‘Tis the season to be jolly..

And I’m a whole season late. It’s Chinese freakin' New Year, yet I still prefer Christmas songs, because at least I can understand what they're singing about. Though I think its safe to say that, when you break it down, CNY music simply boils down to “prosper in all prosperity during this prosperous new year”. And you’d think after all these years, listening to the same music over and over again…

Because only Chinese people enjoy being rich that much.

This is especially reflected in the frenzied manner in which we scavenge for ang pau. I remember the time when I was 5, where 5 of us would go door-to-door wishing everyone a very happy and prosperous New Year, armed with 5 sticks, a broom and a gardening spade. Then we’d pool our earnings and waste it on women and booze. Ah, good times…

I’m kidding. I wasn’t allowed out the house alone until I was 15.

So what I mostly did up till then was hang around my own place while people just walked in and gave me money. Prosperity in the comfort of my own home. And I was all alone.

Not too much different this year. Except now there’s me, and her:

Intel(R) Pentium 4 2.8GHz,
1Gb DDR RAM,
ATI Radeon 9600 PRO
36-25-34
Other intimate unmentionables

I remember all the great times we had together. Except she gets kinda unstable sometimes, to the extent that she ignores me even/especially when I push all her buttons. This was annoying to say the least. But I put up with it. Until last week.

Now, I’ve replaced her with an Acer 5504. She’s a little smaller, but that means she can sit on my lap. And on the plus side, she’s a lot more flexible (flexible being a laptop’s thing). That means she can come to Kampung Newcastle with me. I even bought her a whole lotta expensive accessories so that she’d serve me better.

What can I say? I’m in love!

So at least I’ll have a PC. Thankfully I’ll have something to do when all the shops there close. And they close at 5. PM.

I’ll also be bringing along an overdose of Bleach, among other anime just in case. I don’t think I’ll ever grow out of anime. Especially if they get as good as this one. I’ve been watching it since after the exams. And I suspect I’ll be watching it through the entire CNY. Just me, my computer, and my other computer.



P.S. Happy Chinese New Year!

Convo Mag

Finally, we can collect our Convo Mags!!

Place: SAD
Time: SAD's working hours till early March
Elligibility: Those who have PAID

If you're collecting it for a friend, please let them know.

A big thanks to Raj and the committee for getting it ready for us all.

Ooh, I can't wait to get my copy! hehe

Edited by Raj:
Thanks Grace, you saved me the effort. :D

After early March you will have to look for me to get it. Right now, they are at the SAD because the SAD is doing us a favour. They're not responsible for the security of the books. Neither am I.

One more important thing: From this Monday till the 23rd of Feb, I won't be in Malaysia. Any enquiries should be referred to TJ.

The following people will have to contact me before they can collect the mag. (Actually they can't. Theirs are with me). Don't worry, nothing's wrong.
1)Adrian Lim
2)Desmond Ong
3)Jeremy Robert Junuin Jimin
4)Phang Soo Cheun
5)Sarah Sheena Toyat
6)Wong Ken Rhee
7)Tan Jo En
8)Sushintha Samudram

Please email me to enquire about your magazines. And don't anyone collect for them because theirs are with me.

A/V Input

The Impressive List of Movies
Pride & Prejudice
Wallace & Gromit
King Kong
The Promise
Harry Potter & Some Thingamajig

I’ve seen all these. Post exam, in chronological order, of course. You’re probably wondering why this list is impressive. It is to me, for the simple reason that I’ve not watched close to as many in the whole of last year. So many in a month is just.. overkill. Besides, there’s more to watching movies than the watching.

Sometimes, there’s also more to watching movies than the movie too. That happens when you notice how comfortable the chair suddenly becomes. The popcorn that’s been popped in needs the peristalsis that needs the parasympathetic. You know the lead ain’t gonna be stripping in this flick, so you blink for a moment. A moment so long, it seems like 3 seconds (which happens to be a long time to blink). Then you open your eyes and the movie’s over. You have no clue what just happened, but you blame it on the producer for a lack of “boobies”.

That is to say, the movie that you’ve just paid for, sux.

However, if the blame must yet fall solely on the popcorn, then I’m guessing that your pupils constrict due to parasympathetic activity. There’s less light so you can’t see real well, until you can't see at all. Then you panic and fall unconscious. When you wake up, you think you’d fallen asleep.

