Thanks to everyone who sent me off on Monday, esp. Rach, Heidi and Kahoo for planning that surprise. I arrived on Tuesday afternoon. Orientation has so far been boring and involves going to the nearby towns. These people's definition of "nearby" means a half-an-hour bus ride. So far have gone to Stratford and to Coventry... haven't really walked around in coventry cos was too busy settling bank accounts.
Pictures of Stratford in flickr.
Neighbours and the rest have not moved in yet, so I now know no one and hang around a lot of the time with fellow SG people. :)
Friday, September 29, 2006
Sunday, September 24, 2006
last post from the island
Went to watch Singapore Dreaming yesterday, and it was amazingly good for a SG production which basically revolves around typical SG family life. I watched it out of curiosity over how attractive and inspiring can family dinners and minor squabbles be. A family falling apart, adults who cannot see beyond money and making ends meet, not in the way of being unable to put food on the table, but unable to afford the latest instalment of their luxury car and move into a condo. It is understandable where they are coming from, a pursuit of a material life, a need to be constantly "upgraded", like the lifts and corridors. But still, to me there is nothing wrong with a HDB flat and taking public transport. (You can fall asleep on the MRT, but not while you are driving. :p) I felt sadness for the characters, because you know there are a lot of people like them, who will never be satisfied.
But that does not make me glad to leave the island. I also have no idea what it is supposed to feel like. It is very difficult to feel excited when you think about the massive amounts of adjustment to be done 13-and-a-half-hours plane ride away. Yet, there is a lot of things to be done and new people to meet. Western cultures may not be superior, but they are definitely different. Thus, there is no reason for it to be a sad thing. Admittedly, things can change while I am away, but in Sg, things change very fast anyway, whether you are here or not. I woke up one morning to find the grass patch of the previous night transformed into a cement patch. And the following morning, it became a carpark. So when asked on two separate occasions, how I feel about going to school, my answer: "Stone."
And before I go tomorrow, shall do something here that is inspired by Nic's last sg post.
The times when:
- I called you "monkey" 9 years ago because you did rock climbing. And the name stuck ever since.
- you only managed to get a picture of me only after you lure me onto the suspension bridge at Fort Siloso.
- you sang lakukeracha all day long
- we sang off-tune Chinese pop songs every recess.
- i went on and on in Mandarin, not realising you speak Malay.
- you taught me how to MUD.
- our slave-driver threatened to hang you on the fans.
- we climbed on to a ledge on the fourth floor in school to do a suicide film and got a huge scolding.
- we spent whole holidays together, watching videos render
- we ice-skated so many times and translated articles for each other
- we took spastic photos in the the skating rink of our "snow"-covered gloves
- we "moo-ed" to each other because we were bored, and you wished the world was made of Cadbury chocolate.
- we spent an inordinate amount of time mulling over NE in everywhere from KAP to Starbucks
- we panicked together over the incomprehensibility of econs notes
- we sat at Bedok Jetty till the last train, watched fireworks at Merlion Park and sat at the Esplanade breathing in second-hand smoke
- you were so caught up with the Jap version of "Journey to the West" and we teased you about "Chinese Robot"
- you left food on my table because I was dumb enough to run home to grab my notebook
- i made you walk all the way to Whitley, the wrong one. And you didn't scold me.
- i told you countless times how i'm amazed you do showbiz. I still am.
- we sat at Island Creamery, chatted the whole night and nearly forgot to go home.
- we ate brunch at Simply Bread, despite the impossible amount of work you have.
- we cluelessly explored 10 blocks of AMK at night and were thrown out together from ICU
- we sat in the wrong Macs waiting for the guy, and you had to explain filing and lines
- you threatened to leave me at a rubbish bin if I get drunk, but later insisted on sending me home
- we teased you about being squinty. You coined your own insult.
- you said I am short, only to tell me the next day that actually, you are shorter.
- we sat at Thai Express, eight people eating two desserts.
- I broke down in front of you, so you did all the talking, telling me what you felt, unbiased, was best for me.
- we ate sushi and laughed so much, we thought the chefs think we are mad. Our favourite pasttime is watching the conveyor belt.
