Crunch
So, after the week where I said I would try to blog every week, I kind of ran out of time to do anything personal, because there were a number of things I had to do, including assignments, a pitch, and a wedding. Fortunately, I managed to find time to meet with Cx, Avelin, and Stefanie for Crimes of Grindelwald, but I was pretty much left with little enough free time for me to not feel compelled to blog.
Anyway, those things that kept me busy were, for the most part, good things, so let me talk about some of them chronologically.
Participated in SAS's Pitchfest
For the first time ever, I got shortlisted in a writing competition. It is a whole new experience for me to be pitching to a panel for any reason other than an assignment, but I guess there must be a first step somewhere, sometime. I was so out of touch with the whole pitching thing. In Digipen, no one really cares about how well you pitch, but back in DTVM, pitching was a huge focus and there were so many things to take note of. To make matters worse, it was crunch time for the game project in school, so I had very little mental capacity to be doing this.
Still, I recognised that it was completely not worth it to not put effort into this just because there were some assignments, so I gave it my all and survived the day.
There were twelve other finalists whom I was "competing" against, but really, it was more of a networking session. Once again, I have never networked before, so I was pretty bad at it. Two of us ended up sticking to ourselves and chatting, which I guess wasn't a good idea. I guess I'll have to work on stuff like that. Also, I really do need to return to watching some local TV shows if I'm considering writing for them.
The other ideas were of variety. There were some that I really liked. The idea by the person I stuck to the whole time was pretty cool, but I shall not talk about it here because it isn't my idea.
Flora's Wedding
It is my cousin, Flora's, turn to get married. It is the age, or at least it is soon to be the age. I believe the only weddings I ever attended were Chinese ones and they were all my relatives. No one I was close enough to had gotten married and invited me. Heck, the DTVM gang (me included) are still all single. It's quite funny. We even dubbed ourselves the "self-love club".
It's a pretty beautiful wedding. There were the exchange of vows, some preach, some songs, and generally a nice atmosphere. Despite not being a Christian, one thing I like about Christian weddings (or at least the only one I've ever been to) is how significant the day is made to be, complete with the long aisle, confetti, and long speeches. The Chinese ones just care about tea.
GAM Project
The rest of my time were spent doing miscellaneous stuff, assignments, and the game project. To repeat the context, we have a semester or year-long game project every semester. The current one my level is working on is a year-long project in which the team is made of three "departments"; the programmers had to build a game engine, the artist(s) had to draw and animate, and the designers had to design and implement the game.
It was super stressful because a lot needed to be done with very little time. Everyone ended up being really demoralised. I tried my best to stay calm and chill for the most part, but I lost my shit on Jaryl (the producer) once and Min Teck (another guy) multiple times. I'd also been super pessimistic and I regret that. However, to be fair, I didn't lose my shit on Jaryl because of stress, but because of something else which I shouldn't talk about.
So, as of submission, our game wasn't in a super good state. It was quite sad because we were rushing so much that we didn't get to see other people's presentations. The whole thing felt like a huge mess, but we'll probably fix it in the time to come.
Manga: A Silent Voice
I just want to point out that the manga I had been reading in pockets of time was really good and made me feel all sorts of things inside. It is about a deaf girl and a reformed bully and how the bully is trying to redeem himself by becoming friends with the deaf girl, falling in love with her as a result. The romance part of it is predictable, but it is the whole idea about the deaf girl and the fact that she really hates herself but is trying her best that gets to me. On one hand, it can be a little annoying; on the other, in a particular scene where she cried and said that she wanted to die, it really dug straight into my heart.
This manga also portrayed suicide and pretty heavy themes without dramatising them. I found it impressive. There is an animated film for it and I'm probably going to find a way to watch it now that I'm almost freed up.
So, yeah. The upcoming holiday is almost 3.5 weeks and a lot can be done. I had been neglecting my body, so it's time to hit the gym again and watch lots of stuff I wanted to watch, play lots of games I wanted to play, go for that Vietnam trip, and do some stuff in preparation of the next semester, such as practicing on C++ and doing a bit of the game project.
On a parting note, I have been pretty moody these few days over some stuff and I hope I get over them soon, but taking some time away from Digipen will probably help. Let's just hope we don't return to a situation where I postpone my unhappiness only to face them in bulk when I am re-exposed to the stimulus.
Anyway, those things that kept me busy were, for the most part, good things, so let me talk about some of them chronologically.
Participated in SAS's Pitchfest
For the first time ever, I got shortlisted in a writing competition. It is a whole new experience for me to be pitching to a panel for any reason other than an assignment, but I guess there must be a first step somewhere, sometime. I was so out of touch with the whole pitching thing. In Digipen, no one really cares about how well you pitch, but back in DTVM, pitching was a huge focus and there were so many things to take note of. To make matters worse, it was crunch time for the game project in school, so I had very little mental capacity to be doing this.
Still, I recognised that it was completely not worth it to not put effort into this just because there were some assignments, so I gave it my all and survived the day.
There were twelve other finalists whom I was "competing" against, but really, it was more of a networking session. Once again, I have never networked before, so I was pretty bad at it. Two of us ended up sticking to ourselves and chatting, which I guess wasn't a good idea. I guess I'll have to work on stuff like that. Also, I really do need to return to watching some local TV shows if I'm considering writing for them.
The other ideas were of variety. There were some that I really liked. The idea by the person I stuck to the whole time was pretty cool, but I shall not talk about it here because it isn't my idea.
Flora's Wedding
It is my cousin, Flora's, turn to get married. It is the age, or at least it is soon to be the age. I believe the only weddings I ever attended were Chinese ones and they were all my relatives. No one I was close enough to had gotten married and invited me. Heck, the DTVM gang (me included) are still all single. It's quite funny. We even dubbed ourselves the "self-love club".
It's a pretty beautiful wedding. There were the exchange of vows, some preach, some songs, and generally a nice atmosphere. Despite not being a Christian, one thing I like about Christian weddings (or at least the only one I've ever been to) is how significant the day is made to be, complete with the long aisle, confetti, and long speeches. The Chinese ones just care about tea.
GAM Project
The rest of my time were spent doing miscellaneous stuff, assignments, and the game project. To repeat the context, we have a semester or year-long game project every semester. The current one my level is working on is a year-long project in which the team is made of three "departments"; the programmers had to build a game engine, the artist(s) had to draw and animate, and the designers had to design and implement the game.
It was super stressful because a lot needed to be done with very little time. Everyone ended up being really demoralised. I tried my best to stay calm and chill for the most part, but I lost my shit on Jaryl (the producer) once and Min Teck (another guy) multiple times. I'd also been super pessimistic and I regret that. However, to be fair, I didn't lose my shit on Jaryl because of stress, but because of something else which I shouldn't talk about.
So, as of submission, our game wasn't in a super good state. It was quite sad because we were rushing so much that we didn't get to see other people's presentations. The whole thing felt like a huge mess, but we'll probably fix it in the time to come.
Manga: A Silent Voice
I just want to point out that the manga I had been reading in pockets of time was really good and made me feel all sorts of things inside. It is about a deaf girl and a reformed bully and how the bully is trying to redeem himself by becoming friends with the deaf girl, falling in love with her as a result. The romance part of it is predictable, but it is the whole idea about the deaf girl and the fact that she really hates herself but is trying her best that gets to me. On one hand, it can be a little annoying; on the other, in a particular scene where she cried and said that she wanted to die, it really dug straight into my heart.
This manga also portrayed suicide and pretty heavy themes without dramatising them. I found it impressive. There is an animated film for it and I'm probably going to find a way to watch it now that I'm almost freed up.
So, yeah. The upcoming holiday is almost 3.5 weeks and a lot can be done. I had been neglecting my body, so it's time to hit the gym again and watch lots of stuff I wanted to watch, play lots of games I wanted to play, go for that Vietnam trip, and do some stuff in preparation of the next semester, such as practicing on C++ and doing a bit of the game project.
On a parting note, I have been pretty moody these few days over some stuff and I hope I get over them soon, but taking some time away from Digipen will probably help. Let's just hope we don't return to a situation where I postpone my unhappiness only to face them in bulk when I am re-exposed to the stimulus.
Labels: digipen, family, things that happened, writing
Hong Kong 2016
So I just came back from Hong Kong three days ago. It was a trip I went with my family because it had been a long time since we travelled and we failed to book a chalet for Christmas.
