#65 I’m not being a bitch, just a prudent Facebooker

How many Facebook friends do you have? 105? 587? 1,834?

The number of Facebook friends you have, as you should know by now, does not indicate how popular you are. Of course, I know of some really cool, friendly folks whom I believe are capable of making friends from shore to shore, who really live up to their 2,345 friends as posted on their profile page. But I am not that person. When I make friends, I’m…picky prudent. Yes, prudent! We may have chatted once or twice in our lifetime, but that does NOT in any way make us friends. Sure, we may be acquaintances. But I’m sure one day, three years down the road, I saunter down High Street in New York, and you happen to be coming right at me the opposite direction, you will walk right past me as though I am a wall of glass. You don’t recognise me. Because I don’t mean anything in your life. That, is the cruel truth. That, I can manage. Because we are both truthful to each other. Not everyone’s meant to be best friends forever, or scratch that, at least leave some meaningful shared memories to reminisce about. I can live with that.

What has been bothering me for the longest time is that I have 300+ friends on Facebook, but I probably only talk to 5% of those people on a regular basis. The rest? Who knows. Some of them I haven’t even met in the past 10 years of my life (grade/primary school classmates), and even more unfortunately I HAVE seen some of the people* around campus, and they don’t even recognise me, or think I am worth 2 calories of their energy to wave and say hi.

What is this supposed to mean? Are we friends? Not really. Then why are you on my facebook list of friends? I’m sorry. I don’t feel entirely comfortable that you get to browse at my private photos (although there aren’t anything private about them, really) in your own free time, or use my profile page, relationship status, hobbies, mutual friend list etc, as gossip fodder for your next “Bitches Night Out” sleepover with your posse/minions.

I told myself that I can no longer be an uninformed internet user. I cannot put myself at risk, showing my private information to people I don’t really know about. We may have crossed paths at some point in our lives, but I hate to break this to you, we are not friends.

If you want to poke your nose into my life, earn that right. Come up to me and say hello. And then, we can negotiate something.

*This does not apply to the occasional bad day where you don’t feel like saying hi. I mean, people who consistently ignore my existence.

P/S: If you think I am just spouting smoke, I just removed 60 people from my Facebook list. (Oops, I hope I didn’t accidentally delete your name.)

#64 The Uphill Task of Combating Pre-Exam Distractions

The bed. The upcoming movie opening for Twilight: New Moon. Grey’s Anatomy episodes. The radio. People talking outside the room. The TV. Facebook. The bed. The TV. The boyfriend. The peeling nail polish on my toes. The split ends. The magazines. The bed. The TV. Facebook. More Facebook stalking.

I don’t know about you, but as the big F, Finals that is, approaches with each passing day, breathing heavily down my neck, more oppressing and ominous than a serial killer on a B-grade summer horror blockbuster, the more I’m distracted. Everything seems to be distracting. It’s like a virus. First it passes you before your eyes. Then it settles quietly on your fingertips. And then, before you know it, it creeps up into your mind and poisons you….its toxic cells multiplying insidiously throughout your grey matter until it fills every corner with everything un-academic imaginable. What do you call this? I’m not even a senior yet, and I am officially suffering from the seasonal college affliction of senioritis.

Made plans for the winter holidays? Check. Made a shopping list for winter and next spring’s wardrobe? Check. Pedicure? Check. Replied to all incoming emails? Check. Downloaded the latest episode of Grey’s Anatomy? Check.

Piles and piles of untouched reading assignments? Yet to be checked.

Number of days to the Big F. Five. (Oh, how convenient, Five with a capital F.)

And then I am reminded of my responsibilities as a college student, this is my calling, my destiny, my duty. I am here because I am meant to study. Because I can. And I am not about to throw it all away because of my struggle to focus. And as though this is not enough, I remind myself of that annoying pimply-faced kid in my Natural Hazards class (or, don’t you wanna know I’m talking about you?) who (almost) said pointedly in my face that I don’t know what I’m doing. I don’t know what I’m doing? Well, I will show you.

