It's remarkable how quickly times passes. A few more weeks till the mid term holidays and exams. But what is time to you? How do you allocate time to do what is necessary? And the add ons? The fringes? How do you even prioritize matters? The unstructuredly structured timetable feels alien to me. In previous education systems I most certainly wouldn't be blogging at this time of the day. But here the activities are random; each week is unlikely to be similar to the last. I'm not sure if I welcome the irregularity, but at least I'm coping, though I've backlogged a bit.

Also, I am suspicious of my intuition. It has been failing me for the past few months. I'm not saying that I want all my intuitions to be proven correct, because that would be horrendous. Take the predictions for my A level results as an example. Perhaps it's just my confidence and optimism that create a feel good feeling that translates into a semi mirage in the brain. I didn't make the choir team although I was almost sure I would get in. It was a tad disappointing but the AIESEC membership was a delightful surprise. Ah, the joy at getting something unexpected.

Speaking about unexpectedness, Grace and I went to the zoo on Sunday. It was totally unplanned. We were up at 2 am deciding, or it was only me contemplating, whether to choose a relaxing movie in the cinema or a full length animal documentary where we have to brave the rain, sun and the smells. In the end, the journey all the way to Mandai Lake Road was well worth it. So currently the stats stand at 4 trips to the zoo in 3 years; try beating that!


*

I'm unsatisfied. Shouldn't it be better? We just stopped trying.

It's the second week of the first sem and things are starting to pick up and settle in. I for one still dread the early morning lecture on Monday, but I've gotten used to prowling the streets of NUS at 9 pm after lecture or jogging as one of the last A1 buses ply past.

Uni isn't very different from JC. I expected a revolutionalized education system. Suffice to say that the only differences are the non enforcement of rules and the option to crash lectures, and eat while listening to the prof... Well, maybe it's a liberated education system after all. What is it? Be the best you can be?

So, heeding NUS's advice I went for an industrial visit to PCS, a choir audition and an interview this week. I really wanted to like Jurong Island. I wanted to fall in love with the steel pipes and people in orange overalls and spherical containers. But the place was almost a no man's land. And they have only one eatery. How can Singaporeans thrive on a location that doesn't have a shopping mall, I wonder.

The choir audition was a little more interesting. Apparently 60% of choir is made up of Malaysians! It's a high commitment CCA. Again I wonder if I am ready for that, assuming I receive good news tommorow morning. =D I sang "If We Hold On Together" and the panel looked mildly satisfied. Then it was the horrible scales section where I was supposed to sing after a few piano notes were played. I suspect I'm tone deaf. Everything out of my mouth seemed to have the same pitch. Nevertheless *fingers crossed*.

Not something I'm optimistic about -the AIESEC interview. The questions asked were simply mind numbing. "Tell us an instance when you gave up a long term goal for a short term goal". Argh. I racked my refrigerated memory for an answer and came up with a lame one about givng up UK for NUS. I think the idea was relevant, it was the way I presented my reply that was less than satisfactory. Then there were more questions about team work, like "Have you ever been in a situation where teammate A and teammate B aren't on talking terms? And what did you do to rectify the situation?" Hm, I have always been lucky to have co-operative teammates and I wasn't quick enough on my toes to create a scenario. And then there was the funny part where I was required to sell a pen to them in a minute. Haha. I stoned for a while and said "This pen has been proven to be able to write as long as 10000 km... is comfortable... bla bla. I personally have used 10 of them." Geez. On hindsight, if the pen can write 10,000km worth of words, why would I even need to use 10?

Not smart, Joleen. Not smart. =( For what it's worth, at least I have another interview experience.

Now, to happier news. Hehe Fatty and I ransacked NTUC for salad ingredients, and on Sunday we made...

Super Salad!


The chefs =)

It was superb. And it did a great deal warming our hearts. Fatty's a rock. He suddenly appeared at the CFA where I was having the audition and went with me all the way to SR19 for the interview. Sweet.

Plus, Grace is here again! I bought a Little Miss t-shirt for her. I'm Little Miss Contrary and she's Little Miss Chatterbox. Too bad they didn't have Little Miss Stubborn in vintage.

Additional plus, my financial worries are over. There's no need to fork out $1200 for accommodation, many thanks to ASEAN.

I could get use to these.

I look through the funnel
From this end
From that end
It is not the same
Not the same
Not the same
Is it an illusion?
Has it been since forever?
It is not the same
Should I wake up?
It is not the same
Never expect it to be the same
For better or for worse
It is not the same

Hello!

This is me, in my funny shaped room, typing my first post as a uni student. I'm old!

Things have been pretty good, especially since Grace came over for a few nights. She's super creative. I now have another Patrick, courtesy of her.

Meet... Patrick on steroids. Hehe... Hence his larger fore limbs. But he's adorable all the same, and retains the flexibility that is the trait of ALL Patricks.


I wanted to write a post to summarize my holidays. It dawned upon me, and many other friends, that the longest holiday of perhaps our entire life is over. Was it well spent? What have I gained? My life didn't change notably, but it was certainly enhanced by a few events. Meeting up with friends, teaching, a few trips, and most importantly, finding a rusty friendship that could use a little polish to shine like the brightest jewel.

