Okay, I don't have much time to blog now, because my brother is gonna pick me up soon - we're going to my primary school teacher's house to visit her before she delivers in approximately 2 weeks time. Haven't seen her for ages - think its going to be very very awkward (argh). I just hope I don't die from the awkwardness or something. But then I think my throat's gonna kill me first so I don't think it seriously matters.
Anyway, had econs 's' outing with my econs 's' clique (sans Suan who's in China right now!) on Thursday (26/06/07) Ailin and Huilin are both back, so Weishu organised a get together to celebrate Ailin's belated birthday. Went to Suntec to eat Xiao Long Baos because the girls are sick of Western food, having been studying in Western countries for the past 9 months or so. After that went to TCC to drink coffee and chit chat and catch up. Brought back lots and lots of memories of the numerous econs 's' lessons, where we did nothing but talk cock because we didn't bother to listen to what the teacher was talking about, or because we just didn't understand what was being taught. Plus all the numerous outings as well, where on the surface it was supposed to be some discussion meeting for our projects etc, but ended up being a talk cock session or something like that. And the way the girls always bully me and Weishu - either asking me to treat them to ice cream or asking Weishu to do utterly stupid stuff. The sad thing was the two of us usually do as they commanded us to do... which is quite pathetic really. Oh and the fact that we like to make fun of various members of the Hwa Chong Economics Department! Always a favourite hobby of mine. =p
Everyone from 04s71 seems to be so damn busy, even though its like the holiday season. Its seriously hard to organise a class outing with a respectable attendance right now. Will try to organise one seriously big get together before the holidays end, when I am certain that everyone is back from their various overseas trips/attachments/CIPs and stuff. National Day looks good though... shall plan it out.
Wonderwall - Oasis Today is gonna be the day That they're gonna throw it back to you By now you should've somehow Realized what you gotta do I don't believe that anybody Feels the way I do about you now
Back beat the word was on the street That the fire in your heart is out I'm sure you've heard it all before But you never really had a doubt I don't believe that anybody feels The way I do about you now
And all the roads we have to walk along are winding And all the lights that lead us there are blinding There are many things that I would Like to say to you I don't know how
Because maybe You're gonna be the one who saves me ? And after all You're my wonderwall
Today was gonna be the day? But they'll never throw it back to you By now you should've somehow Realized what you're not to do I don't believe that anybody Feels the way I do About you now
And all the roads that lead to you were winding And all the lights that light the way are blinding There are many things that I would like to say to you I don't know how
I said maybe You're gonna be the one who saves me? And after all You're my wonderwall
I said maybe You're gonna be the one who saves me? And after an You're my wonderwall
Said maybe You're gonna be the one that saves me You're gonna be the one that saves me You're gonna be the one that saves me ______________________________________________________________
Brings back memories. Been in a reminiscing mood of some sorts this week - been listening to all the old indie/punk/alternative rock hits from the late 90s. Nice songs though.
I think my throat is getting from bad to worse. I feel like resting in bed all day, but with driving at 1640, its really not possible. Crap.
And after all, you were my wonderwall. Can't stay mad at you forever, can I?
On Tuesday evening (26/06/07), I went to Ang Mo Kio Hub for what was supposed to be a 4I meddies gathering. Unfortunately due to certain reasons, only 3 of the 5 of us turned up. I have no idea if David actually invited Yih Chyn or not, and since Zejia was down with a fever, it was just him, me and Bingcheng.
We had dinner at New York New York. I had a juicy burger, which was really juicy. I had quite a messy time eating that burger which kept leaking juices all over the bloody table. It was quite a nightmare, but in the end, I managed to consume that burger as best as I could. Apart from the fact that it was dripping juices like a leaky sponge, it actually tasted quite good! Also had a rather nice bowl of vegetable soup, which was quite delicious actually. Tasty and healthy to boot!
After dinner, it was just more aimless wandering. There wasn't much movies to watch, and although David wanted to watch Nancy Drew, I absolutely refused to watch that film - so in the end, we didn't watch any movies. (I'm sorry David, but you can watch the movie another time. Just don't do it with me around.) I was also struck by a sudden urge to buy a box of durian pancakes for my family, and ended up queuing for an hour just to buy a box of 5 durian pancakes. In the end, to reward myself for my amazing show of resilience and patience, I also purchased a box of 20 durian puffs. Unfortunately, I am now suffering from a sore throat due to an over indulgence in durian puffs - I ate around 10 of the puffs for supper last night and woke up with the feeling that someone had plugged my throat with goo. So I'm not so fond of my durian puffs anymore. Instead, I've been trying to remedy the situation by eating lots of strepsils and drinking lots of warm water. I think I need to rest before the goo accumulates and spills out of my nostrils and ear holes or something. Argh.
Once I had purchased my Durian goods, we sat down at the fountain for some good old reminiscing. Its amazing that I can still remember the exact sitting arrangement of my secondary 4 classroom. And I can remember the names and characters of the people in it too. Unfortunately, I have lost contact with quite alot of them. I probably am aware of only approximately half of their whereabouts - the rest are really just... non-existent to me right now. Its quite sad, but the truth is I was never that close to my secondary 3/4 classmates in Chinese High - I had a very small circle of friends in 3/4I, was friendly to the some of them, and basically didn't really bother socializing much with the rest of the class.
