Tuesday 30 December 2008

Never Lasts Forever

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...uh...MY MUM!

My mum's birthday was yesterday, I only remembered at noon (yesterday) so I rushed to make her a card in the evening.

I feel sooooo blessed by giving her the card. Don't know why. I just felt like I was glowing with pride. I just can't help but feel happy when I think I made someone happy!

We celebrated her birthday with a cake today.

It was the first time after so long that I've had a cake that didn't have blueberry filling! So happy!

The chocolate on the cake was nice too. Yum!

The cream was awesome!

Er...the whole cake was awesome, yes?

I cooked spaghetti for lunch today. It was the best I've done! It was surprisingly easy, though it took a long time and lots of my patience...

I'm thinking I cooked too little. I didn't even feel half-full when I was done with my share...

Oh yea. Today, just before eating the cake during dinner, my sis sat with a cushion (about 70cm x 70cm between her legs at her...you know what.

I told her not to. She said she could because she was the one who took the cushion out so she had the right. And she wouldn't let me touch it.

Oh, you know what? She kept stealing Mr. Bump and hiding him, squishing him, abusing him (I'm gonna sue her for sexual harrassment or outrage of modesty toward soft toys...) and she calls me selfish!

So basically, now that she just went and criticized her own behaviour, she is hereby banned from even TOUCHING Mr. Bump because I not only took Bump out, but I also OWN Bump.

She should really consider her own behaviour first before pointing out my faults. It's like she's so focussed about the splinter in me she overlooked the log in her eye...

Monday 29 December 2008

A Kid in 20 Years Time

2 days ago I cut my hair.

Now it's poofy and short, so much that when I shake my head vigourously, my hair doesn't tangle...

That's a good thing.

My hair dries much more easily too because of the short length.

Also, it isn't as irritating in the hot weather anymore.

But, I have a bit of a problem tying my hair and my hair gets in my collar, but other than that, I'm very happy.

*.*+*.*+ *.*+*.*+ *.*+*.*+ *.*+*.*+ *.*+*.*

Yesterday: Sunday

Headed for church at 10:37. Waited for the bus for what seemed like lightyears before the bus actually came.

Arrived at church late. At about 11:05. All my sis' fault. Char Siew Bao is protable, but she insists to eat it in the house.

Argh. That's why we probably missed the earlier bus.

So it was revealed that we were in the same buzz group. I'm not that thrilled. But at the same time, I am, once I found out that my sister was only going to church because our parents made us go and that she doesn't want to seek God.

Service was as usual, until alter call. I wanted a change in my life, because I have been straying from the track and the race we were supposed to run for God.

The alter overflowed, so we were on the steps. Although I wasn't prayed for (I think I was skipped, for some odd reasons. It happened a few times already. Maybe they could see my shining [already mended] relationship with God so they didn't think I needed help? [Dream on...]), I still felt His presence.

It was because I wasn't prayed for that I felt Him, I think. I've always been a selfish person, though I've tried hard to change, but I don't know if it worked. This time, when I wasn't prayed for, my heart told me that even if I was missed, I needed to let others be touched and prayed for.

So I extended my spiritual hands over everyone answering to the alter call and prayed. In tongues. When the worship team striked up a new song, I just felt this sensation coming over me and I almost teared. I wished I remembered the song, but I have a feeling it was an upbeat song...

I felt that God had wanted me to be aware of this selfishness that I have and that I should learn to place others before myself. I felt really blessed when I started blessing other people by praying for them.

I'm not sure if everyone was prayed for, but I just want all of them to know that even if they think they've been forgotten and that God won't reach them, I will pray for them, because I know what it feels like to feel forgotten, as if I didn't matter to the world.

After service, we gathered and ate at a nearby coffee shop/hawker center/restaurant. The food was nice.

But the service sucked.

I ordered Hor Fun along with another person, one of the leaders at the table ordered crispy noodles, the other one asked for rice with meat, and the 3 remaining (not leaders) called for Hokkien Mee.

The Hor Fun, Crispy Noodles, and Rice came first. My Hor Fun didn't come for the next half an hour. I was actually wondering if they'd forgotten my order...

During that 'next half an hour', the leader who ate the rice left, and I ate the leftover of half a bowl shape of white rice along with the slightly spicy sauce (hey, it's SSS!).

Yum!

Then up came the 3 Hokkien Mees. No wait, the Hokkien Mee came before the leader left, I think.

The other leader finished her meal, and the leftover was given to me again! Oh! How nice the noodles were!

A long while later, my Hor Fun still hadn't come, so we cancelled the order.

Following that, my sister couldn't finish her Hokkien Mee, so half the plate went down into my stomach.

A while later, another person who ate Hokkien Mee couldn't finish hers either, so I downed the 1/4 that was left.

I was so full, and in the end, I only had to pay for the Green Tea that I asked! What a cheap meal!

Hmm, before that 'half an hour where I waited without much patience for the never-coming Hor Fun', I talked to the leader at the other table about manga after she spotted me reading Parfum Extrait 0 which I got for my Christmas present.

She liked Furuba and Gakuen Arisu. Ah, the cliches of being a female.

On top of that, she didn't like Kaori Yuki's style, stating that it was too Western.

I thought that that was the good point about her drawings! It was unconventional and so original! I loved the style and admired it a lot!

Grr....

Oh! I just remembered. During that 'half an hour where I waited without much patience for the never-coming Hor Fun', one of the leaders at my table told us that the candy cane actually bears a significance to Christianity!

