Sunday 22 April 2012

Foods!

Nom nom nom nom! It's been a busy week O_O doing assignments. And as I looked at my (messy) hand-made calender, I realized there's 4 more weeks for attending school/ working on my essay, report, etc. This also shows the fact that hulayyyyyyyyy! I'm going to UK soon! A-hemmm..carry on! work! work! work! weeeeehaaaaaa!

During this busy busy busy moment, I've been thirsty  for self-entertainment. And so my title of this post is straight-forward.. say it together, students 1-2-3 "FOOOODS! FOOODS! FOOOODS!".




 Finally, I ate yummy popiah! It's @ NEX, Serangoon :-) fav shopping mall to hang around after school =P



 
After ate yummy popiah, my stomach rumbled with hunger for more foods lol. So I bought this Vanila ice-cream and ate in Wendy's :-). This ice-cream made me embarrassed.. the cashier just gave me a pipe =-=, and I didn't take a spoon cos' I thought it was a drink.  

Another staff or cleaner? I'm not sure asked me sth in Chinese and I didn't understand. Then, she gave me a spoon. You know, I was so blurred  that I accidentially pushed the ice-cream to floor. My first reation was questioning in my mind. 'Should Ijust take it up and continue eating it?'. But then she saw me O_O, she cleaned, and I walked away @w@.


Hu-lay! And here Cappuccino @ Esplanade Library


On the same day that I drank that cappucino, I ate this nomnomnom @chickenking =-) quiet nice =3 


Yummy! 


Japanese Salmon and rice set :-) 


Curry rice with crispy chicken =-) yummmmmieeeee 



Saturday Lunch @ KFC ka-tarkkkk!

Soooogooooood!


Rested from eatting to exercise haha =-) @Punggol Park



=-) enjoyed dinner on Sat 


Goodnight! Always expect good things to happen for the week :D Enjoy life!









All glory, wisdom, power,
Strength, thanks, and honor are
To God our King, who reigns on high
Forevermore =-)


Sunday 15 April 2012

I'm counting :)

Counting down, there'll be another 5 more weeks before the last day to attend self-studying section in TMC Academy, Singapore =)! I'm really looking forward to go UK =) The environment, places, cultures, people are going to be so different from here. However, I will miss Singapore a lot too =) as it's my first place of my oversea studying experience.

 I didn't go out to shoot photographs for my weekend. But, I shot some at my fav. place for jogging on Friday  (13-4-12)  evening =-)





This time, I used my cannon compact cam to shoot :) 

 Although it was in Singapore, I felt like I was in UK haha. I imagined a lot =-). Sometimes, I imagine that my life is like a movie, and I'm a main charactor of the show. When I walk alone, there'll be music in my heart; and that's theme song of my life! haha!






This is my life's theme song! : D
     I am counting on God  :) I continue counting on God's blessings for me. There's much more in His blessings' bag in heaven. The bag's exploded and the blessings are flowing down on me everyday. 

 Btw, I bought a rail pass ticket to travel around UK. Hopefully, we can go the first week before school starts =-) 





Flowers on the field are made by Your BIG and lovely hands :)








 

 The batteries in my cam suddenly died after took this photograph. Ooooo.


So this is the look of face (when take photograph by phone)



 I love this photo :)
























And I can see a light that is coming for the heart that holds on
A glorious light beyond all compare
And there will be an end to these troubles
But until that day comes
We'll live to know You here on the earth




This is my study time-table (in Liverpool) :) 
 
There'll more subjects to learn and more assignments to do there. So, I planned to finish every assignment that I can do before going UK. Hulay! 

That's the end for the post of the week :) (Hohohoho, I know it's very short :))
 
 Enjoy your week! <3


Sunday 8 April 2012

Learn to sip a cup of coffee slowly & self-reflexivity



Woahhhh, I'm back here to share about my week with another cup of cappuccino! Now, I'm so obssesed with drinking at coffee shop, man. It became my top self-entertain, I can say that. And if you ask me, what I do for relaxation? sit in coffee shop and drink! What I do to reduce stress? drink coffee! How do I concentrate on my self-learning? study at coffee shop & drink coffee! 

