Commencement

Tomorrow is my commencement ceremony. I am happy. ish. ?

As though crossing tomorrow the world will be different. Why do we need a formalized day to do this? Can’t people feel different at their own time own target?

Like I said the other time, commencement is ritualistic. I am not a frickin’ part of their tribe/village/cult to begin with, so I don’t get why I should feel that tomorrow is a special day. If anything, it’s a chore.

Pah. I hate this. Let me just say out loud once and for all -

I WILL NOT TOLERATE ANY REFERENCE MADE TO HARRY POTTER REGARDING THE HOODED OUTFIT. THAT’S SO EARLY 2000s.

Centathlon

By virtue of my birth I was pitted in a centathlon I didn’t register for.

Even though I was told I didn’t need take part, spectators still watch on.

A race where they had fins and magic carpets and I had no feet.

A race where I’ll always be ten paces behind regardless of direction.

A race I thought I quit but evidently was duped into thinking so.

Almond peanut butter chocolate cookie

Yes, I am greedy with my ingredients.

I never realized how great cookies taste with milk until this. I’m not kidding, this thing is awesome eaten with milk.

Tastefully presented with a cup of milk below, waiting for the poor cookie to fall into.

And here’s a shoutout to Sulz – Happy Birthday!!!! Here a cookie picture for you – may you have a great day!!!!

Creative Writing

I received an email informing me about new creative writing modules offered in school. This is not the first time they are introducing writing modules; previously they had a module on writing for stage, and now they have a creative writing module as well as a module on writing for screen.

Seriously, I have a bad feeling about this.

See, the modules are peer-reviewed, i.e. to pass the module, you have to meet the standards of your peers. Since when did 10 other students’ comments equate to success (or failure) of your writing? In the first place, should creative writing be judged? If so, what should it be based on?

I think having peer review and any form of marking system kills creative writing. Who has the right to claim that your creative process is worse than someone else’s?

This is utter bullshit I tell you. They’re doing nothing but promoting a whole new generation of writers based on institutional values of what’s worthy writing.

Southern Ridges

My friend Angela and I had nothing to do so we decided to go walk/trek the Southern Ridges, which connects 4 hilltop parks of the southern and western parts of Singapore. It’s apparently a 9-km walk through forest and on multi-million dollar bridges.

We started off on the Marang Trail at Harbourfront terminal. This bit is quite challenging because it’s just steps and stairs going up Mount Faber. The National Parks website stated it’s 0.9km, but they didn’t say that half of it was uphill! But after scaling this bit, the rest was quite a breeze.

The view of Henderson Waves from underneath. Yes, this “underneath” is the top of Mount Faber, so you can imagine how high this bridge is. It does look like the tracks for transportation of the future doesn’t it. Snazzy highways for personal levitating transport or high-speed monorails or something.

On the bridge. It’s a nice place I think, and I think the view will be spectacular during sunset. The bridge is flanked on both ends by forests, and from the bridge we can see housing estates, office buildings and the southern seaports. Really quite a little enclave of nature amidst a concrete jungle.

Shadow shot. I’m not sure what the 3 fingers on Angela’s hand stands for. Maybe West Side.

We continued on the Southern Ridges walk through forests and hilltops and eventually we went on the Forest Walk trail.

Look at how high we are!

And while we were on the trail, we saw these:

Local artwork carved on plants. Amazing. Graffiti on a new medium.

The path snakes down and eventually we crossed the Alexandra Arch into Kent Ridge Park. Kent Ridge Park is a forested park near the university actually, and we walked through the park and found ourselves nearing NUS. Not funny at all. We exited from the Science Park I (not a park, but a cluster of science-related enterprises), which is just off South Buona Vista and NUH.

It was fun! Even though it was a hot day, and tropical forests behave more like jungles (i.e. mosquito bites), it was fun to walk. I never knew there was so much greenery and forests in Singapore!

USA Trip: San Francisco, CA

San Francisco.

Where I started and ended my trip.

Where I left my heart at.

Where I love the most out of all the places I visited.

San Francisco is beautiful.

I’ll let the pictures do the talking. (PS: I just posted 100 pictures on Facebook, check it out there.)

The Seven Painted Ladies – often seen on postcards, these painted houses are famous. In fact, these are not the only painted houses in San Francisco. Painted houses are everywhere, just that these 7, in a row, are famous.

Lombard Street – also another famous site. It’s a very crooked street, originally designed to facilitate horses going up and down the steep slope.

The Golden Gate bridge, overseeing the Golden Gate Bay. The field you see is known as Crissy Fields.

Not many has seen the underbelly of the Golden Gate. I have.

The bay waters at Crissy Fields.

The Golden Gate Bridge from another site, up in the hills. Talking about hills, San Francisco is built upon 47 (thereabout) hills. Explains the slopes!  Talking about slopes, here’s an example. A slope near Nob Hill:

So steep parking is an issue:

You’ve got to park at 90 degrees or your cars will roll down the hills, no kidding.

