I still miss Lenny.

Especially since like half the participants *cough* I mean DELEGATES *cough* brought their laptops here. They're all smaller and cuter than Lenny.

(And if you're wondering why "Lenny", it's a LENovo laptop, duh!)

But I miss Lenny even more, since we were assigned an article. It's due at 8.15 p.m. tonight and I don't think anybody got much sleep last night. It didn't help that we got back from the kampung at like 10.30 p.m. and still had to have dinner (well I did, anyway).

I squeezed in like 3 or 4 hours of sleep and had a hurried breakfast before rushing to the hall to type my draft.

Since then I've sneaked 10 to 15 minutes between breaks to continue with the feature article. It's supposed to be a SHORT article, but as you might already know, I have a problem ending what I start writing. :P

So here's the latest draft of my very last-minute article. The organisers think it's a good way to train us to meet deadlines, just as real journalists do.

I think I want to sleep.

Oh and on Tuesday night I was channel surfing and saw Jared Padalecki on the screen. I immediately shrieked, "SUPERNATURAL!!!"

Then I realised that it was not, in fact, Supernatural, but Flight of the Phoenix, which he apparently acted in. I actually stayed up to finish the movie. Thought it was very pointless. And *spoiler* he was the first plane crash survivor to die anyway. His corpse, ironically enough, looked like something out of Supernatural.

Anyway. My draft. I didn't bring my thumbdrive so I have to put the stupid article somewhere first. (I would've brought my thumbdrive but there are tons of important school stuff in it...I made a backup on my laptop but I don't know if the data will stay intact.)

I have a confession to make.

I have never been to Johor.

It has always been extremely embarrassing to admit that, as a Singaporean, I have never taken the time to just cross the Causeway.

My only glimpse of Johor was during a school trip to northern Singapore – the closest we have to a countryside – three years ago. The bus went up a hill and for a moment, I saw hundreds of unfamiliar buildings in the distance.

In the golden late afternoon sunshine, it was like discovering a lost city in my own backyard.

But yesterday the scenario changed, and I left the city to visit Johor’s vast countryside in Muar.

It took a full three hours to get there by bus. In Singapore, I mused, you could travel around the island twice in the same amount of time.

One of the first sights that greeted us at the kampung parit bugis was of colourful one-storey houses scattered in the verdant jungle. For someone used to the annoying sounds of house renovations and loud music playing at unearthly hours, the thought of living in such a house was certainly enviable!

Our welcome to the village was an eye-opener. As men banged on drums and sang loudly behind us, we walked down a road lined with children waving flags enthusiastically. Ahead, more villagers entertained us with an elaborate traditional dance.

How these neighbours came together and organised such a welcome was, frankly, hard to imagine. Like most Singaporeans, I have never even spoken to my own neighbours. The concept of gotong royong is lost on us. We all lead very different lives – going to different schools and working in different parts of the island, getting home and even eating at different times. Simply put, there is little we all can identify with; nothing that brings us together.

Not so long ago, however, things were very different in Singapore. Back in my mother’s time, there was still much free land to run about. Snacks were lovingly baked the traditional way – not simply purchased from large supermarkets.

Similarly, the village children ran among the high grass. They waved and smiled widely whilst their mothers sat in the kitchens, preparing bahulu over flaming coconut husks. And like my mother before them, the villagers too enjoyed playing with wooden tops.

For me, being in parit bugis was like taking a tour through my mother’s childhood memories – a trip through a Singapore that once was and will never be again.

But things have to change. Just as the villages of my hometown made way for high-rise apartments and other developments, so too has change come to parit bugis. The village now houses a cyber café, and more of their children are leaving to pursue degrees in the city. Even the village leaders have plans to sell their homemade food products in supermarkets.

All this probably would not be possible today, if not for Komuniti Bestari. A voluntary organisation set up by the Ministry of Information Malaysia, it has helped encourage the people of parit bugis to supplement their income through the sale of traditional snacks, instruments and coconut handicrafts. This, along with the implementation of village homestay programmes, has helped parit bugis promote and preserve their culture. In turn, city-dwellers like me get a rare opportunity to experience a way of life entirely different from the one we have grown up with.