Ayeeee, now everything comes to the same patern. But, this cup of coffee is special, ermm in the sense that I learned something by the process of drinking it, as well as, by what I was literally doing while drinking this coffee.
To introduce this cup, ah ha I drank it at National Library of Singapore on Saturday (7-4-12). It's at Makarios cafe & bar at Located at Drama Centre, on level 3 of the Library (http://makarios.com.sg/ for more information if you are interested haha :) ) There're a lot of nice smell foods hmmm. The prices are quiet high, though; but I like the quiet atmosphere. There's enough light for me to read haha, and the large window let me see people walking on street. I love observing, so the large window is like a brigthening for my brain & inspirations. It's a cafe and bar, so there're wines, beers, and champagnes too!

I haven't tried any of them there yet--I went there for study eh! Also, it was by the fact that Thursday night (before Good Friday) my curiosity led me to drink cheap beer, that is somewhat EWWS!! Mann, in fact, it shouldn't be called 'beer', man.. or is that because I mistake about the type of drink? Anyway, that drink contains a lot of sugar, carbon, weird taste, high alchohol-level, I think (I thought alchohol level should be low as the price haha), and maybe caffeine as well. It made me felt really headache and tired, and that's why I decided to throw that poor can of beer or whatever drink away. That night I couldn't sleep well. I better put it this way, I couldn't sleep at all! My body just laid on bed, but my consciousness and brain worked the whole night-- now, I hold on to this point -- don't touch alchohol during studying period man =)

Arh haha, what am I talking about now? Okay, let's go back to the point. That cup of coffee.. was very bitter and hot, yeah.. I'm sure that caffeine must be very high too. So, I had to sip it slowy. I concentrated on reading, and then sipped coffee, and I felt wow, actually the taste of this coffee is really not bad! I just need to sip it slowy. 
It's like life, you know. When you have a huge thing to work on, yeahh, and you know it's not easy.. but it's something you really have to do to reach the goals that you planned. It looks hard, and can be stressful, when you look at the processes to finish it. You might feel bitter deeply that it's not success in seconds.

So, don't be stressed! Do it step-by-step and you'll find enjoyment in your living. Learning step-by-step brings excitement. Take note of what you learned! develope your self-naratives by reflecting what you learned!

While drinking that coffee, I was reading an article, written by Rebecca Williams (2011), discussing about The West Wings' fans self-bonding to the story; and how they responsed when the show ended. The author applied some ideas from 'Anthony Giddens', a British Sociologist who wrote an article about modern-society and self-identity. One of his arguments is that people in mordern era develope their self-narative by "continually integrate[s] events which occur in the external world, and sort[s] them into the on-going story about the self"(Giddens, 1991, p. 54). Another interesting quotation that Williams cited in her thesis article is, reflecting about self makes "our past, present and future become visible and are held up in from of us like a mirror" (Kaspersen, 2000, p.88).
 

That's interesting! It inspires to write more as a reflection about my self. That's why I continue writing this blog.. and also, I'll write reflexive-articles more and more, to develop my writing skill, and to record what I learn. There're interesting points by the article by Williams, but I won't mention much on my blog. I have to keep best part for my own assignment to submit my University haha.  

references :)

Giddens, A, 1991. Modernity and self-identity: self and society in the late modern age, UK:Polity Press. 

Kaspersen, L.B., 2000. Anthony Giddens: An introduction to a socialist theorist, UK:Blackwell.

Williams, R., 2011. ‘This Is the Night TV Died: Television Post-Object Fandom and the Demise of The West WingPopular 



  After left the Library, I went for dinner!! :3 weeeeeeeehaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa~~~~
This chicken (from chicken rice) is really nice. Yummy yummy. I wonder if there's a bit of Chinese alchohol mixed inside, my face turned red after ate it haha .

