Almost the End and Totem

Overall, I think it's reasonable to say I've had a decent time in America. Though it's strange to be visiting the place that I grew up and even stranger to want to go back home (Singapore), it was a good experience. I can't say I'd like to spend such a long time in the Boston/Bedford area again next year, because it was rather dull at times. I can't say I am dying to return to New York, because it's dirty. And I don't want to do another college tour with 30 other kids. Yet, America is fun. There's lots of shopping to do and people to see again. That, and tonight there was Totem.

Totem is a Cirque De Soleil show that's currently touring, and happened to be in Boston. Now, I'm a huge fan of Cirque, which I have said before. Totem was easily the best Cirque show I've ever seen. The costumes, lighting and stage design aspect of it was completely amazing and very creative. Then, the performers were spectacular. I don't like clowning very much, but Totem's clowns were very funny. Also, they had skills of their own such as bouncing a ping-pong ball off various points of the body.

The best acts were the stationary trapeze, the Russian bar, and the roller-skating. The roller-skating was terrifying- they were on this tiny little drum thing and the man was really throwing his partner around while spinning. Her head almost hit the floor multiple times. I think the danger in it makes it more fun, no?  Anyways, the choreography for the stationary trapeze was really pretty and the Russian bar is terrifying. Other notable acts were the "juggling" within a glass test-tube, stationary rings, high bar, and girls balancing cups on their heads while riding unicycles.

So, I think I'm going to skip college, find myself a skill, and join Cirque. Alternatively, go to college, get a theatre degree along with a history degree, then sign up to work for Cirque. On the side, develop a skill that I would randomly display at some point at a level at which they would hire me. Yup.

Hello, Again

Wow, it has been a very, very long time since I have posted anything on this blog. Unsurprisingly, I've been busy and lazy. Naturally that is a bad combination, and results in very little being done. So, here's a list post (again, darn it) because I don't feel like organising my thoughts. 

1. Today I met up with Sam, which was fun. We swam, played Rock Band, and played table tennis. 

2. I'm terrible at Rock Band on the guitar and drums. Just... terrible. 

3. I then had dinner with my dance friends. 

4. And met up with my dance teacher Ms Carrie, who is still a mentor to me. 

5. I might see Jackie again tomorrow. 

6. AP Euro homework is annoying. 

7. Bedford is pretty boring. Nothing changed. 

8. I went shopping! Which is wonderfully exciting. 

... There we go. That's my little update. 

Back in Burlington

Well, I've had a gloriously busy last couple of days and haven't had the chance to write. Because I'm feeling a bit lazy, I'm going to make a rather listy post instead of a properly written out one. Oh well...

1. The Shows I Saw in New York, and How I Rate Them
- Phantom of the Opera
- The Lion King
- Zarkana

2. Regarding the Shows:

All three shows that I saw in New York City were really good, and really different from each other. It's hard to name a favorite because they were so different. Comparing The Lion King to Phantom of the Opera is like comparing an apple to an orange. Then, throw in Zarkana and it's comparing fruit to chocolate. I will say that I've seen better Cirque shows, though. I think the level of danger surpasses what I've seen in other Cirque shows. However, the actual level of difficulty was less. The artistry was also weaker than other shows like Dralion. That being said, it was still an awesome show and completely worth seeing.

3. Regarding New York

I like New York City. While I don't think it's my favorite city in the world, it was worth going to for the shows and the general excitement. I wouldn't move in any time soon, but it's a city I'd like to return to at some point in the future.

4. What I Did Today:

Today we left New York City and went to Newark Airport to pick up a rental car. We then tried to drive to a family friend's house, but missed the exit and eventually ended up skipping lunch at their house. After that, there was a fair amount of driving. Thankfully we stopped off at a bagel place for some lunch- they didn't have spoons so I had to eat my soup with a fork! It was kind of amusing annoying. At long last we made it back to Burlington, where I am typing this up now.

