KOREA #9,10...FINALLY

(Time check: 12.08am)

So it's officially the last day of 2014 and I still have not completed posting about my Korea trip. Hustle mode: ON.

Okay this entry has been backlogged for so damn long that I have already lost track of things. So...instead of ransacking through my memory for the last few days we spent in Korea, I decided to sift through pictures from the whole trip and just talk about random things until it jogs my memory. I'll try my best to put this in chronological order!

On the train from Seoul to Busan. This blurry photo deserves an entire paragraph to itself because it's one of the first memorable moment I had since we landed in Korea. To be honest I didn't really feel out  out of the country yet at this point, probably because we could still use English + very broken Korean to get around. But yes, back to this photo. Two things you need to know. 1) I had only been breathing Korean air for less than 3 hours. 2) I have a knack for losing important shit all the time. This is us successfully scoring seats in a no-seats-appointed-fo'-our-asses train cabin. We scrambled to secure these seats, so when we finally settled into them I decided to reach for my phone to snap some victory pictures. I could not find my phone anywhere.

Me: Oh fuck I think I lost my phone.

Hui: What! You sure not? Did you leave it on the plane? Okay don't worry I try calling your phone. You see if you can feel the vibration okay.

Me: *waiting*...eh don't have leh. I think I lost my phone for real man.

Me: *spots something green* OI YOU ARE SITTING ON MY PHONE LA!!!!!!

Hui: Hahahahahahahahahaha oops sorry.

Me: You didn't feel the vibration meh!!!

I swear this was much more funnier in real life.

Busan pictures!

Jeju pictures! (Wa my eyebags here really last warning. Also, Korean uncle is judging quite harshly in the background lolol.)

Underwhelming lighthouse in Udo Island.

And there is me shamelessly shouting across the entire rock...shore (?) to Huihui standing on top of this mini rock observatory hill thing (??) to take a photo of me. Single-handedly destroyed the peace and serenity that the quiet Korean families/couples were trying to take in.

Seoul pictures!

Aaaaand these are the faces of some really uncool people abandoning the idea of clubbing because they got there too early. Hahahaha. We had just spent the earlier part of the day shopping at a local Korean supermarket after giving up on our bungee jumping adventure. We got too lost in a remote/zero English signboards/couldn't find anyone who understood English+our broken Korean part of Seoul. Or was it out of Seoul?? We got really really lost (and are wildly uncool).

Anyway, we settled for some hipster pub near our place after failing miserably at our clubbing attempt. Ordered variations of fruit juice+vodka. Only managed to finish half of mine because my alcohol tolerance is virtually non-existent.

Street busker who was playing Oasis' Wonderwall. I probably gave him a total of 10,000w + a bunch of coins because I don't know what the appropriate amount is when someone performs your favourite song in a foreign country.

Him: You know this song? Wonderwall?

Me: Wonderwall by Oasis!

Him: Yes yes, Oasis! You want to choose another song? 

Me: Ahh...it's okay, I have to go somewhere. Thanks though!

Him: No no, choose another song! By Coldplay?

Me: OH NO. NonnononononononononoOOOooOOoo *waves hand to emphasize* (reeeaaally not a big fan)

Which understandably, made his face do this.

 

Looks like social ineptness doesn't miraculously disappear when you are overseas.

Random questionable subway art.

Okay, if my chronological order is correct, we have now reached the last day of our Korea trip. Decided to visit a nearby jjimjilbang (public bathhouse) before we leave.

My verdict: Friggin' awesome.

There is something weirdly liberating about getting naked in front of strangers, and less intimidating than you would think. No one bats an eye. No one stares. Everyone is just doing their own thing and enjoying their bath. Perhaps the "nobody knows me here" factor plays a part too, but the shyness and novelty of being naked in front of others wears off pretty quickly. So yes, pretty awesome!

After the awesome bath we had, we headed home, packed up our remaining stuff (aka have you seen my sock? do you have an extra plastic bag? is that my shopping loot or yours? eh you really didn't see my sock??), tried to leave the room in a more presentable state, napped (only me), and left for the airport.

All aboard the plane back home!

Fun story when we arrived back home. Things you need to know: 1) I decided to visit the washroom before I went through immigration.

I was searching for my passport to get through immigration when I realized that it...was...fucking...gone. Like are you kidding me. Just how. HOW? It was the epitome of a laugh/cry situation. I bolted up the escalator, ran into the washroom and began frantically knocking at the cubical while trying not to scream.

Me: *knockknockknock* Erm hello? Hi? Have you seen a passport inside?
*someone taps me from behind*
Girl who saved my ass: Hi is this your passport?
Me: HOLY SHIT YES. OH MY GOODNESS YES. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!
GWSMA: Haha, you're welcome. Actually, I found this in another washroom ah. I was walking around trying to find you!

Wtf. My brain. Wtf. I really have no words.

The boys came to pick me up after! Had dinner and went home, to which my parents both reacted: "Huh 你今天回来meh?" Hahaha.

