Interesting Blabber

HDB

2011-12-22T23:08:00.000-08:00

The classmates of my secondary school class met up last night. It's been a while since we've been 16, some of us area already working adults who can no longer use classes and exams as excuses. IC numbers apparently now start with T00... as opposed to our S89... or S95... id numbers (which was a revelation to me), and dinner table discussions are starting to revolve around the topic of...

HDB

The conversation started as everyone curiously interogated the only married person in our class, how did it happen, where are they staying, how did he propose yadda yadda yadda. And of course HDB comes into the topic once you're talking about marriage in Singapore. And suddenly, it surfaced that another 2 other girls have been applying for flats as well.

After listening to all the talk about government grants, prices, locations, etc etc etc, I went home and said to my mum (being typically singaporean)

'Mummy, Mummy, all my friends all applying for HDB already, I also want leh..'

Where We All Are

2011-11-28T03:52:00.000-08:00

I've been living the housewife life lately, one which I'm honestly, not too keen to start on just yet! It's only been a week and a bit since my last official summer holidays have started, and I've had many periods of 'headless-chickeness' (whereby I feel utterly aimless and have nothing productive to do) over the past week. And of course there are the times where I go and spy on voyeur on people through blogs and what not.

Although it's been quick and I'm about to finish my final year of my degree, most of my peers and friends have either already graduated, or are 6 months or so away from graduation. I was just looking at Joan's blog that day and had this realisation that she now fills the shoes of the people we were all once under the mercy of...

TEACHERS

Whereas Fei has gone off to work in the area of couselling, both jobs have something very much in common...

PEOPLE'S LIVES ARE IN THEIR HANDS!!

Gosh, how we've all entered and gone through multiple phases in life, and we're not even halfway through. Neither are these phases (ie. Junior college, uni, work, etc), even comparable to the trials and challenges our parents face in parenthood or marriage. 22 years of my life down... a heap more of years left to go!

(I do feel like such a child when I think about how much more there is in life that I've yet to experience)

Finally

2011-11-18T15:01:00.000-08:00

All right so I've been back from Toowoomba for about a week, but felt terribly unmotivated to blog about anything at all! Apologies for that, I'd been getting too used to not having internet and only using my laptop once in a while since I've been back.

During my 6 week stint in Toowoomba I discovered the most awesomest thing...

INSTANT BUBBLE TEA FROM SUNNYBANK..

And when I saw instant, I REALLY mean instant. This was during one of the weekends that I returned to Brisbane and paid Sunnybank (our unofficial Chinatown) for some asian-ness. I came across what seemed to be a really dodgy chinese drink whilst I was at the supermarket.

Why dodgy? If you understand mandarin, the cheesy name of the product doesn't help the fact that Jay Chou is trying to look so cool doing a thumbs up. (It's called you le mei in mandarin, and u love it in English) Thumbs ups are never cool..

So anyways, the bad packaging and branding caught my eye, plus the fact that it kinda looked like a coffeee cup from merlo. To my surprise, the drink flavour was 'bubble tea', albeit having little/no description of the actual contents (it didn't even have a nutritional table for me to see the ingredients), and everything else being written in traditional chinese (I can't even read simplified mandarin well, let alone the traditional one), I decided to give it a shot and just buy it for $1.70, which is a steal compared to our regular $4.50 bubble tea drinks here in Brisbane.

To my pleasant surprise, this drink was friggin' amazing!So here's the very brief ingredients list on the container:

And the contents of the cup! I'm holding the very adorable scrunched up straw...

Which extended out to be this full length straw!~ Pardon the crazy look, I was really REALLY excited to have my bubble tea!

The dehydrated pearls that required about 5 minutes of soaking in hot water. (They turned out to be even chewier than some of the commercial bubble teas availaable!)

Don't be deceived by the yucky dehydrated look.. The drink turns out pretty fantastic! I didn't grab a photo of the after cos I finished it pretty fast. The tea is really sweet though, and would probably be able to make 2 portions. But it has a very nice creamy taste to it, well, not really creamy, but it has a certain taste to it.

So, if any of you bubble tea fans are tired of paying $4.50-$6.00 for a cuppa chewy sugar loaded liquid, pop over to Yuen's in Sunnybank and give this budget version a shot! (Especially if you're heading to a regional/rural placement like I did and was craving bubble tea.. haha)

Hospitals and hospitals

2011-10-21T23:47:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it's been 3 weeks, which marks the mid-way of the prac here at Toowoomba Hospital. I'm definitely losing my initial enthusiasm, but I'm still enjoying nonetheless. I suppose what has been most discouraging is that in the acute setting, most of the patients end up dying or being under palliative care anyways, it made me feel redundant in some ways. But the important thing is this:

Even if someone is dying, or is predicted to never ever improve and just slowly waste away, it's still our job as a health professional to provide the best that we can to them, albeit their time here being so limited. I've had 4 patients die over the span of 1.5 weeks, (I had naively predicted 4 to die throughout the entire prac and my clinical educator said I was being way too conservative, haha). I don't feel devastated or emotionally rocked by deaths (so far) mainly because it is a circle of life which we need to accept:

Look at the words below. What do they describe?

BALD TOOTHLESS INCONTINENT DEPENDENT RELIANT FRAIL HELPLESS DIAPERED NON-VERBAL

Much like any other old person? Yep. And guess what, much like a baby too. When I saw a couple of patients curled in foetal position, wearing mittens so that they don't pull their naso-gastric tubes out, and of course, wearing diapers, it just reminded me of how life truly becomes one full circle at the end. We enter as a baby, we leave as 'bigger' babies.

The Ciiirrcle of lifffeee.

Now I just have the most increased fear of aging!

It's the WEEKEND!!

2011-10-07T19:35:00.000-07:00

It's the weekend! I've never been SO happy, elated and carefree ever! This week at the hospital was my first week of placement, it's a fantastic experience here in Toowoomba and I would never trade it for anything else. Here's what I love so much about it:

1) Toowoomba is elevated on a 'mountain' (I'm sure there's a better term for it), which means that it is colder than Brisbane, the average temperature now feels somewhat like winter, but the heating systems everywhere are so efficient that it's comfortable most times. (I still can sweat sometimes in the hospital)

2) This elevation also means that the air is EVEN fresher! When I came to Brisbane, my first thought was - WOW the air is so fresh!. Then I went to visit Mark in Gatton, and I thought - Omg the air's EVEN better here! And when I stepped out of my car last Sunday in Toowoomba, I couldn't believe the freshness of the 'mountain'air! You can smell that nice misty feel, and it just freshens you each day!

3) Being on that 'mountain'might mean that I burn more petrol driving home, but, I can make up for it by leaving my car in Neutral the ENTIRE way down. Yesterday I did it for a good 5km (about 6 minute drive) as I went down the slopes and even reaching 100km/hr without even pressing the accelerator. (don't worry, that was at the end when the speed limit was that and the slope wasn't as steep)

4) Staying at the nurses quarters is fantastic (besides the zilch internet), Rooms are cleaned weekly for you, toilets are cleaned daily and heaiting is on 24/7. It also takes me LESS THAN 5 MINUTES to get to work.. Muhahahahhaa.. (ok I feel bad for the rest who are posted far far away in Brisbane)

5) The town centre is so close and compact, which gives me this nice feeling of togetherness. BUt this isn't really accurate considering I haven't actually been there shopping yet. (Yes, biased, I know)

6) I get to see so many different kinds of caseloads! I haven't been able to see paeds yet, but I've gotten to see cancer care patients, acute ward patients, rehab patients, language, swallowing, communication etc. This probably doesn't make any sense to you guys who aren't in a health work setting, but it does actually make a difference what kind of patients you see.

7) I'm only 40km away from Mark in Gatton (Which was my main reason for choosing Toowoomba actually, hahah...) and the drive takes about half an hour, which is way better than coming from Brisbane.

And so ends my promotion of completing a clinical practical at Toowoomba hospital. Trust me, it's fantastic =)

Toowoomba Flower Festival

2011-09-28T16:25:00.000-07:00

I went to Toowoomba for the Carnival of Flowers (finally!) last weekend. It was a bid to check out my placement area as well, but we pretty much just hung out in the streets and main mall of Toowoomba. It really is a lovely place, with roads lined with trees (very much like Singapore), and parks and gardens close by.

Ironically, we only spent about a total of 40 minutes in the actual flower display at one of the gardens, and spent the bulk of the time walking around the mall, catching Johnny English, and eating (as usual, haha)

It took us about a 15minute walk to get from the mall to the actual flower display at the Queens Park (I think that's what it's called), and we were greeted by the sight of lucious, beautiful flower displays! It is truly refreshing to see so many colours and flowers, though there are quite a number of lovely flowering trees and bushes blooming here in Brisbane too. But knowing that someone specially planted and arranged these flower beds just seems... nicer. =)

This was already the second last day of the carnival, thus it wasn't really that happening.

Heaps of tourists too! And avid photographers of course!

And of course, what would a weekend trip 120km away be without some touristy photography right?

I deliberately wore a floral dress to suit the occasion, ahhaha...

The Magpies are apparently really ferocious.. They had signs like these all over the cordoned off areas.

Just look at how vibrant all the colours are! A nature photographer would've gone mad!

We bumped into a couple of Mark's friends from vet school who had actually gone around to all the different flower sites and gardens, they said that this one was actually not that fantastic. Perhaps next year we'll actually spend the day looking at flowers instead of Rowen Akinston!

After we'd had enough of the flowers we attempted to walk back to the mall where I had parked my car. Unfortunately, due to horrible road planning, we ended up in the residential area and walked pretty far to get back to the main road. I guess we were just unfamiliar (it's like getting into some bukit timah estate in Singapore I suppose).

However I loved the quaint little houses we saw on the way back! The architecture was all pretty classic and nice.

And a really old car we walked by! Look at where the side view mirrors are, I honestly wouldn't know how to drive this I reckon.

OF course we had to stop for tea right? The whole point of a 'holiday' is to have the excuse to eat more frequently due to the walking (though we just ate and ate and ate). And you know what there is in Toowoomba and nowhere else??

PAPA ROTI! All the way from Malaysia!

It tasted fantastic together with the peanut butter milkshake. (If any of you are heading to Toowoomba for a weekend or something, please go there!!)

Love of My Life!

2011-09-20T02:35:00.000-07:00

Presenting the love of my life.....

The one whom I cannot do without..

One of the things I always miss when I go on a holiday without...

BOO BOO!!

Booboo is my bolster which I've had ever since I can remember. The previous bolster case had been so worn out that it was literally thread bare. It eventually had the consistency and transluscency of organza. My mum couldn't take it finally gave in and made me a new bolster case from her nightgown (which I traded with by burning the latest season of 24 for her), which I absolutely love (albeit the gaudy colours) because it now has an element of her too!! A bolster has 3 important features:

1) Softness of the case: it is ESSENTIAL that it is baby skin soft, you wouldn't want to rub your face into a sack cloth right?

2) Lumpiness: The amount and distribution of lumps must fit your body shape just right. It has to fit between your legs without stopping your blood, and yet without being completely flat

3) Smell: Of yes, it's ABSOLUTELY got to smell of familiarity! Why else would you want a security item if it didn't smell secure right?? Right???

I bet a lot of you are cringing now, thinking 'Ee yer... never wash one...' BUT I DO OK, (just not as often as I should). But booboo's normally washed at least once a semester la, which is probably more frequent than how many times you guys wash your comforter! =P

.I honestly think that my bolster's probably one of the most precious things to me. I'd be more devastated if I lost it as opposed to losing my phone. I mean, lost phone, $200. lost booboo, PRICELESS.

Security items are actually much more important than we realise, especially for children. They help the child learn to self sooth and rely less on you, which might sound like a bad thing at first, but think about when you want to go out to work in the future knowing tha your child cannot be comforted by anything but you, how worried would you be? It's like a nanny!

I'm definitely going to give my child a security item once I can, and in case you're wondering, no I'm not goin to give boo boo to him/her. BOOBOO IS MINE.

hehh =)

Just a silly post to distract me from exams, haha..

Interlaken Jan 2011

2011-09-14T23:06:00.000-07:00

Carless for the weekend! =( But hopefully it'll be back and I'll have a 'brand new' car to drive on Monday! I promise to show my car all the lurve, care and respect it deserves! =)

Since I'm unable to upload pictures due to my lousy cranky computer, I stole photos from our weekend family trip to Interlaken (Switzerland) early this year from my sister's online account for Gaby-photos. Quality of the photos are AWESOME as they're from my brother in law's awesome DSLR, (even though I played camera man, which wasn't very awesome, ut camera made up for it).

The trip to Interlaken required the rental of a hugehuge diesel vehicle, so that we could all sit comfortably with Gaby in her new car seat. It wasn't awesomely comfy though and did get quite squishy at some times. The drive took about 2+ hours, not something I'd recommend to someone with a baby who hates being strapped.. and for those who ge tmotion sick too.

Journey started a little later than expected as Lionel had to finish up his research paper, my sister boasts that he can complete writing a journal article in 3 weeks apparently! haha..

Here's our little darling still quite fairly easily entertained. She chews everything, and I was happy to let her chew on my sun glasses as long as she didn't start screaming...

Which, of course lasted maybe 15 minutes before she let her boredom get to her and she started yellin, that's her face pretty much most of the journey, =O We sang, told stories, shook stuff in front of her, all to no avail.. We still had to make a little pit stop about half an hour into the journey for her to get a feed! It's amazing how your life changes after a baby enters it hey? I always thought I was born to be a mum... until I saw my sister become a mum and then I figured.. hmmm maybe waiting isn't such a bad idea... It takes a lot to give up and sacrifice so much for your kid. You give up your figure (women), social lives, work especially, diets, freedom, fashion (or just not looking sloppy)... So many things for a baby!

Good thing Gaby needed a feed anyway, we all got to have some ice cream from the push cart! It was an expensive treat (everything in Switzerland is expensive, even the bloody trashbags are expensive), but it was nice to have something cold in the warm weather.. Plus, cheap thrill of buying ice-cream off the road! (Gaby had some too!)

Taken during another feeding stop about.. another half hour later. HAha.. This was some random pretty lake. It was really pretty though!

Finally, after 2 hours of winding bendy roads, lots of singing and story telling, (I think I heard the story of Goldilocks too many times), I learnt that I could come up with poems when a screaming/cranky/bored baby is presented to me. In that sense, Gaby's my muse! =)) the hotel we stayed at was awesome! Well, it was more like a studio/chalet styled place, but I really loved the concept and the entire surrounding area! They even had a TRAMPOLINE downstairs!

One of the many happy moments of Ah bee!! Look at the amount of teeth that little Jaws has! But they hurt like a bitch when you actually have to breast feed.. But she's sooo cute, I think it probably takes all the pain away, haha..

The beautiful views of the mountain tops! (Imagine the Sound of Music and them crossing the mountains to escape Nazis... cue cliche cowbell and yodel music)

However, Interlaken is a pretty touristy place. There were more Japanese and asians than Swiss in my opinion, and it was awfully crowded and hot at that time, though the weather was pretty good I suppose. unfortunately we couldn't find a place to picnic due to the lack of shade (and as typical asians, we NEED shade), so we ended up having a meal at one of the restaurants there. Pretty good food, typical expensive tourist prices. But it was all good, Gaby even got to make new friends! Look!

Tired Lionel and Gaby eating some grass.


Gaby's fascination with dogs was finally met and she got to get up close and personal with one! Haha, the dog was such a darling, he let her pat him in that typical baby-ish way. Don't they look adorable??

DEVASTATED!

2011-09-11T03:40:00.000-07:00

I don't know why all the photos I try to upload from Europe are like this!! =(( I reckon it's an SD card thing, but these are the files that I've already transferred to my computer from the SD card, and they don't show up like this when I open the individual photos up, only when I try to upload them on blogger..

WHY

WHY!!!??

It's as if it's a snapshot from the horror movie 'shutter', which, by the way, I caught with Korah and Mark a month ago (finally) and was disappointed that the boys didn't find it as scary as other films (I must find an Asian horror film that'll knock their socks off!). There's an on going debate between Mark and I as to whether Hollywood or Asia makes the best horror.

I reckon that the asians win hands down of course, and that blardy Hollywood just makes either a) lousy remakes or b) uses plenty of scary voom-voom soundtracks and that shoves an ugly ang-mor ghost in your face in order to make you piss in your pants.

I personally find asian horror to be chilly and oh so spine-tingling not only in their filmography and effects, but storylines as well. They're the kind that leave you with shudders even after you leave the theatre..

However perhaps that's just the feelings I got when I watched horror as a teenager some 8 years ago (man that's OLD). And I guess I'm less shakable now that I'm a quarter through my life, and I understand the concept of on-screen ghosts being just normal people in ugly costumes and having bad hair days. You know how a scary scene is scary? It's not always quite as simple

1) Scary music, if not, just uncomfortable silence that makes your breath sit in your chest like a decaying lump of cheese

2) Lots and lots of tension building up to that particular scene

3) A blurry unclear image of the ghost, it musn't linger for too long, or you'll realise that it's actually just a human. And I think this is actually the most crucial factor. I find that a lot of horror shows go wrong in the sense that they show you too much of the ghost, and you end up being able to pick out the very human features in them (which thus totally defeats the initally aim of appearing as a ghost)

I think the show that completely shattered the ghost image was our Singapore short series 'Incredible Tales'. Remember that? There was one episode with the famous pontianak of course, which comprised of this flour-faced, long haired asian chick with not very scary eyes, and what appeared to be a piece of otak in her mouth acting as a long tongue. Howdumb was that?? Oh well..

What a digression eh? I didn't even set out to talk about horror in the first place!

Oo look at this boy's face, you can't see it cs the picture's been cut off, but he was beaming SO much on the bus ride as he flirted and twiddled with the girl's hand. They weren't a couple, which I suppose, made it all much funner for the guy to try and cosy up to her as they went on their journey!

Doesn't that bring the butterflies to your stomach girls?? When that guy first flirted with you and gave you that attention which you craved but wasn't brave enough to demand for? Haha.. Being young is so fun..

I feel terribly old!

2011-09-05T04:04:00.000-07:00

I removed my thumbdrive from my laptop for the first time in 3 weeks. Wow it's like having a good shit after constipation!

And I won't have to be looking at Times New Roman Font size 12 for a couple of days =))

PECS

2011-09-04T15:41:00.000-07:00

I was just preparing some materials for therpy later and was looking for a picture to represent 'outside play'. Some of you might know of the system called PECS, which stands for Picture Exchange Communication Systems. It's a system used with many non-verbal children and adults who use pictures to communicate to you what they want.

