Cambodia

YOYOYO!
I'm BACK!!
it feels good to be back in modern civilisation, seriously.
though i must say cambodia is a lovely country - peaceful, serene and friendly.
its a place where people smile at you when you smile at them on the streets, where kids wave at passing cars, a place with simple pleasures, nice people.
i'll miss the tuk-tuks
the squeezy vans
the kids that clamour for your hugs, wave excitedly and say hello when you arrive and leave
the kids that cry when you say goodbye
the kids at are so easily contented with so little.
i cannot forget the mosquitos that dive ever so often into my food
the grasshoppers that jump around me as i sit in the hotel
the houseflies in the van
though i can't imagine myself living in cambodia for longer than i already have.
i miss singapore food, i miss modern entertainment, i miss technology!
photos coming up!!!

its the first time i alighted from a plane like that! i didn't even have this in mongolia! haha. so the whole group of us singaporeans were busy snapping away at this "rare experience".

can you believe this is the international airport?
Ooh, this is the room i shared with a friend! the boutique guesthouse was really pretty, much better than expected! its a project by the organisation we're helping, so we got the guesthouse at a special rate! the place's not fully renovated though..pictures of the lovely countryside...

and the things i love most about Cambodia- all the street kids, village kids...

its saddening when you learn about the stories behind these children- children who have been abused, sold for 100 US dollars, discarded.

this little kid i'm carrying is HIV positive..heard she only has a few more years to live and i couldn't help but grieve at the thought. left with a heavy heart.. :( i think i'll go back to Cambodia very soon to take more presents to the children, to give them more hugs, more love, and a little more attention..

i can't help but feel really blessed. and really fortunate.

Utter-rubbish

Marco accompanied me to various Singapore Design Festival art exhibions and they had really interesting designs there!

i think designers are amazing people.. they always explore and push new boundaries that one would probably never think of

See this...

I dunno if the picture is clear enough, but this is a biscuit with various demarkations on it (1, 2, 3) to tell you how to eat the biscuit (as in which bites to take first and subsequently) .

Isn't that weird? haha! And look at this sofa! a bit errie ah...haha.
This one is a design from Japan- disposible toilets! its supposed to be environmentally friendly cos all cardboard boxes will be marked with instructions on how to convert it into a disposible toilet, so people won't throw the boxes away... -_- a bit controversial ..don't really think its practical.

On another note..

I'm leaving for Cambodia soon.. Kinda having mixed feelings over it. Really excited about going there to see new sights, and help the locals.. But as with every overseas trip I've gone for, the anticipation is matched by strong emotions of missing everyone back here.

.. i hope i'll be back safely... think the recent dragonboat accident at Cambodia really made me see that i shouldn't take that for granted..

Bon Voyage to myself =) *muacks* be back on the 28th! with lots of nice pictures to share.

miss me k! =D

Perfection

It's amazing how when some people come together, they form a perfect blend, the best companions you could ever ask for to spend an evening with.
Loads of laughter, lame jokes, joking around, bitching, finding out about the latest affairs, having supper, and simply just enjoying everyone's company.
With everyone really appreciating the night, and not wanting to leave....

I miss you guys tremendously already..

HOORAYS to more friend's love! I'm meeting lala for mac breakfast tomorrow! =D

Leaving for Cambodia in less than a week..

Ps: Cheeks, hope you like the preview of my curls!! with uneven fringe somemore =)

reborn

I think i have a threshold for sustaining a single hairstyle- can't seem to sustain anything for too long, before my whole body craves change.

my straight hair has been boring me for such a long time, i didn't even wait till the last exam was over to get rid of it ..
so while my health psychology paper looms dangerously close by, i popped by a new salon for some hair change!

actually i don't really like how salons smell
nor do i like sitting down for hours there reading the magazines there probably because i bought most of them and read them all before that already..
but stepping out of the salon for me is like being reborn, being transformed into another person!
I don't really restrict what the stylist does to my hair
so this time, i simply told her i wanted a different look,that that i was open to anything she'll proposed.
i think marco almost didn't recognise me
and i think opinions would vary a lot but oh well... =) the girl's happy...

