nataliedee.com

No one's blogging much lately. Yawn.

On the Literature Festival:

Lit fest was alright. 3 out of the 4 teams we sent in, comprising 2 teams each from the sec 3s and sec 4s, won their debates! And sec 4 unseen and sec 4 MND debates won both rounds. Yay us! (Dominic, Christabel, Valerie, Debbie, Jeremy, David, Mingting and I!) For the amount of effort that we put in prepping at some random playground near amk hub, the returns were exponentially greater than our expectations! Plus, I really enjoyed watching and being part of debates again, despite a few technical hiccups that were inevitable if there were going to be 40 debates held concurrently with the poetry slam and book trailer competitions going on and whatnot.

We couldn't help but notice the number of schools that left the hall before the entire event officially ended.

Dom, Bel, Val and I traipsed down Tanglin Road to look for Ikea, where we were planning to have lunch. Thank goodness for Dom and his investments in his up-to-date street directory and bus guide; we were able to navigate our way there without losing ourselves in a scary, unfamiliar neighbourhood! I had a salmon salad and the daim cake, while the others had poached salmon with potatoes and greens. We were not surprised to find ourselves smack in the epicentre of a tantrum-hit section of the Ikea cafeteria, with brats in OshKosh and the like wailing over their ironically cheery technicolour eating utensils. As if rendered stupefied by the visual assault of signs that sprouted out like weed clusters that burst out uncontrollably, enthusing about the benefits of economies-of-scale, alongside neon tinted wall decals and playroom equipment, I realised that their eyes were squeezed tight all the time, as if frightened by the constant feeling of disorientation. We could attest to that, since navigating our way through the labyrinthian path to the cafeteria, with the perpetual smell of Swedish meatballs that emanated from the cafe our only guide, was an experience Kafkaesque enough to muddle up our senses.

The worst was yet to come, unfortunately. We also had the misfortune/pleasure of having our meal next to two women who were having a "bitchin' good time". Both of them, probably BFFs, had a very loud conversation that made eavesdropping unavoidable. By the end of our meal, we had already known their vacation plans, the names of their ex-boyfriends, previous schools and current university, a funny thing that happened to them at a recent chalet, and what they thought of the squealing kids around. I was so engrossed in their little gabfest that I nearly said goodbye to them when we left.

On my sister's usurping of my bags:

Recently, my dad bought some calvin klein thing and it came with a free gift. It was a very roomy man-bag from calvin klein. (I am usually the benefactor of the free gifts that come with my father's purchases.) Esther, on the other hand, spied it airing in our room and forgot all about the cool grey nike bag that my parents bought for her on the same day. It will make a good bag for my trip to Malaysia, proclaims she. At that precise moment, I recalled her saying a similar thing about the other free-gift bag that I got. And let's not even get to the bag I bought last year in Tokyo that she now uses on weekends, shall we?
(Esther!! You should go bag shopping one day.)

On funny dreams I had recently:

I had a very vivid dream about Zizhao coming back from China, and Weihui, Yuying and I met her for lunch at a Korean BBQ-steamboat buffet place. I could even taste the spicy kimchi-accented soup base for the steamboat!

I had a surreal nightmare today. I was wandering around in a deserted multi-story building reminiscent of the ones vacated after the Chernobyl disaster. Then there was a giant scrapbook with cool vintage clippings that I browsed through on the field, and beside it, a warehouse that I dared not enter, that for some unfathomable reason appeared to watch over my every move. Later on, I faced an open sea that featured a submerged overhead bridge leading to the horizon. As I waded through the water, someone screamed and I saw a huge blue fish darting towards my ankles. (I forgot the rest, but now, on hindsight, there were so many types of fear in my dream I could analyse the relevance of it like a lit essay.)

Other stuff worth mentioning:

- Cheekit entered the finals of PESA! I'm really happy for him, but rather worried at the same time as it falls on one of the prelim papers and the competition's getting tougher.
- I feel like slapping parents who booed "bionic boy". (And isn't terrible enough that he's been labelled that by the media? Why aren't those letters to the forum pouring in yet? And I hate how everything alliterates itself so cruelly.)
- Cadbury's Crème Brûlée chocolate is really good. Really.
- I went to Shokudo for lunch today. It felt like Disneyland.
- Graniph tees are cool.
- Chinese LC's on Tuesday.
- Organic Chem test is tomorrow.
- IT'S RAINING! VERY HEAVILY!
- I shall go sleep now. :) yay.