It just so happened that I was in many different unrelated places. 

But somehow, everybody I met today seemed to be part-french. 

Hahah! Okay, this is unrelated.

"Uhm, kenn ahyye lookk uhh rraunn? " asked a deep rumbling voice. 

I looked up, and noticed the dark, tousled hair, wreaked havoc by the wind, framing dark penetrating eyes. Then I scanned down and noticed the bulky camera hanging from his neck, firmly supported by his big and very manly hands. 

Hahah, if this was some love story, I'd probably go on to describe the tan on his very muscular arms, and how the wind seemed to "whoooosh" when he came in and I was lost for words, mesmerised by his eyes. 

Haha, but no, it was his sheepish expression that caught me off guard, like, he was caught stealing cookies or something. I can't really tell, he could be Russian, although he didn't really have the accent. Nor the european look. The next one on my list is Brazilian, although p.atty has already proven that not all brazilians look like G.isele Bundchen. Or Mexican. 

Or whatever it is he was, he was adorable. Okay, not in a "omg, he's so hot" kinda way, but like I said in a "caught stealing cookies" kinda way. Hahah! 

And then he came back and asked, 

"Soww, izz zizz unn exxibishon centre or zze faculty of ovv vine ahrt? " 

"Uh, exhibition centre, " I replied, thinking that he was asking about the gallery. 

He lifted the left corner in a makeshift smile and nodded at the same time. 

And started walking to the other side of the gallery. 

And then, I realised.. he must have meant the whole building! 

Omg, did I just give the wrong info about my school?

When he turned back to my direction, I said, 

"I think I made a mistake,"  loud enough that the gallery walls seemed to reverberate with my voice. 

Still smiling the crooked smile, he raised his right eyebrow as he strode towards me. 

"Uhm, this room, it's an exhibition space, yes, but the building, is a campus." 

His expression was one of amusement. 

"Okay, " he said and nodded at the same time. 

With one final big smile, and a nod, he whooshed out of the gallery. 

 Haha, I dunno why I decided to blog about him and not about the many other interesting people who came to visit the gallery. 

omgomg. School is starting in 6 days. Crap. 

I dunno about you, but I doubt there's anybody out there who's never heard about the stereotypical female driver. 

Okay, here's a scenario;

You're cruising along the expressway, and somebody stupidly cuts (dangerously, too) into your lane without signals and on top of that, starts decelerating to a speed of 50kmh on an expressway with a limit of 90kmh. 

The first thought that would run through many people's heads is, "This idiot is surely a female driver." 

Yes, no doubt, some bad drivers are females... but in my experience, they're mostly taxi drivers. 

Males seem to think that taxi drivers, (whilst a menace on the road) belong to a different breed. .. maybe asexual, i dunno. 

But c'mon, everybody agrees taxis are a hazard. And yet they say females make bad drivers.. 

And they are totally blind to the fact that so many fleets of taxis are, indeed, driven by males. (with the exception of very few females)

So shutup about the stereotype already. 

It's another case of pot calling the kettle black. 

Anyway, in my opinion, it doesn't exist. 

Some people would point out the obvious fact that since I'm a female driver, I wouldn't admit that I drive badly. (nobody would admit anyway, not even the errant taxi drivers)

But seriously, people, stop the prejudices! 

There are only 2 types of drivers out there; 

Good ones and bad ones.

And I believe there's a fair share of genders on each side. 

I believe I just might slap the next person who gives prejudiced comments in my presence. 

Searcher Zone keeps popping up whenever I click publish post, or visit someone's blog. 

Something must be wrong somewhere! 

Although we technically walked about for 2 hours without sitting!

That's more exercise than I've done in an entire week! hahah

In the semi-darkness, the trees looked like black shadowy arms and the trails are sometimes so obscure in the darkness that we had to backtrack so many times just to find the sugar glider! 

On my way to changi after, I missed the exit and then wound up at east coast. 

I remembered, like, ten years ago, there had been a service road that ran the whole length of east coast up till changi, but apparently, it no longer exists. 

