me and you and everyone we know!

2010-06-01T00:49:00.002+08:00

television is nothing like a good read, for it is so forgettable. there are too many detractors these days. they are also your friends. i am angry with how i am as gutless as i am spineless. nobody can make you feel in a particular way unless you allow them to. perhaps we price the opinions of others too much. the problem with contentment is settling for very little. jealousy is the most terrible of them all. m e d i o c r i t y is a dirty word. we judge too much. we earn too little. i've gotten physically sick with how i want so much. it's sad and a little frightening, the people you knew. speculation is pointless. my stomach is churning, and i know it's because i'm afraid of what you think. i just suck at this. the end.

it's funny how my thoughts come out like little quotes, i cannot seem to write a coherent paragraph. still, with two weeks to being twenty-four, i think it's time to lay this to rest. a good time surely, with my education behind me, a trip to the beaches soon and a brand new life ahead. and perhaps because i needed a place to kill my ugly thoughts and the part of me i didn't like which grew throughout my university days. the bitter grudges i held and who i never became. there isn't a better time, the first day of the month. it's been a good run. but there just doesn't seem much that could be written about that cannot be let go, or cared less about.

and so, we came to the end.

2010-04-14T05:04:00.002+08:00

i find myself trying to construct little stories between these rather lifeless architecture people so that life can be more meaning full and less meaning empty. i chose the girl in front as the mistress cause she kinda looks hotter (amazing what details silhouettes show!) while the one behind looks like a bimbo oblivious to the bored man's roving eyes as she indulges in her newest steal.

at second look, the mistress is kinda out of scale. maybe she's lucy lawless or something.

2010-02-25T12:05:00.008+08:00

because i believe this means the simpsons have officially arrived

The Simpsons and Linda E. do Harper's Bazaar

Harper's Bazaar August 2007

The Simpsons go to Paris with Linda Evangelista

Models: The Simpsons, Linda Evangelista, and various designers

Illustrations by Julius Preite

now that i found simpsons and family guy twisty dolls, should i buy them? the terrors of window shopping. :(

2010-02-20T17:15:00.002+08:00

because i said i'll put it down:

conversations over steamboat - one:

me: huilian you want chicken meat?

huilian: (enthusiastically) yah!

passes it to huilian

huilian: what meat is this?

me: (pause) chicken meat?!

conversations over steamboat-two:

miaoling, ladle in hand, stirs the pot repeatedly, seemingly looking for something.

me: what are you looking for?

miao: (with that very straight face) i don't know. i'm just checking them out.

monologue over steamboat - three:

xinjia, reaching for little dessert spoons placed near the ice-cream area

xinjia: (runs off into the toilet) shit shit shit! i put my fingers into the bowl which the put the scoooooooooopppppppp!!!

conversations over steamboat -four:

selly is trying to get the crab shell out of the pot, with much difficulties.

me: (trying to help her with my chopsticks)

selly: I WANT!!! BU YAO GEN WO QIANG!!!

me: ?!

i am just trying to make people jealous they didn't have steamboat with us. it really is much more funny than it reads.

2010-02-18T23:32:00.002+08:00

my ambition is to grow up and become a writer for the family guy, focusing on coming out with more diabolical plans for stewie on world domination and killing off lois. my hobby is to try my best, and succeeding, at imitating his sleek british accent. thank you.

it is times like this when i post such random and impossible posts that you know, i've lost interest in studio again.

2010-02-18T17:06:00.007+08:00

i woke up from a nap and decided to have an ice-cream while watching the vancouver winter olympics, perhaps as a hopeless way of deluding myself that the weather is really not that mother fucking hot, with little drizzles that drive my mom crazy (she decided to wash all eight of our new-bought bath towels today).

and then i was watching a sport most peculiar. no offense, but i still don't quite get this.

in case you don't get it either, here's a little video:

and a diagram:

alot of people seem to despise it, which is a sad thing if you're an olympian of curling (the name of the game). i just find it such a curious game.

oh, and if you're wondering, the canadians won again.

ps. even the simpsons are into curling!

2010-02-14T23:50:00.003+08:00

happy lunar new year.

the past few days have been nothing short of testy, but every cloud has a silver lining (and when it comes to my awesarm kikki k post its, there are two).

still still, some resolutions are in place. i know it's suppose to be an old-nine into new ten thing but since i've failed rather miserably (already!) i might as well take this second chance at betterment.

okay.

number one.

be patient. i sort of lost that infinite air of patience when i left year one. i wonder why.

number two.

manage my time. well, just because i need to.

number three.

tame my desires. which seems to be multiplying at an exponential rate. what with the red packets, the joy of splurging suddenly seems less sinful and more deserving.

but if you see that new clarks boots are adorning my feet or nixon headphones entertaining my brains, you'll know i've failed miserably, again. but still, as rules are made to be broken, so are resolutions. let's not be so hard on ourselves alright?

gong xi fa cai everyone. we chinese are a mercenary lot eh?

2010-01-28T15:10:00.001+08:00

2010-01-23T01:55:00.002+08:00

hello.

i think fierce haircuts and dark eye makeup mostly does it for me. i think they're very attractive, lor.

oh and by the way. i really dislike expectations. especially those heaped on for reasons i cannot understand.

and if i think there is something wrong with alot of people, could it be that there's actually something wrong with myself?

okay peace out.

*i am still up because chinwei tweeted that his studio ended at 1130pm. wow. this is caffeine of another kind (also known as fear).

2010-01-22T13:26:00.001+08:00

2010-01-22T13:20:00.000+08:00

2010-01-19T00:55:00.002+08:00

必须：副词，有强调语气，多作状语。表示一定要，强调事实或情理上的必要性
必需: 动词，表示一定得有，不可缺少的

不能互换

午夜梦醒家徒四壁
再没有什么包围空虚
好想把我的全部都给你
两个人彼此间的必须
总在人潮散去瞬间觉醒
全身力气得不到片刻安宁
从不曾挥霍好想要挥霍
好让快乐继续
从不曾挥霍好想要挥霍
没有什么是必需

陈绮贞为卢广仲填的词。Wonderful as usual.

必需与必须之间差的,可能就是你任性倔强着要拥有的,和你其实可以没有的

2010-01-19T00:35:00.004+08:00

what i wanted to say yesterday (that is, before my computer went ahead and havoc-ed without my consent):

this is what i want to say today:

2010-01-12T23:25:00.000+08:00

2010-01-12T02:33:00.000+08:00

2010-01-11T18:21:00.001+08:00

2010-01-08T22:21:00.002+08:00

my ideas are literally high and dry. written on post-it notes, no less.

watching 129 episodes of korean drama has left my brains a pile of thick, useless mush. i did nothing today but watched three families feud tirelessly only to have it resolved in the ocean (is that a spoiler?). go figure.

2010-01-08T05:16:00.002+08:00

i feel like clubbing as i listen to this song, but too bad any form of dancing is performed solely by my fingers as i cad cad cad cad cad cad.

i don't know why she always looks so dirty. literally dirty.

can i please have some fun before it's too late?

2010-01-07T23:25:00.000+08:00

the things i have to do to stay motivated.

2010-01-06T09:51:00.000+08:00

for fuck's sake: focus and move!

2010-01-06T00:34:00.004+08:00

it suddenly dawned on me today that i am disinterested in architecture, which is a rather tragic thing. i thought of it as akin to having a love affair with someone for four and a half years, only to realize (although there were nagging suspicions along the way) that i never loved her after all. tiny crushes, bouts of infatuation and well-disguised lusts along the way, but never that full blown love, essential (to me, at least) in the Survivor's Guide To A Tolerable Career In Architecture.

that said, i am a wimp, so i will not quit. it's just upsetting to see one affair collapse with not a new lover in sight. and then there are those, who are always asking you to give this relationship another chance i.e. your well-meaning parents.

