the weather was very cold this morning and it rained heavily in the afternn, so i guess this is the sign that fall is coming. so sad... no more morning jog for me soon... I just came back from a almost two-hour SSA meeting. n now i'm simply not in the study mood, cuz today is my super siong day. but felt abit sinful abt not doing work cuz all the apartment-mates are studying now. stress sia

okok... i shall continue to update you guys abt my life

1) first driving lesson
for those who are concern, yes... I've finally taken my theory test and is now officially holding an instructional permit to learn driving. n of course, Helmi is my driving instructor. my first driving lesson, though it was short, was a super stressful hour for me. I was only driving ard in the carpark, trying to learn how to make a proper right turn. but it was so difficult for me to gauge when to turn the steering wheel, when to straighten the car etc... and now i'm only learning right turn, haven learn left turn yet... haha... and i almost bang into those cars in the carparks. i really cant imagine myself driving on the road, it's too scary for me. i was so stressed up for the whole hour... really admire those ppl that can drive sia, it's not easy. but then i tell myself... die die i'll learn and pass the driving test. *cross fingers*

2)mini golf
well.. initially i was thinking of rushing for an engineering sorority. so i went for the rush events and mini golf is one of it. I got to meet some ppl there, played mini golf for the first time. haha...i realised that i'm really not gd with ball games. guess i'll stick to running for the time being. haha... however this period of time, i was facing this dilemma of whether i should continue rushing. it's like i went to rush for sorority so that i can meet more ppl, get out of my comfort zone. there're times tt i don;t really want to go cuz i'm too tired and it's really not easy trying to socialize with these ppl. helmi always tell me to do things that i like and enjoy. so i'm torn between doing things that i'll enjoy now or things that i wont regret giving up in the future. yest was supposedly the day to formally declare whether you still want to rush or not. so after much thinking, i decided to just do things that i like. so i missed the session and i tell myself that from now on, i'll just go for activities that i like. i guess sometimes nua-ing is also a bliss.

3) paintball
i went for paintball two weeks ago with bunch of singaporeans at this place called "norman's paintball". well.. i've been wanting to go paintballing ever since last semester. so one of my seniors orgainzed and apparently the response was v gd. the drive was forty min long and the battlefield was set inside a 10 acres forest. (we din really go that deep in). we played elimination game which we are supposed to "kill" the other team and the last surviving team wins. we also played "protect the president" in which we are supposed to lead the president from one station to another and there'll be snipers hidden among the trees. that was a super exciting game cuz we cant really see where were all the 'assassins" and they could just attack us from the back and at any positions. haha... but we succeed in our mission and the last two surviving members were two females! yeah! i was shot in the both knees by Dquek and the bruises still haven recover. haha... and also kanna shot in the mask, back and arm. i din know paintball hurts so much. haha.. but it was fun! and Helmi said that i always know where were the best spot to hide and attack ppl that's why i can survive so long. helmi and bernard were all geared up for the game. they wore their army boots and number four. haha...

well... that's all for the time being. still haven finish my lab report and got lots of stuff to read up. Helmi and i were planning to organize a broomball game so need to settle that soon. erm.. take care ppl, I'll upload the photos and email you guys soon!

I've been so lazy to update my blog that's why there seems to be no news from me for the past one month. i know i should reply some emails too but then i think i played too much so now rushing to finish hw. haha... stress sia...

erm... these are a list of stuff i've done for the past few weeks

1) pot-b-q
this is actually an SSA event held to introduce the seniors to the incoming batch of students and vice versa. it's like a potluck session held at crystal lake park. (but there's no lake at all!!!) of course my apartment must contribute to the 1st event of the year. so under ting's guidance, we made dumplings(shui jiao) from her family recipe. it's actually quite good and i sort of learnt the skill to wrap a proper dumplings. helmi cooked his ayam soup (which is supposed to be like kambing soup, but replaced with chicken). we also had lots of food like curry (courtesy by gracie's mum) and pineapple rice from janice and etc... overall it's quite a success as lots of ppl turned up and met seversl new students, including two exchange students from NTU accountacy. hee...

