First of all, in the spirit of family and friendship, I shall promote my cousin's beauty salon here. Visit www.harem.com.sg - spa, massage and beauty services exclusively for women. Jadi sape-sape yang pakai tudung, no worries. It's a maleproof place. There's a July promotion now, so grab your chances. Oh, they also appeared on Suria Segar recently. Prices are reasonable.

Gold Coast photos abound. This will be very random because I am too lazy to be chronological.

My favourite ride of all. Goes 85 km/h and about 270 degrees. Dreamworld.

Matrix exhibit at Movieworld. I tried to open the door but cannot.

Super-scary superman ride. Was practically flying. Note the 90 degrees incline.

My favourite polar bear picture! So cute right! It was doing routine exercises with the ball.

Beach. Surfers Paradise. Beautiful waves.

Another view of Surfers Paradise. Crowded with people on a Saturday.

Random psycho shot.

This was hilarious. On the last day in Gold Coast, we had ample time to kill, so we sat in Starbucks to read a little. Eunice bought our drinks. Apparently, the counter heard her say 'Unas', or maybe they thought she had to have some weird exotic name, being Asian and all, and couldn't conceive of the notion that her name was in fact Eunice. So there it is - Unas on a cup. Horrifying and amusing. Had a great laugh over it.

Here's my favourite picture. Credit goes to wonderful 10s timer that managed to get both of us with Surfers Paradise in the background.

Damn, I wish we were still there.

Past two weeks have provided an experience overload that will be memorable for a very long time. Gold Coast, then Reperio.

I was truly 100% happy in Gold Coast. And being the kind of person who usually finds trouble being happy, this means a lot. It was liberating; we could go back to the hotel anytime we wanted, do what we wanted, buy what we wanted. I also had an awesome time on the scary rides at the themeparks. Also had a great time chatting with Eunice about all sorts of things, from Paris Hilton to Adam and Eve to kookaburras that cost AUS$2.95 (which I think I should have bought). I still haven't uploaded photos to computer, but when I do, photos of roller coaster rides etc will be here.

A day after I came back from trip, went off for camp. I was already so tired from trip and I hadn't rested enough, but I went anyway. Reperio was extremely fun, and sweet too. There was a night walk that was super scary; pontianaks and pocongs trying to grab you or scream in your ears.And an amazing race from masjid to masjid (mostly). And a lot of cheering too. The sweet part comes from the grand finale event, which was an array of entertaining performances prepared for the freshies whilst having dinner ala kampung style. Was damn nice.

Now though, am so deadbeat tired, I'm drifting off into slumber every few words that I type.

Heartbroken.

Not just that France lost, but that Zidane headbutted Materazzi and got sent off from the last match he'll ever play. WHY WHY WHY did he do it??? What did that irritating Italian say? Bet it's something really horrible or racist. I didn't like Materazzi from the start. Uuuugh! Zidane, however, still rocks and is still the only sportsman I ever had such respect and love for. The French still love him.

President Jacques Chirac says:

"I would like to express all the respect that I have for a man who represents at the same time all the most beautiful values of sport, the greatest human qualities one can imagine, and who has honored French sport and, simply, France."

More about Gold Coast later.

Update. Wikipedia says this:

The game ended in a 1-1 draw and Italy won the championship after a penalty kick shootout. His team members later reported to French media that Zidane was reacting to a racial slur from Materazzi. The Italian side has catagorically denied that Materazzi had any role in the provocation of Zidane, but both the French coach and many other members of the media believed that Zidane had snapped due to Materazzi. Following the game, Zidane still was applauded as a hero in Paris and throughout France, and Materazzi was subsequently booed for the remaining portion of the game following Zidane's red card by the majority French crowd.

Hah! I knew it!

