Thoughts Unlimited

Happy Birthday to me.

I have a slight problem though, that I don't want to be 16.

Last night I was so totally sleepy that I fell asleep without doing anything at all and I'm in quite a bad state now. Bleh

Wah, I have nothing to say so here goes. Yx bugged me to do this some time ago. Ripped it off from Juliet's site who ripped it off from Lou (I think) who ripped it off from someone else and the list goes on. THREE NAMES YOU GO BY: 1. Ren Hui 2. rh 3. Uh, Ren? (according to Zhao anyway) THREE SCREEN NAMES YOU HAVE HAD: 1. rh89 2. Ehz.. rh.seven? 3. Erm, yrh89? (Yes I am very unimaginative.) THREE PHYSICAL THINGS YOU LIKE ABOUT YOURSELF: (Do I have to answer that? Argh, okay, whatever. Do note that whatever I write here is utter crap though. And, do not ask me why I chose whatever I chose.) 1. Eyes. 2. Erm, toes! 3. My flexible finger. THREE PHYSICAL THINGS YOU DON'T LIKE ABOUT YOURSELF: (I don't wanna answer this either!) 1. My pimples. Cause they hurt. 2. I have no idea. 3. I don't know. THREE PARTS OF YOUR HERITAGE: 1. Define heritage. 2. Ok fine. Chinese. 3. Ethincally Hiananese. (I. cannot. cook. chicken. rice. Understand?) THREE THINGS THAT SCARE YOU: 1. Maths tests. 2. Chinese tests. 3. Certain people. THREE OF YOUR EVERYDAY ESSENTIALS: 1. Water. 2. Food. 3. Sleep. THREE THINGS YOU ARE WEARING RIGHT NOW: 1. Spectacles. 2. Watch. 3. Clothes. THREE OF YOUR FAVORITE BANDS OR MUSICAL ARTISTS: 1. Robbie Williams. 2. Jesse McCartney. 3. The choir who sang the Les Choristes soundtrack. THREE OF YOUR FAVORITE SONGS: (no particular order) 1. Eternity by Robbie Williams 2. Because You Live by Jesse McCartney 3. Vois Sur Ton Chemin by Les Choristes THREE THINGS YOU WANT IN A RELATIONSHIP: (Define relationship. Lol.) 1. Trust. 2. Loyalty. 3. Honesty. TWO TRUTHS AND A LIE (in no particular order): 1. I love the cold. 2. I have a soft toy named Hamley. 3. I like Maths. THREE PHYSICAL THINGS ABOUT THE PREFERRED SEX THAT APPEAL TO YOU: (Err.. I don't think about such things! So the following is inclined to be nonsense.) 1. Eyes. 2. Hair. 3. Erm, refer to the above 2. THREE OF YOUR FAVORITE HOBBIES: 1. Sleeping. 2. Talking crap. 3. Magic! THREE THINGS YOU WANT TO DO REALLY BADLY RIGHT NOW: 1. Conk out on my bed completely and not care about what I haven't done. 2. Stop doing this quiz thing. 3. Fall into deep sleep. (It's the same thing, I know.) THREE CAREERS YOU'RE CONSIDERING/YOU'VE CONSIDERED: 1. Lawyer. 2. Psychologist. 3. Photographer. THREE PLACES YOU WANT TO GO ON VACATION: 1. France. 2. Los Angeles. 3. England. THREE KID'S NAMES YOU LIKE: (How am I supposed to know?!) 1. Jake. 2. Jamie. ( I copy Ju) 3. Something starting with 'H'. THREE THINGS YOU WANT TO DO BEFORE YOU DIE: 1. Go to the following places: England, France, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Finland, Los Angeles, San Francisco. 2. Watch it snowing. 3. Visit a glacier. THREE WAYS THAT YOU ARE STEREOTYPICALLY A BOY: 1. I don't own a skirt. 2. I don't like pink girly stuff! 3. Those people out there who know me. Don't you already know the answers! THREE WAYS THAT YOU ARE STEREOTYPICALLY A GIRL: 1. I go to a girls' school. 2. I have long hair. 3. I just am one. THREE CELEB CRUSHES: 1. Pierce Brosnan. 2. Steve McQueen. 3. Jean-Baptiste Maunier. THREE PEOPLE THAT I WOULD LIKE TO SEE TAKE THIS QUIZ NOW: 1. All the idiots who are reading this and haven't taken it themselves. 2. See number 1. 3. See number 2.

HAH.

(Great, this is like the stupidest post I've made.)

- I wrote this today during English lesson. Of course as usual, I like randomly adding extra things in, and as a result, this ends up being filled with (a lot of) crap. -

It's English class now and the teacher is talking. Meanwhile, I'm reading this article titled 'Aunties and Uncles and Me'. Well, technically I'm not reading, because I'm writing this, but I suppose that is just a mere technicality.

At the present moment, the converstation in class is centring around roti prata. Or roti paratha as the other article which I am supposed to be reading says. I have to admit that the other article is rather interesting, I am more entertained by 'Aunties and Uncles and Me' by this person named Neil Humphreys.

According to couple of lines of fine print on the handout, Mr Humphreys is a sub editior/writer at The Straits Times, and although he was raised in East London, he came to this small, no, actually, minute island represented by a single red dot on the world map. For some reason, Westerners tend to think that this tiny place without a capital (because it's too small to have one anyway) is in China. Sheesh, China is like how far away from Singapore? Okay, maybe their geography is just really bad.

Nevermind their geography skills (or the lack of it). I suppose this little small red dot does have its charms and quirks which I believe tend to manifest themselves even more so in the eyes of foreigners, such as Mr Humphreys.

