Well, I didn’t update for a long time because, there wasn’t much to write about. Blame America, because of the recession, I still can’t find a job after going to job agencies and scanning the newspapers everyday. Once, I thought I hooked a job at Robinson Quay after talking to the manager of a Japanese book cafe, but her boss only wanted permanent staff for the position. Thus, as the days draw nearer to my enlistment, the less likely likehood of me finding a job.

Thus, I sulked at home like the hikikomori and despaired my ever dwindling savings. In anticipation of me finding a job, I had actually gone and bought a bike +) It’s a shiny red Dura classic mountain bike with aluminium frame, shimano gears, and double reinforced rims. I got it for the cheap price of $300. WHICH reduced my savings to $200+ But lucky, MOE decided I did well for last year prelims, and so they gave me a $300 check. With that I can breath easier. Hopefully, that will last me till April.

So I spent my days playing Ragnarok Online, Gunz and cycling around my area for no particular reason. Until, today, I resolved to do something productive and become a better person. YES, today is the day I cooked dinner for my family. Seized by demonic passion borne of watching too many cooking dramas and anime, I laboured long and hard in front of my computer, researching ways to cook the perfect course for my family. And at long last, I identified the most captivating meal for my family, made 3 trips to Eastpoint, and scourged up the rest from my kitchen to cook-

TAAAAAAA-DAAAAAAAAAA!!!

Indeed, my family’s legendary cooking skills have filtered down to me. The preparation was so exquite that courage fled my younger brother who had earlier championed my efforts so earnestly until he saw my product. Ah, the taste was out of this world, and possibly the solar system. I am going to spend the holidays perfecting my elite culinary skills, accidents and accidental poisoning not withstanding.

*Milton is looking for employment as a cook. Hire him $5 an hour and he’ll cook any dish you want. Surprise your parents with a meal they will never forget! Discover new and exciting versions of food that will simulate your tastebuds! Or even poison your local dictator! Milton will cater to all needs. Give him a job please ; ;

Watching the raindrops fall

Today is my birthday. One thing about being born on the 5th of January is that hardly anyone remembers it. Your new classmates whom you just know, don’t even know much about you, much less your birthday. And your old comrades are dreamy from the bliss of the holidays; too tepid about their new semester, to realise it is their friend’s coming of age. So you eventually, give up on celebrating your birthday. It is another commercial gimmick, just like Santa Claus.

I spent the morning playing Ragnarok Online, a bout of mindless farming to pass the dreary time. Only my mother was at home attending to customers, my father and brother have both gone to school. The sky was sunny and the air was clear. I finished the last 2 episodes of Kannagi, a cheerful fickle comedy which made me smile a little. And then it was time for lunch.

I suppose I didn’t want to have lunch alone. I wanted company, even if the person did not know the reason for the invitation. First I called Swee Teck, but he was only going to school at 4. Next, I dialed Kang Jie. As usual he was busy, rushing a project before the day ends. He said that he would make time to have lunch with me, but I fell into a disenchanted mood. I told him to concentrate on his project instead. In my weariness, I didn’t bother calling Miao. I was halfway to Eastpoint when I saw the bus to Tampines Polytechnic passing by. I hesitated, then picked up the phone and called my neighbour Kelw.

He was available =\ So I went with him to the Business canteen and ate chicken cutlet as per his recommendation. In the end, I made him late for class lol. But I was glad to have someone to eat with.

There was another reason why I went to TP. That is because it is close to Tampines. Now that I have finished JC, my bus and train fares have risen, and thus I must scrimp. So after eating, I went to the CPF building in Tampines to seek a job from the job agency there. Actually, I went for Kelly Services, but somehow got into Recruit Express. Hmm, perhaps it was the name of the employment agency. Anyway, aside for a scare that I thought I had lost my NRIC, the fate of my first job is now in their hands.

As taking the train back would hurt my wallet, I walked home instead. The sky was overcast and gray like my mood. I returned home, tired, and scolded my little brother for being stupid and not following my instructions to refine the weapon the optimum way. He just said “Ok”, and left when I commanded him off. Then he returned, holding a box in his hands. He held it in front of me and mumbled “Happy Birthday”. Aww, I was touched. It was probably the first birthday gift I received from him. I immediately regretted berating him. =\

Then I checked my mail. I was surprised to see that my old Bedok South Secondary School friends  still remembered me. Jennifier, Sylvia, Shamini – people whom I have almost forgotten. As well as my playful JC Chinese teacher and yet another playful Malay girl from TPJC. And also a random guy who is a fellow anime fan. I reflected that I don’t even remember their birthdays and felt depressed for not being able to reciprocate in return. Also, the forums which I have once subscribed to, and long cease to visit, continue to send me their birthday greetings. I’ll… appreciate that too.

