Monday, November 08, 2004
Bash.org Quote of the Day™:
AnGeLcAkE-14fFA>wanna cyber?
shiroi>sure
AnGeLcAkE-14fFA>ok, i move close to u
AnGeLcAkE-14fFA>i start rubbin your chest and unbutton your pants
AnGeLcAkE-14fFA>..
AnGeLcAkE-14fFA>hello?
shiroi>hmm? oh..er. Yea cool.
AnGeLcAkE-14fFA>u suck at this
shiroi>I suck? You're the one signing on to irc with your asl in your nick looking for a lovelife. You suck at life.
shiroi> You're probably not even a girl.
AnGeLcAkE-14fFA has quit IRC. (Quit)
shiroi>Damnit, I'll never get a net gf at this rate :(
Hmm... I could get used to not blogging every day. After all, what with a whole load of stuff to do, I just simply haven't got the time to post here on a regular basis. And besides, when I was in school yesterday, I tried to post, but for some odd reason Blogger was somewhat screwy and I couldn't get beyond the Dashboard.
I've just managed to clear my load of essays, assignments and projects, and now, I'm just taking the time to sit back and chill for a while.
But there's the exams, which are slightly less than 2 weeks away. *faints*
Speaking of exams, check out the Exam Tea!
Details, as you can see, are on the poster itself.
I'm the Project Director for this event, and believe me when I tell you that this is turning out to be quite stressful, though at the moment I'm still dealing with it rather well.
I wouldn't know what to do with the assistance and suggestions of Alex, as well as Denise (who despite the best of her efforts hasn't been able to find sponsors, but it's OK! Update: Alright! I apologise! You did get the sponsorship from F&N! Sorry!), and Gerri (thanks so much, even though you're not in the Welfare or Marketing Cells).
Oh well, at least this is helping to give me some exposure with regards to organising such projects, and besides, it should be relatively easy. Now all I have to do is continue to scout the neighbourhood for places that sell assorted biscuits at prices cheaper than that of NTUC FairPrice or Giant.
And I've just realised one thing: NTUC FairPrice has almost imperceptibly phased out paper cups. Now all they have in stock are plastic and foam cups. Of course, I could get plastic cups, though I am not sure if they're suitable for hot drinks. So I suppose foam cups are the way to go.
Anyway, we're giving away free biscuits and hot Milo, as well as stationery (while stocks last). If I recall correctly, we've managed to get sponsorship from F & N, so we've got free yoghurt drinks to give away as well. Yay...
So if any of you students from the Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences are reading this, and if you plan to study in school over the next few days, do drop by and grab some free goodies!
Just booked my IPPT for the 8th of December. Hopefully, from now until then, I'll have the determination and discipline to maintain my fitness, and to improve even further. Dammit I want that $400.
My chest has a couple of red ugly horizontal lines, making me look as if I've been mauled by a bobcat. Blame it all on that horrible tape I had to live with during the experiment, that irritated my skin so much. Even now, 5 days after the apparatus has been removed, the welts are still there.
Oh well, at least I've done my 3 days' worth of walking around like a laboratory experiment gone horribly wrong. I just hope that I did enough PDA updates to earn my 130 dollars' worth. After all, on the last day, I was just so tired that I often just plain forgot to update the PDA regularly.
And it seems Mei and Claypot are pretty interested in volunteering for the study as well. The only difference is that they'll be doing it over the December holidays, so they can just travel to school to get hooked up, then hide at home for the rest of the time. All I can say is this: Don't scratch too much, it would be a good idea to shave off the fine hairs on the back of your neck (and any chest hairs, while you're at it), and try your best to remain in air-conditioned surroundings at all time. Oh, and while you're at it, try to spend all your time sitting or lying down, and try not to talk to anyone at all. Shaves a lot of time off answering unnecessary questions when you update your PDA (refer to my post listing out the questionnaire here).
Speaking about blogging...
Something I got from Chong Han:
For those of you who play CounterStrike, here's a video clip someone made. Someone must have been very bored while working at McDonalds'...
I like the CS Italy opera music in the background, and all the funny and quirky little sound and picture effects. Hahahahaha...
Haven't seen her for a really long time, and given that I haven't been spending much time online lately, even our MSN conversations haven't been very long. And it seems that lately, most of the time it ends off with her saying "I have to do my readings" or something related to schoolwork.
Sigh...
I had so much hope, so much passion and desire. Maybe it didn't manifest itself so strongly during O Week itself, but now at times the sense of longing borders on the unbearable. There are times when I just berate myself for my lousy choice of modules, as it seems that her free periods are coincidentally the times when I am stuck in class, and my free periods happen to be her time for lessons. And I can only shake my head and lament my decision not to take SC1101E this semester...
The OG, supposedly the best OG for O Week, has fragmented and dissolved into several little cliques. And while it is heartening to see that at least the primary objectives of O Week have been achieved, and that most of our freshies have indeed made new friends, it sometimes pains me whenever our paths cross in between lessons, to know and feel that despite whatever closeness and bonding there was during O Week among all of us, now we are probably just mere acquaintances, and nothing more.
A revelation just struck me. This entire debacle is uncannily beginning to resonate with echoes of the time Momo was ever feeling so forlorn because of TT. Ha. It always seems that love (or whatever emotion it is I'm feeling right now whenever I think of her), truly makes one do the most irrational things.
The other day (Friday actually), I was just hanging out in Arts Club Room with Gerri. The two of us were alone. Almost everyone else was either studying elsewhere, or had gone off to watch Shark Tales in town. It was just the 2 of us in the entire Arts Club Room. What did we do?
We blasted techno music.
What? What were you guys thinking??? 
But unfortunately, the fun lasted all of about 10 minutes or so, when Jasmine came back. Damn.
Sometime later that night, I decided to go a little crazy, and filled the entire whiteboard in the room with random drawings, mostly of dinosaurs and other prehistoric life. Hey, don't blame me, I haven't drawn a single dinosaur for ages already.
Working on what happened on Thursday after I drew a Tyrannosaurus head as well as a stick figure in its mouth (you guys will not believe what mayhem ensued as others sought to ahem, 'improve' on it), I added a few other drawings. One of them was of a generic stick figure floating in the sea, being menaced by a giant mosasaur.
Another one was of another generic stick figure being chased by a giant carnosaur (I originally had a Giganotosaurus in mind, but whiteboard and marker pen are not the best drawing media). While another was of a Brachiosaurus (actually, more probably a Giraffatitan, now that the African species brancai has been separated at the genus level from the North American altithorax, but don't mind me prattling on about dinosaurs here), with another generic stick figure being squashed underfoot, and I added another generic stick figure up to its neck in a pile of dung the giant sauropod had just produced.
I drew several arrows pointing to the generic stick figures, all in various states of peril, and drew blanks, with the following text in brackets: Insert name of choice. It will be quite fascinating to see whose name shall end up being written in the blanks over the weekend. Damn, I wish I had a camera...
Random Observation:
It appears that the more I shave, the faster my facial hair seems to grow. In the past, when I shaved at most about once or twice a month (I once went 4 months without shaving, and there was absolutely no difference), whatever facial hair that grew was sparse and stubby. Now that I have a tendency to shave about twice a week, it seems that the hairs grow much faster. Hmm...... fascinating discovery... *looks at relatively hairless legs, has weird idea to stop all the hairless leg jokes once and for all* Aargh perish the thought...
I don't know why, but I guess that hairiness is just not in my genes. Apart from the hair on top of my head and ahem, certain areas that shouldn't be exposed in public, in general the males in my family have relatively hairless chests, backs, arms and yes, legs. Oh well... at least having tape stuck to your body and then ripped off when you are being tortured by bunkmates isn't a big deal, since there's so little hair that it hardly hurts.
