Music is medicine for the soul

EDITED: Gahh, I can't believe I forgot to put the ultra breathtaking Chasing Cars by Snow Patrol on my evergreens list.


And I could use a huge dose of it right now. Prefably some good 'ol ROCK music, with an emo edge to it. Or fast-paced anime music. Speaking of anime music, I'm now listening to some songs from the anime Inuyasha, which, according to my pal Parri has excellent soundtracks. I'll admit 'Change the world' is pretty catchy but I still reckon the anime Bleach has the most addictive songs (HOUKI BOUSHI!!!!!)

Lethargic moments are best spent lying on supine upon the bed, gazing up at the ceiling or out of the window with an mp3 plugged into the ears. There's something soothing about letting music wash around you like water. I always play my favourite genre rock cos rock music brings out the emotions in me best. There's the common misconception that rock music is a screeching, angst-ridden, guitar slamming ruckus. This is so not true and I strongly recommend anyone who feels that way to grab Superfresh 1 and 2 CDs. You'll discover that there are so many types of rock from the emo-tinged ones a la Avril Lavigne to soft rock to rap-infused versions. Personally, I like emo, gothic and punk rock. No surprise there.

My favourite songs change every now and then but I've got evergreens to fall back on. These are the ones which I never get bored of, mainly because I love EVERYTHING about the song: lyrics, rhythm, tempo, style etc. The gems on my list of evergreens are:

• Wake me up when September ends by Green Day
• Houki Boshi by Younha (this is the 3rd closing song of Bleach)
• Dare you to move by Switchfoot
• D-Technolife by UVERworld (2nd opening of Bleach)
• Wherever you will go by The Calling
• Chasing Cars by Snow Patrol

Some potential candidates to the list:

• Shadow of the Day by Linkin Park
• Into Oblivion by Funeral for a Friend
• Was it a dream by 30 seconds to Mars

Oh and since this post is about music I thought I'd make this appeal to all and sundry: If you know of any good sites that provides free mp3 downloads, PLEASE PLEASE leave the URL on my tagboard. Thanx!

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Bet you are wondering how the promos went. It ain't over, I still have History on Wednesday and Human Geography on Friday. But so far...... heheh, my feelings differ from subject to subject. General Paper was fine, but I hope Paper 2 doesn't turn out screwed. I doubt I'll get an 'A' for H1 Mathematics, even though I had the 'A' Maths background knowledge. LET MY CASE STUDY GIVE THE ECONOMICS PAPER THE BOOST IT NEEDS!!!! And as for Chinese, it's quite likely I'd still be residing somewhere at the bottom end of the bell curve. Screw the idiotic comprehension. Why do they have to give difficult passages all the time? All in all...I'm not too confident of doing really well. Sheesh.

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To end off this post I thought I'd do this quiz cos YKM and Zen have done it too.

Largely true, I guess. With the exception of the dissipation bit.

You are The Empress
Beauty, happiness, pleasure, success, luxury, dissipation.
The Empress is associated with Venus, the feminine planet, so it represents, beauty, charm, pleasure, luxury, and delight. You may be good at home decorating, art or anything to do with making things beautiful.
The Empress is a creator, be it creation of life, of romance, of art or business. While the Magician is the primal spark, the idea made real, and the High Priestess is the one who gives the idea a form, the Empress is the womb where it gestates and grows till it is ready to be born. This is why her symbol is Venus, goddess of beautiful things as well as love. Even so, the Empress is more Demeter, goddess of abundance, then sensual Venus. She is the giver of Earthly gifts, yet at the same time, she can, in anger withhold, as Demeter did when her daughter, Persephone, was kidnapped. In fury and grief, she kept the Earth barren till her child was returned to her.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

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Fellow bloggers, convey your support for the Burmese people by grabbing a banner. Seehttp://beautifultobehold.wordpress.com/2007/09/29/free-burma/ for details.

Say no to no

The most inspiring ad ever, courtesy of Shell:


SAY NO TO NO

Isn't it high time someone got negative about negativity?
Yes it is.
Look around. The world is full of things that, according
to nay-sayers, should never have happened.
"Impossible"
"Impractical"
"No."
And yet "yes"
Yes, continents have been found
Yes, men have played golf on the moon.
Yes, straw is being turned into biofuel to power cars.
Yes, yes, yes.
What does it take to turn no to yes?
Curiosity. An open mind. A willingness to take risks,.
And, when the problem seems most insoluble, when the
challenge is hardest, when everyone is shaking
their heads, to say: let's go.

