more than just sleaze nowadays, it seems like geylang is moving on to bigger things. sure, the food there has always been somewhat famous/well-known, but now thanks to extensive media coverage, no one can admit to being ignorant at the food at geylang.

remember: there is no such thing as bad publicity.

the newfound media spotlight on geylang can work in two ways:

1) people shun the area like the plague when looking for food (based on Reports but also before Reports on Cleansing are out).
2) people are drawn to the area like flies to see if the food there is really good in the first place (think about it. 100 people are sick from it. that means at least 100 people eat from that stall! which really is quite substantial, so the food there must have some semblence of standard)

sleaze is also now on television. we really need to learn how to draw the line between sleaze and sexy. the upcoming show at 10pm is one that makes this line thick and distinct, yet it still boldly transcends sexiness into utter sleaze. how it is granted airtime and viewership confuses me.

if you wonder, i gained such an opinion through advertisments itself. as much as advertisments for a show could be misleading, i am of the opinion that they are what entice people into watching them in the first place. if it doesn’t entice me, it fails. those advertisments for the show disgusted me. enough said.

i am rather excited at the prospect of reading a column dedicated to Asia in the economist every week. it was launched in this week’s issue, and it seems to be very promising, not just because it should shed new light on perspectives, but also beacuse in our time, this is one spot under the sun that should be looked at more often.

i wonder, though, if the world could be different. the ideas of a continent, a group, a region, a country; these are not groundless, yet they stick with us even though it is evident that sometimes such groupings fail to suffice. this is perhaps why i am admittedly so interested in geopolitics. the rise of nations is probably one of the biggest interests of mine right now, it is a topic that really combines history, politics and geography into one happy area. i left my love for geography alone in sec2, but it still simmers. i always felt a compulsion to do triple humanities, i just was never allowed to.

but then again, i am very happy i decided to take HL chem.

i am of the opinion that, arguably, facebook is the new neopets of our generation (besides the fact that facebook truly transcends the generation gap).

the goal, past and present (and perhaps future) will always be the same: social networking. i remember the “good old days” in primary school where almost everyone owned a neopets account – in some circles, it was happening and it was good to have a very strong neopet. the case for this addictive online game was to teach children responsibility and other values, since some people cannot afford real pets. (ironically, the fact that neopets don’t die even if you don’t feed them for 2 years defeats the whole idea of responsibility.) but people started realising how useful a social networking tool neopets was. when you were still of the appropriate age, you could still start a conversation with random kids with “do you play neopets?” as ridiculous as it might seem, neopets has now somewhat evolved into facebook.

facebook is merely a very, very good culmination of all social networking efforts in the past decade of two. we have traces of friendster, with the idea of “walls” which essentially replaced the whole idea of a “testimonial” (which was often used in the plural and abbreviated form, testis). i could keep listing, but i think you get the point. the reason why i think it transcends the generation gap is this: flexibility. if you don’t like it, you don’t have to do it. each and every person’s facebook account is personalised to their own preferences (and trust me, there are so many ways to do so), even if the layout keeps changing. but perhaps the most crucial difference between neopets and facebook are the applications (and a lot more transparency about your real age and identity even though neopets still offered scope for that). the photos, the videos, the notes, those applications we take for granted in facebook (which really smack of friendster) separate it from neopets. admittedly, there are many innovations in facebook that deserve credit, however the entire point of this exploration is this: why on earth does an application such as pet society exist?!

my older sister is completely obsessed with it and her entire internet experience is now limited to that single application. this is why i got so reminded of the neopets era, where everyone was just obsessed with playing and exploring the microcosm of Neoworld-or-goodness-knows-what-it-is-called-today. in that sense, neopets survives up till this day (on facebook) as this kind of inane application. some applications are somewhat decent as they add to the whole experience (remember superpoke?), but pet society. now, people can discuss about pet society like it’s such a huge deal to them (just like neopets!) and the thing is, they do not seem the least bit disturbed by their own actions!

perhaps i am being a little rash in making the connections, but to me, it is quite valid to do so. after all, something always changes to suit the needs of the next generation. facebook has done a fantastic job, and it has gone beyond the call of duty by getting so many people of different generations onto facebook (not just the Youngsters of friendster) and better still, by allowing third-party apps, the legacy of owning a virtual pet and socialising with others with it can still live on.

manchester united are playing aston villa at old trafford!