And hey, you get to be the envy of girls everywhere, you clamour for legs as *ahem* silky-smooth as yours... (Yes, I still have traumatic memories of last year's O Week... DON'T REMIND ME) And besides, testosterone is one of the hormones that controls the growth of body hair during puberty. It's just that during puberty, all the testosterone that was to be used for hair growth was shunted towards *ahem* certain other areas, resulting in extra growth and larger body parts than my hairier counterparts.
Oh. My. God. Oh my God oh my God oh my God.
Last week, I received a Friendster message from a random stranger.
Hmm?? Someone thinks that I'm a cute hunk?
Uh huh. Why, thank you so much! However, I almost fainted when I accessed this person's page, for this is what I saw:
AAARRRRRGGGGHHHH!!!!!!
*cue Carmina Burana O'Fortuna*
Aargh... so it seems that I attract attention of the wrong kind.
But you know what's creepier? My main pic on Friendster was this:
Taken at O Week, FYI.
There's no indication which guy is me (I'm the one in white, in case you're wondering). I figure that since I'm the one in the centre of the photo, naturally anyone who didn't know me by my appearance would assume that the one in white would be me. But then again, what if that person thought that Yaozhong was me? Does this mean that Yaozhong's face attracts attention from gays? Hahahahaha...
I looked at that guy's (gay's) Friendster page, and look at his friends!
I noticed something most... fascinating...
ALL HIS FRIENDS ARE MALE.
And one of them is 13 years old.
I am keeping my fingers crossed that this 13 year old is either a) His sibling or relative, and/or b) Not in a carnal relationship with this person.
Seriously, I'm not extremely homophobic, it's just that when I received such unwanted attention, something deep inside repulses me.
NUS is ranked 18th out of the world's top 200 universities? Higher than Cornell, Columbia, Pennsylvania, UCLA and University College London? You've gotta be kidding me.
Oh. My. God.
So I do have some sense of pride in whichever school I end up being enrolled it (apart from my secondary school), even here in NUS, but seriously, this has to be a mistake. Of course, given that academics instead of students were surveyed, maybe, just MAYBE, it does rank so highly among eggheads and professors. But just do a survey of the students and we shall see if the results tally heh heh...
Do check out the full rankings here, courtesy of Agagooga. In case you're confused by the criteria, here's a breakdown:
NUS
Peer review score (the best institutions in the fields the academics felt knowledgeable about): 266/1000
Int'l faculty score (success in attracting internationally renowned academics): 35/100
Int'l students score (success in attracting foreign students): 46/100
Student/faculty score (ratio of faculty to student numbers): 10/400
Citations/faculty score (amount of cited research produced by faculty members): 18/400
Final score: 385.9/1000
Of course, do note that no mention is made of more pressing issues (IMHO), which will gauge how good the students feel that the university truly is, such as student graduation rate, general satisfaction of students with regards to their lecturers and tutors, ratio of graduates able to find employment within 1 year of graduating, student satisfaction, efficiency of school administration, alumni membership, palatability of canteen food (haha), and many more.
And perhaps the sheer irony is reflected in what struck me:
If NUS is really THAT good, then why on Earth are scholarship holders sent to overseas universities, especially supposedly lower-ranking institutions?
Am I the only one who simply couldn't really care about who wins the US elections? Even though the actions and policies of the person at the helm of what is probably the world's biggest superpower will probably dictate global events for at least the next 4 years, to me I just simply have no opinion at all.
However, there are a couple of things about the Bush administration that have raised my ire. Perhaps one of the most pressing issues right now is the upsurge in Creationism, backed in part by Bush's alignment with the religious right. Us Christians in Singapore just have no idea how serious this whole Creation vs. Evolution issue is. Well, if you condone brainwashing an entire generation of schoolchildren with nonsense and bad science in spite of overwhelming evidence that your own theories are nothing more than hogwash and do nothing more but further the spread of ignorance, while denouncing rational, logical thought, reasoning and even physical evidence as evil and anti-God, yet at the same time proclaiming to be working for God, well, all I can say is that I am ashamed to be tarred by the very same brush as you.
In August of 2003, Grand Canyon National Park Superintendent Joe Alston attempted to block the sale of Grand Canyon: A Different View, by Tom Vail, a book explaining how the park’s central feature developed on a biblical rather than an evolutionary time scale. NPS Headquarters, however, intervened and overruled Alston. To quiet the resulting furor, NPS Chief of Communications David Barna told reporters that there would be a high-level policy review, distributing talking points stating: "We hope to have a final decision in February [2004]." In fact, the promised review never occurred –
· In late February, Barna crafted a draft letter to concerned members of Congress stating: "We hope to have a final decision on the book in March 2004." That draft was rewritten in June and finally sent out to Congressional representatives with no completion date for the review at all;
· NPS Headquarters did not respond to a January 25th memo from its own top geologists charging that sale of the book violated agency policies and undercut its scientific education programs;
· The Park Service ignored a letter of protest signed by the presidents of seven scientific societies on December 16, 2003.
"Promoting creationism in our national parks is just as wrong as promoting it in our public schools," stated PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch, "If the Bush Administration is using public resources for pandering to Christian fundamentalists, it should at least have the decency to tell the truth about it."
The creationist book is not the only religious controversy at Grand Canyon National Park. One week prior to the approved sale of Grand Canyon: A Different View, NPS Deputy Director Donald Murphy ordered that bronze plaques bearing Psalm verses be returned and reinstalled at canyon overlooks. Superintendent Alston had removed the bronze plaques on legal advice from Interior Department solicitors. Murphy also wrote a letter of apology to the plaques' sponsors, the Evangelical Sisterhood of Mary. PEER has collected other instances of what it calls the Bush Administration’s "Faith-Based Parks" agenda.
Read the entire article here.
And it's not just Creationism I have a bone to pick with. If the reports are true, then the entire bastions of knowledge and wisdom are at stake.
Nearly lost in the campaign clamor over Iraq, the economy and the presidential candidates' Vietnam service, many of the nation's scientists are charging that the Bush administration has misused science to advance its political agenda.
More than 5,000 scientists, including 48 Nobel Prize winners and 127 members of the National Academy of Sciences, have signed a letter calling on the president to end "the distortion of scientific knowledge for partisan political ends." Some of the most prominent researchers, Republican and Democrat, recently formed a so-called "527" advocacy group to alert the public about their concerns.
The scientists cite such examples as censoring government reports on climate change and global warming, disregarding scientific assessments that raised doubt about Iraq's nuclear weapons capability, and favoring industry representatives over qualified scientists on government advisory panels.
Read the full article here.
I don't know what's worse: Editing and censoring history and science to cater to a particular religious group, or to censor the march of knowledge and wisdom to pander to the whims and fancies (and profit-margins) of the rich corporations who will fund your re-election campaigns.
As an aside, here's a bit of whimsical fun that someone created just before the elections. Too bad the results didn't go their way. Starring Woody as George W. Bush, Buzz Lightyear as Dick Cheney, Mr. Potatohead as Saddam Hussein, and Hamm as Condoleezza Rice. Hee hee hee hee hee...
And to find out the extent of the disaster President Bush has created in his term, play the Bushgame! True, it's crazy and quite fanciful at times, but it is interspersed with educational moments, as we learn how the current adminstration's policies have done nothing more than fill the pockets of corporate allies, while depriving middle-class Americans of adequate employment, education, and healthcare, alienating the global community, creating more hatred against the United States, and impinging upon the rights of its citizens by hiding behind the guise of religion.
Seriously, turning a $236 billion surplus into a $500 billion deficit??! WTF happened??!
If the figures quoted are true, one can only pray that things do not go worse with another 4 years under the same man.
On another note... watch Cellular!
I watched it a couple of weeks ago with my family, and I have to say that it really is quite a good show, with plenty of heart-stopping action and suspense.