2010-01-03T04:14:00.003+08:00

that pretty much encapsulates the new semester ahead.

2010-01-03T03:54:00.001+08:00

i didn't quite know i had the capacity to feel happy for someone that much. not that it was a great happiness, even. but still.

well, be brave my friend! courage is something many of us need these days. (:

2010-01-02T21:32:00.006+08:00

it's two thousand and ten and not terribly exciting. perhaps two years later it'll be better as we anticipate the possible combustion of mother earth; but for now we'll just relegate ourselves to senseless shows on local television (it's strange how the title 'the pupil' makes me not think of a child in school but the spot in our eyes). the new year came and pass with me hogging the television and eating junk: horror movies and zombie flicks, washed down with a solid pint of that-hopeless-korean-wife-who-was-betrayed-by-her-husband-and-best-friend-but-is-now-seeking-revenge-so-we're-all-happy-for-her on dvd and no work done. not good, considering that several of my new year's resolutions (before they were cast in stone through this entry) included ridding myself of procrastination, bad foods and sloth. it ended before it even started. it is no good at all.

at v's house with the usual suspects, we were asked to proclaim our new year wishes. while co and v unanimously made wishes of a rather shallow kind (but nonetheless relevant and important), jie had wished for happiness for all of us (but not all mankind, which makes him selfish; but happiness, which makes him miss universe) while i hoped that everyone could find and establish deeper and long-lasting relationships.

so happy new year everyone. may you find deep, long-lasting relationships of all kinds and mettle. it might be bothersome and uncomfortable at times, but one must not be afraid of opening up your heart to new people, trying even if you think you might fail and establishing commitment at various levels. i am just saying. you know who you are.

i believe a few people will think i'm talking to them.

may lady gaga continue to churn out good pop, jeffery eugenides produce a new novel, and family guy come to cable tv. may my sister prosper and share her wealth with me, also.

oh, and may i learn to be generous, patient and kind, at times even when i really want to drive a nail through someone's evil, damned head.

i am just saying.

2009-09-04T00:21:00.002+08:00

thanks to paul, i spent good time googling on sun ho.

i can only say, wah wah wah.

but with all honesty, her trance/dance tracks are really pretty tight. ends of the earth for one (which you can find on iLike. can you find electrico on iLike?)

but that's not the point. paul oakenfold (not the same paul) actually bothered to remix her track.

omg.

she has arrivvvvvvvvveeeeeeeeddddddddd.

2009-09-02T01:19:00.002+08:00

It's times like this that makes people want to go away.

When the weather's bad and you long for better weather somewhere else. When the weather's good and you're reminded of the same weather in that somewhere else. When you're stuck full of bad school and you pine for the time when you didn't really do school. When you want to go somewhere and do something nice for a change and realized that there is nothing to do in this little city state but there would definitely have been something meaningful to do and somewhere desirable to go if you're in that somewhere else. When your nose is bad and you're nursing a headache and one ear is dead and you think that hey maybe i wouldn't be ill if i'm somewhere else and not spending my time writing something which is not my will. when there is always a somewhere else that is anywhere but here because here doesn't seem to be much at all.

But I am really just like the lion in the Wizard of Oz before he got that thing called Courage, and so I cannot be like those people I admire, who pick up their bags with nothing to their name and seek an adventure, because after all like everyone says these days: The Adventure is Out There!

Out there, somewhere, but never here.

And so I look forward to that little trip. That little trip that awaits after I get this nasty cold and even nastier piece of paper out of the way. I would put this song on volume high, and prepare to get away.

I got this friend,
she doesn't like to fly.
Well that don't bother her none.
No, she's taking the trips all the time.
And I wish I was that friend flying away,
but I got my feet right on the ground.
So if I leave right now,
would you come with me?
I swear I would leave right now
if you'd come with me.

I swear I'd leave right now
if you'd come with me.

2009-08-26T03:18:00.002+08:00

sorry for my language, but this is just fucking hilarious. even if you wouldn't see them all, do check out the first one where katy perry stars. singing i kissed a girl, it's odd when one of them really has and the other probably hasn't.

the idea? sing in the bathroom together.

Fall Out Boy and Ellen with Womanizer

Pink and Ellen

Lily Allen!

And the wife.

2009-08-18T21:18:00.001+08:00

i heart this song. and i think the drummer is very hum sum ah.

and, i can't get this song out of my head:

2009-08-06T15:38:00.003+08:00

Dear World,

I'm sorry I wasn't very diligent today, but my intentions (what's left of it, anyway) were good. I was looking for Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick's Epistemology of the Closet when I went from one irrelevant link to another. The Celluloid Closet, Bitch Magazine, Watch as the Empire Falls to Funny Or Die, I watched as Alanis Morissett do an extremely unsettling version of the BEP's My Humps.

Startling.

Alanis Morissette - MY HUMPS from Alanis Morissette

I am sorry. But that singing and slow motion cavorting really makes me uncomfortable.

Also, I watched a new trailer (or parody, or perhaps it doesn't exist. One cannot even trust obituaries these days) by Alicia Silverstone (Bat Girl!) and Alanis Morissett. It doesn't make any sense at all.

On the other hand, nothing makes much sense these days anyway.

My Mother's Red Hat w/Alicia Silverstone & Alanis Morissette from Alicia Silverstone

And NO NO NO NO NO. This just doesn't sit well with me!

Strangeness!

2009-07-30T00:06:00.002+08:00

When it comes to love, there are a million theories to explain it. But when it comes to love stories, things are simpler. A love story can never be about full possession. The happy marriage, the requited love, the desire that never dims - these are lucky eventualities but they aren't love stories. Love stories depend on disappointment, on unequal births and feuding families, on matrimonial boredom and at least one cold heart. Love stories, nearly without exception, give love a bad name.

- Jeffrey Eugenides, Introduction, My Mistress's Sparrow is Dead.

This is why I adore the writings of Eugenides.

2009-07-29T03:43:00.007+08:00

Hello World,

I have a deadly confession to make. I don't want to write my dissertation anymore. And it'll be deadly because I'll be dead if I don't write it. My Mom will kill me. But it's such a mundane chore I thought I heard many people say Aye! and there are so many superior things beyond to engage in. For example, the Ion's open. It's a very distracting place. The lights beckon to me. I am just waiting for next month's allowance. I am poor this week.

And books. I should have written on architecture in contemporary literature, that would have given me an excuse to read. I'm reading The Time Traveler's Wife now. Maybe I can write about how the huge house has so many rooms the protagonist is seemingly only caught naked once. And write a fake, forceful analysis on nakedness, space, time(travel) and what it means to phallocentric architecture.

I really want to watch this too. I like the names Miranda July comes up with. They have a very nice edge to them.

I read several short stories she wrote. We (Fen, My Sister and I) agreed she is most strange. So I checked out her website.

Okay. So I typed:

And got:

I was pleased as a punch. But then I thought I'll try:

And realized it was all a scam. Liar.

And this is my report for today. Fuck, did I just stayed up till four to write this stupid post? As for my dissertation, it's as Natasha Beddingfield so laconically sang: the rest is still unwritten.

Sayonara, cruel world.