She said that if the candy cane was inverted, it would be a 'J', and that represented Jesus!

If you suck at the candy, the red comes off first to reveal white, which is purity! The red, representing Jesus' blood, cleansed us and made us pure!

Then if you looked at the upright candy cane in another light, it would look like a shepherd's staff! It represents Jesus as our shepherd, guiding us in the dark when we get lost.

So meaningful, right?

Hmm, after lunch, we headed back to church and collected a number for 'family communion'. In my buzz group's case, we're doing it as a 'spiritual family communion' instead of a 'biological family communion'.

I think our number was 235.

We assembled in the chapel, then when our number was called, proceeded to the preparation room, where we prayed for each other that we may be able to concentrate on our relationship with God in the new year of 2009.

When we finished preparing our hearts for the communion, we entered the summit, and after consuming the bread representing the body of Christ and the 'wine' representing the blood of the Lord, we prayed once more.

Then we were free to go.

I waited for my brother. He SMSed to say that his number was 254. During the wait, my sis found out from my mum that we were to go to Takashimaya. She said my brother knew the way.

Damn. I thought we could go home. My father had SMSed me earlier when I told him we'd be having lunch outside that we should take the bus home.

It turned out that my brother only knew the way to Orchard MRT Station. I could do up till that far too, didn't need his help or assistance...what was my mother thinking? Was she underestimating me?!

Anyway, I thought that by 'my brother knew the way', he knew how to get there by bus and arrive right outside Takashimaya.

ARGH.

In the end, we called my father and he told us to go to Wisma. From there, I dunno what'll happen.

So we went to Wisma. My sister spotted Takashimaya from there (wow, such a pro at spotting shopping centers...), but for some strange reasons, my brother led us into Wisma. Once again, I was misled that my brother knew the way...

We exited Wisma and headed for the red building my sister claimed to be Takashimaya. I was totally relieved when I saw the words 'TAKASHIMAYA' on the building...

Upon entering, we didn't know where we were, but I concluded that we were on the 2nd level of Takashimaya, seeing that 4 floors below us held a directory that enlarged level B2's map while that of the other levels were about half the size and shoved in a clump to the right.

We went up one level and entered Kinokuniya, informing our parents that we were going to stay there till they find us, cuz' we didn't know where in Takashimaya we were and we are going to get lost if we tried to find our way around.

I immediately headed for the manga section, totally awed by the (7) long rows of English manga.

It turns out that they even have Japanese Magazines! I saw Jump. It was, of course, in Japanese, but a shelf held the English version. There were many more Japanese magazines. About 6 rows of them.

There were manga in Japanese too. I didn't bother counting how many shelves, though I have a feeling there's over 3 shelves. Chinese translations were there too.

My father allowed me to get 2 Chinese mangas! Yay!

Oh yea, by the way, one side of these two shelves is one row:
________________________________________________________
I___________________________II___________________________I

(This is the top view of 2 shelves [and a very ugly illustration, on top of that...])

The row includes the bottom most to the top.
________________________________________________________
I___________________________II___________________________I
I___________________________II___________________________I
I___________________________II___________________________I
I___________________________II___________________________I
I___________________________II___________________________I

(This is side view, showing a complete row)

These five layers on on one side is a row.

Uh...I've got a feeling you may not exactly get what I'm saying, so I'll move on.

For dinner, we ate at one of the Crystal Jade branches in the area. We had to wait for a long time. About half an hour. Our queue number was 151. The light above our table was very nice. My father wished he had brought a camera.

We had the kind of dinners we wouls have when one of my grandparents' birthday comes. It was the first time we had it as an immediate family circle.

The first batch of Crysanthemum tea was very nice and sweat, the flavour was rich too, but the more refills we have, the less prominant the taste became...

It was a great meal. The fried rice was awesome! Though I wish the prawns would be slightly more fresh and not explode at the back...maybe some wine on them would be nice too.

After dinner, my mum continued shopping. At Bosini, I saw this/these (2) shirt(s) that was/were just simply awesome!

Well, of course, it/they was/were (a) guys shirts so my mother didn't get them for me...

I thought we were supposed to shop for Chinese New Year clothings...

You know, it was only when I heard the sound of metal...walls being pulled down to indicate that shops are closing that I realized how late 21:30 was...

Hmm, anyway, I got lost trying to find my way out of the toilet area. There were two areas connected to the toilet.

When I emerged from the ladies, I didn't know which direction to take, so I took the right one (though I had a feeling I was on the wrong track). It turned out that it was a totally different place where I came from...

I was really glad to make it back to Bosini...

My father muddled up the level where he parked the car, so we went from level 7 to level 6.

Oh yea. My mother banned me from buying anymore manga...so sad...would I be allowed to buy more if my Chinese improved?

Friday 26 December 2008

Mr. Bump

Christmas! Is over.

So sad.

So yesterday, at 17:00, we left the house to go to Orchard Road to take a walk and see the lights.
Got to Bishan MRT Station by bus, then took the train to Orchard MRT Station. Then we started walking.

The lights were pretty amazing.

First, we went into Borders at some cone shaped building. I can't remember the name.

I immediately headed for the manga section. Tons and tons of manga. So many! All in English! I found GodChild, Cain Saga, Fairy Cube, Eyeshield 21, Prince of Tennis, and so many more! In English!

They didn't have Parfum Extrait 0 though...

