Monday, May 28, 2007

Monday is dreary

I am so frustrated. With everything. But not to the point of tearing my hair out and slashing my wrists and then using my veins as knitting material. (The thought alone disturbs.)

I realized that I the Maths Olympiad is tomorrow but I have no prior preparations for it whatsoever since I'm not going for the trainings anymore. So, I'm prepared to flunk and get back a sympathetic certificate of participation.

And I've forgotten to blog about my report book! Bad: Didn't do well for all three sciences and A Maths (at least in my opinion, percentage and level position took a nose-dive. Good: 80-point-something percent for English which is an all-time high for me, A1 for E maths, A2 for literature (which was quite upsetting, but still—), slight improvement for CL which was immediately cancelled out upon the addition of my CA1 marks, B3 for Combined Humanities which was surprising since I suck at conforming my answers to the very evil and sneaky LORMS.

Interesting how everyone's using the holidays as an opportunity to revise and recap everything. I think I'll revise for Chemistry on the plane to Hong Kong, and key A Math concepts that everyone says is So So Soooo Very Important.

But Maths Olympiad is tomorrow!! At 7.45 am too. I'm so sure that I'll wake up 15 minutes late and then end up taking a cab to school, as with all other school activities that take place on a Saturday morning. (And having to endure the shameless criticism and passing comments that the grumpy security guard would inflict on me, because I'm not on speaking terms with him for reasons that are now obvious.)

Sunday, May 27, 2007

Liberating the fat from flesh

Water tastes sweet when you're suffering from extreme thirst, and music starts to become the soundtrack of your life when you're running in the park. I saw the branches entangling and veiling the sunlight to filter it in streams of light and warmth that you would briefly brush past while side-stepping the twigs and yellow blossoms. What a lark! What a plunge! — Clarissa Dalloway's Victorian/Edwardian-era comments seemed rather approriate at that moment, if and only if I was wearing a suit and top hat, while waving my stick around in an ambling, nonchalent fashion, probably. And my run ended when I collapsed straight into the wall of the lift.

Saw K.K. Seet in the newspapers today! Had a fright and nearly choked on my caramelized biscuits; day was nearly ruined. He has a partner and went to Pattaya, bought a house, and made flowery literary comments about the whole irony of things in his own distinct flamboyancy. But I shouldn't be presenting myself as being too homophobic should I?

I seriously loved this week! We won all three rounds in the LISHA-SBL prelims, and then on Thursday the literature class organized a trip to watch A Midsummer Night's Dream (in which everyone in the company had really cool hair and costumes, and impeccable pronunciation).



But before reaching the WRONG gate, a few of us went shopping to buy dinner/supper for the rest of the class. (Literature class: Mrs Koh hands me back the $72 that I had collected from my class and tells me to buy food with it and our eyes started gleaming at the thought of running loose at carrefour purchasing anything we fancied.) Met Christabel and Anqi while going down the escalator, realized that there's a difference between An-QI and An-CHEE, then met Jeremy at the entrance to Plaza Singapura.

At carrefour, we tried getting a trolley out but they wouldn't budge even after putting a one-dollar coin in, so we had to resort to using the slightly bigger, almost industrial-sized ones that I had difficulty maneuvering round sharp corners (particularly at the deli section, where the amalgamation of fickle minds caused... much laughs). Then, Limin, Joey and Debbie managed to catch up while we were perusing the drinks sections and while everyone else darted in opposite directions (to try to hide), I just HAD to be the one caught in the middle with a trolley the mass and mobility of the national stadium.



So, after the (rather pointless) chase, we bought $78 worth of supermarket produce and spent the next 45 minutes lugging out plastic bags to Fort Canning. Where we got lost. And felt immense fear when Joey went off to call Mrs Koh at the remote and I-Know-What-You-Did-Last-Summer-oblique-Nightmare-On-Elm-Street-esque Fort Gate (refer to photograph), and while taking photos, we heard a thunderous tenor voice coming from the ruins and all of us sort of freaked out, thinking that it was Joey transmuting into something strange/Joey being kidnapped by an over-zealous opera singer/Another strange ghostly encounter at Fort Canning, as usual.



