ICE.COLD.COFFEE

It's my birthday today.

When I first switched on my handphone at 5.30am, there were already 2 birthday messages. One from Wei Qi, the other from Hanjie.

They sent it a little past midnight but I already slept by then, so I only received it in the morning.

Today is also Teachers' Day eve.

So, on my birthday every year, we'll have Teachers' Day celebrations and no lessons. After we're dismissed, I'll usually go out with my friends to celebrate. Cool, huh?

Luckily my birthday isn't on 1st Sepember because that's Teachers' Day and although it's a holiday, you won't be able to go to school to receive presents. Haha.

But after I leave school in a few years time, we won't celebrate Teachers' Day anymore. Then it'll just be any other day.

Or maybe I should become a teacher than that day will be a double celebration for me! Haha.

Anyway, since today is Teachers' Day eve, Horti sold flowers to the students. So, I had to reach school at 6.45am to set up the booth. Because of that, I had to wake up an hour earlier than usual!

But I didn't feel tired at all. I was really excited and couldn't wait to go to school.

The stall was fine. We managed to sell all the extra flowers. It was great.

I also ordered a purple rose for myself. It's really weird to buy flowers for yourself but it was so nice!

Melissa gave me a pink daisy.

Then, Charlene came and gave me this:

It's a little doggie keychain wrapped up in a bouquet manner. She made the wrapping herself but it's nice.

I also received a small wallet from Sheryl and Li Yue. It's something I would use because I don't want to carry my big wallet with me everywhere I go. They said they would give me the 2nd part of my present on friday. Haha.

Towards the end, Kaijun gave me a present after I gave him his. It's such a coincidence that our birthdays fall on the same day!

I gave him a teddy bear because I really didn't know what to buy for guys. Haha. Hope he didn't find it too girly.

He gave me a Perlini's Silver box. Then he asked me to open it and try it on (try the thing inside, not the box!). If it didn't fit, he could get it changed.

I was like quite shocked because the only type of jewellery I could think of that had size was a ring.

I wasn't sure if it was a ring so I asked him what it was while I was undoing the wrapping.

He said there was only one type of jewellery that had size.

I didn't say anything.

Then, I found out it was really a ring after I opened the box.

I was really quite suprised that he gave me a ring.

I didn't want to try it on in front of him because I didn't exactly have slender fingers so I was really really afraid that it wouldn't fit. It would be so embarassing.

Besides, I didn't know which finger should I put it on.

In the end, I tried it a little but didn't really let him see. I said that it fit. In fact, it was quite tight. Then I quickly put it back in the box.

I was feeling so nervous, I could feel my heart beating away.

I don't know why, but I feel really weird receiving a ring from a guy.

It's something that only a boyfriend would give to a girl.

I don't think we're considered boyfriend girlfriend yet.

We've gone out a few times, I don't know is it considered a date or is it just an outing between friends.

We're gone out almost 5 times and so far he's always the one asking me out.

Does he like me? He didn't say so.

But the ring seems like a pretty obvious hint.

That left me a little confused the entire day.

The ring was just a simple one, with a small jewel or crystal like thing embedded in the centre. I really like the design because it's so simple.

In addition to tht ring, there was a necklace. It had some heart shaped design. I think he must have spent quite a lot on my present.

No pictures for this because all the pictures of the ring and necklace came out blur.

Anyway, back to the Teachers' Day celebrations.

After the concert, I went back to Anglican High with a few of my friends. It was really nice seeing the teachers again. I think they were happy to see us too.

And, the most exciting thing in Anglican High today was the opening of the Students' Lounge. They call it the Eagle's Nest.

There were 3 pool tables, although they were really a lot smaller than the actual size, computers to play games and a large room with sofa and large cushions to watch movies on a big screen.

I was so envious. It's so nice!

Why must they build it only after we leave. It's not fair. I'm seriously jealous.

After visiting the Student's Lounge, I went to Swensen's at Changi Airport with Joanne, Chee Yun, Melissa and Charlene.

I missed Joanne so much! We used to laugh at silly things all the time and having her around was so much fun.

Joanne and Chee Yun gave me a teddy bear. It's really cute and the fur is so soft! So huggable!

Charlene heard about the necklace that Kaijun gave me because Melissa told her. So she kept bugging me to show it to her. In the end, I did.

But, I took out the ring first. No one except Kaijun and I know that there's a ring in my birthday present.

I guess I didn't show them because I didn't want them to tease me about it.

They had 2 ice creams among the 4 of them but I didn't eat because I was already very full from eating the Teachers' Day cake at Anglican High.

We continued to walk around at Changi Airport till 3 before we went back.

I went home because I was holding lots of stuff and didn't want to bring it along if I wanted to go shopping.

Initially, I wanted to buy a birthday present for myself but decided to do so another day.

