the motorcycle diaries

chim + shup + fuzz + jo | the softballer, tennis player, councillor and judoka | (wannabe) girl jocks | 03a15 hwachonggg | arty farty humanz | travel HK | cycle pasir ris | dinner anywhere | what we have in common - our restlessness, our impassioned spirits, and a love for the open road

Wednesday, August 31, 2005

argh

My msn nick is finally justified. pop history quiz today and i was stunned because it was a straight F for me. I've no idea how to fill in the countries and cities and bodies of water in the middle east!!!! We never had to care where the places were on a map, just which bloody king killed how many bloody people. I "finished" the test in record time and was going to start panicking until the TA said it probablywasn't going to be graded and if it was it would be a very small percentage. what the... he shouldn't play around with my feelings like this lah i'm a sensitive person you know. Anyway now i've to memorise the map of the middle east i couldn't even tell where the land ended and the sea began this afternoon and there'll be another map quiz, a real one this time. wah crap. But other than that i love the TA. He really knows his stuff and wants us to be involved in our learning too. The whole system here for the humanities is scary because it demands not just hard work but also classroom contribution and constant processing of what we get in lectures, discussions, readings. Scary but super rewarding in the end i think, if i can survive the first semester.

Econ is frustrating cos it's just the two years of jc crammed into one semester. So i'm going to have a condensed boring cos repeated experience. But i should give it a chance i guess, just that i feel it's a waste of time. The seniors didn't have to do this... grrr. My poetry class was crazy hell this Chilean guy was super rude and disruptive and he refused to shut up and some people yelled at him to shut up and the professor was like "stop it" "you're getting on my nerves" all the time. Chao annoying and we didn't learn much but an exciting one half hours. Oh yeah can anyone tell me the meaning of the lines "When the stars threw down their spears / And watered heaven with their tears" from William Blake's "The Tyger"?????? The professor refuses to answer questions most of the time. He's just "I don't know!" i think he's trying to make a point. But when he does lecture he says very fascinating things: eg do great works make you think or do they free you from thinking? Do they give you a grip on an experience that would otherwise be too big to handle and in doing so not remake that experience? Hmmm stupid Chilean guy should have shut up instead of wasting everyone's time.

ok enough on classes let's try and upload some pictures from our 5 hour foray into san francisco.


Gorgeous statue at Union Square against the cloudless blue sky. I'm in constant wonder about the blueness of the sky in California due to the lack of clouds.

The modern day fire department as enacted by me and wilson with yonghe as the damsel in distress.


At a very sad beach but i made it a happier place with my presence heh heh.


This is back in Berkeley but it's possibly my favourite picture ever. ROAR!

Tuesday, August 30, 2005

hehehe

hehehe my first class could not meet cos haven't had a lecture. so i'm up in my room eating and typing this now. you guys must remind me to eat less cos i had a weird dream last night after stuffing myself at dinner and i woke up missing home very much. life isn't a bed of roses here i guess. my ultra subconscious depths is telling me that what i really want is to eat a homecooked meal or have something healthy with you all (thanks to shup) maybe. anyway here is a condensed (because of all the complaints about my posts' lengths) photo journal of life so far.
this is the chao informal and slack convocation on the left.
These are John, my neighbour, and Di Fan, my roomie. They refused to smile for me.













Me while trudging up a super long hilly trail. I think that's berkeley city i'm pointing toward.


Finally at the summit of Claremount Canyon Preserve.

After the hike, dinner at Fendy's house. Fendy actually cooked for 8 of us wow. That's Morris, Joseph, Wilson, yonghe, Zhenyu and Fendy.

