go watch it with his best friend, Youren, right away. Yes, I know that Zhixiong is a Jackie Chan fan (the horrors, the horrors!), but no way am I going to watch a Jackie Chan film variation #3,427.

Then, the club people went to watch it. Me: "I dun think I would be free that day lar." + Pretense of looks of being very very busy.

Then, Karen also went to watch it. Me: "You went to watch what?!" + Looks of disgust

Finally, Rong asked me to watch it. Me: "NO LAR. Jackie Chan leh. Dun want, dun want, dun want!" + Looks of extreme disgust.

Then, suddenly, one fine Tuesday morning, my conscience wakes up. My conscience is always there, but it tends to be asleep most of the time.

Conscience: Oei, you long time never go find your bopyfriend liao leh.

Me: Where got very long?

Conscience: Then, when's the last time you did?

Me: Last Thursday? I went to his place for dinner what.

Conscience: Last Thursday? He came to pick you up in the end, remember? And you were horribly late for dinner too.

Me: Oh.

Conscience: Oh, your fat tummy.

Me: So, when's the last time?

Conscience: NNB. You think i so free go and keep tabs on how frequent you did something nice for Zhixiong ah? KNN. You cannot remember is Lim Peh's business, meh? Kao. Stop making me damn DL, can?

As you can see, even my conscience is well-versed in vulgarities.

But that's besides the point.

I realised that it's been a thousand years since I last did something nice for my poor neglected boyfriend and I do not want him to go find Lily, Sally or Lucy instead.

So, from Boon Lay, I made my journey from the West to the Central -- TOA PAYOH, just to surprise him and brought him to watch his fav movie, which, incidentally, is THE NEW POLICE STORY. (Shit, as I narrate this, I think i sound like his MOTHER, more than his GIRLFRIEND. "Bring him to watch" indeed. *Slaps forehead*) The most commendable part was that I wasn't even screaming and brawling when I went into the cinema. *Scores 10 Good Girlfriend Points!*

Rather fortunately for me, the movie turned out to be quite good leh. Yes, even with all that background voice that enters my head each time Jackie Chan appeared ("I Love Hitachi"), it was still a pretty good show ("I Love Hitachi"). The plot was deeper than I thought it would be for a Jackie Chan film ("I Love Hitachi"). For once, Jackie Chan ("I Love Hitachi") showed a more vulnerable and human side to him when he couldn't forgive himself ("I Love Hitachi") for causing his buddies' death, instead of being the rubber-never-will-die stuntman all the ("I Love") time ("Hitachi") .

Of course, the best part of the show had to be...

NICOLAS TSE!!!

Yaaaay!

HE'S SOOO CUTE!!! I couldn't care less that i sound like an incoherent 14 year-old right now, gushing madly over Nicolas Tse. So funny and so cute. So good-looking and so cute. So comical and so cute. So... Ok. I will stop it. You get the point.

Yeah. At least, Nicolas Tse's appearance in the show neutralised the constant background Jackie Chan voice ("I Love Hitachi") in my head. Lalala lala di da...

So, summary:

Boyfriend gets to watch I-Love-Hitachi-Jackie-Chan show, Girlfriend gets to watch cute Nicolas Tse while under the pretense of bringing Boyfriend to watch his show. Boyfriend loves Girlfriend more because he thought she was nice to sit through the 2-hour show with him. Girlfriend gives a generous smile and says she dun mind. Then Boyfriend loves her even more for being so kind.

Conclusion: Win-win-win situation. Go watch it, lah, girls. Ho ho ho...

Wave motion

2004-10-01T07:17:00.000-07:00

I think my life follows the oscillation of waves.

Now, I oscillate between feeling very sleepy and feeling very hungry. It is a bit different from the past, where i only oscillate between feeling a bit sleepy and feeling a bit hungry. If you want to speak in scientific terms, well, the Amplitude of my oscillation is larger.

Technically, this takes greater level of energy. Could you explain why?

Yes. Because energy is directly proportional to the square of amplitude.

Also, the time taken for me to swing between the two extremes is much shorter, i.e. the period (T) of my osciallation is shorter. And remember that period (T) is inversely related to frequency(f)? Yeah. You can also say that the frequency for my osciallation has increased. I feel very hungry more "frequently".

Bu hao xiao hor? I think i should just stop studying so much Physics. Damn.

I love the world and everyone loves Danping!

2004-10-01T07:11:00.000-07:00

What Classic Movie Are You?
personality tests by similarminds.com

Easy Rider? Zhun boh?

I love the world and everyone loves Danping!

Happy Children's Day!

2004-09-30T20:21:00.000-07:00

Yar-hoo!

It's Children's Day again!

Happy day for all children, wor! No school, no need wear uniform, can stay at home fight with brothers, sisters and neighbours, can stay at home and be sayang-ed by mama and papa. Some more teachers sure give them Children's Day present one. How lucky.

And, children, you know what? Every year, on Children's Day, as a secret form of present, we make trainee teachers go to school to punish them leh! Let them know it's horrible to go to school all the time! Give them homework to do on Children's Day some more! Orh-bee-good! ORH-BEE-GOOD!

I love the world and everyone loves Danping!

Go Back to Our Old School Outing

2004-09-29T18:47:00.000-07:00

Yeah, see the old Coronation Plaza?

Yeah, this is the very first stop of me and Suat's "Go Back to Our Old School Outing". This building has been there since Sang Nila Utama discovered Singapore and it has never moved.

"The sea may dried up, the rocks may rot, but the location of Coronation Plaza will never change."

First and foremost, an outing must begin with food. No food, no strength, mah!

We decided to go to Prince @ Coronation Plaza. The auntie there told us that we qualify for the "Student" set at $6 (the normal version cost $7.80).

Auntie: "Student set meal?"

We: "Eh, we still can meh?"

Auntie: "Can lar. University students also can lar! Come in, come in!"

We look at each other, eyes big big. Auntie thinks we are only University students leh! That, for the average Singaporean female, is at the age range between 19 to 21 years old leh! We looked younger than our actual age by 1 to 2 years leh! Muahahahah...

That's me drinking the soup of our $6 "Student Set Meal" with a gian bng look. The smile is from the huge satisfaction of saving $1.80.

Song ah.

Same soup, different pose.

And that's Suat with the pose as the Chao Cai Mao!

*Meow*

No. Wait.

It should be *Meows and waves hand*

Mad Japanese cats. *Shakes head*

Anyway, after our stomachs are filled, it's time for business... First stop, old Nanyang Girls' High campus.

Suat insisted on taking a picture in front of this building. See the Chinese Words on it? It reads "Ai Li Lou". This is a new building but it stands on the very same ground as our old NYGH administrative building with the same name.

Hmm... Seeing this makes me miss the old campus even more...

We saw this pretty piece of wall in NYPS, made up of thousands of colorful tiles hand painted by the kids, and decided to take a picture in front of it. The artistic slanting angle is contributed by the Artist Suat.

After we finished touring the old Nanyang campus, we decided to walk over to dearie old Hwa Chong JC to reminisce about the days when, in our Sec 3 Maths teacher, Mrs Toh's fav words, "we are young and innocent".

And guess which part of Hwa Chong brings back the most memories for me?

It's is the....

... the toilet!

Yeah, it's the obiang orange and black toilet walls in the toilet that brings back the most memories for me... I can still remember standing in the queue (there's forever a queue for this toilet), waiting to change into my PE attire and chatting with Ruyih, Weixiu, Su Chun, Huixin, Samantha and all. Really wonder how's everyone in 98S24 getting along? Would they think of me ocassionally too?

EH, 98S24! NI MEN SI DAO NA LI QU LE??

And wat's a trip back to our old school days without going to see Dear Ronald at King Albert's Park?

Yeah, that's me snuggling up real close to Ronald. But this is not the original guy. For those old girls and boys who used to cheong KAP everyday after class, thinking it's the most happening place in the world, they would be able to spot the difference right away! The old Ronald is sitting next on the steps down to Cold Storage. He is not sitting on a bench! This is an imposter!

Anyway, the trip to KAP concluded me and Suat's "Go Back to Our Old School Outing". So, when's the last time you went back to your old school? Can't quite remember? Get your butts moving then!

How to get thousands to view your blog

2004-09-28T00:02:00.000-07:00

Hey, finally, here's the answer to get thousands of readers on your blog page. It is such a simple and effective method that i can't believe no one talked about it... I guarantee that once you do the same, you are going to get thousands of readers to view your blog...

Are you ready for this?

Breathe in deep....

The way to get thousands to view your blog is....

simply to...

READ YOUR BLOG ON THE PUBLIC COMPUTER TERMINAL THAT IS NEAREST TO THE WAITING ASILE! BILLIONS OF PEOPLE HAVE BEEN LOOKING OVER MY SHOULDERS AT MY COMPUTER SCREEN THE ENTIRE AFTERNOON WHILE THEY ARE WAITING TO SIGN INTO THEIR COMPUTER TERMINAL AND IT'S DRIVING ME MAD!!!

I love the world and everyone loves Danping!

2004-09-24T10:13:00.000-07:00

Look! My new thumbdrive! It's red!!! Nice, right?

My roomie, the new archaeologist

2004-09-21T10:15:00.000-07:00

Miss Chiang, my roomie is having a field day.

She discovered some whitish dust-like particles at the foot of her study table. It was quite puzzling and we both never seen anything like that before. Then, she suspected it was some sort of rot from her drawer unit. And so, the story goes, she pulled out the last drawer from the unit to inspect the state of decay. And guess what she found?

Files of notes, papers, photographs and what-have-yous left by the previous occupant of our room! Hey, and it's a lot leh!

We reckoned the previous occupant probably stuffed the poor drawer so choking full that some of her stuff dropped out onto the "Floor of No Light".

Anyway, Ms Chiang, as the modern archaeologist, happily sorted out those weird left-behinds into a huge bag (which she says she would give to the hall office tomorrow), while i looked on with mild amusement. (I don't want to touch all that dusty stuff lah! I bathed liao leh!) By the end of the sorting exercise, Ms Chiang was able to conclude that the previous occupant is an Accounting student, a faithful Christian and she's called Eda (or something like that).

Thankfully we didn't find some joss papers or stuff like that. That would be damn freaking. *Creeps*

Exciting twist to the evening, siah.

I love the world and everyone loves Danping!

