To all the detractors, wahaha!!!
We are the CHAMPIONS, no matter what others say of us, I still keep faith with my team, and with a 3-0 victory, who can say that Man Utd might have won the league instead?
Balabababa~ I'm lovin' it~
Sunday, April 30, 2006
Friday, April 28, 2006
Eating and Growing Fat
To all concerned friends and relatives of mine, and all busybodies out there, this post is dedicated to you guys.
If you are wondering if Joan is eating well in a foreign land, be assured that Joan is eating very well. She eats lunch tea dinner and supper every day without fail. She'd walk all the way out to the Münsterplatz or Bertoldstraße just to buy either a bratwürst or Nordsee to fill up her stomach. And she'd get herself Portofino eis before going home. At home, she has her supply of brot und schinken und alle anderen essen.
This was taken on Tuesday, my free day and this is merely a snippet of the fresh groceries I have. I on the average buy food every two days but not that much at a time because transporting them back home is difficult.
Zihui was saying I shouldn't put videos on my blog because it takes too long to load. She wants more pictures instead. lol~ I'll have a mix of them ba~ hahaha~
Yesterday, I compiled a series of photos of food which I've taken. Not all of the food I've eaten are taken because sometimes I get too excited with food and forget to take photos of them. Some other times I don't have the free hands to take pictures of my food. But rest assured, I'm eating more than I am in Singapore.
These are food I've eaten en route to Freiburg.
Not very appetising. In fact, it sucks. The pasta tasted like cardboard, the meatballs, I don't know what meat, but it's nasty. The breakfast is worse than imaginable, the egg tasted like paper, the harsh brown like napkins, luckily the sausage was somewhat more edible, the fish thingie (I think it's fish even though I've absolutely no inkling what it is) is weird. The bread was nice though, with butter~
These are nice nice nice food I've bought.
The chicken with bread is yummy, it's half a roast chicken but costs only 2,99 (or was it 2,90?) euros. I shall go back there to eat another time, or maybe another more times.
The bratwürsts were from the Münsterplatz, there's the red long ones and the white fat ones, I like both~ With mustard, I'm make a mess but I'm a happy fat girl.
Portofino Eis. Until now I've eaten three Portofino Eis, green apple, melons, and chocolate, the green apple one tasted like milkshake, the melons one tasted like honeydew mixed with rock melon mix with some other melon, the chocolate is perfect.
The Eis Schokolade in the picture is from Aspekt, it's not nice compared to Portofino. The Icecream is not creamy and got ice inside, the schokolade is not sweetened enough and not milky enough. hai...
I cooked too, you know...
I think the mother would be proud of me.
The würsts are normal, just boil will do, nothing special about it. Toasts there is a toaster which I use everytime for my bread. Normal bread is not nice, hard and cold, so I always toast my bread to warm it before eating.
The spargels are great! I think I'm a great cook~ I can get married liao and feed my husband every day.
The marcaroni and cheese is also another first for me and proof that I can cook. wahaha~
The egg salat sandwich is a cheat, the egg salat is premade one, I bought the egg salat and spread it over the toast. How nice it is to be able to get pre-prepared salats for toasts over here.
Joan cooking~
Wait for a while to watch the whole process of the making of Joan's marcaroni and cheese. More proof that Joan did cook it, and that Joan's photoshopping skills are improving.
However, on hindsight, I think I should have poured the marcaroni into the cheese and heat it for a while instead of pouring the heated cheese over the marcaroni. Then the flavour of the cheese can totally go into the marcaroni and not me eating marcaroni with cheese, and have cheesy marcaroni instead. I still have more marcaroni and more cheese so maybe I'll do that the next time I go about making marcaroni and cheese~
hmm... I think I'm blogging more and more like Gabriel, with all my food and stuff. I wonder if all exchange students blog like this. wahaha~
If you are wondering if Joan is eating well in a foreign land, be assured that Joan is eating very well. She eats lunch tea dinner and supper every day without fail. She'd walk all the way out to the Münsterplatz or Bertoldstraße just to buy either a bratwürst or Nordsee to fill up her stomach. And she'd get herself Portofino eis before going home. At home, she has her supply of brot und schinken und alle anderen essen.
This was taken on Tuesday, my free day and this is merely a snippet of the fresh groceries I have. I on the average buy food every two days but not that much at a time because transporting them back home is difficult.
Zihui was saying I shouldn't put videos on my blog because it takes too long to load. She wants more pictures instead. lol~ I'll have a mix of them ba~ hahaha~
Yesterday, I compiled a series of photos of food which I've taken. Not all of the food I've eaten are taken because sometimes I get too excited with food and forget to take photos of them. Some other times I don't have the free hands to take pictures of my food. But rest assured, I'm eating more than I am in Singapore.
These are food I've eaten en route to Freiburg.
Not very appetising. In fact, it sucks. The pasta tasted like cardboard, the meatballs, I don't know what meat, but it's nasty. The breakfast is worse than imaginable, the egg tasted like paper, the harsh brown like napkins, luckily the sausage was somewhat more edible, the fish thingie (I think it's fish even though I've absolutely no inkling what it is) is weird. The bread was nice though, with butter~
These are nice nice nice food I've bought.
The chicken with bread is yummy, it's half a roast chicken but costs only 2,99 (or was it 2,90?) euros. I shall go back there to eat another time, or maybe another more times.
The bratwürsts were from the Münsterplatz, there's the red long ones and the white fat ones, I like both~ With mustard, I'm make a mess but I'm a happy fat girl.
Portofino Eis. Until now I've eaten three Portofino Eis, green apple, melons, and chocolate, the green apple one tasted like milkshake, the melons one tasted like honeydew mixed with rock melon mix with some other melon, the chocolate is perfect.
The Eis Schokolade in the picture is from Aspekt, it's not nice compared to Portofino. The Icecream is not creamy and got ice inside, the schokolade is not sweetened enough and not milky enough. hai...
I cooked too, you know...
I think the mother would be proud of me.
The würsts are normal, just boil will do, nothing special about it. Toasts there is a toaster which I use everytime for my bread. Normal bread is not nice, hard and cold, so I always toast my bread to warm it before eating.
The spargels are great! I think I'm a great cook~ I can get married liao and feed my husband every day.
The marcaroni and cheese is also another first for me and proof that I can cook. wahaha~
The egg salat sandwich is a cheat, the egg salat is premade one, I bought the egg salat and spread it over the toast. How nice it is to be able to get pre-prepared salats for toasts over here.
Joan cooking~
Wait for a while to watch the whole process of the making of Joan's marcaroni and cheese. More proof that Joan did cook it, and that Joan's photoshopping skills are improving.
However, on hindsight, I think I should have poured the marcaroni into the cheese and heat it for a while instead of pouring the heated cheese over the marcaroni. Then the flavour of the cheese can totally go into the marcaroni and not me eating marcaroni with cheese, and have cheesy marcaroni instead. I still have more marcaroni and more cheese so maybe I'll do that the next time I go about making marcaroni and cheese~
hmm... I think I'm blogging more and more like Gabriel, with all my food and stuff. I wonder if all exchange students blog like this. wahaha~
Finally With Internet Connection
Finally finally finally internet in my bedroom~
So many things to do, so much photoshopping to do, so much things to show. But there's now some problems with my youtube and flickr. I can't seem to be able to upload things there. Wonder if I've like firewall or something disgusting. damn...
So many things to do, so much photoshopping to do, so much things to show. But there's now some problems with my youtube and flickr. I can't seem to be able to upload things there. Wonder if I've like firewall or something disgusting. damn...
Wednesday, April 26, 2006
At The Airport, Before Leaving Singapore
I finally got this video uploaded. Thanks all those who went to send me off. Yingling, Eunice, Zihui, Peiyi, Jacelyn, Jinwei, Stanley, Shihui, my parents, my aunts, everyone.
Tuesday, April 25, 2006
My Birthday Presents
This is like two months belated but I've been wanting to put them as ever since the day of my birthday party. I even took those pictures the night after much to the charigin of the mother who insisted me on clearing up the floor before I slept, needless to say I didn't and suffered the whole of the day after to her naggings.
Once again thanks to everyone involved, and my parents too. And paiseh, Cindy (Teo), your that present was late so I didn't take pictures of it, and I think it's better to have one whole entire entry by itself some time later when I get back home. lol~ Just thinking of that xxoos bear makes me feel like laughing out loud sia... lol~
yea... This was what I did when I've nothing to do. I've done more. Will show you guys as time goes on~
Once again thanks to everyone involved, and my parents too. And paiseh, Cindy (Teo), your that present was late so I didn't take pictures of it, and I think it's better to have one whole entire entry by itself some time later when I get back home. lol~ Just thinking of that xxoos bear makes me feel like laughing out loud sia... lol~
yea... This was what I did when I've nothing to do. I've done more. Will show you guys as time goes on~
Weekend and Classes
I still don't like the idea of not having my own internet connection. I can't open lots of windows at the same time uploading photos and videos to put on my blog to share with others. I took a whole lot of photos and videos but until I get a decent connection, I'll just be typing my updates.
I'm now sitting on the Rathaus Platz with my laptop on my lap and going hungry. I need to buy food later, but internet is more important. And there's nobody online at this moment, which is very weird, but I guess it's the exams ba...
Let me first talk about my weekend. I met this Taiwanese girl at the Bügeramt and we've been going out quite a bit. Suddenly I'm thankful that I speak good Chinese. I went shopping on Saturday, bout pillows and socks and towels. Pillows to alleviate my neckache, socks to keep my toes warm and snug and the socks are damn cute. Will post pictures up as soon as possible. And the towels to dry the floor.
Then on Sunday I went to the lake again. Did I mention that my dorm is near this lake, very ig lake, very nice. I went once with a housemate of mine, Karolina, a very interesting Polish girl, but on Sunday I just went about there to soak in the sun with the Taiwanese girl. Pity she like almost all Taiwanese girls you see on TV are afraid of the sun. Oh well...
Also in the weekend I found this very wonderful thing hidden in my external hard disk drive. When I first came over and was so damn bored, I remembered that dearest Jinwei before leaving gave me a collection of burned movies, so I tried to watch them. But I forgot that my comp crashed and my whole c and d drive was replaced. I lost the codec for watching downloads in my windows media player. I can't watch the two series I had in my external disk drive too. So I was bored.
Then last weekend as I was fiddling with my external disk drive, I found a godsend hidden deep within my disk drive. It's called a BS Player. It efectively allows me to watch all those I couldn't watch on my windows media player without the codec. Thanks Deborah man~ I was copying Gokusen from her last year when I copied the whole folder over including the BS Player, so now I'm not bored anymore. I've watch Full Metal Alchemist the Movie (from my dearest Jinwei no less), I think tonight I shall watch Advent Children which Andrew have been harping on but I haven't watched because my CD-ROM drive crashed and my comp crashed and well, all those crashing stuff. Then I still have all those movies from Jinwei... Rent, Mirrormask, Tristan and Isodole. Believe it or not, I had wanted to watch this movie before I left for Germany but my leg died on me rendering me unable to watch it, but Jinwei actually burned that for me even though I never mentioned anywhere that I wanted to watch it.
Things are really starting to get better.
Now on to my classes. I was talking to the professor here and deciding what classes to do when he signed me up on a proseminar titled Victorian Great Britain because the professor teaching that module speaks excellent English. Then I went for another Vorlesung, Globalisation, Mentality and Politics of Sport. It's just the kind of Sport and History Module I wanted to take, but NUS don't offer. One whole lecture will be devoted to the analysing of the 1954 World Cup on German Nationalism. This is way cool~ And better still is that the prof allowed me to write my paper in English. Really, I've never been so grateful that I speak native English. I'm not saying that I speak perfect English, but at least English is my mother tongue and I speak English naturally.
I hope for my other classes I can do my paper in English too~
*cross fingers*
I'm now sitting on the Rathaus Platz with my laptop on my lap and going hungry. I need to buy food later, but internet is more important. And there's nobody online at this moment, which is very weird, but I guess it's the exams ba...
Let me first talk about my weekend. I met this Taiwanese girl at the Bügeramt and we've been going out quite a bit. Suddenly I'm thankful that I speak good Chinese. I went shopping on Saturday, bout pillows and socks and towels. Pillows to alleviate my neckache, socks to keep my toes warm and snug and the socks are damn cute. Will post pictures up as soon as possible. And the towels to dry the floor.
Then on Sunday I went to the lake again. Did I mention that my dorm is near this lake, very ig lake, very nice. I went once with a housemate of mine, Karolina, a very interesting Polish girl, but on Sunday I just went about there to soak in the sun with the Taiwanese girl. Pity she like almost all Taiwanese girls you see on TV are afraid of the sun. Oh well...
