Since I'm still in a very archery-oriented mood after yesterday, here's something that I gleaned off the Fédération Internationale de Tir à l'Arc's (FITA) website. (FITA is just the International Archery Federation, if you were wondering.) :)
REQUIREMENTS FOR HIGH LEVEL ARCHERY
* Self-control
* Stress resistance
* Concentration
* Regularity associated with accuracy
* Willpower
* Physical and mental balance
* Rigour, exactitude
* Team spirit: even though Archery is an individual sport above anything else, team competitions become more and more widespread and a good group dynamics leads to even more impressive results.
* Adaptability (to the environment, to inclemency)
* Preparation of the material (always fixed and maintained)
Woohoo... training, training, training... :)
I'm starting to sound like Ben. :P
Monday, January 31, 2005
Sunday, January 30, 2005
NTU Institutional Shoot yesterday... quite a good day for NUS in general, except for a few glitches here and there.
The first thing that *almost* went wrong was that my name was NOT on the list for the Individual Standard Class event, although I was registered for the Standard Class Team event. So that doesn't really make sense, coz you have to take part in the individual event to be able to take part in the team event.
Anyway, everything ended up all right, coz Grace had withdrawn (sorta), so I could take her place.
My lane detail was 12D; each lane had six archers, A to F, and they'd shoot in two details: A, B and C would shoot first, take their score and retrieve their arrows, and then D, E and F would shoot and do the same. It was widely agreed that it was SO much more organised than the AAS Shoot, which was not only disorganised with a lot of last minute changes, but also very crammed. That's saying something, considering that this shoot was organised by a school, while AAS is a national organisation. For shame. -_-||
Anyway, it turned out that in my detail, Vincent was 12F. This was a good thing. Coz I asked Vince which angle he shot best from (left, centre or right) and he said the left, so I told him, "Okay, so when you step up to the shooting line later, can you step up to the left so that the centre and right are open for me? Coz I can't shoot from the left!"
He agreed, so all was well, haha. :D
During the sighting round, I think we scared the poor SP guy who was shooting in the same detail as us. :P Vince's and my arrows all landed within the red (except for one of mine which landed in the blue :P), while a good number of the SP guy's were in the black. :P
But Vince and I were quite happy, anyway; it was a pretty good start. :)
And training with the 80 cm target seemed to have really paid off: I scored a personal best of 298 out of 360 with the 122 cm target, a VERY significant improvement from the last time that I shot with a 122 cm target, which was during the NUS internal competition, and I had a score of 257 then.
It turned out that after that first half of the competition, I was ranked fifth out of all the girls, and first among the NUS Standard Class girls.
But then came the 80 cm target.
Backtrack a little; lemme explain this.
First, the basics: in archery, shooting one "set" of arrows is called an "end". That settled, the Standard Class Shoot involves shooting from the 30 m line; first, 6 ends of 6 arrows at a 122 cm target, and then, 6 ends of 6 arrows at a 80 cm target.
Now you understand why I've been training with a 80 cm target all this time? Yep; because it makes sense that if you can do well with a smaller target, you should be all right with a larger one.
That's what most of us did, anyway; but what we hadn't counted on was the possible psychological factor of seeing our target visibly reduced from a 122 cm diameter one to an 80 cm one.
I mean, in school, we'd just train with the 80, no biggie. And my personal best during training with the 80 was 275. But during the competition, seeing your target being replaced by a much smaller one-- after you've been shooting with the bigger one for the better part of the morning-- does something to you psychologically, I tell you. It makes it very different from if you'd been shooting with the 80 all the while.
So, my score on the 80 dropped to 243. However, that was still enough to give me a total score of 541 out of 720, and I still maintained my fifth place ranking.
But here's what I noticed on the ranking sheet: the top three girls all had scores in excess of 560. The fourth-placed girl had a score of 548, and I had my 541. See the huge difference between third and fourth place?? And after me, the sixth-placed girl's score was only about 520. Another big difference.
Anyway, it was some time before I realised that really, 560-plus out of 720 isn't really that great of a score either. There's still about 160 missing points, after all.
Which means, that if I can train till I manage to hit 50 and above for every end, that'll result in a total score of at least 600, which will definitely put me at the top of the table; for that matter of fact, it'll put anyone who manages it at the top of the table for sure.
*Thinks*
*Glances at calendar*
NUS Outdoor Open is on the 13th of March. Plenty of time. *Greedy little gleeful grin* :P
Ambition shall be thy downfall. :P But it never hurt to try, so heck, why not?! :D
My beloved bow and arrows have not let me down... :D Which reminds me; maybe I should change my darling bow's name. It's not really hitting me all that much anymore after I've corrected my form, so "Bloodsucker" isn't really an appropriate name for it. :P
Suggestions for a good and um... auspicious (not sure if that should be the word, but that's the closest I can come to what I'm thinking of) name for my darling bow? :D Please use the tagboard to your left.. :D
The first thing that *almost* went wrong was that my name was NOT on the list for the Individual Standard Class event, although I was registered for the Standard Class Team event. So that doesn't really make sense, coz you have to take part in the individual event to be able to take part in the team event.
