Sex And The City II

This show never lets me down, as always. Somehow this show draws an appeal, not because of the artistes. In fact, none of the actors and actresses in the show are my favourites. That is not to say they cannot act. Each one acted well and brought out the character.

But it is not the actors and actresses that draw me to the show, as I have mentioned. Yet this is one of my favourite series and the movies are one of my favourite movies (including this latest one).

The greatest appeal of the show is the glamorous setting. It is set in New York City itself, the city of glamour, designer fashion and stylish people. And the fashions. I always wondered where did the four ladies get their clothes? How could they afford it?

One is a writer married to a man who can give her a penthouse as a wedding gift, with a fabulous walk-in wardrobe full of shoes. One is a top notch lawyer. One owns a public relations company. One is a goody-two-shoes whose only dream in life is to have a happy family.

As unlikely as all four are and as different their personalities are, all four are best friends and never let each other down. They are always there for each other no matter what happens. They are all beautiful yet highly successful women in their own right yet at the same time share a common bonding which their men do not get.

And the clothes. Where did they get their threads? I will give anything to be able to carry off their poise, style and sophistication! Imagine me wearing those threads and I am positive I will definitely look much better because wearing those give me a kind of confidence that will let me ooze sex appeal! The right threads definitely speak wonders!

I hope there will be a third movie coming. Meanwhile I will try to source for some of those fine threads worn by the ladies. Hopefully I can get something at a bargain!

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A Class Party

Yesterday's party was a boisterous affair. The kids all brought food. Because it was not a full class, there were not that much variety of food. In the end, we ended up with lots of chips and marshmallows.

Still it was an enjoyable time mingling with the kids. Somehow the boys are chattier as compared to the girls. The girls are quiet and do not talk much whereas the boys talked ten to the dozen and very eager to open up and share.

I will not be seeing them again until July when the next term starts. Hopefully they will be better behaved the next half of the year!

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First Training Session

Last Saturday's training session went pretty well. It was just a briefing on what the role entailed and where we would be posted.

At least now I know the "theory" behind how the media operates. I learnt a few more things as well but the training was just a general overview on what we need to do. Even the schedule is not out yet as that would be communicated to us nearer the date.

Apparently this would be the only face-to-face general training. The next training would be at the actual venue itself, nearing the date. Hopefully next one will be just as interesting!

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A Relaxing Long Weekend

It was a very hot long weekend. I had to stay in air-conditioning all the time. Whenever I stepped outdoors, it was as if my skin was all burnt and shrivelled. Sooner or later I may just melt and disintegrate, or get skin disease or get my skin all wrinkly and shrivelled.

Since it had been so long when I actually have a long weekend, it was a time of relaxation. I stayed home enjoying the air-conditioning on Friday before going for the next choir practice. It was one of the last few practices before the combined practice.

Then we went to watch a midnight show "Sex And The City 2", a show I had been waiting to watch and was so happy that it was finally screening.

Saturday we went for a workshop in the morning, then collected the kit to the Bare Your Sole event in the afternoon, before attending the first face-to-face training session for the Youth Olympics.

Sunday marked the end of term for cathechism, so we had a class party where everyone brought food.

Initially we wanted to go out somewhere but the heatwave and humidity around really put me off that I just want to stay relaxed and cooped up in an air-conditioning room!

It had been a real relaxing weekend. How I wish there will be another long weekend soon!

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Half A Decade

I cannot believe it has been five years. Five years ago, on this day (it was a Saturday), I decided to try writing again. I had no idea where to start so I just started noting down my thoughts, feelings and memories. Since then I have never stopped.

Mine is not the best blog around. I do not even have hundreds of readership everyday as some other blogs. But I have met friends who still follow my life. And for this, I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

I do not imagine ever stopping. Perhaps one day this blog will be due to a retirement but for now, this still remains - as remnants of my mundane existence.

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Note-Taking ...

Talking about stationery makes me think about note-taking. I have mentioned a bit on mind-mapping and study skills but never really on note-taking.

I always wonder how people take notes, not just any notes but effective notes to study and score. When I entered secondary school, I did rather badly as there was a sudden jump in subjects. All of a sudden, I had to handle twice the workload, and I found everything very difficult to remember.

All the textbooks, guide books and assessment books did not help. My mum then asked me to take notes, as she said by writing down, I could register better.

So I did what she said but it still did not help. Then I realised I was not taking notes, I was copying down the entire textbook. This was how lengthy my "notes" were initially.