We realized that we were at the wrong ticketing booth (we happened to find ourselves at the VIP-only area) so we had to retrace our steps to meet Mrs Koh, where, we, sigh, the commoners, had to queue up just to enter. And they branded our wrists with their evil blue-inked stamps! But having said that, it's still true that everyone had really nice hair (that wouldn't be appropriate in an image-conscious school) and intriguing costumes that might have warranted a PG-13 rating.

Ohhh yeah, A Midsummer Night's Dream was quite a pleasant show. Emma Yong's speech and voice is so articulate and perfect! However, I felt that the first part didn't have the adequate brevity it should have been given, being too confusing and lengthly for Shakespearen virgins like us. There were some moments of humour when Hermia whipped out her cellphone to call Lysander, and when Hermia and Helena started playing super-kiddy handclapping games. There were also moments of confusion, especially when Oberon was carried up and there was an arm that extended from his behind to support his crotch, which was glaringly phallic and I caught some parents looking rather flushed and uncomfortable. Otherwise, the play was quite family-friendly and cosy, with its stage that extended to where the audience was seated/picnicking.



On Friday, I went jamming with Cheekit, Gracie, Valerie, Stephanie and Christine (and Jeremy was supposed to go as well). We had to change our uniform tops, for obvious reasons, and made our way to Four Tones Music at Clarke Quay, finding ourselves at a seedy-looking flight of stairs up a narrow shophouse that smelt like stale cigarette smoke, testerone and expired curry puffs. The studio, however, was very cosy and had a rather boho vibe to it. We arrived there at about 3 I think, and we were told to wait for about 45 minutes due to a power failure (I think?)

Well, so we went to the nearby Han's Foodvillage to kill time, and I had my lunch. I ordered an Aglio olio something and it was really spicy.





And this was just one of the many exciting desserts I had last saturday! (and email me if you want the photos. And no, I don't do MSN file-transfers because I rarely use MSN and file sharing through IM is just so below me, haha.)



There were macaroons! And the tiramisu was drenched in Marsala wine and rum and tasted really authentic, especially when every bite released liberal amounts of alcohol that gave one a temporary high. Truly, wonderfully, satisfying.
After lunch, watched a debating disaster at library@orchard but went down to art friend halfway through. Made my way to NAFA to meet Elizabeth, Ruimin, Limin and Joey to go for the NJC Aristol concert at Ngee Ann Poly, which was really an eye-opener (though some dances were not as co-ordinated as wished). Joey didn't have a ticket! And Nicole arrived with the Shaker Fries Of Relief And Nourishment!



Ruimin and Elizabeth! They look like they're in a frosty airport at dawn. Airport Photographs, I have realized, need to have (i) A dark background to give the illusion of a freezing morning/night, (2) Props like sweaters, scarves, shawls, cardigans and the like. Ear muffs might be a little overkill. And (3) wide smiles, slightly sleepy eyes, and hair that is oh-so-lightly ruffled, to suggest a long-haul flight but still enough to let some radiancy and enthusiasm seep through.




Nice, eh. There was this dance by the winners of an anti-drug competition that was really cute, and the impressive performance by the Indian GWH Dance. There were quite avant-garde performances that I liked as well, from the Chinese Dance and Malay Dance that added some sophistication, albeit diluting tradition with Western influences. Western dance had this contemporary piece that I felt was one of the better dances (but of course i am but a mere, casual observer and dance is but an acquaintance that laughs at my inflexibility so I shall leave Elizabeth to mock my lame review -.-)

Friday, May 25, 2007

uggghhkk

Don't feel like blogging but still blogging anyway because I love jamming and upset over SA1 marks and the fact that i didn't get an A1 for literature after averaging everything out and my level position sucks and i've too many things on my mind and I shouldn't burden anyone should I, so what the heck I'll start ranting and I'm stuck in an unforgiving viscious cycle so someone somewhere why don't you save me because now would be a good time.

Grandparents love it that my sister has 5As for midyears. Ok, great, wonderful. Well too bad I ain't in raffles right but the latest issue of ri inspire has to arrive to mock me. We're now not allowed to 'loiter' about in our school uniform so no one can really go out to mcdonald's for lunch. And who were the idiots who went to ntuc to remove every lid off the ice-cream tubs? Why am I so prejudiced against certain sec 2s who are in express but still insist on presenting themselves to be nothing more than drop-outs, thieves, and vamps?