Also in the weekend I found this very wonderful thing hidden in my external hard disk drive. When I first came over and was so damn bored, I remembered that dearest Jinwei before leaving gave me a collection of burned movies, so I tried to watch them. But I forgot that my comp crashed and my whole c and d drive was replaced. I lost the codec for watching downloads in my windows media player. I can't watch the two series I had in my external disk drive too. So I was bored.
Then last weekend as I was fiddling with my external disk drive, I found a godsend hidden deep within my disk drive. It's called a BS Player. It efectively allows me to watch all those I couldn't watch on my windows media player without the codec. Thanks Deborah man~ I was copying Gokusen from her last year when I copied the whole folder over including the BS Player, so now I'm not bored anymore. I've watch Full Metal Alchemist the Movie (from my dearest Jinwei no less), I think tonight I shall watch Advent Children which Andrew have been harping on but I haven't watched because my CD-ROM drive crashed and my comp crashed and well, all those crashing stuff. Then I still have all those movies from Jinwei... Rent, Mirrormask, Tristan and Isodole. Believe it or not, I had wanted to watch this movie before I left for Germany but my leg died on me rendering me unable to watch it, but Jinwei actually burned that for me even though I never mentioned anywhere that I wanted to watch it.
Things are really starting to get better.
Now on to my classes. I was talking to the professor here and deciding what classes to do when he signed me up on a proseminar titled Victorian Great Britain because the professor teaching that module speaks excellent English. Then I went for another Vorlesung, Globalisation, Mentality and Politics of Sport. It's just the kind of Sport and History Module I wanted to take, but NUS don't offer. One whole lecture will be devoted to the analysing of the 1954 World Cup on German Nationalism. This is way cool~ And better still is that the prof allowed me to write my paper in English. Really, I've never been so grateful that I speak native English. I'm not saying that I speak perfect English, but at least English is my mother tongue and I speak English naturally.
I hope for my other classes I can do my paper in English too~
*cross fingers*
Saturday, April 22, 2006
A Little Short Update
I've settled most of my stuff now. What's lagging is the enrolling into classes. I spoke with a prof and he helped me apply for a proseminar which is a more intensive class and it's titled History of Great Britain in the Victorian Age. Well, he chose that for me because the prof doing that module speaks excellent English and I can do my exams and papers in English. Am I supposed to be happy? I don't know.
There are lots of interesting German history modules which I can't do because I won't be able to understand it. Sad to say...
Mapping my modules will be a big mess. I don't know what Prof. Turner will say, only that I am saying I am keeping my fingers crossed.
Photos will be up once I get my internet connection, along with videos. I did lots of video blogging although I think most of it I'll keep for my own reference. I also did lots of photoshopping and I think I'll be doing more photoshopping this weekend since I've nothing else to do.
I've also finally eaten my wurst and Portofino Eis. I ate green apple flavour today~ It's like green apple milkshake so soft and milky and creamy and nice. I'll try all the Portofino flavours in my stay here.
And also, thanks to all who dropped notes of concern. Really grateful for you guys being there for me even with only your words. Can keep the comments coming in? And give me updates on what's happening back at home~ Thanks~ Jane, can also comment here, but give me some face hor... lol~
Ciao~
There are lots of interesting German history modules which I can't do because I won't be able to understand it. Sad to say...
Mapping my modules will be a big mess. I don't know what Prof. Turner will say, only that I am saying I am keeping my fingers crossed.
Photos will be up once I get my internet connection, along with videos. I did lots of video blogging although I think most of it I'll keep for my own reference. I also did lots of photoshopping and I think I'll be doing more photoshopping this weekend since I've nothing else to do.
I've also finally eaten my wurst and Portofino Eis. I ate green apple flavour today~ It's like green apple milkshake so soft and milky and creamy and nice. I'll try all the Portofino flavours in my stay here.
And also, thanks to all who dropped notes of concern. Really grateful for you guys being there for me even with only your words. Can keep the comments coming in? And give me updates on what's happening back at home~ Thanks~ Jane, can also comment here, but give me some face hor... lol~
Ciao~
Wednesday, April 19, 2006
Titanic: Jack's Back
Usually you don't many links in this blog, but I really love this video. To all those who don't know, I'm a closet DiCaprio fan. It's not because of Titanic though, I did like him in Romeo and Juliet, but didn't really become a closet fan until much later, Catch Me If You Can and the other recent one which I've watched, can't remember the title now. damn...
[wait I go IMDb look it up then i update you what movie it was]
(it's Gangs of New York)
No Good
I suffered a nervous breakdown at the airport when my baggage was overweight and everything was seemed to be going wrong. My ankle's still very bad, then coupled up with all the stress and the (not confirmed) modules that I'd be doing, I think I'll be so damn dead.
I was a bit better when on the plane. Took a couple of videos which I have yet uploaded. The internet connection I'm stealing now is very slow so I'm not risking it, maybe sometime later ba. But what was after I got down the plane that killed me. I almost suffered another nervous breakdown and only pulled through because I had a motive. I found out that to get to the railway station, I needed to get onto a shuttlebus. With my excess baggage, it was hell getting me to get up that bus and get to the railway station. I got lost a couple of times even at the railway station. The worse thing was I didn't dare ask anyone for help because my German sucked.
Still I managed to get my way to the railway station, bought my ticket, and get onto the train. That trip on the train was better, luckily, some guys helped me a bit with my suitcase, but just a bit. I also luckily managed to get onto a cab to my dorm. The trip was much cheaper than I expected, I always thought cab fares were horrendously expensive, but it was still affordable, well, at least it was by meter. The started price was 3,10euros, but other that that it was dollar for dollar, or just about there.
But the cab did not drop me at where I was supposed to be, instead he dropped me at a general point of that dorm I was at. I almost died finding the exact location considering that I have my luggage with me and it was overweight. To make things worse, after spending like more than one and a half hours struggling with my luggage to find the exact location, the person I was supposed to look for was not there. I needed to wait.
Then when I managed to find him there was again more miscommunications. Took like much agony before i can get into my room. Luckily after that things were better. I got to know the people in my dorm. They're nice.
Then I followed a girl, Anja, around to the orientation of the university. I don't know if that was the correct choice to make but I felt so horrible throughout the orientation. The support group was not helping much, okay, they were helpful but I cannot get to communicate with them properly to get them to help me. I think I'm just going to die because I don't know what to study and when I really get to study the german will kill me.
Right now I'm not in my comfort zone. I still haven't planned anything yet so everything sucks for me. I need to get myself back in such a position when everything is in my control. At the airport in Frankfurt and at the train station, even when finding my way into the hostel although was bad but I didn't get a breakdown because there was something I needed to accomplish. Right now, I'm starting to wander, not knowing what to do and this is bad. I feel like I'm trying to do so many things to get myself back into my comfort zone but I'm not accomplishing anything.
There's no one to help me, help always seem so far away. Language is a big barrier even thought it's now two years of German, it still not helping much. The worse is that the school is not helping anything at all. I'm so cold and my foot hurt. The weather is so erratic that I don't know whether I should like it or not. I hate all this improbabies. I don't know if I should put on more clothes or less or if I should bring extra clothes out or not.
I really really really need to find that comfort zone if not I'll never be happy. I've realised that I really need a comfort zone to buffer me. If i'm not in my comfort zone, at least I do need comforting people around to guide me. I'm not that strong as I thought I am. Perhaps after I get into a routine and get all my stuff settled I can be once again that independent girl I thought I was. I mean, if I managed to get from the airport to my dorm with breaking down, why am I now breaking down because I don't know what to do.
hai...
I've just emailled someone whom I think might be able to help me. I hope he does, and I hope that things can get better from now on. I need to get back into the comfort zone.
I was a bit better when on the plane. Took a couple of videos which I have yet uploaded. The internet connection I'm stealing now is very slow so I'm not risking it, maybe sometime later ba. But what was after I got down the plane that killed me. I almost suffered another nervous breakdown and only pulled through because I had a motive. I found out that to get to the railway station, I needed to get onto a shuttlebus. With my excess baggage, it was hell getting me to get up that bus and get to the railway station. I got lost a couple of times even at the railway station. The worse thing was I didn't dare ask anyone for help because my German sucked.
Still I managed to get my way to the railway station, bought my ticket, and get onto the train. That trip on the train was better, luckily, some guys helped me a bit with my suitcase, but just a bit. I also luckily managed to get onto a cab to my dorm. The trip was much cheaper than I expected, I always thought cab fares were horrendously expensive, but it was still affordable, well, at least it was by meter. The started price was 3,10euros, but other that that it was dollar for dollar, or just about there.
But the cab did not drop me at where I was supposed to be, instead he dropped me at a general point of that dorm I was at. I almost died finding the exact location considering that I have my luggage with me and it was overweight. To make things worse, after spending like more than one and a half hours struggling with my luggage to find the exact location, the person I was supposed to look for was not there. I needed to wait.
Then when I managed to find him there was again more miscommunications. Took like much agony before i can get into my room. Luckily after that things were better. I got to know the people in my dorm. They're nice.
Then I followed a girl, Anja, around to the orientation of the university. I don't know if that was the correct choice to make but I felt so horrible throughout the orientation. The support group was not helping much, okay, they were helpful but I cannot get to communicate with them properly to get them to help me. I think I'm just going to die because I don't know what to study and when I really get to study the german will kill me.
Right now I'm not in my comfort zone. I still haven't planned anything yet so everything sucks for me. I need to get myself back in such a position when everything is in my control. At the airport in Frankfurt and at the train station, even when finding my way into the hostel although was bad but I didn't get a breakdown because there was something I needed to accomplish. Right now, I'm starting to wander, not knowing what to do and this is bad. I feel like I'm trying to do so many things to get myself back into my comfort zone but I'm not accomplishing anything.
There's no one to help me, help always seem so far away. Language is a big barrier even thought it's now two years of German, it still not helping much. The worse is that the school is not helping anything at all. I'm so cold and my foot hurt. The weather is so erratic that I don't know whether I should like it or not. I hate all this improbabies. I don't know if I should put on more clothes or less or if I should bring extra clothes out or not.
I really really really need to find that comfort zone if not I'll never be happy. I've realised that I really need a comfort zone to buffer me. If i'm not in my comfort zone, at least I do need comforting people around to guide me. I'm not that strong as I thought I am. Perhaps after I get into a routine and get all my stuff settled I can be once again that independent girl I thought I was. I mean, if I managed to get from the airport to my dorm with breaking down, why am I now breaking down because I don't know what to do.
hai...
I've just emailled someone whom I think might be able to help me. I hope he does, and I hope that things can get better from now on. I need to get back into the comfort zone.
Monday, April 17, 2006
Last Night in Singapore
I'll be leaving tonight. In about 11 hours time. Scary~
This is a video I took last night, this morning, still packing. Actually I haven't even packed finished yet, so I think I'm quite screwed. But that's not the most screwed part, the most screwed is that my bloody ankle took a turn for the worse. It's aching like siao now. hai~
I think in Germany I'll be doing lots videos. I remember when I was a kid I always thought a voice recorder was cool. I can use it like a diary and record all my thoughts via my voice into tapes and listen to them some time later. But all I had at that time were only my books of diaries. Then as I grew older and got a voice recorder, I never taped my own voice because I felt weird and all the blank tapes I bought ended up used to taping songs on the radio. It also wasn't convenient to lug around the tape recorder. And I didn't feel that much at ease talking to the recorder.
After trying out video blogging and slowly getting used to it, I find myself quite at ease with my voice. Hopefully as I do more videos I can be more natural.
This one was taken in bed. Forgive my ugliness, how good can you look like when you are sleep deprived and lyin in the bed but not sleeping. And there's a torch shining on you. lol~
This is a video I took last night, this morning, still packing. Actually I haven't even packed finished yet, so I think I'm quite screwed. But that's not the most screwed part, the most screwed is that my bloody ankle took a turn for the worse. It's aching like siao now. hai~
I think in Germany I'll be doing lots videos. I remember when I was a kid I always thought a voice recorder was cool. I can use it like a diary and record all my thoughts via my voice into tapes and listen to them some time later. But all I had at that time were only my books of diaries. Then as I grew older and got a voice recorder, I never taped my own voice because I felt weird and all the blank tapes I bought ended up used to taping songs on the radio. It also wasn't convenient to lug around the tape recorder. And I didn't feel that much at ease talking to the recorder.
After trying out video blogging and slowly getting used to it, I find myself quite at ease with my voice. Hopefully as I do more videos I can be more natural.
This one was taken in bed. Forgive my ugliness, how good can you look like when you are sleep deprived and lyin in the bed but not sleeping. And there's a torch shining on you. lol~
Sunday, April 16, 2006
Forgiveness
Forgiveness 宽恕
In a Faye Wong song, there's a line written by Linxi, 爱比恨更难宽恕. That's from the song 《宽恕》, the title song of Mainland Chinese wuxia serial 《天龙八部》. In English, it is best put forward by JK Rowling in her Harry Potter series, the character Hermione once said in Dumbledore's words "people find it far easier to forgive others for being wrong than being right ".
