Here I am in the hotel, waiting for the shuttle bus taking us to Itaewon and Dongdaemun
Actually the whole family was planning to go to one of the palaces at the start
But then it started to rain so it was pushed back to another time
The weather in Seoul is actually quite good
With the occasional wind blowing, the weather doesn't seem to be that hot at all
Though the themometer will not lie that Summer is apporaching

Dad warns that it's possible to get sunburn though you though feel hot at all

Am pretty interested about the temple stay here in Korea
It seems pretty interesting in the brochure so I'll be heading to the office there tmr to enquire about it

My flight to Korea was actually pretty scary
It was terbulant and bumpy for most of it
There were times when I looked at drink and wondered if the juice was going to jump right out
I was also sitting next to this Korean woman who was returning to Seoul from Australia and stopped at Singapore via transit
She thought that I was a kid and got a surprised when she realized I was only 5 years younger than her
My brother got a laugh out of this =_=;;; (Do I... really look like a kid?)
But what she told me about the racism in Australia was worrying
Where she stayed as a piano teacher, there were a whole lot of protests and tension
Will write a letter to Muneera soon to ask her how's the situation in her area...

"I believe that home need not necessary be the place that you were born in but where the heart is..."

I find it funny that many people do not realize this at all.
But then again, there are many simple truths that many people do not see at all.

Will try to post photos when there is time, for now I'm soaking up the sights and sounds around here.

Seriously this is the truth and this bird featured is amazing
The lyre bird can mimic what it hears other than bird songs, even if it's a camera shutter O.O

This morning, I went to meet up with my godmother to collect the dumplings she made
Haha looks like the next few days my brother and I will be eating dumplings for our meals
According to her she made 290 of them from the day before to yesterday XP
My brother already tasted them for dinner and preferred the savory one over the sweeter ones
I have no idea what I'll like since I'm probably going to skip dinner...
Ate too much popcorn when my godmother surprised me in taking me to watch a movie with her as well
So we managed to catch Night at the Museum 2 which was quite a coincidence because I was thinking if it was better than the first movie last night XP

I think I prefer the first movie though XP

Meanwhile, there exists a pile of wood in my house
Have told some of you that I'll be doing Roxas for eoy and thus the hunt for a tailor
Recommend me some good ones?
I've agreed to build some of the keyblades including the freaking huge Ultima(1.72m)...
Thank god I have See Hua(Namine) to help me with the dimensions and scaling
Hopefully can get the wood cut by next week
Originally I planned to go back to school's workshop but... Considering Ultima....
I rather ask our group's Sora to borrow her school facilities instead
Between hulling the wood to Ngee Ann Poly and NTU, I'd rather take my chances with Ngee Ann Poly
I got a direct bus there

Going to sleep in early tonight
Bro's class starts at 8am so I have to wake early to make his breakfast

The Joke:

So it's Christmas time and a little boy wants a bike.
His mother asks him what have he done during the entire year to deserve a bike for his present.
In truth he hadn't been a good little boy so he doesn't answers so his mother sends him to his room to write a letter to Christ.

So the little boy started his letter. He first wrote, "Dear Lord, I've been a very good boy this year and would like a red bike." Of course that wasn't true so he tried again with the next letter. "Dear Lord, I've been a pretty okay kid this year, and I really want a red bike." That still wasn't the truth so the boy tries again. "Dear Lord, I haven't been a good boy this whole year but I will be next year if you give me a red bike!" The little boy knew for sure that he won't be getting a red bike with that either.

A while later the boy goes to his mother and asks her if he could go to church and come back before dinner. Pleased that her little boy is making an effort, the mother agrees. The boy hurries quickly to the church and soon returns with a small bundle under his arm. He returns to his room and unravels the bundle to be a small statue of the Virgin Mary and sets it by a new piece of blank paper.

"Dear Lord, I've got your mom..."

Life:

One Chinese New Year...

Young cousin: Jie Jie Geraldine, when are you going to play with us? We want to play tea party with you.
Jade:(Helping another cousin about his online game avatar) In a while, I'm helping your Kor Kor now okay?
Young cousin: But you said that 1/2 an hour ago! You don't play with us anymore!
Jade: *Ruffles hair* You go along and play with the rest of the girls ok?
Note: I have many cousins who are 10 years+ younger than me.
Young cousin: Okay...

