Adel :D
A rather infrequent blogger who nags at other bloggers to update their blogs.
She loves colourful stuff but is often seen wearing black and white.
An office rat, she's often found chasing the sun during the weekends.
Her curent aim in life is to be able to whistle the entire tune of "Jingle Bells"
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Wednesday, April 30, 200812:08 AM
so!
who is the "everyone" who said that the blue book is coming out? i went into a panic attack this morning, shoving all the boxes to one side in order to find a box that contained my year 1 stuff. And when it wasn't in any of the boxes i looked into, i went into full blown freak-out mode! and who is the "everyone" who said BIM was coming out??? On the way to school, i felt as if i was on my way to execution grounds and was really trembling as i waited to go in to the hall. turns out that the "everyone" didn't include the lecutere so heng ah. Not so heng is that i didnt know how to do the question either. well well well... Never mind that i bombed all 3 papers. It's over. :D :D :D... well at least i hope so? Oh please let it be the case! Finally had the Aston's meal that Jiahui was raving about. It's pretty damn good. Spend the entire meal in silence. Yes, it was that good!! I just wished that it was halal so that Vinna didnt have to sit there and watch us eat. Felt pretty bad about it. She was really nice and kept on reassuring us that she was okay with it but still... Went home and spent some lovely quality time with the dogs. It's been 3 weeks since i properly sat down on the patio to play with them, and to be able to just play with them for as long as i liked was a pretty good feeling. :D Of course, there is always AUSSSSSSIEEEEE!! i cannot wait! Ting told me the itinerary and i was seriously melting at every activity she described. icannotwaiticannotwaiticannotwait! oooooh.. the tingles of anticipation! i really hope that i will be able to get on that flight. As Claryce said, "once bitten forever shy". But if i do get on that flight, it'll be paradise-bound! :D I'm loving my new to-do list. Instead of - study topic 1- 18 - re do measurement plans - do IP - dissertation it's - do mask -foot scrub? - throw away building notes - search for the fish eatin dead skin thingy - watch ep 4 to 6 of "which star are you from" - watch newest ep of "ugly betty" Life's pretty damn good now if you ask me. :D :D :D |
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Monday, April 28, 20082:24 PM
2 and a half hours till my animal behaviour paper.
helphelphelphelphelp. i just learned that there is such a bird called the "great tits". teeheeheehee! though for some reason, i keep on remembering it as "fat tits". Mamahamtits comes to mind. So if i do break out in juvenile giggles during the paper, you'll know why. one will look for anything to cling to in dire circumstances. |
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Saturday, April 26, 200811:44 PM
So!
My econs paper took "difficulty" and "hellish nightmare" to the next level. Sitting next to Asilah was the highlight of my day because it all went downhill from there. When i first saw the questions, i felt as if i got shot. It left me scratching my head for at least 15 minutes and the whole time i was writing, i had this little voice inside my heard screaming "what are you doing???!" The more i think about how i answered the questions... the more i worry because i went totally off track in answering the questions which is the cardinal sin in her module. sigh! i was pretty upset after the paper. Then i heard everyone saying "die la die la" and i knew tt i wasn't the only one who got shocked by the paper. Misery loves company after all. But still.. i cant help thinkin about how i bombed the paper. sigh. Anyways! Jia hui (note the spacing!) kindly drove us back to serangoon and i tried getting a head start on animal behaviour.... but was soon distracted to planning for Aussie and then excitedly describing to Jing Xian what she can do in America. and then cursing myself as i succumb to the korean drama, Which Star are you from. Both Sherlin and Claryce reccommended this to me and Sherlin is going to lend me the dvd on Monday!! Good bye measurement! But i digress! As i was taking a break from animal behaviour, i went to fill my cup with water and right at my eye level.... were two insects mating!! I do not know what kind of insects they were (small, thin with spots) but i initially thought that it was one insect with 4 feelers.. then i realised that the 4 feelers were twitching in pleasure and that their backsides were joined together! In the words of Claryce, "It's like animal planet at ur place!" So, i got irritated that couplehood is every where i go. Even the bloody insects are getting some! And i took a thick magazine and whacked them to death. HEY! at least they died in the throes of pleasure. Hopefully, this will serve inspiration for me to get to the mating topic in animal behaviour. which at the rate i'm going, will be sometime on monday. SIGH. |
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Tuesday, April 22, 20087:21 PM
Le sigh. Exams have taken their toll on me.. And Econs has driven me to blog abt my Frisco trip! Here are a few photos for those who have gotten sick of their econ notes!!
