I tried out KBox for the first time ever today at Cineleisure with my lovelies(: Sorry for getting all upset and everything.

It was sort of an interesting experience because I'm not a fan of the Chinese language and it's probably the reason why I hardly listen to Chinese music and also why I wanted to have Chinese over and done with throughout my whole Secondary School life. I'm hardly exposed to the Chinese language and while my parents watch Chinese dramas on television, I find myself reading the English subtitles at the bottom of the screen.

So when the girls were choosing all the songs, namely Chinese songs, I couldn't really follow the songs because the subtitles were in traditional Chinese and I didn't know the songs in the first place. The songs that I chose were like, circa 2006 and earlier because I don't even know the latest songs in the industry.

But it was really fun, cos singing is like that(( :

The trip to the LTA was quite exciting too, I should have gone there earlier. XD

I got promoted(( :

After getting back my results, went down to Suntec Convention Centre for a seminar by SMU. For someone like me, who isn't really into Economics, I was struggling to stay awake and I felt that the Question and Answer session was probably more fun.

Then, my favourite committee head, Guang Wen, treated the committee to Popeyes' near the Singapore Flyer. Food was filling and good, albeit fattening, but whatever, it's the company that mattered.


Camwhore much? This is one of the more natural smiles that I've ever seen myself give, lol. And yup, I rebonded my hair(( :

Whoa, my neck and back hurts like crazy. It must have been because I played with the hula hoop in the Logistics Room today, lol. I tried to convince myself that I wasn't that old to have lost my touch in hula hooping, I think I was proven wrong, lol.

Or it could be because I was just too excited playing Bridge with Chin Pei, Julian and Adrian in the Council room. I was playing tai ti a few hours before and somehow, they just got into the mood of playing Bridge. So, after a lot of them left, the four of us stayed behind to play Bridge, which was really quite fun if you ask me... I haven't played it in quite some time, lol. While in tai ti, I can't even win, I won nearly all of the rounds of Bridge that I played. Haha, maybe it's because I had good partners who never failed me, hee hee.

OP today was sort of alright, sort of not? I can't believe that I dropped the clicker on the floor. D: It was like the worse thing that I could've done, but thankfully Sunny did have a lot of things to talk about on his first slide, so it didn't seem too bad that the clicker fell on the floor and its lid and batteries came out. The accessors were staring at me, which didn't make me feel any better, but somehow, less nervous.

Okay, had better sleep early cos I've got an appointment with the hair stylist at 1030 then there's some Welco stuff after that?

I finally managed to watch Coraline with Wei Leng yesterday( : Yes, I know that I've waited close to a whole year for the movie to come out and its release has been postponed like, a million and one times. I was tempted to just watch it off the internet, but I'm glad that I watched it on the big screen in some really lousy cinema because I didn't regret any second of the movie.

Firstly, it was possibly because it was also the first time that I've ever watched a movie in 3D. Yeah, call me backward and hiding under a rock, but being in JC means that you don't much of a life or allowance anyway. I didn't like the 3D glasses much though, they were really heavy and pulled on my ear, which hurt a lot even during the movie itself. And after the movie, I didn't think I was walking straight because my vision was just all groggy. On the brighter side, at least I didn't get all dizzy or something.

Secondly, I read the book, which was written for children and in my opinion, is really thin, and had really high expectations for it. While talking to my classmates, who watched the movie way before I did, they said that by reading the book before watching the movie, I'll definitely be disappointed. I'll admit that I was sort of disappointed, not that the graphics were bad, but the movie didn't exactly follow the story line and I really did love the story line. Yet, with the addition of Wyborn and the fact that Coraline didn't rid of the witches' hand by having a doll's tea party over the well didn't sit well with me, but it was still a joy to watch.

The conversation with my classmates gave me the impression that the movie was a simplistic and superficial one, but while watching it, I realised that it wasn't so. Coraline isn't about a girl who hates her name being mixed up as Caroline. Neither is the movie about buttons. While I agree that buttons is an imagery that is used strongly throughout the entire movie, it's not the main point of the movie. Buttons used as an imagery relays an idea of a blindfold, where your vision is blinded by darkness save four holes that light is able to pass through. However, since these holes are small, it still means that your vision is lost, in a sense.

