The weather here’s been great for the past few weeks, and all that’s left till I graduate this June are 5 exams and a project. It feels a little strange I won’t have to go to any more lectures, not to mention put up with South Ken’s food scene (or lack thereof). In retrospect, I’m not sure whether studying Chemistry & Management, or for that matter choosing to come to IC, was the best possible decision. And I’ll never know, of course, as I’ll never re-live my life as a clueless kid and thus I have nothing against which I can compare my present life. Whoever said “there’s no right or wrong choice per se, only how you make of it” wasn’t kidding. Does this mean there’s no point whatsoever in deliberating, for example, one’s career move? Maybe, then again maybe not.
La Feile Padraig
March 17, 2007I might go watch the St. Paddy’s parade tomorrow, if I feel like wading through the tourists & locals. Last year when I was in Japan, I went with a friend of mine to the parade at Omotesando. That one wasn’t bad but I’m sure the one in London captures the spirit of St. Paddy’s more betta. 
Below is my favourite Irish toast. Gotta love them Irish, lol.
When we drink, we get drunk.
When we get drunk, we fall asleep.
When we fall asleep, we commit no sin.
When we commit no sin, we go to heaven.
So, let’s all get drunk, and go to heaven!
Ain’t no Golgo 13 deal
March 5, 2007A woman in the UK implores her lover to hire a hitman to assissinate her ex-lover of 20 years who dumped her. Turns out the hitman is an undercover cop and – this is hilarious – the said ex-lover is my Marketing lecturer at college.
Read it here.
Mosquitones
February 13, 2007Check out this website. It allows you to download high-frequency ringtones — “Mosquitones” — that are purportedly inaudible to people aged 30 and above. (I had no trouble hearing “normal” and “high” but not “super” and “ultra.”)
I sort of feel the term mosquitone is a misnomer, though, as real mosquitoes give off infinitely more annoying sounds..
It’s Chinese to me
January 19, 2007This American professor of Chinese has penned a monumental (and rather entertaining) rant as to why foreigners find learning Mandarin so difficult. I can relate to a lot of his points, esp. the difficulties arising from the tonal nature of Chinese, but thankfully as a Ribenren I’m spared the ordeal of acquainting myself with the writing system from square one. The writer whines about how Mandarin isn’t as phonetic as English and how learning the characters is a total bummer:
(…) Which means that often you just completely forget how to write a character. Period. If there is no obvious semantic clue in the radical, and no helpful phonetic component somewhere in the character, you’re just sunk. And you’re sunk whether your native language is Chinese or not; contrary to popular myth, Chinese people are not born with the ability to memorize arbitrary squiggles. In fact, one of the most gratifying experiences a foreign student of Chinese can have is to see a native speaker come up a complete blank when called upon to write the characters for some relatively common word. You feel an enormous sense of vindication and relief to see a native speaker experience the exact same difficulty you experience every day.
Read it here.