I also received emails from Hanjie, Xuan Yun and Si Hui. Really thoughtful of them.

And a sms and friendster testimonial from Cindy.

All in all, today was a wonderful day because I got to spend it with my friends. It's a pity that Tj didn't have celebrations today since they already celebrated last friday. So, they had a full day of school and we didn't go out.

This year's birthday is also a little different from the previous years because of the Teachers' Day flower sale. I guess the stress from planning the sales took away some of the excitement.

Nonetheless, I had an enjoyable day today. Looking forward to my next birthday!

These are my last words...

My last words as a 16 year old.

I'll be officially another year older in 1 hour and 14 minutes.

Maybe becoming old isn't such a bad thing.

You get wiser, more mature and um... wiser.

Or maybe another year signifies another year down the drain.

Have I done anything to make myself proud of this year, or was it another wasted year?

Well, for my studies, I've done fairly well for O levels and got into Vj.

I've also taken up Japanese classes and learned a little.

Also, I've become fitter since I joined swimming.

Becoming the chairperson of Horticulture is another accomplishment too.

Don't mind my bragging... Since it's going to be my birthday in another 1 hour and 10 minutes, let me brag all I want, ok? Haha.

Anyway, I think that's all.

As for the stuff I've regretted over the past year...

Hmm... I can't really think of any right now. Maybe because I'm the type who doesn't remember bad stuff.

Anyway, before I become another year older in 1 hour and 8 minutes' time, I just want to say that I'll make the best of my life, live it to the fullest and embrace the older, wiser and more mature me with a big hug.

Cheers!

I went to Tampines Mall and Century Square to buy Kaijun's birthday present today. And also to develop some instant photos to give teachers for Teachers' Day this wednesday.

I was planning to use the instant photo printing machine at Popular in Tampines Mall but there was someone using it.

I waited very long, but they seemed only halfway through.

In the end, I decided to buy Kaijun's present first.

I went to lots of gift shops, but most of the stuff they have are for girls.

No guys stuff in there.

I asked my friend what should I buy for guys and she told me clothes or CDs.

Clothes? I'm not even sure what type of clothes he wears since we always go out in school uniform.

CD? That's even worse. I completely don't know what music he listens to.

I guess this shows how little I know about him.

After half an hour of browsing at Tampines Mall, I went back to Popular to try to print the photos again.

But, those people were still there. They took such a long time! I loitered around the area, looking at the CDs and peeping at them once in a while to see what they were doing.

Then, they seemed to have some sort of trouble.

I couldn't wait any longer so I asked them when they would finish. In the end, they told me that the machine seems like it's not working.

One of the staff came over and tried to fix some wires behind the machine but the screen remained blank.

I was so angry! I waited so long and still didn't get the chance to print.

But then, those people who wanted to print were even worse off becasue they spent so much time decorating their photo, but in the end cannot print. Haiz...

So I continued searching for a gift for Kaijun.

After looking through all the gift shops at Tampines Mall, I went to Century Square.

In the end, also couldn't find anything.

Then, I decided to go back to Tampines Mall for one last try.

Finally, I found a cute bear in a shop.

I don't know how I missed that the first time but I decided to buy it. Maybe it was because I was already feeling tired from walking so long and I deparately needed to get a present before Wednesday.

It might have been a little cute for a guy, but I like! Haha. I sound like I'm buying it for myself!

After that, I went to Popular to get a birthday card and wrapping paper from another gift shop.

All in all, I spent about $24.

Finally, I left for home after almost 2 hours of shopping.

On the way to the bus interchange, some guy approached me to buy some donation ticket.

But I really didn't have enough money so I kindly refused.

Less than 5 metres away from that guy who approached me, another guy came up to me with the same purpose.

I was so tempted to show him my shopping bags and tell him that I just spent almost all of my whole week's allowance. So irritating.

By the way, I think my pocket money is really little. My Mum pays for all my notes, stationary, ez-link and stuff so my pocket money is only for my lunch and other stuff.

Still, it isn't enough.

Anyway, hope Kaijun will like the bear!

My favourite birthday present was the one I received in Seconday 1, from Bernice.

It was a piano book.

It had piano scores of some popular English songs.

It wasn't the book that was special, it was her thoughtfulness that really touched me.

A few weeks before that birthday, I told her that I wanted to buy such a book. At that time, I didn't meant it as a hint or anything like that. It was just a casual comment.

Then on my birthday, she gave me a present all wrapped up.

I didn't know what it was but I could tell it was a book because of it's shape.

I tried hard to guess but couldn't get it right.

Bernice said I could only open it home so I could only try to guess what was inside.

I guessed all sorts of books like notebooks, cookbooks...

I never, never thought it would be a piano book because I had already forgotten about it.

In the end, Bernice said I could open it and I realised it was a piano book.