We treat different people differently. To people we treasure more, we often treat them more harshly because we have placed a higher expectation on them. I give an example, a friend of mine once said during a sharing session that she's very harsh towards her own siblings compared to her tuition charges even though she teaches them the same things. I am also the same. I often tell my sister that she's stupid only because I expect her to be clever and not because she's really stupid.
In forgiving other people, there's always a need to swallow a little bit of pride. In the circumstance of Harry Potter, Percy finds it hard to forgive his parents becuase they were correct. If he forgives his parents it meant that he'd have to admit to them straight in the face that he was wrong. He can't bring himself to swallow that pride to do it. Say on the other hand, if his parents were wrong that would have meant that he was correct and forgiveness comes very naturally to him as it would be his parents having to admit they are wrong. Maybe together with this statement, we can conclude that humans tend not to like to admit their mistakes.
Hence it takes great honour if one were to be able to face the mistakes and admit it.
I am a proud person, incapable of doing something as honorable as this, so when I heard today from a friend regarding what he did, I was in awe. I really respect him despite what he has done, and this sort of encouraged me not to do what I'd have succumbed into doing. 可能一个人生活也可以是一种享受, 可能只要我自己对得起我的感觉什么就足够了, or 或者我太依赖别人而忘了我也有自我. I realised I make a pretty good listener because I can give good and relevant andecodes of what others have done, or what I've gone through. Looking back at my past, I was indeed pretty screwed up. I'm so glad I'm no longer that screwed up girl I once was. And I'm also very glad that I've matured so much.
A lot of people are also proud people. Thinking through, I think I finally can understand why my relationship with a friend is now dead, because of pride, and because he can't forgive me for me being correct. A little part in me sometimes still think that if I were wrong then maybe things might be different.
Then again, the love hate components also complicates a simple thing such as forgiveness. In 《天龙八部》, all the women were unable to forgive Duan Yu's father because they all love him so much. Also Qiao Feng was also unable to forgive himself because of all the love he had in him. As we see later towards the end, Qiao Feng was able to forgive his biggest enemy but still unable to totally forgive his father.
It's easy to forgive any Tom Dick or Harry, but to forgive someone whom you've placed high expectations upon is very difficult. Because you love a person, you want that person to be perfect in your eyes, and you cannot accept any blemish of him/her, and when there's a blemish, you'd get overly upset over it. That is love.
Of course, don't try debate with me what love is. Or if love is supposed to be magnanimous and covering every base, the love in question here is the selfish love. Not just between a man and a woman, as from Qiao Feng's example, it can also be between close kins.
I was talking to another friend today, about a very close kin of hers. They're having a sort of major problem here, and it is a major problem only because of the love that bound them together. It is more difficult to forgive someone you once so respected and admired, and this difficulty would be translated to probably disgust and even hate as time pass and nothing is done to salvage the situation. I'm not saying that the friend should be all forgiving as 容忍 can lead to 纵容, which would just make matters worse.
I got upset with a friend recently. And this sort of little falling out was because of mainly the two things I've brought up today. One is that my expectation was too highly place, leading to the friend being unable to reach the too-high expectations I've placed. Another is that I was at fault. And I'm still not willing to stand up and confess that the whole thing was plotted by me and myself. yea... Sometimes I really hate myself for being so stupid, and leaving no room for me to manoevre.
爱比恨更难宽恕
In a Faye Wong song, there's a line written by Linxi, 爱比恨更难宽恕. That's from the song 《宽恕》, the title song of Mainland Chinese wuxia serial 《天龙八部》. In English, it is best put forward by JK Rowling in her Harry Potter series, the character Hermione once said in Dumbledore's words "people find it far easier to forgive others for being wrong than being right ".
We treat different people differently. To people we treasure more, we often treat them more harshly because we have placed a higher expectation on them. I give an example, a friend of mine once said during a sharing session that she's very harsh towards her own siblings compared to her tuition charges even though she teaches them the same things. I am also the same. I often tell my sister that she's stupid only because I expect her to be clever and not because she's really stupid.
In forgiving other people, there's always a need to swallow a little bit of pride. In the circumstance of Harry Potter, Percy finds it hard to forgive his parents becuase they were correct. If he forgives his parents it meant that he'd have to admit to them straight in the face that he was wrong. He can't bring himself to swallow that pride to do it. Say on the other hand, if his parents were wrong that would have meant that he was correct and forgiveness comes very naturally to him as it would be his parents having to admit they are wrong. Maybe together with this statement, we can conclude that humans tend not to like to admit their mistakes.
Hence it takes great honour if one were to be able to face the mistakes and admit it.
I am a proud person, incapable of doing something as honorable as this, so when I heard today from a friend regarding what he did, I was in awe. I really respect him despite what he has done, and this sort of encouraged me not to do what I'd have succumbed into doing. 可能一个人生活也可以是一种享受, 可能只要我自己对得起我的感觉什么就足够了, or 或者我太依赖别人而忘了我也有自我. I realised I make a pretty good listener because I can give good and relevant andecodes of what others have done, or what I've gone through. Looking back at my past, I was indeed pretty screwed up. I'm so glad I'm no longer that screwed up girl I once was. And I'm also very glad that I've matured so much.
A lot of people are also proud people. Thinking through, I think I finally can understand why my relationship with a friend is now dead, because of pride, and because he can't forgive me for me being correct. A little part in me sometimes still think that if I were wrong then maybe things might be different.
Then again, the love hate components also complicates a simple thing such as forgiveness. In 《天龙八部》, all the women were unable to forgive Duan Yu's father because they all love him so much. Also Qiao Feng was also unable to forgive himself because of all the love he had in him. As we see later towards the end, Qiao Feng was able to forgive his biggest enemy but still unable to totally forgive his father.
It's easy to forgive any Tom Dick or Harry, but to forgive someone whom you've placed high expectations upon is very difficult. Because you love a person, you want that person to be perfect in your eyes, and you cannot accept any blemish of him/her, and when there's a blemish, you'd get overly upset over it. That is love.
Of course, don't try debate with me what love is. Or if love is supposed to be magnanimous and covering every base, the love in question here is the selfish love. Not just between a man and a woman, as from Qiao Feng's example, it can also be between close kins.
I was talking to another friend today, about a very close kin of hers. They're having a sort of major problem here, and it is a major problem only because of the love that bound them together. It is more difficult to forgive someone you once so respected and admired, and this difficulty would be translated to probably disgust and even hate as time pass and nothing is done to salvage the situation. I'm not saying that the friend should be all forgiving as 容忍 can lead to 纵容, which would just make matters worse.
I got upset with a friend recently. And this sort of little falling out was because of mainly the two things I've brought up today. One is that my expectation was too highly place, leading to the friend being unable to reach the too-high expectations I've placed. Another is that I was at fault. And I'm still not willing to stand up and confess that the whole thing was plotted by me and myself. yea... Sometimes I really hate myself for being so stupid, and leaving no room for me to manoevre.
爱比恨更难宽恕
Saturday, April 15, 2006
The Past Coming Back To Haunt
1. By the past coming back to remind me that I did have that past.
2. By me reminding myself that I did have that past.
3. By the past being still there and never really gone.
I recall a couple of conversations dug out from the memory bottle. Someone said that some things are better left unresolved. Another someone advised me to look for a closure. I'm currently on the path of the former but circumstances will lead me to do the latter soon.
A friend asked me about my problems because that said friend has a problem too, but the two problems aren't the same. The nature of myself is that the bottomline is still that no matter what I do, what he does, what we do, there will never be an outcome. I am not an option. I am only there because i happened to be there. Minus me, things will still be the same, add me in nothing will change too.
Another friend also shared with me a problem some time back, and asked me not to blog about it, so I'll will go about the problem without relating to it. This is about options. What to do with what we have. Right now we are offered this and that, but in the near to come future, more can be offered to us, so why not hold out a little longer to slowly consider the options then make a decision? That was what the friend said. It's like going to the flea market to buy something. Asking all the stalls selling the same thing then at the end then make a decision.
A lot of a person's views are determined by the person's experiences. I speak from example. After going through a lot and seeing more, my viewpoints have changed dramatically. I now can no longer bring myself to commit to any one cause, and neither can I trust myself to commit to one cause. My trust level in people has also decreased. Because of this, there are consequences to my life.
These few days I also had another revalation. I might/or might not. I tried out mind fucking again. If I can remind people, my last attempt at mind fucking ended as a fiasco with me bearing most of the burnt because the fuckee was knew that I was trying to mind fuck and in turn made sure that I was the one who ended up totally fucked up. This time, the fuckee seemed to be immuned. So it still wasn't successful. I don't understand myself. I know that nothing comes out of mind fucking yet I still mind fuck everything I have no idea what to do. And in turn I make myself more miserable than I already am.
I'll soon be leaving my comfort zone. The world's so big out there. I hope I'll be fine with you, I hope that you won't follow me 10 000 miles to haunt.
2. By me reminding myself that I did have that past.
3. By the past being still there and never really gone.
I recall a couple of conversations dug out from the memory bottle. Someone said that some things are better left unresolved. Another someone advised me to look for a closure. I'm currently on the path of the former but circumstances will lead me to do the latter soon.
A friend asked me about my problems because that said friend has a problem too, but the two problems aren't the same. The nature of myself is that the bottomline is still that no matter what I do, what he does, what we do, there will never be an outcome. I am not an option. I am only there because i happened to be there. Minus me, things will still be the same, add me in nothing will change too.
Another friend also shared with me a problem some time back, and asked me not to blog about it, so I'll will go about the problem without relating to it. This is about options. What to do with what we have. Right now we are offered this and that, but in the near to come future, more can be offered to us, so why not hold out a little longer to slowly consider the options then make a decision? That was what the friend said. It's like going to the flea market to buy something. Asking all the stalls selling the same thing then at the end then make a decision.
A lot of a person's views are determined by the person's experiences. I speak from example. After going through a lot and seeing more, my viewpoints have changed dramatically. I now can no longer bring myself to commit to any one cause, and neither can I trust myself to commit to one cause. My trust level in people has also decreased. Because of this, there are consequences to my life.
These few days I also had another revalation. I might/or might not. I tried out mind fucking again. If I can remind people, my last attempt at mind fucking ended as a fiasco with me bearing most of the burnt because the fuckee was knew that I was trying to mind fuck and in turn made sure that I was the one who ended up totally fucked up. This time, the fuckee seemed to be immuned. So it still wasn't successful. I don't understand myself. I know that nothing comes out of mind fucking yet I still mind fuck everything I have no idea what to do. And in turn I make myself more miserable than I already am.
I'll soon be leaving my comfort zone. The world's so big out there. I hope I'll be fine with you, I hope that you won't follow me 10 000 miles to haunt.
Friday, April 14, 2006
What Sign Should I Date?
| You Should Be With a Fire Sign! |
 Your best match is an Aries, Leo, or Sagittarius Why? You like your guys manly - and in control Not to mean controlling, but you do like the guy to take the lead A Fire Sign man will take you by the hand? and show you the world Just make sure you're bold too - because this guy likes a challenge! |
I'm a water, and I should date a fire? Am I to put out the fire, or is the fire supposed to boil me?
That aside, I think it's pretty accurate. I like manly guys, I like men, not boys not guys but men. I like to be led, I'm the typical xiaonuren, I like a dananren to lead me, I can tolerate him even controlling me.
Aries, Leo, Saggi? Actually I prefer the darker Scorpio men. Full of hiden secrets and emotions behind, the intense men of power and mystery.
But of course, sometimes these kind of things not that accurate one. The last few guys I've like are well not exactly the my kind of guy. Dream guys are only for dreams, in reality there's a different kind of guy that I'd end up with. Maybe this is one reason I never can feel satisfied with anyone person. Maybe to counter that I need time. Hopefully time can be on my side.
Wednesday, April 12, 2006
Gone
My laptop died-ed on me. Everything inside disapparated. According to the Toshiba guy, my whole operating system just disappeared. There is no way I can retrieve anything from inside. I don't even know if I can get it fixed before I leave for Germany. hai...
I fell down while getting off the bus this afternoon and sprained my ankle. I think I sat in the bus for too long that my foot went numb, and when I got off the bus my foot just gave way. I went to see the doctor at the University Health and Wellness Centre. It still hurts damn badly. hai...
Prof Gordon have sent me another reply which doesn't explain much. He told me to ask Prof Turner. Prof Turner have yet even replied the last email I've sent him, do I really want to send him another email and bug him? I don't think so... hai...
On a lighter note.
