Memiors Of A Geisha.

The movie was described by the Sunday Times as "grossly inaccurate" and there was too much "Hollywood razzle dazzle".

Not surprisingly, since it was helmed by Oscar winner Chicago's Rob Marshall. He (and the cinematography) did a wonderful job with the moving pictures. Every scene is breath taking and beautiful, adding to the realism of Sayuri's life in the Gion.

However, it is really a pity. I left the theatre after watching the movie with question marks in my head. WARNING : SPOILERS AHEAD

The ending was just too perfect. Forgive me if I sound too cruel, but it was. Girl finds out boy like her too. Fairytale. After I complained to my sister that the ending was too perfect, and it couldn't possibly happen to anyone in real life, she enlightened me by telling me that it was indeed a work of fiction.

Did you know that Memoirs of a Geisha is fictional? After the movie, i read the book, and it acknowledges that it was invented at the back of the book. Sayuri, the Chairman, Nobu, Hatsumomo, Mameha are a work of Arthur Golden's imagination.

A few years ago, when I had an encounter with this book, I was misled into thinking it was based on a real Geisha.

Another thing, the movie looked too controversial as well. As the Sunday Times commented, the studio decided to give the roles to Zhang Ziyi, Gong Li and Michelle Yeoh because they were more bankable. However, Gong Li and Zhang Ziyi are Chinese. Forgive me for being narrow minded, but as a Chinese, to portray a Japanese AND IN the WAR era, would it really be okay with your fellow chinese?

Would it?

Maybe yes. But I still feel they should have cast Japanese actresses instead of them. After all, the Japanese knows their culture best.

Another note is they speak English throughout the movie. Broken english no less. I think, might as well speak in Japanese, since there are already English subtitles!

On a lighter note though, I thought Gong Li portrayed Hatsumomo very well. Even if her hairstyle looked dishevielled (and I don't think Geishas dared walked around in that hairstyle), she still looks so beautiful yet evil. Terrific.

Rants stops here.

Chinese New Year.

That's what you think I'm going to blog about. And you are right. I am. However, I will have nothing much to say about it except for one tiny paragraph.

"Routine."

I may sound like some Ang Mo -pai gal who doesn't want to embrace Chinese New Year, but believe me, I am not. I very much want to get involved in the festive mood of Chinese New Year.

Only problem is, my parents arn't that keen on that.

Every year, my Chinese New Year is the same. Similar. No change. Lidat lor. First, reunioun dinner. Next day, visiting. Okay, fun. But then on the 2nd day of Chinese New Year, we seemed to have ran out of relatives/friends to visit( or vice versa). So I spent the whole day home.

My parents explained that Chinese New Year is for them to rest. My mum said that we are "mellow" people, that we are not those who invite hoards of friends to their house. When I asked why bother buying loads of food and tidbits, she said it was for us to eat.

OkAy.

Too make matters worse, I developed flu- AGAIN. So I couldn't eat the goodies, nor could I go out.


Here's some Pictures for me to Cheer Up.



Me and my Nanny. She took care of me when I was a baby till I was four.
Amazing woman.




My New Referee Shoes. Black doesn't suit me, but what to do?




A letter from Shaz!


Oh! And I watched Memoirs Of A Geisha during CNY eve, and read the Book on the 2nd and 3rd day of New Year. Comments coming up next.

PICTURES FROM MY PHONE


My Grandma! She's so cute!



@ Referee Course

Jasmine took these pictures while the teacher is teaching us. Tsk, never pay attention.



Seems like me and Grace arn't paying attention too!




Gwen's Tee Shirt.





Look at me, I am so studious! (Actually was writing a letter. Muahahha)






The Wonders of Spectacles



Small Eyes.





Prominant Eyes.
Amazing huh? Only applies to Qunbao. Hee.

@ Backstreetboys Concert



Before the Show.





Indoor stadium before the show starts. The stage was not very big.








And the show begins!

You are alice from the movie Resident evil. Alice

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Which horror movie character are you ?
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A GAME-BOY. Youre like a tomboy without the love of

sports. Reality sucks, but as long as you

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Time goes unnoticed when youre locked in your

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Your flaws: Inability to cope with real life,

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In Like - Not deep enough to call love yet....


