okay i know this doesn't make sense but i'm (umm what's the word?) re-posting this very outdated post about our perth trip last year. sorry but i need to REMEMBER it. i've got a really wonky memory and right now i can't remember half the things i'm supposed to remember. including what homework i am supposed to do right now but come to think of it that's kind of helpful. XD

and i'm making additions / corrections / whatever amendments in RED so that it doesn't get confusing. and I WANT TO GO if ms phua needs student guides for the perth trip this year!

taken from a blog post dated 29/10/05.
the perth trip was so fun. the rollicking (is it correctly spelt?) good times we had! on the first day, we set off from changi airport at around 9. on board qf (qantas) 72. i was surprised to see an inflight entertainment system! okay. maybe i was looking down on qantas before that. and luckily they had entertainment on demand! but i didn't really get to watch the movies. had to slog...studying music theory. that stupid grade 8 theory exam! my parents were quoting ming jing as an example. okay, she really did study for like 7 straight hours on the plane to slovenia (i got the chance to rub shoulders with a president's scholar!). but i can't match up to her feat. two reasons.

ONE> theory was so boring i drifted off to sleep. only to wake up 10 minutes later. and the cycle repeated. study. sleep. study. sleep. study...

TWO> i have a superbly low concentration level and will often digress and do stuff totally UNRELATED to whatever i have to do (like now. why am i blogging when i'm supposed to finish off my viva voce homework?). between watching movies and slogging, what would i choose? you decide. (and for your information, i DETEST theory even though i love homework-ing and studying and stuff like that)

we went to caversham wildlife park and king's park that afternoon. there was so much to see at caversham! we fed kangaroos. hugged wombats. took loads of photos of the animals there. and got lots of souvenirs! well, i didn't really spend a lot. i got a box of lanolin soap (they smell really fragrant) and this cute little koala "statuette". fine. i can't find any other word to describe the koala. my english is really horrid. or to be particular, my vocabulary range is extremely limited. king's park wasn't really interesting. not a lot of fun when you realise that the park is dedicated to world war heroes and veterans. and even more depressing when you realise you are chillingly cold. the temperature was way too low. and good luck to you when you're only wearing one layer plus a fleece jacket. because it's still rather hopeless. to combat the cold, we tried running around and jogging on the spot. problem was that i seemed to lose balance while running. running too fast? or losing control of myself?

metro hotel was horrible. the atmosphere was terrible. we switched off the lights when we decided to sleep. and we saw light streaming from among the curtains covering the doors to the balcony. and we screamed. and shouted. terrified of some imaginary supernatural beings. of course, i didn't sleep very well that night. come to think of it, i was actually the one who started all the screaming and stuff. all i can do now is to shake my head and say how stupid i was then.

second day. we went to the gap and the natural bridge. too bad the teachers didn't allow us to go to the gap. it was to dangerous and the winds were too strong (or so they said. maybe we just don't understand). they (the winds) almost swept the teachers off their feet. and then we would see a flying ms phua, or a flying hong2 lao3 shi1. of course, we didn't really want that to happen. still, we went to the natural bridge. and the experience was out of this world! the winds were so strong and salty sea water were blown into our face. not something you can get in singapore. we loved the winds so much that we even stood outside the bus for 10 whole minutes when others were "exploring" the natural bridge. to enjoy the piercingly cold winds. and i got a cold that made the rest of my trip really brilliant. and if you can't catch the sarcasm here then you're really brilliant too.

then we went to the wind farm. the windmills were huge. and they seemed to move forward. coming towards us...slowly. but it wasn't true. the winds were so strong that they blowed the clouds backwards. this caused an illusion...as if the windmills were moving forward! yet again i was acting smarty-pants and explaining but being such a bad explainer i think i made everyone even more confused. the scenery there was gorgeous. breathtaking. stunning. alluring. lots of flora and fauna. and a captivating view of the sea! just when we were making our way down the hill on which the wind farm was situated, benice saw this "heavenly" sight. light from the sun was streaming down froom among the clouds and the water reflected the light, causing it to sparkle and shimmer. like a glittering diamond. it was exactly like those beautiful scenes we saw in movies! bernice commented that she always thought that they were special effects. but now we all know better. nature will always present us with things more beautiful than we could ever come up with. (oh my gosh how did i write such beautifully? sorry that was an ego boost XD)

metro inn was where we were staying that night. it was made up of a squat one storey building. but there was this cozy feeling. so cozy that i slept right through the night. without waking up. and guess what? metro inn was a three-star hotel while metro hotel on canning was a four-star one! and a three-star hotel was better than the four-star hotel! how ironical.

the tree top walk was first on the schedule for the third day. it was terrific. sadly, it was short. the highest point was 40m above ground. but it just didn't feel like 40m. i thought it was only like 10 to 20m! bad part was, baozhing and madeline kept jumping on the bridge. and it kept rocking from side to side. not so good for people who are afraid of heights. like me. then, limestone cave! it was extremely dark, and my torchlight was so weak it was hardly of any use! but again, how ironic it was. i, who wasn't exactly able to see everything clearly (oh yes i'm as blind as a bat. i'm rendered BLIND without spectacles, but i'm not saying i took of my specs in the limestone cave...), didn't bump into rocks or limestones or miss a step. others who had powerful torchlights or could see clearly did. maybe i was just plain careful. or there were just plain careless. we learnt lots about the limestone formations in the cave and it really did provide a "fascinating insight into the creation of these prisinte formations".

i ate mutton for the first time in my life on this same day. i didn't know until the people at the farm told me. but it didn't taste horrible. contrary to my belief. absolutely yummy, it was (alright i sound really evil in this sentence. poor sheep). after dinner, we went for a farm show. where the owner of the farm showed us how he sheared sheep. the wool was so soft. *prod prod* and the wonderful thing was that i got the chance to feed the young sheep milk! feed them milk! the sheep which i was feeding kept sucking on the milk bottle with gusto. it was so fast in drinking up the milk. and there was not a single drop left! got some lanolin cream here. although i already bought some lanolin soap.