The afternoon was dreary and I fell into a stupor, only to be woken up by the chime of my smses. It was a birthday greeting from my cousin. I smiled and was about to head back to sleep when my former JC classmates messaged me with an invitation to a steamboat party. I… I had hoped that they would remember my birthday. However, my father was buying pizza back for dinner and I had to finish that first. So I finally reached their place at 7.40 pm.

The food was half gone. I was served the remaining rice, which covered 1/3 of my plate. I sighed, and made conversation. Most of them were full, and relied on me to finish up the food. I tried my best to clean up, even after eating a pizza, chicken wings, etc, as well as a full bowl of mee sua at home. Then they watched a boring Mediacorp drama which has a plot as convoluted as Code Geass, yet was child play to predict. I waited till the show ended at 10pm before announcing my leave. However, they told me to stay back, and Agnes, the host of the party, took out Christmas presents for all. I accepted mine with a feeling of sadness in my heart. So this year would be the same as the previous years. They started playing mahjong, and I was in the group that was watching Desperate Housewives. For the second time, I stood up and said that I was leaving. Agnes again tried to persuade me to stay. She said “I feel so bad. You are like so lonely if you go home alone.” My insides clenched up at the bittersweet irony of her words. Putting on a smile, I said that I would be fine and left.

Walking back though the darkness, I was in a fey mood. I knew that I had always hung on the fringes of society, for I find things like watching dramas and playing mahjong pointless. Although I had always chipped in, participated whenever someone had a birthday, it was only because someone reminded me. But no one celebrated my birthday. This has thus left me with a disillusion of birthday parties. Somehow, I had hoped that this year would be different, before my National Service, and I was disappointed because of it. Perhaps another year…

Alright, I am going down to get myself a drink. Happy birthday to me.

Oh, btw, long post coming up as soon as I get the pictures from Kelw (been asking for the past 2 weeks *huff)

Don't forget to let Santa in

Have fun and make merry

Enjoy the festive mood and food =)

Not only is my spirit languid, my body is lacking as well after so many days sitting in front of a desk studying. But at long last, I dragged myself out and did some minor exercise yesterday. So as the body improves, the mind and spirit is becoming strengthened too.

Thus I shall take this small step in blogging. Today I ate laksa in Eastpoint. Finished. =)

Yup, this sums up my life for the past few weeks.

Eat.Sleep.Study

This sums up my schedule for the next 6 weeks.

This blog will stop hibernating after my A levels when I can go BOooOUUKEN DESHOUU DESHOU~

I just want to watch the world go by

How easily delusions of peace and tranquility waylay the passions of war and desire. It is easy to sit doing nothing, too easy to be consumed by mindless desire doing menial tasks, and in the process procrastinating away the progress you’ve made. My promos, this blog, exercising – once you stopped actively taking an interest and settle into stagnancy, saturating yourself with turgor doing vapid stuff, your intention to do good sort of vaporise doesn’t it. And in time, it gets harder and harder to revert your dwindling ways and the allure of being passive in work and life grows stronger; as your resolutions grow smaller.

There are many things I can blame it on. The food poisoning I got during the start of the study break and the ensuring sickness thereafter. The government of China and IOC for hosting the Beijing Olympics at such a crucial time. Failing the H1 Chinese A levels which I sat for as a mistake (I should be taking CLB) and being depressed because of that and the realisation that even people with 11 academic points get rejected for scholarships, not to say someone with a measly 9 points. However, it is time to take responsibility (oh man, I wanted to write a post on that. Maybe next week) and do some critical evaluation.

General Paper (H1)
Prelim grade: E

I heard the entire cohort did pretty badly. They even had to lower the passing grade to 42% as part of ‘moderation’. However, my class is amongst the best in English standard in school and most of them scored better than me. The marker found my essay lacking in structure and wrote like 2 paragraphs of critism in girly pink ink before summarising it in a single sentence “This is basic writing skills required of a GP essay.” So I don’t even have the basic skills yet and I got 25/50 for essay writing? I’ll appreciate the effort put in by the marker and will try to improve on it.

Economics (H1)
Prelim grade: E

Remarks: It is probably very telling of the class standard (or teacher) to say that I got 2nd in class when all I got was an E. Thinking about economics mades me sad and I am not just talking about my marks. The housing bubble burst, food crisis, recession – economics’ sole purpose is to leave people in despair.

