SHOPPING DAY!

O Levels started last week. The main papers will be this week and all the best to all my students.
After giving tuition to Peiyu at 9am and Tianyi at 1130am, i met up with fungie for shopping!

We first cabbed to Ken's store in Hougang (MR PRAWN) to eat prawn mee. I thought it was too sweet (added too much tomato sauce) and i think the main reason why business is not good is because they sell small prawns and emphasize on selling peeled small prawns, which means freshness is not there. Though they had big prawns, it's hiding in the fridge swimming cuz Ken thinks that not many people knows how to appreciate big prawns. but if you dont sell it, how do you know people dont know how to appreciate?

fungie thinks the soup is too bland. and i think it's out of place to add fish cake into prawn mee.

after that we cabbed down to chinatown to visit some tour agencies. cuz we want to go australia! but packages are so EXPENSIVE, range starting from $2000! oh mine oh mine! our initial destination was melbourne, not only was it expensive, but it was difficult to book!

i dunnoe it was the chilli or wad, but i was having tummy ache and diarrhoea. LS many times and fungie has to walk around herself. haha

then we decided to change destination to japan! 5days japan! it was slightly above $2k. next we tried to ask about perth. it was much cheaper but still, we prefer melbourne. so it guess no holidays for me this december! :(

Fungie said topshop is having sales. so we headed to city hall, got better. the mfss gang gave mi a gift card worth $70 and it's expiring soon. so i decided that i must buy something from topshop.

look here look there, and FINALLY! i saw a dress hiding in a small corner, i pick it up, MY SIZE! i tried. MY STYLE! simply love it!

it costs $129 but i dunnoe which idiot, while trying the dress, didnt unzip and it was slightly torn at the zip. so i requested the salesgirl to sew it for mi and it was very ugly. i requested them to help mi ask other branches, despite it was peak period. unfortunately, all has been sold out. but i really love the dress and THANKFULLY, the manager was there and he gave mi a 10% discount. so i paid $110+ for it. LOVES!

i think the salesgirl thinks im fussy, but i dun care. so exp leh! haha

Then we head to chijmes! it was so quiet during sunday! totally love the romantic feel. we decided to settle on Sun with Moon. they have this hokkaido special. yummy food, good ambience.

我在想什么呢？

then we walked over to aldo and fungie bought this nice hair clip. pretty right! long hair so good! how envious!

this is outdated but i bought this bag from funcdeko. thanks shijie for your discount card! lishan bought a bag too and i got the membership card too! cuz we spent above $100. haha. i love the vintage style it carries! :D (taken using my camera phone)

BEWARE! SCARY PICTURE BELOW!

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TADEH! AUNTY AND I DID MASKS! HAHA

很累。这一切到底几时才能结束？

唯我独尊

《寂寞的十七岁》

你是否还能清楚记得，17岁的你在做什么？

十七岁，在每个人的心中，都是青春的象征，和朋友的快乐生活、对一切事物的热情、对未來的憧憬，都是充滿着想像和希望。

17岁的我，结束了四年精彩的中学生涯，告別童年的最後時光，步入新的学习旅程碑。


新的环境、新的朋友、新的学习经验。

每天去学校上学，跟同学打打闹闹，满心期待趕赶快下课跟同学一起回家，假日/周末的时候和朋友一起看电影、或者是一起去唱卡拉OK，好好享受快乐的时光。

我想，我的17岁应该比书里的男主角幸福。

白先勇的《寂寞的十七岁》描写一位男同学，他非常非常的不喜欢读书，喜歡自由自在的生活，但是爸爸、妈妈却一直逼他要读书，常常被拿來跟兄弟比较，大哥在陸军官校考第一，保送美国；二哥在哥伦比亚读硕士。两个哥哥读书从来没考过第5名以外，就连最小的弟弟每年也都考第一。

以上的种种压力让他快喘不过气來，所以开始自甘堕落，喜欢说谎，在外面跟同学抽烟、翘课等。不想回到那个不温暖的家，因为家里面没有一个人会关心他，只会对他施加压力。更不想回到学校上课，同学会嘲笑他、排斥他，甚至还有人帮他取绰号，只因为他遗传到妈妈的白皮肤，所以长的很像女生。

