Hallelujah Halloween!

So today was the Halloween party. Only time I've dressed up in a costume ever. I was a witch. Now why are you not surprised :P

I wore a halter full length dress in black and red. And a pointed witch hat which had bright lime green hair sticking out from it at the back, which totally made my day. And then I had tattoos of spiders, including a web, on the front part of my shoulder, near the collar bone, both sides. Still have it, don't wanna remove it :D And I had a necklace which ended in a big spider. Spidery day huh. And a bracelet of skulls. I also bought something which would have passed off as a wand, but I forgot to take it with me.

And everytime I go for a party, the fact about how common a one-night-stand is in this part of the world hits me. If you even talk too much to one person in a party in India, and even Singapore, it will be frowned upon. But here shows of PDA between total strangers is totally normal apparently. Something I would really have to get used to I guess. Talk about cultural differences!

Oh and I got a haircut again. Like a proper professional one, not chop up myself. Which she took almost an hour for. Now it's kind of like longer at the back, shorter in the front. And oh-so-straight! I like it :D It's new and different, so will take me a while to get used to. The green hair kinda overshadowed my haircut today though, lol.

Ok I think I should be off to sleep now.

BOOMZ!

This post is dedicated to the most exquisite, 'vivacious' young Singaporean lady that I have had the horror, I mean honour, of witnessing.

Yep, you got it. It's Ris Low, of "Boomz" and "leopard preen" fame.

To a certain extent, I agree that the whole issue was blown out of proportion. I know a lot of Singaporeans had strong words to say about her poor English. But what I find even more disturbing is that many of the allegations made by the local populace used wrong English themselves. It's like a pot calling a kettle black.

I think what she is is a blonde-headed chick who was born with the not-so-rare ability to annoy people the moment they start speaking. I swear my intestines twist into a tighter knot everytime I hear her go BOOMZ!

What went wrong for her was that one interview, which was made a parody of. And lo-and-behold, it had done irreparable damage to her reputation forever. In later interviews, she sounds less 'ditsy'-er, and more prepared for questions. Though it would also have helped if she didn't have a credit-card fraud, and oh-so-fake Bipolar Disorder to her name.

Well, overall, I think the whole saga gave me some good entertainment!

Unopened letters to the world.

"You know, I've often considered writing you a letter. Of telling you of the many, many ways in which you have hurt and disappointed me. But everytime I stop myself.

Because, well, firstly, I don't think it will make any difference to you. Out of sight, out of mind, right?

Secondly, it would piss me off even more when there would be no reply, like always.

But the main reason why I hold back is because doing such a thing would only be acknowledging that you are still a part of my world. That despite everything, your existence still matters to me.

Would such a letter make me feel better? Would it help me hurt less?

Probably not.

I think it would just be followed by a sense of guilt, remorse and embarrassment. And I don't want to suffer at your hands any more than I already have.

So no, I will not write you a letter."

Gatorade.

I am happy today. I actually got decent marks in a Math test. And my 2 tests didn't go as horrible as I expected. Or maybe my expectations have plunged and I've reminded myself too often that the grades don't count as long as I pass the courses. Which is awesome. Just hope I don't end up flunking something. Coz of course in the first test, I had NO clue about 2 whole questions. Wrote some imaginary crap in it. And the second one, well, it's Stats. Kinda self-explanatory :D

And I wish the wind outside my window would stop 'wutherin'. Like they talked about in the book The Secret Garden. Makes me feel like I'm sitting in a moor or something. Horrible horrible wind, which will make you freeze if you go out in flip-flops even when the sun is shining with (almost) all its might.

Whenever I buy a Gatorade/Vitamin water bottle, I tend to read the ingredients with the utmost concentration, as if it is really gonna make me stronger instantly. Considering I never give a shit about what junk I eat or what dreadful unhealthy drink I drink. (I was very tempted to call them piss drinks, but then I decided not to as it grossifies me, though it does fit well here).

Oh and I am amazed at the beauty of the song GMD. Not the lyrics of course, but the music and tune, and just the purely devotional way in which it is sung makes it an amazing hear. I'm sure I can fool some non-Hindi speaking person it's a prayer or something. I intend to use it on someone soon :P

So now my midterms have officially come to an end. Though that does not mean the assignments and tests end. And on Friday is a Halloween party! Which I really do wanna go for. I am excited about dressing up for it right now, but I know when the time comes, I shall be like "oh Shit NO!". Well it should be fun! Let's see :)

Alcohol makes one friendlier.

