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Friday, June 30, 2006

lesson #011: whee outing!

Outing with the Bitch Club tonight. Just gonna have an annual general meeting after so long an absence.

Can't wait to dress up and party!

Driving-wise, had a couple of more lessons and am feeling much more confident now about driving on the road.

Also, addicted to hostel-surfing on the net. Stayed up 'til 4.30 am to read up on the goods and the bads. They were just... addictive. I couldn't stop after reading through just one. Won't just be covering France and Italy now - the Exchangers and myself would most prolly be going to Spain as well. Whee fun! Am thoroughly immersed in wanderlust.

(But if I have to see more than one church in each place I'm gonna vomit blood. I'd also like to check out the other local attractions, for eg. hot guys in vespas.)

Also took the time last night to tidy up my accessory compartment a bit. Voila!

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(Trust me, ya don't wanna see the Before picture.)

Taped some clear sheets to the cupboard door after suitably holing them. Went a little mad and started hanging my bra straps as well.

All-rightey. Back to hostel-surfing it is!

mon has bin bad at 3:53:00 PM

Thursday, June 29, 2006

lesson #010: never let me go

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro is one of the most haunting books I've read yet. It's a bit slow at first but towards the end of it you feel like a flood's washed over you, and once you closed the book you have to sit down for a while and think through the story again and feel its tragic poignance, at the same time not wanting to believe in it. No matter how hard you try to stay detached, you'll feel something in the end. It's much like a relationship, really.

Have been soaking up on Sex And The City. My thoughts:
1) Mr Big is really very lovable.
2) Every time I see Miranda get together with Steve, dust gets in my eyes.

mon has bin bad at 1:21:00 AM

Monday, June 26, 2006

lesson #009: i am a bear part II

So I survived the revision driving lesson. Drove around the Bukit Timah area, going as far as Queensway, Tanglin, the inner reaches of Sixth Ave as well as Holland Road. Panicked a bit as I turned into Mingteck Park as I had had to simultaneously a) move off from a steep slope at a junction b) look out for approaching vehicles c) make a left turn d) squeeze through the narrow road and e) bypass a row of cars parked along the road. Did I mention it was narrow?

That aside, the instructor inquired whether I had a boyfriend. Rather frightened that he might consider ME as HIS potential date (he's about 60, not the same instructor as Kunz's), I quickly said yes. Then he said something along the lines of, what a pity, at first he wanted to introduce me to one of his students, a rich boy.

Call me a material girl, but my ears perked right up there and then. I laughed it off and very casually asked if this student of his was good-looking. Then it was his turn to laugh and said if that student was good-looking he'd already be snapped up.

But enough about driving. There are some overdue pictures I've been meaning to put up along with the stories behind them, so here goes.

End of Internship

Despite my previous complaints regarding this internship, I feel really sad that it's over. There are parts of it that I don't miss, such as waking up early and chasing clients around for documents. However, I miss the company of my colleagues, I really do. For the past five weeks that I've been stationed at the client's office at Suntec, I've grown rather fond of the audit team there.

This afternoon, I received an SMS from Stella, an intern who's worked with me at the Suntec job. We both pooled out of the job on the same day. However, for me it was also the end of my internship while for her, she's still got 3 more weeks to go. When she SMS-ed me about the mundane tasks she's doing at the office now, I was overcome by a strange feeling. I felt disconnected somehow. I couldn't believe THAT was my life just last week. It almost felt like I hadn't been through the whole internship period at all, and believe it or not I felt nostalgic. I think this internship is the first job that I've ever felt something for, thanks to the people that it brought into my life.

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Stella and I on our last day.

Wanted to put up the group picture which I shamelessly insisted on taking but I decided against it. Somehow looking at it seems too painful, like remembering a happy period that's gone by and can never be gotten back.

Maybe in a year from now I'd have completely lost contact with the peeps I made friends with (and that'll be sad). But for now, I am cherishing the moments of crazy laughter we had, the jokes and the bonding over lunches and shops and complaints of work.