I can't believe this trip is happening, really. It feels truly surreal. I suppose when good things happen, you always second guess them, lest they're a dream or a big joke. Good things are hard to come by. Which makes them all the more wonderful when they do happen. (:

Have packed 85% of stuff - only the little things are left. I'm mostly worrying about my passport and how I'm either going to lose it, set it on fire, accidentally throw it into a bin or let it get stolen along with everything else. I have to stop imagining such scenarios, or else I won't be able to enjoy.

Have been sort of following the World Cup. My mum's throwing it all back in my face, saying how I used to hate football so much (I just get annoyed at how everybody goes overly nuts about it) and how unreasonable I was then. Well, it's not like I'm morphing into a full-blown fan. I'm just getting sucked into the whole competition. Zidane is amazing, I must say. I'm rooting for France, I think.

When I get back, will paste photos! Yayee.

Finally bought Philosopher's Stone today. And you say, "What kind of fan are you!" Embarassing, yes. I borrowed from a friend and read it once. And then I just never felt the need to buy it and reread cause everything felt so ingrained in my mind already. And the movie and fanfics reinforce knowledge of canon. So it's not like I forgot whatever happened in Book 1. Started reading, and I was right - I didn't forget.

Posting photos of very short KL trip. These are taken at cousin and roommate's house. Hope they don't mind, cause their place is so nice anyway.

The Japanese-style dining table - very cosy.

The nice blue sofa at the tv area, where Abang Dollah served root beer, and we ate nuts.

They decorate very nicely. Swords and chess pieces and black and white photos of themselves. Looking at a chessboard always makes me feel happy and tingly. (:

And Dunkin Donuts! Always have to buy those when in Malaysia. Why doesn't Singapore have them?

Done for now.

I have got to be the change! BE THE CHANGE. Someone needs to give me a kick to make me get moving.

Fandom is an ugly place.

My house is as noisy as hell at night. When we watch Singapore Idol, we barely hear what the poor soul is singing because every 3 seconds, someone has to comment on something! My dad will comment about how so-and-so is too fat, and then of course, I have to start my ranting about shallowness and superficiality (I can't help myself), and then my brother will insist we listen to the song. But 3 seconds later (give or take) my dad will say, 'This girl isn't bad looking what!' and all the females present would protest at my dad's lack of taste. Then we listen for a few seconds again. Then my mum starts bashing at some poor contestant and someone disagrees and an argument begins again. It just goes on and on! Kumar is right - that show is just full of crap.

I realise I haven't blogged properly for a long time. I haven't sat down and typed down what first comes to mind. All my entries are becoming increasingly detached and my fear is that I'm losing the ability to write at all. Maybe I should revive the good old days of chain-story-ing with the birds. Or maybe, I'm cooped up in the house so much these days, nothing interesting ever happens and consequently, my brain is turning into mush and glug and no coherent thought can shape itself nicely enough here.

Okay. Perhaps a remedy would be to tell a little story of my weekend away from home at the chalet or something. Or about the charity concert I went to.

Oh my god. My life is utter boringness. Boredom.

I keep feeling like something special or great or wonderful is supposed to happen but nothing is. I admit, the whole dream of wanting to go study somewhere very far away was the hope that it would be that something. Being more than boring old me. I remember something a friend said about how scary mediocrity is. And I understand now. Thinking about how I'm supposed to get a degree, work a stable job, get married, have kids and then die like everyone else gives me the shivers. I keep hoping for something more, and until I know what that is, I'll always feel a constant gnawing in my bones. And I won't ever feel truly happy and satisfied.

I was watching HP and the Sorcerer's Stone on dvd the other day (because I was so bored) and then the scene with the Mirror of Erised came on. You know how that mirror shows you your deepest desire and then Dumbledore tells Harry how man gains nothing from looking into the mirror and many have wasted their lives in front of it? I completely disagree with Dumbledore, or rather JKR, now. If I could just have one look in the mirror, I think it'd help me a lot. Cause I'd see what I truly want and then I can go get it. This being confused and unsure thing is getting just a tad bit too annoying, what's more, I only have one year left to blame it on adolescence.