5. Back in Burlington

It's really weird being back here. There have been some changes that I've noticed, but really not a lot. Legal Seafoods was still in the mall. Delia's was still across the way. It's comforting to be back, but also  just a really strange feeling of having left, but not really left at all.

6. MacBook Air

I'm typing this on my new MacBook Air! It's so cool- and significantly lighter than my other computer, which is nice. Though I'm kind of wondering how I'll transfer everything over. Mostly my gaming stuff, I could give or take most of the documents >.<

Yay, back in MA! I've got a day writing and with my friends tomorrow, then I'm off on a college tour...
       

How to Almost Not Survive NYC

Well, I had an incredibly busy day. I guess I'll start at the beginning and get to the really exciting part at the end. I slept terribly and was basically up at 5am. Then I dozed,played games, counted the buildings in NYC- I hate jet lag. Anyways we ended up going to the American Museum of Natural History, which was really spectacular. I highly recomend it to anyone who goes to NYC. There is a massive dinosaur and general evolution exhibit, which my dad and I really enjoyed. I loved dinosaurs as a child- apparently I still do. It never fails to shock me- those reptiles were massive! There were also lots of interesting Native People's exhibits, though some were a bit creepy. Native peoples of Asia and America have a bit of a violent streak to them that I always forget about. In addition, the minerals and gem exhibition was really lovely. After the museum we took the tourist bus (Grey Line company I think) on the purple line back to Times Square. It actually went through Harlem, which I don't get the fuss about. Harlem is getting more upscale and is generally safer than what they love showing in the movies. So that was interesting overall. Had dinner in Times Square then walked to the theatre to see Phantom of the Opera. I have to say, it's on the list of "Best Shows I've Ever Seen". It was completely amazing- opera, but not the horrible boring kind. The story was lovely and the costumes were gorgeous! We sat in the second row, so we got to see all the details. That and the set was spectacular. The famous chandelier was directly overhead from me and swung about at least once. Basically, it nearly killed me. ... Okay, not really. It was such a good show! I can still hear the music in my head~ Unfortunately, we couldn't get a taxi after the show. Honestly, how does anyone manage to get one? After walking and getting soaked (did I mention it was windy and rainy?) we ended up taking one of those bicycle rickshaw things. It was really, really expensive but apparently we were desperate enough. My mom was positively whimpering when the guy started weaving around the cars. I don't know, it just felt like being in Asia to me. Actually, when I got into the rickshaw thing I joked, "We're gonna die." I'm really glad it stayed a joke. Though I thought it was fun it was quite scary too. Well, now time to dry off and go to bed. Finally- I'm on NYC time (not)!!

What's Up, NYC?

Well, I meant to post earlier than this, but sometimes things get in the way I suppose. After my lovely 18 hour flight into Newark two days ago, we took a taxi into the Big Apple. And to be honest, I don't understand what the general fuss about America and NYC is. It just seems like a really big city without many trees. That and after living in Singapore for a year, America in general seems really grey. The buildings here make me feel like I have been transported back in time... Lots of brick and more grey. Yesterday we met up with my father's coworker and his wife for lunch, which was quite nice. The food here is really yummy- we've mostly been eating from diners because we all want American food! I also had the famous New York cheesecake... It's really good. Afterwards we ended up just wandering around Times Square and buying tickets for shows. We're seeing Phantom of the Opera tonight, Cirque de Soiel (how do I spell that?) tomorrow, and The look King the day after. No idea what's planned for today- thanks to jet lag I'm up rather early. I'm also sleeping on the sofa of the romm we're staying in. It's a pull-out sofa bed, but the night before was so miserable that I decided to sleep on the sofa part today. That compounded with a sore throat/cough isn't particularly fun. That and NYC is freaking cold! I actually have to post from my phone... So I may not be posting a lot. Also excuse any mistake that come from typing with my thumbs.

Productivity Level: -50%

I think it's safe to say that summer has officially hit. At least, I'm in the mental state of lazy-teenager-in-summer.

