Cheap car???

Hello again. I forgot to mention that the Gang celebrated Baka Neko’s birthday 2 weeks ago. So, if you want to have a glimse of what we did, just check either the Neko’s or Juls’ blogs. It is all there. As for the photos, then it is at Juls’.

I think I shall either go play Maple (it has been a long time!) or else browse blogskins.com for another blogskin or watch Prince of Tennis (Tezuka-sempai!!! Fuji-kun!!!).

And another thing. I bought for myself the driving theory books when I was out with Neko. Yup. Will be taking the test as a private candidate.

Should I go for the Daihatsu Copen or a cheaper one??? Hmmmm… Best to cross the bridge when I get to it.

24th April 2007, Tuesday

Hello. Did you miss me? I missed you too. (Waha! My skin is so damn thick… Lol!)

Right. If you can read this post, that means that I am finally online!!! Whoot! I guess I better make this a fast one.

So, what have I been doing since my last entry? I am rather fuzzy over the details but I can tell you this. I went out with Baka Neko last wednesday as she wanted to buy some presents. She called me up and I met her at Bugis at about 3 in the afternoon. Went walking around, she buying the presents while I gave her some ideas on what to buy. After that, we sat down at Terra for our afternoon tea and also to talk about the weather. Once we were done with our walking around Bugis Junction, I wanted to head over to school to check the reassessment list for myself, but that means that we had to walk through Bugis Street when I thought of getting some little presents of my own for my mum’s OZ friends when we are there next month. And that was what we did. While over there, the two of us went winding in and out of the numerous shops, stalls and alleys in order for me to find that elusive little shop where I bought my shawl from about a year ago. (It was more like me leading the Neko around…) Hey! It was more than a year ago! How was I suppose to remember where it was exactly located? Besides, the chances of it not being there was rather high. In the end, we stumbled across this little shop specializing in the wholesale of crystal-glass jewellery/ornments. 6 small/medium pendant for $25 or buy 5 and get one free at $5 apiece. So, I bought 5 while the 6th piece went to the Neko who paid me $2 in return; $1 for the chain and $1 for the pendant. What a bargain for the both of us. (A/N: Note the sacarsm.) We then left Bugis St (finally) and headed for school before going our separate ways.

It was an interesting day, right, Baka Neko? What you had read was my version of events that day.

So, what else am I suppose to say? Errm… I just downloaded some games from Zone.MSN for me to play when I am not online. As you can see, I am trying to make full use of my time here. Hee!

Oh! The Gangsters will be having a picnic at Sentosa tomorrow. Let’s hope the Juls can and will recover from her case of food poisoning, that AhBoy will be able to make space in his very busy and packed schedule for us, that WX will be able to dig up his old “army floor mat” or else we will be getting our bums baked by the hot sand, and most importantly, it will be a sunny and windy day tomorrow, without a single raincloud in the sky.

By the way, did I mention the fact that I did not fail any modules this semester?

Lazy Life

I am lazy. Yes. It is a truth such that it becomes a fact.

I am lazy about most things, including updating this blog and the other one.

Thus, I am here to update this blog i.e. to update on my life.

Ever since the last assignment was handed up; the NIE one, I have been waking up every morning at almost 10, sometimes at 15mins past 1o. What is most alarming, to me, is the time that I turn in at night. Sometimes 10, 11 and 12. So, let us assume that if I sleep at 10p.m. and wake up at 10a.m., I would have slept for 12 hours straight. Half a day is gone…

After a cup of milk-loaded coffee, some biscuits and newspapers, it is almost lunchtime! Help Mutter with the preparation and some cooking, then lunch. After lunch, laze around, do some sewing (made a little green pouch/bag yesterday out of left-over material from Mutter’s “tailoring” days. Currently making a cloth belt/sash), no naps. Before you know it, it is back to the kitchen for me to help Mutter.

Sounds boring, doesn’t it? It sure is. What is worse is that I am yawning away while typing about my incredibly boring lifestyle. It is only 4p.m., 6 hours since I had awaken, and I am yawning away!!!

I am such a failure.