I was really touched because she actually remembered what I said although it was only a casual comment.

I didn't cry or anything, but I felt touched.

This is one of my favourite birthday presents, because it was such a thoughtful gesture!

Usually I celebrate my birthday with my family on the weekend before my birthday. It's always the same. We'll go out for a good meal, and I get to choose the place.

This year, I decided to so to Pizza Hut to try the new Cheesy Lava 3. I think it looks so nice with all that yellow cheese flowing out of the crust.

But some of my friends said it looks distusting. Guess different people have different views.

In the morning, we went to some furniture store at Harbour Front because my Mum and Dad wanted to buy a washing machine I think.

After almost 1 hour of browsing, we didn't buy anything.

At about 3pm, we decided to go to Sentosa.

It was quite hot at that time, but by the time we reached, it was a little cooler.

We went to the beaches for a walk. There were lots of young people playing volleyball and almost all the girls were in bikinis while the guys were topless. Even those who didn't have nice figures were dressed that way.

We went up to a observation tower and stayed there for quite a while. The view was really nice. Besides, there was shade from the blazing sun there.

We took lots of photos too.

Later, we also took the tram around the area. The part that we went to were mostly beaches but I didn't mind because I love the beach.

I especially love walking on the sand barefooted.

At about 6pm, we decided to go for dinner at the Pizza Hut at Far East Square.

The entire restaurant didn't have any customers at the time we arrived. But that was good news because it meant we didn't have to wait long for our orders.

We ordered a meal with some side dishes. I think the meal is called Cheesy Fiesta or something like that.

We had the Super Supreme.

Actually my favourite was the Hawaiian pizza but my Dad didn't like it so I chose another one.

The pizza was superb. However, the crust isn't as nice as it looks. I think the normal pan pizza would have been better.

I totally enjoyed the meal but we had to takeaway 2 slices of pizza and the garlic bread since we couldn't finish.

Later, on the way back, we saw a group of people dancing outside Far East Square. Their dance moves were so nice!

I think they were having dance lesson there, but they attracted a small crowd of curious onlookers nonetheless.

After we reached home, I played tennis with my brother. The last time we played was... I can't remember.

So far I've played tennis less than 5 times.

I thought I played better than my brother today. Besides, he hit the ball out of the fencing 6 times!

We were supposed to watch some VCDs my Dad rented that night but in the end we didn't watch because he was watching some soccer match.

So I ended up playing computer games instead.

It's sad that my family can't celebrate my birthday with me on the actual day because my Dad has to work and will probaby be back late.

But I think I'll have equally as much fun celebrating with my friends.

People always say: It's the thought that counts.

Is this really true?

Previously, I used to think that people said this just so they wouldn't be rude to the person who gave them a cheap present.

When I was younger, I really wanted to receive expensive birthday presents.

The more expensive it is, the more you mean to that person.

Until when I was in Seconday 2.

Since then, I changed my thinking.

Now, I really believe that it's the thought that counts.

Maybe it's because your thinking changes as you get older. Haha. Am I old already?

In the past whenever I had to buy presents for my friends, I would want to buy an expensive one.

I didn't care if my friend would like it or not.

As long as it looked expensive enough, and not too cheap, it would do.

Now, I try to buy things that I think they would like.

I try to remember if they said they wanted something in the past.

I don't really buy presents for the sake of buying anymore.

After all, it's the thought that counts.

Maybe my friends who don't share this thinking may think I'm cheapskate if the present doesn't seem expensive.

Maybe they'll realise it one day.

Or maybe not.

After all, we live in a materialistic world and it's true that the price of your present says a lot.

Anyway, I just want to say that I don't care if the presents I receive are expensive or not.

That's why I don't mind receiving just a card.

However, one thing that I find really important is the punctuality of the present.

Usually, I find that the presents don't carry much meaning after the actual date.

I know that sometimes people might be buzy or we may not get to see one another on the actual day itself. I admit that I'm guilty of that sometimes, but I'm trying hard to change.

Giving the present late would be fine if you called or sent me a message to show that you haven't forgotten.

I wouldn't mind then.

The most important thing is the sincerity.

Because... it's the thought that counts!

Only 4 days left to the BIG day.

The most wonderful day in the entire year.

I've been counting down to it for days.

It's 31st August 2005.

That's Teachers' Day eve.

Also Malaysia's National Day.

But most, most, most importantly of all...

It's my BIRTHDAY!

Yup, the most wonderful day on earth, to celebrate the day that Charlynn was born 17 years ago!

Haha.

I always think birthdays are such a big deal and I really can't figure out why some people just let it pass like any other day.

It's the only day in the year that is special to you alone, unless you have friends with the same birthday.

Then it makes that day extra special.

When I was young, I used to count down to my birthday even 2 months before the actual day.

Although it's becoming less exciting since I've already celebrated 16, but I still count down to it.

