Friday, November 30, 2007
Weird title?
Not so weird story.
Every since yesterday, my neighbour(whatever floor they're on, I can't tell) has decided to carry out contruction works which involve HEAVY DRILLING, HAMMERRING and some lighter sounds which remind me of chiselling.
I mean, I could forgive them and ignore it if it's for only about an hour or so. But NO! Do you have ANY IDEA how long the bang-bang-banging sounds stayed? It stayed for at least 6 hours yesterday! And it continued at 11am this morning!
I mean, most of the time when when we hear the sounds of renovation works upstairs, it usually isn't that severe. All you hear are sounds that irritate you and then they go away after awhile. But these sounds DO NOT JUST PRODUCE SOUNDS, they are so so bad that they actually vibrate the floor tiles. And when I sit down to eat, I can feel the impact of the hammer on the kitchen table. The people who called my house actually asked, "What's that noise?" because it was so loud that they could hear it over the phone.
It was so bad it gave me a stomachache while I was cooking my brother's lunch and I had to dash to the bathroom and the noodles turned soft.
I really can't take this anymore. I feel like I'm living in a constant hellhole. The sounds come at no warning at all and they might pause for a few minutes giving you the impression that FINALLY FINALLY you can get some peace and then they start ALL OVER AGAIN. It wouldn't be so bad if the drilling was constant but it starts and stops every few seconds and it just makes me want to tear my hair out.
I aws tempted to yell "SHut the hell up!" at them but then I don't think they'd hear it over the drilling and since I don't know where the sound is really coming from, I wouldn't know where to direct my yell.
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
To all the older siblings in the world:
Look, I'm one too. I know of the great injustice and unfairness you guys suffer from. You don't have to tell me.
But then you just have to know that life sucks, and you can choose to either accept it, or to try to change things that will NEVER EVER change at all(like trying to stop your younger sibling from disturbing you by imposing S$2 fines. Trust me it doesn't work. My brother owes my $200++ up to date and has never even returned me a dollar).
If you get blamed, and your younger sibling is at fault, don't retaliate. It only makes matters worse. Instead, calm down(unless it's something really major like you get the blame for a murder your sibling committed =D) and tell yourself that if it isn't your fault, there's no use fuming over it and giving your sibling the joy of seeing you getting blamed for his/her wrongdoing.
Sometimes it seems like your younger brothers and sisters seem to get all the good things right? Well, the good news is that, with evidence from the newspaper, we older siblings have a higher IQ than our younger siblings. That is, provided, you aren't mentally challenged or anything.
More good news! We don't have to wear hand-me-downs. We get first pick of our clothing, and we also get to choose our room first if you ever move into a new house.
Ok, so maybe being the eldest isn't a glamourous job. But it's not like we can choose. We can eitehr choose to be happy, or to mull over things that we can't change.
Older siblings of the world, we are a poor misunderstood lot. Don't let your younger brothers or sisters bring you down. Rest assured, millions of iother people around the globe suffer the same fate as you do and they all managed to survive. Well, most of them anyway.
Hey, life sucks, get over it!
And enjoy it while you can!
Friday, November 23, 2007
So following the boom in China's economy in the recent years as we all have seen, Chinese (the language) has become increasingly important in education as well as in our daily lives. Students from my generation who were pushed from young to speak English(because at that time, English was more important) are now suddenly forced into unfamiliar waters, that is, made to learn Chinese.
I'm not saying this is bad, because it isn't.
But how many of the students you know, minus the PRC scholars, are actually willing to learn Chinese and improve their grasp of it? Not many, from my observation.
Chinese is possibly the hardest language in the world, both in speech AND in script. And many of us are put off by the thousands of different complicated characters we're made to read. Sure, you can make a student improve his/her Chinese, but is the student WILLING to? Do they really think of Chinese as an important language, or is it merely to score in exams? Are they even grateful that they are billingual, or are they angry that they have to study 2 languages instead of 1?
So now, since you have heard my many criticisms on many many issues, I shall now come up with a suggestion.
It might not be 100% fool proof, but it worked on me, and there's no harm trying.
First off, to make the student improve his/her Chinese, the student has to be willing to learn it. And to be willing to learn it, the student has to be grateful that he/she can actually speak and read it.
So now, how do we trigger this gratefulness that we should have for our mother tongue?
My solution? Learn a 3rd language.
I know most of you are thinking that I'm crazy. I mean, what if the child gives up on Chinese and goes to learn the 3rd language instead?
But if you have ever tried to learn a language that you didn't grow up hearing and you are foreign to, you will understand that even if the language is EASY to learn, the words don't come as naturally to you as your native tongue. You have to be constantly exposed to the environment till you gradually develop a natural instinct towards the different words from that language.