The reason I find Mr Humphreys' writing so darned amusing is because what he writes about is so common in Singapore, yet locals like myself never seem to notice. I suppose familarity does breed understanding, and I also suppose that these things are considered norms and therefore no one actually takes notice.

An example, on the term ‘auntie’ and ‘uncle’:

Initially, the terminology itself was somewhat bewildering. I came to Singapore to stay with my good friend David, whom I had met at an English university. I was struck by the size of his family. I’d heard of an extended family and the government’s attempts to increase the population, but this was ridiculous. Toa Payoh, it seemed, was built in the 1960s with the sole purpose of housing David’s family. On my first morning in Singapore, one of David’s relatives served us some bee hoon in a coffee shop. In the same shop, his ‘uncle’ brought us some Chinese tea. Being the conservative Englishman, I didn’t want to say anything to my genial host, so I let it pass. But by the end of the day, David’s family seemed bigger and more influential than the American Kennedys. He had more living relatives than the Queen.

Of course I suppose Singaporeans would find this rather amusing, as ‘aunties’ and ‘uncles’ are relatively common terms used for addressing practically everyone.

According to me, one ‘officially’ becomes an ‘auntie’ or ‘uncle’ when your children enter primary One. This is when all their friends will start calling you that.

Meanwhile, something else which I found amusing would be the following. (At least I think it’s amusing. And I believe that anyone who has been to England for a period of time would understand.)

A Chinese uncle, on returning from a trip to England memorably asked me, “What do you people eat in England? It’s all chips and bloody sandwiches.”

I believe I’ve made some amount of a comment on English food in the entry Olympics 2010 which can be found here.

I also read the following somewhere before, but I can’t quite remember where. I suspect it was a hotel in Switzerland but perhaps not.

Anyway it went something like this:

The perfect European should:
Cook like the British
Drive like the French
Be as sober as the Irish
As generous as the Dutch
And have a German sense of humour.

Of course the above was all based on stereotypes (if you haven’t already realised, I’m informing you, you blur person).

Meanwhile on the topic of stereotypes, although they aren’t completely true, they are fantastically amusing. Oh yeah, if you happen to be of that particular nationality, or have an affinity with them, then please just take it as a joke and try not to be offended.

Have a look at this:

Top 10 reasons for being ENGLISH

1 Two World Wars and One World Cup
2 Warm beer
3 You get to confuse everyone with the rules of cricket
4 You get to accept defeat graciously in major sporting events
5 Union jack underpants
6 Water shortages guaranteed every single summer
7 You can live in the past and imagine you are still a world power
8 Bathing once a week - whether you need to or not
9 Ditto changing underwear
10 Beats being Welsh, Irish or Scottish

They forgot one thing I think. That in England, to be able to make money, you only need to know how to cook fish and chips. And you don’t even have to cook it well.

Top 10 reasons for being SCOTTISH

1 You ain't English!
2 You ain't English!
3 You ain't English!
4 You ain't English!
5 You ain't English!
6 You ain't English!
7 You ain't English!
8 You ain't English!
9 You ain't English!
10 You ain't English!

I love this.

Top 10 reasons for being IRISH

1 Guinness
2 18 children because you can't use contraceptives
3 You can get into a fight just by marching down someone's road
4 Pubs never close
5 Can use Papal edicts on contraception passed in second Vatican Council of 1968 to persuade your girlfriend that you can't have sex with a condom on
6 Call an English breakfast an Irish breakfast
7 Kill people you don't agree with
8 Stew
9 Calling Celtic music your music, even when the Scottish, English and welsh music all sound the same
10 Eating stew and drinking Guinness in an Irish pub at 3 in the morning after a bout of sectarian violence

Hmm, quite true. Just that they kinda forgot about the Irish who aren’t Catholics. After all that’s how they got into their conflict isn’t it?

More stereotypes just for the heck of it:

Top 10 reasons for being FRENCH

1 When speaking fast you can make yourself sound gay
2 Experience the joy of winning the World Cup for the first time
3 You get to eat insect food like snails and frog's legs
4 If there's a war you can surrender really early
5 You don't have to read the subtitles on those late night films on Channel 4
6 You can test your own nuclear weapons in other people's countries
7 You can be ugly and still become a famous film star
8 Allow Germans to march up and down your most famous street humiliating your sense of national pride
9 You don't have to bother with toilets, just shit in the street
10 People think you're a great lover even when you smell and you're not

Well, I don’t think a frog is an insect.. but then again, is a snail an insect?

Top 10 reasons for being BELGIAN

1 You get to speak three languages, but none of them intelligibly
2 If other countries want to fight a war, they will do it in your country
3 You can brew drinks out of fruit, and still call it beer
4 You are either
a) Like the Dutch, just less efficient
b) Like the French, just less romantic
c) Like the Germans, just less intelligent
5 Decent fries. Real mayonnaise. Great chocolate. The best beer.
6 No one knows anything about you, except for the Dutch and the French and they make fun of you
7 More scandals in a week than any other country in a decade
8 You can drive like a maniac on the road and nobody cares
10 Face it. It's not really a country, is it?