Yesterday was an interesting day. I went to Nick's house because I thought it was going to be my last chance to hang out with him before we both go on our summer holidays. So, we made sea-salt ice cream from the video game Kingdom Hearts that I've been playing lately. It fell flat on its face because we burned the ice-cream base and generally smelled like burned bread from that moment forward. Eventually we accepted that the whole thing was a bit of a fail and went to lunch. His whole family and I went to a yummy fish and chips place by his house. My only comment was the number of chips in a serving- there was no way to finish all of that! I always feel bad when I end up throwing out food that other people buy for me.

We all rested a bit after lunch- I don't think it's possible to do much after eating lots of french fries. Then, Nick, his brother and I all went swimming in their very pretty pool. Nick described swimming as "flopping around in the water", which is essentially what happened. His brother really enjoyed splashing me and generally being violent towards Nick- I will never understand that sort of thing. Regardless, it was interesting to go swimming in Singapore. I've never actually gone swimming in my own pool... perhaps I should do that at some point, considering I've been living here for nearly a year!

Went to the grocery after leaving Nick's house and picked up some heavy cream so I could try my hand at making sea-salt ice cream. It went slightly better than it did at his house as I didn't burn the base. However, it wasn't as thick as shown in the video I was working out of. Here's the video, if you're interested.




Regardless, the stuff I made ended up tasting quite good. At least I think so- it had a rather cooked flavor to it that was kind of surprising. Without the sea salt, it would have been a lovely vanilla ice cream.

This morning, Nick came over and hung out for a bit. We both tried the sea-salt ice cream I made, it really was tasty.

This afternoon and evening I was re-writing my college essay. I'm going on a college tour in the Northeast in a bit over a week, and I had to write an essay for it. My initial essay about dance was positively awful. It was during finals time and I didn't put very much effort into it. This time, I've put a lot more thought into it and the whole thing is a lot better. At least, I hope it is. I'm writing about visiting Ground Zero at Hiroshima, which is actually quite difficult to write about. Remembering everything gave me chills.

So, I may be blogging even less than I already have been because I'm going on holiday soon. We'll see.

Quote of the Day: "Got it memorized?" Axel, Kingdom Hearts

The First Last Day

Today, June 5th, was my last day as a Sophomore at SAS.


It's weird typing that out. It doesn't feel like that long ago that I was sitting on the third floor with a bunch of people who's names I didn't know at lunch, anxiously typing a blog post so I could avoid being social. Instead, I now sit at home wondering what I'm supposed to do with all my notes from this year.

Overall, I've had a pretty good school year. The beginning was kind of rough, but that was expected I suppose. I had never changed schools besides moving up through the school system, so a massive school full of people I didn't know in a blazing environment was intimidating. Now I can officially say I'm not a new kid to SAS, which is kind of nice. I still don't know the vast majority of the students (and I really don't know who's in my grade), but at least I can say who my friends are. Throughout the year, I learned to navigate the maze known as the SAS High School, which wasn't easy at times. Ultimately I don't think it was as hard as I thought it was going to be, which is nice.

Enough reflection on the past year. I've been writing this blog for over a year, and if you're really interested in what I've been up to go then you ought to go read it.

Yesterday:

There was no school for the high school yesterday, so I spent the day with Nick. We went to the Harry Potter Exhibit at the ArtScience Museum at Marina Bay Sands. It was a lot of fun!

Yesterday evening, Nick and I baked cookies at his house. I'm only mentioning it because it was kind of an adventure. We started baking by measuring out butter and such. Then we discovered there was practically no sugar in that house. After a quick run to the grocery, we managed to bake sugar cookies. It was rather interesting working with dough that was positively melting in our hands.

Today:

Today was a completely pointless school day. It was pretty much show up, run to all of one's classes only to be released from most of them, and then sit around. I brought Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days with me to school and ended up playing that a fair amount.

After school I went and ended up getting my phone replaced. It's been really glitchy for a while, so I'm delighted to have a functioning phone again.

Quote of the Day:

"We're all mad here!" ~Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland