WK's Blag

D for...

2009-10-12T10:42:00.005-07:00

Death

Durian Pengat

Doggy

Distracted

Donation, pls?

Disregard

Dear

Doomz day!

Bonus:

Dust on lens (click to enlarge!!)

I have failed, beloved country

2009-09-15T07:04:00.003-07:00

Merdekaku
Kenapa mau pukul tujuh?
Tak leh bangun
Salahkan Terry-kun

Malam bute
Nak baiki komputer~
Apa macam?
Pergi makan dim sum (x2)

Today in the life of a nomad

2009-09-11T10:30:00.006-07:00

What? It's already time to check out?
Gotta fuel up before wandering the streets again
To salvation?
Promise of ascension...
I can resist anything but temptation. Bak chor mee? $2. Two-hour food poisoning? Priceless.
Attacking the poison with poison. Saved from murky defilement.
Nearly forgot that it's Hungry Ghost Month.
They are gone. But the lone girl remains. Waiting.
Looking at the vast field promising hope.
And he stared at the shadow of his former self.
Buddy, don't stand outside alone at this time ler~ 'Things' are walking
The bloom, yellowed by the street lights. Time to find a place to sleep.

Check the Facebook too! And I am coming back to Malaysia!

2009-08-22T21:16:00.004-07:00

Hey, just so you know. I split what was originally exclusive to Blogger to Facebook now. Since uploading pictures in Blogger is a Thousand-Years-of-Pain each time, I have decided to write picture-heavy posts on Facebook.

Yeah, so check out my galleries here yo! Pics taken with the old but reliable Sony DSC-P200. It is quite bad taking pictures under low-lighting and it flashes a bit slow, but it does take decent (still) pictures in my non-professional opinion (IMNPO - now you've learned a new acronym). You do need a Facebook account though.

House-hunting is still ongoing. This time I might settle for something more expensive since it is so difficult to find and most of the time the people offering rooms are such lazy bums it is so hard to deal with. Take this one guy for example, I have exchanged about 10 emails with him when he saw my posting on Craigslist. I am pretty sure the only part he read about my posting was "... single room needed" because he went on and asked about information which was already posted in detail on Craigslist. All the while I used "WK" to identify myself. When I texted him again while saying I am "WK", that idiot could not remember who I am. So he called me and I have to explain who I am. The next time I smsed him (twice before he noticed) he called me again to ask who I am. Cjb, so I have to remind him again. Since he said he is only free on weekends, I suggested viewing on the same night since I was around the area. That joker then told me he will only get the key for the place on Sept. 1. If I wasn't having such a hard time looking for a place (and his place was pretty close to NUS, I would have insulted him on the phone and hung up on him. Yeah, so many times get these indifferent/take-it-or-leave-it-I-don't-give-a-shit-about-you people or those who offer shitty places at such high prices you'd thought there was gold to be mined there.

OK. After delaying for such a long time, I'll be coming home in the end of this month. Haven't decided how yet nor have I planned my trip to Malaysia. But H1N1 is so rampant in Malaysia now (68 casualties and they even have some WHO experts to come and study it) I am having my doubts. Then again I might adopt devil-may-care attitude and go anyway. If I come back earlier, I might spend a day or two in Melaka, then stop by at KL for two days or so, and head back to Kuantan before bussing/flying back to Singapore. But I'll keep you updated.

[Update Aug. 26]
1. Apparently some people are having trouble accessing my gallery. So I'm going to post more specific links and see if it works. Here is the food gallery. Let me know if that works. But easiest is adding me as a friend on Facebook la. Just search my name and I'll be there ♫.
2. Going to KL on Saturday. Have not made any travel plans yet.

Rant on bus

2009-08-20T11:55:00.003-07:00

Annoyed at buses going to-from NUS. Last night went to watch a free jazz trio performance (piano, bass, and drums) - fell asleep through half of it due to lack of sleep and due to jazz music's lack of adrenaline-inducing beats unlike say, Korean percussion drums.

But best part is after the performance ended. I was waiting for #96 bus to get to an MRT station to get back home. 2 minutes passed, a completely full bus passed by. 15 more minutes, another completely full bus. Another 15 minutes, 3rd full bus. It was 9 something pm when the performance ended so I didn't realize it was that hard to get a bus at this freaking non-peak hour. So tried to walk to the MRT seeing that it was 4 stops away or so, not too bad what, ~30 minutes of walk ma. Guess what, got lost but later thought I saw road signs pointing to the correct direction that I need to go (because I roughly know the location but not the precise directions). So I walked on like a MFSH and somehow they don't have walking spaces beside the roads. I have no choice but to walk on the sidewalk that is not parallel to roads. When I get out, !@*&^$$# already on a different road. Luckily there was a bus stop nearby. Even then I waited for 20-30 minutes for one bus to turn up (there were 3 buses going to my destination, talking about efficiency). The rest was business as usual, 40-50 minutes of commuting.

