The great exciting 'Project Meeting' and other lesser unexciting mumblings

Yizhen and I decided to exchange bags... or rather, I thought her backpack was really cute. Now I feel like getting a backpack - makes me look young, feel young!
Is it me, or do we actually look vaguely similar? She loves purple too.
Ray (Lemon), Chengwei, Yizhen, Serene, Lynn - Gelares @ Holland Village
Bad cards bad cards... should I bid hearts or spades?
Lynn and Serene @ Gelares
Goods cards good cards... Yizhen plays no- trump!!

Yesterday, the group came over to my place for a project meeting. To give ourselves credit, serious discussion lasted about 2.5 hours. Post-Project activities lasted the rest of the day, til we almost missed our last bus/mrt. China no China, shopping no shopping... we always manage to have fun - exchanging Beijing Photos, Waffles and Bridge at Gelares, trip down Nus to return library books, picnic shopping at Carrefoure (as usual, we procrastinated over what to buy...), surprisingly Lynn with a picnic at the Esplanade, more Bridge... and 4 crazy girls, 1 poor Lemon boy and a camera... too bad Darren was missing.

It's been 3 weeks since Beijing. I look back on all the trigger happy photo whoring, crazy late nights doing project, crazier late nights play bridge/clubbing/KTV-ing, the singing on the way back to hostel late at night, the bargaining and shopping madness (ok, I admit, I get impatient if I shop in big groups at times...haha)... I look at all the photos, plus those copied from Lynn and Yizhen yesterday and I smile at the fond memories. Then I think about Singapore. I recall the excitement when Lynn and Serene came to say Hi to me at work, taking pictures with random plants in the toilet in the Spageddies apron, shopping with the same girls + Darren, seeing Visha at the Club again, all the Bridge we played yesterday... I look at my MSN nick and think about Serene deciding that I should be called B.A.B.E (Bread And Biscuit Eating monster) after living with me for two weeks, I think about what Yizhen said in the cab yesterday about us probably being the only group meeting up and still having the same amount of fun. I look at more photos... then I smile. For I feel thankful and amazed at the same time, that we became friends so easily. The new ones whom I've come to love hanging out with, the old ones whom I still love.

But there're still old f.r.i.e.n.d.s to miss - Chris, Manda, Elayne, Jingyi, I'm thinking of organizing badminton next Saturday, come play! Whoever else is interested msg me! =) I haven't talked to Chris, Elayne and Jingyi since I got back... everyone's meeting up on Friday, but I've to work. =(

And there're still more people to meet up with, like Linda, who wanted to go clubbing tonight, but I couldn't make it... and whom I haven't gone shopping with. Like Qiuyun, my penpal. Visayon, whom I'm supposed to go K-Box with. When I woke up this morning, I was surprised to see a message from Engsiang - he's back in Singapore! Yay, can't wait to meet up with my old HC friend for lunch tomorrow. Then dinner with Kelvin. And there's badminton next week, more project meetings (naturally, we'll make it work, and plaayyy), bridge with Tim, Ray and Kai. It feels like my schedules always packed by work and friends every week, no matter how hard I try to leave myself days to slack.

And I still miss being at home, eating at home, playing the piano at home... there's always this Sunday to slack at home, I hope.

Spageddies was filled with female servers today... maybe that's why it seemed a little busy for a weekday evening. There were two very troublesome tables... I spent about 20 minutes taking table 14's order! The guy asked me to recommend some fish and chicken that was not fried...after lots and lots of suggestions and me running to the kitchen a couple of times to check with Chef Bon if he could prepare the food in the way the guy wanted it... we finally settled on Fish and Chicken combo. By right, the dish consists of french fries, fried chicken and fried fish. The guy requested for roasted potatoes, boiled chicken and grilled fish. Without all the flour used to deep fry the meat, it just looked pathetic with all the tiny pieces of meet... and tasteless. I really can't understand some guests! If you want healthy food, just go somewhere with healthy food or order salads! That's not all, they ordered tomato brushetta, then changed to garlic bread with cheese, then requested that the cheese be left out from two pieces, and then, settled for just plain garlic bread. And they asked for their soup to be split into two portions. Hello, the serving size for the soup is already so small... serving it in two bowls would leave bout 3 spoonfuls per bowl! On top of that, half the people at the table were vegetarian and the others were not, so they argued over whether they should all go vegetarian while stood there holding up the order sheet, smiling like an idiot.

