great singapore sale is on and the shopaholic in me is on the loose. last week i finally got a taste of my anticipated holiday tai-tai lifestyle. on the first day of GSS, after a carbo-packed lunch with the ntu canoeists at cafe cartel for energy, the time has come to shop. the set lunch at cartel wasn't that appetizing but bread was nevertheless, bread was good. i think they should seriously employ more waiters and station some of them permanently cutting up bread and serving.












that's us at cartel and sophie trying eat that gigantic burger of hers













the shopaholic was well prepared. i dumped all my stuff in the gym and even brought a small bag which i can carry with me whilst shopping. after joining the fun of shopping on the first day of GSS, the tai tai wannabe went for a relaxing yoga class before meeting up with the rj canoeists for dinner at lemongrass and the usual swensons dessert followed, which we could never get sick of. it's been a long time since we met up. everyone looks more or less the same and lyd's got her gigantic hair done again.














that's us at swensons.










with lydia and her big curly hair and fengyi and her google tanline.


we love desserts but nothing beats the marche desserts which got devoured in less than 10 seconds by very hungry and greedy people after the southern island expedition. and how can we forget carol's waffle with extra bananas after sdba. and cake binging at secret recipe not too long ago







does this sinful picture look familiar?


that's the end of day one of tai-tai life. on the second day of GSS, the shopaholic is out to shop again before making our way to indoor stadium for grease. it was great watching them sing and dance on stage and made me wonder don't they get tired jumping around so many days in a row?
i'm totally love food and am looking forward to tomorrow's buffet at ikoi. sometimes i think i train so that i can eat all i want and not feel too guilty. ok i just had lunch about 2 hours ago and i'm feeling hungry already especially when my mom and sis are just in the kitchen making dumplings for dragon boat festival tomorrow.

it has been at least 2 or 3 weeks without my weekly long, therapeutic run, and by long i mean at least an hour. and why are the runs getting more and more expensive each year. AHM is 18 bucks and real run is 25 bucks. i don't remember paying so much last year. now i'm contemplating whether to sign up for real run. i'm just hoping that standard chartered marathon's registration fees won't increase anymore. it's already so expensive and they have lots of sponsors. oh yes and to all those girls who like running. there's a shape run coming up in july. eh it's literally free cos it comes with a half year subscription. i think those who hate running must be wondering why people are willing to pay so much just to run when you can do it absolutely for free. well, it's just nice to run.

i realised i should never made resolutions and swear that i'll keep to them because they never happened. first was to sleep before 11 everyday but look at the time now and i've been sleeping around this time for the past few days and waking up early. second was to refrain from eating chocolates, but seems like i've been eating chocolate bars everyday and i don't know if it's psychological or it's really the sugar rush, but training feels better after eating chocolates. well, at least there's something for me to be proud of, and that is i haven't drank coffee at all since the end of exams.
it's already a month into the holidays and i don't know if i should be glad or sad.. glad because i don't have to touch books anymore for these 3 months at least, and that to me is a huge relief. sad because i can't realise all my holiday plans. isn't it strange how you badly look forward to something and when you actually get it, the feeling of excitement/euphoria doesn't seem to exist. maybe it's just me, but i was so impatiently looking forward to the end of exams but after my last paper, it wasn't the expected feeling of happiness and relief. instead, i felt numb/lost and tired, very lethargic/exhausted, as if i just wanted to go home and have a good rest. in fact, i think i had more fun planning for my holidays than living it. i planned to be a good sister, to send my little sis to kindergarten and back everyday, teach her stuff in preparation for school, go swimming with her, doing a fun job and making some money while having fun, like working in an ice cream shop, spend my free time sun tanning, jogging, canoeing for the fun of it, gymming and attending classes like yoga, and how can i possibly forget shopping, ktv-ing, travelling, sleeping, there's so much things to do and it felt like there was so much time to do it.
and now i have to squeeze everything into the days when i'm free. majority of my time comprises of training, not that i hate it, but it does gets boring at times. sometimes i'm in the mood to really focus on training and strokes etc, but sometimes i'm just so sick and tired of it. on the last lunch in JB during the retreat, when jr was talking about why he doesn't want to try out for national team again and he said this phrase which really struck me: once you're out of it, you can never get it back again.
is it true? i've been pondering over it. perhaps. i remember lifting freaking heavy weights in that little weights room, running intervals like mad on the track, doing pull-ups like nobody's business, paddling my heart out at kallang river. and now? i don't know... i came back from sibu and tried a 2.4 just to see how's my running now and it was very disappointing, can't even sub 12 for 2.4 when i used to be able to do that for intervals of 2x2.4. after that i struggled to get my chin above the pull-up bar, which used to be no-kick. perhaps things should just have stopped at the peak because it's quite impossible to get another higher peak. perhaps you're right.
sigh, ok, ignore all my incoherent ramblings, it's 2am in the morning. time to sleep