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Tales of Siao Da Po

In this world, I have come to realised that there are 3 types of people in this world.
1. The smart but arrogant kind.
2 The smart but humble kind.
3. The idiots

Many are a mix of 1 and 3, while a noticable amount of people are 3. Today, at work, I met 3.

This uncle, wearing a "Household Promoter, OG" tag, went into my office.
"Helloo? Ze li shi mai so mor de" The Uncle said.
(Helloo? What this place sell?) (I assume if he knows english, his "engrish will be like lojak")

Me : We are a redemptions and events company.
Uncle: Huh? Shen Me? Wo bu ming bai. (Huh, Whad? I no understand)
Me: Redemptions... er....

Sorry if I do not know the chinese word for "redemptions".

My collegue, Serene Pok Si Hui decided to help me out.
As she tried to explain, and by the looks of it, she was struggling but didn't show it, the Uncle was holding a very very baffled expression.

To my horrors, he started to criticise her chinese!

UNCLE: Wo men bu dong ne shuo shen me( I no know u tok wad)

He then turned to me and started to ask me if I KNOW WHAT SHE IS SAYING. Obviously yes i do. But I tried to explain to him what we did, once again. But, it was to no avail.

UNCLE: Wo ye bu dong ne shuo shen me. Ne men zhe yang shuo hua, mei you CUSTOMER hui ming bai de leh.
(I also no know what talking you. Lidat talk, no CUSTOMER will understand you all)

Eh, uncle! Me and my collegue got B3 in chinese one okay! Plus oral we both get merit. MERIT hor. I see your finger got 2 gold rings then come and entertain you one okay.

At one point, he did mentioned that he was a BOSS. But, his tag was HOUSEHOLD PROMOTER, OG. From OG come here...

UNCLE, very li hai jia zua hor? Come chit chat with small girl...

I was thinking of asking him to go to our website, but I should think he will be like "Eh, si mi sai?" (Eh, what shit?)

Finally, he gave up, and went to ka jiao other people (i think). But his last words were, "Nevermind, wo zai fu jing er ei, gai tian lai zao ne men." (Nevermind, I am near, will find you next time)

Horrible. And that's why he is an IDIOT.

Note: Apparently, he wants to sell 3 products with our help. That's as far as we got to before communication broke down in chinese.

Have finally read Shaz's friendster blog. Am happy when saw own name.
Want to write postcard to her. Can't find postcard. Must try to find.

Shaz's:
Rules of the game:1. Post 5 weird/random things about yourself.2. At the end of the quiz, list the name of 5 people whom you want next to do this and leave a comment in their blog and tell them to read your blog.

1. My mole has a name.
2. I hunch- too much.
3. I used to have many hygiene problems. USED to. Heh.
4. That's probably cos I hated bathing in the past.
5. I haven't swam in a year.

And the five people... drumroll: Qunbao, ShiQi, GekEng, Gwen, and YuenXin

An Alcoholic's Mind

Early morning and rain isn't coming down on me
still i feel oh so cold and lonely
no one's here now, no one's here
Can I make it through without my beer?

There's so much to think about
That I don't wanna think about
There's life of yours that should have been mine
My life is ruined, and I don't have time

You should feel the sensation
There's no better reason
There's a chance you'll feel better than you ever did before
So grab it and just drink it down
Let it suspend and take you round
And round and round and round.

My past life has got nothing to do with yours.

Look. I'm now feeling sour. Probably due to the grapes I didn't get to eat.

(I WIN YOU, JUNYANG!!!)

The Concert

I went to catch the Backstreet Boys concert yesterday with Charlene and Pamela. It was a one night only concert, yet it wasn't sold out at all! So you can judge for yourself their appeal after 13 years in showbiz.

I had great seats! I paid $127, and my seat was right next to the $160 section. And I could see all the action, even if their faces weren't very clear.

