Yes, I still live. In case anyone [anyone at all?] was worried by the lack of entries in this blog, I still live, albeit barely.

Anyway, lemme tell u about the fiasco that was Cabaret.

Firstly, I had planned to watch this musical with Juls a long time ago, so about a couple weeks ago, I duly went down to book the tix.

On Thurs morning, on the way to work, I was musing over the thought of watching it that night, and I took out the tix to check again what time was the show.

And found out that the date on the ticket was: WEDNESDAY NIGHT

And I had paid about $70 for each ticket.

I don't think I need to type down all the unsavory words that passed through my mind at that point of time.

I depressingly smsed Juls at work, telling him about it and telling him that he no longer owed me the $70, fool that I am.

Luckily for us though, Juls had less of a defeatist attitude than I did. We still met up, and rushed to the Esplanade, where Juls told the receptionist how we had asked for Thurs night but got Wed night instead. I didn't hear the entire conversation, cos I was quietly fretting in a corner, but the end result was that they found that there were still seats in our category and they let us in to watch the show after all. [Yay!!!]

I owe quite a debt of gratitude to the polar after this.

So we still managed to catch the show!



Overall, I have to say the singing and the acting weren't half bad, but I do think there were many aspects that could have been better. For one, considering that the title of the musical was 'Cabaret', you would think the cabaret in the play would have occupied a larger role than that. As it was, it seemed to be a very minor side player.

Also, the revolving set design concept is so old already. I've seen it so too many stage productions for it to have any novelty anymore.

I guess overall, it was ok, but I don't think very memorable.

Kyo, Yenn-san wa 'Anta no blog wa nani mo aranai yo' to iita. Hai, muzukashiikara, nani mo kaita. Doomo sumimasen. :p

Kyo, watashi to Yenn wa Level 3 kara gougakushimashita. Omedetou! Korekara, watashitachi wa Level 4 no gakusei.

Speech o kiiteru nagara, sannen no nihongo no benkyo o omotteita. Hajimeta toki, 'watashi wa Aki-san desu. Doozo yooroshiku' shika wakaranakatta. Heta ne! Ima, joozu ni narimasen ga, heta ni narimasu. :) Ima, nihonjin ga hanashiteru, 80% o wakatteiru. Ii desu yo! Ganbatte!

Eh, for you gaijins, sumimasen, eh? :p Needed some of the writing practice after receiving one of the most horrendous marks ever for my Jap test. X( Even though I passed, well, I think I might've scored higher if I had actually studied, so well, like that lor. :p

The days have been passing just, like that, for me. Somedays, I feel as if I'm not so much as getting through the day, as being dragged through it. I know of no other way to describe that feeling other than that, though I would think that many of you working types may know what I'm talking about.

I think one of the aspects of the job I seriously dislike is how it spills over into personal time. Time supposed to be spent recuperating energy and clearing oneself mentally is instead spent thnking of the next day's work, or scouting for resources for the next few lessons. X( I know teaching is supposed to be a vocation, but if this workload goes on, the govt is left with 2 alternatives:

1. All the teachers with anything less than a life-binding passion for teaching leave, which leaves those with a real life-forsaking passion for the job tempted to leave as well.

2. Most of the teachers stay, because of the pay, but they spend so much time on the job that they all become spinsters, causing the national birthrate to spiral further downwards.

Which is why after Yenn and I met in town today, I was so reluctant to return home. Because to return home would be to face the reality of my LPs and the ending of the weekend. It's as if by staying out, I would be able to delay the inevitable and delude myself that little longer.

Of course, this never works. *Sigh* But at least it was nice to reclaim my humanity for a while.

He meets the Rest of the Family

It's been a long time since I had anything really blogworthy in my life [you know, the kind that doesn't leave me liable to legal action by govt bodies] and finally here's one!

My Aussie grandma goes back to Australia this Thurs so b4 she left, she had one grand cookout at my uncle's house, inviting all the close relatives on her side of the family. And of course, the DF was invited.

I think the first time he met my grandma, while she was drinking her 2nd mug of Tiger, still didn't adequately prepare him for the shock that was my mother's side of the family. For one, dinner was already well underway when we arrived, which also meant that my grandma and uncle were quite comfortably high by that time.

Much to his chagrin, because for one, my grandma couldn't get his name right, and ended up calling the shortened version of it. [imagine calling him by the first syllable of his name and you get what I mean.] It made him sound like his was some, I dunno, redneck cowboy or something.
He was also eyebrow-raisingly shocked at the familiar terms on which my backside cousin spoke to him [IJTPs, you know which cousin I'm talking about] and the way the cans of Carlsberg were passed around so freely from uncle to niece to nephew and back to another uncle. All of legal age of course.

