i was not in a gd mood while i was makin dinner when my roommate talked to me.. wrong choice.. all my replys were less than 5 syllables.. n he asked me:" r u mad?"
it jus stop me in the tracks.. after a while:" i replied 'ya, with u!'", n laughed..
n it got me thinkin n i started to remember about a motivational talk i've watched months back about takin life SERIOUSLY.. u dun, ok..
n my roomie gave 2 thumbs up: of cse u can't take life too seriously.. its too short 2 b anyway.. n after u knew wat he had been thru.. u knew dat he knew what he's talkin..
n it jus hitted me dat i've been too serious yesterday, not understandin the lecs n complainin abt everything dat didn't go my way..
here goes:
health, friends, family(not in any particular order) is important n sud b taken seriously..
the rest r not. it's not that they are not important, but they are not everything..
so what if you hav a nice car, a beautiful bungalow n a pretty wife?? does it make a gd life? or a fulfiling life? no, i dun think so, never..
because they r jus material.. mayb u will get memory loss when you are old.. and you don't remember any of what you ever had: so what do we make out of it?? nothing.
ok.. a tad pessimistic..
life is short, play hard! laugh more! appreciate life!
it was said that there jus isn't enough love around..
tell someone that you appreciate them.. give them kisses n hugs..

not the best of days for me..
1st: i dislike my weds cos i hav 8hrs straight of lecs n tuts.. yes not even toilet breaks.. haha.. i dunno how they plan my timetable, n the worst of it is dat there's no way i can change it..
2nd: i hav 2 endure thru 2 lecs, which is 2 hrs each, understandin less dan 1%, or tryin to understand dat 1% dat was spoken.. hmm.. i mean can't the lecturers be more sympathetic 2 foreign students??? n the hunger pane isn't helpin me durin lecs too...
3rd: most of us, the foreign students, can't catch up 2 the lecs cos we missed the lecs n tuts last wed due to dat "journee internationale" of theirs.. i mean y can't they make it a free day if they knew dat we r gg 2 miss those lessons.. of hav a make-up for it???
it seemed as thou i'm jus throwin my frustrations all stored up in me.. i'm quite annoyed by the way french ppl do things.. i'm beginnin to see the 'other side' of things now.. the not so sunny n cherry side, n myself too.. when i'm put in such situations..
i shall end now, cos i wan 2 buy something n EAT!! n forget abt 2day..

contraction of the neck muscles - price for my 1st double back somersault

was doin some back somersaults las nite in the gymnasium w matti, den the coach dat my height was good enough for a double.. asked if i would like 2 attempt..
i declined initially, but after a few more saults of dat height, i thought why not?? there's the sponge bit 2 take care of me..
the 1st attempt failed becos my backflip was too high..
i was thinkin too much of doin dat double back dat even my fren tol me dat..
i tried 2 relaxed more n went 4 my 2nd attempt..
the height was ok, but i pulled too late n too light..
i landed into the sponge pit 3/4 way of the 2nd back, so i landed on my head n pulled my neck muscles.. ouch..
i was kinda dizzy n light on the head.. so i thought to myself.. dat was it for the nite..
the coach attended to me afterwards n said dat i had contractions of the neck muscles..
so i think i'll out of actions 4 the rest of the week, even if i liked it or not.. man..
but i guess there's a price 2 pay 4 everything.. c'est la vie..

everyday is a new discovery 4 me.. 

a week-end of movies..
re-watched 'taxi 1' n 'taxi 2' on saturday with the swedish girls..
anna did not hav the prog 2 watch avi files on hr laptop n i happened 2 hav it, so i helped her install it.. but it was not successful..
so i tried 2 download frm my fren, which i was very lucky 2 meet jiayong online at 3am in the mornin.. got the codec frm him, n the rest is history..

sun was clean-up day..
had my room turned upside-down 2 get everything in order.. took me the whole mornin.. so u can imagine the mess.. haha
afternoon.. the kitchen.. which had been a major rubbish dump ever since 'journee internationale'.. haha..
i guess we wouldn't hav finish everything w/o the help of my room-mate..
went 2 watch 'devil's fire', a muscial about the blues in america.. not bad.. enjoyed the music..
but sorta fell asleep cos i was rather tired after all cleanin..

a party in the evenin: Daniel's birthday!! hav yet 2 get him a present.. opps..
left early arnd 11pm.. can't keep my eyes open any longer.. fatigue has long overcame me..
had fought it with whatever last strength that i had.. but i rather submit to it.. haha

think the 'journee internationale' will b the final hiccup for this sem
think i'm finally settling down for the studies, which i'm here for..
but it seemed dat i'm doin more activities dan studies.. haha
rock climbin, gymnastics, capoeira, and now salsa too.. den studies..
c'est pas grave..

yep, had my 1st salsa session yesterday
its gd cos i hav a gd dance partner
a chinese gal who likes 2 dance.. not bad
bev, beware the dancin king when i return.. haha

jus 2 add some gratitude here:
a great thanks 2 bev 4 the pics of hawker centre in spore 4 my presentation durin the journee internationale.. i'm very touched by act of going down to newton to take those pics.. thanks a million..