I think I've changed quite a lot since my days in Chinese High. David and Bingcheng were both saying that I've changed, but exactly how I had changed, is still a sort of mystery to me. Bingcheng was telling me that I was 'very anti-establishment' during my days in Chinese High, and used to frighten people off because I was 'always sulking and in a sullen mood' whereas David said I 'didn't like to talk much' and was 'just very different'. I guess they were right. I remember being a very very angry kid in Secondary school. I was definitely very anti-establishment, I despised the majority and would usually choose to do things my own way, and would select a path that would obviously deviate very greatly from the general consensus. I definitely didn't bother to socialize. If I met a group of strangers, I wouldn't bother to be the first one to offer a handshake or make an effort to get to know you - I was more of like the guy who would just not care: if you wanted to talk to me, I would most certainly talk to you, but if you didn't want to, I wouldn't care either. (I know, I know, very AP right? But what to do? I was that kind of person then.)
And with regards to teachers, I remember being the kind of student who would respect the teachers I felt were competent, but would utterly loathe those that I felt were incorrigible, so much so that I wouldn't care if my grades for that respective subject would suffer as - as long as I hated that teacher, I would develop an intense dislike for that subject as well. That was the reason why I was failing my A-maths in Secondary 3, because I felt the teacher who was teaching us was a fraud, so I refused to do well and put in effort for mathematics. And when our maths teacher was changed in Secondary 4, my grades for mathematics saw a definite improvement, only because I respected the new teacher and his teaching style. And my intense dislike for physics could be attributed to the fact that I felt that my physics teacher in secondary 3 and 4 was an absolute joke. He was basically a male Trelawney, and he looked the part to boot, with his over-sized spectacles that made him look like a dragonfly or something, plus his tendency to speak in overenthusiastic/overmystical gestures about things like waves and forces and light rays. I was so turned off by his nonsensical teaching style that I became rather turned off with the subject he was attempting to teach as well, and thus, this officially led to the demise of what little interest I had in physics.
So yeah. I think I have long moved on from those angry, angsty days. I still think some things won't change, such as the fact that I'm pretty anti-establishment, and also the fact that I tend to choose to path I want to choose, even if its not exactly the path most traveled. But I think I've definitely mellowed over the years, I'm less reckless in that area these days - I'll actually stop to think about the consequences before doing anything too drastic. I think I've definitely lost my edge now. And I won't be non-conformist just for the sake of being non-conformist, which is something I definitely would do sometimes when I was in Secondary school. I am still proud of the fact that I have non-conformist tendencies, or even a social conscience that's more skewed towards causes that aren't necessarily supported by the majority. But of course, I'm also a bit conservative as well, so I guess I'm more of a conservative liberal or liberal conservative (whichever term you prefer to use.)
And in terms of socializing, okay, I think JC changed that considerably. I think I'm definitely more open to making friends and socializing these days, at least I know I'm no longer that kind of person who chooses to be a hermit. I definitely talk alot now, in fact I think sometimes talk too much. But I guess there's still a limit as to the amount of friends I choose to make - and when I meet people that are just acquaintances, I tend to revert back to my old character of avoiding them, or ignoring them even, because I seriously don't know how to relate to them - a kind of shock or even fear courses through me every time I meet someone that I recognise but isn't close to. I'll be gripped with a sudden urge to hide or disappear as fast as I can. Don't ask me why, I'm just like that. Its just a innate part of my character to not want to have to socialize with people that I am not close to. Maybe I fear the perceived awkwardness of the situation. Yes that has to be it. I am very very fearful of awkward situations. Especially awkward silences - they KILL ME.
I think one thing comes clear from such reminiscing sessions of old classmates - its a pity that I wasn't more into keeping contact with old friends. Just that well, the people I was really close to were the CO kids, and not 4I. My loyalty was to my CCA and not my class then. But things change when people grow older and develop as individuals. I don't really know whether I've changed alot or changed very little - I guess that's up to the people who have known me since Secondary School. But one thing is for certain; whether we change for the better or the worse, its best not to overindulge in what is nothing more than memories of the past. Let us instead, work on paving the way to a better future.
I met up with Justin Chen and my cousin, Astee on Monday night (25/06/07) for dinner at Vivocity.
Yes, you read that right. I met up with Justin Chen and my cousin, Astee. Which probably leads to the next question, which has to be - how did the 3 of us end up being on such good terms so as to end up going on outings together? Let's see. Astee is my cousin. We are actually related by blood! WOW! Astee knows Justin because they were members of the International Chemistry Olympiad team during our J2 year, and being fellow Chem-geeks, they tend to go gaga over anything related to chemistry. (These chem-geeks are weirdos!) Justin and I have been in the same school for 6 years, been in the same CCA for 6 years, so its only natural that we know each other. Besides, he owes me a great deal because I was nice enough to help him vet through his University application essays, so yeah, he OWES me, big time!
So anyway, Justin organised the outing. So we, the unlikely trio, went to Vivocity, which my dear cousin hasn't been to yet, since she has been in London for the past nine months. We went to Marche, because there was just too many things around Vivo, many of which require you to command a rather powerful paycheck to have a decent meal, and since we didn't really have a preference as to where we wanted to eat, I felt the best place to go went you aren't sure of what you want to eat is Marche. So Marche it is. I had my favourite French Crepe! Unfortunately, I ordered the wrong flavour - wanted my favourite ham and cheese crepe, the classic one, but I wasn't thinking when I told the cook that I wanted a mushroom and cheese crepe. Oh well, the mushroom crepe wasn't that bad though, but I would still have preferred it if I had my classic crepe. The best thing about dinner though was that I didn't have to pay for it, cause Justin was treating me and my cousin. I dunno what my cousin did to deserve the treat, but anyway, Justin treated me because he OWES me for helping him go through his countless Uni entrance essays, so yeah, I DESERVED the treat. Hah!
