and to the few people that i care to update, this week was somewhat about:

- meeting new people and learning things and making new decisions and waiting in new lines . getting the H1N1 shot, if i get sick i will kill someone, fo' realz.
- more OCF bonding, when vespers was followed by a CU talk+discussion on faith and wealth. which was interesting, though i was too tired to speak after a while =X
- more new discoveries and good times. lunch with zuo and christina, after literally MONTHS since the last time i ate lunch with any of them. wednesday movie night with the girls - princess bride! and me sleeping on their floor.
"good morning, sunshine."
"i wasn't asleep. shh"
"um,okay, you were awake"
"but i slept for a while"
"uh..yes"
... hehe they answer well.
- two nights in a row of unwanted/unnecessary drama with..living arrangements. but, handled remarkably well i believe.
- two exams + 1 test in two days. spanish class is just awesome. literally not a single class goes by without me laughing, and emerging happy. unlike...all the other classes HAHA. and our too-cool-for-GU gang. with lauren's caring "yo bitch" everytime she contacts me.
- pretty much turning into silent spokesperson for UO. literally top-to-toe. or as tyra might sickeningly say, H2T - head2toe.
- but the changing weather pisses me off. from torrential rain+lightning to BRIGHT, BRIGHT -CANKILLYOUWITHUVRAYS- kinda sunshine.
- first actual movie watched (ie. in a theatre) ...freaking NEW MOON. hahahahaha. i am not a twilight fan unlike the two of them, so they were "YAY" and i was pretty much, "okay wake me when it's over let's go get ice-cream or smth". well, we had ice-cream before that.. and i bloody loved it. YES. YES. i admit it. dear God, please forgive me. and none of my opinions have changed since the first movie. hehehe. (which has, by the way, nothing to do with RPat.)
and finally, finally, hung out with the old gang again. though it was nothing to write home about. =\

san diego's baby panda finally has a name - Yun Zi (cos his mother was Bai Yun). i would like a panda please.

am SO over these living arrangements. mice roaches bugs (literal) and snakes (not quite literal, yet). this disgusts me. and bitch please, grow the hell up, honestly. i know, i feel like a self-righteous joke. but at the very, very, very least. i have human decency. i am so...angry.

anyway, seriously my mandarin is improving. oh yes, my yan jing tang. who is oh-so-tian. hahaha the one of like...5 things/people i'd miss about this place if anything. just kidding. tang would be ... number 6. HAHA.
to sleep, perchance to dream of werewolves playing football topless wearing grass skirts.

things of some worth that happened to me this week:
- 3 POG essays due, chem test, spanish test
- small group on thursday
- TBTN vigil on friday
- and stayed in after that to watch movies and eat junk food (oh Lord)
- rained for about 90 hours non-stop (with a drizzle as the minimum)

well, i hate you a lot now , so i spent saturday doing work. and then got bored so i watched ANTM. and got more bored. so i rolled around in boredom (literally) till i decided i hate you even more. (har har) so i tried something new. in fbt jersey and shorts, i went to the 'secret' study spot to do yoga HAHA. i don't know other people who do yoga to the zen melodies of 50 cent. it was...chilly(read:cold) and refreshing. and pretty damn awesome. am so glad i have my BOA speakers! hahahaha now i have more use for them!

then had SUSHI dinner with julia, sam, laura. (i'm really going to run home to sushi tei and feast, i swear. i know, all talk no action but SERIOUSLY. sushi pigz, i choose you! gather some folks then let's go eat manzxzxzxz.) anyway it was very yummyyy. then i was bored and still in a bad mood.
almost kinda died between dinner and sunday lunch. considering i stayed in, that's not too good. anyway, sunday was church and then brunch pt. 1 with the gang who scolded me again for skipping last night (sigh) and pt. 2 with the girls. and i felt much, much better with some food in my system. then was an afternoon of Pandora, German theology, VSEPR, cold yoga (BECAUSE SUNDAY WAS BEAUTIFUL WEATHERRRRRRRRR :D :D :D)

tonight will be the sounds of RLes and hopefully nothing but blissful sleep. 35

and another week has gone by just like that;

- due to a recent spate of hate crimes, a vigil was held on monday night organized by the LGBTQ folks. sang with the orthodox kids for a while, though i have no clue what their tones/tunes are. whatevs.
- 2 exams, 1 test, 2 papers, 1 report done this week alongside other random homework.
- the usual weekly chores and afternoon engagements
- on thursday, took fake model-esque photos purely to laugh at how fugly we i look. yep, was fugly. but explored one of the new dessert places i found. had HAPPY HOUR sushi. yes
- friday was SingSoc dinner, had surprisingly tasty BEEF basil rice - which of course everyone stole. but they're obviously a fun bunch to hang out with. perhaps more of that in the future, who knows.
- saturday was BEAUTIFUL weather. did plenty of work, enjoyed the outdoors, and added something new to my daily routine. am positive it will be good for me =]  and saturday night was a chill night. watched stardust w sam and laura and then relaxeddddd...before doing a lab report =(  but anyway, it's also g'daddy's birthday =] thank You, God for that.
- sunday was church. great weather. a bunch of pain. the day just kinda slipped by.