What a picturesque memory to grow up with. Such poignancy, such ambivalence. I could migrate elsewhere to sit on handwoven rugs and eat grapes all day, spouting psuedo-poetry from my lunacy.

Monday, May 21, 2007

Ambitious holiday reading list



Actually, I'm just bearing the guilt of not reading the books that I've asked my dad to buy (partly because at kinokuniya/borders sales I usually go crazy and get any book that looks interesting without thinking twice).

We have to do a portfolio for English Literature! Perhaps it may seem rather tiresome, but I'm kind of excited about the whole project. And as a side-note, I'm really wondering where my sec 2 literature project on Animal Farm is now, because I really like the articles I wrote on that 'publication'. Also, because I wrote and printed and pasted the entire compilation but the thing was group work... which totally did not foster a good environment for teamwork.

I'm excited/exhausted/exuberant because...
There's the LISHA-SBL debates this Wednesday!
Lit. class is going to watch A Midsummer Night's Dream on Thursday!
I'm going jamming this Friday, followed by a dinner with my family somewhere nearby clarke quay. (I hope we get to go to Paisley and Cream!)
There's a philatelic trail at Fort Canning this Saturday and I'm going with my mum and sister. AND after that we're probably having a debate outing, and then in the evening I'm going for the NJC concert.

Yay :D

Sunday, May 20, 2007

High on helium; Choir committee 2007/2008

My sister inhaled some helium from her balloon that she got at Hog's Breath Cafe yesterday and was speaking in a squeaky shrill voice that sort of left us in fits of laughter. The series of incidences that led to her obtaining the balloon was a rather... hilarious but humiliating one that involved having to behave half one's age.

Anyway, I'll just make a short unofficial first speech as the choir president now.
I am so proud to be in the Xinmin Chorale, however cheesy that may have sounded, but still, it's true, and I am really excited to work with my new committee: Mingting, Royson, Angeline, Gavin, Xinyi, Marcus, Abigail, Nicholas, Gwen, Vivian, Elizabeth, Wendy, Leonard, Tengyong, Stuart and Colin! Wow, that's 16 people. OK, even though SYF's over, I think we'll have to start working on training the juniors (esp. the sec 2s!!) and get to know the sec 1s. Furthermore, I am really glad that we have a sec 1 in the committee! (And he's in bass. *proud*)

And how interesting that Angeline, Mingting and I are all debaters! So juniors won't dare mess with us! (smug) Besides, choir has always produced a number of debaters. Except last year. And this year. Sigh.

I really really miss the times we had in Perth now. But that was 2 years ago! I bet the memories are making people feel old already. Or watching Les Choristes in the cinema/library. I am speaking in incoherent fragments that my English teachers will all frown on.

I remember the first committee meeting with mrs yeap during homecoming day last year!

No Zhaozhi, I don't know what's that funny chinese phrase you posted on my tagboard!

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Twister Days

Had lots of fun playing Twister last Tuesday. And... last Tuesday was also Ruimin's 16th birthday! Made her a bookmark which I'm very proud of. Okay I'm a bad gifter, because I am so not an original person.

So are some photos to document the fun we had:








Well, we played in a tournament format including a wildcard round, and after a series of selection of winners from the different gender categories, we held a grand finals with Mei Jun, Cheekit, Zhangfan and Limin (and Seow Koon as the wildcard participant), where Limin was crowned the Twister champion (and looked pissed and angry when she stomped off afterwards, causing great concern), with Cheekit as the 1st runner-up!




My Twister mat needs SERIOUS airing now!!

We played murderer after that. The squeezey-hand version. I made the stupid mistake of accidentally killing myself and it was such a waste too, because I was having so much fun. Darn.

After that, Jeremy suggested we play Polar Bear. I was the polar bear for one round, and suddenly Zhangfan somehow knew that, and I ended up being accused by the mob of angry villagers. LOL! And the funny part was when Seow Koon was always the one who gets killed by the polar bears, followed by He Xiang, and how Christine was always the murderer/polar bear and how it's always the quiet ones who are evil.

301 totally rocks! Everyone is really sporting, especially with Christabel, who was the 'emcee' of sorts, and kept the class entertained (when, as dictated by post exam activity schedules, it should have been me. haha oops). After that, we went to watch a movie in the hall, where I ended up taking a nap.

Death, disease, dissent, discontent, distaste, disgust, diahorrea, damnation, deprivation, desolacy, dickheads.