After that, we went walking around looking for a place to eat dessert. In the end, Justin, being the cheapo that he was, suggested we go to Giant to buy a tub of ice cream to share among the three of us. I was quite exasperated with that idea, because you just shouldn't go to Vivo just to eat some kind of cheapo Wall's ice cream. Unfortunately, my cousin thought that that was kinda fun too, so I was out-vetoed by the both of them. So we ended up buying some tub of chocolate ice-cream but I guess we came to a compromise and decided not to buy some cheapo brand like Wall's or Nestle (we bought Swensen's) and because we realised we didn't have spoons, we decided to 'kope' spoons from the Kopitiam there. It was quite funny, cause we went around the stores looking for spoons to steal and it was so obvious that we were up to no good. But in the end, Justin managed to steal 2 metal spoons for us to share, and we took our wares to the top floor to enjoy our dessert. (when we wanted to leave, he actually insisted we return the spoons to the Kopitiam. I was of the notion that we just throw them away, whereas Astee wanted to keep them as souvenirs. In the end, we followed Justin's advice after he started to nag non stop about the morality behind returning stolen spoons. Argh!)
We ended up basically chatting and chatting about lots of strange stuff/people/events really. Its amazing that somehow, though the three of us came from rather different backgrounds (Astee's from RGS and RJ, and though Justin and I are both from TCHS and HCJC, we were always from different classes) and are all going into very different fields/futures, the people we know are all strangely closely related. It just goes to show how limited our social circles really are, and how we are all interlinked to one another by the strangest ways possible. This is especially so if you are a student from one of the so-called top schools in S'pore, be it Secondary Schools or JCs. But yeah, so being the gossip mongrels that we all are, we ended up talking about lots of different people that we somehow, find ourselves sharing a common 'interest' in. It was quite weird really, because, yeah, I was basically gossiping with my cousin and my friend about other people. There's of course, nothing wrong with the whole gossiping with a friend part, but gossiping with your cousin!? Feels like I'm gossiping with a twin sister or something... which is the bad part about having a cousin in the same year who is just about a month younger than you. Your secrets aren't safe at all! Because if information about people from other schools can come to you, information about you can also go to people from other schools! So Astee if you are reading this, don't go spreading my secrets and quirks to other people I don't know! (And seriously, no one should know about Lord Voldemort's secrets.)
All in all, it was a strange quirky night. I had fun hanging out with this unlikely combination of companions. And to cap it off, I had a long bus ride home - perfect time for quiet contemplation.
WOO HOO! Am I the only one out there who is absolutely pique about the upcoming Transformers movie? I honestly can't wait for it to hit local shores - which should be tomorrow actually.
Ignore the rather low quality of the trailer up there. It was the best I could find out of youtube. And I'm sure all of you can see that its the Japanese trailer, given the Japanese subtitles and the way the announcer proclaims the name of the movie at the end! I love the way he announces 'Transformers'. So typical of a Japanese.
I don't think I can consider myself a Transformer fanatic/geek, but I do know that I am a fan of it. I never did manage to collect any old toys or merchandise, but I remember watching the cartoons and even the cartoon movie that was made when I was young, and becoming sorta obsessed with names like Optimus Prime, Rodimus Prime, Megatron, Starscream, Bumblebee, and the Dinobots! I loved the Dinobots! Come to think of it, my favourite character was always Rodimus Prime, which to the uninitiated, is the successor of Optimus Prime after the latter got shut down or something. But anyway, Rodimus isn't in the upcoming movie because Optimus is still around. (Okay, somehow, the whole chunk up there sorta indicate that I was a Transformer geek, but I assure you, I'm not that big a Transformer geek... I'm more of a Starwars and LOTR and HP geek!)
The series has really come a long way now... from the blocky animation to the high tech wizardry we see today. The TV spots and trailers look great. I like the fact that the robots actually look realistic, although there were lots of controversy over the updating of the robots like Bumblebee becoming a Camaro instead of a Volkswagen beetle, Megatron no longer becoming a giant cannon etc. I think its okay as long as they don't deviate too much from the original personalities of the characters. It'll be like the famous 'make Snape a blonde' or 'Arwen a kick ass super heroine' examples, no one would buy it. So as long as the robots have personalities similar to their original forms, I'm absolutely okay with them being spiffed and spiced up for the movie.
"Whoever finds this, my car is ALIVE!" You have no idea kid, no idea at all.
Oh yeah, I read in today's newspaper that the whole cast of 'Heroes' is coming to Singapore for some world tour! Can you imagine that? The likes of Peter, Claire, Hiro and Sylar all walking around looking at the Merlion and the Esplanade? How cool is that!
Method: Blend at a low speed for 30 seconds. Add lovability to taste! Do not overindulge!
Personality cocktail From Go-Quiz.com Somehow, the part about 'mercy' reminds me of a line in Harry Potter - "'No Draco,' said Dumbledore quietly. 'It is my mercy, and not yours, that matters now.'" I think the quiz is quite true though. Although I would prefer they delete the 'leadership' part, I much prefer not being a leader.
Alternatively, an easier way to 'make a Damian' would be to have an adult male and an adult female donate some gametes, allow them to fuse together, incubate the zygote formed for 9 months in a functioning uterus and name the child that is delivered "Damian". What a stupid quiz.
Which of the X-men do you resemble most?
You are Beast of the X-men!With all that knowledge upstairs it's hard to relate to people. Sometimes you just find yourself enjoying a lab expeiriements. you are an adventurer and a great friend! Take this quiz!