I typed this cos I thought it would be fitting to feature something uplifting before the exam period commences. In fact, my promotional exams begin tomorrow! Gosh, time really flies like an arrow. No, make that an intercontinental ballistic missile, eh Clarence? Anyway, BEST OF LUCK FOR THE PROMOTIONAL EXAMINATIONS EVERYONE! Wish me luck too!

The Cold War is cool!

Mr Kellett has finally covered the entire unit on the Cold War; origins, proxy wars, space race, the various leaders, collapse and all. And you know what? I'm quite sorry this unit has come to an end. Cos it had been great fun studying this so-called war, that was really a survival of the fittest contest between 2 superpowers. It's amusing to study how the USA and USSR essentially behaved like two siblings with intense rivalry between them. "I don't care, I die-die must be one notch above him." Of course, none of the leaders put it that way. Instead, there was plenty of name-calling e.g Reagan's "USSR is an evil empire" and the Soviet leaders denouncing the Marshall Plan as being "dollar imperialism". They did not have a one-on-one dual between but there were certainly proxy wars. And something Singaporeans are all familiar with: the race to be the best. Military-wise, technology-wise, popularity with other countries... this is what we in Singapore call Kiasuism:) Rivalry got so intense it reached a point where "neither could live while the other survived", as JK Rowling put it. The interesting thing is this: each side saw big, bad, evil Lord Voldemort in the other. Each was convinced he was Harry, the Chosen One, out to save the world armed with the ideology they held so dearly to their hearts (capitalism in USA's case and communism in USSR's). So who was the guilty one, really? That's where the 3 schools of thought come in but it's another story.

If you ask me what the most interesting bit is, I'd say it's the collapse of the USSR. All of a sudden, one of the world's mightiest nation ceased to exist in just 3 years. And this tectonic shift was precipitated by a dude called Gorbachev. I've pondered over this fall of USSR on Mr K's instructions and out of interest in the issue and I've concluded that USSR was like some sort of atom that self-destructed (to put it very crudely. ZEN, YOU ARE NOT TO INFORM MR K I SAID THAT. SCARLY HE GIMME EXTRA HOMEWORK). I even found a very fitting quote by W.B. Yeats to sum up the fall of USSR:

"Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world"

Good one, I tell ya. And with that, the curtain fell on the Cold War. I think one reason I enjoyed it sooo much was that I could relate to it a lot. In the 1st paragraph, I managed to come up with 3 analogies, including one that has got to do with Singapore. The Cold War, I guess, is a reflection of human nature and human folly.

Cuss like a sailor

“Let us swear while we may, for in heaven it will not be allowed”

I'm feeling much better now, thank you all for the kind words and concern. That talk did helped a great deal and I've learned to let go a little. Now for a more light-hearted topic, one that my pals and I have been engaged in over the past few days (see tagboard): swearing.



Ah, now that's something we're all familiar with, no?I love how my classmate's pencil box put it: subtleness is so last century. So much so that you will be hard-pressed to find someone who doesn't cuss at all. Even, gasp, little kids are into it. My brother once had an unpleasant encounter with a f-word spewing primary 1 boy. Blame it on the mass media and peer influence.

I reckon the first time I openly swore was during my lower secondary days. It started out with the very mild 'hell', but I soon picked up 'bloody' and now my favourite cuss phrase is 'bloody hell'. But that's about as far as I usually go. I use the more extreme ones e.g asshole, bitch on people who really get on my nerves. As for the (in)famous f-word, only rare occasions.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not a vulgar person who has to insert a profanity into every single sentence I utter. The poison barbs are only used when necessary, usually to let off steam. Take for example an encounter with a terribly rude person. When his/back is turned, and far away from hearing range, that's when you have to let out some of the anger bubbling away furiously within you. Thing is, what if 'that idiot' just doesn't cut it? For the want of a better word, a vulgarity is employed e.g 'that asshole'. When at boiling point, who gives a damn about being ladylike? And speaking of ladies, you'll be hard-pressed to find a true-blue one these days anyway.

But as they say, there is a time and place for everything. I am careful with when I use my swear words. Certainly not in a formal setting. Or when the elders are present. I don't want to come across as an uncouth kid to my peers so the colourful language is used sparingly. But actually, profanities are not my weapon of choice. I'm a bigger fan of icy cold sarcasm.