Ahh, that was easy, wasn’t it? Now watch me roar. And strut down the examination hall looking cute and in style at that.

#63 Catching Up on College Gossip

Talk about the roommate from HELL…good luck, Blair!

Yes, I have a test tomorrow, but nothing like the here and now that is oh-so-conducive for the all-time favourite pasttime of all college students — procrastination! And no better way to waste precious time than to ogle at our precious babies Blair, Georgina, Vanessa and Dan tackle the halls of NYU.

Last season’s Gossip Girl was filled with intoxicated days and nights of debauchery, deceit and defiance. If you are an ardent fan of GG like me, you would have spent a night or two out partying and wishing you had the beautiful life of Serena, drowning your sorrows (of having to finish yet another term paper by the following week) in daiquiris and crystal flutes of cabernet sauvignon. Blair was all claws out, showing us every cruel trick in her book and driving everyone insane being the control freak that she was, correction, she still is.

This season, it seems like cupids descended onto New York City with the chilly winds of mid-fall as everyone started locking lips with their latest love interests, and you thought hey, isn’t that great that everyone’s happy in love? Except it’s not. (Especially the part where Georgina and Dan xxx-ed, ugh, right? And I don’t like that girl with Nate, who’s with me?)

Gossip Girl may be full of hot people, hot (fake) gossip and hot air, but there are times when they actually get a few things right…about college! I really love the parts when Serena and Rufus could sit down and have a good chat – teaches young people to have a decent heart-to-heart conversation with their parents, no? – and when Serena and Blair do the whole “best friends forever” hug — I really enjoy watching the two of them together.

Hopefully Serena will straighten her thoughts out this season, maybe she won’t. (I can see she’s doing the whole Marissa Cooper thing.) But what’s with the good-boy transformation of Chuck Bass anyway? Chuck Bass doesn’t DO good boys. And I’m sure I’m not the only one feeling creeped out by first Georgina Sparks, and now Olivia Burke? Whatever it is, Gossip Girl is keeping me happy when I can live my ideal college life vicariously looking at all the pretty clothes and cool parties…until my next procrastination break, fellow gossip girls.

Picture from http://www.gossipgirlinsider.com

#62 Post Study Abroad Administrative Deluge

Anyone who has been squeezed, ploughed and rolled through the long, winding and often endless labyrinth of a university’s bureaucratic style of administration will know you will come out victorious with what you want (and maybe a little more) if you are a marathon runner in terms of challenging the system (aka loads of patience), and the skills to churn out emails that ooze saccharine sweetness from the boring-as-blah two-dimensional interface of the computer monitor.

Study abroad has been fun. Yes. Stop asking. (If you are so curious, please go and experience it for yourself…opportunities are aplenty.) What people don’t know and don’t want to focus on is the fact that there is much administrative work to be done, be it badgering the staff at the Study Abroad/Student Relations what-have-you Office to allow you to get credits for the classes you took overseas, or implore them to discount (hopefully) from having to include classes that you have to transfer your grades over (oh, heaven forbid — all those late-night parties have definitely taken a toll on your Study Abroad classes’ grades *collective nods* You’d just have to put in some summer school later.)

The post Study Abroad is not fun. If you’re lucky, your office back home is willing to overlook some aspects possibly irrelevant to your academic career and just award you the credits. After all, with so many exchange students coming home every year, it can get annoying to review every case in fine detail and cross-referencing with the partner university.

If you’re smart/lazy, you’d have taken classes that are “safe”, that is, easily transferrable with no room for argument. They are, of course, unlike classes that may sound like an utter insult to the institution of higher education such as fictional (but may have real-life coincidences) course titles like “Pottery for the Deftly-Fingered” or “To Love or Not to Love – Exploring Tennis Beyond the Court and Balls”.

If you’re not, then you are in for a long marathon email ping-pong session, because most likely and more often than not, the office(s) involved in your module approval  and credit transfer application are so jaded with similar email requests that they dread and will delay the process by giving your email a little tour through the entire cesspool ecosystem (or part thereof), from the piranhas to the tadpoles, and finally ending up in your inbox again telling you, “Dear student, you forgot to add this and that…please resubmit your application…”.