2) chicago trip
the main purpose of this trip is to orientate the freshmen to chicago and help them to get their winter clothing. we dro.ve down during the labor day weekend and stayed there for a night. for the first day, i din walk ard chicago much cuz was so shacked out from the housewarming yest night (see below) so i slept in the hotel for the whole afternn. then the next day we went to gurnee mills factory outlet for shopping. initially i told myself that i wont not spend at all but then once i saw the clothes, my determination waver. even Helmi who's supposed to control my spending is encouraging me to spend. haha... so in the end i bought a leather jacket and glove, one jeans and top from Guess and i also bought a leather jacket for helmi. then helmi bought me three tops altogether. so i was carrying lots of shopping bags home after tt. haha... must save for a while liao

3) housewarming party
me apartment and helmi's aparrtment held a combined housewarming party (as we stayed below them) on friday night. the guys called themselves the E4 and we are the charmed ones. haha... so on the day before, we were all busy cleaning up our house and preparing food. i was "in-charge" of dessert as i cant really cook well. so i made brownie and tau suan!!! luckily ppl said it's gd... hee... next time shld let you guys try it. i think there;s still room for improvement for the tau suan so will try again. then bernardo cooked his dad;s famous fried kway tiao and likyin contributed her home-made fried rice. and of course helmi made his fav roti prata (the instant type) and curry. we had so much food that i think it's scary... but then within an hour, everything was gone... cuz alot of them was having a meeting before the party and they havem had dinner yet... then in the end, some guests came late and they had no food, felt so bad sia... but nevertheless i think it's still fun cuz so many ppl came.... first housewarming of the year... of course must make it fun...

4)wisconsin trip
the past weekend, me n helmi went to wisconsin-madison for a short break. cuz we wanted to go before work load starts piling up. before the trip me n helmi were chionging the hw so hard tt i got so super stressed out. then on sat morning, we set off to our first road trip of the semester. helmi was so tired after the 4 and half hour ride... but then i guess it was worth it cuz madison has very beautiful natural scenery. they had two big lakes: lake mendota n lake monona. it's so cool to just sit by the lake, enjoying the sunset and breeze. well... not like my school where everything is flat and no water bodies ard at all. as madison is the capital of wisconsin, the whole place is more happening then U of I, they have more shops, restuarants and facilities. but then i still like my school cuz i feel that there seems to be stronger heritage here, maybe bcuz of the architecture. and of course must try madsion home-made ice cream (wisconsin is america's dairyland). the icecream serving is so huge that it can cover a small girl's face. imagine the size... but it's gd!!! well.. i'm a ice cream lover...

well... gtg now.. still got lab report.
watch out for the next entry which will include my first driving lesson, my first mini golf etc...

it's been one week since i left singapore and luckily i'm finally settled into my new apartment. the past one week have been super hectic with all the moving-in, cleaning up and buying of household items. furthermore, i did a revamp on my class schedule and classes so i was having quite a big headache over it as well. but luckily i have finally "sort of" settled everything and living comfortably in my apartment and sometimes helmi's apartment as well. haha...

Well I'll upload my new apartment's and my room's photos asap. so please wait patiently and check it out. hee...

I guess i haven been studying for quite some time so i lost the momentum liao. i told myself that i want to enjoy myself and join in more activities this semester. but "the mugger's blood is in me". no choice, the classes all v siong this semester. and i'm abit stress over it. sigh... okok... i'll try to play, try to... at least once a week. one consolation is that at least to run thrice a week. so not too bad bah. (zi wo an wei)

the weather has been very good the past week. surprisingly! haha!!! because of the rare opportunity, i refused to wear jeans to school. so i have been wearing shorts, 3/4s or bermudas. haha... today is out pot-b-q. now the weather looks gd outside (though the weather forecast says it'll rain later) hopefully can get a gd tan as well...

erm.. this entry is abit more on the crappy side cuz i'm actually supposed to study now but v sian so side-track abit. haha... take care ppl

on a bright and sunny sunday afternn, me n yili set off from the chinatown mrt station for out food quest at chinatown. haha... even though there's only two of us, i'm sure we can conquer the chinatown area!!! haha... toking crap. well... i miss chinatown alot, n this is the first time i came here since i came back home. well, the main reason of gg chinatown is of course... to eat!!! so the first stop is the food market. i dun know the name but this market is on the second level n near the food street. i started looking for my "er gu tang shui". cuz there not alot of stalls left in singapore tt sells gd sesame paste n peanut paste. we also had char siew chee cheong fun though i think i bought from the wrong stall. but nvm, its still yummy. n the "die die must go place " is of course "liang chen mei dian". it sells my fav egg tarts, polo buns n all the delicious pastry. haha... its still as gd... so xinfu!!! we also hopped over to maxwell market, then went back to ppl's park center. the food market there is under renovation, sigh.. so sad... cuz there has v nice guo tie. but we came across this road side stall tt sells walnut paste!!! haha... actually walnut paste is my fav, esp after my hongkong trip last yr. n i realised the jap confectionery shop is gone. sigh... tt area has changed quite abit.

