think.hapi.thots

This is the time of the year where i can get to relac (aka slack) abit as most of lessons are over and i’m just catching up on my documentation of events in Dec and Jan, backing up my hard disk after working for a year non-stop.

When class pics like these are taken, it only means end of block and the thing called usability.

Major Project video shoot

My major project group was involved in one of the video shoot and as the supervisor i got to shake the Asian Idol’s hand… hee hee…

Dinner at Suburbia

Dinner was good, we went for the 1-for-1 deal and i had the wagyu beef. It was a warm gathering as we enaged in small chit-chats of sorts. Of course with family around, i could only order soda.

All my life i think i’m the odd one out, just look at me, my height, my myopia, my thinking …

Shermaine is towering over me too. It almost looked like i wasn’t jumping in the air… sigh…

Is that you?

The corp comm asked me to help them do a shoot for the web banner. Luckily they could find a pic to be displayed; the rest of the shots can’t make it.

Then Douglas asked,”Is that you Natasha on the web?”

Another colleague smsed “i wanna chat with u”…

Other comments: “Hey you are on the tp website leh”

It almost made me feel like a mini-celebrity. BUT… one fine morning, i started receiving comments:

“I saw your face on the website… now NO MORE already”
“Hey, your face replaced by some students leh”

Haha… that documents my 1 week of fame.

This is Gary

My mom always dunno who is Gary and always think he is Harry. So during one of the dinners, I had to take a pic of him and show mom.
“mummy, this is gary. Gary is NOT hairy definitely”… haha…

Sushi making

Every few months or so, we would go to Jean’s house and we would cook a dish. This time we made sushi.

Rectal Probe

Forrest was sick and he lost his voice. I have never heard a cat losing their meows. It must have been the fights that he has been getting into. Doc did a rectal probe and it cost me $150.

He was slightly feverish. We went to another doc in the clinic and he was way much friendly than the previous one… he has a tabby just like ah bui, so guess he more empathetic towards “kopitiam cat”.

Even the doc laughed at him for losing the fights!

I fell super sick myself. Maybe i was the one who passed the virus to Forrest…

Christmas 2009

Ahhh… Christmas, it seemed too distant so i guess, the pics say it all. To sum it up, we went to KL for a short trip. I managed to get 2 bird cages for the new house.

Countdown eating prata with mom and cooked Sheperd’s Pie for the Chrismas lunch. Kor kor taught the kids how to “wave-board” which is the new in-thing now. I fell a couple of times… too heavy…

We had a potluck at Mike’s place also. We talked to him until 6am, listen to his bgr woes!!! Aiyo… went back kena scolded, Jean had pimple breakout.

One week later…

Mike camped at Thomson while i worked my ass off on new year’s eve. Then we went to Jean’s, snacking, playing cards, wii’g. I finally got to try the new burger joint along Upp Thomson. Seems like burger is in the rage now

Another week later…

It was the beautiful Jean’s bdae and she treated us to a buffet. Too bad Cherry couldn’t make it.

With time to spare, we came back to thomson to play majong in the hardly-utilised attic.

Yet another week …

The events just kept piling. There was Open House and JAE. When there are no visitors, we would entertain ourselves by taking pics of ourselves and “abuse” Alastair’s super not-to-scale standee.
Cherry is very sweet to leave pocky on my table

…without lights

… with lights and gawd… so much more to do!

The time of the year

This is the time where i would feed myself silly. It’s not helping when my mom’s new indon helper can cook soto ayam, opur chicken, RENDANG!!! even kueh dada!!! She would fry bee-hoon / mee/ rice for me every morning to bring to school…

Sigh… i can feel my flabby cheeks (and arms (and thighs)).

“Is my driving zai anot?”

The reply was “your driving is not zai, it is HEONG”
mmm… I still would take it as a compliment, considering i tailgate a poice car (he was driving at 80km on the 1st lane).

I have decided to put aside my work to do some updating - those never-ending word, ppt and excel documents.

