s w i r l s

At the rate I'm eating, I'm going to end up looking like Piangi. I was so stressed up yesterday that I ate non-stop. Literally. I ate 3/4 packet of Lays potato chips (the big packet one), 3/4 basket of lettuce and cucumber, a slice of Fuji apple, a few slices of fish, another packet of crisp again, more lettuce and cucumbers, a huge rectangular slice of fish with cheese and clives gravy, a bowl of udon noodles with chicken and finally this box of pocky my sis brought back from my grandma house. So you see, should I fail to cease this manner of eating, I shall be looking like Piangi in due time. Thus, I need to go jogging. That's that.

Chinese O' Levels examination was oookay. It was freaky, no doubt. Plus the invilgilators were not from our school. But I survivied it, thus here I am. Then Emily, Tallie and I had lunch in this japanese restaurant in Bedok. It's quite cheap ne. Like $4.90 for a teriyaki set. So anyway, I thought I could like relax the whole day today. But I've still got violin lessons later, need to practice my exam piece "Giga" which I'm playing for this thursday's masterclass!! Oh man. *freaks* Plus, there's Biology Practical tomorrow, which means I'll have to go revise all my food tests and plant tests later. *groans*

Oh you know!! I actually dreamt of the Phantom last night? *laughs hysterically* I'm insane. Certifiable. Nothing sick in my dream. Don't worry. *shudders to even think about it* I'm so drained. Maybe I'll go sleep for awhile. But then again, I'm hungry... Sigh...

A single red rose with a black ribbon tied to the stem...

Y o u r N a m e _ b l o g g e d _ @ 5:10 PM |

I woke up this morning and sat at my desk, tidying up my chinese revision notes and mock exam papers. Suddenly a thought struck me, "Is it the holidays already?" It surely didn't felt like one. I'd had cramming away all my chinese stuff these past few days in preparation for the O' level examinations tomorrow. Freaky, I know.

Yesterday, I attended Cameron and Delia's wedding. Delia's one of the cell leaders. This is the first wedding I've attended without my family. The wedding was beautiful. This is also the first wedding I got so emotional. Tears just sprang into my eyes when the "Bridal March" started and Delia began walking down the aisle. The ceremony was just so beautiful and touching.

I'm going stark raving mad studying chinese. I would be so fricking upset if I didn't get an A. Must work hard! Okay, I'm going back to study. Break's over.

A single red rose with a black ribbon tied to the stem...

Y o u r N a m e _ b l o g g e d _ @ 2:00 PM |

Today is a very eventful day; a day filled with mortifying events. For me at least. First we had like three whole periods of A-Math this morning which like totally fried my brains. Then it was recess. Yes! At 9.30am. The last time I had recess at this time was in primary 3. As usual we went to the piano and this time Florence came with us. And she sight-readed most of the scores!! And she did it very well. I am so inspired to play phantom of the opera now. Hahaha.

It's our last day in the MI room. How sad. We took two class pictures. Haha. Then it was clean-up time! Everyone went up to clean Mr Tan's homeroom. We were amongst the last few to leave the MI Room when we realised that it was in a very filthy condition, so we decided to clean up this place instead. So we grabbed brooms, dustpans, mops, rags and pails and got to work. It was fun! After sweeping the floor we had to mop it, so we all ended up removing all our shoes and socks. Then Karen, Chuan Li and Shi Yun were like mopping the floor. Emily and I were on our knees on the floor, scrubbing off the black stains with a rag. They were saying we looked like Cinderella. Marcus then whipped out his cell phone and began taking unglamorous pictures of us washing, mopping and scrubbing. He even took a video of us! Haha.

So then the water in the pail got really filthy; you can't even see through, it's like totally black. Marliyana wanted to go change it, so I told Hengky to remove the rags in the pail. He scooped them out. Marliyana and I heaved the pail to the female changing rooms (shower rooms actually). We went into one of the shower cubicles and poured out the dirty water into the hole. Pour pour pour... suddenly PLOP! Something fell into the hole and I screamed. Marliyana and I peered down into the hole. IT WAS A RAG!! An unseen hidden rag right at the bottom of the pail! I was horrified. The first thought that came into my mind "HENGKY!! He didn't remove it!!" I ran out of the changing room back to our classroom. I was like gonna scold Hengky and tell him what happened. So I was running along the corridor and screaming "HENGKY!!!!!!!!!!!!" like nobody's business. I think everyone was shocked and staring at me. Hengky stared at me like I've grown two heads. Then he erupted into spontaneous laughter. I was a bit surprised when he burst out laughing so hysterically. Then I realised I must have looked rather insane. Then I began laughing as well. After our laughing fit, I began yelling. Yeah, about the stupid rag that fell into the hole. I think they've never heard me yelling so hysterically before, but everyone was like staring at me.

