greetings from yisin!

hello all!

imagine my surprise when i saw that this blog is actually still active and being updated. alright thanks to chenjing n linmin! and yesss chenjing i tried to read wat u have uploaded, but all i can see is the big red words haha.
after reading wat chenjing n linmin have written, i have decided to share with all of u wat i have been doing. while probably u all would have heard abt it in one way or another. currently i'm in usa for exchange program, and omg its super exciting! i mean exchange programs r usually exciting! but one piece of advice, if u wan a slack exchange program, pls dont come to the states. haha. cuz contrary to popular belief, most of us here r not slacking away, but we have assignments almost every other day to turn in to profs n wat's not. and we have midterm tests too :( europe will be a better alternative if u wan a more relaxing curriculum.
nevertheless, USA has been a very good experience so far. we definitely have to speak up more in class (cuz it is so common for them to do so), and its interesting to meet different pple. during our free time, we will go explore the area arnd sch (ok the sch campus is quite big, so there's quite a lot of places to explore) and take photos! yest, we just came back from snow sleding, and it was simply cheap thrill! haha. and maybe next weekend, we will be going skiing, which i tink is quite cool since i have nv skiied before :D
besides travelling arnd, being overseas by urself together with a bunch of crazy yet quite smart ntu pple means there's alot of things which i have to do it myself, like go set up a bank account, learn to spend within budget, buy phone line, cook dinner (using nothing but a boiler n microwave only!), learn the transportation system etc. which i must say is also a gd learning experience. also, once here, u also realise that there r no more NTUC, or shop&save. in replacement of those are USA megamarts walmart, meijer and target stores. i must say its a nice change of environment, but things are definitely more expensive here!! one thing tt i dont like is the cost of the textbooks, so i really appreciate studying in sg for tt. haha.
anyway, it is still chinese new yr, and i dont tink i'm missing much of the spirit except for meet-ups with friends and relatives, because i brought my pineapple tarts over here (heehee), we can still play and gamble with cards here, and we still eat at chinese restaurants here! haha. but still i'm sure u all r enjoying urself during this festive season, n continue to do so!
keep in touch, and lastly, HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR!

love,
yisin.

Jing Jing Jing Jing Jing

Hello~~~After reading Lin Min's post on boy to man, society, growing up, teenagehood to adulthood, serving others, adventures, I feel my posts are awefully shallow~ I have written it a month ago but too lazy to scan it. Some accuse may not apply any more.=)

Happy Chinese New Year. I am leaving for Vienna tomorrow and I am having my usual pre-departure fear (not anxiety) again. I should start packing anyway.

~Jing~

(I dun remember how I uploaded pictures the other time. I dun know why it does not enlarge this time~ I will figure it out when I am free, which means I will leave it unreadable as it is now for a few months~~~)

reflections

Hey people,
Just thought I should post something here, to share some reflections and thoughts. Its been 2 years since graduation, and I guess many of us have gone on different paths - from enlisting into army to studying in universities and Shatec. Well, it would be interesting if everyone can share their experiences here and update others on what they might have missed out. Haha, this is a suggestion by Chen Jing, and she thinks that I should start the ball rolling as the CT rep. I wonder if any people still come and visit this blog, but anyways, here goes:

My 2 years in army is coming to a close, and I must admit I've grown pretty much used to in-camp life. Though army life is perhaps tough and hard to adapt to, I think most of us would agree that it serves a definite purpose. Not only does it train up a capable defence force, but it also moulds boys into men. Personally, I feel that I have grown much during these while, and saw a whole spectrum of the society which I was shielded from during my 12 years of academic life. Some of my men come from very diverse family backgrounds, and have a whole range of problems - family, financial, relationship, medical. It is an eye-opener seeing these problems for myself, and almost impossible to experience what they actually feel. Speaking to them through those interviews and trying to provide advice is something I've learnt to do, but their problems are often rather complicated and not so easily resolved. While it might be easy to turn empathetic and feel for these individuals, that is perhaps never the point. Instead, it is encouraging to see many of them who could carry on with their training with great resolve and positive attitude despite their problems. Simple things like the smiles on their face are things that motivate me to go on and fulfil my roles as their PC.