I got really pissed off by certain members of the lower sec today. Their behaviour during the talks in the hall were so gawd awful, they showed no sort of attention-span at all, and their attitudes were severely shitty and even saying that would be an understatement. The senior batch is glad to graduate this year when they wouldn't yet have to endure another year of such rotten scumbag schizzle, my junior in SLB is starting to hate the school, the discipline master calls them assholes (as in, "you're letting them watch a movie? You're being too nice to these assholes" and I shake my head sadly in agreement), the teachers have no longer any control (but how does one control the spread of stupidity??) and are even rather horrified at the state of things and everyone is not having fun, except the few people with their oh-so-funky hairdo, uber funky lip piercing, even funkier shoes, funky ultra mini small structured bags, funky accents, funky ways of doing things WHICH ARE SO ULTRA FUNKY AND WAAAY WACKY AND COOL AND DID I MENTION FUNKAAAAY?? Hello?? They were kicking a basketball from one end of the backstage to the other end in view of everyone in the hall who was "listening" to the Vision Care talk, while there was a SPEAKER who was freaking SPEAKING while they embarrassed the hell out of everyone (wait no— few would have cared anyway) and rushed out of the backstage when Wet and I went to check, laughing like empty-headed morons and in the process of making a quick escape, toppling over a heavy wooden-framed banner. It would take a visionaire to be able to find a speck of microscopic nano-hope in them. You know. I hate being in this school too. Sometimes I love being here, but occurrances of that happening have dwindled. The teachers rock. Our principal has a professionalism attached to her that inspires respect and awe. Most of the student population still cares about our reputation. It's that freaking handful of insensitive, immature, ungrateful kiddies that ought to be gassed. Sealed in the hall where the mustard/nerve gases will seep in. Solves our problems in a cinch. Of course, my voice is dripping with angry sarcasm but if I could use words like a knife, I'd give them a 'short, sharp, shock', to quote Gilbert and Sullivan's The Mikado. Then I'd use their guts to form avant-garde installation art pieces. They'd add a touch of serious funk.

Monday, May 14, 2007

mad

OMG NO. ROYSTON TAN CAME TO SCHOOL TODAY BUT OH WHERE WAS I OH YES I WAS IN THE PARADE SQUARE BEING ASSAULTED BY A FREAKING WATER POWERED ROCKET THAT SPAT WATER IN MY FACE!!!

WHY.

Friday, May 11, 2007

So anyway
I was looking through the blogs of my ex classmates


they all
blog like this

My initial feelings of euphoria have now been replaced with ennui and bitterness.

Just kidding!

Although I do feel rather, not down or depressed, but, like, dull. I have the most boring life ever. So to add adventure/glamour/mystery to everyday routine, I'm coming up with different ways to express grief. Don't ask me why, I don't feel like doing anything.



Borrrred already. Maybe I shall go to the esplanade library to start borrowing scores again.
Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

I feel rather happy about my biology paper today, especially the colourful notes that I did. I hated my essays.

E maths was quite easy apart from the matrix question that I panicked while doing, and the annoying question about a machine making 5 mp3 players in x minutes.

So here's the anticipated ranking of results:
1) English
2) Literature
3) E Maths
4) History
5) Biology
6) Social Studies
7) A Maths
8) Physics
9) Chinese
10) Chemistry

Oh sigh T_T Andrea and Sherina and the rest are probably at the cinema now watching Spiderman 3. How depressing. But...
I'VE WATCHED IT FIRST BWAHAHA!

Okay so now that the exams are over I can't wait to watch re-runs of Veronica Mars on Channel 5 with my sister who is obviously much more popular than me already because she folds her skirt and 'accidently' leaves her blouse untucked and wears ankles socks and draws on her shoes and wears bright blue ear studs to school and rarely pins up her fringe and doesn't flinch about coming to school in ankle socks and carries a clutch around school with funky prints from a hip bookstore in town. I mean, how cool is that? Sec 1s are so cool! I found it ironic that some of them were complaining about having a few papers for mid years, and perhaps they forgot that their seniors had 20 papers. But it's like that every year. Did I mention how awesomely fantastically supremely cool sec 1s are? Oh—the feeling of liberation to skip down the hallway with half a shirt flapping in the wind, the happiness of listening to your funky processed poppy music and blasting it real loud so thaat everyone can share the same joy that you feel (thank goodness Esther never does that), the exhilaration of getting all chummy with SLs with funky hair and an equally funky vocabulary! Oh what joy it is to be young and free again!

