Cringes...

I cringe everytime I look at this picture... it was taken from BBC.com on the recent Gaza violence. IT's disheartening to hear of such news... and the victimized plight of innocent children.

Break time

Halfway through my year 3 sem II and I can barely catch my breath. Adding on to the fact that the capacity for my agenda-of-the-day has drastically shrunk, I get tired REALLy easily. Cynically, I'm getting myself busy over stuff irrelevant to my major... To think that I call myself a psychology major.

The classes this sem are somewhat interesting, with relevance to social work, japanese studies and sociology. The study of social work and practices in Singapore goes hand in hand with the sociological concepts of power, social stratification and whatsnot; study of japanese studies tempts me to go on a one-month vacation in JApan. HAha... I guess the most striking of 'em all would be sociology, which isn't quite what i expected it to be. At times, it can get rather depressing especially on the recent topic of social stratification, local context. It has probably helped me to verbalize some of the observations while travelling and away from SIngapore.

Quirky duo

One of the reasons why i like NYC... its always a place of surprises and quirky talented people. hehee...
P.S. check out their album

Eating an apple...

Its funny what kind of reaction i get when i eat an apple while walking on the streets... doing this on the streets of Melbourne, Sydney, Montreal, States would probably juz invite dust onto my apple. In Singapore, it not only invited dust, but an identifying chuckle from an auntie leaning against the wall chewing on an apple as i walked past her. I couldn help smiling at her too... we're probably the only weirdos in Singapore chewing on an apple outside a contained place with four walls and a roof....

Vegetable Pita wrap

REcreating recipes is a good way of reminscing memory. Been dishing up food that i normally eat in Montreal for the past 4 months. Well, probably juz one dish. and a lazy one at that. HAha... Fuss free, oil free, hassle free! That's my vegetable pita wrap!



Vegetable pita wrap

Ingredients

Pita bread

Couple tablespoons of sour cream

2 leaves of romaine lettuce

Handful of raisins

Blue cheese

Tomato



Juz lay them nicely and wrap it up! How easy and fast is that!

HAhahh... the healthy version of fast food.

Missing you....

I can't believe that i'm saying this, but i miss MOntreal and the East coast! Considering that I told myself repeatedly that I won't be going back to Nth America in a while, I'm rather fickle minded. Ooops... I miss the little brick house and my cute french landlady, the snow-laden x'mas trees lined on the sidewalk, braving the cold and snow on the way to McGill, and of course my beloved sin-food of all time, Poutine... I miss poring over travel websites planning for weekend trips... I miss surfing MidnightPOutine for the latest food reviews in town. I can't believe i'm saying this, but i miss walking on the streets of NYC...

Into the Wild

So I've been doing some reading since I'm back in Sing... I love the feeling of being able to sit down with a good book in hand, my cold cup of milk, lying on the ever familiar 'chinese-ancient' style sofa in my living room. Its quiet and surreal, which is much needed as an evasion from the hustles & bustles outside my little house & the blasting heat rays.

Been reading this book 'INto the Wild' by Jon Krakauer, which has recently been documented as a motion picture with the similar title, as directed by Sean Penn. REading the book for one thing, didn quite hit me on the impact of Chris McCandless's story, till I caught this afternoon's Oprah Winfrey's show guest featuring Sean Penn, Jon Krakauer, Emile Hirsch, & Chris McCandless's sister (the narrator in the motion picture). IT was interesting to see how total strangers (other than his sister) spoke of Chris McCandless as if they knew him personally, when Sean Penn describes why he decided to make this story a motion picture, Emile Hirsch recounts of reliving experiences Chris McCandless experienced, Jon Krakauer defends the boy from responsibility towards his own death. All in all, they know what Chris McCandless did and they are awed at what he did. Probably, by directing an independent film, assuming an ill-begotten role , investigating and penning an unkown story were their individual methods of 'going into the wild', a form of emulating Chris's motto of escaping realities and mundanes of life to live out life as it is.

Then again, how many can adhere to this, to what Chris has done, to live out life as it is, without bothering about the eye of others, without having a concern for the concerns of this world. We'd need a hell lot of guts like Chris McCandless.

The past couple of days has been a time of exercise for my brain. My mind has been filled with thoughts about what 2008 is gonna be like. Unlike 2007, when i had such a grip over what i was gonna be doing or thinking; this year, i have no idea whats in store for me. The feeling of inadequacy irks me, and the story about Chris McCandless resonates this inadequacy. LOved ones around me whom I saw 4 months ago, seem to have aged and grown in weary. Serving as a reminder that its time to grow up, and do some serious thinking....