show you guys pictures another time.. heh. alternatively, you guys can ask me out soon to check it out. (this is a hint to ask me out after exams)

i think i got so excited i forgot mugging for a long while...sigh..

joke of the day

i thought i might as well share a joke that i heard
wonder if you guys heard of this one before
(read this aloud to get the joke k :P)
the joke was abit racist so i modified it a bit . haha.

okay.. it goes something like this..
__________________________________

On one episode of NS outfield, a commander took 3 of his cadets out to the jungle..
so they reach their campsite and the commander said to his first cadet: " Cadet! you are responsible for pitching all the tents!"

and he said to the second cadet :" You! you're responsible for gathering food and water!"

and he said to the third cadet [Ah Beng]: " You in charge of the supplies okay!"

and they were given 2 hours to complete their tasks and were supposed to meet back at the same place..

after 2 hours, the commander only saw the first 2 cadets..
Puzzled, he asked them whether they seen Ah Beng..


Suddenly, Ah Beng jumped out and said: " SUPPLIES!"

( surprise)

_______________________________________________________
get it?? :) haha.
oops i hope making fun of someone's poor english doesn't give me bad karma. haha.

a crappy entry

I'm like slacking in the library, in front of a computer terminal with everyone seemingly doing some serious mugging around me..
so i decided to just type some random words to try and constitute a blog entry. haha
this is to please lala, who is too stressed ( i miss you my friend)
and to to destress yours truly..

eh.. okay i just decided to blog about the muggers around me.

girl number 1: at computer terminal C7
cute hair, mugger specs with a huge stack of notes in front of her
i took a random peek and eew, it was filled with tiny maths equations (not my cup of tea..)
but she's typing something really slowly..
like really slowly
(somewhat like my mum who types using like 1 finger)
i think she's falling asleep..
but a guy comes up to her and talks to her and asks her out for lunch and she readily agrees and like prances up immediately... looks like she would do anything to get out from the mugging.
( shit..i'm hungry)

boy number 2: at computer terminal C10

me makes me scared i have't studied enough cos he got a greater amount of books and stacks of worksheet..
(a very handsome angmoh walks past at this moment. weeee weet.. i think he looks like leonardo di caprio..)
he is in a very ugly ah-pek-sit-at-coffee-shop pose..
looks abit scruffled
like he's been mugging here for ages and have no time to bathe
erm. his sense of fashion.....(no comments)
i can't believe someone would wear socks with slippers nowadays.
way to go.


aiyo! i realise i'm stereotyping..
no..i'm guess i'm just bored.
haha.

Silly Me

I've been laughing a lot at myself lately. Heh.
I wonder if people do more silly things when they're stressed..

Up my portfolio.. i introduce...

Case 1:

Was going to dance lessons with Marco on Sunday.
Typical day, crowded train, we board the train at Jurong East and grabbed ourselves a corner...
I really forgot what we were talking about that day, but we were really engrossed...
At one point, the train jerked and i grabbed ' his hand'...
But we were really engrossed right.. so i held on and on, putting all the weight of my bag on that hand..
Until, marco raised up both his hands enthusiastically to talk to me...
OH OH.....
dramatically, like they do in the shows...
My eyes opened wide in shock...and i lowered my vision slowly.........
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
I saw myself holding a wrinkled arm..that was so not familiar
Silly me grabbed an auntie's arm and held that arm for minutes lah!
MALU LIKE HELL!!!!
oh my gosh
no wonder the auntie looked at me like once...
she must have thought i was damn weird!
but the auntie was really nice.. and she didn't even tell me i was holding the wrong arm.
haha!!!
i scrurried away of course~
feeling silly :P

