knighth00d's Xanga

1 litre of tears

Mon, 09 Apr 2007 17:19:32 GMT

This japanese song is taken from 1 litre of tears. It's the love theme for the show... I love it.

Remioromen - Kona yuki
Kona yuki mau kisetsu wa
itsu mo sure chigai
hitogomi ni magirete mo
onaji sora miteru no ni
kaze ni fukarete
nita you ni kogoeru no ni

boku wa kimi no subete nado
shitte wa inai darou
sore demo ichiokunin kara
kimi wo mitsuketa yo
konkyo wa naikedo
honki de omotteru n da

sasai na ii ai mo nakute
onaji jikan wo
ikite nado ikenai
sunao ni narenai nara
yorokobi mo kanashimi mo
munashii dake

kona yuki nee kokoro made
shiroku somerareta nara
futari no kodoku wo
wake au koto ga dekita no kai

boku wa kimi no kokoro ni
mimi wo oshiatete
sono koe no suru hou e
sutto fukaku made
orite yukitai
soko de mou ichido aou

wakari aitai nante
uwabe wo nadete
ita no wa boku no hou
kimi no kajikanda te mo
nigirishimeru
koto dake de
tsunagatteta no ni

kona yuki nee
eien wo mae ni amari ni moroku
zara tsuku
asufaruto no ue shimi ni natte yuku yo

kona yuki nee
toki ni tayori naku kokoro wa yureru
sore demo boku wa kimi
no koto mamori tsuzuketai

kona yuki nee kokoro made
shiroku somerareta nara
futari no kodoku wo tsutsunde
sora ni kaesu kara

Remioromen - Powdered Snow (English translation)
We always pass by one another in the season
where the powdered snow flutters
Even though I slip away into the crowd,
we're looking up at the same sky
We're freezing,
as though we were blown by the same wind

I probably don't know
everything about you
Yet out of one hundred million people,
I found you
I have no basis for this,
but it really is what I think

There are no fights that are trivial
We can't live together
at the same time
If we can't be ourselves
Then happiness and sadness are both
just lies

Powdered snow, hey, when you coloured us white,
all the way to my heart
Could we then
understand our loneliness?

Pressing my ear
against your heart
I want to go down toward
the sound of your voice
Until I get down that deep,
let's meet up there again

I want us to understand
I was the one
who stroked the surface
Even though we were
connected by
Me holding your hand
that was numb with the cold

Powdered snow, hey,
you, in a way that is too fragile
Turn eternity
into a stain on the rough asphalt up ahead

Powdered snow, hey,
my unreliable heart wavers
And yet, I want
to keep protecting you

Powdered snow, hey, when you coloured us white,
all the way to my heart
You envelop our loneliness,
and return it back to the sky

Sunday, April 01, 2007

Sun, 01 Apr 2007 18:57:27 GMT

"Joyce Soh contracted Meningitis at the young age of three. See how she struggles in overcoming the odds to truly inspire themselves and others."

I was watching this programme on Channel 5, Against All Odds, a few weeks back. Ok who am I kidding? What few weeks back? It was months loh! How long haven't I been updating already...

The above was the tagline for that particular episode. It was a touching and inspiring episode. I'll retell the story in the best way my memories allow me. It was about this girl, Joyce Soh, who had contracted Meningitis at the age of three.

It's a sad episode. Because of the disease, her intellect is suddenly 5 or 6 years backwards. She couldn't even write a simple chinese "Ren" character consisting of just 2 strokes, at the age of five. But her parents never gave up on her. They continued to exercise patience and tolerance on her.

The left side of her body doesn't function, and her left hand is deformed and pointed backwards. But she has learned to overcome the glares she received when she walks with one swinging right arm. It also means that performing daily mundane tasks is restricted to her right side.

Her ability of speech is compromised as well. Many at times, throughout her interviews, she would need to pause and think before she can come up with a suitable english word to express her thoughts and feelings.

Because of her illness, she was never able to follow her lessons, and was always excluded from any activities. She went through a lonely and friendless childhood. When her classmates are playing under the sun, she will be standing alone by the side, just watching, and she would wonder why it was her to be struck down with this illness.

Her father said this dunring one of the interviews, and I quote, "No matter how, she is still my daughter. She will always be my daughter."

