my little joys: May 2006

in e middle of e nite!

did u hear it? e duckies sure did...
sorry duckies....

monday blues...

8+am: woke up and felt re-energized...took a morning stroll near my hostel to unwind...

never realized dat you could see e reflections of clouds dis clear:

amazed, i aimed my camera to capture e images of clouds in e waters, instead of e skies...

sights along e way...
first row, fr left: e forest trail, budding flowers, e vast sea...
second row, fr left: 2 male ducks, 1 duck, and e seashore dat reminded me of Kallang...
third row, fr left: my shadow, kids in e playground, happily playing on slides and climbing about...

got back to my hostel, wrote my diary, and den started a tedious session of studying...zzz...and not forgetting e webcam session w my mum in e afternoon, when she started describing all e dishes dat she will cook for me on e day i return to spore (18th june!): my fave yong tau foo soup, she might open a can of abalone, buy back roasted duck, or we can oso go to Punggol Seafood Restaurant for dinner...can u imagine?! and guess wad was i doing at e time of e webcam conversation? -------eating my instant noodles for lunch?!!?!.... i miss my char siew su, tim sum, all e yummylicious kuehs and lovely cake desserts...

wells...i just had to be content with having cinnamon biscuits for my tea break...and MORE brocoli, carrots, egg, potatoes w onion and rice for my dinner...

9:22pm: a tired me...wish i dun have to study anymoreeeeee...

sunday...

10+am - 12+pm...went around e Old Town and harbour area in Stockholm...

Snapshots of Churches:
First Row, fr left: Riddarholmskyrkan, Storkyrkan ( Cathedral of Stockholm)
Second Row: The Royal Chapel...beautiful... =)

nice flowers spotted at a flower stall just outside e subway...

Glimpse of e nice blue skies with fluffy clouds, ships at e harbour, buildings along the streets...doggie! stroked e doggie, and its owner, a nice old man, started toking to me in swedish...figured out dat he was trying to tell me dat he onli noes spanish, french and swedish, but not english....e swedes are realli frenly pple... =)e cruise looks so inviting~ spot e pple having their meals on e upper deck of e ship... 11.43pm... about to sleep...zzz...it's been a tiring day...except in e morning, when i was like an energizer bunny taking lotsa snapshots...spent e afternoon shopping with eliz and sharon, and when i got back to e hostel, somehow felt overwhelmed w fatigue...my eyes felt small n realli tired...and my head is throbbing fr e lack of sleep from last nite...tried my best to study, but FSA is realli draining away all my energy...

my onli comfort for now: looking at e good old tree outside my hostel window, and seeing e skies change colour at different times of e day...

a sleepless nite...

woke up at 7+am...last nite, i went to bed at 1 am... it was e first time i couldn't sleep in Stockholm...i said my usual prayers for my loved ones & frens, and tried to sleep...but i ended up tossing and turning, listening to e noises of pple talking outside, e sound of footsteps in e corridors...somehow, i didn't feel peaceful at all, though my room was so quiet dat my ears even hurt...maybe it was from all e studying in the day....maybe it's bcos i was angry at myself...it's hard to explain, but at times, small little things bother me a lot, and i noe i realli shouldn't feel sad/affected about these things...but when i do get upset over such small little things, i start to get angry with myself for feeling this way...conflicting...confusing...disturbing...suffering from insomnia, i got up to read a book...den i hugged my soft toys to sleep...zzz...

am feeling much much happier after speaking to you over e webcam just now...=) like u were saying, such things may be small, but it hurts...and if anything, there's always u! thank God for u...=) u always make me feel better about myself and cheer me up when i am feeling down... =)

can i have a piece of e sky?...

10.30pm...Great is your love, reaching to the heavens; Your Faithfulness reaches to the skies....

(credits: photo taken by shinji...)

freedom...

2.30pm...feeling e fatigue from all e studying for my exam...i wan to break free.......
( e photo looks kind of unreal...took it, and co-incidentally, a cyclist zoomed past me...)