What is it about guy-guy relationships that make such a compelling story? I mean, just look at Draco and Harry in DT, Francis and Richard in Lymond, and Ryan and Seth in The OC. Guy friendships are so interesting to watch. Life As We Know It is hinging on exactly that factor to rope in audience. Yesterday's show had an adorably cute ending, and hilarious too.

Cannot wait to take off from this place!

I can't help but cringe as I read my very old posts. Too jumpy and cheerful for my taste.

Anyway, was washing dishes last night and started talking to the ants. Spoke to them in arabic, telling them to go back to their homes. Ya ayuhan Naml, Udkuhlu fii masakinikum! Apparently, this line was spoken by one of God's Messengers, Nabi Sulaiman r.a., the one who could talk to animals, a long time ago. His army was passing and he warned the ants to stay away if they didn't want to get trampled on. My dad told me the aforementioned exact line and said that if one was to give that same order to the ants, they would listen, because the story of the ant and Nabi Sulaiman has been passed down through generations of ants.

So I did. But all the ants did was stop and listen and go about their work. Maybe I was saying it wrong. Maybe Singaporean ants speak malay. Or Chinese. Or maybe an animal language only the prophets know. Or maybe Singaporean ants don't know the story, seeing as how Nabi Sulaiman lived where? Middle East?

Anyway, my video editing is working again!

Slughorn's Christmas Party

"I don't think you should be an Auror, Harry," said Luna unexpectedly. Everybody looked at her. "The Aurors are part of the Rotfang Conspiracy, I thought everyone knew that. They're planning to bring down the Ministry of Magic from within using a combination of Dark Magic and gum disease." Harry inhaled half his mead up his nose as he started to laugh. Really, it had been worth bringing Luna just for this.

HBP, chapter 15 , www.artdungeon.net

I really like this scene in HBP. It's hilarious! Luna is mad. Slughorn looks like an escaped Chinese monk here, though. But Art Dungeon rocks nonetheless.

Anyway, watched yesterday's S'pore Idol results. Thank god D'Silva got in. She has one of the best voices so far. But Emilee Kang... not great, in my opinion. Nurul should have gotten it, she was second best after D'Silva. What got me frustrated last night was the wild card choices. Primero and Geraldine got in?! For the low but existent chance that someone who reads this might be offended, I better phrase this as nicely as I can. Those two, cannot sing! At all; beats me how they got this far. The judges gone deaf, maybe? On top of that, they're not likable. Good looks is not the only criteria for likability. One cannot be too full of oneself. One has to have a certain honesty that shines through. One cannot go around on stage with nose in the air acting as though one is already humungous superstar; in other words, one has to be humble. Those two just don't work for me. I thought that the only people who deserved the wild card round was Gayle, Jay and Nurul. And perhaps Norman. The rest of them couldn't sing, I thought. And why wasn't Roslan in??? He could sing! Did no one listen? This voting system is so unfair, really. It really is not a singing competition, it's an idol contest. I mean, just listen to Joakim - put aside his boyish good looks, endearing monkey dance moves and attractive personality, does he deserve to be singing there?

Off that pointless topic, I have to say that this wait for DV (my fanfiction obsession written by author extraordinaire, Cassandra Claire) to end is getting seriously unbearable. It's coming to three years, hello. Just end it already! She takes half a year to post one chapter. -_- I just badly want to know if Ginny's going to take the love potion so that she'll love Seamus and eliminate all chance of ever being with Draco. And I hate Hermione for giving her the love potion.

Going for the Angkor Hospital thing tonight and also paying remainder of cost for Gold Coast trip today. Yayee. Getting excited for the flight. Love SQ.

June reaching to an end already. Time moves too fast for anyone's good.

We bought a new tv this week. Nice Sharp LCD. Technology is money-sucking. It just makes you keep buying more and more supposedly more advanced items.

For Father's Day, gave dad an old Steven Seagal movie, chocolate and a koala bear key chain. My dad loves Steven Seagal; he watches them all, good or bad. And my dad makes a really good sleeping koala imitation. Gifts have to have significance, then they're fun, eh?

