mundane is my monday

Today was a pretty hyper day!
I reached school while it was still puring outside. In the darkness. And met my mentee on the bus. But anyway, I spent the rest of the morning struggling to find even the tiniest source of warmth, other than the bunsen burners in the chem lab. It felt horrible to be cold, and worse to see people huddled in their jackets providing comments on 'today's q rather chilly day it's probably the rain hahaha it's so cold'. Ironic, isn't it? The temperature is always either too high or too low. And even if they struck a balance, we wouldn't notice it anyway. We're so desensitized by air-conditioning now.

I always dread assembly. I don't like the crowds and the noise and the boredom. And as I walked with an awkwardly sheepish look on my face to the hall because I was carrying Sherina's pastel pink Victoria's Secret shopping bag, I was met by the perturbed stares of many. Because everyone hates being pushed around and being told to move to the right, probably. Or maybe because my hair was really, really messy and all over the place, a head with a paddy field growing out of one's scalp staring back from the reflection in the home econs room?

But today's assembly was fun-ner because they were showcasing some drama performances, which was rather amusing, really, because of the juxtapositioning of real characters and make-believe emotions of the people acting. Frankly, it was initially very difficult at first to take them seriously, but soon I became rather, should I say, intrigued by the whole complicated charade. But calling it a charade would undermine it's artistic values. It was good effort by everyone, and nice to notice some fresh faces that we don't often see acting on stage. But it was an eye-opener, not due to their plot and facts they wanted to present to us, but due to the vastness of creativity that some posessed, to compromise for the space constraints and a non-existant budget. (not forgetting, of course, time constraints and social barriers that were tough tall hurdle to overcome)

And when entering the classroom, I suddenly remembered Shaojie's chocolate chip cookies that he was going to make (and then, already had made) for home econs. I've never really tasted such a good homemade cookie before, but then again, it was all already premixed and packaged. I couldn't taste the love in the dough. Maybe it only appealed to me on a superficial level, of taste and sensory delights, but it felt manufactured and insincere, like a mass-produced Christmas card that insurance companies sometimes give out in December.

Sadly, on the double decker 55 that I sat on, I had suddenly realized that the geography test was tomorrow and I didn't bring back my textbook, sending me into a frenzy of panic and instinctively I had an urge to mug zealously.

It's 9.31!
And I'm blogging from my dad's new Macbook Pro! (gleeful)

disturbing psychology

As they sipped tea laced with a dash of peppermint oil, sprinkled with fragrant rose buds that floated in darks red patches speckled over their Chai, they recalled stories of hot-air balloons and French race-cars washed in an auburn glow that shone like dancing fireflies by an octogonal garden. "More tea, Roger?" a mustached man vested in a tartan suit with a whitish pallour inquires with an eyebrow elegantly raised up in a furry arc over glassy irises. In the distance, a carnival whirred like clockwork, draped by an extravagant taupe covering with pictures of pear-picking in the forest in Autumn. Bronzed leaves floated in the air, transparently singing an empty tune with the breeze; gentle, unforceful harmonies intertwined with the frantic, soul-searching shrills of a nearby jackdaw to form the sounds of a passing season that blended with the orange glow of the evening's warmth.

And a few hours later, they reached the quaintish village that sparkled with the chink of champagne flutes as their hands lay supine on winter fleece embracing a mahogany chest. "Oh the stars evoke feelings of piquancy tonight," a gypsy girl mentions with a flash of off-white teeth from the front of the travelling caravan. Yellow, blue, red stripes raced around a tangerine canvas beside a flickering kerosene lantern, casting long exaggerated shadows that moved with inaudible creaks over the panels by the side. Yes, the moon in her wonderful luminance clothed the lines of the earth with a cloth of surreal lighting framed by the harshness of nearby apple orchards and pine forests.

I blog about the present

I feel as if I've been trapped inside this concrete box and am starting to turn neurotic because I'm screaming for help but I don't know what trouble I'm in and there is this face outside staring in that's smiling but really actually pretending to help all this while. Yes, pretending to help. While everyone is in a state of panic, the face just grins. Even if my punctuations were wrong The Face smiles on and slaps on a mark unworthy of its subject. Funny though, everyone else trapped in their own concrete boxes feel the same way too. The Face shows its cruelty in its unlimited mercy, though with a veneer of iciness that flashes through quivering bones perpetuating from a flip of its hair and a twirl of a purple crepe dress.

Cryptic, yes. Exaggerated, no. Sadly this is an actual situation that's happening right now. Where students have to turn to coffee sweets to keep them awake, in the long run causing them to develop an unhealthy dependance on caffeine to help them attain their pure sciences subject combination.

I reflect as I type

I remember when I was young, I would sit next to Ronald McDonald in Changi Airport and my grandfather would take photos of me with a Nikon film camera, of me frowning underneath a stripy yellow arm that embraced me, though coldly. Very old school, yes. I used to be quite frightened though—beneath the artificial glossiness of his face that would have been caked with plaster and thick crimson paint smeared over his empty grin, it was almost human and alive. I imagined a man trapped inside that hollow shell. I thought it would come alive to haunt me in my dreams, just like how I thought Thomas the train engine would.

