Avenue Q - London

Avenue Q - Lucy The Slut- Special

Avenue Q London - Day Out

Avenue Q - It Sucks To Be Me

Last night, i caught Avenue O at the neil coward theatre with winston! it completely blew me away! the jokes, the satire on taboo issues like homosexuality, unemployment, sex and internet porn sent everyone in the audience laughing through the show! it was amazing the way the puppeteers brought the muppets to life! the muppets were so much a part of them i almost felt like the puppeteers didn't exist and the muppets were the ones doing the singing and acting! found some clips on youtube!

moving on...

I haven't gotten used to the time that i have now on my hands! haha! well, actually i haven't been that free.. i've been searching and viewing houses in a frenzy for next year! but i've been rewarded, together with the help of phyllis and huijie, i finally found a house where we'd all like! tomorrow we'll be signing the agreement and putting down the deposit! shall try to polish my cantonese and to ask for more perks! haha! i tried talking to the landlady in cantonese yesterday and i must say, i'm slightly surprised that i managed it pretty well for an amateur like myself! must be the hk drama i've been watching recently! been trying to read as well but i feel so tired everytime i try... hmm.. that's a lousy excuse! i'll have to force myself! been trying to get into an exercise regime but it's always 'oh i'll do it tomorrow' and that tomorrow just leads on to the next and the next and never materialises! haha! lazy me! at least i played squash with xiufang yesterday! and guess what, we didn't even run that much and our muscles were already complaining. yes, that's how unfit we are! haha! i packed some of my stuff today and i was quite happy to see almost all my clothes fitting into my humongous luggage! haha! makes packing a lot easier! so i'm not left with much to pack! the only thing is transferring my stuff to my storage place.. will enlist the help of winston or something! excited to move!!! excited to get home!!! and i'm so near to going home!!! finally!! haha!

I'm Done!!! Hello Home!!!

weehee!!! the wild taste of freedom! seriously for the last 2 months, i must say, i have been languishing in pain, studying everyday and feeling like it will never end. there were times where i just wanted a break and do stuff without exams nagging at the back of my mind and finally, yesterday, at 1730, i was free.
this feeling of being liberated to do anything i want is mind blowing, though i haven't had the chance to fully have a taste of it. mind blowing because you've been trapped in this cycle for so long, caught up in a system of studying, forcing yourself to study because you didn't want to do too badly, telling yourself it's good to study, giving yourself momentary breaks which were mostly a way to distract yourself for a while so that you can come back and study even more, and finally, on the last day, at the last second, you are free, free to do anything you want, free to have fun with no commitments and obligations. wow. but i did enjoy the process of lamenting the fact that everyone else was done and i still had 2 freaking papers and then studying... it was a feat!!! i think the entire process was a feat! that i hung in there till this point and did what i could to not let myself down! and to have such self control over myself despite the many distractions i faced! and i can boast that i did two 3-hr essay papers on my last day. Let me tell you how bad it was, by the end of the papers, i had two blisters on my fingers and my hand felt sore, almost as if it was about to fall off. but. but. but! i'm done! the final point of this year.
i'll have to do some reflecting on this year since yesterday marked the end of the academic year for me. i must say i really did do some work here! it was not all rosy here all the time, but i survived and really learnt a lot! and now it's time to look forward to going home! on the 29th! 21 more days and hEllo HOME!!! all this time... and now i'm finally able to count down the days to home with all my heart!
and now, the greater realities of life - laundry, yes, i have a mountain of laundry to settle cos i haven't been maintaining the upkeep of my personal hygiene since the start of exams, or was it the start of easter hols? haha!

Steve Jobs Stanford Commencement Speech 2005

puts things into perspective, doesn't it?

oggling at scrumptious guys..

takeshi kaneshiro

daniel wu yan zu

he jun xiang

wu zun

it keeps me happy! looking at scrumpilicious guys!! and there are so many of them now!!
i'm just not happy that now i'm one of 'those' girls who go all girly and bimbotic over them...
but... yes, cute guys make my day..
oh, note the lips... sexy... i know which male physical attribute i'm attracted to the most! sexy scrumpilicious lips!!! mmm...

counting down..

3 more days to the final 2 papers..
25 more days to going home!

if you think about it, i've been here for ages! what's 25 days compared to how long i've been here! i'm a survivor!
pats myself on the back!

and i shall bury myself into all the texts i have to read today!!! 25 days 25 days 25 days!!! woohoo!!
home, wait for me!!! :)

I'm looking at my metal table lamp which has been lit the entire day...
been reading evolutionary psychology, which would have promised more fun if not for the fact that i have to study if for exams..
counting the number of bugs that fly into the lamp that's too hot for me to touch and singe themselves to death..
i wonder if you can stop them from flying into the lamp...
why do they, when the eventual outcome is death? and a horrible one at that..
the green bugs that colonise the ceiling above my bed are back, they seem to only appear when it's going to rain the next day..
and the roomie's still laughing hysterically over some japanese drama.. i don't understand how one can laugh so hard over shows.. but now i've met one.. sometimes it gets on my nerves but it all comes with sharing rooms.. and it's almost the end of it anyway.. i'm just thankful cos it could have been much worse..

still not ending...

exams are still dragging their feet towards the end.. so here i am at the study table while my roommate wraps herself up cosily in bed watching japanese serials on crunchyroll.. what would i do to be in her place at this moment now... this momentary freedom which is marked by 2 (no less) exams at the end of it all.

i can't study any longer. i need to go out and take a breather. to know that i'm free to do anything, anything at all, at no cost!
looking forward to the new year with new resolutions, new plans, new performances for SPL, new things to be done for fun and for passion.

of course before that comes along, i want to go home, meet up with friends, work, read, play, and maybe dance. no rhythm, no restrictions, no system, no boundaries... being able to take something on and letting it go. life's a full circle. you gain and you lose, as much as you wish to be on the winning end, there's always as much a possiblity of losing.

i want a dinner on the cable car too. but not expecting it anytime soon. haha! emancipation? i don't know.. i don't forsee myself getting involved anytime soon... it's jolly being single... and you get the perks of being in the search as you learn how to flirt again... no entanglements...


