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| WooWooWeeee. My body clock is officially screwed. Like I'm up now, watching the sunrise. Just streaks of red, orange and yellow. Pity I couldn't catch beautiful sunrise back in France, that's because their sunrise is crazy early as 4 am, I think. Till then, so long! | |||||
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I need direction to perfection
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June 15th, 2009
June 6th, 2009
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| It's saturday now, so it marks the end of my french immersion :( We're gonna stay in Paris till next Thursday though. Although it's something to look forward to, cos daym, it's Paris! But I'm really gonna miss the people here! I think I'll miss especially Madame Philippe and her cooking. Although we told her that we can only eat vegetables and fish, her cooking is really goood. I tasted things I've never tasted before, especially vegetables and desserts that she made for us.  Me, Khalilah, Maya & Madame!  Us again. I'm gonna miss the teachers who've taught us, Melanie, Nolwenn (she's darn cool!) and Patrick! And perhaps the bald blogging teacher too cos he's just sooo funny. I'm gonna miss the friendly chef in school and the friendly lady in the canteen!  With Patrick! He's one funny guy :D   With Melanie  With Nolwenn  With Loic  With Monique, Madame Philippe's close friend  With the cafeteria lady! (shit idk why this is blur, must be khalilah's hands bwahhah! but this is the only pic i've got with her!) And many many more. Gotta catch 5 pm flight later! Ciao! | |||||
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June 1st, 2009
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 Spent the weekends just being at various beaches This is at Aber-wrach (: Yesterday I was a tad bit sick with running nose so I popped some medication and slept. It's Monday 8 45 am now and there's no school today wee! Madame will be bringing us to this Flower festival after lunch later. Anyway yesterday khal, maya & i went to the flea market with madame and i bought this drappy black pants bwahahhahah. It's the kinda pants that I see people wearing it in Brest, so yeah, perhaps it would be something unique in Singapore? Yesterday was the first time ever I saw another Malay face, can you believe it? In my entire 2 weeks I've seen vietnamese, indians, a lot of arabs, chinese, but no malay face. So I was kinda shocked when I see a malay couple amongst the french faces. So I nudged khallah and she immediately went "Assalamualaikum?" and the guy bloody replied! Lol, I know it's weird but when you're in another foreign country and when you see people who resemble you, it feels comforting to me. The couple was Malaysian, heck but it seems closer to home.. Then after the flea market, we had lunch and we had tours to a few beaches in Bretagne. I think i've seen too many beaches I lost count. It's the same as eating crepe, as often as everyday. Okies, later! and in my dreams, we had a date a very familiar date. | |||
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May 29th, 2009
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| I absolutely adore kids. Their inquisitiveness, their eagerness to know everything, the way they can drone on and on, their bewilderment in the simplist things, their cuteness, how they craves and fights for your attention and affection, really captivates my attention and particularly wins my heart. What can I say? They're just so adorable. Ducks too, they are adorable. This brings me back to the time when qeen & i caught the news on the tv where some ducks got injected due to the bird flu. How sad. Anyway, it really makes me twice the glad that i see both children and ducks together at the botanic i visited earlier on. It's just soooo pretty!       | |||||
| 4 donuts | BURP! |
May 28th, 2009
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| It's less than 15 degrees here and it's pouring pretty lightly. I'm seated so comfortably on the bed under the covers to make myself warm and fuzzy. And all of a sudden a song came to my head. Sucha nice song to be playing at such a weather (: Am I not pretty enough Is my heart too broken Do I cry too much Am I too outspoken Don't I make you laugh Should I try it harder Why do you see right through me I live, I breathe, I let it rain on me I sleep, I wake, I try hard not to break I crave, I love, I've waited long enough I try as hard as I can Am I not pretty enough Is my heart too broken Do I cry too much Am I too outspoken Don't I make you laugh Should I try it harder Why do you see right through me I laugh, I feel, I make believe it's real I fall, I freeze, I pray down on my knees I hope, I stand, I take it like a man I try as hard as I can Am I not pretty