Right. And to think classes begin in a month too. I need to do a YkK and study during the hols :p

Anyway, you did think this was a movie review post, didn’t you? You shoulda guessed this was gonna be a movie review post even before I said it was gonna be a movie review post. Well it isn’t.

Movie 1: The Promise
It’s about a guy who can run REALLY fast and this desperado chick who jumps from guy to guy. Then there’s the big time general who plays the sprinter’s rival, and the evil guy who can’t get over being cheated of a pau. What could be worse than losing your pau to someone who broke a Promise^TM? Holding a grudge to the death over it, that’s what.

What kept me awake: Cecilia Chung. Stripping.
What would’ve made me sleep otherwise: Story.
Other +: Cinematography.
Other -: Slated to be the promo vid for Beijing 2008.

Rating/How much I spent: 4/9
2 for Cecilia, 1 for the fight scenes and 1 for the CG. Otherwise, I think I enjoyed the trailer more.

Movie 2: Gromit (cause I hate Wallace)
There’s this cute dog and his annoying owner. And, that’s it. Everything else is just nonsensical. Which is really the fun part of it all. Like the other W&G animated films, this one’s short. They even threw in a bonus mini story as filler, probably because they felt we weren’t getting our money’s worth otherwise. They were wrong.

WKMA: Nostalgia, what with all that plasticine.
WWMMSO: No striptease action. Thank all that is good.
Other +: Gromit. Cute, cuddly Gromit.
Other -: Wallace. Dense, annoying Wallace.

Rating/HMIS: 6/6
Because it was funny, and it was cheapo Wednesday. Thing about being an IMU student is that you can probably get student prices at the same age when you can get Alzheimer’s. Simply brandish your immortal, unexpiring ID tag.

Movie 3: Pride & Prejudice
Dunno if the story is true to the book, since I never read it. Set in a time when people spoke melodious English, it tells a story of a family, with a dad firing X genes, and a mom scheming to get her daughters married off to rich people. There’s pride, cause of all the rich and ranked characters; and there’s prejudice too, against women, the poor and short people. So it’s at least true to the title.

WKMA: The fact that I understand and appreciate English.
WWMSO: They all speak (and delightfully so) English.
Other +: Really, really desperate women.
Other -: Their scripts seem a little orchestrated.

Rating/HMIS: 10/11
I’d recommend it. But not to everyone, because I saw people leave halfway through. It’s more a dialogue movie than anything. Though that’s probably the reason I liked it, as it’s a refreshing change from all the animated action and stuff.

Ooo, look at the time. That’s it for today. I need to be up early tomorrow, cause I’m gonna be on my very own holiday! Naturally, none of you are invited. I should be back by the end of the week to tell you about it. Maybe.

Ta.

I never had the chance to say goodbye..

Everybody just, left.

It was like as though we were gonna see each other the next day. Maybe we were just too eager to be away from the shopping complex and its adjacent vistas, too impatient to return home or to go on holiday, that we never realized the end was here. Maybe it was just me. Maybe everybody has said their goodbyes, except me.

GOODBYE EVERYBODY!!!!!!

Phew. Glad that’s off my chest. I really wanted to say goodbye because I’m happy to have known everybody that I knew, and because I’m leaving soon anyway. Throughout the experience that was being a medical student, it was nice to know I had company. At the end of the day though, the revelation strikes you, like an apple from an overlying apple tree:

a) You shouldn’t sit under overlying apple trees
b) You’re STILL a medical student

The realization that this is what you’ve done for as long as you can remember, and that this is what you’ll do for as long as you’ll live, hits you hard and true. Though nothing can be harder to swallow than the fact that you brought it on yourself to begin with. You will be a medical student, for a long time to come. In fact, if you replace long time to come with the rest of your life, that would be about right. The most you can do about it is avoid the damn apple trees.

Metaphorically speaking, it’s like being a pawn on a chessboard. Next to the other pieces, you look as insignificant as you probably are. Knowing that you live to be manipulated by a higher power only compounds this truth. You might have started off with a dash towards the finish line, or you might have opted to take things one step at a time. Regardless of your choice, you soon realize you can only push forward in a single direction. Many obstacles litter your path, and the only way beyond them is around, if you are to achieve your goal.

When you reach the end (should you be so fortunate), doors begin to open. Suddenly there’s room to breathe, to look around. You can be whoever you want to be, do whatever you want to do, go wherever you want to go. The possibilities become almost limitless.

The real battle is in the getting there, isn’t it?

It’s too bad then, that we’re not even there yet.