Newsflash: For all his slowness, the DF actually managed to beat me in something.

His parents now know of us before mine has.
Hey! How was I to know that mine were gonna go to JB today of all days??

And they've invited me to lunch with them next week.

Ok, altogether now:

AAAHHH!!!!!! AAAHHH!!!!!! AAAHHH!!!!!! AAAHHH!!!!!! AAAHHH!!!!!!

In other news........

The blog entries for the IJ open house are done, but because of the sheer amount of pix, will be divided into 2 parts. For those who are clueless, my old alma mater has finished its renovations and opened its doors to the public at large on the 7th Jan. And yes, of course I took pictures.

If you are impatient, or you just want to see photographs, [literary barbarians you], you can go to flickr and search for tag "chijtoapayohopenhouse2006" where you will find my photos.

I'll start off by introducing some of the people who were so important to us in those foundation years:







Stay tuned, girls...

From an Old Convent Girl

Whenever I mention to some of my friends that I was going back to my old secondary school, I get asked, "Why?" This is for 2 different reasons:

"Why on earth are you going back to that place where we were screamed at by all these old, wrinkled teachers, forced to endure dozens of boring masses, and all kinds of silly restrictions on uniforms, were subjected to the most draconian of rules, iron-handedly enforced by a fire-breathing gorgon of a discipline mistress?"

ok, this one comes mainly from the old girls, and is a little embellished under my hands.

or,

"Why are you going back? What's the point?"

What's the point? That's a better question. And one that some readers may ask, since myself and a bunch of other old convent girls recently went back to the Open House for our alma mater, CHIJ Toa Payoh. [anonymity be damned. I'm proud of my school and not afraid to show it]


Perhaps on one hand, it's the school, physically and spiritually. After all, like the old Madonna song went, this used to be my playground. [click on link for the sentiments behind it] This was where I studied, I played, learned to grow old and not like it, and where I made some of the friends that I still have till today, a kind of feat, considering how all our paths have diverged.

Does erasing the school erase the memories? Of course it does not. But what it does is to rob you of the chance of ever reliving those moments. Of being able to pretend, once again, that you were that small, that innocent, that naive. It robs you of the chance to close your common sense telling you otherwise, and pretend that you are once again young and small, and that there are grownups around ready to protect you from outside.


152 years on and counting

Maybe it's the people. It's the people who you loved, hated, made friends with only to forget, till years later on, you met in the streets and realised you two never changed that much anyway. Because the primary and secondary schools were affiliated, and because they were in the same compound, many of us took it for granted that we were going to go to IJ secondary anyway, without question. And you know what? Many of us did.

Some of my friends I've known since I was in Primary school, which is hell long when you're at my age. These are the friends who've seen everything there is to see about me, who know my past, who are still with me in the present, and who, regardless of all that, are still willing to stick by me in the future to come. [thanks guys, if you're reading this] Together, as a group, we've been through just about every human crisis you could imagine, from breakups to deaths. But at the same time, we also shared so much of the good stuff, it made it all worthwhile.

How can you forget a place where you met people like that?

And above all, maybe it's the fact that that place was my past. How do you ever forget your past? [short of physical trauma and injury, anyway] You can try to run, you can put it out of your mind, but how do you forget? You just can't.

And you shouldn't. Because it was your past that made you the person you were today. It was because of the choices you made in your past that, for better or worse, you have turned out to be the person you are today.

Even if you are the person who took this direction in order to run from something in your past, would you be running in this direction if you had not experienced whatever it is you did in your past?

So for all it's worth, this is what my school really is to me:

CHIJ TP Open House Part 1

[another photo-heavy entry. Please take toilet/drink/tv break while waiting for pictures to load fully. All pix copyright of Aki and can be found on Flickr using the tag "chijtoapayohopenhouse2006"

Others who have blogged abt this include the Slayer. If you know any other IJ girl who went and blogged about it/posted pix, lemme know so I can compile a list. cheers!]

After much waiting, my alma mater has finally finished the finishing touches on its new building, and this grand old dame has seen fit to meet the outside world again.

A group of us old girls had met up to go for the Open House on the 7th Jan, because we missed the school, we wanted an excuse to meet up and also because some of us wanted to see whether it really looked like a mosque. [which was the rumour I heard. heh.]

On approaching the school, we realised that the entire building had completely changed from what we had grown up in.

Ok, definitely the facade of the building has all changed. Not only that, but our once wide-spanning track had reduced in size by nearly half, and was now 3 lanes instead of the old six. [wah lau...] Because of the carpark, and the fitness facilities, the field had also reduced in size, and there was less grass than before. [damn]



The canteen had also changed. Gone were the creaky wooden benches, and their accompanying pastel tables. Now each girl had a seat for their butt and much more colourful [and possibly durable] tables.

Does that seem to take the fun out of recess for you? One thing we used to do was squeeze the whole group onto the bench so that we could all sit together and eat and gossip and bitch about whoever. Now it seems that the current seating arrangement would restrict the number of girls to a table.

Then again, it's probably to preserve the furniture. Why the benches were so creaky in the first place was because of all the butts that tried to squeeze onto it back then.

And remember this old bell? It used to be green, but now they've painted the frame blue. The bell itself looks just as old as before, though, and no wonder: The thing was passed down from Victoria Street. -_-!!



More pix:


Fitness Corner


The Much Bigger Hall


Inner quandrangle, prob for assemblies


The Arch


Stained glass concourse on one of the floors

Most of the classrooms had better facilities and equipment, no surprise.

After that it was over to the Primary side.

In case you didn't know, the Primary and Secondary schools, which used to be 2 separate buildings in the same compound, were now joined together in the middle, letting the girls freely interact with each other and probably allowing them easier ways to run over to each other's canteens or bookshops.

Back then, the Primary and Secondary schools were 2 buildings separated by a carpark. The Primary school girls would look longingly at the older, taller girls and dream of the day they would be as tall and big as they were. We also went to their bookstore to buy all sorts of stationery that could not be found in our own kiddy bookstore, earning us a stern reprimand from the Principal that we were to stay where we belonged and wait when we were older.

Funny thing was that when we got older and actually became those older, taller girls, we would then look back at the Primary school, and long for the days when we were there. We also went over to the canteen to buy the [cheaper] food of our younger memories, and earned ourselves scoldings that we should have known better at our age, and we were to stick to our own compound and not intrude on the little ones' spaces.

Funny how things change... and how they don't.

So anyway, now that we've gone over to the Primary school:


Canteen with benches for squeezing tiny butts


The general air of the Primary school just screamed "Cute!" in most of the things, not surprising considering that it is, well, Primary level after all. So much of the stuff here looked way better than the serious stuff that the Secondary school had:


Wayang corner with parents doing a wayang of tired parents


Different colours for each floor


The classrooms look much better now than what I went through, and guess what?


They have Macs!!! The lucky devils have Macs!!!

Apparently this is because this model doesn't have wires all over the place, and also that everything was contained inside one unit, instead of a separate CPU unit. Which made sense, because you didn't want Primary school kids knocking into the CPU or tripping over wires, or attempting to use it for anything other than its intended purpose.


The Inner Quadrangle of the Primary school... so that the kids will learn to read the name of their school... from the air.

And finally, the cutest thing of all:


Have u ever seen a cuter toilet sign?? Aaahh!!! >D

And finally on the way out:


Girls from IJTP may remember this better, but this was where the old walkway out of the primary school used to be. Beside the walkway, though, [where this new one was now at] was a little grassy enclosure with the oldest trees ever. You couldn't even call it a garden because all that was there was grass, some leaf litters, roots lying all over the place, and massive, old trees that branched out and sheltered the entire place.

The grass enclosure was separated from the carpark by the walkway, and since the schoolbuses used to drop off the primary schoolers here and pick them up after school here as well, this made the grass place a perfect natural playground for all those girls. Like, how could any kid resist? The whole place seemed separated from the rest of the world, and was like one of those enchanted magical forest patches. It was also sheltered from the glaring sun by the branches of those trees, which provided the roots for us to play on as well. I spent too many mornings/afternoons playing there.

Sadly enough, that entire patch was destroyed, and is now totally missing from the new school, as you can tell from the photo. And this is one of the things which made me feel really old, like someone I used to know alright had died or something, and that all I would ever see of him would be in my memories. Seeing your old playground destroyed... suddenly you feel your age. Or more.