///

I feel like there should be something sentimental written in this post, but...I don't know man. I remember the entire trip in flashes of laughter, breezes, moments of "oh wow...", and a bunch of happy emotions. It feels refreshing yet familiar at the same time and I don't know how to write it down in words without feeling like it's inadequate. Does this make any sense at all? I feel like I ask this question a lot. It probably doesn't, but this is where the word awesome comes in. This entire trip was awesome.

Can't wait to go back again, and here's to more travelling in 2014!

(Time check: 4.36am) /someone's a slowpok.

Aaaand....abrupt ending now.

THRONES

"It often comforts me to think that even in war's darkest days, in most places of the world, absolutely nothing is happening."

Quoting a little Game of Thrones. In this particular episode, Lord Tully has just passed and Catelyn is mourning the loss of her father by the windowsill whilst reminiscing her childhood. The book's description of this part is a hundred times sadder.

But yes. Quite a lot has happened during the past few days and most of it...if not all of it, would seem to take place in my mind. Which sucks because...because it just sucks. But the moment of clarity came quick this time round, and harsher, I would suppose. Back paddling is never ever a good idea. Pondering about the what-ifs and attempting to even manifest one of those what-ifs is never a good idea. Attempting to change the course of something which has played out the same way time and time again is never a good idea.

Joy Division's words are more than apt.



Why is the bedroom so cold?
Turned away on your side.
Is my timing that flawed?
Our respect run so dry?
Yet there's still this appeal,
That we've kept through our lives.

Love, love will tear us apart again.
Love, love will tear us apart again.

Do you cry out in your sleep?
All my failings exposed...
Gets a taste in my mouth
As desperation takes hold.
Why is it something so good
Just can't function no more?

By the way, this is the only song outside of their Unknown Pleasures album that I can really get into.

Now that that's all over, it's time to (try) and cheer myself up (a little) with some pop punk. The classic The Middle by Jimmy Eat World. It just takes some time/Little girl, you're in the middle of the ride/Everything, everything will be just fine/Everything, everything will be all right, all right. A very cherry song that puts me in a better mood for 2 minutes and 46 seconds.

These two songs are probably the saving grace of a very, very, very stupid mistake.

/Deep sigh.

4am. The ramblings of this post is most definitely accredited to being awake at 4am.

PRINTER

My printer isn't cooperating with me right now. It takes for fucking ever to print just 15 pages and when it finally gets going, it prints it halfway before jumping back to page 1 and restarting the printing process. I now have multiple copies of half-done print jobs that I have absolutely no need for.

And I still have a ton of printing left to do.

COME ON PRINTER, WORK WITH ME PLEASE. PLZPLZPLZPLZPLZ before I stab my eyes out because that would be less painful than trying to get through all these at 2 in the morning. Please?

HAIR

(Time check: 2am) 

Just came home from a late night movie and I am feeling a little peckish. Thinking about having supper but munching on almonds and pumpkin seeds instead - food cravings that are not fulfilled at 2 in the morning.

Took a bunch of selfies because I felt like it and also because my hair is in its golden stage, which of course, happened only after I got home. The golden stage, aka the effortlessly naturally tousled bed hair that only happens in movies and girls on tumblr...which ironically is everything but effortless. It takes 10 minutes to do and it's 10 minutes too long for something that should be naturally occurring everyday when I wake up. Also, this is the longest my hair has been since...since ever  I think. Never had the patience to grow my hair out because the humidity always gets to me, but the weather has been really awesome lately! (plus I am lazy as hell) So, the growing continues!

But what was the point of this post again? Yes, supper. Instead of going out to get some, I remotely mentioned my craving in an extremely cryptic way to someone in hopes of being asked out for supper. Did not work at all by the way.

Which reminds me. Something happened recently that made me...quite happy, even after removing the rush you get from time lapse and anticipation. Happy and nervous. A lot of nerves. And a little despondence that comes with over thinking and anticipating the end before anything even happens. But mostly happy. Is an ending really that important? This need to have something conclusive out of something intangible drives me to the edge sometimes. Perhaps trying to stay in the moment will work well this time round. This entire paragraph is a written contradiction but at least I can set this aside now.

(Time check: 5.28am)
I just got done with the final episode of Sons of Anarchy S6 and I don't think I've cried this much over a TV series in a long time.

WHAT. JUST HOW. JUST WHY.
I can't even. The moment I saw Chibs crying I just lost it. Then when Jax breaks down with Tara in his arms...walau my tear ducts were beyond the point of lost. Puffy eyelids when I wake up later are a given at this point. And speaking of eyelids, my eyebags are getting out of control in the above photos. Hopefully the whole "aegyo sal" trend from Korea will last forever so that my eyebags can be interpreted as something positive other than a physical manifestation of a very erratic sleep schedule. Will dark eye circles be in trend soon? Or chubby cheeks? Haha oh well, a girl can only dream.

(Time check: 5.54am)
My eyes are starting to hurt and I can feel my brain shutting down already.

Goodnight.

