yar–dee-do-dah do-dar-day
Sunday, January 27, 2008,2:04 PM
This weekend was the much-dreaded DOE expedition. Our group that went this weekend wasn’t able to practice the last trip- there was the high tide thing that spoiled our expedition. Anyway, this expedition wasn’t actually as bad as we expected, but it was overall still very muddy and quite tiring.
First they split us into three groups, each with nine students plus a teacher and three guides. Then began the five hour walk. Five hours through the Andalau Forest Reserve. Through the swamp and the leech-infested mangrove.
Halfway we stopped for lunch, then the guide peeled off his boots so we proceeded to do the same. Halfway eating, I peeled off my boots and found a lot of mud… then a wriggling thing making its way up my sock. LLEEECCHHH! I gave a big scream, the guide jumped up and took a leaf and scooped it from my sock into the bushes.
The rest of the trip was uneventful till we reached the campsite. They made us walk up a hill again, just to get our huge rucksacks, then down to set up the tent on this sandy area. Near there were two rivers, one with tadpoles we tried to catch, another that was our drinking source- which apparently tasted sour-ish and ‘bloody.’
That night we had plain pasta and pot mee for dinner. After that we sat around the bonfire while we roasted our marshmallows, and the talent show thing. Rosie told a really scary ghost story that night in the huge four person tent, and that made me a little scared during the night.
Amazingly, I went to bed at almost nine, but was woken up several times during the night. It was hard to sleep, it was really hot. Then it started to rain. Our tent outer cover was stuck to the inner cover, so the ‘waterproof’ cover started leaking. Several tents were flooded as the swollen river surged, they had to be moved. Some people had to wake up in the middle of the night to fix the pegs of the tent.
The second time I woke up, there was a chorus of snores from several tents. When one person stopped, another would start. Then in the midst of that, a pig snort. The next morning, Rosie said apparently that night she and Natasha heard noises- footsteps, sounding alien and without a flashlight, heavy breathing and several snorts. The next time I woke up I heard the tour guide talking, and a woman’s voice I think was probably miss maclearn.
The next time I woke up, it was still dark. I heard voices though, Camille, Rosie and Natasha were awake. We asked the time, it was about five almost six then, but it started to get brighter after that.
Trying to pack everything in was hard enough. The tent wouldn’t fit it, things seemed to grow. But after we got our bags on, the real bad part began.
The swollen river had to be crossed using this log, and some went off balance because of the heavy bags. Then it was the 1 hour and a half plus trudge up and down a hill with whip-like branches on either side of our route out of the forest reserve. When we finally reached the tarmac road, it was a long walk before we actually got to our bus.
I think I have learnt to appreciate my bed, food and water. I’m going to go get some water now, and perhaps sleep a little.
Labels: trips
Vertigo
Wednesday, January 23, 2008,9:39 PM
I’ve got my wellies for the DOE trip. I’ve asked many people about the DOE trip, so I basically know what to expect. It shouldn’t be so difficult this time, except for the LEECHES, still and the hot days and the filtered sour water and the allergies and the hotness and the cooking-yourself-dinner thing. Yes. I can’t help being a worry wart at times.
My sister has something to say, yet again. She says that her Maths teacher is
DEFINITELY CHINESE because he says whole as ‘whorrlll’, class as ‘craasss. ’
“CRAASS, PREASE FINED THE PLIMME NUMBBRR ORFF CHELFF.”
I’m
over-emphasizing it, but apparently it’s like that. Oh, and his name is Mr ‘RIMM.’ IT makes me think of phua chu kang, and the singlish he speaks. All the ‘
lahs,’ ‘
bahs’ and ‘
mahs.’
Speaking of PCK, the Singapore music trip hasn’t received a very good response, so far the numbers of people total to THREE. That’s very little. Looks like there isn’t much hope of the trip being on, or people are just taking their time… unless it was like that as well, last year. Goes to show perhaps making the lightning hit the same spot again (and organizing a great trip) is a difficult thing to do. As with sequels of movies, they never turn out as good as the original movie.
Listen to this song. It’s a little old, but likewise still good.
Vertigo by Jump, Little ChildrenLeaning from the balcony
As if without a care
Wondering should I take the fall
Or should I take the stairs
Have I already fallen over
and now spinning in the air
I don't know
Cause I'm in this vertigo
but lightning does hit the same spot, seriously. Labels: funnies, music, school
it's the city of night
Friday, January 18, 2008,8:42 PM
It’s been almost a week since I last posted, but it wasn’t because I was busy, I simply had nothing to say.