Oh yah… We, the Gangsters, will be celebrating Neko’s birthday tomorrow. I believe I had mentioned this only in the previous post. It will be interesting. At the most, awkward for some whom I hope have already solve their unsolved issues.

This reminds me of mien mutter’s Russian chilli plant out in the garden. It is quite dead yet the roots and stem are still alive. It is only the branches that are dried up. What I did was to cut away all the dried parts so that the plant can grow leaves from the green parts. It is a simple explanation of how settling issues can be like. However, yes, it is not that simple at all especially where Humans are concerned. Which brings us to this question; why is life so complex? Or is it only complex because of us, mankind; are we the ones who view the situations and tasks in such a complex and complicating manner, thus our solutions becoming equally complexed and complicated?

I have been telling a piano student of mine this when she viewed a piece as difficult, “If you think that the piece is difficult, it will get more difficult. If you think of it as an easy piece, it may get easier or not. The best is to think neither way; let your mind be empty like a blank piece of paper.” What is the point of thinking the piece is easy just by first glance? It may be at first easy that eventually gets harder, and you will find yourself in deep water; struggling. Your expectations will be brought down to earth, falling, and then shattered like broken glass.

In the world of football, there is a very famous saying, “The ball is round.” Anything can happen so why bother making it more complicated than it already is? In fact, keep things simple. Easier said than done? That is only if you choose to think of it in such a light.

Whether or not you agree with my thinking, I just want to say that this is entirely my thinking.

Day 3: 8th October 2006, Sunday.

(con’t from previous travelogue)

17 deg celcius. Church.

Woke up at 8++a.m. and was ready by 9:15a.m. While waiting, took photos of the house and plants. Aunt Kathy drove us three to the church. Met another of Mum’s old friend there, Mrs. P, who came from Malta with her husband and 6 kids years ago. Attended Mass together without our hostess who wanted to visit some art gallery.

Homily was about divorce in St. Mark’s gospel. “What God has unite, men must not divide.” This applies not only to marital divorces but also to almost anything that is going in the world now, anything that has to do with conflicts, like wars. The altar was decorated with such gorgeous blooms, mostly local ones, considering that it is spring. Only 1 altar girl was present next to the priest.

Aunt Kathy was waiting for us at the porch after Mass. Apparantly, she did attend Mass. Something/someone changed her mind and she sat at the back of the church, while we were in the front. All of us, including Mrs. P, packed ourselves into Aunt Kathy’s car, before heading off to Mrs. P’s house. But before going there, we stopped by the supermarket for a short while to get some bread and ham. And yes, we did have ham-sandwiches for lunch, washing all those down with cups of tea and some cakes that Mrs. P had left in her larder.

It was a lovely house Mrs. P has, albeit the largeness of it for only one elderly lady. By the time we left, it was almost 2p.m. Not that we were chased out by her but because she was going out to a social club with friends, who were coming to pick her up. After her place, we went to Mid Valley to shop some more! Bought some wrapping materials; crepe paper and ribbons, and a box of Christmas cards. They were so cute! Also a ‘Thank You’ card for Aunt Kathy. And yes, I finally got my hands on that t-shirt I was eyeing since yesterday. Thought the shop had it cleared out when I could not find it on the rack! Turns out it was on another rack. Haha! Happy! So, we all walked around till the shops closed. FYI, the shops Down Under close earlier than back home, the same goes for the UK and NZ.

So, I am now waiting for dinner to be ready. It’s pasta! Yipee! Heard that we will be going out again later to visit another old friend of Mum’s.
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Finally reached back here past midnight. Stayed at the Morwell Club for more than two hours. Very lively reunion for Mum and her friend, Tony, who works at the club. We three at a cup of hot cocoa each while Aunt Kathy had a glass of weak latte. They made me on the only available piano there which was really old. Very, very old… Guess I had to work for my own cup of hot choc! LOL.

The keyboard was really nice to play/ touch. Easy/soft, in fact. It had a bouncy kind of feeling to it. Makes playing D. Scarlatti’s sonata easy. But it was horribly off-tune! The keys were yellow and there were a few that were already replaced!!! Played the Australian national anthem as requested. Thank goodness there were only a few people around or else I would had died of embaressment.

