Avalon

Thursday, June 30, 2005

My reflection shows nothing but dull colours
In your absence
Is a timeless scent
of lost

Envoy of the Stars @ 5:31 PM
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Monday, June 27, 2005

看了《暗战》一和二。

突然有种想演警匪片的冲动，不是一般的警匪片，是那种勾心斗角，充满耐人寻味的心理战术的好片。

突然很欣赏刘德华。

突然很喜欢《孙子兵法》。

突然很想

再演

一场戏。

他问我

女主角会是谁？

Envoy of the Stars @ 6:26 PM
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Thursday, June 23, 2005

但愿老死花酒间，不愿鞠躬车马前。
--- 唐伯虎

醉花不问柳日升，乘风何惧车轴蹬？
---老耳东

Envoy of the Stars @ 6:41 PM
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校园电影

Tuesday, June 21, 2005

她看起来蛮高兴的。
高兴就好。
真的吗？
真的。
她走了。
下雨了。
嗯。

Envoy of the Stars @ 4:42 PM
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复古的时候

Sunday, June 19, 2005

戏梦

歌手:林志颖

昨天华山论剑今天决战京城
原来世界竟然这么小
去年你是天王今年我是至尊
谁是谁非谁又能分清
飞来飞去飞过人群
飞上云霄看我多逍遥
爱来爱去今天爱你
明天爱他到底谁爱我
他们说人生一场梦又何必太计较
青春正年少我应该大声笑
岁月如飞刀它刀刀催人老
再回首天荒地老
他们说人生一出戏又何必太认真
生旦净末丑我统统扮一回
谁扮谁像谁我扮谁又像谁
别忘了下次再会

寂寞公路

歌手:伍思凯

说好和你一起流浪
失约的我独自飞翔
窗外景物不断的变换
提醒我背叛的惊慌
说好不让你再流泪
迷惑的我不知是错是对
下雪街头独自的行走
握不住一杯温热的咖啡
new york dallas los angeles
寂寞公路每站都下雪
想念等候流失的梦
寂寞公路每都伤痛
music now
sunrise moonshake heartbreaker
寂寞公路每段都下雪
冷漠激情点烟的手
寂寞公路那里是尽头
sunrise moonshake
寂寞公路

Envoy of the Stars @ 7:24 PM
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有话就说

Saturday, June 18, 2005

不知道有多少人“有幸”看过这个原本应该蛮有“思想内涵”的节目。用“原本”的原因很简单：我看过两集后都没有在客观问题上受到启迪的感觉。或许是我太愚鲁了，但那个可能性不大。讲真的，看也是为看蔡深江的妙语如珠，偶尔稍微尖酸刻薄的损人招式和他的幽默感。不然就是看每期的那几个“听说”是通讯员的年轻人代表语出惊人地让我得到“道德沦丧，社会败亡”的思想震撼。只能说他们让我觉得新加坡好像没有其他更会发言的通讯员似的，才会安排其中一、两个好象只为摆美而上节目（而且好像是常驻嘉宾...) 偶尔开口也让人觉得十分肤浅没水准。如果这就是所谓In和新时代开放观念，那我宁愿投胎到远古时代，好过看到别人因过渡自由开放而变得麻木和过分放纵，还站在群众那边。

显然的，需要思想启蒙的不仅只有五四时代，我们现在也该吃药了。唉这是的，一个节目罢了，把它当闹剧看就行了吧，至少它有娱乐性，勉强可算是造福人群。

Envoy of the Stars @ 7:25 PM
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16 June

Thursday, June 16, 2005

I can't say whether I have been waiting for this day to come or not but well it's a day well spent, if not just a bit too "over-spent", in monetary terms.

Shall do something I haven't tried before. Received quite a number of birthday greetings from kind souls spread across this small island. So here the list goes, according to time, starting from 00.00 on 16 June, although there were some early birds. (ZQ and Kang Hao):

Hueysun, Wonky, Xue Fen, Denise, Junyan, Edmund, Amanda T, Huixian, Karl, Huiling, Huifoon, Cai Ling (the only senior who messaged me), Huiyun, Lala, Ying Fen, Amanda L and 小姨, ET and XinYu.

Oh and of course must thank everyone who chipped in for the wonderful scrapbook, which is most importantly, adorned with the greetings by you guys.