What Path Do You Take In Life? [X]For Guys and Gals! Pics and Lengthy Results.[X]
B:
You take the Road Less Traveled. Who wants to go where everyone else has already gone anyway? You look for the hidden paths, ones most don't see and don't care to venture down. You go boldly and stand proud discontent with what's been put in front of you, determined to find a way perfect for you even no one else will take it with you. You live as you want and not for others, but be careful not become selfish. Others may need you and you should be there for them, especially the ones close to you. You tend to be the leader in most situations and people listen and trust you not lead them astray. Your firm in your opinions and beliefs and unwilling to change yourself to suit other people. By the same token, you can be stubborn to a fault, change isn't always a bad thing you know. Everyone changes and grows, you shouldn't try to stay exactly the same or you could be left behind. Then again, you may change frequently. Some people change to fit in, you my little non-conformist, may change to be set apart. It's great to be different, but it's also just as great to have things in common with people, even if those people are in that "crowd" you seem to have a vendetta against. Don't try to be different, just be who you are, whoever that is and you'll be unique all on your own. So make some time for people, let yourself blend into the crowd every once in awhile, you may just learn something about them and yourself you never knew before.
Skill, wisdom, adaptation. Craft, cunning, depending on dignity.
Eleoquent and charismatic both verbally and in writing, you are clever, witty, inventive and persuasive.
The Magician is the male power of creation, creation by willpower and desire. In that ancient sense, it is the ability to make things so just by speaking them aloud. Reflecting this is the fact that the Magician is represented by Mercury. He represents the gift of tongues, a smooth talker, a salesman. Also clever with the slight of hand and a medicine man - either a real doctor or someone trying to sell you snake oil.
"Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life)" - Green Day Another turning point, a fork stuck in the road Time grabs you by the wrist, directs you where to go So make the best of this test, and don't ask why It's not a question, but a lesson learned in time
It's something unpredictable, but in the end it's right. I hope you had the time of your life.
So take the photographs, and still frames in your mind Hang it on a shelf in good health and good time Tattoos of memories and dead skin on trial For what it's worth it was worth all the while
It's something unpredictable, but in the end it's right. I hope you had the time of your life. It's something unpredictable, but in the end it's right. I hope you had the time of your life. It's something unpredictable, but in the end it's right. I hope you had the time of your life. __________________________________________________________
One of my favourite songs of all time.
This song always reminds me of Prom, which is weird because it was NEVER played during my Prom, though I cannot understand why. Its such a Prom song. But I guess the conservative administration wouldn't have allowed it in the first place - anything with the words 'Good Riddance' in it is probably too scandalous for the HCJC administration. I did however use this song as the foundation for my entry about Prom two years ago. I thought it was one of my best entries ever. Unfortunately, Diary-x promptly died and never came back again and thus, that entry is now lost forever in time. Still, this song always brings back memories of my JC life - it was fun, it was tiring, I really had the time of my life.
A big thank you to Lileng for buying Green Day's "International Superhits" for my birthday! I've been wanting to get this album for ages. I love the album, and it has lots of Green Day's older hits like 'Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)', 'Minority', 'Walking Contradiction', 'When I Walk Around', 'Warning' - just to name a few. I love the cover too. Very retro. In fact, its the inspiration for the Med DnD poster that I'm still trying to complete in time for Samantha (dateline's this coming Wednesday!). I hope the poster turns out nice, so far its uncoloured and waiting for me to scan into the computer for colouring. Feeling a bit stressed about it, cause I don't want it to be rubbish really, but when it comes to posters and hand drawn artwork, the finished effect is often very different from what you may initially intent it to be, so I guess we'll see how it goes.
Two of my friends - Kai Liang and Wilson, turned 20 on 21st June. So happy birthday to both you guys!
Anyway, I think Kai Liang's abroad, so all I did was send him an SMS greeting. Hope he received it. As for Wilson, I met up with my 2 Sig BN buddies in the evening to celebrate Mr Bear-Bear's birthday. So after my afternoon spent with Lileng and Suan, I went to meet the guys at Dohby Gaut in the evening for dinner at Manhattan Fish Market.
Me, Xiao Hui, Vincent, Wilson, Kaiming, Wei Liang
I didn't take much photos, cause *cough* erm, I forgot to charge my batteries after returning from Europe. Yeah yeah, I know, its been what, at least a week since I've been back but I'm such a lazy procrastinator, so much so that I just couldn't bring myself to find my charger and recharge the batteries. In my defence, I did switch batteries before leaving home, just that I forgot the minor fact that both of my batteries were actually flat, so switching them didn't make much of a difference.
Anyway, we bought Wilson a small little Powerpuff Girls cake. I think he really loved it.
After dinner we decided to go walk around. The initial plan was to get Wilson drunk (my army friends are such typical army boys. Tsk tsk!) but as we finished dinner at a rather early time of 1930, we realised that there wasn't any place open that early to get someone drunk. We checked the theatres to see if we could find anything worth watching, but the timings weren't good so we scrapped the whole idea of watching a movie as well. So in the end, we decided to play pool. It was quite funny cause as usual, my amazing lack of skill in pool resurfaced again. I'm really bad at pool, because of several reasons:
1. I can't seem to choose the right ball to target. I have this apparent lack of common sense in choosing balls to hit, so much so that my friends will help me point out really obvious targets and I'll think to myself 'That was pretty obvious. Why didn't I notice that before?!?'
2. I have this amazing ability to hit the white ball such that it jumps, leapfrogging the ball I'm supposed to hit before coming back to earth and hitting some other ball that definitely wasn't my initial target. Apparently my friends think its some sort of skill - I say its just because I'm really crap at pool.
3. I am horribly attracted to the black No.8 ball. Somehow or another, I always end up committing suicide - my aim will go awry and I'll end up hitting another ball into the slots. Unfortunately, that ball always happens to be the black no.8, thus bringing my desperate attempts at staying alive to a premature end.
4. I don't really have an understanding of the physics behind the game. I know that there's lots of physics undertones in pool, with angles and forces and calculations and hit-here-and-the-ball-will-end-up-there logic. Unfortunately, I am a complete fool at physics. (some can argue that I have very little patience for common sense or logic as well) As such, I find it hard to visualize all the tips or points that my friends are trying to make. All I can think of when I play pool is to hit any ball - even if its not one that I'm supposed to hit (muahahaha!).