Also, do note the subliminal advertising, with the Nokia 6600, the focus of the entire movie, taking centrestage. Hey, its video-recording and email capabilities practically save the day.
I suppose the movie also raises a few interesting questions, like whether or not any one of us would actually go out of the way to help save someone's life if we were to receive a random phone call like that. Another would probably be our ever-increasing dependence on handphones in our daily lives. Anyone ever remember the time when one was on the cutting-edge of technology if one carried an alphanumeric pager around?
Perhaps the biggest irony presented in the movie is our increasing over-reliance on a tenuous signal. Lose the network coverage, and our world comes crashing down around us. Yet, here in the movie, the signal has become a lifeline, a matter of life and death. It represents a person's only hope of saving herself and her family. As reflected in the movie's tagline, "If the signal dies, so does she."
Rather fascinating stuff, really. And with a plot twist somewhere, as well as lots of really concidental timing, the movie keeps you on the edge of your seat. Pretty good, actually.
There was a game craze of sorts on Wednesday, as I showed some of the people in the Arts Club Room my list of crazy bo liao games I had listed on my blog (which you can see somewhere on my sidebar). Among some of the crazy games that I got my friends hooked on included the silly Penguin Batting game (plus its Bloody and Endless incarnations), the ever-violent Ant City game, plus a personal favourite, Fishy!
I hadn't played the Fishy! game seriously since my first semester, and it was quite a relief to find out that I hadn't quite lost my touch, since I managed to complete the game after a few hours of trying:
Whoopee! (For the unenlightened, this signifies that I've completed the game.)
While Gerri just kept playing and dying and making silly whiny noises.
I also introduced one of my favourite games, You Touch My Tralala. But due to its highly suggestive nature, I think I can't play it in school in front of girls. And besides, my old fingers aren't that fast anymore, and I don't want to risk getting carpal tunnel syndrome.
But we discovered a new game, thanks to Steven. This is a variation of the Penguin batting game, here known as...
Yetisports!
There's 5 wacky games, such as:
The ever-popular Penguin Batting, here named Pingu Throw!
Orca Slap! Yep, you wait for the orca to slap the penguin into the air with his tail, you take aim with your snowball, and attempt to score a bulls-eye!
Seal Bounce! Similar to hammer-throwing, you toss a penguin as high as you possibly can, then hope that the seals along the sides of the walls will bounce the penguin towards greater heights!
Albatross Overload! You send a penguin flying, an albatross will catch it, and your job is to keep the big birds aloft for the furthest distance possible! (Do not ask me when albatrosses evolved grasping feet...)
And the final game, Flamingo Drive! Basically, it's golf with a flamingo for your golf club, and a (what else?) penguin acting as the ball. Go for distance here, avoiding obstacles such as trees, giraffes and elephants!
As you can see, these games involve our beloved Abominable Snowman whacking the hell out of a bunch of little masochistic penguins, who all seem intent on taking all this abuse for little or no remuneration. Well, like I said, "Now you know how a bird that can't fly and can barely walk earns its keep."
Besides, do not ask me what a yeti and a penguin are doing in the Australian outback and in the African savanna.
And I discovered this!
Whoopee! A game inspired by Happy Tree Friends!
Cub Shoot
Yep, nothing better than random violence depicting cute furry little animals being blown into bits to relieve stress. I really wouldn't be surprised if all NUS students turn out to be psychopathic murderers in time to come...
Splat!
And of course, there's our old favourite... the one game that drove Claypot and me absolutely nuts last semester... The Mystery Of Time And Space! It seems that since the last time we played this game, the creators have added a new stage! Yup, the so-called "last stage" is now just yet another stage we have to clear before we end up befuddled by yet another stage that involves extreme mind-cracking and problem-solving. Even Steven, who spent somewhere around 1 1/2 hours trying to crack the new stage on Wednesday afternoon, is stumped.
Speaking of Happy Tree Friends, they have a new episode for Halloween! Check out their newest episode, Remains To Be Seen!
I think it is a good idea not to have Gerri and I in the same chat window. Oh, what mayhem ensued that night, with Gerri, I, Alvin and Denise going all completely nuts on MSN. The results are not pretty... Here's an example that Gerri posted:
Gerri: *falls off chair writhing with laughter*
Ivan: *breaks chair over Gerri's head*
Gerri: HEY!!!
Here's some of my own that I gleaned from my chat history:
Gerri: hm... do either of u know that we're now officially saddled with bush for another 4 years? -_- -_-
(several lines later)
Gerri: now we're stuck with that bloody empty warhead
Ivan: hmmph
Alvin: basket!
Alvin: basket!
Alvin: basket!
Gerri: u want fruits with that?
The conversation degraded into a discussion on the feasibility of a real-life penguin-batting game during Arts Camp, with some of our beefier guys playing the role of the yeti, while we'd get one of the more petite girls to play the role of the penguin. It turned out that we ended up agreeing that the best subject to be the penguin was Denise. Which was why when she joined our conversation, her nickname was 'HELP!! SOME PEOPLE ARE PLOTTING MY DEATH!! U SICK PEOPLE!! ARGH GET AWAY!!!!!!!'
The discussion deteriorated even further, until we were all finding ways to plot each other's deaths, what with Gerri getting tossed into a giant bonfire in the middle of the SRC soccer field, built by anarchists toasting marshmallows filled with cocaine, and then with me detonating a nuclear weapon in NUS...
Alvin: RIP
Ivan: I make such a brilliant evil genius
Alvin: Please place the red rose on my grave....
Alvin: And give me a good eulogy
Ivan: *His sheep were raped*
Gerri: Alvin: Was born. Was shot at. Was burnt. Died.
Ivan: Alvin: Eat, shit and die.
Gerri: Short and simple, no
Alvin: Eheheheheheheheheheh
Alvin: I just said a nice eulogy rite...?
Gerri: Nice what.
Ivan: Short and succinct
Gerri: Short and sweet, sweet=nice
Alvin: I disagree...
Alvin: Give me a long speech
Gerri: Well we don't
Gerri: And we're the ones writing it
Gerri: So bugger off.
Gerri: You're dead anyway
Ivan: You're dead
Ivan: So bugger off and go feed some maggots
Gerri: And put yourself to good use and generate some fossil fuel for future generations
Ivan: Maybe if you get buried in suitable strata you'll be fossilised, so that future generations may one day dig you up and put you in a glass case in a museum.
Later on, Denise joined in the mayhem, only to become the penguin and get hit a couple of times. We continued to attack each other using the weirdest means possible, including using the little blue birds in Denise's little display picture.
Denise: irritating little small blue birds
Gerri: HA!! shall join alvin and use a LAW* instead of an M16
Alvin: *begins to shoot at all the birds.......
Ivan: So??? I... I .... I use... MEDICINE!!!
Denise: ya i use ARTS
*LAW= Light Anti-Tank Weapon.
Things got even sillier...
Denise: *rolls eyes*
Ivan: hey how convenient!
Ivan: you rolled your eyes at me!
Denise: huhh
Ivan: *picks up denise's eyeballs*
Denise: ..........................
Later on, much more mayhem ensued, such as:
Ivan: let's all "wrath"!!! ha ha ha
Alvin left later, and we began flooding one another. The conversation inadvertently became an outlet for me to vent all my sick thoughts and explore the twisted depths of my psyche...
(while we were all flooding each other; I was flooding the others with "No!")
Denise: Yes!
Denise: Yes!
Denise: Yes!
Denise: Yes!
Denise: Yes!
Denise: Yes!
Denise: Yes!
Denise: Yes!
Ivan: ER.........
Denise: ok tt sounds very sick actually
Ivan: Now THAT is giving me some connotations
Denise: Rolls eyes
Denise: I shouldn't have put the exclamation mark
Later still...
Ivan: See you guys later la...
