Didn't do much at the Rag house yesterday; woke up late coz I was tired from working-- I know, it was only three days work, but it equates to about 21 hours of standing, walking around, talking and persuading people and smiling even when you feel like throttling them and demonstrating the cleaning power of the household cleaner that I'm selling by pouring a whole tub of it down their throats.
Ahem. Wow. Long sentence. :P
So. Yes. I actually woke up at some time past 8 am; my infernal body clock is too finely tuned; even without an alarm clock, on my own, I will still wake before 9 am. My legs protested that they wanted more rest though, so since I didn't really have anywhere to be very urgently, I went back to sleep and only got up in the afternoon.
What I did accomplish at the Rag house, however, was that Ivan and I cleaned the kitchen floor and I cleaned up all the dirt around the sides of the kitchen sink. We were the last to leave the house, so after we'd finished cleaning up and packing away some of the cleaning things lying around, we lazed around for a bit before I decided to play around with the new nail buffer that I'd bought a couple of days ago.
I've been fascinated with nail buffers ever since I was in Primary Five and my senior buffed my thumbnail while we were on the school bus, going home. Hey, I was barely eleven then, and anything shiny or glittery was, and still is, infinitely captivating to me. :P
So I grabbed Ivan's thumb and started buffing the nail (during which he initially asked, "Oh, *that's* how it works?" Yes, dear; he thought it worked like a nail file.). When I was done, and his thumbnail was all smooth and shiny, he stared at it with a half-fascinated, half-mortified look on his face, and proceeded to announce that "My thumbnail looks *fake*."
I immediately convulsed in giggles. :D
Sunday, May 29, 2005
I'm a sales goddess, hahaha... :P I sold 43 tubs today!!! And 36 yesterday, might I add. Haha. So that means that the two shelves right behind me are almost completely cleared, save for 12 lonely tubs sitting stacked in two rows. :P And Jackson even told me that there was no more stock left downstairs when I told him that Steven had said to restock. :D
Turns out that Marina Square is far more crowded on weekends than it is on weekdays, and when one or two people stops by at my booth for a demo, usually a lot of others cluster around as well; herd instinct which works very well in my favour. :) So that means that I'll end up selling about 2 or 3 tubs per demo that I do, which is a very good thing indeed. :)
Anyway, I was on my way home; I walk through CityLink Mall and come out on street level at Raffles City, and today, near the traffic light junction between Raffles City, Stamford House and St Andrew's Cathedral, I noticed this stage set up.
Strangest thing about the stage that caught my attention was that the seats for the performance seemed to be set up below the stage. Walked over to the barriers that were set up around the area and read the small billboard attached to them with cable ties; they were a Spanish dance company, Producciones Imperdibles, performing this programme, Mirando Al Cielo (Looking at the Sky), wherein the audience sits below the transparent stage and watches the dance from below the stage. Hence, the chairs set up below the stage.
They were performing from today till the 31st, from 6.30 to 7.30 and 8.30 to 9.30, with a performance every fifteen minutes, each lasting about eight minutes, leaving the rest of the time for getting ready for the next dance and for the crew to change the lights.
Turned out that the performance was free, and there was a relatively short queue, so I thought, why not?
Headed into the queue; didn't get to watch the very next performance, but from where we were sitting, waiting out turn, we could still see the performance, albeit not from the angle that was intended. :) Was still lovely though; the four dancers, two male and two female, all dressed in white with the ladies in dresses with deliberately frayed and ripped hems, seemed to be characters in the dance just simply enjoying the music. The music itself was playful, light and enchanting; a little too happy for my taste, but I smiled while watching them dance anyway. :) At times, the dancers even leaned over the edge of the stage and engaged the audience below, waving, smiling or winking at them.
The dance that I got to see was much more to my liking; the music was a melancholy piece featuring a piano and violin duet. This dance really made use of the transparent stage; for half of the dance, the dancers, dressed in light, silky material of blue and purple hues, were lying down on the stage twisting around on their sides, somehow successfully simulating movements that would normally be performed on one's two feet.
It seemed to me like an exploration of the world somewhere between waking and dreaming, and love and vulnerability. The twisting on the stage somehow resembled fitful turns in sleep and when they did take to their feet, their actions were slow, withheld, sleepwalking, perhaps?
At one point in the dance, the two female dancers rolled and spooned behind the two male dancers, and in a slow, fluid movement, the two men got up, bent over double, carrying both ladies on their backs; an action that reminded me very much of children being carried to bed and of help being offered when there was no strength left. What struck me most during this part was that one of the male dancers was directly above me, and his eyes stared right down at me, somehow glazed and unfocussed, but clear and concentrated at the same time. Like he had no idea where he was going and how long he would bear his burden, but he knew that he would bear it all the same.