After that I was told to write everything in point form which was what I did. But my notes were still long because even though they were in point form, they still consisted of long sentences.

During upper secondary, I was lucky as in we had teachers who actually gave us study notes and I just studied from there. The notes were comprehensive, yet not too long and easy to understand. And my memory power really increased.

Through the years I experimented with various kinds of note-taking, from the normal lecture / tutorial notes to my own notes to concept mapping to mind mapping. My grades still did not improve.

Until my best friend shared her notes with me. Her notes were colourful. Every point was colour coded. She even doodled and drew cartoons on her notes to make them more "eye catching".

And that was when I realise with these kind of notes, all I needed was to read them once and I could remember! Because while recalling, I remembered the colour and the cartoons and somehow the words and facts came to me!

I always wondered why. After all the years I failed, why did I particularly remember her notes? Then in one of my university courses, I learnt about the different kinds of people towards learning. Some are more visual - they need to see before they could get it. Some are more auditory - they could just sit in the lecture and listen and they could get it.

The characteristics showed that I am definitely more of a visual person. No wonder I can remember better if the notes are more visually pleasing.

Since then, I tried to make my own colour notes. I did that in my final year and I really did remember better and scored better.

At least I have discovered my strength. This examination, unfortunately I was tied up with several things at the same time, so even though I told myself to make notes, I did not manage to do so. Maybe that is why I may not do well.

I only hope I can pass enough to go to the next semester and take the maximum load again. From now on I must make a point to make notes and mind maps before I study for any examinations!

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Stationary Stationery

In the past with all my school examinations I made sure I was prepared with all the required stationery intact. Pens, pencil, correction pen, eraser, ruler, all were checked and put into my pencil case the night before.

In primary and secondary school, I always made sure I bring along at least three pens as I tend to write a lot, especially for English compositions and Literature essays. Hence I did not want to risk my pens running out of ink.

I remember I used to use up two pens and refilled my mechanical pencil two times a month throughout upper secondary. My mum would buy me a box of pens to last throughout the year but the most they could last was a few months. This is how much I used up.

When I started my higher education, the usage of stationery became more pronounced, especially since I took courses that required lots of writing and analytical essays. Hence I always ensured I have enough pens and the appropriate stationery during any examinations.

In university, to prevent cheating, all pencil cases must be transparent. The invigilator wanted to be able to see instantly whether anyone took any unauthorised materials into the examination hall. But I think this step is not a good way of determining. Afterall, if people want to cheat, they could sneak something in in a less obvious way!

This time round, I did not really prepare much stationery. All I brought in were two pens and a mechanical pencil. I did not even bother whether the pen could write properly so there was once when the ink could not flow smoothly. I did not even bring in any correction pen or tape, and ended up cancelling and striking any wrong word or phrase. What a mess!

From now on, I must ensure all my stationery is intact and working well before I enter any examination hall!

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Off The Rack

I have not shopped or bought anything for quite a while. Last week I happened to pass by a boutique - a budget outlet - and saw a pretty nice knit top. It long-sleeve and come in a myriad of colours.

So I bought three of those - a red, white and sea blue. All these cost less than S$50.00! Buy two and get the third one at a discount. What a good deal!

Come to think of it, I have kind of outgrown a lot of my clothing lately. Wonder if the cereal treatment has taken any effect? I need to finish the cereal before I can see if there is any difference before and after.

After buying those tops off the rack without even trying, I realise I kind of miss shopping. I do not mean trying on clothes after clothes and shoes after shoes, but just hanging out at the shopping malls and window shopping.

Looks like I really have to just take one day and just hang out for the day, doing the things I have always loved to do! But lately time is not on my side, and it looks as if things are not about to change for the time being.

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In Training ...

The Volunteer training for the Youth Olympics has started. Besides the first face-to-face session this weekend, there is a series of online training.

The online training consists of slides, quizzes and assessments of various topics. We were supposed to read the notes and attempt the quizzes at our own time.

I must say, the Youth Olympic committee really put in a lot of work into this! The slides are very professionally done and they are easy to understand. The quizzes help us recapitulate our learning.

Kudos to the team! For being pioneers in this inaugural event, the structure and management is pretty well done! Those who were seconded to the team really have lots to learn and expose to!

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Being Stood Up ...

I have known a long time ago that the world is full of odd characters. So nowadays I try to be more tolerant and just live and let live.

