This post is just to prevent my blog from dying, really. I'm feeling quite antisocial lately. Maybe this is due to the realistation that I don't feel like talking about exams, results, or university admissions, which leaves me rather little to talk about, unfortunately.
Tuesday, September 28, 2004
Thursday, September 09, 2004
Saturday, August 28, 2004
My sister flew off today, and quite a number of interesting events occurred en route to the airport and before we sent her off.
First was a strange and totally unexplainable disappearance that I shall simply term as The Mystery of the Missing Tissue Packet. I was sniffing on the way to the taxi, so my mum gave me her tissue packet (ok, it wasn't just a tissue packet, it was a tissue packet in one of those fancy tissue holders that both my mum and I happened to like very much) which I held until I boarded. So it was with us till we boarded. I remember the last time I saw it I was holding it up for my mother, and suddenly it was gone and both of us were wondering what on earth happened to it. We spent about three quarters of the journey searching: first my bag, then her bag, my jacket pockets, my bag again, her bag again, my sister's bag, my father's pockets, the taxi (below the seats, at the sides, under our butts and every cranny we could think of), my bag again, my mother's bag again, the taxi again. And when we got off, we searched the taxi one more time.
AND THERE WAS NO HINT OF A TISSUE PACKET! We were completely mystified by this--finally we concluded that it must have dropped into some deep crevice in the cab that we somehow had not noticed. I'm going to try to find another of those fancy tissue holders later in west mall to replace what we lost, and take this incident to be one of those unexplainable things that happen occasionally in our lives.
After my sister checked in we went to have breakfast in burger king. After queuing up for about twenty minutes we made our orders for three breakfast meals, with two teas and one coffee. The person at the counter asked a few times to confirm our order and we waited very patiently as he slowly (I repeat--slowly) keyed in numerous things into the keypad. Aften waiting for yet another ten minutes we discovered that they had gotten two-thirds of our order wrong (two different meals with two coffees and one tea) and it was the fault of the stupid cashier. Deciding finally not to kick up a fuss, I went back and opened the little paper box, only to find that my bacon--supposed to be nice and succulent in the advertisement was instead a rather reduced brown crisp. Anyway again we did not complain, so my family took turns to polish up the bacon, eating it like potato chips.
So it was time for my sister to enter the departure hall. Due to enhanced security checks only those with passports could walk through the check-in counter, so my the four of us took a long leisurely stroll to one end, where we figured would be open. Unfortunately upon arrival we found that end blocked off as well, and we had to take another long, leisurely stroll back to the opposite end, where we could finally pass. But that was ok, no complaints, because we had to exercise away some of the crispy bacon.
On impulse I bought this lovely interior design magazine (it was more like a soft cover book because it didn't have the customary advertisements) for this rather exorbitant price of $15.90. I discovered that it seems to be a Singaporean custom to have television sets in the living room, for many of the foreign house designs I looked through had only sofas and coffee tables in that area. I also realised that the soap dispensers in Changi Airport are automated--I was looking for something to press when liquid just came out in my hand. Cool, right?
On our way back on the MRT we managed to find seats halfway through our journey, so I promptly fell asleep. Sometime earlier in the distant past I told my mother that I had this automated internal mechanism like most poor students did, that would wake me up at appropiate times in public transport, except when I was very tired. Apparently she didn't believe me and was waiting to see what I would do when we reached the right stop. What happened was that I slept soundly all the way till the lady's voice said "Jurong East Interchange", where I woke up, put on my spectacles and prepared to get off. My mother believed me henceforth.
First was a strange and totally unexplainable disappearance that I shall simply term as The Mystery of the Missing Tissue Packet. I was sniffing on the way to the taxi, so my mum gave me her tissue packet (ok, it wasn't just a tissue packet, it was a tissue packet in one of those fancy tissue holders that both my mum and I happened to like very much) which I held until I boarded. So it was with us till we boarded. I remember the last time I saw it I was holding it up for my mother, and suddenly it was gone and both of us were wondering what on earth happened to it. We spent about three quarters of the journey searching: first my bag, then her bag, my jacket pockets, my bag again, her bag again, my sister's bag, my father's pockets, the taxi (below the seats, at the sides, under our butts and every cranny we could think of), my bag again, my mother's bag again, the taxi again. And when we got off, we searched the taxi one more time.
AND THERE WAS NO HINT OF A TISSUE PACKET! We were completely mystified by this--finally we concluded that it must have dropped into some deep crevice in the cab that we somehow had not noticed. I'm going to try to find another of those fancy tissue holders later in west mall to replace what we lost, and take this incident to be one of those unexplainable things that happen occasionally in our lives.
After my sister checked in we went to have breakfast in burger king. After queuing up for about twenty minutes we made our orders for three breakfast meals, with two teas and one coffee. The person at the counter asked a few times to confirm our order and we waited very patiently as he slowly (I repeat--slowly) keyed in numerous things into the keypad. Aften waiting for yet another ten minutes we discovered that they had gotten two-thirds of our order wrong (two different meals with two coffees and one tea) and it was the fault of the stupid cashier. Deciding finally not to kick up a fuss, I went back and opened the little paper box, only to find that my bacon--supposed to be nice and succulent in the advertisement was instead a rather reduced brown crisp. Anyway again we did not complain, so my family took turns to polish up the bacon, eating it like potato chips.
So it was time for my sister to enter the departure hall. Due to enhanced security checks only those with passports could walk through the check-in counter, so my the four of us took a long leisurely stroll to one end, where we figured would be open. Unfortunately upon arrival we found that end blocked off as well, and we had to take another long, leisurely stroll back to the opposite end, where we could finally pass. But that was ok, no complaints, because we had to exercise away some of the crispy bacon.
On impulse I bought this lovely interior design magazine (it was more like a soft cover book because it didn't have the customary advertisements) for this rather exorbitant price of $15.90. I discovered that it seems to be a Singaporean custom to have television sets in the living room, for many of the foreign house designs I looked through had only sofas and coffee tables in that area. I also realised that the soap dispensers in Changi Airport are automated--I was looking for something to press when liquid just came out in my hand. Cool, right?
On our way back on the MRT we managed to find seats halfway through our journey, so I promptly fell asleep. Sometime earlier in the distant past I told my mother that I had this automated internal mechanism like most poor students did, that would wake me up at appropiate times in public transport, except when I was very tired. Apparently she didn't believe me and was waiting to see what I would do when we reached the right stop. What happened was that I slept soundly all the way till the lady's voice said "Jurong East Interchange", where I woke up, put on my spectacles and prepared to get off. My mother believed me henceforth.
Thursday, August 26, 2004
My mother doesn't understand me!
I have embarked on a jogging routine to keep fit and hopefully prevent myself from become a couch vegetable. So as usual, I went jogging today, and after I came back I attacked the marigold chocolate chip ice-cream that I just bought with my sister, which I did not eat immediately upon return only because it was too melted. (By the way for chocolate chip ice-cream lovers marigold chococolate chip ice-cream sucks. Chips are very hard but very small.) Anyway my mother went into an analysis on the number of calories chocolate chip ice-cream has, and after much repetition concluded that I just ate more calories than I managed to jog away. The logical extension to this is that I would Gain Weight rather than Lose Weight, because a Healthy Exercise Routine must go Hand in Hand with a Healthy Diet.
But she can't seem to see that the whole point of exercising more is to eat more! What incentive would I have to exercise if I have to switch from high-fat yogurt to low-fat or (horrors of horrors) non-fat yogurt, and forgo sweet, sticky stuff like chocolate and ice-cream? Sigh.
My sister's flight was delayed from today to saturday, due to the typhoon in taiwan--fortunately because the news just reported that many people were stuck at the taipei airport today. Due to my sister's last minute nature, this must be one of the rare times so many people are happy about such a delay.
I was going to write something but I forgot what.
I have embarked on a jogging routine to keep fit and hopefully prevent myself from become a couch vegetable. So as usual, I went jogging today, and after I came back I attacked the marigold chocolate chip ice-cream that I just bought with my sister, which I did not eat immediately upon return only because it was too melted. (By the way for chocolate chip ice-cream lovers marigold chococolate chip ice-cream sucks. Chips are very hard but very small.) Anyway my mother went into an analysis on the number of calories chocolate chip ice-cream has, and after much repetition concluded that I just ate more calories than I managed to jog away. The logical extension to this is that I would Gain Weight rather than Lose Weight, because a Healthy Exercise Routine must go Hand in Hand with a Healthy Diet.
But she can't seem to see that the whole point of exercising more is to eat more! What incentive would I have to exercise if I have to switch from high-fat yogurt to low-fat or (horrors of horrors) non-fat yogurt, and forgo sweet, sticky stuff like chocolate and ice-cream? Sigh.
My sister's flight was delayed from today to saturday, due to the typhoon in taiwan--fortunately because the news just reported that many people were stuck at the taipei airport today. Due to my sister's last minute nature, this must be one of the rare times so many people are happy about such a delay.
