Surprise

You surprise me

a little more than words can say

You listen

when I think you wouldn't

You speak

and open up to me

You kiss

when I least expect 

You stare

while I'm asleep

You care

even when you're cold

You text

just when I think of you

You turn up 

even when you're dead

And slowly walk up to me 

Hugging me so sweetly, so warmly

Without expecting anything in return

So

I will listen 

when you speak

I will speak

when I need to let you in

I will kiss 

when you need one

I will stare

as you sleep

I will care

even if I'm pissed

I will text 

when you think of me

I will turn up 

in the haze

And walk alongside you

Holding your hand in mine

Without expecting anything in return

Because I want to surprise you

just as you did when you walked into my life

A Tribute Letter to Singapore's father, Mr. Lee Kuan Yew

Lee Kuan Yew, a household name in this tiny city-state we call Singapore.

Traditionalists, Gen-Xers and Gen-Yers alike all look up to Mr Lee as the

founding father of modern Singapore.

As the first Prime Minister of Singapore, Lee has governed his beloved nation

for three decades. Even after he stepped down as Prime Minister, he

continued serving the nation from ministerial positions (Senior Minister &

Minister Mentor), which spanned over 50 years. He finally announced his

retirement on 14 May 2011 at a ripe old age of 87.

Lee was hospitalized for severe pneumonia in early February and since then

news about his health condition was the talk of the town.

Celebrate life

As news of Lee’s worsening/deteriorating condition spread nationwide, many

of us fear the worst and are faithfully keeping Lee and his family in prayer. But

let’s not get bogged down by sadness and the fear of uncertainty. Instead, we

should celebrate life and accept the realities that surround it. Lee will be

turning 92 this year and has lived an amazing life. Let’s celebrate all that he is

and be confident of the days to come. Whatever the outcome, we should not

lose sight of Lee’s vision for Singapore. We were built from the ground up,

from the slums and humble kampongs to the thriving economic superpower

we are today. Singapore was not created by the vision of a great leader alone

but also by the blood, toil, tears and sweat of our forefathers and the

generations after. Do not forget that just as how Lee and his comrades built

this country, they have also crafted a nation of hardworking and industrious

individuals. Lee’s legacy continues in each of us, in each Singaporean. To the

younger generations, let’s continue to work towards a brighter future together

whilst incorporating our strengths, ideas and youthful enthusiasm.

Yes, we are a young nation, we still have so much more to learn and

understand. But on the bright side, we have far more resources than we ever

had compared to our forefathers and most importantly, we have 50 years of

trials and errors to learn from, a solid structure where we can build and further

improve on and a whole future to make Singapore a stronger and better

nation.

Thank You

Just as with any politician or great leader, there will always be supporters and

also people who disagree. Whichever way you swing, whatever mixed

emotions you have for the PAP or Mr Lee, no one can deny that without him,

we would not be the Singapore we are now. Good or bad times, the fact that

we wake up every morning with food on the table, a shelter over our heads

and an impeccable security system, I thank you. Yes you Mr Lee, thank you.

Thank you for your grit, determination and love for this nation. I wish you well.

I wish you happiness and peace. Be rest assured that you have garnered

more respect than you may think.

Onward Singapore! The best is yet to be.

“You know the Singaporean. He is a hard-working, industrious, rugged

individual. Or we would not have made the grade.

- 1977 The Wit & Wisdom of Lee Kuan Yew

Even from my sick bed, even if you are going to lower me into the grave

and I feel something is going wrong, I will get up.

- 1988 National Day Rally

On golfing: I used to play golf, but found it did not give me vitality

because it’s a slothful game… Nine holes of golf will take you one and a

half, two hours. I run in 20 minutes, I feel better off. So the cost benefit

made me drop golf.

- Hard Truths to Keep Singapore Going

I have been accused of many things in my life, but not even my worst

enemy has ever accused me of being afraid to speak my mind.” 1955, The

Wit & Wisdom of Lee Kuan Yew

“You know the Singaporean. He is a hard-working, industrious, rugged

individual. Or we would not have made the grade.

- 1977 The Wit & Wisdom of Lee Kuan Yew

Even from my sick bed, even if you are going to lower me into the grave

and I feel something is going wrong, I will get up.

- 1988 National Day Rally

On golfing: I used to play golf, but found it did not give me vitality

because it’s a slothful game… Nine holes of golf will take you one and a

half, two hours. I run in 20 minutes, I feel better off. So the cost benefit

made me drop golf.

- Hard Truths to Keep Singapore Going

I have been accused of many things in my life, but not even my worst

enemy has ever accused me of being afraid to speak my mind.” 1955, The

Wit & Wisdom of Lee Kuan Yew

Becky Quotes

Becky comes up with quotes on anything at random times or when she feels inspired.

1. Yes, I want something great, not mediocre. Just one amazingly great thing beats everything that is mediocre, small and passionless.
(love, passion)

2. If I were to spend time, effort and feelings on you. You better be great or make my feel great. Because when I am serious about you, I mean business and I will be loyal.
(love)

3. Nothing stays the same forever or more accurately put, you can never be a 100% sure if anything would stay the same forever. The only things that last forever are hope and faith.

