back to life; back to reality.

returning from bangkok to singapore was, admittedly, a less joyous event than my uk-singapore flight. firstly, the anticipation was considerably diminished; not to mention the fact that MY STUPID CONSOLE wasn't working and thus i played "beat agents" on my brother's nintendo ds-lite [the most amazing thing ever invented] the whole way back.

TWO HOURS playing the equivalent of "dance dance revolution for the stylus".

it's enough to 1) get you completely addicted or 2) drive you completely insane.

thankfully [or not], the situation happens to be the former. and thus, i have been STUCK to the ds-lite from the moment i got hold of it to.. well, a little bit before now, when my brother [very rudely, in my opinion] gave an irritated little huff and literally wrenched it from my grasp. harumph. evil little devilchild.

i'm only kidding. i love the bloke. it IS his ds, after all.

ANYWAY, most importantly, i have to blog about the carolling season; which is, to me, the best thing that has happened to me since i returned to singapore. actually, more accurately, it's the ONLY thing that has happened to me since i returned to singapore. from the 18th to the 24th, my everyday revolved around getting up at eleven, showering, getting changed into my concert gear and cabbing down to twenty-five dover close east for warmups before we went carolling at wherever it was we were supposed to sing at on that particular day.

it might not sound like much, but i'd have to say; it was fantastic.

i haven't felt that sort of undiluted joy since i'd left for the uk. the lack of purpose and the feeling of having been uprooted that had been, frankly, not gnawing at me, but hovering on the fringes of my consciousness these past three months quite effectively obliterated itself, and my christmas season was truly made beautiful-- made beautiful because i shared it with people i loved; people i've managed to miss without even realising it. it's strange that way; you don't feel it until you're back; when you're back spending time with them again. then it hits you, and you wonder how you're going to return there without feeling like something has been robbed from you.

ARGH. sentimentality. gah.

shall not say too much; or this post might move from being sentimental to downright disgusting. i don't seem to have a lot of pictures from my time here; but i'm gonna post those i have anyway. :)

a horrible self-taken picture of ernest and i.

a really nice; albeit POSED; picture of david, jamie and geof!

alumni girls in concert gear.

the acjc choir; performing at keppel towers. :))

AND NOW, for the special segment of today's programme.. the many faces of the beautiful, the wonderful, the one and only... JAMIE HO!!! :)

the slightly irritated.

i call this the "face stuffed with food", but that's not precisely accurate in this particular situation.

the confused.

amused, and slightly smug, i would say.

and finally, the.. uh. i don't really know what to call this.

and there you have it. :) the many faces of the beautiful jamie ho. :) i love her to death. you hear that, jamie? I LOVE YOU. so you can't disembowel me for putting this on the internet. :p and for not allowing you to delete that last photograph.

ciao!

just to prove that i DID NOT STAB MY DOG TO DEATH WITH A POKER...

this is sisqo, my beloved tri-colour rough collie.

who has yet to die of any stabbing or poking.

life as a "singie".

singapore's a beautiful place.


beautiful people, beautiful music, beautiful prices... beautiful food.


too MUCH beautiful food.


i literally am finding it difficult to breathe.


seoul garden is truly dangerous. :(

two days till operation return-to-sanity.

i am, yet again, being nagged to update by my lovely boyfriend, and thus, the poor world of information technology will have to endure my imbecilic ramblings about nothing in particular, all due to my extreme subservience and deference to the wishes of ernest xue ren kai.

i'm not exactly sure how people update their blogs when their lives are as inconsequential and mundane as mine is currently. i mean, what exactly is one supposed to write? a daily account of one's activities? the delirious, circuitous narratives of the ups-and-downs of one's emotional landscape?

ernest suggests that if i have nothing to write down, i should just blog about work. [yes, i do hear the chorus of groans from across the miles.] and so again, because i am so absolutely attuned to the every whim and fancy of aforementioned boyfriend, i WILL blog about what i study.

here's a little excerpt from Old English [i.e. Anglo-Saxon] that i found extremely amusing. it's a translation of a modern christmas carol-- in fact; if any of you manage to tell me what the title of this carol is, i will reward you with a CHRISTMAS PRESENT! [as in the glorious example set by geof]

of course, i do this knowing fully well that no one has yet been able to foist a present off him. :P

Incipit gestis hrodulfi rangifer tarandus

Hwaet, hrodulf read-nosa hran-deor --

Naef-de paet nieten un-scine naes-pyrl-as!

Gliten-ode and glad-ode god-lice nos-grisele.

pa hof-ber-end-as mid husc-word-um hine ge-hefig-odon;

Nolden pa ge-neat-as hrodulf naefig

To gomene hran-isc-um gangan aetsomne.

Da in Cristes-maesse-aefne storm-ig-um clomm-um,

Halga Claus paet ge-mun-de to him mapel-ode:

Neah-freond niht-eage nosu-beorht-ende!

Min hroden hraed-waen ge-laed pu, hrodulf!

pa ge-lof-odon hira lad-deor pa lyft-flogan --

Waes glaed-nes and gliw-dream; horn-edra sum ge-giedd-ode

Hwaet, hrodulf read-nosa hran-deor,

Brad spring-ep pin blaed: breme eart pu!

you know what? after putting it down, i realise that this might be a little too easy. OH WELL. :P let's see who gets a christmas present from jo this year! :)

ciao!