Hibari much?

2012-01-26T16:21:00.000+08:00

Having bowls and bowls of Lao Ban soya beancurd in my fridge makes me so happy its ridiculous.

But I think I just needed a reason to use that gorgeous gif again hohoho.

Oblomovshchina.

2012-01-20T16:58:00.000+08:00

I know I'm awfully late but THE HOLIDAYS ARE HERE!!!
Mind you, it's not one of those measly one-month holidays that aren't holidays afterall because you become bombarded with those dreadful holiday homework no one does until the last 3 days. If all goes well, THIS SPELLS A GLORIOUS FANTASTICAL MAGICAL TERRIFIC SUPERFRAGILISTICEXPIALIDOCIOUS EIGHT-MONTH LONG VACATION!!!

Holidays are indeed pure bliss! Whist it is true that from time to time one becomes encapsulated by ennui it is unequivocally much more preferable to the toil and doldrums of hectic school days plagued by torrents of assignments (which usually ends up being done half-assed or not at all whenever possible hur hur).

My inclination to inertia probably explains why I am utterly unable to comprehend friends whom have dived into full-time jobs with near immediacy after their exams. It truly baffles me and leaves me aghast. I mean, don't you think that after 10 torturous years of education (k the adjective is more hyperbole than fact, but I still think of waking up when the bloody sun's not even up yet a tragedy), one should just take it easy and cherish the precious holidays that we'll probably never have until we retire/strike 4D. My friends, it is the opportunity of a lifetime to frolic and be idle to your hears' content! Relish this moment, for, with the exception of heirs and heiresses of great fortunes, you will likely have to slog your sorry guts out for the next four to five decades. There exists the inevitably of having to work in your adulthood, so you ought not to start today because the hefty opportunity cost is the glorious idle days of your youth.

But of course, should any temporary job that pays handsomely come your way, by all means snap it up. I especially like taking up work on public holidays due to attractive remunerations, i.e. double pay. Oh yes double pay makes me very happy indeed.

Live, and fall

2011-12-24T01:24:00.000+08:00

We who shall never amount to anything, why do we still try? It shall all be in vain, only that much we may know. Inadequate, inadequate; that is all we shall ever feel and all we shall ever be.

Survival strategy.

2011-08-10T20:25:00.001+08:00

“I hate the word 'fate'. Birth, encounters, partings, success and failure, fortune and misfoturtunes in life. If our lives are already set in stone by fate, than why are we even born? If that is all caused by fate, then God is incredibly unfair and cruel. Because ever since that day, none of us had a future and the only certain thing was that we wouldn't amount to anything.”

All that does not matter.

2011-08-07T19:27:00.004+08:00

“First off, are humans self-centered creatures or do they put others first? I think I’m going to answer that with your average ‘it depends.’ Things are interesting precisely because they differ from case to case. Are humans good or evil at heart? Which one will prevail, reason or desires? Which one will be the last to remain, hope or despair? Humans cannot answer these questions for sure — and that’s why they’re interesting.”

I was contemplating whether or not I ought to switch to tumblr because tumblr is best suited for the lazy type of blogger anyway... unless, with all due respect, you think randomly scouring the internet/stalking others' tumblr and then posting 10 random pictures a day (though I prolly would just be posting quotes from the texts I read and no I am currently not following any tumblr blog) and the like is admirably hardworking. Well, to each his own I suppose.

The happy fool and the happy spectator.

2011-07-23T19:02:00.007+08:00

How wonderfully fascinating it is to witness fools dig their own grave with such fervent alacrity! Their obliviousness which knows no bounds amuses me to no end. While they bask in pitiable ignorance, we as the privileged audience shall feel most obliged to continue enjoying the little performance they have so willingly put on for us. As for the protagonist, the more you think you gain the more you actually lose, and why should we not joyfully take pleasure in that? I do admit that this reeks of schadenfreude, but then again, we have more reasons than not to feel unkind towards you. You have done us all the most insupportable vexation and thus my happy little fool the burden you do not realise you bear is rightly yours.

p/s I think I might be too damn good at pretending to sound diabolical trololol.

p/s/s Well a friend once mentioned she doesn't understand what the blazes I'm blogging about and well to that the only thing I've got to say is that one shouldn't bother because it was never my intention for most of my rants to be wholly understood in the first place for I reckon the price of handling out information so cheaply may prove costly.