Even when it became increasingly difficult for her to excel academically, she never gave up. When faced with a more challenging education system when she approached her secondary tertiary education, she persevered on, even though her results were always lacklustre. Her parents never gave up on her too, despite the school's constant suggestions to convince Mr. and Mrs. Soh to take her out.

When it was time for her 'N' Levels examinations, she put in her best efforts day and night, to prepare herself for the exams. But as fate would have it, she didn't make it. She failed her 'N' Levels.

But no, she wouldn't leave it at that. She refused to give up. She registered as a private candidate and spent the time before her exams to work doubly hard and make sure she will pass this time round. She went for her exams with anticipation and higher hopes. But unfortunately, she didn't make it too. She failed her second attempt, despite all her efforts and hard work.

The distraught Joyce decided to give it another shot, and this time round, the third time round, she made it, and got accepted into an ITE. Her mother was so happy for her. She finally made it to an ITE after taking the 'N' Levels for 3 times.

Joyce chose to go into administrative field, because she believes that administrative is the area that she will be able to excel. She worked even harder than she was before, and she finally graduated from the ITE.

Now the time has come for her to venture out into the working industry. She applied for numerous jobs, and went for numerous interviews, before she got accepted by a certain company as a Call Operator. Her mother almost burst into tears when she learnt about the news. Her mother said this and I quote, "It's even better than me winning the lottery. The prize money won't last my daughter for a lifetime, but her job will."

Before she started her job, she practised her speech by looking in the mirror everyday to ensure that she will be able to present her best over the phone. But because of the job scope and requirements, Joyce encountered numerous setbacks no matter how hard she tries. As she usually handles calls from overseas clients, she cannot afford to put them on hold for queries that she won't be able to think and react with a ready answer on the spot. The clients were also unhappy if she asked them to repeat their questions. Usually, to save overseas call costs, those clients would tend to speak faster with their own accents. It didn't help Joyce understand them better. Not forgetting that Joyce has speech problems, which doesn't allow her to speak as fast or pronounce the words in her mind as clear as the clients would have wanted it.

Needless to say, Joyce couldn't handle the basic requirements. Despite her diligent working attitude, she was asked to leave the company shortly after.

She had to continue her job search, and she landed an interview with a local hospital. I think it was NUH. She was accepted as a contract staff for 6 months, with lab administrative duties, and whether she will be given a permanent position, will depend on her six-month performance.

The medical world was a relatively new field to her. There were a lot of alien medical terms to her, and she had to grasp them all in time if she didn't want to receive the same treatment she had received from her previous company. She did her own research outside of work, to keep herself updated and current, with the nature of her job. She was determined to nail this job.

Thankfully, this time round, her hard work paid off. She was awarded a permanent position, which she was more than thankful to be given the opportunity. She has been in that job ever since.

Despite her incapabilities, she never gave up. She performs her tasks with only her right hand. She files documents, types her letters, carries her food tray, just to name a few, all with one hand.

What's so amazing about her is, she still finds time to help people who are less well-off then her. She takes time to look after the less fortunate, who are disabled, and spends time with them.

She said something during one of the interviews, which struck me greatly, and I quote, "To other people, I may be a disabled person. But to me, to myself, I'm not. I know I am not, and I can do anything as well as anyone else."

Unique individuals like her put many of us to shame. We are blessed with so many wonderful stuffs, and more often than not, we took our blessings for granted. We conveniently forgot the fact that there are many people who are less fortunate than us. And for the less-fortunate ones to be helping out the other less-fortunate people, it just shows that there is so much more we could have done and didn't.

It is truly inspiring. I learned, and I respect her. I thank her for the valuable lesson.

Against all odds, Joyce Soh didn't give up. She outshines.

Sunday, March 04, 2007

Sun, 04 Mar 2007 16:26:43 GMT

I just went for my entrance test yesterday.

For starters, I had an hour to draw an unnatural object. I spent a good ten minutes trying to pick a good object to do. And I choose to do this...

After the basic sketch, I didn't have time on my side anymore. I decided to concentrate more on the minor details and make do with color pencil colorings for the most part. Check out the wordings and fonts.

For the second part, I had 2 hours.
2 hours to do a visual representation of the words provided. I choose to do 'SNAP'. Thankfully, the photos from my magazine had an interesting red tone to it. Using magazine cuttings and a red color pencil, I came up with this...