I was going to write something but I forgot what.
Tuesday, August 24, 2004
I've been corrected by Judith about the Scrambled Eggs song--so I checked my diary and found she's right! How could I? It makes all the difference between pure rhetoric and sheer brilliance. So here it goes:
Scrambled Eggs, Scrambled Eggs, Scrambled Eggs,
Lalalalala!
Scrambled Eggs, Scrambled Eggs, Scrambled Eggs,
Lalalalala!
Scrambled Eggs, Scrambled Eggs, Scrambled Eggs,
Lalalalala!
Scrambled Eggs, Scrambled Eggs, Scrambled Eggs,
Lalalalala!
*repeat ad nauseum*
We're geniuses, aren't we? *beams*
Scrambled Eggs, Scrambled Eggs, Scrambled Eggs,
Lalalalala!
Scrambled Eggs, Scrambled Eggs, Scrambled Eggs,
Lalalalala!
Scrambled Eggs, Scrambled Eggs, Scrambled Eggs,
Lalalalala!
Scrambled Eggs, Scrambled Eggs, Scrambled Eggs,
Lalalalala!
*repeat ad nauseum*
We're geniuses, aren't we? *beams*
Monday, August 23, 2004
Ghostly Encounters
This is the seventh month, so in keeping with the mood, I shall put up my share of ghostly encounters.
One night I when I entered my room I saw an old woman with a chalk white (really white, my god) face staring at me. Fortunately before I got a heart attack I realised that it was my grandmother, who was trying to use up her talcum powder. (Though what she was doing in my room in the middle of the night she never quite explained)
I think I was in sec 4 then. I was doing my work on the computer in the living room (it's just right next to the door) at eleven plus when I suddenly smelled perfume. After stoically continuing for a few more minutes I decided that I was freaked out so I abandoned the computer and went to sleep. Rather mystified, the next day I went around asking people what franjipani smelled like, because it was supposed to be the favourite flower of ghosts. (Judith I remember you offered to bring me a franjipani scented candle though we both kind of forgot later). Anyway a few weeks later I FOUND THE TRUTH when my mother complained about my father, who, upon waking up to relieve himself, found the toilet to be too smelly for his liking, so conveniently took my mother's expensive bottle of perfume and sprayed it around. After hearing this I concluded two things:
1) The perfume must have been very expensive
2) He must have sprayed a lot
I arrived at this after qualitatively measuring the distance between that toilet and the computer, which were at two different ends of the house.
One night, when I was asleep and my sister was about to, I suddenly sat up ninety degrees and a girlish voice (which she swore was not mine) from the other side of the bed said, "you2 gui3 ah" (there's a ghost). Then I laid back down again. Staring at me, she poked me tentatively but I was asleep, so she told me the next day. I'm quite flattered that I actually had a personal ghostly encounter, though sadly I can't remember a thing.
Another night, I was woken up by my sister who punched me three times and pinched me three times, all while she was sleeping a feet below on the pullout bed. This time I poked her but she was asleep. Because there can't possibly be any reason for her to specifically reach up and attack me in her slumber, she must have been possessed.
(This one is really freaky) My grandmother dreamt once that she was walking with her mother, who disappeared. The next day she recieved a call that her mother died in her sleep. Another time she dreamt that nui2 tou2 ma3 mian4 (you know, the horse-headed and the cow-headed humans that are supposed to take souls away in hell) took her father away, and he too, had died that night. When I was in sec 1 she felt an urge to call my uncle, and got very frantic when she couldn't reach him, ordering assorted relatives to go to his house to check. He was found lying on the floor in his room with high fever and in convulsions. He was brain dead in two days and died that thursday. (I remembered that the day after was good friday).
I hope I haven't inherited any of this from her, because these days I've been having strange dreams. I'm a little worried about Lin Zi, who told me she had serious breathing problems, though it shouldn't be due to three types of cancer. (I called and asked, "how are you?" and almost died when she said "not good"). Anyway she's having a check up on Thursday and I await the results. I hope they can find the cause because they already checked her heart and had an X-ray of her lungs.
GP essay topics today were horribly difficult, though I'm sneakily glad because that means I wouldn't do too badly relative to everyone else. I took a look at the questions and realised that my existing knowledge wasn't going to be of much use (and that would apply to all the other candidate's haha). For someone like me who didn't prepare for GP at all it was actually quite advantageous.
I think LHL broke the record with the 3 hour ++ national day rally yesterday--the people seated there must have been either very thirsty or very urgent by ten plus. After hearing him I've confirmed my opinion that he'll make a good prime minister, but I'm even more convinced that he'll
1) Try to do everything and accomplish many things during his term
2) Age rapidly in his job, and die early after he resigns
After hearing LHL's comparative fluency in Malay and Chinese I really had to give it to GCT, because his speeches sounded like, and probably were solid memorisations of what started out as a foreign language, an ardous task that should never be attempted unless national television and a very large audience is involved.
This is the seventh month, so in keeping with the mood, I shall put up my share of ghostly encounters.
One night I when I entered my room I saw an old woman with a chalk white (really white, my god) face staring at me. Fortunately before I got a heart attack I realised that it was my grandmother, who was trying to use up her talcum powder. (Though what she was doing in my room in the middle of the night she never quite explained)
I think I was in sec 4 then. I was doing my work on the computer in the living room (it's just right next to the door) at eleven plus when I suddenly smelled perfume. After stoically continuing for a few more minutes I decided that I was freaked out so I abandoned the computer and went to sleep. Rather mystified, the next day I went around asking people what franjipani smelled like, because it was supposed to be the favourite flower of ghosts. (Judith I remember you offered to bring me a franjipani scented candle though we both kind of forgot later). Anyway a few weeks later I FOUND THE TRUTH when my mother complained about my father, who, upon waking up to relieve himself, found the toilet to be too smelly for his liking, so conveniently took my mother's expensive bottle of perfume and sprayed it around. After hearing this I concluded two things:
1) The perfume must have been very expensive
2) He must have sprayed a lot
I arrived at this after qualitatively measuring the distance between that toilet and the computer, which were at two different ends of the house.
One night, when I was asleep and my sister was about to, I suddenly sat up ninety degrees and a girlish voice (which she swore was not mine) from the other side of the bed said, "you2 gui3 ah" (there's a ghost). Then I laid back down again. Staring at me, she poked me tentatively but I was asleep, so she told me the next day. I'm quite flattered that I actually had a personal ghostly encounter, though sadly I can't remember a thing.
Another night, I was woken up by my sister who punched me three times and pinched me three times, all while she was sleeping a feet below on the pullout bed. This time I poked her but she was asleep. Because there can't possibly be any reason for her to specifically reach up and attack me in her slumber, she must have been possessed.
(This one is really freaky) My grandmother dreamt once that she was walking with her mother, who disappeared. The next day she recieved a call that her mother died in her sleep. Another time she dreamt that nui2 tou2 ma3 mian4 (you know, the horse-headed and the cow-headed humans that are supposed to take souls away in hell) took her father away, and he too, had died that night. When I was in sec 1 she felt an urge to call my uncle, and got very frantic when she couldn't reach him, ordering assorted relatives to go to his house to check. He was found lying on the floor in his room with high fever and in convulsions. He was brain dead in two days and died that thursday. (I remembered that the day after was good friday).
I hope I haven't inherited any of this from her, because these days I've been having strange dreams. I'm a little worried about Lin Zi, who told me she had serious breathing problems, though it shouldn't be due to three types of cancer. (I called and asked, "how are you?" and almost died when she said "not good"). Anyway she's having a check up on Thursday and I await the results. I hope they can find the cause because they already checked her heart and had an X-ray of her lungs.
GP essay topics today were horribly difficult, though I'm sneakily glad because that means I wouldn't do too badly relative to everyone else. I took a look at the questions and realised that my existing knowledge wasn't going to be of much use (and that would apply to all the other candidate's haha). For someone like me who didn't prepare for GP at all it was actually quite advantageous.
I think LHL broke the record with the 3 hour ++ national day rally yesterday--the people seated there must have been either very thirsty or very urgent by ten plus. After hearing him I've confirmed my opinion that he'll make a good prime minister, but I'm even more convinced that he'll
1) Try to do everything and accomplish many things during his term
2) Age rapidly in his job, and die early after he resigns
After hearing LHL's comparative fluency in Malay and Chinese I really had to give it to GCT, because his speeches sounded like, and probably were solid memorisations of what started out as a foreign language, an ardous task that should never be attempted unless national television and a very large audience is involved.
Saturday, August 21, 2004
This has been a truly shitty day.
I can't do the RJ physics paper.
Li Jiawei lost, which was quite heartbreaking if you watched the match.
