Random. Busy busy.

There's this Threadless.com tee i want so bad but i'm not willing to pay close to 30buckeroos for it. It's called "Prehistoric Freak" (or was it Freaks), aka Barney the Purple Dinosaur. Man, it's funny.

Quite concussed at the moment, so i'm gonna sound pretty disjointed.

Anyway. It's so good to stop being busy (going out of the house to do something for a purpose other than doing something for myself) for a while. Call me nuts, because i awoke and started getting scared when i discovered that i had nothing to do today. Yeah, i am a bundle of contradictions. The thought of idling around came as a warning prick to my heart, and for two seconds i felt dread creep in. In those two seconds, i felt that same familiar feeling of depression... But I got moving with some cooking, housework and a swim and the day passed by in a flash.

The past week was madness. My room's like a hotel room, with me staying in it no longer than the time i need to sleep and prep to leave the house. I'm awaking at hours that i didn't even have to when i was schooling.

For 3 days in a row, i was cooped up in office meeting rooms making bookmarks for people i'll never know or never get to know, these people being church camp participants for the coming church camp in KL. Can't say i didn't have fun, because if you put a potent mix of people together, you'll get a riot. A fun riot. Always a good remedy during repetitive routine work happening hour after hour in an enclosed space.
Even better when you have concerned church office people (or rather, person) who take welfare seriously, *ahem* taking care to plug us with food. Ice cream floats, samosas and curry puffs. Hieh hieh.

Saturday. I missed all the action at the Futsal because of work at the clinic. Bleagh! I missed watching my Gem play the sport he is passionate about. Oh well. There'll be other times. And then came the Confirmation Service and hilarious RahRah for the varsity camp during Youth service. Cell had a good dinner at HV together, machiam extended family dinner. Ice cream followed. Oh, the icy joy. Yum. ;-9

Sunday... What. A. Day. With that wretched level of consciousness enough to slap the snooze button on the alarm clock that rang at 5am, i ended up awaking 50 minutes too late and reached Buangkok 40 minutes past 7am. The shoot began at 8:30-ish, and though i wasn't shooting this time, i was pretty late given i was part of the organizing committee. My bad.

I was given the job of "announcer" and never did i expect to have to welcome two MPs from the Pasir Ris-Punggol (or is it the other way around...) GRC. I mean, all along i figured that i was going to be the fella who tells the archers what to do at the shooting space, NOT be the person who dispenses information from the organizers over the mic to the masses and the NOT to be the emcee for the event. But no...

That aside, i thank God for my past experiences with public speaking because the mental partitioning from fear and the ability to speak with confidence with a smile that i had to cultivate in secondary school came in handy. After being given the list of names and titles of the GOHs, i sat down to absorb what role i had to assume and drafted out something rough. Details and exact lines only serve to make you more nervous, i feel. And of course, i submitted my fears to God and i thanked Him for my abilities and left all the events-to-come to Him.
No glory for myself, but i'm pleased to say that later on during the 2nd MP's visit, one of the grassroots people told me that she liked the way i did things, and asked if i do this emcee stuff all the time because i seem well accustomed to it, at ease and quick to figure out what to say. Thanks God. Couldn't have done it without you. :-D

The whole event ended at around 8pm. So that means about 12 hours spent trudging around the muddy Buangkok field. Legs felt like dropping off by the end of the day. Shoes took on a different colour. I played with a toad in the mud.

And so today was for myself, but it's back to verk again, with a recce to Changi, and more bookmark making and meeting up with my close ones. Gem and i haven't had any time to talk in depth about recent issues in our lives.

I'm tired and it's off to bed again. I never take long to fall asleep these days. I like.

I'm scot free. Yes! Exams are finally over! Oh, the feeling's so good, and what makes it better is that i'm being kept busy. There's no doubt that i'm going to want some time to myself to do my own thing even if it's just stoning, but yeah. Being busy keeps depression away and i intend to keep my hols meaningful.

Tue: packed room
Wed, Thurs: @ Church office
Fri: Varsity camp recce @ Changi
Sat: Work, Sure Kickabout Futsal and (your confirmation service, i believe. :-> )
Sun: helping at the archery competition @ buangkok.