we continued our journey n i suggested tt we walk down to clarke quay. though i dun really know the way.. but come on... cant get lost in singapore rite? so we juz walk n walk... n surprise!!! we walked past apollo center n realised tt there's "lao di fang" inside. haha... its a v nice vegetarian restaurant. the ambience is gd, but abit ex. n beside it, is the "mu chuan" where u can enjoy ur food n the singers' singing at the same time.

this is not the end of our "mini expedition". from clarke quay... we took the train to little india. (my stupid idea again) this is my first time in little india. quite interesting to hear the bollywood music playing aloud along the streets, saw v v nice sari in the shops (v tempted to buy), went to tekka food center (i finally know where is it!!!). its a new experience, didn't know singapore can be so full of cultural activities. haha...

from little india, we explored all the way back to bugis junction. yup... n by then it was already almost 6pm. super exhausted, n yili even commented tt my physical level has dropped. sigh... must train from now on.

but it was much better than just shopping or just go on a makan sutra. at least tt's what i think...
erm.. dun know how to end... take care!!!

Hihi ppl... yup.. for those who still don't know, i'm back!!! back to the super hot singapore. haha... so when u guys are free, pls drop me an email or give me a call, so we can meet up k? my hp no is still the same. i'll be staying here for three mths so there will planty of time tt we can meet up. hee... so happy.

now i'm sitting inside the project management office of my company. i'll be spending two months of my hols doing attachment. haha... now is lunchbreak n my supervisor has kindly allow me to use his internet. now i'm sort of isolated from the rest of the world cuz no internet at home. cant sign online... sigh...

ever since i've been back, my friends has updated me quite abit on what has happened in singapore lately. abt how ppl's blog has gotten them into trouble etc... stress...

though it's only been one week plus, i think i have done quite a fair bit of eating n playing. haha... ate so much until i'm so shock. even helmi is surprised. yest both of us went to this indian coffee shop. n both of us ordered two plates of briyani (it's a BIG BIG plate), one prata, indian rojak n three cups of teh tarik. haha... cant believe tt we can eat so much. haha... n till now, i have eaten:
hokkien mee, chicken rice, tou sau pian, duck rice, yong tau foo, tausuan, ice kachang, chendol, mee goreng, fried kway tiao, dim sum, satay, egg porridge etc... lost count liao... haha... quite xinfu... but also v sinful. dun have time to go n run cuz i have to work. n by the time i end work.. super tired. sigh... so now i can only go n work out on sunday morning. n yar... yest, me, lihui n taurus went to mac ritchie to walk up to the tree top view. took us three hours.

haha... from the title, can tell that i'm pretty excited abt gg home. yes yes...i'm gg home soon, in juz a few days time. haven been updating my blog for so long tt ppl think tt i disappear in US liao.. paiseh.. cuz this past semester has been a super crazy semester for me. i was taking twenty credit hours which included a super crazy organic chem n a super confusing chem engin thermodynamics. still remember tt at the start of this semester, i was so screwed up by this two classes n so stressed over so many things. at tt time i was really v depressed la. well... after lots of thinking n i really put in all my effort to study, like a super mugger. so i'm quite happy that my finals turned out well. thank alot of all the ppl that have given me support n advice during my period of depression.

there are so much stuff tt i wanna share with everyone!!! now i'm juz v busy with all the packing. i remember i came with two luggage, one big one small. then how come now i have 4 boxes, 3 bags n 1 full basket of stuff!!!! n still got my same luggages filled to the max??? bao ah bao... what did u buy for this past year? haha... i took more than 8 hours to pack n everything oso seem like a big big mess. sigh... can imagine how it'll be like when we move into our apartment when we come back.

for the past 3 mths that i'm "mia"... some of the stuff/ events:

-midwestern games
it's an intercollege sports event for all the singaporeans that are studying in different university in the region. this year UIUC SSA was in-charge of organising. so i helped abit in the pregame n social part, n i played capt ball as well... missed playing capt ball.. though i think i'm quite lousy. haha
-chicago getaway
me n helmi decided to take a break from all the work n activites. so we went down to chicago on a fri afternn. it was planned to be a relaxing trip. but bcuz of lousy me, we lost our way.,. n took longer to get there. plus the traffic was very heavyn the wind was very strong... so we din manage to go to michigan lake, din go to navy pier. well.. at least the gd part was tt we ate at this restaurant called "penang" in chinatown. they sell really v nice singaporean n malaysian food. we ordered half a hainanese chicken n a plate of mee goreng. we were so full!!! but also v xinfu!!! n we went to cold stone creamery ( www.coldstonecreamery.com) this is an icecream place that mixes all the differnt ingredient together into a icecream on a cold stone top. wa... damn zai sia. n the icecream is fantastic. better than any one in singapore.
-xiuli's farewell
this friend of mine, who's an exchange student, was gg to leave soon. so we planned a farewell party for her. n me n gracie decided to do a mini video for her. so we looked for all her friends n asked them to say a few words. actually i found it so touching la... cuz i think all these ppl will really miss her cuz she's been such a nice person to everyone. then n on the day b4 the farewell, me n gracie was supposed to collate all the clips toget. her younger brother andrew, came up with idea of doing a "mtv" along with the song, "hey mickey". in the end, all four of us,( me, gracie, andrew n helmi) we went down to green street n dance in the public. it was embarrassing, n ppl thought we were drunk. haha!!!

