Wear Black Day for Ceni-te

t took me awhile to get to sleep last night because I was so excited. So excited because I had never "organised" something that would turn out to be so huge and to be greeted by so much enthusiasm. This is despite being social secretary for CI Club for a year and having done dress-themed days!

It is undoubtedly the power of Prof Cenite. The black colour - so signature. I suggested it on facebook and then on Twitter and it got rather hot - a facebook event was set-up and friends started spreading the word.

I appreciate every single person who turned up in black. We made something awesome happen, something I didn't think would ever happen! The enthusiasm, energy and excitement in the air today was just electrifying. Everyone felt it and I was in... awe. Prof Cenite's view must've been very awesome. He said something along the lines of, "Everyone's looking surprisingly good today!"

Thank you Year 4s. For being so supportive and having fun. I never thought the day would come when we'd look so united, so spirited, so sexy. I have no words for this day, except that I hope that it gave everyone something memorable for our last lecture together.

Something New

Learning a new language is like riding a bicycle. It's crazy at the beginning, you don't know what you're doing, whether you can do it. It feels like either you can or you can't. And after you've got it it's like the most natural thing in the world.

At least that's how I feel while learning French!

At the beginning I don't know what the hell I was up to. Now I can form sentences with various combinations of words that I have learnt. I didn't think was possible before! Got a great sense of achievement when the prof liked our oral presentation on Wednesday and I've got a feeling that I will do decently well on the test that we got today.

I enjoy spending many hours learning French, looking at French words, reading them out loud, learning how to use them and how to spell them. It's one thing that I'm really passionate about this semester. I feel the difference learning something that I'm really interested in. It's been some time since learning has been so enjoyable.

Speaking of which, I read a great speech by a Valedictorian speaking out against "schooling" during her graduation.

"And now here I am in a world guided by fear, a world suppressing the uniqueness that lies inside each of us, a world where we can either acquiesce to the inhuman nonsense of corporatism and materialism or insist on change. We are not enlivened by an educational system that clandestinely sets us up for jobs that could be automated, for work that need not be done, for enslavement without fervency for meaningful achievement. We have no choices in life when money is our motivational force. Our motivational force ought to be passion, but this is lost from the moment we step into a system that trains us, rather than inspires us."

I worry whether I have taken modules that helped me develop skills that will make me a valuable worker. I worry if I will make enough money when I graduate. But my dreamy, idealistic side tells me one that, maybe, possibly, my unique-ness and what I've learned will all come together to make me a special individual.

Being passionate about what I'm doing is important. I will stay on this path. And hopefully one day, people will pay me big bucks for it!

What Would You Say

I found this in the Nanyang Chronicle yesterday. It was an article about Power 98FM's School Invasion, where DJ Harry came to NTU to talk about "being a DJ".

I know I am bound to receive a bit of flak for what I said. With Qiao Ping beside me last Friday (she's an unlocks my crazier side), I was trying hard to give some quotable quotes. You don't want to be untruthful and you don't want to be too dramatic. At the same time you don't want to be that "useless interviewee who didn't give me shit to write".

Sounds a bit shameless, which is a bit trademark me... but then again, what would you say if someone asked you what qualities you thought you had to be a radio DJ?

Stooffi

I am in the same school as Steph. But I don't remember taking any mods with her. I've never worked with her. I don't remember talking to her. In fact I hardly knew her.

It all changed with Twitter. This Social media - it really works. I can't remember who followed who but it didn't matter. Her tweets were entertaining and educational. Secretly, I had always been reading about social media marketing. She amazed me with how much she was learning and how eager she was to share what she knew. I was impressed by how her knowledge was the result of her initiative. It was her drive that made me sit up and take notice.




Of course what she did during internship was a lot more than that. She's done a video on her transformation to becoming a Geek Goddess. Very entertaining, very creative.

The most awesome thing she has done, in my opinion, is to be in the running for Standard Chartered's World Coolest Intern. It was her personality that drove us, friends, fans and admirers alike, to show our support via Facebook, Twitter and now, blogging.

Personally, I'm showing my support because of her guts to follow her dream. She's hardworking and she's charismatic. Her entire journey, leading up to this point, has been very inspiring. She's inspired me to do what I want to do and I will succeed. Just like she will win this WCI.

She also inspires cam-whoring but this is besides the point.





Thank you for your time.

Priorities

I think my priorities are slightly wrong, especially this semester. I haven't been very focused academically, choosing instead to be more sociable than necessary, waking up earlier to run, read ONTD and catching up on the very exciting things that are happening in the music industry.

