dedicated to... The Room

This is the last few days that Yenn and I will be spending in our hostel room at NTU, since our days at NIE end this week. As hence, this blogpost is therefore dedicated to... our room.

Around last year in june, we moved in to our 6th storey little flat. For all its great advantages, we faced some pretty daunting setbacks too, including climbing 6 storeys of stairs, communal bathrooms with security codes, [this doesn't sound so bad, until you're hit with diarrhea and you're frantically trying to key the numbers in correctly] and for Yenn, crazy neighbours who liked to shift furniture at 3am in the morning.

Nonetheless, there were some great advantages to make up for this. The LAN connection was a BIG plus, and also the location, which was a 10min walk from our campus. This meant waking at 8 for a 830am class, and also coming back for afternoon naps during lunch breaks. ^_^ While others had to wait for 3 hours in the library/cafe/other nooks of NIE during their breaks, we would doze off in our rooms, or Maple or blog. [no guessing who did what]

Of course we faced problems when we started to live together. One big problem, that haunts us to this day, is that Yenn is a light sleeper. A very light sleeper. And I am a klutz who stomps her way out of bed, banging into chairs and tables, to get to the bathroom. Another problem arose when Yenn got sick, and the fan aggravated her coughing. The resultant heat and stuffiness in the room made ME feel like I was in the Gobi. After much tossing, sweating and grumbling on both sides, I finally bought a standing fan, which improved the situation much.

The funny thing is that after she recovered and the ceiling fan could be used, the fan started to blow exclusively at Yenn's laptop, which was switched on 24 hours a day so that she could constantly check on her Maple account. -_-!!!!!!!

Luckily for us, we got used to each other without murder, although we came close several times. I guess some factors helped, like us already knowing each other, and being able to generally get along with each other.

Anyway, now that we're moving out, here are some pics of our room as a flickr set. [i'm too lazy to upload everything on the blog. :p] Look at the pix, and then click on them for more descriptions.

X-Men 3... Hopefully the Last?

Aw let's just face it. In all probable fangirl indignation, I didn't think X3 was that good. In fact, I didn't think it was very good. As an X-MEN movie.

Hey, you're dealing with an established brand name with years of history and thousands of customers all around the world. Make some effort to pleasing them damn it!

Aside from the usual complaints of "They didn't do that in the comics!" I think the plot this time wore pretty thin at some edges. Not only that, but with the sheer number of mutants in the film, the existing characters didn't manage to get fleshed out enough. Heck, I didn't even notice some other mutants like Psylocke till the DF told me about it. -_-!!! Yes, someone else's eyes are that much sharper than mine.

Bryan Singer definitely a much better job, a fact driven in my face since the trailer for the first X-Men movie was playing on TV just now, bringing back memories of the movie. The characters were more focused, and the plot was that much stronger.

Plus what the heck was with Cyclops? Like Jubilee said, "Extra!" ***Spoiler alert*** He comes out for a while, depressed, moody, unshaven, [though I'm not complaining about the last, because he looked THAT much more hotter] kisses the Phoenix and BISH!!! Gone!!!

Aw well. *Sigh* Next time I should just continue reading the graphic novels like I always did.

Although I did catch the slide at the end of the show, and it does seem to be hinting at a 4th movie. I just hope that it's much better than this one.

Anyway for some extra entertainment, here's some other X-men entertainment

I'm apparently a more generous and giving person than I thought I was. After leaving the hall yesterday and arriving home, I received the following SMS from Yenn:

"You infectious piece of crap! I kena running nose and cough... cough until vomit out a 10cm diameter of phlegm..."

Er....... Here's the downside of living in close quarters with a walking germ carrier... you get to enjoy the full effects of her bounty.... yooku sumimasen to Yenn, and a warning to everyone else with lesser immune systems than mine....

Meanwhile, I'm waiting for the KOLling to begin once the servers finish their maintenance. There's no program in Nie for us, so I'm enjoying this free day back at home, dousing myself with hot tea and plenty of lozenges.

And of course, Yenn's Gundam Seed Destiny DVD set.... heheheh...

This is a pretty interesting article, considering that I just went to the country:

Why is everybody going to Cambodia?

I say, just go to see the ruins. It's worth it.

I'm sick. *Makes pathetic sniffing noises* And I donno how coincidental it is that I fell sick on the first day of returning to hall life on campus. Must be something about the campus environment [mine in particular] that's making me this way. *grumblegrumblegrumble*

Yea, so for the next 2 weeks or so, Yenn and I are back to being hallrats. The school has some enrichment programmes that we have to attend before being posted, so here we are, back again. Luckily, the programmes are not too time consuming, and most of them end at 12, so we have plenty of time to watch anime, read comics, and taking advantage of the LAN with lots of mapling and KOLling. :D

The only snag i've hit is that I actually fell sick when I moved in, and today it erupted into flu, meaning that my nose decided to do a marathon without my consent. [running nose, get it?] I've had waterfalls coming down my face the entire afternoon and it's only now that it's finally stabilized. I have no idea whether it's being I got slightly caught in the rain on the first day of menses, or because of the dust on my bed, desk or an unhealthy combination of both. Knowing my luck, probably both. -_-!!!!!

Another snag i've hit is that it's UTTERLY BORING here. Once I finish up my kolling, read my books, and surfed and read all the blogs there is, there's really nothing to do. Well, except sit beside Yenn while she maples and poke her to death. Thank goodness I bought the Last Exile anime set in Jurong Point, so that's gonna keep me occupied for awhile. Plus, Yenn brought Gundam Seed Destiny to the hall, so YAY!!!!! :D

And then there's you, of course, my faithful blog reader. If my flu actually heals itself to the extent that I can think properly without reaching for a tissue, I hope I can post more stuff on this blog other than "today was boring. Again." every time. Meanwhile,

*ACHOO!!!!!* >o~~~~~~

At first I thought I'd slack off blogging a while, and then I read something on the Net that made me think of blogging again. :p Inspiration strikes.

From Tomorrow.sg, I read a China forum post about the blog posts of a Singaporean exchange student studying archi there. Because of the parallels to Candle studying there, I got curious and started reading. [all those years of reading Chinese comics paid off finally]

It became... an interesting read on the Arrogance of 2 Nations?

Summary for the linguistically challenged: The girl is studying archi in Xian on exchange. And she posted a lot of potentially very insulting items on her blog about the air in Xian, the people, how arrogant they are, how bad they are, how poor they are, how she doesn't like the food, how behind the education system is, blah blah blah.

Funny thing. I thought pple generally went on exchange trips to learn and experience other cultures, not insult them and compare them to your home country. But hey, maybe that's just me.

I read through her blog and I realised why so many forum readers in Xian were getting so upset. I'd be pissed off too at some foreign upstart who came here seemingly to tell me constantly how bad my country was. Granted that no country is perfect. But after a while, I realised that the Xian posts were starting to take the same line as the girl.

No, I don't mean that they started insulting Xian as well. I meant that although some of the posts were written in righteous indignation, some other posts started insulting the girl as well, like how she was fat, ugly, should just go back to her own country, think your own country so great ah, actually ah... blah blah blah.

Alamak. What's with some people? they always believe in getting an Eye for an Eye, but they never wonder what they're gonna do with all them extra eyes. And all they achieve is a lot of bad blood on both sides.

The problem here, of course, is that the Internet allows anyone to post their honest person opinions on the Internet, even if some government officers think that these honest personal opinions should be moderated.

On one hand, the idea of controlling the flow of information on the Internet is ludicrous, and is reminiscient of the Great Firewall of China.

On the other, you get blogs and forums like the Xian archi student. -_-!!!!!!! Whose posts n forum opinions you wish were never posted.

Know what we need? We need Moderators. We need more Mods with moderate opinions to stand up, n spray the hose on all the fighting dogs on the Internet. Then maybe we can have more balanced opinions.

In other words, we need more individuals with mature, balanced opinions to speak up more on the issue. We need people with unprejudiced views, who are able to look at both sides with a clear and just eye.

No point in closing down opinions or policing the Internet. Negative reinforcement will only result in more negative results. We need more Mods.

Crazy Japanese

Courtesy of someone Candle knows, here's some Japanese phrases some of you might find useful:

omae no ketsu wa kirei da na --- Your butt is beautiful

ii karada shite da na --- Nice bod

kissu shitai --- i want to kiss you

kissu shite --- i want you to kiss me

sekuhara --- sexual harassment

onatarashi --- playboy

watashi no kokoro wa eien ni anata no mono desu --- my heart belongs to you

watashi no kokoro wa kizu tsuita --- my heart is broken

of course, someone with an intermediate grasp of the language, and particularly foul humour, can also manipulate the phrases to come up with other stuff

Guess what the following mean:

sekuharashitai

omae no ketsu o kissu shitai

watashi no karada wa eien ni anata no mono desu

and finally, what you would always love to tell those you aren't too fond of:

watashi no ketsu o kissu shite

Me Is Back

In case you guys were wondering, yes, I am back from Siem Reap.