What I did not realise was that I sounded a bit like a lovesick person when I was running and screaming Hengky's name like that. I was absolutely horrified and mortified when they later told me. And they were laughing like mad and imitating me. Seriously the thought never crossed my mind, I was just intent on getting to Hengky and start yelling. Oh man, what a misunderstanding. *snorts*

After school, Chuan Li, Tallie, Emily and I went to the piano again. We're nuts. Haha. Then Chuan Li played "All I Asked of You" on the piano; Tallie played the flute; Emily sang Raoul's part and I sang Christine's part. It was so fun!

Then Emily and I went to BK in airport to study Chinese. Something embarrassing happened. I dropped my burger!! Oh man. It rolled down my chair and sat nicely on the floor. It was still intact due to the melted cheese that's practically sticking everything together. Emily and I erupted into hysterical laughter. It was totally hilarious!! Then I hit my head. Ouch. After that, I scooped up my half-eaten burger from its place on the ground.

Me: Is it still in edible condition?
Emily: I don't know. Maybe we could like peel off the part which was in contact with the ground.
Me: Hmm, anyway, the most I would get is a diarrhoea

So we proceeded to skin the burger, laughing all the way. Then there was Mr Pointy-Nose. Lolx, Em, you know who I refer to. *bursts out laughing madly* Ouch, my stomach muscles and jaw hurts. I'm laughing too much.

A single red rose with a black ribbon tied to the stem...

Y o u r N a m e _ b l o g g e d _ @ 11:13 PM |

I am such an idiot. I lost my mp3. And I didn't even own it for a week! My dad's so gonna kill me. Here comes the best part: I think I dropped it on my way home. *kills myself*

What can I do? Nothing. Maybe my dad would get me another one if I obtained good results for my prelims. So, I'm gonna work hard.

Yesterday, I got so-called reunited with my "long-lost" cousin. Well, it isn't exactly long lost, but I can't seem to find the right word to describe it. His name is Yuxi, and he's the same age as me. I'm needless to say, delighted. Finally a cousin who's of the same age as me! All my other cousins are a good deal younger than me. Yuxi and I were childhood playmates. I was then staying at my grandma's place and he used to come over and we'll play together, go to the beach, cycle and all. The funny thing is... I can't seem to recall a single thing. I didn't even know I had such a cousin until my grandma called me up yesterday and said that Yuxi wanted to contact me. I went "What? Who's that?".

I know I know, call me a rotten cousin. I don't know what's wrong with my memory. I can't even recall how he looked like. Actually, I'm also not exactly sure of our relationship, but somehow, we're cousins. His grandma is my grandma's elder sis. Get it? So anyway, my grandma gave me his number and I called him up la, coz she said he wanted to ask me something about the Os. So yeah, it was awkward. But we exchanged cell phone numbers and emails and we began talking and catching up on old times. I feel so ashamed that he remembered me yet I can't recall a single thing about him. He even remembered minor details such as how we used to go to the beach to cycle and the last time we went there one of us fell off the bicycle. Anyway, we're gonna meet up in the June Hols and catch up on old times.

I feel absolutely dead today. Although we had like 6 free periods coz Mr Yong didn't come; Mr Mubarak is at the sec 3 camp and Mr Tan had something on during contact time. But we were mostly studying chinese la. O' levels next Monday leh. I'm freaking out. During recess, the whole bunch of us (Tallie, Emily, Rusydiana, Chuan Li and I) went up to the piano and played all the Phantom of the Opera songs. And we kinda lost track of time. Haha. But it was enjoyable. Then we were like singing in class too, all the phantom of the opera songs.

A single crimson rose with a black ribbon tied to the stem...

