AltLife S02E02 - Bimbo

"Your 'O' Levels are in a month! I would appreciate less talking, more doing!"

It is somewhat challenging to sound menacing after a tiring day of school.

"But I'm very stressed! You know, I was at school today for the entire day! From 7:30 to 5!" declared Bobby. I possibly have less hours of lessons a week than he did in a day so I glared at him, speechless.

"So because I'm stressed, I need someone to talk to."

"I'm not here to be your 'someone to talk to'."

"You are! You're like a psychologist! But cheaper!" I glared at him, gritted my teeth and turned away, refusing to entertain any more of his nonsense. He returned to his work and I stared at my toes for two seconds before he tapped my shoulder irritatingly.

"Eh, what's wrong with this!" I took a glance and in two seconds, like a doctor who has been seeing flu patients all day, monotonously diagnosed, "You copied this part wrongly."

"Woah! So disgusting!"

"I'm glad you are disgusted with yourself. And here... where is the MINUS?!"

"Somewhere... somewhere over the rainbow... " he sang, a bit out of tune. I growled and then choked on my own laughter.

"Hahaha! You also find it funny."

"It's not funny. And what is this! Why is this all blank?"

"I dunno how to do so I must leave blank in case I know how to do."

"HAHA now that is funny. If you don't know how to do then you expect halfway through the paper some miracle will happen and you will suddenly know how to do! Okay then what about this? Which part do you need me to explain?"

"Eh I know how to do. It's all careless mistakes."

"You're doing maths... like a blonde bimbo."

For Your Entertainment

Photos by Weetz, Colin, Wallace.

Glam Nation

The weekend has come and gone. Singapore's certainly exciting this week. It taught me that the best things are the spontaneous ones. I learned to go with my instincts. I learned to be a bit more spontaneous. I also acquired a Taiwan-English accent and improved my Chinese a little! Such are the joys of going with the flow.

Mahjong on Friday was unplanned. It was one of our most exciting games to date and I had fun hanging out with them. Even got my Spreedom stuff from Louis, amongst them a pair of Wayfarers to replace the one that broke in Phuket.

Slept at 7 and woke up at 10 for tuition. Taught two lessons and then got news that another Louis managed to get tickets for F1 and so his brother queued for passes and bought one for me. Rushed down from Woodlands at 5, chomped down a Big Mac and entered Zone 3 with sauce still on the side of my mouth. The place was buzzing with excitement and the crowd was international.

Daughtry was singing the moment we got there. He wore a batman T-shirt and looked like a superhero on stage. He was passionate and bursting with energy. It was wonderful to see him perform. And so we sang along. Yeah it feels like tonight, I'm going home to a place where I belong, IT'S NOT OVER.

Then for four hours we waited. I went to the toilet. On the way to the toilet a white maxi cab drove by this road which had restricted access. Possibly because there were portable toilets. And then I saw this pale faced woman staring out, smiling. Then she did a little wave and in that moment, the light bulb came on and I went "OMYFUCKLAMBERT!?".

When he finally took the stage, a bruise had developed on my ankle from my Timberland boots. For Your Entertainment played and we screamed and as he took the stage, my mind as blown. Song after song he sang, with effortless vocal gymnastics and this mad presence. He didn't walk, he strutted. He didn't sing, he belted. Every move was so energetic, so flamboyant, so hiao! Even when I had no voice I was screaming. Even when my feet hurt I was jumping. The crowd never let up, especially during Wataya Want From Me and If I Had You.

I was thankful that nobody snapped a photo of my because I might have looked rather deranged.

He looked positively delighted to be on stage, possibly at the fact that he kissed his bassist on stage and thus turning Singapore into a glam nation.

And that, was my wonderful weekend spent making conversation that was drowned by roaring engines and rock music. I say the weekdays are meant to be spent resting so we can party during the weekends. And I'm looking forward to the next one already!

Dance

Amazing stuff... I know I get a bit insane when I'm dancing. I'm so happy when I'm dancing I don't even know what I do when I'm dancing, reacting, reflecting, mimicking, transferring, zoning in and out, bringing... a mood, an attitude.

I think to most things I do now, I ask myself, "If I were dying would I wish I hadn't done that?" I don't think I would wish that I spent less time having fun, shopping, having adventures, exploring, travelling, making out, sleeping, eating... I would probably wish I worked less, made a difference to other people more. I would probably stay at home less and go out more. You don't have to spend money going out too.

What's the point of seeing the world through a computer screen when you can see it for yourself?

Assistance

"Hey, hi, is there anyone in the cubicle beside?"

"Er yeah."

"Is there like toilet paper there?"

