Facts in Brownian Motion

Categorised as 'Duh'
Mum still thinks I'm fat, but will 'try not to say it'.
I certainly do not feel like driving anymore following that racist incident. Hence my procrastination in renewing that stupid PDL.

On Working Out
Thank God for Youtube: ExpertVillage and SparksPeople! I never thought I could do so many strenously fun, and difficult!, workouts with the simple exercise ball. Perfect complement to my 'vary-per-minute-of-inclination' treadmill routine.
Ah, but despite this new found gym routine, I've been dying for a PLUNGE into the pool. Do I have a short attention span? Or do I simply get bored too easily? Either way, I find it difficult to keep going at a particular exercise regime day after day. Seeing the same machines and executing the same exercises just builds a thicker runner's wall that leaves me begging for variation. So yes, I've been yearning for laps which put less stress on my knees, but somehow my evenings keep getting occupied. Yes, blame it on my inability to swim at night (why do I keep thinking that a crocodile is waiting amidst the deck chairs for the opportune time to swoop down and bite me). Alternatively, its my fault for not being able to wake up early enough such that I can swim without subjecting my keys and access card to the risk of theft!

*I might just be getting a Bosu ball for my birthday present. Hooray!*

On Music
I am going to post some questions to Mana-sama.
Dear Mana-sama,
You are an inspiration to all who love classical music. And while you make the rapid scalic passages on a harpsichord sound effortless, is your astute skill today a result of hours of training amidst so many distractions? Did you ever have to strain your ears to pick out the best nuances in your Polonaise, while someone blasted the TV right behind you? Did you ever rain down your pent up frustration through a densely chordal Grieg, only to have someone come down and tell you to shut up because someone else studying upstairs had resorted to covering their ears as you played? Were you ever given weird stares when you expressed your passion for the talent of Chopin? Did you ever cringe when someone said that music was an 'escape', finding that giving music the place of an 'outlet' to reality somehow belittles the richness it beholds?
Ah, but you, born to a musical parentage, probably had a music room all of your own.
Or maybe you struggled with so much more, and overcame all, and became who you are today, one of the lucky few who carve a lucrative career in this industry of heartache and joy.

And before I go
Some readers have asked why my posts vary so greatly in content. One minute I'm a horribly emo, potential wrist-slasher and by the next post I'm incredibly overjoyed. Well, take a look at the title again, 'real random ramble'. I'm hit with varied circumstances everyday, life hands me a different spectrum of emotions, and these emotions change as circumstances change. So, don't worry about me slashing my wrists anytime :)

Zebra Cakes and Candy Floss

Thanks to a mid term and late night driving lesson contained within my longest day of the week (a friday at that!), I decided to begin my Saturday with a leisurely morning swim. And it was serendipitous that I found Saturday mornings, specifically 9a.m., to be the optimum time for swimming. The pool was empty, the water was sufficiently cool, and somehow, swimming alone gives me the motivation to do continuous laps. Now, this is how I should start every Saturday.Nevertheless, the increased number of forays into the pool has resulted in me enjoying swimming as much as treadmill-pounding. My knees are going to thank me for this.

Though my stomach certainly would not, considering the amount of sugar I consumed after swimming.

I taste-tested the Zebra Cake my sis, grand aunt and I baked at my grand aunt's place.

It was really a simple cake to make, yet the first attempt was no good (I do have a good excuse for this, but its an insider thing!), second one got better. This is the 2nd batch.

Unassuming crispy brown crust which deceives all into thinking this is a run-off-the-mill marble cake. actually conceals.

A moist, soft mix of black and yellow swirls.

I could not resist an entire piece.

And my sugar consumption went into the 'danger zone' with Mum's purchase of a childhood favourite.

Mouthfuls of saccharine that send your carbohydrate intake sky high for SGD$1.50. Not to mention the smiles and waves of nostalgia of those days where Mum would take you to candy floss booths at shopping centre counters and watch it churned out fresh for you.

There were 2 bags. The right one, banana flavoured. The left one, splashed with the colouring mimicking a type of berry that is not the blueberry. Food science has failed!

This sugar overload has since sentenced me to a longer time in the gym. Not the pool though, since technology allows me to tweak the treadmill and other apparatus, to force my body into a better sugar-incinerating rate.

I need motivation.