Y o u r N a m e _ b l o g g e d _ @ 7:22 PM |

So yeap, I went to the Infusia concert yesterday with as little mishaps as possible. I didn't fall down in my high-heels. Whee. The concert was quite nice. I saw my violin teacher!! Wuahahaha. He went back to perform as alumni. I saw a couple of my seniors too. And for the time first, there was actually TWO encores! So cool, and the second encore was actually their last piece: The Sabre Dance. And halfway, one cellist actually stood up and pretended to swordfight with his bow. Actually, I didn't see that coz I was blocked by two guys in front of me. =='' Theo told me.

My dad got me an mp3 player. I filled the entire thing with classical, opera, instrumental and musical pieces. And of course... Phantom of the Opera songs. Lol. I'm nuts. I can't stand it, the strings in "All I Ask of You" drives me nuts. It's so nice until it makes my hair nice. It's so smooth and flowy (is there such a word?).

So sian, piles of homework and revision to do. Chinese O' levels is not just round the corner. It has turned the stupid corner. I feel so lerthargic today. Oh, I started on "Five People You Meet in Heaven" by Mitch Albom this afternoon. I've finished it already. It's a short but very lovely and touching book. Try it out ya?

Sometimes I just feel like giving up. I'm so tired... so tired...

Y o u r N a m e _ b l o g g e d _ @ 4:10 PM |

I've got a son! Lolx, just kidding. It's a Biology activity. We're currently on the chapter of Heredity, DNA, genes and etc. So today we were in the Biology Lab and there's this activity where the class is paired up as couples with your Biology partner (whom is of the opposite gender except for some exceptions). Then as 'fathers' and 'mothers', the father will toss a coin which will decide the child's gender and then for his/her features, both parents will toss a coin each.

It was fun! I was of course the 'mother', and my Bio lab partner, Hengky, was the 'father'. So we have a son by the name of Erik Eng Ze Xuan. He has a round face, not a very prominent chin, bushy eyebrows, average sized mouth, almond eyes, straight hair, freckles, dimples and etc. And we have to draw his face out, that's the hard part.

Anyway, we got back a couple of our exam papers back today. Extremely disappointing results. I was staring at my paper moodily when I realised that my friend was sobbing silently. I went to comfort her. Being in the same plight (yeah we both failed that paper), tears began to well up in my eyes as well. The leak in the dam has now become a hole. The more I think about it, the more I cried. Then Si Hui and Tallie saw and comforted me. I just cried even harder. I haven't cried like I've cried today in at least a year! I was sobbing so badly I couldn't breathe properly and my eyes were red and swollen. I think my Physics teacher saw us crying. I was so embarrassed. Then Karen said something funny and made me laugh. But becoz I was crying as well, I couldn't laugh properly, so a weird noise came out instead. Then I was laughing and crying at the same time. My eyes are so tired and painful now.

I would like to thank a very kind soul today. After I got off the bus at my bus stop, it was raining. I wasn't worried about getting caught in the rain, frankly, I seriously don't care anymore. Besides, walking in the rain is fun. But what I'm worried about is my violin. I brought my violin to school today so we could combine instruments and play together. Violin, flute and piano. I didn't want my violin case to get well, but I had no umbrella with me. I had no choice but to try to cover as much of my violin case as possible with my body. I walked to the traffic light in that manner. Then this man in a red windbreaker was standing in front of me and he suddenly caught sight of me, huddled with my violin case, standing in the rain and dripping wet. He immediately sheltered me with his umbrella. We were living in the same area and my house was along his way. So just nice. I would like to thank this kind person, though I don't know his name.

A single red rose with a black ribbon tied to the stem...

Y o u r N a m e _ b l o g g e d _ @ 8:21 PM |

The dam has sprouted a leak. I cried in school today. I couldn't take it anymore. For the first time in many many months, perhaps even a year, I cried. In the toilet during recess. Thankfully, it was empty. I just lean my head against the wall and sob, watching my tears fall to the ground.

There was no solace, except for in music and in books. I went to the library, somehow the presence of many books around me seems comforting. I pulled off a book of Music from the shelf and riffled through it. The soothing and comforting music of The Swan and from the phantom of the opera in my mind made me feel slightly better. Perhaps in a way, I'm glad for the solitude.