Top 10 reasons for being NORWEGIAN

1 You get to pay the highest taxes in the world
2 You can kill baby seals and eat Rudolf the Reindeer
3 You live in total freezing darkness half the year and get 24 hours ozone-hole radiation the other half
4 You can get capital punishment for smoking dope
5 You can go skiing in your knickers
6 You get to hate the Swedes and beat the Brazilians in football
7 You have to be a woman to get anywhere
8 You don't need to worry about land prices rocketing - its fairly spacious
9 When abroad you can impress people you meet with stories about killing polar bears and shagging penguins - and they believe you
10 You can actually get bored with blondes

Top 10 reasons for being ITALIAN

1 In-depth knowledge of bizarre pasta shapes
2 Unembarrassed to wear fur
3 No need to worry about tax returns
4 Glorious military history prior to 400BC
5 Can wear sunglasses inside
6 Political stability
7 Flexible working hours
8 Live near the Pope
9 Can spend hours braiding girlfriend's armpit hair
10 Country run by Sicilian murderers

Top 10 reasons for being SPANISH

1 Glorious history of killing South American tribes
2 The rest of Europe thinks Africa begins at the Pyrenees
3 You get your beaches invaded by Germans, Danes, Brits, etc
4 The rest of your country is already invaded by Moroccans
5 Everybody else makes crap paella and claims it's the real thing
6 Honesty
7 Only sure way of bedding a woman is to dress up in stupid, tight clothes and risk your life in front of bulls
8 You get to eat bull's testicles
9 You cry for Gibraltar
10 Supported Argentina in Falklands War

Top 10 reasons for being GREEK

1. You get to shout about your culture although the only real culture most Greeks have is what is growing between their toes.
2. The police is even more corrupt than the criminals they are supposed to be chasing.
3. You can blow your nose in the street by pinching it between the thumb and forefinger and trumpeting forth without everyone around retching their stomach contents up at the sight.
4. Old women can sport moustaches.
5. Young women can sport moustaches.
6. Men can be hairier than the average grizzly bear and not get put in a zoo.
7. You get to call the bouzouki a musical instrument when the rest of the world sees it as an instrument of torture.
8. You are the only nation to have lost its marbles and still wants to let everyone else around the world know about it.
9. Ridiculous bureaucracy.
10. Nana Mouskouri and Demis Roussos.

Ah, they forgot one more thing. Men can wear skirts and not be considered transsexuals. In fact they are considered positively manly. (Seriously, just look at Brad Pitt and Orlando Bloom in Troy, they are proof that that still holds true.)

Top 10 reasons for being GERMAN

1 Oktoberfest
2 Oktoberfest-beer
3 BMW
4 Volkswagen
5 Audi
6 Mercedes
7 On a highway you can travel at a speed that would bring you to jail in any other country of the world
8 You do not have to learn German as a foreign language
9 You think Sauerkraut is delicious
10 Contrary to common belief laughing is not forbidden by law (yet)

Top 10 reasons for being WELSH

You've got to be having a laugh, haven't you?

Top 10 reasons for being AMERICAN

1 You can have a woman president without electing her.
2 You can spell colour wrong and get away with it.
3 You can call Budweiser beer.
4 You can be a crook/adulterer and still be president.
5 If you've got enough money you can get elected to do anything.
6 If you can breathe you can get a gun.
7 You can invent a new public holiday every year.
8 You can play golf in the most hideous clothes ever made and nobody seems to care.
9 You get to call everyone you've never met "buddy".
10 You can think you're the greatest nation on earth when you're not at all.

Top 10 reasons for being CANADIAN

1 It beats being an American.
2 Only country to successfully invade the US and burn its capital to the ground.
3 You can play hockey 12 months a year, outdoors.
4 Only country to successfully invade the US and burn its capital to the ground.
5 Where else can you travel 1000 miles over fresh water in a canoe?.
6 A political leader can admit to smoking pot and his/her popularity ratings will rise.
7 Only country to successfully invade the US and burn its capital to the ground.
8 Kill Grizzly bears with huge shotguns and cover your house in their skins.
9 Own-an-eskimo scheme.
10 Only country to successfully invade the US and burn its capital to the ground.

Top 10 reasons for being AUSTRALIAN

1 Know your great-grand-dad was a murdering bastard that no civilised nation on earth wanted (ie: You get to live in what was Britain's largest "open prison". )
2 Fosters Lager.
3 Dispossess Aborigines who have lived in your country for 40,000 years because you think it belongs to you.
4 Annihilate England every time you play them at cricket.
5 Tact and sensitivity.
6 Bondi Beach.
7 Other beaches.
8 Liberated attitude to homosexuals.
9 Drinking cold lager on the beach.
10 Having a bit of a swim and then drink some cold lager on the beach.

Top 10 reasons for being a KIWI

1 Get to shag chics that resemble Jonah Lomu in a frock.
2 Beer.
3 Rugby.
4 See above.
5 See above.
6 See above.
7 See above.
8 See above.
9 See above.
10 Hate everyone else ......unless it's their round.

Top 11 reasons for being DUTCH

1 You can get arrested for growing plants, but not for smoking them
2 You can make jokes about the Belgians and still drink their beer
3 You can
a). legally kill yourself
b). legally be killed
c). have sex with a prostitute leagally
d). be a prostitute legally
5 You think you are a world power, but everyone else thinks Copenhagen is your capital.
6 You get to insult people and defend yourself by saying it's a national tradition
7 You can put your finger in a dyke and it will save your country
8 You live in the most densely populated country in Europe, and still you've never seen your neighbours
9 If the economy is bad, blame the Germans. If a war is started, blame the Germans. If you lose your keys, blame the Germans
10 You have automatic immunity from any law while riding a bicycle, including most laws of physics and logic.
11 You can go abroad and take the piss out of everyone else in Dutch and they won't understand you, except in Belgium where they're too stupid to understand you.

Well, I think I’ve deviated from my original topic. But does it matter?

Here are some random pictures which I randomly decided to post.

(above) My bejeweled high score from MSN games (left) I don't quite know what I was doing, but this is the end result.