And table 14... on top of creating lots of trouble for Jade, the server who took their orders, attempting to speak Malay to Kaifeng (really don't know why...since they're from Switzerland and merely wanted to order beer), asking 'Where's my discount?' as a joke (except that no one knew it was a joke, thus creating confusion for all of us who thought the bill had mistakes... when I went to check with the guy, he said, 'Oh no! Nothing wrong with the bill. It looks very pretty to me.' *rolls eyes*), calling me 'Ms Spageddies' just because I don't have a name tag...the guy even requested that I put the pepper into his pizza in front of him and as I grinded the pepper in front of him, he actually said, 'yep, do that for 30 minutes!'... and he noticed that no pepper was coming out and decided to open the bottle himself to check... it was empty, I took one other bottle over and ahhhh, it was empty as well! Am I unlucky or what, for the guy said, 'Now you must grind the pepper for 40 minutes.' Maybe the guy thought he was being funny or it's some kind of Swiss humour... but I've only one, typically Singaporean, reaction, 'SIAO AH!

So many crazy customers in one night.

I'm tired, goodnght world.

Cheery news first.

After doing some online research on parking rates downtown in Singapore, I discovered that I can drive downtown if I'm working dinner shifts! y.a.y. Per entry parking after 5pm averages at $3, which is already cheaper than my slow 167 bus ride up and down. And if I drive the Kangoo which runs on diesel... it probably amounts to $5? For the time and conveniece, yea man.

Except that I don't feel like going to work today. In fact, I just feel like I could never show my face at work for a longest time.

It all happened yesterday when I was getting ice from the big icebox in the kitchen. There was barely any ice left, and I desperately needed some to fill up the water jugs for my station... so I bent lower, and lower, and lower, digging out whatever pathetic renmants of broken ice cubes were left. I vaguely remember the dishwasher telling me (in chinese), 'xiaomei.... no more already, take what...' And then, the lid of the icebox just slammed down onto the back of my head. Ouch.

Ouch for a few seconds, then the kind dishwasher helped me hold up the lid as I continued. My head was throbbing slightly, but I felt felt pretty fine... took a few more orders, topped up water, clear plates... and then, a terrible giddiness set in. I only remember asking one of the dishwashers to grab the plate in my hand before leaning against something, while someone (Sarah I think) was asking whether I was alright. And being asked to sit in the office and rest.

I think I sat there for two hours straight, giddy giddy giddy. And in the few moments when I bothered to strain my ears to listen, I heard kaifeng asking Sebas (the manager) whether he made me cry. And Sebas said he doesn't know why I'm crying either. Great, people thought I was crying for no reason in the middle of the work. Then I heard the dishwasher telling people about me being hit by an icebox lid. I had a vague recollection of one briefing, when Sebas told us that he has never, in his time as a Spageddies manager, seen anyone fall with a plate of sizzlelini (this literally sizzling thing served in a pan.)

I'm pretty sure he has never, ever, entertained the thought that someone could be dumb enough to be knocked out by an icebox lid.

Sigh. While everyone was rushing about to deal with the Friday night crowd, there I was shivering in the office. Sebas came to ask if I was alright, and I just said, 'I want panadol.' Couldn't I have said a PLEASE?! For some strange reason, I've always been veryvery scared of him for no reason at all. Blah, I'll probably be a complete mouse from now on.

Anyway, Sebas let me go home early, and I came back, slept for a few hours, woke up feeling fine, and huunnngry.

Really don't want to go to work today! I hope no one asks if I'm fine/what happened (if the stupid story hasn't already spread). As if.

On a brighter note, Cherub came in with a glass of Sprite for me, telling me to relax and everything will be fine. Even while feeling sick, I was pretty surprised. Always found him a bit unfriendly and hostile.

Oh, and I think I pretty much loss my mind for a moment. Some chef came in to put a chef uniform round my shoulders (was probably shivering so much it shook the whole kitchen or something, haha). I looked at the name of the uniform, saw 'Serene Tan', and wondered when a female chef appeared in Paragon. When I was feeling much better, I looked again. It read 'Steven Tan', that's the other managers name. Right.

And I think Sebas must have thought I lost my mind when I said I couldn't contact my mum because I couldn't remember my house number. 'Huh? Has it always been like that?' - maybe he thought I lost my memory. haha, I just never bothered to remember after we changed it last year, thanks to this thing called the handphone.