And that was it. With the knocking down of the old, I had no choice but to discard my childish past and allow others to have their fun now. Now it was time for me to join the ranks of the groan-ups and the adults and do serious, responsible stuff. Nowhere was that point more forcibly underlined than the destruction of this old school.

Like all newly renovated places, I didn't quite feel as if this place belonged to me any longer.

But the memories remain. And if ever I feel like that kid playing on the roots again... :)

To those who went to the IJ open house, Pix are currently in production. Keep tuned!

I. Hate. Rain.

I hate it when it drizzles. I hate it when it showers. I hate it when it pours.

I hate it when it blows into my balcony, soaking all my shoes.

I hate it when it blows into my kitchen, and causing all my clothes to remain wet.

I hate it when the downpour prevents me from going out without a behemothic umbrella.

I hate it when I have to go out, and it drenches me all over when I do, making my feet squish in their shoes.

Get the picture? I hate it I hate it I hate it.

I get into a grump of a mood everytime it rains like this, especially during this monsoon season when it's happening more often. Somehow, the rain has an uncanny knack of choosing the moment just before I leave the house to come down in a sudden downpour, which is f**king irritating, thanks for asking. It's the constant damperer of my plans, no pun intended.

My plans today were fool-proofedly simple: Teach tuition in morning, go out with family for lunch, rest at home a while, maybe go out to library.

Because of the rain, and other reasons, one student cancelled, [though partly due to illness as well] and the other, as I type, is still wondering whether she should come down or not, despite her being 45 mins late in her schedule. >( This is another thing that irritates me, because everytime she comes late, I have to push back my afternoon plans or I am unable to finish covering everything in the lesson.

Fine. Maybe I can still go out with family for lunch. OOPS. Parents have decided to skip to Johor early in the morning, so I'm on my own. >( The irony of my life: Once I have time for family, family has no time for me, and vice versa. Should I even bother?

Ok, I'm on my own. No sweat, I can eat lunch by myself, and maybe hop down to the library.

Wait a mo, it's RAINING. It's POURING. It's getting decidedly BORING.

Ok, FINE. You had your way. I'm stuck at home. I can scrunge up something to eat for lunch.

Something like an Uncle Toby's bar and a pack of Ice Lemon tea. -_-!!!!!

Ok, the provision shop downstairs sells pau.

But at this time, all they have left are about... 8 pau. 8 miserable looking pau who've been looked over by the rest of the general public and are left languishing in their sauna prison.

I have no choice. Hunger compels me to free one of them.

In a last ditch attempt to save the day, I SMS the DF asking if he's free for dinner, so at least I have something to look forward to out of this wretched day.

2 hours later. No reply. I forget, he goes out with family on Sundays.

Unlike ME WHO'S BEEN DUMPED AT HOME WITH NOWHERE TO GO NOTHING TO EAT BUT ONE STUPID TAU SAR PAU AND NOTHING TO DO EXCEPT BLOG ABOUT HOW THIS DAY HAS ALL THE MARKINGS OF A TOTALLY MISERABLE ONE AND IT ALL STARTED WITH THE DAMN RAIN.

*Sigh*

This is so not the right time of the month for me.

A slow day in school sees Yenn and I in our room. She plays her new J-rock CD on her almost-obsolete CD player, while Mapling. I listen to her CD [because it's being blasted through the room] and read blogs and blog, while resisting the temptation to fall back onto bad habits.

Only I have a class, about 5 hours later. She just found out her only project meeting for the day got cancelled.

Deadlines are still at least 2 weeks away, and because we just started this week, not much in the way of concrete work has yet to be done.

So none of us have pressing deadlines [yet], none of us have pressing work that needs to be done now [yet], and none of us are in a hurry to go to classes today [till 5 hours later for me]. And we are still free [for today] to relax, and enjoy this afternoon.

Yes, it's a good day for us.

Reflections on a Year Past

Apologies for lack of entries due to my holiday obsession, which kept me from a lot of productive activity. ^_^! Now that I'm back in school, *unfortunately* you may find this blog getting a bit more dusty... *sigh* But I do still hope to keep it up.

I was reflecting on NYE on what a year 2005 had been for me, biggest changes of all being in the love and career depts of course. [what else?] It was like my life had been stagnant for all that time after I was teaching tuition, and then suddenly wham! bang! alakazam! Everything just came at once. ^_^! Even I wonder at how it happened, now that I look back on it......

But even then, 2005 I guess was the year when a lot of realism set in as well. I found out, firsthand, that relationships weren't always the bed of roses and happy endings that the movies made it to be. Even though I always knew it in some deep, dark, cynical corner of my heart, nothing beats a practical lesson to instil it in you.

But at the same time, I also learnt what it really meant to be in a relationship, that it also entailed a lot of tolerance and give-and-take. If you expected certain things out of your other, then your other also is entitled to certain expectations about yourself. And in the end, maybe the most successful relationships are about how you work it out between the two of you. [funnily enough, I have to credit this lesson to Dad over a plate of fries and a cup of milo]

So as to this, I can only see, "We'll see." I always tell people that the DF may not end up being the guy I marry, because, well, I've seen enough of my friends' [ex-]relationships to know that it doesn't always turn out that way. Not that I'm trying to jeopardise the future of my own relationship, but more like I cannot predict the future with any amount of certainty. I can't say for certain what will happen to us, or whether he or I will change or some other outside circumstance will force us apart.

But above all, I do hope we will try our darnest at this state we've gotten ourselves into. And that it all will not turn out too badly in the end. :)

My own career also took a sudden steroid and went into booster mode. The time from when I first signed on the dotted line all the way to the day I moved out of the hostel and started my holidays was something of a whirlwind now that I think about it.

The thing I don't like is that the course I'm in seems to be cramming too much into us in too much time, and this is a complaint shared by me, Yenn, and about a thousand of us. And whether because of what Yenn told me, or because of my own cynicism, I can't help holding little question marks about the training we receive in here, and its validity in the real world.

But in the end, it's all I'll have when I go out to the real world for the first time. And in some ways, it scares the blardy hell outta me.

Because when I did tuition, I was relatively carefree. I only had to concentrate on one kid at a time, and I could implement my own 'syllabus', my own work, and teach the way I wanted.

Now, I have to account for the academic progress of 40 kids at a time, multiplied by the no of classes I teach, follow a set syllabus, and leave a paper trail of accountability to show that there is method in my madness. @_@~And that's not counting the admin stuff and the extracurricular stuff.

It scares me shitless sometimes, when I think about it. What happens if I boldly set out, test my mettle, and find myself wanting in this area?

Then when the fear passes, I remind myself not to think too much again, and I get down to the serious business of solving my next Sudoku puzzle.

There is never any point in wildly imagining situations which may or may not be happening. I did that on occasion with the DF and it never got me anywhere, and in fact, made me a whole lot more miserable than he could have with any concrete actions. Thus, the same thing with this stint. When the time comes, I will face it, do it, and get it over and done with.

And maybe, somehow, I will survive 2006 and get through this thing they call 'Life'.

Happy 2006!

The first blog post of 2006... ah.... is very photo-heavy. I advise you to take that loo break, or get some water while waiting for this to load.

So how was everyone's New Year's Eve? [or did some of you just sleep past it and wake up the next morn like always? Shame on you...] With no pending invitations [sob sob] and the DF with his family, I spent NYE with Necroz wandering around the Marina area.

And I really mean wander. We met early for dinner, shopped a bit, and then when the stores closed, found ourselves with nothing to do till midnight. So we walked around from Marina to Esplanade to Boat Quay to Clarke Quay and to Fullerton to await the New Year.

ALL the places were packed more than usual, no surprises there. At 8-10pm, there was already a sense of party fever in the air, as revellers increased in numbers, making their pilgrimmages to these holy spots of wild abandon.'


Clarke Quay prepares


Singapore waits for the fireworks

After walking and walking, we finally staked out a spot at the One Fullerton overlooking the Merlion to wait for the fireworks display.

