Confessions of a 20-year-old exjournalist who talks too much, laughs too loudly and is eccentric too much for her own good.She is currently reading Law at the University of Warwick, but still spends all her time spilling too many secrets on her blog.
Whether they are true, exaggerated or fictitious, its up to you to decide. It could ALL be a pack of lies. Or not. The real girl (and secrets) shall remain elusive. Whatever it is, don't forget to bring along your pinch of salt.
Samanthaeng.blogspot was set up on 31st December 2007 in an attempt to move away from the air-headed musings of the writer's earlier journal. It started out as pretty pink journal like this one- which the writer quickly got bored of- went on to become a dull grey journal, and is now back to looking girlishly pink.
As you can see, the writer is highly fickle, volatile and undecisive. Which makes a lot of sense, since the original purpose of this journal (to spread the writer's ingenious musings to the world at large) has been squashed and replaced by a day-by-day account of a struggling student trying to become the next Legally Blonde 3.
Whoever said self-centeredness wasn't a sexy trait?
As you can see, the writer is highly fickle, volatile and undecisive. Which makes a lot of sense, since the original purpose of this journal (to spread the writer's ingenious musings to the world at large) has been squashed and replaced by a day-by-day account of a struggling student trying to become the next Legally Blonde 3.
Whoever said self-centeredness wasn't a sexy trait?
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November 15, 2009 11:30 PM
that bit of happy
happiness must be be pursued, a friend commented, it doesn't ploop at your feet. but what happens when chasing that bit of happy only leads you to a haunted, hollow sense of discontentment?
Labels: musings
November 11, 2009 12:40 PM
to paris with love
almost a lifetime ago, before last summer, i wondered what Paris was like. it was somewhat of a childish curiousity, fuelled by occasional encounters in books and films. was it, as the books described, a city of lights all shining, scintillating and gorgeous? or was it straight off a scene on broadway, brimmed with romance, lovers, mystery and indulgence? last summer i quenched that curiosity. it was at first neither, then a little of both. in the end, it was a little of both.
i first stumbled into the city alone, having just flown in from Spain. it was early morning, i had just sat through a two-hour flight and another two-hour coach ride. lost, stung and exhausted, i tried to ask for directions in whatever little french i knew. it was a futile attempt, since there was no name to the place i was looking for. but i found it eventually and for the first few hours in this foreign land, we sat by the lakeside and feeded on vanilla icecream cones. we made a futile attempt to buy macaroons. then we trawled the famous shopping street of Champs Elysees. that was how our Paris adventures began.
at that moment, i felt wholly unsatisfied. paris, i thought, paris is just like any other city. it was overrated- there was no romance tingling in the air, only the distant wafts of smoke and uneven sunrays falling on our backs through the trees. i felt the exact same way the day i went to Costa and realised that the christmas minced pies i always read about in enid blyton books weren't filled with delicious minced meat, but a sweet, unsatisfying savoury kind of jam. at that moment, reality seemed to have lost out to the visions i had conjured up in my imagination again. is this how its supposed to be? do we always dream such impossible dreams that reality can never hope to surpass?
as usual, i spoke too fast, and i thought too quickly. we spent the next few days going to places which changed my impression faster than you can spell fickle. three places, i remember distinctly. thrice, i fell in love. the first was in the garden of versailles. i remember insisting on going to the place even though it was out of the way. i am glad i did. the grounds of versailles were so big, so sprawling and so beautiful. i remember how we sang and laughed as we took in the sights. i remember them laughing when i pointed to the lake and exclaimed loftily this is where i want to be proposed to. there, right in the middle of the lake. i should have laughed along with them. since now, on hindsight, i realised i went on to exclaim the same thing on that very night. this time, we were on top of the Eiffel Tower.
cliched as it may be, that was where i fell in love for the second time. i was never a sucker for conventional places (and oh, the Eiffel is the epitome of conventional), but girls will be girls and there will always be a romantic inside us that cannot help but be enthralled by a tall stunning, majestic structure which overlooks the city of lights and lovers. we painstakingly climbed six hundred and eighty-eight steps to get up to the tower, but the view was worth it. imagine our delight when the light show began just as we were on top of the tower. we saw the light show when we were gazing at the tower from the ground, and almost an hour later, there we were, up there, as one with the million lightbulbs and illuminations. the light show only comes on for five minutes every hour. i think the tower must have liked us just every bit as much as we liked her.
i'll tell you about the third place another time. this place would be the epitome of unconventional. for now, here are some photos from Versailles, and i promise to upload photos from the Eiffel, the third place and the Lourve soon.