Erm... eh... I hope they look youger now. The 2 heads I mean. Left and right.
Notice the Pentel poster colors on top? Yup... that's my unnatural object.

Thursday, January 25, 2007

Thu, 25 Jan 2007 19:57:09 GMT

I sleep at 6am, and I wake up at 2pm. My life is upside down. Literally. Physically.

Righhhhht.

It's not fun doing spring-cleaning. I have loads to pack, or arrange, or dispose, throw, or... whatever people wanna call it. Maybe I should tell my friends that I'm doing spring-disposing. It's that time of the year, where people throw away old stuffs to make room for new stuffs.

Ho-kay. For me, I shall start by throwing away old stuffs to make room for my existing stuffs first.

I wonder if I am going insane. I keep running through these thoughts in my head, about how I'm gonna dispose all those useless stuffs lying around at home, when my Mum's sleeping, or when she's out.

I imagine those stacks of books, piles of CDs, mountains of pens, sets or Hi-Fis, etc.. all coming together at night. And if they could talk, you know what they would say to each other?

Random novel: "My spine had stopped exercising 5 years ago. I need someone to flip through my pages and give me a breather. The silverfishes had just started their 6th generation on page 120!"

Ball-point pen: "At least you're still useful. My ink's all dried up. My ball's stopped rolling. I'm just like an old man, suffering from rheumatism from stiff joints."

Fountain pen, shaking frantically: "Brrr... I br-cant... br..."

Random magazine: "What's she saying? Gosh my pages are sticking to each other..."

Ball-point pen: "She's saying that she tip malfunctioned some time back, and that her tip is drowned by her own period, contained in her cap!"

Fountain pen shrieks: "BRRRRrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrfsej gbjks jknsga jsksg adjk!"

Ball-point pen: "She wants us to know she can't talk, only because her lips are gagged with ink! If her cap should ever be seperated from her, she'll be surging out a massive torrent of dull black ink!"

Every THING starts to turn chaotic.

Blah blah blah... Hey, they are just trying to do a prison break.

Ok stop. No I'm not crazy...

Righhhhhtttt........

Wednesday, December 13, 2006

Wed, 13 Dec 2006 00:33:35 GMT

OOH-K... I've been gone for quite a while now.

Just didn't know what else to write in.

The chalet was a SUCCESS! Haha. The wings were fabulous. The first tray is excellent. But the second tray is a lil' off taste. I wonder... not enough seasoning perhaps? We poured in Oyster sauce, Flower(Hiao) Carving(Diao) Wine, pepper... wrong it's cHuNkS of pepper , and we gave the chicken armpits a gOOoooOooD massage. When the wings came out... WOAH! The smell, I'm telling ya, it's EMPOWERING!

Lina and I worked on the stingrays. It was so HARD, we can't even chop it up. We barely did anything. Just apply nonya sambal medication, threw in some garlic and onions to kill bacteria, and then plaster it in aluminium bandage. It turns out, everyone liked our First-Aid procedures. Appetizing.

Maureen, Wayne and I worked on the golden mushrooms and the bacon! We rolled, pressed and pierced... And everyone liked the bacon. Ok, typing about it now makes me crave for it. The mushrooms are so juicy!

I went to sleep earlier that day. I see so many people, I don't know what to say or do. So I went to zzz...

It was a good fun night. If only William was there too...

Monday, November 20, 2006

Mon, 20 Nov 2006 09:43:19 GMT

Oh my... guess what I just heard! My colleague Joseph just told me that his friend's bought back a teddy-beary puppy from Thailand. I asked him how did they managed to, and he told me his friend's smuggled it in a bag.

But it's dirt cheap. I heard the puppies there are only a fraction of the cost to own one over here.

So what happened was, the teddy-puppy, looking similar to Peanut, started walking on two legs. It must be an amazing dog, to walk on two legs. I mean, Peanut can barely walk on twos! Except when he's doing it backwards.

His friends were puzzled, so they bought it to a vet... only... to know...

That it's not a dog.

It's a bear.

... Hahahahaha....

It's true. I asked him what happened to the puppy, or cub... and his friends had to give it to the zoo. LOL.

