Tears of Laughter

WARNING: READERS BEWARE!

SPOILERS AHEAD. AND I MEAN MAJOR SPOILERS. DO NOT READ UNLESS YOU HAVE WATCHED HARRY POTTER & THE GOBLET OF FIRE (or are not allowed or are not planning to watch it)







I do not think I've ever laughed so hard before. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire was just amazing! I don't know, maybe its just that I might be finally getting used to the movie franchise or something. Anyway, excellent job all round I think. For a movie that was based on a world-famous book, I think the mass appeal method still works best. The previous movie, which was admittedly a little on the arty side is still one of my favourites in the series of movies, but Goblet really topped it because I felt that the movie captured the essence of the book really well, right down to it's very very English roots. [I think a British director makes all the diff] The opening strains of the Harry Potter theme music was approapriately eerie. (Yes, Kappa, I preferred listening to the dialogue but ok... soundtrack wasn't too bad) Oh yes, and as a book that dwindled slowly from fun, laughter and slapstick to horror, it takes an expert who is subtle enough to blend the two very different genres together, with the fine echoes of mounting darkness always ready to leap out unexpectedly at the audience.

I never thought that I'll be freaked out by a Harry Potter movie, but the first few scenes were truly spine-chilling. It followed closely to the book of course, and now, after some helpful prompting from Hash and Aaron, was reminded of reading about the muggle murder. I found that I'd imagined the scene to be something very much like this, which is good because that made me even more impressed with it. Nagini is cool, in an evil villian's pet sort of way.

Loved the Yule Ball scene. Poor Ron. It was so funny and I was laughing really hard. The scene of Ron moaning in distress at the sight of himself dresseed in the mouldering old robes is utterly hilarious. ["I look like my great-aunt Tessie!"] Lol. Lord Voldemort looked the way I had envisioned him to look like way back was when I was in Primary 12 when I first came across Harry Potter. Whooo. The image really stuck with me all through the years.

All in all, I think I cangive the movie a 7-7.5 rating, out of 10. Go watch it if you haven't! I think everyone enjoyed it and if you haven't gone, I'll say hurry and catch it!!!

P.S. The dragons are awesome. Not big and clumsy but really flexible and dangerous. Just the way I like em.

Much Better

Am feeling much better. Feel more emotionally stable. Health wise, I can't say. Think I've really caught the cold damn it. Great. After feeling shitty last Friday (seeing Tom Stoppard didn't make me feel any better) went home after Lit and found that nose decided to leak blood. Yay. Eew. The memory isn't disgusting but the thought of a bloody nose is. Now, I've improved to possessing a leaky nose reminiscient of the leaky tap at home.

Anyways, I'll be doing a boring report of my trip to the library in months!! Yes! It was lovely since I found 2 out of that very long reading list in tht prev post. It's Charles de Lint's Spirits in the Wires and Middlesex (Jeffery Eugenides I think; didn't bother to look properly yet). Both of them, along with this 3-in-1 trilogy were enormous heavy and utterly cumbersome. Ended up loading them all the way to KFC and then around Serangoon buying food home. Huh... I must remind all librarians that however hardy hard covers are, they sure are not user friendly. They are muderous weapons. You can kill if you hit someone with them.

The 3rd which coincidentally isn't on my list of to read bks is the "Riddle-Master" trilogy by Patricia A. McKillip. It draws on the LOTR and the love of riddling that is especially important in "The Hobbit", which is the prequel to LOTR. Sadly, there isn't a way to join in the riddling since you'll have absoulutely no idea of the history of the land which is quite obviously like Middle-Earth - make believe. However, that doesn't mean the riddles are insignificant, on the other hand, the riddles are really what drives the plot onwards.

Nevertheless, it is highly entertaining trying to keep one step ahead of the plot and solve the ultimate riddle spanning the 3 books, which is umm. I won't tell you what it is. Lovely book though, which also draws on typical viking-nish scenery of tall, craggy mountains, vast halls of Kings, dressed in substantial furs against the icy backdrop. Those at least were the most memorable scenes for me. Fellow readers are free to dispute of course.