Denise: Ya see you all
Ivan: Time for a couple of hours of shut-eye
Denise: I'm going to sleep already
Ivan: Go entertain yourselves
Ivan: Er... maybe I shouldn't have said that
Ivan: But anyway,
Ivan: Yah.
Denise: ....
Gerri: .......
Denise: We know how to entertain ourselves
Denise: *winks*
Ivan: Uh huh...
Ivan: *hides the vegetables*
Gerri: Oh God, Denise. *facepalm*
Denise: What veggies
Gerri: You know
Ivan: Nothing
Denise: Why got veggies
Gerri: Things like carrots
Ivan: Cucumbers
Gerri: Yeah
Denise: You can have a vibrator you know
Denise: hahahahhahaahhahahaahahhahahahahahahahhaha
Gerri: Well, you might not be willing to spend
Gerri: So in case
Gerri: We'll take away the alternatives
Ivan: *hides the toilet brush* You never know...
Denise: hahahah
Denise: Well then I shall call the relevant sponsors to sponsor me
Ivan: O_O!!!!!!!!!!!
Gerri: Jaysus, she's really far gone
Denise: Yuck I can't imagine what my sales pitch will be
Denise: Ha I get as crude as it gets
Gerri: Off the deep end
Denise: The end of the abyssss
Ivan: Goodness and I thought I was sick
(-_-)|||
There were moments of sanity and normalcy, but in general, for about 3 hours, all you could see in the chat window were random bouts of silliness, senseless violence, and Denise being tossed and getting whacked by Alvin disguised as a yeti.
Like I said... it all seemed like some silly online MUD game, what with characters battling each other, dying in the silliest ways possible, and re-spawning over and over again.
Yes... we just needed to de-stress... Why do you think Kontraband videos and games, Happy Tree Friends and random, silly games are so popular among NUS students?
I'm getting increasingly disappointed by these silly Singapore Idol supporters. While I have prided myself as being an armchair critic, and immune to the incessant pleading to vote, hoping that other Singaporeans can indeed choose real singing talent, it is increasingly difficult to remain impassive and objective about the whole affair, as time and again, I keep seeing people who really shouldn't remain in the competition up until this point, while those with immeasurably more talent are shown the door week after week.
Now that Jerry Ong and Christopher Lee are gone, the one I just can't stand now is Daphne Khoo.
Ugh. Did you hear how she horribly mangled You Gotta Be by Des'Ree and I'm Your Angel by R. Kelly and Celine Dion?
OK, I concede that she does have a unique voice. But her voice simply cannot handle soulful ballads. In fact, I dare say that her voice is only suitable for a handful of songs, like maybe Mickey by Tony Basil, any of the Aqua or Toybox songs (Barbie Girl? Sailor Song? *shudders*), or at best, Blame It On The Boogie by Big Fun (ah yes... classic retro tune... which she did pull off very well on the disco-themed episode, I'll concede). You know, the bubblegum-pop sort. Definitely NOT soulful tunes by Des'Ree, or lung-busting ballads by R. Kelly and Celine Dion. (The very fact that it's a Celine Dion number means that you really shouldn't even venture to attempt this tune unless you've got lungs the size of a whale's.)
No way should she remain in the running for so long, not when time and again, her singing has been panned by the judges.
C'mon, after an impromptu poll of the various people in the Arts Club Room, we all agree that Taufik and Olinda are the best singers, that Sebastian is successful not because of his singing but because of the way he can make silly teenaged girls go all crazy and want to bear his children, and that Daphne really, really should be out of the competition. Surely an ability to discern who can carry a tune and who can't isn't limited to people of certain educational standards???!
Friday's results show was a heartstopper, because I was extremely shocked that Olinda cold actually be in the bottom two. So Leandra got voted out. But what disgusts me is that IMHO, Leandra was actually improving somewhat (her rendition of Fallin' by Alicia Keys was quite remarkable), while Daphne has done nothing more than irritate the hell out of many of us with her overly-saccharine, high-on-helium voice. Not that I'm holding it against her, but seriously, Daphne-fans, do us and Daphne a favour, and stop voting so much for her. It'll make sure that those who do have the vocal talent stay in the competition, while it'll stop making all of us armchair critics blast and criticise Daphne endlessly every time she sings.
As for those who want to catch the action but either missed the episodes on TV or don't stay in Singapore, well, you can always catch Idol Fever on the Singapore Idol website! Yep, with video clips of all the Idol hopefuls and the judges' comments. Then you won't feel so left out whenever any one of us launches into another ceaseless tirade as to why there is a conspiracy against Olinda because she's butch, and the now-eliminated Mya because she's a single mother and all that. Bah.
I've just discovered a new place to listen to some really great dance music:
The Ministry of Sound website!
You can listen to a bunch of dance tracks, watch a bunch of music videos, listen to their online radio channel, and just soak up the partying atmosphere. And there's a load of some really great tunes to discover... I'm currently going crazy playing Call On Me by Eric Prydz, which is quite an addictive track, and comes with a most interesting music video to boot! You can check out the video for the song here at Kontraband.
To watch the videos as well as listen to some of the tracks on the Ministry of Sound website, you'll need to register, but it's a minor inconvenience when you can then watch tonnes of music videos and listen to tonnes of some of the best dance tracks from the past few years! Of course, being a hardcore listener of dance music is an added bonus.
And do check out the latest MoS feature: The Sexiest Music Videos of All Time
Featuring recent hits such as of course, Call On Me by Eric Prydz, My My My by Armand Van Helden, and Stupidisco by Junior Jack, there's a bunch of classics in there as well, such as the now-famous Satisfaction by Benny Benassi. Girls and power tools... ooh... er... nice combination there... Uh-huh...
It's really quite insightful, reading the comments posted in response to one of mr brown's posts.
A person wrote a letter to the Straits Times Forum, questioning the need to have so many parking lots set aside for the handicapped and disabled. This sparked off a round of fierce debating, which I must say is quite fascinating, and truly goes to show that in society, very rarely are there clearly-defined boundaries between right and wrong. All the comments have valid points, and all I can say is that perhaps it just goes to shows that no matter how much Singapore strives to be a first-class city, we still have a long way to go before we can truly consider ourselves disabled-friendly.
Read the debate (which should still be ongoing) here.
Unless of course, eugenics steps in. Just kidding. Please don't sue me for being politically-incorrect.
And so, that just about wraps it for this post. Oh, and to leave you with this message:
You read it, THE END IS NEAR!!!
Hahahahahaha...
Time to hit the books. Playtime is over folks, now's the time to lose your grip on life, to live only to study, and spend ceaseless hours camped in the library or at your study table, poring through readings and notes, trying your hardest to memorise facts and quotations. Time to live on concentrated caffeine. Time to join the ranks of the undead...
Speaking of the undead, which zombie picture do you think I should use for my MSN display picture?
Should it be:
a) My classic zombie pic (which old readers of my blog should be familiar with)?
Or
b) A new one that I got off Google the other day?
Or
c) This one? (Hahahahaha...)
Vote!
Which one is the scariest, creepiest, or just plain most disgusting one? Which one makes you want to cringe in horror, dive under your blanket, and wet yourself?
"Every vote matters!" Yeah right...
My exam schedule!
19 NOV AM: GE2018
20 NOV PM: GE3221
22 NOV EVE: EL3203
29 NOV AM: EL2151
1 DEC AM: LSM1302
Note the bloody long 7-day interval between my EL3203 and EL2151 papers... sigh... history repeats itself... Once again, I practically begin my exams on the first day of the exams, and finish on the last day.
At least there's one thing to look forward to after the exams...
Zoukout is here!
Yes! Who wants to go? I don't care so much for all those big-name DJs, but there's Paul van Dyk! And hey, if no one else is into trance, there's the Mambo Jambo! Imagine: 12 hours of Mambo Night, under the starry sky (provided it doesn't rain)! Whoohoo!