So I wanted to look for a good representation of 'Outside play', and naturally typed in 'PECS outside play', hoping to get a nice version from the PECS system, and this is what I found on google:

It took me quite a while to figure out why the hell so many half naked men appeared on my google search page! Is outside play some form of connotation related to male models or something?? Then I realised...

PECS.

>.<

Things that make me smile...=)

2011-08-31T05:21:00.000-07:00

I'm sure I've had this as a title before, it's just that I'm a strong believer of sharing your happiness and joys instead of imposing any emo-ness and bit*hcomplaints to the world who can't be bothered listening to you whine.

I'm sure we all have that song that makes us smile uncontrollably, that feel good or shiok song that calsm you and make the corners of your lips raise and your mood lighten and you go all 'ahhhh...'

The song above currently has that effect on me, yeah, it does sound pretty much like bubblegum pop, but hey, it makes my endorphines run! =)

And you know what else makes me happy and high?? Smelling nice things like my Dove soap! I spent a good 10 minutes hopping around with the bottle like Gollum and his ring. (I think my housemate and her friend thought I was siao, I think the fumes got to me la)

Hehe... The simple pleasures of life; why don't you start with your 5 senses and just see what makes your day? That can make a crappy day all better =)

( I know I sound like some uber positive-happy-high-brainless-bunny now, I think the redbull is kicking in.. hurhurhur...) seeing that I've read the limited research on Red Bull and the impact it has on mental performance, I'm sure it's having an effect on me right now. If only I could be as verbose as I am now on this blog as in my lit review. haha..

Skilled Laborour

2011-08-29T15:27:00.000-07:00

Several weeks ago on one of those lazy nights where I frist got my internet connected, I stumbled across Xiaxue's videos on clicknetwork.com, and came across a hilarious video of her baby sitting. Well, it wasn't hilarious per se, more of a mix between shock and amusement.

You may watch the video at the following link: (I am unable to embed a video from clicknetwork

http://www.clicknetwork.tv/watch.aspx?c=1&p=8&v=462

As many of you know, I'm not exactly the person with the best fashion sense, neither am I the kind who knows how to 'dress up' even if the occasion calls for it. I'm pretty much a T-shirt-and-jeans kinda girl, and have progressed steadily from super-oversized-ugly-t-shirt-and-berms to fitted-t-shirts-and-jeans-with-occasional-dresses. As plastic or superficial as it may seem, I sometimes do envy girls who are able to use 87 different substances to accentuate their features.

Random example of pretty girly dolled up girl

It's like an art, I suppose that's why they're called make-up artists yes?

People like Kaykay and Xiaxue even make livings out of their looks (especially xiaxue with her video tutorials on how to gigantify your eyes), which is pretty awesome if you think about it, show people how to do something you like (and are good at), and get paid for it! And it's not exactly laborious either.

So when I saw videos of them babysitting (Kaykay and Paul Twohill had another experience here), I gaped for a while. I have never seen people SO awkward around kids before! Watch for yourself and see, gosh I felt bad for the poor kids!

But in this process, I discovered my skill: Diaper Changing/Kid Minding!! Actually I think I'm better with babies, they can be easily distracted and entertained with stupid things like how huge your mouth is whereas a toddler would just run around and ignore you.

So I have a skill!! YAY

But models get $50/hr and babysitters get $15/hr... Hmmm Oh well, at least I know if I have a kid I won't freak out!

I Am Human...

2011-08-24T03:35:00.000-07:00

Sometimes Mark tells me I think I'm wonderwoman because I like to keep myself constantly busy with work and studies and other frivolous matters which fill up my time (lest I become too complacent with too much free time and therefore waste it). But many things I do remind myself that I am merely human, and a rather blur and stupid one at times...

Stupid things done just over the past 7 days:

1) Drove my car to school, and walked home with Jerrine and completely forgetting that I'd parked it in school.

2) Spent a good 5-10 minutes searching for the cover of my blender in the different kitchen cabinets, getting all worked up, only to realise that it was already in the blender.

3) Walked right smack, hard on to our glass door... But that I blame my unbearable hunger that caused me to attempt to rush through the door to get to the fridge asap... Not one of my finest moments I must say. I think Mark was on the verge of whatsapping everyone my moment of genius

And all within 7 days, haiyoo..

What stupid things have you done??

To to to... Toowoomba!

2011-08-22T03:18:00.000-07:00

We just got our postings for our 6 week placement in October! And I'm ecstatic to say that I've been given my first choice of completing my 6 weeks at the local hopital in Toowoomba! (Yes, there's a name funnier than Toowong). For all you non-Queenslanders/Brisbanites, Toowoomba is regional town 194km away from the city of Brisbane. Technically, it is not Brisbane. (I grappled with that fact for a while in my first year, because I thought EVERYTHING was Brisbane, yes, silly me)

I've attached a picture of the google map for the benefit of everyone so that you can get a sense of how blardy big Australia is.. Or how blardy small Singapore is.

Actually, I think this picture does an even better job. One fo the lecturers had put up a picture of a map similar to this to demonstrate the need for the development of Telerehab, which is basically the deliverying of different types of therapy via internet programmes similar to Skype. Because Australia is so vast and some the state and level of development really can differ greatly from region to region, many therapists choose to stay in Metropolitan areas such as Brisbane, Sydney and what not (I mean, who wouldn't right?) So researchers find ways to try and provide healthcare services to all the little kampungs (small small towns) out there in order to benefit as many as possible.

Toowoomba is one such kampung that has now turned into one of the bigger, more 'happening' town centres in the region. When people talk about places in Queensland, it's Brisbane, Townsville, Caines, Toowoomba etc. It's probably not massively huge, but I've heard it's pretty bustling (compared to the little swa deng Gatton which Mark is in) I've conveniently marked Mark (haha, pun unintended) on the google maps map to show how far he is from civilisation on any given day. Poor guy only has ONE asian fried noodle stall to eat from!! (which therefore means he's now pretty chummy with the guy and can get discounts when he buys noodles and fried rice, haha.. perks of a small town).

Gosh do I digress or what? I'm just so excited, to be able to work in a (slightly) less metropolitan hospital setting, and staying in nurses quarters, which I'm clueless about. All I know is, in a month's time, I'll be of to to to to toowoombaaa!!

HEHEHE *excited mad laughter*

adios~

Terrification

2011-08-19T04:02:00.000-07:00

I've just spent today at a one day course on 'Practical Stuttering Techniques for the School-Aged Child' organised by Pearson in the city given by J. Scott Yaruss, the co-author of the OASES forms used in evaluating the functional impacts stuttering can have on a person.

Fear, phobias and anxiety are always issues which come up whenever the topic of stuttering comes to mind. It's instinctive, even to the lay person that a stutterer does so especially when he is anxious, afraid or scared. This is completely true of course, and is often one of the key issues we as therapists must inform the client. Do not let the fear of stuttering control you, because that is exactly what makes you stutter even more.

When Dr Yaruss started on the topic on his arachnaphobia and how these children basically experience that level of anxiety all the time, I began to recall the times when I was still of a single-digit age, and when I was in a (fairly traditional) Chinese primary school. I remembered being petrified of every single Chinese language teacher before the age of 9. I would never EVER dream of asking to go to the toilet during chinese classes, and would almost always do my homework until I was Primary 3 (I think...)

One key experience I remember was when the class was walking down the stairs in pairs for the flag lowering ceremony at the end of the day, and our Chinese teacher told the 2 children at the front to stop walking while she caught up; but they didn't. So she reprimanded them (not too badly actually, I think she yanked the girl's ear slightly, but it sure freaked the hell outta me cos I was just behind them), and promptly told them to swap with me and my partner.

For that 2 flight of stairs, I swear I was as nervous as hell! Man I don't even get so nervous giving presentations now! Why was I so petrified? It wasn't that she was a tyrannical teacher or anything like that, I was just afraid that I wouldn't understand her when she said 'stop' in mandarin and end up overshooting and being reprimanded as being 'disobedient', when actually, I just don't understand. Thankfully, none of that happened and I got to the parade square nice, safe and without peeing myself.

Many times as children we're so petrified of adults. I knew I was afraid of all the chinese teachers because I couldn't understand shit. What ever they'd say, I probably only got half the message (and then whoever was around me would have to explain again). The fear of speaking chinese was even greater! I was just so shy with speaking mandarin actually.

When I think back now, I'm so glad I'm over that stage of being afraid of people. It's not a very good fear to have I reckon =P Lesson for today?

Make sure my kids are friggin' bilingual and don't have to go through the same horrible feeling of inadequateness as I did!

Gaby better start on her chinese lessons soon!! (I'm going to make sure her first chinese words are 'ah yee'!

The Lack of IT

2011-08-06T20:46:00.000-07:00

Due to the recent move and hustle and bustle of getting back to school and work, there hasn't been much time for updates. Not only that, there hasn't been any INTERNET for updates. As I probably whine and whinge about this every time I move house in Brisbane (which is 3 times so far), we have yet to have our internet connected. While this is nicely saving us about $15/week without internet, it still makes us feel like we haven't quite settled in yet. Not to mention the horrible amount of research we should be doing for our honours projects this semester.

I honestly can't wait to really get started on my project. It's on Taurine and how it might enhance/affect word learning (yes, geek at heart.). Taurine is an amino-acid found in things like Red Bull, Formula milk and such, which is believed to enhance attention, cognition and all that sorts. I've not yet actually come across any journal article that explicitly states so though, however I have only been researching for a grand total of maybe.... half an hour?

So a quick update of life..

Life's been great =) Had a great birthday, been playing nice traditional games such as Uno Attack and Munchkins thanks to my lack of internet and technology in the house (i.e. TV). Which is good actually. televisions reduce our sociability I find. Everyone tends to just end up sitting around and nuahing when we could all be talking and interacting instead.

Not having the internet at my fingertips has also meant that I spend more time sleeping, getting 8 or more hours of sleep a day is a luxury I know will soon cease (once the internet kicks in and the assignment writing starts). So I'm gonna treasure that sleep!!

=))

I like to move it move it

2011-07-26T04:08:00.000-07:00

Yes I've been away for loooooong.. That's because after the 20 hour flight+transit back to Brisbane, I got straight back into work at the daycare, moved out of my old place, got more busy with long days at the day care, and moved into the new place with Jerrine, which is, by the way, a lovely, warm-looking (not feeling), quaint Queenslander near school!

The new closeness to school still gets me so excited that I still squeal when we approach the house, knowing that I need not crawl up the horrible Carmody Hill or navigate through the meandering bends anymore! For those of you that aren't aware, a queenslander is basically an ang morh atap house (all the wood and stilts without the atap). The place had previously been flooded to the top of the windows, and thus received a full renovation and refurbishing, which results it a very very very professional, very shiny and reflective timber floor! The toilet is AMAZING, with self-cleaning shower screens which apparently allow you to use it without ever having soap scum/water marks!

I think both of us have never been so happy and satisfied with a house and it's providings. The owner is really a sweet old man, like the grand dad I never had really.. He's quite stern and anal about his house, but sooo helpful and friendly. If only all owners were like that

Anyways, alas I'm here writing this in the school library because

1) We have no internet, as usual.
2) I stupidly forgot to bring my keys and my housemate is out till late.
3) I even more stupidly forgot to bring my phone. so, which is the stupidestest??? ?

I suppose this means I get the chance to finally sit down and update my blog about something going on, although I am sad to not be able to put up photos. There's so much I want to talk about! Belgium, Luxembourg, Zurich and Gaby and all the other random things I so like to talk about =))

Well I guess that will have to wait! till then,

Adios!

Nightmares

2011-07-13T04:25:00.000-07:00

Last night was pretty epic. I woke up to loud huds on the window and thought that the world was ending. You know how you get jolted awake suddenly by noises or someone suddenly and the adrenaline just causes your stomach to churn and your muscles to just tense and function despite your mind still being in a semi-consious state? Well that's exactly how I felt last night when the storm woke the entire household up.

It wasn't just an ordinary storm, it was MASSIVE, and guess what,

THERE WAS HAIL.

The winds were amazingly crazy strong, and this picture from my sister's window doesn't give enough credit to the chaos and frightening tension brought by the storm. A piece of hail that fell on my mummy's toe was actually what woke her up as all our windows were wide open (It's pretty hot in Zurich now, and the nights feel very much like our Singapore nights).

So this piece of ice struck her awake and she quickly went around closing windows with my sister. It probably took me 30secs more before I woke up and realised what was going on.

If you look closely you might notice the pattern of the rain on the road as the rhythmic winds gushed across the sky.

I tried to take a picture of pieces of hail that fell into the balcony, but it didn't turn out too clear. Hail was actually dropping down the chimney too, but it was too dark and dusty for me to capture a shot. Plus my eyes were half closed and my brain half in dream land still.

I'm not too sure if that white orb looking thing is hail. It might be since I don't see it on the floor now.

It took me a while to get back to sleep because of all that adrenaline and trauma, and when I did, I had the most frustrating dram (which I thus consider a nightmare because it didn't want to end). Basically I was ferrying 4 people home in my dream (this was in Brisbane of course), and after I drove almost all the way home, 1 girl told me she lived on the other side of the river, which meant I had to backtrack a whole way. The frustrating part came when I just couldn't get to the respective houses of the people to drop them off, meaning I was lost and jsut couldn't find my way. Which, in my opinion, is the most frustrating thing ever! I hate it when I get lost in real life, much more in my dream!

So bascially I woke up frustrated. Because I never got to send them home and they scolded me.

Thank goodness I have Ah Bee to lighten the days that I'm here! Honestly, motherhood is bloody tiring now that I see it up close and 24/7. Piang eh. I always thought I'd want to be a young mum, but now, I begin questioning if I'm ready to sacrifice and give up literally my whole life for someone who's just going to be a pooping, crying little monster who has her moments of cuteness and warmth. Don't get me wrong, it's not that my niece is a monster, but it's just that I never know if my kid will turn out to be one!

We frequently try and let her self-entertain in her walker in order for everyone to get on with doing their own thing. But when she frets, she frets. I've watched the video of 'Elmo's Song' so many friggin times I think I'm going to have dreams of that soon!

And Miss Poopy Pants doing a Poop!! She's SOOO adorable when she sits on the potty!

This was taken during one of the 'Elmos-Song-Consolation-Session' when my sister was in the shower and she was pining for her. Elmo seems to be the best substitute so far.

I'm so gonna be Gaby-sick when I leave for Brisbane!!!! =((

Amsterdam

2011-07-11T05:48:00.000-07:00

I'm back in Zurich with the family! Feels good to be back to the familiarity (somewhat) of having dishes to wash, meals to cook and baby to sit. We came home to an awesome Bak Kut Teh meal filled not only with pork ribs but fish balls, wantons and dumplings. BAsically it was a very nice, processed meat meal which served as a good end to the holiday in Benelux!

According to the mother, Benelux refers to the country combination of Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg. I'll start with Netherlands, also known as Holland, also known as the underdog team that made it to the World Cup finals last year (WOOHOO). The only thing I actually remembered about them was that they had the awesomest colour combination.

Anyhows, what does a better job than pictures right?

On the Mercedes Benz taxi from the airport to hotel. I love it that all the cabs are either BMWs or Mercs, makes me feel so rich when I'm not, haha...

We spent the first 2 nights at Hilton (as provided by the tour), which was pretty fantastic apart from the fact that they always charge you 22 Euros for a day of internet (Retarded shits..), so I had very limited internet throughout because the tour company appears to have plenty of ties with Hilton (Darn!)

But look what they had! A PILLOW MENU!

FLUFFY!! I didn't bother to try though

And many of you would know the association Amsterdam has with liberal laws regarding weed and prostitution. Here's a cute write up I found in the guide book provided by the hotel. Zoom in and have a read!

The entire area outside the hotel was surrounded by sculptures and displays, here're just a few I took

The beautiful sunny sky!

The streets of Amsterdam are really easy to maneouver around, and almost everyone has a bicycle. You'll see in the pictures below on the crazy amount of bicycles in the city!

One of the random areas next to a park where people parked their bikes. It was like that the whole stretch

And the very economical looking car! Looks like a very very old version of the smart cars we have in Australia.

Amsterdam is pretty much like Venice, a city surrounded by water, possibly sinking and structured around canals. The -dam in Amsterdam actually does refer to the dam that is in the area (as do many of the other cities in Holland such as Rotterdam). So of course a canal cruise was part of the tour (yawn) it was pretty cool though, cos we got to see a lot of the boat houses. I can't imagine living in a boat house for your entire life!

And guess what I had for brekkie the next day? ? RAMBUTANS!

Random shot of the grass/clouds/electrical wires as we went out to the country side

What else is Holland famous for besides weed, prostitutes, dams and tulips? Cheese and wooden clogs of course. Typical tourist fare...

Mummy mummy look at my giant feet!!

And this shot was hilarious! A bunch of girls walked into Maccas with heads full of curlers! Brilliant aint' it? hahahha.. I sneaked a shot.

And what's a visit to Amsterdam without going through the red light district? It truly was eye opening, not many photos of the place though, cos it's not very ncie to take pictures of the ladies at work. They basically sit in windows and do their own thing, whether it's texting, or talking on the phone etc. You really get to see all shapes and sizes and ages though.

Goods they sell

The bicycle multi-story 'carpark'!

What did I tell you about the amount of bikes??

A nice random arty farty picture of a building

To be honest, I wasn't listening much to the tourguide. She had the amazing ability to lull me to sleep anytime of the day.

And that's only Day 1 of Amsterdam! Don't worry, I won't be boring you with daily summaries, just the key points in each area. blog more about the diamonds tomorrow! They were pretty amazing, and I never saw a rock so upclose before, haha..

Adios!

Waiting for my Jet Plane!

2011-07-10T00:31:00.000-07:00

We're here at the Amsterdam Schipole (Airport) 6 hours before our 1.5 hour flight to Zurich because the tourbus could only drop us off at this time.

Oh wait, yes, I've been MIA because my mum and I have spent the last 10 days in Be-ne-lux, which apparently stands for Belgium-Netherlands-Luxembourg.

I think my ultimate favourite was Netherlands without a doubt. It's small, modern, full of weed and prostitution... Nah I'm kidding, that's not why I liked it (but weed and prostitutes were pretty obvious only in the red light districts). It's such an accessible town, small and compact. With awesome road plans. Everyone got around on bikes, I even saw people dating on bikes. Some girls were so dolled up (I suppose they were going clubbing), and they rode bikes! How cool is that?

More updates soon once I get back to my sister's place where I can sit down and enjoy uploading posts, blogging, reading journal articles... (as if).

For now, I only have 10 minutes of internet left before the airport decides to charge me 10euros per half an hour. They sure know how to make money.

As our tourguide said, the Dutch are famous for doing one thing: Making money.

"We sell sand to the people in Egypt, and ice to the people in Iceland" - my tourguide

~Adios!