However, the ending was a bit sucky. I felt that it was rather abrupt and the battle scenes passed too quickly over. You get the feel that the author is trying to condense an epic into too short a tale. However apart from that, I enjoyed it - a good old-fashioned fantasy tale.

Cynics. The modern world and the impossibility of goodwill

I'm pissed off. If this sounds like an impartial post then YES. I don't think I'll like to sound civil anymore. Somebody once told me that the world has become increasingly cynical, that it is hard to find someone who can still believe in the good in people, that all anyone sees nowadays are the flaws first of all, and most of all. It's almost as if prejudice has become a daily thing. We mistrust so easily. Far harder it is to gain another's trust. Locked doors behind smiles. If people say that few good men exist in the world today, then it is because this world is such that we do not care to see the goodness in people. It's a rat race man. Who damn cares about others?? Self comes first. Some say looking through rose coloured glasses is escapism. Are we then to lock oursleves in a mundane world then? We all need an outlet. Others rush headlong but I like to take it slow. However that isn't going to happen (Slowing down I mean). Not now anyway.

After two years at NY. I wonder what you all think. I feel like I haven't changed, and yet at the same time, I think that my life has altered beyond recognition too. More scared and less scared. I'm not that girl from Sec 4 now am I? That comfortable place where I knew my place and was happy in it.

I wonder if it is so hard to see the good in others. Or try probing beyond the surface. Then again, who am I indeed to say this when my principles are less than sound? It's not like I've tried to know others. I'm not very forthcoming. I too am a prejudiced person. I stick to my opinions and don't change them easily. Or maybe I don't and that's my problem. Am I too agreeable or something?

Just this morning, I argued with my sis. I suppose it's nothing to her since she tried to placate me with the pet hamsters less than 10 mins after shouting at me. Does she think I'm not angry? Am I forgiving because I don't destroy possesions the way certain family do when angry? Or the fact that I don't retaliate when hit? I hate fighting. I hate aimless quibbling. I just want to curl up with a good book and is that so wrong? I'm sorry. I don't think I've forgotten all the nasty things she said or things she accused me off, like waking up at 7 to read.

I woke up to buy breakfast. Because my mother wakes early. So i need to get breakfast early right. Wrong. I get accused of being addicted. Look at yourself please. Who spent her finals with her XBox? I see that happening for the O's too. Of course, all my mother did when we are both shouting at each other is to remind my sis that she hasn't washed the hamster cage yet. I can't think of a worse time to remind angry children about their most hated chores. Yup. Go on. Add fuel to the fire. Go on. But I don't need to egg ppl on. They do it themselves oh so voluntarily. Parents never did understand their children. Neither then do siblings.

But I can only hope that there are people out there who are not cynics. They must be considered a rare species. Almost extinct. Endangered. Let's hope they multiply soon.

Relief [or not. Lot's to do]

YES! All the evil evil papers are over! Well. All anyway except Lit. Please Lit...you don't want to make me hate you too... Now let's see. Finally, I have time to think about something other than the A's.

Yes. Free!!! Let me list the things I've wanted to do after the exam or at least continue from before my exam.

Hmm.
Play Pokemon on my sis's gameboy. My poor character is stuck out at sea since a month ago.

Read. There are a list of to-read things:
Douglas Adam's Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Turns out it is a series.
Charles de Lint's umm. New book. Can't remember what's it called.
Diana Wynne Jones's Conrad's Fate. [So I'm reading kid's stuff. So what. (Glares accusingly at anyone who dares to even let out a snigger)]
Can't remember her name's book. Think it was about basilisks.
American Gods [I wonder if Anansi Boys is out in the libraries yet?]
Tom Stoppard's plays and Waiting for Godot if I can find it. Does anyone want to go to Esplanade Library?
Arthur Miller's The Crucible. And some others. Maybe the Glass Menagerie. Can't recall...
START on this book I bought long ago because Kappa said it was mentioned in the OC. Looks good though. About WWII and comics.
Middlesex. Saw it in Borders long ago. Maybe I'll borrow it too. That is if I can find all of the above except for the one I bought alr.

Play badminton. Does anyone want to??

