Arts Camp is over.
Maybe now I'll finally get some sleep. Although I still have to wake up early for archery elections tomorrow, along with Lixiang and Weiquan. I have a feeling the three of us are gonna look equally stoned. :P
Most people have two sides to them. It leaves you wondering which side it is you're seeing, or perhaps, on the off-chance, you're looking at one of the few who don't have sides-- the ones who're the same everywhere and with everyone.
Five days and four nights.
Day one- slightly stressed.
Day two- getting the hang of it, but depressed.
Day three- pissed off.
Day four- lost myself somewhere in between, but came back a lot happier. Alcohol (half-jug vodka lime, half jug Scotch coke-- Weiquan is *mad*-- and two Heinekens) can do a lot of things.
Day five- given the chance, would you want to live this strange agony-satisfaction-frustration-triumph mix all over again?
Sunday, June 25, 2006
2-nil!!
YAAAAYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Both goals to Podolski; am rather sad that Klose didn't score one (then we'd get to see his lovely flip :D), but well, I love both of 'em now. XD
Was chatting with Khim Nyang over MSN and he's in Munich, and he was saying how Munich was completely mad, and the whole city was cheering. He even connected the mic and let me hear it! Haha... XD
Klose and Podolski make Gerri a very happy girl indeed. XD
Saturday, June 24, 2006
I found something that makes me feel slightly happier. :)
Made by: lostdisaster
Because I like myboys characters pretty, angsty and slightly chipped and cracked around the edges. :P
Made by: lostdisaster
Because I like my
Friday, June 23, 2006
Back from Rag BBQ.
I realise that we seem to have a large core group of people this year; people who're willingly coming back to help, who actually believe that we can win this year.
We'd better win, man. I want so badly to win just once before I graduate. :P
And it seems like there are very few raggers in A House for Arts Camp; why is it that every year, A House seems to be the one house that we let fall through the cracks...?
And I've been put in A House for Arts Camp this year.
I remember telling the PR people that I didn't want to be a councillor, and just wanted to be helping out with the behind the scenes stuff, but I guess they put me into an OG anyway. And since I didn't express any preference, I guess they just put me into one at random.
I'm wondering if it isn't too late to ask to be put back into T House, if I really *have* to be a councillor. Sigh.
On the other hand, I'm not sure it's going to matter all that much even if I do have a House and an OG; I'm part of comm, and I probably won't be around with my OG much; last year I wasn't even part of the Camp comm itself and I already wasn't around much.
And speaking of Arts Camp, it's next week. Damn, that's fast.
And I just feel kinda... nihilistic at the moment. I wish I didn't have to do anything. But there's so much to be done.
Arts Camp food and transport needs to be settled; well, the food part is done, at least. Rag is currently making good progress, but our big dreams mean hard work-- we need a serious lot of freshie manpower. Flag... stuff needs to be done for that too.
So much... *stuff*. Such an inconsequential term for the things which take up all our time and bear it all away while we're not looking.
And I know I promised myself that I'd go back to writing this holiday, that I'd finish that one thing that I started... what, almost 5 years ago? I'd finish the one and a half chapters that have been waiting two, three years?
And I haven't found the time to.
When I think about it, a lot of my writing then was borne of a state of near-obsession-- when I spent almost every waking hour of the day thinking, dreaming, and almost living and breathing my characters and their universes.
It's that single-mindedness that I don't seem to have right now. Now, it seems that I'm thinking of too much stuff all at once and I'm not focussed and fractured and dispersed and all over the place.
My muse must feed on obsession.
I told Eugene once that part of the reason why I'm such a social hermit is because I spend entirely too much time in my head and not enough time in the world that I live in.
Lately, I'm starting to wonder where I've been these last two years.
I realise that we seem to have a large core group of people this year; people who're willingly coming back to help, who actually believe that we can win this year.
We'd better win, man. I want so badly to win just once before I graduate. :P
And it seems like there are very few raggers in A House for Arts Camp; why is it that every year, A House seems to be the one house that we let fall through the cracks...?