ME #2

People I need in my life right now: Managerial Economics pros.

If ME were to be an actual character, it would be the boy in every girl's life who just when you think you get him, throws you a curve ball out of freaking no where and knocks you right out. Except that you genuinely like the boy and it's not mandatory to make things work with him because it is too late to switch this boy out for a less complicated one and your grades depend on him.

Does this make sense?

My point is. I spent 2 days trying to get Auction and Bidding, and just when I think I finally got it, I attempt the assignment question and it's like I never even read the notes before.

Seriously. I am not born with enough middle fingers to express how I feel about ME right now and the assignment just feels like a giant fuck you from the lecturer.

Just shoot me already.

/DEEP SIGH. Okay rant over. Time to get back to trying.

posted from Bloggeroid

SSS'CUTE

You know how sometimes when you are watching a movie and a funny scene comes on, everyone in the theater would laugh on cue together? Yeah. This was the opposite.

The lecturer was playing a video during my IR class about the sub-prime mortgage crisis.

"...Angelo Mozilo, who was also known as the Golden Boy because of his permanent tan...", while the video was saying that, they showed a picture of him looking really tanned (as in Jersey Shore tanned. Which is somewhere between pumpkin and burnt).

Aaaand I was the only one who laughed. Out loud. In a very quiet lecture hall. That was not filled. So it was evidently me. Because the lecturer did not switch off the lights during the video. Which would not be a big deal if the person sitting in front of me did not turn around, stare coldly at me, and then turn back around.

No but seriously my cheeks were flaming.

Also, in today's lecture.

I just realised that the guy in my class who smells good looks really cute too. Which makes sense because I have only noticed him using my peripheral vision up till today. Cute boys and interesting topics, that is what every 3 hour long lecture needs. Actually, make it 3.5 hours because this particular lecturer has no interest in looking at the clock.

In this weekend's agenda: All on board the assignments and test prep train.

UGH.

PARIS

Apparently half an apple is all it takes for my green smoothie to taste entirely like apple juice.

Random things.

1. KALE, Y U NOT READILY AVAILABLE???? I have scoured all the supermarkets in Tampines and it is no where to be found. Gave up and googled "kale in Singapore" and someone online said that you had to order it online from Malaysia or something along those ridiculous lines.

 

2. NTUC finally restocked my favourite brand of unsweetened almond milk! It tastes the closest to home made almond milk and words cannot express my happiness that they finally restocked it. The current brand that I have sitting in my fridge is suspiciously white (like stark white-white) and just tastes...off. Also, I found gluten-free pasta and I feel inexplicably excited. This entire point is so pretentious it makes me want to puke.

 

3. Paris Baguette needs come up with a better ordering system. I would have never stepped into the store because a) have you looked at the queue? and b) have you LOOKED AT THE QUEUE? but my Mama wanted some white bread what's a daughter gotta do. The amount of eye-rolls and deep sighs I held back while queuing is ridiculous. Also, I find that the older I get, the less effort I put into veiling my (potentially rude) facial expressions. So if you saw a bratty looking 21 year old at Paris Baguette today with a scowl on her face, that would be me.

4. Conversation with the bff last night.

G: How you feeling anyway? Better already?
Me: I was about to reply you this. "Ya no more headache already. Maybe I just 熬 through it!".........Then I remembered that I actually took panadol. So in conclusion, I am feeling better and it is all accredited to panadol. Lolol.

5. Fifth point because who makes a list with four points. Stefan Struve is back in training! Very excitingggg. Also, I recently saw a video of GSP playing with a toddler. This is me after the video.

For reference, this is the video.

TOO. FREAKING. CUTE. ALREADY.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

TOKIO

I was reading Bill Kaulitz's Wikipedia page and staring at his birthday while wondering to myself "Hmm I wonder when Tom's birthday is..."
.
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They are twins.

Anyway! IR lesson tomorrow and I am determined to strike up a conversation with the people sitting beside me. I have eavesdropped on enough conversations to figure out that they are pretty cool dudes. Also, I have things in my lecture notes that need to be filled in because of my tendency for tardiness when it comes to afternoon classes.

I tried(ish) doing that last week but my attempt ended as soon as he made eye contact. My body was turned towards him, I had my notes in hand positioned awkwardly in mid-air, and I chickened out the very moment he looked at me. What I decided to do after was stand up abruptly, throw my notes on the table, and gun for the door as though I have a bursting bladder...obviously.

Life choices I make on a daily basis: Fake a bursting bladder > Starting a conversation. Oh yeah, I am really socially capable.

Wishing myself luck!

TUMBLR

To the bff:

加油！打汉过这段时间就行了。读书辛苦，不读书的后果更辛苦。考完后就可以去见金男佣(and me) 了。And 你很厉害，有本事翻译他的名。我看了有很大声的哈哈大笑出来(lol).

-

...things I do to disturb her on a pretty much daily basis.

