Consonance much appreciated

The frantic search for cheap/timely airlines is getting on my nerves and I really hope it won't sour friendships. That said, I'm glad the matter's settled and we can move on to more enjoyable stuff.

Night time muses

Sleep deprivation seems to be the only constant in my life these days but I'm nevertheless relatively happy or shall I say, "not depressed". The late nights come from chilling out with kindred pals, suppers and movies. Really, it's all worth it since my carefree student days are numbered. My only goal this semester is to get decent grades and spend more of my precious time building social capital.

My futile attempt at finishing tomorrow's readings ended halfway through the first article - Edward Said's "Orientalism". I was interrupted at the part on "dominance and control" because I was reminded of what Gill and TR said today - they said that I was CONTROLLING! Ok just because I encourage people to drive less and get very anal about some things does not mean that I'm domineering by nature! It's the exception not the norm!

It's really a matter of perspective. Gill doesn't like to give in to me easily (I appreciate that she usually comes around after some cajoling) so she thinks I'm controlling because TR usually (nicely) accedes to my requests. Put simply, she's as controlling as she thinks I am so she thinks that I'm controlling! (And at this point, TR will politely excuse himself from what he calls a "cat fight")

What would I do without such amusing company to pep up my life? :)

Foreign treasures

After a few nights of insomnia, I finally had an uninterrupted slumber last night and a dream. Dreamt that I was back in Toronto having dinner with Cui, Andy, Simon and her family. I don't know what my subconscious mind is telling me but I'm certain that I'm not exactly dying to go to Toronto again anytime soon. That aside, I do miss my Canadian experience and it has been labeled "the best summer holiday" in my memory vault.

I am delighted to read in today's Urban that Poutine has arrived in town! Poutine is a Canadian snack of fries topped with cheese curd and smothered with hot beef gravy. It's the sinful-est snack you can ever eat and it was love at first taste when I bought a bowl in Toronto! Heck my (not very successful) CNY diet. I'm heading to Bugis as soon as I can.

Poutine in Toronto's Eaton Centre

While I still can't believe they have Poutine in Singapore, I'm even more surprised nobody brought in the American cosmetic brand "ELF". I'm down to my last tube of $0.99 Cherry Tart twist tube ELF lip gloss and having panic attacks because I can't find any replacement. A shop in Parkway which used to sell a pathetically LIMITED range of ELF cosmetics ($5 a tube) does not seem to carry them anymore and I doubt they have the colour I want anyway. Arrgh :(

Gillian's Cocktail Party

There's the Boston Tea Party and there's Gillian's Cocktail Party (Yes, it's GILLIAN'S cocktail party cos she certainly excelled in her efforts to teach us the finer points of bartendering. Not forgetting how we shamelessly depleted her dad's alcohol). Oh well, nobody expected a Friday night party to end up like a Martha Steward cook show but isn't reality TV the fad these days?

Gill's dad operates a tourism/hotel management school so we had a array of equipment conveniently available for us to experiment with. It's really nice of him to allow us to liberally use his stash of alcohol. I have not held a measuring cup in ages!



Nothing beats mixing your own Cosmos and Margaritas and as novices following printed recipes, some of our cocktails turned out pretty weird. I suddenly miss the days of preparing ice blended drinks at Rocky Master!


Gill, TR and I decided to catch the 2 am Cloverfield at Cathy which turned out to be another over-hyped movie. Very disappointing. But thankfully there was enough action to keep as awake throughout the 87 mins. On our walk back, I was rather shocked to see bustling hawker centres at 4 am. I wonder how anybody can stomach steamboat at that hour.

Student once more

The generic/unique (largely depending on the school) uniform is really the hallmark of a student. I've never had the student-ish feeling ever since I entered uni and uniforms became another nostalgic part of my teenage years. The TK uniform is comfort personified and really, I don't mind looking like a mass-produced "dust-bin" or "graph paper" and escape the chore of putting together new outfits daily.