This leads to a lack of judgment or view of other people. This is reflective of Coraline's life, which she sees as damp, gray and boring. Her parents are far too busy with work to play games with her and the only people that she can play with is herself. Her neighbours are eccentric and insist that her name is Caroline, believing that she is an ordinary girl with an ordinary name. Yet, I quote Wyborn, who later on became her friend, 'people with ordinary names have ordinary expectations'.

So you see, while Coraline is seen to be bothered by the fact that her name is so easily mistaken as the ordinary name of Caroline, she doesn't have 'ordinary expectations' of herself. Coraline is an interesting character on her own, and she seems to have an obsession with morbid and creepy things. Things that people would think is disgusting is normal to her. She squishes lizards (Ew?), but screams only after she has killed them all as her hands were dirty. When she finds a small hole in the door, she wonders where it opens up to and is disappointed to see that there is only a brick wall on the other side. Yet, she is proven wrong when the wall disappears and she enters an alternative universe where she has an other mother and father.

This alternative universe proves to be more fun than her reality, with her other mother and father so fun- loving and generally not like her parents of her reality. Her neighbours are also more fun and life seems to be wonderful for Coraline. She finds herself yearning more and more for this alternative universe and wishes to be part of it.

The introduction of this alternative universe is actually Coraline's ideal world, where her parents are always there to play with her. Her neighbours are pictured to have fufilled the dreams of their past and future. You see, these neighbours are also Coraline's ideal neighbours. It is ironic to note that it took a pair of buttons to open up the eyes of Coraline, eyes that were blinded to the fact that her parents did love her, in their own ways. Even her neighbours, whose ways were so eccentric, were endearing in a way.

This movie may seem really simple and a little morbid, but it's more than that. It raises the point that in everyone's mind, we are always hoping that a certain person can be perfect in one way or another. Moreover, our parents and our neighbours. We always pick on our parents faults and wish that they could be more fun- loving or give in to our every whim, but parents are human too. Parents are allowed to make mistakes and they aren't perfect and will nevery be perfect. Parents are allowed to fail.

As children, we should learn to accept our parents for their faults and realise that what they do may not always be perfect, but they try to be the best parents that they know they can be.

Hm, I'm bored because I can't find a good and completed manga series to read... And I don't want to spend many hours watching dramas.

I left home at 11 plus this morning to be in school at 1 pm for the skit that my group is doing, but poor Delicia found out that the computer cupboard in the classroom was locked and we needed to use the projector. Oh well. By the time I was informed, I was already on my way on the Northeast Line. It's no wonder why I would insist that we should just meet up in the first place.

OP practice with Delicia and Sunny was sort of fun because we really had to try our best to not look at our scripts, or in my case, cue card. For once, I'm glad that our OP isn't until more than two weeks later but I'm also hoping that we wouldn't have the time to make the model? Please? After practicing OP, went back home while playing DJ Max on the way, which is getting boring since I don't dare to try playing with 5 buttons. It's really much tougher than 4 buttons)):

The common toilet's heater broke down yesterday, so there won't be any heated water in the toilet till the repairman comes tomorrow, which seems like a really long time if you ask me, since I've to use my parents' toilet to shower instead. As the heater is located above the sink, I'm getting droplets of water rained on my head everytime I use the sink to brush my teeth and other stuff since the heat created in a hole in the heater. >< This house will fall apart soon and am I glad that it's not even my actual house and it's only a rented one. XD

Okay, shall go make an encouragement letter for the J2s and punch holes into my cue card. School starts again tomorrow)): Will update if I find something amusing later, if not, then ta- ta for today( :

Wei Leng, Coraline any time soon?

