An airport-ish photograph of Elizabeth and Ruimin!
(I once blogged about this airport-ish photograph last year because it had a very dark background and there were jackets around which suggested chilly environments and they were exuding this happy glow which all pointed to: airport. But of course, it could also be fish marketesque or concertilicious or expo seminar-y, but airport-ish is far more exciting.)
Anyway, they are going to hong kong for hkapa auditions and they've been talking about running away to kong kong since like late 2005 so I'm really excited for them!
And last night, I also read one of the worst issues of reader's digest ever, but I'll write about it another time.
(And my auditions are on the same day too! Er, I think.)
I need to look for another word that is synonymous with 'excited'. Like, 'stoked', or 'frenetic' if I was really excited. And 'elated' is so primary school compo writing.
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Friday, May 30, 2008
Barely survived the 4-hour chemistry marathon lesson today! We went through the entire chunk of organic chemistry chapters, save for one small bit.
Anyway, found this on mcsweeney's:
Possible Titles for To Kill a Mockingbird If It Had Been Based on What My Mother Said Was Sinful
Time for a refresher of whatever I've learnt in sec 3 literature!
Anyway, found this on mcsweeney's:
Possible Titles for To Kill a Mockingbird If It Had Been Based on What My Mother Said Was Sinful
Time for a refresher of whatever I've learnt in sec 3 literature!
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Pictures: When we realised that the holidays were here
Is there life beyond Ben & Jerry's? I have in mind four other non-B&J alternatives that are just as wonderful, without having to part with as much cash.
The first is actually the sea salt and caramel ice-cream from Azabu Sabo. I once took a picture of a scoop I ate last year, but I lost the file in the Great Crash of '07. I have never been satisfied with the service at Azabu Sabo though.
The second one I sampled and found to be not-bad was from this gelato from a stall at the basement of Liang Court, near Meidi-ya. My sister and tried the milk tea flavour and it's quite refreshing actually.
The next one was discovered on a supposedly window-shopping adventure to the Isetan basement with my mum and sister, where we ended up buying more sushi and ice cream and match-flavoured caramel corn. What sold us when we saw the matcha ice-cream was not the fact that it was on offer and ridiculously cheap for its serving-size and quality (around $1.90 a tub, after discount), but because we saw a woman who rushed to the freezer and stashed more than 10 tubs of it into her basket without giving much thought. It comes with creamy matcha-flavoured swirls!
The last one on my list, is, of course, the ice cream from island creamery. I didn't like the tiger beer one because it didn't pack much punch, but I seriously love the nutella ice-cream. (I also lost my pictures for this.)
But this isn't really the main objective of this post, which wasn't supposed to be ice-cream-centric at all.
Yesterday, my family went on an outing to the Peranakan Museum at the old Asian Civilisations site at Armenian Street. I saw ubiquitous kasuk maniks and kebayas, among other interesting stuff. What's really weird about going to a museum about your own community (somewhat) is the fact that you can pick out familiar faces from the age-old photographs around the exhibits. At least, they weren't familiar to me, but my dad saw his old kampung neighbours, my mum saw her gynae etc. etc., that sort of thing. It's the kind of museum that you want to bring your aged parents to, to see what kind of stories they can recall just by looking at various paraphernalia at the various exhibits. I'm just afraid that my grandmother is still sore about not being able find her older kebayas, blaming their mysterious disappearance on the maid who left ten years ago. (Why do everyone's grandmothers seem to have bad experiences with maids?)
The inclusion of my dad in the above photograph was deliberate.
Cute cat sculpture!
After that, we went for a buffet dinner at Grand Plaza Park. I prefer the spread here to the one at the Marriot, although both are quite good as well.
I think what I enjoy most at buffets are the countless food-plating opportunities. Unlike cooking at home or eating a la carte at a restaurant, I actually have, like, a zillion pieces of food at my disposal, and plenty of room for experimentation. My favourite is the salad bar because salad has that wonderful tossed-about insouciance. Salads are playful. Sushi is not. However, I didn't really take pictures of the my salads, although the miso dressing I opted to drizzle left me with dazzling impressions of its salad bar. Here are some of my better attempts:
I can't stand plates that have to be so ornate and gold-trimmy and patterned. I prefer my plates white and plain, although I wouldn't mind experimentation in terms of shape. Sushi is so difficult to plate, because they have evil inorganic shapes, much like lego bricks. Sashimi is not too bad, but smoked salmon, its western counterpart, is a better friend because it allows itself to be draped around other stuff on the plate. But enough rambling. I love salmon sashimi. Look at how the fat marbles and swirls around with the fresh orange meat!
