Creative Director

Hats off to Lisa, the Creative Director of my geog project group that consisted of Dari, Bev, Marilyn, Lisa and me. She is smart and a really fast thinker(meaning she can fix the damages really fast by coming up with solutions to stuff that seems to threaten the existence of our beautiful model. Aint telling what our model is about but its on the Coast(Big Hint)..haha am just being silly.....Well i just wanna tell the girls that our model is just great now that everything has dried up and settled down and it looks real like, just have our lil write up to go.

I just realised that this is gonna be my 2nd shortest post ever since my 1st entry. Oh well its just that i am not doing much and basically slacking so that doesn't generate no thinking and thought processing juices so i aint got no wonderful ideas for a blog post. ( Pardon me and btw i think i sound afro-american in the last line....dunno how that came around but i am happy...love the way they speak)

An Evening of Accomplishments

Today i finally have this feeling of having accomplished something after a month of being lethargic and plain lazy. Its amazing how many things can be done in one day, just ONE. The amazing thing is everthing happened after 6 pm in the evening...not before.

As usual i was lazing around like i have been doing, walking around the house, watching Hindi Soaps with my mum on Zee TV, Star Plus and Sony Television(these are Indian Channels that you have to pay for to watch from Starhub), eating and munching, a lil bit of reading, surfing on the comp before hitting the cycle again and snoozing off.

Saturdays are our Grocery Days when my parents head to Little India to buy a weeks worth of veges, normal foodstuff(normal for us veggies i mean) and the necessary things for a house. My mum was coughing away due to the Bronchitis that she got from going to Delhi, she couldn't accompany my dad on his usual rounds and so i was sent instead "because i have to learn". So off we went with the radio blasting in the car and with my dad and i arguing as usual. I learnt that the Pillsbury brand of wheat flour that we use to make chappatis costs $5 for 5 kgs( i found this really cheap...well is it?) We headed over to the same place that we buy our veges from and i picked out really good stuf and i aint boastingg or making myself feel good coz my mum herself told me that the veges are good without me even asking....Wohoo!Accompanied my dad to the POSB cash deposit and almost got mad at the machine as it would take in the notes in groups and claim that it cant except the notes. So we had to do it 5 times before all off them were excepted and thank goodness no one was around so we didn't make anyone wait. From there my dad rushed me to the NLB and i borrowed my books in a mad rush in 15 mins as none of my usual authors were there and all others seemed different so i just borrrowed by judging the book covers and the synopsis. By the way, they happen to be good ones..haha. Once home i managed to confirm when i am meeting up with my geog group mates for our geog project and decided on getting our debate trainings started.

Yippie, i manged to do everything and even managed to watch a bit of the Liverpool-Man City match...my my Sisko is good, Cisse and Risse are as powerful as ever and am ecsatic as Liverpool is back on the track. Any way Liverpool won as usual 1- nil, Risse the red head scored. So there is my evening of Accomplishments and i am glad!

Errands

My mum loves and hates the fact that its the holidays. The reasons: she can boss me around and make me do stuff and run errands and she cant stand me having holidays is because i will irritate her when i get bored, and when hunger or cravings strike, i rummage the entire kitchen and now know all her hiding places of my favourite junk stuff and where and how she stores them...so i can eat and she will only know when all the stuff is finished. Hehehehe....this is fun untill i have to carry out the errands.

So i have to go and update the passbook soon and since i am going to Tampines central i can "go down to NTUC and get more mothballs". I mean how lame is this...shopping for mothballs. Its not just any type of mothballs, mu mum is specific about her brands although she doesnt know the names she knows what it looks like. So yea...but thank goodness this doesn't happen often and i cant stand the smell of mothballs either as they always remind me of the horrible science experiment we did in Secondary school where we melt mothballs in glass testubes and measure the temperature differences. (cant remember the aim of it)

Well i got to run...hope the moths stay away and i get the right brand....

Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire ~ the movie

I was a tad dissapointed with the movie but i expected it especially when i decided to read the book again before going to watch the movie. I mean i already knew a little bit more than the main details but after reading all the minute details it got stuck in my head and while watching i could tell that the minute details were kinda ignored(Parvati's hair is plaited, Hermoine's dress is powder blue not pink, Krum's nose is crooked, he slouches and duck footed) and even some of the major stuff(like Dobby being the one who gives HP the gillyweed not Neville, Beauzbatons and Durmstrung bring in an equal number of boys and girls for respective groups and not all girls and all boys respectively,Harry doesnt see the one who creates the Dark Mark, Barty crouch Jr isn't in HP's dream), there's loads more and once i get started there is really no stopping me so i shall sto here. However despite all this stuff being removed, the movie was seamlessly held together, there were no weird jumps or happenings,in other words Mike Newell really did a great job considering that he had to direct a movie that was filled with magical happenings and required loads more complicated and new technology CGIs than the other movies where the sets could be made easily and the CGIs were more or less easy to do as they included 1 or 2 people whereas this movie had to simultaneosly involve 4 champions through their tasks.

So a bit here and there was removed and it had to be done as the movie would end up being about6-7 hrs long(this is my guess...not proven or something) and very few people would be willing to sit for a movie meant for the kids(loads of articles had that and claim that LOTR appealed to a wide age range...i kinda agree with the LOTR part but i think Mike Newell did a really great job with this movie which doesn't really seem child fantasy-like). Mike Newell definitely did great but the actors were really good especially James and Oliver Phelps who play Fred and George Weasley:they weren't shunned to the corner this time and lived up to the mischievous glints and notorious antics from the book, the ability to act and make the audience laugh isn't an easy thing and they did just that(over imitating Ron when Prof McGonagall teaches the class how to dance, asking Angelina to the Yule Ball, taking bets and irritating the life out of Ron).

Rupert Grint who plays Ron Weasley according to me is better than Daniel Radcliffe when it come to acting, the reason is simple because Ron's character is a rather complex one with loads of relations with his family which is unique on its own, being Harry Potter's best friend, attracted to Hermoine but isn't able to do anything about it, is poor but lives life to its fullest and finally he is a really good and sweet guy below all the crappy jokes and useless arguements.

Daniel Radcliffe is no doubt awesome by being able to actually act out the entire underwater sequence for the 2nd Taskinstead of getting a stuntsman to do it for him( 2 of the largest water tanks in Europe were build for this and it was still squashy as it had to fit in the camera crew, the directors, the stuntsmen along with a couple of props and the actors involved. it took him 43 hrs to act out that scene and he didn't have an air mask with him if he ran out of air he couldn't possibly go to the surface as the pressure difference would burst his eardrums, so when Daniel signals a stuntsman goes down with the mask and bring him up slowly....i cant imagine doing it as typing all this out is already mind boggling). However when it comes to the emotional and funny lines his screen magic wears off (this is debatable) and looks dull next to Hermoine and Ron and the others.

Emma Watson aka Hermoine Granger wasn't as nerdy, but was very motherly like when she told Ron and Harry to go to bed after the Yule ball and very girly when it came to Viktor Krum. Stanislki(dunno the spelling) aka Viktor Krum was absolutely atheletic and gentlemanly, Robert Pattinson aka Cedric Diggory was just as charming and gentlemanly. Tom Felton who plays evil guy Draco Malfoy is still the Brylcream boy with his charm that kinda intimidates and give you the feeling that makes you wanna slap him....so in other words he really gets into the character on set and off he is a really nice guy. The Girls who were supposed to act as Parvati and Padma Patil aren't twins in real life but they were good. Katie Leung aka pretty girl-Harry's heart throb Cho Chang was ok and i seriously can't say much as she was only acting pretty and didn't have many lines besides asking Harry to repeat what he was saying.

Robbie Coltrane(Rebeus Hagrid) was jolly and funny and loving like always and David Bradley(Filch) was mean, horrible and pitiful (when he ran in that jerky way). Michael Gambon(Albus Dumbledore) had his all-knowing glint in his eye along with his caring nature and staely aura that commanded respect. Dame Maggie Smith(Prof McGonagall) was strict, tough yet motherly especially when she was teaching the boys how to dance. Actually when i come to think of it, there is very little i can say about the adult actors since many of them have won a couple of awards, been nominated for some and higly credited like in the case of the late Richard Harris who played Dumbledore for the 1st 2 movies and passed away after that.

