2009

Gah. I hate penning down New Year Resolutions, because I know I seldom fulfill them (like what Hong Ying said during lunch just now). Anyway, I checked out what my 2009 New Year Resolutions were and, true enough, I didn't touch half of them. *Laughs* Just to summarise:

2009 New Year Resolutions:
1. Pull up my CAP. --> Fulfilled, but I should have been clearer.
2. Stop conflicting with my parents, my mum in particular --> Unfulfilled, and probably will be the case until I get married.
3. Exercise. --> Which I obviously haven't.
4. Save money. --> Which I obviously haven't.
5. Strengthen existing relationships --> Fulfilled.
6. Write more lyrics. --> I've got more half-songs than proper songs. Gah.

... which obviously shows how bad a procrastinator I am. But wouldn't it be nice to look back in one year's time and find out that you actually SET GOALS for yourself, and perhaps have even achieved them?

As each semester of Uni life comes and goes, the stark fact of life gets more and more daunting; to be inching closer and closer to working life, to full-fledged unbridled adulthood, to slogging as a bottom-feeder...

But I'm also thankful, despite all the setbacks this year heralded, for the priceless moments in life. To overcome boundaries, fighting for myself, fighting for us, growing up, learning from all the pain... And many many more events which made me stronger and more of a fighter than a quitter.

Yes, I'm admittedly afraid of the big world out there. Yet at the same time, the boundless sphere is always an attractive carrot. And this Great Leap into a new decade is just the beginning to many things.

Shoddy is an understatement

As usual, I was browsing straitstimes.com to get my daily dose of quick news updates, and I this forum letter caught my eye.

Christmas ruined, thanks to Singtel's shoddy service

To summarise the complaint letter, apparently (Mdm) Ouyang's Christmas was ruinned because of Singtel's red-tape-ridden system, which resulted in a communication disaster between her, the company and the technicians.

Should it be a coincidence that I'm a MIO plan subscriber as well and, coincidentally, my home phone and Internet service has been disconnected intermittently ever since I got the MIO box and, coincidentally, I faced such shoddy service when I called Singtel up to fix the problem. Seriously, whose idea was it to combine telephony, Internet and cable TV together, only to have everything break down when the box set screws up? Didn't anyone do a trial of the system for at least a year to ensure that subscribers won't get disconnected while they're in the midst of an important conference call or while they're talking to their loved ones on the phone?

The problem came just a month after my mum was psycho-ed into signing up for the MIO plan, when the Internet would be disconnected at times of the day when Internet traffic was significantly higher. So we called Singtel, faced the same taped music only to have a taped voice tel us that "Sorry, all our operators are currently busy. Please call back later." At this point of time, most people would have simply cursed, slammed down the phone, and continued putting up with the horrid Internet service. But I persisted until I got to speak to an operator, who tried in vain to get me to keep restarting my box set, which unfortunately didn't help much (duh.). So they arranged to have a technician come down to my place to take a look at the problem. Brilliant. Until he showed up, replaced the set, and dismantled my power box in the process. I wanted to disembowel him. And then there was no further communication/feedback from Singtel. Zilch. And just a day after the box was replaced, the problem came back. Until now. That's the reason why on MSN I'm like a schizo, signing in and out near to midnight, because the service will come on and off. And the best part of it is that when my sis switches on the main computer when I'm using my lappie, the Internet goes off.

WHAT IS THIS? But then again, I know tha complaining doesn't work. Only consumers' buying and W-O-M power works. And I know what that means.

師走

師走(しわす or shiwasu) is the ancient name for December, a month of hustle and bustle, as people prepare for Christmas, the New Year and more importantly, springcleaning of one's mind and soul. I'm not a Christmas-y person, simply because it's become so commercialised; it's no longer a season of giving, but a season of coerced consumerism. Spoils it all.

Family is doing away with all inexcusable extravagance this time, especially when Dad's overseas. Christmas shouldn't be about excessive spending anyway. We'll be sitting down together tonight, including Jack, and having a great home-cooked Western dinner. No 50-bucks turkey, no quiches, no Christmas lights, but we'll be blissfully happy. And will probably be happier if Dad could be around.

Merry Christmas.

Dissonance

I shall NEVER access my results via SMS in future, not even when the NUS site crashes and the ISIS site is a dick; I almost had severe epilepsy on the MRT. Judgment day sure was cruel, as it always was. Remember the challenge I had laid down for myself at the start of the semester? Well, I didn't manage to achieve that and, despite having done better just so ever slightly, was sorely disappointed by the modules I had utmost confidence in. Well, isn't that always the case every semester? That all the hard work seldom reap fruitful results? That that one step forwards is always too small, too insignificant?

Argh. Forget results. Nothing numbs post-results blues like a mind-blowing movie, and AVATAR happened to do the job this time round. And it didn't fail me, finally, after sieving through reviews and evaluating the watch-worthiness of the film.


Would you, if given a chance, to live life in a whole new world and do things you've never even dreamed about? But what if everything's suddenly not yours when you wake up, as though from a dream you never want to leave? So are we all craving for such attempts to live, as an avatar, to the outside world we feel alien to, for the means of blending in and surviving?

Apart from this, AVATAR had more than just one thought-provoking statement to holler to the world. In this shrinking world, are we fighting other living things, just because they're different from us and they have things we wish to take possession of? Are we judging people simply by the tongue they speak or the colour of their skin? Why are we so indifferent even when a pinch of humanity appears to haunt us? I sat through the entire 161 minutes, full of questions, not for the movie but for the real world. I'm just so glad that James Cameron managed so many nuances and agendas in this movie, because it's, after all, 15 years of hard work and sweat. It deserves 4.8, penalised so slightly for the final fighting scene and the slightly Jurassic Park feel. Verdict: it's a movie not to be missed.

Edited 29/12/2009: An edited version of this (thanks to the 1000-char limit) has been submitted by me under the username [ohjulie] to inSing.com under the AVATAR movie review! Click here to read it!

Winter Solstice Gathering 2009

Which Gen-Yer would remember Winter Solstice, much more have a gathering?

Well, we did. :)

After several unsuccessful attempts at meeting up (the last time was kite-flying at the Marina Barrage, just before the exams), we finally gathered majority of the Imperial Family for a steamboat. As to why we're thick-skinned enough to give ourselves the title, the reason goes way way way back into the history books, during our secondary school days. Oh well, let's just let the whole story stay in history. :) Anyway, steamboat-ing was fun, although we almost turned XXL's kitchen into a war zone. And what's Winter Solstice without 湯圓? It was also a great opportunity for us to play catch-up with Conrad, who FINALLY turned up for our gathering after so many light years. The first question he popped me was "Did you take Slim 10?"

-_-'''

I had to remind myself that the last time we met was in secondary school. But the boy didn't change one single bit (except for his height), and was doing what he did best the entire time he was there - yabbling non-stop about his life in the army (he plays for the band!). Do all guys have to do that?

And it's going to be another day that I pray, for the light over darkness.

Murder on the ad agency floor

Previously we've seen how the 3 local telcos were tearing each other's hair out over data prices. SO mind-others'-business me decided to scour my favourite ad site for interesting ads to talk about. And my intuition was on-spot. :)

This ad was done for FIAT by Leo Burnett San Paulo to promote the FIAT Linea' reverse parking sensors. It came out on 2 January 2009, playing on palindromes to emphasize the "going backward or forward, it's all the same" message. Smart, I'd say.

Then...