This is my favourite. I've paired a single mussel, au gratine, and veal. (Yes, I do eat veal.) I like my food parallel. Also, I like my gravy drizzled artfully that borders on pretentiousness.
I think this particular plate would have benefitted from some sauce/gravy. Otherwise, it's not too bad and I'm happy about it.
I didn't fare so well with dessert presentation, partially because I was two hours into my meal and didn't have any more creative energy to enthusiastically decorate a strawberry cheesecake with such zealousness and artistic depth, and partially because I was the worst cake-cutter in the entire restaurant. I felt so apologetic after ruining the symmetry of chocolate truffle cake, but it's just cake! I just stick a fork into it and put it in my mouth. The chocolate fondue, however, is something that I still remorsefully reminisce, because all I had were three sticks of chocolate-dipped melons and a scrumptious Belgian waffle. Chocolate fondues often provoke a Pavlovian response in me, but chocolate fountains are getting tacky.
Holiday lessons start tomorrow! :(
The first is actually the sea salt and caramel ice-cream from Azabu Sabo. I once took a picture of a scoop I ate last year, but I lost the file in the Great Crash of '07. I have never been satisfied with the service at Azabu Sabo though.
The second one I sampled and found to be not-bad was from this gelato from a stall at the basement of Liang Court, near Meidi-ya. My sister and tried the milk tea flavour and it's quite refreshing actually.
The next one was discovered on a supposedly window-shopping adventure to the Isetan basement with my mum and sister, where we ended up buying more sushi and ice cream and match-flavoured caramel corn. What sold us when we saw the matcha ice-cream was not the fact that it was on offer and ridiculously cheap for its serving-size and quality (around $1.90 a tub, after discount), but because we saw a woman who rushed to the freezer and stashed more than 10 tubs of it into her basket without giving much thought. It comes with creamy matcha-flavoured swirls!
The last one on my list, is, of course, the ice cream from island creamery. I didn't like the tiger beer one because it didn't pack much punch, but I seriously love the nutella ice-cream. (I also lost my pictures for this.)
But this isn't really the main objective of this post, which wasn't supposed to be ice-cream-centric at all.
Yesterday, my family went on an outing to the Peranakan Museum at the old Asian Civilisations site at Armenian Street. I saw ubiquitous kasuk maniks and kebayas, among other interesting stuff. What's really weird about going to a museum about your own community (somewhat) is the fact that you can pick out familiar faces from the age-old photographs around the exhibits. At least, they weren't familiar to me, but my dad saw his old kampung neighbours, my mum saw her gynae etc. etc., that sort of thing. It's the kind of museum that you want to bring your aged parents to, to see what kind of stories they can recall just by looking at various paraphernalia at the various exhibits. I'm just afraid that my grandmother is still sore about not being able find her older kebayas, blaming their mysterious disappearance on the maid who left ten years ago. (Why do everyone's grandmothers seem to have bad experiences with maids?)
The inclusion of my dad in the above photograph was deliberate.
Cute cat sculpture!
After that, we went for a buffet dinner at Grand Plaza Park. I prefer the spread here to the one at the Marriot, although both are quite good as well.
I think what I enjoy most at buffets are the countless food-plating opportunities. Unlike cooking at home or eating a la carte at a restaurant, I actually have, like, a zillion pieces of food at my disposal, and plenty of room for experimentation. My favourite is the salad bar because salad has that wonderful tossed-about insouciance. Salads are playful. Sushi is not. However, I didn't really take pictures of the my salads, although the miso dressing I opted to drizzle left me with dazzling impressions of its salad bar. Here are some of my better attempts:
I can't stand plates that have to be so ornate and gold-trimmy and patterned. I prefer my plates white and plain, although I wouldn't mind experimentation in terms of shape. Sushi is so difficult to plate, because they have evil inorganic shapes, much like lego bricks. Sashimi is not too bad, but smoked salmon, its western counterpart, is a better friend because it allows itself to be draped around other stuff on the plate. But enough rambling. I love salmon sashimi. Look at how the fat marbles and swirls around with the fresh orange meat!
