And so begins 2006.

56 minutes into 2006. The sky remains a strange hue of black tinged with a very vermillion red, and the wind from the fan continues to blow at the newspaper cuttings on my board.

Nothing seems to have changed, but everything has changed.

I can never believe that 2005 existed.

2005 has been a very weird year for me. From the start of the year to the end of the year, 2005 has proven to be a very absurd and surreal period. It's quite fruitful, yes, in fact I can't believe that I've finished one Shakespeare play already. Then and again, there have been regrets in this year, but nonetheless, time past is time past and I guess we can't really do anything about it, can we?

It's going to be one hour into the onslaught of 2006, and it's time I went to sleep too before I start getting ill again.

Goodnight everyone.

Bob.

I watched "Bob" two days ago and am still quite excited over it. I can't believe that Sark and Rachel can actually SHARE such chemistry - and it was really nice to see the exchange of accents! The only eerie thing was how much Rachel seemed to resemble Lauren when she was speaking in that British accent - it's no wonder Sark was utterly captivated, hahaha. And it's definitely interesting to see a reversal of roles - Sark isn't planting the bomb now; Sark's a potential victim of the bomb. The writers of this episode were clever to do that; I can't wait to see what's going to happen in the next episode (which is "Horizon", and in which Vaughn is supposed to FINALLY re-appear - I just hope it ISN'T some dream sequence - though the likeliest possibility is that it will be, since Sydney's supposed to be sent into a "hypnotic state" *sigh*) - and I wonder if "Bob" will appear again in some future episode.

It was nice of them to make Sark go freelance too - the good guys could always be either working WITH or AGAINST Sark, depending on who's employing him - and he gets really large sums of cash for it ^_^ It was definitely entertaining to see Sark declare that "this one's a freebie" - it was most probably because of Rachel! Sark is soooo definitely smitten!

Ok so squealing about some episode like a fanboy was weird.

A Bit of Showing Off.

Time for a bit of showing off. I wrote a haiku and a poem, "Little India". Here goes:

A Haiku (Poor Little Flower ...)

Poor little flower
Small and fragile in the wind
Short and sweet fragrance


Little India

Fresh smelling fruits
Wafts of exotic unknown spices
The breath of exhaust pipes
Mixed in a gaseous potpourri
Addling and confusing the senses

Piles and piles of dried chilli
The sight of the red skin makes my eyes tear
Packets and packets of henna
What is it for again – tattoo? Hair?
The Indian man smiles

Lost tourists bumble by with guidebooks in hand
Curls and curves of an alien language scrawled, printed or scribbled over
Signs, boxes, packets, papers
A sudden whiff yields curry
And the lure of roti prata

Chirp – goes the little green bird
Fortune teller grins a wide toothy smile
And explains in accented English
What my life or wife could be
All thanks to what a bird chose

I stand by the road and watch
The bustle of people around me
Black, yellow, white, red –
A confusing spectrum of colours
Seamlessly merged into one urban painting

The Blog is still here!

This is a post just to let everyone know that this blog is not dead yet. I just haven't been feeling like blogging for ages (SBUD). Currently I'm thinking up a new blog design and will continue updating once I get the new design churned out, coded, and installed.
Sorry for any inconveniences!

*maniacal laughter* BEWARE!!!

AHAHAHAHAHAHAH BEWARE!!! FOR I AM KNOWN AS THE HORROR AMONG NETIZENS AS:


AND AMONG MY PEERS AS



AHAHAHAHAHAHA AAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! *maniacal laughter echoes away into the darkness of the virtual night*

And we have some...quizzes!

I tried out a few more quizzes today and here are some of the results I got...


Angelic Evil
What type of evil being are you inside?
brought to you by Quizilla


The Sorrowful Vampire
What type of vampire are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

You scored as Verbal/Linguistic. You have highly developed auditory skills, enjoy reading and writing and telling stories, and are good at getting your point across. You learn best by saying and hearing words. People like you include poets, authors, speakers, attorneys, politicians, lecturers and teachers. Verbal/Linguistic 79% Intrapersonal 61% Musical/Rhythmic 61% Visual/Spatial 50% Interpersonal 46% Logical/Mathematical 25% Bodily/Kinesthetic 21% The Rogers Indicator of Multiple Intelligences created with QuizFarm.com

Your HARE DAEMON represents your passive,
kindhearted, and honorable nature. Though you
are occasionally shy with new people, friends
admire your unshakable tranquility, even in the
face of chaos.
What Animal Would Your Daemon Settle As?
brought to you by Quizilla



Your Evanescence song is: Haunted
You have a love/hate relationship to a person
who only seems to be pulling you down. You try
to escape him/her in order to save yourself but
he/she always seems to be there. It is like a
race and you run as fast as you can. Still, a
part of you know no other love and wants to
stay.

When all this time I've been so hollow inside
I know you're still there

What Evanescence song are you?[many outcomes + wonderful pictures]
brought to you by Quizilla

You scored as Unipolar Depression. Congraulations! You are depressed! You know just how it feels to bear all the world's burdens, and the value of a 19-hour night's sleep. And you really hate that circle-guy thing on your Zoloft pill packets. Unipolar Depression 75% Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder 33% Antisocial Personality Disorder 17% Eating Disorders 17% Borderline Personality Disorder 8% Schizophrenia 8% Which mental disorder do you have? created with QuizFarm.com

Another Artistic Venture.

I made these two "Alias" MSN display pictures some time ago:



And I made this "Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children" MSN display picture today:



As you can see, this display picture is based upon the character Sephiroth. Font used in Propaganda (if my memory doesn't fail me).

And I've also made two textures - both of which are 1024x768. Here're the thumbnails - click on them to see the original-size textures.

THE FOREST GRUNGE TEXTURE SET (1)





Ok, that's about all I have to show off for today.

Another Rare Entry.

I am finally finally posting an entry again.

It's the holidays, my exams are finally over but I still hafta go back to school. I have a lot of stuff to do, and there's the Drama Camp to prepare for.

Err wait - I need to go wash the dishes first. Be back.

Ok back. Yes, I'm washing the dishes at 11:30 in the morning.

Gah, now is not time yet for a full update. I'll publish this post anyway for post count's sake (Haha oops - I realise that offends some people. Sorry if it does!)

Woo-hoo back again~

Hi-ho, hi-ho
It's time to blog again
Let's go, let's go
Inflict readers with pain
Come see, come see
The painful reality
Don't leave, don't leave
Keep reading my blog angsty

Okay I know that was a lousy intro.

Wooh, I'm blogging again.

On the other hand I have absolutely zero idea what to blog about.

I could blog about my results. I could blog about how stuck I am in life. I could blog about how my Chinese O's are coming and I'm still not working on it. I could sound all angsty and complain about life. Or I could sound all fluffy and praise life. Or I could be raunchy and start discussing things of a more carnal nature. Or I could just sit here and slack away.

Or I could just stop this entry here.

Yeah, I think I'll do that.

"Priiiiima donnna~"

Sorry, been watching too much Phantom of the Opera.

Ok that's it.

Sorry all. I think this is just a post to let everyone know that Eden Lost is still up and kicking - no excess worries, everyone, just relax.

50th Post! Woo-hoo!

Yay everyone it's my fiftieth post! Woo-hoo! *celebrates* *cheers*

Haha ok ok.

Me exams are more or less over - WHEE!!! All that's left is O'Level Chinese on the 31st of October *dread* Must go and continue studying soon *sigh*

Well, even so, at least the school end-of-year exams are over. I'm breathing a BIG sigh of relief (yes, I know it's been five days already since I took my last EOY paper - still...) and have been celebrating and lazing around like the most professional slacker these past few days.

On the other hand, I've been trekking around and finally visited the Central Lending Library at the National Library premises yesterday. The language section was a bit disappointing, though - JRL and library@orchard seems to have much more interesting books. On the other hand there were two or three books that WERE unique to the CLL - there was this "Grammar of Modern Hebrew" that made me go "Wow!" and a book on contemporary usage of Russian (which also made me go "Wow!").

I've started work on digital graphics again. Here's a set of icons I made for an SD-1.net challenge - it features Sydney and Vaughn (darn, I think S5 has made me feel much more for S/V! Can't believe I'm turning into an S/V shipper! ARR ~o~)



Screencaps (from Episode 5x01: Prophet Five) are taken from Alias-Media and font used is "Olympus".

Oh - and not to forget a wallpaper of Vaughn that I made this morning - you can see it here. It's the first time I'm using textures and I must say, I think it looks great =]

Enjoy! Hope yer like them!

Digging the Dirt on: "Corpse Bride"

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!! The EOY exams are over! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Okay, sorry.

So - I went out to JP with Shina and Chuan Min today to watch "Corpse Bride". I must say that this show is a classic - not only is the rendering good, even the choice of colours, the themes presented in the show, the characters, everything - the movie is GOOD, no, wait, VERY, VERY GOOD.

First off I must say - contrast plays a very very heavy role in "Corpse Bride". The title itself is contrasting - we wouldn't normally associate a "corpse" with a "bride". A "corpse" is dead while a "bride" is filled with life. This oxymoronic title exemplifies the contrast so strong in the play.

