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an escapist world of oxymoronsI have no belief but I believe I'm a walking contradiction |
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The End.as 2007 draws to a close, it comes for a time to reminiscence the year that passed - what i've done, wat i've not. and hopes and aspirations for 2008.
thanks for the people in my life. the people that will stay in my life. the people that have been in '07, that will move on to '08. the people i have the luck to meet this year. the people who will move outta my life as my school life comes to an end, hahaha... the people whom i have the honour to meet. cheers for the fantastic time u've given me the past year! i thank u for making me a better person, a stronger person, and i hope that my presence in ur life had altered it in a good way. may there be more to come! cheers!
but wat to do in the new year? will i get a satisfying job and stay on? will i go for my masters? will i get it? wow... the future lays ahead of my and i hope that i will get on the correct path when i stand at the cross-roads. but wat is the correct path? i guess i meant the path that i really want and be suited for. but u dont know until u've tried! 2008 shall be a new milestone for me!
 to everyone: hope the new year brings much more than the last. may it pass smoothly for u and may everything just go fine. have a good 2008!
u have GOT to be kidding me!!!
 Penelope!
(And i believe the correct way of pronouncing it is such that it rhymes with ELOPE! wahahaha...)
imagine how hard i laughed the moment i sat the tittle!!! oh my goodnesss!!!!! but the trailer looks like its a fine show, really. it's just that if we actually get down to watching it, we'll be giggling everytime her name is mentioned! oh no! will be very distracting to the other audiences watching the show. wahahahaha... penelope, penelope! ahhhh!!! trailer here and another poster below!
 And yes, its bout a girl borned with a pig-nose, and her story of coming out...
well, there is James McAvoy (think Narnia, there is a more recent trailer i saw him in but i cant rem wat...), Reese Witherspoon (as a rock chick!!) and Christina Ricci (as Penelope, whahahahahaha...). shouldnt go too bad...
anyways, just realised a recent trend: either bloody fighting shows, or fairy-tale romance, or musicals with people bursting into random songs, or sequels or just plain fantasy. a bit the overkill? can we have something new?
ok, so wat have i done leading up to the new year?
fri had a party at prof hor's place, which supposedly starts at 630 pm. and all thanks to Mr. Suresh, who even after we ALL reminded him that we might be late for the party if we took the 6 pm show, still thought that the party started at 8 pm. sigh... we should have trusted our instincts more. wahahahaha... so we ended up taking a 615 pm National Treasure: Book of Secrets show (which was definitely more than 1.5 hours long) with a bunch of commercials and being really late for the party (missing dinner in the process...). felt super bad lar, for turning up so late. like a bit the anti-social like that. and someone still said we got time to even bus down after the show. wow. hahaha...
national treasure was alright. as ling said, dont go in with too high expectations, so it'll come out just fine! haha... Riley was still as funny as ever. really love that dorky character. poor thing, nobody wans to read his book
 . wahahaha... but i think they are really pushing it in terms of story plot. and by the time they actually made it to the secret place, it was too long and draggy to sustain the action sequences. then again, there was helen mirren, so the show was partly saved. and there was the page 47 thingy, are they trying to get a trilogy there? seriously?taxied down to prof hor's place. and wats new, the first thing that he served us there was hard liquor, meed style without mixers. geez. hahaha... but cuz we didnt really eat much beforehand, didnt dare to drink much. they were just finishing up their 4th game when we arrived, late. next up was DDR (dance dance revolution??) - the one where got 4 arrows for up, down, left, right and u gotta press them as it passes the mark. quite hilarious actually. some could, some couldnt. some step until the mat went seh-eh, some step until re-set the game. hahaha... it was good fun lar. then after was playing bowling on WII. chintong (YES, he was there!!!!) tried tennis moves on the game, but the motion was unavailable for detection, if not will be really funny! hahaha... ended the night (after alcohol and a can of guinness) with gift exchange. i gave away a book i made, and received a nice esprite (reversible) bag in return! not too bad! after, sat around and chatted with prof hor for a while. since we havent really had dinner, went down to newton for more! talked, laughed, insulted... hahaha... havent seen chintong and caroline for a while so it was really nice that they were around to catch up!
