stolen colours

Which is a line from Zeppet Stone’s It’s So Blue. I haven’t listened to jrock for so long…ach.

Grading today was surreal. The SAFRA Tampines dojo is actually this room isolated on the corner of a ‘rooftop’, just that the rooftop is on the 2nd floor. The mats were bright blue and hypnotising; the patterns shifted and the shades changed if you looked at them for too long. It was so hot they put the fans at maximum speed and Sensei’s voice echoed so badly I couldn’t hear him most of the time…luckily I managed to catch the important parts, like which technique to do next. Wasn’t nervous at all throughout my turn because it was really like a normal training session once I got into the rhythm of performing the techniques. Catch hand – step out – twist under – lock hand – fall – lock arm – swivel on knee – get up – catch hand… It’s really like a dance, even more so when you watch the senior belts. Everything is so fluid and circular and graceful. One thing, though: it really takes a lot of stamina to get through that intensive half-hour or hour…

The girls get to wear hakama at an earlier stage than guys; I think because it’s not so nice to have girls going about in semi-transparent white pants. But it can’t be denied that the movements look much better when the aikidoka is clad in hakama, though that’s very cumbersome and HOT. One senior’s glasses flew off into the middle of some techique and nearly got crushed – you could feel everyone (except Sensei) gasping inside.

The regular gang of white belts all made it through today. I really want to keep progressing at the same pace with them and getting through every grading with the same bunch of people. I want to get my hakama at the same time that the other girls do. I must, must try to keep going for training regularly…today it was very evident who the regulars were i.e. the people who Sensei didn’t scream at. In the past I thought that I’d keep at Aikido till blue or blue-gold belt, then drop out ‘cos of heavy schedule…but watching the brown and black belts grading today, I now want to reach their level at least. Really, really hope I’ll be able to manage my time in the future. It’s rather silly, but right now I don’t feel like going for training some days because it starts at 7pm and I end classes at 11am…but once I step onto the mats all that matters is the present. I can do the same technique at every session, yet still learn something new each time. Such wonder it is.

Oh yah. I passed today. So I now wear a blue belt. Though Sensei says “Wearing a blue belt means that you’re WORKING ON getting a blue belt.”

Bag fetish takes over: I bought another bag today. Aiyah.

rie: *lol* He-ey, didn’t know you became an AI convert *lol* Nooo, i didn’t see that sms!! You mean there were intelligent smses there? *Lol* got so sick of the bad grammar and spelling i refused to look in that area *lol*

Haha…I was mildly interested in American Idol because of Simon; at first I watched because of him, but now I’m genuinely interested in the contestants. I watch to relieve stress lah Generally I don’t really look at teh SMSes, just that deepblue caught that particular one about M3s and told me. I can’t stand the bad english too! And what’s with all those little primary and secondary school kids advertising which school they’re from and shouting “to Class ___ from School ___ I love you!” #$*@#( it’s not an online dedication thing, just keep to the subject of AI. (On the other hand, I might have more sucess reminding my tutorial group to turn up for tutorials through AI than handphone SMSes…) And how about some intelligent conversation? Half the messages go “I want William Hung back!”, a quarter go “Stop talking about William Hung.” and the rest go “I love my classmates.” At least, that’s what I gathered the first (and last) time I paid any attention to those SMSes.

This post addresses someone’s rant, and more ‘cos it’s an opportunity for me to write about some things that I’ve been thinking about and figuring out for some time. I don’t think you’re the only one who feels that way; I have too, in the past, and have to struggle not to at times even now. But! How about trying the it’s-like-that-lor-just-leave-it-and-think-happy approach?

Addressing the first point: I find that when someone in a group questions, I’m in awe of him/her because he has taken the effort to think through the subject deeply and argue things from many different viewpoints (that I never knew existed) and gotten doubts in the process. I just understand whatever I’ve learnt on the surface, without bothering to go deeper because I don’t want to waste time and get frustrated if I end up stuck in a maze of confusion. I’m deeply thankful for such people because they trigger me to think. I hate sounding like the people who advocate project-based learning, but the discussion process is highly beneficial, probably more so than the end product. It’s competitive in medfac ‘cos everyone is either configured to mug and score or wired to slack and score – how d’you think we even got the grades to get to the interview in the first place – But that’s not the point now. There’re so few of us we’ve got to band together and get through medschool as a class. And then cover one another’s asses in the future when we get sued for malpractice.

