Research links...
Random post... ignore... this is just so that I can find the links again when I get home. I refuse to try and print anything on our school equipment
http://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/whatis_e/inbrief_e/inbr00_e.htm
http://www.derechos.org/nizkor/doc/articulos/chossudovskye.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/wto/0,2759,180969,00.html
http://www.wdm.org.uk/campaign/WTO.htm
Jessica mumbled on Thursday, August 05, 2004.
JW has moved!
Woohoo!!! I got my new blogs back!!! ok folks... As of today, JW has officially moved to arrghigiveup.blogspot.com. So sorry for the inconvenience everyone... Sorrysorrysorry ><
Jessica mumbled on Tuesday, July 13, 2004.
Bloody template
yes, I know my template's alignment is terribly out of whack. I'll fix it some other bloody time. *huff*
Jessica mumbled on Monday, July 12, 2004.
July's Posts
Saturday, July 10, 2004
phfft
I have finally gotten round to typing up that little page for the social studies assignment of conflicts between countries. Managed to carve out a big chunk of information, cutting things down to 3/4 of a page, then cheating to fill up the space with a couple of maps. Then I realised that my dear, beloved printer had gone haywire. Again. So I had to ask Hana to print it for me. *sigh* It seems as though I forever asking you for favours >.> *guilty look*
Went to the library today... Takashimaya seemed particularly crowded; heaved a great sigh of relief when I finally reached the relative emptiness of the library; I have this strange aversion to being in crowds of people I don't know. There didn't seem to be many books about, so I started reborrowing stuff. Felt too dead to do any window shopping, so I decided to go straight home. Got seriously annoyed when some kid at the MRT station started singing out the theme song to "George of the Jungle" at the top of his voice. iiee. Stopped by at Toa Payoh central to see if they had anything interesting selling at the stalls. Turns out they had a little exhibition about some of the conflicts in Singapore's history, so I went to see that. I didn't really read everything; like I said, I was feeling kinda dead. Then I went home.
And that was my day. God I need to get myself a life.
JW mumbled on 9:38 PM.
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Friday, July 09, 2004
First Guides meeting of the semester
Yee-ep... 'tis the first guides meeting of the semester, and also Celine and bunch's first meeting in their new ranks of Patrol Leaders. I have to say, they didn't seem too confident at first, and definitely lacked organisation, but I think they'll be fine. One thing though; I think they should not push they're authority too far. Playing too much with people during footdrill could get them to hate you. Or at least, it could get me to hate you.
I stopped by Cash Converters yesterday at their new location, and I was pleasantly surprised by the number of CDs they had. Ended up buying one Kitaro one, and two with South African music. The guy at the counter looked pretty surprised at my choices ^^" I could get to like that place a lot. Provided, of course, that they actually keep the stuff sorted, which I doubt. Those things never stay properly sorted for more than a month, more's the pity.
JW mumbled on 6:10 PM.
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Wednesday, July 07, 2004
My brother's hogging the computer...
Which is why I might not be updating very much until he goes off to complete his National Service >< He's got a right, I suppose, since he bought the thing in the first place, but it's putting a serious crimp in all my roleplays. Right now, he's spending almost the entire day playing simcity4 ^^
Anyway, other than that, nothing much's happening. I've actually (wonder of wonders) been sleeping enough. I still get dizzy spells though. Been keeping somewhat up to date with my homework assignments too... ok, actually that's a blatant lie. I've still got homework left over from June. Yes, Hana, don't dig it in >< Snoopy the headache is still with me, but it's pretty mild. It only seems to crop up when I try to stare too hard at something.
Have come to the conclusion that I absolutely detest maths, both A and E (sorry Mr Ng). The fact that my brother keeps saying math is fun at every turn is not helping *sour look* He would say that; he's the one with a masters in engineering after all. Bah. I hate angles. I hate functions. I hate bloody trigonometry. I detest logarithms. There. I said it. Hah. ><
I seem to get this feeling that someone doesn't really like me. Ok, I've had that feeling since the beginning of the bloody year. >.>
Well guess what, pal: The Feeling's Bloody Mutual.
Of course, it's highly unlikely this person's reading, so heh.
Hmm. What else... Oh yes. I BURNED MY FIRST CD LAST NIGHT!!! *huggles*
All right, all right, I know this post is somewhat lacking in coherance and relevance, so sue me. I'm sleepy, demmit.
EDIT: I was doing a search yesterday for stuff about conflicts between two countries, and eventually settleD on the first and second Balkan Wars (it seemed pointless to separate them, considering the fact that one occured almost immediately after the other *rolls eyes*). Naturally, I also ended up stumbling on information about the (infamous) assassination of the Archduke of Austria-Hungary, Franz Ferdinand (Come on people, we spent a good half a year studying R.C Sherriff's "Journey's End"; we all know this.) Some of that information made me stare in disbelief at the absurdity of it all.
Apparently, our hero in this tradgedy, had already received quite a few bomb threats, and was strongly discouraged from continuing with his plan to "tour the capital on the anniversary of the 1389 battle of Kosovo." Naturally, he ignores the warnings, and continues with the visit.
Surprise surprise, along the way, a terrorist, one Nedjelko Cabrinovic (who was 19, BTW), lobbed a hand grenade at the car. Good try, but our dashing hero manages to deflect it with his arm, and he ended up unhurt. The terrorist swallows a cyanide pill and jumps into a river to kill himself. Don't get me wrong; it was a good plan, a laudable attempt. He would have been made a matyr. If not for one eensy problem. Ok, two problems. For some reason or other, the poison didn't work, and he ended up vomiting it up. Even more humiliating was the fact that his "river" was only about ankle-deep, and he was promptly fished out of said river and detained. One wonders if he had a concussion.
Anyway, back to our main character, Mr. Ferdinand. He goes on to the City Hall with his wife. After everything there is done, he says he wants to go to the hospital to visit the people who were hurt by the bomb, so he goes, accompanied by his wife, Sophie. Amazingly, his chauffeur TOOK A WRONG TURN, and came to a stop less then ten feet away from another terrorist, Mr. Gavrilo Princip, who, *gasp horror* draws a pistol and shoots the both of them. He then attempts to "kill himself first with his gun and then with cyanide. The gun was knocked from his hand, and the cyanide, as was the case with Cabrinovic, only made him retch. The throng closed in on him and roughed him up. He was, astonishingly, taken into custody alive."
Methinks perhaps the cyanide was past its expiration date.
Joking aside, the archduke's last words to his pregnant wife were incredibly touching. He said: "Sophie dear, Sophie dear, don't die. Stay alive for our children."
I have no idea if this is true, but I found it on 3 different sites, so hey. I left out quite a few details, so if you want to read more go either
Here (The boring version)
Here (The brief point-form version)
or
Here (The highly amusing but slightly dubious version)
Aii... so it was that The Great War was begun by the blundering of a bunch of kids and a chauffeur (one hopes he was fired >.>)
JW mumbled on 6:21 PM.
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Monday, July 05, 2004
I have a new computer!!!
Well well... I didn't to wait a long time after all; my brother bought a new computer. Well, actually, my brother borrowed money from my sister to buy the computer, but that's besides the point. It's so nice to have siblings who earn money ^^. What's even better, my brother managed to retrieve all my files from the old hard drive, so I still have all my nice mp3s.
I didn't get to use the bloody thing immediately though. I've never had a good impression of windows XP. I find the design stupid, the handling troublesome, the execution of tasks ultra slow, and the overall performance generally sucky. That opinion was not improved when, connecting to the internet for the first time, it was instantly hit by FOUR different viruses, our good friend Sasser among them, and one Trojan horse. Amazing. And we'd barely had the thing for more than a day. I'd always believed that it was my old, reliable, dependable Windows 98 that kept my computer virus-free, even without anti-virus software. The little buggers simply did not take notice of the lowly '98. I didn't really need to be proven right.
Because out internet connection was too slow, it took a great many tries before we managed to download the patch to get rid of Sasser and the rest, but we eventually managed it. Then came a long bloody line of troubles with the internet, where it seemed to work only on my brother's account and on no one else's. *sigh* Thankfully, all that's solved now. One thing I do like about XP is the fact that we get to have separate accounts, which means I can hoard pictures of Yue, Sai, and Legolas without anyone commenting XD
Anyway, now that I have a bloody great screen resolution, I guess I'll have to start fiddling with my layout *sigh*
Arts Fest on Saturday was fun. I helped out at reception, just had to stand at a table and invite people to write down wishes and thoughts and sign. You know, like a guestbook. I've never seen as many nuns in my entire life than I did on that day. Then again, that's not particularly surprising, considering my religion. Anyway, I stayed there until the mass started, and I was no longer needed, helped to move things around, then wandered off to enjoy the rest of the day. I changed out of my uniform and into the clothes I'd brought. It was at that point that I discovered that I was lacking in certain... supplies, and had to run all the way to Raffles City to get them. Sometimes I really hate being a female.