Anyway, everything ended up all right, coz Grace had withdrawn (sorta), so I could take her place.
My lane detail was 12D; each lane had six archers, A to F, and they'd shoot in two details: A, B and C would shoot first, take their score and retrieve their arrows, and then D, E and F would shoot and do the same. It was widely agreed that it was SO much more organised than the AAS Shoot, which was not only disorganised with a lot of last minute changes, but also very crammed. That's saying something, considering that this shoot was organised by a school, while AAS is a national organisation. For shame. -_-||
Anyway, it turned out that in my detail, Vincent was 12F. This was a good thing. Coz I asked Vince which angle he shot best from (left, centre or right) and he said the left, so I told him, "Okay, so when you step up to the shooting line later, can you step up to the left so that the centre and right are open for me? Coz I can't shoot from the left!"
He agreed, so all was well, haha. :D
During the sighting round, I think we scared the poor SP guy who was shooting in the same detail as us. :P Vince's and my arrows all landed within the red (except for one of mine which landed in the blue :P), while a good number of the SP guy's were in the black. :P
But Vince and I were quite happy, anyway; it was a pretty good start. :)
And training with the 80 cm target seemed to have really paid off: I scored a personal best of 298 out of 360 with the 122 cm target, a VERY significant improvement from the last time that I shot with a 122 cm target, which was during the NUS internal competition, and I had a score of 257 then.
It turned out that after that first half of the competition, I was ranked fifth out of all the girls, and first among the NUS Standard Class girls.
But then came the 80 cm target.
Backtrack a little; lemme explain this.
First, the basics: in archery, shooting one "set" of arrows is called an "end". That settled, the Standard Class Shoot involves shooting from the 30 m line; first, 6 ends of 6 arrows at a 122 cm target, and then, 6 ends of 6 arrows at a 80 cm target.
Now you understand why I've been training with a 80 cm target all this time? Yep; because it makes sense that if you can do well with a smaller target, you should be all right with a larger one.
That's what most of us did, anyway; but what we hadn't counted on was the possible psychological factor of seeing our target visibly reduced from a 122 cm diameter one to an 80 cm one.
I mean, in school, we'd just train with the 80, no biggie. And my personal best during training with the 80 was 275. But during the competition, seeing your target being replaced by a much smaller one-- after you've been shooting with the bigger one for the better part of the morning-- does something to you psychologically, I tell you. It makes it very different from if you'd been shooting with the 80 all the while.
So, my score on the 80 dropped to 243. However, that was still enough to give me a total score of 541 out of 720, and I still maintained my fifth place ranking.
But here's what I noticed on the ranking sheet: the top three girls all had scores in excess of 560. The fourth-placed girl had a score of 548, and I had my 541. See the huge difference between third and fourth place?? And after me, the sixth-placed girl's score was only about 520. Another big difference.
Anyway, it was some time before I realised that really, 560-plus out of 720 isn't really that great of a score either. There's still about 160 missing points, after all.
Which means, that if I can train till I manage to hit 50 and above for every end, that'll result in a total score of at least 600, which will definitely put me at the top of the table; for that matter of fact, it'll put anyone who manages it at the top of the table for sure.
*Thinks*
*Glances at calendar*
NUS Outdoor Open is on the 13th of March. Plenty of time. *Greedy little gleeful grin* :P
Ambition shall be thy downfall. :P But it never hurt to try, so heck, why not?! :D
My beloved bow and arrows have not let me down... :D Which reminds me; maybe I should change my darling bow's name. It's not really hitting me all that much anymore after I've corrected my form, so "Bloodsucker" isn't really an appropriate name for it. :P
Suggestions for a good and um... auspicious (not sure if that should be the word, but that's the closest I can come to what I'm thinking of) name for my darling bow? :D Please use the tagboard to your left.. :D
Friday, January 28, 2005
Doing a short post before I pop over to SRC to shoot for a while; then I'll fletch my last three arrows, just in case I need extra for tomorrow. I've already set aside the six best ones that I usually shoot with already, anyway.
Good news is that score is still improving: yesterday it was 275 out of 360 for 6 ends of 6, from a distance of 30m with an 80 cm target. I hope it doesn't turn out to be a fluke sorta thing and it'll drop drastically or something during the NTU Shoot tomorrow.
Speaking of which... it starts at 8 am tomorrow. CRAP. And NTU is pretty much out of the way of ANYWHERE. *Double* CRAP.
I'm gonna have to wake up at bleeding 5 am again. Argh... o_O
Oh yeah. Ivan's post just reminded me... we've found yet another thing to amuse ourselves with. :P
Remember the clubroom now has a PS2? Well, (year 1) Clement brought a few of his own PS2 games one day, one of which is Dynasty Warriors; I assure you, that game is a hell of a lot of fun. Running around and "just whack(ing)" (as Ivan and I like to put it) provides a lot of release of tension and gratuituous violence, as I'm sure many people will probably have noticed when they play such as these.