Impressions on the place?

1. Tomb Raiders Wannabe



The temple ruins are the best part of going to Siem Reap, and indeed, the only reason why anyone would ever go there. :p Seeing the ruins makes me think.... If in their dilapidated state, they still exude their ancient grandeur, what would they have been like in their glory?

Not to mention the cities are practically mazes. We whizzed in and out of pillars, columns, nooks and crannies and even got ourselves lost more than once. I tell you, the place is big. :p



There is a kind of solemn air about the ruins though. It could be because of the deathly aura of the place, like the building had already died and only the ghosts of its former inhabitants lived in it, heightened only by the already ruined presence of the place.

There are tons of ruins but we covered 3, Angkor Thom, Angkor Wat and Ta Prohm in one day, almost getting ourselves horribly sunburned in the process. That's what you get for trying to be crazy tomb raiders in one day.

Oh yes, n can you spot the distinguishing feature of a Cambodian temple ruin from the pix below?



Yup, many of the figurines have been vandalised due to plundering and their heads are sold everywhere from Bangkok to Singapore. [according to one guidebook anyway]

Though the most painful vandalism I saw had to come from this poor lion:



2. Beggars and Sellers



Everyone in Siem Reap seems to have something to sell. Maybe it's because they're poor, that they become either accomplished beggars, or accomplished sellers. Every child who came to us either wanted money, or to sell us something. Can you blame them? Most of them looked pretty poor, but I din't want to give out too much cash either. I could only give so much.

Also visible, but not as often, were the various mine victims. You could tell them apart, because they were begging most of the time, and they had either one or two limbs missing. Some of them found ways to earn a living, like a guy who had fashioned a sort of tuk tuk that he could pedal with his hands, since he had no legs! Another bunch of guys formed a traditional band that was playing outside one of the temple ruins.




More interesting were the kids who made a living by trying to sell something, anything. Like the kid who showed me where the toilet was only to promptly ask me for 500rheul to use it. I think I paid too much because I offered him USD$1 [no local currency] for some change, I forgot how much, n when I paid him and used the toilet, I could hear his gleeful singing all the time I was doing my business. -_-!!!!!

In a way, yes I was probably gullible enough to pay too much for toilet usage. In another way... The pain I felt from being overcharged was probably much less significant to me than the glee that kid got from one miserable dollar. So i'll justify it as a form of charity.

Then there are the other kids who hounded us to buy bracelets, "you want nice bracelet? 10 for one dollar? 20 for one dollar?" postcards, "you want postcards? 2 for $1?" and drinks "cold drink? cold drink? 2 for $1?"

Which brings me to my next point on

3. Handling Street Urchins

We tried 3 different methods when handling the street waifs who tried to sell us stuff.

Polite refusals

Do not work. Somehow they take it as a good sign that you have acknowledged their presence and they will redouble their efforts to sell you, hounding you a long distance.

Speaking in a foreign language

Is not quite effective, but produces humourous results. Like when I spoke Hokkien to a girl who tried to sell me postcards. [hokkien is in italics]

"You want postcard? 2 for $1"

"You talking what? I don't get."

"You from Japan?"

"Ha? I'm not Japanese."
"Ni doru?"

"2 what? I don't want."
Girl jumps up and down in frustration. Another friend joins her.

"You from Korea?"

"Ha? Where? I don't understand you."

"2 dollars" thrusts the postcards at me and puts up 2 fingers.

"2? 2 what?"

After a few minutes of going around in this fashion, after which a gang had already gathered around us, the whole lot finally gives up and goes off.

Putting on the right face

Worked without me trying. There I was, hot, sweaty, tired, walking along when a girl approached me, I assumed to sell me her postcards, but before I could even say "no" she took one look at me and fled off to her friends.

Now if I only knew what face I had on that time.......

4. The Misc Stuff

Tips on going Siem Reap?



Save the money and book a room in a guest house in the Psar Chars [Old Market] area. There'd be plenty of food around, and tuktuk drivers for hire at US$10 a day. We made a mistake with ours because it was so out of the way that we couldn't hire tuktuks from right outside our hotel, hence having to hire the guy who did our hotel transfer for the day, whom we paid US$25. -_-!!!! Also, there's plenty of good food in the area!

The USD is king here. Seeing that we are tourists, everyone quoted us prices in the USD. Shopping wise, once you really bargain, you can get some good bargains, even with the USD, but there isn't much stuff that much different from what you can find in Singapore. Unless you wanna bring back Buddha statues and mini Angkor wats, that is :S

Food wise, we had much more luck with the slightly more ex stuff. The cheapo places we went to on the first day had ...Ok... food but not very appetising. When we went to the more ex places, paying about US$4-5 each, we had MUCH better food :P

Some of the better places we ate at:





And I nearly had a heart attack when I saw the drinks menu at one of the menus. Look at the price of my fave Long Island:




That's like SGD5 per cocktail? HOLY COCKTAIL SHOOTER.

Unfortunately, Necroz doesn't drink so I only had one Long Island. -_-!!!

Overall, a good trip ^-^ but Siem Reap itself can be explored in less than 3D2N, depending on how many temple ruins you wanna see.

I'll *try to* post up another entry about the temples themselves, but that's it for now. Now I'm considering my next adventure. Laos or Myanmar anyone? :p

More Cookie Crap

Now that I've ended my practicuum, and er, trying to get my butt to doing up my practicuum file, I've a lot more time to do a lot more slackerworthy stuff, like:

Play the Kingdom of Loathing

A smart, wacky game, reminiscient of Tom Holt's books and cover art, it's a prehistoric, stick-figure style RPG. No need to make your characters move, or do all those flashy power effects. This is a fool-proof MS-DOS style RPG game where all you have to do is read the text, and make your selection. Good for pple like me who like their games simple, and idiot proof.

The funny part is in the way they wrote the game. For instance, I'm a Pastamancer Level 2 [Yeast Scholar]. In my first quest, I killed fluffy bunnies for their meat, and helped a Pretentious Artist find his palette, paint and pail, for which I acquired an Empty Pail. That should tell you what the game is like.

And then I stumbled onto Grating Cards, cards for those un-Hallmark moments. Like when you want to tell someone that:

Oh yea, says it all. 6 cards for $20 if you're interested. Just don't tell me who you're going to send them to.

What a flower is the Jasmine flower
Its fragrance unparalled
But pluck it not early
Or it will never bloom

How true, how true. And how aptly portrayed in 'Jasmine Women'.

The movie portrays 3 generations of women, named Mo, Li and Hua. [For the less linguistically-abled among us, a mo li hua is a jasmine flower.]

Played by Zhang Ziyi, all 3 women are different in their subtle ways from each other, but the similarities in personalities are striking. The one flaw being that none of them seem to have any luck finding happiness with men, and always rush headlong in relationships, getting burned along the way.

hence the song. Pluck it too early, and it will never bloom for you.

And plucked early they were. The Grandmother, Mo, in her innocence was seduced by movie light glamour into becoming the mistress of the Director, who subsequently left her when she refused to get an abortion. The resulting child, Li, cannot conceive, and her impending insanity indirectly leads to the suicide of her husband. The child she adopts, Hua, secretly gets married to a graduate student who is too busy studying in another state to see her, and later asks for a divorce.

That's some fodder for about a few HK dramas.

The interesting thing is that the 3 different women make the same mistake about men that their predecessors did. Which leads me to wonder:

Are we doomed to the sins of our mothers?

I know that just by being in school, I've started to take on some of the characteristics and bylines that my own mother used to use on me. I suppose she being my first mentor in child management, it's understandable that some things I do will naturally be an echo of her.

But when it comes to men?

Are we doomed to make the same mistakes our mothers did?

Freedom is a ephemeral and illusory concept.

f**k, how did I come up with something so... cool, in a literary and geeky kinda way? :p

Anyway, why I came up with that particular phrase is because my practicuum has officially ended. No more early mornings, bratty kids and piles of worksheets to mark. *Yay*

But which also means 10 weeks less of being a trainee and that much closer to becoming a full-fledged govt slave. *Boo* -_-!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So hence, ephemeral[temporary and fleeting]. To enjoy something for a while, and then to lose it most cruelly to the bondages of reality and maturity.

[getting depressed at the thought]

Well, at least there are some pretty interesting stuff happening during this ephemeral period:

Like the Fiction@Love exhibition coming up at the Singapore Art Museum, which "seeks to explore the concerns related to the satire and fantasy of love through contemporary artistic expressions. The participating artists present diverse perspectives of the flux of ideals through the whimsical, simple and yet at times, fast paced aesthetics of Animamix Art (Animation and Comics)."