One interesting thing that happened was that some Ang Mo kids sitting behind me can't see a thing- because I was blocking their view while I was standing up. Sorry I'm tall-er. There was a lot of Caucasians, and they were wayyyy wild.

The good thing is, we can call them "SIAO" and they wouldn't know what it is.

Out of the concert, the boys sang many of their old songs, and some of their new songs. They didn't have any dramatic costume changes, just plain tees and jeans.

I guess that's cos they're getting old.

During the show, there was many people who got up and danced. However, a handful of parents were sitting down and just staring.

Wah lau, you pay $160 to sit there. Might as well go coffeeshop sit and lim ko pi, save money somemore.

One thing that I was sad about was that they didn't sing "POSTER GIRL", my most favourite song in their new album. However, they did sing "Siberia", "My beautiful Woman", "I Still", "Incomplete", "Just want you to know", "Crawling back to you", "Never Gone" and "Climbing up the walls".

Come to think of it, they almost sang everything in the new album but "POSTER GIRL"!!!

At least they sang "As long as you love me", "Backstreet's back", "Quit playing games with my heart", "Shape of my heart" and "LARGER THAN LIFE", and many more, complete with a live band.

Nick Carter is huge. Not huge in fanbase, but literally huge. Big-sized, hunky, broad shouldered.

By half-time, I was quite tired, and stood there quietly to watch them. However, Pam and Charlene were dancing from start to end.

They were too high. Might as well be, and I say let them be high since they can't be tall.

Vanessa (Secondary School friend) and Agnes (New Found Friend!) were there as well. We were in different sections, but still managed to chat a while before the show started. Both were wearing purple tops. Trying to blend in with the purple seats, I guess.

After it ended, it was home. Had to work the next day. See. Zombie. Work.

TIME TO WALK AWAY

I have a new blogskin, courtesy of www.blogskins.com. It is of my most favourite artiste in the entire world-Avril Lavigne.

Today is the day where the backstreetboys are in town, and i am one of the thousands (hopefully they still appeal to hormonal charged teens) who will be catching them tonight. My first concert, ever!

It is also time for me to think hard and long, and choose either basketball or work. You just can't have your cake and eat it too. You just can't.

a chance to recover
a chance to do good.
a chance to experience, yet
I refused.

MY DAY OUT

Yesterday was tuesday, and I went out with Charlene, Aishah and Lagoon. Hwee Teng joined us a little later.

It was fun, because I didn't have to work. SAY YES TO FREEDOM!!!

Aishah was... oh, I can't say. But it was nice seeing her again, and seeing the rest NOT AFTER WORK.

Lagoon helped me pluck my eyebrows in the toilet, but it was Painful! Oh well. And she even help me put make up on my face as well. Ooh, make up.

The when I went to my referee course, I was SUANED like hell by Jasmine, Grace, Chen Ning and the two coaches. I was all dressed up because I was out during the day, and they looked like they have never seen a girl wearing a sleeveless tee. Haha, suan me until mad, they said I couldn't turn behind because I will distract them, and I looked too pretty that day. Oh my! But so far, referee course is very fun because of the two coaches, both are such jokers.

And that was my day, how was yours?

The Case of The Cranky Sister

Alas, I have come to the age where I tend to look at the mirror more, feel uneasy when I see stray hairs coming out from my nicely shaped eyebrows and cringe in fear when I see a measly pimple-like dot on my face.

Or so what my sister call "vanity".

Nowadays, when I look into the mirror a little longer than usual, my small sister would point her finger and pout "Eeee... so ai mei! (Vain)".

She always neglects the fact that she's 14, but she is able to "withstand" staring into the mirror for half an hour straight, or that she uses the straightener before she goes to bed (And I would like to question WHAT FOR!!??), or that she has "fashion shows" with my big sisters in the middle of the night, dancing and prancing around in our bedroom with fancy clothes on.

Now, I'm 18. She's 14. You do the math.

If she's ain't cranky, she's ironic.

