I definitely have a problem with juggling studies and work together because that means I am robbed of my time. Let me explain.

I have lessons from 8am to 11am every weekdays in Central. My work shift is from 2.30pm to 6.30pm in the East. Ok, the problem here is while I seem to have a good amount of time from 11am to 2.30pm, it is actually wasted time. If I go home in the East, I only have about an hour at home, which I used to lunch and nap. If I go to work, I will be tired out because it's like working a 12-hr shift.

So uncool.

If my weekdays are burnt just like that, my weekends tend to be consumed even more because I have three piles of work to do -- assignments for school, lesson preparation for work (I am a pre-school teacher if you haven't figured out, hurrah), and administrative work for my workplace.

I feel dog gone sometimes.

Barely surviving.

I love puzzles! I love surprises! I love presents! I love mufujifi!

Maybe it won't take me a year to complete it after all unlike my sentiment in 4 Nov 2011 when I first started playing it. I've just entered the fourth last stage of the game, which is Behind the Looking Glass so it's not too bad.

I actually got a handle on the combat (all thanks to the amazing Croquet Mallet, Ice Wand and Jacks but mostly the Ice Wand). The Croquet Mallet was really useful in the earlier parts of the game and then there was the Ice Wand towards the end of Vale of Tears. The Ice Wand really made it easier to finish off the stoopid Boojums, made it a breeze going against the Red Chess Pieces, and totally nailed a very lame boss fight against the Red King. The Phantasmagoria didn't pose much of a problem either with the Ice Wand at hand. I don't know why the Phantasmagoria just seem like a monster with t!ts For that, I have affectionately called it Hantu Tetek (Boob Ghost), which you can Google for more information on it. Lastly, the Jacks are the very bane of the Automatons. They also kill Boojums easily but Ice Wand is just so much cooler. Excuse the pun.

I didn't really use the other weapons as much and probably won't besides the Vorpal Blade. I used to tackle the boojums with the Playing Cards because those gave me range but with the Ice Wand, the Playing Cards just seem redundant... unless I'm attacking the Card Guards from far. Least used weapons include the Demon Dice and the Jackbomb. I only used the Jackbomb once during the boss fight against the Duchess. I don't quite fancy the Demon Dice because it takes time for the demon's portal to open, for the demon to make its way out of the portal, and it is pretty weak so usually it dies before finishing off enemies.

I'm not too sure if I'll use the Jabberwock's Eye Staff beyond the boss fight against the Jabberwock. I'll see how it goes.

So that's the update on my weapon use in the game.

Another update on combat is a memorable fight against the Voracious Centipede.

Oh. My. God.

Took me a billion tries before I realised that I had to maintain a close yet safe distance from it in order to get it to try and stomp me and during which, I would have to flick my blade at its underside to get a hit. In fact, I was so close to giving up that I almost got mufujifi over at my house to kill that damn invertebrate. More like INVERTeBRAT.

But I'm glad I sorted that bit out on my own. See, I'm not so lousy.

As mentioned, the Red King boss fight wasn't much of a fight.

But the boss fight against Twiddledum and Twiddledee did pose a bit of a challenge. Took me two tries so it wasn't as awful as the Voracious Centipede. The first time I didn't quite dodge their attacks well. So I took the liberty of moving around a whole lot more. Weapon used throughout: Jacks. Tactic: Hit and run. That's about what I did. Aim for the right-sized one, hit it with the Jacks, run like hell, and repeat. So in the end, that wasn't much of an issue.

However, during the fight, the game would suddenly freeze momentarily and that completely caught me off guard the first time, which probably explains why I couldn't kill them on my first try. In fact, it happened sporadically throughout my first try. It did occur again during my second try but I was prepared and when the screen froze, I just kept my analog stick pushed towards the direction I'm moving at so when it unfroze, I'm safely moving away from the enemies. I'm not sure if it's my disc or if this is a bug for the PS3 version. Would be nice if someone can check this bit out for me because I am lazy like that.