Had a movie marathon today: Batman Begins and Mr and Mrs Smith. And the conclusion: Fear and trust. Seemingly ironic emotions but somehow they can be fused together. Conquer your fears through a trust, in yourself and well in those you can trust. (though this is sometimes the tricky bit) My vote goes all out for "Batman Begins". Really the best film in the Batman series. Remembered watching "Batman" the movie with Michael Keaton behind the mask back then, and subsequently "Batman Forever" with Vil Kilmer as the dark knight, accompanied by Jim Carrey and Tommy Lee Jones as the two menacing villains, and lastly "Batman and Robin" (George Clooney ooh!), which is like totally lame but still quite awesome for a kid like me at that time. This new addition is probably the darkest and coolest. I mean it's precisely because it's dark times that call for heroes like Batman right?

So the realism of the fictional story that originated from DC comics is further enhanced. Liked the way fear is brought across in the film, the way it is the main theme focused throughout the 150 minutes, to quote a critique, it's a truly "jungian archetype". (jungian being some characteristic of Jung and his psychological theories, especially those that stress the contribution of racial and cultural inheritance to the psychology of an individual, courtesy of dictionary.com) Fear and anger can give great power but when unleashed brings along destruction. "Turn fear against those who prey on the fearful", an inspiring statement indeed, like a taste of one's own medicine. After all, only those whose fear is greatest are scariest and most fearsome. A side note: I think Christian Bale is really one of the best Batmans I ever saw. (Too bad Clooney though I always thought he looked so charming in the bat mask) He's a perfect life-sized exemplary of Bruce Wayne. The persona, the appearance, the masculinity. Whoo! Any concomitant to the vigilante. And was once again touced by Alfred's unwavering confidence and tutelage of the reckless, disillusioned young Batman. He's like all you can ask for from a butler, confidante and family member.

Mr and Mrs Smith... hmm... well can only say it's mainly just bombarding your senses with a load of sensual scenes and cartoonic gunfights. I agree with a critic who said that the film would be rendered entirely execrable and in all honesty, "hard-to-swallow" if not for the two epitomes of good looks (superficiality). Seriously I think most go to watch Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt get close and I do mean close because I am sure there are like a tad too many unnecessary intimate scenes that don't have no link to the plot, maybe only to mass appeal. I must say the two do have ahem good chemistry. Pity Jennifer Aniston though.

Got this from http://www.reference.com/thisday/index.html?m=6&d=16
On This Day: Thursday, June 16, 2005
This is the 167th day of the year, with 198 days remaining in 2005.

Holidays
Feast day of St Cyricus, St Ismael, St Aurelian, St John Francis Regis, Saints Cyr and Julitta, St Benno of Meissen, St Lutgarde, Saints Ferreolus and Ferrutio, and St Tychon of Amathus. South Africa: Youth Day.
(Hey it's Youth Day in SA!! Wonders whether school holidays are assigned for them)

Events
1567 - Mary, Queen of Scots, was imprisoned in Lochleven Castle in Scotland.
1897 - The government signed a treaty of annexation with Hawaii.
1902 - The Wizard of Oz (play) opened at the Grand Opera House in Chicago.
1903 - Ford Motor Company was incorporated.
1933 - President Roosevelt opened his New Deal recovery program by signing bank, rail, and industry bills and initiating farm aid.
1961 - Soviet ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev defected to the West while his troupe was in Paris. 1963 - Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman in space, aboard Vostok 6.
1977 - Leonid Ilich Brezhnev, first secretary of the Soviet Communist Party since
1964, was elected president of the Supreme Soviet.
(Ah heard of the ones regarding Nureyev and Brezhnev but at least there's no earth-shattering events)

Births
1829 - Geronimo, Apache leader and warrior.
1890 - Stan Laurel (Arthur Stanley Jefferson), actor, comedian.
1917 - Katharine Graham, publisher of the Washington Post.
1937 - Erich Segal, author.
1938 - Joyce Carol Oates, American writer.
Ah I see where I belong. ;)

Envoy of the Stars @ 9:33 PM
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Down memory lane

Wednesday, June 15, 2005

Ok have been procrastinating the arranging of photos for this whole year. Here it is.
http://starvadeforever.blogspot.com

Envoy of the Stars @ 7:38 PM
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The Unexpected

Tuesday, June 14, 2005

"The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is conducting an important academic study regarding weblogs. We are investigating the role of weblogs in the lives of their authors. Does your weblog make you more connected to the rest of society? Does it increase your chances of getting a job or finding informationthat you are looking for? To answer these questions, which are very important toour research, we ask for your help.Your weblog has been randomly selected as part of a small group among millions to represent the entire community of weblog authors."

