Well, here i am, back from the operation and relatively unharmed. the anasthetic hasn't completely worn off yet, so i'm able to go about in relative comfort, except for the numbness in the left side of my face. but come tonight, my comfort will be greatly compromised. lucky the nice dentist prescribed painkillers.

i have to correct a statement i made about the dentist. you see, my family hasn't been going to see him for the past 17 years. instead, we've seen him since the 1970s. how's that for loyalty?

i think that's it for me now. i'll be back within the next few days with an update on my condition.

-thingy of the day: I never want to do this again.-

Mr. Miyagi has passed away. no, not the singaporean blogger, but the real Mr. Miyagi. Noriyuki 'Pat' Morita was 73 when he died of natural causes on November 24 2005. for a full list of of his acting credits, as well as a biography, click here.

sometimes, the most unlikely things can have the most profound impact on you, as in the case of this particular death on me. even though i did not know him personally, i can somehow identify with the way that the "Mr. Miyagi" character behaves. and the fact that he's funny is just an added bonus. i guess it was kind of ironic that AXN was screening Karate Kid for the past few weeks.

oh. i nearly forgot to mention that i'm scheduled for surgery on wednesday. i'm still kind of nervous, and i'm imagining a lot of worst-case scenarios, like what if they use insufficient anasthetic and i wake up halfway through the operation, or if any other nerves get damaged. but then, this dentist has seen people from my family for 17 years, so i guess he's skilled enough not to screw up like that.

it's kind of weird what your mind can conjure up when you're afraid. there's this very popular tale (urban legend?) of someone literally scaring herself to death in a graveyard when she thought that a tree branch caught on her skirt was a zombie's fingers or something. they're really not kidding when they say a person's mind is powerful. i find that i have a really hyperactive imagination when i'm afraid of something, and that's one of the main reasons i abstain from horror movies. after all, there's no need to add fuel to an already-blazing fire.

i'm doing a lot of odd things recently. for instance, buying a sketchpad and several pencils to try and reconnect with art, something i left behind in sec 2. i don't foresee that much success, but it's worth a shot.

also seems like bo-liao people are posting rubbish on my tagboard again. it's understandable, seeing that everyone's bored during the holidays. in fact, i sort of welcome some activity. my tagboard's been stagnant for quite a long while now. but, as i've said before, my approach to these offending messages is instant deletion. of course, how "instant" it is depends on when i see it.

-thingy of the day: Just another day in the holidays...

Everything seems to be in order, yet i feel strangely unsettled. i don't know why either. maybe it's because i have too much free time on my hands. or perhaps it could be the guilt from not touching my holiday homework manifesting itself subconsciously.

...whoa. when did the sky get dark?

i guess i tend to lose track of time sometimes.

*pauses for dinner*

ok...now where was i? let's see...umm...right. my cousin got a new laptop. a pretty nice fujitsu with fingerprint recognition capability and, from what i've heard, lots and lots of RAM. oddly enough, it can connect to the internet wirelessly while my toshiba cannot. arrgh. to be really honest, i can't help but feel the slightest bit of envy for/over the new laptop. i guess it's just the novelty, which i think will wear off pretty soon.

well, that's all that's happened so far. i'll post again when i think of anything else to say.

-thingy of the day: Guitar playing is hard.-

Funny thing about the internet at my cousin's house...the desktop can connect to the internet, but my laptop can't. i really don't know what the problem is, especially since both use wireless connections. so i guess i'm stuck with using this IBM for now, which is still bearable. of course, i would prefer my own computer since i'm more used to it, but this'll have to do for now.

for the past few days, i've been doing some running in a bid to improve my stamina. while the progress (if any) isn't visible just yet, i hope to see improvement by the time the holidays are over. i suppose one good thing about this daily run is that i get to move about a bit, considering i spend 20+ hours indoors. another side benefit is that i feel better. it may be a placebo effect (terminology?) but at least it's working. and i get to see all the nice dogs at my destination too. they'll do *anything* for a snack, trust me on that.

the next piece of news is that my cousin acquired a guitar. it was a gift from my other cousin, who was in singapore for the past few days. so there's been lots of strumming in the air recently. not that i mind, though. in fact, it's inspired me, despite me being a complete retard at music, to try and pick up a few songs. sadly, there's been limited success, and by "limited success", i mean limited like a snowball's chance in hell. i can't even figure out the notation that they use! well, i'll just have to be content with having other people play songs for me.

close to a month of holiday has passed already. wow. i don't think i've done anything really productive for the past 30 days, except to relieve the stress that's accumulated over the year. although holidays do tend to get kind of boring, i find that this time there's a whole lot of activities that make it fun. that's it for me i guess, seeing that it's almost been an hour since i started this post.