Anyway, I was pretty shocked that they actually blocked out the roads so that we could walk along the streets to enjoy the lights without being knocked over...

Along the way, we saw a huge bunch of line-dancers made up of mostly the elderly.

We weren't supposed to cut across them while they were dancing (though it'd be a fine challenge to do so without getting hit) so we crossed onto the pavement.

Then we walked on. We saw some floats along the road. Obviously, if you saw something like that from the eyes of my father (who is nuts about taking photos), you would want to get a closer look.

So we retraced our steps and found a transition point to cross from the pavement to the road after the line-dancers.

After walking a while on the streets and admiring the floats, I noticed that often, there would be people trying to 'climb' across the fences made of green strings and gree sticks (brances, more like) stuck in the ground.

Then after walking a little more, we entered Lucky Plaza, because I thought that was where I bought my pointe shoes from as the exterior REALLY looks like the mall where I did buy them.

I never found out if it was the same one.

My sis got really pissed.

So we decided to eat. The fish and chips from the indoor kopitiam (it wasn't exactly a kopitiam because it didn't say 'KOPITIAM' in huge block letters at the entrance, but it looked and felt like on) was superb. I think they added garlic to the fish.

So then we continued walking.

We saw a church (or maybe it was a couple of churches) preaching about God on the streets. Somehow, I smiled.

They had a short (or maybe not so. I didn't muck around till the end of it) video on the birth of Jesus with a choir singing in the background.

You know, I was standing right at the back (about 20m-30m from the stage) with a speaker to my left and another to my right. The one to my left was closer.

Anyway, suddenly, this man came and stood between me and the left speaker, and I felt like my left ear has without warning went half deaf...

So scary. Then I turned myself here and there, and found out that my left ear was in good working condition when I could hear the sound from my right properly.

Then the man went away and I could hear the speaker with my left ear properly again.

Maybe the soundwaves were interrupted...

After a while, we reached Somerset. Then we got on the train there. It was so squeezy we almost couldn't fit in.

Then when we reached Orchard, my dad commented that he was glad that we didn't get off the train at Somerset and then walk to Orchard.

At Orchard MRT Station, the train was jam packed, but when some peopl left the compartment, there was space for more. But the people are so stupid! They just cram to get inside but never let the others get out.

How would they expect to get in like that?

Then we reached home, and bathed.

Then I opened my presents! Well, I chose and hand-picked them myself, so it wasn't much of a surprise, but I was still very happy!

The first one I unwrapped was Mr. Bump from Mr. Men series.

I mentioned him quite a while back in one of my posts when my mum dragged me shopping for clothes.

He was the most squishable soft toy I have. The dog (another soft toy which I also hand-picked) I got from Christmas 2 years back was 2nd.

Just so you know, I have a soft spot for soft toys and I'm not afraid to mention it.

As tomboy as I may seem, I still like the feel of squishable stuff in my hands. Mr. Bump was made of a very smooth material too, and that's what made me like it even more.

Then I opened Parfum Extrait 0!

My only English manga! And also my only manga that isn't from the Prince of Tennis Series.

I spent 1 hour reading it...

Oh. The bliss.

My father got presents too. Probably from his colleages and church acquaintances.

He got a packet of chocolates and sweets (he had Ferrero Rocher!).

Then he also got this plague that reads 'Purpose' and below it has a verse from Romans.

Merry Christmas to all!

Oh. I just remembered. Today is boxing day...wonder why it's called boxing day...

(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)

Oh! I haven't talked about Genting yet.

Day 1: Got on the bus to Genting at around 23:00.

Day 2: Arrived at Genting at around 05:00
Day 2: Went to eat breakfast in a place called '老地方' at 08:00
Day 2: Went to Outdoor Theme Park at around 9:00
Day 2: Checked in to Hotel at around 18:00
Day 2: Ate at some strange food court just beside the Indoor Theme Park at around 20:00
*Chinese food there is horrible...
Day 2: Fell flat on bed after playing at the Indoor Theme Park (and then bathing) at around 23:30

Day 3: Woke up at 09:30
Day 3: Went for lunch in MarryBrown at...uh...maybe 12:00
Day 3: Looked around the shops at aroun 13:00
*Checked around for good places to eat dinner at the same time.
Day 3: Went back to room at 16:00
Day 3: Went for dinner at 18:30
*Played "FuzzyWuzzy", "Mutton Chicken", "Bang", "This, This, That", "How Many Maa-Maa", "Black Magic", "Johnny"
Day 3: Exchanged presents and ripped the wrappings off at 20:30
Day 3: Went back to room at about 20:45
*Bathed, Quiet Time
Day 3: Fell asleep watching American Idol...

Day 4: Breakfast of Maggi Noodles in room at who-knows-what time
Day 4: Checkout at 12:00
Day 4: Lunch at KFC at around 13:00
Day 4: Leaves Genting at around 14:00
Day 4: Has dinner of Lor Mai Kai and Siew Mai with houseflies at around 18:00
Day 4: Gets off bus at around 21:00
Day 4: Reaches home after long wait at Taxi stand at around 22:00

Thursday 25 December 2008

Lady of Gifts


Hi! Merry Christmas to all! I just finished this. It took me a whole hour... I just couldn't get the body proportions right...


And I hate to draw all those crazy presents in the background, so further back are all squiggles. I really have no patience to draw details...


I know the eyes look strangely weird (what the heck am I talking about...).