all of us loved broadwater beach resort. it was in a style of a chalet and 6 of us got a house to ourselves! baozhing, madeline and i slept on the second storey. there were only two single beds, but we refused to sleep separate. we joined the two beds together and i slept in the middle! talk about unity! *smiles* but according to baozhing, i sort of pushed her off the bed. well, whatever. maybe that's "revenge" for her snoring on the first night! and for shouting "pokeyface!" when i was just about to sleep. just joking.

we went for the inter-school exchange on the fourth day. at geographe primary school. weird name, because "geographe" is a french word. and that area is called geographe. i loved the school system there! they employed a homeroom system, and the teachers got to decorate their classrooms! and it was done professionally! and the classrooms weren't called classrooms. they were called learing areas. and four learing areas formed a learning centre. it was so cool! and the students embarked on lots of project work. and there was not a single worksheet in sight! it was just projects! how cool can school get? but now as i reflect i bet rg is as cool as this. except the bit about "not a single worksheet in sight". guess we're still not there!

got quite a bit of stuff at the macadamia nut farm. 200g of honey-coated macadamias. and i was surprised at the size of the "factory". it was so small! forget about flatted factories! the manager told us about how the macadamia nuts were processed and the machines made use of tons and tons of scientific principles. madeline spent about 50 aussie dollars at the farm. reason: she didn't know that there were 400g and 200g packets of nuts. so instead of buying 3 200g packets, she got 2 400g ones and 1 200g one. talk about genius-ness.

fifth day was shopping day! we went to fremantle and i got the bulk of my stuff there. an australian t-shirt. a kangaroo and joey figurine made of glass. a wombat plushie keychain. a keychain with pictures of the main australian animals. a 200g bottle of honey made from the pollen of the tuart tree. nougats (pronouced noo-ga) and loads of sweets. and guess what baozhing and bernice got for wanhui? a g-string! a yellow one with sequins. waiting to see wanhui's reactions on monday (in the end baozhing lost it so we never got the chance to see her reactions)... we also went to a surfing shop! the GEPers totally went mad here. snatching the nicest billabong and roxy pencil cases and wallets. i was part of the nutcases. got a roxy wallet which cost 9.95 aussie dollars. kind of nice although i hoped to get a billabong one. it would go perfectly with my billabong satchel. wanted to get a roxy pencil case but madeline got there first. (oh my gosh i never knew i was so materialistic) well, never mind. i can get marissa to get me one. and pencil cases cost more than wallets! you get what i mean, don't you?

we got back to singapore at around 10:05pm. i would never forget this trip to perth. because it was the first without my family. and because it brought me to places i would never have imagined to go. and because it was where the bonds between friends were made stronger. and perhaps, everlasting.

yay i love profound endings!

oh gosh it sure was tough editing. okay i didn't really do a good job but at least it sounds better. WHAT it's already EIGHT-THIRTY! better get back to work.

banning procrastination has NEVER been my forte.

or zongmin, in english, chinese or - okay, not really otherwise.

rafflesian
111 (06) | 213 (07) | 414 (09)
tripscience/lit♥ + mep, crab! (:
RGSChoir♥: sop2/alto1 + appassionata!
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waddlian :D
CAPper'o7!
OBS}hillary!♥
team rgs/nsc08! (:
RGS-ICYL08: FIXcomm!♥
wycf08, satb choir! :D
ISYF@SG09!♥

lives, writes, sings, plays the piano, and attempts to sound intellectual at times (conclusion: fails rather miserably).

loves music (almost strictly classical, hurhur & inclusive of faziolis!), literature (& also the sciences - no they are not in conflict), making hopelessly lame puns, laughter, white/milk chocolate, cheesecake, the world & the people in it. list not exhaustive, by the way.

wants the world to be filled with peace, joy and love, and also wants (perhaps a little more selfishly) to be happy, plus lead a life of purpose. that would be more than enough. (:

oh, and she likes embarking on her own 'free hugs!' campaigns after exams and the like; not really sure why. D: (at any rate, you can tell that she's random enough.)

amanda g.
amanda y.
baozhing
brenda l.
brenda s.
chanel
charmaine
chloe
darrell
deborah l.
deborah z.
elizabeth
fangying
fiona
frances
giovanni
grace k.
grace z.
iris
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jane
jiaxuan
jingjie
jovina
kezia
leevoon
lisa
lynette
madeline
may
mengshi
michelle
natalie
nikhita
peiying
priscilla
samantha
sarah
seetteng
shanjee
shiaoyen
shermaine
shze hui
siyi
sophia
stacey
stefanie
suetping
tienli
vanessa
wanhui
wanjiun
weite
xinyuan
yeephon
yinleng
yujia
zeslene

111'06
213'07
rgs choir
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very plain, she knows; but this is probably herself in its entirety - nothing more than a compilation of perhaps-boring-to-you little things (and the occasional Important Event), but also nothing less than all the brilliant memories which constitutes her life, and perhaps yours.

also interpreted as an inability to express with other things but words (nothing more, nothing less!), although even words sometimes won't do enough. but she does like orange.

v2.0 (230208): maybe solid grey isn't that fantastic after all. but wordy is good, all the same. she's weird, she knows.

ver. i-pretend-that-it-is-3.0-when-i-know-it-is-not (070608): i am boring, take that. (:

v4.0 (200908): got bored, so cut down on the quasi-fanciful stuff even more. perfectly plain now, though somehow the background still doesn't work on safari / google chrome. ):