Case 2:

just recently only, i was so bored from studying for hours at JE library so i immediately went off to JEC to catch a movie...
i was in the mood for some brainless chick flick, so i caught Bratz!
I miss watching movies alone!
haha.. that's beside the point..
anyway, JE cinema plays really nice music before the adverts and movies start..
and they were really hip, upbeat songs..
So i sat myself down, and just went along singing Avril Lavigne's "Girlfriend" ....
Got myself super high. haha
screaming " hey hey you you, i don't like your girlfriend....no way no way..."
Then thing, they suddenly cut the song off.
And i couldn't keep the last few words in my mouth..
So i think everyone in the cinema heard those last few words of lyrics...
damn loud lor.. -__-
Panic, instincts took over, started coughing, to pretend i was coughing and not singing...
On hindsight, that was damn lame lah..
but it got me laughing quite a bit. haha

i think i'm going crazy. i'm entertaining myself all the time!
haha

Random pictures

I was talking to a random friend one day..
And somehow the topics got to the gazillion magazines I buy religiously every month..
Huge stacks of them, occupying shelves and shelves in my room..
And she was shocked I didn't bother sending in the lucky draw coupons..
So i told her i was lazy to cut those coupons out, the stamps needed money, plus, so many girls would do just that and I'll probably have no chance of winning at all..

But somehow her words enlightend me and for the first time i sent in some coupons ...and TADAH!!! I WON!!!
it was as though i got some educational bursury lah.
They sent me a letter and asked me to collect it from genting lane..
I won some perfume that costs hundreds of dollars (how can a perfume cost that much?!)
And even though I don't really use perfumes, its FREE mah (minus the stamps)...so off i trudged to Genting Lane to get my prize
Its super duper whoooper ULU, and off at the other part of the island..
but oh well, its free right i won't complain...
So i got this thing home...
2 bottles of heavy French perfume...


I won. I'm happy. and by right, i should believe that I'm actually lucky and I actually have a chance of being picked right. And by right, i should continue sending in those coupons right...

But i didn't. Half of me was lazy to get my butt over to genting lane ever again.
And the other half of me believed that I won't win again and they gave me a prize to bait me into wasting money on stamps and sending in more of my coupons. lol. university has made me skeptical..

The Season

Its the breakup season...
It must be..
There has been so much breakups, tears, quarrels and separations these days... its almost scary..


What would make a woman have an affair 6 months after her marriage..
I seriously don't understand.
I've never thought affairs should be condemned ..but 6 months after the marriage? it makes me wonder if she understood what's marriage all about..
did she forget for that moment why she loved the man?
did she expect she'll lose her husband? the man that loves her so much?
No wonder, elders say we don't respect the institution of marriage anymore..


What would make a couple quarrel loudly over trivial issues in the public?
I witnessed a guy scolding his girlfriend for replying an sms to her guy friend.
They sat there at the food court and just screamed at each other for 2 hours.
Where's the love?


It saddens me when people don't take a step back and treasure what they have..

Even the TV programmes are all showing all these sappy drama serials...
7pm show, 9pm show..
:(
i think i'll stick to CSI..

breathe

The most dreaded week in school finally came to end, and once more, I'm returning here to type some gibberish before returning to my too-intellectual-for-me statistics..

The warrior
I got to experience what it felt like to be stared at, and given weird looks on the street for the past 3 days.
I had 4 vaccinations in preparation for my trip to Cambodia in school lah!
One on each arm, and one on each thigh.
My friends called me a injection warrior, i just felt paralysed and so shaken at my "combo" set.
Pretty hard to swallow...
But nurse was nice, gave me time to rest, and kept distracting me with lame questions while she pushed that needle in..
Ew..I could never ever do that job.
Tetanus shot was so deadly, i was walking with a limp really really slowly for the past few days...
Had to keep to the side of walkways for fear of blocking roads..
Although practically everyone took a look at my leg then up onto my face...
Felt so AA..
I danced with a limp too.. terrible choice...
but i didn't want to miss dance lessons..

Oh well.. its much better now =)
Shan't complain!

I'M PISSED

WITH MYSELF COS I LOST MY PHONE AGAIN!

:(

sad-happy memories

MAVIS SHALL TALK ABOUT THE HAPPY STUFF FIRST

Here are some photos I haven't posted!

I met up with Jamie for some mugging (erm..relatively productive mugging)... and we were discussing where to go for exchange programme next year..

We decided on Canada and we're still deciding which university to go...

Shortlisted are.. University of British Columbia and York University for now..

OR should maybe we just go for cheaper alternatives like Hong Kong..

My friend wanna go to Thailand and she just realised that the university she's interested has a school uniform! and a cute one somemore! haha..