Although I admit I am partly to be blamed for not knowing how to walk to the MRT, I am of the opinion that if you can't get a bus after waiting for 40 minutes in your World's Top University at 9 p.m. that is pretty screwed up (almost as screwed up as those Malaysian buses last time I was there). Anyway the latest strategy to improve commuting experience is to introduce a more accurate predicting system. Let's apply this to my case. The system detects the bus is full, so from saying "Arriving" it displays "15 minutes". Then after 5 minutes aiyo another bus also full wor, so from say "10 minutes" it becomes "25 minutes". So what am I supposed to do with that information? Call a cab and pay $5 for what you usually get for $0.69? Continue waiting? What if the bus is your only way to get there and you keep getting all these full buses for the next 30 minutes? Judge for yourself how useful the perfect prediction system is.

Then this morning, I only managed to get into the 3rd bus after about 30 minutes of wait (on a good day, it takes 10-15 minutes to complete the whole journey). If this is Malaysia, I won't be surprised. But this is Singapore wor, developed country wor. Another interesting thing that my colleague pointed out was that during university vacation period and now that school reopened, the bus frequency is still the same whereas passenger volume has increased by maybe four- or five-folds. In UBC, in the same case, there would be more bus services available and frequency will be increased. I guess it's not that flexible here.

Paise la. Another one of my rant and rave session. Recently commuting and lack of sleep has taken its toll on my temper. But very tired dy right now, so going back to sleep...

Tonight, walking along Serangoon Road

2009-08-06T07:24:00.002-07:00

Had dinner at 9 p.m. at the newly renovated Tekka market. Most of the stalls were closed, and I was looking for something healthier and cheap (a.k.a. fish soup) but no luck so I settled for roti prata (or more accurately, roti canai but you know the Singaporeans ah...) and a cup of masala tea (my first!). Masala tea is a kind of milk tea with a lot of spices (cinnamon and I don't know what the others were) and it tastes... different, not sure whether I like it or not.

Then I walked along Serangoon Road back to my place. The road is lined up with small Indian grocery stores selling different wares like Hindi DVDs (original one, don't play play), flower garlands, fruits, vegetables, jewelry, and Indian food. Nothing fancy really, it is like things you get from pasar malams. The street is pretty lively with Indians (duh), some Chinese like me, and tourists (with their typical tourist attire, map, and MCC look). True, this ain't Orchard road, but walking among these people and humble shophouses presents you with a different perspective of the highly urbanized Singapore. This place feel more like India (who am I kidding, I've never even been to India) than Singapore - a bit like when you go to Quebec from other parts of Canada and everything changes and you are wondering if you are still in Canada.

Anyway this place has a small-townish feel to it, and people feel more down to earth. And often you can see Indians sitting by the roadside or fields enjoying simple pleasures like the company of friends and a cheap but hearty meal heavy with Indian spices. Indeed this is a refreshing change from the sight of expensive-looking shopping malls and the self-conscious cosmopolitans.

More than anything else, I was enjoying my short walk back home, feeling free from the backbreaking workload from school and the weight of academic aspiration on my shoulders. Bah, to hell with university (at least for now)! Nowadays I occupy myself with food and travel.

Soon enough, I arrived at the 24-hour mart below where I stay. The durian seller, as always, was eating his rice with mixed vegetables (dripping with oil) from the brown parchment paper. Walked up the stairs, the walls decorated with brown stains from sources unknown, one or two dead cockcroaches, an old man gasping for air, and a baby barely able to breath. And I thought to myself, "This land is so rich. Why should we suffer like this?"

Inserting my key into its rightful slot, I gave it a slight twist. The door opened, the dog poked out his head, wagging his tail. I found out that my housemate is leaving for Beijing tonight (Oh, homeland of my forefathers! How I long to be in thy embrace!) and down with flu (ah, the irony). I sat my fat ass on the pitiable chair and started typing out this post, while at the same time looking for a place for dinner tomorrow at Clementi*

* Named after Sir Cecil Clementi, governor of Negeri-negeri Selat. Remember your Sejarah, guys? I don't. I saw this on Wikipedia.

Intrigues In The Qing Imperial Court by Chinese Theatre Circle (yes, very intriguing indeed)

2009-08-05T09:18:00.007-07:00

Warning: Long blog post ahead. Proceed with caution. Please mind the platform gap.

Last night I went to watch my first ever Chinese opera and it was in English. You've heard it right - it is actually performed in English.

I know this is done in bad taste, but I just couldn't help it.

