djkr and friends take on Life

life is not complete without a bloody mary.

anyway, wkwsci dnd was a small event held in the retro room of MOS. i believe that room is called hall 57… or something like that.

anyway, though small, it was fun to see people all dressed up. i came in a newspaper boy kinda of look, with an all black outfit and red suspenders. liyana came with suspenders and a half-suit. sarah came as a flapper. pamy came in a chic outfit. and adeline was somewhere in between. but they all (except liyana) wore pearls. people were decked out in fedora hats, feathers and cheongsams. tingyi was dressed in a curious way. he had a nice suit, but the inside….?

i was pleasantly surprised to have been picked for best dressed (especially since there was another person who was dressed nearly identical to me (spare the newspaper boy cap). but i was even more so surprised to have gotten a 20 dollar topshop voucher for it and then later on winning ANOTHER topshop voucher for the lucky draw. and i am sorry to adeline/pamy/sarah for not picking up their numbers for the 80 dollar cathay voucher. oops. by the way i never won a lucky draw before. remind me to buy toto later.

since a year two (apple) organized the dnd, it kind of explained the large number of year 2s present in the crowd. however, it doesn’t take away the fact that it was rather enjoyable. i didn’t really feel bored or felt left out. it would have been more fun if more year ones came.

i think it was angela who told me, before i started school, to run for everything and try everything in university.

one for practical reasons, as she is a business graduate, for the necessary contacts in your working life in the future.

but two, for less practical reasons, these will be your last few years of your life as a student. and these are the days that will be the most fun. if you make the most of it. professor anthony at the hall one investiture echoed the same sentiments: to be boring is the greatest sin.

so… don’t shy away guys. this could be your last chance as a student to do anything. without getting reprimanded.

haha.
—–

shaken, not stirred. with a hint of fun.

follow the blue brick road and you will complete the stories that intertwine.

one year ago//

as the clock ticks by in yew tee, he hopes the phone will not ring. its a monday duty and one of his last before he ords. getting out of national service… and finally university. he is wondering who he will meet then. no more drills, no more duties. new people whom he would meet. would they be friendly? would they be nice? would university be all it was hyped up to be?

he looks at the clock. it ticks by slowly…

–
somewhere in tampines:

averting her gaze from the clock, a girl is burning the midnight oil. the a levels loom large. the prelims have just ended. the battle was over, but the war has only just begun. this path was pre decided the moment she set foot in jc. she knows what she wants…

a voice breaks the silence, the television buzzes with noise…

–
somewhere else in hougang:

the television show entertains one who has just finished her prelims. some time to take a break before the big one. the actor on the screen cracks a joke and she laughs at the antics. not much thought about the future, just relax for now… and everything will fall in place.

she is feeling peckish, she heads to the refrigerator.

–
somewhere in sembawang:

the cold air floods his feet. finally being able to clear his leave, he is at home resting. a bit more, a bit more, and it will end. it was never easy, 2 years to the nation. grabbing a quick drink, he heads back to bed. he lies on it, but is unable to sleep. find a job after ns, get better pay. maybe some experience. maybe he will do a bit more for his portfolio…

he stares at the ceiling blankly..

–
somewhere in serangoon:

and the ceiling stares back. she is tired from the effort she has put in for work for her studies. but she knows it will put her in good stead for the a levels. but where does she want to go? she can’t decide. america, australia are all a-knocking. what course to take, what to do, what will be? all this time for this moment… but the decision is still uncertain.. how many years has she studied for this moment? she does a quick mental calculation.

6 + 4 + 2…

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somewhere in hall 12, ntu:

+ 1. that was 13 years. not forgetting the 2 years he had served in the army. now in university, year one, a freshman. but already the wheels have begun to turn. it was time to prepare for next years freshman camp. he is considering helping out in it. wasn’t it about this time, one year ago, he was in an army camp, thinking about his future…

–
one day, not too long ago, it was said that we would meet. and here we are.

and how many more people yet?

where were you?

yesterday.now.forever.

just returned from the hall one investiture a couple of hours back where i am writing an article about it. i didn’t go for the hall camp, so i didn’t know anyone there.

i don’t understand why people ‘sell their souls to the devil (the devil that is the hall)’ (quoting what i told liyana) but thats a very biased view i suppose, never involved myself in the hall. but i think its the same as us, communication studies students.