In any case, I got back, and started wandering through the bazaar. I got bored pretty quickly though, as the items of sale were far too expensive for my allowance, the place too crowded, and the space between the stalls too puny. So I eventually wandered off into the art exhibition, and who should I meet there, but Mrs Susanna Teo, my ex primary school teacher, and the person who is almost always in charge of backstage stuff in all the performances and arts fests in the primary school. She was in charge of this one too, and since I just happened to be wearing a black shirt (again not surprising, looking at the number of black shirts I have), I decided to help out. I even got a free Burger King lunch out of it, as well, as getting a chance to listen to the choral fest free, and watch the later performances (Note to Hana: Remember the time last year when we helped out at the Primary school Arts Fest? Remember our kids? They were there again to perform that cute Hawaiian dance. Still cute, still irritating. It took them a while to recognise me, at which point they promptly informed me that I didn't look nice with my hair cut *wince*)
That night, they showed a chinese documentary on Channel 8 on CHIJ... was kinda proud of that. It featured Miss Jo Teo, Mrs Alexander, and one other person whom I don't know. Also found out Miss Teo's chinese name, Zhang (1) Xian (1) Zhu (1). Cool, innit.
JW mumbled on 12:42 PM.
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Friday, July 02, 2004
Computers are evil
ARRRRRRRRRRRRGHHHHH!!!!!!!! ARGHARGHARGHARGHARGH!!! ARGH!
My computer has crashed!!! Evilevilevilevilevil! You have NO idea how much information I have saved on that bloody thing! Not to mention the many mp3 clips I spent days upon days of downloading. Stupid thing. It was doing fine, then it just died, leaving poor old me without a source of diversion.
Truth be told, I'm kinda sad. One gets attatched to something one has had for more than five years or so. The thing is bloody ancient, but I got to know all it's quirks, so all in all it was pretty dependable. An even better thing about it was the fact that I was using Windows 98, which meant that practically ALL the virus, be it Sasser or otherwise (which I believe Mr Ng just had a brush with) inevitably (sp) miss mine. No one bothes trying to crash a '98, so while everyone else came to school complaining of this or that virus, mine worked fine ^^ (yeah, yeah, I'm bragging). I think it crashed because my brother was trying to install too many things on its elderly CPU, which caused it to up and die. Oh well.
Sadly, since I, unlike Mr Ng, do not have a vitally important master's thesis saved on my hard disk, my parents are going to be taking their time about getting a new compute, which means I will have to stick with my dad's laptop if and when he can bring it home. ergh. Seeing my template, which was originally designd for my 800 by 600 screen resolution, on a 1024 by 764 is distinctly weird. I'd not been aware that it'd looked quite so... puny. I think that in future, I shall use percentages in my templates, instead of exact measurements in pixels ><
I also notice that my dad's laptop, which is from his office, blocks access to hotmail.com as part of Thompson's policy. *sigh* So people, if you have anything to say to me, don't bother e-mailing. Just leave a comment at the end of the post. I'll check them and get back to you.
Today was Youth's day. Or, more accurately, it was the school's Youth Day celebrations. Nothing much; and excellent mass, extended recess... Teachers singing over the muffled PA system to entertain us ^^ Somehow, Miss Yvonne Ng ALWAYS ends up being the DJ when they do this kind of thing. We had an ultra-short Chemistry lesson... played charades for the first half, then went through two questions in the ten yea series. Miss Teow is such a nice teacher ^^ I spent the day drawing various ambigrams... wish I could scan some of 'em. For those of you who don't know, an ambigram is a word written in such a way that it spells the exact same word when flipped over. So far, I consider the 'Lucian' one I did for Bern the best. 'tis a pity what she wanted me to design was 'Lucien' and not 'Lucian' e.e"
After school, I went to visit Mrs Susanna Teo (my ex-pri 2,5 & 6 teacher) at the primary school. Wanted to drop off the coffee and he son's birthday presant, both of which I'd bought while holidaying in Sabah. Michael Teo's birthday is tomorrow, if I'm not mistaken, the same day as the school's 150th Anniversary and Arts Fest. She looked pretty tired. Guess it's been hectic over at the primary end. She said she'd e-mail me one day, and Pamster Celine, and I could all drop by he house. I hope I can find the time. I want to see Andrea Teo again. That is one darn cute baby ^^
Speaking of the Arts Fest, I'll be helping out a little in the morning, then I get the rest of the day to myself. How fun =)
JW mumbled on 9:29 PM.
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Jessica mumbled on Friday, July 02, 2004.
June's posts
Monday, June 28, 2004
Do not procrastinate on homework.
I need to repeat that title to myself about fifty times a day, I think. And stop trying to pull off crazy stunts like waking at two-bloody-thirty in a (futile) attempt to finish it. But then, I never learn. Not until I'm on the verge of toppling over in school, but I forget about that in a day, too. heh ^^
Speaking of homework: Mr Ng, if you are reading this, thankyouthankyouthankyou for extending the deadline on the TYS homework. Much appreciated ^^. And sorry for irritating you.
Anywaaaay... MY BWUDDER IS COMING BACK FROM ENGLAND TOMORROW!!! *dunduNdUNDUUUUUUN*
Yep, my dear, 25-year-old bwudder has finally graduated from Sheffields with a 2nd degree masters (?) in engineering. No, don't ask me what TYPE of engineering, because I have no clue. Yey. He got a scholarship to study for a PhD, but I think he doesn't want to take it, as he will be 28 by the time he graduates, and he'll still have a few remaining months of National Service to serve out, so I think he'd rather take a job. In that respect, I'm glad to be a girl; we get more time for education ^^
I'm going to have to wipe all my bookmarks, however. I'd rather not log into one of my forums, to discover that my post count has jumped abruptly with all kinds of weird posts.
Feh... I think I'll go practise my guzheng piece. I'm starting to think I'll never get the timing right.
EDIT: Just thought I'd share a post I saw on one of the forums I frequent. It's about people who are obsessed with cutting themselves.
"WARNING
....before you make that first cut remember. You will enjoy this. You will find the blood and pain release addictive. Even though you think you can make a few tiny cuts that aren't deep and will heal easily ...they will get deeper. They will scar. They will take sometimes months to heal!!! And years for the scars to fade! IF you think you can limit the cutting to one area of your body think again...it will spread when you run out of skin. Be prepared to withdraw from others and live in a constant state of shame. Even if you are the most honest person ever to live ....you will find yourself lying to the people you love. You will jerk back from your friends when they touch you as if their hands were dipped in poison. You will be terrified that they will feel something under the cloth of your shirt or because it just plain hurts so much to be touched.
Be prepared to get so out of control you fear your next cut because you don't know how bad it will be. Just wait for 10 cuts to turn into 100....Be prepared for your entire life to revolve around thinking about cutting ..cutting and covering up cutting And just wait till that first time you cut "too deep." And you freak out because the blood won't stop...and you are gaping....and you feel yourself shaking all over. You are having a panic attack and you are terrified but you can't tell anyone. So you sit there alone...praying it will be ok swearing you'll never let it go this far again...But you will and further. Don't worry, you will learn how to take care of your cuts so that you can go deeper and deeper and avoid the ER. And the better you get at treating your cuts the deeper they get.
You will lie to yourself and justify it when you find youself spending 20 , 30 or 50 dollars every time you go the pharmacy. You will feel the flutter of your heartbeat everytime you go to the counter to ring up your order. Butterfly strips...3 or four different kinds of dressings...betadine....antibiotic cream..medical tape..scar reducers.....You will tap your foot impatiently hoping the line will just move and no one will stare at you or wonder why you need all these things. And at the same time secretly hope someone will notice...someone who is standing in line with an armful of the same supplies...someone who understands but of course that never happens.
Medical supplies won't be the only thing you spend all your money on. Be prepared to buy a new wardrobe...longsleeve shirts in summer colors, bracelets, wristbands , boots... gloves..the list goes on and on.
You will start looking at everyone in a differnent way...Scanning their bodies for any signs of Self Injury... just hoping that you might meet someone like you so you don't feel so terribly alone. You wont even think about it ..as your eyes scan their wrists arms...hoping just hoping they will be like you....But they are not. You will see their clean arms and feel terribly ashamed and alone.
