I got bageled and beared today...

Wow today turned out unexpectedly very good. I was predicting a glum, lonely Valentine's Day... this is the first V-day I've been officially unattached to anyone for...hmm... since freshman year of high school! I'm not saying I recommend this way of life, as you can tell from just glancing over my last post if you can even stand the stench of my cheesiness... it's even worse than the local durian.

So in the morning I played tennis today, and I was actually "bageled" on one set (this is a term we used in my high school tennis team a lot, means you lose a set 0-6, named because the "0" looks like a bagel, and the most popular snack food for our team was bagels). So it was a good match... still looking to lose an entire match, but that was a tough game, thanks Shaffi : )

After that, I had lunch with Yaliang and his girlfriend. We went to Holland Village, where unfortunately the BBQ fish shop I recommended for them was closed, so we went to Crystal Jade instead, the local Shanghainese style chain-restaurant. It was very nice, if not a bit expensive, but as always I had interesting conversations with Yaliang, including the Chinese vs. American perspective of the Dalai Lama, and whether or not President Leebron took a big risk in inviting him to give a lecture at Rice. Which reminds me, I had another very interesting political convo with another native Singaporean, but I've forgotten it... all I remember is at lunch one day I was eating with this British girl who sung a bit of the British national anthem for us, and I was laughing so hard when I heard it, because it sounded so unbelievably ridiculous. "Knavish tricks"? "Confound their politics"? Hahah... If I was drinking my bubble tea at the time I think not only would tea and milk come out of my nose, but whole tapioca balls as well. Hilarious...

Ok and after lunch I had a Valentine's Day dinner with the IFG group, along with my "date", Subhash. The IFG group is a very cool group of people, with some very friendly Singaporean hosts, and a cool exchange group as well. Many of those exchange students are Indian or Pakistani, and they kind of remind me of Jaimeet except extremely, and I mean EXTREMELY, passionate when playing games like charades or Mafia. The version of Mafia we played that night, compliments of Subhash, was "Bears", where you have bears who kill villagers rather than mafia. And the students there were the most intense group of students I have ever seen play, especially this Indian and Pakistani guy... it was fun; my voice is nearly gone from yelling at people so much trying to convince them I was not a bear... I'M A FREAKIN MEDIC, PEOPLE! DON'T KILL ME!!! We also tried games like "Ping Pong", and "Aliens"... the other students often have their own interpretations of what the rules for each game should be, due in bit to the language confusion, but that only makes it even more amusing.

Ok what else... I can't blog enough to keep up with the news. I got a haircut this week, which was one of the most intense haircuts I've ever gotten... when I was in Switzerland I remember I thought I had the weirdest haircut, it was with a very effeminite Filipino guy who worked in the back store-room of a local grocery store; it was the cheapest I could find in all of Zurich and it was still $25. And now, I went to some place that was about $10 but not only did he cut my hair he gave me a head massage and cleaned out my ears, which was a very weird feeling. Maybe he thought I was going deaf because I kept asking him to repeat whatever he was trying to say to me in his strong accent. But at least my hair is short again now, my head was getting so hot all the time from too much hair. And of course everyone gives me that comment... "Oh, you cut your hair..." No, duh. I'm trying to think of something witty to say next time someone asks me that, still processing on that one...

I've also lately been getting the comment, both personally and referring to this blog, that I can write pretty effectively. To those who think so, thanks, I try my best. Technically I am an engineer in training, but writing has always been a hobby of mine. Ever since I was pretty young I liked to write because I started off as a really shy kid, not talking much to strangers and only with close friends. I still tend to be shy sometimes, so writing is how I keep myself from having thoughts building up in my brain to boiling point. As for the somewhat cynical, blatant style, it was not always so. In middle school I remember my schoolmates used to say my writing was very girly, being full of adjectives and intense descriptions, and my English teacher even brought me to the principal's office once because she thought I was plagiarizing my essays from some story novel written primarily for girls. Understandibly, this bothered me, so I changed my style a bit. I wrote about political issues starting in high school, and man did that get me in a lot of trouble, but it was fun haha. I still remember reading the front page of our school newspaper featuring an article about my impeachment from the class presidency, and I thought, shit, I can write an article more interesting than that. Then it evolved into cynical critique, which I think all writers must hit at least some point in their career. I don't like too much cynicism though, that's just emo, or it reminds me of Zeno Yeates, who I think writes extremely well but sometimes it seems his personal life is heavily influenced by the habit. As of now, my writing is probably a mix of a lot of things, but I think my writing style is still much harsher than my normal conversation and speaking style. Of course it's easy to write like this when you don't have to face your audience directly. But no, I would never write for a career... nor would I give it up for anything in the world.

One thing that has not matured about me at all is my taste in music... haha I've liked techno for as long as I can remember, nobody will ever convince me to give up that. Although I have learned to keep track of what Alec Swafford likes these days, I remember hearing stuff in his room last year like Angels & Airwaves and the Killers and liking them all, which is rare for me since I usually hate rock. But techno is still the majority.

ZZzzz falling asleep now... I want to go to Pulau Ubin tomorrow, this is the 2nd weekend now that I've considered going, but I need to study... or I'll never have much time to study before I go traveling with family over the recess week. And I have midterms continuously right after the break: one on each day for Monday, Tues, Weds, Thurs... it's gonna be no fun : (

Wish me luck!