*meow*

i've been thinking...
i need to search for something that belongs to me... something that's original and belongs to me...

a niche that belongs to me...

it's not just about studying social policy, studying economics, studying stats and maths...

there's so much in this world that is left untouched and i want to find something that belongs to me...

a design, a template, a model, a creation

.me.

focusing..

i like the way i can focus really hard and get things done recently! i like the silence and calmness in my mind. it makes me feel powerful, like i can achieve anything i want.

and thanks to my roomie Phyllis who is always creating such a din while watching shows on her laptop, i've mastered the art of shutting distractions out when i want to and focus on whatever i am doing. haha! no, i'm not bitching about phyllis, this is all part of hall life with a roomie! and i'm thankful that it's phyllis and not some crazy club trotting angmoh.. and phyllis is great as a roomie!

ooh.. work on girl! it just goes to prove that i'm as good as any one else can be, but i have not fully harnessed my potential! but i'm working on it and i think i can see the light!

frustration

everyone's done with exams.
except me.

everyone's going home.
except me.

s.u.n.d.a.y.s

Sunday is an important day of the week.

Sunday back at home meant tv with dad in the morning, big often greasy hearty brunches with mom and dad, dating in the afternoon, going back home late and getting reprimanded for almost missing dinner in the evening.

Sunday in London means reading texts, watching the bright blue sky with blindingly white clouds outside my window, wondering if i should have Sunday roast, fussing about groceries for the coming week, listening to Five for Fighting with a contented smile on my face, wondering what the coming week will bring me, contemplating life, attempting to swim in my bed, biting imaginary marshmallows in the air, yakking away with Phyllis, missing the tv mornings with dad, missing the joy that the big often greasy hearty brunches with mom and dad brings, missing the feeling of giving my heart to my date in the afternoon, missing the amusement and slight irritation i get from seeing my mom's angry face when i get home late.

I like Sundays back home and Sundays in London.
but for now, i can't wait for tv with dad in the morning and the big often greasy hearty brunches with mom and dad!!!!

I'll be home soon! Sundays back at home! here i come! :)

one year ago...

ONE year ago, i was going through the process of admitting myself into NTU business, making resolutions to mug till my ass falls off.

ONE year on, i'm in london mugging for the once-a-year exams. and I'm studying in LSE, which apparently is a tough uni to get in. hmm.. i should really count my blessings. I'm not saying that it was easy for me to get into LSE, having faced many rejections for the more supposedly 'functional' courses, it's just that it seemed like i got into LSE by a stroke of luck or maybe because no other Singaporeans were competing with me for a place in Social Policy! Haha! but hello! i kinda like social policy! it's special, even if it may be irrelevant to Singapore but heck! i revel in the process of learning about the 3 worlds of welfare capitalism, about NHS, about education blar blar blar! and now, even if you were to give me a chance to switch to BSc Economics, i think i might just forgo it! :)

Shimmie thinks shimmie might get a 2:1 this year but Shimmie still has a shot at first... cos i still have 2 essay papers and half a unit to go! so work on shimmie! at least towards a 2:1! no, i'm not a grade obsessed freak, just that i do want to have a good end to a good year! maybe i still dont want it that badly (Shimmie always loses steam after a while, which is a weakness that she succumbs to all the time), but yes, i do want it. so steady girl! all the way!

Shimmie fears that shimmie might be the only Singaporean among all the Singaporean high-fliers, the scholarship holders, the muggers in LSE, to get a second. ok, my realistic aim is a 2:1 ok? my optimistic goal is a 1:1. hee!

rosie-posie!

Mom, don't squeal! i know you love flowers! haha! these are from hyde park! yup, really nice and brilliant! this is what spring is about! beautiful flowers all around, in full bloom! really lovely!

Life ain't a bed of roses.

the way down...

Shimmie misses the familiarity of things.
There's this sudden feel of loss and emptiness.
I need a lift.

and there are loads of bugs in my room!!!! spring woke them all up and they are flocking in droves to my room!! Ugh! i hate the job of collecting their lifeless bodies in the morning! and phyllis keeps telling me the story of how the queen of the bugs would come and seek revenge on people who mistreat the bodies of the bugs by laying and hatching eggs in the person's body, resulting in me having to gingerly pick the green mass of legs, wings and bodies with tissue, gently wrapping them up while saying a prayer to let their poor souls rest in peace.

there are just so many of them on the ceiling above my bed. and directly above where i place my head when i sleep!!! i'm going to have to switch positions tonight so that the bugs won't drop into my mouth when i sleep! UGH! one bad thing about spring. and apparently it just gets worst!

the bug count just rose to 20. damn.

pookies!

i feel like a pookie! with all the spikes and everything! i'm in a foul mood! stay away! growls!

but who wouldn't melt at the sight of such cutie-pie chocolate porcupines (pookies!) sitting in the basket waiting for someone to pick them up. i saw them at the market in Barcelona and they were simply irresistable! somehow i dont know what came over me but i DIDN'T buy any of them!!! Retard! kicks myself! bah! they're now sitting on my desktop, cheering me on!

thanks pookies! :)

the people of the trip!

Here are my travelmates, xiufang, jasmine and serene!
and yes, i'm staggering the upload of all the pictures. i'm only doing it when i feel like it so patience, guys... at least i'm uploading them now! :)