We cousins had an outing to the boardgames cafe at Clarke Quay on some random sat.. pretty fun! After that, Jon had to leave for tuition and the rest of us went to the Istana openhouse cos i wanted to visit Marco who was on duty there (suay suay lor).. but it was surprisingly fun... we went around saying we're stepping on high-class grass, washing our legs with high-class water. haha. but the place's so beautiful!!! some people even had picnics there and some even flew kites!

There's Marco! My cousin Nicholas said he wanted to take a photo with a policeman so haha.. doesn't this picture look damn funny... I told Nic it looked like he received a Good Citizen Award lor.haha =DSpeaking of Marco, I'm going to spill some beans about him (poor boyfriend...all my friends have to know about his failed attempt..)

Okay we were practicing our ballroom dance at Cityhall some day and he saw some teens doing breakdance and he was like ... " i can do a baby freeze too!!!" .Well it appears he learnt breakdancing when he was in JC before so...the boyfriend attempts to show me what he learnt years and years ago... (With subtitles)

"ARRRGGGGGGH...GET MY BODY UP... UPPPPPP!!!"AIYAH!!! FAIL! *looks left and right to make sure no one sees**OKAAY.. ALMOST UP...HEAD'S HURTING..BUT CANNOT "THROW-FACE"!!*
YAY!!! QUICK ! TAKE PHOTO TAKE PHOTO!!! (haha)

On a sadder note...

Dad's just gone over to USA to work-cum-study for almost one month... and it's his departure that made our whole family realise how dependent we are on him.

Mum got no one to help her carry stuff, bitch about work and open her shop on weekends.

Brother got no one to consult over matters and he gotta take care of the family, on dad's instructions.

For me, it just feels terribly empty that no one's asking me how's my studies, no one to fetch me from school when i end late...

And dad left notes for us.. mum was to take care of grandpa and grandma and not let them work too hard...

I'm supposed to talk to mum more often and not let her feel lonely..

and brother had the enormous reponsibility of taking care of everyone and repair all the broken lamps and everything that spoils lah.

Its so hard being a good father/ son/ husband...

Everyone seems to depend on you for something...

Gosh, I miss my dad! I think the accident changed my dad quite a bit. He's more concerned about everyone...Maybe its only near the brink of death when you learn to treasure loved ones more... =D

1 month to exams.... *boooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo*

sometimes..

Sometimes I feel secretly excited whenever I take a non-airconditioned bus...

Take an open window and wait for the wind to ruffle my hair and blow upon my face..

Its kinda therapeutic I guess...

Makes me forget about work for a while... and just quietly ...enjoy the breeze..

Kellogg's Cornflakes

You guys know Kellogg's cornflakes? Like this one below?

It was created for the weirdest reason!!

Just Thursday, we were learning about sexual disorders during Abnormal Psychology tutorial today ...(i think more pple turned up cos the topic was interesting. lol) And everyone was like thinking what the hell was this picture of a big bowl of cereal printed in our lecture notes..

Apparently, people during that time thought that the cause for mental disorders was excessive sex. So they tried to prevent people from having sex overdose by controlling their diet, making it as bland and uninteresting as possible... so TADAH...kellogg's cornflakes the savior!

It has now evolved into many yummy flavours (like yummy frootloops and yummy honeystars).. but who would have thought it was created for that!! =)

" it won't happen to me"

We flip the papers and watch the news everyday, and find dozens of accidents happening everyday around the world.
Car accidents, natural disasters, people get killed by a falling tree..
Some lose their lives over the weirdest reasons.. as though at that point of time, they're meant to leave the world, and some force would take their life away at that precise moment, no matter what they're doing.
I think the scariest thing about death is when death is abrupt and unexpected.
Yes, we often say we don't take our loved ones for granted. We're busy like hell, our weekends are burnt and we're so stressed up with homework CCA and so many activities, its hard to take some time off to spend it with our parents or someone we love so dearly.
Its only during times when we almost lose them, that we really feel scared of losing them.

