kbox with siu was fun! one of the merits of having only 2 ppl in a kbox rm means i can hog the mike for the ENTIRE duration! (: heehee. my singing was badd but i think siu didnt notice how much i was trying to imitate her bcos apparently she thinks her singing's bad too when it wasnt. hahah.

then i was so darn indecisive during shopping, i ended up buying nth at all. zara sale was madd ( then again, zara's stuff are always marked up then return back to normal during sales, & i cant rmb going into a zara shop w/o sale ) and all the clothes are tossed everywhere. i do so love zara clothes but always cant find my size/colour/cutting. well nvm. maybe i shld go during non-sale period ( which is..when? ) so tht stuff are neater and the place is more "shopping friendly".

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i feel tht ive progressed qt alot for tdy's driving lesson (:

i drove pass sn tdy. sudd realised tht its very hard to drive there! hehs. maybe slopes is not one of my strong points. basically got a feel of the roads covered for pract test, the different road conditions ( i didnt know there were so many ard yck area ) and my car didnt stall as much now (: (:

soon i'll be a competent driver. hopefully by yr end! (:

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my uni checklist:

calculator ( my tuition kid spoilt it )
bag ( current one is in pieces )
pen refills
clear folders for my ring file
clothes ( wardrobe is not enuff for me to wear everyday )
formal jacket ( so tht i dun look too shabby when im too tired to dress up )
laptop

anyone wanna go shopping with me? (:
goodness that will cost me qt alot of money =x

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recently i often take bus 169 frm my hse to woodlands for tuition. along the way there's admiralty road with all the industrial estates.

during peak hrs ( ard 6+pm there will be many foreign workers, some of them cycling, some of them simply jaywalking to the pickup waiting for them.

somehow i cant help wondering whether they are afraid of dying in road accidents ( ive seen many near accidents and its not the bus driver's fault nor the fault of other drivers on the road ) or they simply dont treasure their life.

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tuition has made me exposed to different families and children's learning attitudes.

but in general i feel that there's a generation gap even between me and kids afew yrs younger. out of the many students i have taught, only but a mere few actually wanted to study. its so saddening having to force kids in their critical years to study for their major exams, to make them do their tys and assessment books PROPERLY, and to test them again and again to drill wadeva facts into their head.

most of the time i feel guilty for giving tuition because i feel that the family isnt very rich to begin with ( they are not poor either, just ur average typical family ) and the kids are like simply wasting their parent's money by forcing their parents to engage a tutor simply to sit down with them so that they will do afew maths sums.

at the very least they can show some appreciation to the tutor for teaching them? no most of the time they think that since the tutor is being paid, the tutor owe it to them to teach them and perform miracles so that their results can shoot up to the sky.

ive had afew very cool tuition kids. this pair of boys who call me miss dawn, and afew sec 4s who really genuinely wanted to study. that's my motivation for tutoring, in the hope that i can help those who really have the desire to improve themselves. that's what makes me put through "9-x=7 find x" and "2^x=16 find x" kind of qns for 45mins ( mind u that's a sec 4 im tutoring those algebra eqns ) and horribly attention-seeking pri sch kids.

i dont know what to say. i'll be starting school soon ( perhaps slightly later than my nus & ntu counterparts ) and i'll try my best to tutor whatever students i have now until their final exams as part of my responsibility.

til then, im looking out for dates for days/weeks leading up to my bdae. my friends out there please dont pull that disappearing act ( i promise not to blatantly ask for presents ok ) because i really love to have company ( and i can shift tuition if necessary (: )

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more driving on the roads now.



i have great appreciation for the people who drive for a living. spore roads are HARD to drive, with the many traffic lights, and the predestrians who jaywalk indiscriminately. add that to the horrible ppl out there who take pride in spotting L plate drivers and horn repeatedly for fun, and it all adds up to =x



still, its fun to drive, and cool tht my instructor had enuff faith in me to let me ply the road along with other seasoned drivers (:



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went back to rh for med checkup. interesting being a patient and not a staff there. have to admit they were pretty efficient ( judging frm the no of ppl there ) and service was good too. not bad guess they managed to hide all the backroom crap and present a really shiny image.

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highlights of today's tuition.

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i stand at the door. gareth looks at me. walks away and say, there's a man at the door. its not dawn.

next: let me show you how i eat. he stuffs his mouth with food, then open it. all the half chewed stuff flow out of his mouth like a semi-liquid. ewww. he laughs.

mom: you know, gareth had a fight with his tutor. he sprayed water on her and she left half-way, before the lesson ended.

but she's smelly and has body odour and bad breath! so eeky.

ok i ask dawn to help u out for awhile. but that dosent mean that i wont ask gyllinda not to come again.

looks at me, used his finger to cut across his throat, mouthed silently " ure dead meat " with a snickering grin.

