..:: 590. The One With Year-End Summex ::..

So much have happened in the month of dec and i did not have time to update my blog. shall do a fast recollection.

30Nov - 5Dec

went to vietnam with my Nanyang Business School mates. signed up the trip knowing only 2 people in the group. i had so much fun that was beyond words. the morning parts where we spent visiting companies were fulfilling and the hanging out at night just topped the whole trip. the last night at ho chi minh city was the ultimate. we played quite a few games, getting to know each other really well. i'm glad i stayed up till 4am and went crazy, just that booze was missing!

mui ne was alright i guess, i felt the company and cam-whoring were more important than the places we visited. probably it was the hot weather and the only thing to see was the sand dunes. the exciting episode of the stolen slippers and the ultimate sabo where i had to dance on the bus for a forfeit during a game which led to my downfall.

when we reached the vietnam national university for a cultural exchange, the students there prepared a lot of performances for us while we had none. so i was at that instance, the representative for our school for a performance. my mind went blank when i heard my name. lucky they had the song sexyback by justin timberlake, if not i would be dancing to some folk songs.

i guess the dance clip can be found in youtube. thanks to steph leong. -_-. i felt like an animal in the zoo, while i was performing, all the cameras were recording and flashing... i think i hadnt done hip hop for very long, once i got down on the floor to do floor works, i couldnt get up in time so i had to dance on the floor for a while. but hey, all of them didnt spot it =)

next event i guess would be my VI Camp

i must say i always look forward to VI Camp. Firstly, it was the time i get to interact with youths and i am excited to share my experiences and see how i can help in developing their leadership.

the next great thing was that we had a great team. small but mighty, everyone had something to offer. i was impressed by the junior mentors, i missed those times where you get close to the trainees and you get to hang out and know them better. but when you are asst chief trainer, you will feel that gap.

oh... talking about being mentors, i am kinda excited cos i am in for the next batch again! but this time, the level has just gone up. AYO becomes the mentors. LOL. I am back to my mentoring days.

seeing what the trainees went through reminded me of the old days. nothing is new, the sleep deprivation that resulted from poor time management, the injury-prone exercises that were meant to stretch you mentally and physically. the old ones will always tell you that they had them worse. i was quite shocked to see 23 trainees had to struggle to carry 1 casualty. that made me reflect on the issue of safety vs reality training. during our time we had to carry our bags and at the same time evacuate casualties, there was no such thing as 'bag party'. times had changed. i still remember those days, we screamed our lungs out pushing one another. yelling (in good will) to push and encourage one another. even doing cheers to get our timing in sync to carry the casualties.

all in all, i think the camp went really well. the pace started slow and unpleasant but picked up when we decided to change our strategy. it was heartening to receive feedback from trainees so that we can improve our conduct of the programme. sadly, there were some who were not interested to give any comment. Given the benefit of doubt, i believe they had more important things to do like work and study.

i was thought to be sarcastic at times. well, i dont deny it. i could have tell some of them straight in the face, change this and that. in reality and in the working life, you can be the one who dont use them (sarcasm and criticism) but you can never avoid them. i have learnt to go around them in the hard way. when i say something, i always try to make it a point to deal with the matter rather than the person.

there was of course a lot of drama going on, but i feel that we should not take things too personally. there are many times where you are too angry that you let the emotions do all the talking or writing. that is when things just get worse. communication - talking things over calmly really helps. Putting across your message tactfully in writing or speech is equally important.

was reading through some of the blogs and i realised there were so much fun going on behind the scenes. mizael and i started this noose trend and seemed like it has created some stir.

blogging is a personal thing. you can write whatever you want in an open diary knowing that a lot of people will read. however, i do advocate blogging responsibly. yes, you can write to spite or diss someone but with some level of control, decency and maturity. especially if you are going 21, becoming an officer or what not, what you write reflects on you.

ha. so whats the point of blogging if you cant be yourself huh? i guess those password protected entries would come in handy.

VI Retreat

this year was my first time attending the retreat. had a great time with my batch mates and i was happy to see all of the trainees passing out and enjoying themselves. i think that is one of the most important part of being a VI, the friendships you made. I just enjoyed the times we sit down and play games with the juniors, getting to know them and hope we can exchange advice. I was quite amazed by my batch mates and some of the juniors who still managed to win the captain ball game without sleep the night before. we totally rocked. ha.

Results

on the sun night, i had to do fyp conference on the phone. my other half of my mind was thinking about the results that were going to be released at the stroke of midnight. all was well =) couple of As and Bs which i was happy with given the tremendous workload. Looking forward to my last semester with all my favourite modules.

happy for my friend who recently got a job =) now a civil servant like myself.

i will definitely miss schooling and my friends. i also cant wait to start work, earning my first official pay check. meanwhile i still wish to travel to bangkok and then india for my graduation trip.

every year it is compulsory to have new year resolution right?

-Get 2nd upper honours
-Get back IPPT (G)
-More involved in Red Cross
-Go for lasik
-Get PSP (deep red)
-Travel to Bangkok and India

..:: 589. The One With End of Exams ::..

blink of an eye, my exams are over. ab311 was definitely a killer which stunned many of us. didnt even ask about porter's forces which most of us took pains to discuss and memorise.

hp204 was relatively easier except that 5m question that asked about the characteristics of people who self-actualize. i mean, come on. what kind of question is that? Most stuff I studied came out, hope i can smell an A for that paper...

hp310 - positive psychology, one of my fearful paper, known for its unpredictability, turned out to be fine. i did research the day before the paper and was pleasantly surprised i made use of my research. if i havent done that research, i guess i might just flunk the paper so the lecture notes were definitely not enough. i could do much better if i had started earlier though, researching on the berlin model of wisdom and optimism in asians. this module i am also looking for an A after my 10-page mid term thesis turned out well, scoring quite a high 80.

the most frustrating paper have to say its aa102-accounting II. spent quite some time studying and practising the questions. made a few careless mistakes. especially the simple 12 mark question. i could have knock myself on the wall. 8m question, i remember i need to do some profitability analysis and i think due to the time pressure, i skipped it and forgot about it. haiz. hope my coursework can save me, but apparently a lot of groups got A- for their projects... :(

timetable for next sem is out and i have already planned what i wanna take. so happy i got a lot of afternoon papers and afternoon classes.

BH225 - HR Research
BH227- Selection and Assessment
BH326- HR Metrics
HP203- Social Psychology

last one i am still choosing between interesting (BH331-Cultural intelligence at work) or useful (BH324-Employment law)...

someone enlighten me ...

today had dinner at the coffeeshop and witnessed a fight. the guy who was sitting behind me was challenged by a group of teenagers. As he picked up a fork and headed towards them, someone came from behind him and used a glass bottle and smashed his head. the bottle shattered and he was bleeding. i dunno what he was thinking, probably he was drunk, he went to chase the group knowing he was outnumbered. he later retreated and the group chased him and he landed on the floor. one used a chair to whack him and the chair broke. they kicked him and fled after a while.

the drunkard then went back to his table and with his bloody hands, he 'stamped' his palm prints on the tables, and i dunno for what. he was so rowdy and i cant believe i could still eat with him behind me. come to think i was so worried that they might throw a chair at him and hit me instead.

so much drama, the police was fencing behind me and at that time i felt like taking a picture. lol.

..:: 588. The one With Exam ::..

the time of the year has come again. this time i am unusually nervous, especially after one semester of no exams, i am scared that i lost the flair in writing essays. this sem i am taking accounting module which i totally abhor and i need to take time to practise.

the other 3 papers are all essay-based. one of which is not my major, a level 3 positive psychology. no textbook, just as many journals you can read. though its open book but the prof warned us we wont have time to flip. it would be like 20 mini essays and questions that she will be asking would be 'what are the cognitive processes in positive emotions?'

o_O

Here goes my exam timetable. so stressed out. 2 days apart. and i just started studying... shall not lament that i have more modules to study than the rest.

14 Nov - 0900 - AB311: Strategic Management
17 Nov - 0900 - HP204: Personality and Individual Differences
19 Nov - 0900 - HP310: Positive Psychology (Open book)
21 Nov - 1430 - AA102: Accounting II

back to mugging...

..:: 587. The One With SMRT Challenge ::..

Sat i had hrc orientation for the yr 2s. enjoyed myself. having to know quite a few yr 2s. sentosa sun didnt disappoint us. ibiza the tri-uni beach event was not as grand as i have expected. maybe i am comparing with surf sweat which opened up to the public. this was a smaller affair involving the 3 universities business school. not sure whether it is difficult to get pple from SIM to be in the committee thats why they were not included.

daniel ong was the MC and he was damn good. cracked us up with his 'dirty' jokes. all the banana, nutella...

