As usual, starting the post with: wow, long time since I last posted. As usual, not much’s been going on. It’s raining again. The rainy season is definitely here. Been raining practically every day for a while now. It’s annoying. I’d be up in my room, the balcony windows downstairs would be open because of the drying clothes then the sky starts to get dark. Now, I don’t want to close the windows just yet because the wind is really nice for the clothes but I have to keep checking every few seconds that it hasn’t started raining yet. Or, if I do close them, a few minutes later, the dark clouds pass and the sun comes out.

In other news, I got a job. More or less. Haven’t signed contract or whatever yet. Supposed to start on Monday. Once I go, I’ll have signed over 2 years of my life. 1 year training programme and 1 year bond. Oh well. Hope it works out fine. It’s a good place and it’s hard to get in, especially now given the state of the economy. I get the vibe that they might want to keep me after, cos they keep saying not to worry about after the training. Hope so. I had a major panic attack thing when HR called to say that they were offering me the place. Guess I hadn’t quite wrapped my head around the “I’m an adult and entering the working world” thing. It’ll be fine. Just keep telling myself that. It was an interesting interview. For one, I thought I was going to be late. Thing with the bus is, when I take the early one, like I did for the writing test, I ended up absurdly early. So I, trying to be clever, let the early bus go and waited for the next one. I got there right on the dot. The interviewer had just come out to ask for me just as I stepped out of the elevator. In a way, maybe it’s good. Kept me from thinking too much so I thought the interview went quite well for once. It wasn’t as painful as the others I’d attended. And it was successful. Oh well.

It’s november and I’m writing Nanowrimo again. Think it’s going quite well. It’s day 12 and I’m almost at 30,000 words. Of course, most of it is likely to be crap and I’m having major second thoughts about it. Mainly because I feel I’m falling into the trap I used to hate about writers – focusing too much on the action and not as much on the character. I compare what I wrote over the past week to the bits that were the earlier chapters and I feel that it’s so shallow and lacking in character exploration. Bit difficult. I’d like to completely, well, not completely but significantly, delete parts of it but I have no idea how to make it work. I’ll probably just keep writing. After all, it’s not like I’m going to publish it. Can’t anyway. It’s got too many copyright issues to be anything but a private indulgence maybe shared among a very limited audience.

Finished watching House. At least, up until where they’re airing it on TV, I assume. Season 6 episode 3 was awesome. They had James Earl Jones playing a ruthless dictator who was about to commit genocide be the patient. I was blown away by the acting. For once in a very long time, House had an extremely strong story and super strong actors to play out the part. Amazing. Makes Grey’s Anatomy pale in comparison. Haha!

Discovered the BBC versions of the Chronicles of Narnia on Youtube. In the 80s the BBC made TV serials of some of those books. Quite accurate and faithful to the books too, which is one of the reasons I love it. Watched “Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe” (LWW), “Prince Caspian and the Voyage of the Dawn Treader” (PCVDT), and “Silver Chair” (SC). I think VDT was the best. I could feel the sense of a pilgrimage through the entire series, especially at the end when they set out on the final voyage to the Eastern seas to reach Aslan’s country. I really liked these versions better than the Hollywood ones. You can really get the themes and the feel of the story like how it’s portrayed in the books. Saw the religious tones in LWW very clearly. SC was enjoyable because of Puddleglum, played by Tom Baker. Not quite what I expected, based on the books, but it brought his character to life, hearing and seeing it being played. Of course, the effects were really funny at some points. The animatronics lion playing Aslan was MAGNIFICENT. It was a character unto itself and believeable as Aslan. It looked so real. Remembering that this was in the late 80s, early 90s, before computer effects and all that. The beavers in LWW were hilarious. Not supposed to be hilarious but they were. *does a little t rex dance with the little arms*

Watched “Fanfan” last night. Of course, another Vincent Perez film. He’s really cool. Well, he’s really good looking and a not bad actor. At least he didn’t end up dead again, like so many of his characters in other films. But anyway, “Fanfan” wasn’t bad. It started out really cute and sweet, romantic thing. The middle part seriously disturbed me and made me feel like switching it off. It was the part where Alexandre knocked down the wall separating his and Fanfan’s apartments and installed a one way mirror and he could ’spy’ on her in her life. Seriously disturbing, I can’t even begin to describe. I shall always be careful about mirrors now. Especially full length mirrors that make up an entire wall. Never know if there might be a pervert on the other side watching your every move.

Made apple pie two days ago. Well, tried to make apple pie. For starters, I used the Betty Crocker pie crust mix so mum keeps saying the crust is nice, I have to keep reminding her that the only thing I did with the crust is stir and roll. Then I couldn’t find a round tin so I used a square one. Then couldn’t find the rolling pin so I used a water bottle (washed first, of course). Then almost cut my fingers of peeling and slicing the apples to bits. It looked good before I put it into the oven. It looked good after I took it out of the oven. The problem was after we cut it open. It was literally apple soup inside. There was so much liquid. It tasted yummy – parents said it was too sweet but I thought it was fine. Mum drained away the liquid in the end but the damage was already done. The bottom crust had practically vanished cos of all the liquid it got soaked in. The apples were alright. Wanni suggests cooking the apples a little before I put it into the crust next time. I’ll try that, since raw apples didn’t work already. haha! But, for my first attempt at apple pie, I’d say it was a B-.

Oh yeah, went back for choir last thursday. I miss them!!! Sang Lily with them. Omg. That song. I can’t escape it. Anyway, proved that I’m completely out of practice. I’ve sung that song twice for two different competitions. Last Thursday, I could barely sustain the line. I was gasping for breath half way through. Jeez. Bit embarrassing. Yeah, hope I can go back and sing with them next year, but I doubt I can. Working hours and all. Anyway, one of the songs they’re singing is “From a Distance”. Yup, The Bette Midler one. A pop song. See what’s wrong here? Nelson must be cracking or the end of the world must be nigh. He’d NEVER have consented to let NUS choir sing this kind of song. NEVER. He wouldn’t even allow a JC choir to do it. I was amazed and I wasn’t the only one amazed at his decision. Oh, and by the way, NUS Choir was on TV the other day. Sang a song as backup choir during that Project Hope special for the victims of those natural disasters. They looked lovely. Wish I could have taken part. Would have been fun. Oh well.