Watch Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Watch Chronicles of Narnia

Watch anything else that looks good and if I have the money after prom shopping

Prom shopping. Shit. What to wear...what to wear...need concealer first of all. I look like a freak after 3 straight days without proper sleep and too much tension [Maybe by prom I'll look better]

Then there is still my hair. My shoes. Makeup. Ugh.

Buy VCDs. I want Howl's Moving Castle. Is it out yet?? The movie was ages ago...the idiots.

Book shopping. Or just general shopping. =p

Go find a job. How boring. Sigh.

OK. That's it for now. I'm quite happy with the list. Lot's to do. Prom shopping and Harry Potter are of the most urgent obviously. I'll just keep all these in mind. Haha.

Dream

I had a dream last night. It probably had to do with the big dinner I had last night. My mum cooked this huge amount of meat, potatoes and carrot thing, and then she got pissed off when my dad brought home otah and chicken wings despite her telling him not to. Ah well. It is funny how when you complain you haven't had a really good dream for a really long time you end up with a demi-nightmare.

Let's see, like all good nightmares, one starts off with a pleasant enough dream. I was literally in paradise; dreamscape was filled with trees, weedy pools of clear water and an underwater glass house. [There was a sea turtle swimming over head for some reason] There was even a sparkling waterfall and a wooden suspension bridge [cool]. Then after a nice time 'exploring' this place, I end up stuck with 3 goons who somehow running from the law. The 3 goons [a guy with a beard, a young noble lady and a kid] and me as silent observer end up in the biggest goon's [bearded guy] flooded family vault. I'm sure we've all seen enough horror flicks to know what they put in underground vaults. The two grown up goons are having an argument in which the lady is extremely miffed that the biggest goon, instead of helping her gain an audience with the Duke has led them to this soggy and ulu place. Apparently the lady wants to seek Justice for her brother who is igoing to be unjustly executed for some minor crime. The noble lady is obviously trying to rescue her brother.

Sadly, while this may not be very scary sounding to most normal people is highly disturbing to me. For one thing, this sounds like a screwed up version of M4M [Measure for Measure, William Shakespeare]. Oh no oh no. I'm not the sort who has nightmares about schoolwork. Now I get this. Along with dancing skeleton ancestors of the bearded goon. Oh no. Oh no.

The summary of M4M goes that this is a Duke that is travelling incognito to spy on a potentially corrupt high ranking official. The official who does not know that he is being 'tested' goes on to blunder in the Duke's absence, by sending out harsh penalties for crimes that the slacker Duke had ignored while in power. With the official's new rules, a young noble called Claudio is to be executed for impregnating his soon to be married girlfriend. His sister, Isabella goes to the official and begs for her brother's life. Hoorah. Then when the corrupt official says that in exchange for her brother's freedom, she has to have a one night stand with him. She refuses duh, and then there is this messy convulated thing abt meeting the Duke in disguise, the potential dues ex machina, knight-in-shining-armour etc etc. YAWN.

Anyway, all's well end's well so they say.

Watched the Oliver Parker version of Othello [not the game; it's the play] today. There was this minor character with really hideous balloonish pants and white tights that provided untimely comic relief. If only I had a pic...it was funny, even if it wasn't supposed to be.

Don't think there is a need for a title. [So this will just do]

Firstly, I'll like to apologise for the state of the two previous posts. They are utterly hideous. I will write something befitting a calm, rational person the next time. How anyone can find this farcical is a guess. Do I write like it is a farce? It's amazing. Unintentional laughter and joy everywhere.

Secondly. My dad is hollering in the background on the point of owning a blog. His very disapproval is testimonial to the existence of my blog. Huh. Oops. I wasn't supposed to be complaining. I'm at it again...

Thirdly [which is also lastly] I can't remember what. I'll think on it.

One of those days

I wonder what takes to wake you up.

I suppose that I should have an exciting account of what goes on in my life, but frankly, I sometimes wonder what IS the point of my blog? I suppose I should say that I'm not the sort with lofty aspirations, and that this blog is no place for social commentary, media mongery or even political speculation.

Looking back, I'm just one of those bloggers who merely started well, blogging simply because I'm the selfish sort who needs to put her views somewhere. Yup. A sort of diary which my thoughts go into. However, I think that blogging goes beyond this rather self-centered view, even if it started out like this... I really must thank my blog for keeping my temper in check.