Except now the count down time has been reduced to about 3 weeks.

Haha. That's still a long time compared to others I guess.

But I love my birthday and I don't care if people think I'm crazy to start counting down so early and make such a big fuss over it.

That's the way I like it.

This year for my birthday, I have a wish list.

Although I know not many of my friends read this blog, and some of them might have already bought the present, or some of the things I want (or most of them) might be too expensive, I'll just write this for fun.

1. Sports bra

Haha. I like the Nike ones. It's really cool and I absolutly love the design! But why you shouldn't buy it for me: It's really expensive. About $40+. I think it exceeds almost everyone's budget. Besides, you don't know my size.

2. Handbag

I'm currently looking for a nice handbag. Not one that is too big, and not too small either, because I need to put stuff inside.

The type that you hang on your shoulder. I don't know the actual name for it though. I prefer one that makes me look mature, probably in a single colour.

3. Flowers

Flowers would be really sweet! I can't tell you why I like it, but it'll make a really nice gift. Maybe all girls like flowers. Haha.

4. Chocolates

Chocolates are nice too. I think it has sort of a "romantic" feel to it. It's alright if girls give it to me too.

Ferrero Rocher would be great. I like the type with the transparent box and 16 chocolates inside.

Don't waste money buying the one with the heart shaped box though. Because there's less chocolate in it, cost more, and the box is pratically useless to keep stuff in. I like the rectangular box because I can keep my little stuff inside.

5. Having a meal

I totally enjoy having a meal with friends. You don't have to pay for it. We'll go dutch. I just love being surrounded by great friends on my special day.

6. Card

This is probably the gift I would treasure most. It doesn't have to be an expensive one.

The type I love most is a simple Birthday card with hand written words inside. Just a simple note would make my day!

I started keeping my birthday cards since secondary school and once in a while, I take them out to read. It makes me feel good to be reminded that I'm treasured.

And don't worry if you don't have nice handwriting. I've come to believe that the handwriting makes it a really unique gift, messy or not. At least it's better than receiving a card like this:

Dear Charlynn,

(Message that comes with card)

From: XXX

Such a card doesn't show any sincerity at all. At least bother to take up a pen and scribble some boarder or lines to decorate the card, right?

So if you don't have any money or don't know what to buy, just get a card. Or you could make one yourself.

I truly think that it's the thought that counts!

This is the first part of my Birthday Special. I'll put up more posts as the day comes closer. Stay tuned! =)

It's the second day of Camp Ideapolis.

All of us were extremely tired since we had to rush out the report and presentation last night. My group slept at 2.30am and I heard another group slept at 5am!

Still, we woke up early that day to assemble at Boon Lay MRT station at 9am.

I was really tired and tried to sleep on the MRT because it was an hour's journey after all.

I slept about half the way there. Then woke up to study for my Chemistry test which was on Monday.

We are tested on 8 chapters but I only finished 1.

I usually don't do my Chemistry tutorials so I really wanted to do well for the test so as not to let my wonderful teacher down.

Now, I'm doubtful.

After reaching the MRT station, we started discussing immediately. I brought my laptop along so we could work on our report when a computer wasn't available. Like at the MRT station.

Although we worked till late last night, we still had lots to do. The entire report was only about half complete and the powerpoint was not even started.

We had to hand in by 2.30pm and all the groups were really hard at work.

Even on the bus to NTU, there were people discussing frantically.

We started the day with 2 talks.

Not many people were listening though.

They were all discussing their business plans.

I listened to quite a bit. It was quite interesting but I don't see how listening to successful businessmen can help you in your business.

At about 11pm, we were allowed to work on our business plans.

We had up to 2.30pm and this period included our lunch break.

All of us rushed to the free access lab.

My group worked frantically on our report and powerpoint presentation.

Bryna helped us to edit lots of it and she did a lot of work too, like she was one of our group members.

As time passed, we got more nervous and worked faster.

I had never felt so nervous before.

The dateline was approaching and we still had a long way to go!

Bryna brought lunch for us and we ate a little in the lab although I think we weren't supposed to.

It was the first time in my life that I created powerpoint slides so quickly.

I created a slide in like less than 2 minutes. It was amazing to see the things you can do under pressure.

When it was already completed, we started printing but the printer kept printing our report in landscape format instead of portrait.

There was nothing wrong with the settings.

I guess everything tends to go wrong at the last minute to make you freak out.

In the end, we had to make do with what we had.

One of the student organisers said he would explain to the judges but it was still really unfair for us because they couldn't read what we painstakingly prepared!

We had about 10 minutes to prepare for our presentation.

We weren't really familiar with it because it was created out of nothing just one hour ago!

When it was our turn, we went into the classroom really blur.

I had a slight idea of what was going, but not the full picture.