Nov was a month of changes, especially at work - Cherry and i have got a new neighbour and we are missing old ones, those familar laughter…

We laid down our “house” rules: must top up snacks, CANNOT switch on the air-con, only WE can laugh loudly. So far, we must have given the impression we are very dramatic.

Other changes

It has become the gathering of the little patter of tiny feet as we see the peeps embark on parenthood.

My bestest friend

“Boss, my bestest friend in the whole wide world is getting married” and this liner has allowed me to take one of the weekends off to fly to attend cec’s beautiful ceremony during the teaching term.

Despite the busy schedule, sogo and cec still tried to play the bestest host and for the first time, i got to eat hairy crab. She has become Chan tai or Mrs Chan.

Wa-hai… my heavy make-up… after the dinner, i had a hard time washing it off. The fake eyelashes was literally glued to my real eye-lashes.

I thought I’ve changed to be a tad sportier, thus i took up the challenge to form a team IMI relay. Sigh… i SOLELY brought the whole team down. We were leading until it was my turn… people overtook me, then they become smaller and smaller, then another one ran past me, then he also became smaller and smaller… i was so slow that andrew had to stand on the stage to see if i was making my way back.

After that, all i could remember was that i exchanged my tag for 100+, ice cream and apple…

…obviously i started with the ice cream first.

Concert

Jean was so stressed for this concert till she started having dreams about how Murphy’s law of chaos ruined the whole concert. We helped by lending support to the projects and turning up at rehersals etc.

The big day came…
Bro also came to support support (thinking that there was crab dinner after that)

During the concert…
Cherry and i cheered “Rick, Jean, wo men yong yuan zhi chi ni”, we kena jeered at. Paiseh.

After the concert… look at the relieved faces.

Term A

I was so busy this term, esp after i realised that i had to take over another subject. So, students would offer me lollies to make the lesson a tad sweeter.

As usual, i asked my class to accompany me to see my long time idol (at close distance), T’ang quartet at the library. Shujuan and Daryl actually smsed me to remind me of the event. They played Cannon and Air on G string, and my heartbeat just stopped … twice.

One of the member changed too.

Mike’s camera

Mike would bring his camera and take pics of us during lunch and outings.

In times of changes like these, we can only look forward…

Reno mags

Recently, I only read purely reno mags. Doing up the reno is such a tedious process - accomodate, accomodate, accomodate. Weeks after weeks of going back to the ID just to refine the design to fit my budget. This is so tiring.

Cherry’s exhibition

Attended Cherry’s exhibition at Australia High Comm and hers was the most interesting. The food was very interesting too *rub tummy*

I told Shermaine to thank the Lord who has blessed her with good results despite the little effort she put in. So, i brought her to Bugis to shop shop eat eat.

Have been eating with dad (and mom) for the past few weekends, quite stressful coz we never have the chance to order what we like (eg. sweet-sour pork) even though the food he orders is nice. Good and bad la …

The forbidden palace

I kept telling my colleagues how i’m hooked to this canto drama and how the palace life is like the office scene. People who just likes to create trouble, backstabbers etc…

Everyday, i tell them i feel like the slave in the show; my life would revolve around this “palace”, there’s not even a chance that we could get out. It almost seems like good never begets good (or at least in the story)

Forrest’s guide to life

Ah bui has made a few friends in the neighbourhood. I also dunno why but this fella keeps getting beaten up by those mean friends and he still gladly wait for them at the gate each day.

It’s confirmed, he won’t be joining me at the new place.

Papa says “Ah pei can go but the cat stays“!!!!

I guess i can learn a thing or two (work ethics) from ah bui

1. see no evil
2. must do balancing act so that I still have a life
3. bo-chap all the way

4. Lastly… give thanks to the Lord that I can wake up each day, yawn, get ready for work and try to embrace the change(s).

I am so busy and tired that my prayer time is so short, and i usually dozed off halfway. I only have time to pray for myself and others is on ad-hoc basis. So bad… Must make new year resoultion to make time for prayer and for people around me.

Christmas is coming… I even asked zhihua to accompany me to christmas service. Hai, looks like it’s just myself again, joining May Leng’s family.

