Cookies and Milk Beverage

Wow! Today was a heck of a day, all things considered. I got a lot done that I'm proud of, some of which I can't talk about in case my boyfriend reads my blog (it's regarding his present). Let's just leave that as I am proud to say I still have all my fingers.

Anyways, I woke up around 8:30 today and was baking my first batch of cookies by 9:30. By the time my dad came home from his nature walk, molasses cookies were almost done. The molasses cookies were the easiest I baked, mostly because I think I had the most energy for them. I got the recipe here at Bon Appetit. They were wonderfully chewy and spicy even though I didn't have any cardamon. To be honest, I don't know where to get it here!

After my dad cleaned up, we started baking Snicker-doodles together. Ah, Snicker-doodles. They have such a whimsical name! Since they are one of Nick's favourite cookies I felt like I ought to make them, and they weren't very difficult. Got that recipe atSally's Baking Addiction, though I must say they turned out a little differently than expected. Mostly because they spread like there was no tomorrow. Also I doubled the amount of cinnamon in what my family affectionately calls "doctoring". We almost always double the amount of vanilla or cinnamon in a recipe... guess there is never enough for us! Go strong flavoured or go home.

The last cookie we made was Spritz cookies on my mom's request, which were the darn messiest cookies of the bunch. Some of them came out really stupid looking when the dough got too soft in the tropical heat, which was a pain. Anyways, the dough was basically butter, which got everywhere. I almost ruined the recipe when the milk box nearly dumped into the bowl, which was scary. Easily got over eight dozen cookies from the recipe on the Wilton box for the press. Thank goodness we have friends to give these things away to, or I can say good-bye to my abs.

Also, about that milk. The milk calls itself "Milk Beverage" on the box. Not "milk" or "natural milk". "Milk Beverage". Does anyone else think this is weird?!!?!

I'll upload pictures of all this tomorrow. I'm tired from the second part of my adventure that I can't talk about quite yet.

You Know You Live in Asia When...

1. You've paid for cuts of meat in your food that would NEVER be eaten in the USA. Fatty pork is just not tasty in America (your loss, USA!)
2. There are bubble tea shops everywhere that are really good quality. 
3. Chopsticks are the default in food courts
4. You have to ask for a fork, and good luck with the knife
5. You can't spot your friend anywhere, because you're in a crowd and everyone has black hair
6. There's some silly-looking tourist in a funny hat ready to go trekking or something, who stops you and speaks really slow asking for directions.
7. There's a smell that you cannot figure out what it is, and question if you really want to anyways. 
8. "Insert country's name" food is not "Insert country's name" food, but "FOOD" 
1. For example, "Chinese food" is "Food" in China
9. There's a tiny old granny walking around who you swear is 110 or so
10. You see poorly made T-Shirts with some interesting English words on them. My personal favourite was in Taiwan, with a T-shirt that read "Bubble Star Sparkle Love". What?

Still Excited

Well, I found out at 1am on the 14th that I got accepted into BU. And I'm still freaking out about it. I'm surprised I'm this excited, to be honest. I thought my chances were decent considering my school stats... but it's still rocking to be admitted. Pressure is off!

It's actually finals week as of 30 minutes from now, which is kind of unfortunate since I haven't put in as much study time as I would have liked to. I've found out that I basically have to not fail all my finals to maintain my current grades, which isn't a problem for most of them. I can actually get a C on my stats test and still maintain my current grade (which is not a C), so I'll study for that. Really now, you can't study for an essay that you don't have the prompt to!

Also,  Facebook is a lot more fun, with my future classmates chatting about themselves and generally being excited. The environment on there is really fun, and I'm already connecting with people from around the world. Also, there are a lot of neuroscience majors on there. It's curious really, who got in. Lots of people from the east coast, a  handful of Americans living elsewhere like me.

What I wonder is how these people are in real life. See, on the internet people can come off as super cool, open and friendly. I posted something really general and have had a fair amount of friend requests. Yet, if you put me in a room with people I don't know, I'll hang out in the corner until someone comes up to me. Isn't it funny how we are all so much more open on the web? Heck, I'm writing my personal thoughts here on a blog.  Do you think I'd ever say this stuff if you came up to me? Only if you knew me well!

My dad also did my senior portrait, which I'll post here when he's done fiddling around with it. It's not a typical beauty shot (I wouldn't allow it), so that's pretty great. I think it says a lot about me and captures my personality in a photograph. THANKS DAD IF YOU READ THIS!

COLLEGE ANNOUCEMENT

Well hello  fine folks of the Internet,


Yes, it's 2am Singapore time. I just wanted to post that I'm officially in Boston University's class of 2018!

Well, it's the next morning and I am less tired now. I announced on Facebook that I got in and so far have about 90 likes, which is crazy. It's funny how people you don't know too well congratulate you as if you are their best friend. Well, I'm looking forward to going Back to Boston! I made a new blog called backtoboston2018.blogspot.com that is currently really lame. But that will be my new blog when I go to university. After all, it doesn't make sense to write on "Sent to Singapore" when I no longer live here.

I'm in a good mood today. Didn't sleep that much last night, but that's okay. Going to celebrate with a cup of bubble tea!!

Rain with the Sun Out

The title of this post is not just something that happens in movies. It's not just in books or poems, and certainly not just in one's imagination. No, it can definitely rain with the run out, like how it did yesterday when I was walking home from the bus. And in case you were wondering, it wasn't nice and romantic. It was cold and heavier than I though it was going to be. It's also reflective, so for a moment it seemed like snow. Or maybe I'm just missing winter. 

It's finals review week, which is really more like underclassmen-panic week. So that's pretty entertaining, because as a senior I couldn't be bothered to flat-out panic. Sure, I'm studying like the rest, but I'm not constantly calculating how many questions I need to get right to get an A or anything. Maintaining my current grades is all I really need to do this semester!

It's kind of funny to watch everyone studying far harder than they have been the rest of the semester. There are some people who I was fairly certain have never opened a book now pouring over them. Well, I guess that is the spirit of finals, and it got me thinking.

Considering the emphasis we put on exams, does it mean anything when we actually take them? Is there a reason for them in high school, other than as preparation for college or whatever? Some teachers don't like finals, or give creative ones. Personally I think they should be optional if you already have an A+ in the class because you have obviously demonstrated that you know the material. If the school is going to make such a fuss about this standards system, then why is there a last-ditch chance to adjust one's grades? Seems illogical. 

Annoying Things About Singapore

Well, I don't know if these things are exclusive to Singapore, but they sure do seem to happen a lot around here.

The first thing that drives me crazy is the SLOW service! The other day I went to Koi Tea in the basement of 313 Somerset, and it took me 10 minutes to get my drink! The place seemed a bit understaffed and no one seemed to really care that people were standing around and tsking. Restaurants will let you sit for ages before asking for your order, and good luck getting the bill. It's not everywhere, but slow service happens too often to not consider it part of living here.

Another thing that really annoys me is when people stop on the bottom/top of the escalator to check their phone. It's quite dangerous at best when there are loads of people, not to mention really inconsiderate. Check your darn handphone somewhere else, please!

Can't forget about the general attitude people have when they don't have something/are too lazy to check. I've been in stores where I've asked if they had a product, and the salesperson would say no. After a bit of digging around, I've often been able to find it! Seriously now, I thought you were trying to make money....

This isn't really any person's fault, but here in Singapore your hair will act totally haywire. My mom looked like a lion, and I think it took two years before my hair looked decent. I've learned now to avoid aircon when possible and don't go outside with your hair even remotely damp, but it's super annoying.

Imported things. Everything here is imported, which I don't mind. But I do really hate being told to buy this or that because it was made in Germany or the USA or wherever. And of course they mark up the price to crazy heights when something is French or Italian.

Looping conversations. This is pretty common at restaurants or with service people in which you ask a question, get no response, and have to keep rephrasing it until you get the "I'm not sure" answer you suspected. Ugh.

Seems about accurate. I probably sound like a little spoiled princess, but sometimes you need things done quickly and accurately!

Awesome Restaurant!

Why hello there. I'm not certain why food has been on the brain lately, but I think it has something to do with December. See, living here it's really hard to remember that seasons actually change. Everything is varying degrees of the same.

