the simplest storyline

the start of december

Fri, 27 Nov 2009 07:36:57 GMT

Since exams ended yesterday, I've been packing my schedule full of activities almost forgetting that I still have JLPT4 on the 6th of December. I'm going to make some effort to study tomorrow and sunday maybe. The paper yesterday was okay, I guess, seeing that we could almost forsee what he would set for us. The day before, Keith, Jerry, Samuel, Sien, Xinhui and I had a not very fruitful but an interesting touch-and-go discussion in preparation for the paper. Post-paper saw Ed, Samuel, Keith, Xinhui, Sien and I heading to Clementi pizza!!:D

It was because of that I was almost 15mins late to meet Qibin for dinner which we ate calmly despite knowing that we were to meet Mr Toh to collect the tickets for the choir concert:/ Everything worked out in the end, except for the fact that Jez came in after the first song was over. And it was the first time I met Qimin since she returned from Aussie(:

And because it is a public holiday today, my fantastic family attempted to wake up early to cycle but ended up going to east coast park to eat duck rice and have sugarcane. Nevertheless, we managed to entertain ourselves with a bit of camwhoring.

lina "my eyes are closed! I look so noob" teeheehee:D

oh, we didn't go fishing! we just camwhored with someone's rod.

Forgot to take picture of the duck because I like the rice without it. hahaha.

Mega-dinner with the choir people tonight, I think. Awesome.
The line-up for next week is even better:D

too fat to run fast

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:27:29 GMT

Okay, I'm officially depressed after my run with marcus and ernest. It's been awhile since I've run and I could barely make it around toa payoh and bradell without panting and getting tired. I think I've been such a lard these few months (okay, all the time but recently I'm a more experiencing more intensed lardiness) that I can't even keep up with Marcus?! (and ernest. but I can't compare because I never really knew his speed). Highly disappointing, and to think he was slower than me when we were in JC.

So we headed to Lorong 5 after the run - and I kinda found the way (GIVE ME THE CREDIT PLS). The night ended with chicken wingsssss and sugarcane:D I really couldn't eat anymore there.

caught in a bad romance

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 02:18:32 GMT

christmas comes in october

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 09:05:44 GMT

Happy Birthday Granny:D

Christmas is here before exams are even over. Town's filled with pretty lights and such but it doesn't really feel like christmas is arriving maybe it's because I'm not caroling this year and because we've been singing christmas carols for the past few months already (HAVE YOURSELF A MERRY LITTLE CHRISTMAS....) it just doesn't strike me that the year is ending.

I've been so bored of studying the past few days (and possibly the next few days). I'm so easily distracted by everything else as always. Even more so by the oh-so-pretty lights in town.

Back to Marx, Weber and Durkheim.

when you know times have changed

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 14:57:19 GMT

Today I tried to step back into the past just to fulfill that masochistic desire of mine. But the little things of the past no longer make me smile or feel happy. This, I guess, means I've truly moved on.

Grandfather's birthday!

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 13:54:58 GMT

One more event to add to the weekend.

The grandchildren and great-grandchildren

My niece and nephew are so cute:D :D :D I promised to play "catching" with them the next time we meet(:

Wish I was a kid again:/

i did not do any work this weekend

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 07:03:00 GMT

Let's start from Friday where I attended a really deviant gathering - details not to be disclosed - but it was supposed to be a lit honours party. It was unexpectedly interesting:D Not many blogworthy pictures but here are 2 normal and sane looking pictures from the party held in the honours room that had more booze than books and a disco ball -

I dropped by IJ on saturday morning for the Arts Jam with Nao. It feels a little nostalgic to return again. We caught the performance by IJdrama, handbells (pri school), choir and dance. The dance performance was really awesome. I think it was their SYF choreo this year, check it out on youtube if you're interested. We spent most of our time in the HOD room catching up with teachers who were there and apparently Ms Teo still remembers me for "playing hard and never working" while most teachers feel that Eunice "played and worked hard". For Lina...well, they had quite a bit to say.

