Lush folds - For those yet to know, I've twisted my ankle. Thanks to the girls for visiting me, and for the roses; didn't know what to do with them except to photograph them. Can't walk properly, can't work during matric (& take students' matric photos!), can't shop; I hope I recover by Jan 1. :(

Starry Starry Night 1

Prawn Baked Rice - Couldn't resist posting this up; made this last Tues - gave up looking at the recipe and decided to do it my way. It's pretty simple, anyway. :)

SESS Corridor - Might as well, since I won't be walking along this corridor for the next 6-8 months. :)

Oh baby, why aren't you as cute anymore? - Taken almost exactly a year ago at Snow City; the Baby Monster will be turning 2 in about 3 months, oh my, and I won't be there to see it. To quote my nick, 15 more days to Doha + Paris. :)

Multi-coloured Galaxy - Today has been a 'going out & meeting friends' day. A big thank you to wen+wen for a sumptuous lunch! gracia, ridz & sandeep - it was nice (and hilarious) catching up with you guys, just like the old times. :)

Soup of the Day - Taken a month ago at Delifrance with my cousin's ixus; it was called corn soup or something but I could only find salmon (or some sort of fish) chunks in it. I have been looking at prices of computer hardware the past few days; the amount I think I'll be spending is a tad perturbing (other than my dwindling grades, of course).

Black & White

Black Rose - Decided against posting more photos of food. :)

Doha & Paris in 23 Days!

Another classic example of food that looked better than it tasted :P
(SH & KB: My brother took a bite of the wasabi pizza and off to the dustbin it went.)

For those yet to know, I am now back in business with a brand new camera! Have fun guessing which it is.. Maybe if you're correct, I'll treat you to ice-cream. :)

Have been busy with pre-exchange stuff, sleeping, reading trashy albeit entertaining novels (who needs high-brow literary novels when you've spent the last semester reading academic journal articles?) and catching up with old friends. Life's good, if you shut both eyes at your dwindling grades and finances. :/

Pretty - Exams are over! Not feeling especially elated over the 'unhealthy' state of mess I got myself into during the exam week but oh well, I should start ticking off stuff from my list of things to do (with not much time left before I leave for France); plenty of admin + room junk to clear.. Tried out Canon cameras earlier in the day but haven't fallen in love with any yet... 28 more days to France! :)

Took my mom to go on the DHL hot air balloon ride with me; tickets were free (long story!) and we were just in time to catch the sunset during the ride. Lovely view all around, do go if you have $23 (for adults) to spare. :) All the best for those still with exams! (In case you're wondering, I still have 2 more exams. It's another long story as to why I'm happily gallivanting away. :P)

Runway - This shot is reminiscent of watching an old film that kept skipping; taken while waiting for the plane to take off and head to Cambodia. On a happier note, I'm done with all my papers for this semester; have exams the whole of next week but I'm already in the holidaying mood! Plenty of administrative stuff to settle - collect tickets I won to ride DHL hot air balloon, buy insurance, make visa, pack and oh yes, study for exams. :P

For those complaining about my atrocious pink and narcisisstic (ie. collage of baby photos) desktop theme, here's finally something eye-pleasing, at least to me. One more week of madness to go!

Birthday Boy - Latest addition to my collection of nieces and nephews as of yesterday. Amanda, he shares the same birthday as you then! =) Aaaahhhh I so need a new camera!! Thanks JJ for lending me yours!

What are you doing?

So for those yet to know, my poor camera is spoilt, suffering from the same problem it had slightly more than a year ago. The lens would not retract back into its case and there's focus error whenever I start the camera.. Alas I no longer have warranty and I'm quite sure it'd cost quite a bit to replace the lens with a new one. Hence, I'm faced with the dilemma (for 2 weeks now!) of getting a new camera versus repairing this old one. & if I were to get a new camera, should I get a DSLR or should I just get a simple point & shoot.. With me heading to France in less than 2 months, I'd better solve that dilemma real soon!!

2 more weeks to Nov 15 - the date when my last paper is due.. Between that and now are 1 project & slides, individual paper, group presentation, group paper, group presentation & individual paper. I know I should not be complaining but it is really ridiculous that there's so much work to do that one can't even find the time to study which in my opinion, defeats the purpose of school. I want to gain knowledge, not skills on how to manage errant groupmates and surviving by the minute. Important skills they may be nonetheless, but there's a limit to stretching people. Kudos to those who are enjoying school right now; I can say for sure you are rare.

