Hair Cut Day

Feeling : hyper
Listening to : Neyo – Make Me Better

Charm sings : I'm a movement by myself, but I'm a force when we're together… Mami I'm good all by myself… but baby u… U make me better…

It's haircut day today! Since my best friend is off for the day, he made an appointment for us to get a haircut at Vidal Sassoon. N paid for it. =) Thanx yarr… Wow it's been more than a year now since I last had a haircut or treatment. Expensive ma.

Anyway, here are the pictures of before and after hair cut of Mr Amman Shah & Miss Charmine Tung. I repeat. He's my Best Friend la... Newayz enjoy!

BEFORE

Charm at home

Charm after free make-up by MAC at Selfridges

Walau beh tahan lo. Vain-ness Personified.

DURING

There she goes...

The 'I-am-dorky' look

Vidal Sassoon Academy

My hairstylist Monica was a student from California on a 1 week training in London and she's such a sweet darling... we swap email addresses and gonna keep in touch soon... we kinda click coz our lives seem to have a similar twist to it... Anyway i couldn't get Amman's 'during' pictures coz the guys were in a different section. His hairstylist was from Hong Kong and he learned the word 'Tinsy', which means Angel. I was like, I speak Cantonese (HK language) and i never knew about that... Malu lo.... N the teasing starts again...

BEFORE

Amman during our Flodden House days.

Clad in singlet & boxers plus the sexy apron, he couldn't look more feminine than this and i am so proud of him =D

Strutting himself in Trafalgar Square

Millenium Bridge on New Year's Eve

drumroll...

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AFTER...

Decent Mama's Boy + Unconvincing School Girl. LOL

Ok ok fine i'll try to get a better picture another time k. We're both not exactly photogenic ya 'noe.

Anyways when I was having the depression thingy about going home for good, he assured me it'll be fine and I'll find some nice guy in KL to be with blabla. I was like, "do I look like I'm desperate. Besides, I probably wont get married till I'm 30. Or I might never find the right one at all.."

And he went, "if you don't get married by 30, I'll marry you." In a typical 'My Best Friend's Wedding' style. You know that movie, the one with Julia Roberts. Forever and ever.. you'll stay in my heart and I will love u…

*swoons*. Not him la. The movie. But we can never be together coz a) we're just frens and b) we both wouldn't survive 1 day being lovers. We debate and throw sarcasm at each other 24/7 (ie 24 hrs a day, 7 days a week), u think we could be lovey-dovey and all?

Hmm and i wonder if I end up being the deranged Julia. At least at the end of the day, I'll be the cinderella dancing with my gay best pal… That is somehow soothing. I think. OMG now I remember how much I used to like this movie back then when I was 14. Set I'm gonna go Download the movie and watch….whooopp.

Interview Post-Mortem

Interview was alright. Did I just said alright? I actually meant it was CRAP on my side. Sigh dun say d la... Neway the whole thing was divided to assessment & interview. The assessment was like these…

1. Essay pick 1 out of 5. Crap almost everyone else did the 1^st one, "Describe a situation where u showed leadership skills blablabla n what did u learn from it". I pulak did the one that says, "The stand against job-hopping generated different views from employers n employees alike. State your view on the matter blablabla." I hope being different gives an advantage, though I can never be too sure about stg.

2. Maths questions… more on a particular company's performance n us calculating fairly ok stuff. Only problem is time pressure.

3. Analyse the passage and state whether the inference given is true, false, or not enough info to say. Very tricky n again time is the essence here.

As I only have 2 hours of sleep the nite before, honestly, I was so blur and worn out I went home and sleep for an hour before the next session. On the bus home though, I almost had tears coz every other contestant seemed so professional & intimidating, leaving me to look childish and immature. Almost all zee girls have their make-up on. Right on charm. Stupid of me to think that natural look will potray a better outlook. Duh charm. We're judged by looks.

Ooh ooh 1 thing that made me happy when I reached home was that I receive 2 christmas cards n a Christmas gift by special delivery. Thank you Junnie & Melissa for the thoughtful card and Kam Hoe for the wonderful pink heart-shaped chocolate gift-box. I LOVE PINK N I LOVE CHOCS!