The only sour thing's probably the fact that I have to speed up the writing of report for this internship. Am literally hounded by the OCS people as they sent out a daily generic e-mail reminding me to submit my report within a month's time. It gets really, and I mean really irritating. Like the teeth-gritting kind of irritating. It's made worse by the fact that I sort of have to send a draft of the report to my supervisor so that she can vet it. The words she used was, "So that anything that should be in there would be in there, and anything that shouldn't be in there wouldn't be in there... you know?" In short, it's like having my own personal censorship board.

But whatever. I'll just do as she asked.

THE Mango Sale

On my last week of internship, I chose to buy back lunch so that I could use the rest of the time to shop at the sale. Accompanied by Addie and Stella, I splurged. But I also kept in mind that I need some warm clothing for the coming UK exchange, so I was very disciplined about the things I picked up (YEAH RIGHT). Here are my finds:

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The Ugly Duckling: Both of my shopping khakis for that day thought that this vest looked mighty ugly. But I tried it on anyway and it actually fits well. This vest personifies any nice guy who may only look average at first but then shines once you get to know him better.

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The Retro: A bling-bling gold top for when I feel bling-bling.

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The Ballerina: A very sweet yet sexy slip spaghetti. Makes you look like the most fragile ballerina when worn.

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The Groove: Have to thank Addie for picking this up! For when I feel ghetto.

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The Wool: Finally my discipline kicked in and I purchased this very warm knitted sweater for those chilly winter nights.

Iguana De Javu

Now this is waaaay overdue. Went to Iguana a while back with my two favourite dancers. Syd was practically glowing that night.

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This hairdo is HOT. Jess whipped it up out of a sudden inspiration.

The Jing Stayover

Before she flew off to Cambodia for a backpacking trip, Jing stayed over at my place and we watched a marathon of Sex And The City as well as did a bit of cleaning up.

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Panic not. This is the Before picture.

I am sad to say that while my room was neatened up a bit with her help, it's now back to its original state of disarray, magnified by ten thousand due to the fact that late nights have resulted in clothes being shed off body just to be tossed to one side of room before self blanked out, exhausted.

The Ah-Lian / Beng Party

Syd, Celine and I went to celebrate XH's 21st and we tried to stick to the theme. However, that proved pretty hard.

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Hey, I did put in some effort! The cap helped a lot.

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The cap may have helped too much. After the party, went over to LiquidRoom / Zouk and if I get a dollar for every leery stare I get from all sorts of guys (except for the tall, dark and handsome ones, none were in sight) I can buy myself the chic black Guess luggage I saw on sale earlier.

The Starbucks Talk

After dance, the usual suspects chilled for a while at Starbucks. The conversation went into one particularly intriguing direction. But it was destined to be continued at another time as half of the lights went off at Starbucks and we needed to catch the last public transport home.

Babes, must do it soon! This is too exciting to be forgotten.

mon has bin bad at 5:19:00 PM

lesson #008: i am a bear

And it's the winter season and it's time to hibernate. When I woke up this morning all I wanted to do was crawl back in bed, curl up in a foetal position, and snore away until kingdom come.

Toto, I think we have entered Lazy Land.

Supposed to have driving right now with a private instructor whose contact I got off Kunz (thanks babe!) but his car's in the workshop so he's gonna call me back re. whether the lesson's still on. See? Even circumstances are encouraging me to be lazy, as the phone call from the instructor came after I just thought to myself in the shower - 'Man, I just wanna stay home and laze around today...'

Maybe I've got magic powers. Maybe I can make my (lazy) wishes come true just by thinking of them really really hard.

Maybe not. Instructor just called. Gotta zip off to lesson. B-L-A-H.

mon has bin bad at 10:03:00 AM

Wednesday, June 21, 2006

did you expect to kiss me one time

I know you've been sworn
I read your complaint
you're needing someone older
and though I've been warned
to live day by day
there's something taking over

did you expect to kiss me one time
while looking at me with the same eyes ever again?
so come on and face it
so come on and face it
it's time that we say it

you can cross the line whenever you want to
I'm calling it love soon
close your mind and waste some time if you have to
I'm calling it love soon
it's not about you now
it's what we are

your mother complains that you need a man
you haven't mentioned me yet
and all of your friends don't know who I am
I've been your best kept secret

I understand I wasn't part of the plan
a dollar short, a minute early
but I am your man
so come on and face it
so come on and face it
it's time that we say it

you can cross the line whenever you want to
I'm calling it love soon
close your mind and waste some time if you have to
I'm calling it love soon
it's not about you now
it's what we are

let's bypass the bullshit and move on because
the minute hand moves faster than you think it does
and by no fault of yours and by no fault of mine
the bottom line is laying in the bed that we've been playing in tonight

im calling it love soon

-- John Mayer, "Love Soon"

Ooh I love this song. It's so real. Every girl who's ever sneaked a man into her life, not knowing whether he's right enough to get into a relationship with, will identify with it.