"Down once more to the dungeons of my black despair
Down we plunge to the prison of my mind
Down that path into darkness
Deep as hell!"

Down Once More - Phantom of the Opera

A single red rose with a black ribbon tied to the stem...

Y o u r N a m e _ b l o g g e d _ @ 8:19 PM |

My brain is fried. Fried crispy brain. Ew, k, that's disgusting. And nah, it ain't oil that fried it, but that fantastically long E-Math paper 1 we had after school today. From its usual duration of 1 hour, it was lengthened to TWO hours. Yeah, TWO hours. Mind you, it's only paper 1. Paper 2 is TWO and a HALF hours. Oh, the horror...

Yesterday, I went to White Sands to collect the tickets for the Infusia concert from Shu Fang. After that, we bade farewell, parted and went our own ways. Once again, I was thinkng of -jeng jeng jeng- The Phantom of the Opera! (Ah, don't hit me) Okay, I know you've all probably been exasperated about my whole Phantom obssession, but I can't help it - he is sooo charismatic. And the music. Oh gosh, the music. Okay, stop. Anyways, back on track. So I was thinking of the phantom, humming songs from the phantom of the opera, seeing scenes from the movie in my mind- you get the picture ya? So I was walking along the pavement in that 'phantom' stupor. I saw the green light for the pedestrains blinking away up ahead and I thought "Darn, I'm not gonna make it in time to cross the road."

So nevermind, it turned red. Absent-mindedly, I walked over and pressed the button a couple of times, still thinking of the phantom of the opera. A few seconds later, I felt like a fog lifted off my mind and I suddenly realised that I was about to cross the wrong road! Flushing with embarrassment (I don't know why, I just felt pai seh la, ok, like so stupid can?), I walked to the other traffic light to cross the road. How silly.

Last night I had dinner with my family at Sakae Sushi in East Point. Dessert was one-of-a-kind: Frozen pink guava (yeah the green fruit itself) with its centre dugged out and filled with well, some sort of frozen iced pink guava. It's simply delicious. But freezing cold. Oh yeah, so after I and my sister finished up the iced filling, we ate the fruit. Haha, yeap.

I can't wait for the Infusia concert this coming friday! It's been ages since I've been to a concert. Well, a classical one, though this isn't exactly all classical. But it's so cool! It's a fusion of Chinese Orchestra and the String Ensemble. A harmonious blend of East and West. Lovely =) So you can see the violins and violas sitting beside the gaohu, erhu and zhonghu. Anticipation man.

A single dark red rose with a black ribbon tied to the stem...

Y o u r N a m e _ b l o g g e d _ @ 7:49 PM |

The Phantom of the Opera totally blew me away. I watched it again this morning. Call me insane. *grins moronically* And- totally stunned and shocked- tears actually welled up in my eyes for a couple of seconds during the last part where the phantom sang softly with the music box and Christine left him with his ring.

My whole mind was totally blown away. I couldn't concentrate much during tuition. "The Point of No Return" keep replaying in my mind. I've totally no mood to do anything that is not related to music right now. I was just listening to some songs by the London Symphony Orchestra. The opening solo instruments were really very good; the clarinet, oboe and flute. Then the strings were very nice too. I was almost reduced to a puddle of mush on the living room floor.

I'm so totally consumed by music now. I'm going mad. Haha. I'm gonna blast the room with either Russell Watson, classical or opera music.

The dark red rose with a black ribbon...

Y o u r N a m e _ b l o g g e d _ @ 3:51 PM |

The Phantom of the Opera

Just last night, I purchased the Phantom of the Opera VCD from a VCD shop. As much as I wanted to rip off the plastic wrappings and watch it immediately, I couldn't coz my sister would have no doubt killed me; she still has exams today. Thus, I settled for just staring at the cover. Haha.

After school today, I rushed back home with one thing on my mind: The Phantom of the Opera. Heck lunch, the first thing I did was to switch on the computer and watch the movie. I was so enthralled, mesmerised and enchanted that I abandoned my bowl of half-consumed noodles and focused totally on the movie. I suddenly didn't feel hungry at all, despite almost getting gastric in school today.

