Hmmm...

Ok... Just came back from Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban and my abs still hurt. Won't Shane be pleased! Harumph... My mother is already grinning from ear to ear about it. But I suppose that the pain and the soreness is a good sign. It means all this gym and weight training is actually working. Been getting a number of comments saying I look better and all. I really hope it's true.

Anyway. Back to Harry Potter. I didn't think it was very fantastic despite all the rave reviews about it. I mean, it wasn't a terrible film. It was good. Just not fantastic. I wasn't left breathless after the show. Unlike the first movie. While the second movie bordered on long-winded, at least the quidditch scenes made me hold my breath. I do believe my heartbeat stayed rather calm during this third one. There were faults of course, but that's not to say that it wasn't enjoyable. It was very much so. I didn't fall asleep and I never once checked for time throughout the movie.

That said, here are what I feel are the pros and cons about the movie:
Pros
1)Most of the newer characters are indeed very well cast. David Thewlis is wonderfully reserved as Lupin and Emma Thompson is a nicely flouncy Trelawny.
2)Less time is spent panning the scenery and settings (as was done a lot in the first two installations) and more time on the story.
3)The movie was definitely more mature in terms of tone. The innocence of childhood fades as time passes and both the characters and the world within the books/movies grow older.
4)The Whomping Willow most absolutely deserves a fan club of its own. See how the irritatingly cute birdies get, for a lack of a better word, whomped.
5)Very nice subtleties inside the movie. One of which being when Snape says Lupin is indisposed, and the next thing you see is Lupin showing up with multiple scars on his face.

Cons
1)There was almost no character developement to speak of. The new characters are just thrown into your face and the audience does not really get a chance to become familiar with them.
2)Many of the characters except for the main three were seriously side-lined. Characters like Snape (whom I thought was a main draw for any Harry Potter story), MacGonagall, Dumbledore, the Weasley twins and too many others were severely deprived of screen time. And even so, even Hermione and Ron were put aside a fair bit.
3)Many important details and scenes were changed or excluded from the movie. Such as the history of Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs; Lupin's monthly potion requirements, the reason behind the Whompin' Willow, Sirius scraping Snapes head along the tunnel... *cough* Timeline was also changed occasionally, most significantly when Harry recieves the Firebolt.
4)Very very very little quidditch, if not none. The quidditch scenes are usually my favourite in any Harry Potter movie so imagine my disappointment when barely 2 minutes of the game was showed. Of course, this particular point is a highly biased one. :P
5)Ultimately, this latest installation into the franchaise caters more for the audience who have read the books as well. No doubt it allows for those who haven't to still enjoy themselves, but there are holes left that can only be filled if you read the book.

All in all, I attribute most of the flaws to the fact that the actual story has too many characters, too many sub-plots going on and too many details to be put into a single movie. 3 hours is already stretching it. I've no doubt that the Screenwriter I-can't-remember-his-name and Director Alphonso Cuaron did the best they could to put together the film as seamlessly as they could. Interesting and enjoyable as Rowling's stories are, I do believe that she'll do well not to get overly ambitious with her next few books.

Well... I hope I haven't been too picky about things (although I actually have quite a few more things to say. Just that the angry mob of Harry Potter fans outside my window are scaring me.) and they're really just my own opinions so you don't have to take them into account. Anyhow this particular entry seems to be a tad longer than it should've been so I'll just end here. I need to sleep too anyways.

OOooooooooooooowwwwWW!!!

My abs have been hurting since yesterday. As in REALLY hurting. Shane finally made me do sit-ups on one of those bouncy gym balls. 3 sets at that!! PAIN!!!

ookok.. update again later.. going to catch Azkaban midnight show!! woooo!!!

MEGA-DROOL!!!

Finally went to the Lord of The Rings exhibition. Went with Phoenich and it was SOOOOOOO cool!!!!! *drool drool* Wish there were more things though. Like more of the model sets and a Gollum sculpture. Poor Gollum was nowhere to be found!