This is my favourite. I've paired a single mussel, au gratine, and veal. (Yes, I do eat veal.) I like my food parallel. Also, I like my gravy drizzled artfully that borders on pretentiousness.
I think this particular plate would have benefitted from some sauce/gravy. Otherwise, it's not too bad and I'm happy about it.
I didn't fare so well with dessert presentation, partially because I was two hours into my meal and didn't have any more creative energy to enthusiastically decorate a strawberry cheesecake with such zealousness and artistic depth, and partially because I was the worst cake-cutter in the entire restaurant. I felt so apologetic after ruining the symmetry of chocolate truffle cake, but it's just cake! I just stick a fork into it and put it in my mouth. The chocolate fondue, however, is something that I still remorsefully reminisce, because all I had were three sticks of chocolate-dipped melons and a scrumptious Belgian waffle. Chocolate fondues often provoke a Pavlovian response in me, but chocolate fountains are getting tacky.
Holiday lessons start tomorrow! :(
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
501 posts-old!
Have been meaning to blog about this movie (along with other things as well) for a very long time. This is a scene from Roy Andersson's Songs From The Second Floor. It's so beautiful! So poignant! So surreal! etc. I really like this particular scene. It highlights his solitary state with song, framed with a subway setting.
On a similar topic, this year's Cannes Film Festival has ended this morning. Of particular interest to me was Eric Khoo's My Magic that was running for the much-coveted Palm d'or award. While I furiously wrote out my gong1 han2, the winners were being announced a few time zones away. My Magic didn't win, but I'm still proud to see Singapore being represented at these events. (But my sudden nationalism ends here, okay.)
Also, that Sayang Sayang show about a Peranakan family is so contrived, right down to the last rempah blot on the !#$*#^ flowery batik shirts that the babas would wear as they tuck into their ayam buah keluak. It stretches the limits of campiness. My grandfather probably wouldn't ever be caught dead in them, and my grandmother doesn't have time to wear pretty kebayas all day. Is being Peranakan that much of a novelty that the media would churn out comedies based on popular stereotypes?
And speaking of bad taste, Breadtalk's Sichuan pandas are unappetizing and they reek of insensitivity. So okay, fine, they are using the proceeds as aid money, that's fair enough. But to bank on such a tragedy? To cute-ify suffering with the rather tame and kawaiified faces of pandas in pain? Isn't there a better way to raise money that does not involve making a mockery of such a disaster?
Monday, May 26, 2008
“一分耕耘，一分收获”
对于今天的考试，我没有信心会拿到A1。所出的报章报道题目，我都从来没有尝试过。此外，我带来的G2笔refill不是蓝色，反而是紫色！我差点哭了，令我吓得几乎名落孙山。
Anyway, I'm going to revert back to writing in English for now. The past few days have been a real test of my linguistic elasticity and flexibility, really. Am starting to dream in Chinese. Am wishing that I could re-eat the super-cute chocolate-pudding-chocolate-candy that I bought from meidi-ya yesterday.
I actually am envying elizabeth and ruimin as well, because they can fly all the way to hong kong for auditions! Me, I take 156 and drop off at bukit timah. Meh. But it's not like hong kong is the number one place I want to be in the world right now, because it's hot and humid. Call it a classic case of sour grapes, or whatever, but I seriously hate the weather now. (As in, the weather in most parts of the world that is between the tropic of cancer and capricorn right now)
Anyway, I'm going to revert back to writing in English for now. The past few days have been a real test of my linguistic elasticity and flexibility, really. Am starting to dream in Chinese. Am wishing that I could re-eat the super-cute chocolate-pudding-chocolate-candy that I bought from meidi-ya yesterday.
