Mazimum seafood overload, magnificent caves, mehmehs spotted on the mountains, freezingicecold aircon climate, death-defying traffic conditions, breathtaking sceneries, stalker photographers, the consecutive buffetssssss, 1st ever casino experience, exposing penguins, ............. 

I am presently craving for char siew rice. Lots of meat with lots of char siew sauce all over steaming hot rice with lot of cucumber that isn't bitter. I have no idea why I suddenly felt like eating that but the taste just flashed across my mind and now I'm craving for it. AHH D: D:

just now while walking home I had the chance - the first chance in a long time - to take photos of shifting clouds and the setting sun. This old couple walked into one of my photos x.X but at least they're not thaaaat obvious heh.

Today, I was reading the journal my mum kept when she was pregnant with me and shortly after she gave birth to me. A few weeks after I was born, she wrote, "since birth, Rachel does not need much sleep. Also, when awake, she is quiet and always curious about her surroundings".

To be honest, I was taken aback that these aspects of my personality manifested themselves just weeks after my birth. Really brings the whole nature vs nurture thing into the picture.

Also, mummy, maybe it's time to stop nagging about my sleep habits? ;p

lol. i'll be spending xmas and new year in hk! so today's my last day here in 2009!

i wonder how everyone over there is. like, i wonder bt the ones who are around the same age as me, are they still as fun, as full of crap and nonsense, as distant, as shy? hahah. or have they grown up to be demure ladies and uh refined gentlemen? well hopefully they're still childlike :D i wanna go my cousins' place to play psp hahah. dont know if they're free to entertain me though! donch know what they're doing now. 've been totally outta touch w them!

and then there're the older cousins, who i think are pretty busy with their lives since they've got kids and boyfriends and all.

and the 2 smaller ones who may be coming to sg to visit us :D

and then there are the nieces and nephews. small lil kids. maybe we'll go to like the arcade and play. haha. used to love it when i was young! or we can go to the playground and play :D hehe.

and there's teevee at night :D

think 2008/9've been pretty good (: nv pon sch at all leh! hahah. unlike ahem many ppl...hehe. there're like perpetual ponstars and unexpected ponstars. love my class, my ogmates, my oglings and many friends (: ok. im actually like not in the mood for this kinda thing now. lol shall leave this for another time!

meanwhile. gotta settle all the stuffffs. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz ):

Today, I'm grounded. Why? I forgot to send my mom a gift on Farmville. Sorry Mom. MLIA

seriously the most ownage mom ever (:

WHEEHEE :D just back from lenka w eve! :D:D

it was lovely! (: she sounded great :D sat near the stage so the view was quite alright! just that the camera ppl kept blocking x.x hahah. oh. btw this cam man he wanted to put his bag down but there was yoghurt there! totally wanted to stop him but he was too fast! and there goes his bag :S zzz.

we ALMOST took pic with one of the instrument ppl aka 'bandmate'! BUTTTT the stupid zirca guy STOPPED him from taking pics with more ppl cos they wanted to clear the club -.- SO STUPID HUH.

lenka is a refreshing break from the other pop artists (: haha just sweet and simple! my fav are knock knock, the show and the christmas song! all my bells are ringing (i think!). haha almost thought she was going to sing love actually song! cos she mentioned the movie! lol.

yay (: wonderful night (:

In Stomp, the forum for health concerns is placed second in the links bar above sports, school life, work life, philosophical musings on life and everything else basically. I don't know, I just find that an interesting look into the Singaporean psyche. Or at least what the STOMP moderators think we're concerned about.

Recently watched a clip on youtube where John McCain and Ellen Degeneres talk about the legalisation of same-sex marriage. (Oops, a bit behind the times!) I wonder what it takes to tell someone to their face that you don't think they should get the same rights as "normal" people. Also, maybe because I have no religion (as the Singapore government likes to tell me) I was surprised at the uproar because it really didn't figure on my radar. Haha.

Also, the Smart Mouths people discussed the Nobel Peace prize for Obama. (Also behind the times, oops I did it again?) One of them commented (in all seriousness) that the prize should be given to the American people instead for overcoming their prejudices enough to vote in a black President. I don't know, but a part at me was appalled at his assumption that they should be given an award for doing what is the right thing in the first place.

Am currently addicted to reading badscience, a blog on how scientific research is misreported / misrepresented / just plain missing from sensationalist claims in the media or public domain. Kinda enlightening and scary at the same time. Now though, I know why I had a gut feeling that the research couldn't be trusted when the newspaper told me there were scientific trials which showed homeopathy works.

Also, I was talking to my mum about our experiences donating blood and I mentioned how I was given a local anaesthetic and then she commented she has never had an anaesthetic. I am seriously confused - they never gave me (nor her) a choice about whether to receive the anaesthetic, her last donation was last year while I started last year so we're talking about the same time period, we've both given at mobile donation drives as well as "fixed" centres - so why the different standards?