Day 1 - Arrival
After watching some Hong Kong shows, I'm sure everyone knows how the country looks like, but for some reason, I was expecting something like Taiwan. So, when reality set in and we arrived at a place that looked kind of similar to Singapore, except without the trees, I was kind of disappointed.
The next few days proved my disappointment unfounded because it's a very nice-to-look-at place with attractive people who care about how they dress. It kind of made me want to dress better too.
Day 2 - Lantau Island
In the morning, my sister and I headed over to a cafe because she wanted to taste their beans and stuff. With the family, we then spent the first half of the day queuing up for the cable car towards Lantau Island. I feel like there is way too much queuing involved in this trip, but the cable car ride was fine, except that I was having some sort of allergy and couldn't stop sneezing.
When on top, we did the touristy stuffs - visiting the big Buddha statue, taking lots of pictures of it, and walking around. My parents and grandma were tired, so they just sat somewhere while my siblings and I walked on what we thought was the Wisdom Path. We took a lot of pretentious photos while we were at it.
The rest of the day was just a walk back to the cable car, more queuing, dinner, and some shopping with my siblings.
Day 3 - Shopping Day
There really isn't much to talk about this day. Basically, we shopped as we could and visited the Temple Street Night Market, which was majorly disappointing. It was the same as Singapore's temporary night markets.
Day 4 - Ocean Park
Ocean Park was nice. There wasn't a super long queue and theme parks are generally nice places. We spent half the day on the calmer stuff like the aquarium, panda enclosure, and otter show. For the next half of the day, which ended up being only three measly hours, my siblings and I tried the theme park rides. We only managed to sit on three - one was chill(ish), one was super fast and fun and not scary, and one was super scary.
Day 5 - Miscellaneous Day
We wanted to spend this day in Shen Zhen, but my mum was worried that we wouldn't be able to haggle and the shops would exploit our money, so we didn't. Instead, we kind of walked around Tsim Sha Tsui instead. It was a lot of window shopping.
As it was Hong Kong and we hadn't had full dim sum meals yet, we headed to One Dim Sum at Prince Edward. It was nice dim sum. We returned to the apartment early to let my grandma rest up before finishing our trip with Victoria Peak, which was simply a place to view the skyscrapers from on top of a mountain.
The queue was the worst, so were the tourists from a certain country who cut 80% of the queue, push, barge, separate people, and get annoyed when we barge and cut back the portion where they cut us. Tourists from this country seem to really love embarrassing themselves.
Day 6 - Homeward Day
Simply put, we returned to Singapore.
Labels: family, overseas, things that happened
The Curse of TV
Contrary to how so many teachers, authors, and model students think, I feel that TV is a wonderful thing. It's important, entertaining, and clever. It's nothing surprising, though, that when we were in school, teachers talked about TV like how it's the worst thing ever, how it dumbs you down, takes away your life, and so on. From time to time, I'd read paragraphs in novels about how TV is bad and books are good. And then obviously, in order to please their favourite teachers/mentors/parents/whatever, "model students" would pretend that they agree.
TV is good. It projects fantasies into the minds of the unimaginative or the lazy (ie. movies/dramas), breaks down information into concise bits so audiences don't get bogged down by details (ie. news), announces stuff efficiently (ie. ads), creates conversation (ie. reality TV, dramas, current affair, infotainment, docus), serves as platforms for greater things (ie. competitions, charity programmes, talk shows), and so much more. How would anything replace that? Then again, how would anything replace anything?
That said, there is another camp of people that is so obsessed with TV that they let it take over majority of their free time. I'm talking about how Sally goes home, washes up, and then immediately switches it on and starts flipping through netflix or fushion or whatever. And you may think this happens mostly to children, teenagers, or young adults, but sometimes I think middle-age adults are more susceptible to it.
Sally has been consumed by TV. Why not? It's such a wonderful thing. She gets to watch other people's lives - lives that are better than hers, - gets to enter intriguing worlds of medieval chaos, gets to feel the excitement of the participants racing around China, and exercise her critical thinking in figuring out who is plotting against who in the latest period drama she is watching. There is no longer a need to figure out how to spend the weekends, no longer a need to step under the sweltering sun to watch how the world has changed in the span of years, and no longer a need to spend money on other things that makes her happy. TV is everything.
Except, Sally doesn't realise TV is poison. A little of it is wonderful - makes you feel all light-headed and free, having been brought to a better world. But too much of it, and it takes over and crush you from everywhere - the front, the back, the sides, the inside. TV tricks you into thinking you're thinking while it numbs your brain and lulls you into addiction; it tugs on your leash when you decide to go somewhere else; it keeps you from seeing the actual world, rather than the cropped and filtered ones it chooses to show.
TV is a mass hypnosis. It overwhelms your senses by pushing your sight and hearing to its limits before suggesting and suggesting. It repeats patterns over and over till it becomes reality. It readjusts your paradigms so your wavelength become its producers'. It seduces you so you detach yourself from a less ideal reality and in turn pulls you back into the web. It manipulates your desires with rhythms of highs and lows, with the highs placed at the end of each episode so your interest never dies - "one more episode" is a lie because it is what writers are banking on.
And if you never realise it, you'll fall deeper and lose sight of how it destroys your life. You stop thinking or remembering. You become stale. Your conversations become emptier. Your internet becomes slower. Your hearing worsens. Your eyesight dulls. You find yourself becoming less equipped to deal with life. You find yourself dependent.
Life is difficult, and TV sometimes seems like an easier way to "live". Don't let it be. TV is a wonderful thing, but it is poison. Take it in moderation.
TV is good. It projects fantasies into the minds of the unimaginative or the lazy (ie. movies/dramas), breaks down information into concise bits so audiences don't get bogged down by details (ie. news), announces stuff efficiently (ie. ads), creates conversation (ie. reality TV, dramas, current affair, infotainment, docus), serves as platforms for greater things (ie. competitions, charity programmes, talk shows), and so much more. How would anything replace that? Then again, how would anything replace anything?
That said, there is another camp of people that is so obsessed with TV that they let it take over majority of their free time. I'm talking about how Sally goes home, washes up, and then immediately switches it on and starts flipping through netflix or fushion or whatever. And you may think this happens mostly to children, teenagers, or young adults, but sometimes I think middle-age adults are more susceptible to it.
Sally has been consumed by TV. Why not? It's such a wonderful thing. She gets to watch other people's lives - lives that are better than hers, - gets to enter intriguing worlds of medieval chaos, gets to feel the excitement of the participants racing around China, and exercise her critical thinking in figuring out who is plotting against who in the latest period drama she is watching. There is no longer a need to figure out how to spend the weekends, no longer a need to step under the sweltering sun to watch how the world has changed in the span of years, and no longer a need to spend money on other things that makes her happy. TV is everything.
Except, Sally doesn't realise TV is poison. A little of it is wonderful - makes you feel all light-headed and free, having been brought to a better world. But too much of it, and it takes over and crush you from everywhere - the front, the back, the sides, the inside. TV tricks you into thinking you're thinking while it numbs your brain and lulls you into addiction; it tugs on your leash when you decide to go somewhere else; it keeps you from seeing the actual world, rather than the cropped and filtered ones it chooses to show.
TV is a mass hypnosis. It overwhelms your senses by pushing your sight and hearing to its limits before suggesting and suggesting. It repeats patterns over and over till it becomes reality. It readjusts your paradigms so your wavelength become its producers'. It seduces you so you detach yourself from a less ideal reality and in turn pulls you back into the web. It manipulates your desires with rhythms of highs and lows, with the highs placed at the end of each episode so your interest never dies - "one more episode" is a lie because it is what writers are banking on.
And if you never realise it, you'll fall deeper and lose sight of how it destroys your life. You stop thinking or remembering. You become stale. Your conversations become emptier. Your internet becomes slower. Your hearing worsens. Your eyesight dulls. You find yourself becoming less equipped to deal with life. You find yourself dependent.
Life is difficult, and TV sometimes seems like an easier way to "live". Don't let it be. TV is a wonderful thing, but it is poison. Take it in moderation.
Chinese New Year 2016
When we were told to smile
To be honest, Chinese New Year this year had been kind of disappointing, but it was this disappointment that made me remember certain things.
