JmaX

I LOVE Leona Lewis, and ‘Happy’, the first single off her sophomore album ‘Echo’, has been growing on me ever since it was released.

The youtube video above shows her performing ‘Happy’ at the America’s Got Talent finale. I have to admit I was wow-ed and deeply engrossed throughout the video at her AMAZINGLY pitch-perfect performance. It was so incredible I could actually feel the song emancipating from her!
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Whipped up a sinful plate of fried rice for my lunch today, at the same time scalded my finger by accident when my right ring finger brushed against the hot frying pan! I simply love spamming italian herbs seasoning in my fried rice. The seasoning not only enhances the aroma of the fried rice, it also brings out the flavour of the ingredients due to the pleasant contrast in the taste. What is lacking is olive oil though, which I couldn’t find anywhere in the house. I’m pretty sure if I used olive oil instead of the usual “knife-brand” vegetable oil, the aroma and taste would be further enriched, yummy!!!
Reminder to self: western herb seasonings largely ALWAYS go well with olive oil.
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We all just want to be happy, don’t we?

Exams exams exams… We all know how terrible it is to have to mug anxiously before, and during the exam period itself, trying to squeeze as much information as possible into our brains. When it finally ends, the first thing almost anyone of us would do is to “breathe a sigh of relief”, figuratively of course.
I finally had the chance to breathe a sigh of relief, LITERALLY, for the first time in my entire schooling life just 2 days ago, 4th November 2009 at 1.15pm. It was the Business Law module examination, the craziest paper I’ve ever sat for, and it lasted for 3hr 15min including a 15min reading period at the start which meant 3hr of writing time. For the first time ever, I had to have my bankai switched on full blast for a whole 3hr paper, rushing through 5 law essays jammed with laws and cases and arguments whilst maintaining a certain standard in the layout of my answers, and making sure that the issues I raised were coherent to the questions. I finished the paper barely 2min before the end time, and at 1.15pm when I heard the usual “Please stop writing, your time is up” announcement, I immediately pang sigh-ed, literally a gush of air out of my mouth that had every intention of a real sigh of relief.
Never before have I felt so relieved after a paper, bearing in mind that this was not the last paper and that my one last paper (Business Statistics) is this coming Friday. It didn’t matter that it was not the last paper, but that feeling of freedom after the paper ended was definitely there, to the extent where it felt like the exams were entirely over. Thank goodness I know not to be complacent and to disciplined enough to wait till the exams are really over before I let my guard down.
Of the 4 modules this semester, this law paper is probably the one that I’m most worried about because it is all about writing essays with strong convincing arguments and using the relevant laws to support your points. This meant that students wanting to ace this paper not only need a good grasp of their English, but also need to be familiar with the application of all the laws and cases. Even though it was an open-book examination, I figured that I wouldn’t have enough time to keep flipping through over 500 pages of a law textbook. Hence, I decided to create my own concised “cheat sheet”, containing all the laws and cases covered in the syllabus in nicely tailored sentences/answers that can be directly applied into my answers, like how a gaming cheat sheet would work. It was a lot of work, and I got to sleep at 5am, just 5hrs before the 10am paper. Studying alone just wasn’t enough, extra preparation was absolutely necessary, and it was all worth the effort.

I need to be thankful for the fact that the cheat sheet worked marvelously for me. Instead of flipping through 500 over pages, I had all my “answers” neatly packed, like a delightful platter of sashimi, in just 17 pages. Also, popping down 2 bottles of chicken essence over breakfast really helped to keep my brain alert and awake throughout the whole paper, hence the “bankai mode”.
I’m satisfied that I did my best for the paper, and whatever result I eventually get would definitely be a real gauge of my ability to analyse the scenario, identify the issues, raise my arguments, and support my arguments under a tight time constraint.
3 down, 1 to go~
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Note: For the uninitiated, pang sigh is a word play on the colloquial hokkien term “pang sai”, which means “to pass motion”, or to put it crudely, “to shit” :)

I haven’t blogged in 7 weeks and thought that I’d try to sweep some dust off my rant-box…
The semester 2 exams finally began yesterday, with my Prices and Markets module taking the lead.
I was quite pleased with the paper, because it was very similar to the previous year’s paper which I went through the same morning. The only real difficulty was time management – we had a mere 2hrs to finish 4 long questions, and I seriously mean LONG. I cleared the 1st 2 questions in 1hr 15min, and when I realised I had only 45min left for the next 2, I went into bankai and, thankfully, managed to finish the whole paper with my desired standards of answers. Distinction at least I hope??
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One constant routine I’ve picked up since my JC days was to take a bottle of Brand’s Essence of Chicken before the paper.

