the elitism saga

the whole saga about the article posted by wee shu min on her blog.
i havent been following.
so i doubt i'm in the position to comment.
and i dont really have much to comment.

but well. i guess there seems to be way too much attention given to a post.
probably due to the fact that she's the daughter of an mp afterall.

honestly.
i dont agree with her views.
at least i dont agree with those chunks that i briefly read through from what some
other people manage to extract from her blog before it got closed.

still.
there isnt a need for some extreme views to link it to elites in general.
i wouldnt brand myself as an elite just because of where i studied in.
elitism is a branding society places on a certain group of people.
of cos she recognised and acknowledged that branding.
but that's not always the case for everyone who studies in the top few schools in singapore.

i can only say.
she probably isnt matured enough.
given the comments that she posted.
i guess it's possibly due to the world that she has been exposed to.
afterall, i dont really think everyone can have such a wide worldview.

still.
my opinion is that.
some hastily generalise.
pointing fingers at all of the so-called "elites" in singapore.
some as much as a mistake she has committed.
posted replies or comments just as immature as she is.
thinking that their worldview is the right one too.

i dont say mine is a superbly fantastic view.
showing maturity and all.
but i just dont think it's right to generalise.
and i dont think that all the comments make sense.
of course there are i suppose.
i havent read them all.

oh well.
i dont think i've much to comment anymore.
i'm just bored.
and randomly posting some random thoughts.

time to get to mugging!

perspective shift

sometimes.
i think i do need the perspective shift.
half-full or half-empty?
indeed i've been blessed in many ways.
yet at times i overlook the blessings that i receive.
and magnify those problems.
time to really count my blessings.

some updates.

yesterday.
had dinner with some of the committee people.
ate at azabu restaurant.

conclusion
the food there isnt that fantastic.
the display on the outside looks quite good.
but personally i think the food is average.
and some of the waiters were rather rude in my opinion.
well.
it was quite a dinner still.


food galore!
clockwise from top left
display at the entrance of the store
bento - the height of the box isnt a reflection of the amount!
teriyaki bento which i had
tempura bento


desserts.
banana-ble.
mango-licious.
greentea-ish.
chocolate-ty.

today had been a long day.
kind of worn out.
but i'm glad God sustained me.
i reached school super early. but i'm glad because it gave me enough time to prepare.
i walked quite a fair bit around school to rush to one end to the other. but i'm glad that i worked out a bit since i dont usually get to.
i used up quite some strength carrying things around. but i'm glad that there were people to help.
i had presentation which i totally had no confident of the night before. but i'm glad there was encouragement by others.


i got my finger bruised while carrying things.
but i'm so happy that my booth stuff looks colourful.
at least from this picture it does.

i need to learn to see the 90% of blessings that i've got.
and not the 10% that i've missed out.

a day in my life

the start of the week.
one more week closer to exams.
yes the exam fever seems to be high.
i already know of people preparing for exams already.
quite scary.
eeks.

wasnt exactly a fantastic start to a day.

first thing was the lack of sleep.
yet i woke up when the alarm rang.

next was reaching school at an unusually early time.
7.39 am.
when my class is at 8.30 am.
end up dozing off at one of the benches.

then went printing my notes.
only to end up with a printer that prints with an extra black bar at the top of the paper.
ruining my notes.
how unsightly.
which only resulted in yet another stupid incident.
argh.
at times i wonder what's wrong with me.

i know it's stupid.
i dont want to react the way i did.
but sometimes i really dont understand.
i thought it is known that i dont really bother about certain small issues.
but maybe i was awfully wrong.
i dont see a need to draw such clear definite lines.
sometimes i really dont know how to bring the idea across.
cos it just seem to be such a really small little thing.
and i really dont like the way i seem to over-react.
but honestly, i never once feel good whenever things end up blown out of proportion.
maybe there's just things i ought to learn.

sometimes i think it's worse off making people unhappy.
cos it makes only makes you unhappier.
and i never really know how to start making things right.

i know sometimes i really put people's patience to a test.
i know sometimes i just make small things big.
i know sometimes the more i dont know express, the more exasperated i make others.
i'll do what i can to change.
it's not easy but i know where i can draw my strength from.

and i know sometimes not all things go right.
cos if they do. you'll take blessings for granted.

and i'm glad things got better.

school was a long day.
it may not have started all well.
but it ended fine.

celebrated samuel's birthday.
he was so freaked out that i would make some din in the lt.
stupid guy. totally disregarding everyone's intentions to help him celebrate.
end up making him stand on the bench outside the lt as we sing him the birthday song.
almost wanted to make him sing it himself.

after that stayed around in school.
till it was time for meeting.

reached the meeting venue earlier.
and wanted to get a snack from the vending machine.
but the uncle was topping it up.
so went up to him to tell him what i wanted.
intended to pay him.
when he just waved his hands.
signalling that i need not pay.
woah. free snack.

after the meeting went jp.
got my dinner.
when i got home.
i realised that when i ordered ljs combo 1.
i got 3 pieces of chicken instead of 2!
goodness.
extra!

and an email that i received was really lovely.
yes i'll count my blessings.