One thing that is very laughable however, in this game, is that it's set in the time period of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, in Imperial China, but the voice actors ALL have American accents.
The funny thing here isn't just that you have Chinese people speaking flawless, American English; it's more the fact that at the time period during which the game is set, America wasn't even discovered yet. :D
Ivan and I have started and played one new game on our own, and according to Steven (who's finished the game by now and who knows the whole story about the Romance of the Three Kingdoms), the two of us have played quite far pretty fast. :D
Don't have much more to say about it, but Ivan might. I know that he's drafting a disgustingly SUPER-LONG post at the moment about the whole lot of people in Arts Club who've gotten fascinated with this game, which is just hunkering down in his lappie, waiting for him to copy and paste and spring it onto his blog and inflict his madness on the world. :P
All right. Guess that's it for now.
Shall make my way down to SRC. Maybe I'll fletchmy arrows first before shooting, considering how terribly bright the sun's shining at the moment... I'll be baked alive. O_O
Good news is that score is still improving: yesterday it was 275 out of 360 for 6 ends of 6, from a distance of 30m with an 80 cm target. I hope it doesn't turn out to be a fluke sorta thing and it'll drop drastically or something during the NTU Shoot tomorrow.
Speaking of which... it starts at 8 am tomorrow. CRAP. And NTU is pretty much out of the way of ANYWHERE. *Double* CRAP.
I'm gonna have to wake up at bleeding 5 am again. Argh... o_O
Oh yeah. Ivan's post just reminded me... we've found yet another thing to amuse ourselves with. :P
Remember the clubroom now has a PS2? Well, (year 1) Clement brought a few of his own PS2 games one day, one of which is Dynasty Warriors; I assure you, that game is a hell of a lot of fun. Running around and "just whack(ing)" (as Ivan and I like to put it) provides a lot of release of tension and gratuituous violence, as I'm sure many people will probably have noticed when they play such as these.
One thing that is very laughable however, in this game, is that it's set in the time period of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, in Imperial China, but the voice actors ALL have American accents.
The funny thing here isn't just that you have Chinese people speaking flawless, American English; it's more the fact that at the time period during which the game is set, America wasn't even discovered yet. :D
Ivan and I have started and played one new game on our own, and according to Steven (who's finished the game by now and who knows the whole story about the Romance of the Three Kingdoms), the two of us have played quite far pretty fast. :D
Don't have much more to say about it, but Ivan might. I know that he's drafting a disgustingly SUPER-LONG post at the moment about the whole lot of people in Arts Club who've gotten fascinated with this game, which is just hunkering down in his lappie, waiting for him to copy and paste and spring it onto his blog and inflict his madness on the world. :P
All right. Guess that's it for now.
Shall make my way down to SRC. Maybe I'll fletchmy arrows first before shooting, considering how terribly bright the sun's shining at the moment... I'll be baked alive. O_O
Tuesday, January 25, 2005
I came to a sudden realisation of something sometime last week, and it came back to me again last night, while I was lying in bed in the dark, wandering somewhere between falling asleep and thinking about actually falling asleep.
Does anyone besides me realise how much people seem to avoid touching each other?
See if you've ever noticed this: even on an extremely crowded bus or train, people would still be hell-bent on keeping away from the person nearest to them; I've seen it happen when people shuffle still further in to make space for boarding passengers and their foot bumps against someone else's and they immediately apologise and move their foot away.
People do this when it's just a foot. Can you imagine if it were anything more?
I myself realised last week that I can go a whole day with absolutely no physical contact with another human being and not feel that anything is wrong. To some extent, I'd even go so far as to say that physical contact sometimes scares me.
Like yesterday, after Philo lecture, when we were walking back to AS6 and Jie suddenly took hold of my arm; I almost got startled out of my wits, but managed to keep it under control. And earlier today, when I was walking to the canteen for lunch with Ivan and Yuimin just "blundered" into me (in her usual "careless" style of walking) and sort of hugged me around the waist; I got frightened (yes, you're reading that right) and quickly took a couple of steps back-- with her still semi-wrapped around my waist. And she then laughingly asked me, "Why you so scared??"
I just replied that "I'm like that" and threw in a half-hearted laugh for good measure, but in truth, the first answer to that question that came to mind was: "I don't know. I'm waiting for someone to explain that to me."
Yesterday in SC2218 lecture, Anthropology and the Human Condition, we were discussing human evolution. Our lecturer was expounding on the interesting topic as to what "evolution" really meant. Does "evolution" really refer to the "betterment" of a species? Or does it simply mean a change in which the resulting form is just essentially very different from the previous one?
Have human beings really become "better" than their prehistoric ancestors?
Are we really that much "better" off if we can't even touch each other without feeling awkward about it?
Of course, I don't mean touching complete strangers, but still, even among a group of close friends, how often do you see people carelessly draped over each other and not caring one whit about it?
Even animals interact with each other and have more physical contact with each other than most of us do.