And then I saw this exit..  (the road had no markings, somehow, but I never thought to question that) 

I followed it.. 

and then, it led out to ECP! 

Yes, it led to the expressway.. but going the other way - I was going against traffic at the expressway! 

Thank god I realised before actually entering the expressway, and there was space to reverse and turn around. 

Scary scary. 

For a second, it felt like I was stuck in a fast and furious movie scene. 

Hahah! 

This statue of liberty has greeted me everytime I switched on the computer for the past 6 months. 

I always feel inspired whenever I see it. 

The following photo will further provide ain reason to think that Bed.ok people are odd. 

Hahah. Some nothing-better-to-do person pasted stickers all over the glass window of the lift!

A random photo from a Sunday museum trip with the mother. 

Reminds me somewhat of house of cards. 

As I had promised Ain. 

I hope I don't get sued for this or anything. Hahah!

I highly doubt it. 

By the way, the point is the nose. (I'm not trying to make her look slimmer, eh, Belle)

And I think my eyesight has deteriorated, trying to squint when editing on a 13inch screen. 

I'm yearning for the 20 inch back at the studio. 

I'm suffering work-withdrawal symptoms, don't mind me while I reel myself in. 

I'm talking about vacationing because I so need one but it's only been the 2nd day of my so-called freedom and already I have the rest of July packed. 

Yes, and October will see me basking in the Sun. 

So how? 

I asked the Mother if I can attend summer school in France, in 2010, but the answer is a flat, "No, it's out of the question."

But being the mule-headed stubborn kepalebatu that I am, I shall drop by the edufrance office one of these days to collect brochures on the programmes. 

Thennn, I'm vaguely certain, that it won't be out of question afterall. 

Especially when I'm gonna fund myself.. but school is starting soon, which means, I better get all the cash I own out of reach before I get desperate for money to buy materials, hahah! 

I know some people think I'm rich and rolling around in money, what with talks of attending concerts and eating out and going to France, and French lessons and whatnot. 

But the fact is that I'm not. 

I just have big dreams which I try to stretch my barely $400 a month pay to fulfill. 

I can live a fairly good life now because school's out and I don't have to spend money on materials. But I'm pretty sure my bank account will dry up in record time. 

And I'm fretting over how to pay for my French lessons next term cos I used up my internship pay last month on computer things. 

And it gets a bit annoying when people comment that I have so much money when they earn 5 times more each month, and still have no money for the last few days of the month. 

Oh! and I guess I unofficially ended my grocery-strike when I bought 3 packets of sausages yesterday. But no, I shall not succumb to anymore temptation and save the money into my France fund. 

After doing some calculations and re-working my aims, I realise that I have about a year to re-master all my forgotten french, (like, learn to conjugate and speak at the same time, hahah!) and then, about 3 years to master mandarin before I graduate, and at the same time, learn enough Arabic in the next six months to save my skin. 

aaaaaaand I still think my English is lousy, although, as pointed out by the Mother, there's nothing wrong with my English, it's just my brain that's not installed the right way. So when I speak, the last words of the sentence tend to come out first. 

Eg. 

Instead of "He's such a lousy jerk."

I'll most likely say it as, 

      "Such a lousy jerk, He!" 

I dunno, so is it my English or is it because I'm Sgpn ? 

And this may be one of the most "non-world" entries this year. Haha!

A kind of sadness. 

I've gotten used to the non-cooperative cargo lifts,

 the smell of lemon oil to get rid of the dried fish smell after some photoshoots, 

ronsonol staining my fingertips, 

clicking at a rate of 100 clicks per second, 

blinding flash alternating with annoying beeping sounds, 

the iMac flickering everytime a photo is taken, 

oh, the lonely yet peaceful lunches, 

the neskopi from the sarabat stall, 

the karipap that has become my lunch 3 out of 5 days a week, 

and the random questions I sometimes get thrown my way. 

A lot lot lot more. 

I'll miss this place, I think. 

I found a piece of my backbone here. and literally, gave a piece back. 

I've been told, here, over and over again, that I'm not as stupid or clueless as I think I am.

I've learnt a lot. And basically, I think, that's all that matters. 