enough Is my heart too broken Do I cry too much Am I too outspoken Don't I make you laugh Should I try it harder Why do you see right through me * * * * One thing I miss most right now is having deep conversations with my friends back in singapore :( Anyway today is lovely, we took the bus at such a time where the kids boarded the bus from the beach to go to Brest as well. They're so adorable! And because my french is pretty much basic, I can communicate with them well. Haha ideal people to talk to really. One of them sat on my lap because there were too many children on the bus (can you imagine?). And then I asked them if they wanna be inside a photo they straightaway posed for the camera. SO CUTEEEEEE. They are really a bunch of curious people and they enjoy talking so much they tried so hard to speak English to me (action only, wanna show off), lol. Omg i love kids so much i can't wait to have them :) Even the elderly grandmas here are interested to talk to us, Asians. But that said, having all these people speaking to me really increases my confidence in speaking the language. It feels great having to practise it here practically rather than just studying it technically in school (: It's also a great day because we have french fries for free today (a whole plate of em) because the chef was being so nice to us. Totally saves some Euros man, things can be pretty expensive when it starts to accumulate. And I think it's partially because there aren't any students left in the canteen & we are the last ones to purchase something. And I also managed to satisfy my Kebab cravings by getting one at the city, yummy. Still miss Singaore food though. Ok, au revoir for now! | |||||||||
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calmMay 26th, 2009
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  It's been a week since I last updated. There are just so many activities within the week itself. Right after school we had plans going to the supermarket, to Brest, St Mathieu with pretty lighthouse and the sea, music festivals, the harbour, cathedrals and basically just discovering the different streets they have, even in the neighbourhood itself. We even visited Quimper and Locronan, about 2 hours ride from Brest. Never seem like there's enough time to see everything. Everything we've seen so far is simply gorgeous. And I really love the flowers especially since it's spring here (despite that, it's still so cold here!) And I love pictures of windows!  Ok I am far too lazy to upload too many pictures here since they are all in facebook. Anyway, here are the few things I learn about the culture in Brittary, France: 1) Their specialty breakfast is Crepe. I think it may not particularly be for breakfast, seemed like Khalilah & I have crepe for dinner and lunch too! They have two types of crepe; one is eaten with sugar and your sugary sweet whatnots like nutella, jam etc. The other type of crepe is fried with cheese and eggs. I prefer the latter cos it almost taste like our Macdonalds Sausage McMuffin only this crepe is way better (: 2) People of Brittany love butter. They can't do without butter. Madame Philippe told us that it's not a French culture to eat butter, only the people of Brittany in France. Cool. 3) Can I say that I've been eating well? Madame Philippe cooks great food be it vegetables, fish, pasta, crepe, rice etc. And every night I sleep feeling so full because every dinner we have the full course including dessert! Dessert is a must here. 4) The people here loves the Breton dance. I tried dancing it once, it's fun. You need to hold on tightly to the other person's little finger though. Really cute! 5) Weather wise, it's always cold here, even during the summer I heard. And Madame told us that it's been some time since it last snowed. Bizarre weather. Brittany is next to the Atlantic Ocean, perhaps that explains why it's always cold and the weather is pretty irregular. Sometimes there's really strong wind, but most of the time it's refreshing for me, cool to breathe in. 6) Encounter with the Muslims in Brittany. As far as I know, France has the biggest number of Muslims in the whole of Europe, and particularly in Paris and Southern France. Little did I know we have the muslim sisters & brothers in Brittany (western tip of France). Encountered a whole lot of them actually, I think most of them are Arabs especially those from Algeria, Dubai & Kuwait. It's amazing that we've seen a couple of muslim mediterranean food in one small part of Brest, hoping to find more. The muslims are really friendly and they ackowledge people well. 7) I hear how unfriendly Parisiens can be, well it's not true to generalise that entirely in the whole of France because the people in the countryside are really nice. You say "bonjour" to everyone without worrying about what they might think of you. They'll greet warmly back at you. They don't mind stopping just to engage in conversations with you, they have all the time here. To put it simply, they just love talking. Sounds like something I really like to do too. Anyway, this brings me to the next point.. 