Reflections, reflections, reflections

2004-09-17T10:32:00.000-07:00

My one-week school experience has finally ended today. It was really a positive experience for me and I gained a lot from it. I got to see many experienced and effective teachers at work and how students respond to the different teaching styles. More importantly, I experienced a very positive work culture at my school. Although the teachers have a workload comparable to those in other schools, I find the teachers there seem to be a lot more cheerful and passionate about their job. Yeah, I am only there for a week so I can’t really be 100% sure. But at least for this one-week, I felt that this place is somewhere I would enjoy working in. It’s a place where you could grow and that is extremely important for newbies like me. If, as a new teacher, you see other teachers screaming and shouting at the kids everyday at the morning assembly, you would most like do the same and scream and shout at the kids without realising it. There’s nothing wrong with that. You are copying something that you observed to have worked on the kids. On the other hand, if you are in a school where the teachers could get their instructions through to the kids in a quiet and dignified way, and it works, you would also follow suit unknowingly. The work culture shapes the way newcomers think and react significantly. In that way, I really pray hard that I would that for my first few years, the school that I go to would have a positive work culture that allowed me to form the right foundation. On the other hand, I must remind myself that if I do get stuck in a place with poor work culture *choi! choi! choi!* I must really keep thinking and reflecting on the work practices that I am being exposed to…

Anyway, this one-week has also been really fun and exciting for I get to interact with the real students out there. Yeah. All those scary kids with powerful lungs, short attention spans, unzippable mouths, and forever shaking legs that we have been hearing so much about in the training school. And guess what? I think they are really quite cute in their own ways. These kids are livelier, simpler and more down-to-earth. When they thank you, I can feel that it comes from their hearts. I think it is interactions like these reminds me why in the very first place I gave up an engineering career and took up teaching instead.

Hmmm. Cheem thoughts for today, huh? Okay, I would spare you guys from it. Will blog next about The Importance of Swearing and Vulgarities in Today’s Society. Stay tuned.

I love the world and everyone loves Danping!

Link to a good blog

2004-09-14T08:16:00.000-07:00

Hey hey, I surf upon this blog and i thought it's a pretty good read. It's a blog by a teacher and, damn, she writes miles better than i do. So check her out. Erm. I mean, check out her blog if you are simply sick of reading all my nonsense and occasional outbursts of "KNNs".

Oh yeah, speaking of KNNs, I think two days of school experience have done me good. Seeing the kids running all around me reminds me of my great responsibilities in "moulding the future of Singapore" and urges me to be a better role model.

And I...

I...

Are you ready for this?

I...

I DID NOT CURSE FOR TWO WHOLE DAYS!!!

Hey, that's a VERY big deal for me, alright? No swearing and vulgarities. Not even sliently in my head! For people that know me personally, like my fav roomie Ms Chiang, they would know that NOT cursing for two whole days for me is like setting a new Olympic record leh.

Mai siao siao ah... Wo ai kee kar chey liao hor! (English translation: Don't fool mess around, I am going to be a teacher soon.)

I love the world and everyone loves Danping!

Pink no more

2004-09-10T04:06:00.000-07:00

Sigh.

Somehow, i just couldn't get back my nice bright and cheery pink blog template. All my pink color combinations looked so jarringly terrible and awful that I decided to stick to using ORANGE for everything.

Sigh.

Pink no more.

At least Aileen would be happy about this. Sobs.

Too bad I am a klutz at creating color schemes.

I... I... I missed my PINK template! *Boo-hoo...*

I love the world and everyone loves Danping!

Ugly Template

2004-09-09T22:18:00.000-07:00

How stupid.
I was just poking around with my blog template and I accidentally deleted some big chunk of it away. Yeah, and now what you are probably seeing is this totally-impersonalized template on my blog that probably looked the same as half a thrillion people's blogs out there. And somehow come I can’t fix the stupid profile thing on the top right corner of my blog. It looks totally hideous.
And look at the time! I gotta rush to interview my favorite experienced tutor now. I can’t possibly be late because I was fixing the darn template of my blog!
Damn. Double damn.
I will fix everything another time. Bear with it, people.

I love the world and everyone loves Danping!

2004-09-09T10:20:00.000-07:00

So many weeks in school and this is like my best week ever. Although i still have tons of project to discuss and my saturday class is still on, this is my slackest week so far! All my Physics classes were off and our Maths tutor also decided to be merciful and let us off from our scheduled make-up maths tutorial yesterday! Good life, hor?

I love the world and everyone loves Danping!

2004-09-06T20:40:00.000-07:00

Look at this!

Flowers! A whole bouquet of it!

And a really nicely crafted pop-up card in the shape of gift box! Isn’t that nice?

These are just some stuff that Zhixiong came up with for our third anniversary together (and yes, it’s really been three years!)

But he’s really sweet… First, he conspired with Yurong to get the keys to our hostel room and got her to help him transport the pop-up card over first. Then, he got the flowers and pressie and waited for me in my room to surprise me! He even planned lit candles in this surprise and brought along the candles and candle stands! Sweet…

I love the world and everyone loves Danping!

Anger Management

2004-09-05T22:37:00.000-07:00

Hey, I have returned, approximately 6 hours after my last blog entry, in a much better mood. Well, that's after i ranted off to poor Karen, and to an even poorer Linda, during the maths class break about the injustice of everything and that helped to my moods back to my usual equilibrium state. After that, i met Shumin online during her break and by sharing with her the nasty email and all, it just suddenly made the whole thing rather funny. After all, it was just plain stupidity.

Actually, right after i received the nasty email at around 2am this morning, my poor roomie got the first earful of the entire account of my side of the story, complete with descriptive (and irrelevant) adjectives and verbs about that prat's organs. Verbalising my thoughts made me feel much better but i still ended up turning and tossing in bed for nearly an hour, unable to sleep. And upon waking, I thought i would just get it off my chest by blogging it all out. So, a blog entry and 2 rants later, my anger is managed.

I was wondering whether to tear down the previous entry or not. i dun think slashing and slamming idiots, however irritating they are, on my blog page are not things that i am proud of. I was bitchy and vindictive. By saying those things, i am really stooping down to the same low level as that prat, am i not? But I did mean all those things when i wrote them and it wasn't pretty. Well, I guess pretty or not, the blog is very much me. So I guess i would leave the entry up and if there are people who quote me out of context in my entry, i also LL*. (*Hokkien expletives) Think i need better anger management skills though...

But there's something i need to clarify something though. Despite my general anger with my orientation group friends, i do treasure the friendship that i have form with the individuals there. They are decent people and i think they are okay. (probably with the exception of someone that writes in invisible ink, i guess.) But it's just that in that group, i just don't quite belong. Whose fault? Mine and theirs. I do think that it's pretty regretful at times, but why don't we just leave it at?

I love the world and everyone loves Danping!

There are stupid people everywhere

2004-09-05T16:18:00.000-07:00

Yeah. That's right. There are stupid people everywhere and one of them just pissed me off.

I got this really nastily worded email from this idiot known as Vincent from my former orientation group, complaining to everyone how unfair i was to the group for "feeling left out."

and Danping msg irene , say that she felt left out and detached of the group, and that she felt awarkward..i dun know whether i shd smile or laugh or cry with regards to this matter......to tink that we always try to call her...i shall leave this matter to the jurisdiction of the rest..

Well. Correct me if I am wrong. But I beleive that under the Singapore Consituition, everyone is entitled to their human rights, which includes how i would like to feel about things. For example, if i feel that your mother looks like an unshaven gorrilla when in fact she is the most cleanly shaven gorrilla in the world, I am still not doing anything wrong because everyone is entitled to their views. How i would like to feel is strictly a manner of human rights. You are also similarly entitled to your same views about me and i couldn't care less. Oh, but your entitlement is probably under another article in the Consituition, like, say, under the "Animal Rights"?

Also, isn't it ironic that the very person who "always try to call her" has conveniently left me out the group calling structure. He's what said:

SHALL I PROPOSE A MODE OF BETTER COMMUNICATION?

if there is anything i.e outing or gathering, i wil inform some pple
and then he/she will pass on to the designated person the info via
sms, and if the person cannot make it..then inform me or the
organiser..

Vincent --> KZ, Irene

Irene --> zq, julian
KZ --> juney, kevin

what u all think?

Cheerios
Vince

Erm. So, vince, where exactly is "Danping" in your calling structure? Oh, or are you trying to write in invisible ink on your email? If so, good try. I really can't see it.

I totally have nothing against not being called up for your gatherings and not being within your whatever calling structure. In fact, I think it's pretty fine with me. I think my friends would have prefered that as well because i would be able to spend that time much more meaningfully with them instead. I am really really fine with being left alone. Just don't do that and then send wonderful emails that seek the "jurisdication of the others" on why I couldn't feel detached from the group, thankyouverymuch.

Much as i understand there is inifinite human stupidity in the world, I couldn't help feeling pissed that there are people, who on the pretext of bonding the group together, could actually be the very source that makes the group replusive.

GLG.

And don't tag and kao beh saying I should be less vindictive on my blog. This is MY BLOG and you remember what i told you about MY human rights, don't you?

I love the world and everyone loves Danping!

Random Rants

2004-09-01T22:44:00.000-07:00

There has been several thoughts running through my mind these few days but I hardly have the time (and energy) to put them down in words before I got distracted with doing the laundry or rushing for my essays. But I promised you guys a good long blog and so here goes!

Let's start with school!
Without me quite realizing it, I am now into the 5th, no, 6th, week of school. And hardly a week passed without the need to submit some sort of assignments. Now, school is pretty different from the NUS Engineering Course. In Engineering, almost every module is exam-based. The relevance of the course only surfaced about 2 weeks before the examination date and the rush to find notes, download notes, zap notes and study notes begins then. Well, that’s pretty expected, what.

With the large number of engineering students each year, if the lecturers have CA-based modules, they would probably die in a fire because all their students’ assignments would have filled up every corner of their minuscule office room and blocked the exit for them to escape. Of course, other than that, these lecturers would not have time to publish his own papers if he were to read through each assignment submitted.

Now, that’s in NUS Engine. Here, things are vastly different.