I think I'm beginning to have a problem with blogging. I can't seem to write about anything that's worthwhile anymore, because I can't help but think of all the possible exposure. It's suffocating, sometimes. But I want to keep blogging because I like my blog! But I don't want to keep blogging just for the sake of doing so and blog about crap. Oh hell, there aren't any rules to the contents of a blog, is there?

Watched Dil Chahta Hai for the second time with my brother (whose idea of studying is seemingly a brief flipping of pages of his book; very worrying) and am now looking for the songs. Quite honestly, life is mundane. I tutor and learn arabic and net surf and read Lymond and watch tv and clean the kitchen. Everyday, it's more or less like that. And I have Abang Mamad's wedding video to edit but my darling computer is being a jackass. The last time I fed the footage into the computer, the audio refused to function. I don't feel like trying again just yet.

I can't wait for my Gold Coast trip. Short it may be, I need to escape mundanity.

Damned by the church and condemned by the law: what possible capacity for fear can heart and head still find? Oime el cor, oime la testa... After five years of villainy, I promise you, I have the refinement of a cow-cabbage.
~ Lymond, Outlaw and Rebel

Rereading Game of Kings, as is obvious. :)

Shall post this little bit about woobies. Pretty hilarious, really.

A woobie (named for a child's security blanket) is that character you want to wrap in a blanket and feed soup to when he suffers so very beautifully. Woobification of a character is a curious, audience-driven phenomenon, divorced almost entirely from the character's canonical morality, as witnessed by the woobification of Lex Luthor on Smallville.

Heeeehe. Am guilty of that.

I just had the most short-lived trip ever. I think.

Left for Malaysia last Friday night, with all intentions of going all the way to Kelantan (stopping by KL for shopping) to visit family friend, Pakcik Mail, who got into a motorcycle accident recently. But my dad fell sick in KL and all plans were thrown out the window and we came back for Singapore after only a night. Think my dad's recovering already.

We did manage to shop at ever-beloved Petaling Street again. Where all manner of fake-but-pretty things are sold at mind-bogglingly low prices. My sister got a nice Billabong sling bag, I got a Christian Dior handbag and my brother got RayBan shades, a Polo shirt and a Lacoste shirt. You'd think we were the kids of some COE. Then we had nice food - nasi padang, then Nandos. And we got to see Abang Dollah who's studying at the Monash KL campus. He picked us up in his tiny Kancil car and we packed in like sardines. It was such a laugh. We also got to see his bachelor pad! He shares it with one other guy and, truly, I was awed.

It was a wonderful apartment, fantastically furnished. Very guy, but very nice and cosy. No drink cans stacked in the corner, no neglected laundry stack, no books or cds scattered around. It was utterly spick and span, and I can only dream of ever being that neat. Their dining table was a japanese-style glass tabletop with cushion seats; very pretty. The tv area was ultra cosy, with one single blue ottoman-like sofa ,and the tv was equipped with dvd player, playstation and stacks and stacks of dvds that I was practically salivating over. Granted, there weren't any chick flicks to add colour and flavour to the collection, but they had all the war movies that I liked, all stacked neatly in a row (Braveheart, Troy, Kingdom of Heaven etc) and some tv series called Oz, that I'm gonna check out soon. I could spend a long time there and not get bored. Their rooms were very personalized and again, neat, to the point of disbelief, really. I just don't get how people can be so tidy. Hah. But that's me.

Shall mention that Eunice has managed to get me hooked on Veronica Mars. Great series, to say the least.

It's been quite a long time. I wonder if the vulture's disease is seeping back in.

Update on my life: Going to NUS Science. Did not get the MOE thing or any other thing. Finally, I have both feet back on the ground (somewhat) and can stop dreaming.