In an age where change is constant and the old has to make way for the new eventually, it is extremely important for such precious remnants of the past to be kept. Therefore I applaud the foresight of the Minstry of Information Malaysia in launching the Komuniti Bestari. Thanks to the organisation, both villagers and visitors alike benefit from the preservation of these fast-fading cultures.

Whenever we feel that technology is moving too fast for us to catch up with, it is always comforting to know that, somewhere out there, the peaceful and simple existence we all wish for is still going strong – as it will be, hopefully, for many years to come.

Jessica wrote home at 4:40 pm

Currently in the hotel's seminar room or whatever the place is called. Waiting for the last talk of the day, which will start at 9 p.m. and not end till past 11 p.m. I suppose.

Eh I haven't had enough sleep for like 2.5 weeks. And I have school right after I return!!!

I'm going to die soon.

I miss Lenny.

I miss my instant noodles. All 3 or 4 or 5 or 1000 flavours in the kitchen cupboard.

Eh Lenny is the name of my laptop. Sheesh. I hope they won't dispose of it like they are threatening to do if my sister doesn't help me enquire about the costs of repair. Like it was my fault!!!!

I also miss Supernatural. Sigh. Deandeandeandeandean. :P

HOWEVER, at least we spent a longer time out of the hotel today. We went to KLCC. Well, didn't have time to shop, but we went outside and took pictures of the Petronas towers.

Tomorrow we're visiting a Malay village. Yay no talks!

*cough*

I don't know what the itinerary is for Singapore. I don't really care. I will probably be thinking about all the presentations and classes I'm missing.

Next week is so NOT a good week to miss school.

But I get to visit Singapore! And I bet you're all sooooooooooooooooooo jealous!!!!!

I think I ate too much dinner.

Sigh.

I miss Vivo.

Jessica wrote home at 8:36 pm

I managed to beg my sister to use hers though. :P

Anyway, as you might've heard, I was downloading something a few nights ago and the download hadn't finished by the time I went to sleep. So I left my laptop on. Then my mother woke up, and because she can't stand the sight of any electrical item being left on and unused, she decided to switch it off. She doesn't know how to operate computers (despite being told many times)...and the rest is history.

Due to many complications (including having a gruelling project schedule), I only managed to bring it to Changi (near the Expo) for repairs on Wednesday (my only free day this week, such a waste!). Left it there and went to Vivo where my mother let me have a shopping spree at Giant (instant noodles!!!) so I was slightly cheered up. Then I bought a blouse at the Pull and Bear sale. It's navy blue and my mother called it "dull" when she first saw it...then I tried it on and she decided to try it on too. :P

Oh and I finally got the limited edition Skittles Sam was talking about! The Popcorn-flavoured one tastes JUST like popcorn! And I don't even like popcorn! My favourite is a tie between Popcorn and Jam Donut. And the Fairy Floss is very nice too. They should make these flavours permanent. And release it in giant bags.

And speaking of Sam, we had dinner (a *cough* VERY LATE dinner) in Orchard on Tuesday. I spent the whole afternoon in school typing my part of our HSS proposal.

As for Monday, our group meeting took place outside school for the first time. It was at Vivo! So I got to shop before that! But we were there from 3 to past 9 p.m. We were supposed to end earlier but got carried away during dinner at Marche. We actually drew up a list of possible eating places. I had rosti and a big bowl of mushroom soup again.

Today (Thursday) our project group dwindled to two people because everyone was busy. So HJ and I met at Plaza Singapura at 10 a.m. and did some ICM work first, then paid Houz of Costumez a visit to get quotations for custom-made costumes.

At 1-something I met my mother in Orchard. The Massimo Dutti sale just started so she was checking out all the outlets. After my lunch at Mos Burger, we took a bus to Marina to look around the last outlet. Then we went home and for the first time this week...I had a nap!!!

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaand...I realised I still haven't made my big announcement. Yeah well I didn't get confirmation till like an hour ago. Thanks in part to my laptop breaking down (they still haven't called me) and preventing me from checking my email.

