New Song
Gold teeth and a curse for this town were all in my mouth.
Only, i don't know how they got out, dear.
Turn me back into the pet that i was when we met.
I was happier then with no mind-set.
And if you'd 'a took to me like
A gull takes to the wind.
Well, i'd 'a jumped from my tree
And i'd a danced like the king of the eyesores
And the rest of our lives would 'a fared well.
New slang when you notice the stripes, the dirt in your fries.
Hope it's right when you die, old and bony.
Dawn breaks like a bull through the hall,
Never should have called
But my head's to the wall and i'm lonely.
And if you'd 'a took to me like
A gull takes to the wind.
Well, i'd 'a jumped from my tree
And i'd a danced like the king of the eyesores
And the rest of our lives would 'a fared well.
God speed all the bakers at dawn may they all cut their thumbs,
And bleed into their buns 'till they melt away.
I'm looking in on the good life i might be doomed never to find.
Without a trust or flaming fields am i too dumb to refine?
And if you'd 'a took to me like
Well i'd a danced like the queen of the eyesores
And the rest of our lives would 'a fared well.
__________________________________________
I finally bought
Oh Inverted World by The Shins and it's really quite good. The best thing are the quirky/weird lyrics (example above) belied by the New Age spacey Simon&Garfunkel-meets-BeachBoys sound. Hmm!
Fabuloso 30th bday party for Faith
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Originally uploaded by F8th.Photos from Faith's bday party in August, yonks ago (Nat only uploaded these photos recently). I can't believe so many of us dressed up in costume! Your face is that big, Faith (I mean that in Chinese!) Heehee!
Spongebob is taken captive!
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Originally uploaded by F8th.
What the...??
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Originally uploaded by F8th.Frodo unleashes his daaark side...
Mummy awakened
Mummy awakened
Originally uploaded by F8th.Too scary!
Super... underwear
Super... underwear
Originally uploaded by F8th.
Stab
Stab
Originally uploaded by F8th.This is too funny. Cheerleader from Bring It On bites back!
There's Punggol... I mean, Mordor!
There's Punggol... I mean, Mordor!
Originally uploaded by F8th.Ah, my little hobbitses...
Just to clarify, Faith's party was aeons ago... It's just that SOMEBODY went to Thailand with these pics and only just gave them to Faith to uplod. Tsk. =)
Ramses and Lara
I love my Mummy!
Originally uploaded by F8th.In a weird alternate universe, Lara Croft and the mouldering, undead Imhotep from The Mummy fall in love.
Moral of the story...
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Originally uploaded by Phuazzie.You can try to take picture with chio girl, but chio girl might not want to see your face
Lucky Painful Boys
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Originally uploaded by Phuazzie.In spite of their attention-seeking behavior, I did want to take a picture with the Painful Boys, and I did! From top left, Edwin, Joshua, Christon, Lionel, Brian. Gals from left: Anlin, Minhui, me! After carolling, about 2.15am(!!!)
Gals... or not!
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Originally uploaded by Phuazzie.This is supposed to be a nice pic of 3 gals. But unbeknownst to us....
Beanie!
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Originally uploaded by Phuazzie.I like this pic. Although the beanie doesn't look like a beanie, it looks more like a hat on me... Anlin knitted the beanie all by her capable self for Andrew for Christmas (I got a peppermint pink-and-green capelet! Woo! pic coming forthwith), but Andrew think I look better with it, hence this pic! Don't I look so jap? Heh. Hats are nice for keeping your ears toasty.
Anyway, this pic was taken on a late-night carolling expedition. After the end of our church Christmas program (such a special event! I enjoyed it loads) we loaded onto a bus armed with music files and a guitar, and trawled, sometimes chatty, sometimes sleepy, accompanied by sugary food, through the dark streets of Singapore, to regale near-strangers with songs. Ok, the near-strangers are actually church members or friends of church members, but I didn't really know them well. At times we were overpowering (40 people crowded into one living room, singing to a family of 5!) but I think they enjoyed it, and we did too. Whee.
Innocent Baby Seal
Multimedia message
Originally uploaded by Phuazzie.Merry Xmas to one and all!!!
Green Frog
Multimedia message
Originally uploaded by Phuazzie.A cute little clay frog in the middle of lovely green leaves, in front of a neighbor's house.
Perfect Lunch at Corduroy & Finch
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Originally uploaded by Phuazzie.Wood-roasted chicken and mesculun salad. Yummy! I didn't know that the particular salad I like has a name, and the name is mesclun.. Here's the BBC Food definition: "This is the name given to a mixture of salad greens. The term comes from the Provençal word for 'mixture' and refers to a mix of young field greens such as wild and cultivated chicory, lamb's lettuce and dandelion leaves, but may also include rocket, chervil, purslane and oak leaf lettuce. The idea is to create a good balance of strong- and mild-flavoured greens."
