Nearing the end of the third week of school. Starting to feel the heat from schoolwork...

Tentative to-dos :

1. Euro Disney case
2. IA readings - text and journal
3. IA research for "young" company
4. Leadership readings - last week's and next week's!!
5. Start research for "4-5 page, single-spacing" GEM essay.. brrr!

To be continued... :-(

F***! I better get down to real work soon. Can't afford to laze around anymore!

Anyway, CNY spirit is everywhere. Feel it with the wang wang ads on tv, CNY songs playing over and over again in shopping malls, and the decorations in your neighbourhood!

For the second year running, my MPs are transforming my neighbourhood into a mini Chinatown. Seems a pretty big event; was even broadcast on TV and printed in newspapers!

Apparently greater this year, over 100 stores promising New Year goodies (which effectively is the combination of several pasar malams put together. Stuff sold also similar!), a huge Fortune God statue at the road junction which will "throw" lucky numbers to get-rich wannabes, trishaw rides, a beer garden (???), free shuttle buses, a grand lucky draw etc etc.

This event is even "registered" with the Singapore Tourism Board and the STB would actually encourage tour agencies to include this mini Chinatown into its agenda for tourists! Cool!

Alright, I seem to be "pouring cold water" over this entire thing but please believe me, I truly applaud the people behind this. In fact, I feel proud to belong to this neighbourhood. This event is a first in Singapore!

The collaboration with STB is great too. This is a wonderful opportunity to bring some business to the small retailers here and create some buzz for the normally quiet neighbourhood!

Check out the pics (albeit not very well taken)!

More of the lightings. The lighting actually goes the entire stretch of road but it's kinda hard to take photo from my balcony.. Reminds me of Christmas..  

Many apologies for my lousy photography skills.. But it's real beautiful! 

The reminder that CNY is coming... 

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Just testing it out. Hope it works!

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Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Search presents - Jib Jab's 'Second Term'

Infringing on my privacy!

At it again... My MSN nick at the moment. Doing compiling again. Small matter this time. Only seven pages, no drastic shortening required. Phew~

Been online since 8.30pm and I am still at Page 4! Too many distractions! Checking emails, viewing blogs, window shopping online blah blah blah.

Someone help me! It feels weird to be doing project on the 2nd week of school. Pui!

Anyway, Thursday today. My FREE day. Spent the morning attending some interview at Everest Associates (under Prudential) to be a "financial adviser" (aka insurance agent. So unglam.) I still haven't figured out from which recruitment agency the company got my resume from. How the hell did it end up in an insurance firm? I am so pissed.

Reached the company 10.30am and I was made to wait a whole half hour before the guys came in. Talk about sincerity! Typical of any insurance firm (or any other sales related industry), the two guys went on preaching about how great their company was, how closely knit everyone was, how you can earn big bucks easily etc etc etc. And all I could do was to nod, smile, nod. :(

I don't think I will get the job. I hope not. Fingers crossed. I seemed far too accommodating, far too "nice". Not that I am upset about it, but it suits me fine. I prefer to keep out of the limelight. Just give me a workstation and I would be willing to slog all day for you. Alone.

Took up a good one and a half hours of my time. Bloody hell.

Left for school for project discussion, supposedly for one hour 3-4pm. So drained. Managed to see him in school. He didn't see me. :(

As usual, I volunteered to do the compiling, yet again. How else could I contribute? I suck at PowerPoint. I am totally dead on creativity. Spare me. Stayed around till 5.40pm. Not bad, nearly three hours. My bus fare would have been more worth it. LOL.

What a strange day with such a turn of events! I know I have used this phrase many times but please pardon me for my uncreativity.

Today's Tuesday -- "Services Marketing Day", day where he and I would be in the same class, in the very last semester of our NUS life.

Was sort of looking forward to it coz I knew I could defintely see him around although last week was rather dampening.

Then just as my bus was turning into NUS, around 11.45, he called me, saying that the class was cancelled! I was like.. WHAT THE F***! To think I spent more than an hour coming to school and this had to happen! To make things worse, I have another lecture at 4! How was I to rot till then?? Then he said he could accompany me for lunch since I was already in school. Yay! *heehee*

Reached Bizad with Christine and the notice on the door said Prof wasn't feeling well and the class would be postponed to next Saturday! Arrghh!!! Another Sat gone! I already have a "date" with Wang Pien for Biz Policy this Sat and now this piece of shit! :-(

He was the one who "tempted" me to skip my lecture and go shopping with him. See the turn of events? Initially, I was very contented to be able to be in the same class as him and now this... Been a long time since we went out together, just the two of us.

