Wine, Beere, and Ale, together by the Eares

Wine:
I, iouiall Wine, exhilirate the heart.

Beere:
Marche-Beere is drinke for a King.

Ale:
But Ale, bonny Ale, with spice and a tost,
In the morning's a daintie thing.

Chorus:
Then let us be merry, wash sorrow away,
Wine, Beere, and Ale shall be drunke to-day.

Wine:
I, generous Wine, am for the Court.

Beere:
The Citie calls for Beere.

Ale:
But Ale, bonny Ale, like a lord of the soyle,
In Countrey shall domineere.

Chorus:
Then let us be merry, wash sorrow away,
Wine, Beere, and Ale shall be drunke to-day.

-by John Grove, 1629

Lost my hand phone today at 10+ morning somewhere between Vedika's room and SRC, NUS.

Worried like crazy for the whole day.

Sat every A2 bus I could find while walking to and fro along the route where I lost my hand phone.

Worried like crazy.

Got reprimanded by Dad for relying too much on hand phones (and i have to agree he is very right).

Got too tired worrying. Went for tutorial. Left MSN on to take messages (since my phone is gone).

Came back to see Su Lwin and Emile's messages blinking, telling me to go NUS Science Club to get my phone back.

How it travelled to the Science Club? I have no idea.

Went to the science club to collect my phone. Found out that the guy holding it has already left, and he locked it up in the locker.

Have to wait till tomorrow to get my phone back.

Till tomorrow, my love.

"How heavily roll the wheels of other people's joy when your heart is sorrowful."

It was quoted in Susan Coolidge's "What Katy Did Next". I thought it was a well said phrase, so I left it on my MSN personal message.

But people are now thinking that I'm in some sort of depression. >.< So I'm transferring it to here.

"Give a child a hammer, and the whole world turns into a nail."

Senses
Observation
Conceptualisation
Knowledge

Stress
Obsession
Cynicism
Kamikaze

Every line that you make is a decision. Each of them must have its own purpose.

Mark the beginning and ending of your line, plan them wisely, then draw the line firmly.

It does not matter if it wobbles in between. But it must start and end as you have planned.

Lean away from your paper as you draw, so you can see the full picture as you draw.

Do not erase. Do not use a ruler. Be confident on what you have created. Be confident on what you are about to create.

***

The wheel's hub holds thirty spokes
Utility depends on the hole through the hub
The potter's clay forms a vessel
it is the space within that serves
A house built with solid walls
The nothingness of window and door alone renders it usable

That which exists may be transformed
What is nonexistent has boundless uses.

-Lao Tze

Just a few minutes ago, I have written and sent an email to UCL saying that I will not be attending the interview.

The interview was scheduled 16 March at noon. Which is... right now.

Yes, I know it was a stupid thing to do. But I did it anyway. I wonder why. I probably would have been better off not saying anything. Then they can curse me for a little bit, let out their anger and everyone would be at peace. No complications.

I should have sent the email earlier.

I should have tried to attend the interview.

I should have been a responsible adult.

Hah. Apparently turning 20 doesn't mean much. I am still as stupid, immature and iresponsible as when I was still 19.

So here I am, ranting away in this blog, in attempt to convey how DEEPLY SORRY I am about my irresponsible action. And UCL will most likely never see this post, but I need some outlet to ease the guilt.

The guilt.
    is driving me crazy.

I hate growing up.

I've recently read an Enid Blyton story book when I was at my grandparents' house. It belonged to my cousin. I can't quite remember the title of the story. It was something about a selfish brownie called Leery. He had a lot of potatoes and the village of brownies were starving, but he wouldn't give it away. So another clever brownie (Skippy? Sneaky? I can't remember >.< ) got all the other brownies together and played a trick on Leery by stealing all his potatoes away right under his nose.

Anyway, I wanted to try my own version of the tale.

Before I start, just in case some one thinks I am worth being sued... the original story belongs to Enid Blyton - including Leery, Skippy/Sneaky/Smart brownie, and all of the potatoes.

It begins:

It was a nasty year for the farmers at the brownies' village. The weather was irregular - most probably due to global warming (yes, children ought to be aware of the situation our earth is in). Some times it rained too much, flooding the fields and suffocating the plants; other times, it was too dry, and the plants were too thirsty to grow a lot. When harvest season came, the crop yield was the worst ever.

So, the brownies, not able to expand their CPF through free trade (due to human land development in the recent years, trade links between fairy cities are either destroyed or getting too expensive to maintain), faced a shortage of food supplies and a year of starvation ahead. By the time winter was over, the brownies were already stick thin on their miniscule rations, and still without an answer to their rapidly depleting food supply. Even their generous king Bron (who also belongs to Enid Blyton) shared his supply of apples and potatoes with his felow brownies till he had no more left.

But at the edge of the village, Leery the selfish brownie remained fat and chubby with his immense stock of potatoes. He laughed at Bron for sharing his food with the other brownies.

"Why, look at him now! His trousers are slipping and his face is gaunt and pale! No one could tell he is the king of the brownies!!! What a foolish king he is. On the other hand, I have enough potatoes to be king twice over!!!"

