LOLLERS

A (TENTATIVE) ANNOUNCEMENT:

2011-11-24T22:27:00.002+08:00

…I think. I’m still not entirely decided yet because I still love using blogger. But the tumblr blogging layout is very alluring… and everyone’s on it right now. HM.

#644: eyebags

2011-10-07T23:26:00.001+08:00

TIRED.

NEED SLEEP.

EYES HAVE BAGS.

Too much work, too little time. I have gone for 3 weeks in a row without doing my Friday tutorials. Looks like I need to re-strategise the way I’ve been studying/finishing my homework.

SIGH.

#643: Sabbatical

2011-09-19T09:59:00.000+08:00

This week is pretty awesome because it’s the much looked-forward to SABBATH WEEK! This means no Church meetings or ministry doings for the entire week till Sunday!

Thankfully, this also coincides with NUS’ recess week, during which I will be attempting to catch up on the past 6 weeks’ worth of material & preparing for the mid-term tests which are going to be held next week. Effectively, I am quite so very screwed.

Please, Lord, help me not to get distracted so that I can have a fruitful study break and get a good debut GPA. And please, Lord, also help me own that Hwa Chong boy next week.

Faith Failure

2011-09-06T09:52:00.001+08:00

“For us, we know that God responds to our faith. However,
there are times when our faith fails us but God, in His mercy, will still come through.”
- David Oginde

#642: hipster is the new indie x10

2011-09-03T00:31:00.008+08:00

Now that indie is in and is no longer indie, indie is officially hip. if you wanna be a hipster, get our your skinnies, doc martens/toms/flatforms, ray ban specs, multiple piercings, long hair, ripped clothing, whip out your dslr and take blurry night shots. Oh, and be real skinny.

At the rate this is going, I'm 10% hipster with skinnies, ray bans and long hair. I have two piercings - does that count as multiple? Think I'll stick to being uncool.

Don't see any hipsters in school. See alot of blogshop-clothed girls in heels/platforms tottering around school in bandage skirts/dresses, well-coiffed hair, impeccably-curled lashes, layers of foundation & 5 inches of professionally-applied mascara. HOW DO THEY DO IT & MAKE IT TO CLASS ON TIME?!

School feels like a very transient stage of my life. Like it's just a phase I'm passing through whilst on the conveyor belt of life. Only, I realise that, I have 4.5 years to go... which is the second longest I've spent in any school. OMG ONLY IT HASNT EVEN BEEN A MONTH. Help!

I have a gazillion things to do: read up to revise, read up to keep up, read up to stay on top of things, read up to know what's going to go on the next lecture/tutorial, 2 concurrent group projects, and a lot more reading up for other...things.

Remember what's the ultimate goal/aim of everything. Remember to stay focused on Jesus. Remember to love people. Remember to be a good testimony. Remember and keep what truly matters. This can be tiring, honestly.

Tried 32497109810 ways to compress a 2GB video to upload. I just cut it down to 200,000KB. This had better work.

I've given up any hope of going for the grand H&M opening. Firstly, in true KS-Singaporean fashion, people have begun queuing up since last evening (i.e. Friday) for the Saturday 11am opening.
Also, this conversation transpired -

Abi: Jon, GUESS HWAT?!?!
Jon: What?
Abi: This Saturday is 3 Sept
Jon: So?
Abi: *hopeful grin*
Jon: Huh?
Abi: *dramatic pause* H&M IS OPENING!!!!
Jon: Abi...
Abi: & THE FIRST 5 CUSTOMERS INTO THE STORE GET $250 VOUCHERRRR
Jon: Look, I'll just give you $250 to stay out of that shop.

& that was that.

8. Should be writing report recommendations now, and not blogging. Once again, the internet proves itself to be a prime distraction.

9. I have to go back to school from 10am tomorrow. Awesome.

10. Singapore can look forward to a bright tomorrow with the best presidential candidate now the president incumbent.

#641: This Autumn

2011-08-26T18:37:00.003+08:00

My favourite high-street brand is finally coming to Singapore. It is so heartwarming to pass by their advertisements that adorn bus stops island-wide, that declare "THE RUMOURS ARE TRUE. WE'RE OPENING THIS AUTUMN, SEPT 2011" or something to that effect.

I'm not going to spend all my money & go on a massive shopping spree. I just want to go there, walk around, touch fabric & fill my vision with pretty things (i.e. the clothes, not the girls).

I CAN'T WAIT.

TRUE, THAT

2011-08-24T23:48:00.003+08:00

#640.5: We Constantly Thank God For Zara

2011-08-21T23:46:00.003+08:00

Finally bagged the perfect pair of man-shoes: Love my investment Zara bluchers.

Also, according to my Operations Management lecturer, Zara churns out new designs, manufactures & ships them out every 15 days.

#640: It's true when they say you get more boring as you get older

2011-08-21T23:02:00.002+08:00

I was reading some posts back from my J1 days, and I realised that I...

1. Used to put in tons more effort in blogging back then

2. Knew so many people back then - now I hardly talk to them, let alone known what's going on with them/where they are/who they're dating, and some I've actually forgotten altogether (and I'm pretty sure vice-versa)

3. Sounded alot more excited about life

4. Sounded alot more exciting ... implying that I sound alot more boring now.

Going past that, schooling in NUS Business has been interesting. I primarily hang out with a bunch of guys who all did not go for orientation, all have girlfriends, and mostly refuse to vote for Dr. Tony Tan. (For the underinformed, I am referring to the upcoming Presidential Elections Aug 2011)

Me: Eh! You guys can vote already right!
Dude 1: Yeah. You small girl haha you cannot.
Me: Of course you know who to vote for already right?
*Everyone looks at me expectantly*
Me: TONY TAN!
Dude 2: NO WAY!
Both: His son deferred NS for 12 YEARS!
Me: ...So?
Both: His son deferred NS for 12 YEARS!!!!

It's a pity how an issue like that can get dredged up years later & may affect his running prospects. Just like how the whole ISA & the Marxist Conspiracy nonsense got dragged out again. People, particularly Singaporeans, never let sleeping dogs lie.

Back on the subject of school, my life can currently be described as drowning in a torrent of work. The work is seriously never-ending, more so than in JC. Reading up & doing tutorials ahead of time is always a must, especially for aspiring valedictorians. This takes up 110% of my time because I'm so financially illiterate that I take 1 hour to read one paragraph of Basic Financial Accounting, and because I'm really trying to do my best. Evidence: Last Wednesday night, I spent 2 hours looking up the Penal Code of Singapore so that I could quote relevant Articles for my Business Law module.

Seeing as it is Sunday night, I'm going to bum around online & watch Criminal Minds before going to bed.

Lately,

2011-08-15T22:05:00.001+08:00

I HAVE BEEN & AM VERY:
LOST
TIRED
&CONFUSED

#639: VARSITY LIFE

2011-08-11T21:02:00.002+08:00

Day 1 of school officially commenced today, 11 August 2011. This is Week 1 of my Year 1, beginning in AY2011/2012. I am technically a Year 2 student, given the fact that I matriculated last year. But in truth I am a freshman, given the fact that I was on a one-year Leave of Absence & had never set foot into a class prior to today.

I forsee some very major changes in my life:-

1. My most-frequented websites will no longer just be dictionary.com or wikipedia.org. In the past 24 hours, I must have checked the NUS CORS & IVLE websites at least 10 times because I have absolutely no idea what is going on.

2. I will take about 94 minutes to travel to school via public transport. RGPS, RGS & RJC have never been more than an hour away from home. Bugger sprawling uni campuses.

3. I won't have a school uniform, which means I have to plan what to wear everyday. This is because it really irks me big time when my clothes are colour-mismatched or if my bag/shoes clash with my outfit.

4. WHY ARE ALL THE GIRLS IN SHORT SHORTS OR SKIRTS?! I felt so... boyish in my jeans today.

5. Because I'm on my own, I have to know what's going on. For the first time in my life, I can't depend on my classmates to tell me what's going on, and I can no longer depend on that last-week cramming before my exams. I need to make my CAP 5.0 and be valedictorian x10.

6. I HAVE TO BE SELF-MOTIVATED, SMART & HARDWORKING. OH NO.

7. I will have to manage my finances. I managed to survive on $1.40 today.

8. I need to carry my things wherever I go. Hurry, Zhener, quickly move into Hall so that I can use your room as my dumping grounds.

9. I forsee a prolonged trend of coming-home-after-dinner coming-home times. First day of school and I arrived home 8.30pm.

10. I AM OLD.

But I am glad to be putting my brains back to work. C'MON!!!

#638: Windows Live Writer

2011-08-03T10:28:00.001+08:00

This is a trial test on this new widget Windows Live Writer. As the website tells me, it is one of the “Windows Live Essentials” that I need to make the most of my Windows 7 experience. We’ll see.

As far as Windows goes, I dislike BING, I’ve moved from IE to Google Chrome, and let’s not even talk about Windows Live Messenger.

But I’m blogging from my desktop on a MS Office-like window, and I can do all the text formatting + image insertion functions as if this is a MS Word Document.

Also, I’m on my new HP ProBook 4230s. It’s really awesome, and it looked glorious enough that I abandoned my year-long ambition to own a Macbook Pro (OS X Lion somemore aiyo) & stuck to Windows instead. Windows 7, fingerprint & face recognition, HD Webcam, intel CORE i5 & not to mention its sleek appearance & ultraportable weight all for $1.7k (including a RAM upgrade, MS Office & Norton). One must admit that Apple does know how to make its customers pay mostly for aesthetics. Of course this doesn’t mean that I won’t be getting a MBP for my next notebook… in several years’ time, that is.

Off to explore this HP.

#637: Holding Out For A Hero

2011-07-30T00:41:00.001+08:00

I need a hero
I'm holding out for a hero 'til the end of the night
He's gotta be strong
And he's gotta be fast
And he's gotta be fresh from the fight
I need a hero
I'm holding out for a hero 'til the morning light
He's gotta be sure
And it's gotta be soon
And he's gotta be larger than life

& tomorrow will be a better day.

Question

2011-07-25T22:40:00.002+08:00

SHOULD I MOVE TO TUMBLR?

#636: of moons, birds and monsters

2011-07-22T10:36:00.002+08:00

Why'd you cut holes in the face of the moon base?
Don't you know about the temperature change
In the cold black shadow?
Are you mad at your walls
Or hoping that an unknown force can repair things for you?
Pardon all the time that you've thrown into your pale grey garden?
If the ship will never come you've got to move along

1.
I started listening to music in Primary 6, and the my first album being Avril Lavigne's Let Go. I remember using every opportunity that I was alone to play the ripped CD in my father's Sony Walkman.

2.
While all my friends have moved on, I'm still scrobbling the songs from my JC days. Even secondary school days, for that matter. Switchfoot, Anberlin, Cut Copy, MGMT, We Are Scientists, and a smattering of random songs from a variety of other artistes.

3.
I'm worried about school. NUS considers me a Year 2 even though I've not actually started on school at all. So, do I even have a class to join this year? - No idea.
Have tried to email the deans, who have referred me to their staff, who have told me that this is their peak season sorry just check out the freshmen pack that should suffice kthxbye.
Man.

4.
Have never been so broke before. Because I've misplaced my ATM card so I can't withdraw cash. Blast it all to bits.

5.
Beef noodles at Bugis are to die for. Can lay off the fermented pink gravy thing, though.

6.
Diet starts tomorrow.

#635: back in biz.

2011-07-19T22:34:00.002+08:00

Hi there, folks. We're back in business.

I've decided to get off my lazy bum to sleep less, eat less, shop less & stare vacuously at my computer screen less. This means I've decided to write more, exercise more, read more, save more & generally do creative things. I still have projects that I wanted to start on a year ago, stashed away somewhere. There are CCP earrings & assorted toy rings to make, a journal-style cookbook I hope to start compiling, piano to practise, the Bible to study. I also have my new HP Probook to set up.

Lowering my anchor here and getting back into control. After Criminal Minds.

#634: write makes right.

2011-07-18T23:32:00.002+08:00

I've realised that when I'm at my ultimate lows & woe-be-gone depths, I choose to write. I choose to construct, while I feel everything else has been destructed. Because while you can't tame the storm, or undo what you've done wrong, you can control what you put down in black and white. There's always ctrl + z or backspace. There's also delete. And 26 letters to organise into beauty.

I don't write prolifically or very precisely. I write decently and I got a B for GP. But the point is that I can release the volcanic build up of unspoken fears and pent-up exasperation through a sentence. It may not say it all or even express how I feel at all. But somehow, it's cathartic.

I'm not in the throes of angst right now, for the record. I'm just writing this all down in as a result of an observation of my coping-habits. Night.

#633: We Are Living.

2011-06-21T20:29:00.005+08:00

Haven't blogged in forever because I can't be living vicariously through my keyboard/screen when I've so much to do & so much catch up on. I'm out here living, growing fat & shopping on. I'm still trying to listen to God, love people & feed the kittens. I've just not been around here. But i'll be back...eventually.

#632: AFTER WHAT SEEMED LIKE AN ETERNITY AND A BLINK OF AN EYE

2011-05-22T08:19:00.002+08:00

i am home.

#631: twenty

2011-04-04T05:41:00.003+08:00

Curiously, completing yet another full decade makes you feel unnecessarily much older. While they say "it's all in the head", I do feel rather old; compared to sweet sixteen, sexy seventeen, eggciting eighteen and plain nineteen that's at least still -teen.

Now that the first digit of my age has finally been replaced by a "2", and the second digit zerolised, I can say that I'm officially fresh out of my teens.

It's an okay feeling - one of those whereby you're torn between staying behind to look for what you've missed, and dashing ahead into the great brilliance of the unknown. But 20, before 21, is still landmark. It's still a "coming-of-age" age, and it's still a birthday.

Curiously, again, that doesn't make me feel like celebrating it at all.

P.S. On a sidenote, one wave of Nigerian elections will be held tomorrow (i.e. Monday, the 4th of April) for Abuja. This means no vehicles are to be on the roads, no businesses will be open, no fun for us.

#630: NAIJA

2011-03-24T22:31:00.005+08:00

GOT THE VISA
GOING BACK TO NAIJA
BE BACK IN MAY 2011

Note:
The team is on a perma-communication fast, which means we hardly sms/use the internet. We only do so on Mondays, which gives us barely enough time to blog or do frequent emails. Sorry if I have neglected your emails/tags/facebook messages/posts. Hang in there, I'll be back in full force come May/June. You're not forgotten. Still love you all. Now, don't forget me!

#629: HOME.

2011-03-22T09:20:00.004+08:00

I'm home, in Singapore, and though it's been some 5 days it's still surreal. I'm actually very happy, albeit the circumstances in which I was allowed home.

But, I'm home!

Going back to Naija within the week, though. I have to take my heart along with me, completely, just for these remaining 2 months. I need to focus & give my all for the last lap.

Till May, yes?

#628: HEY THERE

2011-03-14T22:02:00.002+08:00

IT'S NOTHING PERSONAL BUT I'M REALLY SORRY FOR THE SILENCE BECAUSE I'VE BEEN SO BUSY.

