its the last week of school! 2 more days to be precise. the weather is glorious too... tt means not having to swathe myself up in layers of clothing and being able to wear skirts again woohoo. i watched the illusionist recently and its really, really good. like the nicest movie ive seen this year... it must be edward norton's charisma and the charming old-world style the film was shot in. presents have to be bought for one very important person whose birthday is coming up soon. really hope what i've thought of won't disappoint... eeeks. it's so easy to spend money but so difficult to make a present truly special and memorable, short of making it yourself. given my handicraft (in)eptitude that's really quite a problem! anyways i really truly hope the housing issue can be solved in the optimum way but i guess i can only wait and see what comes our way... pretty please let me have a loveshack and peace of mind!

the solution to a lazy monday and a slow start to the last wk of term: skip school. it's only 1 lesson after all! this is beautiful...

New Ruffles JC Course: “Communicating Effectively Down To Non-Elites”

http://www.talkingcock.com/html/article.php?sid=2098

hey, read the link before you get what i'm talking about. this comment is long overdue, but i still feel really strongly about it.

im not sure about you, but to me the girl's comments came as a great disappointment. im pretty sure they clarified the suspicions of many people that the education system is churning out 'elites' who simply have no empathy for the rest of society and revel in their self-absorbed state of mind. she is, in my humble opinion an obnoxious prick born with silver spoon in her mouth, who doesn't know anything about life, and who therefore should shut up.

beyond all that, (which pretty much any "Heartlander" singaporean can tell you), i am even more disappointed in her father. 1.) he explicitly acknowledged that her comments were accurate, and the fact that he is MP for Ang Mo Kio does not seem to be aligned with his personal views which have surfaced with this scandal. if im not wrong, Ang Mo Kio is very much filled with the "sadder class", to quote her words not mine. if i stayed in Ang Mo Kio, i would indeed be very disturbed and sad to note that my MP had these views... well needless to say, i doubt his chances of re-election as MP will be very high.

2.) he blames the school for not teaching her the right communication skills, instead of taking on any parental responsibility. this here is what really gets my goat! i'm so upset by the fact that schools nowadays are charged with almost every aspect of educating a child, including morals and values, societal code and the like. whatever happened to the role of parents in a child's life? surely a father has a duty beyond feeding his children and providing a roof over their heads (too comfortable a roof in this case)? i'm definitely not saying that educators have nothing to do with character development. rather, imbuing such values is a joint responsibility for schools AND for parents. and this is usually taught by setting an example for the child, which MP dad has sadly failed to do in this case. blaming it all on RJ really is the easiest way out.

movies

have watched 3 movies recently so let me tell you about them.

1.) shortbus: of all three films i guess this was shot the most artistically. especially liked the sequence of the 3D painting of new york which was used at the beginning and interludes between scenes. about the film itself, of all the characters i think i really empathised the most with the gay guy who spent the last 6 months shooting a film to say goodbye to his boyfriend, and getting a third guy to enter their relationship so that the bf wouldnt feel alone after he committed suicide. the character doesn't talk much at all, but you see so much sadness in him and you feel that he's really screaming inside for someone to understand him. otherwise the movie has lots of sex scenes involved, but none that are very distasteful. (just shocking!) overall it still feels like something is missing though. the ending was also very... shall we say, dizzy and euphoric haha. 3.5/5

2.) the pursuit of happyness
watched this at the behest of emily tan. this is like the ultimate down-and-out movie with the happy ending! will smith's character is so freaking suay so its really easy to empathise with him. the kid is of course very cute.. i mean if u were a kid with such funky hair, u have got to be cute to pull it off. my favourite scene was when they spent the night in the toilet of the station. nuff said.. 4/5

3.) little miss sunshine
just watched this today. another one of those dysfunctional family movies but this one was done nicely. each one of them is a little bit strange and something sad happens to each of them along the way to california. oh and the part where the girl reveals the dance her grandfather taught is sooo funny.. 4/5.

and i'm gonna be watching the illusionist tonite, that being a reward for having completed all the essays of my 2nd year! woohoo. since the illusionist has edward norton im pretty sure it will be good ;)

the man your parents want for you

(ripped this off from cowboycaleb.liquidblade.com:)