That does not mean that when I experience rudeness and uncalled for social behaviour, I take it with a smile. To me, I feel the least one can do is to show the basic courtesy to a fellow human being.

What happened was a couple of weeks back, I was supposed to have a lunch gathering with some people. I specially took a bit of time off and travelled down just to have lunch with them. At the very last minute, they changed their venue.

So I walked across the street and found a table for everyone. Then I was told they were lunching elsewhere and we (my boyfriend and I) were asked to go ahead and they would do lunch another day.

Now would anyone not be irritated in this kind of situation? Worse is that when they were asked why they stood us up, they said someone else wanted to lunch with them and this particular person only wanted to lunch with familiar people, hence because of this person, everyone else stood us up.

When I heard that, I was so pissed! What a rude and weird bunch! How would anyone feel if he / she specially go down for lunch on request and suddenly everyone pulled this kind of stunt and came up with this kind of excuse?

I hope if I was ever asked to another lunch gathering this would not happen again, otherwise never would I go down again! Being stood up twice is more than anyone could take!

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My To-Do List For June

Now that my papers are over, I cam sit back and take stock of my life. The past month I have been so packed up with studying and revision that all my notes and schedules are all over!

Now when I am finally listing items down bit by bit, I realise I still have so many things to do! June is supposed to be a lax month because I have a term break until end of July. There are no more classes, no Catholicism classes (break until July too), no Cathechism and no CHOICE weekends.

Yet why do I still have my plate full? Coming up on Thursday (27th May), I will have the first combined practice for the church choral performance.

Next up (28th May) is a public holiday, which I thought I can stay in and laze around, but I have been notified to collect my kit for the Bare Your Sole event.

I will have a full day on 29th May, with a Cathechism-related workshop in the morning, and the first face-to-face training for my role in the Youth Olympic Games in the afternoon.

Coming up in June, there is the Bare Your Sole event on 5th June, followed by a Cathechist Retreat on the weekend of 12th to 13th June.

Not to mention the more intensive choir practices for the performance in July and the monthly meeting for the CHOICE Asian Conference in October.

And I still have to work full-time. I am finally starting to wonder if I have kind of bitten off more than I can chew!

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Over At Last!

Finally the examinations are over! And I think I may flunk the last paper (the one I just took). Somehow the questions did not make any sense to me so I believe the answers I wrote did not make any sense too.

What am I to do if I fail? I cannot afford to fail a single subject! Not only do I have to re-sit, it will push my studies further back, my whole cumulative Grade Point Average will be pulled down and I may not even make the Honours year! What is the point of having another degree if I still cannot get honours?

The paper last night was hard too. It was on comparing and contrasting two unseen poems and an analysis of an extract from a play. I may not have done well too.

I only pray and hope that I can at least pass well enough to go on to the next semester and continue taking the full load. I need a real miracle for that!

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Exam Progress

Tomorrow will be my last paper. I can hardly wait for it! Luckily this time round I am not so stressed studying for the examinations. Maybe because I am more comfortable with the study material or maybe because I have already done well enough to pass.

Today's paper will be on two unseen poems and Shakespeare's "Merchant Of Venice". Tomorrow's paper will be on Language Distribution, Acquisition and Acquiring Reading And Writing Skills.

That is not to say I am not nervous. Whenever an examination comes along, I am always nervous. I am always the unlucky one where even when I found the paper easy, I still do not do that well.

To others, achieving good grades and high honours are a breeze but not for me. I can be so efficient at work and do everything fast but when it comes to studies, somehow I cannot grasp the concepts fast enough.

I do not think it is to do with age. I have this problem since young. It has been the same be it taking my Primary School Leaving Examinations, GCEs or tertiary. No matter how I study, I still cannot breeze through examinations or top the class.

Still, I hope I can at least pass my remaining papers. If I do better than expected, it is a time for joy. If not, I hope to at least pass.

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Pentecostal ...

Yesterday was Pentecost Sunday, or what the British term "Whitsun". I had to conduct the lesson on Pentecost and the Holy Spirit.

To tell the truth, I never really knew what Pentecost stood for. Nor did I know the significance. In fact, it was only on my way to church that I was told it would be me conducting the lesson. So within five minutes, I had to read up on Pentecost.

Luckily the network was strong, which is quite rare when I am outside. I could access the Internet without a glitch and the loading time was so fast! Amazing! Other times when I had to surf on the go, it was either a weak signal or the page took a long time to load.

