i went for a walk on my own this morning. they love flowers a lot. i love flowers so it's nice to see so many of them around. i went into a bakery and bought a cup of tea. tasted salty. weird. actually i only bought that tea cos i needed the washroom, but in the end there wasn't any washroom in sight and i didn't know how to ask to use their washroom so i didn't go. so i spent 1,2 euro on a lousy cup of tea for nothing. lol. food's great. but it comes in a huge portion and most meals have a meat component.

the neighbourhood

some matchmaking agency ad

Then we went to Homburg (a nearby town) and had ice cream. wth. their "Klein" portion is 3 scoops and that's the minimum. I had chocolate, strawberry and some nut thing can't remember the name. tell me how i'm not going to gain weight.Then we went to this place called 'Outlet' in Zweibruecken, which is basically a shopping zone. haha. i bought soap and spray from Body Shop. i know i know i wasn't supposed to, but couldn't help it.. they were having sale. it's so cheap. like the soap cost 3 euros and it costs like 12.90 bucks in singapore. the spray was 3.50 vs 20 SGD. man.. fyi, 1 euro = 2.13 sgd.

anyway then we went to this Baumarkt. just to look around. it's a place that sells home equipments, where you can get like garden fork, shower cabin, tiles and countertops, and tractor.

yep so that was my day and here are some photos:

to all the choir people going for the outing, hope you guys have a great time :)

i'm in Doha International Airport. Let's just say i'm testing their free internet network. lol. but i'm subsisting on my battery (not sure how long this will last).

kind of hungry. wanted to buy some food/drink, but i have no Qatar money (dun even know what's the currency). ok lah can buy using other currencies but nvm forget it. dunno why i'm hungry either. i like had FOUR meals in the past 12 hours.

i watched 'I'm Not There' on the plane. finally. okay lah.. but like a bit confusing leh.. plus i cannot make out like 30% of the words so i just guessed. i dunno why there are so many names and people. are they the same person or what? somebody around me kept freaking FARTING throughout the flight. so annoying!

anyway yesterday jh and yj sent me to the airport. that's so nice of them. and we had macs. (which explains the four meals) i think i tired them out though. some photos from T3:

nice toilets huh..

haha. ok maybe my change in attitude wasn't drastic enough. cos i just saw the sms and i freaking smiled. wth.

btw. i can't believe it. those photos that always looked so exotic, they're real. Qatar is like a desert with buildings sticking up. i mean when we were landing i didn't see any tree clusters/forests like in indonesia or singapore. it's really amusing. okay im damned suaku lah so i get excited by these things. anyway i had some thoughts to blog but i don't think my battery permits. so bye for now :)

this is only half the journey leh.. i'm glad there's transit. my body is really not built for long flights, i guess. or maybe not used to it.

it's so weird how sometimes you try so hard to do/achieve something and it doesn't work. and then you achieve it when you least expect it.

i spent months trying (unsuccessfully) and suddenly i don't have to try anymore. freaks!!
i'm not happy. that's because i don't know WHY this happened. and because i didn't want this to happen.

i will update you through the blog and will post (hopefully) nice photos :)

okay. i'm effectively done with 'Oliver Twist'.

Quite a disappointment for someone who's read 'Great Expectations' and loved it. This one is as witty, but for some reasons, less funny. it's also less exciting/thrilling. doesn't really capture and engage the reader as well or as consistently as GE.

the difference is obvious when you compare the start of the two novels. GE grabs your interest within the first twenty pages. Oliver Twist is more descriptive and less action-packed at the start, so i got a little bored. it's probably also partially because Pip is a much more lovable character than Oliver, and GE is written in first-person narrative (as compared to the annoyingly overly-sarcastic narrator in OT) so you feel more "into" the story. I say Pip is a more interesting and lovable character, because we know what he's thinking, and because he says funny, witty things himself. he is very human and accessible to the reader. He is a nice, respectable character, but he is human. We don't know much about Oliver. Most of the time, the narrator tells us how Oliver feels/thinks, but we don't see it ourselves. Most of the time, the narrator isn't even talking about Oliver!! Half the novel is about the events concerning Oliver (in which Oliver has no active part. he's only at the receiving end) And Oliver is portrayed to be so pure, so squeaky clean and so maligned and victimised that it kind of got on my nerves at some point. he is a rather not believable character. I don't like Oliver because he freaking does NOTHING. throughout the entire novel, the only thing he did that made an impact in his life was running away from the undertaker's and going to london. ok i understand that he was held captive so he couldn't do much, but still..

you could probably tell i was pretty sore about this disappointment. LOL.

yes. i got into architecture. i'm personally pretty puzzled with the test/interview thing (because of people's contradictory opinions). but anyway. yeah at least i'm relieved now. haha. so just wait till the start of school.

haha. yeah.

have i posted this before? maybe not. this is super duper cool stuff. lol.

really hoping to get into architecture. the interview went.. i think not too bad. it was like a chit-chat session. they asked me if the slompretan area in surabaya still looks like the one in the postcard i brought. i said no. haha. actually i hardly visit that area so i'm not sure.. but i think must be very different now lah. the one in the postcard is like COLONIAL era!! still had horse-carts and chinese signboards. then when they asked what's my favourite place in singapore, i said it's TJ. haha. yeah, really like that place. and i said maybe cos you spend a lot of time in it so somehow start to grow a sense of affinity to the place. not very related to architecture but nvm.

it was raining both on the test and interview days. pathetic.

i wish you all the best, dude.

whoa. i love songs from the 90s. "cheesy but nice" as callista puts it. besides songs today are even lamer.

i like this one. so nostalgic. (okay the dance is.. interesting.. i can't do that.)



and the lyrics:

Code Red - What Good is a Heart

I told you how I felt,
I told you what it meant,
But I still haven’t changed your mind,
I know that you’re afraid,
You’re frightened of the pain,
But you can let down your guard...