I got my visa already. It's time for me to just forget about everything here and head off to Germany, I hope. hai...
I met Prof Farrell this afternoon just after I sprained my ankle and on my way rushing to the IT service centre to catch the Toshiba guy before he goes out to lunch. Knowing that I was going to Germany, he had wanted to introduce Dr Crosswell to me, but I disappeared from his 8am lectures so he didn't have the chance. Anyway, he did introduce him to me this afternoon, but we didn't get to talk much. I had a dead laptop and a spoilt foot to keep my mind off decent academic chats with professors.
Professor Crosswell sounds like a pretty cool guy. I went to the faculty website here and it says that he teaches Military History, German History (1815-1945), Nineteenth Century Europe, Early Modern Europe. Anybody who does any one of those topics are considered cool to me, and he does all four of them. lol~
Hope after I get through this patch of bad luck things will change for the better. hope...
PS: Before my computer died-ed on me I was planning to put up some really nice stuff. I was editing and posting when it died-ed so with everything's gone, the nice things are gone too. Luckily I still have the raw pictures with me, so I can do more editing next time and do a better job out of it. cross fingers for me~
I fell down while getting off the bus this afternoon and sprained my ankle. I think I sat in the bus for too long that my foot went numb, and when I got off the bus my foot just gave way. I went to see the doctor at the University Health and Wellness Centre. It still hurts damn badly. hai...
Prof Gordon have sent me another reply which doesn't explain much. He told me to ask Prof Turner. Prof Turner have yet even replied the last email I've sent him, do I really want to send him another email and bug him? I don't think so... hai...
On a lighter note.
I got my visa already. It's time for me to just forget about everything here and head off to Germany, I hope. hai...
I met Prof Farrell this afternoon just after I sprained my ankle and on my way rushing to the IT service centre to catch the Toshiba guy before he goes out to lunch. Knowing that I was going to Germany, he had wanted to introduce Dr Crosswell to me, but I disappeared from his 8am lectures so he didn't have the chance. Anyway, he did introduce him to me this afternoon, but we didn't get to talk much. I had a dead laptop and a spoilt foot to keep my mind off decent academic chats with professors.
Professor Crosswell sounds like a pretty cool guy. I went to the faculty website here and it says that he teaches Military History, German History (1815-1945), Nineteenth Century Europe, Early Modern Europe. Anybody who does any one of those topics are considered cool to me, and he does all four of them. lol~
Hope after I get through this patch of bad luck things will change for the better. hope...
PS: Before my computer died-ed on me I was planning to put up some really nice stuff. I was editing and posting when it died-ed so with everything's gone, the nice things are gone too. Luckily I still have the raw pictures with me, so I can do more editing next time and do a better job out of it. cross fingers for me~
Monday, April 10, 2006
An Email to Prof Gordon
Updates!!!
The reply from Prof Gordan.
Dear Joan,
All the information on modules to be offered over the next three years is on the web at these links:
Proposed Modules to be offered in 2006-2007 2007-2008 2008-2009
Module Descriptions
These modules are what we have planned to offer but sometimes plans need to be changed but the Department will do its best to deliver these modules. As for the timetable we try to offer modules at various times but sometimes we have to put something on at 8am or 10am to balance the Department's needs with those of the Faculty as a whole.
I think it is possible to change your EU modules to HY so long as you meet all the other type of requirements like exposure and Singapore Studies, and GEMS but you would have to check with the Deanery to be absolutely sure.
Are you still in Singapore or have you left for your exchange?
Cheers
Ian
And my subsequent reply to his latest email.
hello prof gordon!
i'm still in singapore, will be leaving next monday~
i've looked through the modules listed and realised a big problem. if i'm going to to honours, i might be unable to major in european studies due to the lack of modules i can take. there aren't many european history modules offered here. that's why i'm having a sort of dilemma planning my modules for my exchange programme and my next year or two in nus. so i'm really thinking if i should change my major or not.
big headache
joan
I think it'd be quite rude of me if I yelled out to him that HE CAN'T ALWAYS PUT PROF FARRELL AT THE EARLY MORNING SLOT!!! yea... But this is my blog and I can do whatever on my blog~
I've received comments from two new commenters. I've also noticed that Dr Dubois also always gets the early morning slot, don't know why either. Maybe he and Farrell like to play the good guys or Ian Gordan really hates them and wants to sabo them. lol~ And it's great to have another Farrell groupie in the house~ Let's do War and Society next semester together okie? We'll sit in the middle of the LT and swoon over Farrell~ wahaha...
updates end here
*****
This is an email I've sent to Prof Gordon, Head of the History Department.
hi prof gordon!
i won't be able to attend this briefing. in fact, i don't even know if i should be considered a history major.
anyway, i'd still be taking lots of history modules, so i thought i'd send in some of my thoughts about sequencing modules. one very important thing, can prof farrell's modules not be at 8am please? 10am is also not that good a time, preferable times like 4pm would be the best. also of my concern are the european history modules, it'll be nice if we can have more of those, and have them in the afternoon too~ it'll be really nice if you could offer europe of the dictators next year.
i also have another question, erm... say if i want to change my major from european studies to history for some reason or another, and would like to change the modules codes from the eu ones to hy ones, erm... is it possible? right now i don't think i will really change my major, but if i in the end plan to do honours, i might want to change major to fit my course of study.
yup~ thanks very much! and if it's possible, could you please drop me the information regarding the modules that will be offered next year?
thank you!
joan
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Harlizah bte Abdul Hamid
Sent: Tue 04/04/2006 11:35
Cc: Ian Gordon (Head, History)
Subject: BRIEFING FOR HISTORY MAJORS
Dear All
There will be a briefing on Tuesday, 9 May 2006 at LT12 at 2pm for History majors.
The purpose of the briefing is to inform students of the modules that will be offered by the Department next year (2006-2007) and for the following two years (2007-2008, 2008-2009). We will also discuss the need for students to plan their study and ways in which they may want to sequence modules.
It would be extremely helpful for all History majors to attend.
Thank you and Regards
A/P Ian Gordon
Head, Department of History
Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
National University of Singapore
11 Arts Link, AS1 05 - 27
Singapore 117570
Tel: (65) 6874 3838
Fax: (65) 6774-2528
Wonder what would be his reply...
It really sucks to find out that Prof Farrell's lectures are always so early in the morning. Out of four semesters, the exposure one and the Total War one was at a decent enough timeslot, but the Singapore Military History was at 10am early in the morning, and the worst was the Colonialism, Expansionism and Imperialism one, 8am wtf... Even the Singapore Military History one was supposed to be at 8-fucking-am, but in the end it was brought back two hours later. For Farrell, I'd still do the module, but it isn't really milking the best out of me.
Actually most history lectures are in very decent timeslots. I personally think that most history lecturers are somewhat at least a bit nocturnal. I hope in the years to come this would remain so that I can have a more decent timetable. I won't be going back to hostel ever again, I think, shall be commuting so time is very important to me in making any decision in module taking. Of course, I'd still want to take a Farrell module next semester. Farrell is somewhat like a cult favourite, think I can form a cult group worshipping Farrell already. lol~
The reply from Prof Gordan.
Dear Joan,
All the information on modules to be offered over the next three years is on the web at these links:
Proposed Modules to be offered in 2006-2007 2007-2008 2008-2009
Module Descriptions
These modules are what we have planned to offer but sometimes plans need to be changed but the Department will do its best to deliver these modules. As for the timetable we try to offer modules at various times but sometimes we have to put something on at 8am or 10am to balance the Department's needs with those of the Faculty as a whole.
I think it is possible to change your EU modules to HY so long as you meet all the other type of requirements like exposure and Singapore Studies, and GEMS but you would have to check with the Deanery to be absolutely sure.
Are you still in Singapore or have you left for your exchange?
Cheers
Ian
And my subsequent reply to his latest email.
hello prof gordon!
i'm still in singapore, will be leaving next monday~
i've looked through the modules listed and realised a big problem. if i'm going to to honours, i might be unable to major in european studies due to the lack of modules i can take. there aren't many european history modules offered here. that's why i'm having a sort of dilemma planning my modules for my exchange programme and my next year or two in nus. so i'm really thinking if i should change my major or not.
big headache
joan
I think it'd be quite rude of me if I yelled out to him that HE CAN'T ALWAYS PUT PROF FARRELL AT THE EARLY MORNING SLOT!!! yea... But this is my blog and I can do whatever on my blog~
I've received comments from two new commenters. I've also noticed that Dr Dubois also always gets the early morning slot, don't know why either. Maybe he and Farrell like to play the good guys or Ian Gordan really hates them and wants to sabo them. lol~ And it's great to have another Farrell groupie in the house~ Let's do War and Society next semester together okie? We'll sit in the middle of the LT and swoon over Farrell~ wahaha...
updates end here
*****
This is an email I've sent to Prof Gordon, Head of the History Department.
hi prof gordon!
i won't be able to attend this briefing. in fact, i don't even know if i should be considered a history major.
anyway, i'd still be taking lots of history modules, so i thought i'd send in some of my thoughts about sequencing modules. one very important thing, can prof farrell's modules not be at 8am please? 10am is also not that good a time, preferable times like 4pm would be the best. also of my concern are the european history modules, it'll be nice if we can have more of those, and have them in the afternoon too~ it'll be really nice if you could offer europe of the dictators next year.
i also have another question, erm... say if i want to change my major from european studies to history for some reason or another, and would like to change the modules codes from the eu ones to hy ones, erm... is it possible? right now i don't think i will really change my major, but if i in the end plan to do honours, i might want to change major to fit my course of study.
yup~ thanks very much! and if it's possible, could you please drop me the information regarding the modules that will be offered next year?
thank you!
joan
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Harlizah bte Abdul Hamid
Sent: Tue 04/04/2006 11:35
Cc: Ian Gordon (Head, History)
Subject: BRIEFING FOR HISTORY MAJORS
Dear All
There will be a briefing on Tuesday, 9 May 2006 at LT12 at 2pm for History majors.
The purpose of the briefing is to inform students of the modules that will be offered by the Department next year (2006-2007) and for the following two years (2007-2008, 2008-2009). We will also discuss the need for students to plan their study and ways in which they may want to sequence modules.
It would be extremely helpful for all History majors to attend.
Thank you and Regards
A/P Ian Gordon
Head, Department of History
Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
National University of Singapore
11 Arts Link, AS1 05 - 27
Singapore 117570
Tel: (65) 6874 3838
Fax: (65) 6774-2528
Wonder what would be his reply...
It really sucks to find out that Prof Farrell's lectures are always so early in the morning. Out of four semesters, the exposure one and the Total War one was at a decent enough timeslot, but the Singapore Military History was at 10am early in the morning, and the worst was the Colonialism, Expansionism and Imperialism one, 8am wtf... Even the Singapore Military History one was supposed to be at 8-fucking-am, but in the end it was brought back two hours later. For Farrell, I'd still do the module, but it isn't really milking the best out of me.
Actually most history lectures are in very decent timeslots. I personally think that most history lecturers are somewhat at least a bit nocturnal. I hope in the years to come this would remain so that I can have a more decent timetable. I won't be going back to hostel ever again, I think, shall be commuting so time is very important to me in making any decision in module taking. Of course, I'd still want to take a Farrell module next semester. Farrell is somewhat like a cult favourite, think I can form a cult group worshipping Farrell already. lol~
Brothers
I got this from this blog here.
I love this song. I love this anime. I love this manga. I love Ed and Al.
After playing this song on repeat for so many many hours, I never understood what it was about. Finally I do. And I love it even more.
Forgive me, younger brother
I am so guilty before you
It is forbidden to try to regain
That which the land has taken
He who knows the Law of Genesis
Would have helped me to find the answer
I was cruelly mistaken:
There is no medicine for death
Dear mama! How tender!
We so loved you
But all our strength
Was for naught
I tempted you
With wonderful hope
To regain our family hearth
My brother, I am guilty in everything
Don't cry, don't be saddened, older brother
You are not the guilty one
We have but one road
We will atone for this guilt 'til the end
I don't accuse you of anything
And I am not offended in the least
A burden, our sin
Of wanting to be stronger in everything
Dear mama! How tender!
We so loved you
But all our strength
Was for naught
I myself was tempted
With wonderful hope
To regain our family hearth
I myself am guilty in everything
But what are we to do, how to be
How to repair everything, how to forget?
It is forbidden to try to regain
That which the land has taken
It's in Russian. Surprise surprise~
Anyway, I'll be packing my external hard disk drive with me into my luggage to Germany and Full Metal Alchemist the anime will go there with me to accompany me I get homesick. Can't lug my $8.50 books with me over there, so the manga have to remain in my metal cabinet. Hopefully when I'm back I can spend a couple more $8.50s for the ones I've missed out when I'm in Germany.