Before I uproot myself to a temperate place, thank you for everything you have done and for leaving me a lot of memories. Though things won't, shouldn't and better not stay the same, keep in touch while we all change for the better! Heh. Take care and we will catch up, in a while, back in sunny SG.
email: ongrl@singnet.com.sg
MSN: zhai_helleva@hotmail.com
skype: windtothywings
But that does not make me glad to leave the island. I also have no idea what it is supposed to feel like. It is very difficult to feel excited when you think about the massive amounts of adjustment to be done 13-and-a-half-hours plane ride away. Yet, there is a lot of things to be done and new people to meet. Western cultures may not be superior, but they are definitely different. Thus, there is no reason for it to be a sad thing. Admittedly, things can change while I am away, but in Sg, things change very fast anyway, whether you are here or not. I woke up one morning to find the grass patch of the previous night transformed into a cement patch. And the following morning, it became a carpark. So when asked on two separate occasions, how I feel about going to school, my answer: "Stone."
And before I go tomorrow, shall do something here that is inspired by Nic's last sg post.
The times when:
- I called you "monkey" 9 years ago because you did rock climbing. And the name stuck ever since.
- you only managed to get a picture of me only after you lure me onto the suspension bridge at Fort Siloso.
- you sang lakukeracha all day long
- we sang off-tune Chinese pop songs every recess.
- i went on and on in Mandarin, not realising you speak Malay.
- you taught me how to MUD.
- our slave-driver threatened to hang you on the fans.
- we climbed on to a ledge on the fourth floor in school to do a suicide film and got a huge scolding.
- we spent whole holidays together, watching videos render
- we ice-skated so many times and translated articles for each other
- we took spastic photos in the the skating rink of our "snow"-covered gloves
- we "moo-ed" to each other because we were bored, and you wished the world was made of Cadbury chocolate.
- we spent an inordinate amount of time mulling over NE in everywhere from KAP to Starbucks
- we panicked together over the incomprehensibility of econs notes
- we sat at Bedok Jetty till the last train, watched fireworks at Merlion Park and sat at the Esplanade breathing in second-hand smoke
- you were so caught up with the Jap version of "Journey to the West" and we teased you about "Chinese Robot"
- you left food on my table because I was dumb enough to run home to grab my notebook
- i made you walk all the way to Whitley, the wrong one. And you didn't scold me.
- i told you countless times how i'm amazed you do showbiz. I still am.
- we sat at Island Creamery, chatted the whole night and nearly forgot to go home.
- we ate brunch at Simply Bread, despite the impossible amount of work you have.
- we cluelessly explored 10 blocks of AMK at night and were thrown out together from ICU
- we sat in the wrong Macs waiting for the guy, and you had to explain filing and lines
- you threatened to leave me at a rubbish bin if I get drunk, but later insisted on sending me home
- we teased you about being squinty. You coined your own insult.
- you said I am short, only to tell me the next day that actually, you are shorter.
- we sat at Thai Express, eight people eating two desserts.
- I broke down in front of you, so you did all the talking, telling me what you felt, unbiased, was best for me.
- we ate sushi and laughed so much, we thought the chefs think we are mad. Our favourite pasttime is watching the conveyor belt.
Before I uproot myself to a temperate place, thank you for everything you have done and for leaving me a lot of memories. Though things won't, shouldn't and better not stay the same, keep in touch while we all change for the better! Heh. Take care and we will catch up, in a while, back in sunny SG.
email: ongrl@singnet.com.sg
MSN: zhai_helleva@hotmail.com
skype: windtothywings
Monday, September 18, 2006
Odd trio
This post is to the people who told me to update more often. So I shall do a straightforward post about them.
