laughing too soon

Today, while driving back home, I laughed at the ridiculous 'election' that's going to take place soon in N. Korea and asked Mumsy "Where got country's president like that pass down to the son these days one...". She didn't take long to remind me that that's (almost) exactly what's happening right here. Now.

I just realized how camouflaging individuals in a group changes the way people looks at things.

ps. I like how my Diversity tutorials are making me read and realize things that I've more often than not overlooked in the past; for example, we're not as liberal a place as we would like to think we are and I'm having my first thoughts about privatizing this little space. 

same smile, but different

In the past where my self-esteem used to be the size of a fifty-cent coin, and all I'd wanted was to be accepted by my friends and (now ex) boyfriends, my opinions were always based on what others thought; I would smile and nod in silent agreement with whatever opinions they had about issues that we discussed. It could be about anything; people, places and actions... if my friends said the food at a particular canteen sucks (I hate using this word now and I think people should too once they're over 21), I'll avoid the said canteen as much possible, even though I haven't tried any of the food at that canteen, or even if I've given it a try and thought the food wasn't as bad as they'd made it out to be. I never gave much thought about voicing out whatever opposing views I held, because 1) I didn't want to offend by going against people, 2) I was too lazy to question, and 3) I didn't want to stick out like a sore thumb.

Then, in the not too distant past, I started to become more (so much more) opinionated compared to the past; the one described in the above paragraph. Unlike the more distant past where my friends' views were used by me as a benchmark, I started to value my personal views/opinions about things and would give my take on just about everything. I wasn't as afraid of offending, just the exact opposite; I would go all out just to make sure I get my point across, state countless reasons to validate my point. I was intent on making my friends look at things from my point of view (that must have annoyed the hell out of them), until someone said to me one day: "Different people just have different expectations and beliefs in life, it's not possible to make all of them look your way all the time."

It bugged me for a little while, I just couldn't accept people being so narrow-minded, constantly uptight or emotionally-charged in their thinking and I'd wished that they'd be more reasonable and logical sometimes. Then I realized, I was becoming just like one of these people whom I've just described; yeah right, you are so open-minded but you just can't accept diversity. Nowadays, when I have some slightly opposing views from the others, I shut up and keep them to myself unless it's absolutely necessary to voice them out (quite often still, but much better than before lah; cut me some slack please). It's just so tiring to constantly be engaged in debates (a.k.a. sometimes-mindless-squabbles) with friends over dinner, when I've had a long hard day. I can't be bothered to start or win arguments any more. And besides, sometimes it's just quite amusing to see certain people defend themselves so self-righteously, with their narrow-mindedness/up tightness/emotionally-charged thinking displayed proudly all at once - I'm sure some of you were pretty amused by me at some point in time.

This doesn't make me non-receptive to what my friends say; I still smile mostly at what most people like to say, but these days, I just don't nod my head as vigorously or as much as before.

Where has all the time gone?

Dear self,

Do not agree to any to go for any Thai disco/Timbre outings this week. You need all the time in the world to catch up on your readings.

ps. Yes, even if it means sacrificing your practically non-existent life.

For the best of your academic interests,
Me

Saturday night fever

Met up with some of the ktowy peeps on Saturday night and... here are some of the more memorable pictures of the night:

Pasta Waraku - my virgin squid-ink pasta experience at Pasta Waraku. not a pretty sight :x

Thai Disco (Ratchada): 

rl's always getting drunk when she comes drinking with us

haha looking slightly less drunk

michael what are you looking at hur hur hur.

This night, we discussed what would be a good age to marry. I said 30 and everyone replied "so old?!" almost in unison. Guess I'll just have to be an old bride when the time comes...

Old is gold

Uncle Tan is always on the lookout for thrown-away equipment; and we'd usually be super excited whenever he comes up to any one of us to say "Today I found this piece of sail/mast/boom/board/*insert any other possible part* at the dumpster..."

Some few weeks back, he managed to find me a brittle and old Naish 6.6metres sail from the dumpster. And from his wide collection of spare parts, he pulled out a boom for my sail too. We (he actually) looked around for a long-enough mast, and found a carbon one that was slightly short, even after the mast extension's been added. No matter about that though, because Uncle Tan managed to further extend the mast extension/foot and now it fits the sail to a T. Activated SK to help me with the rigging up a couple of times until the old sail couldn't take the tension any more and decided to tear right in the middle. :(

Took me quite a while to decide to send the sail for repanelling; I just couldn't decide if it's going to be a better idea to get another set of secondhand sail or should I just send the entire sail for repanelling. Decided on the latter and sent it to Uncle Richard's workshop. So, one week and $135 later, I've got a sail that "looks as good as new" (either it really looks that good or people are just trying not to break my little heart) and have also taken over SK's old raceboard. I brought both of my new, old equipment out for a test-run today and I really love what I have now (despite today's lack of wind and strong currents bleagh). Manja-ed a little in the office after telling Dennis & co. that I'll be taking over SK's board, and yeahhhh, they decided to give me a board rack and sail loft! No more constant derigging/rigging up of sails!

