:: Tossed Salad and Scramble Eggs ::

:: Thursday, September 30, 2004 ::

On Birthdays

Sometimes I can never fathom what I've done to deserve such a blessing of close company this once every year. I woke up this morning worrying about two things - the fastest way to get to the lecture hall (because I was late), and handing in my emergency form to the accomodation office (because I was late for that as well). So the birthday dinner by the 'Singapore and Thai Federation' nicely coined by Rachael was a nice surprise and a good break from the terrible mess of sorting out my timetable. It was terribly sweet of them to have cooked dinner. And the Thai bunch were even sweeter, they baked my 19th cake.

I think I mentioned somewhere in my last post about the Thai bunch that I met while on orientation. The last time I had a midnight conversation with them, I discovered that in the whole of Warwick, there are only four of them in the Thai society (thats not very many Thais), so for the time being, they've 'mergered' with the Singapore Federation. I quite enjoy their company because they are a quirky lot, afterall, they have one thing in common with the Singys - They enjoy going to the supermarket (TESCO), so much so there came a point in time when I was actually started to question whether I was under-buying my groceries.

On Zhong Qiu Jie

Go on my 'I-think-stephanie-cannot-speak-chinese' friends, laugh with eyes which speak of bewilderment. I spent the past week with some PRCs and actually conversed in Chinese for 3/4 of our conversation. I had a very good conversation with them on Asian politics and their views on 'Lee Hsien Loong in Taiwan' incident. You'll be quite surprise to hear what they have to say for their homeland. They are a nice bunch and very different from the scholarly batch we see around during our junior college days. They are sincere, insightful and above all, the kind you would like to spend a quiet evening just talking about perspectives. I've been spending quite alot of time with them this week, that I was invited to their 'Qing Ming Jie' festival. I brought the Singys and the Italian mob (who brought their other friends along), there were also some Malaysians too. It was a beautiful. We lighted the paper lanterns despite the freezing cold temperature and just stood there. My Italian mob was fascinated with the lanterns and the mooncake and it made me happy that they were. I suppose I took a liking to them for their appreciation for culture. Unlike the Chinese PRCs, they are full of passion for what they speak and feel and when I'm in one of my energized moods and feeling that zestful need to feel loud and merry, I would spent it with them. They quite like singing and blurting out songs every now and then.

I have more to say, but I shall continue another day. As of now, my lifestyle has been a concoction of lectures, playing music and admiring art with my French friend, having thoughtful conversations with the Chinese, loud merriment with the Italian mob and leisurely Singlish conversations with the Singys.

:: Stuffy 9/30/2004 04:11:00 PM [+] ::
...

Warwick

25th Sept - On Food
Spent the day in Rachel's room trying out her new cooker, then we called Hub and Germ over for lunch. Its highly ingenious, we cooked a wartime meal of sweetpotato, rice and bak qua. All in all, I spent a grand total of 10 pounds over 4 days because I've been either living off the campus free orientation food, or living off others. But its entirely not on my initiative that I've been living off others, it just so happened that the food just fell on my lap.

See, yesterday me and another Singy, Sam, broke off from the Singy clique and followed a Paki, a Sri Lakan, a Nigerian and a Somalian (whose living in Paris-Toronto) around Stratford Avon. The Pakistani had a habit of not finishing her food (not even half of it), so me and the Nigerian just finished what she didn't finish, so I didn't have to buy lunch. Talk about rich-poor divide. I didn't have to buy lunch today too because I was helping out Rachel test her new cooker with Thai basathi. I don't have to get dinner tomorrow because the Singy seniors are cooking at their place. I wonder if next week will be just as good. Tsk, I'm ashame of myself for being so parasitical.

On Multiracialism and Globalisation
Its partially a blessing to have a close knitted freshie Singy clique. Everyone knows one another by previous relation somewhere in Singapore, so everyone moves together. On the first day, we acquired a few other non-Singies. which then mutated into an Asian delegate (one Korean, one Thai, two PRCs). The problem with having ten-man Singy clique is intimidation or cohersion of non-Singies since half the time the conversation reverts back to Singy stuff.

Two nights ago, Sam, Hub and I hung out with a bunch of Thais, but our conversation was fairly Asean-centric. It was a comfortable conversation, but not a very exciting one. I learnt that there will only be two Thai scholars in the whole of Thailand, that they must get a PhD and go back to where they came from to be university professors who get paid 200 pounds at most (forgot the Thai Baht conversion, but its 1 pound to 75 Thai baht). They'll be my badminton kah-kees for the weeks ahead.