We were talking about sleep. Yes. After waking up n lunch I then put some light make-up on, feeling confident a bit, and then head on to bond street to shop with Rahim & Yan. Hahaha shopping (look-see, not buy) few hours before the main interview to release tension from the intimidating board room.

Interview was hmmm challenging yet informational. My interviewer told me lots of stuff and I did learn new things so it's cool. Though I felt I wasn't matured enough to give professional answers, especially on the Northern Rock issue.

All in all, this interview open up my outlook on different things and I definitely learned some stuff that I never knew before… Plus I did have fun at the place and meet so many new friends that are sweet and lovely… Now I have more reason to go to Lancaster, Nottingham & Manchester =)

It's definitely an experience of a life-time!

Of Friends Rekindling

In London ones I mean… Full details below. It's ok if you're annoyed that charmine is just rambling non-stop coz hehe… today I'm too happy to bother too much =)

Feeling : Tired but happy

Listening to : Shayne Ward - If That's Ok With You.

Study : P1 Professional Accountant & P3 Business Analysis Mock today.

Morning dragged myself out of bed to go to college. Weather was so cold I'd rather tucked in bed longer… but dear old mock exam is going on so I should leave my nice warm bed and hurry on.

P1 mock was fairly alright. Well that's coz I knew what was coming out so I juz read those ones. Chehhhh pi la charmine. But I juz cant believe that 3 out of 4 questions is on risk management. Like, dude where are the ones from board of directors or NEDs (non-executive directors). I think there's bound to be a question on them in the real paper lo.

P3 was crap. I literally bull my way throughout the paper… Compulsory question I used the SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities & threats) n PESTEL (political, economic, social, technological, environmental, legal) model coz I couldn't remember Porter's Value Chain, 5 Forces or Mendelow (what charm u still cant master that??)

Wait wait! I'm not that stupid after all… as of last night, I conquered Ansoff! Wooo hooo… take that, smart-ass-who-sat-beside-me-in-class-n-kept-bugging-me-coz-i-cant-decipher-ansoff! Ahemmm… Ansoff matrix is about placing your corporate strategy on the grid, be it a new product and/or new market, ie. market penetration, diversification, etc. Muahaha I feel smart now. Ok la that's baby stuff for u guys but for my teeny weeny brains, it's a lot d…. hehe…

Enuff bout exams and boring stuff. Let's get down to business (Which can be even more boring lol)

I met so many friends that I haven't seen for a while. Ok 6 diff people in 6 diff situation is a lot in big ol' London k? Here goes…. BIG HUGS to you lot!

1. I met Amit aka zee Sould Seared Dreamer after mock. I admit I was pretty shy but i have to say, he's humourous and speak such good English with a distinct British accent! Anywayz it was nice to see you again after so long =) All zee best for exams!

2. Btw I met Theresa Campbell as well, which was her birthday today. Happy Birthday! She didn't recognized me coz I looked so different. Ok I wore glasses today in uncomb hair n I have spots n scars. Boo I look so dorky.

3. While walking home I met CY. Ok, Sher & Joy, this is our moment. *Sigh* *swoons*. The smart, yeng, cute nerd which was my 1^st friend in London. Nice Singaporean Chinese who's on scholarship to study engineering in Imperial. Fuyoh top 5 Uni in the world! We then walked together to church for student tea before evening service. Chatted on zee way of course. Boy, it was 6 months since we last had a proper conversation. Him going back to Spore n me Msia.

4. Guess who sat opposite of me in student tea. Blek wrong. CY was at another corner. Lukas Lisanik & Rachel whom I'm never met since the student focus group to British Museum. That's like more than a month!

5. Halfway through student tea, guess who called. Wrong again. Hello CY is at the same room la. Hahaha… it was Malou, my friend from the Philippines who's staying in North London. She and her husband, Dave a British, was near church so they decided to drop by. We havent met since that trip to Bath & Stonehenge!