The 3 tasks lived up to the imagination of the readers although Harry unneccessarily flies around the Hogwarts castle(something that was added for effects) for the first task. Besides that the Dragons were lethal, Mermaids were vicious and the Maze was deadly terrifying( onset these mazes were actually constructed, they moved like they did in the movie and the threat of being crushed was ever present so the fear that you see on the Champions' faces is genuine).

The Graveyard scene was simply two thumbs up. Ralph Fiennes who play Voldemort has the exact look according to the book and is just as heartless although he can work on his voice to complete the image as his voice wasn't shrilly,cold and high it was actually kinda calm and normal...it supposed to be the kind that freaks you out without seeing the owner of the voice and it didn't after he rises from the bubbling cauldron, it was shrilly before when he was in the body of that weird baby monster. The Death eaters' robes strangely reminded me of the KKK only they were all black with white masquerade-like masks instead of all white.

Its after Harry reaches back Hogwarts that tears just start rolling down my face with the likelyhood of my lens coming out. The way Daniel started crying, the entire atmosphere of the grounds was cherring before it became pin-drop silence, how Dumbledore forcefully has to pull Harry away from Cedric's body, Cedric's dad just falls apart, the final blow of learning the truth about the "Professor Moody" and Dumbledore's tribute to Cedric was especially moving. The farewall scene was heart-warming and the final scene where Hermoine asks if everything is going to change and Harry answers yes. The answer in itself is meant to be reassuring while at the same time it leaves a hint about the troubles that will come along with time.

The surprising thing is that i thought i was the only one who felt that way but during those scenes i realised that the entire theatre was moved although not everyone was crying, a heartstring or two were tugged when they come to realise how powerful the bonds of Love and Friendship are. Somehow I kinda feel that this movie had a subliminal message that was applicable to the materialistic world that we live in today that is filled with news and headlines about the ongoing conflicts between men, the impacts that it has on the innocent and how they are somehow directly or indirectly brought to be involved. That is the exact reason why the magical worls seems real as it is not only the fantasy magical world that is wishing for peace, many in the real world that we are living in are secretely, desperately wishing for world peace as well.

My nose

My nose and dust have been rivals since the day i was born and considering that i was born in India and dust is abundant there i would be immune to it but NO! Dust is irritating and my nose is able to pick up slight traces of it. My sensitive nose will start working up the minute some microscopic dust particle enters my nose.

I am allergic to dust and it makes worst when your nose acts as the messenger to transmit the message to my brain that i have to clean up my desk and notice board instead of my fingers. This morning the minute i went near my deak, my nose twitched-it started to itch and before i knew it i started sneezing like crazy, the nose started running before my immune system kicked in to result in a blocked nose and hoarse voice.

At the same time my mum started nagging at me about having reminded me a million time about cleaning out all the unwanted stuff from my desk and especially my notive board which has just been collecting piles of dust. (my mum has a tendancy to over exaggerate) So i applied axe oil with the hope of unblocking my nose so that i wouldn't feel suffocated, armed myself with a wet rag and attacked my desk. I was shocked at how much i removed from my desk, newspaper cuttings, rough papers, cards and piles of dust that triggered of a second round of battle with my nose. This time eucalyptus oil stopped the alergic reaction but left me with a blocked nose again.

So finally everything from my desk was dust-free when i realised that i should aroma-therapize(its a word i created) my room to purify all the air(do i sound like professor trelawny?) and remove all dust suspended in the air and dust-related microscopic species(are there such things) if any.

My nose is now back to normal, i am breathing good,fresh air through unblocked nostrils and enjoying life and preparing to go and finish reading Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire before i watch the movie tommorow. So till my next post....tataz and may you have a healthy nose

Dinner with David, Mark and the Debator Grls at Brazil Churrascaria

The reason why this entry is one day late is coz i had a nasty fall when crossing the road yesterday that left me with a blue-black ring fingernail which really hurt yesterday(thank goodness the roads were empty and no one i know was around there...i hope). Well i couldn't possibly blog on friday night coz i was drop-dead tired. Well its a long story that starts with my plan.....