Sigh. Off to work now. =( =( =(

Randomness

I had this sudden urge to post pictures today... see that's Serene, Joey and I looking silly. I was thinking about how to have healthy meals in hostel next semester and avoid learning how to cook (yikes) at the same time, and I suddenly missed Joey, the da-jie of my cluster who would very willingly cook us pancakes, pasta, make me cereal, share her mum's lovely mini muffins... and ask us to go eat at Blooies. I miss her her sweetness, her wackyness... and simply having the funniest girls around in the cluster kitchen. But old woman starting work soon, so no more Joey in my cluster.=( Joey, the flowers you gave me on my birthday are my shelf. =)
And I miss still miss my roomie...(we're really happier rooming together than we look in this photo...well, I am! haha) Looks like we caught on Joey's take-silly-photos craze.
And I actually am blogging because I saw this photo on Serene's blog and I really like it a lot! Think it's very typically Serene and typically Chengwei... She in a pink shirt and me in a shirt with shiny words on it. And it reminded me of dao1 xue1 mian4 (I hope the hanyupinyin is correct)... literally translated as use-knife-to-cut noodles... that was one of the best things I tried in China. Like ban-mian, only nicer, smoother, crunchier... and the best part is, it costs about 80 cents.

Work today was completely slack... but I was tired and hungry and cold ALL THE TIME. No idea why, but I was really perpetually hungry the whole day today. The manager forgot to clock me out at 3pm for my break today, leaving me to stand and starve until 4... Chef Joey's always quite nice. I remember I once told him I was starving, so he fried some nuggets, hid it in the drystore and told me to go eat secretly. Today, there was a wrong order, and he said he'll fry me something to eat during my break at 3... which made hungry me very very happy... It was so cold and awful by the time the manager finally remembered to allow me to clock-out, but I was so hungry I practically gobbled it up. And I was STILL starving during dinner shift...

TOPpig!

While browsing through Topshop's not very interesting sale items today, Serene fished out a bag which read 'Lollipop' and said that it was rather cute, prompting me to declare her the 'TOPkid'.

'I'm not kiddy... I just like the Lollipop...' says Serene.
'They really mean the same thing.' say Darren and I.

So now, Serene proclaims me the TOPpig. A very apt nickname, considering the fact that it's now 1am and I've just consumed a cup of cereal, 1 piece of biscuits (moooreeee biscuits pls) and am eating an orange. I really can't help it that I get hungry really easily...coupled with the fact that I'm easily cold... cold + hungry = I really need to eat.

Watched X-Men with Ray and Tim last night, and it was surprisingly good. Having never been the comic sort of person, I've never read X-Men, but I really enjoyed it. The fact that Halle Barry is so hot helped a lot, obviously (haha). Just at the end of the show, Ray told us not to leave because he's friend said that there's something else after the credits.... so we waited and waited until there was no one left save this few people seated behind us... and waited and waited... and just as I said, 'Oh no, maybe this is part of Gotcha and we'll be caught on camera', 'Kodak Film' appeared on the credits. The supposed 'extra scene' lasted for a grand total of 3 seconds and was completely pointless. Right.

Kai and I were supposed to go for a run yesterday morning, but the rain spoilt it all. That made 2 days without running, very very bad. But we ran today anyway! =) On the way back, I thought about how Kai said he never really minds travelling to meet friends (as long as friends give him allowance to be late)... and I felt bad that he came all the way from Pasir Panjang just to run under the hot sun with me and then have a drink. Knowing myself... I probably wouldn't go any further than Mac Ritchie, which is just 10 minutes away. TOPpig indeed.

Afternoon was spent admist the Great Singapore Sale with Serene/Lynn/Darren.... and I'm proud to say that I DID NOT BUY ANYTHING. Well, I bought jeans yesterday, put off buying a jacket from Taka because mum called to say she had 200 dollars worth of Taka vouchers, refused to buy a thing from Isetan because I forgot to bring my vouchers, almost bought a shirt from Zara (thank goodness Darren and Serene said it was only 'not bad la, soso'), almost bought a T-Shirt from Taka (it was too big for me, whew)... I've been shopping so much that I actually feel relieved when I step into shops and nothing catches my fancy, or it's WAY too expensive, doesn't have my size, doesn't look good on me... I come out thinking, 'Whew, yay, never spend money.' I need every shopping experience to be like today until the GSS ends.

Dinner was at Sakae Sushi, and Japanese food always works with me.

Much as I love Jap food, I love hanging out with Ray and Tim, the friends I made in the Beijing trip (Darren/Lynn/Visha), Serene ... there are times when I feel that I'm just never at home enough. During the semester, I always envisioned my holidays to be spent lazing at home, reading, watching dvds, pointless soap operas on Channel 8, running at six p.m before having a yummy, wholesome homecooked dinner... but it's not quite like that. These days, I'm perpetually not at home - the precious days when I don't have to drag myself to work, I want to meet up with friends, go out... either way, I eat out, reach home close to midnight (miss all the tv shows), feel really bad about making so much noise when my maid is sleeping, run at midnight, never get to play the piano, surf the net, don't have time to read... sleep late, wake up late the next morning, only to go out to work/meet friends again the next day. While I was disappointed that I didn't manage to run yesterday morning... it was a pleasant morning, if only for awhile. I was at home, reading The Sunday Times, drinking coffee... just slacking, in my own home. And then I rushed out again and got home late.