Here's a common thing to hear from me nowadays: I'm just a poor socsc girl who should not be made to look at vb codes...

Respite - All I want to do right now is to forget all about work and retune my body clock. I wish for a magic wand to wave over my work; papers will be nicely typed, projects and reports will be perfectly done and I will be a happy girl who gets to go visiting and collect her duit raya. :P

Eid Mubarak - And the time comes for me to seek forgiveness from those whom I've hurt, angered or slighted, consciously or otherwise, wilfully or helplessly, over the past year. May all be happy and fulfilled on this blessed day. :)

To jump or not to jump (What are you waiting for?) - Was at Vivocity last Tuesday for the S2006 Volunteer Appreciation Event; met up with friends (Happy Birthday, Shuang Han!), made new friends, got to talk to our PM (nominated with Youjin to represent SMU) and most importantly, (ok you can call me frivolous) watched Hady (for the uninitiated - our 2nd Singapore Idol) perform three songs live in his first official public appearance with no hundreds of girls to jostle with - shiok boh? =)

Baby Monster --> Holidays = Spending time with the baby. Ask her to smile and she'll give you this expression. Smile!

Fish & Chips at Marrybrown's, Senai Airport - Because this is the fasting month, and here I am looking at photos instead of doing my paper due in 24h. *sigh*

All Alone

Angkor Wat, Cambodia - Because I miss travelling, and being sick does not help.


To Nadiah dearest: This is a bit late but I hope that the both of you are fine.. My prayers are with you...

Ctrl+Alt+Del - So many events, so many experiences; where do I even begin? Being part of the photography exhibition for Arts Fest; volunteering at the IMF/WB annual meetings where I made plenty of new friends, young and old alike; designing the International Day of Peace logo that nicely adorns the posters on display; these mere statements cannot describe the wonderful experiences I've had this semester thus far. Life is lovely; my gratitude to Him is nothing compared to what He has given me. Just let me soak it in a little longer before I get sucked into the daily routine of work, work and more work.

Pretty Doll - Blythe welcomes you to SMU! :)

A, you're adorable - Poor girl has lost 2kg due to stomach flu.

One of the reasons why you love SMU - Excellent support from your professors (at least for me), Dean of Students, President and more when you are involved in such events. I feel as though I have more time to breathe now, and who knows, I may even have time to smell the roses.

Of friendships that last

Lone Ranger - Specially dedicated to my dear old friend, Fadhly, who is surprisingly photogenic and gamely poses for me, at least until he gets bored of it but still poses anyway, because as much as he denies it, he is really a nice boy at heart.

To all my dear dear friends: I think you guys rock (and I rule - private joke :D) and I'm so blessed to have all of you as my friends, in good times and bad. :)

To my dear Izati: Good luck babe, on your big day today; just don't forget me when you become famous one day. :)

Scone - The old friends met up today; it worries me that I'm starting to look at the surroundings through the eyes of a visitor, akin to how I feel when I travel overseas, without that sense of belonging. PS: If my mother is reading this, no, the scone wasn't mine, neither was the cheesecake.

Entangled - Wheelock Place

Strength - The hands that have seen through time and been through it all; the kind old man was trying to get the little boy to pose for me - just another example of Cambodian hospitality.

Walking Alone - Angkor Wat

Amused - Obliging monks who kindly corrected me when I misused the cambodian word for "eating" when I meant to say "smile", thanks to a loss in translation when interacting with the kids. I wonder how old they are; just realized one of them was carrying a plastic bag I see most tourists carry after buying from the shops.

Convocation 2006 - Had a blast! Great way to start off the new academic year as a junior. School starts on Monday for you SMU peeps! =)

Modern Cinderella - Angkor Wat in the early morning; we got up before dawn to catch the sunrise.

Intricacy - Bantaey Srei

Dinner at Marrybrown's, Senai Airport - Pardon the frivolity, but it's almost 1 am here and I'm feeling really hungry! Looking at this does not help, of course. :P

Children of Cambodia - Finally back home with 972 photos, an unforgettable experience, new friends and plenty of stories to share with everyone. :)

Away

And off I go to Malaysia & Cambodia for about a week; will be back on the night of 14th!

