redefining brutality

^_^

2004-12-17T23:44:00.000-08:00

Today, I went out with Shaun again, but this time it wasn’t planned, and wasn’t as “time consuming” as the last outing. Well, he called me yesterday to ask, so, unprepared, I said no, but he then persuaded me to go, so I reluctantly agreed.

I met him at Bishan MRT Station, and we went straight to City Hall, where we walked around. I went to check out Space @My Humble House, a modern Chinese restaurant, which I am going to east with C and ZZ tomorrow.

After the little walk, we went to HMV, where I found this collection of very very heavy and abstract jazz songs, the types that not many people can actually take, but I like it, I like it a lot. Maybe I’ll buy one of the CDs tomorrow, ha.

Anyway, As we were browsing, my mum called and told me that the exhibition of the winning entries of the Marina Magic Photo Competition has begun at the Sail. Upon hearing this, I rushed down with Shaun to see it. At first I didn’t notice the photos hanging on the wall, and went straight to the reception, walking past the gallery, and after she said I was standing next to the entries, I turned to see. And there before me, was my picture, bigger than I have ever seen it, right in front of my face, with the words “Cliff Tan Anlong” Youth Category, First Runner Up. I kind of started to feel so touched that I had to walk away to see other people’s photos, namely the winners, ha.

So, I went home after that, with fond memories of today.
Btw, I am posted to Catholic Junior College.

Perfect Parfect Day!!!

2004-12-14T23:44:00.000-08:00

Today was the fullest, most fruitful day I ever had! It was a great day, and I had so much fun! I went with Clarence and ZZ to East Coast Park with the purpose of me learning to ride a bicycle, with was completely successful. First, we met at Yio Chu Kang MRT Station, and continued to the Coffee shop to have a meal (Clarence was hungry). After eating, we immediately took bus 76 to Parkway Parade; it was already quite late, so there was no time to loose, ha. I'm actually quite astonished by the bus services here, never in my wildest dreams did I expect it possible to take a single bus and make it all the way from my house to East Coast Park, all the way at the South East of the island. So anyway, we made it there ZZ was hungry, so he bought some snacks from Old Chung Kee and so did Clarence and I, just for the sake of it. It was a short walk before East Coast Park was within view, and before I knew it, I was already standing by the sea. As we strolled to the bicycle rental shop, I began to feel nervous, its stupid, I know, but hey, its my first time. And there was the shop, this old run-down building with bikes lined in rows and rows. We picked a set of three medium (to me) sized bicycles. After all the administrative stuff was completed, I started to learn the bike. I was lost, and the hordes of children rushing past me made the whole ordeal even more difficult to handle. Fortunately, there was a lifeguard building thing which was deserted and closed just beside the bike shop, it had a nice empty lane in front of it with a long path leading to it, there was not a soul in sight, and made a perfect place to learn the bike. I must say, it wasn't easy, I kept hesitating, which was the main obstacle for me, because once I felt calm, riding the bike became possible. Clarence and ZZ were very patient, and didn’t hasten me at all, even though I was wasting the duration of rent they paid for. I stumbled and staggered for quite a while before getting the hang of it, and there I was, cycling! For the first time in my life! It was actually quite an emotional moment, if I do say so myself. It took me about half an hour to get the hang of it, and another twenty minutes to start cycling long distances. We cycled all the way to the end of the park and then took a rest. I felt so good after the cycle, and the rest seemed to be like a little "reward". After cycling back to the shop to return the bikes, we strolled around the park and went down to the beach. After C (I'll just call Clarence C for convenience) and ZZ persuaded me to remove my shoes, we went to the shore to walk barefooted on the beach and let the waves message our feet in therapeutic motions (We played in the water LOL). The stroll on the beach lasted for quite awhile, at moments we would stand in a row, letting the waves hit our legs, and standing motionless, much like the large statues on Easter Island. We then sat on the rocks above the beach of a photo, taken by our photographer for the day, C. After resting for a while, we went down to the beach to walk again, unfortunately, the beach here was much dirtier and the water completely gross, with black bits suspending here and there. We washed our feet as soon as we left the beach; I wore back my shoes, in preparation of the long "hike" ahead, to the other end of the Park for dinner. We walked and talked, and it felt so relaxing, with the sea breeze and all. By the time we reached the food court, I was very hungry. We all has western food, I had the Chicken cutlet, while C and ZZ had Chicken chop. The food was great and I enjoyed myself very much. Then comes the long walk back to Parkway Parade, all the way to the west, about 3.75 km away. By the time we reached PP, our legs felt like breaking, so finding a place to sit was absolutely necessary, which we found at the food court at the basement. We then walked around before going home. It was a tiring day, but most fruitful one as well, I sure had tons of fun, and I will never forget this day. Now, my backside is aching, I think I should go to bed.

Btw, thanks ZZ for your gift fron China, really like it.

Opps, forgot yesterday.

2004-12-13T22:59:00.000-08:00

Today, Eugene came to my house to build a jigsaw puzzle with me, we did a 3D Empire State Building Puzzle, it was very tedious, with every piece looking identical to the other(all being windows). In the end, we did only a small section of it, the base and top. I plan to complete it within the next few days. (If I can, he he)

Actually, I'm too busy now,(with the puzzle, duh) so I'll keep my blog short.

