Die!

I am so dead.
Its the day before CTs, and what am I doing- surfing the net when I haven't even done a fraction of my revision. Especially history.
Oh, why did I go for training(s).

Die econs essay, Die

I will finish this before tomorrow. I will. I must.
Maybe if I say this enough, the essay will be mysteriously written by itself.

Oh, ohh
'Reliance on unrealistic assumptions, such as the rationality postulate has resulted in a failure on the part of economic theory to capture the complexities of the real world'. Discuss

*dissolves into existential angst*

McDonalds, McDonalds

Its been an extremely hectic week. Besides judo occupying almost the whole of Saturday and Sunday, an International History Term Paper due on Monday compounded matters. That the SEA History Term Paper and Raffles Asia Programme papers were due on the same day (Thursday) did nothing to relieve the stress. I found myself tired and listlesss during practice, that the throws were not working out, and thinking 'I need a vacation!'
BUT-- finally the week is over and I can look foward to Chinese New Year. I've borrowed DVDs from my judo coach to watch on the long journey to Malaysia, and I'll try to get rubber tubing so that I can work on my pulling and avoid going mad with boredom in godforsaken Muar.

OK, on to more interesting matters. I found this fascinating article on McDonalds.
It narrates how McDonalds has chanaged and adapted its strategy over the years. For instance, I never knew that breakfasts were one of the most lucrative times for fastfood restaurants. The article also details the exhaustive research that goes into a new product.

As dietblog says:

McDonald's CEO James Skinner claims "We've learned. We've evolved. We believe we've cracked the code in the United States."

What is the code? Americans like to eat all day long.

Most outlets are open 18 hours a day. Others are 24/7. McDonald's essentially want you to stuff yourself from dawn 'til dusk.

It seems that many customers are only too happy to oblige. After all, McDonald's have kids play areas, they have McCafe's, they have wide-screen TV's.

The salads and so-called "healthy options" are nothing but a nod in the direction of the food police. McDonald's have been talking about reducing trans fats for years. Ironically at the same time they do the talking - they come out with snacks like the chicken Snack Wrap. Each "snack" has about 330 Calories and at least a gram of good 'ole trans fats.

America: McDonald's has you under their big fat meaty thumb.

I was so intrigued by the article that I went to search for more articles on McDonalds. This one by the Economist is pretty good too.

Some interesting quotes from the Economist Article:

"Yet the really interesting thing going on here is at a hybrid restaurant, which in part uses McDonald's Japanese system—creator of the Teriyaki burger—and a new concept from Sweden, which grills burgers vertically instead of horizontally as on a traditional griddle. This new type of grill offers great space-saving possibilities—extremely useful in crowded Japan."

"The average sale in a McDonald's is just under $5. Typically what might happen is a mother comes in, buys her children a Happy Meal, and herself just a coffee. Now that salads and other lighter options have been added to the menu, many of those mothers now buy themselves a meal too, lifting the order value to around $12. The lighter options also encourage existing customers to come back more often because there is a greater variety of things to eat."

Some related, and not-so-related articles:

• Fast Food's yummy secret-- America's second fast-food group is as successful as it is little known
• Changing the menu-- Why food companies are joining in the crusade for healthy eating
• McDonald's is loving it in Asia
  

My life is exciting

not

Monday to friday:

1. Go to school
2. Go for training
3. Then practice piano and do school work at home
4. Sleep

Repeat

Saturday and Sunday
sleep. do work. practice piano. train (on sun)

Yep. No exiting jaunts with boyfriends till 3 am for this girl. No watching movies everyweek and shopping. I lead a boring life.

Apple iPhone!

After much speculation and debate, the iPhone has finally been announced! All the rumours were true after all. Though I read rumours, and saw dozens of fake mock ups, its still a tad hard to believe that the iphone is out.

Gizmodo has details of the phone's functions and a review of each function

wize comparison- iPhone vs other phones

video-iphone in person behind glass

The Iphone is not a SmartPhone

School reopens

school in = fun out
nevermind, theres still training
grinz

Back From Hong Kong

Our Hotel Room

Its quite nice and big, and the girls get a sitting area, which the guys don't, cos they had to fit 3 people into one room.


We had a nice view of the river from our room


Oh, and pudding! We went out to shop, and decided to try the mango pudding. Toon Wen had mango sago pudding (the one on top) while I had just plain mango pudding. It was great!

We went to Stanley Market, a quaint place named after Stanley Ho the tycoon. Its were the rich people in hk live. the houses are really nice, not like some cramped ones we've seen on our way to our hotel; land is very scarce in Hk.