Regards,
Me

2009-07-22T21:39:00.002+08:00

discovered garageband in my ibook when i was looking for some way to record my interviews tomorrow. it's is awe some ness.

i think i'll learn to mash some songs after this whole education thang ends. yeap. you're right. not for another g o d aw ful year before i take three grand months to accomplish nothingness.

and graduation trip. the sound of these two words makes me feel happy already. (:

2009-07-20T22:34:00.002+08:00

hello world,

i went with huilian to tiong bahru today. it was a wonderful place. the white white walls and low low storeys makes me want to live there for a feel that's not like singapore although i'm still very much here but i can pretend i wasn't and it'll be great. it's an escape from reality, except i'm really just going home. it was a wonderful place.

i felt like a private investigator while i was there. maybe that's what i really want to do. follow people and tell lies. hi, i want to rent that unit over there. may i know who's the owner, please?

and then we met this little dark old granny, who told us stories that made us sad (it's true. when she left we looked at each other and said so sad at the same time). before she left she said if you're free, please come and see me and i made a mental note to go see her next week. i felt like a pathetic fanny after talking to her. she carts cupboard boxes in the hot sun till her back's bent and her legs are sore. i complain about writing my dissertation when i play all the time. i am really a malcontented bitch. this introspection made me feel much better about myself.

stop thinking your life is fucking sad. when it's obviously not fucking sad. that's what i told myself even though it took me two hours to get home today (i took the wrong bus).

please be a happy person today, whoever you are. it's much better that way.

love,
me

2009-07-18T23:12:00.001+08:00

i am trying to pick up jogging again (yes, believe it or not, i used to jog everyday). but i need good music to jog with. any suggestions?

2009-07-17T15:43:00.001+08:00

My blogger skills are so bad every element lines up in a straight line!

2009-07-17T15:30:00.001+08:00

I'm so nervous.

Actually, the correct phrase would be effinghellfreakingoutlikeshatwhatamigonnado?

I'm going to take a nap now.

2009-07-15T12:46:00.002+08:00

i watched zack and miri make a porno that day. funny thing is how google searches show that most people spelt it as prono, which i cannot believe because i believe most people in this world can spell the word porn.

say. if someone googles 'porn blog', would my blog show up?

not recommended for ladies with weak hearts and guts (i assume all men of the male stereotype will enjoy it very much). or vanessa or glenda or benita. they will be very very dismayed by like, the first thirty seconds already. yay!

2009-07-14T23:38:00.003+08:00

just finished reading blink by malcolm gladwell, which i highly recommend for readers who want to read something light other than foucalt, deleuze, betsky or widodo. i can't condense what he's trying to say, because he doesn't quite tell you anything. essentially, he asks that you trust your snap judgments and gut feelings, for the first two seconds by which you make a decision (or in the blink of an eye, so to speak), you might make the best decisions ever.

so sometimes, if you don't feel like doing something, don't. you probably wouldn't enjoy it anyway.

but the amazing part was how blink made me think, and feel. it was a book that didn't teach inner calm nor contentedness, but those i strangely felt. perhaps life has just been very good to me lately. or maybe it was because i had been smiling incessantly (apparently, smiling for no reason can make you feel better. emotions need not necessary precede facial movements. you will naturally feel better if you smile).

life can be worse. i'm just happy with the way things are right now.

2009-07-03T19:02:00.002+08:00

oh my! what an absolutely humsum cat!

when we get one, we will call it sir quincy okay? (i added the sir last minute because i think he looks rather aristocratic with that cute little photoshopped bowtie!) it beats meowtze hands down lor, with a hairstyle like that.

i, however, am not directly endorsing that little bow tie down under. it'll be nice if you get one though, cause every print gets $5 to the cat welfare society!

i wonder how many people get the real idea of using a cat in this ad. (:

2009-07-01T13:30:00.002+08:00

1. to friends and family who have been actively seeking information and potential interviewees for my stuck in a rut dissertation: thank you very much. in order to avoid disappointment and embarrassment, i figured i had better start coming up with some questions. like. how do you do?

2. dear v, it is not that i want to quarantine you. but my ministry of money (aka MOM) insists that i steer clear of you for seven days counting from your day of arrival. it is also not my fault, that in order to go from clarke quay to bukit batok, you have to go to outram park, change a train to jurong east and transit again to bukit batok. singapore is just very big.

3. after consuming baileys & bourbon ice-cream from the newly opened u.d.d.e.r.s at westmall, i felt inclined to repeat the word 'udders' over and over again to anyone who would listen to me. please do not kick me in my chest, like my sister had threatened me, if i utter udders udders udders udders udders to you the next time i see you.

4. i will eat cedele the next time i am in novena square. i will eat cedele the next time i am in novena square. i will eat cedele the next time i am in novena square. i will eat cedele the next time i am in novena square. i will eat cedele the next time i am in novena square. i will eat cedele the next time i am in novena square. i will eat cedele the next time i am in novena square. i will eat cedele the next time i am in novena square. i will eat cedele the next time i am in novena square. i will eat cedele the next time i am in novena square. i will eat cedele the next time i am in novena square. i will eat cedele the next time i am in novena square. i will eat cedele the next time i am in novena square. i will eat cedele the next time i am in novena square. i will eat cedele the next time i am in novena square.

2009-06-28T21:48:00.002+08:00

it's like a perfect blood red heart shaped heart.

cut precisely through the middle with a precise cut.

two halves.

both for you, and non for me.

to those in the know, thank you, but please leave me alone.

i don't need family, i don't need friends. i wish i don't ever need anyone again.

2009-06-26T14:32:00.001+08:00

for those who enjoy their fonts, i thought it was hilarious:

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

maybe now you'll be extra thoughtful in choosing a font for your dissertation! (:

2009-06-25T14:52:00.004+08:00

i was looking up on networking tools on mapping relationships when i came across this rather fantastic thing on muckety.com:

this is what happens when you search for the relationship networks of rihanna. each character is then expandable with his/her interpersonal networks. see what happens when you double-click the superstar miss spears.

it quite literally, explodes.

no wonder her life is such a mess.

aiyah t, to think we were drawing out mini chart on paper with pen. so tech-not-savvy!

2009-06-25T13:29:00.004+08:00

"and that's about the time she walked away from me, nobody likes you when you're twenty-three, and you still act like you're in freshman year. what the hell is wrong with me? my friends say I should act my age. what's my age again?

no one should take themselves so seriously, with many years ahead to fall in line. why would you wish that on me? i never want to act my age. what's my age again?"

twenty-three yes, twenty-three. old by the standards of having seen blink - one eight two on mtv singing stay together for the kids. very nineties, very old.

a five minutes lesson i learnt today: there are many things in life you cannot force. like a watch. because otherwise it would leave you with a cut that bleeds beneath your skin, and there's nothing you can do about it because it is beneath your skin.

"imagine riding a scooter on a bumpy road while trying to watch, on your ipod, two tractors have sex"

that's what life said about the new transformers movie. if you imagine really really hard, you might just get that image in your head.

if only i can write like this for my dissertation.

2009-06-23T00:46:00.002+08:00

other than heat on mortar, something seems to be rising off the roads these days. cloaking and choking, choking and cloaking.

unhappiness, i think. although i feel perfectly fine, thank you very much. but when i am left waiting at the bus stop for twenty minutes in vain for a bus that does not come, i tend to think about the general air of separation and loss. it is a wicked time, this part of the year. without faerie dust, we are condemned to the curse of maturity, responsibility and self-resignation.

which i wonder,
who said that being an adult,
are qualities we should possess?

so happy holiday my friends, school vacation and work leave alike. i busy myself with a healthy dose of friends, lover, and family these days. Not to mention much needed dissertation writing which i had let slack. And unfortunately, a visit to an acupuncturist, who left me feeling like the needles are still embedded in my sore, sore neck.

i am never going back there again.

2009-05-28T13:36:00.010+08:00

back in better times, where the only possible worry was where i could possibly be next week.

tokyo and shanghai. photos from seagull, vivitar and eaststar cameras:

2009-03-27T17:45:00.003+08:00

t has gotten me in a fix.

yes t, that's you. i only know one t anyway.

here's how it went:
on a dull and uneventful afternoon, i ventured forth to the extremely mysterious (and apparently increasingly exclusive you're-not-from-dtm) studio to look for my gang of happy tree friends. what was supposed to be an innocent conversation of howareyouiamfinethankyoumytutorsuckssodoesmine suffered a change in direction when t opened her web browser and entered the url: www.jamlegend.com

and the rest as they say, is that i got hooked on the game.

my favorite song is The Way She Said by Velour now eh!

ahem. so now. the question is, how can tfny tbits possibly make up for this horrid distraction imposed upon her poor friend who is currently strangled by the immense workload to be submitted before the end of this lifeless semester or be possibly fried like the tarmac in the singapore sun?

hello, t. add me as a friend leh. then we can showdown! (:

2009-03-10T23:29:00.002+08:00

i am as restless as restless can be.
it can be, a very dramatic semester.
dexter and the watchmen shouldn't go together.
and so is coffee and ice-cream, a potent mix.
everyday counts, for nothing.
and you are;
a very important form of consolation.

