C'est cela l'amour - tout donner, tout sacrifier, sans espoir de retour. (That's what love is - giving everything, sacrificing everything, without any hope of it being returned.)
-Ivan Kaliayev

Quote taken from Les Justes (English translation: The Just Assassins) by Albert Camus. I feel like buying it to read, only I obviously cannot understand French. I unfortunately do not believe in translations (apart from manga, of course) so I might never get the chance to read it. Hmm. Its something like how Ovid's originally Latin poems don't sound as good in English; and how Pablo Neruda's Spanish poems, despite being terribly sweet in English, just sort of lack that something.

Ivan Kaliayev's got it right, I guess. Although I wonder, what happens once you've given til there's nothing left?

So today was the last day of the weekday school holidays. Monday, school begins. Unless of course, something happens which I think Paul is hoping for cuz hahah school is uber sian WE NEED MORE HOLIDAYS I especially pity the poor peeps who start out with exams man.

Finally decided to get my ass down to my H3 and spent some time hanging out at the NLB with Junyi (who was working on extended essay) - four hours there to be exact. Three hours to grab our shit and research and one hour to photocopy. It was a very leisurely pace actually haha. Then later went to Kino to have BOOK SPAMMM so we are all happy people now before rounding it off with food at Toastbox. I love my Junyi <3

Later went to hang with (half) the class at Cine [Alex Gid Paul YR Joe Bern Div Hwee Deb Airi] to watch I Love You Man which was all well and good and funny enough but not overly awesome. I love everyone in my class! (:

Okay I'm sorta trying to rush tuition hw now cuz I have tuition tmr and I happily forgot all about the hw until like, now. Bad time, I think. Plus my tutor is pretty nice so far and me being me, I like (like? more like, prefer, actually) doing work for nice teachers. INDTOSLP SOOOON though. Getting sleeeepy. Leave you all with lyrics. ITS TOTALLY RANDOM LYRICS AND DOES NOT REFLECT WHAT I FEEL. REALLY. :D Like the song, is all.

You’re so nice and you’re so smart
You’re such a good friend I have to break your heart
I’ll tell you that I love you then I’ll tear your world apart
Just pretend I didn’t tear your world apart.

I like my new bunny suit
I like my new bunny suit
I like my new bunny suit
When I wear it I feel cute.

Teehee. Evil Tiff.

From Geog population notes lecture 3 (yeah I know I'm so slowww):-
"While 15% of France's population is ages 65 years and over, only 3% ate in this population of Togo."

Without assuming the teachers meant "are", I never knew the French ate the Togolese (:

/edit: In completely separate news, I was listening to I Think God Can Explain by Splender, which I first found when I was about Sec 2. It made me think of the Golden Gate Bridge, and San Francisco, and...Charmed (:

For bg info, I first got hooked on the song when I was watching a Charmed episode and the song played during the intro. I suppose this makes me reminisce of the time before reality tv and when tv dramas were better and I had Charmed and Buffy and whatnot. Somehow that kind of made my heart hurt, its really amazing how much has changed in less than five years.

Buffy Summers versus Edward Cullen. This made me want to watch Buffy all over again (: Almost as awesome as Twilight With Cheeseburgers! Remixes rockkk. And Sarah Michelle Gellar is da bombbb.

Best quote:-
Edward: You're my own personal brand of heroin.
Buffy: What are you, twelve?

Website synopsis: In this remixed narrative, Edward Cullen from the Twilight Series meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer at Sunnydale High. It's an example of transformative storytelling serving as a visual critique of Edward's character and generally creepy behavior. Seen through Buffy's eyes some of the more patriarchal gender roles and sexist Hollywood tropes embedded in the Twilight saga are exposed in hilarious ways. --- Team Buffy, you can now download an ipod/iphone version, 3gp cell phone version and a large take home version of the Buffy vs Edward remix at rebelliouspixels.com --- This transformative work constitutes a fair-use of any copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US copyright law. The remix is licensed under a creative commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 license.

Version can be found at http://blip.tv/file/2261825/ if the damn thing isn't able to embed up there.

One of the things I love most about Paul is this idiosyncrasy we have: talking in parenthesis through an MSN conversation, juggling two topics at once. Also, our ability to talk about anything. And I do mean anything. Sometimes maybe you need people like that in your life (:

Junyi is home! Has been since Wednesday and I got the most obscenely huge sunflower at the airport shop as a welcome home present. And an awesome awesome uber thick book. Then we went out for lunch and talk time. Aunt Flow visited while I was on my way to the airport but thankfully Junyi helped with the...aftereffects. (Cryptic enough?)