Our lecturers and tutors are responsible and hardworking individuals (with probably a bigger office than those poor souls in NUS engine), whom like to ensure constant learning throughout the semester and so, we have CA-based modules. For those not familiar with the term, CA refers to Continual Assessment, which could be translated to Continual Agony as well. For CA-based modules, assignments were due throughout the semester and placed strategically to keep you on your toes all the time. So much so that I think they might as well be training us to be ballet dancers.

Still, it would have been pretty alright if the assignments were just mathematical proofs or physics applications. But, in life, where got so good? All assignments here were essay-based. Discuss the inequality in education today or Analysis the student’s psychosocial developmental issues and concerns in light of your understanding of the adolescent’s developmental needs. True, we don’t have to write up 40,000 dissertations and in fact, it probably a 500-word write up most of the time. But it is still damn stressful for a non-Arts student like me. I seemed to spend like an eternity figuring out how to start off the essay and then, spend yet another lifetime to develop my ideas. By the time I am done, I have aged like 20 years! Some of my classmates were so good that they could write the same essay that took me 2 whole nights, during their 5 hour break. Another friend even said that you could finish a 500 word essay on the bus.

Kao…

On clowns and wallflowers...
In a group, there are many types of personalities. There are the nice guys, the justice upholders, the meanies, the listeners, the wall flowers and of course, the clowns. In most of the groups that I cared about, I am the clown, i.e. someone that pokes fun at people and gets poke back in return as well. I guess that’s not really shocking news for someone as crappy and wacky as me to be the group clown. It’s a role which I dun mind taking and it’s a way that I relate to others. Like, coming up with corny jokes to console your friend who had a relationship problem and making her see the funny side of things, or perform self-deprecating antics to cheer up the entire group like attempting to do a water-somersault.

But there are really times when it really pisses me off when people start to take you for granted. They seem to think that regardless of how they poke fun at you, you would ALWAYS be happily bouncing back each time. They seem to think: “Never mind that she has a bad day. It’s okay. She doesn’t have feelings. She’s the group clown anyway.” These people can be the most unconstructive persons in a group, leering at your clowning and yet, thoroughly enjoying themselves as they stand prettily by the side as wallflowers. I am not saying that it is wrong not to make a fool of yourself or that you cannot be a wallflower in a group and keep to your corner. I am just seriously irked by those people who keep leeching into the joy and fun of a group but refuse to give back or contribute in ANY ways.

Pui.

Tell them to JS* better lar.

*Jiah Sai

Grandmas and falls.
Yesterday, I heard from a friend that his grandmother was hospitalized after a fall yesterday and he went along to the hospital with her. It reminds me of my own ah mah (grandmother) back at home. My grandma health has been steadily declining after her numerous falls over the past few years. Last month, it was especially bad, when she had two falls within the span of 2 weeks. I went back home last weekend and I saw that her forehead and nose area was bruised from the fall. Also, her legs seem weaker nowadays. Instead of walking steadily, she needs to hold onto something to move about. And even so, she seems forever on the verge of falling.

On a more positive note, despite her being physically weaker, she still seems to have a very powerful control over her vocal abilities. During the time I was there, she was still the commander-in-chief at the dining table, telling everyone what needs to be done, like “pull the chair for your mum”, “Hey ask your uncle to wash his hands”, or “Bee Lian, eat, still don't want to eat? Come eat.” Yeah. With that commanding tone, I really sympathize with my parents who have to entertain her each day…

Ah mah, be good lar.

Ok, think i will just stop here for today. Blogging seems to take me much longer these days... Hmmm. Gotta go, gotta go.

I love the world and everyone loves Danping!

2004-09-01T10:00:00.000-07:00

Hey!

I am back in a much much much better mood now. i just had a cup of creamy campbell soup and it is... wooah... sooo smooth, sooo creamy and sooo heavenly....

*Proceeds to dance happily on toes...*

Yeah. Seems like of my bad mood has disappeared just as miraculously as it had appeared.

Ok, will give a decent long blog soon. Till then, take care, dudes!

I love the world and everyone loves Danping!

2004-08-31T08:44:00.000-07:00

"In a bad mood until further notice."

*Growls*

2004-08-25T02:58:00.000-07:00

Hahahahahaha!

Everyone looks at this advertisement!

You get it, don't you?

I love the world and everyone loves Danping!

2004-08-24T19:40:00.000-07:00

Ok, if you are spooked out by the eerily smiling picture of me on the left corner of my blog, i am pretty sorry. Well, i don't mean to scare people away from my blog, but a couple of days ago, I posted up this picture of myself under "About Me!".

Well, i thought it's kena cute, isn't it? Nobody winced into the camera one, wat.

Unfortunately, not people think alike.

My best friend, Mr Loh Khee Meng, told me very "kindly" that he thought that i look very non-Chinese in that shot. And so, I decided that between looking eerily beautiful and looking cute but non-Chinese, looking eerily beautiful must be the lesser of the two evils and so up it went. I hope it's better now.

I love the world and everyone loves Danping!

2004-08-23T08:05:00.000-07:00

what flavor pocky are you?

[c] sugardew

Choc-co-lat!

~Nana nana na!~

I love the world and everyone loves Danping!

2004-08-22T23:49:00.000-07:00

As a responsible citizen, after missing out on the PM Lee's inaugural National Day Rally Speech on TV yesterday evening, I decided to check out the English full text of his speech during my three hour lunch break.

(Note: See how supportive and patriotic i can be?)

Of course, I am also motivated by the fact that, somewhere in his speech, there's hint that civil servants are going to get 5-day work week and i like to check that out personally. However, what struck out most to be was not the 5-day weeks or his tributes to Goh Chok Tong, but the sheer length of the speech!

Man, a simple check with Microsoft WORD tells me that the speech is about 8000 words or so! Now, that's about 20 times the length of the stupid social context articles that i just wrote!

Whoa.

Poor Prime Ministers. They have to come up with decent sounding thesis every year. Lucky i am only going to be a teacher.

I love the world and everyone loves Danping!

2004-08-22T06:10:00.000-07:00

HELP!

I need help from CA -- Celery Anonymous.

My god. I munched on celery sticks for yesterday supper, today lunch and dinner! Any more celery sticks, i would be turning green and sprouting leaves on the top of my head.

Siao liao.

I love the world and everyone loves Danping!

2004-08-17T20:30:00.000-07:00

Omigod.

I am actually munching on celery sticks and baby carrots as my snacks right now!

Freaking healthy hor? Hor?

Actually quite nice leh. And i quite like it. But it's such a healthy choice that it's freaking me out... Wonder what my sis would say if she sees me like this now...

*Angelic*

Wooo.

I love the world and everyone loves Danping!

2004-08-17T01:25:00.000-07:00

Here. Look at this darn tough maths problem solving question that i came up! And I intend to let Sec 1 kids try this. Anyone would like to try solve it?

Mr. Wong’s shop sells a kind of sports bag that is rather popular. However, he is rather secretive about the price of the sports bag. He would only reveal that on Monday, he sold a certain number of the sports bags for a total of $391 and on Tuesday, without changing the price of the bag, he sold another number of the sports bag for a total of $493. If the price of the sports bag is a whole number and it is greater than $1, find how much a single sports bag cost.

*Smug look*

Okay, okay. I will give you a hint: Prime Numbers.

Get it?

I love the world and everyone loves Danping!

2004-08-16T23:51:00.000-07:00

Wah lau.

I think CA-based modules are so much more stressful than those with exams-based modules!

Yes, for those exams-based modules, you would si ka jin pai kwa (die a horrible death) during the exams period but at least you would have the entire semester to slack around, won't you? You can kiao ka in the most unsightly manner and whistle away annoyingly during big part of the semester and, for that one last week before the papers, you cram your face with the textbooks (original versions or the pirated photocopied versions). It would be a horrible one-week, yes, that i agree, BUT, after that horrible one-week, it's vacations again and you can go on kiao ka and whistle for all you want.

Now, contrast that with those bloody, erm, i mean, broody, CA-based modules we have here. It's like they have divided up that one-week of suffering into many, many smaller pieces and tossed it evenly throughout the 14 weeks to make sure you are properly tortured!!! A 20% short paper here, another 30% class presentation there, then yet another 20% presentation somewhere! All these before you can even say "I need a break."

But remember, citizens of Singapore, this is all for your own good. We would be facing the crisis of the knowledge-based economy if we don't train our people to be self-motivated engaged learners of tomorrow! IT'S A CRISIS IF WE CAN'T MANAGE CA-BASED MODULES WHILE IN SCHOOL!!!

Wah lau. Must i really do that Problem Solving assignment? Sigh.

I love the world and everyone loves Danping!

2004-08-10T00:12:00.000-07:00

Yoo...

Think i am somewhat on a blogging dry spell now. And no, not to worry, everything is well. I am still happy and eating well, so rest assured, my faithful readers. It's just that somehow I felt like blogging less nowadays. Hmmm...

But just in case you guys are missing me so madly...

I decided to part you with three carefully chosen words. Yes, it's that three words...

*Deep breathe*

*I am really going to say it...*

*Deep breathe again...*

KNN!

I love the world and everyone loves Danping!

2004-08-03T19:24:00.000-07:00

Have you watched the CD-PRO2 spoof of Infernal Affairs?!

Xian liang see can ku eh. Lee bo kua MTV ah?

HAHAHAHA! Cheo ka peng ah!

I love the world and everyone loves Danping!

2004-07-30T12:15:00.000-07:00

How nice it is to have friends living in the campus with you!

Right now, at 3.14AM, I am happily sharing a bowl of Tom Yam Instant noodles with my roommate. Can you imagine that? Eating from the same bowl, using the same set of utensils and growing fat together. How else could you define "bonding"?

Just now, before my lovely roommate was back from giving tuition, I was alone, and depressed in my room, preparing for my stupid Maths test and counting the number of Chipsmore Cookies that i ate. The more challenging the permutation questions got, the more demoralised I became. Just as I was about to give up studying, pretty fellow hostelite, Deng Shumin, jio me out to study together! She and Eugene picked me up from my block and vroom vroom me over to Canteen 2 in a jifty. And from a demoralised mugger, I transformed into a confident student, under the patience and guidance of hunky tutor Eugene!

What wonderful friends I have! Woo-hooo!

I love the world and everyone loves Danping!

2004-07-30T05:12:00.000-07:00

O-LEVELS MATHEMATICS IS SO DARN TOUGH!