"Well, erm, let me check. Yeah, there's a lot of toilet paper."

"Oh, can you help me get some?"

"Yup, sure no problem."

"Pass it from above?"

"Yeah, here you go."

"Thanks... anyway are you Leonard?"

"Er nope."

"Oh who are you then?"

"I'm Jason."

"Jason? Jason Quah?"

"Nope. I'm Jason. Yr 4."

"Oh."

Excuse My French

Learning French is possibly the most exciting thing that I'm doing this semester. Language is something I take for granted. I don't struggle to express myself. Most of the time the words are out of my mouth before I think it! With learning a new language though, I feel like a baby trying to speak! The accent, the words, the construction... it's all so new, so exciting and so refreshing! It's so different from studying content-based stuff, or doing projects.

It's like my brain is being used in a different way! And language is one of the keys to culture. I was rather excited to see pictures of France and learn about the culture. Of course I could possibly it up in Wiki but it isn't the same as hearing it in French-accented English from my delightful and charming French prof, Sabine.

It is strangely romantic to learn a language. It's like getting to know yourself all over again.

Of course I hope by the end of this module I will be able to say some simple sentences that make sense instead of only, "Voulez vous coucher avec moi ce soir".

AltLife S02E01 - Good Enough

Bobby was distracted and fidgety after getting back his papers for the day. If I'm not wrong he got back E Maths Paper 2 and A Maths Paper 1. And he got 68 marks for both. I wasn't satisfied with the result but it wasn't terrible enough for me to scream till the people on the first floor could hear me.

"She got 20 marks more than me!"

My eyes widened with a look of astonishment and disgust. I got a bit more disgusted as I went through the questions with him because the paper was relatively easy and most of his mistakes were stuff like "3x - 4x = x".

"Where's the minus?" I asked accusingly, like he'd just killed a kitten. He looked away, stared at his phone and shrugged.

On a normal lesson he'd be more engaging. I could tell that he was disappointed so I was comforted by the fact that he knew he could have done better. But it didn't stop me from nagging.

"When you look at these numbers instinctively you know that the answer will be 1 or 7 right? Then you see whichever comes first then you know whether it's positive or negative. It's so easy, so basic how can you possibly get it wrong?!" I was about to launch into my standard tirade of "If you know and you make such mistakes, you might as well not know how to do." but I stopped myself.

Teaching is a tightrope. I've to be encouraging enough to spur them to do better; I've to be harsh enough to get them to work towards it.

"I think my dad will kill me lah if when I show him the paper."

"Yeah, I think so too."

There was silence as I continued flipping through his papers and he continued staring at his phone.

"There was this girl," he started, sounding a tad bitter, "she always gets lower than me in class one! Then right, now she everything also get the same marks as me. Cannot believe it right!"

"You know, I wanted to cancel next Tuesday's tuition. I thought we would possibly vomit and die if we were to see each other 3 days a week."

"Yeah but now cannot already."

"Exactly. Now cannot already! But okay, O levels are still about 5 weeks away. Just practise! Your standard is already there. You just need to stop making these funny mistakes!"

He nodded.

"You'll do well because you deserve it and you're definitely good enough."

No Mistakes

"If you're wondering which way to go, remember that your career will never wake up and tell you that it doesn't love you anymore."

Playing By Heart

Gorgeous music. Gorgeous setting. Gorgeous people.

I don't remember how I came across this movie that was released more than 10 years ago, in 1999.

It starts off with characters who are seemingly unconnected to each other and their relationships to one another are revealed at the end. The ending wasn't particularly mind-blowing but the entire film was enjoyable and heart-warming. It was about the journey of love, in a marriage, in a family, in the face of death. It successfully weaved multiple narratives and painted in broad strokes what love is.

Movies are like literature in literature. There's the grammar of film - the slow-moving pan, the delicate close-ups, the fast-forward transition of the city from day to night and night to day. And then there's the motion of the language - the witty, fast-paced repartee, bitter words spat like a bullet and softly-whispered, painfully honest confessions.

And Moby's Porcelain in the club scene. Wow.

The acting was amazing too. Sean Connery, Dennis Quaid, Ryan Philippe and Angelina Jolie were just some of the heavyweights that were roughing it out on screen.

It's worth multiple viewings. I shall watch it again, possibly this time with a pillow, no internet connection and a cup of hot chocolate.

In The Morning

It's easy to enjoy the "chase" for things. The shopping for nicer clothes. The facebook stalking for ohlala-people. The pining for greater things.

It's easier to enjoy the moment. Watching the sunrise. A wonderful breakfast. Good prose. Comfortable clothes. Familiar music.