I want a set of Legolas weaponry. Arrows of Lothlorien, White swords.. The WHOLE WORK!! *sniff* But it's way out of my price range. I had to settle for the $15 commemorative One-Ring set which consists of the One Ring (obviously just painted metal... not real gold *sigh*), a miniature One Ring keychain (which I gave to Phoenich) and a miniature Leaf of Lothlorien keychain. Sigh.. Wanted to get the $60 One Ring but #*%&#@(*#.. I was short of $10. Just $10 more and I could've gotten a gold-plated One Ring. *cry* And they didn't accept NETS... *sob* The real gold One Ring with registration certificate and box set cost $180. O_O *bawl*

Tomorrow is the last day... Unfortunately I'm not free.. Can't go again.. SIGH!! So sad!!!! *howl and scream* Can I just steal the whole exhibition??? Gift store included. SIIIIIGGGGGGGHHHH.....

But it was fun today. I could've just stayed there the WHOLE day! :D:D:D

I Can't Find My Legs... Hold On.. My Bum's Gone Too...

I can't feel my legs. From bum down.

Although Shane assures me that I will MOST CERTAINLY feel them over the next two days. Bit of info before I tell you what happened during today's training. Or yesterday afternoon... Seeing how it's 1.57am already... During the first consultation, Shane informed me that a person's legs, theoretically speaking, are s'posed to be able to hold twice the body weight. Can't remember if it was each leg or both together though.. Shall ask again tomorrow.

SO. That being said, I was made to do inclined leg presses. 4 sets of 20 with increasing weights as usual, with the 15kg weights, starting with zero. Just the board which itself weighs quite a bit. I'd say 5kg. So after 45kg on each side and I innocently thought we were done, the bugger informs me that we're going to do weights shedding, meaning we do short sets and increase the number of presses per set as we take off the weights. Then he goes and adds another 15kg to each leg.

I was bloody lifting 60kg on each leg. And! For the longest time, until only around 5pm (my appointment ended at 1pm) did I realize: I was lifting a GRAND TOTAL of 120kg with my legs. No wonder I couldn't feel anything after I stood up. I was already beyond pain.

Excuse me while I go locate my bum. I'm sure I'm s'posed to be sitting on it...

New Skin!!

NEW SKIN!!! *does a little dance*

Crimson Madness... for the madness of a siew mai (read: steamed dim sum). Actually the original words were reddish passion.. But it didn't seem to work for me so I changed the them. Hope the creator of the skin doesn't mind.

Wondering if I should put the chatterbox higher up on the right column.. Suggestions? Or even better, any kind soul willing to CREATE a skin just for me?? *puts on Puss-in-Boots killer "cute" look* I'd be EVER so grateful. :D

My triceps are sore. I practically couldn't move the weights during the last set of tricep lifts... My arms refused to budge. Wonder what Shane's going to do tomorrow. Probably legs again. Yay!! My fave body part to work out. Mainly coz my legs are stronger. Wahahah... He'll prob try to squeeze in abs this time.. EEK!! I hate doing abs... :P

Muscles Long Forgotten... Now Found Again... :P

For the first time in about 10 years, I actually feel the existance of my lower back muscles. Sylvia McCully used to make us do back hyper-extensions on the floor during ballet classes and I haven't actually done anything like that since I quit dancing.

Until yesterday that is.

Yesterday Shane had me do upper body weights again. Chest presses and assisted chin-ups.. The usual stuff... THEN!! He made me do back lifts. Errr.. Kinda like sit-ups except you do it in reverse, with your back muscles rather than your abs. KAOZ!!! Fantastic I tell you. My lower back has re-introduced itself to me. Erp..

I need a new skin... Got to update my links anyhow... A lot of pple's blogs that I haven't connected yet...

First Compliment!!

Went for coffee with Danny today. Haven't seen him for a while and it was nice to see him again after so long. Still quite a nice guy. Found out that Nick (from ACJC drama) is going to be taking part in Singapore Idol. Wahahaha.. This should be interesting.

Bumped into Isaac and Jean!! And they say that I've lost a lot of weight since they last saw me!! Yay!! So happy!! ^_^ Fight on!! Went on the scale and so far I've seen about a 1kg loss in weight since I joined the gym (2,3 weeks ago?). 9kg more to go!! Let the countdown begin!!

Hooot!!!!!! ^_^

Argh

Argh.