I know, some people might say then that it's because animals are animals after all; they're not sentient beings. Is the evolution and development of sentience then a trade-off for physical closeness? Or are we somehow seeking to distance ourselves from our "lower" origins by giving ourselves so many of these "boundaries"?
Last night, prior to that long epiphany that I had which you've just read, I also realised something else. I haven't hugged a person ever since, perhaps last year, when I might've met Pamela for the first time in ages and then hugged her. And following in that literal progression of "hugs and kisses", I realised that I haven't kissed anyone since the time I was small and used to kiss my parents goodnight.
I'd forgotten how reassuring it can be to just be held by someone; in fact, I'm not sure if I've ever really known the comforting effect that it has. I'm thankful that you thought it was necessary; I'm thankful that you don't think me too much of an emotional burden (yet?) and that you were there for me, but at the same time, I found it mildly... strange.
There was something in me that wished the bus ride would never end, that we would never have to move from that tiny corner of the world, that I could just sit there and bask in the comfort that you were providing for as long as I could stand-- and I don't think I could have ever tired of it.
This feeling is a common one whenever I'm around you, I find, and it never ceases to confuse me. In everything that we do, I have always felt that one last thing is missing. But I'm not sure that any kind of progression from what we are is really the way to go. I'm not even sure if it's what we both want or think we want.
You wonder if this is love? You wonder if this is the kind of love that the very very best of friends share or the kind of love that you might find with the kind of person whom you might have unwittingly been searching for all your life?
I wonder myself. And it confuses me.
And while I'm afraid of the sudden touches of everyone else, I wish that I could touch you without being afraid of giving you the wrong impression and driving you away.
I've told you before what I thought of you in the beginning, when we'd just started to get to know each other. I've told you that this had happened many times before in the past with me and that every time, it turned out that those other persons and I made better friends that anything else.
But with you, I'm never sure if that's true.
You're not the only one who wonders why the strong companionship that we have feels both so right and so wrong at the same time. I wonder why it always feels so comfortable, yet something in me tells me that it could also be something more.
You wonder if this is love?
I wonder if we'll ever figure it out.
A hundred days had made me older
Since the last time that I saw your pretty face
A thousand lights had made me colder
And I don’t think I can look at this the same
But all the miles that separate
They disappear now when I’m dreaming of your face
I’m here without you baby,
But your still on my lonely mind
I think about you baby
And I dream about you all the time
I’m here without you baby
But you're still with me in my dreams
And tonight it’s only you and me
Does anyone besides me realise how much people seem to avoid touching each other?
See if you've ever noticed this: even on an extremely crowded bus or train, people would still be hell-bent on keeping away from the person nearest to them; I've seen it happen when people shuffle still further in to make space for boarding passengers and their foot bumps against someone else's and they immediately apologise and move their foot away.
People do this when it's just a foot. Can you imagine if it were anything more?
I myself realised last week that I can go a whole day with absolutely no physical contact with another human being and not feel that anything is wrong. To some extent, I'd even go so far as to say that physical contact sometimes scares me.
Like yesterday, after Philo lecture, when we were walking back to AS6 and Jie suddenly took hold of my arm; I almost got startled out of my wits, but managed to keep it under control. And earlier today, when I was walking to the canteen for lunch with Ivan and Yuimin just "blundered" into me (in her usual "careless" style of walking) and sort of hugged me around the waist; I got frightened (yes, you're reading that right) and quickly took a couple of steps back-- with her still semi-wrapped around my waist. And she then laughingly asked me, "Why you so scared??"
I just replied that "I'm like that" and threw in a half-hearted laugh for good measure, but in truth, the first answer to that question that came to mind was: "I don't know. I'm waiting for someone to explain that to me."
Yesterday in SC2218 lecture, Anthropology and the Human Condition, we were discussing human evolution. Our lecturer was expounding on the interesting topic as to what "evolution" really meant. Does "evolution" really refer to the "betterment" of a species? Or does it simply mean a change in which the resulting form is just essentially very different from the previous one?
Have human beings really become "better" than their prehistoric ancestors?
Are we really that much "better" off if we can't even touch each other without feeling awkward about it?
Of course, I don't mean touching complete strangers, but still, even among a group of close friends, how often do you see people carelessly draped over each other and not caring one whit about it?
Even animals interact with each other and have more physical contact with each other than most of us do.
I know, some people might say then that it's because animals are animals after all; they're not sentient beings. Is the evolution and development of sentience then a trade-off for physical closeness? Or are we somehow seeking to distance ourselves from our "lower" origins by giving ourselves so many of these "boundaries"?
Last night, prior to that long epiphany that I had which you've just read, I also realised something else. I haven't hugged a person ever since, perhaps last year, when I might've met Pamela for the first time in ages and then hugged her. And following in that literal progression of "hugs and kisses", I realised that I haven't kissed anyone since the time I was small and used to kiss my parents goodnight.
I'd forgotten how reassuring it can be to just be held by someone; in fact, I'm not sure if I've ever really known the comforting effect that it has. I'm thankful that you thought it was necessary; I'm thankful that you don't think me too much of an emotional burden (yet?) and that you were there for me, but at the same time, I found it mildly... strange.