None of us had any idea how to get to David's Rest so i went and did some researching on the net and ended up at www.streetdirectory.com, so i decided to trust it and use the routes that came up with. According to st.com we had to take bus number 28 from Tampines interchange to Joo-chiat and alight on the 33th stop along Changi Road. From there, we change to 154 which will bring us to the 33th stop along Bukit Timah Rd and we walk in to Sixth Avenue. So i called up the Grls on Tue and asked them if they knew of any other route and if we shall take this route together. Since they were lost as well, we decided to meet at 5.45 pm on Fri the 11 Nov 2005 at Bengawan Solo at Tamp Interchange. At 5.45 i called Steph and she said that she was in TM and was going to TM Mrt to wait for Jashan, Sin Yi was still in Bedok and Denise was going to take a cab from her place. So at about 6 we got onto 28 and took a 45 min ride from Tampines to Bedok and any public transport commutor would definitely know that such a ride is absolutely ridiculous. From there we rushed to get onto the Mrt when Jashan went into the toilet to touch up on her make up while Sin Yi and I were fuming at the other side of the barriers. I had to msg David to ask him which is the Nearest Mrt to his restaurant, Newton Circus, and he had the shock of his life that at 6.45 we were asking him for directions to the place.

Well if it wasnt bad enough that we were late, the "sick" train that we were on halted about 4-5 times to carry out System checks and at almost every check one of us would do something crazy that just draws more attention to this group of 4 grls, 2 in black and 2 in pink( according to Jashan at the 2nd halt i made this hilarious yet weird noise that madethis already irritated guy turn around bewildered.)At Orchard, the crowd to get onto the NS line was so thick that Sin Yi and I(we were the ones that were hurrying) managed to squeeze onto the 1st train that came along while Jashan and Stef were left behind. When we finally reahed Newton, we finally met up and Stef was having fits from laughing( when we were on 28 i suddeny burst into laughter when i had this crazy thought enter my head...that was the same thing happening with Stef.) When trying to get onto the NS train, Stef thought i should hold on to Jashan's hand so that we do no loose each other in the crowd but instead of grabbing Jashan's hand she grabbed some other lady's hand that let her hold and gave Stef a weird concerned look. So it was this look that caused Stef to continue laughing throughout the entire taxi ride to the Rest.

Meanwhile, Denise who reached there at 7.30( late according to David but relatively according to us) had to endure and entertain David and Mark who joined us later. David had mentioned to me that Mark might join us if he finished his essay earlier( essay?????). So he did finish his essay and reached there much earlier than us and gave us his signature grin when we arrived giggling for not apparent reason. David gave us his usual fatherly lecture while Mark just continued looking around.

David finally decided that we had learnt our lesson on punctuality and asked us if would like to have something non-alcholic to drink. Denise and I went for the Watemelon and Honeydew Mocktail while Jashan went for the Bahai Cooler( dunno the spelling) and i cant recall what Stef and Sin Yi ordered. While we deciding on the drinks, a waiter placed a plate cheese buns(which are really small and cute) on our table with some accompanying dips. Those Cheese buns were really good appetisers. Then we headed over to the Salad bar which had cold salads on the bottom row and the hot/cooked ones on the top. It was really cool, there was this Greek Cerel thats called kus kus i think, rice, lots of different dressings, veggies, stringie mushrooms, palmshoots, baby potatoes, potato salads and lots of other things.

Stef and I decided to swap places so Jashan and i can comment on the stuff etc without having to talk across the table. Dinner was loads of fun with lots of educational experiences. Brazil is definitely a must for meat lovers as the waiters go around with skewers of barbequed meat and cut some off right onto your plate. The menu is only for the beverages and desserts. The sight of so much meat can be pretty disgusting for people like me because, all sorts of meat is offered: beef from the calf's hump to chicken heart and chicken livers(chicken hearts are actually slightly bigger than half a walnut).While watching everything around me, i finally decided to try the palm shoot. The thing about this palm shoot is that it looks like marshmallow but doesn't taste like one, when you first bite it, there is a bland taste followed by this very salty/sourish taste as it has been marinated in vinegar and something else. When i was trying to chew it and swollow it down, i could feel that everyone's eyes were on me coz my eyes were shut and i think i had this grimace on my face. Mark was happily eating and dropping little funny comments every now and then especially when Jashan and I were grossed out by the way David describe the meat( its from small baby lambs....u know small wooly sheeps....now that is plain disgusting after the chicken hearts.) For the first time, we actually got to see Mark's funny side, i mean we know that he is debatory funny and all but he is funny and he is also really shy...i wonder why.

