So anyway, about in late July i went to Koh Samui for a few days to visit my god-sis, before school started and all the 300 level shit piled up, and i rather blog than do homework.

scootered around most of the island, but stayed mostly in Mae Nam area, which is west of Chaweng, the popularer spot for holiday makers. Also, went to see some of the tourist attractions, like Wat Phra Yai (Big Buddha)........which is basically a statue...of a big Buddha.

Those boxy things are fortune teller machines, the Buddhist version. And on the right of that are like statues representing what kind of character/ personality you have based on the day you were born. I forgot what was what, but i think mine was proud/stubborn BUT usually right. basically i'm an asshole.

annnnnd, Hin Ta lae Hin Ya, two natural rock formations, aka Cock Rock and Clit Cleft.


as well as traipse around the various beaches still uninvaded by bloated tourists.

My future house/beach paradise/drug hideout.

Visited the school where god-sis is teaching now, and I think teaching primary or seconday school kids is alot scarier than tertiary. Like, standing up in front of thirty or forty cherub-faced children who are all actually the spawn of satan and having to control the class, and it's not like you can smack them around either. Really tough. Kudos to teachers everywhere!

And in between all that, got a taste of the rural life, and fun with animals and all. Good times roll on.

Riding elephants and going to see waterfalls!

The waterfalls, had to trek/bash through half an hour's worth of jungle trail. We're talking rocks and mud and tree roots. Mountain goat path. Super fun if it was supposed to be an adventure trek, not so fun for a bum like me.
And right at the top, there was a dude in a shanty lean-to selling drinks and stuff. Which means everyday he clambers up to the top toting Coolers and bottles of drinks to sell to thirsty tourists who got more of a workout than they wanted, i.e. everyone who's not a local who goes up there.

Farming chickens! (actually, was the neighbours' chickens. We were just feeding them bits of fruits)


Watching buffalo fights (which is a daily thing in Samui), and I was told (jokingly, i think) that the winner gets an all-you-can-eat-buffet and the loser gets a one way ticket to an abattoir in Phuket. Like seriously.

Locking horns and smacking the shit out of each other.


Shit smacked and running for what's going to be most of the rest of his life.


Seriously.

everytime i talk to my dog i can almost hear her speaking back to me. and she's damn vulgar.

"when i come back i buy snacks for you okay sweetheart?"
"damn straight you asshole. you better not forget like the last time, i'm tired of your bullshit"

"good girl!"
"i don't need your fucking validation."

and the whole fucking world can come crashing down with just one sentence.

cause et effet.

Off for the week for spring break. Not that i've been posting religiously anyway. Anomic about everything.

Robot chicken is not all funny, but it has its gems.
Southpark finally has a new season.
Taboos should be taboo.

Learning alot in the college here. Teaching style, while not radically different (since our local edu system is somewhat based on the western academic system, though more british based) seems a lot more interesting, if not effective, to me. Lecturers have a lot more autonomy in how they run their classes, and accordingly, it's quirkier and more fun to be in, although i guess there's more room for subjectivity and bias, whiccch just means interpersonal skills are more important in ingratiating oneself, yet another important life skill.


Here, i finally learnt stuff like how kurt cobain wasn't mumbling nonsense in teen spirit about mulattos, and a young marlon brando had a really whiny voice, and cold saps everything, and the difference between an A grade, and a C grade is proper citations, and the best weapon to rob people with is a double barrelled sawn off shotgun, just for the street cred, yo.

the atlanta rock radio station has a funny dial-in segment. It's called the local F U line. you get callers going:
"Hi, i'd like to say a big *toot* to my boss, for having a brilliant idea to have a company party, and then makes me do all the work, and leaves early!"
"Hi, i'd like to say a big *toot* to my uncle frank, who got me a really ugly present, thanks for wasting my time opening it."
"Hi, i'd like to say a big *toot* to XYZ Auto motors, i just got a car from them, with leather seats and all, and it sucks."

the joys of a non-repressed life. freud would be moved.

anyway, i don't get how a country so steeped in religion its citizens are moving towards declaring it a christian nation can be so heretical about religion in the first place. it's like for every puritan, there's a equally radical athiest. but marx was right when he said religion was the opiate of the masses, because most of the time, it's the poor, the downtrodden and the uneducated that espouses religious faith, and the smart, wealthy folks that can afford disbelief.

sort of like Eden and the tree of knowledge, i guess. so the moral of the story is, stay stupid and happy, or smart and miserable. There really is a lot going against the theory of divinity, but hey, the faith clause trumps all.