Because i borrowed so many clothes from different people, i'm going to mention them everytime one of us is pictured wearing their clothes. Thanks loads to all these lovely peeps for being so generous!!  Sights ard the City  4 hearts were placed at the 4 different corners of the central park. I had to stand at this corner for the longest time just cause i wanted to capture the tram in the photo! The other 3 hearts:    The Tram:  This is a must do in San Fran! It's their historic landmark and its really cool to ride such an unique form of transport that was built especially to overcome San Fran's steep slopes! We went early in the morning as i didnt want to queue for ages (a tour book i read said that one can queue up to 3 hours during the peak season!) .  See the wooden circle behind Audrey and me? The tram would go onto it and then the circle would rotate it ard.. giving everyone perfect opportunities to snap away! On me: Sherlin's jacket, On Audrey: Claryce's black jacket beneath her outer jacket. The steep slopes of San Fran... the tram's route   All the tour books i've read recommended us to stand and hang outside the tram so at the gripper's encouragement, we tentatively stood on the platform outside the tram and clung onto the handrails.. It was super duper fun!!  Here's a pic of our very friendly gripper. They dun call the drivers of the tram "drivers" but "grippers" as they handle a very different technology. Oh dear, he looks really fierce here but he was really nice and friendly... Had the impression tt he quite enjoyed his job!  His "Steering Wheel"  Along the way, we saw mini yellow go cars!! These cars are for anyone (with a valid driving license) who wants to tour the city by themselves. They fit only two but look super fun! What's really cool abt these cars is tt there is voice telling you where you are and whats the main attraction ard you / what's the significance of place you are at etc. You ca even turn it off and then back on and its GPS system would be able to tell you where are!  Lourve Road Supposed to be the "crookedest shortest street in San Francisco". But info has it that there is another road that is more crooked and shorter than this.. Nevertheless, we went to visit it! Here's a view frm the top...   If you look down, you can see that it's quite steep!  Here's us tramping down the road, heedlessly ignoring the signs asking us to walk down the straight staircase located at the sides! Who would do that? BORING!! But seriously, many tourists try to drive down this road and since we weren't driving, we'll bloody walk ard the curves! By hook or by crook!    We were able to do this as we went there waaay earlier in the morning (Thanks jet lag!). But soon, the cars started coming in...   A pic of Lourve Road from the bottom.  It looks pretty meh here as we went at the end of winter. beginning of spring. But during spring, Lourve Road looks pretty lovely as the bare brown patches in between the roads would burst into beautiful flowers.Okay.i'll admit it.. once i saw the sign "No noise", i immediately thought back to all my Singaporean Friends who would totally break this rule! lol!  Walking around the Residential Area   Oh dear... Blogger keeps on telling me that it can't upload my pics! Gah! Maybe its a sign.... Sigh...Back to slay the bloody econs monster. Who am i kidding? Its like fighting Cloverfield with a toothpick. sigh! Anywhere but here. |
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Saturday, April 19, 200811:36 PM
Neela's back!!
