oh oh. pictures!
i didn't really take any pictures because i couldnt really be bothered.
every chinese new year is about the same anyway.

but if this is the first chinese new year you'd have known me these pictures should show how everyhing normally goes.

courtesy of mom's n70.


mom's side of the family.




not even half of dad's side, couldn't find the other picture of the whole family, but heck.
my grandma is ancient, but she's darned quick. see the hands?

i told you she'd own your ass.



me pigging on the yu sheng, not caring about the person who took the photo, unlike my cousin, like almost all girls - attracted to flashes and photos.



spoiling the picture. i wanted to do a buu buu luv euu pose thing, but it seems my brother's hand was in the way. dang.
my brother is 22. hahahaha. i guess we age slowly.


without fail, every chinese new year has to have some picture of me being myself, totally stupid, or just making a complete fool of myself.







this year? the whole chinese garb wasnt all that a good idea.


but hey, it's tradition ain't it?

its finally chinese new year, and i'm already hating the good food and the stupid chinese new year songs that seem to on replay in every single shopping center around.

3 reunion dinners already.
we practice polygamy.


right.
well, my uncle just decided to treat twice because my uncle's brother just game back from overseas.

i'm not complaining.


well. after eating three sessions of reunion, and gaining what seems like 2-3 kilos and regretting it,

i've noticed something.

all chinese delicacies are almost totally tasteless.

sharksfin is tasteless.
birdsnest is tasteless.
abalone is almost tasteless.

according to my brother, and anyone who has enough common sense, sharksfin is the same thing as pig ears. and actually. the same as your nose bone.

they're all cartilage .

birdnest is just swallow spit. and i've got plently of spit to spare. i could swallow and then spit if you wanted.

abalone tastes like rubber chicken slices.


so why on earth do we eat 'em?
someone please inform me.

and who eats frog lung anyway.

the girl on the mrt

smile irradiating the atmosphere, unassisted by the braces she wore.
work almost unrecognizable under the girlish, giggle-punctuated conversation.
echoed innocence.

manifestation of purity,
outshining smiles which hide true intent, facades over empty exteriors.




teach me to smile.

i've come to realise how numb we are to everything around us, especially with daily bombings around the world, landslides, earthquakes, hurricanes constantly bombarding our sense with images of death and suffering.

today i saw a cockatoo sitting atop a street sign with an old lady prodding it with a bamboo stick.

the end is nigh.

POLINGLISH

today during history and theory of architecture lecture, the teacher said something about the people of the neo classicism period not knowing what greek architecture was, and it was alien to them, so when such influences were seen in the architecture of that time, it was technically innovation.
and i wanted to say "sounds like greek to me"

in my normal, ultra lame, totally not funny, dry humour way, which those who know me long enough know i have an affinity for.

but i held my tongue.

why?




because i doubted anyone would get it.

this brings to light the decline in the standard of english in a large proportion of polytechnic students. this has resulted in a new variant of english.
and thus i take it on myself the responsibility of educating the general public of some polytechnic lingo, in a bid to bridge the language barrier between outsiders and poly people.


borrow(used in place of normal english - lend)
def: to give something to someone for a short period of time, expecting it to be given back.
"can you borrow me your pen anot?"

as opposed to

lend(used in place of normal english - borrow)
def: to get or receive something from someone with the intention of giving it back after a period of time
"can i lend your pen anot?"

Rubber(used in place of normal english - eraser)
def: a small piece of rubber used to remove the marks made by a pencil
although apparently used in the uk in the same context, in most other places, its more affectionately refered to as:

def: a thin rubber covering that a man can wear on his penis during sex to stop a woman becoming pregnant or to protect him or his partner against infectious diseases

"can you borrow me your rubber?"

remember kids. do not share your condoms with anyone.

is (used interchangeably place of normal english - are)
def: we/you/they form of be
"you is daniel right?"

got (inserted to convert a statement into a question)
def: a word used to turn a statement into a question and making it not grammatically correct.

"lunch"
"you got eat lunch?"

as opposed to:

"have you eaten lunch?"

never
def: have not.