I know some of you will think, "WTF you wanna go to somewhere so crowded for what???" What can I say? There's a difference in the atmosphere when you're celebrating with 1000s of strangers the coming of the New Year. In the last hour before midnight, we felt it as the people increased, and the heat of the moment increased as well. You feel a heightened sense of anticipation in the air, and the feeling of waiting that everyone is going through with you. Some jokers may suddenly spray the air full of crazy string and foam. Others suddenly bawl and scream. Someone actually released a small hot air balloon, complete with gas flame. [i kid you not]

There's a strange feeling that strikes a mob that is waiting for some action. I guess that was the high we were looking for.

And when the fireworks heralded the zero moment, WA-HOO!!!!

Aside: IN case you haven't noticed, what with all the digital cameras and the camera phones, we have suddenly become a nation of aspiring photographers. [moi included, hehe] Which means that in any national event, what you inevitably see is the whipping out of lens on the phones or cameras:



Unfortunately, my phototaking skills, when it comes to fireworks, are horribly pathetic.


bleah.


still too slow, sucker.

And after a few aborted attempts,


Yahoo!


Yeah!

And that was the two only good shots. -_-!!!!!

After the countdown was over, though, the sparklers came out in full force.


Sparkly time!

Cute kid!

His friends with him

Singaporeans attempt to set the Merlion on fire.

But I did catch one pose, unawares, and I didn't even realise it till I uploaded the pictures. Which made it one good shot for a fireworking opportunity, and also became one of the funnier shots ever:



Finally, it was all over. The last firework, the last sparkler.

Well all is said and done, however, one problem remains.

WTF do we get outta there???

There are only a few routes out of One Fullerton, I realised, and all of them were choked with people.

Here's an example of one of the exits on that night:


Blardy hell!

Eventually we got out, walked around the river to get to Esplanade.

If you walk that route, though, you'd remember that before reaching the Esplanade, you'd have to cross under the bridge just before the Durian.

We aptly named that stretch of tunnel the Tunnel of Doom.

What with all the aerosol cans and the guys all high on party fever, and the tons of trash on the floor, the area resembled some apocalyptic vision of Singapore's doom.

Not to mention the weird party calls, the people all huddled furtively trying to escape the gangs fighting with the aerosols, and the gangs all fighting with one another spraying each other with that white foam left over from christmas.

And yes, we got sprayed by some dude. -_-! If not for the fact it was just white foam, I'd be cursing the guy to Kingdom Come.

erm, no pix of that scene because I was afraid of the flash attracting unwanted attention via foam. -_-!!!



And this was one of the few nights where there were virtually no taxis on the road. Because all of them were on freakin' call or were already ferrying customers. I bet you some of these uncles can now send their kids to uni already. In the UK even, maybe.

We assessed the traffic situation, decided the case for the cabs was hopeless anyway, and skipped to Marina Square where thankfully, Changing Appetites was still open, and we had our first meal [supper?] of 2006.



As I jokingly told Necroz in haltingly bad Chinese, cheesecake for a sweet mouth when talking to people [like when asking your boss for a raise], and for a rich life. [because of the richness of the cake]

Iced tea for a 'liang shuang' life. [i think literally translated, means something like 'light and carefree'?]

"And water?" she asked, one eyebrow raised.

That's easy. "So that we may always be humble, and yin shui si yuan."

See, my china buay pai eh.

And thus, we started the New Year full of wishes for a sweet [and glib] mouth, a rich and carefree life, and a humble disposition. Not a bad start, I would say.

So, on one last note, from the boredslacker to all the friends and blog readers:

the day after.....

One hell of a xmas it was with you guys in my house. Many thanks to all those who came, ate, and got highly sloshed. :p

I always believed that a good party should be like that. Good food, friends, and plenty of good drink. And god knows I've held enough of those kind of parties in my house, especially with the uni batch of friends. :) My mother now likes you all because you loved her turkey so much, and my dad likes you all because you love, er, my alcohol so much. -_-!!!

But maybe next time I should ask someone to bring good DVDs. Otherwise I'd spend another afternoon watching the Spongebob Squarepants Movie. -_-!!!!!!! Many thanks to the Slayer, and Jubilee14 for that. If only Yenn and her DVDs had arrived earlier......

Anyway, after all the events I've held in my house, I've come up with 2 Laws of Partying, which all party hosts and goers should observe. This I've done after much observation of the many events and parties I've hosted in my house over the years, and which I generally have found to be *more or less* true. What, you thought it was all fun and games? No, observe the following:

The First Law:



Forget the diets, forget the calories, and chuck away the nutritional labels already. A party is about fun, and excess, and letting your hair down for one night. And as I've told a certain friend before, what kind of damage can one night of good food do to you anyway? If you've been faithfully following a healthy diet all the while, and you can stick to that diet after the party, then that night of good food can't do much to tip the scales out of your favour. And if it does, there's something seriously wrong with the diet you've been following all along anyway.

*The only exception I'd make is for people who are vegetarian for health or religious reasons, or who have health problems. Otherwise, chuck the Atkins book already

The Second Law:



In case you're wondering, the cyan arrows indicate the level that the previously-full bottles fell to after the party. -_-!!! Thank you Johnny, Gordon, and Comrade Absolut. Thou hath served me well.

But yes, for a good party, [attended mainly by people of legal age. better insert the disclaimer before police come after me] let the drinks flow. And flow. And flow. This has several advantages to it:

1. People like free drinks. Especially when the ones in the club are so overpriced.


2. People are happy when they are sloshed. So keep them sloshed.


3. Even if your party sucks, they're too sloshed to notice.

So don't be stingy with those bottles. These were made to be shared. But always keep around the following:

1. Plenty of water and ice. For those who get too sloshed.


2. Clothes. For those who vomit when sloshed.


3. Numbers of cab companies. For those who are... well, too sloshed.

Remember the rules wisely, young padawans, and they will serve you well.

Above all, though, remember to have a good time, with good friends, and all will take care of itself. :)

So thank ye all who came. This was not the first, and will not be the last of parties to come. :) :) :)

Back

Oh yea, I'm back from Ho Chi Minh, as you can see from the oh-so-predictable title......

Mainly the trip was alright. HCM has few attractions, but is very rich in history, during the Vietnam War period. It also helped that we had a very helpful friend bringing us around every night to eating spots around the city. ^_^ Many thanks to A.Low, his hospitality and his insatiable love for good food.

And yes, I kept a journal during the trip again, so look out for the Vietnam Instalments soon. I hope. As soon as I get my lazy bum around to doing it. ^_^!!!

Aside from that, I went for Lindy after a short nap, and ended up trashing the feet of every guy in class. And the few guest dancers who came in due to a lack of leads.

The big problem was re-learning a move that I had previously learned. [goldfish: The Charleston] While in Lindy 1 I learned it by starting off with my right foot, in this class, I had to start it off with my left instead, and basically do the exact opposite of what I had been conditioned to do in the basic class.

Which meant that my foot stepped backwards on the wrong foot [the right foot, instead of the left] and ended up crunching the toes of the poor sod who was my partner. Good god, what a nightmare.

And if you read my previous Death By Lindy entry, yes, this time I was the one who nearly caused serious injury to my innocent leads.

At least the instructor, Marcus, was more upbeat about the whole thing. "Don't worry about a thing, just remember that you're supposed to use your left foot.... And I have insurance."

Yea, yea...............

ANNOUNCEMENT

SLACKER'S CHRISTMAS

Yes, the Christmas Party at my house has officially been confirmed with the 'rents. Details:


Place: My house. If you don't know how to get there, or don't know someone who knows how to get there, you're not invited. [I'm kidding. SMS me if you donno]

Time: 25th December 2005. [don't come next year] Anytime around Lunch or after.

Requirements: FOOD!!!!! I need help with the food, so if you're coming, please bring some food for about 4-5 people. I'm not expecting that few people, but I don't want an excess of food either. To make it interesting, don't tell anyone what you're buying, and just surprise us. I don't think our fate is such that we'll be eating 10 packets of hor fun on that day.

And naturally, yes, drinks and alcohol will be on a free flow basis. You pigs you, this is why you like my house right?

As u guys know, I'll be in vietnam from the 19th to the 22nd, so only SMS me confirmations from the 23rd ya?

Ok, see u guys after I get back...... And now one last long blog post before I go.........

One more post for the road before I leave......

In case you didn't read previous entries, [shame on you my readers] I will be leaving for Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, from the 19th to the 22nd of Dec with Candle, so this blog will be conspicuously quiet, unless I can find cheap Internet over there.

