Thinking about the Mumbai attacks can cause severe depression, I think. I just. DDDDD: am utterly sad. And disappointed. And angry. And just D: x 100000. I think the rest of us need to be told, "Ganbatte!" That we can survive this somehow. That it'll be better someday.

Database exam was okay. But I realise I still don't really really get the point of relational calculus and relational algebra. :s It muddles me. I really want to try learning mySQL, apache and PHP by myself this break. Just cause. It'd be cool to be able to create my own database system. And yes, I suppose it'd be handy for honours project, if it crops up or stg.

On happier things: Tego and Maki are apparently really really going to appear together in a movie!!! XD Yaayyyy. Source here. The movie is an adaptation of the English novel, "Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac" by Gabrielle Zevin and directed by Hollywood filmmaker Hans Canosa. News were all rife about Matsuyama Kenichi (L from Death Note) and Horikita Maki co-starring again... but how could they not mention Tegoshi earlier??? Wouldn't he just bring more anticipation for the movie? Haha. Tegoshi is apparently going to play the nerdy best friend? Not sure. This movie has now become a must-see for me. Think I might go get the book too! :D YAY. BORDERS shopping spree, Eunice? I already have three books on my reading list this break! -- The Fire Kimono, Tales of Beedle the Bard (!!!) and this one.

Maki's JE infiltration continues. Haha. Oh GOD. You know what we would love??? A TegoMaki photoshoot! Then we can perhaps confirm the wholeTego-looks-like-Maki-and-vice-versa issue. gosh. A field-day for fandom. XD I would so buy the mag even if I dont understand a word of it.

Computing Paper (on Database Systems) tomorrow. It is amazing that I'm actually hoping for my computing module to save me this semester. Another of the ironies of life. Need to just study a little bit more on the relational calculus and relational algebra... and how to decompose relational schema into BCNF. :S Oh please please let me do well enough in this one to compensate for what sucks in the rest.

Also, I am infinitely glad that there are only a few days or so left in this week of cooped-up-in-the-house-cause-of-exams business. Because the number of distractions are just piling up! Nyeeah. For one, I'm realizing that it's only about two weeks left to my holiday trip and I haven't done the shopping and hair-cutting that I've been meaning to get done before I leave! And of course, NEW SHOES. Cause right now, the only usable shoes I have are a pair of golden-coloured heels and my tattered sandals.

Not to mention, my typical list of things-I-want-to-do-after-exams-end have been sitting on my desktop, tempting me like crazy. Can't wait!

And have I mentioned my brother's new PS3 plugged into our TV??? DISTRACTION x 1000, thanks. We can connect to the net and play streaming sites on it! Sis tested youtube and veoh and even mysoju already!!! XD oh the wonders of technology.

Been watching Innocent Love and Scrap Teacher slowly. I'm leaving Ryuusei out for the moment because I know that one will want to make me keep watching non-stop or stg. Innocent Love is slow but not uninteresting. Scrap Teacher is, I think, actually a rather ridiculous story with a very unrealistic premise -- a school on the verge on shutdown gets saved from the inside by three mysterious transfer students. But I watch anyway because it has laugh-out-loud funny moments that make it worth it somehow. And of course, I watch cause of HSJ and Yamada and Yuto. XD

WHY IS YAMADA ONLY 15?!?!?! I AM IN DENIAL. My brother and sister were like, "Can you please stop! You will go to jail. No, to hell." XD But seriously. How can he only be 15 and look so... like that!!! TOO MUCH PRETTY. GROW UP FASTER, PLEASE. So it would actually be legal and normal for me to spaz about you.

I don't know why I'm doing this. I don't know why I'm awake at such an ungodly hour - 2 am - during the supposed exam week, for god's sake. And it's not like I'm watching a drama or reading nice fics (although I did find a good one... that turned SLASH into the third chapter, so I had to bail out. -_-") or keeping myself otherwise obsessed. I'm simply refusing to sleep and staying awake wiki-ing silly things like Hokkaido (or Ezogashima as it used to be called in 17th-Century Japan) and googling blogs for yamapi, maki, kurosagi, myself and now Lymond. (I recently discovered the wonders of google blogsearch. I concede; google rocks.)

LYMOND PIMP POST (Click here to know more about Lymond.)