在家闷得发慌，自己寄空信封给自己，假装是密友的来函；又打空电话，自己跟自瞎闹。他消磨了日月，脾气却越来越孤怪。他难得交上了魏伯颺这个关心他的朋友，却因同学嘲笑他们搞同性恋而疏远了。

「活着」反而失去了所有的实用性，他的17岁变得很寂寞。

其实岁月真的不流人，一年一年地过去了，一晃就已经22岁了。

想庆祝17生日，想得美咯！

A 40 year old aunty got 200 pieces of masks from me, so happy. Now i'm left with limited numbers of masks. She bought 150 collagen masks, which i do not have enough stock, so in the end, i bought another 100 pieces of masks just for her. And i spent 1 hour on the phone with her, and another 45 mins talking to her yesterday when we met in ang mo kio. she is a nice lady lah, very friendly and fun. hope she likes the masks :)

the current supplier is charging very high and frankly, i dont intend to continue selling anymore. cuz the profits arent high and it's really hard work.

but my aunty and uncle is damn passionate about it, i mean they have been helping with me alot of things. my aunty check all the transactions, stock check and wrap up the masks nicely and sent it to post office. my uncle surfs the net to check out for some cheaper deals and help me to do all the calculations.

their passion really touched me and haha sorry i have been so busy, so the only thing i did was to check and reply email. and pass it to my aunty to do the receipt and all.

since i managed to clear 1000 masks within 2 weeks, why not more right? still in the midst of liasing and hopefully by next week, i can get cheaper supplier and have the stocks ready.

creative juices has stopped flowing into my brain. with every week passed, it just seems to get more tiring and frustrated. well, this may not be the right place to write these down, but i dont care any longer. with every meeting being totally futile, with every ideas being discarded, with such strong conventional ideas instilled, it just seems like wild ideas arent allowed.

a person like me who loves fun, who loves a special way of doing something, now becomes someone who is very orderly and proper, who follows the rules but the requirement is to CHALLENGE OURSELVES and not doing the same thing. read the criteria carefully and think.

it's bothersome and kinda useless to fight for your beliefs anymore.

and it's really dreadful when someone is not even prepared for the role that they are in, especially it's a big role. although suggestions and ideas must be discussed, but it's wrong when one is seeking for opinion of something ON THE ACTUAL DAY which is supposed to be done by him/her or at least discussed earlier if there is any queries.

every meeting is a waste of time. totally.

never mind, continue to do things in your conventional way. we will just fail the whole module together. i wont comment on anything, i will just do what is being said. :)

alrights, i had an argument with michelle and i have been thinking about it for two days. i hope it won't spoil the mood of celebrating jie ying and lishan birthday and i know what i should do next time to prevent such things from happening.

so to michelle,

I'M SORRY!

我讨厌今天的自己
很讨厌

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANDREAS!

I had fun yesterday. After tuition, met Shu Wan and Shu Jing for project meeting and headed to Holistic Living Festival at Fort Canning Park. We initially want to film the event but the organiser expect us to pay $300 as deposit and follow what they require us to shoot, which is very stupid. so in the end, we just ended up taking some photos.

There are about 35 exhibition stalls, ranging from aroma theraphy, crystals, health food, reiki, tarot reading, feng shui, palmistry etc etc.

Shuwan and Shujing trying out the free hand flavour massage. Shuwan's one is chocolate flavour, which i think it stinks. Shujing's one is peach flavour which smells nicer. haha

essential oils...

Palm reading by Pat...

this is turkish bowl, it creates a calming sound.

reiki healing...

Then headed to pasir ris, omg its such a long journey, next time can they build it at amk or something.

but downtown east has renovated and it's so beautiful.

GIRL GUIDES RULES!
These are the juniors who has been with me through thick and thin and giving mi the best years in my life. :)

Xue Ying and May, i think their top look alike. haha

Peiwen, sorry i miss your birthday party that day. hehe

WE ARE FROM MFSS!

