recently, friends have postulated that i might not survive my china trip. amongst various reasons are the severe diarrhea risks from - it was reported - soya sauce made from hair. hair. whatever made the chinese think that similarity constitutes substitutability? eating pigs' brains do not add to human brains, and although we often call soya sauce black sauce, colour is really not the only criterion to the definition.
besides diarrhea, it has been suggested by my aunt that i will get lost. i do admit that i have a tendency to look at the map of china and plan transportation thinking that just because the distance from A to B is less than the length of my pinky, it shouldn't take too long to cover. (we initially thought to go to tibet, a few cm away from beijing, but apparently it's a 3 day train ride.)
i also have a tendency to speak my mind, and my mind often - traitorously, i say - thinks derogatory thoughts about the china chinese. and because i'm admittedly a charmingly outspoken person, i'm afraid i'll make enemies who misunderstand my intentions, which are constructive and well-meaning.
for example, the other day when me, jun yi and alex went to collect our visas, i was already late, but i was later because i couldn't find the chinese embassy, although i've been there before already.
me: *strides to visa hall where junyi and alex are falling asleep* i am obviously late and sorry, but! not as sorry as this sorry embassy! the american embassy is on its left! it has a porch and anti-terrorist guards! the british high commission is on its right! it has lawns and polite security guards! whom i had to ask for directions to the chinese embassy!
friends: keep your voice down!
me: and i walked right past it because it's nothing but a dingy doorway. there is no porch, no lawn, and not even a lobby! there's only a flight of stairs you can't go up because of the freaking queue. it's not just dingy, it's dilapidated.
friends: meishi!!!
me: don't worry, it's 5 syllabi, they won't understand.
friends: meishi do you know you're on chinese soil right now? they shoot people for kidneys!!
me: chinese soil!
friends: yes chinese soil!!
me: no wonder it's so tacky. and the service sucks.
well, i could have been softer, but the service really sucked, let that be said. flying this sunday, hope i make it back. no disrespect to the chinese of course, we all have our own faults. if you have more, it just means you have more room for improvement.
urgh. thought would be meeting up with 30th on sunday and pranced off happily after training, but should have known the pang seh club will never change. anyways, managed to see yiroe, alvin and shiwei, and also the new climbadventure, which is conveniently located at clementi. darn, if i'd known earlier can jio people out to climb after lessons. they converted squash courts into a climbing centre, and it's as bad as it sounds. i think it's supposed to be 4 courts, so that's a lot of lanes, but currently it's only half done, so the whole place is totally squishpacked. also, the walls were only about 5 and a half panels, and unlike the old location at keppel towers, it doesn't have a bouldering tunnel OR thick squishy mats.
i miss the thick squishy mats :(
going back after they're done, hope it'll be better...
hopefully only my dear now-Secret-Keeper witnessed it, and hopefully she keeps it to herself on pain of torture, or i will be forced to kill her to protect myself, because i will die if anyone else knows. die!
just realised that the beautiful, angry, hurt and betrayed song by dixie chicks that i posted the lyrics of a few days ago was not talking about a broken relationship. i felt i totally related because it so fits my family, about not being able to back down, and being mad as hell and all that.
THEN it turns out that it's actually talking about dixie chicks' political controversy when they were boycotted and flamed for criticizing Bush on London soil. this SO spoils the song for me, ANGRY.
1. The guy will be extremely nice to you. 2. He will tell you that you did something good, even when you did it horribly. 3. He might make fun of you. 4. He will want to be your best friend. 5. He might complement you on something normal like, your hair, even if you wear it that way everyday. 6. He will stick up for you. 7. He will start hanging out with your friends. 8. He will flirt with you. 9. He will call you for no good reason. 10. He will make eye contact with a serious look on his face.
HOW TO TELL IF A GIRL LIKES YOU:
1. They always talk about the different kind of guys they COULD have. 2. They stare at you with a smile on their face and won't look away until you do first. 3. They ALWAYS seem to be talking about how nice or cute you are. 4. They laugh at all your jokes, no matter how stupid they are. 5. They will ask you who you like, continuously. 6. They talk to your friends about you a lot. 7. They always are flirting with every other guy, except you. 8. They always try to make you jealous. 9. They beg you to do everything for them. 10. They always ask you what to do in a bad situation.
see the difference? (disclaimer: taken from here) i was relationship-counselling for two friends the other day (ha, me!), and i realise that guys and girls really have different ways of dealing with liking someone. this guy worries about being too direct in getting their point across (should i have paid for dinner although i bought the tickets? is it too fast for flowers?? send to mrt station, void deck, or doorstep?!!), and this girl worries about whether to get any point across.
also, i realise i behave more like a guy according to the above list :( i need to learn subtlety man...
went ice skating today for first time in life with usp friends. conversations before the outing were plagued with ill premonitions.