Anyway it was one of the many free performances sponsored by ExxonMobil in NUS campus. I finished work about an hour before the opera started, went to the oh-so-cheap NUS canteen for a quick fix, and hurried back to get a good seat - I only managed to get one on the mezzanine.

I didn't really know what to expect from the show (although my heart sank when I saw that it was going to be performed in English). I just kept imagining how they are going to do all the opera singing in English and it was weird. Surprisingly, the real thing was even weirder than what I imagined it to be.

3 points to make:
1. Unlike Chinese, English words often have more than one syllable. So it is quite awkward to transpose English lyrics onto Chinese opera music. Singing out syllable-fraction of a word (English) instead of singing out a word (Chinese) in Chinese opera style not only takes away the sense of rhythm, but imparts to it an ill-fitting nursery-rhyme like quality.

2. The English in the performance was garnished with a hearty serving of Singaporean accent. Let's say it does not match up well with the characters (emperor of China, Empresses Dowager, and court officials) who are dressed in elaborately designed Chinese costumes.

3. The Chinese-to-English abdrigement/translation. The lines (e.g. the Shakespearean "I am more sinned against than sinning", the literal translation of "人之将死，其言必善" into　"A dying person always has kind words", and descriptions like "nasty and crafty" ) does not flow well with the overall feel of the performance. For one, the use of English is inconsistent - sometimes natural sounding English proverbs are used, and other times literal (cliché-sounding) translation of Chinese proverbs are used; sometimes classier English words are used, while other times basic/crude English is used. This is exacerbated by the need for the words to rhyme, hence lines such as "Throw her into the well/ Hear not what she yells".

Since I can't seem to find any videos on this performance, I have found a few clips to give you a rough idea of how it sounds like.

This comes pretty close to what I have witnessed, but you get Singaporean accent (and one guy with Malay accent) instead of Hongie accent

This is to give you a feel of the English they use in the script. Compare it with the concise and elegant 古文, if you please

While I am highly critical of the performance, it does have some merits. For one, the costumes look beautiful, so does the makeup. The props were decent - I especially liked the large drawings used as backgrounds. In fact, before they started speaking/singing, it looked like it had potential to be a good show. In a way, it is still enjoyable, just not in the way I had originally thought of enjoying a Chinese opera.

There was a scene where the Chinese was negotiating with the foreign imperialists and a Caucasian started singing Chinese opera (very entertaining). A bit later all the foreigners stood up and sang a song (a very familiar one but the title eludes me) with a adulterated (in a good way though) lyrics. Ironically that was the best point of the Chinese opera. One curious detail though: the foreigner who was supposed to be German spoke with a thick French accent - was it a blunder, or purposely crafted so? Either way it is still pretty awkward. However I must say the Japanese played his part exceptionally well.

Another nice touch: When the emperor was writing 斩袁 (execute Yuan Shi Kai) in the air, the subtitle screen showed the 笔划 (strokes of Chinese characters) one by one in accordance with his hand movements. Unfortunately around the same time, the playwright suddenly took a sudden change in direction and tried too hard to portray CiXi as a Shakespearean tragic-hero-like character (before that she was portrayed as a merciless, "nasty and crafty" "monster") which I find not very convincing.

I looked at the opera's website and was surprised to see that the cast consists of acclaimed and award-winning actors. But I think their acting that day was a bit weak (I think the actor playing 珍妃 gave a good effort, but could not make it when it comes to singing) - probably because it was performed in English.

Not the best pick for my first Chinese opera, but hey it was free. And despite its anomalies, it was an eye-opener and did ignite in me a desire to seek out a proper Chinese opera. While I think it can serve as an introduction to Chinese Opera for non-Chinese speaking community, I hope they don't take this as the gold standard of Chinese opera, because it simply is not a good representation. But then again, I am a total noob when it comes to Chinese opera, so why listen to me? Listen to the what the ministers say lah haha.

My neighbourhood

2009-07-09T08:29:00.002-07:00

Tell you more about where I live now... pretty interesting place. Basically this area feels more like India than Singapore - you see 90% Indians here, and when I go into restaurants it feels quite awkward. Most of the time I'm the only Chinese in the whole restaurant.

Downstairs is a 24-hour grocery shop that has sort of a durian restaurant. Basically they put up some tables and chairs and people will come to eat durians and watermelons. So far I haven't tried the durian yet - there's the 3 packs for $5 one, very tempting - because I usually overeat for dinner.

A bit further down the street another 24-hr supermarket. It's called Mustafa Center, very notorious for its narrow aisles and crazy crowds. But it has a mixture of cheap and branded goods. Hotbed for H1N1 too. But it is very convenient and the amazing thing is it's huge - it basically is a hypermart and sells everything from fresh to dry food, jewelries, clothes, shoes, electrical appliances, and even its own money exchange and travel agency. Although most non-Indians tend to avoid the place because it's stressful enough to squeeze among the crowds in the MRT and bus stops.