Everything was happening so quickly that I didn't have time to know what I was feeling.

We only had 7 minutes.

In the end, the whole presentation was a disaster.

To cut the really long story short, I made a mistake which wasted about 1 minute so we didn't manage to finish the presentation.

It's sad because what we prepared in the last 30 hours was judged on only a 7 minute presentation.

In the end, we weren't one of the 6 teams that made it to the finals.

But, we were relieved in a way because the finalists had to go on to prepare for a 10 minute presentation in front of the judges and all the participants later.

And they were given only 30 minutes to brush up on their presentation while we had a tea break!

So, after the results were released, we went to eat and the mood was a lot more relaxed.

This is the beginning of the fun part.

We totally enjoyed the break and catched up with all the food we missed out during lunch.

The final presentation was kinda like a resting period for us when we didn't have to worry about meeting deadlines.

We were still recovering from the stress.

Then, Bryna told us that she heard form one of the judges that we were ranked first among the other 6 teams that were in the same group as us.

However, the other judges felt that the other teams were better so we didn't get into the finals.

That was a nice consolation though.

When I saw the other presentations, I knew why we didn't win. They were obviously better than us!

Towards the end, there were speeches by the organising committee about how happy they were that this camp was such a success blah blah blah.

There was one point when there was supposed to be appualse but no one clapped.

It's really weird. I think everyone has experienced these moments before.

We were supposed to clap but no one wanted to clap first.

Suddenly, there was a single loud clap from Kimberly.

Everyone turned to look at her and it was so embarrasing but she and I burst out in laughter.

After the entire presentation, dinner was served and Kim, Beverly and I went to the restroom.

I remembered that Kim pointed out just now that there was a really tall guy. He was one of the mentors.

I told her that when she had her embarrasing moment just now, that tall guy turned to look at her and smiled.

Beverly and I started teasing her.

Actually I already noticed that guy on the first day. He sat on the row in front of us.

In addition to his height, he's really cute too!

When Kim noticed him, I felt kinda jealous. It's weird though.

It was like I was saying in my heart: How can you snatch him form me? I saw him first!

But it's just one of those silly infatuations so I didn't get angry with her of course.

It's just real fun to tease other people about such stuff. Haha.

We teased her about it all the way back.

Even during dinner, we pretended to be taking photos of one another when we were really taking photos of him.

In the end, we could only get a nice photo of his back.

I wonder if he knows. Hmm...

Because everytime we saw him, we would burst out laughing and we kept taking photos in his direction!

It was really quite obvious.

But even if he knew, he pretended not to know because it would be really embrassing of he came to talk to us. Haha.

To make things more interesting, he took the same bus as us to Boon Lay MRT station and the same MRT too!

He was just in the next cabin and we kept peeping over to see where he would alight.

Luckily he didn't catch us peeping at him!

At Paya Lebar, Kim and Bev had to alight but he was still on the train so I was the only one left to "peep" at him.

Kim asked me to tell her where he alighted since I would alight only at Tampines.

In the end, he alighted at Bedok and I messaged Kim and teased her some more. Haha.

It's weird how Kim and I became good friends so quickly.

We got to know one another just last Wednesday, 10 days ago. Before that, we were complete strangers.

I'm realy glad that I got the chance to know such a wonderful friend!

Overall, it was a really fun day, especially the last part.

Luckily we didn't get into the finals because we wouldn't have so much fun then.

The whole camp was really enriching. We learnt so much.

But the end of the camp meant that we couldn't get to see that cute guy anymore!

Well... hope we can have some excuse to go to NTU another day and hopefully get a glance of him!

Camp Ideapolis. That's the name of the entrepreneur camp at NTU. It's a camp where we leart about writing an executive summary for a business plan and submitted it for competition.

It was a camp over 2 days, but it wasn't residential. Meaning it wasn't a overnight camp at NTU.

In other words, I had to spend more than an hour travelling from the east to the west of Singapore in the morning and another time back at night.

Luckily they had a bus to fetch us from Boon Lay MRT station to NTU. I had completely no idea how to get there.

My team was made up of Beverly, Kimberly and me.

When we first reached, we went to the lecture theatre and had some briefing and ice breakers. Nothing interesting worth blogging about.

Later, we had to choose a team name and slogan. In the end, we decided on Viola! and our slogan is "Carpe Diem!".

I don't know what this means but Kimberly says it's "Seize the day".

Interesting... None of us even knew how to pronounce it. Haha.

After lunch, we had a talk by Mr Seah Liang Chiang, some shareholder or CEO of DSC Holdings.

He was really impressive! He told us about all his previous failures and it was really amusing.

His grades were lousy in school and he failed many times before he came to where he is now.

Many of the successful people whose talks I have attended had lousy grades when they were in school.

Maybe I should start failing now, then I have a greater chance to be successful in future. Haha.