4. In fact, if impactful enough, a short time spent with someone special could mean a lot more than a lifetime spent with someone ordinary...someone who is not so very special.

(love, romance, sarcasm)

5. And sometimes, just sometimes, you  don't need a whole lot of time to sass a person out, to figure out whether he/she has a good heart. It's instinct.

6. That is why friendship is like wine. The longer you have kept them, the more you can trust and enjoy them. 

7. Welcome mid-20s, welcome to the recognition of the real world and its increasingly shallow and boring way of life.

(age, growing up, humour)

8. I refuse to get sucked into this vortex of adulthood that robs you of your childlike innocence and the ability to find happiness in the simple things.

9.  The best relationships are the ones where your partner is your best friend too, you can poke fun at each other and laugh, dare them to do silly stuff and basically be as blatantly honest with them as possible.

10. Once a first date goes into an interrogation of my entire life or career plan, I am going to shut down.

(dating, sarcasm)

11. And if the guy is lucky, I will be able to control my discontentment and not tell him that he is boring to his face.

(dating, sarcasm)

12. I'd rather much be watching Pulp Fiction again in my room and eating yoghurt and cereal.

13. Quality and quantity go hand in hand most of the time. One cannot really live without the other for too long. They are like a married couple. One could be stronger by itself for a while but after some time, it needs support from its other half.

14. Your family members seem more like room mates than family.

(reality)

15. Romance: it might not take very long to like someone and eventually fall in love with them. But it takes time and patience to stay in love and to really understand that someone.

(love)

16. Things never stay the same, how u feel now may not apply tomorrow. So focus on the present and tomorrow will take care of itself. But when u have done your best, then you know u just gotta enjoy the ride.

money: a crushing disappointment.

When I was a child, I grew up in a loving Christian home.
I went to Sunday school every Sunday, from kiddie church to youth service and care groups.
I was taught many things, many values, and it has shaped the way I live my life, how I view the world.

Of these things, I was taught that the love of money is the root of all evil (1 Tim 6:10).
I was taught that you couldn't serve both money and God (Matt 6:24).
At a young age, this made perfect sense.
Money makes you greedy. Greed makes it hard for you to serve God wholeheartedly, because greed makes it about personal gain, and there will be no sacrificial love.
And it seems sort of true, money corrupts, so I came to the natural conclusion that money is bad.
This has not been a bad thing for me. Until now.

So it is fast approaching the end of my undergraduate degree, and as a soon-to-be arts graduate, there is a need to further my education to be relevant in this money-hungry soul-destroying world.
However, my personal choices of career paths are not legitimate to that of my parents.
I understand that they mean only the best for me, I understand that they want me to live a comfortable life, to have a well paying job, a nice house, a car that doesn't look like it's going to fall apart, to have stable finances such that I would be self-sustainable. Comfortable. I get it.

But it crushes me that at the end of the day, the success of a career in an Asian society is dependent on how much money the job brings in. Why? Why can't people see that sometimes, it's not about the money?

What if I chose a job that gave me more personal happiness and lifetime satisfaction and less money, than a job that has huge payouts but destroys my soul?

Which do you prefer?

Maybe I'm just too painfully idealistic. ):
The discrepancy between my formed values and the way of the world confuses me so much internally.
Now I'm left with, where did it go wrong?

25 Quotes YOU should read before your next birthday

1.  “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by

     the ones you did do."

     (Mark Twain)

2.  Good things come to those who wait.

3.  Carpe Diem.

4.  Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups.
     (George Carlin)

5.  When the urge to exercise comes upon me, I lie down immediately until it has passed away.

     (Oscar Wilde)

6.  Don't assume malice for what stupidity can explain.

    (Confucious)

7.  “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.”
     (Eleanor Roosevelt) 

8.  The more you let yourself go, the less others let you go.
     (Friedrich Nietzsche)

9.  And now abides faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
     (1 Corinthians 13:13)

10.  “Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the 

       really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.”

       (Mark Twain) 

11.  “The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.”
       (Walt Disney) 

12.  “Every artist was first an amateur.” 

       (Ralph Waldo Emerson) 

13.  “The secret to staying young is to live honestly, eat slowly, and lie about your age.”
       (Lucille Ball)

14.  “Man should forget his anger before he lies down to sleep.”
       (Mohandas Gandhi)

15.  “When angry, count to four; when very angry, swear.”
       (Mark Twain)

16.  “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.”
       (Margaret Hungerford)

17.  “It is not beauty that endears; it’s love that makes us see beauty.”
       (Leo Tolstoy)

18.  “You are not special. You are not a beautiful or unique snowflake. You are the same decaying

        organic matter as everything else.”
        (Chuck Palahniuk)

19.  “You must be the change you wish to see in the world.”
       (Gandhi)

20.  “It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most
       responsive to change.”

       (Charles Darwin)

21.  “You know the only people who are always sure about the proper way to raise children? Those 

       who’ve never had any.” 

       (Bill Cosby) 

22.  “Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art… It has no survival value. Rather it is
       one of those things that give value to survival.”

       (C. S. Lewis)

23.  “Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.” 

       (Abraham Lincoln)

24.  “It is not a lack of love, but a lack of friendship that makes unhappy marriages.”
       (Friedrich Nietzsche)

25.  “Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the
       imagination and charm and gaiety to life and to everything.”

       (Plato)

Quality VS Quantity

Quality beats Quantity's ass a 1000 times over.

Hell yeah! Or maybe I am not so sure either.......?

This age old debate just like Nature VS Nurture goes on and on and on....

It seems like a simple debate. On the surface, most of us would have easily chosen a side.

But if you delve deeper, there is more than meets the eye. 

Some things just need a little more time and patience to grow, to flourish. 

Sometimes, people too just need more time and experience to understand, to learn.

This is when 'quantity' comes into play.

(Quantity = Time) -> this shall be the equation that I will use in relation to this post. Many things, even with quality, need time to show how long the quality can last. 

If something is good but it only lasts for a short while, would you still say that the quality is good then?

What if instead of something, it is someone.

If someone you knew was really nice at the start but starts to turn unpleasant after a while, would you still say that this someone is a good person? 

I vote for Quality. That is only because life is unexpected. 

Nothing stays the same forever or more accurately put, you can never be a 100% sure if anything would stay the same forever. The only things that last forever are hope and faith.

Those two things would then determine the fate of whatever we hope to last forever. I hope so....

Reasons for why I chose and still choose Quality:

Romance

I guess now I realized that a short relationship shouldn't be undermined because despite its short 'life expectancy', a short relationship could be as meaningful and genuine as a long term one.

In fact, if impactful enough, a short time spent with someone special could mean a lot more than a lifetime spent with someone ordinary...

Someone who is not so very special.

Well, to incorporate facts and personal experience into this debate......

I miss someone whom i spent a couple of months with way more than I miss someone whom I spent a whole year with.

I felt more connected, learnt and grew more in a few months than I did in 'that' particular year.

Bottom line:

you could love and care for someone you knew for a shorter time more than someone you had been with for a while.

Maybe the reason why you stayed so long in the wrong relationship was because you (it really is me I'm talking about actually :/) were afraid of change and not because the relationship was a good one.   

The quality of a relationship or the 'experience with the other half' largely depends on the quality of the other person too. The quality of his/her character and his/her attitude towards life and others.

See, there is a difference being in love with a person for who he/she really is and then being in love with the idea of a person you want your other half to be. 

And sometimes, just sometimes, you don't need a whole lot of time to sass a person out, to figure out whether he/she has a good heart. It's instinct. 

Friendship

Hey hey hey! ( I don't know why but the song 'Blurry Lines" by Robin Thicke just came to my mind HAHA :D )

Okay, to be fair.

Quantity also comes to play here when it comes to friendships.

Friendships that I have made and sustained over my young life.

Why?

Because all my best friends come from the time when I was in school, some of which are friends I made back in primary school. When it comes to friends. I like to think of them as wine. The friendship gets better with time and age. My best friends are those who have seen me through puberty and my first love.

How awesome is that?

People that I do not need to recount my adolescent stories or embarrassing histories to. 

Unlike relationships (or boyfriends), friendships are not exclusive and do not come and go (as often). Usually, 'the more the merrier' applies in friendships.

So I add on new friends as I go along in life but I always remember the old ones.

For me, the older the friendships, the more memorable and special they are because unlike relationships, I can have as many 'partners' I want.

Furthermore, friends can go for months without contact but when you hear that familiar voice again, you could yak away like it was only a minute ago when the school bell rang, indicating it was time to head home. 

However, quantity could mean another thing when it comes to friendships. 

Quantity=Number. The number of friends (or should I say Facebook friends) you have.

Now, here is when quantity takes a backseat. It doesn't matter how many friends you have, it only matters how many are there for you when you need them. How many whom you really feel at ease with and can have a good time with....if you think hard enough...there probably isn't that many friends you could really call friends now hey?

That is when Quality wins the race. Quality of your friends sure beats the quantity of them. 

That is why friendship is like wine. The longer you have kept them, the more you can trust and enjoy them. 

Family

This is pretty straight forward.

Okay imagine this scenario:

you have been living with your parents and maybe your siblings and for some, a very adorable grandmother for a long time.

For way too long.

You start to grow up.

You become your own person.

But your parents always see you as their 'child',  someone who belongs to them.

Things get a little more tensed at home, you stop communicating much with your family.

Sometimes you guys greet one another but that is it.

No more chit chats, no more movie nights.

You come home and go straight to your room.

They get on your nerves easily.

Your family members seem more like room mates than family.

Then what?

Even if you spend many hours a day in the same house, there isn't much connection or a relationship. The close proximity and quantity of time spent together is too much to bear that you start taking your family for granted.

Maybe they too are taking you for granted.

Scenario 2:

You can't take it.

You move out.