unlike some business and engineering students, those here in the famed wkwsci are people who roughly know what they want in the future careers. we are here by choice, not accident. we all had to pass an interview and a written test. when you wrote down sci on the application form, you knew what you had in mind.

on the flip side, we have people who go overseas for scholarships, taking law, business, economics, international relations in the world’s best universities. they did well for their exams and hence are duly rewarded, although they have a bond to pay back at the end. it is a privilege to go to best, but is the scholarship a price they pay? are they really interested in bio mechanics? physics? organic chemistry?

some of them do have passion. but of the rest? we probably will never know. is it more for making it in life: a necessity?

its 2am. and it a warm evening. and i can’t think any more.
———————–

‘intangible happiness over material happiness.’

when the lights dim, the smoke clouds your vision and the alcohol becomes your fuel.

i always held the idea that one should go to clubs and bars to enjoy the music, rather then grind. it is the one place you can let loose and enjoy the music to the beat; rather than do it in your rather un glam household.

of course, the clubs are not holding that notion. they want you to spend on the drinks. hence the playing for rhythm and blues music and hip-hop, which increasingly does not make sense anymore. the poor lyrics, the shouting for the sake of shouting and the sexual undertones. there was a time when hip-hop told a meaningful story and rhythm and blues was beautiful.

of course my first love is electronica. but if i had to make do, rhythm and blues would be like red label whiskey, where electronica is gold label. it still gives you a high, but you will not enjoy it as much.

some of you may contest me that electronica is just noise. but if you listen carefully, the chords, the purpose of each beat and synthesizer piece in it and how it melds together beautifully, it makes more sense than some hip-hop tracks with its looping background and idiotic lyrics.

the people do not understand the music. all they need is an outlet, but that in turn degrades the purpose of music. from a time that mozart played in europe’s greatest concert halls, to when the cha-cha, waltz and tango reigned, clubbing is now a pathetic excuse when someone says they go there for the music. more likely the skin more then anything else. would a clubber pay the same amount to go to a concert hall to listen to classical music?

and i do go for the music if you were wondering. why would i want to pick up anyone with illegal limits of ethanol in one’s body, whose judgement could be severely impaired, to be with for the rest of my life? and yes, i would gladly visit a orchestra and pay the same amount for a classical performance.

but the company makes up for the poor music. so i will not rant anymore on mos on thursdays.
_________________

why is that woman singing about umbrellas?
can’t she sing about how poverty is ruining the world?

from a discussion board:
_____________
a woman has a close male friend. this means that he is probably interested in her, which is why he hangs around so much. she sees him strictly as a friend. this always starts out with, you’re a great guy, but I don’t like you in that way. this is roughly the equivalent for the guy of going to a job interview and the company saying, you have a great resume, you have all the qualifications we are looking for, but we’re not going to hire you. we will, however, use your resume as the basis for comparison for all other applicants. but, we’re going to hire somebody who is far less qualified and is probably an alcoholic. and if he doesn’t work out, we’ll hire somebody else, but still not you. in fact, we will never hire you. but we will call you from time to time to complain about the person that we hired.
_____________

i think its hilarious. but true in a sense.

on a more serious note, my condolences to my uncle and cousins whose mother (my uncle’s wife) passed on this morning.

i wasn’t close to her, but she was a wonderful lady.
_____________

at least now, you can rest.

in university the field is leveled.

team sajc, a t-shirt meant for the elite sportsmen and sportswomen of sajc, doesn’t matter anymore.
wearing a shirt that says you are from hwa chong jc, doesn’t matter anymore.
even if you wear a shirt proclaiming your humble ite roots, it doesn’t matter.

the field the leveled. the scores are reset. the brand names don’t matter any more.

and the first test awaits us soon.

——–
how we all fracture into smaller pieces. insignificant little pieces.

was reading an interesting article in the nanyang chronicle the other day.

in a world where pageants judge one’s beauty, what is true beauty.
where elections are based on one’s looks, can that really gauge one’s true ability?
where first impressions count, the beautiful and charismatic win.

in a week’s notice, you are supposed to vote for people that will determine the events you will have in your hall, club, union. people you don’t even know. people you will probably never know. and human intuition demands that you gloss over the ugly for the beautiful people. the outcasts for the charismatic.

maybe they weren’t born beautiful, but that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be given a chance.
maybe they are naturally defensive, but that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be given a chance.
maybe they are not local, but that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be given a chance.

and the talk that we are a meritocracy.

is it a crime not be beautiful?
————

or do they not smile cause they see the shallowness of this world?