-thingy of the day: I think another tooth needs to be extracted as well...-

One thing i forgot to mention in last friday's post is that after a trip to the dentist, it turns out that i have to go for an operation to remove a wisdom tooth that's growing sideways, hence exerting pressure on my other teeth. i'm not sure whether it's classified as minor or major surgery, but i'll be on liquid food for a week after that. it's kind of scary actually, considering that this is the first operation of any kind that i'll be undergoing.

had training yesterday too. if memory serves, the last training before yesterday was...before the promos. that's like...close to a month plus ago? i'm getting lousy(ier) after such a long break. i really need some stamina training.

-thingy of the day: Banging your head against the wall for an hour burns up 150 calories.-

What's the best way to bond a class together?

the logical answer would be superglue, but i'm talking about bonding in a non-literal sense. my answer is to lock them up for an extended period of time. and what better way to do that than a class chalet? so, my class decided to do exactly that, from the 15th to the 17th. even though our destination (SAFRA Changi) was undergoing renovation, we weren't deprived of too many facilities. if memory serves, the only thing we were cut off from was the swimming pool, and that wasn't such a great loss since i don't think swimming was a must-do on anyone's list. the last time i went to SAFRA Changi was...sometime in 1998, i believe. it was quite disorienting to be at the semi-renovated site, because lots of stuff had shifted places, like the arcade and bowling alley. but it wasn't too bad since the swimming pools were familiar and provided a mark from which to take bearings.

as for the chalet itself, it wasn't too bad. i had worried that some unfortunate incident might occur, causing my ego to get the best of me again. luckily, nothing unpleasant occurred, and we managed to live with each other in peace. in fact, i'd go as far as to say we enjoyed each other's company. i think what most of us did throughout the days can be expressed simply as "mahjong, eat, play PS2, have a nap, bowl/go to the arcade, barbecue stuff, eat some more, mahjong again." while it's not the most productive (or healthiest, for that matter) way to spend time, it was great fun. i also learnt some of the more obscure rules of mahjong, and spent quality time with people i wouldn't normally spend quality time with. in a way, i think this experience has helped us understand each other better.

i've also gained an insight into life. yes, chalets can provide life lessons too. the lesson in this case is not to bite off more than you can chew. you see, i was brainless enough to agree to watch Saw (a movie) at 12:00 midnight with my classmates, against my better judgment.

For the uninformed, Saw is a horror movie, and I HATE horror movies. but it's not the standard "people get chased by nasty things and die with lots of screaming" affair. instead, it deals with human nature. for instance, one thing the movie makes you think about is whether you'd give one of your feet up and kill someone you don't know in return for your loved ones' safety. now, i have no qualms about shooting people in the head, or chopping them in half, but that's in videogames. doing such a thing in real life, or even witnessing it, can have quite a profound impact on a person's emotional state. the movie's plot also twists in really really unexpected ways, ways that even the most unresponsive watchers would feel stunned. i feel kind of frustrated for not guessing the twist earlier. the thing that really gets me though, is the strong emotions that are portrayed in the movie. in this one scene, you can practically feel the character's desperation and frustration as he asks about his wife. i don't claim to be emphatic, but i could feel strong emotions from the movie, as well as a sort of "oh, wasted" feeling when the true mastermind was revealed.

so, you ask, why spend 203 words describing a movie which i appear to dislike? well, it's to illustrate the powerful effect it has over me. i'm still unable to fully shake the hold off. for once, i appreciate and understand the government's decision to rate some movies at M18. i'm most definitely not ready to watch such a show yet. actually, i don't think i'll ever be ready for it. thus, today's moral is not to act smart, and to know your limits.

anyway, now that that's out of my system, i feel better...sort of. at least it's not forcing its way to the front of my mind every few seconds any more. now that the chalet is over and the bonding has strengthened us, i have a feeling that classes next year will be more fun than those this year. with that said, i have nothing else interesting to say. so, until next time.

-thingy of the day: This post was published using the Blogger add-on for Microsoft Word....which is totally lousy.-

When things are further from you, you tend to want them more. this is an all-too true aspect of human life. for example, everyone was going, "ooh...after the promos, i'm going to do this and that..." or "my holidays are going to be so much fun!!". yet, now that the holidays are here, i feel strangely bored. even MGS 3 and X-Men Legends 2 have somewhat lost their appeal. seems like another aspect of human life is that people are never truly content with their present situation.

ok...enough trying to sound philosophical. seems like i've been under the weather recently. fever, running nose, the usual combination. it's really quite sian to fall sick in the holidays. but i'm on my way to recovery, and i think it'll pass before the chalet.

also seems like i've taken a liking to dogs recently. near my cousin's house, there is this park. every day, from about 5:30 to 6:00, there will be quite a few people walking their dogs there. most of them are nice, but a few will bark pretty loudly. and ALL of them are extremely mercenary. only doing tricks when you have a nice treat hidden somewhere. maybe it's their sense of smell, but they seem to know when you run out of snacks for them. then, they totally ignore you, no matter how much you call.

speaking of that park, my cousin and i have also begun (ok, i begun. he's been running there for quite a while now) to take a daily run there. then, after having the dogs entertain us (or are we entertaining them?) for a while, and then we walk/run back, for a total distance of about...2-odd km. it's quite tough, seeing as i haven't been running since the promos, but it's time to get on track. notice the absence of the word "back" here.

oh well. that's all for me. i guess the next update will be about the chalet, since nothing much goes on these days. but then, who knows? blogging frequency is really unpredictable.