At this point, you’re probably hurling insults, either inwardly or verbally, at the sender. If you’re like me, you’re probably not alone! *wry smile* But what else can you do, except to wait and wait until you get what you want done. Good luck, fellow exchange returnees.

#61 Cautionary Notes from a Disgruntled Senior to the Freshman

Freshman year can seem like a total playground. Especially after the harrowing studying sessions during GCSE A-Levels and for the local boys, 2 years of military service in the army. You can wear whatever you want, have complete ownership of your timetable and freedom, including whether you actually want to go to class or not, and when you can have lunch or dessert or a quick nap in your room at the halls of residence. But seriously, to be a freshman, you have to be at least 18 years old, so the least you could do is act like a grown-up, if that is too much to ask at least more responsible than the average teenager. By some stroke of genius or luck, you have earned yourself a place at university, so cherish this opportunity, and behave like a true college student.

It wasn’t a long time ago when I was fresh-faced and stumbling into the wrong tutorial rooms more often than I could count. Me getting lost on an unfamiliar campus wasn’t a distant memory, but one thing is for sure, I sure didn’t remember myself acting like a complete single brain-cell obnoxious little brat coming straight from preschool, oops I meant, pre-university. The rules are actually pretty simple, and not anything that we as students haven’t heard or seen before. Pay respect to whoever is speaking up front, or keep quiet at least, and try not to show the whole world what a nuisance you are.

So, yes, as a senior who has to sit through two introductory classes brimming with still-blue-in-the-face freshies, here is some advice for you before somebody gets annoyed enough and dumps hot coffee onto your newly-wrapped shiny textbooks bought at full price at the co-op.

#1 Take your conversation outside the lecture theatre.
Seriously, nobody cares about what you have to say, especially when everyone else is trying to concentrate on the more important things the professor is saying.

#2 Get off Facebook, MSN or what-have-you.
If you can’t stand being away from the Internet and all its vices for a mere two hours to sit quietly and concentrate on a lecture, then you don’t belong there.

#3 Quit groaning about the lecture material.
Of course it is difficult. Who ever said it’s gonna be easy? If you’re looking for easy, then maybe a minimum-wage job will suit you just well. If not, suck it up, and do your work. Now, wait for your brain cells to multiply, and it’ll all become easier…in time to come.

#4 Please, no cliquey big-group gatherings in the middle of nowhere.
I know you have just found your BFFs (oh joy to the world!) in your orientation week camps and activities. But that doesn’t give you and your 20 best friends the right to block up half of the hallway, or the cafeteria, so that you guys can catch up, squeal and talk about how cute the seniors are.

#5 Dress like a college student.
I know, there is no standard manual to say what you should or shouldn’t wear. And you’re only too happy to wear something other than a drabby uniform to school. But please, dragging your heels in ugly flipflops (the kind you only wear in shower stalls) or (heaven forbid) Crocs, and ill-fitting ensembles are going to make school doubly awful for everyone who has to cross your path. And for the beauty queens, you can also give your high heels a break (pun intended) and leave them at home. Let the hunks come to you, for your intelligence and not the superficial.

If only The Freshman would listen.
(But as you know, in a few weeks’ time, the seniors would be too busy to give half a hoot.)

#60 Back To School: Bringin’ Back Music of Our Younger Days

Remember the days when it’s cool to greet your friends with a resounding “Whassup!!!”, say “who let the dogs out?”, download songs illegally on this amazing program called Napster, have crimped hair for girls, spend hours obsessing about Justin Timberlake, ogling every other cutie on MTV and have long three-way gossip phone marathons (before the era of widespread instant messaging)… So, ladies, leave your men at home, take a listen to some of these not-that-innocent hits from the late 90s and early 00s and reminisce about the good ol’ days of what it felt like for a girl! You know better than anyone else that what a girl wants is nothing but music that’s as addictive as popping bubble gum and cheesier than ever, but oh-so-good nonetheless.