Besides that there are of course a ridiculous amount of place to eat here - and gold stores. The Indian food here are typically North or South Indian food with names that you have to check in Wikipedia to make any sense of (I actually did that and it was pretty helpful). Typical Indian food cost about $4-$6 (a bit of high end in Singapore) but portions are huge. I wish I have more refined tastebuds because frankly I can't really tell the difference between most of the curries they have.

And I have to stop writing since I'm feeling very sleepy now...

Singapore breaking news: It has been raining for more than 2 hours...

2009-07-05T04:27:00.002-07:00

Walau, just moved to the new place last night which is near Farrer Park MRT (anyone knows where that is) and which is very close to Little India which means there is a super high concentration of Indians around that area so much so that when you go to an Indian restaurant you feel like an alien (phew that was a long sentence).

The owners seem nice and pretty liberal about sharing kitchen stuff and others. There is this 7-month dog in the house leaving drool all around the place. And the place is just beside a large Indian temple (which can get a bit noisy at 6 a.m. - I think it goes on for 2 hours if I'm not mistaken - and about 6 p.m.) and a busy road (so far only certain motorcycles have been causing problems - you guys should be familiar with the really loud motorcycles right?).

But the thing that kills me is the heat. I have been living at this previous place near Bradley MRT without air-con and got used to it, but this room is on a totally different level. Have you experienced the feeling when you settling into the seat of a car parked under the sun for a long time - that is precisely what I felt when I go to sleep. I was quite surprised because I thought the place was pretty windy and the fan seems to working pretty well. Then I was checking around and I realized something - the cooling effect decreases exponentially away from the window. You see my bed is actually located at the furthest away from the windows. And if you are 2 steps away from the window it is pretty shiok but further and further than that it actually almost feels like there are no windows at all - even the fan doesn't help that much in bringing in the cooler air. So my plan is to move the bed right beside the window - even though it would partially block my door - but that's a compromise I'm willing to put up with.

Update: The guys just removed some glasses on top. So we'll see if there is any improvement..

Moving on

2009-06-11T18:21:00.003-07:00

Finally things are almost settled, or at least I have started trying to settle things. I will be going to Singapore next day, although the exact date still eludes me because of my weakness.

Still trying to sell my possessions. Seriously we accumulated too much unneeded junk. Look around you, how many things you have are not actually what you need? All those iPhones, PS3, gadgets.... I am ashamed of myself for falling for this temptation that was way too easy. In the end, all our needless consumption is going to bring this world that we know of to an end. Surely, technology has saved us time to time. All the prophecies of doom has, thankfully, not come true. But the more disasters we avert, the more sinister, deeper problems we uncovered - the diseases, climate change, depletion of resources, and all. Will we survive? I have no time to think about that. Heck, I have a final exam to write tomorrow and I have not even started studying yet. I derive guilty pleasures from pretending to prepare for my departure than having to study.

Today I phoned my phone company to put my phone plan on hold since I am leaving Canada for more than half a year. It was pretty straightforward, just press *611 then press 0, and wait for someone to answer your call. In the end my only option for keeping my line was to pay $10 every month, even though I will not be using it at all - great! To top it off, right after I converted to the bare-minimum plan, another person from the phone company was suddenly concerned about what I think about their service before bringing up the issue that I changed my phone plan to the cheapest plan. The phone companies are a devious bunch, I tell you. I think the hidden charges alone would set you back about $8-$10 a month. It is a global phenomena. I was looking at some phone plans in Singapore and what seems to me like a good deal actually had a catch. Always read the terms and conditions. Even though the font size are barely legible, it actually contains the most important information about what you pay. Free incoming calls (Font 20 or 30 - I don't know)! Terms & Condition: you must activate some free incoming plan which cost $0.49 a day (Font 8 and hidden at the very bottom). Free voice mail. T&C: you pay this and this after first month. Sigh, all these tactics to trick us into spending...

Anyway I might be able to pull this off - not resorting to summer storage (mine is actually more-than-summer storage since I will still be gone for 4 months after summer). That would save me about $300-400 maybe. Then I am staying illegally at friend's living room (the hobo-under-a-roof concept) saving more than $500. My concern now is that I won't be able to sell off my textbooks while I am away, while unethical publishers keep on churning out new editions with about 1% change from previous ones every year or two. That's why if you keep your perfectly good textbook for a long period of time, most likely it will end up with maybe 10% (or less, gasp!) of its original purchase value. Shucks!

Time to get back to work... zzzme#$%&zzz...