honestly.
it wasnt that bad a day still.
i'm glad there's the rainbow after the rain.

anyway.
some pictures that i havent posted.


got this from my student on saturday.
what she claims to be a belated teachers' day present.
a cute notebook.
the wings of the butterfly can be folded up to make the cover 3d.


oikos on saturday.
ended up being a cell group day.
pool and bowling are totally things that i am lousy at.
i've added to my list yet another crazy stunt i did!
wow!
but dinner was good!
ate at newton circus.
decided to try laksa after not eating it for ages.
end up feel the pain in the throat.
really cannot take spicy stuff.
eeks.


my artwork from yesterday night.
was busy doing the publicity stuff.
i'm so proud of my work.
it's colourful!


something i saw today at singpost.
went to pay my bills.
only to catch sight of a winnie the pooh stamp set.
goodness.
so lovely.
hehe.

well. that's all for now.
time to get back to work.

einstein's riddle

question: who owns the fish?

in a street there are 5 houses painted 5 different colours.
in each house lives a person of a different nationality.
the 5 homeowners each drink a different beverage, smokes a different brand of cigarettes and keeps a different pet.
who owns the fish?

hints:
the british man lives in a red house.
the swede keeps dogs as pets.
the dane drinks tea.
the green house is on the left of the white house.
the green house owner drinks coffee.
the person who smokes pall mall rears birds.
the owner of the yellow house smokes dunhill.
the man living in the house right in the center drinks milk.
the norwegian lives in the first house.
the man who smokes blend lives next to the man who keeps cats.
the man who keeps horses lives next to the man who smokes dunhill.
the owner who smokes blue master drinks beer.
the german smokes prince.
the norwegian lives next to the blue house.
the man who smokes blend has a neighbout who drinks water.

this email was sent to me by a friend.
saying that albert einstein wrote this riddle in the early 20th century.
said that 98% of the population would not be able to solve it.

hehe. after trying it for some time.
managed to get the answer!
hehe.
wanna give this a try?

and the answer is...

the german

the things in life

some things change...


new thing!
the cathy now has free wireless access.
how cool!


interesting find!
at the cadbury website.
there's this chocolate machine game.
quite cute!

some things don't...


the haze is just as bad.
and the PSI fluctuates like crazy each day.
eeks.
i think it's slowly affecting my throat.
bleh.


the school workload is still as heavy.
and i'm getting stressed.
just managed to clear up one of my very important assignments.
i hope it's ok.
and i feel rather incompetent when it comes to the project that i'm doing.
reading all the other parts done by my groupmates.
i feel as if i mine totally needs to be rewritten.
gosh.
need to really work on it again.
step on it!
go go jia you!

but well when i'm stressed i do give time to indulge in sweet stuff.
colourful chocolate coated sunflower seeds.
tiramisu cake from the school cafe.
and even cheesecake that mum brought back. eating it with chocolate ice-cream.
hehe.


one other thing that doesn't change.
God's blessings!
an assignment that i wasnt confident of when i studied for it.
really thank God i still managed to get a rather good grade.
i hope i can maintain that and not fail in my responsibility of being a good student!

quite some things to handle.
and i shall really have to discipline myself to work on them!
ganbatte!

when there was me and you

it's funny when you find yourself

looking from the outside

i'm standing here but all i want

is to be over there

why did i let myself believe

miracles could happen

cause now i have to pretend

that i don't really care

i thought you were my fairytale

a dream when i'm not sleeping

a wish upon a star

that's coming true

but everybody else could tell

that i confused my feelings with the truth

when there was me and you

i swore i knew the melody

that i heard you singing

and when you smiled

you made me feel

like i could sing along

but then you went and changed the words

now my heart is empty

i'm only left with used-to-be's

once upon a song

now i know you're not a fairytale

and dreams were meant for sleeping

and wishes on a star

just don't come true

cause now even i can tell

that i confused my feelings with the truth

cause i liked the view

when there was me and you

i can't believe that

i could be so blind

it's like you were floating

while i was falling

and i didn't mind

cause i liked the view

thought you felt it too

when there was me and you

a song from the high school musical ost.
really nice.
man the girl's voice is power.
how cool how cool.
and the tune is nice.
disney's songs are ever so fantastic.
got down to listening to it finally after a long time.
haha.
there's other nice tracks too.
hehe.
so cool.

a very simple week for this week.
a very packed week coming ahead.
and i've got this assignment to finish up real soon.
and yet i havent got started.
kind of stressing.
project too.
hmmm. now come to think of it.
really i'm in need of proper management.
got to work a little harder.

i've got nothing much to update.
this week simply passed so quickly.
gosh. i need to really grasp hold of time.
gotta go go jia you! :)

bugged

yet another time i'm bugged.
the flu bug just loves coming for a visit once in a while.
and each time it does.
it totally ruins my day.

for one.
i couldnt go for the blood donation drive.
since they wouldnt want some sickly person's blood.

for two.
i cant focus at all.
came back home and totally just cant seem to get my readings absorbed into my brain.
totally crazy.