The new girl’s here, she’s from Shenzhen. Her parents are in Miri so she lives in the boarding house. She has limited English, so most of the time I have to speak Chinese to her. She’s in my art class only.
The parent-teacher’s meetings were absolutely chaotic. The appointments were all messed up, and instead of going home at 7, after my last appointment, we went back at almost eight. The science exam results are out, I did okay but generally the marks were a bit lower than the last result.
The DOE trip is next week, we’re going to get through a peat swamp forest- MOSQUITOES and LEECHES!! Dirty, muddy, wet and swarming with creepy crawlies- being the anxious sort I have naturally started worrying and thinking of what-ifs, eventually arriving at the conclusion that I regret joining DOE- I am so worried things are going to be unbearable- heavy bags and soggy, wet, muddy food- no beach this time.
On a brighter note, :D the new topic in art we’re doing is particularly fun- miss R made us do extremely odd sketches- like continuous line drawings, 1 minute rough sketches (or something to that effect) and abstract chalky stuff. One of the artists we’re investigating is a certain lady named
Meret Oppenheim, a surrealist with an influence on
fashion- anybody for tea from a furry teacup?
Labels: art, school
Be sure there's a problem in the 1st place before working hard to solve it
Sunday, January 13, 2008,8:39 PM
One fine day, a bus driver went to the bus garage, started his bus, anddrove off along the route. No problems for the first few stops - a fewpeople got on, a few got off, and things went generally well.
At the next stop, however, a big hulk of a guy got on. Six feet eight, built like a wrestler, arms hanging down to the ground. He glared atthe driver and said, "Big John doesn't pay!" and sat down at the back.
Did I mention that the driver was five feet three, thin, and basically meek? Well, he was. Naturally, he didn't argue with Big John, but hewasn't happy about it. The next day the same thing happened - Big John got on again, made a show of refusing to pay, and sat down. And the next day, and the next.
This grated on the bus driver, who started losing sleep over the way BigJohn was taking advantage of him. Finally he could stand it no longer. He signed up for body building courses, karate, judo, and all that good stuff.
By the end of six months, he had become quite strong; what's more, he feltreally good about himself. So on the next Monday, when Big John once again got on the bus and said, "Big John doesn't pay!"
The driver stood up, glared back at the passenger, and screamed, "And why not?"
With a surprised look on his face, Big John replied, "Big John has a bus pass ..."
------------
size speaks a lot, but once in awhile you get people who are big softies :D
size intimidates, it does. I've been one of the shorter ones a lot of my life, although not the SHORTEST.
in the story above, Big John seems to be.. maybe slightly less intelligent- his use of the third pronouns and all that. anyway.
this is how to handle problems. :D
off to study. :)
Labels: funnies
HANG ON little tomato!
Friday, January 11, 2008,7:46 PM
I’ve survived the first week of school! J it’s already boring, I’m sorry to say. Actually, the most interesting is still ART and English is still unbearable. The holiday was good, it made this week more bearable- for catching up on sleep. Already the teachers are piling on homework and tests.
I’ve been told that there’s a new student coming in this Monday- a girl from china. But theres another one who’s going to start also next week. She’s malay, one of my mum’s colleague’s daughters. Not close though, just know that she’s coming to JIS.
I’ve been told my layout is playing up, but I tried it on GODZILLA firefox and it works, sort of. You just have to wait till it loads. The links should flash green/red alternatively.
Hah. I don’t have anything interesting to say… YF kickstart’s coming up, Parents evenings as well, this Tuesday. And the much awaited and dreaded arrival of the GCSE results.
Labels: school
CHMS- the new building
Sunday, January 6, 2008,1:54 PM
Yesterday I went to this Christmas and New Year celebration at CHMS’s Darussalam Hall. At first it was rather boring, then this band went onstage and started playing music that rendered us unable to hear anything around us.
Being ‘kiasu’ my parents had came straight on the dot at seven, but closer examination of the program revealed that the actual eating started at 8.10! After awhile some people from YF came, so the company around our table didn’t turn out so bad. However, wasn’t able to go over and talk as the chairs were quite cramped around the table, so I was unable to pass over the other side and talk. Ended up counting down the moments till we got to dig into the food.
The food was yummy but it was really quite difficult to eat with just a spoon. Later, went with Cindy, Ying Lin, Stephie and Bing Cheng to the new block.
