tagboard up!

at the request of my cousin who reads this blog! horrors. i have got a tagboard up. finally. now to redo the template - something that i started mid feb but have not touched since.

i shouldn't be complaining. but. i am going to anyway. because my middle east paper is going to be much tougher than i thought it was. not that i didn't think it wasn't a steep learning curve or anything, oh boy that i do know, but my tutor is extremely scary! tute's on wednesday, essay due in a day earlier at noon (all right, that is quite reasonable) BUT there's an outline to be submitted by monday at noon as well. she doesn't expect the full essay by monday, but that means that i have monday evening to finish writing it since i really should only write it once i receive her comments. which, because an essay length of 6-8 pages is called for, means i will probably sleep very, very late. if i sleep at all?

6-8 pages?!?! i am no zk. my essays are normally 4 pages long, averaging 2500 words or so. this is with arial font size 11. 6 pages is about 3,600 words. you are so kidding me! or perhaps someone can tell me that i have messed up my math, but i don't think so. maybe i can cheat and use arial font size 11.5 or even 12 huh. right. at an average rate of 500 words an hour that is 7 hours of pure writing alone. no toilet breaks, no breathers, no nothing.

the only consolation is that the course really is interesting. looking at the reading list just sends happy thrills down my spine (i am becoming like zk! damn.) for example, "the reign of the ayatollahs: iran and the islamic revolution", "a peace to end all peace. the fall of the ottoman empire and the creation of the modern middle east", "political islam", "beyond the veil" etc. the titles are certainly eye-catching. the reading list is also long, however, so i envisage more posts like this, me being cooped up in the library.

perhaps i am being overly sensitive given what i have heard about the nature of this course and the purported slight sway in its teaching, but when looking through the list of countries (and the recommended reading for each) it was striking to see all other countries eg Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Jordan etc named just that, and Palestine was "The Palestinians". i felt it peculiar. maybe i am just being too sensitive.

on a more random note, i managed to speak to yet another singaporean in an english accent today. this time it's worse, i didn't realise it at all! =( =( =( basically i had to call dbs up about my card and my signature, and this was after some calls, so that is my excuse. anyway i spoke and enquired about my card and having to re-sign something, and the lady just paused there for a long moment, i thought i said something wrong, and she spoke back in a distinctly singaporean accent. i was in shock, then i realised, omg, did i just commit the cardinal sin again?!?!?!?!?!?!? it took a while before i spoke normal singlish again (according to tracy, who was well amused. she thought dbs had english customer service officers or something). SIGH.


the worse part is, i called to ask about my signature right? well recall a long, long time ago, when i had bank signature problems? well anyway my english signature is a squiggle, it really is, and it is a hard to replicate squiggle, for me at least. each time i sign it, it looks entirely different. i kid u not (i just practiced). i then replaced it with my chinese signature, which is harder to forge imo and also easier for me. well i thought i did, and i did this at posb. however dbs has an entirely different set of records ie it has my english signature.

which, as i remind myself time and again, i can't replicate.

and i can't even remember how i signed it before.

SIGH.

Man Falls to His Death off the Empire State Building - International Herald Tribune

my reaction on reading this: aiyoh.
tracy (my roommate): why?
me: a man jumped off the empire state building and died!
tracy: too much work eh?
me: lawyer. (incidentally, guess what tracy is studying! also, guess whose working hours we were discussing over dinner).
her reaction: WHAT?!?! (surprise, shock, anxiety, etc) that's the worst new i have heard in this year. (she is exaggerating, but the point is made)
my evil reply: if you didn't ask, i wouldn't have said!

and after that we return to our books. and i thought about the reasons for the man wanting to kill himself. i thought about family, i thought about debt, and then i thought - maybe he is not a man! what gives the newspapers so much authority that their word is the truth? (see, this is what too much oxford does to you. and i actually contemplated about the stranglehold that papers around the world have on news, truth and opinions.)

then i decided i am turning mad. and i am posting this because i think it is in a very macabre way rather amusing. the degeneration of my mind.

oh my gosh i have missed so much while studying here! i randomly went to my cousin's blog, and i see, i see pictures of my cousin getting married! then i remember that both my cousins got married! argh. thank goodness he is a photo whore (who links me but i hope doesn't read haha), there were lots and lots of photos for me to indulge in, and boy do i miss my darling cousins.


the bride. she is stunning isn't she. i haven't seen her for so long, i really took a double-take when i saw this photo. and how can i forget my dear, dear cousins behind, one looking a tad miffed for some reason. i couldn't help but chuckle when i saw her expression, if i were there i would have teased her and told her that her turn will come!
my family whom i also have not seen for very long (webcams just don't cut it). mum looks nice. a lot of people say i look very much like my mum, looking at the photo i can see why! my brother looking particularly sleepy too lol. it's hard for me to associate him with the soooo cute brother i used to play with, the one i would always tease and laugh at for his cockerel head, and the one i took pictures of when he had was very small, perhaps one, and had problems pooing in his potty. (god that photo is very cute and funny. remind me to show it to you, i have it with me in oxford).
the girl cousins, minus one! *wails* i really couldn't recognize two, one my god-sis (terrible i know, she normally wears specs but in this photo she is not, she's the youngest), and the other my cousin from hong kong. very surprised she came! and i must say i think all my cousins look very good - even if they weren't my cousins i would still take a second look. the genes. (too bad it somehow skipped me, blah.)
the guy side of the family (not all cousins, many guy cousins not present yet) the two on the right also handily double up as bodyguards for one of my cousin and i (and soon her sister too, because she is finally of age, so we can bring her clubbing too. i see more work for them, muahahaha)
most of the family, and very importantly my grandma!
i love this picture. when we were young, us three were the inseparable three musketeers. now though we are all busy with school, hopefully we can do more crazy supper/clubbing/dangerous driving things soon. not just us three girls naturally. if i were ever to get my license, my driving wouldn't qualify as dangerous, of course! ;)

