Sunday, February 7, 2010
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Comme ci
... comme ca.
Sitting for my SATs for the very first time yesterday was such an experience. It is a pretty straightforward and dare I say it, simple exam with 10 sections, all of it objective except for a 25-minute essay in the first section but it is a complicated exam nonetheless. I, for one, would not call it easy. Not at all. In fact, far from it. Some say simplicity is complexity at its highest and certainly so, in this case. I'm hoping for a score around 2000 out of a possible 2400 but I may be disappointed (as always) yet again.
The essay was the first and the worst; I forgot how time passed so fast (damn you relativity, Einstein) and barely managed to finish my conclusion when time ran out. The topic was about discovery either by familiarity or exploring into unknown territory (something to that extent anyway) and I started dishing out crap on a silver platter about Columbus and my fake non-existent experiences/life lessons (all writers do that to some degree, mind you) and about the first black President of the US of A. At the end, I felt such a sinking feeling of misery, despair and despondency that mere words cannot aptly describe. Time was the major factor that contributed to this phailure of epic proportions. That and also my lack of range of vocabulary. No need to rub it in. Oh and on a different note, their math is so different.
Needless to say, their way of thinking is so far from the norm that I am used to but am liking it very much. Very, very diversified and for math, they focus more on logic and problem-solving rather than doing unnecessary hundred page long workings to get an exact number with crazy amounts of decimal numbers at the back (which I and some similar-minded, still sane people clearly do not see the point why) like that which is taught here in the land of church firebombings and migrant pickpockets.
Anyway, like I said vocabulary is a problem here when taking this exam. You either be a walking dictionary or be prepared to get a low score because the words are those you'd never find anywhere else except in the dictionary and the odd article column and you won't ever use them in a normal conversation. For example, words like repudiate, epistle, didactic, diffedent, pervaricate, prolixity (which I am sometimes guilty of heh), and the likes. Okay, so maybe you know what some of these words mean, maybe you even know what all those words mean but that's barely a handful! The point is,"This is madness!'' ''Madness?! THIS. IS. SPARTAAAAAAA!" I mean, it's is no stroll in the park heh. Maybe I should retake it again in March, ugh. Maybe not. Most likely not. Bleh. As for now, I'm just hoping my scores are somewhere in the middle or at the very least, above average. Fingers crossed! And with any luck, I just might be able to reach my target of 2000. Just might...
I would and could bother you some more about the grammar that is sure to discombobulate you and even the best English teachers in this fraudulent, undeveloping, bribery-advocating, undemocratic, human rights oppressing, scandalous and undesirable banana republic (plant republic, if you like) but who really cares about gerunds, dangling modifiers and whatnot. Not me! Well, not anymore anyway.
My, my.
Good Lord! I started this post to talk a little bit about my SAT experience but ended up writing a mini novel lol. I should really stop being so verbose. No wonder my readership is dropping like torrential rain from the heavens above. No one likes reading anything that isn't scandalous so just wait for something of that sort in my next post or the post after that heh. Hohoho I can almost see you smacking your lips and rubbing your hands together in anticipation of what is to come. The human mind, so simple yet so complex. Sounds familiar, no?
Oh, oh and don't get me started on the passages they used! Such quality and finesse and wit and humour and depth and skill and maturity and yet naivety too with its childlikeness. So refine yet coarse, factual but emotional, honest yet deceptive, need I go on? No suprises if anyone got a language orgasm simply by reading those texts. Not sure if such a thing exists but simply put, it is quite simply that I guess. Or something like that anyway. I think. Heh. Okay, don't mind me. Just random babbling here.
So, how do I feel about this whole thing after everything I've been through?
To quote a line from a song which came from a French expression, "Comme ci, comme ca.'' Which translates into something like so-so. I sure as hell would not mind doing it again if only just for the lulz. But if I do, I'm gonna aim to be like top 99th percentile heh which is not impossible, you know! Not impossible, at all.
