Chocolate Buffet at Swissotel Merchant Court

Haha are you still watching this space? Well here's the post of the chocolate buffet! The pictures are not as nice as how Pony would have taken it, but oh well, we've gotta make do with what I have!

My first dish of the night. I have no idea what the name is, but it was rather good. It was creamy and chocolatey. Not bad, for a first impression.

This is the chocolate fountain they had there. In front of the fountain are a bowl of honeydew and I think pineapple. If you think they are weird, I would agree with you. No strawberries! What a pity. Instead, they had honeydew, water apple (?!?!?!), and pineapple. Are you going "hmmm....". Haha I was too. I thought they might have strawberries and kiwis!

One of the things I was looking forward to during the buffet- hot chocolate made for you on the spot by the chef! Contrary to what you all might think about there only being 3 flavours of chocolates, you'd be pleasantly surprised. On top of dark chocolate, there exists another type of chocolate: strong bitter dark chocolate. Yep, this is for those who don't like their chocolate too sweet. I opted for this, coz I wanted to see how bitter bitter chocolate can get. Well, it wasn't sweet, if you're wondering, but not really chocolatey either, but I enjoyed it. I reckon dark chocolate would have been just nice in terms of chocolatey-ness and sweetness. I don't think I'd try the white chocolate though, never been a fan of it. I didn't try milk chocolate either, I figured it might taste like Milo. =p

Wondering what the little glass is? Well I'm wondering too, they didn't put the names of the chocolate dishes!!! That's rather sad, coz such classy and cute foods should be given recognition. Well it's chocolate cream I think. Thick chocolate, and not airy airy cream. I hate airy cream. Bleagh.

And the plate of food? That's the chocolate fondue. Can't see the chocolate? Well I took white chocolate. Well.... It was nice, but I'm not a fan of white chocolate. Wrong choice. And do you see any strawberries?!?!?!?

The hotel closed off the whole section just for us, Deli Aprecio Club. Guess we brought them quite a bit of business!

At the end of the night, we took photos. The table at the top are the people whom we shared a table with , while at the bottom are Merrilyn and Jeanette and my roommate An Li (the girl in the centre, sitting down), neighbour Sheila (beside An Li), and An Li's boyfriend, Jiemin.

All in all, I think the buffet was not bad, just that selection was too little. Well I did eat more than the pictures I took, don't be mistaken (my camera ran out of battery that night. Sheeeeesh), but like Jiemin said, they didn't include some liqeur-filled chocolates, for example, and it was almost the same selection after awhile. There wasn't enough to hold us for 3 hours. I think I shouldn't have taken a break to take photos, actually, coz after taking photos, I didn't really feel the urge to eat the chocolates anymore, which was quite sad. The quality was good. Oh yes, and one point of contention I had was that there were no strawberries! That's standard chocolate fondue fruit!!

Oh well, at least now I know what chocolate buffet's like. I'm still not sick of chocolate though.... Muahahahhaa

BLEAH

I had meant to blog about the chocolate buffet I went to on Sunday. But suddenly I feel so irritated with the Asian Psych report that I'm supposed to be doing and handing in on Monday. Argh. Now I know what Merrilyn meant by she doesn't know what to do with the data. Looking at it, I have no idea too. And I don't know how to start the bleeding report. Wish me luck.

Maybe I should blog about the chocolate buffet.

Watch this spot.








Yes. I know some of you will tell me you were watching this spot. Good for you. Carry on.






Forget it. I'm going to do it tomorrow.

SHE Concert!!

I had a GREAT time at the SHE concert on Saturday! Though I paid only half the ticket price, I think it was well worth every cent of it. Thanks alot, Si Wei, for asking me along!!

I got the 6th row from the stage, allowing me a FANTASTIC view of the stage and SHE! Haha, and for what it's worth, I saw SHE's parents at the front row too, though I can't recognise who was who's parents. =S

I am so sad that I decided not to bring my camera along. Argh. I thought since they didn't allow small things like water bottles into the stadium, they might take exception to cameras. Argh. What an idiot I am. I'm still feeling sore about it. A once in a lifetime opportunity and I didn't bring the freakin' camera!! =((((

Anyway, luckily Si Wei had her phone with her, which is 2 megapixels. Better than my phone, at least =) So here are the pictures!