I was going to bitch about technology again, particularly about Word for Mac, but I decided not to. Enough raised blood pressure from anger and frustration for today. Instead, I’d like to share this technology related video that’s circulating on FB:

Explains why suddenly there are so many people around using Mac. Lol!

And, since I’m posting videos up, wanna share these two with you that I really liked.

This first one’s a Phantom and Vampire Chronicles crossover. A Christine/Marius pairing. Really good editing. Love the song too. And it’s Marius played by Vincent Perez. ;D

And this second one’s just a Vampire Chronicles thing. Being a huge fan of the VC, I just loved it. It’s sooooo emo.

Alrighty. Sorry it’s been such a freaking long time since I last posted. Got a bit lazy. Kept thinking to myself, wanna update, update, update, but never actually got round to it. Short ones this time round cos I don’t quite remember anymore. Let’s see… since the last time I updated I’ve done:

Writing exercise
Got selected to go for a writing exercise as part of the process for a trainee post. Since they haven’t gotten back to me yet, I’m assuming it’s good news and they haven’t just cut me out like that. Fingers crossed. It’s a good opportunity. I think I did not too bad for the test. Think my writing style was a bit blogger-ish but then again, that’s my writing background – blogs. Hope it didn’t count against me.

MJC reunion
Went with Duan and TY for a reunion for the MJ pioneer batch. It was a BBQ thing held in school. That was pretty interesting. Haven’t been back there for years. Last time I went was… something to do with the choir, ages ago. They’ve landscaped the place now. That bare patch of grass that was outside our classroom is now turned into a nice relaxing spot, like some tropical getaway place. Of course, I was wondering who actually sits there, given that the cushions on the outdoor furniture have to take quite a beating from the weather. But it’s a beautiful spot.

Not many people turned up for the reunion though. Think it wasn’t well publicised. I was actually quite worried that it was going to be just a small thing where the cliques were meeting, specifically the science students. A certain guy I used to know wasn’t there, though a certain guy Duan used to know was there. I wonder if one can really get over a crush. Oh well, I’m over that guy by now. I think. (He wished me happy birthday on FB the other day. ok, I’m pathetic.)

Clar was there and Jerome and I think that was it from my class. Haha! Clar mentioned that we might be doing our own class gathering soon with Naresh. He’s not at MJ anymore. Pity. Ms Lai is still principal, despite rumours to the contrary. She was at the BBQ. Didn’t talk to her though. Thought she was going to say a few words, but she didn’t. A few of the teachers were there. None of mine though. Lots of our teachers aren’t they now. Dr S still is though, yay! No one should miss being taught by the Goddess herself. Pity Mdm Yew, the Queen, has left the school too. She was fabulous. No other word for her. Dr S too.

Fame @ Cineleisure
Went to watch the remake of Fame at Cineleisure also with Duan and TY. Duan was running late and we were waiting for her to have lunch because she said she has vouchers. 15 minutes before the show was due to start she calls and says we shouldn’t wait for her cos she’s gonna be later than she thought. So the two of us ran down to BK and grabbed burgers and inhaled them down. Then went up to meet her at the door but couldn’t find her. Turned out, she was on the wrong floor. Haha! The movie wasn’t very good. It was entertaining but not interesting. Went home and found the original Fame movie on Youtube. So much better lor!

TY made non baked blueberry cheesecake and brought some for us and we sat in the Kopitiam and ate it after the movie. It was yummy. Of course, by then it had somewhat melted but not as bad as when I made it. I admit, gelatine was missing from my recipe. Stupid recipe. Anyway, she’s a good baker. She should improve her skills then we can open a cake shop some day. That would be fun.

Saw Michael Jackson while I was Cineleisure. No, I wasn’t just saying it to see if you were still paying attention. Haha! Ok, it was some guy dressed up as MJ but, in the circumstances… I was sitting in the waiting area and there was this screen playing and replaying trailers of This Is It. Suddenly I look up and, “Holy shit! Michael Jackson lives!!!” I spot the guy at the end of the corridor, half hiding behind a door. Looked like him with the horrendously short pants, white socks, sunglasses, curly hair, white skin, armband, shiny shirt and entourage of 3-4 guys in black suits. Gave me a surprise. Anyway, like I said, an impersonator probably on the way out to the promo event outside. Interesting though.

Birthday
And so, I’m now officially 23. Doesn’t feel any different, getting older. Didn’t really do much but that’s ok. I’m not exactly keen on doing anything super special or anything like that. Given that I’m at the point where I’m actively avoiding people cos of my unemployment, I don’t see anything to celebrate about. Oh well. Duan gave me a set of penguin bath accessories though. No idea what to do with them but the penguins are cuuuuuute!!! Looking for somewhere in my room where I can display them.

Halloween
Halloween was yesterday. It wasn’t that bad, given we don’t really celebrate Halloween here. First I ‘organised’ a ‘party’ at the Moulin Orange. That was funny. When the ladies over at the WMS start getting all excited about things, it gets pretty hyper and over the top. Haha! That made my morning actually and really got me in a Halloween mood.

Then it rained in the afternoon. Not so good. Cos in the evening I was meeting the girls to go for the Amanda Palmer “Graveyard Party” gig at Arts House. Some people dressed up but we didn’t cos the rain just dampened the mood. Yeah right. We just didn’t bother lah. Haha! It was supposed to be an open air event. We were monitoring the weather and seeing if it was worth going down. We did, in the end. But the event had been moved indoors. It was… interesting. Think it would have worked better outdoors though. Outdoors, it would have had a whole different vibe. Indoors, it became more of a showcase. We sit and listen, she stands in front with spotlight and sings. Amanda Palmer is really quirky and energetic and kind of a fun personality. Her music wasn’t really my taste but it was unique. Different.

Btw, for those who don’t know, it was a part of the Singapore Writer’s Festival. I had actually signed up for updates cos of the Neil Gaiman events but didn’t manage to get tickets (gave up eventually). Amanda Palmer is Neil Gaiman’s girlfriend. Think I saw him lurking in a corner during her show but I can’t be sure cos I only saw a glimpse of his profile. Haha! Closest I’m gonna get to a real author.

Duan and Sumi says they enjoyed the showcase, which was good. Was worried it might bore them. Apparently it’s Sumi’s kind of music so that’s good. Not a waste of an evening at all, though I wish I could’ve stayed and hung round longer with the girls.