Secondly…sports people have a hobby – sports. Like how computer freaks make a hobby out of webpage designing, or artistically-inclined people like to sit under trees sketching. It’s just that in the case of the sportspeople, indulging in a beloved activity has the side effect of giving them a good body because of the nature of the activity itself. Like how violinists have crooked little fingers. That’s all. (this pertains to those who love sports for its sake, and not those who exericse solely to look good.) I guess you can either 1) continue being envious of them 2)start exercising 3)accept that you’re lazy and stop being envious.

Looks are more grooming and attire than actual face structure, I think.
(Btw Dr Shali Shen is a prime example of how to age beautifully, apart from being a great tutor. She is my new role model.)

Affluence? No point in being rich if you spend money on clothes, shoes and other frivolous items. (how many clothes do you need when you have but one body?) It’s about the same as being not so rich because that’s money not well spent i.e. not exchanged for something meaningful.

People do not make friends because they want some kind of return from their friends. Never, never, ever. Your friends probably feel the same way you do. I have had thoughts that I haven’t been a good friend; but through reading those survey things that people do in emails and blogs, I was really, really surprised to find out how much I mean to my friends and how they thought of me – certainly a lot more than I’d thought. Of course my head didn’t swell up lah. But it did give me some assurance.

[There was this story in Reader's Digest (a really long time ago) about this young nun-teacher who got her class to write good things about one another. So each student had a sheet of paper where every classmate had written something about him/her. Some kept it throughout their lives; it meant that much. ]

To all my friends: thank you.

To my DLP: you’ve kept me going, especially at various bad points in my life, whether by what you did or just being there

(And no, DLP is not an abbreviation for some part of the human body.)

Well, I’m back from Ang Mo Kio library with a tower of books that I’ll probably not be able to finish reading before the due date. I made true on my promise and got myself a book on sketching…now if I can only tear myself away from my computer and go read my books.

I like the non-living aspect of Ang Mo Kio library i.e. the shelves that aren’t too high or dusty, nice carpet, cool computers with the catalogue, comfy chairs and all, but I detest the living aspect. The library seems to be a family spot for all the households in Ang Mo Kio; you have kids and teens and aunties all yakking at the top of their voices. It’s a LIBRARY, for goodness sakes! Any conversation you want to have, you can have elsewhere, and at another time.

The next thing that gets me upset is seeing little kids fiddling around with the catalogue computers such that people like me who actually want to USE them can’t. (I actually asked them “Are you playing or using”? They replied “Playing. What does that button up there do?”) You have parents who dump their kids in the children’s section and sneak off to armchairs to read i-weekly. I don’t blame them, because their kids are absolute terrors who go around terrorising someone else instead of them during those few minutes of respite.

*wryly* You can tell that I don’t like humans who fall in the age range of 2 to 10 years.

Can’t wait for next Wednesday. Wednesday and Thursday nights are reserved for watching American Idol on the cable TV beside my computer and having an ICQ conference about it with Deepblue. Did you guys see the SMS message for the most recent one? One said (Deepblue pointed it out to me): “M3s watching this, you should be ashamed of yourselves!”

Got so bored in the library trying to do last minute cramming before CA that I started sketching the tree outside the window. The thing about the library is that everything is all straight lines and right angles. There’s nothing interesting to sketch, unless you happen to get a window seat. I’m now inspired to get books on sketching from the library just so I can occupy myself during boring tutorials and lectures. (If you’re reading this, Greg, I do not intend to start sketching Prof G’s nose at all.)

Oh my…they’re showing Mandarin-dubbed Furuba on Ch 8.

From alanna’s page:

masque Oscar Agility 8 | Strength 7 | Stamina 9 Battle Rating 24 Origins masque was found trapped in a can of tuna Can your fishy beat masque ?

Heh. I tried with plhu and spleen too, but the one for masque came out tops.

And Anatomy Quiz Part II (from qich’s blog)

11. Fav nerve plexus: Superior mesenteric plexus. It sounds so high-and-mighty, doesn’t it?
12. Fav digit (hand): The little finger aka Digiti Minimi. Assonance rules.
12. Fav digit (foot): Big toe.
13. Fav ligament: Stylomandibular ligament. Damn stylo.
14. Fav action (at any joint): Pronation at the proximal radioulnar joint. Look at your arm! See how the radius pivots!
15. Fav cavity: Uhm…maxillary sinus. ‘cos it’s easy to identify.
16. Fav facial muscle: Levator palpabrae superioris…is that counted? It’s like the anatomical equivalent of Wingardium leviosum.
17. Fav cranial nerve: Vagus Nerve!
18. Fav bone in the head: Sphenoid. I like butterflies.
19. Fav organ: Spleen, of course.
20. Fav cartilage: Nasal cartilage. Gives you the nice shape of your nose.