#1: darkness and light, from inside one of the versailles palaces.
#2: acting cheesy
#3: we loved the long winding walks
#4: we really loved it, obviously
#5: the road to where?
#6: colours
#7: acting serious in the company of royalty
#8: sky and shadows
#9: in the room of royalty!
#10: we know i'm always a sucker for taking photos of kids, more so if its a pretty kid with an icecream (:
i first stumbled into the city alone, having just flown in from Spain. it was early morning, i had just sat through a two-hour flight and another two-hour coach ride. lost, stung and exhausted, i tried to ask for directions in whatever little french i knew. it was a futile attempt, since there was no name to the place i was looking for. but i found it eventually and for the first few hours in this foreign land, we sat by the lakeside and feeded on vanilla icecream cones. we made a futile attempt to buy macaroons. then we trawled the famous shopping street of Champs Elysees. that was how our Paris adventures began.
at that moment, i felt wholly unsatisfied. paris, i thought, paris is just like any other city. it was overrated- there was no romance tingling in the air, only the distant wafts of smoke and uneven sunrays falling on our backs through the trees. i felt the exact same way the day i went to Costa and realised that the christmas minced pies i always read about in enid blyton books weren't filled with delicious minced meat, but a sweet, unsatisfying savoury kind of jam. at that moment, reality seemed to have lost out to the visions i had conjured up in my imagination again. is this how its supposed to be? do we always dream such impossible dreams that reality can never hope to surpass?
as usual, i spoke too fast, and i thought too quickly. we spent the next few days going to places which changed my impression faster than you can spell fickle. three places, i remember distinctly. thrice, i fell in love. the first was in the garden of versailles. i remember insisting on going to the place even though it was out of the way. i am glad i did. the grounds of versailles were so big, so sprawling and so beautiful. i remember how we sang and laughed as we took in the sights. i remember them laughing when i pointed to the lake and exclaimed loftily this is where i want to be proposed to. there, right in the middle of the lake. i should have laughed along with them. since now, on hindsight, i realised i went on to exclaim the same thing on that very night. this time, we were on top of the Eiffel Tower.
cliched as it may be, that was where i fell in love for the second time. i was never a sucker for conventional places (and oh, the Eiffel is the epitome of conventional), but girls will be girls and there will always be a romantic inside us that cannot help but be enthralled by a tall stunning, majestic structure which overlooks the city of lights and lovers. we painstakingly climbed six hundred and eighty-eight steps to get up to the tower, but the view was worth it. imagine our delight when the light show began just as we were on top of the tower. we saw the light show when we were gazing at the tower from the ground, and almost an hour later, there we were, up there, as one with the million lightbulbs and illuminations. the light show only comes on for five minutes every hour. i think the tower must have liked us just every bit as much as we liked her.
i'll tell you about the third place another time. this place would be the epitome of unconventional. for now, here are some photos from Versailles, and i promise to upload photos from the Eiffel, the third place and the Lourve soon.
#1: darkness and light, from inside one of the versailles palaces.
#2: acting cheesy
#3: we loved the long winding walks
#4: we really loved it, obviously
#5: the road to where?
#6: colours
#7: acting serious in the company of royalty
#8: sky and shadows
#9: in the room of royalty!
#10: we know i'm always a sucker for taking photos of kids, more so if its a pretty kid with an icecream (:
November 10, 2009 1:17 AM
reading week progress
buy pk's birthday present
buy earmuffs (for running in the cold)
do seminar work
apply for vacation scheme
read international law (up till now, i've no clue what's going on in class)
research for EU law podcast
choreograph musical dance
ps. excuse the shameless plugging, but please visit HERE to vote in the abovementioned feedback system (if its any impetus, you get to read more of samantha's silly blogging there too!)
pps. HAPPY BIRTHDAY PENGKUN (: WELCOME TO THE OLD PEOPLE CLUB. remember our days of teenage youth when we built snowmen? those days...
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ppps. ALSO, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TSERUEY! my married partner- although i can't be there physically with you for your birthday, i'm sure someone else is there ;)
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Labels: daily doings
November 9, 2009 12:06 AM
guy fawkes day
despite having made no real plans for saturday (since we scrapped the oxford trip), first day of reading week still turned out rather exciting. unlike last year, it wasn't packed with London touristy things, but there's still some quaint excitement in setting off our own fireworks in the backyard, boys vs girls taboo, typical English pub dinner, ice-cream, chocolate fondue in the living room, fried rice and lengthy conversations.
look at those sparks fly.
look at those sparks fly.
