Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Chinese new year. The economic recession.

So from the last time I posted something on this blog I was looking forward to the weekend when I would finally see my cousins in Malacca again, which was the cny weekend.

But before i start rambling on about anything regarding that holiday, i just wanted to bring up a pattern which i found along my many years in the singapore education system. you know the kind of feeling that u get when the hols just ended and school's startin again? For the 1st few days u just cant get into the school mood and u feel like sleeping in, then walking out of your house in a hot red tshirt and jeans to find some entertainment and later coming back home at 7pm after realising how much time has passed and u have only 1 pack of chocolates in ur shopping bag. Well, news flash, its called the holiday mood.

So, what happened was during the entire period in jan before cny, which was about 25 days, i realised that well, not to say that i slacking off... but to put it nicely, i wasnt too focused on my studies

dat wasnt any better. but because these few years i've not been going to m'cca for a long holiday *without my parents xD* due to theolo as i used to back then (2001 - 2006), i always looked forward to the cny mcca visit as a substitute. And yes, the month between the dec hols and cny becomes a holiday too.

i.e. i probably should get more focused on studies now.

so. after a month-long wait, on 24 jan, the cny weekend came and i got to get up at 2am, sit on a car for 3 hours in the dark, and at long last (lols its only been 3 months but it felt like years) see my gor and jie.

Now that was all cool and exciting. especially the car trip. u get to sleep the whole way and once u wake up... VIOLA! you're where u wanna be. Now, we could've left the night before, but we decided not to due to a massive traffic jam at the checkpoints. yes, both of them. BUT HEY... the traffic jam decided to last the entire night and on the morning of 24th of january we got caught at the customs for 2 whole hours!!! And guess why? the customs decided to open only one counter -.- (i mean, its kinda obvious that ppl will wanna go on holiday during cny, right?) this just lacks some common sense la...

Following, we all know about the economic recession and how it has been a horrific time for the businesses, coporations, employment etc etc. But what really struck me about the recession was its impact on cny. Last year, when my parents n i were hanging out at tiong bahru (near the mrt station) to do cny shopping, the entire stretch of pavement from the exit of the mrt station all the way to the entrance of Tiong Bahru Plaza was filled with stalls set up selling cny goods, food, drinks and it was bustling with activity. But this year, it became desolate, quiet and empty. From the mrt station, we only saw the 1st cny goods stall more than 1km away from the station.

so much for a prosperous new year, huh?

As a result, many ppl would expect their angbaos to be much smaller this year. So one question i would like to ask the ppl who read this post is whether their angbaos (if they are still getting them) have shrunk this cny as compared to previous years? And how does that make u feel?

- Do u feel ok, since its the recession and all?
- or do u feel like "Hey, why has my value in ur eyes decreased just because of the recession"?

If u r willing to share with me, u can drop me a comment, tag or email.

I'm very touched by my family members, because they decided to give me the same amount they have always given me. :D

well... most of them, just to be fair.

Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Leaving home. Again.

"This feeling...

its so familiar."

4 weeks ago, I was due for a student theological course in my church (True Jesus Church). While I had been looking forward to it all the while, I was having second thoughts overshadowing my excitement.

i.e. I was lazy to pack.

*coughs* Well, that's only one of the reasons. Deep down, I honestly felt a little sian that having 3 weeks subtracted off my holidays just like that (especially since the hols end soon of after that). Before the course started on 2nd Dec I had already visited 10-odd shopping malls, and hung out with 20-odd of my acquaintances. However, I knew I hadn't even scraped a fraction of Singapore's shopping centres (a good fren pointed that i *still* need more life lols) and I wanted to do more. Furthermore, school had been so hectic this year I was about to crack, so this holiday was supposed to be for me to slack off lor... =(

What's more, my reasearch project is due soon. (oh crap. i just noticed.)

So yea... before the course, I felt excitement and yet at the same time I felt a sense of... whaddya call it... um... reservation?

Of course, thankfully, through the course I gradually felt that the time spent there was worth it (for those who are concerned over what I wrote above, do not worry)

NOW.

After a week back home, I suddenly find myself compelled to pack up my stuff again, in the same way as I did 4 weeks ago, with the same large luggage, with the same huge pile of neccesities (albeit with a few new clothes, those new clothes are really cool) , awaiting the same long stay away from home.

What's it with staying away from home that's so great?

The independence you gain?

The rules you have to obey?

The friends you meet?

The experiences that await you?

If you want me to be honest, I still prefer staying at home.

No, don't get me wrong. All those above are in some way or another cool with me. But I'm once again feeling the same thing as I did last time. A sense of... um... well I can't think of any word for this feeling except reservation.

I can't bear to leave my home. (again)

I can't bear to part with my bed. (again)

I can't bear to part with my messy desk. (again)

I can't bear to lose the times where I can just sit back in my room and do whatever I want (considering that thr's STUDY TIME -.-)

Sigh. Oh well. Time to accept reality. Off to pack up the remaining stuff I need for my check-in. =)

Thursday, December 25, 2008

Theolo: out of sight, but always in my mind

Izzit me, or did theolo 2008 pass like wind? lols

It's been 23 days of routine living. How can I ever feel normal once i stop? Sigh feel super sian feel like going back thr again. Had to leave cos i didnt have clothes. PISH

Indeed it was a high point of my holiday despite it having the most amount of mugging that i'll ever have in a holiday. The closeness with God, and the fellowship with the brethren (Murderer was awesome), the plain bread we eat, the funny things that happen, and a whole lot of idiotic laughs mixed in, will be an experience i'll rmb for yrs to come. (Last yr's theolo pales in comparison lor)

So from now on its no more waking up in a dark dorm, brushing teeth looking like a zombie, bathing, going to classroom to catch fish, eating all that home cooked food (The food rock, u stone), praying tgt with all the bros n sis n singing hymns.

In addition, one thing that i most value this yr's theolo for is the big revelation of my character's most fundamental flaws. It dawned upon me like the sun man. xD And I resolved to correct them, by the aid of His mighty hand. =)

ITS THE END LA... I havent studied nuts for my organic chem!!!!

oh well, that's flaw number 1.

Sunday, November 30, 2008

100 question-thing

Egged on by my sister a while ago i finally got bored enough to start doing this quiz. So here goes...

01. What have you been doing recently? trying to get a life :)

02. Do you ever turn your cell phone off? hardly bah...

03. What happened at 10.00am today? sending off a cousin back home at the airport with tears in my heart ... because theolo's coming (ps it passes damned quickly despite being like 23 days) and my hols are gonna be over right after tt.

04. When did you last cry? hmm recently :)

05. Believe in fate/destiny? nvr think abt such things. shit happens, period.

06. What do you want in your life right now? companionship (yes both quality and quantity count)

07. Do you carry an umbrella when it rains, or just put up your hood? umbrella

08. What's your favourite thing to have on your bed? the pillow.

9. What bottom are you wearing now? shorts.

10. What's the nicest text in your inbox say? "i miss u all again" - my cousin.

11. Do you tend to make a relationship complicated? no idea man.

12. Are you wearing anything you borrowed from someone? no.

13. What was the last movie you caught? madagascar 2

14. What are you proud of? My nice laptop :)

15. What does the oldest text message in your inbox say? "What time?"

16. What was the last song you sang out loud? i just came back from church... so u get the idea

17.Do you have any nicknames? No. i dunno if i should b happy or not. xD

18. What does your last received text message say? U have missed calls from...

19. What time did you go to bed last night? i didnt

20. Are you currently happy? HECK NO. my hols are almost over.

21. Who gives you best advice? my family and friends.

22. Do you eat whipped cream straight from the can? whipped cream makes u fat. throw that white turd away.

23. Who did you talk on phone last night? no one.

24. Is anything bugging you right now? yea. i m still mourning over my soon-ending hols

25. What/who was the last thing/person to make you laugh? Some church frens

26. Do you wear toe socks? a little

27. Who was the last person you missed a call from? i missed hundreds of calls. no idea

28. Have you ever had your heart broken? i guess so.

29. What annoys you most in a person? hmm nvr thot of that

30. Do you have a crush on anyone? well i used to

31. Have you ever done cocaine? nope. im very guai one. =)

32. What is the colour of your room?A light shade of cream

33. Would you kill someone you hate for a billion dollars? honestly if it werent morally wrong i'd probably do it even if it cost me a billion dollars. but hey, hatred is a rare for me. seriously. :)

34. Do you believe in the saying of : talk is cheap? in a sense yes, cos its absolutely free.

35. Who was the last person to lie in your bed? me.

36. Who was the last person to hug you? if im not wrong its my cousin xD

37. Did anyone see the last person you kissed? i havent kissed anyone

38. Do you have a life? im trying to get one

39. Have you ever thought someone died, when they really didnt die? hmm nvr did

40. What is the reason behind your profile song? i have 31 of them -.-

41. Who was the last person you saw in your dream? who bothers to rmb such shit

42. Last time you smiled? moments ago

43. Have you changed this year? yes. radically.

44. What are you listening right now? nothing... thankfully unlike my sister who was bothered by all that construction noise while doing this quiz

