#507: AND JUNE BEGINS

I have weekly captures that are aching to be uploaded. However, I promised myself I'd get offline before May ends, and it is already the 31st of May, 11.58pm. So pictures come later.

My mugging time has effectively been cut short by half, to only 2 weeks. One week is taken up by RMUN, which effectively gets in the way of my SAT-hardcoring week. So for the first week of June, I'll be decked out in formal school uniform (i.e. Tight white skirt, ill-fitting blazer and killer shoes - meaning the sort that kill you feet, and not in the Louboutin sort of to-die-for way), clopping around campus trying to look busy and professional. At the same time, I'll steal away into the Welfare room to hxcore SATs with Audrey Ho. But of course, we'll both appear on scene right on time (or earlier) for the meals/tea-times, because there might be cream puffs.

Oh gosh, it's already 12.05am. Bugger.

Anyway, week three of June will be spent in KL for Youth Camp. I keep fooling myself that I'll lock myself up in the room and mug throughout the night. Most likely, I'll be lured out by promises of Scrabble showdowns and mass Taboo fun, and end up binging on undercooked Korean instant noodles to soothe the frustration borne out of unplanned (but expected) unproductivity. I feel sulky at the thought of it already.

So with what little time I have left, I have to cover all the topics in order to attain my goals of AABD for CT2, as well as to make headway in H3 History. Curiously enough, the targeted grade that is the greatest Goliath for me (at this point), is a D for Economics. This is because my Econs is just Damned. Doomed. Dead.

The prospect of June isn't very shiny - and not because prospects can't be shiny in general unless their metallic - because at a glance, it's all a crazed rush. But I have to do this, and I have to remember I don't have to be doing it alone. At every waking moment, with every decision I make, I have to remember to do it in God's strength and not only my own.

I AM WOMAN HEAR ME ROAR.

HOI, HOI POLLOI!

#506: Matter

One,
Run-ins with frumpy ladies-of-age that look and speak as if they have lemons in their mouths really test the limits of my patience, graciousness and faith. I do not, and will not swear-swear.

Two,
Key for this week (and the next, and the following, and till end November...) is FOCUS. Stop finding and attracting distractions, because distractions - though fun - take up precious time. Short-term gain, long-term pain = No Go, Abi.

Three,
Only let the people who truly care affect you. (But still reach out anyway.)

Four,
STOP ONLINE-WINDOW SHOPPING AND/OR SPENDING MONEY OMG.

Five,
Back2biz, peace out.

#505: The Week In Nokia Photos

#1: As inspired by Albi The Racist Dragon by Flight of the Conchords, when I was bored during Econs on Monday.

#2: I wanted to show off my sleek bun-thing that I could tie before I cut my hair.

#3: Courtesy of Ivan, Abiho with shorter hair (finally!)

#4: Celebrated Ruth Chee's birthday with Breeks Brownies (that are actually really good).

#5: Coming home one day to muffin and soup.

#6: Spinach and cheese spanakopita (or something like that) on another.

#7: These RJ kids and their campaigns.

#8: RMUN Crisis video filming with Ajay Perumal, aka Uganda.

#9: A decent attempt at recreating a US press conference.

#10: My bag, taken by Hong Xiu during yet another US University thingy talk.

#11: HX was really bored.

#12: Uhuh.

#13: Hong Xiu's shoe. I was on the parade square with Abbykang and Wenqi, when lonely HX decided to join us.

#14: Gosh, if that were flesh, it would look like a fungal growth.

#15: The Parade Square ground is a nasty place to fall or get dragged across.

#16: Overcast skies that brought the rains that eventually forced us indoors, ruining our picnic.

#17: We moved to the lockers (HX had gone for front-of-house duty already, by then) to continue our chitchat before skipping over to the TSD room at 7.30pm for Broken (i.e. College Play 2009).

#18: 7A's match support was Rugby finals. I think gene was probably the most enthusiastic member of our entire class. I was standing on some table with Joanna under some tree, shouting random cheers/insults now and then.

Please, I'm tired.

#504: WHY DO I GET BORINGER AS I GET OLDERER

My body still has tell-tale strains of Wednesday's flu. The fever switches on when it feels like it, but most particularly in air-con. The cough kicks in as and when, sometimes with phlegm (that's sometimes orange! and resembles molten laval, which is quite cool actually). At least the headache seems to be gone for good so I can sit up after waking up from my sleep without feeling woozy and as though my head needs to connect with the nearest solid surface to rest there.

About the title of today's post: was reading through my archives and I seem to be so much more vibrant then. But I think it was because I was just plain flippant and negligent in Secondary School, so I was extremely carefree (like the pantyliner that comes in packs of 40) and worryfree and thus, resultantly omega gay (in the happy way).

Trade-off manzz.

#1: This is Charles on his conquered territory.

#2: Meimei on hers.

#3: Nigel Chua trying (very ineffectively) to clear his polo of stickers after one evening service.

#4: Courtesy of kyw, an extremely artsy shot of Yingying, Edith and Random Boy during Chem lecture.

#5: Xue Qian, in an attempt to pull down the projector screen down for Chem, ended up tying the cord into a knot. Here he is, trying to untie that knot.

#6: Jon Neo having fun with my Nokia's macrozoom function.

#7: My Coke bottle. The 5th one this year, I think.

#8: Gene's turn with my Nokia. This is his Meiji Strawberry Milk water bottle.

#9: Hong Xiu took this for the heck of it.

Of Online Fads...

I am now on Twitter

#503: Head, Eye, Tongue, Throat and Side Hurt Like Hell

AM SICK BOOHOOX.