The Five People You Meet in Heaven

2011-06-27T02:57:00.000-07:00

Once again I will be relocating in the month of July, which brings about a huge array of feelings; excitement of getting a new place to call home once again, yet the sadness of leaving a place I've already settled in and a housemate whom I've lived with for longer than anyone (apart from family) and gone through many nights of nonsense talk, heart to heart talks, baking binges, exploratory cooking sessions, and sometimes, mindless chasing around the house on wheely chairs (we never grow up).

I've always loved the book 'The Five People You Meet in Heaven' by Mitch Albom. It's one of my all time favourite books because it allows you to think back and reflect upon the people in your life without actually explicitly asking you to do so.

Here's a brief summary of the book for the people who don't know it: This guy dies right, and when he's in heaven , he meets someone who he thinks is a complete stranger. But then soon realises that this particular character and him have once crossed paths long ago, and something simple that the character had done had actually had a huge impact on his life even though he didn't realise it. And so he goes on toe meet 4 other people who have unknown to the man, actually had great influence on his life.

This makes me think, who would the 5 people I meet in heaven be? (If I would in the first place, of course).

I think Siyi (my current hosuemate) would be one of them. For one, because of her, my entire family now knows the joys of eating leek, which is something none of us ever dreamt of buying! And I now put potato chips in the fridge sometimes because they taste better chilled (go and try if you haven't, they actually do taste way better!).

We unknowingly pick up a lot of habits and views from the people around us, absorbing this like a sponge. I'm sure many of us know how advertisers prey on the accessibility of the human mind using all their subliminal messages to get what they want from consumers who so willingly fall into their trap. And I suppose sometimes it's this malleability and adaptability which allows us all to survive in the social world. Some may call it giving in to peer pressure, others may call it the 'herd mentality' when they're trying to prove that they're all different and unique from the rest of the world. But really, I call it subconscious survival.

Tuesday's Paper

2011-06-23T16:02:00.000-07:00

I realised something slightly funny on my Stats paper on Tuesday. This was the exam that provided quite a number of 'firsts' for me.

1) This was the first paper since JC that I've actually had to bring in a calculator and use it for something other than simple mathematics (i.e. I had many many decimal places, but that's it)

2) I sat behind a big, hulking guy (who hadn't taken a shower I presume, since it was a cold 8am paper). Which is quite funny, because when he sat down, I suddenly realised that I've never ever sat behind a guy during an exam before.

As many of you would now, my course now proudly has 74 females and 1 male. (And I'm proud to say he's Singaporean and has surviveed!!) haha. Sometimes, I do wonder if Speech Pathology is a sexist occupation. You know how women are constantly complaining about making their way into the corporate world and how it's such a sexist world yadah yadah yadah, well, one day, I think guys are gonna speak up and complain about how Speech pathology is a sexist field and that how it's insanely difficult for them to get it.. Haha....

Yeah right.. one day.

That'll be the day that bananas are given the status of abalone. Did you know that bananas are $12/kg here in Brisbane now due to the floods/cyclones in December and early this year? Let me put that into context, that price basically means that a single average sized banana is gonna cost you $2. $2 for a bananana????

Which is why my banana craving has never been stronger and I'm therefore asking my mum to bring in 3 or 4 bananas into the airport when I stopover in Singapore while waiting for her to join me in the airport to fly to Zurich. And I'm already dreaming about the banana kueh from Bengewang Solo...

Oooooo... nanaa,.....

Sometimes I look at the bananas the kids at the kindy have and can't help but just stare longingly at them... WAhhhh... And some of them don't even like bananas, what a waste of $2 on them! (Darn, should've grown my own bananna tree somewhere last year!)

1cm x 1cm Origami Crane

2011-06-21T01:53:00.000-07:00

After having spent most of Swotvac web surfing, blog surfing and peeping at the lives of others, I came to one realisation.

I have no niche to talk about, show off or share with the world.

Sure I can play decent guitar without killing a cat, I think I can play a tune on the cello (but possibly break glass), I can write coherently and grammatically with somewhat complexly embedded sentences which require slightly higher level parsing sometimes at times, I can bake things that aren't going to kill people by hitting them, and I might be able to draw some cute cartoon-ish things on cue, I might be able to draw stupid designs on nails every once in a while

BUT...

I'm not insanely good at any of those items!

Well, at least not insanely good enough such that it surpassess (in my opinion), 1.5 standard deviations from the mean! In other words,

I AM AVERAGE AT EVERYTHING

So, I thought to myself. People have baking blogs with perfect little muffins, and drawing blogs (such as my secondary school friend Esther, which you have to check out), and people have blogs just about ANYTHING. So I thought maybe, just maybe, I could find such an obscure skill that no one has yet discovered... And immediately I thought..

Mini Origami!

I treasure the nimbleness of my fingers (hey, they maybe fat, but they're dexterious!) And recalled how I used to love making mini everythings when I was a kid. Mini plasticine models, tiny cows made of blu-tack, little drawings (kind of), and of course, mini origami. (well, just a couple of times). And here's the result from last night:

Hello! So I embarked on my quest of folding an origami paper crane by a 1cm x 1cm paper. (After an afternoon dwadle preparing with the stats paper the next day). I took the liberty of

The final crane about the size of half my nail.


There it is in my by-then-sweaty palms

The process starts off easy of course, with simply quatering the size of the paper. And it's not yet so thick. This slowly gets harder (obviously) as the paper gets folded over and over and over and over.

This is probably the hardest step to get to, folding in the tiny corners to get the perfect little wings.

The end product! I think I had a harder time balancing it on my nail and actually capturing a proper macro shot of it. Days I wish I had a proper DSLR!!

So ended the 15minute fight with the paper and camera.

Adios!

2011-06-19T04:51:00.000-07:00

Decoding Women

2011-06-19T01:06:00.000-07:00

As much as I'd sometimes like to think of myself as an atypical female, I'm still very much guilty of many of the 'stereotypical utterances' of a woman which are never what they seem. (And I'm sure that Mark can vouch for that too).

1) Fine: This is the word women use to end an argument when they're right & you'll need to shut up. This one I use quite a bit, but my version would be 'ok la, anything la'

2) Five Minutes: If she is getting dressed, this'll mean half an hour. Five minutes is only five minutes if you have just been given five more minutes to watch the football before helping around the house.

3) Go Ahead: This is a dare, not permission. Don’t do it!

4) A Loud Sigh: This is actually a word, but is a non-verbal statement often misunderstood by men. A loud sigh means she thinks you're an idiot & she wonders why she is wasting her time standing here arguing with you about nothing. (Refer quickly to No 9 for the meaning of nothing.)
Well I wouldn't exactly say it meant you're an idiot (well for some people it might)

5) That’s Okay: This is one of the most dangerous statements a women can make to a man. It means she wants to think long & hard before deciding how and when you will pay for your mistake.

6) Thanks: A woman is thanking you, do not question, or faint. Just say you’re welcome. I want to add a clause here - This is true, unless she says ‘Thanks a lot’, which is PURE sarcasm and she is not thanking you at all. (Do not say ‘you’re welcome’ - that will bring on No. 7).

7) Whatever: A woman’s way of saying; “F*** You!”

8) Dont worry, I've got it: Another dangerous statement. This'll be something that a woman has told a man to do several times, but is doing it herself now. This will later result in a man asking ‘What’s wrong?’ For the woman’s response, refer to No. 4.

9) Nothing: This is the calm before the storm. It means something & you should be on your toes. Arguments that begin with 'nothing' usually end in “Fine”.

The Inate Singaporean in Me...

2011-06-17T16:31:00.000-07:00

So let me first begin this post by saying that I know that in this face-paced age where almost everything is either instant or immediate (e.g. internet banking, online deliveries, super duper fast MRTs etc.), I understand how everyone is very much driven by convenience (and the seeing the immediate effect of things). Therefore, if you would like to comment on anything but can't be bothered because of the tedious detail-filling-on format of Blogger, I do have a Chatter box!

So do please comment to make me feel lurved and as if there are people reading whatever nonsense I write on whatever random topics I decide to =)

Back to what I was supposed to talk about, this post is about how fantastic it feels getting free samples and what not from amazing websites such as this.

Let's face it, what else can turn a crappy day into a less-crappy one except trudging home to open your mailbox to find....

Free samples!!

^v^


As some prominent female bloggers would say,"Free samples is loves!'' (Don't ask me how that is in anyway grammatical or sensible, they have a gazillion readers and therefore can come up with whatever taglines they want and still be popular... so there!)

That's just some of the many items I've gotten from Ozbargain this year, ranging from gourmet tea samples, diapers and baby cereal to lipbalm, jewellary and various hair products. Last year my collection mainly comprised of detergent and clothing disinfectant (stuff you put into the washing machine along with dtergent so that you get rid of other yucky stuff apparently), so this year's grabs have been pretty fantastic considering utility level and variety!

The stuff on the right is what I'll be bringing down to Zurich for my sister/Gaby, mainly diapers, cereal and yes, materity lingerie (HAHA to my sister!)

This piece came in a couple weeks ago and is my ultimate favourite, it came from stylecloset that gives a piece to anyone who 'likes' their Facebook wall or registers. I don't care if 45,395 other girls have the same necklace and know I got it for free, It's PREETTTYYYY

And it came in that lovely pink chiffon-esqe bag too! So much for a free gift right??

And you would be surprised at how cheapo and kiasu the Aussies are too! (Aww, we Singaporeans aren't that special after all!). Many actually come up with computer programmes to autofill websites to get shitloads of free stuff. Basically, the more tech-savvy ones have programmes which automatically fill in fake data into the sites to get 100 free samples delivered to their address under different fake email addresses.

Speaking of tech-savvy people, I actually managed to make my blog look nicer! This paragraph initially consisted of me asking someone to help me, but I went off and attempted on my own and managed to change it thanks to Blogger's very very idiot-proof template changer! =)

Asking me to manipulate html is akin to asking a dyslexic to manipulate sounds in a word (haha, Speechie joke.. ok geek moment).

Adios!

If I Quit school now....

2011-06-13T04:41:00.000-07:00

My favourite penguins!

I'd want to become a nail artist and come up with the silliest, stupidiest nails.

Working on miniature objects, whether it's building one, drawing one or folding one (I once folded a crane with a 1cmx1cm paper) ((Which now gives me a new idea to distract myself from study)).

Here's the 2011 collection of silly/not-so-silly nails I've done here in Brisbane! They aren't much actually, which is quite a pity, I wish I'd done more, just so that I can build up my portfoilio in case I fail and drop out of uni at any one time.

Either that, or by the time I get to start my own speech therapy clinic I'd already have the option of providing 'additional' services while mums wait for their kids in therapy (and then I'll hire a therapist to actually give the therapy while I paint Mum's nails)

After one penguin got chipped in half, I replaced him with a fishy...

And embarked on drawing him more fishy friends! (The last one's a seahorse)

Which I added a crab to this morning after the final penguin decided to have it's head chipped off.

And here are some of the earlier 'classier' looking ones I had during the semester when I had to go for weekly clinics (and therefore keep my nails tame).

And of course, Minions!

And the ultimate favourite ladybugs (or as the kid at the kindy says, 'Baibeebug')


These bumblebees were probably the ugliest ever, haha.. it was one of the first few attempts in the year

Which concludes my nail-picture post =)

I'm gonna see Gaby in 2 weeks!! :D:D

What drives you?

2011-06-11T05:03:00.000-07:00

I'm someone who needs to know what the general direction of purpose something has before embarking on something with a peace of mind. For instance, I find it thoroughly unsettling to drive following solely the directions of a GPS without first (and frequently) looking at the overall route the GPS is taking me. Perhaps it is my lack of faith and trust in all things technological in particular, but I simply HAVE to know which highway or which route the GPS is taking me so that I can anticipate turns or what nots.

But I think it's not just a matter of knowing what route it is so that I don't get lost or so that I know I'm not wasting petrol, I feel that I carry this general attitude of having to know what the general direction or end goal is for anything I do, whether it be courses I study in school, or even my religious development (ie. how church or bible studies might be guiding my walk with God).

Yesterday's bible study session with the wife of the pastor gave me one of those 'nirvana' moments which I often use (quite loosely actually) when describing any moment of sudden enlightment I achieve when I'm doing something or studying (sometimes known to be the 'Aha! Moment')

Something that has always bothered me as a Christian was how vastly different the practices, principles, emphases, worship styles or even preaching methods are amongst the different denominations. How can one religion which supposes the worship of 1 God have so many vastly different ways of doing things? And as much as I could draw the obvious differences between the charismatic and non-charasmatic churches (such as mine), I could never quite lay a finger on what my current church was aiming for it's members to 'learn'.

Last night, Faith (the Wife-of Pastor) told us that as much as many churches emphasise what we should be doing/behaving as chrisitians, this church actually emphasizes what God has already done for us, and all that fantastic fancy-shmansy stuff He's done eons ago that we're enjoying now. And by doing this, they're actually attempting to instill such a attitude of thanksgiving in the people such that they naturally want to change their behaviour out of an attitude of gratefulness etc.

When I heard this, I couldn't help but go 'OHHHhhhhhhh.. that makes SO much sense now!'

And what made this 'Aha!' moment so 'aha-ish' was that it linked in so beautifully with what I'd been learning in school about general cognitive processes used by people. (I love it when I can actually apply what I'm learning in school to outside the classroom, come on, I'm not jsut paying $30K a year to take an exam and throw what I've learnt away!)

As what we often encounter with various Speech and language interventions, they often either adopt a 'top-down' or 'bottom-up' approach. The method of teaching which the church has in this case, would thus be a bottom-up process in my opinion, aiming to change our attitudes and underlying principles, in order to generate a desired behaviour.

Which I thought was way way more brilliant than any scare-tactics, guilt-tactics or salesman-tactics some churches might actually be using.

Well, at least I feel that it would most probably result in the longest lasting effects (In therapy terms now, =)

=))

Mistakes

2011-06-07T05:36:00.000-07:00

Have you ever felt as if the world decided that it was time to let all your mistakes bite you back in the ass?

It's the day the piercing which your mum told you not to get gets infected and septic, threatening to pull your ear down along with it.

It's the moment your mobile phone drops into the toilet bowl as you pee after your mum said 'don't put it in your back pocket'

It's the day the speeding ticket arrives in your name after the GPS had already warned you that speeding cameras were in taht area

It's the day that someone confronts you about something awful you said about them behind their back while lying to their face

It's the day your boyfriend or girlfriend confronts you about the time you cheated on them though you thought no one was watching

It's the time your teacher decides to spot check your workbook which you hadn't filled in in weeks thinking she would never check

It's the moment you see that parking ticket flapping at your windscreen wiper when you come back from a 15min stop at the shops with a huge 'NO STOPPING' sign.

It's the time you fart in a lift, thinking it's going to be a silent one but it actually rips and the people around you actually get a shock

It's when you get diarrhoea after eating food you knew was too spicy for you

(Pretty much all the examples are not from real life experience bute purely made up.. but..)

For me:

It's when you drop your wallet in a cinema theatre because you didn't have a bag to put it in even though your mum has told you countless times NOT to do that because you will precisely lose it. Which I have finally done after countless lucky near-losses of wallets/handphones.

I sure was a dumbass to carry my wallet, mobile and keys without a bag. And even though I was, my mum was so awesome as to not even mention or even have a tinge of the 'I-told-you-so' tone, and so sympathetically simply advised me on what I should do about the lost licenses. I have the awesomest mom (she did the same when I left my handphone in a taxi in KL and when I dropped a sim card in Amsterdam and raked up a $400 bill because the person who picked it up used it)

I'm beginning to contemplate insurance for losing items. Is that even available?

On a positive note, one mistake that didn't bite me in the ass was when I parked at Southbanlk today to run to the cinema in a metered area, and the parking warden soooo nicely let my off when I told him I had lost my wallet and had no money to pay and that I had to run to the cinema. He was so sweet and empathetic, I wanted to just hug him and cry out all my frustrations. Brisbane City Council does have it's good points at times =)

Baking Binge

2011-06-05T00:04:00.000-07:00

After a hard week of churning word for the 50% assignment which almost turned many of us mad (see below for example of how close I was to insanity), I decided that I needed a well-deserved weekend off that would allow me to fulfill my baking craving and recharge myself before SWOTVAC (aka study break).

I proceeded to begin my Wattleseed Cream Biscuit baking the next day!! The last round, they turned out too big and way too sweet, so I altered the recipe a little to make them smaller and look more like the picture here.

They turned out yummy!! And when I finished, siyi came back and decided to embark on her 'Cookie Monster Cookie' baking for her cell group that evening which I stuck around to help (because I just didn't want to do anything else productive)

All ready in their Bengawang Solo box for peeper..

The Cookie Monster Cookies looked amazingly adorable!!! They were hellova pain to do though, Siyi and I have never concenterated so hard on anything before. I think we both literally had our tongue sticking out while she put on th eblue hairy cream for the monster and I drew his eyes on. They were incredibly sweet though, but friggin cute.

Next holiday activity (besides study): Durian pufs =)

Independence = Loneliness?

2011-05-30T06:34:00.000-07:00

The mist last Monday when I drove back from Gatton. Scary eh?

As I sit here attempting to pound out the last couple of pages of my final essay, I feel dreadfully alone. Why? perhaps it's that inner needy person within me finally starting to whine.

I've always prided myself with being an independent girl, one who isn't bothered with eating alone, or watching a movie alone, or walking around shopping alone, I find my alone time very refreshing and rejunvinating in some sense. It's a time where I don't have to smile if I don't want to, don't need to come up with trivial banter if my jaw is too tired too, no need to compromise my time, tastes or preferences to anyone if I don't wish to etc. In short, I enjoy being selfish sometimes and simply not having to share myself or my time with anyone else.

I consider something such as that somesort of a skill, a survival skill. Being able to do that means that if ever I start developing a pungent BO and nobody in the world (not even the bush turkeys) are willing to 'friend' me or come within 1m of me, it means I'm not gonna keel over and die of a shattered, abandoned, lonely heart. It means I would be able to say 'I don't give a shit,' and continue sipping my bubble tea as I walk down Queen Street on my own (which actually, was what I did today while waiting for reports to be printed).

So what's the problem then? The problem is, by getting so comfortable with being by yourself, you sometimes end up recluding and just not bothering to interact anymore. I mean, I haven't gotten to that extent, but the thing with human interaction and any form of relationship building is this:

It takes 2 hands to clap, and it takes effort to build relationships. Even if it's with a bloody rock.

And if you understand how much that 'effort' actually makes, especially when trying to break into asian cliques (particularly the Singaporean cliques), you'd understand that if you just sat back and waited for people to talk to you and ask you to join their group, you can wait till kingdom come.

