I've moved into hall! okay it was a little dusty at the beginning. there was a dead cockroach under the table plus a half eaten yoghurt container left on top of the cupboard, but after the cleaning, it's nice and cosy now. :) here's what it looks like.















































nice and blue!




















lots of supplies! thanks to my mum. :)
































what's missing is a little fridge. LOL~! I can imagine the kind of stuff we'll be buying if there's a fridge. milk, cereal, yoghurt, fruits, chocolates, fruit juice?? anyway, we'll see how it goes.

there were a lot of freebies at the orientation today! jacket, college tee, usb thumbdrive -it's really small actually, about 2MB only.. main purpose was to show us some school content inside- lanyard, water bottle, notepads, shoebag, EZ-link card- no value of course! if only a few weeks earlier.. could have been used for free travel on public transport during the YOG from 14-26 August...- lol.. and most importantly, a MAP. HAHA. :D

saw on the Edventure portal that Kimberly Wang is in my elective course. lol. if you don't remember, she actually acted in some channel 5 and channel 8 shows before.. not those kind of major roles la, but ya. weien my roomie told me her name! so i'm not the stalker here. hahaha.

was a little lazy to come back from NTU today.. it's really really far. plus my favourite quilt is now at hall and not at home. HAHA. thankfully my mum was free after work to fetch me. yayy.

Hall camp was great. :D the initiation wasn't as bad as engine camp! but still.. it was really disgusting. lol..

had to leave to see the doctor on the 3rd day's morning coz of some cream bread I ate the night before that made my stomach feel funny. I vomitted once at the chalet, which was at NSRCC by the way. nice place! by some luck, the clinic that they brought me too happened to be just across my block. HAHA. slept the night at home and rejoined the guys the next morning. fortunately nothing serious. :)

SP night was on a ship at Marina South Pier. I never knew there was a pier over there before. lol. throughout the dinner we just kept rocking and rocking every time there was a big wave. just so happened that the timing coincided with the closing ceremony of the YOG, so there was fireworks as well..! haha.

Hall life is going to be exciting. :D

My sis treated me bubble tea today, at this new place at Bedok Interchange, near the KFC, called Q Essentials bubble tea.. it's some taiwan kind also. it was nice! can fight with KOI, seriously. actually it's very similar to KOI, can even choose the sugar level. the shop owners from taiwan I think, coz they have the slang. so you can expect authentic taiwan bubble tea. they also quite smart to open there. the human traffic a lot. plus with the craze over KOI + the upcoming Bedok Point nearby, I think they're going to have awesome business.. haha. I shall become a supporter! lol. :D had this drink called Hokkaido Milk Tea.. some kind of coffee-ish/ milk tea drink. go try!

climbed at NUS gym today.. thanks to rongjun and limzy for inviting! otherwise it would have been 5 weeks without climbing, assuming that we resume climbing on the first week of school,which I also think probably not. played pool in the student lounge while waiting for the gym to open. the Foosball table con money one. saw someone put in $1 but no balls came out! best thing is, there's a laminated sign there: For problems, call 67****** (some numbers which I cant remember). so when the guy called, the number not valid. LOL! saw Fiona there too! what a small world. hor ahem?? hahaha. :D

wanted to go sing K again just now but Tio Heng's earliest slot was at 11pm! and they close at 1am. so, not worth. but we all really damn kian3! loll. can't seem to get enough of K. haha. settled for pool at parkway. KOI-ed again! Hazelnut Milk Tea. :) large some more. haha.. thanks Graham for the lift home! we shall K again soon lol..

Hall camp next week, and then it's time to move into the hall. a new chapter begins! oh and my dad bought me a nice pillow for me to bring to hall. I need to look for a bolster too.. haha.

I came across this somewhere and found it very true...! :) lol. I'm sure some of us subconsciously employ some of these tactics while ordering cai fan.. except the ones in blue and orange, which I felt might not always work. haha..


Guide to ordering Economical Rice

Visit the stall near the end of lunch/dinner time.

