can u hear the crickets?

so, thesis is done (wooooooohoooooooooooo!!!) and i can concentrate on the wedding. behold.

wedding to do list:

lose 10kg in 8 weeks. a little help here, anyone?
visit the deco peeps to pick the deco
visit mak andam to pick out baju
visit bridal studio to pick out locations and baju for photoshoot
finalise who s doing my inai
get kavi to bring me to serangoon to make the blouse for my nikah gagra
wait for invitation cards to get printed (yeah, still not ready. patience people, patience)
invite people to the wedding
finalise berkat for adults and kids
figure out dulang deco
order wedding cake and other goodies
buy more dulang stuff (his perfume, my shoes... and i'm sure there's more which i've forgotten about)
buy my top sekrit (ok not so sekrit since i told rohana) guestbook related stuff
go for trial bridal spa
decide which spa i'll end up using
finalise honeymoon destination

on top of that:
spring clean our new crib
decide on paint colour for crib
get someone to actually paint
move our stuff there
find a bedframe/ divan

and... start at my new job mid dec while keeping up the ruse that i'll be at my current new job for a good long while

due to the stress i'm gonna go back to my book and read for a good few more hours, even though i should be doing chores and cleaning the loo cos my aussie ex- housemate is coming over for a few days (yaaaaaaaay!)

waiting game

omg lah. just discovered go.ogl.e bl.og se.arc.h, typed my name in and guess what came out? doh!! therefore the lame attempt at covering up by changing my posting name. haha. oh well.

went for a 2nd interview with @mp today and i think it went pretty well... except i think i didn't emphasize enough on wanting to work there cos its a non- profit. hmm. may not have mentioned it at all actually. basket. ok so I REAAAALLLY REAAALLY WANT IT COS I WANNA GIVE BACK TO THE COMMUNITY AND DO SOMETHING MEANINGFUL FOR GOODNESS SAKE!! pick meeeee i'm worth it!!

might have come across as a tad bit career/ research minded but hey, that's what the position is about, no? mebbe a little bit argumentative too. :s hoping i will hear from them with an offer next week... i should know by wed, actually. please ah please. out of all the jobs i've applied for and interviews i've gone for, think this is the one i'm most excited about. will die a horrible death if i don't get it mans.

speaking of horrible deaths, netizens r a freaking pain in the ass!!! present company inclusive. wahaha. been blog tracking cos of the whole hoohaa about u know what with my current co.. if u dunno then it's ok, nothing to be concerned about unless u have a li.fe pol.icy in.cept.ed after 1.99.3. i'm like, yeah ok important to know wat's going on but a temp could do this yo. analysing the data after, now that's where i'd come in mans. so from the hundreds of pages of comments and postings, this is what i've come up with:

• get a life, people
• all talk, no action
• what's popular isn't always what's right
• think macro, not micro. compared to other insurance companies, this is still the one with the best value and lowest costs
• there is nothing in yr policy that says the returns are guaranteed
• accept change- different people have different styles, so if u expect a new ceo to have the same style as the old one, especially one who has been around for 30 years, u're dead wrong
• if u're gonna be smart aleck and claim that they're changing for the worse... show yr data pls
• our mistake was not engaging people and involving them in the decision making. our bad!
• despite the above, we would've come to the same conclusion anyway. duh, right?

and i've lost interest in making my counter arguments. haha.

in other news i'm 10 wks away from handing in my thesis. that means 1000 words a week from now! omg omg omg. i also have an assignment due mon which is pretty far from getting done. die.

ok done procrastinating. for now. wahaha.

ahem

ok ah lots of things to update on, so point form it is. first and foremost
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we bought a flat y'all! yeah, probably a little early considering we're only getting married in about 8 months (meaning i should've started my fitness plan a month ago) but it was a really good deal and we loved it so we just went for it. the moment we signed the exercise option i suddenly felt my age. u know, kinda old and grown up. haha. it's probably the most responsible thing we have done, ever. was all nervous and stressed out the entire day thinking about the financing and how we have no choice but to be successful/ make a lot of money in our careers if we are hoping to survive in sg. but hey, we have a crib yo! also, i wouldn't recommend reading the h.db. site for more info cos you'll just get paranoid and confused like i did and trigger a major unnecessary headache. just leave it to the agent, but ask lots of questions and double check with h.db. if in doubt. they need to earn that damned 3% commission. i'd post details but i'll only breathe easy once the keys are in my hands. haha. which will be another 6 months, give or take, seeing how h.db. likes to make it a really drawn out process. will keep you guys updated with tales from the crib as and when i get them. haha.