Ever since I started the habit of buying clothes whenever I felt like it instead of buying them right before Chinese New Year, this festival had lost some of its magic. When I was in secondary school, and actually, even in primary school, I would always look forward to wearing new clothes, because they would be lying in the cupboard, untouched, until the first day. The same went for CNY cookies and the sweet drinks. We would bug my mother when we could open them up and she would make us wait till the reunion dinner. Now, we've lost all these "rules". It's just different.
I also miss eating reunion dinner with my family at home without the relatives. When my grandparents were alive, that would be what we do. Now, we always head to some restaurant that my uncle really likes and eat with all my uncles and aunties and cousins. I guess it's nice in its own way, but I miss the older days.
The worst is the attitude we now have. At least till last year, I think I actually looked forward to meeting my cousins and going to Hougang Green or the neighbourhood with them doing nothing in particular. As years pass, we start deeming those things as pointless and boring, which they are. This year, I felt nothing.
To me, Chinese New Year used to be magical, and I can't wait for it to be magical again. It's funny how I realise that I miss my family when my family is right here with me. And when we're physically together, we're still apart.
On a brighter note, Wei Jian returned from Brunei for these two weeks, and on the day of his arrival, we met up because we wanted to throw him a surprise, which he already suspected. I dug out my PS4 box, Joshua and Jessica got some vegetables and luncheon meat and stuff, and then we filled the box with those things as a present for him.
Obviously, he didn't believe it when we showed him the box.
Then on Saturday, we met to go to Wei Jian's house, and I'm glad we did because this was the only day I felt like it was Chinese New Year.
It was the usuals: Cards, mahjong, steamboat, watching Youtube videos, watching embarrassing videos some of us made during secondary school (such as Joshua's singing and a crappy vlog we did during a chalet), and chatting with Wei Jian's mum.
Today, I took half a day off because I did duty on Sunday, and for some reason, I just miss home. Sometimes I have days like this.
Labels: emo, family, mehmeh, reliving those days, things that happened
CNY 2015
Zi Xing's birthday surprise with our mehmehs
Chinese New Year this year has been great.
Tuesday
It started with an off in lieu, of which the previous night I was doing duty along with some of my platoon mates. Then when I finally reached home, I had to work on my university applications. For now, I've applied for NTU's Art, Design & Media, which was troublesome like hell because they required a lot of stuff on top of portfolio, and I've also applied for NIE, bachelor in education. The idea of being a teacher is quite exciting, so I figured - why not give it a shot? Just like that, the entire of my Tuesday was gone.
Wednesday
I've been wasting time in the morning because I haven't had the luxury to that for a long time. Then in the evening, my family went to Grassroots Club for reunion dinner with my extended family. It was decent food, but honestly, it was more of a physical reunion for some of us, not a mental/emotional one. Headed to grandma's house after that and chatted with my cousin and brother about the dreaded national service, university, and ridiculously successful teenagers. That night, when we returned home, my brother, father, and I just sat down and had some wine and chatted.
Thursday
This day was Chu 1, meaning the first day of the lunar new year. In the morning, my paternal uncle came to visit. He also read our fortunes for us. Went to my grandma's house again after that, where all my maternal relatives gathered. Taught my brother and cousins how to play mahjong and played with them. It was quite fun.
Friday
On this day, Guang Yi and I visited Ru Wen's house. Naturally, played mahjong, but this is the first time I tried 3-people mahjong, so it was quite interesting. Ru Wen's mum cooked, made dessert, and brewed tea for us. It was quite awesome. Over lunch, talked about Ru Wen's birthday party plans, and chatted in general with her mum as well.
After completing mahjong, just chilled for awhile before Guang Yi and I went off as Ru Wen would have to work soon (yes, during CNY). The two of us chilled and chatted in Bishan for awhile. Then, walked around a little bit and then headed off.
Saturday
I invited Guang Yi, Ru Wen, Jt, Wei Jian, Jessica, Joshua, and Zi Xing over to my house to visit as well as throw Zi Xing a surprise birthday celebration in advance, since his birthday would be on next Tuesday. Met up 2.5 hours in advance (of which most of them were late by an hour) to prepare a stack of cards for him. Ru Wen went to get the cake, and when Zi Xing came, we just executed the usual 'a cake appears' drill (argh, how I hate this word). I guess he was a little surprised. Maybe.
I enjoyed the visit because these are my close friends and we chatted over pizza and cake and snacks that my mum made and sweet drinks. It's kind of a simple pleasure, although things like this hasn't been simple nowadays. It's quite depressing to think that.
Proceeded to Wei Jian's house for visit straight after, but Ru Wen had to leave for work again. Wei Jian's house is a tradition; We would visit his house every year to have steamboat and mahjong and the typical CNY stuff, regardless of where he lived.
Half-cooked salmon was awesome. The typical CNY stuffs were good. Finally learned to play poker. Just chilling and spending time like that was the best.
Sunday
So I don't think I can handle leaving these days behind and going back to camp. I still feel really trapped here and I hope that life gets better and that this struggle ends somehow. Sigh.
Hope you guys had a great CNY!
Labels: family, mehmeh, things that happened
Random Younger Memories
The Hideout Spot
You don't know paranoia and helplessness (and stupidity) until you start to think that every ant you see is a baby cockroach. That happened to me a few years back. It was the first time ever that I picked up Baygon and sprayed at them like mad. But ants being ants, they're never gone. I even traced them all the way to their hideout spot, which turned out to be that tiny hole at the corner of the bathroom.
I told my dad that too many baby cockroaches lived in the house and there's nothing we can do about it, because we shouldn't kill animals.
And then my sister told me that those are ants, and that broke the illusion that formed itself in my head.
From then on, I made sure to literally blow the ants out of the way before showering so I don't kill them. One day, I saw the ants carrying a dead lizard and squeezing it into the hole.
After a while, the ants mysteriously vanished.
The Monster in the Ceiling
A few years before that, I looked up at the ceiling of the bathroom for the first time and saw dirt/corrosion/whatever-that-is in the shape of a human, with an angry face. I got afraid and hasten all my showers and stuff from then on. Soon, I forgot about it.
Today, I looked up again and it's gone, probably covered by even more dirt/corrosion/whatever-that-is.
Rats Invasion
There were two times when rats came into our house. The first time it happened was through our gate. We lived on the first floor, near a park connector. So, it's hardly suppose to be surprising that a rat entered. We were eating in the living room and I saw this figure at the other end, sneaking towards the food offerings we gave to our deities. I wondered if it was a giant cockroach, and the next moment, I think my brother exclaimed that there's a rat. My family is terrified of rats.
The other time, a rat ran into our kitchen, and my father spent a very, very long time trying to subtly lead it out of the house. We built a barricade that created a pathway for the rat to run out.
The Black Cat
When I was a kid, I was sitting innocently on the living room sofa, and then I saw a black cat suddenly, staring at me, a few distance away. Panicking, I ran to my grandma and told her about it, and she wasn't surprised. When she came out to shoo it away, it wasn't there. She said it probably ran out, but my brother told me that black cats meant ghosts. For a long time, I didn't dare to be alone anymore.
I then wrote this story for S-folks, or S-fogs, I can't remember. When I was a kid, that's a popular website everyone submit their horror stories to. That story never got accepted.
Monster
When I was even younger, I loved ultraman. We went to buy ultraman toys, and one of them is a really scary-looking monster that I was so afraid of. My sister (or brother) bought it and I was trying my best to avoid it.
My sister couldn't believe how afraid I was of it, so she pretended to turn into that monster. I believed her and I cried.
Childhood is funny. Children are stupid.
You don't know paranoia and helplessness (and stupidity) until you start to think that every ant you see is a baby cockroach. That happened to me a few years back. It was the first time ever that I picked up Baygon and sprayed at them like mad. But ants being ants, they're never gone. I even traced them all the way to their hideout spot, which turned out to be that tiny hole at the corner of the bathroom.
I told my dad that too many baby cockroaches lived in the house and there's nothing we can do about it, because we shouldn't kill animals.
And then my sister told me that those are ants, and that broke the illusion that formed itself in my head.
From then on, I made sure to literally blow the ants out of the way before showering so I don't kill them. One day, I saw the ants carrying a dead lizard and squeezing it into the hole.
After a while, the ants mysteriously vanished.