Sun exciting day for me and my team mates. woke up damn early to reach toa payoh hub at 8am. donned on the number tag, went to take a grp pic and we began to solve codes to lead us to the next station. we managed to solve that we will be travelling from khatib to bukit batok.

when the whistle went off, it was a mad dash to the train station. some fell as the floor was slippery. lol. comical sight, wanna snap pics but no time.

at khatib, everyone just ran towards the table to grab the clue to solve for the next 3 stations. we were quite fast cos we formed ally with another team and we had to head to sembawang.

once we are out the station, everyone sprinted like never before to the bus interchange for a game. we cant run in the train station cos we will get demerit points. but all hell broke loose at the bus interchange. there was this parked bus where each time only 3 people can go up. they tied raffia strings to form obstacles and we were supposed to send one rep to go thru it and jot down the messages beside each safety item on the bus.

then next stop was to woodlands. once there we were supposed to locate safety signs in the platform and their messages. it was easy as we just see groups of people copying stuff on a pillar. we just followed.

then it was to kranji. we had to watch a video with footage from the mrt. our task was to spot 5 unsafe acts in the video. the challenging thing was we had 2 screens, each screen with 6 footage playing at the same time.

then we went to gombak and we had to do some fishing for some clues which was super UNchallenging.

the last station to go was actually by chance. we received hints that yew tee might be one but my fren went and said they could not find anything. so we tried bukit batok and cck to no avail. then we formulated a strategy. we managed to locate yishun and to our delight, they had a station. if yishun was not, we will be screwed cos that left us with yew tee which was 30 mins away.
we had to do some obstacle course and board a cab and tell the taxi driver the 3 safety rules when taking a cab. i wondered whether the driver understood what we were saying.

after yishun, we were excited to run back to toa payoh. however in the train we were thinking 'ok, i guess we shld be in top ten'. sad that we went to 2 wrong stations. at the finishing line, we saw one team in front of us at the counter. while waiting, one of the guy turned back and told me, 'hey u guys are second'.

my eyeballs enlarged. lol. what?

that got us excited for a few mins that we forgot to say 'smrt challenge'. we were so close though. we then went to collect our goodie bags and found that the first team was also from NTU. they were CAC camp mates while we were GIP mates.

the prize presentation was quite an agonizing wait. they gave out 10 prizes for the children art competitions which had 3 categories. but when it was our turn to go up, it felt great. taking the big styrofoam fake cheque was my first. now it is in my hall as deco item. we also received a small trophy. nice.

http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=150280&id=763130230&ref=mf

..:: 586. The One With Hectic ::..

first heave a sigh of relief. finally handed over to a new committee, load off my shoulders. but other stuff seems to be piling up.

been sleeping around 4am these days, rushing tutorials and projects. i guess i really cant play too much moo-moo (warcraft). I am staring at my schedules for the different modules and all of them seem to scream 'I'm coming'...

my laptop crashed due to my itchy finger to force it to shut down while it is updating window service pack, all thanks to the excitement of playing moo-moo. Now rushing for a presentation of internet articles... saw other group post their slides up and here we are: undone. screwed.

I feel like i am playing a losing table tennis game. I need to get back the lead... now i am feeling the lack of control of my time and having the modules the next day dictate what i should be doing.

finally just some thoughts about the olympics.

i never feel so empty before. now i have to resort to watching crappy ch 5 shows... and currently playing S-league. gulps.

the closing ceremony was average. leona lewis would be better off singing her own song. where is stefanie sun? i didnt get to see her though. interesting how mr. hu said 'one world, one dream' in english and the few words he uttered subsequently were incomprehensible.

poor huo liang and zhou luxin lost their gold in diving. =( but am happy that he chong got his.

COMEX this thur! so tempted to skip class to be the first few in the exhibition hall.

oh, the singapore table tennis saga. what's that hype about not renewing the manager's contract? why mention it before the celebration? new management, eager to appease the public? right the wrong? or is it doing more wrong? I hope we dont lose a good coach in the process. Affects the players' morale as well. haiz. should think of the bigger picture.

The Chinese national anthem has been ringing in my head. I even know how to sing it. lol.

起来！
不愿做奴隶的人们！
把我们的血肉，
筑成我们新的长城！
中华民族到了最危险的时候，
每个人被迫着发出最后的吼声。
起来！起来！起来！
我们万众一心，
冒着敌人的炮火，前进！
冒着敌人的炮火，前进！
前进！前进！进！

..:: 585. The One With Bronze Medal ::..

well, unexpectedly, li jia wei has to play against guo yue. tough match i guess. hope jia wei can really win the bronze =)

wang nan own her match owing to her experience. guo yue's quick momentum didnt distract her as much and towards the last 2 games, she was owning.

..:: 584. The One With So Close ::..

gosh. feng tianwei was so close. she really stretched the no.1 zhang yining in 4-2 (13:11 12:14 14:12 12:10 13:11). i hope the media would give her some encouragement. She didnt lose any set with a single digit point. I really admire her fighting spirit and tenacity. hope someone can do a wallpaper of her and i can download and put on my phone lol.

li jiawei is damn lucky to first scrape through to the semi-finals, having the USA player eliminating her rival Kim from Korea who took bronze at Athens. Secondly, Li managed to win the USA player 4-1. Now she faces Zhang Yining which will be tough to win. Li has never won Zhang in all her encounters. As such, Feng is the only Singaporean player who has beaten Zhang and in the history of table tennis, she will be remembered for breaking the unbeaten record of Zhang. So how Li fares against Zhang will be measured with Feng. Hope she can upset Zhang and secure another medal for Singapore.

Wang Nan (5th) VS Guo Yue (2nd)
If Li ever has to play against them, i am unsure who will be the easier opponent. Li has beaten both of them before but Wang Nan though seeded 5th has more experience.

There was another controversy of lack of coach support for the men single event. Poor Gao Ning had to play without the coach's supervision and went down 0-4 to croatia while Yang Zi defeated 7th seeded Chinese Taipei player. I can imagine after waiting for 4 yrs having to play an impt match without your coach and lose the match.... how depressing...

i think its due time we should recognize the men table tennis players as well.

..:: 583. The One With Gym ::..

been hooked on watching gymnastics finals. love to see the vault event where gymnasts flip and land. for the guys, i love the high bar, ring and floor. china male gymnasts darn good. my current idol is chen yibing. zou kai, 20yo is the new kid on the block who won gold in floor and high bar. he is also the first chinese to win gold in high bar. yang wei was all-round gold but i guess he will retire after this olympics. my fren jo was drooling over the jap gymnast, oh well.

for the female, i love the 'meaty' shawn johnson, power-packed american. the chinese didnt really leave deep impression. i like the beam event for the girls and the uneven bars.

oh liu xiang didnt manage to compete have drawn criticism and sympathy. poor thing.

wonder how the paddlers fare in the women singles table tennis...

i joined the dancesport academy and today had a taste of cha-cha, rumba... cant wait for the class to start next week =) made new frenz.

..: 582. The One With Mad About English ::..

went to watch the show with my GIP friends. initially i thought watching such a show is like watching money no enough 2 on a weekend price was not very worth it.

looking at the trailer, it is easy to think that the movie is actually poking fun at the Chinese people's inability to converse in English and also showing signboards full of spelling and grammar errors.

Some scenes are painful to watch, especially the ones with the taxi driver trying very hard to communicate with the foreigners. He could not deal with questions like 'What can we buy at the Silk Market?' or 'What else is there other than the Silk Market?'. Though he had received formal training from the company and also informal ones from the radio, he could only master the basic greetings but unable to hold a decent conversation.

After watching the movie, the olympics 2008 is not just another international sporting event. I feel that it is like a revival for the 10-yr cultural revolution, the whole nation has the common mission to show the world to watch out for them. You can see how relentless they are in their spirit to overcome obstacles and stigma, work together in tandem so that they can communicate with the foreigners.

The film features a few characters, a taxi driver, a physician, a young girl sent for english training camp, an 'angmo' as the grammar cop, a funny policeman, a english camp instructor/trainer, an interesting old man.

The Olympics is not just about the athletes. The old man who is 64 years old in 2001 where Beijing got the bid to host the olympics, his first thought was to learn English. He wanted to be part of this Olympic experience and to him is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. He became a volunteer to assist in guiding the foreigners through the tourist attractions.

The film has portrayed an important message that learning has no age barriers. Through collective spirit, will and determination, they are motivated to master the language and show the world that impossible is nothing. just like the opening ceremony has proven, watch out for china. One of the speakers mentioned, to learn english, you must forget about losing face. when others see you try to communicate with them in their language (english), they will respect you rather than humiliate you.

I kinda like one of the trainers mentioned, "We learn English not because we look up to the foreigners, We learn English because we pity them not being able to pick up Chinese and understand us."

How effective is learning English from a recommended text and yelling phrases? I am not sure though.

The director of the film is a local Singaporean who was an award-winning journalist and the first Singaporean anchor to be hired by CNN. Her original name was Pek Siok Lian before she changed it to Pek Lian.

I am inspired by the Chinese to learn English. I met up with my exchange friend from Denmark and Mexico and they told me Spanish and Russian are the languages to learn. mmm... NTU allow me to overload pls.

