Fireworks

Fireworks never fail to excite me! The neon colours, sparks and noise all add to the festivity. It is almost impossible to feel down when one is busy admiring fireworks display.

I had the opportunity to attend the Singapore Fireworks Celebration 2008 on Saturday. Got free tickets from the purchase of my LG microwave.

It was raining cats and dogs on Sat PM though, but lucky it reduced to a drizzle in the late evening. So aunty me - armed with my brolly and shades (yes, I needed both items to protect my new-found perfect vision) - was able to view the spectacular display of fireworks at Marina Bay. The rain became heavier just as the fireworks display started, but never mind the rain - the show was awesome. As I sat there staring at the display of lights against the dark-pitched sky, I thought to myself how fireworks were like many many shooting stars at one go. Its gorgeous and reminds me of the first time I saw my first spectacular shooting star in Australia.

Fireworks are a sure way to grab anyone's attention - young and old, who wouldn't like them? A great way to celebrate, it never fails to excite, and at least for me, I know I'll never tire of this great invention.

Here are some photos of the fireworks, but they definitely don't do justice to the actual display. Always better to see them firsthand.

Some other photos taken after the display.

Pre and Post Lasik

It was a gruelling 4 weeks having to stay away from contact lens. Having to don spectacles from the age of 9 led to the self-realisation of the vanity trait that was inherent in me (well, most ladies are vain and few would stamp their feet in protest of this fact).

For a start, I would usually avoid wearing glasses unless necessary. Hence my spectacles were found more often hanging off the middle of my pinafore instead of my face..and it didn't help that I had a flat nose so I was constantly irritated by my glasses slipping off my face. Life was such until I was introduced to contact lenses - freedom from glasses! Still, I consciously alternated between glasses and contact lenses because my eyes would get irritable if I were to wear contact lens for consecutive days. It was always my wish to undergo Lasik, but I always hesitated, having heard of the risks, as well as having concerns with my unstable degree.

But finally, having heard all the positive comments from my friends who had gone for Lasik, I decided to take it up. So that was the start of my 4 weeks off contact lens. In some way, it was also a path of self-discovery. During these 4 weeks, I realised that I could not bear to put on any make-up or wear skirts..not with my spectacles. Somehow, inherently I felt that glasses made me look ugly. I inspected myself closely in front of the mirror..I know I'm no beauty, but certainly I don't qualify as ugly with my glasses rite? But nonetheless, that was how I felt, so for the entire 4 weeks, I was always dressed very simply. But the advantage was that it halved my time spent in dressing up - minus the time taken to rinse and wear my contact lens, putting on make-up - I certainly became more efficient, and in a way, less vain.

The day of transformation came on Thursday - 21 August 2008. I finally had my Lasik operation. I was feeling a little apprehensive and nervous. This is not the first operation in my life, but nonetheless fears were unavoidable because the gift of sight is so significant to me. My right eye had also been itching on and off for the past 2 weeks, which was why I decided to postpone the operation by a week. But the surgeon allayed my concerns and said that the itch shouldn't pose any problem.

The surgery was not as scary as I thought it would be. I just made sure I kept my head stationary and my eye fixed on the blinking red light. Otherwise, it was just a bit of eye pressure (presumably to cut my cornea?) and then the laser zapping away to trim my cornea to give me 6-6 vision. It was painless and fast, and my doctor was most encouraging.

The first night my eyes felt a bit of glare and there was slight pressure in my right eye. The next time, my eyes felt much better. But I still feel that my eyes are tired. And I am still trying not to overstrain my eyes...resting and closing my eyes as often as I remember. My fears of the risks of Lasik had made me realise how important and how precious the gift of sight is. And I would say it is the most important amongst all our senses, including ladies' 6th sense.

I thank God that my Lasik was successful, and I now have perfect eyesight. I just hope to be able to take care of my new eyes so that my vision will always remain this way (Btw, I'm drinking a cup of wolfberry tea now). And today for the first time in 4 weeks, I wore a skirt out =)

The convenience of life without glasses. For an instance, I still subconsciously tell myself that I need to go and remove my contact lens later. But the next moment, I remind myself that I now have perfect eyesight! I'm glad I made the decision, and certainly, I echo the same comments from all my friends - No Regrets!

Happy 43rd Birthday Singapore!

This year's National Day Song is great..the tune and the meaningful lyrics got me hooked the 1st time I saw the MTV on TV. Now I stay glued to the TV whenever the MTV comes on.

Thanks to the great invention of Internet and Youtube, I can rewatch the MTV over and over with just a few clicks on my laptop. If this was 10 years ago, I'll probably be holding a tape recorder to the TV and recording the song onto a casette tape. So many thanks to advancements in technology I have already ceased this primitive practice.