8) The people here don't seem to go to work or school so much so far as it seems to me. Maybe it's just me. While I am busy discovering, travelling and sightseeing, I always see people taking their time to mow their lawns, garden, and just slack and chill. It's so relaxed here that you feel so much as ease as compared to being in Singapore. Ah above all I just love being here. People are lovely, monuments at the city are beautiful, it's so laid-back. A getaway which I truly need (: Good night everyone! | |||||
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May 19th, 2009
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| Bonjour again! It's been almost 2 days since I last updated, that's cos my host "grandmother/mother" knows nuts about internet (she's so cute btw!). Then today her daughter came and had dinner with us, helped us with the Wifi connection and voila! Now I can use the internet whenever and wherever, means I can update frequently and keep in touch with people! Yay! So let's update about yesterday (Sunday). We reached Brest airport around 1 pm. Khalilah and I got to stay with the same family, Madame Philippe. Most of us are staying at this region in the outskirts of Brest called Relecq Kerhuon. It's SO BEAUTIFUL!! I mean, it's a countryside, it's so pretty with the houses and the garden and it's so peaceful here! We have to take the bus to school, which takes about 10 minutes or less. Anyway, Madame Philippe is so friendly and nice, she talks way too much but we love her! She has 3 kids who are all adults now and she has grandchildren as well. Khalilah and I had to choose out of 3 rooms to sleep in, and we decided that we both take the biggest bedroom together since the bed and the room are big enough and that the other 2 rooms are not as huge (HAHAHAHA). Anyway, a week later there'll be a Swiss girl who will be coming to stay with us too! Yesterday was such an eventful day. After we had lunch with Madame and finished unpacking our stuffs, Madame decided to take us out. Apparently little did I know she brought us to an Irish pub. At first I was like wth, she didn't even tell us where we were going but it turned out to be so fun! The pub isn't just a pub, if not I would have felt uncomfortable since I don the tudung but the pub is more of like a place for various people to perform music. So it feels like some music festival going on there. And the older folks were dancing their Breton dance while the music was being played. It's not like those crazy dances but rather a slow-paced dance, where they had to have their little fingers held on to each other (SO CUTE I SWEAR). After a while khalilah and I decided to go out abit although it's so so so so COLD, but we camwhored for awhile. And then there was this French man who talked to us and introduced us to his son. It was so fun! First time we reached Brest and we found someone of our age to talk to hehehehehehheh. C'est mignon! And you know what's the best thing? HE CAN SPEAK ENGLISH! And that's a rarity here. Should see how I struggle to speak French everyday, but I think it's getting better. So after chit-chatting, he asked us if we wanna come in since we looked really cold outside, and he performed some music with his guitar with his father. So cool! They made me and khalilah danced in a circle, with our little fingers held on to each other LOLOOLOLOL. I was laughing throughout the entire time! Went back home, had dinner (we ate the French pancakes called Krep), slept, it was a tiring long day since it felt like ages since we slept. And when the sun really sets like at 9+ pm, it got really really cold. I think it's just the weather here since it's just next to the sea.  that's madame philippe and her friends. so cute! Today was our first day of school. We had a class for a few hours. Everyone there is so nice! The teachers, the chef, the lady who sells food. The cafeteria is comfortable and the food is not bad really. I had my first lunch there, some fish, alot of potatoes and salad. Apparently we all wanted to try the French cheese and one of the cheese was so strong and I didn't like the taste at all. It's called the Blue cheese. LOL. Anyway we ended school righr after lunch (so fast right?) and we headed for a small excursion to the city of Brest. So finally we saw the malls, apartments and whatnots. Pretty interesting, now I know where to go if we feel like shopping. But it'll take about 20 minutes bus ride from here. We also purchased this bus ticket that will last us for a week, it's like Singapore's concession pass except that Singapore's is a tad more advanced than the ticket here. And then when we came back to our stop, khal, kelvin and I lost our way. It's like there are so many houses and we didn't know which way to go. Apparently, we eventually found Kelvin's house and the host "sister" sent us back by car. Wasn't so far off. Now we know how to get home already. I'm just glad the people here are very nice (: Ok, that's all I have to say, for now at least. So far staying with Madame Philippe has been so much fun! We made pancakes together and stuffs. Pictures will be in Facebook soon. Ciao! | |||||||
