The Battle Rages On...

I am so hungry.I am so worn.I am so tormented.I am so deprived.I am so in desperate need to get well, entirely and very much quickly.I am so hungry because while you readers gorged yourselves mad with fast food/soda/chips/whatever delicacies during that whole of the past week, Ling has been surviving on a wild diet of water, thin porridge, milk and pieces of fruits. I am so hungry. What's worse is the fact that my diabolical toothbrush that I used previously carried the infection from my throat back up to my gums, infecting them altogether. So, I have red swollen gums that hurt (alot) whenever I attempt to chew something normally. Hard to imagine the level of agony, well, um, just visualise having sandpapers all around your mouth. ^_^ There, there, you're getting close to the stage that I...

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This is what I'm TALKING about

So last night I settled down to watch the new Sense & Sensibility as part of the Estrogen--sorry, the Jane Austen Season.And yeah. I am really liking it. I think my favorite thing about it is that it's not 90 minutes long. I should have known something was up when I kept seeing things like thoughtful, deliberately paced scenes. And beautiful lingering shots of the countryside. And conversations that exist solely for character development. It was a novel experience, given how dang rushed the rest of these recent adaptations have been.Plus, it's Andrew Davies, and I think you can automatically calm down when you see his name in the credits....

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How to deal with the suckfest

The question which I've been mulling over lately is simply this. When it comes to whole dating/events-which-we-hope-will-lead-to-dating scene, at what point can you just give yourself permission to opt out?I don't mean quitting, really. Or even giving up hope. It's just that it doesn't seem to matter whether or not I'm out there Making An Effort--I'm still single either way, so why can't I just say "You know, I have a job (two, actually, because I'm extra cool that way), I have great friends, and I go to Hawaii. For now, that will have to just be enough." Because the alternative, as I'm seeing it, is becoming one of Those Girls.You know who...

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O come let us adore them

I'm sure you've been waiting anxiously for pictures of my babies. Here are a couple: The daffodils are also starting to peek their way up, which is very exciting. This is quite possibly the first time I've planted something that might actually live and thrive. The fact that I don't touch them with my black thumbs ever again after the planting might help.That purple crocus has the heart of a champion, I tell you. Let's hope they all have them, considering things like this morning's ground cover: And now that you've very nicely admired my frostbitten babies, I'll bring out a special treat for tomorrow. It's well past time for a post about the...

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It is like there is a reason to live again

So here's the big exciting news on my end.Remember that one time like 4 years ago when my library director up and moved and left me in charge with the eye twitch and the two jobs? Yeah. Still doing that, 6 years later. I have, of course, tried to rule with grace and dignity and for the most part I believe I've succeeded. Or at least I've hidden the bodies of the naysayers. But I am happy to report that my time is almost up. The library board has finally selected a new library director and I'm Not It!I did apply, but I have never been so excited to not get a job in my whole entire life. Yes, sure, more money would have been nice. But I still kind of didn't want it. This last week I've been pretty much walking on air, singing, giggling, and treating the eye twitch as a somewhat charming house...

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Things I've been doing instead of making the sweet love to the Internet

Please note that I did not say "making the sweet love on the Internet," which is something that I neither do nor encourage. And if you try it in my library you will Feel the Wrath.Knitting. I've been a knitting fool, y'all. It's just so darn addicting! And I love having something new and better to do with my Ritalin-candidate fingers. Because this way I can say, "Hello, I was watching a movie the other night and while I watched I made you these darling fingerless gloves in blue. Enjoy!" instead of "Hello, I was watching a movie the other night and noticed at the end that I had no fingernails left. I gathered them up though and put them in this...