Regardless of whether I’m prepared for the exams or not, I cannot deny the fact that this little bottle of nutritious drink really does keep me clear-headed and alert in the mind throughout my papers. Think of it as Red Bull for the brains, only healthier, not sugar-laden, and won’t make you fat.
I remember last semester, just before my Macroeconomics paper, I took a bottle outside the exam hall. There was this unknown dude standing near me with his classmates. When he saw me popping the bottle down, he laughed and bitched to his friends, saying,” What’s the point of drinking that now? If you aren’t prepared, not even this will save you.”
I found that statement rather rude and tactless. Is it your damn business what I use it for? Also, you must be stupid enough not to know that people take it to stay VERY alert during their papers, not as a miracle drink that will automatically give them grades. I finished the paper early enough to check through many times, and got a decent Distinction for that paper. TAKE THAT ASSHOLE.
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1 down, 3 to go. Damn you Business Law -.-”

Some friends posted this youtube video on facebook.

Honestly, I cried watching this.
This video isn’t just about dementia, it’s about living with dementia in the family. While some may say that such a thing wouldn’t happen to anyone in their family, who’s to be absolutely certain of that? Of note, elderly dementia is very relevant to anyone, to families, and people only start to realise after it hits. There is no cure for it, not even prevention for it, just gradual. Why wait till it happens and we start to regret, when we can learn to stop being complacent and show more concern right now.
I was amazed by the fact that love and a simple promise to get food was the sole reason that kept the ah ma from forgetting about her grand-daughter, and that bolstered her determination in trying to get home just to give the girl food. To act on to even the simplest and most trivial of promises, that’s how true love empowers people.
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Love never forgets.

Today’s the day where I had my first Semester 2 test, mid-sem test to be exact, on Microeconomics 1 (Prices & Markets). I only have one thing to say about it: whoever set the paper, is a BITCH. What the hell’s with all the ambiguity, in a 20 question MCQ test!?

Example 1: A question mentions that the income elasticity of Fashion Furniture (I can’t remember the exact name, but these 2 words are definitely part of it) is positive, and asked what kind of a good does it produce. The choice of answers included: normal good, luxury good, inferior good, substitute good. Based on the notes I have taken in class, as far as what we have covered, a positive income elasticity includes both normal and luxury goods, although the magnitude to determine accurately which 1 it is was never covered in class. Moreover, the question does not even state any further clues for us to determine whether it was a normal or luxury good. I chose ‘luxury good’ due to 2 reasons. A) The name seems to appear like a luxury good more than a normal good, and it’s furniture we are talking about, not 2 differing-quality brands of biscuits. B) Income Elasticity = (change in quantity demanded of good/change in income)*(summation income values/summation quantity demanded values). For income elasticity to be positive, the resultant division of the ‘change in quantity demanded of good’ over the ‘change in income’ needs to be positive, which would mean they need to complementary in signs (either both negative or positive). In such a case, if I were to draw the demand curve for this, wouldn’t it be a perverse demand curve where quantity demanded rises as income rises? In the case of perverse demand curves, there is a likelihood for the good to be a luxury good due to either the bandwagon effect, the snob effect, of conspicuous consumption, where an increase in pricing will increase the quantity demanded for the good (or vice versa).

Example 2: I can’t remember exactly all the choices given, but this question asks for the definition of Producer Surplus. This is probably the most debated question in class after the test ended. All 4 answers given were unlike the definition I learned in my notes, that is ” Producer Surplus is the amount producers receive over and above the minimum price that would be required to induce them to supply the good”. The answer I chose was “the difference between what the producer needs to receive and what consumers are willing to pay”, which is obviously wrong. Another answer was clearly the definition for Consumer Surplus so I shall not go into that. That leaves the 2 answers that has left us in a debate over which is right; “the difference between what the producer needs to receive and what the consumers actually pay”, and “the amount producers charge consumers over and above what the consumer is willing to pay”. I’m just boggled…

Example 3: This question tells us that a price increase in the price of apples will result in the quantity demanded for oranges to increase, and asks us what relation do the 2 fruits have. Obviously the answer would be that the 1 fruits are substitutes. However, the choices given to us included both ’substitutes’ and ‘close substitutes’. Again, both of these answers mean at the very least that they are substitutes, yet then question does to give any further clue for us to determine which answer to choose. I chose ’substitutes’ as the answer, although in reality ‘close substitutes’ seem like a plausible answer too.

Who would’ve thought a 20 question MCQ that lasted for a mere 50min would trigger such a dramatic response from us. The lecturer had better go through the questions PROPERLY after the results are out.
There’s still Business Statistics test this saturday, and Commercial Law test next saturday…
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Moving away from schoolwork, I had an annoying encounter on bus 970 today, at about 5.50+pm. I was seated beside this auntie, and it so happened I saw her press the bell before her stop. As the bus was about to reach the stop, I moved my legs out so that she could move out of her seat easier.
You know what she did!?!?!?
That fucking fatso auntie used her behemoth ass to bump forcefully onto me, bouncing me off my seat, before “gracefully” sliding her watermelon-sized ass across the seat to get off the seatS.
She’s just plain lucky my mind was preoccupied thinking about the test questions from earlier, otherwise I would have given her a verbal lashing on the spot, JmaX style.