I've probably mentioned this like a million times but I'm still going to say it again, thank goodness for Uncle Tan (and of course everyone else who's helped me obtain my very own first set of equipment along the way)! He's been giving so much of his time and effort into helping NTU/NUS windsurfers all these time; I sure hope everyone will appreciate him for all that he's done. My board and sail may be old and from the dumpster, but they're still very usable and I guess that's what really matters. Besides, I didn't have to spend too much money in the 'repair works'; you really can't be too picky when you don't have a lot of $$ right?

I love my new old equipment, and I'll go get some funky stickers to stick onto my sail soon.

Cheers to happy surfing! <3

I love my exams schedule.

7th December - Phonetics paper
10th December - Understanding writing

Say yay!

frustrated.

Reading 438's notes makes me feel that I shouldn't be writing at all. I hate how it's making me feel; clueless about what's going on between those paragraphs, page after page. I went into class with an open mind like how our tutor had suggested. Bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, I thought I was ready to tackle whatever came my way. How wrong I was. That's the first time I'm having problems understanding what a tutor is saying; every other sentence uttered is met with a 'heh? frown' from me. I'm paying attention but I just don't find that contributing to my understanding in class. My mind remained murky like the water you'd scoop out of East Coast Park's shores, if not worse (bacteria-infested Pasir Ris Park waters *ahem*) at the end of 3 hours.

I'm starting to question myself if I really deserve this place here at university and I don't need you to tell me that's bad.

Dear self

Live, laugh and love and don't bother about the people who talk behind your back.

Out for awhile.

on the way to Sunset Grill for chicken wings on Wednesday; by far the most ulu eating place I've ever drove to.

The first week of school, it's finally over. I've had meet-ups nearly everyday since school started and they've been keeping me really busy. And tired. I need to slow things down.

how to castrate a piglet

Mumsy, Dad and I were watching <<特写>>; on telly earlier and tonight's episode featured some local housing estates in the 50-70s. In their former glorious days, vast fields of crops grew in place of the ugly concrete buildings that we have now and families lived in kampungs. People didn't depend on these places for merely residential purposes but trade activities were also carried out extensively all the time. Some old, scratchy pictures with faded corners were flashed on screen, among which was a picture of a pig farmer and his pigs.

Then, Dad asked Mumsy if her family used to rear pigs back in the old days; she said yes and the both of them started reminiscing the good old pig-rearing days. He went on to describe how little pigs were castrated before they started displaying aggressive sexual behaviour. In detail. To numb its nuts, salt/soot (okay I couldn't clearly make out what he said) and kerosene would be rubbed on them before the castration act. I hope you're not wincing too much as you're reading this (especially if you're a guy). The piglet's hind legs should be held down firmly on the ground so that they wouldn't kick around too much. Another person who is holding onto the knife will grab hold of the piglet's testicles and slice them off quickly. Loud squealing and resistance will ensue and it will be a bloody scene. Once they have been sliced off, use a thick needle to sew up the open wound. And there you have it, how to castrate a piglet.

Uggghhhhhhhhhh. 

I was wincing throughout Dad's description and I found it kinda sad that most of them had to become eunuchs by default. Only one lucky male pig of a herd will get to retain his manhood for future mating purposes. 

Anyhow, Mum had an uncle who was always doing the castration for the little piglets. Later on, his two wives gave birth to only baby girls and no boys; he blamed it on... what else but karma. Ha.

First day of the semester

I got my lecture timing mixed up and ended up 30 minutes late; thankfully the lecturer didn't seem to take it too seriously and was understanding enough. This reminds me of why I like the English lecturers (most of them anyway) so much - they are humorous, do not talk to us in condescending tones and they treat us (students) like the young/old adults we are... oh, and attendance-taking sessions are not threatening (unlike... *cough* Science last sem *cough*). Have I mentioned humorous? By humorous, I don't just mean coming up with jokes and making people laugh but the ability to also laugh at themselves.

