Little Things That Aren't So Little.

THIS

is part of the reason why I took more than 4 hours to study miscellaneous viruses. Well I can't blame her entirely, can I? Who could? Especially when she calls out for "Uncle Joey!" from outside the room and knocks on the door, before opening the door to come in to play, pointing out various objects for me to take for her to scrutinise and name (if she knows) and asking me to do things like wear my hat, which she says is too big, when I put it on her.

Just before her bath, she came in to take pictures of me on her Pooh Bear Camera, so I thought I'd return the favour, but she ended up taking a few self shots too, a narcissist in the making, at a young and tender age no less. Mom says she just likes my room, and maybe she does, or the air-con when its turned on, but I'm glad to spend some time with my niece coz she's growing up so quickly, and what kind of uncle would I be otherwise? Locked away,absorbed with microbes as opposed to playing with my favourite (and only) niece? That wouldn't be right.

And so we decided to photowhore a little more. After all, I was a little tired of showing her the same few trinkets every time she came in (quite a few times, believe me). She laughs every time I let her listen to the tuning fork, and she loves playing with the little yellow stress ball that came with my 'M1 mole' orientation package, which incidentally, would be untouched and dusty, if not for her. Not to say that I'm not stressed. She was more engrossed in the LCD than in her own reflection this time, I couldnt get her to look at the mirror.

So I tried a different approach, and it worked. Only it reveals me in my absolute scruffiness, and the goatee that still hasnt disappeared yet, but will, soon. And there she looks -almost- straight into the camera, probably a little distracted by her reflection, adorable as ever. All the while, she kept calling out for Pooh Bear, indicating her camera, I suppose she wanted to take a few photos on hers instead of mine.

Drifting

The only video I could find on youtube. Sarah Mclachlan's Drifting.
Ignore the last 2 minutes!

You've been gone so long all that you know
has been shuffled aside as you bask in the glow
of the beautiful strangers who whisper your name
do they fill up the emptiness?

Larger than life is your fiction
In a universe made up of one
You have been drifting for so long
I know you don't want to come down
Somewhere below you, there's people who love you
And they're ready for you to come home
Please come home
You walk in a room and the world stops to stare
Mesmerize all who are caught in the glare
Of the spotlight that follows wherever you go
Does it light up the emptiness?

Larger than life is your fiction
In a universe made up of one
You have been drifting for so long
I know you don't want to come down
Somewhere below you, there's people who love you
And they're ready for you to come home
Please come home

1) You sound like you're half dead.

Which is what someone told me on the phone early in the morning several days back. Coz I'm really not one for mornings, especially when I have to get up to a table full of notes waiting for me to commit them to memory, if it were possible. And I kinda feel like that now, half dead I mean, since I just spent the entire night on Herpes, which really IS forever, coz that's exactly how long I felt it took. Ultimate brain-drain.

2) I've been having strange dreams of late, an amalgation of people from so many aspects of my life, dumped into the landscape of my subconscious, melding into one heck of a wild goose chase, in just 15 minutes of sleep (that's how long my nap was). What's really strange is that I could remember everything in the entire dream. I even knew when I was about to wake up, I was struggling to stay asleep, so that I could continue in the dream, but the pull of consciousness was too strong. Exiting the dream felt like taking a step backward into reality, and the memories, if you could call a dream a memory, were all there.

3) Ok I'm being absolutely random. Post-mugging trauma. Blame Herpes, MMR, Ortho/paramyxoviruses. Anyway, if anyone wanted to know. There was this one Spartan warrior (haha) who actually fought naked in battle, glistening in his glorious, superhuman physique, where even his foes were amazed at him, and all those in his way fell where they stood. Sounds like something akin to the movie perhaps? Haha. He was Isadas, son of Phoebidas, and to be fair, he only did it once, I think. He rushed from his home, butt-naked, freshly anointed in oil, with a spear in one hand, his sword in the other, to the defense of a Sparta in peril. The Thebans were besieging their wall-less city (which was a source of pride to them actually). Isadas forced his way through the ranks of his fellow Spartans and threw himself at the enemy, slaying every foe who stood against him. Miraculously, he came out of the battle unscathed, with the Thebans repelled, and the council crowned him for his feat of valour, then they fined him 1000 drachmas because he dared to risk fighting without armour. Just some trivia from Plutarch.

4) A vision of hotness courtesy of Li. Haha. Haley Bennett. Oh yeah. Alright, this is still a blog, not some XXX site. So I've refrained from putting the REALLY HOT picture of her. Guys, what's google for? You won't regret it, Haha!



5)On another note, don't watch Pathfinder. It doesn't make a lot of sense. All it did was make me want to read wikipedia about vikings. And oh, Viking helmets didnt have horns. Just more trivia for you.

The Victory Song.

Sigur Ros' Hoppipolla. Thanks for the song Rous! Don't you think the bit at the end sounds just like you're...triumphant? I wasnt too far off when I said that to Rous, my evidence being the video, specifically- the end of it.

Rou an: Send me MORE music.

