I had half a mind to switch off my phone for the next few days. I mean, I can just enter Walkman mode only. What else do I need?

ANYWAY, back to where I left off. My chosen Second Day Outfit was nothing fancy, just:

...and my DP brown shorts. Since I was gonna be home the whole day anyway. :P

I had barely woken up and switched on my laptop (*cough*Sims*) when the first guests arrived. Had to hurry and finish the family I was creating, then switch the thing off.

I had like one popiah the whole day. I was far more interested in the stuffed tau poks. Basically they are tau poks stuffed with cubes of cucumber, meat and fishballs and toasted, eaten with a generous sprinkle of some dark sauce and chilli sauce. I think I ate 7 in the afternoon and another 4 or 5 at night.

The living room was so crowded that I spent almost the whole afternoon (around noon to 6.30 p.m.) standing in the kitchen. Didn't have much access to the water jug so I ended up drinking way too much Coca Cola. Then my sis bought some red wine from Vivo so I drank a cup too. Then of course I got very sleepy. :P

When the guests finally left (my sis left midway to go visiting), I had to vacuum the bedroom, living room and kitchen. It occurred to me that I had just vacuumed the living room 7 hours ago. After I finished the kitchen, I collapsed onto the sofa and was dead for like two hours.

On Tuesday I met YQ at City Hall and we had lunch at Cartel. Then we walked "The Arts House route" to the Asian Civilisations Museum. Entry to the Mystery Men exhibition was $2 that day.

To be honest I thought the ACM was more interesting than the National Museum, although that's probably because I didn't have much time to explore the latter. Anyway, we wandered through a few exhibits (including artefacts from Bronze Age South-East Asia...crazy how well-preserved they are) before finding the exhibition.

Since the artefacts were all from China, all the item descriptions had Chinese translations. Not that I read them of course. :P It certainly helped to have YQ around though. Hahaha. The room was freezing cold and since I hadn't had enough sleep the previous night, I was too sleepy to read every single description. Not to mention that after a while, all the masks start to look the same.

The gallery had been pretty empty when we entered, but it was quite crowded when we left. Instead of leaving the museum, we took the time to see the other galleries. There was a morbid exhibition on the afterlife. The West Asia gallery was interesting. YQ and I tried learning how to play the traditional drums. Which was a failure, to say the least. :P

Finally we left and spent some time chatting by the Singapore river. YQ was considering going to Vivo with me but it was getting late so there didn't seem to be any point. Then my mother informed me that our dinner would be at 8 pm, so we decided to go anyway.

At Vivo we went to the usual places, as well as Tangs. We also spent a good amount of time at the Build-A-Bear Workshop, looking at all the un-stuffed animals and clothes and accessories - and of course, seeing Cuddly Lamb in the display case.

YQ left on no. 30 and I immediately returned to Vivo. I was walking hurriedly in the direction of F21 (I can't remember for what) when I realised I was walking beside my mother and aunt. Haha.

Dinner was at Crystal Jade Dine-In. Don't know if it was just CNY and all that, but the food was freaking expensive (so much for like TWO big prawns?!). And they also changed the menu to a special CNY one.

Wednesday I had to wake up early again, this time to meet Sam at Orchard. Got held up by a stupid spider just as I was about to leave, and thought I was running very late. Sam announced that she had expected me to be late and thus hadn't even reached Bedok.

Well in the end I actually arrived right on time (or maybe one or two minutes off)...whilst Sam was 20 min late (or more). :P

We had KFC for lunch (which lasted a very long time because there was a lot to eat and talk), then browsed through Kino (Sam found the Chemistry section very fascinating; I escaped to the Ancient History one).

Next it was F21. According to Sam we spent around 1.5 hours there. Thank goodness YQ wasn't with us or she'd have killed us both. Sam couldn't decide if she wanted to buy the jade tee, then she couldn't decide whether to buy the gold fleur-de-lys chain. I couldn't decide which two out of three tops I was going to buy (since I wanted to buy all). In the end Sam bought both and I decided on my two (very sadly returning the stripey blue one back to the table).