Labels: daily doings
November 6, 2009 1:44 AM
quickie, with photos
i'm waiting patiently for our group's podcast to be fully uploaded- the law school's website is taking forever- and thought that i'd do a quickie post while waiting. just wanted to announce that i've officially applied for final year accomodation two days ago! i know, i know, i'm going to have to leave my lovely new house, pretty room, big double bed and nearby supermarkets by moving out next year. but on the bright side, it's also goodbye sandwich lunches, household chores, and hello campus!
and this, is the lovely accomodation buddy i'm going to live with :D hello miss peng kun! here's to a good third year of happy campus life, good food, crazy exercise, much laughter and a lot of hard studying!
these pictures were taken in Paris in front of the Notre Dame. see, i am living up to my promise to upload travel photos. if you look closely, pk is carrying a box of the delicious Pierre Herme macaroons in her left hand. i remember this was the day that we sat outside the Notre Dame and munched happily on macaroons. and that was after a heavenly lunch of croque madame and the best french onion soup ever. that was also the lunch where pk happily broke a wine glass at. haha. good times.
and this, is the lovely accomodation buddy i'm going to live with :D hello miss peng kun! here's to a good third year of happy campus life, good food, crazy exercise, much laughter and a lot of hard studying!
these pictures were taken in Paris in front of the Notre Dame. see, i am living up to my promise to upload travel photos. if you look closely, pk is carrying a box of the delicious Pierre Herme macaroons in her left hand. i remember this was the day that we sat outside the Notre Dame and munched happily on macaroons. and that was after a heavenly lunch of croque madame and the best french onion soup ever. that was also the lunch where pk happily broke a wine glass at. haha. good times.
November 4, 2009 8:00 PM
happiness in a bubble
one day i am going to read back on this entry and regret mentioning this embarassing fact but- grocery shopping got me very excited today! i went exploring again and found morrisons at last, in all its bustling superstore glory. i felt like a kid walking into disneyland for the first time, except that i'm 20 and it was a well, supermarket. but the place was really gorgeous, a cross between Cold Storage and Ikea really. it had all these little counters the way Cold Storage has, selling whole roast chickens, or mini wings if you want them, and the usual cheese counters, seafood counters and a lovely bakery. like Ikea, because the place was huge, and they even had a morrisons cafe within the superstore. but of course the best part of the place was the shopping. Ben and Jerry's at 1.90 (yes, that's even cheaper than costcutters at half-price), Tropicana juice at 83p, and their morrisons sandwich fillers even had honey mustard chicken flavour. anyone who knows me would know that i'm a huge mustard fan. and if all that isn't enough, there's even a Macdonalds outlet just outside the supermarket.
to adopt a bit of vampire-speak (halloween week and all), i am unconditionally and irrevocably in lovewith a superstore (:
yesterday a friend commented that i seem very contented (his evidence for that being my blog, since we haven't spoken to each other in a while). that statement gave me pause - i thought about it- and realised that he was right. i am contented, and happy, something people can say so rarely these days. there's no particular reason for this contentment, just a general feel-good vibe that i get. year two has been a peaceful balance between school work and other commitments. friends, social life and family are doing fine, and i feel like i have so much more personal time to think and do what i want this year. when i'm hungry, i eat; when i'm restless, i run. when i'm feeling studious, i study and when i'm bored, i talk to people. it's such a simple existence without any sort of obligations and head aches.
and last night, when we were all at Steph's birthday party, singing together, with the lights dimmed and candles lit, i suddenly felt so proud of our batch of singaporeans in warwick. we're so unstereotypically singaporean - so much talent flying around and our idea of a good time is just a cosy impromptu sing-a-long- which makes me feel so, so very glad.
in other words, i'm just quite happy la.
today i saw a rainbow outside our window and hurriedly snapped a picture (above). see, even the sky is happy (:
to adopt a bit of vampire-speak (halloween week and all), i am unconditionally and irrevocably in love
yesterday a friend commented that i seem very contented (his evidence for that being my blog, since we haven't spoken to each other in a while). that statement gave me pause - i thought about it- and realised that he was right. i am contented, and happy, something people can say so rarely these days. there's no particular reason for this contentment, just a general feel-good vibe that i get. year two has been a peaceful balance between school work and other commitments. friends, social life and family are doing fine, and i feel like i have so much more personal time to think and do what i want this year. when i'm hungry, i eat; when i'm restless, i run. when i'm feeling studious, i study and when i'm bored, i talk to people. it's such a simple existence without any sort of obligations and head aches.