WE ARE THE GIRL GUIDES AND BOYS SCOUTS! why am i sitting down? because im their da jie da, the oldest among them all. LOL (thanks ar andreas! haha)

birthday girl...taken after 3rd attempt. alamk, why cant i seem to capture her with eyes open?

parents with her cutting the cake. then i realise that during my 21st birthday, i havent take any photos with my family at all.

That concludes my saturday. I love this gathering, i love the girls. many years and passed yet none of us changed. these girls are still as lovable as before. :)

a very SHAG week

i have changed a new skin again! cuz the previous one is very troublesome, wordings are small, cannot change it to a bigger font or it will go out of shape. and chinese words so small, machiam rice seeds like that.

This is a very shag week. I woke up at 6am for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday to go school for my final semester shooting project. And i slept at 3am on Monday and Tuesday to rush for a chinese literature report that has to be handed up on Wednesday.

By Thursday, i just don't feel like talking anymore.

Perhaps I work too fast sometimes, perhaps I am ganchiong by nature, but alot of times, i felt that some process can be speeded up by half. it always felt like a waste of time.

well, im just glad that this week has passed. erm no, i shouldnt. cuz it means that 1st week of october has gone and im left with about a month to exams. this semester felt so fast.

The issue between nanyang chronicle and chee soon juan was the highlight for this week. two mths ago, dr chee (the controversial opposition figure), together with several Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) leaders, came to NTU to distribute flyers and interact with the students. it was part of a tour by SDP to "raise political awareness”.

Student journalists from my school (the Chronicle and student-run news magazine programme, Nanyang Spectrum) did a converge on Dr Chee and the SDP members but their footage/article was in the end removed.

Well, of course, being the extra school with people of many many viewpoints, this lead to a big commotion, for instance putting a freedom of press banner in school and going to speaker's corner to make a speech.

i shall reserve my comments. what do you guys think?

masks is selling pretty okay, hitting to approx 500 masks now. i hope i can clear this batch asap.

i made a mistake yesterday. i miscalculated something when i was in a daze. i was browsing through a taiwan website where they are selling 100 masks for NT1530. blur blur me, 1am in the morning, tried to convert the money back to SGD and see how much it was. and i was so stupid enough to punch 1530 muliply by 0.02. by right, it should be 1530 multiply by 0.05 OR divide by 20, in the end i got both of them mix up and calculated to a sum of 30SGD, i was so happy that 100 masks costs 30 dollars, which means 1 mask only 30 cents (and if i sell it for 90 cents, i earn more!), so stupid me, go and purchase it straightaway.

so when i went to bed at 230am, i was still so happy that the masks are 30 cents. then i did a mental calculation, and i jump out of bed. not in a very clear state of mind, i went out to the living room, frantically looking for a calculator, and realise i calculated wrong just now! what the fuck.

so i called the uob call centre at 3am, ask them to stop transaction. but i knew it was useless la, cuz once u approve payment, i has already been deducted.at that moment, how i hope i left with 30 cents in my bank so that transaction has failed.

well, thank goodness i didnt go and buy 1000 masks man. anyway i dun have the money for that too. haha. i emailed the company la and they didnt reply. run away with my money!! :( haha

take it as a experience lor. anyway i brought a new coffee masks lor! 100 pieces! oh my goodness, im going to sell it all, if not i have 100 pieces and maybe u will smell my coffee face from now. LOL

i am actually very pissed with my student's mummy and the tuition assistant. the mother hired a secondary 4 girl to coach her daughter. but realising that she is not very capable, she engaged me as her main tutor. so our tuition timing is always saturday 1pm, and on days when i cannot make it, she will always try to arrange another day saying that the child's exams is coming.

btw, she is in primary school.

then in 1 week's time, she is gona have a final year exam. ok i shall trace back to what happen around 1 mth ago. she had a school test, she scored pretty good for maths and the highest for english, which makes mi very happy (cuz she always fail -_-). before her tests, her mother would arrange for mi to come twice a week instead of once a week. so i have been drilling real hard on her.

and where is the assistant tutor? busy with her own exams.

