impressions of ipoh
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of my love affair with writing
Since the start of secondary school several years ago, essays (and writing) have somehow become part of my existence, creeping into almost every facet of my life as a student, be it in tests, assignments or scholarship applications.
Frankly, I would be lying if I were to say that I loved writing passionately. I may have loved it once though, sometime long ago, lost in the foggy depths of my muddled memory. Of late, my mind has attached such a strong association between “writing” and “schoolwork” that it hardly seems natural for me to write for leisurely purposes anymore. The tureens of homework I’ve received over the past four years of my life have numbed me of a large portion of my love for writing. If so, why do I write?
I suppose the biggest incentive for me to write would simply be to excel and achieve good grades. In hindsight, this may seem rather mercenary, but with all honesty, it is probably the main driving force for me to write anything at all. If not for this “carrot”, I highly doubt that I would be willing to set aside time and effort to complete an essay for any purpose at all. An example of this would be how my blog, meant as a medium for me to de-stress in a meaningful manner died a natural death within months. Pity.
However, when I do write, be it for an assignment or due to a sudden flush of inspiration, I seek to write as well as I can. I love the aesthetic beauty of writing, and the amateur writer in me greatly enjoys every little witticism or pun that springs to mind. The very thought of how a prospective reader might react to any one of these fills me with an inexplicable sort of glee. Pardon me for my egoism, but I derive great satisfaction from producing a piece of work that I believe is of sufficient quality for me to be proud of, and others to deem worthy of praise.
I’ve always believed that there must be a purpose in writing. Thus, I write to air my views, to say my two-cents worth. I cannot lay claim to advocating lofty political ideals and satirizing the idiocy of governments and political figures, but nonetheless, I see every piece of writing I come up with as something that can let a reader understand more about my views, and perhaps even empathize with me and adopt my ideals.
Having been born in a rather protected environment, and not having lived through any form of social strife that has affected me too directly or unpleasantly, I must say that the views that I put across in my writing will be nowhere near as impassioned or fervent as those of authors such as Orwell, but I must say that I write in earnest to express the feelings I have gathered in my sheltered Singaporean existence.
Lastly, I write to express my sentiments. My philosophy in writing is to write simply and truthfully, and every word I pen down serves to express my heartfelt emotions. I hardly see the point in embellishing my work with unpronounceable words and “pretentious” prose for the sole purpose of impressing examiners. I believe in writing from the heart.
Writing has brought me happiness and worthiness, delight and reverie.
I write for these.
Samuel Tan. A little too common-sounding, perhaps. There are probably a thousand other “Samuel Tan”s in little red dot alone, and I dare say I could definitely dig out a doppelgänger from the flock…
Oh well, to cut a long story short, I was skulking around everyone’s blogs tonight, and happened to chance on several rather… well…. inflammatory remarks detailing the various exploits of certain acquaintances of mine with vivid detail. Oh yes… I found the blog in question because I used the “find” function in Safari to search for a particular name… a rather unique one too…
Only then did it occur to me , for the first time in my life, that having such an unassuming name might actually prove to be an advantage…
I’ve never been one to stand out in the crowd. I’ve never dared to do things differently from others. However, despite this, I’ve never been part of the crowd as such. I’ve never ever blended in well in any “society”, aside from a small clique of friends by my side… Put simply, I sometimes “fall through the cracks”…
What amazes me most, however, is that I don’t really mind having this happen to me… It’s really rather queer, no doubt, but I dunno… sometimes, the freedom of being alone can really be enjoyable…
Queer.
Oh well… I’m confused. Have a blessed Christmas!
The Sale
I’ve lived there for most of my life. Now, for better or for worse, I’m leaving my home, and my life for 15 years behind…
A home is more than just a house;
A home connotes a sense of belonging;
My home is part of my life.
I have lost Loyang Terrace, and I trust the Lord to guide me through.