You will start doing a lot of things alone. You will always have to wash your laundry in private so know one sees the blood stains on your clothes and towels. You will always be cleaning up the blood..Scrubbing your bathroom floor...wiping the blood of your keyboard....
You won't be able to make it through a day without cutting....Next thing you know you are in a public bathroom somewhere breaking open a scab with a sewing needle that you keep in your wallet for emergancies. When you get really desperate anything will be a cutting tool ...scissors...a car key...a needle ... a paperclip..even a pen. Doesn't matter what it is if you need to cut bad enough you will find something.
Say goodbye to things you took for granted. Like wearing shorts or sandals...pedicures...sleeveless tops.
A normal summer day at the beach or in a swimming pool will become a far off memory for you.
Get ready to itch. Beacuase you will itch and itch ..."so much you will look like you have fleas or a skin disease."
You will become an expert on your body as you destroy it carefully.. You will dream about cutting...you will dream about being exposed. It will haunt you day and night and take over your life. You will wish you never made that first cut because while you absolutely HATE cutting...at the same time you love it and can not live with out of it.
you have been warned....."
Take that sh*t and shove it.
Creepy, no? Believe it or not, there are a heck of a lot of people who are or used to be addicted to slashing themselves with a razor. Don't believe me? Just wait until the final year exams roll around. Then click on my links. Enter the blogging network we have. Wander around for a while. I did this during the midyears. Two out of the ten I checked had people obsessing with a penknife. The thing is, they look ever so happy on a normal basis.
Heh. My mom is currently playing Cantonese opera. Can you believe I actually like Cantonese opera? Must be the brainwashing I've received since young.
Annnyway... the song that's currently playing is "tong bat fu hei cao heung", which is absolutely hilarious. The story isn't particularly original; in fact, it's absolutely clished (as are most operas). It's one of the few comedic operas, where this guy (tong bat fu) falls in love with a girl (cao heung, or in mandarin, qiu xiang), who absolutely detests him. When he tries to woo her, she snubs him, when he follows her home, she ignores him, when he sits on a boat in the pond directly below her window, she throws the water she washed her feet in at him, and when he asks her to give him a nickname, she gives him one that roughly translates into "excretion" ^^.
The song is one where this despo has followed his crush into a temple, and is irritating her no end by repeatedly asking her to 'give him a chance', as we like to say. The girl, naturally, does not care for the idea, calling him thick-skinned, and telling him (literally) to go to hell, among others. Like I said, it is no where near original, but seriously, you've got to listen to the lyrics. The language used, and the insults the girl throws at this poor guy is a laugh.
JW mumbled on 3:23 PM.
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Sunday, June 27, 2004
gah
Got yet another headache... this one has been with me for three days running already, since Friday, which was one of the reasons why I didn't go to the class BBQ, me pardonner.Taking a short break from my frenzy to finish that great big pile of homework. Should've done it sooner, of course, but you know me.
Guzheng class today was ok-ish; got my first two-page piece. The timing is hell to nail down. I hate it when there are two few people in class. The teacher will keep walking around, then stop next to me, and watch. That, of course, has the inevitable effect of causing me to forget every note I've ever played. Feh.
Am having a nice philosophical discussion very similar to the one I let Tulip see last time (you know; the one which goes "What if a murderer threatened to set off a bomb that would kill 10 000 people unless you kill a random person off the streets?") As usual, we are getting all those wise-ass answers like: "try to kill the guy" *sigh*.
JW mumbled on 12:03 PM.
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Wednesday, June 23, 2004
erp
My neighbour just called to ask me to check on her sick dad, as all attempts to call/SMS/contact him have failed. I went up, but no one answered the door. I do hope he's ok.
Anyway, have just come back from the library. I must say, the selection of books on ancient history in the Orchard library is pathetic. Nevertheless, I did borrow one book on the Celts, and a couple of others on Buddhism.
That kind of reminds me of the time a few years ago when I was waiting around in Toa Payoh Central for my mom, and this Christian group giving out flyers for something of other came up to me and passed me a flyer. Seeing as I was still a cute-looking li'l innocent back then (XD), they asked me which school I came from. So I told 'em the truth, which was C.H.I.J primary, a Catholic school. The woman instantly went into full-blown preacher mode, telling me the reasons why I ought to worship god directly, and not through Mary. I seriously wanted to laugh. By the time I could get control over myself, she was so into the subject that I didn't have the heart to inform her that I was Buddhist, and that I really couldn't care less. She eventually rounded off by stuffing more pamphlets into my hands as I ran off to meet my mom as she drove up. People can be so laughably serious sometimes.
Sigh... Just watched the news... Said the Korean hostage has been killed. Was expecting it, but...
Currently Listening: Storms in Africa, by enya (the Irish Gaelic version. I think the English one is a bit weird, and more than a little noisy ><)
Edit:
P.S Ahaaaaaa... After I began looking through past posts, I finally realised that Mr Ng left a comment on one of them ages ago, the one where I was rambling about dining room lights falling and Nero and his "house" >< (mental note: get yourself a darn tagboard) Have also noted that the 3/4 blog has my link leading to here as well. Hahaaaaa, see Hana, I told you people would find it eventually, and that they would be people I know XD
P.S.S Hana... Assuming you read this post after you get back from London (it was London, right? *memory shortage*), Watase Yuu has finally gotten book 2 of Fushigi Yuugi Genbu Kaiden done... I saw the Japanese version while digging through fantasy books and mangas at Kinokuniya. I hope Chuang Yi doesn't take too long with the translation *sigh*
JW mumbled on 5:49 PM.
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The Da Vinci code
Yeah yeah, ages after everyone else has read it, I finally follow the crowd. Can't blame me, I was trying to get through Angels and Demons by the same guy. Anyway, I have finally round to reading the Da Vinci Code, by Dan Brown, and to all those who have not read it: It's brilliant. I stayed up till 3 to finish it, which is the reason why I didn't wake up early to do homework; even I'm not as stupid as to try to survive on one hour's sleep.
Actually, I didn't really finish the book per se. I cheated by jumping to the bits I was actually interested in: The symbology bits. Dan Brown is a master at weaving true facts and details into his story, and since his main character is a historian, you really get a lot of information out of it. Of course, I think the Mary Magdalene theory is still unproven, but I was really more concerned with how the symbols worked, which was damn cool. I have now decided what course I intend to take up when I enter junior collage and university.
Another thing about that book was the way Brown kind of challenged Christianity. It started with his first book, AnD, where the main character, Robert Langdon, was conducting a class, and proved that practically none of the rituals in Christianity or any of the other major modern religions was original. That was taken far further in tDVC. Da Vinci's The Last Supper has now become by favourite painting of all time. If you want to see it, go here. The paragraphs below the picture, touting the painting as "an ideal pictorial representation of the most important event in the Christian doctrine of salvation" almost makes me want to laugh out loud. You'll have to read the book to find out why. The irony is just rich. In case you can't really figure out what's in that picture (which would not be surprising, considering how much deterioration that painting has undergone), here's another link. This one is a copy made by some other artist. The site also provides a hint of the controversy Brown proposes in his book.
That makes me think. I never really realised just how little I know about my own religion. Oh, I know the basic philosophy behind it, but nothing more. High time I did something about that, I think. Then maybe, just for kicks, I'll look and see what Buddhism borrowed from other religions.
Sorry if I'm not being coherant. I'm feeling kind of groggy at the moment.
Currently Listening: Stormcry, by David Attenbourgh
Edit: Those who have read the book, you might want to go here. 'tis cool ^^
JW mumbled on 12:31 PM.
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Tuesday, June 22, 2004
I wanna die
Woke up at three-freaking-thirty to do homework. Finished both my Chemistry papers, and one and a half chapters of A-Maths, go me. Nearly got caught by my dad, who was watching the bloody UEFA match. What he's doing sleeping that late on a working day I don't know. Men seem to lose all vestiges of common sense whenever they hear the word "football". I feel like grabbing onto him and saying "We have a damn VCR. Use it."