#627: back online

2011-01-24T18:42:00.007+08:00

#1: I lost my hat and so I've been wearing Fin's cap. This is my default China Missionary look - borrowed cap, hair tied up, pendant from Jon, broken RGS sling that was given during Sec 1 orientation.

#2: The most awesome concoction ever - IDMO.

#3: I love seeing these signs around. Now, if only the electricity was constant enough to power the freezers...

#4: The mangoes should ripen by March/April!

#5: Me & Jamai, my "Nigerian mummy" - as she calls herself.

#6: The chickens here are actually pretty fat.

#7: What we do with the inedibly (spelling?) hard bread crusts.

#8: Don't know if you can see 'em, but it's a herd of skinny white cows.

#9: Jamai's workstation.

#10: Jamai's house.

#11: Yes, this is in fact a commemorative bucket for a wedding.

#12: FAT CHICKENS.

#13: A very belligerent turket.

#14: Behold the fine layer of dust after a day of trekking.

#15: I wonder what's it that makes the water holy besides the container.

#16: Tiny yellow spider on my hand. I was thinking about Spiderman and hoping that it wouldn't bite me. I'm so not ready for the big responsibility.

#626: WEEKLY CAPTURES ARE BACK WITH A VENGEANCE

2011-01-11T02:30:00.004+08:00

#1: My very local N100 flip flops to cure the tanline problem.

#2: Us girls' room, with our newly-hung mosquito net rolled up on cleaning day.

#3: The damage done by the seepage from upstairs. The wall used to be wet - NOT COOL.

#4: This is a common sight here in Nigeria. Either car owners need to embrace cleanliness more, or spiders here work incredibly fast. I think it could be a combination of both.

#5: A difficult instruction to follow.

#6: Good-looking tree.

#7: This mural found on the wall of a school really resembles some Singaporean kid.

#8: That's some sound advice everyone could lean on.

#9: I found it highly intriguing that people here print commemorative towels for funerals. It is good to be positive about things like that.

#10: Isaac tests the new shortcut we found.

#11: Meet Jamai, my favourite Hausa Mama. Next to her is her granddaughter, Aisha.

#12: This is her sitting amidst her pots. Behind her frequent customers, "keke napep" drivers.

#13: Jamai munches on her meat.

#625: Crossover

2011-01-06T02:08:00.001+08:00

2010 - according to our SO Pastor Han, it was the year of "Divine Order" with "10" being the number of perfection. Well, let's see what I got out of 2010 - or at least, what it got out of me.

1. THEME OF THE YEAR
RUSH. That's a word that epitomised my 2010. Everything, from the start was just one big rush. The problem of "so much to do, so little time" was everywhere, all the time. It was a constant battle among various priorities vying for my attention, and I had to constantly find the middle ground (but I did not constantly succeed) with the limited time I had. I'm glad I'm over all that. I hope.

2. MOVIE OF THE YEAR
I've watched several queer movies this year in theatres with my only movie partner - Jon. One strange movie we watched was Alice In Wonderland, with Johnny Depp as its saving grace. Then, even stranger still, was The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus. One of the worst movies I watched this year was Shutter Island. Though it boasts di Caprio as its lead, the plot really messed with my head - not in the "zomg that's so intelligent!", but in the "I hope I wake up normal tomorrow" sense. The best movie (that I can remember) that I watched did play games with my mind in the "zomg that's so intelligent" way - Inception. At this point, I can't remember who was in it - except, strangely, Chow Yun Fatt - but I can remember that it was cool. Other awesome movies that I watched for the first time include: Little Miss Sunshine, Star Trek, LOTR I & II (still haven't gotten the opportunity & time to watch III yet), Kungfu Panda and The Bucket List.

3. MUSIC OF THE YEAR
Anberlin takes home all the trophies for 2010. I discovered Anberlin when I was in J1 from last.fm, them being a Christian rock band - Christians, in a rock band, that is. I re-discovered them and my love for them this year when I started listening more closely to some of their lyrics and their tunes. Then Rachel Yeo flooded me with all their albums sometime in July/August - and I've been faithfully scrobbling them ever since.

4. FOOD OF THE YEAR
It has to be plantain. It almost makes up for the lack of fast food & noodles over here. There's Irish potato here, which is actually one of the most awesome breeds of potato that I have ever come across. It has great texture in practically anything: soups, stew, deep fried (home-made chips, YUM), mashed. Only, they're really small (a real pain to peel) and they grow mould within a week. But plantain is awesome. How they eat it here: sliced & deep fried, to eat with rice - and I love it that way. They also slice it thinly and deep fry it into chips. This is a favourite in the team. There's this bunch of Hausa ladies who do massive plantain chip-making once in a while in the same close we stay on. These ladies would have several large woks of oil & sliced plantain boiling at a go, and they transfer the finished chips into plastic vats. They'd then package the chips to sell - it's a business. However, we'd troop over and buy them by the handfuls at a way lower price than the going rate. Haven't gotten them fresh in quite a while though, bummer.

5. PERSON OF THE YEAR

Porpor, my gran and my last surviving grandparent. She was 81 when she passed away this year. Why is she the person of the year? Well, almost every time I pause to reflect on the past year, or each time I think of home, Porpor comes into my mind. She's gone, but she's still here with me. Honestly I still can't find closure, but the grief has passed. It's more of a numbed pain and lingering regret that accompanies my fond memories of this old lady that I love more than any other old lady I ever knew.

6. SKILL OF THE YEAR
Housewifery wins hands down. I can cook, for real. Like if you leave me in a kitchen with raw food, I can probably whip up something decent. I also can clean: sweep, mop, wash the bathroom - all pretty thoroughly. According to Mingwei, a holistic wife is all: COOK, CLEAN, CHURCH & CHILDREN. So the only bit of this domestic wife thing I haven't gotten is the looking after kids bit. Still not intending to have anything to do with that for a long time; I intensely dislike crying children. I dislike screaming children even more. So you can guess how much I dislike a simultaneously crying and screaming child.

7. LESSON OF THE YEAR
Putting God first is really, really, really difficult. But it's really, really, really, really the right thing to do.

8. ACHIEVEMENT OF THE YEAR
I DID NOT SHOP FOR THE FIRST FOUR MONTHS OF MY STAY HERE OMG IS THAT AMAZINGLY MIND-BLOWING OR WHAT.

9. CLOTHING ARTICLE OF THE YEAR
My trusty salmonish-luminousy-muted-tangerine TOMS, courtesy of Esther Weiqin. They took me up the long roads of JB, up the obscenely-priced public transport, around Pelangi, City Square and back to Jalan Setia Indah, everyday for two weeks. And here they've walked the streets of Gwarimpa, gotten soiled in 'shortcuts' (i.e. unmapped & undeveloped semi-wild areas that cut from one avenue to another), gotten scratched by gravel & sand and have faded in the glare of the sun. They're still going strong, and are amazingly comfortable. My dove necklace from Jon comes a close second. It's dainty & pretty, albeit tarnished due to daily wear-and-sweat. I've never been able to put on a piece of jewelry so regularly and for such a long time before.

10. ELECTRICAL APPLIANCE OF THE YEAR
Our generator. 'Nuff said.

#624: Holidaze

2011-01-06T02:03:00.002+08:00

CHRISTMAS

It's not much of a Christmas here in the sense that you don't get the whole feeling of celebration and festivity that we Singaporeans have come to associate with Orchard Road at night with its Christmas lights. But Christmas is more than just a feeling in the air. Experiencing the spirit of Christmas is probably the next best way to celebrate it: the spirit of giving.

Nigerians are really one of the most generous people groups that I have ever met. Christmas for the Christians here is a little like Lunar New Year for us Chinese Singaporeans. People dress up themselves up in fine new garb to visit their friends & relatives. Then certain generous people, mostly the women, will stay home with their nieces/househelps and cook up a storm. Generally they cook "Christmas Rice" (which is Jollof or Fried Rice) and "Salad" (coleslaw, Nigerian style). Some of them bake cakes and make small snacks. Then these families invite people over to eat, and give out food/drinks to their neighbours or acquaintances.

We had some leftover Jollof Rice from the 24th as we held a mini Christmas party that night. Seraphine & Rachel prepared the Jollof (recipe learnt by word-of-mouth from Nigerian ladies), whilst Isaac & I went over to my disciple's place to watch her cook Stew for us. So at the end of our Christmas Eve gathering, we had a whole pot of Jollof leftover, some spaghetti and a pot of Stew. We figured we would eat the leftovers the next day and save ourselves the cooking.

Our doorbell rang in the late morning of Christmas Day. We opened it, only to find the 3 daughters of a lady MP & I befriended. Their arms were laden with pots/containers/trays. The lady gave us a pot of Fried Rice, a whole tray of "Salad" and some cupcakes she had baked. Her daughters returned several minutes later with 6 bottles of cold soft drinks. We were pretty overwhelmed by gratitude and the food.

Not an hour later, our doorbell rang again. Our neighbour's boy came bearing a tray with a pot of Jollof Rice, some dried beef, a container of her very own Salad and a selection of fruit juices. We transferred the food into our own containers and placed them next to our earlier haul as the fridge was already bursting it seams.

A third time, our doorbell rang. By this time, we were getting pretty worried about how were going to stomach everything before they (or our stomachs) went bad. It turned out to be another neighbour, and she brought us a tray of cut fruit (refreshing!), more fruit juice, and some canned Malta.

To round of the story, we managed to eat most of it. And let's just say our Muslim security guards were very gastronomically blessed that week as well.

***

NEW YEAR

To our delight, MP decided to give us all a break on Friday (31 Dec) so that we could visit the much talked-about Friday Market. I would hear ladies tell me about this *AMAZINGLY HUGE FLEA MARKET* that would be set up near the National Mosque in Central District each Friday.

It was basically a wide two-way road crowded with stalls at the sides & in the centre. The stalls were mats laid on the ground with goods piled on top of it. There were snack-sellers walking up and down the street, beggars crawling around and vendors hawking their wares very volubly (& physically). The market was smaller than we expected, and it was in fact smaller than usual given the holiday period. But at the end of it, I was pretty thankful that the market wasn't bigger - or else I'd have been divested of much more money.

I was, however, divested of my phone. My trusty bb that Jon gave me, got nicked. In the throng of people & the excitement of cheap goods, I paid my sling bag less attention that I should have. I was squeezing past a man, between a vehicle and a stall, when I somewhat realised that he was slowly rifling through my bag. I quickly pulled my bag away and checked my money; it was safe. Only some 20 minutes later and several stalls down the road, I realised the side pocket that contained my small change & my bb had been wiped clean.

I realise that I can remain outwardly calm even though everything else inside is screaming & trying to do otherwise. I still managed to snag several more buys after the loss my bb. Hail the healing power of retail therapy. Thing about losing my bb: it's not the actual phone that I'm upset about. It's the notes I've typed in there (which includes many recipes, ugh) , messages to me, contact details, passwords, photos and other valuable information. Am currently on a spare phone thanks to MP. Great thing is that it's a wonderful Nokia (second only to Blackberry), with an awesome camera. So expect photos.

On a lighter note, my haul at the end of the day (from the market, and after) - Prices converted to SGD:
○ Elaborate Indian tunic top $10
○ Indian tunic dress $7
○ Striped tee & Green linen blouse $7
○ High-waist navy capris $2
○ Earrings & a ring $6
○ Strawberry waist belt $2
○ Black vintage leather backpack $7
I bought quite a lot of food in between my purchases as well.

The night on New Year's eve was spent playing Monopoly Deal. At midnight, we paused to clap and say "Happy New Year" politely to each other, and we resumed playing.

New Year was spent playing more Monopoly Deal for hours. The team then went to "Chicken Republic" for dinner- the closest thing Abuja has to KFC. For almost $10/plate, you get yourself some chicken and fries. We then went to the neighbouring Mr. Bigg's for soft serve ice cream, where we played that strange passing/tap-tap hand game while waiting for the soft serve machine to replenish its ice cream. By that time it was already dark, and the wind was chilly. Then finally, we headed for Cornershop (i.e. bunch of shops. Technically you can only have 1 cornershop, but that's how it goes here.) because MW, Fin & I wanted to eat Indomee omelette. In the end the dude made us Indomee scrambled egg, but it was cheap, hot & good all the same.

And that ends our holiday season. It's back to business all the way till May, yay.

NEW YEAR

2011-01-02T23:13:00.003+08:00

happy new year, & i got my bb pickpocketed on friday the 31st at a large streetmarket.

DISCOVERY OF THE YEAR

2010-12-24T03:36:00.003+08:00

INDOMEE OMELETTE

HAS OFFICIALLY TOPPED THE LIST OF SNACKS TO DIE FOR
& THIS IS SOMETHING I'M BRINGING BACK WITH ME.

#623: ECKS-MAS

2010-12-20T15:29:00.001+08:00

I haven't been journaling because I've just been too tired and lazy to do so. The title of this blogpost is somewhat in line with upcoming festive season. Why it is as such: it's common knowledge that the word "Christmas" has been unceremoniously delegated the short form "Xmas". While it looks as such, the short form is still pretty much pronounced in the long form. However, here I've been encountering happy people excitedly telling me about them travelling or killing a nice big chicken/cow to eat for "Ecks-Mas". I found this rather intriguing; maybe I've not been exposed enough but this is my first time encountering the term pronounced as it is spelt. It wasn't even "ex-mas", but the "eCKS" was pronounced very impressively.

However, as far as Christmas goes, I'd really prefer sticking to the conventional way of spelling. After all, that's the reason we celebrate Christmas - Christ Himself. Where's the Christ in the X-mas then? I figured the "X" was representative of His work on the cross, but still. I'll only use X-mas when I need to type an sms and stay within the limit.

Abuja will be pretty much ghost-town come this week. The FCT is a little bit like Singapore: it is an immigrant society. There are no indigenous "Abujans" (whatever they may be called) here because in Nigeria, this is their local "land of opportunity" where people from the states all gravitate towards in hopes of better employment & education. So during national "family-centric" holidays like the Muslim sallah, the Christian Christmas (there's a distinction here) or the New Year, people will travel back to their home states to be reunited with family. Especially during this bit of the year (Christmas+New Year), there will be a mighty exodus of people to the villages. Who will be left behind? A smattering of families, security guards who have to look after newly emptied compounds, and us.

Christmas plans? Yesterday, Sunday the 19th of December, we held a Christmas outreach service - just like VFC Singapore back home, only on a much smaller & less epic scale. It was VFC Abuja's 3rd service, and thankfully our attendance has increased yet again from the previous week's. MP decided that we needed a performance, and so the honourable (and stressful) task of coming up with something presentable fell upon my shoulders. I decided to do away with acting altogether, because I didn't think we could all become convincing & engaging enough thespians overnight. I also wanted to go minimalist, because the thought of sourcing for materials to make accurate costumes & decent props was too much to handle. Manger scene? No thanks. Prices skyrocket during this season, because those who celebrate Christmas are willing to spend ridiculous sums of money on new clothes/presents/food/whatever else you need. So the clever hawkers push the prices up exponentially.