You lovely readers wouldn't see it. I haven't cracked in a public zone since Oz, and then today, if you can call it public since the only witnesses are myself and my baka sister. All that mental shouting, all that bitching and all that physical pulling and screaming could have been a lot worse if I didn't have an outlet. It can be so satisfying to think up the most miserable punishments for your idiot sibling and then posting it to the world. If Angelo is concerned about his rep, then my sweet sis is even more so.

I think it is very nice if I can just splash my "intended" exploits here, but I shall not.

Blogging is not meant for the self. It is for others too. I don't mean you all are pesky voyeurs. It just means that the Internet is made that way. It's something that one realises after a while. No one can stop others from prying [even if they try Haha].

My stint as an anoyamous tagger just proves that we are all a) busybodies b) A Levels turn us into nut cases and in my case, a sadist. Haha.

Well. gtg. Happy Halloween, folks.

What is going on??

A slap in the face. [not literally thank goodness]

Puzzling things happening.

I am taking cover.

I refuse to be plagued by strange creatures that infect tag places.

My motto is to hide in the face of danger.

Goodbye sweet friends...I shall vanish. This time it is unvoluntary. Curse you angelrulz!!! Or Rayun. Or whatever you are called.

Work work work

Truly. The problem with rain is that it is wet. How many times have you admired the rain, enjoying the blessedly cool and windy days it brings, only to be pissed off once you step out of your house, right into a fat puddle that soaks your shoes and make your feet gross and miserable? Ah well.

These few days have been wet. I suppose that said is enough.

Life at this time of the year is appalling. Am so sick of studying. I guess I feel like a pair of soaked shoes on a rainy day - wet and cold. What a dampener revision is. How many times have I felt so dissatisfied this week? With myself, with my FOOD and life in general. I won't say it cam't get worse because it CAN, which is why I feel so immobile. More studying means more pain and stress. Less studying means I'll die for the A's. So yup. Can't move forward can't move backwards. Know it hurts to advance but it hurts just as much to be left behind.

Am freaked out. So little little time... Ironically enough for regrets but not studying harder. Sometimes I wonder why we all work so hard. It kills the joy of learning. Learning is supposed to be fun, so why do I hate revising what I've learnt? Maybe because I hate looking back? Dun think so. Maybe its because revision is just plain boring. Yes that will be it. And also you never know what is going to come out for your exams.

Huh. Round and round we go. Never getting out of the system.

Things (Say it in a grossed out way)

Random Things

A good Bonding experience is defined by moi as getting together to do extremely messy/dusty/unpleasant/pointless things like cleaning the Lit Room. Hey. My wand has moved to a new place! It looks like the Orgre's toothpick now!!

The one problem with rain is that it is wet.

Hamsters ARE greedy. They abscond with sunflower seeds

I am not the only one who draws flowers on my notes - I have eyewitnesses

Paper goodies. Chew them before your geog A Level paper and results are guaranteed:
a real and excellent stomach ache!

Coconuts make good false horse clopping sounds

Always know the difference between an African swallow and a European one.

Remember folks. Stand tall as a tower karst. I think I shall remember that line forever, especially if anyone tries to make me go to Guilin for a holiday.

Love my tutors.

Mug!

Children scream, make loud and disturbing noises and say disturbing things like "I'm not a lesbian!"

Slip by before you know it

Today is Graduation Day. Waiting about ½ hr for the ceremony to start was agony. Especially when all you want to do was fall asleep. I didn't want to come either and sit through 3hrs of prize presentation and some ugly behaviour. Then, the VIP went and gave his speech, which was mainly a motivational life story kind of thing.