Church
Which brings me to the next point. These days, I go to church on sundays wishing fervently that I didn’t have to. 9am mass on a sunday morning just kills an antisocial girl’s chance at a social life. Seriously. For example, the night of the MJ BBQ I had to watch what I ate and leave early cos I had to cantor the next day. Not sure what the point of that was since the musician forgot to lower the key and I ended up frantically grasping to reach high D at 9.15am. I managed it in the end, though. Yay me. Even though the further into the song it went, the more shaky my voice got. I’m an alto!! Once, I sang tenor!! Sigh. I think I gotta train my voice to wake up earlier. It usually wakes up after the gospel where I tend to zone out and ‘power nap’.

Talking about zoning out, last week during Fr K’s homily, I was so sleepy I literally zoned out. Like I think I went into micro sleep or something. Sleeping with eyes open, whatever. When I snapped out of it, I realised he’s STILL talking away in his extremely soothing monotonous voice. I’m sure he has a really good point to make – he’s a good preacher – but his delivery is just so tedious. I feel sleepy just thinking about it.

Then, last night, we (Duan, Sumi and I) were really tempted to go to the Asian Civilisations Museum Fright Night event after the Amanda Palmer thing. It was free admission after all, and Halloween and it was there. But, I had to rush off cos it was 11pm and this morning I was due to conduct at mass. Again, wished mass weren’t so early in the morning. Had headache for most of the night and I resisted taking Panadol until around 3.3oam. Then couldn’t take the pain and discomfort anymore and popped the pills and fell asleep. Super reluctant to wake up when my alarm clock rang.

Anyway, went to church and did what I had to do. It was strange, conducting again after such a long time. It’s been years. My arm aches. Gloria was pure torture. Finally got the hang of it about half way through mass but unfortunately by then, my arm began to really ache and I couldn’t really lift it too high. Yeah. Josh was giving me panicked looks during his song and that worried me in case I came in wrong or what. Both of us are unused to what we’re doing (me conducting and he playing). But he says that’s just his face when he plays the organ. Lol!

Other miscellaneous stuff
November has come round. That means it’s another round of Nanowrimo. OMG! Was actually not sure if I was going to take part this year cos I was already working on a story. Decided to take part but I’m only starting counting from where I left off. Not sure if I can manage another 50,000 words, even though there’s still a lot to write. Currently undergoing writer’s block. It’s one of those bits where you know where you want the story to go but no idea how to get it there. I just wrote about 2000 words which I think about 3/4 of it is pure crap. But that’s the point of Nanowrimo. To just write. Editing will come in December.

Been watching House MD on Tudou lately and I blame TY entirely. She introduced the show to me at a time when I had finished watching Grey’s Anatomy and Doctor Who and Project Runway and was fishing around for another good show to watch. It’s not too bad, though the earlier seasons were better. I’m up to season 5 by now. *indifferent shrug* I recognise that actor that plays Dr Wilson. He’s the guy that was on Dead Poets Society. I looked it up and was shocked to find out that it’s been 20 years since DPS was made. TWENTY. That’s practically a lifetime ago. But the message of it is still going strong today. Wonderful. That reminds me, if that character Neil didn’t die in DPS, he would be the same age as Dr Wilson now AND Neil’s parents in the film wanted him to become a doctor. And he sorta did. Haha!

Got the next book in the Christ the Lord series called “The Road to Cana”. I think the second book’s better than the first, though I can’t be sure cos I sped read through the first book as part of my mental block against all things religious. Ok, I enjoyed the second book up until the scene where Yeshua (to use the name given in the book) starts collecting the disciples. And, apparently there are a lot of people in first century Israel named John, Joseph and Mary. I lost track of which variant of the name they were talking about. I like how Anne Rice wrote that Joseph (husband of Mary, mother of Yeshua) died in Matthew the toll collector’s tent. It explains why Matthew is the gospel that has the nativity story in it.

Had a thought while I was reading about the part where Yeshua goes into the desert for 40 days after his baptism in the river by John the Baptist his cousin. Entirely non religious and probably stemming from the fact that I watch too many medical dramas but I was thinking, technically it’s not possible for a human to go into the desert and fast for 40 days and nights and not die of starvation, dehydration, heat stroke and/or hypothermia. I think this story’s in the bible but, given the above technicality, then the temptation by the devil and all that can be written off as hallucinations and Yeshua is a delusional guy who happens to have some kind of medical powers or something like that. Whatever. Just a thought.

Ok, I think that’s all. Gonna go off and watch Flash Foward now on TV.

Ok, two blog posts in such rapid succession after such a long drought. Must have been something good going on. Haha! Well, not really. I just finished reading “Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt” by Anne Rice. It was boring at first but I got sucked in during the later few chapters. I was really sceptical when I started reading this book because I thought it was going to be all religious-y, cos I know Anne Rice went back to the Catholic Church in the last few years after having been not so religious. I was afraid I was going to be reading just another religious book that’s just the “hallelujah! praise the lord!” writings of some born-again Christian. I mean, I enjoy Anne Rice’s books, I really do. But I’m not forgetting her “Feast of All Saints” that I got so bored with that I didn’t finish reading. Thought this would be one. Was tempted to just stop reading half way. But she’s scored more hits than misses when I read her books.

Before I go into too long a ramble, I actually found the book quite a good read. Like I said, got draggy in the middle but the ending was such a powerful one that I was blown away. I read that last sentence, flipped the page and was like, ‘what? That’s the end??”

For those who don’t know, this is (I think) the first of her “Christ the Lord” series and this book deals with the childhood of Jesus. It told the story of when he was living with his family in Egypt and their return to Nazareth, ending with the story of how Jesus was found in the temple talking to the Elders and the ‘realisation’ of his mission. I don’t know if that last one (about the elders) is in the bible but I’ve certainly read it/heard of it somewhere before. I liked that the book opened with a classic legend of Jesus’ childhood. Well, more than one legend – the legend of how he accidentally killed his friend and brought him back to life, and the story of how he brought clay sparrows to life. A while back I had this urge to go look up those ‘banned books’ from the bible cos I was curious about the childhood of Jesus. It’s certainly something which could teach us so much but is conspicuously missing from the bible.

