36-Hour Birthday Tuesday, 27 June, 2006
Posted by paperdoll in people, prance.8 comments
I just had myself a 36-hour birthday. I AM SO HAPPY! It started on a high note and ended on an even higher note. I couldn’t be happier.
It began at noon on Sunday here i.e. midnight on Monday in Singapore i.e. my birthday. I was happily shopping at Clinton Crossing Premium Outlet Mall a 40-minute drive away from Yale, which is this amazing place where high-end stores sell their merchandise at lower prices. I bought things from BCBGMaxAzria, Ralph Lauren and Calvin Klein. Shirts at Nautica for the brother too. There were other brands like Dooney and Burke, Coach, Nine West etc. It was a most satisfying shopping spree; I bought really nice things for myself and family. The stores are boutiques that are exactly like the real full-priced kind of boutiques with the nice decor and with well-dressed staff to assist the customers. There was a sale going on, so the already lower prices went even lower. I got a few amazing deals. For instance, I bought a beige Calvin Klein jacket for USD30. It is the most gorgeous thing. At precisely the time I was born 21 years ago, I found myself on the chartered bus with all my purchases, feeling contented.
Upon returning, I bought myself a Cafe au Lait Venti at the Starbucks right outside my residential college, so I could stay up to work because I hadn’t for the entire weekend due to the trip into New York and shopping the whole of Sunday afternoon. After dinner, the family called to wish me sleepy-they-just-got-up happy birthdays, and that was very nice. I then worked my ass off until 3am, and alright, that was not a weee! happy part of the longass birthday, but when I finally let myself go to sleep, there was an immense sense of satisfaction at the work completed(:
It was a good day of classes. In the morning, I contributed significantly to the discussion of the Declaration of Independence and the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen, so I was pleased about that. My presentation on the Singapore Presidency in my afternoon went well too, so that made me even more pleased. Throughout the day, I received messages and emails wishing me happy birthday, and they made me smile, remembering how the birthday celebration I had with y’all before I left was such a blast!
THEN! -DRUMROLL it was time for my birthday dinner(: This was just about the most exciting thing EVER in this whole summer session. My roommate had insisted that we go out to celebrate, and the party grew as I invited more and more people. I invited old friends, friends made through my roommate, friends made in my classes and friends made during meals in the dining hall. It was fabulous. The 16 of us headed down to BAR, where we had pizza and beer and a hell of a good time. It was awesome. We had the whole birthday-song do with a yummy birthday cake that my wonderful roommate and her best friend had gotten for me, delicious food and tasty beer and most importantly, excellent company having fun conversations.
I am one happy adult(:
New York Revisited Sunday, 25 June, 2006
Posted by paperdoll in people, places.8 comments
After morning class on Friday, it was to Union Station we went to catch a train to New York. Upon reaching, we checked in to Wanderers Inn West, in Harlem. Cute little place. We dumped our stuff, Lindsay Chelsea and I, changed into nicer clothes, and headed downtown for a spot of what turned out to be unsatisfactory shopping, then arrived at Julliard.
My room-mate's boyfriend is unbelievably talented. His biography, as printed on in the programme, is amazing. Seriously. In fact, from what the room-mate told me, his entire family is very accomplished. His grandmother, for instance, is a renowned Broadway actress. It was awesome to sit right behind her and watch her grandson perform. Surreal to say the least, but way cool. After Julliard, my room-mate bid us farewell and went off into the night (haha) with her boyfriend. Us girls walked around in Times Square, eventually stopping for dessert at a cozy cafe called CosiO_O
At midnight, I gave up on walking on my heels and stopped by a shoe store to buy the cutest Puma sneakers. I had been on my feet for the most part of 12 hours in high heels. Not a wise move. I had wanted to look appropriate for Julliard and carry less around the next day post-checkout, is all. Nevertheless, not a wise move. Note to self: New York is a place for W.A.L.K.I.N.G. Heels are not practical footwear for walking. Thank goodness Foot Locker was still open for business after midnight.
It wasn't until past 1 am that we found ourselves at the subway station, after getting rather drenched from the pouring rain huddled under one umbrella. We got into a conversation with a cute guy who had just graduated from the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia. He happened to be staying just around the corner of our inn, so we took the train together and talked about various things, including his hot date with a Brazilian girl watching a long ballet he didn't understand. Rather interesting.
The next day, we rose early, walked around a bit. IT WAS RAINING FOR THE ENTIRE DAY! New York is not very pleasant when it rains. I was on Fifth Avenue for some shopping. In the afternoon, I met up with Julia and friend to watch Avenue Q on Broadway at the Golden Theatre. It's hilarious! A clever take on Sesame Street. First time I've seen puppets humping, that's for sure… but it was not all crass. There were really good songs. I particularly liked the one titled Everyone's A Little Bit Racist. The musical, which won the 2004 Tony, is definitely worth checking out. After a hugeass dinner at Bubba Gump, it was high time to bid New York goodbye and head back to the quieter New Haven.