I think he earns more than a million in a year. Impressive! I want to do that too!

And after the tea break, we had to start planning for our business plan.

We contributed some ideas each, especially our project work ideas and in the end we modified a little of my project work to become our business plan.

It was to provide a exercise service to health and image conscious youths, including diet changes and grooming courses.

I didn't really support the idea partly because I was sick of project work and also because my group met with some problems so I didn't think the idea was a really good one.

But, Kimberly and Beverly both thought it was a good idea so we went ahead with it.

Each team had a mentor. Our mentor was Bryna.

At first we thought it was a guy but she turned out to be a girl.

In the beginning, I felt like she was left out in our discussions because we didn't really talk to her. I guess it's because we just met one another. Not too familiar yet.

But after a while, we really bonded.

She feels like a big sister to us. Really nice!

She helped us a lot and thankfully for her help, we were able to come up with a rough plan.

Without her help, I think we wouldn't even know where to start.

We planned what to do and split the work. There was really a lot to do and we had to hand up the completed plan by 2.30pm the next day and get a powerpoint presentation done by then.

We had dinner before we took the bus back to the MRT station. The meals were quite ok. I especially liked the tea break because the snacks were really appetising.

I guess for these camps and seminars, they really have to give you sufficient food. They would rather give you more than let you go hungry.

That's because you won't be able to listen on an empty stomach. It was the same with VJ's leadership seminar too.

After dinner, I realised that my family was visiting my Grandma at her house at Woodlands.

It was quite near to Boon Lay, at least nearer from Boon Lay to Tampines, so I decided to join them then my Dad would drive us home later.

Besides, I haven't seen my Grandma in a long while so it'll be nice to pay her a visit.

I could tell she was really glad to see me. We didn't do much, just sat around to watch television, but she enjoyed our company.

At around 10pm, we had to go back because it was late and I still had to do my part for the business plan.

After reaching home, I immediately went to bathe and started on the plan.

There was much research and typing to be done.

After almost 2 hours of typing and researching, I finally finished my part. At 2.30am in the morning.

I was terribly tired since I woke up at 6.30am that day.

I fell asleep almost immediately and wished my alarm clock wouldn't ring so soon.

This marks the end of the first day of Camp Ideapolis.

*Obviously, I didn't blog this on the day of the camp, but the date is set to sat.

I'm seriously dissapointed!

Jun Yang didn't get into the next round! That's damn sad!

He's like a million times better than Wei Lian, how could he lose?

I was quite sure that he would win. His score from the judges were also higher what...

When the results was released, I was completely devastated.

I cursed like mad, but I didn't say out loud. Because my parents were present.

Damn it! This show shouldn't be Project Superstar because it failed to groom a superstar. It should be called project failure.

I think Wei Lian won because of sympathy votes.

No way did he win because of his talent.

Immediately after the results were released, I cursed a little out loud, but not very vulgar one la.

Those that are too vulgar to be heard, I say in my mind.

I said some very mean stuff about why Wei Lian got sympathy votes and all that, that's why he won.

Then my mum nagged at me and said I shouldn't say such mean stuff.

Luckily she didn't know what I was cursing inside if not she'll nag at me like mad.

But, to think about it, I shouldn't be mean.

After all, he got the audience to vote for him, so he won. That's the rule right?

But I still can't believe that Jun Yang lost.

Kelly better win the finals. I can't imagine what would happen if Wei Lian was crowned superstar.

It's the guy's finals for Channel U's Project Superstar.

If you didn't know, you can still tune in now. It'll be showing till 10pm tonight.

Anyway, from the picture above, I guess you can guess that I'm rooting for Jun Yang.

There are only 2 guys left. Jun Yang and Wei Lian.

Jun Yang's performance has been consistently good and he's been improving every performance.

I really think he'll win this competition.

On the other hand, his competitor, Wei Lian, is blind.

It's not discrimination or anything, but I really think that it's be really difficult for a blind guy to win this thing.

I really think that he got into the finals because of sympathy votes.

Besides, it's true that Jun Yang is better --- his score from the judges are higher.

But, to give credit to Wei Lian, he's a good singer too, just that Jun Yang is better. Hee...

I'm watching the show as I blog now.

So far, they have sang 2 songs each, and Jun Yang has got the higher score for both.

One more to go.

I really, really hope Jun Yang wins.

To vote for him, sms M1 to 78277 or call 1900 112 1001.

Go Jun Yang!

You may want to skip this post if you're looking for something interesting to read. This one's mostly about stuff that I need to get off my chest.

Definition of fair-weather: someone who is loyal only during the times of success.

Li Yue wasn't feeling well today.

She wanted to see a doctor after school but the polyclinics were already closed, so she had to go to a private clinic.

Sheryl, Jasmine, Li Yue and I were there at the time she said she wanted to see a doctor.