Right then, I teared and almost cried. Needless to say, I loved it.
And when I ran across the pedestrian crossing as the green light for pedestrians began flashing, my feet felt strangely lighter.
Turns out that Marina Square is far more crowded on weekends than it is on weekdays, and when one or two people stops by at my booth for a demo, usually a lot of others cluster around as well; herd instinct which works very well in my favour. :) So that means that I'll end up selling about 2 or 3 tubs per demo that I do, which is a very good thing indeed. :)
Anyway, I was on my way home; I walk through CityLink Mall and come out on street level at Raffles City, and today, near the traffic light junction between Raffles City, Stamford House and St Andrew's Cathedral, I noticed this stage set up.
Strangest thing about the stage that caught my attention was that the seats for the performance seemed to be set up below the stage. Walked over to the barriers that were set up around the area and read the small billboard attached to them with cable ties; they were a Spanish dance company, Producciones Imperdibles, performing this programme, Mirando Al Cielo (Looking at the Sky), wherein the audience sits below the transparent stage and watches the dance from below the stage. Hence, the chairs set up below the stage.
They were performing from today till the 31st, from 6.30 to 7.30 and 8.30 to 9.30, with a performance every fifteen minutes, each lasting about eight minutes, leaving the rest of the time for getting ready for the next dance and for the crew to change the lights.
Turned out that the performance was free, and there was a relatively short queue, so I thought, why not?
Headed into the queue; didn't get to watch the very next performance, but from where we were sitting, waiting out turn, we could still see the performance, albeit not from the angle that was intended. :) Was still lovely though; the four dancers, two male and two female, all dressed in white with the ladies in dresses with deliberately frayed and ripped hems, seemed to be characters in the dance just simply enjoying the music. The music itself was playful, light and enchanting; a little too happy for my taste, but I smiled while watching them dance anyway. :) At times, the dancers even leaned over the edge of the stage and engaged the audience below, waving, smiling or winking at them.
The dance that I got to see was much more to my liking; the music was a melancholy piece featuring a piano and violin duet. This dance really made use of the transparent stage; for half of the dance, the dancers, dressed in light, silky material of blue and purple hues, were lying down on the stage twisting around on their sides, somehow successfully simulating movements that would normally be performed on one's two feet.
It seemed to me like an exploration of the world somewhere between waking and dreaming, and love and vulnerability. The twisting on the stage somehow resembled fitful turns in sleep and when they did take to their feet, their actions were slow, withheld, sleepwalking, perhaps?
At one point in the dance, the two female dancers rolled and spooned behind the two male dancers, and in a slow, fluid movement, the two men got up, bent over double, carrying both ladies on their backs; an action that reminded me very much of children being carried to bed and of help being offered when there was no strength left. What struck me most during this part was that one of the male dancers was directly above me, and his eyes stared right down at me, somehow glazed and unfocussed, but clear and concentrated at the same time. Like he had no idea where he was going and how long he would bear his burden, but he knew that he would bear it all the same.
Right then, I teared and almost cried. Needless to say, I loved it.
And when I ran across the pedestrian crossing as the green light for pedestrians began flashing, my feet felt strangely lighter.
Friday, May 27, 2005
First day at work at Giant, Marina Square. Quite the screw-up over at the main office. Apparently, the person in charge of the Giant outlet at Marina Square didn't even know that I'd been employed. He'd been told that I was "unable to join (them)". -_-
Meh. Oh well.
The guy eventually arrived with all the promoter kit stuff though, and I managed to get started by about 2 pm. So I only worked about 6 hours instead of 8. Ha. :P
Anyway. Just for the sake of it, some of my observations about my new "colleagues" at Marina Square, in order of appearance. :P
Jackson Fernandez, one of the sales assistants in the Household Department, looks like a half-Malay, half-Indian guy; he brought me all the way down to the back of Marina Square and to the entrance of the Giant warehouse to show me where to get my promoter's pass. He's also one of the nicer sales assistants around in the Household department. The others don't really pay attention to me. Not that I mind; the other two seem a little... intimidating. :P
Steven Quek, head of Household. Looks like your typical aging father; lanky, looks to be in his late 40s or early 50s, and balding. Nice guy.
Hussin, one of the Loss Prevention officers at the security post at the warehouse entrance. Plump with a laidback demeanour and a smiley kinda face. Does make a poor, lost, blur thing like me feel a lot more at ease. :)
Ivan Lim; haven't yet figured out exactly what his post is. Seems like he's one of the supervising personnel at Giant, but he's also in charge of Reckitt Benckiser's (the company whose product I'm promoting. They're the company who also produces Dettol and Harpic, by the way) products. Like a middle man, but I just can't figure out the link. He's also the one who brought down all the promoter stuff for me and helped me set it up. From what he was saying when he was talking to some of the staff around Giant, it seems he's in charge of the Giant at IMM too.