(there he goes...)

happieee...

12.21pm...raining...

2.40pm...e sun is out!...

5.55pm...surprise in my mailbox...=)

melon makes my day!... =)

e cold weather's making me sleepy...

8+am: lying on my bed...hearing e raindrops outside...e clock ticking away...got up fr my bed and started a mini ktv session...looking at e lyrics of e songs i found on e web, and singing along with my Winamp player (one of my best frens in stockholm)... a nice warm honey drink to soothe my throat...

9+am-10+am: writing my diary...realized dat i'm onli left with about 9 days in Stockholm...sad.

den had breakfast, and was on msn w kelly (who's sitting right in front of her boss...do u see dis, Kelly's boss?!)

10.35am: have to start studying for my financial statement analysis exam...*yawn*

Just for Laughs...

11.50am...waiting for sharon to wake up from her beauty sleep...we've got to finish up our IBS essay today!...but she's still snoring away...hahahaha...

anywayz, i've been wanting to post dis collage but i keep forgetting...=p it's one of e most famous tourist attractions in Brussels...a statue of e peeing boy, named "Manneken Pis"...spent e first day of our trip trying to find dis little statue...

by chance, we oso managed to catch him dressed in uniform on the last day of our trip...supposedly, he has a wardrobe of 600+ uniforms, which he wears on special occasions...and apparently, when he's in uniform, he pees beer instead of water...

life is beautiful...

9.50am...woke up and saw blue skies =) it's been rather gloomy for e past few days, so it's nice to have e bright sun and blue skies yet again...and i'm happy cos e tree outside my hostel window is finally filled with dark green leaves =)

roller coaster ride...

1.17am...adrenaline high again....played bridge from 11 pm...those silent moments when tension is in e air...(my heart realli tightens/beats super fast)...those looks we gave each other...trying hard to remember what cards have been played...e times we killed each other...e times we screamed at each other for putting out e wrong cards...e times we gave each other those hi-fives when we won...bridge is luck...bridge is a strategy...bridge is scary...bridge is fun...bridge is exciting....bridge is a roller coaster ride...

e game ended with me and sharon winning eliz and shinji again...deja vu...

nites...(though i dun think i can sleep cos of e roller coaster ride i just had...)

screaming helps!

i just screamed twice! haha...@ every tuesday of e week, @ 10pm, everyone will be screaming out of their hostel window at e top of their voices, lungs bursting and all....it's a long standing tradition @ lappis, where i live...when i first moved in winter, i didn't noe about this tradition, and i used to think e pple screaming must be realli stressed out...lol...

after some enlightenment from my hostelmate, we actuallie joined in e screaming once, and screamed out of e kitchen window...subsequently every tuesday, everytime i hear e screaming, i will noe dat's it's 10pm...it's like an clock for me...it tells me it's 10 pm and it's a tuesday again...haha...

heard e screams again just now...and decided to join in for e second time...cos afterall, i will be leaving lappis soon....screamed twice! shiok! haha...

IBS+Curry+Bridge = Crazy Day

1+pm...had a presentation for my International Business Strategy (IBS) module @ Konstfack building dis afternoon...sat thru more than 10 grps' presentations...e lighting was v poor and sleep-inducing...zzzzzzz....but managed to capture some snapshots of an exhibition that was held there!...

wonder if e design of e breast-feeding outfit for guys (shown below) is meant to be a joke....either way, e baby doesn't look v happy ya?

4+pm...escaped from Konstfack, and went to Galleria, where eliz treated us to ice-cream...walnut, and another flavour dat tasted like vanilla w choco chunks...yummylicious though i was super full fr e BIG cinnamon cake i ate before dat...

6+pm...in search for e indian restaurant dat serves curry near our school! we braved e obstacles: (1) e cold wind dat was horrendously blowing in all directions, (2) e difficulty of finding e restaurant dat was located along a ulu street, walked for ages, and finally managed to find e place! it's called "Indian King", and e curry was sizzling hot!