Meanwhile, to entertain you, here's some highlights from my very busy week:

For some reason, the days just before I leave have been packed with appointments, to the extent that even when Slayer offered me free tix to watch Oi! Sleeping Beauty for FREE mind you, I couldn't even take it because I had no time to go watch at all. ^_^! Cheapskate me turning down freebies, and free tix to boot. Sigh.

But here's the reasons why:

Thurs: Candle generously came to my house to help me clear up my room, an outstanding feat for which she deserves to be nominated for sainthood. We cleared out about 3 garbage bags of rubbish, repacked some of my unread books into boxes, and cleared out bookshelves for upcoming manga and books. Already, I can feel the chi flowing through my room again.

The only problem is that, as usual, just after I cleared it, I found it impossible to find some stuff again, because it had all been rearranged from their previous positions. Bleah.

Went for dance class, nearly got killed, as you can see from the Death By Lindy entry.

Fri: Another busy day. I met the Slayer in the afternoon to go shopping, and bought an electronic Sudoku toy. I'm getting so addicted to this I know. The only problem is that the toy makes a lot of little beeping sounds, which while I don't mind, could seriously irritate everyone else around me, so not much chance of playing in quiet public spaces, I think. Unless I feel particularly shameless addicted.

If you don't know what Sudoku is already, [how could you not???] check out this website which I am currently addicted to.

Later, went for Jap class, made fun of Yenn's cough as usual, and then it was to Zouk!

Candle's colleague MT managed to score free tix from her cousin and so we got in for free. *yeah* The place didn't seem to change much, after their renovations, except maybe the toilets look better. ... hahaha....

But Candle and MT are apparently very...... attracting of male company, let us say. We got approached twice during the night by *interested men, with *interested friends. Note that I never get approached by these men, only whichever friend I happen to be with.

Of course, since neither Candle nor MT were interested in making the acquaintance of any of these men, our strategy would be to make a hasty feminine exit to the toilet, stay there a while, and then re-enter the dance floor from the opposite direction of the men. I have to say, it worked for us anyway.

BTW, Phuture apparently has better music than Zouk itself on Fridays, if you like being literally packed like sardines on the dance floor.

Sat: I watch Pride and Prejudice with DF. He thought it was gonna be a soppy chick flick, but it turned out to be pleasantly amusing. Am now contemplating getting and reading the book. >D To all who told me it was good, you were right. To all those who haven't caught it, WTH??? But really, it's a good flick, with great witty dialogue. [i never knew one could argue with such aristocratic English] We also went to a texan grill place outside Far East. Good food, but a bit more on the pricey side.

And that was it for Saturday. What, you thought I was gonna give u kinky details? >D

Sun: Lunch with Jules and Greg, and then this with Daph and Merlin:



Budak Pantai! Greatest and Funniest Acapella band in SIngapore, in my opinion! The songs were great, sticking very loosely to the xmas theme. For example:

"Our next song is Qing Ren De Yan Lei, or Lover's Tears. What does this have to do with Christmas? Well, if you were 9 months pregnant and had to ride a donkey, you'd be crying too."

Pause for groans.

But really, they're a great band, and the way they ham up their songs is amazing. They sang a range of songs, from Maroon 5 to Teresa Teng, from English to Mandarin to Malay. I love this band for their quirkiness and their versatility, and of course, their irrepressible sense of humour.

And finally, I topped the day off with Xmas shopping with Daph, and that was it.

I came home with my purchases, packed the clothing, charged the batteries, and I'm almost ready to head for Vietnam.

Kinda thrilling, and a little scary, to be heading for another foreign country again, but slightly nostalgic also. I took out the bag I brought to Europe, the passport, the tickets, and especially the journal, and yeah. I remembered.

*sigh*

I'll see u guys [with loads of photos probably] when I come back.

Death by Lindy

This night, Aki Tan aka Boredslacker, was nearly killed by her dance partner [guess who] while both were trying to master a new dance move.

The move in question was known as the flip flop. This move required the follow to kick out her foot on the first beat, and then pivoting 180 degrees with the foot on the ground, while hand in hand with her lead. Then, they would kick out their feet again, and pivot 180 degrees with the other foot. [er, maybe you guys have to see it to know what I'm talking about]

Basically, the hard part here is that part of the move requires you to make a 180 turn on one foot. Which both of us had big trouble with.

Thus, our attempt went as follows:

1st attempt: Both of us lose our balance while trying to pivot with our feet. We nearly fall on each other. We also get the move utterly wrong, pivoting and kicking on the wrong feet.

2nd attempt: We start to get the hang of it, and our footwork is *somewhat* correct. However, we still lose our balance while trying to pivot.

3rd attempt: Our footwork is correct, but we're still having problems with balance. Our instructors say that's because we're relying too much on each other for balance, rather than on ourselves.

4th attempt: I'm somewhat ok with the balance, but either he is off-balance, or I'm pulling too much on him. Whatever the cause, he ends up toppling onto ME and I get shoved by his sheer weight, and nearly end up falling onto my bag and crushing BOTH our handphones to death, and then HE almost loses his balance and nearly falls on ME on top of it all. Our instructor makes a valiant attempt to save me before I end up crushed beneath Jules in a potentially deadly way.

OBF. [You guys can go guess what that means] We've had trouble with dance class before, but not to the extent that we get a move sooooo wrong that one of us nearly ends up with serious potential injury and death by crushing weight.............

The Pet Professional is one of my favourite online comics, about a hitman who only takes out animals. [granted, not a PETA favourite, but still one of the slickest online comics I've seen] And it's only too funny to see the comic in the form of a silent animated movie, proving indeed that a picture [or several moving ones] do speak more than a thousand words.

Check it out guys!

Strange Rumblings...

There's some painting and stuff going on in the blocks around my estate, which makes for some pretty surreal happenings. Living at the height that I do, you're not used to the sight of people walking around and talking while right outside your living room window. I keep fantasizing that one of them is gonna jump right into my house, and rob/rape/murder me. So sue me, i was reading a couple of murder mysteries at the time they were painting. ^_^!

But definitely, there were some interesting/nervecrawling things that have been happening with the painting.

Take for example, the strange sounds I've been hearing on top of my flat this afternoon, which sound eerily as if someone was trying to break into the flat from above. ^_^! Sounds of ropes hitting my window, almost as if they were leading into the house. Strange banging from my ceiling, and definitely not upstairs neighbours.

Not a pleasant thought, though not exactly possible either, if you guys know my flat. Add to that the ropes hanging outside my flat, in front and behind, and it's almost a setting for the next Mission Impossible. Or Scream. ^_^!

I'm hoping for Mission Impossible. It's easier for me to deal with armed terrorists grappelling into my house trying to kill me, than a masked murderer with a large axe coming after me. Don't ask me why.

Then there was the singing painter. I was seated in the sofa in my living room quietly reading, when the paint cart slowly trundled up past my balcony. I think the guy didn't think I was there, because I was out of sight of the cart [though maybe he saw me through the reflection on my kitchen window] so I just sat there quietly reading my comic.

And then the guy started to sing. In I don't know what language. And very loudly at that.

Since I don't know the song at all, I assume he was singing in tune. [er...] But again, in my house, you don't always see a guy, standing right outside my kitchen window, doing his work and singing as if it were the most natural thing in the world. Ack! It's not!!!

I think he didn't know I was there though, and that's why he was singing, because the moment my dad came back and saw him, he stopped. Funny thing he didn't know he already had an audience all along.

I just wish the painting to be over soon. It's weird the way I keep hearing sounds from my bedroom and panickedly thinking that someone is gonna abseil into my house and break in any minute. if that happens, god save the man, because I will throw every piece of heavy electronic equipment at him till his bloody corpse lays at my feet. [except for my laptop of course. Are you freakin' crazy??]

The Selfish Phone

Oops, din' post the last one properly... Here it is again...

Telemarketers definitely use this phone model.........

The Selfish Phone

Telemarketers definitely use this model of phone......

Ok, this is interesting... a kid called Delwin Olivan got caught sharing some music with his friends and got slammed with a lawsuit from the RIAA [Recording Industry Association of America and bigtime corporate enemies of file2file sharing] to the tune of $5000. [payable within 60 days]

This would be a typical lawsuit, if not that his fellow students have apparently rallied to him and are now raising funds for his lawsuit by asking for funds online and selling T-shirts with his face on them... Have to admit, one of the most interesting online student rallies I've seen in a while......