Cecilia; short, with wet-styled, blond streaked, tied-back hair in a stiff, small ponytail that sticks almost straight out from the back of her head. She's one of the supervisors of the Marina Square Giant outlet. Er.. Don't let the lack of height fool you; she's mildly frightening and unsettling. Barely an hour into my stint as a promoter, she came by with Ivan Lim, stopped in front of my booth and started talking to him about me like I wasn't there.
Cecilia: So this is the new girl, ah? Will she be better than the auntie? (Here she turns and speaks to me) You sell 100 tubs in one day, can? Then like that good for me, I can clear stock faster. Can?
I wasn't so sure about that. Giant, Marina Square was almost deserted, even during lunch hour, and I'd quickly realised that it was likely it would stay that way for the rest of the day. I told her that there weren't many people around, which would obviously make it kinda hard to sell, and her immediate rejoinder was, "Don't tell me no people; you must be positive, yah? Must say you try; then I like you. Understand?"
What else could I say then but okay, I'll try. -_- (I don't even think more than 100 people walked past me today.)
After that, she proceeded to shout at Jackson (who was about halfway down the aisle on my left) about lunch and breaktimes, telling him, "You go for lunch from 12-1 or 1-2; tea break is 20 minutes at either 2.30 or 3 o' clock; you don't tell me you eat later; no such thing as lunch at 4 o' clock, ok?"
Did I mention that she's pretty loud? 0_0 Just watching her yell at Jackson, I felt uneasy about how much I'd be able to sell. And throughout her shouting, Ivan Lim was just standing behind her, chuckling the way that someone does when he's very familiar with another's behaviour. Needless to say, I didn't find it very funny. -_-
And then there're two other promoters that I met today, both aunties whose names I don't know, except that the one promoting Dove products is my mum's friend's sister; that friend is also the one who told my mum about the promoter job. With the two aunties around, I was considerably less lost, since they brought me to eat lunch with them and everything.
In the end, yes, the crowd was practically non-existent, but I still managed to sell 9 tubs. Quite all right, I guess.. the two aunties tell me that at Marina Square, as long as you "po ji dan" (literally, break the zero mark), it's considered good. That's just sad, in a way. Although, if I look on the bright side, if things continue like this, Reckitt Benckiser will *really* be paying me to stand around and do nothing. On the bad side however, I *do* have better things to do with my time, and if I sell more, I can still earn commission, after all. Sigh. I hope I won't be here for the whole 8 weeks of my employment. That would really be a waste of my time.
Meh. Oh well.
The guy eventually arrived with all the promoter kit stuff though, and I managed to get started by about 2 pm. So I only worked about 6 hours instead of 8. Ha. :P
Anyway. Just for the sake of it, some of my observations about my new "colleagues" at Marina Square, in order of appearance. :P
Jackson Fernandez, one of the sales assistants in the Household Department, looks like a half-Malay, half-Indian guy; he brought me all the way down to the back of Marina Square and to the entrance of the Giant warehouse to show me where to get my promoter's pass. He's also one of the nicer sales assistants around in the Household department. The others don't really pay attention to me. Not that I mind; the other two seem a little... intimidating. :P
Steven Quek, head of Household. Looks like your typical aging father; lanky, looks to be in his late 40s or early 50s, and balding. Nice guy.
Hussin, one of the Loss Prevention officers at the security post at the warehouse entrance. Plump with a laidback demeanour and a smiley kinda face. Does make a poor, lost, blur thing like me feel a lot more at ease. :)
Ivan Lim; haven't yet figured out exactly what his post is. Seems like he's one of the supervising personnel at Giant, but he's also in charge of Reckitt Benckiser's (the company whose product I'm promoting. They're the company who also produces Dettol and Harpic, by the way) products. Like a middle man, but I just can't figure out the link. He's also the one who brought down all the promoter stuff for me and helped me set it up. From what he was saying when he was talking to some of the staff around Giant, it seems he's in charge of the Giant at IMM too.
Cecilia; short, with wet-styled, blond streaked, tied-back hair in a stiff, small ponytail that sticks almost straight out from the back of her head. She's one of the supervisors of the Marina Square Giant outlet. Er.. Don't let the lack of height fool you; she's mildly frightening and unsettling. Barely an hour into my stint as a promoter, she came by with Ivan Lim, stopped in front of my booth and started talking to him about me like I wasn't there.