Anyways, last night I went to an awesome French place called Bistro du Vin across from Great World City and the hawker centre in that general area. Sorry I'm bad about directions/locations, but anyways, Mom said there's also one in Shaw Centre. Regardless, the food rocked. I didn't take any pictures because I'm really not the sort of person to do so, but I can assure you that it was really good.

We turned up there and found out even though the place was booked out, we could eat there as long as we left by 8:30. Not too bad at all for a Friday night. They had a set lunch menu that was $28 or so that looked yummy. To start out we got a mixed meat platter that went really well with the bread. They also had French Orangina which really does taste better than the stuff in cans they sell at school. I got a spring chicken dish that was super yummy. Then I got a chocolate fondant (which is a lava cake for my American readers) which was easily the best I've had in Singapore. It was kind of funny- I kept saying while I was there that I was going to blog about it, and here I am.

The best place about Bistro du Vin is definitely the atmosphere. It actually felt like being in Europe, which is really unusual here where there are so many wannabe European style places. Between the noisy but not annoying surroundings and the general layout of the place, it felt properly French. Also, the service was really good, which is an absolute RARITY in Singapore. Maybe I'll make a post about eating in restaurants here someday.


Well, I'm off looking for Christmas cookie recipes. We actually have friends in Singapore this year to give them away to, for better or worse (I mean, who wouldn't like an entire batch of cookies for themselves?).

Blog Related: Being a Blogger and Which Blogs I Read

This post is a response to a bunch of my classmate's questions about blogging. See, when I tell many of them I have a blog, the first two things they say are 1) how have you managed to keep it running so long and 2) how do you feel about having your personal life all over the internet?

Well, let me address these issues individually. I've managed to keep the blog running so long (which isn't really that long at all) because I love writing. I'm not the best writer by any means, and I don't have a particular product that I sell with this blog. I just talk about my opinions and observations, and occasionally give halfway decent advice. Contrary to the popular belief of my classmates, I don't make money off this in any way, shape or form. Now when I'm in college I'm considering making a new blog to follow that experience, and I might put a banner ad on it to generate some pocket money. But for right now, money isn't a motivating factor. I'm currently writing because I like it, and people seem to like reading.

The second part assumes I have a strong internet presence, which I do not. I am not followed by loads of people or anything, and though lots of people have read this blog, they have read it over nearly three years. So, while yes my personal life is out on the internet, it's not really in anyone's face. You do have to search to find this blog, it doesn't just pop up on its own.


So there are some answers to some questions. I doubt the people who asked me will ever actually read this, but hey, it's worth a shot.

Also, I feel like sharing some of the blogs that I read, because they are really cool. Also, I'm sure they won't mind the advertising. I read more than this, but these are my current favourites. It's always nice to have extra food for thought! Yes, they are kind of girly. But I have absolutely no shame about it :D

www.theproperlady.com

I like learning about being feminine ^.^ I think it's good to remember that men and women are complimentary to each other, not against each other.

www.dessertfortwo.com

Quite possibly my favourite food blog. I love that the recipes are for two people- the sweets easily stretch to three!

www.yummyhealthyeasy.com

I'm pretty certain everything on this blog is delicious.

Also, this website's peanut butter cookie in a mug rocks:
 http://www.number-2-pencil.com/2012/03/10/peanut-butter-cookie-in-cup/

Singapore Weather in the Nutshell

Well, it's been a couple of days since my last post. There hasn't been a whole lot going on lately since the show is over and I've been coming home every day after school at 4. It's a little weird, but last night I went to bed at 10:30 so I am not complaining at all!

Anyways, Singapore has had its fair share of rubbish weather. It's been cool for the past week or so by Singapore standards, and definitely less humid. We haven't seen the sun in its full tropical glory for a while now, and its been raining/drizzling a lot. Oddly enough, I've been wanting to wear sweatshirts and long pants all the time. Evidently my blood has gotten thin-- and I'm not too pleased with myself as a result. In MA, anything above 50 F is shorts weather (if you are a teenage girl, that is).

Well, the crappy grey weather has got me thinking about Singapore weather overall. There are a few types for sure worth mentioning.

1. It's so hot you want to die
2. Steamy like a sauna
3. Crappy and overcast (relatively rare)
4. Windy and cool (occasional evenings)
5. Rain Varieties
1. It's drizzling... generally means that soon it will be....
1. Pouring
2. Deluge
3. Impossible to see because of the rain
4. So heavy you can probably swim to wherever you want to go
6. Thundering
1. In the distance
2. So loud you think the storm is right over you
3. Like the cloud is personally above your head
4. Ready to burst your eardrums
7. Lightning
1. Lighting up the sky in the distance
2. All cool looking
3. Too close for comfort
4. Hitting a lightning rod/building near you

Yup! Seems accurate :D

The "Lovely" School Bus

Okay, let's start out this blog post with a quick quiz.

1) If you are a bus auntie (lady who supervises kids on school bus) and one of the children throws up from carsickness, what is the appropriate response?
 
a) clean up the mess
b) comfort the child
c) ignore the problem
d) spray aerosol air freshener on the child in question
e) two out of the five of these

2) If you are riding the bus, what is the appropriate response to a child throwing up from carsickness?

a) sympathise
b) move away from the mess
c) mock the child
d) scream "WHO PUKED?!" over and over again
e) complain that the bus smells
f) three of the five of these


If you picked answers "e" and "f", then congratulations! You passed the quiz. In regards to question 1, the correct two responses were "a" and "d", and question 2 was "c", "d" and "e". Now that you understand how my Monday morning went, let me tell the full story.


There was a really big accident on PIE today which caused the buses to take a massive detour, which was really awful. We went all the way out to Jurong, on really bumpy roads that could use some work. Thankfully we didn't get stuck like some kids (some got in at 8:30), but the ride was less then pleasant. Aside from feeling like I was on a roller coaster, someone got carsick. I don't blame the kid because I thought I was going to get sick too, but the response was less than impressive.

Really, bus auntie? You're going to spray the poor kid with aerosol air freshener? Does anyone else find this really ridiculous, and NOT a good solution at all? Follow that up with the nasty kid's reaction, and the poor kid must have felt really awful. I find the children on my bus to be rude and mean to each other (as well as impossibly loud) while this year's bus auntie is just rather of incompetent.


Oh well. Only one more year in this school

Things You Don't Care About Living Here

Since it's Thanksgiving back in the USA right now, I've been reading a lot of "I'm so thankful for this and that and blahblahblah" posts. They're nice and all, but they've reminded me of things we don't have here (and don't care about). 

1. Local Food. It's great in America that you can get local farm foods and whatnot, but that doesn't really exist here. I think you can get eggs and some green leafy vegetables grown here, and that's it. Everything is imported, and quite frankly, Singapore likes it that way. Why eat Malaysian stuff when you can get European cheese, Japanese or Thai rice, or New Zealand milk? I used to care about eating local in America, but it's just not possible now. 
2. Eating Organically. There's some organic food here for sure, but it's super expensive. The only things we eat organically are generally the stuff we can't find in general, like almond milk or something. There's organic peanut butter that's pretty good, but other than that... you just can't care about eating organic unless you want to pay an arm and a leg. Singapore isn't quite there yet in the organic movement- mostly because of the first point above, and also because Singaporeans just can't pay for it. 
3. Mosquito fogging. In America I know it's rather controversial because of pesticides and harm to children and whatever else they want to fuss about. Here it's normal, get over it. It's that or dengue, and dengue sucks way worse. 
4. Super divided rich-poor gap based on race. It's so deeply engrained into the culture here that you don't really think about it. The Tamil Indian men are construction workers, the Indonesian women are helpers, etc. White people are normally expats or tourists-- and always considered rich. 
5. Escalator safety. In America most people stand forwards and hold onto the railing, right? Well in Singapore couples face each other and talk/kiss. It's just a thing. 
6. "Other people". When I lived in America I remember a very strong mentality of worrying about what "other people" are doing. There was this constant threat of "other people" stealing this or that, or harming you in general. While this mentality does exist amongst some, it's not as prominent here. This one is hard to explain, but basically people don't walk around thinking others are out to get them. There aren't super-locks or weird "keep strangers away" machines here.