HOW CAN? HOW CAN LIKE THAT??

THOSE KIDS ARE ONLY 16, SO STOP TORTURING THEM (AND THEIR TEACHERS-TO-BE).

Ok, I have been trying to study for the Maths Mastery Test for the entire day and here are 3 of my observations on my personal study habits:

#1. I pee each time i finished 500ml of plain water or 200ml of hot tea. Scientifically, this suggests my bladder responses differently to hot and cold drinks.

#2. Each time i encountered a difficult question, the urge to eat increases exponentially. The preferred choice of food would be Chipsmore cookies.

#3. After the first cookie, I would want a hot cup of tea to complement the first cookie. After the first cookie and a sip of hot tea, I would craze for a second cookie and another two sips of tea. And then, the amount of food craved for would follow a arithmetic progression, A.P.

I think i am a little bored with studying, huh?

I love the world and everyone loves Danping!

2004-07-28T21:27:00.000-07:00

Ok, ok, worry not. Danping's back! Yes, i know it's been over a bloody week since my last blog, and for someone that can blog 3 times a day during her stressful FYP period, that's a pretty long time of inactivity. I am so sorry to all my faithful readers out there. Calm down, calm down.

Breathe in... Breathe out... Breathe in again... And out...

There. Better?

Good.

And now, for the updates...

For the past week, i have busy with moving into my hostel room, which I shared with my lovely roommate, Ms Chiang Yurong. My room is in Hall 15, the newest NTU Hall of Residence, where i could easily walk to classes in NIE everyday. Erm. Okay, probably, not really "easily" because it's uphill all the way from my block to NIE. But still, it's a stone throw away compared to, say, Marsiling Drive, to NIE.

Anyway, over the past week, i have successfully moved a desktop, complete with a CRT monitor, 2 washing pails, a small table, all my toiletries, some of my clothes, 4 bags of different sizes, a pillow, my toy zebra and what-nots, into my room. Of course, there were several key figures that helped me pack and move, the most important being my favourite brother-in-law, whom provided the transportation support with his beloved vroom-vroom. Dad, Mum, Sis and Zhixiong all helped as well. It was really a major operation sort of thing. Now, my room is pretty comfy and equipped with nearly everything i need. Neat.

But, as always, there's one small exception. My computer is KNS -- which stands for KENA SAI. It has been reformatted at least 4 times since it was moved into my hall. And each time, the sasser virus would happily attack it and restart the system. That's not all. Somehow, i can't finish installing the anti-virus software and the Office XP. So, as i am blogging right now, i am also crossing my toes that the sasser virus wouldn't creep up on me. Sigh. Spell irritating. No, it should be IRRITATING.

Sigh.

Oh, but there's one good thing. I realised that Ms Chiang, my lovely roommate is pretty good with computer and stuff like that and also she volunteered to help me look at my computer when she's free. Hmmm. *Ponders* Hmmm. Other than that, Ms Chiang is also pretty, kind, generous, wonderful, forgiving, intelligent, friendly, helpful and angelic. So, Ms Chiang? You free now? :)

Oh yes, speaking of computer guru, I heard that Ling and Rong's common friend, mr nsk, is also good with computer stuff. Unfortunately, he mistook me for some Xin Yis out there, so i am a bit disgusted with him currently. Maybe he would like to undo some of the damage by dropping by my room and fixing my computer beautifully? *Nudges Ling* Tell him that, yeah?

Yeah. I am desperate for help.

Shucks.

Ok, let's talk about something less depressing. How about this Saturday's Test??

Shocked reader's response: Test? I thought you only just start school?

Yes, it's only the first week of school and i already have a test. It's a Mathematics Mastery Test where i have to score a grade equivalent to an 'O' Level distinction to pass it. At first, i thought it was probably some chicken feat. Come on, after 4 gruesome years in Electrical Engineering, what's an O-level paper?? But yesterday, after i saw how Meishi was mugging for the paper, I decided to be less arrogant and practise a little before Saturday's test. And guess what?

BLOODYHELL, I WAS STUMPED BY THE FIRST QUADRATIC QUESTION THAT I ATTEMPTED AND IT'S ONLY A BLOODY FREAKING LOUSY O-LEVEL PAPER!!!

Congratulations, Danping. And welcome to mugging for that freaking O-level paper. Disgrace.

Note: At this point in time, your favourite blogger realised that she still have like 15 more topics to cover before Saturday's test. Therefore, she has decided to quit blogging for the day and go back to mug. However, she reassures everyone that she would be okay, except for the ocassional "KNN"s that she would yell.

I love the world and everyone loves Danping!

2004-07-19T13:01:00.000-07:00

I just survived through the Southern Island Kayaking Expedition! Despite 3 days of torturous paddling, I actually managed to enjoy the whole event, very much to my own surprise.

I was rather dreading the weekend kayaking expedition, as my faithful blog readers would know. (If you aren’t one, you ought to be killing yourself right now. My blog is very good, you know? Anyway, for the clueless, look at my previous blog entries.) The expedition was very much out of my comfort zone as none of my close girl friends at the club were going; San was having lessons (as a teacher, mind you!), Rong was having exams and Serene, the most enthusiastic of all, was away on her 21-days OBS course. Furthermore, being baked to death under the hot sun while paddling non-stop wasn’t exactly my first idea of fun. I was thinking of means and ways to excuse myself from the expedition but as I was the food i/c, I had to show up.

Surprisingly, the expedition turned out to be rather fun. The group that went for the expedition turned out to be pretty fun and interesting. There were people in the group that I didn’t quite like before the expedition, but they turned out pretty okay after I got to know them better. There were people that I thought to be pretty serious and stern before the trip, but they were actually wackier and cornier that I could ever be. Imagine this guy who filled up his water bag with the diluted orange squash and carried it around like his personal urine bag, or this shy-looking girl that kept telling people corny jokes. They were just so candid and surprising that I almost laughed my toenails off. These made me re-think about how some first impressions could be just so wrong. Also, during the expedition, some of the guys were unexpectedly nice and helpful. For example, the mean Mr DDD actually bought me gloves and a shiny red Naglene bottle and even lent me his spare contact lens when mine got lost. Fierce Uncle Phillip helped to cook the dinner on both days and Song Sheng, my other food i/c, brought extra stores to spice up the meals. All these added up to make this expedition way beyond my expectations.

But of course, the expedition wasn’t all smiles and no pain. The most stressful part of the expedition was my paddling power. Or rather, the lack of it. It was really tiring to keep paddling to cover that 87km over the 3 days. It got even more demoralising when each of my paddling partners seemed to have suffered a great deal. Mr DDD’s face was nearly green at the end of the second day and Alex, my last day partner, had to provide most of the propelling force.

Still, the entire experience made me realise that even if I suck at paddling, I might still be able to enjoy the other aspects of a kayaking expedition. This, in OBS terms, would be what they called Learning Points, I guess.

I love the world and everyone loves Danping!

2004-07-13T18:29:00.000-07:00

I saw this pretty good blog, Skintalk, when i was surfing mr brown (oh, mr brown...) page the other day. From dating etiquette to the hottest in sex toys, from true-news articles to personal experience. By Lili Saintcrow-Murosako. I found the articles rather funny and well-written. I wished i could write like that sometimes. This, this and this are some articles that i found to be pretty entertaining. Bet there's a whole load more. Check it out, dude.

I love the world and everyone loves Danping!

2004-07-11T10:08:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was my commencement ceremony!!! Good heavens, I am now a stuck-up, snotty graduate!

Congratulations to the Class of 2004!

That was what all the banners in UCC screamed. Geez. I never knew that should be the way my batch was going to be referred to. All along, I was called "the batch that matriculated in 2000/01" so it's pretty good to hear that I have a nifty and catchy name now. *grins*

Anyway, yeah, yesterday was my big big day!

Zhixiong's commencement ceremony was on Sat, a day before mine, so I was better prepared mentally, after going through the "Pre-Parade Rehearsal". I got my stuff nicely packed, briefed my invited guests (namely, mum and dad) what to expect and gone through "Tutorial 1: How to Use Canon A70 Digital Camera" with mum before the ceremony started. I approached my big day with the grace of a veteran.

Still, it felt really different on the actual day to be the one donning that graduation gown, wearing that mortarboard and going up the stage. I was rather worried that I would trip on the stage or my mortarboard would fall off. Thankfully, neither happened and I collected my scroll, uneventfully, just like the several millions before me.

Oh yes, talking about the presentation of degree scroll. My scroll was presented to me by our Pro-Chancellor.
Question #1: What is a Pro-Chancellor?
Question #2: Granted we know what, erm, I mean, who is a Pro-Chancellor, what is his name then?
Question #3: Is there only one Pro-Chancellor?
Question #4: Does the poor man have to shake the hands of all the graduates? Or is there someone to take over him?
Graduate? Yes. Clueless? Very.

And by the way, all those UCC ushers looked damn pro. You can tell by their all-black attire. Some even have this headset thing that they wear on their head. You know, like the ones that boy-bands’ singers wear when they dance and sing, no, I mean, lip-sync? But the UCC ushers’ headsets were better. I think theirs actually work.

But let’s not digress.

Anyway, after I collected my scroll, I felt considerably relieved and began to twist and turn in my seat looking for my parents. Halfway through, I remembered that there was this evil camera that was taking in all the LIVE shots in the auditorium and playing them on the big screen. Anxious not to have an unflattering shot of myself, I quickly sat back in my seat and pretended to look interested in the person delivering the valedictorian speech.

After the ceremony was a series of photo taking. It was really fun to get people you know during the 4 painful years to take picture together. Everyone was in high spirits and was most keen to pose for a picture even you might have only been briefly acquainted. And I was actually quite surprised that I knew so many people in my own faculty and managed to take so many photographs within such a short time.

For this part, Zhixiong deserved the title of “Man of Ceremony” award, as he selflessly followed me around the hall to help me take photographs. He and my Canon A70 Digital Camera was a natural pair. Each time I saw a friend whom I liked to take pictures with, he was ready to shoot before you could even say “Take Pictures”. I know it’s really tiring to keep running about to take pictures and I really appreciated having him around. *Beams*

Of course, I must mention that Aileen and Yingzhi also came to congratulate me! Yeah, I must admit I was rather touched that they came all the way to pump my hand. Rong was unable to come because of her camp but she messaged me all those nice, thoughtful messages. What sweet babes they are!

