Bye!

To this short lived blog.

Blogger has reinstated my BallNBiscuit blog.

http://ballnbiscuit.blogspot.com

BYE!

The Denial Twist

If you think that a kiss is all in the lips
C'mon, you got it all wrong, man
And if you think that our dance was all in the hips
Oh well, then do the twist
If you think holding hands is all in the fingers
Grab hold of the soul where the memory lingers and
Make sure to never do it with a singer
Cause he'll tell everyone in the world

What he was thinking about the girl
Ya, What he's thinking about the girl, oh

Yes I watch Goong.

Is that a crime? Ernest stared at me when I said that. In fact, some of my platoon mates watch with me too in company mess. 7 of us.

Is that a crime? Guys are not supposed to watch Korean dramas? Because it's gay?!

It's like saying, girls shouldn't watch Lost because it is too deep for them. (This is for my sister only. No offence.)

OUCH.

There is nothing wrong with guys watching korean dramas, a la sor*? And I have decided to put Goong theme song as my MSN nick and also a picture of the the two actresses as my display pic.

Just to show how gay I am.

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*Korean for 'Get it?'

As Ugly As I Seem

I am as ugly as I seem
Worse than all your dreams
Could ever make me out to be
And it makes me want to scream
When it's halloween
And the kids are laughing

"I snort. I smoke. I killed a man, and I robbed. I am a man."

Just watched City of God (2003) on DVD rental. Must say it was a fantastic show. All spoken in Portuguese, setting in Brazil in the 60's to 80's. The above phrase is uttered by a kid who lives in the City of God, a slum where gangs are prominent. He is one of the many kids who join the gangs involved in drug dealing businesses. It tells the story from the narrative, Rocket, about the situation in the City of God, most notably the life of 'Lil Dice', a kid who grows up to be the gang leader.

It was 2 hours of great story telling. Nothing really extraordinary, but these days a good storyteller telling a normal story is hard to come by. The story unfolds in non-chronological order, and in the course of the movie you find out certain twists to the plot. The biggest twist, however, happens at the end. It is actually a real story. And it certainly was authentic and believable. The dialogue is also interesting and does not bore.

Certain scenes are very thought-provoking though, once you find out that all these really did happen. Like when Lil Dice ordered a young kid to kill 'one of the two kids' who happen to be in another "gang" called the Runts, in order for him to prove his worth in the gang. Very disturbing.

Great show. Go watch it.

Life is Pretty Good

At least these few days.

Booked in on Tuesday night. Booked out Friday night. In between, these are the things I did in camp:

Wednesday: Ate breakfast, lunch and dinner. Morning Sergeant tells us "actually we have nothing for you this week." The rest of the time is spent sleeping in bunk. No joke, but the sleep in much appreciated from Tuesday's early wake up and 5 hours of sleep. I think I more than 'slept back' what I lost. Completed Hebrews Chapter 7 Bible Study. Listened to entire album of 'Get Behind Me, Satan' (White Stripes).

Thursday: Morning completed Hebrews Chapter 8 Bible Study, and listened to entire album again. Afternoon Exercise Round Island, drove to Changi Village, had a sugarcane drink, drove back to Jurong camp. 115km total. Supposed to have nights' out, but came back late from driving. So watched 'Die Another Day' in company mess. Cool surround system, but the movie is mediocre and absolutely ridiculous and unbelievable and incredible and outrageous all at the same time.

Friday: Exercise Round Island in morning again. Another 115km. Afternoon rest. Then book out. Learnt that I need to go back on Saturday for more driving.

You know life is very good when you managed to complete 2 chapters of bible study in a week. Hahaha. And those long uninterrupted hours of afternoon nap... :)

Back to Studies

Just went to give "tuition" to Zen Xiong at Northpoint, since I had nothing to do anyway today. Today is my off day. And tomorrow is holiday. Can't remember the last time I don't have to book in on a Sunday night. You know how frustrating it is... esp on Sundays... Because sometimes got movies and I cannot watch it to completion. Probably leave halfway or something. How exciting to leave on a 2 hour bus-cum-SMRT trip when there is a movie going on.

Inverted comma "tuition", first, because I am not a teacher. Second, I don't think I taught much :X. Those things that I said, it is out of pure memory. And it is funny, because my Sec 4 work still serves me quite well. Must be because JC work is really building on O level stuff. But sad to say, my A levels work is 90% erased from my memory already. Haha.

And I lament the lack of Physics tutor-friends when I was in secondary school, and in JC. Nobody seems to know how to do Physics. But everyone is a Chemist or do something related to chemistry these days. Linda, OCH, WanJun, Minsen, Fabian... EVERYONE SINGLE ONE. In YFC. In Church. In School. EVERYONE. And when I ask physics, nobody can answer my question. And it became funny that I am teaching Zenxiong Physics now. Hahah. Let's pray that he will not fail because of my teaching :X.

I never had a flair in Physics. Never. But I had to admit it is probably the most beautiful (to me) of the 3 sciences I took. I always did badly for physics though.. until I work hard. See, Physics don't need flair one. You just need to be hardworking and be instilled with that little bit of enthusiasm. That enthusiasm happens to be, for me, appreciating the beauty of the precision of equations and laws that govern this universe. And somehow, this overrides all the boredom that Physics always seems to exude. Especially the boring Physics teachers :) Because Chemistry teachers can joke. Biology teachers can joke. English, Geography and any other subject teachers can joke. But my Physics teacher only talks about cosmology.

And Zenxiong made me laugh today. He wrote an answer as simply "Black radiates heat." And then I told him he needs to write more. I understand what he meant. I'm sure everyone does. But I would have written, 'Black surfaces are better radiators of heat."

Yes, black radiates heat. White also. In fact, anything with temperature above absolute zero radiates heat.

It's Just A Number

Or so I said.

The fruit of the first year of savings as an NSF resulted in a brand new laptop. Now I got what I need to go into university. And that leaves me, about $200 in my bank.
But I'm not sad. Because it is just a number :)

Now, I will continue to save for my second year of NS life, probably to pay for hostel fees... or maybe go on a holiday trip or something, as I had wanted even before I enlisted. I don't think I ever want to get allowance from my parents again. Let's see if I can do it...

I think it really requires a lot of discipline to save money, especially when you are an NSF and earn $450 a month, which is quite meagre (compared to what sergeants and officers earn, and even more so compared to what civilians earn). As my platoon mates always say, 'We don't earn salaries. We only have allowances.' Heh.

And there is a thin line between being thrifty and being stingy :)