You carve your own life out of the values your parents have instilled in you and make a living out of the opportunities and resources your family has given you.

You experience the harsh reality of not having your loved ones around you.

You miss them.

You call them to say hi, to ask how they are doing (something that never happened when you were staying with them).

You stop taking your family for granted.

You make an effort to visit or check up on them.

Yeah, those times might be few what with your busy schedule and distance barrier.

But hey, at least the times you actually speak to your family feel sincere and meaningful, unlike the old routine greetings that were more of a formality than real concern. 

Haven't you heard, absence makes the heart grow fonder? 

It isn't really about the time spent with your loved ones, it is about how the time is being spent. 

But ALL in ALL: Quality and quantity go hand in hand most of the time. One cannot really live without the other for too long. They are like a married couple. One could be stronger by itself for a while but after some time, it needs support from its other half.

Just like with Romance: it might not take very long to like someone and eventually for in love with them. But it takes time and patience to stay in love and to really understand that someone.

So I guess this is a tough one. The debate goes on. Guess it takes two hands to clap.

Disclaimer: (Yeah I am very bias, so don't just accept everything I wrote. No one experiences the exact same thing anyway. Tsk Tsk.)

in which I ponder about friendships

I was recently reading an article on the very humourous and entertaining Thought Catalog about the types of female relationships and I thought most of it was very apt. I went on to reflect on the various "types" of friends I had, and pondered on the relationships with my frenemies...

and then I decided it was too tiring and too much effort. Then I went to sleep.

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

I'm so sorry for the lack of posts. I was back in Singapore for my summer holiday, and whilst doing a correspondence Ethics unit (which meant assignments and more assignments), I also took a trip with my family to Taiwan and Bangkok, which was all very awesome and I did not want to leave my family and friends, and home, after being away for a year.

Coping with homesicky feelings and some bouts of "i-wanna-go-home"s but I am a lot better now, and will soon get back into routine.. I guess. Dread the start of the formal school term, but we will get there.

Many warm wishes (albeit belated) for the new year to all of you internet-folk.. (interfolk?) Happy new year! May more random things come our way so we have more random posts to post about. 

and um, 

Here's Little Britain Live to watch, it used to be one of Becky's and my favourite shows, and it's quite slapstick sometimes...

taa!

post-doomsday confusion (perhaps?) & season greetings

It has been approximately 3 days since Doomsday, so here's a very belated Happy Doomsday Everyone to all you merry folk. To all that bought into such deceit, I think a swim would be quite apt for now as that was some major BURN!

Christmas is just around the corner! So kind folk of the internet, here's wishing you a very blessed Merry Christmas, and an exciting, fruitful, and astounding upcoming year!!
May your new year be filled with all good things like peace, happiness, joy and love, with strength, goodness and wisdom, to carry you through curveballs life hurls you. May it bring new things and blessings, with warm fuzzy feelings and the love and comfort of both friends and family, and may you cherish those whom you love and bless the ones you don't.

Love you guys!

love, becky and rach

if we were words we would rhyme

-Sophie Madeline, Jocelyn Mackenzie & Emily Hope Price; Bei Mir Bist Du Schon (Cover)

 
-Sophie Madeline; Must Be Love (Cover)

What I'm listening to on this dreadful rainy day: Check out her playlist, she's this awesome English chick that plays the ukulele! She did 30 covers in 30 days some time ago. She does pretty amazing numbers, it makes me nostalgic, and it's quite amazing rainy day music; it's so chirpy that when it's sad, it makes me quite melancholic haha. So cute!

sight. but not... foresight?

I'm back where the air is dense, the wind is warm and heavy, and the perspiration pools. I'm back in the land in which I was born, where my family and some friends reside. Strangely, what the inhabitants chase after in this land - what we call "progress", has made changes in the places I have known... changes in the familiar. I get lost in malls, subway stations... much less so on the streets, but all around me, the changes are apparent. Where the land was barren in this concrete jungle, new buildings have sprouted, weeds or crops - it is not yet clear to me. Where familiar and old buildings have been, they stand now as a heap of rubble, or behind blue nets and aluminium-sheet fences, their expiration dates drawing nearer with each passing day.

Change, well, change is good, I suppose. Standards of living improve with this "progress" you speak of, new technology, new devices, new places with fancy gadgets... But more and more, we do not realise the increasing individuation that takes place in society. Sure, we are increasingly able to keep in contact with the world, through the means of social networking platforms through our really high tech communication devices, but more and more though, is it our gadgets we interact with, instead of the world?

5 Reasons why "That 70's Show" is the most awesome sit-com of all time.

I do enjoy other sit-coms too. I like Fraiser, Everybody Loves Raymond, Dharma and Greg, Scrubs, South Park...just to name a few.

But the only sit-com that managed to grab my attention for the long run was That 70's Show. I couldn't stop watching after the first episode and before I knew it, I was at the end of the 8th Season (which was also the last season)... I was devastated. How can That 70's Show end its run without consulting me, I lived for that show (okay, alright..I am being dramatic here, but I did live for that show....for a few months), I was practically the ambassador for that show!