And I've been put in A House for Arts Camp this year.
I remember telling the PR people that I didn't want to be a councillor, and just wanted to be helping out with the behind the scenes stuff, but I guess they put me into an OG anyway. And since I didn't express any preference, I guess they just put me into one at random.
I'm wondering if it isn't too late to ask to be put back into T House, if I really *have* to be a councillor. Sigh.
On the other hand, I'm not sure it's going to matter all that much even if I do have a House and an OG; I'm part of comm, and I probably won't be around with my OG much; last year I wasn't even part of the Camp comm itself and I already wasn't around much.
And speaking of Arts Camp, it's next week. Damn, that's fast.
And I just feel kinda... nihilistic at the moment. I wish I didn't have to do anything. But there's so much to be done.
Arts Camp food and transport needs to be settled; well, the food part is done, at least. Rag is currently making good progress, but our big dreams mean hard work-- we need a serious lot of freshie manpower. Flag... stuff needs to be done for that too.
So much... *stuff*. Such an inconsequential term for the things which take up all our time and bear it all away while we're not looking.
And I know I promised myself that I'd go back to writing this holiday, that I'd finish that one thing that I started... what, almost 5 years ago? I'd finish the one and a half chapters that have been waiting two, three years?
And I haven't found the time to.
When I think about it, a lot of my writing then was borne of a state of near-obsession-- when I spent almost every waking hour of the day thinking, dreaming, and almost living and breathing my characters and their universes.
It's that single-mindedness that I don't seem to have right now. Now, it seems that I'm thinking of too much stuff all at once and I'm not focussed and fractured and dispersed and all over the place.
My muse must feed on obsession.
I told Eugene once that part of the reason why I'm such a social hermit is because I spend entirely too much time in my head and not enough time in the world that I live in.
Lately, I'm starting to wonder where I've been these last two years.
Monday, June 19, 2006
Post Indoor-shoot ponderances.
For some reason, indoor is always more fun to set up than outdoor. Weiquan thinks it's because with outdoor, everyone just gets burnt under the hot sun and it makes everyone tired and cranky. Which is probably true.
It was even semi-fun doing all the prep, hanging up the nets with Nic, Weiquan, James and Henry. Taping down the lanes, moving boards and pinning up targets. Although as usual, things got messy and slightly irritating after the judges came down to inspect the venue.
I wish I'd taken more pictures of our setting up and stuff.
Nic and Weiquan bolting together the iron girders which we attached the nets to. The nets are meant to stop any arrows which somehow manage to go all the way through the target boards. Yes, there are bows which have sufficiently high poundage. The distance for this shoot is only 18m after all.
Just Weiquan being silly. This was after we'd just about finished setting up everything; as you can see, the windows in the background are dark.
Shiling, Janice and Sylvia cutting up number tags for the competitors.
Got a lift to school from Weiquan on both days. Day one, it was the bike; day two it was the car. Is it possible that a slight fear of riding on motorbikes can be dissipated after three rides? Haha. I don't know. But it was kinda fun I guess. Although my ears always get squished by the helmet. I think my head is just too big or something. Even my optician used to say that I have a very wide face, so he had to bend the arms of my specs outwards so they wouldn't bite into the sides of my face.
Helping with registration, giving out collar pins. Slow start to the Recurve Standard Individual events. Was kinda fun walking around without much to do. Took a nap, woke up just in time to help calculate scores from the first round. The pace of things picked up in the second round, but by the time the Recurve Open Individual events started, I still didn't particularly feel like shooting. Just wanted to go home and sleep.
But when my first end landed a score of 10, 8, 8, I knew something was working. I didn't know *what* was working, but something in me figured that my semi-stoned, almost-Zen state of mind was a good state to be in for making me focus. I can't really remember feeling that way for a very long time.
Maybe the last time was during the AAS Shoot last year. And I remember talking to Vincent while waiting for the knockout round to start, and talking about how sometimes, the only place in the world that seems to make sense is the shooting line.
