dropping in.

just dropping in.

woah. talk abt book fair. went to the suntec book fair just now. apart from the usual cheena books and primary school assessments, there were some good bargains. get this..."the complete works of william shakespheare" all plays, sonnets, everything for $9. another good one: "lord of the rings" paperback, 3 in one. $9. is that cheap or what?? muahahhaha!

something else i wanted to say. but i forgot. erm...oh ya, there's a very high chance that i'm gonna be jonathan's private daily maths tutor for the next 3 months. for free btw. *rolls eyes* someone kill me now. i didn't expect them to take up my offer for real.

it may be time to change my blogskin. the picture has vanished for some reason.

oh ya. and something else. me and bro were talking. and there's a speculation that jesus could have been a closet gay. i mean, re-read through gospel of john - "the disciple that jesus loved". i shall not say anything more here in case vatican has spies on the internet. btw, since the da vinci code says he's married, it could prove that jesus was straight.





mood: amused
listening to: when you're looking like that - westlife

my results are out!!!!!

i'm so happy!!!! if i was excited over clay, i'm 10000x more happy now!!!

i did well for my exams!!!!!! haha!!!!!!!!!!!! even for EN!!!!! B- for everything except SS B+. cap of 3.2. :D :D :D :D :D :D

and i expected to fail EN and psych. B+ for SS!!!!! oh god! that's almost an A lor!!!!!

i qualify for SEP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

yay yay yay yay yay yay!!!!! *jumps round room in happiness*




mood: over the moon excited!!!!!!! happy! elated!!!!
listening to: printer whirring

oh god!

(edited from this morning)

WHAT. A. DAY. haven't got a day like this for a while. now you know how boring my life is.

firstly, the whole claynation is in a state of utter excitement.
omg! omg! omg! oh. my. god!!!!!i just saw the video of clay on the american idol finale!!!!!!!!!!!he'sbackhe'sbackhe'sback!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! check out the youtube video -->

on the flip side....omg what da hell did he do to his hair??! he looks like a beatle or a click5. geez.

i haven't watched the whole finale. just the clay part from the board. :D yes, i WILL watch sooner or later. gosh. clay! i'm still so excited. i wish for a sound proof room where i can go "Eeeeeeeeeee!! claaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyy!!!!!!" now you know how fangirly i am over him. haha! irene is losing her legendary cool.

the guy he sang with, michael something. so funny! he really really really looks like a pre-makeover clay. so cute. he won a prize for best impersonation. and then ryan asks him to sing. which he does. he sings "don't let the sun go down on me". very badly. then the back thingy behind him opens and clay's there!!! or rather, since i didn't recognise him, there was a person there. poor michael thought the crowd was cheering for him. clay walks out, to the side, stares at michael with is, ohmygodwhoareyouandwhyareyoumutilatingmysong look. then michael realises clay is there and gets the shock of his life. thank you god clay starts singing at this point. ahhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!! the voice!!!!! clay's back!!! he's in a suit. nice tie btw. his hair. *jaw drops to the floor* picture the beatles or the click 5. oh.my.god. it takes getting used to. he dyed it, looked black but i'm told it's dark brown. imagine the beatles hairstyle, but the fringe was so long, it was sticking into his eyes. how did he sing with it? but, who cares. he's still the same sweetie clay.

oh ya, back to that michael. clay started singing and he was so shocked, he scooted backwards and probably would have fallen off the stage if ryan didn't catch him. then, later, he regained his composure a bit and sang (thank god we couldn't hear him). that ryan offered him a chair, asking if he's alright and he looked like he was in the final stages of freaking out. god! he's something. "Designer suit - $5000. Designer haircut - $1500. Watching Michael Sandecki freak out in front of 200million people - Priceless." i don't know what i'd do if clay suddenly comes up and starts singing when i'm doing solo. i'd just freak and DIE on the spot. oh yeah! irene has lost it this time. muahahahahahaha!

moving on. the other thing that happened today. (don't worry, not clay related, tho i could go on abt clay for the rest of the page) dawn messaged me in the middle of last night saying that she couldn't come for mass. omg. die. run around in the morning trying to locate marion. who can't come and play anyway. so...spent time on my dear piano today, learning how to play "holy holy" and "lamb of god". and forced andrew to learn the psalm.

in church, attack of the flying ants/insects. there was a whole ARMY flying round the light. so scary. then when we switched off the light, they started attacking us!!!!! do you know how yuck that is? they were all over us!

