it is done

finally after months & months of procrastination+agony, it's finished.
03.55am
although there's still the printing out to deal with...
50 freaking pages X 2 sets.

yawn...

it was snowing & settling... but i stuck my head out and saw that it wasnt in flakes but tiny little ice bits instead. so went to the balcony and saw that they kinda resemble mini sago balls. gosh... makes me hungry now.

oh, got this in the mail today. =) sure cheered me up on just a dreary Thursday. All thanks to Cherylann!

just something before i plop on the bed...

irritant

grrr....
how to get it out of my system?
i'm going crazy with this dissertation.
so much info, too tired to sort it out.
i got 8hours to get it done.

i love this sweater that Bree van der camp of Desperate Housewives wore.... ahhh

my eyes are straining...

i can hardly take this.
am trying to write my disseration...
and in the back of my head i've got another dateline next friday.
feeling so tired...
can i just give it all up and go home?
=(

sssshhhhhh......

but i've seen the website that shows Paris Hilton's phonebook.
it's got Christina Aguilera's no. inside too.
read it on ST online and hmmm, seems to be huge news.
just this afternoon, it was mentioned by a dj on the uk radio station.
he heard about the site and he was searching all over the internet for it but to no avail.

erm...

i have been wishing for snow yah?
have been getting little bits here and there....
but now i've got more than i wished for.

it's pratically a blizzard out there!!!!

do i really want to know?

*shrug*

counting down the days to 18th March

*grin*
ok. wait.
i should stop this silly smile on my face and do work...
get some work done silly!!!!!

btw: i'm unable to post pictures with Hello. been trying for days and it's pissing me off!
London's weather is getting shitty to. This weekend is going to be freezing with wintery showers.
bah...

pox pox pox

was sitting around with my sister,
looking at the little rash on my legs and wondering how they came about when this popped into my head:
"eh, i've never had chicken pox hor?"
sis:"ah huh. neither have i...."
so....
after almost 24years on earth and i have yet to have chicken pox!!
i heard it's worse if you get it when you're older.
what makes it more agonising is that my mum has absolutely no idea if any of us 3 kids ever had chicken pox!
she thinks we did... but it somehow seems more like no.
the last time i asked her about it, she mumbled:
"think i let you go to a chicken pox party..."

think i am SO going to suffer if i ever do get it.
remind me to get vaccinated when i get back to Sg.

my eyes are bigger than yours...

OMG>> that NS man must sure be loaded....

just did my daily dose of Singapore news & the following article got me gaping away....
http://straitstimes.com.sg/sub/singapore/story/0,5562,300659,00.html
where got people spend so much one!!??
not say he getting married ah....
but seriously, i think that Ian guy must be spending parents moolah...
surely the government doesn't pay him That much yah?

oh what the heck, i'll just post it here so that ppl who dont subscribe to ST can read it too.

Young and restless
SPENDING A BOMB ON A BOMBSHELL
Young people are saying it with flowers, food and even iPods
By Goh Hui Min

DINNER at Equinox, followed by a night at Swissotel The Stamford -
Ian Teo, 21, and his girlfriend of one year celebrated Christmas in style last year.
With the exchange of an iPod and a Christmas tree, the bill for the night was more than $1,000.
'I wanted the day to be special,' said Ian, who is currently doing national service.

He is not alone investing so much in the dating game.

Toh Ghee Sin, a Nanyang Technological University undergraduate,
went to great lengths for his girlfriend's 21st birthday celebrations.

'My 21st birthday was spent in a Brunei jungle while I was in the army,' said Ghee Sin, 24.
'I want hers to be a memorable one.'
The computer science student organised a dinner for his girlfriend and her friends at the executive suite of Aranda Country Club for about $500.

Ghee Sin also bought her a chocolate fudge cake from Jane's Cake Station,
and made a special trip to SK Jewellery to get a $300 diamond pendant with a white gold chain he knew she liked.
That's as much as his average monthly allowance from his parents.