Cecilia: So this is the new girl, ah? Will she be better than the auntie? (Here she turns and speaks to me) You sell 100 tubs in one day, can? Then like that good for me, I can clear stock faster. Can?
I wasn't so sure about that. Giant, Marina Square was almost deserted, even during lunch hour, and I'd quickly realised that it was likely it would stay that way for the rest of the day. I told her that there weren't many people around, which would obviously make it kinda hard to sell, and her immediate rejoinder was, "Don't tell me no people; you must be positive, yah? Must say you try; then I like you. Understand?"
What else could I say then but okay, I'll try. -_- (I don't even think more than 100 people walked past me today.)
After that, she proceeded to shout at Jackson (who was about halfway down the aisle on my left) about lunch and breaktimes, telling him, "You go for lunch from 12-1 or 1-2; tea break is 20 minutes at either 2.30 or 3 o' clock; you don't tell me you eat later; no such thing as lunch at 4 o' clock, ok?"
Did I mention that she's pretty loud? 0_0 Just watching her yell at Jackson, I felt uneasy about how much I'd be able to sell. And throughout her shouting, Ivan Lim was just standing behind her, chuckling the way that someone does when he's very familiar with another's behaviour. Needless to say, I didn't find it very funny. -_-
And then there're two other promoters that I met today, both aunties whose names I don't know, except that the one promoting Dove products is my mum's friend's sister; that friend is also the one who told my mum about the promoter job. With the two aunties around, I was considerably less lost, since they brought me to eat lunch with them and everything.
In the end, yes, the crowd was practically non-existent, but I still managed to sell 9 tubs. Quite all right, I guess.. the two aunties tell me that at Marina Square, as long as you "po ji dan" (literally, break the zero mark), it's considered good. That's just sad, in a way. Although, if I look on the bright side, if things continue like this, Reckitt Benckiser will *really* be paying me to stand around and do nothing. On the bad side however, I *do* have better things to do with my time, and if I sell more, I can still earn commission, after all. Sigh. I hope I won't be here for the whole 8 weeks of my employment. That would really be a waste of my time.
Thursday, May 26, 2005
Rag house-cleaning today...
After our short meeting in the morning, we drove over to our new Rag site and I saw the place for the very first time.
It really is very nice. When we first stepped into the house, despite it being dirty and everything; the floor covered in about half a centimetre of dust and the corners and sides of almost every room playing receptacle to every kind of household pest carcass that you could imagine and their droppings; it still looked like it really had the potential to be a really nice place.
There's a kitchen (although there's no stove, so I guess everything we eat in the house will have to be instant or ready-made stuff, unless we can get solid fuel and mess tins, which shouldn't prove too much of a problem), a large living room and a washroom downstairs, while upstairs, there're two bedrooms, a toilet, two showers (but one has a bathtub) and another small room, which could become another bedroom, except that it has no air-conditioning, unlike the other two bedrooms.
So, today, we got right down to business; while some helpers moved out some of the disused furniture that was downstairs, we headed upstairs to begin washing all the dust and filth off the floors; Jasmine and I took off our slippers and walked around in the filth and dirty water barefoot from the very beginning, heehee.
Keyou even started singing some selections from Les Miserables, and I joined in at the parts that I could remember. Man, it used to be that I listened to the soundtracks of Phantom of the Opera and Les Miserables almost everyday and I knew every word of every song by heart. Now I don't even remember the last time I heard any of those songs.
We all had fun; the filthy water (it was *black*, I'm telling you) from upstairs eventually got channelled downstairs, making a black waterfall down the staircase, which eventually got cleaner as the day wore on. By the end of the day, we were finishing up with the living room and washroom downstairs. After that, most of the people who were helping with the clean-up were heading to the MC chalet's barbecue; I originally didn't want to go, but in the end, I thought, well okay, why not...
So, changed out of my house-cleaning attire and back into the jeans and shirt that I'd worn to school in the morning; was a good thing that I'd thought to pack my cleaning clothes instead of wearing them; at least I had a cleaner set of clothes to change into once we were done.
Ivan and Alvin and I made cheese prawns for everyone at the barbecue! Haha... See, thing is, they had prawns, but no cheese, so when Ivan and I dropped by the convenience store that the um.. "resort"(?) had, we found cheese and bought a packet. When we got back, Ivan and me started shelling the prawns and Alvin wrapped them in cheese. Only managed to wrap about half of the prawns though; wasn't enough cheese to go around. But everyone loved them. :D Cheese prawns are actually something that I learned of from Shaun during the first Rag barbecue that we ever had, so I guess this was sort of an eye-opener for the non-Raggers, haha. You should see the stuff that we eat at a Rag barbecue, man. I'd bet anything that it's better than what most people our age in Singapore can come up with.