It is a cold night. Reminds me of the time when I was in England at the start of winter…

2 points down, Victoria to go.

All I really want to do is to thank God that I had passed my piano examination, but I will not be true to my emotions. Do not take me wrongly. I am NOT blaming Him or anyone else for whatever I had received. Like I had mentioned at the beginning, I thank Him for letting me pass. However, after I received my comment sheet yesterday afternoon, I was, and still am, totally pissed that I got what I did not want. I mean, I worked so damn bloody hard to get what I avoided to receive and yet I ended up with 2 points lower than last semester’s! I admit that I could had done it so much better than what I had done that fateful day. Am I making any sense here? No? Then that is good because this is entirely for me and me alone to understand. All I want now is to pass all of my subject modules so that I can move on to the third and final year at NAFA. I think I will miss the place, more of the people actually, like the very interesting lecturers there, yet I do not want to spend another year there. I am sure most of you should understand this “love-hate” relationship one has for their own alma mater. I can only presume, assume and conclude that it is the environment that makes us love our alma mater, and the “hate” part stems from what we have to go through. And all this is said in my own personal capacity. So there.

Anyway, NAFA’s long-awaited school vacation is finally here. It had unofficially begun the day after our individual P.S exam. But then again, we, the Teaching group, had to accomplish our last assignment and that was the NIE one. It was fun working together as a pair, just Juls and myself. Got to know each other more than we already do, and because of this, I can safely conclude that Juls is not very scary at all! She is a very nice girl who happens to cause a bit of confusion over her “i-am-not-really-a-girl”statement. (And to this day, most of us, particularly Enx and I, will want to smack our heads in frustration whenever she says that.) It is true!!! OK. Maybe only when she slacks…. Which was what happened while we were “working”. It was at a very sedated pace. Very… sedated… pace… Yawn… Zzzzzzzz…

Right. It was not that “bad”. Really! We split our work; one do this, the other did that, and it was quite literally done so. As I had mentioned in the previous post, we both met up last wednesday to get a little bit done before Sushi-buffet lunch. Then on thursday, I went over to her place for the day to get more work done, and had her mum’s first successful try at making lasagne for lunch. The day after, she was over here at my place for a few hours before her piano class to get more things done i.e. settle on who was doing what, and of course, lunch! Me mummy’s Mee Siam and the first fruits of my daddy’s labour; fresh sugar canes for afters! We were totally barbaric. WAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Yup. We did our work over the weekend and met up in the school’s library to finish whatever, and even had to walk back to our dear campus 3 to finish as the library was closing early due to the vacation. All too soon, we were back home to print out our respective parts; she was to print out whatever that was in colour while I print out the black-and-white ones. (Printer problem, don’t ask…) We communicated by phone and not through the internet. (Again, internet connetion problem that is rather hard to explain, much less solve it.) By the time my head hit the pillows, it was close on 0400. As for dear Juls, it was about 0500 when she did the same. On tuesday, the day of completion, we were quite exhausted. Could not be very exhausted as we still had to present/teach one lesson (-plan). I admit, whatever we taught was cheem for secondary ones to comprehend but good enough for those taking the MEP or O-Level’s music exam. Sigh… Oh well, it was a lesson well learnt.

So, my second year at NAFA is unofficially over. Why I said “unofficially over” is because I am still waiting for the final and combined results for the A.Y 2006-7.

Yes. This is one long post. Oh well… (Influenced by Juls.) At least it made up for all those days when I did not post, all thanks to my home internet connection that is very hard for me to explain what the problem is all about.

I had already bought my air-ticket to Victoria state, Australia (Yes, yes, yes… I know, I know… Again…) and will be disappearing there for 6-7 weeks. Hahahaha! So, I will not be back till almost mid-July.

By the way, the Gang will be celebrating Baka Neko’s birthday someday next week at Juls’. Neko’s way of treating us for her unexpected very-good P.S result and also for her birthday. She will be paying for the ingredients, if you must know… Now. What shall I get for her? Hmmmm…