I’m Back
Hi… After one year, I’m back at my old wordpress blog, ready to start writing once more – Blogger is just too complex for IT idiots like myself, hence this simple, idiot-proof alternative… Please relink =)
Japan Trip & Everything Else
I just realised that I haven’t posted for almost 2 months… My blog is literally rotting as it languishes under the sheer neglect of someone who’s been too lazy to post… Even the tagboard doesn’t seem to want to work… Ah well… Here are a few pictures from my Tokyo trip with Yee Siang, Tony and Kenneth… I actually meant to post them about a month ago… I also included some (only 3) photos from my Malacca trip with the GeogRAphy and HistRA ppl…
Tokyo Photos
Yee Siang & Me in Disneyland… I’m looking st the sky and Yee Siang is looking at… at… Actually I’m not sure what he’s looking at.
Tony, Yee Siang, Me and Kenneth on Mount Fuji… Why everybody look so stone? Every photo also like that…
Urban development stretching from Yokohama to Tokyo (neighbouring cities).
If you wish to criticize/lawd/praise our (un)photogenic selves, click on this link…
Malacca Photos
The hotel room that looked deceptively nice. Everything was in perfect working order besides the heater, the faucets and the air-conditioning.
Ren Yan grinning evilly while eating Chendol…
Daniel and Marc in the same Chendol store.
After the Tokyo trip, I went to Hong Kong with my family… Unfortunately, I didn’t bring my camera, so no photos… No more time to post… Need to do my ERP, CRP, Geog RA Assg, read Duzhe, study for log test… The list goes on… So much for a “holiday”… By the way, I’m thinking of moving my blog somewhere else already… It’s rather troublesome here… Loading 1 photo takes more than a minute…
Looking forwared to posting regularly again… Feel free to comment…
Sigh
Got to study for an endless tyrannical storm of tests (including one on hurricanes for GeogRAphy), so I shall post ultra short… but not very sweet… Hmmm…. So here goes…
Just yesterday, I went blogsurfing, and read some rather heartwarming (and passionate）posts in some of my linked blogs, and I came across one that really quite a lot to do with me (and huqin section as well, for that matter).
Actually, I have to admit that I am rather harsh at times, especially to certain people. It’s just that sometimes, things just really get on my nerves… It’s a bit like trying to stuff something that tastes bad (very bad) into your mouth. After a while, your would just expel everything out… (Assuredly not a very nice sight)
So much for trying to be nice…and trying to control my temper… Apologies (esp. to a certain group mate doing a certain project with me, and a certain classmate, who also happens to be a prefect)… Perhaps I should put in more effort to be…well…nice…
I’m SINKing
Hmmmm…. Have any of you ever thought of what would happen if you dropped something (specifically a glass cup) into the sink? Amazing experience by the “venerable” (cough-…cough-) yours truly through a brilliant scientific experiment has shown conclusive results that are… well, to put it simply, rather amusing…
Yah… I dropped a glass mug into a porcelain sink, and guess what… The sink broke!!! It was rather shocking, but slightly amusing as well, because I could actually see through the sink… Intelligent…Right??? I don’t think my mum was really very happy about it… Oh well… Congratulations to myself.. Ha…… Ha……
Wow.. this post is actually short and sweet… Beautiful, aint it? Btw, the little thumbnails along the sidebar now double up to serve as links to my tagboard… Ohya… I just realised that I, being lazy, have not posted for damn bloody long… And… As I have just shockingly found out, there are ppl who don’t know that I have a tagboard… Fyi… if you really cannot find my tagboard, click here.
By the btw, I was just thinking… Dan Brown said that Marilyn Monroe & Mickey Mouse = allusion to Mary Magdalene (All MMs)… What about our next door neighbour’s ex-prime minister, Mr. MM?