-thingy of the day: Good Van Helsing parody!-

Finally, OP is over. i must say while our performance wasn't perfect, it was definitely way above average. from what i heard, it seems like all the group members got at least 15/18. i'm pretty annoyed with myself for forgetting to number my points ("2 aims", "4 components", etc.) though. but it wasn't that bad. at least praying did have some effect.

this thing has led me to come up with yet another theory about human behaviour. it's basically like this. we face getting results with 2 mindsets, one for performing way below expectations, and one for scoring well, but just missing your target by a bit. in the first scenario, people tend to be quite bitter and go "if only I had worked harder to meet my expectation". whereas in the second case, they tend to say "now, if only I had put in a bit more effort to reach the next-highest level". personally, i'd like to be in situation 2 way more than situation 1. at least your basic expectations are met.

anyway, the good thing is that i have about 1.5 months' worth of holidays to look for. and that's pretty much all there is to it. nope, there's no bad side this time. except for my interner dying occasionally, everythng else's good.

-thingy of the day: Next big event: class chalet!!-

I LOVE PUBLIC SPEAKING.

I LOVE PUBLIC SPEAKING.

I LOVE PUBLIC SPEAKING!!!!!

i'm doing some brainwashing positive reinforcement because my OP is tomorrow. on the negative side, there's too little time to prepare. on the positive side (which i'm focussing on), we get it over and done with sooner than the majority of students. i've tried to memorize scripts before, but i tend to modify lots of stuff. as such, all i'll bring into the exam hall is a list of my main points. that should get me through. an added benefit is i won't be tempted to read off my notes.

right now, i don't have that much to say. the nervousness is blocking the blogging part of my brain. I LOVE PUBLIC SPEAKING.

-thingy of the day: I feel unprepared.-

Nothing is ever perfect on the first try. that's why my new template will have to undergo some minor changes for the next few days. hopfeully Blogger's servers don't suffer too much because of me and the constant republishing.

so we had OP today. public speaking has never been one of my strong suits. and that probably explains why i'm nervous as hell when i have to talk in front of an audience for extended periods of time. but considering that, i don't think i did too badly. i'd say my group is in the high ME to low EE range. all we have to do is memorize our content and tweak the slides somewhat and we're good to go.

tomorrow's a holiday. it's hari raya i think. i have to run a few errands which will result in me being a happier person due to fulfilment of wants. anyone else think that this week is a bit screwed up for the working population? why not work 3 days then take a 4-day weekend, instead of alternating days?

there's something that's been bugging me since the Pre-U Seminar, which was held about 5 months ago. the thing is this: what is the obsession with having a national icon? i mean, what's wrong with not having one? or with having more than one? to me, it's making a mountain out of a molehill. also, there are way too many acronyms floating around. in a newspaper article, say about cameras, there will be something like SLR or dpi. ok, fine. it's almost internationally recognized/understood. then the author or the camera company will invent some new acronym for a feature that only that particular brand of camera possesses. and it's not only in newspapers. it's all around - in magazines, books, on the internet. it's so unnecessary, you know what i mean?

i've always wanted to ask: if we were to renounce (or is it denounce?) our singaporean citizenship and emigrate to another country, and if (very very hypothetically) we were to talk bad about the PAP, sould we still be charged? i think if ex-citizens were to make racist comments outside of singapore, the sedition act probably wouldn't hold. oh well. not that it really concerns me anyway.

still have to finish I&R. bugger it.

-thingy of the day: Bad karma is everywhere these days.-

As mentioned earlier, a template change has been somewhere along the horizon for a while. and it's finally here!! Open Up Your Mind - 7.77 is open for business. why the odd choice of numbers? well, ever seen a slot machine? lucky 7s. hopefully this will make me luckier. as for magneto, he's my absolutest favouritest bad-good guy from X-Men. the grey is supposed to be metallic, since it *is* magneto. also, the white thing surrounding the full-body shot is supposed to be a forcefield. don't think i got it right though. oh well. it looks good to me (mostly because i made it), and that's all that matters...i think.

-thingy of the day: Now to settle that OP powerpoint...-