dalena | 25 | counting fancies
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a dancer with mosaic
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4th feb 1986
dalena@gmail.com
clearing out her wardrobe



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layout: detonatedlove♥
pictures: ohhspontaneityy
stocks: _excentric_
hits:

I have to say that I really do like the new SMU town campus quite a fair bit - the buildings look somewhat like shopping malls, with their glassy exteriors and clean edges - and we all know that shopping malls always appeal to dalena lee, don't we? :P

Vivace was really quite fun, despite all the moaning and groaning we all went through what with half of us not getting enough sleep the night before. I topped the lack-of-sleep charts with only 2 hours of sleep last night, though. Similarly sleep-deprived tzeyi kindly gave me a lift to school again - oh gosh, this is starting to become a habit!

The original plan was to walk through the underground concourse and visit all the CCA booths with the OG, but since poor tzeyi was orientation-group-less, I decided to walk around with him, michelle and shan'er instead. I'm glad I did, though, because they really are good fun and great company.

one of the smuve buses


Before we even reached campus green in the morning, we were unluckily held back by a procession of buses full of people waving cheesily at the roads and other fellow unfortunate cars! This is just one of the buses - there were about 5 or more in total.

with michelle and her funky new specs


lance, me & tzeyi (who's still in sleeping mode)


bumped into cheryl at campus green


The prettiest part was when they mass-released a load of helium balloons into the air. Tried taking a picture of it but I couldn't capture anything nice, so I shan't upload my pathetic attempts. I bet bras basah is going to be full of deflated balloons tomorrow once all the balloons lose their buoyancy and start plummeting to the ground like dead birds. Tsk tsk, the litter we're providing. All this trouble just for the sake of moving campuses...

with evita outside the gym


my favourite fatmouse ziyi!


ziyi, me & jamie :)


we found sam inside the gym


I have no idea why sam was rolling her eyes so happily...


After acquiring our 10 stamps, we hung around for half an hour before the gym opened so we could collect our goodie bags. Then the 4 of us ran off to eat lunch - and tzeyi had a brilliant inspiration: to go to Golden Mile Complex for their yummy but very ulu steamboat. Haven't been there for ages and ages - I didn't know they were open for business in the daytime!

with shan'er after lunch


Once I was all full and contented, I crawled home (with tzeyi's help again of course haha) to grab some sleep. Only managed to fit in 3 hours of sleep, though, before I was awoken for dinner, so now I'm still really quite, quite tired. Took a hell lot of photos today but I'm too tired and lazy to upload all of them now, so that's all for now I guess. Zzz.

Labels: school

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It felt a little strange, and a little invasive last night when I attended SMU's Closing Time ceremony with the rest of the OG considering that none of us have studied in the old SMU campus at Bukit Timah before. The library was rather packed, with people teeming in and outside of the building - some simply chilling out with their friends, and others (like us) inside watching and listening to the bands invited to perform.

Electrico was there, and boy were they good!


with jason and zhiwei


cheryl & I on the dancefloor!


the crowd grooving and clapping to the music


part of the OG


and I met shirley too


there was also EIC...I liked them too. :)


at the end of it all there was confetti too!


At the end of it all, cheryl and I both practically lost our voices from screaming too much with the rest of the crowd to the music. We abandoned the rest of the OG who were happily sitting in a quiet corner upstairs, and ran to the dancefloor to alleviate our boredom. We bumped into quite a number of people there - Singapore really does seem way too small, considering how everybody seems to be linked to everyone else in some way or another.

After the last band (EIC) played the supposed last song (predictably, Semisonic's Closing Time) there were two more encores. The very last song was somehow really touching, even to me as the bystander with no emotions attached to the old campus. I can imagine that for the seniors, moving to the new campus would inspire mixed feelings - of both nostalgia and excitement - goodbye to cosy, comfortable, familiar campus for them, but hello spanking new shiny town campus.

--

Feeling rather groggy and drugged at the moment, considering I only had 2 hours of sleep last night. Need to head to the new city campus now for Vivace. I hope I don't end up as a walking zombie while walking from booth to booth later on!