Wait. Before we're all up in arms and crying foul, let's look at Mercedes Benz' ad; the ad agency Jung von Matt/Limmat (a Swiss company) had, similarly, played on palindromes and, similarly, to promote reverse parking technology. The message, "Backwards as well as forwards", bodes similarity to that of Fiat's. And it came out in the same month as Fiat's, except later. Now, what is creativity? Am I going to drag Adorno and Horkheimer out of their graves and get them to write lengthy theses about this practice? Or were they really right? Is the creative world shrinking alongside the cliched globalisation theory?

Okay I need to stop doing homework during the holidays.

All images courtesy of joelapompe.

Boogers

Warrao moments of the day:

1. Spotted a beeyoootiful champagne-coloured Audi TT along Dunearn Road, but the driver was an Ah Pek. White crop and all!
2. Some Ah Ma yelped and cursed her lungs out at a bus that didn't stop at the bus stop for her. How do you expect buses to stop when you don't FLAG them? If the gahmen wants to push for a national initiative to promote graciousness, I'd reckon they start by educating the elder generation first.
3. Some show-off drove his R8 on the same stretch of road THRICE in 15 minutes. Then Jack darling came up with his lamest joke ever.


My fellow Singaporeans never fail to amuse/annoy me with such antics.



And I'm glad for whatever time I have to spend with you, simply because nothing's ever enough.

Rest

Been keeping myself busy, at breakneck speed, to take my mind off thinking about things. I've learnt alot from myself during this period, including educating myself that sometimes it's just better when I'm kept in the dark; I'm a much happier person this way. Keeping away helped, because it gave me breathing space, devoid of everything which could possibly kill my mood. And driving was a miracle pill in disguise, because I have to shut everything out and concentrate on the wheel.

Cooking's another. :)

Julie's homemade japanese curry with pan-fried spiced white fish fillet.

The hols didn't take me off media after all. They call this 職業病, or some kind of "occupational syndrome". And I was grinning from ear to ear when I flipped open Saturday's papers to see this ad by M1.

Orange = ?
Green = ?
Red = ?

See it? While this ad will probably reignite the telco battle for subscribers, the real reason behind all this hair-tugging is because M1's obtained retail rights for the Apple iPhone, following in Singtel's footsteps. So now, everyone's either fighting for iPhone sales figures, or for EPL rights.

And while watching the Singtel shop at Jurong Point fill up in the early afternoon, I was wondering aloud to my mum why everyone wants an iPhone, even when three-quarters of the users probably under-utilise the phone capacity. You see, every telco wants their thumb in the Apple pie (pun intended), so consumers (especially in Singapore) are following in their kiasu footsteps by owning an iPhone.

"See, I got iPhone. You only got slide phone ah? Aiyo, so suah gu."

But then again, we shall see how long Apple carries the iPhone craze, until they conjure up something more capable than the 3Gs. It's simply; look at the iPod Nano. With the first generation Nano launched only in 2005, it has been revamped 5 times, and launched its 5th generation just this year (it was launched on 09-09-09). If we all keep our fingers crossed, Apple should be selling another generation of iPhones by mid-2010. I'm no market speculator; I'm just an informed consumer. So think twice before hopping onto the Apple bandwagon.

To the zoo! To the zoo!

Double dates are love, especially when it's an excursion to the Zoo. :)

This time round, we had the company of the "younger" couple in Geyao (no prizes for guessing who). ;) Friday's sun was unforgivingly scorching, and it had to be coupled with the exhorbitant prices that tourist attraction charges. Which Singaporean would pay $3 for bottled water? But asides that, it was a good refresher for "old birds" like us, whose last visit to the zoo was probably 10 years ago. Fortunately, my favourite spot in the zoo, the now-revamped Picnic Site, kept my favourite Saga trees, which I remembered ambling around as a toddler and then as a Primary school student on an excursion more than 10 years ago. Oh god, I'm so old.

The animal shows were, well, not as enjoyable as they were when I was a 10-year-old happy clapper. Perhaps it's only now that, with a conscious mind, I realise how exploited these animals are in the process of altering their natural behaviour just to entertain us, controlled by food and commands. I would definitely enjoy the Zoo even without the animal shows.

The hot afternoon sun beckoned most of the animals to their afternoon naps, so it was a dampener for us. Plus the queues at the KFC totally killed my appetite; where did my A&W go? I miss the mugful of fizzy Root Beer, and the crispy onion rings...

Then the boys found their game at KidzWorld. KIDZWORLD. Jack was all groggy throughout the walks and the shows, but he perked up when he and Eugene started playing on the cross-the-water-raft thingy. BOYS.

(-_-)'''

Oh, and did I mention that the horses at KidzWorld were darlings? I was particularly attracted by a white mare named Candy, who didn't spend the whole time with her heard buried in her food bucket (like most of the other horses were), and would hold still when I snapped a picture of her. Oh, and I think she has a lovey dovey thing going on with Buddy, the handsome chocolate stallion in the neighbouring stall. :)

And before we knew it, it was closing time, and we found ourselves still wandering around in the zoo compounds, searching for the white tigers. To our dismay, they've kept them in their holding pens for the night :(. Oh well. At least we enjoyed ourselves. The rest of the evening was a blur; waiting for the bus, falling asleep beside Jack, waking up to say goodbye to Eugene and his missus, falling asleep again, then waking up abruptly at Ang Mo Kio. Yes, I crashed. But it was a day well spent, especially with our shy couple, and with Jack :).

Edited 2.51pm:

Oh ya absolutely have to share this lol. We were watching the penguins at the Splash Amphitheatre, and I asked Jack:

Me: Dear, have I told you the joke about the polar bear who ate the penguin?

Jack: Huh, no.

Me: Oh, that's because polar bears don't eat penguins, so I haven't told you such a joke before.

Jack: -.-'''

Foot tales

After the super-emo-ish post yesterday, I'm almost back to normal; I just have to be attuned to holiday life, or what I call life in which Jack can't be with me 24/7. I'm the stubborn and spoilt kid who's always getting her lolly, and blows angry bubbles of saliva if she doesn't get her way. Oh well. We'll just have to live through it.

Urgh. And don't make me talk about it. I was sorely disappointed with New Moon, from the script to the actors, and to the action it had promised but failed to deliver. As of all adaptations, the movie doesn't do justice to the book, and readers who watch the movies often get disappointed over the loopholes and 'huh?' parts in the film. And I had to be taken in by the Jacob hype; Taylor Lautner, who plays Jacob Black in the Twilight films, had loaded 15 kg onto his 17-year-old frame to fulfill the role of a shape-shifting werewolf in New Moon. And that's the ONLY convincing and ticket-worthy part. The rest of the movie was redundant, and even more so if you've read the book. And Edward should not have even taken off his shirt when he's so belly-ugly! OMG the director of Eclipse should feature a fight between half-naked Edward and half-naked Jacob, THEN Robert Pattinson will realise how belly-ugly he is. OMG. Repulsive. Especially when you put it next to calendar-guy-worthy Jacob Black. The Volturi fight could have been much better, instead of making it look like something which happened in a Starbucks blender. I had loved the fight scene in the book, literated in words, and the movie totally shredded the scene, making it look like a cake fight during a birthday party. No one was really scary. Edward was pasty. Bella was too strong a character. Jacob and the wolfpack was... disappointing. Oh well. It's another 16 bucks down the drain.

Those walkabout days are back, at least for now. Route for Monday's walkabout was Farrer Park to Jalan Besar to Bugis to Raffles City to Suntec City.