On another note, I finally created a Tumblr account! Username creation creates a whole other type of stress that I think should not exist. I have gone through about 15 (truth: just 3) different variations of my name (decided against Meishanosaurous) before settling on it. A very Arctic Monkeys name because I was just listening to that particular song while mulling over an available username.

Also now that I have a tumblr, I feel like I've been issued a challenge. A "How many Alex Turner/Arctic Monkeys/band boys' photos can I reblog in a day?" challenge. UNLIMITED. UNLIMITED'S THE ANSWER.

Sorry for the uncalled for aggression that is in the manifestation of caplocks. But I've finally found an outlet to shamelessly obsess over my obsessions. Aside from an outlet, it is also a vortex that sucks away any remaining spare time that could be spent doing something productive.

xrecklessserenade

xx

edit/ Oi and his hair where got 难看！我 quite 喜欢 actually. Hahaha :'D

167

So..UFC 167 was today. Woke up early to catch the whole fight with the Dad and all I can say is this. Nevada State Commission, 

Get your shit together people. 

The GSP Hendricks fight was so blatantly and grossly misjudged that I think Hendricks should be allowed to smack the judges around for as long as it takes to appease his indignation. This is not the first time that they made questionable decisions, but they usually have a slightly more negotiable ground to back it up than this. So how the exactly did the judges managed to score the fight against Johnny? Did they do it with with one both eyes closed? Is that it?

Goodness. I can only imagine the wrath of the people who placed their bets on Johny winning.

Ugh, okay, end of rant.

-

So Saturday classes started yesterday because the new lecturer needed to catch up on the syllabus, seeing as how the previous one missed 6 classes because of an unfortunate stroke. Reached school at 8.15am, proceeded to the vending machine to buy coffee, only to realise that I am 10 cents short.

Me (to my wallet and the machine): Oh come on!

Random guy walking pass: Huh?

Me: Huh?

Got to the stairs as fast as my decaffeinated body can manage to escape a potentially (more) embarrassing situation. On another note, the guy who sat beside me in class was wearing a very nice smelling scent. Seriously, I wanted to smell like that over the perfume I was wearing so much that I spent a significant part of the lecture contemplating if I should ask him what scent it was and how to prove that it was a purely informative question. Didn't ask anything in the end because I had better sense than that. Lol.

Also, all the lecturers seem to be on board the rush-through-the-syllabus-and-spam-assignments train. I have so much revision backlogged it isn't even funny. This is how I imagine them to be like currently.

A second also. I realised that I haven't finished posting about the trip to Korea which happened back in...July. Workings of good old procrastination. Hopefully I'll get them done by the end of this year, along with my monthly photos which has ceased to exist since August.

Ack. Okay here's a gif of Alex Turner to make up for the lack of effort. Can he look any more dashing? Place him doing that beside a Mercedes 560SEL and whatever remainder willpower I have will be out the window. Damn him and that stupid quiff.

edit/ How many font and font size changes does it take to get it right? I feel like this might be it.

...

Thursdays that feel like Fridays.
Fridays that are schooldays.
Schooldays that include Saturdays...and a Sunday.

KNEE

Here's another sad post. Is there a limit to these? It's not that I feel sad all the time, this just happens to be the only place I seek solace in when I get into these dull sad...marshes. Which I imagine would be quite difficult to get out of in real life. The actual marshes.

Talking about it to another person would entail too much second guessing and self-censoring which will always result in me dropping the idea so here I am. My attempt at making this as selfish and cryptic as possible because...just because.

Well you cured my January blues
Yeah you made it all alright
I got a feeling I might have lit the very fuse
That you were trying not to light
You were a stranger in my phonebook I was acting like I knew
'Cause I had nothing to lose
When the winter's in full swing and your dreams just aren't coming true
Ain't it funny what you'll do

When the zeros line up on the 24 hour clock
When you know who's calling even though the number is blocked

- Arctic Monkeys, Knee Socks

How long does it take to wait this out?

posted from Bloggeroid

TRANSLATED

I feel like creating a twitter account just to follow @translaterlyric because that shit is too. fucking. hilarious.

你的桥已烧掉，
现在轮到你 哭泣，
哭我一条河
哭我一条河
哭我一条河
哭我一条河，耶耶！

HAHAHAHAHAHA what the actual fuck.  I lost it at the 耶耶 part. For reference's sake, it's the classic Cry Me A River by Justin Timberlake.

And this is Britney Spears' Work Bitch.

你要性感的身材， 

你要布加迪， 

你要玛莎拉蒂， 

你最好努力臭婆娘!

Lol that is too funny. Too damn funny.

xx

LIGHT

The light in my bedroom, to be exact. This is all is does lately.

1) Suddenly switching from white to dim light out of no where.

2) Refusing to switch back to white light despite me clicking on the switch a million times.

3) Emitting a (quite) threatening buzzing sound while flickering between white/dim lights which gives me the impression that something is about to explode.

So far nothing's blown up yet. I've changed the bulb once but it doesn't seem to help, so there's that.