These are just some of the things the fans did. See the lighted up SHE signs? I think they were made from the tiny lights that can be found behind ur handphones. Trust me, they are BRIGHT. AND, you wanna know what's exaggerated? The fans actually approached SHE's parents to take photos and signatures? Oh man....

Ella's solo performance. She played the military drum, and I think it was quite good leh... She later played the piano and sang. =)

Selina's solo performance! Whoa she was H O T!! This was just one of the dances. There was one in white, her first dance, this was her second. The third dance was the HOTTEST man... Haha, but it happened quite by accident, really. She was supposed to change into this short black skirt, but it wasn't attached properly, and then it dropped while she was dancing. She just let it fall and continued dancing, almost as if it was done on purpose. She was really professional about it, which I think was really great. =)

Hebe's solo performance, which wasn't until the end. She played the drums and she was good!! I can just imagine the efforts those girls put in for this concert!

Special guests Fei Lun Hai (haha Si Wei: Ai dao~ Ai dao~) and Stephanie Sun!! Haha Fei Lun Hai's good looking! And it was an experience to see Stephanie Sun in person! Haha...

Encore performance: Superstar!!

This was the point in the concert where they all went offstage to meet the fans!!! Ahhh!!! They went round the stadium, but didn't come to my side!!!! Haha, but the fans were so excited, they just kept grabbing them. In the end, Hebe's headpiece fell off...

Haha, the fans had such a wonderful time at the concert, they refused to believe that the concert had ended when it did at 1145pm. They continued to sit at their places even when the lights came on, and continued "Encore! Encore!"-ing... That's how successful the concert was.

And here's Si Wei and me at the end of the concert. See the people behind who don't look like they want to move yet?

A New Day Has Come

I.


Want.


To.


Sleep.


Zzzz.


Can I just skip BioPsych?

It's a sad sad life

Yah it is, when you forget to bring your charger home and everyone else in the house needs their handphone. And now my battery indicator shows itself to be less than half full, and I have 2 days of weekend to go before I can charge my phone. Great. My brain really amazes me with its forgetfulness you know.

Yes, so here's an announcement:

Please don't sms me! Email me if there's anything, or you can call me at home if you know my house number. I promise to check my mail more often!!

Ok, I'm out.

Foodie Food!!

Some people might know that I'm quite particular about how my food should taste, so imagine the horror when I realised that my sense of taste has been destroyed temporarily by the current flu bug. My nose has been blocked so much that my ears get blocked. Ahh... But I hate that my sense of taste has gone. Well, not all gone, but enough gone to take away the pleasure of eating nice food. I can taste, but it's at the most muted level of taste. I can feel the bite of chili, the smoothness of well-prepared chicken, and the crispiness of the fried fish, but I can't taste!! I can vaguely guess the basic taste, like whether it's salty or sour, but when I ask myself which part of the food I like, I draw a blank. The worst was yesterday when I was eating chicken rice. Oh man... that was horrid. Absolutely zero taste, except for the bite of chili. Crap.

Well and over the weekend I signed up for the trip to Big Fish Seafood Grill. What wonderful timing it is. At least at that time taste levels were up higher than yesterday's, which meant I could roughly taste, and feel the butteriness of the food. But the real taste of the fish eluded me, which was rather sad, though I think Big Fish can be given a try. The presentation of the food and the taste of the brownies and mashed potatoes have convinced me that their fish should not be too far off the mark, so hopefully I'll be able to make a trip down again when I recover. For those interested in Big Fish, it's at 85 Upper East Coast Road. If you need the contact number, ask me or drop a tag, I'll find it and give you. Haha I'm too lazy to check it now. My wallet's within reach, but I don't feel like reaching out. =p