Oh, and have you heard about Gong Cha (貢茶)? Jack and I found this gem in the basement of City Square Mall, the first Eco Mall in Singapore. While you can read about the Eco Mall by Googling it, you should never miss Gong Cha for the world. It's a smooth tea topped with creamy milk (and coconut milk, if I'm not wrong), and peppered with a little tea powder. There're various ways of drinking it, and I shall not go there. Just remember to ask for the version with 50% sugar, because we had tried the one with 80% sugar and I almost died from diabetes.

Read the instructions before consuming it!

After a very long walk to Jalan Besar in search of the hidden gem that Jack was raving about the entire week, we finally found it! It turned out to be High 5 Nasi Lemak @ Jalan Besar (Yes, that's the name of the shop!). Hidden at a corner of the supposedly sleazy area, the rice was fluffy and tasted ol' so lovely without the guilty 'omg I'm having Nasi fats' feeling. Jack loved the fried chicken thigh, so I guess that's worth a try for the meat-lovers as well. And to end off the beautiful (and sinful) day, we had a nice long walk to Suntec. :)

Oh. And today was another well-spent day, although it was without Jack's company. I managed to secure an interview with Will from Recruit Express, and hopefully I'll hear from him soon, I drove the car out for tyre maintenance, and hung out with Fay after that, since her boyfriend wasn't in town. Apparently they met through their CCA as well. :) As usual, we were debating over the nitty-gritty things, like why I would rather work my ass off than to go on a holiday, why I wouldn't go for SEP, why worrying over things now is necessary (she begged to differ), why it'll be good to continue tuition even after I start working (she begged to differ as well), and loads of random stuff I'd rather not remember.

Free apples, courtesy of Starhub's marketing!

And tonight, it's still you

It’s at times like this, when it’s not long before bedtime, that I realize the loneliness of having to fall asleep and wake up alone and cold, without you by my side. It should have become habitual; to have no one but myself to wake myself up and sing myself lonesome lullabies to sleep. And then I’m starting to find it hard to close my eyes and pretend that sleeping alone is normal. I don’t want to just see you and say goodbye to you at the end of the day, I realized; I want the hugs, the kisses, and your very existence which keeps me sane and motivated to keep myself alive and well. I want to hear your voice and feel your arms around me before I drift off to dreamland, and your morning kisses and that addictive body heat which keeps us warm throughout the night. I no longer live for myself and myself alone; I live for us, and for the future I’m holding so tightly to. At times like this, the only way to save my sanity is to let it all out, to keep those sobs silent yet strident in my head, to keep my heart from dying from the dull aches in my chest.

And tonight’s going to be one of those nights again, where I long for your place beside me, for the goodnight kiss I’ll never have until I say yes to an eternity with you. I hope I survive.

The Time Traveler's Wife

I finally finished the book today. 2 months after I bought it. To be exact, I had read the first 200 pages or so of the book, and was forced to abandon ship when the assignments and exams came flooding in. Then I decided to pick it up 2 days ago, from my sis’ desk, and devoured it within these few days. I’m not a fast reader, and reading The Time Traveler’s Wife was made difficult by the chronological jumble-up (no pun intended). I won’t be a spoiler for those who haven’t read the book, but I’d say it’s easily one of the better books I’ve read, next to Anne Rice chimology. TTTW wasn’t dense; it was more of fitting the story together from Clare and Henry’s perspectives, because Niffenegger wrote the story from both perspectives, and you’ve got a protagonist who would appear alongside himself within a single time frame. Oops, spoiler already. I shall uphold the integrity of the author and stop rattling on about the plot. I had hit a brick wall today; it was so hard to digest, towards the end the story, to read Henry’s last letter to Clare, I had to cry just enough to wet Jack’s right shoulder in order to detach myself from the protagonists, and finished the last of the book. The last time I cried over a book was… I forgot. I loved this book, and I’m glad I bought it. I just won’t be reading it anytime soon, because I’m not sure if I can overcome the emotional waves within the plot, now that I now what’s going to happen. Now I feel like Henry. And it’s comforting that… he’s never really gone from Clare. He’ll always be there, at some particular time and space, waiting to be brought by the ramdomness of time and chance to her side.

And I loved the poignant lines.
I really, really do.


"Do you ever miss him?
Every day. Every minute.
Every minute, she says.
Yes, it's that way, isn't it?"

Yes, I really do miss you.

Jobless.

I've gotten so used to rising at 7am, bathing, getting out of the house by 8am, and being with Jack from 9am to 9pm, so the past few days have been a torment. And I thought I would be popping champagne at the end of the exams. Living like this sucks, especially when I have no idea what I'm going to do tomorrow. Have applied for temp jobs, but as usual I'm not expecting too much out of this job hunt since I can only work for a month.


Boardgaming with the Gordon and Gerlyn yesterday was fun as usual, and for the first time in so many sessions they didn't bicker. Did they? Anyway the next boardgaming session will only be in a month's time, when the couple returns from their month-long holiday around Central Asia. When will it be my turn? But then again, with no financial backing, no one bothers about holidays.

Dinner at Saizeriya was a pretty affair, although Gerlyn and I still weren't impressed with the guys' eating habits. Lesson of the day: I need to stop watching them wolf down escargots in order to keep the bile in my stomach from rising to my throat. Spicy tuna spagetti + loads of Tobasco sauce is lurv. :)

Bad day. Pure bad.

I desperately need to do some bitching.


1. Some people have NO IDEA what an EXPRESS QUEUE means. In case you need some prescription lens for your cataracts, an EXPRESS QUEUE means 1. you can only queue there when you have 10 or LESS items and 2. pay via CASH or NETS. Hello?! Are you blind?! Can't you see the sign stuck at the start of the counter? Or were you thinking that your fake Coach bag will entitle you to circumventing the instructions and joining the queue with your trolley-load of groceries? Omg sometimes such people make me wanna trade in my red passport for something else, so that I don't have to be segmented along with them.

2. That Ah Mei Cafe at IMM should fold up; the food sucks, you've got to wait 20 minutes for simple prata, and at the end of 20 minutes you fork apart your dry and crusty prata to find out that the inside is half-cooked. SO WHAT if you serve fatty, artery-clotting briyani? SO WHAT if you use dumb customer-paging devices? Because you just lost another customer.


And sometimes I find it so much easier to solve problems simply by keeping it all inside and crying it all out at the end of the day. Saves all the trouble.

Feels good to be back.

Yesterday marked the end of Semester 5, and boy, did I end it with a bang, scribbling like a mad lie detector for my SSD2210 paper. I hope all the effort Jack and I put into this module is justified. We shall see.

Indeed, Semester 5 has been hectic, so much more than all the other semesters I've ever had. Yes, even more than last semester, when we were rushing recordings and rehearsals for FBH. Those crazy 12am (a.k.a midnight) MSN project discussions, missing the last bus, spending 1 day to conjure up an assignment and spending the next 1 week editing it, mad dashes for tuition, and basically sacrificing alot of time at Geyao and with family, friends and dates. Family wasn't quite understanding; Dad was Skyping me every night and pestering me about each and every family member's whereabouts, Mum would give me the cold shoulder after her long bath, and my sisters are (as usual) anal. *sighs* I'm just glad such things have come to an end (not including my sisters being anal). And December's largely going to looking for a job (anyone hiring?), catching up with friends, reading (time to spend that book prize), spending more time at home, and claiming back all those dates. And those movies.