2009-03-06T22:56:00.002+08:00

everything in life is random and coincidental.

every four minutes, i checked the clock. every two minutes, i am checking the phone. you look horrid, she said, she said. i am just really tired. i am really just tired. gossip is a dirty word. i just had too much to take this week. i can breathe water. fuck. how can you even suggest that. in pursuit of happyness. you left me tangled up to die. good friday friday the thirteenth. he knows she knows we all know. how could she not know. together and apart. eating lunch on the same planet. explode explode. school trips are bad trips. is it that bad? taking the easy way out. coming out. going in. i don't know what i'm doing anymore. rant and ramble. two's a company three's a crowd. what are you doing in school? oblivious. ants are everywhere. i know it from the way they look at me. don't wake me up tomorrow. one hundred and seventeen singapore dollars. it's just kind of awkward now. it's hard pretending. why don't we just tell her already? i'm looking to create dynamic space. it's like piranesi's drawings. i can't think, but i can function. how much do you think that villa costs? maybe i can walk to clementi. do you think i'm rambling? meet me today, meet me tomorrow. negligence. i've lost track. why are you reading this? i am socially deficient today. i am okay. please don't ask me. we cheated on him. i need some sleep. that's what everyone says. i'm not suppose to feel this way. get over it already. you wouldn't understand. rock on. fine, if that's the way you want it. caustic. i hate it when my music player runs out of batteries on me. shit.

2009-02-20T23:10:00.003+08:00

i am leaving for tokyo in seven hours
i'm tired
this feels strange
and so it is
what's appealing is the weather
crit's yesterday for some
gossip on the plane
i cannot understand japanese

already.

2009-02-19T17:21:00.003+08:00

i like being in studio these days. the ability to get things done yet bum around is good. going around knocking on doors getting friends to draw ridiculous diagrams and mind maps of love and hate based on many presumptions and a little truth,

is even better.

let's all go down with a bang.

2009-01-31T00:19:00.002+08:00

passing off as a story sitting on two legs i pushed the chair too far my favorite chair has let me down i split my chin and stained an expensive shirt i was mad it is not my fault how could you breaking its leg and hurting my shin now i am sorry for hurting something i love so i said i am sorry i should not have started it and tried to make peace by fixing the broken leg back it barely sticks but it sticks now i cannot remember why i was upset was it the chair or something else it all seems ridiculous now but the story repeats endlessly because i simply cannot imagine myself sitting on my beloved chair without two feet in the air hanging precariously and increasingly so with every minute passing the pathetic me.

2009-01-30T09:00:00.002+08:00

in
stead of lament
ing. per
haps we could all try hard
er. some
times, consider
able ef
fort is put in to show o
thers that you real
ly still care, and that makes them feel hap
py and heart
ful. be
cause in the world of to
day, to tru
ly care is ve
ry rare.

i don't know why i had to write like that. i guess i was just illustrating the rhythm in my head.

on an
other note:
please
don't
be
an
gry
shin
jia
!

2009-01-26T00:11:00.002+08:00

wah rao. my superstitious alter-ego told me that i should prolly return people money by tonight; but dbs internet banking had to had to had to break down now now now now now. and so i'm set to owe people monies all year round. shat.

2009-01-18T22:47:00.002+08:00

while out shopping at bugis today, i came up with a campaign slogan. it says:

"BAN ANNOYING BABY PRAMS, CARRY CHILDREN IN YOUR HANDS!"

baby prams and broken children speak annoy-ed-ness. i am not a child friendly nation.

2009-01-13T23:16:00.002+08:00

zhang shuhan feels:
ashamed;
that vanessa ong bought her a fred perry x cdg polo tee and she bought her _________.

zhang shuhan thinks:
that logic is difficult;
and she's referring to the philosophy module she's taking, not her lack of logical rationality.

zhang shuhan is awed:
by the powers of keen observation;
shit.
wow.

zhang shuhan wants:
to have assets and not liabilities;
or so the financial guru says.

zhang shuhan wishes:
that she gets to shop at the cdg sale;
soon.

zhang shuhan says:
that sometimes;
we have to grin and bear it.

zhang shuhan laments:
well;
i guess this is the end of everything,
and nothing.

2009-01-02T19:42:00.008+08:00

happy new year

i cannot think of anything exceptionally inspirational thankful reflective heart warming to write. and even if i did, i presume i am grossly late for hallmark moments. hence, i decided to appeal to the other side of merry christmas and a happy new year (the consumerist part, of course) and share how i entertained myself on the last day of two thousand and eight.

my breakfast (utensils author's own):
nike waffle trainer jacket

my countdown:
nokia nye's countdown concert

i'm to razy to list who's who, so go figure. but four hours of consecutive singing is enough to take the energy out of any enthusiasm. let's just say regina happily slept through one third of it and woke up only when we told her she had ten minutes of two thousand and eight left.

notifikations en kuestions tu kik der ear orf:

a. i am not going to tokyo anymore. it has been procrastinated to the mid semester break. please expect me home soon.

b. i am going to shanghai tomorrow for the last attempt at a horrible habit.

c. my submission sank.

d. my architecture construction exam stank.

e. we didn't sleep last night in a last minute attempt to study for a module we cannot pass and which we probably cannot map.

f. i am poor.

g. i am happy.

h. are you happy?

i. can anyone tell me if xinjia is in love?

2008-12-27T02:28:00.002+08:00

Part I

new year resolution: 今年更勇敢.

Part II

dear t: thank you for your bunny head. i pinned it to my shirt when i went for studio on christmas day (imagine that) in a bid to instill some festive spirit in my china comrades. they didn't see it.

dear shinjia: thank you for your facebook dedications. much love and heart appreciated. i am still wondering how to get you a monster.

dear v: please hang out.

dear 杨老师: hello hello so you want to give us construction exam or not huh huh huh?

dear world: on my side, time can't make up her fickle mind. she crawls and flies at the very same time. i'm very torn.

Part III:

two days to submission;
tbc days to construction paper;
four days to flying alone;
six days to tokyo tower;
sixteen days to seeing my architecture homies.

time is a very fragile thing, when you count it consciously like this.

2008-12-15T23:16:00.004+08:00

i am enamoured or enamored,
[ɪnˈæməd]
adj
in love; captivated; charmed
倾心于, 迷恋, 酷爱

2008-12-09T19:41:00.000+08:00

Must I always be waiting, waiting on you?
Must I always be playing, playing your fool?

No, I can't I always be waiting, waiting on you.
I can't always be playing, playing your fool.

2008-12-08T13:12:00.002+08:00

dear world,

i am poor.

i am depressed.

i am undergoing the great depression, 1920s style (or is it?)

love,
enough is never enough because, what the hell is enough?

2008-12-08T03:06:00.002+08:00

dear world,

i believe myself to be a braver person in the past, but that may not be an accurate representation of who i was. in other words, i possibly thrived on conflict. trouble signified that people meant enough to trouble you, and you allowed yourself to care enough, to be troubled with.

then, i bought myself an old and tired soul.

many times (and all the more lately), i find myself narrating my feelings like a lousy storyteller whom the protagonist meant so little. choosing my words carefully, the feelings came out correct, detached, and mostly, formalized. it was like a page out of the business times. my feelings were facts, and reported so.

but my old soul must be dying, because i have taken a turn for the worse. for now i am not only disinterested in talking through problems, i have started to take after my father.

i simply run away from them.