So that's about it for the combat part. I think the next fight will be against the Mad Hatter. Slightly anxious but I'll get there when I get there.

I mentioned something about sharing the frustrations I have with this game. Besides the ones I have already stated in my first post about this game and the combat issues, there's this issue of inconvenient saving and loading of the game. The thing about this game is that it is so hard for me that quick-saving and quick-loading would've been really useful and unfortunately such feature is only available on the PC. With the PS3, you will have to manually save and load. There isn't much of an issue with it except that it does have a tendency to break your momentum when you're playing but at the same time if you don't save, you're going to regret not doing so because it means having to redo it all over again, which is absolutely as tedious as the reading this whole sentence in one breath.

So yes, I'm actually obsessively saving my progress as I'm playing it. I'm lousy like that but for some reason, I really think there is no shame in obsessively saving for this game. I don't know if it's just me so I'm wondering if you guys do that too when you're playing. I've watched mufu play the final stages on the XBox and I don't recall seeing her save her progress that much. Hmmm. :?

So besides using the same weapons over and over again (I mean why fix what isn't broken), I literally glitched my way through three Boojums in the Fortress of Doors when the rage potion was first introduced on the beams in a school gymnasium. I tried to get to the rage potion as quickly as I could without falling off the beams and murdering myself but the miracle never happened. Instead, I just tried to kill them off on the ground but that didn't work either...

until I discovered two sweet glitch spots in the gym.

Oh yeah.

You know the stair-like benches in the gym that helps you get onto the beams? I simply moved into the small corner at its side (either side is possible). In that corner, the Boojum can still come to you in plain view but its shrieks cannot hurt you. So you have a clear shot at it and your hit counts while it has a clear shot at you but its hits don't.

Heh heh heh.

Finally, I just want to talk about what I like about it. It's the atmosphere, the mood, the gothic elements so to speak, and the sinister undertones to it that make me think this is better off as a masterpiece of an interpretation of Lewis Carroll's Alice In Wonderland than a masterpiece of a game. I think the sequel, Alice: Madness Returns, redeems it to a large extent. If it wasn't for the sequel, I would feel that the game was simply put together to produce a dark version of Alice in Wonderland because of certain elements that just don't fit with the original story. I'm not going into depth about it because if I do so, it is going to ruin the next round of my progressive play series. Just remind me that this is something I need to address once I get to beating this game and playing the sequel.

In fact, I've started reading Alice in Wonderland and it helps me to understand Alice's character development in the game on a whole new level. I also think I'm very much like Alice herself in the novel:

• I am dreamy
• I like to think I'm clever or that I am thinking like a clever person
• I can offend people without meaning to (and I have)
• I like to imagine myself as two persons and even more because I have played Monopoly alone with three other soft toys. No, I am not crazy by doing that. I simply know how to entertain myself, which explains why I don't get bored easily.
• I like to do things without much thought. To me, I'm being proactive but to others, I'm being silly.

And to wrap things up, mufu's current blog series actually inspired me to create this little series on my own on top of me wanting to break away from your usual "play to the end before review" posts. I've attached my previous thoughts in this post below for convenience. Again, I emphasise that I am no gamer. I just play for fun. Deal with it. If you are a serious gamer and you think a game should be properly played through before talking about it, that's fine. It's your line and it's your call. But I am not a games writer and like Alice, I do have my opinions on my game experiences and I like to think aloud about them. Simply put, I am a romantic and I am all about capturing the moments and recording them. I attach memories to things, songs, smells, places, games, blogs, and many more. I love the feeling of nostalgia and I love reliving them. I can have an affinity with just about anything.

Anyway, yeah, let's see how I fare for the rest of the stages. I'm not going to promise anything for the next post so I won't feel so restricted. I mean, it's good in a way that I actually get to writing what I intended but it's bad when you don't have the mood to do it and you end up not writing a post for many days on end. Mufu did ask me about how I find The Testament of Sherlock Holmes, which I am currently playing as well. So I might just blog about that. Not sure if I'll do it as a progressive play or if I'll just talk about it at the end of my playthrough.