Monday, August 29, 2005

texas chainsaw massacre

everyone must watch the new cop movie in town, 36 quai (some other french words)! just go to lido and say "36!" and you'll get your tickets. its super good action, thriller, drama, death movie, where cops commit murder and shoot each other's wives. this is all out of context, but sounds interesting doesn't it ;) there are some scenes where the director is obviously trying to thump your head with a hammer, asking you to cry, and some other scenes you woudln't want to have to watch ever again. but its good! better than charlie and his factory, in which i thought willy wonka/wanka/wanker was so affectedly screwed up by johnny depp. (he isn't supposed to be vulnerable like that! and opening scene was so mike jackson inspired)

today was interesting cos' i had to invigilate a n te.ch.nic.cal class for common test, only to walk right into a public caning session. (yes. apparently this is what they do in between lessons. y'know.. standard procedure). the whipping was really loud and the guys were trying hard to be men and not crying. but i personally was q shocked, esp when the teachers walked out of it and expected me to go in and give out the test like nothing had happened. and actually the atmosphere in the class was like that.. gosh, if there's one thing we could all learn from them is how to move on and forget abt things quickly. heh. anyway i kinda like going into nt classes cos' you never know what you're gonna get... but after awhile you kinda want to flee the place too.. so hmm. can't decide if i really wanna do nt when i come back, though considering it. cos' its fulfilling and shit like that.

anyway, if you've reached this paragraph bravo to you because i've just been rambling on and on haven't i. realise the title has nothing to do with the contents of this post (and that this post is getting to be as long as chim's). maybe i was inspired by all the violence i've witnessed recently.

hope all three of you are well. take care you guys!!

p/s wah! why do we have a tagboard?!! so many pp know abt this blog issit. but its ok. like i told chim, i'll get past it.

jo: why need airplane tickets?? has there been a change of plans? are we suddenly going to madrid or some place like that now??
chim: grr
shups: jia you!

Sunday, August 28, 2005

nights at paradizzz


hey gals.. this blog is becoming like a chim showcase. where chim types super long and entertaining entries, and the rest of us.. err read abt them. hahaha... no worries when i get to london i shall bring back tales to scandalize! and entice! and titillate your senses! (dont u love the word titillating... lol)

anyway the reason behind the soft porn title of my entry is cos i went lanning at paradiz! with hj! and chim- some of ur psc friends.... there was.. ambrose wilson hockboon and shihao. it was damn fun... i nvr realised how much i missed dota. and yeah hockboon is quite entertaining, i rmb always meeting him in my lane and killing him. ok, he killed me too. but it was quite evenly matched, i insist.

dont the squirrels make u wanna drink too? waha.

Saturday, August 27, 2005

of beer and drugs

heyy i really like the title of the blog now! you guys must watch the movie for the delectable gael bernal garcia. And the wandering vastness of the soul it captures of course, not just for gbg.

anyway, i was leaving the gym with di fan at about 10pm when yuan xiang called (if you're reading this man you're crappy but it's ok, good to hear your voice even though i'm a filler for your boring walks to the clubs) and he reminded me that the first weekend spent here shouldn't be at the dorm. And so i decided to check out some sporty gathering thing with di fan cos she'd wanted to go but had decided not to cos i didn't want to go with her at first. On our way there, we heard screaming and a rock band-like sound next to the sports field. Wheeeee. I headed for the concert alone cos di fan didn't want to but no regrets!!!! About two thousand people were in this amphitheatre grooving to some oldish rock group who was awesome. Great emotion, superb lyrics. Hehehe you should have seen my attempts at dancing. Baby steps my friends. Soon i'll be in a bhangra or hip hop class at the rec centre and then i can be really pro at concerts. Now paradise will be if John Mayer hits this area. Thanks yuan xiang for calling at the right moment cos i was really going to bum in my room after my workout.

Notice i said be pro at concerts instead of parties. After living in THE party dorm of Berkeley for a week and after the concert i've decided that i HATE HATE HATE the smell of beer and puke and whatever drug this bunch of guys next to me at the concert were smoking. I'll confirm get these smells at parties and maybe even get wasted who knows what will happen in the heat of the moment right. Just yesterday this girl was being carried by her friends throughout my building and they were asking every room if she was our roommate. Man i really don't want to be in that position ever. Losing control over yourself is just plain scary. Sure i took a longer time than the guys next to me getting lost in the music at the concert, probably because they were getting high on whatever they were passing around to smoke. But i had a good time anyway. Maybe it was cos i was inhaling whatever they were exhaling? Whatever. Hmmm however i still have an itch to try a sorority or frat party what do you guys think? How do i avoid the stink of beer and drugs and yet get the complete experience hehehe?