Sunday, April 09, 2006
Ding Tai Feng
Today went to watch The Producers, no link here since I'm not recommending the movie. To lazy too link everything up also. I saw the trailer for Invisible Wavesthere. It starred Asano Tadanobu. I thought it would be a great film.
I came home to immediately look up the movie online, IMDb no less, and found a comment written by A Nutshell Review and he slammed that film. Gave it only 1/10. I posted a PM to him after finding out that Invisible Waves was produced by the same people who made Last Life in the Universe which was an art house hit. Personally I saw that and loved it. I gave it 10/10. So it's very hard for me to accept that with the same writer, director, cinematographer and lead actor, they'd produce a flop. The worst thing, Cathay's only showing it tonight at 12+ and 2+, can't finding any other listings. Cathay's listings just sucks. They bring in all the interesting films but show them always at the most horrible times and only for like a day. sucks...
Anyway, I'm supposed to do a food review today not a movie one, so I'll get on with it. After The Producers, we went to Ding Tai Feng to eat. First thing I did there was to pull out the handphone camera. One thing I like most about restaurants is ledgers, if they have one. I like posing with ledgers, railings, balconies, whatever...
I think Jinwei can be my personal photographer already. wahaha~
Sorry about the poorly done montages, I still haven't mastered photoshop yet though I'm really working hard at it, learning something new every night.
Of course, Joan's not only about camwhoring, she also does her best to capture things around. This is Ding Tai Feng in Joan's eyes.
I like the "long" word. I know I'm a big big big Ah Beng, but I don't care.
After ordering the food while waiting for the food to arrive, I realised that I've only had pictures of myself taken, so I took this video.
In Chinese.
I think Jinwei will kill me if he sees this, but well, I don't think he reads my blog anyway. Maybe come by once in a while, but definitely he won't read. Wait, the screenshot of this video is of him, damn... How does Youtube come up with those screenshots anyway ah? Do they have a guideline of how's it done? Anyone knows please drop me a little note~ Thanks~
Finally, our food came...
Looks not bad...
The fried rice came first.
It was a pretty disappointingly small portion, but had generous servings of prawns, so well, it was still okay. The rice had enough egg taste, not bad, lots of eggs too it looks. But the rice was wet and sticky. Some people like wet and sticky rice, but I don't, I prefer the hard and dry rice, like those from Crystal Jade, but I think people like my mum and my sister would probably prefer DTF's to CJ.
Then came the xiaolongbaos.
In four simple words: not nice to eat. The first xlb into the mouth was okay, the meat was a bit too rough, but it was hot and juicy, but the second one which I ate straight after the first was cold. The xlbs cooled down very rapidly, so the remaining xlbs weren't that nice. The skin of the xlb is too sticky yet thin, so don't have much of the bao taste, the meat as I've said is too rough, not minced properly I think, the juice was nice, but the texture of the meat and the bao was not able to save it. The bao was also pretty small. It's the worst xlb I've eaten other than the ones at Noodle Hut, Harbourfront. Even the xlbs from Asian Kitchen, City Link Mall (also got branch which I don't know where) were lots nicer. But no xlb beats CJ or Yum Cha.
Note to self, must go Yum Cha eat before I fly. Maybe fit in a buffet, Jinwei interested.
Lastly was the Prawn Siewmais.
It's more like xiaolongbao with prawns on top. But unlike the previous xlb, this one had thicker skin and finer meat, but the prawns were hard. And the bao or siewmai or whatever you call it is bigger so I can't put the whole thing in my mouth to savour the taste of the pork and the prawn together.
Food aside, the ambience of this DTF we were at was open concept, in the middle of the shopping mall, so it was a bit weird. Personally, I don't like it. I prefer my own private space.
The service was also not that impressive. The waitress who greeted us didn't catch my joke which was supposed to be very sacastic, so I don't know if she's dumb or just not humorous.
waitress: (in Chinese) Two people?
joan: (pissed, isn't it obvious? also in Chinese) No, there's three of us. Can't you see the friend behind?
waitree: Three people, here please.
joan: (very very pissed already)come, let's go in.
jinwei: (nice guy) No la, there's only two people.
waitress: (still didn't get it) Here please.
We need people in the service sector, no robots please. That waitress was a bloody robot with no sense of humour and apparantly also without eyes and brain to process information. I still prefer the service in Holland Village's CJ, the Lamian Xiaolongbao one. The store manager there is always friendly, conversant and damn damn shuai.
Another thing I don't like is going to the cashier to foot the bill ourselves. I didn't pay the 10% service charge and 5% Goods and Service Tax (GST) for nothing. What the fuck, I didn't pay service charge and service tax for no service at all. Not to mention that both Jinwei and I are bloody lazy people, we gave Pepper Lunch a pass because neither of us wanted to cook our own meal.
I don't think I'll ever go to Dingtaifeng again. I think I'll stick to Crystal Jade. Especially the Holland Village branch~
I came home to immediately look up the movie online, IMDb no less, and found a comment written by A Nutshell Review and he slammed that film. Gave it only 1/10. I posted a PM to him after finding out that Invisible Waves was produced by the same people who made Last Life in the Universe which was an art house hit. Personally I saw that and loved it. I gave it 10/10. So it's very hard for me to accept that with the same writer, director, cinematographer and lead actor, they'd produce a flop. The worst thing, Cathay's only showing it tonight at 12+ and 2+, can't finding any other listings. Cathay's listings just sucks. They bring in all the interesting films but show them always at the most horrible times and only for like a day. sucks...
Anyway, I'm supposed to do a food review today not a movie one, so I'll get on with it. After The Producers, we went to Ding Tai Feng to eat. First thing I did there was to pull out the handphone camera. One thing I like most about restaurants is ledgers, if they have one. I like posing with ledgers, railings, balconies, whatever...
I think Jinwei can be my personal photographer already. wahaha~
Sorry about the poorly done montages, I still haven't mastered photoshop yet though I'm really working hard at it, learning something new every night.
Of course, Joan's not only about camwhoring, she also does her best to capture things around. This is Ding Tai Feng in Joan's eyes.
I like the "long" word. I know I'm a big big big Ah Beng, but I don't care.
After ordering the food while waiting for the food to arrive, I realised that I've only had pictures of myself taken, so I took this video.
In Chinese.
I think Jinwei will kill me if he sees this, but well, I don't think he reads my blog anyway. Maybe come by once in a while, but definitely he won't read. Wait, the screenshot of this video is of him, damn... How does Youtube come up with those screenshots anyway ah? Do they have a guideline of how's it done? Anyone knows please drop me a little note~ Thanks~
Finally, our food came...
Looks not bad...
The fried rice came first.
It was a pretty disappointingly small portion, but had generous servings of prawns, so well, it was still okay. The rice had enough egg taste, not bad, lots of eggs too it looks. But the rice was wet and sticky. Some people like wet and sticky rice, but I don't, I prefer the hard and dry rice, like those from Crystal Jade, but I think people like my mum and my sister would probably prefer DTF's to CJ.
Then came the xiaolongbaos.
In four simple words: not nice to eat. The first xlb into the mouth was okay, the meat was a bit too rough, but it was hot and juicy, but the second one which I ate straight after the first was cold. The xlbs cooled down very rapidly, so the remaining xlbs weren't that nice. The skin of the xlb is too sticky yet thin, so don't have much of the bao taste, the meat as I've said is too rough, not minced properly I think, the juice was nice, but the texture of the meat and the bao was not able to save it. The bao was also pretty small. It's the worst xlb I've eaten other than the ones at Noodle Hut, Harbourfront. Even the xlbs from Asian Kitchen, City Link Mall (also got branch which I don't know where) were lots nicer. But no xlb beats CJ or Yum Cha.
Note to self, must go Yum Cha eat before I fly. Maybe fit in a buffet, Jinwei interested.
Lastly was the Prawn Siewmais.
It's more like xiaolongbao with prawns on top. But unlike the previous xlb, this one had thicker skin and finer meat, but the prawns were hard. And the bao or siewmai or whatever you call it is bigger so I can't put the whole thing in my mouth to savour the taste of the pork and the prawn together.
Food aside, the ambience of this DTF we were at was open concept, in the middle of the shopping mall, so it was a bit weird. Personally, I don't like it. I prefer my own private space.
The service was also not that impressive. The waitress who greeted us didn't catch my joke which was supposed to be very sacastic, so I don't know if she's dumb or just not humorous.
waitress: (in Chinese) Two people?
joan: (pissed, isn't it obvious? also in Chinese) No, there's three of us. Can't you see the friend behind?
waitree: Three people, here please.
joan: (very very pissed already)come, let's go in.
jinwei: (nice guy) No la, there's only two people.
waitress: (still didn't get it) Here please.
We need people in the service sector, no robots please. That waitress was a bloody robot with no sense of humour and apparantly also without eyes and brain to process information. I still prefer the service in Holland Village's CJ, the Lamian Xiaolongbao one. The store manager there is always friendly, conversant and damn damn shuai.
Another thing I don't like is going to the cashier to foot the bill ourselves. I didn't pay the 10% service charge and 5% Goods and Service Tax (GST) for nothing. What the fuck, I didn't pay service charge and service tax for no service at all. Not to mention that both Jinwei and I are bloody lazy people, we gave Pepper Lunch a pass because neither of us wanted to cook our own meal.
I don't think I'll ever go to Dingtaifeng again. I think I'll stick to Crystal Jade. Especially the Holland Village branch~
Saturday, April 08, 2006
Kindergarten Macht Spaß
Remember my post from here?
Was Heißt ein Kindergarten?
I was outside that kindergarden this morning and saw this scene and took this video.
More videoblogging from Joan lately, but I don't know what's it up with that videoblogging week. They made some stuff more difficult for me to comprehend and I don't really know what I should be doing now.
Was Heißt ein Kindergarten?
I was outside that kindergarden this morning and saw this scene and took this video.
More videoblogging from Joan lately, but I don't know what's it up with that videoblogging week. They made some stuff more difficult for me to comprehend and I don't really know what I should be doing now.
Verdammt!!! Scheißer!!! FUCK!!!
For the entire story, click here
Verdammt!!! Scheißer!!! Unglaublich!!!
WAS WAS WAS? Was haben Sie gedacht, Herr Kanasai Klinnsman? Haben Sie noch kein Kopf? Wie können Sie Ihr Mannschaft in turmoil führen?
Ich hässe Lehmann! Ich sehr sehr sehr hässe Lehmann! Jetzt hässe ich auch Klinnsman! Ich denke, Deutschland wird kena knock out. hai... Viele wörte können nicht was ich sprechen will. Heute werden sehr schrecklich.
Verdammt!
I did something really stupid today. Just about an hour ago.
I was sitting on the couch, watching the tv, just relaxing. Then I spotted a pair of sissors beside me on the couch. Yesterday I was just using that pair of sissors to trim my cracked nail. I wanted to trim off just the cracked part instead of cutting of the whole nail, so I picked up my craft sissors to cut my nail.
Sitting on the couch with nothing to fill my hands since I was watching the tv, I decided to play with the sissors. Maybe cut my toe nails or something. They are growing a bit long and sometimes I can feel them hindering my foot when I wear some pairs of shoes. SO I picked up that sissors and started trimming my toe nails. It wasn't as easy as I thought. Toe nails, even the small toes, were still very thick, so it took me quite a bit of strength to manage to successfully cut of a nail.
Still finding that I'm damn bored, I continued cutting some other toes. I didn't cute all my toe nails, only the second third and fourth one for both feet, the big toe nail was immpossibly thick and the baby toe nail was also thicker than the other toe nails, not only that, the toe was smaller and I didn't think my toe was able to sustain the pressure of me cutting the nail. I didn't want to break my toe or anything just as dangerous. Using a pair of sissors was already dangerous enough.
Just as I was cutting off the third toe of my right leg, I used my left hand to support my feet as I propped it up. My pair of sissors cut deep into my finger. Verdammt! I gave a loud shout, somewhere petween a loud groan and a moan. Then suddenly, I didn't know why, tears started streaming down my face.
It's been a long time since I actually cried because of pain. As I've aged, my threshold for pain seemed to have increased exponentially too. But just at the moment, maybe due to shock, and the deepness of the cut, I just started crying. At first I didn't realise that the cut was very bad. I always have paper cuts and what nots, so I was pretty surprised I started crying. Later as I was crying, my mother came out to look at me as she heard me shouted. Then my finger started bleeding pretty badly. There were two cuts, each from each blade of the sissors, very deep.
As I sat there and just cried, my mother went to get the cream for cuts and a plaster. It seemed like ten years ago all over again. Wait, make that fifteen years ago, I keep forgetting that I'm not young anymore.
Hai... Always listen to what the parents say, "Don't play with sissors." Not even when you think you are old, you still need to remember not to play with sissors!!!