You can imagine which words caught my eye in that paragraph. :p

"Organized by Singapore Art Museum and Shanghai Museum of Contemporary Art, Fiction@Love examines the influence of contemporary popular culture such as anime, comics, graphic communications, and manga in art. Through paintings, murals, sculptures, videos and interactive installations, the exhibition looks at ways in which emotions like 'love' are expressed, transformed by the crossovers of the real and the virtual, and exposure to the aesthetics of the internet and comics."

From 12 May - 2nd July at the SAM.

Oh yea, sounding better and better.

And on top of that,

COSPLAY ON THE 27TH OF MAY!!!

"OFF THE WALL PARTY
In conjunction with International Museum Day celebrations

Calling all Cosplayers and party people! For one night only, SAM’s garden and driveway will be transformed into a mythical Neverland for her very first street party. Spare no expense, unleash the imagination and come as a Manga or fictional character because we’re looking for the ultimate King and Queen of this May Ball! Be crowned and win attractive mobile phones from the N Series kindly sponsored by Nokia. Cool giveaways for the first 200 partygoers to arrive!

27 May (Saturday), 7.30pm (Lightshow spectacular), 9.30pm till late (Party time!) "

From love/fiction

And since it's at night, sounds like a time for the trenchcoat and medallions? ;) Too bad b4 that I have a wedding dinner to attend.

Minna san! Isshoni ikkimasenka?

In an intrigued response to a post on Krystal's blog:

[RTs are Random Thoughts that she had. The rest is my response]

R.T 1: Is it possible to love someone so much that you will be willing to do anything for them just to please them? Even help to take their life?

I think by that time, it ceases to be love. It becomes infatuation or worse, obsession. If you really loved a person, you would do anything to make them better, not kill them.

R.T 2: As stupid as this is going to sound, is it possible to find the person of your dreams....the one person who really is everything you want and have dreamed about.....and want to run away from them because you feel you're not perfect enuff for them?

Yup... If you're nuts enough to do so, yup. F'gd'ssake! This is the person of your dreams here!

R.T 3: Is it possible to grow up too fast and have certain parts of u trying to catch up (mentally and emotionally I mean)?

Well, considering that we have no choice over the physical development of our bodies, and that puberty comes regardless of whether we're ready or not... Yea, I would say so yes. Especially if you know any adolescent boys.

R.T 4: Why do we find it hard to let go of things that we know we're meant to let go of? Of things that we no longer have/find attachment to?

Maybe because we have more attachment to them than we realised?

R.T 5: How does one undo many years of damage and how long does it take for one's eyes to no longer be clouded by saddness?

Sadly, as long as it takes. And this varies from person to person.

R.T 6: How do we know whatever it was we were meant to be/do? How do we deal with the realisation esp when it's something that we never expected or (maybe even) want to happen?

1. We may never know.
2. With a lot of tequila.

R.T 7: What's wrong with me......

Too many random thoughts. Hahaha.... :p

The "Respectful Artist" somehow says it all...... though I have to admit this is one of the more accurate tests I've taken.....


My Personal Dna Report

The thing that suffers most during my practicuum and probably during my working days.... My poor, neglected blog......

What with school 5 days a week, tuition, dance, Jap and DF, not much time lately to devote to actual blogging... *sigh* Not to mention my latest habit of dozing off in the afternoon instead of doing more productive stuff like, planning lessons or er, blogging......

*SIGH* Tell me again why I entered this line?

Anyway not that my social life has suffered much. I managed to catch The Producers, Mirrormask, and West Side Story all last week, even in the midst of, er, frantically preparing last minute for lesson observations.

Again, here comes my bad habit of running away just when things are getting real bad, and then coming back to frantically sweep up a lot of bullshit that accumulated during that time.

This week is a bit less chaotic, since all my lesson obs have been completed and this is the last week of practicuum. [yay] Which also means that the permanent posting [and hence more work] is getting closer [boo]

But at least.... I'm getting a break for a while. Here is to formally announce that I will be flying to SIEM REAP, CAMBODIA from 12th May to 14th May with Necroxz, to see Angkor Wat, and basically do all the stupid touristy thing of walking around with my camera around my neck and taking a dozen shots of everything.

Yes, you read that right. CAMBODIA.

I think I'm getting a weird fascination with the 3rd world countries around our area. One reason is hey, Angkor Wat is like one of the world's oldest ruins, and was, at the height of its power, more powerful than the kingdom of Rome. It's also been named as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. I've been reading a guide book I borrowed and the more I read, the more I'm fascinated by these ancient ruins and the intricacy of the sculpture design.

The other reason is at least I'll be going where half of Singapore hasn't already gone. :p

I'll be bringing trusty Oliver as my travel mate again, since he's proved himself wonderfully during Ho Chi Minh, so he definitely comes along again. Shiroi will also be going to provide entertainment, n also to help me [hopefully] make some podcasts. And of course there's my human companion, Necroxz. Heh.

So if you don't hear from me a while... Don't call the police. Call the hospitals to check whether I stepped into any mines.

heh. Just kidding. *choy*

One of the lindy regulars came up to me during class last night and asked me,

"Where's your husband?"

Husband? What husband?

"Isn't he coming for class today?"

For class... Oh good god you don't mean.........

"Good god, no! He's not my husband! He's not even my boyfriend!!"

"You're not married?? I'm so sorry!!"

Thank goodness *I think* the DF doesn't read this blog anymore. HE reckons it's a good motive for murder if he ever does.

In a recent email...

Yo,

After seeing ur pix......... I can understand how cramped the place was. My sympathies... :D I don't think I would have been able to sleep much in such a place....

Then again, it still looks more comfortable than the bus to redang... hahahaha....

But hey, at least you got to go somewhere.... that's one advantage of a big place like China... there are more places to travel within the country itself and since it's within the country, you don't have to worry about visas and stuff... the thing you have to worry about more is money i guess... esp. since that time you were looking at Tibet of all places..........

I wish Singapore was as big sometimes. But sometimes, I also think, maybe I'm so convinced that there's nothing to see in Singapore because I also can't be bothered to walk around and open my eyes.

I find this a lot in other Singaporeans. People always say there's nothing to see or do in Singapore, but what they mean is there's nothing worth their time to go see or do.

But that's pretty much a matter of perspective isn't it? If you think that things that are different from what you are used to are not worth seeing, then you won't see very much at all.

For eg, how many pple do you think will be crazy enough to go all the way to Pulau Ubin like we did that time? Just for the heck of cycling around the island? Most pple won't, because they think that there will be "nothing" to see in Pulau Ubin. Despite Chek Jawa, swamps, tons of greenery, old temples, and fresh coconuts. [the best part of the entire trip]

Sometimes I tell pple something about Singapore, and they're surprised that such a thing existed. Or that there was such and such a place. Or that they could do that in Singapore. They don't explore, they don't walk around, they only want to stay in their shopping centres. And what will you ever see beyond those airconditioned walls?

*Sigh* Honestly I miss having you around at times like this. I think you were one of the really few pple who were willing to do all these crazy stunts with me. [definitely you can forget abt DF] It's pretty sian walking around and wandering by myself like some loner outcast freak.

Or sometimes I wish I was out traipsing around in some foreign country with you, getting lost, asking for directions, taking photos and seeing loads of stuff.

Or maybe I just wish I was anywhere but here, dreading the prospect of going back to school tomorrow.

*Sigh* Or maybe it's just too late at night and I should stop this email now.

Aki

MirrorMask Opens!

Finally, months after the most esteemed Neil Gaiman hit our shores, his movie Mirrormask is opening this week, 20th April at GV Plaza and Tampines.


Order tickets. LIKE NOW.

After reading Yenn's blog, hey it looks like both of us are going through a wallowing phase in our work. Kampai, fren, time to hit the bottle.......

Yes, I hit some pretty big rocks at work this week. As in, ship-almost-capsizing kind of rocks. I had some pretty bad observations and took a plummet in the self-confidence, and for a while there, I was severely regretting a signature on a certain piece of paper.

The one thing that saved my ship was my Lindy class at the end of the workweek. Kudos to Lindy. It's pretty hard to feel depressed about work, when you're too busy trying to remember something like "fall off the log, 8, 1,2, step, down, jump! Back! 8, 1, 2, step, down, kick! 8..." and so on for an hour, and then trying the same moves without crashing into your dance partner in the meantime -_-!!!!!

Suddenly it hit me how important an after-work life was. We keep thinking about how little time we have to finish the work in our lives, and we spend so much time on it, that it becomes so hard to get it out of our minds. It haunts us after work, it haunts as when we eat, and it haunts us when we sleep. You become so tied to your work, that your confidence, your self-image and the rest of your life gets tied up in it as well. And when something happens to affect it, it affects everything about you badly.