And so, this is it. See you guys again after the exams!
"Surely God is my salvation;
I will trust and not be afraid.
The LORD , the LORD , is my strength and my song;
he has become my salvation."
- Isaiah 12:2
Listening to: Call On Me by Eric Prydz
AnGeLcAkE-14fFA>wanna cyber?
shiroi>sure
AnGeLcAkE-14fFA>ok, i move close to u
AnGeLcAkE-14fFA>i start rubbin your chest and unbutton your pants
AnGeLcAkE-14fFA>..
AnGeLcAkE-14fFA>hello?
shiroi>hmm? oh..er. Yea cool.
AnGeLcAkE-14fFA>u suck at this
shiroi>I suck? You're the one signing on to irc with your asl in your nick looking for a lovelife. You suck at life.
shiroi> You're probably not even a girl.
AnGeLcAkE-14fFA has quit IRC. (Quit)
shiroi>Damnit, I'll never get a net gf at this rate :(
Hmm... I could get used to not blogging every day. After all, what with a whole load of stuff to do, I just simply haven't got the time to post here on a regular basis. And besides, when I was in school yesterday, I tried to post, but for some odd reason Blogger was somewhat screwy and I couldn't get beyond the Dashboard.
I've just managed to clear my load of essays, assignments and projects, and now, I'm just taking the time to sit back and chill for a while.
But there's the exams, which are slightly less than 2 weeks away. *faints*
Speaking of exams, check out the Exam Tea!
Details, as you can see, are on the poster itself.
I'm the Project Director for this event, and believe me when I tell you that this is turning out to be quite stressful, though at the moment I'm still dealing with it rather well.
I wouldn't know what to do with the assistance and suggestions of Alex, as well as Denise (who despite the best of her efforts hasn't been able to find sponsors, but it's OK! Update: Alright! I apologise! You did get the sponsorship from F&N! Sorry!), and Gerri (thanks so much, even though you're not in the Welfare or Marketing Cells).
Oh well, at least this is helping to give me some exposure with regards to organising such projects, and besides, it should be relatively easy. Now all I have to do is continue to scout the neighbourhood for places that sell assorted biscuits at prices cheaper than that of NTUC FairPrice or Giant.
And I've just realised one thing: NTUC FairPrice has almost imperceptibly phased out paper cups. Now all they have in stock are plastic and foam cups. Of course, I could get plastic cups, though I am not sure if they're suitable for hot drinks. So I suppose foam cups are the way to go.
Anyway, we're giving away free biscuits and hot Milo, as well as stationery (while stocks last). If I recall correctly, we've managed to get sponsorship from F & N, so we've got free yoghurt drinks to give away as well. Yay...
So if any of you students from the Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences are reading this, and if you plan to study in school over the next few days, do drop by and grab some free goodies!
Just booked my IPPT for the 8th of December. Hopefully, from now until then, I'll have the determination and discipline to maintain my fitness, and to improve even further. Dammit I want that $400.
My chest has a couple of red ugly horizontal lines, making me look as if I've been mauled by a bobcat. Blame it all on that horrible tape I had to live with during the experiment, that irritated my skin so much. Even now, 5 days after the apparatus has been removed, the welts are still there.
Oh well, at least I've done my 3 days' worth of walking around like a laboratory experiment gone horribly wrong. I just hope that I did enough PDA updates to earn my 130 dollars' worth. After all, on the last day, I was just so tired that I often just plain forgot to update the PDA regularly.
And it seems Mei and Claypot are pretty interested in volunteering for the study as well. The only difference is that they'll be doing it over the December holidays, so they can just travel to school to get hooked up, then hide at home for the rest of the time. All I can say is this: Don't scratch too much, it would be a good idea to shave off the fine hairs on the back of your neck (and any chest hairs, while you're at it), and try your best to remain in air-conditioned surroundings at all time. Oh, and while you're at it, try to spend all your time sitting or lying down, and try not to talk to anyone at all. Shaves a lot of time off answering unnecessary questions when you update your PDA (refer to my post listing out the questionnaire here).
|
You Are a Snarky Blogger! |
 You've got a razor sharp wit that bloggers are secretly scared of. And that's why they read your posts as often as they can! |
Speaking about blogging...
Something I got from Chong Han:
********************
For those of you who play CounterStrike, here's a video clip someone made. Someone must have been very bored while working at McDonalds'...
I like the CS Italy opera music in the background, and all the funny and quirky little sound and picture effects. Hahahahaha...
********************
Haven't seen her for a really long time, and given that I haven't been spending much time online lately, even our MSN conversations haven't been very long. And it seems that lately, most of the time it ends off with her saying "I have to do my readings" or something related to schoolwork.
Sigh...
I had so much hope, so much passion and desire. Maybe it didn't manifest itself so strongly during O Week itself, but now at times the sense of longing borders on the unbearable. There are times when I just berate myself for my lousy choice of modules, as it seems that her free periods are coincidentally the times when I am stuck in class, and my free periods happen to be her time for lessons. And I can only shake my head and lament my decision not to take SC1101E this semester...
The OG, supposedly the best OG for O Week, has fragmented and dissolved into several little cliques. And while it is heartening to see that at least the primary objectives of O Week have been achieved, and that most of our freshies have indeed made new friends, it sometimes pains me whenever our paths cross in between lessons, to know and feel that despite whatever closeness and bonding there was during O Week among all of us, now we are probably just mere acquaintances, and nothing more.
A revelation just struck me. This entire debacle is uncannily beginning to resonate with echoes of the time Momo was ever feeling so forlorn because of TT. Ha. It always seems that love (or whatever emotion it is I'm feeling right now whenever I think of her), truly makes one do the most irrational things.
********************
The other day (Friday actually), I was just hanging out in Arts Club Room with Gerri. The two of us were alone. Almost everyone else was either studying elsewhere, or had gone off to watch Shark Tales in town. It was just the 2 of us in the entire Arts Club Room. What did we do?
We blasted techno music.
What? What were you guys thinking???
But unfortunately, the fun lasted all of about 10 minutes or so, when Jasmine came back. Damn.
Sometime later that night, I decided to go a little crazy, and filled the entire whiteboard in the room with random drawings, mostly of dinosaurs and other prehistoric life. Hey, don't blame me, I haven't drawn a single dinosaur for ages already.
Working on what happened on Thursday after I drew a Tyrannosaurus head as well as a stick figure in its mouth (you guys will not believe what mayhem ensued as others sought to ahem, 'improve' on it), I added a few other drawings. One of them was of a generic stick figure floating in the sea, being menaced by a giant mosasaur.
Another one was of another generic stick figure being chased by a giant carnosaur (I originally had a Giganotosaurus in mind, but whiteboard and marker pen are not the best drawing media). While another was of a Brachiosaurus (actually, more probably a Giraffatitan, now that the African species brancai has been separated at the genus level from the North American altithorax, but don't mind me prattling on about dinosaurs here), with another generic stick figure being squashed underfoot, and I added another generic stick figure up to its neck in a pile of dung the giant sauropod had just produced.
I drew several arrows pointing to the generic stick figures, all in various states of peril, and drew blanks, with the following text in brackets: Insert name of choice. It will be quite fascinating to see whose name shall end up being written in the blanks over the weekend. Damn, I wish I had a camera...
********************
Random Observation:
It appears that the more I shave, the faster my facial hair seems to grow. In the past, when I shaved at most about once or twice a month (I once went 4 months without shaving, and there was absolutely no difference), whatever facial hair that grew was sparse and stubby. Now that I have a tendency to shave about twice a week, it seems that the hairs grow much faster. Hmm...... fascinating discovery... *looks at relatively hairless legs, has weird idea to stop all the hairless leg jokes once and for all* Aargh perish the thought...