Have got two more days of internship to go and after that I'll be free as a bird... Preferably a peacock and not a stool pigeon. But I digress. Gonna have a yummy meal at Crystal Jade on my last day - a promised treat from The Boss. The Boss appraised me and told me to work on my punctuality (erm... whoops...) but commended me on my meticulous work. In his own words, he said he could trust me to do a job well done. Wowee! How nice. But then again, I'm not exactly intending to go for an audit career next time. Which is a statement made ironic by the following paragraph:

Speaking of interesting audit stuff, gonna have a meeting in school tomorrow for SAAT. Sigh. I'm kinda regretting joining it. Purely because am kinda sick of audit. Someone please smack me in the head the next time I make one of these 'smart' decisions to contribute more to the school.

Parents came back from Jakarta yesterday night and brought along some goodies. Mummy bought me my Clarins moisturizer pot (whopping $72! Gah) and now I'm finding it much too precious to be used on a daily basis. But then, she was saying for that price I'd better use it and she'd better not see a single dollop left in the pot.

Also brought back some comic books, mainly the Detective Conan series. Yayay! I couldn't wait to rip the plastic cover off and salivate all over the pages. Yeah, okay, fine I'm a kid.

Yang, Zhi and I have finalized our travel plans! We met up yesterday and decided on travelling to Paris, Rome and Venice. Which reminds me, I have got to ask Jun to meet up one day for a quick run-through of all the Venician sights! And on top of Europe, we're also gonna have a lookie lookie around London. DUDES WE ARE SO GONNA GO TO THE SHERLOCK HOLMES MUSEUM! I'm going even if I have to drag those two in and bribe them with a promise of all the riches in the world - a promise which I will make sure is not recorded in any way / form so that they can't sue me when I don't put out.

Oy vay. Gonna go watch Project Runway. Have been meaning to catch the last few times but I've always fallen asleep before the show even start. Needless to say I woke up the next morning cursing.

mon has bin bad at 9:55:00 PM

Sunday, June 18, 2006

lesson #007: what you can't escape at 4 am

Loneliness.

And so it is
Just like you said it would be
Life goes easy on me
... most of the time
And so it is
The shorter story
No love, no glory
No hero in her sky

It's what hits you right in the heart, the feeling of not having anyone to share your dreams with, your wishes, your secrets and the things you laugh about.

I miss love. I don't know where it's gone but it's left me behind and the more I see and the more I live, the more I couldn't find it. And I miss it so bad but I can't bring it back because it's the one thing you can't force.

I want someone to love and to hold who would love me and hold me. No questions asked, no quarrels. Will it ever be so simple?

Mr Shakespeare once said, and I do misquote him on this: But be not afraid of singlehood: some men are born single, some achieve singlehood, and some have singlehood thrust upon them. I happen to be one of the latter, and I tell ya:

It sucks.

And that laugh
That wrinkles your nose
It touches my foolish heart

Farking love songs.

mon has bin bad at 3:45:00 AM

Wednesday, June 14, 2006

lesson #006: goodie bag

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In the goodie bag last week was a vanity pouch from women'secret and a light gold belt. What would be in this week's goodie bag??

mon has bin bad at 12:10:00 AM

Friday, June 09, 2006

lesson #005: things to do before you can do things

1. I need to lose weight 'til I weigh exactly 44 kg so that when I travel in Europe, and when I gain weight (surely you will when you'll have to live on bread alone), won't feel too gross about my body.

2. I need to pass my second driving test so that I'll find it more convenient to go to places at night / in the rain, places in the east as well as nearby so that I can hang out more with my friends before I travel.