Well, during the past year, I've also done many silly things that I would look back and laugh at in the future. My feel about this is that we're young only once and there are certain things that we should try while we are still capable. For one, I've tried walking from Pasir Ris to Suntec in slippers with four other friends because we could not fit into a taxi. The irony of it all was that all 5 of us managed to get onto a taxi at 530 in the morning at Suntec. The whole trek took us five plus hours, and a great deal of resolve, but we would simply laugh it off whenever we look back. Well, on the more serious note, my piece of advice for everyone is - dun be afraid to think big, and do not hold back from your dreams. Be clear of what you want in your life, and go about achieving them in whatever small steps each day. Be it to run your first ever marathon or to pick up a new hobby, be positive and take the neccessary steps. Lead a driven life and not look back with any regrets. We live our lives only once, and we will become but memories once they are over. It is these memories that we create that will last on.

Teenagehood to adulthood is a transition that all of us have to go through. Some have to go through the hard way, learning to balance financial issues with academic studies. Its a period of time when we have to make important choices and decisions, which will eventually map out our future paths. We will have to learn to live with the consequences of the choices that we make, even though they may not always be the most pleasant. I suppose friends and family are important in this case, as they provide strong pillars of support. I am fortunate to have found friends in the army, people who I know I can count on. But just as easily as they appear in your lives, they would be gone in no time. It is important to keep in contact with them, and spend the effort and the time maintaing these invaluable friendships. More often than not, the christmas-new year festive period is a good time for these rekindling sessions.

Well, these are some thoughts that I would like to share. If you have any, do feel free to post them here. If you are unsure of the email and the password, drop me a message. Hope to hear from any of you soon, and have a great new year ahead!

Lin Min

hello ppl~~~here is my little contribution to the class blog~~please click on the images, it will enlarge=)

Jing

Hello pple!

after reading hindarto's story abt sch, i feel so envious!! hindarto! u sound like u are having a lot of fun! in my office alot of pple smoke too! quite irritating.. but i think i got used to it. i always wonder why do pple smoke.. it's like so disgusting and all.. but i guess some pple juz find it relaxing(that's according to my colleague when i asked). and hindarto! one day u shld cook for us!! we wanna sample sample ur cooking!!

i'm going to stop working in 11 working days!! whee! i cant wait to finally get a life again! i haven really decided wat i wanna do after that.. initially i hav so many plans but now i feel quite lost. haha.

So where are all of u going to study? i'm going to nus to study science.. yea. so i'm going to be a teacher next time..that's sth for sure. haha.. who knows one day i will be ur children's teacher.. imagine i meet one of u at the meet-the-parents session. haha. go uni so mafan.. still hav to go for medical check up. i'm only afraid of taking my weight :S haha. i'm afraid of facing reality. maybe i shld take up Coach Cheong's advice and jog slowly for 40 min. haha.

haha.. wanx! my bestie bully u ar? okok.. i will scold him the next time i see him k!

take care peeps! and guys, do update frequently!

luv,
wanz

hello friends!
im blogging on behalf of our dear friend cheong_yixue@hotmail.com cus blogger doesnt like him so he isnt given access to this blog! so being a nice exclassmate and potential future schoolmate/senior (HAHAHAAHHAH) i shall do him a favour !