On a side-note I think I have a strange taste in music. From relative unknowns and the unappreciated, to the top-of-the-charts and the down-right trashy, I like them all. One moment I'm listening to soothing and soaring voices and the next moment I'm tapping my feet to electro-pop and its insistent bass lines.

Every day should be made up of these early mornings and good views.

Dad's 50th

The Land Below The Wind

Okay back to the Kinabalu trip. This lack of good storytelling is blamed on school, laziness and loss of use of the English language.

The second day in Kinabalu was spent travelling to the Padas river for white water rafting. It was a crazy adventure and I hope to sit down and write about it properly soon.

We came back in the late afternoon, hungry and exhausted. We decided to try out this fantastic and famous Bak Kut Teh place that was along JalanGaya, opposite Jesselton Hotel. It wasn't easy to find, but once we got on the right street we could smell the characteristic smell of the soup. We almost ran to the place.



It was so crowded we were relegated to a table that was situated outside another shop that was selling western food and it had no customers at all. We felt a bit sad for them.



This was just the first round and we ordered another round of Bah Kut and innards. I can't remember if there were hearts but there were most certainly livers. I feel hungry and greedy just typing this! It was really worth it and it came up to less than S$10 per person.

We then dropped by a nearby shopping center and shopped till we dropped. And so it was time for Starbucks. Again.



Starbucks is reliably expensive and reliably comforting.



We went back to the lodge after this and my rashes had subsided somewhat. After coming back to Singapore and getting the dreaded rashes on a recent trip to Cafe del Mar, I have concluded that it was the fault of the fucking sunblock.

The next day we took a mini-bus.



And the mini-bus transferred us to a bigger bus.



That had somewhat dusty back windows. The bus took us to the mountainous areas and to the foot of Mount Kinabalu.



They let us get off at this "village" kind of place for a toilet break. There were a few interesting things for sale, but we didn't really buy any of them as we weren't feeling very rich. The day tour wasn't cheap at all and from what I remember, set us back by about S$60 each.



The views were fantastic though. We could see the mountain range and the temperature was significantly cooler at the higher altitude. It was the kind of place that I would like to have spent a day at.

Melvin was also rather inspired that he has vowed to go back one day to climb Kinabalu. I would also like to this and probably even stay at one of the lodges in the mountain for an extended period of time. This will really require some planning.



Us with said awesome mountain range and clouds that were wispy one moment and then threatening the next.



They were apparently gathering and the guide was slightly worried that it might rain. Thankfully it didn't but we still got wet at the end of the day!



The view from the top of the tower (from the previous picture). There was a rather idiotic female from another institution who said something like, "Why do they put maximum load of 15 people in the tower? As if I am going to count how many people are in the tower before I go up! How am I supposed to know? So silly?"

Er. Estimation duh.

We must be forgiving of people dumber than ourselves.

Anyway, we then took a bus ride to the Botanic Gardens where our guide pointed out many fantastic and interesting plants, for example:



The Naked Tree, because it has no bark.



I cannot remember what kind of orchid it's called but it is nicknamed "The Bikini Contest". HAHA.



And this is the pitcher plant. There's something so mysterious about plants that are insectivores.

After the rather educational tour we had lunch at a small chinese restaurant with a Japanese family. Funnily enough, it wasn't awkward at all and we were all inspired to have kids after that. The parents had 3 children, 2 boys and a girl. The girl looked like Pikachu. We were very tempted to kidnap them. It was horrible and we were thankful that they went to see the Rafflesia (which we had to pay to see GAH!!!) while we went to the tree-top trail.



It was a short walk up there. We were glad to be wearing track shoes.



The "hot springs" that we passed along the way and eventually tried.



A great percentage of rainforest activity happens above ground. However I have an untrained eye and I did not see that much activity.



The tree-top walk was initially used by field researchers and stuff like that before being opened to the public.



Aside from camwhoring we were amazed by how the bridge was built across trees and how the trees were amazingly tall and rather sturdy. The bridge was made of ropes and were rather shaky but it made the experience all the more memorable!

We had dinner Upperstar. The food was alright but it was slightly overpriced. It had good music though. It made me want to club!





On the whole I was really impressed by how eco-tourism was being managed in Kota Kinabalu. It had the right balance of rural, slow-paced living and decent toilets! It has managed conservation rather well from what I have seen. I'm not sure if this stemmed from the fact that the place wasn't as commercialised or popular but I think the measures that have been taken to preserve the area yet making it accessible to the public have been effective.

There is so much left to explore that I am sure that I'd go back again, even I'm not able to pretend to be a field researcher and live in the mountain for a month, then at least conquer Mt Kinabalu!