He found himself in a most uncomfortable position when my already rather drunk uncle found out that he hadn't touched a drop of beer, a sacrilegious action in his books, and then found out that he was a teetotaller. Horrors of horrors!!! He was just like my other holier than thou uncle who didn't drink, didn't smoke, and never socialized. [kwakwakwa]

And then my grandma managed something that a rare number of people, not even ME had ever managed to make him do before. Between her and my uncle, they managed to get a can of beer into HIS hands, and with much cajoling, ["C'mon then, I'm flying off soon anyway, one sip for me and that's all!"] he was actually going to drink the beer!!!

Ok, so he was only going to take one sip of it, but anyway, I saved him from it by drinking gulps of it everytime they weren't looking, so the can was noticeably lighter much later. :p

I do think my grandma liked him though. She patted his hand while talking to him, slapped his lap, and in one photo, even put her arms around him and pressed her cheek to his! I must show you guys the photo that my dad took of it, because his face in that photo was HILARIOUS!!! [do i have a rival here?]

Of course, it was also possible that my grandma was more than slightly drunk... hahahaha......

Overall though, I think his eyes really opened WIDE at how 'liberal' my family was. [his word, by the way] And comparing his family and mine, I think I agree. Mine is certainly more siao during family gatherings.

Especially when the beer is flowing. :p

Lemme clarify something. In an earlier post, I left a link that was highlighted 'Not to be read by strict Christians' or something like that.

The link would have brought you to the website of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, which, the website proclaims, is responsible for all creation on earth. [ah, nebbe read right? Now regret...]

Is this real? OF COURSE NOT LAH.

The FSM is really a tongue-in-cheek response to schools that teach the Creationist theory as part of legitimate science. The author of the website argues that if schools can disguise religion as science this way, then they should also teach his version of Creation, ie that a Flying Spaghetti Monster is responsible for creating all of us.

Of course, if you're now a fervent believer, by all means, subscribe to that church............ I ain't stopping you. :p

I should really be typing out LPs before I meet him, but instead I've got KOL open in one tab and Blogger in another.

*Sigh* Procrastination is such a big problem with me.......

This is not just because of my job, btw. I've been suffering from this affliction since days of yore in school, where I would gleefully postpone studying in order to read my comics or books or whatever.

Obviously this is not a trait that serves me well in my career. Where I'm trying to convince little ones NOT to follow in my footsteps. -_-!!!!!

After 2 weeks of school and helping out in a major education fair, I'm just of NO mood to care about the Future of our Leaders/Followers/Winners/Potential Dropouts.

Yenn and I were talking last night about our careers and the dangers of Occupational Hazards. [So maybe you wanna skip reading this blog entry if you're reading it. Heh.]

That day, I got up early to go down to help out at the education fair, and I was especially grumpy about it, because there was nothing for me to do except stand outside the class during the 2 hour presentation, followed by help them pack the stuff back to school, and by the time we ended and gotten back to school, it was so drastically late I had to call up and cancel tuition. [Which I would have much preffered to have gone for]

Then someone wanted to talk to the other new teachs about performance appraisals, so we talked. And we talked so late I had no way of going to my Jap class on time. T_T Which made it the 1st time in this year that I skipped Jap class and also something I would have much preferred to have gone for.

The whole shittiness of the job, I will comment on in another blog............

Anyway the end result was that I was tired, my feet were sore, and I was moody about having missed my entire Saturday for something I would not have voluntarily gone for.

here's the hidden Occupational Hazard that you don't usually hear about. OH: Your job seeps into your life.

I have lain awake in my bed at night, trying on one hand to sleep, while ideas for LPs and classroom mgt raced through my head.

I have listened to music on the radio and wondered how to incorporate it into my classroom.

I have spent time daydreaming about how to discipline the kids in the class in a more effective way.

And this is just after 2 freakin' weeks on the job!!!!! What happens after 3?????

Which in a way explains the procrastination and the gaming of Yenn and I. There are times where you just need to sweep everything out of your head. To wipe out the persistent stain of bad memory and kleenex the whole thing. Yenn Maples. I KOL and lindy. And on days like this where my tuition has been suddenly cancelled and I suddenly have free time on my hands, I just don't feel like doing work.

I feel like just enjoying what I have left of the Sunday. And then meet him and enjoy the rest of the weekend together, before I come home and deal with the LPs.

Granted that this job is a vocation, but stretch a person too far and eventually they all start dropping like flies.

Cookie: Not for strict Christians.

