think.hapi.thots

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

I was doing add/drop even over the weekend and as much as i tried to solve, there were stilll loads of lingering cases. So yesterday… students could feel my stress/ wrath when they read my sms or saw me in person.

So i appreciate those who were so patient and understanding who let me do what i had to…. and dian who gave me cookies, juvone told me “dun stress, we love u”, jiamin told me to “chill chill… “, yaorong ask “can i change class? dun get angry k“, randford and syed who encouraged me at my cubicle, charles who told me “god bless u” and students who bothered to thank me for fixing their timetable. And there was this most unexpected fella, in the midst of add/drop process made a most unlikely statement, “miss natasha, with this hair, you look younger” …

Row row row your boat
We got 2nd this time, and not coz there were only 3 teams like the previous year… this time there were 6 teams in total.

Indian Feast
The night before school started, we die die muster our last burst of energy to gather. We have always wanted to try the Indian food in Yishun, so i went to tabao. But the garlic naan would be so much better if eaten there…

Here comes another cycle of know-thy-students.

It was work and more work during the hols, so Jean suggested to take one night off to go clubbing before Mike goes for his trip. Jean says “no drunk, no go home”… and i was the stupid one… haha… we danced, sang, drank… soon i started to spin in circles (i thought i was a super-hero) and danced bare-footed.

Then i only remembered i vomitted 5 times into a big black trash bag. Gawd… this time… it was hor-fun that came out…

Aye Aye Captain

My stormies are back at work. I’ve got the Red Clonetrooper this time (xmas gift from Douglas) and pasted the stormy sticker at the compartment. Yay, protecting Subie from intruders.

“Anyone wants Magnum?”

I was trying to keep my Magnum craving in check when Lay Siang came back from lunch and offered us Magnum!!! What a treat to have ice cream at work.

Early in the morning…

The Cambodian team had to reach the airport at 3.30am, so i offered to fetch Mike there and also send my dear boys and girls off. This time round, they got to go Siam Reap (*envy). But i’m sure most of them came back missing the simple life and the kids there.

Twas the night … part 2

I was not stupid this time… i drank a little and was so sober i drove all of them back. We all have to relax ourselves before the school starts. We played indian poker and the magician came to our table and blew our minds off.

Where’s Cherry? She couldn’t join us because she was busy

My New Classroom

Tables, chairs, platform, all moveable. I feel like the DIM SUM lady pushing the cart to dispense laptops. haha…

Ooo…

I enjoy watching crimewatch, i enjoy reading biographies of serial killers, i enjoy Discover channel’s Crime Night Fridays, i enjoy watching Dexter and his blood-splatter analyst job.

I am the satay man
I saw papa the other day and commented he looks slimmer, usually under such circumstances, a lady would be more elated to hear this… i didn’t know it had the same effect on my father.

He put his arms around me and said “Is it? Why leh? Where? Which part? You know why?”

Of course i knew the model answer. “the waist area lor.. your tummy also don’t have already, wa… now your shirt more fitting… because you worked out at the gym right?”

Papa laughed (happily) …” ah pei… you the cleverest!!!”

I still replied… “of course… ah pei ALWAYS the cleverest!”

My mom behind us buay tahan me and she showed me the “pangang satay” sign…. which during my era means curry favour…

I couldn’t stand my curry favour sometimes… but that’s the longest “conversation” I have with papa in weeks.

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March was a month of trials and tribulations: TP results was out (*congratulations); papa struck 4D which single-handedly put him back into “ok” financial status and a smile on his face after so many months… he came to my room and asked “ah pei, what do you wanna buy? Let’s go and buy!!!”… i never told him what i wanted to buy, coz it would wipe the smile off his face instantly.
Then che-che had to close some of her life savings accounts to help with my bro-in-law’s “not-so-ok” financial status… breaks my heart…
which is why i bought myself a piggy bank and starting to save.

Andrew has gotten so depressed with his job that even being an atheist, had called me and friends from all religions to pray freaking hard for him for good news about a possible job interview.