so after the test, our tuition timings become very irregular, like she would miss 1.5 weeks of lesson for some reasons. and the most angry thing is, the assistant tutor keep arranging tuition that crash with my timing!

originally her timing is supposed to be saturday 5pm. and i would come at 1pm. then she sms the mum saying that she needs to study, so can she come at 12pm. she offered a 3 hours lesson. good lor, 12pm to 3pm. purposely lor.

then the mother has been pushing back my timing, or either cancel it because of her. and to make things worse, sometimes she cancel it last minute, which means the child wont have any tuition at all, which is very bad cuz this girl cannot stop pushing.

i have made myself very clear that no one is suppose to touch my 1pm time slot to the child and the mother. but time and again, when i have confirmed the timing, the mother would call and ask if i can come later.

reason why? she claims all credit for the high marks in the eng and maths test.

how ridiculous is that? and her mother should know that the assistant teacher was busy preparing for her exams that she didnt appear for a good two weeks before her test and onli came once before the test.

so fine, now poor me somehow became the assistant tutor lor. it doesnt feel good especially when somebody who disappears for so long, just come and claim credits and offering more hours of tuition wins the case.

im not trying to use powers over anything but since i m the one whu has been helping ur child to pull up her results, shouldnt i get more respect instead of always changing timing that in the end affects my whole schedule.

and the mother now says: oh teacher maureen dont come on saturday, just come on wednesday can already.

fuck.

im willing to give one more lesson on wednesday, doesnt mean that im always free. and in actual fact, i always take a cab down from ntu, which is totally "i am not earning already",

its okay, after this week, i just let the responsible tuition assistant do her wonderful teaching job and help the kid score A. GREAT, I will have more free time.

plese dont come and look for mi if you have a assistant tutor whu dun have her own assessment and uses all my school papers, who disappears for a good two weeks before the student test and then come back to claim credits.

no matter how high u give mi, i have my pride.

this is so not ethical! morally wrong! grrr

tml i will be going to holistic living festival at fort canning! so excited can! its a bi annual event and i will get to meet many many famous new age masters (tarot readers, crystal healing etc) there and get to try new stuffs at discounted price!

then i will be attending andreas's 21st birthday party at coasta sands. omg so far... but andreas, i give u face ok, my guides junior! haha

sunday i can sleep later and dun nid to complain to nick sir every sunday about waking up earli for tuition. LOL.

at night im going over to CA house for a mini family gathering.

all the emotions will appear whenever i am there. only my family is going to the once so familiar house, meeting a person who was once so familiar but now only meet twice a year. and meeting the maid whu has seen us grow from a kid, who still rememebers everything abt mi, and always bring extra chilli for mi to take home, and the benovelent mother...

面对还是有困难。

most importantly, im sure they are gona ask mi to help wen hao. which makes mi in a super difficult position. i have already stated clearly that im no longer working there and i cant be of much help.

起初已劝你谨慎，可是你一直很有信心保证一切一定成功。就因为知道你失败了很多次才给你忠告，why wont u learn from mistakes? 生意不好时，才来说那时每看清楚。我不是神，我不能呼来钟琴，也请你别一直抱着我能救你的那种梦了好吗？生意是要经营，不是一步登天的。而且你刚开始营业，难道你以为一个月内就能赚10千块？出来社会工作那么久，难道你不知道你的需要预备至少6个月的租金及准备前6个月会亏钱？世上没有一炮打响的品牌，所以请不要再给我压力。

speaking about wen hao, reminds me of fungie. sorry babe, i havent got time to accompany you to go look at tour packages, but i promise i will meet up with u soon yea?

and fungie say she is browsing clothes for xmas, perhaps its time for mi to do it too!

xmas is lonely without a bf, but its okie, i have a best friend :)

oh nick sir was sick the past few days. please take care.

ok fine, i have grumbled and whined and done everything. and lastly, this is dedicated to my lovely evelyn:

be strong, i am here. :)
*hugs* please take care of urself, i dont want to lose somebody so dear to me.

SUPERBAND 2008

SUPERBAND 2008 ended in a blast yesterday. Thank you Shigong for bringing me along, it was a fun experience! :)

We are the supporters of "Big Wing Blow". They are a talented group of teachers and studetns from Lee Wei Song School of Music, everyone of them sang and play so well.