Here I am now, happy to be where home has been for the past 3 weeks. Pictures later(: I have a few emails from y'all to reply to, but I'm beat now, so give me a couple of days. Let me just say for now that I really enjoyed reading them, so thank you(: I have quite a bit of work (read: a lot of work that canot possibly be finished) to clear for Monday, and I'm going on a mini trip for the earlier part of afternoon tomorrow and HELP. I will figure out a way to do everything and not look like a racoon on Monday(!). Hello my 21st birthday(:
rambling Friday, 23 June, 2006
Posted by paperdoll in people, places.4 comments
Think I've finally settled down this week. On Tuesday, I whiled the afternoon away in a charming bookshop/cafe called Atticus with Chelsea. I then spent a long time at dinner having one of those I-don't-want-to-leave-just-yet conversations in the dining hall. I worked for a long time after, mostly fueled by panic|: I didn't finish all my readings for the next day, but I covered enough to be able to contribute a good number of comments. That was really nice. Great sense of satisfaction. Feels good to finally get into the hang of things.
It's Thursday afternoon now, and I have a paper and a proposal for a final paper to write. Hum… I always have such a hard time deciding on what I'd like to write on. It'll come to me. Soon, I hope.
Gyming (here) is very therapeutic, you know. It's the best way to unwind after a full day of classes. Anyway, after gyming last night, I watched the last 5 episodes of season 2 of Desperate Housewives on ABC.com. FREE! It's only available in the U.S. The show's getting darker and darker. Quite exciting, and more than a little disturbing.
I'm rambling. Ramble ramble. I'm leaving for New York tomorrow after my morning class. Birthday weekend in New York! Hoho. I'm going to see my room-mate's boyfriend perform at the Julliard in the evening (how cool is that!), then staying over at a hostel. The following day, I'm hoping to go to the Guggenheim, the MoMA, Frick maybe, and the public library.Some/A lot of shopping is on the agenda, of course. Will be back in New Haven late Saturday night.
I just realized that the song that closes the movie Prime (which I've watched umpteen times) is by Rachael Yamagata! I adore her. The song is I Wish You Love. It's beautiful one.
I need to do a whopping amount of work if I want to enjoy myself in New York, so I'm going to hop to it. Have a lovely weekend, everyone(:
whirlwind Tuesday, 20 June, 2006
Posted by paperdoll in photos, places.8 comments
Hello! What's up? What a whirlwind of a weekend. Saturday in New York was rushed. Not very pleasant to rush in New York. I spent about 2 hours in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It's quite a trip to be standing in front of famous pieces of art. I was very taken by the Monet paintings in particular. There was a Raphael exhibition going on, which was gorgeous as well. Then there was Anglomania, which had on display wonderful British fashion pieces. There were also pieces by Picasso, Van Gogh, Matisse, Dali etc. The Met is a fabulous place.
After the museum, we took a public bus down to 34th Street for some shopping. On 34th Street, there are Victoria's Secret, Forever 21 (lower prices compared to Singapore's), American Eagle Outfitters, Macy's etc. The time spent on transportation to New York from New Haven, to the Met from Grand Central Station, to 34th Street from the Met was awfully long. Way before we were ready to leave, we had to head back to Grand Central to take the chartered bus back. Basically, I spent 11 to 5 in New York. INSUFFICIENT! So I'm going back there this weekend! Weeeee! Museum of Modern Art, Guggenheim, the Public Library, A&F (again), 34th Street (again) and a Broadway show (probably Avenue Q) for certain. And what about the Statue of Liberty and Wall Street and Little Italy and the list goes on\ :
We went to a yummy Chinese restaurant called East Melange for dinner after returning from New York. The Seafood Noodle Soup was SO GOOD. Had Boba! Boba is Bubble Tea. It's pronounced bow(tie)-bah, with the bah being a very short sound. After that, it was work work work all the way till Sunday night on my mid-term American Presidency paper and preparation for my mid-term Revolution in France and America exam. Both over and done with today. What a relief! I'm going to do nothing tonight and only do my readings for Wednesday classes tomorrow.
Weather these past two days has been very Singaporean):
The interesting conversations continue. Gotta love meal times!
How are you doing, everyone?
the well-behaved Saturday, 17 June, 2006
Posted by paperdoll in people.5 comments
Dinner was so good last night. For once, the cooked greens were well done. Covered with garlic. I had a hugeass plate of them. Nice change from raw spinach leaves. Raw spinach leaves and hummus make an awesome combination by the way. We also had teriyaki chicken breasts, omelettes, linguine etc. Someone brought chocolate orange sticks too. Mmm-mmm.