Little things make me happy: people's travel pics, a lazy Sunday, a dress, a piece of cake, a baby's smile.

I believe in today. What is the point of waiting for something to happen, waiting for your life to change, for something to make you happy. Choti choti khushiyaan. When you can't have the bigger ones. It's the small pleasures in life, the inconsequential details, the little things people do for you, that you remember.

And I realize that, in my own weird way, I love Maths. I know the reaction that most people give me when I tell them I'm a Math major is 'OMG eww/wow I hated Math in High School'. But it makes me happy. It is something I know I can do, if I try hard enough.

Not something like Physics, which makes my world spin and my brain stop, especially the JC one. Never hated anything the way I hated it. But Maths is more manageable. I tend to do random calculations in my mind, something I know not too many people are fond of.

I hate how much people in Singapore use calculators, for every little question. I make it a point to scold tuition kids for their overuse of calculators. And make them solve questions without it.

Which brings me to how much I really do like Singapore. I have spent my formative years there. It gives me the feeling that I belong. Sure I get claustrophobic there once in a while, and would never want my kids (if I ever have any) to grow up there and talk in Singlish, but I don't actually mind living there. Maybe I will re-start hating it there once I go back, but right now, in this moment, I miss it.

Let there be love!

I find it amazing when people are happy. And when they can stay happy together. It might be friends, it might be lovers, that is immaterial. But to be able to stand the test of time, to go through so many ups and downs, and make it in the end, is truly marvelous. What we see are the happy pics, the fun, what we don't see are the many, many fights, the sad parts, the distance.

Everyone, no matter who, brilliant or stupid, young or old, beautiful or ugly (even Ris Low :P ), deserves to be happy, deserves to be made to feel special, like they have a place in the world, like they belong and make a difference to someone's life.

So today, I raise a toast to simply being happy! And to all the people whom I have known, at some point or the other in my life, no matter for how long. Thank you for being you!

Travel diaries 2 - Shuswap Lake

So today has been mainly travelling in the bus. We’ve been going from Vancouver to Banff, and we stop at Shuswap Lake tonight. It’s a tiny bus, and there are only 15 people on it, other than our tour guide/driver.

We stopped in between at a place which had salmon, huge ones. Some of them dead. Apparently they swim back to the place they were born, but the water is very shallow.
And I saw snow! Like on the ground right next to our bus. And the mountains are very pretty. Temperate rainforests all around.

I begin to understand why people here drink so much alcohol. It’s required for survival!

Travel diaries 1 - Vancouver

Ok so the first 2 days of our trip are done, and we leave Vancouver tomorrow morning.
The hostel that we're staying in right now is really nice and comfy, with a dorm of 4 and comfy fat blankets and pretty washrooms and decent breakfast!

Vancouver in general seems much nicer than Toronto. The people for one thing are much nicer and friendlier and helpful. It seems cheaper too, at least for transportation. There is no Provincial Tax, unlike the 8% in stupid Toronto. And plus this place is soo superbly beautiful. The fall leaves are all turning red, and this morning when we were walking towards University of British Columbia, a red tree would suddenly pop out of green coniferous (I think) trees. Very beautiful.

Which brings me to how absolutely marvelous the UBC campus is! It seems much nicer than York, bigger, greener, cleaner, with (nude) beaches next to campus. Oh and we saw fraternity/sorority houses, with their Greek names. So much fun. I wonder how popular they are in Canadian unis. I really do wish I could transfer to UBC. I'm sure I would have liked the calmness of the city. To a certain extent I regret not having researched more on unis before coming here.

Then we went to Stanley Park, which is simply HUGE. We spent most of the day walking, mostly in circles. And then at the end of the day got lost, and had to lumber around in the dark towards the Fish House, where we has a reservation. But it turned out to be nice food, I had to have the Penne Pasta, as it was the only thing they had. But then the Lava Cake was quite decent. It's funny how sophisticated and classy the place was, and we were probably the only people who didn't drive there,
instead we hiked :P

Yesterday we walked to Granville Island (we really seem to be doing a lot of walking). It was very nice and the Public Market was very cute too. Oh and the I bought the first season of the original 90210, as I haven't been able to find it online anywhere. Yipeee :)

Tomorrow is a long bus journey, so I'm glad I bought an iPod, brought Sons & Lovers and brought my laptop.

