Saturday, August 25, 2001

I have been making observations for a while and a few days/weeks ago, I concluded that there is a vegetarian support group in RJ.

At various points in the day, one will see a gathering of between two and four teachers talking (expatriate ones, but for one). These people have never been seen eating non-vegetarian food. They mostly sit and sip the poisoned coffee that the RJ school canteen offers, and talk.

I know for sure that two of the teachers are vegetarian, and since the rest have never been seen consuming meat, it is safe to assume that they don't.

So, Vegetarians of the world, rejoice! If you come to RJ, you can join the support group for vegetarians.

(Ugh, I'm sick.)
Alritey. Have contributed to your JCguide article(s)
Council seems to be acting very vehemently about their ideals.

I'm only on stage 1 of the "disease" then. Did u hear abt the new chinese movie about a Taiwanese romance over ICQ?

There's also another critically acclaimed film, yun2 tun1 xiao3 jie3, produced by a singapore producer on self-exile in US (he doesn't like the censorship here). It's only shown in a small number of cinema theatres but is supposed to be excellent work.

Friday, August 24, 2001

alright, have posted;)
Went to JC Guide aka V.A.G.I.N.A (what a horrible name) the other day and found that RJC still didn't have a review.

I've been working on one for the last 2 days. It is being honed and will be submitted to the people there when it is ready.
Blank faced girl and Houdini are the newest members of my list of affection. Houdini holds the dubious honour of being the second male in the aforementioned list.

Wednesday, August 22, 2001

Yesterday was a trying day. In the canteen, it all hit at about the same time.

Firstly, Council is having "Welfare Week". They always pretend to be very nice, but they have their own Agenda and workings.

Free Expressions was revealed to be 'Council Censored Free Expressions' when they tore down my anti-Purple poster earlier in the year becuase 'it has to be stamped'.

Tag Shoppe is ridiculous. If something was worth less than $50, I doubt anyone would care to steal it. A 'why you should not use Tag Shoppe' thing that I pinned to the notice board in the Concourse was also removed.

And they are very free with their digital camera. The issue of returning cutlery and crockery was made to be such a big affair, about "defending RJ from an invasion of crows and mynahs", when crows don't come here (maybe the Singapore Gun Club's efforts are succeeding). I pasted an addendum which said something about throwing ice and chasing the birds being more efficacious on Monday, and it was torn down by Tuesday morning.

The last isn't really a problem, but I thought it was quite interesting. The poster outside LT 1 saying, "Now you see it, now you don't... Take care of your stuff" and showing 2 photos where there was a wallet in one and no wallet in the other, magically appeared in my home room TS20 saying, "Now you see it outside LT 1, now you don't... Take care of your posters". Well. This was on Tuesday afternoon. Today, I walk past LT 1 and the poster has reappeared. Council is even sadder than me :) That's where their time goes to. This is possibly worse than the time they had to send a team to scour the Spectator's Gallery for my anti-Purple Posters earlier in the year.

Secondly, all the Named people were around. On the other side of the canteen, African was cavorting with her friends. At another area, Red Jacket was prancing around in his customary attire. A few tables away, Jiggle was sitting with her friends. But the worst was a table behind, where Elf Gone Wrong and Ugly Girls #1 to #7 were sitting with their class (I finally sighted #7 and took her off probation).

I did calm down, in the end, but I hope this sort of thing doesn't happen too often :)


Quote of the post (not yet on Improve Your English):
Has anyone ever told you you're crazy? - Changge on my "Now you see it, now you don't" act.
A malady is afflicting our society. A malaise.

The dreaded ICQ disease.

When one first gets ICQ, one is very happy. However, after one to two years, this feeling of Euphoria wears out and one gets, slowly but surely, infected with ICQ disease.

1st Stage - You don't greet people when they come online anymore.

2nd stage - You stay invisible all the time

3rd stage - You ignore people when they message you.

To date, no cure has been found for this contagious disease.

Tuesday, August 21, 2001

Geocities apparently won't allow me to call a javascript so I can have the archives in the sidebar. Ah well, I'll settle for second best - clicking on 'Archives' will bring you to the archives page.
:: addendum
Out of curiosity... I searched for "Raufie" on Google, and found Agagooga's page linked to on the 3 page. Guess which quote Google used to reference the word "Raufie"?

:: shameless self plug
Fellow PSO players: Use my Section ID calculator *grin* at
Sectcalc
Its going to get an update when Version 2 releases for the US to commemorate the release. Meanwhile, try either flavour. Sectcalc standard doesn't look too pretty now (wait for the update) but contains some information on all the Section ID, and Sectcalc lite works really well and is pretty small and clean.
:: thoughts
Welcome aboard, poster #3. Muhahahha. And no, I don't think that I'm taught by Aaron Loh, why? Who's Aaron Loh?
I agree with the jumble sale being unethical though. Its kinda crummy to lose something only to see it being sold by the councillors one year later. Still... can we say "Good Bargains"?