Conversation was up there along with the standard of the food for the evening and so we stayed for over an hour at the dinner table. Hui and I have effectively tarnished our Australian friend's notion of the innocent and well-behaved Singaporean. He told us so in the most accusatory tone.
Lunch today was hilarious. Put together people from different cultures who want to poke fun at everything and boom you have the makings of a highly entertaining conversation. I'm still high from it. There's this particularly adorable Brazilian guy who makes the most mundane Chinese sentences sound like jokes. He kept on and on about elephants stomping drug traffickers to death today. Shouldn't think it funny but he made it so. And then we had someone imitate Edna Mode from the Incredibles. Spot on!
Ok I need to get back down to being serious. On Monday, I have a mid-term exam in the morning and a mid-term essay due in the afternoon. In a couple of hours, I have to head out to watch a movie and write a response paper on it. On top of everything, I'll be in New York tomorrow. How am I to do all that I'm supposed to hmm? By maximizing my time, you say? Well yea… but the weather's gorgeous and I keep looking out and wanting to go for an aimless walk. Help.
pipe up Thursday, 15 June, 2006
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What a full day! My mocha in the afternoon yesterday kept me awake till almost three in the morning. Thank goodness it did. I really needed to read my readingsO_O
Only one comment in the morning class, and not a particularly insightful one at that. Oh well at least I spoke up. We were discussing the Enlightenment philosophers. Multiple comments in the afternoon class! YAY! My presentation on the presidential mandate went pretty well. Rather proud of the paper I'd send out to the class the night before, so that bolstered my confidence considerably. I made a good number of comments during the discussion because why not, yea? I knew the subject matter pretty well from my preparation and had what I believed to be well-formed opinions to contribute. There's sometimes the need to quell the fear that what I'm about to say is going to be really invaluable and/or stupid before I pipe up… but it's all good(: I'm enjoying the classroom experience here, all in all.
Chinese take-out for dinner with Chelsea and Hui. YUM. We had it in the courtyard of the old campus. It's a tranquil place. The kind of place that makes you want to lower your voice. We are a strange trio who engage in insensitive conversation. Rather rude to each other.
Gymed. Is gym a verb yet? If it isn't, it should be. I gymed. Many magazines (recent) available. Between looking at hunkydory boys and reading interesting material, gyming has never been so much fun(: (: Ok there aren't that many, but there are enough to constitute an extra plus of going to the gym.
walk Wednesday, 14 June, 2006
Posted by paperdoll in people, photos, places.2 comments
I really should be doing my work i.e. read the hundreds of pages I need to finish by tomorrow for classes, but I cannot resist the lure of talking about my day. Woke up this morning feeling a bit agitated because of pending essay to write on the myth of the presidential mandate. Essentially, I have to write a response paper to my assigned reading, present my paper in class tomorrow and lead the discussion on the topic. Doesn't it sound a little bit scary? It does to me. Anyway, all that can be done has been done. You want to see the paper? I'm quite proud of it herher. Will tell y'all about it after tomorrow's class.
Did my laundry this morning, instead of last night as planned. Was beat last night, likely because of the draining day of classes and then the hour at the gym. The starchy foods here are so good, you know. It's bad. Very bad. Cannot become pudgy cannot become pudgy cannot become pudgy.
After finishing my response paper for the American Presidency class, I decided that it was too beautiful a day to waste indoors. I set out for a walk! Ended up walking for about two hours exploring the shops, looking at the people, enjoying the 27 degrees celcius weather… the alone time was great! It was also lovely walking around in only shorts and a thin top for the first time since I got here. I walked into a peaceful protest for unions and the "right to fight our bosses" or something like that. They were all wearing purple, the protesters. I wanted to take a picture but thought it insensitive, so I didn't. There were policemen making sure that the protest was an orderly one. Pretty cool. I got chatted up outside a cafe where I'd gotten a mocha! Funny isn't it? Being chatted up on the street, that is. Is are-you-in-graduate-school a new pick-up line? Anyway that was what I was hit with. So strange. Nothing came out of it, though the conversation was light-hearted and fun while it lasted.
For dinner, I decided to not have dining hall food and so bought food from a nearby deli called Gourmet Heaven. I returned only to find that we were having a cookout in the courtyard of the residential college. Could only manage a slice of watermelon after my deli meal. The atmosphere was relaxed, like summer should be.