Five minutes later:

Young cousin: Jie Jie Geraldine, I have your bag with all your ang baos inside. Come and play with us or not you won't see your back ever again.
Jade: !!!

--------------

It's scary how some jokes on the internet are similar to your real life experience.
Needless to say that's why I'm very attached to whatever bag I'm carrying.
Once my cousins actually opened up my bag and empty its contents to play treasure hunt with it...
Kids these days... Scary...

Something interesting I found XP

A very interesting explanation to the term I thought people should know XP

Once again, I've emerged from wherever I am hiding
Time really flies and yeah it's been a long time since I've updated
Sometimes I compare myself to the Hermit from the tarot deck
Detached from the outside world and many other things
I know that it's not healthy but I'm afraid that some scars of the past still run deep...

My parents have left for Korea this time, I'll be spending a month with them next month
That would be when my brother is having his holidays
Right now I'm spending my long awaited 3 mths of holidays as I end my freshman year in uni

Year 1 of uni was not bad but it could have been better if I had allowed myself opportunities I passed up
Do I regret? A little but I am thankful for the friends that I've managed to make
Though we're not of the same class, it was nice knowing that there were people who cared
I guess in the first place, I never really like conforming to people ideals especially when enforced
Face it, I am my own person and everybody is different

This year an old classmate of mine passed away in a motor accident
He left the world less than a week after my 21st birthday
Forgive me that I won't mention his identity here
That was partially a reason why I did not make any updates
I received a phone call from someone I never expected but I am thankful that he did call
Something inside shook and shattered as realization set in

I thought that I was strong. Death is after all something natural, a way of life.
The moment we entered this world, we are dying. We are dying now as we are now living.
But my resolve was weakened and taxed
I called people, many who I never thought of ever meeting and calling again to spread the message
Each time I picked up the phone call another, my soul felt heavier and weaker
I even called Muneera who was in Australia

When I attended his wake I did not dare to look at his body
Though I knew it was the last time I would 'see' him
Fear held me like a fierce vice and then I let guilt consume me after my actions
Somehow the reality of life struck me and so did the truth of human mortality
We are not as invincible as we like to believe ourselves to be
As the human race advances with new technologies and wonders, how often do we forget we are to put it simply, only human?
One too many times.

Time pass, my thoughts are much calmer now
Tears shed, words spoken, memories shared and life goes on
Holding on to him won't do any good, so I let go now
Knowing that he had once been a friend
Remembering the kindness he had once shown me
Hoping that he will understand my silence and weakness of then and now
And that he may find peace
Farewell to a person who was a friend and classmate I knew and cared

My best friend showed this to me and I couldn't help but share XD

Things my class are planning to do for April Fool after their inspiration...









I hope they follow up on the pac man though...

Well I've heard that it's popular over Facebook and you know that I don't have a Facebook account.
Don't call me paranoid but I'm quite sensitive to attention especially when i don't know the other party well.
So instead I thought I'd rather post here instead on lj 25 things about me.