6. Before heading home I met Salaam Kamara at the church doorway. Whom I havent met since House Party. He also didn't recognize me at 1st. Do I really look that different as compared to my Facebook profile pic?

Let's make a comparison.

Hah. Vain.

P.S. That's my hand holding my long hair behind. Optical illusion eh?

Charm, Yong Beng & Pei Sian @ McD Queens Penang June 07

Charm. Clarissa. YB. PS. =)

I admit IT IS DIFFERENT. =P

Boo I've always been wearing specs to high school and college and I like it coz contacts lenses are such a drag. Dorky ma dorky lo. Nerd-in-progress. Woohoo... Okiez me go pom-pom now (in baby language, that's taking a bath). Miss u peeps! Toodles!

It’s Been A While

Feeling : Dumbstruck I guess
Song In Head : Hillsong – Mighty To Save
Study : Here n there a bit. No point telling anymore.

Yeah it's been a while since I last updated my blog. Didn't really bother to do so until Ed reminded me how dead it looks now.

Sorry for the down tone in this blog. It's just that I've had a rough day. I felt so silly somehow. Shouldn't have come out of the house in the 1^st place. I cant blame anyone coz it's all my fault, my own doing.

Woke up this morning to see Amman's text. Apparently he's in class today with a flu n fever. He seemed kinda pitiful so I decided to go to LCA and on the way probably get him a hot chocolate from Starbucks to make him feel better (amidst being not so liquid with cash). It was drizzling (stupid English weather) but he's like a brother to me, so yeah risking myself getting sick is justified. N since I was going to LCA anyway, I might as well pass to JL a lil bottle of Brands Essence of Chicken to boost some energy, since he was sick not too long ago.

Also, I thought… since I was getting out of the house, I might as well go buy some Christmas & birthday cards n go post office weigh them to get the stamp price… before sending to my beloved missed friends back home. N also to get my best pal in Manchester a surprise for his birthday.

But before I can even accomplish any of it, tada.. calamity strikes… shitty stuff happened, and so I was left walking like a miserable hag all the way to LCA. Sorry la I cant tell u what happened. All I can say is that I was stupid and naïve and a risk-taker. Pfffftttt

Nevermind la. What has happened, had happened. I'll just be more cautious next time. Thanks JL for taking the time from your lunch break to listen to me. Glad I have a friend like you. Haiz this day shall go down in Charm's history. As The stupidest day of her life.

However, something good did happened. There was this old Chinese man I met in Tesco today. He asked if I knew how to speak Cantonese. I said yeah abit. Didn't trust strangers. He was asking if I could help him coz he lost his bank book. I was thinking to myself, is this guy for real? Should I help him? Would I get conned and end up making this the 2nd misfortune of the day?

At 1st, I said to him in cantonese, "I'm sorry my cantonese is very bad, perhaps u could find another Chinese person to help u." Yes my canto is appalling, that's the truth. I glanced around me. No Asian in sight. Darn. Ok God please let this fella be for real. I asked the old man what was it that he needed help.

He said he lost his new pension bank book from Abbey Bank and showed me the old one. He said he's very weak in English, and asked if I could help him talk to the customer service asking them to issue a new one and block the lost book. We then went to the nearest Abbey. My goodness what a long queue with only 2 staff attending to customers! Hmmm perhaps I could apply for a job here...

While waiting, I chat with the old Chinese man. He was from Guang Zhou and then moved to Hong Kong and now in England. Had children living in Mill Hill. I thought to myself, that is really far from where he's staying, Elephant & Castle, why don't they let him stay with them? Sigh, this new generation neglecting the old folks is really a shame.

After settling everything, I took down his number so I could go visit this old chap next time. Probably bring a more fluent person in Cantonese with me so I could talk to him about Christ. Coz helping him with his bank account is nothing, until I win his soul for God. He thank me and I could see the grateful look in his eyes. Guess he was also glad I wasn't gonna cheat him as well…

Ok la that's about it all… I talked too much. Gotta go study now. Tomorrow revision class for P2. Whooop I remembered telling my classmates I want a group photo with the whole class n our lecturer Tom Clendon. This would be interesting. How we're gonna pack 100 students into one pic I wonder. Btw I think that Tom looks abit like Hugh Grant =P. Some of my girl classmates think he's not bad also. Ok enuff craping. Charm stop typing and go study. It's already 12 am.