Hey woman, if your arse is too heavy, go for a liposuction, or get a cab next time.

Song: Trust You
Artist: Yuna Ito
Album: Dream

Need I say anymore?…

It’s been awhile since I blogged, ah heck!
I have something total-fuckingawesome-ly COOL to show you guys, check this out!!!

OH EM GEE!!!
I can’t believe that I’m already 21!
Honestly, this year’s birthday bash(es) have been the biggest, and best in my life so far, and it’s far from over yet!
[photos will be up on fb, and some here soon~]

I originally wanted a more poetic and melancholic tone for this post, but the instant I started to type it, the inspiration just dissipated from my head. URGH.
What can I say, I can never stay angry with ’someone’ for long, it’s just not possible. That’s a good thing, thankfully. 2 months have passed in the blink of an eye, though it felt ever so long with so much having gone through. I must say that’s quite an amazing feat for me, that a short 2 months can bear so much.
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I ought to be thankful. For the first time, I get to really feel what it means to be responsible, not just to myself, but to my other half too. Of course, all these is in my own interpretation and realisation of the important ingredients that fuel a relationship. Different situations that arise, be it happy or sad, anger or nonchalance, require a more delicate approach than how one would normally react around friends or acquaintances.
Even so, there’s much to learn down this path, for I have not had the chance to experience what it means to be able to be maintain flexibility, freshness, unfaltering devotion, and mutual content in the long-term. Indeed, maintaining a long-term relationship, or even a marriage, is one that takes a lot of maturity, communication, and magnanimity. I’m constantly learning…
Quarrels, disputes, disagreements naturally come part of the package, and often than not it is the bane of most, if not all, failed relationships. A lack of understanding and patience, even maturity in some cases, arises when one is unable or unwilling to communicate and share, leading to an endless flow of petty disputes that remain unaddressed, which will eventually contribute to the greater evil that initiates a split. I’m no guru of relationships, not while I’m inexperienced, but at least I want to find the determination to make sure that “greater evil” doesn’t materialise.
Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong and I’m really happy with the way things are. I’m merely indulging in a self-evaluation of my experiences.
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I notice an acquaintance on MSN who has only 1 kind of MSN nicks: the FUCKING EMO BEYOND HOPE kind.
I don’t want to be mean, but honestly this is the kind of emo that annoys people a lot; I don’t even need to talk to him to feel totally turned off.
An example of a nick: “U are not deserved to love anymore. *****,wake up. U are idiot,really is a idiot!!!”
Like I said, I have no intention to be nasty or nosy because I can’t be bothered, but every nick from this person so far has been along these lines. In fact, I dare say some of you might even know him…
Firstly, you keep telling yourself to wake up, so please fucking wake up the right way. Wallowing in the worsest of self-pity doesn’t gain anyone’s sympathy, neither does it help you get the person you’re interested in. I know this pretty sure myself. (let’s just say I had my fair share of despondency, though not this exaggerated or annoyingly loud)
Secondly, if you think that the uber-ridiculously-fucking-emo image is going to gain you some awwww-points and hitch you a nice person, you are way too deluded I wouldn’t even want to smack you awake. Tell me, would any person in the right of mind want to get newly attached to a depressed soul? It would mean endless baby-sitting, psychological counselling, and double the emotional work since emo-you has spent all your time being emo and is incapable of understanding and acting on the emotional needs of a relationship. In this case, seeing a shrink (or psychologist if you don’t know what’s a shrink) would be far more beneficial than getting attached.
Thirdly, as long as you remain like that, you will constantly view everything in the saddest way possible. Ever wondered why no job seems to suit you that you need to keep looking for a new job? Have you thought about why you feel so empty inside, and you always ache terribly when someone you have an interest in dates someone else or even gets attached? Did you consider the real root of your depression? Obviously not, not when you fail to realise that YOU are your problem.
If you’re not even contented with you yourself, no one else but you, a single you, there’s no way you can have the determination to get through life’s daily struggles. A relationship involves two people who are primarily mature enough to be self-sufficient and confident, secondarily able to communicate, understand, and compromise with each other with great magnanimity, thirdly able to actively provide positivity and mutuality to fuel and strengthen the relationship in the long-term. Honestly, happiness in a relationship is 2-way, not solely one party constantly feeding the deficiencies of the other. It is true that people tend to go for someone who is humble yet self-confident, because these people know their limits and capabilities and how to achieve their highest potential, and hence these people are more “fun” to be with.
At the end of the day, my point is that you need to learn to love yourself first and foremost before you even consider venturing out to the world of relationships. Relationships require much more than what you usually give yourself.
I quote from an email a friend sent me:
THE KEY TO SUCCEEDING IN MARRIAGE IS NOT FINDING THE RIGHT PERSON; IT’S LEARNING TO LOVE THE PERSON YOU FOUND.
SUSTAINING love is not a passive or spontaneous experience. It’ll NEVER just happen to you. You can’t “find” LASTING love. You have to “make” it day in and day out. That’s why we have the expression “the labor of love.” Because it takes time, effort, and energy. And most importantly, it takes WISDOM. You have to know WHAT TO DO to make your marriage/relationship work.
Hey *****, how do you feed a relationship when you can’t even feed yourself first?
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Keep your eyes on me, won’t you?

