I finished reading The Book Thief yesterday.

To be very frank, I hated Diary of Anne Frank. It was boring and no matter how they say it was a wonderful book.A great classic. Blah de Blah. It just felt jarred and clumsy.

This was different though.Although it was 550 pages long, not one word was wasted,almost like every single word, no matter how insignificant, every "is" and the "was" weighed to see how much it would impact the entire book.

Story in Brief
In Germany, a girl is sent to live with foster parents.
She steals her first book on the way there."The Grave Diggers Handbook"
In the course of time when she arrives at her foster parent's door step and her village bombing she
-meets a boy
-hides a Jew
-writes a book

There is a thin balance between innocence and pure realistic misery here.

Reasons:
1.It's set in World War Two when Hitler lorded over Germany
2.Death is the Narrator

Death is a great narrator.If he wasn't already holding such an important job,I'm sure he would write or take a job manufacturing grim reapers.

By the way — I like this human idea of the grim reaper. I like the scythe. It amuses me

Sometimes,he is wonderfully whimsical without meaning to

She was a book thief
He stole the sky

It just carries so much, i can't possibly review it here without sounding like a dork.

I wanted to explain that I am constantly overestimating and underestimating the human race-that rarely do i ever simply estimate it.I wanted to ask her how the same thing could be so ugly and so glorious,and its words and stories so damning and brilliant.

I will end it here with two words for the book.

Brutal and Beautiful.

Sidenote:I need to own this book.

On the 29th of April 2007. At 8.13pm, with the ending credits of a movie rolling,the humidity pressing on.

I closed a book.

And then i sniffled.

Blogging is like talking to a room blindfolded.

You don't know if the room is empty.

You don't know if the response you are going to hear will be the voice of the audience
Or just your own echoing off the walls.

Scary uncertainty i suppose but its almost as much fun as falling into a rabbit hole and maybe landing up in Australia.

This post is overdue. Beware.Its a long post on Sports Day.(most of you were there but no harm in freshning up your memory)

I mean that literally. Oh and its a photoshop excercise.Lots of photos.Lots of manips.

You have been warned.

Begin:

A soggy shirt

A pair of rain soiled socks

Three mudane hours of lessons

Four crazy cheering houses

Five insane people who dashed across the wet wet road

And 369 pictures later.

I am drained.

but the pictures did come in handy.Will do an update on today tomorrow.

Beverly is unavalible today so i will be taking her place to update you on her alternate life.

So,today,i found something interesting.

Its a blog entry generator. For people who want to add spice in their lives but have no idea how to and instead trip and tumble over words.

I shall join the fray and use the blog generator. Life could always be more lively.

So here's what happened today according to my blog entry generator:


I was in my room this morning, doing some cleaning up, when a CHAO AH PEK come by and JUMP OUT FROM MY CUPBOARD!!!!!!!!!

I tried to be reasonable so I asked politely why he did that. But you know what the f***** did? HE IGNORED ME AND CONTINUE TO JUMP OUT FROM MY CUPBOARD!!!! I was going to confront the CHAO AH PEK further, but I was scared he might punch my fragile new fake nose, deforming it permanently and leaving me ugly forever. :( So I walked away quietly.SO ANGRY! I HOPE HE DROPS DEAD AND TWITCHES IN AGONY BEFORE HE DIES, THAT LOUSY, MUTHA******* CHAO AH PEK!

I am so f******* irritated with that CHAO AH PEK! So what if he is a CHAO AH PEK? Doesn't mean he can just JUMP OUT FROM MY CUPBOARD like that. If every single CHAO AH PEK come and JUMP OUT FROM MY CUPBOARD, I still need to live meh?!!

Quite eventful actually to think of it. I mean, who knew I could accomplish so much while Beverly was at school.

What?

Oh yes, Beverly will be returning shortly after Sports Day where she will witness primary kids singularly demolish her beautiful moonlight sewn wings.

And cry.

She promises that she will take pictures and post them here tomorrow. I wish she would stop using me as a stand in.

She really isn't treating you guys right. I mean who uses a stand in alter ego to blog for her while she does her maths. Completely unforgivable!

You should throw tomatoes at her.

All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players.
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages.
-- Jacques, As You Like It, Act 2 Scene 7

Funny how the title of this Shakespeare tale has almost no trace of actual Shakespearence taste we are used to.