Because slaughter is still slaughter.

2011-06-13T19:31:00.003+08:00

I shall never understand the fuss people are kicking up over the issue of dog meat. Not that I really care whether it becomes legal in Singapore or not so long as I am free to enjoy my chicken and salmon or whatever, but I really wouldn't mind having a bite or two out of dog meat to find out what it tastes like. No, it doesn't really bother me that people keep it as pets - people keep fish and frogs and even chicken as pets but no one's ever given a rat's ass about them. Oh sure you could happily ignore how the fish you ate for lunch this afternoon died of anoxia but then you start bashing people for being inhumane simply because they consume dog meat. This hypocrisy is every bit as revolting as it is laughable.

We could live on just our thoughts and food.

2011-06-03T19:41:00.002+08:00

2 random sentiments that occurred to me today
1. During class:I wonder what possessed me to ever consider taking H2 lit in the first place (fine it was my disinclination to academic exertion but it would seem that I was gravely mistaken).

2. On the bus: Um lady why do you smell like the fish market two in the afternoon? I mean, I have nothing against those with unfortunate body odour but I do mind when you had to, of all places in the relatively non-crowded bus, stand in front of me, leaving me to tolerate olfactory agony throughout the whole bloody trip. And would you please ask your boyfriend to stop playing with your hair? Feel free to engage in PDA but I really wouldn't like your dandruff on my arm.

3 notable gastronomical endeavours of the day before
1. Oysters and veal at Astons Prime

2. Milk tea from Full House (so delightful a discovery I could cry - I had thought it disappeared off the face of the earth for ever after the only outlet I knew closed down - I like it enough to have it for the 3rd time this week)

3. Canelé macarons (hazelnut, feuillitine, pistache, 70% guanaja)

I'm using her 21st birthday as an excuse to post a screencap.

2011-05-30T19:22:00.001+08:00

The decay of nescience.

2011-05-22T20:17:00.005+08:00

"Life imitates art far more than art imitates Life."

- Oscar Wilde, The Decay of Lying (1889)

My god you never know how relevant his pearls of wisdom actually are until events actually start unfolding in your life. It would seem that no doubt about the brilliance of Oscar Wilde is ever prudent for thus far life has done nothing but prove him right.

V.

2011-05-01T00:43:00.003+08:00

"Voilà! In view, a humble vaudevillian veteran, cast vicariously as both victim and villain by the vicissitudes of fate. This visage, no mere veneer of vanity, is a vestige of the vox populi, now vacant, vanished. However, this valorous visitation of a bygone vexation stands vivified, and has vowed to vanquish these venal and virulent vermin vanguarding vice and vouchsafing the violently vicious and voracious violation of volition! The only verdict is vengeance; a vendetta held as a votive, not in vain, for the value and veracity of such shall one day vindicate the vigilant and the virtuous. Verily, this vichyssoise of verbiage veers most verbose, so let me simply add that it's my very good honour to meet you and you may call me V."

By golly was that the best self introduction ever. I've just watched V for Vendetta and I must say that I do like it ever so much. To anyone who might appreciate a good film or two, it's definitely worth a watch.

My schedule book was invaded.

2011-04-28T20:58:00.003+08:00

Draft clearance.

2011-04-14T21:13:00.004+08:00

For those who have lived to tell the tale, I'm quite sure you'll agree unanimously that Project Work (PW) has been the harbinger of widespread distress and angst and increased inclination towards profanities since it's deplorable implementation. It's not uncommon for the exasperated and frustrated to inveigh against PW, and I doubt very much this year will any exception, so to the JC1s, I wish you the very best of luck and patience.

I've gathered some of my personal responses and more from the annus horribilis that was 2010. Most were drafts and remained as drafts due to sheer lackadaisicalness.

April 2010:
PROJECT WORK'S PI* IS FREAKING ME OUT.
*PI stands for Preliminary Idea, which is a component of PW.

April 2010:
PW should just crash and burn.

July 2010:

To be fair, perhaps I may not have scorned it ever so much if my group was not assigned a teacher who so adamantly refuses to be of any viable usefulness or assistance.

August 2010:
Excerpts from an MSN conversation:

- "Ok firstly why I disagree greatly with the concept of PW is because some unlucky people (like us) have to pay for the shortcomings of other members."

- "People contribute varying levels of effort for group work but still get the same grade - IT IS WHOLLY UNFAIR."