Well, that seems pretty accurate. Hope my readers in the USA had an awesome Thanksgiving and ate lots of turkey and pie. Before you ask, yes, you can find turkeys here, but your oven may not be big enough to hold your typical thousand-pound saline-pumped American bird. The American club and a few hotels do a pretty nice spread, but personally I'm a fan of chilli crab!

Singaporean Taxis

Well, here's a topic I haven't covered that really should have been done ages ago. Singaporean taxis are a spectrum. There are different varieties and situations that come up, and some are better than others.
For example, getting home from East Coast Seafood was complicated. The taxi driver was coughing something awful and only picked up "River Valley Road" from the whole darn conversation. Only after I started talking, changed my accent,  and said "lah" did we actually get home. So that was pretty special.

Here are the basic types of taxis:

1. The chatty ones. There are a few subcategories to this one. 
1. Interviewers ones want to know where you are from, what you do with your life, why you are here, where you go to school, etc. They might as well ask your social security number. 
2. Tour guides. They think you're new to Singapore and some actually offer helpful tips.
3. Nostalgic missing-old-Singapore-ones. Some are okay, some are not.
4. Ranting about stuff ones. THE WORST OF THE CHATTY
2. The silent ones Does this taxi drive itself?
3. The smelly taxis. What the heck does this thing smell of? Pandan? Vomit? Food? Cigarette? Do I even want to know?
4. The lost one. Seriously, when did you start driving taxis again? Half the time they don't even know how to use their GPS systems. 
5. The sneaky ones. They try to take the long routes until you tell them otherwise. 
6. The creepy ones. I don't appreciate you glancing back at me all the time. Eyes on the road, please. 
7. The good ones. The nice, friendly driver who takes you where you want to go and engages in small talk until you are clearly both done talking. 

Also, it's Thanksgiving! I had chilli and pepper crab ^.^

Great World City

I've been talking about GWC a lot lately, so I figured a post about it would be appropriate. 

Great World City is a shopping centre not terribly far away from where I live that I go to almost every day. My bus drops me off outside of it and I walk for a while... and that's all the detail you get about where I live (though in all honesty diligent readers of this blog could probably find roughly where I live within a few kilometre radius). Anyways, I've been there a TON lately getting snacks and dinner lately, so I figured I'd talk about the place. 

There are a lot of different shops at GWC from shoes to clothes, and the upstairs area has a movie theatre (that I don't go to very often, I head to Plaza Singapura for that) and general children's activities. While it doesn't have high end brands, it has pretty much everything else you would ever need. Banks, bubble tea, Breadtalk, Fond, a nice steak place called Pepper... you name it, it's probably there. One notable weird thing about it though is to get into it from the second entrance walking you have to go through a bar called the Pump Room, which I've never been able to figure out because that seems like a total mood killer. Also, why are there always people there drinking, every single day of the week? I go there enough to know this to be true. 

Thank goodness they redid the bathrooms in GWC. Each floor is vaguely country themed, hence the name of the mall, but the Egypt floor used to really creep me out. Like, go-to-another-floor type of creeped out. 

Anyways, they have a decent food court in the basement (and other yummy things) that I'm really tired of because I feel like I eat there at least once a week. Regarding eating, eating dinner alone is stupidly lonely and pathetic. It always seems like everyone else has someone to talk to or really cute kids to mind, while I sit there with my bags and food just shovelling it in my mouth so I can go home. Meep. They used to have an awesome noodle place, but it shut down. However they do have a Taiyaki shop (its days are probably limited, like the soya milk place next door and the prata place that already closed) which is kind of interesting. GWC also has a Jollibean (The peanut stuff from there is great, everything else is thoroughly underwhelming), Sharetea (they recognise me), and a pie place that doesn't sell anything but chicken pies. It's really weird. 

So, that's actually a decent insight into life here in Singapore. Random stuff that normally has its own building, like a bank or post office (though I don't think there's one in GWC) are in shopping centres. The doors blast you with Arctic wind when you walk in, which is really annoying when it's raining out. You see people of all walks of life there all the time, and there's often a really, really lost tourist. 

Well, I should do homework now. This was a good little distraction from the fact that the first show of Alice is tomorrow! AH!

Sleepy Dormouse and Other Things

I think I'm becoming my character in Alice. See, I'm the dormouse, which basically means I sleep at every opportunity possible. Thankfully I don't snore or hibernate because that would be pretty inconvenient. Anyways, show week is always incredibly tiring. I'm stressed and life has taken a backseat to dance, which isn't too bad except I'm really sore. Also, I showed my dance teacher my audition piece for IASAS dance (which is basically our varsity team), which was nerve-racking. The other day I performed for little children, and thought that was scary. Nope! An empty studio, an iPod that has a mind of its own, and a dance teacher is a much scarier situation. It worked out though, and I know the thing will work out at the end of the day.

I've noticed a couple of weird things about living here lately. The first is that Singapore's cool-and-muggy temperature might actually be more miserable the blazing heat. See, humidity is nasty, while heat is avoidable. Second, bugs. There was a cockroach in the dressing room yesterday (there was lots of screaming), indicating that people were bringing food down there. Bugs are out to get you and your belongings here. Don't hide snacks in your desk or you'll get ants. Throw everything in plastic bags, seal everything off, and be careful about things being left out. The third thing I've really noticed is that there is a rhyme and reason as to when people are in shopping centres, but I still haven't figured out exactly why. I go to Great World City a lot after school, and there always seem to be various families, old people and business people there. Sundays are family days, Saturday is shopping day, Sunday any time at Tanglin is pregnant women day, and the weekdays are seemingly more random. Yup, sounds like Singapore.

*yawn* I'm tired. Time for Tea!

Tasty Things I've Eaten Lately

A-nom-nom-nom-nom-nom~

I've been eating loads of tasty things lately, for whatever reason. Part of the reason is because I've been eating out a lot lately since people have been away, but that's alright.

• Japanese rice. I made this at home. While I've actually been eating this stuff for a while, I realised that washing it three or four times really makes a difference in texture and taste. It's very yummy~
• Sushi. Ichiban Boshi sushi is tasty, and I don't eat it very often. You get to pick out what you want and put it in a box. The cucumber roll is $0.60 per two, which is pretty darn nice. 
• Sticky rice. My history teacher just gave us some. Nothing to complain about. 
• Strawberry fruit bubble tea. Not healthy, but sweet and delicious. I love this stuff. 
• Japanese style fish. Not totally sure how they make it so good.
• Chicken rice at Far East Plaza. It's on the top floor and always has a queue. DELICIOUS
• Kway Teow at my school. I've mentioned it before, but so tasty~ I like the chicken-veggie type
• Carrots and Peanut butter. Just try it. 
• Watermelon. Had some at breakfast and it was really good. 
• In Thailand... Thai tea! I've never had anything quite like it. Super tasty and pretty coloured. 
• Taiyaki at Great World City. The new place in the food court actually puts red bean throughout the whole thing, not just a dot in the middle. 

Crap, now I'm hungry in social studies!

I Went to Bangkok!

Whoops, sorry it's been a while since I last posted. Anyways, I went to Bangkok on Monday and got back on Thursday. My mom and I had fun exploring the city. Not somewhere I'd want to live, but for sure an awesome place to visit.

Welcome fruit

Me and yummy apple crumble stuff

Thing that means this particular temple had royal patronage

Bell

Symbolic of something

This photo freaked my dad out

Mom and alms bowls

Wat Arun, Temple of Dawn. Darn cool. I climbed up to the top, Mom went 2/3 of the way up. 

Shadow puppets!

It wasn't a super busy trip, which I really appreciated. Actually, it was pretty relaxing. We only went to two major temples, which was nice because it's really easy to get templed out here in SEA (gee, don't I sound spoiled). Did some shopping, went on a dodgy boat (Dad would have never thought the thing was seaworthy), a cool boat, a ferry boat and a tourist boat. Successfully did not fall in the brown water. Also, ate mangoes, drank Thai tea, and did not get run over. What more can you ask for?

Dumb People on the Internet

I'm tired of hearing people complain about how others treat them on the internet. It's seems really self-defeating that people engage in irresponsible behaviours and then whine about the consequences. I see this all the time on Facebook these days, and I just wanted to comment here. Living here in Singapore it feels like I experience most of my peers' lives through the internet, since I know very few of them in real life (thanks, cliques). Here we go!

