Things that...

Today, after a 9am-5pm day in the uni, I caught a tram back at around 5.45pm. While the tram wasn't entirely quiet, the most audible noise came from this little Chinese child.

His mom was holding this small Chinese reading book, and she was reciting and repeating lines after lines for this kid to follow. At one point I even saw her counting down 5 with her fingers, the number of times the kid was supposed to recite a line, until perfection.

When they were done, the mother put the book back into his bright-colored backpack. As if he hadn't had enough, he took that book back and gave it to his mother again. Before asking his mother to give him more practice, he even browsed through the book looking for a particular section.

While the mother wasn't that sort who was looking for attention, she wasn't too afraid of attention as well. And while he wasn't 100% keen, he wasn't 100% reluctant.

This is true Chinese values in action. They might not like what they are doing, but we strongly believe in our ways, especially in cultivating discipline in children.

I'm not being a racist. If you look at United States' statistics, increasingly, Asian kids take up a big proportion of top performing students. The Asian way hasn't changed that much. It's just the rest of you. But I'm not even saying your culture is deteriorating. But if someone else is catching up (or perhaps going past you) at such a pace, a little retrospection wouldn't hurt.

What were the chances?

Today, I was at Ksubi's last day of sale in Docklands. It was in one of those sheds and I as always, had my iPod along.

Halfway trying out a pair of jeans in a shabby mass fitting room, my iPod fell into a hole just nice to fit your fingers. But it slid down, lying flat under a concrete ground and the gap was too thick for any fingers to reach.

According to the security, when water level rises, it will probably float it to the ocean. There, I hope, my beloved companion will find peace.

A...

... drunk update is good from time to time.

But an empty one ain't cool.

To you know who, yes, we smell very good together!

I'm Smiling, Not Laughing!

It wasn't such a nice day today. Woke up late, turned up to class without paper to write nor the questions for the tutorial. Was totally blank. Then body was so lethargic I did 2 sets of squats and that's it for legs.

Over this year I witnessed some old friends or friends of friends' getting married. I don't know them well, but some couples either look like they're getting a shottie marriage or they're just too premature for a wedding. Or should I say, a marriage. I was either laughing or apathetic when I learned about them.

Besides my brother's proposal, for the first time, I was totally smiling (not laughing) when I learned that two friends of mine are getting married! In Facebook, it was so awesome to see their happy post-prososal faces holding a ring in Shanghai. What a nice end to an odd day...

Today... (again, the bored and boring title)

... I rediscovered streaming radio online. This time around I was listening to Hitz.fm and Mix.fm, two channels I grew up with but never quite grow out of. Both of them remind me of the times, well, growing up! Very nostalgic. The oldest memory it conjured was my purchasing of Prodigy's Fat of the Land album (in cassette!) when I was 11, after Hitz introduced Prodigy's Breathe and Firestarter. The latest memory was me driving in a lonely car last summer, stuck in the rush hour traffic after work in the gloomy and sometimes rainy skies.

... I received a confirmation that my graduation date has been allowed to be brought forward. It took some trouble for my parents to email those itineraries over due to public holidays back home, but fortunately the Graduation Union decided to let me change the date, for if not, I and my parents will be flying back even before the allocated date! (That, of course, is due to air ticketing difficulties).

... I realized that I'm getting a little out-dated with what's happening in the finance world once again. I was applying for some jobs and there are fields that I can't even figure what to write. Let alone if I ever get interviewed and bombarded by some insane questions. Well, on the same note, well done to India for being able mitigate the market panic so well! 3 well's in one sentence. Fuck it, I'm too lazy to edit.

Food...

I guess this would be the first entry I have regarding food.

Wednesday is a very long day for me. Typically it spans 7.30am to 3.00am and it's an off-day for training (I wanna enjoy my 4-hour break). Here's roughly what I had for the day, trying to keep up with my regular 3-hourly meals:

8.00am: oatmeal + eggs
11.30am: high protein low carbs bar + NutriGrain bar
1.30pm: salmon sushi + chicken teriyaki sushi + some stuffed sushi
4.15pm: mass shake (50/50 protein/carbs)
7.45pm: diced lamb + spaghetti
12.00am: chicken with cheese + pita bread
2.45am: protein milk shake

and good night! Woohoo!

Dear Fans of Dru Hill (and on how to become a count or duke)

Scola (from Dru Hill) will be performing live in Platform One on Fri 26th October. Check this flyer out. I shall see you at the second door!

And oh, I didn't know that there are some organizations in this world that could actually make you a count or duke if you wish so! Guess what, multilevel marketing has such features built in their membership structures. Put in a certain (high, of course) level of investment in and voila, you become a count!

Ingenious! Another self-esteem aid there! Or should I say a band-aid, because they won't let you hold such titles once you leave the organization.