I don't know why, but I guess that hairiness is just not in my genes. Apart from the hair on top of my head and ahem, certain areas that shouldn't be exposed in public, in general the males in my family have relatively hairless chests, backs, arms and yes, legs. Oh well... at least having tape stuck to your body and then ripped off when you are being tortured by bunkmates isn't a big deal, since there's so little hair that it hardly hurts.
And hey, you get to be the envy of girls everywhere, you clamour for legs as *ahem* silky-smooth as yours... (Yes, I still have traumatic memories of last year's O Week... DON'T REMIND ME) And besides, testosterone is one of the hormones that controls the growth of body hair during puberty. It's just that during puberty, all the testosterone that was to be used for hair growth was shunted towards *ahem* certain other areas, resulting in extra growth and larger body parts than my hairier counterparts.
********************
Oh. My. God. Oh my God oh my God oh my God.
Last week, I received a Friendster message from a random stranger.
Hmm?? Someone thinks that I'm a cute hunk?
Uh huh. Why, thank you so much! However, I almost fainted when I accessed this person's page, for this is what I saw:
AAARRRRRGGGGHHHH!!!!!!
*cue Carmina Burana O'Fortuna*
Aargh... so it seems that I attract attention of the wrong kind.
But you know what's creepier? My main pic on Friendster was this:
Taken at O Week, FYI.
There's no indication which guy is me (I'm the one in white, in case you're wondering). I figure that since I'm the one in the centre of the photo, naturally anyone who didn't know me by my appearance would assume that the one in white would be me. But then again, what if that person thought that Yaozhong was me? Does this mean that Yaozhong's face attracts attention from gays? Hahahahaha...
I looked at that guy's (gay's) Friendster page, and look at his friends!
I noticed something most... fascinating...
ALL HIS FRIENDS ARE MALE.
And one of them is 13 years old.
I am keeping my fingers crossed that this 13 year old is either a) His sibling or relative, and/or b) Not in a carnal relationship with this person.
Seriously, I'm not extremely homophobic, it's just that when I received such unwanted attention, something deep inside repulses me.
********************
NUS is ranked 18th out of the world's top 200 universities? Higher than Cornell, Columbia, Pennsylvania, UCLA and University College London? You've gotta be kidding me.
Oh. My. God.
So I do have some sense of pride in whichever school I end up being enrolled it (apart from my secondary school), even here in NUS, but seriously, this has to be a mistake. Of course, given that academics instead of students were surveyed, maybe, just MAYBE, it does rank so highly among eggheads and professors. But just do a survey of the students and we shall see if the results tally heh heh...
Do check out the full rankings here, courtesy of Agagooga. In case you're confused by the criteria, here's a breakdown:
NUS
Peer review score (the best institutions in the fields the academics felt knowledgeable about): 266/1000
Int'l faculty score (success in attracting internationally renowned academics): 35/100
Int'l students score (success in attracting foreign students): 46/100
Student/faculty score (ratio of faculty to student numbers): 10/400
Citations/faculty score (amount of cited research produced by faculty members): 18/400
Final score: 385.9/1000
Of course, do note that no mention is made of more pressing issues (IMHO), which will gauge how good the students feel that the university truly is, such as student graduation rate, general satisfaction of students with regards to their lecturers and tutors, ratio of graduates able to find employment within 1 year of graduating, student satisfaction, efficiency of school administration, alumni membership, palatability of canteen food (haha), and many more.
And perhaps the sheer irony is reflected in what struck me:
If NUS is really THAT good, then why on Earth are scholarship holders sent to overseas universities, especially supposedly lower-ranking institutions?
********************
Am I the only one who simply couldn't really care about who wins the US elections? Even though the actions and policies of the person at the helm of what is probably the world's biggest superpower will probably dictate global events for at least the next 4 years, to me I just simply have no opinion at all.
However, there are a couple of things about the Bush administration that have raised my ire. Perhaps one of the most pressing issues right now is the upsurge in Creationism, backed in part by Bush's alignment with the religious right. Us Christians in Singapore just have no idea how serious this whole Creation vs. Evolution issue is. Well, if you condone brainwashing an entire generation of schoolchildren with nonsense and bad science in spite of overwhelming evidence that your own theories are nothing more than hogwash and do nothing more but further the spread of ignorance, while denouncing rational, logical thought, reasoning and even physical evidence as evil and anti-God, yet at the same time proclaiming to be working for God, well, all I can say is that I am ashamed to be tarred by the very same brush as you.
· In late February, Barna crafted a draft letter to concerned members of Congress stating: "We hope to have a final decision on the book in March 2004." That draft was rewritten in June and finally sent out to Congressional representatives with no completion date for the review at all;
· NPS Headquarters did not respond to a January 25th memo from its own top geologists charging that sale of the book violated agency policies and undercut its scientific education programs;
· The Park Service ignored a letter of protest signed by the presidents of seven scientific societies on December 16, 2003.
"Promoting creationism in our national parks is just as wrong as promoting it in our public schools," stated PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch, "If the Bush Administration is using public resources for pandering to Christian fundamentalists, it should at least have the decency to tell the truth about it."
The creationist book is not the only religious controversy at Grand Canyon National Park. One week prior to the approved sale of Grand Canyon: A Different View, NPS Deputy Director Donald Murphy ordered that bronze plaques bearing Psalm verses be returned and reinstalled at canyon overlooks. Superintendent Alston had removed the bronze plaques on legal advice from Interior Department solicitors. Murphy also wrote a letter of apology to the plaques' sponsors, the Evangelical Sisterhood of Mary. PEER has collected other instances of what it calls the Bush Administration’s "Faith-Based Parks" agenda.
Read the entire article here.
And it's not just Creationism I have a bone to pick with. If the reports are true, then the entire bastions of knowledge and wisdom are at stake.
More than 5,000 scientists, including 48 Nobel Prize winners and 127 members of the National Academy of Sciences, have signed a letter calling on the president to end "the distortion of scientific knowledge for partisan political ends." Some of the most prominent researchers, Republican and Democrat, recently formed a so-called "527" advocacy group to alert the public about their concerns.
The scientists cite such examples as censoring government reports on climate change and global warming, disregarding scientific assessments that raised doubt about Iraq's nuclear weapons capability, and favoring industry representatives over qualified scientists on government advisory panels.
Read the full article here.
I don't know what's worse: Editing and censoring history and science to cater to a particular religious group, or to censor the march of knowledge and wisdom to pander to the whims and fancies (and profit-margins) of the rich corporations who will fund your re-election campaigns.
As an aside, here's a bit of whimsical fun that someone created just before the elections. Too bad the results didn't go their way. Starring Woody as George W. Bush, Buzz Lightyear as Dick Cheney, Mr. Potatohead as Saddam Hussein, and Hamm as Condoleezza Rice. Hee hee hee hee hee...
And to find out the extent of the disaster President Bush has created in his term, play the Bushgame! True, it's crazy and quite fanciful at times, but it is interspersed with educational moments, as we learn how the current adminstration's policies have done nothing more than fill the pockets of corporate allies, while depriving middle-class Americans of adequate employment, education, and healthcare, alienating the global community, creating more hatred against the United States, and impinging upon the rights of its citizens by hiding behind the guise of religion.
Seriously, turning a $236 billion surplus into a $500 billion deficit??!
WTF happened??!
If the figures quoted are true, one can only pray that things do not go worse with another 4 years under the same man.
********************
On another note... watch Cellular!
I watched it a couple of weeks ago with my family, and I have to say that it really is quite a good show, with plenty of heart-stopping action and suspense.
Also, do note the subliminal advertising, with the Nokia 6600, the focus of the entire movie, taking centrestage. Hey, its video-recording and email capabilities practically save the day.
I suppose the movie also raises a few interesting questions, like whether or not any one of us would actually go out of the way to help save someone's life if we were to receive a random phone call like that. Another would probably be our ever-increasing dependence on handphones in our daily lives. Anyone ever remember the time when one was on the cutting-edge of technology if one carried an alphanumeric pager around?