The Monster in the Ceiling
A few years before that, I looked up at the ceiling of the bathroom for the first time and saw dirt/corrosion/whatever-that-is in the shape of a human, with an angry face. I got afraid and hasten all my showers and stuff from then on. Soon, I forgot about it.
Today, I looked up again and it's gone, probably covered by even more dirt/corrosion/whatever-that-is.
Rats Invasion
There were two times when rats came into our house. The first time it happened was through our gate. We lived on the first floor, near a park connector. So, it's hardly suppose to be surprising that a rat entered. We were eating in the living room and I saw this figure at the other end, sneaking towards the food offerings we gave to our deities. I wondered if it was a giant cockroach, and the next moment, I think my brother exclaimed that there's a rat. My family is terrified of rats.
The other time, a rat ran into our kitchen, and my father spent a very, very long time trying to subtly lead it out of the house. We built a barricade that created a pathway for the rat to run out.
The Black Cat
When I was a kid, I was sitting innocently on the living room sofa, and then I saw a black cat suddenly, staring at me, a few distance away. Panicking, I ran to my grandma and told her about it, and she wasn't surprised. When she came out to shoo it away, it wasn't there. She said it probably ran out, but my brother told me that black cats meant ghosts. For a long time, I didn't dare to be alone anymore.
I then wrote this story for S-folks, or S-fogs, I can't remember. When I was a kid, that's a popular website everyone submit their horror stories to. That story never got accepted.
Monster
When I was even younger, I loved ultraman. We went to buy ultraman toys, and one of them is a really scary-looking monster that I was so afraid of. My sister (or brother) bought it and I was trying my best to avoid it.
My sister couldn't believe how afraid I was of it, so she pretended to turn into that monster. I believed her and I cried.
Childhood is funny. Children are stupid.
Labels: family, reliving those days
CNY 2014
Happy Chinese New Year!
Chinese New Year was not exactly a blast, but it wasn't quite bad either. The best gift I've received for this year's CNY is early dismissal from my internship by 2 days.
This year, didn't catch up much with my cousins. Just did the usuals: Played cards, drank a little bit, and... Actually, that's about it.
Another great gift this CNY is the new year cookies. Last year, I couldn't eat too much new year cookies because I had some stomach-related issues. This year, I happily indulged myself in all kinds of goodies.
And I received a One Piece hong bao from my mum, not because she knows I adore One Piece, but because my sister got it somewhere and asked her to use to for all of us o_o
I guess that's about it so far.
Labels: family, things that happened
#48 Maybe I'm Crazy Now
Okay, an update of my life. Things were a little bit crazy and really positive ever since I went to talk to Mr Ng, my dip-plus lecturer. Along with the whole "getting a grip" thing, there were also lots of assignments and some fun moments of celebrations.
The day I quit tuition (last Saturday)
It was some kind of farewell to my tutee whom I had been badmouthing and complaining about for a long time. Honestly, he's an okay kid as like any other kid. Teaching kids is just not my thing. The money I get for tuition is great, but I didn't want to waste their money anymore because I felt like every week was a waste of time for all of us. Plus, I really need Saturday mornings off for rest.
On Saturday, my dip-plus group also met up to discuss our next facilitation. Turned out to be quite funny when we tried to do our own activity.
The day we thanked our mothers (last Sunday)
Celebrated Mother's Day with the mothers and the grandmother in a Tze Char stall. Super nice and relatively cozy. Cereal sotongs are the best. Can tell my grandma really enjoyed the big family gathering. Unfortunately, my uncle was also suffering from heart attack and was hospitalised, so his immediate family could not come. Something to worry about, too.
Random days of a healthy lifestyle (family)
So apparently, my sister suddenly became quite enthusiastic about exercising, so we started exercising together. Jogging at Bishan Park with siblings, gymming in the early morning in the unproductive Bishan gym, and listening to my brother train my sister to build abs. It's actually quite funny.
The days when we submit our assignments (school)
Basically, school was the big flow of assignments. Finished our Media Entrepreneurship presentation/report and extremely tedious Filmmaking research essay. For the Filmmaking, I analysed The Hunger Games. Chee Teng's folder for submission is pretty cool/cute. It said "I hereby declare that by submitting my document, I agree that Mr Chee Teng is the coolest lecturer". Well, we had to submit our assignments, so the coolest lecturer he is.
For the Media Entrepreneurship, I interviewed Wei Jian's girlfriend, Jessica, and researched on her blogshop, RackSpaceProject. (rackspaceproject.blogspot.sg) I kind of screwed up in the Q&A segment for the presentation. You must be thinking that Q&A is something that you can't screw up; Apparently, you can screw it up if you answer "I don't know" more than once.
And then there's the iBook project and FYP, both which I'm really enthusiastic about. I mean, come on, we are publishing our own eBook! :D And creating a TV show.
The day when "you like it?" becomes sexual (Thursday)
Spent the morning lazing around even though I hate wasting time. Afternoon was FYP tutorial, in which we had to give feedback for one another's ideas. This stage never fails to drain all my energy and positive emotions away. Rejections and rejections.
Then, met up with the bros + sis to have Chisozanmai! Unfortunately, Wai Min, Joshua, and Ru Wen could not make it, so it was Jt, Guang Yi, Zi Xing, Wei Jian, and me. Chisozanmai was great. Orgasmic food, nice environment, nice window seat, good variety of food. Best buffet I've had so far. Threw away all my gastric-caused restrictions and just went crazy on the food. I'm not regretting it, and it was awesommme. By the way, it was meant to celebrate Jt's birthday. Got her a 'The Hobbit' book - glad she liked it :)
And also finally bought 'Dishonored'. Why was everything just so right? Maybe I went a little crazy. Due to Zi Xing's story about his classmate poking people's armpits gayly and asking "you like it?", we went a little weird with the whole poking at random holes and asking "you like it?" thing.
And we created a Wong Zi Xing fan club.
The day when I became Asier Sai Han Don (Friday)
Due to drinking mocha + teh tarik at night, plus my sensitivity towards caffeine, I couldn't sleep at night actually, and only finally collapsed at 6am. Woke up early to gym with my sister. Spent the rest of the afternoon doing CNG. Rushed out all the colouring so that I don't have to worry about my part anymore. Now I can gloat over that fact that it's my groupmates' turns to be busy, before I step in and help up wherever.
Met up with Jeanette and Jt in the evening. Caught up, learned that someone can procrastinate in the middle of exam, and I got a new name. I was wearing my "Easier said than done" shirt and a cardigan over it, so certain letters were blocked, which formed the words "Asier sai han don". And that became my name. I kind of like Asier as an English name, honestly.
And because I love sharing stories and Jt and Jeanette listen to my stories, I just had to get their input in my FYP concepts. Which helped so much. Went a little overboard with snacking - pizzas, cream puffs, and cakes. I feel like a prisoner who just released himself. Now I can eat all sorts of food, and I'm feeling really high about it.
After 2 hours, Syahindah and Li Yuan (Indah and Jean's JC friend) finally reached. After going back and forth, and long waits, we finally got into Swensens for our desperately-needed dinner. Also spammed ice cream. Celebrated Jt's birthday again, and chatted. It was generally a great day.
So, that's it for the week. Throughout this week, I had also been reading Percy Jackson (Lightning Thief). It was a fun read, though it was meant for children. Can't wait for Sea of Monsters to come out in the theatres. And I actually like both the book and the movie in different ways.
Yeah, I don't know how to end this post, so let's put an abrupt end to -
The day I quit tuition (last Saturday)
It was some kind of farewell to my tutee whom I had been badmouthing and complaining about for a long time. Honestly, he's an okay kid as like any other kid. Teaching kids is just not my thing. The money I get for tuition is great, but I didn't want to waste their money anymore because I felt like every week was a waste of time for all of us. Plus, I really need Saturday mornings off for rest.
On Saturday, my dip-plus group also met up to discuss our next facilitation. Turned out to be quite funny when we tried to do our own activity.
The day we thanked our mothers (last Sunday)
Celebrated Mother's Day with the mothers and the grandmother in a Tze Char stall. Super nice and relatively cozy. Cereal sotongs are the best. Can tell my grandma really enjoyed the big family gathering. Unfortunately, my uncle was also suffering from heart attack and was hospitalised, so his immediate family could not come. Something to worry about, too.