Just yesterday we celebrated Daniel’s birthday. I shall not go into details of what we did, instead the focus of this post is on our visit to Heaven’s Loft at Orchard Central.
Honestly, I didn’t know Orchard Central has opened, even though the official launch is in July. Some shops have already opened, they include Celio*, Nike, Tonkichi, Ben & Jerry’s INSIDE Heaven’s Loft. The first thing I felt while inside Orchard Central, was that it felt like Clarke Quay’s Central… Crammed, maze-y, confusing, narrow, a very good place for kids to play hide-and-seek.
There are open-air verandahs on different levels of the building, offering a night-view of Orchard Central’s neighbours. The unique thing about such a view is that it’s never been seen before in that area, and there’s this tinge of emo-ness and melancholy that seems perfect for a scene right out of a drama serial (as according to Dayvid,” *drama-tone* 你要的钱我会还给你的，你还要什么？”).
It still too early to tell whether Orchard Central is going to be truly boring like how Clarke Quay’s Central is, or would it house a whole a fresh new chain of boutiques. Also, it seems that there’s going to be an indoor park on the 13th storey, that had better be a saving grace too.
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We visited Heaven’s Loft on the 8th floor (or maybe 7th).

I’m going to be very honest. I don’t like the decor there, I don’t like certain aspects of the service there, and the only saving grace is that Heaven’s Loft has a partnership with Ben & Jerry’s so ALL the desserts are from the Ben & Jerry’s stand in the cafe-restaurant itself.
Decor: The silver cushioned seats are hard and uncomfortable. The moving spaces in between tables are so narrow and crammed. The lighting is alright being low and UV-neon-ish. The ceiling design comprises uniquely angled and shaped mirror panels, with LCD screens showing the stage outside. I don’t see the point of having those LCD screens flat on the ceiling, it’s a pain for diners to look up vertically to see what’s on the screen so effectively no one would; if no one bothers to look up, those screens are going to be a waste of money and electricity.

Service: Standard politeness in speaking tone and behaviour of the staff is there. What drives me totally ANAL AND IMMENSELY ANNOYED is that THEY CLAIM THAT THEY DO NOT SERVE ICE WATER, OR EVEN JUST PLAIN TAP WATER, instead they could only provide hot water, or bottled water (which means paying for water). So all of us asked for a cup of hot water since that’s the only water that’s free. What’s further amusing is that while that’s what they claim, we could clearly see the bar guy serving kids from another table with a constant flow of plain ICED WATER. GLASS AFTER GLASS AFTER GLASS AFTER GLASS AFTER GLASS AFTER GLASS. SERIOUSLY WHAT THE FUCK!? That’s plain bias in the treatment of customers. A possible reason could have been because we only ordered from the dessert menu, which would mean from B&J’s and not from their kitchen. Even then I don’t see why they should differentiate like this since they have a partnership with B&J.
Let’s face the facts Heaven’s Loft: Firstly, obviously B&J is far more famous and is going to be the very reason why people would even step into a restaurant that is 7-8 storeys high, so if you continue to treat customers like that, people would rather visit B&J outlets the rest of town than your place. Secondly, with all your competitors throughout Orchard having signature dishes that people love, and serving free-flow of plain iced TAP water to customers, do you think you can survive being so stingy?
Heaven’s Loft? Seriously I don’t think Heaven is a place where people get angry, and get denied of plain tap water…
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Lousy service bitchings aside, we were the first customers to order the Vermonster at B&J @ Heaven’s Loft!!! That means a complimentary camera shot by the B&J crew and our picture will be on the B&J board there. LOL it’s hilarious, that they’re first Vermonster customers are a bunch of erm… people (if you get what I mean)!

20 scoops of icecream, toppings of nut, M&Ms, chocolate rice, candy flakes, brownies, cookies, cookie dough, chocolate fudge, caramel, a whole canister of whipped cream. I know, this is TOTALLY sinful!!!

THIS is what we call HEAVEN.
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Vvvvvvermonster KILL!