Shigong's colleague (pretty ex air stewardess which i can't catch her name) and her husband Mark.

whee! we are seated at a very good spot!

These are the four groups that got into finals: da feng chui, san yue, yi shi jie and tu zi.

And the hosts for the night: peifen and zhen rong. arent they handsome and pretty?

Last year champion: milo bing. i like them! :D

GOH: BEYOND! (i remember hearing their songs when i was young, perhaps in the 1990s. but when i told shuwan about it, she said beyond doesnt belong to our generation. aiya nvm la. they are good)

MAYDAY! Although i am not a mayday fan, but i got pretty excited when they came out. haha

Personally, i felt that the standard for superband this year is so much lousier than last year, which explains why i never follow the show at all.

Yi Shi Jie just looks different, japnese style which many cannot accept la. and their main singer isnt as strong as other groups.

at first i thought san yue is pretty good, considering that some of them are pub performers and the singer is not bad. (but alvin says that the drummer has lousy attitude)

da feng chui didnt leave a deep impression on mi till i read that they are a bunch of teachers/students from lee wei song school of music.

and i like the dressing of tu zi and their style of music is very different, althou most of the time the singer has problem pronouncing proper mandarin (it goes the same for singing) and we would often laugh at them. and heard from rj the black face drummer is from CS. aiyo im shock by that news but aint surprise. she got the dao look which fits into the cs category. lol

well, its unfortunate that da feng chui never win, but it doesnt matter, i know they are much better than tu zi.

XIAO HEI IS BACK!

Just when Im enjoying my life, i heard a 惊天动地 news!

XIAO HEI IS COMING!

HE IS COMING TO STAY FOR ANOTHER GOOD 3 MONTHS!

Thank goodness, he is coming in mid November, which means MY EXAM PERIOD.

And he is going to be here for Xmas.

And his granny will tag along, who likes to bang the door so loudly.

And im going to eat the same food for 3 months.

NIGHTMARE NIGHTMARE!

I better find some activities so that i wont be home that often. but well, i guess i will be filming my FYP then.

Celebrating Xiaoling's bday tml! whee!

And shigong is bringing mi to watch the superband finals this sunday! whee!

"《倾城之恋》是张爱玲最脍炙人口的短篇小说之一。

　　故事发生在香港，上海来的白家小姐白流苏，经历了一次失败的婚姻，身无分文，在亲戚间备受冷嘲热讽，看尽世态炎凉。偶然认识了多金潇洒的单身汉范柳原，便拿自己当做赌注，远赴香江，博取范柳原的爱情，要争取一个合法的婚姻地位。两个情场高手斗法的场地在浅水湾饭店，原本白流苏似是博输了，但在范柳原即将离开香港时，日军开始轰炸浅水湾，范柳原折回保护白流苏，在生死交关时，两人才得以真心相见，许下天长地久的诺言。"

Happy Children's Day

WOO! There goes the end of our term break. And what awaits us, is more assignments and more projects and finally to exams. Though the semester is very short, but it does seem very long. Perhaps it's just too torturous.

I guess I have rested long enough and it's time to study. Mid term exam results aren't satisfatory. If i don't intend to retake this module and stay for one more year, i have to buck up. (I just can't imagine how some people can score full marks man.)

I have officially ended my tuition with my N level girl. Good Luck Sharlene, im sure you will do well...:)

This Sunday, I will officially end my tuition with my PSLE and Secondary 3 students. Today is Children's Day. But i got all of them back for tuition. Well, take it as a last gathering, take it as a last confidence boost, i treated them to yummy pizzas from Pizza Hut.