I slept from 9.40pm the night before, till about 3+pm today.
I kept waking up every few hours, and the first thing that came into my head each time was to take my temperature to see if I could be considered a potential Swine-Flu incubator. Thankfully, my highest temperature ever was only 37.6 degrees celcius.
My brother specially bought Campbell's alphabet soup on his way home from school for me, because I didn't feel like eating anything else.

What irritated me today was that I...
a) Wasted the whole weekend doing Int Hist tutorial which I didnt go for in the end
b) Slept the whole day and couldn't do any work
c) Am completely unprepared for Chem test tomorrow

But people have been awfully nice to me, and that makes me happy.

#502: "Patron Saint, are we all lost like you?"

There are certain things I refrain from mentioning because I really have no desire to discuss them. It's not that I have something to hide (okay, sometimes I do, but that's not the main cause of the silence), it's just that I've probably expended too much thought and/or emotion on the issue that I'm too jaded to bring it up again.

It's a blessing to have parents that care and actively show their concern, but sometimes I'd like more space to breathe or try things out on my own. I think you learn more when you burn your fingers on the stove, instead of being just told that it's hot. Of course for the first decade plus of one's life, parents have the responsbility to give guidance and protection. But they should start laying off come 16/17/18.

My parents only started to roll-back (like we learn the Americans liked to do during the Cold War, along with alot of other conniving policy nonsense) last year, and even then not that much. I'd like to be a little bit more independent, and little less accountable. But maybe if that really happened and I get my own way, I'll prolly land myself in a cesspit in no time.

I know the gate and its keepers are there for a reason, and I like it that they keep me safe. It's only sometimes I wish that there would be a hole in the fence for me to climb through to the other side just once in a while, on whim. But life stinks, because there will always be responsibilities to take, obligations to fulfil, and consequences to face. So when you finally do crossover, there usually ain't no turning back.

#501: HEREHEREHERE

#1: Lovely cloth bag rachel chloe chua bought for me some time back. It came with a matching pouch that got swallowed up the item-disappearing vortex of the TSD room late last year.

#2: White, Navy, Red. Yellow.

#3: BEFORE - Notes I scribbled down during SEA Hist lecture.

#4: AFTER - Lecture notes, that I rewrote, after much difficulty with deciphering.

#5: Some donation drive thing at the school canteen. I found this set up so ridiculously funny (and creepy) I stood there laughing for a good 60 seconds that morning.

#6: Click to witness disparity in (a) Skirt Length, and (b) Skin tone.

#7: Colored pins that make me really want to try them out as earrings.

***

Gran's 80th Birthday Bash At Her House With Her Potted Plants On Saturday 2 May

#8: Gran's corridor with Gran's potted plants. She keeps trying to invite her friends over to admire her plants, which she obsessively keeps pruning.

#9: Catered food from some Nonya eatery that has serves fabulous buakuluak (I don't even know how to pronounce, let alone spell, this delicacy properly. It's the black fruit that's stuffed with meat, and resembles poop but tastes like ambrosia).

#10: Chairs all lined-up and ready to be unfolded upon visitor arrival.

#11: The guests arrive on the bus Mum & Dad chartered to shuttle them from Hokkien Service.

#12: And there's Porpor (i.e. my granny) with my maid. Aerial view is pretty awesome, no?

#13: Here the celebrity of the day emerges, looking pretty in purple.

#14: Me, Esther Lim, and some small boy I made friends with.

#15: This is my big little brother. Notice that we're in the same color scheme.

***

Gran's 80th Birthday High Tea At Shangri-La Where We Get A Whopping 80% Off The Total Bill on Monday 4 May Her Actual Day

#16: Chocolate balls in white porcelain bowl.

#17: I was too full to even finish these. So I decided to take pictures to make up for it.

#18: Porpor is a diabetic. Porpor has a sweet tooth. Bad combination. This was round 2 of her dessert conquest.

#19: Porpor pretending the desserts are too sweet for her, but she polished all the cakes off anyways.

#20: And she was cold, so I covered her with her napkin.

#21: Papa, in response to, "Act natural!"

#22: With her 3 daughters

#23: And her granddaughter

#24: Grandchildren. Unfortunately the shutter clicked when her eyes were closed.

#25: Totally knocked out by too much good 80%-off-total-bill Shangri-La Rose Veranda food

#500: ARE YOU STUFF THASS TUFF ENUFF?

LIFE DAMN BUSY / LIFE DAMN TOUGH / BUT YOU CAN NEVER GET ENOUGH / THERE'S TOO LITTLE TIME TO DO THE THINGS I WANT / YET THERE'S TOO MUCH TIME TO DO WHAT'S NECESSARY / I WANT OUT QUICK / BUT I WILL MISS THIS TOO

HOW NOW?
EAT MORE FRIED CHICKEN.

- FOR A DRUMLET A DAY KEEPS YOU FLABBY AND GAY.

Post with Pictures is Promised.

Hang in there folks and keep the stats rolling in please.

Life's Ironies

It's funny how the people who don't want to see you get hurt are the ones that do it the most.

#499: Helvetica Please

This may seem weird but if you wanna know what to get me for Christmas this year (or my next birthday, or if you want to just get me a present anyway to make me feel loved much much),

I WANT HELVETICA.

It costs EUR24.00 only, from Linotype.com

The above is typed in ARIAL, which is a sad substitute for / copy of Helvetica. Below is Helvetica in capitals, in its full Swiss-designed glory.

In my search for free Helvetica font downloads (the only way to get the real deal is to buy it off linotype, bugger), I found this awesome game: Helvetica vs. Arial, where you are Helvetica and get 36 lives to thrash Arial! WAR OF THE FONTS, BRING IT ON.