I like that this story did not immediately cast Jesus as son of God. In fact, Anne Rice writes Jesus as thinking of himself as nothing more than an ordinary little boy, wondering why his parents are so mysterious about his birth and the appearance of angels, why the rabbis asked him so many questions, why he doesn’t call Joseph ‘father’. He doesn’t understand about the violence he sees in the world around him, particularly in the reign of Herod and the Roman occupations. He seems to realise that he’s got some kind of power and things just happen around him, like how he healed his uncle’s illness, but he has no clue how or why it happened. We see Jesus as a child struggling with his relationship with the world. We see him being happy and scared and just being a little boy. One of the most powerful scenes I think is when he finds out about the slaughter of the children at the time of his birth. He felt so guilty when he realised that it was because of him that the killing happened. He is terrified when he witnessed a riot in the temple.

I liked the ending scene epiphany Jesus has. He’s trying, throughout the entire book, to find a miracle. He wants to see angels in particular. But then, after all the things he’s seen going into Jerusalem with his parents and seeing the riots, and the bustle and cruelty of human life, he realises that the point of this life is to die. It’s not to see angels and work miracles or whatever. The point is to live, learn and experience and then die. That’s the answer to everything. By the way, keep in mind that in this story, he’s only seven years old. This book is like a journey for Jesus and the reader, in which tries to discover what is the point of him being here on earth. It is a journey of realisation and of growing and maturing that we are taken on, ending with that absolutely fabulous last line: “Father, I am your child.”

Anyway, it just got me thinking. You know I’m not all that religious. I’m pulling away from the church more and more because I always think that organised religion is just a tool to comfort people and blind them into accepting their lot in life. Like, what’s the solution to life, the universe and everything? Prayer. *rolls eyes* what the hell. Anyway, even though I may not completely subscribe to this stuff, I think that given the story I’m currently writing and reading this book, I’m wishing sometimes that I could be sure that there is something larger out there. Some god or whatever. Thing is, I want to be sure and not just taking it on faith. How far can faith take me? Walking on water, moving mountains? Since when? Who in documented history has actually done that? I’d rather appreciate religion for its culture, it’s texts and poetry and songs. I can definitely see how some people might derive comfort from the recitation of these set formulas that we call prayers. There are quite a few quotations from the psalms and biblical songs in this book that I found were very beautiful, taken as prayers.

And I’ve lost my train of thought yet again. That’s a bit of a problem with me. I have an idea of what I want to write but I sometimes lose myself in the process, like I just did above. Or maybe I’m feeling a bit too defensive cos religion is a prickly subject with me. I don’t like to discuss it because I feel kind of anti-it during these past few years. Anyway, I think this book is a great book, definitely different from the usual Anne Rice materials. I’ll be getting the next in the series to read when I can and I think I would recommend it. Yup. Try saying all that in a tweet. Haha!

Moving on to some other news. Did another combined choir event last night. This time the event was Fr Khoo’s 40th sacerdotal anniversary and 69th birthday. And because we thought the archbishop was coming. Anyway, it was a good mass. George Mok took charge and Helen was the organist. It was interesting to watch someone else in action for a change. Helen has an odd way of playing the organ. I might want to try her pedal style one day. Sang some of the cool soprano parts, loved the Great Amen. That lady next to me (Clement’s wife?) was super. Her voice was quite operatic but for a strange reason, it only came out at the highest notes. But it was really a change to not have to blast and just have fun while singing. And Khoo seemed happy that we were all there. He mentioned it during the announcements.

Been writing, as I have said many times. I love my story. I really do. I think it’s one of the best things I’ve written so far. Not for publication because it’s an unauthorised fanfiction. Sort of. So I don’t really say I’m writing a book. But I was reading it through yesterday from the beginning and, call me narcissistic, I was blown away by it. Of course, that may be author bias on my part. Maybe once someone else reads it they’ll think it’s utter crap. Hehe! First time I’m writing in the first person. I’ve always been a bit nervous about writing in first person cos I don’t like to get so sucked up in it. I’m already sucked in so much when I write in third person. So I hope it works out if I ever post it up anywhere. Still working on it. Bit annoying that inspiration usually strikes me at 11pm at night. Then I’ll be furiously typing when my mum comes in and yells at me about staying up so late. And, by the way, explain to me why parents in general always say, don’t compare with others, and then go on to do the same thing themselves. Like, I stay up late at night doing whatever it is I’m doing. She swans in and says so-and-so and lots of other people don’t stay up late doing nonsense on the internet. Then I say actually I know lots of  people who do. And then she says, you don’t need to follow the crowd. I really don’t get the logic in that argument. It’s just as weird as the: don’t tell other people what results you got. and then immediately asking: What did the rest of them get? Incredible. The world is very strange.

Talking about that, I’ve been having really strange arguments with my parents lately. One was the other night, we went out for dinner at the coffee shop and were talking about ordering drinks. So I said I wanted to drink milo. And dad says why the heck am I being so childish and ordering that? It’s not a drink you drink at dinner. I was stunned. What the hell is wrong with drinking milo?? It was a cold day after all and I like milo. I don’t drink coffee, didn’t feel like tea. So huge argument about that and I still don’t understand it. Then, another day, mum says, if I’ve already taken my vitamin C supplement thing then I shouldn’t be eating oranges in the same day else it might lead to vitamin C overdose. That so does not make sense. So, out of the very pure intention of finding out why, I asked why. She still stuck to the overdose story. So I said, in that case, since I take the vitamin supplement everyday, then I don’t need to take any other kind of fruits and vegetables any more because those contain vitamin C too and other stuff. Then she’s like, no, just oranges. I don’t even remember the exact words, just the gist. It’s really strange. I don’t get it. Then, my dad didn’t want to go for Khoo’s birthday dinner because they will be serving meat and it’s BAD to eat meat of any kind. And he wanted to go tell our neighbour who was going not to go because they’ll serving MEAT and meat will KILL YOU! (not exaggerating. that’s more or less what the dad said.) No wonder my patience is stretched really really REALLY thin these days. I just say, the bro is damn lucky he’s out of the house for most of the week. I feel like I’m going crazy. Probably what sparked off my huge bitchfest on Twitter some time back. I have a weird family.

Ok, I suppose that’s it. I’d better stop before I get carried away bitching again. The post was supposed to be just the book review, then it mutated and almost got out of hand. Lol! Hope it entertains you though.