If you post pictures of yourself drinking underage, I automatically assume you are stupid. I'm sorry, but it's true. Seriously, you are 1) showing off that you are breaking the law, 2) openly displaying that you don't respect authority and 3) are ruining your body, and proud of it. No wonder high school kids are always reminded to remove drinking photos of themselves. 

If you post pictures of yourself in trashy Halloween costumes, don't question why people make sexist/dirty comments. You have made the decision to present yourself in a way in which your sex appeal outweighs virtually everything else. Yeah yeah, don't blame the victim, but honestly now if you wore something that covered both butt cheeks then you wouldn't have guys posting that they'd like to "tap that". Think about it. 

If you spout super opinionated religious or political stuff, expect people to disagree with you. There are lots of different shades of grey regarding both religion and politics, but if you hate on another group, they will retaliate. Don't run around shouting freedom of speech after you've said something really nasty to another group. Staying away from such topics is a really good way to not make enemies. Granted, I just gave my opinion on those who post political and religious hate, but I feel like I can justify that by saying this is my blog, and I can post what I want. 

If you ever release anything of yourself naked on the internet, be it a photo, video, SnapChat, whatever, expect it to bite you in the butt. Once it is out on the internet, it's there forever. My rule of thumb is if I wouldn't want the principle and/or my mother to see it, it's not on the internet. And actually, it just doesn't exist. 

There you go. 

Things I Like About Singapore

Yesterday, I went out and about for the first time in a while. It got me thinking about how cool Singapore actually is all things considered. So, here's a little list. It's not necessarily in order!

1. I can buy bubble tea at almost any shopping centre. That's pretty neat. I love that stuff, even though it's super unhealthy!
2. The shopping here is pretty darn good. I don't know anywhere else where the are huge shopping malls built next to each other down a whole big long road. 
3. I can buy $3 chicken rice that tastes absolutely amazing.
4. Pepper Lunch, the biggest accident waiting to happen with hot plates that you take from the stall to your seat. It's delicious, but probably doesn't exist in America for fear of lawsuits. If you go to a country where you can get it, try it!
5. In general the food here is amazing. The Chinese food is rocking, Malay stuff everywhere, local candies are tasty, and the lime juice is profoundly Asian. In a good way, of course. 
6. It rains a lot. Yeah, sometimes it's a pain, and the mosquitos suck, but big thunderstorms are awesome. Until you get stuck in one. 
7. The MRT. I don't know if it's the best in the world, but it's pretty darn good. It's better than Boston's or New Yorks BY FAR. I've taken the London Tube and it's not bad either, but Singapore's quiet MRT is really nice. 
8. The radio. For the most part they aren't totally up to date with music over here, so we get a lot of early 2000/1990s pop. And the commercials are shorter and don't make you want to pull your hair out. 
9. The freedom here. Singapore is pretty safe, and as a teenager I'm allowed to go out and about with friends. If you get lost, call a taxi! 
10. Being able to travel around South East Asia. If I lived in America, a trip to Thailand over spring break would be a crazy idea. Super expensive, long flight, and generally complicated. Yet, next week my mom and I are spending three nights in Bangkok. Not too bad at all!

So, there are definitely good aspects of living here. I feel like I've been posting mostly negative stuff lately because applying for college and dealing with the Crucible was hectic, but things are better now. My SAT score should hopefully get me into college, which was the biggest relief ever. 

Things are looking up at last! Just have to finish my application, send it in, then WAIT!



Also, I just started a new blog. I think I know where I'm going to be taking it, but not completely certain. If it gets overly personal/hard to deal with then it may not live long, but whatever.

www.asiaticadoptee.blogspot.sg

I think the URL indicates what it is about fairly well. 

I'm Not Mad... Yet

I do not know where to begin with this post, but I know I need to clear my head. Everything seems to be getting busy this week and it's rather tiring. The dance show is a mess and the only part of it that looks decent is the Tea Party (woohoo!) apparently.

Today was a weird day in general. There was a big accident on the PIE, my friend's bus got rear-ended, my dad brought home a heartbreaking story about a family separated thanks to deporting a woman for a non-contagious disease.

I'm exhausted. Senior year is a drain, and aspects of it make me want to cry. High school has not been the worst experience ever (that crown forever goes to Middle School), but there are aspects of it that destroy my faith in humanity every day. The amount I hear about who is dating who, who is wearing what, and who did this or that over the weekend makes me want to pull my hair out. Sometime I feel like a Vulcan surrounded by annoying humans. Live long and prosper...  At least I'm going to Turkey in February, otherwise I don't think I'd have motivation to do much of anything but daydream.

I don't know if I've ever discussed my personality type on here, but I'm an INTP. Apparently it's fairly uncommon for women to be INTP, and it's the direct opposite of the ideal woman (according to some articles on the internet). I'm not sure if this bothers me or not, but I have noticed recently that I think differently than other students around me. The level of emotion, morality and compassion other people use in their arguments flabbergast me on a routine basis. Is there no logic in this world anymore? Does it really matter how organised and cutesy your notes are as long as you learn something from them? Also, what is with small talk. You blab about useless things that you are forgetting as soon as you hear. Can't people talk about more useful things than the weather, if the classroom is cold or not, etc?
ARG!

At the end of the year, I'm not going to be looking back at high school wishing I was still here. I'm ready to move on and talk to people who can think outside the box (that's not just high school, it seems like everyone here has no sense of creativity).

Right... I Have a Blog

Well, I've been really bad about posting lately. The school play is finally over, so maybe I'll have a bit more time for a few weeks or so before the dance show really picks up. I can't remember if I'm mentioned it before, but the play was "The Crucible" and the dance show is "Alice in Wonderland". I video switched the Crucible, which was incredibly time consuming but ultimately worked out alright. In Alice I'm the dormouse (the mouse in the teapot), which has turned out to be a lot of dancing because I can join random dances without being recognised. In the introduction I dance as one of the Alices, and I do so later when she grows and shrinks. It's kind of cool.

School has been a whirlwind. I'm trying to finish up my AP European History paper for the Concord Review, which I've been trying to do for the past year... quite literally. Then there's the darn Common App, which apparently hasn't been working for anyone. I feel like submitting on the 26th might be cutting it close, but I haven't finished my essays yet. They are mostly done, but I just want to keep tweaking.

I'm also nervous about my SAT score, which will be released on the 24th. It could be a real determining factor for if I can get into the honours college at BU, which would be a neat experience if I got in. Can't get my hopes up too much about anything really, since it all depends on the other people who apply as well! College applications is royally exhausting. After I get in, I am going to bake myself cookies. It doesn't matter where I get in... the cookies will be baked!

Rocking the Apathy

I was the cheerleader who quit before the Thanksgiving Day game. I am the girl who probably would forget the school mascot if you didn't tell me it constantly. I don't care what our sports teams do. I don't know who this popular blonde girl is that you've been telling me about for the past ten minutes. I'm not one to dress up in a revealing group costume on Halloween and then wonder why guys stare at my chest rather than my face.

I'm going to graduate at the end of this year in a class of strangers, and a large part of my doesn't care. Even though I could say, "oh, if I had put in more effort, I could have gotten to know more people". And I have, to an extent. But in all honesty the culture of my school is fundamentally clique based. Everyone has their own group of friends, and breaking into a new group is a real accomplishment. I don't know if race matters, but like everything else in Singapore I'm sure it does to a degree. Maybe it's easier if you're white, I wouldn't know. I'm sure it's easier if you like talking about clothes and hookups and what happened last weekend.

If I had stayed in the USA, I would have graduated with kids I grew up with. I would have cared where they wanted to go to college, enjoyed gossip about the latest engagement or whatever else happens in small towns. Though I would still have not really cared about school spirit, I would have wanted to make the school a better place. I would have wanted to leave that small town, but go back during the holidays.

I guess it's weird to be seventeen and in a relationship that has lasted more than a couple of months.  You hear of couples that last years of course, but it seems like the majority fizzle out quite quickly. I hear girls talk about this guy or that guy, and I don't get it. Why would you hook up with random people when you could find someone who actually cares about you?