Also, I have been feeling a little despondent lately, which is something I would like to think does not happen all that frequently. Just try to feel crestfallen as an emotion instead of an adjective and you'll get the picture. Sometimes I feel the urge to talk to someone about it, but I wouldn't know how to begin if I did because it's just a bunch of negative emotions lumped together with no particular problem to account to. And then sometimes I would feel like telling a familiar someone, "Hey, I just need to rant so just hear me out yeah?", follow up with a chunk of incoherent word vomit, and then move on from it. Going back to the person you decided to distance yourself from seems a little hypocritical and unfair, and confiding in another seems intruding and pointless.

And then other times I just feel...lonely. And silly for feeling lonely. But mostly lonely.

Stress and loneliness usually stem from the discrepancy between what your ideals and your reality, which just means that you are generally unsatisfied and unfulfilled with the way things are now. Giving a scientific definition to an intangible emotion helps to force things into a more objective point of view, which helps me to deal with these overly "feely" emotions as nothing more than a hormonal passing phase, but...something always seems to fall short.

You know what? Hormones. Let's just chalk it up to hormones and sleep it off tonight.

xx

PRO

...as in procrastinate. I have an assignment and a class test due on Thursday so I woke up extra early today to finish that but given my need to eat in front of some kind of entertainment and there is nothing good on the television this early, here I am.

Some random thoughts because what is this blog if not a collection of random thoughts?

1. My dinner time is getting out of control. It used to be before 7pm...then it became before 6pm...and then for the past few weeks it has been hovering around 4.30pm. If it gets any earlier I'm pretty sure you can't call it a dinner anymore.

2. Which brings me to my second point. Having dinner at 4.30pm leaves me extremely hungry when I wake up, so I'll compensate with eating my breakfast really quickly and helping myself to a ridiculous amount of grapes/strawberries/kiwi, which usually leaves me on the verge of hurling.

3. BREAKING BAD. I am late to the party but having downloaded all 5 seasons makes up for it. I remotely told Pres on the 13th that I just finished downloading all the seasons and am going to pace myself, only to follow up with a text 5 days later that said "I'm at season 4 episode 7.". Lol. I have progressed to season 5 episode 5 since then.

4. UFC 166. But first, Fox Sports and Starhub. A very despicable marketing strategy which worked because I now have about 10 different sports channels sitting in my TV guide, out of which I only watch 2. Starhub, you good.

5. Okay, now 166. A short summary: This might be one of the most awesome fight card to date.
Dodson vs Montague :O Velasquez vs JDS :OO Sanchez vs Melendez :OOO
Differing opinions about when the JDS fight should be stopped and who should stop it. Personally, I think that it should have been called off in the 4th round by the doctor because 1) He was looking like this. 2) Herb Dean had no proper ground to call it off because Junior was still standing, which was why he called for the doctor instead. 3) To the female doctor holding on to a single q-tip. Y U NO STOP IT. Also, 1 q-tip is obviously not enough.

Okay time for revision.

xx

ME

Managerial Economics.

This...well, this is really something else. Here's a little excerpt from Chapter 2: Game Theory, under Nash equilibrium.

"A Nash Equilibrium is a combination of strategies, one for each player, with the property that no player would unilaterally want to change his strategy given that the other players would play their Nash equilibrium strategies. So a Nash equilibrium is the best response to the strategies that a player assumes the other players are using."
.
.
.
You good.

COVEN

So...American Horror Story: Coven just started airing.

Haven't been updating this space in almost a month and it seems a little unfamiliar now as I am typing this out. But I have to start somewhere. So let's just talk about the first episode of the third installment of a very awesome horror television series.

A very graphic selling point: The removal of the tortured slave's pancreas so that it can be blended into a bloody mush, which will then be applied onto the face as a very twisted anti-aging home remedy. Oh, and the slave is still alive during the removal of said pancreas.

That is all. If this doesn't pique your appetite for all things gruesome and scary I don't know what will. Perhaps a picture of a less appealing Chloë Sevigny in American Horror Story: Asylum would? Please don't click on the picture if you can't stomach gore well.

Fun fact: The same actress plays Violet from Murder House and Zoe from Coven. Her real life sister plays Lorraine Warren in The Conjuring. The actor who plays Ed Warren alongside said sister, plays the Dad in Insidious 1 and 2. Subjectively fun facts.

Ack. This post seems very choppy.

What is everyone up to lately? I feel like everything and everyone is getting busier than ever. The final year in university is passing by dauntingly fast and graduation...well life after graduation to be exact, gets a little too overwhelming whenever I start to think/picture it. You kind of hope that everything falls into place in due course, but at the same time you haven't figured out what you want the exact place to be. And will you ever know what the right place is anyway?
.
.
.
My thought process would usually end right around here because I can't deal with the mental exhaustion that comes along with mulling over so much uncertainty.

Also, I am very tired right now so I shall end this entry here. This semi-counts as an update right?

xx

AM

Please scrape my list in the previous post because I cannot believe I forgot to include Arctic Monkeys' AM. This might just be their sexiest and best album so far.