Tonight the DF finally returns from Indo, where he's been holidaying with his mom. And about time too. The Illegitimate Husband is good company, but I'm starting to miss the Legitimate Boyfriend more. :p

On the one hand though, I'm thankful that I'm not one of the girls who only have 'couple' friends, or where my only friends are my BF's friends, otherwise I'd be so screwed. Thank heavens for a social life, the Kingdom of Loathing and plenty of schoolwork to get me down. -_-!!!!!!!!!

Just as well today is Youth Day, for all the youths to enjoy and for the overdue youths like me to sleep in late and catch up with some lesson plans. :p when I finally get off the blogging that is.

Withdrawal symptoms aside, here's a sample of the last weekend:

Saturday:
Another Jap class fumble, this time on my end:

Sensei: 'Aki- san wa nani o suru no ga kirai desu ka?' ["what does Aki hate doing?"]
Yenn: 'Aki-san wa hataraku no ga kirai desu.' ["Aki hates working."]

Sensei writes the sentence on the board, and something else. She points to the board, and suddenly calls on me while I'm daydreaming. 'Aki-san?'

'Ah? Eh.... Yenn-san wa hansamu-ja nai otoko no hito to de-to suru no ga....' [Yenn hates dating guys who are not handsome, but the sentence is not completed.]

A very surprised 'Eh.....?????????' from Sensei and laughter from the floor follows. Apparently Sensei had written 'joozu' [good at] on the board, and had expected me to answer with a sentence on what Yenn was good at doing. Which according to me, now happens to be 'Yenn is good at dating ugly guys'.

Ok, so she's not the only one who ever fumbles during class..........

Later after class and dinner, we have so much pent-up energy and are so bored, we follow the Singapore River all the way from the Esplanade, to Clarke Quay, to Robertson Quay, and then to Great World City. [yes, that canal next to Great World City is the Singapore River.] From there, we follow the road and finally end up in Orchard where we take a bus back. :p

Heck, I could become a walking tour guide in Singapore. Heh.

Have to admit though, saw a bunch of bars and restaurants that we would never see on the beaten track. Some of the restaurants looked pretty good, and the bars pretty happening, if not for all the plasma screens showing football matches. -_-!!! From Great World to Orchard though is all private residences so not much to see.

Ok, we were that freakin' bored lah, can?

Sunday I went for a piano concert played by the very talented Lee Pei Ming. I must admit, it is a pity that we aren't willing to support our local players, because some of them, like Lee Pei Ming, are very, very good. :) The choice of song was also very interesting, especially the piano remixing of a jazz piece by Thelonius Monk, 'Round Midnight, which required the performer at certain times to reach inside the piano and strum the strings with her fingers! And also take up a stick and make a knocking sound inside the piano. [!!!]

I seem to have a knack of choosing concerts where extremely unconventional sounds are made with the piano. Cue to Jamie Cullum concert. :)

Anyway, she's a good player, so if you ever see her playing anywhere else, try to catch her in action. :)

The DF returns tonight. Finally!

One week on the new/not so new job is already getting to me. I'm not sure whether it's the environment or the job scope or just me.

Pretty much I'm fine with the job. Even the admin work that has come my way so far I've handled all right. Then again, I'm only looking at the admin that has come so far. The duties that it entails is fine. I've had hiccups, and I've had flareups, but so far nothing I've not expected.

It's a bit strange how I eased into that aspect. The first day I ever did it, I died. I died so badly I thought I would never live again. The second time I did it, I was wounded so badly, I thought I'd just bleed to death on the premises.

Now my third time doing it, I've more stuff, I'm still getting wounded. But I'm not dying. [yet, anyway]

Maybe you do get used to it the longer you stay in it. *shrugs*

The one thing so far is that my fatigue seems to be increasing. I think it's something about the hours and the lack of opportunity for food. I wake up early in the morning, still relatively fresh. I grab a cup of milo and I'm out of the house. Halfway during the day, around lunch time, I start to get shagged out. When I finally reach home in the late afternoon, I'm all knackered out and ready for more sleep. :p

I know part of the problem is not sleep, but infrequent meals. Because something always seems to crop up, there have been days when I don't eat lunch, till very late. Which leaves me fatigued. Next week, I'm definitely bringing bread or something to work.........

Work. Man, I've actually grown up and started to do the whole adult thing.

Cookies!

This is really for the Slayer, but also for all those who are sick of going to Swensen's for Earthquakes.

Read about the Vermonster.

And for all those who think the stuff in my room is becoming a potential fire hazard, check out this guy's apato:



Talk about Otaku............

