Of time and seasons

12:03
Just 37 seconds off the mark and 3 seconds to the next grade. Secretly hoping that the heart did not beat faster for nothing. Wednesday beckons!

宝贵的一课

二十一岁的今天，生活就是绕着学业与她之间，对未来也充满着憧憬。四年后，可能是命运的捉弄，绕了一圈还是回到了原点。这旅途中学习了怎么追求心里向往的梦想，也同中领悟到现实的残酷会往往让我们失去了指南针， 继续被世界的琐碎的事情残绕着。如今的我也又再一次地掉入这个深渊，如何在这两种心态来取舍到现在还是个未知数。

她的背影还一直在我脑海中浮现。灯光也暗了，枕头也湿了。她心里有着我刻上的伤，我心里藏着对她的关心，隐隐作痛。

“我会尝试放开你的手，让妳尽情地翱翔自由的天空，静静地祈祷， 希望妳在那风雨中不会再受到任何的疮伤。谢谢妳教了我如何去爱一个人。”

Propaganda

Some pictures from London Imperial War Museum (one of my favourites)

Time to shout out!!! ARGH!!! I think i lost myself in this barrage of things. I feel enveloped by the nitty gritties; engulfed in this confusion. I always thought having a balance of things is good: Your health education teacher advocates a balanced diet; your GP tutor wants to have a balanced viewpoint in your essay; I want to be balanced in different aspects of life but each task seems to be slowly eating the flesh and consuming the soul within me. I need a renewed passion ; so much that there is this energy and rigour that drives me. Perhaps the balancing beam does not longer work, putting all my eggs in a basket may reap more in the long run.

In the NEWS: THe British Pound drops to 2.08 against the SIng dollar. maybe its a sign. Peut-etre

Week 10 Sunday

Clearing all the cobwebs from this cyber space, it's more than 3 months since I am back in this city-state. With shouts of "pu kua pa" every one month reminding me to blog, i thank all these people around me who is embarking on this same arduous path with me, my last academic year in N.U.S.

Having bold plans to blog about every city i visited did not work, nor arranging and admiring the multitude of photos. Memories seem so far away, those carefree times, those days I cooked dinner- ham and cheese omelette, tom yam soup with chicken, brocolli and carrots. Fastforward to this rat race, attending classes and meetingdeadlines, arguing on this, espousing on that, critiquing on this-that. (Not) knowing the difference between time-space and space-time, structuration and structuralist, I ask myself whats the significance of all these.

From shi.le.nahu.ang@iamafeminist.com, to password:Ilovegeogr.grahy, from being ditched by David ha.rvey and Foc.ault having a photo of you in his wallet, none of these most will understand. these are what keep us sane for a while. Admist all these 'mindless' debates about manifesto, visual-centralism, tracing the polit.cal econo.my, I wonder how long these will stay in me and i constantly ask myself and God the purpose of doing this discipline. My heart cries out for the marginalised in society, but more so for the children in the region without the life-chance of making it to school, thinking about when his/her next meal is. My God above too cries out for the the unsaved, the unevangelised. everyone.

Why am i fretting over which destinations I should go for my next trip, wha grades I have for each assignment, where do i store my money to prevent inflation when it's kingdom culture, values and vision that i should embrace. Its tough, i know, having been of the world, engulfed by the bombardment of images and messages. My heart hardens, get so numbed by my surroundings, i think its about to bleed.

"Break my heart for what breaks yours, everything i am for Your Kingdom's cause."

Random(1)

There just seems to be this void in time (not space) just before the major examinations each time in university. This interstatial period where one feels the lethargy and inertia to start flipping the notes and realising 12/13 weeks of sch has just slipped past, without you knowing.

This is happening to me right now.

One starts the semester often with aspirations to work hard, to make lots of friends, to try new things, but at the end of the semester feeling jaded about school and work. Wondering whether academics will go out of jobs if they ever stop writing journals and articles that put apparently simple ideas and weave them into a 20 page argumentation about issues, noting that half of the 20 pages will be of what other academics have already argued before.

Talk about recyling!

Sadly, this idea of ever becoming yet another sadistic person to torture poor undergraduates did come to my mind. Being at the forefront of research and ever expanding one's academic boundaries sound like a noble thing to do, I seriously do not doubt it. What is essential, in my humble opinion is the kind of social milieu that one is placed in, the supportive networks that is placed around an individual. Think Bruno Latour's Actor Network theory, the human and non-human actants interacting together for the production of knowledge in space and time.

Recent events have home seemed to have caused a paradigm shift. Seeing people around you graduating, the prospect of not reading any more shitty and constipated academic articles seem too appealing! With the capacity to spend empowered by Vitamin M, one goes up a rung in the social hierachy. But then again the sheer amount of responsibilty such as nation building (through our ever efficient tax agency) and everything else... will start to weigh you down and you get trapped in this place for me at least for 4 years.

Random thoughts, random thoughts and more random thoughts...

This happens most frequently after exams, so pardon the barrage of thoughts...

On my way to the library to return books else I be fined 1.50 sing a day per book

Down with capitalism??? (Nah, I dont think the library is profit driven)

UK host Visit

Here's a quick summary of what happened over the past week or so:

1) Its the second last week of sch here and I was rushing to hand in 2 of my coursework essays. Despite only having to pass these modules, i have to admit there was this academic pride within me, as an effective ambassador of NUS, i shall still maintain my normal (high) std of work. Sadly, i only know a hoot bout farming diversification policies in the Uk, and handed in a sub-par paper which I pray can smoke through.