Ahh, good day

2004-12-10T14:34:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, My friend, Eugene came to my house to play, he’s one of my few remaining primary school friends who still call and visit me. Well yesterday was actually the second time he came this month. The first time was the day before yesterday, which I forgot to blog about. So anyway, he came at around 10am or 11am. He’d just bought the game Age of My theology, and so he wanted to see how I played the game and learn from me, even though I am quite sure he his light years ahead of me in the fields of gaming. And I was right, even though I had the game for like half a year already, he ended up playing better than me… Okay, so I quickly made him leave the computer so that I could turn it off, which I was quite successful at, since he wanted to have brunch. We had instant noodles. Nothing to do, he suggested we build jigsaw puzzles, which I found to be interesting, so I took every set in my house (Disney puzzles). We completed them in a shot time, in fact we finished 5 puzzles, of course the total number of pieces combined were merely 300 pieces. As soon as we completed them, Eugene became hungry again, so I treated him to expired shortbread cookies (exp 12/03). He knew, but it didn’t seem to bother him one bit. After our little “high tea” of Scottish pure butter shortbread cookies and rich milk coffee (expired biscuits and instant coffee), the pace started to slow down. We actually did nothing after that; we just lazed in my room until he went home. Ah yes, as I sent him out of the condo gate, I saw a group of bikini-clad Caucasian teenagers prouncing about the main road bare footed. Strange…

Today was one of those “empty days” again, where I had nothing to do. So I went swimming, at the pool, I saw two of the same girls I saw yesterday, but today they were basking in the sun, also in bikini. After they left, I continued to float around the empty pool; I did all sorts of stupid things that only walruses would do. Anyhow, after the swim, I went home, took a bath, ate and started blogging….
Later I might play with some of my toys. Ha.

My tour of Singapore

2004-12-08T20:26:00.000-08:00

Ahh…today was a Grrrreat day!!! Yes, I went to my old school, well, not my old school, but the old building of my school. They are different things. Oh well, yes, I went there today. I took pictures of it. Okay, first, I started at my School, now the Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul. It was a very moving experience for me, even though it was only my first time there, but ya. So where was I, ah yes, I went into the church to sit, first time I actually sat in a church, but it was nice nonetheless. As soon as I took the pictures of the outside, I moved on. I must say, today’s weather was the best I have seen this whole month. Being in the Monsoon season, perfect blue skies and cotton candy clouds are almost unheard of, so today, was sort of a miracle, or it could be the downtown is always like that? I do not know. So anyway, I moved on to Saint Joseph Church, where my brother and sister used to study. Too bad, it was closed, so I just took pics of the exterior. As soon as I did that, I made my way to the next church, the Church of the Good Shepard, a nice old brown one, very unique. It was closed I think, cos I did not remember going in. Right next door was CHIJMES, this redeveloped school and church. Now it is an entertainment place with restaurants and pubs. The church itself is closed, but it’s not for worship anyway, just for wedding dinners and functions. The I walked all the way down to St Andrew’s Cathedral, the largest in Singapore, it was the most beautiful I have seen the whole day, especially the interior. Too bad they were having service, so I went out, and continued my way to City Hall, The Supreme Court and Empress Place. Took some pictures, anyway, I’ve been there before, so not much surprises. I then walked to Raffles Place where I took more pictures of OUB Centre, my favorite building in the world. Then, I took the train to City hall and set off to Bras Basah Complex from there by foot. I walked about, there was nothing much, so I had lunch at Peninsula Plaza. Okay, after all of that, I visited St Andrew’s again, now it was empty, and I went inside and took some other pics. Very nice, the biggest I’ve seen in Singapore, although still nothing compared to its European counterparts. After that, I went back to Raffles City and to HMV where I listened to some music before I went home. Today was quite a fruitful day, where my pictures were quite satisfying to me, I hope to get a fisheye lens so as to get even more stunning pictures. If you are interested, I posted some of my pics here:

boring

2004-12-06T20:24:00.000-08:00

Yesterday and toady way my most boring days in the whole of December. Really wasted my time. I should have at least gone out or something. Well, what’s not done is done, don’t cry over spilt milk. I guess I should do something to keep myself occupied. Maybe I’ll do something tomorrow, or do something. What am I typing? All this wasting of time has left me quite disoriented. Sorry, I’ll blog properly another day.

The only good thing that happened may be that my flu is much better now, I guess I traded it in with a cough that I'm having now.

2004-12-04T21:43:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, 3/11, I felt sick, my nose was overflowing. Despite that, I went out with my mum, we did nothing much, all that I did was buying lights for my tree. Now my tree is set up, I’m quite happy.

Today was also rather uneventful. I had lunch with my mum at the top of the M in Meritus Mandarin. The view was stunning and the food was great, too bad I over stuffed myself and felt like throwing up after eating, ha.

Oh ya, on top of the building, I spotted that brutalist building that I saw the day before yesterday, turned out to be quite nice, I might just pay that building a visit one of these days.

