Highlights of the past few days:

19th September: Fucking Analytical Skills ... the Teaching Assistant (this is the creature that comes up with questions for our homework... she marks them as well) came up with this:

on the subject of death, the Roman poet lucretius writes:

death is nothing to us and no concern of ours, since our tenure of mind is mortal...if the future holds travail and anguish in store, the self must be in existence, when that time comes, in order to experience it. But from this fate we are redeemed by death, which denies existence to the self that might have fear in death. One who no longer is cannot suffer, or differ in any way from one who has never been born, when once this mortal life has been usurped by death the immortal. (De rerum natura, Bk III)

lucretius' argument, then, is that death does not harm the person who dies. for harm could occur only if one's future non-existence were a bad thing, but one's future non-existence is no more harmful than one's non-existence prior to being born. since a person is not harmed by lacking existence prior to being born, it follows that a person cannot be harmed by lacking existence after dying. So, there is no need to fear death's sting.

Respond to Lucretius' argument.

OH GOD. do you like it? i worked on this till 2.

20th: Management Accountancy test... this has to be the first 10 MCQ test that i've ever studied so hard for. 1 mark awarded for each correctly answered question, a quarter mark deducted from every wrong one. i have this sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach that tells me that i'll get something close to a -2.5.

21st: No school, but went anyway to hand in AS homework. met Nyan shortly after and went to catch a movie. 'The Longest Yard', is the best show i've caught this year. today was the second time i watched it. No regrets whatsoever... i like talking to Nyan, he makes me feel that school is fun again.

6.30: Toastmasters session. Guest speakers doing speeches on humor and evaluation. i think i might have a fleeting infatuation with a particular Daniel Ong. i have this lil thing for people who make me laugh.

I got this AWESOME door sign from Cman.. (yEs..!~ she mailed it to me from HK somewhere around my bday) i LOVE it.. and i finally got down to putting it up. Jinfeng is threatened and he doenst dare to step into my room. but i really couldnt care less. I hang it where a cute and sweet picture of Tweety used to hang. heh. Amanda's growing up.

'Heartlanders'. Lent this to Mandy today. Local writer, 2 grammatical errors in a relatively small book. im not happy about that cos its quite jarring.... but no one is perfect. i still dont see how the story fit in with the summary. i have to give credit for a beautiful ending though. Sad endings work for me. READ if you havent already done so. you can get it from me after Mandy's done. (and no tze, it isnt Mandy Moore. His real name is Manuel *smirks*)

And Tze,... im sure you LOVE this.. this is for your horrible blog entry about me. Now pray that charlene doesnt come here. and pray hard.

though it isnt really going to work unless you apologize.

Of plays, movies and fairytales

Last night was the second time i caught the phantom of the opera on video. This time in the comfort of my room. It never really occurred to me how many graphic sexual references there are in the context of the song 'Music of the Night', I usually think of it just as a nice tune. Christine actually looked orgasmic, like the lyrics were literal. I hated watching it in front of dad. The scene where the phantom played Don Juan was just as bad, it was almost pornographic. Parents have that effect on me.

If theres one word to describe the play, it would most definitely be 'haunted'. But i loved it, and im spending a good portion of each day working on songs from the play on keyboard.

Anyways, enjoy:

Music of the Night

Night-time sharpens, heightens each sensation

Darkness wakes and stirs imagination

Silently the senses abandon their defences

helpless to resist the notes I write

for I compose the music of the night

Slowly, gently, night unfurls its splendour

Grasp it, sense it - tremulous and tender

feeling is believeing

music is decieving

hard as lightning, soft as candlelight

dare you trust the music of the night

close your eyes for your eyes will only tell the truth

and the truth isn't what you want to see

in the dark it is easy to pretend

that the truth is what it ought to be

Softly, deftly,music shall carress you

hear it, feel it, secretly posess you

Open up your mind,

let your fantasies unwind,

in this darkness which you know

you cannot fight -the darkness of the music

of the night

close your eyes, start a journey

through a strange, new world!

Leave all thoughts

of the world you knew before

close your eyes, let the music set you free

only then can you belong to me

Floating, falling, sweet intoxication!

Touch me, trust me,

savour each sensation!

Let the dream begin,

let your darker side give in

to the power of the music that I write -

the power of the music of the night...

You alone can make my song take flight -

help me make the music of the night

----------------------------------------

oh yeah. grasp it baby, feel it... ah. yes. ahh

*gaffaws*

I caught the brothers grimm coupla hours ago, had to. I loved the brothers grimm as a kid. It wasnt as disappointing as Charlie and Choc Factory at least...but im disappointed at how movies tend to shove reality into the storylines such that the once 'idolized' are usually made out to be so ordinary.

It also came to mind (while i was watching a scene on the composition of the fairytales by one of the brothers) how awful these tales would be if they were played out in reality.