I have to confess that I switched off somewhere after he said that he had 'bad' grades for prelims [he got B,A,D,D]. I think most people who got that kind of grade would have made it onto the Honour Roll. If it was a pun it was badly executed, since no one really got the pun and most people ended up being insulted. I was too. Hello. He made my C,C,O look abysmal [they aren't even moderately good I agree, but still!] next to his 'bad' grades. It was only when me, PY and Jane were having lunch that I sort of realized that it COULD have been a pun. If it was, it was in bad taste anyway. (Haha)

The little fiasco made me want to go home. Thankfully, the event kicked off sometime just before 9, and I as I had been resigned to it beginning at 10, I was rather relieved. Then came that long prize giving thing which was too long. I'll pass over describing since it was uninteresting. I salute those who got the awards. They deserve it, though it was all boring. Boredom after all has nothing to do with the awardees. Such events are merely innately boring.

The highlight was of course videos! We watched like 3 videos. If not for the wonderfully sentimental, amusing and heartwarming quality of the video, I'll have been the most evil cynic and said the committee behind Graduation was uncreative. Thankfully, it was a great graduation ceremony and I must say I really appreciated the videos which featured among other things, rather dramatic scenes from Oz [remember the Wizard and Timekeeper aka Guy in violently violet shirt?], our wonderful wonderful teachers and my principal, who happens to be retiring this year.

CT was a really lovely time too. [Presents! =D] Well, apart from that I realized that I was really going to miss my class. It was such a surreal two years that have passed me by, almost like a dream. And like dreams, they slip away ever so quickly. There isn't a need to ramble on here, simply because such occasions defy words. All I can say is, I know I won't forget today. If I were to quote from one of my favourite movies (Spirited Away), it'll be from this scene where one of the characters explains that we never really forget; it just takes time to recall those particular memories. [I hope the Eng translation's accurate. I have known BIG errors in the dubbed version] So yup. I guess that's all, folks.

P.S. I checked on my wand [the one made with straws] and found that it was wedged between the cupboard and an ironing board , not the wall. I'm surprised it has survived till now.
P.P.S. My sis found this Lego horse which the Lego knight I got today is currently riding. So cute! Reminds me of Arcite [Chaucer's A Knight's Tale] who got kicked by his horse.

Let's try this again.

Right. The last time, I had a perfectly nice post which got eaten up by the blogger monster. Now, I'm taking no chances. Today, I am going to blog about well, things that are well pointless. In otherwords, I'm blogging for the sake of blogging. A matter of self-indulgence. Haha. It sounds like the first qn in my GP prelims essay section. As it is, Graduation Day is looming round the corner. Looking back, the past 1and 5/6 years have gone by like a blur. With Graduation coming up, I can't help but think back on all those things that I'm going to miss about NY. Sigh. Tings like Drama. My teachers [I mean tutors]. Even the canteen vendors. I got a free drink from the fruit juice aunty after Oz. I must say, I was really surprised, and of course really glad then too, especially like when I grabbed a bunch of straws free-of-charge to make a wand that eventually ended up stuck between a broom and a cupboard in the Lit Room.

Sentimentality hits again. Especially when you are this OLD. So my sister claims. [3 yrs is no diff I tell her] Age isn't a barrier and shouldn't be. I can be sentimental at 18 if I want to. Humph. Now I sound like a petulant 5 yr-old.

My plans for my first legal sip of alcohol has also been thawrted. Oh well. It's not like I feel 18 anyway. I'm me. For one thing, I'm still receiving very un-18 presents. My sis gave me this brilliantly orange stuff toy cat for my b-day. Yay! It's so cute! The cat wears a black pointed witch hat. Isn't that just cute? =D

Right. I shall just stop reminiscing before I bore myself to death. The As are 20 days away. I'm freaking out. Freak out...freak out...freak..out...

Evil Reigns...

Every year around my birthday, I will fall for the tricks of the same person. That highly innocent mask sure gets you somewhere. The saving grace is that I fall for a different trick every year. It is however nothing I am proud of, being hoodwinked by the same person year after year. Anyway, thanks for the gift, I love it. And it makes a great pillow too!

Hello Again

I am sick and tired of my comp. It's behaviour has reached the ultimate in all notorious comp behaviour. It lags. It doesn't boot properly. I can't go online. It REFUSES to shut down. That's it. Whatever sentimental reasons I have for prolonging the life of that sad piece of scrap metal is gone. Vanished. Up in smoke. Good. Now I feel better. Yay. For your information, I am not being a hypocrite. This is being typed out on my school's comp, which has also chosen to defy me, by preventing me, the user from migrating to the new server. This means that come Monday, I most probably won't have a backup plan to freely sponge off the school's free Internet service. Double yay.

