I'm selling my piano

Cos my teacher insists on me changing my piano for the ABRSM diploma syllabus, I'm selling my piano.

Its an ASAHI U1QMP, exam model, 122cm tall.
Bought it for SGD 5000, now just asking for abt $2500

Anyone interested? Contact my mom Mdm Chien at 96726539

Knee Troubles

That Knee injury from Basketball has not recovered yet and its been almost 3 months. But somehow, this injury is very strange, it doesn't seem like other common basketball injuries I've checked on the net. When the doctor asked me to rest fro 2 weeks, i did so, but the knee did not get better. However, after I started playing again, though there was pain if i did not align my ankle properly after landing, the mobility in the knee got better. So, I went NUH on Thurs morning to see a knee specialist.

I wasted a whole morning today- very very sorry to my poor mom. She had to cancel her lessons so as to take me to NUH. I was supposed to have an MRI to check our whats wrong with my knee. However after countlesss phonecalls to the hospitals to find out where the Radiology department was located, registering, getting the documents, changing into the shift, I chickened out at the last moment.

I mean, it was really too expensive. Bloody f**king 900 dollars for a knee injury thats probably minor? No way. When I saw the cost i was like, stunned. Then i sat in the waiting room for ages, and as time went by I got more and more apprehensive until finally i told my mom I didn't want the MRI.

After we walked out, the doctor came to try to persuade me to go, but I just looked very stubborn and refused to go back in. And that was it. No MRI. Hope the Knee heals on its own.

As my mom says, the bride can always walk away from the altar until the contract is signed. Whew. Saved 900 dollars

Random Posting

The Bad thing about Mac, is that somehow, there is no easy editing "board" thingy when the window for new post opens on Mac. In short- its quite difficult to change anything about the font, which makes for rather boring reading.

Anyway, the prelim results are out. What's over is over and what matters now is the Os.

I am NOT WORKING HARD ENOUGH!

There is no sense of desperation or exhaustion, in fact I'm happily wasting my time.

By why am I even bothering to say this? Kiasu people will rejoice that "OH GOOD! One more person is not studying, less competition!" Suspicious people would wonder "Is this psychological warfare? Is that why you are saying this?" While some people just heck care, "Why tell me? You study your business wat" Never Mind. That was just to confuse people

End of Exams

If you knew then what it is that you know now, what would you have done differently? If you had known, from the very beginning, what you would find at the end of your life, how would you have changed it? Would you have changed it? Throughout the years, I have asked myself the same questions and each time, the answers remained the same. There are some things in this life, that are worth the price. They are worth every moment of pain, every second of despair, every sacrifice you make. And long after you have lost the will to continue, when you feel as if you will break from the pain, that which you fight so desperately for will sustain you. If you find that you do not understand what I am speaking of, you need only know that the day will come when you do.

Finally, the prelims are over! Everytime there are exams, I get the urge to think, which is extremely inconvenient. When there are exams, it seems as if all life stops, and the days and night blend into hours of desperate, frantic cramming. And when that happens, I yearn for silent nights, the quiet talks. Theres something nagging at my mind, but I can't put it into words.

But somehow, theres a comfort in knowing that I'm not alone. There's no longer the desperate need to tell someone, anyone; no need to wonder if one's thoughts would be mocked as strange, weird. But with that comfort, there's the loss of the previous desperate need to prove oneself, to survive and triumph in an unfeeling and unseeing world. For when you know there are others that sense, the world is no longer that cold.

mood: reflective

It seems you can never be thin enough

Some bug got into me today, just felt like blogging. I want to rant about thinness.
It seems that in Singapore, a girl just can't be thin enough. Read SPG's blog and I agree that S'pore men seem to like ultra super skinny girls. No matter how skinny you are, if they don't like you, you're not skinny enough. Even if they like you, there will still be another girl skinnier.

I'm SICK AND TIRED of girls saying how fat they are when they're actually stick thin. I'm sick of barely veiled references to how fat they are- I KNOW YOU THINK YOU ARE FAT, DO YOU NEED TO REMIND ME THAT YOU THINK YOU ARE FAT WHEN I'M HEAVIER THAN YOU?
I'm sick of bird like eating. Why can't just people be confident and proud of themselves? NO! it has to be "Oh, i'm not good enough, I'm lousy"" and its fake!

I read the blog of a western girl, actually she's a high class prostitue. She's highly intelligent with an art degree, reads War and Peace by Leo Tolsky(have you even heard of this book?) and she writes extremely well. She portrays an unassuming confidence and self-assurance that I envy. So from today onwards, I am just going to ignore all jibes about weight and success. These comments do not deserve my attention. If Singaporean men don't like me, I can always fuck any Ang moh later in life.

note: i know i'll have offended people and there will be people who are offended. SO even if I say that I'm not referring to anybody, SOME people just want to be offended. IF you are offended, do be kind enough to pick your bones with me(do you know the meaning of this idomatic saying?), and not give me hissy looks behind my back.