me: those shoes have metal below them. they are knifed. friends: (27th time) they're not sharp. me: but! what if the people upon them were of- of superior mass! large impending force upon knives!! friends: (32nd time) you won't die. me: but! what if i fall? across their path!! hands and slim fragile fingers outstretched to break my fall! friends: they will only bruise, the metal is not sharp. *teeth clenching* me: what if i fall outrageously and expose my neck!!!
but i am intact with ten fingers on my keyboard, and no appendages lost. though i do have mothereffing blisters, one of which is a blister patch, which is a single blister one inch across filled with Essence of Meishi.
also, met sec 4 classmate pooi khay, who was reasonably graceful on knifed shoes, bless her wise knee length cotton socks. also also, got trashed by nine year olds who twirled and glided across my path and made my legs tangle themselves in shock more than once.
another new song to add to my Catharsis playlist, which is a playlist for times when i feel like smashing things but cannot because of practical considerations like needing to clean up broken mug pieces and explaining to thunderous (or worse, amused) mother. and also, punching walls is cool in a masculine way, but it's very painful.
Not Ready to Make Nice Dixie Chicks
I'm not ready to make nice, I'm not ready to back down, I'm still mad as hell And I don't have time To go round and round and round It's too late to make it right I probably wouldn't if I could Cause I'm mad as hell Can't bring myself to do what it is You think I should
attended the first of my holiday lectures on UCV2206: Chinese Thought and Culture today. i'm reserving my judgement on the module (and chinese thought and culture in general), but here are some wise chinese sayings that supposedly came from the philosophers that created the foundations of chinese values...
Lao Zi on Dao (the Way):
"The Way that can be spoken of is not the eternal way; the name that can be named is not the eternal name. The unnameable is the beginning of Heaven and Earth, the nameable is the mother of all things." (you say ".....what?")
"The way is forever nameless." (you say... "okay.....?")
"All things in the world come into being from Being; and Being comes into being from Non-being." (you say.......... "wtf.")
"From Tao there comes one. From one there come two. From two there come three. From three there come all things." (you stop saying anything.)
and moving on! more of Lao Zi on Reversal, the Invariable Law of Nature:
"Reversal is the movement of the Tao."
"To go further and further means to revert again."
"Weakness is the function of Tao. Softness and weakness conquer firmness and strength."
andddddd. Lao Zi on Non-action:
"In governing the people, the Sage empties their minds but fills their bellies, weakens their wills but strengthens their bones. He always keeps them innocent of knowledge and free from desire, and ensures that the clever never dare to act."
which seems on the surface to be nonsensical. i'm waiting to know what's beneath the surface.
also, Confucius said this about Ren (benevolence):
"Fan Zhi asked about Ren, Confucius said, 'Love men.'" ...which might just explain why the China gay scene is so sprightly, LOL.
and then for my favourite, by Zhuang Zi, who dictates, "The duck's legs are short, but if we try to lengthen them, the duck will feel pain. The crane's legs are long, but if we try to shorten them, the crane will feel grief. Therefore we are not to amputate what is by nature long, nor to lengthen what is by nature short."
and if i have any conclusion about my first day of class, it is that chinese sounds ghastly translated into english. and that i wish my instructor would just speak in chinese instead, and give us the actual chinese quotes.
went back to school on friday to visit teachers and saw the 32nd (current j2 batch), they look so... young and pimply. perhaps i only saw the chinese high side of the story, but then again it pains me that from now on there will ONLY be a chinese high story. well, and their nanyang counterparts of course, but.
the army guys & kailing libin and cheryl tan went out to sentosa on sat, but sat was the start of SRRR (we lost 1-0 to a team called monsters, who wear bright yellow shirts and carry bright yellow umbrellas and look about 8 years younger than us), and of course i have tuition. i have so many tuitions.
won today against a paddle culture team called torrentz (or something). we were hoping they'd roar like lizard (senior) tolD US they would, but they didn't. i only heard this girl going like "CHEEBAI TURN YOUR BOAT! TURN YOUR BOAT!!! BITCH TURN YOUR BOAT AND FACE THEM!!" but that was only once. i at least was prepared for a.. well, a *torrent* of verbal abuse and animalistic sounds. we won 5 or 6-0.
first canoe polo match played ever. don't feel like i've contributed much to the victory, but still, it's a start. (oh, and weining was refereeing the match and i naturally felt terrified and awkward throughout the two days there. and, SRRR will continue for 2 more weekends, meaning i won't be joining 30th for their climbing outing. also, SP guys team B is god.)
this is so surreal! i saw this linked from a HC v RJ judo clip that my friend was showing me. kaijie's face appeared HUGE, and i couldn't believe-
well, firstly i couldn't believe that someone actually put it up on youtube. but more than that i can't believe we actually flimed it. of kj eating a FISH BURGER.
prettiest babes and hottest (literally, heehee) tutor of 04s68!
some of my favouritest people in the world :) missing a few.