And the most most most ironic thing of all? I never cut my own nails. I always visit a manicurist. I don't even own a pair of nailclipper. Yea... this explains why I was using the sissors and not a nailclipper. hai... Lesson number two: Always let the expert do their stuff. Don't try and be a smart Aleck.
And the ugliest thing of all? The chipped nail is on the same finger as I cut myself. hai... Now I've a totally ugly and cannot make it left index finger.
I also don't know what I'm going to explaint to my manicurist when she sees my finger. "Aiyo... Why your fingernail like that one?" The chip nail is very ugly. This is not including my chipped nail polish. I've taken to scrapping off my nail polish everytime I'm bored when watching tv. Much of my nail polish is scrapped off, but a little bit is still there. It's like also damn ugly too.
hai... With me needing a visit to the manicure before I fly, and also needing a hair cut. And me just bought a cold wear lined jacket and a new pair of spectacles. I is broke even before heading out 10 000 miles.
I was sitting on the couch, watching the tv, just relaxing. Then I spotted a pair of sissors beside me on the couch. Yesterday I was just using that pair of sissors to trim my cracked nail. I wanted to trim off just the cracked part instead of cutting of the whole nail, so I picked up my craft sissors to cut my nail.
Sitting on the couch with nothing to fill my hands since I was watching the tv, I decided to play with the sissors. Maybe cut my toe nails or something. They are growing a bit long and sometimes I can feel them hindering my foot when I wear some pairs of shoes. SO I picked up that sissors and started trimming my toe nails. It wasn't as easy as I thought. Toe nails, even the small toes, were still very thick, so it took me quite a bit of strength to manage to successfully cut of a nail.
Still finding that I'm damn bored, I continued cutting some other toes. I didn't cute all my toe nails, only the second third and fourth one for both feet, the big toe nail was immpossibly thick and the baby toe nail was also thicker than the other toe nails, not only that, the toe was smaller and I didn't think my toe was able to sustain the pressure of me cutting the nail. I didn't want to break my toe or anything just as dangerous. Using a pair of sissors was already dangerous enough.
Just as I was cutting off the third toe of my right leg, I used my left hand to support my feet as I propped it up. My pair of sissors cut deep into my finger. Verdammt! I gave a loud shout, somewhere petween a loud groan and a moan. Then suddenly, I didn't know why, tears started streaming down my face.
It's been a long time since I actually cried because of pain. As I've aged, my threshold for pain seemed to have increased exponentially too. But just at the moment, maybe due to shock, and the deepness of the cut, I just started crying. At first I didn't realise that the cut was very bad. I always have paper cuts and what nots, so I was pretty surprised I started crying. Later as I was crying, my mother came out to look at me as she heard me shouted. Then my finger started bleeding pretty badly. There were two cuts, each from each blade of the sissors, very deep.
As I sat there and just cried, my mother went to get the cream for cuts and a plaster. It seemed like ten years ago all over again. Wait, make that fifteen years ago, I keep forgetting that I'm not young anymore.
Hai... Always listen to what the parents say, "Don't play with sissors." Not even when you think you are old, you still need to remember not to play with sissors!!!
And the most most most ironic thing of all? I never cut my own nails. I always visit a manicurist. I don't even own a pair of nailclipper. Yea... this explains why I was using the sissors and not a nailclipper. hai... Lesson number two: Always let the expert do their stuff. Don't try and be a smart Aleck.
And the ugliest thing of all? The chipped nail is on the same finger as I cut myself. hai... Now I've a totally ugly and cannot make it left index finger.
I also don't know what I'm going to explaint to my manicurist when she sees my finger. "Aiyo... Why your fingernail like that one?" The chip nail is very ugly. This is not including my chipped nail polish. I've taken to scrapping off my nail polish everytime I'm bored when watching tv. Much of my nail polish is scrapped off, but a little bit is still there. It's like also damn ugly too.
hai... With me needing a visit to the manicure before I fly, and also needing a hair cut. And me just bought a cold wear lined jacket and a new pair of spectacles. I is broke even before heading out 10 000 miles.
Thursday, April 06, 2006
Das Wunder Von Bern
It was just a feel good movie, so I hadn't wanted to blog about it, but after thinking for a moment, there are a couple of issues I want to bring up, so here I am typing on this laptop.
Heute habe ich noch einen Deutschen Film angesehen. Das ist ein Film über Familie, über Fußball, über solidärs kommen zur Hause zurück. Ich liebe Fußball, natürlich sehe ich gern disen Film an. If you don't know what I'm talking about, go google Miracle of Bern, I'm sure what you've googled will explain. I'm not linking anything up nor am I do anything fanciful to my entry today, I'm just so so tired today that I just want to let my fingers type.
The one thing that struck me most what this character Adi. He was first shown talking to the coach, showing him a pair of shoes, very light, lighter than the football boots they were using previously, but he flipped the shoe over and used a pair of pliers to unscrew the studs and showed the coach a selection of studs of different lengths. Then someone called him Dassler. I shouted out adidas almost immediately despite me being in the library.
If you don't know, I'm a huge fan of adidas, and that's still an understatement. I'm such a big fan of adidas that I'm anal to type adidas in small case because the A in adidas is supposed to be a small a. I was also the only one who spotted the pair of adidas shoes on the "Typisch Deutsch" in the worksheet we did for tutorial on Monday.
I know who Adi Dassler is. He is the founder of adidas. adidas itself comes from Adi and Das of Dassler. I also know Adi's real name is Adolf, but he's know as Adi to everyone.
Some say that Germany was able to win the 1954 World Cup is because of the adidas boots, they were fitted in such a way which the studs can be short when playing in sunny weather and long with a much better grip on the field when it's raining. This advantage for wet weather playing is something other teams don't have. Cut to the scene of which the coach was interviewed. He said that Germany would win if it rained. erm... I don't think I need to give any spoiler warning because everyone just knows that Germany won the World Cup.
Another little bit I like was the Annette becoming to be a football fan after accompanying her husband to the World Cup matches. Her first comment about football was that it is a game of "24 people kicking one ball". If you don't know the irony of this statement, you are worse than her in the beginning sia.
A gem of a quote from her
Annette: Which side would you take when reporting the match between Turkey and Hungary?
Ackermann: Neither. We reporters have to be neutral.
Annette: Then the match between Germany and Turkey?
Ackermann: Germany of course.
Annette: Then you are not being very neutral, are you?
(If there are details wrong, pardon me, my memory isn't really that good)
Reminds me of one thing, Deutschland über alles.
I like her character. She kept faith in the German team all the way.
It's not just the football that struck me, but also the part about Mattes's father Richard. He was a PoW. It's not easy for a PoW to get back into reality all over again, not only that he was unable to get compensation from the goverment because he once stole some brown sugar because he was dying. Life is already that hard.
Another gem of a quote from Mattes's mother regarding Richard
Christa: How did you feel when you found out your rabbits were killed?
Mattes: I felt very bad. I didn't like it.
Christa: Imagine going through that feeling every day. That was how your father felt every day for twelve years. It's not that easy for him. So you have to try to understand him.
I always believe he who see death will fear it. I always have these grand ideas of going to war for a cause for an ideal, but really if I ever be in the war and see people dying by me, I don't need many people, just one death I think is enough to make me a selfish person, to run away from everything and just want to live. Then again, some people might argue, if I fear death why am I suicidal. The Hours, Virginia Woolf made it clear with her quote "Someone has to die in order that the rest of us should value life more. It's contrast." Someone asked her why one of her characters in her book had to die. She said the above line. It seemed that she knew that life was precious but she still chose her death, why? It's the same thing with me.
Hai... I shouldn't be this moody tonight, especially when talking about football.
Heute habe ich noch einen Deutschen Film angesehen. Das ist ein Film über Familie, über Fußball, über solidärs kommen zur Hause zurück. Ich liebe Fußball, natürlich sehe ich gern disen Film an. If you don't know what I'm talking about, go google Miracle of Bern, I'm sure what you've googled will explain. I'm not linking anything up nor am I do anything fanciful to my entry today, I'm just so so tired today that I just want to let my fingers type.
The one thing that struck me most what this character Adi. He was first shown talking to the coach, showing him a pair of shoes, very light, lighter than the football boots they were using previously, but he flipped the shoe over and used a pair of pliers to unscrew the studs and showed the coach a selection of studs of different lengths. Then someone called him Dassler. I shouted out adidas almost immediately despite me being in the library.
If you don't know, I'm a huge fan of adidas, and that's still an understatement. I'm such a big fan of adidas that I'm anal to type adidas in small case because the A in adidas is supposed to be a small a. I was also the only one who spotted the pair of adidas shoes on the "Typisch Deutsch" in the worksheet we did for tutorial on Monday.
I know who Adi Dassler is. He is the founder of adidas. adidas itself comes from Adi and Das of Dassler. I also know Adi's real name is Adolf, but he's know as Adi to everyone.
Some say that Germany was able to win the 1954 World Cup is because of the adidas boots, they were fitted in such a way which the studs can be short when playing in sunny weather and long with a much better grip on the field when it's raining. This advantage for wet weather playing is something other teams don't have. Cut to the scene of which the coach was interviewed. He said that Germany would win if it rained. erm... I don't think I need to give any spoiler warning because everyone just knows that Germany won the World Cup.
Another little bit I like was the Annette becoming to be a football fan after accompanying her husband to the World Cup matches. Her first comment about football was that it is a game of "24 people kicking one ball". If you don't know the irony of this statement, you are worse than her in the beginning sia.
A gem of a quote from her
Annette: Which side would you take when reporting the match between Turkey and Hungary?
Ackermann: Neither. We reporters have to be neutral.
Annette: Then the match between Germany and Turkey?
Ackermann: Germany of course.
Annette: Then you are not being very neutral, are you?
(If there are details wrong, pardon me, my memory isn't really that good)
Reminds me of one thing, Deutschland über alles.
I like her character. She kept faith in the German team all the way.
It's not just the football that struck me, but also the part about Mattes's father Richard. He was a PoW. It's not easy for a PoW to get back into reality all over again, not only that he was unable to get compensation from the goverment because he once stole some brown sugar because he was dying. Life is already that hard.
Another gem of a quote from Mattes's mother regarding Richard
Christa: How did you feel when you found out your rabbits were killed?
Mattes: I felt very bad. I didn't like it.
Christa: Imagine going through that feeling every day. That was how your father felt every day for twelve years. It's not that easy for him. So you have to try to understand him.
I always believe he who see death will fear it. I always have these grand ideas of going to war for a cause for an ideal, but really if I ever be in the war and see people dying by me, I don't need many people, just one death I think is enough to make me a selfish person, to run away from everything and just want to live. Then again, some people might argue, if I fear death why am I suicidal. The Hours, Virginia Woolf made it clear with her quote "Someone has to die in order that the rest of us should value life more. It's contrast." Someone asked her why one of her characters in her book had to die. She said the above line. It seemed that she knew that life was precious but she still chose her death, why? It's the same thing with me.
Hai... I shouldn't be this moody tonight, especially when talking about football.
Wednesday, April 05, 2006
There Is Something Wrong
... with my blog...
The words by the side have turned brown. How did that happened?
(ed: i realised it much much later, i forgot to close a tag)
And there's some little bit of problem with my youtube, but that has been fixed already (at least I think it has been fixed already).
Bah~ Sometimes I wish I were a little more apt in the technical stuff. I just got my DVD rom changed because I couldn't fixed mine when it spoilt. I too got my laptop adaptor changed the last time after it spoilt, didn't even try to fix it or anything.
I think it's high time for me to change a blogskin.
I.Need.To.Master.Photoshop.Quickly.
To date, all my photoshopping was done either to
1. Remove spots on my face, small spots which I can clone and brush over.
2. Make my teeth look a bit bigger, same thing clone and brush. But I never do any photoshopping on pictures of which I've put make up, my conceallor does that job. I don't put on two layers of conceallor for nothing.
3. Animation. It's stupid pictures of several photos of me like a slideshow. It's totally dumb.
I don't even know how to add text to pictures.
I don't even know how to copy a part of a picture and put it onto another part of the picture.
I don't even know how to blur strokes to make the picture looks more natural.
I.Need.To.Learn.Fast.
Like before I reach the Blackforest or something.
The words by the side have turned brown. How did that happened?
(ed: i realised it much much later, i forgot to close a tag)
And there's some little bit of problem with my youtube, but that has been fixed already (at least I think it has been fixed already).
Bah~ Sometimes I wish I were a little more apt in the technical stuff. I just got my DVD rom changed because I couldn't fixed mine when it spoilt. I too got my laptop adaptor changed the last time after it spoilt, didn't even try to fix it or anything.
I think it's high time for me to change a blogskin.
I.Need.To.Master.Photoshop.Quickly.