THank YOU. And now I feel so much better.

Its National Day and I don't feel like studying

OK. Something to express what I've been feeling for the past few weeks. I HATE STUDYING.
I am sick and tired and sick and tired of studying. Studying seems meaningless and tiring, I dunno, there are just some days when i feel like hiding under the bed covers and sleeping just so that I can avoid thinking.
I HATE STUDYING!!!! ARGH!

Finally, the torture ends...

For my parents, its blessed relief as they don't need to
1. endure 2 hours of identical sounding scales that all go
da da dA dA dA DA DA DA DA Da Da da da da da DADADADADADADADA

2. endure the same three horrid boring songs I have been playing since the beginning of the year

3. horrible crashing sounds which are actually my sight reading attempts

4. ferrying me to my music teacher's house

Eureka, its over, ITS OVER!!!!!

*whoops and dances in glee*

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

FINISHED HBP!! 1.25 a.m.-16/7/05, Sat/Sun, depending on how you see it

Went to Borders, got back at 10.50+p.m and started reading.

WOHOOOOOO!!!!!!!

All in all, its a nice book, a relief from the slightly draggy Goblet of Fire and the horrible Order of the Pheonix.

Strongly recced.

Shit

Went back home from music for O levels. Started sleep at 6 and was woken up by an irritating person who called me repeatedly for dinner and turned off the air con.
Highly irritated, I PUNCHED THE WALL in a demonstration of bad temper.

Speech Day

Finally, Speech Day is over! It wasn't as bad as i thought it would be, partly because i was reading a book for 1/2 the time. Before that, I walked to Lot 1 with Qin Pei, Rannald and Ashwin. Then we did history essay there even though there were extremely irritating flies buzzing all over... bleargh. Saw Huiting, our RMUN lo. She speaks with an RJ accent now! Really, she was like "I have a proposition to make..." with a reeeally smooth RJ accent. Dosen't even sound remotely BP.

Reading Anne of the Island now. Its very nice and reminds me of childhood, when i used to be mad over the Anne of the Island novel. Hehex. It just made me wonder. Singaporeans are a reserved bunch. We're afraid to show emotion, to show love. What is love to us is not love but is also bizzarely a form of love; but we tell others that actually what we love is only what we like. Complicated.
Ok, maybe i'm the only one. But i know that I'm highly insecure. Dunno why, but my brother has a sense of security in that he is loved, but I don't. And sometimes I envy Anne of Green Gables for knowing that she always has love waiting for her at home.

Ways to get refunds on Public transport

Fares for the MRT, LRT, Taxis and Buses have gone up. Read more to find out the Exact process of getting a generous subsidy from the bus companies!

Step 1 - queue for a very long time with many other sweaty people while trying to fill out complicated forms in English (eliminates 1/4 of the queue. Non-English speakers eliminated)

Step 2- face up to irritatingly bland and blur counter officers who try to misdirect and misinform you. (And a very good afternoon to you too! To get to the officer, turn right and walk back. See the exit sign over there? thats it) (another 1/4 stomps off at this point)

Step 3- try to call into the "service hotline" or "help" hotline. Spend 45 minutes listening to a monotonous machines that speaks too fast and press 1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 3, 1, 2 like a brainless chick until finally you are directed to a human relations officer who smugly informs you that it is now 4.59 p.m. and her shift is over.

Step 4- if some hardy soul finally gets to a person with any authority to grant subsities, the officer would try to intimidate you by double checking all the buses and MRT trains you tak (time, bus driver, liscence plate number) and then checking up on all your documents (bad luck if you didn't bring the correct ones in triplicate, try again next time)

Step 5- officer either declares you ineligible, kindly pointing out that you failed to read clause 4.3.1.2a of the size 4 small print. Or if you did read the small print, you are eligble.

CONGRATULATIONS! You get your refund of 40 cents and a subsidy of five cents for each bus ride!

O! What an efficient and affordable public transport system we have in Singapore!

Musical Letdowns

Violin
I watched Meteor Garden and was promptly beraptured by Vic Chou playing the violin. I always thought that the violin was a mysterious instrument and that it's very romantic. I mean, you know, handsome guy playing some melancholic piece- that was the image i had.
However, my wonderful illusion only lasted till my brother started learning the violin. Now I know, there is nothing mysterious. I mean, after you've heard the bow scratching and screeeching the strings countless times, romantic imagery fails to come to mind. =)

Cello
Yo-Yo Ma makes it look so passsionate and wonderful. The dark, rich tones of the cello seem so appealling. But Adeline says that all is spoit by her CO juniors who manage to mangle even the easiest of piece.