On to other things. I'm presently considering if I need to change my look. Not that I really consciously keep at it, other than not shaving the goatee. Sunday morning saw a pair of little Boy's Brigade boys approaching me, clutching tightly in their hands one of those you-dont-want-to-see-very-much donation cards. I shouldn't have walked in front of my cell group. They looked at me imploringly, and asked nicely (which is what snared me), if I would like to donate to them. I couldn't find it in myself to say no, so I looked into my wallet, pulled out a 2 dollar note, and gave it to the boy who asked. Once the signing was done, he said," Thanks UNCLE! " and scurried off, the way little boys do, leaving me with this blank look on my face, and my cell members laughing behind me. I felt like taking my money back.

Today, I went to Sharon's 21st birthday party and was sitting with all the other youth from church. They'd gotten some girl to guess the guys ages since she didnt know any of us. She's obviously young and inexperienced, with respect to guessing older guys' ages that is. Alright, to be fair, everyone's ages she'd guessed were all within 2 years of the mark. When it came to my turn, she said I looked 30. This was met with a huge outburst of laughter from everyone else. wth. And when queried why (not by me anyway), she said that I look like I've fathered two children. wth. I happen to like having a goatee. Or at least I've grown used to it. It can't possibly make me look 30!?! Just wait a few more weeks, when we start clinics, that'll be the end of it.


I keep forgetting who sent me what. But I like this song too. Stars - Your Ex-Lover Is Dead.

I'm alive.

In case anyone was wondering, just been lazy to blog as usual. Not for the lack of activities perhaps, but probably for fear of saying anything coz almost anything I mention nowadays is bound to involve just a little info bout Spartans. Haha. It's been my greatest hobby of late, inspired by you-all-should-know. And yes, all of you probably have too much of Spartans by now, including their 1800 abs. So I shan't go into much further into it.

Went for NUS biathlon with Sam, a church friend of mine, who asked me to swim coz she cant. I didnt think it'd be that bad. But it was. Initially it was fine, my wave was the same as the womens sprint event ( 750m swim and 5k run) and there weren't many other guys swimming at that wave (doing the mixed relay, like myself). So there I was, sprinting from the start, ahead of the pack for 200m. ONLY 200m, and then the first girl overtook me. I thought, wth, heck, I havent been training, its ok. And then the next girl passed. Then I thought, Ok shit, they look like theyre having an easy time. It didnt help that I wasnt swimming straight at all, in fact, I was doing all my passer-bys a favour by zig-zagging my way thru that 750m stretch of water. In all, I think 5-6 girls overtook me, no guys.

I only realized how spent I was when I stood up at the shore, I reeled from exerting myself, almost losing my balance in the process, almost falling backwards into the water. Imagine how embarrassing that wouldve been. Well, I was just a few metres behind a girl, and who wouldve known, she was in the mixed relay too. So I made 2nd position for the swim portion of the mixed relay, 3 seconds behind a girl. Was a little sore about that for a short while. Haha. And that would've meant that, ALL the other girls who overtook me, went on to run 5k more. Something I probably wouldve died doing in that state of exhaustion. Unfit, yes. Ashamed, yes. I know. I tried running today, only to get rained on 7 minutes into the run, which means, quite some distance from my house. Thankfully, it stopped halfway, so my shuffle didnt get too wet.

What else have I been doing....Oh yes, Spartans. I watched The 300 twice. But wait, before you think I'm mad, though I'm really quite nutso over them, I only went the 2nd time with my dad coz he was gonna end up watching alone, until my mom decided to come along at the last minute. Other than that, I've been at home, reading, cleaning my room, ok this is getting boring. Now you know why I haven't been blogging. I can't seem to recall any more exciting things. Haha, oh yes, rollerblading. Which isnt particularly exciting, unless you include two highly excitable people, who entertain you through out with their shenanigans. Haha, especially when we tried to cross the road. Shouldve taken more photos. Haha. I shan't post the photos to protect their identities. Then again, I think they've already posted photos on their blogs. Haha. Heck. Right, enough said.

Absolute Pig-ka

Spent most of the day in Neverland. Tucked underneath my blanket, my consciousness wandering the pastures and foothills of Dream. Can't quite remember where I'd gone, it all slipped away when I spent enough time awake. But I do recall paying a visit to a friends dream home, where she showed me her works of art, and I realized that her house seemed just like mine, and then I woke up. It was one of those moments I found it really hard to open my eyes, like my brain had confused its neural signals and couldnt figure out what I wanted. I got up, from an afternoon nap by the way, tried to read about nematodes, and decided that I wasnt going anywhere with worms, and went back to sleep. Alright, I really can't remember what else happened in my head.

Happy Birthday Ibrahim!

Anyway, we celebrated Ibrahim's 23rd birthday yesterday, at a very smelly Swensens at holland village, I was pretty happy with my mega-burger, and I'd influenced others to order the same thing too. Hahaha. I think they all enjoyed it. Caught the pursuit of happyness after that, quite a touching show really, a display of the effectiveness of sheer tenacity...Oh well, didnt do much after that. Think the rain kinda spoilt yesterday. At least we're done with 3 papers. Finding it hard to push myself for mb now.

Eugene being extra.

A very Happy Bra.