See you in a few

(that rhymes!)

Anyway I'm being dragged to Penang tomorrow for a few days. Will be back next Tuesday. Somehow I haven't felt like blogging over the past few days. But I shall shake the dust off and post once more before I'm off tomorrow morning.
On Monday we had OM gathering at Tim's house, sort of a birthday thing for him and Major Manjan (he's been promoted from Captain). While discussing online the previous night, Gid and I decided that our dress code for the gathering shall be Obiang (For the uninitiated, this is a colloquial term used to describe a style of dressing that's loud and over-the-top). Scurrying around to find others to join in with our devious plot, we convinced Daniel and Isaac to pledge themselves. But they both pang seh-ed and deserve to be thrown into the pool at the next gathering!
So, Monday came and Gid and I showed up in this:

Gid's the shameless freak in shirt and boardshorts, while I went for the Hawaiian flower print-reflective sunglasses look. I believe we can now be officially classified as shameless idiots. Cheers!

p.s. the dress code for our next gathering shall be Nerd Fashion!

Random Name of the Week 3

I know it's been more than a week, but my creative juices need to be...well, juiced. Anyway, I picked up this fun random way to answer phones last time. When someone calls you, pick up and go "Anne's Video Store, Anne speaking". To ensure successful trauma of your counterpart, try to select something that would make him/her embarrassed. For example, try pretending that you're a member of a chatline service. "Heyyy, this is Jenny from Fone Friends..." Enjoy.

My Mother's Students

On Friday, I saw a bunch of my mother's ex-students. They invited her to their class reunion, and I happened to be around the area after dinner. The girls (some of them rather good-looking) have all started work by now, while the guys are finishing their uni.

It got me thinking, what would our class reunion be like in say, 10 years? You see, my mother used to be a GEP teacher in Dunman High (this bunch of people), and before that ACS(I) (I know a couple of her students there through church and stuff) and RI. Looking at how once they got together they couldn't stop talking rot, I'm excited about what I'll experience next time. Class reunions will probably be reminiscent of the class scapegoats, etc etc. It would also be amusing to see who turns out as what. Who's balding, who's earning millions and who turns up in chains. Somehow, half the allure is gone cos we're (almost) all still going to be in the same school for the next two years. But still, it's gonna be fun (:

Christmas @ Orchard

In conjunction with the STB's Celebrate Christmas in Singapore campaign, the youth network of my church is organising an event on 24th December to bring the Christmas spirit to Orchard. So if you want to know about the true meaning of Christmas, bug me! Click to http://christmas-at-orchard.blogspot.com/ if you want to find out more

Mr

Get it? My title is Mr Low etc etc... Anyway, the hols have given me time to explore blogger.com, so i now know how to block comment spam. I have also enabled comments from Anyone, but I'm lazy so I'll probably ignore anonymous comments. So write your name!

Without A Trace starts soon, I watch so many of these crime-murder-missing people shows that I forget which is which.

Designated Smoking Corners

When I went for lunch at a coffee shop today, I noticed a sign made out of corrugated plastic tied to a pole. It said "This Is A Designated Smoking Corner". Being about the first time I recall noticing such a smoking corner (yeah, I haven't had the chance to eat at coffee shops much lately), I nobly resisted the impulse to join in the smoking (colloquial slang for talking rot).

Looking at the sign, I was reminded of the episode of Becker that I watched last night on Star, which I will attempt to vaguely recall. Becker walked into the diner and lit a cigarette. When she saw it, Chris said, "WILL YOU PUT THAT OUT! Why don't you smoke on the way here?"
"I dont like to smoke while I walk, the smoke blows back into my face," Becker replies, "and, well, second-hand smoke is bad for you!"

Okay okay stop grinning for a while. I don't understand smokers all that much. I mean, they all say they're not addicted, what. They only smoke because they want to, not because they NEED to. Just that sometimes they really, REALLY want to. Back to the point. With the government-imposed taxes and all, smoking has become an extremely expensive habit. Cigarettes are like women. They give you a good time, but in exchange they take all your money, and in the end they kill you. (This is why people resort to illegal cigarettes. At least girls in Batam don't have access to your bank account. xD )

Whoosh time's up Criminal Minds is starting

I HATE YOU!