Chinatown

Chinatown. One of the earliest Chinatowns in the US, and apparently houses the largest Chinese population outside Asia. It’s filled with the usual touristy fare, though when you go into the small side alleys you can find authentic Chinese shops for real Chinese people. This is where I came for a rice fix one day. Fortunately (or not), the eatery I chose did not sell fortune cookies – something I insist is an invention of the West and refuse to eat.

In the middle of this collage you can see Sacramento street – this is the original 唐人街. I think it all started from here. I may be wrong, but it feels right to me.

The famous cable car turnaround at Union Square.  The queue is always long, so I didn’t ride on it. I did ride on plenty of streetcars though. The F line streetcar was my friend.

Pier39 is along Fisherman’s Wharf, and has a carnival thing going on. There is a sea lion habitat at this pier, and specialty stores. It’s a family place, and this is where I can find my favourite crab and shrimp chowder. I don’t eat clam, so clam chowders are out of the question.

From Pier39 you get a good view of Alcatraz, aka The Rock.

Castro

I watched the movie Milk, starring Sean Penn, on the flight to San Francisco. The movies is about Harvey Milk, supervisor of San Francisco and first gay man to help champion gay rights in the US. It was such a moving movie I nearly cried watching. It tells a tale of struggles against a mob rule masquerading as democracy, which really is still evident today. It tells of a tale of intolerance and religious fundamentalism. All in all it was a really thought-provoking film. After watching the film, I was sure I had to visit Castro, where it all began.

The  famous Castro Theater.

Raising the rainbow flag up high.

Harvey Milk Plaza. Is it just me or does Sean Penn really resemble Harvey Milk?

Castro, on a weekday afternoon, isn’t as happening as I would have liked it to be. I’m not exactly sure what I was expecting, but deserted streets wasn’t one of them.

Muir Woods

One highlight of my trip to San Francisco is the tour to Muir Woods, also commonly known as the Redwood forest. Californian redwood is the tallest species of trees in the world, and can easily grow to 200 ft tall. This particular species require the moisture from the bay area fog to grow well, and hence is found only near the coast to the Pacific Ocean. (Well, not near  near like coconut trees, but near enough.)

It was peaceful and serene in these woods. Frankly, I expected the trees to be a lot fatter considering how old they are, but they aren’t. The girth shown in the first picture is exceptional actually. Most of the other trees in the reserve are not as thick.

I love this shot.  Light and shadows.

On the guided tour to Muir Woods, we went up a hill to look at the ocean as well. The Pacific Ocean is awesome. I have never seen an ocean, and the view is simply breathtaking. The great expanse of water meeting the horizon, gulls flying above our heads, strong wind beating on our faces, but we all left with a smile.

Below is another ocean visit on another guided tour. That is an oceanside beach and the waters are cold; they hover at about 52 degrees Fahrenheit, about 11 degrees Celsius. So to take part in sea sports, a thermal wetsuit is a must. The waves aren’t as high as I expected, but definitely much more than the ripples we get in Singapore.

And the following two shots taken from the above two locations sums up my feeling about San Francisco very nicely – it’s like holding infinity in the palms of my hands. I never really knew where this line came from, until Angela told me it’s from William Blake.

“To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour.” – William Blake

Despite not knowing exactly where the line came from, or what precedes it, somehow these pictures made me feel like saying those words. Maybe there is some truth to Blake’s words, to see a world in that manner. It is moments like this that resonate, to quote Suhui and her friend again, “life is perfect”. It’s like seeing eternity in a moment. It’s hard to convey what I felt when I was up on the cliff overlooking the ocean, you have to experience it for yourself.

I love San Francisco. Now I know why many in the world hold the same sentiment.

Rice Dumpling Festival

There is something I only get to eat once a year.

Rice Dumplings. The sort wrapped in leaves in celebration of Dragonboat Festival.

I don’t usually eat rice dumplings from outside. I only eat homemade rice dumplings. So far I think in my 23 years of existence I have eaten about 3 store-bought rice dumplings and countless homemade ones. My favourite is the nonya dumpling, which has a sweet and salty filling of meat, winter melon candy, onions and dried shrimps. (And no, we are not nonya.) Here is a picture of a dumpling my mum made:

A shot of the inside:

Arh~~

She also makes the ones filled with fatty pork, dried mushrooms and chestnut, commonly known as bazhang.

And no, despite 23 years of eating homemade rice dumplings I cannot make one to save my life.

USA Trip: Los Angeles, CA

I’ve been putting off blogging about LA because I don’t know how to strike a balance between telling the truth and showing you only the pretty sights.

In actual fact, LA is a shitty place. At least Hollywood is a shitty place. Nothing like the glitz and glamour we see on TV. Those are only found in the rich estates and the rest of LA, quite the slum if you asked me. Furthermore, when I was there, it was cloudy and unusually chilly for this time of the year – the bad weather really added to the misery of this place. It’s a different misery compared to New York – New York is the concrete jungle misery and LA is the culture-shock misery. Why culture shock? West Hollywood is practically a vice district. Imagine shops selling smoking paraphernalia (and I don’t mean lighters and cigarettes) dotted between tattoo shops and shops selling porn star outfits. And it’s not like I intentionally sought out these places. They are on Hollywood Boulevard – the tourist district, just about 200m away from Kodak Theater. Oh well. Prudes shouldn’t walk too much in LA.