'I don't mind spending on her, because I want to pamper her,' said the affable, bespectacled guy. 'But I wouldn't want her to spend so much on me.'

These fellows don't splurge just on special occasions.

'I bought a $600 necklace from Lee Hwa Jewellery as a gift for my girlfriend,' said Ian.
'I just felt like buying it for her. Anyway, it's not really about the money.'

He also bought a pair of rings from Lee Hwa after he and his girlfriend got attached,
spending $600 because they wanted their rings to be 'special'.

Final-year NTU student Wong Boon Kiat, 25, said:
'If you're working, then spending a lot is fine because it's your own money, and you are doing so willingly.'

Yet, many of the couples who do so say the money comes out of their allowance.

'Most of the money I spend is saved from the allowance I get from my parents,' said Ghee Sin,
who spends the most part of his $300 allowance on his girlfriend and his pet arowana.

Some months, it's more on the girl, other months it's the fish that gets pampered.

'My parents kind of know about it, but the only time my mum complained was when I rented a car to drive my girlfriend to Jurong Hill Top Restaurant.
Then my mum nagged that I never did that on her birthday.'

While many couples swoon over expensive rocks, fine dining, nifty gadgets and well-planned celebrations, some are unmoved by these.

Two NTU accountancy students felt the money wasn't so important after all.

'Ultimately, it's the quality of the relationship that counts, and that it's not one centred on material comforts,' said Goh Zhengxin, 23.

Cho Rong Rong, 20, who has been with her boyfriend for two years, added:
'It's not really about the money. If your boyfriend hand-makes a card for you, isn't that so sweet?

gosh... it's that day of the year again, where ppl spend silly amounts of $$$.

seriously, i would rather my bf buys me a single stalk of flower every other week during the year.
hmm though that now sounds like he will spend more in the long run, as my fav flower is hard to come by...
*grin*
anyway, got this artical off the StraitsTimes online.
enjoy!

My bouquet is bigger than yours
Valentine's Day becomes a competitive sport as women compare prices and sizes of bouquets. By Sarah Ng

Who says money can't buy love? How about $50?
Yes, it's that time of the year when men say it with flowers.

But that minimum order of six stems on Valentine's Day tomorrow will not buy romance with many working women these days.

The workplace now has a new sport on V-Day.
And size matters in this race to be the object of greatest envy.

'Do you know how good it feels to have the whole office looking at you with envy?'
said civil servant Irene Lim, 29, recalling her thrill at receiving a dozen red roses topped by a heart-shaped balloon last Feb 14.

'It may not be that special for an attractive woman used to getting attention all the time, but for a plain-looking girl like me, it is magical.'

Few will deny that feel-good feeling although shipping executive Susan Ng, 27,
takes a dim view of the blooming competition.

'I had an ex-colleague who would put her giant bouquet in a prominent spot on her table and then lament loudly,
'Aiya, why must he send to the office, very malu (Malay for embarrassing) for me',
but we all knew that she was enjoying it. It's so shallow and childish.'

Perhaps, but it's not peculiar to Singapore.

According to The Times of London women in Britain too love this game of one-upmanship:
Whose bouquet is bigger? Whose present is more extravagant?
Who is being taken to a more fashionable restaurant?

Like them, many women here view these displays of affection as a barometer of love.
Marketing director Ling Tan, 31, is typical.
She recalls her disappointment last year waiting and waiting for that bouquet from her boyfriend of nine months.

'My heart would skip a beat every time a dispatch rider walked through the door.
I was hoping that since it was our first Valentine's Day, he would do something special, like send flowers to my office.

'But nothing came till I left at 6pm,' she said.

What made it worse, she added, was watching two colleagues become the centre of attention and the memory of previous boyfriends dutifully dispatching bouquets of red roses or white lilies to her office.

But an hour later, he surprised her. At dinner, in a posh hotel, he handed her half a dozen red roses.