7+pm...waiting in e cold for e bus back to our hostel...time passed so slowly...i almost turned into ice...finally got on e bus...was looking out of e window, at all e houses by e road, e trees... hearing e announcement of "Universitetet sodra/nora, Professorslingan"......i will miss Stockholm...despite e cold...

9pm-12am...sharon's tummyache got better, so we gathered @ our dining table and started playing bridge with our japanese hostelmate, Shinji...bridge is realli fun!...a refreshing change from our 3 player Big 2 games!...playing bridge is like being on a rollercoaster ride...especially when it's down to e last card!...tension in e air, feeling uptight...my heart beating faster n faster...adrenaline rush...(felt so awake!) all our shouting must have driven our other hostelmates crazy (sorry nigor)...ended our last game at 12 midnight with me and sharon winning eliz and shinji...hahahaha...let's play some time soon again..

2.10am...tired out but i dun wanna sleep...cos when i wake up, i will have to start doing my IBS 5000-words essay...what should i do?

i luv bdae surprises =)

20 May, 9pm...eliz had one of her erratic baking impulses...we ended up walking to the nearby supermart at 9+pm( in e cold )to buy peanut butter to make peanut butter cookies...it turned out tasting like peanut kueh tutu...e recipe din even include any flour, just peanut butter mixed with egg and sugar?! and ended up making jam shortbread cookies too...realli yummy-licious...=), do not be deceived by its appearance..(below pic, second row) haha...they actuallie taste like chinese new year goodies...*thumbs up*

21 May Eliz's 22nd bdae...me and sharon devised a Cinderella Storyline for e dear bdae gal, which was realli ingenious...haha...or so we felt =)...we were the fairy godmothers of e day...planted e presents that we bought her at strategic places around our hostel, and came up with tricky clues for her to find them...

pic below:
first row fr left: in e morning...1)eliz finds her "rag" clothes made with newspaper, which she had to wear for the first half of the day, 2) she proceeds on to find yummy pancakes made by her 2 fairy godmothers in the oven, 3) she finds the ticket to the ball (movie marathon @ sharon's room, we watched madagascar which sharon downloaded =) )

second row fr left: Getting ready for e ball...1) eliz finds e flowers (magic wand!) & a princess tag, 2) she finds her princess "gown" hidden on her bed, a zara top which we spent ages trying to find...3) she finds a "princess parking" sign in sharon's room

third row fr left: Other snapshots! 1) eliz finds her princess crown hidden in sharon's toilet, 2) she tries on her "grass" slippers and it fits!, 3) @ 11.59pm, we presented her with a triple chocolate muffin and sang a bdae song in her hostel room=) it was realli funny cos she was actuallie washing her face halfway when we appeared...lol

we punished eliz @ times cos she was too slow to solve e clues...one of e tasks we gave her: she had to give 22 different poses (22 lian2 pai1! see below)! how's e poses? haha, i must sae some of e poses looks similiar?! but good attempt anywayz fren!

Fairy Godmothers can cook!

Menu:1) Morning-pancakes with magarin/ honey/peanut butter (reminds me of Macs breakfast!) 2) Lunch- french toast, salad and baked beans 3) Dinner-Rice with Teriyaki Chicken, vege and sunny side-up

special credit goes to Prince PP, who TRIED to engage himself in this plot...by proclaiming to Eliz over msn dat he has sent his HORSEMEN to look for the missing Cinderella, e owner of the grass slipper....dat was a pretty lame scene that u added to our perfect storyline, Prince PP...lol...(poster designed by Fairy Godmother Sharon!)

I luv bdae surprises!! =) oops, it's alreadi 1 am now...gonna hop into my bed now! happy bdae dear eliz, it has been a great day...hope u had lotsa fun being e princess of e day...and hi-five to my co-fairy godmother Sharon, who is most probably in deep slumber now *nites* =)

Ready, get set, GLOW!

we were supposed to launch a new mascara product for Loreal, and submit the marketing report for our brand management module...after MUCH brainstorming, we came up with....

