and.. i'm finally done with shifting all my entries!

new home at: http://zilin.wordpress.com

auto-redirection!

so much stuff to write.

but in the midst of shifting my blog.

found this picture in my shutterfly account.

i think i took it at st. andrew's cathedral.

it's a nice place.

in urban (straits times) today:

"i love Singapore, but i didn't understand a lot of things when i first got here. When i was looking for a place to live, my property agent kept referring to home owners as auntie and uncle. i just didn't understand why she kept taking me round to meet her family instead of showing me property."

- ally begg, star sports presenter.

this kind of reminds me of the time when i was in taiwan - i was trying to catch the attention of the shopkeeper by calling "auntie, auntie!".

i need a pick-me-up.

badly.

ah tired. shall be a short entry before i try mugging before falling asleep.

anyway these few days i have been "haunted" so to speak, by a thought. it is frightening to me, but sometimes i wish that real life could be reel life. when i watch drama serials, i don't feel afraid, because i know that more often than not, the bad guy will actually learn that he is wrong and regret and repent. there is always the assurance that there is going to be a happy ending. for example, the common case - a family member who sees his career or whatever more important than his family. but eventually he will get into some scrape or another and learn that his family is the only one who would stand by him in his times of trouble. then he would learn to love his family back. at the start of the show, the audience would be thinking "what a dumb guy! can't you see all the effort your family is putting in to be close to you?! why aren't you even giving a damn about them?" but this anger would be short-lived, cause the audience would know that eventually the guy will wake up and everything's good and well. 

well, one would also note that not every show has a happy ending, but i guess in those cases the bad guy just dies or something. so i think that's out of my consideration.

but real life is scary.

there is never this assurance that there is going to be a happy ending.

you can't ever be sure that the bad guy would ever realise that he's wrong.

when he does,

he might just be too late.

rahhh js made me fall in love with this song! a little late/slow though. oh wells.

Running Away by
Midnight Hour

Don't lie and say that it's OK.
It's alright here, there's nothing more to say.
So I'm running away.
I'm leaving this place.
Yeah, I'm running away.
I'm running away.

Don't tell me, I don't want to play.
It's too late for you to make me stay.
No, I won't stay.
So I'm running away.
I'm leaving this place.
Yeah, I'm running away.
I'm running away.

And faster than you can follow me from this lonely place.
And farther than you can find me, I'm leaving
Yeah I'm leaving today.
And I, I'll never let you find me.
I'm leaving you behind with the past
No, I won't look back.
And I don't want to hear your reasons.
Don't want to hear you tell me why I should stay.

And try, and try to understand me
And try to understand what I say when I say I can't stay
I, I'm moving on from this place
I'm leaving and I won't quit running away.

I'm running away.
I'm leaving this place.
Yeah, I'm running away.
I'm running away.

yesterday my parents, my brother and i went to lagoon @ east coast park for dinner! the food was all very good, but in actual fact our dinner was totally junk food. lol! we had chicken wings, satay, barbequed youtiao+taufoo+cuttlefish and ngoh hiong (however you spell it) - nothing that was a main dish! we had a great time eating though, and i concluded that when you go to lagoon, you should just order side dishes cause they will be done very quickly and you do not have to wait for ages just to start your dinner. the previous times my family ate at lagoon, it was a nightmare cause of the sheer amount of people at the whole place, the long queues, and the long waiting times. so yep, eat side dishes at lagoon!

haha anyway what happened yesterday was that the uncle from the drink stall came around our tables and asked if we wanted drinks... and it kickstarted a conversation between my brother and i about "touting" in singapore. (it was just a short conversation though.)

bro: actually what he is doing is illegal...

me: yeah, cause no touting right. but i don't understand why cannot tout leh. i think it is a good service what, i would appreciate it.

bro: ya, but it is illegal cause it gives an unfair advantage to the stalls that have assistants who ask around the tables.

me: huh! then all the drink stalls should just ask their assistants to ask around if the customers want drinks right?

bro: then all of them will be competing for customers and then all the assistants will pester the customers incessantly to buy drinks from them. that's why it becomes so irritating what!

me: ... oh ya that's true. like clementi like that.

clementi's hawker centre is really bad - it's probably like second in touting, right after newton i think. my brother said when new patrons arrive, the drinks assistants do things like "À´À´£¬ÕâÀï³ÔÍêÁË£¬¿ÉÒÔ×ø¿ÉÒÔ×ø¡£" (come come, down here eat finish already, can sit can sit - literally) even though the previous customers were still at the table! that day when my brother and i went there for lunch after my h3 exam, they were totally perstering us even though we were just looking around for what to eat. one or two times is alright, but six or seven times is really not cool!

so anyway i was thinking today, actually they should change the rule to "no incessant touting" instead of just "no touting", cause most of the times if they only ask once or twice, i would be fine with it and actually i would be quite glad for the service! yeah but i guess it would be quite hard to determine how much is "incessant" and how much is not. oh wells.

so. i was reading the newspapers today and the article about marion jones admitting to her performance drugs usage. i thought it was quite a sad case though, especially since it was her coach who lied to her and fed her with the performance drugs. of course, she was in the wrong as well since she vehemently denied that she took any drugs even though she found out later that she was actually taking the drugs instead of the waxseed oil that her coach said it was. anyway in the article, there was a quote that made me wonder. it was "the irony about Marion Jones' confession of doping is that the world will never know how great an athlete she could have been." how true, really.

but when i thought about it further, i think this is actually not the most disappointing thing. i think the most disappointing thing is that the world will never know how great other atheletes could have been! i think this applies to all sports, and all athletes who use performance drugs. i am not a sportsperson (lol understatement of the year - i haven't been able to do sports since eons ago cause of my congenital recurrent patella dislocation problem.) so i guess i would never understand the temptation in taking performance drugs, their mindsets before the biggest race in their lives, and how much they really want to win.

