| Let \epsilon > 0 |
[Aug. 12th, 2008|12:46 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | wheel of fun! | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | gorgeous tiny chicken machine show | ] |
I really thought it was time to remind myself I'm not dead yet. So,
I'm alive!
No real updates. I'm back, but you knew that.
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| and it's not even snowing |
[Feb. 13th, 2008|03:38 am] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | none, or other | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | the lightning seeds - the life of riley | ] |
 |
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| no pictures just words |
[Dec. 3rd, 2007|12:06 am] |
oh, i've put this off for so long.
1) term ended on wednesday. in 4 hours i begin touring, and i'll be back in cambridge on the 11th next year, if all goes to plan.
2) it's been an amazing hectic two months. i guess i need some time to myself to make sense of it all, but, well, wow. it feels like i just left home last week.
i keep meaning to put photos up, and i will by this break.
3) anyone who would like a christmas card please send their address. people who think i would like to send them christmas cards also please send your address. |
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| hello i'm cold! |
[Sep. 28th, 2007|09:36 am] |
hay from the uk!
been stung by a bee, frozen, doing lots of walking but everything's ok! rooms and ppl variously great.
more when i get my laptop on the www and post pics. |
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| now on facebook! |
[Aug. 27th, 2007|02:04 am] |
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oh my goodness it is so obviously CRACK. |
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| poem of the day |
[Aug. 26th, 2007|01:12 am] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | still here | ] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | no forte anymore | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | no piano anymore | ] |
Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I've tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To know that for destruction ice
Is also great
And will suffice.
-Robert Frost, "Fire and Ice" |
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| ;c |
[Jul. 3rd, 2007|01:52 am] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | james blunt - wisemen | ] |
When I was in Perth last year with Mel and Wen, we heard Wisemen a few times over the radio, but never knew what the song was, or was about. All I could hear was a person singing "Where are you now?" It's been about a year since then, and I finally own the song (legally). Tonight I played the song again, and the question still resounds.
Navel-gazing is normal. What makes me want to cry is that the song doesn't sound as hauntingly beautiful as I remember it to be, and somehow this feels so wrong. Something else that really affected me this evening is a line from Kurosagi which I remember from Death Note. It roughly translates to "Humans are interesting".
People looking back at memories are like children staring at clouds - everyone sees the picture in their mind and fits the events to what they want to remember. Even if it's the same event. It's like playing connect-the-dots without numbering, just a cloud of dots from which you can extract any picture you want.
Gotta ask yourself the question, where are you now?
(Bonus question: Anyone get the post subject?) |
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| Thoughts Upon Stepping On A Maggot, or, Why I Stub My Toes So Often |
[May. 29th, 2007|01:22 am] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | maggots don't come singly | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | massive attack - teardrop | ] |
Toe: Foot, I'm stepping on something squishy.
Foot: -automated reply- Submit that in triplicate, please.
---
Brain: Foot, everything ok down there?
Foot: All systems are go, everything's ok!
Foot: Oh, I thought I'd mention, we're stepping on something squishy. Didn't think it was important, sorry.
Brain: No worries.
---
Neuron #1: Hey, #2, are there squishy things on the bedroom floor?
Neuron #2: Let me check with #3.
Neuron #2: #3 says no. What's up?
Neuron #1: Oy vey! kthxbye.
---
Neuron #1: Foot! Move!
Foot: But I'm just standing here and...
Neuron #1: Move!
Foot: Alright, alright, no need to get uppity. Sheesh.
---
(much later)
Eye: Yup, there's a maggot there alright. What's the problem? It's not like we're stepping on it or anything... |
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| argh my fourth toe |
[May. 29th, 2007|12:13 am] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | can of | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | controlled screaming | ] |
THERE IS A MAGGOT IN MY ROOM! to accompany the mysterious smell which only its occupants believe in. I think it's corpse search time again. |
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| hmm. |
[May. 27th, 2007|02:13 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | tired of not being flamed? | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | cats&dogs | ] |
Page 2 article in the ST today:
"Renting a home is becoming near impossible for many expatriates.. The problem is supply.
Since HDB eased rules to enable more residents to rent out their flats in March, as many as 1,780 home owners were given approval - 570 more than would have been allowed to do so under the old policy.
However, newly arriving expatriates have increased demand for such flats.