- "National Exams, no matter what, should STRIVE to keep it's criteria as IMPARTIAL and as FAIR and JUST to everyone as possible. That means that we account for our own efforts and shortcomings and skills ALONE and in no way should we be held responsible for another's complacency or inefficiency - IT IS NOT OUR DAMN FAULT SOMEONE ELSE DOESN'T WANT TO DO HIS/HER WORK."

- "Even they want to test us on how well we can work with others, IT SHOULD NOT BE SIGNIFICANT ENOUGH TO HEAVILY AFFECT OUR UNIVERSITY ADMISSION PROSPECTS, AS DOES PW, WHICH IS SAID TO BE MORE IMPORTANT THAN YOUR H1 CONTENT SUBJECT!!!!!!!!!!"

- "Oh plus PW can be quite pointless because we don't actually carry out the project."

September 2010:
The very mention of the two words could make my blood boil.

September 2010:
An article Jingjing found which makes quite a bit of sense. Bravo logic.

The new policy of group project work

The mindset sounds good: Force the students to learn teamwork so that they can develop in a well-rounded manner and cope with corporate hell when they enter the workplace.

In many cases, the teacher would just throw the students in and see if they can swim. He or she could just ignore if two people have very incompatible characters or personal histories and force them to work together.

Even when the students can choose, there always exists the possibility that one will fail to locate compatible partners in class and would find it much easier to do the work individually. That has occurred to me with most of my project work.

Group project work tends to equalize the effort put forth and dilutes the effects of the abilities of the individual team member. Once, one could show that he or she had learnt the subject well by preparing an awesome project, but now one would have a few freeloaders sharing the credit. It seems highly unfair for such behaviour to occur. Forcing a group project when an individual project could suffice turns the assignment into a situation where one has to handle the burden of socializing on top of project work.

Certain project members have to compromise a lot, including having to do the project at an inconvenient time or location, and having to do a lower quality project (such as when the group decides to slack off to complete a project with inferior quality). They could have avoided this, if not for the requirement that they have to do the project in a group.

This occurs despite a different policy in the workplace. At work, individual performance can hold one accountable in projects. The company can fire team members who do not take their projects seriously. While company policy varies greatly, more enlightened companies will generally allow some freedom to choose competent team members whose skills and character complements each other, than to force a group of incompatible people to work together.

After all, a team with poorly chosen members will have lower productivity. How can a company with sensible HR policies and desiring to reduce costs afford to lose productivity just because it just would not care about the feelings of the employees? When a company spends millions of dollars in consultant fees to graphologists, feng shui masters and motivational trainers, one can hardly consider spending some time to assemble teams that work well together too extravagant a consideration.

After all the torture and toil, it consoles me to know that at the very least, the grade I was awarded with was sufficiently befitting. Heh.

Restrain and strangeness.

2011-04-11T22:13:00.004+08:00

However tempting it is to rant about the insurmountable (more hyperbole than fact, but never you mind) amount of homework I have but I think I shall refrain from doing so because that would be far too predictable and hackneyed don't you think?

That aside, I've had dinner and 4 bars of Van Houten milk chocolate (lovely rich and sublime yum) immediately after and then 2 sunny side up eggs all within 3 hours but why oh why does my stomach (still) feel strangely empty?

10 points for...!

2011-04-08T21:08:00.005+08:00

Greetings and felicitations, dear readers! What a jolly good cause for exultation and jubilation and merriment the day has provided! It is at times like these where I'd like to give myself a colossal pat on the back and tell myself, "oh, well done, you!"

And to my beloved detractors, whom I must thank ever so much for exquisitely sweetening the sheer taste of victory:

For the $2 that doesn't even go into your pocket.

2011-03-25T19:40:00.004+08:00

Lady Stutfield Do you really, really think, Lady Caroline, that one should believe evil of every one?
Lady Caroline I think it is much safer to do so, Lady Stutfield. until of course, people are found out to be good. But that requires a great deal of investigation, now-a-days.

- Oscar Wilde, A Woman Of No Importance, Act I

I was utterly amazed at how uncultured and coarse the lackeys (whose nugatory existences in school is warranted only by teaching obscure mother tongue languages) could be. Fascinating! Quite possibly twice or thrice my age, yet not the slightest hint of intellect or prudence was exercised. Well, no matter, you can behave like any proletarian plebeian for all I care, so long as you do not impertinently insist on testing my patience.

