Summer Stylings

With the horrible heat that I was suffering from in Kch the past few days, it only seemed appropriate to browse through the fashion sites I read and check out the must-haves of this season.

I skipped the swimsuit section because I have no interest in bikinis nor have a set of washboard abs for it, but one thing I couldn't help noticing on many an entry was the hype about city shorts / chic shorts / tailored shorts... whichever suits your taste.

I am a HUGE fan of city shorts - in case anyone hasn't noticed. I love the versatility of the few pairs I own, be it dressing them down for a (hot and humid) day out around the city or glamming them up with accessories and heels for a more dressy occasion. There's really nothing a pair of stilettos and a chunky cuff can't do ;)

One of the celebs whom I've seen pull this style off immaculately is Lauren Conrad. Some people might argue if she can even be considered a celeb. Haha. Well, I have watched a couple of episodes of 'The Hills' on MTV (guilty as charged) but I have yet to find something LC wears that I do not agree with. She experiments with all looks, and I love the classiness of her outfits with that little bit of funk so it doesn't look TOO dreary at all times.

Another of Lauren's signature looks is the subtle way she wears a braid, which to me is the most flattering way of pulling off a braid by far.....which brings me around to the topic of another increasingly popular summer look: The Braid.

I would definitely go with the way Lauren does hers: by braiding a small portion of the fringe and pulling it back with a barette or a clip. If you have bangs, you can always improvise with braiding one of the choppier / shorter layers of your hair. No worries about the choppier bits of your hair sticking out, you can always get rid of them with some pins in place.

I've realised that the older I grow, the less inclined I have become towards strappy or strapless stuff that show a little too much skin for anyone's comfort, necklines that just ask for trouble or micro mini skirts that just make it inconvenient for sitting, walking and well basically everything. Maybe this is part of growing up and becoming a mature adult, who knows. Maybe it's just that my body is becoming less athletic, hence less feasible to show off (gasp!!! hell no!! hahaha), maybe I'm just becoming more adventurous and more willing to experiment with different looks.

As much as I am interested in trends, however, I'm definitely not one to go for the Boho look, but sometimes a little touch of something interesting can add that fine line between looking classy and poised AND looking just old and boring (because sometimes it CAN be very fine indeed). Let's face it, nobody wants to look too dowdy TOO soon, not especially when they're just in their twenties, hey? ;)

I'm a Mac!

So finally after much research and bombarding a zillion people with a zillion questions, I finally gave in to peer pressure and switched to a Mac. 

The 13.3" Unibody Macbook Pro, to be exact. 

Am still reeling from excitement and disbelief. It's hard to believe that I am a Mac user now. This must be the year for being tech savvy and refining my skills, because soon I'll be a Blackberry user too :) 

It was a little difficult adapting and getting used to a Mac the first hour after I brought it home, and the only thing I could do properly was chat on MSN and Skype with Wynken and Nod, eventually got sick of fiddling around aimlessly and went to sleep. 

Things have gotten better now, and I'm actually loving the MBP Touchpad. Man, whoever said Macbook Pros were smart was NOT being corny! Next up on the list: Figuring out iWorks and Office for Mac, because this is what my Mac will be mainly for right? *ahem* Essays and Assignments.

Hopefully my Mac and I will be GREAT friends soon! :)

Thumbs Ups

The First Thumbs Up of the week could only have belonged to, none other than the Great Man himself, Roger Federer...officially the most Successful Player in Grand Slam History. Only with his resilience could he have defeated the amazing Rocket that Roddick was to reclaim his Wimbledon title, and he DID JUST THAT.

It was probably the most amazing tennis final of my life...towards the end I was screaming at the TV (and my brother thought Voon had indeed come over to watch it with me - she stood me up at the last minute - so I must have been making quite a bit of noise).

Second Thumbs Up of the week in my book unexpectedly came about when I watched a series of MJ's videos on Videoscope Channel V only to notice that he WAS indeed a pretty incredible dancer, and very flexible at that.....erm in the past. Haha. After that I started becoming a tad addicted to 'Black or White' , and I even went and downloaded a bunch of his songs from all albums. In my defence, my dad was the one who voiced an interest in buying his albums, and I offered to pirate them for free ;)

Third Thumbs Up goes out to Apple and the 13" Macbook Pro....soon to be mine :) I'm all jittery and a bundle of nerves....just like a stupid giggly school girl seeing her High School Crush. My fingers were itching today after I visited the store. Can't wait for tomorrow. Will write more about my Mac then.

My Fourth Thumbs Up goes out to a Primary School friend whom I had not kept in contact with in AGES and had not seen since I was last 11 (so go figure!)- I think the last time was when I was doing A-Levels at CC, and she was in Melb - but whom I had found again on Facebook recently, and who actually wrote me a really long message updating me on her life. It might sound cliched, but it really gave me a warm fuzzy feeling inside!

And my final Thumbs Up of the week to round it all off goes out to my best fried Momo Voonie, because after spending a good half hour browsing through her blog entries on her panels and the road to Studio, I'm feeling rather defeated and inadequate, as to how my mind could never wrap itself around something like that to produce feasible work - give me 10 portfolios and OSCE's any day! I can't even bring myself to design my own gown to be custom-made, or anything fashion-related....lest buildings and layouts for a sustainable Melbourne. All thumbs up to you, girl! Really! I guess that is the main reason why I am not Alyssa Sim , Architect.

So that rounds off the things on my list which have deserved my Hats-Off this week! It's been a good one so far.

Game, Set, Match

So after a whole term of being insanely busy mugging for finals and after that packing, AND missing out on the Roland Garros, I finally started watching tennis properly again yesterday.


And what else, but the Grand Slam everyone covets after the most: Wimbledon.

I'd put off watching matches properly up till yesterday (well the day before actually, when I saw Safina book a place in the semis) because I really DON'T like watching the ladies play (sorry Jenn haha) and like Woogui mentioned, the only one who does not look like a monster is Sharapova anyway, and she was chucked out pretty early. So I'd waited up till the Mens Quarter Finals to start following the tournament conscientiously.

The Federer Express certainly didn't disappoint, yet again. His was the first amongst the Mens Quarter Final matches, and he was the first to go through to the Semis....his 21st Semi-Final to be precise, and he certainly did it with style. Watching Federer defeat Karlovic in straight-set wins certainly brought back memories of my squash tournaments last year, and the year before that.