anyway, mass starts. first mistake. they were incensing the altar. and i forgot. so i cut the entrance hymn way too early. darn. awkward silence. tried to continue will fill-in background music. then was the kyrie, in which i kept pressing the key at the wrong times. i forgot liao lah. but the kyrie went well i think. then, the disaster struck. gloria. i gave fr khoo the key. and he stared at me. so i played it again, one octave down. he tried but didn't really get it. anyway, so we start the gloria. and i realised. I DIDN'T TRANSPOSE DOWN. the thingy went all the way up to high E. shit. shit. shit. no wonder khoo gave me that look. thank god the previous kyrie didn't plus 3 or something. so...gloria was sung au naturel. i was thinking, "i wanna crawl into a hole and vanish now."

responsorial psalm. as usual, andrew is too tall for the mic. i know dawn said not to sing the psalm if marion can't play it. but it's ascension. how can don't have a cantor? anyway, andrew's first pharse was horrendous. i think he was nervous cos he didn't hit the first note and so went off. assist him from the piano. the verses went ok. the usual mistakes, but in tune mistakes. so not too bad. wish i could have sung the psalm tho. it was nice. never mind. then alleluia. this one i worried cos i not sure how to link the verse back. but i think it went well. prepped the choir before hand sort of, so they have an idea.

after that was good. not perfect, but good. offertory, i remembered got incensing again. the songs went well i think. timing was fine. the pre-preface (forgot the name) i'm actually supposed to give fr the note. khoo started on his own w/o the key. i think he scared from the gloria experience. haha! "holy holy" and "lamb of god" went well. glad cos it's my first time playing those versions. loved the thanksgiving "be not afraid". i could hear the singing loud and clear. the congregation and all. it's times like these that i feel happy with what we've achieved and done in this church. ya. that was church.

btw, it's scary now at the organ. cos i used to depend on lip reading to see if i'm ok while playing. now...obviously i can't see them. so...i'm straining to hear what they're singing. and for once, i'm so glad for the sibilant sounds cos they're loud. haha! nerve wrecking. dawn! don't ever abandon me during an important mass like this again!

kk. done blogging. back to admiring my clay.




mood: the word "excited" is an understatement.
listening to: orphans of god - avalon

today

life feels so meaningless these days. you get a few minutes of good feeling then fall back into meaninglessness again.

well...a few seconds has effectively ruined my day. ok. mum's just come in and scolded me for showing andrew a video of something. and apparently it's my fault cos i'm distracting him with rubbish on the net when he's supposed to be sleeping early for sch tmr. fuck. for the record, HE's the one that came and asked me to show him the video. you think i'm stupid enough to just show it to him?? he's been watching tv since 5pm with dad. why scold me and not him?? sheer biasness i tell you. my mother is biased against me. anyway, so, ya. after yelling me about that...wait, background first...she wanted me to msg ernie abt uncle mike. i got ernie on msn. anyway, then mum scolds cos i didn't tell her exactly what ernie said. which was pointless anyway cos there wasn't anything that we haven't already told her. *rolls eyes* i SO want to go SEP and get out of the house.

anyway, better stuff. (not that i'm in much mood) children's mass today. that was good. except for a bit in front when the electricity kept shorting out. no gloria today cos no music. muahahaha! the poor second reader had to do her reading without mic. ruth was lucky, the mic only shorted out at her last note. she did really well i think. even though she seemed a bit overexcited going up to the stand. but...well done ruth!!!! "as a litle child" went so well! loved it. of course, could be improved further, but at this stage...beautiful! heard that some of the congregation clapped. on the whole, great mass! great music! yay!!!!!

khoo's homily was b-o-r-i-n-g. as usual. worse for me cos like 75% of it was repeated from what he said during the meeting already. and the rest are just paraphrases of other parts of the bible. can he not try to talk less grandfather stories? i mean...ok, i admit, he's stopped/reduced his church of st ant's stories. so, it's a *bit* of an improvement. haha!

hung around the church with daryl till 1. making noise on the piano and organ. haha! that piano really feels out of tune. but me no perfect pitch can't really tell. the sound just doesn't feel correct. anyway, then went to city hall to meet poh lin, sumi and duan hui. to see photos, pls go to duan hui's site. i haven't uploaded mine yet. lazy. lol. had lunch at marina. hung around the esplanade. duan hui was acting touristy, taking pictures every which way (there are more photos she took which she didn't post). ya well, just walked around the area, chit chatted, acted like tourists. poh lin cut her hair. looks good. yup. it was a good day until the incident above.

still unemployed. but i answered a friendster ad the other day, just for fun to see if it works. for a home typist. someone replied me with a list of things that i could do as a typist. so, i replied for more details. haven't gotten a reply from that person yet. so...see how lah. but i don't really feel the need to find a job that much. it's more to get out of the house and for money. but i'm lazy lah. sigh.