and last night, when we were all at Steph's birthday party, singing together, with the lights dimmed and candles lit, i suddenly felt so proud of our batch of singaporeans in warwick. we're so unstereotypically singaporean - so much talent flying around and our idea of a good time is just a cosy impromptu sing-a-long- which makes me feel so, so very glad.
in other words, i'm just quite happy la.
today i saw a rainbow outside our window and hurriedly snapped a picture (above). see, even the sky is happy (:
Labels: daily doings, musings
November 3, 2009 1:39 AM
a little macaroon love
many months ago, we went to paris and had the most delightful, delicate, melt-in-your-mouth macaroons from the famous Pierre Herme. do you remember everybody's favourite scene of last season's gossip girl finale? the one where chuck flew all the way to Paris (to Pierre Herme no less) to buy blair her favourite macaroons? i think girls all over the world swooned and gushed at that scene. alas, we don't have our very own chucks. but we do have the next best thing- giddy friends who'd travel with you to paris, and swoon and gush over these delightful yummys with.
i promise, i promise, updates and photos about last summer's travels will come soon. in small bite-size pieces like this though. you don't want to chew off more than you can swallow.
i promise, i promise, updates and photos about last summer's travels will come soon. in small bite-size pieces like this though. you don't want to chew off more than you can swallow.
November 1, 2009 2:17 AM
autumn days
christmas didn't come early this time, like it did when it snowed in late october last year. still, its pretty autumn days now (my favourite season of the year) and we still get the perks of winter - halfpriced ben & jerry's and starbucks toffeenut lattes with real sprinkles on them. i love it when the starbucks christmas flavours come out. it feels so festive. and red. and warm. i know warmth and christmas don't really gel together, but somehow, when it comes to christmas coffees, they just do.
funnily, the lure of christmas coffee has led to several interesting escapades over the past couple of days. friday's was oddly spontaneous- it started out with my desire to get my free cup of starbucks coffee (courtesy of The Guardian) after classes ended at 7pm, and ended up, after a strange twist of events, with me not having my coffee but having a good laughter-filled dinner at Nandos with chloe, ian, keegan, sarah and jeremy instead. sarah is chloe's visitor from Notts, while jeremy is this fencer freshie (hur) from well, warwick. they're both quite good fun, though they must already think my housemates and i are monsters from how the night's conversation went. i quote ian's facebook status "had an amusing evening at someone's expense". okay, i'm sorry if we went overboard.
#1: autumn days, leaves and my sudden decision to pair purple leggings with my red ballet flats.
#2: this is sarah, taken at the edge of our favourite big, big field near our house.
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the lure of starbucks coffee got me out of the house again yesterday, to accompany chloe and sarah on a shopping (and promised, starbucks) trip to leamington. maybe i'm just not meant to drink my toffeenut latte this year because we missed starbucks again (opening hours in this country are really silly) but we did have a good time bringing sarah around shopping.
#3: lunch at sabai sabai, a pretty thai restaurant with a good ambience and not-bad food.
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#4: stir-fry chicken with special thai sauce, and egg fried rice.
also, we spent halloween most unconventionally last night. our (claire's and mine) original plan to dress up and go partying was scrapped, and the four of us had a girly nights' in watching movies and eating mint ice-cream instead. we watched (500) days of summer, which gave me such a strange mix of feelings it's hard to describe. i liked the movie. it was unconventional, and had so much irony, juxtaposition and symbolism that made it more than just another brainless love story. like what the narrator said at the start:
This is a story about boy meets girl. But you should know up front, this is not a love story.
i think the story reflected all too clearly what real-life "love" is. the ending was not your typical hollywood-happy ending, but was strangely heartwarming in all its brutal reality. a slight cheesy element in it- because i predicted that the protaganist would meet a woman named autumn at about 400andsomething day- and he did! but sometimes its these cheesiness that makes you smile. i think i saw myself in too many parts of the movie- i hated summer (and myself) as my heart broke over Joseph Gordon-Levitt's character. his puppy cute lovelorn eyes were heartwrenching. but i guess this is how reality works.
the quote that broke my heart -
Summer: I woke up one morning and i just knew.