Me, Jing Wen and Alwin posing at the top of some mountain. We're supposed to get a very good view of Hong Kong, but I suppose the fog, and our silly heads have blocked out most of the scenery.

Toon Wen and me. There, a clearer view of the buildings, but the sky is really very foggy.

Of course, this was meant to be a judo trip, so we had trainings (note the plural, I refuse to go into details here). Toon Wen, Shima, Yumi, Me, Siu-- the girls present at Hong Kong Judo Club .
So thats it from Hong Kong =)

Piano recital

I found out some three weeks ago, that apparently my piano teacher holds a 'concert' for all her students to perform every year. And yes, I was supposed to perform. I wasn't exactly thrilled when I heard the news.

Anyway, Saturday was the big day. Before the big day, I had gone through several disastrous piano lessons where I did one or more of these things

1. forget whole chunks of the score which I was supposed to memorise and collapse completely
2. grimace rather visibly when I made a mistake
3. complain that I wasn't ready for the concert
4. complain that I would forget everything during the concert

The concert was held at the Methodist school of music. I was relieved when I saw the place we were performing. I had horrid visions before hand of a huge concert hall, but the venue was just a rather small dance studio. whew. One pressure eased.

We got the chance to test the piano before the parents were allowed in. And then it was performance time! I was the third in line to perform, and my heart was thumping while the two before me were performing. I don't think I like waiting very much...


And then it was time to perform! I played the first movement of Beethoven's sonata in C minor op 10 no.1. I think its a very good concert piece, with extreme ffs and pps. It was certainly more dramatic than the chopin pieces (3 people played chopin). I think I may be more suited to the temper and dramatics of Beethoven's pieces. I like the banging then the sudden silences. I was thrilled in a childist kind of way when I realized that I could go much louder on the grand piano than at my piano at home.

I was nervous and I made some mistakes, but I did the dynamics ok. And just like that, in a span of 3 minutes, my part was over.

After the whole concert ended, I went for a cup of coffe with my father. Yay, a yummy end to a nerve wrecking day.

interesting stuff

Via adrants

and...
A burrito is a sandwich?
an excerpt from fastfoodnews:
Panera Bread Co. feels certain that a burrito is, in fact, a sandwich... at least when it helps them limit competition to one restaurant in their fast-casual chain.

Panera sued their landlord to try and stop a Qdoba Mexican Grill from opening in the same shopping center because they had a clause in their lease preventing the landlord from renting space to another sandwich shop.

Bliss is...

reading sappy fanfiction at 2 am in the morning,
with equally sappy Josh Groban music in the back ground

Bliss is...

Enjoying a good book, drinking a nice coffee, sitting and watching people pass by, alone.
Or perhaps with the genius of Mozart at the back of my mind.

That is bliss.

Its been a year...

A very sweet and busy year since I joined RJC...
A year where I slacked too much
A year where I found joy in a sport i truly liked
A year where I seemed to have lost my drive
A year where I lost my drive

And I'm not sure I can go back

But I think I will try,
For my future, if for nothing else

ipod Shuffle unboxing

Bought my ipod shuffle today! After much deliberation, I chose to get the shuffle instead of any other one of the wide variety of flash-based players available. Now I can use this dahling to go running. Yay
The lovely shuffle, just waiting for the unboxing...



1 1gig should be enough, after all, I'm not likely to want to listen to Bach or even Wagner when I'm puffing along on the track, am I?










Another pic of my new lovely...














Accessories, and the shuffle













The player is SOOO tiny

Korean Drama Watching

Korean Drama Watching, GOONG


Day 1
episodes 1-10

• the female lead is super cute! squees-- her eye expressions are super funny
• I want to smack the blardy prince. I mean, whats his blardy probrem with his blardy black face
• omg, I'm going to die from laughing too hard
• omg, the female lead's crying AGAIN. tissues please
• tissues
• tissues
• I swear never to watch korean drama again! I can't stop!!!

Day 2
episodes 10-16

• parental scenes starting to get a tad boring. Fast forward
• aww so sweet... he carries her when she faints...aww...aww
• they're starting to like each other- yay!
• palace scenes starting to get a bit boring. Fast forward
• the female lead is crying again. mom thinks i'm having a runny nose and tells me to eat my medicine. I carry the laptop to the room to cry in peace
• 2nd prince is rather cute too. reminds me a bit of zai zai in meteor garden.
• wazzup man, can't you two, like, you know, communicate? you know, kom-mui-neee-kate
  
• I can't stop! Continue cheonging!!!!