Goodbye, Love

2009-06-11T17:41:00.002-07:00

We met about a year ago. Before our fateful meeting I have been searching for you for months, waiting patiently and pursuing feverishly at the same time. Finally, I laid my eyes on you and claim you as mine.

School was busy. I waited for the weekend to indulge in our newfound relationship. I explored every inch of you, previously untouched by any man. It was my first too. Excited and nervous, my hands shook with the feeling of your smooth exterior. It was joy beyond words. At the end of those 2 days we were bonded so tightly I could barely breathe.

You were my family, my lover, my confidante, my friend, and my last piece of the puzzle called life. You accompanied me in my study and in my endless pursuit of pieces of knowledge that seemed of dubious value. When I have to stay up late, at wit's end trying to solve that physics problem, you stood by me, your silent but sturdy support upheld me. I was grateful. For without you, all those lonely nights alone would have been unbearable.

I learnt a lot of things from you - I am still amazed at how helpful you were towards my academics. Although sometimes I get distracted by your gentle and soothing murmurs and the colorful expressions on your flawless face. Hand in hand, we travel imaginary wilderness, banished darkness, and studied the history of forgotten civilizations. Those were the blissful days that I would cherish forever.

Time flies. Fate, that cruel mistress, forced me into exile to a far away land, so far that for all your courage, resourcefulness, and passion you could never hope to reach. Do I have a choice? I have always had a choice. But in my selfishness, I could never give up the opportunity to pursue my dreams, especially in such hard times. Even then, how could I relinquish this loving embrace of yours? I asked myself again and again, losing sleep over this difficult question.

It no longer matters now. Today, I gave your hand to another man. Yes, with these hands that have caressed you countless times, I led you to him. My heart was weeping blood, but my eyes stayed dry. I put on a strong facade, smiling but could not bring myself to say goodbye. As if uttering those words means giving up even the memories of you. You did not look back, even though in his arms I could trace the slightest trembling of your body.

Goodbye, love. I know we would never meet again.

Start Rek

2009-05-19T00:50:00.003-07:00

Just watch Start Rek in a cheaper cinema (I usually go to the one in downtown which costs about $12 or $13, this one - which I doubt many people know of - is $8 for students). Was feeling pretty tired - due to lack of sleep (surprise!) but gotta admit the movie was pretty good. One of best way to judge how good a movie is is by how much more awake you are after the movie. This one did the job alright.

One thing that I like about the film is that the humour was tastefully done. When I first saw that Asian guy who was in Harold & Kumar (and later Simon Pegg) I was preparing myself for some dumbed down scenes - I was pleasantly surprised to find that there was none.

Zachary Quinto was not bad at all as a logical being who only betrays his emotion subtly - and I have to say the provocation scene where he just let loose was pretty good, the provocation itself was a bit meh. Kirk feels a bit more generic - the rebellious genius who finally comes to his senses. The female characters weren't that prominent as well.

All in all, it was a pretty good film, in that it didn't sacrifice believability for epicness/heroism. The plot was ok-ok, the theme of revenge and wasn't as thought-provoking as Dark Knight. But yeah, go watch it, you'll probably like it.

Peace.

p/s: zomgz why did they make Rachel Nichols so ugly!?

My Days (In Vancouver) are Numbered

2009-05-18T04:47:00.002-07:00

Things in life work in a strange way. Life has been pretty mundane without some external motivation. I have verified the theory that if nothing is pushing me (e.g. exams, competition with another person) I hardly move - probably applies to a lot of people too.

The slightly more tangible things I have done so far would be finishing Elfen Lied and Death Note (manga) and I watched Machine Girl on crunchyroll (very brutal. very gory. Audience are advised to view on their own discretion). Talking about Elfen Lied, I actually thought that the anime was better, surprisingly. It is very likely because in the manga, the author keeps prolonging some character's life until the shock/pity factor wears out. It is also a convolution of many different genres - horror, suspense, ecchi, love - which is interesting sometimes but a lot of times the mundane elements get the upperhand. The third reason why the manga was not as good is because of the absence of the audio effect. Part of why the anime was moving is because they have good voice actors, hence the manga lost some of the emotional appeal.

Moving to Death Note. I re-read it from scratch after abandoning it halfway a long time ago. [Spoiler] The early volumes were good, where Kira-L rivalry was the main focus. After Kira/Light/Raito gave up his death notes and subsequently his memory of the death notes, things were pretty dull until we see what Light's scheme was. The death of L caused quite a stir. Then it was Light-Mello-Near battle which somehow didn't feel that impressive. It seemed kind of dumber. Maybe Light just got overconfident but at that point onwards the manga lost a part of what initially appealed to me the most - the intellectual and psychological battle.