Perhaps the biggest irony presented in the movie is our increasing over-reliance on a tenuous signal. Lose the network coverage, and our world comes crashing down around us. Yet, here in the movie, the signal has become a lifeline, a matter of life and death. It represents a person's only hope of saving herself and her family. As reflected in the movie's tagline, "If the signal dies, so does she."
Rather fascinating stuff, really. And with a plot twist somewhere, as well as lots of really concidental timing, the movie keeps you on the edge of your seat. Pretty good, actually.
********************
There was a game craze of sorts on Wednesday, as I showed some of the people in the Arts Club Room my list of crazy bo liao games I had listed on my blog (which you can see somewhere on my sidebar). Among some of the crazy games that I got my friends hooked on included the silly Penguin Batting game (plus its Bloody and Endless incarnations), the ever-violent Ant City game, plus a personal favourite, Fishy!
I hadn't played the Fishy! game seriously since my first semester, and it was quite a relief to find out that I hadn't quite lost my touch, since I managed to complete the game after a few hours of trying:
Whoopee! (For the unenlightened, this signifies that I've completed the game.)
While Gerri just kept playing and dying and making silly whiny noises.
I also introduced one of my favourite games, You Touch My Tralala. But due to its highly suggestive nature, I think I can't play it in school in front of girls.
And besides, my old fingers aren't that fast anymore, and I don't want to risk getting carpal tunnel syndrome.
But we discovered a new game, thanks to Steven. This is a variation of the Penguin batting game, here known as...
Yetisports!
There's 5 wacky games, such as:
The ever-popular Penguin Batting, here named Pingu Throw!
Orca Slap! Yep, you wait for the orca to slap the penguin into the air with his tail, you take aim with your snowball, and attempt to score a bulls-eye!
Seal Bounce! Similar to hammer-throwing, you toss a penguin as high as you possibly can, then hope that the seals along the sides of the walls will bounce the penguin towards greater heights!
Albatross Overload! You send a penguin flying, an albatross will catch it, and your job is to keep the big birds aloft for the furthest distance possible! (Do not ask me when albatrosses evolved grasping feet...)
And the final game, Flamingo Drive! Basically, it's golf with a flamingo for your golf club, and a (what else?) penguin acting as the ball. Go for distance here, avoiding obstacles such as trees, giraffes and elephants!
As you can see, these games involve our beloved Abominable Snowman whacking the hell out of a bunch of little masochistic penguins, who all seem intent on taking all this abuse for little or no remuneration. Well, like I said, "Now you know how a bird that can't fly and can barely walk earns its keep."
Besides, do not ask me what a yeti and a penguin are doing in the Australian outback and in the African savanna.
And I discovered this!
Whoopee! A game inspired by Happy Tree Friends!
Cub Shoot
Yep, nothing better than random violence depicting cute furry little animals being blown into bits to relieve stress. I really wouldn't be surprised if all NUS students turn out to be psychopathic murderers in time to come...
Splat!
And of course, there's our old favourite... the one game that drove Claypot and me absolutely nuts last semester... The Mystery Of Time And Space! It seems that since the last time we played this game, the creators have added a new stage! Yup, the so-called "last stage" is now just yet another stage we have to clear before we end up befuddled by yet another stage that involves extreme mind-cracking and problem-solving. Even Steven, who spent somewhere around 1 1/2 hours trying to crack the new stage on Wednesday afternoon, is stumped.
Speaking of Happy Tree Friends, they have a new episode for Halloween! Check out their newest episode, Remains To Be Seen!
********************
I think it is a good idea not to have Gerri and I in the same chat window. Oh, what mayhem ensued that night, with Gerri, I, Alvin and Denise going all completely nuts on MSN. The results are not pretty... Here's an example that Gerri posted:
Gerri: *falls off chair writhing with laughter*
Ivan: *breaks chair over Gerri's head*
Gerri: HEY!!!
Here's some of my own that I gleaned from my chat history:
Gerri: hm... do either of u know that we're now officially saddled with bush for another 4 years? -_- -_-
(several lines later)
Gerri: now we're stuck with that bloody empty warhead
Ivan: hmmph
Alvin: basket!
Alvin: basket!
Alvin: basket!
Gerri: u want fruits with that?
The conversation degraded into a discussion on the feasibility of a real-life penguin-batting game during Arts Camp, with some of our beefier guys playing the role of the yeti, while we'd get one of the more petite girls to play the role of the penguin. It turned out that we ended up agreeing that the best subject to be the penguin was Denise. Which was why when she joined our conversation, her nickname was 'HELP!! SOME PEOPLE ARE PLOTTING MY DEATH!! U SICK PEOPLE!! ARGH GET AWAY!!!!!!!'
The discussion deteriorated even further, until we were all finding ways to plot each other's deaths, what with Gerri getting tossed into a giant bonfire in the middle of the SRC soccer field, built by anarchists toasting marshmallows filled with cocaine, and then with me detonating a nuclear weapon in NUS...
Alvin: RIP
Ivan: I make such a brilliant evil genius
Alvin: Please place the red rose on my grave....
Alvin: And give me a good eulogy
Ivan: *His sheep were raped*
Gerri: Alvin: Was born. Was shot at. Was burnt. Died.
Ivan: Alvin: Eat, shit and die.
Gerri: Short and simple, no
Alvin: Eheheheheheheheheheh
Alvin: I just said a nice eulogy rite...?
Gerri: Nice what.
Ivan: Short and succinct
Gerri: Short and sweet, sweet=nice
Alvin: I disagree...
Alvin: Give me a long speech
Gerri: Well we don't
Gerri: And we're the ones writing it
Gerri: So bugger off.
Gerri: You're dead anyway
Ivan: You're dead
Ivan: So bugger off and go feed some maggots
Gerri: And put yourself to good use and generate some fossil fuel for future generations
Ivan: Maybe if you get buried in suitable strata you'll be fossilised, so that future generations may one day dig you up and put you in a glass case in a museum.
Later on, Denise joined in the mayhem, only to become the penguin and get hit a couple of times. We continued to attack each other using the weirdest means possible, including using the little blue birds in Denise's little display picture.
Denise: irritating little small blue birds
Gerri: HA!! shall join alvin and use a LAW* instead of an M16
Alvin: *begins to shoot at all the birds.......
Ivan: So??? I... I .... I use... MEDICINE!!!
Denise: ya i use ARTS
*LAW= Light Anti-Tank Weapon.
Things got even sillier...
Denise: *rolls eyes*
Ivan: hey how convenient!
Ivan: you rolled your eyes at me!
Denise: huhh
Ivan: *picks up denise's eyeballs*
Denise: ..........................
Later on, much more mayhem ensued, such as:
Ivan: let's all "wrath"!!! ha ha ha
Alvin left later, and we began flooding one another. The conversation inadvertently became an outlet for me to vent all my sick thoughts and explore the twisted depths of my psyche...
(while we were all flooding each other; I was flooding the others with "No!")
Denise: Yes!
Denise: Yes!
Denise: Yes!
Denise: Yes!
Denise: Yes!
Denise: Yes!
Denise: Yes!
Denise: Yes!
Ivan: ER.........
Denise: ok tt sounds very sick actually
Ivan: Now THAT is giving me some connotations
Denise: Rolls eyes
Denise: I shouldn't have put the exclamation mark
Later still...
Ivan: See you guys later la...
Denise: Ya see you all
Ivan: Time for a couple of hours of shut-eye
Denise: I'm going to sleep already
Ivan: Go entertain yourselves
Ivan: Er... maybe I shouldn't have said that
Ivan: But anyway,
Ivan: Yah.
Denise: ....
Gerri: .......
Denise: We know how to entertain ourselves
Denise: *winks*
Ivan: Uh huh...
