I should be scared.

A levels are out next week. There is a horrible feeling of well... suspense. I guess I'm just freaking out. Or not. I keep thinking of how, if I do horribly and get the most absymal results... I'll have wasted 2 years. Or not. Sometimes I wonder if I could choose again, would I have made a different choice on where to go, and from there, if I did JC, what life would be like if I knew how the A levels were going to be. I remember how Mr Ng said on our first day back as J2s, that time was running out. I thought he was being overly paranoid, but with exams appraoching I had wondered if 2 years were actually enough to let us prepare for the A Levels.

I guess that even if I do get horrible results, I don't regret how I spent those two years. I only wish that I knew exactly what it was I was getting into. However, that is only wishful thinking, Like what that Tom Hanks character, Forest Gump said, "Life is like a box of chocolates, you don't know what you'll get." (Or something like that - it was a long time since I heard that quote.) One can say the same about exams.

Do you believe in ghosts?

Yesterday, me and a couple of friends went out for dinner. We went to Pepper Lunch, which had nice food. However, if you like your bean sprouts well done, please skip that place, or else order something without bean sprouts. While we were queueing at Swensen's after wandering around Taka, the talk wound its way round to the topic of ghosts. Do you believe in them? My two friends go by numbers - look at the amount of ghost stories and retellings of encounters with 'them'. While I wonder how many of them are seriously true, and are not hallucinations mistaken for ghosts, or simply creepy tales to scare an audience, I'm not a non believer in ghosts. On the contrary, I want to believe that some inexplicable mystery still exists in our practical, tech oriented world. But I've never seen a ghost. Why is it that we all choose to believe in something that has no scientific proof. Very possibly, ghosts are the one thing that most people sort of believe in, and crosses linguistic, cultural and religious borders. It is also something we don't often talk about.
So are there ghosts in the world? You tell me.

By the way, if you've walked past HMV recently...they are having a clearout sale. Some really good cheap deals. VCDs from slightly below 8 bucks. I still feel ripped off. Don't ask why.

Did you know?

Terrapins can sneeze. It's true! It sounds like a yap, the kind that those irritating small dogs sound when they bark, only more dragged out. (It is after all, a sneeze.)

Work. Food. Me.

I'm too tired to really blog properly. I just felt I needed to properly thank all those who came down the day I started work at the cafe for dinner, especially poor ill-used someone who trudged ALL THE WAY from Grand-Copthorn without first collecting his pay. The work is seriously back breaking. I hate washing up because your back really hurts after that. Other than that, dishwashing is fine - almost therapeutic because it means you don't have to deal with all those customers. I still have trouble opening beer bottles. By the way, people do order the weirdest things....

Oh and one more thing. Don't EVER tell me my work isn't tough, particularly when you have NO job experience whatsoever. I'll throw something at you if you dare say so. My sis got a crab claw thrown at her for being preachy. So. There.

Good ol' days

Today, I met up with you. Again, in the space of two days, I'm reminded so much of our days in NY together. Heck... I truly miss those days, and that tale you told me, about the secret admirer is just so funny. Never did I think that he would be such a brilliant actor. But that is not surprising right? All those times in drama club. (Allow me to boast about my cca will you) As I said, if I had been there, I would not have stopped laughing too. I miss the way you always laugh, even when things weren't that funny - but lame things are funny too. We NY geog students ought to know.

We got lost, embarrassingly enough. Thank goodness we found our way back. No thanks to me. I do not envy your job - after all, I'm no musician and I'm disorganized. But I do envy your workplace. The environment is enviable, and the surroundings are so quiet and peaceful. VCH brings back so many fond memories too - I even saw (Mr) G. Singh standing there, right where I saw him the last time my Project Work group went to interview him at his workplace. That was two years ago. Yup. That corner of the concert hall fencing where we first spotted him. Dear members... if only u lot were reading this. That scene of him brought back a great sense of deja vu.

This week seems to have given me lots of opportunities to reminisce. It has been a sort of relief to talk about the good ol' days. Never did I think I would miss it this MUCH. I do not have so many good memories of my Secondary school days, and definitely ten times less good days in Primary school. May we all ace our A's and complete our A Level education with even more sweet memories!