A: "have you eaten lunch?"
B: "i never!"

--------------------------------------------
tune in next week, for more new words!





the author is a student from a polytechnic, and assures that this post is not with any derogatory intent to people in polytechnics, because it would be stupid to laugh at himself. the target people being reffered to are probably small isolated groups, and so if you think you're not this category, then you aren't. dont feel insulted because it'll only prove just where you stand.

i cleaned in my room today.
nope, it's not a typo error.

as most of you would know, i'm still in the process of slowly doing up my room.
it's almost totally done, save the light which i shall change as soon as possible, but i digress.

so i had to go through all the things that i was putting back INTO my room.
and i sifted through all the things i packed into cardboard boxes hoping to throw as much as i could from the 3 big boxes of things i've never touched for the past few years, only to realise i couldn't bring myself to throw much away.

a trip down memory lane.






primary one really bad sketches of disfigured mickey mouse, a crocodile with 5 legs, and tanks, robots, and transformers.
everyone has to start somewhere right? and i think my warped mind started somewhere around there.
and boys, being boys - i had whole books of paper games we developed to occupy us during the times we didn't have a com.

keep improving, even if you feel you're hopeless at it.
you can only get better.

-----------------------------------------

primary school class photos from pri 1 to sec 4. missing a few years in between. can't seem to find em. and i'm quite happy though, because too many pictures of daniel the uber f4t kid would make a rod-thin person gain weight.
although there was this uberly f4tter kid in one of the pics that i remembered as the one i got into a fight with. oh what fun.

junior camp pictures. junior camp had always been a whole load of fun. sigh. oh, to be young, stupid and immature again.
junior camp notes from the leaders.
of which many either said you were pretty fulla crap, or you seems disinterested.
put nicely of course.

birthday cards, christmas cards. all the notes that meant a lot more than the senders knew.
so if you sent me a card before, it's probably in there. feels good to be appreciated ya'know.

primary school autographs on a broadband internet connection compact disk.

appreciate what you have before its all over.

-----------------------------------------

sajc first intake pictures, of which i've got multiple copies of because some people didn't collect theirs from me - the lousy class rep. any takers?
first intake notes, with scribblings on em - specifically chinese and econs.
graffitti, pigs, some like "anti-kelvin-tan-association" scribbles. and a cut out piece of paper which corinne gave me. i think it was part of a teacher's handout. wonder what its doing there.

letters i wrote but never sent.

short doesn't mean insignificant

-----------------------------------------

my suicide note i wrote in early sec 4 after i got my chinese o level results.
well, sorta like a suicide note, written on the back of a breadtalk paper bag. some crap about hating life and everything. hmmms.
weird. i know. CHINESE for one. and RESULTS. that is just wrong. since when did i care about results, especially CHINESE?
oh well..... i must have been having pms then or something, but it really was scary.
i made an important discovery then - killing yourself takes a whole load of guts.

not something i have, which you could have inferred from the fact that i'm still around.

don't be foolish.

-----------------------------------------

something someone gave me, and i can't bring myself to get rid of it even though i really wish i could. shall not elaborate.

the only valentine's day rose i've ever gotten. shrivelled up and a little brownish, smelling a little like potpurri now.

a bag of pins. from the times dad brought me to asian aerospace when i was a kid

a deck of magic the gathering cards, with a load of extras. secondary school memories which involved such suffering, like ....skipping lunch. x)

a copper sulphate crystal my brother gave me

my first attempt and sewing. which looks like a few pieces of cut cloth tied together.

its the small things that mean the most.

-----------------------------------------

stars made of straws. one for everyday i didn't see this girl. gosh.
what a sad case.

always do what you want set you mind to do, or it's all gonna be useless.

-----------------------------------------

everything packed into a plastic box, left under the table once again to collect dust till the next time i decide to be sentimental.

learn to let go.


but never forget.



-----------------------------------------
anyone wants me to scan anything and post it? like weird pictures?
just let me know.
we could have a good laugh together.

van wants to help me find a chick.

well. here are the prerequisites.
waivers considered.

