Saturday, January 31, 2009
Today was supposed to be our class Chinese New Year + Birthday Celebration for Justin and Terence lunch. Labels: friends
We were told to meet at Dhoby Gaut at 12.30, but I guess we forgot that the station is an interchange with multiple exits, and so no one knew where exactly to go. I was waiting for about 15 minutes at the first level near Plaza Sing, and only saw Linh and Elaine, who'd been at another entrance.
After many phone calls, finally there were 9 of us: me, Elaine, Linh, Ben, Kai Xin, Xin Yuan, Jessica, Sheryl and Wan Ting. And we went to the PS basement to eat at Pizza Hut.
Lunch was fun; we were all talking about what we'd been doing thus far. And it's at this point that we realise how old we sound, talking about work, driving, and later on, the army. Like Jess said, we used to talk about homework, now it's about work.
Quite a few of them are teaching, and I think I've been scared by XY's stories of the neighbourhood school she's teaching at. Seriously, the kids didn't even show up for her first class! Inconceivable!
We went to the arcade in the station after lunch (Elaine had to leave), where we took pictures in the neoprint booth using WT's camera, lol. Then they played things like DDR and some shooting thing that Ben's very good at. I suspect he's played very often.
After a while, Jess, Sheryl and WT also had to go, after which Justin and Charlyn turned up. Justin's an army boy now! And he was wearing this fedora thing, and XY wondered why he was suddenly 'so stylish', before realising he was covering his hair, or rather, lack of it!
Then after they got tired of playing, Linh, KX and XY also left, so it was the four of us, and we walked to the Cathay to Ben & Jerry's (Ben wanted to!), where we met Jeremy, who was wearing a cap too!
I confess, we had no ice-cream. We just drank water and talked, and ought to be ashamed of ourselves. As was expected, the two guys were talking on and on about army stuff in army lingo, and giving friendly advice to Ben, who's only enlisting in April.
I was actually concerned about going home in time for dinner, when my mum smsed me to say they'd be eating somewhere else, so I could go eat by myself! But anyway, I just went home, lugging the winter jacket that KX returned me.
I'm a bit disappointed by the attendance today. Perhaps we should have another one at someone's house, at a better time. But seriously, guys are only free on weekends, with different booking out times, and people have other stuff on, like church. It's hard to coordinate!
The main thing about today is that I think I've been struck by how we've 'graduated' from school. I do quite miss it, going for lessons with friends, eating lunch together in the canteen, CCA, etc. Like I said, when we talked, it was all about working, earning, driving, army, essentially conversation that had never occurred before.
And like I said to my parents, it's possible that I'll never see some of them again if I don't keep in touch. Maybe the last time I'll see them is when we're getting our results (supposedly in the 2nd week of March), and then they'll fly off to some university overseas, come back at different times, get jobs, and never be seen again by me. Or perhaps they'll migrate!
This is actually quite depressing a thought. Yup, I'm gonna ensure that we meet again year after year. Organize some annual dinner when we can update each other about our lives, and remind each other to invite the class to their weddings. Yay.
Monday, January 26, 2009
Today's the first day of the Chinese New Year, or as many posters are saying, the Niu Year! Yup, the year of the ox is here, and all those cows previously used for that Moove advert thing are sprouting out here and there in Singapore.
I like CNY, not just because in school you get a holiday, and sing fun Chinese songs if you're in choir, but also the whole festivity of it. Well, mostly the food!
- Pineapple tarts (the best ones are made by my aunt)
- Love Letters
- Dried prawn rolls (Hei Bi Hiam)
- All kinds of nuts: peanuts, roasted/salted/plain, cashew, pistachio, almond
- Mandarin oranges (Gam)
- Chinese BBQ Pork (Rou Gan / Bak Kwa)
This year, I've found myself thinking less about the hongbaos and more about the food. I don't know whether that's a good thing or not!
We just came back from our extended family 'reunion' dinner together. It was fun, the food was quite good, and we played zhong ji mi ma to finish up the leftover yu sheng at our table. I think yu sheng is quite wasted on us young people, and we mostly just wanted the salmon and the crackers.
Funnily, my sister turned on the tv to MTV, and it was supposed to be this Korean Pop programme, but it was close to ending, so I didn't hear any KPop songs, what a pity. But then the next listed programme said 'Super Junior at MAA'. I thought it had to refer to something else, but it was really Super Junior!