okay firstly, he wants everyone to know that he's calling me FMM (^!%&#*#*$&*$??!!@?#) (sorry, to protect my pride i cannot tell you what he calls me, lets just say it contains negative connotations) wanz, your bestie. YOUR BESTIE. keeps calling me FMM and still so proud of it. YOUR BESTIE BULLIES ME. not to mention terrorizes me too. but that i can understand. cus i call him monster, which monster doesnt terrorize? =b

hmm, he's having fun in the army, now that he's doing k3wlz stuffz which i cannot really explain in detail cus i cannot really remember due to the impact of his terrorism. oh and he's a happy boy gyming every once a week to keep fit. here's his advice to those who wanna lose weight : jog damn slowly for 40min
'sure lose weight one!' says Coach Cheong.

oh he's deciding which uni he should accept : NTU or SMU. NTU acct SMU doubledeg acct&biz. maybe we can all help him by giving him our two cents worth ( if you wanna give more im sure he doesnt mind. give less also doesnt matter since he's quite big hearted ) but he hopes that he wont cause a big furore and distract female students in whichever uni he chooses to enter. =| ( wanz, your bestie worries too much )

oh and he wants to post pictures of himself on this page, but is afraid that the site will crash due to heavy traffic. so im doing him AND our class blog AND our readers (HAHAH IF ANY) a favour, by re-directing the traffic flow. so if you wanna see his picture, kindly click on the following link. DISCLAIMER! : none (but one should be wary when there's a DISCLAIMER!)
(yar you may realise that i got his picture from getty. not bad huh! i wonder how he got featured there as well..hmm..)

http://delivery.gettyimages.com/xc/200477518-002.jpg?v=1&c=CFW&k=2&d=405954B421854B6AFD9B17A30B503B5F74CAD5E0305E9055

oh yar and he plans to make it into the forbes' list like.. soon.
yeah so lets wish him all the best man! hopefully he wont forget all of us when he's on it.

okays thats all for him.
if there're any updates i'll blog again!
=D

wanxin=D

Yo peeps!!! Hindarto here. its my 1st time blogging in like.... EVER! So yisin..... dun complain alrdy k? HAHA. jk only la. Thx to aloy tt i can finally post a msg and find d class blog url:) anyway, how are u guys in army? its been a mth or 2 since i last saw u guys. N u gals still wokring ur butts off eh? at least better than juz slacking at home yea?
Honestly, im having a great time in sch:) cooking is so much fun. So far, ive been a victim of my knife twice... and kena burn by d pan handle twice too... sigh. clumsy clumsy. But one bad thing is tt d sch hours are really really long. my mon n fri is like 8.30am - 8.30pm. lucky sat no sch sia. the ppl in my class.... lets juz say that their diff. out of 44 ppl, only 4 are gals(somehow reminds me of chs days) and one of them is 39 yrs old... sigh... it saddens me somehow. during class whenever d teachers gave us like 10 min break.. 70% of d guys would go out to smoke and hang out. damn sian. N they seriously curse like nobodys business... so much so tt i oso start ler. wad to do. but i tink... somehow, they r all gd guys. N my course tutor is imba lor... his hand is like immune to heat. his hand kena boiling water and he still mian bu gai se(face no change color). like only tap water running through them like tt... damn sick. and he touches damn hot pans like nth lor. wah... really admire him man...
another reason i like d sch so much is tt ever since sch starts... which was 4 wks ago.dere has nvr been any hw AT ALL!!! how cool is tt lor, so unlike hc, 1st wk only got test alrdy... And guess wad im learning for d eng lessons... PLURAL, PRONOUNS, ADJETIVE, PAST, PAST PARTICIPLE, etc etc. how cool is tt, how pathetic is tt?!! how time wasting is tt sia... sigh. but im not gonna complain or anything... its a great time for a nap HAHA... n of cos, d teacher dun really give a damn to wads happening in d class.. juz in a hurry to finish his class. GD or BAD? U decide. haha.
I'll finish up here... share wif u guys wad u've been cooking next time yea? N if u guys got any question on anything related to cooking or baking... feel free to call or msg me. i'll help u all find out. even if u wan any recipe for anything... cna always ask frm my tutors... they're all zai chefs. haha.. till next time dudes!
-hindarto