Some you may know all the lyrics by heart (but don’t let anyone know), and some may be long forgotten…but one thing is for sure, they will bring those memories rushing back! (There are WAY too many, here’s a *hopefully* good and classic sample of the music of that era)

The Dancey!
Britney Spears – Oops I Did It Again!
*NSYNC – It’s Gonna Be Me
Destiny’s Child – Jumpin’ Jumpin’
Janet Jackson – Doesn’t Really Matter
a1 – Summertime of Our Lives
Jennifer Lopez – Waiting For Tonight

The Pop!
Joy Enriquez – Tell Me How You Feel
Samantha Mumba – Gotta Tell You
Savage Garden – The Animal Song
Mandy Moore – Crush
Blondie – Maria
Enriquez Iglesias – Be With You
Toploader – Dancing In The Moonlight
Jessica Simpson – I Think I’m In Love With You

The Sing-Alongs!
Shania Twain – Man! I Feel Like A Woman
LeAnn Rimes – Can’t Fight The Moonlight
Christina Aguilera – Genie In A Bottle
Vitamin C – Put A Smile On Your Face
Madonna – American Pie
The Corrs – Breathless
Dido – Thank You

The Sexy!
Craig David – Seven Days
Sisqo – Incomplete
Jordan Knight – Give It To Me

The Soppy!
Atomic Kitten – Whole Again
Ronan Keating – When You Say Nothing At All
Bardot – I Should’ve Never Let You Go
Sarah McLachlan – I Will Remember You
Pearl Jam – Last Kiss

The Edgy!
Placebo – Every You Every Me
Garbage – The World Is Not Enough
Macy Gray & Black Eyed Peas – Request Line
Texas – Summer Son
No Doubt – Ex-Girlfriend
Filter – Take A Picture
Utada Hikaru – Can You Keep A Secret?
TLC – No Scrubs

The Rock!
Train – Drops of Jupiter
Third Eye Blind – Semi-Charmed Life
Goo Goo Dolls – Broadway
Wheatus – Teenage Dirtbag
Matchbox Twenty – Bent
Vertical Horizon – Everything You Want

The Cheesy!
S Club 7 – Two In A Million
A*Teens – Sugar Rush
Scandal’us – Me, Myself and I
Emilia – Big, Big World
Geri Halliwell – It’s Rainin’ Men

#60 The Blue Mountains Aren’t Really Blue, My Fingers Are – Sydney #1

Never doubt the weather report. Even if most of the time it isn’t too accurate. Because most of the time it is, as much as you don’t like or want to believe (for fear of disappointment or overconfidence in own abilities to predict weather). Arriving at Katoomba after a gruelling (ok, it wasn’t so bad…just really excruciating slow) 3-4 hour train ride from Sydney’s Central railway station, we hopped off the train, ready to stretch our legs but were instead greeted rather rudely by the startling chill. How cold can it get? We scoffed, but now we swallowed hard and braced ourselves for the 4 deg C cold at an altitude of more than 1,000m.

Confident that there would still be hostel vacancies (since it’s off peak season and all), we marched up to the YHA in the dwindling sunlight, a half an hour trek around the town area of Katoomba which felt like 3 lifetimes, and managed to secure some beds for the night. The YHA hostel was a cosy wooden two-storey building with the likes of a ski lodge, complete with a rec room, a dining hall, a spacious kitchen, and all the things you’d find in a comfy hostel. (Wished I remembered flipflops though, because I ended up walking around in socks.)

The town was awfully eerie after sundown, especially with the teeth-chattering wind chill that seeped through to the bones, and the occasional strong gusts of freezing air that rushed up to us whenever we passed a street junction, where the straight and squat rows of cinnamon-red cinderblock buildings gave way to a little road for cars to pass through. Popped right into a toasty and busy little pizza parlour where business was brisk and people wove in and out endlessly. It was as though the whole town felt like pizza that night — rowdy families, cosy couples and raucous college kids formed a varied backdrop whilst the stifling aroma of ham and cheese sizzling in hot oil filled the boxy little space. You wouldn’t have expected this from the silence of the streets outside. Post-pizza, time for a little drink to warm us up a bit…!