Unless of course you're very attractive/hot/good-looking, (because humans are inherently superficial whether you like it or not, and naturally respond better to good-looking people, I'm not kidding) but let's save that for another day, it's too ugly a post post (ironically)

So here I am, attempting to focus my thoughts on my essay and the poor semantic deficits of Mr CC instead of looking around the internet for more useless things that make me feel even more alone.

(I actually youtubed 'Brain Concentration Music', and it actually kinda works!)

~Adios

By the ways, pictures! Ladybird nails for the last week of clinic! (albeit knowing how unproffesional they are)

On days like these...

2011-05-23T02:13:00.000-07:00

I love my life =))

See, what did I tell you about the flying emotions of females?

I think a very cute demonstration of how our emotions can be like pendulums would be the short scene in Disney's 'Tangled' where Rapunzel battled with her new-found freedom and guilty conscience:

One of the most enjoyable scenes in the movie in my opinion! =)

I think countries could utilise women in new warfare, train women in the army, and when they're about to launch an attack or defend etc, have some fancy chemical released to induce all their periods at the same time, plus, make their living conditions as hot, humid and unbearable as possible 2 days before the war and then release the massive compounded pms-ing females onto unexpecting enemies.
Oooooo... idea...

Heh heh heh

2011-05-17T05:27:00.000-07:00

3 papadams, 2 cream biscuits and coffee, and i still don't feel content. Eating definitely doesn't help ease mental dissatisfaction!

Why are girls such slaves to their hormones and emotions? It's not fair.

I HATE ASSIGNMENTS!!! ARGHHHHHH

They make me feel stupid, incompetent, ignorant and just plain frustrated.

Basically they show the true ability of my cognitive and linguistic capabilites, which ain't high enough apparently.

=((((((

I hope I get one of my favourite classes to look after tomorrow, and I hope I get to see my favourite kids.

Decisions decisions

2011-05-15T01:55:00.000-07:00

For the splittest second and the shortest moment today in church, I found myself toying with the idea of possibly returning to Singapore to work when I graduate.

Hmmm.. I wonder why hey?

But the thought of crowded trains, icky humidity, masses of 'dulan' faces and my sister not being there for the next couple of years knocked me back to reality.

Maybe I'm still disillusioned by the seemingly worriless life as a student here in Brisbane, perhaps the real reality will hit me then.

Grease Review!

2011-05-13T20:54:00.001-07:00

Mark and I went to watch a Saturday Matinee of Harvest Theatre's Grease at QPAC last week. (some form of a birthday celebration for him)

For those of you who aren't aware, Harvest Theatre is a production group that produced last year's Joseph and the Technicolour Dreamcoat. They'll also be putting on Jesus Christ Superstar in about a couple of month's time (however I really dislike that musical and shall not be wasting any money on that)

Last year's production of Joseph was splendid, which was why I really had my hopes up for Grease. Unfortunately, it was quite a letdown and I felt that my $50 ticket was not quite worth that value. Here were the up and downsides:

1) The lead's vocals were a little weak, with him seemingly being more interested in his supposedly 'sexy' gait rather than his actully singing voice. His female co-star Sandy was pretty good though

2) The sets were brilliant, and the lighting was so so. Music was quite all right, nothing fantastic but nothing ear-shattering

3) The biggest letdown was the sound system. I seriously felt that the soundman was either (a) hungover, (b) half asleep, or (c) a 15 year old. Mics weren't turned on and off on time, the balance of voices was really really off, with the balance shifted too much to the treble and the backup singers and music often covered up the lead vocals, resulting in songs sounding literally lyric-less. I've read another review that mentioned the same problem and reckon that it wasn't only for the one we watched. (I think the soundman was really really bad)

4) The costumes were pretty decent, however I do wish that the guys were jeans that didn't look exactly the same, it seemed pretty obvious that they were all bought from the same place, and weren't exactly as snugly fitting as the original Danny Zuko's (John Travolta)

5) They did add some spice and fun to this production, which was probably the highlight. Many of the non-lead singers were fantastic, my personal favourite was 'Go Back to High School' where they adopted a very black, diva/gospel delivery. It was absoluitely brilliant! They should have made it the pre-interval song, because their version of 'Hopelessly devoted to you' was somehow lacking in some musical sense and ended rather suddenly and awkwardly, resulting in a number of stunned faces in the audience when the lights came on for the interval.

So those are my thoughts on Grease by Harvest Rain Theatre. Will be catching Ignatians' version of Rent next week with Mark at the Schonell Theatre! Tickets are only $35 for concession! So even if it were a let down I think it should be ok =)

Wong Fu Productions

2011-05-10T06:08:00.000-07:00

Have you ever heard of Wong Fu Productions?

Wong Fu Productions is an independant filmaking company based in California, USA. Comprising of 3 Asian Americans Philip Wang, Ted Fu and Wesley Chan, these 3 young men have made themselves not only massive on Youtube, but have also had their works featured at a number of national and international film festivals, including the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival, San Diego Asian Film Festival and the Cannes Film Festival. ( Now I just stole that last line from Wiki, which brings up another point, they've actually been Wiki-fied)

I personally love the insight Philip Wang has when he makes his films. If you have a look at their website (both on youtube as well as the main website), you'll see just what a wide array and variety of short films they've made. From the arty-farty-no-words-or-actors-just-music films, to the downright jackass-ish ones where Phillip provides endless 'advice' on how to get the girl, as well as many Vlogs.

I personally found their recent feature 'short film' to be beautifully, well, I won't say it's beautiful, that's just too vague, more like, poignantly written and executed. Sometimes I'm still amazed that a guy could come up with such insight (not to sound sexist), but we know how femalse are supposedly more in-tuned with or feelings (yadayadayada), but I reckon I wouldn't have been able to organise the progress of a relationship that clearly, accurately and poetically.

Acting might not be the best point of their productions ( I must admit they've had their share of not-so-talented-people), and the script sometimes can be a little.. iff-y, but filmography and cinematography I find to be amazing. (For stuff being shot on a DSLR, it makes it look so easy).

If you do have time, have a look at this film: These Four Walls (one of the arty-farty-no-words-no-actors film by Wesley)

http://wongfuproductions.com/WFvideos/2011/01/these-four-walls/

And then take a look at the video on how the 'special effects' were made. It made me realise the ingenuity and creativity film-makers (in general) need to possess (and most likely do). Sometimes I wish I was even half as blessed with their talent!

This week, I mainly felt that WongFu has served to be my source of comfort and entertainment all-in-one just because of the variety which they offer. (They even design and sell their own T-shirts). Girls, if you're ever feeling all emo-y and need a video to go all sappy on, go to WongFu. If you need a cheering up or a brain break from studying, go to WongFu. If you're tired and sick of life, GO AND SLEEP LA.

Non-clinical Observation Skils

2011-05-05T15:31:00.000-07:00

As I made a stilly decision to eat very sour greek yoghurt for lunch yesterday afternoon, I ended up with a very sore tummy and a headache and fever. (The greek yoghurt was so sour, I couldn't really tell if it was all right)

And thus, here I am at home when I was supposed to go to work, with the feeling of having been punched in the stomach, browsing youtube videos before I get to some study.

This morning, I came across this fairly interesting video from a friend off youtube: ( I'm a web idiot and don't know how to do a proper embedded video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCSGGLKx9w0

Have a quick watch so that you'll get whatever I say later on.

Having spent 2.5 years in uni doing Speech has taught me more about silent observations and picking out things from people as they speak (or behave). Well, I used to do it anyways even before I actually came to do speech, but now I can actually form more concrete conclusions about behaviours I observe rather than just say: oh... that guy talks like he has SPS (small-penis-syndrome) [Something my sister and I use to describe guys who talk big to make up for something else that lacks.]

Anyways, back to this little boy Brian, from watching a couple of his videos, I picked out a few things that I thought were interesting/stood out:

1) He glides consistantly on all his 'l's. Which, in layman's terms, basically means that all the 'l's in his words become 'y', i.e. 'like' becomes 'yike', 'election' becomes 'eyections' and so on, which actually should be a process that would've resolved at 6 years of age. It's not a huge problem with him, but it does affect his intelligibility quite a bit sometimes and you need to take a doubletake on what he's saying. Seeing that he really has the potential to become a public speaker in the future, I really suggest that he gets s Speech Therapist to help him resolve that!

2) He seems to have slight Aussie accent on a few of the words 'beans' and 'no', but it's a very transient and subtle thing (perhaps his parents or himself have had some formal education down under?)

3) Well to do family/ very educated parents: His dad bought him FIVE Moleskin notebooks. BIG A4 Moleskin notebooks. I think that says enough. And the fact that he's actually following the elections at this age says something about what his parents educate him about, which is excellent. I wish I had such awareness when I was 12, actually, I wish I had such awareness at this age.

Conclusion: I think he's a GEPer. For those of you who don't know, GEP stands for the Gifted Education Programme in Singapore where kids are picked out at the age of 10 or so to form special classes where they cover extensive grounds of content and have much more stumulating ways of teaching and are thus, labelled as being 'Gifted'.

(The irony of this is that, we actually have places in Singapore that run tuition classes that promise to get your kid into the 'Gifted Programme'. How can you teach a child to be gifted? Isn't being gifted a gift? (Now the word gift just looks and sounds weird)

Post Assignment Post

2011-05-04T04:12:00.001-07:00

After finishing a semi-massive assignment yesterday after several nights of lost sleep (which I seldom do and is now taking a toll on my very much, older and not so healthy mind and body.) I decided to spend a night doing absolutely brainless and bimbotic things; i.e.,

1) Watching Tangled online, which, I feel is a pretty decent Disney movie (Funny in a typically Disney style and not a Pixar/Dreamworks way, know what I mean?)

2) Painted my nails!
So this was actually from a week before during the Easter holiday (so that I wouldn't look like a fool), because after I wiped them off, I painted...

MINIONS!!!

All right, so I forgot the glasses and the blue jumpsuit was actually from blue glittery nail polish, so they kind of just look like yellow things wearing aprons.

Anyways, I've decided to upkeep my blog and post at least once or twice a week. After being inspired by all the journal articles on developing literacy and reading ability in a child, I've concluded that...

Good writing only comes with practice.

Henceforth, I wiill READ AND WRITE MORE.

And I promise to limit my use of horrendous pai tia Singlish to 1 sentence per post. (Which will probably be hard to achieve seeing that the Singaporean blood is SO ingrained in me).

Stay tuned for more! =))

(I will do my best to make my posts interesting and intelligent, hurhur.. highly doubt it)

The Trip of The Mudder down Underr

2011-04-29T17:03:00.000-07:00

The holidays are officially ending in 2 days and my huge horrigible assignment is still barely half done! I shouldn't be blogging, but I need a brain breakbefore proceeding with 'critically evaluating literature regarding current intervention techniques'. Sigh, this is the first time I feel so incompetent as a 3rd year speech pathology student, I suddenly feel like I'm a Year 1 because I'm just at my wits end at what to do with this 'kid'.

On a lighter/happier/sadder note,

1) Mum was here for the week!
2) She just left this afternoon and should be landing in about 15 minutes in Changi
3) Mickey's coming back home tomorrow morning!

It felt awesome being able to reverse roles and drive my mum around for a week, cook slightly miserable meals for her and pay for meals and buy her groceries, (although I still let her do my laundry a couple of times and mostly left the dishes to her, heh heh), it made me feel like I really lived here and am ready to settle. (Which reminds me, I need to service my car and top up petrol asap)

We didn't get to do much this week because of the overhanging burden of knowing that my assignment is due in a week caused us to stay in some days in order for me to attempt work on my essay. I didn't manage to get much done even though my mum was around although ironically, most kids would work hard if mum was 'supervising' them (remember how some of them do when we're in primary school?). Initially I thought her being around would make me concientious, but I ended up being more distracted by the Sudokus she was completing and ended up doing online Sudoku to escape the bane of the essay.

So what did we do over Easter then besides Sudoku and cooking and laundry?

1) Clean kitchen: typical bored-mother syndrome was to clean the kitchen and make it look all neat and tidy when she got stuck with doing her sudoku and didn't want to exercise brain anymore.

2) Visit Mount Tambourine with family friends for a 1.5 hour drive, and 20 minute walk, and 2 hour lepak-ing/eating session after seeing the puniest waterfall ever. (I bet that waterfall is man-made for tourist purposes).
This is was also where we saw the cutest dog begging for food from his front yard as we stood next to the the house by the road eating corned beef sandwiches. The poor little thing kept whining and giving us the (literally) puppy-eyed look!
3) Skyping with Gaby and my sister!! With proper internet connection here as opposed to my mum's too-slow mobile internet connection back in Singapore, we could get good skype time with my sister and Ah Bee! She's growing sooo fast now and can sit on her own. She could even verbalise 'replies' during the skype conversation, pretty funny, haha...
4) Reading her new buy! A biography on Tony Curtis (I have no idea who), apparently a really hot actor during her time (and Marilyn Monroe's boyfriend for a bit) which she got for a steal of just $10 at a mall.

5) Which of course, brings me to the main activity which we completed through the holidays... Shopping! Actually more of what I did, my mum's past the stage of buying work clothes now that she's retired, and got rather sleepy and tired quickly between shops. At least she bought a t-shirt from Jayjays! Haha...

Pity I didn't get many pictures though, I wish I did!

Which brings me to the end of this post as I return to the horrigiblest essay.

EEyerrrr

You know you've reached a new stage of life when...

2011-04-19T14:11:00.001-07:00

1) Some of your friends are talking about job interviews and not Uni app interviews
2) Some of your friends are talking about HDB application not uni applications
3) Some of your friends ARE already married
4) Late night transport arrangements home after a party consist of arranging carpools and not taxi pools

5) Some of your friends are speaking of parents who are already retired andhow the burden of providing for the family will soon fall on them.

5) Some of your friends can no longer touch their toes without groaning or injuring their back (heh heh...)

6) You find joy discussing the weekly supermarket specials instead of the latest nail colour or Gossip Girl episode.

7) Dinner converstions with your girlfriends may actually revolve around recipe exchanges.

That's it... I'm officially entering 'auntie' stage!!

Gatton!

2011-04-18T04:53:00.000-07:00

Finally I'm able to sit down and devote some time to writing a proper update since the start of semester. Being in 3rd year hasn't been half as bad as I expected initially, however I think I'm falsely comforted by the lack of ongoing assessments and therefore am under the illusion that I have it 'all together' when actually, I don't think I do.

It's been an epic 8 weeks back in brisbane! In the past 2 months, I think I've accomplished what on would accomplish over a way larger timespan if not for the pressure of living overseas. You'll see what I mean in a bit. In 8 weeks, I've:

1) Searched, viewed and applied for so many properties that I have all my houmates' softcopies of their passports, bank statements and letters from guarantors all in my hardrive. I would think that in normal situations, most of us wouldn't actually have to deal with looking at houses let alone applying for one..

2) Drove a ute (utility truck) when we were moving! I don't think it would be something I would ever do unless my father was a gas tank changer or something!

3) Worked several days a week at a daycare for children with Autism (which is actually the field I've always wanted to work in!) and I'm really thankful that God gave me this opportunity!Many of us wouldn't get a chance to work to something so close to our ultimate goal before graduating and I'm damn lucky to be able to do it! Even though this means getting occasional bites, head butts, slaps and kicks from some kids...

The fella didn't wanna go to the toilet when I wanted him to.. *chomp*

4) Bought a car!! =)) Thanks to mummy who understands my need to drive to work and clinic on the other side of the bridge and how a car would save me time, energy and sanity. And it's purpur too!!Similarly, if I were in Singapore, I probably would be 39 before actually owning a car... and I would actually probably still be paying off the loan.

Here's the hottest car model in town: Mr SM Lee, (I told him I was taking a photo for my mum, hence the 'guai' pose)

5) Driven to Gatton! Driving 90km is no joke, I really think the vet students who drive up frequently are damn poor thing.. Especially with rising petrol costs! It's ridiculous! (Milk is cheaper, if only cars ran on milk..)

Fantastic 'sua deng' scenery of Gatton

And guess what?? Who do you think is behind this wheel??

*drumroll*

Mr Lee Sheng himself!! :D He's just gotten his Learners and I am now officially one fo the many people who will supervise him and help him collect his 100 hours in order to pass this momentous milestone! (We've already had 1.5 hrs worth of lessons, haha)

so., this brings me to...

6) Teaching my boyfriend/someone how to drive. Seriously something you would never ever EVER get to do in singapore unless you a) were over 50 and male and signed your life to BBDC (Bukit Batok Driving School), or had b) were over 55 and had your own 18 year old kid you were teaching illegally.

Which concludes my entry for today. I sure am glad I've been given the opportunity to come here and experience so much, even if it means growing up faster. I enjoy it, it's been the life I've been waiting for =))

Gaby!

2011-04-05T02:45:00.000-07:00

I can't believe I have such an adorable niece.. I still can't believe my sister is actually a mother. MOTHER leh..

OMG I feel old.

But she's SO SO SO SO SO adorable!!! I'm gonna have my own little play thing to experiment on with speech/language assessments and techniques next time!! Muahaha!

But now, for now, Gaby serves to be the thing that brightens up my day and brings a smile to my face no matter how stressed, pissed or upset I am, because she's so far, the purest form of cuteness, fluffiness and warm, raw human nature =)

I love my niece! I can't wait to see her again in June! :D

Living Normally

2011-02-11T16:21:00.000-08:00

Whew, been finally living like a normal person the last week, after returning from KL for chinese new year, no more flying out of the country until I return to Brisbane. I realised I didn't finish with the whole list of things which I wanted to post about... But let's think of 8 things that annoy me:

1) Places that are awfully crowded with unpleasant people (e.g. the MRT at peak periods)

2) People who shout when they're angry, thinking that that is supposed to bring the point across better when all it does is just annoy and damage vocal cords

3) High humidity in singapore = sweaty niam niam skin. ee yer..

4) Going to a foodcourt and seeing 243 tissue packets on every empty table

5) People that 'book' library tables in school with their belongings and then go off to class close to exam periods (actually this is the number onme annoyance in my life).

6) Birds in general. especially the ones at UQ who threaten to eat your food all the time.

7) Ants that invade my food and space. (who are all for sure to die a slow, painful death via bygone or liquid paper)

8) the inconsiderate people illegally parking on the main road outside my house just so that they can go and lim kopi when there's a public HDB parking space just around the corner. Walk a bit your legs will die is it??

Oops.. I almost went on, but, thinking of things that annoy are sure to ruin your day sub-consciously, so I shall talk about 7 fears/phobias that I have, which actually, I don't really think I do because I've always grown up telling myself not to be afraid of things. Like what Mark's mum said, being afraid of things is only going to hold you back in life, which I completely agree with (but Mickey completely disagrees with).