iti'm back from my only weekend getaway from singapore for the entire 3 month break. retreat to pulau sibu for 3 days 2 nights and here is how it went:
day -1 night 10 pm:
the packing just started. took out all the clothes from my cupboard, all the toiletries, passport, money etc. dumped them all on my bed and had a hard time deciding what to bring and what not to bring and which bag to bring. in the end i just threw everything into the big black bag and the tired me went to sleep.
day 1:
woke up extremely early to go for a short morning run because i realised i would probably not have the chance to run for the next 2 days. if you think my usual 6am morning run is early, well, this time it was 4.30 because i had to be at kranji at 6.30. and of course i'm not stupid enough to run into the forest so i went to the stadium and realised i wasn't the first. caught the first bus to the mrt station and took a train to kranji. and of course we didn't set off at 6.30 sharp and by the time we got on to our bus in jb it was already 8.30. after about 2 hours of bus ride, which i slept through it undoubtly, and about half an hour of ferry ride. we finally arrived in sibu. it is a small and rather laid-back island, no fanciful shopping centres, entertainment. basically it's just the sand and the sea. we spent the first afternoon at the nearby beach, playing beach volleyball, frisbee and playing in the water. after dinner was night games and i concussed on the bed before 12.
day 2:
after breakfast we set off for snorkelling. everyone was in a high spirit although the sun was not as good as it was the day before. we spent the whole ferry trip taking photos and when it was finally time to get off the boat and to the beach, we suddenly hesitated about snorkelling. there were jellyfish everywhere around the boa, but we still put on our googles and went down the water, thinking that it wouldn't be too bad in the shallow waters. but we were wrong. it felt like we were playing catching with the jellyfish and instead of looking out for coral reefs and fish, we were looking out for jellyfish and trying our best to avoid them. it was quite a traumatizing task and although i did try very hard to avoid them, they were faster than i am. nasty little many-legged creature gave me a nasty little sting on my arm and left it in pain for the rest of the day. it was definitely not a pleasant experience but was an unforgettable one. of course, we had to give up on snorkelling in that area. perhaps it just wasn't our day, it rained after lunch and left us stucked in the resort playing hunter. when the sky finally cleared, it was time for more sea and sand. and we refuse to give up on snorkelling and so we finally did, at a beach with no jellyfish (at least i didn't encounter any). dinner was barbeque and i think we're a whole bunch of greedy and hungry people. we had to ask for extra dish and rice every meal. and we finished 2 big tins of biscuits after 2 nights of indian poker. i think our humongous appetite scared the resort owner.
oh ya, i didn't mention about the place that we stayed. it was nothing like a hotel, more like a chalet kind, where around 4 of us shared a room which only has a bed for us to sleep. the whole level had 4 toilets to be shared among 36 of us and there's no hot water. what's worse is that the tap water tastes rusty.
since that was the last night, of course there was minimal sleeping. we played murderer, indian poker and those who slept early knew the consequences.
day3:
it was the last day, or rather it was go-home day. we didn't do anything or go anywhere that day. after breakfast we packed up and left the little island which we spent 2 relaxing days. it's really sit around and wait for time to pass. it felt great for the time we were there, like a transient escape from the hectic city life, but i don't think i want to stay there for my entire life.
short holiday, but better than none.
now it's back to where i am. and here are some photos for viewing pleasure:









that's the whole group of us when we arrived.











before the "snorkelling"









the girls









153 club. make a guess why the name










s cube










the view from where we stayed









brokeback!!!!!









are you sleeping? are you sleeping?? yes, the whole bus is sleeping

check this out... i thought it was hilarious
http://flash.cyol.com/product/05121802324416.swf

today i took a last look into the mess that i've been staying in for the past 2 sememsters, yes, my not-so-lovely, quite convenient and used to be very messy room in hall 14 of nanyang crescent. will i miss the hostel life?? i don't know, shall blog more on my thoughts for the first year of my uni life when holiday officially starts, which will be in 2 days time.
today i also had the most unpleasant bus ride which i must comment. as i was happily taking the bus from boon lay to jurong east library, trying to make sense out of my notes, occasionally looking out of the window to enjoy the scenery, and drinking my soursop juice (ok, i admit i do eat in the bus), this old man got on and sat beside me. the first thought that came to my mind was: hello, can't you see there are empty seats (in fact quite a lot), why the hell must you place your ass on the seat beside mine? then i began to smell something funny, yes, it was from that dirty old man who smelled like he hasn't bathed for days. i decided to be nice and tolerant so i just looked out of the window so that my nose can be as far away from him as possible. and then, as i stole peeks at him, i realised what he was doing... he was putting his hand into his shirt and scratching himself and then flicking (some dead skin i suppose) off his fingers. i was already quite grossed out by him right from the start and now here's the climax. he scratched, took his hand out of his shirt, towards his face, in front of his nose, smelled it, and then moved it a little lower and yes, into his mouth. oh my god, i almost felt like puking when i see him chewing and nibbling at whatever stuff that was. yucksssssssss!!!!!!!!!