Whoa it must have been the dark content... Talk about being connected to the rest of the society, I am linked unknowingly to some full-time experimental laboratories whose existence, I haven't even heard of, pardon my ignorance. Considering I don't even deem myself as an average blogger who goes on rattling about everyday life, I wonder what kind of weird results I will contribute that will probably screw up their hypothesis. Well they should be prepared to handle marginal errors. Haha.

Envoy of the Stars @ 9:32 PM
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Sinful Day

Saturday, June 11, 2005

Woke up to the first installment of big birthday project. Got a shock when I found someone calling me so early (it was only 9.30) and was stunned for a few seconds when I opened my house door as instructed and found a few bags laying outside. Whoo luckily I got the call earlier because I could hear the karang guni man going about on his rounds about 10 minutes later. Haha... Anyway, I was acting like some 5 year-old kid who still believes that Santa Claus has decided to pay a matutinal visit for Christmas this year as I looked through the contents in the bags. There was a scrapbook with a collection of birthday greetings from loads of people (must take this opportunity to thank all of them and honestly I didnt expect to see so many names... was a bit overwhelmed) and a caboodle of SHE and Star Wars snippets and pictures all over the pages. 看到我眼花缭乱。Special thanks to the two chief designers ZQ and XF. Must have been really tiring work. So trust me when I say this is the best birthday presents I have ever received since secondary. (I forgot what I got back when I was a child so that's not counted) Then there was another folder with more articles on Star Wars and a few photos. (Ooh love the photos soooo much... especially photos that will make you go "Wow did I take THAT?" at a glance) A photo album with more neatly arranged photos and of course letters too. And lastly there was this rather conspicuous and manifest wrapped package that I could tell what's beneath the blue wrapping paper just with one look. Haha the shape is just too obvious... But thanks. I guess that's the queerest gift I have received for the past few years.

Then went to Dhoby Ghaut to meet the gang and found out that none of them were there. (Found out that they were already waiting in Pastamania) So I went to sit down and that was a mistake because Xf and ZQ, having discovered my exact coordinations, forced me to blindfold myself and then lead me down to Pastamania which is at B2. Certainly looked so obsolete to be dragged along by two giggling people for a seemingly endless distance. When I finally took off the blindfold, was immediately greeted to a loud chorus of "Happy Birthday" by Lala, Mavis and Jias who were already there, having prepared everything. Was momentarily awestruck by the AA-ness of the whole thing but once again, thanks to them for helping to reserve a good seat in Pastamania. Alvin and Jasmine joined us shortly and we went to take neoprint and ahem photos, courtesy of Xf... again.

It was such a fun session in K-ster after lunch. Have to agree with Vin that K-ster is sooo much better than K-box. Reasonable pricing and quite nice rooms. Got to sing a few numbers I have been wanting to throughout this year and it was nice to hear everyone chorus together in unison after which we will erupt into fits of maniacal laughter, especially when our voices cracked at the high parts of the song.

In the evening, I went to meet Gav, Cheng, WS and yongen for dinner. Was so glad to see Yongen after having missed the chance of talking to him during SYF competition. His NY choir was scheduled before us and I saw him zooming past me so fast that I didn't have time to shout out to him. But it was great to see us five together again, a long time after our last rendezvous in chalet last year. Had a delightful dinner at Fish and Co and must say was literally thrown off my seat when I saw the size of this particular drink exclusive to Fish and Co. (some fruit freeze, something like smoothie) Next we took a short stroll around Esplanade before heading for home. Felt so sinful that I didn't do any work for the day but well, shall excuse myself just this once. Talk about self-forgiving... I must be harder on myself I guess.

Today was Choir elections. Congratulations to all the j1s who made it to Music and Admin Committees. May you all continue to build on the exuberance of Hwa Chong Choir and harvest more rewarding experiences from it.

Envoy of the Stars @ 11:07 PM
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Aftermath

Tuesday, June 07, 2005

Returned after 5 days... the bus trips that lasted for about 8-10 full hours in and out of Malaysia were almost unbearable, basically just eat, sleep and toilet breaks.

Completed "Angels and Demons" and discovered the references to the GP readings on Science and morality. Liked the detailed elucidation made on the background of Vatican City and all those historical facts that were the major ingredients in the book. Heard that Dan Brown spent one year per book researching for information. Impeccable genius indeed!

The highlights of the trip boils down to the feeling of being in each other's company. A bit more choir bonding, by and large. The things that have made an impression in this trip would be the hotels and the schools there.

