Sunday, June 29, 2008

End of the game and Jeffrey Archer

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I spend 80% of my time outside (lunch breaks not included) exclusively with guys but my traffic light is still evergreen. Something is wrong somewhere.

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Finally finished the book. Haha don't feel much actually. I thought I would know more about the tricks men used. But looking at the stuff written, it didn't seem very applicable in Singapore. Seriously, some of the negs would have earned the fella a slap from me. And women in Singapore are not that fuckable ya know.

Towards the end, the book got quite a bit boring. It was just one woman after the other. Same tricks, different bar. Funny there weren't stories about failed attempts towards the end. And Neil Strauss always seemed to be such an understanding person. Mature, logical, charming. Exactly how I would write myself.

Oh. And I hate Tyler Durden. Zero respect for him and his zero respect for women.

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Some time ago, I was wondering why Jeffrey Archer named his book Kane and Abel when the two first names were Kane and Rovnowski. Initially I thought it was just because the name wasn't catchy. Only recently (yeah, I know a bit slow) that I realised it was from the Bible story of Cain and Abel.

Frankly speaking, the only talent I felt that Archer showed in Kane and Abel was writing style. In Shall We Tell the President, the plot was even worst - normal, predictable and lacked ingenuity. It probably could charm a secondary school kid. But more work will be needed when the kid grows five years older.

But these are just comments after reading his series on Kane and Abel. I thought The Prodigal Daughter was good; when I read it in secondary school.

Saturday, June 28, 2008

Wanted

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I realise I keep saying yeah right and shit man.

I need new pet phrases.

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I went to watch Wanted today. The effects are so friggin' cool la. The trailers didn't disappoint. But I was cringing in my seat like most of the time. The graphics were er.. really graphic.

Angelina Jolie rocks as the seductive (slutty) Fox, and the guy playing Sloan keeps reminding me of Nelson Mendela. My morbid dreams had the character and style of Fox as well, but I used the sword more often than the gun.

I never knew binary code was around since a thousand years ago, but I'm not very surprised even if it was.

Still can't understand how they could decode the piece of cloth in such a short time. And how did they know which was the right way up arh?

Cynical humour was in all the right places. Rocks.

They got the healing liquid I so often had in my morbid imaginations. But I wasn't that creative with the names, and my healing liquid worked by accelerating cell regeneration.

The ending sucks.

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

My Rag Experience

Since we're on the topic of hall anyway, might as well blog about this speech that I daydreamed up while lying awake on my bed thinking about SECC.

I kinda daydreamed this scenario (many scenarios, actually) where I was asked to tell the freshies about my rag experience, and motivate them to join rag.

Haha not that I expect it to happen in real life anyway, but no harm dreaming about it.

So here goes:

"I was a rag dancer in my freshie year. I was a SECC camper too, and I had put down my name for rag after the camp. After watching the video for Midway Fair, I thought, 'Why not?'

We first began evening practices from 7 to 10, then later on from 10 to 10. During that time, we had a lot of fun doing stupid things in between practices. Like there was once we tricked Janice, the then Dance I/C, into starting practice half an hour later after our lunch break, and another time the whole bunch of us had a really rubbish conversation on what was the best way to shit.

Eventually Rag Day came. And we performed the fantasy of Daily Express.

That year, we lost.

Standing on the grass patch together with the shearites, we listened in silence as the announcer read out KR's name over and over again. Many tears fell as we could not hide our disappointment, and all of us left wanting to be champions the following year.

Second year, I was a SWOC. I wore my black attire emblazoned with the hall crest and stood on chairs with 11 other SWOCs and led the hall in cheers. That year Rag was at the Padang, and we were standing at a grass patch near the stage.

When our hall's performance came on, the sea of orange went mad. We cheered, we did the moves together, we 'pumped' the heart together. At that time, the stage had expanded to the sea of orange and the raggers standing offstage.

When our float moved off, and we quietened down, it felt like Padang was very quiet. Everyone was looking at us.

Actually, that day, basically only the 12 of us could watch the performance. The Shearites at the back were blocked by those in front, and those in front were blocked by us. But they just cheered, and did all the actions together. Everyone was just amazing.

That year, our hall brought home the Chancellor's Shield. It is our pride and a symbol of what our hall can achieve.

Rag is definitely not something that is done in a day or two. It is not easy, and it might not necessarily be fun. But the satisfaction and sense of achievement you get for watching your float drive down the parade is something that no one can deny.

Without that one scale from you, the float would never be complete, without that paint job you helped to do, the float will lack lustre, without that design you offered, the float would never win that shield.

At the very end of it all, every help counts. This is the Rag experience. And I hope you would not turn it away now that it is just right in front of you."