Err anyway, the HSA site confirms a local anaesthetic is given so my mum is either really unlucky or has a bad memory. Personally, I'm going for the bad memory because so many nurses can't possibly make the same mistake without even asking right? I mean, my mum does have a high pain threshold (getting stitches over her eye without local anaesthetic anyone?) but the nurses can't possibly tell just by looking, can they?

Lastly, apparently, the minimum height requirement for being a flight attendant is 162cm. So, phew, one possible career choice hmm? xD

I've always wondered why people cry. How people cry; why God made crying exist.

I saw this phrase in one of the Time magazine publications sometime during the year and it struck me, how beautiful the words were and how aptly it described the whole idea of crying. The full phrase was about how when people are in grief, they instinctively bury their faces in their hands and hide the contortions of their faces as they release the grief that explodes when reality hits, like the loss of a loved one, or extreme disappointment. People cry for many reasons - shame, anger, hurt, sadness, grief - and in many ways: wailing, sobbing, silently crying with tears streaming down their faces with a blank face. Regardless of how they do it or why, people cry, all the time, even if they are afraid to let people see. Because it is a universal reflex of grief - to want to hide your face in someone's shoulder, or your own hands, or your knees as you sit on the floor or on your bed and cry as the anger or the sadness takes physical form in the likeness of a running wetness, down cheeks and jaws and drip, in turn, onto a cold marble surface or soft cushioning of the muscle of a shoulder or cotton stuffing.

People always say that guys shouldn't cry - I think there is a need to cry at times. It scares me when one does not cry even when in grief.

If I eve lose the ability to cry I think I would die.

lolll. i kinda forgot that i used to send emails to my dad occasionally when he was working all year long in hk last time. just chanced upon one of them cos i was looking through my inbox. and i don't seem to rmb reading his reply before. lol. it's quite funny though. i was complaining that i was freaking bored during the hols in 05? (hmm that's like sec 2?) and here's his reply 'I know you are boring at home but what to do with you cos you don't use your brain to think of.....' okay. hahaha. alright. my dad says im boring (y) actly he just used the wrong word luh >:P and....he calls me the 'the sharp teeth small tiger at home' (y)

OKAY. i found a trend. my dad loves writing adjectives ending with 'ing'. lol. he said he knows that im 'tiring' instead of saying im tired!

lol. some mails are quite cute luh. i seriously don't rmb anyth much at all >< nv knew i used to send so many mails? (relatively) lol. it's like discovering more about myself and what i used to be like :O lol. for instance, i've long forgotten all about racing frogs (y). such a silly game! lol. and endo was so funny! guess what she renamed my hmwk word doc as? 'hutong33tameni_e_learning.doc' lolll. ah. she always distorts my name into weird stuff.

i almost forgot about yokoi until zhijie reminded me bt her recently. think ono cldn't take our class cos she had to take some jc class so yokoi took over. so cool luh. he still sees her around sometimes because they stay around the same area!

I DONCH KNOW WHAT TO DO THERE.




):


how to even go disneyland huh! i think it'll be so weird to go with my cousins?! hahah cos im not even close to them or maybe they don't even want to go. then no one will go with meeeeeee ): ): ):


AND. like all the nice places also ): lol. my cousins are either TOO OLD or TOO YOUNG. ZOMG x.x


okay. i should like plan my trip right? but i srsly donno what to do there x.x boohoo.

1. eat XIAOLONGBAO :D hehe.
2. eat at coral de cafe! miss the food there! hahah.
3. go jusco maybe?
4. watch tv?
5. meet up with sam! :D hehe. I WAN DISNEYLAND ): haha but she go before alr ):

towned with og today! ate at astons and walked around after that. hahah. a lot of spontaneous activities (y).

caught zombieland! omg. hahah. the zombies are SO DAMN GROSSSSSSSSS. YUCK. but the show quite funny luh! haha.


anw funny pics.

So I was reading the synopsis for Star Wars IV (A New Hope) on wiki, and I misread "farmboy Luke" as "fanboy Luke". Hahaha. It's interesting when the real world mixes with the fictional world eh? Haha.

Went to watch Couples Retreat. It's NC16 so there's one part where the guy strips but you only get the back view. So the horrifying thing is all the grown women in the theatre are giggling while all the (young) couples are laughing (normally). Haha, maybe I'm overgeneralising but seriously, giggling from grown women? Maybe we really are too desensitised.

Also, I finally discovered where the line "we'll always have Paris" comes from. Haha. I think I need to beef up my cultural education.

Haha, I realised I have lost the skill of writing letters/emails, because the thought of carrying on more than one conversation thread at the same time scares me.

Lastly, I finally realised how I avoid making generalisations in my writing. Just picturing the flaming I'll get from illogical netizens for making hasty generalisations totally stops me in my tracks. Haha.

Yes, you two, managed to squeeze some time after my email. SEE desktop! :D <3 miss you two!!

MAMBO. Across the Stars. Jupiter. <3

Pretty fast post-concert blues. Realised how much I miss playing after stopping for about a year. Would have loved to play for Mahler...R&J MARCH!!

Love Esplanade even though it makes you feel essentially exposed.