i guess my posts are pretty pointless since i no longer do anything but list what i did in the course of the week. perhaps i shall share some thoughts i've had randomly -

there was a new baby panda born in the san diego zoo. makes me happy.

yankees won the world series - pisses me off. especially you-know-who's reaction. ccb, hope the plantation of STDs growing on her teaches her a lesson.

i think it's PATHETIC when people have nothing better to do than criticize singapore/schools/the government on their facebook statuses.
it's very simple. not happy? get out.
this comes from taking things for granted. i can't pretend that i know our political system inside out, and i myself love to complain about increases in transport fares, GST, singtel etc. but these people clearly have no appreciation for everything else that we DO have that other countries don't. don't get me wrong, there are plenty of legitimate things to be fixed. but why do you complain just for the sake of it? to appear to be one of those anti-establishment 'intellectuals'? in any case, keep it on your blogs or whatever, don't flood my damn facebook feed with your pointless bitching.

hahaha i wrote that midweek! 

just 42 days left. am bored with lessons, unfortunately. probably just tired.
a bunch of girls here have a countdown on someone's whiteboard till they get to see their boyfriends again -_-  "mattttttttyyyyyy", "joe" etc. etc.
"OMG it's been like...25 days since i've seen himmmmm"

shaddap la, 25 days.     

and our weekly recap goes something like:

-studying for and taking 5 tests/exams from tuesday-friday. surviving the boredom by studying on the grass at my secret spot, which is not secret but no one else uses.
- the...joy of 36 hours of continuous rain/drizzle.
- talked to and prayed with Father Constantine on tuesday after vespers, Bible study on wednesday was a strange small meeting with Fr. C and Fr. Oskvig, the Protestant pastor. the two of them were asking each other questions, it was pretty amusing.
- once again, this week was less than Wright, though this was my fault. have got to learn to be less extreme.
- receiving everything that i ordered last thurs on mon and wed respectively definitely made me happy. and definitely good timing in the midst of stress.
- and then, once again unnecessary stress. mirroring my uh... celeb look-a-like- more than i expected to.
- watched the original Exorcist for the first time; it's kinda creepy to know that so many of those scenes were filmed here. it's like..um yeah i had a lesson in that building this morning. heh. i guess it's true what they say, that audiences are more sophisticated than before, so i didn't find it particularly frightening. though the language was definitely shocking for a movie made in the '70s!
- skipped all the Friday parties i was supposed to attend...in favour of doing work ( :D:D) and watching the aforementioned movie. and since laura was off visiting evan (2 yr anniversary wah), and sam had to study... sam and i watched eternal sunshine of the spotless mind. hehe =] good night i think
- studied like a dog saturday. 5 hours studying, 2 hours working out. and then it was time for THE costume. i literally had to trim the wig, cos it was originally a Rasta wig. oh dear God. i am going to wear the bling on a regular basis. daily, even. apparently the costume was...rather a success HAHA.
and the best thing some of the drunkards said? 
"OMG LIL WAYNE. YOU'RE MY HERO. I LOVE YOU. DON'T GO TO JAIL. STAY HERE IN DARNALL. YOU CAN LIVE WITH REKHA"

please give them a prize.

the week ahead looks stressful again. have to do a 6-paged lab report today. please pray i stay alive.
only 49 days till i'm home.

" i don't wanna get into anything this semester, but in the future....i mean, i'd date you, you know."
 yeah but i wouldn't date you in any semester.

"doesn't he know you're spoken for?"
eggzackly.

and so to begin another summary of the week:

received a pretty amusing, amazing surprise. cao visited billch, and billch recorded a message for me! ahhhhhh definitely one to visit over christmas break =] heeheeheehee a warm and fuzzy feeling to hear that familiar voice.
wright was less than right for a while. i was pretty hardcore, what can i say.  oh reks. you and your complexities =P

it has been pretty warm this week. have been embracing the sunshine by walking around in slippers, shorts, dresses, open-toed shoes. brilliant. leaves were literally falling today. not surprising, since... it's Fall. i have been taking longer and longer walks daily with different routes. and it calms my soul. it sounds so pretentiously zen, i know, but it is one of my few, precious escapes here.

i am still sick, literally 4 weeks after first coming down with the flu. this is muy, muy mal. have missed lessons, but too tired to worry right now. i do, however, have 5 exams next week. and many more + papers to write coming up after. 56 days are not nearly fast enough.
thursday was one of the days i stayed home. i made myself very happy that day, despite feeling relatively crappy.  i :