Anyway, I didn't get caught; have had plenty of practise; been doing this since a month before the exams. Ventured out of my room at 7.30 to grab a dumpling for breakfast. Usually I don't eat nearly that much for breakfast, but hell, since it's dumpling festival and all. Had a cup of thin coffee to go with it; we have run out of freaking coffee. Went back to work, left the house at 8.45 to go meet Kelynn and Zoe for the bloody filming project at Bishan Home for the Intellectually Disabled; rest of the group wren't free. Filmed a nice little puppet show; got grabbed twice by one of the residents while doing so. Can see little finger-shaped bruises showing; am not sure they make very good adornments. Waved bye to a couple more of the residents, left. Had to bring the freaking camera home with me; shoulders nearly dropped off carrying the stupid thing. Got home, had an asthma attack. I need to either A) Stop hanging around dusty bookshops, or B) Stop drinking so much apple juice. After the attack came a fucking headache. Still have it, am thinking of naming it Snoopy.
I'll forego my swim today, I think, in favour of a short nap. I've bloody earned it.
Currently Listening: Orinoco Flow, by enya
JW mumbled on 2:23 PM.
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Monday, June 21, 2004
heh
k, back from lunch... I've just watched the news, and apparently, our friend terrorists over in Iraq have sent yet another video threatening to behead a Korean hostage unless the decision to send more troops into the country is revoked or something (apologies... my grasp of mandarin is somewhat dismal). I... dunno HOW I feel about that... Quite obviously, they cannot afford to call off the bloody war, but well... This is why I hate war. Do you know, in the clip, the hostage was babbling away in english, begging frantically to not let him die?
It's kind of weird. Mostly, we tend to read the news, watch television, see these kinds of things... Then shake our heads, tsk a bit, and go back to worrying about our more immediate concerns (such as unfinished homework). There's nothing else we can do, really. And that kind of pisses me off. To know that while I'm frantically trying to figure out what in hell "isoelectronic" is supposed to mean, someone could be getting his head sawed off.
Meh. Morbid thoughts, I know. I wonder how the Baghdad Blogger Salam Pax feels about all this. The guy's been on hiatus since Apil the tenth. Don't even know if he's still alive >.>
Currently listening: Evacuee, by Enya. (Gods, the coincidence scares me)
JW mumbled on 1:21 PM.
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Procrastination
ee-yep... Reading Mr Ng's blog post made me realise just how much I've been procrastinating about my homework. Ok, actually, I realised it about two weeks back, just that I've been procrastinating about actually DOING anything about it. Which leaves me with... A Huge Pile of Homework, and Less Than a Week to Finish it. Bah. Am considering reverting back to my old habit before the exams of waking up at all kinds of ungodly hours of the night/morning (i.e at 3.30 in the morning) so that I can actually get work done. I find that it's far easier to get things done: No noise to distract me, nothing else I can do without waking the entire house up... perfect for studying ^^. Of course, it wreaks absolute havoc with my sleeping patten ><
Um... Daddy's day (a.k.a Father's day) yesterday was pretty miserable; went out for dinner at some cheapo Japanese restaurant and that was about it. No gifts, no nothing. Celebration is a dead thing in my family. *sigh* We don't even do Christmas properly. All right, we're Buddhists, and don't HAVE to celebrate christmas, but hey, it's a fun celebration. We don't seem to celebrate much else, either. feh.
Am glad to say, I have begun swimming every other day at my pool downstairs, so at least I've accomplished ONE of the things I'd set for myself before the holidays. Have been practicing on my guzheng too, go me. Other than that, not much else has been going on. I seem to have this amazing ability of staring off into space for hours on end, playing Enya's CDs over and over again. Maybe I ought to stop doing that; her Song of the Sandman" inevitably puts me to sleep ><
Ehhh... ok... lunch.
JW mumbled on 12:50 PM.
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Saturday, June 19, 2004
The Dos and Don'ts of Roleplaying, also known as RPing
That's right folks. Due to excess annoyance at some people who clearly do not know how to roleplay, I have decided to write a list of Dos and Don'ts. Ok it's mostly don'ts. This is in no way meant to be taken as a guide for roleplaying, since I consider myself an intermediate roleplayer, and am thus not qualified. But I believe, with more than three years or so of experience behind me, I am more than qualified to point out the things that irritate us all.
Let us begin, then.
* First off: The layouts of sites.
This point is more for the amateurs who like to set up sites, but others would do well to take heed.
One of the things that irritate me about some sites, are the tendencies to try to make their layouts as fancy as possible, thereby slowing the site down to an all time low. Not all people have fancy broadband connections. I do NOT appreciate having my computer crash just because I am granting a request by you to take a look at your bloody site. Music is not necessary. Neither are fade-out codes.
* In the same train of thought, some people seem to be in the habit of making those layouts black, and the font some kind of crappy dark-invisible colour, like crimson or navy blue or dark teal. They seem to think it's classy or something. Well guess what: Screw you. My degree of myopia is bad enough without colour-blind idiots trying to add to it.
* What's worse it, this does not just apply to the layouts of the sites. Certain RPers, when they make a post, like to table their post, either to neaten the thing, or include pictures and signatures and so on.
It looks something like this
Now, I have nothing against such things. When used correctly, it actually neatens the post. However, some people appear to be colour-blind as well, and the same problem with the layout occurs: dark background, virtually invisible font. It seriously pisses me off when I have to highlight the damn post just to read it. I'm sure you're irritating everyone else too. Don't do it. Just don't.
* Next, though this is more a mild annoyance, is the mistaken mentality of the creators of the sites that T.h.is. t.y.p.e. of. t.h.in.g or EVEn wORse, ThiS, looks cool. Spare me. The only thing it does is make you look like a pre-schooler who has no sense whatsoever of how to type a proper sentence.
* Equally annoying, or even more so, is th' tend'ncy to use f'r too man' freak'n' aprostroph's. Hello? Apostrophes were used in medieval times to denote missing letters, but even then they didn't take it to this extent. Come on. The only thing that does to your post is make you look like a moron. Apostrophes are necessary, aye, but at least learn to use them in the right context. In my opinion, any apostrophe beyond the ones used in contractions (I'm, can't, won't, don't, etc) or perhaps the occasional 'em for when a character is talking with an accent, ought to be shot, and the writer with them.
* To continue from the above point, is th' useth o' phoney "high speech". These not only completely MANGLE the usage of the much-abused apostrophe, they simply KILL the english language by adding a 'th' behind every other word, such as 'dubbeth' and use all sorts of weird sounding words, like "visionaries". This pisses me off so much that I'm going to have to split it up into sub points. Bear with me.
o First: The words created by the first scenario are very frequently not even words. The word "dubbeth" never existed until these nutsos started using it in their roleplaying. It was never used, even in medieval times.
o Second: The users are clearly trying to make themselves sound cool, but equally clearly failing. What the HECK is wrong with plain and simple "name" and "eyes", instead of "dubbeth" and "visionaries"?
o Third: If you want to use archaic speech, at LEAST try to get the grammar right. 90% of the roleplayers I have seen, (and believe me, I have seen a great deal) are completely incapable of getting their thees and thous right. Few things rile me as much as seeing someone say "are thee well, m'lord?" Dammit, it is "ART THOU well, milord/my lord/m'lord/m'lor"
o Fourth: It is bloody annoying. So many times, I have seen something that looks like this:
"It was in the darkness that a sleek elegant form appeared, weaving through the gargantuan trunks of wizened trees, glossy ivory coat hazed by the deep shadows of Satan's hour. 'Twas twilight, crickets blurting their rhapsodies to the atmospheric gods, a vast ebony sky stippled with far-off distant galaxies glinting their droning notes. And the femme. Her alluring bodice moved with fluid movement through the long beiged grasses, sapphire opals peering warily through the darker areas of the wood. 'Twasn't like her to be trusting, and always catious as she seemed, gleaming coat highlighted ever-so-vaguely with beams of crisp pallid moonlight that shot through the jaded canopy above head. Finely chisled muzzle was lowered along the alignment of her powerful blades, gray-washed tail lying limply behind her form."
Yaddayaddayadda. How can any one even stand to read that? For cripes sake, a roleplay is meant to read like a book. It is a PLAY, only typed out on the internet, and thus, must be UNDERSTANDABLE, and REALISTIC. Have you EVER heard anyone talking like that? Even in Shakespeare? No? I thought so.
* That leads me on to my next point... Do you ever see books doing this: *he stared, completely astonished.*? I didn't think so. Other frequently-used and equally annoying symbols include ~, <>, ::, ;, ||, \\, ^, %, &... the list is endless. Take a hint: don't do it. The only markings that should be there are the open and close inverted commas for speech ("hello"). Thoughts should be in italics. OOC (out of character speech) may be marked out, normally by a double bracket ((like so)). Nothing more.