1. I'm the sort of person who keeps loads of misc items horded in different areas in the house. Items ranging jewellry, coins, Japanese crochet books to some toys from childhood days long gone. It's always a trip down memory lane every spring cleaning cos I can't dig them all out and I'll probably stash them somewhere else. 
2. Lesson learnt. Do not hide your love letters in your textbook. Note Murphey's law. The letter you forgot to take out from your textbook for safer keeping will definately fall out 100% when your classmate borrows your book for notes. That will not change 3 years later when you're clearing your stuff and your mum sees said love letter fall out from the same textbook. Talk about awkward
3. I can't seem to wear sunglasses without looking like a hitman.
4. I am told often that I look fierce looking face especially if I don't smile at all and that some people are are actually afraid of my eyes cos it looks as if I'm boring deep into the depths of their very soul or somewhere along the lines.
5. There's a small savings set aside for that road trip to Japan if it'll ever get through with Dawn, Diana and Karu. I'm still very hopeful for that Genting trip as well.
6. 907 and counting. That's the number of unread emails I have and there are emails from 2006 onwards.
7. Lonliness and isolation are 2 things I understand and have met with alot. Though I know that I am not truly alone but there are times when there are just no one around me and the sadness comes naturally.
8. I also have my sights on Disneyland as one of the places I want to go, other than the Hong Kong one.
9. Chili and spice, I do not really like.
10. There are weekends that I forgot to bring my handphone from hall and realized that I've no missed calls or messages from those three days. Sad T.T
11. Actually part of the reason why I've yet to get my licence now is because I have a slight fear, not of driving but of crashing.
12. Call me silly but I still believe in alot of things that people will scoff. True love is one, hope in humanity is another and reality will always bring them all crashing down.
13. I always love a good joke and a good laugh to brighten up my day. I make it a point to at least laugh or smile to myself everyday. Hey, we all got our little quirks here and there, plus I think that's what keeping me sane.
14. There isn't really a particular music artist I like. Most of the time the music I like is by the reason that I enjoy the music for what it is.
15. Most of the time, my fear of failure is what holds me from doing things I like. I think too much. Make calculations of pros, cons and possibilities which in turn fuel my hesitations. Am working on retifying this but progress is slow.
16. I've played the Chinese er hu and piano before. I'm now learning the ocarina and planning to sign up for guitar lessons in the near future.
17. I am also still waiting for that Sakae sushi or Jap buffet outing with Dawn and Diana. (Ne, next next week's my recess week. Arrange a date?)
18. When I do have my disagreements and arguments with my brother, they only last for about the day. We mostly forgive each other the following day or forget about the whole thing.
19. So far I've managed to make bargains with people to teach me dance(locking+popping) to drawing and coloring through bartering.
20. On the contary, I can eat beef now. I just don't out of respect.
21. There is nobody on my hate list. I try my hardest not to have strong negative emotions against someone cos it's bloody ain't worth it. However I do have a list of people I dislike. On the top is currently this classmate of mine who seems to be the silent bane of my existance and who had once cruelly insulted the way I speak. Am trying to knock him down by looking for things positive in him and be civil to him but frankly it's an uphill battle with setbacks.
22. It's true that I often take vanilla ice cream and other neutral flavours when it comes to sweet stuff but that doesn't mean it's my guranteed favourite. It's just harder to go wrong with vanilla. Diana, I'm sure you remember that strawberry milkshake thingie that tasted like cough syrup last year?
23. A good night's sleep. Something I desire the most. Where I can just sleep easily through the night, do not awake halfway through the night or fumble through morning stricken with tears, fears and fatigue. Trust me, it can be harder than you think.
24. I like cats better than dogs. Sorry Suka. >.<
25. The oddest way I was rudely awoken up was by a loud snoring coming from Suka. Yes, she snores sometimes and louder than my brother too. O.O

Looks like the following week I'll be needing to rush a little
I dun know if the lecturers realize that how they pace their assignments are kind of clashing
I know that right now I'm dealing with minor assignments but...
Comparing the schedules for each module I'm a little fidgety when the bigger assignments start pouring in

Things to be completed in this week:
Foundation drawing: 4 pieces of 'copies' of great masters' drawings (2 enlargement and 2 modern interpretations)
2-D: Complete 2 photomosiacs, get the research done
4-D: My life in 60 seconds(Audio-only interpretation, abstract), An auto(self run) presentation of an artist, 1 para summary of reading material

Things to note:
3-D: Costume to be completed in 2 weeks time.. Best to however complete it by the coming week since next week's a public holiday
Western Art History: Our group's turn to receive our questions. Presentation 2 weeks later cos of public holiday instead of the following week after.
2-D: Assignment 1 to be completed in 2 weeks time. All work to be presented in A3 size and bound into a booklet form.

Such is life as a student so I don't mind very much about it.
I just hope to get used to the schedule in time when the more important stuff comes by

On Friday I actually had a game of street soccer with some of my classmates
It was kindda nice being included and I haven't played soccer for a long time
Though there was only the six of us we did manage to have fun
Got my glasses wrecked a little though at the second half of the game
We were playing 4 on 2 then, (Daryl, Aisha, Weiying + Me VS Clement & JunWei)
Mind you it was still on an easy game as it seems, Clement and Junwei happens to be really experienced compared to everyone else
Clement and I collided into each other when trying to tackle the ball at midpoint
So for the rest of the game I had to play 'blind' as the goalkeeper

Of course some goals were let in but I saved too XP
A little annoyed though at Clement and JunWei for trying taking advantage of my handicap

(When passing the ball to my team members after a successful save...)
Clement: Over here! I'm Daryl!
JunWei: Geraldine! I'm Aisha! Pass it to me.
Me: .... Weiying! Remind me who is wearing the white shirt today?