Outside Bugis junction


 The kids are playing with colorful water :)


Window shopping at Bugis street


I observed that teenagers that walk there must show nice appearance to buy clothes dahhhh


Sunday (8-4-12), a great day to rest and go church :)

I <3 Popiah :) But these two popiahs taste not so nice. I bought it near my home for lunch, and I won't buy it from there again :P eewwssss.. So I drank fav Soya milk and went church :)

This Sunday we celebrated Resurrection's day (Easter). There were many people waiting to go inside the auditorium. And when I went inside, woww, I like everything inside; the look of stage, the worship, the preaching, and  the performance before service ended. 

All in all, the best part is it's all about "Jesus"!. Although I went church alone, I felt that I was not alone. Jesus was really with me there :) Resurrection day is the day to celebrate for Jesus finished work at the cross. It's for you and me :) By His blood, we are forgiven and clothed with His righteousness. I like love Him because He died for me and also promised that He'll never leave nor forsake me. My identity has renewed since the very first day I received Christ. When I look in mirror, I do not have to review my bad habbits nor label those things as my charactor, because the price Jesus gave me is highest than anything else, and I'm so loved. So, I won't let false identity come to my mind. I'll look to the cross instead :), knowing that God loves me so much and He sees me as His child.

I used to analyze a lot about how people think of me. After I was convinced that I'm a new creation by Jesus finished work at the cross, I couldn't say anything. I felt so peaceful and happy than ever. My perception has changed :) I don't have to reflect about myself through circumstances seen by sight, but I see my self-narative as an on-going story about God's beloved daughter. Because Christ is in me and I'm in Christ, everything that relates to Him also relates to me! Jesus walks with me and I'll learn from Him step-by-step and in peace. Thus, my self-narative always reflect goodness! Because God is with me all the time, and He is so good! :D There's nothing to strive anymore, rest in Him, and learn from Him and enjoy my life in Him.


I was so touched by His love in church, and I cried a lot lol. A  lady sitting next to me also wiped her nose many times, haha :). 





The life is worth the living because He lives! :)


Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 5:1)  xD!!   



Photos of the week! @Little India :D






That's all of this week :). I promised to upload videos but I've been recording by my sony handy-cam recently. But I will! Maybe, when I'm in Liverpool? =P. Yes, I'll definitely record a lot of videos at UK, and I'll edit videos and post it on Vimeo.com. :D Can't wait to go UK, only 7 weeks more to go. Now, I'm planning with my friends that we gonna travel around UK the first week before our classes start =D 

Yup! I got to go =D have an awesome week! God bless you all! <3

Sunday 1 April 2012

Open my eyes to new learning environment

There are so many things happened this week. And so I'm a bit excited plus nervous, cause' I don't know what I tell first. Also, I've beening changing the title of this post again and again, and finally I decided the theme for tonight as "new learning environment". Then again, haha I just can't get out of my personal story telling style of writng. Hahaha, you see, this blog is like a 'diary'! And yeah, I have to admit that it really sounds like. But nope, haha, I know, this is not a diary, mann. My real-diary is a bit more secret, meaning that you'll find some secrets of mine here. In another aspect, those secrets will be revealed here. In fact, this is an oxymoron, no secret, man. I have no secret to tell you, I guess.  

To sum up my experiences in self-learning in first month, I had a great start in new style of learning, and also overcame challenges (including wisdom tooth situation). I really like this new way of independent-studying. It's true that ba-degree(level6, if I'm not wrong) is harder than advanced diploma. We need a lot more of in-depth reading, and critical thinking. When we write essays, we cannot just put quotes of other scholars to support our views. We do need to really understand additional readings that we choose. And importantly, our written works must be understandable and show that we understand what we read. 