The first thing that comes to mind when the movie begins is the heavy use of black, white, and bluish-grey shades in rendering the city. Set in the Victorian times, this is actually quite befitting - since in the Victorian times, much of England was bleak and many lived in destitution and utter poverty. A sweeper is shown alongside a clock, moving in unison with the pendulum of the clock. The monotony that prevails in the opening scenes suggests that the Victorian times were times of bleakness and monotony.

This bleakness of the living world stands in utter contrast with the liveliness of the world of the dead - yes, the world of the dead is a LIVELY place. It is ironic, yes, but it strengthens and emphasises the bleakness of Victorian England. Dancing skeletons and singing bones, all decked in a range of colours from red to blue - the brightness of the world of the dead stands in total opposition to the bleak, grey world of the living.

The people are in contrast as well - the parents of Victoria (the living bride) are an example. The mother is thin and tall - the father is fat and short. Only Victoria and Victor (the main protaganist) appear as being the most balanced characters in the play - human-like and with a coloured appearance, unlike the standard grey-black-or-white of the people around them.

The corpse bride Emily is an interesting character - she is dead, but continues to shed tears and even has a bed to sleep on. Indeed, the dead in the movie seem more living than the living themselves - the dead lack the monotonous and clockwork "life" of the living - instead, they live exciting lives, squeezing into bars and gulping down gallons of alcohol (albeit having the beer run down their throats and leak out of their bare ribs) whenever there's a "new arrival", cheering and singing when Emily gets married, and preparing a large, wobbly wedding cake for the newlyweds. Another contrast appears here - when the large wobbly cake is being shown, the focus then switches back to Victoria - and her puny, tiny wedding cake.

Of course, how can we forget about the beautiful ending? It was sad when Emily had to go - but having been freed by Victor's compassion, it is only right for her to go back to where she rightfully belongs. Her worries resolved and the bride-cheater-and-murderer finally dealt with - she can leave in peace. She becomes a thousand butterflies and flies up to the moon. There is an interesting point to note here - there is a slight irony that she should become butterflies. Indeed, butterflies are beautiful, but they are also short-lived - contrasting, or perhaps reflecting, the fact that she has been dead and yet living for so long.

"Corpse Bride", I can conclude, is a movie with a well-thought-out story, interesting characters, and beautifully-done movie - all I can say is, "KUDOS!" - and I definitely recommend this movie for anyone who wishes to see something sad, beautiful, moving, funny, romantic, and thought-provoking.

A Cynic's Guide to Twelfth Night.

Hi everyone, I'm getting utterly desperate. In view of my Literature end-of-year examination tomorrow I shall dedicate this blog entry SOLELY to expounding on Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night". Enjoy.

First I shall provide everyone with a nice, sweet, short version of the story, not in order of scenes. Sister and brother get caught in shipwreck; sister and brother get washed up on different shores, sister dresses up as a eunuch; sister-eunuch goes to work for Count; sister-eunuch helps Count woo a Countess; Countess falls in love with sister-eunuch; Countess hints her love by sending sister-eunuch a ring; sister laments her misfortune, reveals she loves Count;;; Brother ends up with friend on another end of island; friend offers unconditional friendship and love; Brother reciprocates and they go out together (I mean as friends, not -) -

Wait I'm getting lost. Forget the story summary.

"Twelfth Night" is definitely an interesting read, the "prithees" aside. Of course we get the occasional metaphor and allusion ('Will you hoist sail, sir?" / "No, good swabber, I am to hull here a little longer" - exchange of words between Viola and maid Maria; this is an allusion to sailing which was a popular occupation in Shakespeare's time. Viola's reference to Maria as "good swabber" could possibly be either a compliment to her being a good servant or an insult to her that she washes decks). On the other hand, the story is rife with confusion and mistaken identity, an important central theme.

Of course, "Twelfth Night" is more of a love comedy than Alias-turned-sitcom. The continual musings of Orsino on the "high fantastical nature" of love shows what a self-indulgent bastard he is - all he cares about is pitying himself about how he keeps being rejected by Olivia. And Olivia isn't a good girl either - she's just as self-indulgent as Orsino, preferring to extravagantly lament her brother's death by wearing a black veil and mourn for seven years instead of going out to get laid. Look, I know it's nice of you to mourn your brother - but aren't you taking it a bit too far? And you were such a sucker when you forgot all about mourning your brother when 'Cesario' turned up in your life.

Certainly, it is at this point that we realise that Olivia is potentially lesbian. She lusts after 'Cesario''s gentleness and youthness. What about the dashing, manly Orsino who's desperately lusting after your flesh?

You little bitch.

And you sent Cesario that ring, too. You sneaky little witch.

Well, at least you were frank later. You're forgiven.

Next character: Feste. I'm afraid you're the weakest link. Goodbye.

Why must there be a fool in EVERY Shakespeare play? They say it's probably Shakespeare attempting to write himself into his plays. Some also say that these fools prove to people that wisdom lies in folly.

Feste, you're supposed to be omnipotent, or at least nearly omnipotent. I can't believe you didn't foresee that 'Cesario' was a lady in disguise. HAHAHAHA sucker.

Next sucker on my kill list - Malvolio. You absolute, self-important, pompous, arrogant little sucker. You were tricked by the letter all because you're such a self-centred, egoistic FOOL. "M.O.A.I. [...] everyone of these letters are in my name" WHATEVER! The vowels in your name go by this order - mAlvOlIO. HELLO, wake up from your autoerotic fantasies, PLEASE!

Yellow cross-gartered stockings HAHAHAHAHA. -fool-

Ok ok, enough cynicism.

That was fun though.

Really fun.

If You're Free This Sat, Let's Go To My Church

Before I start ranting on proper, just a few things definitely worth taking note of:

(i) "ALIAS" SEASON 5 HAS STARTED IN THE US!!!
(ii) THIS IS MY 47TH POST!!! AN INSIDE JOKE WITH MY FRIENDS WHO ARE ALSO "ALIAS" FANS!!!
(iii) End-of-year exams begin officially next week. I'm dead if I don't cut down on computer time to study. Really hard.

Ok, my rant.

I was reading the newspapers this morning, and what a [non-]shock it was when I read a reader's letter to the Forum section concerning the things that people do to convert others to their religion.

This incident was specific to Christianity, which is why this post is aimed at those "Christians" who go to lengths to attempt to convert people to their religion. The main target, however, would be ALL THOSE who have ever attempted, or are attempted, or will attempt to convert others to their religion.

The reader wrote about a teacher who was trying to persuade her friend's daughter to attend church with her. The problem here was that the girl was a Buddhist and therefore the parents were unlikely to allow her to attend.

Guess what the bait was? There was going to some Christian rock concert/festival/whatnot at the church, and it would be great for the girl to go and get converted.

What is your problem, O Hippy-Converting Christians?

I have come up with a term for those Christians who attempt to convert others by using rock music, pop culture, and whatnot as a bait. These are known as the HC-Christians, or Hippy-Converting Christians.

They ask their friends who are non-Christian whether they want to attend a Christian music festival, and there, they start expounding to their friends the virtues of Christianity and begin their attempts at conversion. Then, they start making religion into a sort of pop culture, that you're cool if you're listening to CCM or Christian rock and a bozo if you're stuck with some sort of traditional hoo-doo religion.

Hogwash. Niddle-poomps. Etaoin Shrdlu.

Whatever.

Look, you picked your religion as a choice (or you were inducted into it since young) and you're sticking with it.

Let other people do the same, ok? Unless they're choosing to enter some suicidal/terrorist/violent cult encompassing daily orgies of 1,000 people sans condoms or regular baby sacrifice, let them have their freedom. Why should you care if they're Wicca, Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist, Taoist, etc. etc. ? It's not like they're here to abduct you to their worship grounds - so why should YOU do it?

Let's stop this "Spread the Good News that Jesus Saved You and You Should Go to [specifically] MY Church So You Don't Go To Hell". Instead, go "Spread the Peace of Religious Harmony" instead.

Wait, there's another type of conversion - between denominations of a religion. Yes, that means Protestants attempting to convert Catholics over and vice versa. This is even more ridiculous.

Look, you're both part of Christianity. You both share similarities and have differences, but all in all you're more or less the same thing. Stop badmouthing other denominations.

From what I hear, Catholicism suffers the most bashing from other denominations (excluding the Mormons and the Jehovah's Witnesses). Stop the Revelations comparison, ok?

We've had enough war in the world already. We don't want anymore.

Let us live in peace, ok? No more attempts at conversion, please?

And stop the pop-and-rock-music-hook-up-thing. Music isn't the only thing in religion.

In fact, it shouldn't be the starting point for religion.

Let it stop.

Please.

On hiatus again.

I'm finally getting down to posting!

I'm really sorry that some people have been experiencing server or site problems when they attempt to visit this blog - there has been a moving of files over to a new server by the server provider, hence the downtime.

I can't really post long today - I need to go off and study. Yep, that's right, other than the long hiatus before this post there's also going to be a long hiatus after this post. From the 3rd of October 2005 to the 7th of October 2005, I should be offline most of the time to study, meaning minimal or no time at all spent on the computer (I hope). Please pardon my inactivity online in this period of time, and do hope I do really well for all my exams this round and next time so that I can be allowed to spend time online =]

Well, gotta go all. Have a great time, and study hard!

From Eud's Blog.

