Lobbed together.

It's been many days since I last posted (besides the obvious).

The Christmas hype has built up, and Christmas has come and gone. But since I don't really celebrate Christmas, let's talk about what happened prior to the Christmas quiet at home.

Went to Hong Kong for a week, where I had the most delectable egg tarts I've ever set my eyes upon, felt some Disneyland magic, saw the Cirque du Soleil in Macau, amongst other things.

Have footage of our trip to Ocean Park and Disneyland with my cousins, so will probably edit out the stupider things I did on camera and post it as a vlog (which I haven't done in quite a while now, because I'm too ashamed to do it in front of my family).

It's quite sickening how many rides end in some kind of shop which baits little children into wanting to buy toys and various other trinkets, but I admire their genius. And it's quite interesting how being in a Disneyland makes me want to prance around and burst into song every few minutes despite my um, age.

The Cirque du Soleil performance was really good, but it was the stage atmosphere that made it so brilliant. Quite stunning; totally enjoyed it.

Visited a casino, and honestly, I didn't like it. Not in a "I disapprove of this sinful behaviour" kind of way, but more of a "I say, this really is an ingenious concept I can't help but feel a sense of admiration for whoever's running the place, but this is really quite disgusting how people can sit there all day being cold and calculating and in a generally pissy mood" kind of way. So uncomfortable.

And the pollution was disappointing, too. It could be so beautiful, but most of it was a foggy mess. It's like being in one of those video games where you could only see a few squares around you and everything else is in shadow. Just like that.

Watched 'Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows' with my parents yesterday, and I loved it. All that strange, lingering sexual tension between Holmes and Watson, and the general feel of the movie. And Stephen Fry, oh Stephen Fry.

Then watched 'Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked' today, and it was quite a flop compared to the Sherlock Holmes movie. No no no. The chipmunks were awfully cute, but no. At least little kids seem to love it.

Okay, should go off now.

Adieu.

P.S. Also, have a new pair of glasses and it's awesome.

P.P.S. Oh, and I also read the Hunger Games trilogy, which was honestly quite awesome. Terribly unputdownable and so action packed you're finished before you even had a chance to breathe and go "whoa, okay" (and there were too many of those moments in 'Inheritance'). I sort of hate Katniss at times, but I don't blame her; I'd go crazy too. So yes, it deserved all those awards. Hope the movies turn out fine.

Inheritance.

All right, I'm done with the Inheritance Cycle. It's not as huge an achievement as, let's say, writing it, but I feel that I deserve the right to talk about being done with reading it.

So yeah, spent a ridiculously long time on it.

The first two books were as good as I remember, and then things got all touch-feely by Brisingr, and then Inheritance.

Yeah, it was quite consistent and I liked it, but somehow I like all the other characters more than I like Eragon. I love Roran and Nasuada, but whenever we come back to Eragon, I kind of involuntarily inwardly groan. Perhaps it's just that I don't like him talking about his feelings all the time. I'm unsure. It's good for a main character to have flaws, but sometimes Eragon has complete control of himself and makes great decisions, and the next moment he does some stupid thing.

I figure it must've been really hard for Christopher Paolini to end the book, and he did quite a decent job of it. I wish (spoiler alert) Murtagh stayed with Nasuada and Orrin didn't turn into quite the asshole, but there's nothing I can do about it because that's how the story goes, and no matter how I complain, things won't change.

Overall though, it was a really good experience (apart from realising the author's increasing lameness in his sense of humour).

Also, started driving and broke my glasses (although not at the same time).

Oh heck. I will drive like a boss. I'm only human. And I can keep telling myself that. I will be awesome.

Night.

P.S. Forgot to mention I saw 'Puss in Boots' on Sunday, and it was fun. Egg totally weirded me out throughout the movie, but Antonio Banderas' voice as Puss is so incredibly brilliant. And loved the soundtrack, too. Hooray for children's movies.

Immersion.

Oh goodness, hello there. It's been such a long time since I've spent such a significantly long time on the Internet (mostly I do short Twitter updates and Facebook notification checks, but it's still enough to prove how much my life is dictated by social networking sites).

I've been lounging around here and there, occasionally heading out for food and meeting relatives and stuff.

Watched 'Fellowship of the Ring' once with my younger cousins, but they didn't seem to get it and I was disappointed. I love the movie trilogy to bits (and I can't seem to say this enough) because it's a reasonable and wonderfully made portrayal of the book, and I don't understand how anyone would be able to not like it.

Some people think it's bad to be this into "unrealistic events" and worlds totally unlike our own, but in it I find a sense of comfort because there's still a place you can escape to while our world is in turmoil; albeit within the confines of our imagination. But what we believe in shapes us, and that's interesting to take note of.

And as I make my way through the Inheritance cycle (and yeah I admit I've been going at it for almost two weeks now), I find myself admiring Christopher Paolini's guts for plunging himself so deeply into Alagaësia in order to describe things with such detail and precision at such a young age. Sometimes I think it's dangerous to immerse yourself in such a way that it becomes hard to carry on without it when you're finally finished with your piece of work. Maybe that's why Tolkien wrote so many stories concerning Middle Earth; he stumbled upon something so brilliant he couldn't let go.

I'm out of date with Glee and The Big Bang Theory, although I've had no choice but to watch How I Met Your Mother for fear of spoilers Woan Chyi might shove at me.

Will go and update myself soon.

Night.

P.S. I passed my highway code test, which means I can physically start driving. Oh no.

Fortunate.

Before I say anything further, I need to post a link to this video. Totally made my day. I don't know why, but it totally made me crack up.

Anyway, just got back from this production of Ali Baba by little JIS kids and it was so cute. Let me repeat: so cute.