1) Cockroaches - dead or alive

2) Dead/decomposing insects which I have to clear (e.g. one half of a beetle, or the body of a lizard after it's been pecked etc..) EWWWW

3) Losing my mummy

4) Losing my bolster

5) Losing my boyfriend

6) Being disliked by everyone, without knowing that they actualyl dislike you because they pretend to like you (sounds potentially Freuden ya?)

7) Being cornered by an ugly ghost of course.. The kind with the insanely long tongue and the rebonded black hair. I wonder if they'll make curly haired ghosts an in thing during our kids time next time??

Chinese New Year Eve = Shop

2011-02-02T02:46:00.000-08:00

I've never admitted to shopping much till now! My mum and I (along with grandma) spent a day scouring through 1Utama in KL today, (technically the area is PJ, not KL, but most Singaporeans aren't aware about Malaysian geography anyways). I think I've got most of my wardrobe for school ready? Heh.. we'll see.

I'm so stressed because of the house =(( Stupid gmail and stupid me. gargh...

Anyways, to take my mind of things, I'll continue with that list which I was doing yesterday:

• Day 01: Ten random facts about yourself.
• Day 02: Nine things you do every day.
• Day 03: Eight things that annoy you.
• Day 04: Seven fears / phobias.
• Day 05: Six songs that you’re addicted to.
• Day 06: Five things you can’t live without.
• Day 07: Four memories you won’t forget.
• Day 08: Three words you can’t go a day without using.
• Day 09: Two things you wish you could do.
• Day 10: One person you can trust.

1) Smell my bolster (unless I don't have it with me)
2) Eat my thyroxine and Centrum multivits... unless I forget
3) Sms Mark
4) Wash my feet before I sleep and when I wake up
5) Look at picture/videos of Gaby or think of her and smile to myself at how adorable she is
6) Scour the house for something I can throw away so that I get that sense of achievement of cleaning out all the junk
7) Do something stupid/act silly to keep that inner child fuelled and ready to go, hurhur
8) Comb my unruly hair.. actually wait, I think there are days that I don't... Siyi can probably vouch for that
9) Moisturize my face (bare minimum) to keep the sun spots and wrinkles away!! :S

Enroute to self-discovery

2011-02-01T06:09:00.000-08:00

I came across this list while blog-hopping just now, and thought to myself that, albeit this 'blog-task' being fairly self-centred and exhibitionist in some sense, I realised that doing it will actually help me in the process of self-reflection. I realised that as much as I think I'm self-reflecting sometimes, not penning it down or actually recording it makes all the thoughts just go in a circle, resulting in a larger ball of fluff than what I started out with.

Therefore,

• Day 01: Ten random facts about yourself.
• Day 02: Nine things you do every day.
• Day 03: Eight things that annoy you.
• Day 04: Seven fears / phobias.
• Day 05: Six songs that you’re addicted to.
• Day 06: Five things you can’t live without.
• Day 07: Four memories you won’t forget.
• Day 08: Three words you can’t go a day without using.
• Day 09: Two things you wish you could do.
• Day 10: One person you can trust.

What actually qualifies as random?? Who cares, here goes:

1) I don't like to brush my teeth in the morning especially if I'm going to eat my breakfast already.
2) My right ear sticks out more than my left (it's quite noticable once you realise)
3) Minced meat cooked in any style is my ultimate favourite comfort food
4) I can play the piano... as long as the song is in C major, heh..
5) I absolutely love burying my face in my mummy's belly and once told her that my future boyfriend will only be allowed to have a belly if it's as soft as hers!
6) I like smelling people a lot, especially when they smell nice.
7) And I'm easily affected by their smells,i.e. I respond better to people who use nicer smelling cologne/perfume.
8) I always need 1 comfort item with me to feel comfortable, whether it be my mum, bolster or Mark (slightly interchangable, hehe...)
9) My eyes are abnormally far apart.. even the optomotrist has ever told me so =(
10) One of my dreams is to be able to sing a hokkien song properly!

Whew, that took longer than I expected!

Tribute to Ah Bee

2011-01-31T06:43:00.000-08:00

I'm having a bout of Ah Bee (Gaby) withdrawal symptoms!!

2 videos of her, the first of her snoring and squealing in her sleep and the second is a little longer video on how the 3 of us (my sister, mum and I), feed her her daily dosage of Vitamin D.

Unlike us Singaporean kids who get heaps of sunlight and vitamin D, the babies born in Europe are required to have a daily dosage of vitamin D, which is a foul smelling liquid (and probably foul tasting as well) that we give to unsuspecting babies like Ah Bee. *kekeke*

Watch her face change as she realises what she eats!! HAhaha.. It's hilarious!

Taiwan!

2011-01-19T04:41:00.000-08:00

After being internet-less for most of my time in Singapore, we finally signed up for Starhub's mobile internet and I've had internet for the past few days. Ironically, I haven't been able to do much with the internet because every tim eI switch my computer on, I find myself inundated with opportunities and my senses are in overstimulated with the bright lights and million youtube videos I coan possibly view. And soon, after 40 minutes of rapid clicking, tab opening and closing and screen switching, I find that I have actually accomplished.... Nothing.

For example, this blog has sat here, un-updated since my return from not only Switzerland, but Taiwan as well. (this post has been sitting in my draft box for a good 5 days at least... or more) heh..

So GOODBYE PROCRASTINATION! HELLO MY BLOGGING MUSE!

Here's how our(Mark and I) week in Taiwan -Taipei/Taichung was spent. We had the pleasure of being brought around by Rex when we got to taichung, which was a HUGE help because both Mark and I are pretty hopeless at chinese and sometimes, directions.Rex who so generously brought us around and fought with mark when any opportunity to pay came!

Certain to say, Taiwan certainly does live up to it's reputation of not only being a shopping haven, but a place which will definitely add inches to your waist and fat to your arteries! Although we didn't really shop much (because most of the stuff was winter wear, which was quite ugly in my opinion), I still managed to pick up 3 pairs of $7 shoes and a pair of tights before returning (now I'm beginning to regret slightly that I didn't buy more!) But I'm glad I didn't buy stuff for the sake of buying only to discover their redundant-ness as well, which thus saved me a fortune. Xi men ding, a youthful shopping area somewhat like our Bugis in my opinion.

Xi men ding was a really fun and unique place, it's an area which is supposedly a little more modern and youthful. That was where Mark discovered the modern toilet restaurant, which is basically a restaurant that is completely toilet themed (except for the smell of course). So basically, we sat on toilet bowls and ate over bathtubs from bowls shaped like toilet bowls. It was really fun and hilarious! Food was decent, I guess you're just paying for the novelty!

The interior of the restaurant, note the bowls that everyone's eating out of!

Mark looking pretty happy with his toilet bowl.. hehh

Needless to say, we paid a visit to Taipei 101, hoping to pay $20 to go up for the view of taipei only to be disappointed when they told us that the open air viewing deck was closed.. Oh well, saved us some more money to eat with then!

Standing tall in front of the building.. it was pretty far.

This was on display at one of their museum-like places (honestly, I don't know what exactly it was la..) But this guy came up with a display that was really cute, bars of soap cut up with the dates carved into them! Each piece was about 2cm by 0.5cm, really really cute and funny@ haha..

The soap.
And more foood in taichung!!! Pork cutlet with tartar sauce and other stuff... I've never felt so fat after eating EVER! Didn't help that Mark's tummy wasn't feeling too good, so he couldn't share most of the food with me!

I must say that the highlight of the holiday for me was the hot springs which we spent about 2 hours and about $30 worth in taxi fares getting to up in the mountain. I forgot to get pictures of the spring pools themselves though!! which was a complete was because apart from the overwhelming smell of sulphur/boiled eggs, it was gorgeous and so zen. We basically paid $25 each to spend as much time as we wanted going around their 10 different pools (half of which were too hot/cold). But I got to feed my feet to the fish!!! Damn fun! Mark kept squirming though, which was pretty fun to watch, ahha..

The view of Tien Lai Resort, which was where the springs were. It's a little more atas la, which is good in a way cos you don't get smelly people, heh..

And, being in Taipei, we had to go for the international Flora Expo, which is AMAZINGLY huge. it spans across 4 MRT stations man, we only covered a small area because well... they are just flowers after all..

China girl hua hua pose.. Actually I kinda fell on my bum after squatting and just decided to stay on the floor.

A sea of red!! The flowers were really gorgeous!

Map of the entire expo, we only covered the bottom right hand corner basically I think..

Taiwan was a pretty awesome and neat place to go to, it felt pretty safe in general and I didn't have to keep watch over my back all the time unlike some other asian countries *coughchinacough*. So I definitely wouldn't mind going down for another short trip again! Plus, hotels were SO cheap and nice. hehh.

And now I'm suffering from Gaby Withdrawal symptoms!!! =((

Home!!

2011-01-04T14:59:00.000-08:00

Ima goin' home and reaching sunny singapore in 24 hours!! =)) Yay I got boyfriend to look forward to return to... heheh...

And friends of course, I got many many chocolates to give peeper. =)

Between my mum and I, SQ has allowed 40kg, but we're currently attempting to lug 60kg through immigration tomorrow, hopefully we have a nice nice super nice counter girl (oh please don't let her be racist) who'll allow at least 45kg through and we'll unwillingly hand carry the rest.

Home!

Honestly, the only thing I'm looking forward to when I go back is Mark and church. Home isn't home anymore because that's what happens when your mum changes house without you around. Staying here for the past month has been more home-like than Singapore because of several reasons. For one,

THERE'S INTERNET

and of course family, a mum that does my laundry for me and operates the dishwasher after I cook a meal (which is awesome because as much as I love cooking, I hate washing up), my sister, brother in law and brand new niece, and all the hustle and bustle of having us 3 crazy women under one roof. We haven't all actually stayed together for a while, actually, for more than a year (I would consider it 2 years actually, since I've gone off to Brisbane to study). It's been nice, sitting together watching the tele and consoling Little Miss Cranky, gossiping about people, complaining about the stupid swiss way of disposing rubbish (Note to self: I MUST post about that), trying to figure out why miss cranky is so cranky (Is she having a perpetual wedgie?? Is she teething? Is she hungry for more neh?)

Deciphering a baby's cry is WAY harder than they make it out to be. I just can't wait for her to hit the age where she can learn baby sign. That'll be awesome.

When does home stop becoming home completely? Right now to me it just feels like if the things you treasure most aren't there, it ain't home. But sometimes it also feels like if there's no internet connection to the world, it ain't home. Gosh that's a little disturbing.. hur..

Yay!!!

2011!

2011-01-01T07:44:00.000-08:00

It's 2011! It really doesn't feel like it, we spent the last hours to midnight trying to convince Gaby to sleep. My sister said matter of factly amidst her colicky cries,

"Aiya I know why she's still awake la, she wants to stay up for countdown..."

For a moment there, I almost believed that my sister had figured out the reason/solution to why Gaby was refusing to give us some peace and quiet. Spending 24/7 with a baby does things to your mind, especially when you're the food supply of that one crying yet adorable thing. haha... Getting married is one thing, having a kid is a whole new other thing. My sister's life really revolves around Gaby now, and having had my mum around for the past 3 months and me for the last month, she's beginning to wonder how she's gonna manage when we go home and Liner returns to work after his new year break. Hopefully by then Gaby would be a little self entertaining once she learns to grab onto things and extend her currently 3 minute attention span.

But man I'm gonna miss the little fatty fluff ball!! (I call my niece all sorts of horrible nicknames, with permission and sometimes, great support from her mum and grandma, haha)

After returning from our short shopping spree in London the past few days, I realised that Ihave only 4 days left here! Time really flies, and you might ask, what have I been doing the past month? Cook, carry baby, cook, shop, carry baby, change diaper, cook, shop, watch tv, read, watch tv, carry baby, multitask carrying baby and cooking.... You get the picture. Thus, I decided to further perfect my egg tart and quiche making skills over the next 4 days. My sister has requested that I make 4 quiches for her to freeze before I go for easy breakfasts. ( I might do that next semester too)Today's tarts.

London was AWESOME. It's always been the country I wanted to return to and made it to my 'countries-I-wouldn't-mind-living-in' list (which was initially a list that had one other country on it.. Singapore) And I was thrilled to experience post christmas sales right in the heart of Oxford Street! (IT's siao man...)

The Toys 'r' us equivalent

Shopping crowd at Oxford Street at 6pm, it was MAD...

And the weather was suprisingly good! Mum and I didn't have to dress up like penguins like we were expecting, temperatures were between 4-5 degrees each day, which, believe me, is surprisingly different from the negatives.

I can't actually remember if this is a view of Switzerland or London... but I'm guessing Switzerland. It wasn't so snowy in London by the time we arrived.

There're a few reasons why I like London so much,

1) Architecture is pretty neat, and it's a place with so many sights and wonders (Big Ben, buckinham palace, Westminster Abbey...) that you would never get bored of looking at them even if ou lived there.

2) They're one of the few places that probably still have a queen and a palace that isn't solely for tourist purposes

3) LONDON WEST END MUSICALS!!!!! We caught 2 whilst we were there, Wicked (again, because I believe it's an AWESOME musical that everyone should watch) and Love Never Dies, the Phantom of the Opera Sequel (which I believe NO ONE should watch).

Theatres in London are pretty small and compact, but still boost amazing acoustics. Plus being so close to subways (most of them are), you'd never have a problem with parking cos you wouldn't drive. And the awesomest thing is that you can eat in the theatres and they sell ice cream during intervals, which, despite being an overpriced gimic, seems to be bought and enjoyed by 75% of the theatre each time we go. Watching the English cast was pretty funny, because all the songs were pronounced differently, and one of them was actually Irish, which was quite amusing (I've never heard an Irish singing on stage.

4) Asian food is easy available and fairly priced (unlike Little Singapore in Australia) And because the pound is always so strong, everythign seem scheap when you're there.

See for yourself! Sushi from Marks & Spencer. We also bought a maternity bikini top for my sister from Dorothy Perkins that was on sale for 1 pound. Cool hey??
My all time favourite asian meal... Rice, minced meat and mushroom stew (it's a taiwanese thing)

5) Subways are pretty amazing and every station is as well connected as singapore. Which makes me feel empowered even though I'm in a foreign country, and if it's one thing that makes me feel home, it's being able to navigate myself around my surroundings. I took heaps of pictures of the subway (since that's where we spent most of our time), but I'm too lazy to upload those pictures of escalators and tunnels.. (They're subways afterall)

6) EVERYONE SPEAKS ENGLISH (I officially have a grudge against swiss.. my sister says it's my inferiourity/racist complex playing up, hahaha). I'll complain another time in case they sue me for posting hostile comments on such a peaceful country.

PEACE OUT! HAppy New Year!! I'm comin' home sooooooooon! :D

Christmas with the Family

2010-12-26T04:02:00.000-08:00

Hohoho!! Happy Boxing Day! We've spent the last couple of days at home watching christmas movie after movie simply because every single shop is closed during the christmas period. The day revolved around meals basically, and the baby of course, who looks like such a sweet angel when she sleeps. She's really really adorable when she's in a good mood, she talks to us! After spending 2 years in speech, it really isn't bull shit that babies are communicating with you when they babble. Simple things like cooing at her and waiting for her response introduces the infant to something like turn taking, and imitation (which then leads to them learning sounds and words). It's fascinating watching it doing it live and just playing with her.

But of course when her crankiness comes along, there's no amount of cooing and singing that can soothe her unless it's as nutritious as her mother's neh neh.

But look at that angel!! I love this baby swaddle suit they put her in sometimes when it's cold. She looks like a fat Nanyang girl, haha.. (no offence).

So how did we spend our white christmas?? Everyone keeps pointing that out to me how lucky I am to have a white christmas (like I said, it's really not like in the movies).. But, who can fault me for trying? haha...

It snowed the whole of Christmas Eve. I know because I was running around trying to print photos for my christmas gift to my sister and liner (which I failed miserably at because the blardy machine was kooky). And snow is way way nastier than rain. I mean, it tastes pretty great (like ice kachang), but when you're walking against the wind, snow in your eyes sting like acid man.. I think I looked quite loser walking and blinking furiously (as if my eyes aren't small enough already).

And just the day before I got a pair of pretty pink Nike shoes for only 30 Francs! They were half price, and since I use my 'school shoes' so often when term starts, my mum told me to get them. (I can't wait for post christmas sales in London!!)

So how christmas did christmas get in the house?? Here's how:

1) Christmas Tree: Check

2) Stockings by the fireplace: Check
3) Actual Fireplace: Check4) Turkey dinner (ok we had turkey breast baked rice/pasta: Check
5) Multiple dish dinner (ok it's not quite a spread, but there's only 4 of us!): Stuffed mushrooms, grilled garlic prawns and veggies.. =)

6) Being constantly stuffed with food through the day: Check
I was making mochi and liner was making sushi with the sushi ingredients I got them for christmas ( since I couldn't get the photo)
7) Pretty Breakfast! Japanese pancakes lovingly made and arranged by liner when he woke up at like... lunch time. hahaha..
And we didn't get a family photo during christmas as usual, haha.. sometimes being a camwhoring type actually is good cos it means at least you have pictures as memories. =)

So that's my christmas in Zurich! Now for the real deal.... post christmas shopping sales in London!! :D:D:D

A Holiday On A Holiday!

2010-12-22T05:40:00.000-08:00

On Monday we had our first family holiday with Gaby to the city of Bern (the capital of Switzerland), which is approximately an hour's train ride away. Well, basically you can think of it as going from Jurong to Tampines for a holiday ok? The qualifying factor which makes it a holiday is the hotel stay of course! (Staying in a hotel, no matter how fantastic or cheap, always makes a holiday a holiday)

Bern's the federal city of Switzerland and is mainly German speaking, with a pretty small population of a little over 100,000 people. I've concluded that apart from being the somewhat Canberra of Switzerland, Bern was also once a home to Einstein! We went to the Einstein Museum (more details about that next post) which was pretty insightful. (I think I now almost understand the Theory of Relativity fully).

Our first and only photo with everyone!

We went to this tourist spot which hosts several Brown Bears, the animal icon of Bern. (I don't know what the exact story is, but I'm sure you can read about it on Wiki or something.

And look! Ang moh huat kueh! (Those chinese prayer cakes) We didn't try any of that though, it was huge.

The train which we took to Bern was similar to this one, a double deckered train that runs from one end of Switzerland to the other. Tickets to Bern cost about 60Francs each. (But Liner, my sister and mum bought 50% discount cards which give them cheaper tickets). Expensive MRT hor?