Perhaps the most exciting conversation I held with was with the Italian mob. I have no idea how I gotten myself associated with them, but they are the most interesting bunch of conversationalist. We talked about philosophy, music, the importance of history and culture (they were quite shock to hear that musicians in Singapore don't get paid much or aren't given much recognition) and how bad British food is. I told them that I did abit of Italian Unification, and I found out that Piedmont was actually pronounced as Pi-die-mon-te. They taught me that in Italy alone, there were various dialects, so 'yes' when said in Rome as si is known as aya in Sardinia (where most of them came from). I learnt a few Italian phrases and they agreed to teach me more Italian in trade for basic Chinese (because you know how basic my Chinese is). We talked about literature because most of them were doing foreign linguistics in English literature. They read John Donne and Shakespeare too, and commented that Donne was such a bore - I agreed. And then they told me about Dante's Divine Comedy, which I must find the time to read about. I suppose it took effort to understand each other, since English wasn't their first language, but it was most interesting how our humour was on the same wavelength. The most important element in any conversation was the ability to laugh and be laughed at. I feel happy with them - maybe I could get free pasta soon. * snicker

On Dorms
Aside from getting my last choice, and having to share the toilet with 17 people, my flat mates have been the warmest. We have a Bulgarian, a Thai, a Honkie British, a Nigerian, bunch of PRCs, a Maurisian, and 3 Singys. We'll probably be expecting alot more over the next few days. But the first night was spent bitching about not getting our first choices, so commonality creates bonding. In due fact, we just celebrated birthdays for both the Honkie British and me (will post up pic soon when I find the fleeting time).

On Web Cams
Joined Addie and Hub in Ad's room and played around with her web cam with Rachel. I shan't say more about our fascination with webcams when abroad because it'll probably be highly irrelevant.


PS: Thank you very much for all the farewell gifts, I sure had fun fiddling with them on the plane. And really felt bad about missing Jon, Xinyi and Kaiping at the airport! Didn't know you guys were coming. Greatest apologies.




And this is funny:-
Excerp from the diary given to me from the gang, i think it was Ruhan's writing

4 pointers for the UK-bound
1. Remember what happen to the guy in 'Super Size me'
2.With great powers come great responsibility - The debit card is to be used with discretion
3.Its good to be proud of your heritage, but thats no excuse for running around Warwick campus in a sarong (don't worry, I've acquired a French bar. , so that'll do)
4. No matter where ou are in the universe, no matter who/what goes where, the handphone does not mix with the toilet bowl

:: Stuffy 9/24/2004 08:07:00 AM [+] ::
...

The seasons are changing
Monologue

"Never will I subject myself to the hours; the hours are made for man and not man for the hours. I treat mine like stirrups, which I shorten or lengthen as I please." - Rabelais


I've never had the luxury of so much time on my hands and when I did, my fear was not making the most of it. I did not take the time to smell the roses; I took the time to appreciate the sights, sounds, taste, touch and smell of a thousand flowers (or at least as many as I could find). And yet how little I understood because there is just so much more to discover.

And therefore, I allowed myself to lose track of time, to be committed to nothing as I allowed nothing to be commited to me. I laughed much, learned much, observed much, explored. I travelled. I rekindled old friendships and made new ones. I put aside my misanthrope perceptions and became much more a philanthropist. I spent generously on myself and on others (and amazingly never went financially and socially dry). I took the time to swing as high as I could in the playground, run through fountains, dance in the rain. I carried on appreciating good food and good company.

Most importantly, I spent time with my imaginary friend Stephanie, whose nature lived not out of routine or responsibility.

On my eighteeth year, I found the time to do these things.

Today, I spent my afternoon staring at central Singapore from 70 stories high. I saw tiny junk boats cruising slowly through the Singapore River, I saw tiny cars moving along the Benjamin Shears, I saw tiny people playing rugby at the Padang. Its the kind of view you would want to see when you take off, airbourne. And when I do, all I want to see from above are the pretty night lights.

*Takes a bow
Exits left

"Theres A Time for Everthing
and a season for every activity under heaven:
A time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and time to uproot,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to regrain,
a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace." - Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

:: Stuffy 9/11/2004 04:03:00 AM [+] ::
...

And this is what they call Avant Garde...

"Hey Steph! your feet has been viewed over 400 times in 2 days on the Singapore forums.. they like your feet!" - excerpt from Jon's blog.

Of all the spasticity in this life, there are certain things that never fail to amuse me. *laughs


PS: Vai, as promised, got last weekend's photos out on another album, couldn't put it together with the class pics cause of the limited space (30 day account thing). If you do see Sat and Sarah in school let them know and tell them this - As for the pink 'bunny land' tanktop, I'm half assuming it is to be worn with a leather jacket, mini skirt, knee high boots. If ever I do get to that, I'll galavant down Soho, take a picture and send it to you girls with lots of love. Till then, you girls be good.

