The Pensieve

The entire bunch of 11 turned up mostly all on time except for me… who um… did the usual thing dopey does when u put her with a car and an unfamiliar place to get to…

Actually I’m a bit sian of Cafe Iguana already hehe… Used to go there quite a bit, and so got scared of the cheese and beans. By the time I got there, most of them had finished their margaritas and were getting started on 3 for $10 tequila shots. I think most of the guys were a bit disinhibited already… SO LOUSY. Pls refer to Wenky’s website for hypoC’s suggestive look before the lick, swallow, suck routine… eh-hem. Okay, his wasn’t very suave, more like lick, grab the shot, smother it down and gobble up the lemon. I think BK, Wenky, and Ahleong did a better job… Hmmm… I snuck a bit fr their shots… Um… it’s like very ‘hot’? I think brandy’s better… more matured, full taste… hmm… Anyway… I’ll make it a point to go to Mexico for the tequila agave ok.

Here are some choice quotes of HypoC, who got a bit tipsy…

“My father say cannot drink, he said cannot drink! But he didn’t say cannot drink mah!”

“I’m not drunk! Let’s go clinic and drink some more!”

“My mummy say must tuck in my shirt.”

After the short stint at Cafe Iguana’s, we moved over to this pastry shop place… It’s next to clinic. Btw, I think clinic looks very unhappening. It reminds me so strongly of the hospital that Ewww… no way… Getting your drinks out of IV drips? Your shots out of syringes? Hospital screens? White and silver all over? Eeeee… Stayed at the dessert place for just a short while and then left… cuz some people wanted to go buy cakes at half price at Ricciotti’s… Some were feeling a bit pukey after an evil fren spun his chair…

I’d watched the musical when it first played in Singapore in 1995. And in April 2007, I was to watch it again… It’s always been my favourite musical, I guess cause it was the first musical I’ve ever seen, and so it etched a deep impression. On the contrary to the first time, where I was sitting right at the stalls (that what it’s called?) and real close to the front, and the chandelier had been precariously hanging above my tiny head, I was sitting in circle 1 this time round… The view’s still quite good though, just a bit skewed.

Unfortunately, I did not enjoy this musical as much as I had expected. Whether it was the events immediately preceeding it, or just that I’d grown up so much that it would now take much more to impress me, I don’t know… Or perhaps, the cast this time was exhausted by their continuous and extended run here? Anyway, it was rather anti-climax because the audience did not give as rousing an applause as it did before, the applause and whistling (was there even any?) did not ‘bring the house down’, and sadly, there were no calls of ‘encore!’.

Still my favourite scene is the boat ride the Phantom took Christine in his lair, and later on, where he sang ‘Music of the Night’. Incidentally, Brad Little’s rendition and ending wasn’t as powerful and lingering as I’d remembered… Nevertheless, he is doubtlessly the best of this lot! Rebecca Knowles was casted as Christine Daae, our female lead, and she wasn’t really that good… I remembered tearing towards the end of the musical when I was a kid then, it was so heart-wrenching to see the Phantom’s heartbreak… But for this one, the ending eh…. not really that tearful… Sigh. Anyway… I think Sarah Brightman sang much better as Christine Daae on my CD… Heh heh…

I’m so glad we’ve finally finished this ACLS programme. It was quite fun retrospectively. Heh.

On day one, everyone had trouble starting their mugging engines… and when we finally slit open the plastic covering of the beautiful ACLS book (cum CD) [only a certain healthcare grp got the originals, the other got the photocopied version. Hah], we were horrified at the immense amount of knowledge we were expectd to incorporate into our very ‘rotted’ brains. Anywayz, soon we realised it’s more chong hei than the most chong hei of our textbooks, causing me to doperise by the 4th sentence!

On day two, we started some practicals and things began to liven up a bit. First, people were running around like headless chickens. Something you do not want to see in real life. Heh. But will still happen ok… But ACLS will definitely minimise its occurence!

On day three, some chickens found their heads… Fewer people were getting pseudo-defibrillated and people were vomitting dosages of lignocaine, amiodarone, atropine and all that jazz.

The MCQ tests were what would fluctuate between a farce or an ultimate disaster. It’s really easy, especially the AED one… The ACLS one wasn’t that horrid, though I have to give some credit to extensive extra-ocular movement and lots of brain power… LOTS ok!

R and I were walking along the linkway between the library and hotel no. erm (4 issit?) when we met consultant x… We were kinda feeling guilty cuz supposed to be doing shadowing that afternoon but we left ard 4pm…

US: (guilty looks) Errr hiii… (when caught off guard, the good afternoon Dr X becomes ‘hiii’…)

Consultant x: Hello! I know you guys… (pointing at us alternately, probably wracking his brains to see if we belonged to the faceless batch of yr 3s, 4s or 5s…) What are you doing here?

US: We’ve been posted to (dpt we’re posted to).

Consultant x: Oh, then I SHOULD know you guys! Year 4 right?

US: Er, no…

Consultant x: Final years?

US: No… we’re….

Consultant x: (cuts us off once again…) CSFC RITE!!! (triumphant smile)

US: Erm, actually… We’ve graduated and we’re starting work next wk… (at least it’s not in his dpt haha… it’d be so embarrassing… -_-)

Consultant x: Well… congrats! :D

Now I finally understand what writer’s block literally means.

I think it’s cause I’m too free that my mind isn’t really focussed. What with all that orientation stuff going on, news of JCI descending upon us with their eagle-eyes, and trying to come to terms with some stuff that’s been going on in my life for some time.