However, I feel that this semester is less stressful than those semesters in my advanced diploma. I think it's because I've learnt key media debates/theories. So when I look at the researches relating to media studies, I can link the ideas with what I've learnt easily. For another two months, I need to read many many many research papers, and write a critique, write a report, as well as submit assignments plans. We also have forum contribution to participate. I've published to threads, got another two more to do! au au ah ah ah! So it's basically 'online-learning' :). Yup, these few months in Singapore we need to focus on readings. Then, when we are in UK, we'll learn more, and also need to pratically research there. So, I need to find inspiring researhes, and then apply them to my work, and find some gaps to fill!  I don't know what to do yet, I have to read and read and read and read more! 

To read is one way of learning. But I do also like to experience real activity. One of the ethnography articles that I read is about problem in accessing hollywood. The author of this paper tried to do everything to do ethnography research. One thing she did was doing participant-observation when the company interface wih public. She mentioned good points in her articles (that I won't write in here, it will be way too academic haha), so I was interested in this method. To recap, I haven't had a topic for my mass comm. project yet. But I love observing, and write about it. Monday (16-3-12), I visited Bishan Public Library, and I looked through events brochure. That's how I found the news about a screenplay writer tour"Saying Grace". I did not really understand what this event is about, but the admission for this section is free so I joined it. Tuesday(17-3-12), the date of this event, I knew that it's actually a performance. I enjoyed the show, and was inspired by Hu Fangda, the screen writer of this show; he is only 17 year-old and did such a great work. I also enjoyed observing everything I saw there :), and I wrote my reflection on it. 


(30-3-2012) Friday is the day of rest, and enjoy! I put this term by my own, haha. 
Friday! Friday! Friday! Sounds like the day for party (and then it’s Friday again! That sounds fimilar, huh?). But, nope! Right after class, we just went back home on our own ways. So did I. I went back home to throw all my stuffs, changed clothes, and then grabbed my dirty socks,put them into my pants and stepped out from home. 

I walked to Punggol Park, my all time favorite place for exercising and filling inspiration. That evening was the most special one I ever had. I saw a new bike rental shop there. Then, the owner of that shop started explaining about the routes, and way to go. So I was like, wow! My park has changed so much throughout these 6 months. So, I was interested in what he said. But the price for renting is 8dollars per hour! And that's really expensive. I was not sure if I could ride within 2 hours or not, and more importantly, it’s really not cheap. So I agreed with what he suggested; yeahhh you know, maybe it’s a better idea to ask my friends the other days.
Then, I started to jog following the route he suggested. It was so awesome, it looks totally different, man, and when I put my earphone with worship song, my soul was lifted up. I enjoyed using not-so-clear camera (images captured are all blur)  on phone to take photographs of my evening, my night. 


 This is the map that guy gave me (btw,taken my cannon later)


 Now, this is what I shot by phone

 Actually not bad, eh? looks every artistic ;)
 Is this consider as a piece of art?
 Some weird light



While I was jogging, I saw weird living thing on floor. At my first look, I thought it was a mole,rat, or porcupine that kind of thing. It’s not! It’s a little bird with broken legs, I suggested that she had not died yet, but nearly die. It seems like she was trying to move, but couldn’t. I was really worried about her, but I couldn’t help.

 On the one side, I was scared to look at it. On the other hand, I don’t think I can help. Maybe, my sister can help it, but she is not in Singapore. So I had to walk away, and looked back at it again, then really had to walk away. . . my heart felt really sorry for that little bird. Then, I asked God, "I don’t know why but I’m so sad. I can’t stop thinking of that image of little bird." Then, I felt in my heart that He said, “This is how you care about that little bird, how much more will I, your creator, love you? When you cannot make something happen by yourself, don’t you try, you are just like this little bird. You need my help, and I’m always able and willing to carry you with me”. 