Labels: school

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3 names you go by
dalena
da
oei! :P

3 screen names you've had
dalena (yes, i'm boring)
dionne
flirtball (teehee)

3 physical things you like about yourself
legs
eyes
figure (can eat as much as i want without worrying, whee)

3 physical things you don't like about yourself
fat cheeks
teeeeeeeeeeth
i don't have dimples! :(

3 parts of your heritage
chinese
hokkien
um, singaporean?

3 things that scare you
cockroaches. especially the flying ones.
death
loneliness

3 of your everyday essentials
contact lenses
mobile phone
family&friends

3 things you are wearing right now
cute fairfield shorts i've been wearing since p1
SPCA kittykittykittymeow! tee
matching embroidered rainbow underwear (too much info huh)

3 of your favourite bands or musical artists
no doubt (my all-time fav! wahaha)
michael buble
kelly clarkson

3 of your favourite songs
dream a little dream of me ;)
almost here (delta goodrem and brian mcfadden)
xie yi shou ge 1969 - yes it's a chinese song, are you surprised?

3 things you want in a relationship
love
trust
honesty

2 truths and a lie (go figure.)
i wish i were someone else
i'm a pretty damned good manipulator
my heart is enclosed in a bulletproof suitcase

3 things about the preferred sex that appeal to you
decisiveness
the lean, mean fighting machine kind of build (tall and broad and lithe)
a snazzy fashion sense

3 of your favourite hobbies
shopping!!!!!
reading
dancing

3 of the things you really want to do badly right now
wash my face
get rich. fast.
sleep (zzz)

3 careers you have considered
image consultant
financial consultant
marketing consultant
(consulting is in my blood yah)

3 places you want to go on vacation
BANGKOK - shopping paradise!
hawaii
sweden

3 kids' names you like
jewelle
tristan
DALENA :D :D :D

3 things you want to do before you die
cut an album
get pissed drunk
be happy. very happy.

3 celeb crushes
brad pitt (who hasn't had a crush on him before?)
josh hartnett (damn cyoooooot)
edison chen!!

3 people that I would like to see take this quiz
you,
you,
and you! (5 Comments)




...and so my short stint as an exhibitor at Suntec City ended yesterday. Yay to the friends who dropped by to say hello and relieve me of my boredom for a little while! :)

I am utterly broke - but the knowledge that my pay will soon be coming in cheers me up a little. The sales in Suntec were /crazy/ in the 11 days that I was there for - too bad there weren't more shops there, because in terms of the shopping scene, it still has a long, long way to go. After walking up and down that stretch repeatedly for days with various people, I have this mini-map of Suntec City stretched out in my head, complete with a set of directions for each and every shop and restaurant there. So, if you ever get lost there, you know who to call...at least for the next week or so, before my goldfish-memory-syndrome kicks in again.

On the whole, the HeritageFest was fun - though it had its share of icky times - like when there is not a soul around and all we get to do is stone, or when there is an overload of children and the whole place erupts into major chaos. The worst part of my job as a literal "spice girl" (giving out spice satchets, not singing cheap songs and wiggling my ass!) was that I had to face the infamous "ugly Singaporean" behaviour one-on-one firsthand. After battling it endlessly day after day, it never ceases to rear its ugly head over and over again in various manifestations - be it in the form of a particularly obnoxious kid, or a kiasu auntie, or unreasonable teachers. The fact that the satchets were free definitely does NOT entitle them to start snatching and pocketing everything on the table - come on, leave some for the others! Even after adding a sign saying: FOR CHILDREN AND STUDENTS ONLY, there were still many instances of greedy aunties with amazingly thick skins telling me that they were kids and students once upon a time, and hence they should be allowed to grab the spices and satchets too to bring home and cook god-knows-what. The amount of greed I was forced to witness while on job honestly disappointed me a lot - so much that I'm starting to feel embarrassed to be a Singaporean.

That aside, I met so many people and made new friends while on the job too, so I guess the good part balances out the bad part, as with everything in life. The drama academy people (from Act 3 International) were a riot to be with - often reducing us to peals after peals of mirthful laughter, what with people like Andy, Joanne and Zac around - especially Zac with his hyperactively crazy behaviour! He is one really bizarre guy, so quick-thinking that my mind has to perpetually sprint after his if I want to catch up in the conversation as his brain seems to leap from one topic to another in rapid succession, it leaves my poor little one struggling and panting helplessly behind.

There's only about one more month before school officially starts for me - so I guess it's back to hitting the slacking sack for me for the next few weeks! (0 Comments)




I met the love of my life three days ago.