It is one more month to Zoukout. I should be concerned that it is one more month to the dreaded Exams. Zoukout is on the 11th. Exams are on the 14th, 15th, 16th. Kimvy is coming on the 13th.

My panic button is pushed and I do not know what to do about it. How now brown cow?

My Vulgar Facebook Status-es

Facebook told me that I am vulgar today. It read my status:

Nov 10, 2010 you should know better than to fuck with me.

Oct 27, 2010 i am okay with ppl sleeping in lecture lah but STOP FUCKING SNORING.

Oct 22, 2010 an Indonesian government spokesman told The Straits Times yesterday: 'It has been only a week of smoke but people are already making so much noise. What about all the oxygen that (Indonesia) supplies to them during the rest of the year?' FUCK YOU UNDERSTAND.

Sep 27, 2010 if it's "girls" in that Katy Perry song, it's California Gurls. if it's "you" in that Usher song, it's U Got It Bad. if it's "dirty" as in that Christina Aguilera song, it's Dirrty. LEARN TO FUCKING SPELL.

Sep 19, 2010 excuse u u what year already u dunno the rules ah, either that or u did not recognise the look on my face - it said FUCK OFF.

Aug 27, 2010 i have a new reason to stop buying clothes: there is no more FUCKING SPACE IN THE WARDROBE JASON.

Aug 26, 2010 HELLO WEATHER STOP BEING A BITCH

Aug 16, 2010 the magic of facebook is as such: you can put ur negativity out there (and i already think the guy's a loser) and bitch all you want then i click and i see the face im like, dude you don't deserve a fucking opinion. fuck off.

Aug 3, 2010 FUCK YEAH TOKIO HOTEL KATY PERRY WOOHOO!

Jul 29, 2010 STOP FUCKING RAINING NAO.

Jul 15, 2010 ict is over. i am damn happy. words cannot describe.

Jul 11, 2010 AHAHAHAHA SHIT THEY LOOK SO HAPPY CONGRAULATIONS SPAIN!!!

Jul 9, 2010 taken for granted / unappreciated / unrequited / life's a bitch etc. etc.

Jul 3, 2010 It is with great regret when I read all ya'll fucking tweets that I did not watch this very drama Spain match. After this I may officially start following soccer. Are there other tournaments that do not involve clubs but countries? Eurocup perhaps?

Jun 29, 2010 DAMN SAD LAH WOAH LAO EH.

Jun 29, 2010 EH FUCK THESE TWO TEAMS PLAYING WHAT SOCCER AH PLAY UNTIL LIKE THAT SUPER NOT LIFE AND DEATH PLAY PROPERLY LEI.

Jun 29, 2010 INVITED to "Food & Drinks" at Resorts World Sentosa + Argentina vs Germany with ex-colleagues! ARGH SO EXCITED!!! DAMNCOOLHOWCOOLDAMNCOOL - why my perks only start when i end internship one ah. so funny. also i hope this "drinks" do not refer to chrysanthemum tea.

Jun 15, 2010 AHAHAHAHAHA FUCKING FUNNY HARDWAREZONE: i suggest the gahmen to organize dragon boat race outside ngee ann city. can drop dumplings into the water so that fishes will not eat away the hermes bags.

Jun 9, 2010 fuck yes thanks to all those ppl who post their wedding emcee scripts online WOOHOO

Jun 8, 2010 is going to be annoyed forever until he doesn't care. fuck you, computer.

Jun 4, 2010 you are so hot and humid. fuck you, weather.

Jun 2, 2010 shit the noose is fucking funny. got so many people dunno LKY's post before he became MM meh!

May 21, 2010 OMY Has anyone seen this humungous poster of the BMW in the Straits Times stretched across 4 FUCKING PAGES. RIDICULOUS okay. and also epic. you got money - SPAM IT.

May 20, 2010 Qiao Ping asked Wei Ket, "Why do you have one spare cock?"

May 12, 2010 OFF TO GO HOME AND CHANGE SEE U BITCHES OKAY

May 10, 2010 91.3 - DAFT PUNK's ONE MORE TIME! ARGHHHHH!!! DAMN HIGH!

May 9, 2010 RT@SakuMaikokku I feel like sitting in this chair n not leaving for work.Unfortunately,life doesn't givea fuck about my feelings.Fucku,life.

May 2, 2010 is fucking repulsed when he hears boom boom pow and i gotta feeling in clubs. ARGH.