When I reached class, I had to explain what Pentecost is. Apparently it occurs the tenth day of the Ascension of Christ, which occured about forty days from Easter. The whole period after Good Friday to Pentecost is when Jesus rose up again and became the Holy Spirit.

Hence Pentecost is when the Holy Spirit comes upon the people and they all go to church to receive the seven spiritual and charismatic gifts. This also explains why some people speak in tongues.

At least now that I have learnt and gotten a better understanding, I realise which are the days of obligation where we must attend mass. One learns something new everyday and I hope the children learnt something too!

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First Choir Practise (Once Again)

Some of you may know I am singing for mass in a church choir. The practices are every Sunday morning but due to my Cathechism classes, I am excused from practise. So every Sunday, I will conduct Cathechism then go on to sing for mass.

Hence I have not had any singing practise for a long time. Last Friday, after a long break, I finally went for a first choir practise. Technically it should not be a "first" choir practice because I have been in the church choir for about a year. But it was the first practise for a performance in July where all the church choirs and cantors would get together to put up a performance.

We would be singing two songs and then another song where we would combine with the other singing groups. The practise went pretty well. I was asked to sing - what else? - the soprano part, which, in terms of church choirs, is not really very high. Real sopranos can easily sing one more octave higher. (Just for information, I sing the descant part for church.)

Come to think of it, I really miss my days at the Lyric Opera. I never knew I could reach such high notes before! Now that I am so out of practise, I wonder if I can still hold a note properly?

The practise lasted for two hours. The songs we will be singing are rather nice! There is even a solo part. I will not mind handling the solo part if I can!

Practices will be every Friday, until nearing the performance. So around the last one or two weeks of June, practices will be more intensive and we have to memorise the songs we are going to sing.

Overall it was a pretty good practice session. I really look forward to performing on stage again, sonething I have not done in a few years!

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Three Down, Two To Go

I am done with three papers. As to how I did, I cannot say because from my experience, each time I thought the paper was easy and I could do well, I ended up barely scraping through. Hence this time round I do not wish to have any high hopes for fear of disappointment.

The paper last Saturday was an online paper of eighty multiple choice questions. Contrary to what others think, this kind of paper is the hardest to pass because the options are so similar and confusing. All I could do was to choose the most plausible answer and hope for the best.

The paper on Monday was on essays and short stories. Out of ten essays, two were tested and we only needed to attempt one.

Same goes for the short stories. Out of twelve short stories, two were tested and we only needed to attempt one. However I had to study all the essays and short stories as we were not told which would be tested.

I am not sure how well I did though. I did write some stuff which I thought was right but as far as the lecturer goes, he / she may not think I have answered the question(s).

Last night's paper was on the technical aspects of English Grammar - what is a noun, verb, morpheme, how to break a sentence down into the appropriate word form.

The paper looked easy but again I do not wish to have high hopes in case I get disappointed again. Hopefully I can at least pass.

I have two more papers next week - one on poetry and plays and the other on language acquisition and usage. I wish I will be able to do well and clear all so as to progress into the next semester!

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Start Of Exams

My first paper starts tomorrow and I am actually not that well prepared. Luckily tomorrow's paper is an online paper consisting of fifty multiple choice questions. Hopefully I can achieve a pass at least.

My other papers are on Monday, Tuesday, and the following Monday and Tuesday, then I am free! Yeah right, since when am I actually free lately?

I am so nervous now, as always whenever I have examinations, especially I never tend to do well for my papers. I really hate the stress studying for examinations then worrying whether I messed up or if I did well. And the results are another form of worry.

If I ever take up another course of study, I better make sure it is on a fully coursework basis. I much rather do assignments and research than to study and take examinations again!

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Differing Management Styles

I mentioned once the kind of bosses I prefer. Bosses as in my direct supervisor. After all the experiences, I think I still prefer working for a male than a female. Nothing personal, it is just the working style. I like to be left alone while I work because I work best when people do not bug me or pick on every little thing or micro-manage. Male bosses do that very well, but female bosses are generally distrustful and check on you all the time. Hence, it is best I work for a male boss.

However, after having worked in various companies, I have made some observations about the various working styles, especially between a Chinese company (normally set up by the grandfather then passed on to the father and then the son and so on), and a multinational corporation.