I'm 95% relieved, 5% amused that I can fit into my old TKGS uniform which on hindsight, was way too baggy and shapeless last time. With minor alterations (lower belt, rolled up sleeves - my only chance to look ah lian), I became a "newly minted old TKGian" at the back-to-school gathering.


2002: gawd, we all look underdeveloped. Note how the boys' PAP style uniforms are generally less interesting than the girls' varied colour/design skirts and pinafores.


2008: so why do we look better in our uniforms now? Is the saying that only guys look better as they age a fallacy and the "wine theory" applies to both sexes?


I find it easier to be fond of my pinafore now than in the past when the eye-catching green stood out in a sea of blues and whites - the cause of my teacher troubles in the LT.


To Gill: here's another pic to add to our collection

Kawaii ne?

The mega difference between Yivon, Shuxin and me is that they are the kawaii types and I'm so obviously not. I don't look nor sound cute and cannot even act cute to save my life. So I'm rather surprised that I like taking neo-prints (essentially a girly, squealy, giggly activity) ever since I discovered the new breed of neo-print machines!

Here are some tips:

(1) Neo-prints are meant for couples so if you have 4 people or more in your group, be prepared to position yourself in front of the TINY screen within 5 seconds or you'll end up looking like you popped into the pic at the last minute.


(2) I cannot emphasize how important positioning is especially when they give you about 5 seconds to pose. Case in point: Yiwei looks dismembered (on the bright side, she looks like a genie emerging from a washing machine) while Shuxin looks erm, indescribable.


(3) Be prepared for bruises when you have 4 not-so-thin people trying to squeeze on a tiny bench. Unanimously, this is our favourite pic albeit a major (directional) flaw.


(4) Choose nice backgrounds and embellish them. No additional cost.


(5) Pray that someone in your group knows how to read Jap. Though Yiwei and Yivon are relatively fluent in Jap, they could not understand some of the instructions so we had to randomly select the options.

Mere liquid

The bad thing about drinking is that I turn a ghastly red VERY quickly. The good thing is that I don't get drunk easily and I un-red myself in a relatively short time. Don't think I've even gotten high before. The only side effect I experienced, other than a flushed face, was a sore throat in the morning after a night of Vodka at our Taiwan new year party.

Not that I drink often since I don't club and hardly hang out in bars. Maybe it's the festive season but I've been consuming alcohol more often than usual: Christmas dinner, Grandma's bday lunch, hair salon's opening ceremony, class outing at Timbre and yesterday at Ying's house.

My JC classmates are good drinkers so it was inevitable that we played drinking games last night. It was a first time for me and I thought the games were rather harmless and lapsed into boredom after a while. The most "exciting" part was probably the revelation of people's dirty little secrets (I am thankful that my secrets are too bland to attract any interest). Frankly, I really do not care to know some of them.

I'm amazed Ying's parents did not barge out of the bedroom to shush us.

Across The Universe

It's really a rather out-of-the-world film and only my tolerant gfs are willing to be dragged to watch it. I confess that some parts are simply too arty to be comprehensible (a personal opinion of course). The movie appears to me to be a hybrid of the MTV style Romeo and Juliet and the whimsical, shifting collage scenes found in Love Me If You Dare.

The most interesting parts were not the bizarre dance sequences but how the scriptwriters managed to weave all the Beatles' songs into the plot (I didn't expect a musical.) Unfortunately, I only recognised two songs: I wanna hold your hands and Hey Jude. It would have been more enjoyable if I knew the songs.

The storyline is surprisingly mundane - a love story (yes yes, I was attracted to the love story and the R&J like poster) set amidst a war in the 60s. I like how they managed to re-create the Liverpool dockyards of the 60s, the hippies/rock and roll culture of the Lower East Side and the preppy American ivy leagues in the 60s. Superb!

Not that I'm a film snob but indie movies (enjoyable or not) are really more memorable than many mainstream productions.