I got a pair of terrapins!!! I haven't uploaded photos of them yet, but will post them here when I do. I got a male and a female terrapin, and have so far been experimenting with giving them different types of food, like fish, lettuce and turtle pellets. Anyway their names are Ody and Caly, inspired by greek mythology, go figure it out yourself. (Some self professed mythology buff couldn't guess, hehe)
I've only had them a couple of days, but they're really fascinating. They have different personalities and habits. Caly is a very active swimmer and bullies Ody. Ody is a very keen hunter, he's always the first to attack the food, while Caly hides in a corner until I go away. Ody likes to submerge his entire body when sleeping, poking only his nose out of the water, while Caly likes to be high and dry when sleeping. I've provided rocks and put a wooden comb (organic matter!) in to serve as a ramp. But they seem to like sleeping on the ramp instead of the flat rocks. Odd.
And yes, I've been fiddling around with html coding once again, and so this is my new template for 2010. I get a lot of my pictures from deviantart. I'm a fan of emo photomanipulations, so that explains why you see so many long haired, sinister looking women as the display picture here.
I went to Qian Hu fish farm with my dad a few days ago. It was really quite nice seeing this huge array of fishes arranged in tanks carefully according to their species. It was like a fish zoo of sorts. Except you can fish the fishes out of the tanks (provided you're going to buy it).
Anyway I chose a Balloon Dwarf Cichlid. It's really quite cute looking. The black fins on top of its head look like spiky hair!
My camera phone sucks. In fact, my phone sucks, period. I'm using a really old phone from 2006 ever since my previous one died from overuse.
Anyway just now I was helping my dad unload his fishes into his new fish tanks. He was like a little boy in a candy store. The fish farm puts these fishes into plastic bags and pump them full of oxygen before tying it up, like so:
My dad was floating it on the water of our fishtanks, and you could see the little fishes inside swimming valiantly against the plastic, because they could see the vast expanse of water out there available to them. What they didn't know that there was a sheet of plastic between them and the tank of water.
Kind of like how we strive all our lives to get to where we want to go, only to find that we've been pushing against an invisible barrier all along. We aren't really getting anywhere.
Words I want to say about 2009 - If I thought 2006 was a bad year, 2009 was a badly mangled wreck of a year. It was an absolute nightmare.
So goodbye 2009, I won't be missing you at all. *kicks*
Omnia mutantur
9:02 PM
Friday, December 25, 2009
I happened to browse around on TV a few days back, and I managed to catch one of the best renditions of Schubert's Gounod's/Bach's Ave Maria ever. She doesn't sound like she needs to breathe!
How did I spend Christmas? I basically played through the whole of the AOM campaigns. Haha! Went to my uncle's place last night for a party and my uncle and aunt gave me a DKNY watch and a Davidoff perfume. I really shudder to think of the total amount they spend on presents for christmas.
Otherwise I'm having quite a sedate christmas. I need to finish reading Le Bizarre Incident du Chien Pendant La Nuit. I can't believe how easy it is to read french now. It's almost like reading english, except that the punctuations are used differently for dialogues.
I realise that it's a bad idea for anyone learning a language to read Roald Dahl, be it in English or French. Dahl invents too many words, uses too many colloquial terms and lots of terms of insult. All this is fine, except that when I read it in french, I usually need a dictionary, because I don't understand it, haha! And the dictionary doesn't always have the definition.
Maybe I should try Alice in Wonderland in french next. I'm dying to know what the translator did with the Jabberwocky.
Omnia mutantur
8:18 PM
Thursday, December 24, 2009
A visit from St Nicholas by Clement C. Moore
'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse. The stockings were hung by the chimney with care, In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there.
The children were nestled all snug in their beds, While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads. And mamma in her ‘kerchief, and I in my cap, Had just settled our brains for a long winter’s nap.
When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter, I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter. Away to the window I flew like a flash, Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.
The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below. When, what to my wondering eyes should appear, But a miniature sleigh and eight tiny reindeer.
With a little old driver, so lively and quick, I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick. More rapid than eagles his coursers they came, And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name!
"Now Dasher! now, Dancer! now, Prancer and Vixen! On, Comet! On, Cupid! On Donner and Blitzen! To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall! Now dash away! Dash away! Dash away all!"
As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly, When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky. So up to the house-top the coursers they flew, With the sleigh full of toys, and St. Nicholas too.
And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof The prancing and pawing of each little hoof. As I drew in my head, and was turning around, Down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a bound.
He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot, And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot. A bundle of toys he had flung on his back, And he looked like a peddler, just opening his pack.
His eyes-how they twinkled! His dimples how merry! His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry! His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow, And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow.
The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth, And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath. He had a broad face and a little round belly, That shook when he laughed, like a bowlful of jelly!
He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf, And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself! A wink of his eye and a twist of his head, Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread.
He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work, And filled all the stockings, then turned with a jerk. And laying his finger aside of his nose, And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose!
He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle, And away they all flew like the down of a thistle. But I heard him exclaim, ‘ere he drove out of sight, "Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night!"
I liked the Garfield take on this poem. It makes me feel warm and fuzzy.
Omnia mutantur
3:32 PM
Monday, December 21, 2009
I just had the funnest christmas party ever!! I laughed so hard that I rolled about on the floor (and on one occasion hit my head on a nearby portable fan as a result) because there were really too many golden moments.
I can't type it in now, but it was really really great. Tired and exhasuted after all that flailing about with the Wii.
Having a social life is good.
Omnia mutantur
1:18 AM
Friday, December 18, 2009
I got my organiser for the following year!
I feel like the Grinch. Christmas is so difficult to plan for, especially where presents are concerned, haha. Reading Garfield's christmas comics really helps lighten me up though. Back when Garfield was still funny.