If I had no Lindy class that night, I might have gone home totally depressed about the observations and my teaching ability as a whole. Instead, I rushed [almost late] to Lindy, worked my way through the Chase sequence, stayed back an extra hour for the Charleston stroll sequence, [a highly aerobic dance sequence that left me sweating and panting] and by the end of the night left the studio on a high.

Granted my mood didn't stay so high for long, but at least it wasn't as low as it was in the afternoon.

Can I keep this up as I take on the full workload? I honestly don't know. There may come more than one time when I would have to sacrifice my Lindy or even my weekend Jap for my work. But at least I know now that for the sake of my mental sanity, I can never fully give them up. They are too important to me now, and their importance lies beyond the simple acquisition of a new skill.

And thanks to all who've expressed concern over my face and outrage at the facial place. Thankfully the scabs are healing, and some of them have dried and falled off, leaving smoother skin in their wake.

THANK. GOD. ALMIGHTY.

Welcome to the blogosphere, NudeFish. Though I donno whether there's any significance to your nick, [???] welcome anyway. :)

I'm a Lifer!

To you, a job is what pays the bills. You put in your hours, follow the rules, and then go home. Occasionally, you consider quitting, but then you think of how bad the job market is and you reconsider. Whatever happiness you get, you get from your life outside the workplace. Relationships, family, hobbies, and outside creative pursuits are what really matter to you. You're probably taking this test at work because you don't have anything better to do.

Talent: 36%
Lifer: 62%
Mandarin: 49%

Take the Talent, Lifer, or Mandarin quiz.

This quiz actually hit it quite on the dot for me. Except for the part about taking the test at work.

525,600 Minutes...

It has been since we've been together. So long already huh? One year...

And in case you're wondering, he didn't remember till I hinted at him that night. -_-!!! But then again, I too nearly forgot about it till it was nearing the date itself... hahaha... I guess at my age, it's more a day to be quietly thankful for, rather than to be spent in raucous celebration.

How has the relationship changed? I think by this time we're closer to each other than before. We've also become more sensitive to each other in the sense that we think more often of the other party's needs now. He knows that ignoring me for a month or so is liable to result in paranoid frenzy on my part. I know that his ignorance doesn't imply a lack of affection. His job means that I'm literally an NS girlfriend but I've learnt to be ok with that.

Slowly we're finding that balance to learn how to be with each other without driving each other insane.

We know more about each other's lives. Our families know about each other. Heck, my dad even suspects that my grandmother is flying all the way from Australia just to meet with him. -_-!!! His mother has dragged me into facial packages that I never would have signed up for on my own.

And about that damn facial package...........

Ok his mother, thinking that at my age my skin could be a whole lot damn better than it is, [an opinion shared by my own mother] decided what I could use was a facial package, where you pay $XX for XX no of facials at that place. So she happily signed up for one near my house, then told him about it so that I could share the package with her and do facials as well.

So since she already got it and all, we went down to the place where the ladies set to work on my face.

After the last time he brought me to one, I expected the usual pain of the pore extraction, so that was no surprise. What was a surprise was the laser treatment after that.

Essentially what they do is to aim a fine laser at your face, and literally burn the spots off your face. The lady gave me a mirror to hold so that I could see the process in action, and OMG OMG OMG I saw sparks fly and actually smelt burning skin while it was going on. The laser went zap at my face, and the offending spots were burnt away and shriveled into little black ashes on my skin, which were wiped away.

That was already bad enough. THEN I realised that right after that, the burnt off spots turned to CRATERS on my face.

Imagine the surface of the moon. Then imagine each of those craters spouted lava and turned glowing red. THAT was my face after that. F**K!!!

As if that wasn't bad enough, LATER, as in after they had already zapped something like 37 spots off my face, they told me that the cost of this wasn't included in the package. And that each spot zapped cost $8. Calculate total cost of my face then. it's not a pretty amount.

I was aghast. I chided the lady for not informing the customer of all this in advance and expecting me to pay only after they had done the service and rant rant rant.

Then they checked and it turned out his mother knew, but had somehow either assumed I knew, or that they told me.-_-!!!!! Oh win liao........................ So now it turns out that my face costs an extra $296 more because of the spots.

So now after all that pain and fire I went through my face now has fiery craters all over it, n I owe his family an extra $296 for it. -_-!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Somemore I didn't bring cash to the place, so his mother had to pay for it. And his mother will probably ask him to pay for it.

A simple facial turned out to be such a tangled web.

Anyway this is a sample of what my face looked like right after that laser treatment



f**kers!!!! and that's just one side can???

The lady assures me that the scars will go down after 6 days. Which means that I have to live with this for a week. While going to teach. My crazy kids.

I'm so screwed.

So after I left his mother at the clinic, I made my furious way down to orchard to meet him. Worse of all, I could feel my face burning with the sting of the marks the entire night in Orchard, and I had to put on my hairband because it stung even when my hair brushed past the spots. Later on, I even noticed to my horror that some of them were starting to resemble little pockmarks, and I thought, what if they burned off too much and now I've got these permanent pockmarks on my face???

Man even with all the spots, blackheads, oil pockets on my face, I never felt as moody as I did after that facial session. Anyone who ever tells me again that a facial is supposed to be relaxing is gonna get shot by me yar hear?? My blackheads never gave me as much stress as this...........

We watched V for Vendetta that night too. A somewhat good movie, though I feel that the movie version of V tended to be more campy than the comic book version. Once again, the usual book-to-movie gripes apply, but I think the best part was when the police chief was describing how he suddenly understood the chain of events that had brought them there, while in another scene, V was meticulously laying out a set of dominoes to be knocked down. That was the most titillating part of the movie, I think.

A good movie, but it would serve you well to read the comic book before that. I think the themes of totalitarianism, dystopia and Big Brother are explored so much more in there.

After that, that was that. It's been a year for us, with its ups and downs, blissful ignorance, and paranoid frenzy. And here's kampai to the next year ahead of us.

No more 2 left feet

Like when was the last time I posted up something real on this blog, instead of the link-you-might-find-interesting while I thought of something interesting to blog about?

Man, not that short a time ago........

Ok! I'll give you a progress report of my Lindy dancing! [mainly because I've just come from a particularly intense Lindy day, details below]

As you know, Jules and I successfully passed Lindy 2 some time back and we jumped into Lindy 3 right the next week. So far, we're still going for classes, but unlike levels 1 and 2, level 3 is an ongoing-till-eternity thing, the purpose of which is simply to increase your repertoire of Lindy dance moves.

Today we had an extra class, which was the Jitterbugs stroll class.

The Jitterbugs stroll is simply a set of jazz dance choreography, comprising of a number of jazz dance steps that we already learned in levels 1 and 2. The thing now was to put everything together in a dance sequence.

I had already seen this sequence being performed a couple of times in Swing Fling, so I was pretty keen to go down and learn.

Totally do not regret it btw. Even though I was drenched in twice the amount of sweat by the end of the day, [class + extra class + swing fling practice] and my calves are aching a dozen.

The beauty of the dance is in the particular song used. The lyrics of the song actually call out the dance step to be performed in the next beat, hence saving you a lot of trouble trying to remember the sequence, and also seriously screwing up your footwork when you can't respond to the lyrics on the right beat. -_-!!!!!

But bottom line: Fun. :) And definitely much more fun than aerobics as a form of exercise. Charleston Stroll next week, here I come!

Not to mention I nearly attended the class for free, if only the receptionist was less sharp-eyed than I thought. Damn!

At least I can feel that my dancing is getting better. [and this is an opinion reflected by Jules as well, so it ain't just me :p ] At least now when some terribly talented male lead asks me for a dance and leads me into moves I either never learned before, or felt more like salsa or some other dance, I can more or less follow and look decent.

No more 2 left feet. Better frame, and lots of twist-twisting. Yea!

My blogging is getting erratic.... sighz..... although at least I do have a lot more now to blog about than before....

Like another budak pantai concert!!!


surreptitiously snapped with my hp

This little-known, little-publicized concert was actually organized by the internal audit dept of StandChart to raise funds to build a dam in Africa. [wonder who audited it.. haha] The group sang many of their well-known songs, and garnered many laughs from the audience. The only too-bad thing for me was that because I'd been to some of their concerts already, I already knew the song and the punchline used for the song... :p

I like Budak Pantai. They crap and joke on stage with each other and have a great natural chemistry after working so long together. Not to mention their songs are darn farnie as well.... :P

You can check out their album at the Esplanade store.

[hey, can i get any endorsement deals? hahaha]

Anyway on Sat, I met Turt for coffee at the Eclectic Attic at Plaza Sing.