That's what I like, the balance of strong- and mild-flavored greens. Normal salad as interpreted by most other eateries in Singapore are horribly bland and dominated by tasteless iceberg lettuce. Bleugh. Well, back to Corduroy & Finch. It's a very pretty place, they wisely designed the seating on the 2nd flooor as a loft, which gives it an airy, out-of-Singapore feel. Very nice. And full of Caucasians! Why?? It may be the special stuff like proper mesclun salad.
Naps
I just discovered a fantastic place in the middle of NUS for a short cat-nap. It was a bit hard to believe, cos my mental images of NUS are of hard concrete, brown floor tiles and outdated facades, but I did. It's actually a table-bench set on the corner of a corridor. It's a pretty busy corridor, but right now during the break not many people go by, and no one cares if you're lying flat on a bench, snoozing. Also the fact that it's on a corner of the 4th-storey means lots of cool cross breezes. One side abuts a green area of forest, and you can even hear cicadas chirping, buzzing or whatever you call it. When I closed my eyes I could almost imagine that I wasn't in NUS but rather on the hillside of Gunung Lemback in Malaysia. Nice.
Outdated Songs
One Fine DayOne fine day you'll look at me
And you will know our love was meant to be
One fine day you're gonna want me for your girl
The arms I long for will open wide
And you'll be proud to have me by your side
One fine day you're gonna want me for your girlThough I know you're the kind of boy
Who only wants to run around I'll keep waiting and someday darling
You'll come to me when you want to settle down Oh!One fine day we'll meet once more
And then you'll want the love you threw away before
One fine day you're gonna want me for your girl
_____________________________________________Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps (Quizas, Quizas, Quizas)You won't admit you love me
And so how am I ever to know?
You always tell me -- perhaps, perhaps, perhaps
A million times I've asked you,
And then I ask you over again
You only answer, "Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps."
If you can't make your mind up
We'll never get started,
And I don't wanna wind up
Being parted, broken-hearted.
So if you really love me
Say yes, but if you don't dear, confess
And please don't tell me, "Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps."
"Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps."
____________________________________________Get a grip girls! He's just not that into you!
Kindergartens
This is an open appeal for help. My supervisor is looking for a kindergarten for his adorable and precocious son (who's 4 this year), hopefully somewhere that's intellectually challenging, fun and not exorbitant (unlike certain schools in Singapore). Hygiene is important too, he went to an expensive one in Orchard today that didn't smell very nice (urgh!). So, anybody know of good schools? Did you like the kindergarten you attended? Do you think it doesn't make a squatload of difference?? Comments, tags, emails all welcome =)
Deliberately obfuscated post
Something has happened recently which might mean a drastic change in my life as society defines it. But I'm not afraid - nay, I'm excited! After all, it can't make me feel any worse than I already feel now (do I hear a small voice saying, "Famous last words"?) =)
Breakfast at Tiffany's
Breakfast at Tiffany's
Originally uploaded by Phuazzie.Brilliantly funny with a thrillingly romantic ending. It's just hard to resolve if anything in this movie could ever have happened the way it did. And it's very different from the book. The whole thing is made coherent and touching by Hepburn's vulnerable, innocent yet sassy and melancholic portrayal of Holly Golightly, as well as a lovely score. I always thought 'Moon River' was a terribly boring song, till I heard it in the film. Needless to say, I am now in love with the song, and even more firmly in love with Audrey Hepburn.
Moon River
Moon River, wider than a mile,
I'm crossing you in style some day.
Oh, dream maker, you heart breaker,
wherever you're going I'm going your way.
Two drifters off to see the world.
There's such a lot of world to see.
We're after the same rainbow's end--
waiting 'round the bend,
my huckleberry friend,
Moon River and me.
Vixens and Submissives
To clear up my opinion on a few comments on my tag-board recently, which started off with one comment on the image of Asian women in Western literature/media as sultry vixens. There definitely is a fantasy in the West which features Asian women as exotic, submissive sex objects. I've even read in Time that in Africa, if you're an Oriental lady you get a lot of rude, lascivious comments - the Africans perceive Oriental women as sex fiends because of the rife distribution of Japanese pornography there. Conversely, we may perceive Western women as sex fiends here in Singapore because of the image portrayed in popular TV shows and movies. But that's just what they are - fantasies and stereotypes. Speaking as a psychology major, we do learn that stereotypes are very powerful 'cognitive shortcuts' - when you don't have a lot of time to analyze a situation, you take a shortcut and make assumptions and judgments based on the stereotypes you have about a situation or type of people. For example, you behave in a very stereotypical fashion to board the train, you don't have to think about what you do, you perform a series of complicated actions very automatically because of the stereotype of the situation. But all of us must be careful to avoid stereotypes when it comes to forming opinions about other people.