And then that same night, I went to try the Sarawak Chili Noodles, as recommended by some foodie blogger who was recommended to me by LeRoy, one of the Deli Aprecio Club members. The description sounded good and so tempting- the description of how hot the chili was made me reaaaal tempted to go try it out. But again, I overestimated the recovery of my tastebuds, and was disappointed that I couldn't actually give a proper judgement of the noodles. BUT one thing's for sure, the chili's not very hot. I barely felt the bite. And... the texture of the noodles was rather disappointing, nothing different from other stalls. As for the taste, based on my parents' verdicts, wasn't great either. It made us wonder if we had gone to the wrong stall, but... couldn't be, right? There was a queue! And people around us were eating it happily. Hmmm... Maybe it just didn't suit us. I lost interest in the noodles after awhile, sad to say. Well but if you're looking for value for money noodles, then this stall is the one for you. They give prawns, pork ribs (bah kut), fish cakes and alot of noodles. Rather worth the $3, if you ask me. If you're interested to give the chili mee a try, it's at Golden Mile Food Centre, #01-59 (I think). Or you can visit this website: http://ieatishootipost.blogspot.com/2006/10/chilli-mee-3-gen-sarawak-receipe-golden.html to find out more. Who knows, you might like it! One man's meat is another man's poison, after all. =) If you do try it, tell me!

Ok I've procrastinated long enough... Still haven't finished the first set of Prof Chang's notes. Argh. I wanna sleeppppppppppppppppppppppppp......

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

December Trip to Sarawak

Haha I was unable to think of some witty title, but I suppose the title above explains everything, doesn't it? =) Anyway, I know I've been saying I want to post up my trip to Sarawak, I haven't been able to, 'coz of IHG and my computer being unable to log onto the Internet and Yi Lun needing to use her laptop more urgently than I do.

Well, what can I say? The trip to Sarawak was actually more fun than I expected it to be. I expected life without the Internet and computers to be rather boring. I was rather wrong, as a matter of fact. Life without modern technology can be interesting too. We just had to rely on the age old entertainment- each other.

Yep, it was a good time for the cousins to catch up with each other. It was rather unfortunate that not all the cousins could get together, otherwise the atmosphere would have been more re4 nao4. Together with Alvin, Alan, Penny, Laura, Linda, George and Acalia (that's my niece, but she insists on hanging out with us) we spent the time in Song....

Roaming around. On the left is a picture from a hill in Song. We were on our way to the "town" area, known more commonly as pasar (market place). On the right is an oil barge owned by my uncles. It's a Shell station, and supplies oil to boats. Let me introduce my cousins here: (clockwise from left) Alvin, Alan, Me, George, Acalia, Laura.

Playing Heart Attack and Uno. Yes yes, I know most of you have probably not played these games for a long time, but we played this at the request of George and Acalia. And... frankly, it was quite fun. Heart Attack was so noisy that we had to migrate upstairs to play. Even then, the adults claimed that they could still hear us. -_-"

Eating exotic Sarawak food. This dish is called ban sou. I have no idea what it means, but basically it's Sarawak ferns and wild boar meat put into the hollow tubes of the bamboo and then cooked by fire like a barbecue, as can be seen in the picture on the left. The picture on the right shows what the dish looks like. The dish probably doesn't look appetizing like this, but trust me, it's really good. I love the gravy!! Put it with chili padi and black sauce and it's perfect.

We had dinners of this scale every night for... 3 or 4 nights. It's really a wonder I didn't get fat. Probably coz of all the walking around in Song. And all the dishes were good. Now I know what they meant by Ah Ming's taste. It's the taste I've been looking for in noodles!!

All the cousins slept together for 2 nights, and this was how our sleeping quarters looked:

Of course, we slept in different houses every night, so the surroundings may not look the same, but the arrangements were roughly like that. Haha, Alvin had to become the discipline master where George and Acalia were concerned =p

Entertainment was also provided by George and Acalia:

These 2 photos were taken outside my auntie's house. The supposed jail's a compartment to put the rubbish bin in, but George the smart-ass decided to treat it as his jail. He was the one who came up with this idea and told me to take a photo of him. He readily gave the pitiful face after I told him to act the part. Acalia saw the fun in it and decided to join in too. What good actors those 2 are. Haha, they readily gave the expressions of pity and gloat in the picture on the right. Si Huan, I think you'll like George. He's very cute! And he likes cars. Think the two of you will have alot to talk about. I wouldn't mind having him as my god-brother. However, that's impossible, coz he refused my mother point-blank when she asked him, saying that if he became my mother's god-son, his mother wouldn't have any real children to call her own, coz his 2 sisters are others' god daughters already.