(left, from left) Me and Lyn at the coal mine in Lille, France. I'm not quite sure what Lyn is doing.

(below, from left) Courage and Hamley sitting on my pouch which was on top of my jacket which was on my lap in the bus passing the 1998 World Cup Stadium on the outskirts of Paris on the way to Paris city centre from Paris Airport. (Whew, that was one long sentence.)

I think as Mrs Tan (not the principal) aptly put it just now, this isn't really Racial Harmony Day. It's slacker day. And quite right she is.

In RGS, Racial Harmony Day is a no-lesson day, whereby you generally have fun and eat lots of junk and take even more photos. I heard that someone took 100 plus shots today.

We were actually supposed to wear ethnic costumes to school today. Seriously, how many people actually did it? Most people either:

1. Didn't care at all

2. Wore school uniform

3. Wore normal street clothes

4. Wore normal clothes and gave a sad excuse of a shawl for it to pass of as ethnic

5. Came up with something really weird

I believe that pretty much defeats the purpose. But then again, I myself do not wish to do anything so I guess things are okay as they are right now.

We were supposed to complete some activities and I finished them all before recess even finished. And so I walked (aimlessly) around school, and now have decided to reside in the classroom until further notice. The temperature out there is real high. I want it to rain so bad. The classroom aircon isn't working, as usual, but at least it's better than outside. I'll be going out after school so I might post another entry later.

-Okay, what really happened is that I reached home and made an attempt at posting a picture up but again blogger doesn't want to let me so I gave up. Meanwhile I opened this entry to edit a spelling mistake and decided to just continue updating here.-

After school ended I actually was supposed to go out with Avonne, Sara and some other person from some other class. Her name's Hannah if I'm not wrong. On the (very) crowded bus, I met Lyn, XM and Hamsie. So I decided to go with them instead, because I heard that Hamsie was going to erm, buy, eyelash curlers. I thought that the events regarding that purchase might be rather amusing, and besides, I was hungry and they were going to eat first, whereas Avon, Sara and company weren't. So I went with Hamsie and company instead.

Actually right now I could go on and on about what happens when people board the buses, but I think I'll save it for later. Continuity. That's supposed to be important.

At Plaza Singapura, XM, Hamsie, Lyn and me met Hamsie's mum and her aunt and Hamsie's little cousin who proudly told me that she's going to be 6 soon. Her definition of soon is December.

We ate lunch at Mos Burger and I became under pressure to perform a trick for Hamsie's little cousin. Well, obviously no one said anything, but I could like feel it so I decided to do one, just one and end the matter there.

For general info, I did the disappearing deck, with the deck reappearing in my back pocket.

Good enough. She's too young to understand (relatively) complicated card tricks anyway I think.

After lunch we went to buy the eyelash curler. I felt totally out of place at the shop, and everyone who knows me offline will realise why. That sort of shop is absolutely not my type of place. Anyway I spent most of my time in there smsing.

Then I went off to meet Clement and ZL and WY at the MRT.

On the subject of the MRT, I could again go on about the second round of the London Blasts which I read on the headlines this morning, but again, that has to be saved for later, for pretty much the same reasons.

We went to the arcade.

Being deprived of such fun when I was younger, I have never been inside an arcade. I've only watched from the outside. Therefore I do not know how anything in there works at all. And I just watched them do stuff. There was a drum thing, and there was one boy who was just so freaking good at it. He seemed to be able to comprehend 5 different columns saying 5 different things at the same time, and hit all the right places at the perfect times! For first-time arcade go-ers like me, that is just totally impossible. And there was also this guy on the dance machine, and he was so damn fast. Sheesh.

On ZL's request, we took a neoprint. Then we smartly chose the fast option, and the stupid thing took a picture every 2 seconds. So we ended up with relatively crap pictures. And then we did stupid things to the pictures when we were editing them, and there was one which turned out with flowers everywhere! And the pictures were so pink. Because the backdrop was pink.

If you had to know, I hardly ever take neoprints. So it was an event worth mentioning.

We had the usual problems with who takes what and what size etc. outside the arcade, and we were about to turn into an illegal gathering (but then Clement said that illegal gatherings must have at least 5 people). When cards come out people tend to think we're gambling or something. Their imaginations are just not very stretched and therefore they tend to think like that. But seriously, if we wanted to gamble, we wouldn't do it in such an obvious location like directly outside the arcade.

ZL had to go and WY said that she would only go to Chinatown with me and Clement if ZL came along. So that means she didn't go either.

At Chinatown, the shop was closed. Again. Everytime we go there it's closed. We hung around the other shop where there are lots of decks on display, and surprisingly the guy somewhat remembered us. We were looking at decks and Aragorn figurines when we suddenly spotted a 3 volume VCD. The contents of the VCD is rather interesting, and I never expected it to be there. Neither did Clement, I suppose. I bought that thing after that. In case the next time I went back there was no more. There were only 2 copies.

We went over to the other side and saw this shop dealing in corporate gifts, and struck gold on an idea which has to do with HoM. I think I had better develop the idea further before saying anymore.

I took bus back from Chinatown and fell asleep to the voice of Jean-Baptiste Maunier. I'm not saying that his voice is boring, it's just that I'm sleepy and he happened to be the track that I was playing at that time.

I got home and I switched on the computer and typed out this entry.

Hmm. Recently certain people have been bugging me to update. So here goes. Meanwhile I shall glance sideways at certain people.

Okay. The purpose of the above title is obvious. A hint.

What is going to happen in 9 days' time?





What? You don't know? (or as the random auntie along the street will say, 'how can?!?!!')