I know for a fact that I don't possess much in skills as a squash player besides the fact that I have a, as Chui Munn puts it, 'killer serve'. And that certainly was the case for Karlovic. The stats at the beginning of the match proved rather scary, when they announced the number of aces Karlovic had achieved so far this Wimbledon, and yet apart from the massive serve, he proved no match for Federer, who seemed to take it all in stride as though it was a warm-up to the real deal.

That just goes to show that a top-class player is comprised of so much more than just serving 137 mph, or lunging around the court with insane stamina (ahemahem). I've always said time and time again that tennis is a gentleman's game, and no one except Federer could fit the picture better. His composure is amazing, and no one could possibly realise how much effort it takes to remain THIS calm all the time.

I also caught a major portion of the Ferrero-Murray game, and it was clear from the start who was going to emerge the victor. Murray's game (apparently) has improved tremendously this Wimbledon, although to be honest I've never really watched him play, but I'm sure a good many British citizens are rooting for a Brit to claim the Wimbledon crown, simply because it is an English tournament. As for me, I never really did like his hot-headedness. Bias, I know. But what the hell. Hahaha.

With my poor Djoker out of the tournament (SOBS HMPH *throws withering glare at Haas*), I am now unbiased and ready to support whoever is the deserved champion of this Wimbledon. May the best man win. I've been praising Fed so much this entire entry that it sounds like I am a Federer fan. Pffttt I am, first and foremost, a Djokovic fan, but he's been soooo inconsistent lately that I have no choice but to find a new person to root for this remaining tournament. Haha

Ahhh.....what can I say, I've always thought that Federer was in a class of his own (with Nadal safely out of sight this time), and even if I may not be a Number 1 Federer fan, I still say, Federer BETTER reclaim his crown!


Definitely looking forward to more Centre Court action.

Blackberry 101

Some time back, I got hooked on to the idea of switching to a Blackberry Smartphone in the midst of procrastinating for exam preparations. I think the very first thing that managed to catch my eye was the 'Push Email' function, and secondly, the Blackberry Messenger function (BBM), enabling one Blackberry user to BBM another for absolutely free.

I'm one of those people who can't stand it when others take 10000 years to reply emails, as I check my Inbox very, very regularly and reply all important e-mails pronto. Hence, a Blackberry would enable me to keep all my emails up to date, if I could just reply them any time I wanted from my phone. The plus point is that it is 'Push E-mail', meaning that the notification comes as a text msg (sort of), compared to other phones where you'd have to download the e-mail to be read.

I managed to spread my influence and sell the idea of how amazing a Blackberry was to Nicholas, who was instantly conned (HAHA) and went ahead and got a Blackberry even before I could. Pffttt. Well, on a more serious note, I DID do my research, and concluded that the swankiest 'IT Phone' to get was definitely the Blackberry Bold:

Given, I know the Blackberry Storm is newer, AND it is Blackberry's first Touch Screen phone, but I've read many reviews that describe the Storm's touch screen function as being not user-friendly compared to the iPhone's.

So I figured, why make life so difficult. I would be a nightmare with touch screen phones anyway. It took me ages to even figure out how to search someone's name and call that contact on my friend's iPhone, and despite the Apple Fan I am.....no one can deny that the Blackberry is a class above all else. Why else is it called a Smart Phone? ;)

And yes, I do realise that Blackberrys aren't the slimmest/thinnest/smallest phones in the market, but hey......what are our bags for anyway? ;) "Join the BB Clan", as Voon puts it, and Jump on the Bandwagon!

Looking forward to getting my Blackberry this August!!

Because to me, you are perfect

I was just in the mood for sappy stuff and found these off a site while surfing: Le Love Image
.

I think I haven't been sappy for a really REALLY long time. Time and age have turned me into someone more cynical and more realistic. In a good way, I always say, because there's always a balance needed to everything, and I'm pretty sure I've reached that now.

So until I find that imperfect somebody, I can definitely still replace him with my OHCM and Harrisons ;)

Macbook Mania

It's funny how just last summer, when my mum suggested the idea of switching to a Macbook, (Yes, my mum is about 3 steps ahead of me in terms of current trends / technology sometimes) that I completely veto-ed the idea because I thought that Macs were sooooo different from PC's and I just didn't have the brain capacity to learn and apply new technology. Buaya suggested that I switch to a Mac as well, but I reiterated the same reply.....and it was only then that he told me that Windows could be installed on to the Mac, and I could switch between the two if I liked.

Well, here I am, one whole year later.....and completely set on getting a Macbook. Be it the Classic Macbook or the Macbook Pro, because Apple only recently updated their 13" Aluminium Classic Macbook to become a Macbook Pro. But am most definitely leaning towards the 13" Macbook Pro....simply because Yuan Lih noted that the white plastic Mac could turn into a yellow Mac at some point in the near future.

So I've been boring Ian and Kel and any other Mac user I can think of with tons and tons of questions....but nothing has really changed the fact that I am most definitely going to get a Mac when I go back to Kch.

I've even been watching some Mac tutorials online! Hehehe. If only I was THIS enthusiastic and THIS prepared for all my medical exams!

OR

I'm turning into an Apple Fan already. I just recently got my Ipod Nano (YES I know again that I'm outdated....but I never had much use for mp3 players before this until the headphones on my Creative one failed me), and I've been using it wherever I go!

So hopefully all goes well and I have better luck with laptops this time around after I purchase my Macbook. Or Macbook Pro. So that I'll be a full-fledged Apple fan not just because of their sleek designs (ahemNodahem) but because they are worth every cent that I pay for.

Blynken

Meet Blynken:

Call me sappy or childish or just a schmuck. But I don't think I've grinned this much to myself in ages :)

XXX

The first dose of exasperation after finals loomed in the form of a panic attack in the middle of the night when it suddenly dawned on me that due date on my forms/applications was the 1st of June '09 when they had only been sent to me the very evening before, and it was then already a Friday night.

Later I was told that the deadline had been altered, much to my relief but it hadn't changed the fact that I had too little time left for all other proceedings very much at all.

So I guess I spoke a little too soon when I said that all summer plans were right in place, because it was with great reluctance that I chose the right thing to do, rather than the choice I would have liked to opt for, by scraping Melb/Ade/GC right out of my summer plans and choosing to stay put in the country and finalise all applications before the pushed forward date of departure.