Derrick came over to study for a short while (after lunch with Nao) but we ended up spending most of our time singing, playing the piano and guitar. It's been quite awhile since I've had such a nice peaceful and slow afternoon so I enjoyed it pretty much. We met up with Meiqian after her performance to prepare for Grace's 21st party which was a highly impressive event! Her boyfriend organized the entire thing most meticulously, planning out an entire 2 day schedule for her birthday party! There were even pre-dinner chocolates, eclairs and post-dinner activities planned out for those who were staying over. He even hired a limo to send her home the next day!

It was held in a suite at Concorde hotel. Needless to say, most of the time was spent camwhoring. Happy 21st Grace!
You looked stunning last night!:D

<3!

'Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 16:54:37 GMT

The epic end to a fun-filled and tiring semester

My 19th C Prof wears sunglasses on her head and a different cheongsam every week. (So should we)

Middlemarch was the most memorable book from this module because almost no one read it (except Dom) for an obvious reason - it's far too thick

Of course, this book has many other uses.

#1 - you camwhore with it

#2- use it as a door stopper

#3 - Hit someone on the head with it

#4- Kill someone with it (Death by Middlemarch)

And we express our love for this book in many different ways

I'm gonna miss this tech-savy 19th C class with our weekly underground tutorials on MSN:/

When Dr Pan said "you might as well get your laptops to talk to each other" she didn't know how close to the truth she was.

Caught in a Bad Romance

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 16:04:52 GMT

"I'll tell you what real love is. It is blind devotion, unquesitoning self humiliation, utter submission, trust and belief against yourself and against the whole world, giving up your whole heart and soul to the smiter--as I did!"~Miss Havisham",Great Expectation,Charles Dickens.

Derrick Liao saved my life with his brilliance and intelligence (he'll know what I'm referring to). I really don't understand how he makes the most complicated problems simple and comprehensible And even though he's pretty mean at times, I think he can be a fine person when he wants to be. Thanks Liao! I owe you one.

Pamela's good deed

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 14:03:22 GMT

All deleted now.
Empty empty empty empty empty.
And I'm happy.

I had the intention to do that this morning actually, but for sentimental reasons I couldn't bring myself to. When Moses drove Pam and Mart over to sample his awesomely heavenly cake, she did the deed for me:D So as of 9th November 2009, I'm no longer disgusted and disturbed by my ridiculous emotions. I am free!

So that issue's over.

The highlight of this post should be Moses' cake actually. One of the most awesome oreo cheesecake I've ever ever had. I could eat it for breakfast lunch and dinner. Technically, it was Pam's and Mart's dinner for tonight. I love the base, it was better than the crushed oreos I used the other time and Pam loved the soft cheese :D Yummy!

Back to Post-Col now. At the rate I'm going, I'd be doomed.

the afterthought

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 11:05:47 GMT

"... nothing lasts. I can say that now and it doesnt shock me, but i think it was the hardest lesson of all for me to learn. We arrive so eager to learn, to adjust, to participate, only to find the monuments are plastic, agreements are annulled. nothing is forever, nothing is so terrible, or so wonderful that it won't disintegrate"

- Jasmine, Bharati Mukherjee

With no reference to every issue but with relevance any issue.

I've been doing a little thinking in my attempt not to think. Lit students tend to overthink issues just because that's how we are. We analyse actions, create situtations with reference to other other situations and make what is unreal seem real.

So it took me years to realise what I could achieve in a month, I decided to put aside things that I wasn't sure of in my life and constantly asked myself what it is that I actually want. What I want now is no longer what I had wanted then. 1 month of distancing made it clear what I could live with and what I could live without, what is important to me what wasn't (nope, no typo here. I meant it that way).