2008-12-06T19:24:00.003+08:00

hello world,

there is something i'll like to share today. as you know, i am a spendthrift; and the arrival at a country so filled with material attractions (read: cheap! cheap! cheap!) has undoubtedly set me back greatly. i did not plan my finances. i was too deceived by the exchange rate between my country and theirs, which went --without my notice-- from five to four point seven to four point four to a you'vegottobeshattingme four point two. i was too complacent. but what could i do? money, as a chinese proverb says, is water splashed out of the front gates when spent. okay. so i made this one up.

but that's not the point. the point is, as the bleak winter season descends on the ancient walls of nanjing, i am pressed to acquire income of some kind to save my sorry ass. hence, by chance or fate would have it; i became:

an english tutor.

and thus, i would like to officially introduce:

my chinese tuitee.

quite good-looking for a primary fiver, don't you think?

actually hor, the story is nowhere as desperate or pathetic as i made it out to be. the truth (as flashbacks, pushing daisies style) is, my dear friendly popular auntie, whom recently visited me in nanjing, actually met this lady on her flight home to singapore. and like every other conversation she has with strangers, she shared her life story. hence, the lady came to know of this niece who lives in nanjing, studies in southeast university and speaks english.

i cannot be bothered to finish the story thereafter, except that he comes by every saturday now. his mother is actually looking for someone to have english conversations with him. actually after today, i realized that the mother is probably looking for a baby sitter. because our itinerary today was half an hour of basketball, half an hour of english reading, lunch, and then my house for psp (psp, wondrous gadget leh). hello hello, we only read for half an hour, like that also call english tuition mah?

but that's okay, cause his mom is really nice, he is really nice and i am really nice. so hang out lor.

jogging in winter is a very surreal thing. because in the midst of feeling warm, there is this white smoke that keeps pace with every exhale. suddenly, you're just very conscious that you're breathing. and that you're wearing a mother load of clothes to jog.

2008-12-05T00:11:00.003+08:00

after sleeping for only one hour last night, presentation for studio today with regina (huifen's sick) was largely a mix of disastrous and hilarious. because we were so tired, we really couldn't be bothered to put our thoughts across in mandarin. everything was said with "anyway", "and then", and "so". i believe the chinese way of speaking like you have marbles in your mouth is beginning to grow on me. mumbling is cool. i want to speak like i have marbles in my mouth.

so our studio mates laughed at us today (actually i believe they laugh at us all the time). i'm beginning to like them pretty much.

submission's been brought forward to the twenty ninth of december. there is always a mix of anticipation and sadness when one is due to leave where they have grown to like.

只是三首现在常在听的歌:

old school 的赵之壁

楊乃文\我給的愛, 好像有听到张震岳的声音

郭采潔\I Need You

2008-12-03T18:11:00.003+08:00

Dear Zheng Xinjia,

RE: "ehh.. ni dao di you mei you ting wo dian de ge!!"

It is with great thanks that I write this letter, in appreciation of the many videos and songs (one a day, as you promised?) you have dedicated to me. As you must know by now, Facebook is a rare commodity where I reside, and having the front page load for our login almost assures us of a prize in the local lottery draw. May I also add that, by some strange force of nature, your profile page never ever ever ever ever loads, and hence I could not return any gift in return (or even write you a simple thank you note). Still, many thanks for your incessant dedications and I must certainly say I am shocked and surprised by your dedication in dedications. After all, you are famous for your sparing display of love and affections.

All in all, xie xie ni lah!

Regards,
Shoe

P.S. Your request for the mandarin edition of 'Twilight' has been processed and approved. Collection can be made on the 12th of January 2009 or thereafter. Please be reminded that courier services are also available at the nearest China Post if you desire. However, I believe that the decision should be made depending on when you finally receive my postcard.

P.P.S. Christina I sent you a postcard too!

2008-12-02T21:51:00.003+08:00

i am feeling one whole family of irritated right now,
i can disregard the religious side of me and kill something this very minute.

and again, learned that some things just very damn well don't die. even if you wished hard enough. and tried even harder.

//stark in my head:

yesterday threw everything at me/athlete

Switch on the light
Between each other
Elevated to your side
Now I'm nervous
It's time to tell you honestly so we can alter history

You are first on my list
When everything around is gone I know

You are first on my list
When everything is shown up for what it is

Plastic flowers that fight for colour
Shadows floating on the ground
That always follow like international acclaim
It comes and goes
Never the same

You are first on my list
When everything around is gone I know

You are first on my list
When everything is shown up for what it is

And I will run with it
And sunlight will break into my eyes
And it seems like you plugged the world in
'Cause sunlight is streaming from your eyes

You are first on my list
When everything around is gone I know

You are first on my list
When everything is shown up for what it is

Let's take our time
It won't change over night
We got a chance we didn't have before

Let's take our time
It won't change over night
We got a chance we didn't have before

You are first on my list
When everything around is gone I know

You are first on my list
When everything is shown up for what it is

am feeling the same title, but the truth is nothing quite like the song goes. not even close.

2008-11-26T21:38:00.003+08:00

china is a world of endless material temptations.

broke as i am.

i had to come across the seagull df-1000a selling at rmb685.

maybe i will buy it.

maybe, maybe.

please don't blame me for not using my lomo cameras.

you don't know how hard it is to develop a mother black and white 35mm here.

actually, nobody does it at all.

or to get your hands on a roll of 120mm here.

i have the gun.

but now i'm out of bullets.

yeesh.

and yes.

i've got to stop getting shoes.

or i'll end up like this.

and my mother's going to kill me.

2008-11-22T20:07:00.002+08:00

wah wah wah.

the pussycat dolls / i hate this part
(wahrao. i think there's one more of them missing again)

whoa whoa whoa.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZSLIq6YiRY

britney spears / womanizer
(i can easily list ten people i know who will abhor this song. aiyah peepelle, chake it reasy can?)

anyway. i can't get onto facebook. the only sites that load are blogs, emails and good old motherland based sites. which loads at the speed of light.

2008-11-21T23:17:00.002+08:00

We were going for lunch today when we decided to have it at a street we rarely visit, and I chanced upon this little record store that sat rather awkwardly between. It had so many indie and rare albums it'll put HMV to shame (well, at least the ones in Singapore).

Anyway. I started talking to the owner and he asked me what I was interested in. I picked Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, and he recommended The Standard's Albatross and Clinic's Winchester Cathedral to me.

I like them all. (:

At RMB20 per piece, it's a steal without breaking the law.

中国真的可以很酷.

2008-11-20T22:06:00.002+08:00

hello world,

please allow me to say, that i currently have a god awesome studio tutor. one day, i will announce: "in my years of architectural education, i've only had two good tutors. one is neo sei hwa, and the other is my tutor from shanghai". crazy shat.

but then. a tutor with god awesome powers apparently do not stop me from being bored and distracted in studio. so i did as i did below:

SAY PARA-WHAT? List all the words that start with PARA

1. Paragraph
2. Paradigm
3. Paradox
4. Paranoid
5. Parasite
6. Paranomic
7. Paraphrase
8. Parallel
9. Paraphernalia
10. Paralympics
11. Paralyse
12. Parachute
13. Para-para
14. Pee And Run Away
15. Paul And Ruilin Ah!
16. Pathetic And Rather Anticlimatic
17. Punishments Actually Really Aggravates
18. Paradeektum - A person in a predicament
19. Paraskapeest - A person who runs away from problems
20. Paramole - An emo person
21. Parasleckar - This guy in my studio
22. Paraboardum - What drove me to do this ridiculous list

later I did a cell phone out of foam and wanted to offer it to this china friend to make a call. apparently my studio mates saw me playing with it. this just adds to the list of bo liao things i've done ever since the incident with the stick.