I slept in my grandparents' room when I was perhaps 4. My grandparents would lay mattresses on the floor and my grandfather would sleep near me on the mattresses on the floor while my grandmother slept on the bed with a hot water bottle. I thought that was a strange system then, considering the bed was big enough to fit both of them and still have space for me, but I guess they didn't want me to scared or afraid. But I still was, anyway. I had nightmares of a a game show on TV where a supervillian would pick a random address to plant a bomb encased in a metal suitcase, and it happpened that, on one Sunday, they picked my house and I was begging my dad to go to church earlier that day. And to my horror he didn't want to. So I woke up and in the darkness, I saw a white figure floating in front of me. But it was just my grandfather's clothes.

And, also i once woke up to the sound of Japanese war planes—coming from a BBC program on the radio. The mattress had bears on it.

But, mostly my childhood memories are immortalized in photographs of me that I find difficult to be ashamed of. Afterall everyone looks cuter when they were young, right? However I still continue feeling bad about being a somewhat ugly baby 14 years ago.

fun with negative space and lines

Something that I did while listening to Neutral Milk Hotel. Holland, 1945, is a song evocative of Bohemian and surreal qualities that seems to, at the same time, reflect the horrors of humanity and tragedy amongst us.


Isn't it wonderful to be loved? I think it is. It gives one a feeling of reassurance and encouragement.
No I don't mean the desperate kind of love. I mean the kind that friends have and how God loves us. Somehow just thinking and pondering about it brightens my day.

I hate it when my network stalls

so i'm blogging instead of looking through the iTunes music store. Blame it on the network.

I'm having that feeling of overload these days, a contributing factor would probably be all my Saturdays being eaten up by school stuff. Such as ExcelFest and a briefing by mediacorp. *hushhush* Gah. But then again, it's probably my fear of disappointment that's making me stressed.

And, everyone's getting new phones these days. My dad recently got himself the cool new Nokia 6233. I still have to wait for 5 months before I can trade-in my beat-up 6230 (that has survived hundreds of thousands of falls) for a spankin' new N93/N92/N73. But that's just wishful thinking. He'll probably persuade (or psyche?) me to get the same phone as him. But in retrospect of past trends, my parents will get the same phone model while I'll wait a little while more and get a cooler one. But that's also wishful thinking. Ok. As long as it has a camera that can actually face me during video calls, I'm fine with it.

Oh no it's monday tomorrow =(

The fury that surges through their blood

ANGST
Originally uploaded by theonewiththebignose.

and in an aeroplane over the sea

Okay! I admit it. I'm so hopelessly indie.
Just be grateful I'm not emo. :D hoho.

It rained this morning and the whole class was parctically sleeping and you could see everyone's (well, nearly everyone) heads on the table. Such a drowsy snooze-inducing day. Then after school my lunch was spent rushing home econs with some other classmates! And I've finally completed it. (Proud)

Songs to listen to

I don't wanna do Chinese! Sadly, I need to drop it and take some other language because frankly, mandarin isn't the language for me.

That's why I'm gonna leave to go overseas where my future will be brighter and less—should I say—polluted with unneccesary clutter.

But anyway, here are some bands that I've discovered and love. (some probably a long time ago)

Neutral Milk Hotel
British Sea Power
The Arcade Fire
Lightning Seeds
The Subways
Her Space Holiday
Télépopmusik
Saint Etienne
Belle & Sebastian
Yo La Tengo
The Decemberists

And today be grateful that I've shared them with you.

I went to The Ricetable today with Mrs Ho and te other debaters. The food wasn't bad, in fact I quite liked the skewered chicken and the chendol. Nearly shiok but I was kinda too full then to appreciate the the rather complex aromas and flavour. Juicy! Haha

And then the rest of the day was spent wandering aimlessly, flitting from mall to mall. Until some us realized that there was Chinese O Level Oral Exam the next day so we went back.

Late Photos

As the title explains for itself, Late Photos means photos that I actually haven't gotten round to post. So here they are!

these photos are merely random events


Look what came through the post!


An exquisite pecan cake from Texas!


Some free publicity for Carl's Jr.! A double western burger with rashers of bacon and two enourmous beef patties with fried onions and relish with fries dripping in oil has successfully tricked me into putting on extra calories.


Feeling hungry? I guess the photo makes everything look less saturated and blander.


Burger with drink cup (including a free flow of sugary beverages!) for size comparison. Feel the cholesterol!



The person who is able to guess this movie (circa. 1960s) starring Audrey Hepburn showing on my TV gets a super cool thingy!



Something I did for my sister last term. It's... HER NAME!



The Pigeon Orchid growing on a Frangipani tree at the back of my chalet for the Brothers' Retreat


The Old Changi Hospital nearby. Notice how serene and tranquil it looks against the sunlight?



My sister and I posing like some sulky alternative indie band while on our way to the Mandai Crematorium.