Then Thursday and the two of us headed out to Escape Theme Park with Stick and Hwee and omg tons of fun please because Stick got herself a new bf (sorta) and we decided that Hwee could totally be the winner of any wet t-shirt competition after the log flume ride. Hawt. Junyi and I headed to Aston's for dinner where we waited like 50 minutes to get in but the food was, as usual, zomgz good.

Weekend brought a surprise, but I shall not elaborate. I bet the next time I read this I'll be like omgwtf am I talking about hahahaaaa.

I know its the last week of the holidays and its really sickening cuz I'm so behind on shit. Oh well. At least I managed to slack appropriately well. Cannot wait for Econs tomorrow! Because Hwee has brownies. Screw the case study when you have brownies! And then fun times out with Junyi on Friday before class movie at night, then more fun times at Culminatio with Junyi (plus I got conned into doing ushering for Chrys. The things I do for that girl) and then on Sunday even more exciting times with Junyi when we go to watch Transformers! (robots in disguise~) Honestly, does anyone here see a pattern? :D

Oh btw Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall is my new OTP. I love that couple! :D :D :D Time for dinner now, we shall abandon the SSHG fics til later. I shall leave everyone with this awesome song. Its by Gregorian and is very good for zen moments. And moments when you feel like Spanish. Its sappy too.

Giving all I've got, I'm your love-me-not,
You're my lover once in a lifetime.
Taking care of you, everytime it's new,
You know you're my once in a lifetime.

I donot think I can ever appreciate ACJC before than I do now because K.Chan smartly called for midyears to be right before the June holidays so all of us are pretty much studying for prelims during the holidays (or slacking, like me, and pretending to do work). Looking all around at the other JCs all spamming work for their exams right after the hols really makes me appreciate what we have. Teehee.

Anyway I spent my afternoon rather fruitfully (not). After being awoken by Isaac calling me at 2pm (I had slept at like 4am the night before), I got up and promptly got back to playing FF8 and decided to also vote for the Teen Choice Awards while I was at it. Suffice it to say that everytime "Australia" or "Hugh Jackman" or "Taylor Kitsch" (THAT MAN IS HOT) came up, I voted for it. Votes were also awarded to "Wolverine" but not for every category that it came up in because I really didn't think the movie was that good but well I'm terribly biased towards Hugh (:

I refused to vote for anything Twilight despite the fact that I'd turn les for Kristen Stewart. Partially because I thought the movie was not good, and partially because I knew that half the tweens and teens in America would probably vote for it blindly so I decided to award my votes to some other nominees who would probably not be as popular. I did vote for Gossip Girl though. That show is beyond brilliant, especially the first season. Though its sort of sliding now. Everyone go vote for the Teen Choice Awards 2009!

Anyway wheeee so later I went out with the Pre U Sem 08 gang (minus Resh because she was grounded which is totally sadface cuz we missed her tons) which was Isaac, Jimmy and Germaine and then we headed to Timbre @ Old School and enjoyed three pizzas, cocktails and live music. I must say my Sex on the Beach tasted damn good although Isaac claims it tastes like cough mixture but don't listen to him because its seriously damn nice. Jimmy's China Blue was also pretty good, he switched with Isaac because he liked the drink and Isaac didn't mind taking his Long Island Iced Tea so well. Germaine's Illusion was not bad, but haha mine rocks the mostest!

Good conversation, good gaming and good voting. Plus Junyi is coming home tomorrow. And we are going to Escape Theme Park on Thurs. What more can a girl want? (:

Okay so I had a perfectly lovely Friday where I went out for more than 12 hours straight haha. First to Chrys' house to play Wii and bum out with Paul/Deb/Hwee/Chrys and of course, her dog who is super cute but also super hyper and its kind of scary. Said dog also almost managed to give Hwee her first kiss, which then triggered lots of bestiality jokes and teasing for the poor girl. HAHAHA. Plus I am the bomb at playing Rayman, though it is kinda weird to shoot plungers at rabbits. Hwee suuucks at gaming though but her expressions and flailing about is oh so cute as always. Deb is officially the best at shooting games haha, I stink at FPS games.

Later Deb and Paul attacked Call of Duty which is kinda funny to watch really. Every time Hwee bugged Paul (there was a slight fiasco with regards to mobile phones), he would go like I'M IN THE MIDDLE OF A WAR HERE which is like, lol. Lunch was Chrys-made pasta.

Later left to hang with the parents for high tea and then much shopping time where we managed to pick Mom up a new phone. When we got home I then proceeded to spend my life in front of the computer researching about universities before I discovered I would need FIFTY THOUSAND DOLLARS PER YEAR (thats in US dollars, hi. but at least it includes everything from tuition to boarding to blah) for my education.