Random days of a healthy lifestyle (family)
So apparently, my sister suddenly became quite enthusiastic about exercising, so we started exercising together. Jogging at Bishan Park with siblings, gymming in the early morning in the unproductive Bishan gym, and listening to my brother train my sister to build abs. It's actually quite funny.
The days when we submit our assignments (school)
Basically, school was the big flow of assignments. Finished our Media Entrepreneurship presentation/report and extremely tedious Filmmaking research essay. For the Filmmaking, I analysed The Hunger Games. Chee Teng's folder for submission is pretty cool/cute. It said "I hereby declare that by submitting my document, I agree that Mr Chee Teng is the coolest lecturer". Well, we had to submit our assignments, so the coolest lecturer he is.
For the Media Entrepreneurship, I interviewed Wei Jian's girlfriend, Jessica, and researched on her blogshop, RackSpaceProject. (rackspaceproject.blogspot.sg) I kind of screwed up in the Q&A segment for the presentation. You must be thinking that Q&A is something that you can't screw up; Apparently, you can screw it up if you answer "I don't know" more than once.
And then there's the iBook project and FYP, both which I'm really enthusiastic about. I mean, come on, we are publishing our own eBook! :D And creating a TV show.
The day when "you like it?" becomes sexual (Thursday)
Spent the morning lazing around even though I hate wasting time. Afternoon was FYP tutorial, in which we had to give feedback for one another's ideas. This stage never fails to drain all my energy and positive emotions away. Rejections and rejections.
Then, met up with the bros + sis to have Chisozanmai! Unfortunately, Wai Min, Joshua, and Ru Wen could not make it, so it was Jt, Guang Yi, Zi Xing, Wei Jian, and me. Chisozanmai was great. Orgasmic food, nice environment, nice window seat, good variety of food. Best buffet I've had so far. Threw away all my gastric-caused restrictions and just went crazy on the food. I'm not regretting it, and it was awesommme. By the way, it was meant to celebrate Jt's birthday. Got her a 'The Hobbit' book - glad she liked it :)
And also finally bought 'Dishonored'. Why was everything just so right? Maybe I went a little crazy. Due to Zi Xing's story about his classmate poking people's armpits gayly and asking "you like it?", we went a little weird with the whole poking at random holes and asking "you like it?" thing.
And we created a Wong Zi Xing fan club.
The day when I became Asier Sai Han Don (Friday)
Due to drinking mocha + teh tarik at night, plus my sensitivity towards caffeine, I couldn't sleep at night actually, and only finally collapsed at 6am. Woke up early to gym with my sister. Spent the rest of the afternoon doing CNG. Rushed out all the colouring so that I don't have to worry about my part anymore. Now I can gloat over that fact that it's my groupmates' turns to be busy, before I step in and help up wherever.
Met up with Jeanette and Jt in the evening. Caught up, learned that someone can procrastinate in the middle of exam, and I got a new name. I was wearing my "Easier said than done" shirt and a cardigan over it, so certain letters were blocked, which formed the words "Asier sai han don". And that became my name. I kind of like Asier as an English name, honestly.
And because I love sharing stories and Jt and Jeanette listen to my stories, I just had to get their input in my FYP concepts. Which helped so much. Went a little overboard with snacking - pizzas, cream puffs, and cakes. I feel like a prisoner who just released himself. Now I can eat all sorts of food, and I'm feeling really high about it.
After 2 hours, Syahindah and Li Yuan (Indah and Jean's JC friend) finally reached. After going back and forth, and long waits, we finally got into Swensens for our desperately-needed dinner. Also spammed ice cream. Celebrated Jt's birthday again, and chatted. It was generally a great day.
So, that's it for the week. Throughout this week, I had also been reading Percy Jackson (Lightning Thief). It was a fun read, though it was meant for children. Can't wait for Sea of Monsters to come out in the theatres. And I actually like both the book and the movie in different ways.
Yeah, I don't know how to end this post, so let's put an abrupt end to -
Labels: dtvm, family, mehmeh, pcap, teaching, things that happened
#44 The Second Year Ended
Wow, the remaining three weeks of the holidays (since my previous recount-type post) are over. I'm pretty excited for school, looking forward to FYP, and I'm sick of the holidays. No need for me to elaborate why.
A day in the holiday of me
Not so much happened these few weeks. My grandma came over more often and stayed over for 2 weekends in a row. Her presence kind of added live to my life, since I hardly met anyone this holiday. I'm pretty ashamed of myself, so I secretly hope that no one will ask me how my holiday was.
So my parents treated my grandma and us to Ding Tai Fung. I like these luxurious restaurant times. Good food and atmosphere.
Met up with Guang Yi, Jasmine, Wei Jian, and Joshua for badminton. Once.
Buddhist ceremony
Had some praying sessions the past weekend. I don't know what it's called in English, but it's fa hui in Chinese. These usually run for three days under huge tentages. At particular timings, people from my branch of Buddhism (mi jiao) who are interested will sign up, pray together, and receive the deities' blessings. As they are pretty rare, my parents usually sign up for them.
Since it's religious stuff, I shall not elaborate, but I do feel so much better after this whole thing.
Tuition
I guess I haven't been doing a good job for tuition, so the tutee's mum went heavy on implying it and said that if I could not discipline the tutee well, she would have no choice but to change the tutor. Throughout the week, I had indeed felt that I could not discipline the tutee. There were days when I was being so strict to him till he almost cry due to his attitude. There were also days when I couldn't be bothered as much. Gone are those days. I shall unleash my 'shut up and obey me' mode from now on.
Freshmen Orientation Programme
So I agreed to help Afiq to take photos for this year's CASS orientation programme. Honestly, I'll prefer not to elaborate on it because it was really boring for me, and I'm gaining nothing much out of it. This doesn't mean that the programme was boring. I think the organising committee did a good job. I felt bored because I wasn't a participant, and walking around and taking photos of people and their unwelcoming eyes isn't my idea of fun.
But on the good side, I get to meet my relatively warm juniors. Didn't talk much to them (it's hard for me and you'll never understand, okay.), but I guess I built a mild foundation with them. Shall get to know them better.
Just to mention, I was touched when Afiq and I were taking photos of the year 1 DTVM batch and Ms Gamar invited me into the photo as part of the "DTVM family". And some of the juniors reacted warmly. I mean, these are simple things. But these are exactly the kind of simple things that get to me.
So today, we got free entries to Gardens by the Bay's Flower Dome and Cloud Forest. The freshmen were suppose to just go there, enjoy themselves, and then spend some time painting a picture representing themselves and CASS.
The places were spectacular. Although we went there for work (kind of), at least we got to enjoy the scenery and stuff.
Last bits
Got our pretty hectic-looking timetable in which Monday was 9am-9.30pm for me, due to DTVM modules + my dip-plus. But Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays were pretty okay. We were told to form our FYP groups, so we did. I'm really satisfied with my group: Zhao Yi, Zi Wei, Wai Meng, Yvette, and me.
With that, we shall embark on another new semester. It's been quite long since I met my classmates. Let's hope this semester is a good one.
A day in the holiday of me
Not so much happened these few weeks. My grandma came over more often and stayed over for 2 weekends in a row. Her presence kind of added live to my life, since I hardly met anyone this holiday. I'm pretty ashamed of myself, so I secretly hope that no one will ask me how my holiday was.
So my parents treated my grandma and us to Ding Tai Fung. I like these luxurious restaurant times. Good food and atmosphere.
Met up with Guang Yi, Jasmine, Wei Jian, and Joshua for badminton. Once.
Buddhist ceremony
Had some praying sessions the past weekend. I don't know what it's called in English, but it's fa hui in Chinese. These usually run for three days under huge tentages. At particular timings, people from my branch of Buddhism (mi jiao) who are interested will sign up, pray together, and receive the deities' blessings. As they are pretty rare, my parents usually sign up for them.
Since it's religious stuff, I shall not elaborate, but I do feel so much better after this whole thing.
Tuition
I guess I haven't been doing a good job for tuition, so the tutee's mum went heavy on implying it and said that if I could not discipline the tutee well, she would have no choice but to change the tutor. Throughout the week, I had indeed felt that I could not discipline the tutee. There were days when I was being so strict to him till he almost cry due to his attitude. There were also days when I couldn't be bothered as much. Gone are those days. I shall unleash my 'shut up and obey me' mode from now on.