10 Reasons why That 70's Show kicks ass:

1. Mila Kunia, Ashton Kutcher, Laura Prepon, Topher Grace, Danny Masterson, Wilmer Valderrama, Debra Jo Rupp, Kurtwood Smith, Don Stark, Tanya Roberts and the old great Tommy Chong.

The main cast: Steven Hyde, Michael Kelso, Donna Pinciotti, Eric Forman, Jackie Burkhart, & Fez

The names above are good enough reasons for anyone to watch the show.
Yeah the teenage cast of the show were nobodies when they first starred in this show. But that's what makes That 70's Show ever more awesome, the show was the stepping stone if not the break through for many of these young actors we have come to know as super stars today.

Mila Kunis - with a list of movies such as Black Swan, Friends with Benefits and Forgetting Sarah Marshall, she is one of the biggest Hollywood stars of this generation.

Mr Kutcher - a.k.a the ex-husband of Demi Moore is not just a Hollywood hunk, but also a budding comedy veteran (in my opinion anyways, he is too young to be a 'veteran' but what can I say... He started out young. AND I also added 'budding', so he is not there yet but he will be.)  He was the other Sean Willian Scout or Neil Patrick Harris of my generation. Dude Where's My Car? wouldn't have been the same awesome without Ashton.

Topher Grace - One word: VENOM. Yeah and that is enough, he was in Spider Man. Case closed.

The other actors/actresses are amazing too and have great resumes to offer, but I shan't bore you with the details.

And BTW, I love Kurtwood Smith a.k.a Red Foreman! He is HILARIOUS.

2. The Circle

Okay for those of you who watch the show, you know what I mean. THE CIRCLE. THE DOPE CIRCLE. Dope as in cool and dope as in its literal meaning.

Well, during each episode, the guys (only referring to the teens here) would sit in a circle in Eric's (Topher Grace's character) basement and smoke some weed/ other undisclosed drug. They would then engage in random but interestingly significant conversations while being high. Yes you can imagine now, The Circle scenes are always hilarious and unexpected.

So unexpected that finally, the girls and even the parents were also introduced into The Circle. That's when the fun begins...imagine your strict dad (Red Foreman) and the wholesome, loving mom (Kitty) getting high on 'special' brownies and talking about nonsense in a circle with their equally inebriated neighbours. Yeah I know, that's a dream most of us have that'll never be fulfilled.

The Circle is the one unique feature in the show that no other sit-coms ever had.

3. The Fashion

Fez

Hello. Anyone grew up in the 70's here?
Yeah maybe the show did not showcase the most accurate or best fashion of the 70's, but the fashion was still awesome. I love the 70's fashion personally (I'm all for retro), even the weird rainbow-coloured sweaters and hideous bell-bottoms that most Singaporeans who grew up in the 90's and 2000's would associate with  as 'Ah Beng' fashion. I love them all.

I'm always torn between Donna and Jackie. I love what they both wear in the show. I think I am more of a Donna with a sprinkle of Jackie. (Well, to be more exact, I feel like a Donna during my Secondary school days and more of a Jackie now - I'm referring to the fashion here btw.) A combination of them would be the best of both worlds.
Okay this is for the retro chicks: Donna has the cool, old school thing going for her. She could wear a pair of corduroy pants and a sweater and look fabulous with her plaited red hair while Jackie looks super sweet with her little floral dresses, vintage accessories and boots! (Have you girls seen her accessories?? They are to die for. They look like stuff you could get at some boutique from Arab Street. Yeah those boutiques that over-price their goods.)

4./5. The Music and The Era

If you are a rocker like me. As in if you like rock...real rock, like rock and roll with the guitar solos and licks that you don't hear much on the 'Top 40's'  these days, then you are in for a treat.

Okay, just think of post-Motown and post-Beatles and after the Country Music wave. That's the 70's. When the poppy tunes of the 60's died down, you get the psychedelic rock genre with influences from  the blues and rhythms from country music. The music from the 70's was like a mash up of everything good from the decades before. The 70's was the decade of EXPERIMENTS, experiments in music and experiments that challenged the 'Big Brother', the system and the conventional way of thought.

Yeah, the Hippie (a.k.a freedom/counter-culture) Movement, well it started back with its roots stemming from as early as WW2(that's when the 'peace' sign we know today originated) and the Vietnam War. But the movement took on a whole new identity in the 60's when the people united and fought for freedom by creating a whole new world for themselves. A world of spirituality (so they say) and a world of love, not war. The Flower People they were called. And the movement carried on well into the 70's.

Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, The Doors, Cream, The Yardbirds, Creedence Clearwater Revival - just to name a few prominent bands/musicians of the 70's : they were the music heroes (few out of the many other bands not mentioned) of the 70's. They sure rocked it out with spectacular beats and tunes but they added something special to their music - their music echoed the voices of a generation of youngsters, the lyrics told the story of how it was like to be young in the 70's; the desires and wants of a changing generation.
Even the music alone has a bittersweet essence to it. Whenever I listen to bands like those I mentioned above, I always feel like they were going through a struggle but somehow they were enjoying it as their music reflected that, because their music was great.
I believe the people of that generation were struggling to be heard, although it was tough and many of them were ridiculed, they had fun during the process and even if they did not achieve everything they wanted, they were still happy as they were courageous enough to speak out against the masses (thus the bittersweet sounds). I know not everyone is for the Hippie agenda, I myself am on the fence on this one. I definitely do not condemn it, but I would not particularly encourage some of their ideals as well. However, the 70's was interesting because it was different. It was different and that's what makes it amazing.

I'll have to thank the hippies for opening the doors to many things and opportunities we enjoy today.
And the gays (I'm not gay, I'm just saying this as a matter of fact) have to love the 70's. The 70's was a milestone for them, the 70's saw the first ever openly-gay politician (Milk Harvey) to be elected in America. He helped paved the way for legal gay marriages.
So yes, the 70's made a huge difference in the world we live in today.

- To be continued (I'm too sleepy and I'm not going to check for errors this time round...)

waiting....

Carpe Diem. Seize the day. The early bird gets the worm. And much recently, you only live once.
Yeah yeah yeah, so we've heard it all before... But how many of us are still sitting around, waiting for some thing to happen?

Maybe it's really okay to wait, maybe we're not that ready to be go-getters yet. I think it's an intrinsic decision, or at least an arrival of some internal realisation that makes people achieve that drive to go out there and get what they want. Therefore, sometimes, if you haven't really decided that THAT'S what you want, it's okay to stick around and wait.... Right?

Well and sometimes, a situation is not in your control, and therefore you have to wait around for someone's decision, for something to happen.

I'm waiting to hear if I will get accepted into an internship program, I'm waiting to hear if my cousin will come up to study in Melbourne here with me,
and this last one will be the one to hate: I'm waiting for this guy to make his move. (I know it's the 21st century etc etc etc. It's sometimes okay to wait, okay?)

So now, what are you waiting for today

(well besides the comments section to start working... I'm on it!!!!)


-------
[edit:]
OH NO MY SEA MONKEY JUST DIED!!!
He was the only one. The Only One (that hatched)....
R.I.P. Poseidon, King of the High Seas. You were awesome to watch when procrastinating. You filled my essay writing days with mild gleefulness and amusement.
May you find the light at the end of the murky depths of the deep (Australian plumbing system), and return to the sea as a natural sea spirit. Of some sort. 

Someone yells: YOU FLUSHED IT??!!
Yes I did. Indeed. I did. 
[/edit:]

[new edit:]
I'm so dumb, so I changed everything in order to accommodate the comments section, and tried to keep it as "same" as before as possible (wow my English teacher will be furious at this statement).
It's up and running now. I'm not completely satisfied with how it looks. SIGH. I'll tweak it again soon.
[/new edit:]

Pokemon is awesome.

Sorry for the lack of new posts guys, it's been really crazy on this end with exams around the corner (tomorrow! and two papers!)... I promise a more steady stream of posts when I am done with them, and when I am procrastinating.

Two days ago, I was looking through this box I have that houses my stationary supplies, paints (yes, I paint), and electronics, when I chanced upon my old hard drive. I thought it was back at my parents' house in Singapore! (I had always thought I had asked Mom to bring it home for me or something. But pssh, what is real and what isn't, really? I live in a world of my own...) 

I plugged it in and looked through its contents, which was surprisingly empty; old scanned copies of my various education achievements (high school results and what not), an old resume, couple of movies, and a very, very. Special. Folder. (no, it's not the sexy kind of special. I do not own material such as those, thank you very much.)

I found my old games folder!!!

I found the Gameboy emulator application that allows you to play games on, and along with it, Pokemon Fire-Red, Pokemon Emerald, Super Mario World, and Plants vs. Zombies (though you don't need an emulator for this) !!!

this is like the best thing ever

I looked through it and didn't find any saved material in the games, so they were pretty much blank slates. 

HOW EXCITING IS THAT!

so unashamedly, I STARTED PLAYING.

(oh god. Just what I need before exams right?!) 

I LOVE POKEMON FIRE-RED!

Judge me. Whatever. I LOVE IT.

(My housemates are totally judging me but it's cool. I can live with it)

I think this love is largely due to Saturday morning cartoons on free-to-air television when I was growing up. My brother and I would watch Pokemon at 10:30 every Saturday without fail. First it's (I think,) Loony Tunes, Pokemon, X-men, Iron Man/ He-Man, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and then Power Rangers.

(then Mom would go: KIDS STOP WATCHING TV! YOU'VE SAT THERE ALL DAY! and be shooed from the house to play outside...)

We were so into Pokemon, we watched from the first few episodes of the original series, how Ash met Pikachu and all that, to the first Pokemon movie (which I think we own a VHS of...). As the Fire-Red version remakes the original Red version, I'm actually familiar with most or all of the pokemons in the game? As opposed to Emerald, because high school happened and I kinda just stopped watching. I'll totally go look for episodes online to watch during my upcoming summer holiday though!!!!