Oh yeah i caved in to temptation and bought some fried rice from a chinese restaurant today but i made the mistake of speaking english and i got the Americanised version :( I must speak chinese from now on. the good thing is Di Fan is going to take chinese classes and she has cool textbooks with essays and stuff that i can read to brush up. And my neighbour is this chinese american guy John who's actually reading a chinese book on confucious sayings right now. He's really nice, helped me a lot with carrying heavy stuff. My roommate likes him hehhehheh a real life soap opera in front of me. He and his roommate keep on coming to our room and so do the guys two doors down. Then there's yonghe and nick right across our room. yonghe's from Singapore, and nick is the guy who ponned the whole of this week i was very impressed. So no lack of people to talk crap to, especially late at night. Man they really like to talk and they can go on forever. I've met nice people here and there; i feel bad cos i thought they were like one-off acquaintances and didn't bother remembering their name but they actually call out my name and ask how i'm doing when they see me around campus. Wow. I've never met friendlier people in my life. If I go home and do like the Americans do i'll just be called siao.

Classes start Monday, em says it's tough. Ugh. I'm going to need lots of moral support from you guys.

To end on a positive note, going to San Francisco on Sunday. Yay! Want anything?

cyborged!

allow me to introduce you to our cyborg personalities--
Functional Artificial Unit Zoned for Immediate Assassination and Harm

Juggernaut Optimized for Logical Yelling and Nullification

Cybernetic Hazardous Infiltration Machine

and finally, (drumroll)
Synthetic Handcrafted Unit Programmed for Infiltration and Nocturnal Gratification

UGH.

Thursday, August 25, 2005

of rice and half naked men

Lame title i know but it's 4am here now and fuzzy is demanding an update. So here goes. Life's really good now cos true to californian style welcome week is nice and relaxed with activities that we schedule ourselves. So i managed to play frisbee at 6.30pm, go to the gym at 8.30pm and just hang out with my roommate and neighbours till just one hour ago. my next door neighbour is this 16yr old guy who looks like joel tee except he's more buff heh. Picture coming soon i hope.

so everything's free and easy, which is both good and bad. No one can understand the singaporean accent here and most of the people are Californians so they have shared interests that make them relate so painfully easily to each other. I guess that's why singaporeans tend to stick together when they're overseas. I'm lucky to have a really friendly roommate who goes around with me and since she's american she has the amazing american ability to strike up and maintain a conversation with strangers. so yeah she helps open up my social circle kinda. i'm fine with saying hi to random ppl eand introducing myself but it's quite hard to sustain a meaningful conversation i've found. except with this guy i met who wants to be a socialist, communist even. he was amazed by what i told him about singapore. one thing i've learnt is that americans are quite closed in. few care about what's beyond their country. cos it's so darned big i guess and also cos they're really individualistic. They respect individual rights like anything and stand up for who they are staunchly. That's why we think they're bullies i think, cos some cultures are just too shy to say outright that they're wrong whereas americans seem to have no qualms saying anything. and i've no idea why i'm loadin gyou with these opinions but i'mfeeling crappy at 430am.

anyway, why of rice and half-naked men? the way people eat here is terrible. i'd a protein bar for dinner. my punggolnasilemak! my chickenrice! fly to me here! don't worry i'll check out the good restaurants around berkeley soon and i'll take you guys there when you visit me. WHEN not IF.

So, halfnaked cos i'm on a coed floor and i keep on bumping into half-naked guys in the bathroom and the hallway. everyone's v buff around here so it's like free decorations for the hall and bathroom heh.

finally, i love the weather and the campus. yeah man... this is the life... until school starts on monday, then i'll start bitching about my miserable loserly life. everyone thinks i'm mad to take 6 classes but an advisor said i can just try it out first so yeah welcome to muggerdom. oh yeah and apparently i can use any preferred name in berkeley just so long as i change it right before i graduate to my official one. What do you think of Princess Apple Chim Yihui?