fyi. yesterday, i wore socks for the first time in a long time. and suddenly, my stairs seemed a whole lot more slippery than usual. and i kinda fell down the stairs. tripped and missed a few steps. and today, i've got a nice swelling on my foot, like something heavy dropped on it. haha! doesn't hurt if you don't poke it. and to think i thought i would get the first sprained ankle of my life yesterday. lol.

all those who are totally anti-da vinci code, stop reading here. i wanna rant abt it.

i wanna talk abt "the da vinci code again. the movie has opened. it's such a controversial prickly movie. but i don't see why lor. i mean, like i said before, i think the whole thing is being overhyped. poh lin says she's watched and enjoyed the movie but hasn't read the book. she likes it cos it's got solid content that makes you think, not just mindless watching. isn't that a good thing? something that challenges what you take for granted all the time? rather than just blindly swallowing up something that someone else feeds you. yes you may say that "da vinci code" is blind swallowing too, but is it? between what the church says and what dan brown says, which is the one that you take without questioning?

i don't understand why "the da vinci code" as a book is drawing such hype either. there are lots of other books that are just as, if not more, controversial than the da vinci code. for eg, i own a book that suggests that jesus was a magi (wise man/magician) whose source of power was the possession of the head of john the baptist. belief is/was that if a person A dies brutally, like john baptist, if someone else B removes the head of A, A's spirit will be controlled by B and B can now do 'miracles' using spirit intervention. now you tell me, isn't that worse than the suggestion that jesus was married? hello? married isn't a bad thing (ref genesis). in fact, a married jesus with a family is a whole lot more appealing to the common folk. after all, how can a single jesus understand what it means to be in a relationship? to understand the trials of raising a family? it all seems too perfect to be true. quoted (fictional): "holy mother of the redeemer, if only once i could see baby throw-up stains on your lovely blue garments, if only once i could see your own palms itching to slap the saviour in his bawling face, then maybe i would not now feel like a piece of human crap. you goddamn eternal virgin, if you would wipe that insipid pastel smile off your face for one moment and look at me like we were in the same shoes, then i might not despair."

it's pretty clear that people who are condemning "the da vinci code" so much, even before it was made into a movie (which btw, i think that it's only made into a movie cos it's such a controversial book and the powers that be want to cash into it) are not well read. open your freaking eyes and look around. why are you condemning a fiction book when there are numerous other non-fiction books around that claim far worse things? so, by all means, go on and damn "the da vinci code". you're just showing how closed minded you are. go on and excommunicate me. long live controversy.

all for now.


p.s. for some reason, i feel a whole lot better now after writing about "the da vinci code"




mood: sarcastic
listening to: deliver us - prince of egypt

cool site

i found THIS online. database about English names. very nice meanings too. here's mine:

Name: Irene
Meaning: Peaceful One
Verse: Great peace have they which love Thy law: and nothing shall offend them. (Psalm 119:165)



mood: cheerful
listening to: the saga begins - weird al yankovic

updated!

alrighty. la risonanza was cool! waiting for photos from jeffrey and whoever else took photos. *hint hint* the rest of the choir already arrived at vch when i got there. but the alumni were just hanging around since the choir was doing a run of "sunset boulevard". sat up in the circle seats to watch them. interesting. there was this scene when they were supposed to form a heart shape. which was kinda disasterous. :D as in, if you didn't know it was supposed to be a heart, you wouldn't know. anyway, at least we didn't have to guard food from birds like last year. our first run on the stage was scary. the hall suddenly seems so huge. kwei said that our "yuki ga" was off. but the rest was fine. so, practice and practice and practice. we got mr yong to stand in front and listen to us. and apparently, we sounded better with him in front. maybe we just needed a focal point. so cass was teasing him, that he can just stand there and pose during our performance. which he retorted by saying that cass can stand there instead of him since she seems to like the attention. :D he looks like he lost weight. he's a LOT skinnier than i remember him to be.

ok, then...food sucked as usual. chicken, vegetable and sausage rice. at least they had the sense not to include curry. i mean, who da heck gives a choir curry just before a performance?? no serviettes, no water. :P joy got someone (aunty vivian) to come and style our hair for us. cool! of course, only for the girls. aunty vivian said that the guys didn't have enough hair for her to do anything at all, even to gel it. so, the guys hung around the doorway of the 'dressing room' and looked wishfully at the girls getting their hair styled. mine was ok. i didn't really like it though. felt really messy to me but she said that it's supposed to be like that. *rolls eyes* whatever. she's the stylist. good news came in that they had 100% ticket sales!!!! cooL!!! totally full house.