It didn't help much that the majority were wearing dark clothings

FYI, my new specs will only be ready on Tuesday

Frankly I blame my classmates for getting me hooked...

Well I admit it that it has been really long since I last updated
With school work and the situation at home at that time (and laziness) I didn't update as often as I promised

Good news:

• 1st semester is over, grades are back and I got As and Bs (Woot!)
• Parents are back so the whole family's back together
• Registed a stall with Syuuko for SOY
• Celebrated 2009 with Syuuko and Diana (Diana got kittens in her apartment)
• Passed most gifts to their respecive recipients
• Just joined another club this week (It's dance; Popping, Locking and Bboy)

Bad news:

• 2nd semester has started and it's all packed (sobx! Assignments and more assignments are piling up)
• I'm seriously wondering how to get through 4D classes once again... Got a new lecturer and well... It's gonna get even busier
• FD lecturer decides to give us heavier assignments than regular sketchbook excercises
• Things in the family are uncertain the probabilty of the whole family moving to Korea keeps getting higher...
• Due to assignments piling up, am seriously wondering if I can make any items in time to sell for SOY
• Photos of copenhagen are going to come late cos an assignment in 2D trumps it (photomosiac we are doing)
• Axed from cheerleading after roughly 9 weeks+ of practice (even some of the good ones were taken out cos they were too tall or too short, I think it's cos of the latter in my case)

A little surprise by the add friend note on lj until I deduced who the person is...
Ne Syuuko, when did Diana decide to sign up?

Will try to update often but no gurantees
My internet connection in the hall seem to hate lj or something
It take a real awfull lot of time just for the page to load... Thus I think that most of my update's will be on the weekends if I'm not bring home my homework

Am shifting through stuff and found the Viking crystal pendant I got  from Viking Kristall in Copenhagen
Honestly I was fascinated at not only the craftmanship and wanted to get a few but my wallet disagreed with me T.T
pic of the pandant: http://www.vikingkristall.com/product/babyvikingkula/51

P.S: 3 weeks away from home really makes me miss the food here.

Gosh, how time flies when you're busy
Watched Wall-E twice last week, once with Syuuko while the other with my brother
I had to drag my brother to watch the movie with me
It was a pity I couldn't watch with the rest on the actual day which was Tuesday
Ha ha looks like it was my turn to be missing from the seven...
What can I do? My Tuesday's time slot is busy from afternoon onwards...
Getting the hang of cheerleading btw, at least I can start catching people...
The number of boys joining is still low so it leaves quite a few girls to fill in the boys' roles
I do hope that it gets better...

The weather in Copenhagen is getting colder as my parents told me
I really miss them alot and well Suka is still waiting for them at night by the door
She gets really excited when I go to my auntie's house
She actually squeezed out of the main gate just to be near me...
Scared my aunt, cos she didn't believe me when I first told her
When she saw it herself however was a different story

Today, I'm having a presentation for Western Art History
By some stroke of fortunate or unfortunate luck, I'm doing the opening and question 1
Our group also happened to receive a difficult array of questions to complete as well...
Roman art... It's really not easy to research when you keep seeing the Greek relations to it...

From the last 2 weeks, my left arm has been acting all funny
Sometimes it goes really numb or a buzzing pain goes running from my palms to my upper arm
Hope it won't affect my presentation or cheerleading practice tonight
I don't think anyone will appreciate it if my hand goes slack halfway or jerks in pain...
If it gets any worse I'll go see a doctor over the weekends

Fortunately or unfortunately I'm not the one going on the top XP
Signed up under my hall's cheerleading team last week during our hall supper
Well let's put it this way... I need the exercise anyway

Anyway I got into spotter position cos there were too many girls than boys...
It's not that bad, I get to assure the girl/flier being lifted up that everything ok
Extra function of the spotter is to catch the flier if she falls

Regime goes like this during elevator:
(part one)
*hold waist* Ready, OK, one, two, down, up!
(part 2, now this is the part where the base lift the flier's feet up to the chest level)
*Supporting the flier's thigh* Ready, Ok, bounce, bounce, up!

