The previous post reminded me of something I saw on Threadless once:
"Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Age 10"
If I didn't know better, I'd suspect that this Murakami fellow is psychic and knows exactly how I bumbled through my music education. Maybe, just maybe, it'd be nice to be not hard-work-averse.
There just happens to be people like that. They're blessed with this marvellous talent, but they can't make the effort to systematize it. They end up squandering it in little bits and pieces. I've seen my share of people like that. At first you think they're amazing. They can sight-read some terrifically difficult piece and do a damn good job playing it all the way through. You see them do it, and you're overwhelmed. You think, 'I could never do that in a million years.' But that's as far as it goes. They can't take it any further.
And why not? Because they won't put in the effort. They haven't had the discipline pounded into them. They've been spoiled. They have just enough talent so they've been able to play things well without any effort and they've had people telling them how great they are from an early age, so hard work looks stupid to them. They'll take some piece another kid has to work on for three weeks and polish it off in half the time, so the teacher assumes they've put enough into it and lets them go on to the next piece. And they do that in half the time and go on to the next piece. They never find out what it means to be hammered by the teacher; they lose out on a crucial element required for character building. It's a tragedy.
I'd like to think I'm pretty well read, and I read a wide variety of literature and trash. But it's been quite some time since a book last captivated me like this one has. This, in question, is Norwegian Wood, by Haruki Murakami. I can't quite put my finger on it, but it's almost impossible to put down. The plot isn't particularly exciting, nor is the writing particularly eloquent (plus, its translated out of -surprise surprise- Japanese)
Yet it is strangely captivating, and I find myself reading late into the night - something else I haven't done in quite some time, with the possible of exception of the Singapore Master Tax Guide - and stealing a couple of minutes to read a page here and there.
Read it if you haven't already done so. I got the book as a gift a while back (before exchange, to be precise) yet I didn't get down to reading it till now. Bah.
This is quite a few years old, but it still cracks me up. If you don't understand it, maybe it's time to go and brush up on some physics and math.
M(2.71828)r^2(1/y)^-1 x(force/acceleration) everyone! See you in the new year!
Now that school's out and I have a million and one things to do, I probably won't have very much time in front of the computer, ergo, little time to blog. Check back here from time to time, but frequent updates probably won't happen til January. Anyway, all you psycho blog stalkers out there probably won't be checking up on blogs all that often.
Til then, enjoy your holidays! I'll most definitely be back at Christmastime for Season's Greetings :)
True story!
I really can't stay
The neighbors might think
I simply must go
I've got to get home
(In a random 3a.m. MSN conversation about inter alia, relationships)
a year 4 who went on exchange:
i never been attached before leh. so i am like an expert witness with no qualifications
Dunno how many of you remember watching The Electric Company as a kid (kinda like Sesame Street, but only with wayyyyy cooler songs) Anyway, here are two of my favorit-er ones, sung by Tom Lehrer, WHO IS ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC. If you are into math or chemistry, go check out his chemical elements song. Hahahahahahaha. This >>> studying for tax.
As much as I enjoy studyingphotoshopping for exams, what I'd really really REALLY like to do right now is go on a looooong drive. Like, a long, straight road with absolutely no one in sight, a glorious, clear sky with a few wisps of clouds for company, rolling wheat fields on both sides of the road stretching to the horizon. And maybe a good (Christmas) CD on the stereo.
No, the N-S highway to KL does not count. I'm thinking, some interstate in Wyoming.
Road trip, anyone?
This one's a 5-minute photochop, so no guarantees on quality.
Just in case Sha's (already rather large head) doesn't get too big so it explodes (see previous post)
No rice cooker epiphanies or anything of that sort today, but (i) I was late because I was buying tau huey for Sha, (ii) I didn't bring my pencil case (that sounds so primary school but true :(, (iii) 4 questions in 2 hours is WAY TOO MUCH TO WRITE IN WAY TOO LITTLE TIME.
Oh, but for what it's worth, kudos to Sha for spotting one question! Which we (she, actually) prepared for!
For the uninitiated, what you're looking at is what used to be an upright piano, but has been gutted and stuffed full of electronic goodness, including a digital weighted keyboard, a mac mini and some speakers. It's now a home recording studio.
In a nutshell: Cool! I want!
But why do I feel like I'm getting the short end of the stick?
Princess Leia Sandrana
(Yes, I know the blending isn't perfect. In fact, it's quite dodgy in places. But please remember that (i) this is done on my laptop and (ii) [more importantly] I HAVE BANKING TOMORROW AND TAX ON THURSDAY AND I'M SPENDING ALL MY TIME IN PHOTOSHOP INSTEAD OF STUDYING)
Ok it doesn't look so good here, but the original picture is on the left and the picture on the right is meant to look like it's been snowing. Anyway, if someone has a nice picture of someplace distinctively Singapore (like BTC) please send a copy my way so I can winterify it.