This delightful place, tucked away in a corner next to Spotlight is a feast for the eyes. I like going in there because of all the kooky and unique antiques all over the place [even if I can't afford to get a tea cup]

Not only that, but what used to be a furniture store actually has a small cafe in it! And you can even buy the antique tables and benches used in it!

The kooky factor, however, came forth in the drink I got.

What was supposed to be a simple vanilla milkshake had an unexpected decoration in it.


Is that feet???


It's a... a... baby!!! Can't tell if it's a boy or girl though...


Hm, maybe a girl....

For some reason, the phrase that came to mind when I saw it was "drowning foetus". Even though I know technically it's not a foetus but.... darmmit there's something decidedly freaky about seeing a baby in your drink lah... all covered with sticky white frothy stuff.......

Ok i need to stop here. Now.

Cool-hunted

Singapore has been cool-hunted!

Check out what's so cool

mondai ja arimasen

For the past few nights, Yenn and I have been going for Jap lessons at night. Which means that we have to rush down after school, sit through lessons we haven't revised for, and go home just in time to sleep and rest for the next day.

And you can tell this is taking its toll on Yenn, when she starts saying the darnedest things during lessons, like "Biru o yondeiru" - I am reading beer

But this was the absolutest gem said in class so far.

Sensei: "Neteiru toki, nani o kimasu ka?"
What do you wear when you are sleeping?

Yenn: "Nani mo kimasen."
FYI, kikimasu means to listen, and kimasu means to wear.

Sensei: "Nani mo??????? Yenn-san!!!" Sensei puts her hands to her head in a gesture of helplessness while her face goes into a horrified scandalized expression, as the whole class bursts into uproarious laughter. Yenn looks puzzledly at me and asks, "What did I say?"

Minnasan, what do you think Yenn said?

After so long....

After being deprived......

After being disadvantaged........

After living without for so long.......

After staring in envy at others.......

I finally am satisfied.

My family finally has........




Cable. Thank you. Thank you very much.

Yes, I know I'm pretty deprived at the moment, due to all the teaching and stuff. The content and lesson planning doesn't bother me as much as the management of close to 40 pupils who want your attention and who go for it in the most varied of ways, ranging from "How do you do this question??" to "He's walking around!" "He said a bad word!" "He's throwing pencils/erasers/stapler bullets at me!!!" to the ones who just walk around, talk back, shout back, talk to other friends, to get your attention.

Oh how I love this job. If not for Jap classes and Lindy I think I'd go mad.

Memoirs of a Slacker Blogger

I was out with Quet and Turt today when the conversation turned to Xiaxue.

In case you didn't know, she and two of her longtime friends recently got sponsored to go on an all-expenses paid Superstar Virgo cruise. The luck of a *famous* blogger! For one lengthy blog article with pix, she gets a free cruise trip for her and her two friends!

Are there any comic shops out there who would like an advertorial on this blog? *Haiz*............................

I wonder how much Xiaxue makes from the advertisements on her blog. But her blog actually pales in comparison to other blogs like Problogger, a blog ran by a full-time blogger named Darren Rowse. Yes, he is a Professional Blogger. His blogs earn actual AUSD, apparently a good enough income stream for him to do it full time and he also runs other courses on how to run blogs.

And like duh I'm reading his blog......

Anyway, Quet was asking why not I do something with this blog in order to do the same thing?

Unfortunately, time is a major factor here............. and also the effort involved. I mean, you're talking about FULL-TIMERS here....

And Xiaxue may be a full-time blogger, but she only managed to get that way because her writing became famous. So in order to reach the same status, I need tons of people reading this blog, which is easier said than done.

[also might be for the better. i don't need the WWW (whole wide world) knowing what a block my DF is, or who my friends are and stuff like that]

So how to get tons of people reading my blog?

Movie/Product/food reviews - already done in excess, and I'll be competing with magazines
Controversial/profanity-infused writing - also already done in excess excess.
Sex-related writing - erm, I'd have to make more of it up

And then it struck me.

Sex sells.
I don't have sex.
BUT no one said it had to be the truth!

Look like that guy, James Frey, who wrote the book "A million little pieces". It was touted as the memoirs of a man who battled a drug addiction. Everyone bought it thinking what a fascinating story it was. And then it was revealed to be one giant hoax.

Look at belle du jour, who started her blog claiming to be a London call girl. Certainly no one has any way of proving whether she's truthful or not, but they still read her blog! And she's even got a book out!

So that's my solution! Use all my creative powers of thinking [and a lot of wishful thinking] and write a blog about my legendary, scandalous, and yet totally UNTRUE love and sex life! And spice it up to attract thousands of readers!

Throw in ads, links, and others, and then ta-dah! An income stream from the thousands of horny men around the world!

And trust me, that's a lot.... I mean, think about how much the internet porn industry earns a year.

And I don't even have to do an Annabel Chong to get this blog going. I just make it all up! Wahahahahaha!!!!! I can sponge off all the horny men in the world and practice creative writing at the same time!!!
.
.
.
.
.

Ok I think I better stop reading Xiaxue for the time being...................

Slack Stuff

This is what I surf when I knock off early from work...

Firstly, here's a made-in-singapore MTV of Caesar's Jerk It Out. 2 questions: How come this Mark Leung has so much time, and Did he really do that chicken and santa stuff in public??



Also, stumbled onto the Wicked. Remember the Crimson Room? well, this is another online puzzle, consisting of deceptively simple riddles, but yet... You'll be stymied. I got stuck at Level 4...... -_-!!!!

A Mosaic Weekend

Mosaic - Many different pieces put together to form a whole picture

And indeed the Mosaic festival at the Esplanade was just that. All these different artists coming together to perform a whole picturesque week.

I had originally bought tix to Jason Mraz weeks ago [thank god, because they got sold out in the end] but on the Fri of the concert itself, I realised I had nothing to do on Sat nite. Since I would be bored if I stayed at home, I went and bought tix to the NYC Urban Beat feat. Sise on Sat nite as well.

I can tell you honestly. Money well worth spent.

Jason Mraz was awesome!!!! At first, you might seem surprised when the show starts and only Mraz and his bongo accompaniment comes on stage. You might think, harh? Like that only? What kinda show is this?

Then when he starts singing you realise just how right this simple combination was. The bongo was more than enough to provide a lively upbeat throughout the entire performance, but the main draw was Mraz's voice itself. They don't call him Mr Wordplay for nothing, because when he sang, he sang the lyrics of his songs like a feisty kitten jumping on the piano keys. Then for another song, it would swoop down into a croon as intimate as a lover's arms.

I think if anyone ever sang like that to me, I'd just fall in love immediately. [sorry DF]

Not only that, but the friendly camaderie between him and his bongo player was just so good, they were like good chums out for a little sing song session. One of the factors that made the concert so entertaining to watch.

I give Mraz 2 thumbs up, only because I only have 2 thumbs altogether. :p

Then it was NYC Urban Beats with Si*se on Sat nite.

One thing about me: I don't like to be in social situations alone. So it was kinda a shock when I headed down to the concert to find out that it was held in the upstairs theatre studio, and the whole place was made out like a pub.

And all the gorgeous people knew each other. -_-!!!!!!!!!! Exactly the kind of geekifying situation I hate, when suddenly I feel awkward, trying to blend into the shadows and nurse a cheap gin and soda while waiting desperately for the show to start.

Why on earth did I turn up in my jeans, tee and backpack?

I was half contemplating leaving halfway when the real show finally started. And boy was I glad I stayed.

They freakin' ROCK! Their songs alternated from slow haunting rock in the start to a slightly livelier bossa-sound in the end. They're more unique in the sense that they had all the features of a usual band, with the addition of a violinist, who played to true Gypsy fashion, lending a strangely compelling sound to the music. Plus the fact that the concert was held in such a pub-like arena, it served to give the atmosphere a dream-like quality, enhanced by the dim light, flashing disco ball and made worse by the cheap drink.

Their music was good, it had me dancing by my lonesome gyrating self in the corner of the studio, and which made me glad that no one there knew me so I could dance as fugily as I wanted. >D

But definitely I'm glad I stayed. :)

A little note to local entertainers though: If you happen to be the opening act for some other band performing in Singapore, firstly congratulations. Secondly, Don't Try to Work The Crowd. It doesn't work, because unless you're highly, highly, infectious and your crowd is a bunch of overexcited pre-pubescent teenagers, [neither condition of which was met in both concerts] your attempts will only fall flat, and you'll get a bunch of half-interested people going "Yea" or clapping or pointing their fingers in the air or whatever it is you want them to do. Just provide the music, and only encourage audience participation if you KNOW your crowd is sufficiently worked up.

How to Lengthen A Pair of Jeans

So I was feeling a bit crafty one way... and I mean that in a good artistic kinda way.... So I got out these pair of jeans that were too short for me.

