Tuesday, November 28, 2006
friday hideaway.
strawberry tart (happily poked into it before taking a photo) and hot chocolate at b bakery. pretty flowers along haji lane. relishing the solitude.
rachel at 6:06 AM
fat and juicymy latest acquisitions from south korea, to be turned into charm necklaces for myself.
rachel at 1:10 AM
Thursday, November 23, 2006
tired, just tired2 papers today, one more to go next wednesday. most people are done already:( really drained, had to write four essays per paper. and the second paper - it didn't have killer questions, but the scope of the questions called for alotta ground to be covered. sighhh.
managed to settle housing today in between papers, a big relief. the last thing i wanna care about now is signing a fire safety agreement.
i think i stress myself out too much sometimes.
rachel at 8:32 AM
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
grumps and grinskinda mucked up my paper today but oh well what's new.
last ep of princess hour this evening. how i'd love to have a guy like that. hehehehe. sooo romantic and touching and i doubt that kinda guy exists in real life. :P
i need to gripe here for a bit...it's the middle of exams now and i'm more worried about things other than my exams which is so not how it should be. i don't mean to sound ungrateful - i am thankful for the opportunities that i have been given but i'm really annoyed at the way things are being handled. when i want an answer to something it's never always immediate, everything was tentative up to a point in time. but when they want us to get something done it's always by a short deadline. like hello i have exams so i want to hole myself up in my room?!!!
sigh. with that said...i'm really pleased with my pretty new earrings and the rest of my day went relatively well, meaning i managed to get some things off my pesky to-do list.
rachel at 4:25 AM
Saturday, November 18, 2006
sluggish.it wasn't the best of days but oh well we move on from them.
some days i can be so even tempered and tolerant until even i can't understand my own tolerance when deep down inside i'm just bitter and frustrated. and then some days i completely snap.
dinner at club chinois was good but extremely filling. fusion food it was, and interesting to boot. saw the orchard road light up, all twinkly and starry and all i could think about was how much electricity it sucked up. :/
rachel at 8:21 AM
Friday, November 17, 2006
guilty pleasures gleethe parentals weren't home tonight so the bro and i made dinner! unfortunately because i decided to be experimental and cook some complicated chicken dish that required some preparation of which i was slow at...i ended up taping the show i've been guiltily indulging in of late.
okay it all started with my mom but for the past coupla weeks i've been hooked on to princess hour. :P i can't wait for exams to be over so i can finish watching the dvd box set my aunt lent us! hehe. darn them korean dramas...they sure do know how to engage an audience.
with that said...i haven't done any studying at all today! glorious. but i must get cracking soon.
rachel at 5:44 AM
on how life is unfairit's a bad day for fly and i, in our respective lives. i have often wondered why i bother to continue being nice and patient towards others when they take advantage of that fact and trample over my feelings. i am done with that i guess, no more crap-taking. i have wasted enough time and energy...oh if you only knew. i always thought that if i weren't nice and if i were to speak up for myself i would be bitchy, but now i realize that i don't necessarily have to be bitchy - i can be firm and assertive.
and fly, i found this for you.
where there is jealousy and selfishness, there is also disorder and every kind of evil. but the wisdom from above is pure first of all; it is also peaceful, gentle, and friendly; it is full of compassion and produces a harvest of good deeds; it is free from prejudice and hypocrisy. and goodness is the harvest that is produced from the seeds the plantmakers plant in peace.
where do all the fights and quarrels among you come from? they come from your desires for pleasure, which are constantly fighting within you. you want things, but you cannot have them, so you are ready to kill; you strongly desire things, but you cannot get them, so you quarrel and fight. you do not have what you want because you do not ask God for it. and when you ask, you do not receive it, because your motives are bad; you ask for things to use for your own pleasures.
James 3:16-4:3
i can empathise with how you feel. everywhere we go, whatever endeavour we partake in, there's some kinda competition to be the best. it's good to strive to be at the top, but of course there are other people who share the same goals too. and however good we are, there will always be others who are better than others. jealousy breeds resentment and resentment breeds hate. bitterness is a hard pill to swallow, knowing that we've lost out to someone else.
what are we trying to prove, anyway? coming out tops in something doesn't validate who you are as a person, it may not even be reflective of your skills. it only reflects your performance at a certain period in time. but we gotta realize that we change all the time. we make mistakes and hopefully we learn from them and improve the next time round.
so, rather than harbour anger and hatred, humility will bring you inner peace.