PS If you can't tell, I haven't been doing much studying lately. Lots of photoshopping though.
Diediedie.
Alternatively titled, Why We All Can't Get ICF
Because the people higher than the year 4s in the pecking order took a whole bunch of spots :(
Master of Laws by Coursework: 2
Master of Laws (Corporate and Financial Services Law): 23
Master of Laws (Intellectual Property and Technology Law): 1 (WTF?)
DipSing:1
That it is extremely profitable to trade in toilet paper
Rutledge v. Inland Revenue Commissioners (1929) 14 TC 490
A taxpayer bought one million rolls of toilet paper for £1,000 and later resold them at £12,000 for a net profit of approximately £11,000. (The rest of the case is irrelevant and it talks about whether he could be counted as trading in toilet paper or not.)
Sometimes the cheesy love stories can be nice too!
It was a comely young lady fair,
Was walking out for to take the air;
She met a sailor down by the way,
So I paid attention,
So I paid attention to what they would say.
Said William: "Lady, why walk alone?
For the night is coming and the day near gone."
She said, while tears did fall,
"It's a dark-eyed sailor,
It's a dark-eyed sailor that's proving my downfall.
"It is seven long years since he left the land,
And a gold ring he took from off his hand;
He broke the token, gave half to me,
While the other lies rolling,
While the other lies rolling in the bottom of the sea."
She was distracted midst joy and woe.
"Oh welcome, William, I have lands and gold
For my dark-eyed sailor,
For my dark-eyed salor so manly and bold."
In the little cottage down by the sea,
They joined in wedlock and you'll well agree.
Young girls be true while your love's away,
For a stormy morning,
For a cloudy morning brings forth a pleasant day.
Alternatively titled, Why I Am Going To Fail Evidence. (Even though I spotted Presumption of Innocence essay)
Before I left for Canada, my mom bought me a little small rice cooker to cook rice with. "Just in case" I couldn't get one there. Or something. It didn't take up that much space in my luggage (I stuffed it with socks too) so I bought it along with me.
For some inexplicable reason, it didn't cook rice all that well. It came out soggy. At first I thought it was me, so I kept experimenting with water proportions and timing and all that. No joy. After a while I gave it up as a bad job and bought instant rice.
Fast forward to Evidence Exam, November 2006. A good 4 months after exchange. Halfway through the exam, it suddenly hit me.
MY RICE COOKER DIDN'T WORK SO WELL CAUSE IT NEEDED 240V POWER AND THE MAINS WERE ONLY 110V IN CANADA.
And don't ask me why I was thinking about rice and rice cookers while doing my exam. I want to know why too.
So that's why I'm going to fail. Oh, and the other slight problem is the fact that of my 3 questions, my LPP/Opinion hypo is at best mediocre, my PoI essay was incoherent (EVEN THOUGH I SPOTTED. BAH) and my EA/CL essay was incomplete.
sighbomb
Since "This Time Last Year" posts are all the rage nowadays, I thought I'd do one too. To remind me of happier days, when ICF meant nothing to me and Burden of Proof just meant either Beyond A Reasonable Doubt or On The Balance Of Probabilities.
So anyway. This time last year...
I was having a jolly good time ... (Editor's Note: The content following has been removed because there are young innocent and impressionable people reading this blog)
From left to right, The Maxim Playgirls (and friend!):
Lolo, Dodo, Jou-Jou, Yours Truly, Frou-Frou, Clo-Clo, Margot.
Oh, to be back in Paris!
If you...
Got ICF, DIE ONCE.
Got ICF but are going into liti, DIE x 100.
If you got ICF but are planning to drop, please let me know!
In honor of the occassion, a rhyming couplet:
If you got ICF
Please DIAF.
In the past 2 days, despite spending something like 20 hours in school, the grand sum of all work done is: *drumroll* 2 evidence article summaries. Yay.
Yay, exams are ending. That means Christmas is coming. My absolutest favoritest time of the year!
Not sure what there is to celebrate right now but Sandra wanted a party so who am I to say no?
The banquet, all prepared.
Your lovely hosts for today.
Can we be any more obvious?
People having a good time...
... and stuffing their faces.
We even played party games! (Well, Old Maid isn't exactly a party game but...)
Before.
After!
Old Maid #1
And #2!
The people are gone but the decor's still up!
If you missed out, SUCKS TO BE YOU. Tune in next time for our End of Evidence Party!