Cat Song

If anyone has been in the vicinity of my phone when it’s ringing, they’d know that it meows. I still remember last year, I was in the darkroom printing and the senior classmate came in and said, “Darling, your phone is meowing.”

Courtesy of Ally’s weird taste in music (Meow Meow Meow by At17). The ringtone also wakes me up in the morning. I don’t need pets anymore :P

Anyway, There’s another meowing song that gives me goosepimples everytime they start singing. It’s so haunting!

And while on the subject of musical discoveries, I DIDN’T KNOW CANON ROCK COULD BE TRUMPED! A’;DS;JS’fd; THESE PEOPLE ARE CRAZYYYYY.

This is Canon Rock 2, a more awesomely xiong arrangement!

F22

Today, best dinner ever.

Time has also stopped for me in custom-made black forest cake with lots of whipped cream (Yingz thought they were marshmallows!) :DDD

MLIG.

Hectic

Forecast for the rest of the semester is gloom all the way from Wednesday to Saturday.

Sleeping Beauty is so lucky.

Speak Good English

I didn’t know that ‘almond‘ and ‘salmon‘ were pronounced with a silent ‘l‘ until this morning while tuning in to The Morning Express on 95.0FM (one of my two favourite radio segments next to Muttons to Midnight on 98.7FM).

With the morning commentary on the Speak Good English campaign re-asserting itself in Singapore fresh in mind, I later overheard some girls talk about the weather as they sat next to me on the bus .

“Did it rain this morning?” One asked.

“Oh my house rained,” replied another.

“Yeah my house also rained,” and I just had to crack a smile at the image of a house raining at this point.

Btw, Pa said that technically in Mandarin, saying 我家下雨 is correct because 我家 could also mean the neighbourhood.

Truth be told, I wouldn’t normally bat an eyelid over this exchange, because I’m extremely guilty over Singlish in verbal communications, so much so that Mum and Pa used to always reprimand me over my broken sentences; I always insisted that I could turn it off when in writing (during exams) but then they would say that it’s still not good to form this bad habit. Actually Pa still chastises me about it sometimes :S

I think I always get caught saying something like, “Oh this one also got!” while delightfully exclaiming over another bowl of soup with surprise!meat or something.

‘Oh this one also got’ = direct translation of ‘哦这个也有’! i.e. I HAVE BEEN SUPPORTING THE SPEAK GOOD MANDARIN CAMPAIGN ALL THIS WHILE orz

Pa also recounted ads on the TV with a mother scolding her child who was crying to be spoon-fed. “Eat yourself!” she shouts. (‘自己吃!’)

Am guilty of that too XDDD

But I’m really fond of Singlish ley.

Welcome to My Family

Last night as I was writing a long-overdue letter back to Aunty Dev in the Philippines, I wanted to explain to her the meaning behind Ti’s name (whom she had named her son after), when I realised that I never really knew why Ti’s name was the way it was. I remember many years ago I asked Mum why his name was chosen, and she said that it was because there was nothing left to choose from. LOL! It’s times like this that I feel lucky to be a firstborn XDD

Well last night I asked her again. She thought for a while, and said that it meant ‘benevolent’, and I was like, why?!? Our middle names already mean ‘benevolent’; does this mean that Ti is supposed to be some kind of saint? Anyway I looked it up online and it actually means ‘outstanding’. Well done Mum :P

After that she said that my name meant ’strength’, while doing this aja fighting pose. Damn weird. It was then that I decided to break it to her that the banyan tree (which I’m named after) is actually semi-parasitic.

TO WHICH MUM BROKE OUT IN FULL-FLEDGED LAUGHTER AND JUMPED AROUND THE ROOM IN UNBRIDLED MIRTH.

And then, still laughing, she said that I wasn’t semi-parasitic… but completely parasitic! This is totally FML-worthy man XDDD

But she said she was joking, and later fondly said how much of a good children Ti and I are, while I told her how my life is doomed from the start of wrong name-choosing.

