met up with a few friends yesterday. could finally get out of the house after the jap exam. which, by the way, was quite managable. the essay topic was quite lame though. 'what would you do with a million dollars?' seems liek some beauty pageant question. amazed by my own crapping skills.
back to yesterday...our plans for the night failed miserably at first. we wanted to go mind's cafe but yesterday evening was exceptionally crowded. cinema was damn crowded too. luckily we managed to get 3rd row seats(again!) for the lake house. its quite a nice movie. the house is so nice with glass all around and a maple tree in the middle. but as the plot has to do with 2 people living in 2 different times, it can get quite confusing. i can never fully understand the logic of time travel shows. wait a minute, there's no logic!
Sunday, July 23, 2006
Tuesday, July 18, 2006
last sat was hui's birthday celebration at aranda chalet. i had alot of fun there cos i knew most of her friends. had a great time talking to the gals. the chalet was big and very nice, though there were only 2 rooms and 5 gals had to sleep on 1 bed. dunno how they did it. i didnt sleep the whole night and paid the price the next day. first time i felt so tired after one night without sleep. felt like a zombie the whole day and couldnt even do my homework properly. getting old? haha... but looking at hui's chalet, it makes me feel like celebrating my own birthday too. i could feel her happiness and i guess she's really lucky. whatever she had wished for, she got it that night. either all her friends knew her that well or she's very predictable. haha...being her friend, i would rather give credit to us. what shall i do for my birthday...
my jap lessons has ended. quite sad actually cos i enjoyed those lessons. and this means that school is starting. sigh...i think of the six modules and i'm reluctant to start school. yesterday's oral was a disaster. listening was a little better. i was the first to be tested and i was so nervous that i couldnt say anything properly. forget how to convert the different forms of verbs and could only leave it to my instinct. so disappointed with myself. i want an A!
my jap lessons has ended. quite sad actually cos i enjoyed those lessons. and this means that school is starting. sigh...i think of the six modules and i'm reluctant to start school. yesterday's oral was a disaster. listening was a little better. i was the first to be tested and i was so nervous that i couldnt say anything properly. forget how to convert the different forms of verbs and could only leave it to my instinct. so disappointed with myself. i want an A!
Thursday, July 13, 2006
just had an enjoyable time last sunday at the zoo with some of my cns friends. its like being a child again, on an excursion in our primary school days. so many animals to see and i forgot my camera! argh!! the cutest were the otters. they ran around in 1 big group and would stop in front of the people to 'pose'. after awhile, they would run to another coner and 'pose' again. models of the animal world. we also fed the kangeroos, though i nearly stepped on one of their tails. one of my friends sugested going back to the zoo together 10 years later. by then we would be in our 30s and probably married with children. lol... tracia shared with us her stories about her observations of teachers in classes. teachers are so noble! not that i didnt know that before but i rarely hear of first hand experiences from teachers themselves. it is so difficult being a teacher now. children are over protected and teachers also have to be creative to come up with new and interesting classes.they have my respect!
another interesting thing is that i got to speak to two japanese businessmen on tuesday. i met them at orchard when they asked for my help in buying tickets at the mrt station. i was so excited in speaking japanese and it will be good practise for my oral and listening exam next week. but i forgot all that i've learnt and all i could manage was a few words and broken sentences. there were so many questions i wanted to ask but the words just couldnt form. in the end, a girl sitting next to the men in the mrt joined in the conversation. she must think i'm an idiot for struggling to speak in such broken japanese when they could speak perfect english. i also had to pay full attention when they speak so that i could understand what they were talking. it was a good experience though.
this brings me to my next topic. i'm currently reading 'tuesdays with morrie'. its quite a meaningful book about the author talking to his sociology professor who was dying. they talked about many issues in life. many of the things are actually what we know we should do but have difficulty doing or not wanting to do. the professor termed this 'tension of the opposites'. there was one passage in which he said we must always be with the person we are with. that means to give them our utmost attention when they are talking and not think about something else or look elsewhere. that is a problem i sometimes face. sometimes i have problem paying attention and will tend to space out if the conversation is too long and only pulling myself back to answer 'uh-huh'. do you guys have this problem too? it seems such an easy task to listen but few people can do it. to listen with utmost attention and sincerity. sometimes people dont need advice to their problems but just a listening ear.
shh...listen...
another interesting thing is that i got to speak to two japanese businessmen on tuesday. i met them at orchard when they asked for my help in buying tickets at the mrt station. i was so excited in speaking japanese and it will be good practise for my oral and listening exam next week. but i forgot all that i've learnt and all i could manage was a few words and broken sentences. there were so many questions i wanted to ask but the words just couldnt form. in the end, a girl sitting next to the men in the mrt joined in the conversation. she must think i'm an idiot for struggling to speak in such broken japanese when they could speak perfect english. i also had to pay full attention when they speak so that i could understand what they were talking. it was a good experience though.
this brings me to my next topic. i'm currently reading 'tuesdays with morrie'. its quite a meaningful book about the author talking to his sociology professor who was dying. they talked about many issues in life. many of the things are actually what we know we should do but have difficulty doing or not wanting to do. the professor termed this 'tension of the opposites'. there was one passage in which he said we must always be with the person we are with. that means to give them our utmost attention when they are talking and not think about something else or look elsewhere. that is a problem i sometimes face. sometimes i have problem paying attention and will tend to space out if the conversation is too long and only pulling myself back to answer 'uh-huh'. do you guys have this problem too? it seems such an easy task to listen but few people can do it. to listen with utmost attention and sincerity. sometimes people dont need advice to their problems but just a listening ear.
shh...listen...
Tuesday, July 04, 2006
my mentor just told me that there may not be work in the lab for awhile. though i welcome the occasional break, i wanna learn more in lab. besides, i have nothing to do at home. dunno what i'll do if i didnt have jap lessons. jap2 is more difficult with all the forms of verbs. the more i learn, the more i'm confused by the particles. but learning jap is still fun. and i have yanfen for company. the people in jap1 class are still the best!
went out with some sbs friends for steamboat to celebrate vincent's bdae. sbs people always seem to have steamboat outings. it was quite fun. just hope that there will be more gals next time. looking forward to this weekend!
just changed my blogskin and i love the picture. but what's the problem with the sidebar?? hate this html thingy. just cant get anything right.
oh yeah, this month's world cup month. bazil didnt get into the semis! i was so surprised. bet alot of people must be cursing at their losses now. football just doesnt interest me
went out with some sbs friends for steamboat to celebrate vincent's bdae. sbs people always seem to have steamboat outings. it was quite fun. just hope that there will be more gals next time. looking forward to this weekend!
just changed my blogskin and i love the picture. but what's the problem with the sidebar?? hate this html thingy. just cant get anything right.
oh yeah, this month's world cup month. bazil didnt get into the semis! i was so surprised. bet alot of people must be cursing at their losses now. football just doesnt interest me