Then came the climax, the reason why we all went back to Malaysia in the first place: my grandmother's birthday!! My grandmother has 8 children, 22 grandchildren and 2 great-grandchildren. However, this time, about half the grandchildren were unable to attend her birthday coz of other engagements. BUT just think of the number of people who were still there. There was hardly any place to stand to take photos! Just imagine if everyone had been present! OMG. Here's a picture of everyone:

This was taken during the photo-taking session. There were so many other groups! Daughters, sons, children with their spouses, with their children, the children all together, and everyone together. It's a wonder my grandmother (second row sitting down, centre) wasn't tired. Haha.

Then came time to blow the birthday cake. Mind you, it was 5kg!! And the sides of the cake were lined with cream shou4 tao2. Do you know how many of them there were?! Let me show you a picture:

Yep, see how big the cake was? It's quite hard to see the shou4 tao2 from here, my apologies. I forgot to take photo of the cake. Silly me. Anyway, Acalia was in charge of leading the birthday song, and I think she did a rather good job. =)

Then a few hours later, was the dinner. It was held in my cousin's compounds, and held about... 30 tables? I can't remember the exact number, but there were tables inside the house and outside it. Here's a picture of the people inside:

Notice the red-colour lantern like things hanging from the ceiling near the lights? That's a big catcher. Quite ingenous, really, it's raffia string bundled together, and then torn into strips, then soaked in oil until it becomes rancid. The raffia strings then become sticky, and thus trap any bugs rude enough to intrude in our dinner.

And at the end of the night, we all took photos again!!

I saw many things in Song which I wouldn't normally see in Singapore, and I was glad that I went down to Song. I just wish my mind was a computer that could upload all that I had seen into this computer to let you all see, but it's impossible, so here are a few more photos of Song:

These are pieces of a wild boar killed early in the morning. We went to the marketplace too late in the morning. If we had gone earlier, we'd have seen the whole body of the dead wild boar carried on sticks into the market. Now, it's been chopped up. But you can still see one of the legs with the fur, can't you?

The animals are hunted by the Ibans, the indigenous people of Song. The Ibans seem to start working at very young ages. At the dinner, some of them looked as young as 5 years old! And they were paid wages of about RM2/hour? Hope I got that figure right...

We went back to Sibu a few days after the dinner, and we visited the market there. It was quite interesting to see their markets, and what caught my interest especially was the way they sold chickens:

I guess it might sound a bit sick to be fascinated by the way chickens are being packaged for slaughter, but it's been a really long time since I've seen live chickens in the market! I remember that was quite commonplace when I was young, about 4 years old? Now all we see in markets are dead frozen chicken. I thought it was cute, the way the chickens were wrapped up like that. I just didn't want to think of the fate that lay in store for them after they were bought. Eeergh.

I went to Miri too! I visited the first oil-rig in Malaysia. It's called The Grand Old Lady.

Beside it is the Science Museum. Cool eh? Doesn't Miri look nice? Below's another picture of the scenery of Miri.

I had a good time in Sarawak. Good food, good company, good scenery... What's not to like? But probably I wouldn't consider staying there long term. Not only would I become too fat, I suppose I like the Internet too much to stay there too long. Hee... Oh, but did I mention? In case you are thinking there are no programmes to watch on TV in Sarawak, you are very very wrong. There are 400 channels for you to choose from, including channels from Middle East! I was rather fascinated when we came across TV channels from Iraq, Egypt and Pakistan. We even managed to receive Al-Jazeera as well. Haha, talk about entertainment.

Yep, I wish I could show you all the photos I took, but it takes too long to upload them. I uploaded them on Multiply though, so you can see them there if you like... =)

Another IHG Gone...

And so the Inter-Hall Games came and went today for the Hall 6 Female Volleyball team. We had reached the Finals, finally able to catch a glimpse of the gold medal, but, alas, it was not meant to be ours. We lost 3-0, a rather bad defeat I feel, considering the scores of the individual sets were nothing to be proud of.