Woot! Who wants to book me nix wik? ;-DDDDD

All righty, i gotta run. Would love to get back to blogging though. :-I

Another trip to the supermarket saw the resident suaku gawking in horrified surprise at these dudes. Not only were they a square bunch of watermelons, these dudes cost S$50 each. Lucky got no extra charge for touching them.

Next, we'll have hexagonal apples, triangular oranges, cylindrical grapes! How fun! And make no mistake, you must sell each one at $10 a piece, yo. Even the grapes.

Got no law against taking photos in the mart, right?

In the last 5 years, i've been a most faithful supporter of the ACJC rugby team, trudging down, rain or shine, mostly solo after leaving JC, to the Police Academy to lend my screaming mouth to cheer my team on and to snap pictures of the event.
In the last 5 years, the finals always saw THE clash of the titans: ACJC and RJC.

But not this year.

Well, it's not too bad... since... RJC was the team that (still) got booted. Muah hahaha. Go SAJC! (even though you beat my team too. :-< )

Disclaimer: me no vendetta against RJC lah. Just some plain and simplistic old school rivalry.

We interrupt the exam prep with a word of warning to all friends.

A short while ago, i received a call (to my mobile phone) from a financial advisory company asking me if i would like to go down for an interview for the post of financial advisor. They claim to be the biggest or one of the biggest of such companies around which i think is a bogus claim, because:
1. No website at all. A big company and Google Singapore can't even find you?
2. No such name in the Yellow Pages.

So you tell me.

I haven't a clue on HOW they got my contact number, sounding all so very professional and polite.

The best part is, the person on the other line said that the contacts she received was from a head hunting company. Now, please excuse me. I've only worked as a puny part-time sales assistant and now an office staff, which are jobs you would hardly call "professional". The head hunter fella hasn't even spoken to me about switching jobs and now a company is knocking on my door?

*screams hysterically* Waddaya want from me!?

*ahem*

So anyway, please be careful.

The sad thing about humans is that when we chase the things that make our own hearts pleased and our desires satiated, we forget about the relationships around us that matter. Sometimes, it's not a literal act of forgetting, but a willful putting aside of people because of our priorities. Sad, but true. But is it always necessary? Is it really not possible to give up just one segment of our time that we spend doing our own thing (that is not related to serious work) to sustain relationships and continue treasured communication between friends and family?

We don't spend our last moments on Earth thinking about the unwashed dishes and undone paperwork that's due, but what we really long for are the very people around us who ate from those dishes and the people whom we have built meaningful friendships with while working through the good and bad times.

Is this an idealistic fantasy? Not entirely.

Hi people, i've not been killed by an oncoming cement mixer, but i've been swamped by a wave of post examination activities.

The only kink with that is, it's everyone else's post exam time, while me... I just get sucked into it. Bad girl. My first and last paper is on the 22nd.

Off to work! Whee! *wave*

randomology

*giggle*

Something from my psych textbook:

Callum: Is God everywhere?
Mother: Yes, dear.
Callum: Is he in this room?
Mother: Yes, he is.
Callum: Is he in my mug?
Mother: (growing uneasy) Er - Yes.
Callum: (clapping his hand over his mug) Got him!

(Donaldson, 1992, cited in Stevens, 1996)

***

As the 4 people sat to watched the idiot box showing a pretty lady making 2 long scratches on a piece of paper with 2 pictures of rather innocuous objects, one person says: "Ya! You know jie's friend put a tick instead of a cross in the box you know?"

Dad: No, no, no... You must put a tick on the one you want, and a cross on the one you don't want.

-.-"
My fambly.

***

You know you can't cook/need to improve the currently tragic culinary skills, when you attempt to cook one of your favourite dishes only to mess it up so bad that... the favourite dish is not so favourite anymore.

***

I think that i take things way too seriously. It's either that, or i put too stress on myself when i need to perform. To compound things, when everything comes successively blow by blow, i feel like keeling over and dying for a while. For a less dramatic way to escape, i would love to be whisked to some beach (with a guarantee chop to be rain-free) without a single care on my mind, and sip a cool drink with jazz music playing in the background.

Things are not bad, really. It's just the paraniod, easily freaked, easily pressured person that i am that makes me incline more towards being the one ON the couch belonging to a psychologist, rather than being the one LISTENING to the one on the couch.