Oh. And I'm insistent on watching New Moon, even when Straits Times gave it 1.5 out of 5 stars. Yes, laments are all about how much the wolf boys are sheding their shirts and how bad the action was. If the action was bad, then it's just plain bad, no disputes over that. But why are people complaining about topless guys? Doesn't your 80-year-old neighbour walk along the corridor and watering his plants topless too? Besides, it's all about sex appeal, and that's what's drawing the female screamers (and cryers, and identified by Taylor and Kristen). It's like why men buy FHM Singapore, even when the models in it look like that. Besides, isn't the take-off-shirt thing written in the book? So isn't it only rational that the script writers put that in? Perhaps the only boo-boo was getting Edward to go topless; he looked more of a new-born hamster than a beautiful predator. Urgh. I'll just watch it, and then rave about it. And one more thing: Yes, I concur with majority of the female population that Taylor Lautner is one god of a good-looker and I do ogle but, no, I do not have paedophilic fantasies about him (he's only 17), nor do I wish to marry him (that position's taken ;) ). He's simply a good-looking and buff actor. Period.

DT in Space The Rock and Talk Show Autograph Session

I'm always lamenting that David's in town at the wrong times, mostly during recess week or exam week, when I'm busy gluing my ass to some random bench and mugging the day away. I was slightly luckier this time round, because my Marketing paper had finished on the dot and I managed to drag Jack down with me to Orchard Central for the autograph session. Oh, and in case you're wondering, yes I bought his concert tickets for the Rock and Talk Show. You don't wanna know where Jack and I will be sitting. ;P

Courtesy of DTFC (my girls!) and Zhicong!

Marketing paper was... *speechless* I had breezed through the MCQs, but the structured questions had me. I attribute this to a lack of practice for structured questions, and the unexpected question angle. Tough luck.


Oh, and do lend your (wallet's) support to the We Are One project; Jack and I each had a brick to ourselves, thanks to Jack's suggestion. I think some good karma might just give us more luck for SSD2210. :P

Hanging by a thread

I absolutely feel like a hermit, sedentary and isolated from the rest of the world during this period. And life has always been as such for the past 4 semesters. How I wish someone would just go spread the word that mugging is carcinogenic, then Central Library might finally be empty for once.

Plus I had given up on the chance to watch DT's guest performance for a concert because 1. I absolutely cannot finish revision for MKT and 2. I guess being with my darling on our 21st month is more important than anything in the world. We were standing at the bus stop just hours ago, marvelling at how time's zipped past, and in 3 months' time we'll be celebrating our second anniversary. Heartwarming, and fortunate to have you, and only you, all to myself, for all of time.



Yesterday was spent rushing to and fro school, and attending DT's press conference. As usual, we, as the public, would get mad with media people for their horrid attitude towards us, and the begrudgement often stays on and grows. Sometimes, these people have to get their facts right; WE are the customers, and your fat paycheck is determined, directly or indirectly, by OUR commitment. If you fail to adapt even to small tweaks, there will come a day when you realise you've got no job. Let's see who'll have the last laugh. (P.S: this is not directed at DT, but at some other irritating PMS-sy person there whom we all have a common consensus about her identity.)

Anyway, David appeared jet-lagged, but he received questions like a pro(even the unsettling ones by Cruz Teng), and never failed to amuse the room with his analogies. It's inspiring to just sit and watch him exude this charisma with his carefully crafted answers (even though some may say it's all the same stuff), and then wonder if he's as ordinary a person as we are. If he is, then why are we subjecting him to scrutiny when he errs or does things that 'deviates' from mainstream? Who are we to judge him, if we won' allow people to judge us? Even as a public figure, he's not accountable to anyone except himself, so it's unjustified as to how fingers have been pointed and haphazard accusations hurled at him.

Oh well. And he even mentioned that he was a 'traditional man' who prefers Chinese ladies. Jack said that once before, too.






Oh, and did I mention that I'm definitely going to catch New Moon after the exams? No misconceptions here; I'm not on Team Edward. He's too commercialised, hyped up, and simply doesn't live up to his reputation as the beautiful vampire. Move aside, Edward, because Jacob's here to steal the ladies. Look, he's even got his hands on Zac Efron's girl.




Joking. Taylor Lauter, the 17-year-old (can ANYONE believe he's only 17?!) who plays Jacob Black a.k.a Wolf Boy in the Twilight movies, has thrown Edward out of the competition. Sorry, but no apologies to Rob Patz. Bedroom hair is no longer welcome in the cinemas.

Hanging on.

I'm mentally exhausted; from all the internal debates going on in my head when I read reading after reading, from reading my antsy handwriting, and from the information I found hard to recall the moment I moved on to do revision for another module. Plus the extra lethargy from the occasionally kneading pain in my tummy, those incessant hunger pangs, my parched throat... studying for the exams has never been so testing before.

But I do know that life with you is never the same. With you to hold me when I need to take a break, to provide me with much-needed jokes, hugs, kisses and companionship any half-dead mugger needs. And I've got it. Or rather, I've got you.

And life is only going to get tougher as I inch hour-by-hour nearer to the exams, excluding the unsolicited events happening next week. Press conference! Will update soon regarding this.

Movie: 2012

I, for one, is skeptical about the Apocalypse.

Just slightly over a month ago, I was (admittedly) angry because Jack was raving on and on about 2012 being the end of the world. Apparently what he saw was the teaser trailer of this movie (I guess). And I had wanted nothing to do with this claim, because it sounded foddy enough, and had wanted to avoid this movie.

But..... filmophiles are filmophiles, even for cultivated ones like us. Who could resist all that CG and world-of-mouth from fellow filmophiles, even if it means disrupting our study schedule to catch it?

I had stepped out of the cinema after the 158-minute film feeling rather minute, dwarfed by the epic scale of this disaster movie. Where would I be if I were in the movie? The one being hurled thousands of feet into a chasm? The one being reduced to mash by the Air Force One plane? The one who died before knowing what hit? I was bombarded with possibilities, except the one where I survived. Because our small island will probably be melted down even before we could finish singing our National Anthemn. Back to the movie, what I felt lacking was the explanation for all this; viewers would appreciate more showtime to be dedicated to talking about this Mayan calendar, and how it completes its 13th cycle in 2012, 21 December. I know, they had thrown in a madman (played by Woody Harrelson) and his quirky radio program and blog to explain in a trivial tone, but crazy people aren't what we're exactly looking for. What about the prophecies? What about the dispute between the classic Maya and the modern Maya? Why didn't the movie tell us that this Long Count was revealed by archealogists recently? *shrugs* Looks like we're all brainwashed by capitalism. I won't say by who.

I would dispute reviews that dismissed the movie because of its unattractive cast. Despite being made up largely of unpopular actors and actresses, the cast shone as well. Well, you sure don't need Tom Cruise or Will Smith to make an fairly good movie. Besides, the American President in the movie was an African American. Guess what? The movie was shot during the Presidential Elections. :)

Overall, while 2012, as the 'Mother of disaster movies', is undisputed in terms of CG effects (their CG team list is longer than the entire cast and stuntmen put together), but scores a miserable 3.5 for its cliched storyline (Too many repeated ideas from I Am Legend and Day After Tomorrow).

What if I had...

...... died at 8.53pm?


I'm a cautious pedestrian, and even more so after obtaining my license. But being cautious isn't enough when you have motorcyclists and taxi drivers who ignore red lights and the green man sign. At 8.53pm, I stepped onto the road when the green man lit up, and after I checked that the traffic on the lane closest to me had stopped; I had a motorcycle zoom past me just couple months back when I was preparing to cross at the green man. Upon approaching the centre divider, I noticed a taxi speeding down the road, towards the crossing, and this nagging feeling in me told me to slow down and wait for the taxi to stop before I continue walking. And I was right; the taxi had apparently forgot about the traffic lights and had to brake abruptly, stopping halfway across the pedestrian crossing, and 1 metre away from me. 2 seconds faster in my stride and I'll be at NUH now.