If we go on to extension, I can only support the bases' arms since I'm not tall enough D:

Btw, one of the members have the same name as my mum! XP

Just realized how much I missed the poly system
I can only do my colour printing in 2 open labs
1 at adm building while the other at the south spine
*grumble* Guess which open lab ran out of ink and which ran out of A4 size paper?
Lucky me that there's a Popular so I bought myself A4 size paper and printed my materials

The weight of assignments are coming down upon my like a tetris game
Assignments are piling up as time goes by...
The library is different from poly
Can only borrow DVDs for 4 hrs and withing the library opening hours
Looks like I'll be asking my brother to borrow from school instead

Found this poem stashed somewhere in my harddisk
It's only when I was reviewing the files I've transfered from home pc I came across it
From the date, I think I wrote it for Sailor Moon
Yeah sounds cheesy but I think to most of us Sailor Moon, Dragon Ball and Doreamon were one of our first animes
Think this was in Usagi's point of view with the number of things that keep going against the love with her prince from the beginning to present

Apparently someone did an ADM guide for yr 1 freshies...
Quite funny but I wished he had covered the others as well
How to survive the 4D module... yeah I need that...



Will be meeting up with my Steps clan this afternoon
After that I may be heading to Bras Besar again to buy materials
Then pack up and get ready to leave for ntu again after dinner

Parents are doing fine in Copenhagen
Mum's learning from her distant cousin who's staying there for more than 10 years
Dad miss the bee hoon and roti prata
Apparently you can't get fresh food stuff except for fruits and vegetables
The rest are all frozen which is a weird concept to me

-Visual arts society
-Film society
-Board games society
-Photo-videographic society
-NTU Cat management network

Quite a bit of activities but hey they seem really fun
I hope to be able to participate actively in them XD
Also joined this 5-week course on hip hop starting on Friday weekly with a fellow classmate

Heading to bed earlier tonight as I'm feeling a headache coming
Tomorrow's foundation drawing and I hope that I'll be well prepared for it...
I wonder if the teach' would be having some outdoor activity or something...

So here I am waiting for my uncle to pick us up as I listen to the music (Music is now what's keeping my mood up)
All the while also running a few last min checks and all
Did some school shopping with my bro this afternoon at Bras Besah
Basically running up and down with all the tasks that needs to be done

1. Applied for EZ-link card at Outram Park
2. Apply for membership and searching for materials (pt 1) at Popular
3. Apply for membership and searching for materials (pt 2) at Art Friends
At the end of the day you get 2 tired ppl rushing home to get dinner done with A3++ sizes of bags to carry

My parents left for Denmark last night on the 8.40pm flight
Suka somehow knew that they were going and kept very quiet when we left for the airport
She was very sullen as she hid beneath the couch watching us...
My godmother, mother's brother and wife, my uncle and his kids were there to see my parents off
Though I tried to be strong for mum's sake I ended up going teary eyes when I hugged her
It's not uncommon for my parents to have overseas trip
But this is going to be the longest time they are going to be away
To top it up I only started one week's worth of school...

To quote what my brother said when we woke up this morning and last night,
"This will be the start of the longest mornings and lonely nights..."

Bear with it girl, you're going to spend your holidays at Copenhagen with them...

Frankly I don't know if I can adapt to life in the uni
One week is not enough to judge everything that's to come
So far... Well I'm unofficially the monitor for my group
Got everyone's contact and all written down in my notebook
Haven't gone through my Western Art History class yet since the prof was stuck in Paris =_=;;
Tomorrow I'm going through the first lesson of it...
But I heard that she's a pretty nice person from one of the seniors so I guess there's no need of worry
Still... I'm not confident for one of the the subjects though...
4D time and design workshop... the concept is still pretty much alien to me...

Assisted Liling with her charm bracelet venture as well
So far the project is coming out nicely
Will post the pictures when everything is settled
I really have to apologize to her though for the trouble I've given her...
Hmm... Maybe I should get her something Eyorish...

Sigh... Tonight I'll stay with my uncle and then tomorrow morning I'm heading back to the hall
Somewhat it's a good thing cos I haven't really gotten used to sleeping in the dorm
I keep on waking up irregularly in the middle of the night
Waking up before the alarm clock isn't what I call assuring to the health
Man, I still have an assignment I'm still not done yet...
This week is the ECA drive and our seniors are having a bazaar sale as well over at ADM
Yosh! Must get the 2nd hand books!! Must try to sign up for a ECA!! Where the cats lovers' club?