Monday, June 23, 2008

Breaking away

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The men can't get it: Don't you think it's amazing how women can walk about doing their daily business as though there is nothing wrong in the world even though they are dripping blood uncomfortably into their panties??

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Someone once told me "So, you're the kind who can't stop moving". I never realised that about myself, but when he said it, it jolted me.

Quite true arh.

I had begun my second year of hall feeling drained. I even talked to papaya how tired I was, and how suddenly I understood why back then in jc they felt that they were part-time students, full-time njps employees.

Throughout the second year, I yearned the elusive state of rest.

But then again, during the december holidays, I alternated between netball trainings in the day and Chingay practices at night. I'll wake up at 6 am, and collapsed into bed at 2 am. But I didn't feel tired. I only felt sleepy. (Sleepiness is easily combated with a rush of adrenaline. Tiredness halts that adrenaline.)

I guess I didn't need rest. I needed a break. From hall.

hm.. at this point, my post seems to be steering towards my decision to not stay in hall.. it's not intended, but since we're here, let 's just carry on.

I began my second year slowly recovering from a decimated self-esteem. It was debilitating, and there was no one to help me with it. And a lot of people to disrupt the process.

I am passionate about hall. I love hall. I love Block C, and I love the C-Towners. I get upset at phantoms, feel disappointed in people not willing to participate when they were very able to do so, and envy others who could go for events like DnD and all the dressed-up dinners without having to worry anything about their clothes or their pockets.

But at the same time, I felt that I could not stay on for a third year.

Just before this year's SECC, I lay awake on my bed at night thinking of the cheers that I knew, doing the stupid things we did, from freshie to councillor to senior, from bimbota gray to "backstage crew" to audience. How we've grown and changed and became immersed in a culture found nowhere else.

I love hall, and I always will. This is two years of my life I'll choose if given a chance to start over. But I feel that I'll have the courage to return only when I have become very sure of myself, and won't falter when I face the people who broke it down in the first place. It's not that I want to become the old me, someone who liked being angry and had no ears for anyone but herself.

But I want to regain and ascertain my confidence and be the person who is not afraid to be who she is.

Until then, hall life will continue being a fond memory I am proud of.

Friday, June 20, 2008

Praise be to God

Noticing that my special sem would end soon (it just ended today), I started looking out for internships about two weeks ago. Slightly more than one week ago, internships which began after June 20 started coming in. I happily applied.

My first application went in on 12 June (last week Thursday), and a couple more until 17 June (Tuesday). All the while, I was planning in my head for times when they called, and the possible scenarios that would occur. Shouldn't have planned. Up till yesterday, no one called.

From Monday till Wednesday, I kept praying for God to get me an internship, with really good pay. I told him I needed the money for exchange and I don't want a $400 internship. Really good pay. Like $750.

This morning, just after my exam, I got a call to go down for an interview. I nearly leapt for joy. Dropped by AMK Hub along the way to get a new pair of shoes. Went back, did more research on the company, got my things ready, dressed up and headed out.

The place was at Upper Thomson, like really near my place. Went in, and heard music playing while people in casual clothes walked around barefooted. Oooh.. I felt reaaaaally over-dressed.

When the "interview" formally started, I was pretty much told what I would be doing. Not questions normal interviews typically have. Immediately flashed back to my very first job "interview" where my mum's friend told me what I would be doing in the same manner too.

I think I asked the first question about the company, and her first real question to me was "So, when can I see you?" This was surreal.

When I asked how much my remuneration would be, she said "because this is an internship..."

I thought, "Oh oh. Not $400 please!"

and she wrote down the amount.

My eyeballs dropped out and rolled onto the table.

"Wow! That's really high!" I managed in a suppressed, excited, bewildered whisper.

"Yes, because we treat it as a real job, with real responsibilities."

"O...ok, if I were hired, I'll make sure I'm worth every cent." I could barely make out the words. (At that time, she hadn't asked her "so, when can I see you" question, so I wasn't entirely sure if I got it.

At that point in time, just like it is now, my head was just going "Hallelujah, hallelujah. Praise be to God, praise be to God!!!"

This is surreal.

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

All thanks to her

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With all the media attention that was on Clinton and Obama, I have pretty much forgotten how McCain looks like

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The team project requirement for NM 2220 was to create an e-newsletter. My group had six girls. None of us knew any shit about e-newsletter.


The lecturer explained to us really clearly what she wanted, the hyperlinks and what not. But by the third week, I was still quite apprehensive about the whole web business. No one knew anything la! Even I couldn't save the day, how could I ask someone else to do it and be there to kio sai if anything goes wrong?? What if something goes wrong???


I could take care of the photoshop bit, that's for sure (duh). But definitely absolutely completely totally surely not the html monster.


Then she said. "I'll do it."

"You sure or not?"

"Yeah. Should be ok."

