zQ

Dreams can only be experienced.

And the closest you can get is at Picasa (:

Posted by zhang at 6/21/2007 12:04:00 AM | Permalink | Comments

today, save the exhaustion, is my favourite monday since a long time back (: considering i don't usually like beginnings. let's just say i feel ...filled. and sorry, dr ong xD

Posted by zhang at 2/12/2007 11:42:00 PM | Permalink | Comments

hmm. i have a wavering fascination with mun, or man (because it's apparently derived from sulaiman). he's like an extreme example of controversial sanity. i first believed he was just another of those hopelessly detached instructors bound to some mission of leaving us half dead, but with him it never got pass the beginning stage, probably thanks to the teachers. my impression of him dipped more when i heard he called the teachers fcking fools for spoiling his intention of grilling us during camp. not to mention his parang and oversized, overequipped black suits were highly disquieting (they were matched with an orange whistle amusingly). and so it was with a skewed sense of humour that i found it funny when i first saw him smile, baring his teeth jasonchan style. after that he was rarely with us, something much overtly cheered for. but somehow, i started to view him as one with humanity, one who actually did care, for i saw no other explanation to why he patrols the campsite tirelessly and remarkably sleeps for a whole of just 5 minutes, or so claimed. though his presence remained undeniably palpable and fearsome, i silently hoped that he would tell us more about himself as he seemed so forced into and accustomed to his state of detachment. i think, he would've been more suited to live 100 years ago to become some war hero instead of simply quietly keeping out wild boars. i ponder his purpose, what goals drive him. i admire his existence, but at the end of ldp, the predominant feeling i have towards him is strangely, sympathy.

Posted by zhang at 1/17/2007 03:44:00 PM | Permalink | Comments

school's been tedious to sit through, and it's almost all because of the sense of repetition you get after a while. even with entirely different subjects, teaching styles never vary much and tend to gravitate around lecturing, discussing and that IT thing. and there's always the impression given that with all kinds of new subject options and topics there's allegedly flexibility in your learning but i think they are still dazed over the idea that their enrichment keeps us interested, even though it's not like teachers nor students have a choice. and so (although late) i rue the loss of music and (particularly) art lessons within curriculum time, because they seemed the only ones which gave any significant focus to individual expression without much stipulated boundaries. i don't think it was that much bull out some fertile shit, but more frequently like allowing one's mind to relax a little, doodle around and say what you want to say, and not what you are expected (or perhaps even forced) to say. i regret school takes away the creativity aspect in practically every subject and instead grooms us to become those mechanical distinction scoring robots, what with "...in preparation for jc years" and adapted grade systems which don't really seem to suit us very well. maybe it's because with meritocracy, education becomes a system which cannot function without grades, and creativity is something you can't actually grade without bias, and so they throw it aside without hesitation. which leaves us with exposition upon exposition, report upon report, worksheet upon worksheet. so where did all the imagination and creativity go, especially in the arts subjects? we seem thusly banned from writing fiction upon reaching a certain stage of seniority and maturation. i don't remember when and don't comprehend how producing photocopies of non-fiction essays with rigid structures or reflections which actually come with a format became yardsticks for mental development, when it is simply writing and attempting to perfect fixed criteria. maybe we do learn, but we learn mostly how to follow, and not how to think. so how then to stir up fascination, to motivate students to learn, when all they feel that they are required to do is to memorize, then forget? i hope eventually, school expands the limits placed on work to factor in an area of imagination to work the other half of brain, and cultivate a excitement to go to school. maybe one day, we will write our own stories instead of reading and scrunitizing them for accidental meanings, or be left alone to produce some wacky new scientific invention and be rewarded for trying even if we don't succeed. but i guess for now, i continue to sigh in the face of improbable emancipation.

Posted by zhang at 1/10/2007 12:36:00 AM | Permalink | Comments

hello i'm home (: first and foremost, click here for pictures. however there're alot more family photos which i'm not gonna put online but err, if you want you can always ask for them from me personally =)

adelaide was really fun, the people really friendly and hospitable (but ehh, really slow and omg their patience is admirable). so overall i had lots of fun (duh haha) but it made me put on alot of weight -.- my cousin who studies in uni there brought us around and we ate different cuisines every day. so tuesday we had vietnamese food <3, wednesday countryside (pate and terrines =D) and then italian food (which apparently won some best pizza in the world competition o.o), thursday southeast asian food (which is owned/operated by my cousin's classmate's family who are super nice people and keep on fighting with us over who should foot the bill), friday german food at a pub in hahndorf (the german village) and korean food at chinatown, saturday greek food (which is really exotic and tastes either too salty or too sour. but nice still =P), and finally sunday argentinian food (where i ate almost 1kg of steak and other yummie stuff). it sounds like an eating trip right -.-" but my entire family has huge appetites so we didn't stop xD we even snacked more in the bus, heh. now to lose weight (:

then the milk in australia is real good =D we went to this icecream parlour where there're like countless flavours and toppings and mixins, and then when you're done choose everything they'll mixup your icecream on this cold rock (which is also its name). my fave is the cookie dough which has mini m&ms stuck in it and tastes so so rich x) then there was this super great yoghurt stall at the market which had all the fruity flavours like berries and mangoes and the sweet flavours like chocolate flake or caramel crumble (<3!). not to forget all austrailan portions are quite the Big. finally we also visited a chocolate factory and i kept taking samples xD the chocolate coffee beans are cool. and i ate from the wonderful liquid chocolate machine thing until my throat was burning xD

the weather got really hot at times, once up to 40+ degrees, which made me fall sick for a while because i err, overheated o_O we drank like litres of water every day and i got quite tanned (YAY). actually, almost sunburnt o.o plus all the alcohol (i love love love the white wine and got half-drunk for the first time) made me feel even hotter (hoho). then we went cherrypicking and somehow got so engrossed we took back 10kg =O but since it was so cheap we (which is like, 14 people so it's not too bad) bought another 30kg to bring back to singapore xD

then shopping (: and sleeping (: the marvels of life haha. they had lots of discount outlets and sales so i bought some clothes at quite cheap prices. but anyway i think my favourite part of the whole trip was when we went to the park and the weather then was just perfect, and we just sat and basked in the breeze and greenery and it was just so serene. my cousins started playing with my uncle and my brother went strolling with my dad, and the rest of us just lay down on the grass, which is firm yet moist but not muddy. that's something i can't get in singapore but would really want. i really love parks in seasonal counties =(

well that's all for adelaide. now i need to exercise =/ two weeks left to enjoy my hols anyways. after christmas it's ugh -.-" i don't want to go for camp grahhh. i don't want to go back to school so fast grahhh. and i don't want to wear long pants grahhh. oh well -.-"

Posted by zhang at 12/12/2006 07:20:00 PM | Permalink | Comments