David Tao rocks!!!

I just came home from David Tao's mini concert at the Expo and he rocks! His singing is good as usual and he's such a great live performer. I can't say that I'm a true blue fan but I have a lot of respect for him...especially since he writes all his music and he is passionate about it. The only sad part about the whole thing was that the sound system sucked. Yes...the bass was too loud and it sounded as if there wasn't any equaliser. Other than that....the concert was quite good...although I prefer his live band. His live band is FANTASTIC! He revealed that he'll be having a concert at the end of the year! YAY....ok...must start saving up for that concert. Confirm bringing Sing along with me...I messaged Yeelin about it...but she's probably somewhere in Tianjin now...hahaha. Ah well...DAVID TAO ROCKS! Ok...now I'm very tempted to buy his album. Perhaps I'll go and buy it from China...it should be cheaper there. Yes, I'm NOT going to buy the pirated version.

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Blogs

Yo...my cousin has just started a blog and that's the 'Qing' that's stated in my friends list. No...it's not Sing's fren Yuqing....this is my cousin. Anyway, if there are any other friends of mine (yes, I'm talking to you readers) whom I have not added to my friends' list....please let me know.

New toy new toy!!

Yay! I've got a new phone! It's the Sony Ericsson k700i. Now, sing, Gor and I have the same phone!!! Yay...okies...now for accessories...hahahahaha =P

Ups and downs

I forgot that my paper today was an open book exam...hence, I didn't bring any notes. Grrreat. After that, during the paper, she was so cruel...and I didn't read one of the essential texts -_- and therefore one question can be flushed down the loo. Ah well..the only comfort that I have is that this paper is only worth 30% and my friends made boo-boos all over the place as well!

Ok, now for the UPS! =) I got an A- for one project and I got an A for my SN1101E essay! Banzai!!! I'm so happy. Hopefully I'll do just as well for the exam...A's...please come my way thank you! ;)

boring...

I have no words of wisdom, no funny anecdotes to tell people today. Today has been a relatively boring day. The main world event is the new pope. Pope Benedict XVI. That's Benedict the 16th for you guys who don't read roman numerals. Anyway, he's so old...78 years old to be exact. I wonder how long more before he dies. He looks ugly. My bro's reaction was "OH NO" when he got the news of Ratzinger's appointment as pope. My bro doesn't think that it's the Holy Spirit that moved the cardinals to elect Ratzinger as the pope. Haha...well, in some ways, a lot of people aren't happy because Ratzinger's very conservative. Ah well...only time will tell what sort of pope he'll be. I wonder whether I would live to see the day when there's an Asian/Hispanic/African pope. That would be cool...and something that the world kinda needs... =)

'Tis the season for overeating

Falalala..lalalala....tonight, we overate...we had a buffet dinner at Swissotel. Sing asked why we had another big dinner to celebrate...well, this time, it's to celebrate my DAD's birthday and the dinner was on my bro and myself. Yesterday's meal was on dad. So there...simple explanation. No brainer. 'Tis the season for overeating...falalalalalalalalala....
P.S. There are a couple of very *ahem* noisy cats downstairs.
P.P.S There has been a change in security guards management in my condo. The uniform's now blue and they don't look particularly friendly.

What a delightful day

Today is my mum's birthday...HAPPY BIRTHDAY MUMMY!!! Anyway, my bro and I went to watch the Singapore Rugby Sevens today and we had coporate tickets (thanks to my bro's boss). It was fantastic! We had shelter, free flow of drinks and beer AND there was FOOD! We also had a goody bag that contained a polo tee, a fan, mini rugby ball, temporary tattoos, whistle, party popper and 2 clappers. I'll never want to watch the Sevens with the 'normal' folks again. I'm spoilt. Hahaa...it was a nice day followed by a VERY VERY VERY expensive dinner at Morton's. I don't think we'll ever step foot in there again unless one of us struck the lottery. However, dinner was very satistfying (if you close both eyes and ignore the bill). After dinner, we walked over to the Esplanade and to our delight, there was a live performance at the open stage. The band was 'Flamenco Fusion' and they were playing a series of well...flamenco fusion songs. Haha...well, there was a salsa piece and mum was talking about dancing her salsa to that. No...I don't wanna watch that. As the band took a break from their second set, we went to Harry's to listen to more live music. I ordered a moontini...it was bombay sapphire with blue-something. I don't think it should be called moontini...it should be renamed: Liver-killer. It smelt and tasted like something the nurse puts on your arm before an injection. And I was drinking THAT. Imagine. My liver's crying. My eyes are currently bloodshot...from wearing contacts the whole day and drinking the moontini..and I helped my mum finish her glass of white wine. My mum's an alcholic wimp. Haha. Ah well....today sure flew by but it has been an eventful day... =) sleep....

yippee!!!

Good news! I've gotten into Kyushu university's summer programme and I have Toshiba's scholarship too!! Woot woot! =) And Dr Thang (Head of Japanese Studies) has nominated me to enter a university focus group session. Hmm....I'm halfway to the moon...hahaha...so high....