- printed out 18 more pictures to put up in my room. lots of family, even shelley, and of some others i hadn't had at first, like YEANGYEANG and my girls. hehe and a few more sickly sweet ones ;)
- i shopped online. as usual, i am amazed with my taste in clothes and caution for not wasting my parents' money. i love it. it'll arrive this coming week. i am beyond thrilled.
- had to go to M street to mail a letter to dad (yea, in school you can print pictures on campus but no post office -_- ) and it was nice to get out during the week.
- I HAVE DECIDED ON MY HALLOWEEN OUTFIT. please ask me to tell you the longer version of this story personally. in any case, i am reserving my initial idea for next year to avoid mixing with the sluts here. and i have come up with an outfit that will literally, pardon my language, kick the SHIT out of any girl's costumes here. bskdskfh i was so proud of myself. i hope i pull it off next week ;) stay tuned for next week's post to see if i do or not.
- zuo yi had enough of my disappearing act and i had dinner with them finally after like 2 weeks. GLAD THAT I WAS MISSED, MUAHAHA.
- we played some ping pong at Yates. at night. hahaha
- Thirsty Thursday at harbin 908. and plenty, plenty, of ensuing madness. heh

wore pink on friday because it was 'wear pink day' in support of breast cancer research etc. was sick during the afternoon. the night was a waste of time. absolutely hated it. saturday i studied. watched my favourite movie that i think no one knows that i love. almost died because it gets me every, single, time. ughhhh </3 went for a walk, went to the gym, went for a swim. zuo cooked dinner for us! a ton of food, so sweet of him. but after that, a weird night, too much. sunday dunno what la, nonsense. even more plus/minus-ing of friends.

lil wayne is going to jail. i hope next week's post will be awesome. it's a secret i can't wait to share.

( because i always get mad because things are so difficult, but what i'd really like to say is: )

this past week was very much a haze.

good things included:
- tuesday church, which i really can't do without anymore.
- wednesday Wright days. which honestly get me by. what a gift.
- wednesday night movie in laura & sam's room with julia. watched phantom of the opera. unfortunately, i'm not the biggest fan of musicals. after a while i just decided to nap on their carpet. after it was over they were like...."er, rekha?"   to which i responded, "SH. i was asleep!". what a cheerful friend i am.

and then on thursday morning, i woke up feeling literally (i'm guessing) like hell. like i did on saturday, but even worse.  the most i could move was to roll of my bed, and stagger out to puke. (pretty picture i'm painting for you, right). seeing as i was showingsome symptoms, i called the H1N1 hotline many times - no answer. called the student health center - no answer. i skipped class that day, so no one was really around. i buay tahan, and called GERMS (emergency response medical service), and they took me to the university hospital (conveniently located right opposite my hall). so there i was in the ER, it was cold and i honestly felt like i was about to die. i ended up waiting between 4.5 - 5 hours for someone to see me. during this time, there was a crazy lady holding a crackpipe (yes) who moved close to me, and started yelling at me when i moved away. honestly not the best of experiences =P and after all that, i was told to 'get lots of rest and drink plenty of water'.    HEALTHCARE, AWESOME.

before the ambulance came to get me, i was wearing FBTs and a big t-shirt. when they arrived, i put on my slippers, grabbed my coat, and a blanket. so i was sufficiently warm on the way there. unfortunately...when i was discharged, i sort of had to find out how to get back to my dorm (because i was at a different exit). and it was raining. and 5 deg celsius. so bravely in my slippers, clutching my blanket. I FOUND MY WAY BACK! mariah's "i can make it through the rain" would have been appropriate.
in any case, i spent friday studying and trying to rest. it was, in general, a pointless day.  i made myself happy by doing laundry and vacuuming.

since this was parents' weekend... my dear sweet brother came to visit instead. and yours truly finally actually met his truly! (hehehe) had a good chicago-style lunch followed by vietnamese dinner. as a bonus, he had a conference here till tuesday, so i got to see him again for dinner on monday. we had an INDIAN dinner. accompanied with about a million jokes, and me disturbing people we walk by.
ahhh sibling time is the sweetest time here. so two good weekends in a row with my precious siblings, to make up for endless weekdays of hell. at this point i'm sort of beyond complaining. this is merely re-iterating, for your information.

couldn't be bothered to go for casting call.
mum put the phone to my shelley baby's ear and i of course went mad squealing my 'i-love-you's'. apparently her reaction was rather priceless.
have been exploring more of the town on foot, since that's when i'm with the best company around here. mm there's a change coming. i prefer it, i just wish it would be completed quicker.

oh yes, i forgot to say long ago that the sox were out. soxtober came and went hehe. that's okay. i invest my disappoint elsewhere.
and i forgot to remind you,
finally found a girl that you couldn't impress,
last man on earth still couldn't get this.

and this week was:

an amazing meeting with father maher. and me looking forward to my future semesters, and as usual overplanning all the way to AFTER grad school. so  am forcing myself to calm the hell down and focus on the here and now. but i truly am looking forward to my future classes. was teased about my kanchiongness AGAIN.