First on hotels. KL Royale Bintang was quite well-facilitated, except me and Aaron were like staying in a room at the far end from the rest on our floor, which makes late-night parties highly unaccessible.

The Penang hotel was like atrocious, with rumours that there were shady characters lurking on some of the floors. These were later proven to be true especially after witnessing different people entering and leaving the room that was directly opposite mine. After a bit of obvious observation (people just keep streaming in and out of the room in pairs, erm get it?) we reached the conclusion that the room was probably used for prostitution. That information obviously made us quite disconcerted but well, they are just doing their own business.

Next on shopping. Guess I must have some feud with the shopping amenities in Malaysia because I always recall not buying much. The last time I went to Trengganu back during Secondary Two, I was like buying things for my sister because I just couldn't find anything suitable for myself. Oh something worth mentioning would be that Choir people do take a liking for "Bodyglove", a brand of clothes that bears a suspicious resemblance to "Billabong" but is only available in Malaysia. So eventually everyone got infected and almost half the coach were proud owners of Bodyglove items. Haha. Got a shirt from there too. We went to a number of shopping malls and street markets, but I figured out that the goods sold in malls are roughly the same price as that in Singapore after the translation. The night markets reminds me of Taiwan and the choir girls were so funny. Afraid their possessions might be stolen or snatched, they sort of got us guys to sandwich them between us and in the end we played choo-choo-train. Erpz. But then I guess it was one of the rare opportunities that choir guys get to display chivalry. Haha. Now aint that insulting?

We paid Penang Heng Yee Secondary School a visit during our short stay over there. They were the ones who have invited us over for the choral exchange programme. I must say the students there are very humble and modest but the principal was like pretty long-winded. Then it was serious business on the second last night of the trip. We had our public concert and the news of our arrival had been featured in the local newspaper! Wow! That sure added a bundle of stress on me as emcee of the whole thing. Hope the script I had drafted out was good enough. But from the approving nods of the few VIPs sitting in the first row, I think I got my answer. Haha. But most important of all, I think we definitely rocked the hall! Although audience response was lukewarm at the start, we came to the consensus that we shall just enjoy ourselves and don't bother ourselves with their reactions. After all, it was quite evident that they only appreciated our Chinese songs. So when the tenor solos blasted 八骏赞, I could see the front row audience FINALLY showing some display of interest and they even shouted for encore just for that song... Erpz we sang till we almost died! The hall itself had dry acoustics and as though that was not challenging enough, our voices almost got eaten up by the crowd and some of us were losing our voices too. Fortunately we pulled through... as usual, in all modesty.

Oh an interesting note to add on. We travelled with Nanyang Girls Choir too because they were substituting CHS as the guest performers. We didn't really interact with them anyway (I mean there wasn't a real need was there?) except the few ex-NY choristers who were like having family reunions with their juniors. But to ZQ, they are quite nice. Haha.

Still have medical checkup tomorrow and heard it's dead long... The dread of cooping myself up in some government estate doing questionaire... Oh well....

Envoy of the Stars @ 10:08 PM
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Away

Friday, June 03, 2005

The highlight of the week was that I FINALLY got to watch Star Wars Episode III. It's like the rest of the world who's interested in the show have caught it long time ago... Actually was having some abnormally high expectations of the movie after receiving many comments on it. But I must say it is quite a good show to complete the circle of events. Poor Mace Windu... liked his purple lightsabre so much and he's like one of the coolest Jedi knight!! Yoda was quite cute too, his petite size so unproportionate and immeasurable to the force he is so in tuned with.

Going off to Malaysia in a couple of hours time for Choir Exchange. There's an added responsibility (which sometimes lessen the fun) because I have been picked to host the concert we will be performing in over there as emcee. Hopefully everything will go on fine.

With my birthday approaching ever nearer, I should guess this year's birthday should be quite special. Will be spending it in China, probably taking in the breath of the mountains and overtone of the waters that Chang Jiang has to offer, though I guess I will have to repose some time to study LEP and Chinese History. Figured out that these two subjects are the only ones I will be able to concentrate on in China, perhaps the environment will be a good asset. Can imagine myself holding Hong Lou notes overlooking the rivers... like some ancient poet... Looking forward to the kbox session on 10 June!! Mini class gathering!!! Yeah!!!

It's such an irony to call this June holidays a holiday, but then again, hope everyone is doing fine and progressing well with their revisions.

Envoy of the Stars @ 11:44 AM
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