Because I'm quite a fan of lists (no not really, but it's fun to write about),

here's 4 reasons why you should play Pokemon Fire-Red - or Pokemon, in general.

1. It brings back childhood memories.

If you watched Pokemon cartoons as a child/ for fun, it really is very fun! It lets you reminisce about the good ol' days, in a way...

2. It gives a great sense of satisfaction.

The feeling when you level up, or beat someone... It's really satisfying.

3. It gives you the sense that you're really on the epic adventure (as with most RPGs).

So it starts with this: you're given an epic mission to catch all the pokemon there is, to fill out a small electronic encyclopaedia (i.e. the Pokedex), and to be a Master Pokemon Trainer. You have a rival slash arch-nemesis, and you would feel compelled (by the basic storyline) to beat him at all cost. You can also give him a name of your choice. You travel around the country on foot (and later by bicycle), and you fight at different leagues (Pokemon gyms) for Pokemon-qualificatons, known as badges, whereby each badge is sort of like unlocking new things you can do.

4. It has an overhead kind of view, and it's really cute.

see for yourself!

The guy in the hat; that's you (if you chose the 'Boy' option in the "are you a boy or a girl?" question at the start) [edit: and oops i mean, bicycle guy, there are two guys in hats!]

so cute right???? 

so go play it! Gameboys are hard to come by these days, and so are cartridges - but they are easily downloadable online (both gameboy emulators and games) for both Mac and PC, so that could be your new fun indoor-holiday-activity or something!

great quote I found while writing my essay

"We must do away with all explanation, and description alone must take its place.
And this description gets its power of illumination—i.e. its purpose—from the philosophical problems. 

These are, of course, not empirical problems; they are solved rather by looking into the workings of our language, and that in such a way as to make us recognize those workings: in despite of an urge to misunderstand them. The problems are solved, not by giving new information, but by arranging what we have always known. 

Philosophy is a battle against the bewitchment of our intelligence by means of language." 

-Wittgenstein, in Investigations, 1954

District 9 vs. Avatar

TWO MEGA ALIEN MOVIES, ready, go!

AVATAR 

(Summary: Humans invaded another planet, Pandora to excavate a precious material. The aliens (indigenous natives of Pandora from the Na' vi tribe) and their homes are now being threatened by the humans. Genetically engineered Na' vi bodies were made by the humans and they controlled these avatars using the minds of selected people. One of the avatars (controlled by the leading actor) falls in love with the Na vi princess. Okay, then the battles begins, Humans VS Na' vis. )

"Avatar, Avatar was awesome! It is the movie of 2010 (well it was released in Singapore in 2010 and in the USA in 2009)...blah blah blah" , I'm probably not the only person who learned about all the fuss of the James Cameron project. An epic movie in terms of CGI and cinematography, yeah.. special effects wise, it was pretty awesome. 

But I got to admit, I was bored during some of the scenes. Come on, it was almost three hours long and it was NOT Lord of the Rings (LOTR). If a movie is three hours long and it doesn't have some sort of character that resembles Gandalf, Aragorn, Bilbo Baggins or even Gollum (for that matter), I will most probably be bored. Not definitely, but most probably. 

Yeah, it surpasses the Scary Movie series and Sadako (2012) by miles. But with all that fuss of how good it was, I wanted to be amused, I was waiting for something unexpected to happen, maybe like if they found another Earth and on that new Earth, avatars and humans could coexist and spawn baby "Avatar-mans".

Take away the 3D glasses, the high expectations and suspense, Avatar is really a story about  two incompatible 'beings' making love in paradise. 

Maybe the two most interesting things to me were the: 1) dragons (how awesome is it to be able to bond with a pet dragon man! A PET DRAGON that gets you out of danger and serves as a convenient way of transportation) and 2) the intricate and complex process of enabling humans to 'live' in the body of an Avatar through the power of the mind in the name of Science.

Think of the 1995 Disney Classic: Pocahontas, that is basically what Avatar is in my opinion.

Ratings: 6.5/10
(Alright alright, for you Avatar geeks out there, I'd give it a 7/10 at the most and I am really pushing it.)

DISTRICT 9

(Summary: JUST THINK INDEPENDENCE DAY but this time the aliens did not stay on Earth voluntarily, they were stranded as their mother-ship broke down and they had no way home. So, humans being humans start segregating the aliens (a.k.a cockroaches), calling them names and degrading them to a slum area called District 9. These Aliens worked and survived on little provisions. They adapted to life on Earth after many years of staying on the planet. One day, a reporter (played by leading actor, Copley) went to investigate the slums, however there was a twist of events and something happened to him. The show ends with a cliff hanger, leaving the audience (a.k.a ME) guessing the final plight of the reporter.)

OH MAN. OH DISTRICT 9, wherefore art thou District 10 or a sequel? (There are talks of a sequel coming up!!! :D :D :D)

I didn't watch it in the theaters, no 3D glasses, no huge comfy velvet seats, no big screen and awesome sound effects. I downloaded the movie and the only things that accompanied me and District 9 were my Macbook Pro and a pair of average earphones.