Tuesday, November 14, 2006

Tue, 14 Nov 2006 16:15:01 GMT

Maureen and Wayne witnessed an ugly incident in the train today. They boarded the same train with me, just that we only know after we alighted. Haha...

Anyway, they saw this uncouth lady disgracing herself in the rush hour train.

This uncle accidentally stepped on the toes, and she had to announce to the whole world, about how he had just ruined her newly completed pedicure. That uncle apologised. But that lady wouldn't end there. She kept going on and on about how some people are so anxious to get up and move to the exit, when the train is still far from the next station. Blah blah blah. So the uncle's wife jumped to his defence, saying that they have already apologised, and it wasn't done on purpose.

But that lady just kept going at it.

I told William the story. If that were to happen to him, cheeky William might just say this to the pedicure lady, "Guys are realistic, visual creatures. There's no point pampering so much on your feet. Judging from your looks alone, chances are, no one will even bother looking down at your feet. I suggest you do something about your face with that money, before you go round crying about your feet's pedicure."

Hahaha... Squid power! So funny...

Tuesday, November 14, 2006

Tue, 14 Nov 2006 15:41:11 GMT

I took a train back with Lina yesterday. Imagine, I was just blogging about the inconsiderate passengers in the train, and we actually saw an act of kindness in the crowded train.

A blind old man enters the train. I think he was alone. Seems like. Anyway, this guy, a foreigner, near the exit gave up his seat, and gestured for the people around to let the old man take his seat. The blind man couldn't see, and we saw the standing passengers around the old man, extending their round hands(yuan shou ) to guide the man to the seat from the entrance. It was a damn crowded train.

***oh, if you're curious about the nationality of the foreigner, then please recall the stranger beside Maureen at the traffic junction, the one her father mistook for her boyfriend

See, there're kind people around.

Soon afterwards, someone left his seat beside the blind man. This old auntie, advanced two steps towards the seat. Ok, she's old too, so I think she deserved the seat. But... but... she sat half her butt on the blind man!!! Of course, she slided right into place after that.

Lina and I saw what happened. Pain and discomfort was written all over the blind man's face. He couldn't see, so he couldn't get prepared and defend himself against any advancing Butt Attack! Who can blame him? But the blind man didn't say anything, except soothing his aching fragile legs with his palm. The auntie just slipped into her seat comfortably, and didn't apologise.

At first, Lina and I thought, maybe they knew each other. But I thought again, and I'm sure they're definitely not friends.
1) She didn't help him to the seat, or at least, I didn't see that.
2) You really wouldn't SIT on your friends.
3) Even if you did, you would apologise and would admit your foolishness.

What can I say... that auntie is blind too. Her butt's blind.

Tuesday, November 14, 2006

Tue, 14 Nov 2006 00:32:41 GMT

What a tiring morning...
Good. Think I better still catch a wink while I can.

"Ding dong... Bedok."
The lady beside me fell on to my side for a while.
I woke up.

"Ding dong... Kallang."
Man... I need sleep!!! Hope I didn't snore.

"Ding dong... City Hall Interchange."
I didn't open my eyes, and I relied on my hearing. I'm sleepy...
OK! Alighting next stop.

I took a peek, and I saw lotsa feet. But... How come there's still so many people? Didn't a portion of humans alight at City Hall? Did I miss my stop? I don't think so. I don't think I fell asleep, or did I? Nah... no way. But, these "new" people must have boarded the train somewhere. Or, did they move down from the rear of the train? Oh well... I don't have a clue. I closed my eyes again.

The weird thing is, I don't remembering City Hall and Raffles Place being that far apart. The journey seems... forever. It's taking quite a while.

"Ding dong... Tanjong Pagar."
Tanjong Pagar!?!!!
So that explains the mystery.

Monday, November 13, 2006

Mon, 13 Nov 2006 10:15:56 GMT

Ok... this happened on Friday. Boarded the train. I was on my way back from work. It truly amazes me, how some people can be so ugly on board a train. They are so shamelessly ugly. I'm gonna break down my encounters into different parts.

- Incident report 1: Pram ladies set bad example for baby
There were these 2 ladies. One was with a baby pram. It was rush hour. I actually felt for them, cus they were having trouble coming in, on top of that, they had a pram with them. It was real crowded, and she was somehow stuck near the exit. After the next stop, the pram lady said to her friend, "Hey we need to move in. Those people buah my pi gu until nothing left."