After the ceremony, my favourite brother-in-law drove my entire family and Zhixiong to Little India for fish head curry lunch! There was seven of us, dad, mum, grandma, sis, bro-in-law, Zhixiong and me, and we were packed like sardines! Still, it was fun and it felt really good to go eat together. It was the main highlight of my day!

*Widest beam ever*

I love the world and everyone loves Danping!

2004-07-05T20:59:00.000-07:00

Discovery: I have the most inconsiderate gits for neighbors.

Yesterday, i went to sleep at around 1pm, halfway through the Jacky Wu foodie variety show on Channel U (that episode was lousy. No pretty babes, no handsome dudes, no corny jokes some more!) I remembered turning and tossing in bed for sometime before i finally fell asleep. And guess what happened when i finally did??

NNB, those fucking neighbours living on Storey 12 of Block 22, Marsiling Drive, started a family yelling match at 2.30am!!!

HELLO??

Yeah, i know your moronic family have some issues about your ah lian daughter coming home late. And yes, i know your family speaks Cantonese. And yes, i even know your daughter has a damn powerful vocal. BUT NEED YOU SHOUT AND WAKE THE WHOLE SINGAPORE AT 2.30AM??? IT'S AT BLOODY 2.30AM!!!

If those aren't inconsiderate gits, tell me, what are?

Worse still, i couldn't even shout at them to get them to shut up because i have a stupid sore throat. Knn. I hoped they would never strike 4D or Toto in their whole lives. Assholes.

When's ZX coming back?

2004-07-04T20:27:00.000-07:00

I... I... I fell sick again! Boo-hoo... Wa jit tao tia, hit tao tia, everywhere tia leh! Headaches, fever, sore throat and runny nose. I got the full package...

My bad. It must be the 20 durians that I ate over the last week. Ok, i am exaggerating. I only ate 19.5. Anyway, the durians were from my uncle (mum's second bro) and he picked them up from some ulu, over-grown vegetations near our place. FOC. FREE FREE FREE.

But of course, as it's FREE, the standard of the durians also varies largely. Some are thick skulled (like some people that i know) and some are rotten to the core (hey, that's also like some people that i know!). Some are dressed in thick, fleshy yellow robes, where some are wearing singlets (you know, that type of durians that have so little flesh that you can see the seed underneath? The term is usually in Hokkien, sounding like "Cheng seh-ah sah!" The first time my dad used this term, i almost choked laughing.)

But ocassionally, if we are lucky, we would chance upon a rare gem, that's a JIU JEE!!! That's the Hokkien term for an extremely small seed. And you just get so much satisfaction putting the entire lump of durian flesh (and very little seed) into your mouth, savoring it slowly and then declaring triumphantly to those around you with a smirk! "Jiu Jee" you would say, as you slowly hold up the evidence of the tiny seed for all to see, while everyone around simply turns green with envy. That's it. The ultimate durian experience.

*Slaps self*

Oh. Yeah. I am sick. Probably, i shouldn't fantasize so much about durians right now... How convincing could it be if i am sick and feeling happy?? I should focus more on the sadness of being sick and depression and so on.

Ok, let's try...

Let's find something sad to blog about...

Yeh. Something really miserable about being sick...

I MISSED THE SUPER-SIONG, ROUND UBIN KAYAKING EXPEDITION TRAINING YESTERDAY BECAUSE I WAS SICK!!! I MISSED THE WONDERFUL OPPORTUNITY TO GET MY BRAINS FRIED UNDER THE HOT SUN BECAUSE I WAS SICK!!!

Muahahahhahaha.

I come clean. I am sickeningly happy.

When's ZX coming back?

2004-07-02T11:31:00.000-07:00

Big, earth-shattering news…

*Drumrolls*

I am going to be a teacher!!! I am going to NIE and thereafter, I would get to scream at kids for a living! I would get insane satisfaction from crossing out huge chunks of my students’ exercise books with my red Pilot pen! And I would get to sing the National Anthem and say the Singapore Pledge daily! How cool can I get!

Muahahahahahhahahahah! Bow to me and say ‘Good Morning, Teacher!’ whether you like it or not, my future cao-ah-bengs students! Muahahahahahhaha!

*Breaks out in mad laughter*

Ok, ok. Cut the crap.

I am seriously going to become a teacher. Yeah. Seriously. (Close your mouths before any flies get in.) Despite having a decent degree in electrical engineering and with endless shiny engineering possibilities ahead of me, I think engineering is not quite my cup of tea. At the end of the day, I think, teaching, despite all the horrors, is my calling.

I received my offer of acceptance last week and I just went for the briefing yesterday. To my surprise, I actually met quite a few friends at the briefing and they are all engineering graduates like myself. Hey, I didn’t know there were so many of us that were “teachers-trapped-in-engineer-bodies”! Still, it felt good to be with people of similar mindset and goals.

Anyway, the good new is I would be starting NIE training together with Rong! Yeah… We were thinking of applying for hostel together and we could even host Serene when she has free nights from her OBS training! (Serene’s going to be an OBS instructor leh!) Think breakfast at Jurong Point, slacking at lectures, KTV after class and copying notes from classmates! (I almost said copying others’ assignments but I managed to slap myself in time. My bad.)

But the bad thing is, I would probably have to behave more like a Ministry-paid person. That’s no part time Tiger beer stints for sure. And also, no vulgarities or any offensive language. In future, I would only curse in acronyms, like KNN, CCB, NNB, TMD or FO. Oh, in case you are wondering, they stand for Kindly New Nostrils, Cross Cultures Birdbrains, No-Nonsense Boss, Together Means Destiny, and Funny Outcast. It’s nothing vulgar, alright? *Beams in a kindly but irritating way*

Oh yes, another earth-shattering announcement to make! My commencement is next Sunday, 11 July 2004! Co-incidentally, that’s also San San’s 16th birthday (she always looks 16, damn it). Anyway, it’s going to a grand day, and a great ceremony. It is held at 10am, at the University Cultural Centre, which is almost as glam as the Esplanade, but without the silly spikes.

On that day, there would be hundreds of people dressed up like they are going for a Harry Potter-themed party and the Deans would be dressed in outrageously coloured robes. I would one of the few hundreds going up the stage to collect my degree scroll from some old, wrinkled professor. It’s a splendid opportunity to catch me LIVE and you could come and pump my hand and tell me what a great blog Everyone Loves Danping is. I predict I would be in a great mood that day, so I would be willing to pose for a picture with you, no matter how ugly you looked.

Now, if that isn’t great, tell me what is.

When's ZX coming back?

2004-06-28T13:56:00.000-07:00

Hmmm. Just realised that my last blog was on that damn Portugal-England match. Yeah, ok, quit rubbing in. I know my prediction was damn way off, much like Beckham’s cursed shot during the penalty kick. Instead of trashing Portugal, England actually lost the match during the damn penalty kick, with many an accusing finger pointing at Beckham. Sigh. What a pity that England didn’t win. But still I think Portugal did really put up a great fight and the exciting match more than made up for my disappointment in England losing the match. Anyway, the next match is on Thursday, so tonight is a Euro-free evening.

Which brings to the next question.

Why the hell am I still wide awake at this ungodly hour??

Well, it’s because I am scared of getting fat (or rather, getting fatter). I just got home from a drinking party with my diving friends at this pretty neat bar called Blue Note Jazz-something in Boat Quay. According to Miss Chiang and my secondary school biology textbook, alcoholic drinks are choke-high in calories and the surest way of getting fatter is to go sleep immediately after drinking. And so, I am still here, trying to keep myself awake, active and, hopefully, fat burning, by staying up and blogging instead. See how nice I am to you, my faithful blodgers?

Ok, it’s been a long time since I last did a nice long blog, so tonight, I shall try.

Let’s start with my most recent Tioman Island trip with Serene and Yurong. Yeah, I actually went to Tioman twice this month, once for my Open Water Dive Course and the other time for a leisure, slacking trip with the babes. So I shall refer to the first trip as the Tioman Dive Trip and the second as the Tioman Babes’ Trip. Haha!

Yeah, that’s the three of us at the very start of the trip. I am on the extreme left, Serene is in the centre and Yurong’s the one on the right. We are on this bus that driven by this totally appalling Chinese driver with greasy hair and a love of cheesy saxophone music. Serene kindly offered him a sweet when she was passing her bag of sweets around out of sheer politeness. Mr Ugly-and-Greasy also politely refused, which was good. Unfortunately, he also commented that why on earth would people eat sweets so early in the morning. (At that point, I had popped the sweet into my mouth, by the way.) Serene, being her kind and cheerful self, told him that she was afraid of getting motion sickness, which was true. And guess what was Mr Ugly-and-Greasy witty reply?

“Oh, then you should have taken birth control pills.”

Hello?? Serene said she was afraid of having MOTION SICKNESS, you know, as in discomfort when on a moving vehicle, not that she was afraid of vomiting! If she was afraid of vomiting, then it might have been that she was pregnant as a result of NOT taking birth control pills. Therefore, his supposedly-witty reply was totally N.A. – NOT APPLICABLE!

Now I know stupidity does not discriminate Ugly and/or Greasy people! Wow!

NNB. I was totally disgusted by Mr Ugly-and-Greasy-and-now-Stupid and I felt close to slapping him. Then, I decided that wasn’t a smart move as we had barely started on our bus ride and I sat on my own hand to keep it from slapping him. I would very much like to take a photo of his ugly face to warn the public about such a disgusting driver but his greasy hair would reflect the flash too much to render the shots useful so I gave up.

Anyway, enough of Mr Ugly-and-Greasy-and-now-Stupid. The remaining of the bus ride was relatively uneventful and we soon stopped at the jetty to wait for our ferry. The ferry operator is Fast Ferry Ventures. For a while, we thought that the Fast is an adjective. But after waiting for over half an hour for the ferry past the stipulated time, we agreed that the Fast is only in the name.

During our wait, we entertained ourselves by taking several pictures of ourselves.

That’s all three of us.

And that’s Serene in her happiest grin.

And Me and Yurong. Noticed that Yurong is posing with this mineral water bottle ala advertising style. That’s our lovely Photographer Giam’s idea. I am thankful that, at the time of the shot, we only had one mineral water bottle.