Mostly coz we have Shaun. Haha. :D Seriously; how often in Singapore do you find someone trying to grill tomato halves sprinkled with herbs over a barbecue? :D
Diana made a comment at some point of the night, saying that I looked very feminine. I'm convinced that it was the shirt. I was wearing my new black shirt, one of those Giordano "Me" shirts; this one has green butterflies on the front of it, and it's a very "ladies-cut" shirt. Meaning that the sleeves are short and the shirt is quite long. Wasn't till I got home tonight that I realised that the new slippers that I was wearing also had a butterfly on each of them.
Huh. Whaddya know. I can actually match clothes. I might have some female sensibilities after all. :P
After our short meeting in the morning, we drove over to our new Rag site and I saw the place for the very first time.
It really is very nice. When we first stepped into the house, despite it being dirty and everything; the floor covered in about half a centimetre of dust and the corners and sides of almost every room playing receptacle to every kind of household pest carcass that you could imagine and their droppings; it still looked like it really had the potential to be a really nice place.
There's a kitchen (although there's no stove, so I guess everything we eat in the house will have to be instant or ready-made stuff, unless we can get solid fuel and mess tins, which shouldn't prove too much of a problem), a large living room and a washroom downstairs, while upstairs, there're two bedrooms, a toilet, two showers (but one has a bathtub) and another small room, which could become another bedroom, except that it has no air-conditioning, unlike the other two bedrooms.
So, today, we got right down to business; while some helpers moved out some of the disused furniture that was downstairs, we headed upstairs to begin washing all the dust and filth off the floors; Jasmine and I took off our slippers and walked around in the filth and dirty water barefoot from the very beginning, heehee.
Keyou even started singing some selections from Les Miserables, and I joined in at the parts that I could remember. Man, it used to be that I listened to the soundtracks of Phantom of the Opera and Les Miserables almost everyday and I knew every word of every song by heart. Now I don't even remember the last time I heard any of those songs.
We all had fun; the filthy water (it was *black*, I'm telling you) from upstairs eventually got channelled downstairs, making a black waterfall down the staircase, which eventually got cleaner as the day wore on. By the end of the day, we were finishing up with the living room and washroom downstairs. After that, most of the people who were helping with the clean-up were heading to the MC chalet's barbecue; I originally didn't want to go, but in the end, I thought, well okay, why not...
So, changed out of my house-cleaning attire and back into the jeans and shirt that I'd worn to school in the morning; was a good thing that I'd thought to pack my cleaning clothes instead of wearing them; at least I had a cleaner set of clothes to change into once we were done.
Ivan and Alvin and I made cheese prawns for everyone at the barbecue! Haha... See, thing is, they had prawns, but no cheese, so when Ivan and I dropped by the convenience store that the um.. "resort"(?) had, we found cheese and bought a packet. When we got back, Ivan and me started shelling the prawns and Alvin wrapped them in cheese. Only managed to wrap about half of the prawns though; wasn't enough cheese to go around. But everyone loved them. :D Cheese prawns are actually something that I learned of from Shaun during the first Rag barbecue that we ever had, so I guess this was sort of an eye-opener for the non-Raggers, haha. You should see the stuff that we eat at a Rag barbecue, man. I'd bet anything that it's better than what most people our age in Singapore can come up with.
Mostly coz we have Shaun. Haha. :D Seriously; how often in Singapore do you find someone trying to grill tomato halves sprinkled with herbs over a barbecue? :D
Diana made a comment at some point of the night, saying that I looked very feminine. I'm convinced that it was the shirt. I was wearing my new black shirt, one of those Giordano "Me" shirts; this one has green butterflies on the front of it, and it's a very "ladies-cut" shirt. Meaning that the sleeves are short and the shirt is quite long. Wasn't till I got home tonight that I realised that the new slippers that I was wearing also had a butterfly on each of them.
Huh. Whaddya know. I can actually match clothes. I might have some female sensibilities after all. :P
Tuesday, May 24, 2005
Attended NUSSU's combined Flag meeting today; I'd expected some bitching flying around, but when it *did* happen, it still turned out to be rather surprising.
Firstly, in NUS, it's quite well-known among the more active students and student bodies that the Halls don't like the Student Union. Why, I don't exactly know, since I'm not a member of any of the Halls, but I have a vague idea that it has something to do with the CCA points system and how the JCRCs (Junior Common Room Committee) of all six Halls have been unhappy with it for quite some time.
So, today, while the various faculty club and Hall representatives were taking notes of important dates and information during the meeting-slash-briefing, I was amusing myself making notes of who seemed to be doing the most bitching so I could blog about it later.