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mind you i was supposed to be his sis's tutor ( who is much more simple to tutor ) and not that attention-seeking boy.

hav to admit he's sort of like 3j, that kind of noisy class guys. and he's very adorable like his sister.

but he's gonna be a handful to tutor. i dont want to be sprayed with water =x

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*hint* its exactly ONE month to a very significant event (:

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2nd driving lesson! (:

more practice on the roads tdy under very wet and rainy conditions. and abit of slopes, more turning, and the most exciting part--being on a major road instead of ulu roads in the private estates.

was so interesting to drive along with so many cars! ok they were unfriendly and when they saw the L plates they horn at me for fun =x and my engine kept stalling on the road ( more horns ). traffic lights are tough, as with big lorries and indiscriminate parking of cars. no worries! the car is intact. no crashes yet (:

with luck, i will be a fast learner, and plus many more lessons, i will get my license by the end of the yr. then i will be the best reckless driver ever (:

anyone wanna hop in for a ride? =p

my 1st driving lesson!

granted, it was abit of theory initially since i need to know the controls on my instructor's car and all. and i stoned abit during that short theory. then when i got to the driver's seat i was like disaster in the making until i was restricted to 20km/h.

hahaha guess my instructor was afraid i will crash his car. and i think so too =p

but anw, i think i will stick to manual cars! bcos its more practical to learn once and be able to drive both manual and auto cars. besides, ive alr progressed in 1 1/2 hr to do turning, slopes, start/stop, change lanes, humps. ok so it was 20km/h but well i guess the instructor had to protect his car =p

fun (:

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my recent purchase (: i like these more than those garish earrings on the market nowadays

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have been walking ard various places and shopping/window shopping lately, since ive got a shopping list tht i accumulated for GSS ( and yes they are necessities not frivolous stuff ) and you know just how picky i am abt what i buy.

noticed quite afew things.

the singapore landscape has changed. bit by bit. shops change, the malls have extensions or new retail concepts, new eateries, etc. in fact, the shopping experience is now more towards suburban areas and heartlands. somehow the lure of orchard road is like not really as great as before. the 77th street concept is like adapted in many malls nowadays. with more and more newer malls/extensions opening up, i wonder how saturated will the market be.

i was at novena today and i was qt surprised with the extensions. when all the shops open i would like to shop there! much like an all-in-one concept. places like central, vivocity...there are more places than just orchard road and with the hinderance to the mrt station exits, its not very nice to go there anymore. i rmb feeling sick of cityhall bcos i was there too often alr ( since i worked in bugis ). somehow, suburban areas give more privacy, less crowds, and more proximity. with such evolution, its not really necessary to travel to town to shop anymore.

in fact, heartland areas like woodlands and tampines ( 2 of my rather frequented areas ) are developing very fast. so maybe next time, there isnt much need to travel to town to shop heehee. maybe amk too, but the hub's slow in developing tho.

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the transport network has evolved too. now its like all centralised to mrt stations, then buses are mainly feeder buses that bring ppl to and from mrt stations. bulk trunk longer dist buses are slowly being re-routed. i dont mind mrt, but actually, sometimes, i prefer buses. they can be much faster than taking mrt to town to change trains =x

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met up qt afew ppl these days! pirates with elin. its a nice movie and so long its worth ur money (: then shopping with winnie yest where i got myself a new pair of heels! (: and then tdy was with mc who "updated" me on stuff hehs.

it was upon hearing all the rj stuff, and looking back, that i felt i really have changed. previously, i was too caught up with all the chatter behind my back and all. the backstabbing and bitching. oh well and gossipping too. esp abt dy/dz. and all kinds of =x that made me very very =x abt rj until now.

guess ive been lucky to enjoy certain parts of school then. yet now, looking back, i realised tht i dont really care. all the who's who and what's what, relationship scandals, bitching backstabbing oh-so-and-so-didnt-get-into-this/that kind of convo dosent move me anymore, unless its someone really close to me.

i think i sounded very ya-i-think-i-heard-of-it-bt-didnt-bother-to-take-notice-of-it kind of way when mc was telling me stuff. haha. im juz alittle =x over stuff ive experienced.

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been reading the papers these days since im really free. so here are 2 interesting issues that normal ppl who read the papers/listen to the news/engage in small talk will most probably know about it.

1. nets raising transation fees.

so i thought about it. ok it makes sense if nets need more money due to wadeva undisclosed reason. then shops will probably have to pass the costs on to consumers. like for eg: pay more to use nets or else pay cash. esp for small retailers or stuff like sales ( esp in sun plaza central portion where always got sales going on ) there's only cash or nets mode of payment. so assuming i as a consumer want to avoid paying more, i pay cash.

so assuming the majority will think the same way as me, the majority, when asked to pay more to use nets, will opt to pay cash. the result: longer queues at atm machines ( not like its not long enuff alr, esp for dbs/posb atms ) the atms will run out of cash faster ( since more ppl go draw money ) banks will have longer queues, will need more manpower to be employed to count the cash ( since more cash is changing hands ) more security guards ( since ppl are carrying more cash with them for shopping hence robbery rates may increase )....

etc. the result? CASHLESS society? hoho. nice one.

i personally, love nets when im buying stuff. bcos i hate carrying too much money with me. esp coins. so troublesome. but, i will def avoid nets if being forced to by higher prices. on the flip side, if im a shopowner, i wouldnt want to bear the increased nets costs.

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2. university woes.

one is closing down.
another 3 are facing letters frm parents saying abt "why my daughter/son cant get into local university"

personally, i have to say that, nus is really not being very efficient. plus, annoying when they keep calling me for unrelated stuff.

and competition? well sadly. this is dragon year after all.

if writing into the press can change things, i will also write in lor. and so will my friends, and like the majority of the parents/kids who didnt get their desired choices? lol

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hahah great facial date with grace!

heehee. i think the jean yip facial is not bad. at least better than the previous one i went.

then went to conquer GSS (: but this yr's GSS is not good. the discounts are like gosh. i think i'll rather buy post-sale. sighs.

went to IT fair and gosh. i like viao laptop. but its EX.

anws, had a great day chatting and indulging with icecream and such. (:

its been a long time since i chilled out.

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