Apr 27, 2010 actual CCTV footage of a burglar breaking in to childcarecentre at night. FUCKING LOOK LIKE GOLLUM PLS http://bit.ly/cQbrjQ

Apr 26, 2010 RT @_kccc is it mandatory for all azns on youtube to be fucking amazing singers or something? legaci - whatchasay http://bit.ly/4Yw49N

Apr 26, 2010 bitch cant keep it together / mariah is a cow / so hungry she steals food from starving kids in africa http://bit.ly/aqw45g

Apr 21, 2010 I FUCKING LOST A BET WITH MY FRIEND FOR FRIDAY'S LUNCH i am very upset cos we heard a j.lo song and he said it's I'm Real and i totally was thinking of the one FT JA RULE that sounds totally MF different. i am SO SADSADSAD NOW. ARGH!

Apr 11, 2010 aiya fuck lah im sure it is impossible to get jay chou tickets.

Mar 2, 2010 i am proud that CS students are facebook-whores, twitter-whores... whores in general etc.

Feb 4, 2010 Had my very own STOMP moment. A guy gave up his seat to a lady carrying a baby. Bitch snapped at him saying that his arm was blocking and that she couldn't get to the seat. Her high pitched screech and PRC-accent caught the attention of the rest commuters who gave her "the look". Her friend joined her soon after and a guy told her off saying that, "This is Singapore, not ULU place that you came from."

Jan 31, 2010 the reason why singaporeans do not reproduce... why the fuck would you want more people to squeeze on the train with you?

Jan 25, 2010 Junqi Liao said that i am a DND whore. =(

Jan 13, 2010 hey guys it was really awesome having dinner with you all today! haven't seen some of you for the longest time. had tonnes of fun bitching... and bitching... and bitching... sharing jokes, inappropriate pictures, war stories of our various internships... it has only been two weeks and we've got so much to talk about. let's plan another last min get-together soon! =)

Jan 7, 2010 i am going to write a fucking complaint letter to the bitch manning the phone at yishun stadium.

Nov 29, 2009 IM IN PHASE 3 WHAT KINDA FUCKERY IS THIS

Nov 17, 2009 Rihanna you fucking sick bitch. Every track on Rated R is a gem!

Nov 16, 2009 i look at past year exam questions and i ask myself why the hell am i going through this and the answer is... i dont want to go through this...

Nov 7, 2009 hang in there guys, this fucking semester is almost over!

Nov 4, 2009 LIKE. FUCKING SERIOUSLY. WHAT A TIME TO TAKE LEAVE JENNY. SERIOUSLY.

Nov 3, 2009 YAY for brothers & sisters, Desperate Housewives and Grey's Anatomy! Heroes... one more fuckshit episode and you're going to be shown the door.

Oct 30, 2009 FUCK that bitch who directed '3'. WORST SHIT ever.

Oct 23, 2009 are u fucking kidding me can u get any DUMBER

Oct 15, 2009 STOMP is so fucked up.

Sep 29, 2009 FUCKING LOVES '3'. (can believe the writer is max martin, but cannot believe he produced it... too HAWT)

Sep 18, 2009 miley cyrus is a talentless whore

Sep 14, 2009 This year's VMAs is THE SHIT.

Sep 14, 2009 VMAs are fucking exciting this year... did I hear Kanye highjacked Taylor Swift's thank-you speech? WOW.

Aug 24, 2009 im having a meeting tmr that i was only told of today and they just said that they dont have a venue and will only tell me where it is tmr by noon and ive to travel to boon lay even tho i dont have school what kind of fuckery is this

Jul 14, 2009 there're only two types of people in this world. the smart... and the FUCKING STUPID.

Jul 13, 2009 i dont need six more days t know how fucked up it is

Well done.

A SOS

Got these three pieces from asos.com all thanks to WSCI resident mei nu Christine Tan! They fit me perfectly and my choices this time were much better than the other time round. Now I can go back to my shopping ban.

Topman is very uninspiring this season anyway.

The Pump Room

I was expecting to go to somewhere chill last night. Possibly TCC. Possibly coffee. Possibly lounge-y music. Possibly decent conversation.

Of course it turned out exactly the opposite. Clarke Quay was bursting with energy. There was more electricity than an electric dream. There was The Pump Room. Also beer. Also rock n roll. Also indecent conversation.

Jive Talking played many songs, most of which I was surprised I knew. Songs that never really went away despite being popular before I was born. Kind of reminded me of the Halloween Night at Universal, where the Zombies played those type of songs too.

They played a good mix of the old and the new, from Coldplay to Duffy, from Tainted Love to Sweet Dreams. A groom-to-be went up on stage and got stripped to his undies by a married woman. A middle-aged ang-moh lady dancing, quietly confident, like there was no tmr. And there was me, bopping to the beat, wishing that we could stay late and that no one had to work the next day.