Ms Tan, like many, is keeping her fingers crossed that tomorrow, big blooms will arrive at her office.
'Sure, it's shallow but which woman doesn't want to feel like a princess, especially when most around her are getting special treatment.'

Florists concur, saying eight out of 10 men want the bouquets delivered to their beloved's office.
Said a Greeting Cuts spokesman: 'The wife or girlfriend is in the office most of the day...
If the flowers are given when they meet for dinner, the day is almost over and it would seem a bit pointless.'

Raising the ante for the bachelor girls are husbands like Mr Kelvin Yeo.
Said the 30-year-old advertising and promotions executive,
who spent $150 on a dozen red roses last year:'My wife doesn't demand that I send her flowers to the office, but some of her colleagues' boyfriends do, so I do the same.
Better play safe and make her happy.'

Whatever the reason, love sure makes money for the petal pushers.
On Valentine's Day, prices are doubled, with a standard bouquet of six roses starting at $50, one dozen from $80, and 999 stalks from $2,000.

They are also convinced that it's young love that sparked off the sport.
'It's usually in the beginning of the relationship when the guy wants to impress the girl.
They say they want to make the girlfriend feel proud among their colleagues,' said Mr Kenneth Chee, 46, owner of Joachim Florist & Gifts.

But there is no denying the stress. Florists tell of single and unattached women sending flowers to themselves and spending beyond $100 on red roses, tulips or lilies.
But they are rare, said Ms Sheila Salim, 39, customer service supervisor at FarEastFlora.com. 'Their reason is that they don't want to feel left out.'

Then there are those who get more than their share of attention.
For these women, money certainly buys love.
Said the owner of Dove Florist in Cineleisure Orchard, Ms Yow Lai Keng:
'When a woman calls about the value of bouquets, she often got flowers from different men.'

got this off another blog...

When you meet someone, each bucket is 1/2 full; you don’t trust, nor do you not trust.

Over time, each bucket fills as trust grows.

It takes time to fill the buckets, but only a moment to completely empty them.

Once that happens, you have less than you started with, and the process of filling them begins.

with sugar & lemon please

did you know that it's Pancake Day today in UK?
it happens every year on the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday.
i asked my classmates about the history behind it,
& once explained that it's got something to do with using up all your food before Lent.

CNY on bbc

i got this off the bbc site:
One of the most popular courses is jiaozi - dumplings boiled in water.
Jiaozi means "sleep together and have sons," a good wish for a family.
i never knew it means that!
also:
A typical food is tang yuan - another kind of dumpling made of sweet rice rolled into balls
and stuffed with either sweet or spicy fillings.
i think the writer was thinking of ba zhang when he/she wrote the article.
oh well...
check out bbc.co.uk if ur free! it's got interesting reads,
like the 'fortune stick' at http://www.bbc.co.uk/london/yourlondon/cny2005/fortune_stick.shtml
my fortune stick wasnt too good though.....

when is it ever the right time to let the past go?

when your guy choses to climb the stairs all the way up to his flat on the 20th floor,
so that he can continue to talk to you on the mobile, as taking the lift means you have to hang up.
eventhough his calves are aching, his right heel's hurting & his shin's swollen,
all from a soccer match earlier in the day.

maybe that's when one should finally just let it all the hurt, anguish & anger inside go.
maybe...

blogs

do people write about a fantasy life they wish to have on blogs?
or do they just write the outmost truth, as on blogs they can be hidden.
no one can know who's writing if they keep it quiet...
right?

so when you chance upon a secret diary of someone that's full of juicy info,
do you presume it's all fantasy+fiction?
or completely full of facts?
or fact+fiction?

are there really people in this world who write about what they want to be & to do?
imagining a life with someone else that they dont have?
can it really be such?
or are they just sad folks?
am i being too harsh on people who cant deal with reality?

only God know why i am still harping on this.
'cos to this Very day,
i have yet to come to terms that some things some people wrote aint true.

if only time will tell and bring me thru this Hell of a time.
if only....

really miss my cat back home...

remember that ad?

the soviet titus ad with Andy Lau in it?
well, in response to my article below, my friend reminded me the slogan of that ad.
"bu zai hu tian chang di jiu, zhi zai hu chen jing yong you"
it means something like:
"not bothering if it's an everlasting relationship, but cherishing what it once was....."
hmmmmm...
but but how to?

and to contradict the above, there's always that line from flying without wings:
"Cause who's to know which one you let go,would have made you complete."

confused

erm... this article.... *blink blink*

SOMETIMES, timing rather than love decides who we end up being with - or without.