There was something in me that wished the bus ride would never end, that we would never have to move from that tiny corner of the world, that I could just sit there and bask in the comfort that you were providing for as long as I could stand-- and I don't think I could have ever tired of it.
This feeling is a common one whenever I'm around you, I find, and it never ceases to confuse me. In everything that we do, I have always felt that one last thing is missing. But I'm not sure that any kind of progression from what we are is really the way to go. I'm not even sure if it's what we both want or think we want.
You wonder if this is love? You wonder if this is the kind of love that the very very best of friends share or the kind of love that you might find with the kind of person whom you might have unwittingly been searching for all your life?
I wonder myself. And it confuses me.
And while I'm afraid of the sudden touches of everyone else, I wish that I could touch you without being afraid of giving you the wrong impression and driving you away.
I've told you before what I thought of you in the beginning, when we'd just started to get to know each other. I've told you that this had happened many times before in the past with me and that every time, it turned out that those other persons and I made better friends that anything else.
But with you, I'm never sure if that's true.
You're not the only one who wonders why the strong companionship that we have feels both so right and so wrong at the same time. I wonder why it always feels so comfortable, yet something in me tells me that it could also be something more.
You wonder if this is love?
I wonder if we'll ever figure it out.
A hundred days had made me older
Since the last time that I saw your pretty face
A thousand lights had made me colder
And I don’t think I can look at this the same
But all the miles that separate
They disappear now when I’m dreaming of your face
I’m here without you baby,
But your still on my lonely mind
I think about you baby
And I dream about you all the time
I’m here without you baby
But you're still with me in my dreams
And tonight it’s only you and me
Saturday, January 22, 2005
Well, two posts in a day. It's been a long time since I last did that. Although, if you look at it another way, the 4 am entry for today could really be counted as yesterday's entry. Well, anyway.
For some reason, I've managed to work myself into a rather morose mood again.
Earlier this morning, I decided that there was no way I was going to be awake or alert enough for archery training at 10 am, so I just ended up staying online with Ivan till 6 am. Didn't do much talking though; very much like what usually happens with Pam and I. We might type a few lines to each other and the conversation may just stop there, but I'll usually just leave the window open and just enjoy the quiet company of her "online" presence. :)
I woke up at 12 pm today; went to school for an Arts Club Ordinary Meeting, during which everyone discovered that we were all really tired and that Yuimin was possibly the only person who enjoyed the drum and bass last night. Don't ask me how that's possible.
Then, just before the meeting started, Steven mentioned that as we were leaving last night, he'd seen some of the Rouge patrons popping pills.
Well, that explains how they could actually dance to such boring, repetitive crap for hours.
Listening to Dishwalla's "Candleburn" right now; I haven't listened to that for a long time, along with other stuff like Tori Amos' "Silent All These Years". It suited my morose mood, so "Candleburn" is on repeat right now.
And it reminded me of the question that used to jump out at me everytime I played "Candleburn" when I first got it: "Who am I waiting for?"
On Vineland past the candle shrine
That burns on every night
For someone
She lets herself go
Like an angel in the snow
She lays down on her back
Down on her back - she goes
Take me over when I'm gone
Take me over make me strong
Take me over when I'm gone
Will they burn for me
For some reason, I've managed to work myself into a rather morose mood again.
Earlier this morning, I decided that there was no way I was going to be awake or alert enough for archery training at 10 am, so I just ended up staying online with Ivan till 6 am. Didn't do much talking though; very much like what usually happens with Pam and I. We might type a few lines to each other and the conversation may just stop there, but I'll usually just leave the window open and just enjoy the quiet company of her "online" presence. :)
I woke up at 12 pm today; went to school for an Arts Club Ordinary Meeting, during which everyone discovered that we were all really tired and that Yuimin was possibly the only person who enjoyed the drum and bass last night. Don't ask me how that's possible.
Then, just before the meeting started, Steven mentioned that as we were leaving last night, he'd seen some of the Rouge patrons popping pills.
Well, that explains how they could actually dance to such boring, repetitive crap for hours.
Listening to Dishwalla's "Candleburn" right now; I haven't listened to that for a long time, along with other stuff like Tori Amos' "Silent All These Years". It suited my morose mood, so "Candleburn" is on repeat right now.
And it reminded me of the question that used to jump out at me everytime I played "Candleburn" when I first got it: "Who am I waiting for?"
On Vineland past the candle shrine
That burns on every night
For someone
She lets herself go
Like an angel in the snow
She lays down on her back
Down on her back - she goes
Take me over when I'm gone
Take me over make me strong
Take me over when I'm gone
Will they burn for me
Bashes are like the ideal set-up for a demonstration of Murphy's Law.
For those of you who don't already know yet, Murphy's Law is a law which states that anything that can possibly go wrong, will go wrong. Which is also why the "Law" has never really seemed like a scientific "law" to me; more like a jinxing curse.