It is such a wonder to read about other Lymond fans. Because Lymond is such an inaccessible book for people who can't endure small font, 500-page novels, incomprehensible references and dialogue riddled with French and Spanish, Lymond is always understated. I always feel like nobody knows it enough when dang it, it should be acknowledged as one of the best book series ever created, alongside the likes of HP. Actually, I don't think they're even comparable because they're not all alike in genre, nor in intensity. While Rowling awes people with the over decade-long research she invested to create the world of wizards and muggles, her work still seems dwarfed to what I know Dunnett went through to create Lymond. Dunnett lived in the age of typewriters, before the advent of the internet, and she kept stacks of notes about Lymond and had over 500 books in a private library for research (correct me if I'm wrong). I mean, Dunnett travelled to Turkey to visit the Topkapi palace for her book! Talk about dedication. Talk about authenticity. Talk about the creation of an absolute masterpiece. Her work is inspiring. And we're not talking about a fantasy genre here --- this is historical fiction; one of the toughest genres to succeed in, I think. Because while you want to create an exciting story, you still have to stay true to history. It is no mean feat.

I don't think there's any other work of fiction I reserve such reverence for. While I love HP to bits, it doesn't quite give me the same feeling of awe. And while HP's world is rich and beautifully detailed, nothing can compare to the feeling of anticipation of rereading the complicated series that is the Lymond Chronicles. Yes, rereading. Because the story is so complex and so deeply intricate, that there are still layers of secrets yet to be understood by readers. Every new read offers a new experience, a new level of understanding and new insight. It is that fascinating. AND MY - the political intrigue. Droolworthy. (Not to mention Lymond himself. Ahak, how could I forget.) And the beautiful prose and dialogue. I swear, Lymond quotes are part of my 'important axioms of life'.

A sample: "Lack of genius never held anyone back, Only resentment and daydreaming can do that."

Anyway, what sparked off this Lymond rave was finding this lady's blog, who had somewhat the same reaction as me when reading the 4th book, Pawn in Frankincense.

I quote (Link here):

This is embarrassing to admit, but at one point, I screamed “Traitor!,” threw the book across the room, and began wailing in grief. My bewildered husband tried to comfort me, saying “But it’s only a story.” Only a story? For the past six weeks, it had been my life.

:DDDDD Raise your hand if you've flung a Lymond book before! HAHA. I have! And I shall never forget it because, hello, flinging books?!?!?! Never happened before Lymond! It is mad. But Dunnett is more genius than human, or something, I'm guessing. I remember, I was sprawled in bed, face stuck in book, then that horrible part in the book happened, and I cried out and threw the book over the edge of the bed and sat horrified in bed, with tears streaming. I didn't wail, haha, but I was crying a mad amount.

If you've reached this far in my entry, congratulations! Are you convinced about this book? It is a reading experience not to be missed, please. If you're looking for a book to get into over a nice holiday break, keep Lymond in mind. (Forget Twilight! Read Lymond! Btw, how is it not nuts that the Twilight movie raked in 70 million USD in the opening weekend?!?!?! O.o That's almost three times the amount that Quantum Solace made. God.)

And oh god. This overly long entry just proves how much of a biblio-geek I am. The extent of love I have for imaginary things and inanimate objects is quite boggling. I have much love to share, apparently. Don't worry, I love people to bits too. I just don't pimp about them here. 8D Maybe I should; oh wouldn't that be fun.

EXAM RANT

Been berating myself about the way the first two papers went. For my Protein Structure paper, I couldn't recall silly things like the PHD method and whether an alpha helix would register positive or negative signals on the chemical shift index. Not to mention that by the time I got to Part B of the exam, I was running short of time and started panicking and answering things in a horribly slipshod manner, and the last question killed me good. Was supposed to figure out the amino acid sequence and I just @_@. FAILED. I couldn't. IT KILLS ME. Because I figured out the sequence during the CA test but for the finals, I just SUCKED. What is wrong with me.

The Stochastics exam yesterday was possibly worse. I thought, at the end of it, I could perhaps scrape a decent grade, then I talked to Yiping and realised I'd answered the entire last question wrongly. -_______________- I understood that it was an irregular matrix and therefore the limit distribution didn't exist, but apparently, the matrix did converge to a certain value at infinity... and I actually wrote that the matrix didn't exist?! How could I be so dumb!!! Of course, the matrix existed, I was calculating it halfway. I was almost ready to tear my hair out in frustration despite my tudung, okay. Yiping looked really apologetic too, like it was his fault I'd answered stupidly, haha.

EEEEESSSH. Nobody makes me angry like I do myself.

Finally completed Code Blue.