Time to hit the word, ppt and excel documents again…

The thief has strucked again after laying low for umpteen years! I went to a Christian bookstore and while paying for my CD, i slipped 2 copies of “Everyday with Jesus” into my bag, thinking it was free (like The Daily Bread). The next day, i found that they would have cost $11.90! I went back to the shop to pay 2 days later.

A lot of people say “woah… this is not the kind of books to steal”. Ya i would prob burn in hell even it wasn’t intentional.

This incident reminded me of other occasions i stole out of greed (which is bad).
When i was 4, when my mom refused to buy me a hair clip, I went to steal the whole row of clips. Kena caned.

My playmobil helmet was missing when i was 8, i went to my neighbour’s house, saw the same helmet, quickly put it into my mouth and ran home. No one found out.

In JC, i became a librarian and for studying purposes, i took 2 books out of the library, that were very crucial to my grades- C.Maths and Colored Pencils technique.

All i felt was my heart was in my mouth. And i would feel the guilt till now… so i can’t imagine how other people can live with themselves after they steal…

But one thing i don’t steal: limelight

A good tool during meetings

Jonathan gave me a mask for my birthday; Cherry and i had a good laugh looking funny in it.

Thanks for the movie “Fame” and the cookies too, my dear sis.

i went to canada 2 weeks after my previous post, i stayed there for 2 weeks and it’s been about 2 weeks since i came back… so i thought i had better write before my birthday month ends.

It was an eye opener for me to be able to attend the worldskills event in calgary… i was part of the entourage and most of the time, i would be just hanging around… taking pics of unsuspecting victims.

The sian part: shops closes at 6pm, so no food nor shopping. I had to eat cookies taken from the competition and leftover breakfast. Andrew and i would hit the gym at nights coz we found that we can watch tv and admire the night scenary.

Deprived of shopping and food, our precious day off was spent with my relatives who drove us to Drumheller’s Royal Tyrrell Meusem. The badland landscape just made all my Geography studies come alive.
My relative made me wear socks due to the cold weather… which somehow made me look like michael jackson.

Some of the things i bought during my short shopping spree at a mall… i know… i must appeared like a compulsive gambler with those polka chips.

During teacher’s day, students messaged me and it had a warm fuzzy feeling when you are in a foreign land all alone… with only cookies to eat…

Shavonne made scones and left me a note on my table. Thanks dear.

Received a sms that made my hear sank… “hi sweet, my father passed away”…

After i came home, Ah bui has expanded his territory and his schedule goes something like :

7am: wake my human up to feed me
8am: go kitchen and asked the other human to feed me
9am to 3pm: laze around
3 - 6pm: go garden and catch some birds and lizards
7pm: go ask any human for food
9pm: my human comes back
10pm - 7am: sleep with my human

Platforms!!!

I waited 10 years for the revival of the platform shoes so i could be taller (by at least 2 inches). My bdae presents also started coming in…

Vincent’s wedding

Luckily i managed to get to Hilton on time, i thought it was at the Hyatt… silly me… all i could think about was the $5 per entry i had to pay.

Spidey Mikey

This is a picture of Spidey Mike breaking into his own apartment because he lost his keys, just before we headed to Wine Arcade. Such a taboo… everytime we go to Wine Arcade, someone has to lose their keys.

Gather-gather

I sms’ed Sean “bro… give face and come and wine-dine… no la… not my bdae, just gather-gather”

So we all gather-gather last saturday. My mom and my sis joined us too… The last part saw each of us taking turns to sing. Jean sang “journey” and dedicated the song to us for accompanying her throughout the TP journey… i appeared drunk in the pics but i was just happy. Jo and hubby came too and he even sang… wow…

Surprise!

Last night, i went to meet my class gals, i sat down and first thing i told them …”wei… 2 days later is my bdae, set your phone calendar and remember to sms me…”

I was only kidding…

Then they covered my eyes and bam!… a brownie cake that Dian baked… heart melts…

Thanks gals… no need to sms me la… see you in 3 weeks’ time.