..:: 581. The One With Medal ::..

YEAH i was sitting at the edge of my seat, didnt want to watch the show cos the last 2 games i watched, singapore didnt win.

finally. i thought feng tianwei was the star of today's game and it will be remembered in the history of singapore. 150808.

though jiawei tried her best, i felt it was quite disappointing. cos if she had won, the game would have ended at the doubles. then when yuegu went down 3-0, i though history would repeat itself. so pessimistic my fren called me a traitor. lol.

korea played really well in defence. seeing that PARK player in tears after losing the last set to FENG was sweet. lol. At times, the rally was long and painful. FENG was really calm and know how to play the patience game which i felt if the coach had fielded jiawei, she might not have performed as well as FENG. jiawei i thought was more of the gan-jiong spider, she dont play well with korean players but she is good at being aggressive towards chinese players.

applaud the coach's wise choice in the players line-up.

for finals, i hope to see the following line-up though,

1. LI
2. FENG
3. LI/WANG
4. FENG
5. WANG

I feel that jiawei needs to start the game, if you leave her to secure win for singapore at the end would add more stress to her. besides if she wins, it will motivate the team even more. From the semi, it was quite easy to see that yuegu was quite drained after the doubles, losing 3-0 to DANG whose style was not even a chopper.

it was funny to see in the last match that red cards were given to WANG to be sent out of the court and thenafter KIM from korea from excessive shouting (of advice). i guess when the match is that intense, they couldnt help it.

i think for the first time, the empire has to step in to 'end' the game early. the last serve by DANG missed the table would be the defining moment for Singapore.

i wondered if HKG will upset China, whatever it is, Singapore go for GOLD!

..:: 580. The One With Consolidation ::..

Time for some flashback, this week is agonizing. Being the Freshmen Welcome Week, got to man booth and do all the recruitment drives.

On the hectic 8th Aug, I had to print 3500 copies of flyers, run down to harbourfront to repair my camera lens. $ gone
then went back to school again to cut flyers. i was sweating like a hound dog cutting 3500 pieces of flyers into half. the lady was impressed with my speed. I cut them all within 30 mins. Then I have to carry all those back to my hall which was damn heavy. In the end, I took a cab to drop my stuff in hall first and continued back home.

On 9th Aug, I went down to Wheelock Place to fix my phone. It had a software problem which it was hard to describe. whenever a msg comes, the phone would register +65 xxxx xxxx. whenever a call comes, the phone would register xxxx xxxx. So if i store the number +65 xxxx xxxx, the name would be reflected when msg comes but not for incoming call. It is frustrating to store 2 same numbers in order for the name to appear in both cases.

I described the case to this foreign worker and i think he had some difficulty in understanding what i was saying. the report he typed was full of errors which i wondered whether the technician who reads it understand what is wrong with my phone.

I tried using back my old dopod phone which failed me in china. I thought it was a charger problem so when i went to buy it, it didnt work. so i wasted $. shld be the battery problem but I dont dare to buy. haha.

my camera is ready now and it costs 200 =(

i also signed up for a zero dollar plan since my plan with m1 expired. was quite pissed off that they promised that i could collect my nokia e51 on thursday and now they say i had to go down to collect on tue. i really need the smartphone to keep my calendar of events flashing on my phone. been missing appointments.

bought 100+ worth of textbooks and again angry with the army, who not only has not given me my allowance but also my overseas allowance and reimbursement for air ticket.

..:: 579. The One With Sch Reopens ::..

yea. sch finally started. let me recap what i have been busy with.

since i touched down, its back to army. having to write 3 papers as well as being involved in a vacation attachment research project. it was a new initiative of the army student network, giving us this platform for the army scholars to 'touch base', keep in touch with army while still studying.

caught in the FYP craze as well, esp with a tutor who can be quite pushy and demands a lot.

then involved in red cross current affairs competition as a chief tabulator. good to see my old friends.

had to help my friend take over the chairperson's role to organise the red cross recognition day. was quite exciting though, gathering a team and helpers in less than a month.

then came the VA camp at safti which i dreaded initially cos i thought 'attendance is compulsory' events do not turn out well. it was quite a pleasant surprise. i got to know fellow army scholars and some of them were also from NTU. more lunch/dinner/supper kakis! the dialogues sessions with the senior commanders were engaging and i enjoyed listening to their experiences.

preparing for the finals was quite nerve-wrecking. all the other teams looked promising, doing military strategy, effects on operation tempo, while our team was doing recruitment. We have fellow mates from SMU doing business admin as well as NUS and Warwick doing political science.

I would never forget the moment when my friend went to receive the 6th prize and he told me he took a peek at the results the MC was holding. lol. but in the end, our team got 1st! the prize was not the main thing, it was the recognition for all our efforts that mattered most.

1st week of school was relaxing, crashing lectures from computer engineering (damn technical and sian) and going to crash comms studies. met up my frenz for lunch, dinner and supper. feels gd. i felt energised after one sem of non-existence in singapore. this sem taking all my favourite modules except accounting. loved my textbooks so much that i am already reading them. *dont hate me*

i requested to overload this sem cos i wanna take MALAY! i look at the exam paper, damn cool la. got vocabulary. choose the correct word. still got composition of 70 words. lol. hopefully i get the appeal so u will see me reading malay newspaper.

..:: 578. The One With Lost in Translation ::..

now that my colleague, jo is gone, i have to double up as the translator and 'speller' for my chinese colleague.

'how to sur-pell ...'

jo made it damn hilarious. but today i did meaningful translation. i had to do translate all the titles, ministries, departments, offices of the Chinese Government. improve my chinese and at the same time get to know the complicated government structure they have.

国家民族事务委员会 State Ethnic Affairs Commission
对外贸易经济合作部 Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation
国家计划生育委员会 State Family Planning Commission
经济体制办公厅 Office for Economic Restructuring

and not forgeting the very mouthful and powerful

中国人民政治协商会议全国委员会 National Committee of the CPPCC 　　
中国人民政治协商会议全国委员会常务委员会 Standing Committee of the National Committee of the CPPCC

CPPCC: Chinese People Political Consultative Conference

finally grey's anatomy season 4 dvd is out! this week i have been spending my nights watching dvd. first was the hongkong tvb series which was damn nice. i thought grey's finale trauma case was interesting but i would like to see something more bloody. love the part where they discovered bladder is the one that will cause complication.

was watching some youtube about a song composed for the olympics. 北京欢迎你。 beijing welcomes you. its a song sang by dunno-how-many singers. some thing like the sars song but i find it catchy. and stefanie sun sang that line beautifully. she also got selected to represent overseas chinese in a movie theme song 站起来 Stand up. it is a movie of a sprinter who remained undaunted while trying to get to compete in the olympics. all cheena casting.

and i think sharon stone was on some crack or something. how can she say that the earthquake was china's k****... its like getting herself shot. saw the angry comments on the video and one guy mentioned, if everyone of the 13 billion spit on her, she would be drowned by them. oops. not very sanitary.

shucks. tml have to hand in 2 chinese reports and attachment progress report. the EEE guys coming over to our place to adore our new dvd player and watch some chick flicks.

i hear chips, pizza and beer calling me...

..:: 577. The One With Minus One ::..

yesterday night after work, i suddenly feel like singing KTV so i managed to 'jio' 2 of my house mates to go with me for an overnight KTV. prior to that, i went gym at night. training for ippt when i go back. Sang till 6am then we went McDonalds for breakfast before we headed to sch. we were practically walking with our eyes shut.

took a nap in the afternoon and was utterly stunned by a msn msg.

my fellow housemate, joanne HAVE to fly back on SUNDAY to singapore. my first reaction was 'what?'. her visa expired and she could not get them renewed. we all applied for double-entry visa in singapore. however, she went hongkong and then after korea and thus used up the double entries. Now she could not renew, the only choice is to go out of china (nearest hongkong) and come back. but our boss said it is not worth cos we are left with 3 weeks.

In the end, we will be going yunnan without her. supposed to take photoshoot next week. paintball session following week. it was so sudden. supposed to go muse tonight but had to change plans so that she can visit places she havent been. tml going QPL (aka cheapo road) to do last min shopping.

sian. now the office will have one less person i can quarrel with.

Lucky we had our ktv session. one less regret.

..:: 576. The One With D&G ::..

just surfed upon D&G (my fave) and saw their winter 2009 collection.



finally mariah carey's E=MC2 is out in china. share a little joke =)

i called a music store in Raffles City (Shanghai) to check whether they had the newest album.

Me: hi, 请问你们有玛丽亚卡利最新的专辑吗？ (do you have MC's newest album ?)
Guy: 有啊

Suspecting that he meant the single she released, Touch My Body...