I'm really sorry =(((( But I really don't have much of a choice at all. I hope I'll get to see Manda at some point....some day.....and the rest of you guys too.

Meanwhile, life has been filled with juggling stress from applications and guffawing with laughter at two of the funniest people on the planet ;) You know who you are. Haha. Will definitely miss the uncontrollable laughter. It's been a while since the days of being unable to smile or laugh genuinely from the heart, and I have much to be thankful for.

To those whom I've appeared to be missing in action for ages, catchas soon :)

Passed!

Summer Plans all in place!

YEAYYYYY!!!! :)

Grateful and Thankful in all ways.....once again.

Somethin' Special

"Sometimes in life there really are bonds formed that can never be broken.

Sometimes you really can find that one person who will stand by you no matter what.

Maybe you will find it in a spouse and celebrate it with your dream wedding.

But there's also the chance that the one person you can count on for a lifetime, the one person who knows you sometimes better than you know yourself ...is the same person who's been standing beside you all along."

Finally got round to watching 'Bride Wars' over the weekend after downloading it. Yes, I know....outdated much? Strangely enough, I liked it more than I was expecting myself to. I have a thing for movies along the theme of special connections or unbreakable bonds of friendship between two people, and it was inevitable that when my favourite part (the ending) came about, I was reminded again of how much I actually miss Manda and Niffy.

I decided to be optimistic and count my blessings that I had actually met such fabulous people and had the fortune of keeping them around to call my besties, albeit not physically :)

Then it struck me that I was probably going to miss Nod and Wynken completely, terribly...and horribly all too soon.

Ah well... :)

I must not lose my head. I must not lose my head. I must not lose my head. I must not lose my head. I must not lose my head.

Worst mood in ages.

I might bite. Beware. Till then, I'm steering clear.

Bleh.

One in a Million

Why can't all weekends be like this? :)

x

Obsession Du Jour

I must be the most unfocused and air-headed person in the world, because all that is on my mind right now are THESE:

The Ferragamo Varina!

Possibly in this colour, because well, Nudes are IN this season. And I would just die for a few pairs of these in different shades!

This is why I love Liverpool. Serious Shit =)

Because I have to remember the 14th of March 2009 as the day Liverpool beat Man Utd at Old Trafford 4-1.....the biggest win they've had since 1936!!!! Not to mention the last time Liverpool won at OT was Danny Murphy's penalty in 2004.
(gosh that kind of just shows how lousy and erratic they can be, isn't it? damn)

Have been re-watching Goal Highlights. And I still love Liverpool long time. As with Gerrard and Torres.

It's not over yet!!

This has definitely been one of the best weeks yet. Yes, my life is so mundane that I now rely on Liverpool's performance to brighten it up. Trashing Real 4-0 and yesterday, Man Utd.
:))))

Trends

Just for the record, some trends are impossible to follow.

Harem pants; Boho looks with the shiny headbands that go around your forehead, embossing a mark in the process (we aren't all Nicole Richie, really); a distressed top with leather leggings, the 'Labyrinth look'; tapered trousers; purple lipstick/lipgloss......*shudders*

But as much as this may make some of your eyebrows shoot way up past your hairline in shock....I have always liked Vanessa Hudgens' sense of style. She is a huge fan of the Balenciaga city bag and the Miu Miu Bow Messenger, as am I, and she just manages to pull off everything oh so well. (Okay I admit I AM a tad biased - I am a huge fan of Zanessa). Hmmm I digress again.

WELL...the point I'm getting to is that with the 411 being: JUMPSUITS ARE IN, I have been carefully analysing these outfits online and on certain celebs as of late. And I was a tad critical of checking it off as a YES on my Trendy List until I saw a recent picture of Zanessa at the Watchmen premiere.....with Vanessa totally rocking her jumpsuit!!!!

Now I'm definitely looking for something like that. Something flowery, short and fun without being over the top in any way. Just something very subtle, as per my usual style.

There is a narrow line between pulling off a jumpsuit and looking trendy, AND looking sadly 'wannabe' in some of those badly-designed jumpsuits that make you look like an astronaut or a construction worker. To me, the trick is to go subtle and to keep in mind that long jumpsuits are way harder to pull off than short ones.

I have no doubt that these suits will probably be horribly inconvenient if you are in dire need of the bathroom or suffering from a severe case of diarrhoea....but I am willing to give it a shot anyway. My mantra in fashion has always been to try out all the trends, albeit reasonably and.....

Yup, you guessed it. Subtly ;)

The Caste System

Okay so I admit I sort of stole the title off one of the SATC episodes, but the inspiration that came brought about this post is non-SATC related. (Yes, I know....I'm indugling in too much SAT - can't help it though...love it to bits).

Anyway moving on:

A thought struck me the other day. Why is it that we Malaysians have a tendency to just overlook and 'see through' incidences that happen right in front of us, be it good or bad, and even when we are frowning severely upon something that we completely disapprove of, or are appalled by.

Most of the time.....if we see someone flagging cars frantically by the side of the road, we sail right by them with the notion that hitch-hikers are possibly muggers in disguise.

Or if we watch someone being mugged openly in the streets and launches into a screaming or chasing spree, the nicest citizen around will assist no more than take several steps back to clear the path for the victim so he/she can run after the thief.

Are we all so jaded that nobody actually takes anything seriously anymore? Have we all become so cynical and suspicious of everything and everyone around us that we have lost all the principles that we have stood so strongly by our whole lives?

I, for one, as guilty am charged. And it bugs me greatly.

A couple of days ago, in the midst of making notes for my presentation, a loud, disturbing scene outside the room distracted me momentarily and my eyes were drawn to the scene, after a which an expression of pure disgust and horror was etched on my face for a very long time.

Since when did social stratification exist amongst students? Since when did any of us practise the caste system that assigned individuals to their 'destined' places in social hierarchy just because of their heritage / culture / background? Were we in the 21st century or Middle Aged India?

I have never been a person to believe in demeaning or looking down our noses at others, who are, in fact, no different from ourselves in terms of social status or cultural heritage. We are ALL medical students for crying out loud. There is a need to swallow our pride at every milestone in our career. How will an ego trip benefit you now, when working with consultants in the future will hurt your seemingly gigantic ego even further, being at the bottom of the medical food chain?