While blog surfing recently, it came to my attention that the process of posting known affectionately as emo ranting is dying out. (Incidentally, if you take it literally enough, emo is just short for emotional. I'm highly amused by how the term emo is more commonly used to describe negative emotions like anger and sadness, isn't elation an emotion too?) Being my bored, easily-amused (but not elitist and uncaring! xD) self, I have made it my latest project to re-educate whoever reads this on the art of the emo rant blogpost.

The most important part of emo-ing, as it is so often termed, is finding the right balance of emotions. Anger, sadness, embarrassment and mental regression are just some of the many plausible options you may choose from.

Upon choosing the combination of emotions you desire to convey, make sure you find a good subject to emo on. A person or persons would work really well, such as parents, friends, teachers, siblings, relatives, boyfriends, girlfriends, ex-boyfriends, ex-girlfriends, random people you meet, random people you didn't meet, the UN, Chelsea etc etc. As you can tell, there is a wide array of options for the potential ranter.

Now that you have your emotions in check and your subject with which to vent them on, it's time to let it loose! However, there are some methods of emo ranting that will set you apart from the rest. These will let all your readers see that you've BOUGHT it, and are not just ranting, if you know what I mean.

Firstly, make sure you have a great title to catch the attention of your reader. You know, to make sure that they're aware of all your emotion. Apart from the traditional favourites like "I HATE YOU" (see mine!) and "YOU RUIN MY LIFE", a modern wave of emo titles is catching on, as ranters become more diverse in their subjects. Examples would include "YOUR FEET STINK" or "Golf IS a sport!", not forgetting the latest in wordy titles like "I Always Knew You Would Go For Someone With Better Looks, Smarts And Personality Than Me".

Next, make sure your post is written in a 2nd person point of view. This is in case the subject of your post happens to read it, so he/she/it will know you are talking TO them. However, make sure you DON'T mention the name of your subject. That way, it leaves all your readers guessing who you're referring to. As they say, ambiguity is the key! (I learnt this from Daniel... geddit? 'As they say'? Nevermind) A good tip would be to start every sentence on a new line, making sure you begin each one with You. A viable alternative to this would be to throw in an italicised sentence written in the 2nd person at random intervals.

This adds so much more drama to your post!

Also, make sure you use as little punctuation as possible this makes it look like you typed it all at one go in a rush of emotion from your recent experience

If you can, try to include some poetry. Better yet, type the whole post as a poem.

If you're not that good;

A poet,

But desperately want to;

Include some poetry in;

Your post,

Then simply;

Italicise;

Everything, and add breaks;

Between.

Looks great,

No?

With that, I have come to the end of my masterclass on emo ranting. I hope you have found it useful, and will apply a thick layer externally the next time you need to release some negative emotion.

p.s. For extra kicks, try reading through the post again, but everytime the words 'emo', 'emotion' or 'emotions' appear, read them as 'waggle' or 'waggles' instead!

Holidays

After about a week-long hiatus, I have finally found the time and energy to motivate myself to post. Okay I had tons of time and energy, so it's just motivation. Cos really, when you're alone at home with about all the time in the world, there's nothing to blog about.

Holidays are fantastic. Not much can compare to 9 weeks of pure nothingness. Sleep. TV. Computer. Sleep. TV. Computer. Sl- you get the idea. But you start to realise you're too free when you go to the library one morning and you only have one book left to read the next evening. Knowing there are many like me out there, I have nobly decided to come up with some suggestions for activities to pass time with.

First, you need to find an old watch.

Suggestion 1: Gather a couple of friends. Stand around in a circle, or any other arrangement you'd prefer. Starting with yourself, toss the watch to the guy next to you. Keep it going, and be amazed at your passing time. (Tip: Vary this activity by introducing clocks and/or sundials)

Suggestion 2: Try to find one as small as possible. After washing it, swallow your time-piece. Wait for a couple of days, and make sure you're alert when you go to the toilet, so you'll know when you're passing time. (Tip: Use laxatives to quicken the process!)

Clearly the holidays have an adverse effect on my ability to ramble with wit. I think posts on lyric-spamming and emo ranting would be thoroughly amusing, but I'll have to be patient cos I'm usually too lazy.

Oops it's time for TV again. See you!