So yes, after wallowing in misery for a bit, I finally watched the last episode of Code Blue. Okay, it doesn't come close to being my favourite show, but I have to say, Code Blue was a good show. The finale actually made me cry! The theme was so relatable, I suppose. Especially during this exam time. Fujikawa finally got to attend to an emergency via Doctor Heli (the helicopter service, haha) and was all fired up to prove himself a capable ER intern. But after it all, when he went back to the hospital and was alone, he called his mum and had a teary conversation about how the only thing he could think about were the people he couldn't save. He couldn't recall anything else. It was the saddest thing. It's like, he finally got to do what he wanted, but he felt like he couldn't do enough.

I suppose I sound incoherent (I'm not in the best state of mind for blogging, I think). But it's true eh. It's not so much the destination that matters, but the journey.

Okay, should try to get back to studying.

Also, am stuck on Tegoshi's rendition of Sunadokei. 8D His voice is so awesome.

WARNING: 'TWILIGHT' BASHING.

I just have to add my two-cents to all of this Twilight talk. :P (Although I shouldn't even be spending a second doing anything other than my last protein review or study. As usual, I am guilty.)

For some reason, I've been coming across a lot of Twilight bashing. You know, that supposed best-selling trilogy by Stephanie Meyers (Did I get the name right?) about some love story between a vampire and a girl? Apparently, you either love the story or you hate it with a vengeance. And I'm seeing more of the latter from my credible sources. (Sources! hah! what am I, a PI? XD)

I haven't personally read the book, although my sister has, and according to her, aside from the rather exciting beginning, it is the sappiest thing on earth. Worse than the staring between Max and Liz in Roswell Season 1. (AND THAT WAS BAD, OKAY. The sappy quota of Max/Liz is quite unparalleled.) Okay, whatever. I don't like passing judgment on something I haven't examined for myself... but hearsay has put me off reading this book. Now the greatly anticipated movie adaptation is about to be released in theatres everywhere. And the hate just increased, I think. :P

This is funny. They're from xcry's LJ here.



I didn't know there were people who were so nuts. To wish for a Jap version?!?!?! Haha. Please, no, Yamapi.



No words. -_________________- To equate Twilight (or anything else) to HP must be blasphemy. And I think this is what most people are annoyed with. You have some fans who go, "Twilight is so amazing! Edward is amazing! YOU HAVE TO READ IT." And then Twilight turns out to be more hype than substance and it's an insult to HP, hello.

You know, MAYBE Twilight is a nice read, on its own. And maybe it is a very good book... FOR KIDS AND TEENS. Just don't go comparing it to HP (of all things!), which was a story loved by all ages, and claim its greatness even to waaay experienced readers and adults who've seen the same vampire-human epic love plot recycled one million times in popular media and fanfiction. -_- Keep Twilight to its rightful status as teen-love-story novel, then maybe the hate will stop.

Doesn't this just remind you of the whole High School Musical phenomenon? Most people don't get why that was so great either.

I don't know for sure, but I think my obsession over DT Draco and Harry during a large part of my teen years affected me forever. I've been rewatching Tantei Gakuen Q on DVD lately, and the Kyuu-Ryuu relationship, like I've mentioned before, invokes feelings and affection I thought I'd reserved for the Draco-Harry friendship in DT. Eeeep. I love Harry and Draco, and I love Kyuu and Ryuu. It's that close male friendship thing that just gets me somehow. But not just between any two random boys. Between two very smart ones... who are both equally good in many ways, such that they're almost more rivals than friends, but then they're still tight friends! Nyeeeeah. How do I describe it to you. :S



Here's a fanart banner for the famous but controversial fanfiction Draco Trilogy, quoted from The Times as a "gem of such superlative quality that it enhances one's appreciation of the [Harry Potter series]". It was written by Cassandra Claire/Clare (whose LJ I hounded for years, haha), who was once a Big Name Fan of the Harry Potter fandom, and is now a rather big-shot writer (apparently her first YA fiction trilogy got onto the NY Times Bestsellers List!). Not bad. She's made it in the literary world despite all the accusations of plagiarism. Maybe I should overcome my old grudge against her and read her book anyways. Just to see how it is. --> Here's Cassandra Claire on Wiki.

Tantei Gakuen Q! A drama about kids training to be detectives and their friendship. :) LOVE IT.



Of course, Tantei Gakuen isn't just great cause of Kyuu and Ryuu, but cause the entire team of Class Q is adorable to the max!!! I love them. Objectively though, having watched the second time round, their acting is quite stilted at times (they're still kids, I suppose!) except for Shida Mirai who acts as Megu (the only girl on the team). I think she's the best of the lot.