But anyway, my reasons for thinking the above about bashes: firstly, we don't own the place, so we're pretty much at the mercy of the people who do. Secondly, we can't control the music, which is probably the one most important thing which any bash needs to make it work and be a success.
So, this leads us to what happened at Arts Bash 1: it was drum and bass from about 11 pm onwards, which absolutely SUCKED. In Ivan's words (from about a month ago): "Imagine a constant drum beat going on and on for about a few hours; it'll drive you NUTS." I assure you, it did more than that for me; it pissed me off. And the management of Rouge are stupid, arrogant, knocked-up asses who cheated us.
In the beginning, it seemed like the Bash was going to be a fun one; everyone was enjoying the programmes and the music (which was R&B in the beginning), but after the programmes had ended, only about 5 more songs of R&B were played before they started into their STUPID drum and bass; it took a while for most of us to realise that it was what they were going to be playing for the rest of the night.
The last R&B track that they played was a remix of Usher's "Yeah"; which brings me to yet another thing. :) Before the song started, I was sitting next to Ivan in the booth that was "reserved" for the Arts Club MC and Affiliates; he was drinking a bourbon coke, and when the song started, I'd barely even registered that a new song had started before he'd downed the rest of his drink and had scrambled off his seat and onto the podium. That was scary, I tell you.
And good Lord, Ivan can really dance like it's no one's business.
For someone like me who's never seen him as anything but more or less rather calm and in control of himself, it was a bit of a minor shock to see him in such a state of... well, abandon, I'd say, and so uncaring of the rest of the world around him. Not that he really cares all that much for the opinions of the rest of the world the rest of the time, but well. You know what I mean.
So when we'd finally got really sick of the drum and bass, Ivan proposed that we do what he'd originally suggested at least a month ago: cross the road and go to Music Underground instead.
Ivan: If-- and this is a very big 'if'-- If I go recce Music Underground, check out their music and ticket prices, and I pay for you, do you wanna go over to MU instead?
So we went over to check it out, and found that sadly, it'd be $25 for Ivan-- $25 for guys and $12 for ladies; till now, I still can't understand why on earth ladies are charged less or given free entry when they enter a club while guys aren't.
Looks like the world at large isn't all that encouraging of equality of the sexes after all, huh? ;)
So we were pretty much stuck at Rouge, although sometime around 1 am, Ivan remarked that the $25 entry fee was "starting to look less and less like an obstacle". :P Sigh. Was probably partially my fault anyway; I'd forgotten to ask my dad for some cash before I left the house earlier in the day, so I had zero cash with me at the time, and I'd kinda drained my bank account buying textbooks and stuff. So if Ivan hadn't had to pay for me, he'd probably have been more able to pay his $25 entry fee.
We also almost got kicked out of the room that the Arts Club had booked due to some of the management's screwed up ideas that technically, our function was over, and just when I thought that things couldn't get worse, they did.
Alex got himself piss, sodding drunk.
I'd heard that it happened during Rag when they went out to Mambo one night, so I wasn't as freaked as Ivan was when one of Alex's dragonboating friends suddenly dragged him into the room; since I'd heard of it happening to Alex before, I was slightly less surprised-- although, I'll admit, it was slightly worse than I thought it'd be.
Ivan and Clement were sitting on either side of him on the couch, and they were trying to hold him down, since half the time, he'd try to get up after sitting docilely for a few minutes and go somewhere-- I have no idea where.
When the whole lot of us Arts Club people finally left at about 3 am, Ivan and I agreed that we were both going to go home and blast our techno. So, following in that vein, here's what's coming out of my speakers at the moment; not at the volume that I'd like since it's the wee hours of the morning, but it's techno, so hell, it'll do!
Fragma-- Toca's Miracle (Club Mix)
Dave McCullen-- Rave Heaven
Hard & Tango-- This Is My DJ
Catch-- Walk On Water (Baby You Can)(Wazari Club Mix)
Soda Club ft. Andrea Anatola-- Keep Love Together (Divine Inspiration Edit)
Spring Break-- Big Bad Love (Cascada Radio Edit)
Cascada-- Endless Summer (Extended Mix)
Darkness-- In My Dreams
Rimini Project-- No More Goodbye (Extended Mix)
Marc Korn-- Summer of Love (Mysterio Radio Mix)
Brandy-- Aphrodisiac (Speedbreaker Remix)
For those of you who don't already know yet, Murphy's Law is a law which states that anything that can possibly go wrong, will go wrong. Which is also why the "Law" has never really seemed like a scientific "law" to me; more like a jinxing curse.
But anyway, my reasons for thinking the above about bashes: firstly, we don't own the place, so we're pretty much at the mercy of the people who do. Secondly, we can't control the music, which is probably the one most important thing which any bash needs to make it work and be a success.
So, this leads us to what happened at Arts Bash 1: it was drum and bass from about 11 pm onwards, which absolutely SUCKED. In Ivan's words (from about a month ago): "Imagine a constant drum beat going on and on for about a few hours; it'll drive you NUTS." I assure you, it did more than that for me; it pissed me off. And the management of Rouge are stupid, arrogant, knocked-up asses who cheated us.