Anyway to enlighten all those blur souls out there, it's my birthday.

Yeah I know it isn't very important or anything, but hey, a little (shamless) self-promotion on this site won't hurt right?

So just take it as a hint. BIG hint. To quote a certain English worksheet: hint hint nudge nudge wink wink (as if that made any sense).

Ok I shall talk about something more interesting now.

Today the sun didn't rise properly. I think it's because there were too many clouds. So even at 6.45 the sky was still rather dark. And it was quite unspectacular. A bit of a disappointment.

I don't know why, but I've been watching sunrises from the back of the bus window ever since Term 3 started. It's real nice. Sunsets on the other hand, are something I usually miss, because I'm usually more interested in the computer when they occur. Besides, the sun rises in the east, and I live around that area, so the sunrise is nicer than the sunset.

I wanted to put a picture here but the thing doesn't want to let me. I don't know what's wrong. So nevermind. Too lazy to find out.

I had lunch with Neeti at BK today after school. Since we're following Friday's timetable today, school ended relatively early. And I realised that we have no PE the entire week. Yes, I know I'm a bit slow and blur, but I really didn't expect it.

Tomorrow there is Racial Harmony Day celebrations, and I hope the sun doesn't come out. In fact I want it to rain. RAIN!!

Sorry I feel positively hyper, and I think it has to do with the song playing now. As Neeti put it just now, it has something to do with the after-exam feeling, and although we only took one test today it still feels like after-exams because tomorrow we don't have lessons. Just that I have HCL mock exam on 6 August. And I haven't started studying. I am in trouble.

I have a feeling that you all are sick of me by now. Well, sorry..

Yes, the case of the Potter Fever has hit Singapore shores yet again.

For those people who don't already know, I have never read a single Harry Potter book, and do not intend to do so, ever. There is one exception to that though, which is if the school decides to make Harry Potter a Literature book, then in that case it's another matter. But I think the chances of that happening is positively low, (or should that be negatively low), and therefore I do not have much to worry about.

But I do know all the spoilers to the new book. I don't quite understand them, but I can shoot them at you anyway if I want to.

People queued up for how long to get the book? People even booked hotel rooms just to be nearer to getting the book. I have seriously better things to do with the money. How about helping Cancer patients? (I would usually have said kidney patients but in the light of the recent events.. nevermind.) Even buying a Livestrong band at an exorbitant price is better than spending 50 dollars on a book. We all know that the price is going to come down. Just look at Order of the Phoenix. The price when the book was first launched was close to 50 bucks too. Just that now, it's going for a mere $7.95!

So, the moral of the story is, either you wait patiently for the price of the book to go down, or you stalk the library in the hope of getting your hands on a copy (warning: this method wastes a considerable amount of time, and might also get physical), or maybe you could join the mile-long waiting list for the book your friend has, or perhaps download it off the internet, or even better, simply not read it in the first place.

If you had to know, I do not regret not reading the book at all. I always have the spoilers, and not to mention, several (crazy) friends who will willingly summarize the entire thing into 2 minutes. In the end I always end up knowing the story, but I still haven't quite figured out the details, but I'm not interested anyway.

Someone who is a hardcore Harry Potter fan, care to enlighten me on the attractive force of this fictional character some British author dreamt up?

Actually to tell the truth, if there had been way less hype about Harry Potter and all, I might actually have picked up a random copy and randomly read it. But with the current situation, I doubt that will happen.

Yesterday was open house at school, and well, it was interesting (to a certain extent).

Basically I somehow dragged myself to school at 8am and I did shifts for almost seven hours straight.

Then I went through this huge traffic jam and got myself to tuition, after which I came home and went out faster than a light. Got woken up to go and eat dinner, and I practically stoned my way through it and then came back, and went to sleep. So it was a relatively sad day.

But during open house, I got to see scores of P6ers and I started thinking 'they are so immature!' which is kind of not the right thing to think, considering the fact that I myself was an immature, short little P6er not too long ago.

Ada was with me for the first shift, and I must commend her on a good job. As for me, I got quite bored of performing after 3 hours or so. Ada knows why. And then second shift I was alone. That was quite sad. And sometime through third shift Wen Yi decided to turn up. And I decided it was time for lunch. Soon after that Ling smsed that she was here, so I went to find her, and I was surprised when Justin was with her. But I suppose someone else was even more surprised.

Anyway besides Ada, there was also Wenyu and Jessica. However I did not really get to see them performing so I can't really comment on that.

Oh, and the maths video.. I just have to note that the editing was kinda bad.

More comments on the P6ers:

1. They were generally... shy. But then again, this huge school with lots of people.. maybe they were shy for a good reason?

2. There was no one from my primary school. But then again, that was not unexpected, because my primary school is super cheena, and most students choose to go to Dunman High despite being able to go to RGS or RI. Also, those that don't go to Dunman High go to Chinese High, uh, I meant, Hwa Chong Insitution, and also Anglican High.

3. There was a large proportion of hecklers. For whoever who doesn't understand what I just said, well, don't try to. But for those who understand, seriously, there was. Which is kind of bad. And some of them randomly started revealing stuff. WY and ZL take note: those hecklers which weren't P6ers were mostly from your SMASH programme. Thankfully they didn't know DLs though.

4. They kind of didn't realise that there was stuff on the second floor! Most of them seemed to be stuck downstairs..

5. They kept thinking that HoM was a CCA.

6. They were short.

...seriously.

It's bio class now and I am obviously not doing anything.

Today's sunrise was nice. It was blue! But yesterday's one was orange and pink. But I think today's sky is nicer, because it was a colour I like, blue.