And then some more...

sometimes the way things goes
you don't really wanna know
because the truth really hurts
after which danger lurks

I just wanna say
there will still be another day
without him,without her
the sun will still shine anyway

Don't remember your broken heart
just remember my friendship touch
at least when they are gone
I will still be here,and for very long

So cheer up today
Because you arn't hurt by a thousand knifes
You feel emotions
That proves you're still alive

(this poem above is for Aishah)

------------------------------------------
Hey could you really see me
as I am
or is it a facade, just like them
Would you really believe in me
100% wholeheartedly
Am I a person you use to plug your hole
so you feel no longer alone
Am I a toy, cranked and wind
Your piece of meat, your sunshine blind
A friend in need is a friend indeed
Anything else, you're just a piece of shit

------------------------------------------------------

So much in this society
We, humans coulda achieve
We sank to a new low
With their cries and pleas

About to reach humanity high
"one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind"
But slowly and surely
It was not, at all, meant to be
I've see the winds howl and rain pierce
With no mercy, with no tears
Far from civillisation
We've gone baack to being barbarians

Love is patient, love is kind
Oh! How i hope the world is fine
But it bleeds as I speak
Sooner or later, a corpse it'll reek.

POEMS OF THE PAST

Here are some poems I wrote in the past, when I was filled with teen angst and hormonal inbalance.

i wanna talk about this thing call fate
is it real or is it fake
is it imaginary or it's us who creates
the sequence in life coincidences coincides
and though it may seem unbelievable
sometimes even too insatiable
is it the work of this "f" word
which seem to make all things work
and by the fine line
compatible with the timeline
makes couples meet
friends meet
people meet
that's what interest me
baffles me the most
and in doing so..
i give "fate" a toast


it's just 16 hours to the revalation of truth
and i'm barely breathing for them to reveal
scary thoughts have crossed my mind
but i just want peace inside
will i get what i expect
or will it go round my tracks?
(Concieved 16 hours before my O LEVEL results were released)

i have been preparing for the moment by since i was twelve
And now i've failed to do it even though my head had swelled
I mean, judging from their skills they are nothing to me
but yet in the end I fell on my knees
baskets created, shots floundered
feeling so frustrated
And we were down by only 6...
"LOSING" was staring me in the face

I'm pissed by the way I acted
Making myself frustrated
It's like deja vu
I've been there before
And there my tongue was asking for more
It's hard to break the ice
Once you do, it's harder
Proving yourself worthy in the 3rd stage of life is frightening
I mean, I coulda done much better
But I know I didn't
So I come off as ditzy and worthless
That's what happens to bad first impressions

THE Referee

Yesterday, I went to my third referee course at Singapore Basketball Centre. At the same time, the IVP was going on, hence there was a lot of cheering and shouting outside. The classroom where I was in had (I swear) paper thin walls, so any whistle, any shouting could be heard very clearly.

The lesson, as usual was filled with tonnes of questions. Those questions really made me think hard, and sometimes long. I may have played basketball for 6years, but still there are facts that I didn't know about. It was really useful. Besides, the teachers were soooo cute!

When they were teaching, I can't help but snicker to myself. One teacher would "when you toast (toss) the ball...." and another would " if you play lockerly (locally)...". A question that the teacher flashed on screen was "The ball how to check if it is in good condition?"

The teachers weren't very fluent in english, but they were very good teachers. At one instance, the teacher spoke in Chinese, and we could understand him very well. He said in Chinese "I think I can express better in Chinese, maybe I should speak Chinese since most of you understands."

And we said "YES! PLEASE DO!" But, after that, he reverted back to his kind of English, making us confused once again. When he wanted to get hold of a basketball, he called out "Ball ball leh? Where's my ball ball?"

For an experienced teacher/referee to be able to do that, we have to really, really have respect for him.

Tales of The Long Lost People of Our Lives

This morning, as I went to the bus stop to take the bus to work, I saw this neighbour of mine sitting at the bus stop. He looked at me, and I looked at him too. I don't know why, but I smiled at him. Just like that without any hesitation. He must have been shocked, even stunned, because only after 2 seconds have passed did he smile back.