Against my better instincts, I went to a poetry reading performance by HC, which I thought would take two hours but it started late and took more than three hours. I frankly didn't understand most of the poems and couldn't appreciate a number of jokes that many other people seemed to find funny, but I liked the performance by the string quartet (it was really good) and some of the Singapore-related poems not because I was feeling patriotic, but because they were the only ones I could relate to. There was this perfomance by a comedy band at the end, which reminded me uncannily of a song "scrambled eggs" I invented with Judith. It goes something like this:
Scrambled eggs, scrambled eggs, scrambled eggs
Scrambled eggs, scrambled eggs, scrambled eggs
Scrambled eggs, scrambled eggs, scrambled eggs
*repeat as desired
*tune subject to variation
On the way home as I looked at the time I inexplicably started crying, because the five hours of wasted time suddenly seemed so precious. You have no idea what I felt like I was giving up when I dragged myself to this, just because of five stupid words which probably weighed more heavily on me than it was intended to, "please, it's very important to me." My presence didn't make a fucking difference, not even as company or as a seat filler, so next time please remember character differences and how such a phrase would look like to me. And I'm writing this because I'm in a shitty mood and feel like letting you know because it is your fault so don't take it to heart.
To top it all off I discovered upon reaching home that my sister forgot to switch off the computer, so it had been running for the last few hours.
Bloody hell.
I can't do the RJ physics paper.
Li Jiawei lost, which was quite heartbreaking if you watched the match.
Against my better instincts, I went to a poetry reading performance by HC, which I thought would take two hours but it started late and took more than three hours. I frankly didn't understand most of the poems and couldn't appreciate a number of jokes that many other people seemed to find funny, but I liked the performance by the string quartet (it was really good) and some of the Singapore-related poems not because I was feeling patriotic, but because they were the only ones I could relate to. There was this perfomance by a comedy band at the end, which reminded me uncannily of a song "scrambled eggs" I invented with Judith. It goes something like this:
Scrambled eggs, scrambled eggs, scrambled eggs
Scrambled eggs, scrambled eggs, scrambled eggs
Scrambled eggs, scrambled eggs, scrambled eggs
*repeat as desired
*tune subject to variation
On the way home as I looked at the time I inexplicably started crying, because the five hours of wasted time suddenly seemed so precious. You have no idea what I felt like I was giving up when I dragged myself to this, just because of five stupid words which probably weighed more heavily on me than it was intended to, "please, it's very important to me." My presence didn't make a fucking difference, not even as company or as a seat filler, so next time please remember character differences and how such a phrase would look like to me. And I'm writing this because I'm in a shitty mood and feel like letting you know because it is your fault so don't take it to heart.
To top it all off I discovered upon reaching home that my sister forgot to switch off the computer, so it had been running for the last few hours.
Bloody hell.
Friday, August 20, 2004
Random Thoughts
I have been eating continuously today. Chips in the morning, and MORE chips in the afternoon. Chocolate, though by my standards I didn't have all that much of it. I also opened a can of salmon spread and had a packet of milo powder, because I felt like something sweet and savoury at the same time.
My sister very kindly offered to cook me corn in the evening, so I told her to microwave it for 7 minutes with a little water for steaming. Due to her natural kiasu tendencies she filled half the big bowl with water and heated it longer than seven minutes, so I got corn soup as well. Unfortunately my mother stole half my corn so I had to cook another one to share with my father.
Let me complain more about my mum. In the middle of my physics practice paper she told me to help her glue this crystal necklace together, because the metal bit dropped out and i was suppposed to have steadier hands. After that she coerced me to glue this elephant, the broken cap of a teapot and another broken cap of this container, her main argument being that "we shouldn't waste superglue". After I finished there was still quite some left so I asked her what to do with it, and her prompt reply--"throw it away, it's only ten cents." So much for conservation.
I think a new batch of mosquitoes just hatched near my house, because we've suddenly been inundated with them. As a result we've been busy lighting mosquito coils all around the place. The good thing about it is, after a while you will get naturally mosquito repelling tendecies as well due to you smelling like a big mosquito coil.
I have been eating continuously today. Chips in the morning, and MORE chips in the afternoon. Chocolate, though by my standards I didn't have all that much of it. I also opened a can of salmon spread and had a packet of milo powder, because I felt like something sweet and savoury at the same time.
My sister very kindly offered to cook me corn in the evening, so I told her to microwave it for 7 minutes with a little water for steaming. Due to her natural kiasu tendencies she filled half the big bowl with water and heated it longer than seven minutes, so I got corn soup as well. Unfortunately my mother stole half my corn so I had to cook another one to share with my father.
Let me complain more about my mum. In the middle of my physics practice paper she told me to help her glue this crystal necklace together, because the metal bit dropped out and i was suppposed to have steadier hands. After that she coerced me to glue this elephant, the broken cap of a teapot and another broken cap of this container, her main argument being that "we shouldn't waste superglue". After I finished there was still quite some left so I asked her what to do with it, and her prompt reply--"throw it away, it's only ten cents." So much for conservation.
I think a new batch of mosquitoes just hatched near my house, because we've suddenly been inundated with them. As a result we've been busy lighting mosquito coils all around the place. The good thing about it is, after a while you will get naturally mosquito repelling tendecies as well due to you smelling like a big mosquito coil.
Thursday, August 19, 2004
I just realised that the "archives" link in the white box does not quite lead to the archives, probably because I haven't done proper html-ing or whatever. In fact it goes to a blogger "Not Found" page. How? Any comments anyone? Who knows how to do? I think that my blog is quite interesting, so I should archive it.
I had this really weird dream a few nights ago. It started with ordinary life, then somehow I accompanied Lin Zi to the hospital for a check up, where we discovered she had three types of cancer. My brain even came up with charts and realistic looking diagrams which was showed to us then. It was more scary than the typical monster dream (which I had later, as I shall describe) because it was just so ordinary. I shall call her tonight, I think, just to see how she is.
Then I was walking in a school compound in the middle of the night. It was pitch dark and there were dogs, dogs and more dogs all over the place, staring at me and the group of friends I was with as we walked past. I don't really know what the hell we were doing there, actually, since it was so freaky. I made a face at a dog (that was quite unintentional, I think I was trying to stretch my jaw muscles) and suddenly it was coming towards me, this rabid looking, drooling, glowing eyed creature. I was panicking but as it leapt, I suddenly felt calm as I remembered that all my friends were werewolves, so I probably had nothing to fear from dogs. But none of them stepped forward, and I was wondering why and backing away when I suddenly remembered that I too, was a werewolf. Claws came out (not unlike wolverine in X-men) and the dog died a sorry death. My friends were looking at me like I was dumb, after I turned back to them.
Well.
Anyway Yiling coindentally had a weird dream too, about me, Mr. Ng and her swimming through icy seas to a ship, where we climbed onto a deck which transported us to a mushroom field. At least, that's the compressed version.
I had this really weird dream a few nights ago. It started with ordinary life, then somehow I accompanied Lin Zi to the hospital for a check up, where we discovered she had three types of cancer. My brain even came up with charts and realistic looking diagrams which was showed to us then. It was more scary than the typical monster dream (which I had later, as I shall describe) because it was just so ordinary. I shall call her tonight, I think, just to see how she is.
Then I was walking in a school compound in the middle of the night. It was pitch dark and there were dogs, dogs and more dogs all over the place, staring at me and the group of friends I was with as we walked past. I don't really know what the hell we were doing there, actually, since it was so freaky. I made a face at a dog (that was quite unintentional, I think I was trying to stretch my jaw muscles) and suddenly it was coming towards me, this rabid looking, drooling, glowing eyed creature. I was panicking but as it leapt, I suddenly felt calm as I remembered that all my friends were werewolves, so I probably had nothing to fear from dogs. But none of them stepped forward, and I was wondering why and backing away when I suddenly remembered that I too, was a werewolf. Claws came out (not unlike wolverine in X-men) and the dog died a sorry death. My friends were looking at me like I was dumb, after I turned back to them.
Well.
Anyway Yiling coindentally had a weird dream too, about me, Mr. Ng and her swimming through icy seas to a ship, where we climbed onto a deck which transported us to a mushroom field. At least, that's the compressed version.
Tuesday, August 17, 2004
I think I'm sinking into a bout of depression. Isolating myself at home is insufficient--I'm quite tempted to hide under the blankets all day. Unfortunately that means I wouldn't be able to STUDY, which is ostensibly why I skipped school in the first place. This is really a bad time for this to happen.
My feelings toward my sister's return is oscillating between joy and pure irritation. Things slipped back into easy familiarity in the space of the few minutes (MSN is really not the same) but the nagging thought of so many things to do, my study schedule etc etc etc rather prevents our usual long chats. And she's leaving in ten days too, for another four months. Her choice, her life, her future, and the entire family is involved. Including me, the wimp, who is irritated but proud of her at the same time. Irritating. Self-centred bummer. I'm in a shit mood today. I HATE SCHOOL. I HATE THIS SHITTIFIED SYSTEM.