My creative channels are all clogged up. -_-

And when work really starts, I think I’ll be very inspired but I’d have to mute my inspiration…

Let’s just enjoy this quote…

‘Life is what happens to you when you’re busy making other plans.’ — John Lennon

Today, rushed in the torrential rains to the Jurong East Regional Library to lay my hands on the one and only copy of F&F attainable in my region… After hastily parking the car at this tiny car park there, I promptly lost my way to the library. Somehow, the rain just clouds everything.

And after I was done at the library, I could not find the car park anymore…

At a street corner…

Helpful bank promoter: Hi Miss, would you be interested in our ladies card?
Me: Er, no… Looks left, looks right, high and low, swings the umbrella round…
Helpful bank promoter: Miss, can I help you?
Me: Yes, is there a car park around here?
Helpful bank promoter: Ya, there’s one over there, multi-storey carpark…
Me: No, not that one, is there a smaller one, not multi-storey?
Helpful bank promoter: Not that I know of… Erm, you mean you parked your car there and now you can’t find the carpark?
Me: Yes… Sigh…

This is so embarrassing. I think I should date a guy who writes the street directory. Or some topography guy… -_-

For those who love shopping at IKEA, I can almost predict your new home, literally:

“The living room will be display set no. 1132, bedrooms 1, 2, and 3 will be display sets 142 in colours of sky blue, rosy pink and sunny yellow respectively. The kitchen will be display kitchen no. 435 with a change of the wood to rubrick… As for the wall deco, we’ll have mass produced prints of a path flanked on both sides with trees during autumn…”

Anyway, after all the hype about the newly opened IKEA megamall at Tampines, I thought it’d be really HUGE… Perhaps I have been spoilt by those megamalls in the Philippines which are MEGA indeed, but I was quite disappointed with IKEA today, it was tiny! The restaurant and cafe were great though, there are finally enough seats!

But if IKEA was a slight disappointment, Courts was a horror! With furniture dating back to fur and wool and heavy dark wood… And a layout that is just so confusing you might just want to give up browsing…

I think we should have another brand to rival IKEA, before the whole of SG becomes ‘IKEA-sized’!

Rating: ****/5 (more of an average rating, ya I’d have given 3.5…)
Check out the site!

Synopsis
In the time of the German Democratic Republic (East Berlin), a scriptwriter, Dreyman (Sebastian Koch), and actress, Christa Marie Sieland (Martina Gedeck) are kept under surveillance by the Stasi (something like your KGB) for being suspected revolutionaries. Wiesler, a lonely man, further isolated due to the nature of his job and the oppression of the government, is the Stasi member in charge of the surveillance. But as he becomes closely acquainted with their every move, he decides against reporting their anti-government actions and secretly becomes their ally…

On the surface, this film may appear to be a showcase of how a political force ruthlessly strips her people of the freedom to speech and action, but I feel that it highlights a theme that has always been predominant in society - loneliness.

Wiesler (Ulrich Mühe) is obviously a lonesome character in this film. He is filmed in a classy home - alone, eating - alone, doing his surveillance work - alone, handling the investigation - alone, as a lecturer - separate from his students, and as an interrogator - alone. He doesn’t speak much, but his actions seem to show a yearning to belong somewhere and to have some meaning in life. This he found subconsciously with his clandestine input with the anti-GDRs. It is as if he wanted so much to be part of something that would hold more significance than the government that he was disillusioned with. At the end, when he sees the book ‘Sonata for a good man’ by Dreyman, dedicated to him, he smiles. A small yet precious smile.

For me, I thought it was a beautifully crafted film; choosing to centre on various human foibles instead of the atrocities of the war (a definite been-there, done-that). I loved the ending… Shortly after Christa-Marie betrays Dreyman, she returns home and takes another one of those solo baths where she attempts to wash away all the guilt. Not long later, the Stasi arrive to retrieve the evidence. Unknown to them, Wiesler had already removed it. When Christa-Marie is faced with the entire Stasi just trampling through their place, she rushes out to the street and is instantly run over by a truck. It’s kind of bittersweet sort of ending. “There’s really no other way to end it.” - a fan had raved after the movie.

The well is so dry I will blog something so profound that it will take you another 3 days before you realise that I have not blogged anything substantial. Either it’s because things are so stress-less now that my mind is no longer pressured to think, and the multitude of massive, moderate and mild splenomegaly have dribbled out through my sinuses and I have absolutely nothing to blog about.

My life now revolves around shopping, gossiping, coffee, laundry and OH, the unsweetened organic soy milk at Cedele is FANTASTIC! But the stupid onion marmalata is so disgusting that such a myriad of emotions flitted across my otherwise expressionless face that it appeared a form of entertainment for fellow diner. I highly advise the rosemary brie chicken sandwich instead.

Another reason for my lack of material to blog is cuz I’ve been watching too much sex and the city. That well, my blog would turn into some sex blog if I allowed myself free expression. -_- On the otherhand, I suppose my hits will go jumping now that I’ve got the word ’sex’ thrice on my blog. Heh.

One of my favourite activities these days is laundry. I always overdose on washing powder. Heh heh. I’m still waiting for my tutorial on ‘how to iron pants the way where folding lines run down yr thighs 101′.

I hate the local movie scene. There is nothing really worth to watch, except Mr Bean’s Holiday (surprisingly endearing) and The Lives of Others, which we now finally can catch ever since hankering about it during the exams. Thank heavens for Cathay!

I have absolutely nothing to wear in my closet ok. Officially, I stood in front for like 15 min trying to figure out what to wear for the grad ceremony today, the movie , health chk and when I go visit Edna… -_-

El Camino - travelogue

Finished my new blog - I’ll call it something more like my travelogue. It’s called ‘El Camino’ (- de mis ojos) hehe… Have placed the newly taken photos of my trip to the Philippines there. Enjoy!