Well, that's all today folks. The cough and cold isn't helping my creative juices at all, and my burning throat... well, it burns... like a hot fever... on a summer's day. Not to mention it's sore as hell now. Hope it gets better in the morn but normally the soreness just flares up once I get up. Damn. Anyway, I guess it's time to get some shut-eye. So, au revoir and a bientot!
Merci for reading! :)
Sitting for my SATs for the very first time yesterday was such an experience. It is a pretty straightforward and dare I say it, simple exam with 10 sections, all of it objective except for a 25-minute essay in the first section but it is a complicated exam nonetheless. I, for one, would not call it easy. Not at all. In fact, far from it. Some say simplicity is complexity at its highest and certainly so, in this case. I'm hoping for a score around 2000 out of a possible 2400 but I may be disappointed (as always) yet again.
The essay was the first and the worst; I forgot how time passed so fast (damn you relativity, Einstein) and barely managed to finish my conclusion when time ran out. The topic was about discovery either by familiarity or exploring into unknown territory (something to that extent anyway) and I started dishing out crap on a silver platter about Columbus and my fake non-existent experiences/life lessons (all writers do that to some degree, mind you) and about the first black President of the US of A. At the end, I felt such a sinking feeling of misery, despair and despondency that mere words cannot aptly describe. Time was the major factor that contributed to this phailure of epic proportions. That and also my lack of range of vocabulary. No need to rub it in. Oh and on a different note, their math is so different.
Needless to say, their way of thinking is so far from the norm that I am used to but am liking it very much. Very, very diversified and for math, they focus more on logic and problem-solving rather than doing unnecessary hundred page long workings to get an exact number with crazy amounts of decimal numbers at the back (which I and some similar-minded, still sane people clearly do not see the point why) like that which is taught here in the land of church firebombings and migrant pickpockets.
Anyway, like I said vocabulary is a problem here when taking this exam. You either be a walking dictionary or be prepared to get a low score because the words are those you'd never find anywhere else except in the dictionary and the odd article column and you won't ever use them in a normal conversation. For example, words like repudiate, epistle, didactic, diffedent, pervaricate, prolixity (which I am sometimes guilty of heh), and the likes. Okay, so maybe you know what some of these words mean, maybe you even know what all those words mean but that's barely a handful! The point is,
I would and could bother you some more about the grammar that is sure to discombobulate you and even the best English teachers in this fraudulent, undeveloping, bribery-advocating, undemocratic, human rights oppressing, scandalous and undesirable banana republic (plant republic, if you like) but who really cares about gerunds, dangling modifiers and whatnot. Not me! Well, not anymore anyway.
My, my.
Good Lord! I started this post to talk a little bit about my SAT experience but ended up writing a mini novel lol. I should really stop being so verbose. No wonder my readership is dropping like torrential rain from the heavens above. No one likes reading anything that isn't scandalous so just wait for something of that sort in my next post or the post after that heh. Hohoho I can almost see you smacking your lips and rubbing your hands together in anticipation of what is to come. The human mind, so simple yet so complex. Sounds familiar, no?
Oh, oh and don't get me started on the passages they used! Such quality and finesse and wit and humour and depth and skill and maturity and yet naivety too with its childlikeness. So refine yet coarse, factual but emotional, honest yet deceptive, need I go on? No suprises if anyone got a language orgasm simply by reading those texts. Not sure if such a thing exists but simply put, it is quite simply that I guess. Or something like that anyway. I think. Heh. Okay, don't mind me. Just random babbling here.
So, how do I feel about this whole thing after everything I've been through?
To quote a line from a song which came from a French expression, "Comme ci, comme ca.'' Which translates into something like so-so. I sure as hell would not mind doing it again if only just for the lulz. But if I do, I'm gonna aim to be like top 99th percentile heh which is not impossible, you know! Not impossible, at all.
Well, that's all today folks. The cough and cold isn't helping my creative juices at all, and my burning throat... well, it burns... like a hot fever... on a summer's day. Not to mention it's sore as hell now. Hope it gets better in the morn but normally the soreness just flares up once I get up. Damn. Anyway, I guess it's time to get some shut-eye. So, au revoir and a bientot!
Merci for reading! :)
Thursday, January 21, 2010
No, I can't spell
... it out for you.
I woke up feeling not too well today and my exam's less than a day away. I guess that's why people always tell you not to procrastinate and stuff heeeee. But nothing I can't handle heh.
I mean...
Only a few hundred more pages to go! :D
Which determines whether I stay for another year or leave in a couple of months.
But I gotta feeling I'm not gonna do so well when the time comes :/
Hmm. Not even sure if I can last all four hours if I don't get any better any time soon.
Then why oh why am I still here blogging? >_<
Rhetorical.
Anyway, some random pictures for the lulz. First up, a few examples of bad answers in an actual test.
/facepalm
LOL
--
OMG is your name... Russell?! x)
This pic makes me hungry :9
--
Random quote of the day:
Sigmund Freud, +1 for you. Oh and Carl Jung too. What I would do to be in the company of these men. Or at least, a day inside their heads, into their minds and thoughts and... I could go on.
Okay to end this note on a high, let's have a piece of the apple pie. Heh, pun alert! x)
The place to be this 27th of January is the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theater in San Francisco, at 10AM Pacific time. Oh the suspense! What latest creation could this be?
Will there be a new tablet from Apple? Most likely, especially with all the rumour mills busy going around talking about a new tablet dubbed the iSlate/iPad/iTablet. What about an iPhone OS 4.0? Highly probable. A new iPhone? Well, lets not get carried away now.
However reports suggest that Verizon might have a deal this year as the new carrier for the new iPhone or maybe even this mythical tablet. If you've been keeping up with the news, AT&T is doing one helluva job. And I mean it in a bad way. Eitherway, things are getting pretty exciting for the current Apple community and newly converted fans like... myself. Though I must say I am looking forward more towards a new iPhone which normally comes out in summer. Although, I could get myself a tablet if it actually does come out to soften the blow and have temporary sanity and relief from losing my long lost iPhone hmmm... Ah, I'll never forget it's white pristine clear beauty. Not even the finest pearls do it justice. Damn pickpockets. God, damn pickpockets please?
Anyway, I quote TUAW: "As several folks have pointed out, there's another major public event on 1/27, in Washington. Reader Nicholas Lohr offered the bon mot that while the President will be delivering the State of the Union in the evening, Steve Jobs will be giving us the Slate of the Union in the morning. Ha!"
Word tease heh.
Stevie J or Barry O? LOL, I guess Jobs > Obama this time.
Sorry Mr President :P
I woke up feeling not too well today and my exam's less than a day away. I guess that's why people always tell you not to procrastinate and stuff heeeee. But nothing I can't handle heh.
I mean...
Only a few hundred more pages to go! :D
Which determines whether I stay for another year or leave in a couple of months.
But I gotta feeling I'm not gonna do so well when the time comes :/
Hmm. Not even sure if I can last all four hours if I don't get any better any time soon.
Then why oh why am I still here blogging? >_<
Rhetorical.
Anyway, some random pictures for the lulz. First up, a few examples of bad answers in an actual test.
/facepalm
LOL
--
OMG is your name... Russell?! x)
This pic makes me hungry :9
--
Random quote of the day:
Human beings are funny. They long to be with the person they love but refuse to admit openly. Some are afraid to show even the slightest sign of affection because of fear. Fear that their feelings may not be recognized, or even worst, returned. But one thing about human beings puzzles me the most is their conscious effort to be connected with the object of their affection even if it kills them slowly within.
Sigmund Freud, +1 for you. Oh and Carl Jung too. What I would do to be in the company of these men. Or at least, a day inside their heads, into their minds and thoughts and... I could go on.