Cause when we run, when we hide,
We deny what’s inside...

What good is a heart if you’re not gonna use it,
What good is a love if you’re too scared to choose it,
If you’re heart is beating, then it’s for a reason, girl,
If you’re not willing to start, what good is a heart?

Don’t make the same mistake that people often make,
And miss out on a chance for love,
You’ve got to make your move, you’ve got to make it soon,
Cause you’re dying inside...

Yes, I’m a man, but I cry,
I have fears, I won’t lie...

What good is a heart if you’re not gonna use it,
What good is a love if you’re too scared to choose it,
If you’re heart is beating, then it’s for a reason, girl,
If you’re not willing to start, what good is a heart?

Come on, baby, you know it,
Anyone who looks can see that I’m right,
There’s a chance here, we could take it,
Or regret it for the rest of our lives...

lol kenny. it wasn't supposed to be angsty. it was supposed to be thoughtful.

let me blog about the nus architecture/industrial design aptitude test so future candidates can search the net and find out the type of questions they ask (just like i did before my test). one word of caution: i am honestly not sure if doing your "homework" and finding out typical questions is a good idea. but no doubt people would want to know and be mentally prepared so here goes:

the 2008 nus arch aptitude test had 3 questions (as usual, i think)
1. make a model that explores the idea of oppositions. you are given 3 pieces of construction paper and 1 transparent sheet to work with.
2. make a drawing of your vision of the future Singapore. your scope can be the entire city, a street, a building or even an object or a piece of furniture.
3. in 50 words or less, write about no 2.

there. hope i've been helpful. from experience,, really no need to prepare. it will come naturally to you. but i haven't been accepted into the course, so don't count on my words. lol. actually wanted to wait for the results before i write about this but nvm.

this kind of tests and interviews are the place to meet really old friends you've lost contact with. lol. today had tea session with ntu hss faculty and i met joanna (from 2E) and serene (from OG7 PAE). yesterday met xiaowei and feizhen (from 4A) and thank (from PAE CG).

i hope i get in!! well at least give me a chance at the interviews!! and to everyone else who's hoping to get into the course, good luck!

i am in a dilemma.

you know what i think posting personal stuff on your blog is like. it's dangerous, to say the least. and i'm already suffering from post-stupidity syndrome (where you start tearing all your hair away because you remember something stupid you posted like a bloody year ago (or even longer)). who has experienced this? please stand up. don't tell me i'm the only one. lol. but it just goes to show the extent to which i bared my bloody SOUL on this blog. ok i'm exaggerating it. but you get the drift.

it's like why should anyone want to read about my bloody pathetic life? (i do read other people's blogs, though not all the time. kaypoh mah.. lol.) at the same time.. does anyone actually want to read about e e cummings and guan wei xing and such people? and i'm talking about you, my friends, who may be more interested in, say, religion or journalism or anime (in short, a wide variety of things i can never explore). this poses a problem because surely,, i'm writing for an audience.

i don't know. maybe i should just delete this blog. (oh but i love the picture of the dog!! huahaha)

speaking of the stupid things i wrote, well.. it's a bit too late to regret. lol.

yesterday had tjchoir performance with the rest of the alumni. so met quite a number of "old friends". then today the nus architecture aptitude test. hm.. shan't write about it until maybe much later..

wholly copied from wikipedia:
Edward Estlin Cummings (October 14, 1894 – September 3, 1962), popularly known as E. E. Cummings, was an American poet, painter, essayist, and playwright. His body of work encompasses more than 900 poems, several plays and essays, numerous drawings, sketches, and paintings, as well as two novels. He is remembered as a preeminent voice of 20th century poetry, as well as one of the most popular.

i am posting a photo because, really, look at him. i dunno. i believe people's looks reveal their selves (though i don't believe in selves. hang on there, i'm working on that idea)



trivia: he always signs his name in lowercase letters. (ie, e.e.cummings).

this is something he wrote in his work 'IS 5''s 'foreward':

If a poet is anybody, he is somebody to whom things made matter
very little--somebody who is obsessed by Making. Like all obsessions,
the Making obsession has disadvantages; for instance, my only interest
in making money would be to make it. Fortunately, however, I should
prefer to make almost anything else, including locomotives and roses.
It is with roses and locomotives (not to mention acrobats Spring
electricity Coney Island the 4th of July the eyes of mice and Niagara
Falls) that my "poems" are competing.

They are also competing with each other, with elephants, and with
El Greco.

let me just add that that is very (and i mean very) ambitious. lol.

anyway. here's an extract from his poem 'You being in Love' which i found extremely funny. lol.

what does it all come down to?     love?     Love
if you like and i like,for the reason that i
hate people and lean out of this window is love,love
and the reason that i laugh and breathe is oh love and the reason
that i do not fall into this street is love."

and here's an interesting poem:

why did you go
little fourpaws?
you forgot to shut
your big eyes.

where did you go?
like little kittens
are all the leaves
which open in the rain.

little kittens who
are called spring,
is what we stroke
maybe asleep?

do you know?or maybe did
something go away
ever so quietly
when we weren't looking.

it seems to me he doesn't give his poems titles. they are simply known and referred to by way of their first line.

okok haven't updated in ages but this is what i've been wanting to share for weeks.

Guan Weixing was born in Dunhua County, Jilin Province, China in 1940. Here are some of his works. to view more, visit http://www.guanweixing.com/