2) 5 Looming exams coming up from 6th June till 18th June. I am SO STRESSED bout it that I decided to head down to London from the 4th-5th to pick Andrea up and go to Paris from the 13-17th. Talk bout being stressed.

3) thE SEP is coming to an end- be back in Sunny Singapore mid july. Till then, some last destinations include: MAdrid, Barcelona, Nice, Monaco, Cannes, Milan, Venice, Rome, Munich. Notice some repeated destinations...:(:( But since the gf is here, we'll just have to compromise on some places.

4) Last weekend was indeed special where I spent with a British family in the rural countryside near Oxford. Some photos!!!

Well, the pictures sure dont do justice to the house, but the interior of the house is uber gorgeous! Its quintessential English, and the room that Jared and I were given, its like a 5 star Hotel. Every corner of the room is decorated with the owner's impeccable taste. Just look at the teapots on the table. Our hosts are also collectors of portraits and for once we thought we were transported to fairy and lala land.

See what I mean, i was even smiling when I sleep...


Slacking one corner, enjoying the experience!



So actually, the house was converted from a farm, so now besides the physical structure of the house, there is a farm that rears chickens and grows fresh lettuce and asparagus!!!
Its like back in loughborough, as poor students, what we have on the table is what is on sale in the supermarket on that day. So Dinner will be simply, brocolli, Cauliflower, carrots...brocolli, Cauliflower, carrots...brocolli, Cauliflower, carrots...brocolli, Cauliflower, carrots...brocolli, Cauliflower, carrots...brocolli, Cauliflower, carrots...brocolli, Cauliflower, carrots...brocolli, Cauliflower, carrots...

You've got the idea!

So asparagus was the highlight for one of the dinners! Oh, did I mention, it was freshly harvested from the garden just one hour before, and there were 28 stalks in total. Just boil them and dip in melted butter with some fleur du sol... so heavenly...

So thats the chickens I was talking bout. And our hosts actually have at least one fresh egg a day. I was lucky enough to eat one egg that was laid like just the previous day. So we did eat like pigs, from cornflakes, mueslis, home made bread, fish pie, beef stew, mousaka (some greek dish), saussages, bacon,eggs,white wine, red wine and of course my favourite asparagus!!

Some activities that we did while in the house, scrabble, cooking, some ball game that you need to manuever your way around. The guy in the picture is Ingo, a fellow Host student from Cologne,Germany exchanging in Swansea, Wales. He speaks fluent English, German and French!!! Woah, I've got a lot to learn from him.




So that's a group picture of us over the weekend before we bid farewell.

It' pretty amazing that Mr and Mrs Cochrane (Malcom and Mary) have been hosting students for more than 20 years. I thought its really a great experience for us as short-term students to have a glimpse of English culture, food and values. Reflecting on Singapore, I wonder how many families would be such good hosts to international students in their homes and make them feel so comfortable and taken care of.

The beginning of the end

Photo taken during sunset in Stockholm, on top of some hill in Skansen, proudly by Panasonic Lumix TZ-3.

Prague- Magical City of Bridges and Spires

Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. The astronomical clock in Prague. Every hour, hordes of tourists will stand in front of the clock and watch the 1 min performance by the clock itself.
This magical city of bridges, cathedrals, gold-tipped towers and church domes, has been mirrored in the surface of the swan-filled Vltava River for more than ten centuries. Undamaged by WWII, Prague's compact medieval centre remains a wonderful mixture of cobbled lanes, walled courtyards, cathedrals and countless church spires all in the shadow of her majestic 9th century castle that looks eastward as the sun sets behind her. Prague is also a modern and vibrant city full of energy, music, cultural art, fine dining and special events catering to the independent traveller's thirst for adventure.

Prague’s history spans over thousands of years. In this long period the city grew from the Vyšehrad Castle to what it is today: the multi cultural capital of the modern European Czech Republic. The Vyšehrad Castle was erected on the right bank of the Vltava, the longest river in the Czech Republic, opposite of the later constructed future Prague Castle., the largest castle in the world. When the Republic was still Bohemia, Prague became the seat of many dukes and kings, and an important merchant settlement. Modern Prague knows several historical bridges that span the broad river. The first one, the Judith Bridge, was built in 1170 by King Vladislav II, but crumbled down in 1342, becoming the foundation for the later built Charles Bridge, probably the most famous bridge of Prague. King Charles IV of the new Luxembourg Dynasty reigned during the 14th century, in which the city flourished. It was Charles who built the New Town with the Saint Vitus Cathedral, the oldest Gothic cathedral in central Europe, and the Charles Bridge in order to connect the two city centers.


Detail on the charles bridge, arguably the most famed and photographed in Prague. Ok, the black and white effects dun seem to show very well.






Prague suffered considerably less damage during World war II than other major cities, and almost all of its historic architecture has remained intact. Now the city is a lively collections of examples of Art Nouveau, Baroque, Renaissance, Gothic, Cubist and Neo-Classical buildings.

The famous Fred and Ginger Building- courtesy of Jared Wong.

Being described as the gateway to Eastern Europe, Prague still retains much of its original charm and glory. But i wont say it would be the same 5 years to come, with the influx of tourists turning it into yet another place catered to the tourist gaze. (Urry, 1990)