anyway, choir standby to go in. alumni was hanging round backstage, taking photos with mr yong. i think we were making a lot of noise cos an annoyed looking kwei appeared and shut the doors of backstage. they say he didn't scold us cos mr yong was there. :P anyway, we TRIED to keep quiet after that. then came our own performance time. while the choir was singing their madrigals, we were slowly freaking out backstage. hugs all round. feel the pressure a bit cos the MCs were describing the alumni choir's passion for singing, how we're the choir's seniors, mentors and friends. geez. lots to live up to. anyway, went onstage. and guess what i see first. adrian seated in the middle of the front rows. seriously. he seemed larger than life that he just stuck out of the crowd. the jap songs were ok. "good old acapella" went well. we finally got backstage, totally relieved! it's over!! we did so well!!!! they say that applause for us was much louder than applause for the rest of the choir. btw, jas and sumi says they gave us a standing ovation, but sadly, we couldn't see them cos they were at the back of the hall. yup, some of the juniors (don't know how to call them) joined the main choir again for the indonesian songs they sang at "voyage of songs". i wish i could have seen what they looked like, a sea of red gowns with a few black and jeans scattered in between.

caught up with jas and sumi backstage. they brought those cute toy flowers! thanks sweeties! saw grace and mei yan also. anyway, alumni went back to the circle for the 2nd half. no seats for us tho. they had to release our reserved seats to accomodate ticket holders. but found a seat in the end. saw dr s and naresh. went to say hi to naresh. sumi, you should be proud, the first thing naresh said after the, "hey you're here." to me was "where's sumithra?". muahahahahahaha! pity we couldn't find him after the performance tho. yup. sunset boulevard was fine. i still think they should have given the soloists mics. alumni was hooting and hollering, but knew better than to yell for encore. (cos they didn't prepare an encore so kwei wouldn't allow them to sing one)

yup, after the concert, hung around downstairs. trying to find naresh who, as usual, disappeared. zaidah was her usual self, taking her own sweet time with the hugs and goodbyes. cass was cute becoming really sassy after she lost her flower. saw adam by himself. caught up with adrian a bit. geez. it was hot outside, after the aircon inside. lucky i didn't have my hair down. i would have melted. oh ya, cass was scaring jasmine's cousin cos he apparently looks like jackie cheung and she was going ga-ga over that fact. well, ya, night ended after we FINALLY managed to drag zaidah away from the group. yup. beautiful night. loved it. can't wait for next year. hang on. i don't wanna be around for next year. i wanna be in canada this time next year. lol.

moving on. church choir. khoo's finally gotten round to changing the positioning of the choir. now, we're no longer facing the altar. rather, we've rotated 90 degrees right to face the field and windows instead. and guess what. there's TIERS now. true, it's not very big tiers, but the point is that it's not equally levelled anymore. major excitement when we first saw the change. anyway, now i'm standing in the aisle to conduct, which is a pain, especially during communion, cos i can't block the aisle. we'll try and figure out something to fix that. hopefully. partly i like it. it makes the choir seem more pro and forces them to think about the image they're presenting to the congregation (no more sms-ing or sleeping during mass). but i also don't really like it cos it's hard to communicate with the organ and i can't see how the congregation is responding anymore. :P have to really depend on hearing. anyone got any other comments about the new positioning?

and the robert loh called me to tell me that i got a place for the gregorian chant workshop. so, NICK, i'll attend that first then come back and teach the choir. i got this feeling i'm the only one from st stephen's. cos he asked me if there's going to be anyone else coming from my church. haha. i said maybe. going to bring it up at the meeting.

yup. anyway, did you know that recently, i've come to 'hate' special occasions? not really hate as in hate. but i just don't really like them so much. birthdays, anniversaries, special days like these. i don't know. becoming more and more indifferent towards towards things like these. i should be a hermit in future. maybe go and become a tibetian nun and live in some village in the himalayas. anyway, what's bad about days like these is that, people expect to be treated differently, and when they aren't, they get so mad. like mother's day. out of the blue dad came along and yelled at me to go help mum with the breakfast cos it's mother's day. can he not see that i'm not done with my morning stuff yet?? and why me?? why not that bro of mine??? anyway, so, cold war all morning just because of that. is it supposed to be MY fault?? you know what? i'm dreading my 21st bdae next year. cos everyone will be making a big fuss about it but I don't care. it's just another birthday, another number. so, almost 2 years in advance i'll say, do not even THINK of doing anything special for me. i don't want it. i don't need it. i don't care.