I was considering between being loyal to this online crapping post or the offline, outdated and old fashioned diary. The online version is fun and you can do things like update it in school, but then it can also be hacked into easily and erm, certain teachers are able to read it.

Whereas offline noone is ever able to read it :)

Neeti says that she loves reading her own diary. She's still thinking about someone.

Don't worry, Neeti, cos I'm thinking about someone else too. Just that you don't know who so nevermind. And please think properly and take into consideration the fact that the person who is writing this is ME and therefore you should understand my taste. NEETI IS THINKING WRONG AGAIN...

Ok that doesn't make sense unless you're watching me typing this now..

I saw my primary school autograph book, and it's super childish. So I'm embarrassed. Because it was so totally unrealistic, and everything about friends forever and whatnot is certainly not true. I know that because the only person from my primary school (who didnt even write in my book) whom I keep in contact with is Lynette. And she was never even in my class. We only saw each other once a week doing stupid things like randomly dancing around the erm, foyer in the new block. I mean, the real new block.

Tell me to stop thinking about this sort of thing now.


Neeti and Nivi are talking about Primary school toilets now for some reason, and I'd like to add that in primary school the favourite pastime was getting loads of toilet paper, and then wetting it with water and then throwing them on the ceiling. The boys did it in the girl's toilet.

[Neeti: NOOO. These things never happened in my school! As in, the boys did it in the boys' toilets. Sheesh. Obviously, your school was weirder. xP]

One more thing to add, that the boys also had a habit of going into a cubicle, locking the door and then climbing out with the door still locked. So the entire toilet had locked cubicles with nobody inside.

[Nivi. How immature was that... And the best part they used to blame it on pontianak (ignore the wrong spelling) gee sooo scary... haha]

Yeah, and in case any little innocent kids are reading this (ie, you're not a teenager yet) please don't go and follow all the stuff written here because I'm definately not responsible if your parents have to see the principal or something.

Well, I was lying on the bed eating ice cream, (yes, I seriously was doing that..) and at the same time while staring at the fan go round and round I was thinking about the travel and adventure programme I had just seen on Discovery Channel.

Anyway, if you had to know, I wasn't lying on my bed. I was lying on my parent's bed. That's because it's king sized, and it provides ample room for me to stretch out without the unpleasant experience of hitting the edge of the bed and creating more blue-blacks for myself.

My parent's room has a ceiling not unlike that of a Swiss chalet. Why it looks like that I'm afraid I can't explain. I know this seems like complete randomness on my part, but believe me, it makes sense.

The programme on Discovery was one of those Globe Trekker things, to San Francisco this time. I've been to San Francisco before. Just that somehow I don't remember it as it was in the programme. The programme showed the true vibrancy and character of the city, whereas when I went there it really didn't seem like much. I suppose that was because I was younger then, and I may not have understood stuff.

Then again, I don't remember doing much there except having the wind cut across my face like a knife (literaly) while I was on the deck of a speed boat rushing around in the San Francisco Bay in the deep of winter.

Why I was stupid enough to stay on the deck when I could have sought refuge somewhere else is beyond me. But I did stay on the deck. That I know because I got really really cold. Basically, I've been to a lot of places, but I don't think I've really experienced them. Now I want to go back, and experience what I've missed out.

The relation to the Swiss chalet has to do with my trip to Switzerland in December 2003. That was a long time ago, in my terms, because 2 years of my life is like 1/8th of it. Switzerland was a really cool place (pun intended).

Me being the sad deprived person I was (I know you all are thinking "yeah right") had never seen snow before. By that I mean, real snow, not the sad excuse of ice they pass off as snow to innocent young kids and not-so-innocent parents who pay a bomb just to go in there and play with ice shavings.

Seriously, even the ice kachang ice is more fun than that. And the ice kachang ice has colour. And it tastes nice. And also it smells better. Maybe it's just me, because how many people have had the experience of actually taking a walk inside the penguin enclosure in the Bird Park? I did, when I was in primary school. It was part of some holiday programme. To put it simply, the penguin enclosure stanked. It was absolutely not cold, and the 'ice' was like, styrofoam. It was a great disappointment.

So, Snow City, smells like a watered-down version of a penguin enclosure, has the same sad excuses of 'ice', aka, styrofoam, and has like this mountain of... ice shavings! Even the temperature cannot be trusted. Because I say that I can survive in there for like 2 hours wearing jeans and T shirt, and the temperature chart says minus 7 degrees.

Maybe the temperature is real, but they forgot a seriously important factor. The wind factor. Have you ever been to a mountain or something which can faintly pass off as a mountain (or a hill) and there is absolutely no wind?

In all, I miss those places. And I desperately want to go back to experience what I didn't get a chance to experience, or maybe I did, but I kind of don't remember. The trip to France gave me a great introduction to that country. And I do want to go back again. England, however, was more of a disappointment to me, possibly because I've been there more than once before, and somehow it just doesn't feel so nice.

But I do want to go to Ironbridge again. I want to go to the Victorian Town at Blists Hill. I don't care if the admission charge is 10 pounds. I'm going.

Have you noticed that there has been a rather large influx of westerners in Singapore in the past week or so?

I suspect that it has something to do with the IOC thing and also because of the fact that it's the summer holidays over there in all those western countries.

But if I were them, I seriously wouldn't come to a small island one miserable degree above the equator in summer. Because over there in my homeland it's already hot enough at 20something degrees, and over here in Singapore, it's 30something everyday, day and night.

Maybe they don't appreciate nice cool weather.