in other not so exciting news, i have an exam next week and i'm going to kl over the vesak day weekend. smart right? the ethics proposal for my thesis also just got approved so i have 4 months to write my 10 000 words. using a very scientific method, i broke it down to 500 words every 3 days starting from right about now. really fun times man. so, please wake me up only when september ends.

speaking of which, time flies. this time last year i was planning EU07. now, i'm engaged and just bought a flat. how things change eh.

also,i really admire people who can express themselves and be all emotional without feeling any embarrassment. be it while talking, blogging, or whichever other way they choose to do it. i always get choked up and keep it to myself seeing how i'm not the mushy nor complimentary type. hmm.

wake me up when april ends

sometimes i think that the only reason i'm not having a breakdown yet is because of my ability to procrastinate even though i have a million things to do. for e.g. i took fri off cos i have to complete 1 assignment, 1 presentation and 1 thesis title + purpose (it's harder than u think ok) this weekend. fast forward to sunday evening and i still have 1 assignment, 1 presentation and 1 thesis title + purpose to finish. did make some progress on the assignment but haven't even started on the other 2 things. was supposed to meet up with groupmates to put together the presentation today but they're just as lazy as i am to go out... probably haven't finished their parts either. haha.

spent the entire day today doing the assignment in between watching tv, surfing shopping sites (even though i'm not getting anything cos i totally blew the budget this month) and napping. if i had half the discipline of some people, i'd probably be worry free as of lunchtime or something. but nooo... and tonight i need to discuss the assignment cos it's downright vague and confusing and critique 6 papers for the presentation and come up with a legitimate thesis title + purpose which our supervisor can approve so that we can finally move on and do up our proposal.

so, seeing how i have no one to blame but myself if i'm rushing things last minute, i don't actually have the right to break down or get stressed do i?

next weekend i have a 50% proposal and the thesis proposal to complete. think it's unfair that the 50% proposal in lieu of exam is due on the last day of class instead of the first week of exams (which would've given us more time to complete something which is worth that much) but the lecturer seems biased against/for some students so i will not pursue an extension request.

i will have another nap instead and print out the proposal 2 hours before it's due.

t.m.t.h.

that's too much to handle for the uninitiated. haha.

so, uni started again in early march and i've done one presentation so far, with one more to go. both are worth 30%. like wtf rite? since when so much? my ea.tin.g di.sord.ers mod has no exams. woohoo! but there's a 50% assignment which is due on the same day as my presentation for that mod. my res.ear.ch me.tho.ds mod is pretty ok, no stats, just methods. thank god. there's an assignment due in a couple of wks which i haven't started on. why? besides being a procrastinator i actually have to do my th.esi.s pr.opo.sal, which is going nowhere at the moment. die ah die. need to give a brief outline today and hand in proposal by wed otherwise we won't make it for the april et.hic.s com.mit.tee. if we don't make it then we'll be completely screwed cos there's only 5 months left till the thesis is due in which time we need to find participants, collect data, analyse and write a 10 000 word document. good times.

in light of the lack of time that i have for everything, what did i do yest? that's right, slack off. today i won't have as much time as yest cos i'm going to my aunt's mau.lud and will probably need to stay there for the better part of the day cos she did help out loads at the engagement. can't help it ah, will definitely have to make a quick exit sooner rather than later.

in other news, got my bonus this mth y'all. variable + performance bonus = more moolah in my bank. wahaha. i'm a happy camper. when my super told me my banding which entitled me to the perf bonus i was like, ok thanks. she went on about how i was doing a pretty good job and how the next year the banding will be split further and not as many people will get the bonus. i went and said, in all honestly, if it was split this year i doubt i'll get the bonus. she was like, ok why do u say that? then i'm like, well i don't think i'm performing as well as i should. now which person in their right mind would say that to their super eh? i am, of cos, not in my right mind, since i don't intend to stay very long. that is, if i manage to find another job.