but i'm going off topic. mother's day. it went ok. :P nothing really special. went to swensons for lunch. supposed to treat mum but i don't know why i even bother to suggest. she had vouchers which she used, then refused to let us pay the difference. so, we said, ok, we'll pay for dinner, pizza or something. then when we get back, she cooks up something else for dinner. whatever lah. she goes catatonic when we wanna use our NETS for anything at all. (as you can tell, i probably didn't have that great a day) swensons was ok. drank this forest fruit flavoured lipton tea, which was, imo, diluted to the point of grossness. don't know why leh. the tea bag was still in the cup and i left it there until the last drop of liquid was drunk, but it still tasted like faintly flavoured hot water.

quite a slack day. went to library where it was too crowded to read, so just grabbed books and checked them out. btw, the $0.15 fine i incurred was considered an OUTSTANDING fine. if it was $15 i understand why you'd call it outstanding. but 15 cents? anyway, i paid it. i could barely remember which book it was for. it was THAT long ago. FINALLY got hold of "kite runner". so now i can go see what's all the fuss about. got kafka's "the castle" also. got home, talked to mu hua on msn. long time no see her. suprised that she actually wants to keep in touch. i mean, we weren't THAT close. she was never in my class. just someone i see around the sch, in the bus.

oh ya. i finally bought dvds to clear out my hard drive. FINALLY can get rid of the 2 JNTs hanging around that i don't watch anymore but can't bear to delete. but it can't playback on my dvd player. only on the comp. cos i stored it as data files. haha! 4.7GBs of space is alot. have to do that for my videos and music pretty soon. and if and when i'm done clearing out my comp, i'll have to clear out my room. my cabinets and closets have been hit by the great mess monster again. yuppers. i'm betting this'll be my job this hols. cleaning my room.

which reminds me, top priority. 'fumigate' my room to get rid of the fucking mosquitoes. 17 mosquito bites on my legs alone. geez. i'm a prime candidate for dengue again. and i CANNOT afford to have dengue again. no no. kill me. nutmeg balm and mopiko have become my best friends.

forgot to mention. chris daughtry is eliminated from AI. *jaw drops onto floor* damn. why america? why??! last week's idol was weird. 4 of them left. they were separated into 2 groups, chris and kat, taylor and elliot. one of them was the bottom. and i seriously thought it would be elliot to be eliminated. i mean, chris is good. he was hot favourite to win. and now...darn. considering whether or not to continue watching. i mean, i don't care about the other 3 very much, especially not for taylor. i admit, he's good, but i just don't like him for some reason. elliot may be the next out. but, who knows? sigh. hope chris releases an album. i will buy it.

p.s. sorry sumi and jas and all. probably going to watch "da vinci code" with jacqueline and feng cai instead. hope you understand. hard for the 3 of us to meet up. need to cherish every time we do.



mood: after lunch sleepy effect
listening to: where the streets have no name - U2.

La Risonanza 3

la risonanza 3 has ended. it was exhilirating. sang in it for the alumni choir. 2 songs. "yukiga tokeru/tosaka" and "good old acapella". 12 of us sang. :D good performance for the alumni's first performance.

i'll talk more detail about it another time.

now, i wanna share this song. last night, they did "sunset boulevard" and there was one song that really struck me. it was kinda sad. reminds me very strongly about the theme of nostalgia, about how some people yearn so hard for a lost space in time that they cannot function in reality. this song was done when norma, whose acting career has diminished, returns to paramount studios in the mistaken belief that her career is going to be relaunched back into her glory days. it's sad really. i'll let the song lyrics speak for itself.

I don't know why I'm frightened
I know my way around here
The cardboard trees, the painted seas, the sound here
Yes, a world to rediscover,
But I'm not in any hurry,
And I need a moment.

The whispered conversations
In overcrowded hallways.
The atmosphere as thrilling here as always.
Feel the early morning madness,
Feel the magic in the making,
Why, everything's as if we never said goodbye.

I've spent so many mornings
Just trying to resist you.
I'm trembling now, you can't know how I've missed you.
Missed the fairy tale adventures
In this ever spinning playground.
We were young together.

I'm coming out of makeup,
The lights already burning.
Not long until the cameras will start turning.
And the early morning madness,
And the magic in the making,
Yes, everything's as if we never said goodbye.

I don't want to be alone,
That's all in the past.
This world's waited long enough,
I've come home at last.

And this time will be bigger
And brighter than we knew it.
So watch me fly, we all know I can do it.
Could I stop my hand from shaking,
Has there ever been a moment
With so much to live for?

The whispered conversations
In overcrowded hallways.
So much to say, not just today, but always.
We'll have early morning madness,
We'll have magic in the making,
Yes, everything's as if we never said goodbye.