actually i should be thankful for my cousin's photowhoring, without him i wouldn't have seen so many photos, known so much, and feel less disconnected from it all. hopefully i will be back in summer long enough to see my little new-born niece/nephew due september. i am an old auntie already! weiquan, if you're reading this, keep it secret k (not your sis, the other wedding). and please post more pictures of the other wedding. =)

looking at all these pictures have really made me miss home, and made me realise that i really am missing so much. to make things worse, my 21st will not be spent in singapore, but will instead be spent somewhere in france, away from home, and family. thus far, i have missed 2 weddings, one of which the groom i am particularly close to and very fond of, the 21st birthday of one of my favourite cousins and one i always thought of as my older brother, and soon i will miss aiwei's (three musketeers) 21st birthday as well. let's hope this is it for the moment.

perhaps i should declare to my cousins they should (can) only get married when i get back! muahahaa. weiquan, you heard that uh. =P LOL.

photo-heavy entry, i like. may revert to this next time in future, when i am too lazy, or when there is just too much to say.

long time no see!

yes i know my blogging record has been abysmal, but i have been busy (more like forgotten) about its existence. these few months i have been studying, essaying, been in london to be a very poor tour guide to abiel's sister and his brother-in-law, had my boyfriend pay for me to watch him dance "sensuously" with another girl (more about that, and a possible incriminating video later!), been to my friend's 21st, and went to prague, vienna and bratislava. phew. summary over now for a long entry.

let's start with the most scandalous one (well, sort of, anyway). imperial singapore society was holding a performance with funds going to charity, and abiel was involved. he whined to me quite a bit during the whole practice and rehearsal process about having to dance with another girl (cue: awwww) but anyway brightly informed me that he had to sell three tickets, and guess who already 'purchased' one. this was the first weekend that his sister and brother-in-law were in london, and he told them he would be busy but (i am sure this he did quite intentionally and gleefully as well) informed them that it'd be a boring show, and really, they shouldn't be wasting their time watching it. right. since he was busy, i was their (very lousy, they had more guidebooks than me) tour guide for the day, going to greenwich with them. digressing a bit, greenwich was really lovely, not the boring museum with a line in the middle that i envisaged, but a quaint area with an absolutely beautiful and expansive stretch of green pastures, and when we were there, framed by the azure blue sky. there are about 3 places to visit there, we went only to 2, the royal observatory and the royal maritime museum. the royal observatory was really fascinating - the building was essentially one very long house, sectioned up, and each little section of the house could split open, and a telescope emerge from within the four walls. yes, not just the roof, but the entire section, like this:
The meridian line at night. © NMM London

way cool isn't it! a laser shoots out every night exactly where the meridian line is, and can be seen for four miles from the observatory. i stood on the prime meridian too, haha cheap thrill. anyway we finally started to make a move, seeing ominous thunder clouds in the sky, and the winds turning into gales, making our way carefully past the pigeons (abiel's sister is really terrified of birds, especially when they are flying) when his brother-in-law remarked about the white specks in his hair. gulp. lucky for him (and us) it was not pigeon poo but snow! lucky them! this in a way reminds me of my run with zk. we ran through a very pretty meadow in oxford called port meadow, and one section was just choking with buzzing, annoying mayflies. i warned zk to keep his mouth shut but he kept insisting it was all right. well it was, till he choked on one? or was it took a deep breath of eau de mayfly? i am not sure. either way i was convulsing with laughter.

anyway i told them over lunch that abiel was dancing. the reaction was an immediate, simultaneous, "he's dancing!!?!?!" (insert big-eyed emoticon here) to which i said yes. they seriously contemplated paying 10 pounds each for the privilege of watching him dance for about 2 minutes. some kind of perfomance he must be putting up eh, to get paid so much for just a 2 minute dance. sanity prevailed in the end, but not before i promised to take a video of him dancing. muauahahahahahahahahhaha. i have the video stored safely in my handphone, but if anyone wants to watch how the pros do it, it's here . he danced from the slow part. (i don't have the cable with me at the moment so i cannot transfer files from my hp to the laptop) anyway the long story just about explains, i hope, how my bf paid for me to watch him dance sensuously with another girl. and in the performance he was the big buaya. diane was shaking her head, me too, tsk.

and now leaves me with my friend's 21st, and prague, vienna and bratislava. a story for another time, when i get the pictures ok? i promise! =) tata for now!