Productive of me, I know. But I *do* have some proper notes, don't worry; I wasn't completely inattentive.
Well, okay, the meeting started off fine, and it looked like we'd get to go home pretty early if we could get this finished soon. But, no. Where would the fun be in that after all; welcome to the world of University politics. Or at least, NUSSU politics.
Barely ten minutes into the meeting, Raffles Hall's president asked if NUSSU had actually asked for the Halls' consensus on.. the issue of the ticket sales for Flag, I think. Whatever it was, he seemed slightly pissed off, but he still managed to say it in a somewhat politely diplomatic tone, if you know what I mean.
(The ticket sales thing is another component that NUSSU's added to Flag this year, besides the normal can donations.)
And then the rest of the Halls joined in, saying that they didn't want to help sell the tickets for Flag Day coz they felt that they didn't have the manpower to spare, what with Rag and orientation programs going on concurrently. Then they said that all six Hall presidents had actually come to a consensus among themselves that the Halls would not participate in the ticket sales.
The faculty clubs weren't too bothered. At least, Xinyan and I weren't too bothered.
Can't say the same for Bizad. -_-
One of the representatives for Bizad (a guy whose name I CAN remember but I won't mention here) kept complaining about how the "larger faculties" would have an advantage over the smaller faculties in the ticket sales, and EVERYTIME he mentioned the "larger faculties", he'd say, "the larger faculties, like Arts".
If you've got a personal problem with us, let's take it outside, man. We don't love you overly much either.
But you know what the strangest thing is about Bizad complaining?
Bizad wins Rag and Flag every year. So it seems more logical that all the OTHER faculties should be complaining and asking where the hell Bizad gets their money from.
And then there was more complaining about how the points for the competition should be calculated. Yes, you read that right; the different faculties in NUS actually compete to raise the most donations for Flag, if you didn't already know.
Sad to see charity being reduced to a sort of competition, but that's the way it is.
Have a good feeling about this year's Rag and Flag, tho. :) We've got a real dedicated bunch of Raggers on our hands, and as for Flag, the comm has already gotten to work on some ideas as to how to raise more donations.
So.. hm. Maybe some "smaller faculties" really should watch it. ;D
Firstly, in NUS, it's quite well-known among the more active students and student bodies that the Halls don't like the Student Union. Why, I don't exactly know, since I'm not a member of any of the Halls, but I have a vague idea that it has something to do with the CCA points system and how the JCRCs (Junior Common Room Committee) of all six Halls have been unhappy with it for quite some time.
So, today, while the various faculty club and Hall representatives were taking notes of important dates and information during the meeting-slash-briefing, I was amusing myself making notes of who seemed to be doing the most bitching so I could blog about it later.
Productive of me, I know. But I *do* have some proper notes, don't worry; I wasn't completely inattentive.
Well, okay, the meeting started off fine, and it looked like we'd get to go home pretty early if we could get this finished soon. But, no. Where would the fun be in that after all; welcome to the world of University politics. Or at least, NUSSU politics.
Barely ten minutes into the meeting, Raffles Hall's president asked if NUSSU had actually asked for the Halls' consensus on.. the issue of the ticket sales for Flag, I think. Whatever it was, he seemed slightly pissed off, but he still managed to say it in a somewhat politely diplomatic tone, if you know what I mean.
(The ticket sales thing is another component that NUSSU's added to Flag this year, besides the normal can donations.)
And then the rest of the Halls joined in, saying that they didn't want to help sell the tickets for Flag Day coz they felt that they didn't have the manpower to spare, what with Rag and orientation programs going on concurrently. Then they said that all six Hall presidents had actually come to a consensus among themselves that the Halls would not participate in the ticket sales.
The faculty clubs weren't too bothered. At least, Xinyan and I weren't too bothered.
Can't say the same for Bizad. -_-
One of the representatives for Bizad (a guy whose name I CAN remember but I won't mention here) kept complaining about how the "larger faculties" would have an advantage over the smaller faculties in the ticket sales, and EVERYTIME he mentioned the "larger faculties", he'd say, "the larger faculties, like Arts".
If you've got a personal problem with us, let's take it outside, man. We don't love you overly much either.
But you know what the strangest thing is about Bizad complaining?
Bizad wins Rag and Flag every year. So it seems more logical that all the OTHER faculties should be complaining and asking where the hell Bizad gets their money from.
And then there was more complaining about how the points for the competition should be calculated. Yes, you read that right; the different faculties in NUS actually compete to raise the most donations for Flag, if you didn't already know.
Sad to see charity being reduced to a sort of competition, but that's the way it is.