But on Tuesday I had the biggest scare of my life. Fatty initiated something out of the blue. I always thought that I had the baton, I control the race, I have the prerogative. But he was tired. And the dam of emotions was released. I traversed the entire uni, looking for him, feeling more anxious as each call to him met a dead end. Yet all along I had the confidence that it was not the end. It could not be the end. I would not let it end.

I'm just glad.

*toast* to a great uni life. I need to believe that nothing is impossible.

Three more days. I'm packing at a sloth like pace. Everything seems to be essential- even the nylon fishing line gets the green light.

Has it been two years and eight months since JH laughed at me for lugging 'loaves' of sanitary pads to Singapore? This time I'm going to travel light. Light is largely undefined yet, but certain to join the entourage are two gigantic fruits and four dogs, and my trusty table lamp.

Mum blew RM 190 on two haircuts. The hairdresser styled and highlighted her hair with red spray, and she looked like Peter Pan with glasses. Hahaha...

Tommorow meeting HW at her school! And then pasar malam for the last time in a few months. =l

I'm baffled by how complex human relationships are, yet I rejoice at the fact that somethings that are lost can be, although never as perfect as they were, found again after millions of years when the dust of bewilderment and sadness has all but covered the tip.

And today she came to my house with durians, and we spent the afternoon playing Mastermind and Tipover. A replay of an event that happened 5 years earlier, only we're much older now.

I was very surprised and hurt, mind you. Back then I thought we were inseparable, and if I ever considered switching to lesbianism you were my number 1 choice for a partner.

But that was back then. I thought I had forgotten you, and vice versa. When you called to say you were coming I couldn't have any expectations. When you gave me the Squeezy Stressball and The Surfer... well, it was, as I quote Celine Dion, "all coming back to me now".

Was it because... I don't know. Perhaps I will never know. I dare not ask you because you had a rather great impact in my life.

Let the buds blossom, with a thorn for cautiousness that shouldn't be here in the first place.

Achtung!

The word isn't used in the right context but I just love the sound of it.

So how was the trip to Switzerland, you say.

Well, I'm glad mum and I went.

I boarded the airplane with the Amazing Race kind of mentality- the Mum and Daughter team. Suffice to say it wasn't as smooth as butter. And me losing the 512mb memory card didn't help. But as every cloud has a silver lining, haha, we ended up with 2 new 2gb cards and took a total of 1887 photos.

Switzerland is so beeeaaauuu-tee-fuul, as the average Caucasian would express in their exaggerated manner. Because it really is. Rolling hills, stately alps, lakes like sheets of glass... even the blind would take wonderful photos with a digital camera.

Surreal view from Mt. Pilatus.


Lake Lucerne from the Church Bridge.


Random lake. Lakes of these sizes would be termed seas in Malaysia.


Each glacier has a name, like how each cow has.


Cows, bells, and everything else.

But topping it all was the great and unexpected company during the trip. During the welcome session on the first day I was somewhat unpleasantly surprised that the whole tour group (36 in total) comprised of only 2 people below the age of 50- me and an Australian Vietnamese who's 30+/- *horror* , and only 3 Asians. As the days went, they proved to be really sporting, witty, and intellectual. Here are some examples:

"Hey, that's a morgue!"
"Yeah, people are dying to get in there."

On the train through the Bernina Pass that has only 800+ tunnels:
"I think I'm starting to get tunnel vision."

These people know for sure that Malaysians don't live on trees. Some have even been to KL for holidays. And when Australians and Americans start to discuss politics, I just sit back and listen, silently thanking GP for though not allowing me to participate, was sufficient for me to follow the conversation without getting too lost.

Mum and I rather favoured the company of three people:

Here's John whom we always accidentally bump into. Terribly nice.

The one next to me is 85-year old Isabel who STILL works at a card distributing company, and at the far right is Marge whose bark is louder than her bite and has either given or sold 199 of her homemade bags in 2 years.

It's interesting to note that life after 55 or after retirement doesn't necessarily consist of only watching pay TV and medical checkups. Instead, one is free to do almost anything in the world, be it reading up and researching on Dali, taking care of granchildren, overseas trips that last 9 weeks, making personalised travelogues, joining a choir... as long as one has the health and financial means to do so. Probably quite foreign to our Asian ears are "My grandparents went paragliding last July", but that's what an elderly couple from the tour did! Amazing zest, these people have, hardly a common denominator of the senior society here.

Oh, weather is a real conversation topic in small, small Switzerland (pop. 7.5 million) because a 3 hour drive from atop the alps to lakesides like Lugano brings you from freezing -6c to a scorching 34c. Illustrated with clothes, it's something like this:

to

Of course, what's a trip for me without gastronomic endeavours, doggy sighting and artsy stuff? Foodwise, Switzerland is extremely disappointing. I suppose I'm a phillistine after all when I'd decline traditional Swiss cheese for 12-pieces-in-a-pack-Kraft singles. The only Swiss? dish that I like is barley soup.


But the Swiss make up for that because the country is an absolute doggy heaven! Doggies on trains, doggies in restaurants, doggies in parks... *woo hoo*

Doggy on snow!


St Bernards smooching.

Okay art definitely isn't at its zenith in Switzerland, but look at their woodcarvings...

The dog. I wasn't carved.

What else can I say? Switzerland: I like. But perhaps the Swiss could adopt curry as their national dish and grow chillis...