2008-11-11T21:26:00.002+08:00

a. my first blog post in eighty one days, before i find there's something i want to write. and then, it isn't very much.

b. i went out myself today. played 3X4=12 songs on the arcade drum set, and there wasn't anyone to bother me cause it was mid-day in a shopping center. then i went to starbucks to have a cup of coffee and read a magazine. then i went to the pedestrianized shopping area down the street and walked around till it was too dark to see and too cold to feel. then i took a bus home, like every one else.

i feel so at home in a city that isn't mine.

c. (commes des garcon x h&m)'s collection is out. yay.

d. i realized i cannot read v's blog. wordpress is bannedbannedbanned in my glorious motherland.

e. i am going to sign up with yamaha drums when i come home. everyone, please remind me.

f. folk rocks. because the answer is blowing in the wind. (is that even folk?)

g. this is my first blog post in eighty one days, and the thoughts in my head are so random they don't make much mother sense.

2008-08-21T14:32:00.000+08:00

2008-08-18T21:52:00.001+08:00

2008-08-09T22:25:00.003+08:00

Like newspapers which remind me of B's conspicuous absence, magazines are starting to do the same. And this just reminds me alot of Huilian and our silly greetings. (: Hearty paws, how are chew?

A result of our Lomography Outing last Sunday. We sang, we danced, but we didn't steal things. We had fun.

Pushing Daisies, possibly the only show other than CSI that can keep me watching. And my favorite character, Olive, happens to be played by the very competent Broadway star Kristin Chenoweth.

Hello Vanessa. You say you're in Vienna, heading to Rome tomorrow with B. That's good for you, but not for me. Because I've woes by the gallons to pour to you, and you're nowhere near where I can possibly be.

so I'll say why don't you and i get together
and take on the world and be together forever
heads we will and tails we'll try again

slowly I begin to realize this is never going to end
right about the same time you walk by
and I say
oh here we go again

/the calling or chad kroeger featuring carlos santana, why don't you and i

2008-08-03T01:04:00.002+08:00

and there it was: uncle chang, action in three parts.

the usual dinner and tea with friends from hwachong. we must be getting old, cause we can't hear each other that well anymore. we decided to migrate somewhere else from breeks, in hope of a nice coffee with sofas to boot. so we arrived at millenia walk's starbucks, only to get half hearted service but a whole lot of patronizing, such as the manager's question of "have you ever had ice brewed tea here?" when we complained that it tasted diluted. no, we haven't, and we most probably never will. they topped skim milk on gracia's ice blended instead of whipped cream. go figure.

i hate it when shit hits the fan, especially when it is a result of several adults' incapability to keep crap within their generation; and decided to spread the hate. problems are conveniently transferred; and before we know it, we're knee deep in shit that isn't ours. we could turn our backs on you, but our god damn conscience keeps us leashed.

2008-08-02T01:53:00.003+08:00

hello there. i'm tired and my head hurts. but i just can't bear the thought of my weekends coming and gone, so i'm getting a head start by being up early on saturday morning. my supervisor at surbana gave a dinner treat at muthu's curry that cost sixhundredandsixtyonedollars. i can't figure out why. except that i probably wouldn't eat curries for another five million years or so. and that indians make good money.

i traded my friends for toy guitars. the only language they speak now is diaongdiaongriaongpriongeeee. i make do with them because they're so entertaining, and they shook their heads vigorously to prove that they're true blue guitar freaks.

and so we got together, and i miss v and b so. please insert yourself ________(here), because you're still thought about when we hangg out. i would ask when you're coming home, but i already know the answer.

cause if i have to die tonight
i'd rather be with you
cut the parachute before the dive
baby don't you cry
you have to bring me down
we had some fun before we hit the ground

/sean lennon; parachute

2008-07-26T23:40:00.001+08:00

2008-07-16T21:53:00.002+08:00

Well, now,
if little by little you stop loving me
I shall stop loving you little by little.

If suddenly
you forget me
do not look for me,
for I shall already have forgotten you.

Excerpt, If You Forget Me, Pablo Neruda

I can only guess. Neruda is a vengeful lover.

And no T, I haven't forgotten you. You're still on my mind much. (:

2008-07-16T00:07:00.007+08:00

"The heaviest of burdens crushes us, we sink beneath it, it pins us to the ground. But in the love poetry of every age, the woman longs to be weighed down by the man's body. The heaviest of burdens is therefore simultaneously an image of life's most intense fulfillment. The heavier the burden, the closer our lives come to the earth, the more real and truthful they become."

I do not have a complete understanding of the case Kundera makes. Perhaps/probably never will. Some times I feel like I have gotten a hand on this only to lose it quickly in the next line. Then again, it makes for such a compelling read since the God of Small Things, where Sometimes people do things that makes others love them less and less was so simple; yet rang like absolute truth.

As mentioned, perhaps the most ambiguous and difficult of all is the choice between the lightness and heaviness of being. Lightness, consisting of the ability to relieve oneself of all relations to man or thing alike. The capacity for absolute detachment at one's command. Heaviness, on the contrary, reeks of responsibility and the making of one vulnerable to another's doing.

Is a life of complete lightness worth living?

Lightness is probably a choice, while heaviness can sometimes be bestowed on the unwilling. It could be chosen as one desires freedom above all others. But then I thought, it could also be a result of the fear of heaviness, or the hurt of heaviness.

If one pretended to love less, care less, and feel less, a day would come where he would truly believe he did not love so much. And when his love is ultimately denied or unrequited, he would console himself by saying That's okay. I did not love you anyway.

And just as the desire to be light seems cold and brutal, it is also selfish. Because one yearns to be Light in Being, but refuses to be treated as anything but Heavy in the hearts of others.

If one yearns to be Light and succeeds completely, he would probably lead a joyous life. He would have given none and taken nothing. It is such an attractive thought to be as free willed as Sabina or adept at detachment like Tomas. My only fear is to pass knowing that you own no one, just as no one owns you.

But why can't one choose between the extremes of complete Lightness and Heaviness of Being?

It probably won't be worth very much. A compromise just seems like the greatest evil of them all.

2008-07-11T15:30:00.001+08:00

Aye. Wo yao feng diao liao.

2008-07-07T00:56:00.005+08:00

As the ebony lay,
Still and quiet.

The Moon
Would rise for her nightly toil,
Dressed in ardent light.
And the only sign
Of her sadness or joy,
Was the shape she took that night.

Some nights her heart was filled with gladness,
So much, her form was full.

Some nights the air was draped in sorrow,
As such, a sliver of rue.

But not once did The Moon in nights,
Of happiness or grief,
Abandoned her glowing dress of light,
Because, she still believed.

That even if the clouds would come,
And hide her glowing blithe,
She’ll wait for them to pass her by, through darkness
she would Breathe.

2008-06-29T23:26:00.003+08:00

(It's interesting what an open mind can do for you)

Went to the Toys and Comic Convention at Suntec City this morning, initially only with B and V. But B was suppose to meet Bhotish, so he came along, and brought along two of the kids he was staying with. And when V came, she came with her youngest sister.

Benita+Bhotish+Ah Di+Ah Bang+Vanessa+Annette+Me

Kinda weird eh?

But it went pretty well actually, except for the fact that Bhotish didn't actually visit most of the convention with us (and when he did it was just him insulting me and me retorting him) and that I didn't buy a single shat cause the place was mother packed and there wasn't really an DC collectibles. But that's okay. At least we've got the Tofu Oyako you wanted B! (:

And then V went for church, Bhots and the kids went home, and Annette went shopping with us. We convinced her we were still hip and young (she's eight father years younger than us) and proceeded to do hip and young things. Like. Eat ice cream. Because according to B, when we go out with kids, we must have ice cream.

Then we went to the arcade. And I realised that I can't play Bishi Bashi to save my life.

Later, we had dinner with Vanessa and Naifen. She treated. Naifen was hilarious. Hooray.

