went to borders today! and got The Talking Horse and The Sad Girl and The Village Under the Sea by mark haddon, which cost $17.80. which unfortunately left me broke. But i though it would be good for anthology and then i could share it with people! Mark Haddon is the author of The Curious Incident of The Dog In The Night-Time and this is a book of poems. crystal and geeru were enchanted by the selection on display despite their low budgets and we browsed through something by sophie dahl (I thought she was a model :/) and she tried to keep up with her grandfather by publishing a book. and it had quirky humor- i think like the type in terry prachett and it also had whimsical illustrations! but it was a little chick lit, and some good writing, but none of roald dahl. but i shouldn't be expecting that anyway, since sophie should be original and try to set herself apart from her grandfather. I find it very coincidental nowadays because remember last year i wrote on my deleted blog that i wanted to read and write more? and now im surrounded by people who do just that.

being surrounded by people like crystal, geeru, michele and charisse make me feel like we are socially inept. as in we are isolating ourselves from the rest of the class (i think) and this is not helpful with class bonding!- which is what our class comm is trying to accomplish. but the problem is, i've got to know geeru, crystal and michele better by sitting next to crystal and working with michele and geeru in my geog pt group, and have come to realise that they were not the annoying, socially inept people who read books all day that i thought they were at the beginning of the year. (although we are still socially inept, and geeru is annoying) and i have a very stong feeling that most of the class feels that too. even though not everyone has the same voracious appetite we have for books, we still talk about normal school stuff like everyone else does, (though with a warped sense of humor) and have the same homework problems that everyone else has and therefore are perfectly ok to talk to. but sometimes it might be our fault that we dont talk to people. and i come back to the point that we are socially inept! but really i think i should talk to the class more and attempt to make conversation with people who start ones! and maybe start a few of my own. and I shall try to convince crystal too.

pleasepleaseplease sign cherie's petition! she petitions to have 'so you think you can dance' in singapore and i think so too because we do not have an active professional dance scene here except for sdt, which does mainly modern. but we could have one of the choreographers from sdt be a judge on the show! woot. but there are so far onlyy 4 measly signatures- how can that make a proper petition?! YOU can add your name to the list.

came back from aids candlelight memorial-- my lightstick is still glowing! went to the website and it said that it is being observed simultaneously in 300 cities all over the world. Not many people turned up though- lots were from rcy. me and sihui sat right in front- and we both fell asleep ><" i am now more aware of aids and the social/political stigma attached, through the political stigma might have existed more in the 1980s, when aids first began and people didn't know how it was transmitted. though i think more publicity is needed for the memorial and for people to come out of their own enthusiam! but now i think too much publicity would result in a high budget, something which they cannot afford.

siling: you were a very nice evac partner too!
nicoleL: whahaha yes i am!

speaking of accred (which i know was a long time ago) i thought i would get armpit abrasions from being carried so much by hweefang, ruoxi and yunhan>,< only very hardworking footdrill people get armpit abrasions lol. anyway i had more body aches from 2.4 --i got 16.08! which is ok. you think of funny things when you run.
getting along with hbp- wonwon has been snogging lavender and harry's 'insides are like a raging beast' when seeing ginny snog dean. i wouldnt want harry as a boyfriend becasue he thinks of ginny very posessively! 'she is mine' yadayada. and voldemort is posessive too- with his hocruxes and all. i mean i wouldnt want to feel like im being, well owned by someone. harry learns more about voldemort and there is much more characterisation in this book than in other book- jkr 'showing' how voldemort is and his weaknesses and strengths. and showing is always better than telling, but then jkr has to make comprimises in plot, which make it a less engaging read. im reading it slowly and limiting myself to 2 chapters a day so i have time to think over and analyse things.

watched mirrormask- something my dad borrowed. Its a relatively dark fantasy that came out in september of last year. Well ochre, more like. The most part of this film is set in a brownish fantasy world with Helena, a 15 year old girl who works in a circus. This is a British film with american producers (Jim Henson- they did the muppets) which gives a fairy-tale, traditional feel. Helena is tired of working in the circus and wants to have a real life instead. I relate to her very much because although she fights with her mother, she still loves her a lot. One night, she dreams of a fantasy world where the Black and White queens reside. she has to save the white queen by finding the charm that will set her free. It is a dark fantasy with a jazzy soundtrack that is unique to the movie- i want the soundtrack!- as compared to the epic symphonies of more popular fantasies like harry potter or the lord of the rings. It is, quite surprisingly, a low-budget movie with many special effects. I am not used to movies of this scale but the small group of cast and crew gives it a sense of closeness and intimacy. I expected a lot more on the dvd- more cast interviews and the like, but due to the lack of budget and publicity, I dont think there were enough stuff to put in. Stephanie Leonidas plays Helena, and i must say she did a fairly good job of portraying Helena's emotions and i can relate to her on a very grand scale. See the website at http://www.sonypictures.com/homevideo/mirrormask/title-navigation-3.html

off i go to mug german): I have a very high chance of failing.