This morning was slightly different, i had 2 cups of milo on my table and 1 was for Yee Fen who stayed with me for the night. We caught up on each other’s life…

We were discussing on teachers’ ethics, on how being an educator comes with certain expectations. And sadly i don’t meet some of these expectations… still pretty jaded … and why i never seem to learn to accept that my stuff is always 2nd best… so why even use my brain.

Obi-wan: Move along
Stormtrooper: Move along… move along

I’ve moved back … my mom is super elated…
From a house to a room; from organised mess to “organised organisation”; from sleeping with comfort of the flickering tv to dreaming in complete darkness.

Thanks to mom and friends for helping me clear up the last bit of mess. It was done in such a rush that i didn’t even have time to feel emotional about leaving. All too surreal. Zhihua was there when the walls were still grey and in a blink of an eye, he is still here to help take the frames off the walls.

For the next 4 mths or so, no more going home… i’m going back to my room. haha.

Mom is already starting to remind me “next time when you move out, you cannot don’t come back ok?”

Ah bui was overwhelmed on the 1st few days… highly stressed. Best part is that he has lost weight!
In an attempt to escape explore, he climbed out of the window and fell from 3rd floor to the 2nd and broke the roof tile. Luckily i came back just in time.

So here i am, attending every dinner and birthday celebration…

Random

We were hanging out at 15 Minutes where Neng did the graphics for this newly opened outlet at LaSalle, chilling out, drinking, making funny faces at Janelle.

Then i saw my student, he was like “eh… Miss Low, so random to see you here”. Guess to the students, lecturers have no life after 6pm.

Life after 6pm

(To furthur prove the point that lecturers have a life) Mike had his birthday celebration at St James and the theme was MJ’s black or white. He was so dressed for the part man. However, 99.5% were people we don’t know, the music played was tet…tet…tet…tet..tetno… so Jean and I took off early…

i’m starting to get anti-social - maybe the hypothesis is true.

The truth about presentation

It’s all about managing (my) expectations. I used to love student presentations, it is a time to see them dress smart and let them showcase their term-long projects. But jokers now condense their effort to an overnight mad rush and expect to pass, nothing more.

Of course there are some who put in their utmost effort to pull an A.

Presentations used to be photo-taking sessions too but we have people coming in late, wanting to leave early, talking, changing in class (!!!) right after their presentations. It’s gotten so bad that i had to ask them to stop, and asked them to present another day. This bunch sms’ed, apologised and then it was photo-taking time again

… of stuff… There’s so much to clear!!! Amongst the kitchen stuff, i found ice kachang maker, 4 new thermos flasks, 3 Sigg bottles, 4 dining sets, 2 blenders, more baking trays, placemats. Toys included mostly Star Wars stuff and a super-soaker!

Luckily Terrence’s mom came and took most of the bulky items away. But guys will be guys… the look on their faces when they saw the super-soaker was priceless!

Ah bui didn’t help much at all, half of the time, we had to spend time looking for him and he left his lil paw prints all over!!!

Come 30 July, ah bui and i would be homeless… we would be moving back to thomson. The hunt for a suitable apartment is so draining, the sellers have no integrity and kept backing out. So i’m so sian from the stress.

See you in HK

My professor left for HK but before he did, we managed to have 2 tennis games. At least we managed to watch the Wimbledon finals. He wrote a referral letter for me, stating that i was his top 10% of his students.. eh-hem.

My concerned class

Before my class went on their SIP, we had a mini gathering eating crab b-hoon. Dian knows all the right places to eat. Before i could sit down, they asked “got boyfriend anot, when are u getting married…”

Fattening

1st day of SIP, Ka Yin and gang bought me DOUGHNUTS! i’ve successfully stayed off doughnuts for more than 1 year now… Feeling extra excited yet guilty, i sat in my cubi and ate one after another… D’oh!

In the afternoon, Shavonne, Rand and Benneth came with POCKY! I sat in my cubicle once again and gobble it up… double D’oh.

This is not waist-friendly but the most appreciated… and i’m not sharing.