I think the sec 1s this year are maturing very quickly, though not as quickly as the previous sec 1s, they're definitely light years faster than my batch. Which may be a good thing or a bad thing. Last year they were playing catching, running all over the canteen; year before last, they were slinking around solitarily by the green outdoor benches, silently worried about the fact that Village By The Sea was not in stock—how on earth were they going to study literature?? And why do I keep talking about sec 1s??

Thursday, May 10, 2007

The sixth day of mid-year's



Physics was anticlimatic, and I think I'm going to fail chinese listening comprehension. I'm so worried for biology paper tomorrow...

And the 7-11 near school stocks Ben & Jerry's and Cadbury Creme Eggs, which is like so cool. I was looking for peanut butter m&ms (that were still not in stock, said the cashier in a matter-of-factly tone. hmrphh.) and Limin popped out from behind a shelf with a high pitched "boo!" and I was like, aghast and very amused because it was so random -.- And Kaihong, Christabel, she and Andrea walked out of 7-11 without buying anything after causing a din that rather disturbed the cashier behind the counter eagerly reading The New Paper.
I love exams!

Wednesday, May 09, 2007

The fifth day of mid-year's

A maths and history was quite do-able. I think I could have done better for A maths because there wasn't enough time for me to check through the paper once more.

More importantly, Ko Matsushita has a blog and a forum!! He's the coolest composer in Asia, I feel.

I'm going to start studying for the dreaded physics paper that the physics department has been boasting about. I'm planning to upset the bell-curve (in a good way, preferably).

Tuesday, May 08, 2007

The fourth day of mid-year's

As I type, I'm almost half-writhe with agony due to a blister that formed on my thumb while doing question 2b) of my literature paper. I know that Mrs Koh is going to kill me because I misquoted something from TKAM.

To gear up for tomorrow's History paper, I found this video about Nazi concentration camps



It's rather disturbing, but in the 21st century, that's nothing compared to the visuals that children see everytime they play video games. Sigh.

Monday, May 07, 2007

The Third Day Of Mid-year's

has left be greatly traumatized and in a daze.

Social Studies was fun and I loved all the writing. I did the essay on meritocracy and the healthcare system in Britain.

Chemistry was like those soft old grannies you thought you could trust, but once your back's turned, they empty their bottle of strychnine into your tauhu goreng. The chemical formula for strychnine is C21H22N2O2. I can't do subscripts.

So nayways, once the paper was over, I looked around in desperation to find some other student who harboured the same hurt and scarred emotions that I felt, and found most of them calmly handing in their question sheets, coolly laid-back and giving the impression that they've never felt more secure in their whole lives. Or was it the same feeling of waking up from a coma, confused and hazy?

Shaking, I drowned my sorrows with a bottle of water, and hobbled out to find everyone yakking about the paper (as usual). Apparently, no one could finish the paper (or they did, but crapped out the answers for the other questions). The corridoor of emotional nullity was scattered with the upsetting wailing of some, the betrayed looks that others gave, and the mood was similar to the "like flotsam tossed up from a former passion" of One Flesh fame. (actually, not really, because I've taken that out of context.)

I dragged myself over to 305 to find people weeping and screaming contempt, shaking their heads in sad dismay as they flipped through their TYSes and FYSes in horror. Ambling around the neighbourhood in a fit of anger and resentment with Andrea, who was secretly happy that triple science students were clearly upset with the exam because it meant that he wasn't the only one, I sulked all the way to 7-11 and nearly bawled when they didn't have any more peanut butter M&Ms. However, there were the fabled Cadbury Creme Eggs that smiled at me from the shelf behind, and my moment of elation was again undermined by the sudden realization that it wasn't me that sat for the chemistry paper; it was the chemistry paper that sat for me—and received high allocades for the A1s it would receive.

We went back to the canteen and while having a chat with Vera and Francesca, something about the uniform struck me. It was hideous and its fitting was like the Elephant Man of all the uniforms in the world. Talked about Andrea's fashion sense and the unlikely couple sitting behind, and then I left for the library to seek solace and escape in an issue of the National Geographic.