The painful world and the painful truth. I found this on Eud's blog and the pain of it is that everything mentioned can be true, and will be probably be true if homophobia continues.

I am the girl kicked out of her home because I confided in my mother that I am a lesbian.

I am the prostitute working the streets because nobody will hire a transsexual woman.

I am the sister who holds her gay brother tight through the painful, tear-filled nights.

We are the parents who buried our daughter long before her time.

I am the man who died alone in the hospital because they would not let my partner of twenty-seven years into the room.

I am the foster child who wakes up with nightmares of being taken away from the two fathers who are the only loving family I have ever had. I wish they could adopt me.

I am one of the lucky ones, I guess. I survived the attack that left me in a coma for three weeks, and in another year I will probably be able to walk again.

I am not one of the lucky ones. I killed myself just weeks before graduating high school. It was simply too much to bear.

We are the couple who had the realtor hang up on us when she found out we wanted to rent a one-bedroom for two men.

I am the person who never knows which bathroom I should use if I want to avoid getting the management called on me.

I am the mother who is not allowed to even visit the children I bore, nursed, and raised. The court says I am an unfit mother because I now live with another woman.

I am the domestic-violence survivor who found the support system grow suddenly cold and distant when they found out my abusive partner is also a woman.

I am the domestic-violence survivor who has no support system to turn to because I am male.

I am the father who has never hugged his son because I grew up afraid to show affection to other men.

I am the home-economics teacher who always wanted to teach gym until someone told me that only lesbians do that.

I am the man who died when the paramedics stopped treating me as soon as they realized I was transsexual.

I am the person who feels guilty because I think I could be a much better person if I didn’t have to always deal with society hating me.

I am the man who stopped attending church, not because I don't believe, but because they closed their doors to my kind.

I am the person who has to hide what this world needs most, love.

Repost this if you believe homophobia is wrong.

Stop all this homophobia crap. People are suffering from famine, natural disasters, wars, bombings, and terrorism all over the world. There's enough fighting going on.

Why start more?

Reminiscence.

I just realised that I should talk about the Sec 3 Adventure Camp before I forget all about it.

Well, the camp started on the 2nd of September. Way before the camp I had been dreading it, but I managed to deal with those feelings of dread by fooling myself into believing the camp as a form of field agent pre-training (yes, the result of watching too much "Alias"). That loosened my dread a lot more and I felt a lot better. That day of the camp also happened to be my violin exam, so I didn't go to school in the morning at 0730 hrs. I'd say the exam went ok - though I had to repeat a few scales (eeps). I hope I passed.

After I came out from the exam room, my mom told me that Mr. See (my form teacher) had given her a call and told her that the class hadn't left school yet and that if I could rush there in time I could go to the Jalan Bahtera campsite with the rest of the class. That's what we did - but before that we popped over to King Albert Park's Cold Storage to get a box of Panadol just in case.

So I reached school and realised there that I wasn't supposed to bring any sweets. Luckily my class loved sweets (loved them too much in fact) and they were gone within seconds.

The bus came and everyone just bundled on. We sang and sang and sang and generally made a lot of noise on the way there (in my opinion, it was a good way of hyping ourselves up for what was coming up next).

It took about 45 minutes to an hour to get to the campsite. Jalan Bahtera's really really far away apparently and there was practically not a single living soul in sight (except for us) in a 1-km radius around the campsite. When we got to the campsite we assembled in the carpark to be directed to our respective groups.

wOOt! I was dispatched to Group Nine (actually, the grouping was done earlier, before the camp), and our group name was Kit (from "Kit-Kat" - yes, there WAS another group called "Kat", which would be our partner group). The atmosphere was kind of quiet at first since no one really knew anyone (I did know Cherrylene, and Franz too). I tried to start the ball rolling by asking everyone for comments and all that, but for some strange reason I got greeted by a haunting silence.

Eeps. So much for trying to be enthusiastic.

Luckily, things managed to loosen themselves up a bit (which proves the point that humans, when it comes to such things, are actually rather helpless, as I can attest to it). We got along more easily, and managed to keep together as a group.

Our first activity was the Challenge Rope Course. I've never seen an obstacle course at such a height before. I didn't manage to go through the CRC though since there wasn't enough time. Some of the others who did try were screaming their way up and screaming their way down.

The next was Rock Climbing. I mananged to give this a try and I must say, it's not as difficult as I expected it to be. I was expecting myself to be either stuck halfway or left suspended in mid-air, but surprise surprise - I got to the top with much ease (although getting down was a little more difficult and I ended up with a bruised knee). It was really fun but quite tiring, and I didn't go a second time.

Finally, there was Abseiling - or walking down a wall from a tall building. This activity was done from a tower about three storeys in height. This activity looked really cool (though rather slow) because it reminded me of the way the agents escaped from tall buildings (excluding Irina, who does it semi-bungee style). It looked difficult and was supposed to be very tiring (as many people told me) but when I tried it, I realised it wasn't that tiring at all. The hard part was keeping the body back and away from the wall - I had this habit of bending upwards. Keeping the body down as essential to keeping the legs on the wall. Whenever I tried, or subconsciously straightened myself up, my legs would lose their grip on the wall and I would just sail forward and swing into the wall (ouch). I mananged to get to the bottom safely and swiftly and I must say, it was really fun.

Skip skip skip all the usual stuff that goes on during a camp and we come to the next day (I didn't mention the Night Hike, did I? Right now I have no idea how to talk about it, so I'll leave it for now). Our first activity in the morning was - *shock* - the Land/Sea Expedition. Yes, the Land/Sea Expedition. I dreaded the Land Expedition because I heard from another group who had gone through it the day before that they had to go knee-deep into a mud pool. I also dreaded the Sea Expedition (which would be Kayaking) because I wasn't a good swimmer, or rather, could hardly swim at all.

The Land Expedition reminded me of an orienteering exercise - we were given clue cards with either bearings and directions or letters and numbers which represented something that could point us in the correct direction. Some examples of the clues include "Bearing: 100 degrees; Distance: 1km", "B04" (which actually referred to a bus-stop - bus-stops in Singapore have letters and numbers assigned to them, apparently), and "165 372 M.G.R." (i.e. grid reference). We were given maps to assist us in looking for these places. The bus-stop, however, wasn't marked on the map but luckily enough we were resting at a bus-stop when we were given the "B04" clue. The bus-stop we were at happened to be "B07" (or something close) and just down the road was another bus-stop saying "B06". From there we figured out that "B04" had to be somewhere down the road.

We managed to get to the third or fourth station and the trainer decided that due to time constraints we should be going straight to the mud track instead (eeps). We were like,"Oh dear!" and all that, but we followed the trainer anyway. We retraced our steps back to somewhere along the road that led out of the Jalan Bahtera campsite towards Lim Chu Kang Road. It was just a normal trail through the grass at first, but we eventually got to a point where the mud levels started to increase. We waited somewhere along the trail for the rest of the groups and when they arrived, moved off towards a slope which led to a wide dirt clearing. We climbed down the slope carefully, supporting each other and eventually managed to get to the bottom.

We finally got to the mud pool. The trainers joked that they were treating us to a free spa and that the mud was really good for our skin. They brought us to the mud pool (which really was knee-deep!) and I must say, it was...muddy, for the lack of a better word. Stepping into the pool our shoes sunk really fast into the loose mud and we sunk downwards as though we had stepped into quicksand.

The trainers made us sit and lie down in the mud - my EL tee was totally ruined (*sobs* - an injustice I had made towards the EDC!) and my shoes were mud-covered. Luckily I wore PE shorts and the mud didn't get into those. There were tadpoles in the mud pool, many of the others claimed, but I couldn't really see those for myself (I wouldn't want to, actually).

When we got out of the pool, we were absolutely filthy. Mud was all over my back and all over my skin. It felt weird to walk since my shoes kept squishing with muddy water. I was so glad that my shoes were made mostly out of canvas - this meant that the mud didn't stick and my shoes were quite clean within seconds of having gotten out of the mud pool.

We went for kayaking next. The buoyancy test was freaky - I couldn't maintain my balance in the water and had to grab onto poor Franz and another person next to me to keep steady. When I got onto a kayak with Franz I was wondering how I should paddle and hoping that nothing would go wrong.

It was a really sunny day - I got a tan on my legs that day. The kayak floated kind of unsteadily, bobbing up and down in the water. I couldn't really keep up with Franz' paddling, but the kayak moved quite smoothly through the water nonetheless. The feeling of the sea breeze was quite cooling.

Eeps, dad's calling me to go out. I think I'd better stop here. Next entry coming up soon!

Found this.

I'm currently listening to: "The Day You Went Away" by M2M

I found this when looking through the Unilang forum: a document describing the advantages that American English (AmE) has over British English (BrE) (Original thread can be found here).

I must firstly clarify my stand - I am neutral to the issue. Having been taught the UK system of English since young I must say that both has its merits. Some of the statements that the above document makes about UK English are debatable, such as the description of BrE's tendency to distinguish between verbs and nouns which have similar spellings and derivatives as unnecessary (e.g. to practise/practice, to license/licence, and to prophesy/prophecy - note that "licence" is now rarely seen in BrE and "license" seems to have taken on its function as well) . I don't find this statement well-founded mainly because the distinction is necessary (at least for BrE) to separate the verb from the noun. This would avoid ambiguity or confusion (there are, of course, other ways to prevent this from occurring).

