sun, sand, sea and (yuicks!) screaming girls
went to a man-made beach today and did some sea swimming, which was cool. not as fun as if there were proper waves, but still, for any suffering you put yourself through, its because you know there is something worth it. The suffering - a dozen or so *screaming* teenage girls. and more. still, you can't complain - the sun was out (a rare occurence in this bloody monsoon season), and my back feels nice (er - maybe not) and hot now, which must mean that i probably got a bit of a tan. hopefully looking healthier, which will complement my feeling happier this weekend. it's funny now that we're leaving, there is more to do. also found out that N doesn't like sand - which kind of surprised me. the funnier thing was that there was this used pink condom floating near the shoreline. wonder how many since G's series of photographs. LOL guess that's the real sex on the beach for you.
Reading: Yukio Mishima's "The Temple of the Golden Pavilion"
Listening to: CC's "Accidentally in Love" repeatedly + other CC songs "live" (this should give you a pretty good idea of how much i want to be at one of their concerts)
Planning: (none)
No more space on the book shelves, just ran out of diet coke. soon running out of vodka. also played a game of "Call of Cthulhu" - pretty cool and as with most games, i beat N. :-)
NOTICE OF APPOINTMENT
ok - so i got this "ON GOVERNMENT SERVICE" note yesterday from the Elections Department. Apparently, they are pleased to inform me that i have been selected to *serve* as a PRESIDING OFFICER in the GC led by our most-beloved MINISTRY. Why don't they know that i'm not pleased? Is this some kind of sabotage by my bosses?
Did anyone else get this???!!!
Not amused.
untitled #4
some days you feel great, like you have all the love in the world. some days you feel like shit.
sometimes i think it would be nice to be in that empty well in Murakami's Wind-Up Bird Chronicle - away from the world. that way its all easier, you don't have to see anyone or talk to anyone. you wouldn't need to worry about what you say or what you do, and if that would hurt anyone. and it wouldn't matter if time passes at all.
when the effect of the vodka wears off, you try hard to remember the last emotion you had. when you can't recall and it all fades into nothingness, it can be really scary. you start to wonder if perhaps you are slowly going insane, or perhaps, just perhaps, you've had too much to drink.
another CC post (well, mostly)
the rain is falling incessantly. makes it feel like christmas - december.
CC song - they never fail to play it every december on the radio. there's this live version i recently listened to.
it starts off like this -
its been a long day this thursday, got a long long way to go
its been a long time since you've come by
i only know the things that i know.
had a bad month in september
october scared the hell out of me
i get lonely in november
but december's where i want to be.
- a long december. that's what i'd really like
2046 (hope no spoiler)
caught 2046 today. little bit disappointed. the first thing i noticed was that Tony Leung's voice had been dubbed over. i always wondered - how do they do it? one of them speaking in cantonese, the other in chinese, and they're still supposed to convey the exact emotions intended? i suppose its a bit like talking to grandparents... but still, i feel a bit cheated.
and then the actresses - they are just too glamorous in real life to be in 60's hairdo. thought they looked ridiculous, but i guess its just me not being used to seeing them in that style. doesn't suit them ;-)
also don't think the whole sci-fi thing fit well into the film. all a bit weird, but this is not to say that the film doesn't have its merits. lots of nice looking shots that work well as photographs + good soundtrack. very visual and of course, you can't leave out Tony Leung. ;-)
anyway, did the walk from Lido through BG, to SMU then did 20 laps at the pool. i'm getting used to this routine. it's really good. so if anyone wants to join me after their crazy marking, etc period, let me know. it will be fun.
i need more space!
... on my ipod. less than 10GB to go, at least 200 CD's left. what to do?
(for once, "what to do" is not rhetorical) :
1. be selective. don't put all the cd's on
2. be optimistic and hope that all the remaining CD's are singles. (no chance!)
3. split the CD's between the ipod and the mini (that's just not going to work with a mini, is it?)