for three.
the discomfort of blowing my nose is like.
eeewwwwww.
it's just sick.
and i think i blew my nose so much till there was some skin abrasion.
there was blood this afternoon.
looks as if i'm suffering from some terminal disease like that.
how -.-

that aside.
things arent all that bad.

monday's quiz was.
ok.
thank God most of what i studied and remembered came out.
didnt do fantastically well.
but i think it was good enough.
at least i dont feel lousy after the quiz.

and also.
it chanced upon me to ask ps about the sweetest thing that someone said to her before.
and i guess in our lives.
there's definitely more than just that one person who said things that just brings you smiles.
i thank God for placing wonderful people around me in my life.
thinking sometimes of what some of them said before to me just brings that happy feeling despite what i can be going through.
and of course. i thank God for His love.
for one of the sweetest thing He has said is:

"And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

(Matthew 28:20)

time to sit down and think through what others have spoken to each and everyone of us today.
and appreciate what has been said to you.
:)

more "haze" less speed

bleh.
the haze problem is getting from bad to worse.
man. there's some serious need to look into the issue of forest fires.

well.
it's yet another week.
to think i've not updated for some time it seems yet again.

had a quiz on monday which was quite disastrous.
hope the teacher does some moderation.
bleh.
i've got one more quiz coming up on monday again!
gosh.
sometimes i really dislike mid-term papers.


thursday had a seminar that was elearning in school.
quite silly.
cos elearning was supposed to be such that we can go for class anywhere so long as there's internet access.
yet, cos we had other lessons in school.
we had to do it in the computer lab.
quite a funny session though.
crappy but still. quite interesting.

quite a simple week without much stuff except schoolwork.
of course there's busy-ness in handling upcoming event.
which totally got me going quite flustered.
because the person in-charge got quite some things done only last minute.
thank God that things were in place so nicely giving me time to get things done.

some interesting things to just randomly post about.


this is a very interesting biscuit that i saw at ntuc!
bought it and it's quite nice.
hehe.
so cute.
and it's with chocolate.
hehe.
lovely.


the boon lay bus interchange now.
under demolition.
what a messy state.
doubt it's helping to solve the air pollution problem.


and this really cool movie coming out on 19th oct.
death note is one really cool manga.
initially didnt have an idea what it was all about.
until i was told of the details.
did some online search.
and hehe. shall go take a look at the manga.
looks super super cool!

ok. shall really have to focus on studying!
there's quiz on monday.
gosh.

two's a company three's a crowd?!?!

haha. not quite.
three of us had fun.
it was supposed to be a class gathering.
but well.
i guess because it was planned only at the eleventh hour.
so in the end there was only teeseng, weisin and i.
haha.

but we had quite some fun.
in fact it was quite an extraordinary outing i suppose.
haha.
at least for me it was one.


weisin was late cos of his coaching class.
so teeseng and i ended up having dinner first.
we had previously planned for dinner at marina square.
but decided to change to raffles city the marketplace.
cos there are simply so much more new additions to that basement place.
oh man. there's even ben&jerry's there now.
eeks.
but well. we settled for dinner at this place which i cant really remember the name.
i ended up having bbf. beer battered fish.
teeseng had sthg else with cheesy sausage.
one cute thing is the fried mars bar. but we didnt try.
cos we wanted to reserve our dessert compartment for a better dessert!
and we took a picture at the store where we had to stand and eat!

headed for esplanade after that went weisin came.
and we decided to settle for desserts at...


max brenner!
haha.
to think that i came up with such an idea.
teeseng and i were just walking around city link area initially to find a place for dinner.
walked to new york new york only to be put off by the LONG queue.
and on the way back towards raffles city, we saw godiva's chocolate-dipped strawberries.
which reminded us of fondue.
and we were throwing ideas.
and tada! settled for max brenner.
how wonderfully imaginative our minds were.
at max brenner we had fondue. belgian waffel. weisin ordered a strawberry drink but i cant remember the name.
the fondue was splendidly served with 3 types of chocolate - dark chocolate, milk chocolate and white chocolate. strawberries, bananas, bread and marshmellows.
yummy!


all the funny shots we took.
it's just so silly to have teeseng around.
he took so so so much wacky shots.


photos at max brenner again.
with that lovely super interesting backdrop.
it was such a wonderful first time at max brenner!


a photo of all 3 of us at max brenner.
well-taken by the waitress at the shop.
she retook this one cos she noted that teeseng had his eyes closed in the first!
and she avoided the mess we created on the table!
how smart!


and went to the esplanade rooftop for the first time!
haha. sometimes i wonder if i'm living on earth.
but yea. we zipai a shot.
end up being unable to see a thing of the back.
it was supposed to be the night skyline of the city overlooking singapore river.
i look super white.
man must be the flash.


and we watched this children's day special performance they were having at the esplanade bay.
man a super cool bunch of young children with superb talents in dancing and singing.
lovely and fantastic great voice.
i doubt i can sing better than them lor.
it was a really really cool performance.

this basically sums up our 3 people gathering.
it was fun la.
they are good company!
haha.
a unique way of spending a saturday night.
who says two's a company three's a crowd?
if so, this crowd is fun to be with!
hehe.