Been watching some hamster videos recently. Haha I kinda miss having a hamster! They are too cute :)

Pity that when Hamster was around, I didn't take that many photos or videos of her... Here's one of the rare few videos I have.


1 whole min of Hamster running on her wheel... haha. A little dark huh.

2 whole minutes of Hamster scampering around LOL

I have a feeling that I will be wasting my future Saturdays away, when my Korean classes end.
Not planning to continue because I'm too lazy to be diligent enough to study. I would rather be doing something else... like online shopping. This is also a stark reminder that I will probably waste my money should I ever decide to further my studies. And also, forking out $400 every three months is quite a huge sum of money. I would rather save that for other uses... like traveling. Or online shopping. Haha.

I was thinking about how I will most probably end up being cooped up at home on Saturdays and thought, maybe I should get a hamster? Hmm. But it is very sad when hamsters die.

I hardly ever get to see my friends these days, and if this is how it's going to be like now, imagine what it's going to be in future when marriage and kids factor into the equation! But still, thankful for the few who I still get to see quite frequently. Maybe as we grow older, we don't yearn for the company of friends that much any more?

Either that, or I need to find more friends! Which brings me to the dinner meet up I had with the dude on Thursday. Thankfully, he seemed pretty normal (unlike the horror date that Gillian had to sit through). There were of course, the tiny, awkward silences that signify a first meeting but at least he is not a mass murderer or an Interpol suspect. My colleagues were all very excited and/or worried about my dinner appointment. Classic case of 皇上不急，太监急。

OK back to online shopping, and I need to catch up on my We Got Married videos too. And argh I should try and catch up with The Amazing Race...

Maybe I should pick up some new hobby! Like cooking! Or baking! Oh yes I need to go and sign up for my pole-dancing and salsa classes and shake some booty!!! 1/4 OF THE YEAR HAS PASSED!!! And as usual I'm wasting my life away. :x

I remember I posted photos of my 1st to 5th birthdays a couple of years ago and couldn't be bothered to find years 6 to... whenever we stopped taking photos using old school film.

Anyway, this was during the onset of the digital era! Taken 5 years ago using the Sony Ericsson T610 or something. Grainy, grainy, grainy.


Happy birthday to me! 생일축하 합니다!
I hope I can find a better job and visit many more exciting places around the world!

Which reminds me, Hamster's death anniversary is coming up soon... can't believe it's already 2 years. That's about as long as I've had her.


You will see a zombie trying to finish running 5km tomorrow morning...

In Loving Memory of Hamster


Hamster likes carrots
Today is Hamster's death-niversary. Hamster has been gone for a year. Well, just as how the two years when I had Hamster passed very quickly, the past year without the company of Hamster went by quickly too. How swift it has been - the painful memory of laying her to rest still resides freshly in my mind. Yes, I still miss my hamster. :(

I paid her "grave" a visit on my way home just now. Her grave's just a patch of grass and soil - no one would know Hamster lay beneath the earth except me. I wonder how she is in Hamster Heaven.

Hamster, I hope you're happy in Hamster Heaven with plenty of carrots and sunflower seeds to feast on!

I wished I took more photos of her when she was around.


This was Hamster at a few months old, I think. Still in her small old cage!


Climbing out of her box and scampering around
Typing all this is making me sad and weepy. I shall go cheer myself up by watching fancams from last night's Korean Pop Night concert! Which was, by the way, fabulously awesome! Albeit a little too short for my liking. Oh well, another topic, another blog post.

Today's one of those hot, lazy, quiet Sunday afternoons...
So hot that we've got 2 fans whirring in the room...
I was sweating after half an hour of ironing...
It's a perfect day for an afternoon at the pool...
Or lying around not doing anything...
HOT HOT HOT!!!

Got hooked onto watching 命中注定我爱你 so that's what I've been doing for the past few days and nights.
That is of course on top of Project Runway, Ugly Betty, WGM, 2D1N and countless others.
And The Amazing Race 13 is coming back next Monday!!!
Someone should just give me a job that involves watching TV all day long!

Can't wait for my holiday, just 4 more days at work to go!!!

Nothing much to update. Was missing Hamster a few days ago, so here's Hamster!

Random:


Starfish in the bathroom!


Goodbye NUS


Mango Sherbet


Chicken wings from Crazy Ang Mo


Hamster's sleeping


Awww.

051207.

Just when I have sufficiently reined in my sadness and grieving... when I'm able to talk about Hamster without bursting into tears... and sometimes go with days of not feeling twinges of heartbreak and sorrow... and I'm able to walk past Hamster's grave and wonder if she's at peace and happy in hamster heaven...