So I decided to borrow an idea that I participated in 8 years ago. I spent my Christmas 2002 in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, where my family was because my parents decided to head out to the missions field then. What we did was mainly Christmas caroling because music is universal and bridge cultural divides. I picked out a number of songs I learnt & performed back then, and put it into a short narration-cum-singing presentation that told the essence of the Christmas story. It turned out pretty great, despite the no-frills concept. It was awesome because Team Abuja was so supportive and ONZ about the whole thing. Everyone just did their part, and sang/narrated with such enthusiasm. It was just MP on the guitar, and the five of us with our white faces & unschooled voices. But it was a performance with soul. And I like the idea that the Christmas presentations that I was involved in whilst the missions field are similar, just with a variant repertoire and different people. They were both prop-less & drama-less, but they were both presentations from the heart.

On the 24th we'll be having a dinner gathering of sorts, and hence we'll be attempting some popular Nigerian dish called Jollof Rice. I'll be trying it out for tonight's dinner first. It will be for the church members that have been "left behind" in Abuja this season, so we can all be lonely together. Then on the 25th, the team will just stone around and be happy to be free. We'll probably go splurge on a fried chicken meal or something.

Have a lovely holiday season, friends.

- Abi, from Abuja with love <3

#622: Nigerian Time

2010-12-16T00:11:00.000+08:00

So we began service on the 5th of December, in our humble abode. The people count was 8, sans us. The second week, 18 people came - multiplication! So this week, we're hoping for more exponential increase.

There's a phenomenon here that the locals call "Nigerian time". This is how it occurs: you decide to have a gathering/meeting/party at 1pm. You invite you friends. At 1pm, there is not a soul in sight. Half an hour later, you start calling people, who tell you, "I'm coming!" At 1.45pm, two invitees arrive. You assure them there are more people coming. At 2ish, people start trickling in, and you finally get your maximum attendance by 3pm. When you ask your friends why they are late, they reply, "It's Nigerian time, now." And you learn a lesson.

Now when we organise events, we tell the people specifically "NOT NIGERIAN TIME". We even tell them to come 15-30 mins before the stipulated time, to increase our chances of having them come punctually. It kinda works.

The people here are very generous. Many of them grow their own crops around the place. If you stumble upon a patch of grass that has a papaya tree or two, a smattering of bean and tomato plants, or a cornfield, you're probably standing in someone's farm. How these two facts relate: papayas are in season. Here the breed they have are called "paw-paw". Within a week, I have been given 4 paw-paws by 2 different people. Isn't that nice? (: so now we have 4 ripening/ripened paw-paws sitting pretty at home. Can't wait for fasting to be over so that I can indulge in some free fibre-filled paw-paw goodness.

Christmas is round the corner, but it doesn't feel like it at all. No lights, no music, no cheery atmosphere. The people in Abuja mostly travel back to their home states around this period, until the new year. So we're gonna celebrate the season in a relative ghost town. But we're making do with what we have: Christmas outreach this sun, Christmas eve gathering on - well, duh - Christmas eve. Christmas Day we'll just be bums, lazing around at home. We'll also have holes in our pockets, cos we're planning to eat out at this FRIED CHIKIN joint.

If you've been in correspondence with me, keep it up. Makes life more colourful (:

Peace.

#621: we sure are cute for two ugly people

2010-12-08T03:25:00.002+08:00

It's really great to be able to OPEN MY EYES & TALK & WALK & EAT & THINK & LAUGH again. Last week was just awful, lying in bed most of the time. I'd limp into the toilet, limp out, and flop back onto the mattress. In fact I was in bed so much, sitting up on Sunday/Monday made my back hurt so bad. Think it was the fact that I barely sat in a chair all week. I slouched in a chair for several minutes a day, to force some nourishment into the system. Sometimes it stayed.

The team was really great (i.e. Fin, Rach, Isaac, MP) doing all the work for Sunday and taking care of me & MW at the same time. The two girls were up all night, the first night I was ill, sponging me down from my ridiculously high fever. Rach would whip up lunch for us malaria victims, though she was fasting, and Fin would run around doing little things like laundry for me. These girls are really the best.

I would type more but THE INTERNET IS SO SLOW ALL MY WINDOWS ARE CRAWLINGGGGGG

#620: malaria

2010-12-03T21:47:00.000+08:00

Mingwei and I have been down with Malaria. Him since Sunday, me since Monday. It started off with a slight congestion in the morning, and later a headache when I was out with Rach & Fin. After I left for home early because I was feeling so horrible, I crashed straight onto the bed for a much-needed sleep. Turned out that my temperature went up to 39.3degC. It hasn't been good, so far. With my fluctuating temperature (highest 39.4degC so far) that causes bouts of ear-splitting headaches. My throat has been sore as well, thus causing the feeling of heaviness in my chest. It makes it difficult to breathe. Because of this, talking has been strenuous, and I speak barely above a whisper. It has also been a pain to sleep, because I keep getting up at night to use the toilet, measure my temperature, get sponged down… plus I already spend most of the day sleeping, so it's kinda difficult to sleep at night. Tonight, I've been awake since 6pm and I'm struggling to prevent myself from lying down and succumbing to shuteye. I have to take my malaria medication at 10pm before I can turn in.

At times like these, I miss Singapore most. I miss being home and being fussed over by my loved ones. But the team here has been awfully nice, with Pat, Rach & Fin getting up in the middle of the night to check on / tend to me. Scenes of Singapore just keep playing at the back of my mind, like going out to random places at night with Jon, going shopping with Mum, etc…

I just pray I quickly heal up. Eating has been such a chore, what with the painful throat and queasy stomach. I really dislike porridge due to bad past experiences. It's the sort of thing Mum used to make for me when I was having it real bad. So tonight I puked out the soupy rice that they prepared for us /:

Sigh, I hate being sick and I hate taking medication even more.

It's Friday today and I'm way better thank God. I've yet to step out of the house since I crashed onto my bed on monday afternoon. Am feeling much better, except I feel way too bloated with fluids and parts of my mouth/throat/gums feel too sore/dry for comfort. Ugh.

#619: long time

2010-11-27T12:10:00.000+08:00

It has been quite a long time since I last posted any activity here. It's due to a terrible combination of me being too:
(A) BUSY
(B) TIRED
(C) DEAD LAZY

Also, I haven't really been trying to use the internet much lately. Somehow, BB Internet Service has been unusually efficient hence I post this from my phone.

Quick updates:

1. Whither Weather
We are into the dry season over here in Abuja. There hasn't been a drop of rain in weeks, the sun is especially scorching these days, and things get cloaked with a fine layer of sandy dust if you leave them lying about. This season means that we can hang our laundry out 24/7 without fearing the sudden & unpredictable bouts of rain that previously characterised the Nigerian rainy season. Also, I've not brought out my poncho/umbrella in several weeks - which is a blessing because they add weight to my sling (which broke).

2. Literature
For secular reading, I recently finished Pratchett's latest novel Unseen Academicals, which I downloaded into my bb. I'm currently digesting How Football Explains the World, a paperback that is reminiscent of Freakonomics - only in terms of soccer.
[On a side note: OMG I JUST STEPPED INNA SOILED DIAPER OMG ARGH EW SICK GROSS ARGH]
I've been reading several books on Islam & Christianity, from both Islamic & Christian sources. Have also been trying to read the Qur'an but I'm still on Sura 2 (out of... Many). Too many things to read, too little time (& discipline).

3. Mind
Now that I've been out of school for a whole year, I'm worried that my intellect & numeracy are deterriorating. Several incidences have brought this worrying revelation that I may really be slowly losing it. For one, a few weeks ago I tried to google "Google". Several times. Second, I couldn't remember how to spell "assessment". I tried "accessment", then "acessment" and "accesment" before finally yielding to the assistance of SpellCheck. At least I still know my times-tables. For now.

4. Lingo
Lotsa Nigerian slang emerging, and the team hasd been using a very Nigerian tone to communicate...even with each other, in the privacy of our home! I wonder if we'll have trouble re-assimilating back into Singlish. Nah...

2010-11-19T04:00:00.000+08:00

IM STILL HERE
BUSY WITH
PLANNING A PICNIC
TILL SATURDAY

TILL NEXT TIME.

#618: Breakstreak

2010-11-07T21:49:00.000+08:00

I have been on a breaking streak. A week back, during Tuesday house-cleaning, I tripped. I was in the kitchen, and I comically (not to me, though) tripped on the basket of eggs. Actually, more accurately (and perhaps, even more comically), I stepped into the basket of eggs that was on the floor. Now you know why they say one shouldn't put all of one's eggs into one basket - aphorism playing itself out here.

Anyway, my reflexes have actually improved. They have improved such that once my brain registered that I my feet were atop more than a dozen fragile eggs, I somehow trod so lightly that I missed stepping down properly altogether. This resulted in only 2 eggs cracking! Only, the fact that I missed a step sent me tumbling face-forward. Unfortunately, I was carrying a tray of 6 ceramic (BREAKABLE!) mugs. One flew, borne by my momentum, and broke.

I befriended an old lady in the neighbouring close, called Jamai. She stays in a shanty next to the road, and hawks cooked food. She's basically one of those roadside-stall hawkers that I have been forewarned not to patronise. I have a soft spot for old ladies, and I fell in love with this old Hausa lady. As much as I can, I pop by to visit her everyday. There's a slight (okay, understatement) language barrier between us, but apparently she's very fond of me as well. We communicate via my "Hausa kadang kadang" ("Hausa small small") and her "English small small". A typical conversation would go (my Hausa spelling is terribly inaccurate, pardon me):

Me: Sanu!
Jamai: Sanu! Sanu sanu sanu!!
Me: Na-uni!
Jamai: Lafiya! Hasociacn asoc iaso
Me: Eheheh. How are you? You fine?
Jamai: Nagodi! Thank you! A dfas cfajbf co oa noas akj
Me: Innasonki yes? ("I love you")
Jamai: Innasonki! Asoaicn aocisn oa caio
Me: I'm going home now okay?
Jamai: Thank you! Thank you thank you! Sanu!
Me: Allah tema keki! ("God bless you")
Jamai: Allah tema kemu! ("God bless us")
Me: Tomorrow yes? Sa'anjuma!
Jamai: Tomorrow! Tomorrow! Thank you! Thank you! Ascd a canocs na kcnao
Me: Se go be! ("Tomorrow")
Jamai: Tomorrow! Sacnao cnaoinc os cas nocanso …

Today she insisted on giving me two yams. Yes, two whole yams. Not two pieces of yam, but two whole soil and skin-covered yams. I staggered home with them under my left arm (I had 2kg of frozen 'soft chicken' on my right arm), trying to figure out a yam rice recipe in my head. When I finally got home, I dumped the yams on our kitchen counter. Then I decided to move them to the ground to make space for me to sort out the frozen chix.

I dragged the yams off the counter and, to my horror, I heard the sound of something plastic hit the floor at an ominously loud volume. True enough, I found our Singapore-bought plastic ladle on the floor. In two. It didn’t even break at the stem, it just had to break at the scoop.

So now I am mugless (till I buy a replacement), and owe the church/team a ladle. Sigh. Tomorrow it's going to be a hassle to get the hot water out of the pot without a ladle. I really hope this is the last casualty.

To the people who know me very well (i.e. my family and Jon), one of the first adjectives that may pop into their heads when it comes to describing me will most probably by "clumsy". If you have never thought that I was a klutz, you don't know me very well to be honest. So here's a random insight into my life. It's trivial, but it's a vital piece of information if you're planning to invite me to a tea party that involves various articles of fine bone china.

#617: I RESOLVE

2010-10-31T04:14:00.002+08:00

Come next week, starting from Tuesday 1 November, I resolve to completely abstain from

1. DOOR-SLAMMING
2. PEANUT-POPPING
3. GASSY DRINK-GUZZLING

I resolve to limit myself to a maximum of:

1. 3 gassy drinks per week
2. 3 slices of bread at breakfast

It's time to get my act back together.

#616: PIMPOURSPACE

2010-10-29T03:27:00.001+08:00

head over to
loveabuja.blogspot
for random and sporadic team photos and updates!

#615: Stew, and Nigerian Nights

2010-10-27T02:52:00.001+08:00

DATED SUNDAY, 24 OCTOBER, 2010, 5:32PM (GMT+1:00)

The limited ingredients that we get at the nearest market, I have discovered, are enough to whip up a deliciously wholesome beef stew - according to Mum's recipe. It basically involves sautéing the beef, throwing in a whole lot of vegetables, and leaving the concoction to simmer for at least 3 hours. It's easy to cook, delivers a "hearty" (Rachel) and "shiok-shiok" (Seraphine & MP) meal, and reminds me of home. It's funny how I've never really liked stew a lot back home, but over here I love cooking it. I've been dying to try variations of the beef stew, but due to popular demand, it's back to the original carrots-tomatoes-potatoes combination today. The second time I made stew, I managed to sneak in green capsicum. Don't tell the others, but I hope to secretly change the ingredients until we end up trying a cabbage-based one someday.

This week has been… pretty slack. Some activities have been planned and are projected to be launched in a coupla weeks time. We're going to hold guitar lessons and start activities for the youths, so this week has been slightly more slack because we've been sourcing for certain things; it was good (for my mental well-being) to break from normal routine.

I haven't been doing very well, according to Nigerian standards. Let me explain. A typical greeting in Nigeria will go like this:

A: Ah, B! How far now?
B: Hello friend, well done now. How work?
A: Well done.
B: How was your night?
A: Well done. How was yours?
B: Well done. You're welcome now.
A: Thank you.

Hence, the criteria to evaluate the well-being of any dude you meet is as follows:
1. "How far" is he - not that he is preggers, but this is broken English meaning "How are you"
2. "How work" - meaning how has his work been
3. "How was your night" - did he sleep well

For me, my nights have not been very good. I have been experiencing a more happening night life here, in Abuja, than I have ever before.

Note:
The operational definition of 'Happening' being a state of having things happen, according to the Isaac Chang Wei Jin Dictionary.

Firstly, the night life has been paying me unwelcome visits. I have been waking up far too many times, scratching at some random bite or other. It's not cool to be woken up by several itchy, throbbing bumps on your various body parts. The hotspots are the soles of my feet, ankles and wrists. Those also happen to be the most annoying parts to get itched.

Secondly, the erratic electrical supply has been a disturbance as well. On hot nights, when the power gets cut and the fan goes off, I wake up bathed in sweat. On cold nights, when the power suddenly comes back on, I wake up shivering and having to unzip my sleeping bag. The best part is that the power can go on/off several times in one night.

Thirdly, should a downpour suddenly come at night, the wind blows open our room & toilet doors, and the rain gets in through the window and onto our beds. This usual compels me to get out of bed to shut/open various doors/windows depending on the weather outside. I also wake up pretty early, given that 3 girls share one toilet and we have to make time for each other. I'm not complaining, but it's been so annoying that it's become all very ridiculous and funny to me that I have to share my ~~ordeal~~ experience.

Fourthly, religious activities sometimes take place at the strangest and most ungodly hours. Apparently, they take place at 'ungodly hours' because the people here want to bring God into the 'ungodly hours' or something like that. So they have vigil services, as I may have previously mentioned. Also, sometimes the neighbours upstairs decide to pray at the top of their voices and stomp their feet at 2am. It's all part and parcel of Nigerian night life, really. Thank goodness they decided to have a baby, and things have quieted down ever since.