Yet, deplorably so, you did today. Whoops.

Ah, do you have a death wish of some sort? Perhaps you're already tired of life and living?

Now, now, you really ought to know your place, you know. I'm not entirely sure if your imprudence stems from your benightedness or just sheer, plain, innate asininity, but your egregious discourtesy is merely giving others a rather bad impression of your lot. I once heard that it is always pawns with the least authority who are but the happiest and most unrestrained when it comes to desperately flaunting and abusing whatever little power they possess. A tragic fact indeed, but a fact nonetheless. Lamentably, it is almost always the petty spirits of region low who serve as the most tedious vexations to one's spirit.

On a side note, I would also have liked to enquire very much from the lanky lurdan why his pants are always so abnormally atrociously high but of course decorum dictates otherwise, thus I shall conveniently attribute that to some sort of genetic defect and DNA mutation befitting of a freak of nature and a graceless lout.

An informant's Delphic pronouncement.

2011-03-19T16:38:00.004+08:00

"You can't run away. The past will follow you, wherever you go. For ever and ever and ever... You know why? They're lonely. A person's past and memories are very lonely things. I don't believe in god. There's no proof of his existence. In a world where there isn't even proof of the future, the past exists. Even if it's tainted with misunderstandings and delusions, if the people themselves believe it, the past is the truth to them. And if you base your actions or or your life around it, in a way, it's a type of god itself."

It is remarkable how a fictional character (hint: his name derives from a combination of the biblical 'Isaiah' and Japanese for 'the one who looks over the crowd') from a mere light novel could utter something far more gnomic and fascinating than the oft-garrulous idiots of the British texts deemed fit for 'A' Level Literature. I'm sorry, but I have absolutely no interest whatsoever in dull characters who hardly exhibit the exercise of intellect. A woman suffering from folie de grandeur, the typical over-idealistic long-suffering semi-damsel-in-distress who gets betrayed/dies/insert other dramatic devastating, life-shattering, soul-crushing occurrence here, and a repulsive roué who is a bore at best, fail to intrigue at all.

The saddest of crackpot theories come from (the) superannuated.

2011-03-08T23:40:00.003+08:00

Judging from my deplorably low productivity level and lackadaisical attempts at churning out decent entries I ought to retire for ever but I can't quit and/or I ought not to quit; at the very least not until my 'A' levels which is roughly 8 months away - I'm really just doing this for my essays I reckon plus dear friends who need to kill boredom online.

I admit that I sound terribly incoherent and like the epitome of a pseudo-blogger, but well, this is after all the mere by-product of procrastination and ennui and besides, sprouting half-nonsense ought to be the privilege of pollyannaish procrastinators in the first place do you not agree?

Only classics shall do for now.

2011-03-04T22:03:00.004+08:00

Although I had amassed a modest number of novels and plays in recent months, the only book I did manage to read was The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde.

To read; in order of present preference for my own reference:

The Importance of Being Earnest - Oscar Wilde
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
Through the Looking Glass - Lewis Carroll
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Arthur Conan Doyle
1984 - George Orwell
Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
Lady Windermere's Fan - Oscar Wilde
A Woman of No Importance - Oscar Wilde
The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde - Robert Louis Stevenson
The Hound of Baskervilles - Arthur Conan Doyle
Robinson Crusoe - Daniel Defoe
Persuasion - Jane Austen
A Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - Mark Twain
Wuthering Heights - Emily Brontë

Cecil Graham might have been right.

2011-03-01T23:10:00.001+08:00

At that point of time, I could only appreciate how amusingly risible the situation was. Really? Did you genuinely think you would know me better than myself, when our acquaintanceship has always been at best perfunctory? Pray tell why, could you not have evince even a modicum of propriety and prudence?

And in no relation to the previous musing whatsoever: It may occur as strange to you how one could strut into class 30 minutes late nearly every lesson without any apparent adverse implications by the authorities present, but then again, it's even stranger to be holding lessons in the first place for a subject which examinations have already been long sat for. Such is the fatuity and inexpediency born out of the propensity to sheer asininity, which only further attests to Wilde's observation that as soon as people are old enough to know better, they don't know anything at all.

Hello again.

2011-02-28T00:02:00.002+08:00

Thus, my halcyon hiatus ends.

p/s I want to smack 'em accursed mosquitoes dead.