Hiya folks! Sorry it’s been such a long time since I last blogged. Reason is cos of Twitter. Yup. Blame Mr Twit. Discovered that I too have fallen into the Twitter trap and tweeted more than I blogged. Afterall, Twitter is a micro blogging thing, right? Anyway, I’ve privatised my Twitter account after finding one of my tweets on some website somewhere. Wasn’t a bad thing, just reminded me that I’m pretty outspoken on Twitter and I’ve gotta be more careful. So, it’s been privatised and only those who follow me and are approved by me can read it.

So, because it’s been such a long time, I don’t really remember all the details of what’s happened so this post might be a bit random. Biggest thing I think is the Parish Missions. For those who aren’t from St Stephen’s, we had been conducting this thing called the Parish Missions for the past few months(?) or so. A team of priests from the Redemptorists at the Novena came down every week and did mass – that was freaking awesome, by the way. First time in a long time that I wasn’t bored to tears in mass. And they did house to house rounds, The main aim was to foster a better sense of community and to draw people back who have lapsed from the church. Not much use when Fr Jacob came to our place. We’re all freaking involved in the church already. Although, he seemed pretty impressed with Ah Ku’s work in St Mary’s. Practically did a kowtow. Anyway, the choir was involved in quite a few of the special mission masses. It was interesting. I attended one of the group masses. It was supposed to be a consolidation of the house visits. It was pretty different. Held in the smaller chapel at the back, it was quite a cosy little thing. The ‘homily’ bit was more of a discussion/brainstorming session where we could get together and talk about how to make the parish more vibrant and welcoming. Bernard’s little boy was quite precocious and enthusiastic about it. Then there was the end of the Parish Missions which was a nine night Novena, Preached Mission Masses. We were in charge of 2 nights, including the youth mass. There was dress codes for these masses based on colour theme. It was really cool to see the whole congregation decked out in yellows, or greens etc. Huge turnout, by the way. We combined with Margaret’s choir for the Grand Finale. Zac and Na did the Praise and Worship session before the mass. It was fun. At the end, the recessional song was “Christ be our Light” and they dimmed the lights in the church and we used torchlight to procession out. The Redemptorist priests were continuing with their ‘theme’ of construction workers and had those flashing lights they put at construction sites, in addition to their construction worker vests and helmets. Very fun and lively. I’m really going to miss it all.

Then there’s my job hunt, as usual. Still no luck. Went for an interview with an enrichment centre to be their librarian. It was a good post but I think the pay was freaking low for a grad, even if I didn’t have the degree they wanted. So I turned it down. I’ll probably be regretting it in the near future but seriously, it wasn’t worth it as a permanent job. Going for a writing test with a news publishing place later next week. At least, I hope so. I called them back to confirm my time slot and they said they’d email me but so far, nothing. Talking about that, another publishing house I wrote to still hasn’t gotten back to me. I’m really starting to get  worried now. Like DJ said, if this kind of thing also can’t get in, then what the hell is our degree good for?? I mean, publishing/editorial work is a perfect match for an English Language degree, isn’t it? Who else is well versed in grammar and syntax and sentence structures and how language is supposed to be used and written? It’s depressing. Seriously. I really don’t know what to do at the moment. I’m still resisting teaching as much as I possibly can. Even though I know that I’ll probably be accepted to MOE with open arms, I think my personality is against me teaching in the long term. No point lah.

Talking about teaching, I did a music theory session with the choir a few weeks back. That was very interesting. If I want to be a teacher, I want to be a music teacher, not an English teacher. Teach something that I love rather than just any other subject. I impressed myself, if I might say so. Hopefully the choir folks remembered what I taught them. But I think I did extremely well. I suppose I should thank Lazar and her session where we were forced to do individual presentation that lasted for an hour.

Talking about Lazar, she would have liked one of those Redemptorist priests, think his name’s Fr Simon. He was very politically correct in his prayers. Like when there was the word ‘men’, he inserted ‘and women’ too. In other words, removing the sexist and patriarchal slant that prayers tend to have. Lazar mentioned once that she and her family used to do that in mass. So think she’d like this priest. It was pretty amusing to me who picked up this nuance of speech.

What else? Been watching shows that star Vincent Perez lately. My latest celebrity crush is Vincent Perez, by the way, in case anyone didn’t see my tweet about it. I think he’s really cute in a quiet, elegant sort of way. Unfortunately he’s old enough to be my father (I think). And he’s Swiss French. Which means most of his films are done in French, which I don’t speak or understand. Thank god for subtitles. Anyway, first saw him in Queen of the Damned, acting as Marius. Thought he was quite cool. Went on to watch quite a few others – Le Libertin, Swept from the Sea, I Dreamed of Africa, Indochine, La Reine Margot, The Crow, Fanfan La Tulipe. Ok, that’s a lot. Haha! Shameless. Too much time on my hands I think. A strange trend I noticed, most of these shows, his character ends up dead. Seriously! In The Crow and QotD, his character was dead to begin with, so I suppose that counts as being dead. Wonder why. I particularly enjoyed Le Libertin. Lol!! It’s one of those things that SG will NEVER show here. Why? It has nudity! Lots and lots of nudity! (spits out ‘nudity’ like Sam the Eagle) Imagine the really hot Vincent Perez completely naked (frontal, by the way, and running through the garden on one of his character’s shenanigans). Hehe!! Dirty mind. And it was hilarious! I loved it. Enjoyed Fanfan la Tulipe too, although I had to watch that on Tudou and the video quality was quite crap. That reminded me a lot of Captain Jack Sparrow, the way he got into scrapes and tried to get himself out of it. Very Captain Jack Sparrow.

Anyway, so what’s been keeping me busy? Gone to the library and gotten books. I really like thrillers these days. Those kind that have the hero running all over the place, racing against time to find and solve clues to save the world before the bad guys blow it up or whatever. You know. Then, yesterday, I decided to pick up Anne Rice’s “Christ The Lord” series. Had been resisting it for a while because I really enjoyed her vampire series, I didn’t know if these sudden religious themed books would be as good. Read the first one yesterday subtitled “Out of Egypt”. Was a bit boring at first, even though Rice talked about Jesus’ childhood years and even threw in some of the legends – like him accidentally killing his friend and raising him from the dead. It picked up somewhere near the middle of the book. I don’t know. I feel like I have a block or something on reading anything religious. We’ll see. I’m not done with it yet.