Btw, Sing...Kyushu University's in Kyushu?? Ok...if you want to be more exact, it's in Fukoka city..

How now brown cow?

I got accepted into Kyushu university's summer programme. However, I didn't get their scholarship. I'm not sure whether NUS has gotten hold of the Toshiba scholarships or not. So...now I'm faced with a dilemma...do I say yes to them and ask my parents for $? But it's a lot of $...and another thing. I'm quite scared about the Homestay. I'm so afraid of making boo-boos and screwing up the whole thing. =( But the most important issue would be $.

Hmmmm

Whats does your personality rate from 1-10? by morning_prayer
Your first full name
Your personality rates a	7
your best quality is	you can make anyone smile
your worst quality is	aww, nothing =)
this is because	Its who you are
Quiz created with MemeGen!

Stupid irritating prog

I'm very irritated at my NJ star programme. It's supposed to allow me to input chinese and japanese characters onto any of my documents. But you know what? It totally screws up my word document whenever I insert Japanese or Chinese characters! All my punctuation goes haywire and there's no way to rectify the bloody problem...except to uninstall the stupid prog. Anyway...does anyone have any recommendation for a gd prog that allows me to insert chinese and japanese characters?

A political entry

The title is a warning..so if you do not like to read about political stuff, DO NOT READ! Those who know me know that I often don't meddle in political stuff...but I couldn't take it this time. What is the issue in question? It's the recent Sino-Japanese 'conflict' induced by the Japanese government's approval of a junior high school history textbook. The Chinese claimed that the history textbook whitewashed Japan's involvement in WW2. Ok..now that we've got some background knowledge...let's see what the consequences were. The Chinese students started protesting outside the Japanese Embassy as well as other Japanese establishments like Yoshinoya, resulting in the destroying of property.

Now, why do I think this whole situation irritating? Because I think that mainly, the Chinese government is not very forgiving. True, it is wrong for the Japanese to whitewash their involvement in the WW2 and this is mainly due to pride. What I think the Japanese should do is to just forget about putting the WW2 in any of their textbooks. Hahaha...even then I think they'll be criticised. Anyway, the Chinese have to realise that out of all the junior high schools in Japan, only a very small number teach about WW2. Last year, when I had Japanese classmates, out of the 10 present, only 1 was taught about WW2 in school.

Secondly, protesting about this issue and smashing Yoshinoya's property is rather silly cause if Yoshinoya decides to pull out of China, about 200 people will lose their jobs. This is not only Beijing's branch but also Shanghai and wherever else that Yoshinoya has set up stores. Furthermore, China wants Japanese investment...but such acts will prevent Japanese businesses from setting up factories or stores there.

There isn't any criticism against the Chinese history textbooks where the Japanese are seen in a very bad light. As such, the history texts in China are used in some ways to socialise the Chinese youths to dislike the Japanese as a whole. I've spoken to a Chinese classmate once and I could tell the contempt he had for the Japanese, but the Japanese now are different from those who decided to invade China!!

I remember that there was a Chinese president (was it Jiang Zemin???) who went to China and scolded the Japanese Prime Minister with regards to the history textbooks as well as for visiting the Yasukuni Shrine. After that, he promptly asked for more money (ODA). The Japanese government has been giving billions of yen to China in the form of ODA (official developmental aid...if I remember correctly) for China to develop their infrastructure. China has used this money to build bridges, hospitals and roads. However, we don't read about this in the media...especially in the Chinese media.

Some say that the Japanese government has not apologised to China. This is not very true. The Japanese emperor (who shouldn't be involved in any political stance) said something to the effect of an apology. Recently, the South Koreans and Japan signed an agreement that the South Koreans will not pursue the apology issue once Japan has a written apology and an FTA with South Korea. China refused to have a similar agreement. So...you go figure...

I wouldn't be surprised if those who protested were the older generation. However, those who protested are mostly students....people who have never gone through the war and they're around my age! Why is it that they have got such strong anti-japanese sentiment? Sometimes I wonder whether the government paid them to protest...hmm..

The war was over 50 over years ago...stop punishing the later generations who were not involved and do not necessarily approve of Japan's involvement in the war. It is my personal opinion that China wants to feel superior to Japan. This is especially so since Japan is the world's 2nd largest economy and is the most advanced Asian country, while China is still undeveloped in most areas. China used to be the cradle of civilisation...where Japan looked towards it as the model of culture. Since China is having a booming economy, out of pride, it wants to show that it surpasses Japan. But this is just my psycho-analysis. The Chinese would probably deny everything that I've written. However, if China and Japan can't reach a friendly agreement, East Asia would be greatly affected. Instead of banging heads...both countries should work together and stop provoking each other.