Sometimes, when you hear a person speak that language, you have no idea what the person is saying because when you speak in a language that you're familiar with, you tend to slur a little(happens to everyone. In Chinese we always pronounce "xin" as "xinG". And in English, 'You are' becomes "You're) and if you are new to the language, you will not undersand a single thing because it is not pronounced accurately enough, even if it sounds perfectly logical to a person who is native to it.
And the sentence structure is entirely different as well. You might learn the basic sentence structure, but if you want to make small-talk, or string many verbs and nouns together, you realise that you don't know where to put them and more often than not, you end up making multiple grammatical errors.
Don't assume learning a language is easy. It's more than just memorizing.
Ever since I picked up a 3rd language, I really began to be grateful of our billingual policy in Singapore. If we are born speaking CHinese(no matter how lousy it may be), we will have that natural instinct for it and improving a language is a lot easier than learning it from scratch, at any rate.
So you want students to willingly learn Chinese and improve it and be proud of our Chinese heritage and language? Go learn a 3rd language, or at least, try learning one.
Only then do you realise how lucky we are to be born speaking Chinese, supposedly the hardest language in the world.
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
I can run, but I can't hide. Want to know something else? I've always cried curing my injections. It's like a tradition that I can't seem to break, just like how my brother and I always eat Skittles when we're on our way to the airport, picking out the different colours in the darkness(since most of our flights are at night).
Hide from what?
The annual flu vaccination I'm forced to take so as to prevent me from getting sick when I go overseas from my holiday.
I got my vaccination yesterday, probably my 5th time at that clinic getting one. My 6th time getting an injection at a clinic, and my 7th time getting a vaccination(minus the baby jab and the P1 jab).
I can tell you, I am VERY VERY VERY scared of injections.
I don't even know why, but there isn't a reason for that fear or I would have conquered it.
It's not even the intensity of the pain, because honestly, injections don't hurt as much as I always thought it would. And I have to keep telling myself that before stepping into the clinic, over and over again, but it doesn't work. At all.
So yesterday when I was told I had to go get a jab, I wasn't that nervous. I'm already pretty used to it, but the hour before the jab was just mentally unnerving because I kept thinking and thinking about it. Throughout the journey to the clinic I couldn't stop whimpering.
But then I thought, hey, why not break a record. Injections don't exactly HURT as much as you're imaging it to because I've had it so many times and I've never figured out why I even cried because the pain wasn't that intense. So I challenged myself to not cry this time.
We raeched the clinic. And when I realised that the clinic was pretty empty and that my turn would come in no time, the fear grew worse. And of course, the clinic staff are already pretty used to my fear for jabs so they just smiled and shook their heads. I mean, this isn't the first time I've gotten a jab there and definitely not the first time they're gonna witness me cry and scream.
Ok, so my turn came. Well, mine and my brother's really. My brother, obviously went first, and he didn't make a sound, not surprisingly. When it came to my turn, like all the other times I got a jab there, I whimpered and screamed and shrieked and they almost had to hold me down. I then reminded myself of my 'challenge' and tried, I really tried to not cry btu I couldn't. The thought of the needle poking into my skin, into my flesh and releasing the vaccine into my bloodstream just made me more hysterical.
Int e end, I gave up my resistance and I began to tear a little as the alcohol swab was swiped over my skin, why I don't know. And when the needle was really in my arm I couldn't take it and just burst into tears, like all the past years.
I even cried AFTER the jab, for some reason.
But I was relieved that the jab waS over, and also pretty happy that I now have a proper injury because I haven't had one for so long and yes, my arm hurts now and the area around it a little hot but it feels so nice to have a wound.
For once, I'm actually relishing the pain, the soreness of the wound and the feeling of weakness in my left arm. That injection was so worth it. I'd do it again and again just for this feeling.
Yup, I'm weird.
Saturday, November 17, 2007
I probably haven't posted in a week or so and I can't say that much has happened.
This week, I think, is the first actual week where there is NO EXTRA LESSONS IN SCHOOL, NO CCA SESSIONS, AND NO OTHER SPECIAL COMMITTMENTS(besides tuition and piano, but then its only a few hours) hereby allowing me to get a week's worth of undisturbed, uninterrupted, well-deserved rest from our hectic school semester.
So how did I spend it?
On the computer, like 6 hours a day. Reseraching on music(Simple Plan's new album is out next year January!!!!!!), Maplestory, blog-surfing and just chatting on MSN.
Those time management classes would say that its a waste of time but I don't care. I don't believe in those stupid workshops anyway that try to make you actually PLAN your time. I find that if I do that my life becomes too controlled and there isn't any fun anymore.