One day, Leery caught a few brownie kids peering into his shed at the pile of potatoes there. He shouted at them and chased them away. Realising that a wooden shed does not provide much protection against burglary, he took out his wheel barrow and shifted all his potatoes into his house, which at least has a lock and some cans on strings as a security system (cans on strings are property of Neopets).

However, by shifting all the potatoes out of his shed into his house, all the starved brownies could see just how much potatoes Leery was hoarding. Skippy (Sneaky abit too sly, doesn't it?) saw this and reported to their king Bron.

"That selfish Leery has been keeping all those potatoes to himself while we starve out here. That is just too bad of him!"

So Bron went to see Leery to ask him to share his potatoes with the rest of the village.

"No, I will not!" screamed Leery after hearing this outrageous proposal, "I grew them, and so I should be able to keep them all!"

Of course, it was rather stupid of Leery to yell at his own king, but we all need an evil villian to hate and be taught a lesson at the end in children's stories. Leery was not the brightest brownie around anyway.

So Bron left Leery's place feeling very angry and dissappointed.

"How could he be so selfish?" he cried.

Just then, Skippy had an idea.

Naturally, when a regular human is forced into starvation, he wouldn't have bothered about moral principles and would have probably killed Leery for the potatoes if he had to. Brownies are a little bit different though. Though they are making plans of taking Leery's potatoes, they would not resort to violence (for the audiences' sake).

Instead, Skippy proposed to steal Leery's potatoes - the whole lot of them.

Conventionally, it is wrong to steal under normal circumstances. However, in this case, if the brownies do not get their potatoes, they face possible extinction, so it is not really under normal circumstances.

Most importantly, we are supposed to learn how being selfish is bad in this story. The demerits of stealing is another story.

So anyway, uh, Skippy got the whole village of brownies to steal Leery's potatoes from right under his nose. It involved applying glue over their backs and sitting down on the potato pile, then walking out backwards while bowing at Leery to show how much they admire him. (That's the basic idea I got from the story as I remember it)

When Leery saw through Skippy's trick, all his potatoes were already all gone (like I said, he isn't very smart). Leery was furious and shouted at the brownies, who ran away and laughed at him from afar.

After shouting for an entire hour, Leery got hungry, but there was no more potatoes for him to eat. He grew so hungry that he got too tired to be angry at the other brownies anymore. He realised that the others must have suffered the same thing as well when he kept the potatoes to himself.

Leery was very sad. He regretted his selfish behaviour, for if he shared some of his potatoes with the others, perhaps they would not have become hungry enough to steal from him. He realised that through his selfishness, he did not just lose all his potatoes, but all his friends as well.

So Leery cried. He cried throughout the night. When he ran out of tears he continued to hack and sob. It was a pitiful sight.

Meanwhile, Bron was very sad that he had to steal from another brownie, and that was not a very exemplary behaviour as a king. He went to check on Leery and saw poor Leery crying alone in his kitchen.

Bron was very sorry for Leery, and took him to his place to have some potato soup. Leery was so grateful that he started crying anew. He could hardly choke down the potatoes between his sobbing. After that, he apologised to Bron and said he would leave the village the very next day, as no one here wants him around anymore.

Bron stopped him with a gentle smile, and said, "Dear Leery, you had made a mistake and it has cost you dearly. But here in Fairyland, we believe in change. If you have understood the error of your ways, and promise to change for the better, we will still welcome you here."

Leery stared at Bron disbelievingly. Suddenly the not-so-thin-and-gaunt face of Bron appeared noble and beautiful, and the ordinary looking brownie before him became a true king in his eyes.

***

And so, we end our story with Leery turning over a new leaf. He shared his secret of irrigation and hydroponic techniques, so the little village of brownies got fat and happy again. Skippy and the other brownies soon forgot how stingy and selfish Leery once was. Leery had more friends than ever, and he was very happy. Everyone was happy.

In conclusion, Leery has learnt that selfishness does not make you happy all the time. Even more, he has learnt how valuable and beautiful forgiveness can be. Forgiveness is not something that you can save for yourself, or something you can eat like potatoes, but in the human society people are surprisingly reluctant to give it. So little boys and girls, let us learn to forgive when we can. Or you may find that one day, this rare treasure could only be found in the magical hearts of Fairyland's little folk.

That is, if they haven't been driven to extinction by then.

The end. :)

I never knew how much effort is required to make yourself exercise.

Especially when there is no more PE lessons. A couch in front of the TV and cornflakes - it's a potent mixture to become a couch potato.

Now, even when I think for too long... my head spins. If I think in the car, I'll feel like puking.

Since when did thinking become a chore?!

Ugh. I need to exercise.

Even before the last paper was over I was watching the Korean drama - Coffee Prince. And now I regret it... nothing else to do.

Except packing.

Just a moment ago I sent my weight's worth of notes for recycling. The recycling bin is three halls away, and my arms now ache like crazy.

How on earth did I collect (and live with) so much JUNK for 2 years?! Ack... just thinking of clearing that mountain of stuff makes me feel like taking A levels again.

Bah, I only have 2 days left to pack, terminate my phone service and change my bank account address. Doesn't sound like alot of work does it? But I feel so laaazzzzyyyyyy....

Ah well... going to school to get my leave form soon. It'll be my last time wearing NJ uniform~ Lalala~

 

Just as Hindu movies always have couples dancing among the trees, so Korean drama has couples playing in water fountains.