I actually am envying elizabeth and ruimin as well, because they can fly all the way to hong kong for auditions! Me, I take 156 and drop off at bukit timah. Meh. But it's not like hong kong is the number one place I want to be in the world right now, because it's hot and humid. Call it a classic case of sour grapes, or whatever, but I seriously hate the weather now. (As in, the weather in most parts of the world that is between the tropic of cancer and capricorn right now)
Sunday, May 25, 2008
虽然A1是我的⋯
⋯但是为什么我还那么担忧，对明天的考试有那么消极、劳倦的态度？昨天傍晚，当我正在温习华文资料的时候，我突然想起了华老师讲过的几句话，给我留了深刻的影响。她说，她曾经有教过一名学生，为了会考预备背熟了几篇文章，然后在考场上拼命把预备的文章抄上考卷，终于拿到了A1。其实，他不是A1水平的学生，而且他这样做仿佛是打赌一样。
虽然这事件没有使得全班狒狒扬扬地讨论那名学生的行为，但是，我突然大吃了一惊，因为我还也是像他一样：华文水平往往是落下人后的，而我是所谓的 ”香蕉人”，外皮原本是黄色的，但是里面总是白色。我不值得优异的华文成绩， A1怎样可以属于我的呢？
依我看，我实在是太担心明天的考试了。（昨晚还梦到考试中多种最坏情况，有些是非常荒谬的，令我睡醒后感到有点困惑，有点古怪。）
Hm，情长纸短，我必须早点儿睡眠，在这儿停笔。希望明天会聚精会神，考试题目也不会那么”意外“没做得到的。
（哦，我也买了日本巧克力糖和我最喜欢的 macaroons当作物质鼓励！（开心果和熏衣草味道！）∧∧ ）
虽然这事件没有使得全班狒狒扬扬地讨论那名学生的行为，但是，我突然大吃了一惊，因为我还也是像他一样：华文水平往往是落下人后的，而我是所谓的 ”香蕉人”，外皮原本是黄色的，但是里面总是白色。我不值得优异的华文成绩， A1怎样可以属于我的呢？
依我看，我实在是太担心明天的考试了。（昨晚还梦到考试中多种最坏情况，有些是非常荒谬的，令我睡醒后感到有点困惑，有点古怪。）
Hm，情长纸短，我必须早点儿睡眠，在这儿停笔。希望明天会聚精会神，考试题目也不会那么”意外“没做得到的。
（哦，我也买了日本巧克力糖和我最喜欢的 macaroons当作物质鼓励！（开心果和熏衣草味道！）∧∧ ）
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
很久没上网写在博客了！
上个星期，我拿回了学校考试成绩，显示了我跟A1有十四分的距离！我对这样的现象感到百感交集，因为B4不但不是一个非常优异的成绩，但是，这也是我第一次拿到一个B。（此外，我的报章报道的表现不理想，因为我没及格。）
除非有 NAPFA test 的时侯，我从来没有上一堂那么激烈的体育课！今天，我和cheekit跟xinyu和zhaojin打羽毛球！我们都玩的十分激烈，令我满身大汗，连全T恤被汗淋湿了。有于今天太阳晒得很强烈，教室内也很闷热，我和我班的terence打算走去喝汽水。但是当我们一回到班，他发现他的水壶不见了，偶然便怀疑我拿到了他的水壶并把它藏在别的地方。（后来，我们浪费了两个钟头的时光和口水在教室里的每个角落找水壶，终于找到了那罐黑水壶，“无所事事”地伪装在桌子底下的一个黑书包。我们看到了它，觉得非常 — 。－ ）
我很讨厌用电脑打汉字。
_ _
\ (O_o) /
上个星期，我拿回了学校考试成绩，显示了我跟A1有十四分的距离！我对这样的现象感到百感交集，因为B4不但不是一个非常优异的成绩，但是，这也是我第一次拿到一个B。（此外，我的报章报道的表现不理想，因为我没及格。）
除非有 NAPFA test 的时侯，我从来没有上一堂那么激烈的体育课！今天，我和cheekit跟xinyu和zhaojin打羽毛球！我们都玩的十分激烈，令我满身大汗，连全T恤被汗淋湿了。有于今天太阳晒得很强烈，教室内也很闷热，我和我班的terence打算走去喝汽水。但是当我们一回到班，他发现他的水壶不见了，偶然便怀疑我拿到了他的水壶并把它藏在别的地方。（后来，我们浪费了两个钟头的时光和口水在教室里的每个角落找水壶，终于找到了那罐黑水壶，“无所事事”地伪装在桌子底下的一个黑书包。我们看到了它，觉得非常 — 。－ ）
我很讨厌用电脑打汉字。
_ _
\ (O_o) /
Friday, May 16, 2008
On being annoyed that other people are annoyed that their friends are annoyed
I've drunk half a huge bottle of cool japanese iced black coffee.