To date, all my photoshopping was done either to
1. Remove spots on my face, small spots which I can clone and brush over.
2. Make my teeth look a bit bigger, same thing clone and brush. But I never do any photoshopping on pictures of which I've put make up, my conceallor does that job. I don't put on two layers of conceallor for nothing.
3. Animation. It's stupid pictures of several photos of me like a slideshow. It's totally dumb.
I don't even know how to add text to pictures.
I don't even know how to copy a part of a picture and put it onto another part of the picture.
I don't even know how to blur strokes to make the picture looks more natural.
I.Need.To.Learn.Fast.
Like before I reach the Blackforest or something.
A Language of Their Own
A Language of Their Own, 30 March to 9 April 2006 Esplanade Theatre Studio
presented by checkpoint theatre
written by Chay Yew, directed by Casey Lim
with Koey Foo, Phin Wong, Mark Waite, Peter Sau as cast and Ken Ikeda and Laichan as designers
Before I go into the review proper, I'm trying out at Videoblogging as part of that Videoblogging Week thingie. I've videoblogged before, this isn't my first time, but I'm never been that satisfied with my videoblogs and hence never posted any of those up here before. My videoblogs are just like my normal blogs, I'm just as long winded and just as crappy and just as camwhorish.
This first part of my videoblog...
My videos are all uploaded on YouTubeIf you look by my sidebar, there's a link to my youtube videos. I think I can get a link to my youtube profile, but it only shows the recent videos, and if, I mean IF I have lots of videos, you can't really view a whole list of my videos on youtube. Then I had this stroke of ingeniuity. Since I tag all my videos as "xxoos", you can just run a search tag for "xxoos" and there'll be a whole list of my videos. That link in my side bar actually brings you to all videos tagged "xxoos". My Flickr photos, those that I took myself and not copied from the web, are also all tagged "xxoos". It's very easy to locate me that way, especially I've 3 flickr accounts.
Okay, I go on to the second part of the videoblog...
Now I go into the review for the play. yea... I'm still a traditional at heart, I cannot, am unable to, videoblog a review. So words shall take over my heavily blushed face and I'll let my fingers engage with you. It's still running, so if interested can always call 6348 5555 or go to Esplanade's website to buy tickets. It's $33, NUS TS students have 25% discount. My first videoblog will explain which I paid for and why.
The free booklet and a little something extra...
This is the first time I've ever held a condom in my hand. Surprised? Oh well... That's not the topic in question today anyway.
A Language of Their Own talks about the lives of a pair of homosexual lovers who broke up and found new partners and their lives with their new partners, and about the problems faced between couples, commitment issues, infidelity, public opinion, AIDS. We are brought to see their emotions, their feelings, their intimacy. And in the end, their resolve.
Jinwei, Jinsen and Audrey didn't really felt that much about it, but I did. Coming from a person who've been through commitment issues, infidelity, possibly public (dis)opinion about certain social mores, I can feel what the characters are going though. Luckily (choy choy, touch wood touch wood), I haven't been through the AIDS problem, and I hope I will never. But I did thought about caring for a person till death, through sickness and stuff though. Possibly, it's what that you've been through before that makes you feel for certain characters.
Oscar.
The traditional, 30+ almost successful in career person, the kind of man who cannot express himself easily, but uses actions in place of words. I see a lot of someone else in him.
Daniel.
He's a very interesting character. After the show, someone asked if Daniel did loved Oscar. I said yes, definitely. But then there was one part, where Daniel said he felt awkward when he saw Oscar sitting down in the middle of IKEA, he didn't know if he should go over and acknowledge Oscar. From some of Daniel's monologues, we also understand that sometimes he does resent Oscar for being sick, all his emphasis on him being "fine" further reiterates that he in fact is not fine. But I still believe he loves Oscar. Because I understand.
I see a lot of me in Daniel. I felt the resentment before, the shame and the humility in my Oscar. Sometimes I really despise him for being him, but well, as much as I hated all that, I loved all that. I would, like Daniel take care of him when he needed even though he might still have loved Ming.
In all contradictions, I also feel for Ming. That's my problem, and I admit that that will always be my problem.
Jinwei asked an interesting question. Why must this story be about homosexuals? Put this story into the context of two males and two females, it would still work out. Yes. I wouldn't see this as a why question. Instead, I see A Language of Their Own as making use of this gay couple to bring out the problems faced by any other couple. Infidelity, commitments, AIDS, trust, caring for each other, etc are faced by every other kind of couples homosexual or hetrosexual. Even public opinion and public display for affections, some couples also can face these problems when one is more shy and introvert than the other. Also, Jinsen put it very well, it can be acted by school children too, and they also face the problem of public opinion when they go out.
On the whole the acting is superb. Koey Foo as Oscar was solid, he was able to comtrol his emotions well. The only thing disappointing was that the masturbation scene was a bit the unreal and out of place, but that's more of a problem I should be posing to the director. Phin Wong as Ming was impressive, I like the way he thrusts out all his emotions and feelings to a slightly hysterical stage. Almost like myself when I go crazy. Peter Sau as Daniel, was still Peter Sau, he still have yet acted something that I can not recognise him as Peter Sau, but I liked his hissy fits though, and the deepening of his character as the play goes on. Mark Waite as Robert was the weakest among the actors, just couldn't really feel much about him.
According to the director's note, the play was written about a decade ago, which means that there is no such thing as handphones, well... It was in fact very odd that there's a whole big issue about leaving messages on answering machines and changing of numbers when moving out. In today's context, there's always SMS to solve much problems and number won't change unless you want to. Maybe there should have been an update in the script.
But saying this, I must be aware that I, and my group of friends, are definitely not the target group of audience for this play.
Peeping around the audience, we looked to be about almost the youngest. And majority of the audience are homosexuals, so... Jinwei quipped, "Lucky you and Audrey came too. (Because I was a bit reluctant earlier on, watch my videoblogging for the details)If me and Jinsen came alone, people would definitely think (that they were gay)." Well, Jinwei and Jinsen aren't called Brokeback by us for nothing. hmm... I remember Jinsen once shot a short film called The Video starring him and Jinwei before, must show it one day. "And luckily me and Jinsen weren't sitting next to each other." We were sitting from left to right, Audrey Jinsen me Jinwei, which on hindsight, a very good sitting arrangement, but we just sat like that by coincidence only la... hehehe~
I have nothing against homosexual relationships as long as female ever falls for me. In fact, I just see each homosexual couple as two people who loves each other and they just happen to be of the same gender. But then again, I can't seem to find myself tolerating lesbians as much as I can tolerate gays, I don't know why. Maybe I've been reading too much shonan comics already. hmm...
presented by checkpoint theatre
written by Chay Yew, directed by Casey Lim
with Koey Foo, Phin Wong, Mark Waite, Peter Sau as cast and Ken Ikeda and Laichan as designers
Before I go into the review proper, I'm trying out at Videoblogging as part of that Videoblogging Week thingie. I've videoblogged before, this isn't my first time, but I'm never been that satisfied with my videoblogs and hence never posted any of those up here before. My videoblogs are just like my normal blogs, I'm just as long winded and just as crappy and just as camwhorish.
This first part of my videoblog...
My videos are all uploaded on YouTubeIf you look by my sidebar, there's a link to my youtube videos. I think I can get a link to my youtube profile, but it only shows the recent videos, and if, I mean IF I have lots of videos, you can't really view a whole list of my videos on youtube. Then I had this stroke of ingeniuity. Since I tag all my videos as "xxoos", you can just run a search tag for "xxoos" and there'll be a whole list of my videos. That link in my side bar actually brings you to all videos tagged "xxoos". My Flickr photos, those that I took myself and not copied from the web, are also all tagged "xxoos". It's very easy to locate me that way, especially I've 3 flickr accounts.
Okay, I go on to the second part of the videoblog...
Now I go into the review for the play. yea... I'm still a traditional at heart, I cannot, am unable to, videoblog a review. So words shall take over my heavily blushed face and I'll let my fingers engage with you. It's still running, so if interested can always call 6348 5555 or go to Esplanade's website to buy tickets. It's $33, NUS TS students have 25% discount. My first videoblog will explain which I paid for and why.
The free booklet and a little something extra...
This is the first time I've ever held a condom in my hand. Surprised? Oh well... That's not the topic in question today anyway.
A Language of Their Own talks about the lives of a pair of homosexual lovers who broke up and found new partners and their lives with their new partners, and about the problems faced between couples, commitment issues, infidelity, public opinion, AIDS. We are brought to see their emotions, their feelings, their intimacy. And in the end, their resolve.
Jinwei, Jinsen and Audrey didn't really felt that much about it, but I did. Coming from a person who've been through commitment issues, infidelity, possibly public (dis)opinion about certain social mores, I can feel what the characters are going though. Luckily (choy choy, touch wood touch wood), I haven't been through the AIDS problem, and I hope I will never. But I did thought about caring for a person till death, through sickness and stuff though. Possibly, it's what that you've been through before that makes you feel for certain characters.
Oscar.
The traditional, 30+ almost successful in career person, the kind of man who cannot express himself easily, but uses actions in place of words. I see a lot of someone else in him.
Daniel.
He's a very interesting character. After the show, someone asked if Daniel did loved Oscar. I said yes, definitely. But then there was one part, where Daniel said he felt awkward when he saw Oscar sitting down in the middle of IKEA, he didn't know if he should go over and acknowledge Oscar. From some of Daniel's monologues, we also understand that sometimes he does resent Oscar for being sick, all his emphasis on him being "fine" further reiterates that he in fact is not fine. But I still believe he loves Oscar. Because I understand.
I see a lot of me in Daniel. I felt the resentment before, the shame and the humility in my Oscar. Sometimes I really despise him for being him, but well, as much as I hated all that, I loved all that. I would, like Daniel take care of him when he needed even though he might still have loved Ming.
In all contradictions, I also feel for Ming. That's my problem, and I admit that that will always be my problem.
Jinwei asked an interesting question. Why must this story be about homosexuals? Put this story into the context of two males and two females, it would still work out. Yes. I wouldn't see this as a why question. Instead, I see A Language of Their Own as making use of this gay couple to bring out the problems faced by any other couple. Infidelity, commitments, AIDS, trust, caring for each other, etc are faced by every other kind of couples homosexual or hetrosexual. Even public opinion and public display for affections, some couples also can face these problems when one is more shy and introvert than the other. Also, Jinsen put it very well, it can be acted by school children too, and they also face the problem of public opinion when they go out.
On the whole the acting is superb. Koey Foo as Oscar was solid, he was able to comtrol his emotions well. The only thing disappointing was that the masturbation scene was a bit the unreal and out of place, but that's more of a problem I should be posing to the director. Phin Wong as Ming was impressive, I like the way he thrusts out all his emotions and feelings to a slightly hysterical stage. Almost like myself when I go crazy. Peter Sau as Daniel, was still Peter Sau, he still have yet acted something that I can not recognise him as Peter Sau, but I liked his hissy fits though, and the deepening of his character as the play goes on. Mark Waite as Robert was the weakest among the actors, just couldn't really feel much about him.
According to the director's note, the play was written about a decade ago, which means that there is no such thing as handphones, well... It was in fact very odd that there's a whole big issue about leaving messages on answering machines and changing of numbers when moving out. In today's context, there's always SMS to solve much problems and number won't change unless you want to. Maybe there should have been an update in the script.
But saying this, I must be aware that I, and my group of friends, are definitely not the target group of audience for this play.
Peeping around the audience, we looked to be about almost the youngest. And majority of the audience are homosexuals, so... Jinwei quipped, "Lucky you and Audrey came too. (Because I was a bit reluctant earlier on, watch my videoblogging for the details)If me and Jinsen came alone, people would definitely think (that they were gay)." Well, Jinwei and Jinsen aren't called Brokeback by us for nothing. hmm... I remember Jinsen once shot a short film called The Video starring him and Jinwei before, must show it one day. "And luckily me and Jinsen weren't sitting next to each other." We were sitting from left to right, Audrey Jinsen me Jinwei, which on hindsight, a very good sitting arrangement, but we just sat like that by coincidence only la... hehehe~
I have nothing against homosexual relationships as long as female ever falls for me. In fact, I just see each homosexual couple as two people who loves each other and they just happen to be of the same gender. But then again, I can't seem to find myself tolerating lesbians as much as I can tolerate gays, I don't know why. Maybe I've been reading too much shonan comics already. hmm...
Monday, April 03, 2006
Lola Rennt
Lola Rennt
Heute war ich mit Cindy in der Bibliothek und haben wir disem film angesehen.
If anyone have been following me, I've already said that I'm making use of the time I left in school to watch a whole lot of German films and today I managed to catch another notable film that just calls for me to blog about.