Only some lucky people marry the loves of their lives.

The rest marry the most suitable person who comes along when they are ready to settle down.

A friend in his 20s came to this conclusion after confiding in me that he had recently met a woman who is more attractive than his wife, and so occupies his thoughts more often than his wife does.

'If only I had met her before I got married,' he said wistfully.

But I think even if the love of one's life appears when one is single, one may not be in the right frame of mind to recognise him or her as such.

And then love passes by.

Life is littered with near misses and lost opportunities.

I attended my ex-boyfriend's wedding last month, which triggered many memories.

We met five years ago when I was 23 and he 31. It was love at first sight.

He had an established career, was down-to-earth and steadfastly religious.

I was then working as an air stewardess and my head was - literally and metaphorically - in the clouds.

I was also - well, let's put it this way - not religious.

Despite our differences, we were soulmates. We had the same quirky sense of humour and shared long, intense overnight conversations.

But human nature is perverse. When someone is excessively nice to us, we start taking things for granted, instead of appreciating them even more.

My ex sent me to the airport, fixed my PC, reminded me to take health supplements - and go to church.

He had everything I could want in a husband - except that I was not looking for one. A boyfriend was all I could cope with then.

I loved fast cars, danced wildly at Zouk and took off on shopping holidays at a whim. My life revolved around I, me and myself.

In the six months that we were together, he popped the question several times and talked ad nauseam about having children. He wanted us to enrol for a Christian marriage preparation course.

Yes, I did often fantasise about a Vera Wang wedding gown, but I was at that stage of my life when I was more interested in Guess than Baby Guess.

And where - dare I admit it? - I still wanted to meet other men.

So I was a 23-year-old with the emotional maturity of a 13-year-old. Responsibility? Wasn't that for adults?

In short, I met Mr Right at the wrong time.

The more he talked about marriage and religion, the more I felt pressured and the more pressured I felt, the more irritable I became.

I was too impatient to compromise. Every trivial matter blew up as a big deal. My mood obliterated the good in our relationship and reached a point where I just wanted out.

He was heartbroken; I was sad but relieved. He still called me regularly, beseeching me to change my mind.

The calls stopped finally after a year. Now and then, we say 'Hi' via e-mail.

I had a few painful relationships after that. Served me right, as those rude wake-up calls were necessary for me to realise the meaninglessness of my hedonistic high life.

I missed the tenderness of my ex and began having second thoughts.

Perhaps I also felt more urgency to find someone marriageable before my biological clock reached zero hour. It dawned on me that I am not a pixie like Peter Pan who can flit around forever. One day, I'd wake up sick and alone when my fair weather friends flit away.

But I was too proud and too unsure of my ex's reaction to call him until last year.

The first thing he told me excitedly was that he had found The One. My heart tumbled to my feet. So, that's Fate.

If only I could turn back time. If only I had met him later. If only... what feeble words.

These days, I am more circumspect. I have come to terms with my loss. There is nothing I can do about timing, but I can do everything about my choices.

Sometimes, when the nights get lonely, I toy with the idea of marrying a platonic friend of mine, who often assures me earnestly that, if the worst comes to the worst, he'd be willing to marry me.

But I always dismiss that. I have already made one mistake. I should not make another by settling for second best merely for the sake of getting hitched - only to regret it soon after, as the guy who confided in me did.

Hopefully, the best is not over but yet to be.