And all the way home, I was pondering over the most obscene thought: What if I had died, there and then, and left this world I haven't got time to say goodbye to?

What if I had died on the spot, and never got to spend this Christmas with my loved ones?

And never got to visit Granddad?

...

And never got to grow old with you?



And I took out my lucky stars and counted them all over again.

Mac-o-mania

I'll love to work for MacDonald's PR & Marketing Department; those gurus there sure know what makes Singaporeans tick, much more to entice them to eat MacD's for weeks on end just to collect little stickers and pray that the next sticker they rip open will be Sentosa Cove. Brilliant. They have successfully reduced us to hapless Primary school kids.



Disclaimer: I didn't collect all these stickers by myself; they're the combined efforts of my Mum, Sis and Jack. And I still have loads more repeated title deeds.

As you can see, I'm missing all the 'crucial' pieces, i.e. one from each colour. I have a simple analogy: MacDonald's did NOT print these crucial pieces, or they had printed much lesser than the number of prizes they had for each category.

And you never know. They may not even have Sentosa Cove.

Do you feel cheated now?

Well, playing the devil's advocate, I'll dare anyone say they've one of the big prizes (not the free small fries and milk shakes they use to pacify you). It'll be then that I'll stop trying to splice MacD's marketing plan apart.



And...... It's the end of another semester. It has been an unusually busy semester, so much so that I've grown quite apathetic (sadly) towards family matters. Maybe it's because I'm simply too busy to worry if 2 teenagers and 2 women can feed themselves; maybe it's because these people need to grow up; maybe I'm not the kind of spoon-feeder who can replace my overseas-bound Dad and baby them; maybe because I don't see myself being the family Tibs taxi; maybe it's because I'm just sick of all the shit that's playing out at home. Don't misquote me; I don't come from a broken family, neither is there a Hong Kong drama playing out in the living room. At 21, when I need to find that identity I can bond with for life, I don't see why I have to babysit perfectly normal people with no incontinence problems or physical immobility.

That's when I have to seek solace in school, where I can kill braincells with projects, assignments and readings with size 5 font. And the negative energy channelled to better use. I had thought that 3219 was going to kill my grades this semester when I got back my CA1 and almost convulsed on the spot, if not for the fact that I convinced myself that, no matter how much disdainment I was feeling towards the course and the tutor, I had to put up with it all if I did not want to repeat the mistake in 2219. And hard work paid off, together with my genius of a project group, PROS! Despite liking cars and specs and all, working on Toyota had been the worst issue-tracking nightmare, as we pored through months of newspapers, newswires, Factiva, etc. And all the nonsense, the laughter, the unproductive times, the you-laugh-at-me-laughing-at-you times... Thanks so much, peeps. :)

Thanks, Ms. Lee!

And not to forget, our first and last Exco outing with Xuanyu as the president. I've always been the sarcastic one, and Xuanyu is always not impressed by the crude jokes and words from me. Haha. Take it easy, Julie means no harm!

Exams exams! Comfort food! Comfort food!

I need my MOS corn soup and D-Plus Natural Yeast Bread in Hokkaido Cream flavour!

I feel like I just got hit by a truck; groggy, arms aching, eyes slightly watery, and very bloated. Okay, now I sound like I just drowned.



I remember those long, half-day walks we used to take from one end of Fort Canning to the other - those are dates before this semester came. Then everything was a blur, and we hardly had time with each other. We realised that, being sticky creatures, one always felt out-of-sync when the other isn't around. That's the main reason why we're seldom caught being without the other in school.


With my battered throat (from taupok with spicy Thai sauce the previous night), we had a K-session @ Marina Square. And they ran out of K-Lunch! RAN OUT! You mean you can actually run out of a package? They're either just too lazy to prepare more food, or it's just a gimmick to make you spend 5 bucks more on the K-student package, only to chase you out 10 minutes before time is up. Anyway, K-sessions are always fun with Jack, because he sings the weirdest songs, and as a result I had to come up with my weird list of English songs which I haven't sang for the longest time. I just didn't expect 《那首歌》, which was a pleasant surprise. Of course, it was a good chance to try insane songs like 《武裝的薔薇》,《本來》,《選擇》and the likes, since our performing days in Geyao are most likely over. Once a vocalist, always a vocalist.

Yes, we went kite-flying.

And we spend half the time in futile attempts to fly our gravity-loving kite, and the other half discussing about the built environment. Guess SSD2210 was useful after all, and even more so when we've got a rising skyline in the city area. And the view from the top of the Marina Barrage is just going to get more and more beautiful. Perhaps I'll invest on a DSLR then.

Our hopeless kite.

If you notice that my hair's ruffled, that's because we spent half the time running across the Barrage, trying to fly that damn thing. Jack's hair never gets messy.

Dinner back at Marina Square 興旺, our favourite Hong Kong cafe, with more talk. We talk alot, I realised, and mostly about random things. I like asking impossibly random questions, and he answers them. Haha.



Just a little rant about FOX. Undeniably, I'm a huge patron, but they pissed me off yesterday. As they're currently having this promotion for their sweaters ($26 per piece), Jack decided to get one because he thought it looked nice, and it was a steal at $26. Ok. Fine. So we picked a white piece and he tried it on and yadayada. But when we went to the counter to pay, the sales person scanned it and charged us $39! WTF! Didn't your promotion label state $26?

"Oh, $26 is the price for the pullovers, not for the zip jackets."

And you placed them at the same area? With only 1 promotion tag screaming "$26" there? Subsequently, I went back to read the DAMN FINE PRINT, and it said, "For selected pieces originally priced at $33". How many people would bother to read that, especially when both the pullovers and the zip jackets look the same?! Thanks, FOX. To think you actually did this to your ardent consumer. Your marketing department needs to grow some brains.

Movies study movies study

My life is turning into a glass of plain, cold, metallic-tasting glass of water. Urgh. Of course, my study plans are always warped, and I seldom follow them faithfully enough.





Yes, we're still kids at heart, so Astroboy was a much-watch movie for us. Etched in the storyline, of course, is the moral that everyone and everything came to this world for a constructive purpose, no matter how significant it may be. Don't want to be too much of a spoiler since the movie's relatively fresh in the cinemas, but it really broke my heart to watch a father being torn from inside over whether or not he should preserve or destroy the very memory of his son. Probably a 4/5 stars.

Don't judge.

Spread is an R21 movie, and paints the ugly truths behind galavanting socialites and toy boys of uptown L.A. The movie teaches its audience that trying to find true love in L.A. is like digging for a glass heart in the middle of a trashhole of shattered others. Of course, there's alot of sleeping around, skin, smut, and everything you wouldn't want even your 18-year-old sis to watch, but hey, it's what made the plot so crudely realistic. As an arthouse film, the ending was good; I hate happily-ever-after cliches, which we all know seldom work out in the context of masqueradish Sunset Boulevard. Worth a watch, only if you're open-minded enough.

Short fused

I'm crazily in love with Agnes B, yet too broke to buy anything from their atas-looking outlets.

This will be a reward to myself if I do well for my upcoming exam. :) Ah, I feel much better.

