It's amazing how after 9 years, the Westlife formula has not changed.

Cover version- check
Shane and Mark: lead vocals- check
Nicky and Kian: stand around, look pretty- check
Brief silence before rousing chorus towards the end- check



Westlife was like my first boyband obsession.
::In 2000, my very first email was sweetnicky_westlife24/7@mail.com what a mouthful eh?
::My first Smash Hits magazine had Westlife on the cover wearing devil horns.
::I had e-pals and penpals I exchanged mails with due to the mutual liking of Westlife.
::Everytime I went online I will look at the numerous Westlife sites bookmarked under favourites. Constantly up-to-date with their gossips! I read a number of fan fiction too. I remember Aiko, but I think the site is not there anymore. Guess she's moved on.
::I went to three of their ocncerts in Malaysia and saw them at MTV asia awards 2002.
::Are there still posters on my study room wall? I forget if we've taken them down.
::I liked their first 3 albums a lot. I memorised the tracklisting and song lyrics. I would scribble their lyrics onto my exam scripts in Secondary School when I have too much time left.
::I would listen to the UK top 40 on the radio every weekend, especially when Westlife's single is on.
::I used to tape radio interviews/songs and MTV videos of Westlife.
::I wrote cheesy fan fiction about them which I only showed my sister.
::I have too many Westlife memorabilia, I think for the first album itself, I had the CD version, the cassette version and the Special edition version that came with a DVD. Countless magazines, ordered postcards, Westlife offical book, tour DVDs...extravagance courtesy of my mum! It's embarrassing really!

But after they did one too many covers and look same-y, their fourth album Turnaround didn't leave much of an impression on me and I just grew to like other 'proper' bands (with instruments) more.

I just recently wiki-ed them. Nicky's a father of fraternal twins and Mark's gay. But they're still continuing to churn out music. Ah well, at least they proved the sceptics wrong about them breaking up. Even though I'm not a fan of their music now, Westlife would always remain an integral part of my teenage life. Listening to their first few albums will always bring back memories of the relatively carefree days.

While looking at one of my lecture notes, I noticed a slide that the lecturer didn't elaborate much on. It was about toxoplasma gondii and there was an excerpt that said
"Suspicion is growing that one of the most common human parasites in the world is messing with our minds"

Sounds sinister?

Read about it! http://www2.nau.edu/~bah/BIO471/Reader/Sapolsky_2003.pdf
It's a really interesting article that is totally understandable in layman terms. SP1203. cough

My prof's reply to my email (I'm always for knowing my grades, no matter how good or bad they are)

The presentation grade will be taken as the CA, but it wouldn’t be disclosed for it is too close to the examination and may destabilize your mood and momentum in your study.

Your group has done well in presentation.
Best wishes in your coming examination

I really hope he meant it =) and not just to 'stabilise my mood and momentum'

I love reading the microbes book though, it's like some bedtime story, although with gross pictures.

*hint hint*

no seriously, this is a guide! remember how gift-buying used to be a breeze when you were younger? no brainer gifts like photo frames, cute but rather useless decorative items and notebooks? for girls that is. Well unfortunately, the older we get, the more materialistic too! (and picky perhaps)

So here's a guide to what I'd like:

1. a canon DSLR!
haha i think that's a bit too extravagant, so maybe a good digicam with manual functions will do

2. beach shorts
i've been trying to look for them for the longest time! not in black or white please...

3. white long sleeved silk kimono top with flowers
the one we tried to get for dina.

4. cheongsam!
a sleeveless one... or save that for CNY shopping lol

5. fitted long sleeved cardigan

6. non-slip flip flops (no Havaianas!)

7. book. surprise me with something i'd like. or look at my visual bookshelf

8. spa package

9. nice haircut with highlights?

just as a general guide, if you want to get me clothes,
currently i like halters, boatneck tops, off shoulder/one-shouldered tops, retro printed tops

most of all, I'd like a nice dinner at a Western restaurant with friends! maybe a colour-themed party =)

what not to get
1. a new phone [i'll wait til my contract expiry next year to get one]
2. earrings [i have pretty much enough for the time being =p]
3. necklaces [same as 2]
4. shoes [one can never have too many pairs... but i'd like to try on shoes for myself]
5. body shop (or any other brands) products [i don't use any products religiously]

feel free to use your creativity too! I like surprises =)

is that too hard for you darling? =D

The other day I had this horrible dream where my mum accidentally cut some vital vein/artery on my forehead and proceeded to tell me I had less than 24 hours to live. Ok never mind the absurd situation but just focus on the 24 hours to live part.

And in the dream I was like 'what am i going to do?' and I did nothing! **


Hence upon waking up, I planned a list. So in the real life scenario if this actually happens, I shall be prepared.


1. Make love



I don't want to die a virgin =p


2. Family and friends






Spend time to say my goodbyes to my nearest and dearest



3. Last meal



I'm no foodie, so I just want my mum/grandma's cooking! A little bit of this and that


Mum's spaghetti
Grandma's
ladies fingers
curry chicken
broiled egg
ketchup prawns
steamed fish
kangkung belacan
wong nga bak soup

4. Sky diving

Can't squeeze in too many activities, so just fly me up a plane, and throw me out of there! Haha.. imagine if I die while having the adrenaline rush and my soul fades into oblivion...

...while my body comes crashing down to earth! will be such a shock to people below, morbid me. But I always imagine myself to be cremated, and I want my ashes to be spread to the most beautiful sea in the world.

** 24 hours dragged into another day, and yet another day til my mum said "Looks like you're not gonna die after all! Weirdest dream ever!

Stress release outing on Nov 10 was fuunnnnn!!! I just posted up pics on Facebook but I guess I'll replicate a few here...

