so i haven't updated for a while. heh, sorry. i tend not to blog when i am busy, ie when i am doing something that might be more interesting to read for all of you than my usual whining about things in general. so what i have done thus far? nothing much, after the end of my internship i left for beijing with my dad and uncle, which was lovely. i do like beijing very much - somehow i feel like i belong there, in a strange way. i don't know how to describe it, except that seeing the glorious red and blue ming architecture, the sculptured rock gardens and the whole history - it's just awe-inspiring. and i compare that with the castles i have seen in europe - not that many to be fair, just prague castle, versaille and all - and i think i truly understand now why they say beauty lies in the eye of the beholder. two very different styles of architecture, two different forms of imposing majesty, and two very different cultures.

i loved the time i spent with my dad and my uncle too. my dad's surprisingly more adventurous than i expected, which was nice. we bumbled around beijing on our own (i didn't do that much shopping) and we even dared to try the little roadside stalls (proper stalls, not those rickshaw type). let's just say, the meal was dirt cheap, tasted a little strange, and i was painfully aware of each bite i took. that's not to say the xiao long baos we ordered weren't nice (4 yuan for 10 i think) but i had a good view of the kitchen and it didn't exactly inspire an appetite in me. we went to the great wall like all hao han should, even though we didn't go to the highest tower. there were so many people on the great wall i wondered if the people in space who were looking down at the great wall saw concrete or a strip of black framed by a long border of yellow. the strange things i think about huh.

which brings me to quote this conversation zk, me and tim tay had. this was yesterday when we were studying for collections at starbucks.

*buzz buzz buzz* annoying fly buzzing above our heads.
i think to myself: what an annoying fly. was about to say that it was an annoying fly when...
tim tay: have you ever wondered why mosquitoes are not extinct? i mean, they are not ecologically necessary are they?
i think to myself again: huh, that's quite random.
zk: well you can't really say that...etc etc etc discussion continues for a good few minutes and i half listen, but the rest of my brain is actually screaming "this is so oxfordy!" which i blurted out later. zk corrected me and said you mean "oxionian". nono i mean oxfordy. you know, in the same vein as geeky, nerdy and study.

hurhur wasn't that funny.

ah so i have digressed enough. back to my summer. i left singapore early, and left my family and abiel behind to go watch the rugby world cup in france! specifically the all blacks who are AWESOME. i also have my favourite top the all blacks jersey courtesy of kor (and this story i should say too) and we took lots of pictures. lyon was beautiful and the weather was perfect, and paris was cold. cold cold cold. but surprisingly when we went to versaille the weather turned so good that the clouds looked fake. i took lots of pictures for once too. and i'm excited because i finally get the license to watch ALL the rugby matches i want now that collections are over (i did badly for them i swear) - so go all silvers and trash les blues! (no offense, the french were nice. and chabal is scary. but still, all blacks all the way) so tmr it's england australia (i hope england wins partly cuz i am here, but really cuz i think england's less of a threat than australia hehe) and NZ france! sunday it's springboks fiji and scotland argentina. all interesting.

anyway i digressed again. i was supposed to tell you about my lovely amazing fitting cool all blacks jersey which i got courtesy of kor. this story i think is quite hilarious. so it's my 21st and i have some friends over. my brother was around as well, and he got bored quickly so i left with my brother and abiel to take him to my gran's where he could have more fun. so i left the boys with a bottle of port. now on hindsight the fact that jerald was around should have deterred me (hahah) but it didn't. so by the time i come back, jerald is in a happy place, and my kor is cheshire cat. it's ok, they are just high not yet/that drunk, which was fine by me. so it's presents time, and kor passes me a present. you see, because he kept asking about the rwc i kinda figured out what was inside, especially since when i touched it; it was soft. he was so worried he got the wrong team and i comforted him by saying "it's ok so long as it's not the french jersey!"



and he paused and said "now i'd think that was funny even if i weren't drunk".

and i opened it and

oh the funniness of it all.

i spent too long on this, so i should go before i bore all of u, but i just had to share this with you. my new room had no curtains, so after some days of agony and realizing there weren't even rails to hang the damn thing, i emailed the steward's office to ask for them. i pondered over the subject header for a long time - abiel being the sweet boy as he is was ever so helpful. here are some things he came up with "i need my curtains!!" "curtains'Rus" and, this takes the cake "in an ideal world, we would all have curtains."

i am sure he said more i cant remember at the moment. gtg now! good night. =)