Computing (H2)
Prelim grade: B

Remarks: Hooray. Oh. Joy. I got a B without studying.  I mean what I say. How can I, when both the computing papers are on the same day as Mathematics. The questions are pretty common sense too, but some of them require too far of an extrapolation outside of what have been taught in the classroom. Which means I cannot even rely on my notes. No wonder even the majority of RJC students in last year cohort got B. Oh. Joy. I am in despair. How and what am I supposed to study.

Maths (H2)
Prelim grade: D

Remarks: Only 30% of the scripts marked by my teacher passed. The consensus is, we as a whole have done very badly for the exam. And I agree. As I had only spent my time during the ‘study break’ meandering through the notes trying to memorise the formulas and worst, trying to revise topics which I have not yet understood. The lack of practice left me daydreaming impotently during Paper 1 and my melancholy was further aggravated looking at my classmates still intently doing their papers. I also went to the toilet 5 times in the process as I was sick and could not think at all with my block nose. And yet, ironically, I still got higher than the majority of my class (30% pass). For paper 2, the paper started at 8.00 am. I woke up at 8.20 am and immediately said “Shit”. I managed to do the paper at 8.30 am and stopped at the same time along with the rest. And, still the results are much higher than the rest because I studied for paper 2. The depression at the failure of paper 1 was my motivation for paper 2. For A levels, this depression will be my driving force.

Physics (H2)
Prelim grade: B

Remarks: Another of those read only never practice papers. I do not want to dwell on my laziness any longer. Let’s just say I could have done better.

Chinese Language B
Prelim grade: You got to see it to believe it

Just as planned?

Omg, beyond cute. I want one of those chibi figurines too

Haruhi version

Sound Horizon is amazing

Btw, I managed to survive the food poisoning. ^^ But then I spent most of my time watching the Olympics

Water intoxication (also known as hyperhydration or water poisoning) is a potentially fatal disturbance in brain functions that results when the normal balance of electrolytes in the body is pushed outside of safe limits by over-consumption of water.

So I left light headed and went to sleep after vomiting out the water. In the afternoon, I woke up feeling feverish. So I took Ribena + water and went to sleep again.

Somehow, I managed to develop a reaction against water, so when I woke up in the evening, I vomited out the same amount of Ribena albeit a very sour solution. My body have managed not to absorb water by osmosis by diluting the liquids in my stomach with acid! So, now, I am having a headache and my urine is hot and brown because of water dehydration.

Sayonara people T-T It was nice knowing you guys.

1. Walk around your house after being bored by your homework

2. Go into SAF/GAR/GI/Olympian mode and improvise!

3. ????????????????

4. Profit!!!!!!!

5. Promotions!!! Back-abs ftw~!

6. float float~

I can’t wait for the Beijing Olympics!!! Especially for the Men and Women Gymnastics and Diving events!!! How fabuuulouus! Suteki!

P.S. Please try this at home =) The government didn’t build pullup bars in your houses for nuttin!

http://www.ehow.com/how_2123377_towel-pull-up.html
The towel pullup is one of the less known but most respected and challenging forms of the basic pullup exercise. By gripping a towel that hangs from the bar, the exercise calls into use muscles as diverse as the large lats and the finer muscles of the forearm. To do this highly functional training exercise, follow these steps.

http://www.livestrong.com/article/2801-facts-towel-pullups/
Do you want a firm handshake? Have you ever wanted to win an arm-wrestling match? The key to both is grip strength. Improving grip helps rock climbers support their weight, allows wrestlers to exert strength from unusual positions and makes it possible for a man to rip a phone book in half or bend steel. Grip strength helps with virtually every athletic event, from football to weightlifting.

http://www.ironmagazineforums.com/training/21629-towel-pull-ups.html
One of the most difficult exercises ever. Only for the truly hardcore!

Simple yet effective, the towel pull-up is down right sadistic and brutally tough!

To utilize this exericse, simply drape a towel over the middle of the pull up bar, so that it dangles over.

Now grab both ends of the towel and pull yourself up!

Remember to squeeze your shoulder blades together and pull with your back for a maximal lat contraction!

This variation will target the middle and upper back.

For, outer lats drape two towels on the ends of the pull up bar, and perform wide grip pull ups.

These heavily tax the forearms as well as superior gripping power is a must! To make this exercise more challenging on the grip, use smaller towels and simply grab onto them hard.

If you can’t perform this in this manner, use longer towels that you can wrap your hands around a few times for stronger gripping power.

Whichever method you use, this chin up varation will quickly become part of your back workout repertoire!

And it seems this variant of the chinup/pullup is full of win and awesome~ Amazing, the things a bored person can think of and improvise – using the door ledge as a pullup bar.