So sleep hasn't been good. And apparently, according to a contact, I have put on weight. After carefully examining my current lifestyle, I have concluded that it can only be true. I have two meals a day, but typically my consumption breakdown will be as follows:

BREAKFAST
1 small bowl of cereal in low fat milk
3-5 slices of bread, depending on my mood (sardine, peanut butter, nutella)
Milo (25% Milo+sugar, 75% milk) or Tea (4 tsp sugar)

DINNER
More carbs than usual
350ml of coke
Lots of roasted ground nuts
Sometimes biscuits from my stash

And given that we've been keke-ing about a lot more than walking lately, my eating habits have not been very helping my figure. Oh well, this calls for less snacking and sugar I suppose.

I'm off to check on the stew now. We're having it with macaroni tonight .

#614: Rocky Weekstart

2010-10-17T01:30:00.002+08:00

Normal people have their weekends and the Nigerians, for all their little eccentricities, are most normal in this aspect. One thing that has been taken from me ever since the beginning of the GTP is my Weekend. It is something that I've never fully appreciated; after all, weekends for students (which I happened to be, last year this time) mean massive homework & mugging catch-up time (or, supposedly). I only began to realise how vital Weekends are to my sanity after Mondays became my off-days, and I began to TGIM instead of TGIF. One thing good about having Mondays off, in Singapore, is that town (i.e. Orchard & Somerset) is blessedly devoid of the crowds that it is infamous for. One bad thing about having Mondays off, in Singapore, is that everyone else isn't free.

The point is that I, Abigail, now am a celebrator of Weekstarts. As the hoi polloi groan and suffer the Monday Blues as they head back to their offices, schools and army camps, I (and my team) rejoice in Sunday Night as the harbinger of Monday. Saturdays to us, feel like any other normal weekday because we still follow our normal routine. The only difference is that we meet slightly more of the working class in their homes.

10.10.10 was one of those special once-in-a-century opportunities that people 3rom various societies/religions/etc see as special/auspicious/etc. That Sunday, Porpor passed away at 1am Singapore time (GMT +8:00). I received a missed call on my phone at almost 8pm Abuja time (3am SG time) from Mum. I wondered what the matter could be, but dismissed it because I figured if it was really that important, Mum would try again - and she didn't. The next morning I turned on my Singtel line to check for smses, and I received the news.

To me, it was a shocker. For one, it was completely unexpected. For another, I felt so distant and detached - physically, and hence emotionally. It's one thing seeing your loved one die in front of you (as for me, with Kongkong), and it's another receiving the news several hours later, several thousand km away. I called Mum, and when I heard my voice asking about the funeral, the ice broke and I began to cry. Mum sounded anxious, busy, and in a rush. All she told me was to punch out a eulogy and email it to her immediately, for it was to be read out at the wake that night - which was in a few hours time.

The eulogy, which you may have read below, was one of the most difficult and painful things for me to write. How does one describe one's 19 year-long relationship of love with another, in a sudden moment of grief, under the pressure of time and an overwhelmingly large baggage of regret?

I just wanted was to be alone that day. In GTP, it is solitude is rare. I had to sit through a several hour local service that we were visiting, smile at people who tried to be friendly, and later in the day still hit the streets. All Sunday and Monday, I just wanted out and to be alone with my grief.

This particular Monday, majority decided to stay home and rot. Only, the electricity got cut for the entire day. The problem didn't stop there: our compound's water supply is drawn from a borehole, and pumped to the respective houses by electricity. With the electricity out, the water supply soon ran out. That Monday evening, I came down with a bad case of diarrhea. If you think you've had it bad, I'm telling you that you wouldn’t know what bad is till you're purging every hour in the dark, in a house without lights, and a toilet without running water. Oh yes, our water storage bins were out too.

On Tuesday, I took ill. I woke up okay, but that morning I came down suddenly with a splitting headache such that it hurt to open my eyes. Then, my temperature shot up to 38degC and I started getting chills. MP kindly allowed me to bed, and the girls made me Milo and sandwiches for breakfast though I only managed a slice of bread. I was then given 2 Panadols to pop.

Random Abigail Fact: I HAVE NEVER TAKEN PANADOL IN MY ENTIRE LIFE BEFORE. Or at least, not from that brand. I've only taken Paracetemol from a clinic once. I hardly take medication, unless aboslutely necessary or in need of an MC for school.

According to a doctor that happened to visit and conveniently took at look at me, I was suspected to have Malaria. It's very common here in Nigeria, and deaths from it are not few either. Thankfully, I was better by evening. I spent the rest of the day shuffling among
1. The kitchen - where I was simmering a beef stew for dinner
2. My room - where I'd languish in bed all by my lonesome, sorrowful self
3. The toilet

Such was my Wretched Weekstart. You'll be happy to know I'm better now, body and heart-wise. My tummy is still pretty raw though, and I still use the toilet a lot more often than normal. Otherwise, all's well.

#612: Eulogy

2010-10-11T20:24:00.000+08:00

Her favourite colour was green. It was a small piece of information that I learnt about Porpor when I was only a small child. Green, as we know it, is representative of life. And I think her favourite colour was most befitting, for Porpor was one who was full of it.

Even at an old age, she was sprightly. One of my most vivid memories of her was when she took my then-toddler brother by the arms, and waltzed with him across her kitchen. At that point she was already into her 70s, and I was amazed that she could still dance on her toes! Even when she began to be physically limited, Porpor still exhibited her zest for life by a love for music. When riding in the car, my brother and I would entertain her with songs, and she would enthusiastically join in. Her favourite song was “I’m Dreaming of A White Christmas”, which I most regrettably could not sing for her.

Porpor lived her life loving. When she loved, she would go out of her way and do all that she could, to bring happiness, comfort and safety to those that she cared for – often at her own expense. She showed love to everyone around her – her children, grandchildren, relatives close, relatives far, neighbours, church friends, acquaintances at the supermarket. She showed love to people who didn’t deserve it; she still loved people who took advantage of her love, she still loved those hurt her. She loved them and hung on, even though common sense, and people who cared for her, told her otherwise.

Even when Dementia began to steal away her memories and lucidness, one thing Porpor never forgot was how to love. In her deteriorating physical and mental condition, she still did all she could to show her love for those she cared for.

Despite her pains, Porpor still had a laugh that was as fresh and infectious as that of a child. There was genuine joy in her laughter, and when she smiled, her eyes would light up like stars. One of my favourite hobbies was to make her laugh. I would say something ridiculous in my broken Hokkien, and she would burst into a wave of giggles, and tell me that she was “scared” because she’d “laugh too much to fall asleep that night”. She, too, was a joker. She’d tease and josh – all in good fun – because she was one who knew that we all shouldn’t take life too seriously.

I wish that I could have been around for her more in her final years. I wish that I could have brought her joy and given her company when she most needed them. And I wish that she could still be around to watch me grow up, graduate and get married – she was so thrilled at the prospect of being at my wedding! However, I know she wouldn’t want me to have regrets, or grieve for her for long. She’d tell me that I’m still young and full of years ahead, that I shouldn’t be looking back and bothering about ‘old things’ like her. Such selflessness, typical of Porpor, is a characteristic that I’ve yet to come across in anyone else I know!

In saying all that, here’s to a woman of great strength, intelligence and character. Here’s to Porpor, a priceless grandmother. And here’s to her legacy, of life, love and laughter.

#611: WEDNESDAY.

2010-10-08T03:52:00.002+08:00

DATED WEDNESDAY, 6 OCTOBER, 2010, 8:04PM (GMT+1:00)

Wednesdays, I'm sad to say, are my least favourite of days in the week. This is because Wednesdays are full-fast days. It is not mainly the fact that I go hungry and tired, but not being able to chew, taste and swallow food is what makes it trying.

Of course I get hungry, and my stomach makes worrying noises that makes me suspect that it is trying to digest itself. Speaking about stomachs, I was offered some soup and a Nigerian home yesterday. It tasted like the fish soup I tried at this restaurant called Jevinik, and the hostesses told me that it was 'smooth fish'. So I thought that the pieces of fish that I was trying to peel had such a strange texture because it was 'smooth fish'. Out of courtesy, I picked up one to take a bite. It was so rubbery and tough - like sotong (WHICH I HATE), but thicker - that I only managed to pull out a little chunk. I chewed, swallowed, and told the girl:

Me: This is really interesting fish… I've never had it before!
Her: Oh! That's not fish! That's offal.
Me: [realisation and a cold horror started to creep over me] What's… offal?
Her: You don’t know offal?! It's the… the.. What do you call it? It's…
Me: …offal? Is that… innards?
Her: Ah yes yes, the cow you know, the intestines? Or the stomach?
Me: [trying to keep my face straight, and trying not to hurl] Ahh, yes yes I now offal! It's very… interesting. Heh. Heh.

I was so traumatised, and I can still remember the rubbery sensation of the innard against my teeth. :/

Anyhows, I am most tired on Wednesdays. And I most look forward to my Milo drink:

1) Add 2.5 tablespoons of Milo, 2 teaspoons of sugar, 1 teaspoon of condensed milk to a cup
2) Fill cup to about 80% with hot water
3) Stir violently to mix
4) Fill up with milk almost to the brim
5) Drink, enjoy
6) Think about breakfast

I am really sleepy now, and without dinner, the night seems to go on forever. It is only 0832hrs now, and it feels like I have been killing hours already. Bleh.

13 hours to breakfast.

#610: IN OTHER NEWS

2010-10-05T05:04:00.001+08:00

The Abuja team is very much alive despite the bomb blasts that occurred in the Central District on 1st Oct, Friday. We only found out after someone from Singapore called to check on us. The residents in our area were completely oblivious, and the news only spread around the next day.

Thanks for your prayers, we are OK.

#609: We Have A Gen

2010-10-05T05:01:00.000+08:00

DATED SATURDAY, 25 SEPTEMBER, 2010, 9:44PM (GMT+1:00)

Two things before I begin proper:
1) I was mildly shocked to see the date beneath the title. It does not feel like a Saturday, because it feels like any other day. That's thing about the GTP - ever since GTP II - you never get your weekend. Tomorrow doesn’t feel much like a Sunday either, apart from us supposing to have a 'worker's service', because we still have to do evangelism. I got a few appointments set up for tomorrow, though. So yay for a break in routine.
2) Thursday's journal entry was cut short because so was the electricity. However, things have picked up and I am actually running this laptop purely on electricity now. The lights are bright. This is because MP couldn't take it anymore and got into contact with Fred, so they went out one day and came back with a generator; a gen. It's a very basic, low-wattage one: only the fridge, lights and fans. No other electrical appliances i.e. iron, rice cooker, water cooker please. So things are good, because now we can actually see what we're eating for dinner.

Week two of evangelism (and week four of residence) seems to fly past much quicker than the previous week. It could be due to the fact that we got our Monday off (sorta - we made an errands trip out of Gwarimpa, to Sahad Store which is in Garki) and we started on Tuesday afternoon. We made contact with an American missionary family: Mark & Angela, twins Daniel & David. The twins are the most fraternal pair that I've ever met (or seen) - one's redhead and short, one's brunette and tall. So the lady, Angela, brought us to Karmo Market in her car. Karmo Market, in my (limited) opinion, is the coolest market here. Currently I favour it over Wuse Market (the allegedly biggest baddest and meanest market here in Abuja) because A) It seems to have EVERYTHING, B) It's supposedly cheaper. Of course, I've yet to check Wuse out in its full glory. Also, Karmo is basically stalls everywhere under the sun. No, really. Everywhere, that is under the sun. A dusty road runs through the stalls, designated for vehicles.

There was a lot more journal content here, but I think it's potentially sensitive material. Hence the content has been eliminated, and my entry shall end.

Goodnight, hope the bed bugs don't bite. I've been waking up with red spots on various body parts, bummer.

#608: Milk, with a spot of Ovaltine

2010-10-05T04:57:00.000+08:00

DATED WEDNESDAY, 15 SEPTEMBER, 2010, 9:05PM (GMT+1:00)

It turns out that the tons of milk powder that the Nigerians supermarkets and stalls hawk is one of their major drinks. It's like our Milo, Teh Bing and Kopi. Today Juliet, my first disciple, offered me a hot drink. It comprised 3 huge scoops of milk power, and 1 scoop of Ovaltine. From there, I surmised that people here probably do that and that's why Milo is sold in such tiny quantities.

I have been eating more carbohydrates than usual, given that we walk around a lot, and there's not much else to eat. It's in abundance: rice, potatoes, pasta, repeat. I have been popping peanuts because it's only $2.50 for a gin glass-bottle of well-roasted ones. Also, I have been chugging coke like no tomorrow, because it only costs around SGD10 for a case of 24 350ml glass bottles of assorted fizzy drinks (you get to pick).

Now Mingwei and I are famous in H and F-close because we have too many people that recognise us. People will greet us from near and afar, and we return it though half the time we struggle to match names to faces and places. It's a nice feeling though, being generally welcomed and embraced (I supposed) by the local community. Of course, with our fair complexion, we are a novelty.

I'm glad for my N5000 30-day BBIS plan, and I don’t intend to renew it instantly after it expires. Perhaps I shall wait for a week before I do. This way, I'll only buy a total of 6 months' worth of BBIS. See how we survive at this rate, and maybe I'll not get BBIS the last few months. I'm missing home a lot less than I expected, but I do get sporadic pangs of nostalgia - scenes of significant haunts, comfort food and memories come up now and then.

Been picking up guitar, and am getting better. I know this for a fact because the chords that I deign to play are actually more recognisable. Also, my second, third and fourth fingertips have hardened (much to my chagrin - all aspirations of becoming a dainty lass have been dashed). I know three songs now: Heart of Worship, I Could Sing Of You Love Forever and Set Us Apart. I can play them rather choppily, but I still can play them. I am determined to get better and learn how to twang with my fingers too. Maybe someday I'll even learn to play Kings' Riot On An Empty Street.

I have to wake up earlier to do more laundry, which can be emotionally draining. That is because I'd put in all the effort in soaping, soaking, rinsing, wringing, drip-drying, hang-drying and sunning my clothes, then it'd either rain and I 'd have to run out in a panic to save my almost-dry clothes, or they won't dry properly and they'd end up with an odour. Oh well, but recently my jeans have been sundried till a fine denim crisp, so I supposed that's better than their previous pungent state.

There's still one hour to go before shut-eye, which is one hour too long.

#607: Welcome to Naija

2010-10-04T03:42:00.001+08:00

I realised I put up the first two posts without any real introduction of my team and the place we're in. Well, my team comprises 6 people: Pastor Pat (or "MP", short for "Missions Pastor", as well call her) as the leader who's up for a 3-year stint here. The other 5 of us happen to have ages in running order. There's me, at 19. Then there's Seraphine who's 20, and is "genuinely funny" due to being hilarious by default (i.e. without even trying). Freshly 21 is Rachel, who's a big fan of anything Japanese. She's also fun to be around, because she can be bouncy when she wants to be. Isaac is 22 and is Seraphine's older brother. He's tall, has a bottomless appetite, and has such an affinity for his sleeping bag that he once brought it into the toilet with him to do his big business ("deposit gold bars", as he likes to put it). Mingwei, 23, is the oldest. However, he habitually denies this and likes people to believe he is between 15 to 18 years old. Our team is /youthful, but it wasn't meant to be a youth team.