After pool (where I had quite a good time laughing and marveling at my amazing lack of skill in the game) we went to TCC for a little bit of caffeine and good old chit-chatting. The guys are ORD-ing in 4 to 5 months time. We discussed quite alot of plans to meet up in NUS in the coming year, cause quite a number of us are studying there. I'm actually going to be 2 years their senior when they enter the University, how weird is that? But oh well, we were saying that we should meet up in NUS, and I'll end up turning up in office year cause I'll be in clinicals by then. In fact, it'll probably be a miracle if I even managed to find time to turn up, especially if I end up getting posted at some other hospital other than NUH. But oh well. Sounds fun. It'll be cool to meet other guys of our age walking around NUS.
In the end, we never got down to getting Wilson drunk. Our dear old Cinderello, Vincent was harping to get home by 12 so we decided to call it a day after TCC. Vinnie was nice enough to send me home since we live so close to each other - he received his civilian license after getting back from Taiwan. He dropped Kaiming at a bus stop on the way back and after that it was a nice smooth drive back to my estate. I must say, its nice to have a friend who lives near you and who has a license, so so convenient. Still, can't wait to get my own. Hope I pass the 1st time round though. I think I'll get quite sianified if I failed the first time round and would probably end up procrastinating for some time before I actually attempt the test again.
I met up with Lileng today to watch Shrek the Third at GV Marina. Suan was supposed to meet us but because she was so busy with preparations for her overseas CIP trip, she didn't reach until around 1500 hr. So it was just the two of us for the movie.
Anyway Shrek the Third wasn't as bad as many reviews put it to be. I thought it was very funny - its been ages since I laughed that much. I think its because there were lots of in-jokes and adult humour in it, or at least more so compared to the previous two installments of the Shrek series, so much so it that its jokes weren't very obvious and required some level of thinking before one can understand them. But it was still pretty intelligent I guess, which is what the Shrek series is well known for. I love the fact that the jokes aren't obvious - means you have to have some level of maturity and intelligence to really get them. I guess the reason why the reviews about it was so bad was probably due to the fact that there wasn't anything fresh or exciting about it - people are probably used to the kind of humour it had and were expecting something new, something more. I thought it was quite sad though, that Lileng and I were the only ones laughing so loudly in the theatre; the families of parents with their kids there probably didn't get the jokes or something.
Its been ages since I met up with Lileng and Suan. The last time I met the two of them for our little trio gatherings was way back in December, at the end of CA1. It was nice to meet up with them, chatting and stuff. So many things have happened in the past 6 months and I guess it was inevitable that they started asking me about relationship stuff. But it was nice catching up. And, like always, they dragged me along for shopping, asking for my opinions and views concerning female fashion apparels like its part of some personality test or something.
I was particularly freaked out by the Mango Sale. It was madness, like stepping onto some sort of battle ground where blood thirsty girls were out hunting and snatching apparently good buys from each other. It was just... madness. I felt like a fish out of water, and every attempt for me to find a corner where I could remain inconspicuously hidden was wrecked by the fact that every corner seemed to be occupied by some sale crazy female trying to see if some article of clothing would fit them. I think I was poked by at least 10 different clothes hangers, pushed about by females laden with shopping bags and clothes and stepped on at least 5 times in my short 20 minutes there. It was one hell of an experience. I don't really understand what the fuss was about the Mango sale. I was asking the girls if the clothes were really good or something, but both gave me replies that indicated that Mango clothes aren't that fantastic or well made - in fact, the only impression I got about Mango is that the clothing chain really slash their prices during sales and thus the clothes on offer become significantly cheaper. Still I think its not really worth it to brave the crowd so as to get some pieces of clothing when its not exactly dead cheap, but what the heck, its not really my business to point that out to female shoppers.
Xiuzhen was giving me a long long talk yesterday about erm... relationships. I guess she took the cue to start after reading the last bit on my blog entry yesterday and sorta guessed that I'm not really over the whole fiasco of a relationship, so she gave me loads and loads of advice. It was quite a weird conversation really. I had no idea that a conversation that started with the assertion that Spongebob Square Pants is quite an intellectual cartoon could actually turn into one in which two rather depressed people start discussing the fundamentals of a break up.
One of the main things we discussed about was that you'll eventually feel numb about it. Unfortunately, I don't think I'm in that stage yet. I have no idea which stage of grief (or whatever you call it) I'm currently in. I've most certainly worked my way out of denial but I guess I'm still not really ready to just let it all go. Not that I haven't been trying. Just that sometimes, when you are alone, with absolutely nothing to do, the pangs of sadness just hit you, and you just can't help but wonder if she's in as much pain as you're in. And then you try to deflect the pain by forcing yourself to be occupied with something, be it computer games, blogging, tv... anything. But that feeling that you still lack something in life still lingers somewhere in you and when the distraction you throw upon yourself finally wears off, you are left right where you started in the first place - still feeling a bit sad about it. (and I guess my habit of listening to lots of sad songs when I'm feeling down doesn't really help to elevate my mood.)
Another point to note - I don't think I'm ready to let it go because, lets face it, the break up was just a couple of months ago. Xiuzhen reckons that that's long enough a period of time to stop mulling over a relationship, but I dunno, I still think its too short a period to even try to get over it. I guess all I'm saying is that I still need time. I had hoped the 3 weeks in Europe would help lessen the pain of the transition and I guess talking about it with my travel mates during interrogation sessions helped a bit, but still, I need more time to deal with it before I reach the point where I can look back and really just take it for what it is. And I guess that's the difference between boys and girls. Boys need to reason with themselves that its all over, to rationalize it all before accepting that its completely over. Girls I dunno, can just deal with it without rationalizing it. But anyway, I just need time. I need time to deal with it. Time to work it all out. Yeah.