Song starts at 0:23 and I can't find any other live versions but god, this song is so bloody sensual I can't even deal. Just watch it.

xx

STARTED

Stuff that have been playing on my ipod on repeat recently.

1. Kendrick Lamar, good kid, m.A.A.d city. (It annoys me to no end that this is the only album in my itunes that does not begin with the proper letter casing. Good kid/Good Kid/ugh nothing looks right because I will always know how it was originally spelt.)
2. Kathy Griffin's autobiography audiobook. (Absolutely awesome by the way. In the beginning she was still reading the book but I think she gave up on that about 1 hour in. It just sounds like a funny friend hanging out with you. In your ears. Pretty cool.)
3. RHCP, Californication and Stadium Arcadium.
4. Selected songs from Sungha Jung, who on his wiki page, is described as a "South Korean acoustic fingerstyle guitarist"  (Is there any other style that I don't know about? Toes perhaps? Haha, but he is really impressive though. Really impressive.)

Pretty random.

So school started for me today! Which was nice, only that I didn't expect to embarrass myself as quickly as lunchtime.

I ordered lunch for me and Hui, which totaled up to $7.40. She gave me her share in the exact amount with a bunch of coins, and I pulled out two $2 notes. Okay I don't really know how to continue describing the situation but just know that I handed over all the cash I had in my hands to the stall vendor. He looked at what I gave him and gave me a weird look.

Him: Hahaha, 你多给了很多leh! 我没有这样 gian png!
Me: Ha...ha...ah...是吗？(I had no idea why he was saying that at this point)
Him: 你看！这个这个...那个那个... (Still no idea)
Me: Err...ya okay!

Hui: *noticed my face* You still don't understand right.
Me: Ya. I tried calculating how all the cash in my head but I couldn't work it out fast enough so when he called me I panicked and just passed over everything.

Guy in front of me: Hahahahahaha *shoulders moving up and down included*

-.- Nice.

-

This picture. I wonder if there are others who get as excited as me over this.

TRACKS

There is a scene in Brokeback Mountain, just before the famous "I wish I knew how to quit you" line, where Jack goes off on Ennis and tells him how emotionally overwhelming he is, how he has no idea how bad it gets with all the time they spend apart, how difficult is it missing him so much.

1. Heart Shaped Box, Nirvana

 

Very relatable. Even more so when the damn horoscope sign is exactly the same.


2. Run Right Back, The Black Keys

 

3. Do I Wanna Know, Arctic Monkeys

 

Baby we both know
That the nights were mainly made for saying
Things that you can't say tomorrow day

-

Side note, this feels very 16 years old so I'm going to blame the less than optimal brain performance that comes with being awake at 4am.

xx

ID

So I called the police.

It was nothing serious, just the usual loud quarreling from the couple that lives opposite my block at 4 in the morning because they have very little consideration for others. They usually have a go at it a couple of times a year, so it becomes a waiting game amongst the awaken to see whose turn it is to call the police now. 

After 30 minutes of screaming and 5 death threats later, I called.

Me: I would like to report a case of domestic...disturbance? Ya disturbance. They have been going at it for 30 minutes already.

Police: Okay I will send my officers over soon. Can I have your name please?

Me: Mei Shan.

Police: And your number?

Me: You don't have caller ID?

Police: Erm yes we have caller ID. I just need to confirm.

-

Mum: Did you just ask the police if they have caller ID?

I was very tired. Also, school's starting soon! Exciting...ly...mixed. Hmmm.

PRAWNS

I have been contemplating shifting my vanity to the floor because I feel like it looks better that way. Messy looks better on the floor than on shelves anyway. And so I googled images of "vanity on the floor" before realising that it could pass off as a song from an indie band. It could, right? "She left her vanity on the floooorrrrrr. Cause she didn't want it no morrrrre."

No?

So a little update thus far.

1. Met up with the best friend for dinner and received an absolutely gorgeous bracelet as my birthday present. It's sparkly and dainty and fancy and pretty and just very very nice (really hope it didn't burn too big of a hole in your wallet!) so thank you again okay  (｡♥‿♥｡)

2. Met up with the boys for dinner and received an equally gorgeous pair of earrings (that I have had my eyes on for the longest time) + a room scent liquid thing that smells bomb. I don't think (can't remember) if I've told them about the earrings before so it really came as a pleasant surprise. And in typical boys' fashion they wrapped them in newspaper, so...yes. Thanks again okay boys  (◕‿◕｡)

3. 18 is a cursed number. We decided to go prawning after dinner because Pressy's calf was hurting after a 10km run and couldn't go bowling ಠ_ಠ (ps: pls bring me bowling the next time okay). 3 hours later and not. a. single. prawn. was. caught. Everyone else around us was catching prawns except for us la!

*flips table* (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻

We pretty much gave up in the end so we took turns leaving momentarily to see if one of us was cursed.

Me: *returning from the washroom* So how? No prawns right?
Belly: I had a better feeling when you were gone.
Me: *SMACK* LIAR.