Anyway, I've decided that the old cantakerous persona I gave my comp is dead. Or at least semi-paralysed from stroke or heart disease (in other words, Spyware and viruses most probably both or at least one of them). So maybe I can get a laptop you know...Haha

So, what is the point of this? Well actually nothing. I just had to blast my comp somehow... Now I feel slightly better.

OK, now on to more interesting things. I recently read Douglas Adams's Hitchiker's Guide to the Universe. It is one of the funniest books I've ever read. It is so funny I can't describe the kind of laughing it induced in me. I think the amusement waS partly from feeling post-prelims euphoria. The euphoria was supposed to last the weekend only. Somehow the damn "fun for all" feeling has transposed itself onto this week as well. Bad bad me. Must study you know.

In any case, if there are any sad or depressed souls out there, I suggest you read the Hitchiker's Guide to the Universe. It is a mockery of anything serious (and that includes Doomsday; in the book that happens on a nice Thursday). I guess it pays to have an alien friend. I feel quite relieved on this point. Hey Kappa, where do you park your spaceship?

The other book is I read is one that PY lent me. It is funny too, though the irony and sarcasm is easier to get. The lunacy level is lower too (thank goodness - i can't be reading mad books all the time). It's called "How I became Stupid" by Martin Page. Really nice book too. I intend to buy that, along with Sophie's World (when I find it)...

Happily, I am going to vanish again. It is so shitty but hey, maybe I'll get a new comp out of it...

Learning Grace

Aha! The utterly villainous and insufferable blogger is back (SADLY enough for some.) Anyway as a NOTE OF IMPORTANCE, I am warning all who are looking for a serious post to set their sights elsewhere. Pronto. Muahahaha...

First of all, I would like to announce that I am going to vanish for the next two days. Feel free to tag all you want. I shan't be looking, which gives you evil taggers to rumble on and on. How effective I shall vanish depends on well, a) How well I'll get away with it and b) Whether I will even properly vanish. [Anyone who knows the following personally and am able to help are highly appreciated: Christopher Chant, Howl, Prof Dumbledore or Ganadlf (Gandalf is particularly useful. How many sorcerers, wizards and etc can disappear in the middle of a war and come back unlooked for days later with not unwelcome backup cavalry?) P.S. Funny how they are all not women either]

Next. Since I am leaving my blog alone for sometime (of which my disappearance which is NOT planned by me but forced by circumstances), and which is only a part of why I am leaving my blog alone, I have decided to give you a horribly long and didactic sermon on Learning Grace. This also happens to be the title of this post, which for some insane reason, I am extremely proud of.

Yesterday, I had lunch with Kappa. It was a nice lunch, at Han's in Park Mall. Kappa is finicky about service and wants her food brought to her by a waiter. The other choice was Jack's Place. Unfortunately I have no fancy for red meat just then (or salmon either) and apart from that, I had the most unfortunate experience dining there the last time. =(

The important however, is not the food. Kappa was just telling me about this repellent snoot from her night class. He offered to pay Kappa's friend money to teach him something to do with singing or something like that. The Repellent Snoot was from some JC Choir by the way. In any case, he said that his music school was in Geylang. Now we all know what that region is notorious for, so I won't go into details of the horrible experience the fickle-minded namby-pamby Repellent Snoot did by making the girls walk the seedy streets of Geylang at night in an attempt to find the school since the *&^%$^ can't be bothered to give them proper directions or offer to walk them from the bus stop.

Anyway, although Kappa and Co. were really pissed off by the Repellent Snoot (who acts as if he can throw away $$ like his father prints dollar notes for a living), Kappa maintained a kind of tact and calm in the face of the blustering moron and came out the winner, The thing to do, as Kappa tells me, is always to remain gracious to people of that unevolved sub-species of the human race, even if you are most likely seething with rage and want to tear him to pieces. I really wanted to. I for one cannot remain gracious in the light of such ungentlemanly and nauseating behaviour.