I was telling Yanzz about Hamster's death last morning (we were somehow awake at 6am) and she sent me this song... The song is SO SAD. :( I'm feeling emo again.
I don't think a song has ever made me cry before, but this... this is just too sad... it triggered all the sad emotions again... maybe because I can identify with it.

蔷蔷 by Ella

还记得你喜欢咬著我的手
然后给我你嘴里的球
要我陪你玩丢丢
你喜欢我摸摸你的喧朵
窝在我的身旁没有烦忧
在梦里遨游
好狗狗好狗狗
谢谢你陪妈咪这么久
你并没有离开我
是搬到天堂生活
蔷蔷你要记得我
你不要走丢
快快找到天使
在天堂给我保佑
蔷蔷不要忘了我
还有亲爱的阿姨叔叔和你的朋友
你永远活在记忆中

(蔷蔷~谢谢你)
在天堂给我们保佑

This song is written by Ella (of S.H.E.) for her dog 蔷蔷... who died in a surgery... It's too freaking sad. Very 心酸. This is definitely one song that I cannot put in my MP3 player. Else I will just start tearing up on the train/bus/in public.

And at the same time, I feel pangs of guilt... Hamster did die really suddenly... there was almost no warning signs at all. She was still fine on Saturday when I was cleaning her cage... running around the house in her ball... Apart from a claw was growing too long for her tiny paw everything seemed fine. And then all of a sudden when I came home from work on Monday and wanted to refill her food dish as usual, she was just lying so still under the wheel... When I saw her tiny body lying so still... cold... not moving... I knew she was gone... but I don't know why it was so sudden... I wonder if I was just too dense to notice any signs... I don't even know how long she was lying dead for... I don't know if it's due to my lack of care... but I really did try my best to take care of her as a first-time hamster owner...

I buried Hamster at around 11pm on the Monday night she died. It was heartbreaking, holding her tiny, still and cold body in my palm... her once warm and cuddly self, who always tried to bite my hand when I picked her up... yet the only time when I hold her and she's not biting me is when she's dead. :'( Her tiny little figure looked so, so fragile... broken... Her eyes were like half-open...

My dad dug a hole somewhere in a patch of earth near my void deck. I laid her in her grave... squatted beside the grave and cried like a madwoman while I looked at her motionless self lying on her side in the grave through teary eyes. The tears just kept rolling and rolling down... I probably looked a mess... like some deranged person crouching and sobbing... It wasn't the most perfect nor the most beautiful place to bury her, but I guess we had to make with it. I wish I was like Harry Potter and that I could erect a grave stone that said "Here lies Hamster, my beloved pet, who brought me so much fond memories", like what he did for Dobby. I guess that was the most excruciatingly painful and heartbreaking part... laying her in the grave and then covering her body with earth... :'(

I can't remember the last time I cried so much... till my nose hurt and my eyes were swollen the next day. I remember initially when her arrival came as a shock. And then over two years I grew to love my hamster... I loved watching her run on her wheel... it was just a big blur watching her run... and watching her scurry around... drinking water... peeking her nose out of the cage bars when I walked by... stroking her warm body... rushing to eat her 瓜子 when it was feeding time... nibbling on carrot and apple slices... even her little escapades... like the time she escaped from her cage as a tiny tot and ran into the study room... even now when I walk by her cage, in my mind's eye I see her curled up as a white fluffy ball below her wheel, her favourite sleeping place... Even carrots remind me of her now.

I was growing really fond of the little critter... somehow she wormed her way into my stone cold heart... and we were just celebrating her 2 years' old birthday too... and then she was gone just like that... ;____;

Even my mom, who usually has very little patience for tears, was very nice about it... said that I took good care of her... and that she was old and had to go eventually... even asked me if I wanted another hamster... but I don't want another hamster now... I don't want to replace Hamster so quickly... I want time to remember her...

Hamster's cage still remains untouched... the way it was when she died. I don't know what to do with it. Feels so quiet and empty without her in my life now... I miss the sound of her running on her wheel... She left a gaping hole in my life...

I guess I find some comfort in the knowledge that she would be happy in hamster heaven... enjoying all the 瓜子 and carrots there... playing with other hamster friends... I wonder if she was lonely during the two years I had her... dwarf hamsters aren't really solitary creatures from what I read on the Internet. At least I have all my happy memories with Hamster (and painful ones when she bit me), blurry photos and limited videos to remember her by... she's my first and only pet... she'll always have a very special place in my heart.