Can't sleep. Must sleep.
!
I'm rediscovering this song by the Velvet Underground and Nico! Not that I'm a crazy 60s fan who goes "this was nothing like in the sixties when we thought the world could be beautiful for everybody and you don't know how wonderful it was etc. etc.", and then gives that glazed, stoned expression as if lost in some (weed-induced) daydream. It's just that it's a nice song and that it evokes a pleasant kinda feeling.
And in a similar "I love talking about the past" vein, my grandmother had decided to imbue a sense of the past in my sister and I. "People now don't learn by themselves," murmurs she, as I made a (freakishly-yummy) omelet for my lunch, "last time we had to learn everything on our own. Now, they need teachers. (insert random nonya-sounding grunt)" And I couldn't leave the room because I had to attend to the cooking, so I was trapped listening to a pointless, meandering diatribe, and the worst thing was, it felt like the zillionth time I've heard it.
So yes. Old/soon-to-be old people, please refrain from imposing the past on us.
Can't sleep. Must sleep.
!
I'm rediscovering this song by the Velvet Underground and Nico! Not that I'm a crazy 60s fan who goes "this was nothing like in the sixties when we thought the world could be beautiful for everybody and you don't know how wonderful it was etc. etc.", and then gives that glazed, stoned expression as if lost in some (weed-induced) daydream. It's just that it's a nice song and that it evokes a pleasant kinda feeling.
And in a similar "I love talking about the past" vein, my grandmother had decided to imbue a sense of the past in my sister and I. "People now don't learn by themselves," murmurs she, as I made a (freakishly-yummy) omelet for my lunch, "last time we had to learn everything on our own. Now, they need teachers. (insert random nonya-sounding grunt)" And I couldn't leave the room because I had to attend to the cooking, so I was trapped listening to a pointless, meandering diatribe, and the worst thing was, it felt like the zillionth time I've heard it.
So yes. Old/soon-to-be old people, please refrain from imposing the past on us.
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Buzzing with caffeine
I think I'm experiencing the onset of chinese O level fatigue, where I start to shut down at the thought of all the chinese lessons stretched out in front of me. And the piles of gong1 han2 and bao4 zhang1 bao4 dao4 are starting to appear as key characters in my dreams, god forbid.
And like, hello? What's with the whole suffer now and feel happy later philosophy? Won't we all suffer anyway? And what if we are still suffering later? Huh? Huh?
I guess in Chinese, even the most illogical things can sound logical when you phrase it in a su2 yu3, complete with a ear-candy cadence and a pleasing rhythm. And once you get students to memorise and regurgitate them it becomes Reason.
Sulk. :(
And like, hello? What's with the whole suffer now and feel happy later philosophy? Won't we all suffer anyway? And what if we are still suffering later? Huh? Huh?
I guess in Chinese, even the most illogical things can sound logical when you phrase it in a su2 yu3, complete with a ear-candy cadence and a pleasing rhythm. And once you get students to memorise and regurgitate them it becomes Reason.
Sulk. :(
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Mothers' Day Menu 2008
Ratatouille
Chicken breasts Provençal
Perhaps, a simple smoked salmon salad with spinach penne and wild rocket
Ben & Jerry's New York Super Fudge Chunk!!
Now watch me run to junction 8 in a desperate bid to snag all the ingredients and then run home and then prepare tomorrow's worship! :(
Thursday, May 08, 2008
hyacinth
This is most peculiar. I'm pissed with someone 5.25 times my age, who has force-fed me cereals and honey and cod liver oil as a child, and is now force-feeding me with extra scoops of rice during dinner. I'm pissed because despite the fact that she had just recovered from a semi-serious illness last month, she still demanded Ben & Jerry's ONE cheesecake brownie (which tasted, like, bleah, by the way), and is now coughing away again to the point of regurgitation.