Memories and much more

I miss NY. That was the first thought I had when me and Jane made it past the security guard at the front gate. Seeing our juniors... the canteen vendor (whoi gave us a free drink each)... the stupid canteen which was more often than not overly crowded... our tutors... even the building itself brought back wonderful memories of my time there. Now do I truly grasp the feeling that those two years were far too short. 4-30 has been completely revamped of course. Stages to one side, new green and orange bean bags, new wooden desks... and far cleaner than anything we were used to.

Strange then, that the room still contains the same atmosphere. I felt perfectly comfortable on the floor, but at the same time, am aware that I don’t belong there anymore. I’m only a visitor now. It is too easy to fall once again into the life of NYEDC. Already, though I'm at home now typing this out, I instinctively started thinking about the publicity. Poster ideas flow into my mind naturally; the problems faced by the set construction, the logistics, the overall performance, the cast all slip into my mind so easily. But though I want to be a part of it again, and experience the sheer nightmare, the sense of purpose, the camaraderie, I have to remind myself that hey... they are the new ones, and I've to let them do it their way. It's hard. My fingers itch to interfere. I have to constantly remind myself that I'm responsible now for my new job, my tuition, that Primary 3 girl that needs eye opening to the world, and that drama is something I need to think twice about before committing. Well. Look on the bright side (or the good side) - with new obligations, hopefully, I can't interfere too much.
Like 4-30, I've got to let go, and make way for the new masters of this place.

Curiouser and Curiouser

I watched "I Not Stupid 2" today, right before I went to my very first tuition class - First lesson - that children are Not stupid. I shall try to keep that in mind. Hmm... tuition is a lot more trying than I thought it'll be. Lots of patience involved, and not to mention, logic and humor, which both left me at the front door of the girl's house. I guess expectations were too high; the girl seems to like drawing (Hey!!) but seems to be lacking in curiosity. I hope it is only in science, but chances are, I might be wrong, since she doesn't like to read.

I've made it like a sort of part-time life long mission to interest my sister in reading. The success is limited. Manga ISN'T reading, and my disapproval of comics means it wasn't even me who influenced her. I got her to FINALLY take an interest in what I read, but she doesn't bother to read it herself. The ONLY book that ever piqued her interest was Howl's Moving Castle. And it was for a short while only. LOTR - the sheer volume to be read automatically makes it a hopeless task see.

Anyway, my point is, reading widens general knowledge, builds language proficiency and heps to solve most of the girl's academic problems. That, however, is just speculation. I talked at it with Kappa (thanks for listening and being patient with batty ol' me) who thinks the child's problem is a lack of curiousity. Hah. Maybe Spirited Away will wake her up. No..just kidding. I know better than to encourage cartoon watching with her Mum just a hair's breath away.
Well. I'll end here for tonight. Plesant dreams to whoever's out there right now.

Geisha in Hollywood

Watched "Memoirs of a Geisha" yesterday. It was quite nice...er. The kimonos were gorgeous. THe scenery and cinematography can be said to rival the kimonos. The one problem is that it is all too lovely, that is, to be a real memoir. The movie is like a sort of dream, really pretty, but about as realistic as an illusion. I

It looks and sounds deceptively like a Japanese film, but it isn't. It is well, basically, Rob Marshall's idea of what a film about geishas looks like, which is hardly accurate - for one thing, geishas are not kabuki dancers (P.S. was that dance Zhang Ziyi did with a paper umbrella even remotely akin to kabuki??). In other words, they move really sedately, but gracefully, and really not much twirling about. I'm not a geisha expert, but at least I'm absolutely sure they got the hairstyles and makeup wrong (from travel guides that my mum borrowed).

This film is not meant to be taken seriously. It has umm... some beginner's tips though, like how an apprentice geisha or geiko is called a maiko. And some other itty bitty facts. The thing is, it's one of those movies where u go to enjoy as a pretty movie experience. Nothing else really. I can in some way understand why people got really upset over the film though...