[url=http://the-rye.dreamhosters.com/users/paranoidandroid/bk/][img]http://the-rye.dreamhosters.com/users/paranoidandroid/bk/SD.gif[/img][/url]

A Power Player is I!

And of course, if you don't know what this is all about, To the Kingdom of Loathing you must go!
[this is also why I'm currently a Ravioli Sorcerer]

For other KOLlers, get the quiz here

Escaped by the hair off my fingers

This story just had to be told. It's a good one, trust me.

My grandma [The Australian one who just flew over, remember?] was trying to get the stove working, when she asked me for help. Now if you've never seen it, my stove is a gas stove, those that run with the large blue gas cylinder underneath. To get it to work, you have to switch on the gas, and then press an ignite button till blue flames appear on the surface.

The more quick-minded of you might have already seen where this is going.

Anyway, so my grandma had already put the pot on the stove, and had been trying to ignite the gas when she asked me for help. I checked that she had switched on the gas dial for the right stove, and then bent down so that I could see whether the flame had come on beneath the pot, while pressing the ignite button repeatedly.

PHHHOOOOOOMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The gas ignited in a sudden hellish fury, sending out a circle of blue flame around my stove, diameter of 1m. I actually felt the flame stroke the tops of my fingers in that split split-second before I yelped in terror and jumped 3 feet back.

Thankfully, both my grandma and I are fine. My grandma was standing behind me when it happened, so she was alright, and thankfully my cat-like reflexes weren't that of Garfield's. The only so-called visible damage was to my fingers.

Well, they didn't get burnt, but if you look at two of them, where there used to be hair, there is now hardly any left. Apparently when the flames travelled across my fingers, they also took half of the hair there with them. -_-!!!!!!!!!!!!!

See, I told you it was a good story. >D

So the past few days were spent accompanying my grandma around the area in less dangerous activities. Now if you told my drinking gene came solely from my dad, you will now be surprised. I haven't seen my grandma drink a drop of water since she was here. Instead, it's been:

Breakfast: soya bean milk
Lunch: Tiger
Tea break: Tiger
Dinner: Tiger
After dinner: Tiger
Supper: Tiger

You ever heard about how Australians drink beer like water? It's true. And she's 75 to boot. >D The DF had a horrified look on his face when I told him about her. I think he had this image of a kindly old lady sipping tea or something. Oh so wrong is he.

Surprisingly, though, despite all the beer, she's actually very sprightly at her age. One can only hope I inherited those genes.........

Jamie Cullum In Concert

Absolutely. Fuckin. Brilliant. Concert.

What can I say? The concert was absolutelyfucking brilliant.

For those who don't know [philistines!] Jamie Cullum is a pop/jazz pianist and singer, with 3 albums out so far, Pointless Nostalgic, TwentySomething, [the one that pushed him to the public eye] and Catching Tales, his latest. Why I like him is because not only is he great at jazz, and jazz improvisation, his songs are also witty and brilliant, and I have this thing for Brits. :p

Although I was rather chagrined, when I went into the Suntec hall, only to find out that my $100 tickets, which were the mid-range ones, gave me a seat with this view:


Can you see the very small looking concert stage?

WTF??? I'm only like a few rows away from the cheapest seats lor!!! This is what I paid for?

Ok fine, I sit down and soon the concert starts.

Sidenote: It took this concert for me to realise why the Esplanade was so strict on latecomers. Because the people streaming in after the concert was supremely irritating. Imagine, you're lost in the piano strands of music, and then suddenly, one dark humanoid blob is walking across going, "Sorry, sorry, excuse me..." Argh!!!

Then there were the people who were constantly leaving the concert hall, why??? I didn't get it, because some of those people had obviously paid about $100 for their tix and they were walking out in the middle of the concert in twos! I mean, did you want to watch the concert in the first place? *mystery*

But for those who stayed, what a concert!!! Halfway during, he jumped off stage with the trumpet player and started an improptu performance in the middle of the audience! OF which I totally missed, because of all the rabid female fans surrounding him.... -_-!!!!! Finally I looked at the people beside me, sitting sedately, [not even tapping their toes, sure you enjoy or not!] I looked at the screaming, jumping fans below, and I quickly decided which side was having more fun.

I ran off my seat and to the front of the hall, in response to his invitation to the fans to come to the front. ["Don't worry, they're with us," was what he told the security guard who feebly tried to protest] So from my seated $100 seat, I ended up standing right next to the stage to the left, screaming my head off and thumping the beat on the stage.

This was how near I was:



Trust me, it IS Jamie Cullum.