It was the rod.

4. I just learnt how use torrent so the first movie I downloaded was The Exorcist (1973). Not too bad if you could look past the fake blood.

5. I finished watching The Exorcist at around 4am when I saw (semi-saw? caught a glimpse of? made up?) someone (some...thing?) running across my corridor. Not weird at all.

6. Last random point because I want an even number.

Me: *using the mirror on the thing you flip down to block the sun when you are in the front seat to apply lip balm* Who placed the mirror here anyway? Very useful man..
Belly: My mum. She uses it to watch us in the backseat.
Me: Ohh... (feeling really shallow because I thought that it was an absolutely brilliant mirror placement for touching up and doing really girlish stuff in general when it was there for a much more important and responsible purpose) (oops?)

I haven't been bowling in a long time.

xx

HAPPY

 

Happy 21st to me.

The 3 is suppose to be 21, and I still can't wink properly to save my life.

It has been such a happy, happy, happy, happy day today. There was nothing elaborate about it, just dinner at my favourite restaurant with my family, but it was enough. It was happy. 

I still don't feel the significance of turning 21, or the pressure to become more adult-like, or to revamp my life, or do something momentous. But I'm really, really happy today and that's all that matters.

Yay to turning 21! :)

xx

STUCK

Stuck. Impassive. Empty. Mostly fueled  by lethargy and mood swings that comes along with PMS. I don't think a swinging action would apply in this case because swings go up and down, but mine just hits rock bottom in a dark abyss voided of anything remotely cheerful.

Escapism.

Watched Brokeback Mountain. The scene when Ennis embraces Jack's shirt with so much love and regret and longing... Is it possible to feel so much for someone?

Sleeping early might do me some good.

xx

KNOT

I go through phases where I get obsessed with a certain band/album/song, play it to death (aka that's all I listen to all day long) before I hit pan and avoid it like the plaque for the next few months because I would get so sick of it. The music genres don't usually stray far from what I already have in my itunes, and that is why I have absolutely no explanation for this phase.

Slipknot.

 

What in the bloody world. The number of times that Psychosocial has been played on my itunes is borderline obscene. That, along with Duality. How can pushing your fingers into your eyes sound like such an alluring action? This is making my playlist look like it's extremely confused.Or incredibly inclusive, depending on how you look at it.

Since I am on a random roll right now, how freaking lousy was the judgement for the Machida vs Davis match today? That is one major bullshit of a decision. Anyone with eyes will be able to tell you that Machida won that fight, so how the heck did the judges pass such a shitty decision is beyond my comprehension.

That is all. I do hope to grow out of this heavy metal phase soon.

xx

#7,8

So.....yes. A very long overdue post. Day 7 and 8 in Korea, aka our 3rd and 4th days in Seoul.

Our original plan was to spend the entire day at the Namsan/Myeongdong area before heading over to Namsan Tower at night to enjoy the night view. Sounds pretty good right? But more about that later.

First up, Namsan Hanok Village. I wasn't in charge of planning Seoul's itinerary apart from where and what to eat, so I was quite surprised when we arrived. Turns out I've visited here the previous time before! Visited...ish. I think I hid in the washroom most of the time to avoid the cold before succumbing to the cafe nearby. The cold was totally owning my ass. But I made up for it this time!

There weren't a lot of tourists around so we got to explore the place by ourselves, which was nice and all....until we spotted this. Now, if you are familiar with Korean dramas, you would know what this game is about.

We were laughing at our failed attempts at first and then before we know it...

Hui: I'm not leaving till I get this in okay.
Me: Ya me too.

You should have seen the way I picked up the sticks, it was serious business. ఠ_ఠ But we weren't too shabby at aiming la, we both scored eventually!

Walked over to Myeongdong after. Huihui was the guide, of course. I cannot stress enough how good she is with maps and directions, and how much I trust her gut when it comes to navigation. Whenever she would try and justify taking a certain shortcut she spotted on the map/cutting through some dodgy alleyway, this would be my answer.

Me: Aiya you don't have to explain to me how it works. I trust you!

Serious. Also, my horrible sense of direction is accompanied with a lack of panic when I am lost, so it's safer trusting her gut than mine. 

Had jjimdak for lunch. It is basically seasoned chicken simmered with potatoes, vegetables, cellophane noodles, and a ton of peppers. Really spicy and delicious! If I am not wrong, this is the dish that Se7en's restaurant specialises in. Anyway, speaking of Se7en...here's a little funny incident that happened in Busan.

*while climbing up some stairs*
Hui: ...and then we can just walk from exit 7.
Me: (not really paying attention) Uh huh, okay.
Hui: I saw 7!
Me: (´⊙ω⊙`)! WHAT? For real?? Where!
Hui: So excited for what! There. *points at exit 7*
Me: What?? Wher-oh cheyyyyyyyyy.

I almost had a seizure from the change of emotions I felt. Can you imagine if it was really him? My goodness. Huihui laughed at me for quite awhile after that.

