Day 6 is macs breakfast day
Saturday, September 30, 2006
Before I go on to Day 6, I should explain briefly why Day 5 is missing.
Day 5 was Daniel's birthday and we didn't do much because:
(a) it was Daniel's birthday
(b) because it was Daniel's birthday, we slept very late
(c) because we slept very late, we woke up very late
(d) because we woke up very late, we reached school late
(e) because we reach school late, we had lunch very late and therefore we started studying very late, not to mention very little.
Day 6 was the earliest of all the days we had so far. We woke up at freaking 9am in the morning on a saturday of our holidays, and rushed to Queensway macs only to realise that Daniel meant the Commonwealth macs so we rushed all the way to the pond and turtle macs, reaching just 5 mins short of 11am (the end of breakfast).
So we had a nice breakfast with the turtles and Kim discovered she swallowed her tongue stud
again, so we ended up at Queensway eventually to buy more supplies for her. Of course we were also buying time so we won't have to go back to school to start studying.
But here we are again in the YIH study room on a rainy afternoon... and surprise surprise, there are fewer people than expected. Ok enough crapping for now, it's back to the books.
1:27 pm
クロサギ
Day 4 is a slow struggle to the top
Thursday, September 28, 2006
Yup, especially after lunch/dinner when everything seems to be moving rather slowly and sleepily. Yet the sixth floor is still about half full and people are steadily mugging away the last few hours. Feels just like a normal school day instead of a holiday.
As each day passes, I find it harder to wake up, especially if I know the rest are not up yet. Woke up to find a message from Kim sitting in my phone: "Do you mind if I not go to school with you guys today? Sorry."
Huh. Does that mean I can sleep more? Yes.
No. So I called her to clarify and she said she was suffering from a major hangover from clubbing and drinking too much last night. Ok so no quick transport to school except on my own two legs. Goes back to sleep.
Oh ya, what about Daniel? Checks phone to discover, much to my delight, that no message/call has appeared yet. Conclusion: Daniel the pig is still sleeping soundly in his dorm. Gleefully goes back to sleep.
Woke up to play with Misty for a while. A while took half an hour or more. Went to shower and waited to be contacted. Nothing.
Do nothing and stone.
Nothing still.
Daniel messages me: "Hey are you in school already?"
Er. "Er no I'm still at home. Hehe." As I typed that, I could almost hear Daniel cursing me all the way from old KR.
"And Kim is not coming. She's hungover." I thought I heard Daniel start to curse Kim as well.
So eventually I took the bus(es) to school. Had laksa again for lunch, and
again Daniel forgot about his sweet sauce.
Settled down and camped on the sixth floor the whole afternoon.
Dinner time came. Again Daniel had laksa, and
again he forgot about his sweet sauce. Could imagine Daniel silently cursing his sweet sauce.
With so many curses, it is sure to be a slow struggling day for us.
But since Daniel's birthday is coming up very soon, in a few hours as we speak, we have something to look forward to. And Kim is coming to school as part of our plan to surprise Daniel, although he is probably not surprised already since we used the same trick on Kim the last time.
But before we get to that and hasten the pace, today is generally a very slow day for us.
//updated 29th September 3am.
At exactly 12 midnight, Kim drove into school to pick us up, after making us wait some two hours, by which time, Daniel was getting a bit impatient and hungry, and wondering whether Kim will come at all.
When we came out to find her little black Hyundai, we found her driving in the opposite direction i.e. away from and not towards us. So we had to walk towards her car. We saw her getting out of the car and leaning into the passenger seat. Hmm.. what is she up to this time?
And then she appeared with a little cake in her hand, no doubt with a lighted candle sticking out of it and she screamed: "DANIEL!! Surprise!"
To which Daniel replied: "No! I'm not 23! No! It's 11:59!" Of course he was in denial all the while 'cos it was already midnight. At last, we sang him a birthday song and he made such a long wish that we thought he was silently cursing all his enemies.
And then off we went to Crystal Jade, just so Daniel could have his braised sharks fin's soup (they
still do not have chicken soup by the way), and his third meal, this time
not laksa thank goodness but beef brisket noodles.
Happy Birthday Daniel!
You are not:
(a) old (even though in comparison to Kim whose just turned 21, you are slightly older, but just think of all the old men in their 40s!)
(b) suffering from a quarter life crisis (because quarter life means being 25, which you are exactly 2 years shy of!)
So don't worry 'cos you don't look like your actual age. In fact neither of us look like our actual age anyway. We will forever be called
xiaodi and
xiaomei at hawker centres. Well, not forever but at least for quite some time anyway heh.
7:46 pm
クロサギ
Day 3 is plain denial
Dreams of being a shopaholic, liquor representative or worse, mugging representative just goes to show how deranged we have become and how we're living in a state of denial.