My arms are sore. S-O-R-E with a capital S. While we didn't do sit-ups (for which I am eternally grateful) we did shoulder exercises with weights. My triceps are busy having a private rebellion now and my biceps are on strike. Chest and back muscles are busy being spoilt too. *grumble*

But it's all for a greater good I guess. I just signed on for another course of 25 sessions. It's going to be tough. Hope I can survive through it all without much trouble. I forsee much internal conflict in the future when it gets too painful. I MUST PERSERVERE!!! And for $2K I'd BETTER GO ON... Maybe I should go and find my own personal cheerleader team... Any volunteers? :P

Meeting Danny for coffee tomorrow! Yay!! Haven't seen him for yonks!!

PUSS!!! In Boots. ;D

Hehehehehe.... Went to watch Shrek 2 with Felie and Cheryl today. It was damn farnee!! Four of us (their friend, Daniel was there too) were laughing at every single thing that showed up! The attention to detail was fantastic!! Like FarBucks Coffee. Hehehehe... I LOVE PUSS!!! He's SOOOOOOO cute!!!!!!!!! Wahahahah!!! And the giant gingerbread man, Mango was sweet too!! And of course there were the usual digs at Disney animations. Like the little mermaid. Hir hir hir...

It was a great way to end the day. We were helping Felie and Cheryl move into their new place today. Zeebee and Donikon came to help as well, though they didn't stay for the movie. We finished relatively fast. We started moving out of the old place around... hmm... 2.30pm, 3? And we were done by about 5!! Their new place is quite nice. It's on the 22nd floor and the master bedroom's got a really nice view. Of course my arms were aching after that. I can't raise them up to shoulder level without feeling the ache. Which is good!! It means I've really worked out.

Oh right!! I forgot to blog yesterday. Had my second session with Shane yesterday and we did upper body exercises. Bench presses (4 sets. Nearly died.) and chin-ups (this with a machine that actually assists you... quite cool really.. AC gym had one like it.) mainly. And for about 30min after that I couldn't quite feel my arms, but the ache only really set in this morning when I woke up. Last free trial session is tomorrow, after which I'll probably sign up for another course of 20 sessions. Hope he doesn't make me do sit-ups tomorrow. I HATE DOING SIT-UPS!! Crunches are alrite. I can do crunches. NO SIT-UPS!!!!!!!! I'll raise bloody hell if he does... Grrrr....

I'm A Survivor!!!

My legs are numb.

Or rather I should say that my thighs are numb. I could barely walk up the stairs just now. But I'm HAPPY!! I had my first personal trainer session today. Trainer's name is Shane and he's cool. I actually felt like I worked out today. Heheh.. For once. Instead of forever running on the treadmill like some crazed hamster. Of course then I had flamenco class (which I just came back from) and I nearly keeled over when we did the Saludo, coz my legs threatened to give way. But now I'm back in my room, after surviving an arduous trek up the stairs and feeling quite proud of myself, thank you very much.

I will survive!! The scales are moving!! Go Siew Mai Go!!!

Progress...

Ah-Ha!!! I have progress. I went onto the scales the other day at the gym and noticed a half kg shift!! We have movement people!!! Ok fine. So 500g isn't exactly very world shaking but it means that all this gym is doing something!!! ONWARD MARCH!!! I have just signed up for the 3 complimentary private trainer sessions. Maybe will continue for another course of 10 sessions after that. The aim people, is to lose 10kg by the time school re-opens. *makes fist in the air* Oosh! I'm talking about a hotter siew mai in NUS and KR guys. I need all the help and encouragement I can get.

As for the Japanese... er.. I'm... still working on that... :P

Holiday Aims

Right then. Here is a list of what my plans for this holiday will be...

1. Lose Weight. Shape up. Action Taken: Joined Fitness First. Considering taking on a personal trainer at extra cost.
2. Rearrange my room Action Taken: Cleaned up my bookshelves. Further unpacking and rearranging pending. :P
3. Get a funky haircut Action Taken: Have an appointment with Pukey's friend at 2pm. Hehehehe...
4. Brush up on Japanese Action Taken: erm...
5. Read more. Watch cable less. Action Taken: *cough*
6. Find a tree that grows money. Action Taken: Search still in progress
7. Feminise myself Action Taken: Bought one skirt which I will probably never wear
8. Pick up drawing again
9. Prepare to become KR Culture Queen *evil laughter* Action Taken: Taking flamenco classes at Dance Circle
10. Catch up with friends long ignored Action Taken: So far hung out with Jemalelinh, Pukey and Sharon (inclusive of boyfriend). More similar outings in planning.