Anyway back to the main topic, so I was just hanging around my friend's place as usual and eventually decide to try to learn PHP/MySQL. Then just right at the time I found a good book on the topic and was going to lose myself in the world wide web, I got an email from NUS (what a downer!) that my application has been processed (at least partly processed) and I might be able to start co-op on June 1. The problem (maybe just a minor problem) is, I have taken a class (restropectively it was a rash decision) which only ends at June 13th so I probably have to delay work by 2 weeks (and seeing that it has already been delayed a month - I was supposed to start in May, ideally - I don't know if I should do that). On the other hand, withdrawing from my course now would leave a 'W' on my transcript - I am not exactly sure what that would do to my prestige (not that I have much left)

So I have been staying up trying to figure things out, emailing people about questions, writing down things I ought to do before leaving Vancouver etc. I have already failed to do what I originally intended anyways, now it would just be damage control. I should probably get some sleep now.

Zzzz....must....watch....Star....Trek.....

X-Men Origins: Wolverine (Spoilers)

2009-05-05T16:27:00.003-07:00

I watched this yesterday with some friends. If I need to describe the movie in less than 5 words, I would say "popcorn flick". Incidentally, yesterday was one of the very rare moment where I went into the theatre with a big-ass popcorn.

One of the main reason I was watching it is because part of the filming was done in UBC, although it turned out to be disappointingly short (1-2 minutes) in the film.

The director could have elaborated more on Logan's background, family conflict and stuff, flesh out the characters a bit. No, they just want action and more action, and everything that is non-action only seems to serve as a means to more action. I admit some of them are not too bad, like when he jumps up and destroys the helicopter's blade, or when the mutant team was just making their appearance with some flashy show-offs. But all those action have failed to disguise the fact that this is just a mediocre action flick.

For one, why the heck did they not erase Logan's memory before they fuse the adamantine into his bone and risking him going berserk - and sending Agent Zero who can't even hurt Wolverine to hunt him down? And there was the extremely cliched "you're not an animal" line. And there's the changing allegiance of Victor with his sudden brotherly love. Gambit was unremarkable at best, although I gotta admit the special effects were pretty cool. In essence, you can change the characters with anyone else and it won't make much of a difference.

In conclusion, if there were any good things about the action of the movie, it is more than negated by the lack of intelligence or genuine emotion in the film. It is (sigh) just another money-making machine.

Current status: Homeless and jobless

2009-05-05T16:04:00.002-07:00

What did I do today? I carried a backpack full of books - I think there were 20+ of them - to a few 2nd hand bookstores to sell them off, dirt cheap. To my chagrin/surprise, I only managed to sell less than 10 of them. Some that I thought would sell for sure - Silence of the Lambs, Lost World, Hamlet, etc. didn't interest them at all. So I made a new post on Craigslist to sell them.

It has been almost a week since my exile, and so far I have sold one fridge, one Math textbook, and some fictions which constitutes less than 1% of all the things I have right now. Funny how things that you hold dear can be totally worthless in other people's eyes. I also learned about the difficulty in selling stuff. You see, some people expressed interest in some of the stuff, and that they tell you on the phone that they were coming today to pick it up. And what happened? They disappeared, no explanation, nothing. There was another guy (who later bought my Math book) gave me a useless phone number that he doesn't even use. I decided to take a class yesterday so I called him with that number (no answer), left a text message (no reply), and sent an email (only got a reply 7-8 hours later) to change meeting time. In the end, I guess he just missed all of them and waited for me at the original meeting time. I waited for him during my proposed meeting time and not too surprising, he didn't show up. I was expectedly quite annoyed. If people ask you for your freaking phone number, you give one that people can actually get to you if there's change in plans, not some phone that you never answer!

Another thing that frustrates me is how long people take to answer emails. I can understand if they don't sit in front of a laptop most of the time (like me, since I'm busy selling my worthless possessions) but if it takes you a day to answer a simple email most of the time it puts me in this dilemma: Ok, this guy hasn't answered my email for 9 hours, but he seemed to be interested in this fridge, but the other one gave me her phone number and says she can pick up in 2 hours time, so what do I do? In the end, I just make up their mind, I give priority to those who can make up their mind and get things off my hand instead of those who asked the first but are tardy in replying emails.

I should probably zip it and suck it up. Next post is about Wolverine.

Time flies...

2009-04-30T19:37:00.003-07:00

Time flies, so clichéd, so true. I still remember vividly the year when I first arrived in Canada, so ignorant yet so optimistic and hopeful. The smell of barbecue so tantalizing in the cold air, leaving an indelible mark in my memory.