The new block is really quite big, about four floors with many classrooms and labs. During my time in chms there weren’t many opportunities in CHMS to conduct experiments. Now the new science labs in CHMS, appear well equipped, one desk per student each with a Bunsen on the table, ready. There are even primary science labs. To think that when I moved over to JIS some people were quite surprised that I barely knew how to use a Bunsen!
Besides that they have a larger airy-looking library, reading rooms and even a balcony that Cindy has dubbed ‘the ultimate place for couples.’ There were many girls’ toilets around, (already dirty) and several rooms such as a Geography room, Commerce and Maths room and English room. Wonder what exactly they are going to do in all these rooms… are they going to take the place of classrooms?
Labels: happenings
Self-beautification
Friday, January 4, 2008,4:00 PM
Seems like ladies have always wanted to look pretty. Each culture has their own set of ideals for beauty, the current one in Asia being the ‘big-eye’ look. How do you do it? Enlarge your eyes and puff your cheeks, and do a ‘V’ with your fingers.
Classic.
And there’s surgery,
plastic surgery. Its main purpose would more likely be to help those who aren’t so fortunate- those born not having some features or needing a new face due to horrible burns, etc. There are all those ladies going under the knife, celebrities and others that can’t accept the fact that they are aging. So what, everyone does. It makes them look artificial- some look good but have complications after their surgery.
Which reminds me of the Korean movie, ‘
200 pounds beauty.’ That’s the director poking fun at Korean ladies who’ve gone under the knife and the different treatment that ladies get, depending whether they are pretty or not.
Not everyone has the money to go under the knife, there are cheaper alternatives,
MAKEUP. And that brings us to the main idea of this post:
what makeup can do nowadays.
okay. pictures of two ladies. here's the scoop: they are the
same person,
before and
after makeup. apparently this is what happened.
A Mainland Chinese girl Lala, sparked a heated debate after she posted pictures of herself before and after applying makeup. Some even questioned if she had photoshopped the pictures. Lala, in a fit of anger, decided to document the process to prove herself as a real internet beauty.
Because of the stark differences between Lala's before and after pictures, some people even speculated that she had used her "twin brother's" picture for the 'before' picture. On the other hand, some have shown support, stating that girls can use makeup to transform themselves.
Comparing the two photos, Lala stated that she used double-eyelid stickers, iris-enlarging contacts, false lashes to open her eyes and highlights on her nose and chin...
here's the full article, but it's in chinese. scroll down to view the pictures of the process.
we ladies cannot deny that we all quest for beauty, but obviously not only external beauty matters, the inside matters too.
Labels: thoughts
blog layout, version 5
Thursday, January 3, 2008,4:31 PM
phew. i've finished my new blog layout. i confess, this is the hardest one i've ever done, and it's still not perfect yet. (
i'll leave you to discover the mistakes (: ) this layout messes around with javascript and a lot of css, of which javascript i'm not entirely sure of. i'm out of practice now, so thus i took a longer time- 2days, yesterday and today. sure feels great to have it done.
sis started school yesterday, she's now in secondary one. still can't get over that feeling she's still very small and young and manja... how can she be in secondary one? she's going on thirteen now! a lot of her friends have moved away, (including her ahem*cough*) and all she can think about is the fact that she has to climb several flights of stairs to her secondary block classroom.
another thing, she has to study commerce.
muahaha a lot of memorising, she will
DETEST it. Also, she might be studying form 1 and form 2 in a year- the booklist states she needs to be buying form 1 & form 2 books as well!
------
popped by school today to get some stuff from my locker. couldn't help noticing on the way to T block there wer more notice boards around the school (NEW?), and the bulletin that states all the asa's had a missing 'S' in the word 'ASA.'
Labels: layout rants, school, thoughts
2008
Tuesday, January 1, 2008,1:10 PM
HAPPY NEW YEAR! :)
don't know how many of you were at the empire fireworks, but judging by the queue to empire, the whole brunei gathered there last night.
i've returned from my holidays, suffering a slight bit of jet lag making me sleep earlier. Spent last night watching the fireworks from another point with some church friends, but didn't do any countdowns until the fireworks were over. (which was really quite laggy)
went home and slept, this morning did a spot of spring cleaning and unpacking the stuff. honestly, haven't done so much cleaning in awhile, so i'm on my computer now to take a break.
why don't you
view this slideshow and see how other parts of the world ushered in the new year? as ling says,
this year is the
sweet sixteen year.
Labels: holidays, thoughts