Me: 我想找的是 E=MC2 ， 是那个吗? ( I am looking for E=MC2, is that the one?)
Guy：我有的是 触摸我的身体 (I have ... Touch My Body)

then i heard girls laughing at the back. i tried to control my laughter and thank him before hanging up. It's funnier in chinese i think.

anyway for the album, despite the marriage crap with nick cannon, i still like some of her songs:

touch my body - her 18th #1 on Billboard

migrate - that song is about migrating from one place to another, whether it's from the bar to the club, from the club to the apartment, to wherever, whatever, city to the beach, beach to who knows where.

i stay in love -

And I know we said let go
But I kept on hanging on
Inside I know it's over
You're really gone
It's killing me
Cause there ain't nothing
That I can do
Baby, I stay in love with you

side effects - mariah's ex and how she 'suffers' with him... if u are in an abusive relationship before, this might click

When I space am I still dreaming 'bout them violent times?
Still little protective 'bout the people that I let inside
Still little defensive thinkin' 'bout me tryin' to run my life
Still little depressed inside, I fake a smile and deal with the side effects

love story - couldnt get together because of friends. such things do happen.

And then his friends
Said "its too soon to settle down"
And then her friends
Said "he's a playa, slow it down"
They couldn't be who they was
Cause it just seemed like love
Wasn't on they side

for the record - for those surviving breakups and still reminiscing the old times... i love the song when it goes ' why we cant just press rewind'

Cause when I'm looking in your eyes
Feels like the first time
Give me one good reason why
We can't just press rewind
I don't wanna spend my life
Thinking what it could've been like
If we had another try (one time)
Like back in the day
That look on your face
Feels like, the first time

and of course, the tear-jerker song of the album, bye bye, for those who have lost somebody. i think of my grandmother everytime i hear this song.

intro:
This is for my peoples who just lost somebody
Your best friend, your baby, your man, or your lady
Put your hand way up high
We will never say bye (no, no, no)
Mamas, daddies, sisters, brothers, friends and cousins
This is for my peoples who lost their grandmothers
Lift your head to the sky 'cause we will never say bye

chorus:
I never knew I could hurt like this
And everyday life goes on like
"I wish I could talk to you for awhile"
"I wish I could find a way try not to cry"
As time goes by
And soon as you reach a better place
Still I'll give the whole world to see your face
And I'm bragging right next to you
It feels like you gone too soon
The hardest thing to do is say bye bye

Delicate this last song to those victims in the earthquake and cyclone tragedies.

..:: 575.. The One With Series ::..

yesterday was at a wonderful dvd store with kelvin, NUS big shot, and i wondered why he didnt choose to become a salesman. he practically watched almost all the dvd series they had on their shelves. he recommended quite a few shows which i hesitated to buy as i knew our tastes were not quite the same.

Dexter, Hustle, Entourage, Boston Legal were his strong recommendations
Gossip Girl was interesting, likewise for Dirt and Nip/Tuck

shall watch a few episodes of those before i decide to buy their series. dvds here are dirt cheap and they are of good quality. i still love my grey's anatomy, 6 feet under and prison break. i was so slow to realise that 'the L word' is actually about lesbians. i am intrigued by this kind of shows cos they always show a lot of personality and interesting behaviors.

now i cant wait for antm to be released. cycle 10 ended just last sunday and it is the only cycle that i did not manage to download in complete series. throughout the cycle, i loved lauren and claire but they were eliminated for the right reason i guess. lauren for her inability to do commercials and claire for her 'one-look' and not being versatile. but i thought they should have let stacey ann go first cos she was also bland, just that tyra keeps harping on her nice jawline and i dont really like her 'model 101' poses, so unnatural. i think for the covergirl (reads: cover the man in you) shoot, i prefer whitney's then fatima and anya last.







i thought whitney's walk on the runway was not at all high-fashion but the judges said she showed her style. o_O she really looked like strutting in a shopping mall. anyway whether anot the show is rigged, a full-figured model has to win to give hope to aspiring models.

but seriously at the end of the day, designers make samples of their works based on a certain build, that's why models have to be of certain height and frame to fit those clothes.

enough of models, back to serious matters. yesterday at about 2.28pm, i could hear sirens and horns from vehicles near my office. only then i realised it was the 3-minute mourning. just puzzled why they wanted to horn for 3-min, cos i thought it is usually moments of silence?

plus, in beijing and shanghai, orders went sent to the entertainment industries to close for 3 days, that includes my fave KTV. o_O though its a nation tragedy, somehow i feel that as depressing as the situation was, we still have to move on. cease entertainment to remind people that they should not enjoy with this incident going on? no TV programs, 24-hour news on the tragedy... it has become so hard for people to move on.

maybe its a different mindset that i have, wouldnt label it as a singaporean mindset. i mean things happen, we feel remorseful and we help in whatever ways we can and we should move on. i was quite disturbed by the repeated news and the voice of the broadcasters telling the people how they should unite and stay strong. how the army and the medical teams sacrifice for the country... of course i know they did and we honour and appreciate, but they dont have to make it so blatant that it almost looks like a propaganda.

maybe singapore has not encountered big incidents, the last one was probably SARS. but i remember that time, they had hourly update and some campaign song by phua chu kang. people still move on, tv still showing comedies and life goes on. maybe i'm comparing apples and oranges but u get the idea.

as china focuses on their own disaster, they had no room for the myanmar cyclone which killed at least twice as many people. no report on other countries or any other news except the olympics and the earthquake.

..:: 574. The One With Writing Report ::..

Boss back in singapore so i had the luxury to write blog and do my report. having to do 2 chinese essays each 2500 words is kinda insane. supposed to call companies from chengdu but some companies have not started work.

was chatting with my frenz online and found that they have secured jobs in kpmg, deloitte... envy...

for my 2 reports, i am writing on 中国服饰通史 history of chinese costumes and 满城尽带黄金甲, drawing psychoanalysis theories to analyse the show, curse of the golden flower. My first time watching the show starring chow yun-fat, gong li and jay zhou. i find myself to like zhang yimou's works, though his movies are mostly adapted from novels. but like he said, he used his vision and direction to produce effects you cant get in a book.

the title of the movie comes from the last line of a poem written by huang zhao, who was a rebel leader. pretty much reflective of what the whole show is about.

不第后赋菊 黄巢

待到秋来九月八，我花开后百花杀。
冲天香阵透长安，满城尽带黄金甲。

When autumn comes on Double Ninth Festival, my flower [the chrysanthemum] will bloom and all others perish. When the sky-reaching fragrance [of the chrysanthemum] permeates Chang'an, the whole city will be clothed in golden armour.

during tang dynasty, people adored mudan flower (peonies), but huang went against the culture and chose chrysanthemum. so in the movie, this flower became the icon for rebellion.

throughout the show, the sons had no intention to kill the father to take over the throne which could be explained by the oedipus complex. whole load of concept so its better to just watch the show and read wiki. haha.

today i uploaded an album and got shot. didnt know they were private pix. feel so bad now.

..:: 573. The One With Shanghai Week 18 ::..

wow. time passes real fast. my 22 weeks of GIP coming to an end soon. the best parts about this GIP are probably:

- live independently. go wherever i want to and take full responsibility of myself.
- made lots of cool frenz from diverse background
- more bitching buddies
- clothes you never find in singapore and THAT CHEAP
- overnight KTV 5 SGD
- midnight supper deliveries
- DVD 1 SGD
- squeezing and pushing your way in public transport
- travelling!

i realised posting pics here would make the blog lag and slow to load. hence, i would include the link to my pictures =) YAY!

went suzhou and hangzhou twice as jiejiun came to visit me. haha. apologise for not being a gd host. had to work everyday and only free for dinner =(

Korea Day 1: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=90056&id=763130230&op=24
Day 2: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=90058&id=763130230&op=24
Day 3: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=90061&id=763130230&op=18
Day 4: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=90216&id=763130230&op=18

On Day 3, we heard from the news that one of the gates was burnt down, just after we visited that place. No, we didnt light anything.

feb 20. wanna thank my frenz for celebrating my birthday and planning a surprise. also the greetings i received through phone and fb.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=91545&id=763130230

wuxi was alright. nothing really memorable except for the fact we rent costumes to take pictures and that it was a rather big group from NTU GIP

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=98860&id=763130230&op=18

then luoyang was one of the best trips too. i'm glad i went ahead with the offer. for 1k RMB, it was definitely worth it. plus, the frenz i got to know from FUSSA - fudan university singapore - student association.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=101616&id=763130230&op=12

and if you ever visit hangzhou, dont forget 外婆家 grandma's kitchen.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=102613&id=763130230&op=12

then its the nanjing trip which the school organised for us for free (or is it in the S$350 we paid?). the trip was kinda ruined by the rain. cam-whoring with umbrellas was challenging.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=106756&id=763130230&op=12

For labour day holiday, we went to our colleague's hometown, zhenjiang. 镇江. people get confused it with zhejiang, 浙江. It was freaking hot. We also managed to catch Ironman in their cinema for 5SGD, student price.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=110491&id=763130230
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=110497&id=763130230&op=6

'everything also must try', that is the quote we live by. Mayday concert ticket for 30SGD, how to give it a miss? I went not knowing many of their songs.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=110858&id=763130230&op=6

then we went to visit some water village. tongli. kinda commercial but the sex museum was the highlight.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=112253&id=763130230

And all the food we ate, celebrations we had, shopping sprees we did, just made me want to stay in shanghai longer.