True, I am not the nicest person in this world. I do not flash bright smiles and dish out free hugs willingly to people whom I dislike. I am not pretentious in any way. But I am not irrational either. There are obvious limits to my decisions and the actions I decide to take, simply because I know that everything I do, be it to others or myself, defines me as a person, and shapes my image accordingly.

I may have a thing for bad boys, but no way in hell am I a bad girl. Or an unclassy one, to be precise. I have my principles and my stands and I know the difference between right and wrong.

I have deviated horribly from my main point.

The fact that I was horrified by the treatment that a certain group of people were dishing out on to a few poor freshmen souls were enough to ensure that my humanity and passion was still intact.

But the fact that I continued to sit there and do nothing about it, was horrifying.

In all retrospect, I should have stood up, gone out, and spoken to them politely but firmly, that there wasn't a soul in this place that had bestowed this 'power' upon them to act like Kings of the social caste.

Clean up your act, guys. Discrimination based on YOUR self-created 'caste' is getting old.

And for that matter, the next time I see something like that again, I promise myself that I am putting my foot down and INTO the circle.

Just for the sake of updating this blog...

Contrary to my mum's belief, I am not 'studying too hard' or 'stressing out unnecessarily'. Instead, I am doing quite the opposite.

So I have really no idea why the hell I am still unable to sleep at night.

I'm supposed to be mugging hard right about now but I detoured to Net-a-Porter instead and spent my time sifting through De La Renta and McQueen and Mint Jodi Arnold and keeping the images in my head so that the next time I visit High Street stores, I can look out for similar styles without forking out 5000 US Dollars for a cocktail dress. I draw the line at Marc by Marc Jacobs and BCBG. Or rather, my Credit Card does. Haha.























I have a newfound love for Mint Jodi Arnold, and the purple silk of that dress just adds icing to the cake. I have yet to own a purple outfit/dress that is highly outstanding. Purple itself makes statements on its own, and it takes a great deal of poise and style to pull off wearing something in that colour without looking distastefully tacky or loud. And at USD$500, it isn't half as bad as the thousand dollar red Preen Power Bandage dress. I guess. If I can even find a Mint Jodi Arnold store around that is NOT in the US. Sigh.

There are certain styles that you tend to associate with a person when you see an outfit, and I do the same with myself. My sense of style has evolved slowly throughout the years though, possibly with age, possibly with experience.....who knows. I've gone from funky to hiphop Adidas Originals streetwear, to a zillion other things, and now I think I am just simply in for anything Classic yet trendy.

OK enough about fashion. My sense of style has been deteriorating slowly but surely as of late, and I can't even be bothered to accessorise anymore, when at one point in the past, that was the one thing I really prided myself on. And oh, I have the loveliest dark circles under my eyes to match.


This weekend is going to be filled with more and more monotonous studying (I hope). Last weekend was really fun, and even though I spent most of the weekend talking to people until 4 am, I had not laughed so much either since this year began. Unfortunately, that is short-lived for the moment. Or so it seems.

Back to more Peripheral Nervous System crap.

He's Just Not That Into You

I first picked up this phrase frm SATC, where Miranda was introduced to this concept by Carrie's Man of the Moment.

Ever since, I've been reciting it in my head. I particularly like enunciating it where necessary. Read as shown:

He's just not that into you.

Unfortunately, I haven't had the guts like Miranda to actually spread the gospel to others yet, well who am I to dish out advice like this when I, like Carrie and the rest of the girls, have spent a fair bit of my life deciphering mixed messages.

Maybe it's all like what Berger said:

"With men, there are no mixed messages. If we like you, we're coming upstairs."

And I really, REALLY believe that it's true. Well, save for certain extenuating circumstances. But isn't life so much simpler without the constant pain of reading in between the lines and constantly pondering why this or that happened, amidst juggling hot-cold tendencies and trying to turn them into a more favourable answer?

I guess there probably are no love-hate relationships in this world. You either mean what you say or say what you mean.

So the next time something like this happens, I'm embracing the gospel with open arms and an open heart.
There are no mixed messages.

He's just not that into you.

PS: I'm so watching the movie soon.

Slumdog Millionaire

So it was by pure chance that I stumbled across a Youtube video of local Harrow lad, Dev Patel on the Ellen DeGeneres show. I have a soft spot for Ellen DeGeneres by the way. I think she's the cat's pyjamas and pretty damn funny to boot. He wasn't exactly very good looking. A tad too thin and not to mention extremely boyish (hello....18!), but he had the most fabulous British accent AND I came to realise that he was the star of the much talked about Slumdog Millionaire which had scooped up a bunch of awards at the Golden Globes.

The storyline sounded pretty interesting so I decided to d/l it to have a watch. While waiting for it to finish, Zhin and I discussed bits of the movie and other things on MSN, but the one thing I remembered distinctly was being completely aghast when my file finished downloading and I opened it up only to realise one glaring point I had forgotten. It was a Bollywood film. Well, not exactly Bollywod per se but it was based in Mumbai and obviously it had to be as authentic as possible, so for the first part of the film, the language spoken was their native one, and for the second part, they spoke in accented English. I remember complaining to Zhin about Dev's own real life accent being masked and how horrendous that was, and I went to bed rather disappointed.

I brought myself to watch it again today, however, despite my phobia for Bollywood films, and to my surprise, I was rooted for the entire movie. I have the shortest attention span for movies - couldn't even take an hour of 'Burn After Reading'. But the authenticity of the film being shot in Mumbai.....the conditions of the slums....the children running around, the vast number of people there actually were in India.....the harsh reality of a Hindu-Muslim riot that killed a mother and left 2 boys orphaned, were all that tantalising for me. My heart wept when I saw the people who had to resort to picking up trash from the dumpsites as a source of income, or the women who had to do their washing in a river that was murky with pollution. I cringed on the edge of my seat in horror when I realised the true ulterior motive of the man asking a bunch of children to rehearse their singing, choosing the best songbird amongst them only to burn their eyes out so that they could beg on the streets as blind singers.