Not only is transport expensive, (a daily tram ticket would cost about 8 Francs, and my monthly pass was 80 Francs), housing is pretty pricey, food is pricey (my sister and liner's meal for 2 at a restaurant was 70Francs, and it was Schnitzel of all things! I was appalled that they charged 30 bucks for fried breaded meat and veggies man...

But... there are some cheap things here in Switzerland. Alcohol, for one, as it is in almost all European countries, seems to be cheaper than water. Just look at the extensive range of wine, liquor and what not in their larger supermarket

That's just a third of the area my camera could capture

GIANT PLATE OF ICE KACHANG!!! I bet ice kachang would be dirt cheap if it were sold.

On a more serious note, cars ARE cheap here. Look at the price of the Porche!

And the price of the Jaguar! An old Jaguar is still a jaguar...But toys are expensive, this tiny pink lamb was 4 Francs (But it's cute and I'm reliving my childhood)

Speaking of toys... I can't believe christmas is coming! It feels sooooo distant because I feel so cut off from all teh festivities in church or at home. And since it's snowing all the time, it takes that 'christmasy' feel away. Even our fireplace doesn't look as christmasy as the movies make it out to be. Right now I'm just replaying Mariah Carey's All I Want for Christmas is You just so that I can get into that christmas mood.

Fireplace!

Well, Merry Christmas everyone!! I wish I could be spending it in Singapore with the hot weather and friends though, but I am thankful for the nice cold weather and potential fireplace. OK I shall put up stockings on the fireplace!

Let it snow! let it snow! let it snow!

2010-12-14T13:01:00.000-08:00

So mum and I made a trip to Konstanz Germany yesterday for a day of shopping, much like how one would cross over the border to JB to shop. (And we ate plenty of bratwursts!) However it was freezing! And I have plenty of photo evidence, just that my SD card has decided to act up and make all of yesterday's photos disappear. Hence, I'll update about that later.

I never realised how cold it was in Zurich until I googled the average temperature here. Apparently, temperatures range from -5 to 1 degree celcius on a good day. (Yesterday's temeperatures were between -3 and -4)

Here's how it looked like in the morning before the snow came on heavy 2 days back...

Before

After a couple of hours. Looka t the snow on the cars

And I managed to capture a picture of a snow flake!

And while Gaby's all wrapped up comfortable like a jelly bean...

Her grandma's all bundled up looking like a snowmanAnd her aunt made the mistake of wearing this not-very-warm coat
I swear my legs were freezing

My sister and liner brought us to the Christmas Markets at the Bahnhof (Main station), which was slightly open air and very cold as well, but extremely busy and beautiful. The christmas markets sell all sorts of pretty expensive trinkets and crafts and food. For instance, very beautiful (and very expensive) glass christmas ornaments, probably hand blown and shaped. Notice the detail?

And hot wine! Which was surprisingly sweet and quite comforting!
And more glassware shaped like birds. (I don't know how else to describe them)
And Sprugli! Which has the most fantastic mini macroons! (Each sold for 1Franc and are about the diameter of our 50 cent coin) More pictures of that if I get a chance.And what swiss christmas market is complete without a Swarovski shop and christmas tree! This one had heaps of crystals on the.. HEAPS
Which concludes today's update. I'm just dying to get to the end of Michael Crichton's State of Fear so that I can get onto The Time Traveller's Wife, which my sister swears is amazingly sweet. I haven't read novels in ages and now I'm reading 2 a week! Hopefully this helps myelinate my 'airy fairy linguistic' pathways instead of all the non-fiction I've been reading.

A week in Zurich=8 Days

2010-12-13T00:44:00.000-08:00

I had the sudden enlightenment about the Beatles song title '8 Days a Week'. We all dismiss it as an exaggeration of one's commitment to another person (8 days a week ala 101%), which are both seemingly impossible things. However, here's what I realised yesterday...

I've been here since last Saturday, making it day 1 in Zurich. And if you count the number of days from saturday to saturday, that's 8 days,
And what's another way of saying that you'll see someone the next saturday? Next WEEK.

Therefore, there are 8 days a week.. no?

;)

Day 6 in Switzerland-Zurich

2010-12-05T01:43:00.000-08:00

Hello from the land of one cute crying baby, the phlegm-y, throat-clearing language and snow! It's been snowing this whole morning, and I never thought I'd get to see the day where I'll watch snowflakes dancing in the wind as they melt on contact with anything solid (don't get jealous, it isn't as romantic and dreamy as it is in our minds girls!)The view from my mummy's room

After spending the past 6 days fussing and handling the cute lil furball Gaby, shopping a little in the city and planning menu after menu for the meals of what seems to be 5 hungry people (because my sister now eats for 2), reading 2 novels in a record time of 5 days, and just slacking my bum off, I finally decided that it's high time to update this blog with a dozen pictures! :D

Firstly, let's recall my sister before little Gaby...

At the airport before they left for Zurich, 6 months into pregnancy?

And look at the proud mummy and granny at the subway!

We've all been struggling to get Gaby used to the pacifier and bottle feeding as my sister and liner have a christmas dinner to attend (during christmas day of course). But Gaby has made it known to the whole world that she absolutely HATES having any form of plastic in her mouth. Wahh... I've never heard such an accusing cry from an infant before. It's as if we're torturing the poor little fluffball. Alas, we finally got her on the pacifier one day on the tram! I took a picture telling my sister that it's probably one of her first few important 'moments' to remember.

See the pacifier! So clever!!
And one of my attempts to make playtime less boring by trying to stimulate her intellect with a cute, fabric IKEA baby book. She actually was quite uncomfortable in this pose because it was too upright, haha..

And what's a baby without all that poop right? Thankfully, as smelly as her poop is, Gaby only poops once in a few days, but that doesn't mean she doesn't fart every few hours, releasing a deathly stink bomb every now and then. Only then will my mum patiently lie her down and try to make her ooo-ooo (aka poop).

Notice the shape of my mum's mouth, it's the distinct 'Ooo-ooooooo' coo that all singaporean grandmas use to make babies shit.

Ok enough about the baby, you'll be seeing much more of her in many posts to come. More about Zurich then! OR actually, just a couple more paragraphs because I'll soon need to cook lunch for the hungry mother and my mother.

We went out shopping that day and this particulat mall had the most interesting benches! You sit on them to make them flat. Okay that didn't come out as clearly as I wanted. Aiya, look at the picture and figure it out yourself la.

Be careful not to put a sandwich on one end or it'll just propel up when you stand up
Look what I found in the tram station's vending machine again!! It's the famous Cannibis tea I blogged about when I went to Prague! All for 2.50 Francs! My sister and I shall try it soon and I'll tell you about the effectiveness another time. hahaha..
As bundled as I could get to withstand the cold. The sun sets at 5 like in Australian winter, making it a little difficult going out late. Average temperature during the day is around 6 I think..
And just to wrap up, here's a slightly tat-glam photo of the baby as she expressed her displeasure being belted into the car seat.
But of course any tat-glamness will eb salvaged by this very very VERY cute photo of her. =) Although my sister says that it makes her look like one of those cam-whoring ah-lians on facebook/friendster.
And of course while I'm here miles away with a colicky baby, what else can I do but miss my own babe back home? HEh... anti-climatic right? I knew you wouldn't be expecting this, haha..

Ciao for now!

Back and not really liking it.. yet

2010-11-22T21:03:00.000-08:00

I typed a whole blog entry on Word and realised that I can't copy and paste. Darn. Oh wells, I'll just have an opportunity to write better then.

These few days have been pretty different, horrible in some sense but all right as well. I came home not knowing where exactly I stayed, thankfully the Bedok area is a familiar one with the church people and I managed to get back without much trouble. But my first night was horrible. Iwas so exhausted and my half deaf father was watching channel 8 as usual at full blast. I never expected that moving into a new house would have such an effect. I guess it's probably due to the fact that I didn't have anything to do in this move, even though we've moved countless amounts of times.

The post I drafted outw as really wordy and disorganised, so I shall reorganise it into simple dot points for my almost non-existant readers..

I came to realise many many things over the past 40hours of returning home:

1) As much as I though that living in a HDB would be no problem, I actually DO have a problem with it. I can't stand the fact that the old HDBs alwayhs have the piping outside of the wall and not built beneath them. It makes everything so unsightly. And I get annoyed at the fact that there's only 1 left serving so many floors.

2) I almost definitely do not want to return to singapore to live/work. Especially now when my family is halfway across the world, and they'll continue to do so for the next few years. I miss my mummy =( Once you take family away from us students who study overseas, I think it's a common consensus that that's practically taking away the primary motivation of coming back. Because the ugly truth is, friends do get lost over the years, and you make new ones back in the courntry where you study at

3) Another reason why I don't wish to return is how atrocious the society and it's people can be. Singaporeans are an inconsiderate bunch, and it's most evident on the road in my opinion. Drivers get impatient all the time. What's the rush?? As if our island isn't small enough.

4) Looking at the 70 year old cleaners in coffeeshops and all that give me a new perspective on how important welfare and retirement funds are. I tell my aussie friends that we asians tend to grow up and take care of our parents, which is why we have lower tax rates, so that the society doesn't have to support these people. But I feel that to be less and less the case. As a parent next time I can imagine myself worrying. What if my kid chooses not to take care of me =next time? That's literally a failed investment. At least the grannies in Australia have the government and CPF to fall back on.

5) However I still do like Singapore for it's many beautiful facets. For one, the pretty cars and lush, government planted greenary.

Ok I'm beginning to get tired. I shall update soon. Hopefully some pictures of the new place. Well, one thing I do appreciate is the generous amount of living space in the house. For once I'm not knocking into or over things constantly!

2010-11-14T14:27:00.001-08:00

When you keep getting let down by the people around you, you stop having expectations.

But what is life without expectations and hopes?

It's something not quite worth while living.

2010-11-11T03:23:00.000-08:00

Cannot wait for this to end and for me to go home.... =( And fly to Zurich to see fatty fat fat neh neh monster and my mummy and my sister and liner.

And I can't wait to chill in a random kopitiam in Bedok with feifei/poingo/yee/joan

And I can't wait to be driven around by nat (hopefully not against traffic sister!)

And I can't wait to just drink $1.50 bubble tea at when I feel like it.

And I can't wait to take the extremely efficient public transport, and I'm really curious about the new annoying song they play at the MRT stations

And I miss the smell of the circle line stations

And I can't wait to buy heaps of toiletries from Venus to stock up for 2011

But I can wait for the lack of internet when I go back to singapore

And I can't wait to go to the national library again and just soak up a sofa and nuah, reading

And I can't wait to sleep on a mattress that isn't as thin as half a loaf of bread, and has the depression from my backside.

And I know that once I get back, I probably can't wait to get my arse back in brissie and back to work again after a week of doing the above following. Talk about the persistent lack of contentment.

New Babe in Town!

2010-11-04T05:10:00.000-07:00

There's a new babe in town!! :D I never thought I would be this excited to become an aunt, and I promised to myself that I will not gush and rave over my niece to every other person I know because they probably won't be as interested as I think they are.... But I can't help it!!

Yay now I realyl can't wait to get to Zurich to see that little smushed up, wrinkly, nehneh monster! (Name given as expected, by my sister). Here's a link to follow up and look at some awesome shots of her. I think much credit needs to go to Liner's DSLR as well... Only a camera that fantastic can make post-labour, tired mothers and their wrinkly smushed up babies look so good. Hehh heh.. But she is cute la. I mean, she's so tiny!!!

http://albums.phanfare.com/isolated/rYykzXOg/1/4889246#imageID=114185281

Countdown to Midway

2010-10-26T07:10:00.000-07:00

I'm going to be halfway through my degree in 3.5 weeks time!!

Gosh that's scary. I can't imagine having to leave the sanctuary and security of having the sole purpose of studying and actually entering the workforce full time. Even though I've been working on a casual basis over the past few years, casual, non-commital work can never match up to being fully tied down and committed to a particular company, hospital, organization or what not.

I love being a casual staff. For one, you get paid a higher hourly rate (but of course don't enjoy the perks of more working hours or other CPF/Super benefits). Secondly, you're never ever obliged to come to work. And have the freedom of rejecting shifts and saying you have something on (even if you don't). Because there aren't any expectations for casual staff. You're like a fling. *gasp*

But I recently (well just over the weekend), found a casual job that I wish I could have on a more regular basis, it's helping out as an aide at an ASD early intervention centre. The kids are so lovely! (Even though they can be an armful with all the running, stimming, shouting, tempers and tantrums). But just having them respond to you or respond to you calling their name makes it all worth it. (I felt so loved by this kid who was twiddling with my colourful bracelet and shoes today) This kid wasn't as severe on the spectrum and you would barely notice the autism except for very subtle things like responses and stuff. But he has great eye contact, great intonation and he actually said hi to me! (Which is very very very rare).

Anyways, while I'm on a verbatim-y mood (I bet that term doesn't exist and someone is going to correct my horrendous engrish), my sister was supposed to give birth yesterday!! Silly Gaby is late! Wonder how long more she'll stay in my sister's belly. She's MASSIVE! The beauties of having another being inside you, haha..

HEh heh.. can't wait to try all those developmental tricks on Gaby when I see her!!
I don't know if I ever uploaded this, one of the few nail drawings I did on siyi's fingers. Penguin!! :D I really liked this one, haha... I shall offer to do nails for CNY~! Penguins or ladybugs anyone?> =)

A Proper Update!

2010-10-18T01:43:00.000-07:00

So, I haven't been updating nice, pictorial posts in a while and have stuck to boring, wordy posts. (This is a sentence structure typical of an Australian's. note the 'So,' at the start of the sentence). And knowing that humans are ALL more intune to pictures and colourful stimuli, I decided I have to take action in order to maintain the few readers I have. (That of now is probably constance and my sister.) haha..

To start, I'll talk about the exciting Gatton trip last week. In case some of you don't know, Mark's studying at the Gatton campus about 80km (i.e. 1.5 hrs drive) away from me. So I only get to see him every 2 week or so. And I always like going down to Gatton because it feels like a holiday. For one, they have AWESOME food (food that's not cooked by normal people is good enough). Bread is soft and fluffy, milk is abundant, fruit are sweet and limitless (because the bloody place is surrounded by farmland) etc. Oh yes, and just to add on, Gatton is a very very small-ish town, I think 3/4 the town population is a result of the uni students. The town itself is a street of shops spanning maybe a couple hundred metres, and boasts a Audi, Reject Shop, Crazy Clarks and Bi-Lo. (they rest are small cafes and shops). And 2 macs of course. (Our Tampines alone has 3 Macdonald's right>?)

However this time, I had the unfortunate/eye-opening experience of being racist attacked on our way back from Maccers late at night. These bloody drunk bastards (sterotype depicted below), drove past us as they entered the Macs/petrol station and shouted 'f*ing asians. which I was quite non-chalent about (I mean, they only have like 10 neurons, you gotta give them some pity. But the next thing I realised was that they made a sharp U-turn back and were driving full force towards us.

I've never felt such fear and stress. I shouted to Mark to get off the road because I was so scared they would either run us over, or throw stuff at us, or barf at us or egg us or whatever. My first throught was 'run towards a pavemntor a sheltor where they can't drive up' and then I looked around... We were next to a highway, and the in front of a blardy endless field with no fence. Now THAT's going to save our asses...

Of course gungho-pissed off Mark didn't run and hide like I did, he just continued chewing his fries and walking. The bastards just swerved really really close to him and screeched their tires as they did. Blardy hell, if they had just missed I would be boyfriend-less. Assholes.

Anyways what followed was basically me explaining what I did to him and shoving fries down my throat, I haven't been so shit scared since the superman ride. I think even that wasn't as scary. But I learnt 2 things from this experience:

1) I can still think fairly logically in an emergency/time of crisis
2) I cannot think logically after that, and end up eating a lot due to post-stress-trauma. (Seriosuly, I think I ate like half his fries in 5 minutes.
3) The flight or fight response is damn powerful, and I'm damn glad mine is functioning fine.

That ends my racist encounter.
Random picture I drew to send as an MMS, The world of MMS has been the most uplifting, exciting technological advance I have made since Wireless mobile phones.

I made a monster!! It's called a Disgruntian. We used it for therapy during clinic. haha.. I just needed an excuse to do some art and craft for my self entertainment purposes.
Marky mark on his sheep prac. Just look at what the REAL australia looks like. He had to help in the shearing of 700 sheep ( probably more). Apparently sheep shearers get paid $200 a day. Do the math all you people studying at Unis around the world.... do the math and weep at your sad life.. hahahhaa

Tribute to friends and food

2010-10-10T06:10:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I blogged about something random (ok that may be a lie), but I figured I should post just once more before the exam period kicks in (though I suspect that I may end up bloggin more to escape the reality of having to study).

Siyi and I had a very long (I think it lasted more than 2 hours) discussion as to how fussy an eater I am by comparing what foods I don't eat and what foods she doesn't. ( I have a bad memory and could only recall about 3 items of her list). Siyi had one conclusion:

My food life/real life is damn sad.

I had 2 conclusions:

1) My food life/repertoire is damn sad
2) It would be way sadder if I hadn't had the friends I had in secondary school and JC (and a housemate who has a mom who cooks and eats everything organic and exciting).

Here's what we came up with what I don't eat (not that I strictly don't eat them, I just prefer not to). My standing rationale is that, if I don't appreciate it as much as you do, why should I take that opportunity to eat that prawn which I wouldn't enjoy? It's called the law of Maximising the Potential of the Prawn. (Ok I came up with that, but seriously, it's basically Maximising the potential of what ever that item is.).

Digression: That Maximisation of Potential law can and should apply to all things actually, whether it be food, clothes, or even people. For example, if a fat girl looks ugly in a pretty dress, it's not maximising the potential of that dress. She should just give it up to that stick thin model girl and go for a kimono blouse which would make a skinny girl look like a walking handkerchief. (and that skinny girl shouldn't deprive the fat one of wearing the kimono). So everyone wins and no one becomes an eyesore.

It can apply to people too, some couples should just break up because they're not maximising each other's potential. (I came up with an alternative theory that day and told nat that assholes and bitches should just get together and make the world a better place, because by doing so, they're saving 2 unsuspecting victims from the pains of being in a damaging relationship. ( I shall blog more about that another day).