No big preview for District 9, no big advertising, just a movie title amongst the many other films that were released that month. Yeah, that was District 9's resume, including the saving graces of a promising cast (promising because they were talented and not famous - especially the leading actor, Sharlto Copley) and that it was produced by well-known names such as Peter Jackson (director of Lord Of The Rings - LOTR Trilogy and the upcoming The Hobbit Trilogy) and Carolynne Cunningham (Academy-Award nominated producer and assistant director of King Kong (2005) and the LOTR Trilogy). 

In a nutshell, I downloaded District 9 out of boredom and curiosity and was more than pleasantly surprised by the experience of the movie.

Well I thought the movie poster looked like a wannabe cool-alien-action movie, something like Independence Day meets Battleship. I was curious to watch a movie that seemed trivial. A movie with a dry storyline (so I thought at first) - aliens getting stranded on Earth. Yes, that's basically the gist of the movie, ALIENS STRANDED ON EARTH...boo hoo.

But NEVER underestimate the power of Simplicity.

A simple and maybe all too familiar plot (like that of Independence Day) might actually hit the jackpot. The simple things surprise you because you do not expect much from them. Nothing works in a movie, not even a great script if the execution (eg. computer effects, make-up, wardrobe, cinematography, editing etc) of the actual production ain't great. District 9 also tugs at one's heart strings, bringing up a very controversial subject (degradation and segregation) in a subtle yet powerful manner.
Personally, the humanization of the "cockroaches" (a.k.a the aliens/intruders of Earth) is what made the movie stand out. In addition, the sympathizing character played by leading actor, Copley gave the movie a sense of hope and allowed the audience to relate to him (because we are all moral beings or we try to be at least).

In conclusion, District 9 is the Blueray DVD that I would go home with. :P

Ratings: 8.5/10
(I really want to give it a 9/10!! But I guess I still have too many movies to check out before I can be that generous.)

-Posted by Becky Brontosaurus (on Rach's account)

4 Reasons Why You Should Watch Adventure Time

Because I consider myself a very busy person (and I also live under a rock), I find myself being very far behind from being in-the-know, and I wouldn't be surprised if I fell low on the cool-spectrum in life. I don't follow the charts or billboards for recent or new hip-and-in music, I find out about movies when I watch movies (that's what previews are for right?!) – which is not very often, or I otherwise find out about stuff from the local abandoned warehouse that sits a block from my street. My friends also tell me that cool people don't say things like hip-and-in anymore. But I don't care.

The abandoned warehouse, or my notice board. photo credits to Google Maps Street View

Cool people (well, I find them cool) put up posters to school the public, and to let them know about the recent happenings in town. What makes this abandoned warehouse cooler is that spaces that are not stuck with posters are covered in cool graffiti or what they call urban art.

I also find out about things online, via social networking websites such as Facebook and stuff, and that was how Adventure Time was introduced to me. After learning of its existence, I began to notice posts about them on the interweb, and it looked cute and cool and awesome, so (being the very evil person I am,) I downloaded the first season and began to watch it. By doing so, however, I received a lot of hate by my flatmates. They have, apparently moved past the whole cartoon thing, and they don't watch "such juvenile programs" anymore. If you share a similar view and you don't watch shows like Futurama, The Simpsons, Family Guy and other such programs JUST BECAUSE they are cartoons, you are totally missing out! ):

4 Reasons Why You Should Watch Adventure Time:

1. It's so cute!

Everyone has the same (or similar looking) beady eyes, and they have the same charm as Pusheen the cat. If you love Pusheen the cat, you will love Adventure Time… and vice versa!

2. It teaches you about friendship.

The story surrounds two characters, Finn the human, and Jake the dog. Each episode runs for about twenty-odd minutes and consists of two mini episodes, which show us snippets of the adventures our two heroes take on. As the episodes go on, the story of how our heroes met and the nature of their friendship is revealed to the audience. These guys go through thick and thin together, man! They fight bad guys and have each other's back in everything. Sometimes they even disagree with each other and fight, just like real people (!!!), but they resolve issues for the sake of their friendships, and learn how to overcome them.

3. It teaches you about love.

After watching the first and maybe second episodes of the series, you'll find out that our two heroes have love interests of their own. Even the other characters in the series have relationships with one another, and you'd journey with them through various commonplace (albeit metaphorically) issues when you're in a relationship. You'd even develop a bittersweet relationship with The Ice King, where you sort of relate to his desire to find love, yet resent his princess-kidnapping and temper tantrum tendencies!

4. It has the most random humour.

The punch-lines in the series are awesome. The characters are strange; there are candy people, nut people, fluffy people, a game console... and there's even a unicorn in it! And she speaks Korean! How random yet awesome is that! There's even a snail waving in every episode, and the kind of awesome you feel when you spot it in the episode is the awesome you feel if you're a knight slaying the dragon. Or climbing Everest. Really.

I hope this has given you enough psyche to watch it, because it's really an awesome show!