 Eh? How come chintong not in? Kangmin is in US though...
saturday had a lunch party at maggi's place for rvac. there was turkey, stuffings, baked potatoes with different toppings, mee siam, chicken and vege curries, and almond jelly. gosh. wat a delicious spread, really gorged. too bad i was too full by the time i wanted to eat mee siam. really wanted to try the chilli and sauce, but was too full by that time. dont worry, rvac meets regularly for home-cooked meals, will not miss the next one!!! we were then forced to sing a song before we cut the cake, because they felt it weird for not singing a song before cutting the cake. haha, funny way to initiate singing. we sang jingle bells. hahaha... it was a delicious chocolate cake. unfortuntely, i was too full by then to really enjoy it.
sat to sun also had a stay over at hotel intercontinental. so after the late (delicious!) lunch, travelled down to bugis. the thing i dont like bout bugis, is the huge amounts of people. oh my. feel like killing them cuz there were SO MANY of them, like they are spawning or something. and the crossing at bugis village is always packed! thankfully i took train that day. phew! but still a challenge trying to maneuver through the crowds without reaching boiling frustrations at the shoppers/random irritants/mrt-takers/PEOPLE-IN-GENERAL to get to the place where i was supposed to. it was a trying time. immediately went grocery shopping with everyone (except seok). after, went back to the room to play taboo, pictionary. seok joined us after work! poor gal, was so tired, she immediately crashed and could sleep through all the racket we were making.
went out to get dinner. CROWDS! gosh, again. funny how we all managed to get food and didnt lose each other with the people swirling around us. Went back, put on Love Actually (the uncut one of cuz), then Serendipity after. love both shows!
 its a good way to end of the year with some hope! hahaha... played more taboo! and seok was more alive now. hahaha... its fun! just that somehow ian is always in my group, and he always help the other group more than being enthu for his own! hahaha... kidding lar, in the end he and dianna had to cheer each other to maintain the level of excitment for the game. and silly ian took 2 baths within less than 12 hours of each. i mean bath, like making a bath, filling bath tub with water kind of bath, not shower kind of bath. the gals ended up bathing so much faster, combined. hahaha... and yes, he got scolded. we almost banned him from going to the toilet after for fears of him starting another. wahahaha... u'll never know.somehow managed to squeeze 5 people on the 2 beds combined together and one on the chair-couch-combined-thingy. didnt really sleep well though, and now i'm sick and nursing a stuck nose. sigh... oh wells, that it for partying so hard.
 i hope i'll get better, but i got a feeling i'll be sick into the new year! anyways, as some were tired and wanted to sleep already, we put on Ocean's 13 to watch before we konck out, but the pirated disc was ripped from a german cinemas (had german subtitles) with very bad english subtitles, so after watching bout half-an-hour, ling and i had no freaking idea wat was happening and their conversation didnt make sense, so just went to bed. bout 4 am, was it?we all woke bout 11 am. put on Hairspray. yay! was a really nice show. i like the female lead, she really is so loveable that u cant not like her. its a good show. how come i didnt watch in the cinemas ar? i cant even rem when it opened in singapore. we had to put back the room into a slightly better order since we rearranged the configurations for better use of the resources and space. (had to fix back the tv as well, since we had to brought a mini dvd player as an add-on entartainment. ssshhhhh...) the room was like a war-zone but we managed to put it back. i hope. hahaha... had lunch at breko, notice its lunch and not breakfast. we missed hot-cakes, after all we did ckeck out at 1 pm. oh wells. my nose was running by then, so after food i went off home, while some actaully managed to go shopping! hahaha...
alright, i think i shall go crash again. still sickly. sorry jess, we'll play tennis another day yah, i wan to exercise too!