Ok undigress and back to my topic title. (what the hell is a topic title, I'm talking rubbish)

Things I don't eat:
1) Lamb/sheep in most forms
2) Cow in australia (it just smells bad) but I do eat it when it's cooked well sometimes (e.g. steak)
3) Shell fish/craustacians
4) Duck (unless it's 'peked' or minced)
5) Capsicum (although siyi made me eat it once and it tasted ok)
6) pineapples on pizza
7) Bittergourd
8)Ladies fingers
9) Bread crust (I'm very spoilt now)
10)any form of innards
11) Noodle soup when I'm outside (I have bad chopstick control which I like to keep at home)
( I think there might be more but I can't remember)

Basically siyi started complaining that all i eat is chicken chicken and luncheon meat and processed crap. (heh heh.. it's the sodium I lovE)

BUT, I told her about the things I learnt to eat from my friends, who so kindly introduced the pleasures of such hawker food during the course of my adolesence:

1) Kuay chap (without the innards but just the taupok and egg) - shiyun in sec 3/4
2) Black sesame paste - Joan (who raved about it until I just HAD to try it) in sec 3/4
3) Brinjal with chilli - bong in JC
4) Nasi Lemak chilli - Yee in Sec 2/3
5) Mee Pok Gan with ketchup - shiyun & joan (my virgin experience with mee pok gan was sadly only in sec 4)

Ok fine it's not a very extensive list, but I KNOW there's more. At least I can proudly say I ate tutu kueh as a child. (Mark only tried it last year and scared the tutu kueh auntie while at it too). heheh..

Which concludes my not so random entry., Thank you to all the above mentioned for making my life a tastier one! =))

Self Talk

2010-09-25T23:56:00.000-07:00

I believe that the majority of the population experiences moments, whether fleeting or not, of low self esteem, low motivation or morale, or just those moments where you think you're a useless piece of shit who has wasted your life so far. And it's in moments like these that you really really need some of that self psychoing, self motivation jargon that we see being sold the shelves of Borders and Times. I personally need to tell myself that I'm not a useless piece of junk once in a while, and that I haven't actually wasted my life, and that hey, I am actually pretty damn good at what I do. (Even though it may be a lie, but hey, that's what helps me get outta bed and out to face the world sometimes).

And right now, is one of those moments. So please don't mind, but seeing that this is my blog, I have the right to write whatever nonsense shit I want, and now I'm going to brag about myself (Well, actually not really brag la, just convince myself that I don't suck)

1) I have decent grades
2) I have a nice rented house that's kept clean
3) I think I have a life
4) I have a job
5) I have a brain
6) I'm not a grossly overweight US citizen
7) I can at least cook a meal and not burn down the house
8) I can play 1.5 instruments decently
9) I can run 2km without keeling over and dying, though even a 2year old can do that
10) I can juggle.. briefly
11) Oo I almost forgot, I have an awesome boyfriend who charms the life outta me and is literally, my prince charming on a (brown) stallion.. (hurhurhur) =)

Ok I think I'm ready to study now

2010-09-20T02:38:00.000-07:00

I SO cannot work under stress, I do so many impulsive things when I'm stress. If I hadn't forgotten to bring my wallet today and only had $1 in my pocket, I would've bought a whole vending machine'ss worth of M&Ms already.

It's amazing how volatile the mind can be, all because of the hormones and endocrine glands running on overdrive in the brain.

oh gosh

Away from home away from home

2010-08-29T00:14:00.001-07:00

Get my title??

It's all right if you don't, haha, it's semi-nonsense anyways.

I'm sitting in the nice Gatton library blogging because I have the excuse of not bringing more work to complete. Actually, that's a complete shitty excuse, I've yet to actually complete what I've set out to do, it's just that I'm experiencing that bout of un-drivenness, or, being in Neutral. (Or in my case, I might just be going in reverse).

I feel like the Mad Hatter from Alice in Wonderland, just that I'm half as verbally fluent and not quite 1/20th as madly ingenius as he is in the literary sense. Don't you think Lewis Carroll is amazing? If you think about it, the stuff that's in Through the Looking Glass, Alice in Wonderland and whatever other stuff written is so linguistically aware and smart that it makes me, as an undergraduate, feel like a kindergarten kid knowing what wonders the mind is able to work (If you were ever so blessed to have one)

I've been workign with Dyslexic children in clinic this semester, and boy has it been eye-opening. Well, not as eye-opening as I would like it to be (considering that this is only my second week working with them), but I was rather surprised with the emphasis placed here in Australia how much the responsibility is placed on the Speech Therapist to get these children working to their maximum potential. Whereas back home, these children are either

1) Called stupid and left to lag and be punished all their lives
2) Politically-correctly called 'Normal' and placed in either EM3, and then Normal Technical or Academic
3) Shoved into Learning Support Programs which ironically, fail to support but instead condemn the children further as they lag even more,
4) Thrown to special education classes which might actually prove to help (sometimes)
5) If they're lucky/rich enough, mummy and daddy can send them to Australia where they can receive the support/encouragement they need.

I'm not saying that it's a haven here, nor am I saying that Singapore completely slaughters children with dysexia, it is the unawareness that kills the opportunity and potential that resides in these children. (LKY should know) I have no idea how he mad eit through school, my guess is that he was mildly dyslexic.

Even in Australia, they can't emphasize how much the education system still fails to recognise the problems faced by the children, and they too have shoved teacher aide after teacher aide to help but to no avail.

And that's not even the tip of the iceberg! What about indigenous children who have a much much higher probability of experiencing literacy problems solely based on cultural differences or because of where they stay? We might say that in Singapore you see educational gaps between certain racial groups, but here, it's even worse.

But.. if you look at it in a 'WHO' kind of way, where they look at things like dyslexia or disabilities not from the point of an impairment, but from the view of how these things affect their actual functioning in life, then it might be a different story all together. If someone can't read, but is a successful dairy farmer or whatnot and is earnign shit loads, what is to say that that dyslexia was a problem?

Ok this is a boring post.

I'm just getting os overhelmed with organising and filing what I've been studying, that when I went to sleep a couple of nights back, I was having dreams about travelling up the neural pathways and reaching the different orders of neurons in the cerebral cortex, hypothalamus and midbrain (or something like that), which is freaking twisted!! Garh I woke up feeling such a hatred for Neuroanatomy for invading my dream land where I was supposed to be playing with cotton candy, ponies, fairy wings, giant jello, chocolate cake with mega sludgy icing and Hugh Jackman. uhh.. oops maybe not the last one, heh heh

I WANT TO DREAM LIKE A CHILD AGAIN.

POny pony poNY!! :D:D

I skipped class~ I skipped class~

2010-08-19T15:44:00.000-07:00

My first lesson skipped this semester! (As opposed to the gazillion I missed last semester) And I have good reason for it!... It's raining. heh

But the sky is clearing up and I do have lessons at 10. I actually enjoy going to schools on Fridays, it's the best feeling of all because I end early, which means that the rest of my day is to myself (and generally the library), and I yet there's that satisfication coming from the 'I-learnt-something-today-from-the-teecher' feeling. So you feel like you've fulfilled your duty as a student, whilst still having a slack Friday. TGIF never meant so much =) Plus, it's normally the day MarkyMark comes back from the town in the middle-of-nowhere via horseback. (Okok, it's a BUS).

So it's a double bonus! =)

I was emailing my sister that day and she asked me how it seemed like Mark and I have a long distance relationship, which is, essentially so sometimes (Especially if either of us has exams and we don't see each other for a couple weeks at a time). But I feel that this is good 'training' in that sense. At least we have mobile phones and MSN and what not, whereas during our parents' time, they had pigeons, snail mail, the telephone with no caller ID, and telepathy.

If technically we have THAT much more times opportunity to communicate with the other in this time and century, shouldn't there be way way less divorces seeing that the couples should understand and know each other better? But of course we all know that isn't the case right? You'd probably say it isn't that our parents know each other any less than our generation knows the pther party, but perhaps it's just the lifting of taboos or the changed/thwarted views people have of marriage now.

I believe it's more like this - Our generation sucks at tolerating uncomfortable situations, compromising or just basically, sucking it up and continuing with the shit you're doing. We're all about this freedom of choice thing and tell others, why should you stay on and 'suffer'? Well, to a certain I think that's a good point... if the party was abusing you and being a complete bitch/asshole/drunk/gambler etc, but just because he's not lifting up the toilet seat? Or not helping with the dishes? I guess of course the married people are gonna scoff at me and tell me I don't know shit. And I'm not saying divorce is wrong, I personally am one of the ones who believe in freedom of not having to go through all the suffering and shit, after seeing so many mums of the earlier generation stay on in their families 'just because they have to' when it clearly is detrimental to their health.

I follow my mum's general advice to some of her clients:

If you have a tumor growing on you, cut it off straight! Or it's just going to destroy you.

Only difference I guess is, if its just a cyst, don't go cutting it off because you might cause larger problems by doing that. Or don't go cutting off your tonsils or appendix just because you think they're completely redundant (Because we've learnt from our multiple disciplinary lessons that, they are pretty handy sometimes)

Ok I need to go for class =)

I'm old!!

2010-08-10T20:47:00.000-07:00

I know this is like, 3 weeks overdue, but it finally has been hitting me...

I AM TWENTY ONE.

Oh gosh... it wasn't until I saw pictures fromJuliza's 21st party that I reality hit me that, whilst my friends back home (especially the ones who can afford it), are able to spend a night splurging on a nice, all dressed up night full of friends, awesome catering, full blast airconditioned, pool-dunking, alcohol drinking (or not), celebratory nights dedicated to the day they were born and all that they have become for the past 21 years, I was here having an awesome, sweet boyfriend-orchestrated bbq out in the overcasted Gyutt Park near my home. The overcast part was pretty much the scariest part of it, cos wewere so afraid that it would just rain anytime and kill the food/us/pigeons(as if we cared). But the crappiest thing was that I had shitty cramps that day, plus, as most girls would understand that annoying predicament we deal with every month or so, comes the ever so slight crankiness, tiredness, angstiness and just low-energy level because you just feel.. FEMALE for a couple of days. I think everything would have been more perfect than it already was had I not been crampy and stressed over the getting-back-to-school syndrome and having the constant worry that my scooter would entirely back up on me (Which it eventually did a couple of weeks later when I brought it to service, but that's another update), or that I had a pile of work (at least according to my dictionary) to catch up on (Yes it was ONLY the first week of school, but hey, you guys know I'm anal about stuff)

But apart from that, every weekend from then seemed to flash past, so here I am on our lovely australian public holiday (Exhibition Day), sitting at the dining table with a satiated tummy full of failed chilli chicken (as in chilli crab sauce cooked with chicken instead - not nice) and just setting aside 15 minutes to update this blog.

I think everyone who wished, celebrated, came, sent me spices from Melbourne (Even though she's in Zurich - haha), gave me oranges/lemons (They have fed me really well yutaro and bwedon) cake (My sister and siyi orchestrated to have a ccake sent in from a local cafe which was sinfully good)and what not (you know who you guys are), deserve a HUGE

THANK YOU!!

the very cute apple pie from Shiyun and Aiping (I should have seen it coming!!) haha, the girls are ever so sweet as usual!! And the pictures are damn tat glam can. Piang eh! haha,..Trying to look sweet and young so that we don't differ too much from the photos...

One of the few shots I managed to capture of liner and my sister before they flew off to Zurich for his PhD. (Yes she IS pregnant.. and due in October!)
And here's a little shot of what the Shrek castle looks like in Universal Studios Singapore. And for some people, that's how my boyfriend looks like. haha.. Thanks =)) You make my life so airy fairy sometimes I think I've become blond. hehh..

I shall update a pictorial about the other 1000 updates that have happened so far. All right, my life isn't THAT interesting. I think the most memorial event so far since I've gotten back is when my scooter broke down just 150m from the workshop when I went to service it at a God forsaken place called Moorooka (even the name sounds stupid eh?) But the people there were awesome, thanks to Jawn for recommending that place, they didn't even charge for 'towing' my bike in! =) (Plus the guy at the counter was pretty cute...) But being surrounded by all the Kawasaki/Honda/Yamahahahas/ATV/motorcross dirt bikes was a little intimidating. haha. Do you know they start training little boys for motorcross? Like, their bikes are maybe a metre in length, and I saw this little 7-8 year old getting one with his dad. Shit man, those bikes are more powerful than mine!! (I feel disgraced). But they are SO awesome. I shall blog about that soon. Writing makes me happy= ) ACtually, writing CRAP makes me happy. muhahaha.

Peace out from the land of funny names like Moorooka, Woolongabba, Yerongapilly and Indooroopilly and Gayndah!

TV IS BAD FOR YOU

2010-07-01T01:12:00.000-07:00

One of my most absolutely favourtie poems which I wish I adhered to more as a child. IT used to frighten me, because of all the stupidity I thought I would cause my child to have if I let him watch as much television as I did. I think Roald Dahl is absolutely brilliant!

Television
by Roald Dahl

The most important thing we've learned,
So far as children are concerned,
Is never, NEVER, NEVER let
Them near your television set
--Or better still, just don't install
The idiotic thing at all.
In almost every house we've been,
We've watched them gaping at the screen.
They loll and slop and lounge about,
And stare until their eyes pop out.
(Last week in someone's place we saw
A dozen eyeballs on the floor.)
They sit and stare and stare and sit
Until they're hypnotised by it,
Until they're absolutely drunk
With all that shocking ghastly junk.
Oh yes, we know it keeps them still,
They don't climb out the window sill,
They never fight or kick or punch,
They leave you free to cook the lunch
And wash the dishes in the sink
--But did you ever stop to think,
To wonder just exactly what
This does to your beloved tot?
IT ROTS THE SENSE IN THE HEAD!
IT KILLS IMAGINATION DEAD!
IT CLOGS AND CLUTTERS UP THE MIND!
IT MAKES A CHILD SO DULL AND BLIND
HE CAN NO LONGER UNDERSTAND
A FANTASY, A FAIRYLAND!
HIS BRAIN BECOMES AS SOFT AS CHEESE!
HIS POWERS OF THINKING RUST AND FREEZE!
HE CANNOT THINK -- HE ONLY SEES!
'All right!' you'll cry. 'All right!' you'll say,
'But if we take the set away,
What shall we do to entertain
Our darling children? Please explain!
'We'll answer this by asking you,
'What used the darling ones to do?'
How used they keep themselves contented
Before this monster was invented?
'Have you forgotten? Don't you know?
We'll say it very loud and slow:
THEY ... USED ... TO ... READ! They'd READ and READ,
AND READ and READ, and then proceed
To READ some more. Great Scott! Gadzooks!
One half their lives was reading books!
The nursery shelves held books galore!
Books cluttered up the nursery floor!
And in the bedroom, by the bed,
More books were waiting to be read!
Such wondrous, fine, fantastic tales
Of dragons, gypsies, queens, and whales
And treasure isles, and distant shores
Where smugglers rowed with muffled oars,
And pirates wearing purple pants,
And sailing ships and elephants,
And cannibals crouching 'round the pot,
Stirring away at something hot.
(It smells so good, what can it be?
Good gracious, it's Penelope.)
The younger ones had Beatrix Potter
With Mr. Tod, the dirty rotter,
And Squirrel Nutkin, Pigling Bland,
And Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle and-
Just How The Camel Got His Hump,
And How the Monkey Lost His Rump,
And Mr. Toad, and bless my soul,
There's Mr. Rate and Mr. Mole-
Oh, books, what books they used to know,
Those children living long ago!
So please, oh please, we beg, we pray,
Go throw your TV set away,
And in its place you can install
A lovely bookshelf on the wall.
Then fill the shelves with lots of books,
Ignoring all the dirty looks,
The screams and yells, the bites and kicks,
And children hitting you with sticks-
Fear not, because we promise you
That, in about a week or two
Of having nothing else to do,
They'll now begin to feel the need
Of having something to read.
And once they start -- oh boy, oh boy!
You watch the slowly growing joy
That fills their hearts.
They'll grow so keen
They'll wonder what they'd ever seen
In that ridiculous machine,
That nauseating, foul, unclean,
Repulsive television screen!
And later, each and every kid
Will love you more for what you did.

The television not only rots the mind of children, even I, a soon-to-be adult can feel my brain mushifying as I turned on Ellen Degeneres and moved on to Zoe Tay a half hour later. I just sat there slouching on the couch with my already small eyes getting smaller from the flashing images, bad acting and miserable scripts. (Fine I barely understood the chinese drama because it didn't have chinese subtitles). But television/youtube watching is the msoe PASSIVE thing ever. (Perhaps I should be the first to write the modern day version of 'Television' and call it 'Youtube'. Oooo... (don't steal my idea). Sometimes I envy the uni students doing Lit, they get to come up with their own original stuff and get graded for it, whereas in my pseudo-science-arts course, we just read other people's work, rephrase it and cite them so that it sounds like your own. Bullcrap! That's the beauty of arts (well, probably only in Lit/poetry class, because even Sociology and Law requires citations.

Oh well. Okay..
CUIWEN GET YOUR BRAIN STARTED AGAIN AND STOP LETTING IT ROT!!!

2010-06-20T04:12:00.000-07:00

I just want to go home now =(

Retrospect

2010-06-15T16:02:00.000-07:00

My first paper is finally over and I'm behaving as if my entire exam block is finished, which is HORRIBLE BEHAVIOUR! I spent the morning washing my massive laundry load and flooding the floor because I stupidly didn't remove my excess clothes from the draining sink. Oops. Which reminds me, just in case you feel lousy/stupid/useless or brainless today, here's a list of stupid bimbotic things my housemates have done. It just proves one thing, people aren't perfect, even (to be) professionals. =P

1) Exploded eggs in the microwave MULTIPLE times - certain lawyer-to-be
2) Set off sparks in teh microwave by putting single serve peanut butter with the foil cover still on - yours truly
3) Rushed and run to school only to realise that there is NO LECTURE - Ms physio
4) Using an assortment of paper clips to hold up hair during exam study period. - majority members of the house
5) Spending 10 minutes trying to wear a very complex blouse that has 2 layers intertwined by the most ridiculous manner ever - yours truly
6) Melted a plastic single serve of honey in the microwave... PLASTIC AND ALL - guess which microwavce fanatic

Ok I bet there're more, but they have either coneniently slipped my mind or I'm just choosing to forget =)

Either ways, I was reading Marky mark's blog (which I have never ever known about until recently. ya I'm a lousy girlfriend). And it's just amazing how everyone changes with time. I was blog hopping on my other friends' blogs too, and it's funny how you are able to track the progress of lives over years. You should all save your blog entries, just in case one day the internet is destroyed and we never get our records back again.

Wah my writing is so rubbishly lousy. I tink I spent to muts taim stardying science, den dunno how to rite orleady.

This time 2 weeks from now, I'll be back in sweltering, sticky, crowded, cheap singapore. BARBER TEA HERE I COME!!

Oops digressed (half my post isn't even CLOSE to the title) . Hehhh. You know how when you become voyeuristic and start reading people's blogs in hope of picking up juicy bits of info?? (Don't pretend, if you're reading this blog, you probably are one of those voyeurs~) haha, anyways, I feed you juicy info okok????