We were happily having dinner when my mum just had to call and get all mad about what time i am going to be home and all. She demanded to speak to David and calmed down when he told her that he would drop us off to Novena right after we are done eating. Ugh...and on the other end Jashan's mum was ordering Jashan's bro to keep calling Jashan and remind her to be back by 10. So much so for being teenagers but then there is a limit to that especially when you have indian parents. Right after this, when the waitors came to take away our plates, the Grls just stood up and left for the toilet and i tried to go but i couldnt since i was on the inside and my foot kinda got stuck with Jashan's Chair. So here i was with David and Mark trying to act normal when i actually wanted to laugh. Actually come to think of it, it was't that bad, there was a slight bit of silence in the beginning but it got over when David asked me about how are my holidays going and what i have been up to and the conversation just went on from there with Mark saying something really soft that i had to say " i am sorry, what did u say".

Before the Grls came back, the dessert platter had arrived with small red strawberries with mango puree in the middle and a tiny mint leaf on top, coconut crambeole(its a french dessret and have no idea about the spelling) with some banana pudding or something.Everything was just wonderfull. After i finished of the last strawberry, David asked us if we would like to have ice-cream, at first i said yes to lemon sorbet but i realised the very next second that i will not be able to finish it coz i was absolutely full. So David, Mark, Sin Yi and I didn't have any ice-cream while Jashan, Denise and Stef had Chocolate ice-cream.

So once they were done, we left the restaurant and we chit-chatting or rather we Grls were criticising David's choice of his car colour: champagne while Mark's was Dark red with a tinge of maroon. When Mark asked us which colour we prefered, all of voted for his and David grunted at us. I was forced to sit infront in the passenger seat while Jashan, Stef, Denise and Sin Yi squeezed behind and squeeled "oh so cute" when they saw this small yellow duck filled with beans or something. Throughout the entire ride, we were all teasing David untill we finally got off and actually thanked him for dinner.

Even though David zoomed off right after that, our gathering had not ended, while going down the stairs we decided to take a photo and asked this guy who looked so dazed that i wondered if he was suffering from jet-lag. So before we went on different trains, we all decided that we shall meet soon for just talking and nothing else before we starrt on training and improving ourselves.
There is something about this small group of us that just allows us to bond and enjoy without having to worry about something else. It like the stupid and crazy things that we do(Jashan and I spotted these 2 cute white guys and somehow they knew that we were talking about them etc) and have fun, its not like we can do such crazy things with our friends at 32. So there u go we may all be different but we can all understand each other like no one else can do. Thats what friends are for.....

The Holidays have begun

Alritey, OP went rather well today oh i think watching the science class's group first gave us a boost of doing much better then them. (Andy was great, i told him that if i had closed my eyes and visualised a person with the same voice and all i would not picture someone like him but a rather good public speaker. On the whole i think each and everyone of us did rather well...wohoo). So here i am after a good cat snooze. loving the sweet smell of freedom as we only have to go back to schl to hand in the I&R.

Enough about School as i have loads of things to do during my hols, clean my room, read all the books that i have been wanting to read since Sec 4, go watch HP 4, The chronicles of narnia, Chicken little and any gd movie that comes out, go for that french photographers exhibition near forum(i think i may be wrong), watch Holiday on Ice, meet up loads of times with my best frens, debators and other frens, make loads of cards,learn how to cook indian basic stuff so that i can try out Jamie Oliver's and others recipes especially make loads of smoothies.....and that is how long i can make my list for right now. I really do hope to get everything done so that i will not have to carry on the nagging feeling of not- being-able-to-do-what-i-wanted-to-do-during-the-holidays feeling next yr so that i can happily study and not try to relive my holidays....my my i think that feeling would be great....hehe.