Just gotten back the teaching feedback form (from last semester)… and the most bizarre thing to improve… my hair cut. Ya… it was Rand and his group who wrote that.

A pleasant visit

Quan Song (previously from ITE) came to visit… suddenly my ITE self came alive! I was slupring my laksa and speaking hokkien to him. A student walked past “Miss Nat, don’t eat until so chor lor”.

Parents’ Seminar

Pic taken by Nicholas Soon.

Nicholas took these pics for us as we pose-pose and act busy during the parents’ seminar.

It’s time to go Home

Just finished attending classes on the Book of Daniel.

Last week, the pastor’s wife called me… we chatted about the happenings and she asked me to go back to Grace for (chinese) bible lessons. She told me “it’s alright, it’s time to come Home”. She ended the call with a prayer which brought a sense of calmness to my heart and mind. It almost brought me to tears…

PS. this is a relatively stressed semester - the manipulation of the puppeteer(s)… and it’s not going to end anytime soon.

• lunching
• watching aliens vs monsters
• packing house

Of course more sec school kids came to visit. We even had a primary school visiting us. Luckily the students were of a great help.

Flea Fly Flo

Participated in a flea market last weekend selling my pre-loved clothes; I had lousy previous experience, so this time i didn’t dare to expect much either, just that a comforting thot was that even if they don’t buy, Auntie Ada can ship it off to the Philippines where the poor will appreciate it way better.

The whole of two days, i had to smile from ear to ear, the “customers” would scrutinise till the very last thread and then put it back. Some people’s decision-making took as long as 15 minutes! I literally told this girl off “aiya… it’s only $5!”. Then her sudden realisation made her fish out 5 bucks to pay me.

Mike, Jean and David came to lend their support. Mike even helped made a sale. 2nd day, my mom came and supported my effort, that is “buy back” my own clothes for me.

I brought a “zhao-cai” cat to bring in fortune as suggested by Mike.

So how’s your SU-ba-ru?

A lot of people have been asking how Subie is and they can’t believe it that a Picanto can win her. Subie’s pick up speed is slow but once it hits 60km/hr, then i can chase the Picanto down and overtake it and zoom all the way till 130km/hr.

Bought a Jango to accompany Boba… afterall they are one family ma. Cherry is the 2nd person (1st one was andrew) to say that it’s quite threatening to sit in Subie coz all the guns are pointing at the passenger… haha… that’s the whole idea.

I also accquired one of the Cantina’s band members

Grand prize: 1 yr supply!

Yay!!! i got into the semi finals!!! Now must aim to get into the finals (but the chances are super slim…). If i can’t, then i shall not drink the essence for 1 year… haha.

The cause of my eyebags

The dramas that kept me up whole nite.
The one line in the show “ren sheng you ji ge shi nian?”

Other news that i recieve - news of divorce, break-ups, struggles… I always believe in choice. so “ren sheng you ji ge shi nian?”, so do it, i will support their decisions.

Papa: “ah pei, HEARSAY you wanna buy a house…”
-.- so long then you hearsay… haha.

I still remembered it was a Tues when i taught Daniel’s and Sharon’s class. It was MMP1 - my second day at work. Then i met the rest in one way or another - Cambodia, HCI, MP etc.

Next year will be my 07 cohort… Jean and i were saying that we would sure be emotional next graduation.

Last week, Alvin and Raymond came bk to treat me lunch… hee hee coz he lost in amazing race! Woohoo.

Yoyo…

I’ve always wondered how i would look in a trilby hat, so while we were waiting for the pri school kids to turn up at the interactive wall, i borrowed Zul’s to try it on. He was like “you must turn the hat this way ….”

While packing the video cabinets, i actually found the Star Trek movies and series VIDEOTAPES. I was more of a Trekkie than a Star Wars Fan i guess. According to Fanboys, you can’t be both…. Douglas even asked if i had a sense of guilt when i went to watch Star Trek movie.