Last year alone, the expat population here grew by 9.7 per cent from 798,000 to 875,500... As many as 20 property agents reported that demand for HDB (sic) is now so high, they sometimes have trouble coping with calls, which can number as many as
30 in an hour."
___
Tail article in the sports section today reads Tough route for Federer
"..[Federer] opens his [French Open] campaign today.. But also in his half are 2003 champion Juan Carlos Ferrero, Tommy Robredo, Marat Safin, and Fernando Gonzalez - all perfectly capable of beating him on clay..
[Nadal] opens against highly-rated Argentinian teenager Juan Martin del Potro. Surprise 2004 semi-finalist Tim Henman is a potential third-round opponent. The 2004 champion Gaston Gaudio or former world No 1 Lleyton Hewitt, who took a set off the Spaniard in the Hamburg semi-finals last week, could wait to pounce in the fourth round..
Such is the dominance of Federer and Nadal, who have shared the last eight Grand Slam events between them, that it is almost impossible to see another challenge."
___
Wait - what have I been reading this article for then? And how can the page 2 article be so poorly written? Does anyone ever dare to quote the ST's analysis in their GP essays? Are they trying to train our critical reading skills? How does everyone get their news these days? Besides TalkingCock.com that is..
(To be fair, the sports article is AFP, AP. Hardly comforts me though.) |
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| state of being well wrested |
[May. 13th, 2007|11:03 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | soundbitten | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | phantom of the opera | ] |
I thought I'd update, like, everyone on my life. Since apparently no one really has a clue what I've been up to and what I'm going to do and essentially I'm slightly tired of repeating this..
1) I've left the army after finishing my two years of National Service.
2) I'm going to study Math at Cambridge this fall.
3) I'm interning at A*STAR till the end of this month. I started in Feb.
4) I'm going to Hanoi with the Singapore IMO team as an observer in Jul. |
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| if i only had a heart |
[Apr. 20th, 2007|01:00 am] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | zen | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | sugababes - overloaded | ] |
Upon querying the point of my brother, my parents were kind enough to suggest he might be a thorn given to my flesh. That about sums it up. |
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| in a thrice |
[Apr. 12th, 2007|01:58 am] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | neck | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | lightning seed - three lions | ] |
touch the rose with naked fingers. virgin fingers,
pale and pure, diaphanous, touch the rose,
stroke the thorns. virgin fingers,
delicate and gentle, brush the petals
and are torn.
touch the rose with naked flame. hungry flames,
hissing serpent, all-consuming, touch the rose,
scorch the leaves. hungry flames,
impatient and aglow, turn to ash
all they receive.
rise the naked touch with fingers. hungry fingers,
all-impatient, gentle serpents, stroke and touch,
brush and scorch. naked fingers
turn aglow all they receive, stoke the flame
and raise the torch. |
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| biometric |
[Apr. 9th, 2007|12:29 am] |
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interesting discovery of the day: i have the metabolism of a 17-year-old! for real! |
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| For The Second Time |
[Mar. 6th, 2007|12:18 am] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | excited, what else | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | moderato in a minor - mauro giulani | ] |
For The First Time - Bob Perks
For The Second Time
I remember my first day alive. I remember my bawling entrance into a Brobdingnagian world, being swaddled and fed as white-coated doctors performed tests to make sure I was normal. I was wide-eyed, taking in the sights of this wonderful and monstrous world, eager to learn the whys and wherefores of the mysteries that surrounded me.
Nonsense.
Besides the fact that babies' eyes can't focus properly for months, I'm sure my first days weren't much like that. I can't really remember now, which is just as well, since I couldn't talk, read, appreciate jazz, or do much other than wail and suckle. Like most babies, I was generally messy at both ends and altogether undignified.
So it's probably just as well I don't recall that phase.
But the first times I do remember - my first friends, my first time eating sushi, my first time listening to Britney Spears - are a mixed bag. For every memory of first childhood laughter, there's a memory of first adolescent angst. And to be honest, for many of those things, once was enough.
Anyway. Considering the memories I find pleasant or useful to reflect upon, I find that many of them are not in fact "first times". When I started doing Maths, it took me years to discover I was good at it and start to enjoy myself. I didn't become serious about God until Sec 2, although I'm a second-generation Christian. I didn't even like sashimi the first time I tried it.
Everything in my life was once a first time, but that was also the last time for those things I really disliked or found useless. When you meet people for the first time, almost never can you predict the course your friendship (or enmity) through the years will take. The really important things take time, and any memory worth having is worth having again.