Many thanks to my darling gf JJ for lending me his portable hard disk so I can take gazillions of photos; my darling cousin Nasuha for lending me her Ixus; my darling friend Adila for lending me her memory card; my darling soulsibling for lending me the use of his credit/debit card to book the flights as well as the use of his duffel bag; darlings Ridz, Mahdi & Fadhly for joining me on this adventure!

No thanks to my lomo which chose to be spoilt the moment I took it out of the box! :(

Pray for my safety and see you guys when I get back, Insya-Allah! =)

SMU Passport - Just wondering if we oldies get one too. It'd be such a bummer if we don't! :P

Nature

Separation - Risked my camera to take a quick shot of this while it was drizzling at the mosque. I so need to get a new camera!

People

Silhouette

The Faithful - Was at An-Nahdhah Mosque (newly-built) together with Syasya last Monday to host 15 students from Lyon, France who were here on exchange. They have a lovely Harmony Centre - a mini-museum on Islam with a special area that displays artifacts bought from auctions all over the world. Overall, it was a great afternoon spent talking to the inquisitive and friendly French youth as well as learning more about Islam! :)

Lines - Made the mistake of using ISO 400 on a sunny sky, hence the noise; otherwise, I thought the sleek lines would make a good photo while waiting for a friend to come pick us up at Harbourfront.

Blue Netted Sky

Taken after my last day of work; strong sunlight maketh for pretty skies with fluffy clouds. If you look closely on the top left hand corner of the photo, you'll be able to see the reflection of the block of flats opposite this golf driving range. Cool eh? =)

Edit: You'd have to enlarge the photo by clicking on it before you can see the reflection. Otherwise, you can view the photo at my other photoblog. :)

Pink Wall - What will you see when you open the door?

Matriculation is over! With all the fun I've had with this crazy bunch I've worked with, I am certainly looking forward to the next two 'seasons' of matriculation next month! =)

Blue Door - Other than matriculation, life has been pretty much uneventful with work and admin stuff piling up. Hope everything works out well for me yeah?

Marina South - I wanna go on a holidayyy~

Pseudo-Tower -- Taken at one of the back alleys of the shophouses behind URA. It was a really scorching day; yet I had just had to go on a mini photo-taking spree before meeting the secretariat team for lunch.

New Sandals - Just because I haven't blogged for so long. Been busy working on design assignments - website, logo, graphic, poster - with more to come hopefully. If you happen to need a designer (flash/logo/graphic/t-shirt/website) or photo/video editor, do come and look for me, eh? I happen to have a history of undercharging my clients. :P Will try to put up my design portfolio as soon as I can. Take care everyone!

Updates

Courtesy of Aliya who shouted out for me to update. :)

Just returned home from a 4 day stay-over at my auntie's place; 4 days with the Baby Monster certainly helps you hone your disciplining skills, inspired by Supernanny, of course.

Some details for those of you interested in what's going on with my life... (not many, I'm sure.)

• Cut my hair from waist-length to shorter than shoulder-length. (Ask me if you'd like to see a photo?) I must say that cutting your hair really shaves years off your face... My hair grows at a pretty fast rate though.
• No internship/part-time job as yet.. I totally empathize with Firdaus' entry . (The first few paragraphs!) Hopefully I'll have good news in time to come..
• Currently volunteering at Singapore City Gallery; do come visit me! (Msg me if you're planning to, I'm only there when there are school groups visiting the gallery.) It's actually quite fun and not many Singaporeans know of it. It's 3 storeys high, educational and interactive (I get a kick out of pressing buttons to see what happens). To summarize, it's basically a mini-museum on the history and future of development of space and infrastructure of Singapore. Great for those interested in architecture too! I've learnt so much more about Singapore and its little-known secrets through the various complimentary pamphlets they provide for the visitors; meeting and talking to interesting/good-looking/amusing visitors adds to the fun. My mini-advert thus ends here. :)
• Attended a training to be a HIV Champion with Standard Chartered Bank (I'm beginning to like this bank more and more! Ask me if you want to know more, eh?) - our role is to conduct outreach sessions with students and educate them about HIV and AIDS.
• Signed up for more volunteering stuff with miscellanous organizations - more updates on those soon.
• Watched Da Vinci Code and Paradise Now; planning to watch X-Men 3 soon.
• Busying myself with the usual SMU Ambassador stuff, misc. design work; yes, yes, I'll try to get down to finish editing that film. :P
• Went on a mini photo-op on my own (pictures to be uploaded as soon as I find my camera! Argh!)
• Currently suffering from good reality tv withdrawal symptoms; no more American Idol! (Adding to the list are Survivor and Amazing Race 9, though I only made an effort to catch the last few episodes of these two.) Hopefully I'll survive on my TV dosage of CSI (How could they postpone 2 weeks of it to show repeats of Singapore Idol?!), Desperate Housewives and Grey's Anatomy, just to name the good few.