I, for one, played like crap. Oh, the first set started off good. I managed to receive all the balls, and hardly made any mistakes. But at the end of the second set and the beginning of the third set, my smart brain decided to switch off. There was one ball where I just WATCHED the damn ball land in front of me. It wasn't even a fast ball, and I wasn't fast enough to bend down. It wasn't even an ambiguous ball. It was MY ball. Argh. One point down.

If I were to talk about the mistakes I made, it would just bore you all to death. I just wish I was smart enough, alert enough, mentally and physically strong enough to play. Maybe we might have been able to save the points I lost.

Ah well. IHG is over already, and I guess we'll just have to practise harder for next year's. I do hope I'll be able to play for Hall 6 again, coz the teammates are one of the best teammates I've ever had the pleasure of playing with. Though I hardly talked much to any of them, what I liked about the team was that they accepted that everyone was different, but still treated them the same. There was no hierarchy. Reserves weren't looked down upon, and all players were treated equally. Sure, there would be concentration on the main team or perhaps the important players, but I felt that the others were never made to feel as if they didn't belong there. Mistakes weren't scolded at, but taught, and told patiently. We could have had the best players, but the most politics, if there was elitism. But there was none, and that's what I think makes the most comfortable team to play with, and that's the main reason why I like to play for Hall 6, and why I feel so bad that I caused them to lose the valuable points that we needed.

Ah well, let's just hope I can stay back in Hall 6 again, eh? Hopefully next time I'll really be able to make a difference, and also improve. =)

Hiatus etc

Heyheyhey!! So sorry for the long hiatus. Did you think I'd forgotten to reply to the tagboard messages? Haha don't worry, I'll always reply it, just that I've been tied down with meetings and going overseas for holidays (yep, the next post will be about my trip to Sarawak!!). Since that post generated so many messages (yay!), I figure tagging on the tagboard wouldn't really satisfy everything.

I think everyone's born a good person, really, like we are born clean slates, and have to be taught about what goes on in the the world and how to react and cope with it. These reactions and coping strategies may not be the best choices some of the time, and may not seem like behaviour befitting good people, but I think, at the end of the day, these reactions and behaviours are really just the methods that we adopt in order to survive. Some people may find being mean an easier method of getting what they want than being nice, so they just adopt it, and pretty soon, it kinda becomes second nature to be mean.

But another question arises. What makes people adopt the various methods that they adopt? Perhaps it's the environment? But some might also question how some people manage to grow up unaffected by their environments. Genetics? How would you explain some people with good genes to turn out bad? Perhaps, like what the textbook always says, there's a balance between the two. And personally, I agree, but I also think relying only on genetics and the environment seems to mean that the person is really just a product of other factors which he or she has no control over. I don't like to think of people having no control over what they are and who they can be. I think there's gotta be something unique inside everyone, that 3rd elusive factor that decides which types of methods and behaviours we adopt when we confront various situations. And this is where individual differences come in. There's gotta be different types of that something in each person. Genes and the environment are perhaps superficial explanations of everything.

We could look at the world in various ways, and that makes each of us unique. But what makes us able to click with each other, and people who perceive the world in different ways? Well I'm not sure either, but perhaps it's the dominance of the 3rd factor. The 3rd factor could coexist with other types of 3rd factor, which enable some people who seem very different to be actually be similar in some ways. Like how sometimes we feel like we are a mess of contradictory personalities, such as wanting to be alone yet wanting to be with someone but outwardly showing wanting to be alone? The dominant 3rd factor could be wanting to be alone, but it coexists with the factor that likes to be around people. Am I making sense here?

People are interesting, aren't they? And so mysterious that they can be darn irritating.

Cultural Psych

I can't help but feel that I'm fighting a losing battle here. There's no way I'm gonna be able to cover everything in Cultural Psych by tomorrow. I was trying to read my textbook just now, trying to convince myself that there's still time to try to cover my base, but I almost threw my book out of the window in frustration. And now I can't find the motivation to look at my lecture notes. I really feel like just going into the exam hall tomorrow without studying, but I know I'll definitely kick myself after that. But NOTHING is getting into my head. Argh.

I do hope tomorrow's paper is not as bad as I am expecting it to be...