230 for the first round and 213 for the second. Started getting tired in the second round, but 230 is my highest score for one round at the moment at 18m distance. Combined score of 443 is also the highest I've achieved for a full shoot at 18m. Ranking improved by 11 places. I was ranked 22nd last year when I'd just started shooting in Open class; so now I'm 11.
Semi-wasted though; if Weiquan and Harry and I had been put in the same team, our combined score would've been enough to get us into the Open Mixed Team event. Although that would've meant that we'd be pitted against the 1st-ranked team in the very first knockout round, so it probably wouldn't have made much of a difference anyway. Lol.
But I realised later that it might still have been worth it to shoot in the team event. Even if only to have the chance to shoot with all the damn experienced people.
Day two was something I'll remember for a long time. It seems this competition is a time for a lot of "finallys" to happen. Huiting finally won gold in Standard Women's Individual. Shiling finally won a medal. We finally won a Standard Men's event.
Looks like my exco is stepping down on a high note. :)
I think our juniors are really proving their mettle. After seeing the team event and from what the others are telling me, I think our girls especially are made of tougher stuff than a few of the other competing teams'.
We won third place for Standard Women's team, as it seems we're wont to do, and this time, Connor, James and Henry brought back the bronze for Standard Men's team as well. Finally. :D
We haven't won anything in Standard Men's for a long time it seems. In fact, I think the last time we won something in Standard Men's was when Vincent got second place in the Individual event in last year's IVP.
It's always nice to know that you're appreciated, I guess. But I suppose appreciation can be something that comes around so rarely in this world that most of us don't expect it. I know I'm definitely one of them.
So when someone tells you that you made them love the sport and that it was your patience that made a difference, and when they say thank you for everything that you've done from the very beginning-- it's one of the best feelings in the world. :)
I just had this brief moment when I found out what teachers probably feel like when they see past students who've done well and such; you never really feel like it's your effort that's got them this far. And you wonder why they're thanking you, because it seems like so long ago since that time when they really didn't know much.
You've come a long way on your own; maybe I taught you all the basics in the beginning, but you're the one who made it count for something. It's through your own effort that you got that medal, and will get many more.
But thank you for remembering anyway, James. :)
Stepping down, handing over, whatever you wanna call it. It's the end, finally. Now I can just shoot and not be bothered with the running of the club, haha. :P I know some people won't be shooting anymore; I know for a fact that it's likely that Nic and me are the only ones from our year who're gonna carry on shooting. And I hope that lots of the juniors end up staying on too. This year's juniors have achieved a better medal haul than my year did while we were junior comm, and I hope this just keeps getting better.
So now... who else wants to go for the NJ shoot? :D
For some reason, indoor is always more fun to set up than outdoor. Weiquan thinks it's because with outdoor, everyone just gets burnt under the hot sun and it makes everyone tired and cranky. Which is probably true.
It was even semi-fun doing all the prep, hanging up the nets with Nic, Weiquan, James and Henry. Taping down the lanes, moving boards and pinning up targets. Although as usual, things got messy and slightly irritating after the judges came down to inspect the venue.
I wish I'd taken more pictures of our setting up and stuff.
Nic and Weiquan bolting together the iron girders which we attached the nets to. The nets are meant to stop any arrows which somehow manage to go all the way through the target boards. Yes, there are bows which have sufficiently high poundage. The distance for this shoot is only 18m after all.
Just Weiquan being silly. This was after we'd just about finished setting up everything; as you can see, the windows in the background are dark.
Shiling, Janice and Sylvia cutting up number tags for the competitors.
Got a lift to school from Weiquan on both days. Day one, it was the bike; day two it was the car. Is it possible that a slight fear of riding on motorbikes can be dissipated after three rides? Haha. I don't know. But it was kinda fun I guess. Although my ears always get squished by the helmet. I think my head is just too big or something. Even my optician used to say that I have a very wide face, so he had to bend the arms of my specs outwards so they wouldn't bite into the sides of my face.