Communication gripes

I abhor it when people don't take time to listen. They think they know what you're going to say next and interject with a criticism or their point of view on the matter. The bad aftertaste left in the mental mouth really isn't necessary if you would just pay attention for a few more seconds or at least 5 minutes. Is that so hard?

Some others just don't know where to stop. Being over zealous in the bringing across of their passionate opinions, they fail to see that they're upsetting their company, aggravating the already waning effectiveness of the conversation with their one track mindedness and impatience at how and why others don't agree with them.

And then there are those people who don't know the difference between being honest and being tactless. There's a reason why they say that "Honesty is the best policy", and not "Tactlessness is the best policy". You can be honest while being careful with how you put something across to someone. It need not be a pleasant message, but at least you would've done both parties justice if you uphold a level of respect for one another. Firstly, you hold on to your dignity, and secondly, you don't purposefully cause any more negativity in the other person than needed. How the other person reacts, post-discussion, is then really up to them.

Ah, then there is another category of people who are so sensitive about what's being said to them, but are indiscriminately insensitive to other people. Talk about double standards.

Woah. Then there are those... Champion Material type, you know? You take the initiative to talk to them, but they don't bother to reply. But if thy royal highness decides to speak, most of what you see are two nostrils in place of eye contact, or knotted brows above their aristocratic peepers with a royal radiant scowl even a peasant like me would be most blessed beyond compare if i were to behold.

Then there are those who cannot be bothered with you until they need something from you. This is an unfortunate fact of life, and as unhappy as one can be about it, we are all forced to do this at some point or another. It would be too idealistic to keep bonds strong between you and every single friend.

I also find it interesting to note how some people who consider themselves to be "open minded", can actually be the least tolerant of others who decide to have a strong and steadfast opinion on an issue. The irony, man.

How interesting the thought: If we all communicated the same way, would we communicate better? Then, who's to say whose communication skills are best to be adopted? And the list of questions goes on.

As Batty (the, erm, yes, Bat) from the movie "Fern Gully" would say: "AGH!? Huuumaaannn!!! Where? Agh! Agh! Aggh!"
Yeah, as humans, we all can be pretty scary people sometimes.

Just thinking about the run, envisioning the morning sprint, running as a pack of er, women, on the 16th of July makes my heart pound faster so much so that i can even hear the throbbing sound in my ears, feel my face gettng flushed, experience that wonderful tingling sensation of excitement and energy that spreads throughout my living fibres.

Now, if i can just translate and channel my enthusiasm to my fingers and brain to madly tappity tap on the keyboard for this essay question, i would be most pleased.

I know that some of you have expressed your interest in the Threadless.com tees... So, here comes the good noos! They're once again having a SALE! USD$10 a tee. The not so good noos is that the range of choices aren't too varied this time, but still, have a look see and you might find something that catches your attention.

***

G and i have decided to sign up for the Shape Run '06: she'll do the 10km run and me, the 5km. Wheeee!!! She's the seasoned runner so she'll be doing that run while me the newbie dewbie... Shall go see what it's like to pound the roads along with a whole throng of other women (only). I'm sure there'll be loads of intimidating garang and fit runner types clad with an assortment of flashy branded sports attire bounding right by me. Ah well. Training for it begins now. Thanks Polar Running Coach. :-)

This is going to be my first competitive run, er, well, outside of school. I've NEVER been any good at long distance runs and truth be told, i actually hate it. So what's the deal? Guess i just love the exertion, the good sweat and the nice worked-out feeling after a good run (and throw in a gym session too, please will you.) Yours truly, the resident (selective) masochist.

5km is not a ton, i have to agree. So it's not so much of just merely finishing the race that i'm after because i can do that. It's the challenge of running it at a faster pace than i usually would.

Eess going to be sho fun!

Anyone else interested to go run too? Let me know k? :DDDDD
Yes, it's open to women only. And for the really nice guys, you can come and support your female friends by getting post-run ice cold drinks served on a silver (gold also can) platter and volunteer to give massages and a towel wipe down. Face, arms and legs only hor. Oh, bringing a standing air-conditioner and feeding us full, ripe and juicy grapes is optional but we won't mind that either, i'm sure. Thankew! :DDD

Nah lah. I'm content enough to simply mill around in my sweaty attire. I'm gross like that.