There is such a thing as free lunch/dinner
I used to wonder how people managed to lose their wallets… It seemed quite impossible… Like, how do you put your wallet on the hawker centre table and forget about it? Isn’t it quite idiotic? Yes, no doubt… But now, yours truly, dearest Samuel Tan, has managed to lose his wallet without even knowing how he lost it. Sigh… So much for taking things to new levels of perfection… (Or idiocy, for that matter..). To top it all of, it just had to rain after I lost my wallet, and (fantastically) I lost my umbrella too…
Oh how are the great fallen… To me, it’s like some public disgrace to commit the heinous act of losing my wallet… And go waving around like a crazed chicken in front of Bishan 8 Condo to attract a Taxi coming out (When it’s raining cats and dogs)…
Actually, I should be quite happy still… Somehow, my N70 (in case you don’t know, it’s a handphone model) which I remember placing with my wallet, did not go missing (Thank God), and I kept my $200 for paying Shen Lao Shi for Erhu lessons somewhere else, and not in my wallet. Ohya, and I managed to catch a taxi with $5 I dug out from deep inside my Erhu case and $10 borrowed from Marc… Miraculous, eh…
Ah… nevermind… The thought of I, me, and myself losing my wallet is totally irksome… Thank Goodness for my free buffet dinner at Swissotel Merchant Court on Saturday night (sponsored by my uncle), and my ultra fun lunch with fellow RICO buddies at the Columbarium (especially the zhong1 ji2 mi4 ma3 game we had to “auction” off the sharksfin soup… Which of course, I won… Haha)…
Die Die – Wed, 4/4
For the past 2 weeks, most of my life has essentially been spent slogging over Lit CRP assg, R&J test, Chinese Book Test, Bio assg and all the other assorted assg.s and numerous other stacks of paper with a “P” as a suffix. Ohya… and there was SYF & ACJC Geog Quiz as well… Thank God for guiding me through everything…
This Wednesday was like double victory, double happiness, double $$$ day. Firstly, GOLD for SYF!!! The first one in 8 years!!! Although everybody kept on asking “Why no honours?” (Which is actually rather irrititating), the sense of pleasure in telling them that CO got GWH (Gold Without Honours) is still one to be proud of. I love CO!!!
Following that, we won 1st for ACJC Geog Quiz!!! Frankly speaking, with CO practice and my Lit CRP to finish chionging, I did not manage to mug enough and was actually quite worried during the quiz. The score lines were ultra close… RI almost did not make it to the last round, and even the last round was won only by 1 point, whch is actually not such a great win… But who cares… As long as we won!!! It was super fun… Oh well… it still feels ultra shiok to win another competition…
To round off the day, I blew $24 (damn lot) on Norwegian King Salmon Fillet at Manhattan Fish Market before going for “West Side Story” (My 2nd ACJC event in 1 day!!!). I made sure I asked for the bill after I finished my dinner… It just feels awfully good when the waiter comes toward you with a leather clipboard with your receipt in it and says “Your bill, sir”…
To end off this post, I would like to thank everyone in RICO and my Geog RA class who made the above victories possible…
a picture of penang
Wow. This is probably the first time that I have decided to post something nice and long (and worth reading) on my blog for almost two weeks…. Maybe I should congratulate myself for reviving my blog. Yeah… Btw, I just came back from the CO trip in Penang, and quite obviously (If you didn’t read the title, or didn’t understand it), I’m planning to write about it. So ya, here goes…
In Penang, everything is like some parallel universe of Singapore – The Chinese there speak Mandarin, but with a different intonation, and there is Laksa, except it tastes of Assam, and even their concert hall, Dewan Sri Pinang (which we performed in) actually looks like SCH (Singapore Conference Hall), if not for the fact that everything was not red in colour.
This “parallel universe” concept drags all the way to the food street at Gurney Road – When I walked to the Laksa stall, I told the attendant I would like “san1 kuai4” (3 dollars) worth of Laksa. On this perefectly normal statement that I thought would assimilate perfectly into any “food centre” environment, the shop attendent gave me a blank look and a painfully audible “Har…” (which sadly was probably the only thing we had in common in terms of intonation).
After a “slow-motion” period of 3 seconds, her face lights up and she tells me “Horrrr…. Ni1 yao2 san3 kuai1 de3 a1″ (Pay attention to the pinyin and you’ll get it).
My reply – “Shi4, wo3 yao4 san3 kuai1 de4″
Apologies for the diffculty of non-Mandarin speakers in understanding this post. Btw, Fyi, in case you didn’t know, the number behind the sound is the pinyin for the Mandarin character.