i clearly have found the Wright person for me, hehe. his "are you feeling better? :( " at the end was just too hilarious and i had no choice but to laughingly reply, "yeah yeah yeah". other memorable quotes include talk about Bread/T.I. and "you ain't spose to say that! thas too old!!"
i have a feeling he'll ask all the questions i've ever wished someone would ask, in time. hoho

thursday was a terrible day mood and conversation (or lack thereof?) - wise. but after a call with cao that involved lots of swearing (on my part) and singing (on both our parts) and spanish (where, for some reason, i always end up laughing like crazy in that class), i felt much better. nerded the rest of my ENTIRE day away.
i wanted to finish all my homework for next week because i'd be busy this weekend (more about that later)....AS WELL AS THE WEEK AFTER, because i'll be busy NEXT weekend too (more about that in the next post). and so like a mad dog, i have successfully done all that. i'm sure that bits and pieces of homework will creep up but oh well. ;)

on friday after class... i took the train to philly TO VISIT MY SISTER. i cannot even begin to describe how happy i was this weekend. i love, love, LOVE spending time with her =] friday night was chill, watching TV in her apartment, because we were both tired. for literally ALL of saturday till like 12.30 pm i was sick with a crazy fever, headache, nausea, and absolute worst pain i've had since being here. sigh. was not fun. BUT THEN. we went shopping, amms ran some errands. happiness. and saturday night, her friends threw a dinner party for me! went to ari's house for some chocolate cake heehee. and sunday morning we went to amms' church here, really beautiful. poor thing had so much work to be done with her team, so while that was going on, i met VANESSA FOO! whom i haven't seen in forever. and we went...shopping. oh Lord. thankfully, i am still using my budgeting skills. but. heeheehee. and it was so nice to see her.
so THANK THE LORD for this great, great, great weekend with my beloved sister <3 will definitely do this more often if possible.

and then it's the bus back to d.c. had the room to myself for the afternoon, CLEANED it nicely. hehe, put away my new purchases :D
have been making zero effort to spend time with my friends here, even the nice ones. and i couldn't care less at this point. hehe. that being said, not like i really speak to my friends back home either. in any case, am going to have dinner with the friends tonight (monday night), and friends back home, haha. i don't know...seems like just cao with sprinklings of zara, chups, bzb and the girls. and that's about it.

( a little too badass for you )

and so it goes.

and so this week, was relatively less than good. but today is a sunday and i am calm,and happy. and willing to embrace this one day where i feel peaceful as opposed to an entire week of unrest. thus to recap:

what i spent the majority of my time this week doing was studying (no, not just my usual nerding) for 5 exams. yes. theology, chem, chem quiz, spanish quiz, and spanish. some better than others, but most importantly...all COMPLETED.  am nervous for the results tomorrow onwards, but. whatever, right? i can literally only try my best and then the rest is up to God. (aren't you all impressed at my amazingly positive attitude? i'm trying it out, it works on occasion =D )

my dearest darling mother was in hospital all this week, but through His healing and my melodious voice over the phone to disturb her regularly, she is now back home. spoke to all the grandparents this week, and of course my siblings regularly. it's not easy, to make about 15 calls in a week to various family members. but, definitely worth it.

am getting more involved in the orthodox fellowship, potentially beginning a Bible study - I KNOW RIGHT.....something about the Nest of Sin is making me march forward as God's warrior saying "NO!!!!" to satan's soldiers. ahahahaha . in other news, dr. wright is the best thing since sliced bread. i think this will end up being extremely informative. i also went for the 'R U Ready' talk+discussion. tara brewster, a woman who was raped by her boyfriend during her freshman year, is a survivor and goes around giving talks and helping other victims.
essentially this is to help prevent on (and if possible, off)-campus sexual abuse. am trying to get involved in that too.

the weather is getting coldddddd and i no likey. because, ladies&gents, i have my first experience of getting sick in the US. i've lasted 5 weeks among nasty-ass diseased people, with LITERALLY most of g'town's H1N1 cases living in my building, and thankfully only have the seasonal flu. still, it's no fun. i'll tell you what's good though.... THE RED SOX ARE THROUGH TO THE PLAYOFFS, BABY.  =] it's taken every fibre of my restraint to not run up to ppl wearing sox hats/shirts/jerseys and say "THIS IS SOXTOBER!!!!!" i am praying this goes well.

well anyway, because i was sick, i had to stay in pretty much all weekend - even skipping hilary's birthday dinner   =( which i feel a lil bad about. but WUTEVA. hehehe. andddd laura (who is really awesome and just beyond cute) and i walked in the sunshine to M street to get BEN AND JERRY'S SHAKES. calories be damned, that shit wuz gooddddd. ahahahahah =DD  happy icecream face with double-chin as a result of the ice-cream hehe. satisfying way to end the weekend. with a NICE person doing NORMAL things.
seriously thank God for routine. i love cleaning my room. did laundry (oh man, stuff fresh out of the dryer is heavenly), changed the sheets (early this morning), vacuumed the whole room (instead of partying last night) . nerdy and clean. i love it, i don't care. 