* Now, the last, and most crucial point, is the choosing of people to roleplay with. I know, roleplaying is meant to be fun, and the more experienced are supposed to teach the less experienced. But please, if you are a newbie, please don't reply to an advanced player's posts! Don't reply to someone's page-long post with a paltry five lines, as has recently happened with me, and expect that person to make something of it. We all have expectations. The more experienced have no wish to go back to the times of one-liners, and I very much doubt that the less experienced want to spend half to an hour waiting for a post, which is how long a good post usually takes. Show some common sense and consideration in choosing your threads.
Likewise, even if you are on a par with the other person, this person might be looking for a certain type of character to roleplay with. These requirements usually show through very clearly in the post. Open your eyes and read, and don't barge in with a totally unsuitable character. You will irritate the crap out of everyone
Right, that ought to be about it. The rest are those universally known but important things, such as:
* Punctuation: Use proper punctuation at the proper times. Do not devoid your posts of commas. Commas are necessary. Question marks are meant to be at the end of every question. Exclaimation marks are to be used sparingly, and not at the end of every other sentence!
* NO chat speak. Period. It might be ok in other places on the net, but roleplayers tend to be a little picky about it. Scratch that: If you try, ever, to use chatspeak (eg, u, r, 2, gr8) in the roleplayers' community, you will be lambasted from all sides by irate roleplayers. You. Have. Been. Warned.
* Spelling and grammar must be reasonably good. A few spelling mistakes can be forgiven; they frequently happen when someone is in a rush to get a post out. But please, don't type something that looks like a three-year-old's first attempt at writing a sentence. You will make people very irritated with you. Repeat after me: Spellchecker is your friend.
* A reasonably wide vocabulary is not required, but pleasant to have, nevertheless. Please do not take things to the extremes, however (see above point).
* PARAGRAPH. Large chunks of words not only puts people off from reading your post, it gives them a headache too.
* No one-liners. At least TRY to make your post of a reasonable length. "He walked up, saying "Hi"" Just does not tell you very much.
* Stay in character. Unless your character is a mind-reader, do not roleplay them knowing something they shouldn't, such as the deepest, darkest secret of the other person, if he hasn't told you yet.
* No Godmoding (GMing) or Powerplaying (PPing). These are universal rules.
Godmoding is when your character acts like a god, i.e invincible, unable to be hurt, invulnerable. If your character has just had an arm chopped off, they cannot cheerfully go on laughing and fighting as though nothing happened. If they are hurt, they must be roleplayed as hurt. They cannot miraculously heal, or dodge all attacks.
Powerplaying is when you try to control the other's character, such as by saying something like "A grabbed B, dragging him down the stares, kicked him around a few times, and slapped him". It is for B to decide whether A's attacks actually land or not. Of course, as previously mentioned, B cannot dodge all attacks either.
And thus ends JW's Dos and Don'ts of Roleplaying. I hope you have found this a comprehensive post, and that you have benefited by gaining knowledge from it, or if not, that you have at least gained a measure of entertainment. Have a nice day.
JW mumbled on 3:04 PM.
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Saturday, June 12, 2004
Woohoo
I am a genius. I have finally figured out what was wrong with those blasted computer speakers, and fixed them. Am now listening to David Arkenstone's album The Celtic Book of Days, after running through my collection of Japanese anime songs and Moya Brennan's Two Horizons, and will be moving on to Enya later. Yeah, I spend entirely too much time on the computer. For those of you who have never heard of David Arkenstone, allow me to assure you than he is an excellent composer. I especially love "Storm Cry", the piece I am listening to now.
Heh, today was pretty uneventful... Continued with the 'excavation' of my brother's room; I hadn't quite realised the sheer smount of clutter that had piled up while he was in England. Am going to call him soon to see if I am allowed to annex his room and take it for myself... like I said, I want the bookshelf ^^
Evidently, the cleaning out of my brother's room gave my mom the notion of cleaning out all the other rooms as well, which turned things into a regular spring cleaning. I never like being around my mom when she's in that mood. She gets all cranky and starts yelling. Thus, I prudently decided to go seek refuge in my room for a time. It wasn't quite sufficient enough to get me completely out of the way though... I still ended up running all kinds of errands. Bleh.
While my mom was cleaning the dining room lights, one of them fell off. I declare, I have an excellent house; first water starts leaking from my bedroom ceiling and doorway of my mom's bathroom, mini stalactites start forming in said places, and now this. Thank all the gods both above and below that no one was hurt.
Anyway, the cleaning frenzy has worn off my mom somewhat, and she is now taking a nap, though how she manages that I have no idea. The weather at the moment is absolutely atrocious; too hot to read, eat, sleep... Too hot to do much of anything, as a matter of fact. Will be going off for my second shower in a minute.
Now that I'm finally done with The Lions of Al-Rassan (see below post), I am now attempting to muddle my way through a text on ancient Rome, which is about as dry as the air in the Sahara desert at noon. Why I even bother, i have no idea. I love history, especially when it involves the ancient civilisations, but seriously, I beginning to think that all historians are completely incapable of writing an understandable book. Ten pages of text on the subject of the Forum, and all I gleaned from it was the fact that it existed, and that people from all walks of life frequented the place >.> You'd think they'd at least translate the pieces of Roman they keep throwing about, such as, what in hell is ut unus e populo supposed to mean?
On the other hand, I easily picked all kinds of random, useless pieces of knowledge, such as the fact that there was once a guy; I think he was an emperor; who seemed to have a serious case of megalomania. Evidently, he felt that the Palatine, the area of Rome reserved for the palace and houses of the politicians, was too cramped. Thus, when a fire broke out in an area of Rome, he, like several others, took the chance to rebuild and make the place more beautiful. He built a huge estate that contained meadows, vineyards, cultivated fields, a large lake, long colonnades, and several buildings, naming it Domus Aurea. And what does this guy, Nero, call it? A house (Domus means house, as far as I can tell). In fact, he went on to say: Eiusmodi domun... hactenus comprobavit, ut se diceret quasi hominem tandem habitare coepisse (Here, at last, is a house for a man). My reaction at that point in time was an utterly incredulous look (A house? House?!!? It's a freaking villa!).
Naturally, others weren't quite pleased with this, complaining that there wasn't enough room for anyone else. One such complaint rather tickled me:
Roma domus fiet; Veios migrate, Quirites,
Si non et Veios occupat ista domus
(All Rome will become a house; citizens, make off for Veii, unless this house is to occupy Veii as well).
Bah, will go off for aforementioned shower now... I feel completely disgusting. I wonder if my mom would protest overmuch if I shaved myself bald.
JW mumbled on 4:54 PM.
5 comments
War is stupid. Holy war is even stupider.
Yeah, I realised that after finishing Guy Gavriel Kay's excellent book, The Lions of Al-Rassan. I cried near the end of that book. It was very sad. This is going to be one of those books that I return to, again and again. It is that good.
The Lions of Al-Rassan is set on a peninsula in a fictitious world (which he never names). Basically, it's about a war in the Kingdom of Al-Rassan, which was once one, but is now split into two major quarreling fractions which revolve around their religion, if you can believe it. The story is centered about a warrior from both sides and a female physician who meet under highly unusual circumstances, and their adventures.
Anyway, it's really hard to give a good summary without leaking out too many details, or maybe I just suck at giving sumaries, so I'll leave it at that. You really should try reading it though; Guy Gavriel Kay is an excellent writer. And don't be put off by the 'female physician' bit. Guy's managed to steer clear of all May-Sueish traits ^^
Here's the summary at the back of the book: Over the centuries, the once stern rulers of Al-Rassan have been seduced by sensuous pleasures. Now King Almalik of Cartada is on the ascendancy, adding city after city to his realm, aided by his friend and advisor, the notorious Ammar ibn Khairan--poet, diplomat, soldier--until a summer day of savage brutality changes their relationship forever. Meanwhile, in the north, the Jaddite's most celebrated--and feared--military leader, Rodrigo Belmonte, and Ammar meet. Sharing the interwoven fate of both men is Jehane, the beautiful, accomplished court physician, whose own skills play an increasing role as Al-Rassan is swept to the brink of holy war, and beyond....
You know, throughout the book, I hadn't fully realised the fact that both sides in the war were in that war due, though not fully, but in a great part to religion. In fact, the races, the Jaddites and Asharites, had even been named for their gods, Jad and Ashar. Living in a multi-racial country, I find that very hard to imagine. Like one of the characters in the book said (regarding one of the much-maglined races, the Kindath, who worshipped the moons) "don't see what's so wrong with calling the moons sisters, anyhow, myself". What does it matter, whether we worship the sun, the moon, the stars, this god, that goddess... does it truly define who and what we are? Murderers exist in all cultures, as do good men. Just that, many times, people let themselves forget that fact, letting the other side turn into a nameless, faceless enemy.