It's all about the mood for this romantic.

(Quick Archive) Progressive Play: American McGee's Alice Part 1.1

The next post will be about my current play of American McGee's Alice (yes, I've finally picked up from where I've left). In fact, I'm proud to say that I've completed the Vale of Tears quite quickly within a couple of hours. Maybe it was just a short stage or maybe it was due to the fact that I've watched Helloween4545's Let's Play of it many times over so that helped a lot. (Is that considered cheating?)

So yeah. Next post will be about AM Alice -- basically things I discover from playing it like my frustrations about it, what I like about it, how I cheated my way through, etc.

(Quick Archive) Progressive Play: American McGee's Alice Part 1.0

I had a horrible time playing it.

Firstly, it's highly probable that I am not used to the controls and platforming in this game is somewhat harder than in Uncharted.

Speaking of controls, the game showed select as the X button instead of O. However, select is actually the PS3 standard O instead of X. I actually lost my game progress because I mistakenly loaded instead of saved. No serious damage though, considering the fact that I was still in the beginning of the game.

Secondly, I should have just played on easy mode instead of medium but I'm too much of a nunchuck to play on easy. Yet, I am a world class noob. I had a lot of difficulty aiming and gauging. Also, I am so used to auto-angled cameras that I struggled with shifting the camera manually. You know, I kinda feel that this game is more engineered for a PC than a PS3. It's like they just copied and pasted the system and just modified the controls to adapt to the PS3's. Correct me if I'm wrong though. Gently, please. This could be blasphemy.

Thirdly, like ehmehgehd, stoopid boojums! I hate em I hate em I hate em. Now I know why other players have a beef with them.

This is damn embarrassing.... I'm still at Fortress of Doors: Beyond the Wall. And man, you have no idea how relieved I felt after I completed the Village of the Doomed. LOL

Are you guys looking forward to me completing the game? I have a feeling this is going to take me a year!

I really really wanted to blog about AM Alice but I have been so knackered from going back and forth to the hospital. My mum was warded last Friday for urine infection. Supposed to be discharged today but the lab is taking forever to confirm that her urine test is negative for bacteria.

I want my mummy.

Now, despite feeling so tired, I am itching to play a game. Either AM Alice or Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed. Most likely it'll be Sonic because I find it less frustrating than Alice.

Hello.

So, the last time I was here was in November, huh?

A lot of things have happened. I'm not going to go into details much because I already have on another blog, which only people who know me in person would know.

I guess, in an effort to keep myself sane, I have gone back to gaming.

So for this post, I'm going to talk about a FaceBook game, which is also available on the other platforms but I mostly play on FB and PS3 so I can only talk about those versions.

It's called You Don't Know Jack (YDKJ).

Basically, it is a trivia game. What differentiates this trivia game from others is that it has what I call adult humour -- sarcastic, cheeky, kinda lame at times, asinine, farcical, and the likes. The game is hosted by an invisible person called Cookie Masterson. By invisible, I mean, he doesn't appear in the game but his voice leads you throughout.

There are differences between the FB version and the PS3 version. The FB version is what I would call the Lite version. It has a round of five questions, with varying formats for the first four question and a permanent format for the fifth. The first four questions can be your simple Multiple-Choice Questions (MCQs) to sorting the answers according to "Dis or Dat" to typing in the whole answer on your own without the need to pay attention to punctuations (called Gibberish Question). As for the fifth, it is an extremely fun buzz-on-the-right-answer kinda thing called "Jack Attack".

You don't really need to have friends on your FB to play it but it certainly is far more enjoyable to do so in terms of comparing stats to see how cleverer you are than your friends and you even get to unlock achievements. Also, a cool feature of having friends in YDKJ: you get to play against them if they have already played through the episode and see the answers they picked during the Jack Attack.... which means you know whether they gave up and simply click on every single answer or whether they chose answers you find ridiculous and hilarious.