He brought his pool cue along. He has this habit of playing pool alone every Tuesday. Went to Plaza Singapura coz he had to send his phone for servicing. That's why he had time to kill until around 4 for pool before meeting one of his friends - a girl. Not wanting to mean anything, but I guess I shouldn't try too hard. 想开了. No point me getting all upset and sensitive.

And I badly wanted to eat Cafe Cartel but their grilled chicken was sold out! Hmpf! And this is high maintenance meh? Coz I wanted to eat outside instead of in school.. That's what he thinks. But that's so NOT TRUE. I hope he won't be turned off by his own thoughts. Settled for Thai Express in the end. My first visit to the restaurant. He didn't eat coz he already had like 3 meals previously and the day was only just half gone only!

Took a bus to Suntec City coz there's only so much one can do at PS. Walked around, cracked a few jokes blah blah blah. The time was already nearing 3pm and I felt quite bad for getting him to go to Suntec with me.

Walked around some more. Shopping is always like that. Each of us would be looking at different stuff. Interaction is pretty limited.

Anyway I decided to do a manicure (at long last) at Fave Nails at Citylink Mall. He accompanied me to the place and left shortly after that. Was around 3.30pm. He had offered to teach me pool but I declined it. I am hopeless at the game. Actually, I wouldn't have minded watching him play but then, I guess it's ok.

As it is, I am already very contended with the events of the day.

Smile!

Today was better than yesterday and tomorrow would be better than today.

Ha! What crap! But the first part of the phrase is true. Today was definitely better than yesterday.

He took the same 151 bus with me today! It was the earlier bus and I am so glad I boarded it! Left the house slightly earlier today. A few minutes really make a whole lot of a difference!

It was such a pity the girl sitting next to me wasn't an SMU, NP or SIM student. Which meant she stayed sitted until we reached school! Bleah! And he had to stand for a distance while chatting with me before moving to the back of the bus.

Then we met for lunch after class together with Siwei, Yayu, Vivien and Sixian. I was talking with Gregory about selling my finance text and he joined in the conversation by sort of teasing me. He even used his finger to poke me at my waist. Meant to be fun, I guess, but it was kinda awkward. Ok, I mustn't think too much again. It's nothing.

Anyway, came back with my food and he was sitting with Grace at another table. So much for having lunch together! They were still chatting when Vivien and I left! Hmpf! I really hope this would be the last time! :(

tired....zzz

Alright, another case of high expectations, great disappointments.

Had SM class today. My fears were uncalled for. He didn't change classes. He is in the same class as me. Happy I was, but I acted so nonchalant when I saw him. We seem to have run out of steam. Nothing to say.

And quite a couple of his friends were in the same class. So much for being in the same project group.. Bleah! I know I brought this upon myself. As we were getting into our seats, I purposely let his female friend enter after him such that I was one seat away from him. And during the whole lesson, I barely had eye contact with him.

Conversation was kept to a minimal. After the lesson, I just left before him. To think I was hoping to have lunch with him.. He was going somewhere too.

I am tired. I really am. Why am I always in such a situation?? I guess I probably look so blank, with my 'smile' frozen across my face. I hate having to pretend to smile. It is very hard to bear.

But I think I will stick with this module, no matter what. I believe it would help in enhancing my resume. Who cares if he decides to drop it?

On the up side, I saw K on the shuttle bus today. It was a really nice surprise! He saw me and looked kind of stunned, like he didn't recognize me for a moment. I sat down beside him and we had quite a hearty chat. He was complaining about the weather in Singapore, how he wasn't used to it and stuff. He even suggested meeting up one day so he could tell me his exchange "adventures"! Hahaha.. Irregardless of whether it comes true, I am happy he brought it up.

Well, this little incident was perhaps the only spark of my otherwise sad day.

ciao~

Don't make me fall in love with you if you never never intend to catch me when I do. Because when I love someone, I will do so for a long time.

Talk about leading people on. This sentence, which I copied off Flowerpod, is so freakingly true! To all the men out there, don't ever lift a girl's hopes only expecting to dash them later on!

I guess the same applies to girls as well...

Btw, went to my cousin's place today to be "karung guni". She just cleared her wardrobe (well, not exactly coz her wardrobe is still filled to the brim!) Sieved through 4 full boxes (those Toyogo plastic containers with wheels. Think the biggest size.) worth of suits, shirts, skirts, casual tops and what-have-yous for more than 2 hours. I was practically at a warehouse sale! It is amazing the amount of clothes she has accumulated over the years. And it is not as if she is very old! She has like a few shirts with the same design but in several colours! And I have lost count of the number of black skirts/pants she owns. Some of the stuff don't even look worn more than three times, or worse, not worn before at all!