The night ended with a familiar voice but an unfamiliar tune. "It's Ke$ha's new one! Remixed!" An urgent chorus... trashy, but terribly catchy. Before I had time to wonder if twenty years down the road, a band in a bar at Clarke Quay would play We R Who We R, I was on the way home.

A spontaneous evening of unexpected fun.

You Again

This movie unapologetically milks coincidences for drama. Her brother is marrying her enemy. Her nemesis' aunt used to be best friends with her mom. Desperate for laughs, it almost used every trick in the Book of Comedy.

It was however, saved by a fantastic cast. Jamie Lee Curtis, Sigourney Weaver and Betty White made everything more amusing than it actually was! It was great watching them go at each other. Kristin Chenoweth was hilarious in her role as the wedding planner as well. I was rather amused at the use of Toxic during the dance-off!

Also, a slight departure from the usual "rom-com", the protagonist is the sister of the two lovers and the movie focuses on her emotional journey as she sees her brother marry the same girl who whooped her ass in High School.

It didn't fare too badly for a comedy. It was funny while it lasted but that's all, don't expect anything more!

First Halloween

RT @ellasyida please lor it looks like something right off Batman & Robin. you're like a cross of Robin & Joker.

Be The Change

"Every time you spend money, you're casting a vote for the kind of world you want."

Anna Lappe put this idea across so succinctly. I was thinking about this before I saw the quote. We have finite resources. And our money is what keeps the businesses going. It determines what companies investors take an interest in and it determines what clothes are fashionable. It determines whether we are concerned about what companies stand for - whether these companies are advocates of anti-animal testing, being environmentally-friendly when coming up with their products or have a vested interest in their customers' well-being.

I think it's important not to be frivolous with money. Every cent that goes to Okamoto tells the world you've been sexing. Every cent that goes to Philips' shaver shows that you are amused by the un-amusing "close shave with a bear" shit. Every cent that goes to a tired, formulaic, boring Hollywood Action Blockbuster deprives the world of a meaningful film with a good story.

We all get caught up in being materialistic and everything has a commercial value nowadays. I think more carefully about how I spend my money. I support companies that design things that appeal to me, that are creative, innovative and unique, that stand for something special, that are environmentally-friendly, that communicate earnestly, that see themselves as something more than a profit-mongering organisation.

This awareness will make me a better citizen in the global marketplace and because we work hard for the money we make, it is the currency of our voice.

We have the power to determine what is important in this world.

The Social Network

The Social Network is a thrilling tale about technology, friendship and money. Considering the excessive amount of time I spent on Facebook, the story of how it all came about was intriguing. So many ideas and functions came from seemingly random events and bits of inspiration. Reminds me of the time when we were studying Communication Histories and Theories - how good ideas came from modification of other ideas, from discussion and from interaction.

It all started with a friend's idea of comparing girl's faces to animals. Zuckerberg was really smart though, tweaking the project as it went along and his insights to human behavior, especially those of college students, were spot on. The need to have an online extension of their lives in the most interactive manner - tagging photos, dating status, "The Wall" and now it has reached a whole new level of crazy - Facebook chat and See Friendship.

All that was no match for the drama though. Ex-lovers, friends, enemies and frenemies - Mark got more than he could handle. It made for a bloody good story. At one point, Sean Parker, founder of Napster (now this was a shocker to me when it was revealed), came between Zuckerberg and Saverin but his contribution to Facebook was pivotal in growing the company. Maybe sometimes you really can't have the best of both worlds.

It got me thinking a lot about entrepreneurship and for most of us, it also got us thinking about our lives. How we spend our time learning about things that other people deem important, being in a rigid curriculum and chasing money instead of chasing dreams.

Maybe it's the other way round. Chase dreams first and the money will come.

Waste of Space

I need to grow up. One bad grade and I don't feel like attending lecture tomorrow morning. Suck it up Jason. Stop being lame. It's not over and you can try harder.

All of a sudden, it's raining. There's the sudden drop in temperature. And the loud roaring of the rain as it comes tumbling down from the heavens and the pitter-patter on the windows. It just makes me emo. It's comfortable to sleep yes, but I'm not in bed. I'm sitting here, thinking.

Sometimes I don't want to be this responsible, optimistic person. Although I try hard to be. I'm also dark and twisty and needy. Illogical and irresponsible, idiotic and indecisive. I'm a bit tired of this yang guang nan hai thing.

In fact, I've even lost my tan.

Maybe it's just the rain. The smell of it and the way it envelopes my existence from the outside. Feeds this moodiness.

I'll just sleep this away.