What I was 2 years ago, I no longer am. Because like Pete wrote it seems that it is only when you go through pain that you are changed. So I have changed and what I try to keep for myself now is what I'm sure I want. What I don't need, I've given it up, all up.

Of course, periodically, I drift back into that state of ambivalence but it's becoming clearer now, what I'm moving towards to and what I'm moving away from.

There's just one more thing that I need to ask myself. Just one more.

* Keith * If it's worth having, it's worth fighting for says:
Tho self-realisation makes me more jaded and bitter

celine * says:
yea, that's why you need this other factor - you need to move on after self-realisation
it doesnt end there

* Keith * If it's worth having, it's worth fighting for says:
HAHA
I dont know how people do that
Self-realisation can be paralysing

celine * says:
i just managed to move on
YOU CAN TOO

Personality test

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 07:18:44 GMT

Name: celine
Date: 11/4/2009
Colorgenics Number: 54203617

You are in a state of constant expectation and want interesting and exciting things to happen to you. But in fact, you are a 'Walter Mitty' at times - a dreamer - over-imaginative and often given to fantasy or day-dreaming. There is nothing wrong in 'dreaming' - how boring life would be if one just followed the doctrines of everyday life - but one must not continue leading a life of continuous fantasy. You need to face reality in spite of all its possible shortcomings.

You are a fighter and always on the defensive. You always need to be sure that your position is safe and established. When you finally make a decision you will pursue it to the bitter end in spite of all opposition.

You are confined and trapped in a distressing or uncomfortable situation and seeking some way out. Whatever you seem to do to resolve the problem hasn't worked out. Fortunately you are able to gain some aspect of relief from someone close to you.

It would seem that an existing situation or relationship is unsatisfactory and you feel that there is little that you can do about it without 'some help from your friends', but you have no desire to show the world how vulnerable you really are and therefore you consider it inadvisable to display affection or be over demonstrative. You regard this particular relationship as a depressing tie and although you would like to be independent and unhampered, you don't want to run the risk of losing anything. All this leads you to react 'touchily' and with impatience, while the urge to 'get away from it all' results in considerable restlessness and stress. Your ability to concentrate may suffer.

You don't like conflict and you endeavour to avoid criticism. You want to do your own thing and to be able to decide what is right for you. You have considerable personable charm - and this is used with considerable effect on those that keep your company.

Hoho! this is so accurate it's scary. Anyway, if you guys are interested, here's the link

Happy Birthday Edith!

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 16:05:17 GMT

Birthdays shouldn't be ruined by tests, that's why I planned this little surprise with Kailing to brighten up her day. We sneaked to her block with a birthday cake (when I say sneak, I meant that we really tried to keep our voices down). Pretty ridiculous things happened in our attempt to move about stealthily and find the right house but we succeeded in surprising the hardworking girl who was studying for her tests at home anyway:D Yay!

Hey Edith!
Now that you've hit 20, I'm on my way to 21:( You're so much younger than me! Anyway I'm pretty glad we managed to brighten up your day.

Meeting Charmaine Tay definitely brightened my day too. On top of that Moses brought his awesome strawberry cheesecake for me to sample (okay, sample's not a good word cause I definitely did more than sample the cake). Charmaine Tay tried some and smashed the nicely cut slices with her spoon in her attempt to scoop the cake. Even Kailing was at a loss of words for her actions:D That's my Ctay!

Okay and I'm having this ridiculous conversation with Derrick (because of Keith's influence, I keep meowing nowadays too:/) but it's rather cute and funny:D

celine * says:
meow

derr says:
ROAR

celine * says:
:(

derr says:
go slp

celine * says:
so mean
i meow-ed you
and you chased me away

derr says:

no
it's a friendly ROAR
like u know
a lion can only roar what u expect it to do
an unfriendly roar will be like this
ROARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

pictures paint a thousand words

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 08:47:36 GMT

I've been composing essays after essays and striking them off my to-do list. So basically all I've been seeing is words words and more words and will still be seeing them the next few weeks or so. This kind of explains my absence from here, not because I don't have things to write about but it's just that I don't want to write - a general distaste for words.

