My inertia to blog has hit an all time high.
There are photographs waiting to be uploaded and talked about. There are many things on my mind which need sorting out and repackaging into a cogent post.
I do want to blog. Really, I do, but at the same time I do not have the mood to get it done. I am in the same predicament as I was just a few hours ago, when Lionel, Lynn and I decided to embark on the long journey to NTU from Orchard Road just to get school books for next semester. Something inside me was yelling 'No!' to the thought of leaving the comforts of Orchard Road for the far flung school, via the lurching 174 no less. The thought of splashing a quarter of one month's pay on a couple of books, and having to lug them back home with the stringy plastic handles of a Popular shopping carrier, rendered my trip all the more unappetising. Mind you, these books have an indirectly proportionate relationship with the digits behind the $ sign on the hideous thumb-sied yellow sticker plastered on them.
Thank God for Lionel and Lynn who kept the journey alive!
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Friday, July 17, 2009
No Title
I miss Jie :(
Was youtubing Gazette and Galneryus this morning. They always remind me of you :(
Was youtubing Gazette and Galneryus this morning. They always remind me of you :(
Friday, July 10, 2009
Starry-Eyed
There is a tertiary institution of excellence in Singapore, in which attendees bid for what they want to study. Unless of course, you are one of those elites who attend Law or Dentistry or Medicine or some other discipline which requires the royal flush on the A level script, you have to bid for your courses (in those elite disciplines, they feed the courses to you. See the difference? Mortals bid, elites eat.)
I often looked, or rather, still look at this style of mind-boggling point allocation with a fair amount of disdain. Ok, forgive me (the self-confessed unabashed member of rival tertiary institution of excellence) for not understanding how this system is 'advanced' and typical of an 'excellent' institution. I (all you @ this institution who read my blog: I am expressing an opinion against this system which binds you, not you!) cannot help but feel that this simply reeks of Christie/Metropolitian/[insert name of competitor here] - wannabe-ism!
How I wish I could pursue this narrative with some propoganda style exhortation of my institution's alternative solution to 'auctioning for courses'. Unfortunately, the stellar system which this institution (also called one of 'excellence' has put in place), I, among many others, look upon with much frustration, induce vein-in-eyeball-busting madness, and threaten broke appendages as well. Perhaps, its nickname might shed some light on how a course registration system is a mere cloak of indemnity for a dangerous, accident-causing trainwreck. Its been nicknamed, the FFFF.
So, why have I only chosen to speak up now? After enduring a year of courses churned out only at this torture mill? Simply because the naive (would you believe it. I actually discovered this on hindsight.) and innocent (the horrors. hindsight is painful) freshie that I was then could find no one else to blame, but myself, for the demise of a convenient timetable (everything done in the morning, afternoons for my own readings and consultations) and at the hands of the FFFF. In fact, I decided to be contented and study hard with whatever I had, such that I actually felt thankful for FFFF over auction house!
Needless to say, my feelings towards FFFF changed, much for the worse, following a rather unfortunate encounter a few days ago. See, the FFFF works by allocating specific dates to each course, and from there subdivide these dates, giving each year a specific timeslot to register for modules. Working on a first-come-first-serve basis only means that if your timeslot were to be slapped at midnight, you'd jolly well be clicking the 'add courses into FFFF' button repeatedly and slamming the F5 button at 11:30pm just so that the FFFF would catch your courses at the earliest possible nanosecond, and voila, you have it. This is not to mention the rapid scrolling required to rank the modules up for balloting, and the f5 slamming repetitive motion, proceeded by a module add-this-drop-this act just to ensure that there are still vacancies for you. Too bad if you were given the later time slot. The FFFF knows no mercy.
The FFFF is also implanted with a brain that can seperate each module according to 3 categories. The first, your 'cores' - you need this to graduate. Secondly, the 'prescribed electives to be placed for balloting' - you also need this to graduate. Thirdly, the 'unrestricted electives also to be placed for balloting' - surprise! you also need this to graduate.
This order of grouping naturally compels us to place most attention on their 'cores'. So, we attendees of the instition would shed much blood and sweat over ensuring that these cores can be approved by the FFFF upon submission within the nanosecond. However, knowing that the other categories can be put up for balloting (see, the FFFF tests your patience further), any shrewd member of this excellent institution would execute the trick of piling up modules (just to fill the maximum of five slots) to be balloted. And since this is a ballot which would only allocate you one out of the five, no one cares even if these modules clash, the exams clash, whatever else. Just ensure that your cores are safely out of reach.