Okay to end this note on a high, let's have a piece of the apple pie. Heh, pun alert! x)
The place to be this 27th of January is the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theater in San Francisco, at 10AM Pacific time. Oh the suspense! What latest creation could this be?
Will there be a new tablet from Apple? Most likely, especially with all the rumour mills busy going around talking about a new tablet dubbed the iSlate/iPad/iTablet. What about an iPhone OS 4.0? Highly probable. A new iPhone? Well, lets not get carried away now.
However reports suggest that Verizon might have a deal this year as the new carrier for the new iPhone or maybe even this mythical tablet. If you've been keeping up with the news, AT&T is doing one helluva job. And I mean it in a bad way. Eitherway, things are getting pretty exciting for the current Apple community and newly converted fans like... myself. Though I must say I am looking forward more towards a new iPhone which normally comes out in summer. Although, I could get myself a tablet if it actually does come out to soften the blow and have temporary sanity and relief from losing my long lost iPhone hmmm... Ah, I'll never forget it's white pristine clear beauty. Not even the finest pearls do it justice. Damn pickpockets. God, damn pickpockets please?
Anyway, I quote TUAW: "As several folks have pointed out, there's another major public event on 1/27, in Washington. Reader Nicholas Lohr offered the bon mot that while the President will be delivering the State of the Union in the evening, Steve Jobs will be giving us the Slate of the Union in the morning. Ha!"
Word tease heh.
Stevie J or Barry O? LOL, I guess Jobs > Obama this time.
Sorry Mr President :P
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Why do the hands of time
... so easily unwind?
Apologies for the unfrequent (infrequent, if you like) updates which, like my luck as of late, has been few and far between because there's been no time, no motivation, not much of a need to update really and that's about all there is to it. I could blog about my first cheque from Nuffnang or my trip to Singapore or the things I've been doing or the stuff that's been happening or an all out rant that not even the combined forces of gossiping neighbours multiplied with the number of chatty people you know (which I am sure you know and are aware of) would even dare to oppose, regarding certain issues that may or may not be sensitive or I could talk about my upcoming SATs and bore my non-existent readers to death and scared the new ones away or I could talk about the firebombings of churches in a country that is supposedly living in coexisting harmony among different ethnics with a diverse population rivalled only by the US (not necessarily true, I'm just making things up as I go which is what I do best. Not not being honest, making things up I mean. Some say I have a vivid imagination but anyway, I digress) led by democratic, liberal intelligentsia from a party that calls itself in direct translation, National Line which in truth, from my nearly 18 years of life has been anything but that of a straight line. Althought in hindsight, lines need not necessarily be straight, no? Then again, national row also makes sense because there's been more rows in the said country than there are fingers on both your hands. All open for public viewing not only locally but on an international scale and all for the wrong reasons on the wrong channels about the wrong things on a wrong agenda with the wrong motive at a wrong time and the wrong place. Every thing about this just reeks of wrongness and I'm not even trying to be funny.
Right.
I think sleep-deprived and babbling go hand in hand here. In other news, another win for Manchester United against Burnley at Old Trafford. Three nil to be precise. More random updates on the way once I awake from my slumber. Also, on a totally different note I hate pickpockets. Yes, hate. It's a pretty strong word but it is fitting.
HATE >:O
More on that next time.
Well they say don't go to bed angry, right? Heh ;)
So get ready to saw 'awwww' in 5, 4...
3...
2...
1...
:)
It's pretty adorable I thought, so why not share it? After all, sharing is... yep, caring. I hope this brought a smile to someone somewhere, I know it did to me.
Ok, bonne nuit!