Everything's getting me down. My parents are ageing. Not that I didn't know that before, but stark reality was presented today when they complained about the words on a book I borrowed on Japan (for my sister's exchange program) being too small and unreadable, and blur. A youthful person like me finds the words normal. And some day I grow old too, and my senses will fade.
The birds have to fly from their nests, but sometimes young birds feel sadder than old birds. But it's inevitiable.
This world sucks. The world around me sucks. I suck. Life sucks.
My feelings toward my sister's return is oscillating between joy and pure irritation. Things slipped back into easy familiarity in the space of the few minutes (MSN is really not the same) but the nagging thought of so many things to do, my study schedule etc etc etc rather prevents our usual long chats. And she's leaving in ten days too, for another four months. Her choice, her life, her future, and the entire family is involved. Including me, the wimp, who is irritated but proud of her at the same time. Irritating. Self-centred bummer. I'm in a shit mood today. I HATE SCHOOL. I HATE THIS SHITTIFIED SYSTEM.
Everything's getting me down. My parents are ageing. Not that I didn't know that before, but stark reality was presented today when they complained about the words on a book I borrowed on Japan (for my sister's exchange program) being too small and unreadable, and blur. A youthful person like me finds the words normal. And some day I grow old too, and my senses will fade.
The birds have to fly from their nests, but sometimes young birds feel sadder than old birds. But it's inevitiable.
This world sucks. The world around me sucks. I suck. Life sucks.
Friday, August 13, 2004
I went for the econs talk today at Nanyang Polytechnic, which resulted in me getting a lot of unneccessary exercise. I dropped off at Ang Mo Kio (because the street directory showed it to be the nearest MRT station) and walked for fifteen minutes to reach NYP, after asking around for directions. Then I had to circle the perimeter of the compound to find the gate, only to go across it again to get to the auditorium. Later after the event, when I was coming out with Hui Fen, I wondered why everybody was taking the escalator downwards in what seemed like the wrong direction--ONLY TO DISCOVER THAT IT LED TO A NICE, COVERED PATH ALL THE WAY TO YIO CHU KANG MRT STATION. (Gods, to think I was mystified when Hui Fen tried to give me directions over sms--she was probably wondering why I couldn't find the auditorium when it's supposed to be the first thing we see). Can you imagine? I dropped off at the WRONG MRT STATION, got in at the WRONG GATE, and almost went the WRONG WAY to the auditorium. I'm quite impressed with my own stupidity.
In light of this, I have just urged my mother to buy a new street directory.
Anyway, we heard three speakers--the first one was not bad, the second really awful and the third pretty impressive. He was this marketing director or something from SIA, to talk about competition in the airline industry, and it was quite humorous and enlightening. The pride he had for the company really came through; I guess in a way he had a big role in building up SIA.
I am actually quite optimistic about Singapore's future. I started out the opposite--Singapore was too small to make any impact, we could never compete in terms of land, talent pool, market size and resources; and we had already reached a plateau of growth, it seems. As I learned more about other economies and did further research, however, I slowly realised that every country has its own set of problems and limitations; ours, in light, are not as major as made out to be. Nor are they inevitable constants. If you're not convinced by this you should read up--really read up on huge emerging economies like China, and already established ones like Switzerland, instead of just mutely accepting the rosy picture of growth painted for us to worry about. They have their own worries too. In fact, when we come down to a recession, we have much higher chances of lasting it out, because all the contingency planning throughout the years of our growth--substantial reserves, good financial, social and basic infrastructure will give us greater manuveuring room in a crisis, allowing us to develop other sectors if necessary. Many great economies sink and stay there because they don't have this back-up, going into a cycle where they retain sunset industries yet lack the resources to become competitive in sunrise industries. If there's one thing I'm impressed about our government, it's this.
In light of this, I have just urged my mother to buy a new street directory.
Anyway, we heard three speakers--the first one was not bad, the second really awful and the third pretty impressive. He was this marketing director or something from SIA, to talk about competition in the airline industry, and it was quite humorous and enlightening. The pride he had for the company really came through; I guess in a way he had a big role in building up SIA.
I am actually quite optimistic about Singapore's future. I started out the opposite--Singapore was too small to make any impact, we could never compete in terms of land, talent pool, market size and resources; and we had already reached a plateau of growth, it seems. As I learned more about other economies and did further research, however, I slowly realised that every country has its own set of problems and limitations; ours, in light, are not as major as made out to be. Nor are they inevitable constants. If you're not convinced by this you should read up--really read up on huge emerging economies like China, and already established ones like Switzerland, instead of just mutely accepting the rosy picture of growth painted for us to worry about. They have their own worries too. In fact, when we come down to a recession, we have much higher chances of lasting it out, because all the contingency planning throughout the years of our growth--substantial reserves, good financial, social and basic infrastructure will give us greater manuveuring room in a crisis, allowing us to develop other sectors if necessary. Many great economies sink and stay there because they don't have this back-up, going into a cycle where they retain sunset industries yet lack the resources to become competitive in sunrise industries. If there's one thing I'm impressed about our government, it's this.
I went out with Judith just now, in my determination not to isolate myself for two and a half months before As (or three and a half till the end of As). Unfortunately my dinner was interrupted unceremoniously by many messages regarding a certain final report (which, by the way, I sacrificed one entire day of studying for, waiting for the email and all) and many phone calls that I had to make. By the way, sister dear, next time can you not send so many sms-es regarding the same thing? I got three just to say that you blogged, and usually in your desire to communicate your urgency to everyone else you send messages by phone too, which can be irritating if you're in front of the computer, checking your sms-es and email and having to pick up ringing phones all at once.
Back to Judith. It's quite ironical that the very friend I found "zi1 ji3" in sec 2 has all along been, and now more so than ever, so different from me. Contrary to what I had believed in earlier, our friendship seems to have been based on these very differences rather than our similarities; and looking back, many of our conversations were so interesting precisely because we disagreed--but we had similar enough interests to disagree in the same topic. Oh yar, I forgot to tell you, Olio Dome has now become "Olio" and "Dome", which I discovered thanks to Yiling, so now the one above Borders is "Olio". Weird.
I was frankly quite surprised today to find my ambitions being called "scary". Well, unusual, yes, but really I've never thought of it quite in this way before. I am past the earlier stages of deliberation--wondering about the meaning of nations among civilisations that rise and fall in this huge tapestry of life; thinking if I deserve to seek such a huge responsibility, based on both ability and moral character (and whether I will do more good than harm); deciding if it is indeed what I seek for in my life path. All that is left now is a crystallised, single minded obsession, driven by a vague vision I had years ago. A vision that contained more emotion than detail, causing me to seek fruitlessly and continuously for an answer; one that caught me more by the strange uplifting of my heart at that blurred image than my comprehension of exactly what it signified. A dream that I have dedicated myself to, but will probably never see come to fruit in my lifetime.
Scary? Come to think of it, perhaps. It frightens me a little, how far I've come due to this dream. For those who see my faults now have never truly known me before and after many of my transitions--all that I have fought for and what I have achieved. Everything that I feel I have done wrong, or could have done better, makes a mark on my mind, cumulating into a kind of conscious regret for what I am now and what I could be. For all that others may think of me, the lack of self-knowledge should not be an issue--big and small faults: something I've said wrongly, an attitude I should have had right from the start but is too late to change now, little nuances of my behaviour that is either offensive or just plain weird to others are clearer to me than to anyone else. I am determined to eliminate each one to the utmost of my ability, even those considered facets of personality that cannot be changed. Every success is a personal victory.
One of the few major breakthroughs, I feel, for me is admitting to myself what I want and my own inadequacies in not achieving it. For almost all my secondary school years I have used a lack of desire as an excuse not to try, or for my own under-performance, when in fact it was a deep set fear of failure. I know that I want good grades, and I haven't achieved them not because they were never that important to me, or because of my commitment to other activities, but due to plain laziness, a lack of will and sometimes pure stupidity (nicely described as a lack of academic inclination). While in the past I found others' efforts to find excuses for me comforting, I now find them patronising, though I know intentions are kind. I find nagging more irritating than ever, because it's going to make scant difference.
I comfort myself with the knowledge that even great leaders were not born perfect, but had to learn to be who they become. I have accepted, though, that there are certain limits to determination, from the constant frustration of seeking something that I just cannot do, do not have. Like words that come to the edge of my mind when I wish to express myself clearly. Most of all, I have learned not to judge others too quickly, because I can see in my mind's eye how people see me.
And by the time I go to sleep, wake up fresh, go for the Econs talk tomorrow, come back and read this entry, I will probably wonder if I was dumb to type all this and how I could have said it better. Just that, like for so many other things, I wouldn't know quite how to change it.