Nitez fellas

Of Curry, Kim Chi & Chocolates

Current Mood

Bloated with chicken curry, kim chi & chocolates. Yum !
Song In Head

Pink - Most Girls

Study

Yet again 5 pages. I kid u not. Ok ok I'll go hit my books after this ya. Just can't get enough of blogging. Die la…

Today Vera, Pei Sian and I had Young Hee, my Korean friend from church over for lunch. Laura couldn't make it coz she has to work. Charm cooked delicious chicken curry kapitan. Want some? Yum yum…

Kapitan Curry in the making =)

Our lunch

U see my ribena with the red ribbon there? Opening ceremony of the birthday present given by Rachel =)

Marks & Spencer Chocolates. Ahhhh....

My landlady Abigail made some delicious Kim Chi for us too. Ahh bliss !

Yummy Kim Chi

Charm & Young Hee

Another opening ceremony of my birthday present... Red winter blouse by Vith. Thanks babe ! After chatting for hours... YH had went back, leaving Charm heading straight on to her beloved notebook who's been waitin patiently for her sweet caress. N she goes… satisfying her notebook's insatiable craving for facebook, blogspot and more procrastination... N they indulge in each other.... lost in their own world... their own fantasy... where no one could separate them... Not even ACCA text books...

How predictable. Hmm. After one whole afternoon of crap, I should go study now. U too. We pia together !

Legend:

Pia : strive hard

Of Procrastination & Chicken Curry

Current Mood : I so wanna watch High School Musical 2 !
Song In Head : Jesse McCartney - Just So You Know
Study : Still stuck at 5 pages. Hehe...

Dan u dong-dong. U got me stuck with the song Just So You Know.
* Smacks dan's head *

Crap. I'm addicted to blogging and finding excuses not to study. Ahhhh help me ! Right charm. That was soo fake. U know u love procrastinating.

Ok I need to really push my studies ahead d. I tried not touching my notebook for today, which was a good start. Then guess what, I started doing house chores. Say what? Yes... charmine tung was scrubbing toilet and bathroom, hoovering the whole house, washing bed sheets and even cooked dinner for housemates.

Anything to get away from the horrendous books... hehe...

* in a hypnotic voice *
I. Need. To. Study.

Get it in your head charm.

I. Will. Study. Hard.

That's it... you're progressing.

I. Will. Stu... Wait. I. Have. To. Marinate. My. Chicken. Tonite.

For what?

We're. Having. Young Hee. And. Laura. Over. For. Lunch. Tomorrow.

Can't u do it tomorrow before u actually cook them?

No. I. Need. To. Marinate. Now. So. That. The. Curry. Powder. Flavour. Would. Blend. Into. The. Chicken.

You're hopeless.

I. Know. But. I. Can't. Help. It.

Go now before I change my mind.

Right. On. It. Thank. You.

Of God’s Amazing Works

Current Mood : Tired, but contented
Song In Head : Hillsong – This Is My Desire
Study : 5 pages of P1. Honestly.

Yeah I should gear up on my studying. Right on it! Tomorrow ok ar? Now me wanna tell u guys about God's amazing work in my life these few days.

1^st of all, my mom had managed to send me £500 today. Just enough to survive another month ahead. Guess what… for the month of Oct my expenditure ngam-ngam ho reached £495. Keng le… coz I walk to school ma. Bring own lunch ma. Decline shopping trips / hang outs / eating out. Muahaha. Dork. Nerd. Tak boleh kah?

The money came just in time, being able to pay for me insurance, phone bill and me rent. Thank you so much mom… I promise to study hard and find a job as soon as I finish my exams! Thank you Lord for providing us our daily bread sufficiently!

2^nd of all, my church friend Delia had helped pay for my groceries last sun as a birthday gift ( coz I kept declining to go for a girl's day out with her and some church friends… I can't even afford the bus fare to go! ) .