The Old City Bank Bar & Brasserie looked rather inviting with warm orange lights illuminating the interiors of the stately-looking brick house. In here, it was like a completely different world from the pizza place, sophisticated twenty to thirtysomethings gossiped and flirted with one another in little pockets, nursing one fancy cocktail after another, while the older crowd looked like they were having one of those “philosophical chats” over a gin and tonic or two. It was virtually impossible to talk over the cacophony of 2,000 simultaneous (non-)conversations in the cavernous high-ceiling room, but somehow messages were conveyed through an overly vehement nod or merely a seductive gaze in one’s direction. The atmosphere was a little sultry with a live band blaring right in our faces, the music had a vintagey, folky feel… a symphony of sounds from a classical guitar, harmonica and drums, and the singer’s hauntingly high warbling notes. For a moment, everything seemed to blur into the background, into the orange light, into the many beautiful alien faces…and you could almost, just almost, forget about the world.

#59 Stay Unproductively Productive This Summer!

What’s a girl to do when she does not have an internship (oh, blame the economy!), nor a summer program to attend? Especially after a semester abroad filled with adventures, parties and fun/strange encounters, nothing is ever going to top that, unless I can win the lottery and go backpack around Europe.

Not that I’m NOT fretting. But nothing to do might just be the very thing I need, to wind down from the excitement, to reflect on what I’ve done (and not done) and to rethink about my future (a nicer way of saying ‘mope about my impending doom’).

If I could, I would book the first flight out and laze in the sun on a sunny beach in Thailand…but no, I’m just stuck at home and I’m not about to spend this summer working a 9-to-5 minimum-wage job.

While the economy is in the dumps, and while I spend my days dreaming about a Roman Holiday, what can I do, besides sleeping 18 hours a day and waiting for my Kenting tan to fade away?

Pick up a new language!
I mean, my dream of backpacking in Europe is going to come true! By hook, or by crook. So why not prepare for it by learning a European language or two? Or fulfil your spy fantasy by picking up something exotic!  Konichiwa!

Read a book!
Okay, I practically didn’t read anything except my notes right before the finals (very reluctantly, in fact). So this is a good time to put some brain cells back into my head and curl up with a nice book.

Work out!
I bet I’m not the only one who has neglected to exercise, whether you are too busy studying or partying over the last semester. And you’re regretting it now because you NEED that bikini bod to soak up the summer sunshine! Better late than never, there’s always next summer…or if you are fit enough, the last rays of this summer are for you to catch!

Meet up with an old friend.
What are friends for? More importantly, what are old friends for? Besides reminiscing about old times and harping over old crushes, you can reconnect and make plans to go shopping, ogle at cute boys at the coffee joint or a short holiday!

Go on a holiday!
Well, I’ve been dreaming about this one. And hopefully, before summer winds down to an end, I can make it happen. Six more weeks to go!

Well, if I can achieve at least 3 out of 5, I’d at least be a advanced beginner in a new spiffy language, have a bodalicious physique to fit into all the back-to-school outfits, AND a funny vacation story to tell!

#58 It’s the End of the Semester!

Studying abroad is undoubtedly one of, if not the most, memorable experiences a college student is going to get, besides the one time when you get super drunk and fall headfirst, naked, into someone’s pool with a bucket over your head. My semester in HKU, truth be told, was a spiritual and emotional rollercoaster, full of ups and downs, Kodak moments, cringe-worthy awkward moments…you name it I’ve probably gone through it.

I still remembered the excitement and trepidation I felt the moment I landed after my very short 4-hour flight from home, stepping through the sliding doors of the airport into the wintry cold air in HK. Everything looked so familiar yet foreign at the same time. There was a whiff of uncertainty and adventure in the air, and I knew this is it, this is my moment, and I’m here to find myself…be it the good, the bad, the weird or the ugly, I will treasure this journey.