In the beginning, it seemed like the Bash was going to be a fun one; everyone was enjoying the programmes and the music (which was R&B in the beginning), but after the programmes had ended, only about 5 more songs of R&B were played before they started into their STUPID drum and bass; it took a while for most of us to realise that it was what they were going to be playing for the rest of the night.
The last R&B track that they played was a remix of Usher's "Yeah"; which brings me to yet another thing. :) Before the song started, I was sitting next to Ivan in the booth that was "reserved" for the Arts Club MC and Affiliates; he was drinking a bourbon coke, and when the song started, I'd barely even registered that a new song had started before he'd downed the rest of his drink and had scrambled off his seat and onto the podium. That was scary, I tell you.
And good Lord, Ivan can really dance like it's no one's business.
For someone like me who's never seen him as anything but more or less rather calm and in control of himself, it was a bit of a minor shock to see him in such a state of... well, abandon, I'd say, and so uncaring of the rest of the world around him. Not that he really cares all that much for the opinions of the rest of the world the rest of the time, but well. You know what I mean.
So when we'd finally got really sick of the drum and bass, Ivan proposed that we do what he'd originally suggested at least a month ago: cross the road and go to Music Underground instead.
Ivan: If-- and this is a very big 'if'-- If I go recce Music Underground, check out their music and ticket prices, and I pay for you, do you wanna go over to MU instead?
So we went over to check it out, and found that sadly, it'd be $25 for Ivan-- $25 for guys and $12 for ladies; till now, I still can't understand why on earth ladies are charged less or given free entry when they enter a club while guys aren't.
Looks like the world at large isn't all that encouraging of equality of the sexes after all, huh? ;)
So we were pretty much stuck at Rouge, although sometime around 1 am, Ivan remarked that the $25 entry fee was "starting to look less and less like an obstacle". :P Sigh. Was probably partially my fault anyway; I'd forgotten to ask my dad for some cash before I left the house earlier in the day, so I had zero cash with me at the time, and I'd kinda drained my bank account buying textbooks and stuff. So if Ivan hadn't had to pay for me, he'd probably have been more able to pay his $25 entry fee.
We also almost got kicked out of the room that the Arts Club had booked due to some of the management's screwed up ideas that technically, our function was over, and just when I thought that things couldn't get worse, they did.
Alex got himself piss, sodding drunk.
I'd heard that it happened during Rag when they went out to Mambo one night, so I wasn't as freaked as Ivan was when one of Alex's dragonboating friends suddenly dragged him into the room; since I'd heard of it happening to Alex before, I was slightly less surprised-- although, I'll admit, it was slightly worse than I thought it'd be.
Ivan and Clement were sitting on either side of him on the couch, and they were trying to hold him down, since half the time, he'd try to get up after sitting docilely for a few minutes and go somewhere-- I have no idea where.
When the whole lot of us Arts Club people finally left at about 3 am, Ivan and I agreed that we were both going to go home and blast our techno. So, following in that vein, here's what's coming out of my speakers at the moment; not at the volume that I'd like since it's the wee hours of the morning, but it's techno, so hell, it'll do!
Fragma-- Toca's Miracle (Club Mix)
Dave McCullen-- Rave Heaven
Hard & Tango-- This Is My DJ
Catch-- Walk On Water (Baby You Can)(Wazari Club Mix)
Soda Club ft. Andrea Anatola-- Keep Love Together (Divine Inspiration Edit)
Spring Break-- Big Bad Love (Cascada Radio Edit)
Cascada-- Endless Summer (Extended Mix)
Darkness-- In My Dreams
Rimini Project-- No More Goodbye (Extended Mix)
Marc Korn-- Summer of Love (Mysterio Radio Mix)
Brandy-- Aphrodisiac (Speedbreaker Remix)
Tuesday, January 18, 2005
Bear with me. I feel an irrepressible need to type an "I am thankful" post. I have no idea why. Or maybe I do. We'll see.
Kor, I'm so sorry for ranting off at you over MSN last night, especially since you had more pressing matters at hand; I know I apologised over MSN later and to you in person, and you said it was okay, but I still feel really bad, so I'm really, really sorry. I wish there was something else I could say/write/type to explain what I said, but there isn't; what happened that set the whole thing in motion was pretty much out of my control, and it has repercussions that I have... problems dealing with myself, so.. sorry, please bear with me. I'm sorry that you had to get saddled with a headcase like me, but thank you for putting up with me all this while... well, ever since you've known me, anyway.
I'm thankful for Pam and her baking skills (and following in that vein, her cookies) and for everything else that makes Pamela, Pamela, and for the SC2212 module whose lecture we're taking together; at least I'll get to see her at least once every week even if we aren't able to get the same tutorial group. Which is looking quite likely now, since she just managed to get the Thursday slot that we planned for and I didn't. Sigh. Why didn't I rank the SSA tutorial slot lower since it was almost certain that I'd get it, it being 8 am and all...