Seriously, whenever I receive a call and my parents' names are on caller ID, I cannot help but expect the worst, because a) I live with people above the average age expectancy and b) everyone around me is falling sick. Being very pragmatic, I'm also weary of close ones who fall seriously ill because obviously it's going to affect me, like how ___ decided to ___ 2 years ago, thereby dampening my holiday mood. And especially so with O levels becoming the ubiquitous excuse for missing out on any remotest trace of fun possible, I just want to go through the motion of living a life right now. Stable, uneventful, subdued, routine, etc. etc. etc. etc.
Seriously, whenever I receive a call and my parents' names are on caller ID, I cannot help but expect the worst, because a) I live with people above the average age expectancy and b) everyone around me is falling sick. Being very pragmatic, I'm also weary of close ones who fall seriously ill because obviously it's going to affect me, like how ___ decided to ___ 2 years ago, thereby dampening my holiday mood. And especially so with O levels becoming the ubiquitous excuse for missing out on any remotest trace of fun possible, I just want to go through the motion of living a life right now. Stable, uneventful, subdued, routine, etc. etc. etc. etc.
Tuesday, May 06, 2008
It dawned on me, and it came as a rather rude shock too, that I would actually be busy this week — I have to do one piece of bao4 zhang1 bao4 dao4 every day without fail by hook or by crook etc. for O level preparations (!), then my dad's birthday is tomorrow and I still haven't done up a nice card to go along with the v. cool thing I got him that came in a v. cool agnes b. paper bag (shh), and there's a chinese test tomorrow, followed by chemistry test, and then there's mock chinese paper 1 on thursday, and then on Friday I'm attending a concert, then on Saturday the juniors are having their 1st ever tournament, then I'm having physics "tuition" (why it's in scare quotes is a long and strange story), then there's yf, then I'm leading worship on Sunday, AND I'M MAKING MOTHERS' DAY DINNER AGHK and then when it's all over I'll be thankful that I've stepped down from my CCAs already.
And that was just one sentence.
The thought of doing one chinese newspaper article review per day is daunting and all I see is a corridor of emotional nullity stretching out in front of me, but for the sake of an A1, I shall deign to freakishly memorise su2 yu3 and spit them out like projectiles whenever the opportunity arises.
The EL common test today really took the cake for an entire day of boredom. The classroom was stuffy and had walls smeared with distracting colours, the table was shaky, I had a runny nose and a backache and a headache creeping up my spine, and the comprehension passages were, as usual, about mountain-climbing and visiting quaint groups of indigenous people who lead charming lives in little tents among the tall grasses, as well as other random bits and pieces of cultural trivia. There was also a Damien Hirst-esque conceptual art piece at the back of the class that paid homage to septic tanks and the physical impossibility of death in the minds of living individuals by the suspension of goldfish bodies ("emptiness"), and the opaque, green liquid filling the tank ("fulfillment"?). (I am being ironic here, Ha–Ha.)
Also, I had some time remaining, so I composed 2 poems in haiku form.
2 classroom haikus
I.
slouching on the chair
seeing four walls surround me
well, they cramp my style
II.
sated with ennui
a test paper completed
time for soi-disant zen
Time to switch to mandarin mode.
:(
And that was just one sentence.
The thought of doing one chinese newspaper article review per day is daunting and all I see is a corridor of emotional nullity stretching out in front of me, but for the sake of an A1, I shall deign to freakishly memorise su2 yu3 and spit them out like projectiles whenever the opportunity arises.
The EL common test today really took the cake for an entire day of boredom. The classroom was stuffy and had walls smeared with distracting colours, the table was shaky, I had a runny nose and a backache and a headache creeping up my spine, and the comprehension passages were, as usual, about mountain-climbing and visiting quaint groups of indigenous people who lead charming lives in little tents among the tall grasses, as well as other random bits and pieces of cultural trivia. There was also a Damien Hirst-esque conceptual art piece at the back of the class that paid homage to septic tanks and the physical impossibility of death in the minds of living individuals by the suspension of goldfish bodies ("emptiness"), and the opaque, green liquid filling the tank ("fulfillment"?). (I am being ironic here, Ha–Ha.)
Also, I had some time remaining, so I composed 2 poems in haiku form.
2 classroom haikus
I.
slouching on the chair
seeing four walls surround me
well, they cramp my style
II.
sated with ennui
a test paper completed
time for soi-disant zen
Time to switch to mandarin mode.