45. Are you talking to someone when you doing this? no, sadly.

46. Do you walk with your eyes open or closed? well DUH open u idiot

47. Is there a quote you live by? no

48. Do you want someone you cannot have? hmm yupp i want them as my frens but i can nvr have them as my own (that would b selfish)

49. Have you ever played an instrument? yes. still playin it man

50. What was the worst idea you've had in this week? facebooking till 1am

51. What are you doing last night at 11pm? playing UNO with my sisters and getting owned

52. Are you happy with your love life right now? i dont have one.

53. What song best describe your love life? dude i said i dont have one

54. Does the person know that you like him/her? wrong question *slap*

55. Who always make you laugh? nice grammar lols. no one in particular, jus random humour from random ppl here n there

56. Do you speak other language other than English? Chinese Hokkien

57. Favourite website(s)? facebook, blogger, friendster, and wikipedia

58. What's your middle name? i dont have one

59. What are you doing tomorrow? packing for theolo

60. What do you think you are like? kitano from angel dendetsu

61. Who will you choose to die with? life's too good for one to choose to die, but in extreme cases mayb my family (includes wife n kids).

62. Where have you been today?home n church n senai

63. What game do you play often?Spore.

64. Who are you missing right now? maybe my cousins

65. If you have to choose between friendship and love, who will you choose? i wont choose. ill throw u off and get both xD c'mon guys both r important la

66. What are you doing right now?this 100 question thing

67. Which primary school are you from? Rulang Pri

68. Name 3 colours that you like? pick any 3

69. What emotion do you like to show? amusement

70. What is your life to you? the only thing i would exchange my life for

71. If you have something troubling you, what will you do? mostly keep quiet but talk it out later

72. Who did you last chat in msn today? lambo

73. Who do you admire most? God

74. Which month are you born in? July

75. How are you feeling right now? bored

76. What is the time now? 10.04 pm

7. What kind of person do you think the one who tagged you is? nobody did.

78.What colour did you use to dye hair?i never dyed it b4, but im gonna do it soon with black (my white hair is killing my image)

79. Why are you doing this test?because im bored

80. What do you do when you're moody? speak less or more

81. At which age you wish to get married? 22 < x < 28 =)

82. Who is more important to you? my family. a precious gem. friends follow closely after.

83. If today is the last day of your life, what will you do? call all of these impt ppl (see Q82) tgt to watch a movie, eat a meal, do a confession of all our feelings and thots n misunderstandings etc. and finally camp at some big field (the one near je mrt would b good) to watch as the day ends n i get taken away. LOL i didnt think my imagination was this vivid.

84. Who is the person you trust the most?my parents.

85. Do you believe in seeing a rainbow after a rain? i (try to) believe that nothing is actually rain in the long run

86. If you have a dream come true, what would it be? i have alot of ideals. e.g. become a person who is both really smart and really charismatic. (oh c'mon ben, u know dats nvr gonna happen) sigh i dont know

87. What is your goal for this year? spend my hols wisely xD

88. Do you believe in eternity love? yes. the Lord my God.

89. What feeling do you love most? being surrounded by friends or family having fun

90. Do you really think its Global Warming now? yea those american nutcases should wake up to the facts

91.What feeling do you hate the most? anyth negative

92. Do you cherish every single friendship of yours? indeed i do. i just cant express it well. =(

93. Do you believe in God? yes.

94. Who cares for you most?God. but in a more pragmatic sense, my family.

95. What do you think is the most important thing in your life? i want it all, but to give up all but one i would leave my faith.

96. What will you bring when you fight? i dont like to fight. if i really need to kill someone i'd rather poison them. i have a mild psychological phobia for blood (i dont puke when i see it tho xD).

97. What have you done regretted doing in your whole life? to pick the most extreme case, the way i treated my frens in the past

98. What would you feel if no one no longer cares for you? horrible of course.

99. What if your boyfriend/girlfriend two-timed you? DUH screw both of them (my gf and that ass) to H*ll. of course i must reflect on whether it was partly my fault

100. HOW DO U FEEL NOW? still bored as hell.

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

So much for freedom, crud.

YES I feel sooooooo free!!!!

And the day has finally come when the battle has been fought and its time to kick back and wait for the results for our exams. It feels sooooo liberating.

Yet, as I watch the day pass and look forward, i realise im becoming too free for comfort. All my friends have a class chalet coming and im stuck at home doing nothing -.-

A fine example would be how the day went after my final paper, that is mathematical logic (i know this is a nerdy subject but im no nerd, dude/gal).

I picked up my bag and decided to take 198 back home.

Took a nap once i was home (1 pm - 3 pm).