I'm crazy over this awesome dood who stays 2 hours from me in a pseudo farm-school and who talks non-stop and can talk to a anyone (even a rock) and who has cute fluffy hair, and who is as skinny as a string bean but eats as much as 2 cow-horses (cow + horse combination) and never ever gets fat, who fusses about his face (sometimes), who never washes his jeans unless its a holiday but changes at least 4 T-shirts in a day, who thinks drinking 3 litres of water is a cure for any illness and thinks that he'll die from eating Indomee, who makes farnie videos and acts as zombies in some of them (uh-um), who is someone jsut bursting with a million ideas and dreams, and who so happens to be my boyfriend =)))

(Btw this is probably the first time I'm mentioning this on a public website *gasp*)

Another week ends

2010-05-20T05:56:00.000-07:00

Time is flying fast, it's flying TOO fast. I don't want my tertiary life to every end! I'm just going through a moment of nostalgia, today I decided to watch the 1998 local movie, The Teenage Textbook.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gVmpQu1RSA&feature=related

I don't know if many of you remember, we weren't really teenages when it came out, but I do recall reading the book somewhere in my secondary school life, along with the teenage workbook. It just gives that sense of nostalgia, care-free, happy-clappy kind of feel that you have whenever you look back at your life.

And then...!! I heard this song!

I was elated when I heard it because it was a song I always spent my teenage years looking for. It was a song I woke up to at 615 in the morning when my mum's radio would come on as an alarm. (Those mornings sucked because it meant going to school, but felt awesome as well because I would reach school before the sun rose). Come to think about it, I love it when the sun hasn't risen yet. You get the sense of feeling ahead of everyone, an unexplainable alertness, the air smells fresher, and the people are nicer (perhaps they're just sleepier). Many wouldn't share my sentiments of early early starts, but I do. =) I guess it's technically the same as working late late late into the night and getting that sense of calm, only at 6am, you'd probably have had enough sleep. =)

I discovered a couple more things this week:

1) Singaporeans aren't the only ones who like to complain, Aussies do to to a fair extent
2) I finally know the difference between AFL and NRL, and who the Lions and Broncos belong to respectively
3)Reading to your child is veryvery very good for them. Remember the buddy reading system? The government had it pretty spot on.
4) Drivers here are amazingly patient. I have still yet to be horned or cursed at despite my crazy driving.
5) With a scooter you feel like you can do anything... I drove on a pavement and made a dozen illegal, ridiculous, impossible U-turns ever since I got my scooter. Shhh don't tell my mum. :D

Boomz

2010-05-13T12:40:00.000-07:00

Woke up at 5 only to waste the past 40 minutes not doing work when that was the whole bloody point of waking up when it's freezing cold instead of staying nice and warm in my blanket. I'm so sick of all this, just so sick of everthing that's going on. Screw it, I've got my own darn left to unscrew.

There're only a few things that really bother me or get me down. Well, actually it's pretty much one thing that umbrellas a number of small factors.

Expectations. More specifically, expectations which I set for myself. It doesn't matter if I'm not stick thin as long as I don't expect myself to be. It's all right if I don't have 1 million friends that I hang out with as long as I just expect that 1 to be there. But it does affect me when I get bogged down with catching up with work, moreover, work that I can't seem to get. I've concluded that I really really prefer science, because with science, all you need is a couple good summaries or good reads off the internet and comprehension isn't as much of a problem as memorisation is. It's the terms that might get to you, but besides that, science is straight forward. Cold, hard facts.

We've began touching on therapy and intervention methods for the child who says wabbit and tat and what not, and honestly, I don't see the bloody difference between the different methods. Same with the intervention for kids with language problems (generally more towards disabled kids who aren't even verbal), and I feel even more lost! How is rubbing the kid's feet or jumping around with them helping? ABA, Hanen, RILD JDJG DFJDD ADODOJDJD or whatever aconym it's just frustrating!!

I wanna be autistic now.

Times you feel like shit

2010-05-11T02:33:00.001-07:00

I feel like crap, though it's pretty uncalled for and retarded. I feel brainless and useless. Gahhhhh

It's one of those periods where I wish I was just a mouldy spot on the wall and didn't have to live for the world.

2010-04-19T23:29:00.000-07:00

I feel so brain dead that I'm determined a car crashed into me and killded my brain.

I need a hug =((( I want my mummy's cushie tummy to rub my face in. (Yes I still do that to my mum)

Sometimes I ask myself, how long more am I going to cuddle and hug my mummy till? Whenever I go back to her I become a child again, regardless of how old/massive/giant I am (my mum has shrunk considerably due to her aging porous bones and muscle atrophy) But she's still as cushi as ever and I love it =)

If she ever went for liposuction I'd be devastated.

I NEED A HUGGGGG

Interesting things in Good ole' Brissie

2010-04-13T14:19:00.000-07:00

I realised I hadn't actually done a proper update regarding my new house etc in Brisbane and felt that it's high time I do it, regardless of whether people actually see it or not. It's awhole new feel this year, a whole new ball game at school too. Everyone's all warmed up and it kind of gives the same vibes as being in J2 again. I suppose it's because my course is so small and we actually see each other pretty much all the time (Our guy count has gone down to 2, aww) I just noticed how different the whole vibe and feel of the course is just because there aren't many guys in the course. Guy deprived.

ANYWAYS, yes back to the main point of this post. ( I jsut woke up and my fingers aren't very coordinated. They're typing clumsily) Pictures!!!!

This is what happens to you when you enter the household of Audrey/Siyi/Cui.. your IQ undoubtedly drops by 200 points and you hit rock bottom (if there actually is one) of the negative IQ scale and end up doing retarded things like this. The guy on the extreme right has already done plenty of regretable stupid things in our house, like paint his nails pink, get guy-liner drawn and get hooked on Glee. The rest of us are just normally retarded anyways (hurhur... oxymoron worrrr)

This is Condo my pet Praying Mantis which I kept for about a week! I let him go and he came back a couple of days later! I felt so touched and attached to him, he helped me eat like 5 moths in total. Don't ask me how he got his name, it's a long story. But from now, praying mantises (?) are my official favourite insect =)
I baked egg tarts during Easter break! Ok they were flat and kinda failed in my opinion, but I'm gonna work on them till I successfully make awesome tarts. Until then everyone's gonna have to eat my horrible flat tarts. Actually you know what, I won't call them egg tarts, I'm gonna call them flat tarts.
And my awesome scooter!! I HAVE A SCOOTER. I ACTUALLY OWN MY OWN VEHICLE! Man topping up petrol for the first time was so embarressing cos I didn't actually know what to do. How bimbo is that, hur..
Picture from a while back, this is the colour of the hair dye they used on me in china. It came up Red after that.

The path we go down

2010-04-01T10:24:00.000-07:00

Isn't it amazing when you take a step back and look at all your friends that you have acquired over the years, how each one that you are considerably close to would probably be able to bring up significant reminders of a time that once was? For instance that one friend from your primary school whom you actually keep in contact with. Or the close clique you had in secondary school. They remind you of who you once were, regardless of whether you have changed (you probably have) over the years. I know this is a little random, but I was just thinking about it today when I read Roger's retarded April Fool's blogpost (haha, nice one Roger, but predictable of a man of your amazing bullshit ability level, haha)

Havingn old friends is an amazing thing, but I find that they might hold you back as well. Not in the literal 'don't do this' sense, but subtle things like viewpoints, mannerisms, outlooks and what not. Especially with girls, since we are (mostly) social creatures who can't seem to shut up when we're around our kind. (heh) But the dangerous thing to me is ending up talking and revolving about the same thing over and over and losing perspective about larger things.

A Psyc lecture I had about aging brought something really interesting to my attention, something regarding older people and friends. To many of us young ones, we look at the old granny and say 'aiyo, so poor thing, she no friends'. The logical thing is to presume that it's because either all her friends are dead, or she's a little mentally unstable at that age and hence cannot keep friends. Contrary to popular belief, the opposite might actually be true. The fact is, this old granny is CHOOSing her friends and cutting them off as she ages, to optimise and maintain a high 'standard' of friends. In all honestly, I never thought of it that way until that lecture. However I already begin to see myself displaying behaviours as such, which, at the yound tender age of 20+ may not actually be all that healthy.

My point? I have no idea. Precisely why this site is called blabber, whether or not it's ACTUALLY interesting is another matter. Heh..

At this rate...

2010-03-30T01:26:00.001-07:00

Time has been zipping past so fast that at this rate, I'm never going to get to experience life.

Wouldn't it be nice to be able to fast forward and rewind what you like?

2010-03-26T03:54:00.000-07:00

I feel like a child at times. I just want to explode and disappear like a bubble popping sometimes. Sometimes I wish I were as airheaded and brainless as a bubble. How fantastic it is to not have a brain hey?

Anxiety

2010-03-17T20:33:00.001-07:00

Anxiety is a a scary, frightful thing. Your heart beats uncontrollably, crescendoing and amplifying as each second passes, giving the impression that it's just about to spill our of your nose. Then the throat gets dry, and stuck, stiff as if someone has shoved cement down your throat. Swallowing becomes akin to rubbing sandpaper on granite, and the lump never seems to go away even after each swallow. Your voice cracks and comes out with such an uncontrollable quiver such that you think you'll never be able to calm that vocal earthquake. Then you realise that you have to think. The thoughts just fly, ramble, zip zoom and spawn like a overflowing store cupboard that has been accidentally opened. There's no longer rationality. All reminders and mental notes are thrown out of the mental window like a piece of rubbish. You find yourself just fighting and struggling to stay afloat all that chaos, like a drowning cat in the turbulent sea. Muscles you never knew existed tense and contract and spasm. Soon my forehead aches because of the frown. My shoulders arch to the extent of Frankenstein-ness and the teeth clench, gnash and bite. fingers get clumsy and jittery as you try to operate something as simple as the keyboard.

A million things go through your mind. Even writing them in hope of seeing some organisation fails to allay the worry. The stress. The anxiety. Anxiety Anxiety Anxiety.

Cancer shouldn't be the number one killer, I reckon stress is.

I just want to go home and never have to face the world again. Sometimes being a cow, pig or any other source of meat doesn't seem such a bad idea after all.

Milestones

2010-03-08T01:48:00.000-08:00

This semester's courses begin getting more and more relevant and interesting. There's one about voice disorders, child speech and language disorders, boring physiology and one about child development. You know how people always talk about milestones in relation to children? For example, when they first smile (5-6 weeks), sit up on their own (5-6 months), crawl (9-12 months) walk (12 months) and all that stuff which makes everyone go ''Oooo!!! Clever boy!! Know how to pang sai already!!''

Yeah, those milestones.

I feel as if we all have milestones of our own, set by parents, ourselves, and society especially. When we enter university, when we learn how to drive, when we learn to cook for ourselves, do our own laundry, stop sleeping in the same bed as mummy, or stop having that smelly old bolster. Basically, when we suck it in and grow up. Sometimes I wonder when I'll grow up. People might say I'm independant or mature or able to handle myself and things in general, (yes I'm bragging, but wait, there's more to come!) but put me in a place where I feel safe and comfortable and I become a total baby. For instance, put me in my room and I cling on to my bolster( affectionately called booboo) for dear life and sniff up all the dust mites embedded in the 17 year old cotton. Or let me go back to Singapore and I'm STILL share a room and bed with my mum even though there's another room. I'm not embarressed to say I still sleep in the same room as my mum, cos I know if I don't, she'll whine and scream and shout like a kid. (For those of you who know my mum, you know how much she acts cute la). But I feel it's the least I can do for her because that's one of the few things she asks of me; to not leave her alone at night when I'm back in Singapore. It's amazing how I still feel a child even though I'm going to be 21 this year.

New House, New Life... Perhaps.

2010-02-22T03:42:00.002-08:00

I'm finally calm and rested enough to finally sit down on a proper chair, in front of a proper desk with a lamp and someone else's internet (As usual), and type this all out. As I finish this sentence, the internet which I'm piggybacking on wavers and disconnects like, 200 times. Oo, did I mention that there's a monster of a grasshopper sitting next to me? He's about TTTTHHHHHHIIIIIIIIIISSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS long. Heh.

I swear or house can be the new Insect Safari of Carmody Road. We've had 3 grasshoppers, 2 cockroaches including a baby one in our grilled chicken today, about 2938 moths, 82927 mosquitoes and random flying things, and probably 6-7 resident lizards. Not to mention the whole family of spiders I swept away this morning who built their empire behind our shoe rack in a short 2 days. I swear, it's like the bugs just nest and build homes on anything that doesn't move for more than 24 hours!

As horrid, scary, creepy, eeky or what ever it sounds, it's still an awesome home. I guess after spending the last 21 years of my life living in various high rise places far from soil/ground is finally coming back to hit me now. Isn't it amazing how different 2 countries can be? I went for this survey job last Saturday whereby we knocked on the doors of houses in a low SES community. In my mind, I was initially thinking, 'what d'ya mean poor?? These people live on LANDED property and have CARS'

Then again the poor in India live in landed properties in slums and have bicycles too.

I'll be honest and say that these few days have been rather traumatic. My bed feels funny, the room is not like the breezy, massive IH one and everything I have is either stuffed in a random box somewhere or hidden among lumps of stuff. And I sorely need my private chillout space to just nuah, or play the guitar, or pluck my eyebrows, or stare at my own reflection and reflect (haha pun intended). None. I'm just living by the moment from day to day.

But then again it isn't that bad, my housemate's pretty cool and capable at doing plenty of stuff. Much to my delight.

I want my mummy... =( All you who read this,

GO HUG YOUR MUMMY/DADDY/SIBLING/GRANDPARENT NOW AND GIVE THEM THE APPRECIATION THEY DESERVE.

GO!!!

The ironic inefficiency

2010-02-10T21:42:00.000-08:00

AFter spending a year overseas, (well, to be honest, it works out to be about 8 months only), one of the most notable differences between the easterners and westerners is this: Efficiency. Looking at these different Asian civilisations; Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, one thing comes to mind. These people are incredibly efficient. Well, at least for most of the time. Internet connections are everywhere, and are at the speed of light. Such that the term 'Broadband' or 'Dialup' is such a thing of the past that we can no longer imagine any country still depending on these connections. Phillippines still uses dialup, and my now-pseudo-home Australia primarily uses Broadband connections. (I've probably whined about this countless times as to how we have a limited data quota every month) Hello, all the iPhone users in Singapore now have data plans of 12Gb a month (which essentially is limitless considering how much that can actually get you on a phone!). And there I was in Brisbanem, surviving on 5Gb for the entire semester (proud to say that I didn't even finish that 5Gb!)

Anyways, here's the ironic thing I've noticed ever since I've been back. We pride ourselves how efficiently we do things. How we're so small and well connected that we can reach the other end of the island in less than an hour. How we can get phonelines, internet lines or television channels set up in less than 2 days. How we can cook obtain a meal from the nearest hawker centre in less than 10 minutes and how out NTUC cashiers can scan so furiously and bag so quickly you wouldn't even know what hit you. But here's the thing, smses in Aus cost 15 cents each, whilst they cost nothing here. So when I came back this time, sms-ing people was such a PAIN because it ends up taking people 10 smses to conclude that: "Ok, we shall meet at 2pm at Bugis."

Why is this so? Because people just simply reply without initiating something progressive. When are you free? tmr. Shall we meet? ok. What time is good for you and where? I got school in the morning.

This alone takes up 3 smses each, in Ozzie cents/sense (pun intended), 45 cents. repeat this process several times and low and behold, lotsa marnie wasted. Not ot mention time and precious thumb action. I hate sms-ing. And I thought that if I called people, I'd get the job done quicker. Ironically again, NO. Nobody calls anymore! Out of 5 calls I make, 4 will be unsuccessful cos people no longer look at their phones expecting calls. People expect only smses, which free you from the obligation of immediate answering and decision making.

I can't wait to go back to the world of phonecalls.

Egypt 2010!

2010-01-25T05:58:00.000-08:00

The sphynx and pyramids! I went inside a pyramid... It's all rock. Hahaa

Yes that's a baby crocodile on my head

I write this as I sit on the top deck on the River Nile cruise we’ve been on for a couple of days now. The wind in Egypt is surprisingly chilly today, even though yesterday it was a sweltering 30 degrees. IT was soo hot that I think my brain expanded and couldn’t contract for the next few hours, leaving me with a throbbing headache and a runny nose.

Egypt is EXTREMELY exciting. How so you might ask?

1) There are NO traffic rules in Egypt. The only one the guide suggested was, when it’s a red light, you go. When it’s a green light, you go faster. There are no lanes whatsoever. I never thought I’d see a city road with no car lanes! And signalling is practically redundant because the horning never stops. People just horn for every single reason, whether it’s to say ‘hey move faster’ or ‘hey there’s a cat on the street’ or ‘hey, my horn sounds cool’. They just NEVER stop horning. So can you imagine how my mum and I crossed the road? IT took us a full 5 minutes to make our way across a couple of large roads without getting killed!

2) Touts are EVERYWHERE. We get the same phrase said to us about 200 times a day which goes somewhat like this:

‘Hello, Japanese?’ –no- ‘Chinese?’ – no- ‘Korean?’ –no-

Or some helpful stranger will kindly help you cross the road or point you in the right direction, but not actually bring you to where you wanna go before pulling you to their shop or their father’s shop or their brother’s wife’s nephew’s friend’s shop. I think my mum and I have been pulled into these kind of shops about 3 times in 2 days. I must say though, they are extremely hospitable by nature. Not that it’s always about the sales. But because of all the ripping off that goes about, tourists aren’t brave enough to trust them, which is the sad part about this awesome country. Prices they quote you are about 10 times more than what the goods are worth. However, I did get a couple of free perfume bottles because the guy was really nice. I think we were supposed to tip him or at least return the favour by buying something, but I’m thick skinned enough to not fall into this social pressure and just accept the gift without reciprocating. Well, I did let the guy kiss my hands and cheeks like 200 times though.

3) There’re LOADS of funny animals in Egypt! I got to ride a camel (yes, it was quite pricey, $14 for 10minutes of ass wobbling walking) But it was SO fun. I would do it again without hesitation. I would even take the camel around the pyramids if I could!! It was that fun. Because camels are SO tall, you really get a different view of everything around you. I also got to hold a 6 month old baby crocodile! What’s more, I got to put it on my head!! Well, the guy put it on my head. But how cool is that??? And there were adorable kittens an puppies all over. I haven’t seen strays is ages, both in Singapore and in Brisbane. Sad that these little guys were a little scrawny and mangly though.

4) Walking around Cairo or the suburbs of Cairo itself can be exciting on it’s own cos you never know when you may die. Nah I’m kidding. It’s just really different to see confusing alleys, bad sewage and flies in hordes of 100 million at a time.

And of course Egyptian history is fascinating. =)