Freshmen Orientation Programme
So I agreed to help Afiq to take photos for this year's CASS orientation programme. Honestly, I'll prefer not to elaborate on it because it was really boring for me, and I'm gaining nothing much out of it. This doesn't mean that the programme was boring. I think the organising committee did a good job. I felt bored because I wasn't a participant, and walking around and taking photos of people and their unwelcoming eyes isn't my idea of fun.
But on the good side, I get to meet my relatively warm juniors. Didn't talk much to them (it's hard for me and you'll never understand, okay.), but I guess I built a mild foundation with them. Shall get to know them better.
Just to mention, I was touched when Afiq and I were taking photos of the year 1 DTVM batch and Ms Gamar invited me into the photo as part of the "DTVM family". And some of the juniors reacted warmly. I mean, these are simple things. But these are exactly the kind of simple things that get to me.
So today, we got free entries to Gardens by the Bay's Flower Dome and Cloud Forest. The freshmen were suppose to just go there, enjoy themselves, and then spend some time painting a picture representing themselves and CASS.
The places were spectacular. Although we went there for work (kind of), at least we got to enjoy the scenery and stuff.
Last bits
Got our pretty hectic-looking timetable in which Monday was 9am-9.30pm for me, due to DTVM modules + my dip-plus. But Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays were pretty okay. We were told to form our FYP groups, so we did. I'm really satisfied with my group: Zhao Yi, Zi Wei, Wai Meng, Yvette, and me.
With that, we shall embark on another new semester. It's been quite long since I met my classmates. Let's hope this semester is a good one.
Labels: dtvm, family, things that happened
#43 End of Third
Well, the holidays haven't been that much of a splash for me. If anything, it was pretty depressing, not that school can kill the depressing-ness of it all. At least I'll feel more productive and existent if there's school, though.
So basically, I didn't really exist during this holiday, besides to my family. Haven't been going out because I have little friends and my closer friends are committed to other stuffs like their final year project or internship. No job, no community involvement stuffs (as if I ever had anything), and basically I've been rotting away.
I still had my tuition, though. It's not really a relief because each week I just get more and more pissed. I finally talked to the child's parents about his attitude, not because I wanted them to punish him, but because I feel like a freaking useless tutor and felt the need to justify my uselessness.
Went out for family dinners at Dian Xiao Er and tze char. Grandma came over last Sunday.
Once per week, or somewhere around there, had dinner with Guang Yi, Jt, Wei Jian and/or Joshua once. Chinese doctor every 3 days. That is how the clinic works.
And then there was the DTVM Awards. My duty was an iPad Manager, which sounds quite cool. Basically Avelin and I just did tedious things like downloading an app for viewing videos, rearrange apps, close notifications, and stuffs that I can no longer remember. The night itself was quite atmospheric. Half of my class managed to churn out a performance at the last minute, which kind of worked out fine.
Also had class outing. Sakura with DTVM/02 + Esman and Chee Teng :) I ignored the fact that I couldn't drink too much coffee and just went for it anyway. Great lunch, and quite a relaxing session of chilling and chatting.
Today, went to roller blade at Bishan Park with Guang Yi and Joshua. Felt like a little bit of freedom. Haven't been so tired for so long, it's fun. Also learned a little about longboarding from Joshua. Shall steal his longboard to try out more often.
For the rest of the rotting time, I had been watching lots of movies and shows, playing some games, and reading some books. Feel that as a writing student, it's a given that I should be exposed to lots of all these things. I've fell in love with 'The Office' (US show) and 'The Lorien Legacy' (book series about aliens).
Been playing Ni No Kuni, which was pretty fine, though I kind of got bored of it and went back to Dark Souls. The intensity just came back all of a sudden.
Maybe I should visit one friend in his school/work per day. Refuse to work. I just want to spend the holiday nicely :/
So basically, I didn't really exist during this holiday, besides to my family. Haven't been going out because I have little friends and my closer friends are committed to other stuffs like their final year project or internship. No job, no community involvement stuffs (as if I ever had anything), and basically I've been rotting away.
I still had my tuition, though. It's not really a relief because each week I just get more and more pissed. I finally talked to the child's parents about his attitude, not because I wanted them to punish him, but because I feel like a freaking useless tutor and felt the need to justify my uselessness.
Went out for family dinners at Dian Xiao Er and tze char. Grandma came over last Sunday.
Once per week, or somewhere around there, had dinner with Guang Yi, Jt, Wei Jian and/or Joshua once. Chinese doctor every 3 days. That is how the clinic works.
And then there was the DTVM Awards. My duty was an iPad Manager, which sounds quite cool. Basically Avelin and I just did tedious things like downloading an app for viewing videos, rearrange apps, close notifications, and stuffs that I can no longer remember. The night itself was quite atmospheric. Half of my class managed to churn out a performance at the last minute, which kind of worked out fine.
Also had class outing. Sakura with DTVM/02 + Esman and Chee Teng :) I ignored the fact that I couldn't drink too much coffee and just went for it anyway. Great lunch, and quite a relaxing session of chilling and chatting.
Today, went to roller blade at Bishan Park with Guang Yi and Joshua. Felt like a little bit of freedom. Haven't been so tired for so long, it's fun. Also learned a little about longboarding from Joshua. Shall steal his longboard to try out more often.
For the rest of the rotting time, I had been watching lots of movies and shows, playing some games, and reading some books. Feel that as a writing student, it's a given that I should be exposed to lots of all these things. I've fell in love with 'The Office' (US show) and 'The Lorien Legacy' (book series about aliens).
Been playing Ni No Kuni, which was pretty fine, though I kind of got bored of it and went back to Dark Souls. The intensity just came back all of a sudden.
Maybe I should visit one friend in his school/work per day. Refuse to work. I just want to spend the holiday nicely :/
Labels: dtvm, family, teaching, things that happened
#40 Redo Anew
Initially, I thought this was going to be a tough period of time since things became awkward among my siblings, my cousins, and I, but I guess everyone's trying to gain back that friendship we used to have. Or maybe everyone just became shy and tried to open up a little. Nonetheless, it was a pretty good Chinese New Year.
On Saturday, unlike usual, we did not have reunion dinner at home with just my immediate family. My maternal ahma was becoming old and tired so my mum decided to head to her house to help her cook. We spent the rest of the time watching TV and I did some school work since it was pretty boring. But then, my only younger cousin within age range (Kim Cheng) started talking to us again, so I guess that's good news. Caught up and realise that she's also in a media course, and she seems pretty passionate about what she does, which is a great thing in my opinion.
On Sunday, met up with my elder cousin within age range (Ping Cheng) with my siblings to watch Journey to the West. We all (who stopped talking) started talking again, albeit it's as if we've never met for a long time. But that's still good news. Journey to the West was great. It was funny and the acting was great.
Went to ahma's house together after that to have dinner and get hong baos (red packets). Since it was pretty boring, we all went downstairs for a walk cum buy drinks together. We = Ping Cheng, Kim Cheng, my sister, my brother, Kenneth, Flora (cousins), and I. Took a group photo (I think we haven't took one for almost 19 years) and hanged around to talk again.
Talked to my uncle about photography, since my brother and Kim Cheng were seemingly passionate about it. And, as usual, I got inspired, though this inspiration was not changed into action.
On Monday, went to ahma's house again and watched this weird b-grade Hansel and Gretel movie which my uncle downloaded (not Witchhunters). It was just so weird. The Hansel's leg got attacked by a bear trap, and then he got stabbed in the heart, and then he got bewitched and started eating his own hands, and then he started pulling out his own intestines to try eat them, and then his intestines got stuck to the wall, so he forcibly plucked it out, and then in the next scene, his hands and intestines and everything is in perfect condition, but he's still limping because of the bear trap.
Anyway, went to play basketball with Ping Cheng, my siblings and my sister's boyfriend after that. Just played ABC and Horse, and got into some awkward positions to throw the ball.
Asked Kim Cheng to join us and then played cards downstairs. Punished one another for losing. It was pretty funny. With that, we returned home.
And let's go back to why this year's CNY is good, in terms of my stomach (see, I have to link everything to my stomach). According to Chinese Medicine, I have to eat a lot less CNY snacks than usual. Sadly. BUT, CNY snacks are often consumed after CNY, so I still have my chances!