And here's Kyuu and Ryuu in a squabble in the episode I just rewatched this afternoon. Ryuu tells Kyuu, "Let me go!" But Kyuu says, "I won't let you go!" Ah, love Kyuu and his pure heart. Basically, Ryuu has a dark past and wants to run away from everyone because of it, but Kyuu being Kyuu wants everyone to work and stay together. <3

One of my favourite vids EVER: Aiba speaking English!!! XD I absolutely love this. I've watched it like a million times by now, I think, and I still love it. Watch it and have yourself a laugh. Seriously. WATCH.

It cracks me up every time, how he thinks the animals understand english or stg. I can't even decide which lines are my favourite:

"Danger. Very very danger."

"Very cuticle!"

"You are crazy."

HAHA. Ah, love Aiba. :D

I really love this vid! Jiawen posted it first on her LJ, but everyone should see this. :D It's called Everybody's Free (To Wear Sunscreen) by Baz Luhrmann (a music video from the nineties). It's some really nice advice about life and being young.

Thank you, Mr Baz Luhrmann, for saying that it's okay not to know what you want to do in life, even at 22, or 40. :) Most interesting people don't, apparently. I've figured that I'll just do what I can, the best that I can, and cherish my youth and the here and now. And the people I love. <3

and start wearing sunscreen? :P I usually can't be bothered.

seriously, man. what the ffff. -______- Apparently, hotmail and gmail are hard-headed rivals. I can't seem to log in to both at once. If I'm at blogger, signing in with hotmail, I immediately get signed out of gmail. And vice versa. Let's be friends, I say. The world should be big enough for all of us.

State of schoolwork = very precarious. But I have vowed not to let studies control my happiness, so I have concertedly remained happy and bouncy, and not let my grade spell life and death for me. yoshi. To happier days, and a happier future.

This past saturday, my family went to settle our japan trip expenses - and it is finally confirmed! :D My family will be off to Japan (Osaka and Tokyo) this December, and if you've been following this blog, you can undoubtedly guess how inordinately excited I am. It's at the level of smile-till-my-cheeks-feel-like-bleeding excitement. I think I haven't been this excited for a trip since Egypt. Or maybe Switzerland. Or even London. I mean. I am UBER x 10000000000000 excited, okay. eeeeeek. >.<

My parents predictably started to lament how expensive the whole thing was and how this would definitely be the last expensive holiday they're going to pay for us. The next time, it'd be on us. My dad actually made me pinkie promise to bring him on holiday every year once I start working. XD Like we actually did the pinkie squeeze. I was so damn tickled. Hey, really, I have no qualms about bringing my parents on holiday; if I get a decent job. That's what I'm worried about, dear parents. If I get a well-paying job.

Haha this was funny. And true. Oh, Obama. I hope you survive all this, seriously.

The Onion posted (Link here):

Black Man Given Nation's Worst Job

WASHINGTON—African-American man Barack Obama, 47, was given the least-desirable job in the entire country Tuesday when he was elected president of the United States of America. In his new high-stress, low-reward position, Obama will be charged with such tasks as completely overhauling the nation's broken-down economy, repairing the crumbling infrastructure, and generally having to please more than 300 million Americans and cater to their every whim on a daily basis. As part of his duties, the black man will have to spend four to eight years cleaning up the messes other people left behind. The job comes with such intense scrutiny and so certain a guarantee of failure that only one other person even bothered applying for it. Said scholar and activist Mark L. Denton, "It just goes to show you that, in this country, a black man still can't catch a break."

My bro just bought PS3, claiming that the graphics and high-definition is out-of-this-world (okay lah, I saw it and I kind of agree), and extorted $100 from me and sis, because we have to chip in with the cost. -_- But until he connects it to the wireless system and I can watch youtube on my plasma screen, I won't feel like the $100 is worth it. Ahak. Also, for the millionth time, I wonder why men love all the war games and violence and guns. I can appreciate it to some extent, I get the excitement... But aren't there more fun things? Adventure games? More colourful settings maybe? Haha.

Now that the euphoria of Obama's victory has died down a little, I'm feeling this impending dread; the all-too-familiar feeling of fear of disappointment. The whole thing is almost fairytale-like, or legendary; if Obama gives good on his promise and lives up to the world's hopes, he'll be forever known as one of the big heroes of history, in the same league as Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King. And right now, it feels too good to be true. So I'm torn between being hopeful and trying to save myself from crushing disappointment. :S

SIGH. Waiting on the world to change.