To have a change of air, I went over to Marianne's place near Sixth Avenue to study. Her room is full of stuffed toys, bags, cupboards full of clothes and accessories, not only that it's mighty pink with lots of flowers and other girlie stuff. I secretly think she can open a Marianne boutique if she wants, considering the fact that alot of her stuff are still in their plastic wrappings and are still unused and untouched. Basically she collects alot of stuff from stationery to accessories to I-don't-know-what. In short, she's like me in that aspect multiplied by ten or so. Anyway her room is like a little quaint attic-like room with the windows overlooking the road and can be elongated by opening the sliding doors to the study room. And if she wanted to access the rest of the house, she has to walk through the study room first, which effectively means that the study room is hers.
Her room reminds me of an artist's/a writer's studio from which you get inspiration by looking out of the window. Maybe it was precisely this reason that I got distracted from the studying. And all her stuff just made me inspired to go shopping more. I know, I'm just in a state of denial. Anything to get away from work and the all the stress of knowing I have to do work.
After that I was off to Mizusaki's world. Er, that's what my
sensei calls her classes. In her world, anybody can be asked to say anything at any time. So you can imagine it's like an interrogation session all in Japanese and where the subject changes in a few seconds, so if you think you can blank out or stone in her class, it is plainly suicidal. Of course I was a bit distracted, thinking of my last minute decision to go shopping after class heh.
8pm was never more welcomed than today. I rushed over to the welcoming embraces of the shops. The lights never looked warmer, nor the clothes more delightful to see. Why can't studying be like shopping? (Granted, I sound like an ultra bimbo right now) Well, to rephrase my question: why can't studying be so much easier and brainless? (of course then this sounds contradictory and rather like an oxymoron)
I met Elaine for late dinner and she convinced me, much to
my horror, that it was such a good idea to meet every week to shop. And
next week, she wants to buy her much-awaited un-auntish bag. When I heard that, the danger bells just started banging in my head.
Every week?? Of course, the fact that I didn't say yes doesn't help.
But I
didn't say no either. Hmmm...
1:27 am
クロサギ
Day 2 is just pushing too hard
Wednesday, September 27, 2006
Yes, even though our intentions, or rather ambitions were great (perhaps greater than we had imagined), we found ourselves exhausted around 10pm (already).
Of course, Daniel tried to wake up early, and he did at 8am so we must applaud him for trying, even though he fell asleep again only to wake up some two hours later.
As for myself, I unashamedly knocked out from 2+am all the way to 12nn, which was why Kim, who tried to contact me, couldn't get through. The poor girl, don't be too upset ya? We promise to burn that certain someone for you.
Anyway back to Day 2, after lunch and all that, Daniel and I finally started studying at 3+pm in the YIH study room. In case you're wondering, yes it's crowded, just like in the library and full of geeks who have been camping there since morning I would expect. Which reminds me, we've officially turned into one of them.
The studying went on until about 5+pm when we got a call from Kim, informing us that she had reached. So we immediately took a somewhat-not-much-deserved break to drink
teh with her and listened to her outpouring of anger over that not-to-be-mentioned or not-deserving-mention someone. After which, we joined in the act of condemning him and her friend, Siting suggested we burn him.
About 6+pm, Kim and Siting went off for training, which they were reluctant to go (granted, of course our company was much more wanted). This was followed by dinner for the professional geeks and then back to the books.
I have to confess that I got distracted about 8+pm and got lost in ebay, looking for
Ruan Ling Yu (for your info, she's a 1930s Chinese silent film diva). And then.. Oh man, I have to buy the DVD la, it's so much more affordable than HMV! Plus the fact that yesterday when I scoured HMV for the aforementioned DVD, not only was it out of stock, it was out of production already. Darn, I would give anything to be
kiasu this once.
About 9+pm, Daniel fell asleep so silently I didn't realise until I discovered that he was not moving.
Hur hur.
We tried calling Kim at 10+pm to see if training had finished, but ended up calling Day 2 a day and walking over to the pool to look for her. Of course we saw her canoe wading in the pool and decided that she was still busy, and promptly went back, mostly because Daniel said he was pushing too hard.
So you see, Day 2 wasn't so bad after all. We're just training our stamina for even more hours of studying.
1:00 am
クロサギ
Day 1 of Intensive Studying
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
Yeah right. More like Day 1 of intensive entertainment.
Alright alright, so it was a flop.
This is exactly what happened:
8am. Woke up, looked outside my window, discovered it was raining much to my dismay and thus put my alarm on snooze and returned to dreamland for 5 mins.
8.10am. Oh shit. I'm going to be so late for class. Yes, I had a stupid makeup class on an early Monday morning. Who the hell wanted it during this time anyway?