Upon waking up, I turned on my computer to realise I had new friends on Tagged. yay

Once i was done chatting with them, I suddenly realised that i had nothing else up for the rest of the day. At 4 pm in the afternoon.

What was i gonna do after that? No freaking idea.

so much for freedom, huh?

Well, i guess im gonna blog a little more for awhile to *hopefully only temporarily* kill some time, and look forward to some movie reviews , and wish me luck in getting a life. pish.

(PS : the above thing happened mayb also cos im too lazy to pick myself up and get outta the house)

Catcha later, guys!

Friday, October 31, 2008

Living it out for the day, and a wonderful closing to 2008

A Qn for you: What happened during the most memorable visit you paid to a relative/friend and when did it happen? (answer in a comment, email or tag if u're interested)

Anyway...

And after a week of hardship, it is not yet over. My EOYs are finally 3/4 over, and i only have 3 papers left to go, all of which I cant stand studying (History, logic, and history). TGIF!!!!

Friday nights are always a reliable buffer between one and one's undone work. xD

And there was the big history scare which i got today when sum1 invited my history classmate to a LAN session after today's paper, and my classmate replied, "No can do, got history." And I was like replying softly knowing that i studied nuts, "Wait. There's history?" And he was like, "YEA?" o.O ZOMG!

following my green-faced response, he replied calmly, "Next week what."

LOL. It was then I realised how near-sighted my recent life has become. i.e. I live too much for the day up to the point where i start sub-conciously intepreting (without clearing the air 1st) what others say to be "today". Geez. This worries me.

But, I guess I'll get to it later.

Anyway, its probably not a good idea to "live in the future" too much either. Drains your energy and yet u cant do anything about it. What's the point?

Yea yea I get it. Living too much in the present is just planning to fail in life. But live in the present at least a little. Life's too short for one to think ahead for evrything and too good for one to forgo the joys of the present. And I'll do my reflecting.

And planted right in the middle of my exam period is my EOY holiday to malacca! Went there, visited some cousins, had some fun, a bbq, and a late night movie, and took some really memorable pics. Generally had a blast. So much that I forgot my exams, at least at that time. And in this visit we probably had more bonding (as a whole group of cousins) than we ever had. If you wanna see the photos u can visit my facebook profile (add me!) and amongst the photo albums and the album title is really obvious. Benjamin Goh is my name.

I guess.... this holiday could be considered a good closing to 2008. It ended rather emotionally too.

And this then brings me to the question that i wanted to ask u : What happened during the most memorable visit you paid to a relative/friend and when did it happen? If u're willing, may you please share.

Monday, October 20, 2008

The calm before the storm... and psychological impressions!

Ah. fine u might not get the joke in the title but it doesnt matter

Anyw, after 3 months of struggling and slacking and struggling again, the calm before the storm has arrived. you know, the short period when thr's suddenly no homework or lessons whatsoever, yea those. and they are the sign that the long-forecasted storm has finally come - exams!!!

So its finally time to pick up the book and start flipping thru them as if i was really interested, its been kinda long since i last did this. Wish me luck.

Also i came up with several interesting maths ideas out of the blue and got to work on them too last saturday. but after awhile when i was finally done i decided to screw my homework and start watching tv. and the movie was nice. im gonna review it soon (so stay tuned, dear). and i slept at 2.30 am.

But what really attracted my interest this week was the idea of psychological impressions. In part, this was the background theme of the movie i watched, but the concept made more sense to me after i watched the movie, and it was in regard to the movie itself: i couldnt help but to remember the visceral (if u dunno what this means it means visual and apparent and sensate) details everywhere i go. its like the old macdonald's song-stuck in-ur-head kinda feeling. in fact, the impression was so deep i could hardly sleep after that (might already give u an idea of what kind of movie i watched).

I think that there are certain types of events that we as individuals are more sensitive to. then after they occur, we tend to become fixated with the visceral or emotional aspects of the event and if these feelings are negative they can drive us to extremes. take for example a kid who was abused from young. if the psychological trauma he suffered doesnt get aided he would become paranoid or in extreme(r) cases abusive when he becomes older. get what im trying to say?

You do? That's great.

Yea... and guess what? my school's internet screwed around with me, and now i cant do my work with my laptop in school. It just decided to not let me log into my school server acct no matter whether im connected to the server. and there goes any internet sessions in school. pish.

Finally, there's a drama serial on mediacorp TV channel 8 that seriously ROCKS! you should catch it asap if u can. its called Crime Busters x2 and its on at 9pm all weekdays. its funny, thrilling and at the same time.... (hmm whats that word...) plotty? ok lol i was just playing around basically it has good plot.

Catcha later!