:: random musings
Just thought that since I was on audio, I'd keep on track. Heres a link to one of the best mp3 encoders out there:
LAME - Lame Ain't An Mp3 Encoder

It can be a little hard to use, especially if you don't like the command line, but its by far one of the fastest and most accurate encoders out there. The command line problem can be fixed by downloading a front-end for LAME, such as Razorlame, or by using a cd-ripping software such as EAC that supports LAME as an external compressor.

On a side note... does anyone else play Phantasy Star Online besides me and another friend I know? Well... version 2 is going to be released on September 11th. Its probably old news to any PSO player, but Yay! I can't wait... if only our prelims are not around that time... but one can't have everything.

:: suggestions
I vote we keep posts short, and if its really long, link to the "article" on another web page... kinda like those "news" sites where longer articles are given their own page. So readers need not scroll through chat logs to read other articles. Oh yeah, and keep the logs to 1 log page per week? Something like that, so it doesn't take too long to load.

Monday, August 20, 2001

Sigh. I'm not that keen on being quoted.
Gabriel you're like posting 90% of the stuff here. That should tell you something- *censored*

btw I approached a councillor running the "jumble sale" to register my complaint that it was unethical. Even more so when she (identity kept confidential) admitted that there were students who had lost their stuff for a whole year and had to pay to collect them back.

Are any of you taught by Aaron loh?

- andrew -
Ruishan linked to my prime Propaganda List but didn't tell me. Hrumph. I'll take this as "endorsement":

#2 how girls waste time wanted to link this but it kept slipping my mind. now here.
i'm tempted to do a "how boys waste time" (sam's wondering if there was one too) heh.

Sunday, August 19, 2001

My assiduous research has paid off! Angela has just revealed some of the secret lore of the second circle of the Art Of Using Safety Pins.

How to Use Safety Pins and String to hold up a tucked out blouse, while maintaining the illusion that it is tucked in unless one has a more than cursory look:

1. Tuck out your blouse
2. Fold it to desired length
3. Pin Safety Pins in 2-4 strategic locations ("safety pins at the ends... (at the waist and at the hem of the erm.. blouse)")
4. Thread string/thread through to hold the folds up


This does seem like a lot of trouble to go to. And it's still detectable, albeit much less. Anyhow, if you get careless and the metal of the safety pin can be seen from the outside (as did the J1 girl I saw that day and the former CHIJ girl who got busted by David Liew for wearing her CHIJ blouse instead of the purple uniform) (it's supposed to pin through the fold, not out of it), you will face doom!
My eyes have been opened. I have been made aware of a new plane of existence, a new level of the discipline. The Discipline of the Art of Using Safety Pins.

In my 14/8 rant, I talked about the art of spotting the use of Safety Pins. Apparently I have not been dilligent enough in my efforts. Today, Grace informed me about the existence of a variant of the Art of Safety Pins. Safety Pins with Strings.

It all started when I sent her my blog. A condensed account of the dialogue follows.

Her:
*reads page and snickers*
do you mean safetypins or safetypinswithstrings?

Me:
strings? what strings?

Her:
ahahahahahahahaha. *manic laughter*

Me:
what's so funny?
Her:
there are things you know naught of yet.

Me:
ooo
tell me
initiate me into the mysteries of safety pins and safety pins with strings, oh great one

Her:
*snigger* not going to. figure it out yourself. safetypins with strings are eminently less detectable than plainoldsafetypins.

Me:
oei

Her:
you have to give me a complete glossary of which nicknames belong to whom because i totally can't tell cos i don't know anyone cos i'm oblivious.

Me:
you want to know?
or you don't?

Her:
i do want to know.

Me:
ok :)
tell me about strings first
Her:
no.

Me:
why not.

Her:
because some things are beyond your comprehension

Me:
why don't you want to tell me?
I'm intrigued

Me:precisely to intrigue you
*wicked grin*
someday my emotional manipulation will get me killed



With my curiosity piqued, I have no choice but to continue my research into the realm of Safety Pins. If anyone out there can aid me in my noble goal, I will be eternally grateful.
:: thoughts
I prefer to think of the cheer as one "unique" to TCHS. Here is the complete cheer:

"Shan Ge" (Mountain Song, in Chinese)

Ei...
Shan shang liu shui xi li li ei, hei a a yo.
Shan shang liu shui hua la la ei, hei a a yo.
Xi li li eh Hua la la eh, Hua Zhong Hua Zhong ding gua gua eh...

*repeat as necessary*

[ English Translation ]

Hey....
"Xi Li Li", when water flows down the mountains, hey yo!
"Hua La La", when water flows down the mountains, hey yo!
"Xi Li Li" hey! "Hua La La" hey! The Chinese High is the best, yay!

*repeat as necessary*

:: Comments.
It seriously isn't that weird. Now, the 'give me an oei' one is weird. Shan Ge is a traditional chinese tune.