I'm thankful that I got to be silly and crappy with her yesterday while we were planning a tutorial slot for SC2212; we haven't had a good, proper, "silly time" for ages, and although we kinda freaked Ivan out, it was still fun. :P Actually, on hindsight, it was probably more so because we freaked him out. :P :D
I'm thankful for Jie and Kenny for trusting me enough to think me responsible enough to want to pick me to be Kenny's PA. Apparently, as Jie told me over the phone last Saturday night, I fulfill all three criteria for being Kenny's PA; ie: 1. I'm female, 2. I'm responsible, 3. I like books. That you think I'm a responsible person is really something that I myself am not that sure of, but I hope I'll be able to live up to your standards. And I'm thankful for William as well; just for being a new friend whom I can talk and joke around with. :) And together, Jie, William, Kenny and I form the "Stripey-Organiser Family". Maybe I'll buy kor one and he can join too. Wouldn't be complete without him, haha.
I'm thankful for Thomas and Yanling and the OG lunch that we had today; seems like all of us are just as "afflicted" with.. well. A certain kind of unavoidable and heart-rending problem. Helped a lot for me to talk about it and get it off my chest a bit; Thomas gave some advice which logically, made sense, but of course, as always is with these things, another part of me would disagree violently. I still hope that things work out in the end, though. I have no idea if I'm being naive or stupid or desperate for doing this, but this really is wearing me quite thin. I'm quite tired of it, but at the same time, refuse to let go of it. I guess we'll see. I've done all I can, I think... so if it wears me down first, then I suppose I'll just be headed to the loony bin a lot sooner than I expected.
I'm thankful that I took up archery as a sport. I know, kor, I know I said that sharp objects were bad things to have around me at a time like this, but don't worry; I wouldn't do anything that would harm my arrows. They cost me almost a hundred bucks after all. :P Hopefully, now that I have archery, it'll help me control myself more during this period of time, since it gives me an avenue to vent my frustrations.
So while I will never be thankful for the mess-up that is my life, I will always be thankful for these select few people in it.
Kor, I'm so sorry for ranting off at you over MSN last night, especially since you had more pressing matters at hand; I know I apologised over MSN later and to you in person, and you said it was okay, but I still feel really bad, so I'm really, really sorry. I wish there was something else I could say/write/type to explain what I said, but there isn't; what happened that set the whole thing in motion was pretty much out of my control, and it has repercussions that I have... problems dealing with myself, so.. sorry, please bear with me. I'm sorry that you had to get saddled with a headcase like me, but thank you for putting up with me all this while... well, ever since you've known me, anyway.
I'm thankful for Pam and her baking skills (and following in that vein, her cookies) and for everything else that makes Pamela, Pamela, and for the SC2212 module whose lecture we're taking together; at least I'll get to see her at least once every week even if we aren't able to get the same tutorial group. Which is looking quite likely now, since she just managed to get the Thursday slot that we planned for and I didn't. Sigh. Why didn't I rank the SSA tutorial slot lower since it was almost certain that I'd get it, it being 8 am and all...
I'm thankful that I got to be silly and crappy with her yesterday while we were planning a tutorial slot for SC2212; we haven't had a good, proper, "silly time" for ages, and although we kinda freaked Ivan out, it was still fun. :P Actually, on hindsight, it was probably more so because we freaked him out. :P :D
I'm thankful for Jie and Kenny for trusting me enough to think me responsible enough to want to pick me to be Kenny's PA. Apparently, as Jie told me over the phone last Saturday night, I fulfill all three criteria for being Kenny's PA; ie: 1. I'm female, 2. I'm responsible, 3. I like books. That you think I'm a responsible person is really something that I myself am not that sure of, but I hope I'll be able to live up to your standards. And I'm thankful for William as well; just for being a new friend whom I can talk and joke around with. :) And together, Jie, William, Kenny and I form the "Stripey-Organiser Family". Maybe I'll buy kor one and he can join too. Wouldn't be complete without him, haha.
I'm thankful for Thomas and Yanling and the OG lunch that we had today; seems like all of us are just as "afflicted" with.. well. A certain kind of unavoidable and heart-rending problem. Helped a lot for me to talk about it and get it off my chest a bit; Thomas gave some advice which logically, made sense, but of course, as always is with these things, another part of me would disagree violently. I still hope that things work out in the end, though. I have no idea if I'm being naive or stupid or desperate for doing this, but this really is wearing me quite thin. I'm quite tired of it, but at the same time, refuse to let go of it. I guess we'll see. I've done all I can, I think... so if it wears me down first, then I suppose I'll just be headed to the loony bin a lot sooner than I expected.
I'm thankful that I took up archery as a sport. I know, kor, I know I said that sharp objects were bad things to have around me at a time like this, but don't worry; I wouldn't do anything that would harm my arrows. They cost me almost a hundred bucks after all. :P Hopefully, now that I have archery, it'll help me control myself more during this period of time, since it gives me an avenue to vent my frustrations.
So while I will never be thankful for the mess-up that is my life, I will always be thankful for these select few people in it.