Half the time during the conversation, I was lost in my own thoughts actually. I remember that she was just going on and on and I just sat on my chair looking blankly at the words flashing across the screen. Not that I was being rude or anything, because whatever it is, it was very thoughtful of Xiuzhen to pick up the fact that I've been abit unstable since my return to this humid island (even though I have this strange ability to mask as much of it when I'm meeting people) and I truly appreciate the whole talk. But something just struck me halfway through the conversation, a kind of realization that I always get when listening to sad songs, like everything suddenly fits now. And all of a sudden, flashes of the more memorable times we spent together started flashing across my mind again. But the thing is, maybe I'm the only one who bothers with all this reminiscing and wallowing in despair or whatever; she might not even be too affected by all this. In fact, judging by what I know about her, she's probably dealing with it by having lots and lots of fun or throwing herself into a pile of work - she's just too restless a character to stay at home and let the emptiness strike.
Okay. Now that I'm here I don't really know how to continue or conclude this whole entry. Lets just it end here.
Europe has completely screwed up my internal body clock. I slept at 3am after an excruciating effort to sort out the photos for the Europe trip, in which I only managed to complete the transfer of half of the over 8-9 thousand photos that the 6 of us took. I was half expecting (and hoping) to ignore my alarm (set at 0800) and sleep til noon or something so as to get some well deserved (and sorely needed) sleep. Unfortunately, something inside me must have been unhinged by my 3 weeks in Europe, so much so I woke up quite suddenly at 0750, even before my alarm started to ring. And any effort to drift back into sleep again was thwarted by the blasted alarm that really went off just 10 short minutes later.
So I woke up, all grumpy and mad at myself. Had breakfast and decided to get on with sorting out my photos. Which I managed to complete at around 1030, which was perfect because I felt it was high time I posted an entry about the Europe trip (which I had long expected to be a behemoth of an entry), So I promptly started selecting photos to post with the entry. Unfortunately, due to the sheer amount of photos that the 6 of us managed to accumulate among ourselves, I found myself being unable to finish browsing through the photos. In fact, by lunch time, I had only managed to browse through probably less than half of the photos we took. Feeling quite sick of looking at more photos of Europe, I decided to just lay back on photo selection today and continue another time, so I am happy to announce that that gargantuan entry about Europe will have to be further delayed! (Yaaaaayyyyyyy!)
I met up with the 5 of them yesterday to get the complied photos (housed in 4 DVDs), as well dinner at Cafe Cartel and a movie session (Ocean's Thirteen). It was quite a memorable outing because of several reasons:
1. I found out that Century Eggs are no longer allowed to be sold in S'pore. Yes, horrible isn't it? What will happen to my favourite dim sum and porridge dishes in which century eggs form an essential component of the dish's composition? I suggest we observe a minute of silence for the unfortunate demise of century eggs in the hearts and memories of S'poreans.
2. I learnt (the painful and hard way) that there are a series of small path dividers separating the path from PS to Cathay. I was oblivious to their existence and in my usual neurotic state of mind, swung my leg out at one of them, such that torrents of pain coursed through my poor beaten body when my tibia came into contact with that blasted pillar of unforgiving stone, concrete and cement. I was lucky to escape with nary a bruise, though it shouldn't have been a surprise because of the fact that wizards have a higher threshold for physical injuries.
3. I also learnt that a certain friend and travel mate of mine doesn't like fish. This is a blasphemous thing to say, because, as I am sure everyone can see from that little list of my favourite things located on the left hand column of this blog, you would have noticed that Voldemort happens to love fish. I was also shocked to note that this travel mate of mine is also incapable of telling apart the different species of fish that are commonly served in S'pore, which means that she is unable to tell the difference between say, a garrupa, a pomfret and a sea bass. Which I honestly find appalling because... well, they look so different from each other, don't they!?
4. Ocean's Thirteen was quite okay. I think the movie worked because the amazing chemistry among the cast members, because without the amazing cast, the confusing and rather baffling plot would have crushed the whole movie. I thought it was on par with Ocean's Eleven, didn't watch Ocean's Twelve so I can't really compare with it. But yeah, not bad a movie if you want to have some entertainment.
To cap it off, I present to you another favourite song of mine from Sodagreen. I am particularly fond of the lyrics for this rather depressing song; it manages to articulate some of the feelings I've been having after the rather unfortunate business of parting with someone you thought you could (and would) love for a substantial period of time, but then you just sorta know that you have to. Even if you don't want to. Because she (and probably you yourself)just don't want it to continue anymore.
You can try to convince yourself that you've moved on, but even after a million shrugs of "Oh wells!", you'll still find that empty feeling inside - hoping to be filled once more.
Is one in which you wake up at 12 noon, have breakfast/lunch in bed (a plate of hybrid type dumplings with a cup of thick good old English tea) while listening to a disc of one of your favourite bands on the stereo, with "Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince" in your hands.
Oh it would have been better if it were drizzling or raining. But that's entirely up to you.
I am listening to Sodagreen's debut album right now! Feeling quite happy about it. Yup, I went out today to search for that album. I was so so so determined to find the album I actually searched a total of 5 different CD stores for it - HMV, Sembawang (is the company closing down?), Gramophone, CD-Rama and That CD Shop, all because I wanted to buy the CD at the cheapest price possible. I've become such a cheapo. Sheesh.