Hansel and Gretel:

These kids couldnt be more than 12. tops 15. But they shoved a witch in the oven. if we take that back to this time and age, they'd just be two juveniles who murdered a woman (unless you believe in witches, but that doesnt change the fact that they're guilty as hell of murder).

Cinderella:

Child abuse in modern times. Not adequately addressed. Without her fairy godmother and magic, cinderella darling might as well have been dead before 20. Read: 'A Child Called IT - Dave Peltzer', or 'A Chinese Cinderella - Adeline Yen Mah'

Snow white:

This is a different ball game altogether. No more about the children, its just your preference. Snow White: "I know its been years, since i've had a bath or brushed my teeth. But kiss me! YES! kiss me! i'll just throw up bits of an apple i had 2 decades ago and i hope you'd have fallen in love with me after that whole episode, cos im marrying you, and we're living happily ever after!"

hahhahhHAHAHAHAHAHHAA. i mean, to bring yourself to kiss a corpse, either you have SERIOUS issues, or you're REALLY in love with her.

and another thing....its disturbing how the author usually assumes that the princess would gladly agree to marry her hero after she's been rescued from some far-flung dragon or spell. Is it even about love or is it just a pre-requisite to 'happily ever after'? Which in turn leads you to question the hero's motive for embarking on the rescue.

HEROS..... if you need a bride, go to www.amihot.com HINT: you USUALLY start off as friends. then lovers, then you might go into marriage if the whole thing works out. or they're always these 1900 hotlines on random newspapers....

This could go on but im really very tired.

Overdue entry..

Photos from the first day of school, which are long overdue, considering the fact that school has started no less than 4 weeks ago.

Convocation. 20th August 2005. Black skirts, white collared tops. Extremely formal, extremely boring. but we take it in our own way. As usual, my parents came along. They love being involved.

Organizer, flipped to the first page. Term 1, week1. 22nd August 2005. Im in the school canteen, which is a kopitiam outlet btw.. at 7.30 in the morning. Fuckin A. Mylessons begin at 8.30, i have a 4 day school week. Handphone, my only mode of communication and m&m bottle for storage purposes. the bottles, they come in black (the starwars version), blue, purple and red. i intend to get the whole collection of colours... each bottle stores seven each. happy happy me.

The Following: Pretty pictures of my school. so that you sad people at ipswitch would begin to realize that you're at the wrong part of the world, and you're doing nothing productive with your lives, and that you should curl up and die.

wireless internet throughout:

Walkway to the canteen

View from one of the group study rooms

Classroom for Management Accountancy. This is where i spend 3 hours and 15 minutes every tuesday, with a measly 10 minute break in between, learning about something that bores me to tears. Apart from trying not to fall asleep on my keyboard, i try very hard to look attentive and alert. Hopefully with your cheat notes tze, i'll get better at this. (once i get down to reading them)

School hallways... leading to group study rooms, seminar rooms, and classrooms. This is the one at the top floor. I like.

The library. 4 levels... i havent been spending much time here, thank you Jinny.

Remember smokers confederation at city hall? its cool at night but terribly hot in the day. Presenting ... smokers confederation at SMU.

There. Now i've to read a chapter in prep for Analytical Skills lesson at 5.15. Wish me luck because i'll need it.

Glowsticks

heres the sweetest present i got for my birthday. hands down. Isaac came over at 12 and gave me a call, telling me to look out of the window. Pretty glowing things have never failed to fascinate me. Pretty glowing things that spell my name and bring a greeting, well thats out-fucking-standing. i like.

5 minutes later finds me downstairs with raphael and him. we mess around with glowsticks for awhile, making bracelets and chains, like we were kids again. Theres something magical about them.

i get home, hang chains about in my room, next to mirrors, at windows, at doors. i unwrapped a present isaac gave to me, 'The Black Tarot', some more illustrations by Luis Royo... that i never get sick of. i sleep with the lights off that night.

Birthday

Happy birthday to me.

Thats .. from left.. dad, mum, Me and brother dearest. i just got shoved into the pool by beloved ROY. (YOU FAG)

Aunt Agnes

Friends: from right, Joan, Shuo, Eudora.

Brother, Bryan. cousin, Livlet.

Self-Explanatory.

My son and I.

i apologize for the really late entry, and the very limited photos, the camera wasnt in my hand the whole while. there ARE other photos, and they're on the way... but things get done quite slowly in my family.

tze: my dad made some joke outta ur name the other day... since you're always late. your name is now chi2(tze) dao4 le4. it IS pretty damn lame, you've got to admit.. and jinfeng was trying to stifle a snigger at the back seat of the car.

and yesterday, you darling best friend made me cab it all the way down to his house after i waited over an hour at orchard for him.. all because he wanted to watch lana lang at smallville. afterwhich, we went down to zouk, which has become pretty damn boring for us. clubbing spoils things, and on top of that, i compare every other drink to either ur vodka sunrises or lychee martinis.