I was just reading my old posts. Why am I reading my old posts? I was just re-arranging my stuff, trying to discard as many things as possible to lessen my guilt of having to fill my senior's place with my accumulated junk. Looking through some of the stuff I wrote down during the blessed days in Taylor's college - I had always complained about the heat and the lack of extra-curriculum in Taylor's college, but looking back now, I realized that it was such a sheltered haven. It thus saddens me dearly to find that I have lost contact of 2 of my favourite teachers, Mr. Sarno and Mr. Joy. Is this a sign that I should just forget about the past.

Looking at my old posts, it was as if I'm looking at a different person. Now I truly understand that people do change. I am kind of happy that I had something to remember my old self, regardless of how or into what I have changed now. Sigh.

Anyway, my current status: I don't know when NUS is going to complete my application process. Reliable sources tell me that it usually takes more than 3 months but this maybe shortened, in other words, "dunno". So I still have a lifetime of maybe 2 months in Vancouver. Currently leeching at my senior's place again with my enormous pile of steaming hot crap in the living room. Don't really know how to get rid of them, so now I'm trying to sort out which stuff I need and what I don't really need. Because university Housing forces us to leave our place on Apr. 29, which is 2 days after my final exam. Since I was studying oh so hard for them, I couldn't pack properly. That's why all my stuff are mixed around. And scrubbing kitchen floor and the insides of oven (with all those burnt stuff) ain't fun. I passed out for 10 hours last night (which is actually surprisingly short if I think about all the work I have done for the past 2 days). Sleeping for 10 hours, when I woke up I was quite late for a go-kart session with a friend, and later I was too late to sell some books to a 2nd hand book store and bla bla....

Currently in a dilemma now. I'm selling some fridges and getting some response. Frustrating thing is, the first person who asked hasn't replied since his first email and then you have 5-6 person asking for the same item. So should I just sell to the person who can pick up the earliest or wait for that slowpoke who is the first guy to reply?

Somehow I feel that I am the only person who could understand this post...

Btw, my first year English TA published a book (wow!) http://www.amazon.com/Post-Human-David-Simpson/dp/1440136874/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1241146759&sr=8-1 and I'm still trying to figure out why the same book is being sold at freaking $29 on the Canadian Amazon.

Ok la... update update

2009-04-20T08:35:00.003-07:00

Final exam season. Had 4 exams in 4 days in the first week. Didn't go well at all, given my lack of enthusiasm and consistent work in some of my courses. Just don't know why I don't feel the same way about my studies anymore. I used to work hard for each and every assignment/quiz/midterm, so I was quite shocked (well not really, given that my emotional sensitivity has been somewhat dulled) to look back this year to see how many lectures/assignments I skipped, and how indifferent I was to the quizzes/midterms (well some of it, not all). Hence now I suffer the consequence of my indolence - to make things worse, this term is actually the term with the highest number of final exams, ah the irony - well at least I'm not hooked up with games like last term's final hah.

[Break time!] Check out this video http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1907543.

Back to the issue at hand... I keep asking myself what I am going to do about this? I don't really know. I guess I can start by studying the course before I take it and try to revise my old stuff - first I gotta scan my notes so that I can access it easily. Well those two never really worked in the past but doesn't stop me from trying!

Btw, 8 months of internship/co-op after this term (phew! break from studies). I'm quite likely to be working in S'pore but details are still up in the air.

So yeah, I'll probably die alone....

2009-02-20T23:48:00.003-08:00

It is one of those nights where I get frustrated or emo, if you like. Seems like I am a human repellent. Probably true, judging from how deep my rejection to outside world can get at times. It is a chronic disease, I do not know when it started happening but I am very well aware of it right now. Everything just takes so much effort now. When I let go for a while, it all loosens and falls apart. Heavy workload is a very, very good excuse but deep down there is just some mismatched gears. It is a sorry state of mind to be in, and a sorry state to be constantly in such a state of mind. You probably would not get it, but then again you might. But is it my expressionless face, or is it my eyes that sees nothing, or is it my feet that would not stop for a familiar face for fear of being bogged down, or is it my mouth that never greets? Why does it take so much effort from me? Why isn't the reverse happening to me? There are still a few, yet it is getting fewer and fewer. The constant booming bass is not helping, curse them!

But no, I do not seek to take my own life. I just pray that I will be relieved of fear of solitude as the inevitable seeks me. I feel better now.

p/s: Thank god for Beatles and caffeine. Life would be unbearable were it not for them.

I'm ma need new earphones!!!

2009-01-28T21:05:00.004-08:00

Note to self: Buy noise isolation earphones asap, some cnmjbzzsbd Koreans who hang around with no one but themselves are getting unruly in the library, foiling all attempts at getting quality study time.

It's beginning to feel a lot like CNY

2009-01-27T12:16:00.006-08:00

'Tis global warmin', my friend..