Pukey

I woke up yesterday morning feeling like shit. My stomach was churning and I didn't know whether I was hungry or what. Then my stomach felt bloated...I still feel bloated actually. My whole body was aching as well. I felt listless and lack of energy. An hour later, I felt like puking. Add another hour, I felt giddy/dizzy. And I had no appettite...didn't eat lunch. All I had was a glass of chrysanthemum tea. When I reached the doc's, I had a fever of 38.2 degrees c. And when my bro came home, he didn't believe that I had a fever. -_- Diagnosis? Flu.....

Bored...

I'm bored...in some ways I'm very bored but I'm happily bored. Besides, the exams are coming!!! YAY! Ok, there are some people who think that I'm weird..happy that the exams are coming. But I want to get the exams over asap. When the exams are over, it means hols and searching for internship and part time job...which equals MONEY!!! Ok...hurry...exams...be over...oh and of course I wanna do well. DUH....A's please come my way... =)

Sinuses

This is the first time that my sinuses are acting up. I thought that I have been having migraines for the past few days but I now realise that my headaches are more related to my sinuses. Whenever I feel this shooting headache, I notice that my nose feels rather blocked too. I'm not talking about your usual stuffy nose though. It's blocked like WAYYYY up there. *sigh* I think the haze brought up this problem. Thank goodness it's nothing very serious and it seems to go down when I use my nasal spray. =P

Yet another day of thoughts...

The pope died yesterday...although a lot of people were moping and crying, I feel that it's his time. He himself had said that if it's his time, he'll go to the Lord. I always find it odd to see people crying over someone who is not your relative or close friend. Sympathy and empathy or respect, that I can understand. But sorrow over someone whom you barely know? Hmm...I'm still puzzled by that. I have respect for the pope and for what he has done. Now, let us all pray that the next pope will not be a conservative. It is about time that the old fogies in the Vatican take a step into bringing the church into the 21st century. This goes beyond having a radio station and a website. It's also about the practices and the clothing!! Do you know that there are a lot of priests and nuns who are dressed like they belonged in the 15th century? Ok...now I'm beginning to sound like my bro...who obviously is NOT a conservative.

The pope is the same age as my grandma. When we received news of the pope's death, my bro was so tempted to tell my grandma that the pope had more reasons to complain about his health than she did. The pope had arthritis, Parkinson's disease and kidney failure. My Grandma? A compressed fracture and an aneurism (pardon my spelling). But ah well, my granny can literally turn a deaf ear to us.

I met Dr Graham for consultation today and she told me that I made too many strong statements in my essay. She said that this is a trait that she finds in all Singaporean students. She suggested that perhaps our strong science background has made us see things as either right or wrong. Hmm...quite an interesting point of view.

The deadlines for all the essays and presentations are slowly coming. C'mon exams! Come at me like the shinkansen! Haiyaku! (Translation: Come at me like the bullettrain! Quick!) I've got my ISM and JS2216 presentation due on Wed, JS2216 final report on Thurs, SN1101E presentation on Fri and then it's another week of deadlines to meet. Thank goodness this week is gonna be the last week of tutorials and most lectures! Reading week's coming too! WOOT!! And then it'll be the exams...followed by darling hols! Now, I need work...part time work...I need moolah...unless one of you are generous enough to donate $ to me!

hmmmmm

My harddisk came back today! Yay! Cos now I can have my comp all to myself...and it's faster than my bro's dinosaur. Anyway, I have no idea why I was so tired today...I fell asleep in church. *sheepish grin* hee...yes...I actually fell asleep while the priest went on during his homily. So bad...but today seemed to pass in a blur. My mum's not in Singapore...she went to a kelong with her catholic neighbourhood group. Hope she brings back some fish. I bet you she'll be covering her face/arms/legs with an umbrella or something..she doesn't want to get any more tanned than she already is. Hahahaha...

I also realised that my mum's fussiness about food came about from my granny. If something doesn't taste good, they won't eat it. *sigh* My grandma has no concept of healthy diet. She needs to cut out salt in her diet but she doesn't realise that preserved foods and soya sauce has lots of it. Furthermore, a lack of salt MAY sometimes mean less taste. *shakes head* she would rather eat preserved veggies over eggs and fish. Ok...I shall not complain anymore.

I feel like letting out a stream of vulgarities...

My comp crashed again. More specifically, my harddisk crashed again. The prob? The same bloody thing...bad sectors and 3rd master disk BAD. I'm anti-Western Digital right now. They don't even have a proper customer service outlet and to make things worse...their company is under another name...which makes things confusing. I'm utterly appalled. Western Digi is under some other company here...but they don't give a list of brands of computer-related stuff that they're working on. Furthermore, there are NO signs at the warehouse as to WHERE to go to pass your faulty item to. Such irritating thing. Made me waste my time AND money. Pissed off. And my HD had to crash now. When I've got all my deadlines and stuff. Thank goodness I've got a habit of sending friends my soft copy of my stuff. Luckily, I sent my CV to my bro. *sigh* I'm completely defeated by technology sometimes. It can be your greatest friend or your worst foe.