Must be Chinese.
Must be older than you.
Must not be 6 years older, because Monkey clash with Tiger.
Must be educated at least until university.
Must have stable job.
Must have car.
Must be loyal.
Must not be kiam siap, otherwise susah whole life.
Must not be lazy, otherwise you have to work your entire life to feed your husband.
Must not like to talk to other women except you only.
Must not be a smoker.
Must not drink too much.
Preferably hokkien. Preferably if pure hokkien.
Preferably earning more than you.
Preferably at least 3 years older than you.
Preferably from a well-to-do family.
Preferably willing to pay everything for you and has the your money is your money, my money is also your money kind of attitude.


haha... ive gone down the list. the attributes left in black have been achieved, the ones in blue will have to wait til 5 years later to see how. and the ones in red are flashing DANGER DANGER! which means they are in danger of not being fulfilled la. hahaha! as u can see the red ones are to do with the "allocation of wealth" in my household of the future. i love my man don't get me wrong but i think in his world, his money is his, and my money is mine. wah jialat!!

two questions:
1. zhongyi, are u pure hokkien? i have no idea why but the list says its preferable. even if you're not its ok la, im only half hokkien anyways ;)
2. does rat clash with tiger???

hammys

i miss having a hamster!!! they're so adorable. my first ever hamster was my favourite one ever... he was a normal Syrian breed one and he grew to be quite big in his 2 years of life with me. that guy was so tame and friendly, he never bit anyone and he was always game to be picked up and brought to funny places to explore. since he was quite fat it was always easy catching him.. not like the dwarf hamsters which are sold everywhere nowadays. theyre ridiculously quick and tiny!! ok so i used to give him a warm shower in the sink with rejoice shampoo once every 2 weeks... and when he was done with his bath i immediately scooped him up in a towel and towelled his fur dry. then he would sleep while inside the towel and it was so blissful just looking at his contented, furry face dozing off. i washed his cage every week and changed the layout (my cage has those plastic tubes which can be assembled yourself) and toys in it each time. damn fun la. since coming to london, ive began to love dogs too but hamsters are much more practical when u live in a flat on the 21st floor. ok its nothing to do w the 21st floor but yaa. when i graduate and go home for good, im gonna get myself a new hamster and love him just as much as i did the 1st one.. can't wait.

optimised for yelling and nullification

wah! i should have done med in NUS. i would be with my good friend em, and with lots of cute guys!!! shitz. oh yah and i would also help to save lives, etc. haha..

(im not belittling that very noble profession.. jus bemoaning the fact that i didnt have the foresight)

no more deep thoughts for the day.

pull your ear

blogging again to mark the new year! yes the one that really counts, the chinese one. ive always thought the angmoh one was a bit lacking somehow and always jus about counting down and resolutions. the one i have where i come from is about so much more than that... and has much better festive food to go with it too =)

anyway the nicest thing thats happened so far has been meeting my mentee Valentina, who likes doing art and craft stuff jus as much as I do! oh and we both like watching Ugly Betty and eating Italian food. but hey, dont mock these seemingly banal points of commonality between us - they could be the beginnings of a very beautiful friendship haha. i intend to create something fun with her every time we meet, and document the process to make it a thing of our own. give it to her at the end of the mentoring thing which means it should be a thick book by then. yeah... that sounds fun. maybe i should be an art teacher huh... nnnnah. haha.

its true, its increasingly hard to make new friends that u actually like and to keep old ones even as they grow and change themselves. i never wanted to become that jaded older person who says things like these, but im just saying it as it is. that's why i like (most) kids who are refreshingly simple, easy to get to know and never pretending to be someone they're not. they're also very funny and earnest!

on a side note, i took an afternoon nap for waaaaaaaaaaaay too long and woke up with a splitting headache, blur contact lenses (yes i left them on cos i was reading in bed) and a freaking disorganised bedroom and life which i absolutely detest. GRRRr. time to get my ass moving.

thanks chim and emily tan for the mail, i shall get down to sending back packages of lurrrrrrve so that u feel lurrrrved by me from thousands of miles apart on both sides of the world.

i shall get down to mulling about my 21st birthday some other time... am still trying to make out what i feel about it i guess.

photos this academic year and from henceforth shall be located here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/12974831@N00/