It reminds me, so much, of what we learn during social studies... of the situation in Sri Lanka, not so long ago, and especially of the situation in Northern Ireland, the one between the Protestants and Catholics, although the setting in The Lions of Al-Rassan seems more Spanish than anything. Either way, my opinion of such situations remain the same: They. Are. Stupid. I am a devout Buddhist, and I go to a Catholic school. Make of that what you will.
Will be helping my mom to clean out all the clutter that she's accumalated in my brother's room while he's been in England studying. There's been talk of switching my room with his. I wish they'd stop talking and confirm it. While my brother's room is half the size of mine (it's a converted store room), it's got a bloody bookshelf in it, and damn, but I need a bookshelf.
Right... enough griping. One of the goldfish seems to have a touch of fin rot; I'd better go do something about that. My mom definitely needs to change the water of her fishtank more often.
JW mumbled on 11:52 AM.
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Friday, June 04, 2004
Oh bother
*sigh* I knew this was going to happen. Forgot to remove the link to this blog that my computer automaticaly inserts when I use a tagboard. And according to my tracker, someone's found that link. Oh well.
Speaking of blogs, I've been blog-surfing again, something I haven't been doing for a loooooong time. It struck me again how people tend to reveal another, more private side of them, even when they know people are reading, because it's so much easier to do so on a blog. Also reminded me of something I'd almost forgotten--that most of what we see of other people is nothing more than a facade. I highly doubt readers are going to get much out of this blog though; most of my emotional stuff goes into my written diary. This one is for purely egocentric purposes.
Interesting thing happened today. A cousin called to say he was in Singapore on a business trip. Not just any cousin, mind, but one with a highly unusual family history. Apparently, he is the son of my mother's eldest sister, who had been given away when she was a baby to a malay couple. She married a malay, and had my cousins. It's like one of those chinese drama serials. There are other stories as well, equally dramatic. That's why I love it when my mom starts to reminice about 'the old days'. It's really cool, especially when you have as complicated a family history as my mom seems to have.
Here's another one. I have some relatives; three brothers. I'm not quite sure of how to translate their link to me; I call them 'biu gong' (cantonese), or 'biao gong' (mandarin). When they were pretty young, their birth mother ran away, why, I'm not too sure. She left the kids with my mom's mom (my maternal grandmother). When grandma died and my mom's step-mom entered the family, she kicked them out of the house, and they became street-kids, ie, thieves. They eventually kicked it though, and they're all old men now.
Shows that history isn't as distant as we think.
JW mumbled on 10:54 PM.
3 comments
Thursday, June 03, 2004
I wish my mom would stop trying to bait my dad
Seriously. It's as though she wants a quarrel. I don't know how she expects my dad to answer some of the questions she asks; everyone of them is loaded to the brim. And it gets me so sick. All right. Not really. It's happened so many times already that by now all I feel is mild irritation. But sometimes, I get caught in the middle. I am not amused. Enough.
Today... I skipped guides. Turns out there was no need to, as they didn't do anything strenuous, but heck. I thoroughly enjoyed myself at the bookfair at suntec city, spending a heck of a lot of money in the process. So did my mom. I love books. Love 'em love 'em love 'em. Picked up books by Guy Gavriel Kay, Robin Hobb, Cecelia Dart-Thornton, and Shakespere (yes, Shakespere) among others. No mangas though; they only had the english versions, and those are expensive. I kinda regret spending all that money. Now I'll have to wait a month more before I can buy that Clannad CD I've been eyeing. Or maybe the Moya Brennan one. Or LOTR: TTT. Or...
Taxi drivers kinda intrigue me. Why do all taxi drivers insist on asking for directions from their passengers?
Typical conversation with a taxi driver:
TD: Where you want to go?
Me: Suntec/Toa Payoh/Wherever
TD: Orrh, there arh. Which way you want to go? You want me to U-turn and take the CTE, or you want to go by the PIE? Or maybe the BKE, through the ERP, then down the MRT, coming out on the KFC. But then, I think should go on the PCK, then come in on the LKY.
Me: *completely clueless as to the matter of roads and directions* Um... Any way will be fine. *pause* The shortest way.
TD: The shortest way. Hmm hmm. *continues muttering to self*
Then, there are those really scary ones.
Mom: Qian Hu fish farm please.
TD: Oh, that one. *turns around and grins* The one near Chua Chu Kang right?
Me: Yes.
TD: (while driving)*in mandarin* You're going there to buy fish? The place there is very nice. All countryside. Reminds you of the Kampung days.
Mom: Oh, yes.
TD: Aiii... remember those days... life was so much less stressful... I think those days were really best for a childhood...
Mom: Yar lorh! Remember how we used to play this that or the other...
TD: *Nods vigorously* Yarh, yarh! And how we sat under the Kampung houses, the type with legs and played... it was so cool under there...
Me: *mutters* Don't do that.
Mom: Yes! The air was so fresh... Had so much fun chasing the chickens...
TD: *replies to rear-view mirror* Mm! And how we wrapped our money in our handkachiefs (sp)...
Me: *still muttering* PLEASE DON'T do that...
Mom: *animatedly* YARH, YARH!!! I'd almost forgotten!!! Then I remember how my kung kung... blah blah blah
TD: *Then he TURNS AROUND* Wah!!! So nice arh!
Me: *Yelling frantically* FOR F***'S SAKE, FOCUS on your freaking driving!!! I don't wanna die!
Well, all right, I didn't really say that. I certainly came near to it though.
Of course, there are the plain irritating ones... These don't make conversation. No. Apparently, they need every shred on concentration to drive, which they do slower... than... a... snail's... pace... Then, for some completely inexplicable reason, they speed up so much it's as though theyaretryingtoseehowfasttheycangowithoutkillingthemselvesfirst.
Maybe I just get all the insane drivers. *sigh*
JW mumbled on 10:21 PM.
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Wednesday, June 02, 2004
Happy Vesak Day
Heh... This happens to be one of my favourite days of the year. Not just because it's a public holiday, no. I just like the Vesak day celebrations. I'm not sure why, but it's kinda special to me. Love going to the temple too.
Short summary of Vesak day: Also known as Wesak and Visakha, Vesak day is one of the major Buddhist festivals. Temples are adorned with lanterns and other decorations, and buddhists (are supposed to) try to involve themselves in acts of generosity, meditation and so on. One practise in Singapore is the bathing of the Buddha, where followers ladle cups of blessed water (usually mixed with plenty of flower petals) over a statue of Buddha.
Vesak day celebrates the birth of Buddha, a prince who had all the material things one could wish for, saw human suffering, and left everything behind to seek enlightenment. It also celebrates his gaining of that enlightenment after six years of harship. Lastly, it celebrates his passing into nirvana, a breaking out of the cycle life and death (at least I think it is).
If you want the full summary, go Here.
One particular sentence quite tickles me: "The Buddha died. But as he lay dying, there was no miraculous transformation, no magical ascension into heaven, no inexplicable escape. His death was ordinary - possibly from food poisoning." XD
Woke up early to practise on my guzheng, although I seriously ached. I think I've pulled a muscle. In fact, I think I've pulled multiple muscles. Which is why I intend to miss tomorrow's Guides meeting. Running about all the way from 8am-4pm and pulling frantically at lashing to produce a bloody structure is not going to help either the injury in my thigh, or the one in my arms. I'll feel somewhat guilty for leaving the juniors in the lurch, since Celine and Edith aren't going either, but guiltiness can only push me so far. I've got a ton of other things to do, and I'd rather be doing them, instead of wasting time trying to create an eight-foot-tall tripod out of the bloody poles and lashing with pulled muscles in both arms. So there.
Anyway, I think I'll get back to lurking about the internet. Cheero.
JW mumbled on 12:14 PM.
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Jessica mumbled on Wednesday, June 02, 2004.
May's Posts
Sunday, May 30, 2004
Aack
Guzheng class today was a disaster... I hadn't practiced in... two weeks? Can't really blame me... I couldn't very well have lugged a four-foot-plus wooden block on holiday with me. And the teacher had to choose this day to hear my playing. Aii...
K... will go back to lurking now. The mouse is acting up. Demmit.
JW mumbled on 11:44 AM.