The first time round, we don't appreciate what we have. We don't know enough to treasure precious experiences, and expend valuable time and energy on what on hindsight is thoroughly useless. You can't evaluate anything accurately when it's your first time.
So tomorrow, I'm going to appreciate everything as if it were my second time.
I'll listen to great music, knowing just how skilful the musicians are. I'll savour my Maths textbooks, knowing how everything comes together. I'll chat with old friends, remembering what it was that made us want to be more than just acquaintances.
I might even treat myself to ice-cream, salivating in expectation of its satisfying sweetness.
All these emotions weren't there the "first time", and would in fact be impossible.
Yes, living each day as if it were your last is boring. But treating each day as if it were your first is just as cheerfully futile (and eventually just as boring).
Real excitement comes from viewing each day in the light of the days before, building on past experience yet appreciating each day for itself.
I'm excited about tomorrow, but similarly I was excited about today, and hopefully I'll be just as excited about next week.
(-with vague apologies to ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) elleve for not being as inspired as I'm sure she was) |
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| take a sad song and make it better |
[Feb. 20th, 2007|01:05 am] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | challenged | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | the beatles - hey jude | ] |
(hey jude) be afraid, don't make it bad
let her into your sad, sad song
go out and find yourself a heart
then you can start your sad, sad song
(hey jude) feel the pain, don't refrain
you're waiting for someone to sing along
remember to get under her skin
and let her begin your sad, sad song
(hey jude refrain) this world's a fool, hey jude, stay cool
the weight of her soul rests on your shoulders
well don't you know she's playing you, hey jude, you fool
you think she don't know but someone told her
(hey jude) why don't you just let her drown
go out and find someone else to sing along
remember to get under her skin
then you can start your sad, sad song
let her drown and start again, hey jude (refrain)
it's all a performance, make it better
and don't you know that it's just you, hey jude, you fool
you've waited too long, you should have sold her
(hey jude) be afraid, don't make it bad
let her into your sad, sad song
go out and find yourself a heart
then you can start your sad, sad song |
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| the secret of his background.. revealed! |
[Feb. 19th, 2007|08:58 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | rested | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | house theme song | ] |
so tonight, after nigh 21 years of life, I find out I'm actually Hokkien! Not Hokchew! this confusion results because my dad's Hokkien but doesn't speak the dialect, and my mother's side, though Hokchew, speaks Cantonese because everyone spoke that in Chinatown. and I've always known one of them was Hokchew, so i figured it was my dad and my mum was Cantonese.
the upshot of which is all the forms i've ever filled were WRONG, because i look for Hokchew first and Cantonese second. ohmygoodness i should pay more attention to these things. |
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| first day of internship |
[Feb. 5th, 2007|11:41 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | bo peep | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | yes please | ] |
magical sequences in galois fields = !
= ohnoes, i is die!
= feeling stupid was never so fun before
primitive polynomials pwnz you, yes they do |
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| Forgiveness |
[Feb. 1st, 2007|01:41 am] |
And there was a harlot, who lived in the great city, who passed her days with different men. And one of these men was richer than the others, and spake often of his father, who was a wealthy man. And she spent many days with this man, and he brought her myrrh and nard, and many other precious things besides.
And when he had spent all, he left her. Yet sometimes she thought of him, and wondered what had come of the young man. And there arose a great famine in the land, and she sold much of her treasures for food. And once when she was near the city wall, she beheld the young man, and lo he was with the swine, in the fields of a citizen of that country. The young man was starving, and would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him.
And the harlot took him back to her rooms, and did give him bread and water, that he might live. And the young man said, I was the younger of my father's sons, And one day I said to my father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me: And not many days after I gathered all together, and took my journey here, And now I starve.
And the harlot replied in puzzlement, How many hired servants of your father's have bread enough and to spare, and thee perish with hunger! Arise and go to thy father, and say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants. And the young man said, I will.
And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son. But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet: And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry: For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry.
And it came to pass that the harlot sold all her possessions for food, and she wondered one day what had come of the young man. And she made her journey to the land the young man had come from.
But when she was a little way off, the servants of the house came to chase her away, for she was a harlot and dusty with travel. And she said, Where is your master's younger son? Him it is whom I once saved from hunger and starvation. And the son came out, and he bade the servants drive her off with stones, for she was but a common whore, and he was the youngest son of a rich man. And the harlot left him. |
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