These kids probably don't realise it, but they're super lucky kids. Comfortable and probably richer than you and I, attending school where it's all fun and games, not knowing what keeping up with hellish deadlines is like. Lucky kids.

And they're so happy, too. So immersed in the arts and sports and hardly any of them are shy.

Lucky, lucky kids.

And they get to stay in this school until they take their A levels, which is a really long time if you've been in it since you were still in diapers. That's insane, man.

Okay, momentary envy of innocent little children over.

Almost done reading Eragon, and will move onto Eldest as soon as I read up on road signs and stuff because I have a driving law test to take tomorrow. Honestly, it can't really be called "driving law" because there's hardly any law in it. It should be renamed "road signs and common sense", because that's what it is. Road signs and common sense. I just hope I'll have plenty of common sense for use tomorrow morning or else I'm doomed and I'll dishonour my family if I fail and they'll have to bring me out back and put me down. Oh the pressure.

And if I do pass, the real hard stuff comes when we actually have to take to an actual road in an actual car doing actual driving things. Oh lord help me.

Fingers crossed I pass.

Adieu.

P.S. Oh, and Kimi's coming back to F1 with Renault. I'm 90% really jump-for-joy happy because I get to see his name in the rankings again, but then 10% of me is super scared he'll botch it up. I hope not.

P.P.S. One day I will grab a pen and add an 'n' to the end of every "yawë" I see in the Inheritance books.

Interlagos 2011

I missed the race.

Oh goodness I missed the last race of the season, right when I could've seen it live on television. Why did I miss the race?

Because my parents decided to head down to Miri for the weekend. And I was sad.

But then I brightened up, because there was a sale at Popular and I managed to convince my parents to buy me books and more books. Many books (six). And yes I'm such a happy camper right now.

Also feeling great because I borrowed my dad's copy of 'The Book of Awesome' and yeah, it is awesome.

Will start on my Inheritance Cycle marathon by tomorrow morning right after I finish reading 'The Book of Awesome' (because 'The Book of Awesome' is a really nice title to type out). Oh awesome.

So yeah, back to the race. Stanley will be glad, 'cause the season ended on his beloved Webber winning the race ahead of Vettel and Button.

Ferrari have a four-five finish, and Hamilton retired, and Sutil finished in sixth for Force India (yay them).

Full results for this season can be seen here.

Not much this post, but I hope we'll be able to see better Ferrari performance next season.

Night.

Married with Zombies.

Heard about the huge hype about our school receiving SGD $35 million as endowment fund? Well yeah, it's apparently happened and now we know we've got more money than the school lets on.

Hm hope the money gets put to good use.

Been back for a few days now, after some hectic packing last Friday night (no reference to Katy Perry's song) and Saturday morning. Took Fatinn and I almost an hour before we could leave 'cause we had trouble looking for someone to check us out. The boarding staff really need to work on their communications system (either that or nobody really wants to work at 9 am on a Saturday morning).

Plane ride was quite normal. Slept all the way, as usual. I love window seats because you get to lean against the side of the plane and sleep, instead of just nod off awkwardly wedged between two people.

Registered for a provisional driving license on Monday, so now I can like, take lessons and wreck cars and stuff like that. But first I have to pass some law test 'cause they don't trust people who don't know the meaning of road signs on the road.

I'm honestly quite nervous about learning how to drive. For all we know I might be a terrible driver. Ew, let's not have that happen.

Also finished reading 'Married with Zombies' by Jesse Peterson, which was really quite entertaining, considering it was a book about a married couple who discover the zombie apocalypse on their way to relationship therapy. Liked it because there was loads of blood and gore and swearing (I mean, way to be realistic, right? Who wouldn't drop the f-word when zombies are about to sink their teeth into you?). It wasn't phenomenal, but it was good.

Yeah, I really do have a thing for zombie books. I don't know why. Maybe it's the brain-munching, or the flesh-squishing, or the awkward-shuffling. I don't know.

All right, going off now.

Arrivederci.

P.S. One good thing about being used to non-airconditioned rooms? I don't get affected by middle-of-the-night power cuts.

P.P.S. Babies, I have seen babies. Adorable little things.

Mylo Xyloto.

‎"I would not object to us no longer characterising you as not my girlfriend."

Yeahp, that's how Sheldon Cooper asked Amy to be his girlfriend, and I found it the cutest thing ever. (Or at least, the cutest thing I've seen in a long time.)

Oh The Big Bang Theory is one of the best shows I know. Funny, nerdy, awesome, all rolled into one. Smart is the new sexy.

And I'm such a nerd. Oh well, that's how life rolls. Embracing the nerd-dom.

Speaking of embracing nerd-dom, it was the last day of school today. Hung around class for an hour and collected progress reports. Did quite fine, considering I've been really cutting back this semester. I'm being attacked by complacency.

Then went out to eat curry chicken with Wai Yin, Zhen Jie and Mei Zhen. Talked a bunch, and man, awesome curry chicken. I love how people bond over good food. We were totally over-analysing teachers' comments, 'cause Mei Zhen thinks Mr Soh hates her 'cause he wrote "quite well-mannered", which probably meant she's only well-mannered sometimes (according to her).

It must be sad to have to write a comment for each student individually. No wonder they have nice little templates to follow.

Went out with Fatinn afterwards in the afternoon to collect lab equipment for my mum. Took 196 all the way there, hunted for an ATM, then sat near the building waiting for the company's lunch break to be over. So grateful for Fatinn's company.

Okay, going off now. Need to wake up early to continue packing.

Night.

P.S. M11405, you've been the awesomest class. I'm going to miss us as a class so much.