last week.. finally!

i keep trying to catch a breather, and now i just have to hold on till the end.

christmas week in cambridge is coming up, with a huge spoiler in the form of a 3-hour-long pathology test to come. :( but after that, it's all good till i reach back to sunny shores in 3 week's time.

since last, i've learnt how to play the hardest song in my repetoire on the guitar: cannonball. all those practising has given me hardened fingertips but it's all worth it. i LOVE playing the guitar and just chilling and relaxing. it also explains why i'm up at this ungodly hour revising. i'm giving myself a goal: in 3 year's time i'm going to be able to play as well as meng. HAHA nic are u listening? motivation enough eh?

updates for all u loyal readers (which i don't suppose will amount to many..)

been to london again for temasek forum and abacus boat party. it felt so good being in an environment where singlish was the main mode of communication: even the VIPs were speaking in singlish! listening in to discussions about singapore policies and news from home just made me feel all the more.. home-y. :) boat party wasn't as good as everyone hyped it up to be, but twas enjoyable all the same..

blogger's being anal and not allowing me to post pictures. rarr :(

and so it is

just like you said it would be

life goes easy on me

most of the time...

i'm taking a mid-term break from all things cumsa. hurray.

this week has flown by, especially with the midweek escapade to london. twas a refreshing change to the monotony that was cambridge life. supervision after supervision, essays after essays, sleepless nights galore. that being said, it's been a rather sociable term thus far. i'm glad for the balance.

on one of the many roofs of johns, trying to take in the beauty of the pitch black sky that night..

early in the term osca meet up. these people made screaming kids bearable for 6 weeks in hk during the summer.

first pembroke bop of the year: night at the movies.
unadventurous as i was, i still managed to crap up some form of costume (battle royale: classic school uniform excuse of a costume).

no points for guessing who chris came as..

i love props!

then came the notorious pembroke medics/vets formal. first of the year where freshers get taken down... and taken down baadd. first and only picture of all the second year medics so far..

the singaporean frenzy catches on real quick.. either that or all of them were wasted.

funkyard: where things got exciting..

A&E night! when everyone thinks medics are way cool and tries to dress up as one, finally realising that there isn't much room for creativity as a medic.

yay for bold pembroke domination of the central podium!

meng, the one night he behaved himself..

well, not quite.. hahaha!

espionage. a night of sultry decadence.
love the black and white photo chan

jish: all the way from oxford! reliving our oxbridge success...

i didn't get what the themed booths were,
from the looks of it, apprantly u just get hats.

the great london midweek escape ended on a high, like anything involving football should really.

chelsea vs leicester city with meng and jesh

i got my money's worth: 7 goals! and all that excitement along with it!

all seems good now that i'm done with the hexamathonium man. :)

only nic will understand...

haha

ta!

lazy days

haven't been up to much since my return: seen a few people, met up with family, had a huge humungous japanese dinner courtesy of some lucky rich people with 6 months bonuses. brought helen around the tiny island that is singapore, i had to think really hard where to bring her cos there isn't really much choice here is there?

and most recently, I'VE FALLEN SICK. bummer. and not just any plain old sickness, it has to be the mother of all illnesses. struck me down and made me do nothing but lie in bed the whole day on monday, i'm not kidding. feeling much better now, but i'm gearing myself up for my first public appearance since the virus attacked, at a class gathering no less.

yesterday was recuperation day, together with pineapple tart baking day! ahh the smells that were wafting from the kitchen... too bad my stomach was still feeling a bit queasy, else there wouldn't be that many pineapple tarts left now. all this food's for the fresher's tea party on saturday, where we finally get to see the new blood going into cams. these people are scary. ok, i have to say, in a fit of boredom and when facebook stalking seemed interesting, i have found out that these freshies have been interacting with the other newcomers from all over the uk going into the same college! sounds like how dave, lorna and tara first "met" one another way way before we stepped into pem. gosh, i wish my children will be nice and enthu.

jiayi and i were just lamenting how we miss osca. although we all said it was the most tiring thing we've ever done, but it was so much fun. i wouldn't give up the experience for anything. maybe next year, another country, another 6 good summer weeks? mmm.

back

6 weeks in honkers. and now i'm back.

it's been great. i'm already missing it.

now's the start of some serious slacking, chilling and bumming. woohoo.

ooooh i'm in heaven...

hongkong!

the week back in singapore just flew by. and now it's 6 weeks of hk.

it was a good week by any standards, saw most of my friends but too little of the family. then again, some of them are flying back to different parts of the world while i'm here in cantoland, so i'm justified. i hope.