But, she was blocking the poeple alighting with the BIG pram! So I thought, ok, fair enough. She has difficulty maneuvering to let other people alight. But the fact remains, her own ass is more important than whether the others are able to alight in time without getting their leg stuck behind the train.

By the way, if Lina was with me, and she heard their accent, she'll be so pissed with them, and glad at the same time, for severing all ties with them. OPPS! Was that too obvious? But I'm sure Lina knows what I mean. She's definitely NOT one of them.

That's not all. The 2 ladies moved in. A few stations later, one girl was so engaged on the phone, she forgot that she has actually reached her destination. She said "Excuse me" at least 4 times, in a non-frantic and polite manner, and got out before the door closes.

It seems that the pram lady has a problem.
"Some people are just shen jing, want to alight already still move all the way in. So dangerous. Still talk on the phone", she announced with much disgust.

Hey... people MOVED IN so the two nut jobs can have a better standing ground with their baby!! And what's wrong with that girl asking politely, for others to make way for her to exit?

Holy... For once, can the world not revolve around those 2 b*tches?

- Incident report 2: Exit leaning glass hogged by fat man
The 2 ladies had now alighted. The *ahem* kind-hearted me has advanced in to the rear, and I leaned on the -won't-be-opening doors.

Imagine this scenarion.
Spectacle guy leans on the glass near the exit.
Kind-hearted Keyfu leans on the door.
Fat man(ArJune-John-brand) leans in between Keyfu and spectacle guy. *for more information, pls contact Lina

The leaning glass spot was taken by the Spectacle guy. But it's the first time I've seen someone being forced out of the spot! Right before my own eyes!

***Fat man advances step-by-step, and Spectacle guy is forced to shift.
Repeat the *** until Spectacle guy is now holding on to the bar instead.

Yup... you've got it. Sickening man! It's an eye opener!

- Incident report 3: Seat hogger by a thin lady
The Spectacle guy and the Fat man both found a seat now. Side by side SOME MORE! Needless to say, you should know who FLEW there. Yup, pigs can fly.

There was an empty seat. So many people were eyeing it. But this thin lady, sat, tilting her legs to one side, so that no child or baby could sit. Yup. She's that selfish.

I walked in front of her, and tried my hardest to establish eye contact, but, she's dead as a log. Or she tries to be. She didn't budged. She pretended to ignore me.

Seriously, who would walk up to a seat, and stand right in front of it? Isn't it obvious enough? Shouldn't you shift in your leg? Yup, that's what I did. Pretending nothing was going on, that's what SHE did!

At least the people around know that someone, me, tried to make that hogger WAKE up. It was kinda obvious she pretended not to know anything.

Oh, I think she came from the hometown, of the person who burnt Maureen with a cigarette at Orchard. There you go!

- Incident report 4: Shoulder space hogger
The thin lady got up. I took the seat right before her eyes. Yet she still pretended to walk out proud, like the 2 seats rightfully belonged to her.

SO, now, there's an empty seat beside me. This tall man, sat down, and SqUeeZed his shoulder blades in. Wow... what a deliberately act. For someone to SQUEEZE his shoulders in... seems quite effort, don't you think? He obviously knew that it was a tight space.

Hey! I was here first. If anyone should be leaning forward, it should be HIM! I "bladed" my ground, and refused to falter. He tried to hold on, but he gave up eventually, and leaned forward.

By the way, he only stayed for 2 stations. 2. Full-stop.

Gosh what is wrong with these people?

I alighted. FINALLY!

- Incident report 5: Shameless bus-stop queue-cutter
This is a story from Saturday, not Friday. I was waiting for bus 29 with William. Suddenly, these short, fat uncle tried to cut in halfway, from one of those mid-way entrances.

He told William he queued wrongly, so he'll just cut in.

William told him nicely , "OK, but maybe you might wanna wait for the people behind, before you come in to the queue."

That short uncle said ,"Oh never mind, it's OK, I can cut in from here." And he quickly moved on into the queue.

We were like... What the...? Yeah, picture both of us, one eye big, one eye small, with a raised eyebrow each. Someone already told him to queue up, and he advanced, pretending to ignore us? Where's his sense of shame?

Wow... skin sure thickens with age.