Yes, everything's as if we never said goodbye, goodbye...



mood: nostalgic
listening to: as if we never said goodbye - barbara streisand

da vinci code

today, let's talk about the da vinci code. the movie's coming out soon and it's been one heck of a controversial one. the latest is that the church is calling for a mass boycott of the movie, solely on the grounds that the movie is 'blasphemous' and insulting towards christianity. i have not seen the movie yet (duh) but i've read the book a few times. so, here's some views.

first and foremost, the very point that a lot of people seem to be missing: the da vinci code is FICTIONAL. that means, IT IS NOT REAL. dan brown did not market it as a non-fiction book, it was marketed as a novel. which means that readers should not take everything in it for granted as true. i think the reason why people get deceived by the book is because of dan brown's writing style, to mix fact and fiction. i read somewhere that in the mixing of fact and fiction, a stronger lie is created. anyway, because it's fiction, readers should be aware that the sole purpose of the book is not to educate, but to profit and entertain. and i must say, it has achieved this objective. true, the ideas dan brown presents in the novel are interesting, but readers should verify the truth of these stuff. do not be like lemmings and blindly jump over the cliff with the rest of the crowd. seeing the church authorities calling for a boycott of the movie, i wonder whether they realise that the content was not meant to be considered as real. in cases like this, it is up to the authorities to educate the people in what they feel is true and what they feel is not. failure to do so, and merely telling people "don't watch the movie, don't read the book" opens up opportunities for conspiracy seekers to think, "oh..there's something the vatican is trying to hide." they may think that the vatican thinks that this movie will open up pandora's box or something about the faith, a sure sign that there IS something that they want to hide. it's like that pink elephant thing. the more you're told not to think of a pink elephant, the more you'll think about one. (try it)

i've read other books dealing with this subject matter. and i conclude that, yes, the bible contains a number of fallacies concerning the cruxifiction (i'm sorry my spelling's going down the drain). BUT that's not the point. the bible is not and should not be taken as a historical document. to my understanding, it was written for the purpose of instruction. ie, it's the message that matters, and not the nitty details. the writers of the bible would have been more interested in the message of jesus rather than in his background. for example, somewhere i read that the cruxifiction is not a literal nailing to the cross, but rather, a symbolic death. fine. the point is not whether or not jesus really died by being nailed to a cross, but rather, what does that mean? what does it mean that someone died FOR our sins and rose again and says that in doing so, he's saving the world? that book that talked about this said that, the symbolic death is representative of a rebirth, like the process of enlightenment. that one claimed that, as a very influencial teacher, jesus would have undergone this process as a rite of passage in the process of building his ministry. SO, this means that the factual content of dying and resurrection is not the main point but it is the symbolic meaning of the 'dying' and 'resurrection' that matter. i guess most of the stuff in the da vinci code lies on the premise that the bible is lying about stuff. but like i said above, the bible does not exist as a history book. true, there are stuff that could be proven historically. but the main point is not historical accuracy but content accuracy. the message matters more than whether jesus was married or not. for eg, what would happen if you found that sang nila utama never existed? that the whole 'singapura' story was fake? would it cause matters to change?

i don't really understand why the da vinci code is undergoing all this flack. i mean, there's lots of other books around that claim that jesus and mary magdalene were married and the bloodline theory etc etc. there are tons of other fiction books also that deal with prickly topics in christianity (one i recently read was about someone being cloned from cells from the shroud of turin and the vatican wanting to use this created christ to set up the 2nd coming of christ). my point is, why is it that it is specifically the da vinci code that's being targetted? why not books like "holy blood and the holy grail"? after all, that book came before da vinci code, AND it's marketed as a non-fiction book. the authors fully claim that that their claims are true. i smell conspiracies here. people planted in the crowd and yelling out against the book to generate publicity. i am not accusing anyone of anything here. but i'm just curious as to the huge reactions towards this book, even before it was made into a movie. it could have just sank back into the huge pool of best sellers, but it didn't. and it generated such controversy that other books with similarly 'blasphemous' content did not. there are a lot of people who stand to gain by the strong reactions to this book.

conclusion. i'm not condemning this book. i think that as a novel, it is highly entertaining and interesting. it challenges people to re-think about things they take for granted about christianity. but it should not be taken at face value as being true. people who are truely interested in the subject matter should look up other books that have been properly researched and analysed, rather than rely on a book that was never meant to be a textbook anyway. by all means, read the book, watch the movie. but don't readily believe what you see. we're all educated people growing up in this age of information. aren't we trained to question what we see? this value should not lapse just because the subject is glamourised and controversial. as christians, we should not take this as an attack against our faith. it would be so much more beneficial to use it as a learning point, to delve more deeply into our faith. maybe you fear that you'll find that everything you know about christianity was based on a lie. yes, it will change your perspective, but will it change your faith? that is the question.