And it's really touching when one of the PSLE's student's daddy actually gave me a big hongbao for thanking me these 2 years. Although she has been constantly failing (-_-") and constantly scolded by me for losing her hwk, threw her rubbish hwk on the floor, slapping her for all wrong ans and ridiculous words she mispronounced, ok... i lost my train of thoughts...opz, i think i m a fierce and violent teacher.

but well, despite many many many of these, i didnt give up on her. and i guess, that's what the parent is most grateful about, for not giving up on her. through the years, i have been giving her extra coachings, extra lessons, extra work, more than anyone else.

come to think of it, they are the 1st kids i met when i joined renena 3 years ago, and throughout the years, i see them grow as a kid. slowly picking up sentence by sentence...from not knowing a single chinese words, to reading it and slowly learning them all... i thank them for not giving up on themselves too.

gosh, suddenly i felt that i have grew old and i will miss these kids? -sour feeling- how come i feel like crying! grrrr

but well, 人无不散之宴席.

good luck rebecca, chancen, peizhen... all the best for your future endeavours. :)

ok lah, i will still see them this sunday, so i will save the tears till then. perhaps i will give each of them a card or a book mark.

他们也可能是我最后一批的学生了... =(

well, after this sunday, things will be much lighter. i will only be left with O levels students! which are easy to handle.

got to handle my exams liao -wipe tears away-

ok, i think this is a emo post.

last week, aunty brought me in to uncle's room, and show me a poster, and she said to me: "read this when you are free."

so today, i creep into uncle's room, read it and felt sour all over again. it's really touching and let me share with all of u.

it just takes a few minutes to read. :)

当我老了，不再是原来的我。
请理解我，对我有一点耐心。

当我把菜汤洒到自己衣服上时，当我忘记怎样系鞋带时，
请想一想当初我是如何手把手地教你。

当我一遍又一遍地重复你早已听腻的话语，
请耐心地听我说，不要打断我。
你小的时候，我不得不重复那个讲过千百遍的故事，直到你进入梦乡。

当我需要你帮我洗澡时，
请不要责备我。
还记得小时候我千方百计哄你洗澡的情形吗？

当我对新科技和新事物不知所措时，
请不要嘲笑我。
想一想当初我怎样耐心地回答你的每一个“为什么”。

当我由于双腿疲劳而无法行走时，
请伸出你年轻有力的手搀扶我。
就像你小时候学习走路时，我扶你那样。

当我忽然忘记我们谈话的主题，
请给我一些时间让我回想。
其实对我来说，谈论什么并不重要，只要你能在一旁听我说，我就很满足。

当你看着老去的我，
请不要悲伤。理解我，支持我，就像你刚开始学习如何生活时我对你那样。
当初我引导你走上人生路，如今请陪伴我走完最后的路。
给我你的爱和耐心，我会报以感激的微笑，这微笑中凝结着我对你无限的爱。

yes, suddenly, i felt people around me have aged. and one day, i will be like them.
pardon me for my temper,
pardon me for my nonsense,
pardon me for not understanding,
i love all of u :)

i think i must constantly read this poster to remind myself to treasure my family more.

ok on a happy note, i was sick on monday, yet i still met nick sir for dinner that day. hehe. dinner was at mahabatten fish market, which i felt is much better than fish n co bah, thou i dont really have appetitide.

clarke quay is lovely at night :)

then we walk to fullerton and sneak in to take a rest. i just love this place. if only i cant work there next time...!


this was after the 2nd attempt. 1st was when he opened his mouth, and now his blury eyes....-_- doesnt he look like some lao da?


Thank you for bringing me to many many many yummy makan places...From sketches, to ayam penyet, to nydc, to ramen, to fried fish etc etc...and many more to come :)

oh by the way,

i have set up a online mini blog store selling masks from taiwan. if u go sasa and buy, its gona be $2.50. if u buy from other spree-ers, its gona be 90 cents. but im elling 80 cents this time round! so intro to all ur friends k! im sure girls and guys need their faces to be pretty and yandao right! haha

this is actually done by lishan and me. but she is too busy.
and pardon me if i reply late, cuz im doing this all alone! it takes time!

click here!

promote hur!

and and and! who has not been visiting my food blog hur! smack!

I WANT TO EAT!

oh btw, happy 21st birthday peiwen! hope u had fun!

we are gona celebrate xiaoling's birthday this sat! WHEE!! its the mfss gathering again! we are such a big group, i think one day, the madas are gona ask us for IC lor. hehe

Happy Children's Day to all! :)