Back to Judith. It's quite ironical that the very friend I found "zi1 ji3" in sec 2 has all along been, and now more so than ever, so different from me. Contrary to what I had believed in earlier, our friendship seems to have been based on these very differences rather than our similarities; and looking back, many of our conversations were so interesting precisely because we disagreed--but we had similar enough interests to disagree in the same topic. Oh yar, I forgot to tell you, Olio Dome has now become "Olio" and "Dome", which I discovered thanks to Yiling, so now the one above Borders is "Olio". Weird.
I was frankly quite surprised today to find my ambitions being called "scary". Well, unusual, yes, but really I've never thought of it quite in this way before. I am past the earlier stages of deliberation--wondering about the meaning of nations among civilisations that rise and fall in this huge tapestry of life; thinking if I deserve to seek such a huge responsibility, based on both ability and moral character (and whether I will do more good than harm); deciding if it is indeed what I seek for in my life path. All that is left now is a crystallised, single minded obsession, driven by a vague vision I had years ago. A vision that contained more emotion than detail, causing me to seek fruitlessly and continuously for an answer; one that caught me more by the strange uplifting of my heart at that blurred image than my comprehension of exactly what it signified. A dream that I have dedicated myself to, but will probably never see come to fruit in my lifetime.
Scary? Come to think of it, perhaps. It frightens me a little, how far I've come due to this dream. For those who see my faults now have never truly known me before and after many of my transitions--all that I have fought for and what I have achieved. Everything that I feel I have done wrong, or could have done better, makes a mark on my mind, cumulating into a kind of conscious regret for what I am now and what I could be. For all that others may think of me, the lack of self-knowledge should not be an issue--big and small faults: something I've said wrongly, an attitude I should have had right from the start but is too late to change now, little nuances of my behaviour that is either offensive or just plain weird to others are clearer to me than to anyone else. I am determined to eliminate each one to the utmost of my ability, even those considered facets of personality that cannot be changed. Every success is a personal victory.
One of the few major breakthroughs, I feel, for me is admitting to myself what I want and my own inadequacies in not achieving it. For almost all my secondary school years I have used a lack of desire as an excuse not to try, or for my own under-performance, when in fact it was a deep set fear of failure. I know that I want good grades, and I haven't achieved them not because they were never that important to me, or because of my commitment to other activities, but due to plain laziness, a lack of will and sometimes pure stupidity (nicely described as a lack of academic inclination). While in the past I found others' efforts to find excuses for me comforting, I now find them patronising, though I know intentions are kind. I find nagging more irritating than ever, because it's going to make scant difference.
I comfort myself with the knowledge that even great leaders were not born perfect, but had to learn to be who they become. I have accepted, though, that there are certain limits to determination, from the constant frustration of seeking something that I just cannot do, do not have. Like words that come to the edge of my mind when I wish to express myself clearly. Most of all, I have learned not to judge others too quickly, because I can see in my mind's eye how people see me.
And by the time I go to sleep, wake up fresh, go for the Econs talk tomorrow, come back and read this entry, I will probably wonder if I was dumb to type all this and how I could have said it better. Just that, like for so many other things, I wouldn't know quite how to change it.
Wednesday, August 11, 2004
I'm afraid my entries are going to be incredibly dull from now on, because recently I'm having many dull thoughts. Any conversation I have nowadays center around three main topics: studying, further studies (plus grand plans for after As), and PM Goh's handover. I lead a dull life.
I'm happy to say, though, that I seem to have gotten my ball rolling, albeit slowly. It took five days of holiday (with the first three days wasted in unproductive activity) and one day of self-imposed self-study break. Unfortunately it is unlikely that I will catch up with the more consistent workers before prelims, though I hope to do decently well.
I realised that my blog is considerably light-hearted compared to many I have surfed. This is not a reflection of my true nature, because I am actually full of Angst. I just lack the emotive power to and language to type so much about it.
I'm happy to say, though, that I seem to have gotten my ball rolling, albeit slowly. It took five days of holiday (with the first three days wasted in unproductive activity) and one day of self-imposed self-study break. Unfortunately it is unlikely that I will catch up with the more consistent workers before prelims, though I hope to do decently well.
I realised that my blog is considerably light-hearted compared to many I have surfed. This is not a reflection of my true nature, because I am actually full of Angst. I just lack the emotive power to and language to type so much about it.
Friday, August 06, 2004
I realise that I can't keep two blogs at the same time. When I'm actively communicating with my sister in my other one I stop updating this.
I watched NDP yesterday with Hannah (actually she was surfing the net in my house) and felt very patriotic. I guess it made up a little for OVERSLEEPING LAST FRIDAY WHEN IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE NATIONAL DAY CELEBRATIONS IN MY SCHOOL. Argh, I'm still angry at myself--I meant to go watch the National Day celebrations and go for Econs S after, but days of sleep deprivation (plus going to Mabel cum Sin Yee's party the night before) had cumulated into a state of general unconsciousness where alarm clocks fail to make any impact, resulting in me waking up at at 12.30 pm. ARGH.
On Saturday, I went for the IE Singapore talk in the morning, then to VJ for the universities exhibition, where I joined Hannah, Grace and someone called Zhi Qiang. We went to West Mall and had sushi because all of us lived in that area. I realise how much I miss having people to go home with, actually, though it's really a minor thing.
After that I went for debate gathering, which was fun. I discovered that Amos is really very gossipy (one more nosey debate guy to join the many nosey debate guys). I suspected it at the start, but I didn't know the exact extent of gossipiness until then.
My sister's coming back this Sunday, 15/8.
I watched NDP yesterday with Hannah (actually she was surfing the net in my house) and felt very patriotic. I guess it made up a little for OVERSLEEPING LAST FRIDAY WHEN IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE NATIONAL DAY CELEBRATIONS IN MY SCHOOL. Argh, I'm still angry at myself--I meant to go watch the National Day celebrations and go for Econs S after, but days of sleep deprivation (plus going to Mabel cum Sin Yee's party the night before) had cumulated into a state of general unconsciousness where alarm clocks fail to make any impact, resulting in me waking up at at 12.30 pm. ARGH.
On Saturday, I went for the IE Singapore talk in the morning, then to VJ for the universities exhibition, where I joined Hannah, Grace and someone called Zhi Qiang. We went to West Mall and had sushi because all of us lived in that area. I realise how much I miss having people to go home with, actually, though it's really a minor thing.
After that I went for debate gathering, which was fun. I discovered that Amos is really very gossipy (one more nosey debate guy to join the many nosey debate guys). I suspected it at the start, but I didn't know the exact extent of gossipiness until then.
My sister's coming back this Sunday, 15/8.
Wednesday, August 04, 2004
I have just condemned myself to the hell of Idiotdom. The economics test I had today convinced me of that. Somehow or other the realisation that my watch was slower than the clock in the LT did not strike me, and I was going to start on the last question when the teacher said, "Pens down." The question: "If you were the trade minister, what do you think the effect of a revaluation of the Yuan on Singapore's economy would be?" Or something like that. ARGH. Of all the economics questions I had to miss in my whole life, it had to be one where I could boost my own ego on, even if the likelihood of it ever coming out in the A levels is small. Triple ARGH. All the time spent on researching on this topic and having no chance to show off! I'm devastated.
Anyway, a little update on what happened to me the last few days:
On Saturday night we sang the birthday song and cut cake, a chocolate cake from BreadTalk. After eating most of it I can conclude with greatest authority that ANGIE'S CHOICE CAKES ARE STILL THE BEST. Too bad the branch at West Mall closed down. For people who haven't already, you must try the yam cream cake and cheesecake.
I stayed up the whole night on Monday (going on to Tuesday) to complete the Glaxosmith essay, due to my inherently last minute nature and slow writing speed. I slept a little on the train and in school, but overall I was amazed at my ability to function throughout the entire day. I even went out with Nick in the after school--kind of a "July birthday people must celebrate together" groupie attitude. SO I treated him in Jack's Place, though we split the bill in Swensons later. I'm quite impressed with the former, really, so I shall promote it. For $6.50 (from 2.30 to 5.30 pm) you can order a students' meal with soup, garlic bread, one glass of coke/sprite, a choice of main course and desert. It also comes with good service, nice ambience and free flow water. I'm swearing off fast food, man.
We chatted on till about eight and exchanged quite a number of ghost stories. After that I went to buy handphone covers for Judith which I spotted at the mini-pasam malam, where I stood for about 25 min trying to describe them to her so she could decide. Talking about ghost stories, let me just write down my little anecdote, in case I forget it a few years later.
SOmetime back last year I was so tired upon reaching home that I just fell into bed with my school blouse still on. I woke up at around 3 pm, feeling filthy, so I decided to get up to bathe and brush my teeth. In order not to wake anyone up, I tried to be as noiseless as possible and refrained from switching on the lights, while I indulged in my usual weird habit of walking around thinking as I brushed my teeth.
It was the cumulation of these many factors that gave my sister the shock of her life when she got up to go to the toilet--after seeing a white clad woman with beraggled long hair, and foaming at the mouth walking towards her.