we missed the fireworks last night. 10th anniversary of independence. i can't believe it was that long ago.

owell.. DIMSUM soon! i'm starving.

a quick update before i fly off tonight into a champagne world set right on my doorstep that is the pembroke may ball...

it's been a week since the last day of hell and i've grown significantly tanner. the sun came out for cumas' garden party, but decided to snub us at cumsa. but i am thankful to say that the rainy season seems to be over now. just in time for mayball.

john's june ent: around the world. made the hugest mistake to join the 2 hour queue for crepes in the rain. i can't complain about the free food and ice lollies though. the dj was fantastic.. i haven't had that much fun for time.. well for 3 days to be exact.

i can't believe jesus had the feeling play for them! and we've got noisettes. female lead singers don't bode very well for me, gwen excluded. bummer. i was hoping for a good band this year. we'll seeee...

not even the rain can stop us

today was such a blast!

notwithstanding the showers which threatened to spoil my garden party day

before when all was nice and calm...

then it got a bit more messy...

after all the mad rushes to the food trays as they come out of the makeshift kitchen

we started getting a little bit more desperate and chased each other for that last bit of sausage/juice/crisp

news of the release of hom results unsettled some of us...
but WE ALL PASSED!

the second years had to endure all our screaming and celebratory hugging.. it was quite a sight. we had concluded that us pembroke medics are one smart bunch by the end of the day. :)

post-exam euphoria

yesterday, the end finally came.

tara and lis were waiting outside histology armed with bottles of champagne. there were lots of bottle popping; people were being drenched in champagne; hugs all around: it was such a good feeling. then anita shelly charged up bull-like and threatened us with our lives if we didn't bring our celebratory din somewhere else...

back at pembroke:

lazying around on the lawn. more champagne, g&t with a little too much gin, cheese and crackers, chocolate mousse, drunken croquet (always a blast), loads of talking and catching up cos i feel i haven't seen some of the medics since the start of mugging season, guitaring, then cindies!

the cheese was great, especially on an end-of-exam day.. got back to bed with sore feet and a rumbling stomach, but i was happyy. happiest i've been in awhile. :)

picnic with the medics today. we bought too much food as usual... that's what you get with a bunch of kiasu singaporeans. the sun was glorious and i was actually burning. went shopping after and went a bit crazy. haha garden parties tmr and now i've got a nice dress to go in!

ahh the start of fun times...

yessss! 3 in a row now :)

steeplechase was fine. more importantly, steeplechase is over!

one more to go...

phew..

after cramming for a whole afternoon, night and morning, with a maximum of only 4 hours of sleep, the week of hell is finally o v e r! thank god. i don't think i could have sustained that amount of work every single day. i dread to think what i'll become next year with almost 8 consecutive days of exams.

the new secret weapon for taking exams = caffeine. i've never had coffee before an exam, just mostly during essay crisis nights. but it works perfectly :) ipoh white coffee - the superdrug. hehe.

i'm loving this taste of freedom, even if it's just for tonight. makes me think of all the things i can be doing other than studying. 2 more papers and i can start burning my notes!

i thought it couldn't get any worse

but it did.

cambridge - where your best is never enough.

speaks a lot about today's papers.

sucks.

funnily enough, once i step out of my room i feel good. even if it's going to the library. for one, it's bright and sunny, and i can concentrate.

then they kick us out and i lose my motivation. so i sit in my room and mope.

i don't get how some people can be so carefree.

down in the pits

there are people raking the leaves out on the lawn - the aftermath of the storm that was yesterday.

very soon i will be able to rake away the info overload too.

everything will be alright.

up on a cloud..

ahh bliss.

i've waited for this day for ages :)

the first of many visits from home. and i can't be happier that it's lilian to kick start them all.

another fantastic day, sun shining brightly, cambridge at it's finest.

i'm just so happy that everything came together perfect.

now as i sit in my room reminesing,

it all seemed so fast.

conversation blurs into one as we catch up on lost time

it's the same comfortable feeling :)

i wish it could happen all over again...

breaking the monotony

nothing can quite compare to strawberries and cream

on a bright sunny day

a picnic on the grass

taking all inhibitions away

if just momentarily...

but i'm happy enough

today has been a good day

a refreshing break from routine :)

nic was right,

when it comes to the exam period, you start questioning your aims in life.

why are you here?

what are you doing this for?

it suddenly all becomes quite meaningless.

every day is filled with superficial rote learning

i don't see the point.

my sleep cycle is all screwed up. all because of anatomy. boo.