This picture is here because I just decided that it's Christmas and I should share the joy. This popped up in my head during the Christmas service that started at 11:00 in church today.


I just had to draw it. Didn't know what to do with it, so I chucked it here. It could be Random Girl 36, though. XD


As you can see, I didn't clean it up so the words at the top that read 'Merry Christmas' which I drew in a hurry to finish this are...uh...ugly.


The lines are not firm and you can see the stray ones jutting out...not a very pretty sight, I must say.

Friday 19 December 2008

Hectic Gold

I'm having one of the worst days of my life.

I just came back from church camp (it was pretty fun, to say the least) 2 days ago, yesterday, I STILL had piano lessons, then today, I planned to go to the Science Center to do the SAFMC trials but didn't pack (or unpack, for the matter) for the trip tonight so I didn't go.

I'm leaving in about a little over an hour at 21:00. Destination: Genting Highlands.

Anyway, I don't want to go. It's ridiculous. I just came back from Johor Bahru, Malaysia, and now I'm leaving for Genting Highlands, Malaysia just 2 days after!

Church camp was good. Got in touch with God.

I'm not exactly sure how you know you've been baptised by the holy spirit, because if you want to speak in tongues, you can just mutter some gibberish and people will THINK you ARE speaking in tongues.

But speaking in tongues means you're giving the holy spirit a chance to do something in you.

I don't know what it feels like to speak in tongues.

Anyway, we had service twice a day for 2 days, and by the end of the camp after the morning service on day 4 (there was only 1 service on both day 1 and 4), my throat was hurting.

I could barely sing...

Getting slain was a different thing altogether.

I thought it was more of going unconscious so much that you only focus on what God has to show you and lose all touch with the outside world.

I see people falling. So I thought it was like that.

But when the adult leaders tried to slay me (that sounds weird...), they more like pushed me and I fell. I was so tense in the leg area but I didn't realize it till much later when I finally relaxed it.

I could still hear the music. To be frank, I was pretty disappointed.

I was expecting a total black out.

Well, my mind was a black out, but my senses still worked fine thank you.

So I was sort of forced to think about something that came to my mind during the morning service that day.

I was walking along the streets of a city bathed in darkness. No street lamps, no light.

The sky was a deep navy blue with sparkles of stars embroided into the silk.

Then the sun started rising. It wasn't very bright. Just the orange and yellow you get from mild imagination. No great shines or white rays of light.

Just something you get from mere colouring.

Just something a little larger than the Earth, and very close too, but it felt just warm. The tempearature you feel on the Earth where the sun is so far away.

Somehow, I turned away from it and faced the moon. Then I started soaring toward it. I landed on the bumpy grey surface and looked upon the Earth as the sun rose.

The moon wasn't huge. It was about...the one from the illustration on the cover of The Little Prince.

The Earth was slightly larger than the moon. About the size of a city, so I could see quite a lot from where I was on the moon. Of course, the moon wasn't far away either, or else the graviational pull of the Earth wouldn't be enough.

I kept pondering. Why did I turn away from the sun? Why did I refuse to look at the bright shining light before me? Why did I run to the moon for salvation?

The two situations I could think of that represented it was:

1. To show how I have turned away from God (the sun) and walked deeper into sin (the moon) and miss the warmth of the Lord.

2. To show how I resisted the Devil's temporary temptation (the sun) to go for something that lasts for an eternity (the moon).
*Note: The sun actually dies out, right?

Anyway, when it was time for testimonies, I heard from this guy that he could hear the music while he was slain, so now I'm pretty confused as to what being slain feels like.

I also heard that the type of church my church is is called The Assembly of God.

Friday 12 December 2008

81 Holes

Hi. Today I'm here to tell you about American Mangaka Wanna-bes.

I have seen a lot of the American 'How to Draw Manga' books in bookshops, and once glance at it sends me running to the toilet.

I mean, how can they even sell something so Marvel-looking under the name of 'Manga'?

They're spoiling manga's reputation!

Have you actually seen their drawings?

On top of drawing terribly, the colours they use are so glaring it doesn't even look like manga at all!

The way they use colours is all wrong!

It's like those people have been drawing Marvel stuff all their lives and suddenly decide that they want to draw manga, turn up for a job interview, and POOF, get their ugly drawings on the shelves.

Ugh.

I already don't have a good impression of Americans, and now they intend to ruin my image of them even further.

My goodness. So terrible.

I've been drawing manga for only a year (well, 11 months, that is) and I already know what are the key points in them!

Well, I can't list them out. It's just that I can differentiate what's Japanese Manga, Korean Manhwa (they're quite good, actually), and lousy, immitation American Manga that aims for those who have never seen a single anime or manga before.

Who'd buy those books? Such strange drawings. Only a novice would stare at them like they were drawing heroes or something.

I think I'd much prefer copying Japanese mangakas works from the net.

Bleagh, I can't believe those Americans actually got their books published.

In the first place, I don't see how anyone (who knows what good quality manga is) would be attracted by their colour pages. The colouring is...how'd you say it...just one opaque colour with no highlights at all.

On top of that, all their characters have SUPER BIG EYES and SUPER HUGE CHESTS (for the ladies, that is) and SUPER HUGE HEADS.

That's so stereotypical, but manga has evolved beyond that.

Usually for shoujo manga, they use pale, milky colours like purple, pink, and the likes. The colouring usually makes you want to stroke the hair because it looks like silk.