oh, i am absolutely in love with some of drake's songs. i had no idea i'd love him this much.
some relatively badass lyrics by lil' wayne like "i'll erase you like i drew you, bitch". mm but drake is GOOD. =]

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one thing i am glad of, is that no matter how upset i have been here (for whatever reason, in whatever way) i have not yet lost my ability to laugh. GRANTED, it is usually AT PEOPLE (which is not very nice)...but still. hehehe :D some grown man running across campus with his lab goggles still on, the girl who looked like an owl and went "WHO!?" on the phone to her friend, this girl with AWFUL, AWFUL clothes who was bitching abt someone with "pathetic fashion style".  ahh. i am always smiling here, sometimes because i am just that polite and sweet, sometimes because i am laughing and bitchy =D

to my dear, REAL, singapore friends, whenever i talk to you, things seem a little brighter (unless you irritate me :D )
bzb, let's skype soon okay!
and cao THANK YOU FOR THE AWESOME, AWESOME surprise present. =] very sweet of you.
and all the emails/msn-ing, really get me through the week. hasn't been an easy one, but it's ended well. and that's enough.
please pray for my week ahead, am getting anxious. =(  
love you all <3 

tonight's a 12-deg C night. i am done with all work and am feeling sick again. am going to burrow under the covers with my ipod and the 224-playlist.

we're running, keep holding my hand. so we don't, get separated.

http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/colbyodonis/whatyougot.html   oh  well ;)
 [edit: 28/9]

this week was not too bad. some awesome days, and some alright days, with some bad points thrown in. but i guess, good enough.

am really loving some of the people in my classes. starting to form (and own) the cliques already ;) HAHAHA . with the exception of theology, most of the people in my other classes are sophomores and above, so maybe that's why i like them better!  got brains, one. hehehe
my spanish class is GREAT. really hilarious people, i speak in spanish all the time there (SORPRESA!!!) and our teacher is cool too. chemistry's alright, too much work but again people there are nice enough.calc teacher looks like a rapist/serial killer (i've said that already) but i have some fun friends there too.  theology.....er. we'll see how that goes.

work has been insane insane intense. =( BUT, BUT i just have to say. so far God has been amazing in the grades i've been getting so thank You for that =] i know i've been studying very hard but you know, this has been very rewarding thus far.
i have FIVE tests next week. theology might kill me so er... dear God =D this is one course i really need Your help in hehe.
but, i am still enjoying studying this hard, though i wish i got more sleep. in any case, i am still surviving.

LOW JEN MAE CAME TO VISIT ME ON TUESDAY, AND IT WAS A BRILLIANT, BRILLIANT DAY!!!! went to georgetown cupcakes (yummm), brought one back for julia, and showed jen around campus a little bit. THEN WE WENT SIGHTSEEING! jen's far more confident on the metro than i am =( i suck. then we went to the white house =D sat in the park and had a mini picnic, walked a lil more...and then she had to go =( but it was so, so much fun. i haven't laughed like that since coming here. she made me take so many stupid pictures and i am SURE she will put them on facebook. it's all part of my asian nerdiness, i took a TON of kawaii asian pictures. so, wait for that =X

after my crazyfriday, amanda and i went shoppinggggg =] for necessary stuff but. STILL. hehehe. i prefer to shop by myself so after a bit, I DID! =D very proud of my purchases too. mm stayed in friday night to SLEEP, and read, and am so, so very glad i did. as usual this NEST OF SINNERS (hahahahahahahahahaha) returned with shouts of "why don't you ever come out with usss!!!!!" .   hm, let's think about that...
saturday, during the day was a piece of crap. went out for dinner in the pouring rain. hung out in Harbin for a while, and then back to my room.  a rather nondescript, empty weekend

nothing but tests to look forward to next week, ha ha. that's all folks, enjoy your week ahead.

i am doing my best to be very, very, objective.
this has been not only the best weekend so far, but the best days of college thus far.

prior to these days i had been, shall we say, a little less than happy. and not even in very much contact/on particularly good terms with friends back home. i spent my wednesday and thursday studying like a dog, yes EVEN HARDER than normal here! for example on thursday i completed this: a calc problem set, calc extra credit questions, and entire chapter of my spanish workbook, studied for a spanish test the next day, chem post-lab questions, chem lab report, chem pre-lab questions, chem lab outline, a chem problem set, and reading for theology.

yes. YES! ASIAN POWER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! so that was my sole source of happiness till thursday. thursday night/early friday involved far more drama than i would have liked and was probably the lowest of lows (oh yeah, believe it) in college so far, but ended extremely well i think. despite not having sleep, i approached friday (the day where i magically have all my classes) positively. KEPT AWAKE AND ALERT THROUGHOUT ALL MY CLASSES. spoke to eggy for one of the most hilarious msn convos ever, jowshercao as usual, source of ....wisdom. met neil for coffee, after not seeing him for 11 years  and now we're in the same school. came back, rested, laughed and danced and sang with julia, my roommate ( !!!! I KNOW RIGHT, I AM SO DAMN SOCIABLE IT'S AMAZING), watched some Bones online. spoke to my mommy and my sister and my brother.