Piano
Remember all those films where the male protagonist plays the piano beautifully and the girl looks on wonderingly? Ok, maybe only Justin has that level of skill. Butden- given Justin Ow-Yong's personality, he would probably dismiss the romantic piece as too easy and refuse to play it. Instead, he'll play a LOUD piece complete with semidemiquaver rhythmic device in allegro rhythm while the poor girl looks on trying to figure out the rhythm.

Ari

Testing my new camera

Typing at my computer. See the mess that’s my table? I bet only Rong En’s is messier than me.

Rui Yan and Aiman at RJC. Sorry for bad lighting. Sun was behind them and I didn’t know how to adjust the settings. New camera wat

See the two chio bu(s) in the centre? That’s the Canadian delegates. Sorry guys, you are just not as camera friendly as the girls. Hehez, juz joking

Rannald and Qin Pei attempting to look very hard working. Yes, must tell Miss Tay, the Canadian delegates very hardworking one ok?

Sorry Jiawei, forgot to take out my camera until the bus came, so only two photos of RJC. Will take more next time. Promise.

TO MY PIANO

CAN YOU PLEASE UNDERSTAND THAT THERES NO FUCKING PEDAL!
Got increasingly irritated by the lack of pedal in my piano. How the fuck am I going to manage to practice my pieces without the pedal and being unable to differentiate between loud and soft.
THEN- got scolded, rather yelled by my mom for banging on the piano. WHAT THE FUCK.

CAN THE PIANO PLEASE UNDERSTAND THAT THIS IS NOT THE FIRST TIME , IT IS NOT THE SECOND TIME, IT IS NOT THE THRID TIME THAT THE PEDAL DECIDED TO FUCKING STOP OPERATING????!!!

Meet the Parents Day

Ok, I'm typing this on mac, so theres none of the fancy word colouring, numbering or bolding allowed by windows on this computer. Black font, it is then.

Meet the Parents Day was HORRIBLE Firstly, the principal was not present. So we had to deal with slow speaking Angeline Ee and the even more slow speaking Vice-principal. Some more, Mr Chin refused to let us get our report books early, even though all the other classes had gotten theirs. MY mood became increasingly foul although I tried to lighten it by joking about the food and the kiasu parents who talked for ages with Mr Chin.

Luckily, TIGER came to our rescue. THankyou Tiger! He persuaded Chin to let us get our report books. YAY! THankyou once again, Mr Tan.

I must say that This is a Complete Waste of My Time.

Actually, I'm just tying to take up space so that there'll be enough length to put my tag board. Hehex =)

Bleargh

Typing this in the computer lab =)
The Chinese Os are just around the corner. Yet i look at people studying and studying and studying... and I get sick

Its amusing how interesting Mr Brown's blog is while I struggle desperately to find things to write... nOW...
So far after the exams I have:

1. found new and amusing diversions to amuse myself etc- battle of words
2. injured my collarbone or muscle on my very first judo lesson after a 1 month hiatus (and by my brother some more)
3. strained by arms playing too much basketball
4. played computer from 4 p.m. to 2 a.m.
5. managed to slack for 2 weeks not playing the piano even though I'm supposed to
6. discuss a hellavu lot about DSA without doing any concrete action

okie, thats about all

Pictures, finally!

<"font color=pink">Finally, after struggling with zorpia, I have managed to upload pics there. Here are some ^belated^ photos of my trip to china in the hols


Met new relatives there
Went to my grandfather's home town. Very ulu place. There were even wells there.



But never mind. The ducks were cute.

After that, my father had the urge to go and admire the mountains, so we took the train to Wu Yi Shan. The journey was like 10+ hours by train. But the train was nice. We went for the best ones, so there was like small cabin with 4 bunks.




This is me, stuffing my face with packet noodles



lying on the bunk





At the hotel room. See, the humdity is so low that theres static electricity




The mountains



It snowed!



It was damned cold! BRrr

Oh, went to Florence's house to watch NBA basketball this morning. Pheonix suns against Dallas Mavericks. Was Fantastic!.

I have a new hero in Nash!!!!
Thank you very much, FLorence, for allowing me to watch TV at your house and interrupting your morning time. Thank you!

Basketball Freako

. Exams are over! And I have gone basketball mad... Heeheex, bball here I come.

My mother nearly had a heart attack when I told her I wanted a digital camera for my belated birthday present. She jokingly went pale and tried to negotiate. Then as a delaying tactic, told me that she would have to consult my father.

I wanted a camera so that I could take photos as reminder of my secondary as well as the rest of my years in school, my friends. Digital cam, Here i come!