1. can measure up to me with at least a 2:1 frag ratio.
2. is able to take a compulsive gaming habit.
3. doesnt play maplestory. x)
4. enjoys acting stupid, but knows how to carry herself in front of others when circumstances call for it.
5. draws well enough to critisize mine
6. likes design - but with preferably some brain in the brain sector.
7. be able to speak and write good english. chinese is a plus point 'cause i'd need someone to translate for me.
8. appreciates expensive/good food as much as instant noodles.
9. computer literate, can AT LEAST tell the difference between ram and harddisk. (can work around normal progs and stuff is good enough. not programming and whatnot.)
10. can tolerate the noise i call music.
11. has as much work as me so she doens't feel left out.
12. not too much of a poseur. (not too much because its almost impossible to find people who totally not influenced by another's style)
13. doesnt go around with public persona.
14. prefers made presents to bought ones - even if they're totally useless.
15. likes furry animals as much as i like killing them off... on paper.
16. doesnt sound like a man.
17. doesnt look like swamp thing, but doesnt waste excessive time on dolling up.
18. nice, corny/lame, and tells jokes at a higher level than "how can pigs fly?" "because air pork lor!". much higher thank you.
19. can hold a serious conversation.
20. loves God.

(: oh what fun.

i think the short asian looking chick on brainiac is cute.
todays episode referred to a group of brainiacs as "8 and a half brainiacs" because it involved the short cute chick. hahhaha. maybe coz she's short, but i've this sneaking suspicion that it's because she looks asian. hmms.
i dont even know if she's asian. hahahha. all i know is that she's cute.



hmmm.
and this is the best picture i could find. bleah

2005.

there were two kids living in a village.
they were neighbours, a little boy, and a little girl.
the little boy liked the girl a whole lot, and they became good friends.

now the boy was mute and never could put into words what he wanted to say.
for 4 years, the boy was unable to say anything, and tried to express himself in different ways.
every year on her birthday, he'd give a small figure, crafted out of clay he picked from the riverbank.
each figure expressed all the things he wanted to say, but was unable to.

feelings embodied in sculptures - feelings hidden under the fired clay.
but his representations went unfelt.

after four years, the boy left the village to study, while the girl remained.
on the day he left, he was still hesitant, and left without a word.
he left to study in the city for a year, and over the period of that year, both parties made new friends, studied different things, and never saw each other.

he forgot her birthday that year.

the year went by, and as the new year came, he finally saved just enough money to go back to the village, finally deciding to put across plainly what he wanted to say after a year of consolidation.
words scrawled on a piece of paper, he approached the village, walking up the dirt path to her house.
and when he approached it, it was then he realised she wasn't there,
clay sculptures on the steps up the barren house.

the first thing that came to his mind was finding her.
but he knew not where to go nor where to start looking.


so he sat on the steps
the only things he had were the tears in his eyes, a paper full of regret, and the wishes that she'd be happy wherever she was.
-------------------------------------------

as the new year begins, i've decided that the only resolution i'd like to make is to seize the moment - give that one shot, because you might not get a second chance.
learn from the past, and to not live in the regret of not doing what i should have.

don't hesitate.

farewell 2005,
hello 2006.





(all characters are purely fictional. i just made it up. any relation to any living person is pure coincidence. if you think the lameass art guy is you - its not. but if your situation somehow coincides with the staged situation, please do the right thing. )

EDIT:
my new year was spent watching fireworks, sitting at the old parliament building/supreme court steps and drinking lousy stuff with van, jon lame, dan ng, and a bunch of people who we don't know, visibly intrigued by our stupidity.

apparently, while sitting on the stairs, we decided to take a group pic.
we proceeded by desperately trying to fit ourselves into a picture, balacing a timed camera atop two bottles approximately 20cm high.



and it never occured to us, yes, us- all four of us, that it would be a lot wiser to just put the camera on the steps, and pose where the camera was placed due to our stupidity.



i'd like to think i was drunk.
at least we got the picture.