For a Chinese company, the communication is quite closed up. The boss puts his nose high up in the air. No matter how small the company is, he will be holed up in his room, and only his secretary can get through to him. No one else can go in and talk to him or ask him any questions as everything have to go through his secretary. And if he needs to communicate anything, he goes through the secretary too to talk to you.

I find this kind of communication time consuming and non effective. What is better than just go straight to the person? At least I can get my clarifications answered immediately than go through a third party, where the message may get distorted somewhat. It is like no one else exists except for the boss himself and his secretary. You are also not allowed to make any suggestions or give any feedback which you feel may benefit the company, because it is the boss' order and no others.

Personally I find this kind of attitude appalling. I mean, yes, you are the boss, but do you really have to behave in such a bossy and high and mighty way? Your subordinates are humans, not machines. We have feelings. By giving this kind of signal, you are telling us that we are too "little" to be noticed. After a while, I will not like to work with a boss like that, who cannot even treat a normal human with a decent bit of respect.

For multinational corporations, from what I have noticed so far, the managing directors are high ranking, but they do not put on airs. They are pretty approachable. They talk to you personally when they need clarification, and you can just go straight to them if you need anything, without needing to go through their secretaries or personal assistants.

I find this kind of management style much better. At least the boss knows you are around and appreciates you for it. He gets you involved in the operations and running of the company. You feel like you belong and not an outcast. You are given the opportunities to do more and make suggestions to the boss.

Hence if I ever want to look for a job again, I will want to work in a multinational corporation with an overseas influence and exposure. I find it more comfortable and happier working in a place like that and I get to learn more and be more exposed too!

Minutes Writing ....

Last night's meeting I had to take down minutes. So far, the Secretariat team is still a one (wo)man show - me. We have tried to recruit and sourced for people, but most are unable to commit since we are all working people, and those who did manage to sign up, they are all not interested in writing minutes.

Hence just me. And I am getting rather desperate, because I do not think I can cope. I mean, I am fine with just doing everything on my own, but during the Conference itself, there would be a few sessions concurrently, and I do not think I have that many pieces of myself which I can split and scatter about.

So I am a bit at my wit's end. Who else can I ask to help me? I know this is voluntary and non-obligatory, but the fact is, I really do need people, but no one wants to do what they think is a "thankless" job. So what can I do now?

Part Of An Inaugural Event ....

Last night, we went to the Youth Olympic office to have our photos taken and try on the uniform sizes. I have officially accepted the offer of being a Media Operations Assistant, and one of the staff took my photo, while I tried on the uniform sizes. I am so happy that I can still wear a XS for my top, whereas for the bottom, well... at least it is not as big as I thought as I could still somehow squeeze into something smaller.

So now I have more motivation to lose weight because if I happen to get any bigger, I will not be able to squeeze into the uniform anymore! After doing the fitting, I went into the portal and updated my particulars.

It was supposed to be an easy task but because there were many people queuing and only two computers were in function, we took about an hour to settle everything, and ended up being half an hour late for the next meeting of the CHOICE Asian Conference.

But at least everything is now settled! Someone just called me for a training session around the end of May. I am so excited to do this!

Stories About Motherhood

This was supposed to be up on Mother's Day itself but I have been tied up with revision, and I am still behind! In any case last Sunday, we watched two great movies about motherhood - "Mother And Child" and "The Backup Plan".

"Mother And Child" is about three women whose lives intertwined through adoption. A fourteen-year-old girl was found pregnant, and had to give up the baby for adoption. The incident affected her and she became bitter and distrustful. Years later, she met a man and started to trust again. They married and his own daughter encouraged her to look for her long-lost daughter.

Meanwhile her daughter Elizabeth, who had known all her life that her mother abandoned her and felt belonged to no one, became an ambitious loner who slept her way to the top. But when she became pregnant, she decided to keep her baby and look for her real mother.

In comes Lucy, who had been trying in vain to have a baby for four years and decided to adopt as she wanted badly to be a mother. Her husband would like a boy so they decided to adopt a boy. They met up with a twenty-year-old unwed mother who is willing to give up her son for adoption upon giving birth.

But Lucy's husband scorned her for not being able to have a child and they divorced. She decided to go ahead and adopt the unborn baby. Unfortunately, the girl refused to give up her baby after giving birth.

Lucy was despondent. Just when she was losing hope, news came of another baby for adoption. Elizabeth had died in childbirth due to complications in pregnancy and her baby girl was then offered to Lucy for adoption, who accepted immediately.