But in some strange American 'How to Draw Manga' books, the colours are, as mentioned above, glaring, even though what they're trying to create is a shoujo style.

I wouldn't mind the colours for shounen style, but to go as far as to use those strange colours for shoujo? Even though I don't especially love the shoujo style or know it very well, I can tell you that no one in their right mind will buy that book.

I wonder if they released any of those American 'How to Draw Manga' books in Japan yet.

I'm interested to see how the originators of manga will react...

I'm not saying all Americans are terrible at drawing manga, I'm just saying that the publishers need to pick better artists to feature in their books...

Thursday 11 December 2008

3 Blue

Today there was a Christmas party at someone's house.

I took MRT on the Red Line from Bishan to City Hall, and ran so to the train on the Green Line heading for Pasir Ris/Changi so I didn't miss it. I almost got left outside if not from the fact that someone pushed me while I was trying to squeeze through the crowd.

Lucky.

For the rest of the party, I wasn't really involved. From Eunos MRT Station, we took bus 13 and alighted while it was raining.

Brother ZhiChao told us to stay in the bus stop till the rain stopped, but we didn't listen. We set off about 20 minutes later when the rain became almost a drizzle.

We arrived at the house no long later, asked the first timers to stand up, and received some door gifts (candy cane, if you must know).

For ice-breakers, we played Human Bingo. We must not just collect 5 boxes in a row, but must also get 5 rows! I just sat there and waited for people to come.

I don't like games. Not too enthu about it.

Then we played dress the Human Christmas Tree. We were given some crepe paper of green and red and those shiny silver things you hang on your Christmas tree.

Some tape, coloured paper and a pair of scissors were provided too.

The person chosen through open numbers was called Ruth. We called the Christmas tree Ruthless. We won the most spontaneous.

After that, we had some sort of video watching, looking at the life of one of the church members called Carol Wee.

Brother ZhiChao shared about his life too.

Then we just sat around until dinner time.

I was so full just after a little bit but I pushed down more than what I should. =D

I had 2 cups of the punch looking drink.

Then I sat down and started drawing (again).

Some people came over after a long while and commented on how nice my drawings looked. Then they started talking about manga.

They talked about how person A (Jackie, I think) didn't like Sasuke and didn't want Sakura to be with him. She prefered Sakura to be with Itachi (bleagh. OMG. So mismatched...).

I joined the conversation with these words: Gaara is cool.

Looking back, I feel so stupid.

Anyway, the conversation continued for a long while. Oh, before that, I was requested by one of the people to draw for her.

Wow. It's my 4th commission ever.

1st one went to Miranda. 2nd one went to Ying Yi. 3rd one went to Miranda again. 4th one was hers. I forgot her name, not that I ever knew it in the first place.

All of them were from church.

More people joined, and Jackie drew a chibi Sasuke on my paper. It was pretty cute (GASP. She said the word 'cute'!), but I kept wondering why she drew him when she didn't like him...

So then, a long while later, still half talking about anime and manga, we decided to go as a group to the MRT station to go home.

I needed to go to the toilet, so I went just before we left.

OMG. The toilet was in the dog area and it was so freaky to just walk in there. I'm scared of dogs, I'll admit this now...

Then when I came out of the toilet, I stepped into the dog's litter bin (if you know what I mean) and was so disgusted I immediately went back into the toilet to wash my foot.

Actually, I figured what it was before the maid (I assume), told me. It was just this newspaper in an empty cardboard box, and around the middle of the newspaper was this wet spot...

So freaky.

Oh. Then we walked to the bus stop. We had to cross the road, so I ran. It was probably the first time in my life I ever jay walked so dangerously...

I wish I hadn't done that.

The others were lagging a bit for their own safety, so them came a little later.

We boarded the first bus that came along. 155.

We were supposed to alight at Eunos MRT station, but somehow extended the bus ride to Paya Lebar.

When I looked out of the bus, I was so freaked out and felt so insecure. The whole place was black with a few orange spots here and there.

I felt like I could get lost anytime...

Once we got off the bus and arrived at the MRT station, I suddenly felt this sense of peace, being able to get to this brightly lit place.

Person B ran ahead of us because she saw the train arrive and wanted to catch it.

I think she missed it, because when we went up a little while later when the train had left, she was still there...

So the rest and me took the MRT heading the opposite direction and talked about PSLE or the likes.

The person that I did the 4th commission for said that she got 4 A*s but only got 260. I got 3 A*s but got 266.

Now that I think about it, I find it really weird. If she got 4 A*s, the lowest she can get is 273!

Anyway, once back to Bishan MRT station, I feel so at home...

And now I'm back!

Manga Recommendation (X)

Title: Shuna no Tabi
Mangaka: Miyazaki Hayao

It's a simple manga, not your conventional one though.

The style is pretty similar to manga from the West, but it is still read from right to left. I like it especially because it's coloured.

It's usually not the type I'd read once I've previewed the drawings, but I saw a review and went ahead. I'll never regret wasting this 35 minutes of my life.

Shuna, a teenager set to inherit a poor kingdom from his father, sets out one night to find the so called Golden Seeds that would bring higher yield and relieve his people from the famine that plagued them all year round.

On his way, he sets 2 slaves free, and leaves them to continue his dangerous journey so as to not cause them any inconvenience.

From that point on, he makes his way through perilous situations, only to be found by Thea, the older of the 2 slaves set free, when he was devoid of all emotions and memories.