but from my perspective, i think when these sportspeople take performance drugs, they are not only hurting the image of the sport, they are actually wrecking the lives of many of their fellow sportspeople. in the lifetime of an athlete, he would probably be able to take part in the olympics twice or thrice in his life. but out of these two or three times, how many times will he be in his peak form? if i can hazard a guess, i would say only once. ËêÔ²»ÁôÈË£¬time is constantly moving forwards (don't go philosophical on time with me now, i am just talking generally). their whole lives, they have put in the hard work and all the efforts to reach their peak form, and in that one race, it is going to be the race of their lives. but what happens when one of the athletes is actually taking performance drugs? that particular athlete wins, and that's the end. all the efforts the other athletes have put in goes to naught. more likely than not, they will never be in that peak form ever again, and more likely than not, they will never have the great chance to be the champion again. and all this - because one of the athletes had used performance drugs. no one would ever know how great the other atheletes could have been.

everytime an athlete uses performance drugs and then runs a race, the whole race is destroyed. the performance of all the atheles becomes a mystery. "at this point of time, would i have won? would i have been able to use my natural abilities and dilligence to win the race? would i have won the athlete who used those drugs?" all their lives they have worked so hard to reach this moment, and the answer is one that may never ever receive. sigh.

i guess i can't be too judgemental, since i probably know zilch about what an athlete is thinking. so oh wells. anyway i was thinking, then why don't all the sports bodies just allow all the athletes to use performance drugs. then wouldn't everyone have a fair advantage? haha. uhm well i guess it's not exactly a good idea since we would probably have cases like 1000 athletes dying from a drug overdose before every match or something. really, i don't know. i don't know how performance drugs work anyway. perhaps a person who is a weaker athlete may have a better response to certain performance drugs over another person who is a stronger athlete. oh wells.

hm.

i wonder what it's like to win a sports competition.

yesterday i learnt the purpose of cloth plasters. all my life, i thought that cloth plasters were the most useless things, because plastic plasters are obviously way better. they are water resistant, and they have holes for your skin to breathe! they were unlike cloth plasters, which turn gooey when they get into contact with water. so i was thinking, "anyone in his right mind would choose plastic plasters right?!" so duh, they should just cut the production of cloth plasters.

well i lived with this belief for the next 18 ++ years of my life, until yesterday. yesterday, my sister enlightened me about cloth plasters. but first, let me explain why this enlightenment was so important.

so what happened was that my sister bought me this pair of addidas sneakers that were too cool not to be worn. on wednesday night, i decided: i shall wear it to school when school reopens tomorrow! i was feeling so excited about wearing the new shoes cause i told wy and js that i have new shoes! okay actually i was just a bit excited, and no, i was not trying to show off to them or something cause well, there's nothing to show off since wy and js have like 3 pairs of nikes each. haha!

thursday morning came, i woke up, and it was totally raining shoes (cats and dogs). the rain was so heavy! on one hand, i was happy cause it means my mum will fetch me to school! (i usually go to school by bus) but on the other, i was disappointed cause i wouldn't get to wear my new shoes to school! ah wells. i went to school and told wy and js that and they kind of rolled their eyes at me so never mind. i decided to wear it on friday morning then!

okay i think i am reaching my point. so on friday morning, i happily wore my new addidas sneakers to school, but not long after leaving home, i realised that the new shoes were causing abrasions at the back of my foot and yes, it hurt a lot. exactly like how it hurts when i wear my twice-a-year courtshoes. thankfully i bring plasters - plastic ones of course- in my bag (contrary to popular belief, it is not because i always fall down. uhm actually it is. never mind.) and so i put one of each side over the wounds. i took two steps and walked. "OMG why was it still so painful!" then, i realised that the plastic plasters were rolling up, exposing my wound again. consequently, i had to sit down and apply another 2 plasters, 1 on each side to prevent the rolling up. so in total, i had 4 plasters on my legs. which is kind of like many.

yeah and i was reminded of the previous time i had to wear courtshoes and the exact same thing had happened before! which led me to the inductive conclusion - plastic plasters had the disadvantage of rolling up when you walk. now, what would solve the problem?

on saturday, it was hiral's birthday party. and guess what, it was held on a BOAT! a boat that actually sailed while we were at the party. we got to watch fireworks and the musical fountain at sentosa too! her extended family and friends were really sporty and enthusiastic; the adults even played all the station games and taboo and what not. haha it was great fun, and i wondered what hiral would do for her 21st birthday and her wedding. oh wells i hope i will get invitated again! here are some pictures i took -

it was almost sunset.


the foam forming, telling us that we have left them behind.

guarding the seas.

oh anyway. i wore another set of shoes to the party, thinking that they would not hurt my abrasions cause well they usually do not hurt me. however, that wish did not come true and i had bleeding legs soon after. thankfully, my sister had plasters in her car. and guess what again! it was cloth plasters! coincidentally, my sister informed me that cloth plasters were good cause they do not roll up! so all i had to do was to stick one cloth plaster on each side and it was sufficient! and for the rest of the day i did not have any problems with my abrasions (:

the end.

so that was how i learnt about the use of cloth plasters and why they have not gone out of style! next time i shall stock up on cloth plasters. anyway i was thinking, does this mean that our sense perceptions are not incorrigible? my skin used to feel bad with cloth plasters on them, but with the new knowledge about the advantage of cloth plasters, they did not feel any different from plastic plasters! oh wells.

anyway the point is that i learnt something new.

i hope tomorrow brings good things.

i am crossing my fingers and praying very hard.