Just as we enjoy ourselves, i feel china didnt start the year quite as well. jan-feb, china was hit by the worst snow ever. mar - tibet riots were raging. apr - olympic torch incidents. may - bus explosion and now the sichuan earthquake. hope the year will turn better with the commencement of the olympics.

compare with my 1.5K RMB root canal repair, lost of camera, handphone spoilt. my losses are so minor.

4 weeks more and i have to once again lift the baggage up that i left behind in Singapore 18 weeks ago.

..:: 572. The One With Shanghai So Far ::..

been so busy at work, if not it will be travelling around china. got no internet at home so i cant blog like in the past.

my birthday celebration was great. must thank all my friends who took time to plan the surprise. on the stroke of midnight when i came back, they had one candle on each of the 22 ferrero rochers..

then when i thought it was going to be a boring usual wednesday, they had a surprise dinner for me at a brazillian meat buffet. got a nice cake and a clinque eye cream treatment for my present cos i have been ogling at eye products since i was in korea.

work has been very satisfying though my director can be intimidating and demanding at times. i got used to his style as he was also an ex-saf scholar so i can understand where he is coming from. i get to interact with executives that have like 10-20 years of working experience. it is a challenge for me to behave and talk like a professional and not an intern.

i guess the only limiting factor would be the search techniques and database. i guess it would be something that i would do in the future but perhaps with a larger company. in my stint, i am also dealing with Fortune 500 companies and more importantly i am researching and understanding different industries. not all internship can achieve that... i am lucky to be 'slave-driven' rather than doing mundane data entry. not really that bad actually but my frenz prefer to see it that way.

hangzhou was a scenic place and i love the west lake. the food there was great. i found that putting pictures on the blog would make it lag so i guess i should include the link to my pictures.

went korea for my cny holidays. i am glad i made the right choice. shanghaieses ate damn fast! we were the only singaporeans and as usual we were always the last to board the bus. we love the food and have many servings. the shanghaieses found the food there too bland so they did not eat much.

then we went wuxi, it was a one day trip so did not really get to enjoy the place. the trip had the most number of ntu gip students. one of the organiser slept in the train and missed the stop. he and his friends went all the way to nanjing. i learnt something from that too... u can pay for a wuxi ticket and sit your way through to nanjing. save $$$!

this week i will be going to luoyang with my close friends and mostly nus people. cannot wait to see the shaolin temple and 18 bronzemen. the justice bao and whatever that comes. FOOD!

this gip is more fruitful having to know the NUS people. they have stronger connection here in shanghai - Shanghai Singapore Business Association. they also have SHEN - shanghai entrepreneurs from NUS which organises in-convo where they invite senior management from different companies to give a talk on the Chinese market every month. Isnt that fun? I hope we can get to do that... they studied in fudan university and get to mix with the local students. unlike us, we are confined to our own people during classes. no choice i guess, especially since our modules are fixed and designed specially for us.

been having so much overnight ktv! 5SGD to sing from 12mn to 6am. gotta run for dinner now. ciao.

..:: 571. The One With Suzhou 苏州 ::..

forgive me for the very late entry. went suzhou on the 12th. it was super fun cos we were with our colleagues. it was much colder than in shanghai...loading pictures takes forever =(



they washed clothes and bathed using the water... and we thought how come the vegetables tasted so nice. lol.



at the museum, they had this wonderful backdrop.



the pagoda looks great but too cold to climb up



visited a few of their gardens and this well was built so that the water inside acts as a mirror



nice scenery...



cam-whoring again...



tea appreciation...



went to silk factory and i bought RMB1k plus worth of silk goods.



2nd day at the museum, cant help but take a picture with the kid. so cute.

also, i got pickpocketed for the first time. =( lost my camera but will be getting a new one soon... hopefully in time for my korea trip. oh, i will be going to korea for chinese new year! isnt it exciting? ski and hot spring. hopefully can go 大长今 shooting scenes.

..:: 570. The One With China ::..

5 things that sucked in China.

1. Boss asked us to start work on wed when our official start date was 14th.

2. Cant flush toilet paper down the toilet bowl (will choke the pipe) and it contributes to the amount of biohazard we have in the dustbin.

3. It is freaking cold. getting colder though not as cold as finland but still... i want to wear my berms and slippers.

4. No access to blogs. Dunno why they block them? scared of propaganda?

5. Bathing is not enjoyable. shivering to get myself dried.

When we first arrived, we were stunned to know that our company had arranged accomodation for us. There goes our deposit of 400SGD. Our boss was kind (with strings attached) to offset our losses by half. our accomodation was initially RMB6500 per month and now it is RMB4000.

Our boss requested us to work early to be 'fair' as he offset our losses...

anyway, the job i must say is interesting and challenging. at first i thought it is some kind of telemarketing job. being headhunter is not easy. got lots of research to be done and i like the fact that behind the phone we sound like professional, knowing the business of the industry and talking to people who are so much senior than us.

next entry... suzhou trip =)

..:: 569. The One With Pre-Flight ::..

so excited. luggage done. still a part of me not ready to leave singapore.

will be at the airport around 10pm. flight SQ816 7 jan 1am to shanghai.

See you guys in 6 mths

..:: 568. The One With Dr Bailey ::..

ya. my fever for grey's anatomy has not yet gone down. i so love dr bailey and her no-nonsense attitude, yet showing signs of humanity at times. she is mean with her interns and dare to stand up against attendings (more experienced than the residents).

this video shows the first time the interns met dr bailey, she was known as the 'nazi':



this is when she was pregnant and came back, she's demanding but i like it.



must-watch: who's damn panties are on my bulletin board?



inspirational! she's the only one that did not sleep ard. haha. this is where she stood up for herself to set up a free clinic against the attendings.



oh well. a recap of events in 2007.

-surf sweat 2007
-had the best birthday cake
-went to finland, endured -20 degrees
-stayed in glass igloo, visited santa claus village and tried ice-ski
-tried reindeer meat
-went to mindef for vacation attachment and what an experience!
-went hongkong, macau
-started my specialisation, HR Consulting
-won 1st runner up (Singapore) for Capitaland Retail Marketing Award
-participated in Singapore Fashion Week and met models
-won best volunteer and got a ipod nano 3rd gen
-participated in BRANDS new product development
-participated in the Tata Crucible International Business Quiz 2007
-participated in Singapore HR Challenge 2008
-selected to participate in Global Immersion Programme to China
-got into Singapore Search and Investment Capital w phone interview
-stayed in ritz carlton for xmas
-got great results

hope 2008 will be even a better year for me =) Of cos all these would not have happen without my dearest, my frenz and friends whom I may not have known as well but 2008 i will forge closer friendships.

..:: 567. The One With 2008 ::..

time flies. it has been 4 years since i started blogging. every new year i would change my blog template and so fast the chocolate one is over and now my new-found affection.

yup as yash mentioned, their dialogues and narrations are so quotable and i think the writers for grey are witty.

well for 2007 resolutions, i still cannot drive a car which pretty much sucked. getting 2 hours out of my schedule and out of my school (more impt) needs discipline and among my many plans, forking out money to learn really stretches my budget. Most of my budget went into travelling which i guess i can cut in 2008 considering that i am spending half of the year in china.

the horoscope mentioned 2008 i would face some problems on my family side and challenges in relationships but able to soar in my career. shall be more aware...

my 2008 resolution would be to:
- stay in love
- continue maintaining GPA above 4.0
- concentrate on FYP, Studies, Red Cross
- get gold for IPPT

but of course i hope to get a medical checkup for my recurring sinus. after i watched grey's, one of the patients who had non-stop runny nose, they found something pressing on the brain or something (forgot the exact details)... better be safe than sorry.

for new year's eve, i had dinner with my red cross friends. didnt eat much though cos seeing so much food makes me full. then went over to ys house watch horror movie which was not scary at all. then the group of us played citadel which was so much fun. managed to win haha, would recommend to more of my friends to play.

countdown just felt something missing. but i had fun anyway.

heard alien v predator is like resident evil. hope to watch before i fly.

anyway my SIA flight is on 7th Jan, 1am ... will be at the airport about 10pm plus on the 6th. excited but when you have to be away for so long, it doesnt feel like a holiday...