Today marked the end of my family's visits to ahma's house. There will still be some celebrations with friends for me, I guess, but those are after school reopen. It's quite sad that there's work to do and that there's freaking submissions this Friday, next Monday, next Wednesday, and next Friday. But that's not even all.
So I guess it's back to weaving SII's dream.
On Saturday, unlike usual, we did not have reunion dinner at home with just my immediate family. My maternal ahma was becoming old and tired so my mum decided to head to her house to help her cook. We spent the rest of the time watching TV and I did some school work since it was pretty boring. But then, my only younger cousin within age range (Kim Cheng) started talking to us again, so I guess that's good news. Caught up and realise that she's also in a media course, and she seems pretty passionate about what she does, which is a great thing in my opinion.
On Sunday, met up with my elder cousin within age range (Ping Cheng) with my siblings to watch Journey to the West. We all (who stopped talking) started talking again, albeit it's as if we've never met for a long time. But that's still good news. Journey to the West was great. It was funny and the acting was great.
Went to ahma's house together after that to have dinner and get hong baos (red packets). Since it was pretty boring, we all went downstairs for a walk cum buy drinks together. We = Ping Cheng, Kim Cheng, my sister, my brother, Kenneth, Flora (cousins), and I. Took a group photo (I think we haven't took one for almost 19 years) and hanged around to talk again.
Talked to my uncle about photography, since my brother and Kim Cheng were seemingly passionate about it. And, as usual, I got inspired, though this inspiration was not changed into action.
On Monday, went to ahma's house again and watched this weird b-grade Hansel and Gretel movie which my uncle downloaded (not Witchhunters). It was just so weird. The Hansel's leg got attacked by a bear trap, and then he got stabbed in the heart, and then he got bewitched and started eating his own hands, and then he started pulling out his own intestines to try eat them, and then his intestines got stuck to the wall, so he forcibly plucked it out, and then in the next scene, his hands and intestines and everything is in perfect condition, but he's still limping because of the bear trap.
Anyway, went to play basketball with Ping Cheng, my siblings and my sister's boyfriend after that. Just played ABC and Horse, and got into some awkward positions to throw the ball.
Asked Kim Cheng to join us and then played cards downstairs. Punished one another for losing. It was pretty funny. With that, we returned home.
And let's go back to why this year's CNY is good, in terms of my stomach (see, I have to link everything to my stomach). According to Chinese Medicine, I have to eat a lot less CNY snacks than usual. Sadly. BUT, CNY snacks are often consumed after CNY, so I still have my chances!
Today marked the end of my family's visits to ahma's house. There will still be some celebrations with friends for me, I guess, but those are after school reopen. It's quite sad that there's work to do and that there's freaking submissions this Friday, next Monday, next Wednesday, and next Friday. But that's not even all.
So I guess it's back to weaving SII's dream.
Labels: family, health, things that happened
#33 A Week With Company
This week had been more holiday-ish. At least I got to go out more often.
On Monday, my parents decided to accompany me to Ang Moh Kio Polyclinic to get a doctor to refer me to do a scope as my family doctor had instructed. It was a long wait but the doctor seemed to know very clearly what he was doing. So apparently, I can't eat oily, milky, spicy, acidic, and unhealthy foods, which somehow included chocolates and fruits (they are acidic). No fruit juice, coffee, tea, milo, and gassy drinks. Basically, I can only drink water. But I shall look at the bright side, because this experience will teach me to manage my diet, a skill I really need. After I recover, I shall control what I eat and go for protein-rich foods and stuffs. And I get to train myself to not drink coffee, appreciate non-exhausting activities (my stomach will hurt when I exercise), and I'll probably get used to it before I recover. So my next medical appointment is halfway through January, and only then will the final decision be made as to whether I get "scope" or not. In the meantime, I'm mostly a healthy person.
On Tuesday, I went to Guang Yi's house to play because I was bored and no one else was free. Brought games and played with his newly-bought PS3. Naruto-ed and played games like Prototype 2 and Resident Evil 6. Resident Evil has changed so much since the older installments, such as 1 or 2 or 3. I kind of miss those.
Wednesday
Went out with the mehmehs. This time, only Wei Jian was not there because he went to Bangkok. According to them, recently many people they know are going to Bangkok. I didn't agree yesterday, but I agree today because Yvette just came back from Bangkok too :/ But anyway, it's quite rare that even the legendary Wai Min came.
Wanted to have our dinner at Sauce Bar and they wanted to drink. I obviously can't because of my stomach, so I was just intending to have dinner there. But, the promotion we were all expecting them to have was for another day, so we changed to Secret Recipe instead. Had a healthy-enough meal, grilled chicken with mushroom sauce (it's the healthiest there is) along with Shepherd's pie. Apparently, Ru Wen was stuck playing Mahjong with her friends and ended up super late.
Watched The Hobbit after that. It was much nicer than I expected. I think it's better than Lord of The Rings. Surprised Guang Yi with a cake (his birthday was two weeks ago). Ru Wen, Wai Min, and Jt wanted to "walk around" in Avalon since Ru Wen hadn't been to a club and it's Lady's Night anyway, meaning they get to enter for free. They ended up drinking while the guys waited outside. They rushed out soon, and we rushed to take a rather fail group photo, before rushing to the MRT to catch the last train.
Thursday
Woke up early and headed to school early to meet Zhao Yi and Yvette to hang out before heading for the YMAC event to report. It's for our Total Journalism assignment. 5 of us in class had to cover an event, as in write an article about it. Chatted for a while and then headed to T1A to get our media tags from Ms Gamar (I feel like we are real reporters :D even though we're fake ones D:). Covering an event is pretty confusing. I feel lost 30% of the time. Luckily I know some people there, so I could "join in the fun". Zi Wei came shortly after.
Anyway, lots of familiar faces. Xun Quan was there too. He's in the organising committee. Xun Quan was my secondary 2 best friend, so it was quite interesting to see him there. In fact, I actually expected him to be there because I saw his face in the background of one of Matin's photos. Naturally, we caught up a bit.
So the event was about what the students taking part of the event want Singapore to become in 2030. It's a Youth-ASEAN thing in which they take part in the discussion of ASEAN issues and Singaporean issues. So, they did this "design thinking" kind of thing and then presented their discussion to Minister Lawrence Wong. There was this guy who was trying so hard to fake that "confident politician" accent -.-
They had a discussion forum in which people voiced their opinions on Singapore issues and policies. Issues like foreign workers (once again), polytechnic transport fees, and some others were brought up. People got agitated, especially that "confident politician accent" guy. Honestly, some were quite rude and kept questioning Mr Wong in a loud and rude manner. Some were calm and cool.
Anyway, back to the topic of my article, today is information overload. I'm probably going to be stuck for a while before any words come out :/
On a random note, today is the day when I finally get why my course lent us the iPad. It really helped tons in today's event. And on another random note, the game Wimp finally updated and there's a new world :D
On Monday, my parents decided to accompany me to Ang Moh Kio Polyclinic to get a doctor to refer me to do a scope as my family doctor had instructed. It was a long wait but the doctor seemed to know very clearly what he was doing. So apparently, I can't eat oily, milky, spicy, acidic, and unhealthy foods, which somehow included chocolates and fruits (they are acidic). No fruit juice, coffee, tea, milo, and gassy drinks. Basically, I can only drink water. But I shall look at the bright side, because this experience will teach me to manage my diet, a skill I really need. After I recover, I shall control what I eat and go for protein-rich foods and stuffs. And I get to train myself to not drink coffee, appreciate non-exhausting activities (my stomach will hurt when I exercise), and I'll probably get used to it before I recover. So my next medical appointment is halfway through January, and only then will the final decision be made as to whether I get "scope" or not. In the meantime, I'm mostly a healthy person.
On Tuesday, I went to Guang Yi's house to play because I was bored and no one else was free. Brought games and played with his newly-bought PS3. Naruto-ed and played games like Prototype 2 and Resident Evil 6. Resident Evil has changed so much since the older installments, such as 1 or 2 or 3. I kind of miss those.
Wednesday
Went out with the mehmehs. This time, only Wei Jian was not there because he went to Bangkok. According to them, recently many people they know are going to Bangkok. I didn't agree yesterday, but I agree today because Yvette just came back from Bangkok too :/ But anyway, it's quite rare that even the legendary Wai Min came.
