Friday, October 30, 2009

Karma

The days flowed by like water. Swiftly the wheel for formations turned, and soon the cycle of examinations was upon him once again. Like ants, the child people worked. Like ants, the child people worked towards their goals, their individual desires, their eyes never wavering from that goal, that final perfection.

It was during this procession towards the end of days that a thought struck Uncletheddna. In the process of meditating on his sacred texts, he thought, wouldn't it be fun, wouldn't it be interesting to write his commentary verses in the style which the manuscripts were originally written? Wouldn't it show, wouldn't it express that he knew of the style in which it is written like the back of my hand? For what better way to show understanding, to show knowledge, than to produce an imitation, to reproduce the original?

His heart laughed at the thought. It would be a symbolic cycle, a renewal, a circle. It was karma, that fateful cycle of events, which would have the reader in the examiner, and the examiner in the reader. And his heart filled with delight at the thought.

This, o reader, are some of the thoughts which have crossed my mind.
Uncletheddna.

Friday, October 23, 2009

Only Human After All

So I was watching Improv Everywhere's latest musical when I click on a link for one of the photographers and I find her blog. It's rather nice, since it's more of a photoblog, and her photographs are really quite nice (and her cat is adorable). So halfway down I find a link to her husband's website and apparently he's a freelance filmmaker. There's an awesomely choreographed video on the front of his site (when you first visit) which reminds me of this video which I've seen before, which is awesome in its own right (the music isn't very though). So anyway if you browse around the site and come across the videos, the first one that opens when you click that tab is a rather interesting video about the buskers in New York (if you don't see that video then click the picture of the glue bottle on the right). Aside from the video, which is both heartwarming and heart-wrenching at the same time, the song, which I assume is written by the busker with the guitar and harmonica, is a really nice one. I couldn't find the lyrics anywhere, so I guess it's an original song. But it's nice.

-----
Only Human After All (?)
Well if I was a fountain
Would your wishes bring good luck?
And if I was a jacket
Would you always hang me up?
But if I was a jukebox
Would you play me all the time?
And if I sold my guilty soul
Would you pay any (mind)?

Well if I had direction
I'd be sure to steer you right
And if I was a freight train
Would you ride me every night?
But if I was a season
Would you catch me when I fall?
And if I gave you everything
Would you just take it all?

But if the answer's yes
To the questions I already know
There would be nothing left to prove
I wish I had the time
But you're fine
With my fate on the line
Don't need to know the truth
It might just break your heart in two
And I've done sniffed up all my glue
The (new) conclusion that I drew
I guess I'm only human after all

Well if I was a smile
Would you turn me upside down?
And if I was a whirlwind
Would I spin your world around?
But if I was a hotel room
Would you be here to stay?
And if I went and stood you up
Would you just walk away?

Yeah, if I was a riddle
Would you see me as a joke?
And if I was a pocket
Would you come and take me broke?
But if I was a junkie
Would you try and get me fixed?
And if I was a cigarette
Would you decide to quit?

But if I'm never there
Don't despair
'Cos I don't really care
As long as I'm not getting caught
Now just escape the pain
Of (this stain)
Let me level my brain
From your forget-me-nots
(Me tell) you give it all you've got
So watch me take me another shot
You're bound to make my stomach rot
Forgot I'm only human after all

Well if I was expensive
Would your wallet set me free?
And if I was a letter
Would you ever let me be?
But if I was a stop sign
Would you still be on the go?
And if I was a roadmap
Would you let me take you home?

But if I sing my song
Is it wrong
If you don't sing along
But still support me in the end?
'Cos like the setting sun
It's been fun
But it's over and done
I'm moving on my friend
Until the day we meet again
I'll wallow in my medicine
And know that I'll feel better when
You realize that I'm human after all


-----

In other news, I've learned what esoteric, meningitis, and scuttlebutt mean from playing Clockwords.
The Edna Man

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Clockwords

Hey, so exams are coming closer and all that, but what better way to spend your time before eminent doom arrives than playing games!

Clockwords is an awesome word game which is slightly different from other word games (like Text Twirl or Bookworm). It's awesome awesome fun and it's replaced my "Take a Break, have a GAME!" game of choice lately. It's like Tower Defence, Scrabble and a Typing Speed Test all in one! Go try it, and you can tell your mom that you're improving your English or something.

In other news, Improv Everywhere has a new musical.
The Edna Man

Wednesday, October 07, 2009

Once Upon a November

Wake Me Up When November Ends, parody of Wake Me Up When September Ends by Green Day
Year Five has come and passed
The innocent can never last
Wake me up when November ends

Like my other friends in class
Three more weeks will go so fast
Wake me up when November ends

Here comes exams again
Mugging day and night
Textbooks to cram again
And more essays to write

As my memory fills
Anymore and it overspills
Wake me up when November ends



Prelims have come and passed
The stakes are high and the die is cast
Wake me up when November ends

Time makes its slow advance
Like we're working in a trance
wake me up when November ends

There goes my brain again
You won't comprehend
Drenched in my pain again
Awaiting for the end

All the things I have revised
Didn't work as advertised
Wake me up when November ends


[[Instrumental]]


Once we get that forty-five
I'll reawake and come alive
Wake me up when November ends

Two more fortnights of IB
Just two months and I'll be free
Wake me up when November ends
Wake me up when November ends
Wake me up when the papers end


-----

Apparently people are willing to lie through their teeth for their curriculum vitae. Say hello, all you University Application Deans!