The day started out dark and gloomy... I was like... oh no, not like the zoo outing again! It was drizzling at ECP when we walked towards the kayak place but since we were going to get wet anyway, we didn't mind much... that is... until we saw the kayak rental place was taking over by MANA MANA CONSTRUCTION! noooo.. this is after HALF AN HOUR of walking, thanks to tour guide of the day dina. After searching along the shoreline, there was not the slightest glimpse of a kayak, tides were high!



I suppose Dina also didn't mind the walking since she got to share an umbrella with james...Ah the budding romance...

The raindrops were getting larger, so we took shelter in this hawker centre.



I like this pic even though Adrian commented my face looks like it's stuck to dina's.
When things go awry, makan! We had some hot drinks with satay. This will be a recurring pattern later.

So anyway, we decided to rent bikes and cycle, where my cycling techniques were mocked as being aunty and i was the target of much backwheel bumping. Gah.

An hour later, we returned to the bike rental shop and bought a frisbee! Adrian was tired from cycling so fast so he sat out for the game. Well, we have our photographer then!

The first thing we had to do was to take pictures of course...I suggested the jumping in the air pose!



Sandra's expression is classic



Again, Sandra cracks me up



This is damn stupid and funny. We all look so retarded getting ready to jump.



Finally in the air!
I wasn't happy that my legs were flying everywhere so I made everyone take another group shot =D



Voila!




Our logo for [Save Dinasaur from Extinction campaign]



Our $3.90 glitzy purple frisbee!



James picked me as his teammate! it was samuel, dina and sandra against two of us. I wonder was it sympathy that prompted him... hahaha.
In the end we did well! i think it's also coz everyone's catching skills suck.. hence we weren't at that much of a disadvantage.. the final score was 1-1! So everyone got dunked into the water...



Sandra in danger



Down the sandy slope she goes! One thing she remembered hearing was Dina saying... "kick her!"



Smiley group pic... missing Adrian!



This photo just cracks me up.. good one adrian.
Dina: I run like an athlete ok!
James: Sure, if an athlete runs like this (arms flailing like Dina in the photo)

Given a camera with self-timer mode, 6 photowhores, a beach, you get the following:



Imitating yen's classsic slutty pose. I think James did a good job. =P



Act cute... one to six!



Severe looking school photo. Back straight, arms at your sides, at-ten-shun!

By then it was around 2 plus when we washed up and changed. MORE walking to the bus stop to go to Parkway Parade... Ah I was reminiscing out aloud...Finally at 3pm plus, We had lunch at Crystal Jade, my soya chicken was not bad! James ordered some exotic sounding goose with mango!

After walking around Parkway and getting LH's calibrator from Harvey Norman, we headed back to the bus stop. Next stop: Orchard.
While waiting, Sandra was so tired she fell asleep.. and Adrian saw the bus a distance away coming to the bus stop along with two other buses. So we walked away from the bus stop onto 36. Only when we got our seats did we realise Sandra was not with us!!! She was having a puzzled expression being stranded on the bench! Luckily someone pressed the bell and the backdoor opened so I could shout out to her. She came on soon with a disgruntled expression on her face... LOL!

Unfortunately, when we arrived at Plaza Sing, Stardust was sold out!! So was the Cathay one.. and Cine, Lido, Suntec left with first two row seats.. which James quipped that his ass would be hanging off the seat if we took those. We were even desperate enough to consider a 930pm show at Ang Mo Kio hub! But i guess it'll be real tiring and we can't catch the last bus home in time.

So the journey continued with even MORE walking to mind cafe at Prinsep. It's this place where youngsters gather to play board/card games. Quite cool actually. The only catch was, the place was packed to the brim with people! WHY the heck is everywhere so crowded on a Sat night? I've watched movies on Saturday nights before and it wasn't THAT hard to get tickets... Is there some holiday I don't know about??
Yet another obstacle. and we consoled ourselves with some dessert some distance away.



Dina led us to this famous tauhuey place where I just collapsed my butt onto the chair gladly. We saw a lot of trishaws playing olden chinese medleys cycling past. One played beautiful girls by sean kingston though!
While waiting for Mind Cafe to call Dina back, we played a game introduced by James called Word Association. It's like you can say king then the next person say queen then cards then poker and so on.. It was quite entertaining... Guess who was the big loser!

When the call finally came, we walked back to Mind and got Balderdash and Taboo to play. Balderdash is this game where you just make up acronyms, laws, people, movie plots and words. It's really fun! And you get to learn quirky stuff like how PBMA stands for Peanut Butter Manufacturers Association, not Promoting Breast Milk in America. And embolalia means the use of filter words um, ah.. not a bacteria in the toenail that causes athlete's foot!

We stayed there for two hours. Taboo was a riot too, with ESS against JAD! Somehow we didn't get dinner then at Orchard itself. We just walked some more to a bus stop two stops away from Plaza Sing.



Last stop: Prata shop to fill our growling tummies...The photo doesnt do justice to the yumminess of Adrian's mutton briyani.

Last walk back to hall... just collapsed on the bed..

The next day, was stressing day coz I was rushing my useless Stats report... and preparing for my SP1203 presentation...

Today, everyone looked nice in formal wear. (except for some who came in tshirt and denim skirt.. roll eyes) Congrats to the top 3 teams, but HAH at prof's statement about how everyone's a winner. Give everyone a prize then!

Concussed after getting back to hall. And been watching Heroes all the way. First season just premiered on Channel 5. I've watched the second part of Heroes at home, missed the first part, so now's my chance to watch the backstory.

Supper later!

I have failed the nablopomo determination of blogging everyday for the month of November. Ah well...i will try to blog as and when i can... exams are coming!