The Fast Ferry finally came and two hours (and many loud horrible Malay MTVs later) after, we glimpsed this.

Taa-daa! The stop for our resort!

The first we did after checking in was to look for our overdue lunch. Rong had fried bee hoon while both me and serene had Ramly burgers! Look at that!

You would never have guessed that Serene disliked the burgers, right? She insisted Ramly burgers had a mutton-taste, despite the fact that there is no mutton in any of their burgers. But, oh well, she didn’t have much choice on that day and resigned to having Ramly burger for lunch. Haha.

Happily, dinner came rather soon after and here’s what we had:

San cai yi tang! Prawns, kai lan, Thai sauce chicken and salted vegetable soup! It was heavenly!

The next day, we had our boat trip. It turned out that almost the entire resort’s guests were going. I never realised that the resort was so packed with people. Singaporeans, Chinese, Taiwanese and what-have-yous! The scariest were the Chinese who all seemed a little deaf and tend to bellow, rather than talk, to each other. Thankfully, we took a different boat from them. Heng ah!

During the boat trip, we went snorkelling,

fed fishes,

and shopped at Kg. Terek.

At the end of the day, all I could say was:

Muahahahahahahaha!

Back at the resort, Serene and I went for one last snorkel at the beach in front of our resort, while Yurong met her Prince Charming.

He was actually a chao-tee-koh who peeped at her while she was bathing. Bravely, Yurong poked him back into the drainage pipe where he came from. She then rewarded herself by finishing up Serene’s packet of shredded cuttlefish and almost attacked my beer as well. Lucky I came back in time!

The dinner on the second day was pretty good too. Sotong, fried vegetables, sweet and sour fish and radish soup!

But suay, suay, for Serene, there was this cat that insisted on sitting right next to her throughout her whole meal, causing her to eat the entire dinner in a rather terse condition.

The next morning, we took one last shot in our room before checking out. Look at our tees! At RM$6! Piee piee ah!

It was a great trip to Tioman, great companions, good food, wonderful marine life and, very importantly, cheap package! Haha! But I really enjoyed myself on this Tioman Babes’ Trip, despite it being the second time in the month that I have visited the same island!

Ok, think this made for a rather disgustingly long blog. I hoped the fats from my tequila shots are burnt by now. Goodnight, peeps!

I am outta school! Yay!

2004-06-24T10:54:00.000-07:00

Yeah, it’s 2.02am and I am still wide-awake. Four hours later, I am supposed to be at Golden Mile Centre, the gathering place for our Tioman trip. (Aren’t the travelling agency freakish? Meeting at such an unearthly hour! It means I am to start my travelling at 5am! Can anyone believe this??) Initially, I was still worried that I won’t be able to wake up in time, but now, I have a much better plan. I won’t sleep a wink tonight, or this morning, rather and I would be able to catch the Channel 5 LIVE telecast of the European Cup, life-death-match between England and Portugal! Isn’t this a brilliant plan? The match should be exciting and drool-worthy. England has a deadly team (and cute Beckham, remember) and Portugal is playing on home grounds. It is going to be a really tense match, I think.

But in the meantime, while waiting for the match to begin, let me blog about several mundane stuff first.

I just saw Yurong’s blog and she had a nice long blog update, hung up a tagboard and changed the photo on her blog. Now, when you click on Rong’s Blog, you would see this huge image of a street named after her. How lucky. I wondered if there’s a Danping’s Lane somewhere in Africa or something like that. Maybe I should just donate that bloody $100 to NUS Alumni and then, I would have at least a brick in my memory, huh? Hey! *Slaps self* Just what was I thinking! I should just go and vandalise some street signs instead. That should come cheaper.

Anyway, glad that Rong has gone back to blogging. She’s been on a dry spell for quite some time. The rest of my favourite blogs are also in various states of inactivity. Ling’s PC is threatening suicide and hanging on itself so she can’t blog. Xiaxue’s blog takes like a year to load and mr brown is probably playing with his X-Box or something. Anyone wants to point me to a good blog??

Oh damn. The match has started. Ok. I got to go. I will put a wager on England winning Portugal, 2:1. This is going to be exciting…

I am outta school! Yay!

2004-06-23T22:27:00.000-07:00

Guess what have I done the entire morning? I have the grand accomplishments of washing my face, eating breakfast, washing my clothes and painting my toenails! Whoa! Big deal to those course mates of mine who are now working their necks off in some godforsaken IC design firms. I have got 10 perfectly painted toenails!!

(Actually, I also have 10 other perfectly painted fingernails, but I thought it’s not too nice to be such a show off, you see.)

Anyway, I realised that after you have painted both your toenails and fingernails, you are pretty much restricted in your other daily activities, like washing dishes or folding your blankets, because you might smudge your nails. So, I have decided to make fine use of my time by coming up here to blog. Coincidentally, typing slowly on your blog page does not smudge your nails, whereas typing furiously for some stupid reports does. And so, here I am.

I have painted my toenails in a deep, rich plum polish, under the brand of U.G.N.Y. Ok, side track a little, don’t you think it’s a damn bloody stupid marketing thing to have a brand with only one letter difference to U.G.L.Y.? Just what the hell is going on in the skulls of those marketing people?? If I were the director of the company, I would fire the entire department away in one shot. Thankfully, I’m just the occasional nail painter so my words carry as much weigh as the leg hair of a housefly.

Let’s get back on the main track. Who would have thought that beneath the deep dark nail polish lays an even darker secret? … … The Secret of the Blue Black Toe!

Muahahahhaha!

Yeah, I have got this really damn U.G.L.Y. big toe on my left foot that is forever bruised under the nail bed. It’s been there since B.C. 996 and it simply refused to go away. At first, I thought I would just bear with it until the bruised part outgrown the nail, but that never happened. That stupid nail just kept being bruised and amazingly, kept getting uglier and uglier. Almost every single kay poh passer-by in the streets would stop and ask me what the hell is wrong with that stupid black toe.

NNB. Enough is enough.

If I can’t make one black toenail normal, I could make the 9 remaining normal toenails black! Aha! Isn’t that a simply brilliant idea?? And now, my toenails now looked so pretty, defined and coordinated that even I couldn’t help glancing down at my own toenails every 5 steps I take, which was disastrous as I kept crashing into several large objects like my bedroom walls. But my toenails certainly looked seductive enough. They are almost good enough to eat! I think those perverts with a foot fetish would be extremely turned on by my toenails. I wondered how their face would change if they know the truth! Serves them right.

Oh yah, by the way, i am going to Tioman Island over the weekend with Pretty Giam and Beautiful Chiang! Life rocks. :)

I am outta school! Yay!

2004-06-23T09:18:00.000-07:00

Today, i went kayaking again. It's a KOP, Kayaking Orientation Program, which basically means that we don't have much syllabus to complete but just make sure that the participants have a positive experience with kayaking. If you aren't clear what KOP means, it only means one thing to me: SLACKING TIME!!!

Muahahahahha!

Yeah, KOP is my fave course to take! There is so little pressure with taking KOP that i think my lungs get in the danger of over-expansion each time i took a KOP course. The KOP course is conducted using double seater kayaks, which means that there is less kayaks to bring out, to look out, and to wash up. What's more, if it rains, play games with the participants. If it looks like it is going to storm, play games with the participants. If the sea is rough and choppy, play games with the participants. No brainer. Muahahahaha!

What's more, for today's KOP, we actually have 4 instructors to less than 20 pax! So it is simple: Best Buy, Good Buy, Must Buy!

Muahahahahah!

Ooops. Ok, think I better slap myself to get rid of that irritating smirk on my face and that "Muahahahaha" before all my readers clicked away from my blog page.

Anyway, today's KOP is really quite seng nang (relaxed) and i even had the time to practised my water somersault! It's just a simple roll in the water, where you plunge headfirst into the water, flip your legs over and make a complete turn in the water. The real challenge was to do it with the bouyancy vest on! It was really damn funny to see each other's legs struggle up in the air for a short moment, before failing the entire attempt! It looked really stupid, but it was funny alright. I think the last time i laughed so much was during my sea proficiency course, with the NPCC people like Yiing Kai, San San and Wendy, and that was like a freaking long time ago. That's it. I would go practise it further during my second expedition training and make the rest of the group try it too!

On another topic, Zhixiong is flying off tomorrow, together with Youren, to begin their super exciting graduation trip in Australia. Lucky pigs. They are going to live aboard (aboard, as in on boat, not abroad, as in overseas, morons!) and dive like forever! How cool is that! Diving in The Great Barrier Reefs! *Envious look in eyes* I just hope he'll take great pictures and show them to me when he gets back...

Have a safe voyage, Brother Bear!

I am outta school! Yay!

2004-06-22T08:57:00.000-07:00

I just realised that I have forgot to blog about something irritating recently – The letter from the NUS Alumni. I just saw their stupid letter again and I can’t help bitching about it. About a week ago, they addressed a letter to my mum and dad. My first thought was: How sweet of NUS to have sent the Commencement Ceremony tickets to them by post and addressed my parents so fondly! Then, I realised that it couldn’t have been the Commencement Ceremony tickets because I have yet to state to the school who I would like to invite to the ceremony. Thinking that the school must have been up to no good, I opened the letter and it went something like this:

“Dear Parent,
Congratulations! We are sure that you must be overjoyed about your daughter’s graduation from the National University of Singapore. We rejoice with you and are happy that we have been able to contribute to this achievement. We are proud to welcome her to into the ranks of our over 140,000 alumni. Blah blah blah, blah blah blah, blah blah blah.

While you rejoice and celebrate this special occasion, we invite you to join us in our effort in helping NUS to raise funds for the NUS Alumni House. To be sited at the heart of Kent Ridge Campus, the Alumni House will be our vibrant venue for alumni to network with one another as well as with our campus community of students, faculty and staff through various activities and project. Blah blah blah, blah blah blah, blah blah blah. Every donation will enjoy double tax-exemption, We will also acknowledge every donation of $100 or more with a special brick inscribed with your daughter’s name… ”

Hello??

Give $100 to have my name inscribe on some brick??

Imagine how proud I would be 30 years down the road and I bring my kids all the way to NUS and show them this brick that has my name on it!