For example:
A: i don't believe in god.
B: one day, you will be touched by his message and find him in your life. (oh i'm sorry, that should be Him, with a capital H)
A: if god exists, why is there so much suffering in the world, like *insert random genocide/war/disaster*
B: we cannot hope to fathom His will, but He has a purpose for us all.
A: if we can't hope to understand, how can christians evangelize religious dogma, isn't that subject to the same misintepretation and unfathomable nature of god?
B: you just need to have faith.
A: you mean the same faith that is adhered to by the majority unthinkingly, like gullible sheep following each other blindly? is that why people are likened to sheep all the time in the big book?
B: maaaa!* (exactly!*)
A: in that case, i have the same faith in the flying spaghetti monster and russell's teapot.
B: 1.5 billion people can't be wrong!
A: actually, they frequently are. it's a fallacy of democracy for the masses to not doubt it's fundamental beliefs, and to go along with the popular vote. it's how little eichmanns and mobs happen.
B: what about all the proof? the shroud of Turin, veil of veronica, tomb of lazarus. and other relics?
A: i thought all you needed was faith?
B: ... you're going to hell.

no i don't just make shit up. it's as valid a theological argument as any.

So there i was, trying to order an ipod nano online at the apple store cos' tim and kianboon tell me is cheaper and can do free engraving.

and the price no difference, it's 199 for the 8gb model, but the message i wanted can't be engraved....so now i have to think of another one.

You can't always get what you want.
You can't always get what you want.
But if you try sometimes, you might find
you get what you need.

That's the song ringing in my head now, ringing true to what i need to do.

Life's complicated in the bureacracy of the military.

Been here in Atlanta for about 3 weeks now. School's starting to get in full swing and i'm beginning to realise the magnitude of the coursework i'm letting myself in for, cos' heavier workload than is normal for undergrads.

In other news, over the weekend we went to the aquarium, and world of coca-cola, and high museum of art.

The recreation center. multi story building, gym stuff, indoor pool, studio floor and all. even a smoothies shop inside.


Homecooking the first night, by the girls.


Bigass turtle at the aquarium


Pee-ranas!

There's more but I'm lazy to blog now. will post later.
Plus i don't have an sd reader for my camera so this is what i got from someone else.

My mailing address is
325490 Georgia Tech Station
Atlanta, Georgia 30332-1060

Local hp no: 404-3452484

Send me stuff!

It's the middle of the first week of school and the workload here is pretty heavy, at least relatively to sg. Alot of continual assessments and a pretty even distribution of coursework to grades.

But in america, the modules are really much more fun; interesting to attend and listen because of the first amendment rights. almost everything is open to discussion, no taboos in the classroom.

Another difference is the horrigibous price differentials in textbooks and course materials, like three or four fold. I.e. a textbook that costs 35 SGD would be like 120 USD. So i'm trying to order and ship from sg.

Campus life is great because the environment here is very free. everything is on your own time. Ergo; responsible for pre-reading up before classes and doing assignments because those aren't covered at all during class, just used as the basis of tangential discussion. Learning curve, i think, is very steep; and prior to coming, i thought it would be quite a holiday because the students here are all slack.

Oh well, this week we'll be going to the aquarium and riding segway scooters and cnn center and stuff. So i'll post pics i hope. If i can get an SD card reader by then.

here on my third day, many new things to report.

just had my first homeless dinner, sitting on the awnings of a church eating popeyes with my friendly carwasher/crack supplier/gunrunner friend and a crackwhore, and now blogging while waiting for my new .25acp browning mini pistol, while picking up weed on the floor and arguing with another guy over whose it was.

i.... can't wait to get out of this neighbourhood and into my bloody safe hostel. guns and knives and stunguns and baseball bats aside, i still wouldn't want to stay here, cos' here, i'm the nigger. :(

Came back from bkk a couple of days ago, headed off to hk in the morning.

lots of people in the house means i can't sleep. cos' both my parents are bunking in my room tonight. sigh.

leaving for the us for exchange soon as well, which means i'm starting to miss alot of people in singapore, especially those i never realised i would till now. i guess it's true what they say that you never treasure those around you until they're...going to be gone, for a while at least.

in the wake of the transformer movie craze...

Perry Bible Fellowship Comics



and part II

still in vietnam. having fun. day lecture/lessons. afternoon field trips to museums or social work, evening go out to play or do project.

learning alot. about how many people are stupid. very irritated sometimes but apart from that it's quite fun here. because the food is cheap, the people are nice and everything else in general is pretty good.

Went to a couple of places for social work this week. Played with the children and disabled, all the rah rah, where they were doing embroidery and tailoring and stuff.

{add photos when the internet isn't so wonky}

i miss you guys (should know who you are, otherwise no, i don't miss you) lots of things i still want to do, people to see, places to go. Life is slower, and more repetitive here, but also idyllic and calmer than the frenetic bustle of singapore.

200th post according to blogger. whee~

Lazy to change layout now. will do it after everything is done. Which by the look of things will be a while yet, anyway, today when i was in jp, i thought of:

the stupid 2 for 1 offer in 7/11 for drinks. Being the morons we are, mad and i would get three cans of yeo's drinks just cos' it was cheap, 'ta' one each and the slower one has to finish the last can also. Nabeh. damn bloated can.