Helping with registration, giving out collar pins. Slow start to the Recurve Standard Individual events. Was kinda fun walking around without much to do. Took a nap, woke up just in time to help calculate scores from the first round. The pace of things picked up in the second round, but by the time the Recurve Open Individual events started, I still didn't particularly feel like shooting. Just wanted to go home and sleep.
But when my first end landed a score of 10, 8, 8, I knew something was working. I didn't know *what* was working, but something in me figured that my semi-stoned, almost-Zen state of mind was a good state to be in for making me focus. I can't really remember feeling that way for a very long time.
Maybe the last time was during the AAS Shoot last year. And I remember talking to Vincent while waiting for the knockout round to start, and talking about how sometimes, the only place in the world that seems to make sense is the shooting line.
230 for the first round and 213 for the second. Started getting tired in the second round, but 230 is my highest score for one round at the moment at 18m distance. Combined score of 443 is also the highest I've achieved for a full shoot at 18m. Ranking improved by 11 places. I was ranked 22nd last year when I'd just started shooting in Open class; so now I'm 11.
Semi-wasted though; if Weiquan and Harry and I had been put in the same team, our combined score would've been enough to get us into the Open Mixed Team event. Although that would've meant that we'd be pitted against the 1st-ranked team in the very first knockout round, so it probably wouldn't have made much of a difference anyway. Lol.
But I realised later that it might still have been worth it to shoot in the team event. Even if only to have the chance to shoot with all the damn experienced people.
Day two was something I'll remember for a long time. It seems this competition is a time for a lot of "finallys" to happen. Huiting finally won gold in Standard Women's Individual. Shiling finally won a medal. We finally won a Standard Men's event.
Looks like my exco is stepping down on a high note. :)
I think our juniors are really proving their mettle. After seeing the team event and from what the others are telling me, I think our girls especially are made of tougher stuff than a few of the other competing teams'.
We won third place for Standard Women's team, as it seems we're wont to do, and this time, Connor, James and Henry brought back the bronze for Standard Men's team as well. Finally. :D
We haven't won anything in Standard Men's for a long time it seems. In fact, I think the last time we won something in Standard Men's was when Vincent got second place in the Individual event in last year's IVP.
It's always nice to know that you're appreciated, I guess. But I suppose appreciation can be something that comes around so rarely in this world that most of us don't expect it. I know I'm definitely one of them.
So when someone tells you that you made them love the sport and that it was your patience that made a difference, and when they say thank you for everything that you've done from the very beginning-- it's one of the best feelings in the world. :)
I just had this brief moment when I found out what teachers probably feel like when they see past students who've done well and such; you never really feel like it's your effort that's got them this far. And you wonder why they're thanking you, because it seems like so long ago since that time when they really didn't know much.
You've come a long way on your own; maybe I taught you all the basics in the beginning, but you're the one who made it count for something. It's through your own effort that you got that medal, and will get many more.
But thank you for remembering anyway, James. :)
Stepping down, handing over, whatever you wanna call it. It's the end, finally. Now I can just shoot and not be bothered with the running of the club, haha. :P I know some people won't be shooting anymore; I know for a fact that it's likely that Nic and me are the only ones from our year who're gonna carry on shooting. And I hope that lots of the juniors end up staying on too. This year's juniors have achieved a better medal haul than my year did while we were junior comm, and I hope this just keeps getting better.
So now... who else wants to go for the NJ shoot? :D
Thursday, June 15, 2006
More things that I want but which I cannot buy. Sigh.
Two days ago, I saw Meiyi carrying one of those World Cup edition Converse bags; the England one.
And just today, Yuen Mei and I were talking about how we each wanted one. She wants the England one as well, and I-- of course-- want the Germany one. :D
It's semi-infuriating to be earning so much cash during the holidays and knowing that you can't spend it, because it has to go towards paying for your hall room. Argh.
Two days ago, I saw Meiyi carrying one of those World Cup edition Converse bags; the England one.
And just today, Yuen Mei and I were talking about how we each wanted one. She wants the England one as well, and I-- of course-- want the Germany one. :D
It's semi-infuriating to be earning so much cash during the holidays and knowing that you can't spend it, because it has to go towards paying for your hall room. Argh.