See, the problem with these jeans was that they were in pretty good condition, but were just that bit too short for my liking. I like the hem to cover my shoes, but these totally exposed them. Which looked ok but always too short to me.

What to do?

Materials needed:


Jeans. [uh duh.... ]


Cloth and craft glue. [Spotlight sells these leftover cloth fragments which is where I got these. Buy just enuff to do 2 hems]

and basically what I did was to cut the cloth to size, and then glue it to the hems, so that now my jeans look like this:



Cool eh? Until I realised that hardly any of my footwear matches the fabric........................... -_-!!!!!

Other than that, it looks really amateur [duh] when you look closely at it, but since hardly anyone's gonna be looking at my feet, I'm not too bothered. *grin*

This is what happens when pple have too much time and fingers get too itchy........

I'm torn...

In case you guys haven't seen, youtube is a hot website featuring hundreds of videos that you can link to your blog, including this niffy one of someone miming Natalie Imbruglia's Torn which I first saw in my music class... Hope this works...

Eat Drink Man Woman

A girl dressing as a boy to study in an all-boy's school.... sounds suspiciously like a certain manga series but surprisingly, it actually happened in post-war Singapore....

Read On

Wonder if this was actually possible nowadays......

Ye Shanghai... Ye Shanghai... Part 1

Becos our fren Candle is now stuck behind the Great Firewall of China and hence unable to access 90.09% of blog servers, here is the boredslacker-ised version of her antics in China so far....

Mar 8 - Candle sprains her foot walking on street wearing flat boots. Being no cute guys around to render her assistance this time, she has to rely on classmates to carry her home. [luckily she was with them at the time] She then learns a few things about falling sick in China:

1. There are no GPs or polyclinics in China. All who are sick go to hospital, which charge people crazy prices for simple services, making it more financially viable to stay sick than to go to hospital. Uni hospitals are also cheaper than public hospitals.

2. Doctors are rude until they find out that you are a foreigner.

3. Ankle guards are harder to find than cute guys, even the sports shops don't sell tem. The one trustable one she found cost her a whoppin S$40.

OTher than that, she nearly got stuck in some bus stop in Shanghai becos while visiting a father's friend, she alighted at the wrong bus stop... luckily another bus came and saved her and she made it at about 8pm, stayed overnight cos he didn't think it was safe and played with his daughters.... her father's friend tot she was crazy for daring to take bus alone at night, but well, it's another crazy thing we all expect from her......

That's all from her for now... I'll update you guys periodically when I receive mail from her...

Reflecting on the Singapore Plan....

I found this interesting read from Tomorrow which made me reflect a little on the Singapore Plan.

Maybe it just particularly touched a chord with me because I consider one of the few [some? many? rare?] Singaporeans who have experienced both the Singapore Plan and the Singapore Dream as they described it.

For those too lazy to click and read, *rolls eyeballs* the 2 authors write about their experiences with the Singapore Plan. The Plan was the one that told you to go to a good school, get a good degree, get a good job, get a good man, get a good funeral blah blah blah.

The Plan was also the one that always told you to wait till after your exams, after you graduate, after you worked a few years, after you married, to pursue your dreams and your love.

Regular readers of this blog and my friends will know that this is a familiar issue with me.

But anyway, I felt inspired to blog about it because, as I said, I feel like I'm one who has tasted both the Plan and the Dream. Both by teaching tuition and by entering the establishment. By doing things the way I wanted to, and by placing my career security and advancement in the hands of another.

I have to say that there are advantages to both sides. Entering the establishment trained me well. It awoke my mind in ways I didn't know, and focused my mind on education. Being somewhere where there are actually expectations on you in a way forces you to live up to those expectations. And forces you to better yourself and change in order to reach those expectations.

And of course the additional money in my bank account every month on the dot doesn't hurt either.

But the other? *sigh*

I went to the career fair with the DF over the weekend, for him to check out postgrad courses.

The boy became so excited over all the possibilities and the opportunities. Eagerly he perused through brochures from a dozen private schools and even overseas universities in Europe, excitedly talking about what it would be like to study in France, UK, Sweden......

I could only keep quiet because I knew I was stuck in Singapore for the next 3 years. And even then, financial circumstances would not be enough to send me to study in any of these places.

Looking back at the time I just completed my A levels, when I should have been checking out all these different places and possibilities. And what was I doing? Working because my parents convinced me it would be better for my resume after I graduated. [An older and wiser me now knows that in reality, the jobs that you get after your A levels are so menial and mediocre and possibly irrelevant that in terms of so called 'job experience' you're better off not working at all]

Now that I'm older, and stuck in a bond, is it too late? Have I lost 3 years of my life just like that?

Granted that the experience is good, but would it be worth it? For the other things that I could have pursued?

*sigh* ah well. Spilt milk and all that.

But I do notice some self-differences between the now-me and the tuition-me. The most major difference being I feel my creativity sapping. I know I don't draw as much, and I don't even blog as much. I read fervently because that's the only pleasure left for me to indulge, but even still there's a pile of unread books still waiting in my room. I watch more movies because it's the most convenient date of all. *rolls eyeballs*

I don't fiddle much with Photoshop, Freehand or Dreamweaver anymore, only Word for my lesson plans.

But I can still continue my Japanese and lindy because of my now-stable income.

What, I wonder, is the loss to me in the long term? If I can already feel the change in my mental abilities, will this gradually creep over me like some kind of social dementia? Will I simply succumb to the Singapore Plan and pile my kids with tuition and make sure they go into a good secondary school?

Will I cease to think about how things could be different, and simply accept them as they are resignedly?

As a last consoling beacon of light, the DF also gave me the idea of no-pay leaves.

Apparently some teachers do take up 1, 2 and even 3 year no-pay leaves in order to pursue Master's, marriage, or whatever they want. The advantage of this is that they can take a long break, and then still have a job waiting for them.

The disadvantage, well, the term 'no-pay leave' says it all.

But see, from the POV of a person who has been there, and who can now add the term 'experienced teacher' to her tuition resume........ and who wants to do so much more with her life than just go into classroom after classroom........

Well, we'll see what happens 3 years later. :p And hope I never succumb to that social dementia in the meantime.

Some Cookies

Been surfing randomly on the Net and this is what I come up with...

Guys may Sympathize

Check out this poor loser...... and his 'happy' ending in the end.......

Watch Video!

Toys for Potty Training Kids

Ain't they cute?

I live in Banish

According to this map anyway.....

Ranting again... Old wounds reopened

Something about the way my mother talks to me sometimes completely irritates me before she even gets past my first name.

It's uncanny, it is. Never has someone sparked me off on the wrong mood just by calling out my name in that way that she does, with a slightly whining tone in it.

And because I'm turned off the moment she calls my name, whatever she says after that just adds to it.

This time it's due to a recent offer I've rec'd from my current employer. Without going into too much details, I've been offered a unique chance in career development. It's an opportunity I feel that is extremely interesting, and that won't come too often in life.

But to take up this offer means I won't be teaching in mainstream schools after my practicuum. Which makes me pretty hesitant, because how do I know this is for me, at this early point of my career? How do I know I'll be able to handle it, given that I haven't fully developed my teaching skills?

More importantly, how do I feel that this is something I'll be willing to do over a long period of time?

My parents know about the offer, because moe called me at home first, and my dad answered the call, so my mom later got to know some kind of sketchy details about the situation. [don't ask me why my dad never told her all he knew.]

So the questions come up again. I go for one stupid briefing and interview session, and the moment I get home everyone asks how was it? what did you say?

I find this extremely irritating. It feels like they were trying to butt into my life again. I told them it was just a simple interview and I was thinking of it.

Today, the very next day, they ask me about it again. They tell me that it's a good chance, that why not I go for it, that it will raise my value as a tutor blah blah...

Which are all the reasons I thought of at first, but when they try to use it to push me into something when I haven't even decided fully, it totally pushes the wrong buttons in it. It was the same scenario with getting into teaching. An option that I was considering seriously became suddenly something I wanted to just chuck into the dustbin because they were trying so hard to push me into that direction. And I didn't want to do things simply for their sakes.

I repeated again, I was thinking of it. And I honestly was thinking of going through with it anyway at that point of time.

Then she says, "You never think seriously about your future."

I cracked. I screamed at her that I was thinking about it and let me make my own decision already.

WTF is so hard about that??? The irony that once again, because of their interfering questions, they've succeeded in turning me off the course they wanted me to take. Even though I was willing to take it at first.

I can't stand this. I want to just quietly do my work and get through my life the way I want. I want to develop my teaching skills. I want to do my lesson plans.

BUT I DON"T want to do it while they're there standing over my shoulder telling me how to do my goddamn job and life when they have ABSOLUTELY NO F**KING IDEA what my life is like.

EVERYTHING else about my life they don't care. What I do with my friends she doesn't care. DF she doesn't care. The books I read she doesn't care. My tuition life she doesn't care.