And it's Week 12, a scary week to contemplate over, simply because it's only 3 weeks to my first paper, and 4 weeks til the end of the exams. Bearing in mind that anything can happen during these crucial weeks, I laid down the iron rule of not sleeping past midnight unless I really have to, simply because my body is protesting fervently against this practice. Apart from my deteriorating complexion and darkening eyebags, my voice is also cracking under those sleepless nights. Then Mr. Gui's were-panda myth will really materialize.

And it's going to be yet another testing period for us, when short fuses tend to burn out much quicker and frustrations manifest in the form of hot tempers. But I'll still need you by my side, like I will be, to dispense those hugs and kisses and everything nice when I'm on the verge of spiralling downwards. I miss you, and will do so every time we say goodbye.

Sometimes I wonder if my existence had been a mistake.

Sun-ny-day

I have no idea who invented the weekends; that person sure was measly enough to give us just 2 days.

My financial planning gained some headway yesterday, after opening another account to store away some money which I can hopefully grow to repay my parents after I graduate. Financial security and independence was something I hadn’t worried too much about until I graduated from JC and wanted to seek a comfortable distance from my parents. I don’t see it as breaking away, but more of self-sufficiency. I just hope I wouldn’t spend all my money during the holidays.

Imperial outing! Haha I have no idea why I stuck with their concept of an ‘imperial family’ when all we are is a congregation of insane people. Haha. J Considering the fact that I’m always giving their outings a miss, I ought to hang out with them this time, and see how everything goes. And guess what? I enjoyed myself thoroughly today! Apart from enduring NX’s horrid driving on Orchard Road(and I thought I was the only one), I just found the best place to stalk out those beautiful roadsters! (P.S: Bribe me and I’ll tell you where) Today’s car-stalking was pretty successful, with a couple of Maseratis, GTRs, BMWs and, of course, the R8! Less that a foot away from my camera! *Shrieks* But then again, I think I’m the only mad girl out there who goes all gaga over lean, mean machines, rattles off their model and make whenever I spot them on the roads, and surf car sites for automobile news. I think I’m kinda nutty.

And I flew a kite for the first time in my life! I know I’m a late-bloomer, but I never really knew how enjoyable and challenging kite-flying was, all at the same time. And I really adhere to the adage - maintaining a relationship is like flying a kite; you have to know when to loosen and tighten the string. Everytime you let go and assume that the wind will carry the kite, it fails on you and you’ve got to work quickly to stop it from coming down. Then it’ll be another tedious round of picking up the kite, winding up the string, and attempting to set it flying again. At first you’ll get disheartened, or have your kite strings entangling in those of others, and you kind of lose much of the zeal for it, But when the wind catches your hair in the wind and whips it across your face, all you wanna do is to hurl the kite into the sky, make a mad dash against the wind, and then smile and watch your kite in the sky.

Dinner was sumptuous, with no other more apt word to describe it. I feel like a fat sow now, with too much sashimi and mango salad swirling in my chubby tummy. And I’m thankful that I have a bunch of crazy people to fall back onto when I feel like being a mental patient. Thanks for the laughter, the Leona Lewis joke (I didn’t appreciate it) and the birthday present.

This week has been a torment. And I'm glad it's ended, no doubt with a bang.


I thought we had the artsy fartsy DNA to pull it off but, no thanks to the fact that I overestimated the limits of the human body, our plans backfired. Badly. But it's over, and the fact that the presentation is 10% puts my mind more at ease. I just need to push harder for the final examination, I guess.



Thursday was a bad day. So bad, I needed a coffee fix early in the morning. And I knew Starbucks wouldn't fail me. Except the fact that the counter staff's attitude changed from warm when she was serving this American couple before me to neutral and smile-less when she served me. WTF. Is this how Starbucks trains their staff? To give preferential treatment to foreigners and treat Singaporean students who look like they don't have a single prick in their wallet like pariah?

My little cup of happiness.

My little girl (my Agnes b). Isn't she lovely?

Then Friday had to arrive and take whatever enthusiasm I had for the weekend away. 5 hours before 3219 assignment's deadline,details were clarified, and I had to make a mad scramble to re-construct my assignment argument. And if this wasn't maddening enough, my damn Nano had to screw up during Hong Bai, Jack felt unwell, and ... let's just say we have a low tolerance level for lacklustre music.






And when everything seems fucked up, you made it all right again.

I miss you.

Happy 20th month

I'm suffering from chronic headache, majorly because my sister is singing. And she's still singing.








I have ALL idea why I just can't do PR for nuts; I don't know how to say pleasing things, or appease people. In fact, I think I'm an expert at doing just the opposite. But then again, having a press release and company memo to clear by 1700hrs this Friday doesn't allow anymore procrastinations, even from the lousiest PR personnel. So I'll just have to sit down, pore over my haphazardly written press release, and pray that I'll be lucky twice. And coursemate KianWei put everything into words so aptly: We don't need to be given a fake crisis to know what is a crisis. Everyday is a crisis already.

But nothing beats cuddling up next to you, feeling your immensely comforting warmth, and spending our 20th month together. I know how it sucks having to sacrifice so much for school work, but it's a cruel factor of school life we've got to endure until we graduate. It's just heartwarming to know how much I'm being protected and sheltered by someone I'll love all my life. :)


Happy 20th month.

love, life, each speaks for the other one

Teddy Geiger reminded me of how much I need those hugs and kisses at this very moment; weekends are torturous these days, simply because there's too much to do and too little time to spend with each other. I'm constantly toying with the idea of staying out with you into the wee hours in the morning and risking my mum calling the police and locking me out, simply because I need so much of you, it's almost insatiable. And the feeling has never once faltered, in these 20 months. And all I ask of you, in this lifetime of ours, is to never let this feeling stop.






And I just got bombed by 3219. 3-parter assignment, due next Friday. Oh, next Friday's NUS Geyao's HongBai Competition!

This competition was re-ignited just last academic year, as a platform for the juniors to engage in a friendly competition, pitting against each other with full-band performances and original compositions. Things changed a little this time round, with not just the Reds and the Whites, but also the Pink Team, which comprises of seniors. Thinking back, I'm thankful we had declined to perform, because I wouldn't be able to handle the rehearsals and school work at the same time. But those who're interested should pop down to Science Faculty LT 27, on 30 October 2009 at 7pm and take a good listen at the results of weeks of rehearsals and coordination of our juniors.

Gah. End of Week 10

Gah. I no longer have the luxury of writing lengthy entries, no thanks to my mad schedule. This week has been much better, after clearing MKT and SSD last week. As I officially wrapped up SSD coursework today, tomorrow (or rather, hours later) will be kickstarting a mad rush for the 2201 project, which is due on Monday. Then it'll be full on to 3219, then to revision.



I've come to terms that it's no use feeling hopeful when it comes to the weekends, because it's just another 2 days to buffer the mad school days. And Jack and I are resigned to 'dating' in school, which comprises of nothing more than meals and mugging together. Long gone are the days where we could plan days prior to our dates, and hang out together late into the night; tuition, project meetings, assignments, presentations... Draining.

How do you explain...?

My students always ask me, "Teacher Julie, how come liddat?", and many a times do I find myself stumbling, without a reason, and trying to find even an inch of an explanation to pacify them. Well I could contribute it to incompetence on my part at times, it's really difficult to put a finger and an absolute value to everything we come across in life. It's more than just throgging through an infinite pool of resources called the World Wide Web; it's about getting the answer right, and struggling to cope with whatever amount of dissonance there is. It's even more difficult, at times, than explaining why it's "I am" and not "I is".