She wasn't familiar with going to a private clinic and said that she knew there's a clinic at the Parkway area. She thinks she knows where is it, but isn't very sure.

So, she wanted some one to accompany her.

Problem is, it was already 4.30pm then.

Also, she had to go back to the hostel, which was 2 bus stops walk away, to get some document, then go to the clinic at Parkway.

If I went along, I would probably reach home 2 hours later.

I didn't want to accompany her since it was already so late and she was suffering from a rash, not some flu or fever that might cause her to faint on the way.

When all of us expressed some unwillingness to go along, she kinda made a rude remark to Sheryl.

I think it was supposed to be a joke and she didn't know that it was unkind but I felt it was really inconsiderate of her.

So what if we don't want to accompany her to the clinic?

She didn't have any risk of fainting on the way.

She roughly knew where the clinic was. At the most, she would have to ask around and take a little more time.

Why do we have to sacrifice our time for her convenience?

I think it's really not fair.

In the end, Sheryl went along with her.

But on the way home, I felt kinda guilty.

She's my good friend and since she's not really feeling well, the least I could do is to accompany her to see a doctor.

But I didn't.

Really makes me wonder:

Am I a fair-weather friend?

Haha. I really have loads of time today so I'm just making silly little posts.

I just added the hit counter like 2 hours ago and it's already at 30! Maybe I'm just being excited at nothing.

I swear, I visited my own blog less than 10 times!

I guess most of the hits must be due to people just hitting the "next blog" button.

And when they came to mine, they just hit it again.

Haha. That's a good way of checking out new blogs though. That was how I found out about most of the blogs I'm currently reading.

Anyway, that's all I have to say for now.

I might decide to come back and write more lame posts.

Since I'm sick today, I have loads of time to do whatever I want.

Of course I'll do some homework, but maybe later.

If I touch any worksheets or books, I'll fall sick again. Hee...

Anyway, since I have loads of time on my hands, I decided to add some interesting stuff to my blog.

Ok, only 2 things...

First, a hit counter.

I know my blog isn't that popular but it's just for fun. I already visited my own blog twice so it's currently at 2.

Maybe if there aren't enough hits, I'll just keep refreshing the page to make the number bigger. Haha.

Secondly, I added links to other people's blogs.

Black High Heels: I've been reading this blog almost since the time it started. Up till now, and I've never gotten sick of it. I really like it. You have to read for yourself to find out. I've never posted any comments on it though. Too shy. Maybe I'll leave a comment one day.

Tales from a stay at home mum: Interesting blog. I never thought mums had blogs. I always thought it was only for young people. No offence... Imagine you found out that your mum had a blog. If mine has one, I'll completely freak out!

Norman's place: Loads of cool pics here. I go there once in a while to take a look.

Anyway, I'll add more links soon. There are some blogs which I like, but they seem quite personal so it's better to ask for permission before linking.

Btw, having links on my blog also saves me the trouble of typing the blog address everytime I want to read.

Ha. I'm so smart, huh?

*Actually I took almost half an hour to read the instructions on linking and finally succeeded. =)

I'm sick today.

No, I don't have a flu.

I don't have a fever.

I don't have a bad cough. (Only a slight one.)

So why am I sick today?

I think I'm just tired.

Overworked.

Stressed out.

To put it nicely, I'm mentally sick.

I was already not feeling well last night. When my mum said I could stay at home today, I immediately felt better.

I guess another reason for not going to school is because I haven't done my maths tutorials. And econs. And GP homework.

If I went to school without doing all that work, I would probably come home tonight wishing I hadn't gone to school. Haha.

That's why I not in school today.

Sounds like a logical explanation.

Ok, I'm going off to enjoy the rest of my day.

Bye!

Kaijun, me and Melissa went kite-flying today.

There were only 3 of us because everyone else wasn't free. I asked almost all the horti people but they couldn't join us.

It's sad to plan outings and in the end have only a few people turning up.

Nonetheless, we had fun.

We went to Pasir Ris park and our plan was to fly kite, then go for dinner later.

Kaijun brought his pink kite. Haha. It was so pink, it didn't really suit a guy. But, it was a nice and simple one.

Unfortunately, the weather didn't cooperate.

We tried to fly the kite numerous times but to no avail. We finaly gave up one hour later.

Then, Melissa received a call and had to go back for dinner. So, only Kaijun and I were left.

Since it ws only 6.30pm, we went cycling for an hour.

It was really enjoyable and I loved the wind in my face. But I got sweaty and sticky after that so it was kinda uncomfortable.

Also, sitting on that small bicycle seat made my butt hurt.

Why do they have to make the seats so small? It's not like anyone has such a small butt.

Enough about the bicycle seat.

After cycling, we went back to White Sands.