YAY. OBAMA. YAYYYYY! :D Hello, America. Thank you for being sensible. Let's see Obama restore some faith in America's credibility to the rest of the world.

The sun is looking bright today.

:)

First of all, I get that google rocks and everyone loves google, but seriously, their monopoly of the internet grates my nerves. Like when I was logging in to blogger, the sign in page immediately assumes I'm using my gmail account just cause I suddenly decided to put my previously dormant gmail account to use this afternoon. I mean like. Presumptuous much? I still use my hotmail; the same one I created at 12 years old. Something wrong with that, google-san? Like I still use my blogspot. I have unwavering loyalty lah okay.

Secondly, Maou is just awesome. I am thankful for being pestered to watch this show (though at the detriment of schoolwork). I feel like I haven't come across such a twisted story in a long time. It's together in the league of Pawn in Frankincense and Wideacre and Wuthering Heights (all of which are mind-bogglingly painful stories as well) and omg, I just can't stop watching. All the tortured characters. @_@ I feel like screaming at the tv, "STOP THIS MADNESS, PEOPLE!" Everybody's killing everybody and everybody's lying and the unraveling of the truth is just jaw-dropping. It's an amazingly crafted story, with an ultra creepy villain who invokes both disgust and sympathy. My sentiment for Naruse reminds me of my feelings towards Heathcliff from Wuthering Heights; they're both equally pitiful and unbearably frustrating.


Watch Maou here.

Oh dear. Where did October go. I've been getting lazier and lazier to update this place. I'm having a horrible sluggish phase or stg.

1) Met up with Lin a week ago, spent a few hours at starbucks chatting (we talked a lot, a lot!) and on the way back to Buona Vista MRT, guess what -- I bumped into Mr Darren Lai!!! (Didn't I say before how Buona Vista is the place to bump into old acquaintances?!) He was like, "Oh no, I know you, but I can't remember your name..." Haha. No surprise. He used to mix me up with Shafia anyway, I think, cause our names start out similarly. We chatted for a bit. He said how he didn't like RJ much anymore because Raffles has started to feel like a company instead of a school (I AGREE.) with all the through-train business and everyone being in the same place. He asked where and what my classmates were doing and I offered him what little I know. He says hi to all S03D people. So, any So3D people reading this, Mr Lai says hi!!!

It's strange how Mr Lai is the tutor I remember best from JC. Or maybe not so strange. Because I sucked in chem. And Mr Lai was chem tutor and therefore I had much reason to be wary of him. Wahah. Although he wasn't scary as a person really. But I just remember feeling really, really, really horrible about my chem grade everytime, more so because Mr Lai would look disappointed in people like me and not because we're dumb but because we're lazy and don't do tutorials. And I can't stand disappointing nice people. Ahak. And I also remember playing congkak with Mr Lai and his baby daughter during racial harmony in J1, at the old campus. Somehow, those times seem really nice now.

Like they say, there ain't no easy day, except yesterday.

2) I was going to be emo here, but then I realise I don't want to be emo in front of people anymore, so I shall desist. :P

3) BEWARE, MUCH RAVING AHEAD: I have a crazy, crazy girl crush on Horikita Maki. Nyaaaaah. I adore her so muchmuchmuch!

She is an awesome, awesome young actress. And she has this amazing androgynous appeal - she can act like a boy like WOW. @_@ The above image is from the movie 'Tokyo Shounen' which I watched last night (thanks to express delivery from Duckie in London! :D) and which would have been rather unwatchable without Maki. Her character's split personality transitions from guy to girl were impressive; she didn't need any physical gestures; it was all in her eyes. Her face would freeze up and her eyes would glaze over and harden, and the innocent, carefree girl Maki acted as would turn into a creepily mean guy in a few seconds. It's quite amazing. The guy-Maki was rude and haughty and had a gangster-ish, male gait. Somehow, Maki has the actions of a guy down pat. Speaking of which, Hana Kimi totally wouldn't be half the success it was without Maki as Ashiya Mizuki, no matter the rest of the harem of good-looking boys from Osaka Gakuen. Maki striked gold with her 'boy' roles.

Also, it doesn't help that, in real life, she is the sweetest, most demure, respectable, and adorably quirky girl in jap showbiz. If I were a guy, that's it, man. Haha.

4) Dr Heli Kinky drawings :P. Hehehehe. They're too cute and funny not to share. Credits to the people at Baidu. Basically, this is Yamapi's character from Code Blue. Love how the hair has all the standing ends. Heee.


5) 2 more weeks to the end of sem!!! Don't know to feel scared or happy. Ahah.