Borrowed a stack of movies from video ezy last friday. Having a friend who works at a vcd shop has its perks, I tell you. Watched 'Revenge of the Sith', finally. And liked it. It was much, much better than 'Attack of the Clones'. Probably because I love the whole bordering-on-evil personality that Anakin possessed, until of course he transformed into Darth Vader. Which brings me to the subject of a good person. What is a good person? Someone who tries to be good, or someone who succeeds in being good? I like to think of Anakin as being good, but how can Darth Vader be good, you know? Or maybe there is just strength and weakness, and Anakin was weak. And all those too weak to resist the temptations of evil are evil. So the road to hell is paved with good intentions, and weakness guides you there.

I also absolutely adore Yoda, I always have. Small beings rock! :p The fighting is just so cool. Yoda fights are really awesome, I can squeal just thinking about it. And I have decided that light sabres are at the top of my list of favourite weapons. Actually, I think they're tied up there with swords. I love swords too.

Also watched Napolean Dynamite, which is a really, really weird movie. Plotless basically; the story just follows the life of this really psychotic guy called Napolean. He's weird, all his friends are weird, and the whole family is weird. He has this constant sleepy expression on his face and likes to draw mythical beasts and says every line in a sort of lazy tone. He's hilarious, actually.
His favourite animal is called a liger, which is half lion and half tiger and the best predator around, but it's different from tigon, which stinks real bad. Mad, I tell you.

It's time I said something, right?

So I didn't get into med. Like I wasn't already 80% expecting that. Disastrous interview and all what.

Not that I'm devastated. I mean, sure, disappointment. But mostly, a blankness. Now what? You know? I have to get more drive and ambition. Babbling I am.

Anyway, so I'm waiting for the MOE results (and even bout that, I'm unsure) and got NUS science, which I dont mind. One or the other.

Maybe I haven't found anything that I want badly enough. This is bad. I cannot let my life be a plateau! Cannot!

Okay, away from all this: having my last week at school. Just bought a whole lot of chocolate to give to the kids. Bought New World - starring Colin Farrell and Christian Bale in a Pocahontas story - at White Sands today. That mall is boring. No wonder Tampines is like a war zone on weekends. Century Square and Tampines Mall have everything Singaporeans need to have fun, so that's where they flock. Well, unless you want alcohol. X3 this weekend! And watched Da Vinci already. Liked the explanation of The Last Supper and the chalice-thingy in the Louvre. Nice visual aids that the book couldn't offer.

Bought Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything. I like the way he writes; he's funny, and likes to exaggerate or use analogies to get his point across. I think I think the way he does. Here's the first quote (a very long one) that I like, and it was in the introduction, so be forewarned about future quotes.

Consider the fact that for 3.8 billion years, a period of time older than Earth's mountains and rivers and oceans, every one of your forebears on both sides has been attractive enough to find a mate, healthy enough to reproduce, and sufficiently blessed by fate and circumstances to live long enough to do so. Not one of your pertinent ancestors was squashed, devoured, drowned, starved, stuck fast, untimely wounded or otherwise deflected from its life quest of delivering a tiny charge of genetic material to the right partner at the right moment to perpetuate the only possible sequence of hereditary combinations that could result - eventually, astoundingly, and all too briefly - in you.

That's something to remember when you think you're supremely unlucky.

Got lost in Simei today. Yes, Simei. One of the smallest housing areas on this island. Yes, with blur me, such things can happen. Because today was the much-looked-forward-to Roswell day with Jean, I took a taxi to her house. Apparently, Jalan Angin Laut is a huge place. The taxi went in a roundabout way and delivered me to the doorstep of 18 Jalan Angin Laut. But when I got off and stared at the house - my mind went blank. I did not remember it at all. It was not Jean's house, I knew it. And so I called her. And apparently, 18 Seabreeze Walk isn't the same as 18 Jln Angin Laut. -_________- That's a direct translation from Malay to English, okay. How was I to know? So walked and walked with directions over the phone to get to Jean's house. It was hilarious, really.