I realise I've already watched a bit of it online, the 2008 MTV Asia Awards, where SJ won best Korean artist or something, but this was backstage, and of course has English subtitles! I feel so stunned that I could actually watch Korean stuff like this on tv at home!
Thursday, January 22, 2009
For any of my classmates who may remember, our school has their annual blood donation drive each year in the campus itself, where students and teachers alike may go to donate potential life-saving blood, red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets.
And I've complained extensively before about how I've tried twice in my four years there to donate, both times unsuccessfully. The first time was in IP2 when I was legally old enough to do so, and the reason I was disallowed to donate was because the doctor or whoever it was who took my blood pressure told me it was too low.
If I remember correctly, the numbers were somewhere around 88/58. Something like that, which in all honesty is quite low. My uncle says blood pressure around 90/60 is considered low. However, that person used an electronic device to measure it.
Today there was a patient who has high blood pressure, and she found some discrepancy in measurements at home and at the clinic. Apparently, this is because the one she owns is electronic, which may under-register the blood pressure, as opposed to the typical mercury level one you normally see.
I asked one of his clinic staff to measure my blood pressure for fun, and it was 110/70. Which is perfectly normal! Hence, I've concluded that the blood pressure measured that time in school was wrong, possibly even 15 units lower than the actual, both for systolic and diastolic. Which makes my disqualification then invalid!
No point getting mad over it now though. The CNY mood is uplifting. I ate so many pineapple tarts today, it might as well have constituted my lunch!
Thursday, January 15, 2009
This is my prayer in the desert
When all that's within me feels dry
This is my prayer in the hunger in me
My God is a God who provides
And this is my prayer in the fire
In weakness or trial or pain
There is a faith proved of more worth than gold
So refine me Lord through the flame
And I will bring praise, I will bring praise
No weapon formed against me shall remain
I will rejoice, I will declare
God is my victory and He is here
And this is my prayer in the battle
When triumph is still on it's way
I am a conqueror and co-heir with Christ
So firm on His promise I'll stand
All of my life
In every season
You are still God
I have a reason to sing
I have a reason to worship
This is my prayer in the harvest
When favor and providence flow
I know I'm filled to be emptied again
The seed I've recieved I will sow
Monday, January 12, 2009
Today at lunch, I went back to the Metro in Paragon to see if the shoes I liked were still there, but woe betide me, the whole set of those going for 2 pairs for $46.90 were GONE. REMOVED.
It took me about half an hour to get to KK, which I did by taking the MRT from Orchard to Little India, and then walking in. Then thankfully there were many helpful signs to help me find my way. My one question is why the breast centre is in the children's tower.
I found out that there was another student from Duke attached to Dr. Hong, and at 2.30, he was going back and forth between two consultation rooms, so one student in each room. The nurse said he sometimes does three rooms at once!
Then an MO (I think?) called Dr Tan came in to relieve him of the room I was in. She didn't talk to me as much as he had, but I think she was surprised to see me there. She was much nicer to the patients, but in all fairness, I felt he didn't have the time for chit-chat or pleasantries when he was juggling both rooms.
The MO was nice; not only did she ask whether I needed a lift home, she also talked to me about some of the let-downs she felt after working in the hospital for five years. Then she encouraged me to go be a banker or something else! LOL. And one of the nurses, after hearing that I live in Bukit Timah, asked me to confess what it was my parents did for a living to let me live in the rich area! They're funny!
Working in the public sector must really be quite different. There's so many more patients, and I guess the good doctor-patient relationship can't really be forged since you keep seeing new patients. And I suppose if you deal with cancer, you wouldn't really want to see your patients again.
Unrelatedly, there's a Prima Deli right next to the breast centre! When I left the place I smelt really good food, and was almost going to walk to the Kopitiam to see what it was, but I restrained myself, walking the other way to the entrance, when I realised the great smell came from the Prima Deli! I love their chicken pies!
I didn't get to eat the teriyaki chicken pizza bread thing I bought from the Breadtalk at Paragon until I got home :( I suppose technically I could have eaten it at the bus stop, but what if the bus had come right when I was halfway through it? Gah.
