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12.11.08

A week into the holidays!

Location: Laptop
Mood: Dunno?

Whoo!! Day before yesterday was FUN. I went to Science Centre with HT and Flo, and there was a whole load of super cool defence stuff, like missile launchers and spy planes that allow the watching of enemies without detection. Oh MANNN. It was cool!!! And we got to try carrying a rifle used by soldiers in this shootout game. Heh, that was the MOST fun.

We went into Science Centre after that, and we found the library! It's been there this whole time, and we haven't realised?!?!? Oh, and I read a really great book on the human mind and creativity. Too bad it's a reference library; couldn't borrow anything to read at home.

Then at night, I met Nicole at Singapore Conference Hall for the Vocal Mania concert! For those who don't know, I met her on FanFiction.net. At the concert, we got to watch Benjamin, another person we met on FanFiction.net, sing. But we actually didn't know which was him, and we had to guess. An Nic guessed right! We met him after the concert.

Got home at almost 11 pm.

Alright, I know I've been asking you people to read my writing for a while. Maybe I should post one story here for you people to read. I wrote this about three months ago. It really is fan fiction, but you probably can't tell. It applies to real life too.

daylight breaking

It’s not much, really.

Every time I wake up, it’s the same—the car engines my alarm clock, and the oceans of gas and smoke the very air that I breathe. Right from dawn, it’s ugly, a horrible, disgusting land that no one from outside, I’m sure, would want to live in for all their lives.

The sunrises are marred by smoke and dirt, which flies up from factory chimneys. The only scenery that we have, the towering structures of skyscrapers and antennae, which make the skyline jagged, the clouds look like pincushions.

The sounds…where there might be the awe-inspiring calls of wild animals, there is only the raucous shriek of horns and railways, of machinery and of the grey and brown that is a part of everyone’s lives.

Including mine. How long, …how long since I last saw true nature, true wild greenery, I am not sure. My eyes are now accustomed to the greyscale of the city, now readily taking in the smoke and colourless sunsets that take hold of every evening. How much I must be missing, I am sure. It’s ugly here.

Everything needs cleansing, all the polluted streets and skies and waters. But even a century of scrubbing would never reverse the dirt and damage that has been inflicted, like wounds, upon the monuments of old, and on the “trees”, those old, gnarled figures, like decrepit old men, reaching helplessly for some true light, not streetlight, if “trees” they can even be called.

Unbearable, you think…so unbearable, no bird flies; no animal even roams the streets, unless it is chained to a man’s hand. The only sounds you hear are those produced by things not living, the voices of the few surviving leaves drowned out by the dreary voices of men.

Pure insult to nature. This is the land in which I have lived for years.

Sunset draws steadily on into night. Now, my real life begins. I am a thief, and thieves have to work at night, only at night. Life is ugly for us; we hide, steal, and throw our consciences against the wall when it pricks us. We ignore the teachings of good and true, turning to crime and dishonesty to sustain our meager lives.

Worth it?

Waiting atop the peak of a skyscraper for daylight.

I have stolen what I need for the day. The skies, brown in smoke and in the city lights, cloud over my head like an endless blanket.

Home…home? Is this what I can call home? Is this life what I can call…life? Truly?

I’m as good as dead. It’s only a matter of when. Is this even worth living for?

Waiting on the roof, for the break of daylight.

Before me, the rooftops are lit, half the windows still glowing with the light of those who will not stop working till they have earned what they need. Every streetlamp still a bright beacon for the travelers who use the roads, every street a row of orderly starlight.

A painting, a painting…The streets make a pattern. A pattern like a spiderweb, a huge web in which thousands, millions of humans are trapped. Me included.

But can I rightfully turn away from this land, my world, and say that it is not my home? It is ugly, horrible, smelly, dirty, hellish. But is has brought me up, watched me, held me every step of the way, as I grew up. Is that not a sign that it can give life?

Dawn has broken. It lights up every street of the city, the windows, paints bright life over the windows and spires, fills the skies with sunshine. Simultaneously, the lights flicker to darkness, bowing down to a greater brightness overhead.

Everyone has a home, isn’t that right? Home is where the heart is. For you, it might be a top-class condominium, or a hut on stilts, or a warm nest where your mother brought you up; a true place, rich or poor, which you can call your home, no matter what it looks like.

For all the smiles and tears I have shed, for all whom I have met and passed, for the place that brought me up, the lights, the life, the excitement, this is where my heart lies.