Apologies for the unfrequent (infrequent, if you like) updates which, like my luck as of late, has been few and far between because there's been no time, no motivation, not much of a need to update really and that's about all there is to it. I could blog about my first cheque from Nuffnang or my trip to Singapore or the things I've been doing or the stuff that's been happening or an all out rant that not even the combined forces of gossiping neighbours multiplied with the number of chatty people you know (which I am sure you know and are aware of) would even dare to oppose, regarding certain issues that may or may not be sensitive or I could talk about my upcoming SATs and bore my non-existent readers to death and scared the new ones away or I could talk about the firebombings of churches in a country that is supposedly living in coexisting harmony among different ethnics with a diverse population rivalled only by the US (not necessarily true, I'm just making things up as I go which is what I do best. Not not being honest, making things up I mean. Some say I have a vivid imagination but anyway, I digress) led by democratic, liberal intelligentsia from a party that calls itself in direct translation, National Line which in truth, from my nearly 18 years of life has been anything but that of a straight line. Althought in hindsight, lines need not necessarily be straight, no? Then again, national row also makes sense because there's been more rows in the said country than there are fingers on both your hands. All open for public viewing not only locally but on an international scale and all for the wrong reasons on the wrong channels about the wrong things on a wrong agenda with the wrong motive at a wrong time and the wrong place. Every thing about this just reeks of wrongness and I'm not even trying to be funny.
Right.
I think sleep-deprived and babbling go hand in hand here. In other news, another win for Manchester United against Burnley at Old Trafford. Three nil to be precise. More random updates on the way once I awake from my slumber. Also, on a totally different note I hate pickpockets. Yes, hate. It's a pretty strong word but it is fitting.
HATE >:O
More on that next time.
Well they say don't go to bed angry, right? Heh ;)
So get ready to saw 'awwww' in 5, 4...
3...
2...
1...
:)
It's pretty adorable I thought, so why not share it? After all, sharing is... yep, caring. I hope this brought a smile to someone somewhere, I know it did to me.
Ok, bonne nuit!
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Do not think I can survive
...on bread and wine alone.
--
Not in the mood to put captions. Not in the mood to do anything at all. Maybe I should just stone all day all night. Or maybe...
I need to go somewhere far because I'm stuck in a rut.
Decisions, decisions.
Damn.
A glimpse into my soul?
Like the weather, most things are ever-changing.
--
What happened to our dreams?
We're losing hope, so we invest in dope...
To feel our vacant feelings.
--
Not in the mood to put captions. Not in the mood to do anything at all. Maybe I should just stone all day all night. Or maybe...
I need to go somewhere far because I'm stuck in a rut.
Decisions, decisions.
Damn.
A glimpse into my soul?
Like the weather, most things are ever-changing.
--
What happened to our dreams?
We're losing hope, so we invest in dope...
To feel our vacant feelings.
Thursday, December 24, 2009
And when those blue snowflakes start falling
... that's when those blue memories start calling.
I must learn how to play the guitar part. MUST.
RAWR.
Someone learn the piano part, please? :D
--
I first heard this song aeons ago sung by none other than the King of Rock & Roll himself. And then I heard Celine Dion's version and now this. Hohoho I can't decide which one I like best because the way the King sung it was very original (duh) and he is, after all, the King. The piano on Celine D's is beawesome and uber nice and jaaaaaazzy, and the guitar in A Fine Frenzy's cover is..... more than words. Gosh, need I say more?
Imagine if all three came in one.
Bliss, I tell you. Pure bliss.
Oh and A Fine Frenzy's Winter Wonderland too...
Aaaaah~
Later on, we'll conspire,
As we dream by the fire
To face unafraid,
The plans that we've made,
Walking in a winter wonderland.
Feeling nostalgic and sappily happy heh. Thing is, I haven't had anything to drink yet XD
Well, I'll be spending my Christmas in Singapore! It's going to be an experience because the parents aren't tagging along (lol) and I'm going there with just the siblings. Yep, just Fione, Megan and I! Spent a month there with the older sis without my parents a few years back but with the extra lil' one, it's gonna be different with a capital D! Wish me luck heh. I'm gonna need it :P
See y'all soon since I won't be gone long. Back on the 29th, just in time for the new year... ;)
I wish for many things but for now, I only wish everyone a...