Anyway I just discovered this song from the soundtrack of Mr and Mrs Smith. It makes for a really good dance number. If you're into tango.
In any case I was rereading an old classmate's blog, looking through her pictures and all that. Everything falls into place now that I reflect upon it. She's become so pretty, well spoken and well heeled and all that. She had it in her since secondary school, just that we were all too young to pick up on it. It's a certain latent attitude that can piss off the wrong people, because it relies a lot on charm and smooth talking. That and the fact that she had a lot of complicated dealings with the boys around her.
I never knew why another classmate disliked her so much (and tried to get all of us along with her) but I think now I kind of understand. The hearts of women. Tsk tsk.
The world is dark indeed.
On the light side of things, I've been watching South Park's Christmas Classics. It always cracks me up. You can access it here: Mr. Hankey's Christmas Classics.
Omnia mutantur
2:55 PM
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Totally unmotivated to go out or do anything this entire holiday. It seems to be a perfect way to sum up an entire crap year.
I went to the newly opened 313 with James, Charmaine and Jerry. We had dinner at Trattoria, and they messed up our orders 2 times and there was a blackout and so on. We ordered at 7pm and they gave us our food at 9pm. Anyway I'm not really sure what's so new and attractive about the new 313, it's just like all the other shopping centres.
It's really really sad. The whole of Singapore is just turning into a giant mall. There's Orchard Central, and then there's 311 (?) and Ion (I hate that electricity guzzling wasteland) and Iluma, and the new Meritus Mandarin Mall, and the Crown Prince Hotel undergoing refurbishing... Everything is changing dizzyingly fast, and Singapore is so crowded and cramped with all the influx of people and when one is walking down the streets one can hardly breathe...
It seems there's nothing we can do with our lives in Singapore. Our only sources of entertainment involve spending money. If you're out with friends, there's only so much you can do together. You can either 1. Have a meal 2. Shop 3. Watch a movie
It's horrible monotony! I feel like I'm going insane! Everytime I go out there's only the same damned things to do and the same damned choices.
Sure the best things in life are free. But whoever said that has to be shot. One can't live on air and water alone. I suppose one could live simply by eating plain fare everyday and not going out for activities. Which is sort of what I'm doing now. Everyone needs variety though. I suppose survival in Singapore depends on how well you can deal with monotony.
Of course the richer people can jetset around the world with their friends and do more interesting things and lead more interesting lives. Disclaimer: interesting doesn't necessarily mean good.
Here we are on an island that's getting more crowded by the day, and the only way we seem to be able to get by without breaking down from the stress is to chillout with friends by... spending money. Which you have to earn. Which you spend to get leisure. Which you have to earn. etc. The cycle goes on.
I'm tired. Well, I'm certainly resting this December. I'm not going out, I'm not partying, I'm just tired of all this frantic rush to get a breath of air in this country. A walk down Orchard Road just puts me in a massive depression. There seems to be such a desperate rush to stay current, it makes me feel like we're on the edge of a cliff, on the brink of destruction, and all these shoppers are just desperately trying to forget about the darkness lurking round the corner. I don't know, the economic situation is just getting me very edgy.
How long can the spending go on?
It won't last forever. Soon all these shops that have been springing up and down these new malls in Orchard will be shutting down. And another generation of shops will come up. Kaleidoscopic flashes.
Change. I like change, but this is too fast. I can't keep up, I feel really old and dead and I'm lagging behind.
Maybe the only way to deal with it is to shed my skin and change along with the city.
There seems to be no way to breathe at a bearable rate in this country. Everytime we think we can work at a bearable pace, the government brings in more foreign labour. The minimum wage is lowered, and we get displaced by these people, we have to work harder for the same wages. And once we get used to this pace of life, more foreign labour comes in! We are like the horses in victorian England. We're taught to get accustomed to the "bearing rein", a strap used to keep horses' heads high, up to the point of breaking. And once we get used to that notch on the rein, it is tightened further.
There is no protectionism in this country. Well there is. The government protects the 'foreign talent'. Gabriel said it - Singapore is the only country where the foreigners get treated better than the locals. What are we, workhorses? I suppose we are. Small pawns in the big game.
The futility of it all!
To live a life of quiet despair. Actually I'm frustrated probably. It's not stress that's getting to me. I laugh in the face of stress. It's... I feel extremely, extremely thwarted. Everywhere I turn, I feel restricted. I'm stuck. I'm not exactly sure I can pin down the reason. It's really disgusting feeling that won't go away and it's affecting my appetite, my mood levels and my general will to live.
Okay I might be disturbing some of my students who will be reading this. I sound quite incoherent, I think.
Anyway... I'm having a pizza party this sunday at my place though. It seems the only way I can force myself out of this torpor.
Omnia mutantur
11:55 PM
Monday, December 7, 2009
Denise just showed me this video, and within the first few seconds I burst out laughing. I have to put this video here, it's solid gold. Lang Lang IS CRAZY!
Omnia mutantur
10:43 PM
Friday, December 4, 2009
Nothing gives me a clearer mind then when I am playing the piano. Maybe it because when I play the piano my brain goes into a zen state, the fingers move and the brain is thinking.
Anyway just now my mother smsed me, after going out of the house angrily. "CHANGE YOUR CLOTH!"
Fearing the wrath of my mother, my sister and I debated upon the possibility that she was smsing to tell me to change my bedsheets, the bathtowels, or the curtains. We eventually gave up and I went to practise a bit of piano.
1 minute into playing K. 457, I jumped up and yelled. "DAMN IT! She was telling me to CHANGE MY CLOTHES!!!"
Turns out my cousins on my mother's side were visiting. Well, you don't notice a lot of upcoming family events when you're sitting in your room all day in your pyjamas.
I can't believe it's December already, the entire year seems to have flown past.