Feeling kinda depressed. I came home from my hall on Saturday morning only to find dad in bed. He gave me a smile, asked about school and my lectures...
And he told me he had a car accident yesterday
Some bus crashed into his car when he was waiting for a right turn.
The bus driver apologised profusely because he wasn't paying attention and didn't notice my dad in the other lane while overtaking..
Dad's car is in a horrible state, his back is hurt and the blood vessels in his eyes burst or something. so his eyes are terribly red.
I'm pretty worried.

He rented a car, and just now, a day after his accident, he had a minor accident again!
Our family was on his rented car, outside Miramar hotel (we were going there for a buffet to celebrate my brother's birthday). Dad was turning right, when he spotted a cyclist who was cycling past him in the opposite direction. The cyclist acknowledged dad and turned right to avoid dad's car, but apparently the man didn't control his bike properly because he had loads of heavy newspaper behind on his bike, and he hit a coach!!

Dad felt really bad cos the man was quite old and he was hurt so he went down to give the man some money for his injuries even though its not his fault. The man even asked for more money cos his bike is spoilt... but dad being dad, gave it to him..

Poor dad. i think he's feeling pretty traumatised. 2 accidents in 2 days.

Its almost like some force is trying to take him away from me. And that thought is really scary.
Mum sort of sensed something bad was going to happen and she's been going to the temple everyday this week before the accident. I'm going to pray for him tomorrow...

i should just stop thinking that bad things won't happen to people around me.. and start appreciating their concern and love a lot more..

First day of dance school

Balloom dancing lessons finally started...

I think the last time I had dance lessons was in primary school, when I was in Chinese Dance (ohmygod, that feels like centuries ago..)

Anyway, I was really really nervous when I stepped into the studio and changed into my stockings ( I haven't worn those for ages..) Marco was a bundle of nerves himself as we looked at the other learning couples sway to their cha-cha music...

Turned out the couples that have registered just happened not to be able to make it for the 1st lesson so we had a private lesson on the waltz with instructor Robin..

Learning to listen to the music, basic footwork and looking the part was pretty heavy!

Marco has to train his arms more now to hold them up for ages.

And I need to remember all my lefts, rights, fronts, backs, heel-toe, toe-heel instructions

Looking forward to lessons though..

I feel graceful already.. haha.

The many emotions of Mavis Long

They say pictures tell a thousand words...


I sure didn't realise I could display so many forms of emotions until I looked at all these photos ...





Pouting lips I realise its not nice..so here's the "gimme-back the camera" expression...

Here's a crazy toothy grin =D
Here's the proud glee kinda look ( anyway, the drinks at some HK cafe in IMM rocks...brings me back to my HK trip days...)

Anyway as you can see i'm really excited about the drinks i'm still posing with them!
This was taken at some Jap restaurant at Funan IT mall...








"okok enough...stop taking my pictures..i can't decide what to eat..."
"Eh....i still haven't decided what to eat..." "EHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH...........WHY YOU STILL TAKING PICTURES!!"

Okok lah, enough of posting unglam pictures... I'm actually very lady-like, so here's a really nice SMILEEEEE =D with super pasta in JP.hehe...okay..enough pictures.. I'm taking the camera back!!!

I don't know why so many of my weird emotions and poses are taken with food.. maybe I can write a paper on this (haha, madness, i think i'm stressed...)

I shall put an unglam photo of Marco too...so as to reduce the impact of my unglam entry...
Please note his shirt. It says "mo2 wang3" and I laugh at it everytime...Here're more photos on some East Coast Park family outing to celebrate grandma's birthday..

Bridge fever!!!
I wonder what older people wish for..

They sure had alot of birthday wishes in their lives...

Latest hotspot and favourite haunt is the board games cafe.
I find any excuse to get there...

So happy that NUS students have discounts there.




This is some weird hanging monkeys game where you throw the dice to decide which coloured stick you take out..and you're not supposed to let the monkeys hang on it drop..
Look what happened to my turn!!!

so many dropped!!!!!!

serious strategy games....

Thats my brother, some weird game and his new haircut!

And of course, a picture of the homely scene of the K-box outing we had..
Ladies night at Clementi.
Thanks to Jamie the organiser..
Hey cheeks....please come back soon..k-box sessions are just weird without you..
I'll pick out all your fav songs and realise you're not there to sing it with me..