Perfect VOLUMINANCE-- our new loreal mascara brand name! Perfect= perfect look, and Voluminance= volume + brillance...our points of differentiation are dat e mascara allows females to have e extra brilliant shine in their eye lashes, plus e mascara tube applicator has a mirror enclosed in it...(e black end of e tube applicator is for achieving maximum volume for e eye lashes, whereas e gold end is for adding on e gloss/shine)...

professional ad designed by superwoman sharon....!!

our in-store point of sale display...(i had a hand in dis...haha...) jessica alba standee on one side, and a full length mirror (to replicate our tube applicator) on e other side...

just dis morning, we were notified dat we got into e top 3 groups, and had to present ON THE SPOT...*faint*...and we managed to win! got lotsa loreal products as e prize...e first thot in my head---excess baggage!! gonna give some away to my hostelmates...

e whole experience was tiring (slept at 3.30am for one of nites rushing for e report?!), but fun=)

Lotsa Beans!

went to this toy shop w sharon todae...and we discovered lotsa beans!! "bean" soft toys and nice "bean" cards...we were realli so amused!!

this is a picture of "smart bean"...

went back and i surfed e website: www.bean-world.com, and compiled some of e bean pictures...haha, they are realli so adorable, and e names are hilarious...

first row fr left: cheesy bean, clumsy bean, football bean, diver bean, surfer bean (super cute!), has bean (can u believe this name??!)

second row fr left: fairy bean, farmer bean, groovy bean, sporty bean, pop bean (i miss ktv!), smart bean (this bean is so super duper funny!)

Time for a new haircut after 5 and a half months!

Time for a new haircut...
160 sek= $30+ sing...recommended by my classmate...was a little uncertain, but wanted to experience a swedish haircut!

pic below:
first row fr left: e salon (located near a subway station, a little old looking), e interior of e salon
second row fr left: a magazine dat i was browsing thru (old edition), and viola! guess who i found? Zoe Tay in dat magazine?! think it was taken 10 yrs back?! @Passion Hair Salon by David Gan...

my hair stylist, a young and pretty lady, couldn't speak english...*faint*...fortunately, we managed to use hand signals to communicate (to cut my fringe "a little bit"...) it was hilarious and rather exciting...haha

pic below:
first row: before my hair cut, i looked like an idiot trying to take e backview of my hair
second row: after my hair cut, and looking like an idiot again trying to take e backview of my hair yet again ( e passer-bys must be thinking i'm nuts?!)
pic below: me w my new haircut!

e sea near my aunt's house...

feeling tired recently...don't seem to be sleeping enough...perhaps it's e accumulated tired-ness fr e brussels+amsterdam trip...and school is ending in 2 weeks...*faint*...got a loreal case report due in 1 and a half days...and an 5000-words essay on baby food products due...and a finance exam which i have such a shallow understanding of...*faint e 2nd time*

woke up at 8am, and started to check my mail...my mum sent me pics of my cousin, aunt and grandma, who went to States recently to visit my another 2 aunts that are living there now...one of my aunts lives beside e sea, and my cousin paddled in their kayak for 3 hrs! looking at e pics made me smile... =)

pic below: my cousin trying to get into e kayak...reminds me of myself, still remember how i used to capsize at e shore...

pic below: my cousin kayaking...he's good isn't he...

Dreamland...

holland=land of tulips...
my dreamland...

was realli overwhelmed by e sight dat greeted us when we entered Keukenhof Garden in Holland! lotsa lotsa lotsa tulips! e flower beds....felt like i was in a dreamland...each step we took brought us to yet another flower bed....think there were 1 million tulips in e entire garden??!...never seen so many tulips in my life! feel so happy and cheerful!...feel like jumping and singing! wanna lie amongst e flowers and day dream....