After that we walked through Topshop and GAP and wondered whether to take a bus to Marina (as planned) because it was getting quite late. In the end we decided to check out some tees and CDs at Heeren.

Then it was nearly dinnertime so Sam and I walked back to CD-RAMA to get her CD, and headed for the Tangs bus stop to take our respective buses. Sam took 162 (I think) to City Hall, whereas I hopped onto 143 to Vivo. My connecting bus was right behind 143 so I reached home fairly quickly. It also meant that I didn't top up my card and it went to -$0.33. :P

SO the next afternoon when I went with my mother to Vivo, my card wasn't accepted. Thank goodnes I was with my mother, who keeps a spare card. We walked around the place (as usual) first, before I dragged her down to Thai Express.

I treated her to two appetisers (stuffed tau pok and prawn pancakes) and some watermelon and lime drink. The bill came up to $21.10. It was supposed to be "tea" but since my mother refused to leave the house before 4 p.m., by the time we entered the restaurant it was already dinnertime. We didn't eat anything else though; just went home.

Friday I got up early again (well not so early - I overslept) and went to Orchard. Checked some stuff out at F21, Zara and Borders before taking 143 again. Was supposed to head home but ended up walking in Vivo.

This morning I woke up early AGAIN to exchange something at Vivo, then rushed home to change and leave for my uncle's house.

Was there for only three hours. I hogged the buffet table and the drinks dispenser because that's the best way to avoid conversation. Another cousin asked me what I'm planning to do in the future. My sister was sitting beside me so she should've noticed my reply was different from last week.

I must clarify that it's not that I don't know what I want to do. What I want to do is just not what people want/expect to hear. And that's not my bloody fault.

It was rainy the whole afternoon so when I got home I took a nice long nap.

With my enormous expenditure this week, I think I shall lie low next week. Very low.

Jessica wrote home at 11:39 pm

I woke up earlier this year despite sleeping at 6 a.m. (reason below). I realised (too late) that my careful planning wasn't very careful because I hadn't prepared anything to wear at home while some of my relatives visited in the late morning (because most will be coming for our Annual Popiah Session tomorrow, so I forgot about this smaller gathering). Now I'd be lying if I said I didn't have any new shirt in my closet...I just don't have new shirts WITHOUT their tags. So I ended up grabbing some random Mango shirt (the one with the French menu print) and tried keeping the tag hidden.

I would much have preferred wearing my Hildan Harvest shirt with its ten distinctive food stains. :P

ANYWAY, I spent the afternoon slacking in my room on the computer (once again, reason below). In the evening I finally wore my designated First Day Outfit to my paternal aunt's house for dinner.

My designated First Day Outfit consisted of (I suppose no one bothers, but I did promise to reveal what dress I bought on January 9th):

A dress from Forever 21...

The cheapo DP clutch I bought last Sunday...

My patent black flats from NEXT (bought a year ago in Dubai - they look too nice to wear)...

...which roughly equals...

...this!

For tomorrow's designated Second Day Outfit, check my next update! :P

And now...update time!!!

I think I left off at Tuesday in the previous post, so let's skip an uneventful Wednesday.

On Thursday I went for my usual Thursday afternoon drop-by at Vivo. F21 had a sudden influx of cheaper-than-normal dresses, so guess what I ended up buying.

Must...stop..buying...dresses.

Anyway, I wasn't intending on dropping by again on Friday but Saturday instead. However, my mother insisted the shops would be closed on Saturday, so my plan to get The Sims Life Stories on Saturday went up in smoke.

On Friday afternoon Vivo was freaking crowded, as if everyone forgot to buy their CNY outfits till that day. Thank goodness I bought my dress the day before (when all the dressing rooms were empty), because I've never seen the dressing room queue that long before.

So I gloatingly headed to buy...

...this!