Here in Nigeria we are based in Gwarimpa which, according to the generally patriotic Nigerians we have been meeting, is the largest residential estate in all of Africa. We stay on 1st Avenue, one of 7 avenues. In each avenue, there are crescents and closes (dead-ends). We stay in F-close, which is a popular one due the location of a bar at the end of it. Our compound is called "Plot No. 403", and it is right smack next to the bar. This is good, in the sense that people know exactly where our house is when we describe it. This is also bad, in the sense that people know exactly where our house is and decide to show up uninvited.

There are many other districts in Abuja (known as the Federal Capital Territory, FCT). There is Wuse, in which a huge & popular market is located. It is rather pricey, but the variety it offers is supposedly unrivalled. Wuse is also where we go to exchange our USD, and where we got our fridge from. Wuse is 'town', and is where we are going this Monday.

There is the Central district, which is the main business district. Much like Singapore's CBD, only Abuja is the administrative capital and not the industrial one. Another district is Asokoro, which is the location of the presidential palace and thus is the most beautiful place in the FCT. Maitama, yet another district, is very much a diplomatic area and hence home to many expatriates. There's also Garki, where Sahad stores is located. Sahad is a local supermarket that runs on a 'first-snatch-first-get' principle. There are limited stocks of certain items, and whatever's on the shelves is whatever's available.

We have been doing so far has been mostly evangelical work. We hit the streets in pairs and go from door-to-door to talk to people. We share with them about God, His love and the work of Christ on the Cross. I leave the house at around 10am, and return by 6.30pm. My footwear is a salmon-orange pair of TOMS, courtesy of Esther Weiqin (my froyo friend) who got them from me. They are, by far, the most comfortable pair of shoes I have ever worn and owned. The reason for the strange colour is that it was the only pair left in my size. But it's all cool, especially when I wear them with my grass-green cargo pants that someone donated to me before I left. I look like a walking carrot. Mum, in her motherly affection, said it looks "very United Colours of Benetton". Oh well, no local has laughed at the combination yet.

#606: Riot On An Empty Street

2010-10-01T05:15:00.000+08:00

DATED WEDNESDAY, 8 SEPTEMBER, 2010, 5:48PM GMT+1:00

It's week two, and I'm typing this during one of the blessed moments of flowing electrical supply. I'm taking a risk by plugging my laptop into the electricity with the battery out; I don't want to overcharge it because it's full already. The danger is that should the power get cut now, this will die.

I've been to the local market twice, and I actually rather like it. Gwarimpa market is small and limited though; I much prefer Wuse market. It is bigger, with greater variety, and a larger crowd. They have cool apparel shops that I will be checking out prior to my departure. Speaking about apparel, I intend to get at least one traditional dress tailored. Probably a maxi dress with capsleeves, a knee-length one with the more traditional sleeves, and/or a blouse-skirt outfit. I really like the cut of the tops, with the back in a wide U-shape that shows off the sheen of African skin. The skirts fall beautifully as well. I was looking at the dramatic puffed-sleeves and U-back of the female Nigerian garb, and I was wondering if the previous season of puffed sleeves and low backs were inspired by the Africans (and subsequently not credited).

The market is interesting, full of new sights and smells that overwhelm my Asian senses. One thing I'll still take a while getting used to is the meat: entrails hanging all over the table with various fluids dripping. Also, it is the norm for everyone to kill their animals for food. Today, MW, Fin and I were walking past a little boy on our way to the market. He was holding 3 chickens by their feet and I observed, "I hope he's not gonna kill them." The kid put the chickens on their sides and stepped on their feet to keep them down. I was momentarily relieved, because he didn't look like he was going to attempt any violence. However, as we neared him, he pulled out a long rectangle out of his pocket. And to our horror, he smiled at us as he unsheathed a long blade. Fin and I quickly dived for a pillar to avoid the gruesome scene. According to MW, who went to look, the kid began sawing at the neck of the chicken. The story shall end here.

I've been almost-vegetarian, given that I've eaten meat only twice since touching down a week ago. The first time was at the guest house, our first dinner after we just arrived. I ordered spaghetti which was cooked in some local spice - quite tasty, but an acquired taste. It was served with two or three lumps of what was supposed to be beef. It was certainly very old cow, and was like beef jerky but worse. It was so tough, chewy and stringy. The second time was when we cooked spaghetti and I managed to whip up a decently wholesome pasta sauce the comprised green and red capsicums ("peppers" here), carrots, tomatoes, N400/pack sausages (!!!), dried thyme (cheap here), ketchup and tomato paste. I was very pleased that the spaghetti turned out al-dente.

However, the good news is that we've discovered frozen chicken does exist here. We bought some at N700/kg at the Gwarimpa market. When we went on our walk, we found a frozen foods wholesaler who sells it at N1000/kg but N1600 for a whole box. Where's the economic sense in that? Oh well, it's a good deal for us. The chickens here are rather huge - don’t see spring chickens around.

We started walking the place on Tuesday. My TOMS are okay, a bit hot and a little flat. But they are still comfortable, and my toes have enough space generally (my right side is a little squished though). The road planning system here is interesting and confusing - little roads everywhere, that link everywhere. It makes me miss Singapore's grid system.

The people here stare, and some even try to surreptitiously take photos of us. For a globalising city, they can be quite suaku. But then again, Singapore's melting pot of cultures is probably unrivalled. As I thought, I've never been so popular in my life. People can't get enough of a look at us, greet us, try to chat us up, mock us, shout thing at us or honk their vehicles at us. The way the people call each other here is by hissing - interesting piece of information.

The place here is rife with churches, though. Churches absolutely everywhere, with strange names as well. E.g. Celestial Church of Christ - which sounds Mormon, Mountain of Miracles and Fire, etc. About churches, we visited Word Alive on Sunday, and the people are dressed-up. I felt wrongly dressed, because I was in very formal office wear. But they don't dress up like that - they Dress Up: they accessorise, wear showy clothes, colour-match and such. I felt… boring and drab in black and white, against the myriad of colours the Nigerians were donning. I wish I had brought my Spanish dress along! It would fit in so beautifully - only it would be too hot in the normal weather.

Now is 1834hrs and I'm anticipating a powercut anytime from now till 7ish. Bleh.

Wow, 1835hrs and the lights just went out.

#605: Lowlight

2010-10-01T05:05:00.004+08:00

DATED SUNDAY, 5 SEPTEMBER, 2010, 8:00PM GMT+1:00

Today is 5 September 2010, a Sunday evening. It's around 8pm over here in Abuja, but already 3am back home in Singapore. I keep getting amazed every morning when I wake up, at the knowledge that half the day has already passed in Singapore, and that by the time I get round to midday, everyone back home is wrapping up to call it a night.

We left Singapore Monday night/ Tuesday morning, and we spent some 24 hours travelling and in transit, ending up in Abuja only at night. It wasn't that late, but the sky here darkens early - around 7 plus. It's exacerbated by the fact that street lamps are few.

On Tuesday and Wednesday night we put up in a guest house in this place called something something Crescent. It was an interesting place - very Arabic, with Middle Eastern brocade upholstery and carpets. On both floors, there are huge common rooms, full of seats, a large wooden table, a TV, lots of carpets, and an overpowering musty smell reminiscent of Arabian Nights. It didn't help, though, that the rooms smell that way as well.

The architecture of the place actually reveals how different Nigerian and Singaporean priorities are. For one, the place isn't ergonomic at all. The huge common room is built at the expense of the corridors, such that the door opening into the corridor to access the rooms is actually almost the exact width of the corridor itself. Hence, once it is open, no one else can pass. Also, when it is open, two rooms are inaccessible until the door is closed again.

It was difficult to bathe, given the water pressure that was very low and sometimes nonexistent. At least there was constant electricity, and hence the comforts of air-con.

Oh, about temperature. Abuja is currently surprisingly cool, it being the monsoon season. It is windy, cool and sometimes wet. In fact, it is colder than Singapore!

Wednesday was the craziest day of my life. It was so crazy that I can hardly remember it now - my brain is shoving it back into the obscure recesses of my memories in the hopes that I won't ever need to relive it. But for the sake of memories and documentation, let me try to recall:

I left the house with Ming Wei and MP (now Pastor Pat) with Pastor Chris, who came to pick us up, to visit the housing agent. The plan was for us to meet the agent, head down to the house with him, and get him to handover the keys. Meanwhile, Isaac, Seraphine and Rachel were to follow Fred down to Sahad to buy the necessary appliances and supplies for our new home.

However, when we reached the agent, he refused to handover the key until we had given him the bank draft for the payment of the house rental. N1,700,000=SGD17,000 for a year. Chris thought it was negotiable and hence brought us down on the assumption that the agent would budge. The agent didn't; we had to deliver the bank draft first.

So MW, Pat and I went down to Fortis Bank, a microfinance bank (very common here! So cool! Muhamad Yunus, is that his name?) to get them to change our USD for us. The director, Toni, drove us all back to the guest house so we could run upstairs to get out some cash to change at a special rate of USD1=N150 ("I'm a very strong Christian," he said, in response to us being Missionaries). MW, MP and I headed back with Chris & Toni to the bank which is situated in Wuse Market. The market is just amazing, a whole gamut of items for sale, and the place is bustling and alive with vivid colours and people.

We went back, and waited ages to get the money changed and the bank draft to get punched out. Surprise fees were inserted along the way, by the "strong Christian" director who was slightly misleading initially. After the draft finally came out, we took a cab down to Gwarimpa to meet the housing agent at our new place for him to hand over the keys.

After a brief inspection, we cabbed down to Sahad - some megastore - to meet Isaac, Seraphine, Rachel and Fred. They were getting household appliances and other supplies. It was general madness, because we had so many things to get and it turned out Sahad didn't do delivery. Plus the place was really crowded, and half the items aren't labelled. The staff was really useless too, as they mostly just sat around doing nothing even though we needed assistance, and some guy even told us that it was "not possible for anyone to help us". O-kay.

Madness ensued after this, because the guys went with some van we hired there to go back to the guest house to fetch our paraphernalia. MP and the girls took a ride from Fred to go back to Gwarimpa first. In the end we took a detour to Utako Market to buy some surge stabilisers (to protect the appliances from the erratic electrical current) and a lamp. Thereafter, we decided to go in search of mattresses so that we'd have soft surfaces to sleep on that night.

We ended up at some Vitafoam depot, and by then it was already dark. The street we went to was cool, because there were light designs all across the road, projected from somewhere I couldn't see. The transaction took so long that by the time we managed to get the 6 mattresses and pillows loaded onto a keke (kaykay?), it began pouring. The rain and wind were so heavy that the top mattress tied atop the keke's roof kept flipping backwards against the air current.

By the time we arrived back at Gwarimpa, it was pitch black and it was a torrential downpour. To worse things, there was no electricity running in the house at that time - there was a powercut. So the house was dark, dirty and full of luggages, and now very very wet.

We all spent the first night in the hall, on the floor or in our sleeping bags. MP was on the least wet mattress, because she didn't bring her sleeping bag. Thankfully, it is the cold season so everywhere was breezy and actually chilly.

We thus spent the next several days cleaning up the house, moving things around, cleaning up some more and getting settled.

Plus point of this place: Water is free-flow and free-of-charge. Downside: Frequent and sporadic powercuts. I began typing this in lowlight, by the glow of our glaring "Super-Master" lamps, hence the title.

#604: FROM AFRICA WITH LOVE

2010-09-27T03:48:00.001+08:00

HI IS ANYONE STILL READING THIS SPACE?

I HAVE BEEN JOURNALING ON MICROSOFT ONE NOTE ON A WEEKLY BASIS, AND IF I DO STILL HAVE A SEMBLANCE OF A READERSHIP I SHALL POST HERE.

I AM NOT DEAD.

<3

#603: jetset

2010-08-30T16:18:00.002+08:00

Flight EKsomething at T1 for Dubai, leaving 31 Aug 0140hrs. This means I'll be at the airport with my 23kh hardcase + 7kg handcarry + sling + eyes brimming with tears tonight. Yup, we finally got our visas into Nigeria and so we're heading off.

Since we're flying Emirates and the fare isn't cheap, I've made up my mind to make the most of every second and cent that has been / is going to be spent on the plane. Thus, my current plan of action looks something like: watch 352352 movies back to back, order coke (with ice) non-stop, ask for peanuts (though I don't eat them) and flick them at passers by, ask for as many decks of poker cards as possible. At this rate, I'll have to sit at the aisle seat so I can have quick access to the toilet. My peanut-flicking ought to drive people away from my toilet cubicle, so that should cut out queuing time.

Awesome.

I'll try as much as I can to blog, because I am bringing my laptop along. But I'll only be back on home soil in 8 months' time.

I know that I'll happily go through Dubai (our stopover) and Lagos, but when I finally touch down in Abuja, I'll feel the overwhelming loneliness and homesickness. But it's okay, I survived JB so I shall survive Nigeria - and more.

I guess this means good-bye, but only temporarily.

<3

#602: About SATS

2010-08-27T12:15:00.003+08:00

I remember back in JC when I was taking SATS, us Singaporean schoolkids were all stunned at the academic disparity between A-levels and the SATS. We were marvelling at how we all did pretty will, whilst American schoolkids were angsting on youtube about their scores and how one guy apparently videoed himself boasting about his 500+ score on math (Singaporeans average from mid 600s and up). I remember reaching some conclusion about it all.

Abigail says (11:15 PM):
singaporeans are more prone to carelessness and omegasianzness than anything else
americans are just prone to stupidity

#601: THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME

2010-08-24T20:41:00.002+08:00

Back from JB which is a real stunner. More on that later.

Back home to massive-pack.

Leaving for Nigeria on Monday night/ Tuesday morning.

This is it.

#600: status update

2010-08-09T17:54:00.003+08:00

The visas to Nigeria still aren't here; we haven't even applied for them because the necessary documents are still outstanding.

I'm off to JB - yes, Johor Careful-Veh-Dangerous Bahru - for a month, to help out with The Church @ JB. I'll return to Singapore when the Nigerian visas are finally done, then fly off from Changi. The Abuja team will be leaving tomorrow (i.e. Tuesday) morning. It's a blessing, because I'm actually home on National Day. But my heart is not here and is not for this land, not for now. It's somewhere the other side of the world.

But whatever it is, JB or Nigeria, I'm still leaving home for a while.

I can't register that, yet.

2010-08-05T07:58:00.000+08:00

2010-08-04T13:03:00.003+08:00

"In [Afghan] cities, the [human-rights] team noticed that women walked six paces behind their husbands. But in rural Helmand, where the Taliban is strongest, they saw a woman six steps ahead. The foreigners rushed to congratulate the husband on his enlightenment — only to be told that he stuck his wife in front because they were walking through a minefield."
- TIME, "Afghan Women Fear Their Fate Amid Taliban Negotiations"

#599: The Feel Good Drag

2010-08-04T08:28:00.002+08:00

Click to enlarge the picture to see what so amused me on facebook. And no, it's not my face.

I'm not jetsetting for Nigeria - just yet - for our visas are still pending and African bureaucracy is never known for its efficiency. So the team is going to milling around for a bit, and perhaps be across the causeway for a month. Not confirmed yet, but this means I won't be getting much internet access. Which means this space may be very much un-updated, much to my chagrin.