Shopping time! We haven't done any proper shopping since we arrived, so things got a little...enthusiastic.

Tried on a ridiculous amount of clothes that I had to snap photos to remember how they look like on me/ask for a second opinion. When Hui saw the amount of clothes that I was putting into the shopping bag, she immediately said "Remember that we still have Ewha Women's University okay?".

Me: ಥ_ಥ Okay...

Ended up getting only 3 items. Well, 4, if you count the one that I went back and bought the following day. Couldn't resist la.

Hui on the other hand, went bonkers on nail polishes. I turn my back on her at Etude house for 5 minutes and she had 10 bottles sitting in her shopping basket. What in the world. The following is an excerpt of the conversation we were having before we started shopping.

Me: Eh don't buy too many nail polishes hor. You have a ton at home already.
Hui: Ya I know. 买太多也是放在家里干。

SAY ONLY. Hahahaha.

Continued to walk around Myeongdong when it started pouring out of nowhere. We were lucky to be near the restaurant when it happened because seriously, the roads were already flooding when we got there.

The famous Myeongdong Gyoja!

THIS. This ruined DTF's xiao long baos for me. I could never go back to appreciating xlbs the way I did before, it's just not possible. By the way, they only offer 4 items on the menu and the restaurant was packed full of people. Says a lot about the food.

By the time we were done with dinner, the rain had only gotten worse. Ran across to the cafe opposite to seek shelter and by the time the rain had subsided, it was already 10pm. Postponed our plans for N Tower and headed back begrudgingly.

The next day! Woke up early and made our way to Bukchon Hanok Village.

It is a legit residential neighbourhood full of traditional houses. Pretty cool, but I wonder how the people living there feel about having hordes of tourists combing through their neighbourhood everyday. There are a few photo-taking spots you could walk hike up to that oversees entire estate but...we were too lazy to do it.

Walked over to Gyeongbokgung Palace next.

（；¬＿¬) Shifty eyes, lolol.

I have never been to palaces before so I don't have a reference point, but god damn is Gyeongbokgung huge. There are translated tours given, but I don't know if they were free so I just stalked the group while trying my best to look nonchalant. You should probably get that checked out before looking looking like a suspicious pickpocket.

Walked over to the famous Tosokchon for lunch! The exact directions I wrote down were: "Turn left onto Jihamun-ro 5-gil. Spot the ridiculous queue."

Quite accurate, if you ask me. The entrance is below the white signage.

Superbbbbbbb. I am really running out of things to describe food so just take my word for it when I say that it's delicious okay? And look at the queue again if you need further validation.

Headed over to Dongdaemun next, which was a huge disappointment. I have no idea if we got out from the wrong exit, or we were stuck in a temporary limbo, because all we saw were fabric stores and more fabric stores, an occasional clothing store catered for older ladies, and more fabric stores. This was us after 30 minutes. (?_?) (?_?)

Abandoned Dongdaemun for Han River instead.

Went cycling again! There was nothing much to see along Han River apart from the occasional group of pro-cyclists and a random swimming complex. Pretty view, nonetheless. Cycled for about 3 hours before heading over to Myeongdong for dinner.

Army base stew. This meal is an embodiment of our good luck. Huihui really wanted to try this dish, but she didn't have the directions to the restaurant nor the Korean translation for the dish. We were pretty tired by the time we reached Myeongdong, so our plan for dinner was just any restaurant that looked promising. We initially thought that it was another Korean BBQ joint until we saw the menu.

Hui: *points at the menu* This looks like the army stew that I wanted to try leh.

Me: For real? Lemme see!...Holy crap I think it is lor!

We really lucked out. Also, I would like to think that it was Myeongdong's way of compensating us for the horrible weather the day before. Lol.

Made our way to the cable car station after to take us up to Namsan Tower. I've read somewhere that there is an escalator that you could take up to the station, but we couldn't find it so we walked instead. I mean, the cable car is the main transportation that brings you up there right? So how far could it be?

VERY FAR.

You literally had to hike for 15 minutes up a steep slope to reach the cable car station. And here I thought that choosing the cable car meant that there was no hiking.

It gets dark pretty quickly in Korea, so we got to enjoy the beautiful night view of Seoul. This was the best I could do inside the cable car after 5 disappointing attempts at a panoramic shot.

Speaking of being inside the cable car. Everyone was clamoring to get close to the windows so take photos/enjoy the view, when...

 

I spotted a Korean couple taking advantage of the 80% darkness. They were being very sneaky about it too.

  

Mmhmm, I see you. Lolol.

Love locks. Symbolic of locking your love I guess? And proof of human beings' insatiable greed. Apparently the locks didn't provide sufficient writing space so some smart aleck couple brought along phone casings to write on instead. *inserts look of contempt*

Took the cable car back down to the station and walked to the metro station. Our legs were falling off by then, so we began making our way back to the guesthouse.

The last two days in Seoul are pretty chill except for our experience at the public bath house, but I'll leave that for another post.

xx