"There is no remedy for love but to love more."

- Henry David Thoreau, 1839

And when it comes down to answering questions like, "How do you know you're in love?" or "How do you know he's the one?", I'm even more in a loss for answer, than ever. I guess we've both acknowledged the fact that love isn't simply about saying that you're in love with someone beautiful, rich and famous, because that's lust, not love. As baffling as it is, the answer's simply in oneself. It's only a matter of either finding it, or getting lost in it.

Food Glorious Food

Bliss is currently blooming in my head. :)

If God made food, this has got to be one of His mighty creations. Since Jack and I had the RARE chance to skive a little today after our subject pool, we decided to conquer Ion@Orchard for the second time round. And we found Gindako.

Just a brief introducation, since there seems to be a thousand and one Japanese food stalls at the Ion, Gindako originated from Japan, selling Takoyaki as its main product. And judging from the Japanese site, it seems like they hadn't changed a bit in terms of their serving proportion and presentation, which is a pretty daring strategy in a foreign market.

Each little takoyaki of is packed to the max with a huge chunk of octopus, tempura flakes, red pickled ginger and green onion, cooked fresh before your eyes, and served in a boat-shaped wooden dish and topped with teriyaki sauce, mayo, bonito flakes and seaweed flakes. Mmmm...... Jack and I had 10 to ourselves for dinner, and it's surprising how it filled my stomach, despite giving Jack all the tako chunks. CHUNKS! It's not those miserable pieces of chopped up octopus pulp you see in other takoyaki stalls, but huge chunks with the suckers of the octopus still visible! And to have 10 takoyaki balls and 2 drinks of your choice for S$9.90, it's worth every single bite. Thinking of it still makes those gastric nerves tingle with happiness. :)

Attack of the zzz monster

Humans can be such conflicting creatures; it's like how I'm supposed to be glad that more and more work is being accomplished, and less and less I'll be left to do. But instead there's this indisplacable void which remains empty after the storm has blown over. Or am I just getting too accustomed to being permanently busy? And I had remained relatively unhappy, up til now, about the little things. Or am I getting incoherent?

And then you start to list things that you had wanted to do after you've cleared one obstacle, and realised that you don't feel like doing those things anymore, or that they no longer brought you any gratifications.

Or want to spend loads of time with the one you love and realise that there's nothing to do except attempt to go broke again.

Then try to kick-start the next pending item on the agenda, only to fall back into the seat and close the window.




And then weird guys have to start to pop up around me, which is pissing the crap out of Jack. First was Mr. T, who was a major sore in the butts of everyone in our marketing tutorial. He would leap at your arguments should you miss out any minute ideas, and ask you absolutely pointless questions like "Do you know what's the current market share of Company X in the States?" Like, hello, couldn't he just have Googled it? Or is he still learning to adapt to scratching in sand? So just the other day, we've hatched a sinister plan to shell him and his group during his presentation. Our tutor should be happy about our forthcoming behaviour.
Then there was guy No.2, Mr. S, who is 100% the friend and 0% boyfriend material. I think he probably stabbed Jack in the eye before, judging from the degree of dislike that Jack had for him. Plus, we're equally unimpressed over his cavemen communication habits, be it with the opposite or same gender. Insensitive, blunt, ... It's time the men did something to curb the surfacing of such people of their gender.

Urgh.

I'm insomnaic. Which probably means I'm going sprout a few more zits within the next few days.



Oh, and say hello to the new family member. Apparently my Fujitsu and PSP are extremely jealous of this skimpy beauty.

I used to be anti-Apple, simply because I couldn't find a way to navigate the Macbook without looking like a country bumpkin; the touchpad was an insolent piece of crap to operate, it made my fingers feel like toes. AND I didn't like the iPod's wheel technology as well, simply because I was a buttons person, not so much of a touch-touch person. Oh well, let's just say the boyfriend is a strong propagator os marketing messages in my life. Haha. :)

I got the purple one, and he got the orange one (since there wasn't any white).

Let's just say that I'm still struggling with the tilting function, so that I can play games on my Nano. Plus iTunes is a chore to operate. It's like... French.

As usual, lengthy makan and pak-tor sessions seem to been so distant from where we are currently, with each of us juggling 3 projects on hand, tuition, assignments, project meetings... Please, people. If you happen to see us together in school, it's probably after strenous planning and taking time off, so there's nothing to admire. You'll probably want to wish you've had it better. Those long chats and cuddles at Vivocity, those lengthy walking sessions we used to have every weekend, hanging out at each other's homes doing nothing, thronging Orchard Road to watch flashy cars... This semester's mad.

Caught in the middle

Oh well. Sibling-squabbles are truly irritating. Especially when they turn into catfights. I don't really care how cute and cuddly some other people find their siblings, because they'll never be caught in the middle of two teenagers and get dragged in as well.


Oh well.


Things I had sacrificed time with Jack for: Tuition, webcasts, presentation notes, readings, tutorial. I see why he hates school sometimes.


Just a rant. I don't see myself as an expert in relationship maintenance since I can be a horrid partner at times, but I don't get it when intelligent people could be reduced to tabula rasa when it comes to relationships. Yes, I might be (again) imposing standards on these people but, hello, don't they ever get it?

Relationship morons:

1. Guys who like girls and, er, continue liking them until either A. the girl finds a boyfriend and get all upset and start to to wallow in self pity and die or B. become irritating greeneyed-monsters and act all valient about protecting the girl secretly until A happens.

2. Girls who visit temples and pray for a boyfriend who would do nothing but eat, sleep, shit,breathe and accompany them.

3. Girls and guys who allow their partners to treat them like 24/7 maids/manservants, mobile food kiosks, pharmacies, money-printing machines, chauffeurs, etc. etc.

4. Guys and girls who do No. 3. to their partners.

5. Girls and guys who would call their ex-es after quarrelling with their partners.


You would probably be asking yourself why people did the above stuff, when these are foolproof methods to ruin their relationships. Search me. Oh well, but then again, without these people around us, life would be ol' so boring, right? Besides, Relationships for Dummies wouldn't sell as well.

sleep debt

I slept past 10am this morning; I didn't realise what the phrase "the luxury of time" really meant until I didn't get proper sleep for the past 3 weeks. Make it 4. Even before the Recess Week, I've already got my hands full of projects and essays. The week-long holiday alleviate little of the sleep loss, and life became worse after that, when I had to sleep at 3am and wake up at 7 to go to school. *Grumbles* Of course, we had to sacrifice whatever time we had for dating and whatnot, and camp in school until late. *Sigh* But it's good enough to know that, while we're both clinging on to dear life, there's you by my side, even if it means enduring my nonsensical mood swings and quarrelsome nature.

Mum spent the whole Friday night narrating her 10-day trip in China. Of course, Mum and Dad got me purple tops, so I'm a happy girl. :)

*sigh* Loads of catching up to do, amidst battling the sleep-inducing weather.

Combustion point

It's always times like this that I'm totally burnt out; sometimes I yearn to trash everything, and just go sleep the day away, and at other times the adrenaline rush of pushing your body to its limit and then crumbling seems too enticing to miss out on. My skin's turning real cranky, my nails turn purple under 20 degrees Celsius, but I'm pressing on.

Whatever doesn't kill me, makes me stronger.

Whatever kills me, does.

And my 3219 group turned the tables on the teaching team this time round; I'm not trying to be cocky here, but if you found out that you had to be moderated down for your issue tracking, it's my group's fault. :) Plus I managed to neutralise my C+ (yes, hell, I got a C+ for my first asignment) with my pitch letter. I can finally understand why PR practitioners go on working in their shitty jobs; it's the satisfaction you get out of watching your competitors crumble to dust. I know it's an annoying obsession, but I kind of like it.