Shine For Singapore - Hady Mirza


There's also a Chinese version by Cai Chun Jia, although I much prefer the English version by Hady.

Qing Kong Wan Li - Joi Chua


Listening to National Day Songs brings me back to primary and secondary days where I'll be crooning National Day Songs almost every other day in school. In those days, my top favs were "Heritage" and "It's the Little Things". For the past few years, National Day Songs have become more contemporary and are no different from K-songs..I'm hoping the MTV of this year's National Day Song will be available at KTV so that I can belt to my heart's content. I'm already starting to do so at home..opps.

As National Day approaches and I am reminded how a little fishing village 43 years ago survived against all odds to become a busy financial hub today, I feel a sense of national pride. I hereby unashamedly proclaim that I am proud to be a Singaporean, and I thank God for Singapore. My life would be totally different if I was born in a different country. I love the green in Singapore, the excellent spread of local delicacies, the strict laws against littering, great security which gives me peace of mind, our capable and uncorrupted government, freedom of religion, and our belief in racial harmony and equality.

As a tribute to the country I love, I've posted the videos of some other National Day Songs which like:

There's No Place I'd Rather Be - Kit Chan


We Will Get There - Stephanie Sun


Where I Belong - Tanya Chua


Home - Kit Chan


And here's a song written and sung by my pastor..although this is not exactly my type of song, i think it is apt to post it because the video includes footages from World World II and serves as a good reminder of how far Singapore has progressed, and to be grateful for the peace and security we are enjoying everyday!

Keyboard Classes

Post MFE..I'm leading a life free from lectures and textbooks. Currently only in 1st gear when it comes to sending out job applications. I admit life is pretty good in the absence of work- and school-related stresses, but at least I've embarked on a meaningful and enriching activity - weekly keyboard classes.

Meaningful because as far as memory lane takes me, I've always wanted to learn the piano/keyboard, but somehow always proscrastinated. So it means a lot to me that I am in the process of fulfilling one of my goals in life. Enriching because I believe music enriches one's mind and has the unique ability to touch one's soul.

Every week, there is a theme behind the songs we learn to play. Other than having to grasp with the challenges of playing the keyboard with my stiff fingers, I also learn more about God through the class.

Last week, I learnt that God often referred to Himself as Yahweh (Eternally Existing & Unchanging One). At first, it meant nothing to me. But as I sat there and pondered, it dawned upon me how awesome this name was. The name seemed to have an aura and authority that evokes both awe and fear in me.

This week, I learnt that the universe contains at least 1 billion galaxies, and I like the way my instructor puts it - we are individuals in Singapore, which is part of South East Asia, which is part of Asia, which is part of Earth, which is part of the Solar System, which is part of the Milky Way, which is part of 1 galaxy, which is part of 1 billion galaxies. And God only had to speak, and the universe was created.

To put that into perspective, we are infinitesimally small in comparison to the universe, but we are not insignificant to Him!

This morning I was awoken by tummyaches, and had to rush to the toilet a couple of times. After that I felt perfectly fine and went out. After being out for 8 hours, I felt slight twitches in my stomach on my train ride home, which were signs of impending tummyaches - and when that happens - resumption of mad rushes to the loo. To me, it was abit unusual how my tummyaches only resumed when I am back home. Psychological? Maybe it had to do with the teh-si I drank when I was out? Or maybe God was just reminding me He has full control of all situations, even this

When I sit to think, and put my heart and mind to remind myself that God really does exists, my perspective of life changes. He is in full control all the time, even though events do not always unfold the way I would like them to. I am not sure how my job interview went, but I know that He will give me a job with a firm of His choice in His own time, and I'll just have to do my best, work hard, contribute, and try to be a blessing to the colleagues around me.

"Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom." (Psalm 90:12)

Friends?

Writing within the confines of a public blog limits freedom of expression to only things that one would like to share with family and friends. I write to share, but also to remember. So decision is to record it. Little blogs to remember who I think I am, or perhaps to get to know myself better.

Throws me back about 10 years ago...an incident I still remember. I cried in the shower, reluctantly went upstairs after ensuring it wasn't obvious I had teared. Friends come, friends go. But there are some friends I know would have been my best-est of friends if I didn't choose to let go. I thank God I still have some really great friends and I treasure them, but I still miss the others who were once important in my life. I think of them, do they think of me?

Its all wrong..completely wrong and I have no right to feel this way. I think I know myself, but actually not very well. Realisation occurs only when it happens, and hmm, I must really get to know myself better. I'm abit surprised by myself, but I know time heals (though never entirely) wounds. I'll try to work it out cheerfully. Don't worry, be happy rite! I have many other blessings to be thankful about.