Case in point-
Romeo and Juliet-Romantic
Midsummer Night's Dream- Who uses the phrase midsummer anymore?

In fact, it might even be a Chick Flick title and no one would be wiser.

Liked the bit about the man playing many parts because it still holds true you know.

Today, I painted butterflies while real flies tried to land in my mouth. I played with chemicals and set the science lab on fire-unstable electrons ,who knew?- and i took more pleasure in penciling in my answers and admiring the pictures in my UNSW then actually thinking about what i was doing.

All in my head.

SNCHOIR GOT GOLD WITH HONOURS.

YEY FOR THEM:):):):)

Ironside is out! Why isn't it in Singapore? Why does shipment take so damn long?

Insatiable need to read this.

This is awesome.

Edit/ Anyone noticed that as the films go on, the directors vanquishes the very idea of sunlight?

There was actual sun in Movies 1 and 2. A bit of sun in 3 and then there was absolutely not a scene with full sunlight in four.This doesn't look any better.Is it a reflection of how the smog in England is getting worst?

Collecting Clichés.

I want to do a whole list.Help me please?

I realised i haven't congratulated the SYF performing arts group. So...

I can't ever claim to understand what you guys do or why i am kinda affected by all the run on emotions during SYF. Case in point, when SNSO came back with a Gold with Honors, that really made the day.

You guys rock.

Edit/This post is two days late mainly because i forgot to post it on my main page.

Fully mortified myself today. Its one thing to do an eulogy but its different when there are no coffins around.

May my butchered speech Rest in Peace and find happiness in wherever dead speeches go.

---


Well thats done,can't say i will miss it. Another thing (or things depending on how you look at it) that is about to acquire wings are the Upper Primary Kids in our school.

You see, the theme allocated to Yellow house this year is Rain.

There is a huge secret i am about to divulge to you.

All upper primary kids are Rain Fairies.

Yes, it is the biggest gathering of Rain Fairies in the history of Rain Fairies. So huge that they are getting the Secondary girls to fix their wings for them, by force.

As the evil dictator said " Do them nicely or you know how they get. They will compare their wings.They will say "Eee...Why your one nicer then mine." Do you want them to think that you are mistreating them?"

God forbid they think that we are mistreating them.

So while they coo "Oooo... So pretty..."

We wrap their wings in silver moon beams (or as mortals call them, Aluminum foil) and sew strong cobwebs( straps) to produce the light fluttering wings.(disguised cardboard)
-----

I absolutely adore Mondays. Blue Mondays is a myth

Nothing counts on Monday because it’s the honeymoon day of the week. I don’t quite like Sundays even though some people really really love them. Sunday is uneasy like, sort of a queasy start to something that is not going to happen. Tuesdays are the worst because you’ve spent all the happy energy on Monday. Besides there are no fun lessons on Tuesday, Wednesdays are okay except they do get kind of long, just like its name. Thursday and Fridays can be lumped into one long day.

I still prefer Mondays.

I wish I could write a story, really wish I could but I can’t think of any adjectives right now. Vanessa laughed a lot today; I think someone decided to unscrew a few nails in her head. The hinges are loose in there, I swear. She asked me where I will be in 10 years and I said “I will probably still be studying.” Then added a spontaneous plan as an afterthought “I will meet the guy I like at 25, date for 3 years and then get married when I’m 28 and pop out a few babies when I’m 30.”

Vanessa found that funny, then she told Zhuwei, who proceeded to laugh. It’s not funny, not really. Vanessa will probably be a tai tai and sip tea with her pinky out. I told her so, but she didn’t hear the last part.

The staff room is dingy, our teachers deserve better. I find that our biology is quite sane, well as sane as one can get when they are reprimanding their computer.

Happy Energy.

A concise history of Singapore.

Why did we have to spend the last 5 years doing Social Studies and History of Singapore when we could have just spent 3 minutes listening to this?

Ps. My sister showed me this. She demands credit.So, in this sentence i shall hereby give credit to Tiffany for fully showing me this video.

It all boils down to this…

“You know…” my sister says, snipping at some swatch watch.

“I don’t know.”

She glares at me, while gluing on the swatch watch to blue paper “You look disgusting with that ponytail.”

“Oh.”