Of course it's not easy, but for heaven's sake I'm a nerd and I managed to do it! If pretty is as pretty does, then trashy is as trashy does. If you make yourself easy and consider yourself and your body worthless.... of course you're going to be upset with yourself and others will look down on you. It's really not that complicated. Before someone tries to fuss about "slut shaming", that's not what I'm doing here.  Now, if you value yourself as an easy hookup, how can you expect anyone else to view you better than that?

Silence

Today, I am scared. Someone I once called a friend has a drinking problem. I fear she will drink herself to death. Even though she and I are no longer close, I do not want to lose her.

We are too young to lose ourselves to a bottle of whiskey or vodka or whatever other inebriating substance we can get our hands on. Just because here in Singapore the drinking age is 18 (and let's face it, loads of younger people drink), doesn't mean we should. There is more to life than a few hours having fun feeling drunk. There's love, pain, dreams, disasters, trials, errors, achievement, failure... more than I could ever state on a blog.

I used to hope that maybe this girl was crumbling to peer pressure, and after the main source dried up, she'd be alright again.

I was mistaken. I don't know if it's technically an addiction in her case, but I believe it is. I fear what she'll do when she feels there are no limits. I can only hope that someone will take care of her, and am fortunate that people have been. Yet, people's patience can get used up. There may not always be people around for her. When she is alone- that is when I fear for her the most.

If you make yourself vulnerable under the influence, you are increasing your chances of something bad happening to you. Alcohol poisoning. Choking on your own vomit. Getting hit by a car because you thought it was a good idea to run into traffic. The list goes on: disgusting, horrific ways to die a young death.

Friend, forgive me.

But I had to tell someone. I don't want to stand up at your funeral and have to tell the truth.

That I knew...

...and said nothing.

Quick Update

Well, it's no surprise that things have been busy lately. I'm juggling dance, tech, school, more dance, and college apps. While this workload is apparently not as bad as university, it's not exactly relaxing either. I've been feeling bad about not blogging as much, but I just don't have the time.

Since I had to convert a PDF to a Word document and it's taking forever, I figured I had a moment.

Dance is going okay. I'm the dormouse in Alice and Wonderland, which sounds incredibly insignificant. However, I find the part really fun because I get to interact with lots of people and potentially have a decent amount of stage time because in theory no one will remember what scene I'm really supposed to be in. Teehee. Maybe getting a part I didn't know existed wasn't a bad thing after all.

I'm going to try out for IASAS dance, which is basically my school's varsity dance team. I didn't make it sophomore year and didn't try out Junior year... Well, it would be great if I did, but not a surprise if I didn't make it.





Also, this song is pretty much helping me get through life.

Busy Bee Me

Oops, it's been a while since I've last posted. Sorry about that. I've just been so busy trying to balance school, college, tech, dance and having a life (the last bit is largely imaginary). Senior year of high school is a busy time for everyone- there's more work on our plates than ever before. I'm taking 3 AP classes (though one isn't very hard), Dance Performance (which I love, but is a real time-eater), English and Chinese (another time eater). Thankfully I have 2 free periods this semester to allow me to get my college apps done, or just get a moment to chat with friends and rest.

I know high school is nowhere near as busy as college is going to be, though. I've made  a bunch of decisions in that regard that I'm generally pleased with. I'm pretty certain I'm only looking at US schools at this point, which is a mixed bag. I really liked the UK, but the US gives me more options and opportunities to work for the US government (shocker, I know). At least, that's the theory behind my choice. Maybe I'll go to the UK for my Master's or something, that would be pretty cool.

My dad's birthday was on Tuesday and I made him minion cupcakes.

Almost too cute to eat!

Really Now?

Things have been extremely busy, so this is going to be a super short post. Anyways, I was messing around on Facebook and saw that someone had posted this. How the heck can something like this occur? The level of inequality frightens me, namely because it does not seem even remotely sustainable. Between the environment, the political situation, World War III ready to break out (if you agree with some of my more... liberal friends) and the amount of nasty chemicals allowed in diet soda, we're all going down together. Isn't that scary?

Yesterday was September 11, and to be honest, here in Singapore no one really blinked. I cannot decide if I feel bad about this or not. While naturally a horrific terrorist attack on the United States was miserable, it has also been 12 years. The amount of fear, prejudice and racism that was born as a result of 9-11 is terrifying, and has shaped American's mindsets and foreign policy.

Isn't it time to stop looking at the colour of people's skin and the places that they worship?


Also, a thought on chemical weapons. Why is it "okay" for people to kill with bullets and bombs on a daily basis, but once the chemical weapons come out, everyone gets fussy? Yeah, chemical weapons are pretty horrific, but since when have people followed rules in war? International law is nice, but when the technology is available, people are going to use it. If you make something taboo, you strengthen its power to frighten and anger.

Just a few thoughts.

Minor Mistake

There are some days where you do something stupid, knowing it's stupid. I'm not talking about drinking or drugs- I'm talking about going to the grocery store on a Saturday in the late afternoon. Saturday is helper shopping day- a special day where people send their helpers to do the grocery shopping for the next decade that often involves multiple carts, long queues, and loads of people chattering away on their handphones. It's not a day to try and run to the store for a couple of plastic bags, digestive biscuits, and butter. Oh no. You'll be standing in the queue for pretty much eternity. The "express" lines won't be any faster, since there are only half a million people there that mysteriously all break the 10 item rule.

Aside from my pitiful shopping list, I also bought a foam roller. These are things used to massage muscles that are all the rage in the dance and fitness world. I got a cute pink one for $35 that probably cost $5 to make and $10 to ship, which is a little annoying. Nonetheless, I don't know why I did not buy it sooner. I've rolled out my legs and can honestly say I never knew I was that tight. Dancers get a weird joy out of counting bruises and rating pain scales on the foam roller (at least, the dancers I know do). I'd rate it as somewhere between a 6 and an 8, depending on the muscle group. Will probably be sore tomorrow.

So now I'm babysitting and watching a really repetitive, boring movie with absolutely no plot about football and dance. I'm not really sure if there is a purpose to this movie, or if it just exists to make money off children's parents who want to watch something from Disney. I can't focus on homework because the volume is up to high, and sitting in the kitchen while the girls watch the darned thing. So now I'm stuck watching a dumb movie about football and ballet, regretting that I wasted so much time today. Well- there's always tomorrow.

Curious Things

I've been doing a lot of thinking lately, mainly because I've had an odd amount of free time disguised as legitimate classes. The vast majority of my teachers have all decided to have tests on the same day, which is a real pain. This weekend is going to be a lot of self-directed study... which actually, I don't mind. Anyways, here are some things that I found kind of funny.

1. I'm never going to be able to give my kids crap for climbing on the counters, because they're going to watch me do it every day. Here's to being too short to reach the upper cabinets!

2. Even though I got a pretty girly class ring, it's still going to look big on my hands, because I have baby hands.

3. A bird died on the stairwell a couple of days ago. They removed the carcass, but bird feathers are still all over the place. First of all, how hard is it to sweep up? Second, the theories behind why there are so many bird feathers everywhere are hilarious. I don't know who else saw the poor bird, but people seem to think birds have shedding seasons in which ALL their feathers fall off. Come on, people.

4. My school cafeteria sells amazing baked pasta, and I only found out today. So much for being healthy...

5. A Subway Italian BMT has 450 calories, compared to a Turkey-Ham having 290. In short, Subway is not very good for you- and the cookies are about 200 calories each.

6. Ovaltine Milk Drink is apparently the world's greatest cure all for all ages if you believe their packaging.  

7. I cannot draw a realistic looking bear for my life. I'm pretty good at cutesy animals, but a realistic bear with a snout (the horror!) looks incredibly stupid. However, I can draw a darn cute mouse and bunny.

My Dad Eats Weird Things for Lunch

My father sure has been up to some strange things lately. From finding a rather large house gecko riding around in his pants to fiddling endlessly with his remote control helicopter thingy, he's quite busy. I feel like most of his funny stories happen when my mother and I aren't around...