The phrasing on the website is rather..... er......... , though [You have to read the phrases in italics to know what I'm talking about]:

" Music makes Delwin smile. Well, it made him smile, until he learned that a few downloads would cost him over FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS. --- But what exactly was his crime? Philanthropy. The key to avoiding a subpoena like the one Del is facing is to refrain from sharing, and he knew this. ----- only when you give music away for free are you illegally distributing copyrighted material.

This truth tormented Delwin deep within his conscience, for he had gained so much musical wealth from the i2hub community and given none back. He felt it only right to return the favor, to open his own gates and let others enjoy his happiness. Del's flaw was nothing more than a magnanimous display of philanthropy."

~Manifesto of Freedelwin.org

Like, I do feel the RIAA is being a corporate bully, but raising the guy to the heights of philantrophy seems a bit too much even for me.

The Week in Review

Quite a number of eventful things this last week.... Phew!

First up was the 2day camp I had to do with my group as part of our community service project for Nie. [bleah] For which, we worked with a family service center to organize a camp with the theme "School Can Be Fun!" The camp went pretty ok and the kids were not as bad as we thought. The way the center described them, some of us made them out to be juvenile deliquent hooligans, but actually, they were all not too bad. Quite, well, like normal kids.

But there were subtle things which showed that all was not well in their family background. I saw a few clues in the artwork that we had them do for us, that some of these kids did not exactly come from even what we deem a 'normal' middle class family. [sorry, can't say too much due to privacy issues with the center]

One girl caught my eye though. She was dressed rather to the nines for the 2 days she came for the camp, [spaghetti and halter] and as a collage, she designed what could've been a fashion runway page from Cleo, by cutting out runway models from various magazines. ^_^! I say, she either has a keen future in fashion, or she's growing up to be a total vainpot. Let's hope for the former.

And some of the things they said were darn cute, in a rather naive childish kinda way. Like when we showed them a rather modernist/surrealist collage and we told them it was done by a professional artist, one of the kids bluntly asked, "Then why is it so ugly?"

Yea, the things kids say. ^_^!

We even had a Chicken Little lookalike! This little 6 year old boy came who was the dead ringer for Chicken Little, with his roundish head, big round spectacles and small pursey red mouth. A lot of us were oohing and gaahing behind his back, and we all just couldn't help looking at him throughout the camp because of his uncanny similiarity to Chicken Little. The best part, for me, was that he came for the camp carrying a backpack with the KFC chicken on it. Argh!!!

Then there was Slayer's bday, one of the last amongst our group to finally hit 24, and the drinking session at Paulaner's for Krynn's Bday, with special mention to Ros. Yea, so HAPPY BDAY to all the December babies. ^_^ And thanks for reminding the rest of us how old we're getting. ^_^!!!!!

News for the FWFC crew though: The Xmas thing at my house is BYOF, namely, Bring Your Own Food if you're coming, unless you don't mind me calling KFC/Pizza/Mac's or something. ^_^! But of course, if you come, there will be free flow of alcohol and drinks the entire time. I wonder if that's why you guys like coming to my house so much......... I'll confirm the date and time again, and make sure my mom isn't bringing the entire family tree down on that day, but it shld be fine for now. :) Other friends interested in coming are also more than welcome! [close friends being defined as those who know where my house is in the first place]

Another news: I'll be flying off to Ho Chi Minh City next week, from the 19-22, so don't expect updates from the blog during that period. Hopefully, if I can buy myself a gigantic memory card, i'll take loads of pix and upload them sometime.

Meanwhile, the holidays are almost coming to a close...... *haiz*

The Pseudo Purity Test

Saw this off Popagandhi and Tym and proceeded to copy it here:

Start off with 100% and minus off 1% for each thing that has happened to you.

Smoked.
Drank alcohol.
Cried when someone died.
Been drunk.
Had sex.
Been to a concert.
Given a handjob/gotten a handjob.
Given a blowjob/gotten a blowjob.
Been verbally sexually harassed.
Verbally sexually harassed somebody.
Felt someone up and/or been felt up.
Laughed so hard something came out of your nose.
Cheated on a boyfriend/girlfriend before.
Been cheated on by a boyfriend/girlfriend.
Been to prom.
Cried at school.
Gotten lost in a WalMart or a department store.
Went streaking.
Given a lap dance.
Had someone of the opposite sex in your room.
Had someone of the opposite sex sleep over.
Slept over at someone of the opposite sex’s house.
Kissed a stranger.
Hugged a stranger.
Went scuba diving.
Driven a car.
Gotten an xray.
Hit by a car.
Had a party.
Done drugs.
Played strip poker.
Got paid to strip for someone.
Ran away from home.
Broken a bone.
Eaten sushi.
Bought porn.
Watched porn.
Made porn.
Had a crush on someone of the same sex.
Been in love.
Frenched kissed.
Laughed so hard you cried.
Cried yourself to sleep.
Laughed yourself to sleep.
Stabbed yourself.
Shot a gun.
Trash talked someone and then acted like their best friend the next day.
Watched TV for 9 consecutive hours.
Been online for 9 consecutive hours.
Watched an animal die.
Watched a person die.
Had sex and/or messed around somewhere with at least 1 person present.
Pranked somebody.
Put somebody in the hospital.
Snuck into someone’s room and/or your own room after being out.
Kissed somebody of the same sex.
Dressed punk.
Dressed goth.
Dressed preppy.
Been to a motocross race.
Avoided somebody.
Been stalked.
Stalked someone.
Met a celebrity.
Played an instrument.
Ridden a horse.
Cut yourself.
Bungee jumped.
Ding dong ditched somebody.
Been to a wild party.
Got caught stealing something.
Kicked a guy in the balls.
Stolen a boyfriend/girlfriend from a friend.
Went out with your friend’s crush.
Got arrested.
Been pregnant.
Babysat.
Been to another country.
Started your house on fire.
Had an encounter with a ghost.
Donated your hair to cancer patients.
Been asked out by someone that you never though you’d to be asked out by.
Cried over a member of the opposite sex.
Had a boyfriend/girlfriend for over 3 months.
Sat on your ass all day.
Ate a whole carton of ice cream all by yourself.
Had a job.
Gotten cut from a sports team.
Been called a whore.
Danced like a whore.
Been mistaken for a celebrity.
Been in a car accident.
Been told you have beautiful eyes.
Been told you have beautiful hair.
Raped somebody.
Danced in the rain.
Been rejected.
Walked out of a restaurant without paying.
Punched someone/slapped someone in the face

I scored a very high 78. See, I'm not as corrupt as you guys think... Bleah... :p

La Vie Boheme!

Only thing to do is jump over the moon

the Slayer's favourite part of the entire musical when I watched it with her 5 years ago, and consequently, the only line that stuck firmly in my head after the show was over.... haiz....

What can I say? 2 Thumbs Up solid to last minute tix... the moment I read in the Sat papers that the last 4 shows were selling for $50, I rushed to Sistic and bought up the tix for the last show on Sunday night.

And $50 for what used to be a $100odd seat..... is more than worth it, especially for a show with a stellar cast like Rent. :)

All the vocals were power to the core, and the acting was fabulous. Most noticeable being the drag queen character, Angel, who tragically sucuumbed to AIDS in the 2nd act of the show. Some of the other characters too didn't seem that outstanding at first, but when it came to solos, *phew* their voices could blow you away to kingdom come.

There is no solid plot to Rent. It's not the kind of show where you can describe it as "This guy went to that place and did those things and fell in love with a girl and eventually...". Rent is more like a snapshot of a year [one xmas to another] in the lives of a bohemian community living in a fictional part of NY, and the drama surrounding the various characters, as they struggle with crime, homelessness, drug use, AIDS and the risk of selling your artistic soul to the mega corporations.