but i've passed both steeplechases! woohoo. with the amount of revision i've done, it's quite an amazing feat. in fact, i think because of the steeplechase-overload, i'm getting the hang of it. some questions also seem to repeat... and i have to actually be able to recognise the different muscles to know that! hehe

the weather's getting slightly better. monday's forecasted to be SUNNY. my god, it's been awhile since we last saw proper sunshine. ahh all the better for tennis!

this is such a boring post. my life is pretty uneventful these days. mugmugmug. when the highlight of your day is reduced to mealtimes, u know something's not right.

the massive july babies birthday formal..

the july babies decided to hold a combined birthday formal since they wouldn't have the chance to on their actual birthdays. and so, we had the pseudo-birthday formalities today: present-exchange, formal, and the usual birthday banter..

now, normally this would only happen to the birthday girl. but since everyone was merry, why not 5-pence everybody in sight? made a whole load of sense then, now it just seems like silly fun. my tongue wasn't long enough to reach the bottom of the glass as lorna's could, and in the end i had to resort to stealing my dessert spoon back to finish my pudding.

one of the many pseudo-birthday girls.. lornabean. love. :)

another day has passed. i'm counting down...

lilian's coming next week already! i'm looking forward to her coming, but at the same time, that means i'll only be a week away from the exams! :S boo. i hate exams. however, if i choose to think of it as an inevitable hurdle before months of freedom and playtime, i might just have the motivation to work hard till then.

there, i've consoled myself sufficiently to start work again. sometimes i amaze myself.

today i played 3 hours of tennis. shiok. clara couldn't make it, so one of the guys coached me instead.. i can now hit a proper backhand! but i also have a huge blister on my thumb. well, as they say, no pain no gain. i hope it's a sign that i'm improving.

tennis is one of the best sports ever. i think i will play everyday when i get back over the summer. it'll be the one sport that i will be following on tv AND playing. too bad roland garros has to be held during my exams, or i'd be glued to the tv in the bars in june. works out perfectly: after the premiership season ends, it'll be 2 grand slams in a row - french open then wimbledon. AHH if only i had tickets for wimbledon...

ok, anatomy calls.... i will finish it all this weekend. yes i will.

LONDON~

mou-rin-h-o!

are u listening?

u've got to keep the trophy glistening.

cos we're coming back in may

to take it away

walking in a fergie wonderland!

nothing can ever beat live football matches, although yesterday's match was a bit disappointing in the build-up. it was meant to be THE match of the season, with the top 2 premiership teams fighting it out for the title. but not before chelsea tamely gave the fight up by not being able to win arsenal over the weekend. booooooo.

so there we were, watching the the chelsea and man utd second stringers in action. sootet: u got to see keiran richardson up close! bahhh.

our seats were reallly good though. 10 rows from the front. behind the goal...

here's rooney during half-time, showing off as usual. kept the ball off the ground all the way from the goalposts to the sidelines. OK i know that might be nothing to some people, but i'm a girl. i don't play football. i tried to see how many times i could juggle with the ball, and it only got up as high as 2 kicks. so pathetic..

solskjaer, terry, smith, essien all in one picture. haha that dongfangzhuo spoiling the prefect picture. owell, he had a special chant from the man utd fans:

ding dong ding dong
wherever u are from...

then i can't rmb anymore haha.. wad to do? i have such a goldfish memory.

yea, so the match went fine. 0-0 draw. but what else could be expected given my recent run of bad luck with these games?

the remainder of the time i was in london was spent hanging out with meng and his winchestonians. peas in a pod. i swear these schools churn out almost identical final products! they were pretty cool though, so that's fine.

and before i knew it, my one-day escape from cambridge ended. just like that. :( and now it's back to mad revision. tata.

boredboredbored..

after finishing an essay, i always get this down time where i feel satisfied and contented with myself, at the same time not doing anything productive.. and hence this entry. but yes, i'm done with my fab essay! :)

the weekend was all about medics/vets dinner. the big annual 25 pound 5 course dinner in the old library. and as always, the brits will try to get the money's worth of alcohol.

by the end of the night, they were all so tipsy they couldn't even get their own names correct.

nic and i rushed off for spiderman 3 after dinner. best decision made, or else we'd be lying on the floor in H10 passed out or similar. as i warned, it WAS carnage. just carnage that i missed. for spiderman, which wasn't as great as everyone made it out to be. cheesy lines galore...