So yea the holidays are here and i am feeling good, this friday the Debator Grls and I are going to David's restaurant, Brazil Churraascaria, for dinner and there will be no Ms K(she has the MJ staff dinner and dance on that day) or the seniors(their A's) so that will just allow us to be as free and casual a we can be with David and i can tell from now that it is it gonna be absolutely informal from both ways, we are going to bully him and he will try to get back at us but usually fails miserably(David is really nie to us and actually thinks of us as his daughters...how sweet...he once got us nouggats from Australia)...haha.

Well since mummy is back i am gonna help her unpack with the hope of seeing all the stuff she got first hand.....till later..... tataz

More movies

I watched loads more movies on Hallmark: Riding the bus with my Sister, Mulan 2( General Li Sheng is hot finally i found my tall, dark and handsome chinese guy...haha....n he reminds me of the RJC 2nd speaker who happens to be quite gentlemanly, Sheng, and man can he debate), the first hindi movie i ever watched when i was about 6 Diwale Dulhaniye Le Jayenge( the onscreen couple Kajol and Shah Rukh Khan, man do they look cute, hot and just perfect with each other i mean come on still look as good and thats why they are my favourite bollywood actors). I am addicted to great movies and am planning to do more than be a potato couch coz i have gotten my gait back and cant wait to get out after my OP, freedom is gonna smell so sweet....love it. I am addicted to Disney Songs as well...oh well i need to go of and multi task while watching Heidi on Disney, The Nanny back to back episodes on Hallmark and do my OP speech....hehe toodles ya'll

Hallmark Original movies - Simply the Best Channel and Where Great stories come to Life

I have been watching lots of TV recently and my favourite eye relievers are Star World, Disney Channel, Hallmark channel and Discovery travel and adventure. Starworld never fails to make me laugh, Disney gives loads of educational stuff and its the only channel that has Raven, Ricky Ullman(who was in Spore recently and had a bunch of young kids showing him ard Singapore) and Even Stevens.

Although all the channels are unique on their own and no other can provide me with the same entertainment, Hallmark always pulls a few heartstrings with its simple stories and cast, which can consist of really gd n famous actors and those that fit the character really well. Besides the movies, its drama series are fantastic with The Nanny, Bewitched, Judging Amy, Strong Medicine, Mysterious ways. Whenever i watch Judging Amy i tell myself that i so have to be like her. She is good, simply the best, she settles things in the simplest way possible, all those rich snobbish lawyers' bombastic words just do not work on her, its K.I.S.S that works: keep it simple stupid. Oh yea she is good and she kicks butts like anything and she gets chosen by the congress for the justice department for some high notch position. Besides that i watched 2 movies on real life stories: 1) The gift of love: the Daniel Huffman story( Daniel, who is a football superstar and will recieve a full scholarship dor college and get to play as the All Americans, donates his kidney to his grandmother which does not allow him to play football anymore. However he is offered a scholorship for college and becomes the assistant coach for one of the top dogs: Seminoles) and 2) Fast food high( Patty's this fast food outlet is horible to its employees: no minimum wages, no fixed work shifts, no leaves permitted, no medical/dental checkups etc causes alot of upset at one of its outlets, when a popular Grl takes it up on her shoulders to form a union to demand wages etc. Everyone pitches in at first but then all her friends find that its wasting their time and they are not enjoying their college life so their spill out the story about the trade union to the manager which causes a whole uproar, attaracts the media and results in a referendum kinda thingie where all the employees had to vote if the trade union should be formed or not. She looses her best friends, her boyfriend and almost everyone whom she has known for ages except that she makes better friends this time who are willing to stick with her throught thick or thin. Turns out majority voted no and the union did not pass, however, the Grl went on to become a great leader in the unions, helped loads of people and ot recognised in Canada. Darn why did i forget her name) The one that i watched today was Fielder's choice which is about Phillipe whose sister dies in a car accident and he becomes the legal guardian of Zach, an autistic 12 year old boy. He is an absolute workoholic and has no idea how to take care of Zach and even considers giving up his custody of him to his cousin. He slowly learns that it is never too late to start a family no matter how hard it is because everyone in the family loves and trusts each other no matter what. Stars Chad Lowe and George Seagal who are amazing actors.