I know, my sentences are really long in describing this game but I just wanted to cover as many areas as possible just to give you guys an idea of why I find this trivia game unique and noteworthy.

As for the PS3 version, it has two rounds of 10 questions. Like the FB version, the first nine questions contain MCQs and "Dis or Dat" and the final question is a Jack Attack. However, unlike the FB version, you don't have the Gibberish Question simply because it's not practical to type in the answer on the PS3... am I right?

The PS3 version also offers netplay and you can compete against other online players. I'm more of a family person so I play with my siblings on local. FUN. I think it'll make a great game for a stayover/sleepover/party. Although only up to four players can play at a time, I think it'll be massively fun to have an entire room shouting different answers at all four players. Hahaha!

So... yeah. I think YDKJ is a game that makes a fun filler for social events or simply to kill boredom.

Oh, one flaw though, the questions tend to be more American-friendly. As in, there are questions whereby you need to know what is going on in the US, its history, its geography, and so on. Still, I think it just adds on to anyone's general knowledge so no real blow there... unless you're up against your American friend.

If any of you guys do play it on FB or PS3, let me know. In fact I purchased a USD2 royale package for the FB version that allows me to play two free games each day and other benefits. That is quite the extent to which I like the game.

Which brings us to, damn, Huda, more money? Well, you get to play for free once each day and earn tokens based on your ranking in the game. If you feel unsatiated by one round, you get to play again by purchasing it with 200 tokens. So basically, just try to get the first place each time you play so you can earn those tokens more quickly. You also get an additional free turn once you've levelled up.

I think this post doesn't do justice as to what the game has to offer. I would propose you try the FB version before purchasing the PS3 version just to get a feel of things and whether this game is for you. Hey, we're all different, right?

Also something to note, they do recycle some questions from the PS3 and use it in the FB though I'm not sure if it's the other way round (I'm too lazy to check, ugh). But they do come up with a new episode each week so the popculture questions remain current and contemporary.

And oh, oh, the FB version has special guest episodes whereby you get to play with a guest player like Jimmy Pardo, Adrianne Curry, Rich Sommer, etc. I think that is quite a new feature in the FB version so you don't find that many guest episodes right now.

Just to wrap things up nicely for this post, this is one game I'm playing regularly. Well, at least the FB version and at least I'm trying to, given my real life commitments.

The next post will be about my current play of American McGee's Alice (yes, I've finally picked up from where I've left). In fact, I'm proud to say that I've completed the Vale of Tears quite quickly within a couple of hours. Maybe it was just a short stage or maybe it was due to the fact that I've watched Helloween4545's Let's Play of it many times over so that helped a lot. (Is that considered cheating?)

So yeah. Next post will be about AM Alice -- basically things I discover from playing it like my frustrations about it, what I like about it, how I cheated my way through, etc.

I hope you all are doing better than me. :D

Woah oh oh! I finally got my copy of Alice: Madness Returns, which comes with a free download of its prequel, American McGee's Alice.

Ironically, my crush was the one who helped me look out for the game and accompanied me to get it.

And well, no, we're not together because of my religion.

And yes, I still like him.

And no, I don't think he likes me.

So yeah, it's pitiful and I hate playing victim.

But anyway, back to the main centre of attraction: American McGee's Alice.

Let's see.

I had a horrible time playing it.

Firstly, it's highly probable that I am not used to the controls and platforming in this game is somewhat harder than in Uncharted.

Speaking of controls, the game showed select as the X button instead of O. However, select is actually the PS3 standard O instead of X. I actually lost my game progress because I mistakenly loaded instead of saved. No serious damage though, considering the fact that I was still in the beginning of the game.