We ordered pizza and ate in front of the tv. Watched four episodes, with Jean complaining that the romance has been pushed into the background. She also keeps asking about what's going to happen and I give her exasperated you-seriously-want-me-to-tell-you? looks. And when the scene where Jason Behr takes his shirt off and shows off his extremely sculpted bod, Jean started to question me non-stop about which guy had 6 packs and which didn't. Oh God, Jean just cracks me up. It goes more or less something like this...

Jean: What about Michael? Does Michael have 6 packs?
Me (regretfully): No, he doesn't. But he's still cute lah.
Jean: When, when? When did you get to see? This season?
Me: Yes, this season.
Jean: You didn't see like any outline of the 6 packs?
Me: What! No. What outline!

~ Pause as we continue watching a little bit of the show again. Michael comes on screen. He falls on the floor due to alien weapon and we can see bit of his midriff. ~

Jean: Yeah, you can see he's quite fat under his shirt.
Me: What! What! He is not fat!
Jean: But he doesn't have 6 packs. Not a little bit eh. That's quite bad. Are you sure you didn't see any outline?
Me: What. Tsk. What. Just because someone doesn't have a 6 pack doesn't mean he's fat! I don't think my brother has a 6 pack but I think he's fit. He plays hockey. Does your brother have a 6 pack?
Jean: YES. A little bit at least.
Me: Well... But Michael is still okay. You don't have to have a 6 pack.
Jean: Yar... what makes him so...
Me: He is truly good-looking. And being so tall helps. Oh, there's Kyle. Does he have a 6 pack... okay he does.
Jean: Yar, you see. Max, he works out a lot, is it?
Me: Yes, I think he does. Those 6 packs... WHY ARE WE TALKING ABOUT 6 PACKS? Watch the show!

Madness. Jean - the person with whom such ridiculous conversations abound. Hilarious. I talk crap about boys when I'm with Jean. I laugh a lot when I'm around Eunice, mostly because her laugh is contagious. I roll my eyes and sigh a lot around the birds. I scream a lot when I'm with my sister. We scream at the littlest things. Just tonight we screamed when we found out Supernatural was playing on AXN. How lame, I know. And when we watch tv, we always manage to scream at the same parts. We screamed the house down when Taufik won S'pore Idol.

And of course, tonight, mum, sis and me all screamed when Chris got voted off Idol. LIKE WHAT?! He was the best. It was either him or Katherine. It was devastating.

I should not be allowed to stay home for long periods. I've been home all day and I feel so sluggish, it's seriously turning my brain into mush. All I do is watch tv, eat, spend hours on the computer feeding whatever current obsession I have and sleep. I haven't even progressed with my arabic. Tomorrow, when I see Mudaris, I'll be stuttering while trying to recall the simplest words. Why am I such a procrastinator?

Lent Jean Season 1 of Roswell! She loves it. Yay! I have someone to rant with. What joy.

Here comes Roswell and other icons I've picked up:







More next time. :)

This entry is way overdue.

My birthday week was great. Went shopping with sis at Citylink Mall after school on friday. Bought Roswell Season 3 and got busted by my mom. Who went not as ballistic as I expected, but simply forbade me from buying anything anymore. Haha. -_- We also had waffle ice-cream at Gelare. The Wednesday before, I had meeting with birds at Bugis, and of course, I expected something. You can't help but do that. When that time of year comes round again, you have to be on your toes. Anyway, parked ourselves at Swensen's (where else?) for close to three hours. I received my presents. My three nutty friends can't seem to lay off from this whole DM fiasco (that is what, near 4 years old, now?) and gave me creative works involving that. Got lots of food. A weird all-about-you diary. A frame with some artistic work. :) Took photos.

Collection of presents from birds.

Also got perfume and brooches from mom, pants from dad, the sweetest letter on earth from sister plus a caramel sparkly lotion (love that!), a clock on a cushion from my brother.

Suddenly recalled that letter my sister wrote. I think I pity people who don't have sisters. :) There are just some things in this world you can't tell but only to your sister, and I thank God I have mine.