“There, there, can you see? At the third row from the top, the 27th brick from the left? Ah! That’s mama’s name, lor! Why place it so high ah? Because I only donated $100 lor. Those bricks you see at eye level at inscribed with the names of those who donated $1,000,000 or more, loh. Aiyah, mine not bad already, lah. At least, my brick wasn’t in the topmost row. Those people donated $100 in crumpled notes with fishy smell and the people at the donations department were so pissed that they put their bricks all the way up there, ah!”

I must be on my rockers to want to donate $100 to get a stupid brick. NNB.

And what is double tax-exemption? I think my family doesn’t even make enough to be taxed, so no. It’s not quite an incentive for me to donate. Oh, unless they have this special tax-reduction card where you can use in major departmental stores and supermarket for them to reduce GST from 5% to 4.95% each time you buy anything! That would be neat, won’t it? Yeah, and I would donate my precious $100 then. -_-“

I am outta school! Yay!

2004-06-20T04:03:00.000-07:00

I just finished my first Southern Island Expedition training today and my arms are aching so badly that I think they might drop off any moment. The training was damn, damn, damn tiring! We went to round Coney Island from Changi Beach, which, if you have no idea how far that is, THAT IS DAMN BLOODY FREAKING FAR!!! Oops. Be more ladylike.

I was dreading the first training since yesterday afternoon and the dreaded feeling worsen when I realised that my favourite kayaking buddies won’t be training as well. Serene, San San and Laimun all have courses, while Ms Chiang is getting herself reacquainted with her cosy bed at home. I begun thinking and cooking up excuses to run away from training since yesterday evening but each excuse turned out to be even lamer than the previous one. I finally gave up at 7.15am this morning and resigned myself to training for the expedition today.

As it turned out, the most daunting task was to find myself a paddling partner. No, let me correct myself; it’s to find a strong motor-fast paddling partner. If you don’t have a strong motor-fast paddling partner, you would forever be paddling next to the Last Man (the creative name given to the guy who is herding all the poor participants at the back) and be doomed to a lifetime of suaning and ka-jeowing by Mr Last Man. Examples of Mr Last Man’s speech would be “Paddle faster!” or “Eh, my grandmother has more strength than you!” or “Bui eh, lee bo jia bng ah? (Fatty, you didn’t have your meals, did you?)” All of which, are fine examples of motivational and inspirational speech. Alternatively, Mr Last Man might decide to splash water at you using his paddle to urge you to move faster, which you simply couldn’t as you are already half-dead paddling and you don’t have a super strong, motor-fast paddling partner. And don’t even get me started on the Safety Boat Sarcasm Crew. So, in an expedition, to find a good paddling partner is damn important.

Hence, the very first thing I did after I reached club was to scan around for any potential paddling partner. I kept my eyes peeled for males (supposed to be physically stronger than females), with bulging biceps (another sign of strength) and dark, tanned skin (meaning they probably have spent some time outdoors, hopefully doing some sports). If there were more than one of these lying around, the one with cute looks would have a further advantage, I thought.

Regrettably, the search for potential paddling partner wasn’t as simple. First, there were loads of people walking around club and they don’t have the word “Going for Southern Island Expedition” imprinted on their foreheads, so I don’t know who’s going and who’s not. Second, most of the people are in their little cliques and don’t seem too ready to pair up with someone they hardly knew. And most amazingly, I began to feel damn shy asking people to pair up with me! Yes, me feeling shy! That’s unbelievable, right? Of all moments, I actually chose one so freaking critical to be shy! Great.

Thankfully, just moments before I passed out from the cold fear of not finding a paddling partner, I found out that someone I knew is also without a partner. Let’s call him DDD*. (*Not his real name, his real name is Deng Dalian Darren.) Anyway, Mr DDD was well known to be a strong kayaker and he’s also one of the best-looking guys in the club (I added this because I was afraid that his spies would read my blog as well.) However, Mr DDD is also an amazingly mean guy who would pepper his speech with “Lee huan lohs”, the Hokkien equivalents of “That’s none of your business”. However, I decided to be brave and try asking him instead.

Dear Mr DDD began his meanness at the start of the day by making me beg him to be my training partner, which I eventually did, out of sheer desperation. Note: I did beg him but I DID NOT kneel down and beg him like what Mr DDD claimed! Then, throughout the entire paddling journey, he made me hold on to his pseudo-Nalgene water bottle because he couldn’t keep it “kiap” it himself, causing the bottle to roll across the hull of the kayak as we paddled. Besides that, Mr DDD is also the only weirdo in the whole training expedition that kept sabo-ing his own paddling partner. When Mr DDD was sitting in the front, he would splash water at me using his paddle; when Mr DDD was sitting at the back, he would purposely knock me with his paddle with every alternate stroke. Other than that, he also complained that when I sit in front of him, I block all his view and I should wear a flat screen LCD on my back and show TV Mobile instead.

Aaaaargh!

Just how mean can a person get?!

But still, despite Mr DDD’s meanness, he provided much of the propelling power and our kayak moved at a fairly decent speed. When we were not squabbling with each other, we even had the energy to go and ka-jeow the other kayakers. Because we were moving at the front of the pack, we were spared much of the suan-ing by Mr Last Man and Safety Boat Sarcasm Crew. For the sake of a strong, motor-fast paddling partner, I think I will just bear with the meanness of Mr DDD. But, in the meantime, please help me pray that I would be able to chance upon a fitter, faster and non-mean kayaker partner soon!

I am outta school! Yay!

2004-06-18T12:45:00.000-07:00

Today is an eventful and food-related day! For one, Zhixiong and I tried our hands cooking lunch today. We cooked spaghetti with pre-cooked sauce, which, is basically an idiot-proof dish. We added golden mushrooms and meatballs (chopped and un-chopped) to the sauce to give it an extra punch. However, as we were both non-cooks, with no idea how long golden mushrooms takes to cook, it was a pleasant surprise at how good something we had cooked actually turn out to be!

Now, don’t say I never take care of my blog readers. Here’s my great tips: Add golden mushrooms to your pre-cooked sauce to give the sauce an extra crunchiness (actually, I meant “kou2 kan3” in Chinese word but “crunchiness” is the best English substitute I could come up with at the moment.) And add chopped meatballs to give the impression that your spaghetti sauce is actually richer than it is. Some people might even think that it was you who cooked the bottled pre-cooked sauce as the commercial brands are usually damn measly with the amount of meat added to the sauce. If you get tired of chopping the meatballs, you can also set aside some whole rounded ones and people (like my dear father) might even thought that was a different ingredient from the chopped meatballs that you have got in that rich, home-cooked spaghetti sauce of yours. Clever, right!

We even thought that, the next time round, we would add some roast sunflower seeds to give the sauce an even more professional touch. And we would bring out the spaghetti and eat it in the corridor/garden, play Italian music at the background and pretend that we are lunching in Italy or something. I bring new meaning to the term “budget traveler”, don’t I?

After lunch, the next big gastronomical event was my buffet dinner at Marriott Hotel! You hear me correctly! Marriott’s Hotel! You know, the one that we have to pass by to get from Orchard MRT Station to Far East Plaza? The one with all those ang-moh tourists drinking beer in the afternoon? That Marriott (Read: That expensive Marriott). How cool is that?!

Yeah. It was so cool that you could really make ice cubes just by placing them in the lounge.

Well, it was actually a dinner gathering for my dive group. Brandon, one of the guys, worked there and he invited us all there for a dinner treat. At first, I was quite paiseh (hey, what do you mean by that look on your face! I did really felt paiseh, ok!) to take the treat and thought twice about going (really got, ok!). However, in the end, I still went as I thought he would be rather sad if we all don’t give him face. In return for my “tough” decision-making, the buffet dinner there was really, really good!

There were several main filling foods like roast beef, roast chicken, shelled prawns, char bng, spaghetti (not again!) and mashed potatoes. But my heart goes out to the scrumptious raw seafood! There’s salmon sashimi, crayfish, and fresh oysters, which is my favorite! It was my first time having raw oysters and it was really heavenly! It’s fat and juicy and it totally melts in your mouth. Combined with an elegant squeeze of lemon slice, the freshness of the seafood is further emphasized. As you placed the morsel in your mouth, you could almost feel the sea breeze blowing in your face… Heavenly…

Just as I was oohing and aahing over the fresh oysters silently in my head, Brandon says that the fresh oysters available in Singapore aren’t as good as those in Phuket, as the Singapore ones are frozen and hence, not exactly fresh, in true sense of the word.

This is still not good, ah? I thought. But it was already very good enough for my standards, leh. I have been around for 20 odd years and I have hardly tasted something so fresh and tasty before, leh, my brain cells argued. But not wanting to disagree with my lovable and extremely generous host, I managed a half-nod and quickly went back to savoring the remaining oysters on my plate. Never mind, lah. Until I get to eat the seafood at Phuket, these were still undoubtedly the best fresh oysters that I have ever tasted… Ooh, the sea breeze…

Then, there is the desert section. Man! It really reminds me of the spread at Club Med, with the wide variety of cheesecakes, chocolate mousses, tarts, pies and puddings! Merely thinking of it at 3am in the morning is sufficient to give me an instant orgasm. The crème brulee is unforgettable and the mini lemon meringue is just as good. Shumin and I decided to take a bit of everything to try and we actually have problems finishing them! I couldn't remember when was the last time I felt so full from eating deserts! Heavenly. Sinful. Orgasmic.

So, repeat after me: “Brandon is a great guy, Brandon is a great guy, Brandon is a great guy…”

Editor’s note: If anyone is keen to be advertised positively on Danping’s Blog, please email to arrange for a buffet treat. Thanks

After our happening dinner, Qiming, Shumin and I went over the Big O to join the rest of our friends. From there, we walked to IndoChine at Wisma for a drink and, in Nicole’s words, “chill out”. Sadly, with our group of 8, there weren’t any empty tables big enough to accommodate all of us, and add that to the snotty attitude of the staff, we were soon on our way looking for another place to chill.

By the time we finally got to this pub (forgot the name) near Emerald Place, our group has dwindled from eight to five (Casey, Aichin and San San went home early). With this number, it was easier for us to get a table and we each ordered our drinks.

The girls all ordered pretty cocktails, while I had beer. For a moment, I felt like an chee-ko-pek uncle drinking Tiger beer from the huge glass compared to the rest of the babes and I wanted to order a pretty looking drink like the others. Unfortunately, there wasn’t any cocktail that I liked and I decided to give up my poser stunts and stick to my original choice. Nonetheless, it felt good to sit around a bunch of close friends and chat away freely. It was good even when you had an ah-pek-Tiger-beer in your hand.