I think I should submit some of my experiences to reader's digest, but it always seemed so bothersome. I wonder if they still give money for jokes.
Anyway, a little update on what happened to me the last few days:
On Saturday night we sang the birthday song and cut cake, a chocolate cake from BreadTalk. After eating most of it I can conclude with greatest authority that ANGIE'S CHOICE CAKES ARE STILL THE BEST. Too bad the branch at West Mall closed down. For people who haven't already, you must try the yam cream cake and cheesecake.
I stayed up the whole night on Monday (going on to Tuesday) to complete the Glaxosmith essay, due to my inherently last minute nature and slow writing speed. I slept a little on the train and in school, but overall I was amazed at my ability to function throughout the entire day. I even went out with Nick in the after school--kind of a "July birthday people must celebrate together" groupie attitude. SO I treated him in Jack's Place, though we split the bill in Swensons later. I'm quite impressed with the former, really, so I shall promote it. For $6.50 (from 2.30 to 5.30 pm) you can order a students' meal with soup, garlic bread, one glass of coke/sprite, a choice of main course and desert. It also comes with good service, nice ambience and free flow water. I'm swearing off fast food, man.
We chatted on till about eight and exchanged quite a number of ghost stories. After that I went to buy handphone covers for Judith which I spotted at the mini-pasam malam, where I stood for about 25 min trying to describe them to her so she could decide. Talking about ghost stories, let me just write down my little anecdote, in case I forget it a few years later.
SOmetime back last year I was so tired upon reaching home that I just fell into bed with my school blouse still on. I woke up at around 3 pm, feeling filthy, so I decided to get up to bathe and brush my teeth. In order not to wake anyone up, I tried to be as noiseless as possible and refrained from switching on the lights, while I indulged in my usual weird habit of walking around thinking as I brushed my teeth.
It was the cumulation of these many factors that gave my sister the shock of her life when she got up to go to the toilet--after seeing a white clad woman with beraggled long hair, and foaming at the mouth walking towards her.
I think I should submit some of my experiences to reader's digest, but it always seemed so bothersome. I wonder if they still give money for jokes.
Saturday, July 31, 2004
It's my mother's birthday today! I had to go out in the morning in a last minute rush to buy her a present--fortunately I found a shop in west mall that sold branded perfume, though it didn't have samples for everything. After going through tons of bottles, I realised two sad facts:
1) I appear to have an allergy to perfume, despite being female and everything.
2) Some women must like wearing insecticide out, because I can't think of any other commercial reason for some of the scents produced.
The former was discovered when, instead of feeling a heady euphoria and increased confidence that any woman is supposed to, the back of my hand started itching and I started tearing after trying out a few samples. My mother wanted a 'flower scent', but after repeated sniffing at a brand that apparently specialises in flower perfumes I decided that I couldn't recognise any species, be it 'Rose' or "Sunflower'. There were also some rather unique scents like 'Green Tea' and 'Garden', which probably included the pesticide as well.
In the end I narrowed down to two options: Red Door (Elizabeth Arden) and Fifth Avenue (also Elizabeth Arden). I was considering Estee Lauder as well but they didn't have samples for most of them and I wasn't about to risk my money. After further deliberation I finally decided on Fifth Avenue, because it didn't have the characteristic sharp smell (solvent, I think) that most perfumes have. It cost $90 for a 75ml bottle but there was a 20% discount so I paid $72. I'm happy to say, though, that it is indeed true that the more expensive brands are longer lasting, because after several hours and many hand washings the scent is still there.
I also bought a water bottle that my mum mentioned she wanted and paid for everything to be gift-wrapped in nice gold paper (to match the bottle). Overall I spent $78.80. With that in a bag I rushed to IMM to have a celebratory lunch at a nice Chinese restaurant there, which my father paid for, because I'm broke by now. (It's at the top floor, good service, relatively cheap prices, quite worth it; I'm doing promotion here. For six dishes and good service it was only $52.80.) My mum liked the present! Lalala:) I'm glad I took the trouble to have it nicely wrapped because I discovered some time ago that it really does make a difference.
Now I shall go around sniffing at different perfumes even though I don't need to anymore to convince myself that it was a good buy.
1) I appear to have an allergy to perfume, despite being female and everything.
2) Some women must like wearing insecticide out, because I can't think of any other commercial reason for some of the scents produced.
The former was discovered when, instead of feeling a heady euphoria and increased confidence that any woman is supposed to, the back of my hand started itching and I started tearing after trying out a few samples. My mother wanted a 'flower scent', but after repeated sniffing at a brand that apparently specialises in flower perfumes I decided that I couldn't recognise any species, be it 'Rose' or "Sunflower'. There were also some rather unique scents like 'Green Tea' and 'Garden', which probably included the pesticide as well.
In the end I narrowed down to two options: Red Door (Elizabeth Arden) and Fifth Avenue (also Elizabeth Arden). I was considering Estee Lauder as well but they didn't have samples for most of them and I wasn't about to risk my money. After further deliberation I finally decided on Fifth Avenue, because it didn't have the characteristic sharp smell (solvent, I think) that most perfumes have. It cost $90 for a 75ml bottle but there was a 20% discount so I paid $72. I'm happy to say, though, that it is indeed true that the more expensive brands are longer lasting, because after several hours and many hand washings the scent is still there.
I also bought a water bottle that my mum mentioned she wanted and paid for everything to be gift-wrapped in nice gold paper (to match the bottle). Overall I spent $78.80. With that in a bag I rushed to IMM to have a celebratory lunch at a nice Chinese restaurant there, which my father paid for, because I'm broke by now. (It's at the top floor, good service, relatively cheap prices, quite worth it; I'm doing promotion here. For six dishes and good service it was only $52.80.) My mum liked the present! Lalala:) I'm glad I took the trouble to have it nicely wrapped because I discovered some time ago that it really does make a difference.
Now I shall go around sniffing at different perfumes even though I don't need to anymore to convince myself that it was a good buy.
Thursday, July 29, 2004
Been a little while since I updated, so I shall go day by day.
Monday:
Went out with Judith at night for round two of birthday celebrations. We went to Sakae Sushi, then down to MOS to eat frozen strawberries, where we exchanged what I will term as the NUS Ushering Experience.
After our lunch in cultural centre (we bought it from a Dome branch in there and it took supremely long to come, with all of us wondering whether they had to catch the chicken and pluck it so that Fresh Chicken Sandwich could be created), we went to the backstage, having assumed that we were supposed to go there. Somewhere in there, we encountered an Usher, who told us that we were supposed to go to the second floor of the cultural centre. So we backed out and went into the theatre, and went up to the second floor and stayed there for a while before we started wondering why we were the only team there. So we asked another Usher, who told us that the teams were in the dressing rooms somewhere behind, and the ones on the second floor was for us. To cut a long story short, we went up to the second floor, then back down to the first floor, up to the second floor and back down to the first floor again where the Ushers then abandoned us. Rather fed up, we then went up to the second floor, tried all the dressing room doors till we found an unlocked one and stayed there, until we figured the guest of honor was done and we went backstage.
What happened to HC, as Judith told me later, was that they were told to go to the second floor of the cultural centre, where they ALSO wondered where the other JCs were. An Usher then saw them and said, "Oh no! You're supposed to be backstage!". SO they obediently trooped down backstage where they encountered yet another Usher, who told them to go up again. So they trooped up. This process repeated itself for six times until HC got sick of it too and stayed put at the backstage.
I presume this is how all four JCs eventually ended up at the backstage, with everyone complaining about being led up and down and round and round before they figured they would have to come here eventually. What I find amazing is that NUS had such a studied lack of coordination that it even managed to not let any of the teams meet on our tours of the cultural centre. If any of us were less intelligent, the quiz would probably start late so that one or two of the missing teams could be found.
Anyway, I got a shirt with stuff written over it and a tatty bear from Judith. Wait, I just realised! Judith you didn't give me a card! How can you not give me a card? You must give me a card. (I sense myself repeating here) Having a message written over a shirt doesn't Count. :P
Wednesday:
I went for a debate gathering at night, at Outback in Millenia. The food was pretty horrible, except for the fried mushrooms which were quite novel. I ended up eating Felda's pasta because she lost her appetite for it (first time I saw pasta with so much vegetables), while she mangled the remaining drumstick that I gave to her in exchange.
I thought the most entertaining part of the whole event was listening to Ben describe his wedding plans, which truly reflected a Methodical and Organised mind. I quote, "By November I'll send out my first batch of invitations, and if they don't RSVP me by December I'll just cut them out. After that I'll send out my second batch of invitations..." It sounded very much like university admissions.
What I also found amusing was that although Ben hadn't really thought about minor things like the presentation of the ring, he appears to have planned angbao collection in great detail. Ram (being one of his best men) was told repeatedly that all the angbaos he collected would be passed to him, presumably so that he wouldn't be distracted from collecting some more. Haha. His best men have also been delegated the roles of drinking in his place, protecting him from drunken men, and clearing the crowd in front of him, not unlike the job of the Secret Service under the president.