STUPID BLARDY CAREER she doesn't know anything about she MUST CARE.

Go away and let me lead my career myself lah. I'm IN the industry already. I have a job. You forced me this far. DON't PUSH ME FURTHER.

The Cool Hunters

The title of the website reminds me of a book I read called So Yesterday, by Scott Westerfeld. [a pretty talented teen lit writer. Go check it out!] I'm not uber cool [one only has to look at my pink chipmunk shirt to see that] but I like to browse through cool stuff. And this site features some pretty neat cool stuff.

Like Iconz IPod video cases



A pretty neat Wonderbra advertisement. [pull on the string and the page folds up, creating the illusion of... voluptuousness.]



A kids' paper chair that I so wish I had when I was a kid



And pretty morbid looking jewellery.



Go check it out! The Cool Hunters

Work sucks. I feel shit about the first lesson I ever did, but I'm trying to comfort myself by saying 1) it's not an observation lesson, and no one was around to see me screw up 2) I'm still in training, so I still have excuses,

and 3) I will do better next time. There's no way but up.

*sigh* Anyone got a few grand to lend me to break my bond?

On a more lighter note, here are pix of some of the stuff I got for my quarter...


Remnants of the seafood dinner with my family. As you can see, we liked the food.


Indirect present from the uni gang, courtesy of a Borders card. Haven't started reading any yet, though, because of the pile of library books I have to clear.


Card from the Slayer. The inside reads, "That either means 'Happy Birthday' or 'I left a dead rat on the sofa'. Wicked cute.


I think my brother's trying to make a hint at my newly found out attached status with this. Either that or he's telling me not to heavy colour light fren.

And finally,


This is from HIM. A collection of 8 different premium chocs. Though I have to say, this kinda stuff is wasted on me, because I ate one so far and I'm like, that's it? Shld've gotten me Royce.... heh. But I still love the thought of him buying me something.

My dad actually gave me ang pow as well, but............

Well, I paid him back for the phone he bought for me, and he took out one of the $50 notes I paid him, and said, "Here, that's your birthday angpow." -_-!!! So my 'present' aside from the dinner was a $50 discount on my new phone...... My dad for you...........

Quarter

I'm now a quarter. One-fourth. Whoop de doo.

Only about 3 more to go... :p

I did take a bunch of pix of the loot, oops, presents, but for some reason, the connection from my phone to my laptop isn't working. -_-! It's like when a new cat moves into another cat's territory. Bound to be some compatibility problems. Or so I think. Anywayz, many thanks to all who contributed to my loot, n for all the SMSes I rec'd. You guys actually remembered. *sniff*.

Well, the weekend went fine for me, certainly compensated for my working days starting on The Day itself anyway -_-!!!!!

Fri nite Candle, Yenn and I, and very briefly Jules, had a college frat-like party, and had pizza and booze at my house, while we watched a very weird Thai movie, in which some Aussie Ah Kwa Gangsta Boss ordered some guys all the way to Thailand to steal an elephant, which infuriated the elephant keeper, and spurred him into going all the way to Australia to get his pachyderm back.

I can't believe that I actually wrote the movie into sounding lamer than it already was.

Anyway, after that was a seafood dinner at Punggol Marina with the family, which had funnily assumed that DF would be there, without me saying anything. Huh?

Funny thing though, I ended up saving an angmoh woman from getting stuck in the toilet.

Anywayz.........

Sun I met him and proceeded to get back for the sms on Vday:

"So what did you do on Vday?"

"I went out on a date."

"Oh..." unconcerned, slightly amused.

"We went out to the beach for dinner, and dessert, and sat by the beach talking."

"Oh......"

"And he even bought me a rose! There were these rose sellers, and at first he said no. Then I went to the toilet, and when I came back, ta-dah! He had bought me a rose! What a sweet surprise!"

"Oh............... so who's this guy?"

"Who do you think?"

"I can only think of J or G?" [his exact words]

"G? G will meh?" scoff scoff.

"J???"

"Ah ba then?"

"Oh............................................." stony tone. Daggers. Death in eyes.

"And he even sent me home in his car after that! Not like someone who was in camp, and didn't want to come ou to see his gf on valentine's, and who just sent one idiot sms and who wanted to give me one blardy borders discount coupon somemore."

"Uh huh...................." cautious guilt and some amusement.

And so on. :p Well, yea, eventually I did tell him what really went down on Vday's, and only after that did he decide to spare Jules' life.

And I dropped so many dripping comments about Vday's, that he made up for it by going for a gay cowboy movie with me, [which he thought was totally slow, and which he almost fell asleep halfway, and thought was unnatural.] and then brought me to the Straits Kitchen buffet at the Hyatt, [which sold grossly overpriced hawker food, in my opinion] and gave me a box of [grossly overpriced] chocolates from Godiva.

But as I told him, it's the sincerity behind that I'm looking for. And yes, he had that so I was happy. :)

Though it might have been nice to get a rose...........

I once said that I 1) preferred Nokia phones and 2) didn't like clamshell phones



I stand corrected on both points.




Meet my new phone:





What won me over was the colour screen and, the beauty of it, a 2mpx camera. *sigh*

Here's a sample of the kind of pix it can do:



And this is just the small version! I can actually take and store pix up to 640X480, which is, actually, farking amazing considering the capabilities of my old Nokia.

And yes, I am experiencing syncho problems. As in, the Panasonic OS is driving me nuts after using a Nokia for so many years. The SMS part is alright, but the general navigation and finding stuff?

ARGH!!!

But all in all, it's pretty cool to have a new phone. Heh.

And to those who remember my two statements from above?

Saw the following in 8Days:





I believe she knows that this is for her. *grin*

Buns?

Something light before the more sombre post below... Since I have a little bit of time after finishing my assignments... :p

I wonder whether this is a freudian thing I'm seeing.... but tell me whether you guys see anything crude in the advert....

breadtalk promotion

Love Again?

'cos a few more thoughts on love and relationships popped to mind after talking to some friends over the week.

First let me say at the outset that I'M NOT OUT TO SLAM ANYONE HERE. Anything I write on this blog is my own personal opinion, and I'm not attacking you or slamming you. Take what I say with an open mind, consider my opinions, and then slam me back in the comments if you want.

I have some friends recently who seemed to be snowballing into their relationships. Why do I say snowball?

Well, take a small snowball and place it at the top of a hill. Push said snowball down. See it roll down, getting larger and larger and larger. You get the picture.

The weird thing is that this isn't just happening to one friend. It's happening to a few. And it's left a number of people befuddled.

Maybe I tend to be cynical, but how on earth would you know that the guy/gal you're with for say 3-6 mths is the one?? The One you'll gonna stay your whole life with, the one you're gonna marry and bear children for?

I'm not even talking about friends who've known each other for years before getting attached. I mean as in you only knew the other half for a few months, before deciding that he/she was The One.

I've talked to some of these friends, and I can come up with a few reasons why I'm so cynical about the whole thing:

Not every one has a happy ending. Sure you know you're in love now, but are you certain that that feeling will continue? on both sides?

I'm asking this because for every couple who started out lovey..... i know of others who got thrashed. Bad.

Yes, you're good now. Yes you will work at being good. But how do you know that your relationship will be able to sustain the trials of time, when you haven't even had those trials of time to begin with?? When your relationship hasn't been tested by everything that life has to throw at it, how do you know that you will be able to leap those unknown obstacles?

These friends are mainly attached now, so fine, most of them know what it is like to be in a relationship. What I fear they don't know is what it means to be in a long term relationship where both parties are deeply dependent on each other materially and emotionally. Or what it means to have a sexual relationship. [Don't ANY of you try that now!] Or what it means to have dependant children, or what it may mean if you end up pregnant with a child.

As in, are you sure your boyfriend-girlfriend status can prepare you fully for a cohabitant or married status? Because each stage is totally different from the other, with its own trials and tribulations. What you experienced while you were dating can be totally different from what you experience if you're living together, or married. And that experience may not be enough to sustain you.

And no, love and determination is not enough, in my opinion.

So to me, time is needed. Time is important. It's not always a matter of the quality of the experience with him/her, it's also learning to actually live with the other party. It takes time not just to fully understand the person's character, but also to find out if your relationship is strong enough to go through all the hurdles that time and change may bring.

Sure, love is important, but dont' forget that love and character may change over time. And if it does, where does that leave you?

Yes, I sound cynical. No, it's not cos of sour grapes. No, it's not because I hate your boyfriend/girlfriend/sexual partner/whatever

I'm cynical about the whole affair because I'm worried that you're too busy staring into the other person's face to notice the potholes or lampposts ahead.

And at the end of it, I don't want that rolling snowball to crash into some hard rock at the bottom.