These days it feels like I treat my own home like a hotel. When I lived in Pgp, I was never at home and on weekends, I always had to rush back to Pgp. Now, come summer vacation, I live at home...but I still miss being at home, and I mean, really being at home.

I contemplated not working for an entire week just to be at home, but somehow, I always wind up feeling that I might as well just go to work and earn more money (sometimes I wonder, 'for what', when all I do is spend)... and there're always friends I want to hang out with, catch up with, have fun with. Sigh. Mum says we should go out shopping on Wed if she doesn't have to work. I really hope so. And I resolve to be at home on Sunday, at least in the evening, for dinner with everyone.

The only thing I feel like doing right now is watch Da Vinci Code or read my book, but I've to go to work tomorrow. :(

I feel like a monster

7th June 2006 - Bridge session at my house, with the people who introduced me into the wonderful world of BRIDGE, and my favourite bridge partners!

Inspired by the splatter of f.r.i.e.n.d.s pictures over the f.r.i.e.n.d.s blog lately. I would photoshop it more, if only I wasn't the lazy bum I am.

After work outside Paragon - Lynn and Serene came to visit me!
After being appaled to discover Lynn and Serene taking photos with my apron in the toilet, by the plant, guess who decided she wanted one too? This must be the silliest picture I've taken in my whole life, but only the best people can bring out the silliest in me.

I not only look like a monster-

Thanks to the humongous pimple on the tip of my nose. Thank goodness the lighting at Spageddies is rather dim, or I think guests will burst out laughing whenever I take their orders. Gross mini-monsters have been popping out all over my face since Beijing =( It really shouldn't matter, but it does.

On top of looking like a monster-

I'm a BRIDGE monster. I was reading my brother's bridge guidebook that bridge is often considered to be the most perfect of all card games... definitely. I don't think I've ever liked any card game since UNO from the primary school days (digression: I don't know why, but I've never, in my life, missed my primary school days much as I loved SNGS). If only I was a better Bridge player, then I could possibly love it more than Scrabble. Bridgebridgebridge - can't wait for another session.

Note to Tim: I'm posting that unglam picture of me in my specs solely for your benefit. (probably can't transfer files to you because you're using a Mac)

I'm a BISCUIT monster - I've been munching on Digestives, Danone Milk Biscuits and Jacobs plain crackers non-stop since I've been back. (Explains the complexion)

I'm a COFFEE monster - mmm, they go with biscuits.

I'm a EARRING monster - I still don't know where to put all the earrings from Beijing.

I'm a shopping monster - I still haven't found space for all the clothes from Beijing, but within two days of working in Orchard, I managed to buy one more Zara top (make that a ZARA monster) and one more skirt. Great Singapore Sale.

These days, I dread going to work. Apart from perpetual starvation because I never ever feel like eating the staff meals, it always feels so mundane. I feel like I could be doing things so much more meaningful, but I don't know what. I don't want the summer vacations to just slip me by, but I don't know what to do. I want to live it up, love life every single day, but I can't find the energy. I'm reminded of my driving instructor who once told me, 'If you feel no sadness, how could you ever appreciate happiness?' - but I still wish I could be perpetually happy. Off to work soon.

Somemore happiness

Prof Lee and Chengwei Lee - Don't be deceived by his fatherly looks. This prof tells us where to shop, poses for silly shots if we tell him to, listens to S.H.E., drinks beer, brings us KTV...omg, I walked up to the wrong level one day, knocked on his door thinking it was mine and said, 'HEY BABE!' when he opened the door (that's what I call Serene)
Lynn! - This year 3 senior in our group whom Serene and I absolutely love! She's like the big sister to all of us, waking Visha her roommate up every morning (or so I heard), knocking on our doors the morning after clubbing to check if we woke up, super duper obliging and patient, easy to talk to... my (twice) jogging partner around campus, and we took this picture because we thought it looked so happy with all the bright chairs! Think Serene and I spread out photowhore-ism and shopping madness to her! Oh, and I keep telling Lynn she's a closet commie because she bought Mao caps, Mao Poker cards, Mao Shirt and couldn't stop flipping and buying Mao posters!