Hamster, 你并没有离开我
你只是搬到天堂生活
Hamster, 你要记得我
你永远活在记忆中

*cries buckets*

This week is the last week of the semester... and tomorrow is officially the last day of school for me. My last day as a student! My last day of lessons! OMG. This is happening so quickly! I don't want to graduate! If only I was Hiro Nakamura... then I can bend the time/space continuum and teleport myself to 50 years later or maybe I'll just freeze time and make it remain in this glorious period of being a carefree undergrad forever.

I'll definitely miss being a student... and even NUS. After all I spent 3.5 years of my youth there.

Yesterday was my Deutsch Semestertest! I'm officially done with Deutsch now, 100% CA means I can't do anything about it now... so from now on it's just the exams standing in between my life as an undergrad and the scary hazy future. I really hate this not knowing what to do thing. Ever since I was a kid the next 10-20 years seemed pretty fixed - study, get into a university and get a degree. I suppose it's this goal that keeps us all going and moving forward. So now I've done that but I don't know how to proceed! I'm like stuck in a rut. I need to have a plan, a goal for the next 20 or so years but from this vantage point where I'm standing, I don't see anything in front of me yet.

This quarter-life crisis thing really sucks! And it's not a recent realization, I've been thinking about life after school and future career paths for almost half a year. Sometimes I really envy all the accountancy grads, they graduate and it is almost certain that they get a job. Or those who are so sure of what they want to do when they graduate. Can somebody just plan my life out for me?

Going off a tangent, I finished watching Heroes in around 2 weeks! The show is phantastisch. Better to have finished it now than to pine for it during the exams. Which is coming up pretty soon!

I also just watched the Amazing Race and I think the dad in the father/daughter team is very very annoying.

Last night I had a dream about a hamster. I'm not sure if it was my hamster but the dreamhamster was scurrying around pretty fast and it got sucked into one of those drainage holes and while I was trying to grab it before the water sucked it in, it glowed neon pink and morphed into a prawn. Very weird dream.

I wished I took more videos and photos of Hamster while she was still around though. I looked through my collection and realized I only have like around 4 good quality videos and tons of very blurry pictures of her. Oh well.

Hamster passed away today. :'(
It was unexpected.

I hope she went peacefully.

Goodbye Hamster, you will be dearly missed. :'(

Always in my loving memory
Hamster (Oct 2005 - 5th Nov 2007)

Thick peanut butter toast at HK Cafe last Sat


Very tall mango ice


Vienna buffet: The best tasting soup ever... *smacks lips*


Huge spread


Yummy set at Ichiban Boshi


I found a rather old pic of Hamster in my handphone... she's finally facing the camera.

Mein Handy ist kaput!

Spending a rather relaxed day nuaing at home. :)

I just got back from my Sunday jog and was climbing up the stairs as usual when I saw a shoebox with a hamster in it. Abandoned at the 9th floor staircase.

The hamster was buried in the sawdust and was sleeping. It looked just like my hamster except that its fur was dark brown with a tinge of white. And I was pissed that some inconsiderate pet owner decided to just conveniently dump his or her pet hamster at the staircase. WAHLAO. What happened to responsibility?! You do not just buy a pet and dump it when you don't feel like keeping it anymore!!!!!

Even when I was presented with Hamster 2 years ago and was in a state of shock - I was a very un-pet person and had absolutely no idea of taking care of a little critter - dumping it was not even an option. It is a living thing! How can those irresponsible pet owners just throw the poor hamster away?!?!?!?!

So I brought it to the pet shop but they didn't want it. My hamster cage is too small for 2 hamsters and besides, both of them will probably fight and claw each other to death. :( HOW!!! The poor abandoned hamster!!! And those irritating idiotic hamster-abandoners! Cruel, hard-hearted, irresponsible people!!! I'm damn pissed at these phantom people. Angry! Riled up!!! GRRRRR!

I don't know what I can do for that poor hamster!!! :(

Anybody wants a hamster?

Ratatouille was cute and funny. Rats aren't really supposed to be cute but it's an animated film so everything is probably cute anyway. Remy the rat kind of reminded me of Hamster. Speaking of which, Hamster has long hamsternails like talons on her tiny paw. Is that normal and will it hurt her when she cleans herself?

All I can recall from this week is doing household chores. I feel like I've done more household chores this whole week compared to what I do in 3 months. I had a go at mopping the floor for the first time in my life - and mopping the floor is bloody difficult!!! I'd rather vacuum than mop because my hands are tiny and wringing the mop takes a lot of effort. Not fun. :x

The mere thought of having to do household chores after a tiring day of work in future is making me feel exhausted. For now, I can still work the chores around my rather flexible schedule, but in future I'd probably have zero time for myself and to do the things I like if I had to vacuum, mop and do the laundry after work. That, or be a Hausfrau in future, which is not exactly very appealing either.