I'm kinda hoping the US exchange rate bloody depreciates or something. Not to curse the US or anything, seeing that they pretty much rule the global economy, but ugh! Thats a lot of cash. Anyway good news, Junyi is back this Wednesday so yeah pretty psyched and all (:

I don't know why I'm suddenly so into quotes, but sometimes certain things are best said in certain ways. Terribly sweet (:

"If you want to really hurt your parents, and you don't have the nerve to be gay, the least you can do is go into the arts. I'm not kidding. The arts are not a way to make a living. They are a very human way of making life more bearable. Practicing an art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow, for heaven's sake. Sing in the shower. Dance to the radio. Tell stories. Write a poem to a friend, even a lousy poem. Do it as well as you possibly can. You will get an enormous reward. You will have created something."

- Kurt Vonnegut

“Is that really what makes you happy? Because I find that quite sad, relying on the failures of other people for your sick amusement when you can just look in the mirror every day and see the biggest failure in the world.”

Burn, baby, burn.

Apart from lots of study time lined up over the hols (I hope), I have tons of fun times too! There is the as yet unplanned prawning trip, zoo trip with Chrys/Hwee/etc, Escape Theme Park with Junyi/Hwee/Stick, tentative Wild Wild Wet with Nush/Cheryl/Bee, Wii party, PUS one year anniversary dinner, Culminatio and I think a bit more. Need to take the time to just go out and spend time doing what I usually wouldn't do. I suppose this includes studying right. Hahaha (:

(Okay random rant ahead)

Quote of the week:-
"I am single and unavailable. A Levels will be my boyfriend."

When it comes down to the crunch, I guess we all need some fun and flirting, but ultimately we can afford no distractions. (yes that's my answer, sorry.)
I guess it all comes down to what motivates you.

(Random rant stops)

IN COMPLETELY SEPARATE NEWS, I AM IN LOVE WITH MY NEW FERRAGAMO WALLET. I WILL KEEP IT SAFE AND PROTECT IT WITH MY LIFE AND KNOW WHERE IT IS AT ALL TIMES. INCLUDING TIMES WHEN THERE IS PE. ESPECIALLY TIMES WHEN THERE IS PE.

Okay look, I rarely (almost never) lose things in AC, possibly due to the whole Christian school thing so we don't get many thieves. This can be shown from the fact that Hwee has misplaced her sweater/pencilcase/wallet/waterbottle/various other things/herself multiple times over these two years and she mostly gets her stuff back unscathed. (okay sort of rant lies ahead)

However, there has been ONE instance last year during PE when some asshole stole $20 straight from my wallet then when I got home I was like ??? cuz my coin section was unzipped and I didn't recall unzipping it then I checked my wallet and OMG. Gone. And its a lot of money for me okay. For the rest of the year during PE, I locked my valuables in a locker. And this year since my class is full of PE ponstars, I leave my stuff with them.

I WILL NOT LOSE ANYTHING ELSE IN THIS SCHOOL.

Wah sian its at times like this that I miss my small taitai bag which used to hold all my stuff like my phone/wallet/ipod/lipgloss but then suddenly it broke so sigh I think I need a new one but its so hard to find ): Plus my wallet/ipod have sort of grown larger since then so uhh I might need a bigger bag too which is even harder to find. Gah.

Geog lecture part 1 tomorrow. Die, I'M STILL AWAAAKE. Curse the tea I drank. I also find it rather funny how the tone and mood of my blog post went from upbeat to solemn to !!! in the space of these few minutes. Hahahahaaaaa.

SAT 2s just finished, Lit went fine (i.e. okay, according to what I expected) and Math was rather nondescript (i.e. it sucked cuz I left quite a few questions blank but well the questions I didn't leave blank I was quite confident about so hopefully... >_>) so now I am going to take a nap.

Anyway, today was life reunion to the max because I knew like twenty people (literally, I have the names somewhere) taking either SAT 1 or 2 in ACJC today (though some did take in other places, like Nush in RELC and Junyi in erm, SHANGHAI) so it was nice seeing ACJC people and NJC people and a few other people from other places.

Dammit laaa I'm quite worried about my Math results now. Just sort of hoping it doesn't turn out too bad (read: above 700 plx) because I /think/ colleges care more about SAT 1s than SAT 2s, judging from success stories of people who are currently in Ivies.

Oh well, there be NUS! And SMU! And Australia! (UK?) Back up planzxzx.
And yes hi Nam, if you're reading this: here's to the eight hours we spent on Friday spamming SATs in two different Starbucks and having pasta for lunch (which took up like almost two hours lol). Wheeee. We are nothing if not dedicated people.