Er, granted it doesn't look like much, considering I used my HP cam, but trust me, I could've jumped up on stage and ripped his shirt off. :p Funny thing, I never thought of myself as much of a fangirl during my teenage years. I suppose those pubescent hormones kinda laid hormone till I actually had the money to go to these concerts. :p Probably barely explains why a 25 year old girl/woman was screeching and screaming, jumping up and down and thumping her hand in the air or on stage. I was just saving them all for later. :p

Oh, but the concert was GREAT, and especially exciting though wince-inducing was when Jamie would do some stunt on the piano, which he is famous for. I mean, you can't help but pity the piano when he does this:



And I'm not sure whether it was a stunt or what, but after he did this running jump thing to the piano where his fingers were supposed to magically thump the right notes for a particular song, the piano lid actually came off! He tried to put it back, though he didn't quite manage it, but somehow the noise he made in trying to became an impromptu percussion performance! I love that spontaneity! Plus, I'm also sure I've never seen a pianist play the piano by reaching his hand into the body and thumping and plucking the strings. -_-!!! And making it sound good to boot. Kids, do not try this at home. Jamie has insurance

Overall, great concert. :) I'm especially happy that my way-at-the-back seat became a front row stage space. :) :) :)



What a difference you made.

My poor, poor blog. *blows* Almost as much dust around as there was in my hostel room.

And btw, Yenn and I have officially given up the room. We went back today to throw out the last of the trash, and then return the keys and the LAN cables.

The one thing we didn't do was to move back the furniture into its original position :p We figured if the neighbours didn't, and got away with it.........

Man what memories we had in that room. Definitely living away from the family and with someone else to boot is a different and very enriching experience. We learnt a lot of things about each other [some stuff that we would rather not know, as well] we learnt to live with each other [harder than you know] and we still managed not to kill each other at the end of it. Looking at the room, completely devoid of human possessions, and everything that had made it alive and our 2nd home for one year, just seemed...... sad.

So since the last entry was about photos, this one now is dedicated to some of the highlights of the one year's stay:

- Our various assorted neighbours:
The one I thought was a filipino maid but who turned out to be a resident, and who had an assorted of wushu swords in her room
The girl who kept 2 rabbits in her room and whose stink reached out to the corridor
The 2 siao char bo who giggled endlessly and who dragged furniture around at 3 in the morning, driving Yenn insane but never heard by me

- The men below:
The room next to the kitchen on the floor below us, which had a constant STINK emanating from it. First, you smelt it as you walked past the open doorway. Later, you smelt it as you approached the kitchen. The best of all, one day, I smelt it BEFORE I even reached the kitchen doorway, only to find out that the door was closed, and the smell was evidently strong enough to break through it. I have no idea how those guys live like that. Maybe they have no noses.

- The time Yenn got sick and couldn't have the fan on or risk a coughing fit and I nearly died of the heat and suffocation. We stepped very tenderly on each other's toes until I finally bought my standing fan. Later when she recovered fully, that fan became used to blow at her laptop when she left her Maplestory store open 24hours. -_-!!!!!

- The day I brought my new laptop back to the room in its box, all the way from the other side of campus. I huffed and puffed my way back to the hostel, climbed the excruciating 6 stories of stairs, and opened the door only to find Yenn frantically wiping up spilled Milo. Apparently the hook that she had used to hang it on broke while the packet was still hanging on it, sending a packet of Milo crashing [splashing?] to the ground. We spent hours wiping up the mess with toilet paper, because the Milo had seeped everywhere. Months later, Yenn would open a little-used desk cupboard, to find fungus growing there from some Milo she had missed.

- Many afternoon naps and Mapling time when we were supposed to be studying or writing papers.

- The great western food stall in our hostel, and the great Jap store with great fried tofu in the hall next to ours. Many boxes of spaghetti bolognaise imported from NIE.

- Many jokes/threats traded between the two. For eg, throwing each other's underwear out the window, warnings not to engage in illicit sex while the other was out, threats to throw each other's underwear to the guys below, threats to give each other's hp nos to the guys below, threats to burn each other's clothes, threats to call my boyfriend OR the illegitimate husband to come n give me sex already because I was so desperate, threats to call some strange guy to come up and give her sex because she was so desperate.......... Maybe I should stop this section here.

- Other strange people who did strange things around the hostel, like scream "CCB!!!" in the afternoon in an empty car park. *Weird*

So many incidents in just that one year of living. ^_^!!! But somehow it was living and experiencing that with a friend that made it all that much more bearable. And interesting. I'm not sure that if I had to live with a total stranger, I would have had that much fun in campus. And I think that makes all the difference. :)

But at least I'm thankful my underwear is safe now.

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