They have beautiful names too!
Pic Below:
First Row, fr left~ Moonshine, Queen of Night
Second Row, fr left~Ice Cream (like sharon saes, e tulips look so delicious!), Dreamland (my fave! =) )

snapshots of me and e tulips...din neglect e statues in e park..i even took a picture with e 67th statue ( 2nd row, 2nd pic fr left), and wend if u r looking, e tulips in e 3rd row, 3rd pic fr left is called "wendy love"...haha!

SHE w e tulips!

SHE again...3 Singaporean Gals gone gaga over flowers...

After e overdose of tulip bulbs~ Things u never thought u wud find in Keukenhof garden!
First Row, fr left: pigs lazing abt, sheep & other farm animals, holland windmill!
Second Row, fr left: a group of eldery men singing to their hearts' content, holland shoes, orchirds!
Third Row, fr left: doggie (i stroked its fur...=) ), 2 dogs squeezed in a backpack, cute ducklings in a pond...=)

a little bundle of joy...

2.30am 15 May. Back fr Brussels and Amsterdam...our plane landed at 11pm, by e time we reached e subway, it was near 1 am ...walked in the freezing cold (7 degrees) from e subway back to my hostel...can't believe how i'm freezing my fingers and toes off at 1+am in stockholm...just had a hot cereal drink w biscuits and it tasted so nice n warm in a cold night...

gonna jump into bed and sleep...zzzzzzz...

but before i do so, wanna wish jed jed happy 1st bdae! =)

nites!

Happy Mother's Day...

will be leaving for brussels and amsterdam in 1 hr's time, and will be back on monday...but not fogetting, Sunday is Mother's Day! hope my mummy will have a nice day with my brothers and ah pa dis sunday =) and hope my postcard reaches her in time =)

just want to tell my mummy how thankful i am for all e encouragement and love she has given me thru these years...and all e laughter we've shared together, be it during e breakfast sessions in spore (@home, @ e nearby coffee shops n hawker centers), or thru e webcam sessions we have now...she alwiz makes me laugh...one of e her emails dat realli touched me was when i said i wud pay her back for e exchange next time (when i start to work), she replied me, "Its my pleasure to be able to let you enjoy while you are in the state of mind to", and "whatever we give whether in kind or monies should be unconditional"...

thank u mother, for ur unconditional love...

first jog in stockholm =)

haven't been jogging for e past 5 mths...with e weather turning warmer, decided to go for a jog yesterdae evening...=) began my jog from my hostel, to Stockholm Uni (saw many pink flowers on e trees, pple playing soccer...), back to my hostel, and decided to venture into e forest near my hostel...dis time i din get lost, and i found e path to e lake! e duckies were there as usual...=) and e evening sun was so warm...did my cool-down and stretching while facing e jetty...e warm sun shining on my left cheek, and cool wind...it was a great feeling, one dat i haven't had for ages...=)

my little joys

Wednesday, May 31, 2006

in e middle of e nite!

Tuesday, May 30, 2006

monday blues...

Monday, May 29, 2006

sunday...

Sunday, May 28, 2006

a sleepless nite...

can i have a piece of e sky?...

Saturday, May 27, 2006

freedom...

happieee...

Friday, May 26, 2006

e cold weather's making me sleepy...

Wednesday, May 24, 2006

Just for Laughs...

life is beautiful...

roller coaster ride...

screaming helps!

Tuesday, May 23, 2006

IBS+Curry+Bridge = Crazy Day

Monday, May 22, 2006

i luv bdae surprises =)

Friday, May 19, 2006

Ready, get set, GLOW!

Lotsa Beans!

Thursday, May 18, 2006

Time for a new haircut after 5 and a half months!

Wednesday, May 17, 2006

e sea near my aunt's house...

Tuesday, May 16, 2006

Dreamland...

Monday, May 15, 2006

a little bundle of joy...

Thursday, May 11, 2006

Happy Mother's Day...

first jog in stockholm =)

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