Ok I think I need to stop thinking it's okay to not start speed-reading. The sun is still up but it's already eight o'clock. Better get down to it thenO_O
to be prepared Tuesday, 13 June, 2006
Posted by paperdoll in people, ponder.5 comments
So I was well-prepared for the morning class and contributed three comments woohoo! The opportunity cost for that, even though there shouldn’t be any, was that I wasn’t prepared for my afternoon class. Felt that I didn’t have anything of value to contribute to the discussion taking place on the American Presidency. Feels awful to simply sit there and listen to everyone else speak up for three whole hours. NO MORE! I’m going to be prepared for both my Wednesday classes and optimistically, all classes henceforth. Anyway, I’m presenting a paper during my American Presidency class on Wednesday, so I will definitely have things to say.
I’ve been listening to songs from other students’ iTunes libraries. It’s very entertaining. There are many Yale a cappella groups, by the way. At the moment, I’m rather hooked on the Beatles.
Off to the gym in a bit. Then it’s going to be laundry and work. This is not turning out to be a very fun day, is it? I will probably look back on days like this with fondness later on. On a happier note, I’m spending this Saturday in New York. Museums and shops(:
Oh! Last night I had interesting dinner conversation with two Yale boys about fraternities and sororities and secret societies and hazing and binge drinking and knowing the right people for drugs and fake IDs (and I’m rambling). Fascinating stuff.
lazy weekend Monday, 12 June, 2006
Posted by paperdoll in people, places, ponder.5 comments
It's been a pretty lazy weekend. Tried to do some work yesterday but did not have much success with it. The International Festival of Arts and Ideas has begun. Last night, a group of us trooped down to New Haven Green to hear the Marsalis Family play jazz. Sweet. The turnout was amazing! I've never seen so many portable chairs in one place before. When they played What A Wonderful World, I was mesmerised. It was so beautiful. It was also cold: 10 degrees celcius. So not summer. Walking back was awful because we were walking into the wind and boy was the wind chilly.
I stayed up past one to talk to my room-mate. Amongst other things, we were discussing how one goes about having a summer fling. How do people do it? I wonder if I can be emotionally unattached enough to have one and to cleanly end it when summer is over. Dating with an expiry date, anyone? Seriously though, I think I'm increasingly open to the idea. Wouldn't it be fun? And my room-mate is right… if you do foolish things now, you can always attribute it to the folly of youth. If we don't do this sort of thing now, when will we? When we're older and should know better?
Woke up near noon. Felt well-rested. Brunch in the dining hall. Met a couple of new people. We discussed the weird things that a good number of Americans say. The fillers can get annoying. Besides, people just don't sound too smart when they speak like this: You know like, I don't know, I mean like um yea, whatever, you know? Of course not everyone speaks like that and there are the ones who are conscious of the tendency to do so and try very hard to avoid it.
It was very nice out this afternoon: sunny and windy. I sat on a bench in the courtyard and read. After a couple of hours, I walked out to a cafe to get a latte and headed back to my room to try to clear more readings. I'm really behind on my readings. I think I'm taking this summer way slower than I should if I want to stay on top of my studies… but like whatever! I don't want to leave with only memories of being holed up in my room doing work.
first week Saturday, 10 June, 2006
Posted by paperdoll in people, possessions.6 comments
It's the end of the first week. At the rate things are going, I'll be on the plane back to Singapore before I know it. It's Friday afternoon right now and very cloudy. Probably going to rain again. My umbrella is at its deathbed from overuse. I have a replacement from Urban Outfitters! It's an adorable black and white umbrella: white with a black embroidered trim. I need to stop going to that store. Resist! (Resistance is futileO_O)
Yesterday was quite a nightmare because I was trying to finish the readings from Wednesday and then the ones for today. There's so much to read, which is to be expected since material for a full semester is crammed into five weeks. Expected or not, it's just not very pleasant. On the bright side of things, it's a much more conducive learning environment here than it is in Singapore largely because of the weather, so reading the material here isn't as bad as it would be back home. In any case, I want desperately to speak up at least once in every class I attend, so I need to read in order to know what's going on in order to have something to say.
In the attempt to keep fit and trim, Chelsea and I went for a 40-minute run yesterday morning. It was also a good way of exploring the sleepy college town. We passed by the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History, churches, houses. Lovely scenery. It's rather strange to run here because I don't sweat buckets like I do running in Singapore. Feels wrong.
Was just at lunch where an interesting conversation took place yet again. Present were the Australian, a Brazilian, a German, a Mexican, an American and me and Hui. Started off with the World Cup, went on to voting, jumped to "Chinese mafia" in Vancouver, veered off to the reason why Canberra is the capital of Australia, and then to the roots of languages and other random interesting topics. There are plenty of things to be learnt in the dining hall.
Heading to Wal-Mart later. I can't wait to check it out. It's so quintessentially American, isn't it?
Think about this: Singaporeans can drink at 18 but can only vote at 21, whereas Americans can vote at 18 but can only drink at 21.
