Kockee

It's probably about time to dedicate an entry to a really really good friend of mine whom I've known for more than half my life - yenlin :)



I don't really remember when exactly in primary school did we start call each other "kockee"and where the nickname came about , but the name has stuck with us since, for 9 years and counting... And so the entry shall be dedicated to Kockee!

Beginnings

We first met in Primary 4, in a speech and drama class that our parents sent us to. I didn't really have tuition when I was in primary school, but I remember being sent to loads of enrichment classes- abacus, ballet, yoga, drawing, poetry..... Anyways, we two were randomly chosen to be a group (which we named, The Smarties) and tadah, memories of our friendship pretty much started ever since.


A Common Passion for Fine Arts

We were both in the Young Artists' Club for many years and so we met every Sunday for art lessons at Boon Lay Art Centre. She was really good at drawing and painting, and its really through her guidance that I've improved so much during the years.

I remember our teacher bringing us out to paint landscapes during the school holidays. He would have a list of dates and outing timings written down on the board, and we would choose any 3 to go to.. It was kinda like an exam for us, because our grades for these outdoor painting sessions determined if we could advance to the next level.

Me and kocke would choose our spot in a park, or at the void deck, roll out our picnic mats, lay out our painting stuff neatly in front of us and begin painting, while curious passerbys stare at the big crowd of us in our yellow shirts. Anxious parents would sit with their children, either to fan them or to buy snacks for them when they're hungry.

After completing our masterpieces, we would join the LOOOONG queue in front of the teacher, to let the teacher grade our pieces. The teacher has a habit of walking around the park/ void decks to check on us, and he's always not an a fixed place, and so you'll probably see us scrambling around the flats to look for him ...

"LONG SI TING! " My teacher would boom when it's my turn at the queue.His voice still brings shudders down my spine. He would stare at my painting for a while, while other kpo parents stand behind him to look..And the aunties would already begin to mumble comments behind me..

It's almost impossible to get the teacher to grade your painting at the first try. He'll probably scream comments like " why did you draw the ugly dustbin in?" or "why is this corner so empty", shove the painting back to us, (which is a cue that we must run back to edit it before bringing it back to him again, which means REJOINING THE LONG QUEUE). :P I remember cursing him again and again cos he made me run around back and forth all the time.. And it was then we started calling him " lao3 yao1 guai4" (old monster)..and we've referred to him as that ever since..

Sigh, so nostalgic..

Our 1 mark difference in PSLE score led us to different secondary schools. Luck was seldom on her side.. I got an A for Math despite struggling with the subject all year round, and her grades would have been straight A+s if not for her B in Maths, which was surprisingly unexpected. And so she ended in Nanhua, me in RV..

We made an effort to keep our friendship going and so wrote loads of letters to each other then.. and till date, I've kept hundreds and hundreds of them.. She's never forgotten my birthdays, and presents are always accompanied with a hand-drawn card, with long heartwarming messages.

We catch up once in a while now.. and most of the time, she's introducing me to good food, it's almost impossible to diet when out with her. Deserts after steamboat, ice-cream after buffets..

And the recent outing with her to swensens had a big nice chocolate fondue after dinner! To think I thought, for once I could be healthy and just eat my SALAD in swensens!

That probably sums up our long friendship....

7 x 3 = 21

I was at grandpa's house for my little cousin's birthday!
My grandparents cooked up a feast, I tell you. I counted 13 dishes altogether- with fish, chicken wings, pork,pepper crab, chilli crab, lamb, a lot of different vegetables... And then there was jelly, sago and the cake for desert! Its so ruining my fitness plan!!

I'm on a serious mission to cut carbs just in case I gain weight over in Canada, so I've been eating super healthy stuff and exercising everyday (to prepare myself for a marathon too..)
So I'm eating loads of salad these days.. with yoghurt dressing. (cos i've banned myself from mayo! )and for the first time my yongtaufu has so much veg!

Oops,I've digressed! Back to the birthday!
My cousin's only 7! I feel so old already! My 7th birthday seemed like centuries ago!can the cute carebear cake make me feel any older... The loads of birthday presents. The kid feels rich with $10! I'll be feeling so broke with that amount..The birthday boy! =)

The gang of us! =) We can all solve rubik's cube!!
On a side note, I think I bought a lot of cheap stuff from Cotton On this GSS-! Like this top! And a lot of tees! All for $5 only! And all the $10 shorts, skirts, cardigans! Not that big a hole in my pocket this year..

Grandpa..
He suddenly seems so much older than I remembered him to be...