Secondly, I should have just played on easy mode instead of medium but I'm too much of a nunchuck to play on easy. Yet, I am a world class noob. I had a lot of difficulty aiming and gauging. Also, I am so used to auto-angled cameras that I struggled with shifting the camera manually. You know, I kinda feel that this game is more engineered for a PC than a PS3. It's like they just copied and pasted the system and just modified the controls to adapt to the PS3's. Correct me if I'm wrong though. Gently, please. This could be blasphemy.

Thirdly, like ehmehgehd, stoopid boojums! I hate em I hate em I hate em. Now I know why other players have a beef with them.

This is damn embarrassing.... I'm still at Fortress of Doors: Beyond the Wall. And man, you have no idea how relieved I felt after I completed the Village of the Doomed. LOL

Are you guys looking forward to me completing the game? I have a feeling this is going to take me a year!

And oh! by the way, I completed Uncharted on easy mode. See, I'm not such a terrible gamer after all. I just need to game more often... it's just that I'm lazy.

And busy-crazy.

I thought everything will calm down after October but no.... things are going to get crazier. Sighs. When will I have the chance to stream Slender Man live?

On another note, I went to Legoland in Malaysia yesterday. IT WAS AWESOME! Sadly, we spent half-an-hour each time to queue up for a ride that lasts only two minutes.

What a waste.

Now I feel really pitiful.

You will not believe what I did now.

I confessed my feelings to the guy I like.

At first, I was expecting a flat-out rejection...

but now....

his confusion is my confusion.

Right now, I have to patiently await his final decision and I will have to live with it.

ON NON-HEARTBREAKING NEWS:

Uncharted is awesome! It's quite frustrating for a noob gamer @ me but I do like the sceneries, especially the ones with waterfalls. LOVE LOVE LOVE! Still on chapter 4, in search of Elena after being plane-wrecked. BUTBUTBUT the combat parts are quite tense. I tried to get headshots as much as possible and I even won a trophy for that TEEHEEHEE. Still, it's quite tricky when you have to be mindful of the traps and low ammo (cos at one point of time I got fed up by the endless attacks that I just sprayed bullets).

Fifa12 has been ugh. I still can't get a grip on the controls. Will have to train my brain...and fingers.

Tried out WWE All Stars. At first I was like, ehhhh why you no have career mode? Then I realised that there are stories instead to complete, whereby you have to defeat some wrestlers through set matches before facing the legends at the end of it. I kept playing Brett Hart. KEKEKE.

Going to finish Uncharted first before moving onto Alice. LOVE LOVE LOVE!

NOTE: The following was posted ages ago... when I was still hoping to get the job. I must say I'm glad I got the job! Also, I'm getting my PS3 tomorrow. YAY!

-----"-----

WARNING: Long post. Read at own time own target.

If you still haven't figured out what has been keeping me awake at night since last Monday (5 March), I suggest you take a closer look at the previous post. What I'm up to is dictated right in those screencaps -- that I'm going to be a kindergarten teacher.

*Cues laughter*

Don't worry. I know the laughter is out of shock, surprise, bewilderment, and the likes. Miss Huda the kindergarten teacher? Really?

Why not, eh? I love me some good challenge. It beats staying at a desk, surviving office politics.

Anyway, back to the story. How did I end up getting a 2-day trial as a kindergarten teacher?