YES. THIS IS KEEPING ME UP. and my very sore fingers because i went a little nuts playing the guitar (new strings, must get used to them ><).

the score now pleases me, but i will not jinx it all by declaring anything. BUT THIS IS WORTH MY SLEEP. DEFINITELY WORTH IT.

as much as my post’s title seems rather abstract, i will discuss this by waxing lyrical about my guitar :D

okay, so after screwing up (majorly) the entire changing of the strings yesterday, i sought to make amends. and i decided to splurge on the elixirs instead of the usual d’addario strings. this was in part due to zhanfeng’s taylor using elixirs and they felt good, thus the urge to splurge that bit more on the strings today. i still screwed up a bit while restringing them, but it’s a minor techinicality. the important thing is this: my guitar strings have finally been replaced and it was worth my $26 (that comes up to a bit more than $4 PER STRING D: )

for something that expensive (considering the fact that the d’addario ones are never above $20, and this weird looking jimi hendrix strings that the guy was trying to sell to me today were $18), i expected it to be very good. i didnt go all out, stuck with the traditional polymax coating. but the important thing is this: shiny new strings look a thousand times better than old worn out ones, and they tend to sound very much better.

i had a dilemma choosing between a more mellow sound versus a brighter sound. previously, when i restrung my guitar before teacher’s day performance, i went for in between, getting the phosphor bronze ones. but the stand-out quality of my guitar is this: it has a very natural and bright ring to most of the higher notes (if properly played/strummed). this is really brought out when i play dare you to move (which involves open B and E strings like almost the entire song) and it really brings this special kick to the entire sound. and it can certainly project the sound. this was on “in between” strings.

so i went for the bright ones this time round. i was a bit apprehensive, since bright on bright might end up being a bit too jarring sometimes. but these were elixirs! i dont know if it would be the same with other brands of strings, but in this case, the brightness complemented each other and it really projected the ringing quality of the sound even more! on top of that, the bass (which honestly came to me as quite a surprise) was just fantastic. there’s a very nice buzz to it (not the kind of buzz you get when your strings are screwed up) and it feels very busy and powerful. midtones are still decent, but hey for a guitar that cost me $400 this is pretty awesome. it feels like a brand new guitar, to be honest. that’s the power of changing the strings. it breathes new life into the guitar and makes it sing again.

it is breathtaking and it is inspiring. and i am weird that way. but playing something so beautiful makes me joyful. can you imagine me owning a taylor? i’d be high every single freaking day.

something went off inside me, i am now back to being very obsessed and addicted to green tea.

i realise i like tea a lot. perhaps even more so than coffee. coffee has a fantastic aroma, but it all smells the same after a while and well your nose must be extremely discerning to tell the difference. it’s similar with tea, the higher the quality of it, the more discerning your tastebuds and nose must be. but coffee is coffee, the types of coffee (americano, espresso etc) are still more or less the same kind of bean done in a different fashion.

tea, on the other hand, has different types of tea! this means the permutations and combinations are endless and this makes me happy. there’s red tea, black tea, green tea, yellow tea, fruit tea, floral tea, the list goes on! honestly speaking i <3 peppermint the most, but tea!!! good stuff, that.

i also wish for a fountain of steaming hot japanese green tea for those cold days in school. and for all the lonely sad times spent alone. yea, that’d be nice.

when the doctor speaks, you better obey. when the doctor looks at you worriedly and goes “okay, better give you another day of MC, just to be safe“, there should be no question about it.

YET, i was ready to ignore it all. stupidly.

i will listen to the doctor’s orders. i hope all of me listens.

it’s not like i’m feeling dead or anything, i’m actually more than fine. i don’t feel particularly awesome or fit, but i don’t feel like im going to die, not just yet. but there arises the little complication of my phlegm containing very very warm blood. so i will start on a battery of medication prescribed by the good man, and see what happens.

if it gets worse and turns out to be the Feared Infection (and possibly pneumonia), ohshit sorry people if i passed it on to you.

wth i needed only half a day to do all my work. and i mean ALL.

so school is starting again! doesn’t feel like i had holidays, to be honest.

also, this blog is slowly gathering dust and becoming quite defunct. if you think this reflects a lack of intellectual thought, you are mistaken. i just dont feel like it anymore. not that i am going to delete this blog, i will just ignore it till the time comes for an extreme explosion of thought and emotion (which i am pretty sure will come soon, the cyclical nature of this life will never cease) so.

i like the word brutal quite a lot. it has this extremely powerful punch in it.

perhaps it is the brutality of it all that has led me to adopt my “why care, why bother” mantra recently. defeatist? perhaps. but i need to focus on what is really important to me right now. my damned health, mainly. and giving more than 100% at everything, as long as it is required and i deem it important enough.

that being said, i’m currently nursing more than just a cough now. it has erupted violently into a full-blown flu, cold and sore throat. and i am in a deep dilemma about what i should wear tomorrow. whoever thought colour combinations could prove to be such a headache? that is all on top of accumulating fatigue and a multitude of emotions waiting to completely destroy me if i don’t control them. emotions like anger (laced dangerously with a tinge of hatred), some sense of joy that i am actually 2/3 way through my holidays, even bitterness.

3 more days of simun. 1 day to do my homework. even less time to rest and recuperate.

and yet, all that’s flooding my mind right now is the sickening fact that some people couldn’t be more insensitive and so oblivious to everything and everyone around them.

i seem to have some sort of personal vendetta against myself this year. i’m making everything difficult for myself, be it with work, commitments or emotions. which is stupid, really.

but with that being said, wtp vjc symposium? how did i even get picked o.o