As another example, the document finds the distinction between "story" and "storey" unnecessary, which again I feel is unfounded because distinguishing between one floor of a building and a fable or tale isn't something that's negligible either.

Some points presented in the document, however, are, in my opinion, reasonable. AmE remains true to the original Latin spelling of "sulfur" while BrE complicates matters and chooses to represent it as "sulphur". Another example includes "foetus", which is pseudo-Latin since the original Latin has "fetus", which would make AmE closer to the original.

I also agree with the point that AmE spelling is a lot more phonetic. Just look at BrE "favour/devour". AmE "favor" removes the confusion in pronunciation. Another such example would be BrE "organise, organisation" and AmE "organize, organization". The former spells them with an "s", which is pronounced as a "z". In the latter, however, the "z" clarifies the pronunciation and there is less ambiguity.

English, in general, is a very irregular language, especially in terms of pronunciation. This is one major flaw that would be near-impossible to solve since the irregularities are so rampant and widespread in the language - they infiltrate practically every word in the English language. I remember a very interesting example - "gheti" would be the same word, pronunciation-wise, as the word "fish" if you pronounced it with the "gh" from "rough", the first "e" from "meteor", and the "ti" from "action". *sigh*

Yep, that's how irregular English is! =]

I finally managed to fix the whole thing!

I'm like OMG and OMGing all along because I finally managed to fix the whole blog design! Yes! The text is looking right, the frames are not out of place, and the div layers are not messed up. Yes yes yes! I managed to fix everything and install a brand new layout I made in a day finally! I am so so so proud of it! My brand new Irina Derevko design!

Ok, had to boast a bit. After two failed layouts I am so glad that I finally managed to get a functional one up. Now I feel ready to post all over again.

Hey, don't forget to check out the new writing blog Raven Chase [ http://ravenchase.blogspot.com/ ]. Do remind me update it in my comments, okay? Please comment, everyone! Thanks!

It's over!

The Teachers' Day celebrations are over! One less thing to think and worry about!

Or not.

Post-mortem's next next Tuesday. Arrgh.

A lot of things happened. Things that shouldn't have. Things that weren't supposed to be.

And they went along and happened.

Darned the particles of coincidence and fate, and of the inevitable yet hidden and of the unexpected. Darn 'em, darn 'em.

Ok I shan't complain anymore.

Really sorry about this.

Yes, I'm afraid the whole blog's a bit messed up. I'm really really sorry - it turned out that my latest "Alias" layout was a complete div-layer flop and I ended up scraping up. I couldn't even write two entries having to face that layout. I replaced it with this layout I got from [ http://blogger-templates.blogspot.com/ ].

So I've been talking to Eud and telling her how I managed to get over the Adventure Camp. I've been dreading it to be frank and trying to shirk it off, but it seems we're fated to be together. I've attempted to compartmentalise my dread and even attempted to suppress and "delete" it, but apparently it persists. I've rationalised that this is going to be a test of my physical abilities and that from an occult viewpoint, the human body is nothing but matter and to test it is to understand and experience the physical side of existence - the feelings of tiredness, of hunger, of thirst, of whatsoever human physical condition is possible. This is what makes life fulfilling - to have known the physical, to have known the spiritual, to have known the aesthetic, to have known the intellectual, to have known the mental, to have known the emotional, and to have known the occult - or, to have known God.

Note that the italicised parts were taken directly from my words in the conversation with Eud. Yes, I AM trying to rationalise it but technical-ising the whole bloody process of reasoning. G-d preserve me.

And of course, there's always the thought and idea that this camp is nothing but a pre-training for being a field agent. I mean, with activities like abseiling, it could only remind you of the physically-impossible feats that the spooks do in "Alias". They were absolutely amazing, I tell you. Imagine flying around suspended from a clothesline somewhere in the urbs of Moscow. Even the red spires of Saint Petersburg pale in comparison to the sheer complexity of attaching a harness, raising a leg over the window, kicking off the side of the building, and veering with absolute precision and caution to the other side of the street.

This twists the classic joke of course: Why did the spy cross the road? He didn't cross the road, he flew across it. And of course, how many spies does it take to screw a lightbulb? Two - one to screw the lightbulb in and the other to loop the security feed.

Ok sorry, "Alias" is probably grating off me. I promise that I'll stop being obsessed with it after I finish watching Season 3.

Of course, there's always Season 4.

And Season 5's coming out in October.

MV Leaving "Alias"?!

Before I start my vent+rant, first in reply to Liwen's comment: I am NOT a book-slave, I am only one when I'm lugging the books =] Otherwise I make my books work for me, which is why I usually have to browse and browse and pick and choose when I borrow books. Also, I would borrow 16 books given the chance; I used to have four cards (one for each member of my family) and my mother even had a Premium Membership subscription, which meant I could borrow a total of 20 books - which I did, most of the time. I borrowed as much as could then, but as I grew older I grew out of borrowing children's books (which could be finished in a couple of minutes) and began to venture into the adult borrowing section. The rest is history, with the number of books being borrowed diminishing as my tastes began to grow, change, and mutate.

Anyway -

MV IS LEAVING ALIAS?!?!?!??!?! NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!

This is bad, this is bad, this is bad. News has spread the Michael Vartan is leaving Alias and will be gone after a few episodes of Season 5. NO!!!!!!! Don't let him go!!!

I just don't understand what's the point of Alias without him. I don't want Vaughn to die because of the car crash, nor do I want him to turn evil, or just disappear, or maybe melt and mutate back into a page from one of Rambaldi's manuscripts. I want him to remain as who he is, regardless of whoever he may (spoiler: Season 4 finale), I DON'T WANT HIM TO GO!!! He and Sydney form the very heart and soul of "Alias" - without him "Alias" just doesn't seem right! ARR!!!

Ok, everyone, peace out, vent+rant's done.

An Idea.

I'm in German class right now in the language lab. It's break and I only have a couple more seconds (I s'pose) to type in my ideas for an "Alias" fic.
I was reading the Vaughn speculations for Season 5 on SD-1.net. I thought it'd be really cool if Season 5 could go back to some time during SD-6, but focusing on Vaughn instead. I mean, we might learn about Vaughn's real heritage, his real birth, his real family. Ooh.
Well, if Bill Vaughn isn't a descendant of Rambaldi, why can't his mother be instead? ^_^

Another Long List of Books.

I just came back from the library. Spent about an hour there, looking through and browsing the books as though I had not a care for the rest of world. I managed to borrow a large bag of books home - lugged it back like I was a book-slave or something.

Here's a list of what I got, complete with some specifications:

==============================================

Frommer's Germany 2004: with a guide to art & architecture
Specs.: Darwin Porter & Danforth Prince; 686 pgs; Wiley Publishing, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey, 2004.

Psychology: A Very Short Introduction
Specs.: Gillian Butler & Freda McManus; 159 pgs; Oxford University Press Inc., New York, 2000.

Alpha Teach Yourself: Spanish in 24 hours, 2nd ed.
Specs.: Clark M. Zlotchew, Ph.D.; 452 pgs; Alpha Books, Indianapolis, 2004.

Hugo's French in Three Months
Specs.: Ronald Overy and Jacqueline Lecanuet; 256 pgs; Hugo's Language Books, London, 1997.

Teach Yourself: Indonesian
Specs.: Christopher Byrnes and Eva Nyimas; 288 pgs; Hodder Headline, London, 2003.

Teach Yourself: Writing a Novel and Getting Published
Specs.: Nigel Watts; 173 pgs; Hodder Headline, London, 1996.

You Can Write A Novel
Specs.: James V. Smith, Jr.; 138 pgs; Writer's Digest Books, Ohio, 1998.

The Pocket Muse: Ideas and Inspiration for Writing
Specs.: Monica Wood; no. of pgs. unknown; Writer's Digest Books, Ohio, 2002.

Twelfth Night: Contemporary Critical Essays
Specs.: edited by R.S. White; 221 pgs; Macmillan Press Ltd., Hampshire/London, 1996.

==============================================

My my, that really was a very long list of books. I reckon I should do more than just read - though frankly speaking I hardly read what I borrow =$

Ok ok, enough about my weird and unnatural reading habits. It's time for me to type out my whole Common Test time-table - they're super-important and they're just round the corner. Time to type it out so that I can remind my conscious, subconscious, super-conscious, super-super conscious...about the tests so that I can get all psyched and geared up for the tests. Time to boil all the coffee and tea and the adrenaline-inducing chemicals!!! *prepares syringes and needles*

15/8, MON - English Language (0745 - 0925), Elementary Mathematics (1030 - 1130)
16/8, TUE - Chemistry (0745 - 0845), Social Studies (0855 - 0925)
17/8, WED - Higher Chinese (0745 - 0845), History Elective (0855 - 0925)
18/8, THU - Additional Mathematics (0745 - 0845), Biology (0855 - 0955)
19/8, FRI - Pure Literature (0855 - 0940)

Ok, that was for my Common Test time-table (shudders). Got to remember to study *sigh*

Oh by the way, do check out I Speak Dead Languages. I started this blog to write my musings on languages and related subjects.