Been doing writing too. As of last night, I hit my 68,000 word mark. Very happy about that. Proud of myself. I think it’s one of the best things I’ve written. Unfortunately I’m at the point now where I’m a bit lost about how to continue. I mean, I know what I want to write but I don’t know how to get from where I am to where I need to be. Anyway, I don’t think I’ll be participating in Nanowrimo this year cos of this story. I’m gonna be focusing on this and there’s no way (at the moment that I foresee) that I can squeeze out another 50,000 words. Although it might be possible. We’ll see. Can’t quite cheat and enter this story in, can I? Hehe!

K, what else? Complaints about technology. Firefox is going wonky on me. It keeps hanging and crashing and having to relaunch itself. I have no idea why. But it’s very extremely annoying. Especially when I’m looking up stuff. Hope it’s not anything to do with my Macbook in general. I love my macbook. Anyway, noticed that problems started cropping up after I upgraded my Firefox to the current version. Sigh. Hope it fixes itself soon. I don’t enjoy using Safari. No reason why. I just prefer Firefox. And, talking about technology, there’s been rumours going around about an Apple Tablet coming into the market next year. Seen a picture. Well, a picture that’s posted on the net which I’m not sure if it’s a real picture or a photoshop or what. Looks really pretty. I want one when it comes out. Been thinking about getting a Kindle but supposedly the Apple Tablet can do the same thing. So, I’d rather go for Apple. Read an article the other day and there was a line which said: Mac users are more covetous of gadgetry. That is, they tend to have more gadgets and want more gadgets when new ones come out. So true! Haha!

Remembered what I wanted to talk about. Don’t know if it’s a coincidence or a sign or whatever, but yesterday, after I picked up the “Christ the Lord” series, my uncle said he was thinking of getting me to accompany my grandmother on pilgrimage to the Holy Land next month. I was shocked. And in a dilemma. You know me. How can I turn down a chance to travel? On the other hand, I really need to find a job and going overseas right now is the worse possible time. Brings back sad reminders of what could have been if I had not mentioned the Hangzhou trip at that very first job interview… Anyway, another thing that’s out of the question is me going alone with Ah Ma in a group where I know no one. My grandmother is a HUGE handful all by herself, thank you very much. And it’s not like we’re going to London or somewhere easy. This is the Holy Land. Middle East, Israel. Mum’s trying to see if can get an aunty to go instead.

Anyway, that issue above sparked off what I’ve been doing so far today. Mum was saying, we plan our own ‘pilgrimage’ tour for next year and bring the grandmother along. So, guess who’s stuck with preparing a proposed itinerary? Me. Not that I’m complaining. It’s really fun. I’ve got France in mind. Oh man. I miss Europe. Unfortunately, this morning, I researched airfares and almost fainted. I had to remind myself time and again that we’re talking about Europe and a group of 5 adults. I really need a job so I can help fund the trip. Although I don’t think it’ll be very nice for me to just swan off so soon after I start working. (The trip’s planned for the 2^nd week of June next year). Anyway, the sad thing is, if this all turns out just like all the other times I’ve tried to plan a trip then I shouldn’t worry. It’ll all probably get called off yet again. Thinking back on that aborted Thailand trip a few years back. I worked hard on planning that one too and it got called off. Oh well. It’s fun planning anyway.

Oh, almost forgot. Been discovering quite a bit of stuff on iTunes. First is this application that I downloaded a while back but never got the chance to try out. It’s a virtual violin. I’ve always wanted to learn the violin. Now I can sort of play it on my Touch. It’s not too bad. Unfortunately, I think it’s done something to my wrist cos the Touch is not quite the same size as an actual violin so I hold it differently. So, my wrist really hurts when I try to bend it too far. L And, I discovered this thing called iTunes U. It’s open podcasts of lectures and talks from various universities and stuff. Very interesting. Currently listening to an intro to psychology class from MIT. Previously was listening to a lecture on Old English and a lecture on Tolkien and languages. Tolkien was a lexicographer, did you know, when he was in Oxford? He helped to write the OED. How cool is that? I wonder if Tolkien taught classes. Would have loved to be in his class. It sounds so cool.

Right, I think that’s a long enough post for now. Back to planning and dreaming about holidays. I really should have fought for that travel agency job. Maybe it would have been helpful when I’m trying to organise things like this. Oh, by the way, tempted to go take up a tourism diploma or something. Then I can open a travel agency and do things like this that I enjoy.

Going chronologically so…

The bro came back on Wednesday but had to book in on Thursday (strange army). So I went with him up to Boon Lay to visit Jurong Point cos I wanted to go buy the book “Queen of the Damned”. I don’t know if I’ve said it before, but, Jurong Point reminds me of the Paris shopping centre in some areas. Anyway, point is, went to Sans bookshop there where I didn’t find QotD, but I did find a lot of other Anne Rice books. However I wasn’t looking for those. Bought Bleak House instead. I know, pretty random. Anyway, after that, took a bus ride with the bro up to his camp. He stopped there and I continued in the bus up to Choa Chu Kang. By the way, the cemetery we passed by looked freaking nice. Imagine a hill of crosses. Not the nicely ordered ones but very full and cluttered and messy in a charming kind of way. Anyway, went up to Choa Chu Kang where I was intending to borrow QotD from the library there. Then I saw Sans bookshop outlet there and I thought, give it a go. And I found it! Hehe! Happy. Got it. Therefore, I’m quite poor this week. :p

Saturday, attended Norma’s 21st birthday party at Orchid Country Club. Yup, quite a very ulu part of the world. But very nice place. Never been there before. Took a shuttle bus from Yishun MRT to go there. The shuttle bus stop at the club was at the other end of the building from where the party was going to be held but luckily, I saw the sign when the bus drove past so I didn’t quite get lost. Couldn’t  find the place when I got there. The map did not do quite a good job with 3D stuff, ie, trying to show different levels of the building. But, spotted Norma with her princess crown so went towards there. It was fun. Got to meet up with the NUS choir folks after so long. Miss them lots. Played Wacko and ‘Untangle the Knot’ game. Was quite fun, except that it was quite humid outdoors, especially when we had to do the knot thing which was knotting of all our arms so it was a tight squeeze. Like doing yoga at times.