Monday:
Went out with Judith at night for round two of birthday celebrations. We went to Sakae Sushi, then down to MOS to eat frozen strawberries, where we exchanged what I will term as the NUS Ushering Experience.
After our lunch in cultural centre (we bought it from a Dome branch in there and it took supremely long to come, with all of us wondering whether they had to catch the chicken and pluck it so that Fresh Chicken Sandwich could be created), we went to the backstage, having assumed that we were supposed to go there. Somewhere in there, we encountered an Usher, who told us that we were supposed to go to the second floor of the cultural centre. So we backed out and went into the theatre, and went up to the second floor and stayed there for a while before we started wondering why we were the only team there. So we asked another Usher, who told us that the teams were in the dressing rooms somewhere behind, and the ones on the second floor was for us. To cut a long story short, we went up to the second floor, then back down to the first floor, up to the second floor and back down to the first floor again where the Ushers then abandoned us. Rather fed up, we then went up to the second floor, tried all the dressing room doors till we found an unlocked one and stayed there, until we figured the guest of honor was done and we went backstage.
What happened to HC, as Judith told me later, was that they were told to go to the second floor of the cultural centre, where they ALSO wondered where the other JCs were. An Usher then saw them and said, "Oh no! You're supposed to be backstage!". SO they obediently trooped down backstage where they encountered yet another Usher, who told them to go up again. So they trooped up. This process repeated itself for six times until HC got sick of it too and stayed put at the backstage.
I presume this is how all four JCs eventually ended up at the backstage, with everyone complaining about being led up and down and round and round before they figured they would have to come here eventually. What I find amazing is that NUS had such a studied lack of coordination that it even managed to not let any of the teams meet on our tours of the cultural centre. If any of us were less intelligent, the quiz would probably start late so that one or two of the missing teams could be found.
Anyway, I got a shirt with stuff written over it and a tatty bear from Judith. Wait, I just realised! Judith you didn't give me a card! How can you not give me a card? You must give me a card. (I sense myself repeating here) Having a message written over a shirt doesn't Count. :P
Wednesday:
I went for a debate gathering at night, at Outback in Millenia. The food was pretty horrible, except for the fried mushrooms which were quite novel. I ended up eating Felda's pasta because she lost her appetite for it (first time I saw pasta with so much vegetables), while she mangled the remaining drumstick that I gave to her in exchange.
I thought the most entertaining part of the whole event was listening to Ben describe his wedding plans, which truly reflected a Methodical and Organised mind. I quote, "By November I'll send out my first batch of invitations, and if they don't RSVP me by December I'll just cut them out. After that I'll send out my second batch of invitations..." It sounded very much like university admissions.
What I also found amusing was that although Ben hadn't really thought about minor things like the presentation of the ring, he appears to have planned angbao collection in great detail. Ram (being one of his best men) was told repeatedly that all the angbaos he collected would be passed to him, presumably so that he wouldn't be distracted from collecting some more. Haha. His best men have also been delegated the roles of drinking in his place, protecting him from drunken men, and clearing the crowd in front of him, not unlike the job of the Secret Service under the president.
Sunday, July 25, 2004
I've been reduced to checking my email and updating my blog in school because my computer is (hopefully not permanently) sick with (what I hope is) a virus. If it's due to some circuit hotwiring from overuse I really don't know what to do. Thank goodness it happened on Friday, after the ppt was safely uploaded in Munbbill's laptop and the research was pretty much done, or I would have died.
Many exciting things have happened since the last time I blogged. In order of excitement: we got second for NEFMQ! We screwed the quiz horribly and had seven points from AC (who was second), so before they announced the results for fourth place we all had our heads bowed and mumbling, "Not fourth, not fourth" and there was quite a loud sigh of relief when the MC said "Anderson Junior College". Then we all thought we were next and all came out and lined up, so there was really a moment of jubilation when AC turned out third.
What really meant the most to me was that we got best for presentation. It's the first time I've ever gotten best for anything; in debate, SYC presentation, PW and everything else something will crop up or there'll be just the lacking factor for us to get top. In the end it'll be a not bad (like making semis) but just not quite there. Only what my sis told me, "to know how to win all the way you have to first learn how to" made me keep trying and tryin and trying. I feel like what we achieved was for me, very much a personal victory--I really pushed a lot in the beginning, and only in the last three days did everyone in the group really start chipping in equally. For the two weeks plus before that almost none of the meetings had a full house; Munbbill and I were the only constants. I thought about renminbi waking and sleeping and kept trying to figure out structure, rebuttal, etc etc. But later on everybody got the excitement and drove toward the goal, and FOR THE FIRST TIME IN MY LIFE, the final presentation was what I envisioned it to be. I've done it. And my team did it. For a group that started out without much team dynamics, with most members not very good at econs and with lousy grades that's quite an achievement. It's rather strange though, that although in the end we have a good working relationship and I quite enjoy doing the project together with them I still can't imagine us going out together. I guess that's what colleagues feel like.
I went to Lin Zi's house after and we chatted till eleven plus with both of us not realising the time. Like so many of my other dearest friends, she has no idea what to get me so I shall have to think of something I want. She got me the Star Wars trilogy last year but this year I can't think of any VCD I'm going to have time to watch in the near future. Sigh. Lin Zi won the National Econs Essay writing quiz with her classmate! To think that Judith got second for MAS essay competition with Zhi Peng too. Oh man, I'm surrounded by smart friends. I feel stupid. Very proud of both of them, though.
On Sunday I went out with Yiling, Hui Fen, Hannah, Grace and got treated to ice-cream at Esplanade Haagen Dazs. I had an 'ultimate', a slice of ice-cream cake, a little of Hannah's and Grace's cheesecake (which wasn't that great) and after walking at the riverside we came back again and I had chocolate covered strawberries. I must have eaten about 1 kg of sugar. I also got this around the world travel guide from them, though I would have asked for a China one if I knew they were going to get me that. But I'll travel to other countries too so it might be more useful in the future:), like Yiling said.
Oh, for people who don't know, thanks to Felda, the cat's out of the bag. Due to some misunderstanding she thought they knew from Ram so she pratically announced it to the debate team. But it's ok. Nothing to be embarassed about, though I didn't want it known orignally cos I thought it might be a little awkward for TAT.
I'm going out with Judith later for the second round of birthday celebrations. I wonder if she's gotten my birthday present yet, haha. And my sis will treat me again when she gets back from India. This is a thousand times better than my last birthday (the worst one in my life) where I got stomach flu and couldn't eat anything.
Now I shall keep on contemplating what to get for my mum's birthday, which is on the 31st.
Many exciting things have happened since the last time I blogged. In order of excitement: we got second for NEFMQ! We screwed the quiz horribly and had seven points from AC (who was second), so before they announced the results for fourth place we all had our heads bowed and mumbling, "Not fourth, not fourth" and there was quite a loud sigh of relief when the MC said "Anderson Junior College". Then we all thought we were next and all came out and lined up, so there was really a moment of jubilation when AC turned out third.
What really meant the most to me was that we got best for presentation. It's the first time I've ever gotten best for anything; in debate, SYC presentation, PW and everything else something will crop up or there'll be just the lacking factor for us to get top. In the end it'll be a not bad (like making semis) but just not quite there. Only what my sis told me, "to know how to win all the way you have to first learn how to" made me keep trying and tryin and trying. I feel like what we achieved was for me, very much a personal victory--I really pushed a lot in the beginning, and only in the last three days did everyone in the group really start chipping in equally. For the two weeks plus before that almost none of the meetings had a full house; Munbbill and I were the only constants. I thought about renminbi waking and sleeping and kept trying to figure out structure, rebuttal, etc etc. But later on everybody got the excitement and drove toward the goal, and FOR THE FIRST TIME IN MY LIFE, the final presentation was what I envisioned it to be. I've done it. And my team did it. For a group that started out without much team dynamics, with most members not very good at econs and with lousy grades that's quite an achievement. It's rather strange though, that although in the end we have a good working relationship and I quite enjoy doing the project together with them I still can't imagine us going out together. I guess that's what colleagues feel like.
I went to Lin Zi's house after and we chatted till eleven plus with both of us not realising the time. Like so many of my other dearest friends, she has no idea what to get me so I shall have to think of something I want. She got me the Star Wars trilogy last year but this year I can't think of any VCD I'm going to have time to watch in the near future. Sigh. Lin Zi won the National Econs Essay writing quiz with her classmate! To think that Judith got second for MAS essay competition with Zhi Peng too. Oh man, I'm surrounded by smart friends. I feel stupid. Very proud of both of them, though.