His work serves lots of interesting things for lunch quite cheaply, so he's always eating in the cafeteria there (though sometimes only fruit when he gets down there late). Two days ago, they were serving Dim Sum (which he only found about after he had already bought lunch). It was like $3.50 and appeared to be a pick-what-you'd-like affair, so he was quite sad to miss out on it. However, yesterday was another local delicacy- chicken feet! Some of his coworkers wouldn't get within 10 metres of it. Yet, my dad tried it after listening to one of his female coworkers go on and on about how good for the skin it was.

Apparently, chicken feet tastes like "gooey barbecued chicken skin". He finished most of 1, which was very polite of him. Not entirely certain if I would try it... well, I'm more likely to try chicken feet than durian!

Discoveries

I've made some interesting discoveries recently! Since I don't feel like structuring a decent post, I'm going to list them below.

1. Cold Creme. Seriously, this stuff is amazing. I've used it to get stage makeup off my face since I started ACAS, but I never considered using it beyond that. However, I've been washing my face with it in the evenings and my skin has been nice and soft. Even though I've heard mineral oil is not good for your skin, it hasn't done anything bad to mine yet. The stuff is really greasy though.

2. Demi Lovato can actually sing. Somebody sent me a "Disney Stars with Actual Talent" email as part of a chain, and I was really impressed.

3. No matter how good you are at what you do, you're going to have an idiot's momenta and forget everything. I could not remember how to turn on the lights to the auditorium today for the life of me.

4. A surprising number of people marry their high school or college sweethearts. Not sure why, but all these stories keep popping up. Isn't that strange?

5. Cliff Bars have 22 grams of sugar... and a Hershey bar has 24. Lovely. Glad to know my school isn't selling "candy" anymore in the hopes that the school gets more "healthy".


Well, there you go. Anything surprise you here?

Uneventful Sunday

There's no real reason to post today except that it's the first of September. I cannot recall if that means it's really the "first day of autumn", but for all intents and purposes I think it is. Sadly, Natalie's first day of autumn was spent indoors alternating between having the aircon on when the room got stuffy and off once I froze.  Gloriously exciting, I know.

Though from what I understand it's quite warm in Boston, I'll recount what it was like to be small waiting for autumn to really settle in. The last days of summer were lazy and hazy- thunder in the midst of a dark day, or so bright opening up your eyes was hard. The pool at the local community club got filled with dead bugs and pine leaves as people went on last-minute summer holidays. It was too hot to really do anything at all, yet sometimes the nights cooled down just enough to remind everyone that eventually, winter would come.

I miss knowing that there would be change. The "rainy season" and "dry season" business doesn't really do it for me. This is my third year living here, and in a lot of ways it feels like my first. Social aspects aside, without a change of season it is hard to remember that time is really moving forward. I suppose not growing taller any more doesn't help the situation. Lately when I've been looking in the mirror I've realised that my hair has actually gotten rather long. Not as long as when I moved here, but fast approaching. When I leave, it will be the same length as when I arrived- like I had never been here in the first place. Isn't that curious?

There is no way to judge time here in Singapore with everything so rhythmic and predictable.

Pondering leads to dreams, and dreams lead to cheesy songs. This cover sounds better than the original... but the lyrics are still cheesy!

Singapore Toy, Game and Comic Convention

What a day! I don't think I could have ever anticipated having such a busy and fun day.

This morning started out as not-that-fun, namely because I had SAT tutoring. It wasn't that bad at the end of the day, namely because my tutor was pretty cool overall. Apparently I do math like she's never seen before... which is fairly intuitive, with illogical jumps in steps and stuff. Maybe this is why I'm not doing too badly in stats- I am able to sort of explain my answers and all.

After that I ran around getting ready for the Singapore Toy and Comic Convention, which was held at Marina Bay Sands. It was a lot of fun! There was a TON of Iron Man stuff- life size replicas of practically every suit ever. There were also amazing cosplayers- I'll update this post later with pictures, maybe. I was in old-school Kuro Lolita, which wasn't very creative but was very cute.

After STGCC, a bunch of my friends went over to a friend's house. We ended up watching Ah Boys To Men 2 and ordering pizza. It really wasn't too bad at all.

There's a party raging either outside my apartment or at Scape- in all honesty I can't tell. It's quite loud and I really hope it ends soon....


Lookie, I found this song. I actually knew about it a while ago, but since it's (sort of) appropriate now, here it is. Hope I haven't posted it on here already, but whatever.

My Dad Likes Geckos! But....

Here's a quick little story about why living in Singapore is often quite amusing. See, my father and I are pretty certain there's a sort of "Gecko Season" that occurs about the same time as the rainy season. When this season occurs, there are lots of rather good-sized geckos running around (and some small ones too). We know for certain there are a couple living in the kitchen, and there may be one who hangs out in my bathroom (but not confirmed). Anyways, yesterday morning was a little bit of an event.

Every morning, my dad fixes me breakfast before I come out of my room. Yesterday morning when he opened the plate cabinet, a really big gecko fell out and landed on a tea-jar. By the time my dad has processed what he was seeing, the gecko had disappeared. We then proceeded to have a pretty normal morning. However, after he sent me off to school he went to go take a nap (which he does every morning). Lying down on one side, my dad felt something move on his opposite hip. It wasn't a muscle twitch.

IT WAS THE GECKO!

That thing was hanging out on his pyjama pants for easily half an hour, and he didn't squish it!

So yes, my dad likes geckos... to a point.

Lunchtime Posty Post

Well, I'm sitting around at lunch with a bunch of friends and figured it was a good of time as any to blog. Dance class was pretty interesting today. My partner and I have a significant amount of our dance done, which is a real relief. However, a lot of the dancers here are obsessed with learning how to "twerk". Now, I've already written about "twerking" on this blog, and wasn't thinking I would ever mention the darn "dancing" again. Yet after having tried and failed to learn how (I have ABS, or Asian Booty Syndrome), I have still come to the conclusion it's an extremely stupid trend. Why on earth would you want to shake everything for the world to see?

Anyways, today has been pretty tiring. My school is doing this whole "progressive learning" thing, which means weird grades and confusing markings. Basically it is grade inflation without the decency of calling it that if you ask me. Regardless, it does make you worry less about grades: A+ is almost impossible to get, so you shoot a little bit lower and almost always get it.


Here's a song I've been listening to lately, even though today is Thursday.

My Thoughts on Miley Cyrus

Well, it seems like the newest, most popular thing to do these days on the Internet is to comment on Miley Cyrus outrageous VMA performance. Since I'm all about jumping on bandwagons, and was talking to someone at school about this today, let's get going~

First of all, what is with her tongue? I'm 99% certain no one wants to see her tongue hanging out of her mouth like a dog. Not only is it incredibly unladylike (though I have been known for sticking my tongue out at people in jest), but it's pretty gross.

Second, what the heck is she wearing?

Darling, there's something called "flattering clothes". They are different for everyone and often depend on body type. However, some things are NEVER flattering- namely, clothes that make you look naked on stage, or shape your butt in strange ways. Please put some real clothes on.

What really annoys me about various celebrities in the influence they have on people. I see lots of dancers trying to figure out how to twerk, when in reality we could all do with a little less booty shaking and a little more intelligent conversation. I'm not into clubbing (have never been to a club), but I'm sure that people are trying to act like Miley and whoever else.

Trying to emulate this sort of thing isn't sexy or cool. It's probably a bit dangerous really, since everyone gets unrealistic expectations.

The biggest thing that worries me about these videos is the message they send to all of society. These videos and behaviours are unhealthy. There are no limits or boundaries to these videos. It goes beyond what is tasteful and what is not. While I am pretty sex-positive and believe people can do whatever they want behind closed doors as long as it's consensual, I don't think blatant sexual imagery does anyone any good. The amount of attention that this sort of thing gets (which I am unfortunately contributing to) means that can hardly be considered art: rather, it is spectacle.

Embracing one's sexuality is called growing up. Waving it around in everyone's faces often damages women's impressions of themselves. Are all women supposed to flaunt their curves and twerk in order to get men's  attention? And does it matter what sort of attention they get?