Serene and I being disturbingly gleeful at the Ming Tombs...wheee! Darren - This is Ray's roommate! Quiet quiet boy whom I love to bully and tease...he doesn't like being photographed, so we make him help us take photos so much that he suffers from a new photographer occupational hazard - we just have to pause while walking and turn to face him and his hand automatically stretches out for us to hang our (numerous) cameras onto it! (I hope he doesn't have photo nightmares now that he's back.) Anw, shopping king ray and shopping queen Serene and I spread our disease to him! He barely bought a thing on the first shopping trip, progressively bought more and on the last day, he went off to wu3 dao4 kou3 (when I was already so bored of bargaining that I stayed on campus) to spend off all his money! So proud of him!
Whee again! The epitome of my madness. (almost fell down taking that)
More wheeness on top of the Great wall!
Wei ming hu - otherwise, the very scenic yet-to-be-named lake on the campus itself. (Nus really needs to be beautified) Lynn and I ran round it one fine morning. (Took us 6 minutes when Prof told us it'd take about 30 minutes...)

Now, looking at the last picture, I look really fat in it! =( Time to go on a diet (seriously) to make up for all the oily China food, lose 1 inch around the waist (don't know for what also) and most importantly, to run the half marathon with Fuzzy! There goes the Baileys I bought from Changi Airport...

Today, I woke up and I missed hearing Serene's voice, asking me what she/we should wear... and then I spent the morning reading The Sunday Times with my good old cup of Cafe Nova, had my first healthy Singaporean lunch in two weeks, msn-ed with Visha/Ee Jin while uploading photos and missing them, went for my regular long run round the estate with my favourite music, called QY to catch up and sat down, played the piano, and realized how much I missed sitting there alone, just me, my piano and music - the moment where I can feel like nothing really matters and think through things all at the same time.

While I'm still on the post-Beijing high, everything feels strangely normal. It's nice to be home again.

One more note - http://summerjoy.shutterfly.com - I think the previous link doesn't work for some people...try this.

Back and pleasantly happy...

Serene a.k.a Ditzy - my LOVEly roommate (hostel cluster mate prior to this) who brings out all the craziness in me. We photowhore in our rooms every night together to remember what clothes we wear, we match our clothes to look good in pictures (see above!), we're probably the two champion (female) shoppers in Beijing, I laugh at her and she doesn't care and according to Visha, 2 weeks of her has given me Serene-ities - I just tried to use my mouse without connecting it!
Ray the brother! -who has become brutally frank, telling me how i'm growing a tummy, flatty limbs, fat arms etc, but it's okay, because I'm now telling the whole world that this boy canNOT drink but has a beer belly. (btw our faces are red because we drank Bailey's on the plane) And we discovered he looks like Ping3 Guan4! Oh, and here's the champion (male) shopper who left with his luggage weighing 14kg and returned with 30kg!
Visha a.k.a. the Empress Dowager a.k.a Beida - The first time I saw her when I walked into class, I just had to say, I like your specs!' (look at my unglamourous nerdy ones) And really, this girl is ultra funky/loud/cool/crazy/hilarious! Drinks damn well, bridges damn well, dances damn well... Oh and she loves Beijing kao3 YAAAAAAAA (as she says it) Really hope we're clustermates in PGP next semester, then Ray and I will suffer under the clutches of the Empress whom can never be defied!
Ee Jin the senior from Business School! - I met her at Bizad camp but we didn't really keep in contact, until she came up to me one day at Beida! (she's there on exchange) And we all agree that Ee Jin's a really really cool person, methinks she loves to laugh and has an infectious laughter! Really glad to have met her... invited us to her room, told us about her interesting trip to North Korea, brought us to dinner at this fantabulous Japanese restaurant my Beijing-sms-hotline for shopping/makan places, directions, bus/subway info... btw, I like this photo a lot because I think I actually look YOUNG in it, lol.
Das ist Frau Yizhen meine neue Fruendin - my fellow German Hwachong-ian and Deutsch lover (she finished German 4 already!) This girl is a whole year older than me but she's so cute that it just doesn't feel like it! Together with Ditzy, we've spread our crazyshopping disease to Lynn, the last girl in our group. And lucky girl has extended her trip and is now travelling in Shenzhen / Shanghai... more shopping!

My wardrobe is bursting, there are a million things on the floor, my bag cupboard can't be closed (it has been like that for ages) and I still wish I bought more!

I dare say the past two weeks in Beijing University were really one of the best times of my university life thus far - I met the funkiest people (especially all the girls!), I was happy, laughing everyday (even in our sleep deprived state), always relaxed and comfortable with people around me!

Pictures at http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AaNWrhs4cNGIe&notag=1 - there really are a million more in my laptop!

Ps: My pics with Lynn and Darren didn't appear :( Shall fix it soon