So I think I should go sleep now :)

Gratification

I tend to surprise myself at times.

At how teeny-tiny things can make me ecstatic and make my day, stupid things piss me off, how rude I can be, how helpful I can be, how little I can care about work, and how very very creative and imaginative I can be with possible real-life situations that will never happen.

I can also never get over how important certain people can be or suddenly become to my life. How is it that life can change so fast?

Oh and the post title has nothing to do with the content of the post, in case you were wondering.

Small is good

I think my black iPod nano is the prettiest thing I've ever seen. It's so thin. And sexy as hell. And has video recording, loudspeaker, radio and everything else an mp3 has. You can shake the iPod to shuffle songs and the screen adjusts if you turn it sideways. Now I know I'm about 5 years late to be talking about the amazing thing that an iPod is, but well, I just got it yesterday. And I'm so mesmerized! :D

Friends Forever

And as we go on
We remember
All the times we
Had together
And as our lives change
Come whatever
Will we still be
Friends Forever?

Will you also be the friend I used to know a long time ago some day?

Thank you - Simple Plan

I thought that I could always count on you,
I thought that nothing could become between us two.
We said as long as we would stick together,
We’d be alright,
We’d be ok.
But I was stupid
And you broke me down
I’ll never be the same again.

So thank you for showing me,
That best friends can not be trusted,
And thank you for lying to me,
Your friendship and good times we had you can have them back

Yeah!

I wonder why it always has to hurt,
For every lesson that you have to learn.
I won’t forget what you did to me,
How you showed me things,
I wish I’d never seen.
But I was stupid,
And you broke me down,
I’ll never be the same again.

So thank you for showing me,
That best friends can not be trusted,
And thank you for lying to me,
Your friendship the good times we had you can have them back

When the tables turn again,
You’ll remember me my friend,
You’ll be wishing I was there for you.
I’ll be the one you’ll miss the most,
But you’ll only find my ghost.
As time goes by,
You’ll wonder why,
You’re all alone.

So thank you for showing me,
That best friends can not be trusted,
And thank you for lying to me,
Your friendship and good times we had you can have them back.

So thank you, for lying to me,
So thank you, for all the times you let me down
So thank you, for lying to me,
So thank you, your friendship you can have it back

Winds of change!

So it's a cold windy again out there. Again. But in my room it's nice and warm. Since I never open my window, and apparently propping the door open is a fire hazard :O

OH AND THE AIR-CON HAS JUST BEEN CHANGED TO GIVE OUT WARM AIR! WOOHOO :D

So sometimes I forget it's cold outside. And go out in strappy sandals. So that by the time I reach class, my feet are frozen and ready to fall off.

But overall, I'm now more used to the cold. I guess it was a drastic change for my body to be plucked out of the 45 degrees Celsius weather in India, to the 10 degrees one in Canada. The weather right now is similar to India's very very cold winter. And it's supposed to be Fall ! Autumn ! When the leaves change colour. Which they are doing. But with the cold winds blowinnnnn...


Oh and as some people have pointed out, the 'standard' A4 size paper here is smaller. And instead of having 2 punch holes, they have three. Trivial things, but I find them interesting.

And people here wear lots more boots than I've seen anywhere else, because of the cold I guess. Which means that I get to buy boots without feeling guilty about it! Since they are always so expensive :(

Oh and I shall be traveling in the Reading Week, which has just started this semester at the uni. Awesome timing, isn't it? But that means I shall be in some random place on Diwali. And I shall be going to Lake Ontario today.

But before I go on the Reading Week trip, I have to get thru the next week. Which has:
Mon: 2 assignments
Tue: meet to practise presentation
Wed: presentation
Thur: 1 report, 1 test
Fri: 2 tests
Sat: 1 assignment, 1 report, 1 paper, since I must finish the work that is given to us for the reading week, since I will be away for the whole of it!

I SHALL SURVIVE!

Where do all the lonely people come from?

Here's to the nights we felt alive,
Here's to the tears you knew you'd cry.

Today is a winding road,
That's taking me to places that I didn't want to go.

Don't ask me what I think of you,
I might not give the answer that you want me to.

Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose.
Nothing ain't nothing, but it's free.

Well, well, well, would you carry a razor,
In case, just in case of depression?

If everyone cared and nobody cried,
If everyone loved and nobody lied,
If everyone shared and swallowed their pride,
Then we'd see the day when nobody died.