| 3 donuts | BURP! |
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amusedMay 17th, 2009
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| Bonjour everyone! I'm safely in a hotel in Paris pretty near to the airport. It's 12 am Paris time. Weather's 15 degrees. Woo, very cooling. Just showered since we spent like more than 14 hours on air. Still haven't seen much. Haven't been sleeping at all, and I'm practically awake now. Very hungry though! Anyway will be catching a morning regional flight to Brest tomorrow. So ciao! | |||||||
| 5 donuts | BURP! |
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awakeMay 13th, 2009
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 They say that the only constant in life is change. Yet the only constant I want is just one special person. I don't mean it in a soulmate lovey-dovey kinda way, but think about it. If you were to be stranded in an island, who would you choose to be on that island alone with? If tomorrow is the last day on earth, who would you spend your last few moments with? Cheesy, but true. I've lived through 20 years of life meeting people from different walks of life; by fate, chance and encounter. If life is to be spent meaningfully, it's not by the amount of people you've met, it's the depths of how much you truly know the person. If it is the day where you need someone by your death bed, it has to be someone who has been a constant in your life. One person. Sufficient, no? - Korean dramas are awesome mindless pieces of crap, seriously. Some, I feel have really ordinary storylines but the way the stories are being portrayed really gave away the impact. Which is just awesome. Lighthearted mindless awesomeness. But too much of 'em can kill you. Which is why I want to thank Bala for sharing with me his list of awesome intellectual movies. Ah, I'm on the roll with dramas and movies. So much so that I can potentially go to bed subconsciously living in the characters' perspectives. You know like how Voldermort lives on the horcruxes and without them he would die? It's like your reality and your "life" in books/movies are not entirely separate. It's also just like reading. Have you ever read something so deep, so absorbed and engrossed, part of you felt like the protagonist, mimicking what she does, behave or think in the book? Once, I was on the grey's anatomy marathon and i went to work feeling all meredith grey-ish. Silly I tell you. And recently I was under the influence of Young-Jae in Full House that I called Rauf the birdbrain, haha! T'was funny. The best part of living through characters is indeed the getaway everyone needs. Or at least, I do. | |||||||
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contemplative
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| I am anxious but very, very excited indeed. I'll be doing a homestay in Brittany, Brest; the western tip of France & will be flying off this saturday. Will be attending the school there on weekdays for three weeks, just learning the French language while immersing myself in the culture. I'll prolly extend 5 more days to roam about with some others in the immersion programme. Everything was great and I'm pretty pleased with my current host family when they last minute changed it today to another host family. That's it man, I am totally asking back for my initial family. Why do these last-minute administration have to screw everything up? Not that I don't like the current family but I already emailed my initial host family and I really really like their interests and hobbies, just something I find really important since you need to communicate and get along well. I hope to get the initial family back! Though exams felt like eons ago, I find myself in the midst of many things yet again. This time it is the good things that you rush for. Meet-ups with different people, eating (this is unfortunately extremely excessive, i have to start watching over the things i eat), korean drama, movies, camwhoring, errands and looking/buying for stuffs to bring over for the immersion. Amongst all, I totally abhor the necessary things you have to do before you fly, particularly the planning process. The