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Saturday, May 29, 2004
D-Day
Results are (finally) out; I am not sure whether I ought to kneel and kiss the ground in relief, or rip the report book slip up before going to throw myself off a building. On the one hand, my results absolutely suck; for the first time, my mother tongue did not get the lowest mark, and that's saying something. On the other hand, I have (if just barely) managed to avoid failing anything, thank all the Buddhas, Boddhisattvas, and other immortals both above and below. I would have had a miserable fate had it not been so (*has mental picture of mother flaying her, chopping her into pieces, then broiling her over a slow fire*).
Mr Ng's comments in my book (in all the books, actually) were bloody sarcastic, but I've gotten used to it... So has my mom, for that matter, so I suppose that's all right. I am somewhat amused by the number of variations teachers can cook up to say "Jessica is bloody noisy". The other one which pops up quite frequently is the one where they describe me as 'preccocious' (sp), which can probably be translated into "Jessica is very kay-poh (busybody)"
I am rather thrilled that it's over and done with however, though now I must start preparing for the next one. My aim for the next exam is to catch up with the scary people over in 3/3, which means I am going to have to Study. No doubt that particular resolve is going to disintegrate pretty quickly, but hey, one can always try.
For now though, I am setting my sights on archery lessons, which my mother hinted that I could join, provided I got my father to pay *rolls eyes*. I'll probably have to do a little more wheedling, but it'll be worth it. My current class position wont't do any harm either. Wish me luck.
P.S Assuming anyone cares, this blog probably will not be updated for a long time to come. Not that I've stopped surfing, no, but rather because I've started lurking. Cheero.
JW mumbled on 1:54 PM.
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Friday, May 21, 2004
Drained
That's how I feel. Utterly drained. I thank the gods that I'm going to Sabah tomorrow for a short vacation even though school has not ended yet, because I can feel that if this continues, I'm going to snap. Despite the unholy hour at which we are leaving (4am), I'll be all too happy to do so. Profoundly relieved would be more accurate even if it does mean I'll have to suffer the guilt for dumping all the work on Celine afterwards. Right now however, I can't find it in myself to care.
I got four of my papers today. The marks were better than most, I'll admit, but I am still not pleased with them. More importantly, neither is my mother. Don't feel like typing out vivid descriptions of the experience, so I'll leave it at that. Also went to the home for our IPW, and excountered plenty of irritating problems, which I also don't feel like typing out. I felt like I'd just run a marathon by the end of it. Fell asleep on the bus back home. Have just finished typing out the freaking report.
Schedule for the month isbloody packed... for organisation's sake, I think I'll put my to-do list up here
* Work my way through the fantasy books in the library
* Work my way through the ancient history books in the library
* Go to the gym (though I would prefer to swim)
* Take up Archery
* Practice weiqi
* Practice guzheng
* practice guitar
* Sew
* Write
* Visit Mrs Teo
* Do homework
* study Study STUDY
Can't remember anything else; brain is too muzzy. Will come back and edit it in when I do. Till the 26th, tata
JW mumbled on 7:58 PM.
2 comments
Thursday, May 20, 2004
Frustrating times.
Yep. Frustrating times indeed. Turns out we couldn't get a camera, which means we will have to postpone our filming date to tomorrow. And if we cannot get it then... The word 'Trouble' comes to mind. I really ought to have started on this blasted Interdiciplinary project a little sooner. Just goes to show that I suck at organisation.
Anyway, aside from that, I've been a bad girl today... Told my mom I'd be staying back in school for banner painting, which I'd honestly intended to do, but I changed my plans at the last minute. Was seriously not in the mood. Yeah, I know, irresponsible of me, isn't it.
Truth was, however, that I wasn't needed there; everything had already been delegated. Further truth is, aside from a few, I don't really belong among my classmates. An even further truth; I could probably do something about it, but I have no wish to. My interests lie in directions miles away from theirs. We're on civil terms, but I don't fit in. Yet another truth; I am not very sociable when I am in the mood that I was in that afternoon. I am not sure my classmates would have appreciated my yelling at them for not reason whatsoever.
Anyway, as mentioned, I did not go for the banner painting. Instead, I took a bus over to Novena, where I pampered myself by buying onion rings and a cup of green tea for lunch. Naturally, that also landed me in serious financial difficulties, leaving me truly broke. Bother.
Once I was done with the onion rings, I didn't bother to loiter, but took a train down to Toa Payoh Central, where I (surprise, surprise) headed straight for the Toa Payoh Central library, where I borrowed two fantasy books, a Pratchett and a Feist (somehow that just doesn't give the same ring as 'Pratchett'), a Baby Blues comic book, two books on Archery, one on Archaeology (sp), and one on Ancient Egypt, of all things. Yeah, I'm a student taking History, but we only study the more recent events, such as World War I and II (and even that we don't really touch upon), while it's the really ancient stuff that interests me.
As for the Archery, I've a reason... I am quite determined to take up archery over the holidays. Don't know why, but I really want to. Of course, determination isn't going to be enough if my examination results turn out to be as bad as I feared. My mother would never let me join if I failed my Additional Mathematics paper. The trouble is... I think I have. Oh well... I'll come to it when I get to it. Though it would be a disappointment, considering how much research I've done on the subject and possible ranges and courses...
Speaking of the library, I saw a junior there today. With an upper secondary boy. Doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out the implications of that. Quite frankly, I think the move was foolish. Should one of the school teachers have chanced by, she would have found herself in deep trouble, as she was in uniform. Oh well... it's none of my business, I guess, so I shall keep out of it.
That junior reminds me... The guides training camp is coming up... and I've heard it is to be a three-day-two-night camp. And I say plainly, I shall do all in my power to ensure that my trip out of Singapore is lengthened sufficiently to allow me to skip it. Doesn't say much for my dicipline, I know. To tell the truth, I don't mind the training, structure or otherwise. I even like footdrill. I do not, however, like the hassle and the yelling that inevitably accompanies a camp. I also do not like changing in and out of my uniform. I'd rather do footdrill. I'm an odd one, yes I know. But then, it all boils down once again to my mother.
Just watched the news, and evidently, the infamous Joo Chiat Everit (sp) Road spat has flared up again. To cut a long story short, the Joo Chiat quarrel is an ongoing incident between a certain family and all its other neighbours. I don't know the exact details, but I do know it involves water from washing cars, giant spotlights, giant reflectors facing said spotlights, various video cameras, and atrocious vocabulary. Quite frankly, I think it's an embarrassment, and more than a little silly. This happened sometime last year, and lasted all the way till near the end of it. Then we had peace for a few months, and now it's started up again, with one family taking another to court for calling one resident 'bitch' and 'butch'. Petty? Certainly. Silly? Most assuredly. Plain childish behavior on both sides? Oh yes.
Meh, 'tis 11.30 already, and I ought to be getting to bed. Night all.
P.S Checking of papers occuring tomorrow. Feel a strange sense of detachment. Bah.
JW mumbled on 10:13 PM.
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Wednesday, May 19, 2004
Hm.
I wonder just how long it is going to take for my various teachers, seniors, and friends to find my new blog. Probably longer than usual, since I haven't mentioned my real name or the name of the school on my blog yet, but they will find it eventually, I have no doubt. For some reason, teachers are forever stumbling over my blog while doing research. I talk entirely too much. Of course, I might just tell them, but I don't feel like doing so. Besides, I want to see if blogger will fix the glitch and give me back my old blog. Until either one occurs, I suppose I'll be granted a few days reprieve.
School today was monotonous. Well alright, there were a few spots of "excitement", one of which was when some idiots decided to smash the glass cover of the fire alarm, which leads me to think that they are totally undiciplined, irresponsible, incorrigible, and have entirely too much time on their hands. Mon ami, if you want to land yourself in deep shit by doing things like this, just to seek thrills, please, don't drag everyone along. The entire school had to be evacuated to the carpark, which put a crimp in our activities. Furthermore, I was already in a rather foul mood due to the heat. If you are a person with eczema, you will understand why. I was almost scratching my neck, arms, and legs to shreds, and running back and forth did not help. Yeah yeah, I'm being a bitch, I know.
One thing that rather amused me was the way in which we reacted to the fire alarm. A great deal of people thought it was just another fire drill of no consequence, and thus the canteen was still packed. When they were chased out by the prefects, some even tried to bring their food with them. A case of crying wolf one too many times, perhaps? I foresee quite a bit of trouble in future, should a true fire break out. Oi vey.