I must go back to HCJC with tonnes of goodies and chicken essence for the bio department. *hugs her sexual repro notes*

I should come up with a “Most Hated” anatomy quiz. Qich was rather optimistic when she composed the quiz I did in my earlier post. Today’s anatomy tutorial was bad. Prof Gopal expects so much of us; just because we are average people with average memory capacities – unlike his previous groups of prodigies who never scored below 75 – does not mean that we do not take our studies seriously.

By our very own qichang:

The big things first…
1. Fav bone: Talus! Beautiful name…I could imagine some male character in a fantasy novel having that name. (btw the talus is a bone in your foot)
2. Fav joint: the knee joint. it’s really rather fascinating.
3. Fav nerve: The Vagus Nerve. i.e. CN X i.e. the wanderer i.e. Rurouni Kenshin i.e. Samurai X. (that’s how I remember that CN X is the vagus nerve)
4. Fav artery: Splenic artery. What else?
5. Fav vein: Cephalic vein. My right cephalic vein is VERY superficial.
6. choose 1 fr cubital fossa, popliteal fossa, anatomical snuffbox: The anatomical snuffbox. Coolest name, that.
7. Fav muscle: Triceps surae. Fine, I’m cheating ‘cos that’s 3 muscles…but I like my triceps surae.
8. Fav ganglion: Otic ganglion. The word ‘otic’ fascinates me.
9. Fav canal: Hypoglossal canal. Because it’s so easy to guess what goes through it.
10. Fav gland: Pancreas, ‘cos it does so many things.

Just ordered a whole lot of things from books.com.tw. I must be the most prolific online shopper I know (save SJX); Mother isn’t surprised at the brown paper packages that arrive for me every month or so.

My hair is fading.
I must fulfil my ambition (and shmeen’s and victoria’s) and appear in the LT as funky Japanese schoolgirl soon…after my things get out of the wash.

Name analysis here, which Alanna did:

[my given name]
You don’t fair well under inharmonious conditions. You are very peace loving. You can get very upset when you are frustrated. You can be quite inventive and quite curious. You are relatively demonstrative in your affections. You enjoy being stroked verbally and physically. You have a diplomatic flair to your nature. Equality and fairness are important to you. You need to learn to give and receive love for love’s sake. You have a need to be assured of affection. You can handle details well. You have a methodical mind.

[surname]
You are an 11th hour person, always succeeding just in the nick of time. The lesson of money is prominent in your life. You are soft-hearted with a charitable nature.

Good grief…it’s rather accurate, even down to the specific sides of me the various personas represent! There’re overlaps for the various names, which points to consistency…or just very few stock phrases in the program’s database.

What do I do about my links column??? How to arrange??? By alphabetical order, or ‘groups’, like ‘my JC friends”, “my sec sch friends”, “my cosplay friends” etc..and then there are people who fall into more than one group. Grr.

Went out with Alanna, min, shuui, gnoserif, doll and ivory yesterday to Fort Canning for Alanna’s course project based on Alice in Wonderland. I’m so glad I got to be the March Hare ‘cos that meant I was in the tea party shots, which are the most colourful. (and I got to sit down.) Posing is a real workout that taxes one’s abdominal and back muscles most, and then all the other muscles. Wearing a skirt doesn’t give one a large variety of comfortable positions. (Sigh. Cannot utilise sartorius.) Alanna lent me fishnet pantyhose and red-and-black-striped socks to wear; the socks were cool, but the pantyhose itched terribly. Don’t know how she wore them to school for the whole day before. We had lots of company at Fort Canning yesterday: antother bunch of cosplayers; and a tourist (I think…well, he’s Caucasian) who was rather intrigued by the whole thing and actually approached us, though he was too embarrassed to ask for a photo. It was great fun, anyway though poor Alanna was rushing about madly all the time. All that singing and reminiscing was delightful; but I didn’t really join in because I’ve never watched a full episode of Sesame Street – somehow I found colourful furry things that moved rather revolting back then. Would have joined them for dinner at Cafe Cartel, but I felt so tired I decided to go back home. (whereby I got accosted by sister for science tuition. argh.) Should have stayed on!!!! Grr… and lynn made an appearance later. @(*#$#*%@)(#&%$#(*

So that was yesterday. Today I went to Kinokuniya at the behest of Mother, who wanted the free handbag that comes with Her World and Citabella. I cannot wait for the next discount period, because…THERE ARE TWO JI MI BOOKS OUT THAT I HAVEN’T BOUGHT!!!! hei1 bai2 yi1 jing4 (strange black-and-white scenes) and you4 ji4 mo4 you4 mei3 hao3 (lonely and beautiful). Both are hard cover, costing $20+ and $30+ respectively. Ach. Maybe books.com.tw is cheaper…