SAT II prep is going horribly. Due to my overly procrastinatey nature, I left prepping for Lit and Math to a week before the actual SAT, thinking that since it worked for the SAT I, the week-before method should be fine this time.

Boy, was I wrong. Suffice it to say there is a reason why I'm up at 3am right now trying to prac Math. I flipped open the Lit book on Monday and OMG I swear I nearly died. I think I have learnt more literary terms these three days alone than I have in years and years of Lit education, since P4 to be precise. Who here knows what asyndeton, anaphora, apposition, apostrophe, metonymy, synecdoche and anastrophe mean? NOT ME BEFORE THE SAT, THATS FOR SURE. Just for your info btw, also to help me remember:-

Asyndeton: Conjunctions deliberately omitted from series of related clauses
Anaphora: Repetition of word/phrase at beginning of successive phrases
Apposition: Renaming of a noun or pronoun
Apostrophe: Speaker's direct address to non human entity/absent human
Metonymy: Larger whole represented by one of its parts
Synecdoche: A part represents a whole, rather than an abstract
Anastrophe: Inversion of sentence to suit rhyme scheme & metrical rhythm

Whats even worse is that after I spazzed out over Lit, I completely forgot about Math and wait I just got a sense of deja vu. Like seriously, as I was typing that last sentence. Gah I hate when that happens. Anyway now I'm rushing Math and cursing the fact that I have a completely un-mathematical brain that can thankfully still do questions, but do them Very Very Slowly so my one hour will probably run out before I get to the end lah.

...somehow I think Math will be harder than Lit. At least Lit sort of makes sense. >.< Math is so bad that every time I see the word 'plane', I feel like breaking out in hives. And no, I don't mean the plane that FLIES, but instead the freaking Cartesian plane. Gaaah. Everyone should know how math is like anathema to me.

I need to practice my ass/arse/rear end/derriere/hiney/tush/bum/buttocks/bottom/buns/fanny/posterior off. There cannot be any rest from now til Saturday. Two days left. I have to rush this. Oh God let this not be a mistake I will regret for life.

I love Boys Over Flowers, its the bestest show ever! There are many things I want to do now after I watch the show. (apart from marrying Yoon Ji Hoo, which I'm sure like millions of other girls will agree with me on)

I'll share one thing with you all now! I want this phone. Though I think its only sold in Korea, but everyone in the show was using this phone. Its the Samsung Anycall Haptic phone, and the touchscreen works pretty well actually. Better than my Samsung Armani phone, though I love my phone well enough haha (: Wonder if I could /somehow/ ship it over and that it /somehow/ comes in English too cuz my Korean is limited to a few honorifics, greetings, and short phrases. >_>

ISN'T THE PHONE PURRRTY.

Had a lovely time with Nush on the Singapore Flyer on Saturday,we spent the whole time talking about human geog and the CBD hahaha I swear this is good practice for the globalisation topic. Then we had ice cream at Andersen's which was awesomesauce only Nush is a terribly messy eater and spilt chocolate fondue over the table which then promptly hardened so good luck to whoever had to clean it up. Heh.

GP today was like gaaah I am going to failz my A Levels kthxbye. I want Junyi to come home soon. And I hate SAT IIs, they're so much harder and make so much less sense than SAT Is. I guess bottom line is you'll have an easier time with SAT IIs if you're a Science student. Fact of life.

Anyway, really good quote from Persuasion by Jane Austen, spoken by Anne Elliot.

"I believe you [men] capable of everything great and good in your married lives. I believe you equal to every important exertion, and to every domestic forbearance, so long as - if I may be allowed the expression, so long as you have an object. I mean, while the woman you love lives, and lives for you. All the privilege I claim for my own sex (it is not a very enviable one, you need not covet it) is that of loving longest, when existence or when hope is gone."

/edit: Today is the one year anniversary for the Pre-U Sem 2008 peeps. I love you all! Its amazing how much (and sometimes, how little) has changed in a year, especially when it comes to relationships and places that people are in now. It was an amazing experience. I can't quite say how WOW it was, but srsly haha the whole thing is a joke cuz all I did was sleep, slack and EAT DAMN A LOT like six meals a day omg so honestly all the people there made it so so so special for me so yeah here it is: one year on, thanks so much!

/more edit: Also, today Ahmad Isa bin Taha was randomly googling someone else's blog and managed to find mine so if you're reading this, my friend, you are a joke. (: But yeah you're a good friend laaaa okay :D :D