Nurtured and taken care of by her, he finally regains his speech, and is able to make the journey back home.

I like the part when he reaches the land of the Golden Seeds. The mangaka is so innovative! So creative! Man, I really love it.

Even the drawings are nice!

It was later that I found out he was the one whoh created Princess Mononoke, the first anime I've ever watched.

I loved that anime! It was so freakin' amazing! I wish I could go back to the time I was in P3 and watch it over and over.

Wednesday 10 December 2008

Dreams are Virtual Reality

He's too strong! Even with all the powers combined he cannot be defeated!

Unless...

A girl dressed in blue walked onto the streets. Fae!

"Fae, sing!"

Puzzled, she opened her mouth and let the melody flow.

A pair of blue wings sprouted out from her back, shining in all its glory, but sadly visible to only one person; the one wielding the ember amulet.

Fae was brought up to the roof, even more confused than before as she stood clueless on the red concrete scales.

"May the power of the light of Pisces grace this amulet, may it more than triple the strength, may it give me the power to rid this world of the worst evil!"

Touching a finger to the wing, the amulet was pointed at the destroyer, slowly burning both him and the fingers that held it.

Nevertheless, with a shriek, the evil that manifested the Earth evaporated up into ashes that floated like snow across the village.

With it's job done, the amulet melted over the crispy fingers it had burnt and formed a permanent cast over them, sunshine seeping into metal, and metal seeping into sunshine.

"What happened? Your fingers...they...!"

"No big. Thanks for your help."

"What did I do?"

"Oh, you know, have your birthday this month and the likes."

"?"

With a gentle smile, "I'll be going back to help on my grandma's roof. You better get to the cake shop before it closes."

And with a wink, Fae was left behind to stare at her friend whom all she thought was just a lazy, uneducated country boy with no sense of reality.

Funny. Even though she changed her view of him, the fact that reality was never on his mind didn't change at all.

She watched as the figure grew smaller, hopping over the rooftops of angry villagers.

And a smile graced her face.

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

Who'd have thought the power of the zodiacs would be so strong.

That talking fat persian cat had said that while in contact with a zodiac wing, all powers will increase dramatically, and most wounds will be healed.

And all that was needed to trigger the wings was to sing, and the condition for it to appear was that the particular time conincides with the zodiac.

Of course, if the person himself had the wings, it would have been much more effective. And the wings usually took the shape of one's zodiac sign.

As the footsteps nears grandma's house, a voice rang through, "I wish that kid would be back sooner! The cake I made for him won't last that long! I hope he hasn't forgotten what day it is!"

Cake? Day...24 February...

One blink later, a self slap was placed across the face, and the metal fingers helped in increasing unconsciousness.

And it all happened on a random rooftop.

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

The end.

This was based on a dream I had. Of course,the dream was probably more interesting. It included the events that happened before the fight, which I so stupidly forgot.

I really suck at describing these kind of stuff, especially when I can't decide between 1st person or 3rd person, so I didn't specify it.

There most of the stuff in this story was made up. The only thing that wasn't made up was the zodiac wing being triggered by something (most definitely not singing) on the person's corresponding zodiac time period.

And also the evil guy. He's not made up either. Fae was from the dream too, her zodiac being Pisces wasn't made up either, but her name was.

I think the blue dress was made up too. I couldn't exactly remember the details.

My dream ended the moment Fae started thinking about the boy. In my dream, I was the boy, so it was impossible for me to know what she was thinking.

The part about hopping on the roof to the grandma's house was a lie too. The boy's birthday was a lie too. But fixing the grandma's roof wasn't a lie.

Before the fight, I remember the boy helping his grandma to further strengthen the roof by adding extra panels made of wood that were super huge. Bigger than him.

And he's at least 14, so that's something.

Recently, I've had a lot of strange dreams, and on top of that, the cool thing is that I remember a number of them, but only in bits and pieces, so that's not really helpful, but still.

Before 4 days ago, I couldn't even remember a single dream I had!

A few days back I had a dream that me and 2 friends were stuck in an empty MRT train.

Empty as in EMPTY. There was no people. There wasn't even any chairs or handles! It was just one container attached to the rails.

And the empty container was 2 levels high.

The destination was decided by us, the track too. We wanted to get to level 1, so we picked the option '1', and then we had to pick the track. We picked 'F', because it was the first listed.

Don't ask me why.

The whole thing is kinda stupid already. Taking the MRT means getting across the island, not going up and down in an MRT station!

Then when we realized we were on the wrong track, we just decided to relax and enjoy the free time.

But then a hanging metal box so much larger than us just slammed into the windscreen of the train, and from then on, we couldn't sit properly being so fidgetty.

I had another dream where my legs were almost chopped off while trying to chop off the other person's legs. I succeeded in doing so.

Funny. Even though the front half of my leg was chopped clean, it wasn't painful at all...

The strange thing was that Horrible Science came into my mind and I remembered in a page they had a soldier illustrate that a small injury hurts more than a big one by sticking a thorn or something into his finger, then chopping off his whole hand.

Lol.

Then, being the stupid person I was, decided to walk back to my home land which was so hundreds of kilometers away ON MY INJURED FEET just to get treatment back at home.

What kind of stupid logic did my dream self possess!? Maybe she just lacked the fear and pain sensors...but walking with a foot half falling off was definitely NOT a good idea.

Then in another dream...

Okay. I shan't bore you with my dreams. I shall keep this one in my heart and only there.