Only regret, we didn't take as much photos as we possibly could have. But that's okay. Cause I have one photo of Benita, who wished there were cuter toys at the convention (other than Gloomy Bears perhaps).

I don't understand what's so scary about Darth Vader or a Star War soldier leh.

從不曾揮霍好想要揮霍沒有什麼是必須

2008-06-28T23:23:00.003+08:00

終于等到的盧廣仲；

還可以得到一點陳綺貞。

正在等待的 tizzy bac:

2008-06-18T21:23:00.002+08:00

My favorite song on DCFC's new album, Narrow Stairs

We're not the same, dear, as we used to be.
The seasons have changed and so have we.
There was little we could say, and even less we could do,
To stop the ice from getting thinner under me and you.

We bury our love in the windsory grave.
Along came the snow, that was all that remained,
But we stayed by its side as the days turned to weeks,
And the ice kept getting thinner with every word that we'd speak.

And when spring arrived,
We were taken by surprise when the flows under our feet,
Led into the sea.
Nothing was left for you and me.

We're not the same, dear.
And it seems to me,
There's more where we can go,
With nothing underneath.
And it saddens me to say,
But we both know, well, it's true.
That the ice was getting thinner,
Under me and you.
The ice was getting thinner,
Under me and you.

The Ice is Getting Thinner, Narrow Stairs, Death Cab for Cutie

2008-06-14T01:07:00.003+08:00

For B, cause I think you might like it.

Traffic Light; The Ting Tings; MTV UK Sessions

2008-06-13T12:57:00.003+08:00

Purchased two albums yesterday:

Indie-pop effort from The Tings Tings, headbanging songs that makes you want to shout along and march to a riot.

Haunting lyrics that doesn't just touch your heart, but rams right through it.

2008-06-12T17:17:00.002+08:00

I am giving up coffee. I am giving up coffee. I am giving up coffee. I am giving up coffee. I am giving up coffee. I am giving up coffee. I am giving up coffee. I am giving up coffee. I am giving up coffee. I am giving up coffee. I am giving up coffee. I am giving up coffee. I am giving up coffee. I am giving up coffee. I am giving up coffee. I am giving up coffee. I am giving up coffee. I am giving up coffee. I am giving up coffee. I am giving up coffee. I am giving up coffee. I am giving up coffee. I am giving up coffee. I am giving up coffee. I am giving up coffee. I am giving up coffee. I am giving up coffee. I am giving up coffee. I am giving up coffee. I am giving up coffee. I am giving up coffee. I am giving up coffee.

I swear. It's really a bad, bad habit that's mother hard to kick.

2008-06-10T09:45:00.003+08:00

France versus Romania and its a goaless draw. ): Seems like everyone's going to have a chance at Euro 2008.

I suddenly remembered that there was this Turkish footballer I really adored during FIFA World Cup 2002 (I was the only weirdo in class who supported Turkey) but I couldn't remember his name for what, four years? And all of a sudden when I was surfing for Euro news, I remembered his name.

Very clearly.

Ilhan Mansiz.

Wah lao, I don't even remember him looking so shuai lor.

Where is Ziqian when you need someone to watch football with you?!

P.S. Jinghan, I think he is more shuai than your Kaka okay.

2008-06-05T22:57:00.003+08:00

Please, please, do not tell me you have never heard of The Teenage Textbook, much less The Teenage Workbook.

Because when Shinjia told me she has never heard of it (and neither has Glenda), I wanted to get killed in Jalan Bukit Merah (yes, right outside Surbana One).

"The Teenage Textbook is a novel by the Singaporean author Adrian Tan, published in 1988. The book was a bestseller in Singapore, and was followed by a sequel, The Teenage Workbook, in 1989. The books followed the life of a female student named Mui Ee, studying at the fictitious Paya Lebar Junior College in Singapore. The two books sold over 50,000 copies. Tan wrote the books while he was an undergraduate law student at the National University of Singapore.

In 1998, The Teenage Textbook was made into a film (The Teenage Textbook Movie) staring Melody Chen and Caleb Goh, which topped the box office in Singapore for four weeks. It was also made into a stage play by The Necessary Stage, staring Hossan Leong and Mark Richmond."

The Teenage Textbook Movie Trailer

With much of my secondary school days taken up by The Stories of Johnny Casanova and The Diaries of Adrian Mole, The Teenage Textbook was probably the closest to my loving of local literature. It was something of a cult hit to me, and I loved, still love, it so.

Previous Source: Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adrian_Mole

Visit SINEMA.SG
http://www.sinema.sg/2006/12/28/review-the-teenage-textbook/ for details.

As for Be With Me, its another local film I love, and its soundtrack I'm trying so hard to get. Kevin Mathews, who worked on both the BWM and lately, My Magic OST, will be performing with The Groovy People this Saturday at Timbre Substation. Event's from 6pm till 2am. For more details, check out Rock The Sub at TIMBRE ONLINE http://www.timbre.com.sg/music/index.htm. I am definitely going, and perhaps you should too. (:

Anyway. This is what happened in office today:

(Yanchoo and I were sitting around her cubicle, reading i-Weekly)
(All dialogue in Mandarin, but I'm just too mother lazy)

YC: Jeanette Aw is always acting either with Qi Yuwu or Alvin Ng! So boring! I think it's time for me to 出道!
ME: (Stunned and stares)

Yeah, so many of you might think this not funny. But mind you, Yanchoo said it with a straight face alright.

Oh yah, to complain. Shinjia hit-ted me very hard today aight! Ah Lian leh!

2008-05-31T00:40:00.003+08:00

thirtiethmaytwothousandandeight,
the world was weighted with invisible baggage.

i remembered a time, where there was probably more joy in my soul. when i couldn't comprehend why some would choose the lesser sadness over the greater good of happyness. it is perhaps, akin to the age-old topic of those who are cynics, and those who are in bubbles. and i decided, that both would never see eye to eye. we can only wait, for the cynics to be occasionally moved, and those in bubbles to have theirs, rather painfully, bursted.

three years of architectural education, and my love affair with the nus school of architecture is officially over. i find it increasingly difficult to love someone who hurts me so. because, i dare admit. i am a fucking lousy architecture student and a freak offspring of singapore's straight-laced education system. and like the other five million people out there, i simply don't know how to lead my life. because there is what you aspire to be, what you want to be, what you can be, and the shit that you're left with.

i am not complaining.

but two weeks into internship and i'm beginning to comprehend.

i am a bona-fide cynic. i do not believe in true love, forever and pure intentions. i believe that if something doesn't work you should just throw it away, if a relationship doesn't work you should probably let it go. i believe the world consists of great pretenders, and some just do a better job than others.

so the prescription for my failing soul would probably read: six months of vacation from your present world, a large dose of ignorance, and a deep black hole for emotional baggage. to be consumed when necessary.

2008-05-28T22:50:00.005+08:00

Hello World,

I took leave today, because yesterday was just too borreen. No prize guessing how I utilised my time as the GSS is currently on. After going through fivehundredmillionsketchuptipsandtricks yesterday (www.sketchucation.com), Yanchoo kindly suggested I looked at Photoshop tutorials (http://photoshoptutorials.ws), which I did.

And ta da da da dadadadadadadadadadada da!

I learnt this:

How to go from this:

To this:

And finally, this:

It's known as "MakingYourPhotoLookLikeAMatrixCircuitBoardWithBlings".

Nah.

It's just called "Circuit Boards".

Hello Shinjia, a circuit board looks something like that.

Okay. I will neh neh use this to zhng my panel next sem, even if I my project is a bicycleshelterusingrecycledmaterialsforthepoor.

2008-05-27T14:55:00.002+08:00

I am bored out of my motherpunymind.

I haven't done anything in the past five and a half hours because my colleague took leave and left me stranded with a pile of ginormous nothing.

I'm decaying into mush.

Funny, how the whole world of sites is blocked but I can still blog.