Well, that had better be all for this blog entry, it seems a little long =] And I've added Ass' link =]

Have fun all! ^_^

A Quick Clarification and a Lot of Ranting.

Before I continue, this is a clarification addressed to Zis:

Sorry, it must've been one of my non-sequiturs again! By "coincidental" I was referring to the occurences of the number 47 in Nature and not the occurences of the number in "Alias".

Ok, clarification done.

It's the 18th of July, one day after my school's 88th Anniversary celebrations. I s'pose I did okay for the Heritage Walk section - I even got on TV! *claps*

Erm - yeah - I know I was blocked. Whatever.

So this morning school only lasted for like, two hours. We watched a dance depicting the interaction between the different races in Singapore and a performance by the Necessary Stage titled "What's the Difference?". After we were dismissed I kinda felt quite lost because all around in the canteen were unfamiliar people. Mom and Dad were at work and I had finished watching the finale of Alias S2 the day before, so I didn't know what else I could do. I ended up tagging along with Yihui to KFC and I had a Shrooms burger meal (frankly, I have zero idea what else I can eat in KFC). After finishing "lunch" (the burger was so TINY!) I just strolled around Clementi, browsing through the books in the Clementi Bookstore (which sold all sorts of expensive university textbook for subjects like mathematics, chemistry, biology, physics and computer science) and finally going to Big Bookshop to see what books they had there.

I was looking at some secondary school textbooks when suddenly I saw Amanda strolling around. Apparently everyone was there - from Pinky to June to Shida.

A while later, I was in the library with C. Yiting, C. H. M., T. H. M. and Pinky. I found Alias: Skin Deep at last!

I loitered in the library for almost two hours, browsing, borrowing, dumping, and generally tormenting the poor books. Finally I managed to get my hands on quite a number of books.

Well here I am at 1836 hrs tapping away at my computer, writing a blog entry.

I've still got loads to do. *sigh*

The Mystery of 47.

"Scientists and mathematicians have not hesitated to take special note of those occasions when the number 47 arises from nature itself. The claims include these: It takes 47 divisions of one cell to produce the number of cells in the human body. There are 50,847,478 prime numbers less than one billion. The element with the highest conductivity is silver, whose atomic number is 47. A pint is 0.47 liters. The Pythagorean Theorem is Proposition 47 of Euclid's Elements. The tropics of Cancer and Capricorn are located 47 degrees apart."

-Excerpted from [ http://www.pomona.edu/Magazine/pcmfl00/1.shtml ]

I might have simply been watching too much "Alias", but the mystery of the number 47 (which appears countless times in the show) is too overt to be ignored. The examples given in the paragraph above are too coincidental - one might even be led to believe the world is designed under the number. Of course, there are other numbers which play bigger roles (like PHI, for example) but a totally unfamiliar number like 47 being special is too much to ignore.

I also read that Caesar uttered the famous phrase "Veni, vidi, vici" in 47 B.C. 47 is a very special prime numbers because a) It is the 15th prime number; b) It is supersingular (not sure what that means - check Wikipedia.com) and c) It is also a safe prime (meaning it is made from the formula 2p+1, where p is another prime number. Safe primes are used in safer encryptions).

Am working hard to find 47 in my everyday life. I'll post any spottings I might get =]

I'm in School.

It's already the second day since school reopened. Here I am, at 1735 hrs, sitting in school and tapping away at a school computer.

Mr Chiu just asked me what day today was. I confirmed that it's Tuesday.

Tuesday. Already.

Sorry, SRB (School Reopening Blues) is still setting in on me.

I'm still in school at this time because of the 88th Anniversary Dinner rehearsals. I've already had my rehearsal just now so for now I'm just sitting in the Media Hub and wondering if I should go home yet.

The GO, apparently, has turned off the air-conditioning supply in the Media Hub. Poor us have to rely on a fan, apparently.

Mr Chiu asked me today about the National Interschool Blogging Competition. I've already registered and confirmed an account and a personal blog on Campus MoBlog, but the competition is for a group and I've currently managed to rope only Pheng Heong in so far. Hopefully I'll be able to get more people to join.

I've named the group the Ouroboros Circle, the "Circle" part courtesy of Pheng Heong. Thanx!

Please, I need more people to join...

Frankly, I'm actually still deliberating if I should join the competition or not =P

Eeps.

Hmm, 1740 hrs. I think I'd better go.

Wow, I took 5 minutes to write this short entry. I wonder how I'll do for a half-hour write-a-thon =]

Imperial March.

That's it, all. It's 2352 hrs, 26th of June, Sunday. The clock is ticking and eight minutes later the Period of Great Bliss (TM) ends.

School reopens tomorrow.

*hears Imperial March playing continuously in background*

Ok ok, enough of the dreading.

Well, the first thing I want to do in this entry is to first apologise to Zis and Zil for being such an ass on Saturday. I want to say sorry for being such a total nickass - sorry 'bout my pestering on the Chinese songlist! I seriously don't know what went wrong on Saturday with me - perhaps stress was setting in on me or I simply was being an ass.

And Zis - that day I freaked out when you said "Oi!". I guess you didn't mean it (or can remember it) - nonetheless if I was an ass on Saturday I really HAVE to say sorry.

Erm, next, sorry Nic! Didn't know you were almost alone at West Coast Park. I thought that Council had enough members to be there, but apparently most of us were in school anyway. I thought MAD was really low on member-count, so that's why I popped up in school instead. Sorry!

Phew, that was better. Getting all that out of my system. I've been feeling guilty since.

Ok, so school reopens tomorrow, and I'm really freaked out because I haven't gotten Kai Shuin to send me ANYTHING yet. I hope the project isn't due yet, and I seriously hope Kai Shuin won't murder me. Another apology to dish out! I seriously think I've outdone myself in terms of being an idiot and ignoring his message (yes, I did receive Kai Shuin's message about the Chinese project) is simply the worst I can do. I need to go to school to apologise and hope he forgives me.

Well, the stress is getting on me and I must be freaking out real bad. Only two more minutes left, and freedom flies away and works gets its steel and titanium shackles on me again.

So much for holidays. Bye, June, and welcome, school!

(Hope I'll see the holidays again soon. September calls!)

Oops!

Oh dear, my apologies to Clarissa and Leru. My observational skills are getting from bad to worse - I should've realised that the two of you are in 1/6 =]
And seriously - I'm still shocked that my blog got found at all =]
Ok, so anyway, it's already 0016hrs of the 21st of June, Tuesday, and I'm still tapping away at my computer. I have Maths tuition tomorrow morning and here I am wasting away precious time for my beauty sleep.
Well, I've been reading largely about crytography and I think it's all been very interesting. I still have to get my terms right (crytography/cryptology/cryptanalysis/etc.).
And I'm still trying to learn CangJie. Too bad my keyboard doesn't show CangJie characters.
I watched quite a lot of Alias episodes today. Around four I think. I've gone so mad about it.
*obsessed about Alias*
Erm, sorry if I'm typing very little today. I'm quite tired *sigh*

I am wondering.

I am wondering - how did Clare and Leru (I presume they are my juniors in council) find their way to my blog? I'm really wondering because I didn't distribute my URL to anyone. I may have written it somewhere, but I don't really think that's where they got the URL from.

Be careful with my URL, people. My blog bites, and when I say "bite", I mean it. You will get infected with boredom reading my blog and suffer from it. You will start see the words on the page swim in front of your very eyes and you might start to feel very VERY tired. Or the Mona Lisa on the page might start winking at you and making faces.

Beware.

Ok, I've done the psychological programming to keep people from distributing my blog URL.

I can almost imagine:
A: Hey, I can give you Edan's blog URL if you
B: Ok, but can I
A: I might consider, but you must spread his URL to other people.
B: Ok, I'll do it. But can I still
A: No, only if you
B: Hey!
A: What?
B: You -
*biff boff bash*

Ooh. o_O

Ok, enough of this hocus-pocus. On to the blog proper.

So anyway, I'm still in HK, but I'll be leaving two days later. *sigh*

I bought a lot of stuff. I'll talk about them later.

Still though, I haven't gotten any of the stuff on my wishlist. I really want the iPod mini, but I'm still three-digits away from what I need to get it. It'll take at least two months *sigh*

Yes, the second sigh in this blog entry.

I'm trying to get myself active again in fandoms, but apparently I can't stay interested long enough. Star Wars has been okay, and I've been looking around in the forums on TheForce.Net, but for som reason I wasn't able to access it yesterday. Then, I'm currently trying to write an Alias fanfic, and I even managed to get Jalyn to beta the first five pages (or, the only five pages) I managed to write. I'm a bit stuck, however, and I really want to continue writing. And then, I started participating in an activity on the Lord of the Rings Plaza (a paraphrase-a-paragraph-from-Tolkien's-writings sort of contest) but there hasn't seemed to be a reply from the contest organisers yet. I really hope to get a response soon.

And I haven't been doing anything ever since I made June my Learn Russian Month. I guess I'll have to change it to Learn Korean Month since I've been reading a lot more about Korean instead. Or maybe Huttese (yep, Star Wars ^_^).

I've also been trying to learn how to type Traditional Chinese using CangJie. It's not very easy because you have to know what writing strokes each character in CangJie represents. I guess there'll have to be some memory work involved here, don't you think?

