went to elizabeth's secondhand bookshop in subiaco today. it doesn't look so spiffy like in the picture if you see the link. imagine it looking a little more "secondhand-bookshoppish". you know, darker and mustier and fustier. it's one cool place to be at. i practised quite a bit of restraint today and didnt buy any books. the other day i bought about 5, and it amounted to less than ten bucks. whatta deal.



anyway, i went out cos as i said in the previous post, i've been studying the past week. and now the desire to slack and do nothing is hella great. and also, it was such a nice and sunny day today. totally not the kind of day you spend cooped up indoors in your room at hall.



anyways i'm still pretty much struck with wanderlust and restlessness. so wondering what to do tonight. though the obvious answer is to do my work for next week.



oh well.

the horror that is my econs mid-term exam is over.



it is time to fucking party.



now let me sit in my room and consider the myriad of possibilities that lie before me.

1. sit in my room and do nothing.

2. go to the blue room to try to play the piano again.

3. sit in my room and not study (there is a difference. i have been studying the whole week. well, almost.).

4. go out to town tonight since it is friday and shops close later in the city on fridays. and i want to get the cds i've been aiming since two weeks ago.



well i guess there's one good possibility there. i hope it works out.

i just watched this year's ndp in the tv room in hall with some of the gang.



it seemed pretty nice this year. i don't know whether it's cos i can't really remember how it was last year or it's cos i'm here and not at home.



i enjoyed it more this time round. the light displays during the latter segments were really pretty.



watching the parade, i remembered something. during my first two weeks here, i had the immense good fortune to run into Ong Kim Seng, probably the top watercolourist in singapore. the first time i saw him, he was walking around the school compound with his friends and i kept on looking at him and he smiled back. the second time, he and his friends were seated on small stools, concentrating on the paintings in front of them. this time, when he glanced up and saw me, i waved at him and said hi. later i went up to them and looked at their paintings. the third and final time i ran into him, it was in a same area and me and yu were on our way to school to do something. i dragged yu with me to them and i said hi and eventually started up a conversation with him and his friends. he seemed surprised and a little disappointed that i could recognise him, to which his friend told him in mandarin,"You see Mr Ong, you are a national treasure. Everywhere you go there will be people that will recognise you."



the conversation was pretty interesting and fun. his friend did most of the talking. he had some strong views on singapore and its leaders. Mr Ong didn't really share his views but it was all good cos they were good friends, you could tell. me and yu hung around with them for quite a while and eventually i said that we had to go do our stuff in school. we left them to their painting.



it was really cool to meet him. all the more so that i'm meeting him here in perth. which is a pretty good thing in a way cos if i had run into him in singapore, i'm pretty damn sure that i would have never have gone up to him to say hi and talk to him.



yeah well, that was saturday night for me here. pizza and a tape recording of the ndp.

the time has come.



i think i'm actually falling sick. well hope it's just a dry throat from waking up and nothing more. there seems to be a bug going round the place here anyways. quite a few people catching it. i'll try to lay low and avoid it.



just wrote my first proper essay in about three years yesterday. and i realised to my horror that my vocab and writing skills have almost disappeared after the time in army. i kinda got back the hang of writing. but geezuz my vocab is in shambles. i wonder how i can do anything about it.



it's a pretty relak day today since i've done my work for the week. less work this week. but econs mid-terms are this coming friday. gad.



guess i'd better do some studying.



bah.

man, it's been storming the past few days. got caught in the rain yesterday, and it was freezing.



my english tutor is in singapore for some short story competition and some other thing. her name's gail jones. maybe you guys may hear of her or see her even. she's a nice person.



this week has been pretty uneventful as usual. and also pretty slack. i have one less assignment this week. but have an essay due on monday.



on a more interesting note, so far two girls (at least, that i can remember) have asked me if i am gay. and interestingly enough, they're both from STC. jiwwo,reg, is there something about your school that i didn't know about?

hello ladies. time for some announcements.



first up, the new Dashboard Confessional album is out, "A Mark A Mission A Brand A Scar". it's a CD/DVD pack but DVDs are while stocks last so hurry out to get it to get a load of Chris Carraba's sideburns.



and next, we have the new release from Sigur Ros, called "Sigur1/Sigur9". and guess what boys, this one's a CD/DVD release too. with no apparent while stocks last teaser.



alright that's all i got for ya this time. check them out.



you do realise that i'm putting this up cos i want these albums for myself, right?

another boring night in my room.



i ran into my neighbour, matthew from england, on the way up to my room just now. i asked him what he was gonna be doing this saturday night, i myself wondering what the heck i was going to do, he replied, "i'm going to sit in my room and grow my beard. Mmm!"



so much for the nightlife here.