Music on a saturday night

Found this new good singer, Olivia Ong on this saturday night.
She has an angelic voice, with a slightly basanova style. I love the way she interprets the classic oldies! Cool!

One of the songs that I like:

Sometimes When We Touch

You ask me if I love you
And I choke on my reply
I'd rather hurt you honestly
Than mislead you with a lie
And who am I to judge you
On what you say or do?
I'm only just beginning to see the real you

And sometimes when we touch
The honesty's too much
And I have to close my eyes and hide
I wanna hold you til I die
Til we both break down and cry
I wanna hold you till the fear in me subsides

Romance and all its strategy
Leaves me battling with my pride
But through the insecurity
Some tenderness survives
I'm just another writer
Still trapped within my truth
A hesitant prize fighter
Still trapped within my youth

And sometimes when we touch
The honesty's too much
And I have to close my eyes and hide
I wanna hold you til I die
Til we both break down and cry
I wanna hold you till the fear in me subsides

At times I'd like to break you
And drive you to your knees
At times I'd like to break through
And hold you endlessly

At times I understand you
And I know how hard you've tried
I've watched while love commands you
And I've watched love pass you by

At times I think we're drifters
Still searching for a friend
A brother or a sister
But then the passion flares again

And sometimes when we touch
The honesty's too much
And I have to close my eyes and hide
I wanna hold you til I die
Til we both break down and cry
I wanna hold you till the fear in me subsides

Graduation

"What? You havent graduated? When are you graduating then?"

Yes right, I got this a lot. Most of my primary school, secondary school classmates have already started working. The smart ones recently graduated from University, got a decent job and start getting their 1st pay check. Those who didnt get to further their studies in tertiary level obviously has already started working long time ago or maybe got themselves married. So now me, used to be one of the smartest in class, still stuck in University, not working, using up family's money, not earning. Yeap.

It gets more irritating when people start to compare. "Look, your cousin same age one already started working. How about you? still in school. seriously why on earth you even choose engineering? Takes up so many years and you still not graduated."
Some others might say "Ahya, study business is the best lah! 3 years can graduate! Still a degree! Why even bother study so much?"
Or maybe "Studying 5 years for a medicine degree is totally worth it. You see, doctors earn big bucks can earn back what you pay for school. I also dunno why you never consider to study for a medicine degree"

That's the reality of life. You can go ahead and say "studying is for enrichment" but society thinks otherwise.

Friends & Family

Sometimes thats all we need!
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I still believe in "action speaks louder than words".
No empty promise please because it irritates me quite a bit when you dont actually mean what you said.
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I dont think I will be blogging often anymore.

I want the time to stand still and stop moving!

To whoever marrying soon: Can I be your bridesmaid?

Yes yes, whoever getting married soon, and if you are looking for a bridesmaid, you can look for me.

Just because I like to wear pretty dress and go through the ceremony!

Haha.

Random thoughts inspired by Mikipot!

Lousy and Shitty Exam timetable

Sometimes, I really wonder why am I always the last one to end exam though I started earlier than anybody else. It happens to me in NUS and here, UCR. What a luck. I have tonnes of time just to study for 1 last paper. It is irritating when ALL your friends here are studying and cant go out with you. So there you are,stuck in the library, doing nothing but staring at your textbook, FBing or MSNing.

And again, I think I should be more careful with words next time. I guess I am rather straightforward and blunt at times. Probably gotta hurt many more people with what I said. Sigh :(

Went to gym for 1.5 hours. Feel so good now. BUT now, I am craving for the yummyliciious sinful burger -- In & Out Animal Style burger.

I feel like an idiot now.
Idiot!

Ohman, I am too bored.

Counting down to Spring Break

1 down, 2 more to go. Finals will end on coming Friday.
Rock on!! I cant wait for Spring break :)

Lost Weekend at Las Vegas

Seriously, I am feeling the withdrawal syndrome from our las vegas trip. Like what my friend mentioned, you will always leave vegas with a bit of regret, but it is this regret that makes this place special.

So, to sum up, we went clubbing, eating around in the hotels, shopping at outlet stores, walking on the street with a guitar filled with margaritha etc. As weird as it is, I didnt gamble at all. HAHAHA.

It just feels that we have done so much in that weekend.

On a side note, I chance upon this at Mikidot's blog.
"If you have the chance to help someone, be thankful. Because that chance doesn't come around enough". I could not agree more.

Now, back to reality. 6 days to final exams.

The art of appreciation

Someone mentioned that I do not know how to appreciate other's good effort. To some extend, I do agree. Or maybe I should just say that I do not usually express gratitude openly. Instead of thanking someone, I will spit out some negative words at time. BRRR.. But, well, deep down in my heart I really still appreciate it.