I'm heading down to NUS this morning to sign some scholarship documents, then back to Sembawang till 5pm for training with the rest of the gideonites. This morning I was packing for two trips at the same time, while slightly unpacking my luggage for Nigeria. Very hectic.

A new trend: I shut off my alarm, and wake up a good 30-45mins later with my mum at the foot of my bed. I tell you, I really really dislike oversleeping. I dislike sleeping for too long. As much as my body loves sleeping, my brain hates it - it knows that sleeping is really a waste of time. And in 30-45 minutes I can accomplish so much more than a mere coupla snores. Bummer :/ Perhaps I need two alarms or more now; not cool.

#598: i'm here.

2010-07-31T10:08:00.004+08:00

Leaving

still seems so much like

a dream and a faraway notion,

it's not gonna happen to me.

I've been home for almost a week, and suddenly life seems normal & back to pre-GTP business. Just pottering about at home, clearing up my perpetually messy room (I tell you, it messes itself up when I'm not looking. It's all a huge conspiracy.), wasting time online and planning the days ahead. The difference is that I have one large hard case Logel to fill with 9 months worth of supplies, and that I'm more disciplined in doing my devotions. Other than that, it seems like I'm back to status quo.

I can't find it in my head to conceive the idea that in another week, I'll be off. If not Nigeria, then still somewhere else not here. I've already planned to watch 32432 movies back to back onboard the plane, and order Coke & peanuts non-stop. Though I won't eat the nuts, and I doubt I can chug fizz nonstop for the entire flight, I'm determined to make the most of my Emirates experience.

As for touching down at Lagos and the subsequent connecting flight to Abuja, I've not thought much about that. For one, I've never been to Africa. The closest I've gotten is watching Lion King 7 times back to back when I was 3. The closest geographically I've gone would have to be London (which is kinda quite super not very unfar). So I can't think of how it's going to be like; I doubt it's going to be all savannah with lions and tigers and bears oh my.

For now, back in the present, I have to clear my room. Then I have think of what to wear for the play I'm going to tonight, pack it in then head over to Pris' new place where she's gonna whip me up some lunch. Thinking of things like that are alot easier on the head, and heart. I'm actually missing people already.

#597: cos this space needs a photo

2010-07-28T17:31:00.005+08:00

These, have got to be the coolest shoes everrrr. Plus the fact that they are totally worn grandma-style with black stockings.

On another note, I will add another positive comment to a global interweb-full of positive comments on Inception: IT WAS GREAT GO WATCH. Cast is stupendous and definitely played the plot out wonderfully. I'm especially in love with Ellen Page who is as cool, stellar and gorgeous as ever.

On yet another note, I have been shopping way way way too much. But I have been bagging really good buys & deals which I tell myself that I can totally wear for uni, hah.

Also, my teeth are much better. Got my stitches taken out today which was a pain, but at least my jaws can part now. Unfortunately, my gums are still too sore to attack junk food (i.e. ruffles-doritos-chocolates-jagabee) & fast food (i.e. kfc-macs-bk-ljs-mos-carls-wendys) just yet.

What a bummer.

#596: a very quick update in the form of a list

2010-07-25T23:59:00.003+08:00

1. Only 11 July I discovered and am now officially in love with FROZEN YOGHURT, more hip-ly known as FROYO. I dig plain froyo with granola bits. So far, have only managed to eat 3 cups. But is okay, have the rest of my life to catchup on what I've been missing.

2. On thursday (the most recent one, that is) I got 4 teeth removed: 2 extracted from the top - they were digging into my cheek because of the faulty wisdom teeth below + 2 removed surgically by cutting away the gum the, followed by sawing each tooth in half then removing each piece - these were growing perfectly perpendicularly to the rest of my teeth. This resulted in immense jaw swelling, great talking difficulty, and an inability to eat anything comfortably other than porridge.

3. As a result I have been popping Ibuprofen pills like there's no tomorrow. But I think I'm officially off them. Thus ends my shortlived career as a drug-reliant.

4. I have this week off hurray!

5. I recently discovered that I can use the internet browser on my Blackberry, in the presence of free wifi :O 2 months late!!!

6. Am using internet properly for the first time in forever.

7. Will be doing helllotta packing tomorrow!

8. I feel giddy ):

9. Will blog soon.

10. goodnightzzzzz

HI,

2010-07-25T22:30:00.002+08:00

& BE BLOGGING SOOOOOON (:

#595: week eleven

2010-07-12T18:57:00.002+08:00

I can't believe I'm on to week eleven, and I graduate from Gideonites next week. That makes it about 3 weeks before I fly off for Nigeria.

Life has been pretty blurry and full of moments that I find myself longing for time to pass quickly so that I can get to Sunday nights and mondays. But the weeks in between Mondays have been a learning experience, and actually I enjoy everyday. It's really quite something dragging yourself out of bed at 5 am each day - with every square millimetre of your body protesting - to the toilet to freshen up. And by the time I'm changed into my running garb and have my greasy bed hair pulled back into a messy bun, I actually feel quite awake. Of course I'm still the same old Abigail that absolutely detests running, but not so much because my body wants to shut down. It's because my brain actually shuts down when I run, because it's so boring: my breathing and limb movements are far too rhythmic and monotonous. Sometimes I sing to myself, but it seldom helps.

Week eleven is beginning in 45 minutes and I gotta run.

SHORTIE

2010-07-05T08:20:00.001+08:00

I KNOW IM KILLING MY VISITOR STATS BY UPDATING ONCE IN LIKE, 3219849283 YEARS. BUT I CANT HELP IT I'M HEADING OUT NOW TO UNIVERSAL STUDIOS ON A TREAT WITH PRIS (:

2010-06-21T20:10:00.001+08:00

cant post in time.
throat itchy, scalp peeling
nails chipped
8.10pm i hafta run off in 30 mins bai.

#594: REMEMBER TO BREATHE

2010-06-14T14:41:00.004+08:00

It's been disturbing, that I have honestly been forgetting to breathe.

Inhale, exhale, repeat.

Morning was a rush to pack, because I'm off to YOUTH CAMP in KL in a matter of minutes. The budget flight departs at 5.10pm this evening.

My breathing feels strained, like my lungs are being prevented from drawing in enough oxygen.

Inhale, exhale, repeat.

I remember there was once I had constant chronic headaches, in the form of sudden slivers of searing pain. I also remembered that at that point I had difficulty breathing as well, and that when I paused to focus on respiring, the pains subsided. I hope it doesnt come to that.

Perhaps it's because of my posture; perhaps my slouching has been affecting my breathing.

Inhale, exhale, repeat.

This morning I decided to do my nails up in my favourite polish (here & here), and cleverly knocked the bottle off my table. It broke on the floor, and the corner under my table ended up looking like the scene of a grisly disembowelment. Sigh, I hope the clingwrap I used to seal the bottle works.

My Nokia's backlight has died for once and for all, which stinks because I love its 3.2MP camera. My BB, on the otherhand, functions great. Only I've dropped it one too many times, so now it's exterior is regrettably and irreversibly blemished bugger.

Okay, have to change and clear orf now.

Inhale, exhale, repeat, remember.

#593: antipasti

2010-06-07T17:21:00.002+08:00

I ate Pastamania for the first time in my life today, for about $9.00. It was okay, and I'm glad I had the aglio because everytime I eat cabonara or something like that I end up feeling sick to the guts. Honestly, Jon's favourite fried prawn aglio olio at Anchorpoint's foodcourt totally owns Pastamania - both in terms of price and palate. So, I don't think I'll be going back. I'd rather spend $9.00 on 3 packs of large fries and macs, with some change to spare.

I have actually trimmed down, because I've noticed my thunder thighs have actually stopped touching each other when I stand with my feet together. Also, my MNG lightwash skinnies and navy shorts weren't bursting at the seams when I wore them. In fact, it felt pretty loose round the thighs and calves. Thus, I conclude that RUNNING WORKS. Yep, we run 4 mornings a week (Tues-Sat) for about 15 minutes. Though I'm pretty sure we're under 2.4km, because I hardly break a sweat, the constant exercise has paid off. I may actually consider picking up running when I return from Nigeria, because it's pretty nice to be able to stuff your face and not feel dreadful at the thought of the calories finding their way to your legs.

It's Pa's birthday tomorrow, and we're headed out in 10 minutes to Causeway Point's Soup Restaurant to celebrate. Because I've been so thrown off the concept of time for the past month, when I first saw him this morning I wished him a very happy birthday:

Me: MORNING PA HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!
Pa: Thank you. My *mumble*day's *mumble*morrow.
Me: Happy Birthday!
Pa: My birthday's tomorrow.
Me: Oh.

Gosh, is it JUNE already?!

#592: INVESTMENT

2010-05-31T19:10:00.004+08:00

Time is something that flies when you don't really want it to. And I realise the best way to make time move by faster is to look forward to something. I remember in Sec3 and 4, I spent my life (80% in school) waiting for the weekends to arrive. And before I knew it, saturdays were then and gone all too quickly. Then I found myself in RJ missing the all-girls environment. And now I find myself, well, out of RJ missing the all-students environment.

The past 4 weeks have been cool, but they have been spent looking forward to Sunday nights & Mondays. The past 4 mondays have been the best mondays I've ever had, because I've just been pampered and been left to slack around.

For instance, today I went to check out the Great Singapore Sale, which is infamous for being the Great Singapore Scam. I intended to make my way from Orchard MRT through Wisma, to Taka and thereafter to 313 @ Somerset. But gosh, the buys are really amazing this year. For instance, I snagged a lilac lace blouse from Miss Selfridge for $29.00, and got a wonderfully versatile dress from Topshop for 50% off rtp. In the end, I never left Wisma. This means I won't be buying anything else for a while. Maybe when I'm off in KL for youth camp, then after that I resolve to go cold turkey and give up shopping till I'm back from Nigeria.

Har har har.

No, really.

short.

2010-05-30T23:43:00.003+08:00

Karla of Karla's Closet is beautiful, and this is what I mean when I say I wish I could cut off all my hair and rock it.

#591: Great Things Are Afoot

2010-05-24T16:42:00.004+08:00

As promised, this post will explain my online absence and the horrific lack of blogposts for which I very much regret.

BACKGROUND
This was a decision I made late last year, sometime before or during my A-levels - which, exactly, I can't quite remember. My family went on a missionary trip to Vietnam when I was halfway through Primary 5, with the intention of staying on in Ho Chi Minh City for 3 years. However we came back prematurely, only 8 months laer, as my father was stricken with terminal cancer of the bone marrow. Also, VFC is a missions-oriented church, with a goal to reach countries outside of Singapore with the gospel. So I knew, that one day I would go - only, when?

WHAT
So I will be going on a missions trip to Abuja, Nigeria. I will be going with a team of 4 other members and a leader, and we will be there for 9 months. Currently, I am in the midst of a 3-month training program which began at the start of May. It is stay-in, with the aim of cultivating discipline & forging unity within the team. I only get out on Mondays, which explains my lack of access to the internet and communication with most people.

WHEN
My training is supposedly 12 weeks long, and today marks the start of Week 4. I am scheduled to fly off on the first week of August, and return in early May 2011.

WHY
I figured that now, post-A's and pre-University, is the best time to go. This is because once I start university, I'll be tied down with my studies then later my career. This is the best time to focus and while I am young, enthusiastic and full of capacity to learn, this is the best of me to give. Also, the exposure will do well for me to grow up.

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN
I will be taking a gap year, which would imply that I will probably be entering university with my juniors. Also, this means I only get to blog on Mondays, but I may not blog every week because I have other things to sort out / enjoy / see to.

But I have a BlackBerry Curve ($0), so I can BBM, MSN, GChat (I only do the first) & check my email inboxes. However, as Singtel is nonsense, their BlackBerry Internet Add-On service for 1GB does not permit me to use internet browser. So I can't do anything else! The point here is, email me to contact me yeah :D

***

Overdue Weekly Captures:

#1: Meimei has put on chub, and she is now chubbier than how she appears in this photo. This makes me very pleased, and this makes me constantly leap on her to squeeze & terrorize the living daylights out of her.

#2: An array of map pins on the Youth Dept's cork board. I've always wondered what it would be like to try them on as earrings.

#3: Overcast sky, as I was walking all by my lonesome self from some random bus stop at St. Andrew's Cathedral to Marina Square. I almost got run down by a car or two, whilst trying to cross a traffic light-less street. I also got wet and my feet got mucky because it started to pour. But I still managed to use my $25 voucher at the Marina Square Topshop, so it was worthit.

#4: Pris brought me out to a lovely dinner at Tao's one night, and on our way down one Plaza Singapura escalator, we encountered one stiletto sandal stuck at the bottom. We, along with many passersby, were immensely amused at the thought of the events that might have occurred before this.

#5: Honestly, Spinelli is more value-for-money, less sugar-addled, and more indie. Haha.

#6: The Golden Trio, celebrating my belated birthday with Tiramisu. We were at Spagheddies at Orchard Central. The night was concluded after we wasted a good $12 on a neoprint machine.

#7: A well-folded paper boat in my Ban Mian soup, courtesy of Nigel Chua. I don't think the stall uncle was very happy afterward.

#8: I had a Maggi Curry noodle craving, and I've decided that it is a craving that would probably be permanent.

#9: Ian Chua's red bean ice kachang at Xinwang Hong Kong cafe. I dislike red bean, even in ice kachangs, but we made a little alcove in this dessert and hence I like it.

PROMISE

2010-05-23T23:21:00.001+08:00

THERE WILL BE AN UPDATE TOMORROW WHERE I WILL ASPLAIN.

#590: a multitude of apologies due to a multiplicity of factors

2010-05-10T18:21:00.004+08:00

1. The masspammage on my tagboard is the work of a bunch of upper primary kids that I tutored briefly. If I am not mistaken, the aim of their mischief is to get me to return to teaching them. I am extremely puzzled by this, however, as they do not obey me half the time.

2. I am in the midst of a life-changing event, and I can't elaborate here because some parties can't know about it just yet. However, this phase of my life requires 6/7 of my week, so I'll only be able to blog on Mondays. If you want to know what I'm embroiled in, you can email me.

3. I have acquired a lovely BlackBerry Curve 8520, for a grand total of $0 thanks to one Jonathan Neo & his mum. This means I can Instant-Message & email at all times. However, I am on Singtel's wretched 1GB plan, which means I only can IM & email and not use the other internet functions.

4. I met Mum at Ion Orchard today, after running to Great World's Laura Ashley to pick up a belated Mothers' Day surprise for her. We chatted and wandered from shop to shop, and I found myself with a very lovely necklace with little lilac bows (20% off!) & a great white basic top for under $20. I also finally got myself a formal work blouse... after all my interviews are over (Muji, $39 only). I intensely dislike collared long-sleeve blouses for girls, because they don't look very good on me (I think). Unfairly, they look very fetching on everyone else.

5. Despite running almost everyday last week, my legs are neither the least bit slimmer not more toned. Bugger it all.

6. Hi NUS do you remember me?

#589: Being a superhero is bad for your health.