Maybe it'll be blocked tomorrow.

2008-05-18T23:42:00.002+08:00

Thanks to YanChoo, I'm currently digging the tunes of The Bird and The Bee. And stumbled upon this superb, and dare I say, absolutely mindblowing video that you should definitely see.

It's fking amazing. Mac rocks. I'm sure it wouldn't look the same on Windows, aight?

'Been on a movie marathon that's threatening to rot my brains.

1. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber on Fleet Street
2. The Three Kingdoms
3. Jiang Shan Mei Ren
4. I Am Legend
5. Doom
6. Ghost Rider
7. Resident Evil: Extinction
8. Hairspray
9. The Golden Compass

I watched them all in 4 days.

And I must say, out of these nine movies, my worst experience would have been contestant number three. The film should never have seen the light of day. All Kelly Chen did was frown. And frown.

And.

Frown.

2008-05-10T00:57:00.004+08:00

Maybe, Tomorrow.

真是烦。

Dear World,

Surbana has internship positions available. Please let me know if you're interested.

哎，干。

2008-05-07T21:55:00.002+08:00

I bought a new pair of shoes today! (:

And the newest issue of CATALOG is an absolute blast. Look at what I've got:

Now, if only it comes with a freely real concealer.

2008-04-30T01:43:00.002+08:00

Hello World,

I watched the Forbidden Kingdom today. It was hilarious.

Master A: Form is formless, sound is soundless. Hear the soundless. Be soft like water. It is soft but breaks down rocks. It flows around its opponents.
.
.
.
Boy: What if I don't make it?
Master B: Don't forget to breathe.
.
.
.
Deity: You have entered through the Gate of No Gate.
.
.
.
Master A: How can you learn Kung-fu if you are already a full cup? Empty your cup!
(And this is roughly, say, 30% of the pseudozenmasterriddlewordwithinword dialogue that was the movie.)
.
.
.
Girl A: I will kill you, you wretch!
Girl B: .... Orphan bitch!
(It is weird, when you see two beautiful ladies in period costumes, fighting with bare fists, jade hairpins, in praying mantis stance and tiger claws and calling each other... bitch. That is kinda. Highschool?)

And a certain Miss just giggled through the whole movie. But still. I'm sure it would have entertained me more compared to The Other Boring, I mean, Boleyn, Girl.

Oh yeah. Before I go.

Dear Almighty,

Please give me five million moolahs. Or a holiday job. Please.

Regards,
Shoe.

2008-04-27T13:55:00.003+08:00

親愛的上天 (or whoever is listening),

讓我到中國去放逐吧。

Love,
你最忠誠的supporter.
(Or whoever I am)

hello dawn, I just can't tagg on your tagg board, so that's as good as having none. ):
but anyway, my hlm version comes with a motherload of explanationssss, so I'm sure you can finish it.
Haha.

2008-04-23T23:20:00.005+08:00

Sentimental Kills.

长长的路的尽头是一片满是星星的夜空，这一趟华丽的冒险没有真实的你陪我走。

因为，所以，没有，结果。

1. Huilian

塞翁失马焉知非福

战国时期有一位老人，名叫塞翁。他养了许多马，一天马群中忽然有一匹走失了。邻居们听到这事，都来安慰他不必太着急，年龄大了，多注意身体。塞翁见有人劝慰，笑笑说：“丢了一匹马损失不大，没准还会带来福气。”

邻居听了塞翁的话，心里觉得好笑。马丢了，明明是件坏事，他却认为也许是好事，显然是自我安慰而已。可是过了没几天，丢马不仅自动回家，还带回一匹骏马。
　　
邻居听说马自己回来了，非常佩服塞翁的预见，向塞翁道贺说：“还是您老有远见，马不仅没有丢，还带回一匹好马，真是福气呀。”
　　
塞翁听了邻人的祝贺，反到一点高兴的样子都没有，忧虑地说：“白白得了一匹好马，不一定是什么福气，也许惹出什么麻烦来。”
　　
邻居们以为他故作姿态纯属老年人的狡猾。心里明明高兴，有意不说出来。

塞翁有个独生子，非常喜欢骑马。他发现带回来的那匹马顾盼生姿，身长蹄大，嘶鸣嘹亮，膘悍神骏，一看就知道是匹好马。他每天都骑马出游，心中洋洋得意。
　　
一天，他高兴得有些过火，打马飞奔，一个趔趄，从马背上跌下来，摔断了腿。邻居听说，纷纷来慰问。
　　
塞翁说：“没什么，腿摔断了却保住性命，或许是福气呢。”邻居们觉得他又在胡言乱语。他们想不出，摔断腿会带来什么福气。
　　
不久，匈奴兵大举入侵，青年人被应征入伍，塞翁的儿子因为摔断了腿，不能去当兵。入伍的青年都战死了，唯有塞翁的儿子保全了性命。

2. Dawn

红楼梦 (原文)

第一回甄士隐梦幻识通灵贾雨村风尘怀闺秀

此开卷第一回也.作者自云:因曾历过一番梦幻之后,故将真事隐去,而借"通灵"之说,撰此石头记一书也.故曰"甄士隐"云云.但书中所记何事何人?自又云:"今风尘碌碌,一事无成,忽念及当日所有之女子,一一细考较去,觉其行止见识,皆出于我之上.何我堂堂须眉,诚不若彼裙钗哉?实愧则有余,悔又无益之大无可如何之日也!当此,则自欲将已往所赖天恩祖德,锦衣纨之时,饫甘餍肥之日,背父兄教育之恩,负师友规谈之德,以至今日一技无成,半生潦倒之罪,编述一集,以告天下人:我之罪固不免,然闺阁中本自历历有人,万不可因我之不肖,自护己短,一并使其泯灭也.虽今日之茅椽蓬牖,瓦灶绳床,其晨夕风露,阶柳庭花,亦未有妨我之襟怀笔墨者.虽我未学,下笔无文,又何妨用假语村言,敷演出一段故事来,亦可使闺阁昭传,复可悦世之目,破人愁闷,不亦宜乎?"故曰" 贾雨村"云云.

The complete novel is available for reading at:

http://www.ndcnc.gov.cn/libpage/whtj/wenxue/datalib/2004/Literature/SHL-DL/SHL-DL-5310

3. 陈绮贞

我想没多少女生，可以身穿长裙，手持吉他，那么坦荡又甜美的唱着引人沉醉又迷恋的歌曲。

Photos courtesy of Flickr: The Cheer Chen 陈绮贞 (Pool)

她
真的很酷。

4. 五月天

2008-04-21T23:51:00.002+08:00

A問: Why me?
B說: Why not?

With birth, comes death.

一日熱情的喧嘩，只會讓黑夜顯得更加殘忍。
而 compartmentalisation，
像一只麻醉針。
宿醉時，
會更痛苦。

因為我不懂，所以你更不可能懂不可能懂不可能懂不可能懂不可能懂不懂不懂不懂不懂不懂不懂懂懂懂懂懂。

很多事，都不對。

而在這種時候，我只想冷靜的跟這個世界說聲：Fk.

2008-04-20T16:47:00.002+08:00

1. Happy Birthday Co. Sorry I didn't write you a rhyme. Because despite a night of endless thinking, I just can't rhyme old, hole, stole, cold, fold, low, doe, show, mold, bowl, foe, toe and make them into a meaningful (and pleasing) poem. But you know I love you, lah.

2. Submission is finally over. Woohoo. Okay. Yeah. But somehow I feel, we're not all that happy.

To all my friends out there who are not from Architecture, this is what I've done (and progressively sealed mah fate):

(I can hear Edith go: "Pffft! 什麼XX要做這樣久?!") But eh, it's 6 A1s okay. Bwahaha.

3. Friday was mother fun. Let's do it again, T!

4. ForyouforyouforyouB! But I'm almost certain you've seen all this from your profound knowledge of 小宇. Haha.