Maybe I've been the problem, maybe I'm the chance of rain
The Edna Man

Thursday, October 01, 2009

My First Children's Day

Hooray, blogger seems to be fixed. Back to regular updates!

This has been a really nice half-week, with lots of fun for all the family. Not only are prelims over, I spent three days out of the house! (Not consecutively, of course.)

So after the stats exam on Monday we had one of those famous "class" outings. We headed down to Cineleisure and had a brunch at Burger King (I'll have a Croissant-wich and some fries and coke on the side). Because nobody knew which movie to watch, we ended up deciding on Whiteout, which was at like, 1.30pm, 2 hours away. So we went to hunt down a LAN shop while Justin got his Omnitrix fixed, and managed to find one who was willing to hide our school-uniformed customership in the back. Played CounterStrike for about an hour; Jun Siong is a damn good (and damn irritating) sniper. But meh, I got better over time. Then we went back to watch the movie. It wasn't too bad, but the plot was a bit forced, I think, and there wasn't really a point to the story or anything. But yeah, still thrilling.

After that we split up because of differing agendas; Ernest and JS went to play badminton, and the girls went to watch Gamer, while Levin, Mong and Justin went to get computer parts. So I wandered over to Kino and lost myself in the comics section (again), and I just have to say that Marvel's Secret War event looks amazing, and so does DC's Blackest Night. Sigh.

Then on Tuesday, I went over to Hui Jun's house again for an afternoon of fun and laughter. Played X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse for a while, which was kinda infuriating because some people just want to destroy everything with a health bar, even though it's not necessary. It felt nice being experienced at a game for once. Oh yeah, before that Ernest was thrashing me with Soul Calibur, which he was competition-trained at until Sec 1 before he decided to give it up. I guess I will never be good at fighting games. So after X-Men we returned to Raving Rabbids, which is this Wii party game. It has an awesome TapTap-esque minigame, and awesome dancing one, so yeah!

Then at night, we started a game of Munchkin with JC's brand-new expansion packs, with dungeons now which affect all players. It was quite fun, especially the gender-changing one, but I had to leave halfway to make sure I could catch a bus back. But before I did I borrowed three books from Hui Jun; more on that later.

Okay, then yesterday was a full morning of OM-related activity. First I'm supposed to wake up at 8am but for some reason I must have been so tired that I switch it off while not even waking up, and it's only at like, 9.20 does my mom come in and ask me what time I have to be at MGS. Aaah! So I rush out of the house and get on the first bus down to the school, and I apparently make it just in time to surprise the OM girls for Children's Day. Ta-dah! Well, I didn't manage to get any sweets but Mrs Hah had a whole fridge of them (literally, stockpiles of it) and I just helped give them out. Meh. Oh well. So June and I hung around until the Children's Day concert, which I was quite curious to see, seeing that I haven't watched a Children's Day concert for about six years. It was quite awesome, actually, seeing the teachers go up and perform for their students. I think that it's brilliant; it really reminds the teachers that they're not just there to teach, but to make them happy, which is great. Hints for Youth Day, instead of just ice-cream.

So then June and I went down to town for lunch, chicken rice a la carte. We wandered around town, shared an Auntie Anne's pretzel which I haven't eaten since I was ten or eleven, I think. (Actually, "shared" is a bit of a euphemism; June claimed she was full and only accepted a small chunk.) Then it was off wandering around Kino (again) and we found this AWESOME series of books. They're like textbooks, but all in manga style. That's right. Typical Japanese manga girls and nerdy-looking boys explain Newtonian physics, molecular biology and calculus. June was complaining how she never had these books in her time.

After that June said she had never explored Orchard Ion, so naturally an expedition was in order. Thank goodness this time I managed not to get lost, and we wandered around looking at posh tea houses and expensive fashion accessories. Then it was time to go home.

And what I've been doing at home is reading. Lately, Hui Jun has been like a library to me, and I've been borrowing from his extensive (read: he has books shelved behind his books) collection. I'm supposed to do a review on them soon, so keep your eyes out for that. In order: Garth Nix's Keys to the Kingdom series, then Trudi Canavan's The Black Magician series, and now two of Eoin Colfer's: The Supernaturalist and The Wish List, as well as Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code, which is the only one I haven't yet read. Will get to the reviews soon, I guess.

Happy Children's Day!
The Edna Man