My legs hurt. 4 bruises and counting.

I got the lady from Popular bookstore to ransack their storeroom for BSB's latest album This is Us. :) Yes, I'm turning sado-masochistic. Anyway, electronic music wasn't quite my cup of coffee (yes, coffee for me), and they had to do just that. But they were unfairly pardoned by moi, majorly because they sounded just like they were back in 1996! Well, except for Nick, who wouldn't quit smoking. Still the B-Rok, Bone, Howie D and Frack I know from 1996. And they will always be the Kings of Pop Groups.

Unease

There was a foreboding sense of unease when I handed in my 3224 paper today; like something about my paper wasn't going to please the tutor very much. But, oh well, I did my best, so I'm leaving it all up to fate. This serves as a reminder for me to avoid all jobs which require me to do such writeups. The 2,500-word limit wasn't too easy to keep to.


Then it was off to Sakae and movie!

No, I wasn't impressed. Definitely, some credit can be accorded for the refreshing presentation style of the entire movie (there was a reason why it was called Shorts). The rest of the stuff? It was more of a cheesy B-rated storyline which lies in the same league as those Scary Movies and parody films, so watch it with a pinch of salt if you're planning to waste your money on this. I was telling the hubby that if this were to be judged alongside Lord of the Rings, it would have gotten a 1 out of 5.

The Ugly Truth

Sometimes the truth sucks.

I seriously loved this movie. Yes, it's sardine-packed with loads of crude sexual humour, profanities, various names of human anatomy and a weird woman who does this silly dance when she's over the moon. But, as cliched as it sounds, almost everything inside about men and women and their outlook when it comes to relationships is nothing but the ugly truth. Perhaps some local director should do a local adaptation of The Ugly Truth, because alot of the 'facts' are typically stereotypical of men and women universally. But then again, why would any producer do that, when the field research alone is probably going to kill them? We have to face it that the men and women here are, unfortunately, engineered in a much more complex way than psychology, philosophy, communication theories and science can explain.

If the truth hurts, lie.

Copy cars

Did I mention how much I hate copycats?

This is the Honda Crossroad. Released by Honda in early 2007, it looks... suspiciously like some other automobile.

This is the Hummer H3, the baby of the Hummer family of military vehicles released by Hummer Motors in 2006. While it underwent a major weight loss programme to trim it for the layman, it still packs a punch in its 2-plus ton frame, and guzzles fuel like nobody's business.

And some people couldn't tell these 2 cars apart?! Like, DUH?! Did someone poke you in the eye?

And so, thanks to our friendly local car site http://www.sgcarmart.com/, who very kindly did a comparison of the above two cars, the sheer difference of the two cars are illustrated here:

Sorry, I'm just feeling very sore over the fact that I didn't have the chance to snap a photo of the only H3 I spotted opposite RGS. Argh.

Enslaved by time and tide

I wonder if my immune system's playing a trick on me; I hopped onto the bus this morning feeling alright, and then began to feel feverish in 3224 lecture. My fingers turned numb, the blood wasn't reaching my arms and legs, my head was throbbing, and I basically felt like I was going to freeze to death. Thank god Mr. Gui extended the 3224 essay deadline, which gave my body time to recover. 3219 presentation tomorrow, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that 4 Biogesics and 2 Panadol Extras later, I will be able to ramble non-stop tomorrow.

Yes, we spent our 19th month apart, probably the first time in memory. When school work loads up, spending time with each other is a luxury I never want to take for granted. As we took turns to fall sick, get pissed off with assignments and projects, curse lecturers, it's comforting to know that at the end of the day, there's still you and me, and us, unseparated by time and space.

I miss you.

Denial. DENIAL!!!

It's the weekend before the Great Showdown. By that I didn't mean the F1 race; I'm simply counting down to Doomsday when it arrives on Monday, and continues to drag until the end of the semester, or until I run out of motivation and collapse in a puddle of self-despair.

I don't know why I gave myself the reason to waste Thursday away; maybe it's because I'm dying to cut myself some slack and then coming back to kick myself in the back. Or maybe meeting up with the group of people I call friends in my Uni life. Yeah, I pretty much have no social life within my course or faculty, and I have no close buddies who will chope seats for me every lecture, help me print lecture notes or let me copy the lectures that I have missed. And strangely, I don't feel like I needed that all, because majority the friends I make, despite being from the other side of Kent Ridge Drive, have exactly what I seek in a friend. Those whom you enjoy and toil through time with, those who will never see eye to eye with me and yet make such great friends, and those who make you wonder if you're in the wrong faculty. Haha ok I'm out of point. And despite the fact that most of them will be more than just several thousand miles away from here next semester, the friendship we have will bound us together.

And yes, I'm feeling sore about not being able to hear the eardrum-quashing zips of those fast and furious monsters around Marina, and not being able to feel the feet rumble beneath my feet as they come in and out of sight faster than you could say 'Hamilton!'. And I'm in complete self-denial.

No, I don't have a 2,500 essay due this Wednesday which I haven't started on.
No, I don't know what the Backstreet Boys will be singing at the F1, which I'm far too underprivileged monetarily to attend.
No, I don't have mid-terms on Monday, which I haven't finished studying.
No, I don't have an assignment due on Monday, which I'm not completely satisfied with.
No, I don't have a formal presentation on Toyota on Wednesday, which I have no idea what I have to say.
No, I don' have tutorial readings for Wednesday, which I have happily postponed to Tuesday night.
No, I'm not feeling sore over the beautiful cars that I'm going to miss when all the dirt-rich fellas come out to play this weekend.
No, I'm not missing you so much it hurts like mad.
No, I'm not addicted to The Time Traveler's Wife.
No, I'm not running out of runway.

Just to watch you, and just watch you doing whatever you're doing. Bliss. And yes, I'm still looking forward, anticipating, to the day we'll go home to our home, eat, watch TV, and never have to say goodbye.

Argh.

To listen to sappy love ballads croon on and on about growing old together, and then hear you talk about the end of the world in 3 years' time, is the greatest irony in the world.

Sometimes I wonder why I even bother crying over that nonsense. Screw those bastards.

Mozzie!

I'm a total convert of Mozilla Firefox. I used to harbor the idea that Firefox had an all-too-round interface which didn't look like something I would use. The bookmark feature's also a little inconvenient when it comes to accessing them quickly. And then IE7 decided to tune out of my net connection, such that I couldn't load any page even with my Internet connection up. And yay! Firefox saved the day!

I spent half my Tuesday bombarding Meimin with noobie emails regarding my essay choice, and I ol' so thank her for kicking me back up the right track, or else I'd be ambling on about Apple technology and committed academic suicide. I've always heard positive things about her teaching style, and to experience it justified everything people said.

3219 group meeting today, and we managed to beat the heat by holing up in our CNM nest. We have the nicest professors and lecturers (ignore the black sheep) who would never say no as long as we behaved ourselves, and gave us feedback for our questions almost instantaneously. Now where do you find professors who hook onto their smart phones and laptops 24/7, and always ready to dish out solutions for your issues? Where do you find courses that get you up on Twitter, get you to track issues on huge companies via Factiva and Google Alerts, and assign you projects that you love and hate at the same time?

This sounds like an advertorial.

Oh well. Back to mugging my last chapter for today, so that I could return the 48 hours I owed Jack tomorrow.