Anyway, I left after 2 hours of shopping with one bag to show for. Took a couple of shirts, black pants and two suits. Yay! For once, I am looking forward to all the presentations of the coming semester! Yes, I am all set to dazzle! *LOL*

I am so restless. He isn't online today. Are the 2 podders who replied to my post right? Is he just testing the waters? Aiming to "fill up his wallet"? Well, I sort of expected this kind of answer. What could I expect? For people to tell me that his actions prove that he is interested in me? I would only be fooling myself.

One of them told me to be more "cool", to take a back seat and observe the situation. Well, guess that is what I can only do at this stage. I wouldn't want to be seen as too "aggressive" or eager. Yeah, acting cool is a good idea. Though it would be sooo difficult. But hey, that's my forte! Just have to practise on him! Haha...

Anyway, a rather unexpected situation arose today for me to seize a chance to call him. I was waiting at the bus stop when I met the auntie who used to be a newspaper vendor by the road. She wanted to go to some part of Braddell Road. I totally could not visualize what she was talking about. She asked me if there was any bus she could take from the Bishan interchange to get to her destination. As usual, I couldn't give her an answer.

And the first person that came to my mind for me to approach for help was him. What an excellent chance for me to talk to him! Sly pig!

He picked up the call and was pretty helpful in offering help. Before we ended the call, he asked where I was. I am not sure but I got this feeling that he wanted to come along when I said I was going to Bishan (he lives near there). But obviously he didn't, probably coz I was already out of the house.

No matter what, I am already very satisfied. I can't wait for school to start although I can't help having this niggling feeling; this "bad omen", worried that he would change classes at the eleventh hour. Touchwood! Oh Lord, please do not let this happen! I just hope I can get some kind of confirmation from him...

Sigh...

Sad................

I am so sad!! KTV today wasn't as I expected. Shucks!! Seems like each gathering seems to be getting worse and worse....

I think he has a "target" already... he was on the phone with this girl who I think has an ear infection and he accompanied her to the clinic after dinner. Would he do the same if the person was me? I doubt so.

And to make matters worse, everyone seems to be teasing W and me, coz we went to watch a movie together.. and i think he watched a couple of movies recently too.. without asking me!

I couldn't bear to look straight into his eyes today. I know my expression would be all so weird. I might just give myself away!

What can I do? I think I would have to give him up as well. I can't take it anymore! There was nothing I could talk to him about; and he was so concerned about the girl!

Must I really make a confession??!!

Sigh :-(

It's only Tuesday now.. that means another (excluding today) 6 days to the start of a new semester. Long long wait.

Half finished with my bidding yesterday. Yay! For once, I managed to get all my 4 biz modules at one shot! At least for the last time I am bidding in NUS, everything went on so smoothly! Chatted with him yesterday afternoon, mainly coz I was feeling so gan jiong coz I couldn't log into the system and everything was proceeding so slowly!

It was just a "casual" question. I asked him which Service Marketing slot he was bidding for and turns out he changed his mind and was bidding the less-popular Tuesday slot! I was feeling pretty pissed.. but hey, it is not as if we are in this together. Like we need to be in the SAME class! But thank God I asked him. So I quickly changed my slot.. I might have done it later anyway coz the bids were getting exaggeratingly high! I thought afterwards of all the what-ifs. What if I didn't ask him? What if I stuck to the Friday slot with the ridiculously high points only to finds him in the other class??!!

So for now, with all fingers crossed, I hope he would remain in the same class as me and not change slots last minute! I would be so devastated! I guess I would feel so not at ease until I actually see him in class next Tues or I hear from him that he is really in that class! :-(

Anyway, went to return my novels at Cheng San today and borrowed another 3 novels - 2 by Robyn Sisman and the other by Adele Parks. I was real lucky today coz I had no intention to painstakingly look through all the shelves. A very tiring chore! Out of impulse, I used the library's catalogue and searched by author's name. "Robyn Sisman" just came to my mind coz I really enjoyed "Perfect Strangers". Walked over to the shelf for one novel "Weekend in Paris", only to be led to another one of hers "Just Friends". Talk about luck! The Adele Parks novel "The Other Woman's Shoes" was sort of planned coz I was reading a brief intro of the former in the previous novel I borrowed "Thinking of you". Now I can only hope I can finish all three of them by the due date. I always have a terrible habit of leaving reading to the very last of my so-called priorities even when I am so super free now!

Btw, my $400 ERS came today. Which is good, at least I would feel more at ease at spending some money. Bought the Fruity Jelly Lip Gloss by Maybelline. Just what I want! A tinge of color with not-too-obvious gloss! I was initially deciding between the Sorbet series from Loreal and that. But I figured the colours of the Sorbet series would be too strong and not very appropriate for school! Also, there were no samples for me to try at BOTH Watsons outlets I went to (Hougang Mall and Heartland Mall)! Bleah~ Hence, my decision. Feeling so good! Been such a long time since I bought cosmetics!