..:: 566. The One With Grey's Anatomy ::..

gosh, got hooked on the series. loved the characters there. each with their style and character. the show is adrenaline pumping. when you start to find the live stories or drama of the characters too boring, there come the casualties. some of which are freak accident like a pencil in the eye... arteries from the neck burst, you see blood gushing everywhere.

it taught me to be calm during such stressful situations and look at things from different perspective to solve what seems impossible. There are organisation and management issues to learn from especially from the chief resident (the one in charge of all the resident doctors)

there are difficult choices to make in life. For them, being a doctor, surgeon is to save lives. It is hard not to be emotionally involved and also to balance between caring too much for the patient (like a social worker) and do what a doctor should do. Their personal life and love life almost always in conflict and you can see in the show there are some who really stuck by their vows as a doctor and ended up in bad relationship, divorces and stuff. There are also issues of colour, races and religion brought to attention which made the show even more interesting and realistic.

now i know why one of the show on tv was called 'scrubs' cos for anyone who want to be involved in an operation, they would request to 'scrub it in'... and it was interesting to see how the resident doctors torture their interns...

also learnt that to fear is that you have something to lose. that is why some patients kept on fighting even though they are afraid, they dun want to lose something they hold dear.

The ER situations when the doctors wait outside the hospital are the most exciting.

"We go into medicine because we want to save lives

We go into medicine because we want to do good

We go into medicine for the rush, for the high, for the ride

But what we remember at the end of most days are the losses

What we lay awake at night we replaying is

The pain we caused, or the failure to cure, or the lives we ruined and failed to save

So the experience and practice in medicine rarely resemble the goal

Experience too often is ass backwards, and upside down"

love the narration and how a central idea and the events relate to the idea. that's why i love sex and the city too except with less moaning :X

..:: 565. The One With Results ::..

My best results ever! i got 4As =0
gpa - 4.73.

so happy cant sleep tonight. all the bird nest worked! and this sem i didnt study and confine myself in hostel. someone was my lucky star. lol.

tomorrow self declared off day!

..:: 564. The One With Ritz ::..

yea. most exciting thing happened was the stay at ritz carlton over the weekend and xmas. ironically, spent the first day rushing for HR challenge.



with my mates, kahyan and yash. plus jiayi who became our foreign correspondent in taiwan. haha.

we didnt sleep the whole night. took turns to take power naps while my friends' friends were playing card games, we were cramming our brains. lucky for me i dun have to go work on monday morning. i was rather knocked out... jiayi slept at 330 and woke up at 530 to join us with the battle and managed to edit and come up with executive summary before she joined her tour at 930...

friday went for red cross anniversary dinner. donated MAC lip gloss that i got from fashion week. sadly, it wasnt highly sought after. had fun during lucky draw where our table kept chanting 'capsules' as there were many boxes as prizes. we were hoping others will clear the capsules and leave the vouchers and grand prize for our table...

me with joan.



oh. me with my designer shirt.

caught 2 movies. i am legend during xmas eve. think i am old already... cant take that kind of thriller. maybe i just have a weak heart lol. a rip-off of resident evil and 28 days later.

then was national treasure: the book of secret. think it is more enjoyable than i am legend. comedy + action + romance... maybe a bit far fetched but still nice to watch.

it was nice staying in town area and up in shopping centres in the morning for breakfast. marina square was just 5 mins away and the view from the hotel was great. the hotel had a fire drill and after which the water supply was affected. no cold water for quite some time =( not very pleased with the housekeeping service. i called and when they came, one of them asked, 'what do you need?'

'eh, housekeeping?'

'which part?'

i was like, you know better than me right? why not you give me your trolley and i top up the stuff and change the towels myself?

then was a bad rush for dinner at kallang. due to the fire alarm, the lifts were not working so we had no access to the basement. until a janitor showed us another way through the 'staff-only' staircase. lol. all we got from the staff was asking us to wait patiently -_-

back to my GIP stuff. my fren flew my aeroplane :( now i am the only one out of my flatmates to go fudan university.

..:: 563. The One With No Work ::..

This week was a long break. took leave to attend red cross camp and flight and accomodation for my exchange were settled. Flying on the 7th of Jan but kinda late so dun think any of my frenz will see me off... sobs... only consolation perhaps would be taking a SIA flight.

red cross camp was fulfilling especially since i am taking up mentor role again. but sadly there are also things i cannot do much about like discipline and the major exercises. felt quite restricted controlling my own group. being safety officer, i also had to be 'on call' 24/7. was quite mad when a trainee told me she needs warm water and i was like wth? do i look like babysitter? i felt that if the juniors are not trained to be disciplined and take initiative in the beginning, they will take things for granted and always have to be reminded.

Talking about mentors, the term often appears in the HR context. As a mentor, i felt 'under-utilised'. in my case, we had to be careful not to 'spoonfeed' the trainees with information and feedback was definitely lacking. Are the trainees satisfied with their performance? or did they come with a mentality that they will pass as long as they go through the programme? or are they simply afraid to approach the mentors? Are we supposed to be in the pro-active role?

anyway back to wednesday, i went back to work and realised my battalion was on cohesion event and not in camp. i dunno whether to be happy or sad. had a gathering with the red cross peeps. as usual we hogged vil'age and starbucks, had gift exchange which was hilarious and lots of cam-whoring. then i felt like i was rushing for getai, went over to dbl o for clubbing. not exactly clubbing though. my fren's sis's frenz (quite a mouthful) were stoning most of the time... anyway the music was not that good =( saw kahyan my uni fren and the pic we took she looked like she wasnt wearing anything =X

slept throughout the public holiday and woke up for dinner... wonderful chicken rice and it was MC for friday. haha. had to overcome my MC to collect my visa as there is not much time left. Went to school to settle my exchange stuff. rushed over vivo to catch alvin and the chipmunks... hooked to the song and they are my official wallpaper for the month. had red cross anniversary dinner and it was so much fun. had a wonderful time shouting capsules during the lucky draw hoping others will take up the capsules leaving the grand prize for our table. funny thing was there was a tag 'reserved' for VIP table and the greyer population thought they should be the highlight of the day by putting a 'P' in front of the tag and truly being the 'preserved' lot of red cross volunteers.

caught finale for survivor and america's next top model... happy for todd, played the game well and was tactful during the Q&A by the jury. amanda should have been more careful and her honesty has caused her the prize. courtney... haha. think she played the game too innocently and the most harmless fly but she's damn funny with her witty one-liners throughout the season.

saleisha totally ruled chantel on the runway for the finale. Heard lots of unhappy comments made over the forums about how saleisha had already appeared and modelled for tyra, attended her camp and stuff. then it was about the colour and race when jenah, who took the most gorgeous photos did not go into final 2 as they would not want 2 blondes to be in the final 2. felt tyra kinda fake. kept saying bad things about saleisha being too commercial and not high fashion... in the end, kept choosing saleisha, its like slapping herself and trying too hard not to be bias.

mediacorp's 9pm show, 黄金路 golden path is another show that is in my mobtv play list. i like how the younger actors and actresses played the characters. their attitudes still lingered when the characters grew up to be played by tay ping hui, joanne peh, chor ming, etc. the essence was still there and li nanxing was the best playing a rogue. the theme song was damn nice.

ok enough of tv, i guess many of you dun watch much tv also.

busy with hr challenge as the deadline is on mon and poor yash fell ill. i owed kahyan a big time =( tml ritz carlton dunno if my frenz still can meet. haha just realised we have not utilised our mentor. how ironic.

..:: 562. The One With Hectic Week ::..

been a long week since i last blogged. forgot what i did from 3rd-5th... should be sleeping to my heart's content and laze around. 6th attended GIP send off ceremony organised by the GIP office. listened to almost the same group who shared their GIP experiences and how fun was it. it was weird though especially when your target audience are all going to GIP, should tell us more about the survival tips or places to visit rather than share their own experience. of course we know its good cos we chose to go -_-"

then the usual phototaking with the profs and some executives but strangely it seems that we will never get to see the group pic we took? got to know the people whom i will be working with and another 2 who will be working in OCBC situated at 浦东 east of shanghai. wah must start typing in chinese soon.

then had some accomodation talk. one of which, sens service, was set up by ntu gip alumni to provide one-stop service for gip from booking air ticket and visa to securing accomodation. marketing kept talking about providing one-stop service and finally i get to see a real entreprenuer.

started work on 7th. waited for my boss the whole day and got to see him around 3+. briefed me on a project that i have to work on and his expectations. got a stack of scary notes to read but i was glad i got to do something about training system which was relevant to my course.

then saturday spent on red cross. managed to catch golden compass at PS. GV really know how to suck blood. each 'booked' ticket costs 50cents more, instead of having just a booking fee for 50cents. but the show was worth it at least, nicole kidman, my all-time fave actress. her eyes sparkled whenever she talked.

sunday was spent shifting my stuff out of my hostel. did it in 1.5 hours and rushed down to woodlands library for hr challenge meeting. had a simple meal at banquet at causeway point plus pasar malam munchies with yash and jiayi.

and so fast work again on mon. today rained the whole day... had to go to the mess and AOP (approval of plan) with my boss and i had to focus on leadership stuff. wanted to do research but so lazy. haiz.

so much things to settle.

flight, visa, insurance, medical checkup
meeting with singtel
red x camp

..:: 561. The One With 30 Days of Night ::..

after exams, this was the first show as part of my post-exam activities. great way to stress myself up again.



i was so tense throughout the movie and the first few seconds of the preview were the reasons to keep me on the edge of my seat. i swear it's the first time i felt like leaving the theatre cos i thought my heart would stop. lol.