"everyone needs help sometimes, even spiderman"

oh, so true! in every meaning of that phrase.

it was mabel's birthday yesterday.. all 20 years old now. just like me.

lunch at spoons.. oh the sharers! where were they all my life? hahha barbecue chicken wings and ribs with chips. a huge mountain of them. mmmmm

i realise i always end with food. haha. it's one of the loves of my life!

GAH.

chelsea always disappoints. now i'm just going for a party celebration at stamford bridge for all the "starry eyed man u fans" as prof puts it.

it's been raining all day today. somewhat depressing, but yet somehow comforting. i'm glad that i'm done with all my lessons for today and now can sit in my room and get down to slogging. no, take that back. i'm only happy to sit in my room. i have 2 essays looming, of which i have to finish at least one today so that i can do my other one tmr before london. PLUS i need to revise and not get sucked under all these supervision work... :(((

somebody save me.

johns formal swap.. again.

this is the pembroke medic crew yesterday at johns. a girls' night out...

theo the john's boy.. with kat and alasdire from magdalene. across the table, talk was about how people wake up in awe everyday in cambridge, and that makes them work. or does it? and of course, when u put a pembroke medic together with some madgalene medics, who else do we end up talking about but cecilia? haha dear cecilia. i have found one of the 2 medics whose supervision i'm crashing on thursday!

these 3 girls are obviously disillusioned. they think they are having an intellectual DR conversation.

ahh these formal swaps... johns is normally one of the better places to go visit. the food last night was fantastic! smoked salmon for starters, chicken with mushrooms, spinach and gnocchi for entree and icecream!! all for 3.85 pounds.. i was in heaven.

yes, and up on the schedule tonight: medics/vets dinner. it will be carnage. be warned.

arghhhhhh!

i can't believe how shit man u played tonight! destroyed my mood to study now.. maybe i should just drown myself in comfort food. there're loads of chocolate/sweets/pineapple tarts/cookies in my room anyway...

sigh, on a brighter note: croquet yesterday! like, finally!

it was nice and sunny. 3 hours lazing around on the croquet lawn meant no work done. but it was such a good break... the sun here is amazing, bright but not scorching. the wind makes all the diff too. ahhh.

we even had an audience!

hehe.. according to lorna, it was a "good tactical game", which ended up with me winning cos the rest just took turns kiling each other off! when u hit the colourful pole in the middle before u've gone through all the 6 hoops, u lose and start from the beginning again. the best part of croquet is when u get to whack other people's balls against the pole when they're about to win and make them start again! and so the game continues... and continue it did.. all the way until 6pm. (we started at 3)

and then it was dinner+ugly betty time. and more time-wasting on the liverpool-chelsea match. that result was rubbish, but not as rubbish as tonight's. :( sigh.

evergold...

oh yea and after picnic, there was evergold: the play. :)

bryan and yaoyu were fantastic! the whole play was in cantonese, thank god for the subtitles. i loved the costumes.. nic was saying how cooling they would be, esp in that furnace of a dramatheatre. or it could have just been us suffering the after-effects of being sunburnt from the picnic.

picnic in the sun

today i struggled out of bed due to sheer exhaustion, and i figured that it all boils down to being in the sun for too long yesterday.

christina will agree with me that the sun was scorching down parker's piece. and i must say nic's sunglasses are guaranteed to give you 360 degress of protection! i tried it. oh yea.


more at the picnic, there was good food: macdonals-worthy milo and heaps of the best sandwiches in cambridge in the spread...

everybody seems to be enjoying the foood more than anything else..

ben gives affirmation to the lip-smacking egg mayo sandwiches

so do ym and wv who even volunteered to be our food models and be in this advertisement.

darryl got a bit confused as to what to do with his food...

but ben shows the way... fighting for yet another advertising opportunity for our pristinely catered food with his colour-coordinated outfit.

and so, all the compliments on the food left ym and i puzzled at the amount of egg mayo sandwiches left at the end of the picnic... but thankfully there were other activities that distracted us from our misery..

ym got straight down to work filling those damn water balloons,

but not after taking an impromptu bag-tying tutorial from the hawkerman himself.

and what else does meng usually get up to , other than disrupting our efforts by threatening to destroy all the innocent water bombs lying all ready in the sun.

there were patient people trying to fly a kite. all i did was hold the string when the kite was already safe and flying in the air, and i still managed to let it drop back down. i have no affinity with kites, but that can't be said for cricket!

it's softball all over again! :) chrees, ym and i had a ball of a time playing cricket modified to softball.. if only we had our gloves...

yep, it was a great way to spend an afternoon, with games, friends and food. it'd be awhile before we get to go all out and do this again.

(: till then.