I might have just fooled you into thinking that the FFFF is a simple-to-use system. Well, maybe, it eventually would be with enough practice. However, things get more complicated when the simplest category - cores - are convulted by the presence of cores from another discipline. I am the bearer of such a cause, unfortunate, in this instance to not know of how the FFFF works against people like me until with the help of good old hindsight. Perhaps FFFF does not like this complication too, for it wrecked its wrath on me that very day, placing me in a connundrum that ended with only 2 registered modules, a ton on the ballot list (even cores which are supposed to be registered and mine and mine only are actually chucked there!), and desperate emails to the administrator to give me what I so badly planned and need: 3 + 2 cores and 1 elective.
So, despite my reverance displayed to the FFFF when I actually left my students early just to risk dislocating a joint on my finger on a borrowed mouse, I was slapped with the shock that i had 3+2, instead of what I had anticipated to be 3 cores. And also with the utter jaw-dropping horror of seeing that all I planned for was razed to the grounds in an instant. Surely, things became worse when, despite 2 hours of frantic phone calls to 3 adminstrative offices, these were the replies I received:
'I see I see, well I don't know'
'I'm sorry but I don't know'
'Just send us an email, for now I don't know'
Yet, despite the common 3 word phrase blatantly obvious in the above, how did I finally figure how FFFF ticks? Hindsight! I have a better comprehension of things now. Hopefully, when I come face to face with FFFF in a few months time, I would be better armed.
So yes FFFF, you succeeded in obliterating my carefully laid plans for august, only. Now I can only wait in agonizing patience, at the habit of checking the email account provided by this excellent institution every hour, in the hope of seeing a reply which reads something other than 'I don't know.'
The narrative is going to end soon now that I think I have said enough about the FFFF. If there's anything that is going to stop me from griping about it any further, that would probably my friend and fellow FFFF victim's message plastered on Facebook, censored and adapted and excerpted for your easy reading:
F! I missed FFFF's registration time! No modules now!
And just in case you have not figured it out by now: Frantic Fastest Fingers First.
I often looked, or rather, still look at this style of mind-boggling point allocation with a fair amount of disdain. Ok, forgive me (the self-confessed unabashed member of rival tertiary institution of excellence) for not understanding how this system is 'advanced' and typical of an 'excellent' institution. I (all you @ this institution who read my blog: I am expressing an opinion against this system which binds you, not you!) cannot help but feel that this simply reeks of Christie/Metropolitian/[insert name of competitor here] - wannabe-ism!
How I wish I could pursue this narrative with some propoganda style exhortation of my institution's alternative solution to 'auctioning for courses'. Unfortunately, the stellar system which this institution (also called one of 'excellence' has put in place), I, among many others, look upon with much frustration, induce vein-in-eyeball-busting madness, and threaten broke appendages as well. Perhaps, its nickname might shed some light on how a course registration system is a mere cloak of indemnity for a dangerous, accident-causing trainwreck. Its been nicknamed, the FFFF.
So, why have I only chosen to speak up now? After enduring a year of courses churned out only at this torture mill? Simply because the naive (would you believe it. I actually discovered this on hindsight.) and innocent (the horrors. hindsight is painful) freshie that I was then could find no one else to blame, but myself, for the demise of a convenient timetable (everything done in the morning, afternoons for my own readings and consultations) and at the hands of the FFFF. In fact, I decided to be contented and study hard with whatever I had, such that I actually felt thankful for FFFF over auction house!
Needless to say, my feelings towards FFFF changed, much for the worse, following a rather unfortunate encounter a few days ago. See, the FFFF works by allocating specific dates to each course, and from there subdivide these dates, giving each year a specific timeslot to register for modules. Working on a first-come-first-serve basis only means that if your timeslot were to be slapped at midnight, you'd jolly well be clicking the 'add courses into FFFF' button repeatedly and slamming the F5 button at 11:30pm just so that the FFFF would catch your courses at the earliest possible nanosecond, and voila, you have it. This is not to mention the rapid scrolling required to rank the modules up for balloting, and the f5 slamming repetitive motion, proceeded by a module add-this-drop-this act just to ensure that there are still vacancies for you. Too bad if you were given the later time slot. The FFFF knows no mercy.
The FFFF is also implanted with a brain that can seperate each module according to 3 categories. The first, your 'cores' - you need this to graduate. Secondly, the 'prescribed electives to be placed for balloting' - you also need this to graduate. Thirdly, the 'unrestricted electives also to be placed for balloting' - surprise! you also need this to graduate.
This order of grouping naturally compels us to place most attention on their 'cores'. So, we attendees of the instition would shed much blood and sweat over ensuring that these cores can be approved by the FFFF upon submission within the nanosecond. However, knowing that the other categories can be put up for balloting (see, the FFFF tests your patience further), any shrewd member of this excellent institution would execute the trick of piling up modules (just to fill the maximum of five slots) to be balloted. And since this is a ballot which would only allocate you one out of the five, no one cares even if these modules clash, the exams clash, whatever else. Just ensure that your cores are safely out of reach.
