All is not gold that glitters

So it's the end of 2003, and true to sentimental form, we need one of those moments where your entire past one chronological year of life flashes by your eyes again! For no other reason than that this day, this day, is a special day marking the last day when you can automatically write 03 in the date and not have to curse and swear and cross it out with a red pen and countersign.

So much has happened over the past year, and yet so little. A year for breaking the boundaries of belief and ability (passing SOC, yay) (LEGALLY too.) a year of milestones, a year for readjustment, and most of all, a year for growing up. Nominally, or otherwise. A year of high emotions. And a year of lows, too. So what came out of it in the end? Sure, lots of eye-opening life lessons and experiences, and yes, astoundingly, i have army to thank for that. Two major works of video editting and animation, with a mass audience. Thousands of conversations about life, leadership (or lack thereof), religion. Old friendships forged anew. The crownless again shall have hair. Lifestyles changed in the blink of an eye.

So what comes out of it all? The realisation that so much in life is uncontrollable after all. Too many variables in the equation for any sort of vague long-term predictability. Too few certainties. Change is inevitable, and really, the only way to deal is to flow with it, when your fin is too small to swim against it. You just have to be able to sense the ebb and flow of it all, to know when the time comes to exert an influence for change, and when to just let go. But if we're all so powerless, then what's the point of living? And i start to sense the beginnings of another argument about determinism forming from the convoluted thoughts that i usually post because i need somewhere to ramble before i crystalise my opinions and direction, so i'll end with a wish for all my dear blog readers:

May this season bring the gift of Hope. Hope, which can survive where joy cannot, where love and peace are but fleeting images. Hope, because the lack thereof would be despair and non-action. Hope, because everything starts somewhere. Hope, because it is the foundation for Faith. Happy new year all, may this one be hopefully better than the last.

*whine*

jinx gear.

-Exuberance-

FUN FUN FUN!

started trying to learn spinach rag on the piano. One of my favourite pieces from the FF series, FF6 in this case. Suffice to say that my pi4n0 5k1llz don't quite cut it in doing the song justice. But it's a fun song to play anyway. Ooooooooh love the FF music. Nobuo uematsu is a genius! Somehow the old music from the FF series sounds much purer and cleaner and better in midi, if less grand. The melodies and themes are just much more striking.

Sorta like how rishi was telling me about a hindi movie he just watched (with subtitles of course) which had a much more pro plot about the endurance of the human spirit. How many Hollywood summer flicks just try to sell using their big budget special effects and sets and actors? Somehow foreign (read: non-american) films which make it here have a certain charm from their plots. I'm thinking of some of the cool french (and chinese) films i've seen.... which manage to give a very refreshingly unique experience. Recommended viewing for today: He loves me, he loves me not (A la folie, pas du tout) (okay maybe i just like audrey tautou) and 8 women.

And the most cunning english movie i've seen is still The Usual Suspects. I'm loving it.

still looking for someone to watch jeux d'enfants with me. I've already missed la papillion. grr.

Bottle Envy

this is a big bottle.



this, this is a BIG bottle.



no product placement involved. Merry Christmas everyone, and don't drink and drive. =) At least, not if it isn't a blue MX-5 with a rose vinyl on the side.

and THIS is product placement.



My mum's tiramisu. Good stuff. My preciousssssssssss.......
To yaox, designated photographer of our events. This tiramisu's for you. =)

Isn't it strange how far we've come from the days where it's "dya want me to bring my multitap and arcade sticks to your party?" to the days of "cabernet sauvignon or merlot?"

Edit: Oh yea, i almost forgot, most quotable quote of the evening was when we were trying to teach yaox the concept of winds and doubles in mahjong:

eugene: "There are two kinds of winds in mahjong. The round wind and the seat wind."
yaox: "?????"
me: "This round wind counts as a double for everyone, but the seat wind only applies to you."
wilf: "Yea, the round wind is the one which blows EVERYWHERE. *waves hands around*"
wilf: "What? what's so funny? That's how i remember it."

Part of the joke is lost in the retelling, but maybe it was the late hour and the metabolised alcohol after all. =)

Happy anniversary.



Time heals almost all wounds, but the hardest person to forgive, sometimes, is yourself.

sigh.

We were too young, after all.

outdated post

all caused by various weekend killers. grr.

but here are the coolpix from yaox's birthday celebration a while back.


The food.


The 1337 cars.


ooh yeah.

i'd start a more intelligent commentary about how it's funny that we have so many cars, and how cool it is to finally be able to go to far out places like bukit timah market *points* easily. Only i'm too brain-shot from too much guard duty and not enough alcohol.

Drive safely.

whee

choo.

When the lights keep going out in your life, you wish you'd bought that fluorescent light instead of these lousy 8 yellow bulb things which keep flickering. Warm lighting my foot. There must be a deeper parallel meaning to all that, only i'm too lazy to extricate one.

----

My CD is done. Burnt, packed, sealed and delivered. I'm published! My 3D animation and video editting will appear in 1000 copies! muahaha. Pity the 3D sucked coz i didn't add music coz it was supposed to run on into the menu and pity the video sucked coz all the good shots were all used up in my previous 2 minute trailer and pity we decided against using niche obscure music in favour of publicising the band of my friend. Still, it's a nice piece of work for about 3 weeks or so of effort. I wish we'd started earlier, though, it held great promise in concept.... but then many things always do.

----

So I come home the other day and i see my sis with "Learn C++ in a weekend". And i find dev-C++ on my desktop. And then i hear she's going for this open source challenge thingie, only she doesn't have a frelling clue what it's all about, and just signed up. So i lie safe in bed at night, knowing she'll either end up a hacker or a poser. And then of course i try to catch up with her on C++.

I wonder if she'll ever have a dream of working for squaresoft.

And finally, stolen off Grace's blog is this little eyecandied gem:
http://www.visualthesaurus.com/online/index.html

This is why i love computers.