Another reason why I don't spew vulgarities freely like Samuel L. Jackson does is becuase using swear words at the wrong times is certainly not nice. Not to mention rather annoying. Can you imagine encountering someone who uses the f-word as a noun, pro-noun, adjective, verb and the etc? Such a fellow should just get a brain. I quite like the song 'You're beautiful' by James Blunt. It's sweet and enlighthearted, but I would have liked it even more if Blunt had not used the f-word at all. The song was going along so dreamily until it came to the line 'She could see from my face that I was fucking high'. The incongruousness of it gave me a rude shock and from then on, I subconsciously gritted my teeth whenever that line of the song approached.

There are certain vulgarities you will never catch me using. Remeber Samuel Jackson's declaration, 'I've had it with those *** snakes on this *** plane'? *** is simply too strong and too obscene for me. I've banned certain Hokkien vulgarities as well. You could say that is the same for the f-word, but frankly speaking, fuck is so overused it's impact has diminished. Other no-nos include racial derogratories, such as nigger or chink, and the word retarded. I know the latter is quite commonly used but please think: if a mentally-disabled person knew how the word retarded was being abused how would he feel?

In a nutshell, swearing is a quirky, annoying habit that people can't seem to do without. But remember that a line has to be drawn somewhere. I've decided that there are some words I'd use, some I'd never, and when I do cuss it'll be on the right occasions. I swear to this.

Delirium

I need to blog. It's 12 midnight and I ought to be asleep but I don't care. Not that I will be able to anyway, not until I get this off my chest. I wish I could talk to someone right now. Someone understanding enough to hear me out. But since that almost everyone is unavailable, I shall turn to Zephy, to whom I can rant my throat raw but will not judge me. A burden shared, after all, is a burden halved.

Warning: Because I'm not in the right state of mind, this is going to be an incoherent babble.

Am I flesh, bone and blood? Or am I a machine? This question gripped me while I was studying just now. Throughout the past few weeks, I've been churning out notes and more notes and doing revision in preparation for the upcoming promos. Somehow, I'm pushing myself harder than last year during the 'O' level preparation period. Maybe it's the high expectations of the teachers. Or maybe I just want to prove myself. Whatever it is, I've gone the extra mile for my subjects. And yet... it's not enough. Two more weeks to go before the promotional exams. And yet, quite a bit left to cover. I wanted to compile all my notes by the end of the holidays but did not manage to. It's the heavy-content nature of my subject combination I guess.

So I tried to finish all notes by tonight. Thing is, my will to do notes has diminished a great deal. I'm sick of this. FUCKED UP. I thought I could count on my passion to pull me through but the thing is I don't want to do this anymore. I don't want to cram any more info into my brain. I don't want to have those panic attacks. I don't want to go to school where the teachers are going to harp on the promos. Yet, I want to do well. I want to make my parents proud. I want to prove to all that my subject combination isn't a killer option. Mind you, I still love my subject combination. But I have to face reality as well. There's no time to go through topics in detail. There's no time for more extra reading.

I'm scared, and I've never felt so alone before. But I'll work something out. I have to. This can't go on. I'm going to talk to some teachers tomorrow, that'll be a good start.


The walls start breathing
My mind's unweaving
Maybe it's best you leave me alone.

A weight is lifted
On this eveningI give the final blow.

When darkness turns to light,
It ends tonight
It ends tonight.

- It ends tonight by All American Rejects

The price of foolishness

Foolishness can cost you a great deal, a lesson certain individuals who have come under public scrutiny recently learnt the hard way.

The price you pay may amount to as high as US$30 million. This is the sum the South Korean government paid to secure the release of the Christian missionaries who were abducted while at Afghanistan. What bugs me most about the whole South Korean missionaries saga is the irresponsibility and silliness of these people. In the first place, what are Christian missionaries doing in a predominantly Muslim country? And not just a country whose citizens embrace Islam, but a country ruled by the extremist Taleban. Isn't the Taleban's presence enough to scare them away? Apparently not, since they went ahead with their plans to travel and even defied a government advisory against travelling. And look what happened in the end. I wouldn't go so far as to say they deserved it, because it still remains a tragic incident. But they were certainly being rather callous. As fellow blogger Clarence put it, they were embarking on a lost cause and they had to be bailed out by the government.