haha my posts are irregular and long like a piece of toilet paper and also like.! charisse is lucky. not that i um.[/random]

finished ootp! and now i have a better understanding of what actually happened in the hall of mysteries. (correct me if the name's wrong) and before that, i could not empathise with harry's feeling of isolation at the end of it all- as in i understand his sense of loss for sirius, but not of the great burden because of the prophecy- his knowledge of having to defeat voldemort. and yes i know the prophecy does not have to be fufilled, but voldemort thinks that it does have to be fufilled, and has already fought harry so many times so harry doesnt exactly have a choice. and when having such a large task of killing the being that is responsible for all the terrorism the wizarding world has suffered, there is great personal stress and responsibility. and the parallels jkr has made are quite obvious, as well as her political stand- fudge in ootp?

Began hbp and understood importance of the unbreakable vow between narcissa and snape- laura of mugglecast thinks that snape is working more for himself to survive in the war- haha like mr mizar's reference to LKY during the war when he worked for the japanese. maybe snape does not want to commit himself to either side- i forgot when snape did the unbreakable vow-
pg 41 of the bloomsbury edition states: "'will you carry out the deed that the dark lord has ordered Draco to perform?' There was a moment's silence. Bellatrix watched, her wand upon their clasped hands, her eyes wide. 'I will,' said Snape."
the 'deed' is the killing of dumbledore but we dont know at this point. Bellatrix is still astonished that snape has done this to protect draco as she is suspicious of his involvement with the order and she is 'wide-eyed'. Snape is comtemplating in the 'moment's silence' and continues, afraid to blow his cover in front of narcissa and bellatrix. but isnt it a large promise to make since dumbledore has said that snape has pledged alliegence to him? i read an editorial and the writer thinks that the series is a large red herring and snape, instead of voldemort, is the antagonist. which is weird because since harry is the protagonist, he has to go fight voldemort, who will be the antagonist. and at the end of hbp, we know that harry is going to find the horcruxes (not horcri) which contain bits of voldemort's soul, not snape's.

ah well. will continue reading with my piece-of-ootp bookmark from bookday(: though i didnt manage to find which page it was cut out from. and i got it from BooksActually! which had all kinds of neat stuff on display (poetry grids!) which i didnt have money to buy): and if anyone wants to know, BooksActually is at 125A Telok Ayer Street Singapore 068594

took some tests on tickle and re-activated my account. andand hoongyan is a level12! but hasnt got an ascension. I am a mere level 7 on kol and trying to do the goblin and crypt quests :(



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its been a long time, and it was a relatively small margin! (of defeat) yay!

song review! Red Dress by Sugababes I like the fact that the song is catchy and upbeat- like their other stuff like push the button! and although it was a earworm for sometime and i was annoyed because I couldn't get the lyrics, I appreciate that they actually took time to write their lyrics- symbolic reference of 'red dress' and it's a lot less literal than other stuff. plus the fact that they can actually sing properly, unlike other girl groups. And someone called amelle replaced mutya but i personally think mutya is better. and i got caught on sugababes since 'too lost in you'!

About my progress in Ootp, I think Harry has a lot of angst and takes it out on Hermione and ron. and sometimes I think his temper tanturms are justified because he was under a lot of stress compared to the last 4 books and a lot more is at stake. but i think he should get an anger management book (like I should) because he is, to some extent, like James in the Pensieve- he believes that it is ok to take his anger out on anyone just because feels that he is the only one who can do better at defence against the dark arts- james thinks its ok to tease snape because snape is, well, being oppressed, and he is popular but snape is not. But i agree with hermione that harry is insensitive when dealing with cho and does not understand her feelings, but to be honest, ron does have the emotional capacity of a teaspoon.