Yet another thing that amused me was how the evacuation was conducted. At the time when the alrm began to ring, we upper secondary girls were out on the netball courts (of which we have six). When it started, all of us figured that we wouldn't have to move, since we were already out on a sufficiently open space. To our surprise and no little annoyance, we were told ten minutes later to run up the steps, through the canteen, and onto the carpark. Excuse me, but seriously, were there a real fire in the building, would you go from safety to danger by running through the damned building, just so you can assemble on the freaking carpark? No, you would not. You would be staying right where you are, or perhaps attempting to exit through the back gate in the courts. Excellent fire safety, we have.
Right.
Anyway, I'm supposed to be going for filming for our IPW tomorrow. The only problem is, I'm having a great deal of trouble contacting the person in charge of the organisation which we are to visit. I know, I really ought to have done it sooner, but there were exams, and I was lazy, alright? So now I pay the price. All our e-mails sent keep bouncing back, and all attempts to call were met with the famous answering machine. I can hardly ask for permission to drop by under such a circumstance. But neither can I just show up at the bloody place with a video camera, even if we do have a formal letter from Mr Ng. And time is runing freaking short. Bother.
JW mumbled on 9:23 PM.
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Tuesday, May 18, 2004
I hate the heat.
Yep. More griping about the weather in Singapore. Can't be helped, I know, but nevertheless I still gripe. Helps focus my annoyance at something. PMSing at other people helps as well, but it's not precisely a very desirable habit. You tend to alienate everyone around you.
Anyway, today was kinda packed with all sorts of little things that had to be attended to, such as Interclass Netball Competition briefings; the real day for which I am not attending; and Interdiciplinary Project briefings, and a singing practice for a mass; which I am also not attenting, benefits of my absence during my upcoming trip to Sabah. That left us with no free time whatsoever, and the rest of the days looks to be the same. So much for hoping to be able to slack. Oh well... guess I'd best get used to it.
Went out to Orchard today. To be more specific, to the Orchard library. I suppose it's nothing new to those who know me. I'm the boring sort. I'd forgotten just how long it'd been since I'd gotten a chance to actually go out. Even a short time browsing through the mangas and fantasy books over at Kinokuniya's helped. Guess it's true what they say--shopping does help you destress, somewhat. Of course, it might have worked better had I not been too broke to actually buy anything. Quite a few books I wanted to buy. I swear, once I get my June allowance, I fully intend to spend an entire day in the second hand bookshops of Far East. Love that place.
Feh, it is currently far too hot and blasted humid to spend much more time in front of the computer, therefore I shall end off here. I'll need another shower as it is. Bah.
JW mumbled on 8:42 PM.
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Monday, May 17, 2004
ergh
Freaking headache... Like I wrote in one of my short, crappy fics that I never let anyone read, my head is throbbing as though "all the drummers in the land were playing on (my) skull, and all to a different beat". What's worse, the internet's being a... hrm. It's being irritating. Keeps disconnecting me. Guess I'll just have to wait till next time for my weiqi game. Ergh.
JW mumbled on 8:12 PM.
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Cha
Excellent... Blogger's locked me out of my own account... I've sent a couple of e-mails to their help department, but I just felt like blogging and making a new template, so I decided to create yet another account, thus wasting space on the blogspot server... In the event that I do decide to stick with this account, I'll have to create a team account just in case blogger tries to pull another one on me...
Went for Guzheng class yesterday; didn't really want to, because as I'd suspected, what little skill I'd gained at playing the bloody thing had vanished in the two weeks I'd not touched it. Decided to go anyway, as I'd miss it next week due to my impending trip to Sabah.
Speaking of Sabah; I am going there for yet another cousin's wedding. Will be missing about three days of school. I don't know what Mr Ng is going to say to that.
We have finally found Mr Alec Ng's blog; it's pretty cool. Mr Ng has a habit of rambling on about the weirdest subjects imaginable, which affords me and everyone else quite a bit of amusement. His post about Bus Drivers ought to be printed out, blown into A2 size, laminated, and pasted in prominent locations all over Singapore. One such location should be directly outside the SBS Headquaters.
Anyway, we also went out for dinner yesterday... Had 'Dim Sum' at some restaurent, which name I have already forgotten. On the way there, my dad somehow managed to knock the new car against the curb, leaving a scratch and a slight dent in the fender. He didn't crash, though. I kinda wish he had crashed, however. Then maybe we could get a more sensible, family-orientated car than that bright yellow tin can that we have. Not only is it bloody ostentatious (sp), it is also exceedingly irritating, in that it is a two-door car, and ours is a five-person family. Which means that we always have to squeeze behind the front seat just to get to the incredibly cramped seats behind. The fact that the car is freaking short does not help matters, since I invariably end up whacking my head against the bloody roof. This also happens everytime we go over a hump. One of these days I'm going to get a concussion.
Anyway, we went to Qian Hu Fish Farm today, and got to see some really pretty fish, and no fewer oddballs. By 'oddball' I mean some really weird-looking fish. Felt like buying some of them just so I could spend time just staring at 'em. In the end, my mom bought a couple of goldfish, thus overcrowding the bloody goldfish tank even further.
Have just finished reorganising my CD collection, on which I have spent a fortune;approximately $500, slightly more than what I spend on books. Now we all know why I'm perpetually broke. It could have been worse, except that a good half came from Cash Converters, where they sell at $5 each. In any case, I'd rather proudly arranged my entire lot of sountracks, new age, and instrumental CDs to alphabetical order, when who should come along but my mother, who promptly disarranged them while looking for "The Music of the Grand Canyon". Sheesh.
JW mumbled on 6:03 PM.
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Jessica mumbled on Monday, May 17, 2004.
Quote from Bern: I Feel a Sense of Liberation
*Cringe, wince, dies* There are times I seriously wish I weren't female...
Heh... Blogger evidently has a spiffy new layout... tried to do the post page rubbish, found that I didn't know enough about permalinks and was thus screwing my template up, and just decided to give up on it.
Anywho, the exams are finally over, for which I feel a profound sense of relief, that I can now go back to normal sleeping patterns, at the very least. That relief doesn't quite extend to the results though, because quite frankly, the papers were crap. Or at least my ANSWERS to the papers were crap. English... I used to be able to expect good results from there, but lately my language seems to have deteriorated... Chinese, I won't even bother talking about... Social Studies was ok, I guess... managed to crap the whole way through, ditto for Lit and History. E-maths was ok... left 12 marks worth of blanks, which to me is really quite good, as compared to last year's whopping 28 marks worth. Chemistry was bad, but (I hope) still passable. Biology was better (I think) than Chem. But A-Maths... Never in my entire life have I left this amount of blanks. About half the paper, or more. That kinda left me in a daze the rest of the day. Thanks to all those people who tried to comfort me... I'm kinda embarrassed, cos everyone who knew me kept going "It's ok, it's over" and things to that effect, which only made my eyes leak faster -.- That's why I try to avoid everyone when I cry... people saying stuff to me only makes things worse >< Speaking of that... if anyone's reading, help me say sorry to Genevieve (the Guides CL Gen, not the 3/4 Gen) cos I kinda dao-ed her at the bus stop (flicked my head round in the opposite direction the minute we saw each other). Crying in front of friends is bad enough. Crying in front of seniors is infinitely worse ><
What kinda pissed me off was the reaction of my mom...
"I'm home..."
"How was the exam?"
"Bad"
"How bad?"
"Bad"
"Going to fail?"
"Possibly (read: Probably)"
then...
"Now you know? I already told you: Maths is something that you have to do everyday..."
And it went on from there. Yeah, it probably was true, but I think it could have waited? I really wasn't in the mood at that point.
Thankfully, I've become amazingly adept at blocking out sounds.
Took a shower, and went to Shermeen's birthday party, which was pretty fun. Mainly the prefects, some 3/3 people, and the 'recess group'. Her dog is amazingly adorable... It's a six-month-old hyperactive terrier, which scared some people, and slobbered over others. We had a cheerful time pelting each other with water bombs and the like, though some people decided to hole themselves up by taking refuge in Sherm's room... -.- After we were done drenching each other, we headed back up to change, and have some food. Sherm played for us on the organ... it was so cool. Sounded like a mini band all on one instrument. Makes me wish I'd taken up the organ...
Anyway, eventually we got to the cake, which was a fairly humungous ice-cream cake with green icing. Sang happy birthday, ate some cake... went home soon after, where I took ANOTHER shower.
In fact, I feel like taking yet another shower right now... weather's atrocious. But it'd definitely aggravate the eczema. Ah well.
Meh, kk... will wonder off to dig through Mr Ng's blog archives and search for some guitar chords now... byee...
Jessica mumbled on Friday, May 14, 2004.
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