I met him at Suntec City, in between work, at the basement floor.

When I first set my eyes on him, his cuteness completely blew me away!

He is so utterly sweet, with a perpetually sleepy look which somehow endears him even more to me. His brown hair makes me feel like I could entwine my fingers in them forever and ever, to let my hands revel in the softness.

When I hold him close to me, the world just fades away - and all I can think about is how much I want to hug him forever and ever, and how his head fits so snugly and perfectly into the crook of my arm, or how it rests so comfortably on my shoulder - it's like we were made for each other.

Unfortunately, nothing in life is perfect.

So, like every almost-perfect being, he obviously also had his disadvantages and flaws.

Well, the downside this time is that...



















He costs $380 bucks!!!!!!!!! :(

Basically, I'm in love with a brown angora rabbit named Filo, but I'm too broke to afford him (and everyone says spending that much on a bunny is crazy, especially since I'll have to invest in a cage, rabbit food, vitamins, a hairbrush, etc so that means it'll add up to about $600). So, everybody, please have a heart and contribute to the "buy dalena a filo" fund! *sob* (2 Comments)




I finally found the time to trudge to school and collect my new laptop (the Fujitsu tablet lifebook!) and so far, it's been a pain trying to transfer the data from my current laptop to the new tablet because I don't have a USB-USB port at home that I can use for easy and convenient data transfer! The poor thumbdrive also only allows 256mb of storage space, so that means I have to do the transfer bit by bit. How tiring. :(

The thing is, as happy as I am to finally get a shiny new laptop (who doesn't like new stuff?) that looks prettier and has cooler functions (the tablet function!!), it really is a hassle for me to have to readjust to something unfamiliar. I've been using this trusty black boring laptop for more than two years - it accompanied me through my many mishaps, and even had to bear the brunt of my negligence and clumsiness. It survived my accidental attempts to drown it, my daily abuse of it so much that its keys now are worn and the touchpad is starting to peel, but yet yes, it survived, and it is still surviving pretty well if you ask me (once you get past the dismal exterior, that is).

I feel a little sad now that I'm changing laptops. Everything looks rather wrong on the tablet, even the colours seem strikingly jarring - it doesn't offer the same level of comfort this one does.

Since this one is still working, I'll still be keeping it around as a backup, and for memory's sake. It'll buy me more time so I don't have to transfer everything hurriedly too!

At the moment, all I've managed to shift over are my photos and writings. The headache will start when I attempt to shift my mp3s...I think I'll leave that to tomorrow. (2 Comments)




I will be working at Suntec City, helping out with the Heritagefest exhibition from 15th-25th July, so anybody who happens to wander into that area, please drop by to say hello and help to temporarily relieve my boredom!

My station is at the kid's corner (Kids on Board!) at the Galleria (the first place in Suntec you encounter when you walk over from city hall). I'll be there everyday from 10am-8pm. :P

Yesterday was my first day of work - tiring, but fun. To tell the truth, the jobscope is not particularly demanding, but the tiring part is having to wake up so early everyday to work! It is frankly hellish for a nocturnalite like me. And the long hours make things get a little draggy sometimes too...but for today, things were fine and dandy and even rather entertaining because of the greater influx of people crowding in since it's a weekend.

--

Earlier today, headed over to the new SMU city campus - it was all spanking new and shiny, ready for us to use! The LKC scholars meeting thing was pretty fun, we got to meet the president, the provost and the deans and also the other people in the program. I have to say that most of the other scholars were really nice and friendly - I guess the interview component really did count for quite a lot in the selection process, since there weren't any shy/quiet/socially-inept people around there if I recall correctly. Tzeyi kindly drove me to school in the heavy downpour (both of us were sleep-deprived, tired, miserable souls) because he lives soooooo near me. He's almost a neighbour.

After the thing, he kindly volunteered to drive me to Suntec (where I had to report for work, groan) - but to our horror, the roads were closed in preparation for NDP rehearsals or whatnot! There was a tremendous traffic jam because of the bottlenecking that occurred, and he was just swearing and cursing all the way though I found the whole situation rather amusing. I suppose it was more stressful for him as the driver, ah well. So we had to make a huge roundabout to get out of the jam, and he eventually dropped me at Raffles Place MRT so I could take the train back to cityhall and walk instead. What a waste of time. I felt so bad too!