I feel like getting back into Tarot work again. I might start an online Tarot journal soon, or even a discussion board for people to discuss about the Tarot. I might need to get a more portable deck though, maybe one that is palm-sized (literally). Those don't come cheap though, and I'm really worried about my pocket *sigh* My current Ryder-Waite deck comes across as being a little too big and bulky *sigh*

Ok ok, I've made four sighs already.

Another funny test!

I'm here to post the results of a test on finding your Star Wars twin. I think either Palpy or Chewie are my likely twins =]

Click to see my Star Wars Personality!!

Don't care.

Shit, Blogger fucked up and my last post didn't get published. Fuck blogger. I don't have the energy to repost what I wanted to post. I'll replace it some other day. In the meantime, fuck blogger.

The Day After the Media Camp

It's been a day since the Media Camp ended as I enter into the folds of the night of the 4th of June 2005. I'm listening to "What You Waiting For" by Gwen Stefani and I can hardly hear the whirring of the air-conditioner among the bass and vocals of the song...

My foot itches. It must be the moisture trapped between the toes. I must have forgotten to wipe it dry after showering. Probably during the Media Camp.

Sleep bites away at my eyes and clutches away at my joints. He sends wave after wave of sleep-sand into my eyes but I fight to keep myself awake. The music has stopped and all I hear now is the whirring of the air-conditioner and the fan.

It's time to continue blogging now. I write this as my mind dwells back to the three days of camp I had.

A sound emits from my computer and a message from Shaun flickers up on my screen.

Which leads me back to the three days of Media Camp, again.

I arrived at school on the 1st of June 2005. The morning sun didn't throw any tantrums or play any tricks and I felt pretty okay that morning. I stepped into the school building and went straight up to the third floor.

The AVA Room. Same place the camp was held last year.

I entered the room, the room cold with air-conditioning.

At this point, my memory fails me.

The rest of the camp flashes by in my pen-"sieve" of a memory - I remember meeting Zis, Ziep and Ztak and talking to them. I do recall meddling with Zis' and Ziep's laptop, tapping away at a Slavic conlang I did on the spot on Zis' laptop. Then I remember rushing off for Life Sciences Camp, which was so boring I wish I was back at Zis' laptop or sleeping. I then remember dinner in the camp, washing up during the camp, staying up during the first night till five in the morning, waking up at seven plus and then realising we had no time to do MAD Vibes, the morning exercise led by Justin (who, frankly, appeared very energetic that morning), the mission in progress that afternoon (Es' group did so many interviews - TWELVE in less than two hours - I am SO proud of my nü-er), the three-hour compiling session that night, the late nights again, me sleeping at three, me waking up at around seven to realise that I had missed the editing, me doing MAD Vibes (at LAST!) with Zil, the presentation of the articles done by the groups, and finally the closing - *sigh* - what an awful lot of events.

Yes, I slept only six hours in the total of two nights. I was supposed to have slept sixteen. Immediately when I went home from camp I washed - and the first impulse I had was to blog, surprisingly. I thought the Sandman had better things to do - i.e. make me sleep. Apparently he had other plans though, and after I blogged I made an attempt at designing a web layout - and the Sandman finally set his plans to work. I began to nod away at the computer and realised that I couldn't anymore.

So off to bed I went.

I slept for a total of sixteen hours.

Strangely enough, this afternoon I felt sleepy. *sigh* I guess I really need to sleep away the remaining three or four hours I owe.

It's already eleven though. I wonder how I'm going to pay off my sleep debt.

LCAMC (Lights! Camera! Action! Media Camp) 2005

I am shocked.

At myself.

I lasted three days with less than six hours of sleep in total.

Or five hours.

And when I reached home, first impulse after bathing wasn't to sleep.

It was to...

...blog.

Yes, I'm lame right?

Hey, blogging's cool 'k.

Oh no, I think I've been sticking around the Z-clan for a bit too long. I'm getting influenced by the likes of ZisZis and Ztak. *wiggles finger at them* Tsk tsk tsk.

Haha, ok, maybe I just miss my computer.

Wait, that couldn't be just it. I even have this impulse to...to...to...

...design a new layout.

NOO!!!!!!!!

I am shocked!

Dagh!

Ok ok, never mind about the post-camp activities first. The camp.

Standard stuff, bright Wednesday morning, reached school at around 0730 hrs, etc. etc. etc.

We had to do some last-minute preparations for the camp - churned out some things and managed to get the registration smoothly. Hope the participants from other schools didn't sense a thing. Please don't.

Then, after the usual opening address (proudly written by me! - though it's edited of course) and the opening declaration, the camp participants (NH MAD seniors aside) went off to Ngee Ann Polytechnic for workshops with their more experienced speakers to learn about the media. I had Life Sciences Camp from 1400 to 1800 though and I couldn't go *sigh*. In fact, every senior was involved in something and that morning, there were no seniors going to Ngee Ann Polytechnic at all.

Eeps.

Skip a few standard procedures each camp timetable would have (bunk allocation and so on) and we come to the planning session for the actual Mission Lights! Camera! Action!. MLCA is actually a project by the groups (made up of students from different schools) whereby each of them had to think of a topic related to teenage trends and do an article and video presentation based off questions, surveys, and interviews with people on the streets. There were two "feeding" spots - Heeren and Far East Plaza. A majority of the group went to Heeren (four groups in fact) and the rest went to Far East Plaza (two groups). As a "handler" (a term which me and ZisZis had so fandom-ly and easily labeled ourselves as - yep, it's Alias fandom) I picked and tagged along with Es' group. Their topic was on movie trends among teens and young adults. Es and Co. were a little reluctant at first to interview people - I didn't want them to take on a passive role though so out of despair I literally pushed Es towards a few girls to interview them.

Whoa, many of the girls HATED to be filmed. Low self-esteem? Bad complexion? Vampires? I don't even understand why. I guess it's the low self-esteem thing, since people who truly, deeply, and madly believe in themselves as NOT photogenic will NOT be willing to go on cam. Even those who are probably don't love themselves too much.

Sorry if I'm talking incoherently (quote Ziep). I am utterly crumbled with less than six hours of sleep in two days.

Darn, I'm beginning to complain 'bout the camp, ain't I?

No way, 'kay?

Argh, sinus. My nose is getting block'd again.

And I'm feeling sleepy already.

At 1635 hrs. *sighs and shakes head*

The Klar Wars

Hello everyone, it's me, your least favourite blogger all over again. Today's weather has been absolutely lovely because it threatened rain when I was going home clutching a large piece of vanguard, my Bag2, heaving my Bag1, and holding a plastic bag containing a packet of fish & chips. Then when I got home, it didn't rain.

Talk about nice weather.

Well, I can see the rain clouds gathering, so I'm going to stop complaining the weather.

Welcome to another issue of teen idiocy.

So anyway after I got home I IMMEDIATELY started work on my fish & chips. I really couldn't stand the idea of my fries getting soggy (trust me, it's DISGUSTING. Just look at McDonald's fries half-an-hour after they're cooked). THEN I showered (yes, I was THAT desperate) and then started completing my Maths homework. Yes I'm a good boy. Not. It's due tomorrow and it was given on Friday - LAST Friday. Eeps.

YES! WHOOPEE!

No German on Thursday!

Last week, I [kinda] survived Episode III: The Revenge of the German Teacher a.k.a The Horribly Crazy German Semester Test. I SWEAR I got something wrong. And frankly, I doubt I really caught more than 45% of the Hörverständnis. I was probably too busy figuring which German teacher the voices belonged to. Why do they HAVE to use the centre's teachers anyway? It's kind of distracting when you suddenly hear your German teacher's voice. It's kind of like hearing Darth Vader start speaking when you're listening to the radio.

Not that my German teacher wears a mask or anything.

So this week it's Episode IV: A New Hope a.k.a I Don't Have German Lessons At All. I'll have the June holidays to prepare for Episode V: The Return of the German Student (yes, that's me!) and then I'll have to undergo Episode VI: The German Teacher Strikes Back.

Das ist SO verdammt.

Edit @ 2142 hrs, 24/05/05: Whoops. ZiepZiep just pointed out that Episode V was "The Empire Strikes Back" and Episode VI "The Return of the Jedi". Stupid me. Well, just take it for face value first. Or you might like to prefer the alternate ending whereby I have to suffer Episode VI: The German Teacher Strikes Back BEFORE gloriously bringing back Episode VI: The Return of the German Student. Ok that's fixes it I hope.

Damn. Next time I make references to ANYTHING that's trademarked, I'm going to do my research.

Whoops. Does that mean I have to research myself?

*Cough cough cough*

Here I am, sitting down and listening to Gwen Stefani's "Hollaback Girl". People are probably going to start screaming how stupid Gwen Stefani is and that she should "Free the Gwenihana Girls!" I'm just going to ignore those comments and continue with my post as though nothing has happened. Yep, that's right, I'm dismissing you all who are beginning to bitch about Gwen Stefani for one simple reason - I don't care. I'm listening to their songs, it's not like I'm one of her Harajuku Girls/Boys/Ladies/Men/Teenies/Babies/Bitches/Bastards/Whatevers.
Damn, I'm having a headache. I realise I can't really write a blog entry properly listening to Gwen Stefani. I'm a little too obsessed with her songs to concentrate properly. Argh. Pardon me if I begin to sound weird because I'm just not paying attention to what I'm typing. Sorry!