The movie is based on a novel and in the town of barrow, Alaska, to the north of the arctic circle where during winter, the sun never rises for 30 days. this would mean vampires can feed without fear of sunlight.

Having said all that, i still think it's the best vampire movie to date that i have watched. the vampires moved fast enough and cleaned up after their 'meals'. Of course other worth-to-watch factors would be josh hartnett and melissa george. josh became the rugged sheriff while melissa kicked ass. if you like both of them and all that sucking (of blood), this show is not for the faint hearted cos the sun certainly didnt rise fast enough.

America's Next Top Model
Originally uploaded by jnjco

..:: 560. The One With Heather ::..

so happy my last paper is done! now finally can sit in front of computer and not feel guilty.

so sad was watching antm and heather was eliminated =( but i believe she is able to make it big, hope one day i get to bump into her. haha. maybe next year singapore fashion week? jade of season 6 came to asia to model so she should try.

the remaining four all have been in the bottom two. all except chantal can be quite a bitch.

this week they went for go-see (meet designers) and heather could not read map and got lost in translation. Her amusing quote: ''The map's completely in Chinese — it's all Greek to me''

..:: 559. The One With Back to School ::..

was surfing some HR websites and i got to know an article that was written by my prof and went to school to get a copy today. just a 4 page report and i willingly travel from home to school. haha how crazy is that?

yea got Singtel as our company for the competition case study. luckily it is not some ulu company.

anyway got Google online marketing challenge and the Mastercard-Wiley marketing challenge coming up... i think my dec will be hectic till the day i fly to china.

30 NOV - apply visa and open account from bank of china
1 DEC - Red Cross Volunteer Instructor Prog Contact Session
3/4 DEC - Interview with Singtel
5 DEC - Endnote Workshop
6 DEC - Send-Off ceremony for GIP
7 DEC - Work. work.
15-18 DEC - Red Cross Camp
19 DEC - Outing
23-25 DEC - Ritz Carlton

..:: 558. The One With Last Burst ::..

yes i'm on my last burst of fire for my highly anticipated paper. no pun intended. had the most extensive reading for this module and i am hoping to impress in my paper.

was looking at my tissue box cos i always have flu when i lack of sleep... KCA - think of tissue, think of us... that's the quote or tagline for the brand.

then i thought, if i were to come up with a tagline, i would go for...

With you through wet and dirty times...

didnt i tell you i work best at late nights! haha. hope that is a good testimony for that.

i know some of you may disagree my tagline is of good substance. boo.

finally i'm done with all my external readings. later shall continue with my 1000 pages storybook.

did you know that civil servants are getting 2 month bonus in december? that pretty much explains my cranky entry. woohoo~

America's Next Top Model
Originally uploaded by jnjco

..:: 557. The One With Last Paper ::..

oh well. hp 102 is wasted. let's hope the bell curve can work some miracles. i saw a few around me did not write much though... that is during collection of the papers, dun say i cheat!

say goodbye to ANOVA, bonferroni correction, tukey's HSD, Scheffe test, dunnett's test,... bloody hell. they had totally ruined my love for examinations.

i finally found someone who has a biological clock that is as screwed up! yash! haha. we msged each other at around 3am where many are happily snoring away. in the words of yash, 'they should make exams at this hour'. ya they should. i'm like most alert at this time.

been taking daily dosage of bird nest with ginseng and someone said i look younger :X

but i still have time to catch up on antm. look at heather's covergirl shot. gorgeous. rooting for her to win. hope she does well in the go-see next episode.

prison break series suspended? wth.

..:: 556. The One With Prayers ::..

Haiz the news of the missing dragonboat guys are so depressing... hang on guys. hope they are ok. one of them is my fren... =(

*prays*

..:: 555. The One With I Will Be Shot ::..

yup. i think i'll be shot if i caught writing this but wth...

something's been missing cos life has been smooth sailing during the exams. so now must stir some shit.

recently received an email from a prof. 3 teams joining a competition and each team is mentored by a professor. The other 2 teams are known as 'A' and 'B'. it started off when Group B, 'kiasu-ly' asked their prof for some training and amazingly they told their prof they were 'selected'. i almost flipped off the chair. to qualify for the first round, you just need to hand in the form and pay 50 bucks. neh neh. what is 'selected'?

then we were asked whether we made it to the next round to engage a client... EXCUSE ME, we have the money and the form, of course we made it. i dun blame the prof cos they really dunno what is going on, but i am more amused by the students who attended the briefing but yet related incorrectly.

our group was then asked whether we want to join in the 'training'... of cos we want to. first, why not. second, if we dun go, they might feel that we think highly of ourselves.

the next thing was we are currently waiting for the reply from the client so we can prepare interview and stuff. somehow, THE prof thought we didnt go through the organising committee, i.e. did not go for the briefing...

HELLO! the other team members were so late, they have to guard the doors while we were comfortably seated. but i was giggling at one corner cos one of the clients they wanted they could not get cos it was reserved for random lists. at first i wondered why they wanted that client so strongly, then i realised they did a research on that client for one of our modules.

haha i was so mean. but they must be quite a loser to use back the same client. i wouldnt do that, even though i can.

waw book
Originally uploaded by jnjco

..:: 554. The One With My New Book ::..

check out my new storybook! haha. It is 1000 pages.

nice.

..:: 553. The One With Review ::..

subject registration starting soon... need to plan what i have to take in the last 2 sem of my uni life, especially since i will be spending one sem not taking any core in china. =(

Yr 3 Sem 1: 16AU
AA102 - Accounting 2 (4AU)
BH325 - Learning and Performance Management (4AU)
HP204 - Personality and Individual Differences (4AU)
HP207 - Abnormal Psychology (4AU)

Yr 3 Sem 2: 19AU
BH225 - HR Research (3AU)
BH227 - Selection and Assessment (4AU)
BH326 - HR Metrics (4AU)
AB311 - Strategic Management (4AU)
HP324 - Human Motivation (4AU)

Going school to get external readings from prof. yay.

..:: 552. The One With Regression ::..

not statistics, linear nor multiple. pui i hated that.

as i was reading through the super-thick textbooks, i kinda missed the start of secondary school days where i would go to a school bookshop and go home with plastic bags full of textbook. maybe a fetish for new textbook, the smell and the stuff i was going to study.

textbooks back then look so readable and digestible. i can revise whole year work in just a few days.

my friend's little niece just got her psle results and the book that i used to choose my secondary school from has grown so thick! i was stunned by the entry points now. so high. even schools like xinmin now requires 240+ to go in. my time was only 230+... the top girl from st hilda's pri achieved a 294 which was a record in the 17 years since the PSLE system was implemented in 1991.

orcc_gif
Originally uploaded by jnjco

..:: 551. The One With VA ::..

wah sian. VA going back to 35. that ulu place again. hate taking the bus in, the frequency alone can drive me crazy. Plus, I'm travelling from school, from west to east.

before you guys plan what to do for holidays, i have already been slammed by work. during my 3 day break have to conduct interview for my competition, hr challenge.

talk about post-exam activities. just make me excited. not.

bah. i made all the choices myself.

btw the album from OneRepublic is great! apologise is such a nice song.

..:: 550. The One With Social Loafing ::..

i cannot believe i did a 4-man project almost all by myself. shucks. slog through having to do a project with statistics! spent my whole precious day to finish the project. my other wonderful year 1 team mates have exams to study. sian. i also have OK!!!

swear never do projects with yr 1 again. so passive. gave me stuff with no references! have to go through psycho journals to support our my arguments. luckily i managed to arrow one of them to submit the report.

and happily the school of social sciences never give out peer appraisal forms???

i say WTH

forgot to watch the noose on ch 5 but luckily i got mobtv =)

..:: 549. The One With Leona Lewis ::..

hooked on this album by leona lewis. nice =)

..:: 548. The One With SSIC ::..

whee... so happy to receive this mail...

Dear CHEN XING TIAN JOHN,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted by Singapore Search & Investment Capital (SSIC) in Shanghai .

We are in the midst of preparing the letter for you to apply for your visa. We will keep you informed when it is ready for collection. With this letter and your passport (your passport should be valid for at least 6 months beyond the end date of our programme), please proceed to apply for your visa at the People’s Republic of China Embassy in Singapore.

The visa that you should be applying for will be the F visa.

.....

Best regards,

GIP Office

now that is some perk to get me going... overseas working experience. you've got it, you flaunt it.

..:: 547. The One With First Paper ::..

phew. after all that cramping for today's paper, my brain almost had a seizure. so not used to memorising so much stuff. the paper today was darn...