Point is that I've been noticing them at food courts in particular, and I must say that they do not understand the typically Singapore dynamics of table stalking and the likes. Yesterday I was at the Parkway foodcourt carrying out the table stalking exercise. Yes, I did it again.. I'm guilty myself.

There was a bunch of nice people there who offered us their seat and even tried to finish up their food faster so that we could have their seat. Well, I don't know their names but thank you whoever you are, if you ever read this.

Meanwhile while the table stalking was being carried out, there was a certain lady with an American accent who came and asked me what was the most famous Malay dish. I thought for a while, simultaneously staring at the mee goreng and nasi goreng stalls for inspiration. I finally concluded with nasi lemak. She seemed pleased enough so I left it as that. After I got my seat, I went to buy yong tau foo.

I realised that anyone not acquainted with Singaporean habits would not find it easy to buy food in a food court or hawker centre, especially at the so called rush hour.

Ah wells, the perils and advantages of living in a multi-cultural, multi-racial city, whereby everyone lives harmoniously together and we have such a rojak of cultures and customs, not to mention food, that we become Uniquely Singapore.

Sheesh. That just sounded like a propaganda advertisment from the Singapore Tourism Board or something. But then again, I suppose there is a certain amount of truth in it.

Youth is wasted on the young
Before you know it's come and gone
Too soon
- Robbie Williams in Eternity



I know I'm 15. I have 22 days left to my 16th birthday. Anyway, take that as a hint. BIG hint.

But the point here is that I think the quote above makes a lot of sense. Although I somewhat get the idea that I'm the youth and I shouldn't be thinking like that, I don't really feel that way.

I feel old. And I mean it. If me feels old, and me can't even watch an NC-16 movie, I really wonder what I'll think when I'm 30 or 40.

Putting my age aside, I totally agree with the quote. You don't ever treasure something until you lose it. And youth is supposedly the best time of your life, although I've probably lived too short a life to pass a judgement on that. I really don't want to grow up.

If I could freeze time I'd freeze it just after I turned 15 last year. That would be perfect, because last year we had the nice teachers, and we had a nice time, and we didn't have to worry about O level Chinese. I didn't appreciate it last year, but I do now. Just that it's too late.



Guess you never really know just what you've got
Till you finally realise it could be gone
- Jesse McCartney in That Was Then.




Sigh.

There are lots and lots of things that I want to do right now. Just that I can't do them for practial reasons. Time flies. It doesn't seem too long ago when I was in P1, just that P1 was a good 10 years ago. Before I realise it, everything here would have come and gone, too soon indeed.

Why is it that good things are ephemeral? And everything else just kind of comes along. I suppose we do live for the good times, and take the rest of the time as a side effect.

If I had lived maybe 30 years ago, I suppose things then would have been different. Because they didn't put such a big emphasis on grades, and everyone was pretty much happy-go-lucky.

Right now, we are spending our time doing performance tasks and CCAs and the likes, the of course while there are those outstanding people who are able to do everything and at the same time get top marks like GPA 3.9something, the rest of us mere mortals are unable to achieve that. And the thing is some of those people actually have a life.

I don't think anything will change just yet. So meanwhile I suppose I'll just have to try to realise what could be gone and to try and hold on before it goes.

-the above was actually written 2 days ago in school, but I didn't get round to putting it up-

I just watched the news just now, and there have been explosions on the London Underground System, the Tube. There were also 3 buses which blew up, all within a little more than an hour. I suppose that means the attacks were pretty much coordinated, it takes a hell lot of conincidence for all that to happen at around the same time.

Tony Blair will be issuing a statement regarding this matter in 10 minutes time, so I'll go catch it.

Anyway, I was thinking what would happen if this had happened before the trip, or even worse, during the trip. It would be absolutely disastrous. Thank goodness we're all back safely right now. I'll update this later.

-update an entire day later-

It occured to me that in primary school we were supposed to go to Beijing, but then there was September 11, so we couldn't go and everyone pulled out. To think that we were there at Edgeware (or around there at least), and that was a month ago. Oh wait, an entire month has passed since I went. That sucks.

I don't know what to say already.

Ah yes. The Olympic bids. The thing which has been keeping me away from Raffles City and it's surroundings. The thing which has caused the Singapore police force to come up with great big concrete blocks painted neon yellow and black. It's a really bad combination, in my opinion, but hey, it catches the eye. Even if it's because the colour combination is just that bad.

For those people who haven't realised it yet, London won the bid. It was really a fight between Paris and London, and although I believe a lot of people thought that Paris should have won, I think that I'm glad London won instead of Paris.

The reason behind that thinking is that Paris is a really beautiful and quaint city, with all the old-world charms. The architecture is definately not what you would considered modern, and the entire city is made up of styles from roughly the same period. Of course there are exceptions, but so few that it hardly makes a difference. The atmosphere just isn't quite modern, it's stuck somewhere in the past, and that makes it special, almost magical.

Wherever the Olympic games are held, the city has to undergo transformation for the games, and I don't ever want Paris to change. It's perfect as it is right now, and had they won the bid, I would really be sad for the part of Paris which just had to go to make way for the Olympics. It sounds a little selfish, I know, it's just that I really don't want Paris to be 'spoilt'.

London on the other hand, already has the elements of a city which has undergone transformation, or what I would like to call the 'architectural revolution'. As a result, although I still believe that some part of London would be spoilt, the damage done would not be as great as the damage done to Paris.

And besides, I just have the feeling that if the atheletes were to go to Paris, they would guzzle and stuff themselves silly and end up not being able to run/swim/whatever properly. Whereas in London... there's really nothing much to eat is there?

I know I'm going to be criticized upside down. I can feel it coming.. right around the corner at me.