Ah ok, paused the song. My brain should be a little more free to write now.

So today's a Thursday and it was supposed to be my turn for MAD Vibes duty, but it rained *sigh* And I didn't go for MAD today. I'm really really really sorry you had to do a one-man show, ZiepZiep! Owe you a favour 'k?

I'm currently drinking Yakult and tapping away at the keyboard. I managed to borrow the remaining two Alias Season 1 CDs (thanks ZisZis!) and I've finished watching three and half episodes already. I'll probably finish the remaining three and a half episodes over the next few days.

I'm terribly lost now. I wonder what I should do to find a aim for myself. I need a goal in life.

Why, of course, that could be everything and anything.

Maybe I should start learning Russian all over again. I keep forgetting once I've gotten the book *sigh*

And I need to work on Korean. Argh.

Oh and I forgot to add, I've installed a new comments sytem - Haloscan. PLEASE tag, people! Need your comments to know that everything's ok =]

Nothing Groundbreaking Yet.

Yep, nothing too ground-breaking yet, only that I've started a brand-new blog. It isn't really a blog since I'll post lyrics there. I've done my first post and it's there already. My new blog might have song reviews soon but currently I'm a little exhausted.

Oh the address. It's [ http://howlyrical.blogspot.com/ ]. Yep, I didn't host it on my server. I want to save space =] (remember, I'm hosting a few subdomains and a hostee...)

*double grin* =] =]

Raining Cats and Dogs [And Men and Women].

It's almost 7.30 in the evening and here I am blogging away. Within a kilometre radius I believe that at least 75% of the people are having dinner. I'm starving here *cries out and struggles in the Sims way*

It's a Tuesday, so there was MAD today.

Wait wait, too fast, I need to start from something earlier.

I had a Biology test today. Nutrition and digestion in mammals. Well, it was con-si-der-a-bly okay, since there weren't really any questions which made you scratch your skull. Most of the answers came off the top of my head (yes I know - SHUT UP about my hairdo). I had to use a calculator for the balanced diet question because the calculations were too...too...difficult and would be too time-consuming to do by hand.

Ok, enough about the Biology test. After recess was Elementary Maths. Oh dear, another test. This time on inequalities, number patterns, and direct and inverse proportion (I have a SERIOUS feeling that I left out something. Oh never mind, the test's over). I think...I did...okay. I don't know. My answers were rather wonky. Hmm.

So skip skip skip and I'm back to MAD. It was s'posed to be the juniors' first official debate session but some people simply couldn't be bothered to come, claiming they had something to do. Ok, so maybe they do, but could they at least confirm it personally? To a senior?
Ok, I'm going to cut the complaints. To the debate.

Well, I'd say they weren't really TOO prepared. I guess you can't blame them. I mean, for my first debate I was also stuttering away. Goodness, I still remember the stupid motion - "This house believes that photography is more efficient than painting." I was on the proposition team. Now, I really want to kick myself for not making use of the fact that I was on the proposition. At that time I didn't fully comprehend the meaning of "efficient" and all along I thought that my team was in a disadvantaged position. Now that I realise what "efficient" really denotes I realise that I had been REA-ALLY STUPID then. I STILL want to kick myself. Like in the face or something.

Whoa, how did I get so far?

Oh by the way, I borrowed a Foxtrot book from Amanda yesterday. Finished it in German class. Returned it to her today.

Wow, that makes FOUR Foxtrot comic books in THREE days. Amazing.

Ok ok, at last.

Yes yes, I know, don't complain - I KNOW I haven't posted for a long time. 8 days, yeah yeah.

Ok ok, so here I am, posting. I'm listening to Britney's "Baby One More Time" ('Sleep with me I'm not too young!' - if you don't know what I'm talking about, please reverse the song using Goldwave) and I'm currently ill. Yes that's right, I've fallen ill. I think it's because I made my poor Alain hurt himself in http://www.coldnights.net/ - oh my poor Alain. *sigh* I really love him as a character too much (Yes, I know I created him. Stop shouting "Narcissist!" or else).

Anyway I've been ill and it's been Speech Day. Yeah, Speech Day. Which means I've spent a good whole two to three weeks rehearsing for my emcee role. Yep, I'm emcee again, for the FOURTH time. Talk about being a Master of Ceremonies. I'm a Tired Master of Ceremonies, and I've made a truce with Mrs Tan not to look for me for at least the next few months. I need to catch up on my studies AND my beauty sleep. Yep, I NEED my beauty sleep.

Oh, and I need to swim more. I NEED the exercise. Talk about beauty.

Hey, guess what, it's Mother's Day, and Mom had to cook! *sigh* AND I haven't done anything for Mom yet. I feel bad. Eeps.

And guess what, I read THREE volumes of Foxtrot in TWO days. Yep, I love the dysfunctional family just a little too much. Just like I like my darling Alain *sigh* He currently lies in a hospital bed after having lost too much blood. Hope Elle hurries up with her post so he can wake up *sigh*

Oh by the way, a little bit of trivia. Did you know that "Edan", the pseudonym (yes, I know it's the umpteenth pseudonym I've had - stop shouting "Fickle idiot!" or I'll SHOW you an idiot) I use to post with in ColdNights.net is actually Celtic for 'fire'? It's a Celtic name.

And yes, I went to the library yesterday. Three volumes of Foxtrot ("Think iFruity", "Enormously Foxtrot", and one about cactus hotels - sorry, couldn't remember the full name), one Anne Rice book ("Blood and Gold" - about the vampire Marius, a Roman-senator-turned-big-bad-vampire), a book on Greek (Hugo's "Greek in Three Months", to be specific - yes, I know I've borrowed that a million times - whatever), a book on Japanese (realis'd that there were a few pages missing *sigh*) and a Chinese book on Korean (title translated would be "800 words in Korean"). Yep, that'd be one empty slot left. I returned "Enormously Foxtrot" today at the library@Orchard and borrowed a book on Irish ("Teach Yourself: Irish") and a book on Hebrew ("A Modern Israeli Hebrew Textbook"). Time to work on it, guys.

Nothing much.

Yes people, it's another post to let people know I'm still here. I can't bear to leave the blog untouched, so I thought I'd post something.

Anyway, upgrades and improvements to HoD.net are currently under way and I guess they'll be up pretty soon. In the works are four (including this blog) subdomains, each of which deals with different topics and subjects. I'll release the details or even the website soon.

New Layout.

I've got a new layout - Sfumato del Maestro. I think it's kinda ok, except that the text formatting seems to suck. Ztak and Zis deny it but I STILL think it sucks.

Ok, sorry, I'm beginning to get irritating, *sigh*

Sorry, really tired, it's already 2246 hrs and I'm exhausted. Can't really type. And I did about like, what, around 4-6 Tarot readings? Was really really taxing on my mind, got a headache. Eating solved the headache, but it came back when I did about two or so more readings after the break. Haha.

Well, be off, be well!

*Yawn* Quick Post

Yep, here's a quick post to let people know that the blog's still being updated, haha.

It's already 0009 hrs. *Yawn*

Oh, in case you guys didn't know, I've managed to install Blogger into HouseOfDreaming.Net. I'm currently still in the process of making a page to link to all the subdomains I've made for HoD.n. There'll be this blog, and there are plans for a resource site for General Literature or perhaps specifically Twelfth Night, a site for my research, and possibly a blog in ONLY Chinese or a blog in PURELY German. Hey, that's a really good idea.

*Yawn*

I think I'd better go to sleep, my eyelids are drooping.

Night all!

Haven't blogged for a while.

Yep, it's me again, and I haven't blogged for quite some time.
I managed to install the Blogger system into HouseOfDreaming.Net. I thought it cool at first, and then I learnt that archive templates were NO LONGER supported. I was like, "FUCK!" How could that be? I use IFRAMES, how the HECK am I supposed to make an archives page? Now, I have no choice except to create a list of the months with each month being linked to a weblog-style archive page.
This sux, total.
I'm not sure if I'm gonna complain anymore.
Oh by the way, I'm working on an RPG right now. Wait, should be, I'm HAVING FUN with an RPG right now; yeps.
And of course, Drama got SILVER *big grin*

New Blog, I'm Sorry :=]

Well people, I'm afraid it's another blog again. This time it's up at Blogger.

Yeah okay, I know you guys must be like, "What the HELL is wrong with you? You've got a DOMAIN NAME! What for d'you need a blog at Blogger?" Well for damn's sake, I hope you know that not every darnit webpage works like a blog! I'm sick of updating my blog manually (ok Kathy, I'm sorry I didn't listen to you, my apologies, I'm sorry I'm sorry *bows and bows*) and it's time I installed an automated system. Ok I was planning to use Wordpress but I'm practically a fool when it comes to all the tech details of the system. Ok maybe I'll figure it out but I'm a bit of a slack now so cool off, ok? *grits teeth*

Ok, so I know I'm using a Blogger standard template. I'll be making a new template soon, and once it's done I'll install it ASAP. Hope you guys won't mind 'k?

Whoa it's 2:55 PM already. I'd better go, rehearsal @ 3.00 PM. See you guys around?

Dahz, I'm Tired.

Well, I'm like totally exhausted and freaked out all, so bear with my tired tone carrying itself on and on through this entry, 'k?