It reminds me how my mum has been complaining about our jolly neighbours again. Apparently, someone poured urine into my mum's rose bush. How nice. Free nutrients for the plant. Pity that comment only appeased my mum for like 5 secs. She has therefore adopted the front door and gate slamming aspect as revenge. Unfortunately, I know what that means. Violence begets violence. And yes. Measure still for measure. Its that dumb eye for an eye thing in one of my lit texts. However, trying to tell your mum to behave calmly and rationally in view of obnoxious neighbours is a no-no. She might turn on me instead and give me a good hiding for being less than respectful. Sadly, that also means that I shall have to endure all that door slamming. I hate it. The sound drives right to the back of my brain and exudes bad vibes. It is extremely distressing to both mental and physical health.

What I'm saying is, lets all treat others the way we want to be treated. The other thing is to never let your enemy know you've been truly irked by him/them/her. It defeats the purpose of showing them up. Besides, it's always nice to be nice. I still smile at my noxious neighbours. That is, until they go too far. Like maybe now.

The beauties in the world are best seen by those who strive to see them
- Unknown

Seriously Funny Business

Well then. My exams are finally over. Actually not really. I've still my Lit PC paper tomorrow. Of course I'm celebrating a day earlier! Haha. Already what I'm blogging is making me feel the tiniest bit guilty. I shall look through my skills notes tonight then, when I can finally stop torturing myself by refusing my poor eyes sleep and scaring everyone in the dead of the night by getting up at 3am in the morning to study. I had just switched on the living room light and sat down with my pillow when my mum came out of her room and stared at me.

"What are you doing with your blanket over your head?"

Obviously I was studying. What else could I be doing, especially when your eyes are watering and itchy from a lack of sleep? Happily that stage of the prelims are over and I do not have to face the evil Geog paper until 6 weeks later. Well. Suppose I'm just glad that I can take a break for a while before getting back to you-know-what.

Until then, I shall just be happy revising day in and out I guess. =(

Why isn't the "gahmen" laughing? [Ppl who have read the sat paper will know what I'm talkin abt]

I've just been thinking about the white elephant issue at the Buangkok station. I don't know about you, but I was really amused by the cardboard cutouts. Speaks a lot without having to say anything you know... Anyway my question is simply why is the government so upset? Personally I cannot understand why they would be so unhappy. Wait. Maybe I can. No authority would want to be slighted so rudely. However, I see the white elephants as merely a joke. OK, So the person was trying to protest against something. The fact is, we've really come a long way from the Hock Lee bus rioting days. Must there be such a hue and cry over who the culprit is? The thing is, to me, just about anybody who lives near Buangkok would hope the station opens. Anyone can also easily interpret the station as a metaphorical white elephant.

After all, it has been closed for the time ever since NEL opened. Even if the protest came in the form of a polite letter to the town council, it will still be a protest. Perhaps it is wrong or rebellious or plain rudeto say so, but funny, the elephants really made me laugh.

Why? (or That post on anything remotely to do with exams)

I think that if Shakespeare is still alive today, he will be highly amused by us Lit students poring frantically over his works. If he were alive, it would clear up a lot of the contradictory views on his plays. It is even worse when the one of the themes of his play is on OPPOSITES.

Sigh.

This indomitable warrior wants to go to sleep!

"If thought has attempted and failed,
lose not courage
O indomitable warrior,
Fight and return to the charge still and always"

Saw this quote plastered all over school (well not really, but I saw it in the library and I-Space or Ice-Space whatever it is called) and have been itching to post it for sometime. Just never got round to it.

Funny how it doesn't sound very motivational. I found it funny in fact. However if anyone does need a morale booster well, may it do you all the good a poster can.

Random thoughts that are not really random. Actually.

On English literature criticism:
I have no idea what Harold Bloom* is saying. I sometimes think that he is trying to sound like the high-brow English professor that he mostly probably really is.

On kids running around in KFC during lunch:
Smile and sympathise with the cleaner aunty. She can't run after them.

On the kid hiding next to the trash bin in KFC:
Hey kid. Why don't you hide IN the rubbish bin instead. There, your comrades won't ever find you... Hopefully they'll leave you behind when they go home too.