I went to a career fair in Suntec last last Friday (2 March). In all fairness, it wasn't much of a career fair. The people there kept diverting you to their websites and kept getting you to e-mail them in order to apply. I didn't like that. I mean, I came all the way to Suntec, thinking there was going to be active recruitment exercises, only to find out that I need to use a computer to apply? Puas hati I duduk kat rumah surf the web cari lobang aje kan? (I might as well just sit at home and the surf the web for job postings, right?) When I thought all hope was lost, I decided to go for another round and try to find booths that allow me to apply on the spot. Somehow I ended up at a pre-school's booth. I thought, why not try since I was looking for jobs in various sectors, including education. They gave me a form to fill up and said they'd call me after reviewing my application. So after completing the form, I looked for my dad and even called him as I couldn't find him anywhere. Luckily, I was still standing near the booth when they decided to hold an interview for me on the spot. I was psyched, man. That was my objective of the day. I had a suspicion that my cover letters were ineffective because I hate selling myself. It is not my personality to brag or even describe myself for that matter in a non-poetic fashion. I wanted my prospective employers to get to know me in person rather than through a letter and a photo. The interview with the HR executive went smoothly. We were both honest with each other. I didn't have to pretend I knew everything about pre-school education. When she asked me what was the first thing that crossed my mind when I think of the role of a teacher, I said, "Nurturer." When I went back home to do some research on the pre-school and their expectations of teachers, I found out that their focus was on nurturing minds. That means I provided a good answer. That also means I have a good grasp on what is expected of a kindergarten teacher. I guess, I had it in me all along but never really knew? Anyway, at the end of the interview, I felt that the HR executive was relieved to have me as a potential candidate. Heck, I was more relieved that I didn't screw up the interview.

On Monday, she called me and arranged a 2-day trial for me on Thursday and Friday (8-9 March) at a centre in Bedok. She wanted me to shatter my fairytale of what kindergarten is like and see if I am 100% into it. I gladly accepted it and that caused me to blog about my sleeplessness in a previous post. I mean, if you know me personally, you'll find that it is a totally unexpected career choice. At the same time though, you expect me to do the unexpected as that's how I am, right? #HLL

Thursday (8 March) @ TRIAL DAY 1: I was extremely nervous about the trial. Would the staff find me an inconvenience? Would I have to suddenly take over the classes the entire day without the know-hows? Would the kids be afraid of me? Would I have to console crying kids? What would I do if someone wet their pants? So many questions and the anxiety just kept building up inside me.

When I arrived at the centre, the principal assigned me a mentor who teaches K1 students. My mentor is really friendly and treats me like her daughter as apparently, her daughter and I are of the same age. My hands were shaking like leaves while we waited for class to begin. I think she noticed and calmed me down a bit by telling me to relax.

They rang the bell at 8am on the dot. I was able to observe the daily rituals from then on. Teachers have to take the temperatures of their students and check their hands. No such thing as being too careful, what with HFMD on the spread again. The students then have to wash their hands. They were a friendly lot. I thought they wouldn't like me at first sight. Most smiled at me eagerly and the rest just looked at me curiously. I feel like I have a mean face, like I have a scowl plastered onto my face. Until now, I have no idea how children trusts me so easily. In fact, not only children but adults as well. People tend to ask me for help with directions, etc. Hmmm... #HLL

Another ritual is the usual morning assembly. Just have to stand straight and face the front to sing the national anthem and take the pledge. Then the teacher took their attendance, asked them the day and date, and talked to them about the upcoming holidays (which is this week). I can't remember exactly when she introduced me to the class. I was just too nervous and excited. I'm trying really hard to recall what happened after that but all I could remember was them going for their mother tongue classes and me helping my mentor with pasting photos for display on their bulletin board. I also helped out with the cutting out of a kid-sized drawing of Molly the ballerina, a character out of the book called "Tall Tilly" and of course, the main character itself, Tall Tilly. I even had the opportunity to colour Tall Tilly beforehand. Tall Tilly is slightly shorter than me. Lol.

The purpose of having those cut-outs is to allow the students to understand what is tall and what is short as well as actively make comparisons based on those two adjectives. I think it was a marvellous idea by my mentor.