then off for a singapore...'gathering' at one of the seniors' houses. um. yeah. oh well. i went with zuo, who's an awesome person. party-hopped while stone cold sober, yes i am the designated Adult In The Situation here. works for me. yes, it's difficult often...but i get to laugh at people, so i think it has SOME perks at the very least. so, i spent my night laughing (which i fear might lose it's appeal soon but i'll enjoy while it lasts)

and so this new group of friends were the ones i went with on saturday too, to one party and one deep discussion.  another memorable day, i'd say. though not in a sarcastic way, as it usually tends to be with me. i am very curious to see how this tapering of friends i have turns out. this whole addition subtraction thing takes place so quickly you don't realize it. 
didn't go for our sunday 'family' dinner =( felt a little sick. and anyway now i feel like there are only maybe 3 of them that i want to remain this close to.

i also did more work (heeheehee) which technically has me covered till THIS COMING FRIDAY, though naturally throughout the week they will do their best to add more and kill us. but I WILL SURVIVE, YOU BITCHEZ.

man utd won the derby, the all blacks crushed australia (heehee), and the sox are pretty much most definitely on the road to SOXTOBER!!!!!!! 

i have not written to/heard frm marcia in a while. nor i have spoken to paul in realtime for a few days. nor raam for 3 days. so don't get me wrong, THANK YOU GOD FOR THIS WONDERFUL WEEKEND AFTER WEEKS OF HELL and the very recent days of despair,
but there's a little hole in my heart from missing those people though. i am much, much happier this weekend. but. i'd still rather be home =(

thank You God for the people i have gotten to speak to, and my family, and some...interesting times. and please bless this week ahead, Amen.

( and i will try )
there's something about being far away, with actually quite a few friends, but none you really care about that much, that makes you really, really, really crave a hug. =(

wow. this has been a little more than intense.


thank God i know some nice people, some GOOD people.
thank God i have my family
thank God i have my precious people back home.

zara thanks for skyping =D
lover please get well so we can take more skype snapshots and film Victoria, age 15.
xue qian you are missing, kindly reappear.
my dear dog, stop trying to action and getting yourself hurt.

classes done for the day, got an appointment soon (sigh). my headache is STILL here.  

don't want to do anymore workkkkkkk just want to resttttttt.   

and on the real side of the world, good 2 am morning to you all. =]

classes have all started. as expected, got a hell-load of homework (we've only had classes for 2 days so far). professors seem nice, though the math one is completely insane. spanish is hard, it's latin american spanish, not spain-spanish that we were taught/i taught myself. and the dude insists on speaking spanish even more than olger did.

hehe but i think i'm just making myself take all these crappy classes early, then i can attempt to spend my remaining years doing awesome courses.
my advising dean (whom i FINALLY managed to see today) happens to be a priest! i was, as usual, attempting to disguise my nervous-wreck state when i went to his office, and blurted out a couple of questions. he sounded really pleased though...and totally knew i was faint from nerves HAHA. i'm very happy with this advisor. *coughnotlikeEEcough*.

went for rugby practice yesterday - as predicted, there is not a single girl smaller than me. the team (mostly seniors) was INSANELY nice and damn bonded. of course, i haven't been able to run in months and smartly decided to just try and see....we started by doing sprints. HAHA. it was pretty fun, but i don't know. i love watching rugby, but i guess i don't like playing it as much. OH and it's 6+ hours of training a week. meh. i don't have time to do our work plus explore other stuff i wanna do. so i'll hold off on deciding on what sport to join.

the weather is pretty cold in the mornings, 15 celsius usually. it's mega hot this afternoon though.

slowly slipping into a routine, talking to my siblings very often, calling my parents. will call grandparents this weekend. MSN/email/facebook-ing friends, some Skype chatting/videoing/calling.

i miss my people. 

so been totally overwhelmed and even now have a grand total of 10 mins to type this, but in any case:

I'll reserve my comments on my experience thus far. those who know, know.

best part so far has been seeing my siblings - said bye to my sister in the morning, bye to my brother 15 mins ago.
mannnnnnn i love my siblings.
will say bye to my parents early tmr morning (sneaking out) heehee.

our convocation was pretty awesome though. i now have my own set of robes.

can't wait till classes start, the profs seem smart. and can't wait for the activities fair.
this is how i'll get by. busy trying to get my 3.9 and above, and busy being fit/learning a new skill.

haven't really tried to make friends yet - been busy skipping 95% of all gatherings and 100% of the parties thus far.

at my farewell, bryan said " reks i expect nth less than first class honours k"
handy said " party hard!!!"

sorry handy.

to one of the sweetest people i know: i wish i knew what to say in times like this. i don't know how much pain you're really in right now, and how much grief you have to bear - but i wish i could tell you how much we love you and will always be here for you - at any time. i pray very, very hard that He comforts you in all the ways that we are insufficient. <3

so on my last week here :