It's amazing how fast nearly a year has gone by isn't it? Or rather, how scary time can fly. If time were to fly this fast every year, I'll be an old hag in a blink of an eye. D:

Just a short update because there isn't much to update- it was a boring weekend, but fun nonetheless. For those who love Shoujo manga like me, do go and read Tsuki no Shippo, it's awesome( : That is, if you like those period mangas, I read any kind, so it's whatever that floats my boat, but the mangaka is into the historic genre, so it's actually factually correct too, lol.

It may seem like a really long manga, with 105 chapters, but trust me, it's worth it to finish the entire series. I spent three days reading it and I don't regret it. The ending may not be to your liking, but no manga is perfect.

Wei Leng came over yesterday to chat and stuff( : It felt really good catching up with each other after not seeing each other for some time, but we still read each other's lj's from time to time just to keep up with the progress on each other's lives. BESTIE, let's go watch Coraline and Princess and The Frog when it's released- I can't imagine anyone more fun to watch these movies with(((( : And thanks so much for helping me edit the survey pie charts, I was going mad with just the thought of re- doing them in powerpoint.

I'm contemplating not going for the movie marathon at GW's house this Friday and it doesn't help that I've got OP workshop till 1830. If I go home after that, it means just getting squished with a million people on the evening peak hour bus and, and... I hate crowds, especially if I'm carrying my laptop (which I've already learnt that leaving the battery at home makes it about 300 grams lighter) and am trying my best not to lose my balance and utterly embarrass myself. But if I go, I'll leave at 2100 anyway and that's not a lot of time if I add in dinner... It's does take quite some time to finish a movie right? Decisions, decisions...

Noelle said that I've got a penchant for the dramatics, which I guess it's kind of true... I'm not a drama queen, but I do over- react to get my feelings across sometimes, hee hee. Went to MacDonald's for lunch with Fiona, Fadhil and Sunny and it was really quite a blast talking to my classmates, whom I don't want to lose. I probably won't lose Sunny anyway. ><

Everything these days have been nothing but PWPWPWPWPWPWPWPWPW. It's driving me insane. It's PW everyday. But I've to admit, having PW does have it's advantages, but just like everything else it has its consequences as well. Having PW means I won't have to be in school so early, like I only reported in school at 0900, in contrast to the 0730 last week. Oh, next week would be good too, I think. I'm reporting to school at 1030 tomorrow for... OP Workshop and OP script review and it's back home again. But time is really crucial for PW though, I can't lag behind) :

Sometimes I feel like defining what respect is. Is repect only for the young to practice and the old to nag about? It so ear- jarring when my mother starts talking about respect and disrespect because it's just so unfair. Isn't there a fine line between respect and disrespect and it's pretty much an opinion and subjective to different people? I tend to think that it's possible for the older generation to be disrespectful towards the younger generation too. I believe that disrespect happens when anyone, be it young or old, thinks of himself better and wiser than another and truly thinks that he is. Disrespect to me is when the tone of another becomes condescending when talking to someone else.

It's common for the older generation to make snide comments about the lack of respect the younger generation have now, because it's not the way they would act. But it's not that they would greet an older brother or sister in law when they see them right? I feel that respect should go both ways, not just from the young to the old.

Before I go to sleep, I decided to return Wei Leng's favour and post an MV of a singer that she recommended to me( : This song, I find it really very cute and catchy in the Korean poppish manner. It's cutesy and addictive, hee hee.


Hwayobi's Kiss Kiss Kiss

Enjoy! XD

My mother is a sucker for Korean dramas and she never misses any of the Korean dramas shown on television. I should be thankful that we don't have cable and I'm not sure if there's a channel that shows nothing but Korean dramas 24/7, but hey, watching 2 hours of Korean drama everyday is quite a bit of television right?

On weekdays, from 6- 7 pm Channel U will repeat a Korean drama that was broadcast a few years back. Honestly, with all the Korean dramas that they've been showing all these years, I can't remember which I've watched and which I haven't... Besides, I'm not a Korean drama junkie. Anyway, now they're broadcasting The Infamous Chil Sisters, which is alright I guess.. I mean, I usually find good Korean dramas do not focus so much of family, but because it's a family channel then of course the programmes that they show would be more family based wouldn't it?