The love story that constructed the core of the movie was mediocre at the best, but the reality that was India opened my eyes to a whole new level, and made me aware of how, whether we liked it or not, some things were not fair in life and they never would be. We would always be stratified into different classes of society, whether we liked it or not, and there wasn't much we could do to change that. It made me so sad, however, that I had everything under the sun within my grasp while some individuals just miles away had to fight so hard everyday just to put food into their mouths.

I say this too much already....but c'es la vie, ain't it.

On a happier note, Happy CNY to all.

Another Year

Another year has passed. Again, I am pretty damn amazed at how fast it seems to zoom by. When I was in High School, all I could think about was how SLOWLLYYYY time seemed to crawl by and how I wish I could change that. And now.....oh well. A part of me sometimes wishes that I could build a clock whose hands could turn back in time.....just like in Benjamin Button, but then there is a huge part of me that embraces each year passing by. There is something fulfilling about growing up, getting older, looking at yourself mature slowly but surely over the years and realising this is what life is all about.

Of course there is still a part of me that harbours some points of Childish Girliness.....be it swooning at a TV Drama male lead or not being able to stop smiling when your crush talks to you, or even the selfish demands for more designerware when credit crunch is occurring all around you.....but nobody ever said that any of us were built to be perfect in any possible way.

We are humans, after all. And this year.....although I didn't have any hotshot party, didn't get pissed drunk on alcohol, didn't go out partying till the wee hours of the morning, didn't get any fabulous presents....I am happy. Mainly for the people who remembered and who cared, my God-sent friends.....with myself for finally being able to sort out priorities and see the silver lining beneath clouds despite my being ill with the flu this year and for everything that I have at the moment. I vaguely remember being incredibly upset last year about something so small and ranting to my beloved besties (what would I do w/out you guys ;)) and all that seems so vaguely far away in the distance, and oh so childish now.

PS: Manda, Niff: I'll email you guys soon. And yes I will stop procrastinating! Hahah

Much Love,
XOXO

Familarity Breeds Contempt

Or so I have heard once or twice, and would probably have been caught up unnervingly in an unpleasantly vicious cycle, had Noemi not told me to STOP right there, because Hell No....when you hate a person so much, you might just end up with him/her.

Let this be the end of contempt, for God's sake.

A History

22-year-old Female presents with bouts of vomitting and nausea, as well as chills and fever for the past few hours.

I can't even remember when the last time was, that I actually puked because of a pathological-related reason itself, lest food poisoning.

Such bad timing, I can't even begin to describe it -_-

And to put the cherry on top of the icing, I even have palpitations...and....woweee.....dyspnoea at times.

Am just praying and praying that I will survive the long, dreary flight, and everything after that.

Who wants to clerk me =P

I'm loving all the episodes that the TV Shows have come up with this week. Definitely a well applauded bang to the year end before they go on hiatus for the festive season.

I didn't go as far as to shed tears, because well, how can anyone possibly....for GG. But the pain in Chuck's and Blair's eyes actually scored a point within me, and I was undeniably impressed.

Am in a good mood and enjoying my bumming session already to celebrate a start to the holidays :)

I just realised a moment ago that I am actually going to see Niff again after a zillion years in a week's time!

Yes, I do realise this is horribly shameless...

But due to several requests for pictures of my bangs, I thought I might as well remember them when they still look okay. I'm pretty sure by the next week or so, my hair would have wilted to something unmentionable. Haha.

Bangs are the new Black

I finally decided to go opt for a change from my usual side-swept bangs today.

Not a blunt fringe, definitely. I don't do blunt fringes. Wouldn't know how to describe it except that I was opting for something like Kim Kardashian's new do. A softer blunt fringe, maybe??

But there are very few people I entrust my tresses to, especially when it is something as new as giving me new bangs, and at the end of it, I thought my hairdresser was the cat's pyjamas.

I also have way darker hair now. Strict instructions from my mum to PLEASE get rid of the original colour that had faded beyond mention.

Having spent the past week rushing essays and assignments and forgetting to eat a couple of meals in between in the process, this weekend is a HUGE welcome!

I have had the best time hanging with the chums on Thursday, and even last night. Am now running slightly out of time to fit in all my plans with different people before I leave for home next week.

The only downside is that my Toshiba's LAN Network card managed to get fried by lightning, and even though I had to switch back to my IBM, my connection is super wonky, which I can't, for the love of God, figure out why.

Where has all the time gone?

In the flash of an eye, it is suddenly December....all too soon.

November flew by as though I had never seen it occur, and when I look back on the past term, everything seems to be a blurry of events.

Sometimes I really do look back and wonder: Where has all the time gone?

Adults we are. Responsible, grounded, rational people we are expected to become.

Yet I still fluctuate.....flitting in between my own world of denial where everything is hidden beneath a facade of sarcastic jokes and laughter, and the real world where things are not as fine and dandy as they seem.

Much of life recently has been about rethinking priorities. Reorganising routines that I have become accustomed to for too long. Straightening out the messy bits of life and re-evaluating the words 'happiness', 'necessities', 'aims' and 'wants'.

While alot of the 'new life' has been about really connecting with Medicine and getting in touch wiht a side of me I had never seen before, for a moment there, out of the blue, it almost seemed as though you were a ghost from the past, appearing to haunt me in this one-off occasion.
How wrong was the capactiy.....the context.....the reality of it.
When one could have equated you with all of the above in the past, it is clearer than ever now that you were never meant to be here to stay.

Every now and then we find a special friend...

.....who never lets us down,


Who understands it all, reaches out each time you fall....


You're the best friend that I've ever found :)



HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MY BELOVED HANNA!


Hope you like this. Hehe.






No Russell & Bromley, hehe, but I hope this suffices.

Lotsa Love,

XOXO

Dream a little dream....

I remembered what we were eating.

I remembered who we were with.

I remembered bits and pieces of the very words you said to me.

I remembered some bits of the conversation we had with everyone else.

I remembered you slicing something into half and dishing it to me.

But I just couldn't remember the name of the place.

Hmmm.....I have no idea why I fell asleep with this scene replaying in my mind.
Random it is....

PS: I miss Manda soooooooooo much it's indescribable =S

Of Life and Lo-Lee-Ta

When I mentioned that Nabakov's 'Lolita' could potentially be interesting reading material to Buaya over summer, he made this disgusted face and proclaimed vehemently that the concept of paedophilia, which was introduced in the book, was downright sick.

Nevertheless, I went ahead and picked up a copy, and have been reading it ever since.

Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul.

Do people these days write like this anymore?

"There are two kinds of visual memory: one when you skillfully create an image in the laboratory of your mind with your eyes open…and the other when you instantly evoke, with shut eyes, on the dark innerside of your eyelids, the objective, absolutely optical replica of a beloved face, a ghost in natural colours...."

"It was love at first sight, at last sight, at ever and ever sight...."

I hadn't realised how fatigue had taken its toll on me until recently when my mum commented on how exhausted I seemed to look. Without realising it, I had let myself be enraptured in a steadily deteriorating mood-slump that often left me feeling more tired than I probably really was, and left me lamenting about the zillions of jobs that I was supposed to juggle all at once.

And then, as cliched as it may seem, the Lehmann Brothers hoo-ha left me realising that life is only full of uncertainties and unpleasant surprises, and we should appreciate it to the fullest as much as we could.

Really, you are only as busy and as exhausted as you let yourself be.

You are only as overworked and undervalued as you perceive yourself to be.

You only look as lifeless as you let yourself become.

At the end of the day, I realise that as much as the public perceives it to be otherwise, so much of medicine boils down to character building, and it is really up to us to grasp every opportunity and make the best of it before we are permanently moulded into people we don't even know anymore without realising it.

We live and we learn. I know I'm still doing it day by day

[Carrie's narration]:

"Some love stories aren't epic novels. They are short stories, but that doesn't make them any less filled with love"


[Les Mis']:

"He who does not weep does not see"

Ten Things I Love About You

Dear Niff,

1) You listen to me ramble on and on without breathing a single word of protest, despite how crappy the topic of conversation may get.

2) You still dub me the 'Fashionista' even though I have deteriorated beyond measure ;)

3) You are still one of the few people I can talk about anything under the sun with, even though it has been eons since I last saw you (my bad sorry!)

4) You tell me that I am 'thin' and 'skinny' and 'tiny' no matter how fat I have become. Hehe.

5) You manage to cheer me up every single time whenever I feel emo, and you never EVER complain that the topic of emo-shit is almost always the same =S

6) You let me call you silly names like Niffy and Niffy Poo even though we are full-fledged adults now ;) (You know how I only give pet names to special ppl hehe)

7) You let me spam you with MSN msgs, blog comments, wall posts etc etc and reply me patiently every single time without depicting a shadow of annoyance.

8) You have the best ways of dishing out advice and sound words tactfully even though many a time my issues are just downright stupid.

9) You humour me every single time, be it bimbotic conversations, complaints about other people or raves about Greys Anatomy ;)

10) You are just you. My newly-turned 21-yr-old Niffy whom I have now known for a total of 4 years, and still deem the day I met you at the airport, one of the luckiest days of my life :)

May the rest of your year be equally fabulous, just like you.

Happy Birthday Jenn!!!!

Much Love x

There is a reason why I was never a star athlete in High School.

5 or 6 years later, nothing has changed at all. Instead, I have deteriorated so badly that I am mildly appalled at myself.

Had I made myself believe that I could run pretty well back in school?? Or had the competition I had faced back then simply been a shadow of the competition I face now? Or maybe just simply that I have deteriorated beyond measure?

Amidst my horribly aching muscles, I am mildly glad now that my daily schedule is packed with a zillion and one things to do, despite several complaints in the past. At the very least, I can work on my multi-tasking skills, amidst keeping my mind off the most trivial of issues.

On the same note....You know how sometimes you have this mindset that there are some friends you have made in the past that will always have this bond with you?
That no matter how far apart you grow physically or mentally, when you talk again, it seems like nothing has ever changed?

We're no longer the best-EST of friends, no matter how hard we try to make ourselves believe otherwise.

We have different mindsets now, and different opinions of life. And we have grown further apart than you would like to believe.

In truth, there's so much we don't get about each anymore, that the only thing to go from here is just to push forward and let this rift grow further and further apart.

In the past, I was always pretty sure of myself, my mannerisms, preferences, quirks and which type of people I liked hanging out with best.

As of late, I'm all about versatility and adapation. And exploring anything new.

Cheers,
xx

Sometimes I wonder how something so simple can obliterate my mind so completely.

Exhausted.

Please let me sleep forever.

I miss Heffakite, ChanelVersaceRobertoCavalli, Playing Cards and Nua-ing.

It's Only Life

Gosh, I haven't felt this uninspired to blog since....man, I don't even remember.

But in an effort to revive this blog....well, sort of.....there are a few things to sum up this summer.

- Started missing my clinical attachment session after I got home, despite having had to return home late because of it.

- I didn't blog at ALL since my break started. Which is a huge shock. Usually, late nights up alone during hols at home seem to spark the most emo of emo-moments, hence leading to the need to blog.

- I got over my huge distaste and phobia of whiskey that has been present since the start of '07.

- Discovered that my tolerance got better despite having not consumed hard liquor for the whole of the first half of '08.

- Changed my hairstyle. Unintentionally, I might add. I have not had long, straight, layered hair for so long that it felt a little weird at first, but ah well.....hair is just hair =P

- Got a little bored of shopping. Didn't buy anything at all.

- Grew fatter *sobz*

- Lost touch with quite a lot of people, unintentionally too! I'll be back in touch soon ;)

- Booked my tickets to Jkt. See you all soon!!

- Had the most unhappening summer, contrary to hpy's popular belief =P But in so many ways, it was also a fantastic summer, filled with plenty of bumming and zero emo moments.

Relief #2

Relieved that exams are done with and passed!

My loonnnggg holiday of bumming and doing nothing starts properly right now

:)

Could nvr have done this alone.

Thank Youuuuu!

BFFs and Birthdays :)

To My Funky Fashionista (with the coolest hair now hehe) and Bestest Friend in the whole wide world :)

As much as the world and people around you are constantly changing every day, you are the one thing that is constant in mine :)

Happy Birthday, Darling!!

Love you to the moon and back!

<3

Can You Hear Me?

Remember the last Euro? Man, time flies. I can still see myself arguing with hpy over scores, taunting each other's teams, and sitting in the West End, feeling my heart sink when Greece (of all ppl!!) kicked my beloved France out of the competition. Of course, after that I couldn't really be bothered to follow up with the finals.

This Euro is a weird one.