On the parents/child minders of kids running around in KFC during lunch:
Please don't take an hour to purchase just one reg. Coke. It looks so bad. Especially when you have 5 children jumping on the plastic seats. By the way...did I mention that you make horrible child minders/parents?

On Toa Payoh Library:
Too...many...familiar...faces...

On seeing familiar faces:
It can be both a good and bad thing.

On the 7pm Chinese period drama on Channel 8 (weekdays):
I cannot fathom WHY my sister likes to watch it. Actually I find myself quite taken with the show too, which MYSTERIOUSLY ENOUGH, advocates the wonders of the Singapore Education System and the benefits of academic advancement to the individual and the intrinsic capitalistic value to the country. (I won't say anything about NS)

On reading Sophie's World:
Funny, but I think I've been introduced to Aristotle throughout my life. It hasn't been a very long life, but still... Biology, the Sciences (especially Biology), Chaucer and the First Mover thingy. Being organised. I am constantly reminded of the fact that I am messy daily by my dear Mum.

On watching Scrapped Princess:
I wonder...that blob monster looks awfully (no pun intended) familiar... Did I see it in Princess Mononoke?

Lastly and speaking of Hayao Miyazaki... I find several parallels between him and S.T. Coleridge. Good excuse to watch movies as part of revision...the wonders of Lit.

* Harold Bloom needs no introduction in the world of a A level Literature student. If you aren't one, just pick up any book on A level lit (especially one on Shakespeare) and chances are, it has H. Bloom in it somewhere. Try the first few pages. Chances are, he is the editor if not writer. Talk about unique views...

On 31st September 2005

Sidelined. Marginalised. Peripherified.
I'm a J2 for heaven's sake.
Ineffieciency at its best.
Rise, sir, from this semi-recumbent posture. It is most indecorous. - The result of studying "Importance of Being Earnest" by O. Wilde. =D

Thought I might as well post what some of the things happened on Wed. That would have been yesterday. Went back to Beatty. Think I went loony going back down memory lane. Wondered why I never got to know my clasmates better. They are such a lovely bunch of people. That means you too Al. I promise a drink and lunch. Cheers!!

What is the world coming to?

Now, for the past few mornings, in fact I should say few weeks, i've been observing something that annoys me very much. on most mornings, on my way to school, I'll pass a primary school girl on her way to school, in the opposite direction that I usually head. I shall not name the school, though it's pretty obvious if you know what primary school happens to be in my vicinity.

So, everyday, I'll see her whizzing by on her skate skooter. Dear readers, I'm sure you all know what that stupid thing is... if you don't, it is something like the thing the Po teletubby likes to ride on. The thing is, she does look extremely adorable in it. The problem is, her maid with pink school bag in tow has to run after that zooming behemoth every morning. Times like this, I wonder who is to blame. Her parents? The media? Or simply the girl herself? Maybe it is the maid. However I find myself doubting the last theory of mine.

I think that the sense of dignity of a person no matter the job... no wait, the job IS important. Pride and self-esteem is all the more important in the jobs most people consider lowly. So what. Just because someone is a maid does not mean that as the employer you can let your child treat the person who cooks and cleans after her to chase after a mere girl. It is hardly graceful behaviour and reflects the general opinion I have of Singaporeans - uncouth and self-centered. So let me hit myself. Hey. I'm a Singaporean too.

It puzzles me very much that we should have so little faith in our fellow countrymen. Somehow I don't think that that is normal in any country outside of here. Ah... But that is the faithless me talking again isn't it?

So let us just focus on the girl's family instead. No need to drag in the whole of our sunny tropical island. Sometimes I wonder what parents are teaching children nowadays. It is really upsetting to think that the girl with such an innocent look on her face would be behaving so rudely to her elder. I watched for other people's reaction to the interesting duo. When a well-dressed wman stared at the scene unfolding begore her eyes, the maid stopped running. But I know she has been running for the past few days. At least she seems to be preserving some sense of dignity.

Why should she run? Just because you are a maid doesn't mean you should subject yourself to the every whim and fancy of others. One should respect oneself. And one should respect others. I hope for the day when the maid will be skate skootering beside the girl. Really I do.