Oh well i am going off to watch another episode of the nannys. Will most probably stay up late but who cares, MT ao is over today and its time to relax, and my PW members dont worry, will be working on my OP speech cant let you guys down now can I? Well for those of u who are still up Gd nite and Sweet Dreamz and for those of you who are having a wonderful chat with the Z monsters watch out for the Sandman....haha i miss school but lurve the hols...toodles poodles noodles adious cious....

A simple gathering

Diwali yesterday wasn't as fun-filled as it is in India, i would know because i have spent loads of Diwalis here and it is nothing but fun,it begins from the morning when we go to the templeto playing with fire crackers, fireworks, sparklers etc, eating all the yummy stuff and no one can tell u to stop eating and not to mention spending the entire day with the entire family on my mum's side which can easily reach about 50( these consist of immediate family members, distant relatives and cousins are included yet...this happens durings weddings) all the presents and money and the blessings of my elders. Seriously Diwali in Singapore is nothing, at least for me, Diwali is about celebrating with my family( the 4 of us) and frens. In Singapore i have my friends and in India i have my relatives, which explains why i enjoy being at both countries, although i don't think i can stay for long-term in India. Besides the family, the food is a mojor problem. Today many Hindus are no longer Vegetarian which explains why many Indian Resaurants are meat/poultry based. In India, its Vege food galore and believe me when i say this, for those of you who tried the food in MJ when Komalas came down and thought it was WOW lipsmacking n all...its nothing compared to the stuff you get there, for every one item lets take samosas for example there are at least 9-10 diff types of it. It varys in Taste, filling, shape, size, colour and etc.( i am still not well versed with the indian cuisine, which makes my mum angry and forces me to start cooking with absolute boring stuff like chapati and daal.) Another thing is the holidays, for those who are not Hindus would not know that our New Year starts on the day after Diwali, so if its a week day on that day, we will have to wake up absolutely early to do our prayers and go to the temple, and after we are let of from school and work we will rush to go meet our relatives and friends. So where is the fun in Diwali and i believe that Diwali without fun is just another ordinary Singapore public holiday where everybody continues doing their normal routine without a break or change. Where as in India, since a majority are Hindus, their Public Holidays for Diwali is for about 2 weeks long( i am not suggesting that we have a 2 week long break becausue it is not possible, what is the percentage on hindus any way, the rest are just going to get bored) where familys like what mine is doing in India go on trips to diff states and places by hiring coaches( we are talking about 40 people here and this is a pretty common sight, huge familys going for outings during Diwali). My family right now is in Kulu Manali which is a hill station ( imagne Genting but 10 times more beautiful with cool air not the "cool air" in Genting) and will be reaching Delhi tomorrow for the opening of Akshardam. So my point here was that about the lack of places to go and hang out and enjoy with friends and family. I mean yes we can cross borders to go our to JB but how many of us have not been there, not done that? Come on all of us have been to JB a gazillion times( ok i am exaggerating for myself but it may be true for some Singaporeans who head done there every weekend.) Its not possible for us to fly to Phuket or Bangkok and come back in a day, actually come to think of it, it can be possible but u will never venture out of the Thai airport coz u will have to catch the next flight back to come back in the evening/night( aint know anything about the flight schedules), it would be fun in a weird way but definitely an expensive way of having fun, N please do not tell me budget airlines k, its still expensive, i would rather go watch 3 movies than do that.

So I do not think that other festivals may be as fun for the other races( i may be wrong, i accept that) as none of the festivals besides National Day have origins in Singapore. I mean i believe that Christmas in Singapore is a pretty big day when everyone comes together to celebrate no matter what race and religion, but i think for the rest of the hols its only the respective religions and races celelbrating it, its not the whole community. I mean Hari Raya would definitely be more fun in perhaps Dubai, Indonesia and Saudi etc becasue these places do have a huge proportion of Muslims, Chinese New year in China would be celebrated with great style and Christmas in UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zea would be a big thing as well. So its not really Singapore's fault or anything, its no one's fault, its just how it is. Thats it nothing more.