Figures of Speech & Verbal Diarrhoea
I feel random, so today’s entry is dedicated to a few random quotes and jokes from some random (and not so random) people. If you cannot catch the random error(s), look at the italics…
1) TOP OF THE CHARTS (This is true, mind you): Person X was telling Person Y (someone who just started learning English) that 2 common phrases are “Feel free me to call me” and “Keep in touch”. Folowing this, Person Y, being extremely “Geh Kiang” (act smart) rearranged the words and added them together, and managed the magnificent concoction of “Feel free to touch me”. Ohya…Person Y was female and Person X was male….Naughty naughty….
2) I cannot hear what you are saying… I must go home and dig my nose.
3) I need to fuuuux (actual pronunciation is fax, in case you didn’t know) you. [Maybe I should have told him that I wanted to fuuuuuuuuuuuux him….]
4) By right, you should be dhyunjgjkhvdjhgdcfghynbvghgv……….. , but by left, you should be…
5) Isn’t Deng Xiaoping a singer? (Imagine someone with a blank, clueless expression on his face, with his History teacher looking on as if he just saw Sadako.)
Sigh….Why do we all make such humiliating errors when we least expect to do so? Btw, if you want to read more interesting stuff, read my previous post below.
Every Aunt’s Seven Commandments
I’m feeling random and free, so I decided to post something that applies to every one of us when we meet our grandaunts/aunts/numerous relatives during festive occasions, and have to endure their “beautiful” renditions of love and care. Here are the “Seven Commandments” as applicable to our aunties (Especially those who are rich 50-year-old retirees):
1) Thou shalt eat half a cheese-cake and say “Samuel, you look so thin. Can you finish the rest for me? I’m not hungry.”
2) Thou shalt use year of the rooster/chicken (I can’t remember which is it) angpows in the year of the pig.
3) Thou shalt see your nephews/nieces and go “Hi…. You are this ah..ah..ah…….. ah siang eh gia (person X’s kid in Hokkien)…You are ah…..ah……..” and 15 “ah”s later, you get fed up and fill in the blank and say I’m Y, and I’m the son of person X.
4) Thou shalt ask your fellow Aunties how to cook curry, after which you tell them “You (the other Auntie) should not cook curry that way”.
5) After this , both Aunties quarrel…. (Please tell me what’s the point of asking someone how to do something if you’re going to contradict her anyway.)
6) Thou shalt slam down the phone without saying goodbye.
7) Thou shalt call your nephew and demand “Where’s your grandmother?”, after which you scold your bemused nephew for not knowing where his grandmother is. (Like Hello…. I’m not my grandma’s guardian or something….)
P.S. I’m so happy I finally got down to posting after dunno how long… Actually 520 views for a one-month-old blog isn’t that bad huh (Especially if my stats aren’t supposed to count my own visits)? LINK ME!!!!!
Chinese New Year
I’ve had my most “amazing” Chinese New Year this year… Apparently, some of my relatives forgot to invite some of my other relatives for dinner, so half my entire extended family is feeling sad, bitter and angry… Sighz…
And to top everything else, I woke up and found out that my hamster had died… On Chinese New Year!!! The last time one of my hamsters died was on the morning of my birthday! I hereby conclude that pet hamsters choose bad times to pass away… Maybe I should change the name of my blog soon…
Since Chinese New Year is also “New Year”, I shall write about my New Year’s resolutions and wishlist… Haha… So here goes…
My (Chinese) New Year Resolutions:
1) Walk closer with Christ, and overcome sin.
2) Study harder.
3) Actually get my homework done on time.
4) Pay attention in class.
5) Practise the piano (besides just before my lesson).
6) Post more often on my blog, and not bore everyone with Geog related posts.
7) Bring someone else to church.
Chinese New Year Wishlist:
1) Not fail my piano exam this Friday.
2) Get $500 this CNY!!!
3) Increase viewership on thi blog to at least 30 plus a day… (Currently, it’s about 20).
4) More nice new clothes… New t-shirts, plus nice jeans, plus undies + etc.+ etc. +etc….
Haha… And Happy New Year to everyone who reads my blog…
P.S. Apaulogees for any yunyintentyed typoss… I’m reiily busyee
the vanilla vacuole 