2nd Week of Holidays

Ack!! One week gone already!! AHHH!!! Time is slipping through my fingers. I'm only half-unpacked... Eep!

Hmmm...

Okok... Am over the irritation that was just now. But I'm still not going to encourage 'boyfriend-ness'. Troublesome little buggers they are. They're like... pets.. cats I would say. They require taking care of then totally ignore the trouble you put in for them. Hmm... Or maybe I'm just anti-guy in general...

Reminder to Self: Never Get Attached

This is NO offence to boyfriends of the world or to my friends who are attached. But at this point of time, I'm going to swear off getting attached. If it means spending every free moment I have with a 'HIM' and neglecting my friends, I'd rather NOT have a 'HIM'.

Yeah.. I'm just ranting. I'll be ok after today.

Back to the ranting. I've come to the conclusion that 'Boyfriends' is actually a kind of disease. They render a person helpless, take a significant amount of time to recover from, require the afflicted the person to give a lot of attention to or it gets worse and when a person has caught the disease, you hardly see that person... presumably because the disease has gotten the better of that person.

Is it SO wrong to ask for a day out with the girls without a 'HIM' coming into the picture?

ok... I shall stop ranting now before a million people come and murder me... or rather.. Before someone comes and glares at me a million times, then killing me just as many times.

Kill Bill Vol.2 Anyone?

Thursday. Moved back almost a week now and it's been the most stress-free week of my entire 2nd year. Sleeping in the wee-hours of the morning, waking up only when the sun is out and shining, wasting time and playing on my computer and... eh.. wait.. that sounds exactly like what I do in hall...

*ahem* in any case... Moved back 6 days now and I still haven't unpacked. Whahaha... All I've done so far is set up my laptop, my radio and my dustbin. My clothes are still in 3 separate bags in my room and the rest of my hall room is downstairs in the piano room. Think by the time I unpack it'll be time to move back to hall.

Waiting for 6.30pm to come so I can toodle off to my flamenco class in Queensway. It's quite a fun class. Maybe I should continue with it, and join some more dance classes. Hehehe... My goal is to be in all 6 culture groups next year. Title of Culture Queen is MINE!!! Muahahahah!!!

Wee Liam just msged me to tell me that they've now got OTHER arrangements for scriptwriter and thanked me for considering the position. Hooray!! Dun have to work with that poser E anymore. Shall not say names although it's obvious enough already. HA!! And now I can enjoy my hols with absolutely NO WORRIES at all!! Except maybe looking for a job. Hmmm... A bit sad though, coz initially I had planned to be a Production-Kia throughout my years in KR. E spoilt it all I say.. Ok... So I'm not being very professional about it but hey!! It's my last chance to be totally naive and childish and immature. So there!

Still haven't watched Kill Bill yet. I wanna watch... Any takers?? I wanna go to the LOTR exhibition too!! Jemalelinh!! Let's go!!! FWOCers!! Let's have another gathering!! *bawl*

My Less-Than-Ordinary Birthday

Happy Birthday to Me....
I am now officially 21. My birthday came and went on Monday 26th April and it couldn't have been a more... NORMAL day. The day went something like this: I wake up, read a book, have lunch, go back to KR, clean the 7th floor pantry, lock up all the pantries, return the key to office, go home, have dinner, watch tv, sleep.
How spectacular eh.

To make up for it, Pukey and I were s'posed to watch Kill Bill Vol.2 at 11.45am the next day and have lunch with Sharon and Weihan. We both woke up at 11am. Hahahaha.. So we skipped the movie and just had lunch with Sharon and Weihan and roamed all over Orchard. Sharon unsuccessfully tried to make me spend more than the $18 I spent on the Terry Prachett book. Heh. It was a fun time. REALLY!!

It's just that, I kinda imagined that my 21st birthday would be something more y'know. Everyone else seems to be making such a big deal out of theirs. There wasn't even a cupcake in sight. I guess it couldn't be helped. The exams had just ended and I was busy moving out of hall and making sure people didn't put their things in the wrong pantry. Didn't really have time to organize any kind of party and now that it's over, there isn't really much point in organizing anything. Oh well. I guess in the end it's just another day. No point making a big deal out of it right?