From there, it brought up the other stupid games the homies play, such as the knuckle down game; taking turns to punch each other's knuckles until one fella gives up, in order to make decisions like where to eat, or where to go.

And finally, the two fries game! the ultimate, original game, first created in far east BK in 2000. Playable with 3 or more people, when everyone is bloody full and there's still mountains of fries left.
So what you do is find something everyone except one person has in common, like.... maybe shoe brands, is Nike. the one who isn't wearing Nike eats two fries! and so on and so forth. Collar shirt? 2 fries. Wearing watch? 2 fries. No foreskin? 2 fries!
Similiar to the "never have i done this" game but in inverse order.

Other stupid shit i've done recently, include messing up acronyms. Like the other day, someone from NTU IRO (Intl Rltns Office) call me and ask me what SOC stands for.
"Standard Obstacle Course"
"Huh?"
"Oh yah, shit... Fuck, i said shit. Shit! Errr.... sociology."
"...Thank you very much!"

And finally, went to the home again today! Was talking to the boys about fighting and martial arts. Then don't dare to show or teach them anything cos' wait later go back next week find out got broken wrists, elbows or fingers then i hongkan.

Won't talk about anything else because, as i have found out several times to my consternation, a blog is a dangerous place to bitch. Suffice to say i'm swamped, but loving it.

screwed up blog layout by pressing the wrong button recently. actually it was several wrong buttons but nvm.

will fix after exams.

Exam fever.

Totally not in the study mood. I've got schoolwork piling up on one hand and other, extraneous nonsense on the other, and i'll still go play games or watch movies or something. I'm going quite mad. stressed. i have 3 pimples now. it's disgusting. Lack of sleep and proper nutrition notwithstanding.

Yesterday! I just got home and had my notes open and readings up on my big big 22 inch screen, all ready to work work...... Had a conversation with my dad which went along the lines of yes i'm going to pull my gpa up, study hard, so i won't go out until end of exams. Then..... 10 minutes later, i went out.

There goes the whole night, and the next day too, cos' i was too wasted to do anything productive. I now sit in front of the computer, finally getting to work on my long overdue assignments, the glorious mess i am now.

Pooja.

the tag game!

"this is what you are supposed to cut and paste if you decide to participate in the tagging game.. People who get tagged need to write in a blog of their own 6 weird things about themselves as well as state the rules clearly. In the end, you need to choose 6 people to be tagged and list their names. After you do that, leave them each a comment letting them know you tagged them and to read your blog."

1) I can't sleep at night. This is a recent development, i was not like this before. No idea why, i just can't. So i sleep twice a week but go comatose both times and that lasts the whole week for me.

2) I have this knack of always messing up in relationships. Short-lived and/or sad endings. Truly the embodiment of the aphorism - easy come easy go and playing hard to get. On the other's side.

3) Narcissistic, but you probably already know that. Arrogant too. But at least i'm honest about it.

Starting to struggle a little here....I'm not a really weird person so i can't think of so many things.

4) Addicted to nicotine and caffeine? Movies too. I get cranky if i don't have either of the above at least once every day, 2 days and 3 days respectively.

5) I'm gay?

6) I think i suffer from delusional parasitis. Thanks to all my 'friends' who keep reminding me about bugs and stuff. Maybe that's why i can't sleep on beds anymore.

It's damn sad that i don't have enough people to tag cos' they've all been tagged already. Um.... ninabina, ladyboss yw, she-man, ewww, uhhhh... barack obama and jessica alba. There, 6.

-------------------------------------------------------

Okay. on to blog proper. I fucked up a 30% essay the other day. Really don't want to give sub-standard work anymore. So... i gotta cram, gear up for the 'xams in a fortnight. Tattoo's all healed up so i've started training again. Soon the roomie said we're shrinking. :(

Think i've bitten off more than i can chew. Want to do and learn so many things with no time and no inclination. Trippy dance shit, le parkour, skateboarding, martial arts. Damn. Political science, strategic and security studies, criminal sociology, the list goes on.

Sometimes i feel like i'm being pulled in all directions, too many commitments. Then i just shut down and ignore everyone for a while. Retreat to my little shell for a while and get lost in apathy about the world; before coming out to dip my toes in the cesspool again.

Watched. A hell of a lot of movies over the last two days.
300, Goodfellas, The Machinist, Meet The Robinsons, Pursuit of Happiness, Donnie Darko, Memento and the illusionist.

Feeling strangely inspired now. and stoned.

Cyanide & Happiness @ Explosm.net

I wish life was that simple again, back to an age of innocence. Growing up can really eat at you inside, more unpleasant things than not.

Just woke up after repeated wake-up calls, mind's still feeling very neanderthalish. Fuck, i need a smoke. Half feel like wishing someone'd put me out of my misery, half knowing i'm lucky to be even getting a couple hours sleep today, cos' for the rest of the week it's go go go.

I'm going to need stronger coffee and cigarettes. Isn't this how addictions gets worse, the same slide into dependency. Oh well. We only get to die once, might as well do it right.