oh hai i'm back. because tumblr can't handle anything heavier than pretty relationship memes. when did livejournal become a breeding ground for comment spammers? 

it is not an overstatement to say that today worst day of the year. and there can possibly be (many) more days like these ahead. my world has been turned topsy turvy, happy thoughts make me sad and sad thoughts make me sadder, and the one i always tell these things to is no longer an option. i have 0 appetite, which means on the bright side i can get some weight loss out of this. 

So internship is in full swing, officially. It's only been 2 weeks but already time is flying by and work is piling on by the day. Working a real job, seems so surreal cos before this all we've been doing was theory work and now we're immersed in the real world where there are real briefs and real clients.. suddenly everything's on a different level. Quite lucky to be pretty well taken care of, and killer deadlines and working hours haven't kicked in YET. (fingers crossed as I type this) A few months I would've thought it was impossible but now I'm sleeping by midnight every night and waking up at 8am in the morning. I AM SO NOT A MORNING PERSON. I don't understand how the people I see on the MRT every morning do it.. Those who don't have to are definitely the lucky ones. 1.5 more years till we have to do this for real. Wow, I can't believe I'm already 21.

Reading PI tweets everyday, I'm kinda glad I'm not hating what I'm doing YET. In fact I find it quite refreshing mostly, despite the very boring briefs we are getting at the moment (tractors anyone?). It also helps that we have $2,000 office chairs and a stunning office decorated with toys. There's even a new deck/balcony area being installed and a nespresso machine, which unfortunately we can't appreciate haha. It's a nice break from school, which I think we all needed.

Abrupt end to entry cos I need to pack. Moving out of hall and back to Changi next week, I hope the commute to Commonwealth doesn't kill me x_x

of things to do after the 23rd:

1) read the stack of magazines on my table
2) recycle notes and magazines
3) SHOPPING!
4) playnation outing long overdue
5) feast on chirashi sushi @ chikuwa
6) and possibly yakiniku
7) research japanese language schools
8) do insurance claims
9) pack up to start moving home :D
10) complete FF13! and get my hands on FF11 and 12
11) christmas gatherings/dinners/parties!

oh come on can these 2 days just pass right now

randomly searched myself on 123people.com (yes i know i'm damn boliao. i have the right to be, i'm stressed), and i found this:

a bit freaky ah. and shawn who?! 

became inspired to look at my old blog again, (and there's only one photo of a shawn there) and it was so much fun! reminded me of all the happy, sad and super fun things that happened over the years, like going to CJC, having our own jewelry store, doing crazy things with addie, ness, miming, with friends from cedar and AC and all. plus i was SO MUCH SKINNIER and skinny me still had the cheek to say she was damn fat, hello if she would only see herself now.  and back then i was actually motivated to post photos. sadly, twitter and facebook have been huge deterrents to blogging.

i really wonder if 16 year old me saw me now, if she would be glad, or think i'm a loser. i'm leaning towards the latter LOL. things have certainly changed...

Over the past weeks of torture, I have tried many ways to cram all sorts of redundant information that the exams necessitate a student to know. A comprehensive description of the various study methods tested and an evaluation of their effectiveness:

1. Watching Jap dramas in a bid to improve Japanese language skills
Very thorough research was done on this topic. Was conducted very regularly even before the start of exams and in various situations, i.e. watching dramas sitting down, in bed, during dinner, in the afternoon, at night, past midnight, etc. Was quite useful for Jap oral and listening but after that I had the sense that revision become an excuse for me to watch dramas during exams. Seeing as how I got slaughtered by the Jap exam in the end, I would say, Effectiveness: 3/5, Entertainment: 5/5.

2. Studying in bed
Epic fail, should not even be considered a means of studying/absorbing any information whatsoever. Evidently all forms of journals, notes or textbooks automatically transform into bedtime stories when read comfortably, and/or sideways. Has resulted in too many unplanned 2-hour long naps. Imagine the horror upon waking facing a thick slab of notes. I don't know why I still do it. The bed has become my humble abode. Effectiveness: 1/5, Entertainment: 5/5.

3. Studying with friends at Liang Court
Intentions were honourable but venue was a mistake. Ended up gorging on green tea frappe, onigiri, Tampopo cream puffs and wandering around Meidi-ya in search of snacks. Had a very good udon dinner though. Also spotted 2 cross-dressers, one wearing a sailor moon schoolgirl outfit and a wig. Liang Court is w1n. Effectiveness: 2/5, Obesity: 4/5

4. Studying at games room
Only occurred once because of the writer's inherent laziness and the lack of space (all the slackers suddenly become so hardworking). And the one time that it did occur, said writer ended up spending over an hour painting her nails, because someone had brought down a vast collection of polishes and even offered to paint her nails for her. Effectiveness: 0/5, Entertainment: 5/5

5. Studying in own room
This method should not be underestimated. Has been the most frequently adopted and seemingly most effective one, due to proximity to bed (I am easily exhausted) and to hardworking triple E roommate. Positive influence from roommate include: pressures from observing her study for 10 hours or more continuously, waking up at 4pm in guilt seeing her hard at work, utter silence of the room and feeling comforted that she has 6 papers and I only have 4. The only downside is the similarly close proximity to my hard disk aka repository of Jap dramas. Effectiveness: 4/5, Entertainment: ?/5

This concludes my primary research on student study habits and on another note, I should really stop wasting time and read my 60 pages a day starting now. The roommate would disapprove of such behaviour.

i think i've forgotten how to study. not kidding. have a paper tomorrow and i don't even feel the need to cram or anything. how like that?! 

Good to know it's all a game
Disappointment has a name
It's heartbreak warfare

It's kinda weird studying in December (homg weird images come to mind now when I see the word/name December), especially when our chirpy NUS/SMU counterparts are on vacation already. You know it's the end of the semester when you see emo thank you notes from BCS students appearing on Facebook. Like Koon says, YOG really did steal Christmas.. and our pre-internship holidays. I officially have 10 days' break before PI starts, too soon!

Had the best jap oral test last week. I said I liked Takuya Kimura (who doesn't?), and sensei's response was, "Kimura Takuya? Isn't he... not very young?" Plus my sensei is obviously much older than him. My immediate response: "but he's very handsome!!!", very enthusiastically at that. Kimutaku, I defended you and your pretty japanese face!

401 progress has been dismal. Just read through the introduction slides and already I'm feeling a vague sense of accomplishment. Jap revision has been going very well though, since I've developed the habit of watching jap dramas almost daily. Yes, I have decided that that is part of my jap studies. Good strategy, I hope it works. Briefly glanced at the roommate's desk and saw a monster booklet of EEE's past year exam papers, proudly prepared by their dunno what EEE welfare club. At this point I started feeling very glad that I'm not an engineer. Thank you, roommate. And triple E.

Anyway, noticeable disparity between Europe posts and current ones. Need to regain interest in life again.

Last night was epic. Cockroach crisis and I had to try and smack it dead cos someone was too chicken.

"Where's the insecticide?" 
"I don't know!" 
"How can you not know? It's your house?" 
"I don't live here!!!!"

Seriously... I have this sadistic idea of putting wimpy cockroach-phobic sushi roll in a room with 100 cockroaches and not letting him out until he kills all of them. AGH