First off, I gave up on France during the last WC when they performed like crap to start with, somehow managed to worm their way into the Finals, and got trumped by Italy.

Which is partly why I didn't bother watching any matches this time around (besides exams of course =P). Because it looks like I wasn't really wrong about Les Bleus this time either. What with Zizou finally out of the picture and Henry warming the bench, and a possibly hopeless make-up of the rest of the team. Bleh.

And there is no England either. Thanks to well....no pushing the blame around. It still feels weird.

So with both teams out of the way, I am forced to heap my support on to another team. No, I am not favouring Italy. Well, not just for the reason that they already got trashed by the Netherlands, along with the fact that they happen to be in the Group of Death. Hahaha. Oops.

What clearer decision to make besides going for the stylish Spaniards? Heh. The team that Fernando Torres - Liverpool superstar is in....even though he has yet to shine. But worry not, he will.

My point?? I think I'm more interested in Euro '08's theme song by Enrique 'Can You Hear Me' than the new Euro champions.

Haha. I'm kidding. Maybe by hook or by crook, the team I'm supporting will win the Finals for once =P

Tachycardia. Tachyarrythmia. GreenTea runs. Late-night ponders.

And it doesn't remotely hurt, really.

Drawing the line....

at arrogance. At haughtiness. At presumed self-superiority.

I admit that many a time, I probably have been one to fall victim to these myself. There was also probably once a time that I turned up my nose at many a thing that is actually as trivial as anything can get, and yet I felt the need to dramatise and complain unendingly about it just because I had let the lack of judgment within me take over.

These days, I kid not when I say that humility is truly a virtue. I have realised the importance of being humbled over and over again by the things that happen around you everyday, and the path that is laid out for us, which in truth, we probably have not much control over.

I remember in CC, 'Lucy' referred to me as a 'Da Xiao Jie', which irked me slightly, but not as much as it would probably irk me now if someone were to use the same term on me. I am grateful for the fact that I grew up with the policy of 'ask and thou shalt receive', or on several occasions, without even asking. I am even more grateful that I am one of those who was fortunate enough to be raised with a silver spoon in her mouth. So much so that on several occasions during the past few years since I left High School, I have grown increasingly afraid that I might have turned into one of those 'UpperEastSide Snobs', so to speak figuratively.

Many a time when I whine that I lack sufficient 'trendy-looking designer bags' for this year or crave for another Balenciaga or even that particular Valentino, or how I think that Marc by Marc Jacobs is considered 'High Street standard' and that Topshop is just blergh, I check myself right there.

My younger self 2 or 3 years back might have been eager to flaunt designer ware (not that I had that many back then) or obvious comfort in life and the good fortune of incredibly compliant and generous parents, but my current self, believe it or not, strives hard to keep a low profile. It makes me cringe when a weird look crosses the face of the person whom I'm talking to when they realise that I could, on many circumstances, turn out to be the 'Da Xiao Jie' that I have been tagged as. But in reality, I cannot describe how truly humbled I have been in recent times...by everything and everyone, and how afraid I am of turning into a 'designer-clad princess who has every comfort in the world at her feet'...and not just in terms of materials, but in terms of making an effort to accept or get to know everyone for who they truly are, no judgement. I have observed and experienced around me, and truth be told, it is certainly not the most attractive of characters to possess.

I just hope this is what they call growing up.

Whatever it takes

Can you feel this???

Even after all this while.....incredulous, isn't it?

I'm so done with trying to be nice.

Sensationale

"Let me tell you a secret, my dear.

I pretend that there is a pane of glass between myself and...them.

They can see me...but they cannot touch me."

Life on Hold

Today was a good day.

I have found the funniest movie buddies to replace my cuzzie. Hahaha. Strange why the ppl around us didn't think the movie was AS funny. Lol.

I haven't laughed so much in ages. Hahah.

Funny how I spent the whole week wishing for the weekend to be here so that I could spend my days hibernating only to be unable to sleep early on Friday night =P

OSCE and Test down, but still no pause in life. More mugging piling up and finals in a blink of an eye =P

And I don't even have time to rearrange my summer plans or book that Jkt flight and think about the possibility of a Melb trip.

So currently everything is on hold. So sorry. Haha.

Mafia-Themed

This is for you, Massachussetts. Hopefully it makes you miss me more ;)

xx

Couldn't think of an appropriate enough title for this one. Maybe because I initially wanted to mark the post down as 'The Day Shing dappled in Adventure Sports' but then I realised it was gonna be a mishmash of things (Haha, your word, Jenn).


So on this very glorious day, I went on a caving trip because I am a very nice person, and as Cheek kindly reminded with his 'puss in boots eyes', he and Sean were friends in need. Which is true enough, anyway. I felt sorry about the turn-out of the whole situation and decided trips like these were worth a try at least once in a lifetime anyway.


Let me reinstate that the day before, me and Michelle played pivotal roles in roping in last minute victims....oops, I meant people, to join the expedition. After much pleading to extents that almost saw me exhausting my persuasion skills, we managed to con 4 more ppl (one of which we automatically included) to join at the last minute. Unfortunately I realise that I probably can't do anymore of this because it would probably seem very hypocritical if I went around conning people to join trips in which I myself do not participate. Hur Hur.


This is getting too long. Argh. Anyway, all in all, the trip was....eye-opening and definitely a once in a lifetime experience for me. To say that I have developed a sudden love for Adventure sports would be pushing the limit, but I am glad that I went, even if the least there was to gain from it was discovering that I am a hopeless climber.....which wasn't the case, of course. There was much insight that I gained from it, from all angles. The structures were magnificent and the pitch black atmosphere was incredibly calming at times.


Unfortunately, a certain Japanese counterpart possibly owes me a new outfit from Yohji Yamamoto. Lol.


Back to the reality of mugging and catching up w tons of stuff, and practising for OSCE's now. ARGH. Which I have yet to do. Through karaoke moments like last night and 'adventurous moments' like this one, all in all, the clock is ticking. And I realise I have been abandoning my friends yet again. Sorry!


And also sorry for the previous cryptic post. It wasn't really meant to be cryptic, I just haven't gotten around to telling some people. Haha. Well, at the very least, one person knows what I'm talking about :)

Thanks for always being there, Niff. Through the mountain of complaints and more.