9.00am. Caught the bus at last. Mandy called to check where I was (we often do that in a bid to race to school, well not who gets there first, but rather, who gets there last). Of course, as usual, I was still around Serangoon and she around Toa Payoh.
10.25am. Yup, 25 mins late for class. Stepped in to find myself surrounded by less than 10 people. Huh?! What the hell?! Where's like half the class? Darn, the cold weather was so nice to sleep in.
12nn. Half-drifting off to dreamland. I want food. I want food! When is this lesson going to be over? Hmm... I feel like shopping. Messaged Daniel: "eh what's the plan? I feel like shopping today ha."
1pm. Please just stop talking already.
1.25pm. Oh yay! Class dismissed! Hmm... I really feel like shopping!
2pm. Had lunch with Celina and Mandy. Our project discussion came to a conclusion without having started, er because we didn't have any samples of drawings to compare with because we didn't draw any. So teamwork falls apart when the team doesn't do any work.
2.10pm. Called the pig-of-Daniel who just woke up not too long ago...
Me: I want to go shopping, so how? What's the plan?
Daniel: Er, I need to borrow a book from Jurong Library and then I can go
anywhere.
Me: Ok!
2.20pm. Told Mandy I was going to go shopping and she said she felt like shopping too. And then I remembered something...
Me: er when are we supposed to watch that Chinese adaptation of
The Banquet (
Ye Yan) huh? Was it today?
Mandy: er was it? Oh anything. Actually I'm free today.
Me: Hmm I wonder if Daniel wants to watch it too.
2.30pm. Called Daniel to suggest...
Me: Daniel, you want to watch
The Banquet?
Daniel: Huh? What's that?
Me: er that kungfu Chinese film thingy... don't know how to describe
Daniel: Orh that Zhang Ziyi flick ah, say so earlier la!
Me: Ya, so you want to watch?
Daniel: Today? What?! You want to shop then you
also want to watch movie?! (in a very incredulous tone) Wah lao!
Me: hehe ya, does this mean we can't get any work done?
Daniel: er, I don't suppose so.
5pm. On the way to town, Daniel and Mandy were playing the angel and devil figures respectively.
Daniel: Oh my god, I can't believe I'm giving in to temptation so easily. AH! You're making go shopping and watch movie with you, it's all your fault! (Obviously trying to guilt me for his own desire to want to go out and break free from his repressed geek-ified surroundings)
Mandy: You
must buy more clothing! Yes yes, spend
all your money! (And if you hear hard enough, you might even hear her witch cackles go: hehehehehe)
6.20pm. We caught the movie and found it to be worth our time. Thought it was quite an interesting adaptation of Hamlet actually. Of course we laughed at the discrepancies.
9pm. Continued with shopping.
Daniel: Let's buy the Lamy pencil for Eric now!
Me: Ok.
Note: The Lamy pencil story traces its roots from just a few days back when Daniel himself bought a brand new transparent Lamy pencil. Eric was with him and teased him like hell about buying a pricey pencil which cost ten times that of a normal mechanical pencil. Fed up with all that teasing, Daniel decided it was time for revenge. *Ahem* of course you can now, dear readers, see that I was the innocent victim-made-accomplice here. Here I was just trying to buy Eric a much belated birthday present and discovered myself caught in this struggle for who-gets-the-last-laugh game.
11pm. Presented Eric with the by now famous Lamy pencil. Eric's reactions were mixed at first, like he didn't know what to make of it.
It went from: "This box looks familiar" to denial of his present by refusing to open it. And after I pestered him to open it, he exclaimed: "Eh this looks exactly like the one Daniel bought la!"
And then... "I know! This is Daniel's idea! Why are you in this with him too?! Wah lao!" To which, of course I protested and reminded him that I was the one with the good will.
And then after some time of staring at the pencil, as if it was able to change in shape, size or colour, Eric said: "OH! I know what Daniel is trying to do already! He's trying to get back at me for suaning him la! Darn..." To which, he excitedly went on and on about what Daniel would do and how he would use the Lamy as a strategy to get back at him, which of course is too long to narrate and half of which I can't remember anyway. But the main point is that, Daniel will never get away with this and neither will Eric, and this is just the beginning of a neverending game.
Well, I guess that's enough entertainment for a day, don't you think? According to Daniel, he will start studying at 10am in the morning on Day 2. According to me, that's bullshit.
1:21 am
クロサギ
Who says girls can't have toys?
Friday, September 22, 2006
I'm a person who gets slightly peeved when someone (usually a guy) comments that "girls can't drive". Well, of course he usually says it quite matter-of-factly, which makes it even more annoying. I don't which is worse, to have some guy sniggering at you for not knowing how to use your newly bought electronics like computers and such, or to have him look upon you patronisingly with the "just let me handle this" mentality.