Merry Christmas!
May your days be merry and bright
And may all your Christmases be white.
As white as the background of this blog :)
And oh, don't forget my Christmas gifts!!
*grins*
I must learn how to play the guitar part. MUST.
RAWR.
Someone learn the piano part, please? :D
--
I first heard this song aeons ago sung by none other than the King of Rock & Roll himself. And then I heard Celine Dion's version and now this. Hohoho I can't decide which one I like best because the way the King sung it was very original (duh) and he is, after all, the King. The piano on Celine D's is beawesome and uber nice and jaaaaaazzy, and the guitar in A Fine Frenzy's cover is..... more than words. Gosh, need I say more?
Imagine if all three came in one.
Bliss, I tell you. Pure bliss.
Oh and A Fine Frenzy's Winter Wonderland too...
Aaaaah~
Later on, we'll conspire,
As we dream by the fire
To face unafraid,
The plans that we've made,
Walking in a winter wonderland.
Feeling nostalgic and sappily happy heh. Thing is, I haven't had anything to drink yet XD
Well, I'll be spending my Christmas in Singapore! It's going to be an experience because the parents aren't tagging along (lol) and I'm going there with just the siblings. Yep, just Fione, Megan and I! Spent a month there with the older sis without my parents a few years back but with the extra lil' one, it's gonna be different with a capital D! Wish me luck heh. I'm gonna need it :P
See y'all soon since I won't be gone long. Back on the 29th, just in time for the new year... ;)
I wish for many things but for now, I only wish everyone a...
Merry Christmas!
May your days be merry and bright
And may all your Christmases be white.
As white as the background of this blog :)
And oh, don't forget my Christmas gifts!!
*grins*
I'm dreaming
... of a white christmas.
Time to get into the Christmas-sy mood! Check out Bing Crossby's White Christmas and Jason Mraz's rendition of Winter Wonderland and Mariah Carey's All I Want For Christmas is You on Youtube. Also a Fine Frenzy's EP Oh Blue Christmas!!
;)
--
Pics from the days in the middle of the week-long stay.
10 minutes of pure adrenaline and wind in your face heh.
Patong Beach pup!
Either at Patong or Kata-Karon beach.
Sunset :3
Ele!
Such a giant but gentle creature, like a whale lol.
7-11 hotdogs ftw!
Virgin hotel OHOHOHOHOHO
Supermarket! They kept playing Sorry Sorry. Or was that at Central Festival?
Candid shot of the villa!
Catamaran
Mai Khao Beach
Sun hidden behind the clouds~
More sand, same beach
Guess there'll be a part 3. Blogger isn't a very good massive pic-uploading blog site. Or maybe I'm just a noobie. But they only allow uploads of a max of 5 pics at one time, right?
More pics coming up after the 30th I guess, if you're still coming back for more heh.
Time to get into the Christmas-sy mood! Check out Bing Crossby's White Christmas and Jason Mraz's rendition of Winter Wonderland and Mariah Carey's All I Want For Christmas is You on Youtube. Also a Fine Frenzy's EP Oh Blue Christmas!!
;)
--
Pics from the days in the middle of the week-long stay.
10 minutes of pure adrenaline and wind in your face heh.
Patong Beach pup!
Either at Patong or Kata-Karon beach.
Sunset :3
Ele!
Such a giant but gentle creature, like a whale lol.
7-11 hotdogs ftw!
Virgin hotel OHOHOHOHOHO
Supermarket! They kept playing Sorry Sorry. Or was that at Central Festival?
Candid shot of the villa!
Catamaran
Mai Khao Beach
Sun hidden behind the clouds~
More sand, same beach
Guess there'll be a part 3. Blogger isn't a very good massive pic-uploading blog site. Or maybe I'm just a noobie. But they only allow uploads of a max of 5 pics at one time, right?
More pics coming up after the 30th I guess, if you're still coming back for more heh.
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