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39 degrees

39 degrees? What 39 degrees? Well, that was the temperature of my body hours ago. It seems that the fever isn't done with me yet. It came back last night, I thought I could sleep it off, but I remain very much feverish in my bed, with my blanket covering to til my chin when my air con isn't even switched on. But no, at 5.30am, it was so bad that I got up and downed 2 pills. Later this morning, I woke up soaked with sweat. I thought I am fine.But bloody fuck fever refused to let me go. Which is actually a good thing, in a weird way. It's always good to have people tend to you at your every whim. Haha! So yeah, went to the nearby polyclinic for treatment where I spent 2 odd hours waiting (im)patiently for the incompetent doctor and complying to the inefficient system of public healthcare.That's...

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Yes, I'm a posting slacker

And today I'm not going to be much better.Freshome has published a list of the 30 most creative bookshelf designs. You may remember I have a thing for bookshelves. Some of these, like this one, are supercool.Others had me wincing inside and and wanting to reach out and hold the books that will surely be destroyed if they remain long in such a configuration.Those who are like me are probably having to remind themselves to breathe deeply right now. It's okay.I've got a jam-packed weekend of sweetness and light in front of me. Tonight I'm going out for a steak dinner to sate my desire for roasted flesh, and tomorrow Spitfire and I head down to...

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Perhaps I should lay off the drugs

The other morning I pulled up to an intersection manned by school crosswalk guard mommies. I came to an obedient and safe stop just in time to watch a large black and white turkey start waddling its way across the white striped lines of the crosswalk.He didn't make it all the way, though, because one of the mommies rushed out into the crosswalk and started shooing him back over onto the sidewalk he'd started from.So. No idea what was going on there. Is he some elementary student's 4-H project who broke out to follow his owner to school in the manner of Lassie? That turkey pretty much wins the prize for Weirdest Thing I've Ever Seen Crossing the Street in Front of Me. And this is in the face of quite stiff competition in the form of Idiot BYU Students Who Pay No Attention to Traffic Signals...

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I wanna learn to do other stuff good too

So I really enjoyed getting my camera out and using it in Hawaii. For the last several months I haven't taken many pictures, and I missed it. This was partly because my life has been a perfect graveyard of buried hopes and I haven't felt enthusiastic enough about anything to actually take its picture. I wasn't even taking pictures of food, which is how you know it's bad. But there's also the part where there hasn't been much going on to merit digital preservation. "Here's a piece of frozen dirt." "Aaaand here's another one. Enjoy."That is now changing. I planted crocuses and daffodils last fall because I knew I'd need a reason to keep living...

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If only dreams could manifest as reality...

I want dreams to materialise into tangible reality because I had one very awesome dream last night. I played live guitar for Dragonforce, replacing Herman Li! It seriously felt so damn real when I "played" Through Fire and Flames in my dream realm, lol. XD. I think that absurdly surreal dream might be due to the fever I had last evening, I started talking weird and nonsensical things to my parents and friends on Msn (Valie would have experienced that).This is Dragonforce, if you didn't already know.Speaking of the fever, I skipped dinner last night and went to sleep straight. Hmm, which means I haven't eaten anything since 20 odd hours ago. Kickass. Yay, free slimming. >_\/ (man, what a weird emoticon!) Haha! The odd of the fever and all that crap is that I feel so strengthless now. Ack,...

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So much for YOUR good vibes

You may remember that I had a job interview just before I left for Hawaii.I didn't get the job.I did learn however that I was in the Top 2. Which I think is respectable. I figure if you can't win then you should at least make the winner work really hard for it. Or maybe do something bad to the winner. Something which takes them out of commission in a really public and horrible way. Did I ever mention the time Eliot Spitzer crossed me? Yeah . . . just sayin'.Did I also mention that BYU-Hawaii is hiring? Because it is. That would be aweso...

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Just to reassure you that I am fine.

Well, in case you have came up with the thought that Ling has sunken into a hopeless bout of depression, I am fine although I still feel abit sore inside about you-know-what.Putting aside the past and all that depression thing about a string of alphabets, I woke up with a damn parched throat this morning. So parched and dry that you can film Sahara in my throat. Ack. I drowned myself with 4 full cups of water to relieve it and 2 big spoonful of that minty liquid Singaporeans call "chuan-bei-pi-ba-gao".As a proponent of Tibetan Buddhism myself, it saddens me to see Tibet is in turmoil since late last week, with monks committing suicide in renowned...