=D

Monday 8 December 2008

Green Series

Today was the most hectic day of my life.

I spent the whole morning sorting out my trash in my cupboards and drawers.

Then I spent the whole afternoon walking around AMK Hub area to search for clothes.

It was my mother's idea, and she wanted me to get some decent shorts which weren't those that I usually wear.

First, we went to This Fashion, where my sister picked out a few mini shorts...

Eww, gross. She wasn't supposed to buy any in the first place, by my mother bought them anyway.

All those that my mother picked out for me were either too tight, too girly, too thick, too short, or a combination of all 4. It's usually all 4, actually.

I wanted the pants that were super baggy and looked like army shorts. They reached up to my knee, were brown, were loose, and was super boyish. That was why I liked it.

And that was the only pair of shorts I fancied, but my mother hated it...

So we went on the hunt for suitable clothes. We bought somethings on the way for my cousins for Christmas. We bought my male cousin (coincidentally called Samuel...) a small container of Gatsby hair gel for a wild and messy look or something...

My female cousin got a necklace of a lock and key.

I didn't buy anything until we reached Bosini, the last shop we entered. I.P. Zone had some really cool T-shirts, but my mother didn't want to get those for me because they were cut for males...

Damn. Why does it always turn out like that? This world is too biased. All the ugly designs go to the girls and all the good ones end up in the boys' section...

Anyway, my sis bought some stuff along the way, and finally, at Bosini, I found a few cool shirts.

...

Okay, not so cool shirts. 2 of them were Mr. Men shirts. I like Mr. Bump. He's just as clumsy as me! So I got a shirt featuring him.

A lady came up to us and asked us if she could buy the shirt for us because her daughter wanted that Little Miss cushion that could only be bought if you purchased a Little Miss or Mr. Men shirt.

So we agreed as she had a 40% discount because it was her birthday that month and Bosini gave discount to those celebrating their birthdays.

My mother just wanted the other shirt because if we bought 2, there would be a further discount, but the discount wouldn't be valid with the birthday discount.

Actually, I don't know why my mother bought another shirt when there was no discount for it...

Going with that, while my mother bought the 2nd Mr. Men shirt, we were given the opportunity to buy the cushion. My sis and I picked the Mr. Bump one because it was the best one out of the 3. The other 2 were both Little Miss.

Anyway, I found this really cool shirt that said Gothic Freedom in stitches. Well, though the shirt was white, it was still cool. So I got that one too.

In the car, my sister and I were fighting over the Mr. Bump cushion, because it's not supposed to be anyone's but when I wanted to show it to my brother, she was so possessive she wouldn't even let me touch it.

Then my mother said that the cushion was a Christmas present. My sister was unwilling to waste her Christmas money on anything other than clothes so I claimed it.

*smiles*

I now have another cushion for my use!

Hmm, before we went back, we went to This Fashion again 'cuz my mother wanted to show my dad the pair of shorts that I wanted which she claimed was too tomboyish for me.

She wanted me to be a little more feminine...she'll have to wait for a million years for that...but come to think of it, even after a million years, I doubt my spirit will want to dress more feminine anyway.

My brother mocked it, but surprisingly, my dad thought that it was okay...

We didn't buy it anyway. My father keeps thinking that I buy clothes for fasion and she claims that the baggy pants fashion will wear off after a while.

Frankly, I didn't even know that baggy pants were the 'IN' thing. And apparently, neither my mother nor my sister thought so either because they both disapproved of that pair of baggy pants.

My sister is all for short, tight pants or short skirts...

Eww...

Sunday 7 December 2008

Parfum Extrait 0

I wonder if anyone finds the title of the post familiar...

Today I went all the way to the Popular bookstore in AMKHub just to buy it. I saw it quite a while ago and REALLY wanted it.

I didn't even know it was released before I walked into the bookshop then...what kind of a fan am I?

I mean, it was released in 2006, for goodness sake! It's already 2008 going on 2009!

Anyway, while I was there, I picked up Prince of Tennis 42 too. +D

I've always wanted that book. It's the conclusion to the whole series. So far, all except 1 of the manga that I have are all Prince of Tennis...lol.

And all of my Prince of Tennis tankoubans are in Chinese...thank goodness Parfum Extrait 0 isn't...

I have books 1-5, 10, 35-42!

YAY!

Anyway, I'm planning for Parfum Extrait 0 to be my Christmas present so I haven't read it yet and I won't till the 25th of December...

Man...I don't think I can wait that long...

Saturday 6 December 2008

Today is the New Yesterday

Yesterday was the most hectic morning of my life.

I woke up at 10:30, expecting to just be able to slack at home using the computer all day, when Sophia called at 10:45 to remind me of the meeting that day.

She said for me to check my SMS for details. I checked it, and woe and behold, it was supposed to be at 12:30 at the pavillion.

I was like, OH MY FREAKIN" GOODNESS!

I totally forgot that there was supposed to be a meeting...

Following that, I stupidly concluded that I needed to leave the house at 11:30 to get to the bus stop in time to get to school on time. (lol)

So I went up to use the computer.

Then it suddenly struck me that I had excluded the walking time, and I knocked myself in the head.

I shot out of my chair and hurridly dumped all the stuff needed into my bag and then ran down to cook my lunch.

Of course, not forgetting to change into my school uniform first...

I started cooking at 12:00. I finished cooking at 12:15. I downed everything by 12:20. I got out of the house by 12:25.