4. buy a new 40GB 4G ipod
i like option 4. but do i really need to spend over $700 for yet another ipod? i know they are nice, but does not having enough space on one justify the purchase of another better, slimmer, more spacious model that doesn't have batteries that are slowly dying?
i think the answer is glaring at me in the face. ;-)
Counting Crows
i have rediscovered the joy of listening to the live music of Counting Crows. i mean - i love this band. especially when they play live. when adam improvises on the songs, and you know that he is putting in 110% and you can *feel* how he *feels* through his voice. the irony? i have never seen them live.
missing their concert TWICE is not going to get me down. what's that they say? "third time lucky"? guess i'll just have to hold on to that and believe that i will get to see them, at least once in my lifetime.
more ipod reflections + N
the ipod is my best friend. well, *nearly* my best friend. it was there for me when N was away, it goes with me everywhere, so its not easy to try to do things without it. (like invigilation!!!)
when music (*nearly*) becomes your best friend and you have a really close relationship with your ipod (especially an intense one for more than 2 wks), you begin to live in the world of the music that you have gotten used to all day and night. so then after that, it becomes hard to adjust to the "real" world. Everything becomes surreal (like in a Murakami novel). you live in your head, and in the possibilities that life tempts you with, which you will never let yourself see.
its funny how some people don't get it. when i was at bo's on tuesday, i had my ipod on the whole time. (had last pool game on, didn't really want to go, N wasn't there, etc) and there were still guys who came up to try to talk to me even though the whole time i didn't say anything, just listening to my music. guess they must have been more drunk than i was.
on a different note, N is giving up alcohol. Seeing how he managed to give up smoking, i have confidence that he will make it. so friends, let us not lead him into temptation, but deliver him from evil. even if we can't do so ourselves. (actually, its just me ;-))
skinny-dipping
have i ever mentioned that i like skinny-dipping? the last time at M's old place, that brings back memories. We watched 2 films before that, Swimming with Sharks and the rather depressing Ice Storm. Then we walked *all the way* from town to her place at Thomson Rd. we drank her dad's nice wine, but it doesn't matter too much because he has a massive collection, and one bottle missing isn't going to give him too much grief. so we did in her swimming pool downstairs. it was funny because the whole time, moomoo thought that there was someone from the other apartment watching us, when i thought that it was just a cardboard man. what followed after was bloody nasty. but who else can i blame except myself? i took the bottle of vodka, opened up her fridge, found only milk and eggs. you can figure out for yourself what happened after. it was _not_ pleasant.
on a different note, vodka with wasabi is really nice. the two different tastes don't mix, and you can taste them one after the other. nice... (N, T and BK can probably testify to that. if it was as pleasant for them as it was for me. ;-))
what i'd really love is skinny-dipping, at night, in the sea, with nothing but the sound of waves and the fear that something might grip you from beneath.
"if you're lost, you can look and you will find me, time after time
if you fall, i will catch you, i'll be waiting, time after time"
losing weight and taylor guitars
my HOD said to me today, "you've lost a lot of weight!" - my reply, "3 weeks of being ill with a cold, that's how you do it." seriously, the cold that i've had (and N too) is just not fun. no appetite, no exercise. so i went swimming over the weekend, and got a tan. and i actually feel better for it.
i love swimming. i can do it for hours and hours. no bother about getting pruney. its great. have i mentioned that i clock about 25 mins for 20 laps of breaststroke? N says it should be about a minute per lap for freestyle, and seeing that freestyle is *much* faster than breaststroke, i don't think i'm doing too badly?
so i've been playing guitar to keep myself occupied (seeing that work is not really my cup of tea ;-) ) and do you realise, taylor guitars have got amazing sound? (Actually, tons of musicians around the world probably know that.) if i save up enough money, "i will buy myself a grey guitar and play". not really - i won't get a grey guitar. just a full-sized taylor guitar. ;-)
cheers.
mid-autumn's festival (kind of late, but anyways...)
so i thought i had to spend mid-autumn's alone, but luckily (or not), T managed to convince me to take my photos with me to objectifs for them to be criticised. honestly, i really didn't want to go. i was tired from setting papers and only wanted a quiet drink. but the prospect of having a drink with T at Liang Seah, not having to spend the night alone drinking made me drag myself down to objectifs. i am not going to talk about what happened at objectifs, except that T got delayed by broken down vehicle, and i left to go to bo's.
shared a taxi with a stranger, which was kind of funny, but in a nice way. she was getting into the cab as i got in, and so we just decided to share it. that was the only nice thing that happened from the trip to ob's.
bo's was fun. i had a good chat with B. (who happens to be a professional photographer). so he looked at my photos and was impressed. the best thing is that we kind of issued a challenge, and at the end of October, we're going to show our best 12 shots of the place. time to take the cameras out!