The above seems incoherent and confusing? Probably, since they come from bits and pieces of my life in random order. But feeling better already, but still dreading to start on my financial computing homework. In my entire life, I have never encountered such a challenging subject...not my cup of tea, I would say. But nonetheless, I'm going to drink it up and hopefully get a decent score for exams next week.

Wish me luck! =)

Life is Such...

5 weeks into the course in Pittsburgh and just 2 weeks left. Other than my earlier blog entry, there hasn't been anything terribly exciting to blog about my life in Pittsburgh.

It has been school work and coding, and more work, with the occasional entertainment from US$5 movies which comes with free but not too yummy butter popcorn. My other form of stress relief comes from the indulgence in desserts. Discovered really nice cheesecake and chocolate cake sold at Southside Works. Also, the "branded" icecream in Singapore is going at warehouse prices in US. Ben & Jerrys sells for US$10 for 3 tubs, and Hagen Daz is a better bargain with 4 tubs going for only US$10. One can literally go ice-cream crazy here. And today, I just found out I eat more than my guyfriends!! I'm feeling so guilty now, but I'm balancing my frequent indulgence with exercise. Its a simple joy to jog in Pittsburgh cos the weather is simply great..there's cool air gushing at you, the surroundings are pretty, and it really does help to have a group of friends who are exercising with you =)

Anyway, what prompted this blog is a short one-line message I received last week. I dread negative news. And such news always set me thinking about life. I want to lead life as meaningfully as I can. I am already set to pick up keyboard after my graduation, I want to spend more time with my family, I want to resume volunteer work..there're so many things I want to do, and I am going to try to accomplish them, hopefully soon.

Just this afternoon, I received confirmation of the terrible news. I'm not particularly close to my aunt, but its just saddening that someone I know has passed on. I didn't even had the chance to bid farewell.

I don't like life that is out of my control. And with age, I only know that more terrible news will come. I don't want to hear about it, but I also can't avoid it. This may seem childish for someone of my age, but if I could wish, I wish time will stand still, and life will always be the way it is now.

I still miss my grandpa very much. He passed on when I was still an ignorant brat in secondary school, and I never had the chance to show him my love. This is one of my greatest regret. I never had a chance to make him proud of me. What would I give up for him to be here with me now.

There is this particular song by Mariah Carey that never fails to bring tears to my eyes. Sighz, life goes on I guess...

===================================================
"Bye Bye"

This is for my peoples who just lost somebody
Your best friend, your baby, your man, or your lady
Put your hand way up high
We will never say bye (no, no, no)
Mamas, daddies, sisters, brothers, friends and cousins
This is for my peoples who lost their grandmothers
Lift your head to the sky 'cause we will never say bye

As a child there were them times
I didn't get it but you kept me in line
I didn't know why you didn't show up sometimes
It's something more than saying "I miss you"
But when we talked too
All them grown folk things
Separation brings
You never let me know it
You never let it show because
You loved me and obviously
There's so much more left to say
If you were with me today face to face

[Chorus:]
I never knew I could hurt like this
And everyday life goes on like
"I wish I could talk to you for awhile"
"I wish I could find a way try not to cry"
As time goes by
And soon as you reach a better place
Still I'll give the whole world to see your face
And I'm right here next to you
It feels like you gone too soon
The hardest thing to do is say bye bye

(Bye Bye [3x])
Bye bye

And you never got the chance to see how good I've done
And you never got to see me back at number one
I wish that you were here to celebrate together
I wish that we could spend the holidays together

I remember when you used to tuck me in at night
With the Teddy Bear you gave to me that I held so tight
I thought you were so strong
That you can make it through whatever
It's so hard to accept the fact you're gone forever

[Chorus]

(bye bye bye bye bye bye [3x])
Bye bye

This is for my peoples who just lost somebody
Your best friend, your baby, your man, or your lady
Put your hand way up high
We will never say bye (no, no, no)
Mamas, daddies, sisters, brothers, friends and cousins
This is for my peoples who lost their grandfather
Lift your head to the sky 'cause we will never say bye

[Chorus]

1 week in Pittsburgh

To my family and friends who are wondering how happystella has been in Pittsburgh.

This blog is long overdue. I have a half-completed blog entry on my first week in US during which I toured LA and Las Vegas. Taking into account the painful amount of time it takes to sort, select and upload the travel pictures, I've decided to temporarily skip that 1 week of glorious fun to provide an update to (highly probable) final phase of my study life. At this point, I don't see myself study for the many years to come, although man (and Stella, notwithstanding) can be fickle.

I've just placed aside the computing notes and fully wary that I've only 7 hours to my morning alarm buzzing, I hope to keep this blog short and sweet. But I do miss writing and hope to write endless pages, alas, time waits for no man.

Accomodation:
I'm staying in a clean, nice 2-bedroom apartment. I have received varying levels of service from the apartment staff, though most are generally pleasant.