One year later, Elizabeth's mother, who all along had been looking for her, finally got some news due to a little administration confusion at the orphanage where she enquired. She realised her own daughter had died but had given her a granddaughter who happened to live just a few houses away from her!

She then went to visit Lucy and the little girl Ella. Seeing her, it was as if her own daughter had come back. Finally she is in peace with herself.

I cried after watching the show. No matter what they are, mothers are really the greatest. A mother will never forget her own child, no matter how little time she had with the child. A mother will always put her child first, even to the extent of giving up her life just so the child can live.

I believe as a woman, each of us do hope to become a mother one day. Some choose to adopt to experience motherhood. Some, like Jennifer Lopez's character in "The Backup Plan", choose to artificially inseminate so she can be a mother after giving up meeting the right man.

That is why married women have said they feel happiest and most complete when they are pregnant, and not when they are married. So let us give our mothers a big salute!

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Appealing Against The Appeal ...

I wonder if educational institutions are really about caring for the welfare for the students or are they just rigid machines sticking to rules and regulations?

I submitted one of my final assignments recently. Our assignments are no longer in hardcopy but submitted in soft copy through the web portal.

When I was about to submit, the whole system was down. Because of the pressing deadline, I sent the whole assignment to my tutor via email. At the same time, I tried submitting my assignment via the web portal, but it was three days later that I finally managed to access it and submit my assignment online.

So I sent an email to the Student Relations, telling them my problem and forwarding the email which I sent my tutor with the assignment enclosed, for their information. The next thing I knew, they replied me five days later, saying the system noticed I submitted late, hence a penalty had been imposed.

They appealed for me to call the hotline and make an appeal. So I called the hotline, but the line was either busy or I was put on hold. I tried calling for the next three days without avail. Finally, I sent another email, enclosing proof that I did submit the assignment on time.

When I checked my results, I actually got an A for this assignment! But due to the penalty, it dropped to a C! So unfair! I wrote a strongly worded email about how I did submit my assignment on time, how the system was down, how I sent an email enclosing proof of submission but no one got back to me, and I find it unfair to be penalised because of this as it is not as if I deliberately submitted it late.

So finally, someone wrote back and sent me a form, saying normally they do not take appeals, but since my case is quite special, they are willing to let me appeal. Hence they sent me an Appeal Form, asking me to fill in, and then I would have to submit the form with S$35.00, which would still be subjected to approval.

I was like, what?! I need to pay S$35.00 just to get back my A?! Is this really for the student's benefit or the school's benefit? Why did they make it so troublesome just to appeal in genuine circumstances?

Hence I am still appealing. If need be, fine, I will pay the money, but if I still do not get back my appropriate grade, I am going to send another strongly worded appeal to them! And probably speak to the Dean too!

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A Rosary Session

I was at a rosary session on Friday. It was the first time I was ever at a rosary session. Initially I thought a rosary session is what we pray during novena, but only after attending the session, I realise there is the Mysteries, the hymns, and the prayers.

Now I know where I have gone wrong in praying the rosary! Wonder if that is the reason my prayers never seem to come true? At least it was refreshing and a great way to fellowship as well as to improve my faith. Hopefully I attend another one pretty soon!

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My New Violin ...

Finally I have gotten myself a violin! Okay, for those of you in the know, you know I play the piano and the electone, and then learnt the recorder during one of my courses in university. But I did dabble with the violin for a period of time, even though I did not officially attend any lessons. But then after that I chose to focus on singing and choir, so I stopped dabbling with the violin.

However I have always been interested in learning how to play the violin. For the past few years, I have been thinking of taking up lessons, but have not found an appropriate teacher. Recently, because my friend is selling away his adult's beginner violin (a pretty good model) at a very good price, complete with bow, casing and cloth, so I figured why not? May as well get one and practice whatever little I know.

So here it is! My new violin, where I can start to play to my heart's content! Although I guess right now, I will only cause noise pollution instead! ;-p

Through A Glass Darkly, Too

I mentioned some weeks back that I was looking for a glass. Last week I found it! I did not buy it from any departmental store as I was not able to find it anywhere.

How and where I found it in the end is inconsequential. The important thing is I finally got the glass I wanted and have been looking for so long!

Here it is! A normal, classic glass which I have been drinking milk and sodas in ever since I brought it home!