“Disgusting” is her new favourite catchphrase. She has used it twice in the last five minutes, once to describe my speech, the second time in reference to me singing.

She seems to want a stronger reaction.

“You look like that Flintstones girl”

I thought back dully to the other characters I had been referenced to this week, an abused child, an extra on the LotR set and my junior simply tugged the hair band out of my hair.

“ So?”

She brandishes the pink scissors in her hand quite menacingly.

“Take if off.”

“No.”

In the next minute, she proceeds to pull the hair band out of my hair and cuts it into two.

She holds it up quite triumphantly.


Now, my mum is yelling at my sister for damaging that hairband while I type this.

I didn’t know just tying up my hair would provoke such strong reactions.

“You suck” she is saying now while she swivels around in her swivel chair.

“Mmmhmm” I say

She’s breathing down my neck, I hate it when she peers over my shoulder.

“I am not breathing down your neck.”

“Yes,you are.” I type happily,bolding my words.

“You are not typing happily, you aren’t even smiling.”



“That’s lame.Seriously.”

It would be very cool if time stopped now.

Reasons being that there is a thunderstorm, and it's thundering.

When there's thunder,there's lightning. If time stopped now, a streak could get frozen. Lightening is always in such a hurry to be gone.

All that energy in one bolt from the sky. A single shard of natural electricity.

Or, the rain could freeze, suspended in the air. When you run through it, you could get yourself a rain imprint and look at how the perfect droplets splat.

Kinda beautiful, surreal and impossible.

Imagine everyone in the room is in their underwear.

That must be the singularly most insipid advice anyone can give.
(there are others too like You should never, ever try doing this but I ‘m not going to tell you what you’re not suppose to be doing so that you can go right ahead and do it anyway and find out about your mistakes later)

I don’t get it. Where does all this come from, was there really a person comfortable with imagining a room full of people wearing nothing but their underwear. Wouldn’t he/she have had to consider the brand of underwear people are wearing? Who needs that kind of pressure.

And that must be the silliest thing I’ve ever commented on.

Tying up my hair must have gotten some wires crossed.

Have you noticed how satisfying it is to drop your ice cream on the cement floor. Splat, and its instant art.

Oh, and how lower primary school kids bring the most ridiculously huge bags? The ratio is uneven. Its funny to see them totter though. Teeter teeter and plop.

Calvin:"I'm not going to do my maths homework. Look at
these unsolved problems. Here's a number in mortal combat with another. One of
them is going to get subtracted. But why? What will be left of him? If I
answered these, it would kill the suspense. It would resolve the conflict and
turn intriguing possibilities into boring old facts."

Hobbes: "I never really thought about the literary
possibilities of maths."

Calvin:"I prefer to savour the mystery."

I love Calvin and Hobbes.

Today was a one of those wonderfully weird days.

Stacy broke a pole.

Weng Jun Pole Danced.

Taiwan people graced our schools with the most enviable prep uniforms.

AND I GOT INTO CAP.

And there is always the perk that i haven't died and gone to heaven yet.

Basically hyperventilated when the Sec four girl came in and announced Beverly, Stacy and Yi Shu.

Stacy was all " I'm going to die if i don't get in"

Yi Shu just did what cookie monsters did.

We all got in. -sequels-

Spent the rest of the day just smiling like a dork.

Absolutely divine.

Browsing around when i found this

“Well, I didn’t turn my lights out,” I said, lowing my voice to a whisper, looking round, fearful of being overheard. “It’s not that I don’t want to save the environment, but these actions are freaky. It might start off as voluntary, but soon it will become compulsory, and then how long will it be before we are urged to report on neighbours who are seen to be disobeying the doctrine of environmentalism. I feel the need to start the resistance before this thing gets a hold.”

“It’s the birth of a new religion -- environmentalism,” I said.

We need to start a rebellion.

Lets go waste some paper.

There is a postcard on my desk. Its edges are bend and the bold white fonts scream:

Jolin's concert was great, I love Bausch & Lomb

That one sentence summarizes the concert, although the propaganda on Contact Lens Solution isn't part of what I feel.

When Zhu Wei asked why I was going to Jolin Tsai's concert in the first place when all I'm going to do is come back and criticize it, she was sort of right.