So yesterday, Steph, Denise, Sin Yi and I headed down to Jashan's place at about 4, started watching songs from Hindi movies (or Bollywood movies) before we started talking and before we knew it we went from one topic to another(afterall thats what grls do and enjoy doing when they meet up). I really do feel that after our chatting and all, i think it brought all of us much closer than what we were already were. Its great to have a Debate team of all grls, it makes bonding much easier and builds friendships that carrys on beyond the debating world. While chatting we finished about 3/4s of the food stuff in the container and i do not think we gained a single gram because we burnt it while laughing and talking...crazy explanation but it makes me feel good since i cant go to the gym thanks to my healing sprained ankle without the water retention swelling. Yippie, i hope i am better by next week so that i can go out freely, especially since my Oral Presentation finshes on the firs day it self....hahaha

P.S for those of you who have never seen what an Indian Temple looks like and its architecture, here are some pics. Go check out the Swaminaryan Temple in London, it won 2 Guiness world records , the first entry is for the largest Hindu stone Mandir in the Western hemisphere and the second for the largest Annakut displayed with 1,247 vegetarian items placed in front of the deities: http://www.mandir.org/, i think you will definitely be amazed and if you are lemme tell you something, the experience of seeing it before your eyes is definitely much better. The original Akshardham in Gandhinagar is absolutely beautiful with great architecture on Pink stone with its exhibitions and lush green landscape, http://www.akshardham.com/. I have never been to the one in London but i have been to many in India and here are some of the pics.

this domeabove is from the temple on the left

These pics are of the temple in Chicago













These are from India, the one below shows the main entrance called the Akshar Dwar with the main temple in the back and the one on the right shows the back of a temple.













What i have put up here is one of the few attractions India has...thus if you are able to and have the means in the future, try to visit India as it has a lot to offer.

HappY Diwali to Everyone

Diwali is finally here, I am happy yet it feels like i am missing something( u noe the kinda feeling that makes u feel hollow, longing for someone). Finally i realised and it was no one else but my parents, who have gone to Delhi for a religious festival for the opening of the Delhi Akshardam. For those of u who happen to be in touch with the news would know that last week there were a couple of blasts in the Capital. So i am kinda worried for them...but after all they will be fine...i juz noe it. So there u go, i am home alone and celebrating Diwali on my own. Thank goodness for friends who i will be meeting later...but i have this naughty grl inside me wishing that something like the movie home alone would happen to me...nothing brutal or kidnapping like, juz pure innocent fun.....and i emphasis innocent fun.

Any way i hope i do have fun, not too much so that i will forget my guju and will still be able to do well for my MT ao ppr. My ankle is getting much better,( A Commondo, my uncle, gave me my worst and best massage that made me cry from the almost boiling water and 3/4 bowl of salt in a tub full of water.) I am walking normally but my GAIT still isn't back, the swelling has gone down thanks to the anti-inflamation cream that my mum got my VOLTAREN Emulgel thats the one...my dad went to get a cream for the muscles which is supposed to relieve muscle aches. Despite all this my dad is great and i mean Great at buying me stuff like clothes, my jewellery(not diamonds n all those kinds...the kinds that i like) although he got me these great sets of necklaces cum chokers with bracelets but forgot the earrings...its ok he gave me the go ahead to go buy earrings before my mum could kickup a fuss(i have a fettish for earrings...my mum once had to stop me from buying a whole box of earrings from India...i love those dangly kinds and only allowed me to buy 1 pair, coz she is worried about my ear holes becoming bigger...actually that is kinda true coz indian earrings can be really heavy but i still love them...hehe). So i am Hoping my dad will bully my mum into buying a couple of designer indo-western stuff for me from india...hehe...and i told my parents to get themselves stuff as well coz Delhi is the Place for really cool designer or non designer wear!

Ok so now u noe i love dressing up(for the right occasions) even though it doesnt look like that, i love mixing and matching as well like what i did for National day this year when i emceed with the debators, i was wearing chinese but had indian bangles, earrings and anklet on...and very few people will notice it coz it matches, it doesnt stand out and make it look bad or scream out for attention.

Well i think i will go listen to more music because it makes me happy and keeps me happy till i hit the couch once again. Wishing everyone a Very Happy Diwali, hope you have a wonderfull year ahead filled with happiness and peace and Enjoy ur hols. Toodles