Tom: Knew what?
Summer: What i was never sure of with you.
but this was my favourite quote of all -
Author's Note: The following is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to persons living or dead is purely coincidental. Especially you Jenny Beckman. Bitch.
haha.
funnily, the lure of christmas coffee has led to several interesting escapades over the past couple of days. friday's was oddly spontaneous- it started out with my desire to get my free cup of starbucks coffee (courtesy of The Guardian) after classes ended at 7pm, and ended up, after a strange twist of events, with me not having my coffee but having a good laughter-filled dinner at Nandos with chloe, ian, keegan, sarah and jeremy instead. sarah is chloe's visitor from Notts, while jeremy is this fencer freshie (hur) from well, warwick. they're both quite good fun, though they must already think my housemates and i are monsters from how the night's conversation went. i quote ian's facebook status "had an amusing evening at someone's expense". okay, i'm sorry if we went overboard.
#1: autumn days, leaves and my sudden decision to pair purple leggings with my red ballet flats.
#2: this is sarah, taken at the edge of our favourite big, big field near our house.
.jpg)
the lure of starbucks coffee got me out of the house again yesterday, to accompany chloe and sarah on a shopping (and promised, starbucks) trip to leamington. maybe i'm just not meant to drink my toffeenut latte this year because we missed starbucks again (opening hours in this country are really silly) but we did have a good time bringing sarah around shopping.
#3: lunch at sabai sabai, a pretty thai restaurant with a good ambience and not-bad food.
.jpg)
#4: stir-fry chicken with special thai sauce, and egg fried rice.
also, we spent halloween most unconventionally last night. our (claire's and mine) original plan to dress up and go partying was scrapped, and the four of us had a girly nights' in watching movies and eating mint ice-cream instead. we watched (500) days of summer, which gave me such a strange mix of feelings it's hard to describe. i liked the movie. it was unconventional, and had so much irony, juxtaposition and symbolism that made it more than just another brainless love story. like what the narrator said at the start:
This is a story about boy meets girl. But you should know up front, this is not a love story.
i think the story reflected all too clearly what real-life "love" is. the ending was not your typical hollywood-happy ending, but was strangely heartwarming in all its brutal reality. a slight cheesy element in it- because i predicted that the protaganist would meet a woman named autumn at about 400andsomething day- and he did! but sometimes its these cheesiness that makes you smile. i think i saw myself in too many parts of the movie- i hated summer (and myself) as my heart broke over Joseph Gordon-Levitt's character. his puppy cute lovelorn eyes were heartwrenching. but i guess this is how reality works.
the quote that broke my heart -
Summer: I woke up one morning and i just knew.
Tom: Knew what?
Summer: What i was never sure of with you.
but this was my favourite quote of all -
Author's Note: The following is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to persons living or dead is purely coincidental. Especially you Jenny Beckman. Bitch.
haha.
Labels: daily doings, food, movie, outing, photos
October 27, 2009 8:48 PM
col
in han ern's words, confound our lives! because we're too glamorous to use fml, but still need a three-letter word of exasperation when it comes to the likes of eu law homework and other such nasty, disgusting things. i'm missing the (all-too-recent) summer days of playtime very much. though it wasn't all play and no work, i thought internship work was quite exciting. on the other hand, school homework is just plain jane boring.
in my boredom, i surfed we-heart-it and found this picture which cracked me up. i must say that i believe in the latter more than the former. wands and spells are so much more reliable than love.
in my boredom, i surfed we-heart-it and found this picture which cracked me up. i must say that i believe in the latter more than the former. wands and spells are so much more reliable than love.
Labels: musings
October 24, 2009 1:12 AM
three sixty
we always slip into habitual things, or stumble unknowingly upon them. i was sitting at the familiar steps of the piazza just now, having spontaneous late-night kebabs with a couple of new friends and housemates. we started talking. intriguingly personal topics, really, considering how some of us only knew each other this very night. unsurprisingly, i was the last to finish my food. we talked some more. then i realised that every one of them knew about the amplified voice phenomena if you stand in the middle of the piazza. incredible. i must have really been quite silly then.
we talked until it started to drizzle.
i think. i think i've subconciously decided to sit back and watch the world unfold before me for a while. we'll see.
we talked until it started to drizzle.
i think. i think i've subconciously decided to sit back and watch the world unfold before me for a while. we'll see.
Labels: musings