Day 3
episodes 16-19, 24

• will you two pris pris pris get together
• fast forward palace scenes
• fast forward parents of female leads
• story getting too plotty. all i want to know is WILL YOU TWO GET TOGETHER?
• 2nd male lead getting irritating. Fast forward
• fast forward
• will you two get together? pris?
• fast forward
• fast forward
• finish 19, skips to 24
• fast forward
  
• so sweet... they're getting together =)
• BUT still arguing???
• I'm NEVER watching korean drama again!

at least the mission is accomplished. GOONG in 3 days!

Things that Martial Artists want you to know:

THINGS THAT MARTIAL ARTISTS WANT YOU TO KNOW:
note: gacked from judoforum

1. I really, really enjoy Martial Arts. As a consequence, even when I know better, I will talk to you about Martial Arts. Just like someone interested in Photography, or Golf, or a Television Show. Please don’t take it as a threat to your ego. I am not challenging you in any way. Just smile and nod like you do to everyone else’s boring stories about interests you don’t have.

This is so, so true for me- oh, the urge to chatter non-stop about the minute details of training. Pray stop me before you keel over from boredom

2. Also, please don’t take this as an opportunity to spout out “That’s why I carry a 9mm in my car at all times!” We are perfectly aware that Martial Arts training will not stop a bullet. Are you aware that we are currently between you and your car, and our Martial Arts knowledge is not locked in the glove compartment?

3. While we are on that note, nothing it our code of conduct prevents us from owning firearms, either.

4. No, I don’t have to register my hands with the police. No state law says “black belt = deadly weapon”.

5. Before you ask, no, I probably could not beat Chuck Norris, Bruce Lee, Steven Segal, Matt Hughes, Royce Gracie, Jet Li, Mike Tyson or Jackie Chan. Safety Tip: Please note that your name is not on this list.

6. I could probably break a cinder block with my hand or head, but I’d rather use a sledge hammer.

7. I could probably take you down using just two fingers, but since I have all 10 of mine I’ll probably use them all.

8. If you ask me if I can beat you and your two buddies, I honestly don’t know. I might walk away, or your buddies might walk away. I guarantee you that YOU won’t walk away.

9. Yes, if I have been training long enough, I have been beaten. In fact, I have probably been knocked out by a woman, thrown down by a blind man, kicked in the head by a kid, or in some other way beaten by someone that does not compute through your macho thick skull. However, do you really think that improves YOUR chances?

10. When I invite you to come to my class, it is not a threat. It is an invitation to share something that I find very enjoyable with you. Consider it a compliment. (For further information, see number 1 above).

11. Yes, some people train in Martial Arts and do not become great fighters, and some people are great fighters with no martial arts training. However, no matter how good a fighter someone may be, Martial Arts training will make them a better fighter. It will probably make them a better person as well.

12. A Black Belt in one Martial Art does not mean the same thing as a Black belt in other Martial Arts. In many Karate or Tae Kwon Do schools, a Black Belt represents about 2-3 years of training, and can be achieved at age10 or even younger. In most Judo or Jujitsu schools, a Black Belt may take 7-10 years, and most do not award these ranks to those under 18. If you really want to find out how much experience someone has, ask them how long they have been training.

13. No Martial Art is perfect. Some are better at a distance, some are better close, and some are better versus multiple opponents. Those that try to cover every aspect tend to have much less depth of technique. For example, I would be a lot less worried about the guy who had a year of Jujitsu, a year of Tae Kwon Do and a year of Shotokan than I would about the guy who had three years of any one of these.

14. The reason that I can avoid, block and/or take these strikes, take downs and other attacks so easily is not because of some ancient, mystical secret passed down by a monastic order at the top of a mountain somewhere. It’s because I have been doing this for twenty years.

15. What is the secret of the Martial Arts? Dr. Jigoro Kano, founder of Judo, said it best: “Never Miss Practice!”

Memories of Bukit Panjang Govt High

Went back to BP yesterday-- thanks, Yuting, for dragging me out of the house. It was sort of a 'celebration' or farewell as BP will be moving to Teck Whye.

The old school building holds a lot of memories of me. Yuting and I were at the hall for a short while and then we went to find Mr Chin. Later, we found Angeline Wong.

While I may have resented the school or what it has not done, nevertheless it still holds a lot of my memories. As I said to Jia Wei while we were walking around the field, while the grass may be greener where we are at now, it still feels good to visit the fields where we once roamed.