On the bright side of today, I got to make a lot of new friends, but on the darker side, I had to wake up SO EARLY again so I was really tired at the end of the day.

--

Once again, please come for the Heritagefest exhibition! It really is quite enlightening, and I've learnt so much about spices in two days I think I should start learning how to cook soon so I can put all this newly-acquired spicey knowledge to good use! :D

Disclaimer: Today's entry is written in an extremely substandard, roundabout fashion because the author's brain isn't functioning very well due to a combination of exhaustion and lethargy. The next few entries (if they materialise at all during work period) will more than likely be just as bad since work doesn't really leave much energy for thinking and piecing words together at the end of the day.

Labels: work mania

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Friday: I earned $60 just doing a handphone survey - good money right! After that, met zhuanghui for dinner, then ran over to cityhall to meet the SPH girls for drinks. We ended up sitting around at Indochine waterfront at the Asian Civilisation Museum - it is really a nice place to chill out in, though it still pales in comparison to the Club Street branch. I haven't seen jo and rachel for sooooo long it really felt good just sitting around and talking about random silly things.

my pretty strawberry margarita


me, sheryl & jo


sheryl's eyes are closed!


--

Saturday: Roy is back from Perth! So met up with the bunch for dinner at NYDC. Too bad so many of us couldn't make it - I ended up being the only girl there, grr. I was late again (as usual) by an hour, and caused shan'er to be late as well by default because he was waiting for me. *blush* Then we headed over to Tango's - our traditional hangout since we started meeting up regularly last year for some drinks and stuff. After which I got a lift from royden to town to Alley Bar for awhile...I've been frequenting that place so often the bartender actually recognises me. Anyhow it seems like the past few weeks have been spent at various bars and pubs, just drinking and chilling with my friends. I can feel my liver starting to become corroded from an overload of alcohol already!

with my SISTERS, shan & khel! :P


royden's eyes won't stay open...


straits time crimedesk boy, haoxiang


poseur khel


poseur me!


perthboy hiding from the camera


attempt at self-taken groupshot, but the flash blocked khel's face out


groupshot!


--

Sunday: Woke up really late to grey, dreary skies. Rushed off to math tuition (which I was late for), then bustled off to Suntec City for dinner with my orientation group! Group 16 is generally filled with nice people, but the night was rather uneventful. Dinner at The Rice Table was followed by dessert at Max Brenner's with the buddy group 15 - I think I'm addicted to their suckaos! I met Tabbi there! I haven't seen her since I left RGPS, oh gosh, that was 7 whole years ago. Anyway, we all had our share of funny moments and crazy conversation, but I left early to head over to the South Bridge jazz bar to watch some jazz band play live with a bunch of the PSC people. Only yuepeng and philip were the real jazz appreciators though - the rest of us were poseur shites chatting happily in the bar, merely treating the music as a background thing. See my point about bars turning into a habitual hangout for me? :P (0 Comments)




If her birthday celebration with us this year could be summed up by just one word, the word would be: gambling.

We spent the night playing anything from bluff to poker to bridge using her monopoly set's Gotham City currency as stakes. There was also the intention to play mahjong - pity we never got there, though.

Her room was converted into a mini-gambling den:


See the blue cushion on top of the beige pillow? That was where I was comfortably seated until I decided to get up and take some pictures. Behind my stack of cushions is rachel happily snoozing away, unruffled by all the chatter going on around her.

Besides that, we also experimented some with serene's new phillips 10-in-1 hair styling set by trying to curl alina's hair.

Serene proudly showing off her hairdressing skills:


Check out that look of glee on her face!

There's alina, her unsuspecting victim cum hairdressee:


Is that a look of terror I spy on her face?

Alina: LOOK guys! You gotta see this! I look like medusa now...

Whoops. More practice, darling. I'm sure you'll get the hang of it soon! :P

Anyway, we had a great time. Thanks for letting us mess up your house, and I hope you had fun too! (0 Comments)




Hah. I finally found a picture I took before I ran off to SMU to matriculate. I woke up really grumpy, tired and frazzled on that day, so I couldn't even be bothered to shower before going (I didn't expect it to last so long). My hair was bad, I didn't bother with makeup nor dressing up at all (just threw on a random tanktop with a sporty yellow+orange mini), which is all fine and good EXCEPT that I forgot we had to take a PICTURE for our student cards, which is going to follow us for all our 4 years in SMU...!!!