Wanted to have our dinner at Sauce Bar and they wanted to drink. I obviously can't because of my stomach, so I was just intending to have dinner there. But, the promotion we were all expecting them to have was for another day, so we changed to Secret Recipe instead. Had a healthy-enough meal, grilled chicken with mushroom sauce (it's the healthiest there is) along with Shepherd's pie. Apparently, Ru Wen was stuck playing Mahjong with her friends and ended up super late.
Watched The Hobbit after that. It was much nicer than I expected. I think it's better than Lord of The Rings. Surprised Guang Yi with a cake (his birthday was two weeks ago). Ru Wen, Wai Min, and Jt wanted to "walk around" in Avalon since Ru Wen hadn't been to a club and it's Lady's Night anyway, meaning they get to enter for free. They ended up drinking while the guys waited outside. They rushed out soon, and we rushed to take a rather fail group photo, before rushing to the MRT to catch the last train.
Thursday
Woke up early and headed to school early to meet Zhao Yi and Yvette to hang out before heading for the YMAC event to report. It's for our Total Journalism assignment. 5 of us in class had to cover an event, as in write an article about it. Chatted for a while and then headed to T1A to get our media tags from Ms Gamar (I feel like we are real reporters :D even though we're fake ones D:). Covering an event is pretty confusing. I feel lost 30% of the time. Luckily I know some people there, so I could "join in the fun". Zi Wei came shortly after.
Anyway, lots of familiar faces. Xun Quan was there too. He's in the organising committee. Xun Quan was my secondary 2 best friend, so it was quite interesting to see him there. In fact, I actually expected him to be there because I saw his face in the background of one of Matin's photos. Naturally, we caught up a bit.
So the event was about what the students taking part of the event want Singapore to become in 2030. It's a Youth-ASEAN thing in which they take part in the discussion of ASEAN issues and Singaporean issues. So, they did this "design thinking" kind of thing and then presented their discussion to Minister Lawrence Wong. There was this guy who was trying so hard to fake that "confident politician" accent -.-
They had a discussion forum in which people voiced their opinions on Singapore issues and policies. Issues like foreign workers (once again), polytechnic transport fees, and some others were brought up. People got agitated, especially that "confident politician accent" guy. Honestly, some were quite rude and kept questioning Mr Wong in a loud and rude manner. Some were calm and cool.
Anyway, back to the topic of my article, today is information overload. I'm probably going to be stuck for a while before any words come out :/
On a random note, today is the day when I finally get why my course lent us the iPad. It really helped tons in today's event. And on another random note, the game Wimp finally updated and there's a new world :D
Labels: dtvm, family, health, mehmeh, things that happened
#29 People in Our Lives
Been feeling rather down recently. Even though I'm aware of it, I just keep thinking pessimistically. Most things are fine, I just keep being afraid that one day I'll lose the things I have, especially my family. I don't know why.
I feel like my parents have done so much for my siblings and I. When I was sick, they just spent the unreasonable amount of money to give me an injection and now when they know I'm not recovered yet, they offered again. And of course there are many other things they do that I take for granted. I shall not do that.
Now I'm not even sure if I'm recovered or not. Just 2 days ago, my stomach discomfort kind of reached its peak. Today, it felt like there's nothing going on. I really don't know. Shall wait and see and continue eating healthy in the meantime.
Saturday
Even though it was a Saturday, I didn't have tuition because I had school. Went to school to edit some Escapade video with Avelin and Zhao Yi. Learnt some new stuffs about editing and filming in the process. It felt quite nice having a room to ourselves and chatting and all that. All in all, it was quite fun.
Ms Gamar was also there, so we were sharing stories about weird and rude people. Quite funny. The staff gave us free lunch and dinner and they were nice to us. Ms Gamar also offered to send us to the station and send Avelin home.
Sunday
We were supposed to go filming at Serangoon Garden. We did went to Serangoon Garden, but it was raining, so we didn't film in the end. Just did a few interviews in some Taekwondoe place and planned some stuff. Quite concerned about our progress.
Monday
Had the whole WPD lesson in the Writers' Room. I missed this room :) Anyway, we did some need analysis on our stakeholders for the insurance website. We were laughing at things we were not suppose to laugh at, but it's funny. Created a persona and finalised our need. We seem to be progressing fine with this CA.
Had psychology after that. Learnt about person-centered therapy. This week we did actually learn about the therapy itself besides the theory. Basically, it works by being a non-judgemental and nice companion to the client. It's a very gentle way to counseling.
There's this part about empathy, in which we have to feel what the other person is feeling. Quite difficult. Had to identify someone's emotions and concerns based on very fact-based information. Also played this game where we had to identify emotions based on simple scenarios. All the chim emotions came out. Couldn't identify words like apprehensive, hysterical, and uplifted because they are just not normal vocabulary -.- The person letting my group guess was like "when the lift go up, what do you feel?" for uplifted.
Tuesday
Had Documentary Making instead of Writing for Interactive Media. It was a lot about analysing documentaries. Watched this film about a mentally retarded guy (Philly) and his family. It's touching how the family remain so united with this condition. Philly's parents seem to love him a lot and he loves them in return. Quite sad when he had to separate from them because he knew they were going to die of old age sooner or later.
Went to Holland Village for lunch with Mj, Cx, and Zi Wei. Ate some very milky pasta and Mj and Zi Wei got so amazed by some things sold in 7-eleven o.o
Headed home after that. Took a nap and then did some work for my website assignment. I'm so satisfied with my layout. It's the best I've done, I dare say, and I spent lots of effort. Now I'm mentally drained. Pardon if some parts of this post doesn't make sense because I can't think properly.
I feel like my parents have done so much for my siblings and I. When I was sick, they just spent the unreasonable amount of money to give me an injection and now when they know I'm not recovered yet, they offered again. And of course there are many other things they do that I take for granted. I shall not do that.
Now I'm not even sure if I'm recovered or not. Just 2 days ago, my stomach discomfort kind of reached its peak. Today, it felt like there's nothing going on. I really don't know. Shall wait and see and continue eating healthy in the meantime.
Saturday
Even though it was a Saturday, I didn't have tuition because I had school. Went to school to edit some Escapade video with Avelin and Zhao Yi. Learnt some new stuffs about editing and filming in the process. It felt quite nice having a room to ourselves and chatting and all that. All in all, it was quite fun.
Ms Gamar was also there, so we were sharing stories about weird and rude people. Quite funny. The staff gave us free lunch and dinner and they were nice to us. Ms Gamar also offered to send us to the station and send Avelin home.
Sunday
We were supposed to go filming at Serangoon Garden. We did went to Serangoon Garden, but it was raining, so we didn't film in the end. Just did a few interviews in some Taekwondoe place and planned some stuff. Quite concerned about our progress.
Monday
Had the whole WPD lesson in the Writers' Room. I missed this room :) Anyway, we did some need analysis on our stakeholders for the insurance website. We were laughing at things we were not suppose to laugh at, but it's funny. Created a persona and finalised our need. We seem to be progressing fine with this CA.
Had psychology after that. Learnt about person-centered therapy. This week we did actually learn about the therapy itself besides the theory. Basically, it works by being a non-judgemental and nice companion to the client. It's a very gentle way to counseling.
There's this part about empathy, in which we have to feel what the other person is feeling. Quite difficult. Had to identify someone's emotions and concerns based on very fact-based information. Also played this game where we had to identify emotions based on simple scenarios. All the chim emotions came out. Couldn't identify words like apprehensive, hysterical, and uplifted because they are just not normal vocabulary -.- The person letting my group guess was like "when the lift go up, what do you feel?" for uplifted.
Tuesday
Had Documentary Making instead of Writing for Interactive Media. It was a lot about analysing documentaries. Watched this film about a mentally retarded guy (Philly) and his family. It's touching how the family remain so united with this condition. Philly's parents seem to love him a lot and he loves them in return. Quite sad when he had to separate from them because he knew they were going to die of old age sooner or later.
Went to Holland Village for lunch with Mj, Cx, and Zi Wei. Ate some very milky pasta and Mj and Zi Wei got so amazed by some things sold in 7-eleven o.o
Headed home after that. Took a nap and then did some work for my website assignment. I'm so satisfied with my layout. It's the best I've done, I dare say, and I spent lots of effort. Now I'm mentally drained. Pardon if some parts of this post doesn't make sense because I can't think properly.