I suddenly had a craving for pizza, but there wasn't pizza hut there. So sad.

In the end, we ate at the food court.

I had ban mian, one of my favourite foods.

Since I had to go back early to drink the soup my mother made for dinner, we went home after dinner.

It's a good thing the journey home was short. It took only 30 minutes.

We should go out more often.

Hopefully, more people can come along when we have such outings.

But, it's not bad having 2 people either. =)

Happy 40th Birthday Singapore!

I think Singapore is such a wonderful country and I'm so proud to be a Singaporean.

May Singapore continue to prosper and become a better country.

Singapore rocks!

It's National Day eve and there're no lessons today. Yay!

It's not that I don't like school or anything, it's just nice to have a break.

We were asked to wear ethnic costumes or red tops.

Some people wore ethnic costumes. I think the most common one was the Indian sari. It was so beautiful!

If I had one, I would wear it too. Maybe I should buy one then I can wear it in future.

The performance was quite ok.

I especially loved the part where we sang the National Day theme songs. I absolutly love those songs!

There was also a National Day book given to us. It's called "Today in History".

It has all the significant stuff that happened in Singapore in the past on every single day of the year.

Not sure if you get what I'm saying, I just know that it's a very beautiful book. Haha.

After the celebrations, we had a class outing. We went to Lido to watch "Charlie and the chocolate factory".

There wasn't any particular movie that I wanted to watch. But since it was a class outing, I watched it with everyone else.

I didn't enjoy the movie at all.

The book was nice, it was super.

But, the movie absolutely sucked!

If you happen to like the movie, sorry, but I'm just expressing my views here.

After the movie, I went home because I didn't feel too good. Maybe it was because we were sitting at one of the front rows so that gave me a headache.

Anyway, it's a public holiday tomorrow so I can look forward to a good sleep and waking up late.

Happy Birthday Singapore!

I bought a Singapore flag from the Community Centre today.

And it costs only $2. So cheap.

I've been bugging my parents to put up the Singapore flsg for National Day for a long time already.

Even the past few years! But they didn't do anything about it so I guess I had to go but one and put it up myself.

At the condo I stay in, there are less than 10 flats who have flags.

That's terribly pathetic!

What happened to your patroitism?

I still remember the times when almost everybody would hang the Singapore flag. That was when I was still staying at my old HDB flat at Telok Blangah 6 years ago.

Are people staying in private housing really less enthusiastic about such events?

I think so.

There isn't even the National Day spirit in the air! That's really sad.

I'm thinking I should sell flags next year.

Sell the Singapore flag to all the people in this condo, and offer to help them hang it up for free.

I can sell at $2 of course. It doesn't have to be because of profits.

Then it'll feel so much better to see so many flags instead of just one or two hanging around.

Just a though though.

Or maybe I would become like everyone else and not bother about such things anymore. Who knows?

We had our horti photo shoot today. And I was really glad because we would see our seniors again today!

The plan for today was for the year 1s to do gardening till it was time for the photo shoot then continue with gardening till 6. Then all of us would go out for dinner later.

At 3.50pm, a few of us were at the garden already, then we started talking. Haha. It feels so good to do nothing and just talk crap.

But then, it was quite pressurising for me. Since I was the chairperson, I think people expected me to lead and start the gardening session but I also wanted to talk what...

In the end we talked for quite a while and when most of the members arrived, we had to start gardening. I was very reluctant but I had to. Haiz.

Luckily, the year 2s helped out too. It was so fun having them back.

The sugarcane plant fell a few days ago and we didn't know what to do. The seniors helped us out with it. And we managed to put some of them back up while we harvested some.

And most of the plants in the garden were overgrown so we had to trim lots of them.

Somehow, I feel that I'm not a very good chairperson. I know nothing about plants and most of the time when people ask me about the plants in the garden, I can only say "I don't know". I feel really bad.

When I saw Teng Wen (in case you don't know, he's the ex-chair) today, he was able to identify the plants, even though there were plants that were planted after the seniors left.

Wonder when will I ever be able to do that.

His dad is some gardener, I think. He knows quite a lot about plants.

Or maybe he knows so much because he has more experience. Maybe I can be like that too next year.

I really don't know. I feel like such a failure.

The photo shoot was fine. We took the photos at out garden and also at the water garden.

After the photo shoot, we did more gardening.

Later, we went to Parkway for dinner. Only 7 of us went. It was really a lot less than I expected.

Anyway, we had fun.

We went to Burger King for dinner and it was so good to just sit in an air-conditioned area and eat and talk. Haha.

It was a really fun day.

It's so nice to see the seniors come for gardening sessions again.

I don't know why, but I really miss them.

Maybe I miss the times when the seniors were in charge and I didn't have to do any planning.

But the others don't seem to miss them that much.

Maybe I just can't cope with the pressure. Haiz.

I don't know.