2010-04-29T17:04:00.008+08:00

I've been caught up with a few things lately:

a) Clearing up my room, which is a permanent requirement when you are me and have my room. But this time, it is a massive overhaul for I am re-arranging practically all my clothes, bags & accessories. This is in view of me needing to put a majority of them in long-term storage. I will be needing mothballs because after fishing out TWO peeling faux leather slingbags from MNG, I have realised that moisture is bad for fashion.

b) Sitting around, enjoying freedom, and writing. I've been all sentimental as of late. And I've also been eating alot and thus my tummy is threatening to soon become my most visually prominent body part.

c) Avoiding Mr. Cockroach. I came back from a toilet trip one night before bedtime, only to find Meimei standing over an upside-down cockroach at my bedroom doorway. Because I didn't want roach juice all over my bedroom threshold, I fished out a much-neglected scholarship magazine from my much-neglected Brightsparks paperbag (which would explain why I won't be getting any scholarships) to pick up the seemingly-dead Mr. Cockroach. To my horror, he flipped himself upright, scuttled around my room and under the bed. After waking mummy up and dousing the room with pesticide, I suffocated to sleep. But Mr. Cockroach didn't die of pesticide poisoning, like I almost did, and made a grand appearance the next day to spite me, only to run under my bed once again. So, Mr. Cockroach lives on, along with my jitteriness.

d) Playing Donkey Kong on my Nintendo emulator. After I discovered the "Save State" function on my Nintendo emulator, I have been re-conquering the games of my pre-adolescence. I recently finished Yoshi's Island (after much cheating by state saving & re-loading, and referring to the internet), and now I'm on to finishing Donkey Kong. I have realised that I have grown up, believe it or not, because all these games have been seeming very inane & boring to me. However, these games are less inane and boring than clearing up my room, so I'm still playing on.

e) Going out, for a variety of reasons. On Monday I followed Mum out for a decadent breakfast and some mother-daughter time. I landed a dress and a pair of flats. On Tuesday I camped out at Marina Square because there was a powercut at home. Unfortunately, I arrived home some $70+ poorer, and a lace dress richer. Also, I've been trying to catch up with friends before everyone ends up all over the globe. Abbykang, Wenqi and I met for dinner last night to celebrate my belated birthday, and we realised we were all going to be in 3 different continents. Well, all I can say is: I constantly Thank God for internet.

Okay, I have blogged. And indeed superhero-ing is definitely detrimental to one's health, what with leaping off skyscrapers, running into blazing toxic-gas spewing buildings, and other assorted physical perils that come with trying to save the world.

2010-04-26T22:37:00.001+08:00

Tired. Will blog soon.

#588: Why the Caged Bird Sings

2010-04-23T17:34:00.006+08:00

credits to cdreyes

The caged bird sings with a fearful trill
of things unknown but longed for still
and his tune is heard on the distant hill
for the caged bird sings of freedom.

- I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, by Maya Angelou

#587: Anyone Else But You

2010-04-22T12:48:00.003+08:00

You're a part time lover and a full time friend
The monkey on your back is the latest trend
I don't see what anyone can see, In anyone else
But you

Here is the church and here is the steeple
We sure are cute for two ugly people
I don't see what anyone can see, in anyone else
But you

You are always trying to keep it real
I'm in love with how you feel
I don't see what anyone can see, in anyone else
But you

I kiss you on the brain in the shadow of a train
I kiss you all starry eyed, my body's swinging from side to side
I don't see what anyone can see, in anyone else
But you

The pebbles forgive me, the trees forgive me
So why can't, you forgive me?
I don't see what anyone can see, in anyone else
But you

- by The Moldy Peaches,
as part of the soundtrack of the cutest coming-of-age film ever, Juno.

#586: Super Trouper

2010-04-19T12:41:00.009+08:00

Okay here's the backlog of photos that I've accumulated... select ones uploaded!

***

Birthday Present Haul

#1: The assortment of gifts includes novelty cards, a CD, a book that apparently describes me to a tee, a vocabulary card game, a portable whack-a-mole to kill travel boredom, a jewelry stand, a notebook, home made brownie to fatten me up, and a Supersampler. The Diana is there because it looks pretty and it was on loan to me.

#2: Another angle, just to demonstrate how happy I am with my haul.

#3: Closeup, just for the heck of it. I am absolutely grateful to everyone who remembered the 4th of April this year, and it's significance to me. Whether you got me a gift, card, or wished me via sms or facebook, many thanks!

***

Supersampler Photos

#4: The road next to my block that I used to cross everyday. If you are observant enough, and have a rough idea of how the Supersampler works, you may have noticed that I most probably held the cam upsidedown.

#5: Toa Payoh HDB Hub, where I got myself sunburnt by just walking around.

#6: My actions aren't even in a proper sequence. Beat that.

#7: Outside Peninsular Plaza, where you can get your lomos.

***

Ho Chi Minh City

#8: Typical Vietnamese sidewalk/road. Only a not so busy one here, outside Mum's tailor.

#9: Chives, if I'm not mistaken, drying in the sun. Excuse the camera strap that ruins the shot.

#10: A very pretty tea shop. The windows appear dark here, but there were flowers lining the bottom of the window.

#11: Aunty Pam's very nice antique-ish cabinet, which reminds me of prison cells.

#12: I loved this sidewalk, which runs parallel to the Notre Dame replica.

#13: Diana takes a breather.

#14: Evidence that we were in Ho Chi Minh alright.

#15: A magnificent fighting cockerel on the sidewalk. No idea who he belongs to. The lady whose legs are in the shot definitely didn't seem to.

#16: One of the Cu Chi Tunnels entrances. This particular one has been enlarged for us tourists to see, as the original had to be small to prevent the tunnel from caving in when heavy American tanks rolled overhead. The Viet Cong were definitely one of the smartest asses of their time, seriously.

#17: It was really a jungle out there.

#18: My trusty Paperchase bag, which is amazing because
a) it matches with everything,
b) it is waterproof, and
c) it can fit a book, camera, wallet, ipod, cardigan & a bottle.

#19: The amazingly intricate electrical wiring system of Ho Chi Minh City.

#20: In the comfort of Aunty Pam's car, with her chauffeur. Foreigners are not allowed to drive cars in Vietnam, which provides a great source of employment for the Vietnamese.

#21: The Vietnamese have nice tiling in general. This is the floor of a basket shop.

#22: A motorbike was parked inside it too.

#23: Little transparent pouches for earrings/rings, at 10 for VND10,000 (1 SGD = 14,000 VND)

***

Super trouper beams are gonna blind me
But I won't feel blue
Like I always do
'cause somewhere in the crowd there's you.

#585: when i should be doing something else other than this

2010-04-16T13:25:00.003+08:00

I am back from Saigon, which sounds so much more romantic than Ho Chi Minh City, but Ho Chi Minh is really now a city more than anything else. The nasty bit is that I am back but I am still in holiday-mode, which means that anything that falls outside the realm of total mind-numbing
relaxation is far down on my To Do List.

I had an NUS Law interview this morning, and only late last night did I recall the need to fill in and bring a number of forms. So I went to bed late, and woke up feeling very unready for life. But I woke up breathing and so I had to go anyway. The interview didn't go badly, but it didn't go great either.

I have pictures to upload from my birthday (4 April, in case you guys are little slow), as well as my Ho Chi Minh trip. I have nice lomophotos to show you as well, from my Supersampler. I also have Maggi curry noodles which are waiting to be boiled and consumed, so I shall leave you to your devices for now.

2010-04-11T23:59:00.002+08:00

LEAVING FOR

Ho Chi Minh City

BE BACK THURSDAY.

#584: OUTSIDE OUR LEXUS CAGES.

2010-04-09T23:17:00.009+08:00

#1: My nails two weeks back. They were red last week, and they are patent black today. I change my nail polish on a weekly basis, because -
a) My nails get annoyingly long, so I clip them
b) My cheapo nail polish only looks decent for so long
c) I want a colour change
d) I won't be getting to do this for much longer.

#2: This was last week, with one of my favourite colours yet. This is some Wet & Wild Shine red thingum my aunt got from the US for me. I thought the colour suited the pearls quite nicely.

#3: Besides the fact that my nail matches my slippers, the real reason for this photo is to show you the HOLE that opened at my calf. And these are my Topshop pants, ugh.

#4: Possibly one of the best photos I've snapped to date. Don't the flowers and Meimei look lovely? Excuse the background mess.

#5: Pretty sugar rose that came with one of my birthday cakes (I've had 3 so far!).

#6: It was so delicate and crushable, and I couldn't bear to eat it (also, because it was all coloured sugar). So I threw it away, and felt really bad about it after that.

#7: Mummy's homemade fudge. Gosh. It's made of a very high percentage of chocolate, complete with pistachios for texture. I kept going to the fridge to down several at a pop.

#8: Bad photo, but this stash of refridgerated Hershey goodness belongs to Angie (my lunch buddy at work). After I discovered what was in her miniature fridge, I began to pay her many visits.

#9: My birthday cake from a celebration with my family and Hotel Intercontinental Singapore. Yes, this is the cake with the sugar rose from pics #5 & #6.

#10: Joint celebration with my cousin Jia Han!

There is a story behind our cakes.

My mum got them from a confectioner called Perla, and there were only two chocolatey-looking cakes left on display. The sales lady insisted that both cakes were the very decadent chocolate cake that my mum had just sampled. So the day after the celebration, I brought my cake to the office to share, because my Mum & especially my brother ought not to be snacking on such things. When I first tasted my cake, I tasted fruit, instead of the chocolatey decadence that I was promised and thus expecting. Then I spied a raisin, or two. And most of my colleagues, after trying it, commented that there seemed to be alcohol in the cake.
Well, there was. The cake turned out to be rum & raisin after all. But we all found out too late. And my cousin didn't find out until her Muslim tutor ate an alcohol-laced slice.
Needless to say, Mum was pretty furious with the Perla lady.

#11: Hotel Intercontinental has the best tea, because of the awesome contraption they serve it in!

#583: POSTING WILL RESUME ...soon.

2010-04-09T18:46:00.004+08:00

LAST FRIDAY marked the start of the It's Time For Miracles rallies.
LAST SATURDAY was the 2nd day of the rallies.
SUNDAY was my birthday, with a surprise party, and the last day of the rallies.
MONDAY was my off-day and I had my birthday buffet at Hotel Intercontinental.
TUESDAY was back to work, post-rally, where I had to clear stuff. But I got treated to lunch :D
WEDNESDAY was officially my last day at work.
THURSDAY was spent clearing my room.
FRIDAY was a day out playing with my supersampler, and gallivanting around Ann Siang.

2010-04-02T11:50:00.002+08:00

#582: STOPLOOKGO.

2010-03-28T23:16:00.007+08:00

After much warring with my laptop, my nokia, and their bluetooth capabilities, I present you with yet another overdue edition of Weekly Captures. In fact, now they can be more accurately renamed as Bi-weekly Captures, but that sounds less rad.

#1: Rachel Sim demonstrates her impressive spelling abilities during Nursery Duty.

#2: This, by far, is one of the most unamusing mutations of my name that I have come across.

#3: By the way, this is how it's really spelt. The stripes & patterns you see are from my Borders slingbag, which is very pretty and very waterproof.

#4: A bunch of us girls wanted to store some food packets from lunch during Leaders' Retreat. So we found a convenient cardboard box to contain our stash, as well as a convenient scapegoat.

#5: This is our Youth Department's freezer in Toa Payoh, where the industrious staff is home-growing icicles for the next illustrated sermon.

#6: I was tasked with doing up the badges for the upcoming Miracles Rally (2-4 April) for the entire church.

#7: There were 17 designs to be printed on A3 sheets, cut out uniformly, counted & sorted. At least the tags are purple, which made it a little less painful. But only a little.

#8: I realised it would be criminal to not acknowledge the exercise books that helped me get my Chem & Math A's. So kudos to the battered lot up there! They currently reside at the bottom of my flat's rubbish chute.

#9: I actually wanted to wallpaper my room with the pages. Ah, well.

#10: Meimei, guarding her printer.

#11: When mum serves fruits, she likes playing around with their colours. This explains why this morning fruitbowl is particularly photogenic.

#12: My room table, at its neatest in quite a while.

#13: Complete with a jar of fresh cut flowers. Yes, a jar.

#14: The colours are lovely. And I love fresh flowers, because they remind me that I can be very very girly.

#15: I wanted to capture the colours of this arrangement. Pity the dreadful backdrop. I would have Phoshopped it nicer, except I can only use Paint.

#16: Because I was wearing a ladylike dress, and carrying a vase of ladylike flowers, I tried to get a photo. Megafail, though.

#581.5: zoomzoom

2010-03-27T11:42:00.002+08:00

Actually, on second thought, I have been missing phone calls more frequently than ever.

That's because I've been spending the majority of my working hours pounding up and down the corridor, shuttling between my boss's office, my desk, the colour copier, the windows computer and the cutting room (home of the guillotine),

transporting things like nametags to be cut & counted, assorted note-bearing yellow post-its, tax invoices, expenditures to be approved, last-minute cheques to be speedposted, media schedules, newspaper advertisements & articles, rally budget versions 18303 to 20484, sign-up lists that are updated every 5 minutes, and running to yank the paper tray out to stop Canon from printing more 0.25c/sheet colour printouts that my boss keeps sending wrongly.

Everyday is like an action flick man.

#581: ring ring ring ring, ring ring ring, BANANAPHONE

2010-03-27T11:34:00.006+08:00

I am gradually getting better at being the conscientious admin-worker I was never cut out to be. I'm pretty good at my job, but my brain and eyesight are turning to mush with all the mindless screen-staring.

Only 2.5 months ago when I first started out as a secretarialing (a fledgling secretary), I'd lurch in shock every time my telephone rang. It's the most old-school telephone I've ever come into constant contact with, given that my ear has mostly been glued to my electromagnetic waves-radiating Nokia, and there's one of those new-fangled (though not anymore) cordless phones at home.

This battered silver and blue contraption sits on my desk, with its unruly telephone coil curled in an almost coquettish matter, as if to say, "Come Hither, press my buttons, lift my receiver, use me!!!"

Well, I've been getting the message.

Initially, I wasn't sure if the incoming calls were meant for me. I'd pick up the receiver and cautiously half-whisper, "Hel-lo?" Besides that, my incoming calls had a pickup rate of about 10%.

I'd walk past my desk whilst on an errand, hear a phone begin to ring, walk right past my desk again only to find the ring is very persistent, and I'd begin to wonder who the hell isn't picking up their damn phone?! Or I'd be pottering about in the conference room right next to my office, while a phone ring trills away in the distance, and I'd try to ignore it. I could be putting stuff through the photocopier only 2 metres away from my desk, talking to a colleague along my corridor, or looking at my handphone, when I'd hear a persistent ringing that just wouldn't go away.

9 times out of 10, it is/was my office telephone.

Thankfully, I've improved. I've actually managed to identify my phone as the source of ringing. In fact, sometimes I manage reach it before it stops ringing, though I mostly pick it up by the time the other end has gotten sufficiently cheesed off and sends me an email/sms with the opening, "I TRIED TO CALL YOU" instead.

Apparently, most phones in the office have unique ringtones. I discovered this when I was sitting behind the front desk, and once its phone rang, the receptionist practically materialised next to it to coo, "Good Morning Victory Family Centre?" But she was nowhere to be found when the backup phone at the front desk pealed, sometime later.