Homeless folk:
"Christmas bells are ringing...
Christmas bells are ringing...
Christmas bells are ringing...
SOMEWHERE ELSE"

But the music is fantabulous all around. Not the usual almost-operatic types [think Phantom] but lively, passionate rock, accompanied by a live band on stage, which makes ALL the difference from the usual orchestra. :)

As for the themes of the play... the Bohemian values in it may seem estranged from our Singaporean audience quite a bit, considering that, well, this is Singapore and not many people are living in almost-poverty to pursue their art. ^_^! But I think it will strike a chord with the growing numbers who are getting increasingly fed up with our paced lifestyles and long for something more. [yea, like me] Maybe secretly, we DO wish to be bohemians. ;)

Ditto with the theme of AIDS, which involved a number of characters. But I feel in this aspect, it is good for us to watch, simply because we are so far removed from the emotional aspects of AIDS, and its effects on the sufferers as well as those around them. Watching the character of Angel especially might enlighten us just a little bit more on this.

Overall, a GREAT musical. The movie is expected to come out next year, but like Chicago, I expect it to be a poor substitute. [but hey, you are paying only about $7-8 for it] If I've piqued your interest in the musical, you can check out the link to the official website:

Rent - Broadway Musical: Has song samples you can listen to, and info about story and cast. The whole story has also been put up, sans lyrics

and for those who can't catch the lyrics:

Rent Lyrics: Seeing that the entire musical is in song, you could probably read the whole thing from all the lyrics, but no kick lah.

If you want more concise info:


Wikipedia on Rent: Concise info all on one page

La Vie Boheme!

I'll leave you now with my favourite song from the musical:

525,600 minutes
525,000 moments so dear.
525,600 minutes
how do you measure,
measure a year?
In daylights,
In sunsets,
In midnights,
In cups of coffee.
In inches,
In miles,
In laughter, in strife.
In 525,600 minutes
How do you measure
A year in the life?
How about love?
How about love?
How about love?
Measure in love.
Seasons of
Love.

525,600 minutes!
525,000 journeys to plan.
525,600 minutes
How can you measure the life
Of a woman or man?

In truths that she learned,
Or in times that he cried.
In bridges he burned, or
the way that she died.

It’s time now to sing out,
Though the story never ends
Let's celebrate, remember a year
In the life of friends.
Remember the love!
Remember the love!
Remember the love!
Measure in love.

Seasons of love!

Seasons of love.

Funny Pic

Found this off Tomorrow, a pic of the display. Someone at Changi airport has a strange sense of humour:



e_rambler:

Looks like someone in Changi Airport has a sense of humour... Or is CAAS intentionally pursuing the pink dollar? LOL...

Wonder whether they will realise it and whether they will change it... :p

PS: For the full effect, read from the words "Changi". :)

All I want for Xmas...

after I get my palm/graphicstablet/comics/artmaterials/photoshopsoftware/books....

would be this little toy:



Go to bloglines blog to find out more..... but suffice to say i'm not about to invade any countries with it.... but it looks like a darn cute toy... :D

---

One late night at a 24 hour's Mac's with the guys, and one packet of seaweed shaker powder.

Jul: "Eh, donno whether nice or not, should we still pour it into the fries and shake? It's pure MSG leh!"
Turt: "Pour it on the tray then we all dip lor"

Warnings of MSG and transfat pouring through my mind, I regretfully take a few fries [sans seaweed powder] while the guys gobble the lot, realising that they very much liked the seaweed powder after all.

I didn't realise how much they liked it though, till much later after the fries were finished, and I caught the two of them dipping their fingers into the powder and sucking it.

Me: "What the hell d'you think you're doing??!! That's pure MSG!!!"
Jul+Turt: "Er, nice mah... ok I stop...."

So they stopped a while, and we talk some more. After a while, Turt takes a straw and starts to play with it.

Then he takes the straw, presses one end into the powder, and puts it to his mouth and licks it, almost looking like a coke addict snorting up his coke.

I shriek again, and he hurriedly retreats, chucking the straw to one side.

Then the ultimate conclusion. Jul gets bored, and pours out an unused packet of chilli onto the powder. [??] Then he starts mixing the two together to form a vile-looking and equally vile-smelling mush that looked as if it crawled out of a Potions class.

Snorting the powder was bad enough, but now he was almost on the verge of creating a new lifeform with that smelly thing. Finally the stuff gets thrown into the bin at my command.

I swear. Boys.

Cookies on the Bloglines blog: Links to the Deadly Squirrels and the Guy Who Bought a Car By Blogging. This is to free up space on this blog to talk about

Lindy Graduation

Note: The following key may help those uninitiated with Lindy Hop. Readers like goldfish can just skip the whole damn lot. Or read through and see whether I made any mistakes. ^_^!

Lindy 1, 2, 3 = classes of varying levels in the school, with Lindy 1 as the basic class and 3 the highest
triple step = one of the basic steps in Lindy. In music, it's like a ta--- ti- ta---
8 step = a series of steps based on 8 beats in the music
6 step = a series of steps based on 6 beats instead
Leads and Follows = men are the ones generally leading the dance, giving direction to the follow [the lady] by way of various hand and body gestures to indicate which moves or routines he would want to go into.

And for those interested, read more at the Jitterbugs Website.

One last turn, one last spin, with an extra flourish added at the end, and with that, Jules and I 'graduated' from Lindy 1. ^_^ It's been a great 8 weeks of lessons, ploughing through the basics, triple-stepping, and trying not to injure yourself and your classmates in the process. [as Jules did with his elbow to my ear once]

And after our teachers declared ourselves 'graduated', they opened the door to another crowd of much-experienced-looking dancers, and gleefully told us that this would be our dancing partners for our last dance in Lindy 1. Much to much aghast on the face of the male leads in our class, since they were now expected to lead dances for dancers much more experienced than they were.

I wonder whether that was responsible for the low transfer rate to Lindy 2. It seems that most of the dances with the Lindy 3 people were, well, not exactly smooth trippin'. The guy who danced with me led me into strange routines and counts that I had not done before [wait, what're you tryin' to do? Is this the 6 step? Spin? You mean now? Whoa!] and the Lindy 1 guys confessed that during the dance, their follows did mostly the opposite of what they wanted them to do. ^_^! "I wanted to lead her into a 6 step, and she went and did an 8 instead!"

So maybe after that harrowing [and very humbling] experience, I think most of them decided they needed more practice before attempting the faster music in Lindy 2...... ^_^! what a waste...

And thus, after that dance, only Jules and I and another lady were daring enough to try our hand at Lindy 2 next week. ^_^! Here's to next week, and hoping that I don't triplestep into anyone's feet.

I tell you, what's the point of going wireless when your family just insists on switching off the blardy router whenever they stop using the PC, thereby shutting down the entire network and making you have to go into the room anyway to switch it on? Why don't I just use the damn PC then anyway???

Days of Yesterday

I've just started reading Good Morning Yesterday, a blog started by Mr Lam Chun See, who writes about his memories of Singapore Past. One interesting thing about this blog, firstly, is the age of the writer. Mr Lam is about 55 and writes this blog because "it's good for our aging brains". Besides that, he has tons of memories about Singapore in the 60s and reading this from a first person perspective is probably more interesting than watching all those period dramas on national television. Like one of his observations on Bishan:

"I remember him telling me that the Pik San Teng [ ?????] cemetery ( located off Thomson Road and Braddell Road) was generally scarce and scanty with graves but beginning from the early 50s it began to get crowded. That Pik San Teng had now become the land for the living…the Bishan housing estate, and the mass rapid transit (underground subway) runs through it, geographically dissecting through the whole area.

Ironically enough, the ex-occupants of this area were underground. Now the MRT runs through it above ground, in fact, this is the first train station where it begins to surface above ground after all the city stations that are underground. This route winds its way round the north and western part of the island of Singapore (all above ground) till it returns to the city area in an almost anti-clockwise format. Again this is just an observation."

yea, an interesting observation nonetheless. :p

Been feeling gross these few days... I suspect I had a case of gastric flu or something, having hurriedly chomped down my food 2 nites ago while mildly gastricky. [I only suspect gastric because I haven't barfed anything, hence, not diarrhea or food poisoning]

After that, I was attacked by stomach gas half the night, and woke up the next morn still experiencing mild stomach cramps and a mild fever @_@ Lesson: Never chomp down your food, and never delay mealtimes in order to finish Spider Solitaire games.

The fever receded last night, though I'm still feeling slight cramps in my stomach here and there. *ugh* The only good thing that could come out of this is that I might lose some weight, seeing as I have no appetite to eat anything except porridge and soft foods. Yes, I have gone vegetarian, but only for this short while, because I have no appetite to eat anything resembling solid foods.