I'm sorry if this post may offend some of the friends whom I am obviously talking about. And I ask others not to reveal anything on this blog that may reveal their identity, if you know who I'm talking about.

But I feel... better you prepare yourself for the hard truth from me now, rather than suffer it later.

And I hope you understand where I'm coming from.

Was spent, most funnily, with 2 gals and a guy.

Much kudos and envy the guy must have had, being accompanied by 3 lovely ladies on Valentine's, none of which seemed much put out that they had to share their date with 2 other women, but well, it's a modern society we live in.

*sigh* Who am I kidding? With the DF in camp, I pretty much had two choices:

1. Stay at home, do report and mope about being home on Vday, plus fend off questions from pesky parent
2. Go out with friends, think of him, and be surrounded by lovey dovey couples carrying flowers, presents and sweet talk

In the end, I decided that to stay at home was just that much sadder than going out and at least I would have some entertainment, so.....

Jules drove Quetz, Candle and I to East Coast for a romantic dinner by flourescent at Mac's, it being the only place in the beach which still sold food at its normal prices. We went for dessert at Gelare's after that, and then went walking around the place, whereby Jules was immediately accosted by a very determined rose-selling aunty.

"Buy a rose for the girl leh!"
"But I've got three of them!"
"Buy for all three lah!"

Who can withstand such female determination? He duly bought the roses.

Which became much abused by us. In the following order,

While sitting on the breakwater to admire the waves, [and spoil Vday for other couples with our bad jokes] Candle used the rose to swipe away the cockroaches lingering around our butts.

Whenever he made some bad joke, I whacked him on the head with the rose, n even poked him in the arse several times.

When Quet wanted to get his attention in the car, she hit his shoulder with the flower.

Finally, at my block, he arghed in frustration, "The first time I ever buy flowers for a girl, make that three girls, and what do I get? I get hit with it, poked in the ass with it, and they even use it to kill cockroaches! What's wrong with me?? Am I that bad?"

"No, you're just not him!"

Which pretty much summed up my feelings about the entire Vday. You're not Him. -_-!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And my "Vday Present" from him? An sms which read:

"Happy Flogging Day"

My boyfriend. With all the romance of a glacier. And a sense of humour to match it.

Hi, see that new link? At the sidebar? Contribute to my Johari Window please! I'm curious to know what you *really* think of me...

"Do you know how Valentine's Day came about?"

"How?"

"No, I'm asking you, because I'm wondering myself.

You see, it used to be that in medieval times there used to be a pagan festival in Feburary. In this festival, young men and women would put their names in an urn, and then take turns to draw out names. You were then considered 'married' to that person for a year. The church later stopped this debaucherous practice and replaced with Valentine's day. "

"Yea, and?"

"There was another pagan practice as well. During this month, people would whip themselves to atone for their sins, and also dedicate themselves to a particular saint, and follow his example for the rest of the month."

"Uh huh."

"And St Valentine's was a priest, so if you followed him, you would have to remain celibate for the month!"

"Uh huh."

"Why do we celebrate Valentine's day anyway? Why did we choose Feb 14 to be Valentine's Day? It's become so commercialised anyway, with all the roses and flowers and the only people who are happy during this time of year are the florists!"

"Yea, and...?"

"Just wondering, that's all."

"BLARDY HELL DUN WANNA BUY VDAY PRESENT THEN SAY LAH! GIMME ALL THIS PAGAN CRAP!"

I think you can figure out who I had the above conversation with.

Find out more about Valentine's Day from Wikipedia

The News in Brief... and Thong

Cow, it's been a while since I updated.... So what's going on with my life since, well, last Monday?

Well, I've been a bad, bad sinner. Especially when I look back at all the food and stuff I consumed over the weekend. ^_^!!! Let's see how badly I need penance:

Work/School:
Am happily skipping lecture with Yenn right now, while blogging and do all sorts of non-work related stuff on the Internet. All this while I have 3 deadlines hanging ominously over my head.

I think I'm just the sort of person that can only work well when it comes to a do-or-be-seriously-fucked situation.

SIN FACTOR = 1

Leisure:
This being just over the weekend, there's just way more stuff to say about this, though I have memories of a lot of cake and ice cream.

Thurs = Lindy nite. We've just finished Lindy 2 [yay!] but we weren't sure enough of our skills to go for the Lindy 3 course yet, so Jules and I decided to just head for the Swing Flings and polish our steps on the dance floor.

Of which we realised that we have a long way to go. As in from here to Harlem.

i trounced like an elephant, forgot moves, lost beats and even cramped a foot ^_^!!! Jules trounced around too, and had the tendency to stick the same dance routine.

This meant that after a while, you realise that he would do the same steps over and over and over and over...etc again while you are dancing with him. After one night, I think I could've led the dance for him even.

To Jules: NO MORE CHARLESTONS!!!

SIN FACTOR = 0 [the Kenny Rogers dinner we had being offset by the exercise on the dancefloor]

Fri nite = Drinking session at Paulaner's to celebrate mine and Quet's turning a quart of a century old. Well done on living so long. Now let's try living for the next 3 quarts. That was followed by cake with Quet and Jules at the old Lips at Cineleisure. [incidentally, they have good, rich chocolate truffle]

SIN FACTOR = 2

Sat nite = I *finally* go for Jap after a 2 week hiatus. I also meet Candle at the Pasta Cafe at Taka for dinner, followed by a Tiramisu al cafe at Coffee club with her and Turt and Jules.

SIN FACTOR = 2

After that, they watched Brokeback but I was too tired, so I didn't follow them. Instead I went to Borders to use my recently-acquired giftcard.

And btw, thanks to the FWFCers for *getting* me Freakonomics and Artemis Fowl for my birthday. "How did you ever guess?" And also make the DF wonder what to get me as a present, now that the obvious solution has been done.

Which brings us to:

Sunday = Wow. This was one of the most eventful days I spent with him yet. We went down to the Botanical Gardens first to look at flowers [yea, what else?] and about a dozen varieties of orchids. [the weirdest being the one dedicated to Arroyo which had twisted petals and looked like a bunch of dried chilli]

Then it was to Marina Sq where he bought the weirdest, qian-pian looking cushion I had ever seen.

Dinner was at Spageddies, but it was really dessert that killed me.

CAKE MELT AT THE TEA ROOM!!!!!!!!!

The Tea Room is next to Max Brenner at the Esplanade and is one of the most expensive dessert places I have ever been to, where the price of cake can go up to $20odd.

It's also the most BLARDY SINFUL, TONGUE-TINGLING, FOOD-ORGASMIC place I've ever been to.

The one piece of Paradise/Hell I had, the Mixed Berry Cake Melt came oozing with rich sticky berry goodness and even had a shot of Tequila Rose as well. [Tequila rose tastes somewhat like a strong, strawberry-flavoured Bailey's and is TOTALLY yum.] The first bite I had, with the mixed berry crushing its juice into my throat and the rich texture of the melted cake, made my tastebuds scream with absolute delight.

I swear I nearly had a climax there and there. Major food orgasm.

They're really famous for their Bailey's cake melt though, but apparently it's become so popular since I ate it almost 6 months ago, that you now have to call to make a reservation for the cake! I swear, it's that good.

And the Shepherd's Pie he ate was like nothing ever. It was like, a SOLID POTATO CAKE swimming in a kiddy pool of creamy mushroom sauce, lightly seasoned to taste oh-so-good.

I have to admit, there are advantages to having a boyfriend that is a diehard food addict.

SIN FACTOR = OFF THE BLARDY SCALE.

Now let me atone for my sin...... by going vegetarian for the rest of my life.

YEA RIGHT!!!!!

"Do you know how Valentine's Day came about?"

"How?"

"No, I'm asking you, because I'm wondering myself.

You see, it used to be that in medieval times there used to be a pagan festival in Feburary. In this festival, young men and women would put their names in an urn, and then take turns to draw out names. You were then considered 'married' to that person for a year. The church later stopped this debaucherous practice and replaced with Valentine's day. "

"Yea, and?"

"There was another pagan practice as well. During this month, people would whip themselves to atone for their sins, and also dedicate themselves to a particular saint, and follow his example for the rest of the month."

"Uh huh."

"And St Valentine's was a priest, so if you followed him, you would have to remain celibate for the month!"

"Uh huh."

"Why do we celebrate Valentine's day anyway? Why did we choose Feb 14 to be Valentine's Day? It's become so commercialised anyway, with all the roses and flowers and the only people who are happy during this time of year are the florists!"

"Yea, and...?"

"Just wondering, that's all."

"BLARDY HELL DUN WANNA BUY VDAY PRESENT THEN SAY LAH! GIMME ALL THIS PAGAN CRAP!"

I think you can figure out who I had the above conversation with.

Find out more about Valentine's Day from Wikipedia