mood: cheerful
listening to: orphans of god - avalon

end of the week

and it's the end of the week again. what's been keeping me busy?

the mj alumni practices. they've been going on and on since friday. tired. really tired. thank goodness i still got stock of pi pa gao. and thank god i'm not singing for the aj concert. i'll just DIE. my voice cracked just now at the lector stand. fuck. i think i'm trying to do too much with myself and having too little time management. muahahahahaha! was it only 3 days ago that i was struggling over the soci exam?

talking about the exam. that seems ages ago. soci was ok. haha! hopefully. the childhood essay was ok. talking about the theories of childhood. i talked about the functionalists, new theorists and vygotsky. so hopefully it was correct and dr wang isn't too strict. the youth part was a slight disaster. did the question on consumption. i remembered the main points, but not the explainations. so, i had to concoct my own explainations to the points. haha! but i don't think i'll fail. so relief. exams are over! vacation is here!!

went for munchie monkey dinner with su hui and duan hui after soci. malu-ated myself when i didn't realise that my lasagne bolongaise was lasagne. geez. too blur after exams. then, they didn't have oreo cheesecake, so had to take the brownie, which, while really nice and sinfully chocolately, wasn't exactly the same as oreo cheesecake. i'm babbling. never mind.

the mj practices. well, those went well. last night was cool. gerald managed to get us all to do the be-be parts of tosaka correctly at last. kudos to him. that's something even mr yong never managed to do successfully. there's 4 of us from my batch. hafiz is there too!

anyway, i'm currently unemployed. looking for a job now. willing and able to work, 5 and 1/2 day week. $6 per hour (negotiable) from 15 may(mon) - 15 july (sat). anyone got lobang, let me know. ABSOLUTELY NO DOOR-TO-DOOR SALES.

trying to see if the music works. drop me a note now and then if you can hear it. it's Avalon's "Orphans of God"

Who here among us has not been broken
Who here among us is without guilt or pain
So oft’ abandoned by our transgressions
If such a thing as grace exists
Then grace was made for lives like this

There are no strangers
There are no outcasts
There are no orphans of God
So many fallen, but hallelujah
There are no orphans of God

Come ye unwanted and find affection
Come all ye weary, come and lay down your head
Come ye unworthy, you are my brother
If such a thing as grace exists
Then grace was made for lives like this

O blessed Father, look down upon us
We are Your children, we need Your love
We run before Your throne of mercy
And seek Your face to rise above




mood: blur
listening to: queen of my heart - westlife

elections are coming

before you start reading, please read this disclaimer. the writer of this blog is by no means anti-PAP, nor is she trying to spread anti-government sentiments, nor does she mean any disrespect to the people/politics mentioned here. take this blog in a teasing/joking light that does not mean anything.

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yup, elections are coming again. not that it means anything much to me. PAP will return to power, matthias yao will still be MP in macpherson. end of story.

the PAP truck is SO irritating. going round and round and round and round. "my fellow residents. singapore will go to the polls on saturday 6 of may. remember, you must vote for the party that will serve you and your needs. vote PAP." something like that. the chinese and tamil versions specifically say "vote matthias yao chih". *rolls eyes* just realised that there isn't a malay translation. or i haven't heard it yet. haha! damn irritating sia!!! people trying to study and every so often "my fellow residents!! qin ai de mai bo seng ju ming!! do the right thing! vote PAP! vote matthias yao chih!!". argh!! i could just scream "shut the hell up!!!!!!!!" damn. thank god they only do that once in 5 years. the truck is now parked downstairs. hope it short circuits and dies.

anyway, the matthias yao came to my house today. ;D he crazy come at such a stupid time when no one is at home. it was the middle of the freaking afternoon for goodness sakes. the whole 4th floor, only my house and the one at the end opened up to him. muahahaha! well, anyway, mum talked to him. apparently, there's going to be a lift that ah-ma's side. at last. me was hiding behind the door cos of some stupid reason. anyway, ya. they chit chatted quite long. poor fella probably thinks he's gotten a whole family of votes but it's only one. mum's the only one in this house that can vote at the moment. haha!

i have no idea who's the other fella contesting here. SDA i think. the posters look like advertisements for real estate agent. the guy looks SO fierce lor! he needs to hire another publicity rep. someone that will tell him, SMILE FOR THE GODDAMN CAMERA LAH!!!! that look alone will lose him the election. haha! not that the matthias yao is so good looking either. he just needs his teeth to be a little bit sharper and he'll have the splitting image of a vampire. *rolls eyes again*