I might have just fooled you into thinking that the FFFF is a simple-to-use system. Well, maybe, it eventually would be with enough practice. However, things get more complicated when the simplest category - cores - are convulted by the presence of cores from another discipline. I am the bearer of such a cause, unfortunate, in this instance to not know of how the FFFF works against people like me until with the help of good old hindsight. Perhaps FFFF does not like this complication too, for it wrecked its wrath on me that very day, placing me in a connundrum that ended with only 2 registered modules, a ton on the ballot list (even cores which are supposed to be registered and mine and mine only are actually chucked there!), and desperate emails to the administrator to give me what I so badly planned and need: 3 + 2 cores and 1 elective.
So, despite my reverance displayed to the FFFF when I actually left my students early just to risk dislocating a joint on my finger on a borrowed mouse, I was slapped with the shock that i had 3+2, instead of what I had anticipated to be 3 cores. And also with the utter jaw-dropping horror of seeing that all I planned for was razed to the grounds in an instant. Surely, things became worse when, despite 2 hours of frantic phone calls to 3 adminstrative offices, these were the replies I received:
'I see I see, well I don't know'
'I'm sorry but I don't know'
'Just send us an email, for now I don't know'
Yet, despite the common 3 word phrase blatantly obvious in the above, how did I finally figure how FFFF ticks? Hindsight! I have a better comprehension of things now. Hopefully, when I come face to face with FFFF in a few months time, I would be better armed.
So yes FFFF, you succeeded in obliterating my carefully laid plans for august, only. Now I can only wait in agonizing patience, at the habit of checking the email account provided by this excellent institution every hour, in the hope of seeing a reply which reads something other than 'I don't know.'
The narrative is going to end soon now that I think I have said enough about the FFFF. If there's anything that is going to stop me from griping about it any further, that would probably my friend and fellow FFFF victim's message plastered on Facebook, censored and adapted and excerpted for your easy reading:
F! I missed FFFF's registration time! No modules now!
And just in case you have not figured it out by now: Frantic Fastest Fingers First.
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Singlish
Now, why didn't I think of it this way?
Was Singish such a bad thing anyway? I am no purist, I believe in adjusting our spoken language according to the environment. Standard English for work, Singlish for everyday chatter. So, in the pursuit of excellence in education, why don't we let our local children master 4 languages? English, Singlish, Mother Tongue, and another!
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Make up!
Ladies and Gentlemen, hello to you all. In a few minutes, you will be coming face to face with someone who would most likely scare and disgust the majority of you. The minority might not actually display any sort of reaction to this person, except maybe, to ask where she bought her mascara from.
Yes Ladies and Gentlemen, in a few minutes time, I, would be looking you in the eye. Yes, this (insert whatever word you want here, but not just yet, complete the sentence first) person would be right in front of you, and this person wears make up (ok, go insert that word now, depending on your reaction towards women who wear make up).
Let me answer the minority first. Its not foundation, just some loose powder from Shiseido's Maquillage series, which, I happen to feel is the best make up for asians with oily skin, particularly when you need to function under hot and humid circumstances. I do wear foundation though. On occasions where I feel I need to dress up a little more, and I usually enhance the OC20 maquillage shade with the face palette creator. The gel eyeliner is from that range too, in dark brown, which the sales girl recommended would be a best shade to suit my iris colour, and the mascara is really just from Loreal. There would be a day when I can afford to get the curler, lash conditioner and mascara all from Shu Uemura. But for now, I make do with curling them at least 3 times a day, even when I do not apply mascara. Yes I do wear eyeshadow on those 'occasions' too. I bought the limited edition silver palette from Maquillage. Yes, silver can actually be a very natural looking shade, as good as its gold counterpart, provided it is applied with the right technique. I always preferred gloss to lipstick, and now as I am scraping the bottom of my BE375 (this is about the most natural shade I could ever find), I would soon have to whip out the Sheer Lip Colour from my make up box.
Now to address the rest of you. Please proceed to uncringe yourself from the shock and horror of seeing a person with make up. And, before you proceed to bolt away from this freak of nature, let me tell you, face to face of course, that I never intended to scare you. Truth be told, I never stopped to think how my wearing make up would affect you. I'm actually more concerned with the fact that my BE375 is coming to an end than the fact that I wearing make up, somehow, goes against your morals.
Why? You may ask. Ok, sorry if I did not answer this immediately, I am in the midst of curling the hard-to-reach corners of my lashes. Done. Well, that is because I wear make up for no one else but myself. I enjoy playing with colours. I like to shade and highlight and create contours on a canvas. That's why.