Anyway, my student card picture turned out okay but slightly weird. Due to my fringe, which is at a very strange length at the moment, there was a shadow cast partly on my face...but besides that, it looked fine.

The thing that kind of disturbed me is that the picture in my EZ-link card (taken in sec 2), and the picture in my SMU card - both of them look VERY similar. It's as if as 5 years have flown by and I haven't changed one bit. Only the hairstyle differs.

I was mistaken for a 17 year old too on the very same day. Must've been my cute bouncey outfit!

Labels: school

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Today, someone very special is turning 19! :D *throws a cake at Serene's direction*

And we will all be heading over to her house later on for a sleepover. Yay!

The problem now is whether or not I should sleep over, considering I've been getting really little quality sleep recently.

--

Finally got around to matriculating at SMU yesterday - I ran over to Evans Building at 1230pm in all my sleep-deprived, messy glory, to find out that all the hurry was in vain as all the stations were closed for lunch break and would only open at 2pm! So much for trying to make it in time for the morning matriculation run.

Met quite a number of people there too - both new and old friends - and the matriculation process took waaaaaay longer than I expected, I was practically half dead by the time we were at the last few stations.

By the way, Initial D has no plot, but I totally LOVED all the racing bits! To his credit, Jay Chou wasn't bad or anything, but he looked so stoned in the movie I couldn't really tell if he was just being himself or if he was acting really well. The love story bit was pointless, the only vaguely important female role in the show was filled by a particularly unappealing Japanese actress, Jay Chou looked terribly bored in his role...BUT I STILL LIKED THE MOVIE! Edison was eye-candy material as usual, but I have to say that Anthony Wong and the silly fat guy who proclaimed himself as "World Racing Champ" both stole the show. They were sooooooo hilarious, and the freeze bits made everything even more hilarious!

Ah, and did I mention that I had my first math tuition session on Sunday? All my friends just about choked when they heard I was giving math tuition, because if there's any subject that I truly hate and truly suck at, it'd probably be math. Fortunately for my student and amazingly for me, I CAN STILL REMEMBER MY MATHEMATICS! All is not lost yet - I felt so energized after the session because for once, I get to give the homework and torture someone else with math instead of being tortured! Mwahahahaha. Not to mention I thought I did a pretty decent job with the teaching and answering questions bits. :)

--

I feel very, very loved these days. Then again, I have probably always been very loved all this while, just that I've been taking all my blessings for granted again, as usual.

Am expecting one Fujitsu tablet PC soon, unless any of you have better notebook suggestions for me...? (0 Comments)




I suddenly realised that today marks the start of the later half of the year. After bumming half of the past six months away, it is finally July, and I am finally tired of slacking around and decided to get off my (increasingly bigger) ass to go teach tuition and work temporarily to amuse myself while waiting for school to start.

Been hovering on the verge of falling ill for the past week or so - scratchy throat, lots of phlegm, the occasional headache, and a fever that plays peekaboo with me. Nothing serious though - one moment I'm sick, the next moment I'm fine. That sort of thing.

Wednesday was a crazy shopping day with serene - both of us went slightly psycho with all our purchases. We went to mango, fox, far east...and I snagged 3 tops, a necklace, a skirt, 2 pairs of flipflops...and I think that's it. Serene bought 2 skirts for casual wear (finally! I am so proud of her - she's finally seen the light, minis are the way to go, not pants and jeans!), a pair of earrings, a scarf, a top, and err...what else? I lost track. Considering that we bought soooo many items, I think we spent relatively little money, so if you average it all out...I wasn't being a spendthrift! (yes, yes, lame attempt to console myself.)

Went back to RJC just now to grab my A level certificate and school magazine - and popped by the staffroom to chat a little with the teachers. Mr Khoo is still as affable as ever, and is honestly a joy to talk to. No idea why I used to find him boring and uninteresting (and sleeping through his classes).

It is rather weird how rumours get increasingly distorted as they're passed on. Sometimes they turn out so ludicrous, there isn't really anything left to do but to to laugh mirthfully at them.

I am terrible at making decisions, by the way. Ugh. (0 Comments)