And don't even mention the past two papers. I just hope I can get decent grades.

Please remind me not to be so bloody ambitious next time. 5 subjects will do.

singapore idol grand final, Jonathan Leong first song

Ahhhh!! Need I say more? =p

Dance With My Father

This is a very sweet song! I wish I could have found the original singer's music video with his real voice, but this singer is nice too. Enjoy! Below are the lyrics...

Back when I was a child, before life removed all the innocence
My father would lift me high and dance with my mother and me and then
Spin me around ‘til I fell asleep
Then up the stairs he would carry me
And I knew for sure I was loved

If I could get another chance, another walk, another dance with him
I’d play a song that would never, ever end
How I’d love, love, love
To dance with my father again

When I and my mother would disagree
To get my way, I would run from her to him
He’d make me laugh just to comfort me
Then finally make me do just what my mama said
Later that night when I was asleep
He left a dollar under my sheet
Never dreamed that he would be gone from me

If I could steal one final glance, one final step, one final dance with him
I’d play a song that would never, ever end
‘Cause I’d love, love, love
To dance with my father again

Sometimes I’d listen outside her door
And I’d hear how my mother cried for him
I pray for her even more than me
I pray for her even more than me

I know I’m praying for much too much
But could you send back the only man she loved
I know you don’t do it usually
But dear Lord she’s dying
To dance with my father again
Every night I fall asleep and this is all I ever dream

Look what my Dog Did

Yes, just look!

Would you believe an dog that looks like this:














would make my things look like this:




My Post-its!!!











and this:


My eraser!!!

I wanna slap him, I really do! I just dropped my post-its and my eraser for a little while and the next time I looked, they were like that. Do you know how hard I tried to preserve the paper around my eraser and keep my eraser nice and clean?! And the silly boy has to spoil my efforts. Even my Post-its were not spared... From a nice and clean state, they became like.... like... RUBBISH!! Now both of my things have his saliva! Eau de Schnoozee. Does it have a nice ring to it? Oh man... Luckily the smell has faded somewhat from the eraser, and... I don;t think I wanna use the post-its anymore... What a pity. The size of the Post-its was PERFECT for note-taking...

Argh. But what can I do? It's like having a naughty child. We can't abandon our children even if they are mischievous can we? I can't bear to abandon him either. Haha!!

The Imp of the Perverse

I should be studying like a maniac; I know I should be studying like one; but I'm not. Instead, I'm online blogging about knowing that I should be studying, and doing everything else that's unnecessary- except studying.

Ever heard the story of The Imp of the Perverse by Edgar Allan Poe? It's very Freudian (Si Huan, you'll probably like it), talking about the perverseness in people, like how we would purposely do something to get ourselves into trouble when we know we can actually keep away from it by taking preventive measures. It's kinda like the death instinct Freud talked about, isn't it? Here's a paragraph from the story:

We stand upon the brink of a precipice. We peer into the abyss – we grow sick and dizzy. Our first impulse is to shrink from the danger. Unaccountably we remain. By slow degrees our sickness, and dizziness, and horror, become merged in a cloud of unnameable feeling. By gradations, still more imperceptible, this cloud assumes shape, as did the vapor from the bottle out of which arose the genius in the Arabian Nights. But out of this our cloud upon the precipice's edge, there grows into palpability, a shape, far more terrible than any genius, or any demon of a tale, and yet it is but a thought, although a fearful one, and one which chills the very marrow of our bones with the fierceness of the delight of its horror. It is merely the idea of what would be our sensations during the sweeping precipitancy of a fall from such a height. And this fall – this rushing annihilation – for the very reason that it involves that one most ghastly and loathsome of all the most ghastly and loathsome images of death and suffering which have ever presented themselves to our imagination – for this very cause do we now the most vividly desire it. And because our reason violently deters us from the brink, therefore, do we the more impetuously approach it. There is no passion in nature so demoniacally impatient, as that of him, who shuddering upon the edge of a precipice, thus meditates a plunge. To indulge for a moment, in any attempt at thought, is to be inevitably lost; for reflection but urges us to forbear, and therefore it is, I say, that we cannot. If there be no friendly arm to check us, or if we fail in a sudden effort to prostrate ourselves backward from the abyss, we plunge, and are destroyed.