Foolishness can jeopardize your career. It was a complete shock for me to learn about the nude photo controversy Vanessa Hudgens has found herself embroiled in. I mean, she has always been portrayed a good girl. She's the last person I'd expect to take a rather raunchy photo of herself for her boyfriend. I wouldn't be surprised if it were Britney Spears... but sweet Gabriella of High School Musical? I know she didn't intend to circulate the photo on the Internet and I'm sure she had no intention of committing career suicide But it was utterly foolish of her to do something as scandalous as that at the zenith of her promising career. Now Disney is alledged to have booted her out from High School Musical 3. Her career as a singer is probably going to hit a wall too. It's a shame; she was a rising star. Vanessa! Vanessa! Didn't you look before you leap? Didn't you know something like this, if leeked out, could cost you a great deal? To think that I was beginning to look up to you...

We all make mistakes every now and then. While this is inevitable, what we can do is look before we leap and don't do anything rash. Or you may land hard on the ground with a sickening thud.

Teachers' Day

Ok, so maybe this post is kinda late but I'll still blog about it anyway.

Hope none of the councillors see this, but I think the NY celebrations were sucky. ACES day workouts are a total cliche. What's more, they are about as impactful as a passing breeze. How the heck are we supposed to learn a few kickboxing-cum-dance sets in an hour? To add to the confusion, the instructors did not bother to slow down for us to catch up with them. A rather wham-bam-thank-you-ma'am affair, if you ask me. Can you really blame us if we stopped giving a damn after a while? And what does the workouts have got to do with Teachers' Day anyway?

Class picnic was better, though if you asked me about the state of my class's sense of camaradie at the end of the day, I'd say it remained the same. We simply chomped on the food and any talking that transpired was within the many cliques. That's the problem with my class. Because of the various subject combinations, we don't get together as a whole often, resulting in a lack of unity. Me, I don't belong to any clique and consider myself neutral. I'd cheer for my class and support it, of course, but I don't consider it to be family. In fact, I'm much closer to the other students of my History class! It's a shame, but that is the sad truth. It's going to take a hell lot more than a picnic to really bond my class together.

Anyway, I managed to give away all the anime postcards I made for some teachers. They're pretty simple, just anime pics glued to a postcard with a message at the back, but I'm quite proud of them. Especially the pics, which I made sure were cheery and colurful enough. I gave:

2 of my artworks to Mdm Shasila and Miss Lim
Naruto pics to Mr Mao and Mr Ng
A Fullmetal Alchemist one to Mr Kellett
A Bleach one to Mr Yeo
A Sister Princess one for Miss Hazel

And I found out that Mr Kellet is an anime fan too. He smiled when I gave him the postcard and said "I'm an anime fan too. Used to watch them as a kid." I was glad he liked and said I'd give him more anime stuff next time. "Well, just don't download them illegally" he grinned. Haha, of course not! Today I ran into Miss Lim in school and she told me she was 'proud of me' with reference to the postcard I gave her. The little things really do count after all!

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At about 11am, I rushed to Redhill to visit dear old Crescent. I was worried I would not be able to make it in time but thank goodness I did! Surprisingly, Hui Juan was the only Red Cross squadmate who turned up. Maisarah came later but she did not stay for long. Seeing my Sec 4 teachers again was a real pleasure. Mr M is as tall as ever and Lao Shi's jolliness has not diminished one bit. She asked me about my Chinese grades. "Ummm...an E." I guiltily admitted. "Wah lau, everyone else scored an A and you got an E? I'm going to loose face..." She pretended to go barmy. I quickly assured her my Chinese isn't all that bad, upon which she smiled and said she still had faith in me. Thanks a million! Oh and I'm so glad I finally got to see Mdm Ting. She still remembers me! Mdm Ting is still my hero; if not for her, I would have given up on History and Social Studies long ago and thus would not have discovered how fun they can be. I was proud to declare I'm now studying A-Level History.

HJ and I went for lunch at the Tiong Bahru Plaza Kopitiam. We chatted about a great deal of things along the way. For one thing, we agreed Project Work is stupid. We also bemoaned how stressful JC life can get. HJ reckoned she'd like to go back to Crescent to teach someday. I said I wouldn't mind either. "And we'll replace Mrs Yip as the Heads of Crescent Red Cross!" I quipped. How we laughed.