Thanks レダ. I shall endeavour to have abs like you. And everytime I feel like hitting the sack rather than pounding the pavement, I shall look at you - you who has everything every girl wants to have - and allow your flat and taut stomach to drive me to an insane state of jealousy and also to the gym, where I would listen to your band as I whack the treadmill.

Before this post comes to an end:

A mini list:

1. The blue candy floss was flavoured raspberry.

2. Leda is a man.

And so it Rained

Today, the West fell victim yet again to the type of rainfall that can only be termed 'oxymoron'. You know, the kind where it sprinkles for a while, and when the clouds dry up, the remnants from the sprinkle remain hanging in the atmosphere such that it gets even more humid after that. Imagine sweating at an intensity which rivals the frequency of the preceeding rainfall. But that was not the worse that the rain brought about anyway.

For some strange reason, I remembered to run out to the balcony to bring in the rack of towels, have in the clothes stand and shut the sliding door, but it totally slipped my mind to check on lilbro john's room. So, it was only some 10minutes into the downpour when I went over to his room to get some plain paper, that I noticed that the rain had drenched anything within the vicinity of his open window.

Bed Inclusive.

What followed next was a series of helter skelter that begin with me shutting the windows tight, Jie mopping up the puddles which had formed on the surface of his books, boxes, helmet, football, and me rushing back from our room with a fan and hairdryer for the bed.

A couple of hours, 2 extension plugs for the fan, and a broken down hairdryer, and the room was back in shape. And since lilbro john, if I may quote him, 'don't care even if you have a blog or whatever you write on it'. He probably would never find out anyway. This episode shall just be filed under 'perspectives'.

I can almost hear the chorus of 'what a horrible sister' and 'how could you forget about your brother's room'. Yes plaintiffs, in my defence, may I propose that, on the basis of my background as a musician who actually studied that subject for my damn O and A levels and went through 3 instruments and numerous concerts, I am qualified enough to say that this:



Is simply too engaging for me to prise the headsets out of my ears and peel my butt of the chair, come rain or shine, flood or hurricane, tornado, etc. Case Closed. That aside, I blame Benedryl for plunging me into a 12 hour slumber the night before. That half a day long comatose just means half a day less of time to complete this:

One of the things written under the last section (MISC) is actually 'gym + swim everyday' (so long as other commitments do not interfere!). And while I would gladly rise at 730am, or earlier, everyday throughout a holiday week just to hit the gym and pool while still being able to start work at 10am, I can foresee being potentially hindered by something, (no I'm not swearing I mean it literally) bloody.

I have not been able to work my way around it despite having to deal with it for years, and more years to come. And for that, I simply salute professional swimmers, marine biologists, synchronized swimmers (basically any woman who has to enter water on a regular basis), for their resilience against bloody, messy outcomes.

Anyway, it appears that I have one more day to let the blood run dry, considering that Monday has already been packed with appoinments. I hope for a gore-free Tuesday to pound the pavement.

Edit: Those insanely good musicians are from ガルネイルス. Had to add the 'All Things Japanese' Label.

Double 1sts

It is not often that I do more than 1 activity for the first time within a day, but 15th Dec was surely an exception.

The first 1st today came in the form of Nihon-Go Lessons with Jie.

Beautifully typed hiragana with translation at the side, courtesy of sensei Gabriel!

Learning Japanese is a bittersweet experience. While I'm certainly looking forward to the day where I can listen to Gazetto without having to google the translation, writing out all those characters, memorizing their pronunciation and stringing them together to construct a sentence is a pain indeed.

So all 3 of us were seated atStarbucks for 1.5 hours, poring over the list of super basic hiragana, until an unsuspected call from mum had Jie and I heading down to some place I had never been before.

Big, black speaker

Not so sure of the jargon, but this was part of the huge sound-mixing device

I still can't believe we actually recorded a song. Well, true enough we sang only the chorus and did a short scating, but I was happy enough at the chance to sing in a professional recording studio. The parts we had were simple and hence we finished it in less than an hour. Hopefully my future involvement with this organization will allow me more than a glimpse into the life of a recording artiste (though I know its going to be lots of hard work, retakes, experimenting, late nights etc.)

And I did manage to land my hands on a packet of Vitasoy, but I had no camera with me to capture that moment in a picture. And Eden jiejie prepared chestnuts again, albeit when I was out.

What a day of new and wasted opportunities. Now i must grab another packet of Vitasoy and document it for sure.