I didn't get to install it straight away though. (Okay, partly because no one was supposed to know I'd bought it...I think Sam can remember what I did when The Sims Superstar came out...) But mostly because I was firmly set on finishing Persian Fire

I had like 70-over pages to read on Friday alone...and trust me, the font is one of the most cramped I've seen. Not to mention trying to remember all those Greek names and stumbling over like a thousand words I've never seen before (and some of which apparently don't even exist in my dictionary!)...let's just say I've never managed to read anywhere near that many pages in one day before.

The Battle of Salamis seemed to take forever, as did the Battle of Plataea.

BUT I FINISHED IT!!!!!!!!!!

I never actually thought I would ever finish it. But heck. I did. At 4 a.m. on Saturday morning.

So I immediately went to install The Sims Life Stories, and spent less than an hour playing the first Story Mode...before I got chased off by my mother. :P

IT RUNS PERFECTLY!!!

It really is quite amazing, when entering homes and returning to the Neighbourhood takes less than 10 seconds. I'm not exaggerating about the following: during the O Levels when I was playing The Sims 2, I used to click on a home and take my bath. Fifteen minutes later I'd return and half the time the family hadn't finished loading!

Of course, that's because my desktop is worse than I thought. In midweek I went to check up its specs...and found (to my surprise) that my laptop completely outperforms it. The difference in speed alone is embarrassing enough - and my sister's laptop is speedier than mine.

Well, to cut a long story short, that's what I've been busy with the past two days. I think I spent nearly 10 hours playing Story Mode (which is hilarious and entertaining...although the ending is a bit stupid) on Saturday night (hence sleeping at 6 a.m.!). Now I'm back in Free Play Mode...and wreaking havoc on all my Sim families, as expected...................................

Jessica wrote home at 11:16 pm

No reason to blog since nothing spectacular happened.

On Friday my mother and I went back to Vivo and we spent a looooooooong time at Marks & Spencer because she found so many things to try on. She bought an orange blouse and I found a nice bag that used to be $89 but was now $20 (hahaha). Then we were about to leave when she saw a green blouse that hadn't been on the rack before...

We had dinner at Super Dog. THE HOTDOGS ARE DAMN NICE.

Saturday I didn't do anything except go out for dinner. At Vivo again. And I got a bright pink dress from Tangs! Thanks to lots and lots of Tangs vouchers...

...and on Sunday my mother made be bring it back because she insisted it was too small. So I changed it to an M (which was barely any bigger than the S, but enough - I am getting fat!!!) and got a purple blouse along with it (thanks to Tangs vouchers again).

After which I rushed down to Suntec to pass Sam her necklaces (:P) before rushing off for home. Well I actually didn't rush off because I had to walk through Marina to get to CityLink, and since I rarely go to Marina these days, I made quick stops at the usual shops. Got a black clutch ($11.70) from DP but other than that, there wasn't anything interesting. Went back home in time for lunch.

Monday sucked. It was one of those mornings where everything just goes wrong. UNFORTUNATELY, since I had slept very early on Sunday night, I also woke up extraordinarily early on Monday (before 9 a.m.) and therefore my morning was excrutiatingly longer than necessary.

Today was significantly better. I didn't wake up as early (since I slept at 4 a.m.) but I managed to spend the afternoon reading Persian Fire, which I am now halfway through. It is a lot more interesting, now that everyone has started attacking and murdering everyone. Just finished the Battle of Marathon; Thermopylae is next. Wheeee.

Today was also a better day because I woke up from my nap at dinnertime and found out my Famous Five books had arrived from the UK! Thought they would arrive latest on Monday but oh well.

Now you're going FAMOUS FIVE?!

Not any Famous Five books of course. :P They're the gamebook versions that were only published in the late 80's to the very early 90's. So obviously these books haven't been in stock for like almost 15 years. Only 6 books were ever published and I found four on my bookshelf when I was 9. They were my sister's and they started off my insane there's-a-secret-passage-in-my-bedroom-I-just-know-it-all-I-have-to-do-is-keep-tapping-on-that-wall phase. That was such an entertaining phase. My mother used to complain that every single non-academic story I wrote during that period involved forked roads. Hahaha.