Anyway, I spent a total of 60 bucks on CDs today. I couldn't help it. There were so many CDs on sale, CDs that I wanted to buy ages ago but put the idea off because of either a lack of budget or lack of time or just simply forgot that I wanted to buy that CD, CDs that I never ever heard of but were being sold a dead cheap prices, so you know, you just got to have it... SO SO many to choose from. Argh. I went mad, just taking random CDs of the rack and telling myself that I've gotta have this and that. I'm gonna try and plough trough my whole stack of CDs later, before I go to sleep. Talk about collateral damage, or in this case, collateral purchases.
Its quite amazing that a simple entry on Sodagreen can be updated 3 times in a single day. What can I say? I turn fanatical sometimes. ____________________________________________________
My favourite Sodagreen song, from their debut album. The vocalist of Sodagreen, 吴青峰 is quite erm... niang. I mean, yeah, if you watch most of their MVs, he has really weird stage presence and actions, involving a series of twitches and rather effeminate actions, which looks like spasms or something. But of course, that could be attributed to the fact that they started out as an amateur underground band (which is how the best bands supposedly come about) so they don't really care about fancy moves or anything.
And oh yes, 吴青峰's voice is also awfully high, in fact, I think he may actually be singing in the key for females. That's how unnaturally high his voice is. Crazy. So you can be forgiven if you thought it was a girl singing the songs in the first place. I dunno how he managed to achieve that voice... its just too high for a guy. But oh well. He is talented. Most, if not all, the tunes and lyrics are composed by him. And who cares if he has quirks? Most of the best song writers have strange quirks - 阿信 of Mayday freaks out if his fringe is messed up, and he needs to wear a baseball cap to cover his face whenever he is outdoors; Chris Martin of Coldplay is a vegan even though he looks like he is malnourished or something; John Lennon digs strange, eccentric girls like Yoko Ono; Paul McCartney married Heather Mills (with her prosthetic leg); Green Day's Billy Joe Armstrong puts on mascara; Elton John loves performing with feather boas around his neck... the list goes on.
Sodagreen's music appeals to me, because it reminds me of emo Brit rock, the branch of rock made famous by bands like Oasis, U2, Coldplay and recently, Snow Patrol. Its more mellow, more emotional that American punk rock, or heavy metal for that matter. Which is the kind of music that appeals to my horribly horribly damaged soul of course. *cough* You don't really find much Chinese Bands these days that are in this mould. Other Chinese bands I am fond of, like Mayday or FIR or 南拳妈妈 follows styles that are somewhat different. Mayday used to be quite emo as well, but recently, their style has been evolving into something slightly more American. FIR takes their inspiration from Jap rock. And 南拳妈妈's source of artistic inspiration is mainly from Jay Chou and his brand of hip hop/asian fusion music.
I just wanted to wax lyrical about Sodagreen's songs really. I'm just deliberately postponing that entry about my Europe trip that you guys know, is bound to turn up sooner or later. Sigh. _______________________________________________
I've been listening to way too much 苏打绿 songs these days. For the uninitiated, 苏打绿 (or Sodagreen) is a Taiwanese band that has recently been making waves in the Chinese Pop Scene. In fact, they just won the award for Best Group/Band at the Golden Melody Awards on Saturday, which is sorta equivalent to the Chinese Grammys. And if memory serves me right, this is actually their second time receiving this award. (They won two years ago when they released their debut album then.) Anyway, I like this particular cover of this rather old song. Apparently its for some charity so its released as a single or something. Like the lyrics, and the way they sang it.
Anyone out there with a copy of their debut album? I'm looking for it at various music stores. Can't seem to find it. Hmmmm. So if you do have a copy of it, do me a favour and lend it to me. Yup.
And for the record, I'm still having difficulty with the whole sleeping according to S'pore time thing. Probably goes to show that my body's too in tune with UK time. Hmmm.
5 Signs That You Are Jet Lagged 1. You sleep for 12 hours on the night of your return from Europe, only to wake up at 1400 hr the next day, resulting in you having to consume your flattened Krispy Kreme Donuts for lunch instead of breakfast.
2. You try to sleep at 2300 hr, only to keep tossing and turning in bed over the next 3 hours, before getting up in frustration to use the internet to play catch up with 3 weeks worth of '康熙来了' episodes.
3. You managed to fall asleep at 0400 hr in the morning, only to promptly wake up 3 hours later at 0700 hr, wondering why the sky is now so bright when it was pretty dark just a moment ago.
4. You resort to reading "Harry Potter and the Order of The Phoenix" before bed to try to instill some sense of drowsiness in you, only to find that after reading seven chapters of the book, you are more piqued up by the desire to keep reading the book through the wee hours of the morning than the idea of catching some sleep.
5. You still feel the urge to convert the time on your clocks to European/UK time, before coming to a stark realization that you are back in Singapore and there really isn't any need to subtract 6/7 hours from the time seen on your timepieces.
I'm back home! Don't think I'll be blogging much today... all I want to do is to lie on my bed and rest after almost 24 hours of madness. Our last day was just... total chaos. We reached the airport late, found out that we had to squeeze all our food into a single bag, squashed all our Krispy Kreme Donuts (I swear I will never ever buy Krispy Kreme Donuts EVER AGAIN!) into our bigger bags, ended up on a delayed flight, missed our connection flight in Doha because of the delay, and thus, we had to fly from Doha to Dubai for a new connection flight. In the end, we ended up reaching Changi at 830, roughly 7 hours later compared to our initial expected arrival time. I am now just really grateful to be back home in my study, typing this on my trusy old laptop. Phew.
All in all, it has been a mad 3 weeks. Lots of fun, lots of craziness, lots of conflict (not to mention lots of running, drinking and physical training as well). Probably the most colourful 3 weeks I'll be having in a very long time.