ANYWAY. I'm going on "holiday" for the next two weeks! I won a free trip to Malaysia and Singapore!

Okay okay. I didn't exactly "win" it. I got selected for some ASEAN Campus Journalists/Leaders exchange programme thingy. Don't ask me why my little 200-word essay got selected, I don't know. I spent one whole night thinking of something to write and gave up at 7 a.m. and typed some random thing - then went to sleep.

It just so happens that this year the programme will be held in Malaysia and Singapore. Haha. Singapore. That'll be fun.

And (for those two people who took my test) I've been to Malaysia exactly ONCE in my whole life (about 14 years ago), so oh well.

You might've noticed, however, that the thing is TWO weeks long and my breaks only lasts for ONE more week.

So I get to miss ONE WHOLE WEEK of school, a week which happens to contain TWO MAJOR PRESENTATIONS and my CA for KYTB, which is a group skit. Thanks to me (:P), I got the skit postponed to the next week. Oh and speaking of the skit I don't know if the script has been written cos the group didn't let me write it. Sheesh. Last time I checked I'm the only one who took Scriptwriting as part of my coursework in SP! And I don't even like volunteering to write scripts! Hmmmph. :P

ANYWAY. I'm going to collect my air ticket tomorrow morning! Which is just great because I have a meeting in the mid-afternoon. Like what the heck am I supposed to do in between???

And I have a few pending meetings next week too. Oh well they'll just have to do without me. Which, for those particular groups, is certainly no problem. :P For my other groups it's gonna be a problem cos I've a lot of important stuff with me now that I need to give someone. Sigh.

So complicated.

Jessica wrote home at 10:50 pm

I'm addicted to MUTV!

Oh and Playhouse Disney too. :P

Only thing is that we don't subscribe to those channels. Oh well. Shall milk it until the trial's over.

Anyway, yes, we subscribed to cable again. The usual channels, plus that whole bumper family pack thingy with like five thousand channels. No sports - not yet, anyway, since it's the off-season.

Among other things I've been watching is Supernatural, season two. Luckily for me the first episode I caught was Episode 2, rather than halfway through the season or something. I think the show airs every Tuesday and Saturday (repeat). Oh and season 2 is sooooooooo super gory. (Not that I really mind!) I just saw *spoiler* some girl getting decapitated and a side view of her head dropping off and the rest of her body falling over *end spoiler*.

Anyway, about last week. I went out after school 4 out of 5 days. On Monday (like I mentioned before), I went to Orchard. On Tuesday I felt in a particularly good mood (and my mother happened to be in Orchard) so I met her at Centrepoint after school for lunch. Then I walked down to Plaza Singapura and took the NEL home.

On Wednesday (after more spec dip editing) I spent 1.5 hours walking aimlessly around Vivo before my dinner plans were unfortunately cancelled and I had to troop home. :P

On Thursday I finally went home to have a nap.

On Friday I felt like celebrating after we turned in our spec dip DVD. So I ended up having dinner at Marche. For some reason I keep forgetting there's an outlet at Vivo, so that was my first time there. I had a plate of rosti, a huge bowl of mushroom soup, some bread and a big plate of crepes + ice cream (and lots of chocolate sauce and chocolate chips).

Then I exploded.

Yeah right.

I had planned to spend a nice Saturday at home PREPARING MY ICMT PRESENTATION, but ended up going back to Centrepoint for dinner on Saturday because we had to subscribe for cable. Spent the night watching Supernatural and MUTV.

On Sunday I resolved to DO MY WORK. But right after lunch my mother called to say she was at Bakerzin and asked if I wanted to have tapas.

And of course I never turn down free food.

So I went to have some nice little snacks.

And then we walked around for a while. After which I really had to go home and DO MY WORK.

Obviously didn't get much sleep on Sunday night, but managed to get to school early and print my stuff. At the last minute I decided some of the slides were a bit plain so I added some more clip art.

My presentation went into serious overtime I think. Oh whatever. At least I said everything I wanted to say and didn't have to explain anything else after that.