Examine these and similar actions as we will, we shall find them resulting solely from the spirit of the Perverse. We perpetrate them merely because we feel that we should not. Beyond or behind this, there is no intelligible principle. And we might, indeed, deem this perverseness a direct instigation of the Arch-Fiend, were it not occasionally known to operate in furtherance of good.

Isn't this like how we always go after the forbidden fruit? We know we should not go after it, but we still do, just to know what it's like. We can never be content that what we have is good. There must often, if not always, be something done to spoil the peace and goodness of what we have.

Defensive pessimism, I think, is the opposite of perverseness. What is defensive pessimism? Well it's an action taken by a defensive pessimist. OK, I know this sounds very duh and doesn't explain everything; I shall attempt to explain it further. A defensive pessimist is someone who anticipates failure, and thus does everything in his/her power to prepare to make whatever he/she is doing to make it a success. The thing is, all the while the defensive pessimist is preparing against the failure, he/she is always convinced that the project is doomed to failure. This is like preparing for disappointment. Don't you agree that the concepts of defensive pessimism and perverseness are like opposites? One is doing everything you can to prevent it, while thinking that the whole thing will be a failure, whereas the other is doing everything you can to get yourself into trouble, all the while convinced that if you were to keep quiet about it, everything will be fine.

You know what? I think the fact that life is full of ups and downs is caused by human's perverseness. Of course, it's hard to accept that we are perverted in the sense that we like to cause our own downfall, but think about it: why is it that quite a large number of high-flyers declare themselves bankrupt when they seemingly have it all? Why do some educated people turn to smoking when it's widely known that smoking causes lung cancer and other horrible consequences?

Hehe I welcome your rebuttals- there are lots of loopholes in this argument, and I admit, it's rather one-sided to state this argument like that. Haha, but I won't promise that I won't agree with you. So come on, share your views! Ahh... but don't sue me... =)

A cappella - The Sregnis Singers - When I'm 64 Beatles

Here's a video from youtube by Hong Kong a capella group The Sregnis Singers. It's not as good as the original version, but I think they did quite a good job, though the original's more playful than this. Check out the background music!

When I'm 64

This song is very cute! It's by The Beatles. Well, if I can get the MIDI file up or the youtube video up, you can have an idea of what the song sounds like. But till then, here's the lyrics:

When I get older losing my hair,
Many years from now.
Will you still be sending me a valentine
Birthday greetings bottle of wine.

If I'd been out till quarter to three
Would you lock the door,
Will you still need me, will you still feed me,
When I'm sixty-four.

You'll be older too,
And if you say the word, I could stay with you.
I could be handy, mending a fuse
When your lights have gone.

You can knit a sweater by the fireside
Sunday mornings go for a ride,
Doing the garden, digging the weeds,
Who could ask for more.
Will you still need me, will you still feed me,
When I'm sixty-four.

Every summer we can rent a cottage,
In the Isle of Wight, if it's not too dear
We shall scrimp and save
Grandchildren on your knee
Vera ,Chuck & Dave

Send me a postcard, drop me a line,
Stating point of view
Indicate precisely what you mean to say
Yours sincerely, wasting away
Give me your answer, fill in a form
Mine for evermore
Will you still need me, will you still feed me,
When I'm sixty-four.

An Amusing Analogy

This is Yi Lun's revelation, revealed in the car earlier this afternoon. I should warn you, though, that it's a rather crude analogy, albeit a funny one, so read it at your own risk!

Imagine your exams have started, and you just passed one stressful week of exams. The next week is much more relaxed, coz you've already revised all that you had to revise in the first week. However, there's still that dilemma within you- you badly want to relax because you were under SOOOO much stress the last week, but you know that you'd never forgive yourself if you relaxed and didn't study and the next week's exams are difficult. You know that heart very itchy feeling?

This is a bit like when you need to answer the small call of nature very very badly. However, while you are answering halfway, you find that you can't go all the way. Now, isn't this feeling very painful? You're so near to the goal, but... you can't go all the way!

Hope you enjoyed it! =)

Happy Pepero Day!