I miss my camera - my mom kopped it and brought it to China. But I discovered the macro function on my uncle's old camera and surprise, it actually takes rather clear pictures up close! Woots. I must explore my camera's macro function and take some good pictures of Hamster.


The macro function works! I can even see the crumbs on the tiramisu!!! Everytime I try to take close-up shots they just end up being blur. :(

Peh Si Yi -- [noun]: A brand of soylent green breakfast cereal 'How will you be defined in the dictionary?' at QuizGalaxy.com

Okay I must go and sleep.

Ohhhhhhh Jiiiiiiiii Hooooooo!!!!~
At the risk of sounding perverted, he really is one fine specimen of a man! Rawr.

The defining moment was when Jang Chul Soo smiled so endearingly at the sleeping Na Sang Shil at the bus stop.
BAM, I was gone. GONE! (assume that I melted into a puddle)
And the dimples! I have a soft spot for dimples.
Oh be still, thumping heart.
I really need to reel my floundering heart in and not get so affected by them dramas and their hunky leading men.

Spy's rating for Fantasy Couple:
The script writers of Choon Hyang and My Girl have scored once again! This drama is right up there with all my kdrama favourites. Quirky characters, hunky leading man, hilarious scenes, awwwww-scenes that warm the cockles of my heart, great script... 5/5! But the ending could have been less rushed.

Pics!


Thought this was cute!!! I have my own 武林秘极 now! Yeah except for the fact that it's all blank inside. LOL.
Got this free notebook from Page One.


My cute Hamster all curled up and sleeping on the sand!!! Rawrr.


02S14 class gathering at Marche on Saturday.


I know no one's looking at the camera, but I don't know who to bug for the other photos.
And our Year 1 Civics tutor has a pose that looks familiar...

It was nice seeing everyone again after 4 years, but as gatherings of almost-strangers go, it was a little weird? Awkward? Plus I am no good at small talk. Questions of the day include "Where are you studying? What are you studying?" or "Who has graduated?"
Recently I have taken to dropping Psychology from my major when asked what I'm majoring in to save myself the trouble of explaining my odd choice of study. Ditto with my graduation. It is much easier that way.

I think around 19 people turned up, out of 27. Not bad a number indeed. Class gatherings just offer you very brief glimpses into the lives of these people whom you used to see on an almost daily basis and to kaypoh a bit if you must. After all, those whom I really care about, I bother enough to still keep in contact with them. I don't need a class gathering to find out what's happening with these friends.

I can so imagine the questions that will be in order 10 years down the road.
"Are you married yet? Any kids yet?"
"Where are you working at?"

Shudder.

I was observing Hamster sleeping in a position somewhat like this:


Upright, curled in a ball (except with her eyes closed)
Then she slowly started to lean to her side...


Haha this doesn't capture it very well but it was to her side
Awww. So cute! Reminds me of how I sleep on buses/trains (i.e. upright then slowly leaning on some random person or the window/wall/etc.) Hahahaha.

The weather is mad. I feel super hot at night these few days. But last week it kept raining. I was drenched in the rain last Thursday and looked like a sorry piece of wet tablecloth.

School tomorrow, boohoo. I am a teensy bit worried about our online newspaper. And the fact that I feel like an imcompetent git next to all these knowledgable people doesn't help much. Ahh what on earth possessed me to apply for a position in the editorial board?!!!

I am a genius! :D Or maybe not, but I saved myself from becoming thoroughly depressed coz my MP3 player refused to work today! And I thought it was damaged forever and I have no money to buy a new one!

What happened was that after I smart-aleckily reformatted the player, I plugged it back only to realize that it kept popping up a "File Error" message. And it wouldn't play!!! Luckily I just had a flash of brilliance and reformatted it again, but this time round I chose this FAT option instead of FAT32. And it worked! But I don't know what FAT32 or FAT is though. :D

Okay I must finish my White Paper today! *grits teeth* MUST MUST MUST!

On a completely unrelated note, the fur on Hamster's butt is turning grey. Is this a sign of ageing?! I don't like the grey fur. :(

Thanks to my hamster, who seems to be exhibiting carnivorous tendencies, I now have big welt on my foot. The mark of my hamster's very sharp teeth.

First it swelled up like some mosquito bite... but now I can see the teeth marks... wahlao I don't know why Hamster likes to bite me man... is it some kind of welcoming sign unique to hamsters? I only feed her carrots, apples and hamster garb lor... why is she developing a taste for human flesh?!