Ok, I'll have to go off to sleep; have to be in school at 11 am for a pre-event briefing and an interview at 3pm. My schedule has been pretty packed these past 2 weeks (my desktop calendar has a dot on almost every date!) Next week promises to be much free-er; I really need to find time to clean up my desk area!

Would still love to meet up/go on little holidays with whoever wants to... Drop me a call/sms/email eh? I'll still be here, no matter how busy I am. :)

Blast from the Past

The same time last year, I was enjoying the cold weather at Genting. This year, I'm just rotting at home, printing photos and facing a messy room that begs to be clean once again. I hope I muster enough motivation to clear all the junk from the previous semester and start on that unfinished film project. Meanwhile, I'm busying myself with community service and scouring for internship/earning opportunities.

(By the way, I've always wondered if it was a guy or a girl wearing the adorable elephant suit. I hate to admit it but I squealed upon seeing it and immediately asked it to take a photo with me.)

PS: I forgot to add that I made a photo collage of my baby photos, relatives, friends in a huge frame (yesterday!) and I hope to hang it up on my wall so I can see it whenever I'm working at my desk. It's quite an accomplishment since I'm a procrastinator when it comes to these things (I bought the frame last year) and it took quite a bit of time and effort to choose the photos and print them all in one day. Given that it's such a rare moment that I finish my little DIY projects, maybe I shall post a photo of it after I've uploaded it. =)

Away on Retreat

Off I go to NACLI for ASMU Retreat for good food, great company & lots of fun! Will be away from 5 - 7 May; there's always sms if I am being dearly missed. *grins* Happy Polling Day in advance eh? ;)

In the meantime, I've updated my new site with more photos. Still on the lookout for better photoblog/portfolio templates, do tell me if you guys spot any. :)

My laptop has been backed up; I just have to carry it over to school to be reformatted, alas, the bed seems much more enticing than waiting in school for the reformatting and installation to end. Any brave souls willing to accompany me to school (and have lunch!) next week? :(

I have yet to pack my stuff for tomorrow! Hasta la proxima, mis amigos encantadores. *muacks*

Photoblog

Hey all,

I've decided to host my photoblog/portfolio at http://www.syuhada.fotix.net. Do visit it and give me your comments. :)

Enjoy the hols!

Summertime

What is the world coming to,

Summer's filled with stormy weather;

Yet the heart's as light as a feather,

When the eyes set upon you.

In case you guys don't already know, the summer holidays are here! I'd better enjoy these 4 months of holidays to the max before I begin my year as a junior. (I'd attributed my feeling of being lost and disoriented this term to the really short holiday we had that resulted in me not being fully rested.) I want to be enthusiastic and raring-to-go come August! Life's good. =)

Now that I've a portable combo drive (it came with my new laptop), I shall finally start backing up this old laptop of mine, send it for servicing and reformatting, fix the spoilt RAM slot and buy RAM so that I will have two functioning laptops! (I'd have added an *evil laugh* and thoughts of conquering the world but I shan't count my chickens before they hatch. *winks*)

Here's to a holiday filled with internships, community service, photo-taking expeditions, rejuvenating trips, lots and lots of sleep, self-discovery and spending time with family and friends! =)

Life's just lovely, isn't it?

Kids will always be kids - precocious or not.

For old memories' sake - a long overdue announcement of my retirement; it was fun while it lasted, for a year no less!