Not to mention the pounding headaches that came along with it.

This highly sucks.

On the bright side, I am feeling mildly better today so I'm hoping this thing is leaving my body for good anytime now. *fingers crossed* Now lemme fall back onto me bed......

I've 2 pretty lengthy posts up for today, being in a most writeworthy mood, so the following links may help you:

Movie Review: HP4 sucks
Pretty much sums up my whole opinion about the movie

Use Your Brain, Please!
A reflective piece on the dangers of blind obedience, and how we come so naturally towards it. Based on an incident in the States

Note: The 2 links would probably open up separate windows with only the blog posts in them, and not the entire blog. If you don't want this, you can always scroll down as usual.

THE MOVIE SUCKS!!!

note: Yenn n I never had that particular conversation, but the 'barbarian' part is one of my favourite comments to her... hahaha... Not the 'elitist' one though...

I may be a literary purist at heart, but I think HP4 really bombed on this one.

Ok, imagine you take a HP4 book.

Now open the pages at random, and cut out chunks of text. If you don't have a pair of scissors, just tear them out. [but NO F**KING WAY you do this to MY COPY!!!!!]

Once you're done, read through what you have left, and write a new HP story based on the remnants of the book.

And THAT in my opinion is what the HP4 movie turned out like. ^_^!

Whole portions in the start of the film, which were intended to place setting and orientation, ALL GONE.

Other areas, integral to character development and depth, CHUCKED OUT.

I know that this is a common thing to happen to book-movie adaptations, and yes, it happened to HP1, 2 and 3 and LOTR and a whole lot of other books as well, but the difference is that those turned out good. While I did not particularly like the first 3 movies, I did feel that they remained more or less true to the spirit of the book, and the directors did a rather good adaptation.

THIS WAS UTTER RUBBISH. AND IT'S ABT AN HOUR LONGER SOMEMORE. Whole blardy thing should've just gotten expelliarmus-ed into the nearest dustbin.

*spoiler ahead*

Like for example, in the opening scene after the dream with Voldemort in it, Harry is immediately waking up in Ron's room in the Burrow, while Hermione is nagging them to quickly get a move on.

A move on where? What's he doing there? Where are they going?

Then the next scene, the whole family is walking up a grassy hill.

Where are they going? Why are they there?

That's why I feel the opening scene is so cut-up. Because a lot of info that was supposed to establish orientation was simply NOT THERE. And if I had not read the book beforehand, I might've been left wondering what the hell was going on.

Also the ending: Why did Harry's wand have that effect when Voldemort cast the Avada curse on him? Why didn't Harry die [again]? Again, a lot of vital plot information, LOST.

*fuming in a fit of righteous indignation*

The part that the movie is strongest in is in its portrayal of the students as real students. Only when watching the movie and seeing the antics of Harry and the other Hogwarts students interacting on the school premises did the students become more real, more realistic. Because the book centers mainly around Harry and all the other life-threatening events that happen around him, you tend to forget that at heart, he is really a student. And there are other students around him. The movie serves to flesh out this part, and complements it very nicely, especially in the scene where they are studying in the Great Hall and whispering under their breath to one another, only to get whacked on the head by Snape. ^_^!

So this would have to be the best part of it. To be able to see the students being portrayed as students, who are there to study, make friends, and cheer their houses on.

Other than that, I seriously implore to all of you: READ THE BOOK. It's thick but it's a much more satisfying experience than the !@#$%^& movie.

Note: The original source for the following post is my bloglines blog, but I think it's something that we should all be seriously concerned about, so you guys should see it as well.

Use Your Brain, PLEASE!

A common complain in Singapore is that people here tend to be followers, that they just blindly do whatever the gahmen tells them to do, and don't think enough for themselves.

Well, guess what? Apparently this is not a trait that is exclusive to Singaporeans alone. According to the research of Stanley Milgram, a controversial social psychologist, this innate need to obey authority is within all of us, and can make us do the most unethical of actions.

For example, in an experiment he found that two-thirds of people will generally give electric shocks to protesting victims under the command of an authority. And under pressure from this authority, people will generally buckle down and do whatever that authority tells them to do, no matter how heinous the act.

This may sound fantastic, but this could explain the hoax that affected a number of fast food restaurants in America last year. [Read a more detailed report of the case here]

What happened was that a mysterious caller called fast food restaurants, identifying himself as a police officer, and instructed the managers there to strip search and perform other perverse sexual acts on their employees. And the shocking thing is that many managers did exactly what the caller asked them to do, despite lack of identification whatsoever.

One of the most horrifying cases concerned 18-year old Louise Ogborn, who had been abused by the assistant manager and her fiancee over a shocking 4 hour period, because a voice on the phone told them that it had been cleared by 'corporate'.

Obviously, the girl is now pretty much traumatized for life, and there are lawsuits flying swiftly from each party to the other, but one of the most shocking aspects of the case is that never once did the asst manager or the fiancee ever think that this could be wrong, and refuse to follow instructions.

In fact, the only way the girl got saved, was through a 58-year old janitor, who refused to play along with the caller's game, and hung up. And the moment he did, a spell seemed to break, and the asst manager finally realised the severity of her act.

What is utterly amazing to me is that the need to follow instructions from a higher authority is apparently so strong within us, that we are actually capable of following such orders. The asst manager must have had some high school education or another, and even she didn't even stop to think that this could be morally wrong. And it took a janitor to stop the act?

Just how unthinking, or unwilling to think are we as a human being?

And if one day, someone commanded you to do something that was wrong, would you have the courage to say, "No"?

Most people apparently would not. In the electric shock experiment mentioned above, only about one third of the experiment participants refused to do it. So most of us would pretty much do whatever a higher authority tells us to do.

I wonder whether this tendency could be stronger in Singapore. Because here, we are raised with the Confucian ethic to respect and obey thy parents, and this moral of filial piety is pretty much repeated in most religions here. And because we are raised to obey parents when we are children, we are also conditioned to obey our leaders when we are adults ourselves.

But most people forget another aspect of this philosophy as well. Which is that although you have the right to command obedience from your children/followers, Confucianism also demands that you MUST be a wise leader as well. In other words, you have to be deserving of the obedience that you demand. It doesn't advocate blind obedience.

I suppose, though, that it's convenient to forget this part when you want someone to do something for you.

So the next time you are commanded to do something you don't agree with, I hope you remember this case, and the case of Louise Ogborn.

Just because someone asks you to do something, doesn't mean it's right. Before you blindly go along and do it, ask yourself whether you'll be able to live with it.

ph43r 3 h4xx0r5

f1201V1 3 13L0gL11V35 13L0g:

1-14v3 j00 3v3r 1-134r1) 0f H4xx0r!???!?!?!?!?!?!? I+"S 4 f0rIVI 0f 0NL1n3 kl1ng0N 1V1aY13e 1)eVel0pe1) bY H4xx0r5 VV1-10 VV4n7e1) 4n071-1eR VV4Y 0f 74Lk11Vg 01VLi1V3.

fr01V1 13011Vg2 1-13r3"5 4 PSD C01V1p3717101V 71-147 15 l337!!!!!! 31Vj0Y!

2 m4k3 yr 0VV1V h4xx0r, u c41V 7rY 71-115 l11Vk.

[back to normal programming in a while......]

This probably just shows I spend too much time online, but well... it's a fun thing to learn. Be warned though, the dialectizer link may not necessarily translate everything you see on this page, cos some of the words I came up myself. You could call it a variation [or distortion] of l337. ^_^ Translate it for you? No way! That won't be fun anymore... XD

Kinda shows you how much variation there is within the English language nowadays, all entirely thanks to the advent of modern technology that has made it possible. Think about it, if we didn't have hackers trying to look cool, would we have h4xx0r? 1 71-111Vk 1V07. Most of the typed lingos all evolved through the use of modern keyboards.

And then with handphones becoming the next lifestyle staple of Singaporeans, you get another dialect coming up which is SMS lingo, and which is totally indecipherable to people who believe that phones are only for making phone calls.

Whch means dat if i typ in SMS den evrytin on dis pg wll look lke dis instd. e ideas 2 del vwels u don need n udder xtra stuff. n lke h4xx0r SMS's only a wrtten lingo.