How do I say this? I miss bp. I don't miss bp. On one hand, I'm glad I got out of it (Yuting will disagree), that I have many more opportunities where I am now. On the other hand, I miss the times I had there, the friends I made.

I suppose its true that we don't really treasure what we have until its gone. To the IP students: though you think you won't miss your former class, school or friends, you are sadly wrong. I thought that too. Time has proved that false.

I remember...

• sneaking food back into the cabin classroom during recess, ocassionally doing work, more often listening to Abul and Ming Hwang arguing about silly things... laughing hysterically

• Yuting beating Mr Chin at Table Tennis
  

• Ashwin, me and rannald conducting a 'chat' consisting of a piece of fulscap paper passed down and around during 1.5 hours of a.Wong's bio, which resulted in all the 3 of us not knowing what happened during the lesson

• Talking so much among ourselves during English that I didn't know what Mrs Hoe was talking-- and she knew and chose not to comment (thanks)

• Ashwin and me having a very heated discussion about whether girls should wear short skirts while rannald looks on in amusement (me for, him against)
  

• How I was told by a teacher to keep quiet or that I was noisy (Mrs Poh) for the first time in my school career because I was talking too loudly to Ashwin (imagine my outrage and Aswhin's delight)

• Chatting with Yuting and having fun with Miss Kong's endless stories during Chinese

• gradually increasing the number of books I keep under my table over the year until finally I have to spend a whole week slowly carting books back home before the exams when we have to clear our tables
  

• New Year, teachers day, national day, youth day celebrations-- which I all ponned

• Essay writing sharing for hist and ss before the Os
  

• Playing basketball with Ber, Denise, Xue Qi, Serlang

• Jia Wei's ability to talk about bras and sanitary pads with the best of the girls while daniel or any other guy quickly turns a rather pukish shade of green
  

• Preparing for RMUN with qin pei, rannald, rui yan, aiman-- painting the masks, discussing in Macdonald's, dissing the sec-gen at RJ

• ranting with the RMUN ppl about how to improve BP
  

• Tan Suan Tian blowing his whistle at us, and how the girls must do push up so that we can carry babies in two hands (or something equally ridiculous). And the girls would always walk instead of run when we were behind the bushes

• Cheering Com... though I hated cheering and found it a waste of time
• Angeline Ee's interminable and infernally irritating announcements
• Tiger Tan's lessons which were a almost complete waste of Tan
• Mr Ng's crappy but amusing stories during Lit
• Dissing King of the Castle (only me, while the rest roll their eyes at the rantings of a lunatic)
• Mrs Wong's 'pendulous earings'

Memories. Oh fond memories

A long tiring PW trip (though hwa chong was worth it)

We went filming for our PW OP presentation today, basically trying to find out what people thought about youth initiatives.

I'm quite proud of myself- I managed to take the bus to the totally unfamiliar King Albert Park when I'm not really that good with directions. Met Carmen (Chu) and Kaleni there where OMG nothing has been filmed yet. panic panic.

We had one interview at the bus stop, then Carmen had to leave to see her chiropractor. Kal and I then went to Ngee Ann Poly where we were daoed by numerous people, but we managed to get some interviews in the end.

We then went to Hwa Chong- Carmen sounded really surprised when I called her and asked if she was still in school. Yay! Thank you Carmen, for being or first Hwa Chong interviewee =) Was really happy, cos I haven't seen carmen for ages- missed her loads. Saw Qin Pei too, they both look really happy in HC.

It feels a bit weird being in Hwa Chong, with Kal in his white and white, and then there are thoughts running through your head: this is the school you could have gone to... what would have happened there? Its a creepy feeling..

Mansfield Park

Its one of the books I started reading after Promos.

Ok, basically this book is about

1. A girl named Fanny who is sent to live with her relatives
2. She grows up pretty but rather shy (and she cries a lot)
3. She is pursued by a man named Henry Crawford
4. Which she rejects, and he persisting prolongs the novel for like a hundred pages and endless weepings and descriptions of Fanny's virtues and shyness and delicacy
5. Did I mention she cries a lot?
6. Finally she marries her cousin (Edmund) whom she's been crushing all along but never realizes
7. And they're married.

And I must rant: I really don't like Aunt Norris. Maybe its partly Austen's genius, but whenever Norris comes into the scene, I just think bitch

Maria Sharapova Nike Ad

Its really cute! =)

Uchi-mata