Anyway, Sean, maybe you're right to say women shouldn't become too rebellious and difficult just because that's the way things seem to be swinging in these politically correct times, influence from the West or whatever. By "rebellious" I'll take it to mean being negative just to be contrary, and not for objective, justifiable reasons. Very few women I know are negative just to be contrary. Some of course (yours truly included) could definitely learn to be more tactful. But it's not an ideal to be submissive either. Submit to what? All of us, women or men, should have a good reason to do what we do, and we should choose what we do, not just go with the flow of whatever seems alright at the time. That's my main gist: the ideal is not just to embody someone's 'ideal' of a woman or man, but to develop your own idea of who you are, what your principles are, what's important to you, and then go about sticking to that.
If I have been very circular, feel free to let me know. *grin* Anyway, it's not an attack, Sean, I'm not saying you want us to be submissive and brainless. Just wanted to clarify what I felt on the subject =)
Jetty
Jetty
Originally uploaded by F8th.I didn't take this, but I wish I did. And I wish it had me in it! Somehow I wasn't in a photo-y mood during the Batam camp, I guess cos I knew the more photographically talented and equipped (hello Nikon D2's and D70's!) would do a better job than me anyhow =)
Tooth
A little update on the tooth (or recently achieved lack thereof): the swelling has completely gone down, and I've returned to chowing solid food (along with the usual or even slightly increased amount of chocolatey snacks *cringe*). I'm still a little ginger around the area though. heh. So don't hit me on my left cheek for a while. Heh!
Heartlanders
Last night, I paid a visit to my independent friend's rented flat in the boondocks, I mean, the first Housing Estate in Singapore *meaningful look*. No seriously, it's at a great location, super close to her workplace *2nd meaningful look* and really near to the MRT station. Since her online presence is sort of anonymous (a tenuous sort of), she shall be known as my independent friend henceforth. Doesn't it have a nice ring to it? Anyway, it's my 2nd time there and we're planning a party already! Woohoo! The great thing about no parents... Not that we're planning to do heinous things during this get-together, it's just that staying up and random spillages and messes when I and certain others encounter food and drink are so much less stressful than in a parent-ful house. Parents are great of course =) my independent friend and I concurred that however much they may annoy us at times, family is really important. Hurrah!
Anyway, I just came back from church camp at Batam. It was really nice to experience church and the company of family and friends away from Singapore for a while. I walked on the jetty during sunset, and it was awesome. Sea all around, green, fulsome kelp below and gorgeous colors playing off fantastical cloud-shapes in the sky above and around. A truly 3-D yet painting-like experience. A walk on the 2nd day to a further jetty was really nice too - we saw mudskippers (I was very proud to point them out and have my friends yelp in surprise as the previously camouflaged fish moved on the rocks) and crabs and other creatures - from a safe distance of course. We had entertainingly funny sermons too =) and pool games! Woohoo! The slight downer was that before the camp I had this romantic notion that I would find quiet spots on the island to ruminate and write in my diary - but I didn't. There were so many activities and people to talk to that I barely had time to sleep, let alone to think. Hmm. Nmind, I do value the time I got to spend with people on the camp. I will look for quiet spots in Singapore, the island that a friend of mine has so recently praised, to do my rumination. Another friend of mine who came to NUS on exchange would occasionally hop on the bus to Sentosa on a Friday afternoon and sit at the beach to read (and hopefully not get drunk). That sounds like a pretty cool idea, tho' it might cost $4 a trip including entry and bus fare. Heh.
Sideways
I just watched one of the more hyped small films of the year, Sideways. It is really good, and very funny. But I liked the talky bits even more than the funny bits. Wine and the business of wine-growing is used as a metaphor for life, its wonderful potential and the crushing disappointments that come as a result of high expectations. My favorite description of wine comes from Virginia Madsen's character, who says what she likes about wine is that it's constantly evolving - if you drink a bottle of wine today it will taste different than on any other day you'd decided to open it - and in that sense, a bottle of wine is alive (!). It's a much more optimistic view of wine, and ergo of life, than the character played by Paul Giamatti, whose life is symbolized by a prized '61 bottle of Pinot that he still has not opened, even though the current year is the peak in the life of that wine - after that, it'll just go down hill, slowly, inexorably. His view of life is failure and wasted potential and hence his predominant mood is self-deprecation and melancholy. The great thing about the movie is how the characters bump against each other and how the road trip of two buddies into wine country reveals the ugliness within themselves that each man was trying to escape. Hee. It's always good to think about new perspectives on life; that's what the best movies - and your best friends - gift to you.