So anyway there was SYF today, and we were rehearsing in the hall. I had a little hiccup here and there, otherwise I s'pose I did ok. Supposedly I was trying to actually ACT the age, though I guess it was a bit inevitable.

Well, I AM an inexperienced actor after all.

Frankly, I think I thought this was minestrone soup but I ended up in carrot soup instead. The original real deal I thought ELDDS had was stuff like debating, speech, "fun" with English and stuff. I didn't expect to end up getting so steeped in all this drama (BOTH meanings, dearie). Yep, I didn't expect to become an actor.

Well, acting has pretty much been something that's influenced me a lot. It's built up in me a passion I guess I could never find if I spent all my CCA time in secondary school having "fun" with English. Well, I know drama is a type of "fun" but you know what I'm talking about.

Acting's also demanded a lot from me that I never thought I could fulfil before. I mean, it's really pushed me to certain limits and broke through a lot of barriers within me. Plus the real life drama going on, I've gotten a total kick out of all this. I've got a total paradigm shift and I'm no longer what I used to be. D'you hear that, Henry Park? I'm no longer who I used to be. Learn it, ex-classmates! I used to be trudged on by you, treated like utter shit from you, ostracised, insulted, teased, left me out, everything negative you can possibly do. Listen up, ya little brats! I'm not who I used to be, and although I won't deny that you have left on me a mark I can never erase, I affirm my stand and I will always intentionally contradict or ignore or totally forget you idiots even existed. Go get a life, and pick on someone your own size, so you can grow bigger! Wait, your head's getting bigger already? Well, too bad!

Ok, I'll cut the crap there. I've gotten a kick out of this blog thing and I'm totally hooked.

Freaked Out and It's a Wednesday

Yep, after a long period of neglecting the blog, I'm finally posting and updating it again.

So far I haven't done a lot of changes except the layout (ok, so that's a big change), added a new link (check it out, Yiling and her friends really do graphics like pros), and struck something off my I-Want-Them List (the Naruto wristband, specifically, though I've gone and lost it).

Darn, leg cramp :=%

Ok, never mind.

So it's a Wednesday, I had SYF today, and I had gel applied on my hair so I would 50 years or so younger. Friggin' hair gel, it made my hair so friggin' thick and hard. I tried washing it off at school and my hair still felt oily, almost like I had dipped my hair in olive oil or something. I went home and shampooed my hair three times over. My poor hair. It's lost its shine and has become totally dry now. Eeks. My poor hair. I tell you, after SYF and CP I'm not ever ever ever ever ever going to let my hair come into contact with gel - ever 200X again.

Ok, enough about my hair.

Let's talk about, say, food?

Oh darn, that reminds me of the Liberty Square thingy the Secondary Ones had yesterday. Goodness, the food rawks total, 'k? Especially the laksa, the soup mee pok, the soup ji si mee, the soup macaroni (wait, nobody eats macaroni DRY, do they?), the rice, the fries, everything's nice! I remember adding lots of salt into my French fries (they only sell those on Wednesdays - must make the best use of it!) and believe me, it tastes absolutely delicious. I love salt. Remember, for those who know me, my name's YAN, remember? (For those who don't get the joke, DON'T get it. It's better to not know some things than to know them. I'm simply afraid you'll be absolutely stoned to the core when you GET the joke. GEDDIT?)

Talk about Literature class now? I printed out the whole text of The Bet by Anton Chekhov and placed it in my file. I must be mad, but something - something made me do it. Guess I need the rest of the text to understand what's even going on in the extract. Well actually I DID understand the extract and the plot a little - I simply was a little anxious to know how long and what the rest of the text looked like. It wasn't too long luckily (six pages with two columns of text on each page) and the language was pretty easy (mind you, it's translated from Russian, and I guess they tried their best to keep things simple) so (hopefully) it should be an easy read.

I realised I'm excessively using brackets and aside-comments. Hope ya don't mind 'cos I like to slip in an extra note here and there, and everywhere.

Ok ok, I'm getting draggy, enough 'bout today. Be around, and stay tuned!

Another Silly Test

Yes people, more silly tests. Enjoy. This time, it's Lovecraft - the Cthulhu Mythos.

That's right, you're the mack daddy of the Great
Old Ones and future conquerer/destroyer of
Earth. To you, raw power is what matters above
all else. When the Stars are right, You shall
rise again.

What H.P. Lovecraft Entity/Character Archetype Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

Which just about says everything [again].

Finally Blogging Again

Yes, I know, I know, that I haven't posted for a total of six or so days already.

C'mon, I'm busy ya know.

Ok, maybe not that busy.

Oops, haven't finished Maths tuition homework yet.

Better hurry and finish.

So it's been about a week (less than that) since I've gotten my braces and I'm still feeling a little miffed about them. Honestly speaking, I'm still a little uncomfortable with them on and I can't really eat a lot of food with them on. I miss all those lovely McDonald meals, chocolates, apples, rice, noodles, and other really solid food that I can't eat so far. Oh well, I hope I can eat them soon.

I feel like talking about Michael Jackson. His trial has put him in the limelight as of late and I think something needs to be made clear.

My guess is that he is now pedophilic not because he is by nature a pervert or anything too negative - instead, it is the paparazzi and the crazy screaming fans who cannot seem to control themselves that are the cause of him being a pedophile. He joined the Jackson Five at the tender age of 8 and a lot of unnecessary media attention was attracted to him as he was the youngest of the group. He did not have a proper or happy childhood because of all the pressure that he received from the various sources.

This lack of a childhood underwent a twist and transformed into pedophilia. His desire for the happiness and innocence, for the love and peace of a childhood turned into a terrible thing. Yes, this is all the fault of excessive media attention, and the crazy, screaming fans who stalk and disrupt his every chance of peace. Michael Jackson's ex-wife once commented that he, as a pop star, was not able to go to even a nearby store to buy something - he would be disturbed by swarms and swarms of his fans.

Fans, I guess you must think. Think of your idol. If you really are a fan, you should try to learn to put yourself in his or her shoes - how would you feel if swarms of strangers came over, hording around you, screaming away, and making a hoo-ha out of you? Wouldn't your life spin out of control? Think, before you act - if you really like him or her and want his or her autograph or photo, ask nicely and don't get too excited and make a total fool of both him or her and yourself.

Well, I guess that's about as much as I can type today. I'm not really sure what else I can talk about ^_^

Braces

Yo all, hallo da and I'm blogging again :=] Yeps, it's the last weekday of the March holidays which means I've only got two days to finish whatever holiday homework I need to finish i.e. everything.

I got my braces today! The poor dentist, he probably suffered a lot dealing with my ultra-sticky and duper-thick saliva. It was quite uncomfortable - I've got my braces anyway. They're black *ooh* though they make it look rather dirty - they're cool anyway, okays?

Dagh, they're still quite uncomfortable. Hmm.

Ok, nothing much to say for now. Except, I'm listening to the What're You Waiting For and Toxic Remix.

More weird tests

Well, it's going to be seven already, and it's already Thursday. This means I've got only three days left to finish whatever holiday homework I have *sigh* I still feel lazy, and I really want to get moving...I need to do a complete "renovation", of myself. Perhaps it's time I underwent a serious "operation". To change myself. For the better.

Well, more strange tests. Some of them assume that the quiz-taker's female - I post the results anyway. Well, the last two kind of say everything, haha.

---

You are 'Gregg shorthand'. Originally designed to
enable people to write faster, it is also very
useful for writing things which one does not
want other people to read, inasmuch as almost
no one knows shorthand any more. You know how important it is to do things
efficiently and on time. You also value your
privacy, and (unlike some people) you do not
pretend to be friends with just everyone; that
would be ridiculous. When you do make friends,
you take them seriously, and faithfully keep
what they confide in you to yourself.
Unfortunately, the work which you do (which is
very important, of course) sometimes keeps you
away from social activities, and you are often
lonely. Your problem is that Gregg shorthand
has been obsolete for a long time.

What obsolete skill are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

You are an earth angel! You are always doing
something good for mankind, and even when
you're not, you're thinking about how to
improve yourself and the world! You have to be
the most compassionate being ever!

Which natural angel are you? (awe-inspiring pics!)
brought to you by Quizilla

Your Hidden Power Is:
Earthly

You are sort of childish yet brave. If you get
pissed off you become a very strong fighter.
You hate seeing the earth die and you use your
special powers to save the earth from becoming
hell. You are loved by many and hated by few
but you only despise those that try and destroy
your wonderful earth.

Gem Stone:Emerald Eye Color:Lime
Green Hair Color:Brown with green on the
bottom tips and it is shoulder length flipped
out.

Quote:I tear my heart open. I sew my
self shut. My weakness is that i care to much.
And our scars remind us that the past is real.
I tear my heart open just to feel.

What Is Your True Hidden Power? .::Beautiful Anime Pics::.
brought to you by Quizilla

Your a Dark Dragon! Ok, yes, not very nice. Your
evil, spiteful, malicious, and jsu darn bad.
You like to see othrs in pain, or cause it. Im
sorry to say, but you scare me. Fly around
somewhere...err, far away.

What elemental dragon are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

you're an angel of death and destruction. you like
hurting others and chaos.

what kind of angel are you?
brought to you by Quizilla \