Have a good feeling about this year's Rag and Flag, tho. :) We've got a real dedicated bunch of Raggers on our hands, and as for Flag, the comm has already gotten to work on some ideas as to how to raise more donations.
So.. hm. Maybe some "smaller faculties" really should watch it. ;D
Still feeling reasonably awake and aware at this hour, surprisingly, so to amuse myself, I've actually decided to do that silly thing which Ivan has on his blog.
Total volume of music files on my computer:
870 MB, 175 files (Don't have a terrible lot of music on my computer; I usually only keep those which I really, really like, and my Music folder also gets subjected to "spring-cleaning" at least twice a month, during which anything that I don't like as much anymore or don't listen to very often gets deleted away)
The last CD I bought was:
(That was ages ago, man; I'm not even sure if I can remember! Um.. *goes into room to look*)
The Best of Kevin Kern: More Than Words
Song playing right now:
One Night In Heaven by DJ Bobo
Five songs I listen to a lot, or that mean a lot to me:
Iris by Goo Goo Dolls
Everytime We Touch by Cascada
My First Love (Extended Mix) by Grenada
AlegrÃa by Cirque Du Soleil
Theme from Schindler's List by John Williams; violin solo by the wonderful Itzhak Perlman
(Have only just realised that this is starting to show just how diverse my music tastes are.)
Five people to whom I'm passing the baton:
No one. Coz I never bother anyone with this kinda useless shit, like those pesky forwarded emails, but hey, if you feel like doing this and putting it up on your blog, go ahead.
Total volume of music files on my computer:
870 MB, 175 files (Don't have a terrible lot of music on my computer; I usually only keep those which I really, really like, and my Music folder also gets subjected to "spring-cleaning" at least twice a month, during which anything that I don't like as much anymore or don't listen to very often gets deleted away)
The last CD I bought was:
(That was ages ago, man; I'm not even sure if I can remember! Um.. *goes into room to look*)
The Best of Kevin Kern: More Than Words
Song playing right now:
One Night In Heaven by DJ Bobo
Five songs I listen to a lot, or that mean a lot to me:
Iris by Goo Goo Dolls
Everytime We Touch by Cascada
My First Love (Extended Mix) by Grenada
AlegrÃa by Cirque Du Soleil
Theme from Schindler's List by John Williams; violin solo by the wonderful Itzhak Perlman
(Have only just realised that this is starting to show just how diverse my music tastes are.)
Five people to whom I'm passing the baton:
No one. Coz I never bother anyone with this kinda useless shit, like those pesky forwarded emails, but hey, if you feel like doing this and putting it up on your blog, go ahead.
Monday, May 23, 2005
Well, I made use of the public holiday to sleep in till 12 pm today; it's the latest that I've ever slept till in my life, might I add.
When I went downstairs to get breakfast, I opened the fridge and the first thing that greeted my still-somewhat-bleary eyes was this plate full of bright, *lurid* purple... something.
Finding something of that odd a colour in your fridge of all places, will wake you right up, I assure you.
So after the cobwebs of sleep had cleared a little, I realised that the bright purple something was actually dragonfruit. My mum had brought some back last night, and it turns out that it's a rarer species which has purple flesh instead of the more common white. My mum has stem cuttings of it too and intends to grow it. Yay. :)
We haven't grown much in the way of our own food ever since I was in secondary school and we actually had a long bean plant in our garden, so every month, we used to pluck the long beans and have them for dinner. :D And when my aunt came down from Malaysia once, she plucked some of the leaves and used them in soup. We didn't even know then that the leaves were edible.
But for some reason, my mum dug up the whole plant. No friggin' idea why the hell she did that... *grumblegrumble*
So. Anyway. Here's a picture showing both types of dragonfruit; apparently the purple one is called "red-fleshed dragonfruit", but really, it's purple. See for yourself.
Dragon fruit: white- and red-fleshed varieties.
Later, after lunch, my youngest sister and I were helping our dad to hang up the curtains at some customer's house after they'd been drycleaned; my sister and I were sticking the curtain pins in the curtains, and while we worked, we were chatting away and my sis was singing the song that they have on Cadbury Milk Chocolate commercials at irregular intervals; you know, the one which begins with "Wouldn't it be nice if the world was Cadbury". She's semi-obsessed with the little jingle at the moment. While the little ditty plays, it shows you a 3D cartoon that's part of the commercial, in which the whole world is really made of chocolate, including the people.
The commercial sparked off a little round of silly inspiration in us:
Sis: If the world really was made of chocolate, no one would go hungry, man.
Me: Yeah. Just imagine; you're watching TV, and you suddenly feel hungry, but all you have to do is lean over and take a bite out of the sofa.