I'm leaving Southampton for London in another... 3 hours and 45 minutes time. For your info, its now 0301 AM here in the UK, so yeah, I'm not planning to get any sleep tonight - probably just the 3 hours on the bus.
And then it'll be my last full day in London, exploring St Paul's and The Tower of London, some last minute shopping and I'll be heading back home on another jetplane. Time really flies. 3 weeks over in a blink of an eye. Wow.
Anyway, I had a blast in Southampton. A big thank you to Liang Sheng for really taking such good care of us. He provided us with lodging, food, entertainment... even shared his friends with us. Anyway, both Zhiyong and I don't really know what else to say lah, so its just a big a thank you really.
Yup. Will be back in S'pore in just a couple of days. Seeya back home then.
Greetings from Southampton! I am currently in a senior's bunk right now, using his internet while he is somewhere out there having a post exam party with the rest of the Southampton Sing-soc people. Zhiyong is lying on our senior's bed, making himself at home. We are both gonna camp here for the next two nights, and we'll see if we decide to go to their party later.
As you can see, we have left the other 4 people at London! I've been in London for the past 3 days already, and London is so cool. I've always loved London, and being there again after 4 years just made it all the more special. Its like a homecoming really, feels like home to be in London. Been playing guide to my travel mates as well, went to visit museums and famous landmarks and stuff. Also met up with my cousin Astee who is studying in Imperial there. Its so nice to meet family in a foreign land, really warms up your heart. But anyway, I love London so really, I'm quite high that I'm here already.
Oh also went to Cambridge yesterday. Its really like a mirror of my trip 4 years ago, where I also visited Cambridge then because I was interested in applying there. And its weird to go back there and realise that getting a place there was really the motivation that pushed me to work so hard in my secondary and JC school days. And now, wow, I'm in NUS. All because I suddenly had a calling in my JC days to be a doctor. If I hadn't had that calling, I'll probably be applying to study either economics or biology or vet med there already. And hoping that I get in. Its kinda bittersweet really. I don't really know how to describe it. Its like a desire to let it all go coupled with a desire to want to hold on to what had been my motivation to do well then. And anyway, I bought a Cambridge sweatshirt. I wanted to buy one 4 years ago when I was there, but told my mom that I will only get it when I get a place there. And now, when its no longer possible (I think) to ever study there, I decided that its time to lay my past demons to rest. So here goes. Don't stone me if you see me in a Cambridge sweater in S'pore.
My 3 week holiday is fast approaching to an end! Quite shocking come to think of it. Its been a hell of a ride. Like a whirlwind really. There were little conflicts here and there, little clashes here and there, but I think we came out of it knowing each other a little better. I think 3 to 4 weeks if enough a duration for a holiday. So I'm all ready to go home now and slough my ass off for the remainder of our holidays and the next sem, until my next holiday which should be Down Under with the 71 guys... if everything goes according to plan of course. So yeah.
Greetings from Munich! I'm having trouble with the german keyboard right now, so pardon me if I have serious grammar or language errors!
So. I'm now officially 20! Happy birthday to me! A big thank you to those who sent me well wishes one way or another. I did manage to recieve all your messages and really, thanks alot for them! Made my day alot more special.
My 1st birthday abroad, and I don't think its going to be the last one abroad. Having your birthday while being lost/stuck/drowning in a foreign land can be a very exciting experience. Definitely worthed a try. It just feels different, especially when you try to kid yourself that you aren't the age you are supposed to be til you hit S'pore. Still, its a different experience - though you still feel the same, look the same, you just know that there's a subtle difference, a subtle awareness that you've aged by a year!
I am missing the comforts of home though, and the quiet birthdays spent with my family back home. My family and I would most probably have gone out for a nice quiet dinner. I'm used to quiet birthdays, but this year I had a hell of a noisy one. I just survived a crazy night at a Munich beerhall just now, where the atmosphere was most exhilarating and we had to each drink a huge pint of beer! It was maybe too exhilarating for my liking. Haha. But oh well, it was an action packed night, which was really quite an experience. Something I will never forget.
A big thank you to the 5 of them who are on this trip with me. They celebrated my birthday at 12 midnight last night, having bought me a tiramisu cake (we were still in Venice, Italy then) and singing birthday songs and stuff. I must say they really had me. I never did suspect that they actually bought a cake for me, I seriously thought that they were buying egg tarts instead of a tiramisu cake. I must say, I was somewhat touched. Haha. Thanks once again to Zhiyong, Shihui, Xiuzhen, David and Jinrong for a great birthday!
I must say, every single year on my birthday, I try to write or think of something melancholic to reflect upon, so much so that every year, I usually end up feeling quite morose or miserable about certain stuff. This year's different though, maybe its because I'm on holiday, I dunno, but I just don't have the same depressing feeling that I usually have on birthdays. Haha. Maybe its me being cool with being 20. No longer a teen. Maybe its nonchalance. I dunno, but whatever it is, I'm cool with that. I had a great birthday and for once, I'm feeling happy on me birthday. =)
Shucks. I'll miss being a teen. Oh well. Time to grow up. Cheers!
Name: voldemort33
XY, 01/06/1987, s'porean typical geminian free-thinker moody & eccentric thinks far too much for his own good med student (be afraid. be very afraid!) demon45_6f@hotmail.com
crazy craves
music (jazz, rock and lounge) day-dreaming drawing & photography animals (sheep!) chocolate and tea! seafood, noodles and soup!
pet peeves
noisy crowds over-possessive, insecure, whiny people two-faced hypocrites housework and homework being called 'rich' rushing to do stuff crying, pesky kids
deepest darkest desires! (aka wishlist!)
to be a doctor (with a heart of gold!) a dog my own condo apartment a driving license and my own four wheel drive my own comic line someone to hug