May I remind you that the next time you open your big fat mouth and protest against a lady driver or take control of all the toys in her possession, please bear in mind that up to now, it is the boys who have made a mess competing with each other to see whose toy is bigger and better. If you take a trip down memory lane, the boys in Europe have no doubt created a big mess of a world with their mega guns and tanks, while those in America have had an even better playtime blowing up islands with the A bombs, not to mention mechanising humans with the C³I and computers.
And perhaps we don't know how the girls would have fared if they were to handle the toys instead, but at least we know the boys have had their failures, and does that mean the girls are definitely going to doom the earth just because the boys are nearly done destroying it? Maybe they just need to be given a chance to play with the toys for a change. And who knows, they might just make the world feel better. So who says girls can't have toys?
And you know what irritates me the most? The fact that I myself sometimes make remarks that
some girls just can't handle toys. Why has society conditioned me to think in that way? I mean,
some boys can't handle toys as well right? But why don't we make jokes out of that, at the expense of the boys who can't play with toys? Or of those who
can play with toys for that matter?
And girls, don't let the boys patronise you or worse admit to their single conclusion about girls with conviction, like: "I'm a computer idiot" or "I can't drive." Because you can handle toys and much more if you, like the boys, have spent as much time on computers and cars as you have on shopping and clothes.
1:10 am
クロサギ
Daniel Chin, you sloth
Saturday, September 16, 2006
From Kim and I:
Daniel Chin you sloth!
all you do is sleep!
and sleep!
and oversleep!
and wakeup!
and sleep more!
12:52 pm
クロサギ
I'm such a piece of shit
Thursday, September 07, 2006
I just can't do anything right this week.
You know one of those days when nothing functions? I'm having such a fantastic, delightful week of it. Wonderful.
And when those days happen, I'm such a stupid piece of shit.
2:47 am
クロサギ
I'm just not made for working life
Friday, September 01, 2006
Yes, that's what I gathered from several symptoms. You would think so too if you:
- Were taking fourth year, whilst barging into honours knowing you actually just scraped through, just so you can buy time away from the woes of suddenly being thrown into the I-STILL-can't-find-a-job state (granted, of course, a year's time of procrastinating makes a hell lot of a difference to you).
- Actually tried to work part-time while studying and found yourself exhausted trying to juggling school (of which you already were mediocre in the first place) and more stress-filled work which included having to please an eccentric cum temperamental boss, and trying to shuffle from one place to another, which meant having to sacrifice some meals. I know weight loss is a pretty great thing for most girls, but having eyebags and gaunt looks suddenly appear does not exactly complement your stick-thin figure in the best way, does it?
- Were learning two languages at the same time (or same period of time) and were counting on using them to value-add yourself when you start work (IF you start work), but haven't yet gotten a decent proficiency certificate in either one or both of them. Well granted you do need time to learn, you also need time to take those tests, especially they only occur once every half a year or every year.
- Get the same questions from your relatives every year regarding your current occupational status, and every year they get the same answer: still studying. And only recently, your uncle joked: "Why don't you just continue studying forever? Then you don't have to work!" and you actually considered his suggestion very seriously (of course he meant going on to do graduate studies, not staying on as an undergraduate forever).
- Hear horror stories from friends who have already graduated about how horrible work is and how they just want to return to being a student. Or worse, hear about how they are still currently jobless and how nobody bothers to even reply to their job applications.
- Knew you would miss all the concessions/promotions being offered to students only, especially since it'll make you feel young straddling adulthood and teenhood yet still enjoying the benefits of a student.
- Hang around with people (much) younger than you are, only to realise the age gap when you start thinking of what you want to do when you graduate when it suddenly dawns on you that it is actually much much sooner than you expect.
- Realise you probably will spend more than you earn, which is really not so unfamiliar from what you're doing now, thanks to the generous contributions of your father and his mighty supplementary cards. Of course, what you should be doing is really to be astonished at your own spending power at such a young age, especially when you're technically unable to support yourself fully. And then, horror of all horrors, you discover, to your ultimate disbelief, that you cannot (read: unable, incapable, impossible, life-threatening situation) save (money) to save your own life.
- Were lying to yourself when you said you wanted to get out of the hell-hole as soon as possible. Of course, it's a lie. What else can it be... I mean, which is the ultimate hell-hole?
- Absolutely loathe the idea of sitting around in an office, taking on a regular 9-to-5 job and collecting a measly paycheck every month so you can start looking for a wife/husband + family to support.
And the diagnosis is: I'm suffering from a (mild?) bout of work life withdrawal symptoms, even before I actually start to work full-time.
1:20 am
クロサギ