3rdly, I made a total of £25 as of today from e-bay & trading. I sometimes do feel bad coz this is not proper business, selling your own stuff / buying cheap stuff from ppl and hiking up the price to other buyers. Like… I don't know. It doesn't feel right. Anyway, I'm broke and I needed the cash before I had obtained the money from mom, you see. Thank you Lord for directing me to meet good people and not letting me fall into the hands of evil buyers. =)

Last but not least, one of my buyers today, May, brought me to her church cell group. After negotiating the price few days ago, she called back to say that she felt an urge to help me. Something was telling her that I have some difficulties, but she doesn't know what it is, and would like to help out. Today, after meeting up and selling the stuff, May invited me to her cell group. All 4 groups from her church is having a combined cell meeting so there's a big party going on and some testimonials from church members. (Testimony is when u testify to everyone the amazing stuff God had done in your life).

One guy testified how God healed his backbone problem, another lady about how God healed her suicidal behaviour, and the list goes on. This is a Chinese church, with their members comprising of China & Hong Kong youths… But guess what, they sang some English worship songs, and 1 of my favs… Heart of Worship. "I'm coming back to the heart of worship… And it's all about you… It's all about you Jesus"

Amazing, isn't it? How the Lord bring individuals together… God must've given her that urge to invite me. I told her bout my problems and she said she'll uphold me in prayers. Thank you May ! I am filled with the Holy Spirit's burning passion once again and this feeling is really unexplainable yet amazing. Bliss =)

One of the church members, Steven dropped Charm home coz his house was on the way back. He connected his iPod into the speaker and out played another fav of mine…. "This is my desire… To honour you… Lord with all my heart, I worship you…"

"I have this song on my phone as well!" I exclaimed.

"Really? Haha… I like that one too… But ahh my fav among all is this…" and he switched to Shout To The Lord. I was like… "Hey, that's my fav when I was in high school !"

We've quite a lot in common. Chew on this. He's got a suave British accent. Ahhhhh *swoons* . Manager position. Hmmm. His background is pretty complicated, parents from China, stayed in Vietnam, then moved to HK. N then now in England. He said I've got a Singaporean accent. Well I'll take that as a compliment. =D Some of u might beg to differ, but objection overruled. =P

Anyway, Charm would like to express a BIG THANK YOU to all her friends for the prayers and support. I really appreciate all the offers for help and I'll cherish our friendship to infinity and beyond.

All in all, I'm glad God work things out in a good way. He is alwiz faithful, alwiz knowing, alwiz providing. We just have to call out on Him and acknowledge that we need Him to steer the ship of our lives.

I would like to end the day with a Bible verse dedicated to all. Yes, even to you.

Matthew 7 : 7-8

"Ask and it shall be given to you; seek and you shall find; knock and the door shall be open unto u.

For everyone who asks, receives; he who seeks, finds it; and to him that knocks, the door shall be opened. "

AMEN !

Legend

ngam-ngam ho : just in time / exactly the right amount or moment

keng le : aren't i just the smartest chum?

tak boleh kah? : can't i do just that?

P.S. This is for the benefit of my UK friends.... Sorry guys for alwiz putting malaysian colloquials ! Don't u think it's so much easier to express in these shorter phrases compared to the english language?

My 1st E-Bay Buyer

Current Mood : Better, much better
Song In Head : Zac Efron - Bet On It ( High School Musical 2 )
Study : None since my last post ? * sheepish grin *


Muahaha... finally! I have a buyer in e-bay... yippeee...

Oh for your info (FYI)... Charmine Tung... out of desperation... resort to selling her stuff in e-bay to get fast cash. N she had did some trading of buying books at a cheaper price according to prospect buyers' need and then selling it to 'em at a profit.

As I've said before, beggars can't be choosers. Plus beggars can't live a luxurious life. So... I put up on e-bay my collectables and some souvenirs that I really liked. Hey, if u don't sell likeable stuff, they might not market, right? Huuu huuu.... I was really reluctant to put up my French Connection winter skirt ( the one I bought from Salvation Army on my birthday about a week ago ). But no brand, no talk la.