I miss the concert (:

OMM concert was really really awesome! Sorry peach, for not staying back! really wished we could've at least met up for a bit before you swing off to US! ): Concert made me feel really nostalgic and wistful halfway through it, especially during Bernstein's "symphonic Dances from West Side Story". Reminded me of how awesome it is to play in an orchestra, the feeling of performing for 2h, giving off your best, faking together, nailing runs together. I'm gonna miss that ): perhaps i should aud for OMM? dunno, shouldn't do anything hasty at the moment.

i really have no idea what to do anymore

omgosh look at these! I NEED TO MAKE GINGERBREAD MEN!
THEY LOOK SO HAPPY!




credits to whoever baked these

but you know which one i like best?

awwwwww

I am back from India, it was a very interesting experience. I had plenty of fun, accompanied by great pple at a great place with great hosts. Really missing the orphys right now, and I really hope they can keep in touch although it's probably a luxury to make overseas calls or sth?! And I also miss tiggy and coco sigh~ The trip was really awesome and I'd really look forward to going back. I made new friends, tried new things, learnt new languages, and bought new loots. K well whatever happened in India stays in India, ciao :) But we'll all definitely have a mental picture of the happy times spent together! & I have bruises from the boat-knocks.  

Haha, Jake Gyllenhaal's dogs are named Atticus (Finch) and Boo (Radley)! Aww, that's so cute and cool at the same time <33 Haha.

Might be going to watch a movie on my own tomorrow... Maybe it's just me, but I'm trying not to be the only one in the theatre (ie. not the 11.20am show at Yishun) because that's seriously too horror-movie-like for my taste. Ack. The yawning darkness and all. lol.

Whats colder than icecold? You.
Prom's over, and Moose's chalet's over, and i has a headache, from sleeping at weird hours over the last few days, and only 30minutes on the last night of chalet. I'm feeling absolutely dazed and laggy, and now, very nostalgic, hence the long-overdue photopost. After sitting at the chalet poolside at 5am listening to Coheed & Cambria, I've had time to reflect and reminisce on the fact that JC's finally over, and it still feels as short as ever.

The following pics, except the prom ones, were taken by my lousy Sony phone cam. Click to enlarge:


Taken out of my room window, while mugging for Physics MCQ, and I can barely remember what it feels like to be mugging, except for worrying flashes of stress. Check out how the sky changes from top to bottom.


On a morning walk near my house.


Same walk.


Same walk too.


Leo engrossed in the phallic-sandcastle contest with Ed and Moose, on our trip to ECP.


View of boats from the wavebreak at the beach outside Moose's chalet.


More chalet beach.


Yet more.


Cab ride on the way to prom, taken by Kenneth, while we were staring into other taxis near Raffles City, in hopes of spotting fellow Vivaglammers.


Leo at prom. Note my spectacles are still present.


Kool and the Gang. Note specs are now no longer there, although i think they're on my table.


soon/choon/wuss after prom. We proceed to some quiet bar near Singapore river.


Note, specs are DEFINITELY missing, after checking all pockets. Bugger.


Cab ride home from prom.

Have been watching a lot of documentaries lately; maybe it's because there tends to be less copyright issues associated with distribution over the Internet compared to commercial shows because it's meant to reach out to a large audience. Or maybe I just don't know where to look. lol.

Haha, anyway, finally watched BBC's Charles Darwin and the Tree of Life, something which I wanted to watch since the beginning of the year, seeing as it's the 200th anniversary of his birth and all. It's very good, presented by David Attenborough and using clips from his other documentaries. The style is great, because it avoids technical language and still manages to give a brief but clear explanation of the concepts involved - kind of useful as an intro to A level Bio maybe. Haha. And the last part where he narrates the current theory of how life on earth evolved is fantastic, the animation is seriously very, very good. And the footage of the chimpanzees at the end really makes it not that improbable that we shared a recent common ancestor xD Hee. Helps that the animals featured are cute as well.

(Also, there's an explanation for the Cambrian explosion ;p And the evolution of the eye - quite interesting, I never realised how we perceive depth is involved with the indentation of the eye socket where the direction of light causes a shadow to be cast on a particular side of the eye?)

Also, watched "The most hated family in America", about a fringe (extremist) religious group in the US. Yeah, cannot emphasise the "extremist" part enough. After watching US shows, you get the sense that they really respect the sacrifices their troops make - everyone, no matter what they believe, speaks of them with respect. So seeing this religious group protest at the funerals of fallen soldiers with hate messages is really... sobering? To see how powerful hate can be. And it makes me speechless. If I ever meet them in real life, my reaction would probably be the same as those members of the public featured in the documentary - obscene gestures and vulgarities. Seriously, what else can you say?

Lastly, something which made me even more speechless than the above. Apparently, in his Inauguration speech, President Obama "preached" a message of inclusiveness, saying that Christians, Hindus, Muslims, etc. and non-believers were all part of the nation. And then Fox News ran a segment asking whether including non-believers was offensive to the general public. Seriously. Firstly, everyone in the country treated the rumour that Obama is a Muslim as malicious and designed to prevent his election - should it really matter? And now even mentioning non-believers in a speech is offensive.

Give me a butterbeer.