My own trials and tribulations, in smaller scale of course…

1. my lappy is infested with trojans!!! We always joked that my lappy is a stable where all the horses live happily every after, but recently, this stable got overcrowded and the horses went on strike. My work productivity was greatly affected. Andrew (Tan) always asks me “have any new horses?” … sigh… now i don’t dare to download any new horses already.

hint hint: sharing is caring.

2. My hairdresser cut my fringe!!!

3. My wii underwent her 3rd cosmetic surgery but still not perfect. Think still must go for another mod sometime soon. Gosh, it’s addictive.

4. Andrew and Rachel came to view the apt some time back … so need to start looking for another apt much nearer to mom’s.

Happier Thots:

Jean had a house-warming but some of the team couldn’t make it, so it was just us again. Cherry was all the way in India doing mission work, aiyah… she missed it again. I taught Jean how to make the cheesecake too… sweet.

Batam Getaway

Both of us were in need of a good rest, so we planned a spa trip to batam. That night, Man U lost… but i swear i wasn’t watching, though i wasn’t sleeping during the spa session. Mmm… maybe it’s time to declare that I am NOT a jinx for Man U … hee hee… maybe Forrest was watching.

Anyways, i “smuggled” 40 pkts of indomie in my bag.

BBQ

Happy bdae babe! The bbq was great, even Mike’s parents came to join… We gathered around, and as usual the guys would talk about their NS stories, and Donovan is always there to verify those medical myths. Raymond and Alvin who technically graduated also came to join us

We attended C168 bbq and i never fail to take the opportunity to broadcast “PRE-SEM Briefing arh… must come arh… u wanna know about MP-SIP? Come to Pre-Sem briefing arh”. Anson’s golden retriever, Mango was so adorable. Oh… Ros and I drove in the bus-lane, hope the TP never see…

Mom’s Bdae

My mom is another year older. Sometimes, at such occasions, i’m feeling that i’m so different from any of my family members. They will be talking about their business, stocks and shares, my sis will be attending to her kids…

The only thing they can remember “ah pei, u like peking duck…ok, one peking duck please!”

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I helped my sis-in-law set up the joomla website and now it’s up. So, if any passers-by see this, please help advertise or better still patronise hor… then at least i got more jobs to do… maintaining the site…

So far, i shamelessly ask zhihua to sponsor me 2 clothes from the site… hee hee… i also help to keep the business alive by buying from the site.

Papa’s Birthday

We went to Wine Arcade to celebrate and Uncle Jimmy cooked us prawn noodle, crabs, kong-bak… A good time to take family pic.

Vday

Couple of days later, brought the folks to Wine Arcade again to chill chill relac relac coz we didn’t go for the bowling competition coz ms thian lost her house keys (which was later found in my pouch)…

After all the anxiety, on hindsight we had great food and drinks and MUSIC. yeah… the night we became backup singers…

bésame mucho…

lalalalala bamba…

moon river… wider than a mile …

hotel california … ana…

PS: when in doubt, just mouth to the singer’s lip movement… or la la la… or *smilez

I enrolled myself in a six-course meal cooking class.

Even in cooking class, i was bullied. People took my eggplant, don’t wanna share measuring cups. When pushed to a corner… i roared… the smarter move was to take other people’s cooked food.
i claimed that the pot of pineapples confit was mine, then they gave me the stares …

Get2gather

It’s been such a long time i saw Ash; i always cite her as my prime example of designer-turned-photographer. She was the one colleague who would “tech-talk” with me first thing in the morning at work. She still remembered that i was the pirate queen with a drawer full of “friendly” softwares.

Michelle came to visit, rather, she came here for a shopping spree. Spent the nite away catching up with her and Eileen; how much we’ve grown… and i broke the news that Cec is getting married… yay!

After testing out my student’s game … another student says “cher… u look like monkey”…

“I have integrity”

A fella kept asking me “so you want me to redo?” at least 4 times … i actually told him i can’t pass him because i can’t close two eyes… coz I HAVE INTEGRITY.

Integrity!?!? … for a pirate queen !?!… i wanted to burst out laughing while trying to keep a straight face…