I was watching the drama the other day and decided to wiki it based on interest alone. It was sort of cool to realise that there's this actor who's also a singer. It's not that he shot to fame like the Boys Over Flowers group of guys and that drama is purely idol worship. I think he's still more famous for he's singing than his acting. Yesterday, I happened to chance upon his new album and his singing is really good( : It's also probably because I do like a range of music genres, so while R&B works for me, Hip- Hop is fine too. His genre is more of the ballads and R&B, so it's understandable that I would like his songs, lol.


This is the latest single from his latest album and if you like Korean ballads, especially those that are Korean drama worthy, then he's really worth a listen to( :


Lee Seung Gi is love<3

I was informed today that TDA was awarded with a bronze for innovation or something. I'm not entirely sure what it is, but the exco was given certificates, which are with Pi Pi. When Guangwen told me, I was a little stunned because I didn't think that the Teachers' Day was that great or something and the effort doesn't go to us alone. It's comforting to know that the teachers acknowledge the efforts of the Council, which is awesome(:

I'll be going to Pulau Ubin next Tuesday on a PW trip, lol. Hopefully I can get to see a real kelong! XD Must, must see one~

The first Welco meeting after the Promos was rather fruitful and fun, and I truly hope that the ideas that we've put forth will actually work out eventually, or I'll be quite upset, but not for long because we always have boomz moments, LOL.

But I'm still not looking forward the getting my grades back) : I was informed that they'll just chuck all our papers at us and we'll get the idea of whether or not we've passed. Please, please let me pass because I don't want to get retained. ><

I've got two Sim families, and both are very adorable( : One of them just had triplets. It's not that I don't like little babies or toddlers, but they can get rather mundane at times. Especially babies, who don't have the ability to walk or run about and end up spending the whole day in their cribs, waiting for their parents to feed or play with them. I thought that it was bad enough having a pair of twins, since my Sims had a grand total of three pairs over the past few generations combined. Triplets are obviously something that hasn't happened to me before. Sim toddlers are really adorable, but what I've realised is that they are created to be just like real- life children, who require attention and love from each parent. The scenario that I faced was my female Sim picking up one of the twins and the other would start throwing a tantrum, hurting his mother's eardrums. Also, toddlers need to be potty trained, taught to talk and walk, which is definitely essential for childhood development, but when their parents are working 5 days a week and call in a babysitter, they don't master these skills as quickly as I hope they would.


So this is a screenshot of the female Sim in my other household and she just found out that she was pregnant- like how could she not know if she was vomiting due to unknown reasons and craving for junk food? The difference between this household and the other is their hair colour. This family has the platinum- blonde hair colour, minus her husband, who has reddish- brown hair.


This is what child Sims do- homework. Any different from any of us? Well, not really, since they, like us, will scratch their heads when they encounter difficult questions in their homework, lol.


He is the eldest son of the family, lol. Currently a teenager and if you ask me, I really love his hairstyle, haha. But he's an evil genius with the neat trait, so I can't wait to see what career path he'll take in the future... Maybe he'll be in and out of jail really often. XD

I just completed playing Becky Brogan: The Mystery of Meane Manor. It took me about 3 hours to plow through this Hidden Objects game and I thought that it was alright but not as good as the Mystery Case Files series. Personally, I felt that it was too creepy even with the sound level placed at near 0 because of the demonic and supernatural theme of the game. I don't know why games these days are getting more and more hair- raising and children are allowed to buy and play this game. >< The way I feel about the game is probably because I've abhored gothic themed games or cartoons, those that had a rundown manor with bats and barren trees surrounding them. Perfect for a Halloween scene, but I've never gone trick or treating before. The worst childhood nightmare that I ever had had such a setting and me never being able to escape from the manor.

Besides, a game that requires only 3 plus hours to complete can't be that fantastic.

I've been trying to play Cake Mania: Main Street and Nanny Mania, but I haven't the patience to finish these games and they can get rather tiresome some times.

I'll end off this post with a photo of my fourth generation Sim's birthday.

