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