and as trite as this may sound, sometimes being the best doesn't matter, it's knowing that you have done your best that counts. so we shouldn't be too hard on our selves, finding fault with our actions and blaming ourselves for something that's already over. instead, look ahead to the future - i'm sure there'll be brighter days ahead. :)
rachel at 2:26 AM
Thursday, November 16, 2006
a little worse for wearhorrendous pounding headache right now.
great thing is that horrid paper's over and i can now concentrate on studying on the other less intimidating papers. the past week, my day's been filled with nothing but staying home and mugging the history of communication study. that is, until i woke up this morning, didn't wanna study anymore and couldn't wait for 7pm to come.
after a night spent watching television and relaxing some...i think i'm ready to start mugging for the other papers tomorrow, for which i have absolutely not started studying for. now that is a first for me.
i need/want sleep, good food and earrings! *dispels stress*
rachel at 7:18 AM
Monday, November 13, 2006
chow muggeringi am so much more productive at night than day. though i wish that were the case for both instances.
late nights make for pensive thoughts. but as the hours progress, the eyelids get heavier. and all the chapters i just studied start to blend into each other so i get all the theories and people mixed up, again. :(
and my voice is giving way. but i will not - this is the first time in a long while that i didn't fall ill before the exams. off to bed now, the cycle repeats itself tomorrow.
rachel at 9:05 AM
Saturday, November 11, 2006
harbouring faraway thoughts.it is time to up the ante. i realise how cursory my studying has been when i go through my readings again and notice i missed out so much stuff. :( but this realization's better late than never.
on another note...the latest hong kong icon to be sacrificed no thanks to the relentless onslaught of modernisation is the star ferry pier.
well, even though it's going to be moved somewhere nearby, it's not gonna be the same again, taking the ferry elsewhere. and even though there are faster ways of getting from kowloon to hong kong island, like the highway or mtr, taking the ferry for me, provides a different experience - nothing quite like seeing the skyline loom up, the salty (and polluted) wind in your face, the choppy water (especially at night) making for a rough ride. in a strange way (i know not how else to say it), it's kinda like getting up close to the city and fully experiencing it. the pier is somewhat of an anachronism, but it has a quaint, warm familiarity about it.
for so long it has withstood the passage of time, the narrowing of the harbour, the shifts in the political and economic climates, but even so it's not infallible to change.
i'll have many fond memories.
(like the many instances when i'd run towards the gantry, tap my octopus card and thud down the deck - it's strange how most of the time i only get there when the boat's about to leave)
rachel at 7:12 AM
Friday, November 10, 2006
greenwood avenuethis blog is in need of pictures - it is getting verbose.
fly and i made a much-needed trip to greenwood avenue for dinner tonight. all that stress building up in me was giving me a headache and i needed some sort of a reprieve. plus i needed to stop looking at my notes and actually process my thoughts by thinking about what i was reading. which i sort of tried to do on the drive there but i got carried away by all the beautiful houses we drove by on the way there.
greenwood brings back memories of the jc days. it has changed slightly (a tad more upmarket) but it's mostly the same sleepy neighbourhood that comes alive at night when people arrive to dine. we were craving italian food, so we went to peperoni's pizzeria which i love love lots. great food, laid back atmosphere, no service charge, interesting artwork plastered on its walls, and lots of witty sayings / jokes on the toilet walls like Fornication Under Consent of the King. :P
we shared pizza and pasta then walked down to estivo gelateria for brownies and horlicks ice-cream. i'm feeling much happier and relaxed now than before - it was a lovely evening with lovely company - plus i'm now in a better mood to tackle the books. :)
rachel at 7:56 AM
Thursday, November 09, 2006
glug!!so much shiznit has been going on lately. one thing's for sure though, i have definitely not been studying hard enough. distractions aplenty, like good television. short attention span. pages of dry rambling notes, of the soporific kind.
need discipline and time management, bad.
rachel at 7:56 AM
Sunday, November 05, 2006
taking it slowweekend's gone just like that. intended to study last night but oh well there was epl and i was hooked. rooting for the underdogs and watching the big teams get their asses kicked. some seriously good stuff.
this morning i went to get some videos from the library @ esplanade for one of my modules cuz i been missing one too many lectures. zzz. looked for winter clothes at marina square, had lunch at raffles city and wandered around jason's again.
weather's starting to get rainy and i'm in the mood to curl up in bed for some sweet happy dreaming. but anyway we've got to get the studying on tonight...i know i'll start freaking out later if i slack off too much now.
and fly, whatever happened, it's not your fault!! i've told you countless times but you're still mopey and grumpus and psychoanalysing if there was something you coulda done to avoid it. it has happened, someone else was in the wrong, he's gotta pay for the damages so just get the car fixed and move on with your life. argh...you footballers like to psychoanalyse even when you're not coming up with a game plan or doing a post-mortem of your game. anyway take a chill pill, cheer up and i'll see you soon.