But you know what really takes the cake? On Monday, after I came home from locking up the pantries, I find out from my mother that Uncle Bing, my grandpa's youngest brother, died in a scuba-diving accident earlier that day. Mum drove up to Johor on Tuesday to try and get a flight over to Kuching. I would've gone as well, only I had no idea when she was planning to go and she decided not to call me back home while I was out gallavanting in Orchard Road. I could just knock myself silly.

Imagine. My future birthdays will also be my Uncle Bing's death anniversary. How exciting.

Moving Out... Moving Home...

haaa....

time to move out.. last day of stay in KR for this academic year. i'm all packed and ready to go!! except i can't go yet coz my parents aren't here yet... hence i'm writing in my long neglected blog. haha..

feeling much better after that short bout of depression... maybe it was just exam stress.. i don't know. but i'm really looking forward to the hols, hot as it is... i wanna watch KILL BILL VOL. 2!!!!!!!! it's been yonks since i last watched a movie on the big screen. i feel so deprived. SHOPPING!! must go shopping... even if i don't need anymore nonsense. shopping is therapeutic. HA!! must go!

so HOOTTTTT!!! where did the rain and the cool winds run away too???

shall attempt calling my dad again... sigh... where are they.... anyhow i need to come back for a while tonight to clean the kitchen... sigh.... irk

Siew Mai Steaming... Steaming... Ste... DRIED OUT LIAO!!! SHRIVELLED!!!

*ahem*
Once again, my first post in a million years.

Exams are nearly over. My last paper is silly Lim B.C.'s one tomorrow and here I am NOT studying. HA! Writing blogs instead. Technically speaking I should be glad that everything's going to end I guess. But I'm not. Instead, I'm feeling extremely EXTREMELY tired. I just wanna go home, hide, be ALONE!! Hang out with a couple of my closer friends, do what I want to do and... I'm sorry to say this, especially when some hall people read this blog... I want to hear nothing.. NOTHING about hall. Oh GOOD GRIEF!! Just for a month, a week, JUST ONE DAY!!! For just one. FREAKIN. DAY. I don't want to be blockhead. I don't wanna hear who's stealing food, who's messing up the kitchen, the toilet, who's neighbour is making too much noise, who's neighbour is too smelly for words. Just ONE DAY. Shit man. I know it's totally irresponsible to think like that, even more so to put it down on black and white that's public to every single eye. I'm so sorry but I'm really really tired.

I know I've probably disappointed about a thousand people with that outbreak, and I'm so sorry. God knows how sorry I am to have to disappoint all of you but I'm really not that strong. I'm not as tough as you'd like to believe. Or rather, as I've lead you to believe. I'm weak. So damned weak. I'm so sorry.

Now I'm even letting people walk all over me. I hate it and yet I don't want to do anything about it. They seem to be doing a good job of being in charge. Once again, irresponsible to think so. My term hasn't even ended and everyone's just rushing to take over the job. So ironic. I was always the kind who wants to be in charge, usually am. Now, people taking over me, whether I like it or not. But I really don't have the will power to fight back.

Dunno why, but one person who reads this blog that I feel to have let down utterly... Ms o8ight, admittedly, we're not as close as we should be considering the shit we went through together as FWOCers, and despite the fact that I was your "angel". Yet, of all the people who read this blog and really, of all the people who supported me initially, I somehow feel like I've let you down the most. And (ok.. I guess everyone is sick and tired of hearing me say this but...) I'm sorry. I tried but I couldn't stop tripping over everything. Guess I was never really made out to be blockhead after all.

I'm no leader. I'm a schmuck.

Lost & Found Blogger

I realize that I haven't posted a single thing for the longest time. Oops... Been busy. This period is... madness..

Exams!!! First paper on Wednesday!!! AAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRGGGHHH!!! Somebody shoot me. PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!

I have found the 1982 release of "The Last Unicorn"!! *does a little dance* Check out this fan-page: http://utd500.utdallas.edu/~hairston/lastunicorn.html Really quite comprehensive.

Now for some popcorn...