The point is, he DID smile back, and even waved goodbye as his bus came. While waiting for my bus alone, I tried to search for his name, but I forgot who it was. I once knew him because he was my sister's classmate. However, I never really saw him again until today.

Thus, I have come to realise I actually have a lot of friends whom I've lost contact with, and I bet you do too. It's our nature to be closest to the persons we are currently in the same situation with, like classmates or collegues at work. The rest who we don't see everyday, we either forget and lose them forever, or we make an effort to meet up and rekindle the friendship.

The latter, unfortunately does not always happen. Sure, we will say hi to those long lost friends of ours, but do we stop in our tracks and chat a while? Do we even ask them where they are now, what they're doing and tell them "I hope to see you soon"? No, we merely say "Hi" and walk away. The once-fashion-buddy of yours has been reduced to a lowly "hi bye" friend, just like that schoolmate who knows your name and you know his, but that's all you know.

I know we don't purposely forget people. It's because of gruelling work schedules or schoolwork that keep piling into mountains that you have to give priority to. Those friends, unfortunately do not share the same burden, hence you drift further and further apart. By the time you know it, you don't remember the person until you see their faces on Friendster.

I have this friend, that I have been meaning to ask out for the longest time (2 years and counting) and still, I haven't got around to doing it. Sure, we have chatted on MSN, and said that we would like to meet up one day (it's been a year), but we still haven't met up. It is frustrating when promises are reduced to naught. Oh, Fanny! When can you, me and Shi Qi finally meet up??

It got me thinking, will the same happen to my current close friends. We were together because of A levels, but now that's its over, I am really fearful for the day that we no longer meet up. Just imagine saying this in five years time. "Oh, look, that's LiJun/ Pam/ HweeTeng/ Charlene, my JC friend. Lets not walk this way because I don't know what to say to her."

Do you want this to happen? Do I want this to happen? No. No no no.

But I am lucky. Even though I don't see my Secondary 4 classmates for months at a stretch, I am able to call them up and arrange for a meeting. We still chat, talk, gossip like we did in the past, with no walls or barrier that pushes us away from each other.

So, the bottom line is, treasure them. Really really really treasure them. And don't walk away.

My nose is like a faucet. But instead of pure, drinkable water out comes.... I don't think you will want to eat your dinner if I told you what comes out.

So, I currently suspect I have bird flu. It's based on the fact that I do have flu, and that my throat itches so badly- Gosh, I would love to shove a feather duster into my throat! But of course, I do not want to HAVE bird flu. I'm not self-sucidal in any case. The best thing to do now is to go to the doctor, but I'll have to wait till Saturday. Or sunday.

ShiQi = Maggie Mee

Qunbao, bad boy you, keep calling up my office. Bleh!

School.

The dreaded word, for tomorrow will be the first day of school.

But not for me. I think I'm getting sentimental, but what the heck. It's 2006, 2nd January today, and tomorrow all little kids will be off in their uniforms.

It's so so so weird. For the past 12 years, I don't like first days of school. It meant getting back into the rat race, tutorials and HOMEWORK. But of course, people like me forgot about the good things of school, such as friends, laughing at teachers when they say the wrong things ( when the lecturer pronounced Van Der Waal's as "Bang the Wall"), laughing at teachers with bulging stomachs, laughing at teachers when they are funny.

In primary school, it's going back and being a good girl. In secondary school it's laughing about SQ's hair, hanging at the back of the class to listen to juicy gossips OR talking crap with Steph, Xiao Wei, Andrea, GekEng, Seet Ee, Vanessa. In JC, it's sitting in lecture and talking rubbish with Charlene, Shaz and all the rest.

Canteen food is a huge draw too. Tuesdays we have blah blah blah, Wednesdays, blah blah. Thursdays we must rush down because everyone's having the same break.

And then, BAM!

No school. Ever. Well, university isn't really like "classroom" school and I don't really plan on repeating.

Gimme gimme gimme gimme gimme gimme gimme school. And right now, my sister is showing off cos "she get to go to school"...

Nevermind, I shall have to forget about school, and go to work and get paid tomorrow.
I should remind my sister about her HOLIDAY HOMEWORK TOO!!