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The Big Q

Last Sunday's Cathechism class, we did the first of a series of the topics of The Big Q, which is to let the children reflect and ask whatever questions they would like to ask about God.

One thing I must say is that kids nowadays are really smarter and more street smart. Or perhaps because I was brought up in a conservative way, hence were not exposed to issues like divorce, separation and religion at that age.

Nevertheless the questions the kids asked were pretty deep and intelligent. And they wrote good English too - perfect grammar and spelling, much better than many adults here.

I was unable to turn up for the meeting yesterday where the rest of the Cathechists sorted and discussed the questions. Feedback was that they received pretty good questions this first round.

The next round will be this Sunday. Hopefully there will be even more intelligent questions this time round!

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Starting The Weight Loss Challenge

To keep to my promise of the Special K challenge and my resolution to lose weight, I went to buy three boxes of the cereal (original, red berry and vanilla almond flavours respectively) and one box of chocolate-flavoured cereal bar yesterday.

This morning my breakfast was a bowl of original Special K cereal with milk and a banana. I have never eaten just this for breakfast before. Mostly I skip breakfast. Otherwise I will have an American breakfast of bacon (fried to a dark brown), sausages, eggs and toast. Or else the normal "economy" breakfast of fried vermicelli, egg, fish cake and luncheon meat.

So I am rather surprised I am able to take a breakfast like that. I only hope I do not get hungry and start snacking. Apparently the cereal is supposed to be a healthy meal and once I have taken it for breakfast, all the nutrients my body needs will be satisfied, thus all the craving I have for whatever heavy food will be stopped.

Tonight when I reach home, I will take the berry cereal as a replacement for dinner. I will only be taking one full meal a day - lunch. Let me see if after two weeks, I can really drop a jeans size if I follow this regime. I really want to be able to fit back into all my clothes!

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Success!

Yes! I made it! I actually cycled all the way from one beach to the other, eighteen kilometres in all, in just less than two hours!

This may be nothing to everyone else, but it is a lot to me. I never thought I would ever make it, and to make it in a much shorter time than I envisioned, plus I did not even fall down once (except to stumble a little once but I broke the fall) and only took two very short breathers along the way!

To top it off, even though my legs felt rubbery after the ordeal, I did not even feel my body aching that much, as compared to the last few times.

I am so happy with this achievement! Finally I can cycle without much glitch. I really should do this more often! It is fun and the scenery at some stretch is rather breath-taking indeed! Who knows, perhaps after this I can cycle on the road with the cars?

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Walking Barefoot

I walked barefoot last night. What happened was I had somehow developed blisters on the underside of two of my toes and wearing my normal heels, the shoes cut into the blisters while I was walking home.

Since it was only a short way home, I decided to save the agony of hobbling and decided to just remove my shoes altogether. It was not too bad as it turned out.

When I was still walking on the pavement, the feet were on smoother ground, hence I was actually able to walk better than before I removed my shoes.

But once I turned into the lane leading to my place, the ground became a gravel road and my feet felt painful. I had no idea what I stepped on but my soles became painful, as if something was cutting into me.

Luckily I managed to make my way back home. I immediately stepped into the shower and soaked my feet in cold water!

At least now I have a little dry run on how walking barefoot will be like, so hopefully when the day comes, I will be able to complete the whole five kilometres without a glitch!

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Chicago - The Musical

Last night we went to watch the musical "Chicago". I must say, after watching the movie, the musical is kind of like a let-down. In the movie version, everything is better, especially the cast.

The musical is not totally a bomb. It is entertaining. But the broadway cast somehow did not bring out the flavour of the characters.

For instance, the main character (Roxie Hart) in the musical is supposed to be a ditsy blonde. The actress played it well, but Renee Zellweger in the movie played the bimbo better.

And the character of Velma Kelly. Somehow only Catherine Zeta-Jones played it to perfection - the singing, gyrating and dancing.

Not to mention the charater of the lawyer Billy Flynn. Somehow only Richard Gere can handle the role of the lawyer. The moment his character appeared in the show, his charm and charisma is just mesmerizing! Or perhaps simply because he is Richard Gere.

Still, there were some scenes in the musical that are better than the movie. The puppet scene for instance, the one where Roxie felt as if she was just being strung along by Billy Flynn. The one in the musical is more realistic.

The other one is the courtroom scene in the musical. It was played out with more exaggeration yet at the same time more appealing to the audience.

Still if I am to vote, I much prefer the movie version anytime!

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