So if you were read out everything I wrote in h4xx0r and SMS, it would seem like perfectly normal English. That's the beauty of the typed lingos. ^_^

Then you get the smileys, which evolved from the basic :) [i suppose you could call this the root smiley?] to about a thousand variations, like ;) :D >) >D XP and countless others. Smileys spice up any online conversation, and unlike the two, would be completely incomprehensible if you were to try to use it in spoken language. "Hi there, colon closing bracket!" ?????

I kinda like h4xx0r though, because of the way the meaning of the way the words are written out so plainly, and yet totally indecipherable at first glance. The only trouble is that if you're not used to it, like I am, you'll find one hell of a time trying to type in the whole thing. ^_^!

Oh and btw, the key to deciphering h4xx0r is simply that: Look for the words. They're written clear as day. >D

In other news...

For those who just luv to read about dirt on SG bloggers [or those who just luv drama] , here's 2 links you can read about SG's more notorious bloggers.

Top 5 SG Bloggers We All Hate by TuaPehKong.com
Survival of the Blog Goddesses by bryyin

Testing... Testing...

Currently testing a new blogging tool, so you might see some strange stuff here...

Like the font may suddenly change in type, and become totally different from the one I was using.

It may change in size,

or suddenly become bold, italic, underlined, or striked.

I may even decide to experiment with different colours.


My words may even do the hokey pokey

They'll go to the left

And they'll go to the right

And then to the left

And then to the right

But at least you know

I will always maintain my center of balance ^_^

So we'll see how this goes.

And if this tool works,

You bet I'll blog about it.

While I was blogging/surfing/reading sites, I realised that my emptied cup of Milo had attracted a small family tree of ants.... ewwww.... Note to self: Put cup in sink before blogging next time...

Anyway, I know I just blogged earlier this morning with the news, but I saw this paragraph on Krystal's blog which looked interesting, and here it is:

If you read this, if your eyes are passing over this right now, even if we don't speak often, please post a comment with a memory of you and me. It can be anything you want, either good or bad. I promise not to come after you with a sharpened pencil either way. N pls leave ur name or initials at least so I know who =P

When you're finished, post this little paragraph on your own blog and be surprised (or mortified) about what people remember about you.


Hm. I'm curious as to what you people could possibly say, since I have no memories of either getting so drunk I puke on some guy's pants, or dancing on bartops or stripping for strange men...... But follow the instructions anyway and let's see what rose-tinted [or blackened] memories you people have of me... :)

The News as read by Aki

At this moment in time, I am pleased to inform you that this blog post is coming from the comfort of my living room. Hence, you may all deduce, correctly, that my father has finally managed to configure the wireless network in the house. Doomo Arigatou Gozaimashita again to my long-suffering dad, and may the megabytes never fail. *bows deeply*

In other news, my second reading of Harry Potter: The Goblet of Fire has finally ended. Hence, I consider myself all ready for the movie on Sunday, and ready to blast down claims of "I think the movie is better because..."

I'm a literary purist at heart. NOTHING BEATS THE BOOK, YOU HEAR ME???

However, *hrmph*, I shall nonetheless watch the movie and offer my unsolicited opinion on this blog once I've done so.

Also, a serious accident almost happened last night during Swing Fling, though thankfully no one was seriously injured. The accident occurred while said assailant, Jules, was attempting to perform an inside turn with his partner, namely moi, and raised his elbow at the wrong spot, thereby causing it to collide most painfully with my right ear. ^_^!

As I said, no one was injured. Well, the blows I gave him in revenge certainly weren't enough to injure him seriously anyway.

In the blogosphere, as if I hadn't enough of blogging, I've started a new one to comment on the stuff I see online. Bleah. This one is really more of a trial thing, but check it out if you will.

In announcements, The Slayer returns to our shores for the summer. [the Aussie summer, anyway] boredslacker would like to be the first to bid you welcome back, and hope that the people and the heat doesn't kill you this time round.

That's all for the news this morning. Please stay tuned for more broadcasts. Arigatou for reading and Sayonara!

Postsecrets

A cookie: This is interesting. The premise of the blog is that you create a piece of artwork about your secrets, send it to them and they post it on their blog. The intention is apparently to collect enough pieces to create a book one day.

You might have to scroll down quite a bit to see all the artwork, but some of it is pretty interesting and thought provoking.

Some I liked:







Check it out, mate

Make Money Through Blogging

Blogging is getting more and more popular, so why not make money through your blog?

Ok, you can stop laughing now. Obviously I'm not getting anywhere like that with this blog. ^_^! But there are others out there who are trying out the same thing, with varying degrees of success.

One of the most recent examples I've heard of is Subnixus: From a 9-5 job to Blogging full time

I know this is what Xiaxue aspires to do, but is it entirely possible? These people would have you believe it is.

But their methods differ. While Xiaxue aims to earn revenue through advertising, Subnixus aims to earn revenue through adclicks and eyeballs.

Of the 2, I'd feel that Subnixus is the more successful. His website claims that he earns about $50 a day through adclicks on his site alone. [so tell me, why are we all still working?] if you browse on Xiaxue's site, you'd see that she has only one advertiser, namely Localbrand.

I guess part of the problem is her notoriety. Note the previous fracas when she wrote about using disabled toilets. The next thing you know, her 2 sponsors withdrew their sponsorship. Granted that they had only given her a 3 month contract, but would they have extended it if not for the hoo-ha over the disabled toilets? We would never know...

But a point can be made here about reputation and revenue. She should have known from the example of Kate Moss' snorting that notoriety is not always good for business in that way, and that some businesses can quickly pull away their custom if they think that your antics [or your words] can have negative effects on their reputation as well.

I suppose in that way, Subnixus' method seems more sound. He earns revenue through adclicks and offers good advice about blogging on his site. [check it out man] Hence, he is not overly dependent on a few sponsors for his revenue, and can easily make it up through other means.

Anyone tempted yet? I sure am... hahaha

Another group of people are the ones who sell things through their blogs. One example I am keeping an eye on is the Ampulets blog. This artistic duo maintains a blog, which they use to sell artwork and merchandise. The blogger software makes it easy for them to organize their website without having to resort to HTML, but their model is not that much different from the dozens of other websites out there which sell stuff. Another example is jun gifts, which was sent to me by Necroz, and which sells Japanese-themed gifts.

So is it possible? Could you? Hm, I should explore this option a little more... hehehhe....

Update: The previous rant is about how I couldn't get the wireless network to work for nuts. This update is to announce that after dinnertime, my dad had a second go at the thing, and now it works, and I'm now blogging this from Lappy. Doomo Arigatou Gozaimashita to my dad from the bottom of my bloggy little heart.

IBM Laptops are super antisocial

From the previous fracas of my old laptop comes another disaster with the new one. ^_^!

Because right now only one PC in the entire household can be connected to the Internet at any one time, my dad has been trying to set up a network so that all of us can be connected at once. This is particularly crucial for me and bro, cos we're the most frequent users of the Internet and also, the ones who fight most over the usage of the PC.

So I bought a wireless router and a couple of wireless network cards from the NTU co-op and thought that was all to go.

Me thought sooper wrong.

The router worked fine with the PC itself, but when it came to my laptop, it resolutely refused to communicate with it, no matter the amount of cajoling and threatening we did to them. [the router and the laptop] The worse part is that whenever I switched on Lapy, I could see that a wireless connection could be sensed, but when I tried to go into the Internet, nothing could be reached!!!

With a sinking feeling, I realised this was the exact situation I faced with the old one in my hall room.................

Then one day, I came home and dad told me that he had managed to get the thing working, but for it to work, I had to use a LAN cable to connect to the router. Nabeh, then I buy a wireless router for what somemore?

But one connection better than nothing. So we connected everything, switched on Lapy...

Only to find that the connection didn't work, now that I was in the room. Cue another hour or so of cursing and dad clicking intently away at the laptop.......

*string of bad expletives* Why the af does this always happen to me and IBM laptops??? Had I known this would've happened, I shld've just plopped my money on a sweet little Mac instead......

Then again, who's to say that the Mac wouldn't have given me the same problems? *Heavy sigh*

So we're back to sharing a PC for the Internet till my dad can figure out what the heck is wrong with this connection. Shinde......