Yesterday and today

2004-12-02T21:36:00.000-08:00

Hello again. Yesterday was quite an interesting day, I must say, not one that I ever expected happening. First, I met ZZ (my friend) and we went to jog at Yio Chu Kang Stadium. We were supposed to meet Clarence (another friend), but apparently, he overslept, so we continued without him, which didn’t really made a difference since he did not want to run in the first place. Back to the track, we ran four rounds, 1600m; we were exhausted after the run, despite its short distance, maybe because it has been such a long time since we last ran. Anyway, after the run, we went to check out the gym to see if it was too crowded, which it was not, so I rang up Clarence to give him the “all clear” for him to come. We waited, and before we know it, all three of us were already inside the gym. It was my first time actually, and I struggled with almost everything, except maybe for the treadmills. As Clarence did his routine job, ZZ and I went to “explore” the place. To be honest, the biggest problem for me was not the weights (I could adjust it to be lighter, after all), but how to use them; luckily, Clarence came to teach us how to use all the stuff. So as he did his things, we tried out almost all the equipment, it was quite fun actually. After “gymming”, we went to have brunch at the nearby hawker center. As soon as we had out fill, all of us make our way to my house to chat, or talk cock. Here comes the most unexpected thing to happen, we went down to swim! As C and ZZ did not bring their swimming trunks, we all wore our shorts and went down to play. It was fun, but I am too lazy to elaborate what happened. We simply did the usual splashing of water, lounging in the water, blah blah blah. Okay, after the “swim” we went up freshen up, ate and went to Orchard Road to find ZZ’s long sleeved shirt. We found it, at F Men, and it was quite nice really and reasonably priced. Oh yes, did I mention that ZZ was going to Shanghai 6 hours after that time? He did not seem to mind the rush, so we all did not rush as well. I went home after that, and ended the day thereafter.
Today. I met up with my primary six friend, Shaun. We first took a neo print, which cost an astronomical S$9. Honestly, I do not know why people do it; maybe it is only for Japanese girls who have tons of money (well, at least enough to fly to Singapore to shop for high end branded goods). When soon went to Liang Court by bus. When we reached the bus stop, I realised that I left my mobile phone on the bus. I panicked, luckily, Shaun suggested that we chase after the bus; I thought it was a crazy idea, but it turned out to work out perfectly. We told the taxi driver to chase after the bus. By the time we caught after the bus, we were all the way down at Chinatown. Anyway, once we were in front of the “Santa bus” (the bus was wearing a Santa hat, which made the chase all the more easier), I ran up to find my phone. It was with a man who was alighting the bus. I got it back, and we took the cab back to Liang Court. There, we walked around, did those shopping stuff, again too lazy to elaborate. Well, after buying the things, we took the bus to Ngee Ann City, on the way; I saw a brutalist condominium, very nice. So, we went to NAC and had lunch there. It was Shaun’s treat, and we had Japanese. After the meal, we exchanged Christmas Gifts, I got a Sun Yan Zhi CD, it was nice of him to give me that. So, after that, we did the whole ritual of shopping, all the way to the Heeren, way down the shopping belt, where we spent most of our time at HMV. I listened to the J Pop songs that he liked so much, which I did not really fancy. In the end, I bought a Disney Bossa Nova CD; in fact, I am listening to it now. As soon as I made my purchase, we took the MRT home. On the way, Shaun met his schoolmate, Patricia, a Brazilian. She was very friendly and we talked all the way home, even after Shaun alighted. Now I am resting at home, it was a fun day. Maybe I should engage in these “outings” more often, he he.

My very first blog

2004-11-30T19:50:00.000-08:00

Okay, so, this is my first blog, don't really know what to type in yet, but I'll try. Honestly, my mind is a blank right now, maybe I should just write about my title, so all of you can relate to it.

Boring paragraph ahead-------------

I am someone into architecture, not that I study it or anything, I just like it. Don't get me wrong, I really want to study architecture in the future, and I will try my best to do so. Anyhows, my favorite style is brutalist, I'm not sure if you've heard of it before, but if you haven't, don't bother trying to look it up in the dictionary, its not really a real word in the first place, its just a term in architectural stuff. Brutalism comes from the French word, which means rough concrete, and as the name implies, the style is very "brutal" as it is hardly refined, with bold shapes in unpolished, coarsely surfaced concrete. Although Brutalist buildings, are mostly ugly (to me anyway) I find some of them quite appealing, and quite extraordinary in their engineering sense. I personally love Brutalist architecture, and I feel, with the use of the right shapes and textures, this form of architecture can become even more beautiful than any other style. Which is why I, would like to see it being redefined, and hence the title “redefining brutality”.

Why did I start a blog anyway? Well, the reason is actually quite lame, as everyone is doing it too. I don't really like writing, so here is my way of forcing myself to do so, and I guess my English will improve too? I know this isn't much of a blog, so skip it if you wish( yes, I said it too late), the real stuff will begin tomorrow. This will be one of my longer blogs, as I hate to write too much, partly because of my lazy-ness, ha. Oh yes, I may skip blogs now and then, when I choose not to turn on my computer.