times really flies n its been 8 mths since i left singapore. at the start of my college life, i was so miserable cuz i miss home so much, din know many friends, nth much to do, cant blend into the american culture. everything juz seemed so bad. but now... i guess i have learnt to be more flexible, open-minded n maybe slightly more mature? hee... dun know... but i really felt like i have learnt alot over this past yr. no matter it's in terms of character development, academic study or lifeskills such as planning of trips, navigation skills etc(though i din really improve much) haha... n i start to know ppl liao, such as ppl from my chem engin class, friends of helmi that lives on his floor, all the seniors that i nv really get know. so overall it's really a fulfiling yr. i din regret coming here. haha...

actually i din really know what to expect when i go back to singapore. everything muz have changed so much. i'm quite afraid, worried that i'll have a big shock or cant get used to it. all my friends have their own separate lives, my parents have been leading a life without me, places changes till i cant even recognize. though i'm scared but i'm still looking forward to gg home. sigh... juz hope that my friends wont find me v different. hope that my house is still the same. well... we'll see. haha... hope to cya guys soon. miss ya alot!!!

today was the NCAA basketball final between Illinois and North Carolina. in case you are wondering what is NCAA. it is actually "National Collegiate Athletic Association" basketball tournament. i am no big basketball fan (my knowlegde of basketball is only limited to "slamdunk" haha...) but this has become such a big big thing in U of I now. it's actually pretty amazing how an inter-college basketball match can become related to a state's pride. for U of I, this is the first time we manage to get into national final. for the whole of today, if you walked ard campus, it is basically flooded by lots n lots of orange color stuff. cuz my sch's color is orange!!! everyone is so ethusiastic about it. even our alma matar (the big big statue) was wearing a basketball shirt with a bball in his left hand. can you believe it? n my Chem engin professor turned up with a XXXL orange tee over his usual long sleeve shirt. the whole sch was very excited about today's match. large screening area was set up in the assembly hall, union, dorms etc... v v happening.

i went to one of my seniors's house to watch the match. initially i was very sleepy n tired. but then the match got me v excited cuz our school was losing quite badly, esp for the first half. then during the frist 5 min of seconf half, we were down by 15 points. at that mmt, everyone very stressed. then suddenly Illinois fought back and kept shooting 3-pointers. we finally managed to ctah up and tie with them at the last 5min of the game. now everyone is very nervous cuz left 5min only and the UNC has alot of very gd players. at the last min, Illinois got a foul thus UNC scored another 2points, making us lagging behind by 5points. so the game ended with 70-75. at that mmt, we were quite disappointed. but nevertheless, we all agreed that it was a gd fight. Illinois managed to push UNC (which is a very gd team) till the very last min. well done Illinois!!!

after the game, my seniors were saying better get back fast or else when ppl start getting drunk, it will be v mafan to go home. we walked along green street and the whole street was flooded by a sea of orange. the road was closed to cars and ppl were shouting "I-L-L-I-N-I", "f*** UNC" etc...but it was not the v violet pr angry type, quite peaceful n like a party instead. my frens walked back by the other way but bcuz i accompanied helmi to get sth from his car so we continued to walk down green street. well.. actually i'm glad i continued to walk down cuz it was really an eye-opener for me. firstly, it was probably the only time you can walk on the road of green street, plus surrounded by lots of ppl who were cheering n shouting. the police were standing on top of the shophouses with camera and they waved at the crowd that is marching past. at the alma matar, there was a huge crowd of ppl gathered there. juz like when it's countdown. and ppl all climbed up onto the alma matar, cheering. well.. u will nv get to see that any other time. v happening!!!

cuz juz came back from the event and feel like sharing it with everyone so i quickly type this blog. i still have so much to tell ya guys abt my spring break and the recent happenings. will try to update soon.
anyway ppl, i'm not staying for summer sch so i'll be back ard mid-may. hope to meet up with you guys!!! take care!!!