Monday, June 12, 2006
What is it with all the World Cup 2006 edition jerseys and jackets that *everyone* is wearing???
Argh.
Now I'm itching to own a Deutschland jacket.
But the one I've seen selling in shops in the last few weeks is kinda plain as compared to the one that I like...
The one that I've seen these few days is plainer; if I remember right, it's white with the German national team's crest on the upper left, has black sleeves and a black back, with "Deutschland" embroidered in yellow thread.
I want a Deutschland jacket...
Oh, and speaking of that... I've prepared my wishlist for my 21st birthday. XD
It's not finished yet though, as I think I want 21 things, but right now I only have 9. Or is 21 things too much...? Haha...
Wishlist, right this way.
Argh.
Now I'm itching to own a Deutschland jacket.
But the one I've seen selling in shops in the last few weeks is kinda plain as compared to the one that I like...
The one that I've seen these few days is plainer; if I remember right, it's white with the German national team's crest on the upper left, has black sleeves and a black back, with "Deutschland" embroidered in yellow thread.
I want a Deutschland jacket...
Oh, and speaking of that... I've prepared my wishlist for my 21st birthday. XD
It's not finished yet though, as I think I want 21 things, but right now I only have 9. Or is 21 things too much...? Haha...
Wishlist, right this way.
Saturday, June 10, 2006
Words cannot express how much I love Miroslav Klose. XD
And hate Jens Lehmann.
I'm not a staunch football fan, but yeah, I love Germany; I acknowledge that the Brazilians are amazing, but I still love the Germans. :D
Am so pissed that Kahn is playing second-string keeper; Lehmann let in two goals last night which I think Kahn definitely wouldn't have let past him. Argh. Was so pissed when he let Wanchope equalise Lahm's opening goal.
But then my favourite striker came along, haha. XD
Klose scored the second goal, and the third one as well; happy birthday to him indeed. :D I loved the third goal though. It was a header that bounced off the Costa Rican goalkeeper, but Klose was quick to kick it in before the goalie could get up.
And the fourth goal! I don't usually like Frings but scoring from the 25 yard line would put you in anyone's good books, wouldn't it. XD
And hate Jens Lehmann.
I'm not a staunch football fan, but yeah, I love Germany; I acknowledge that the Brazilians are amazing, but I still love the Germans. :D
Am so pissed that Kahn is playing second-string keeper; Lehmann let in two goals last night which I think Kahn definitely wouldn't have let past him. Argh. Was so pissed when he let Wanchope equalise Lahm's opening goal.
But then my favourite striker came along, haha. XD
Klose scored the second goal, and the third one as well; happy birthday to him indeed. :D I loved the third goal though. It was a header that bounced off the Costa Rican goalkeeper, but Klose was quick to kick it in before the goalie could get up.
And the fourth goal! I don't usually like Frings but scoring from the 25 yard line would put you in anyone's good books, wouldn't it. XD
Monday, June 05, 2006
Ladies and gentlemen, I very proudly present the first (and most in advance) of my 21st birthday presents:
IBM Thinkpad T60
My lovely new laptop. XD
I've wanted a T43 since they were released in school last year; T43 is damn light and it's an IBM, so that's just about everything I can ask for.
But apparently, the T60 is a "follow-up" to the T43. It's heavier though (at least, I think it is), I'll tell you that (2.2 kg), but it's still manageable. What do you expect when it contains a rollcage made of magnesium alloy??
Such a pretty lovely thing... my precious... XD
IBM Thinkpad T60
My lovely new laptop. XD
I've wanted a T43 since they were released in school last year; T43 is damn light and it's an IBM, so that's just about everything I can ask for.
But apparently, the T60 is a "follow-up" to the T43. It's heavier though (at least, I think it is), I'll tell you that (2.2 kg), but it's still manageable. What do you expect when it contains a rollcage made of magnesium alloy??
Such a pretty lovely thing... my precious... XD