i believe dat it doesn't take much to make someone's day..
jus take a simple gesture, a little time of oneself..
i received a postcard from a very close friend of mine whom i never expected would have the time to do it..
yet she took the time amidst her busy schedule to do it..
i'm really touched.. n it made my day

yesterday saw the 'journee internationale' at UTT.. this is wat i've prepared.. typical sporean food.. roti john.. not bad 4 the 1st time dat i'm doin it.. the feedbacks hav been not bad.. more pics can be seen at my imagestation.. 

bonjour.. back frm Oktoberfest in Munich.. it was very fun.. the event was very, very grand.. but i'll do my review on it some other time.. need 2 prepare 4 the 'international day' tomorrow at UTT..
i dun really like the idea dat we hav 2 man the stalls while the french students continue the cse.. i mean y can't they make it a free day 4 all?? they said its gd dat we r at the stalls so we can entertain whoever comes 2 our stall.. n miss the lessons or tutorials.. n till now i still dunno how r we gg 2 prepare our food? at the stalls? dun think they hav the equipments there.. but if i prepare in the mornin 4 lunch, it wun b nice 2 eat anymore.. sigh..
think we can only settle down after tomorrow.. which i'm both lookin n not lookin forward 2 it.. so much work but 4 zilch rewards.. oh well..

moer of my room.. mayb u recognise the big poster in the middle? haha 

updates of my room after my fren commented dat it was too empty.. haha 

gd day 2 all,
wat a gd mornin.. sun's good, air's fresh, weekend's round the corner..
n i'm gg to the Oktoberfest!
will b leavin for Munich at 11am, by car, which will take 7 to 8 hrs.. the longest car ride i'm gg to take.. the longest i had was from a place near Sydney all the way to Melbourne, which was about 6hrs.. will b sleepin in the car as all the hotels or motels hav been fully booked, so u can imagine the magnitude of the event..
oh well, need 2 get some shoppin done to minimise the cost incurred.. will try 2 keep it below 100euros($200), which is quite possible if i eat like a pauper for the nex 2 days.. haha..
oh well, look out 4 this space for updates about Munich n its watering fest.. cheers

abientot!!

the other climbin gym in troyes.. i'm in love with it even b4 i got 2 climb it!.. and after i did, it became an obsession..  

hav no class today n tomorrow.. but will be busy with the preparation for UTT's 10th anniversary happenin on 20th sep.. we hav to present our country to the french n other international students.. i'm the only 1 from spore so i hav joined forces w the koreans 4 the preparation..
will b takin a ride to another gymnasium for climbin this evenin.. supposed to b 5 times larger than the one in UTT.. pics will b comin on the way.. i await w anticipation..

an airplane flyin across the crisp mornin sky, with the sun jus at the horizon, air thick with mornin haze..  

mon deuxieme jour
well.. today's cse's not too bad.. altho i still can't understand most of dem, at least i can get the general idea.. n my roommate's takin the same subject as well, n he's a chinese scholar, so i think i got myself a very gd tutor if i need one.. haha..
my roommate n his chinese frens invited their student buddies 4 dinner las nite, but i was not able 2 join dem since i'm havin capoeira practice.. we r learnin more n more movements n stunts, some of which resembles gymnastics, so its not a prob 4 me, but some r rather hard 2 execute.. especially on hard ground!.. n i got blisters on my feet from all capoeira.. n 1 broke las evenin while practicing.. ouch.. after which, me n matti, a finnish fren, went 2 do some real gymnastics.. so cool.. i gettin more n more of my techniques back.. n they hav this huge sponge pit dat u can do watever u want into it.. mayb a round-off backflip doubleback or full twist into it w/o breakin ur neck or limbs.. haha
will b climbin later w my mexican frens.. seems like they r quite interested in it.. mayb i will get myself some new climbin partners.. cool...

1st day of semester in UTT, finally after a mth or playin n french lessons.. alrite more playin than lessons.. but wat to do.. It was so boring here, with shops closin arnd 5 to 6pm, n on sundays..
well, 4 this week, i hav only like 3 days of lecs, cos tuts n labs hav not started yet.. so quite cool.. at least dat's wat i tot b4 i went 4 my 1st lesson, which is Robotics.. je ne comprends rien!! argh.. there r soo many new terms, in french, n the prof speaks like a speedin train.. n sometimes his voice jus trails off at the end of the sentence.. luckily.. jus luckily i managed 2 understand some towards the end of the lesson, which is about the degree of freedom on the robot's arm, which i had studied in poly b4.. so it WASN'T dat bad.. haha.. so i think this mth will b very hard on me, but i know i wilk jus get better as time goes by..
the sch looks much more alive now.. w lecs n lessons gg on, the the preparation for the 1oth anniversary of UTT and the JAZZ Festival happenin soon in Sep.. alrite.. more abt that later..
i jus have the solution for allowin ppl 2 view my pics in imagestation without havin 2 send them the invites..
jus go to 'other sides of me' on ur right, click on 'pics of urs truly', n u'll b directed to the photo website. jus log in with "veggeloo" and "0210219h" for password n, voila, all the pics at ur disposal, jus dun delete dem away!! thanks..
oh well.. more of me later.. abientot..

this was me at Palais Royale in Rheims.. me n some frens, 20 in all, rented 2 mini-buses n took a ride to Rheims, which is the north-east of Paris, some 130km from Troyes.. the pics will b uploaded soon.. so jus look out 4 it.. cheers..