I think this is big news: 29 has GROWN A FEW INCHES!

Like, seriously! 

She's probably touching 150s now. 

Whatever oz's doing to her, it's probably good.

But halfway through the night, my stomach had to bail on me. I think it was a case of mild food poisoning? Or perhaps indigestion of some sort but all I can remember eating last night was some breaded chicken thing at Sour Puss. Which, by the way, does not change my first impression of it: fabulous fruity sodas, bland food.  

Speaking of last night, I think I'm in love with the Polish conductor, K. Urbanzski. Despite the fact that he's as white as an angmoh could be with a full head of hair, no less, he's actually quite cute when he conducts. Jumping about, skipping lightly on the toes of his shiny black shoes. 

Hahah, adorable. 

It's actually weird to be sitting such that I could just reach over and touch his shoes as he was bowing to the audience. But no, I have not changed overnight. I still want Kenyan marathoners. Haha. 

The house pet is away for the weekend. 

I'm hoping the sister maintains her sanity for 2 days. 

It hurt like mad when water trickled down my back. The slightest pressure of my clothes was excruciating. 

I had to walk with my arms swinging wide because to have them rub against my hips would cause unbearable pain. 

The neck felt as if somebody had strangled me in the night. 

Even my eyes were not spared. They felt so swollen but there's no sign of anything. No blueblack bruises or anything. Although it really felt like there was. 

And I found out, from another GP I went to just now, that the previous GP had given me a high dose of steroids. Hahah!  

I shall be big and muscular! But then, the side effects would probably kill me. 

And I reaaaally think that I should stop fighting the drowsy effect of the painkiller. 

I've been reunited with my macmac, and thank god they didn't meddle with anything other than the cd drive. 

If I lost all my school files.... I dunno what I'll do!

Cry maybe. Then lament my own stupidity. 

Then, cry again ? Till I go blind?

Hahha. 

I dunno why but sometimes I think, I've an aging body. 

Like, deep underneath all the skin and tissues and organs whatever, my bones are aging. 

I just know that whenever I start to feel an ache anywhere that it's gonna lead to a whole bloody complicated mess of endless specialist appointments and xrays and endless supply of painkillers. 

I can't help it! I don't think I'm a hypochondriac. I don't imagine feeling pain. 

But whenever I do start feeling the pain such that it inhibits my normal movements, I'm scared to go to the doctor.

I was hoping it was some normal backache. I've been feeling it since January, maybe? 

The dull ache just suddenly transformed into this burning sensation on the right side of my lower back. And then, it started to spread down to my right thigh.

If I sit too long, or stand too long, that part of my back starts to burn.

So I succumbed to the pain and finally told a GP about it. 

And he went bloody happy prescribing 3 different painkillers for it! 

But not before he warned me that my back could only get worse from now on because the fact that i can feel it in my leg means that it has already affected the hip joint. 

He advised that I should get a back brace and to take good care of it.. 

WHAT! I'm only bloody twenty! I shouldn't need to worry about a bad back until well into my forties! 

Maybe my mum's right.

I'm born with all the defects. 

Omg. 

You all deserve a medal of sorts for bothering! 

Hahah! 

Chalking up a 90% attendance for one, and a 0% attendance for the other. 

FUNNY. 

I came home and saw that I received 2 letters telling me to submit 2 travel declaration forms to 2 different schools. And in one of the letters, I was urged to go for the orientation later this month, during which, I shall be issued my student card and register for my modules. 

I'm tempted to go. Do you suppose.... I could reaaaally, be enrolled and attend 2 schools at the same time? ah. but certain lectos like ck teach both schools and I don't exactly blend into the background.. but still. I could scrape by with a 50% attendance in both institutions, re-use projects for the other school, ahh, manage twice the number of sketchbooks and workload, prepare for 2 different assesments.... submit the same research paper for both... 

I could get charged with fraud. 

What a fun way to earn double the diploma. Doubly qualified, doubly accredited. 

Double the internships! Holy crap!

I'll see if I'm bored around the middle of the month.. Might be fun to own 2 student cards.