I rushed to the bus stop with a packet of Milo in my left hand and my water bottle in the other.

I reached the bus stop at 12:40, running after the bus that came slightly before me. I skidded to a halt before the trash bin, threw my empty packet of Milo in, and ran up the bus.

I was going 'heng'...

I reached school by 12:10, because I totally underestimated the time needed to get to school. It didn't take 45 minutes afterall...

Then we went on the discussion on our plane designs with the teachers, and decided on a new plane.

I was supposed to draw the design by today, but I'm feeling lazy...

Thursday 4 December 2008

Ugly, Uglier, Ugliest

No offence to the person who drew this picture, but...it's terrible.



I mean, if compared to THIS one below, I can't believe that person had the guts to post the mouse looking girl on deviantART...

Sometimes when I see pictures like the second one, I feel really depressed because I can't match up to that.

But when I see the mouse girl one, I don't know whether to laugh or feel depressed. For one, I feel like my ego has been boosted, but on the other hand, I feel like the level of art is dropping.

Actually, I can't colour. I hate colouring. So I always envy those who colour their artworks, but the mouse girl one has both terrible strokes and terrible choices of colours...

What's more, the line art itself is good enough to send me hurling...

The paragraphing is screwed. Sorry for the inconvenience caused...

Wednesday 3 December 2008

DAMN, SHIT, CRAP (and other vulgarities I dare not put down)

My freakin' sister just called me selfish!

I mean, she's not suppsoed to be able to use the internet curtesy of my dad because she did not buckle her seatbelt, did not behave herself, and all those minor things, which punishment add up to over 1 month of no internet time.

Then she 'begs' me to let her use the internet. I refused.

I mean, I've already allowed her to use my computer to access the internet so many times I think I'll get scolded by my dad if he ever found out.

When I refused for the freakin' 1st time, she called me selfish.

Has she ever looked at her own personality?

She's like a billion gazillion times worse than me.

The moment 'selfish' left her mouth, I felt like shoving her through the window or throwing her up the roof.

I've so kindly gave in to her so many freakin' times, and she hasn't done anything for me. What's more, on top of allowing her to use the internet through my computer, I've washed her dishes!

What gives her the freakin' right to call me selfish?

I want to scream into her face that she is the selfish one.

Does common sense even get through her ears and into her freakin' head?

She freakin' scored 256 on her PSLE! Does that not count for something? Does that not mean that she should be smart enough to shut her trap about calling me selfish?

She keeps talking about being fair, that when somebody eats 1kg of cake she must also eat 1kg or cake or more, though she only talks and bites off more than she can chew.

She's just trying to show off.

If she lives by fairness (or more, for the matter), shouldn't she do more for me and expect less?

What nonsense is this?

She's a total hypocrite!

I want to curse her to the very pits of hell, but God won't like it, so I shant.

She should be grateful for that.

If she lives by fairness, she should allow me to call her selfish without retorting!

And I've also just realized that on top of being selfish, she has no sense of responsibility or urgency except when the phone rings.

All she cares about is shopping, filling her stomach, MSN, chatting on the phone, making bimb blogskins, and taking narcissistic photos of herself.

When our door slammed but didn't shut (if you just push against our door, it won't shut, you need to push down the handle) because she didn't place the door stopper in place and the wind came, she didn't even bother looking up!

When I brought the subject up, she just continued staring at her computer screen and arranging grossly girly pictures of herself.

I can't stand that self-centered person! She only cares about herself and no one else! Not even my (and therefore her) parents!

Tuesday 2 December 2008

Just some websites to drive you nuts

-You Fail
Lol.

-Blue Ball Machine
Try following one of them.

-Dude in a Box
Don't go here unless you're seriously bored.

-Fail Blog
If you've got nothing better to do but laugh.

-Interactive Periodic Table
For the Chemistry deprived.

-Type Till You Drop
Just some keyboard exercise

-(You can give me a suggestion to put something here)

For more, visit: http://theveillimpidthin.blogspot.com/

Game Recommendation (I)

I don't do game recommendations very often, but I found this on one of my brother's blog.

http://members.iinet.net.au/~pontipak/redsquare.html

My personal best 19.792, though that's pretty lousy, my brother got up to half a minute...

Monday 1 December 2008

Manga Recommendation (IX)

Title: Pet Shop of Horrors
Mangaka: Akino Matsuri

There once was a mysterious Chinese man who owns a pet shop in Chinatown. Each pet came with its own conditions, and if these were broken the shop would not be held responsible for the mishap that befalls the owner.

Meet Count D (or the grandson of Count D), a charismatic young man from China often mistaken for a female. To his customers, he claims to have inherited the pet shop from his grandfather, using the title bestowed upon his grandfather, Count D, as an alias.

Along comes a cop with exceedingly bad luck with his love life looking to ruin the Count's shop by connecting seemingly unrelated incidents back to the shop. His name is Leon Orcot.

Count D sells strange and exotic animals which sometimes take on human forms to their owners. One by one, each of the customers learn a lesson by unfortunate means, death included. A rare few find salvation in these creatures.

With a story to each chapter, it feels like an episodic turnout of events with conclusions every chapter, but throughout the series, the constant question that lingers in each reader's mind shall be whether Count D is human, or who are his ancestors.

Join them as the Count distributes lessons to the civillians, while Officer Orcot tries to tie various strange situations which include pets from the Count's shops to him.