Sunday, went over to Janice’s house cos Jonathan had to take photos for his photo competition. That boy’s getting into the groove of a professional photographer. Hehe! Ok, it’s his CCA but it’s nice that he seems quite in to it. Ah Ku’s gotten him a DSLR camera and he’s going around trying to gain experience. Joked to him about getting him to be photographer at whatever events that might come up and he clammed up. Funny. Janice and Charlie were cute as usual. The little girl damn cam whore sia! She literally just sat there and smiled as Jonathan snapped photo after photo of her. Just loved the attention. It was near impossible to get pics of her brother though. That kid is gonna have serious separation issues when he has to start school.

Oh yeah, mass was not too bad today. Fr Gerard Louis came. He’s one of my more favourite priests cos he doesn’t come across as all pushy and arrogant about religion. And he smiles a lot, which is nice. Mum says she almost called him “boy” when he wandered over to the canteen to get food in between mass. He looks pretty young still. Anyway, the second reading irked me quite a bit. So freaking oracular! I mean, things like, pray for the things you want. If you don’t get it, means you don’t deserve it cos it was just something that was meant to satisfy your own selfish wants instead of to the glory of god, or whatever. *rolls eyes*

Monday today. Worked on church stuff. I’m doing paperwork and stuff for the church choir and cos the carolling season is coming round, I (trying to be clever) decided that I want to do a booklet thing for all our lyrics and scores. Looks nice and is nicer than a file full of paper. So, I was busy with that all day. But I managed to finish it! I think it’s quite nice, assuming I didn’t make typo errors and the printers agree with me. Sending it round to the com to take a look but it’s taking a hell of a long time to attach and email out. Sigh. I purposely did it as quick as I could so could have more time to feedback and send for printing and, as usual, technology decides to disagree with me. Bleah.

Evening! It rained. Was pretty sad about that cos I was going out. I had “An Evening with Il Divo” to go to. At least the rain subsided by the time I left the house with the bro. We took 158 over to Kallang and walked in. My feet hurt now. Blisters. It looks worse than it is though. Saw Michelle and Alicia doing ushering at the Indoor Stadium. That was a lovely coincidence they were both stationed at the area where I was seated. Went with the bro cos my uncle got me a pair of tickets and mum initially wanted me to go with my dad. Horror! Bro enjoyed it, he said. First time he’d heard Il Divo sing, apparently. I find that hard to believe. I was blasting their songs quite a bit a few years back. Talking about blasting, the sound system in the indoor stadium is DAMN GOOD. Which means: DAMN LOUD!!!! My ears were ringing and I could feel the place throbbing with sound waves. Yeah. The guys are already singing really loud. It was an evening with four very healthy tenor lungs all belting away at the top of their range. David looked pained when he reached for the high notes. Literally looked like they were shouting at some point.  Oh my poor ears.

Anyway, photos!! Didn’t take much cos it’s a paid concert, not a free show thing. Kind of blurry at times cos I had to zoom quite a bit and my hands aren’t the most steady of hands. See my few pics HERE.

Thought those girls lounging on the words were rather random. Wondered what I’d gotten myself into, that Il Divo had to resort to girls posing like that.

This is the clearest of my photos. It’s cropped, by the way, that’s why it looks like it’s so close. They started about 5 minutes late but it was great! First song: “Somewhere”. I didn’t use the camera during the rest of the concert, though I was really tempted to. They had nice background video things. There was a strange bit in the middle where the mini orchestra played “Heroe” in instrumental and Il Divo vanished backstage. Apparently it was a costume change. Hee!

Anyway, the second half was much better than the first half. Maybe cos by then I’d gotten used to them and settled into the rhythm of things. But the concert seemed to fly by! Sad about that. Anyway, they took turns introducing and talking a little between the songs. Carlos was so funny. Some sound bites: “Hello Singapore! Did you miss my little… curl?” (pointing to his hair).  “Good evening ladies.” (what about the gentlemen in the audience??) “Yes my darling, my number is 604… no, no.” (Could almost hear the ‘awwww’ from the audience.) “It’s time to get a bit more Latino.” LOL!!!! It wasn’t quite full house like I expected. It was full in the middle of the audience but got more empty as it approached the sides. Quite a few fangirls in the house. A bunch of them got the front row seats and were waving light sticks around and all.

This was during the encore “Amazing Grace”, the interlude part. They did their good nights and their bow and went backstage but the house lights didn’t go up yet and people were still clapping and cheering. When they came back on, they had another costume change! Cool.

Urs! I think he’s the best singer. Not too overbearing and always hitting the right tone. Hehe! Unfortunately not the best looker. He looked a bit stoned. Not drugged, mind you. Just ‘oh it’s another night, another concert’ kind of attitude. Anyway, I remember his name the most, even if I couldn’t remember whose face it belonged to. Bit embarrassed to say that, although I knew every one of their names and their background stuff a few years ago, I’d completely forgotten it by now. But, was reminded again when they introduced themselves during the concert.

Their final encore piece (I think). “My Way”. Can’t remember though. Will have to check with the bro in the morning. Hehe!

Ok, it’s 1.14am by my computer clock. Don’t feel like going to sleep. That carolling thing is still trying to upload. Damn slow! It’s one of those nights when I wish I don’t need to sleep and that time would just stop still. Oh well. Never does, does it?

Bonne nuit.
Buenas noches.
Gute nache.
Good night.

Alrighty, so after last night’s failed post, I’m not going to publish blogs on my iTouch ever again. By ‘ever again’ I mean until I next feel an overwhelming urge to blog using that medium. The connection on there is just not stable enough I think. Annoying, like I think I said before. Especially since I had to type with my thumbs on that miniature keyboard. Talking about iTouches, Apple’s come up with quite a few improvements to its ipod line. The Nano’s getting a video camera!!!! And radio!! How cool is that? And the iTouch’s gone up to 64GBs. Jealous. I love having lots of gigs to play around with. And they’re lowering the prices of the iTouch. As usual, my timing when I buy electronics sucks. And there’s the new iPhones out too. up to 32GBs now! Wait a year or so more and probably it’ll increase and hopefully have radio too. Then after the price drops, probably I’ll get one. Hee!

Was watching Chess in Concert, Live at the Royal Albert Hall. It’s really cool, starring Josh Groban, Idina Menzel and Adam Pascal. The songs are kind of stuck in my head. Wonder why this musical didn’t do well in Broadway. Apparently it did quite well in West End. Americans are strange. Oh well. They are the same country that rejected the Beatles cos they thought their music was on the way out. Strange. Anyway, this concert version is quite good. Very nice to see these singers performing it too. Josh Groban could go into musicals if he wanted. Maybe. But I like it better when he’s doing his music thing. Hee!