Anyway... I'm sorry I can't disclose what I had sold off d... it's personal & too xin tong liao... I hope you guys understand what I'm going through...

Beside e-bay, I got a couple of buyers for some trading stuff and I'm gonna meet them the next few days to barter off. Don't worry, I made sure I meet my buyers at a public and relatively safe place. If I'm unsure of the person, I'll give the details of my arrangement to a friend so if anything bad happens to me, at least they know where to lead the CSI crew... Hehe...

Hana hana I will take care of myself la, don't worry. There are so many more people out there risking their life just to survive and more chi cham than me, like those poverty-stricken refugees in Africa & Afghanistan, so I can't be a big baby and sit around lamenting about my problems.

CHARMINE BOLEH !

Tomorrow meeting my 1st buyer. Woohoo... Wish me luck !

Love ya !

Celebrating our Results !

Ok i know this is such a long post from my last one but i was really busy.... sorry to keep the suspense going on about my results ! Anyway... Exactly 2 weeks ago, I had received the results for my ACCA exams. Last sem i took the 2.6 Audit & Internal Review, 3.1 Audit & Assurance & 3.4 Business Information Management.

*Squeals*

I PASSED ALL !!!

Yippideee doo dahh !! What makes me even happier is that it's not just average marks. Weeeee.... Sorry la i know i'm a bit perasan here but bagi chance sikit la. Let me have my moment ler =)

PRAISE THE LORD !~! Without Him, I would never even make it this far in this gruesome ACCA ordeal. Thank you Lord !

N a BIG THANKS to the youths & church congregation back home who's been upholding me in prayer. Doh jeh ahhh... When i'm back will chia u guys teh peng in our mamak marathon again ya !

Also, another round of thanks to all my friends who's been encouraging me, especially my besties. Just having u peepz on my side was more than i could hope for. Teh peng for u guys too !

Of course, the greatest support i had was from my family. Esp from my Mom & Sis Sherleen. They were constantly praying for me, giving me words of wisdom, cracking up jokes to make me laugh despite the tension... Hmm teh peng + massage from charm !

*Dances With Joy*

Congrats to those who had passed all their papers !
N to those who couldnt make it through, don't worry, this is just a stepping stone for the next trial. It's never called a failure. Just DEFERRED SUCCESS. As Thomas Edison said, " I didn't fail to invent a light bulb 999 times. I just found the 999 ways that doesn't make it work. "

Pei Sian had gotten her results too. She managed to pass Audit so this 2 dong-dongs decided to celebrate their results !

We went to a Bar near my house called The Beaten Path. What a name.

The Beaten Path

Didn't order any liquor coz we're good girls, thank you very much. Ordered food! Mine was chicken casserole with saute potatoes. Yummy ! Took some pics in this lovely homey-feeling bar. We only have our camera phones with low mega-pixel cam functions and the lighting isn't helping so i apologise for the bad photography.

Inner Part of the Bar which looks like a cosy home

View from another angle

Dong-Dong No. 1

Dong-Dong No.2

Having all those liquor bottles behind me. Didn't touch a single sip of alcohol, mind you.

Oh ya after that we met up with Amman to watch Rush Hour 3 at Cineworld Trocadero. It was nice, although i had expected more of the movie. More humour, more Jackie-Chan-fight scenes and definitely more hot hunks.

N for Pete's sake why couldn't they pick a better chinese actress? Zhang Jingchu looks fake at times. Sia sui nia.




I mean, this movie is meant to go international, and ppl might think China can't find any good female actress for the role. N to think that she had even trained at an Acting Academy and acted in the martial arts saga Seven Swords. Haiz...

French Supermodel-turned-Actress Noemie Lenoir was not bad here. In fact, she looks hot.




Ok enough about girls. What about the guys?? Jackie Chan & Chris Tucker isn't exactly Baywatch guys material. Nevertheless, they make a good duo.




N i really like their duet at the French nightclub where they sang Closer I Get To You. Cute la they both. =) Ok i crap too much once again.

Anyway.. that's about it all for the Aftermath Results Day. Cheers !