After three gastronomic events, we finally headed for home. As I waited for my shuttle bus, I began to worry about the effects of today’s bingeing on my already-hard-to-find-waistline. Then, I realized that tomorrow is Saturday, with the Recruit section of the newspaper. Think that should help me curb my appetite…

I am outta school! Yay!

2004-06-16T19:44:00.000-07:00

Guess what?!

This is the 301st blog entry for this blog! How cool is that?!

Eh, actually, I thought it would be a lot cooler if it was the 300th blog entry, instead of the 301st blog entry, you know, with nice rounded numbers. I have been thinking of announcing and celebrating my 300th blog entry ever since Blogger allowed users to keep count of the number of their blog entries. At that time, I was having like 287 entries or something like that and, with bated breath and utmost secrecy, I waited patiently for the day to come where I could proudly declare that I am a seasoned blogger, with 300 grand blog entries. I even had a planned announcement that should read like this:

“Can you believe it?? This is the grand 300th blog for Everyone Loves Danping blog! Many cheers and looking forward to the next 300 blogs from celebrated blogger, Danping! We love Danping!”

Yeah. That’s just what I would love to say. Not too fortunately, in my haste and excitement after the dive trip, I posted up a silly grinning photo of myself and missed the 300th blog mark instead. And now, my celebration speech would read like this instead:

“Can you believe it?? This is the grand 301st blog for Everyone Loves Danping blog! Many cheers and looking forward to the next 301 blogs from celebrated blogger, Danping! We love Danping!”

Eeeew.

Not as glam as I hoped it would sound. A bit su seh, right?

Well? *threatening look to those who dared to agree*

Anyway, let’s not dwell on the spilled milk (or spilled potions, in Harry Potter’s world) and talk more about this blog.

As what my faithful readers would know, I have started out writing this blog in January 2003, during my internship at this horribly boring engineering company. It is no common boring engineering company. It is so bad that there’s no one for me to talk to at all (unless you count the drinks’ stall uncles). Everyone looked damn freaking busy with their computers all the time and hardly spoke a word. And even when they did talk, they discussed cars’ engines, condo showflats and stock exchanges, which was as interesting to me as dried vomit. No, wait, probably dried vomit was more interesting that those topics…

Anyway, during those trying times, I desperately needed some outlet and that’s how I began blogging away. It was like a whiff of fresh air from the stale and rotting place! I could complain, sing, whine, wail and cheer to my heart’s content, on this very personal space of Blogdom, without anybody thinking I am crazy. I bitched about my stupid, low EQ and childish boss, my kind supervisor, my daily long journey to work and back, and my dull assignments. It was a great relief to be able to “speak” my mind, to the cyber-world from my work desk.

After my internship, it was my final year of my Electrical Engineering course in NUS. I was hoping it would be a breather to be back in school again but it turned out to be the most grueling year ever. There was more workload, smarter classmates, and more difficult projects to deal with. Blogging, then, became the way I used to communicate with the world while I was forced to spend longer periods in front of computer, writing thesis, reports and assignments.

Nowadays, after graduation and before employment, I merely blog to keep myself entertained and wonder out loud at things I find amusing. Also, with my late discovery of image hosting, I also blog to how lian about things that I have done, like kayaking and diving, or places that my sister has went to (okay, I know that darn picture is not taken in Paris. I was wrong but quit harping on that!)

Yeah, I am really surprised at what a long way this blog had actually come, from a simple outlet to kao peh my internship boss to a blog that has 301 (darn that non-rounded number!) blog entries! Man, I deserve a good pat on my back! Ain’t I good or what?

Cheers!

I am outta school! Yay!

2004-06-14T00:21:00.000-07:00

Hey hey!

I finally went for my Open Water Dive Course and I made it back alive! Hah!

Look at this!

Ain't I cool? Muahahahah...

I am outta school! Yay!

2004-06-09T09:49:00.000-07:00

Man! That mr brown is damn freaking funny. You should check out his article in the TODAYonline about the lack of privacy in the Singaporean's way of life. I almost laughed my teeth out.

I am outta school! Yay!

2004-06-09T01:07:00.000-07:00

Bad news! I am hideously sun burnt!

It’s entirely that stupid Charity Swim fault. Why would they want to have the event on a scorching hot Sunday that made nutters swim 10 freaking long kilometers in the open sea to raise money?

Yes, for the less athletic, 10 km is like 200 times the length of an Olympic sized swimming pool! Siao, right?

And then, because the nutters/fundraisers were swimming in the open waters, with waves and splashes and jellyfishes and what-have-yous, they needed to have escorting kayakers. But then, you can’t only have the escorting kayakers because they might also capsize their boats, or get lost, or get stung by jellyfishes and other what-have-yous. So, there also need to be escorts for the escort kayakers and that’s where I came into the whole picture.

I was the escorting kayakers’ escort kayaker! Taa-daa!

At least, I wasn’t the escorting kayakers’ escort kayakers’ escort safety boatman.

Anyway, that’s not the whole point. The whole big jarring point is that now I have got the horrible kayaker’s tan. That means, if you see me, it won’t be hard for you to guess what I was wearing on Sunday.

I got fair arms, all the way from the shoulders down to the wrist and the skin color changed abruptly from light brown to dark reddish brown at the back of my hands. That’s because I wore a long sleeved t-shirt, but no gloves. And then, I got a fairer upper face compared to my lower face, with many thanks to the jungle hat that I was wearing! And the bestest part must be my burnt nose that looked extremely obvious to my un-burnt eye area, as it was unprotected by the sunglasses I was wearing!

Aaargh!

Hideous is the word.

The tan lines are so bloody damn obvious and stupid looking. If they had appeared on someone else I might even laugh out right in that person’s face. Only that this is not at all funny when the stupid tan lines are on myself. Damn them. The worst of them all must the lines at my wrist area. I can temporary forget that I have awful tan lines on my face and neck if I don’t stand in front of a mirror but I can't help seeing my hands all the time! I see the tan lines when I am reading a book, typing on the keyboard, washing a mug and even eating an apple! It’s driving me nuts!!!

Bloody tan. Bloody sun. Please, someone, whack me with something hard when I kayak without gloves the next time.

I am outta school! Yay!

2004-06-05T00:58:00.000-07:00

Guess what was I doing for the past few days??

I was watching Qiang Wei Zhi Lian VCDs!

It’s been a very long time since I was last obsessed with watching VCDs but this series is really addictive! No wonder Nicole threw me such a disgusted look when I told her I haven’t even started on watching this series that I had borrowed from her (erm, from Casey, rather) such a freaking long time ago! The show is really nice!

Why?

First, there are two gorgeous hunks in the show. Second, there are two gorgeous hunks in the show. Third, there are two gorgeous hunks in the show. Oh, yah, did I mention there are two gorgeous hunks in the show??

That’s why.

Take two hunk guys, make them half-brothers, one dreamy and sad, one gay-ish and incestuous and add an average looking girl into the formula. That is it! Two handsome, gorgeous, delicious, half-naked men, lying in bed with their half-sister to keep her warm! Is this the ultimate female fantasy or what?!

Look at that!

If I am Ella, the girl in the center, I would fake a coma for the rest of my life! Hmm. No, wait. Maybe I would rape them both first before lapsing into the fake coma…

Anyway, this is how the first guy looked like.

Tall, muscular, good build. Deep blue eyes (yes, freaking, I know, for a Chinese), tall nose, awesome cheek bones… Hey! Wipe that drool before it short-circuit your keyboard! Ok, where were we? Oh… that cheek bones… That tight butt…

Then, there is the second guy.

Yeah. If this is the first time you are seeing his picture, yes, he’s a guy alright. Yes, even with all that long curly hair, he is still so damn lovable! I couldn’t quite believe that I actually liked a guy that looked so gay-ish, but, oh, look at that pout! *Drools..*

With two gorgeous hunks like that, who gives a damn that the show is full of homosexuality and incestuous relationships?

Now, if you don’t bug me, I would go back to watching episode #19.

I am outta school! Yay!

2004-06-02T23:18:00.000-07:00

Hey, hey...

Just a couple of quick updates...

First, i got The Letter from my sponsorship company. The Letter was to discharge me from all my bond liablities, such as having to work for them for a year. Yeah! PErhaps, they think i am more of a liablity to them than they are to me. Well, well... They can say whatever they want, but i don't give a hoot. But i must say when i received The Letter, it was a rather strange and mixed feelings. I suppose it must be about the same feelings when you get a divorce. You would feel rather sad about the failed relationship, but at the same time, you feel rather relieved and happy to begin a new chapter of your life, right?

Yeah.

So, i am now a divorcee at heart. No wonder people say University prepares you for life's challenges.

Second, my interview went alright, no, okay. i was applying for a teaching position as a Physics (gasp!) and Mathematics (double gasp!) teacher. The interview went pretty smooth and i was most relieved that they didn't test me on the technical details. (My nightmare quesiton would be" "Tell me the important applications of Archimedes's Principles". Wah lau. If they really ask that, i would die.) But, it was not that type of interview where you feel 100% confident and walked out of the interview onto a sliver cloud or something. Hmmm... Well, heck that.

And third thing is, i paid up for the deposit of my Open Water Dive Course on the next weekend. It is freaking expensive compared to the rates you get when you sign up with the NUS or NTU packages. But no choice lah. Paid liao. Will try to make the most out of it. The one big plus point is the dive operator's Singpaore office is in Mohd Sultan Road and that read one thing: Cheong Time! Muahahaha....

Fourth, it's Ms Deng Shumin's 21st Birthday yesterday. Yeah, let's all be nice and polite and say....

Happy Birthday to Shumin!

Yeah. She is old and responsible for herself now. Poor thing. I am still 17 this year.

Fifth, Harry Potter Movie 3 is OUT now. But I haven't catch it yet... Despite my phaedophile tendancy, i decided to wait til Tuesday to catch the movie at S$6.50 instead of the weekend rate of $8.50. Perseverance is key to wealth!

Last, i dunno what i am crapping for the entire blog entry but it makes me feel good anyway! Hahah! Gotta goo... buai!

I am outta school! Yay!