:D and she finally smsed us instead of scooting off to malaysia immediately! but crapballs.... my exams are in a week's time and peio is a trifle bit busy with work.. which means tt we prob wun get to meet up before neela flies back to aussie. arrrrgh! This is immensely frustrating! To have a great reason to go out but constrained by exams. Everytime i think of exams, i get this sickening thud in my tummy. I have no idea what's going on in any of the modules and i have no mood to study whatsoever. Does not help that the modules are boring as hell. Come to think about it, this entire last semester sucks hardcore. First we had dissertation which trust me, was a total nightmare. I think i gained a few wrinkles from that. Then there was econs project, IP, econs project again (thanks to someone-who-is-getting-very-bad-feedback. Did you know that she didn't even reference her lect notes properly?), animal behaviour proj with lousy TAs, dissertation amendments (and the lawyer had to mark mine... resulting in many love letters in mine) and now exams. It's like one big thing after another, leaving me breathless. Everyday, i wake up in a panic "What's due?" "Anything major coming up?" "Things to do:.." "Did i finish that?" crapballs. And ... to make things worse...If i want more rice in my indonesian food, i have to pay 20 cts more! The horror of it all!. And yes, the pple ard me are bored to tears with this complaint. From now, im eating with people who used to ask for less rice. I can't wait for May!! If my plans work out well, i can get to, in ting's words, reunite with my loves, get to meet some *ahem* very important people, and explore a new area! :D Also, it'll be the time i can finally kick off my shoes and finally relax away from my worries! No more constantly worrying abt the Big D, or stupid econs project or animal behaviour project or bloody exams... Just sheer utter bliss and contentment! Of course, there is the teeny weeny bit abt being a lightbulb there but im just gonna be obtuse and thick skinned. With May, comes the post-exams BBQ! Unfortunately, due to logistical problems, the location of the BBQ has been shifted to Sherlin's house. My house's patio ain't big enough for 12 people to get nice and comfy...bah. Feel pretty bad that Sherlin has to step in to host the BBQ. So sorry! I'm still gonna bring my spanking brand new sausage griller though! It's just begging to be used! As i'm not hosting the BBQ, tink the blogging-abt-who-brings-what rights go to Sherlin.. I'll just blog about what i'm bringing. During our study session, we started discussing abt the BBQ and i'm bringing a) Longan Jelly for desserts b) 2 GOLDEN PILLOWs! ( 1 mutton and 1 chicken!) Are you tempted yet?? c) my sausage griller I hope to make the chocolate frosties but tt's just KIV. :D And i have a feeling that our favourite men, Ben & Jerry, are gonna make a special appearance at the BBQ. *hint hint!* The question, my friend, is "Are you ready for twister?" |
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Tuesday, April 15, 20084:29 PM
Make yourself pretty on...
26th September - 9.00 a.m mass at St Francis Xavier Cause that's when Jie Jie and Dan will be getting married! :D Check out their wedding blog for any updates on the wedding preparations, the story of how they met and more details on the affair itself! :D http://likearose.weddingannouncer.com/ Jie jie was already squealing with joy when she saw that she had 27 visitors.. So go ahead and make her float in the air! |
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Friday, April 11, 200810:25 PM
Oh sweet net.. How i have missed you!
The last week has been a bit of a torture of me when i had no internet. Amazing how one can think up of many things to do online once there is no net. I wanted to wikipedia all sorts of movies and shows. And of all times, the net had to go off when i had to do the powerpoint slides for my animal behaviour presentation! I literally went raving mad when i discovered that the net died on me just when i had finished the slides and wanted to send it to the other members in my team. It was 4 a.m. and i seriously wanted to throw the computer to the repair shop where the big bad maintenance dudes would open her up and look at her naughty bits! Anyways! Animal Behaviour presentation was..... dare i say it? stupid. For the project, we had to observe any animal for 3 - 5 hours and report on its behaviour. So, we brought Dash (my dog), Febbie (Sherlin's dog) and luemas (my cousin's dog) together to see how they would react to one another. We were mighty pleased with the result. Febbie was predicted to be the alpha male (which took Sherlin by surprise). Dash? fell asleep during the interaction. -_- lol! i do wonder... they say dogs ressemble their owners over time so now i can't help wondering whether i am as boh chap as dash! Everytime Febbie lunged at Dash and tried to bite him, Dash didn't even blink an eye... He was like "eh? No food?" .. But don't mess with Dash when it comes to food! With just a whiff of the beef jerky, placid dash turned so aggressive!! Anyways, for the presentation's Q & A session, the 6 teaching assistants starting shooting all sorts of rubbish question tt at one point i didn't wanna answer any of their questions. Sherlin got so mad... I never heard her utter so many f-words before. This is the exchange tt got her hopping mad! Some stupid grad student: I noticed that the owners were around the dogs to control their behaviour during the fights. Sherlin: Yes, we didn't want things to get bloody. some dumb teaching assistant: but things are bloody in the wild what *insert a moment of incredulous silence where all 4 of us mentally pictured ourselves beating her with a dog paddle* Asilah: but they are... domesticated Like, hello? Who on earth is gonna pay for Dash's vet bill when Febbie makes mincemeat out of him (cause let's face it, Dash ain't gonna win Febbie in a fight!) ? And i will end up with a traumatised dog.. just so tt i could do a school project. And it was clear from the start that we were talking about domesticated dogs! Gosh... some people just take stupidity to a whole new level. Recently, Guo An asked us whether any of us would be leaving the