rachel at 11:28 PM
on why boys suck (sometimes)they say things to placate you...but they don't actually follow up. like they say they'll take you somewhere, and when the time comes they tell you they're too tired from soccer, need to sleep or need to go to sim lim square to buy new computer parts so will you go with them.
i don't understand why they have to give girls such high hopes only to crush them later, which means, more placating right?
then they tell you not to be upset, it's not something to get so worked up over...but if it's something they do over and over again isn't it a girl's right to be frustrated and annoyed? and if you get frustrated and annoyed with them for too long, they turn the tables on you and get upset with you for being upset with them.
and sometimes, after they do something to make you angry, instead of chasing after you to say they're sorry, or calling you back they aren't affected by it at all and continue doing their normal stuff. sure, sometimes girls need their space, but sometimes (depending on the situation) they want the guys to give them more of the aforementioned attention.
it is okay with me if a guy's not around all the time. in fact, i don't want him to be around all the time cuz we'd just get sick of each other faster. i mean, guys have their own stuff to do too...but what annoys me is that when the girl is not around, or busy with her own life, the guy complains. he expects her to be there for him as and when he feels like it, and when he doesn't want her around he brushes her off. as i always say, "you can't have me when you want me!" *evil laughter*
disclaimer: this is merely an observation. i am not directing this at any particular guy but just talking about guys in general.
rachel at 1:00 AM
Saturday, November 04, 2006
what the heckwoke up today still in grumpus mode...
went shopping and bought a bag i totally did not need on impulse, went to jason's and as usual spent alotta time walking up and down the aisles making new discoveries , emerging with some japanese strawberry candy.
i went to haji lane after that to check out the shops. i went to this one, hoity toity, that sells vintage clothing and accessories and everything was going great and i was loving it until i heard the tinkle of bells, looked down and saw a kitten nearby. i nearly yelped and freaked out cuz people typically don't bring their pets to work right...and yeah i'm a dog person who's terrified of cats. so that spoiled my shopping experience a li'l.
next up was b bakery down on bussorah st and i treated myself to a lemon curd tart and some apple sage cheesecake...all calorific and sugary there, i was all carbed up after.
so anyways i got some major cleaning up and sorting out to do in here...my table is in a fricking organised mess but i want it to be organised sans the mess.
the haze is upon us again :(
rachel at 2:02 AM
Friday, November 03, 2006
in crummy modeone year and one day ago, i still remember that night clearly.
it's nice to know that i've grown up and moved on since then. 19, bursting with life and energy. reckless and impulsive and always rushing headlong into things (i am, sort of, still like that). things have slowed down lots now. that said, i am glad for everything, all experiences good and bad, because they have shaped who i am and the way i think, and i believe that self development is important without which our lives would be in stasis and we'd be stuck in a rut.
earlier tonight i was upset with the grade i'd received for the newspaper redesign assignment that i'd spent many late nights completing (see posts below). i was actually really pleased with the final product and i'd put alot of thought into it, especially the details. i did alotta tweaking and experimenting to make it look good, did as much as i could to put in good photo captions, headlines and blurbs and well basically i flunked that portion majorly...
when i saw the breakdown of my grades i just wanted to cry. in fact thinking about it now i want to. it sucks, thinking about the effort which has gotten trashed. perhaps my work really does deserve to be trashed, but i was confident of what i was doing and i felt good about it as the days progressed. it being the final assignment i wanted it to be the best and i must say it's the most work i've done all semester. so i'm not happy with just scraping through.
sigh. it's the weekend...time to move on to happier things and not mope about this.
rachel at 9:09 AM
Thursday, November 02, 2006
soon.yeah it's all over for the semester, handed in all assignments so now it's time to prep for the exams, but not before i have some fun and relaxation and eat some good food over the next coupla days.
and not before i sort out my timetable for the winter quarter which i do not wanna do until i get there. i had my medical checkup today, flu shot and x-ray so i'm now protected from all of 'em birds.
slept for about 4 hours last night cuz i was up late finishing the remnants of some assignment...got a really bad headache now even though i came back and slept another 4 hours in the afternoon. i think i'm just tired of staring at the computer screen.
but well, there's the timetable mess to think about and some orders to process... all the charm necklaces i designed are sold out!!!!!!
whizzoh.
rachel at 7:23 AM
Wednesday, November 01, 2006
rainfallswaterlogged jeans and squishy slippers, 3 cab$ and a headache.
rachel at 3:38 AM