EASY.

and my litle trick worked yesterday. had 6 chapters to study and i had to write 3 essays. so naturally i studied all and placed my bet on 3. drew lots and did it 3 times for reliability tests. surprisingly it was the same for 3 tries. thank you my lucky star.

then there was this 8 mark question set based on what we have learnt in the first half of the semester. dunno what struck me but i decided to go with studying erikson's psychosocial development cos there were 8 stages! and today it came out! though they only asked for 4 but i nailed it =)

i hit the jackpot with neo-freudian theories and the chapter on personality - traits. mcqs were a breeze and they contained some answers for the fill-in-the-blanks. i wondered if the same tutor set the questions cos they overlapped.

3 more to go and i must work as hard. my aim is to get straight As for this sem. cos they are the modules i love.

and it's so weird that i'm loving britney's new album blackout. the song 'hot as ice' keeps spinning in my head. so catchy.

..:: 546. The One With Psychology ::..

just my exam timetable... in case i forgot the date or timing.

15 nov - 1300 - hp101 - introduction to psychology
21 nov - 0900 - bh223 - strategic hr and consulting
26 nov - 1300 - hp102 - fundamentals of social science research
30 nov - 0900 - bh223 - compensation and benefits

as i am revising, i am now trying to remember what i have learnt... for personality.

freud's psychosexual theory of personality developments... freud thinks that the way a person finds pleasure or is prevented from satisfying urges for pleasure at each stage affects personality.

in oral stage which lasts from birth to 1.5 yo. it is id dominated. id is part of personality present at birth and completely unconscious. libido - instinctual energy that may come into conflict with the demands of society standards of behavior. id is based on pleasure principle whereby there is desire for immediate gratification of needs without regard for consequences. in other words, at the stage when you want milk, you will cry hell, not afraid that your parents will hit you.

fixation at this stage (meaning when a baby is stopped from weaning - breastfeeding), the baby may either be overdeveloped or under underdeveloped. it will affect the ability to form interpersonal attachment... being optimistic or pestimistic... and tendency to be active and take charge or be passive.

then 2nd stage is the anal stage where the 'pleasure' comes from being able to excrete 'you-know-what'. this stage will have 2 types of personality: anal expulsive personalities - where a person is messy, destructive, hostile. anal retentive personalities - neat, fussy, stubborn. the fixation comes from the toilet training. too strict, the child might be defiant and chooses to excrete anywhere (in extreme case la). this gives rise to the sense of competence and control in the child as part of personality development

3rd stage is confusing. the phallic stage where oedipus complex occurs. it is when a child develops sexual attraction for opposite-sex parent and jealousy for same-sex parent (sounds sick but its true, when someone show you so much love... and remember the superego has yet to develop - which is the moral center for a person)

as the child grows, the child feels the anxiety as it is not right. so to reduce the anxiety, the child develops defence mechanism - identification. follow and be like the same-sex parent. this is the stage where boys are close to their fathers and girls to their mothers. superego develops. fixation at this stage will lead to immature sexual attitudes and when grow up will exhibit promiscuous sexual behavor and vanity. vanity is seen as a cover-up for feelings of self worth arising from not being able to resolve the complex. there will also be a lack of moral sexual behavior from failure of identification and inadequate superego formation.

in latency stage, around primary school age, sexual feelings are repressed while children develops in other areas. that is where boys will hang out with boys and vice versa. this stage will affect the ability to get along with others...

in last stage, genital stage, from teens to adults... sexual feelings are brought to consciousness... fixation will cause immature love or indiscriminate hate. uncontrollable work (workaholic) or inability to work are some of the attitudes that will be developed.

phew... so long. i guess it will be ???? for a lot of people. and it is just one small part of personality, the psychoanalytic view ...

i still have to cover behaviorist, humanistic and trait theories.

..:: 545. The One With Exam Fever ::..

i guess everyone is on their full gear for exams. i still have things bugging me ... why do people think i cannot handle certain stuff. i am still waiting for reply from the organisations OKAY???

just something i need to let off some steam. i have updates i will let u guys noe... arghz.

anyway i got soundtracks from prison break, spice girls new album, britney's blackout and jay zhou's new album. haha. blasting music as i study. shiok. the way i study is weird, i need noise. i would on my TV, blast my music so i can read harder into my notes and books, can remember better that way. am i multi tasking? interesting news then i would look up at the tv.

have been catching up some news...

new york chocolate shows. designers worked with pastry chefs to come up with chocolate and couture (ooo... i just love the sound of that word). outfits made from different kind of chocolate and cookies. yummy.

one crazy japanese designer came up with a dress that can be unfolded and held up as a vending machine to avoid being followed by a stranger. sadly it will only work in japan where you can find vending machines along the streets

and the debate on the sovereignity of Pedra Branca was also interesting. too lazy to type. but evidence that surfaced put singapore in good hope winning the case unless the next four day someone pulls a stunt.

i love this.



arent they adorable. and stop looking too hard at it. go study!

..:: 544. The One With Hellgate: London ::..

nov is really a month of temptation and definitely a challenge for me to overcome other than the impending exams. shucks. reliving some flashback.

last year nov, i was engrossed in watching jewel in the palace. 2 series of the dvds that have about 70 over episodes. i had to watch them in 1.2x speed and i watched them while i was having my papers. i can vividly remember that i watched them all the way till 7am before i slept and woke up in the afternoon to study.

then in this year april/may, i was hooked on prison break. was on the marathon but with better control, watched them over meal times but my meal times lasted a few hours as expected.

this sem is prison break 3! the suspense from the show is killing me... then there's this new game from the creators of diablo. hellgate: london. so going to play during my exchange in china. if i haf the time that is.

secured an overseas internship with singapore search and investment capital =) the director was also ex saf scholar. so happy i got it with a phone call interview and he wanted me to train in china for 3 mths then swing me to vietnam for another 3 mths. must be a wholesome experience.

the director wanted me to fly over by dec to start early. but i have commitments like red cross camp, hr challenge, christmas celebration and wedding reception... headache.

then now have to settle some financial stuff for the overseas cip team. handling the huge sum of money can be stressful!

and i'm still stuck with psychology revision. and covering psychological disorders and the more i read, the more i feel like i am having one... urghz.

did a temperament test...

My temperament is
Artisans are the temperament with a natural ability to excel in any of the arts, not only the fine arts such as painting and sculpting, or the performing arts such as music, theater, and dance, but also the athletic, military, political, mechanical, and industrial arts, as well as the "art of the deal" in business.

Artisans are most at home in the real world of solid objects that can be made and manipulated, and of real-life events that can be experienced in the here and now. Artisans have exceptionally keen senses, and love working with their hands. They seem right at home with tools, instruments, and vehicles of all kinds, and their actions are usually aimed at getting them where they want to go, and as quickly as possible. Thus Artisans will strike off boldly down roads that others might consider risky or impossible, doing whatever it takes, rules or no rules, to accomplish their goals. This devil-may-care attitude also gives the Artisans a winning way with people, and they are often irresistibly charming with family, friends, and co-workers.

Artisans want to be where the action is; they seek out adventure and show a constant hunger for pleasure and stimulation. They believe that variety is the spice of life, and that doing things that aren't fun or exciting is a waste of time. Artisans are impulsive, adaptable, competitive, and believe the next throw of the dice will be the lucky one. They can also be generous to a fault, always ready to share with their friends from the bounty of life. Above all, Artisans need to be free to do what they wish, when they wish. They resist being tied or bound or confined or obligated; they would rather not wait, or save, or store, or live for tomorrow. In the Artisan view, today must be enjoyed, for tomorrow never comes.

Artisans make up between 15 to 20 percent of the population, which is good, because they create much of the beauty, grace, fun, and excitement the rest of us enjoy in life.

very true...

..:: 543. The One With Stardust ::..

fri was a mad rush. u can literally see the non athletes from HRC sprint across the free access lab. deadline was 6pm and everyone started printing like 10 mins before deadline. murphy's law always prevails and all printers except for one stopped working, either spoilt or no paper. some had to sprint to the prof office to ask for time extension - so daytona reminiscence.

at last we managed to hand in but left out our reference page :X but our kind hearted prof accepted our reference page as email. i guess jiayi must have dropped a few strands of hair worrying that we might be charged with plagiarism. ok of course i was worried too, my project too... but i dropped hair leg instead can? been using a branded shampoo called billy jealousy which strengthen and thicken my hair (head) cos i know i will faint if someone tells me i am balding ...

finally get to watch stardust. wonderful show. not much magical but more of a magical touch to romance. Michelle Pfeiffer still looked as glamorous and she's 49 this yr. i will always remember in what lies beneath, a thriller that made bath-tubs scary. and also i am sam, touching show...

did some retail therapy and got a good deal. fila polo tees 3 for 50 bucks. where to find? PS lo.

been listening to jay's new album, courtesy of SA =) nice album but my mood seems to take a plunge as the songs get more emo. been feeding on M&M for the endorphine dosage i need.

engaging in 抢救GPA大作战, so looking forward to a stay at ritz carlton during christmas =)