Have yourself a merry little Christmas

Received quite a number of cards this year, although it was lesser than last year's, which was still fewer than the year before. Hmmm, either my PR skills have become worse or I'm becoming anti-social and exclusive with my friends. And I suspect the latter. Oh well.

The sweetest card came from Andrina, mans, I wouldn't be surprised if I find ants all over it tomorrow!

The most candid one came from Rebekah. It was also the most well-written one, poignant and honest.

The one that made me want to cry was from Evangelin! Thanks!

I had Christmas dinner at my aunt's house. Glued to the TV, watching 'Don't forget the lyrics', when suddenly, this huge 'BANG!' sounded. To my horror, my 5 year-old-cousin stupidly jumped from the sofa and banged his head on the corner of the glass coffee table. His mother quickly checked him out, but I bolted the minute I saw this huge drop of blood on my aunt's hand. Scared was I! In short, my uncle and aunt sent him to KK hospital, in which he received 7 stitches. Meanwhile, we babysitted my other 3 cousins. It was pretty fun. Oh gosh, I love them so much.

All in all, despite the fright, it was a mightily good Christmas! I thank God for His awesome love and the world's most precious gift to us all, Jesus Christ.

GPA

GPA (Grade point average) has got to be the nemesis of every college student and not surprisingly, it was the hot topic of our conversations this afternoon. Hanging out with some dear SMU friends this afternoon, I shared this to them:

Me: College education is not about grades, it's about getting a bigger worldview and insightful perspectives of real life. I find too many students in SMU shallow and for fleeting moments, sometimes, they just appear dumb. [They can be so much more.] You guys have to start reading things like Time or The Economist, non-fiction books like The Tipping Point etc.

Be opinionated, challenged and objective.

We also had did 2 rounds of bowling today. The stakes were, losers [turned out to be Aaron and I] were to treat winners [Walter and Fatimah] 100g of Famous Amos cookies each. I remain adamant in saying that it was so unfair because I really suck at bowling! Losing was a sure thing for me, and poor Aaron, got dragged down. After the game, I said:

Me: Can we not place stakes on things I'm not good at, like bowling? Let's challenge each other on GPA, haha, how about that? At least, it motivates us to study harder.

Walter had the best proposal. He'd treat anyone of us if we had a GPA of 3.7 but we would have to treat him if he attained at least 3.4. Woohoo!

After Fatimah left, I asked the two guys their views on relationships. Surprisingly, they really want to stay single until after they graduate. Aaron asked us if we would want children, I said yes.

Aaron: I'll never have children!
Me: Good luck finding someone who thinks like you then.
Aaron: Children are only cute until 5 years old. So after they're 5, how?

...

Me [in reply to their response to be single]: Don't you feel lonely, especially during festive seasons? You wanna get someone a present. Well the present's bought but that someone's not there!
Walter: Exactly, I totally understand that. But you have to deal with what's important first.
Aaron: Aiyah, guys nevermind la. Can get married at 70 anyway, and to a young lady at that!

That's true.

Present of the year!

Celestial diamond cut ear studs from Goldheart. Because of my sensitive skin to metals, only gold/white gold/platinum material can touch my ear. Thanks Daddy!

PASSED!

By the grace of God, I passed my traffic police driving test!

I had to take the full route of Route No. 6, that meant filtering 3 lanes so that I could eventually do a U-turn. Also for the circuit course, I nearly mounted the kerb at the crank course. So I quickly braked and did a small reverse. My heart was pounding!

At this point I really want to thank Mr Ng, my instructor, a man who minces no words. With 29 years of experience, he sure knows his stuff. Those of you who are learning manual at school, get out and find Mr Ng!

I also did all kinds of weird stuff today. The choir exco people did a photo shoot using my Dad's latest Nikon D90 camera. Check it out.

The second one's pretty iconic.

Join us!

The SMU Chamber Choir will be singing at the Esplanade Upper Concourse this Saturday and Sunday at 5, 7 and 8 pm! Come and support!

Choir@Istana

Our only exchange student in choir, Agnes (Ah-nia-s) from France, is leaving the next day. Well of course, Aaron is behind doing his usual antics.

Sops and Altos

Basses and Tenors (Ernest is missing though)

Merry Christmas, fling!

We, the SMU Chamber Choir, sang Adios Nonino ata small dinner party which the President hosted at the Istana. Wow, my first performance is a real choir at such an ostentatious place! We took a photo with President Nathan, but of course, not with my camera. And we were the only performing group, surprisingly. I'm not very sure we sang well cos I find it hard to hear what's really good or bad.

Oh yeah, I also watched Bolt last night, after the performance, with some people from the choir. If you fully want to enjoy the show, don't watch the trailers or read the synopsis. I believe it'll be nicer to watch then. It's a Disney animation, not the usual Dreamworks or Pixar ones. Comparing it to the latest Madagascar 2, it's hard to say which is better. Funny-wise, Mada 2 is a tad better. I find that when it comes to animation, the weirder the characters, the funnier. Mada 2 had PLENTY of weird creatures, while Bolt has 2. Nevertheless, GO WATCH BOLT.

Cards and letters

My friends and I were discussing my lack of sentimentality - aka heartlessness. Consider this, I throw away cards and letters that people give me after a while. My lame reasons are that I have no storage space to put them away and I hardly take out any of these things to get a second look.

Me: Look, I like letters that come digitally, like emails! You can save them forever!

My friends are affronted by my absurdity, looks like I'm not getting any pretty cards this year. HAHA.