To all: wishing you a Happy New Year for 2008!!!  December 26 Bad Intelligencei cant believe caroling is over! thanks for the support though, especially to cheek and fee who actually made it down!
 and the others who wanted to be there, or couldnt make it, or somehow missed it. well, u did miss some good singing, thats all i gotta say! hahaha... but finally, the long awaited rest! i can eat fried food! spicy food! chips! chocolates! oh and finally get into the christimas mood (now that christmas is like over...)! but new year is around the corner! cant wait for the weekend stayover! *cues sleezy music* wahahahaha... and yes, i'm swearing off carols for awhile. like a loooong while.sang at legends @ fort canning, a country club on christmas day. we met at dhoby ghaut mrt station in the morn, and guess wat i heard? some accident occurred along the woodlands to yew tee line going towards jurong east, so there was a huge delay (when we left the station, the delay was going at 40 mins). thankfully those taking the mrt arrived soon enough, but with TONS of other people. on christmas somemore. but i dont really know wat happened though. maybe papers will have in the morn?
had to take many steps and stairs UP to reach legends. a real pain. singing there was alright, but i still prefer the one at the chinese swimming club though, cuz the audience were more appreciative and the atmosphere was more informal so u feel more connected to the audience. but today, we had a santa running around, disturbing us also. hahaha... it was cool! but the audience was less connected and dont seem to know when to clap, hahaha... but then again, there were less kids running around today so less noise, easier to pitch.
after, the choir took lunch together at fish and co.'s glass house. YES!!! finally!! all the fried, oily and spicy food. ooh, i miss them SOOO much! u have NO idea. hahaha... and it was victor's bday as well! so yeah, he was made to stand on the chair while getting embarassed. hahaha... happy bday, victor! and i cant wait for the post-christmas party! i hope joshua cooks a real nice turkey. and u know, we wont go until we got some! SO BRING SOME OUT HERE!
went home after to shower and change for dinner at bugis. i think we should NOT go back to sketchers next year? seems like going to BF soon, anyways. thanks for the christmas cards, people! ok ian, thanks for the sweets. would have much preferred the tape dispenser, but i wouldnt mind another christmas gift! there are 12 days of christmas after all! and thanks fee for the little extra touch
 ! evening was fun filled with bad hearing (and bad intelligence as ling cleverly put it!) everything came out right, but wrong to the ears. that didnt come out right... *shifty eyes* so anyways, go dig ur ears people! and stop thinking dirty. or quick and dirrty as jess was saying. and thanks for the pretty invitation card, jess!
see u guys on the 29th!
This is too fun NOT to blog about! hahaha... Exploding Head Syndrome. It sounds really funny! hahaha... imagine someone saying "I've got a problem doctor. I think I've got an Exploding Head Syndrom!" and with that, his head explodes! wahahahaha... ok, reading it through, i dont think its a funny illness anymore. anyways, it wasnt the nightmare before christmas, but rather the nightmare on christmas day. i hate dreaming, takes up so much energy. and bad dreams are even worse - they leave a mark on u and a sense of paranoia. geez.
Happy Boxing Day! December 25 How silently the Christmas spirit cameA solitary train ride through Austria brought the holiday joy and wonder she'd been looking for.By Carolyn Schott
The train car was empty and dark, the vinyl seat cold beneath me. Hunched in the corner formed by the side of the train and the seat back, I stared at the dark windows reflecting blankly back at me. It was a few days before Christmas, and I was on my way home after seven months, but I didn't feel the tiniest bit of joy.
I'd been living in Athens, where signs of the holiday had been few – an occasional carol or sidewalk lot containing tired-looking trees. I'd hoped that detouring through a snow-filled Austrian village on my way home would put me in the holiday spirit.