People say Vancouver not only has White Christmas, but also White Chinese New Year. Maybe that explains why I haven't been able to wake up for classes.

You are what you eat!!

2009-01-24T17:07:00.013-08:00

Mmmm. Dog.

Urgh....

2009-01-15T17:36:00.000-08:00

Unusual sleeping habits

2009-01-14T01:36:00.003-08:00

Something weird happened today. After finish baking my 1st cookies, I feel so very tired (kind of usual recently) so I took a nap at 7 something, fully expecting myself to be alive and kicking at 9. But then I think I keep changing my alarm time and stuff that when I woke up it was 1 a.m. Zomg! So that's already about 5 hours - which is slightly less than my golden mean of 6 hours per day! I think I'm going to take another hour at 6 a.m. and work my ass off until then.

Anyway enjoy the video below:

And a comic strip from xkcd!

New template lalala

2009-01-11T14:30:00.002-08:00

After enduring the crappy broken template for n years, I finally beh tahan liao. Originally I was planning to whip up something cool with Dreamweaver but my skill is half a bucket of water and blogger isn't really that cut to customization so I stuck with finding a pre-made template (pretty lame I know)

Still haven't figured out how to customize some stuff and the whole process actually took me about 2 freaking hours. Gotta go liao, work to do, long road ahead of me.

Housemates

2009-01-11T12:02:00.002-08:00

This term I have 3 housemates. 2 are from last term. One of them is really close to another one who moved out. They always do stuff - study, play Left 4 Dead, go out for dinner, cook dinner, watch TV - together and the house was pretty merry. Sometimes I join them, steal their food, contribute a bit for dinner, and stuff. It was actually pretty fun and I enjoyed their company. Even though they were mechatronics students - easily one of the most respectable and "cream of the crop" even among engineering students - they always took time to have fun, play computer games, etc. They were the ones who influenced me into the new era of gaming, to make full use of my $1000-powerhouse. But this other guy moved out because he's working in an internship so he shifted to another place which is closer to his place. Ever since then, the guy who remained seemed to have lost his passion - at least when he's in the house. He is always in his room and he always eat instant noodles (stopped cooking altogether). We still talk from time and time, but it feels like the house has lost its youthful passion bla bla mojo bla bla thingy. It is as if a biological material that has lost its enzyme - kind of sad, really. And he might be moving out soon. So sad, so sad, it's a sad sad situation....

My second housemate is a really quiet quiet guy, at least in front of people he is not close with or chooses not to be close with (does it make a difference?). He rarely comes out of his room, like those Japanese/Korean (JK) student who comes here to study. <<<>>>. Anyway back to my second housemate. He rarely talks to any of us in the house. I think he spoke less than 10 sentences to the power duo during the last 4 months - the usual conversation consisting of mutual "hey"s (which is a mumble on his part) doesn't count, apparently. He doesn't seem to want to talk much even though I start a conversation with him - like when I ask him how he's doing, what's he doing and stuff, he never seems to have anything to contribute to lengthen the conversation. During the winter break last few weeks ago, he had 2 of his friends come over, and they cooked, they laughed, they watched TV, they played extremely bad music that makes your ear bleed - and for a moment, he seemed normal. When the break ended, he went back to his old self, maybe cooking for once every month (they used to cook everyday - and their mess still can be seen in the living room - lazy bastards).

Well, there's still hope in humanity even though the weather is cold and bleak. This term an exchange student moved in. The reason I like living with exchange students is they are usually very outgoing and they know they have only a short time in Vancouver - usually 4 months - so they will try their best to mingle and make the best out of their time here (how I wish I can share their mentality). This guy can cook pretty well, that day he shared some food with me, and hopefully I can extend the same generosity to him in the near future. And he seemed to be willing to talk to me, which is good - seeing the other two are getting increasingly reclusive in their warm cosy rooms. He's from another country, so hopefully I can learn some useful stuff from him, like what his country is like, some dishes, a bit of Spanish? etc.

So there you go. My 3 housemates for this term. I kind of wished I was the only antisocial in the house - so my housemates would help me be better, instead of the other way round. I wish I was more communicative - sometimes when I want to ask them to clean up the house, I will think about all the mess I have contributed to the house - well, they might have done no less, but usually I'm obsessed with my own guilt and inadequacy, my own shortcomings, that's why I'm not as sociable as I would dream of. Oh well, time to start working on my 8 courses. Time are getting tougher and tougher, better not dream about things that are hard to attain. I do have to admit, gossiping is fun. Wish there was someone where I can unrestrictively spill out all my insecurity, bitterness, and fears. Dreams... ah, the green light that never seems to be within reach... or is it even real at all?