Hamster: Hi hi hi! You're here to clean my cage!
*scampers around*
*crawls to my foot*
*attacks my foot*
Me: OW OW OW OW OW!!! HAMSTER!!!!!!!!
*tries to grab Hamster off my foot but the grip of her teeth is just too strong!*

:(

Rain must be creating a storm now in the Indoor Stadium as I type. Ahhhh.... Too bad the tickets are so freaking expensive. Wait, even if the tickets are cheaper, I may not want to part with my hard-earned money to go watch him. I haven't attained that crazy fan status. I still have some sanity.

But anyway I told myself that the next time Shinhwa comes I WILL GO AND WATCH THEM!!! *pumped up*
[Addendum: Oh man I missed Andy's birthday! Happy Birthday Andy!!! :)]

Hehe the CNY season is near and my mom is baking cookies. So I decided to weigh Hamster! :D Using the weighing scale that is used for weighing baking stuff. Wahahaha. And Hamster weighs around 40g! Is that heavy or light for a hamster?

And my SE1101E lecturer can speak Thai! Alright that's irrelevant but I thought it was rather cool and interesting especially after I just came back from Bangkok and all. I feel a little disoriented in a 1101E class because it all seems so fluffy and general and off-focus... errr or maybe I am too used to them zooming in on a specific topic. And I feel like my trip to Thailand was in preparation for my SEA class... so now I feel kind of justified to have skipped the lecture. :D

So horrible, I've skipped 3 lectures since the start of school. Skipping so many lectures... this is so unlike me! I faithfully attend all my classes most of the time... the only module that I skipped lots of lectures for was the disasterous CM1121 which everyone should never ever take unless you have no choice. And my timetable is ridiculous. I go to school for an average of 2 hours a day.

E.g.: Travel to school (~1.5hrs) - Attend class (~2hrs) - Travel home (~1.5hrs).

Waste of my time. Hai.

I am somewhat resigned to the fact the special sem is going to be inevitable, 6 modules is the sad reality of life, and getting bugged by countless writing assignments will be my fate for the next 13 weeks or so. Sigh. So much for almost being able to smell my 4-day week. Module woes can't get any worse right? It can only get better from now on... and I will try my best to enjoy my mods this sem. At least last sem's mods turned out to be somewhat enjoyable like maybe 60% of the time... Don't enjoy now next time also won't get the chance to enjoy liao. Hai.

A good time to listen to music is in the middle of the night. Plug in when it's deadly quiet and when everyone's asleep... then you can really hear the little nuances and boom boom boom sounds of the song. That's what I've been doing for the past two nights before I sleep... listening to Shinhwa songs! Hahaha. And you don't even have to crank up the volume to listen to it clearly. Such a nice change when you compare the crystal clear quality when you plug in in the middle of the night vs. listening on the train with a lot of noises in the background.

I'm very intrigued by this HK drama, War and Beauty, that's showing on Channel U. It's full of bitching and backstabbing and sucking up. Now that's the way to do a drama on palace politicking (compare: Goong). Like the innocent looking one actually knows more than she appears to know? And the "let's be chummy sisters" one got backstabbed by her own ally? Ahhh... really, the complexity of humans... which makes the show so much more interesting. I wanna know what kind of 手段 they will display as the drama progresses! I think I prefer this drama to 冲上云霄.

I love Korean variety programmes... and they are all freaking hilarious I tell you... X-man, Love Letter (haha I love the part where they have to tumble together over this mat with humps), Happy Together Friends, Heroine 6, Yashimmanman... I watch the episodes featuring Shinhwa and they never fail to crack me up hahahaha. :D One of my life's little pleasures. :)


Hamster trying to climb out of the box!




Some photos of Hamster because Hamster is cute and because I haven't posted photos of Hamster for quite some time. Haha. :)
The fur around her butt seems to be a little yellow though... is that normal?

Sharks I need to sleep pronto! Else tomorrow I will be late for my class (as usual).

Poor Hamster is gonna starve coz there's nobody around to feed her... I shall load her food dish with lots and lots of food... I hope she knows how to ration her food... :(

Sigh. So sian. I cannot go to the water theme park! BAD TIMING! RAWRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!

More random stuff


Gillian made me a huge something and I have no space to keep it. Hahaha.


Cute heart! (and the hand's my sister's)


And I found a use for this heart... Let Grimace sit on it!


Now snoozing on it


My two Grimaces!
That's the fake Grimace occupying authentic Grimace's old place


And Hamster drinking water! Hehe so cute.

I've got a video somewhere of Hamster running around...