Another thing that came to my mind was about people in this world. There’re much more people in world that need God, but they do not know that He can help them. When thinking about reality, I feel somewhat even more scared and creepy. So, I praise God for He is my helper. And therefore, I was convinced that in every difficulties, He is with me. Moreover, I believe in His calling for me; to be light of this world. I don’t know how God will use me, but I’m ready, and I’m willing to be in part with Him, because Lord is my creator. When I look at the moon in sky, among the dark town, I remember the author of this world. Lord, You are so good to me, I love You too.

When the sky was turning to dark, I heard some weird dance song upon my head. The atmosphere was changed from inspirational natural to somewhat Clarke Quay? Yes, there’s a football field with noisy music (I found it sounds fun though), and the restaurants. With my curious personality, I climbed up to see what really happened there. I saw (maybe) high class restarants with people drinking beer and wine up there.






Then, I tried to see if there’s any other restaurants I can effort for food. I only saw ‘Pop eyes’ that sounds interesting , but after all, I remembered that I just exercised. So, I walked down and went ahead. Now, sky really turned to dark, but people still enjoyed exercising. This is one thing I’m impressed about Singapore; there are places that encourage people to have good health. And so do I want to be strong, and that’s all about what was doing there. However, I saw other new things. Firstly, new bike rental store, secondly, new routes for jogging, thirdly, God expressed his love to me by image of little bird (physically seen though), fourthly, something that usually happen when I explore new thing, and go way too far….. 

Hmm, not really. This time I didn’t lose my way, as God led me. But I was so tired! It was a long journey, but was very very fun! So from the restaurants , I walked to newater shelter, then I walked back to the restraurants. Decided not to eat at Popeyes, and walked to KFC instead. Found Golf park, bought a can of soyamilk, and took LRT to MRT and came back to Compasspoint.












After finished dumpling soup, I went to Popular, the books and stationaries shop, and I bought “this is a love story” fiction by Jessica Thompson. I want to improve on my natural English skills, and also, I want to try this kind of romantic fiction. I know I can’t have it in real life now, so I read this book instead. While writing this, I remember, in real life, I have a greater love. The love of God. And He surely prepared one for me haha. I don't know where he is, but hope to meet him soon.  




Saturday (31-3-12), I went to Ang Mo Kio for studying at the public library there haha :)  



 What a sin I've commited! Nevermind ahh! Just one meal, can! =P





 A cup of hot vanilla <3 I love it! This really makes me love studying at PLB haha.


 @Ang Mo Kio Public Library 


Sunday (1-4-12), changed my learning atmosphere at home :) haha



 Just managed my stuffs a bit :) opened Jazz melody from www.jango.com. Now I can enjoy studying at home as if I'm relaxing in a coffe shop haha. 

  I went to New Creation Church in the afternoon =) And after service, I went to Esplanade again! haha! It's like my second home! 
 




I planned to have an awesome cup of Cappuccino at the library there, but there were too many people that I won't be able to concentrate on my works. So I went down and find another cafe. I found good-looking cafe,with attractive red chairs inside. I was attracted to go in and ordered iced cappuccino with cute sandwish haha. 





The coffee tastes not as nice as the one in library, but not too bad. At least it's not too strong, so I think can sleep tonight (OMG it's 1.48am now!). The taste of sandwish is on standard quality, but it too hard for me. I had a little pain in my gum while eating it. Anyway, overall impression is good :) I could concentrate only my study well on the red chair. But, I still prefer studying in Ang Mo Kio Public Library more =) 


Well, for photographs of the week, I'd like to present...
my night in Esplanade, Clarke Quay,.. somewhere around there .. enjoy!












That's all for tonight :) yay! !! 



Music for tonight? Hmmmm.. 

This is my recent fav song <3



 You come to me with words hope
My strength is renewed again 



Goodnight people! Enjoy your week ahead :3 I'll also enjoy my study life. I got the feeling that gonna some good things happening this week xD