I wonder if Miley Cyrus has a sense of shame anymore. She obviously doesn't have a sense of modesty if she's letting everything hang out like that. I hate to think about how ashamed I would be if via magic and ultimate stupidity I did something like that. I don't think I would want my name, family or image attached to such a terrible show- or message.
~


You know, her backup dancers weren't so bad, except for the twerking. Pretty high kicks and such :D

Breathing

Somehow or another, I'm still breathing. I haven't romantically dropped dead only to be revived by magic. I would also like to believe I haven't been an overly melodramatic teenage girl- you know, the sort that irritates movie viewers and drives parents near-insane. It's time for me to refocus. I seriously need to get into the SAT prep, the college application, and all that other good stuff. Oh, and a social life would be nice too. And dance. Have to get that sorted.

Speaking of dance, I wrote a poem about Alice.

Alice

She tumbled into Wonderland-

A place of youthful dreams.
But the hypnotic Kingdom

Was not exactly how it seems. 

Eerie silence on the edge of song, 

Vivid pretenses concealing sorrow. 

Alice explore far and wide to find-

A land with no tomorrow. 

Knowledge intertwined with madness, 

Repressed liberation dreams abound.

Sadly for poor sweet Alice dear, 

She could not raze what she had found. 

Well, it's better than no poem at all I suppose.

Evidently, I am scattered. 

Heartbroken

There are awesome parts about being an expat here in Singapore. I've explored that pretty well here on this blog- the food, the places, the school, the people. There are also things that are a lot harder here than they are elsewhere. See, I'm from a small town in Massachusetts. There are definitely exceptions to this, but for the most part, most kids go to university somewhere in New England. Even though they are "on their own", family and friends are never more than a couple of hours away. 

However, kids here in Singapore don't have that luxury. While some kids go back to Korea or India of wherever they are from, most go to the United States. That's 18 hours away by plane, and halfway around the world for general purposes. It's really exciting to go "back to America". Some kids haven't been back in years. We go from one bubble to another- the Singapore bubble to the privileged youth able to attend top universities in the United States bubble. It's pretty darn cool, when you think about it.

However, Nick flies out on Monday. Today was the last time I get to see him in a long while. 

I have concluded that I have never known heartbreak prior to today. 

Remember This?

http://gotgaff.blogspot.sg/

Yup, it's the blog my boyfriend and I used to write together. We hadn't updated it since February- actually, since before our anniversary. But we never deleted it even when we broke up, and it had 99 posts. So, in celebration of the 100th post, I'm putting it up here to get some views.

Also readers, what is your favourite memory of someone significant in your life? I think if that person is really significant, you don't have a favourite memory. You can just come up with random things and ask them if they remember it too. Sometimes they do, and sometimes they don't. Often, they remember it a little bit differently than you.

This school day wasn't so bad.  I don't know if I'm overreacting to all this social stuff and should just brush it off, or if it's a really big deal like all the books, movies and magazines make it out to be. It was a little offensive to be asked to move so some girl could talk to her friends. That wasn't particularly nice. The other stuff though, I think I invent it in my head.

It's not even that I want to "fit in" with everyone else and be some popular social butterfly. I just want a friend or two- that's all.

Maybe that's what being an expat is about. It's learning how to make friends quickly, not getting hurt when people are mean, and bouncing back from everything. In that case- I still have loads to learn.

Restart

Note to all underclassmen: Do not, in your junior year, have all your friends be seniors. Because guess what? They graduate, and next thing you know, you're eating lunch alone outside your old European History teacher's room.

It's time for me to restart. I don't have much time left in this country- a year is a short time compared to how long I'll probably walk this earth. In the time I'm here, I ought to make the best of it. Yet, it's really hard to make friends. In a lot of ways it feels like I'm a new student again or something- I recognise people but do not know them. The best part of the situation is definitely that I knew this was going to happen, and didn't care in the moment. For the love of everything, don't end up here. It's lonely.

I go to a pretty neat school. My classes are just starting to get interesting (thank goodness), and I'm getting back into the swing of things. I can't find music for my Dance Performance class for the life of me, but that will work itself out in the end. Yet, a huge part of high school is the social side. That's the same everywhere...

In a lot of ways I really wish I had graduated last year. The kids I know who graduated last year can't wait to head off to university. They're ready for their fresh start somewhere else, to meet new people, and get started with their independent lives. I am probably not- I'm the first to admit that. And I know I'll get my chance. But in the mean time.... high school can really be annoying.

Day One Done

I meant to post during lunch today, but I figured my time would be better spent doing some homework in the library. Oops. Well, today was the first day of my senior year, and it was.... underwhelming.

There have been a lot of changes at SAS for this new school year. Three main ones stick out to me in particular.

1. There are LCD screens around the school with a constant international news feed. It's pretty fancy.
2. The dress code changed so on free dress day we either have to wear uniform bottoms, or long pants. My question is: what about skirts and dresses? I was planning on wearing a pink polka dot dress next Wednesday, so we'll see how that goes.
3. Our grading system got more "learning based" and less "score based". That means that we get graded on everything from 0-9 (though 0 means you didn't turn it in) and that somehow works out to our GPAs. Many seniors aren't too thrilled as it eliminates A- grades. I personally think it's a little weird because it's not out of 10. Shifting my school's culture from every little percentage point mattering to this will be interesting.

In terms of the day itself... it was interesting. There isn't a "rush day" anymore where you run to all your classes, which was a bit strange. I had two AP courses and Chinese II today.

I was really lonely today. I've been with my boyfriend for almost a year and a half, and not having him with me was extremely weird. In addition, my own mediocre decision to do homework during lunch left me largely by myself today. I suppose I've learned something for tomorrow!

Beginnings of the Last Chapter

Tomorrow is the last first day of high school for me. It's the start of my senior year, my third year at SAS. A huge part of me just wants to head off to university already. However, I'm also really glad to be a senior this year. There are definite perks- wearing the red shirt, prancing around in a senior sweatshirt, and showing off what university I chose in a uni sweatshirt once I get accepted.

Moving to Singapore was the biggest change of my life. As a small-town girl from a New England town, moving to a modern, tropical city was massively different. I don't get in the car when I want to go somewhere- I hop on the MRT or try (and probably fail) to navigate the bus system. Taxis are commonplace here, while virtually unheard of in a town with an old Unitarian Church as its real "centre". There'a British English instead of America, which has slowly seeped into my spelling and phrasings. The heat can't be forgotten, nor the smell that I simply associate with "Asia". Singapore has become a home to me, but not "my home", if you will. 

When I was out with my boyfriend today (who graduated last year), I realised that this blog is going to come to an end some day. I haven't quite decided when that is yet, but I don't have to. However, being "Sent to Singapore" only involves three years of my life. The next blog I write will be about wherever I end up, US or UK. I'll figure this out later, but I hope I keep some of the readers that have followed me throughout this journey.

Well, time to turn the page and write the last chapter. 

Proof I Went to England

Keele University

Keele

Lancaster Castle

Bath

Roman baths in Bath

Camden Markets

City of Bath

Me in Lancaster. I'm about 5'1, so figure out how tall the doors are!

Exhausted in England

Today is the last day. It's the last day of university visits, and it's a glorious one. I'm exhausted from this trip, though probably not as tired as my dad, who did all the driving. I'll actually try and post photos when I get home this time, unlike previous trips where I say I'll post, but then I don't. In the meantime, here's a list of things


Universities I saw:

Leeds
Keele
Lancaster
Sussex
Essex
Bath
Bristol

Things I've Eaten:

Roast Beef
Mushy Peas
Chips
Chorizo from Spain
Olives from Italy
Moroccan food

Things I've Seen:

Billy Elliot
Stomp
The Mousetrap
The Ultimate Hipster (with a beard, wearing square-framed glasses, and  holding a type-writer keyboard for his laptop)
Lancaster Castle
7 schools
Many sheep and cows
The sky

Running Around the Consortium

Today was a heck of a day! We're in Western MA now, in the general Amherst area.

 This morning we took a tour of Hampshire College, the newest college in the Five College Consortium and the one that made the Consortium a thing. It was an experience. While I'm sure the college is great for some people, it didn't seem like the right fit for me. One of the student tour guides was creating a third year programme about 'Hip Hop and Latin Studies' with his final project being 'A sort of musical mash-up with different plays, maybe a little of "Grease" all with hip hop music and dance discussing Latin identity.' Hey man, whatever floats your boat. The admissions lady was an alumni who tested to see if the traditional theatre positions (director, stage manager, etc) could be eliminated in favour of equalised positions. Apparently it's possible, though that's kind of news to me as a theatre tech.