Help! The shopping bug is coming at me and itching me again! Or, perhaps it didn't leave me at all?

Miss Big Spender

Say a big hello to Miss Big Spender. I've been spending so much money in recent weeks. On shopping, food, movies and playing mahjong, KTV blah blah blah.

What pains me and makes me regretful is the fact that I seem to commit the crime of buying "unnecessary wants". Although most of my purchases are wants, they can be further classified as "urgent wants" and "unnecessary wants".

Things like the occasional New Paper for their soccer reports because Man Utd won that particular game, Old Chang Kee curry puffs and crab nuggets "for lunch", going to Heartland Mall "to top up my farecard", or "go to the bank" and end up buying unnecessary stuff yet again! And vanity seems to be an inborn trait of every other woman on the street. I seem to be covered from top to toe with some lotion, cleansing gel and moisturizer. It is scary how these things run out so soon and I often have to replenish my supplies every few weeks! That's money gone again! No wonder marketers always say the female shopper is one of the most lucrative markets around!

Still on the issue of "unnecessary wants", my other soft spot is magazines! To be specific, magazines that target the female, with lots of beauty, fashion and guy tips! Just for the month of January alone, I have bought Cleo (my usual. It's the best!), Elle (for the nice tote bag it was giving away. Don't usually like Elle coz I find it a little too high-end for my liking.) and Her World (because it featured Joanne Peh on the cover. But after flipping through, it turns out that it was only a small teeny weensy article!) And all these are on top of the 4 issues of i-weekly I usually buy. Do the math and that is A LOT of money spent. Sigh! I wonder if I can even finish reading all of them before their next issue hit the racks!

Anyway, I really like this article from the January issue of Her World. It sort of made up for my disappointment on the Joanne Peh part. Some of the points might not be very applicable now, but I enjoyed it so much I just have to put it here in case I throw the magazine away!

20 grips of the single gal

1. Your cool and composed girlfriends degenerate into pouty little monsters that coo toe-curling nicknames like "Cutie Buns", "Boy-Boy" or “Da-Da to their men. And in public, no less.

2. Each time you get an SMS, your friends ask mock-innocently: "Anyone we should know about?"

3. Forget sympathy. When you complain about your man-less state, your friends now utter patronizing (and truly unhelpful) clichés like "Don't worry dear, your time will come."

4. Friends become experts on snagging trophy boyfriends: "You should go out more. What about Beng (your obese secondary school classmate who was expelled at 14 for drawing obscene graffiti)? He's a nice boy whaat."

5. Before, you "had taste" and were "discerning". Now, you're too "picky" or "choosy".

6. You have to put up with smirks from the ticket-seller at the box office when your giggling gal pals ask for love seats and you're always the odd numbered ticket destined for the end of the row.

7. You turn up for what you thought would be a heart-to-heart session with your best friends, only to find you've been set up on a blind date with some guy like Beng.

8. You get terribly confused talking to your friends who now use the word "we" about eight times per sentence so you don't know who "we" refers to anymore. "Should we order? We had really hot sex the other night. Shall we go shopping after this? We're going to Bintan on Friday."

9. You're the only one who has to pay full-price for everything from restaurant meals to hotel rooms, while everyone enjoys the two-for-one deals.

10. You have nothing to offer when your gal pals discuss their sex lives, not even if you were prepared to lie about it.

11. You have to play judge every time your friends show off new gifts from their respective darlings and fall into bitter competition over whose gift is better.

12. You've got no one to moan to about men problems any more (for fear of aforesaid smug advice).

13. You are harassed for full reports of any date you go on, because your friends secretly miss the dating scene. The worst ones SMS you continually while you're out on your dates. "So has he made a move yet? Remember not to eat anything with garlic in it. What are you wearing?"

14. Your precious sleep is interrupted at 3.53am by weeping pals who've just quarreled with Da-Da. Well of course you're the chosen shoulder to cry on – what else could you be busy with, right?

15. Your all-girl dos are always ruined by your girlfriends showing up with their Da-Das and acting clueless. "Oh but there was no soccer on TV tonight so Da-Da thought he'd come along and say hi..."

16. You have to be bridesmaid at ALL their weddings. One after the other.

17. You never hear from them after the wedding because they're too busy with their new darlings. But you will get last-minute calls to say they're free to meet for an hour, and that's only because Da-Da has to work late.

18. You have no one to go on vacation with because none of your friends will leave home without him.

19. At parties, you wind up entertaining everyone's kids at the knee-high table because the adults have all paired up and there's no space at their table.

20. At wedding dinners, you're placed at the "miscellaneous" table, together with the bride's third ex-boyfriend and her piano teacher.

Utterly hilarious!

School's starting in a week's time. Wish me all the luck in getting all my modules successfully!