Will put some overdue pics up in the next entry

x

You remind me

It is strange how it materialised out of the blue....the tiny details that reminded me of you.

The Converse sneakers, the small mannerisms, the slightest of dressing details...even the glasses.

The only saving grace was that when he opened his mouth, his voice was as different to yours as night is to day.

Unfortunately, instead of nostalgia, emotion this time around arrived in the form of intense dislike, annoyance and distaste for everything he did.

Eventually, I realised that these were phantom images that I could choose to see or not to see. And with the growing guilt from the multitude of withering looks and snarky remarksI had thrown at the poor, clueless boy, I decided to let these deranged moments go.

On this totally un-emo note, I just find it amazing how things change in life. Heh.

Such as how you and I have come such a long way from being best friends to complete strangers.

PS: I know this blog is dead. Have some pics that I'm waiting for that I will update asap :)

Much Love~

V

Maybe ages has taken its toll on me, but auspicious 'holidays' seem even more overrated as of late.

I have undoubtedly turned into a sceptic :)

Yet, still....I felt the need to dedicate some shout-outs this year, even more than the last.

Niffy Utah heffaG17 heffaG2 Colour Chekkie Hanna RexyBabyy! NoemiDaJie Janey Voonie:

Thank You for your presence in my life. You have touched my heart in every possible way, saved me when I was sinking, brightened up the greyest of my days, and I am blessed indeed to have met you.

(There are, of course, a great many others who mean a great deal to me, mainly those of XY chromosomal orders, but to avoid fan clubs with cleavers outside my door, as of tradition, my V Day darlings will remain strictly female for obvious purposes ;))

Studying has taken its toll upon my daily life. Exhaustion is sinking in, when it really shouldn't be. Sometimes I feel like all the exuberance of my personality has withered drastically. As though the brighter side of me is a mere shadow of the past. Ah, well.

This week seems like such a long one.

Unbreakable

To helping fill the emptiness that loomed in the core every now and then

To listening, so patiently and unquestionably when I needed it most

To all the fun and laughter that echoed around me every minute of my life

To proving me otherwise when I thought my birthday was going to be the worst ever

This love is truly unbreakable :)

xxxx

Happy CNY everyone!

No Djoking Around....

.....was the personal message on my MSN nick after a tremendous mens finals at the Australian Open in Melbourne Park.

And after a huge blogging draught on my part, it actually inspired me to blog again!

Yes!! About tennis and my first time watching the Grand Slam tournament of Asia, the AO. Me, a tennis noob. Lol. A noob who is, currently, very much a fan, and to be more precise, very much a fan of THIS 20-yr-old:

Novak Djokovic. Fondly known as the 'Djoker', for his ability to mimic his fellow tennis players so brilliantly off court. He is absolutely hilarious! (Owed that trivia to Kel who is now my tennis guru hehe)

After watching Djokovic defeat Roger 'The King' Federer in straight sets at the semis on Friday, I became very much a fan of this Serbian youngster. Not only were his serves pin-point brilliant, he managed to remain fairly cool and worked the angles brilliantly, and in the end many of his aces did save him quite a bit.

But the finals was just hands-down brilliant beyond words, inevitably. I was aware before I watched it that it would be a tough match between the two. Unseeded as he was when he pranced on to Melbourne Park, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga is currenly ranked 18th in the world, but nothing in his drive, his pace and his strength at the tournament ever failed to indicate that he wasn't worthy to be on that stage.

Due to his uncanny resemblance to wrestling legend Muhammad Ali, they wrote this about him in Melbourne after he stunned Nadal:

"Volleys like a butterfly, aces like a bee"

(In comparison to Ali's 'Floats like a butterfly, stings like a bee')

After a much gruelling 2 and a half odd hours, during which there were countless nerve-wracking moments where I marvelled at Tsonga's crisp drop shots, his massive aces and the moments that Novak constantly misplaced his shots (well in the beginning anyway), it was a much deserved win (in my opinion).

Coming down from one set down to win the other two sets, the last of which was a heart-stopping tie break, Djokovic was THE MAN :) And although he probably wasn't the favoured player to win this tournament, he clearly deserved to win. And I'm glad I witnessed every moment of it, because it wasn't a touch on the Sharapova-Ivanovic match the day before.

Who says boredom does weird things to people? Haha.

Mine led me to discover a whole new Grand Slam experience and The Djoker :)

Perhaps it's true what they say. Because it is inevitably your absence that reminds me the most of you.

On my playlist, the ever-familiar strains of Zhou Jie Lun are abruptly interrupted by the familiar pelting of rain....pouring down yet again, and out of nowhere, I suddenly wonder how much colder it possibly is where you are right now....

I'm suddenly stirred by indescribable emotions.....a jolt of Deja Vu, perhaps?

An image of sitting on a bed, listening to 'Wo Bu Pei' over and over again, me demanding praises for the song in between pauses....that unspoken familiarity engulfing everything around.

I annoy myself, keeping a tab on my emotions only to have them fall haphazardly around me within seconds.

Because sometimes, for you, I would rather this always end at never.

And though time goes by, I will always be

In a club with you in 1973

Two Oh Oh Eight

So unlike the customary wraps of the past year that I have done all this while, my brain has, unfortunately, turned to mush this year.

All in all, I loved 2007, although the beginning was more of a down for me than an up. But towards the end, everything was great. Everything managed to straighten itself out eventually, and the last bit of it all....spending them with my beloveds again after so long was just the cherry on top of the icing.

Lurve ya alls~!

Then it was much-treasured Kch time with the lovelies.

This year's NYE outing was themed 'Shing's party at Kel's apartment', which turned out to be FAB! Well, in my opinion anyway. Me and Lai felt a tad guilty at the end, though, because we were supposed to drive into the city to meet up with peeps, but it was POURING and I mean POURRRINNNGGGG like mad. Hope everyone had fun still, though! :) And muchos gracias to Kel and Jane for throwing a greaaatttttt pary! Hehe.

Was a little off after that. And I apologise profusely to Manda for being a tad too chatty and driving home in a near stupor. HurHur. Also to Buaya whom I sent a text filled with what I am positive, was nonsense even though I don't remember a single thing.

Love all of you guys. Thank you loadddddssss for making the end of the year such a great one!

Heck, loads more to update on but I am soooo lazy. Oh well....till the next post....

Au revoir ;)