I did steel myself for the concert. Lets face it, its no secret that Singing isn't what it is all hyped up to be nowadays.

All i can say is this,Damn, that girl can sing. I was so shocked that for the first fifteen minutes that i kind of understood what it felt like being an animal caught in the glaring headlights of a car:

"I'm going to die. Ooh Pretty lights!"

Absolute terror and wonder at the same time.

Has anyone noticed how Singaporeans aren't very enthusiastic? If two girls were waving their hands wildly and screaming and blocking your view of the stage...

Would you not stand as well?

Its almost like the nation of Singapore missed "Attending a phenomenally successfully Pop star's concert 101".

You are supposed to let go, you are supposed to do what is not socially acceptable.

All they did was sit with crossed arms, lean back and stare at us as if we were interrupting a classical repertoire.

What did they teach in school during the prehistoric times?

The concert has proven something to me.

The existence of talent even in the murkiest, sweetest and commercialised stream of pop music.

“Tell him that we have fucking reprogrammed reality. Tell him that languageis a virus and that religion is an operating system and that prayers
are just so much fucking spam.”
p. 53, “American Gods” by Neil Gaiman.

I finished American Gods! Yes, at some point i was afriad to continue reading the whole book because well, it felt silly looking up the dictionary for some terms and finding out their meanings which made me blush.

Fantastic book anyhow, book reviews later and on yesterday's Jolin Dancing Diva concert, too rushed to say anything right now.

Hwa Chong has their own mugs.

White ones with the school logo embossed on it.

Upon seeing the mug i went, "Wow the school must have their own souvenir shop"

Weng Jun kindly informed me that, yes they do have their own souvenir shop and they even sell postcards.

Which begs the question.

Where is the St Nicholas Girl's gift shop?

So need to keep a Quotable Quotes book.

Stacy: Abigail said that gay people having sex is disgusting but obese
people having sex is also disgusting!

I think the aftermath of shock and hilarity is seriously too much to bear.

New class tee shirt designs:

T-Shirt Sample

It comes in punk, princess and emo either as a colour bar or individual.

I need comments! And if you think there are other genre of people that i can add.

Tag.

It used to be an uncomplicated world. First there was Male and Female.
I know, they used to have just those two sexes.

Then it branched out a little.
Homosexual. Bisexual. Transsexual.
Metrosexual. Which is another term for being in love with one's reflection.

Okay,fine.

THEN.

"Are you a technosexual?"

"A WHAT?!"

My father creases his brows and looks at the newspaper.

"Are you physically bold, but emotionally guarded?"

-backs off slowly-

See, this is where i draw the line.

Technosexuality according to wikipedia is:

Technosexual is a new word used to describe an individual in one of two ways:

1.A person (usually a male) with a strong aesthetic sense and a love of gadgets. In this sense, it is a portmanteau word combining "technophile" and "metrosexual", which was first promoted by creative professional Ricky Montalvo[1] to describe "a dandyish narcissist in love with not only himself, but also his urban lifestyle and gadgets; a straight man who is in touch with his feminine side but has fondness for electronics such as cell phones, PDAs, computers, software, and the web."[2]

2. A person with a sexual attraction to machinery, as in the case of robot fetishism. When used thusly, it is a portmanteau word combining "technophile" and "sexual". Occasionally, this term is used as an insult, implying in a derogatory way that a person would prefer a sex toy to an actual sexual partner.

Thats a little over the top.

Calvin Klein tradmarked the word and used it as a representative of the new generation.

the fast-living, text-messaging, computer-savvy youngsters of the next dawn; the new millennium, so to speak.

What does this have to do with Calvin Klein?

Well, they are selling a scent for technosexuals.

Its called in2u. I shudder.
Should we term this innovation? Or being talked down to?

In the first place, having a text messagy name for a perfume does not make the product in any way "cool" or appealing. Its almost as bad as an adult rapping to "communicate" with youngsters. Which will just draw a few embarrassed grins if they are lucky.

More likely, stone cold silence.

The tag line:
"She likes how he blogs, her texts turn him on. It's intense. For right now."


Perfume for technosexuals? Bottle up the sweet scent of the Ipod Nano, the rejuvenating aroma of your LCD monitor and inhale the tiny molecules of pixels.

I don't know what to make of this. Well, the idea is certainly is there. But to be taken into this context it just wrong on so many levels.