Sure, some of the dishes may be sold out, but there will also be plenty of other dishes still available. Since the stall owner can't keep the dishes until the next lunch/dinner time, it is in his interest to give away larger portions so that he won't need to deal with leftovers later.

Get your guy colleague to order for you.

This only applies to girls. Stall owners tend to give a smaller portion to girls compared to guys. However, they charge the same price for both. So it is more value for money for a guy to place the order on behalf of the girl so as to receive a larger portion.

Ask for 'more rice' instead of 'add rice'.

Most stall owners will interpret 'more rice' as a larger scoop of rice which will result in more rice. This is generally free. However, 'add rice' entails adding a second scoop of rice to the first, and this generally costs additional money.

Make sure the stall owner has space to serve.

In many mixed vege stalls, there are usually two or more people serving dishes as the same time. When you are ordering, make sure to order dishes that are near the person serving you so that he won't have to stretch over his co-worker to reach your dish. If he is stretching to reach your dish, he probably won't give you more than usual serving since it is that much of a hassle.

Order the meat first.

This is to create a good impression with the stall owner. By ordering the meat first, your are signaling to the stall owner that you will not be ordering the cheapest items on the menu. This puts the owner in a better mood, so he may give you a larger serving.

Order 1 dish at a time and wait until he finished serving.

Point to your first dish, then wait until the stall owner finish serving it before pointing to the next dish. Do not rush him. Often, the stall owner needs time to gauge the portion of food to serve. If you give him sufficient time, it is likely that he will give you a larger than standard portion. Hurrying him results in less than standard portions.

Pause in between ordering dishes.

Pretend to ponder in between dishes. This gives more time for the stall owner to serve your previous dish which likely will result in a larger portion. When he is finished and noticed that you are still pondering over your next order, he may feel bored and add a few more slices of your previous dish while waiting for you to make your next choice.

Order the same dish twice.

Use this technique very sparingly. After order a dish, pretend to look distracted and point to the same dish again. The stall owner will likely tell you that he has already served that dish. However, occasionally, he may instinctively go through the motion of serving the dish again and make your portion slightly larger, all for the same price.

Order dishes that are about to run out.

It takes practice to estimate, but it is worth picking dishes that are left with about 1.5 to 2 portions. Chances are, that if there is only about 1.5 to 2 portions of the dish left, the stall owner will think 'what-the-heck' and just give you everything. The good is that you get extra servings, the bad is that sauces right at the bottom of the tray are very salty.

Order vege dishes that contain meat sauces.

Some vege dishes have some meat in it to bring out the additional flavour. But it is sold at the price of vege becos the meat is usually in small amounts and only present in the sauce. Tofu dishes are an example of such. By ordering such dishes, you are getting some serving of meat for the price of vege. Nice.

Do not order meat dishes that contain vegetables.

These dishes count as meat but is usual half served with vegetables. It is very not worthwhile, do not order it. An example is the stir fried venison with leek. Go for fully meat dishes instead.

Ask for curry sauce.

Many a time, when you ask for curry sauce, some other ingredients in the curry sauce will find its way onto your rice, such as small pieces of chicken or potato. Cabbage curry sauce will probably bring you some cabbages and longbeans. And it's free.

Ask for meat sauces.

As mentioned earlier, some sauces are cooked with minced meat. It is near impossible to separate the mince meat from the sauce. So if you ask for meat sauces, you will definitely receive some serving of meat with it. And it's free.

Become a regular customer.

Talk to the stall owner on occasions. With good rapport, the stall owner will recognize you as a regular customer and will naturally give you extra servings the next time you visit.

now that school will be starting in a few weeks, I am seriously hoping I did not make the wrong choice, i.e. staying in Singapore and being close to friends and family with lower school fees compared with going to Melbourne studying something I would like better but paying higher fees. kind of scared!

This post is designed to make myself feel better and also to psycho myself that I made the right choice. lol. so pick what you think is true to read.

1. What makes you think Psychology is easier to study than Engineering? there's huge amounts of readings to do, and if you take months to read a simple book, you might not necessarily be doing better taking up Psychology.