At least, now, I've caught on and can recognise (albeit vaguely) my phone's ringtone. As they say, things are better late than never.

#580: awwww

2010-03-24T11:45:00.002+08:00

From TIME's photo essay on American teens,

There one entry by a dude named Robert who looks every bit like your classic schoolyard bully, now in High School doing sexdrugsgangstahshiz & thuggery outside. But this is what he said:

"I have a girlfriend. I asked her to marry me, and she said yes. We will be getting married on February 18, 2005. My life is perfect with her. I mean, ever since I got with her I stopped fighting. I quit all the stuff I used to do and just put all my time with her. I mean, if she wants me to I mean . . . sometimes I just put stuff down like if I gotta do something, like go visit somebody, I put that aside just for her 'cause I love her so much. I done told her at the beginning I'd do anything for her. I'd put anything aside for her and that's what basically I've been doing. I treat her like she's my queen. I would rather put her first than I go first. So it's like I told her when every time I get money or something, I give it all to her—"I don't want none of it, it's all for you." And that's what I've been doing lately."

Don't you think that love makes people so beautiful?

#579: Oh, Why, Hi!

2010-03-23T22:01:00.007+08:00

I'VE BEEN TOO TIRED & BUSY TO BLOG & BLUETOOTH SOZ FRENDS.

#578.5: breeze by

2010-03-17T11:35:00.006+08:00

I was paying a visit to my favourite namesake's blog, and I stumbled across this (full post here):

"Some lunches, I bolt out of the office and go on solitary walks. Not so much to get anything or anywhere in particular, but more to move as far away as I can get from my desk and still have time to grab lunch and make it back in time.

There’s absolutely nothing wrong with my desk, and in all honesty I actually enjoy my work. It’s just this deep, desperate need to distance myself from whatever it is that’s taking up most of my time every day.

So, I browse second hand bookstores. I try moisturizer samples at Watsons. I wander down supermarket aisles searching for cheap cutlery (Found biodegradable forks that were even cheaper than the plastic kind. Win.) I look for places to do my eyebrows (No luck anywhere. Everyone’s booked solid till CNY). Whatever it is I can do basically, to pass my time relatively uneventfully.

I suppose this sort of wandering around is a very anti-social thing to do. If I went out with someone, anyone, I wouldn’t have to do all this aimless ambling.

But that’s the whole point you see, to be able to move around completely untethered. It’s very difficult to go around at a pace completely your own if you’re with someone else. It’s a very personal little escape, where I’m free to float around and follow every whim I may have. There’s no need to feel guilty dragging yet another hapless victim around, or having to smile apologetically if you want to double back because there was that thing you missed doing the first time around.

I become, once more, the only centre of my own little universe, and the earth can right itself again for that while."

Eerily, she and I have alot more in common than just our first names (other evidence: 2 CCAs). Because that's exactly what I do some lunches, and why I love doing it. Of course, she's only written it more poignantly than I could ever have.

And when I'm off on my own lone wanderings, I plague the library, thrift stores, accessory & food stalls, just looking at & touching things (except I don't touch the food, unless there are free samples). Being able to while time away, in temporary & voluntary solitude, is a luxury that I'll not have for much longer. So I love it now, but of course I still love company.

That's why I like Mondays, when I'm off, because I can date myself. I dress up or wear something unusual so I can feel pretty & special, without the self-conciousness that usually sets in when you're with people who check out your getup. I carry a small sling bag, barely big enough for my wallet, handphone, and my ipod set to the playlist of the moment. The best part is that I can hear myself think. Then I stalk around town at my own pace, mistress & slave to my own fancies.

#578: YUGOMANIA - Wherein America Bashes The Yugo, "The Worst Car Ever"

2010-03-17T10:27:00.004+08:00

What do you call a Yugo with a flat tire? Totaled. What's included in every Yugo owner's manual? A bus schedule. What do you call a Yugo that breaks down after 100 miles? An overachiever.
- More at TIME

But a cheap car is a cheap car: it probably costs as much as driving lessons do here. And I'm pretty excited at the Tata Nano's launch. At only USD2000 for a basic model (in India), I'd say that's pretty affordable. Gosh, I'd only need to work & save for a year plus to get myself one.

Of course there are all the safety requirements that may not be met (like, apparently, the doors of the nano are glued on). And I suppose I'd actually want space to put my handbag down whilst driving.

O-kay, maybe I'll just think about cars and driving next time, when I'm in an appropriate financial position to do so. For now, I'll just continue to twitch in shock as I watch my EZ-link money deplete horrifically rapidly each time I travel public.

#577: brighter than sunshine

2010-03-14T23:07:00.005+08:00

This week is a prospectively good one, because it brings the promises of a very well-fed Abigail:

Tomorrow I'll be heading down to The Regent with my family for some Italian lunch buffet, courtesy of Mum's friends who bought us vouchers. Then at night it's a girls' night out with the lovely sixteeners.

For Tuesday, Yvonne (my colleague) suggested we go and check out Toa Payoh's Popeyes. And who can refuse such an offer to indulge in wonderlicious fried chicken! There's more Popeyes in the near future, thereafter, what with Leaders' Retreat being at Expo, and Sunday with Corporate Youth Net Rally.

Of course, this week looks pretty bright also because of the Leaders' Retreat, cos I'm kinda looking forward to chillaxing with the other youth leaders. We'll certainly while getting our bums frozen to the chairs in the Expo Max Pavillion, where we will be for the G12 conference. Okay, cool.

#1: Meet Owlie, my favourite ring, whom I have recently misplaced and am therefore eternally wounded.

#2: Lovely coloured numbered envelopes that I like.

#3: Macarons from Bakerzin! which Rach Yeo & I shared. After a wild night out (in a very clean, teetotaler, giggling-over-hairtieless-Seraphines way) with the R1/2 net leader girls. After a dinner at LJS, we stumbled into Bakerzin to wreak havoc until 10+. Because of the sugar rush and awesome company, we were all chortling uncontrollably and tripping around when we finally decided to leave.

#4: Had these for breakfast today. HUUUUUGE strawberries. HUUUUUGE & PRETTY strawberries.

#5: I love fresh flowers, and one grievance I have regarding Singapore's climate is that it's not very hospitable towards flowers at all. I came home last night to a flower-filled flat, with mum preparing to give them out to people who signed-up for LIW classes today.

#576: We are right now.

2010-03-09T15:10:00.007+08:00

The world begins
With new born skin
We are right now
You're needle girl
In a haystack world
We are right now

You're breathing in
The highs and lows
We call it living

In this needle and haystack life
I found miracles there in your eyes
It's no accident we're here tonight
We are once in a lifetime alive
We are once in a lifetime.

- adapted from my best band's new album

I Am Loving:
1. Switchfoot's Needle And Haystack Life from their newest album, Hello Hurricane.
2. Douglas Adam's works of fiction, because he is beyond ridiculous. Yes, more so than Pratchett. I've been reading some of his Dirk Gently stories, and am now an avid follower of his Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy (HGTTG) pentalogy. I'm on part 3 of 5, and I keep giggling to myself on the MRT each morning as I sneak as much reading as I can into my day.
3. Big computer screens, a nice, visually-soothing change from my 12" acer notebook.
4. Receiving hand-written letters, which are so old-school charming and old-school nice.
5. Fried meatballs, which I had for lunch.

I Am Disliking:
1. My fuchsia (apparently it's not 'fuschia' as I've always thought!) scissors at work, which has blades that don't meet.
2. Elephant Glue, which my brother insisted on giving me. Apparently it's flammable with sufficient friction, plus I got some on my fingers that couldn't come off until I used multiple coats of Mama Lemon. Thank God my digits didn't spontaneously combust.
3. Not having enough fried meatballs for lunch. Next time I won't have any noodles; I'll just have $3.00 worth of meatballs.
4. Trying to stave off shopping. Haha.

Anyway, I am feeling restless & I can't wait for work to end so I can kick back and relack.

#575: Stop, Look, Go.

2010-03-08T20:05:00.004+08:00

My grades are neither tragic, nor are they impressive. In fact, they can be said to be much above mediocre. I should be happy, given the nightmares about S & CD (respectively) for Econs.

But in all honesty, I found myself questioning whether it was worth it; Whether the hours and days I spent doing unclocked community service, ministry and other commitments, when I could have been studying or resting instead, were worth it. I found myself speculating, almost regretfully, if I could have gotten all five As if I had only gone for tuition.

I mean, sure, I can boast that I have gotten to where I am now without having any tuition since I was kid (Chinese doesn't count because I still failed anyway), and despite not having much study time on weekends. But SMU, NUS and the smattering of US universities that I've applied to, my future employers and co-workers would never know anyway. And they probably wouldn't even care. The world is cruel, it only sees in print.

And I found myself wondering if what I've given up was worth what I've gotten in the end. But then I have to remind myself that this isn't the end. In fact, this is only the beginning, and everything happens for a reason.

Perhaps, my grades are the perfect way to remind me that I and where I'll end up will not be self-made. And feeling disappointed, inadequate and being full of regrets won't get me anywhere or anything (maybe alot of white hair, that's all). And I know that everything works together for the good of those who love God, and are called according to His purpose for them.

So no worries, mate, no worries.

Friday March 5, 11:59 AM

2010-03-05T12:00:00.000+08:00

Everything will be alright.
It has to be.

Friday March 5, 11:23 AM

2010-03-05T11:25:00.001+08:00

I mustn't panic. I mustn't panic.
It isn't worth it.

Friday March 5, 10:49 AM

2010-03-05T10:51:00.002+08:00

Have I mentioned? I'm scared.

Friday March 5, 10:39 AM

2010-03-05T10:40:00.001+08:00

Oh boy oh boy oh boy am I jittery.

Friday March 5, 10:04 AM

2010-03-05T10:04:00.001+08:00

I don't think I'll be able to stand.
I don't think I'll even be able to talk.

Friday March 5, 8:52 AM

2010-03-05T08:54:00.001+08:00

I'm so scared I can't even think about it.

#574: In Which We Crave The Days of Lucidness Amid The Insanity That Has Been Wrought

2010-03-04T11:36:00.001+08:00

"... is a serious loss of cognitive ability in a previously-unimpaired person, beyond what might be expected from normal aging ... it may be progressive, resulting in long-term decline ... affected areas of cognition may be memory, attention, language, and problem solving ... affected persons may be disoriented in time (not knowing what day of the week, day of the month, or even what year it is), in place (not knowing where they are), and in person (not knowing who they are or others around them) ... is usually due to causes that are progressive and incurable."

It means "deprived of mind", and when it starts to consume you begin to lose your soul. Your memory whittles away: facts, figures, even feelings break down. With what's left, you conjure up your own memories, but you don't realise they aren't memories, because they've never happened. Only you believe that they have, and only with these new memories are you ever lucid, though remotely so.

You only remember the loss and the pain. To you they seem so real, that you forget that these are things past, these are things dead. You rake them up over and over again, you relive each blow. And when you wake up each time, you can only recall what the hurt felt like. What the hurt still feels like. Other than that, you wake up thinking that next week is tomorrow, and now is nothing you can understand.

And I can only watch. I watch your happiness displaced by bitterness and hatred. I watch you live your life in constant befuddlement and confusion, ever-suspicious, ever-paranoid. I watch you forget how to pray, and that made me the most afraid. I watch you forget how to love, sometimes. I watch you forget how to be loved. And what can I do?

I try to make you laugh, with frivolity and teasing and silliness. I remind you that you are loved and that I love you. I pray for you. And I know I can't do enough.

#573: Going Woodwo

2010-03-01T20:37:00.011+08:00

#1: The power of rhinestone-studded $4.90 falsies.

#2: The Best of Bollywood

#3: A CNY visit from Papa's younger brother & his family; Meet my lovely cousins Chelsea & Rachel.

#4: 7A Girls' Night Out with FULL ATTENDANCE 11/11! We had a pigging-out session at Seoul Garden during which I splattered hot oil on my table-mates, burnt many eggs & pieces of meat, and stuffed myself silly. Indeed us 7A girls are odd, because we've been pretty fractious & never very united. But absence makes the heart grow fonder alright, and we had an uproariously good time.

#5: I love the 7A girls because they're a giggly but great bunch! ♥

#6: First office photo I took. Here's a dried fruit & nut mixture from Kashmir that sits in a vintage Marks & Spencer glass jar on my desk. Behind, my much-abused but much-ignored telephone.

#7: This paper bag perfectly illustrates the main dietary concern of Singaporean society: "Is it halal?"

#8: I got planted to (wo)man the reception one Saturday, and discovered the stamps & ink pad. I also discovered our postage machine, cabinet full of stationery, and the fact that our facility has two mailboxes. I was sent to check the mailbox at the back gate (perhaps for the first time in a decade) only to find it full of brown water and an ancient advertisement.

#9: My yellow BaoGaLiao notebook seemed like the best place to test out the ink & stamps.

#10: I adore my notebook, although it is yellowyellowdirtyfellow, because it has a pocket.

#11: This photo, taken on CNY, was to capture a few things
(a) My ruby nail polish that I unearthed recently. It was given to me by my aunt, who got it from the US. Thank God I found this colour, because my more superstitious relatives may not have appreciated the dark hues I usually favour. And red looks less aunty on me then I'd expected, though it still does... a little.
(b) The red makes me look very fair. And I think I goes very nicely with my navy cardigan.
(c) The mosaic bracelet that my gran got for my mum. It's gorgeous, though it does show signs of wear.

#12: Yes, I have been changing my nail polish colours very avidly, and I liked how the rainbow rings went with my similarly-coloured nails & cardigan.

#13: I'll let you in on a secret - if my nails have purple glitter on them, it's because I mucked up the original colour and decided to cover it up with the purple glittery gunk Lihua bought me one birthday. But it does the job pretty well, no?

#14: But the result is pretty spacey-cool, with glittery violet nails tinged with blue. The overall effect reminds me of the word "supernova", although I don't think supernovas come out this colour at all.

#572: friday brings an open secret that no one really wants to know

2010-02-28T23:52:00.003+08:00

We all have aspirations, hopes, dreams & alot of other little synonyms for what-i-desire-to-do-with-myself-in-the-future. And reliable rumours tell of Friday 5 March bringing the release of the A-level results. Just a piece of paper, with 5 letters, that could very well dictate where its owner can and cannot go. It practically seals your fate.

But here I must remind myself (& perhaps you as well) that life can be more that grades & qualifications - only if you let it be that way. And I must remember to never trade in my convictions & commitments for something prestigious. Things won't work out like that. And I must also know that miracles can happen.

Whatever it is, I'm leaving all the anxiety at the back of head, and hiding it underneath the sock drawer of my mind. Let's just hope my dreams for the rest of the week will be more pleasant. Besides dreaming about getting S on Econs & As for 2 subjects I don't even take, I've had nightmares about people trying to stab me, violate me, or set my clothes ablaze with a cigarette lighter.

#571: Five Hundred and Seventy-One

2010-02-24T14:05:00.003+08:00

Last week, it came to my attention that my recent posts have been wrongly numbered. It so turned out that post #561 was typed as #516, and thus subsequent posts were erroneously labeled as well. But all's fixed so all's well and ends well.