Sent Nic off yesterday with Xinen. And it just struck me how odd a bunch we are. Three Librans doing different things, with drastically different tastes in everything from food, fashion to books. It is really amazing how we got along and became good friends in less than a year, much better than some of my friends I have known for half of my life, literally. Think about it: one likes skinny, buttless, pale Japanese guys, one has a lot of pink things but doesn't like pink, and I have no fashion sense at all. Maybe that's why we haven't bored ourselves sick. Haha... island creamery, macs (specifically the braddell one), bad jokes (remember rentokil= rent-to-kill?), large doses of suanning each other, late nights and the sheer inertia of not wanting to go home. We started different, studying different courses in different places and will come back to different jobs. But still, we will remain the rather improbable good friends. Heh. =)
Sent Nic off yesterday with Xinen. And it just struck me how odd a bunch we are. Three Librans doing different things, with drastically different tastes in everything from food, fashion to books. It is really amazing how we got along and became good friends in less than a year, much better than some of my friends I have known for half of my life, literally. Think about it: one likes skinny, buttless, pale Japanese guys, one has a lot of pink things but doesn't like pink, and I have no fashion sense at all. Maybe that's why we haven't bored ourselves sick. Haha... island creamery, macs (specifically the braddell one), bad jokes (remember rentokil= rent-to-kill?), large doses of suanning each other, late nights and the sheer inertia of not wanting to go home. We started different, studying different courses in different places and will come back to different jobs. But still, we will remain the rather improbable good friends. Heh. =)
Saturday, September 16, 2006
Recently, went for lunch with a group of very nice, straight-talking people, and then rushed off to a meeting full of pleasantries and administrative intricacies. It has been hard adapting to the various social settings, especially if it is a very sudden switch. Having tried to meet too many different people in each week, all of whom I really enjoy being with, sometimes I fear rather irrationally of inadvertently saying the wrong thing and offending people. As some people know, it has gotten to the stage of me asking: "Hey, did i upset you?" It sounds really dumb. I used to think it's fine to just keep quiet and not talk at all if offence is a risk, but that strategy is not working cos it gives the impression of being dazed or pissed. And somehow, some time ago, keeping quiet at social outings ceased to be an option.
People have also told me different things, sometimes opposing advice, and I can't tell who will be right in the end. I can understand where they are coming from, but conscious choice is always hard. It is just a matter of lifestyle choices most of the time and different levels of morality/ apparent morality. It is also true that some people will be offended no matter what you do, and some are just from a different dimension altogether, so there is really not much point in accommodating them. Others just want to put you down.
URGH! I need to stop dithering, and just be myself.
People have also told me different things, sometimes opposing advice, and I can't tell who will be right in the end. I can understand where they are coming from, but conscious choice is always hard. It is just a matter of lifestyle choices most of the time and different levels of morality/ apparent morality. It is also true that some people will be offended no matter what you do, and some are just from a different dimension altogether, so there is really not much point in accommodating them. Others just want to put you down.
URGH! I need to stop dithering, and just be myself.
Thursday, September 07, 2006
Unplugged
It seems odd how we surrender our lives to microchips, which we technical Plebians do not quite understand. They stop working at their whim and fancy, and there are no physical signs of damage.My two-month old laptop died on me over the weekend. It just continually froze and restarted itself, until eventually it stopped booting up altogether. The best part of it all: this symptom can be a result of numerous problems. That is as good as saying your cough can be caused my numerous diseases, ranging from the common cold to bronchitis.
Getting it back on its feet took three visits to Funan, and numerous hours of waiting. The whole experience was unnerving, though it very well should not have been. The possibility of watching 3k go down the drain in an instant is worrying. It felt like the laptop was holding my normal life ransom, and an equipment created to save time resulted in even more inconvenience.
And in a world where technology is said to create ever more distance between people, it is good service from the shop where i bought the machine that saved it. They could have just ignored the problem and brushed me aside by saying that they cannot do anything about it. Instead, they spent two afternoons fixing it, at no charge at all.
Getting it back on its feet took three visits to Funan, and numerous hours of waiting. The whole experience was unnerving, though it very well should not have been. The possibility of watching 3k go down the drain in an instant is worrying. It felt like the laptop was holding my normal life ransom, and an equipment created to save time resulted in even more inconvenience.
And in a world where technology is said to create ever more distance between people, it is good service from the shop where i bought the machine that saved it. They could have just ignored the problem and brushed me aside by saying that they cannot do anything about it. Instead, they spent two afternoons fixing it, at no charge at all.
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