Welcome to my family. If at any time you think I’m crazy, just remember where I’m coming from. XDD

Okay further proof has just unearthed itself. Mum finally found the iPod charger she’d been looking for since yesterday and when it was found, I started clapping above my head while she swung the iPod wire round and round singing ‘Old Macdonald Had a Farm’.

Also, am terribly amused by this MTV. I know Shasha would be absolutely mortified and outraged over this video, but somehow I can’t stop looping it to hear her sing “nyeh nyeh nyeh nyeh” at 2:05.

Btw, apparently that Korean company kenna successfully sued by Square Enix over this XDD

I HAS STYLE? & Near Death

Lolspeak is unacceptable but words fail me.

Tuesday, I had oil painting class. We finally got started on painting still life, after everyone got into a clamour for white objects to set up.

At the end of the session, Ai said that my painting was ‘very me’, and I was like, HUH does this mean that whatever I draw looks the same?!?!!? WHAT’S THE POINT?!?! Noez there goes $50+ of oil painting supplies orz

Thursday, I proudly showed Pa a work in progress doodle in my BB Sketchbook (short for the Brian Bolland sketchbook that he autographed XDD). I was like, “Taadaa!” and he was like, “Why do all your drawings look so gloomy and sinister.” and I was like, HUH WHERE GOT?!?! And then he tried to explain in vain the characteristics of my drawings.

Friday, Ai and I continued our oil painting for homework and I don’t know, I think Linda, Ruru and Sal said that it looked finished, even though I had barely gone a few strokes into it. Which was really amusing XDD

Last night Brat#2 fell face-first onto my bed in slumber. Mum then decided to lay the mattress on the floor so that I could have her bed to sleep on. I was awake till 4+am.

Sometime during the wee hours of the night, Brat#2 gave a vicious shout and started violently punching the pillow next to him (i.e. where my head would have been), and then he collapsed back onto the bed.

NEVER HAVE I BEEN SO GLAD TO BE AWAKE AT 4AM.

Even Mum woke up! I kept laughing in relief (to be alive).

Brat#2 is damn dangerous.

STGCC 2009

The Singapore Toy Games & Comic Convention happened last weekend and it was bigger and better than last year’s! (Although I don’t have pictures to show for it… three consecutive days of waking up at godforsaken hours does make me want to conserve energy so that I don’t faint on the street.)

Well I mostly say that it was better from a biased point of view because this time I went to the STGCC $200 conference for free and got great stuff in the goodie bags from Kidrobot (hello, setting the benchmark for goodie bags which actually include goodiessss, and lots to boot XD). Also, since it was a Friday, I could actually concentrate on getting around the convention hall instead of spending precious energy trying to breathe.

Taken by Z’s assistant :)
Of course I went to see if Z was there, and she was! To tell the truth I wasn’t banking on being recognised because we so rarely interact but I was quite touched that she remembered my mug :P And it was pretty embarrassing when she asked if I wanted to take a photo, because last year’s STCC I did take a photo with her and it seems like there’s an established link every time we see each other already. Well not that I’m complaining! XDD

On Saturday I had to do an emergency fill-in at the receptionist job, so I thought why not try getting Brian Bolland’s autograph since I was in the area?

That’s an awesome Joker he drew <3 although the ears look a little troubling to me BUT STILL AWESOME.

He talked to the people gathered around the table as he drew Tank Girl. And then he started talking about Watchmen and you know I can’t shut up when it comes to that topic and chatted with him on it. Glad to know that he hated Ozzie as well :P

Midway through his demonstration drawing, a group of Batman cosplayers came in and took photos and got autographs. This was the only lousy picture I got, but I’m sure there are better ones on the web. They looked great!

The finished drawing was to be auctioned at the event.

I passed Super Fatty to the helper in the booth to take photos after the autograph, but I think we had a mis-communication and he got trigger-happy XDD Not complaining! I’m quite shocked that that smug smirk was on my face from this moment on till the next day. Seriously get a grip girl.

Me, Tintin’s copy of Batman: The Killing Joke (of course I got it autographed for him in secret!), and Brian Bolland.