And besides, they always tell you to do things that will help utilise your time better and don't do things that are useless(i.e. stoning into empty space, TV, computer, reading because its all not beneficial to our schoolwork!). So that means, in other words, that if I get loads and loads of homework every day(doesn't happen anymore though), I should just do and do and do homework and not get any rest(because the homeworks taking up all my time and NO we simply CAN'T spare any time for rest, rest is futile!) even though I need some until they day they stop giving it?
Pretty stupid don't you think?
Just because I live in a fast-paced society doesn't mean I have to be.
And the other day I was watching Channel U show where they discuss about social problems that they blame mostly on youngters but let's not get carried away on that since we shall forgive the adults for influencing us to be this way, and then pushing all the blame on us.
The topic that day was some stuff about Singaporeans going overseas to work, which I gather is loosely linked to the "brain drain". Most of the adults stated that, yes, they would go overseas if they had the opportunity. And then they went on about the cons like oh, you'll miss your family, and there's no one there for you, and long distance relationships and blabla. And the pros were the typical higher pay, better environment yada yada.
But then the hosts just HAD to say some stuff like, "Do you really think that the environment overseas will be better?" Which really makes me feel like socking them because fine, you like the sun and heat and humidity in Singapore, well good! But I don't! I want to work in a place where it rains 24/7 and is forever cloudy and gloomy. We all have different preferences, you can't generalise it like that.
And if you ARE talented in music of somesort, I doubt that you'd want to venture into the music industry in Singapore where SIngaporeans actually think that groups like the Pussycat Dolls and CLick 5 are good. IF you were offered some scholarship in Europe, wouldn't you go there? Of course you would! THe music industry there is so much better!
And I'm not the only person who said this.
Speaking of which, I have to mention something else. I was reading some magazine published in Singapore(and magazines from Singapore SUCK. it's filled with adverts and celebrity interviews) and the advice they gave in the advice column was terrible.
This girl, she wants to learn 2 intrsuments and you can tell from her tone of voice that she really HAS a passion for music. She says that her mother doesn't allow it and some stuff about her behaving badly blabla.
The advice columnist(or whatever you call her. The one who acts as if she dishes out good advice.) told her that she felt her mother was right is stopping her to learn 2 instruments and that she should concentrate on her studies(what else is new? You know, our lives dont jst REVOLVE around studies. We have to get out, otherwise we'd only be booksmart and common sense would tell you that being streetsmart is way more important) so that in the future when she has a good, stable job she can take music as a hobby.
Is this how you advise people?!
"Oh your talent can't be used I'm afraid, it interferes with your ACEDEMIC studies. Maybe you should put that passion into a hobby instead!"
I really don't want to say this but, WTF?!?!?!
What if this girl was a budding musician? What if she had this amazing talent for music? What if she could revolutionise the music world forever? What if, what if?
I don't know if you understand, but if she really loved music, she wouldn't mind having an unstable job and just playing music all day long because it would make her happy. Sometimes, a hobby isn't enough to satisfy your burning desire to follow your dreams. Shouldn't the columnist be telling her to dream big and telling her mother that if she can practise music, she'd behave better, because sometimes it does work.
Just because the music industry in Singapore is puny doesn't mean she can't score a scholarship to... to... I don't know Russia or something to further her career in music! You might just be throwing a talent away when a talent is so hard to get!
And anyway I'm not saying that she has a talent, she MIGHT have one and fine, I'm not experienced, but I DO know that if you follow the crowd, get a good stable job based on your acedemic results, even though you don't like it, you won't be happy. Ever.
The only way is to follow your heart, wherever it takes you.
Saturday, November 10, 2007
Sometimes you just meet people who for some reason, choose to bitch about you the very first chance they get to. They don't even direct it to you, but they say it to their friends at a volume audible enough for you to hear.
So on Wednesday, HG, Sabrina and I were at Plaza Singapura eating lunch at Yoshinoya. Each of us ordered a student set meal which consists of:
1. A beef/teriyaki chicken rice bowl (which frankly speaking, isn't that big. Like only half the portion of a bowl of Ajisens ramen)
2. A drink(normal sized)
3. A donut ice cream (Which is vanila ice cream coated in solid chocolate and shaped into an average sized donut)
And it all costs S$4.55, which is so worth it, since HG and Sabrina were broke and I was gonna spend my money on CDs later(yes I know what you're thinking).
So anyway, since I have explained the portion of our meal, I shall carry on to explain what happened. Mind you, the following account was not from my experience because even though I was present, I wasn't observant enough to notice the happenings around me, so HG and Sabrina told me everything I have to say over here.