If you think that my mentor is only making me do arts and crafts, you are so wrong. She let me read to the class and engage them by asking which characters in the story are short and which are tall. She was impressed that I could actually understand the students. Lol. I have to admit though that I sometimes couldn't catch what a few of the students were saying but the other students were kind enough to translate or enunciate their sayings better for me. Adorable! I also had the chance to read another book to them called "Hare and Tortoise Go to School". Somehow, they seem to want to hear me read more than they want to hear themselves read. Zzzz. She also let me take over a bit more during the afternoon session, seeing that I have become more relaxed and confident. I get to sing head, shoulders, knees, and toes with them in a corner at the back of the class where a basic diagram of the human anatomy is placed. They love the sped-up version. I asked a girl to demonstrate in front of the class but she was too shy to do it. Since we were getting boisterous, we moved back to the front of the class. I was thinking, "Eh, I'm losing them. Just how long can we keep singing the song?" Then, of course, inspired, I decided to play Simon Says with them but I changed it to Miss Huda Says. HAHAHAHAHAHA! Since they were participating so well as a group, I decided to ask for volunteers to hao lian to the class that they can do it on their own. The children love volunteering. I think it must've been really fun that the girl who was initially shy, decided to be brave and came out to participate in front of the whole class! Proud moment! *SNIFFS* #HLL

I'm trying hard to recall again. Lol. Let's see...

I really can't recall anything else except that I get to play with them. Boy, it was a challenge trying to be fair. Some kids wouldn't share. Other kids are insistent on keeping their share. Oy, it's like a warfare. Only the fittest survives.

I'm just exaggerating of course.

During the entire day, I felt 99 worries overwhelm me. I felt like I wouldn't be able to keep up with the pace, I felt inferior due to my lack of knowledge in pre-school education, and worse, I kept worrying about my lack of sternness. It's really hard to be a disciplinarian.

At the end of the day though, I felt happy. It's just pure bliss and those 99 worries disappeared like they were never existent before. It's amazing. As a result, I became more relaxed and ready for day 2.

Friday (9 March) @ TRIAL DAY 2: It's the last day of school and it's time to party!!! Since there are two sessions of school, there were two parties. Had truckloads of fun! I even get to lead the national anthem and pledge-taking! My left leg was shaking like jelly! Gosh! I guess I still had the nerves. The children, oh were they B-E-A-UTIFUL! The morning session girls were dressed like princesses! Literally! Like they were out of Disney! But my mentor and I forgot to take their photos. D'oh!

There isn't really much to recount as I was more comfortable that time round than I was the previous day. I became a tad more firm, interacted with the children a lot more, and well, I even remembered like 60% of their names! Boy, was I getting good! We watched Rio, danced, and ate. The children brought so much food! My mentor taught me that it was best to save some of the treats for the next term and give them the rest. She even taught them not to eat everything on that day but to eat the treats throughout the entire 9-day holiday so they wouldn't fall sick. I'm glad I had her as a mentor. I really a learnt a lot. From being clueless about children, I now know at least 10%.

So there you go. The story of my career kickstart I suppose. Just praying really hard that my application will be successful and that my mentor and principal think that I fit the bill.

However, my day did not end there. I had purchased tickets to Architecture in Helsinki's gig. They had two slots that night and I got the later slot at 10pm. It was a wise decision because I could rest at home for a bit before heading to the Esplanade. It was a bad decision because I was too exhausted to enjoy it to the maxidamus but I had a lot of fun! They were awesome entertainers! The other uncomfortable aspect was that I was in a place where booze is served so there were Australians who looked curiously at me. Architecture in Helsinki is a Melbourne band so that's how I deduced that those fans were Australians. The next time a gig is being held in Esplanade, I'll be sure not to attend it if it's held at the Esplanade Studio Theatre @ the Mosaic Club Studio. Also, I'm getting old for free-standing gigs. My knees were hurting at one point. HAHAHAHA!

Of course, with all the ups, there are the downs and boy, do the downs come by really fast. Just last Tuesday (13 March), we received the bad news about my the backbone condition of my sister, Hidayah. Her scoliosis is at its all-time worst. I saw the x-rays for myself. Having it curled at direction is one thing. Having it curled at two directions is another. What I meant is, it's already bad if your backbone is curled like a question mark '?', with one bend. It's worse when your backbone is curled like the letter 'S', with two bends. Le terrible, I tell you! Given the different 7 personalities at home, we all dealt with it differently. There were the blaming, the lashing out, the sulking, the ignoring, the supporting, the questioning, and the giving up. Le sigh. It really is challenging when your teenage angst-ridden sister refuses to undergo therapy and thinks surgery is the best option when doctors do not recommend it at all. Ah, teenagers. I think I can deal with pre-school children better than teenagers so there you go!

