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Spring Break 09 was one holiday that I was truly looking forward to, and by golly did it not disappoint.
Being stuck overnight in Tokyo, the look of utter incomprehension on Liang's face, getting weird looks from a bunch of people in the NUS central library, chilli crabs at Palm Beach with the choir folks, hanging out with my 3 favourite people everyday, time spent with the family combating pollution in Hong Kong and not even being able to see the diamonds of bad fengshui on the Bank of China, father wanting to initial BS on his shirts, wanton noodles, dim sum at Lung King Heen and almost being denied entry into the states. All that in a week. I hope that answers all the questions pertaining to why I'm killing myself to graduate early.
By the way, I've added a new link on the left. The magazine is a British publication which defies categorization. This month, [Monocle] talks to Anders Fogh Rasmussen about COP 15, does a feature on Bildschöne Bücher and its exceptional range of design and photography books, and contemplates the future of the workplace. Awesome awesome stuff.

Merry Christmas.

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

San Francisco oh oh oh oh.

You've got to love the city of San Francisco. The weather, the waterfront, the gelato and the restaurants, woohoo! I had as well, my first taste of Korean food. Imagine having to travel 9000 miles just to have Korean down in Oakland. Goodness. But it was oh-so-good!

The Farmers' Market down by the ferry terminal was amazing as well. Never have i seen such a large variety of tomatoes, peaches, nectarines, pluots, plums and berries. It's currently peach and tomato season here in California, so as you might be able to imagine, it's quite a piece of peachylicious heaven here.



Off to a great start- The folks at united decided to upgrade me to business on the narita-sf leg of my flight! God bless their souls. The sky was gorgeous, but due to the insane brightness and my not-so-competent camera taking skills, you can't see that here.

The highly generous brother is indeed most knowledgeable when it comes to wining and dining(and some, fine, many other things of course). We went for dinner at One Market on the second night and may I say, the food was nothing short of excellent. The wood-grilled lamb that I had, brilliant. Together with the 2005 Tudor Pinot Noir, the restaurant earned my instant patronage! More importantly, it has the approval of the folks behind the Michelin stars as well. Located at the junction between The Embarcadero and Market Street, One Market is a must must go.
















Photos from the Farmers' Market that goes on at the ferry terminal building every weekend. So, what goes on here is that the farmers from all over California gather on saturdays to sell their produce, and with California being the home of the hippie-movement and organic farming, the produce is fantastically fresh and yummy!(jamie you'd love it)=)



Lastly, look at what I found at the counter of one of the oyster bars at the ferry terminal. Pretty funny much. Oh, but the shop has pretty decent ahi tuna poke.










p.s. dear all who sent me off at the airport, thank you so so much for the thought and gesture. Even my granny didn't send me off=p The book was an amazing parting gift and I believe I almost shed a tear as I was looking at it on the plane.




Oh, the places you'll go.

No Better Way

With the activities, parties and multiple last minute errands that have to be run before I leave piling up, one hardly has any time to breathe. Anyhoos, I've decided to put up some pictures from the crazyy weekend that was last Saturday and Sunday!


















As I'm sure you can tell, Widjaja's pre-21st and farewell was an absolute blast.




On top of that, Sunday was the last trip to Keyaki that I'll be making in a while. Emo-ness.

Good-bye to my favourite Japanese restaurant for the next 3 months(hopefully) or 9 months, if I'm not so fortunate.=(







Signing off with a picture that perhaps best describes my last days here in Singapore,

Ernest R. Xue

Charging By

For some of the best tempura in town, head down to Tenshin at The Regent. No one here does it like them. A cosy little place on the 3rd floor of the hotel, it sits approximately 30 or so i think, so do try to make reservations if you are thinking of heading down during the weekend!



Food aside, it looks like I've sung in my last awef for in the near and probably even extended future as well. =/ To the alumni there, thank you for the music. The night was really quite precious to me. So, 3 weeks more till I leave sunny Singapore for the shores of America to San Francisco and Indi-middleofnowhere-ana.

Typing this entry brings my memory back to exactly this time last year, when a whole other bunch of friends were about to leave for overseas and how we would mock and laugh as we read out their highly emotional 2000-word long goodbyes on their blogs. Surreal then, that i am close to having to eat my words a year down. But in the event that you are eagerly anticipating an opportunity to tease me, nuh-uh. This is not about to degenerate into that. This is about me reflecting on how fulfilling life can be when it is spent doing all of the items listed below
1) Not neglecting the bible
2)Having to work only one or two days a week, and for a period of 5 hours each time at that
3)Spending time with close friends before I leave
4)Getting to spend time with brother, although it might only have been for 3 days
5)Getting back in the mood of studying. Here's a list of books I have to clear before heading over
-The Guide to Understanding Financial Statements
-The Merrill Lynch Guide to Understanding Financial Reports
-Perspectives on Strategy from The Boston Consulting Group
-Payback, Reaping the Rewards of Innovation

Envy me-.-

June

My my, time certainly passes very quickly as a free person! Here's what's up in the month of June

1)The school holidays are here! I don't have to go to school to attempt to educate into the youth of our nation for a whole month! Unfortunately, that also means a total cessation of income for the month. That's alright though, because i'm spending my time planning for and working towards-

2)The ACJC Choir's 20th Anniversary Thanksgiving Service! In the off chance that you are someone who was from the choir reading this space who still has not indicated interest in attending the above-mentioned event, please do come for it! It has been a good one week with great company, hanging out with the jamie and gina everyday for the past week(i'm typing this from na's dining table).

3)Mario Kart is damnnn fun!=)

4)My eye hurts.

5)Mr Obama, congratulations. As a soon-to-be alien in your country, i look forward to the positive changes that you have promised in your campaign. Change we can believe in, and the continuation of brilliant brilliant video games such as grand theft auto

To The Slovakia-bound, With Love

You are in our thoughts and prayers. Do God, College and Country proud!

Lazy Weekday Afternoons

Jamie's on my left and Gina's on my right. They are currently sharing a can of Dutch Lady Coffee and trying desperately to not fall asleep. I have none of those problems whatsoever, considering that one only starts to feel sleepy and lackadaisical when one actually has a NEED to be productive. With BSF out of the way and Adriana Lima beckoning from the cover of this month's GQ, sloth is NOT a trait that i am currently exhibiting.

From Matthew 5 and lesson 4 last week, I learnt that Jesus was tempted at His most vulnerable(after going without food for 40 days). Given that we have the same resources as He did in facing temptation- the Word of God and the Holy Spirit, we can be more than fine when we too are tempted!

Ok, enough of BSF and back to Adriana Lima.

Idiocy, Re-affirmed

JP: I was watching Horton the Elephant and I started thinking about you during the bit where Horton started flapping his ears around under water to help him move about.

LL: Hieh hieh hieh (sarcastic laughter followed by the rolling of eyes)

JP: Then he started spraying water through his nose......

With friends like these, who needs to seek entertainment anywhere else?

Oh, and should the unthinkable ever ever happen, I believe we just might be eternally indebted to them for removing the African elephant off the list of endangered species.