I flunked physics. i know the maximum im going to get is 5 anyway. and no its not because the paper was too hard or i didnt study enough, it was that i didnt have time. and i owe crystal a great many things for attempting to wake me up. and the thing is, I slept at 10.30 last night, of all nights, and i slept. that is how stupid i am. and the most annoying thing is that physics was something that i had been spending time on all weekend, and which i finally understood, and it was the only paper i took since p4 that i was sure that i would have a good chance at. pfft. mum is going to be mad at me again, and my gpa is probably going to be a maximum of 2.0, what with german and all. maybe i was overconfident. but its nobody's fault but mine anyway, and i shouldnt get too worked up and should focus on studying for math and chinese. and crystal said yeah right im going to study all weekend with the alluring computer with its kol, fanfiction and everything else. self-discipline is something that I seriously not have, along with a proper sense of hardworking-ness. i can almost picture mrs quah's evil smirk when she sees my paper. I am officially miffed.

on top of everything, i lost something. my freaking carelessness. and i have been looking all over for one whole week and i still cant find it. grr >< I must be the whole person in the entire__ to have lost it. this paragraph is a waste of space since you dont know what i lost. but some people do! ok right rants can go crazy sometimes. and although it might help in finding the lost object if i publicised it here, but i dont want some people to know i have lost it. unless of course, you have guessed already.

raah mum wants me to take three sciences, and two humanities. thats english+ chinese+ amath+ emath+ chem+ physics+ bio+ history or lit+ geog+ german(if i dont quit that is) = 10 subjects. and i was thinking that chem and bio + lit and geog would be a good choice since it says on the paper that only one humanities subject is allowed for people who are taking 3 science subjects. according to my abilities (if i have any) i dont think i can do physics. honestly. and since i havent decided my career choice as of yet, i think i would take lit and geog. grr i am uninitiated in this subject- does everyone take triple science? am i setting my sights too low? because crystal is taking all the science subjects, and all three seems like a very popular choice. speaking of subjects, i have looked at this college handbook that prepares you from the ninth grade (now) and you have to take the sats, and advanced placement courses if you want to get anywhere decent. maybe im thinking waay too far ahead. but college sounds fun doing the classes you like and the things you are good at, living away on your own and meeting all kinds of people.

tatah. and maybe my views on politics later.

amber spyglass review! (and possibly his dark materials)

After reading the entire book, I think you need to be of an appropiate age/maturity to handle the complex issues of human nature that phillip pullman wanted to bring out. The first two books are ok for younger readers aged 7-10[?] when it first started, lyra seemed a lot like a young harry battling oldyfart, and there isn't much depth, and not many complex issues, which kids can handle. but the second book brings in stuff like the relationship between will and his parents and how he grapples with being a parent for his mum. and of course the book needs someone old enough to handle the world of the dead, and um serious themes like sacrifice(the angel at the end). I didnt quite get some of the things that happened in the last book though, mainly because it starts right where the second book ends, and i forgot about what happened in the second book. >< and it had lovely closure and does not make me feel like another book to top it all off. sorry i know im doing this wrong- will go buy the first two books with my christmas present book vouchers so i can read and reread!

about acquiring books, i feel the need to actually own a book and be able to fold and crumple its pages or crease its spine and whatnot. when I wanted to read eldest, elissa told me to go borrow it since i was broke. but you never ever borrow a book like eldest. or harry potter for that matter- i cant go back whenever i want to and analyse it! or go back the second time because you read too fast the first, or reading it again a couple years later to see how your opinions change as you have well. grown up over the years. is that the right phrase to use? whaha or going back to catch all the foreshadowing (jkr does this very well) which im doing with Ootp currently. sometimes you think you will never get tired of a book- sorcerer's stone, for example. i dont like reading it again because im spoiled by the miles of depth the current books provide.

oh and i found this neat vegan mom's blog with a very lucky(or unlucky) kid. She packs vegan lunches for him every day and that means no dairy or egg or meat. I amazed at the stuff she can come up with given her limitations. and the kid likes it! (whos referred to as smoo, by the way o.0) the lunches look verrry yummy and full of veggies, which i like ((: this mom is very strictly vegan, and as i cannot live without ben and jerrys or poached eggs or general singaporean food (charsiew rice etcetc), this diet can only sustain me on weekdays. plus she uses food substitutes- like for tuna and chicken nuggets- and the scary thing, for me, is that i have no idea what they are made of! but her stuff is generally great so her blog is worth a visit! go to http://veganlunchbox.blogspot.com/ to take a look.