1) dimsum lunch with JEN+zara+felly+cheryl+jen's friend, fi, shopping!+fake10minutechemclassreunion, dinner with (the girls minus zara and cheryl) at dempsey was noisy fun - had ben&jerry's and saw taufik, BACK TO ACS! and saw nicenicepeople (including a sansome picture with alice!), ben&jerry's AGAIN with our chemistry sansome, quality time with egg+muthu which was amazingly awesome, good times spent at home, back to SC with zara+jill (saw mr. jo <3), boogieing with my (nearest and dearest) boys, class of '08 reunion, sweetsweet dinner with my mostbelovedcouncillors(and cao hehe), drinks at the quay, a little QT at our hometown where the music was awesome and my feet died in heels.
2) 2.5 hours with grandparents followed by more errands, calls with my siblings, maneesh leaving, dinner with our priest + grandparents, plenty of praying with my family.
3) doctor to banish my mild fever, funan AGAIN, tailor AGAIN, (7 buildings in  hr), dentist again which was not painful but just irritating, writing speeches, READING AND DOING HOMEWORK, essays...

cried abt leaving for the first time on wednesday, this week has been nothing short of insanely overwhelming. =\

i've read the letters and notes and cards and my heart is just so heavy. liu is awesome in his ability to make it sound like i'm coming home next week...then i read the next note from someone and i'm like "WAHHHHHH THIS SUCKS". i honestly don't think i'll be able to send out my notes/emails before i leave, but please PLEASE watch and wait for them because i have so much i'd love to say.
i literally had dreams about leaving and how sad it was, so when i woke up this morning i felt awful =( damn it.
skype's gonna be our new best friend. right? RIGHT.
okay i have to stop here. please email/fb/msn me whenever you want, and the minute i get my room set up i will respond to tell everyone how much i love and miss 'em. 

will spend this last day finishing homework, visiting grandparents, settling a few accounting matters, and PACKING. done with all clothes and shoes - now just for small misc. items and SENTIMENTAL STUFF.
thank you to EVERYONE who has made my last week or so absolutely wonderful.

will get to see my siblings soon, God willing, so that is a big plus =D thank You for all Your blessings, please keep all my loved ones safe, Amen.

I don't mean to feel like this
Don't mean to think like this
My heart just has to be shown
That the love that I give to you
That's the love that I get from you
I need to be safe and secure
Don't forget don't forget to remember me
Please remember me
Everything I bring to this love love
Please keep me in your heart
If we ever have to part
Don't forget (get) to remember me

and this week was about:

1) paul's birthday lunch =], another new restaurant, shopping, the last lunch with yeangyeang for a while =(  , some funny chinese ghosts
2) maneesh's dinner, sumeena A + the kids, maneesh's GIG!! at st. james (that i didn't make it to..), dinner with usha+fam, the orthodox church...where i wore my first sari hahaha, spending time with the grandparents
3) last appointment to stock up on meds (great), last haircut for 4 months (so it's SHORT now, damn), tailor, HPV dose 2, funan, random errands

somehow that looks like less than the previous week, but was actually more busy.

chupa chups' birthday lunch, another success (i hope) by cheam and i. it was nice to see so many people i haven't seen in a while, and i hope paul was sufficiently spoiled to last the rest of this year hahaha

i hate running these mindless errands, and i hate realizing that we have to be mature enough to just do them rather than complain.

went to the orthodox church to take Communion before i leave, and decided that this would be a good time to wear my first sari. hahaha my nerves nearly killed me. and DAMN it is difficult to wear, and walk/sit/stand/do anything in.  and HOT. but i guess i really did enjoy it.
was forced to practise wearing and moving around in a sari by my mother, and thank God i did really. complained as usual but i can only imagine that i might literally have died today if not for that. but anyway, my mother and maternal grandmother helped to dress me on sunday, and i have to say - it felt really special. not to mention the fact that everyone in my family was like :D:D:D:D:D:D when they saw. HAHA yes, i am no longer 8 years old. so, an effort to be repeated when i return.

another weekend spent solely with the family (with some forced time spent with family friends). and this brings me to my last week. maybe if i finish my packing in time, i will blog at exactly this time, one week from now. God only knows how much there will be to say. i will probably stick to details rather than feelings. easier, quicker.

running, running,
as fast as we can
do you think we'll make it?
i really hope we make it.

so bear with me, this will be nothing exciting, no fantastic revelations. merely documenting the days before we start the americana life.

so this week was all about:
1) olive rice, dinner with aunty rowe, our dearest chups' SURPRISE (success success muahaha), sharing new restaurants, shopping, bryan's generous birthday treat =]
2) calls with my siblings, QT with the grandparents, seafood with maneesh, dinner with lalan+fam, dinner with mo, wearing red to church on sunday for national day haha, sunday lunch, pa's annointing. 
3) collecting my visa (YES), optician for... my reading glasses (shut up), tailor, dentist (deb, i went to your dentist!), making more than 30 calls and/or reservations, getting my laptop.