But prior to my arrival, I had the most unpleasant encounter with Stacy, apparently the manager. 1.5 weeks before my scheduled arrival to Pittsburgh, she had unilaterally cancelled the 3-bedroom booking I made almost 2 months ago, and merely informed me via email. I called the apartment umpteen times, spoke to almost all the counter staff there were, found out that lady who sent me the curt email was on leave and the rest of the staff I spoke to could not help me on this matter, before I finally spoke to her. Talkig to her felt like I was stupidly banging against the wall, to the point that I was at my wit's end and got my hubby (who is generally more logical and calm) to speak to Stacy who probably is acquainted with the real meaning of customer service. All efforts came to no avail.

And despite all the unpleasantries, I still had to stay at this apartment because it was just too late for me to look for alternative accomodation. On the bright side of things, the other counter staff I've met are great and helpful, all with the exception the woman who doesn't bother to even smile at you. I certainly hope she is not the manager. I don't think I'm biased against her. Even my rational hubby thinks her quality of service is really substandard.

So everything at Forbes is great..from the free Swiss Miss Hot Chocolate to the extra study desk in my apartment...except for her whom I don't care much about anyway.

Food:
To all Subway fans back at home, Quizno sandwiches win Subway's handsdown anytime! Competition between both sandwich chains appear tough. Both chains are currently having $5 footlong promotions, and the Quizno ads on TV blatantly mentions that they include more ingredients than Subway! I'm not sure such an advertisement could be aired without lawsuits back at home.

All bread and no rice makes Stella a dull gal. Lucky for my friends and myself, we found a Taiwanese eatery a few streets away that serves pretty decent Chinese food at reasonable prices. The "gu lu yok" is simply delicious and I've a good mind to make it my staple for the coming weeks.

In school, I haven't explored that many eating places, but I think the one I will patronise most often would be the food truck selling Thai food. Ha, looks that the Singaporean me simply can't live without Asian food.

Occasionally, we also have the cooking sessions...only 3 sessions so far, but definitely more anticipated. The general rule is that gals will do the cooking, and the guys the cooking. I'm tempted to ask the guys to cook (more than maggie mee) but I need time for confidence building, hee hee. Oh, by the way, we succeeded in cooking rice using a normal pot! Quite pleased as I thought cooking rice would be a pretty formidable task.

School:
Challenging. I spent 1.5 days writing the code for one question, and would probably take more time if not for my friends. The subjects have more coding than I would like. But I'm trying to look at the bright side of things and hoping this is a good chance to brush up my programming skills. Project work also generally requires more brainwork, hopefully it'll add some mental agility. I'm expecting more work, less play in the upcoming weeks. So in the meantime, trying to put in consistent work, enjoying whilst I can, and just to try my best.

Weather:
Freezing! This morning, it was about 8 degrees Celsius. Lecture hall was pretty chilly and I had to down a cup of hot cocoa to fight off the cold. Lunch time was much worse. I wore 3 layers of clothing, but nonetheless, still shivered on my short walk to buy lunch. Weather is supposed to be sunny tomorrow with a high of 20 degrees, but the low is 7.2 degrees! Brrr...right now its actually a bit cold in my apartment cos the heater doesnt seem to be functioning well. But I'm glad I'm indoors. Every time I leave the guy's apartment (just a few rooms away), I've to run back to my apartment cos the chilly wind. Let's see how I'll manage the cold tomorrow. I really miss Mr Sunshine.

Transportation:
Transportation comes in 2 forms: walking or bus. And patience is tested when waiting for buses. It is not uncommon to wait for over half an hour for the dear bus, and I have learnt not to trust the bus numbers stated at the bus-stops.

But the bus drivers have been generally helpful, and we met a really nice bus-driver on Sunday on our way to Waterworks Mall. We took the wrong bus and was kinda stranded at a bus-stop waiting for our bus. Weather was cold and the wind was blowing furiously. A kind bus-driver who had apparently finished his scheduled drive picked us from the bus-stop and drove us all the way to the Mall! Thank God for such a great driver!

Everything else under the sun:
Caught some exciting scenes the past few days. About a week ago, saw a several police cars speeding by with their sirens blasting out loud. And above us was a helicopter...perfect scene taken out of a movie.

Just this afternoon on my way back to the apartment, my friends and I saw a group of policeman surrounding a man, putting him down on the floor before handcuffing him. It was pretty exciting, and a bit scary cos one wonders why it needs so many trained police officers to handle a man.

Great friends, great company. Having friends around helps to ease the part of me who is missing home, the summer-all-year round weather, my cute little berry, my food, my family, my friends.

For now, I think I'm settling in pretty well in Pittsburgh. Hopefully all continues to go well and I hope to make my stay here as memorable and enjoyable as possible (ex- all the homework and exams, of course!).