Not been doing much the past few days. Watching a lot of videos and all. Did some writing. Working on a story now set in the universe of the Vampire Chronicles with some Torchwood, Twilight and X-Men elements. Yeah. Strange me. Quite interesting working on this story. Was researching on a lot of history stuff. Learned things about WW2 that I didn’t know before. And a bit of WW1 too. But anyway, reached 30,000 words for this one. Hopefully I can finish it. I’m hitting a dry patch and I’ve got to write through it so that my way’s clear until the end. You know, this story’s a classic example of how sometimes the character takes on a life of its own and doesn’t quite do the things you planned. I’ve got to change quite a bit on the timeline and relationships cos of the way the story turned out. Think it’ll work better this way. It makes more sense. By the way, if you want to beta read or preview it or whatever, let me know. I’m very happy to share. But, like I said, it’s not finished yet. Not sure if I’m going to post it up or where to post it up if I finish and am happy with the story. We’ll see.

Went to see the exhibition on the Dead Sea Scrolls today with Duan and Sumi. It was ok. Probably could be better. It turned out to be just 1/3 about the Dead Sea Scrolls and 2/3 on the publication history of the bible. Very Christian oriented. Not quite what I expected. Not quite sure what to write about it. It was interesting in a way. I liked that they had guides giving mini lectures in all three sections of the exhibition so we weren’t just wandering aimlessly around. The guides were quite interesting, I thought. My feet hurt now though. Wore my wedges and was standing and walking the whole day. I feel my feet throbbing now. :p

Ok. That’s all for now. Tired. Can’t think. More another day, perhaps.

Just wrote a nice long post, painstakingly types out on my iTouch and then it went missing. DAMMIT!!!!! can’t be bothered anymore tonight. *pout*

I was watching “Spirited Away” today. Well, the Japanese version with English subtitles. And, I feel like I get it now. The first time I watched it, I didn’t like it at all. I thought it was weird. But… today, while I was watching, I felt like it made some kind of sense. Like there is a hidden symbolism/meaning to it. That it’s not just any old anime movie. I don’t know. Does anyone else feel that way? It’s like, if I ever go into film studies, one of the films I would look at is “Spirited Away”.

Just wanted to say that. I’ve got a new appreciation for “Spirited Away” now.

Hmm… ok, I was in the mood to blog until a while ago when someone called for an interview. I suppose I should say Yay! Interview! but… don’t know. She seemed rushed, abrupt and unwelcoming. At least she spoke English. Lol! And I don’t mind getting into this industry. But, we’ll see ya? I kind of just need a job at the moment so I shouldn’t pick and choose so much I guess. I think I got rejected for a China programme. Think they think my cheena-neese is not good enough. Fair dues.

Anyway, so, apart from sending out so many resumes I no longer remember how many anymore, the highlight was me trying to bake. Yup. I began flirting with baking. Overall, I think it’s not going to work out. I still love sewing. So, I baked. First I made some cookies from the Betty Crocker pre-mixed packet. Started out with a spoon but eventually switched to my fingers cos that mix is just so sticky and impossible to shape nicely. (photos taken with lousy camera phone so, sorry)First batch turned out really bad. Burnt. I didn’t realise that it was ok for the cookie to be not firm when they came out of the oven so I left them in there too long and ya, burned. Second batch was better. Realised the above point so they came out quite nice. But a bit wet but that was ok. It was like soft-bake.

So that was baking part one – cookies. Then there was Baking Part Two – no bake cheesecake. I don’t like the oven. Basically I don’t like going near the stove. Probably ever since I tried frying nuggets once and forgot and put water in the oil and the whole thing spattered like a fountain. No, I wasn’t burned but it took a hell of a long time to clean up the kitchen. Anyway, so I found a recipe for no bake cheesecake from the internet and my bro was around to help me make it. I love my digestive biscuit and butter mix. Smells so nice and tastes good too. So, the base turned out quite nice. Then came the actual cheese part on top. I think I put too much condensed milk and not enough cheese. My cousin suggested gelatine, which I didn’t put in. So, anyway, put it in the fridge and waited for it to set. And waited and waited and waited. Eventually transferred it to the freezer where even the tin froze. It looks nice but it began to melt the minute I took it out of the fridge.

And then came baking part three – baked cheesecake. Did it yesterday. It was basically more or less the same formula as non-baked except adding eggs, no condensed milk then sticking it into the oven. Crushed the biscuits by hand while watching “Hidalgo” that I taped. Love Viggo Mortensen. Hee! Bro was joking the other day about how much the biscuit crumbs looked like drugs and were all laughing over what happens if we snort up biscuit crumbs. But anyway, this time, the biscuit base failed. Sigh. Because I put in too much butter. I thought it was too little so I put in more but it ended being too much more. Pity. It was a nice base the last time. But the top part worked out quite well. Was a bit burned but not too much. Wasn’t as well mixed as it could be either. The mixer couldn’t handle so little mixture and left all the good solid cheesy bits unmixed at the bottom. But, like I said, I think it turned out quite well.The base was far too wet and crumbled a lot. But the cake bit was damn nice. Very cheesy. Haha! I feel fat now. See the lighter bits, those are the unmixed bits of cheese. Oh well, not too bad for first time. Like I said, not too sure that I like baking. I don’t quite see the appeal of it.

Found this ‘test’ on a website here: http://englishrussia.com/?p=2662. Apparently it’s an entry level psychology test the Russian army conducts.

Take a look at these and find the number you cannot see.

Results:

Can’t see circle 1: High agression, proneness to conflict, the recommendation is to add more physical excercise and cold showers.

Can’t see circle 2: Possible low than average intellectual abilities, can’t serve with sophisticated equipment.

Can’t see circle 3: Possible debauchery, soldier should get increased daily ration, should get more physical activity tasks, should not be connected to food supplies, etc.

Can’t see circle 4: Possible inclination to violence, can be assigned as a leader to his unit, as he can preserve discipline.

Can’t see circle 5: Possible latent homosexuality. Can be light uncontrolled accesses of attraction to the same sex.

Can’t see circle 6: Possible schizophreanic tendency. Required additional inspection.

.

I couldn’t see circle 5. Omg.