Anyway, last week I had a terrible ear infection which meant going to the doctor's for the 3rd of 4th time this year. I haven't been such a sickly child before. Went shopping with nao for a short while, met up with moses and james for lunch at novena and had the most fun on saturday since school started.

Fabian's 21st -

I really like this picture because it seems to tell unspoken stories(:
Posed pictures seem really artificial at times and candid shots are more telling.

Here's the Queen of Diamonds that I was tricked into sacrificing during a round of indian poker:(

This picture makes me laugh. He really looks too much like an ostrich.

Slap jack:D

My closest CJ friend in lit!

Once upon a time, we were all sop 1s

The birthday boy

The CJ group

Televen Pirates @ Dbl O

Loved the way we threw all sorts of random things on Lesh just to get him in for free.

Can't wait till the sem's over for more of such meet ups and parties:D

allergic to school

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 14:16:08 GMT

I honestly think I'm allergic to school. I've been plauged with strange ailments since school began. Now, I'm temporarily deaf in one ear - the right ear. It's just a ear infection but the pain's a bitch and it's damn uncomfortable. Vincent's comment cracked me up though - "Ear infection is for dogs I thought?"

Anyway, I've cleared quite a few assignments this week and I think I need to start working on the next few because I have a hell of assignments/tests due on week 13. But I can't seem to sleep/work/eat with this throbbing pain. Yes, I'm hungry now but I don't want to eat.

Thankfully, the pain went away for slight while when I went back to CJ with Audrey, Keith and Shar. Noodle King was awesome. We had took an impromptu stroll around all the blocks of CeeJay in search of Mr Pang who was having a lesson somewhere but I think he was hiding from us:/

Ah. I need to do something about this throbbing pain. I'm tired and hungry but I can't find any comfort in sleep or food.

us against the aliens

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 08:02:42 GMT

it's so hard to walk away. i want to, very very badly, but there's sth blocking. predisposition? i imagine you must be feeling the same, yet ironically different. you understand, when you shouldn't, since we are so different. yet the same. makes everything seem like a cycle of oppression, in which we oppress ourselves. then again, i am not telling you anything new.

i cant tell you anything you dont already know.

positively zonked.

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 10:42:47 GMT

Week 11

The week begins with a sleep debt that will probably accumulate till Week 13. Handed in the 19th C essay that was written without much thought or effort. I'm not going to get a good grade for that, I'm pretty sure. Then came Asian Am presentation which was just something I couldn't wait to get over and done with.

I just woke up from a 2hr nap. I didn't want to because waking up would mean that it's time to complete yet another one of those essays that's due on wed. No more half-baked efforts. I'll live through this!

when life gives you lemons

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 09:06:58 GMT

You suck it up!

19th Century tutorial was hilarious. Have I ever mentioned how much I love my lit comrades? School would be awful without these people. So Keith delievered a fantastic presentation despite the "I can't pronounce the word because my tongue is swollen" factor. And while the tutorial discussion carried on physically in front of D Pan, half the class was on MSN carrying out another discussion about her cheongsam and sunglasses on her head. Jerry tried to imitate her with his specs:D We've decided to turn up for lesson with sunglasses on our heads during the last tutorial. Of course, we were discussing the text as well on MSN because Vincent was repeatedly silenced by her in real life, he had to find a voice somewhere else. Then Sien spotted a cat outside and Keith meowed. Xinhui and I almost died of laughter.

And tutorial finally ended on a very pessimistic note because Thomas Hardy writes dismal novels that tell us how life sucks. D Pan metioned that someone in another tutorial group had said to "suck it up" and finally dismissed us telling us to "SUCK UP OUR LUNCH". OMG. That was the last straw. The minute she strolled out of class I burst out laughing.