Sis: Oh, but what if everyone was made of chocolate, haha...
Me: They wouldn't last very long in Singapore's weather, that's what. Everyone would melt, lah.
Sis: (after a brief pause) Chocolate tsunami. (Her eyes lit up with a silly giggle here :D)
Me: Yeah... and when that happened, people would be running to it instead of away from it, yeah? (Sis giggles) And instead of causing disaster, it'd feed millions! And it probably wouldn't do much damage; everyone gathered there would probably drink it all up before it could reach very far inland.
(Here, we both laughed like idiots for a moment before we eventually calmed down. And then my sis started at it again.)
Sis: Maybe we could try turning the ocean into chocolate.. everyone in the world contribute one tablespoon of cocoa powder...
Oh, the insanity that comprises my life. :D :P But that's about all the interesting stuff that happened today. Other than that, I managed to make more progress with my copy of Ray Bradbury's "Fahrenheit 451"; I'm almost done reading it. I highly recommend this book.
And while we're on the subject of books, BooksActually's site is now up! Go visit and order books!! :D
Oh, and if you remember the lovely song that I was talking about which was in the Kingdom of Heaven trailer, "Hope", I've managed to upload it somewhere, so you can download it here. Ladeeda. :)
Also, the song from Kenneth's blog, Tim McGraw's "Live Like You Were Dying".
When I went downstairs to get breakfast, I opened the fridge and the first thing that greeted my still-somewhat-bleary eyes was this plate full of bright, *lurid* purple... something.
Finding something of that odd a colour in your fridge of all places, will wake you right up, I assure you.
So after the cobwebs of sleep had cleared a little, I realised that the bright purple something was actually dragonfruit. My mum had brought some back last night, and it turns out that it's a rarer species which has purple flesh instead of the more common white. My mum has stem cuttings of it too and intends to grow it. Yay. :)
We haven't grown much in the way of our own food ever since I was in secondary school and we actually had a long bean plant in our garden, so every month, we used to pluck the long beans and have them for dinner. :D And when my aunt came down from Malaysia once, she plucked some of the leaves and used them in soup. We didn't even know then that the leaves were edible.
But for some reason, my mum dug up the whole plant. No friggin' idea why the hell she did that... *grumblegrumble*
So. Anyway. Here's a picture showing both types of dragonfruit; apparently the purple one is called "red-fleshed dragonfruit", but really, it's purple. See for yourself.
Dragon fruit: white- and red-fleshed varieties.
Later, after lunch, my youngest sister and I were helping our dad to hang up the curtains at some customer's house after they'd been drycleaned; my sister and I were sticking the curtain pins in the curtains, and while we worked, we were chatting away and my sis was singing the song that they have on Cadbury Milk Chocolate commercials at irregular intervals; you know, the one which begins with "Wouldn't it be nice if the world was Cadbury". She's semi-obsessed with the little jingle at the moment. While the little ditty plays, it shows you a 3D cartoon that's part of the commercial, in which the whole world is really made of chocolate, including the people.
The commercial sparked off a little round of silly inspiration in us:
Sis: If the world really was made of chocolate, no one would go hungry, man.
Me: Yeah. Just imagine; you're watching TV, and you suddenly feel hungry, but all you have to do is lean over and take a bite out of the sofa.
Sis: Oh, but what if everyone was made of chocolate, haha...
Me: They wouldn't last very long in Singapore's weather, that's what. Everyone would melt, lah.
Sis: (after a brief pause) Chocolate tsunami. (Her eyes lit up with a silly giggle here :D)
Me: Yeah... and when that happened, people would be running to it instead of away from it, yeah? (Sis giggles) And instead of causing disaster, it'd feed millions! And it probably wouldn't do much damage; everyone gathered there would probably drink it all up before it could reach very far inland.
(Here, we both laughed like idiots for a moment before we eventually calmed down. And then my sis started at it again.)
Sis: Maybe we could try turning the ocean into chocolate.. everyone in the world contribute one tablespoon of cocoa powder...
Oh, the insanity that comprises my life. :D :P But that's about all the interesting stuff that happened today. Other than that, I managed to make more progress with my copy of Ray Bradbury's "Fahrenheit 451"; I'm almost done reading it. I highly recommend this book.
And while we're on the subject of books, BooksActually's site is now up! Go visit and order books!! :D
Oh, and if you remember the lovely song that I was talking about which was in the Kingdom of Heaven trailer, "Hope", I've managed to upload it somewhere, so you can download it here. Ladeeda. :)
Also, the song from Kenneth's blog, Tim McGraw's "Live Like You Were Dying".