Till this moment, I still scoffed inwardly at my friends who had intense pangs where they missed home so much they wanted to book the first flight back. Coming from a predominantly Asian society, where MOST kids live with their parents till they are married (oh, God forbid, but what choice do we have), I thoroughly relish this little piece of haven, this refreshing taste of freedom that comes with studying abroad. My own space, my own responsibility, my own life, in my own hands. Our parents will always think of us as their babies, whether we are 5, 15 or 35. But something inside us tells us, they can’t hold onto us forever, and one day they will have to let us find ourselves…and the journey began.

I started the semester, hopeful to learn something new, not so fresh-faced as an exchange student that merged seamlessly into a sea of Asian faces, excited to be in a new place all by myself, psyched to have a whole new territory to explore. Eventually, as the semester went on, the novelty quickly wore off, as of most things, and everything began to become repetitive cycles of normalcy — grocery-shopping, check; laundry, check; cooking for one, check; waking up by myself in the morning (though not quite successfully), check; going to the doctor, check; partying till 5am, check. There wasn’t anything I couldn’t really deal with at all, and I finally felt like I was growing up.

The lectures were at best intriguing, because everything I hear about HK I hear it for the first time, and everything sounded interesting and new to me, but not the local students — from their deadpanned expressions I could tell they have heard it at least a thousand times. There weren’t any tutorials, something I could really really get used to. The readings were minimal; but the papers were hellish to write. Moreover, having the pass-fail option at the back of my mind didn’t help to alleviate my affliction of chronic procrastination. It was easy to skip classes and justify it by saying ‘Oh hell, I could still pass without going to one lecture”, and one lecture became two, and then three and there was the fourth…and was it the fifth time? And before you know it, exams are round the corner, and you thought HOLY CRAP, I only went for two lectures for that class for the entire semester, the first one to “make a good first impression” and the random one because you had to submit your paper in class.

And there was all the explorations around HK over the weekends, and getaway trips in China. There were easily the best part of studying abroad here, the hiking in the countryside, enjoying the non-urban scenery and for once getting away from all the air and noise pollution in the city. The natural landscape in HK was surprisingly beautiful. I am baffled how HK was never portrayed as a place boasting spectacular sightseeing sites and hiking trails. The shopping was only okay, it wasn’t as though there weren’t H&M and Sephora in other cities, and the local brands weren’t must-buy fantastic either. On the other hand, the food was amazing, especially if you’re willing to part with a little more money, you can find gastronomical deals at yummy rates in an equally sweet ambience. The dimsum was obviously THE thing to try, but the Japanese and Western cuisines aren’t too shabby either.

I would proudly say that HK wasn’t a bad choice at all, and now looking back, the places I’ve explored, the food I’ve tasted and the friends I’ve met…I *could* probably ask for more, but right now, it couldn’t be more perfect as it is.

It’s the end of the semester…I’m not ashamed to say that I didn’t quite miss home much. Not because I don’t love the feeling of being home and being around people I’m familiar with, but I was so utterly sick of being stuck in the same place for all twenty years of my life and I just can’t wait to break out of my shell and see the world. I don’t know if it’s a good or bad thing but this experience tells me that I needed this. I am more certain than ever about what I want in life, and I want to be out there to overcome any fear of being alone in a new place, to immerse myself in a new culture, to learn a new language and to begin living through all my five senses.

But before I dream about all of that, I just want to finish the finals so I can lounge on the beach in the likes of Stanley and Repulse Bay and enjoy the summer sun before heading home to the disgustingly artificial sands in Sentosa.

Five Reasons Why You Should See Slumdog Millionaire

 

Slumdog Millionaire is easily one of the best movies of this decade. It’s everything a modern-day movie ought to be: Poignant, dramatic, and romantic.

It inspires, educates and entertains, plus it opens your eyes to one of the most shocking human rights issues in recent times.

1. It won Best Picture in the Oscars! What can I say, it has the Oscar stamp of approval.

2. It keeps your heart racing from start to end.

3. There are no Hollywood movie stars distracting you from appreciating the drama and cinematography.

4. It brings you through all kinds of emotion: joy, sadness, fear, disgust, horrow, surprise, panic, excitement… a good emotional rollercoaster.

5. The ending will keep you smiling for hours on end after you leave the theater.