Speaking about Kodak Theater – arh the golden tourist district. Probably the safest part of LA, in daytime.

From left: Walk of Fame (running on Hollywood Boulevard and Vine), Kodak Theater, Chinese Theater, and El Capitan.

I caught the new Pixar film Up in 3D at El Capitan. The tickets aren’t cheap, but it comes with a live HSM-like performance with Mickey mascots before the show, something that cannot be found elsewhere. I also took the 3D glasses back with me. Gone are the days where 3D glasses are blue and red; nowadays they are able to produce 3D glasses with clear glasses.

The concrete slabs are before the Chinese Theater. Only the big big stars can have their palms and foot imprinted there. To get a star on the Walk of Fame simply requires one to be in the industry for 5 years and one has to hand over the payment of 25,000$. On hindsight, I should have sought out Michael Jackson’s star.

Oh but I did go to his house though.

On a walking tour in Beverly Hills to see the stars’ homes.

Here’s Dustin Hoffman’s house.

Woohoo Ben Stiller!

And this is MJ’s house. Did he collapse here? It’s so surreal isn’t it. First time I step on his driveway and he quacks. (ha!) Really. I don’t really care if he died. I’m too young to have been a contemporaneous fan of his.

Beverly Hills isn’t really that glamorous. Sure, big houses (apparently Jennifer Anniston’s driveway is 1/2 mile long), nice landscaping, flash cars … but you know, it just lacks that starry atmosphere I was looking for. I don’t know why.

Of course, Beverly Hills is not Beverly Hills without Rodeo (Ro-day-oh , in the true American fashion) Drive.

This is the LA we see on TV baby. Palm trees that don’t belong to the climate, nice clean paved sidewalk, glitzy shops selling things plebeians can’t afford … a Hollywood experience!

And another Hollywood experience that’s mandatory on a trip to LA:

Hollywood Hills. Apparently when a certain Pope went to the US for a visit, some pranksters took down one L, so it spelt Holy Wood. Quite a joker, that.

My favourite place in LA is the Getty Center. It’s an art museum built on a hill and boy it’s a pretty place .

The entrance. To get to the main entrance, we had to take a monorail from the foot of the hill. Oh yeah, entry to the Getty Center is free; it’s fully supported by its own funds.

On top of the hill, it overlooks the rest of LA.

Beautiful place. The garden is really really beautiful. Their cafe serves a great chicken salad.

A quote on the wall in the photography section of the museum – “Art is life as seen through a man’s inner craving for perfection and beauty – his escape from the sordid realities of life into a world of his imagining.” Paul Outerbridge. Actually, looking back now, I don’t know why I took a picture of this quote. Maybe it’s because this photo looked nice. Oh well.

The Getty Museum is filled with 15-20th Century European art pieces (many related to religion). There I saw some pieces I studied in an architecture history course before and I was really excited. I had a great time in the photography section as well. It’s a nice place to get away from the grossness of Hollywood, really.

And as a parting shot, I leave you with another picture of Beverly Hills and the Jacaranda trees that line its roads -

(Admittedly at first sight of the purple flowers my first thought was “Wisteria Lane” since Desperate Housewives is probably the brainchild of one of the residents. How wrong I am. Wisteria is a vine, not a tree. I have no botanist knowledge at all.)

I need to let this out

because it’s too darn funny.

Why do people shoot themselves in the foot by working with professors they ABHOR and complain afterwards?

Simply because they are stupid and care too much ABOUT face.

Oh yeah, and UTTERLY random capitalization.

USA Trip: Seaworld, Orlando, FL

Seaworld. Seaworld. One of the main reasons why I went to the US.

To see killer whales, duh.

So as you can expect, I took copious pictures of killer whales, which I will hereby unload on all of you, whether you like it or not.

First, the random sea critters I don’t fancy too much:

Manta rays.

Dolphin Lagoon.

Dolphins.

Manatee. Grazing on lettuce. I never knew these guys were vegetarians. No wonder they are called sea cows.

Sharks.

Now the serious stuff:

Shamu Theatre. See, all adult killer whales are called Shamu in all the Seaworlds in USA. The Orlando Seaworld is the biggest Seaworld in the US.

Sneaking a peak!

Aww.

And they jump.

Giant!

And Shamu soaks everyone.

Shamu. There’s a sad story behind why his dorsal fin is bent. I shall not rehash it here. It spoils the magic of Seaworld. Leave it to the animal rights people to tell that story.

More heavy lifting.

And photo op for me.

And an orca says “Hi!”

Mother and child frolicking.

Looking at this picture (edited by me), I am feeling that moment Suhui was talking about on her blog. That moment that makes one stop and think life is perfect. I won’t mind spending the rest of my life with them.

Now that I have seen killer whales in real life, my life is complete.