2. An Engineering degree is versatile, you can even work in banks in the future if you have what it takes. Sometimes, life isn't always about doing what you like, sometimes it's also about liking what you do. what were you aiming to do with a Psychology degree, be a teacher or librarian? no offence to anyone, just so happens I had a friend who told me he knew someone who took Psychology and became a librarian.

3. There's so much more hassle living alone. Having to wash your own clothes and decide what to cook for your meals etc is definitely going to be time-consuming. Look at Singapore with our efficient transport system. Shopping malls are minutes away from the MRT stations, unlike in Melbourne where we probably have to wait long for the buses to come to take us to the malls. The buses don't ply the roads as often as they do here.

4. The climbing spirit is so much stronger here. Since J1, or at every competition, haven't you always felt so inspired watching people like Haroz and Ron climb? This is the chance to be a part of that community!

5. Starting pay for an Engineering degree would generally be higher than that for a Psychology degree? hmm... okay it's not always about the money. wait, shhh.. this is supposed to be a pro-Engineering post!

6. Dad sent your brother and sister over because they didn't really have a choice. But if you were offered a place here and still chose to go, would you feel good letting Dad pay so much? We could save up the money instead and go on a good trip to New Zealand again, this time as a whole family. or probably change a new car once the prices are good? and yes speaking of car, there's CAR to drive in Singapore but over in Melbourne NO CAR! lol.

shall think of more reasons to psycho myself.

anyway, I got into Hall 10. According to the map, it's pretty far away from civilisation! hope it's within walking distance of Hall 15. On the map it doesn't really look far but I walked that time from the bus stop outside Hall 2 to the Lee Wee Nam Library stop because I alighted one stop earlier, and it wasn't exactly near!

many many birthdays ahead! geee geee. :)

First time trying KOI bubble tea! and 2 cups in 2 hours some more. lol. bought a Oolong Milk Tea while waiting for the guys to arrive then went to join in the fun after dinner and bought another Aiyu Plum Passion Green Tea. lol! $2.40 + $3.50 = like a cheap. haha.

at pool, Darren bet $10 that Eleanor wouldn't be able to make the black ball go in by hitting the white against the cushion and rebounding to hit the black. the conventional method would be to make the white hit the black directly, black rebounds against the cushion then enter the hole. but Eleanor with her unstoppable luck, performed some magic. She hit the white ball, which missed the black ball. the white ball hit the cushion, rebounded and hit the black and such a precise angle that the black rolled and rolled and just managed to squeeze in the corner hole. IMBA. which normal person bets against Eleanor? :) hahaha.

we are just so awesome, really.

All it took after supper was for Chick to say, "eh... my car got groundsheet." and one hour later, there we were, at Marina Barrage, soaking in the night views with some Absolut Pears and great music, courtesy of Junyu.

many thanks to Chicken and Darren for sending us home! :D

sometimes you just want to keep the friendship.

I was just reading Junyu's blog when I saw the last line and felt I should also give a big thank you and acknowledgement to MR LOW RONG JUN for his yummy SWENSENS TREAT! (although I already thanked him verbally that day.) haha. first time so far that I have eaten two of the best desserts at Swensens at the same time! namely the Apple Crumble, the White Chocolate Blondie (was it white choc? can't remember) and the Giant Earthquake. okay that's three. I think apple was not bad but banana might have been nicer? :) lol. we'll find out next time!

THANK YOU RONGJUN! LET'S CLIMB OVERHANG TOGETHER SOONNNNN :D

I felt quite happy that day, seeing so many of the climbers from our batch come back to school to climb. everything seemed just like the good old days, like we were Year Twos on a normal wednesday training. only difference was that we were given more freedom. no coach to scold when we lay down on the mats, no one to nag us when we didn't warm up properly etc. don't get me wrong, I still think it's good to have a coach! :) Philip taught us well. I really appreciate all the little little techniques we learnt from him, helps us save strength on the wall. I hope all of us will continue to climb together, wherever and whenever we can.

Anyone interested in buying new climbing shoes? :D