More to learn~

Dont take things for granted

Sometimes I am really grateful that kexin is here with me for SEP, at least for 3 months. Sometimes, we just need a girl friend to shop with, and most importantly, to talk with. Guys, just do not understand girls enough.

Looking at the people around me makes me think a lot recently. Why someone will behave like this? Is it because his upbringing, the culture around? Sometimes, we must really be grateful with what we have back home. A sweet blessed family who is always there for you, the relatively planned/simple life to lead, less complicated environment etc. Sometimes, age is not the determining factor of how much you have went through in life.

Think about yourself. How much have you been through in life? Maybe not much.
From the first day we (in this case, i mean those from Malaysia/Singapore)are born into the world, things kinda get planned out. You go through kindergarden, primary school, secondary school, high school and eventually college/university. Along the way, yeap, there will be some problems, hurdles etc. But well, I guess that is probably not a huge blow enough to change your life!

Enough said. It is unhealthy to write emo post early in the morning.
It is monday now. I have tonnes of assignment to be completed and I am going to Vegas this Friday. Oops. Another mugging week!

Hanging out with American Chinese

So what does American Chinese do during their free time?

They will have house party. Pancakes, Bacons, Sausages, Beer and Alcoholic drinks. Laughing at the retarded Charlie the Unicorn.

They will go for Karaoke. Pretty surprise about this. Went to a super cina place for KTV last night. It turns up pretty good. The 2 guys who brought us there are pretty good singers. Not to forget our little chili padi mighty singer, kexin.

They will go to tea station, ie. Boba tea shop. Get a boba tea, chat and chill the whole night.

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On a side note, I received the blazer that I ordered online. Looks good! Online shopping is so convenient in USA.
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We will be going to the City of Sin -- Las Vegas-- this weekend. It is a pretty big group with 10 people. What should we do over there? gambling, clubbing, pub-bing? Concert watching, shopping, chilling? Woah. It feels good that I am over 21 because I can do all these!

Still blogging though I havent completed my assignment, which is due in 5 hour time!

Last two weekends have been pretty busy, pretty fun!

On the Chinese New Year/Valentine's Weekend, we joined the outdoor excursion and went to Yosemite National Park. At there, I had my first encounter of touching snow, snowshoeing. Surprisingly, we are the only few undergraduates in the group. The rest of them are PHD students and so. It is a pretty diverse group, with 2 spaniards, 1 hawaians, 4 Asians, 1 Indian, 1 Sri Lankan and 3 Whites. Again, I tried ice skating, and I still didnt manage to get it right. This time round, almost everyone in the team trying to teach me how to iceskate. But still, I cant get it. Forget it. I should stick to Snowboarding which is way more fun.

Talking about our room in Yosemite reminds me of the Vent of the heater. The upper level of the bunk bed was built so near to the vent that KeXin felt that she is "roasted" at night. They really should have a better quality check before putting all these bed in use. I say this, because, the same thing happens in our second trip at Big Bear Mountain too.

After the Yosemite weekend, we went to Big Bear Mountain for snowboarding with OE again. This time round, it is a much younger group. I couldnt tell you how fun was snowboarding. I am totally loving it. We started up with lesson which teached us basic technique and how to fall safely on your butt (this is probably the most useful skill). I wouldnt say the lesson was good as I didnt learn much. After lunch, we went to try out snowboarding by ourselves. That is where I start to get better in snowboarding. It feels so good standing on the board and sliding down from the slope. WOOHOOO! Snowboarding is probably the second favourite sports now (of course, I still love tennis most!).

It is sad that this quarter is ending soon. Kexin, Zhenzhou, Daryl are flying back to Singapore soon. I bet there wont be so much fun after this. Haiz.

Spanish

Secretly, I am caught in Spanish fever.
Maybe, perhaps, most probably, I am going to pick up a book on Basic Spanish and learn it by myself.

Target: Able to converse in Spanish with my roomie in 3 months time :)

Sometimes I think I am just being superficial.

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On a side note, the weather has not been good to us. When we decided to go outdoor, it rains! When we decided to stay indoor to study, it turns up sunny. Grrrr..

Victoria Garden's shopping experience was good (despite the rain). Forever 21 is really cheaper here. The price tags are deceiving. It says 18 USD. Sounds really cheap. BUT, do your conversion, it is not all that cheap!

Chicken Pot Pie, I HOP, good meals for weekend.

Yosemite National Park for CNY and Snowboarding at Big Bear the week after.
Michelle came out with the idea of having HOTPOT on Big Bear mountain. So looking forward :)

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I am missing Sambal Belachan, Satay, Ikan Bakar, Nasi Lemak. OHMAN!! Can somebody mail me some sambal? Wait, I saw durian in the supermarket. They throw the whole durian into the freezer. Weirdos!