Went to Junction 8 with sister to get birthday present for our father, saw Jonathan and Annie from church (but not at the same time), walked around, bought stuff, walked even more, went home. However, at the gate, we rang the doorbell countless times, called the house phone and yelled for my grandparents, but they couldn't hear our screams and we ended up waiting helplessly outside and had to resort to calling our mum. So, we walked back to J8 and I had a haircut and Esther walked around, and reached home. It seemed that my grandparents were in their room and they had closed the door, so they couldn't hear anything. It was vaguely amusing, in that we called home several times, rang the doorbell incessantly, but received no answer whatsoever.

I'm going for another dinner today, after going for one yesterday to celebrate my grandmother's birthday. This time it's my dad's birthday and we've gotten him a lovely card from Prints and a cutesy hand-shaped massager to soothe the temples while having a headache. If he puts it in his office, he'll be the funkiest teacher in edgefield, I suppose.

I await E maths and literature tomorrow!

Friday, May 04, 2007

Just for novelty's sake, I'm going to do one of those short autobiographies that pretentious young things like putting in as their self-introduction.



The name is Samuel—indiefied personified whateverified; he's still eons cooler than ya, either way. Poetry, prose and creative writing inspire him, and he works under the influence of alternative rock! Choir, debate and art are in his yes-book while the emo trend makes him weary of the world. He has da uberliciously funkaayyyy specs and wants to get lasiked. Not really that badly. Is really an extrovert trapped in sheep's clothing, since 5th January 1992. Yeah, he craves pressies and cookies. Yummmilicious; how dapper is that.



So anyway I was just wondering how different people in my life have made an impression on me and it just so happens that I take them for-granted and at certain occasions, feel selfishly upset when they start to move on and appear to have forgotton about me (because in every organization that I happen to be in there's always another guy called Samuel who's always cooler and more popular. Somewhat.)

Why am I so childish and immature? Eurgh.

I hate my CA1 marks

A1 for E maths
B4 for A maths and combined humans.
Andrea: I only got 80something for chem/physics... it's not high enough.
Limin and I will probably hunt and murder him at night like the SS in Nazi Germany.
I hate studying chinese just because that's my race. No that's only like half my race.
Was mugging A maths earlier, am mad at my calculators. I'm going to buy a new one next week/borrow my sister's one.
I love exams but I don't like the strings attached.
Going to RJC tomorrow to study/peep at U14 debates.
Can't wait to go to
(i) Victoria Chorale concert
(ii) NJC concert
(iii) Maybe the hwachong concert
(iv) HK this June!
Literature today was so unproductive.
Biology was refreshing.
History was interesting and memorable.
English was, and has been, non-existant.
Mum and Sister talking about how important mid-years are for her.
At least she gets to skip O levels and take the IB.
What a fashionable education she'll have.
I want to dig a hole to and crawl inside wallow in my insecurities.
I prefer unseen poetry to TKAM.

Wednesday, May 02, 2007

MT Papers of Disaster

Ever get that feeling that you're writing utter rubbish in the middle of an exam? I'm glad that most of my chinese papers are over and I can now forget about speaking in mandarin because frankly my head is about to burst. On a traumatizing ride back home, I was subjected to a painful speech that Lee Hsien Long made in mandarin and it sounded remotely like a cross between German (if one could close one's ears to avoid the temporary impairments it would make) and a pig in heat. But of course, it isn't easy for someone more fluent in English to fake fluency in mandarin, and I can sympathise, for obvious reasons. I have yet to find someone who can speak English and mandarin without sounding like a cholera victim halfway through. Perhaps it can be the holy grail of the linguistic world, I don't know.

Sister's friends are over in my kitchen making their onde onde. Their giggly noisies and incessant squealing reminds one of the embarrassing sec 1 days, when wearing socks barely visible above the shoes was considered cool and everyone was spiking their hair even though it was supposed to be centre-parting-straight-cut. Gross!

Anyway she owes me $10 and I fear that I may forget her ever increasing debts one day, some day. Probably when I reach thirty, I'll suddenly remember, while staring blankly at the mirror a la Harry Whatshisname in Spiderman 2, and go berserk, wild with impatience accumulated over the years.

I hear their strange contorted noises from the kitchen as I type and I cannot help but feel a little envious of their fellowship, or something.

I hate my new blogskin but I can't seem to find a better one :(