Sunday, November 28, 2010

Greatness

I get it now. I'm actually a feminist. That I actually hate how the stereotypical male sounds like, because I hate it even more when none of those around me actually sounds close to conforming to that. And did I mention that I abhor inconsistency? Maybe that's what drew Private to me. I enjoyed how the women in Patterson's mind oozed manipulative power and brains.



While Alex Cross had been a brilliant creation of Patterson's, I loved the protagonist Jack Morgan in Private (no pun intended). He's the man-in-power every guy wants to be, has everything in life, and has everyone rich and famous at his beck and call. Yet Patterson etched a vulnerability list to Morgan as well; a problematic twin brother, a past he struggles to remember and then forget, as well as his own troubled love life. While the serial murders this time round were rather tame, it gave more time to the characters' development, something I gave Patterson the thumbs-up to; nothing spells a bad book than a whole load of smoke and a few empty characters. There's a whole good load of reasons why I devoured the book so quickly. ;)


Sundays never fail to pass so quickly; one week ago, I was crazily mugging for my Cybercrime paper and one week later, I went grocery shopping with Mum had a sumptuous dinner that went on for 3 hours with Jack's extended family.


Month 33 had not been easier than the previous months; we've had our fair share of tiffs and whatnot but, at the end of the day, I'm still back in your warm arms. Everytime we hit a brick wall, I tend to get easily intimidated by the myriad of possible conclusions. But you showed me, through and through, that there'll only be one solution, which is the one in which we'll kiss and make up and grow our relationship into a much stronger one than before. Another great month to bid farewell to, as we usher in another month of greatness.

I miss you.

Thursday, November 25, 2010

Semester 7

I stepped into my 7th semester with the determination of a kamikaze pilot; it's either a do or die thing. Those close to me should be aware of the fact that I'm fighting for an honours, and this semester has been an extension in a bid to up my CAP. Some people told me, "Aiyah, Arts degree got honours or not also the same." It may be the case for these people, but not for me.



And I fought hard this semester.


Interestingly, after poring over it, I realised that I've learnt so much more this semester, I dare bet on it, than any of the past six. In fact, I was pretty self-condescending at the start of the semester, just before the recess week, openly jeering at myself. It's four level 3000 modules. What makes you think you're going to survive all of them? Are you letting the proverbial smoke get into your eyes?


And I kept telling myself you're gonna flop you're gonna flop you're gonna flop...



Until I met these good friends of mine.




They showed me that impossible was nothing, because when I first got to know that I had to handle these applications for NM3217, I was far from delirious. In fact, my inner technophobic almost jumped up and threw in the towel. But I knew a fight was eminent, because it was all I was there for. To put up a bloody great fight. And I conquered. And I was pretty proud of what eventually came out of it; 1 newsletter, 1 flier, 1 brochure and 1 website, or pretty much everything I told myself I wouldn't be skilled enough to accomplish.
I did my brochure within 4 days, and my website within 3. ;)

Definitely, there's got to be those potholes along the way.
Like those rowdy h o n s.ly students who declared themselves king of the castle.
Like uncooperative groupmates who have absolutely no idea that they're writing junk, even in Year 3, and never bothered to help in any other way. Does being the busiest person in your own world exempt you from GROUPwork? Are you even literate?
Like pushy groupmates.
And unfriendly ones.
And those who disappear... and appear as and when they deemed fit.

But I've got my own group of superheroes to thank for helping me through this semester. To my awesome 3226 group, who slogged through hours and hours in the lab just to get everything done. To the next awesome tutor Aaron for all his help in lab and answering all my uber last-minute emails.

Tempers flared ALOT this semester, I swear, and even more so when you put two positively sleep-deprieved, angsty and time-starved people together. I'm glad we pulled through with minimal injuries, and I thank whoever's up there every single day for bringing you into my life, no matter how pissed we were with each other sometimes. If couples don't quarrel, it simply means that they lack communication and concern for each other. What's most important at the end of the day is that blessed feeling of being able to love and be loved by that same person.

Thank you for tolerating my short tempers and PMS-sy moodswings.

Thank you for making that long trip to my home just to study with me.
Thank you for making a fool of yourself just to make me smile.
Thank you for loaning me to my project mates for hours for marthon project meetings.
Thank you for ... everything.
We may have not a penny to our names,
we may not have earned a reputation for ourselves,
we may not drive the biggest cars in the world or live in the most beautiful homes,
we may not be lucky enough to travel far and wide,
we may not have everything other couples have.

But we've got each other, and that's more than enough for a lifetime.

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

I fell asleep during my NM3210 exam today. Like, seriously, drooped off to sleep. And it happened more that just a couple of times during the whole duration of the exam.

Not the first time, though.

Sunday, November 21, 2010

Mine

I know how much you hate Taylor Swift, but it's hard for me not to relate to this song because it's almost all about us. :)
Because you're the best thing that's ever been mine.