Yesterday marked the end of the Promos and am I glad that it is because it was so draining metally and physically too. Although I'm not so keen on getting back my results- actually, not at all- but oh well, I really did try my best. Hopefully my best is enough to get me promoted? Retaining is a really scary thought and I don't want to go on holiday feeling like my world is crashing down on me. JC has already been this tough):

I watched Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs yesterday( : Even though in my opinion, it wasn't as good as Ratatouille, but it was an enjoyable movie. Maybe it was the company that made it a lot better as well, lol. Maybe it was because it sort of crossed the border of imagination gone too wild or perhaps it's because of the manner in which the characters were drawn in that somehow didn't suit my fancy? Perhaps it's both? Ah well, go watch it because all in all, it's a light- hearted family movie that's great for a bunch of friends to watch at a sleepover as well. Haha, after watching the movie, I wasn't too keen on eating at Seoul Garden. It's probably because of the giant meatball and spaghetti hurricane that made me lose my appetite or maybe it was the super food and the walking headless roasted chicken. Eek.

Dinner at Seoul Garden was really great, minus the oil sputtering onto both Zenia and my uniform because the pan was set too high a temperature? Haha, but it was a slow affair after we lowered the heat of the pan. Oh, but the window shopping with the girls was so fun because we got to know what kind of things we each liked and I think that was what mattered at the end of the day, the fun and laughter( :

Even though I'm supposed to be having a three day break till Friday, I've to go back to school tomorrow for PW): My whole post- Promo mood has been officially ruined.

Over the past few days, my second generation Sims have all passed on and the house seems really empty all of a sudden, lol. Can't help it, since it was four of them who passed on and the house was already bursting at its seams. >< The third generation, rather amusingly, all have the same orangey- reddish shade of hair colour even though one of them was from a different set of parents altogether. Oh well, I should try my best to alter the genetics. LOL.

I wanted a find a sort of light read and decided to re- read Howl's Moving Castle, which the last time read it was when I was on sabbatical in Japan and that was where I bought my copy as well. Oh well, I did watch Studio Ghibli's interpretation of the book and thought that Howl was cute, lol. Anyway, it was a quick read actually. It took me less than a day to finish the book and this was the same thing that happened when I was in Japan- I finished the book within a day of buying it and was reading it on the coach that was heading from Osaka to Kyoto when the entire bus save the driver was in dreamland.

However, while I read the book once a few years ago and thought that it was just a simple story meant for the imagination of children, this time when I read it, I realise that it was a simple story with deep meaning and implications with it. Maybe it's the way that Diana Wynne Jones writes her stories, someone like Neil Gaiman, who's stories shouldn't be written for children in the first place.Set in fantasy, Howl's Moving Castle is actually a thought- provoking story that left me stumped for some time.

The theme of exploitation is discussed heavily in this book and in many forms as well. Physical and emotional exploitation is evident in this simple and fast- paced story. I shan't extemporise on this or it'll really seem like a Literature essay, which I don't have the mood or the willingness to type out an exposition. ><

This is a recurring scene: A motorbicycle comes to a stop at least 300 metres away from the bus stop across CJC. A CJC girl, who rode at its pillion, removes the helmet from her head and passes is hurriedly to her dad and walks off, leaving her dad to keep the helmet away. She walks, adjusting her fringe that had been mussed from the helmet and touches her long ponytail, never once looking back. She reaches the bus stop, but instead of walking in front of it, she chooses to walk behind the screens so that the onlookers would be unable to see her face, or recognise her. Her dad watches her walk till the overhead bridge, then packs the helmet and drives off.

It's a simple incident really, but it made me realise just how much pride can break up families. The girl's reaction makes me wonder if she was ashamed that instead of being driven to school in a car, she has to ride on the pillion of her dad's motorbike? That it matters so much to her that she has to ride a motorbike that she doesn't even look to see if her dad has driven off, or even walk in front of the bus stop, where people could label her as 'poor'. But really, does status matter when JC fees are affordable? It's not as if she can't afford school fees and her school fees isn't half as expensive as Hwa Chong's or RIJC's, so just why is she so ashamed of being labeled as 'poor'?