He also drew a Joker sketch on my new sketchbook! I was like, no need to sketch, because there were so many people queuing behind me, but I guess it was weird because I forgot to tell him my name and this wasn’t his works so he drew one anyway <333

Oh and those Daruma matroskas were from one of the Kidrobot tikam boxes in the goodie bags! Eh but the eyes of the Daruma dolls a bit the different from traditional…

Punny Name

I have JK for painting class this semester. She has never taught me before. When I came up to her to mark my attendence, she remarked, “I wanted to see what you look like!“

And I was stunned– what did I do to garner such infamy?!?!- and managed to stutter out a “Huh, why?“

She said that my name was nice. After that she asked how she should call me, and I was still reeling from the shock and conflict because Izzy had fun calling me by my surname (as I am known to Shasha and Ruru) earlier in class. When I told her she could call me Ren, she pointed to the last part of my name and said, “Yea calling you this wouldn’t feel right.“

Get it? Calling me by the last installment of my name wouldn’t feel right. Because it’s (w)rong.

OMG damn lame I kenna double stunned la! Only Kenken is supposed to 出 this 招 lor… And then she said that my name was nice again, to which my brain got fried just enough to say, “Er okay,” and laugh sheepishly in response.

This morning dear old Charcoal marked attendance and when he came to my name (dropping the surname), I raised my hand and he joyly exclaimed, “Ah, there you are!” And I was like, huh??!? Also, people seem to be amused when I make self-introductions. It’s not my favourite thing to do so I normally leave things brief and vague.So I simply said the bare minimum: name, major and presence of film (for next week’s class).

When Charcoal asked if I was still in Animation I was like, what question is that? How to answer? And eventually said that er, I was hoping to graduate this year…? To which the class laughed, and he laughed too, saying that he hoped I would too!

And I sat there perplexing over what was so funny. Btw, majority of the people are year two photo majors. Am damn scared sia! Quite a number have lots of working experience in the medium don’t play play ahhhh.

There goes the first day of my last year of school.

Oh and I talked to CHLim while waiting for the next class today and he excitedly gushed about the new motion-capture system the school had just acquired. I was like, wah lau must be damn ex! Five digits?

No. It was six digits and the first digit was a seven. Asf;ladglknda!!!!! It is sitting in the film room and I’m not too sure why :P

Affinity with Gravity.

Am drunk.

Finishing off a glass of beer, Tintin’s remaining half-glass of beer, half a glass of red wine plus a competition with Uncle M.C on who can dunk another half down the fastest and lastly, another full glass of red wine to finish off the bottle, all within the span of half an hour, results in a natural blush. In fact, I probably downed half a bottle of red wine (distasteful over-sweetening) within ten minutes. Am now full of regrets.

Am trying to control my body to stay in flotation instead of lurching in every direction, most noticably the ground.

And my eyes are bloodshot.

School starts tomorrow at 9am and I am intense with grief. Goodbye my last 3 months of holidays.

It is probably a very good reason for me to get drunk, in retrospect :P

Sian FYP II

I told Kiampa my FYP woes, and this was the amusing conversation.

Kiampa: wow ur famoous
Kiampa: famous
Kiampa: they stole ur idea
Me: not steal my idea
Me: but now its an idea tt can be recognised liao
Kiampa: then how
Kiampa: change idea
Me: watch rerun and see what they did lor
Me: if its diff from what i wanna execute can
Me: but if not i can always change la
Me: got a few similar ideas
Kiampa: screw ndp
Me: HAHAHA
Me: feeling damn bummed liao la
Me: its not supposed to be so effective against me BUT I FEEL SCREWED
Kiampa: oh yesh you are screwed
Kiampa: haha
Kiampa: i didnt really keep an eye on the parade
Kiampa: other than hear so i dont know
Kiampa: but u better change ur idea
Kiampa: cos anything thats worthy to be on ndp is shit
Me: HAHAHAHHAHAA
Kiampa: on the eve of school starts
Kiampa: the state screws u

It is also precisely why Kiampa’s nickname is ‘Kiampa’, Hokkien for owing a beating to :P

Btw, happy 44th birthday today, Singapore! I waved the miniature cloth flag on a pole that Brat#2 got in school for a while today while waiting for Ti to change so that we could go down for dinner.