industry once we graduated. When i said that i would be leaving it, he gave me a short interview to do. Since Alvinna posted her replies up, i guess i'll just post some of mine here. Question: Understanding the course, to a large extent, cater to the manpower needs in construction industry/ sector (though not limited to it), so during your course of study, have the thought of quitting this industry (i.e working something unrelated to course of study) came across your mind? (If so, when was that?)Tell me the reasons behind… thanks Yes. Every single day of the couse. LOL! Just kidding. Since I didn’t really have the intention to join the industry, i looked upon the school course as a way to enrich my way of thinking, learn more about the world (thru electives), broaden my horizons etc. To me, university, always and has been, a way where I could expand my learning horizons. So, during the uni course, I didn’t really specifically think about whether I should really quit the industry. It was more of fleeting thoughts like “I have to do this for life?”. You could also say that, deep down, I knew I was not suited for the industry when I found that I was more interested in and doing better in electives or courses which had nothing to do with the construction industry (for eg. Human resource, geography) Did internship further confirm your intention? if so, how? Yes. I joined the internship program with the intention of checking out whether I could work in the construction industry. Alas! It just confirmed that my personality just clashes with what the industry requires. I was horrified when I saw and heard how they can loudly berate the sub contractors (I worked in a Main contractor’s office) for hours. Every time they scolded one, I would be demoralized for the rest of the day. Also, I saw the QS department and was very disheartened. Some of them had worked for years, doing the same thing over and over again, and yet, not having the faintest idea about the whole picture ( as in they concentrated only on the one element they were doing). Very few advanced to the next level, reinforcing my belief that there may be few career opportunities for a women in the construction industry. Gender Bias The course does reinforce that the construction industry should look at the overseas market. However, not many of these countries are as receptive to female construction players (Case in example: Saudi Arabia). In Singapore, few women become project managers. Most are often in the QS section. Unsure about my skills Perhaps due to my intention of leaving the industry, I never was able to do well in construction-related courses. I am not sure whether I can contribute much to a company who expects a NUS grad with a certain degree of knowledge. I have heard from friends who have started working that joining as a full-time staff is different from being an intern. The company expects more. Hence, i hesitate to join a company in which I might let it down by not fulfilling their expectations. Profile of Construction Industry’s workers It is my personal belief that the people who cannot succeed elsewhere due to their low EQ can excel well in the construction industry. This seems to be the only industry in which one can encounter many people who do not censor their thoughts before blurting it out. While others may argue that one will inevitably encounter many of such people in real life, I did an internship in an unrelated sector (banking) before we entered our internship program and it was a pretty good experience. I did encounter some unpleasant people there but it was not as bad as the extent and the quantity I encountered in the construction industry. Needless to say, it was a rude shock to hear and witness many people being downright insensitive and rude in the construction industry. Personality differences You may be hearing the phrase “Personality clashes with the industry” quite often. Perhaps I can better explain what I mean by that. As explained, the industry does require one to be thick skinned in order to withstand the insensitivity, the scoldings and the environment. It took me a day to get over some scoldings (and they weren’t even directed at me!) and my productivity level just dropped every time that happened. Besides, I do want a challenging job in which I look forward to going to everyday. I do not mind staying back for overtime as long as there is something new to do. Something new also means being able to increase my learning curve. Being stuck in one project means measuring the same thing over and over again. Everyday, one is faced with diagrams and numbers. (Like I said, very few advance to dealing with the law aspect). There is also the danger of falling into the trap where I’m too focused on my job to understand the big picture and learn more. Also, one should be able to communicate with people from all walks of life. Communication can be improved if one can speak dialect ( as some sub contractors can speak more fluently in dialect). I cannot speak dialect and may not be able to find common ground with them, which leads to inability to build up a rapport and might even lead to strained relationships with them. Hence, I feel that while the construction industry is an enriching one, one needs to have the necessary character qualities before one can excel in it. If one does excel (which I’m very sure my friends, especially Guo An will), the rewards will be tremendous. Alas! I am not suited for it and would have to trot elsewhere to find another industry. Sigh. I do feel sad that after 4 years, i'm still not suitable for the construction industry. Going to find a job in another industry is going to be really difficult and i have to start from scratch. But the upside is wondering what i'll become... just like being a kid all over again! When i was young, i wanted to be a) a vet (shot to death when i realised i had to put my hand up their butts) b) reporter ( shot to death because i need to go to a poly course for it) c) in drama ( shot to death because singapore's drama scene is meh) d) an air stewardess.. which girl hasn't dreamt of this (shot to death because well.. you know) Sigh. I do hate growing up. |
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