and just general madness. and a LOT of contemplation, just as much yelling, tears (heh), and bad moods aplenty.
this is totally, truly, me getting cold feet. YES i adapt to change fast, NO i do not like change at all.

have actually even started packing, setting aside clothes and all. i have to clean my room; still have yet to get rid of IB stuff hahaha. today i tried to sort through stacks of letters and cards and papers, that were all neatly stored - but i just felt like i had to...streamline my life. i like my new system.
i need to decide what sentimental-y stuff i need to take. i bought a flag to take though, 100 points for patriotism.

for someone who hates jeans/pants and almost never wears them, i have 18 pairs, now finally altered to fit. mom said "don't take them in too much, you might have to wear thermals underneath...and you know..there'll be winter fat and stuff"
i died. THERE WILL BE NO WINTER FAT OR SPRING FAT OR ANY OTHER FAT. we hope.

saturday night was spent in after family dinner. spent it reading. or something. i spent most of the time wishing it were sunday morning so i could have some coffee. excitement of my life going through the roof right here. oh well. 2 weekends more. we'll see how those go
stagmont and i have hit the absolute jackpot level of our jokes though.

alright enough whinging till next week.
and you give it a bad name.

[edit :  add another 3 people i love that i got to see this week. and time spent with my parents. and talking to my siblings. ]

and so this week has been yet another week reminding me that the clock is running down. it's AUGUST ALREADY. i recall pre-May posts saying " x weeks till exams, y months till leaving"   whoaa it's just z weeks till leaving now!
okay not that it's an amazing discovery but you know.

bid for classes, got my housing assignment, paying my tuition, ordered my laptop, general freaking out - the usual, you know? =]
heh and bought my book because I HAVE HOMEWORK :D but it should be fine. oh and spent 3 hours at the embassy for my 2 minute visa interview where it was proclaimed that i'm "going to a great school, my application was perfect, and i sound like a wonderful person"  - meanwhile she asked for almost none of my supporting documents that i painstakingly put together, and i could have been ANYONE. but yes, after tuesday, this marks the end of my Visa complaints.

finally, finally, met muthu and egg this week. YES. i did not cancel!! and i am amazingly glad that i did not. had no idea how much i've really missed them. and we've set another day to meet soon. hahahaha so all's well.
so that was monday. and aside from various errands and nonsense i've had to run, wednesday to friday were spent with my girls =D sleepovers filled with almost no sleep, nonsense food, dvds, rockband, nagging from them =X , teasing, some gossip, and plenty of talking about our futures - which reminds me how grateful i am to have such a SMART, mature (sometimes only, which is fun) bunch of girls. talk about good influences. i think my parents were actually glad to have a houseful of noisy teens. hahahaha poor oldies.
and yes, spending more time with the parents. sigh.

anyway the week is not over. i aim to squeeze in seeing more people, and hopefully the grandparents tomorrow.

and i really, really need to pay my phonebill. crap. which reminds me that i need to suspend my line soon -_-

HELLO, REALITY! =D but anyway. thank you to all my loved ones whom i got to hug and squish and see and talk to because i've missed you all insanely.  (see see, this entry is emo-free)

Don't call me baby
You got some nerve, and baby that'll never do
You know I don't belong to you
It's time you knew I'm not your baby
I belong to me, so
Don't call me baby

less than a month, yo. fierce fierce. gonna buy my computer soon.

k time to enjoy the weekend bye. 

( so what does that say.  )

one of these mornings,
it won't be very long.
you will look for me
and i'll be gone.

you really missed the boat this time

will you cry when i leave, because i just might miss you till my heart breaks.

i realize that though we as individuals, we crumble a lot. and often, and between each other sometimes it's even worse, our family unit is rock solid. and i mean my grandparents and cousins included. aunts and uncles all questions marks (which is why i never want to ever drift IN ANY WAY from my siblings). but our family unit, to me, is pure gold.

and i cannot thank God enough for that. ungrateful and useless as i often am, i love it when God brings us all together. even if it's bittersweet times like tonight's dinner.

am spending the rest of tonight helping my sister pack. went from home to serangoon gardens to orchard to chancery to serene to serangoon road to home this afternoon doing her errands just to fit in more hours together.

remind me, i am going to learn malayalam if only to just be able to sing those prayers.

ughhhhhhhhhh i think on top of everything i'm just realizing it's mere weeks left for me too.

i'm repeating myself, please remind me to NOT FALL APART AND NOT MOPE AROUND.
i really adore my siblings in case you couldn't tell.  <3

and thank God i have saturday morning plans. so mere hours after amms leaves i will have stuff to do. =(

anyway. okay. i'm just. venting. hahahaha. will probably come back some day soon and edit this post to appear less upset and...human.

;) don't say "UGH SICK", chups. 

there now, steady love. so few come and don't go.