Just because she gets driven to school in a motorbike, it doesn't mean that she's any less fortunate than anyone else is she? She may not have the air conditioning comfort of a car, or cushy leather seats to it, but she has the natural air and the rush of the wind in her face. She may not get to sleep in a car, but she can cherish the closeness of being with her father.

Besides, it doesn't matter if she comes to school by car or motorbike, she's still chauffered nearly to the doorstep of her school. She doesn't need to stand in a bus because it's crowded. She won't be in school late because while a car has 4 passenger seats, a motorbike has only 1.

There's much for her to be thankful for, that even though she's not as fortunate in some ways, she's still more fortunate in others. There's nothing to be ashamed for being driven to school on a motorbike and it's a narrow view to think that she'll be labeled as 'poor' anyway. See her bag from the brand Dickies and her shoes from Adidas and you'll agree that she's more than provided for materially too.

I want to be happy. But the feeling of being unprepared for not just one, but three papers is disconcerting. ><

I haven't been updating because I haven't been on my computer long enough to sometimes sort out my thoughts and also because there isn't any time for thinking about lots of things. I tell you, the Promos are killers. I'm dreading Monday because it'll mean that I've to wake up at 0530 and be in school by 0745 for Economics Paper 2 and this same cycle will repeat itself for the next two days as well. Plus, if I really want 8 hours of sleep, which is good for an alert mind apparently, it means that I've to be in bed by 2130- which, I can't remember ever sleeping at such an early hour. But it's effective, I think. I tried it on Friday and I didn't feel tired or fall asleep on the bus to and fro school. Of course, the down- side is that I end up feeling more tired earlier and want to go to sleep earlier and oh, the continuous waking up and falling back to sleep in the middle of the night.

I dreamt of an orange lizard with black stripes slithering (do lizards slither?) down my back. I jerked awake and freaked out when I thought that I felt something crawl down my back. I jumped when I accidentally touched my back just to check. Eek, somebody tell me why I even remember these kind of things when I can't for the love of my life, remember standard enthalpy changes and Economics definitions at the moment. ><

GP was pretty okay, I'm glad that I remembered the right topic and it came out. How happy was I? ( :

Well, 1 paper down, another 6 more to go.

1 tuition down for today, another one to go.

I've to go mug soon, but I thought that I'll leave with a really lovely song from Korean singer, HowL.



And watch this really good dance video to Keyshia Cole's Fallin' Out, which is a really great song( :

Tee hee, according to Julian, I'm the luckist girl around because I got released from Chemistry tutorial 45 minutes early yesterday and teachers cancelled their lessons today, letting me leave school at 1230 instead of the expected 1600. Yup, so happy, happy Charissa again( : But I left at 2 plus because I had to take lunch and then Sharon came along and Si Li and I started talking to her. Don't stress Sharon (if you happen to not be mugging and reading this), I know that you'll do well( :

Reached home, attempted to do the TJC Prelim paper 2006 for GP, only to fall asleep on the book itself. I was then woken up by my mum, who said that if I was tired, I should just take a short nap. Define short, I slept for an hour. ><

Ah well, pig mania.

I think that I'm surprising Mr O more often these days, since I seem to know my work a lot better. Hopefully *crosses fingers* I can pass the Chemistry Promos and that's not even an option because I've to pass it however else I do it.

Jiayou Charissa, 7 more days to GP. Ugh.

My parents have recently gone mad over this 'boy choir' Il Divo, well, my mum has at least. The only thing that stopped her from going to their concert at the Indoor Stadium yesterday was probably the fact that my dad refused to give her a cent to buy the tickets and he also bribed her in going shopping together. Haha, oh yes, I'm sure that she had more important things to do than the Il Divo concert. Interesting how my mum and I can now quarrel over which guy in the 'choir' is cuter. I still say it's the American and she still insists that it's the French.



Okay, because I'm still normal, I'm signing off with this years 19 year old Japanese whom I've just fallen in love with his songs( : I mean, how talented is he?!