Run Lola Run
It's quite an old film (1998) already, but it was still fun to watch. Me and Cindy had about less than 90min to kill after completing our Referat preparations so we decided to watch a film, and Lola Rennt was just about 80min long and fitted well into our schedule.
I heard about this film way back but never got around watching it for reasons unknown to myself, though I'm seriously suspecting that it might be due to procrastination. It was really good going to watch a film you've always wanted to watch and come out feeling oh so good about it. Lola Rennt is a gem. Only 80min long, but filled with suspense, almost like a thrill ride, and lots of very modern funky editing. I've always preferred the long films (like over 130min long kinds) but Lola Rennt proved me totally wrong, short can be good, very good.
From the official website, the story goes like this.
"When we meet Manni (Moritz Bleibtreu), a small time courier for big time gangster, he is working a standard pick-up/drop-off, and everything is going just fine. When the job is done, all he has to do is wait for his girlfriend, the orange-haired punk girl Lola (Franka Potente), to pick him up. But today is unlike any other day. Due to an incident while she was buying a pack of cigarettes, Lola is late, and Lola is never late. One stroke of bad luck leads to another, and by the time Manni calls Lola, he is at a pay phone with a big, big, big problem. His unforgiving boss will meet him in twenty minutes to pick up 100,000 marks; money that Manni, suddenly, does not have.
Lola rushes out of her apartment and down the street, attempting to get to Manni and, somehow, pick up 100,000 marks on the way. She tears through the city, in a whirl of bums, nuns, babies and guns. Down sidewalks, into offices, through traffic and back again. As her feet slap the pavement and the seconds tick down, the tiniest choices become life altering (or ending) decisions, and the fine line between fate and fortune begins to blur."
Lola and Manni
The film is very fast paced, we follow Lola as she runs hence we can also feel the time running out, yet along with the fast paced feel, we also feel a certain groove, due to the soundtrack. This film has been touted as an MTV style of film, hence the techno soundtrack adds on to that new kind of funkiness. I browsed through the IMDb message boards and it seemed like this film has a rather mixed set of reviews. I'd compare this to possible V for Vendetta. I remember 8days gave it only two and a half stars, but (when I checked before I watched the movie) I knew from IMDb it was the 7.6, now the ratings has further increased to 8.2, higher than Lola Rennt's 8.1. I think Lola Rennt is the kind of film either you like it or you don't. Either you see the meaning behind it, or you don't. A lot depends on what you expect and what you conceive of a movie.
hmm... The screen shots look pretty nice huh? Think maybe I shall do one for myself~
Click here to see
I don't know why but flickr doesn't allow me to have that gif in small, and the big is too large to put it up, so if you want to see my (not so) brillant photoshopping skills, yea... You can click that~
I know I look a bit ugly, but well, who looks good in these kind of criminal photographs? lol~
Okay, enough of my camwhoring, back to the main topic on hand, Lola. Lola Rennt is a film filled with innuendos, and because everything is so fast, before we can even spot something, it's gone. What's left is what's left in our subconsciousness. The first run, okay, we see it. The second run, eh, there's something that the film's trying to tell me. The third run, is it that? Or is it not? That's the question dangling.
Lola Rennt also supercedes stereotyping. I think this is like the only time I've got so gripped over a film. There I was sitting in the multimedia cluster with Cindy and the both of us were almost shouting "Oh no!s" and "wah..." and when there were accidents, we both covered our ears and eyes and faces with our hands in shock. I don't know if it's an effect of the film, but I just felt so agitated that I became physical. Of course, the ending is also another superceding of stereotyping.
*spoilers ahead*
After watching Lola running three times and the first two time either killing herself or Manni, the third time we see more accidents involving her papa and Mr Meyer, we sort of expect that something was going to happen right at the very end. Especially after Manni gave his gun away, we know the ambulance was coming, we know that the mafia boss was coming, we were expecting either Lola or Manni was going to die, but that scene never materialised. I really thought that was cool. Giving away the gun seemed to be leading onto something, creating an air of anticipation, and we all anticipated to the very end to something that never came. Interesting play of human emotions and feelings.
On IMDb I gave it a perfect 10, but maybe the more accurate score should be in the 9.5 range for me. The only lackings was that that film was a 1998 film. Throughout the whole film I was greatly disturbed by this one thing. Lola's pants. It was high rised. I think maybe under the hindsight of today's fashion and my own personal preference, I don't really like pants that are too high cut. It makes the butt look big and I don't know I just find it quite offensive and not that pleasant to the eye. But that's only under hindsight. If I were watching it ago, I wouldn't have thought this way ba...
Next up on my DVD watching list in der Bibliothek, Das Wunder von Bern (Miracle of Bern).
Heute war ich mit Cindy in der Bibliothek und haben wir disem film angesehen.
If anyone have been following me, I've already said that I'm making use of the time I left in school to watch a whole lot of German films and today I managed to catch another notable film that just calls for me to blog about.
Run Lola Run
It's quite an old film (1998) already, but it was still fun to watch. Me and Cindy had about less than 90min to kill after completing our Referat preparations so we decided to watch a film, and Lola Rennt was just about 80min long and fitted well into our schedule.
I heard about this film way back but never got around watching it for reasons unknown to myself, though I'm seriously suspecting that it might be due to procrastination. It was really good going to watch a film you've always wanted to watch and come out feeling oh so good about it. Lola Rennt is a gem. Only 80min long, but filled with suspense, almost like a thrill ride, and lots of very modern funky editing. I've always preferred the long films (like over 130min long kinds) but Lola Rennt proved me totally wrong, short can be good, very good.
From the official website, the story goes like this.
"When we meet Manni (Moritz Bleibtreu), a small time courier for big time gangster, he is working a standard pick-up/drop-off, and everything is going just fine. When the job is done, all he has to do is wait for his girlfriend, the orange-haired punk girl Lola (Franka Potente), to pick him up. But today is unlike any other day. Due to an incident while she was buying a pack of cigarettes, Lola is late, and Lola is never late. One stroke of bad luck leads to another, and by the time Manni calls Lola, he is at a pay phone with a big, big, big problem. His unforgiving boss will meet him in twenty minutes to pick up 100,000 marks; money that Manni, suddenly, does not have.
Lola rushes out of her apartment and down the street, attempting to get to Manni and, somehow, pick up 100,000 marks on the way. She tears through the city, in a whirl of bums, nuns, babies and guns. Down sidewalks, into offices, through traffic and back again. As her feet slap the pavement and the seconds tick down, the tiniest choices become life altering (or ending) decisions, and the fine line between fate and fortune begins to blur."
Lola and Manni
The film is very fast paced, we follow Lola as she runs hence we can also feel the time running out, yet along with the fast paced feel, we also feel a certain groove, due to the soundtrack. This film has been touted as an MTV style of film, hence the techno soundtrack adds on to that new kind of funkiness. I browsed through the IMDb message boards and it seemed like this film has a rather mixed set of reviews. I'd compare this to possible V for Vendetta. I remember 8days gave it only two and a half stars, but (when I checked before I watched the movie) I knew from IMDb it was the 7.6, now the ratings has further increased to 8.2, higher than Lola Rennt's 8.1. I think Lola Rennt is the kind of film either you like it or you don't. Either you see the meaning behind it, or you don't. A lot depends on what you expect and what you conceive of a movie.
hmm... The screen shots look pretty nice huh? Think maybe I shall do one for myself~
Click here to see
I don't know why but flickr doesn't allow me to have that gif in small, and the big is too large to put it up, so if you want to see my (not so) brillant photoshopping skills, yea... You can click that~
I know I look a bit ugly, but well, who looks good in these kind of criminal photographs? lol~
Okay, enough of my camwhoring, back to the main topic on hand, Lola. Lola Rennt is a film filled with innuendos, and because everything is so fast, before we can even spot something, it's gone. What's left is what's left in our subconsciousness. The first run, okay, we see it. The second run, eh, there's something that the film's trying to tell me. The third run, is it that? Or is it not? That's the question dangling.
Lola Rennt also supercedes stereotyping. I think this is like the only time I've got so gripped over a film. There I was sitting in the multimedia cluster with Cindy and the both of us were almost shouting "Oh no!s" and "wah..." and when there were accidents, we both covered our ears and eyes and faces with our hands in shock. I don't know if it's an effect of the film, but I just felt so agitated that I became physical. Of course, the ending is also another superceding of stereotyping.
*spoilers ahead*
After watching Lola running three times and the first two time either killing herself or Manni, the third time we see more accidents involving her papa and Mr Meyer, we sort of expect that something was going to happen right at the very end. Especially after Manni gave his gun away, we know the ambulance was coming, we know that the mafia boss was coming, we were expecting either Lola or Manni was going to die, but that scene never materialised. I really thought that was cool. Giving away the gun seemed to be leading onto something, creating an air of anticipation, and we all anticipated to the very end to something that never came. Interesting play of human emotions and feelings.
On IMDb I gave it a perfect 10, but maybe the more accurate score should be in the 9.5 range for me. The only lackings was that that film was a 1998 film. Throughout the whole film I was greatly disturbed by this one thing. Lola's pants. It was high rised. I think maybe under the hindsight of today's fashion and my own personal preference, I don't really like pants that are too high cut. It makes the butt look big and I don't know I just find it quite offensive and not that pleasant to the eye. But that's only under hindsight. If I were watching it ago, I wouldn't have thought this way ba...
Next up on my DVD watching list in der Bibliothek, Das Wunder von Bern (Miracle of Bern).
Saturday, April 01, 2006
Stalingrad
Remember I said in some previous entry thst I'd be watching Stalingrad this weekend? Well, I decided to watch it last night after suffering a serious case of insomnia. And I forgot that well, it's April's Fool, and I was readlly done it. Damn! Can't I choose a better time to get lucky?
Okay, the story goes that I was suffering from a really unbearable case of insomnia that even hanging out online was boring me, so I walked to the living room, then into my sister's room, coming back into my room, then went to the kitchen to see if there's anything I can use to cook with, but no, so I went back to my room then decided that hey, I can just watch Stalingrad since I really have nothing better to do.
Only after popping the disc into the DVD player that I realised the reason my Stalingrad DVD cost so little. It was a fake one.
!@#$%^&*()HMV! Cheat my money!
It's not fake as in a pirated copy but it was not an original copy, it was dubbed. One thing I'm damn anal about when watching films is the dubbing. I absolutely cannot tolerate dubbing. Because of this, when I buy Hong Kong films, I'd always get them in Cantonese if not I won't buy it. Similarly, I hate going to the cinema to watch Hong Kong films. Stupid Stalingrad play such a mean April's Fool's joke on me.
I don't know if I'd ever try and watch that film again, I'll see how in the future. I'm like so disappointed now.
Anyway, that I was so absolutely disgusted with Stalingrad, I stopped watching it and went back into my boring state. I wandered about my small house for a long time whiling my time away as my insomnia slowly wore off, but it didn't. In the end I did another pretty dumb thing.
I watched Der Untergang instead. I've watched it twice before, in the cinema and in der bibliothek, so watching it a third time could effectively bore me into sleeping. But after opening the case I found that was a special DVD includes the making of, interviews and trailers. Finding that interesting, I watched that instead. I watched finished the making of just about the same time as I dozed off.
Good. I managed to get some sleep, at the wee hours of 7am.
Okay, the story goes that I was suffering from a really unbearable case of insomnia that even hanging out online was boring me, so I walked to the living room, then into my sister's room, coming back into my room, then went to the kitchen to see if there's anything I can use to cook with, but no, so I went back to my room then decided that hey, I can just watch Stalingrad since I really have nothing better to do.
Only after popping the disc into the DVD player that I realised the reason my Stalingrad DVD cost so little. It was a fake one.
!@#$%^&*()HMV! Cheat my money!
It's not fake as in a pirated copy but it was not an original copy, it was dubbed. One thing I'm damn anal about when watching films is the dubbing. I absolutely cannot tolerate dubbing. Because of this, when I buy Hong Kong films, I'd always get them in Cantonese if not I won't buy it. Similarly, I hate going to the cinema to watch Hong Kong films. Stupid Stalingrad play such a mean April's Fool's joke on me.
I don't know if I'd ever try and watch that film again, I'll see how in the future. I'm like so disappointed now.
Anyway, that I was so absolutely disgusted with Stalingrad, I stopped watching it and went back into my boring state. I wandered about my small house for a long time whiling my time away as my insomnia slowly wore off, but it didn't. In the end I did another pretty dumb thing.
I watched Der Untergang instead. I've watched it twice before, in the cinema and in der bibliothek, so watching it a third time could effectively bore me into sleeping. But after opening the case I found that was a special DVD includes the making of, interviews and trailers. Finding that interesting, I watched that instead. I watched finished the making of just about the same time as I dozed off.
Good. I managed to get some sleep, at the wee hours of 7am.
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