After that I had the whole day free, wheeeee. Walked around Orchard and Vivo till my toes couldn't take it anymore (stupid shoes). Spent the night thinking of designs for all our ICM mock-ups.

I actually reached school on time on Tuesday afternoon. We spent 4 hours discussing. Well okay. We slacked a lot too. And had a cup noodle break. At least we made progress. :P

Today I have to be in school at 8.45 a.m. for the launch of the Training & Research Centre for Islamic Finance. We get acknowledged for our logo! And free food (hopefully)!

After which I have 2.5 hours to find lunch somewhere (since nothing in school is open) before returning to SP for our HSS campaign project meeting.

These will be two VERY long weeks.

And another thing. We got the NYAA-Nexus project grant. When I saw the SMS (I was falling asleep on the bus) I actually bent forward and hit my head on my bag. I would've hit it on the seat in front of me, but I don't think the person sitting in front of me would've appreciated it.

Seriously. I guess I'm supposed to be glad that someone actually wants to fund my very own children's story, but do you know how many other things I have going on next term? It's like 5 weeks of:

1. Spec dip final project

2. Peer mentoring

3. The HSS campaign

4. The ASEAN thingy (provided they don't forget about me/realise I'm not 20 yet)

5. The NTUC Media thingy (well at least we get paid)

6. Maybe Attitude (and maybe I should go on strike until they give me lots of CCA points)

And now this. Hmm. We haven't decided whether we want to take up the grant yet. I can't even remember what the story was about. Some little kids going to NDP for the first time or something like that...

Jessica wrote home at 2:14 am

Maybe a close up?

Ahh yes. GoalTV1. Channel 107.

Didn't I have some work to do? Like 4 hours ago?

Jessica wrote home at 1:25 am

But I am not telling you what is so screwed up yet.

Anyway, so I saw the results for the True Friend Test thingy.

How the heck did Sam know the answer for question 1??? And why did she think my favourite subject used to be Chinese???

Why did YQ click the "ignore" option for the purple question??? And did she click "Teacher" purely by chance???

I like the way you both knew my favourite Harry Potter book though. Hahaha.

Oh well. Thanks for taking time to do the lame test. (Btw my favourite question was the Malaysia one!) And if you attempt to make your own, please don't blame me if I fail. Hahahahaha.

Okay, back to my Monday.

I can walk properly but my left foot is still slightly swollen. Who knows why. Anyway I applied the oil again in the morning.........and subsequently ended up rushing to school.

My fears were unwarranted because, though I arrived at 8.15 a.m., very few people had turned up.

Had hotcakes + sausage, hashbrown and iced milo, courtesy of Ms Low. That was actually enough for the rest of the day.

Then we had the mock news conference thingy. Thank goodness I wasn't on the panel. I would've just ended up hiding under the table or something.

After that we had two hours to kill and tried to do some ICM. Ended up playing LexiPuzz on my laptop - which meant that by the time ICM actually started, my battery was running low. :P

I spent nearly the whole class doing and redoing the stupid schedule of events. Just when I thought we could get the thing done by the end of the class, Mr Wong pointed out about a gazillion things we'd missed. Yippee. Looks like an early Wednesday for me now.

By this time we'd been in school for 7 hours and more than ever (since this occurs every week) no one wanted to go for CIBM.

In the end a few of us went. We did a bit of extra work, presented it, then had a short break and were released.

FINALLY I could go to Orchard. After a week of being stuck at home (or Vivo).

It was a vaguely productive trip. I got the tee I wanted, just not in the right colour. But whatever. Oh and I saw fake Little Miss tees. How fun!

I took 143 to Vivo and explored the second floor first. Then I took the escalator down and walked into Zara.

The first thing I heard was a voice behind me saying, "Hey, you're from St. Hilda's right???"

What is it with Vivo and meeting St. Hilda's people?!!! I thought.

Anyway before I could turn around, who should appear in front of me but JJ.

At first I thought he was kidding, with the whole "Hey, you're from St. Hilda's right?" thingy. I mean, I was his Pub junior and had to tag around during our CCA council trial period and all that.

