You know what really bums me out? How there are no quiet places at all near my house.

See, I was just cycling around to find a nice, quiet place where I could read my book, maybe play my harmonica, but after roaming round and round, I realized there are none.

I though maybe near the canal, but since they are doing some public works up there, it's closed off. Plus there isn't a place for me to sit there, and no shelter as well.

Then I though, since I'm in a dense residential area, perhaps the void decks would harbor some good places. But no, everywhere was occupied. There was at least one person every 10 m or so.

So there I was, at the road junction, with four very different choices in front of me, and I couldn't figure out which direction would be best! I knew more or less where the roads led, but they were all bad.

There isn't a single good place to read near my house, and I'm certainly not going anywhere too far on my bike.

Now, I find that so disappointing

Singapore is just too small for a person like me.

There is nowhere to go, nowhere interesting, nowhere I haven't all see before. It's just the same shit, different place.

God, I need to get out of here. It's really killing me.

I wish I could grow up faster.

The weirdest thing happened tonight.

My mom came home today saying she had something special, and asked if we wanted it or not. Naturally, we were clueless, so we rushed down to see what it was.

My mom brought home 2 digital cameras, and told us she had another one in blue. Of course, they were only 7.1 megapixels, and were AA battery operated, no charger, and only had a 32 mb memory card, but they were cameras nonetheless. Canon Powershot A470, one in red, the other in silver. So, she gave one to me, the other to my sis. It's not everyday you mom gives you a camera for no good reason, even one that's not so good.

Apparently, her company got them as free gifts (buy 3 antibodies, get one free), so she, well to put it nicely, took a few.

My mom has an interesting job, I must say.

I'm so sick of Singapore! It's like, could you please point me in the direction of a less conservative, less developed concrete jungle? All this talk of Singapore being a 'Garden City' is just bullshit: the only trees I see are the ones that line the roads. Other than that, there does't seem to be any 'garden' with the exception of Singapore Botanical Gardens, and that one isn't even natural. There is nowhere you can just sit down by a nice big tree and read. Ever heard of climbing trees? Nope, not in Singapore. Its making me so sick, that the only natural scenery I get to see isn't even real: it's planted by the government. With all the trees Singapore boasts of having, never once have I actually been able to brush my fingers against the rough feel of tree bark. Never once.

It's not as if I find happiness in buying stuff: the only things I am willing to spend all my money on are books, and Singapore doesn't really have the widest selection. Popular is a sorry excuse for a bookstore, I can look at every shelf (which is usually just one) and still I won't be able to find a notable author with an interesting book. The only books I find there are Jodi Picoult, James Patterson and Cecelia Ahern. And the classical section is just horrendous. Puffin should really make books with better covers. They never have Hemingway, or Thoreau, and sometimes even Jack London! I mean really? How can you not have 'Call of the Wild'? The only good bookstore in Singapore is Borders, and that one is all the way in Orchard, I hardly have the time to go there. At least there I can roam the bookshelves for hours, and still be spoiled for choice. At least there I can pick out great authors, and not be afraid to spend money on their books even if I've never heard of them. At least there I can find poems from W.H. Auden (though the book costs like $50 and there is only one banged up copy) even if it's too heavy to carry back home. Popular really sucks.

I watched 'Twilight' last Saturday. It wasn't half bad, but that was only because it was Kristin Steward, who is a great actress and has really awesome buck teeth. Her character however, wasn't so perfect. I still don't get why she wants Edward so damn much, its like she dies if she can't have him. I really don't know why she has to depend on him so much, it wasn't as if he did anything that romantic or to die for. I hardly even saw his affection toward her. She's just too needy, and I hate girls like that. I mean, come one, I'M the feminist here. Girls rule, boys drool! But still, the scenery was great, I never knew places like that even existed now, and those towering trees were really awesome. When Bella and Edward were on top of them, I wondered how and where they attached the safety ropes to. I can't even imagine stunt doubles doing the stuff they did, those trees were enormous! Maybe four, five stories high, probably a lot higher. How am I supposed to know when the trees are only 2 stories high here in Singapore? I wonder if they were redwoods. God, what I'd give to be able to climb a redwood! I've always loved redwoods. To me, trees are only beautiful if they are extremely thick and tall. They have to be ancient to catch my eye.

Christmas is coming, and right after that, SMP results are out. If we don't get in, then it's over. Gone. Finito. Damn, the anticipation is killing me! Please let us be accepted! There can't just be ONE CGS team, not this year!

IT CAME! IT'S HERE!

THE FIRST EDITION OF WALLY LAMB'S 'SHE'S COME UNDONE', PUBLISHED IN AUGUST 1992, HARDCOVER, ARRIVED THROUGH THE MAIL TODAY!

IT IS AWESOME. IT'S IN NEAR PERFECT CONDITION, EVEN THE PAGES ARE CLEAN AND BRIGHT.

IT IS EVERYTHING I WANTED FOR CHRISTMAS.

I CAN'T WAIT TO READ IT.

:)

Wow, I had a really frightening dream the other night, and I realise all my nightmares usually involve the same monsters: dinosaurs. Urgh.
I friggin dreamed that the dinosaurs were coming to eat me, and I was stuck in this floor of some building, and there were cameras at every room, even the stairwell, so no matter where I hid, where I ran, they knew where I was. Then there were these people there with me, I can't remember their faces and one of them suggested we overturn the couches and hide underneath them. So we turned the camera away from us, overturned all the couches so they won't know which one we hid under, and then we just crawled under them, closed our eyes, kept absolutely quiet, and just waited. Hoping that we would survive.
Of all the dreams I could have had...