So I'd plunged into the complex network of travel connections needed to get myself from a Greek city to an Austrian mountain village... and felt even further away from Christmas. The normal travel frenzy of airports and train stations is worse around holidays. There's little Christmas cheer in eating a dry train-station sandwich at a stand-up table, being jostled by the oversize luggage of passers-by. When I finally arrived in St. Anton, Austria, I dropped into bed, not caring where I was.
Stretching an arm out from beneath my down comforter, I'd awoken in the compact room of my 16th-century hotel. Out my window, I saw gingerbread-village buildings frosted with a touch of white and a street bustling with people. From my breakfast table of hearty breads and creamy cheeses, I looked out at the mountains wrapped around the village. As I crunched through the snow in stiff ski boots, breathing deeply in the crisp air, my mood had lifted a bit despite needing to duck as someone awkwardly swung his skis near my head.
The sky had been a flawless unbroken expanse of blue, and the snow was fluffy under my skis. The ideal vacation, I'd thought, loosening my boots and stretching my legs as I ate my lunchtime sausage and sauerkraut at a mountainside Gastette.
But when my skiing interlude ended, I realized that as Hallmark-perfect as this snow-covered mountain village had been, I still hadn't felt any Christmas spirit. And now it was time to head home.
Making travel arrangements further soured my attitude. The hotel desk clerk had assured me that no one on the staff would be stirring in the predawn gloom when I needed to depart, although he could arrange for a cab to pick me up. And by the way, could I settle up my hotel bill right now?
In the sharp cold of the very early morning, I'd crept through the quiet lobby feeling vaguely criminal sneaking out in the dark. The streets had been empty. Christmas lights had long been turned off for the night.
Hands buried deep in my coat pockets, I'd stood on the train platform craving coffee – for the warmth of the cup.
When the train had pulled in, I'd settled myself in one of the many empty cars – not a lot of travelers at this hour. The train started off swiftly into the night, and I made myself stay awake, huddled inside my ski jacket, hoping the cold vinyl beneath me would warm. Being the only passenger in this car, maybe the whole train, was a little eerie.
As I stared mindlessly at the blank glass panes, the dark shadows outside the train began to form more distinct shapes. The texture of the darkness was changing – sometimes darker, sometimes lighter as we drew closer or farther from the snow-covered trees and boulders. Across the valley floor rose the dark masses of the mountains. In the distance, there were tiny points of light – a house or maybe a village. Farther away, I saw the glow of another village perched high on the mountain slope.
The train swayed gently as it rushed along, seemingly the only thing awake in the world. The distant lights hinted at life in the quiet scene, but were too far away to be anything more than a backdrop. It became a perfect, peaceful moment – unconnected with travel hassles or my life in Greece or Seattle.
"Silent night, holy night. All is calm, all is bright." The words and music written in an Austrian village on another cold December night echoed through my head. Had the author looked out on a similar scene as he penned his lyrics so long ago? When set to music, the whole world would sing them and think of the village of Bethlehem and a small child born and laid in a manger.
"Silent night, holy night."
For just a moment, there was a stillness and magic to my journey – the magic of the true joy and peace of Christmastime. The momentous birth of a child in a small village like the ones clinging to these mountainsides, but so far away.
"Silent night, holy night."
Reality returned at the next station as a group of uniformed schoolchildren stomped onto the train, chunks of snow falling from their boots as they chattered. The lightening sky showed that dawn was coming. But I'd experienced a moment of magic traveling through the Austrian mountain night.
I'd been looking for Christmas in holiday activity and greeting-card scenery and instead found it in an empty train car in the early morning darkness.
Silent night, holy night. All was calm, all was bright.
Merry Christmas, everyone! December 22 Spreading the Christmas Cheer!FYI (if you got the time):
Caroling Dates and Times
22nd to 24th December (Saturday to Monday) 7 to 7:30 pm @ Traders Hotel
24th December (Monday) 8 to 8:30 pm @ Chinese Swimming Club (off Amber Road) 25th December (Tuesday) 1 to 1:30 pm @ The Legends at Fort Canning Park
Hope to see familar faces there!
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