Really happy to meet all the friends whom I've been missing during the holidays too. Glad that everyone's been well; and I was pleasantly surprised to see changes in some of their appearances, etc! Karen was really sweet to have gotten us notes even though we weren't doing the same module, and the girls..!


ps. First attempt to watch a 3D movie failed due to the cinema's technicality issues. Oh well...
pps. Need to get a suitable coin box for G to 'dong' $$ into :p

this is bad (ii) + some food pictures from penang + a rainbow cake!

I can't believe I'm having dreams of the same people time and time again. I find it annoying that it's always about the same insignificant issues in life. I suppose you guys are sick of hearing me go on about my dreams again so... no more. Zilch.

Onto some other bad-but-in-a-good-way things, I got back from Penang a day later than scheduled due to some last-minute rescheduling by Tiger Airways last night. While in Penang, my aunt's (actually all my relatives) been more than eager to bring me around the island to try the different hawker delicacies; curry mee in particular. I've been trying to control my food intake whenever I visit these days, and I think I am doing much better than before; every Penang trip is a get-fat-trip (for me, at least). Anyway, here's some of what I've been eating for the past 3 days!

hokkien mee; pulau tikus

banana pancake at pulau tikus; chewy and slightly burnt yum

sio bak and char siew at Sky Hotel along Chulia Street; big yum!

yao choi from the same place as above; choy sum boiled in water before oil/meat juices from the roasted meats are added to it and stirred. 

chendol that was not very awesome; some place opposite Komtar

not-so-awesome ais kachang; also from opposite Komtar

Oh, and I tried Nyonya food for the first time in my life on this trip too! The dishes that we ordered were mostly spicy, but I really enjoyed the meal. I wonder if the Nyonya food here in Singapore are going to be as spicy...

Oh and almost immediately after I touched down at the budget terminal and came home for a quick shower, I met up with the primary school clique to have a belated birthday dinner with Siaos! This time round, Siaos requested for the XLB Steamboat buffet at Holland Village. We were there for the third seating (10.30 pm -12.30 am if I'm not wrong), and I realized there's a price difference in all three seatings. Free-flow yummay XLBs and fresh prawns made a wonderful dinner.

Wii-ed at Carpenter Street after and we sang the birthday songs there too. Aileng made an awesome rainbow cake for her (brought it to The Icing Room for decoration though), and everyone was just so amazed by the colours and how she managed to do it so nicely. 

cake: courtesy of Aileng.

belated birthday girl with a slice of a rainbow (cake)

brilliant, brilliant colours.

Happy 22nd lub! Be happy always.

Oh... And before I end this entry, look at what I did to my wall! 

Florence - Oh the heat

(No great story to tell, just the nitty gritty bits)

After our 2 short days in Venice, we travelled southwards to Florence. Florence, was the only part of our half-Europe trip where we stayed at a backpacker's hostel. I thought we got a really good deal for the price we paid; meals are provided, free-flow drinking water (bring your own bottle), free wi-fi (just had to get the password from the receptionist), computers at the lobby with free internet access, and free walking tours! It's such a pity that we couldn't make it for the walking tours because of clashes with our schedule.

Basilica of Santa Croce

Santa Croce: dome's interior

close-up

closer-up

While in Florence (for a night), we only managed to visit some of the tourist sites that were located in closer proximity. We were only staying in Florence for a night so time was a bit of an issue for us. Apart from the Basilica of Santa Croce, we also passed by some other smaller churches and visited the bustling open-air San Lorenzo market/bazaar. The market is lined with shops hawking all sorts of leather goods (e.g. belts, satchels, jackets, boots, key chains) and interesting handmade souvenirs for the tourists to take home. After bargaining (I really suck at this) with a shop-owner for 5 minutes, I got myself a tiny leather bag... and a pair of leather sandals from another shop in the market!

The heat (32 degree Celcius when Singapore was only 28-29!) got to us and we decided to seek temporary refuge in the Macs near our hostel. Got such a wonderful surprise when I tasted the salty fries (just like ours! UK's fries are not seasoned with salt at all). Did a little more walking before we finally decided to head back to our hostel for dinner. We were going to Rome the next day.

I apologize if I've made Florence sound like a boring place, it is not... it's just that we spent a really short day here and I'm not really into all that arty farty stuff. You'd probably do a much better write-up of this place if you can name another work of Michelangelo apart from David (I'm that lousy when it comes to arty stuff). Or if you have a deeper interest in Leonardo da Vinci than I do. Other than knowing nearly nothing about art's local big names and their works, I kinda enjoyed my stay in Florence; loved the buildings that had an old-charm to them, loved the bustling streets and markets, and I loved the 'discovery' of salty fries in Italy!