Christmas is around the corner, which means my book is arriving soon! I can't wait man! If it's anything like 'I Know This Much Is True', its gotta be awesome. His characters are just so real, the plot so human, the emotions so genuine, I just can't understand how anyone could settle for Meg Cabot or Stephenie Meyer or all that stupid fantasy crap when there are authors like Wally Lamb, Joshua Ferris, Khaled Hosseini, Stephen King, Douglas Adams and Oscar Wilde out there! It just doesn't make sense! I can understand if you want a light read, a funny one, but Douglas Adams and Joshua Ferris all fit that description so perfectly! I hate people like that, 'specially since they're old enough to be reading good books. I mean, if you don't read the good ones, might as well not read at all! How can you settle for such poor quality?

This applies for movies as well. Especially that HSM crap. I get it, its a teen flick, but that is the exact reason why you shouldn't watch it! It's immature, unrealistic, disgustingly lame, the speech sucks, the acting sucks, I hate the choreography (but I'll admit, at least they can dance it), and the only thing remotely commercially profitable about it is the singing, and the fact that all the actors and actresses fit the perfect image of 'hot' (of which I do not approve of). Everything about it has been altered to fit the condescending image of children, who are too young to understand the concept of REALITY. It is just insulting. There are so many better movies out there, more humourous, more entertaining, more thrilling, that I just can't understand why anyone would pay to suffer through 90 mins of that crap.

If anyone wants a good read, or a good watch, I'd be more than happy to direct them. Even if they want kiddy books or movies, I have a couple up my sleeve.

It's time for a change people, we're going to be Sec 3 next year. It's about time we start growing up.

Been pretty much stoning the past few days. With SMP project submissions, Musical Evening, and ELDDS over, I haven't really had much to do.
Let's see, today, I cycled to NTUC to buy potatoes, and then I made some baked potatoes, and ate them while I watched Cast Away. After that I watched TV for about 2 hours, and surfed the net for maybe half an hour. Now I'm blogging. Later, I'm gonna eat dinner and read my book, or vice versa. Finally I'm gonna watch some more TV (Survivor) and then hit the sack at maybe 1 or 2 am.

God, it's depressing.

I can't buy any new books 'cos I'm saving up for my Christmas Present, I don't go to the library any more since I have more than enough books to read, and every time I read for more than half and hour, I get a killer headache, which means I will have no choice but to sleep it off. But I really wanna finish my book (it's awesome), yet it is taking so damn long to do so. I've got maybe 200 more pages to go, seeing as the book is 900 pages long, but amazing small because of the hellishly thin pages.

I can't believe all I'm doing in the holidays is read.

But then, it's a good book.

Argh, I'm so impossible!

Anyone wanna hang out sometime? Must be cheap though, you know me.

Tonight wasn't good at all.

I mean, DAMN IT!

I sent my ma a link to the website for the online ordering of the book I wanted. She asked my father to help order the thing, which was fine with me. Then he goes and says, the book cost $11, and I was like, what? How is that even possible? It was a first edition hardcover printed in 1992, it was supposed to have cost $40! I friggin gave them the link, for god's sake. I searched the web for hours trying to find the cheapest, but most reliable website, made sure the book was really first edition, emailed them the goddamn link to the website, already at the page where you're supposed to order, even going so far as to offer some of my money to subsidise the price, and then they come and tell me they bought an $11 one, published like so recently, one that I could have bought by myself. All I had to do was take a bus to Lot 1, go up to the 4th floor, and buy a version that was probably cheaper, and then come back home. I wouldn't even take half an hour. Why would I ask them to buy me a $11 dollar book when all I had to do was save up for a week and buy it myself?! Even though I'm so low on cash right now, I can still afford $11 for bloody sake!

And then my father gets all pissed, like he always is when he's wrong and someone confirms it to his face (or his back actually, I couldn't even bear to look at his stupidity), and then proclaims that Christmas is a waste of time and money. So now, I have to fork out $40 for MY OWN Christmas present, and even when I told him that I'll bloody pay for it my own friggin self if he can't contribute $40 lousy dollars, and all I needed was for him to help me order it and then I'll GIVE him the damned money, he still has the nerve to complain about how expensive and irrelavent presents are? God, what in the hell is wrong with some people?

He bloody hell went and ruined Christmas for me. Ugh, whatever happened to the kindness of humans and the spirit of giving? Probably died when the stupid concept of currency came along.

Stupid pig.

Men are idiots, 'specially the more capable ones. And don't you ever forget that.

Ugh!

You can't believe how disappointed I am. It's like, does anyone even know what's going on?
You try and try so goddamn hard, try to be honest, mature, (awesome), but it's the people who are fake and immature, all hyper and blabbing with logorrhea and what-not kind of nonsense, that ultimately get noticed. Seems like no one respects intelligence, or actual talent. What has the bloody world become? This is depressing.
God, some people are just blind, you know? Just stupid.

Anyways, just watched 'The Mist' a while ago. Should not have watched it in the morning. The ending was just crazy, but even though its a Stephen King novella, I'm just totally bummed out. I need a break from horror, something more realistic, you know. And I think Wally Lamb's the way to go. He's quickly climbing up the charts, though he'll never replace King, but maybe Nicholas Sparks. And it just so happens that the book of his that I'm reading, 'I know this much is true', is about TWINS. Of course they're dudes and one of them's a schizo, but it's just a breath of fresh air, you know, the reality of it. No aliens, haunted houses, monsters, serial killers, but it does have an insanely devout Christian who thinks he's God's warrior, and an ancient Indian burial ground. The latter isn't really important though, just that one of the characters was raped and killed there. But as horrific as it sounds, I absolutely love it! I mean, Wally Lamb was the author of the most successful book in Oprah's Book Club, and that it really something. And that book is 'She's Come Undone'. So now you see why I want it so badly.

I can't wait for Christmas. Please don't disappoint me!