As Yougna Park says:

I just imagine kids putting on cologne to sit behind their computers. That's
really weird

Yes,its really weird.

Emily tagged me to do this. I haven't done a quiz in ages.

These are the rules: Each player of this game starts out by
giving 6 weird things about themselves. People who get tagged need to write in a
blog of their own 6 weird things as well as state the rules clearly. In the end,
you need to choose 6 people to be tagged and list their names. After you do
that, leave them each a comment letting them know you tagged them and to read
your blog!


1. I think questions like "If your mother and your husband fell into the water at the same time who would you save first" really weird.

First off, where these questions just invented just to
make a situation awkward and what if you couldn't swim and what the hell are
they doing in the water at the same time?

2.I believe in fairies

3.As much as i keep dissing pop culture(sometimes), i secretly admire its revolution and the way it is able to influence so many young minds.

4. I can do the cardboard monkey dance pretty decently and recently participated in a grandma conga line.

5. There are people in my head.
They talk to me.

6.Sometimes, I'm afraid I'm not interesting enough to
have any secrets.

Weird?

Please, define "normal".

When i read the article on the utterence of the "bomb" word caused a family to miss their trip, i grimaced a little.

It is a little ridiculous afterall. Read

'Bomb' word causes family to miss holiday trip
- March 30, 2007
The Straits Times
Passenger, who claims airport security officers took the word out of context, satisfied with redress action taken by CAAS



ON MARCH 9, sales executive Sandra Tan and her family had checked in their baggage and were raring to begin their holiday - but they did not make it past the security officers at Changi Airport's Budget Terminal.

They were held back because Ms Tan mentioned the word 'bomb' twice during a security check - and they subsequently missed their flight.

Although the case has now been resolved, Ms Tan, 34, told her side of the story in an e-mail message sent to the authorities earlier this month.

She said that she complied when the officers had asked her to take off her boots for screening.

But when her 13-year-old daughter asked why she had to do so, Ms Tan explained that the officers were 'afraid we might keep bombs in our shoes'.

She claims that an officer - an employee of the Aetos security management company - asked her to repeat what she had said.

Ms Tan replied that she was explaining to her daughter that 'you guys are afraid we will keep bombs in our shoes'.

She was then told to step aside and, Ms Tan claims, a female security officer told her she could be thrown in jail.

Even the sergeant on duty did not buy her story that her utterance of the word 'bomb' had been taken out of context.

The police were then called. They assessed the situation and said Ms Tan and her family could leave.

But by then, the family of four - Ms Tan, her husband and their son and daughter - had missed their flight to Darwin, Australia.

They returned home and never made it for the holiday.

But Ms Tan could not take the disappointment lying down.

She wrote to the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) and Ministry of Home Affairs, complaining that the security officers had 'taken things way beyond what was necessary'.

She also asked if the family would be compensated for the $4,200 they lost on tickets and hotel bookings.

The police, CAAS officials and Aetos security management officers have since met the family and arrived at a resolution - although it was not revealed what, if anything, was given to them.

The CAAS and police said that, given the importance of security in air travel, it is necessary for staff to be vigilant.

But they agreed that the issue could have been handled better by the Aetos officers and are working with the company in this area.

When contacted by The Straits Times, Ms Tan said on Tuesday that she and her family 'are satisfied with the action taken by the CAAS to redress the situation and the matter has reached an agreeable closure'.

simlinoi@sph.com.sg

-facepalms-

First, she uttered the word bomb and then she was asked to repeat it. Obviously she would have to repeat the word "bomb" again or else she wouldn't be complying with the sercurity's guards request and would be incriminated anyway.

And then, the sercurity guard does the stupidest thing by telling her she could be thrown in the jail. Does the Aeto officers have any common sense. OH wait. It might not have been part of their training programme.

Imagine if you go and rap the word bomb right in the middle of the airport. They will probaly send tankers and a whole army troop to surround you.

Now, news has spread to the various regions. My friend in Hong Kong just asked me if it were true and proceeded to laugh his head off.

Its like a standing joke.

If they would waste less time flaunting their powers and actually learn the differnce between a terrorist threat and education, we would probaly have the best security system in the world.

Or they can just spend the time hammering signs that read " The word Bomb is banned" around the airport.