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One step closer to being too pretentious to live

I'm in Salt Lake City today and tomorrow at a library conference. It's called "Turning the Page" and is about library advocacy. Which I'm all for. I'm also all for my sweet hotel bed. And the hydrotherapy pool. And the triangle-shaped powdered-sugar dusted nut brownies in all the hallways. Let us have more of them.In all the sessions they have trays by the doors stocked with pitchers of ice water and those lovely stemmed water glasses. I've snagged one at every session which means that I have now drunk more water today than in possibly the entire previous week.Turns out I sip lots more water when it's in a schmancy water glass. Somehow it feels more likely that a tuxedo-wearing Daniel Craig will saunter over to my table and say something cryptic. To which I will raise my eyebrow suggestively...

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More Hawaii pics

Just in case some of you didn't feel like hitting me in the head with a brick yet.(My mom says I shouldn't say that because it isn't ladylike. But I think it's okay. I mean, there aren't even any swear words in it, gosh. Also it's a literary reference to Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man, which is one of the funnier books ever written.)For Lippy, here is another pic of the Kalalau Trail. It was absolutely gorgeous. You start at Kee Beach and hike 2 miles to another beach. If you're insane, you keep going another 9 miles. But we felt good with what we'd accomplished. I got into a race with this nutso hiker with the two metal walking sticks who just...

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Thanks are in order

First off, I must thank my parents, who made this trip possible. Especially my dad who dragged himself off the beach every day to go do the things I wanted to do, even when those things consisted of eating hot noodle soup in a tiny dive in Lihue. And my mom who kept buying me little presents. They are the coolest.Thanks also to my aunt and uncle for bailing out and leaving an empty room at the Hale Koa. When I woke up the first morning this was my view. So yeah. Sorry y'all were busy . . .Thanks to my sister Jenny, who is such a noble person that even though she couldn't come along she mailed me her darling swim skirt in the hopes that I would...

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I'm back, sigh . . .

So I'm back in L**** now, freezing and trying to keep the dry cold from cracking my flesh open. My efforts are only marginally successful.Anyway, yay for the Hawaii numbers game!6: Days without eye twitches1: Impulse to blog. That was on the first day. Quelled it successfully. Plus there aren't a lot of Internet cafes on Kauai. Which is one more reason to love the place.3: Minutes spent thinking about work, and those were by accident in response to direct questioning36: Chocolate-covered macadamia nuts eaten0: Local youths seduced (tragic)78: Sighs of contentment and/or bliss1: Sunburned nose (on the last day, of course)4: Pounds of fresh pineapple eaten2: Books read--The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid: A Memoir by Bill Bryson, which had me giggling on the plane there, and The Book...

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My life just hit a new low.

I felt that it is better for me to type something here to vent out my thoughts rather than to be bottled in my morass of thoughts any longer.So yes, I got back my A Levels results on Friday. Rather, very catastrophic, I must add. University life is not completely ruled out yet, but I still feel pretty bruised inside. Bruised in a way that I will have to let go of opting for a science-based course and make the switch to another field, perhaps social sciences or Economics. It's an especially tough obstacle that I will have to brace myself for, when I have a deep-rooted conviction all these years since upper secondary that biology is my vocation. Well, if you are wondering, biology chose to disappoint me at this very cruical moment of all examinations I have had in JC by plummeting 2 to 3 grades...

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The reason why Ling hasn't been blogging all week is the looming fact that her A Level results will be out really really soon, like "tomorrow-soon". That would meant the decreasing positive in me to think of nice phrases to say here.In the meantime, let me dwell in a semi-conscious melancholic reverie whilst I confuse myself even futhur into depression under the illusionary thoughts that I'm going to do awfully bad.Fuck....

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