The music is fantastic! My goodness, the descending violin scales during "All I Ask of You" is like nuts!!! "Music of the Night" is so frickin' nice!!! Damn it, I'm losing my mind!! Notes/Prima Donna is so cute!!

"Mystery! After gala night
If says mystery of soprano's flight.
Mystified all the papers say
we are mystified, we suspect foul play

Bad news on soprano scene,
First Carlotta now Christine
Still at least the seats get sold
Gossip's worth its weight in Gold"

Okay, haha, a part from Notes/Prima Donna. And during "All I Ask of You", it's so heart wrenching. The Phantom heard Raoul and Christine sang! And she dropped the rose!! Oh man! My heart breaks for him. "The Point of No Return" too!! The feeling is so damn intense! The air is practically cackling with electricity. If I'd been there, I would have been postively singed. The music is so overwhelming with emotions. The dynamics are so good and the violins!! The strings!! I've gone mad.

I am so gonna play Phantom of the Opera songs on my violin and piano later. It's so nice, can't stand it. I'm dying. And when Christine returned the phantom his ring, oh my goodness, my heart shattered to pieces. Okay, gonna go practise my violin~!

The dark red rose with a black ribbon...

Y o u r N a m e _ b l o g g e d _ @ 7:03 PM |

My brain is positively fried. Yesterday we had three papers consecutively: Biology Paper 1 (1h), followed by Biology Paper 2 (1h 45 min) and lastly, Physics Paper 1 (1h). Then I had lunch with Susan and when I got back home, I just collasped onto the sofa. Heck, I even lost appetite for dinner.

There's school again today. After school, we had Physics Paper 2 (1h 45min). Now I can feel a headache brewing. I am ever so thankful and grateful that there isn't any paper tomorrow. The only thing I have to do today is to write 3 SBQ essays. I am so exhausted. I just felt like dying halfway through the paper. Nevermind, it's over. *thankful*

Finally, I can practise my violin and piano today for a longer time. Can't believe how screwed up my "Silver Tears of the Moon" sound. I so can't get the bossa nova feeling out. All the slides and vibrato. Oh man. I have no time left. What if I fail my violin exam...?

Y o u r N a m e _ b l o g g e d _ @ 6:11 PM |

I think I'm gonna fall sick. I walked home in the rain today. That, added to the extremely insufficient amount of sleep I've permitted myself and not to mention the amount of junk and fast food I've been consuming in order to save time so that I could study for the exams.

Chemistry paper sucked today. Especially paper II. Ugh. Halfway through the paper, the sky seemed to have opened up and rain poured down like dunno wat. The air-conditioned hall is already cold enough, with the addition of a downpour, everyone just about froze their arse (pardon the langauge) off. Thankfully, I had my windbreaker. The paper was hard. I wanted to go to the ladies halfway, but I didn't want to waste time. So I endured... and endured... and endured. Terrible experience. It felt awful trying to hold it in while cracking your head for answers.

By the way, it's kinda nuts to put Biology and Physics paper on the same day. Nevertheless, it has been done. Okay, I've got 18 chapters worth of Biology information to cram into my brain. And that's only Biology.

Y o u r N a m e _ b l o g g e d _ @ 1:45 PM |

Maybe it's just the stress of being a sec 4 student. My classmate, Chuan Li, was bellowing the teletubbies song in class today. But what was hilarious was that he stopped halfway because he forgot their names.

CL: Tinkie-Winkie!! ... ... (looks around for help)
Me (kindly supplies): Dipsy
CL: Oh!! Tinkie-winkie! Dipsy! Lalaaa~ PO!!!

That raised a few eyebrows. But then again, we're been entering far too much data in our poor brains. It needs a break. Or else it will blow... into tiny bits and pieces. All the grey and white matter will scatter all over the place. And then the medulla oblongata will... Okay, this is getting gross, I shall stop. *smiles sweetly*

I suddenly feel so motivated to practice my violin, the poor little thing which I've abandoned in that dusty old corner to make way for the frickin' mid-years. Oh man, I've let it down. I've gotta work hard.

I'm fat. What's worse, Karen made me eat so much fries in Long John's today. I tell you, I've probably gained a kg or two. Man, the oil... the fats... *shudders* I am so gonna go jogging after my exams. Heck, I'm short enough, I don't wanna be any fatter than I currently am, which is actually very fat. Don't kill me Talz. I AM fat. That's that.