Well, just when the 3 of us were well into our meal, a group of girls from some JC came and sat in the table next to us. I wasn't paying muich attention to them, but I looked at them long enough to register that they were the typical act-cute, Wimbotic(wannabe bimbos. bimbos have class, they don't) female students who actually think that wearing FBTs in public for all to "admire" is hip and that they actually look good in it(*pukes*). In fact, it looks positively obscene because it looks as though they're parading around in their underwear.
About 2 of them went to order the food, and the rest sat at the table. I think I was halfway into eating my ice cream when one of them said(According to HG and Sabrina anyway), "Wow, they eat A LOT.", pointedly meaning that the 3 of us eat a lot, and probably also meaning that we're greedy pigs who stuff our faces the very moment we get a chance to, or so interpreted by HG and Sabrina.
Another girl then proceeded to say in a fake girlishy voice, "You very mean leh!", which I can just picture to be in that high pitched, act cute vioce that makes me feel like pulling my hair out. But since I didn't hear it, I wouldn't really know.
It's even a wonder I didn't hear it or notice any change in the atmosphere because supposedly, Hg's and Sabinra's face immediately turned black and they began to eat at a faster pace and I guess I should also point out that I was actually sitting the closest to the girls while HG and Sabrina were further away. And yet... I didn't hear a thing. I think it's because I was too busy concentrating on balancing my ice cream in its wrapper.
And that's not all, after we left the table, they even pointed to our table and said, "Look! Look...!", and yes, you got it, I didn't hear that either.
Ok, so I can forgive them for thinking that we eat a lot, because that's a sentence I don't take as criticism. In fact if you were to tell me that straight in the face, I would probably laugh and say,
"Oh yea, I'm really hungry today."
or
"Well, I need a lot of food at breakfast but since I didn't have much I'm gonna have to eat more at lunch."
because that would really BE my response, unlike HG and Sabrina who took it as downright mean-ness.
But the part where they say, "Look! Look...!" That isn't mean, that's just plain RUDE. You don't stare at a person's meal remnants as if it's amazing the person can actually eat that much because for starters, we didn't eat a lot. The portion was average sized. And even if we DID eat a lot, they shouldn't do it either because even we deserve the most basic form of human respect.
Oh yea, so if they meant that we eat a lot, it means that their meal only consists of a bowl of rice and nothing else? Well, that doesn't seemt o be the case. They, through my VERY OWN EYES, ordered a huge plate of rice and teriyaki chicken which at one glance is definitely a larger portion than our meal.
If I knew that they meant that we were greedy gorging pigs, I would have gone and bought mroe food and eaten it straight in front of their smug "baffled" faces.
Sunday, November 04, 2007
MUSIC
I just discovered a new band called 'Operator Please' and I'm pretty pleased with myself because even though they play indie rock, they've got a violinist which makes them so much more original and the violin playing in the background is such a nice change from the usual electric guitar I usually hear. And I don't exactly LIKE guitars!
I feel cheated by Audition as well. Apparently, all the nice songs I loved were not by my "favourite" pop group Cool, but actually by another pop group called S#arp, yet S#arp's songs were under Cool's name! I am now a S#arp fan.
For the past few weeks when I was researching on Cool's music, I never came across any song I'd heard under their name, and when I listened to some of Cool's songs, the style was relatively different from S#arp. Cool's group has both male and female vocals singing, whereas S#arp's group's vocals are done by females and the rapping is done by males. And of course, I also found out, sadly, that S#arp, has SPLIT.
MY TEETH
Well, another trip to the dentist, another painful story to tell.
Now, I have to pull one particular permanant tooth down and rotate it into its rightful position which looks like mission impossible, since the position of the tooth now is so far away from the position we're trying to pull it in.
And that, of course, means more pain for me. Oh yes, and apparently, it was gonna be SO painful that the dentist even warned me about it and told me "go home straightaway and eat your panadol". Being the typical me I am, I just disobeyed his advice and didn't eat any panadol at all. I have yet to eat any since my dental appointment 2 days ago.
I'm not saying it didn't hurt, because truthfully, it did. But it didn't hurt to the extent that I actually have to take medication! Besides, there's this weird theory about phobias that to overcome a phobia, you actually have to overload a person with his/her phobia. So I know this sounds stupid, but what I'm trying to do is, I'm trying to train myself to tolerate the pain so that next time I experience such agony, I'm so used to it that it hardly hurts at all. I'm not sure if it's working though...
*** Give me suggestions for the colours I should pick for braces! I'm running out of ideas and my dentist is getting pissed with me for taking so long to choose!
Thanks to all the blogs i referred to (countless) for html code help :) (esp. cyn' and sixseven)
Adobe Photoshop Elements for supernatural abilities