Ah! These 19th Century tutorials crack me up.

The obscure

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 14:41:43 GMT

"And now the ultimate horror has come - her giving herself like this to what she loathes, in her enslavement to forms! - she, so sensitive, so shrinking, that the very wind seemed to blow on her with a touch of deference..."

"what is that?"

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 16:14:18 GMT

Who says only lit students can write poems?

Here's an attempt by Derrick Shakespearean Liao

derr says:
i love celine
she's so mean
eating's a sin
but she eats like a bin

celine * says:
WHAT
HAHAHAHAHA

derr says:
she eats so "kin"
yet still so thin
oh, jin
*finish*
*applause*

/Edit

Anyway, my fellow lit majors are probably the most hilarious bunch of people I've ever met. Everyone's always up at 2am bitching about lit books, discussing what they're reading, bitching about lecturers on facebook. Misery loves company - I'm starting to see how this is true:D

Hello Keith, I'm looking forward to an awesome and entertaining presentation this thursday when you speak to Dr Pan with your pierced tongue!

picture of the year

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 13:14:00 GMT

My sister officially thinks tertiary students (okay, maybe just me and some of my friends) are stupid.
We look like we ran out of an asylum.

And we leave you appalled

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 14:34:52 GMT

Looking up from her email regarding a make-up test

Shar: How long is 1pm to 245pm??

Me:...... (silence)....

Shar: It's 1hr 45 mins right?

Me:.....(pause) ya, I think so.

Lina looks astonished.

In our attempt to name the planets ...

Shar: it's Mecury Venus ....what's the third planet ah?

Me: ERM.

Shar: My Very what Mother???

Me: My very pretty? Understanding? Kind?

Shar: You realise that the first letter of the word cannot keep changing right?

An exasperated Lina goes to her geog text book, flips to the page on planets and bursts out laughing uncontrollably.

Shar/Me: WHAT?

We look at the book and realise that the third planet was EARTH.

no one else can keep me this entertained

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 15:08:27 GMT

You know, when life gets boring and when people don't live up to your expectations; your friends are just one sms away from keeping you entertained with the most random activities. The past few weeks have been awesome. Besides the interns, Shar, Isabel and some others that I havent caught up with for a long time, I even managed to meet up with Song, James, Moses, Buns with Pam due to some very random and last minute texting.

And here, are the people who have been colouring my life with their crazy suggestions over the weeks.

do what you have to do - sarah mclachlan

Sat, 10 Oct 2009 14:54:21 GMT

"The only people you need in your life are the ones that prove they need you in theirs"and "if someone wants to be in your life, they'll put the effort to be a part of it"

What ravages of spirit
Conjured this temptuous rage
Created you a monster
Broken by the rules of love
And fate has lead you through it
You do what you have to do
And fate has led you through it
You do what you have to do ...

And I have the sense to recognize that
I don't know how to let you go
Every moment marked
With apparitions of your soul
I'm ever swiftly moving
Trying to escape this desire
The yearning to be near you
I do what I have to do
The yearning to be near you
I do what I have to do
But I have the sense to recognize

That I don't know how
To let you go
I don't know how
To let you go

A glowing ember
Burning hot
Burning slow
Deep within I'm shaken by the violence
Of existing for only you

I know I can't be with you
I do what I have to do
I know I can't be with you
I do what I have to do
And I have sense to recognize but
I don't know how to let you go
I don't know how to let you go
I don't know how to let you go

from my lit prof's wall

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 04:04:39 GMT

During tutorial, we couldn't keep our eyes from wandering around her room, overwhelmed by those huge shelves of old books. Then, we saw this

"Grant me the courage to change the things I cannot accept, and the serenity to accept the things I cannot change. Grant me the wisdom to hide the bodies of those people that I had to kill today because they pissed me off, and help me to be careful of the toes I step on today as they may well be connected to the ass that I will have to kiss tomorrow."