Snapshots

A few random snapshots of my life.
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Father's Day :

Dad wanted to go to this Teochew Restaurant at Bukit Batok, but it was still packed at 8.30, so we headed straight to IMM! I was like secretly super happy that Dad chose to eat Aijisen cos I was so so so so so craving for the crayfish ramen there then!
Haha, its weird how I only eat the crayfish ramen at aijisen, the pure chocolate ice-blended in coffee bean, only the chicken mcnuggets meal in Mac, the sotongfish head in Old Chang Kee, the Chicken Royale Baked Pasta in Pizzahut and almost nothing else in these places.

Ordered this chestnut desert with vanila ice-cream there that was super yummy! But everyone agreed it looked kinda gross. haha =)
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Cousins

The cousins went out for a boardgames session at The Pitstop Cafe, and Marco came along! Really fun!It was difficult trying to find games to accomodate to my little cousin though!
Note Jonathan's hairstyle- his hair got chopped off when he went back to reservice, and let's just say its erm, controversial. hah =)

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Outing with Sharon

I went out with Sharon that day, for a simple meal in Toa Payoh...

Guess she enjoys the company and someone to really hear her talk about her life- a life so simple, she practically repeats the same thing to me everytime we talk.. And its been almost 2 years and nothing has really changed.

She'll talk about her school, how people not play with her sometimes, or about her Sundays at Church. And my response would somehow be the same,but it seems she enjoys telling me about them anyway..

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Swimming at JE Swimming Complex

Went swimming with Marco that day as part of my fitness plan! Haha, I wanted to act cute and young that day, so I plaited my hair! A little bimbotic, but who cares. haha.

My skin's becoming more tan, despite the sunblock! I think I like myself a little whiter.

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ANYWAYS!!!!! I'M SUPER SUPER SUPER SUPER SUPER SUPER HAPPY, and i wanted to share my joy with you guys! =)

NUS sent me this letter to inform me I've received the Wee Mon Cheng Bronze Medal cos of my academic results for the past sem/year! =) So i'm due for a prize presentation before I leave for Canada! I'm super happy, cos its so unexpected! I'm thinking of what to wear.. hmmmmmm

Oh ya, I booked my air tickets already.. I'm leaving for Canada on 24th August and I'll prob be back on the 31st of December or something! =) Eeks, suddenly its down to 2 months before I leave Singapore..

A date with myself

I have almost 10 days till my internship officially begins..


Plus, the boyfriend is off to volunteer camp, law camp, and countless meetings, which really left me with a lot of time for myself..


Been starting a "keep-fit" regime these days... catching up on the storybooks I bought and not read, packing my room a dozen times ( I'm the kinda person who loves packing my room), and of course, just roaming the streets alone.



I used to think I didn't really enjoy being alone.
But it appears that random alone-ness is pretty refreshing too!

So, on a whim, I went off to the Viet Nam! Exhibition!
The feeling of walking around exhibits in the empty halls makes me feel uber refined! haha =)

I took random photos of the exhibits and I spent sometime getting some nice shots of myself and the exhibits! I had all the time in the world to get good shots cos the place was like sooooooooooooooooo empty! Oh ya! i had to take a photo with this guy below! I think he's a super smart scholar or something- so hopefully he will enlighten me!then of course, must end off my date with some reading, while having nice iced chocolate at a coffee place! =)

There's something uplifting about spending the day with myself that I cant really express..


But let's just say I think i should do this more often!

Reading about you

Its curiousity, I guess, that drives me to read about people's lives.

Scrolling through their photographs, reading about their weekends, their ups and downs- provides me with some insight as to that someone, who would otherwise be a total stranger.

I'm probably not alone..

But its only in recent times, that I begin to think that I do this too much for my own good.

Cos it seems like everyone has such perfect little lives, perfect boyfriends, they party every night, go for magnificent and lovely dinners (that would probably blow a hole in my pocket for months)..

They wear the most beautiful and expensive clothes, some of them are models, some of them are pageant queens.. Of course, not all of them are like that, but I guess there's always something that I envy about them.

Maybe reading about their lives gives me a benchmark to judge my life, and myself.

I should really stop comparing..

Family bonds

I'm really thankful that grandpa made it through the major operation..

But it pains me to see the huge cuts and stitches all over his neck and throat, with tubes all over..

I don't know.

Kinda lost for words whenever I think of his situation.

Argh.

So helpless

LIFE

LIFE LIFE LIFE
seems to thrive on springing surprises on people when they least expect it.
Its as though someone up there plays these kinda practical jokes on the humans on the planet all the time- I can practically feel "his" evil laughter now.....

Its like when you need a cab, its nowhere in sight for a long long time.
And when you don't need one, cabs are flooding around the roads..

So, what's the purpose of this entry.

Yesterday, i was excited and blogged about me getting a job, and starting on Fridy cos my internship emails were ignored for 2 weeks?