On Sunday I went out with Yiling, Hui Fen, Hannah, Grace and got treated to ice-cream at Esplanade Haagen Dazs. I had an 'ultimate', a slice of ice-cream cake, a little of Hannah's and Grace's cheesecake (which wasn't that great) and after walking at the riverside we came back again and I had chocolate covered strawberries. I must have eaten about 1 kg of sugar. I also got this around the world travel guide from them, though I would have asked for a China one if I knew they were going to get me that. But I'll travel to other countries too so it might be more useful in the future:), like Yiling said.
Oh, for people who don't know, thanks to Felda, the cat's out of the bag. Due to some misunderstanding she thought they knew from Ram so she pratically announced it to the debate team. But it's ok. Nothing to be embarassed about, though I didn't want it known orignally cos I thought it might be a little awkward for TAT.
I'm going out with Judith later for the second round of birthday celebrations. I wonder if she's gotten my birthday present yet, haha. And my sis will treat me again when she gets back from India. This is a thousand times better than my last birthday (the worst one in my life) where I got stomach flu and couldn't eat anything.
Now I shall keep on contemplating what to get for my mum's birthday, which is on the 31st.
Monday, July 19, 2004
I discovered many new things today.
Discovery 1: Most humans are stupid
This theory has been built up steadily throughout the day. The first lesson I had in the morning was econs tutorial, where I never cease to be surprised how Mrs Leong manages to turn every single period we have with her into a torturous stretch of time. I thought nothing much could go wrong since we were just getting back our econs MCQ papers, but she still somehow gave us the Look (the "you little dumb worm" look), and asked us all questions that we couldn't answer, not because we didn't know how to answer but because we really didn't know what she was asking for.
I have some general observations with regard to this. Mrs Leong asks us a question. We don't know what she is talking about. In order to avoid the Look we try to answer what we think she is asking. We hit nowhere near the right answer and she gives us the Look. She repeats the question in another form, and she continues to Look at us. Deciding that saying someting is better than just sitting there and looking back at her, we sprout half-formed theories linking interest rates and unemployment that we know are crap once we hear ourselves saying it. It is, however, too late, and her overall estimate of our stupidity level increases even further, and her way of overcoming it is to ask us even more questions that we cannot answer. This forms a Vicious Cycle where both sides think that the other is stupid, with the class wondering why she is asking such dumb questions and Mrs Leong wondering why we can't answer such dumb questions. I rest my case.
My theory was further substantiated in the next lesson we had, Chemistry lecture. We were told, in no uncertain terms, that the lecturer had a Very Short Time to complete the syllabus, as well as the biochemistry summary which will no doubt Help In Our Revision. I fail to see how reading the lecture notes in the speed of a bullet train and jabbing the notes on the visualizer rapidly to emphasize her points manages to accomplish this. Even worse, her efforts to draw in as little breath as possible to finish her words also keeps her voice a constant monotone; and unfortunately for me, her somewhat shrill voice has the effect of penetrating my consciousness, so that I was unable to slip into a restful sleep. I don't think that many people had that problem, though, considering that most of my row looked gone to this world.
I discovered further stupidity when I was retaking my NAFA test. While the average female pretty much stops growing taller by the age of 14, the standing board jump passing mark increases every year. So the typical adolescent is expected to somehow find greater spring in her legs, even when puberty causes her hips to enlarge. For a butt heavy person like me, the stupidity of the sports council or whatever organisation designing this test is an especially sore point because I jump to the same mark every year but I'm getting a bloody bronze (which in the PE dept's opinion is a fail) because the mark keeps increasing. Argh. I got three As and 2 Cs for the rest, so I was supremely irritated after my second NAFA today.
ANd then when I went to the concourse after PE, I encountered further stupidity. Those nice silver tables replaced the big, ugly, white ones presumably so that MORE Vj students could use them. But what has happened thus far is that everyone is just moving the table together because they find that they have no space. I don't see why the money had to be wasted in the first place.
Discovery 2: Failing a test when you didn't study feels infinitely better than failing a test than you did study
This is because in the former, you know that it's partly cos you're lazy and suspect it's possibly cos you're stupid; while in the latter, you KNOW that it's because you were stupid. I find it rather ironical that I spent the most time studying for Chemistry, yet I scored the worst marks for it. The remaining nine out of ten days I had after my competition was wholly spent doing Chemistry, becasue I knew it sucked. One day was spent on math, and I left just the day before for econs and physics. To my amazement, I passed physics, math and will probably pass econs, but I GOT MY FIRST BLOODY FAILURE IN VJ ON THIS CHEMISTRY PAPER. Argh. It was almost amusing, actually. The first thing my chem tutor did when he stepped into class today was to pass around photocopied articles that quoted "success is not forever, failure is never final". With sinking hearts we made educated guesses on which category we were approximately under.
Sigh, now I feel like an idiot in more ways than one.
My third discovery is that I have:
1) Underestimated the number of people reading my blog
2) Underestimated the gossip index of the average student
This comes after certain curious souls whom I didn't know knew of my blog, as well as several individuals whom I know knew of it tapped me and asked, "ay, who is it? Is he among those on stage this morning?".
(sweatdrop)
Discovery 1: Most humans are stupid
This theory has been built up steadily throughout the day. The first lesson I had in the morning was econs tutorial, where I never cease to be surprised how Mrs Leong manages to turn every single period we have with her into a torturous stretch of time. I thought nothing much could go wrong since we were just getting back our econs MCQ papers, but she still somehow gave us the Look (the "you little dumb worm" look), and asked us all questions that we couldn't answer, not because we didn't know how to answer but because we really didn't know what she was asking for.
I have some general observations with regard to this. Mrs Leong asks us a question. We don't know what she is talking about. In order to avoid the Look we try to answer what we think she is asking. We hit nowhere near the right answer and she gives us the Look. She repeats the question in another form, and she continues to Look at us. Deciding that saying someting is better than just sitting there and looking back at her, we sprout half-formed theories linking interest rates and unemployment that we know are crap once we hear ourselves saying it. It is, however, too late, and her overall estimate of our stupidity level increases even further, and her way of overcoming it is to ask us even more questions that we cannot answer. This forms a Vicious Cycle where both sides think that the other is stupid, with the class wondering why she is asking such dumb questions and Mrs Leong wondering why we can't answer such dumb questions. I rest my case.
My theory was further substantiated in the next lesson we had, Chemistry lecture. We were told, in no uncertain terms, that the lecturer had a Very Short Time to complete the syllabus, as well as the biochemistry summary which will no doubt Help In Our Revision. I fail to see how reading the lecture notes in the speed of a bullet train and jabbing the notes on the visualizer rapidly to emphasize her points manages to accomplish this. Even worse, her efforts to draw in as little breath as possible to finish her words also keeps her voice a constant monotone; and unfortunately for me, her somewhat shrill voice has the effect of penetrating my consciousness, so that I was unable to slip into a restful sleep. I don't think that many people had that problem, though, considering that most of my row looked gone to this world.
I discovered further stupidity when I was retaking my NAFA test. While the average female pretty much stops growing taller by the age of 14, the standing board jump passing mark increases every year. So the typical adolescent is expected to somehow find greater spring in her legs, even when puberty causes her hips to enlarge. For a butt heavy person like me, the stupidity of the sports council or whatever organisation designing this test is an especially sore point because I jump to the same mark every year but I'm getting a bloody bronze (which in the PE dept's opinion is a fail) because the mark keeps increasing. Argh. I got three As and 2 Cs for the rest, so I was supremely irritated after my second NAFA today.
ANd then when I went to the concourse after PE, I encountered further stupidity. Those nice silver tables replaced the big, ugly, white ones presumably so that MORE Vj students could use them. But what has happened thus far is that everyone is just moving the table together because they find that they have no space. I don't see why the money had to be wasted in the first place.
Discovery 2: Failing a test when you didn't study feels infinitely better than failing a test than you did study
This is because in the former, you know that it's partly cos you're lazy and suspect it's possibly cos you're stupid; while in the latter, you KNOW that it's because you were stupid. I find it rather ironical that I spent the most time studying for Chemistry, yet I scored the worst marks for it. The remaining nine out of ten days I had after my competition was wholly spent doing Chemistry, becasue I knew it sucked. One day was spent on math, and I left just the day before for econs and physics. To my amazement, I passed physics, math and will probably pass econs, but I GOT MY FIRST BLOODY FAILURE IN VJ ON THIS CHEMISTRY PAPER. Argh. It was almost amusing, actually. The first thing my chem tutor did when he stepped into class today was to pass around photocopied articles that quoted "success is not forever, failure is never final". With sinking hearts we made educated guesses on which category we were approximately under.
Sigh, now I feel like an idiot in more ways than one.
My third discovery is that I have:
1) Underestimated the number of people reading my blog
2) Underestimated the gossip index of the average student
This comes after certain curious souls whom I didn't know knew of my blog, as well as several individuals whom I know knew of it tapped me and asked, "ay, who is it? Is he among those on stage this morning?".
(sweatdrop)