:: Stuffy 9/09/2004 08:57:00 AM [+] ::
...

Wit Appreciation

I was saucering around Esprit today when I saw a nice blouse with my favourite Frank Sinatra lyrics:

"Fly me to the moon

Let me sing among those stars

Let me see what spring is like

On Jupiter and Mars..."

And then I was wondering why on earth would someone imprint a whole chunk of words until I ran through the song in my head. It takes a Sinatra enthusiast to know another. Well dear reader, complete the last two lines of the chunk above and you'll get that tongue-in-cheek smug on that face of yours.

Well? Did you?

Inherently witty isn't it?

:: Stuffy 9/08/2004 09:47:00 AM [+] ::
...

Listening to Why Can't I - Liz Phair

3402 (Lei's party ppl),

Photo trading via MSN is terribly time consuming, so I resurrected an album for trading purposes.

Drowsy with vodka vanilla
Steph

:: Stuffy 9/04/2004 11:11:00 AM [+] ::
...

On noble causes
Listening to Walking in Memphis - Mark Cohn

"When a man takes an oath, Meg, he's holding his own self in his own hands. Like water. And if he opens his fingers then - he needn't hope to find himself again." - A Man for all Seasons, Robert Bolt

Principles are a delicate thing and just how many are capable of such strong convictions? Sometimes I wonder if I were capable of it and when I ask myself such a question, it hits me like a rhetoric. No. I won't know and I'm not sure. There is no such thing as 'there is no choice', we do have choices but reverting them for what is presently practical deceives us into thinking that there is no other recourse in avoiding the consequences. Then those who boast and fall short of it have fallen short of their being. Its ironic however that those who stand by principles are considered foolish by worldly standards because their idealism leaves no room for rationality. And only after a conclusion (or a demise) of an episode that in retrospect they are seen as people ahead of their time, commendable for their principles and efforts. (Steph’ s blog, Sunday, May 09, 2004 :: )


To pick up where I left off...

I remembered writing this entry a long while ago after reading the play ‘Man for all Seasons’ (and watching the 1960s film version of it). I always thought that such people existed only as figment of an author’s imagination, that they were very much ethereal. And even if they were real, they’ll probably end up being martyred, made popular by folk tale and then immortalized in some Hollywood movie (which again played up their image, turning them into nothing more than a legend).

When I was at one of those indoctrination sessions, I met such people who held strongly to such ideals. It amazed me because I’ve never seen such idealism, such faith (their goals, their love of the game and what they set for themselves), and such courage in its entirety. It was sincere and honest. Thing is, we are of the same age, we have lived the same number of years and yet their experiences were a world away from mine. But different is interesting. I suppose its something that you have to see to believe.

Sometimes I think Deng Xiao Ping’s ‘black cat, white cat’ philosophy applies to me more than Mel Gibson’s Braveheart syndrome. But I’ll never know until I’m put in a tight spot will I?

:: Stuffy 9/03/2004 11:43:00 AM [+] ::
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Vienna - Billy Joel

I'm not a fan of the 70s, but when was the last time you actually heard a Billy Joel song? Someone tell me, why Vienna?

Slow down, you crazy child
you're so ambitious for a juvenile
But then if you're so smart, tell me
Why are you still so afraid?

Where's the fire, what's the hurry about?
You'd better cool it off before you burn it out
You've got so much to do and
Only so many hours in a day

But you know that when the truth is told
That you can get what you want or you get old
You're gonna kick off before you even
Get halfway through
When will you realize, Vienna waits for you?

Slow down, you're doing fine
You can't be everything you want to be
Before your time
Although it's so romantic on the borderline tonight
Tonight

Too bad but it's the life you lead
you're so ahead of yourself that you forgot what you need
Though you can see when you're wrong, you know
You can't always see when you're right.
you're right

You've got your passion, you've got your pride
but don't you know that only fools are satisfied?
Dream on, but don't imagine they'll all come true
When will you realize, Vienna waits for you?

Slow down, you crazy child
and take the phone off the hook and disappear for awhile
it's all right, you can afford to lose a day or two
When will you realize,..Vienna waits for you?

And you know that when the truth is told
that you can get what you want or you can just get old
You're gonna kick off before you even get half through
Why don't you realize,. Vienna waits for you
When will you realize, Vienna waits for you?

:: Stuffy 9/03/2004 08:19:00 AM [+] ::
...