It’s not much, really. But it’s my home. I don’t care what others think of it; appearances mask reality.

I think it’s beautiful.
Reviews here, please. Thanks. If you have any comments to make, make them here, not on my tagboard.
Well, will be going to type "In my Life" now, another fanfic (albeit a Fire Emblem one this time). AF, HT and Flo should recognise it.

8.11.08

Half a week into the holidays...

Location: Laptop
Mood: Not much

Another of those times when you don't actually feel any particular feeling, just contentment. And all you're thinking about is what to type next on your blog.

Well, my time is limited. I'm using illegally, and it'll be doubly bad if my parents find out, for

1) Knowing the password and not telling my parents
2) Using the com without permission

Well, I really really hope I don't get caught.

Am working on a Fire Emblem fanfic right now. I have slowed down a little, because Epic Thing is taking a lot of my effort (it's quite complicated). I spend a lot of my time pondering over what to write for the next scene of Epic Thing nowadays.

Whew! I thought I just heard my parents' car... Anyway, I hope to be posting this fic some time next week, provided I get to use the computer.

Guzheng diploma is on 27th November! That's 19 days away...and I'm completely screwing 临冲夜奔. But I think 幻想曲 is pretty good. That piece ROCKS! It involves hitting the guzheng, hitting the strings with my palm, playing the strings across the bridge (the untuned ones), harmonics, strumming of the lowest notes...you get the idea, right?

Oh well, I have to stop now, in case I get caught. Bye!

4.11.08

Lala Last day of school

Location: Desktop in 210'08 classroom
Mood: Sweaty

Whee. Today is officially the last day of school at RGS! I'm currently in school, waiting for my mother to come at 4.30 pm. Currently listening to La Mer: Jeux de Vagues by Claude Debussy, the greatest composing genius in the history of mankind (that I know of).

This is the greatest orchestral piece I have ever heard before. First heard it at the LA Philharmonic with Sarah Chang concert. Hearing it in a concert hall is very different from hearing it on a lousy computer speaker, but the piece is just as amazing. Debussy FTW! (Now that sounded funny. And weird.)

Can you believe it? Last day of school!!! That means:

a) I can play MapleStory
b) No more for two whole months
c) I can catch almost all the episodes of Avatar with no problems
d) All of the above

The answer is d), silly!

Hm. Now I wonder how my subject combination will work out. Will I have familiar classmates? I'm doing Physics+Chemistry+History+Literature. Anyone else doing that? Oh well.

Now about my results. Once again, I got only one GPA 4, and that is MEP. I got 76% for the first semester and 88% for the second semester, which brought my score to 84% overall. Remember the MEP practical I was complaining about some time ago? I SCORED 48/50. That's 96%, if you still don't get the picture. I'M SO HAPPY! Debussy just got higher on my favourite composers list. And he's not supposed to, because he's already number 1.

As for the rest:

English: 71% (CURSE THOSE COMPRES and the lack of Compos)
Chinese: 60% (WHOOOOO No fail!!!)
Mathematics: 62% (40% for Semester 1 and 75% for Semester 2; saved myself!)
Geography: 75% (Improvement!)
History: 76% (Improvement too!)
Literature: 69% (Oops, missed GPA 3.6 by 1%)
Science: 73% (Integrated science is screwed, and we had a lousy teacher)
MEP: 84% (Haven't I said this already?)
Japanese: 74% (Oh yeah oh yeah oh yeah)


(To all you non-RGS people reading this, just for your info, RGS papers are killers. So before you gloat about your high 90% in Math to me, note that these papers are extremely hard. Also note that you probably slept less than I did in class, which is because I stay up very late at night very often to draw, while you probably don't. As a result, you absorbed more than I did during your lessons this year.)

Anyway...I am going for a concert on 10th November! It's by the choirs of a few schools (excluding RGS) and one of my FanFiction.net friends is performing there. That's how I got to know about it, anyway.

La Mer: Dialogue du Vent et de la Mer now. Really. I don't even know if it's possible to compose like that. Well, but it is, seeing that it has been done. La Mer is pure genius.

You know my story, Of the Dragon, of the Stars? It's currently 91 Microsoft Word pages/50k words long. And it's still at the fourth chapter. That's the thing about fan fiction. Each chapter is ultra-long.

Ah well, I've run out of things to say. Bye.