3. I need to feel happy so that I'll have the motivation to exercise, which will make me feel good about myself as the exercise generates happy happy endorphins.

4. I need to find independence before I can feel attractive again.

5. I need to be harsh to myself whenever I feel like backing down and leaving it be before I can finally say that I've tried my best.

6. I need to sleep before I can feel awake.

7. I need to know you're on my side before I can trust you with my life.

8. I need to see a sale sign so that I'll feel compelled to buy something from a shop, even when that particular something is not one of the sale items.

9. I need to watch the opening match of World Cup so that I can be interested enough to follow the rest of the matches.

10. I need to fix my laptop before I can again type 'z' words with ease. Zebra zipper zap zoom zonk zinzibar zen zzz ZARA.

mon has bin bad at 11:36:00 PM

Saturday, June 03, 2006

lesson#004: how many dancers does it take to put the wait staff on the hop?

Answer: 8, as proven by our latest dance outing to Cafe Iguana. Bored on a Saturday night (you will know why soon), have decided to heighten the image-viewing experience by turning one of our piccies into a Photoshop wonder:

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Not bad for someone rusty eh?

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These babies are yummy! Frozen strawberry margaritas.

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Giant nachos served with chewy mozarella, mexican beans and rice.

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Syd & Kunz.

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Syd, Kunz, Mich and I. I heart my red top! It's the new one from Mango I mentioned in one of my latest entries!

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Again, I declare it: I heart my red top! Some clients from work jokingly asked if I was going to a birthday party. Was I the present? Ha-Ha.

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Syd and I.

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Who else but the usual suspects. The bitch squad. The three (fashionable) musketeers. The... Uh. Yeah. I can go on.

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Self-portrait (as far as she saw herself) of Frieda makes intriguing decor.

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Jess and I decided to entertain the rest. Here she's transformed the colour of her top from aqua blue to hot red!

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Then we decided to play peek-a-boo!

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And then on to a bit of nip-n-tuck!

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Ended with transformation into Daddy's Little Girls.

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But some people in the audience weren't impressed.

The morning after, I met Syd at Marina Square for some shopping before dance. Both of us were thirsty so we settled in at Billy Bombers amongst tacky seats for a slurp and a nibble. The waiter who brought us to our seats was grinning ear-to-ear at all times, and rather than generating a friendly welcoming atmosphere, the effect was kinda freaky.

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Syd's chain necklace from F21 is so pretty! She's posing with my drink, something called Desire Me which left much to be desired.

We switched venues to Suntec City as Marina Square has a really screwed-up air-conditioning system and Syd's lips were turning blue. Went to the Mango there 'cos Syd wanted to get my red top in a different colour, but the outlet was out of sizes so boo to that. We also checked out Topshop as I wanted to get a puffed-sleeves blazer which Zhi pointed out to me a few days back. Well, there were loads of drama associated with that damn blazer. The Topshop at Suntec doesn't carry it so I asked the staff to help me reserve on at the Wisma outlet, and then for the longest time I had to wait as the Wisma outlet staff went to search for it, then they said they couldn't find it. COULDN'T FIND IT! I was hysterical and decided to go down there and find it myself. After some rifling through and initial disappointments, I found it. HA! I have never been so satisfied over proving someone wrong before.

Let's close this off with a brief discussion on why I was feeling bored on a Saturday night, the night for lovers to cuddle, to watch movie, to have sups and gaze into each others' eyes. But that's the thing. I am officially

SINGLE.


There's no more of this:
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As I look at this collage, I feel rather sad. After experiencing a short period of loneliness, I dread future moments to come. But well, I suppose it's got to be faced head on.

We're really officially broken up. It's not a case of, "Well, we're not together but we sorta ARE seeing each other..." and it's definitely not, "we're not together now but we will be in a few days' time."

We broke up over irreconcilable differences. We may have loved each other once, but the thing about love is it's not exactly a permanent state. And besides, the cliche is true. Love on its own isn't enough. I started to feel that something was amiss when I couldn't feel the desire to tell him how my day was.

Would it help if I were to say that after these pictures were taken we launched into one of the biggest quarrels we ever had?

mon has bin bad at 9:25:00 PM