They say God works in mysterious ways and I think he's not just mysterious but random. Just when I needed some sort of support, I found the following verses floating on FaceBook:

And whoever fears Allah - He will make for him a way out. And will provide for him from where he does not expect. And whoever relies upon Allah - then He is sufficient for him. Indeed, Allah will accomplish His purpose. Allah has already set for everything a [decreed] extent (At-Talaq: 3-4)

Although the above verses from the Quran is actually in a chapter on divorce (with At-Talaq literally meaning The Divorce), it gives me the strength I need. It's a nice reminder. There is always a way out of any problems but you can't expect to sit around all day and hope miracles happen. You have to try your very best and let God do the rest.

So here's to the hoping part: Insya-Allah, I'll get the job.

Before I start, here's a little something to set the mood! Rating: NC16.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gQrjweCqE8

Yeah, I'm now addicted to Never Mind the Buzzcocks! (#nmtb)

But never mind that!

The real news is.... I'm getting me a PS3 towards the end of the month! Applause, please!

*bows*

Alright. Actually, I'm not earning much as a kindergarten teacher and I've splurged more than $200 from my temp income worth $620. Plus, I have loans and bills to settle.

Ah, when I think back to the time when I first started this blog... My feeble attempt at a PS2 fund.... I MUST BE A ALIEN OR SUTIN! #nmtb

Anyway, I REALLY REALLY REALLY want to play the Alice games, Fifa11, and... well, that's about it? Not sure if I can get my hands on the Project Zero/Fatal Frame games. Small desire to play Heavy Rain, mostly out of curiosity. A friend offered to lend me his collection of games. In true Singapore-English (Singlish), I'm gonna say, "I'll see how lah."

In fact that fella seems more enthusiastic than I am about ME getting the PS3. Again, in Singlish, "Siao one."

I'll get to the story about How I Became a Kindergarten Teacher next time. I really need to pee now.

Hahahaha! Yes, I'm back!

I know! I promised I'll do a lot of things here but I keep getting distracted by those FaceBook games! It's mortifying, horrifying, and deeply troubling, but damn, those marketers really know how to sell games.

Excellent news: I checked my unofficial transcript and I received first-class Honours! SWEET! See, how can I not take time off GS again to indulge myself?

Great news: I've become less of a bum and have applied for several jobs, mostly in the government centre but I'm not betting on it because the government tend to overlook private univresities. Oh, well.

Good news: I've completed Bully: Scholarship edition on Wii, specifically the main quest. If I'm not lazy, I'll review it. Hahaha! It's really fun pinching girls' butts and kissing them... *erhem!* I mean, it's really fun knocking the living lights out of jerks. While the controls may be frustrating at times, I think it's more fun to play Bully on Wii than other consoles due to the combat actions. All that's left in the gameplay: collecting cards and rubber bands, run errands, and race for trophies. Also, my yearbook is complete with everybody's pictue on it. I love the ending scene because I got one heck of a kiss from Zoe. Ooh la la.

Bad news: Failed romances and a recent screw-up got me evaluating my worth as a woman. I thought I can just throw it all out of the window but I realised that I am deeply affected. I find myself reeling in this vicious and endless cycle of infatuations that come and go. In the end I feel worthless.

Flipside: Nah, who am I kidding? I am the best! Psyched! If the guy doesn't like me, I'm just going to put on a face and say:

Other news: I picked up up this book called "Better Business Writing" by http://www.crispseries.com. How fun? Very. I'm learning a lot and I always like to improve myself as a communicator. Also, after finishing Bully, I'm going to finish Pirates of the Carribean. I might as well do so. Oh and I got henna on my hand.

To mufujifi: Puas hati kau? Dahlah tak rindu aku!