ETA: the SDA truck just passed by. sigh. just when the PAP truck decided to shut up, the SDA had to come and take over. and well, listening to the SDA truck, that guy really really REALLY needs another publicity rep. the message is totally put off-ing lor. the only thing he says, literally, is "macpherson, vote SDA!" argh. there's practically non-stop truck noise today. wonder how much they pay those fellas to drive the trucks round and round and round and round all day.

and now, the PAP truck is back. sigh.
(edited wednesday 03052006)




mood: irritated
listening to: you raised me up - josh groban

blogging again

here i am. blogging when i should be studying soci. one more exam to go yet i'm acting like it's already all over. sigh. and who can i blame when i don't do well? i'm a perfect example of self-defeating attitudes (i think it's called). the one where you know you're not going to do well so you set up the circumstances such that it'll explain why you didn't do well. (psych haha!) but, soci isn't so stressful. dr wang and prof ho were good teachers.

well, recap of my week. the 3 exams in a row. psych was alright. tricky choices. EL went fine. lost 10 marks cos i didn't know how to do and practically left one question almost totally blank. thank god peter tan doesn't negative mark. EL was held in sheares hall. the hall was freezing cold. gosh. then was EN. that one i seriously wasn't looking forward to. and that joseph rattling off the schools of thought regarding audience conceptualisation didn't really help much. (in retrospect, it did lah) that one was held at AS6. 2 rooms opening into one big hall in the psych department. i went in there and got lost in the hall. couldn't find my seat. long embarassing story. then, when i found my seat, i realised that instead of grabbing my water bottle, i had grabbed my wallet instead. damn. what an inauspicious start. anyway, the paper itself was ok. could have been a whole lot worse (remembering last sems cultural studies). the first question (the compulsory one), i have to thank joseph. it was about audience conceptualisation, wrt Scream 3. i think, if he didn't recite those theories, i wouldn't have remembered them. so thanks so much joseph! the next question we could choose so i picked the one on advertising cos it specified the readings and i DID the readings! muahahahahaha! i thought. so i crapped off stuff about the oil painting and simulations etc. BUT shock horror, after the exam, joseph showed me the reading. i referred to the wrong reading!! damn. it was the reading about the coca cola ads. i thought it was talking about the other advertising reading. but hopefully dr wee is lenient and she can see that i really did the reading. sigh. self-defeating strategies. i already did so badly for this module, it'll be a miracle if i can scrape a C. i should have tried to S/U it when i had the chance.

ok. then, saturday. went for mj alumni choir practice with duan hui. haha! that was fun. lots of the juniors were there. besides the 2 of us, zaidah (and maybe jeffrey. sorry, i don't know how to classify him.) was the only ones from our batch. the rest were younger than us. so, no wonder they were so excited to see us. haha! zhi lian. they were going to sing "yuki ga tokeru-tosaka" and "good old acapella". a word about "good old acapella", i learnt it in SAC but i learnt the BASS part. muahahaha! so i can sing with jeffrey and the other fella (don't know/forgot his name. paiseh.) the sops were very very very very soft for this song. despite they having the majority of strength. but it was fun to be back at mj.

sunday. went out for buffet lunch that mum says is her easter lunch. that went ok. janice went. cute girl was eating mee with her fingers. mum says she keeps acting like she's drunk, laughing and giggling at any small provocation. :D anyway, finally talked to ah-ku about student exchange. he says he rather'd i go somewhere more prestigious. UBC isn't exactly a well sought after place. he also says that if i really wanna go somewhere, go to Beijing U. *eyes wide with shock* cos china is coming up and it'll be really beneficial to make contacts now with china. erm... don't know what to say. but i doubt i'll go to china for SEP. i'll just die. my chinese so horrigible. he didn't really take a stand about whether SEP is good or not. so, i'm just as confused as ever. sigh. my ah-ku is an ally i was counting on. but we'll see what happens when they open SEP applications.

oh ya. forgot to mention, kellie pickler is FINALLY off american idol!!!!!!! yay!!! i feel so evil. never liked her much. so act cute i think. what's with that "i don't have an accent" thing?? damn, the only person there who has a stronger accent than you is simon. her accent even shows when she sings. geez. quit denying girl. i haven't watched the recording that i made yet, but i read that she butchered the version of "unchained melody" that clay had "sexily and lovingly caressed" when he sang it. er...i never liked "unchained melody" either, but i know it doesn't take much to kill that song. anyway, my take for the top 3 this year: katherine, chris, paris. and i hope chris wins. :D it's time a guy won again.




mood: don't know
listening to: i believe in you - il divo & celine dion