It’s a junkie’s vicious cycle

I’ve been very slow, lethargic and forgetful since last semester. I always can’t find the word to complete my sentences. And I would get constant gastric attacks. So maybe i’ve found the culprit - yeast overgrowth in the intestines. And who’s feeding the culprit? None other than myself. I would eat maltesers and junk food before i can fall asleep. Then it would promote more yeast, which will make me crave for more sweet things, then i complain i’m fat, then i would eat more and there’ll be more yeast and then i’ll be forgetful, and the cycle goes on.

So i’m looking into cutting down bread and rice and most importantly my junkie habits. Drink more cranberry juice and yakult, no cheese fries and bak chang. How to survive?!?

But i hope by doing so, I would be more focused and get into the semi-finals of the Sudoku challenge

Our lil venture

We enjoyed online shopping so much that we thought we would try our hands in online selling… as part of our experiential learning. We can’t pose for nuts! We were laughing and laughing like some teenagers and that’s when we came up with the name “Eighteen Again”.

This lil collection is parked under MissPepp.com

Do support misspepp.com - it won’t guarantee an A or distinction in your grades but pocky or tea still no problem.

Went to catch Star Trek … it was simply awesome. It is a good movie if i don’t fall asleep. The night before i was trying to recall all the crew names from The Next Generation to Voyager. It is all coming back to me now… the movies, the series, the exhibitions…

Another bonding session with my care group - woohoo. Updates: John has joined Singapore Idol, gals who fell in love, gals who are still in love…

Say ma-ca-roons

Been hooked to these lovely colourful macaroons lately. * got me a box the other day and now Shermaine loves it too.

The Lows went to the beach… for 15 mins.
Was changing and mom came in “wear nicer, papa say go eat dim sum”. Don’t understand what’s the relationship between eating dim sum and clothes.

So last minute, we managed to whiff the kids and my sis from their sleep and went to east coast.

I must admit being mr low’s daughter has its privileges. A simple phone call and we got to enjoy the dim sum in the room and the waitress would be stationed in the room to serve us.

Wa, he even taught the kids to play fuss ball.

On hindsight, maybe he just wanted us to see his new toy - his transition specs. He kept asking “got turn black anot?”

Daughter’s Day?!?

It ’s Mother’s day this sun. I wanted to buy her a pair of shoes last week but she declined. But i guess the best present that she wants from me would be to accompany her for shopping, pedicure and meals. Very often, she would leave me stuff on my bed such as clothes she bought for me, and her favourite yan yan. 2 nights ago, i opened my drawer and she has already paid for my insurance…

Alamak, i feel so bad
Maybe mother’s day to her is more like a daughter’s day where she would treat me nice nice…

Neng’s studio

Finally i got the chance to relac one corner with the folks at neng’s studio where she shared with 2 artists. We were surrounded with drawings and installations. We spoke about being entrepreneurial and we all concluded i DON’T have it.

But we decided to go for a car boot sale next month. Think. Think. Think. I still can’t decide what to sell.

Andrew was in Perth and he sms’ed me “this is so weird, i met my cousin’s girlfriend’s sister who recognise me from YOUR blog”.
Whacky, what are the chances man… or are we really turning into a global village.

The process begins

Step1: Pack the house (done)
Step2: Valuate the house (done)
Step3: Look for buyers
Step4: Look for house

The procrastination has to end somewhere… so managed to get the flat valuated done last week and now just have to wait… sembawang is really a nice place.

Kakis

End of week 3 and i’m tired not because of the nice, hyper classes but the lack of productivity.

Hardly sees Mike, he has like 22 teaching hours. Jean has just finished her exams, and first thing she asks us was “june holidays wanna go travel?” haha.

The prankster-Cherry bought me a t-shirt from bkk… a couple t-shirt, with a “over my dead body” note. Maybe i would end up wearing 2 at the same time. Still, thanks babe.

One of 2009 goals

Mr Mozart, Mr Bach… I’m back. I finally took up violin lessons. But i realised that i’m like one of those typical adult learners, i am impatient, yet slow performance. But i’ll try to go on with it until i can play twinkle twinkle little stars. The best part of the deal is after my violin lessons, i still can get to play piano. I really regret not practising harder last time.

Long live miss pepp

Click here