ANYWAY. Like I said, there were only 6 ever published and my sister had the middle four. So I've spent the past 10 years obsessively (and I mean OBSESSIVELY - you may have heard that I used to dream about enormous fantastical bookstores on a regular basis...ever wondered why?) looking for the first and last books...........

...........and just last week I won an Ebay auction (actually I was the only bidder - hahaha) consisting of 3 books for $3.

To be honest I actually have two of the books, but the auction includes the last in the series, which is the rarest apparently. So who cares.

I shall get the first book in time to come. Although I have no idea when I will actually have the time to read it.

But in the meantime they are still in their package on the table. Am waiting for my sis to get home so I can get confirmation that it's not her package (although the chances of her having won 3 books at $3 too is highly unlikely).

Still waiting. Hmmmph.

P.S. Haven't gotten The Sims Life Stories yet. Intend to finish Persian Fire first plus I have to watch my finances before CNY...so earliest will be Saturday. It better run smoothly on my laptop or I'm going to sit and sulk for the next two months!

Jessica wrote home at 10:44 pm

ANYWAY. So I had nothing to do after wandering around Topshop and F21 and Mango and Zara and PageOne (oooh those ancient history books are so tempting...).

So I thought, heck, why don't I drop by Challenger to check out the games?

Speaking of games, I was at that anime/game shop across from Pet Safari the day the exams ended and I saw Prison Tycoon and thought, hahaha...ah...I miss playing new games...too bad I don't have time to...ehhhhhhhhh...EHHHHHHHHHHHHHH...

I need to keep pinching myself.

ANYWAY. So I was there and there was nothing new other than a new Sims game.

Not an expansion pack, a new standalone game called The Sims Life Stories! My research today has led to the discovery that:

1) It is the first in a line of at least three standalone Sim games. I really really am intending to get the second one - Pets! My fav! - as long as there's a cheat code for money in the game. :P I can't play Sims without free money.

2) It is basically a less content-heavy version of The Sims 2, which means you can't make custom content. (But I never did like custom stuff anyway) It's like that 'cos it's designed specifically for laptops (someone must be thinking of me) and computers that are too crappy to run The Sims 2 (like mine - well it can run it but is horrendously slow and hangy).

3) It features two gameplay modes, Story and Classic. Classic is the usual create-your-sim and do-anything-you-want game that we're all used to. In Story mode you can follow two separate stories involving Sims that require you to achieve their personal goals and ensure their lives turn out fine.

4) And the game was just released on Tuesday. What do you know. They actually timed it for the last day of my exams. It's a plot.

AND I'M REALLY TEMPTED.

I've checked the system requirements and it looks like it can run on my laptop. I just need confirmation about the money cheat!

Oh and it's $39.90 (unless my eyesight failed me), which is the same price as The Sims 1 expansion packs (I still can't believe I bought three with my own money back in secondary school) and $15 cheaper than The Sims 2. So yeah, that's a bonus. If The Sims 2 wasn't so expensive I'd already have bought one. The Pets expansion pack sounds sooooooooo fun.

Don't know if I should wait for Pets and get that instead though. Then I'll be stuck with Carmen Sandiego these two months! :P

Jessica wrote home at 11:58 pm

I love saying that.

Even though I do actually have things to do. Like READING ALL MY BOOKS.

But no researching, typing or editing stupid reports. And especially no studying. :P

So yes. I HAVE NOTHING TO DO.

I woke up later than expected yesterday and decided not to go out. No urgent reason to. Finished Monkey Island in the early afternoon. If you ask me only the first part of Mega Monkey Mode is tricky.

I am enjoying walking from the living room to my room without any purpose. For the first time in weeks no little voice is reminding me, "Take your thumbdrive! Take Lecture 8! Take your pencil/pen/highlighter! Take your dictionary!"