Yep, most of you might not have heard of this kind of day. Neither have I, until today when Camella came into my room and gave me this:
















It's a packet of 4 peperos!

Why did I receive this?

Well, according to Wikipedia and Camella, Pepero or Pocky Day (depending on which country you are from), is day in South Korea similar to Valentine's Day. It is named after the Korean snack Pepero and held on November 11 (today), since the date "11/11" resemble four sticks of Pepero. Or, if you're from Japan, it's Pocky Day, since the equivalent of Pepero is Pocky. This day is celebrated mostly by young people and couples, who exchange Pepero sticks, other candies, and romantic gifts.

According to the story, Pepero Day was started in 1994 by students at a girls' middle school in Busan, where they exchanged Pepero sticks as gifts to wish one another to grow "as tall and slender as a Pepero" (Pepero means "thin like a stick"). However, it is more likely it was initiated by Lotte, the company which produces Pepero.

While in most countries of the world, November 11th is a day of remembrance (since it signaled the end of World War I), in Korea, Japan, Vietnam (according to Camella) and Philippines (according to Mira), it is a day of romanceMany students are truant on this day to celebrate with their friends.

In Japan, a similar Pocky Day was held on November 11 in 1999, which was the 11th year of the Heisei era. The date, 11/11 of the 11th year, resembled 6 sticks of Pocky. According to Korean sources this day was based on the Pepero Day.

From what I heard, some people actually go to the trouble to buy plain pocky sticks (think Yan Yan without the cream) and then dip it into their own chocolate and then decorate it with the colourful rice candy. But generally, I think the trend is buying Pepero or Pocky and then dividing them into groups of 4 or 6, then wrapping them in nice bags or paper.

Camella was real sweet to think to give us a packet! =D

Yep, and now you know that there's a Pepero Day! Cheers to an increase in general knowledge! =p

Careless Whisper

I like this song coz it's catchy, but for the lyrics.... well, I haven't met a situation like this yet. This song keeps playing in my head!! If you have time, maybe have a listen at it! George Michael really has a good voice, too bad he's gay... isn't he?

Time can never mend
The careless whispers of a good friend
To the heart and mindIgnorance is kind
There's no comfort in the truth
Pain is all you find

Should have known better, yeah

I feel so unsure
As I take your hand
And lead you to the dance floor
As the music dies
Something in your eyes
Calls to mind a silver screen
And all its sad goodbyes

I'm never gonna dance again
Guilty feet have got no rhythm
Though it's easy to pretend
I know you're not a fool
I should have known better than to cheat a friend
And waste a chance that I've been given
So I'm never gonna dance again
The way I danced with you

Time can never mend
The careless whispers of a good friend
To the heart and mind
Ignorance is kind
There's no comfort in the truth
Pain is all you find

I'm never gonna dance again
Guilty feet have got no rhyhthm
Though it's easy to pretend
I know you're not a foolI should have known better than to cheat a friend
(Should have known better, yeah)
And waste a chance that I've been given
So I'm never gonna dance again
The way I danced with you
(Never without you)

Tonight the music seems so loud
I wish that we could lose this crowd
Maybe it's better this way
We'd hurt eachother with the things we want to say
We could have been so good together
We could have lived this dance forever
But now who's gonna dance with me
Please stay

And I'm never gonna dance again
Guilty feet have got no rhythm
Though it's easy to pretend
I know you're not a fool
I should have known better than to cheat a friend
And waste a chance that I've been given
So I'm never gonna dance again
The way I danced with you

Now that you're gone
Now that you're gone
Now that you're gone
Was what I did so wrong
So wrong that you had to leave me alone

- George Michael

On a lighter note....

Here's a picture I found...





















Hehe this is actually sold by an Australian lingerie shop. You can view it here: http://www.caryn.com.au/index.htm Naughty naughty design!! Haha!!

And I know just who would be interested in this. Unfortunately, though I was tempted to order one online for you, it costs AUD60, which is a whopping SGD$71.9984. No way am I gonna spend that much man... Haha maybe on your 21st birthday, then I'll order it for you. Or you could ask that special someone to do it? ;)

Yep, I must admit, it's quite creative, but.... a li'l too explicit, don't you think?