You were in college working part time waiting tables
Left a small town, never looked back
I was the flight risk with the fear of fallin'
Wonderin' why we bothered with love if it never lasts

I say "Can you believe it?"
As we're lying on the couch
The moment I can see it
Yes, yes I can see it now

Do you remember we were sittin' there by the water?
You put your arm around me for the first time
You made a rebel of a careless man's careful daughter
You are the best thing that's ever been mine

Flash forward and we're taking on the world together
And there's a drawer of my things at your place
You learned my secrets and you figure out why I'm guarded
You say we'll never make my parents' mistakes

But we've got bills to pay
We got nothing figured out
When it was hard to take yes, yes
This is what I thought about

Do you remember we were sitting there by the water?
You put your arm around me for the first time
You made a rebel of a careless man's careful daughter
You are the best thing that's ever been mine

Do you remember all the city lights on the water
You saw me start to believe for the first time
You made a rebel of a careless man's careful daughter
You are the best thing that's ever been mine

And I remember that fight 2:30 AM
Cause everything was slippin' right out of our hands
I ran out crying and you followed me out into the street

Braced myself for the goodbye
Cause that's all I've ever known
And you took me by surprise
You said I'll never leave you alone
You said

"I remember how we felt sittin' by the water
And every time I look at you it's like the first time
I fell in love with a careless man's careful daughter
She is the best thing that's ever been mine"

You made a rebel of a careless man's careful daughter
You are the best thing that's ever been mine

Sunday, November 14, 2010

Would you...?

I have no idea how any woman can tolerate sharing her husband with another three women.




One of the groups in 3225 presented this and I thought, "Who the heck is that man with a huge house, a flashy Lexus, 4 wives and countless children?" I'm not against Mormon fundamentalism as a religion; the polygamy part of it simply freaks me out, especially after watching the videos related to the reality show Sister Wives.Did the first, and only legally married, wife expect her husband to be a Fundamentalist Mormon before she agreed to marry him? How did the other wives accept the fact that they were not legal wives to their husband? How could they tolerate knowing that their husband's away in another part of the house sleeping with another woman apart from themselves? And the epic question is, will he stop at 4? Or is he going to fall in love again and again and again?


While I'm against the idea of polygamy, their decision still has my respect, because it's amazing to see women work together like sisters for the family, with their own delineated roles in the household. As for the husband.... never mind.

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Sayonara

Yes, our loyal feeder is going for good.




What a pity. Thank you for your lovely mushroom pasta, Aglio Olio and Primavera.
But Starbucks sounds way too good. :P

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Inconsiderate

There're always times when that I'll wish for a miraculous server outage.
Especially when you've been downloading a hugeass file for the past 2 hours and you lose network connection because someone else (or rather, many people) is using the same connection to play Starcraft II.


DO YOU EVEN UNDERSTAND THE AGONY? Especially when this huge ass file is a matter of life and death for my project? How about I pull that pretty power plug from the arse of your laptop while you're completing the quest? Would you care about how many siege tanks you have then?

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Julie is going to be an obedient girl/daughter/girlfriend and start taking great care of herself.


... which, unfortunately, includes everything except proper sleep. It's not some personal conviction thing, just damn schoolwork bogging me down. Alot of (older) people simply cannot understand why we youngsters are sleeping less and less. Is it too difficult to comprehend the fact that if we actually do sleep 8 satisfying hours a day, our grades will prolly hit rock-bottom faster than you can say 'NUS'? My mum nags every single night about us not sleeping early; she prolly haven't seen the scholars yet.

Good luck and good day to all undergrads. The night is still young.

Monday, November 1, 2010

Even heroes have the right to bleed

It was great while it lasted.

The Boardgame Clique held our boardgames-cum-trick-or-treat session yesterday at our Paya Lebar hideout. Boy, did we have a great time with the seemingly-dumb game of Balderdash, during which everyone was making up looney answers from acronyms, names, movies, dates and words we didn't know existed.

Like 3 June 1965.

Like Tuttles of Tahiti. (of which fyi, was not about a group of Tuttles lying around doing nothing.)

Like ICA. (Which could have meant anything from International Chiropractors Association to International Compliance Association.)

Like the bladderpipe.

And if you're even wondering what Balderbash means, here you go:

"Nonsense."
- Free Marriam-Webster Dictionary

And we played our usual share of Acquire, Money, Vegas Showdown and No Thanks, and had a calorie-laden dinner at Suki Sushi. Then the problem started when I was on the MRT home. Apart from feeling wozzy, I was getting a nagging migraine to the side of my head, like someone was rapping on it with a cane. Then the nausea. And the feverish sensation coursing through my veins down to my feet. And the tingling sensation in my fingers and toes. And I told myself I had to get off before I collapsed on the train (like a near-death experience I had couple of years back). Then on the bus home, red splotches started appearing my my forearms and palms. Crap, I heard myself curse silently. The worst part of it all? Arriving at home with a really bad stomachache, only to find out that both bathrooms have been occupied by women who take pride in bathing for the longest time. I wanted to just head out of the kitchen window and end my misery. The splotches had reached my calves, and I was seeing double by the end of my bath.

Goddammit.
And I fell asleep uncomfortably, praying that my immune system would goddammit kill every single horrid thing that's causing this within my body. What else?
Superman saves whoever's in need. But who will save Superman when he's in need?