Now, you may go and baffle yourself over my explanation as I work on the lashes on my other eye. I bet you are so thankful that I only have 2 eyes. Done. What is it I heard you say? Yes, from you, the one who hates make up and all women who wear them and has a deviant art account. Why don't I be an artist so I can play with colours instead? Brilliant. You seem to think that the word 'artist' is only confined to one who works on a deviant art account or carries a scrap book. Unfortunately, I do not subscribe to your way of thinking. To me, the word 'artist' is kaleidoscopic, and I consider make up artists to be, artists, as well.
Did I just give you a horrible tongue twister? Ok, go untangle your tongues as I apply my gloss. Lower lip done. Have you untangled your tongue yet? Upper lip almost done. How much time do you need? Ok both done. Why are you staring at me like that? Yes you. Don't pretend you don't know I know its you. Yeah you. Female. You look disgusted. Shall I give you a sink? What is that you say? That you have a different value system from me, and hence you think its an abdomination to wear make up? I have a one word response to you. OK. Yeah, simple as that. Sure we have different values (if you want to use that word, for me make up is just something Ifun, to ascribe it to a 'value' is an overstatement of monumental proportions to me really), so be it. And if it bothers you so much to look at me as I curl my lashes, I suggest you look somewhere else? At the floor?
Ok, for your own safety, keep your eyes on the floor. I am about to curl my lashes now. This might scare you to the point of feeling faint. Keep your eyes on the floor, I'm telling you.
Goodbye for now. I think you should have inferred the gist of my message by now.
Yes Ladies and Gentlemen, in a few minutes time, I, would be looking you in the eye. Yes, this (insert whatever word you want here, but not just yet, complete the sentence first) person would be right in front of you, and this person wears make up (ok, go insert that word now, depending on your reaction towards women who wear make up).
Let me answer the minority first. Its not foundation, just some loose powder from Shiseido's Maquillage series, which, I happen to feel is the best make up for asians with oily skin, particularly when you need to function under hot and humid circumstances. I do wear foundation though. On occasions where I feel I need to dress up a little more, and I usually enhance the OC20 maquillage shade with the face palette creator. The gel eyeliner is from that range too, in dark brown, which the sales girl recommended would be a best shade to suit my iris colour, and the mascara is really just from Loreal. There would be a day when I can afford to get the curler, lash conditioner and mascara all from Shu Uemura. But for now, I make do with curling them at least 3 times a day, even when I do not apply mascara. Yes I do wear eyeshadow on those 'occasions' too. I bought the limited edition silver palette from Maquillage. Yes, silver can actually be a very natural looking shade, as good as its gold counterpart, provided it is applied with the right technique. I always preferred gloss to lipstick, and now as I am scraping the bottom of my BE375 (this is about the most natural shade I could ever find), I would soon have to whip out the Sheer Lip Colour from my make up box.
Now to address the rest of you. Please proceed to uncringe yourself from the shock and horror of seeing a person with make up. And, before you proceed to bolt away from this freak of nature, let me tell you, face to face of course, that I never intended to scare you. Truth be told, I never stopped to think how my wearing make up would affect you. I'm actually more concerned with the fact that my BE375 is coming to an end than the fact that I wearing make up, somehow, goes against your morals.
Why? You may ask. Ok, sorry if I did not answer this immediately, I am in the midst of curling the hard-to-reach corners of my lashes. Done. Well, that is because I wear make up for no one else but myself. I enjoy playing with colours. I like to shade and highlight and create contours on a canvas. That's why.
Now, you may go and baffle yourself over my explanation as I work on the lashes on my other eye. I bet you are so thankful that I only have 2 eyes. Done. What is it I heard you say? Yes, from you, the one who hates make up and all women who wear them and has a deviant art account. Why don't I be an artist so I can play with colours instead? Brilliant. You seem to think that the word 'artist' is only confined to one who works on a deviant art account or carries a scrap book. Unfortunately, I do not subscribe to your way of thinking. To me, the word 'artist' is kaleidoscopic, and I consider make up artists to be, artists, as well.
Did I just give you a horrible tongue twister? Ok, go untangle your tongues as I apply my gloss. Lower lip done. Have you untangled your tongue yet? Upper lip almost done. How much time do you need? Ok both done. Why are you staring at me like that? Yes you. Don't pretend you don't know I know its you. Yeah you. Female. You look disgusted. Shall I give you a sink? What is that you say? That you have a different value system from me, and hence you think its an abdomination to wear make up? I have a one word response to you. OK. Yeah, simple as that. Sure we have different values (if you want to use that word, for me make up is just something Ifun, to ascribe it to a 'value' is an overstatement of monumental proportions to me really), so be it. And if it bothers you so much to look at me as I curl my lashes, I suggest you look somewhere else? At the floor?
Ok, for your own safety, keep your eyes on the floor. I am about to curl my lashes now. This might scare you to the point of feeling faint. Keep your eyes on the floor, I'm telling you.
Goodbye for now. I think you should have inferred the gist of my message by now.
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