Should be ok??

"Really arh?"


"Yup."

Today, after much refining and detailing (like doing word-rag like that), we handed up our e-newsletter. Originally felt quite cheated after the lecture cos we were asked to submit a zip file, which I felt totally defeated the purpose of asking us to do an online newsletter. Argh!

Anyway, the link is here. http://www.makani-news.blogspot.com/ It's definitely not any award-winning website, and not much to speak of. It's a writing module by the way. But I'm very, very proud of it.


And this is the lady who made it all possible.


She totally rocks la!


p/s hehe just realised the photo is not very flattering of her.. but that's the only one i have leh.. Just know that she's incredibly nice and amazing

Monday, June 09, 2008

Go cum elsewhere, loser!

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Don't you think the media is hinting at something with the repeated reports of disrupted rescue efforts in Sichuan?

Is it just me or are the problems seem to be mostly weather-related?

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Dear all lonely male strangers out there, please leave me alone when you see me. If I'm alone, I obviously want to be alone (duh!). If I'm with someone else, then I've got company already. So buzz off!

Stop asking for my number, stop stealing my contact information from some lucky draw ticket I filled out, stop getting my number on the pretext of some other business-related shit, stop sitting so close to me on the bus, stop asking stupid questions, and STOP PRETENDING TO INNOCENTLY TOUCH ME, ASSHOLE!

Fucking hum sup lo.

Sunday, June 08, 2008

The Game

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Makeup - the mysteries of left and right continue to baffle me

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I bought Neil Strauss' The Game. When I was first introduced the book, I was filled with curiousity on what sort of pickup tricks words could possibly impart. I immediately wanted to have the book. But alas, the libraries only had CDs of it, and they were mostly on loan. Looks like I'm not the only curious person around huh.



So I resorted to buying it. When I first found the book at Kinokuniya, I was apprehensive. Instead of just grabbing it off the shelf and heading for the cashier, I hung around the aisles, randomly choosing books I was mildly interested in.

The Game was a man's book, or so I thought. Why on earth would a woman want it??

In the end, I reminded myself (the same way I always did when I felt people might look at me with a funny eye) that I was just as random a stranger as any other patron in the shop. And if I were to read a man's book, then I'll read a man's book. What the hell.

To prove my point, I took out the book to read at every opportunity throughout the day. I'll fish the kinokuniya carrier out of my bag, take out the book, open it and read it while holding on to the carrier. Some people did look. In my direction at least. But hm.. I actually like the attention :)

The first few pages brought both revelations and agreements. Revelation in that bringing a woman's self-esteem down and not showing interest was actually a bait to get her hooked, and agreement that amateurs display their fishing rods and hooks immediately, while the pro would hunt steathily.

There was another surprise as well. That pick-ups should be done on girls in a group. Funny I always got pick-ups when I'm alone, and from people hopeless at hiding their fishing rods. Haha maybe I shouldn't be the one reading this book after all.

Saturday, June 07, 2008

I (finally) dyed my hair!

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Hey, I didn't know Pomegranate Ruby had caffeine!

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Can you see the difference?

Friday, June 06, 2008

Shades of grey

I love black and white photos. It always seem to tell so much more..

I languish the days back in nj when I can create my own black and whites. I could spend an entire Saturday from 10 to 4 alone in the darkroom printing. I could experiment with anything and everything I wanted, and not stop till I've got my perfect print. Such fond memories!







Wednesday, June 04, 2008

Sunset in the heartlands

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Suddenly, I'm beginning to think that there is no such thing as true love..

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One thing I love about living where I do, is that I get to have the view without having the heat.




But I still wouldn't mind getting back my condo life anytime!

I *heart condo life!

Sunday, June 01, 2008

Bimbotic moment

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Early Wednesday morning, I heard the announcement that Aung San Suu Kyi's house arrest was extended over TV Mobile. The Singapore government expressed its disappointment to the Burmese government.

Reports on the cyclone and Sichuan quake has since taken over, and no more was mentioned of the extended house arrest.

I hate the Mayanmar junta.

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I was crossing the road near my house earlier today. Admiring my newly-done manicure, I noticed the green man coming on. As I took one step out onto the road, I heard someone say "Careful!”.

For that split second there, I freaking thought that was my conscience.

"I don’t want to die just after I had a manicure!” I told my conscience, and briefly hesitated in the middle of the road.

Then I turned around and saw a woman who repeated herself.
"Careful!” The exact same tone. “Watch out for the cars!”

Sheesh!


Do you see what i see?

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I once met this guy, and he said to me "I hate all those B pluses!" And I thought "Wow. This person is very intelligent."

Sometime later, I met another guy and he said to me "To me, B plus is very lousy." And I thought "What a showoff."

Amazing how some people just come across as losers, isn't it?

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