Monday, January 5, 2009
On Sunday we had a Juniors/Sunday School programme in the parsonage. Uncle Jeffrey talked for a bit, then they handed out the good attendance presents, and then we got to know our Sunday School teachers and class venues for the year, and finally got to eat char siew pau! Labels: church
I got 100% attendance, though it can't be, since I think I missed a lesson when I was in Italy. Our teachers for 2009 are Aunty Jee Nee (still) and Uncle Sam. And even though our class is quite big, they've displaced us from our original big classroom to the smaller one previously occupied by the Sec 1s last year. Hmph. Plus the older seniors get the nice seminar room! Unfair!
At night we went to the Bukit Timah Market near our house to eat dinner, and surprise, we met Uncle Wong Keng and his family there! It was really a surprise because they live all the way in Hougang, but apparently they were visiting the grandparents.
I had a dream where I was late for my last A level paper, which was an afternoon paper, so I didn't notice the time pass until it was too late to make it to school on time, and I chionged like I never chionged before in my life. Of course, in the dream-state, it was all weird here and there.
Today for my driving lesson I got to drive on the road. It was mostly in a smaller carpark at first, but then there was some driving on the small roads, and finally on a real road. When I say real, I mean there were more than two cars driving in both lanes at each time, and even a bus or two. Some car honked at me for being slow, and I know I'm at fault, but I hope they'll be kinder to us poor learners!
I was let off near the Bukit Gombak MRT station, but I thought I'd seen 970 go on a road nearby, so I brilliantly walked towards that road to the bus stop, only to find that I was WRONG. So I had to walk all the way back to the mrt bus stop, which only has 945, that doesn't go to the bus stop I'm used to going to to change bus.
But I saw that it goes to the interchange, so I cleverly took it to the interchange, which has 852 and 77. Since the 77 driver came first, I boarded the bus and tapped my card, before taking a precautionary measure to ask the driver whether it went to Dunearn Road. To my surprise, the driver said something about it turning before Dunearn, and told me to take 852.
Thankfully, the driver did something to return me the money in my card, [thank you bus uncle!] and I went to the 852, but I think the driver didn't understand English very well. Hmph. Only later I realised the 77 goes to Toh Tuck, where Yihui and family live. SO the trip would be longer, and I'd probably have to pay more.
I want my student fares back now!
Friday, January 2, 2009
One of my so-called resolutions was to try to eliminate the need for lunch. It's only a conditioned reflex, as my uncle says, so I didn't eat lunch today.
BUT I gave in to temptation, by buying a chicken-and-mushroom puff from Old Chang Kee on the way to the bus stop. Oh the shame!
On the bus, which stopped right in front of me as it arrived, I was the first in line and quickly got one of the seats facing backwards, as there were two empty ones. Then there was this grandmother, mother, daughter and little son. The mother carrying the son sat on a seat facing the front.
The grandmother sat beside me, with the small daughter standing beside her, so I got up and let the little girl sit down. The grandmother looked kinda surprised, which I suppose is a bit sad, since we shouldn't be surprised at people being willing to give up their seats.
Incidentally, they're Korean. At least I heard the mother calling the grandmother something like Haelmoni. Later on I heard the little girl talking to her grandmother both in Korean and English, but rudimentary English. And she had something that looked like a guinea-pig pencil box.
On the other side of the bus, in front of the mother and son, there were four girls already there when I boarded. Two of them were wearing ACJC t-shirts, so I guess they're JC2 this year, since school starts later.
I know it's not any of my business, and it makes me sound like a self-righteous prig, but none of them even tried to give up a seat for the older people standing in the bus. When I boarded, there were at least two women above the age of 50 standing up.
It's true there wasn't any pregnant lady, or white haired balding wrinkled old man with a walking stick or something, but there were older people who would appreciate the seat much more.
Lastly, this morning when I boarded the bus to go to the clinic I didn't notice the beeping. But just as I was going to alight I remembered that it was already 2009, so I beeped my card, and it only beeped once! I did it again on the way home, and it took about $1.10 for the trip! It used to only require 45 cents!
You know you're old when you lose your student concession on the bus. Hmph.
Thanks to all the blogs i referred to (countless) for html code help :) (esp. cyn' and sixseven)
Adobe Photoshop Elements for supernatural abilities