Ivan: *hides the vegetables*
Gerri: Oh God, Denise. *facepalm*
Denise: What veggies
Gerri: You know
Ivan: Nothing
Denise: Why got veggies
Gerri: Things like carrots
Ivan: Cucumbers
Gerri: Yeah
Denise: You can have a vibrator you know
Denise: hahahahhahaahhahahaahahhahahahahahahahhaha
Gerri: Well, you might not be willing to spend
Gerri: So in case
Gerri: We'll take away the alternatives
Ivan: *hides the toilet brush* You never know...
Denise: hahahah
Denise: Well then I shall call the relevant sponsors to sponsor me
Ivan: O_O!!!!!!!!!!!
Gerri: Jaysus, she's really far gone
Denise: Yuck I can't imagine what my sales pitch will be
Denise: Ha I get as crude as it gets
Gerri: Off the deep end
Denise: The end of the abyssss
Ivan: Goodness and I thought I was sick
(-_-)|||
There were moments of sanity and normalcy, but in general, for about 3 hours, all you could see in the chat window were random bouts of silliness, senseless violence, and Denise being tossed and getting whacked by Alvin disguised as a yeti.
Like I said... it all seemed like some silly online MUD game, what with characters battling each other, dying in the silliest ways possible, and re-spawning over and over again.
Yes... we just needed to de-stress... Why do you think Kontraband videos and games, Happy Tree Friends and random, silly games are so popular among NUS students?
********************
I'm getting increasingly disappointed by these silly Singapore Idol supporters. While I have prided myself as being an armchair critic, and immune to the incessant pleading to vote, hoping that other Singaporeans can indeed choose real singing talent, it is increasingly difficult to remain impassive and objective about the whole affair, as time and again, I keep seeing people who really shouldn't remain in the competition up until this point, while those with immeasurably more talent are shown the door week after week.
Now that Jerry Ong and Christopher Lee are gone, the one I just can't stand now is Daphne Khoo.
Ugh. Did you hear how she horribly mangled You Gotta Be by Des'Ree and I'm Your Angel by R. Kelly and Celine Dion?
OK, I concede that she does have a unique voice. But her voice simply cannot handle soulful ballads. In fact, I dare say that her voice is only suitable for a handful of songs, like maybe Mickey by Tony Basil, any of the Aqua or Toybox songs (Barbie Girl? Sailor Song? *shudders*
), or at best, Blame It On The Boogie by Big Fun (ah yes... classic retro tune... which she did pull off very well on the disco-themed episode, I'll concede). You know, the bubblegum-pop sort. Definitely NOT soulful tunes by Des'Ree, or lung-busting ballads by R. Kelly and Celine Dion. (The very fact that it's a Celine Dion number means that you really shouldn't even venture to attempt this tune unless you've got lungs the size of a whale's.)
No way should she remain in the running for so long, not when time and again, her singing has been panned by the judges.
C'mon, after an impromptu poll of the various people in the Arts Club Room, we all agree that Taufik and Olinda are the best singers, that Sebastian is successful not because of his singing but because of the way he can make silly teenaged girls go all crazy and want to bear his children
, and that Daphne really, really should be out of the competition. Surely an ability to discern who can carry a tune and who can't isn't limited to people of certain educational standards???!
Friday's results show was a heartstopper, because I was extremely shocked that Olinda cold actually be in the bottom two. So Leandra got voted out. But what disgusts me is that IMHO, Leandra was actually improving somewhat (her rendition of Fallin' by Alicia Keys was quite remarkable), while Daphne has done nothing more than irritate the hell out of many of us with her overly-saccharine, high-on-helium voice. Not that I'm holding it against her, but seriously, Daphne-fans, do us and Daphne a favour, and stop voting so much for her. It'll make sure that those who do have the vocal talent stay in the competition, while it'll stop making all of us armchair critics blast and criticise Daphne endlessly every time she sings.
As for those who want to catch the action but either missed the episodes on TV or don't stay in Singapore, well, you can always catch Idol Fever on the Singapore Idol website! Yep, with video clips of all the Idol hopefuls and the judges' comments. Then you won't feel so left out whenever any one of us launches into another ceaseless tirade as to why there is a conspiracy against Olinda because she's butch, and the now-eliminated Mya because she's a single mother and all that. Bah.
********************
I've just discovered a new place to listen to some really great dance music:
The Ministry of Sound website!
You can listen to a bunch of dance tracks, watch a bunch of music videos, listen to their online radio channel, and just soak up the partying atmosphere. And there's a load of some really great tunes to discover... I'm currently going crazy playing Call On Me by Eric Prydz, which is quite an addictive track, and comes with a most interesting music video to boot! You can check out the video for the song here at Kontraband.
To watch the videos as well as listen to some of the tracks on the Ministry of Sound website, you'll need to register, but it's a minor inconvenience when you can then watch tonnes of music videos and listen to tonnes of some of the best dance tracks from the past few years! Of course, being a hardcore listener of dance music is an added bonus.
And do check out the latest MoS feature: The Sexiest Music Videos of All Time
Featuring recent hits such as of course, Call On Me by Eric Prydz, My My My by Armand Van Helden, and Stupidisco by Junior Jack, there's a bunch of classics in there as well, such as the now-famous Satisfaction by Benny Benassi. Girls and power tools... ooh... er... nice combination there... Uh-huh...
********************
It's really quite insightful, reading the comments posted in response to one of mr brown's posts.
A person wrote a letter to the Straits Times Forum, questioning the need to have so many parking lots set aside for the handicapped and disabled. This sparked off a round of fierce debating, which I must say is quite fascinating, and truly goes to show that in society, very rarely are there clearly-defined boundaries between right and wrong. All the comments have valid points, and all I can say is that perhaps it just goes to shows that no matter how much Singapore strives to be a first-class city, we still have a long way to go before we can truly consider ourselves disabled-friendly.
Read the debate (which should still be ongoing) here.
Unless of course, eugenics steps in. Just kidding. Please don't sue me for being politically-incorrect.
********************
And so, that just about wraps it for this post. Oh, and to leave you with this message:
You read it, THE END IS NEAR!!!
Hahahahahaha...
Time to hit the books. Playtime is over folks, now's the time to lose your grip on life, to live only to study, and spend ceaseless hours camped in the library or at your study table, poring through readings and notes, trying your hardest to memorise facts and quotations. Time to live on concentrated caffeine. Time to join the ranks of the undead...
Speaking of the undead, which zombie picture do you think I should use for my MSN display picture?
Should it be:
a) My classic zombie pic (which old readers of my blog should be familiar with)?
Or
b) A new one that I got off Google the other day?
Or
c) This one? (Hahahahaha...)
Vote!
Which one is the scariest, creepiest, or just plain most disgusting one? Which one makes you want to cringe in horror, dive under your blanket, and wet yourself?
"Every vote matters!" Yeah right...
My exam schedule!
19 NOV AM: GE2018
20 NOV PM: GE3221
22 NOV EVE: EL3203
29 NOV AM: EL2151
1 DEC AM: LSM1302
Note the bloody long 7-day interval between my EL3203 and EL2151 papers... sigh... history repeats itself... Once again, I practically begin my exams on the first day of the exams, and finish on the last day.
At least there's one thing to look forward to after the exams...
Zoukout is here!
Yes! Who wants to go? I don't care so much for all those big-name DJs, but there's Paul van Dyk! And hey, if no one else is into trance, there's the Mambo Jambo! Imagine: 12 hours of Mambo Night, under the starry sky (provided it doesn't rain)! Whoohoo!
And so, this is it. See you guys again after the exams!
"Surely God is my salvation;
I will trust and not be afraid.
The LORD , the LORD , is my strength and my song;
he has become my salvation."
- Isaiah 12:2
Listening to: Call On Me by Eric Prydz