Well, I GOT THE MCYS INTERNSHIP!!
*faints*

Eeks, just after the happiness of getting that job, I'm faced with the horrible task of "quitting" just before I'm supposed to start. I hope I won't become the bitching target of that office for centuries...

Meanwhile, hoorays!! hello social enterprise! =)

Work

I'm procrastinating about my Bali Trip post.. (heh)
Meanwhile, I got a job on a whim! I'm got kinda tired waiting for the internship emails, so i decided i might as well get a job first! LOUSY like hell pay, but at least the job location's near my house, and I get paid!! Hoorays!

So say hello to me- Mavis Long- the Customer Service Officer at a Community Centre!! Need courses for tai-chi or cooking anyone?? =)

The Birthday Trip

As some of you may know, the wonderful boyfriend surprised me with a trip to Bali for my birthday, and told me only a few days before we were supposed to depart! How nice of him!

(YES i know i'm lucky =)] Apparently, he "made friends" with my dad by messaging him like a month or 2 before my birthday and they exchanged messages, to get approval for our trip!


For someone who needs to pack her lugguage at least a week or two beforehand, it got me pretty "gan jiong", because I take ages to plan my wardrobe! This time, the planning was harder, cos my wardrobe screams pretty frocks and flowery tops and skirts, which totally doesn't fit the Bali beach theme! I had a few days to make myself seem like beach babe! so I bought this cute flower hairpin, a tankini, a retro AA sunglass. And thanks to the recent Cotton On sale (50% !!!!!), i bought loads of pretty tops there!!! like 5-$10 ones!!! super pretty happy.
I'm super lazy to write long captions. haha.

Made this diary for our Bali trip..

Really happy at the airport, in shorts!! I think its the first time I boarded a plane in shorts! but it felt super weird to pack jeans into my lugguage- I'm going to the beach for goodness sake!



ppppppppppsttttttt: didn't he look super "toot" in secondary school? haha! Look at that china-doll haircut!! He looked like that when I first met him!!!
And even though it was time to like go to our boarding gate, greedy me still insisted on having waffles at gelare cos ITS TUESDAY!!!


This is how you collect lugguages at the airport. Someone would like take all of them out and line them beside the lugguage conveyor belt. The airport was surprisingly erm, not pretty. And Marco commented that they have shopping-centre-like tile flooring.

Haiyo!!! This is damn chaotic. I think I stood there, frozen for 3 seconds when I stepped out of that airport! This is only one portion of the crowds of people there. We had to walk from one end to the other end looking for our names!! its super scary! Its like our new year countdown party or something lah! haha =) The hotel actually had a driver, drive his car to fetch us both only!! Felt so superly pampered!

Tadah! We reached into the hotel at 10 something at night, changed into our Cotton-On shirts that I bought and headed out to countdown to my birthday! the shirts are only $5 (*goes crazy*). Dinner was like how super good...AND CHEAP! And I had a drink or two...

OH NO! I look drunk!! haha =) you guys know my alcohol tolerance is like how super low lah!!

But anyways, I like the feeling of being a little tipsy on my birthday, especially since I don't really party in Singapore. heh.

28/5/08Next morning, woke up and went out bright and early for our free tour of Bali! What i really enjoy about the trip was that most of the time, we travel in small groups!! We were expecting a huge bus, but it turned out only to have 2 more other people on a small van! =) Like if we wanted dinner, the restaurant would like come and pick us both up and send us to our restaurant! so nice right!!!

We had trouble remembering to tip everyone though. eeks.

They got these interesting signs in front of houses stating how many like adults and children they have in each home.

Some homes are really pretty! I think they got like temples in each house, and they pray like 3 times a day or something! Some women just stay home to prepare offerings like EVERYDAY...

I think I was quite taken aback when I realised we would be visiting a volcano in Bali! I know I'm like so sua-ku, but heh, Bali's certainly not famous for this right? I don't even remember what the volcano is called! I just know like it was super breath-taking! Definitely one of my favourite moments in the whole trip! And it was super windy up there! Kinda like Genting! I was freezing in my shorts!

We went for a swim in the hotel pool! very nice! they had like sand in some parts of the swimming pool, and in the middle of the pool there would be a place to play beach volleyball and there's even a little stall in the pool- so you can like drink cocktail while in the pool! How heavenly right!

Having heard that we should not miss the stunning sunsets in Bali, marco and I headed for this place by the beach to have dinner! =)

Quite an experience I would say! A little more pricey compared to the cheap food you find all around Bali, but it was sooooooooooooooo worth it! Its still cheap by singapore standards!!

Thinking back, I think being overseas with him really was a test of our relationship.

I wouldn't say we survived and experienced the whole trip without any quarrels, but I'm really glad most of the memories were really blissful!

I'm missing bali already! ESPECIALLY THE FOOD!!!

Bali anyone?? =)