anyways, in minah khawin2 news, we booked our photog/vid for the actual days. freaking hell, damn ex lor, even though it was the cheapest package we could find. we blame our parents (read: mums) for drawing it out into a 3 day affair, which would naturally jack up prices for services such as the aforementioned as well as mak andam and food. food i don't quite care ah, cos parents paying for it. but the rest... ouch man. there goes my exotic honeymoon. happily enough i have decided on a theme for his dulangs- greek is the word. so exciting! i almost have full artistic control over the wedding, subject to mum's willingness to layan me. wahaha.

lights fantastic

so, took leave today so that i would have a long weekend. unfortunately i've been spending it packing and procrastinating about doing research for my project. haha some things never change. got discussion tomoro sommore. oh well. the day is still young. contemplating going for a jog later when it's not so hot. or i could just stay home and wolf down swiss chocs. hmm. decisions decisions.

i'm quite pissed off that the recycling people have stopped coming to my estate, cos almost everyone has already moved out. i have stacks and stacks of paper and mags that are probably just gonna be thrown away with all the other non- recycleable stuff. damn annoyed lor. why can't there be recycling bins for every block like they do in aust eh?? so much for reducing our carbon footprint. pfft. NEA, do something about it please! please ah please.

on the bright side (pun intended), i got my black chandelier y'all! it's bloody gorgeous! translucent black and clear crystals. gonna collect it on sun and unfortunately i didn't take a pic of it. another exciting purchase that was made last week also escaped the clutches of my camera lens simply cos i was waaaay too excited to think straight. that one is due for collection on mon. :) let's just say it's some serious blindingly bright bling, and i wasn't the one footing the bill. can't wait mans! super pretty and suits my fat fingers. wahaha. unfortunately we inadvertently annoyed my future m.i.l. cos we didn't tell her about it until after we got it. oops. talk about faux pas. will need to make amends...

in other news, gonna have to stay in the current job for much longer than i thought. need the stupid bonuses in dec and march ah. sighs. there is, however, light at the end of the tunnel (hoho). due to the intensity of the 4th year course i'm currently in, kavi said that i'll probably have to take lots of leave or work part time during the thesis writing period. i would do this gladly, if it wasn't for the fact that i really need a full time paycheck. what's a gal to do? kavi and i stumbled upon a brilliant idea of cos. the kind that hits u when u're talking about something completely random and irrelevant- until u connect the dots. it's an unlikely thing for me to do, but it's a means to an end. where else can u earn pretty much full time pay while doing a part time job? think hard my friends... the answer will be glaringly obvious. :)

news y'all

righto, on to the big news of the moment- i got into my post grad dip course! woohoo! but of cos they couriered me the letter of offer on fri and class starts on mon. well done. it also seems that they don't accept cheques. must be bank draft, electronic transfer or credit card. wtf mates?? sooo inconvenient lor! this means that on mon i'll probably have to call them in the morn and confirm that they don't accept cheques then do some running around during lunch to get the draft sorted out and perhaps take time off in the afternoon to go down to the school to get these things done before class starts. pfft. this also means that my mum will have to transfer the $$ to my account so i can get the draft on my own. which leads me to another qn- if there is a withdrawal limit per day and the fees are more than that, does it mean that i won't get my draft? does anyone know? it shouldn't be the case i reckon.

anyways, went for the body shop charity makeover marathon with rohana yest. now usually we would do some cam whoring but it was a bit of a let down. whatever the make up artists did to us, i can do on a daily basis also lor. the lancome one 2 yrs ago was sooo much more pro! and the one yest had one vital piece of the puzzle missing. there was no hair styling!! blasphemous! we all know that the most important thing is hair, don't we? was so disappointed i tell u, seeing how my major prob is hair and not make up. sighs. we were gonna have our pics taken but then after we got our makeovers we were like, naaaaaah. redeemed $40 worth of make up at the thingy. unfortunately it didn't extend to non- make up products so rohana felt quite cheated.

the bf met us there afterwards and we went for a 'snack' seeing how we were all hungry. even though the bf and i were heading to nas's open house. haha. had to buy a pair of shoes also cos the ones tt i was wearing were making an annoying noise cos the nail of the right heel had worn through. yeah, any excuse. :) i love my new shoes! i also have another witness in rohana that the bf does exist, contrary to popular belief. haha.

is it just me or does the wkend pass waaay to quickly? sighs.