Interesting!!

What a US student does when he cant memorize the 20 definitions which are gotta be tested on tml's test?

Read below:

to all against the verbatim format
anyone who despite good effort can't completely memorize theses 20 wordy definitions word for word should e-mail the professor with your concerns. It could make a big difference if a lot of people do it.

HAHA! He emailed the whole class and asking everyone to write against the memorizing of 20 definitions. Kudos man!

All the reasons to be fat here:
*Need to eat more because the weather is cold. We need fats to keep ourselves warm*
*It is so cold out there. Too cold for exercise*

Well, nuff said. Be prepared to see a fat fat zhiying.

Another side note, I just finished watching a near 3 hour of Australian Open Men's Final. Of course, it is still Roger Federer as the champion. Poor Andy Murray. But I guess it is definitely a great lesson to the young chap. Cant only be defensive in major grand slam final. You need to be aggressive with a full range of different shots. Baseline, Aces, Volley, Backhand etc. Just admit this. Federer is far more flexible and calm. Experience counts. Look at how federer get back when he is down at 5-3 at the third set. Look at how he managed to save 5 set points. Look at how he able to win the final in 3 straight sets. Good job Fed.

I think california has far too many asians. It is everywhere. We gotta know a few really friendly Asians here and they drove us around, brought us to nice dining place. It is really very kind of them. Really. Grateful and touched. Guess what, some places here are actually more CHINESE than Singapore. Weird but true. The whole area with Chinese Signboards. The supermarket is selling more chinese food than ever. WOAH!

It is late. I should sleep. Adios~

I am blogging in Library

Yeap,I decided to blog in library while waiting for my friend's class to end.\

It seems that many people around me are vegetarians. My roomie and her bf are vegetarians, and they love chinese food. Her bf is a "vegetarian" who loves shrimp fried rice.weird enough. So in order to learn how to cook shrimp fried rice for her bf,she asked me to teach her. Not that I am good in cooking, but well, I guess I am still better in handling chinese food. At least I wont cook those long grain rice, thinking it is the same as our usual white rice. HAHA.

Interesting enough, my roomie and her bf are both hard core tennis players. So, yeap, sometimes we get together and watch tennis match, especially during this Aus Open Season.

And well, surprisingly, Asian is the majority at UCR and the whites are the minority. That probably explains why I have so few white friends over here. HAHA..
Seriously, I think we need to stop going to Chinese Restaurants and start getting into the US culture. FYI, Pearl Milk Tea, which is commonly known as "Boba tea" over here is super duper famous. It is not hard to find a BOBA tea shop around riverside. I think I have more Boba tea over here than in Singapore (since I dun really drink Boba tea back home).

For this CNY, I am probably be camping at Yosemite National Park. We decided to go camping with our school excursion club. It is gonna be fun, it is gonna be cold. It will be a different CNY. After that, we probably going to snowboard. My roomie and her bf and a few other EAP students are also joining us. Hope that's going to be fun!

Oh,interesting enough, I havent been skipping class (this is weird considering the fact that I skipped class in NUS). I have been deligently doing my homework. Weird. Bleh

San Diego

Week 3:
We went to San Diego.
Seriously, we need to drive. Taking public transportation is taking up lotsa time. We took a 5 hour greyhound ride to San Diego (which is supposinly 2 hour drive from Riverside). Hola. Luckily, we did reach in the afternoon and able to visit the San Diego Seaworld.

Seaworld is really a place for kids. I really mean it. We are a bit over-age for the rides. Nevertheless, the SHAMU show is still impressive. For your information, SHAMU is a species of whale (those in black and white colour). The theme of the show is a bit "cheesy", yep, the theme is "Believe". But, it is still interesting to see the whales. We sat at the soak area, which means we probably will get splashed or soaked. Fortunately, we didnt really get splashed and able to stay dry.

We met up with the NUS ppl at UC San Diego (ET and the gang). Went for a good dessert at the shop named "Extraordinary Dessert". The waiting time was 1 hour, yet, we give in and decided to wait for the good dessert. Luckily, it didnt disappoint us. Indeed, the dessert is extraordinary-ly nice.

We managed to get to the beach on Sunday morning. Yes, BEACH! It is really breathtaking. Imagine this. having a house beside the beach. Waking up in the morning. Go for a stroll at the beach. Having a nice breakfast. After then, start preparing for lunch and dinner. HAHA...That's the life if I ever have a house beside the beach.

Grocery Shopping

Grocery shopping is probably one of our favourite past time activities here.

Yeap, finally, we bought a rice cooker yesterday.
So there is going to be rice for dinner. That's definitely a good news for 饭桶like me.

We are like a bunch of cheapo aunties and uncles scouting for the best deals/discounts.HAHA.