Okay, enough about the stupid fat issue. Mrs Tay is so cute. Whenever she talks, all sorts of hilarious actions accompany along. It livens up the boring (pardon me) subject.

Y o u r N a m e _ b l o g g e d _ @ 7:54 PM |

I.am.dying. Whywhywhy must we have lessons and homeworks and assignments and projects during our fricking COMMON TESTS which is actually no different from the MID-YEARS!!! Well, actually it's worse than the mid-years BECAUSE they've decided to include all the sec 3 topics. Like can you imagine. After a whole day of lessons from like 7.40am - 2.05pm, you're so tired. THEN you gobble up something called 'lunch', while frantically flipping through your guidebooks for a last minute revision. THEN you rush up to the hall, hear the teachers barking out instructions like dunno wat, grab your stationaries, rush off to your seats, stand behind your chair and then pull it out oh-so-quietly-and-delicately coz they said so. Sigh. I shall cease my litany of unconstructive complaints lest they turn into a litany of curses.

Y o u r N a m e _ b l o g g e d _ @ 4:01 PM |

Today's Social Studies paper just killed majority of what remained of my pitiful braincells. Everyone was cramming during curriculum hours today and we were coming up with all sorts of hilarious methods to memorise as much of the two guidebooks as possible. One of my favourite is the reasons for slow population growth:

BFL = Big Friendly Lobster

B --> Baby Boom (post-war)
F --> Falling birth rates
L --> Longer life span

Haha. There were all sorts of funny things like TCLF, CTTP, TALKS, MOS, IRC, SOS and etc. I got a severe headache cramming all those. The paper was terrible. I shan't say more.

Something really embarrassing happened today. I went home today and saw my dad and his colleages outside in the garden. They were like discussing some work stuff and the garden table was like filled with notebooks, files and documents. I was in the kitchen talking to my sister. I was telling her how one of my classmates went kinda nuts in class today and was singing like mad. Literally. Then I began to imitate her singing. Just when I was singing until very emo, one of my dad's colleage walked into the kitchen to wash his hands at the sink. Oh man. Before I could even shut up, "OH MY GOODNESS!" burst out from my mouth. I then immediately shut up and a scant second later burst out laughing with my sister, leaning on the refrigerator for support. I was so embarrassed! Then he laughed and said "I heard nothing." I just laughed even harder. My goodness.

Oh and I almost got ran down by a bicycle today. It was freaky. =S

Y o u r N a m e _ b l o g g e d _ @ 9:14 PM |

I woke up yesterday morning and didn't felt like getting out of bed, so I lay there for quite some time. Inadvertently, Chang Cheng and Xing Kong floated into my head. The songs went through my mind and I could picture all the fingerings, the vibrato, the body language. I could picture myself sitting at my usual seat in the orchestra playing these two songs. I could picture Zheng lao shi conducting.

Then I thought of how I wouldn't step into the Artroom again, dumping my stuff onto the table. Chat and laugh with my section mates. I thought of how I would never walk into the drying yard again, and see the usual group of guys crowding around the drumset. Take the attendance file out of the drawer. Get my gaohu, music stand and file from the cupboard.

I was listening to Harp music yesterday on a CD. The sweet melodious music of "Yue Liang Dai Biao Wo De Xing" came floating out of the radio. Immediately, an image was conjured up in my mind. It was during the December CO Camp last year. It was during our free time. Xin Yi and I walked back into the deserted Artroom, but heard music coming out from the drying yard. Curious, we turned the door handle and stepped in. We were greeted with the most astonishing sight: Sean, Pei Zhi, Theophilus and Wen Da playing "Yue Liang Dai Biao Wo De Xing". Sean was playing the drumset and bellowing out the lyrics of the popular chinese oldies at the top of his voice, not to mention, he wasn't exactly in tune. Pei Zhi was beating the rhythm on the snare drum. The melody was played by Theophilus on the flute and Wen Da on the gaohu. Stunned and slightly amused, Xin Yi and I quietly listened on. Now, everytime I hear this song, I remember...

Y o u r N a m e _ b l o g g e d _ @ 11:02 PM |

valerie _ b l o g g e d _ @ 11:02 PM |