Hampshire College: Alternative, curious, not for me


Then we drove through Amherst College. It's the best liberal arts college in the country, and it looked that way.

Amherst College: A dream!

After that, we decided to head over to UMASS Amherst. It was really confusing. We thought we could get a tour even though it was Saturday because we called and it said so, but alas, it was not so.

UMASS Amherst: A production

We ate lunch afterwards at a place called Black Sheep Deli, and it was amazing. I had a parma ham sandwich that was good enough to write to Singapore about. Oh, and the iced mocha was to die for. RECOMMENDED

Black Sheep Deli: YUMMY!

Since we figured we might as well continue exploring the Consortium, we drove to Mt. Holyoke College. It's a woman's college, and pretty darn cool. The buildings were stately and brick, with pretty windows. It has everything I'm interested in (Sociology, International Relations, Chinese) and is very reputable.

Mt. Holyoke College: Pretty and interesting.

Now of course, we had to go to the last college, Smith. I think we saved the most beautiful for last. The grounds were simply amazing! I think we're going to try and take a tour of it even though it doesn't have International Relations.

Smith: Gardens~

Verdict: The area is great. I'm most interested in the two women's colleges, which is interesting because I was pretty certain I wanted a co-ed school. Go figure.


Cool thing: Today I got a really nice comment on this blog from an anonymous poster. I don't know if you're going to read this or not, but I greatly appreciate what you wrote! Sometimes I question if I'm just writing this blog for myself, but if I can help someone else with my experiences, I'm very glad. Thanks for reading :)

Other things on my mind: Have to raise my SAT score. Have to write that pesky college essay, which is turning into a not-so-pesky essay because I have tons of ideas floating around in my head. Miss Singapore, and someone special back there. Hope he's having fun playing games, working out, and being special :) Also wondering which country I'm going to end up in. Craving chicken rice. A little nervous to start my Senior year, but also excited and ready to take advantage of it. Sad people in Bedford changed and didn't change at the same time. Glad I saw my friend Kiara the other day. Hopeful that things are going to work out at the end of the day, and I'll find the college right for me!

The Laziest Larceny

Something pretty strange happened tonight, and I'm going to call it "funny" purely because I'm not sure how to handle it. We drove to Western Massachusetts today (I slept the whole way there), and this evening we went to a diner. The food was awesome and the portion sizes were huge. However, when we got back to the (rented) car, my dad realised the gas tank cover was open. When he checked the gas amount in the car, it was definitely lower than before. Someone nicked some gas from our car, and was too freaking lazy to close the cover! I mean, come on.

If you're going to steal something, at least try to be subtle about it.

My family is viewing this as weird but slightly funny. The person didn't take very much gas (or we just have a huge tank), but I really think they could have been better about it. It's actually the first time my parents have had gas stolen, and they have started recounting stories of "back in the day we had locked covers" during the gasoline wars.

Other interesting things happened too, unrelated to the stolen gasoline. I've seen a total of four colleges so far out of five, and I already wrote about one of them (Wheaton). All of these were seen on different days, but I'll list them quickly here. First, I saw University of WI, Madison which was a really big school. Then, I saw Beloit College and was very impressed by the campus and staff. They really made sure I learned a lot about campus and what it is like to be a student there. After flying back to Boston, I saw Boston University. I actually saw this school last year when I did a college tour down the Northeast, and decided to bring my parents back. After talking to some students and staff, I can also firmly say I like BU. Picking a college is going to be really hard!

The Capital of the Cheese State

Greetings from Madison, Wisconsin. It's the capital of the state, though not the largest city (that would be Milwaukee). The capitol building is apparently the centre of the city, and everyone around here seems pretty proud of it. Situated between two lakes, the city is breezy and beautiful. It's a bit short overall, lacking high-rises and other such buildings. It's also a bit old-fashioned... aspects of it seem quite old. There's no MRT or anything here, the city is too small.

Instead, the city is pretty green. There are lots of trees and flowers about. Bike lanes exist, which is pretty neat. We saw lots of people biking for exercise and transportation. There's recycling everywhere and other such things. We drove around with a few of my mother's friend's brother if that makes sense, which was interesting. The ice cream is so good around here that we all got some (though not eating dairy often means it messes up our stomaches) and explored the area. The university is absolutely massive, and enrolls like 40,000 students or something crazy like that.

Also, the people are TALL here. The men break 6'0 easily, and the women are all like 5'6 and above. I guess it's Swedish roots or something. I look like a child walking around here. It's a little tiring because I'm always looking up at people. The guy who took us around the area was 6'7. How do you buy a bed when you're that tall? Fit on a plane? Go on the MRT? Drive a car?

Seems inconvenient.



Also, I've come to a bit of an conclusion.
I think I'm a salt-water girl.


 Lakes are pretty, but I prefer the sea.  

Wheaton College Visit... and Readercon?

Well, today was an interesting day. It didn't start out that great, since I've been waking up a lot in this hotel bed. It's really uncomfortable and my upper back hurts.

Wheaton College is a small liberal arts college in this not-that-sleepy town called Norton. The campus itself was really pretty and I liked it a lot better than many other schools I visited last year. It was basically the epitome of New England- the woodwork and whatnot just seemed like home. That being said, the school is quite small. Not certain if I like that or not. Anyways, I do think parents tend to have really stupid reactions to silly college traditions. There's apparently this Wheaton tradition that kids swim in Peacock Pond at some point before they leave. However, parents apparently called the school fussing that "you can't force kids to swim in a pond to graduate"! Honestly now people, do you really think a respectable organisation would make kids swim in a pond as an actual graduation requirement? Come on, get a sense of humor.


This hotel is currently hosting Readercon, which is an imaginative literature convention. Seems interesting enough, though some of the folks around here have very interesting choices in attire. There are lots of interesting conversations to be heard around here.

Hey There, USA

It’s been a year since I’ve been back here, and loads of things have changed. At the same time, nothing has changed at all. I’m from a small town in Massachusetts, and there’s something about small towns that never change no matter how many new restaurants move in or what strip malls get rebuilt.

Getting here was annoying. We had a 12 hour flight to London, a 5.5 hour layover, and a 6.5 hour flight here. So yes, we travelled 24 hours to get here. Even though I’ve been here for a bit, I still feel jetlagged and generally in the wrong time zone.

I’ve forgotten a few things about being in America, and I’m not sure if I like them or not.

11.     There are American flags everywhere. I know the 4^th of July was recently, but seriously; there are flag poles everywhere. It’s impossible to forget what country you are in!

22.     American food is really strongly flavored. Something sweet is VERY sweet, while something salty is incredibly salty.

33.     You need a car to get anywhere.

44.     Every single one of my friends can drive, and many have their own used cars.

55.     Trucks. There are so many of them, and they are huge.

66.     People are friendlier. “Hey, how are you doing,” is a common phrase, while a simple “hello” is not.

77.     There are more adjectives to describe various products. Nothing is just “normal”. Nope, everything is “enhanced”, “new and improved”, “radical”, “dramatically different”, etc. It’s a bit silly.

88.     They drive on the wrong side of the road.

99.     The bill in a restaurant is brought to you, rather than you going to the front to pay.

110. Service charge and tax isn’t automatically included, so the listed price isn’t actually how much something costs.

111.  People talk louder here.

I met up with friends for dinner last night and lunch today. It was really nice seeing people and how things have changed. It’s a bit disappointing to hear about friendships falling apart, but that’s what happens in small towns when everyone has known everyone for too long. I was also somewhat (though not very) surprised to hear about various kids getting into drugs/alcohol/sex. Though it’s a pretty normal thing, the various people who have fallen make me a bit sad. Some of the kids are really smart and were nice (though some were always stupid), so hearing my old friends and classmates do really stupid things is distressing. Overall though, the people I’ve met up with haven’t really changed.

My first college tour, Wheaton College, is tomorrow! I’m so busy here running errands and stuff that I pretty much wake up, eat breakfast, and am gone until the end of the day. It makes me feel kind of bad, because I’ve been meaning to talk to people back home.

I’ve concluded while I’m back in my hometown, this isn’t home anymore.