Then the next thing he said was, "But I forgot your name."

SEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!! Told you I was forgettable!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sheesh. I had half a mind to go all like, "Haha, that's funny you know, you look really familiar but I forgot your name too!!!"

Anyway. He said he'd seen me in Telok Blangah before (which brings up two questions - 1) what was he doing in a BLEAH place like Telok Blangah?, and 2) what was I doing lurking around Telok Blangah? [I like to pretend my neighbourhood doesn't exist]) but he'd forgotten my name so he didn't call me.

*rolls eyes*

Our conversation ended just as I realised my phone was ringing, but I didn't answer it in time. It was my mother, asking me why I still wasn't home.

Got too carried away window shopping. :P

Went home not long after and took a nap. Intended to wake up to watch the finale of ANTM 5 (they've been re-running all the previous seasons) but accidentally set my alarm to "12.00" instead of "0.00". Got up at 2 a.m.

Oh well. Watched that episode before anyway.

One last thing for this post. I received an email just the other day. Turns out I got a Merit prize for the Microsoft Office Specialist thingy.

That is rather disappointing. I could certainly have done with the extra CCA points that the 1st to 3rd prizes get. Not to mention a nice plaque. :P

My mother pointed out that I still won $50 and that means I made a profit of $40. Well she has a point.

I never see the positive in anything.

Jessica wrote home at 3:28 am

Anyway, since I am so nice I took the Tickle test.

Your IQ score is 136

Your Intellectual Type is Visual Mathematician. This means you are gifted at spotting patterns — both in pictures and in numbers. These talents combined with your overall high intelligence make you good at understanding the big picture, which is why people trust your instincts and turn to you for direction — especially in the workplace. And that's just some of what we know about you from your test results.

Other random (hilarious) stuff from the report:

Great Jobs For You

Because of the way you process information, these are just some of the many careers in which you could excel:

If the above paragraph is true then I am such a failure at life. :P

Outside of work, Visual Mathematicians tend to do well at strategic activities like chess.

Uh, I don't know how to play chess.

Your mathematical intelligence score represents your combined ability to reason and calculate. You scored relatively high, which means you're probably the one your friends look to when splitting the lunch bill or calculating your waitresses' tip. You may or may not be known as a math whiz, but number crunching might come a little easier to you than it does others.

I am positive the last time we were at Cartel, I actually blogged that Sam and YQ calculated the bill whilst I sat there with a headache.

In conclusion there is something very wrong here. Now if only this thing was actually reliable. Or maybe it actually is reliable and I scored 100 but they mixed my results with someone else's. You know, someone who is actually good in math and science?

I also had a headache after that so I didn't do the second one. Plus I have a lot of work to do and my sis is hogging the table in the living room. Now I'm forced to sweat it out at the kitchen table. BLAH.

(Don't ask me why I don't just do my work in my room. I've never ever in my whole life done work in my room. It just doesn't work.)

Oh, and before I end off this part, I have a much funner test for all of you to take! Go to http://oneishy.com/personality/

My KYTB lecturer gave us the link. It's to find out your temperament blend. I'm a Melancholy Choleric (almost purely Melancholy and about equal Choleric and Phlegmatic though), which was exactly what I got in our class test.

AND TAKE MY TRUE FRIEND TEST IN THE POST BELOW!!!!!!!!!!

Now......about the main topic of this post.

MY ANKLE.

I woke up on Wednesday morning feeling all happy with my foot propped up. Then it dawned on me that I would actually have to get out of bed and hobble to school.

And I realised that it sure as hell wasn't going to happen. I could barely walk.

So I decided to skip school and my mother brought me to a Chinese physician.

Now I don't have a problem skipping Wednesday's classes, since there's only one lecture. The problem with Wednesday is that I have peer mentoring right after that, and I already missed the last session.

Add that to the fact that the lecturer-in-charge is mysteriously incontactable, and I had to get PW and T to drop by the centre and tell her.

After that I could have peace of mind. We took the bus there and I hobbled all the way to the clinic.

The wait was very very very very long. There were only two people in front of me and yet it took AGES for my turn. Thank goodness I had the foresight to bring along The Roman Empire: A Very Short Introduction.

Then it was TIME.

I hobbled in and was asked to fill in a form.

It was completely in Chinese!!!!!!!

Sheesh. After much help, I filled it in and described the dramatic story of my ankle sprain.

The physician immediately decided that I needed acupuncture.

ACUPUNCTURE!!!!!!!!

It was exciting............

.............until she brought out the needles.

Anyone who says acupuncture doesn't hurt should just go throw themself off the nearest building.

It didn't help that my ankle was swollen and hurting enough. The two needles, despite the fact that it was only TWO needles, were the final straw.

She inserted them in, tweaked them here and there, then returned to her desk.

I was like, what the?!!!!!! How long are they going to be there?!!!!!!!!

After writing some stuff, the physician got up and went outside. I looked away and tried to forget the fact that there were two needles sticking out of my ankle at that exact moment.

It took all of my willpower to concentrate on forgetting, and it wasn't working.

Then my phone rang.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I AM IN NO MOOD TO HOLD A CONVERSATION RIGHT NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Turns out it was Mr Rajan, asking if I was happy about the good news I received the previous night (and which I will tell you at a later date).

I have never found a question more ironic.

Conversation over, the physician returned and twiddled with the needles again. Like leaving them alone doesn't hurt enough...

But finally she pulled them out. I could still feel phantom needles in my ankle. :P

After which I had to rotate my ankle and hobble around. It seemed slightly better.

I was prescribed some pills for blood circulation, as well as gauze and oil.

Then I hobbled along to the hawker centre with my mother. We had dry noodles. My mother finished first and I was close to finishing mine. I put down my chopsticks for a few seconds to wipe my glasses........

.........and the cleaner comes along and yanks my bowl away.

"NO!!!!!!!!!!" I said.

"You want or not?" she asked.

"YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!" I nodded my head vigorously.

She flung the remnants of my noodles into the trash bag.

What the hell.

I hobbled off in a bad mood. We caught a cab home and I spent the rest of the afternoon and napping. How nice.

The next day I woke up wanting to go shopping. But of course I couldn't, I had to stay at home for my darling ankle's sake.

Except.........I found a loophole.

I needed a passport photo urgently and I realised I had suddenly run out.

So I convinced my mother to follow me to HarbourFront to take a new one.

Of course, I could've just taken it at some photo store downstairs, but you see my point. :P

I had fun hobbling around the shops. Even though it was crazily crowded, as expected on a public holiday.

Friday was the end of my fun. I'd missed nearly all of the previous Friday's classes, so I couldn't afford to miss school again.

Hobbled to MIA and managed to stay awake till our 15 min break. I really fell asleep during the break.

After that I hobbled to the foodcourt and managed to find an empty table. Had lunch and hobbled in the direction of the MRT station.

KYTB was fun as usual. Turns out I already have a group so the worrying was unnecessary.

Then I had to walk back to SB. By this time I realised I could walk pretty normally so I was happier. Reached the lecture theatre early.

Less than half the class turned up.

After the lecture I took the elevator (I've never taken the elevator so much before) up to the fourth floor and to the conference room.

We were briefed about writing for NTUC's newsletter until almost 5 p.m. - by which time I was an hour late for spec dip.

Took the elevator down to the DMS and thankfully the whole class was in the reception area, where the hydraulic arm thingy or whatever it's called was being assembled.

We were told how the thing operates and what shots it's good for. Then Mr Loh asked us to go in our groups and come up with a shot from our final project that might require it.

Then I could finally leave. What a long day of hobbling.

Jessica wrote home at 1:35 am

TAKE MY TEST!!!

Create your own Friend Test here

I don't think it's particularly easy, although I decided to be nice for some questions. You're lucky I didn't ask who my second-favourite soccer player is, for instance. :P

Anyway, I shall update about me and my ankle later tonight. Or early Monday morning.

Jessica wrote home at 4:30 am