If you haven't read my previous post on table stalking, I strongly advice you to go and read it now. It can be found here. You really should read it right now before continuing reading.

Anyway, yesterday I was at Suntec carpark after watching The War of the Worlds. More on the movie later, because I do have to get to the point on 'car stalking'.

Car stalking. It is very simliar to table stalking, just that it takes place in a carpark, and involves cars (what else). It only happens when there is a severe shortage of car park lots, or it could also be caused by simply kiasu Singaporean drivers.

It happens like this:

Person who has parked his/her car in carpark comes out of building, and goes into carpark.

Almost immediately, a car which has been hovering around the building exit area goes into full red alert.

I bet the car driver at that point is thinking something along the lines of this: "Target located. Closing in at the speed of x km/h. Target headed towards the red zone of the carpark, carrying shopping bags and children."

Yes. Shopping bags and children are extremely important factors in this delicate operation.

You see, if the target is carrying shopping bags, and chances of the target being ready to leave the carpark is 50-50. This is because the target could be putting everything into the car ready to leave, or, simply putting the shopping bags in the car because he/she/family members/gf/bf/whoever bought too many things, and the number of shopping bags has started to become a hinderance towards the intended shopping spree.

As for the target being with children, the chances of the target leaving is higher, with a 75% chance that the target is leaving and 25% that the target isn't. This can be explained because (usually) people don't bring their children to the carpark just to get something from the car and then go back. They probably would leave their children in the shopping mall, because children, being the noisy, pestering creatures they are, will probably kick up a big fuss if brought all the way from xxx location to the carpark and then back to xxx location. Their brains are just unable to comprehend why that item from the car is important enough to warrant a trip back to the car. And they seem to think this way whether a not the item is for them or otherwise.

As for the target carrying shopping bags and at the same time with children in tow, the chances of the target leaving is very high. Just about 99%. The reasons are the same as explained above. The 1% chance of the target not leaving even though he/she is carrying both shopping bags and children, is to take into consideration the several weirdos who just have to do that and not leave. In general, these weirdos who do that and still not leave, are prone to receiving several glares from drivers who have just car stalked them to their parking lots.

So, in conclusion of this matter, the best way out of these sticky carpark situations is to simply take public transport. After all, with COE prices hitting the roof, and all that trouble with driving tests and theory tests to pass (with flying colours), why bother, and then land yourself in this sort of situation?

-I came up with 'car stalking' because I noticed several drivers carrying out this operation yesterday as I walked to the car at the Suntec carpark, after watching The War of the Worlds.-

As for the movie, it was well, relatively nice. Because while the storyline was obvious (to me at least), the special effects really really rocked. And the director did manage to create a nice sense of suspense with certain scenes involving the aliens.

I don't really have much to say about the movie, and anyway I don't think I should say it. That is the job of the Straits Times' critics, not mine. Leave it to them to do it, why should I help?

Today is Friday.

It's the last day of the first week of school, and that means we have just 9 more weeks to go.

Yesterday was Yinx's birthday, and as I forgot to wish her Happy Birthday on my blog yesterday I shall do so today.




HAPPY BIRTHDAY YINX!!!!!!!!!!




Ya.

Yesterday after school I went to Suntec to buy movie tickets (or rather, redeem my free tickets.. hehehehehehehehehe). Bought for tonight's War of the Worlds at 7.10pm. You can come watch too, if you buy your own tickets, (for a freaking $9.50).

Neeti just stuck her tongue out at me. She did it again. My tongue is too short to stick back out at her but I shall do it anyway.

When I finally at long last got home yesterday, I was greeted by a great pool of water. The water was leaking from the ceiling. I thought it was a roof leek, but then my dad said that it was probably the water tank in the roof which was leaking. He turned out to be right when the plumber came.

The stupid water tank is like 30 years old or something. It was installed by the previous owner of the house, and since my dad bought the house when I was born that must have been a good...... at least 16 years ago. So I guess it's normal for an old tank to start behaving weird. Anyway there's going to be a new tank installed up there, but meanwhile me and my bro can't use the toilet. And the shower. And the sink.

Anyway, up to the last paragraph was written in school on the class com.

Now I'm home and I just showered because the Singapore weather is just real real real hot.

Geog people, please tell me that it's possible for tectonic plate movements to move Singapore to approximately around the arctic circle. That would be rather nice. But if the arctic circle is too far, then I guess I'll settle for somewhere around north China. Yeah, that would at least make it bearable.

I had lunch with Juliet, Nivi, Neeti and Crunch, at BK. They were selling star potatoes for 20 cents. That is real cheap. You can't even get that amount of stuff in school for 20 cents. So it was wonderful. Just that there was one small catch. Their food is practically swimming (or rather, drowning) in oil. Eeeeeeek.

I abandoned the rest of them to take the bus home instead, because the bus is a much nicer place to sleep, and the aircon rocks more, and also you are pretty much guarunteed a seat. And besides, if I were to take the MRT, I would still have to take another bus and then walk even longer than if I get off at the other bus stop. Yes, complicated. Don't try to understand.

In school today Mrs Tan didn't come. She was sick, and that is relatively.... especially since I need to film for class video! The only 2 people who haven't got any air time are Mrs Tan and Mr Redmund. Mr Redmund wouldn't let us film him, so I filmed his pencil box instead. As for Mrs Tan.. I guess her fern would have to do. Or maybe a picture or something.

My little collection of photos is set to grow bigger as I have intentions to put my printer to work again. I regret not taking photos at a higher resolution in Switzerland, because now the photos from there are kinda blured. I don't like that, I love sharp, defined images. But I guess it would have to do. At least for now..