For that reason only, I walked back and forth a few times. Just enjoying the quiet in my head. :P

In the very late afternoon my mother finally decided to head for IKEA, so we left. First we had hotdogs, then we went to look for chair covers (which they didn't have). She ended up getting some other random piece of cloth, extra curtain hooks, and quilt covers.

And Sam's snake was on sale for $1.90 and I wasn't allowed to get one!!! *sulks*

Dinner was across the road. I had black pepper chicken chop pasta.

Went home and read a bit of Persian Fire before nearly falling asleep. That book is really not the most exciting book in the world. Although that's because the action hasn't started yet. But then again it's taking a damn long time to start! :P

So........later I shall do my regular Thursday drop-by at Vivo. Don't think I have anything else to do.

Oh wait. Yes. Sometime in the next 2 months (ooh! 2 months!) I need to get like two pairs of jeans and 1 pair of pants altered.

I have actually never altered anything before. Unfortunately, my GAP pants don't fit too well (my mother has the same design and it looks perfectly fine on her! Hmmph.) and neither do my Warehouse black jeans. The same pair of Warehouse jeans is supposed to be skinny cut and doesn't look particularly skinny to me, so I must get that altered too. And lastly, my Topshop grey jeans are also supposed to be skinny cut but after washing a few times they now look bootcut. :P

And I obviously can't afford investing in ANOTHER pair of jeans since I am...erm...*cough*...considering blowing quite a lot of money off on some shirts.

So basically now I'm stuck with my Zara and Miss Selfridge jeans. Not that I really mind.

And now I want to sleep. Well actually I don't but I like the idea of sleeping whenever I decide to. :P

Jessica wrote home at 3:26 am

You get the point. Now that I have NOTHING TO DO, I have no idea where to start with my updating.

9.5 weeks!!!

I deserve it. :P

Anyway. Oh yes. Now I remember.

Funny Sam should mention her talk on Sunday. Because I was at the poly talk on 13th January (my blog entry for that day is rather cryptic). Although I stress I only went for the talk (I mean, I can always go for next year's) because I wanted to go somewhere else that day and the only way I could get my mother to go was on the pretence of going for the NTU talk.

Ulterior motive. :P

Anyway, for the information of any of my classmates who may stumble upon this entry within the next year, the most important thing I caught (wasn't really paying attention) was that you need a GPA of at least 3.5 to 3.7 to get into Communication Studies.

Man. Is that high.

And NO, I am not going to tell you where else I went on 13th January. Unless circumstances change very drastically.

But back to the (end of ) exams. I can't be bothered to tell you how all three exams went, except that I was almost late for Law and I've never been so sleep-deprived during the exams before. I wasn't even in the mood to celebrate!

Plus right after PRMP ended today, we had a spec dip briefing about OUR FINAL PROJECT NEXT SEMESTER.

Oh gee. Yeah. Sure makes me delighted to receive a new project brief for the academic year 2007/2008 when 2006/2007 just ended half an hour ago!

And after that I had to rush upstairs (very late) for my peer mentor interview.

So I didn't leave school till more than an hour after the exam had officially ended. Blah. Took a bus to Vivo with T, PW and HJ. Had lunch at Pastamania (30% off for students) then walked around before I gave in and went home to sleep.

Now I am awake and basking in the joy of DOING NOTHING.

I must get started on my holiday plans soon.

JESSICA'S HOLIDAY AGENDA (well, part of it anyway)
Jessica traditionally makes a list of post-exam things to do...and traditionally doesn't do 95% of them.

1. Finish The Curse of Monkey Island Mega Monkey Mode (already halfway through)
2. Finish reading Persian Fire (almost one-third done)
3. Read Marie Antoinette: The Journey
4. Read The Courts of Love: The Story of Eleanor of Aquitaine
5. Read my other new books if time permits
6. Start and finish my latest personal project
7. Pretend the spec dip final project doesn't exist

Well. I know I'll be able to do at least one of them. :P

Jessica wrote home at 12:12 am