:(
Sunday, May 04, 2008
making zub zub?!
I'm not really in the mood for blogging, so I'm starting off with whatever sentence that comes to my mind:
Fell sick a few days ago; recovered in time for physics SPA tomorrow.
It's on waves! Not electricity. I don't like electricity, especially the horrid, insipid and vapid practical that, as Andrea and Angeline can testify to (because they were taking it at the same lab), I did not enjoy the least bit. And later, I did another practical with my class and the table and graph really confused me, because I'm so used to using the equation V=RI for graph rather than I=V/R and it was annoying and distracting.
Also, I missed my reciprocal birthday!! It fell on Labour Day and and I was too preoccupied with wondering what May Day was all about and making matcha cookies that it totally slipped my mind! As you can guess, I'm not stoked about that.
Anyway, I was "chillin'", and watching Sesame Street's Monsterpiece Theatre on Youtube and it really cracked me up. (You should also note how difficult it is to amuse me, since much of comedy these days feel too contrived to really sound funny.) My favourite is Grover acting in The Sound of Music.
I'm also reading i: six nonlectures by e e cummings, which is an "aesthetic self-portrait" of his stance as a writer, in this case, his lowercase 'i' persona. Personally, and very truthfully, I was only attracted to this book because of its orange and grey cover. It's not as if I, by some sudden afflatus, decided to devote my entire life to study his personality; rather, after analysing his poem—in Just—for literature last year, I found his personality and writing style intriguing and fresh, albeit its age.
Okay, and also, shame on me for not reading more Chinese materials. But really, intensive revision of Chinese last week had taken its toll on my grip on English. I'll have to neutralise it like, once every five days, before I become cheena and go around spouting random idioms in a strange grades-induced hysteria.
(And Limin demanded that I give her the recipe for the matcha cookies.Here it is.)
Fell sick a few days ago; recovered in time for physics SPA tomorrow.
It's on waves! Not electricity. I don't like electricity, especially the horrid, insipid and vapid practical that, as Andrea and Angeline can testify to (because they were taking it at the same lab), I did not enjoy the least bit. And later, I did another practical with my class and the table and graph really confused me, because I'm so used to using the equation V=RI for graph rather than I=V/R and it was annoying and distracting.
Also, I missed my reciprocal birthday!! It fell on Labour Day and and I was too preoccupied with wondering what May Day was all about and making matcha cookies that it totally slipped my mind! As you can guess, I'm not stoked about that.
Anyway, I was "chillin'", and watching Sesame Street's Monsterpiece Theatre on Youtube and it really cracked me up. (You should also note how difficult it is to amuse me, since much of comedy these days feel too contrived to really sound funny.) My favourite is Grover acting in The Sound of Music.
I'm also reading i: six nonlectures by e e cummings, which is an "aesthetic self-portrait" of his stance as a writer, in this case, his lowercase 'i' persona. Personally, and very truthfully, I was only attracted to this book because of its orange and grey cover. It's not as if I, by some sudden afflatus, decided to devote my entire life to study his personality; rather, after analysing his poem—in Just—for literature last year, I found his personality and writing style intriguing and fresh, albeit its age.
Okay, and also, shame on me for not reading more Chinese materials. But really, intensive revision of Chinese last week had taken its toll on my grip on English. I'll have to neutralise it like, once every five days, before I become cheena and go around spouting random idioms in a strange grades-induced hysteria.
(And Limin demanded that I give her the recipe for the matcha cookies.Here it is.)
Thursday, May 01, 2008
when cookies dream, they dream of japan
I made some matcha cookies today! (Matcha is a kind of green tea that comes in powder form.) I am glad not to have ended up scraping bits of cookie from trays, as had been with a previous baking disaster from long ago. Anyway, they're pretty good and I shall be bringing some to school tomorrow!
It has a pleasantly strong aroma of green tea, but is, at the same time, not too overpowering. It also has a rather crumbly texture, but fortunately is still a little crisp and has a snap to it. However, I'm not really a big fan of matcha (in fact, I loathed haagen daz's green tea ice cream), so I probably wouldn't be making this again unless my life wholly depended on it.
There's Integration test tomorrow! I'm so excited. :D
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)