by the window

i heard a knock on my window ...

Anonymous: "Knock knock."
Me: (with my eyes still fixed to the comp) "Who's there?"
Anonymous: "Knock knock."
Me: (a little irritated) "Knock knock who?"
Anonymous: "Knock knock."
Me: "Open the window yourself."

Me: "..." (damn. really did i just said what i think i did)

I wasn't really in the mood for jokes. My room is on the 2nd level, which means my window is ard 5m above the ground. Moreover, its at the ungodly hour of 1am in a freezingly cold morning. Nobody should be knocking. Not even on my window. Maybe spiderman dropped by to ask me to save the world with him...

I looked out of my window and i saw 8 fingers hanging onto the window ledge and 2 fingers holding a stick. "Where is the head?", I wondered. Maybe I should open the window, which will scrape the mysterious fingers off the ledge, to see who is clinging from my window ledge. Then, i recognised the ring on one of the fingers.

The american.

"Knock knock". The fingers continued to tap the stick against my window. Ignoring it, I left my room, exited the house by the back door and walked to the front. Matt was still hanging from my window and knocking impatiently on my window.

Me: "Hey Matt what are you trying to do? Your room is on the 4th floor, not really a good idea to climb all the way up you know."
He: "You ain't in your room?"
Me: "You keep guessing."

He grinned sheepishly and climbed down from the window. He told me he had forgotten that to bring his keys. Since my lights were on, he wanted to catch my attention to help him open the door. Goodness. He dun seem to mind falling from 5m.

damn. the stupid things that people do.

cool

the temperature here drops to freaking 2 degreeC during the night! somebody please convince me that it's summer in France now.

Grrr. damn. Brrr.

Happy Birthday Singapore.

Singapore

Often my self introduction would end up being a geography lesson.
Me : “Hi. My name is Jun Yong.”
He : "Where are you from?"
Me : "I am from Singapore."
He : "Where in China is Singapore?"

I guess if 'ignorance' is the name of his game, then 'patience' would be mine.
Me : "Singapore is at the end of Malaysia."
He : "Where is malaysia?"
Me : "..."

Nonetheless, some conversations are more interesting.
He : "There are 4 seasons in France, so how many seasons are there in Singapore?"
Me : "Two."
He : "Summer and Winter? No. It is not possible."
Me : (grinning) "No. Monsoon season and non-Monsoon."

Today a wave of nostalgic patriotism swept thought me. Thus, I decided to post a National Day Special Edition. What does it mean to be a Singaporean? I have never thought about that whilst I was in Singapore. After the countless presentations to many classes of international students, I realized that Singapore’s identity isn’t just about chilli crabs. Multicultural, meritocracy, english speaking, tech-savvy and the list goes on. I can't define it, but it is definitely not as simple as chilli crabs.

these were taken duiring a preview. I used some of them in my presentation about Singapore.

first water based perfomance.
doesn't the view gets nicer as the sun sets.
i know it sounds cliche but is that a bird?
how bout these?
uh huh. this leads me to my all time favourite Calvin and Hobbes's joke. what is scarier and deadlier than land dwelling tyranosaurs?
tyranosaurs flying F-16s. hahahaha. gosh.
im so lucky to be able to catch the firing off. too bad the background is ugly.
We have cutting edge technology. Many of you probably dun think much about the floating platform

We have cutting edge technology. Many of you probably dun think much about the floating platform at Marina Bay, but I showed them the pictures above, most of my classmates stared in disbelief. “It’s not possible? How do you make it float?”, they asked. I replied them with a wink and a nod.
I’m proud of being a Singaporean.

apology

'sorry'. Some people had used the word so frequently that it seemed to be just hanging from the end of their tongue. Sincere apologies should come from a contrite heart. It is not a word of convenience for you to use to find a quick solution out of a sticky situation. Though we can't be sure if these people are truly apologetic, we have to let them off the hook as this is what all forgiving human beings would naturally do. However, the placebo effect would probably wear off by the fifth time if one has to apologise everyday. People who apologise often are those who do not put in enough effort in the things that they do. A challenge to those who apologise frequently...

How about making people say 'thank you' for a change.

Such people really make my blood boils, their profuse apologies only adds fuel the leaping flames of my anger. I could literally feel my blood boiling, my veins throbbing and blood gushing to my head. Often these symptoms are well hidden under my facade of calm and serenity. For a moment, I thought I would be capable of doing things that are simply unimaginable to innocent minds. These people just have to incur my wrath. Have they no idea how agitated I would become? I would look at them straight in their faces and say, 'Hey smile for me and you would make my day.' Sometimes, it is just not worth it to make yourself angry.

Forgive; and it would make you a happier person.

tranquility.

This is one of those times when there are so many things that i want to say; and yet when i sat before the computer, i am unable to type out my thoughts coherently.

bon.

happy'ness

wedding ceremonies are contagious, they never fail to infect people with a heavy dose of happiness. They will flood every crevices and cavity of your body with exuberance. Children would be running around with ebullient effervescence. While adults, beaming with joy, talked among themselves.

I attended the wedding of my host's daughter's friend with Sayo, my japanese housemate. She was probably as ecstatic as the bride when she learnt that she was invited to the wedding. She can hardly hide her animation; elation was written all over her face. How i wish i can be as easily pleased as her.

Like christmas, weddings give me a feeldamngood moment. Even though we don't know the newly personally, we still went ahead to congratulate and give them our blessings. Soaking in the atmosphere of beatitude, we can see that the couple has already started enjoying their marital bliss. They were grinning from ear to ear. Apparently, I think blessedness spreads by osmosis. Soon, we were glowing with exaltation too.

The church ceremony was held in Eglise de Blase. As we were seated quite far back, we couldn't see the whole procession of the ceremony. We were straining our ears and trying our best to listen as the priest conducted the whole ceremony in french. The priest, who is evidently very well accustomed to the rites of weddings, finished his statements all in one breathe. We were hardly able to catch anything. Nonetheless, we followed though with the ceremony.

At the end of the ceremony, the bride threw the bouquet of flower into the euphoric crowd. We quietly took our leave in the midst of uplifting exhilaration, feeling glad that we were invited to share the joy of others.

the solemn ceremony
the newly weds

Felicitation!
the bouquets that my host and I were busy with for the whole of Friday. She is a wedding planner.

p.s. this is a blatant attempt to test my vocabulary for happy words. Written with the intention to dispute my own belief that i have larger vocabulay for words to describe sadness then happiness. hs, have i succeded?