Wednesday, August 24, 2005

inside joke



haha you guys, rmb this picture? how shup and i ducked in the second shot so that chim and hj wld be err blissfully unobstructed? and how it was subsequently doctored so that things weren't quite what they seemed? wahaha.

yo daud!: it seems like i haven't seen ya in a while! haha how strange. btw huixin will do the airtickets while i'll do the accoms. so u prob do the err itinerary?? can swap if you wanna.

shup: wahahaha this photo still tickles me.

chim: youre the shortest in the photo. wahaha.

Tuesday, August 23, 2005

yeahbaby

yo, safe and sound for now, except when i went into the wrong hall and tried to enter a room that wasn't mine. i'm going around with my roommate now who's really friendly. more later!!! i've to figure out where to go and when. oh yeah! off to the gym now where i actually just got a membership. whee you'll get a muscular chim hopefully.

Saturday, August 20, 2005

parting is such sweet sorrow

hey you guys, so glad to see new posts :) am typing this on sheryls laptop cos im staying over at her place so i can send off chim in the morning. i just had an absolutely crazy 30plus hours which saw me playing in the sea, playing at the playground (competing with the other kids for the fun stuff) and generally having a blast la. im happy with the new guy, yup.

chim: i know you and sheryl were giggling abt shaking tents! awful friends u guys are... haha

anyway, in 9 hours time one of the cheekygirls is gonna cross the gates at the airport and we wont be seeing her for quite a while. i know im gonna cry, cos i already feel like it :( :( :( chim dear, it goes without saying that we'll all miss you like hell. but yeah go there and try 2b as happening as you possibly can. can like sleep past midnight!!! hahah so happening right??

be safe and loads of fun. oh and yeah pls post here as soon as you can la... then we can worry less abt you too.

yozzie

helllooo...
i like the sound of 'the shup'- makes me sound like some hotshot =) and for the record, my name's shu ping, not shuping, my dearest yi ' ' hui.
i had a slack day today, my first in many many weeks! but im very very restless ( bounce, bounce, bounce!) and kinda disgruntled about the state of things here i guess. ugh. i dislike being alone and having to be independent. *whines*
sigh. did i mention that tonight's gonna be my first night staying alone in my hall? i wonder how things will turn out.
p.s. fuzz, its you left now =) and chim, u better pack faster and rest more!

on alcohol and wet spots

it's 2.30am and i've just had an epiphany of sorts. realised why i have to go thru the alcohol edu programme and actually take a test after 4 wondrous hours of a voice droning. it's to make me so sick of the sound of alcohol that i'd never touch it in college.

anyway, as discussed with jo and shup, i'm unlikely to ever attain the heights of havocness that they define happening as. cos i'm innately sensible and wise and... but who's to say what will happen eh?

sidenote, what in the world is that dark wet spot on Mr B's shirt in my previous post's picture? could it be Jo's droooooooool? whaddya say?

Friday, August 19, 2005

die


my virgin post!

i swear the long and winding road we walked to reach shuping killed my poor battered body off, and i'm still not packed with 2 days to go, and i'm still a non-existent person at berkeley (i'm yi hui not yihui you things...); hence the title. jo and i went back to hc today, actually stayed four hours almost a bloody school day but it was fun seeing Mr B all hum sup still heh and Mr M do an exotic dance pose.

sidenote, if you want to see me in my full glory over the next few months remember you can view me through msn webcam. this is important in case you think the "loser" in "diary of a loser" is me... let me show you the dark side bwahaha.

heh heh this is fun no one is bullying me while i'm being shameless.

why does it take forever to upload photos? am i just slow?

Thursday, August 18, 2005

chim and jo go to NTU- home of the shup



what a day it was! chim and i couldnt find each other though we were 5metres apart max in jurong point. den we got cheated of drinks at delifrance as we were da baoing lunch for the shup and ourselves. got all paranoid abt being able to find hall 11, and true to form, overshot the bus stop and had to do a hike back to the right place :) oh but this lovely photo and the catching up makes up for everything...

hey gang, type entries/post photos whenever!

Wednesday, August 17, 2005

hellohello

ive the honour of posting our first entry! let it be on the record that we set this blog up in shup's room and jo the high-tech guru did it all :) WAHA!
 
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