clothes you need to have, planning the amount of clothes you need to bring, food-stock just in case, conversion of money, supplements and everything else you need to do to completely check-off your checklist. It's exhaustingly tiring, and thinking about all these can potentially harm my brain cells. Dramatic much. And worst of all which seems pretty unfathomable is the question of how flu vaccines in this tiny, overreacting island of Singapore can totally run out. Do Singaporeans really need them? How about those people who are flying over to the States, Mexico or Canada? Sheesh. And knowing that France has people affected with the Swine flu isn't helping. Oh Lord, hopefully nothing will happen to me. After the pathetic situation where I spent a couple of seemingly tiring days of futile attempts to get myself vaccinated. Alas, it's all about the immune system now; do your thing! Gosh I'm thinking too much. | |||||||
| 2 donuts | BURP! |
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irritatedMay 11th, 2009
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 And so Daniel Henney is the annoying Agent Zero in X-men Origins! Fancy seeing him as a hot doctor in My Lovely Sam Soon (: Still hot I guess. Damn these Korean models, they're irresistable (by this, i meant, lee min ho!) Geez Skeen. | |||
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May 2nd, 2009
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| Ah, I can't lose this momentum. Ever since Wednesday (only my first paper, mind you), I've been slacking with only Thurs & Fri covering most of my stats and a chapter of bio only. And I've been awake from 3:30 am till now to finish up what I have to finish. It's so funny that Lee Min Ho appeared in my dreams while doing statistics in my weird dream. LEE MIN HO! <3 And why is it that certain people perceive one's concern&love (through reminders, advices, scoldings) into a manifestation of hatred? Now I know how teachers feel when their students express animosity towards them whenever they start their rambly naggings and scoldings, when they only intend to do good for them. And how kids curse and swear behind their parents' back for grounding or punishing them, when it's all for the good of them. Someone has to do justice for people with good intentions hidden behind really ugly facade. It's all what lies beneath. I.Hate.Being.Misunderstood. Period. And darn, I can't seem to connect my handphone to my twitter. Does anyone know how? I can't wait till I can taste the sweet freedom right after Tuesday, 3 pm. Post-exam plans!!!! | |||||||
| 1 donut | BURP! |
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soreApril 30th, 2009
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       Ah, why so handsome! (: Me have 2 papers next week, so yea, will resume the mugging mode (: | |||||
| 7 donuts | BURP! |
April 19th, 2009
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| Shit. I'm totally in love with Gu Jun Pyo right now :DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD I prefer him than the same role played by another guy in Hana Yori Dango (: Anyway, Jun Pyo's character isn't so loveable at all at the beginning, just that his changing sweet/angry character just make you wanna love him like that. Especially after he picked up the girl who was constantly bullied by her nasty schoolmates, bring her close to his chest and say "I'm sorry" Just an hour of this makes me happy especially the routinous hours of mugging! | |||||
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April 18th, 2009
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| I stumbled upon a nice mixtape (ok, playlist) from somewhere in the blogosphere :) And I fell in love with it. Yesterday was the last day of being a freshman. Which serves as a reminder how fast time can fly. Like what Andy said, "It's been more than a year since I've been in the army lei" And I said "Well yeah, it's been a year since I'm schooling." LOL. Within a span of 8 months, what exactly have I really learnt? Bumped into Andy & Dinesh while on 188 ytd. Love the idea of primary school friends lingering around the zone. And then names like K, H, F all came out from their mouths. Guess things don't really change. You do still reminisce your childhood days. And aiman literally jumped on me ytd while aishah and me were finding books to read in the library. Anyway, periodical meet-ups with aishah has always been something I look forward to. Not only do we enjoy the intimacy of thoughts, we can get really insane to the max. Like how she always say, "Too bad we're of the same gender, if not.." *inside joke* (: If there's anything I truly miss, it would be them; (& i have this sudden urge to pose peeks from the Philippines trip)     Look at how they LOVE to camwhore. Really.  the balloon frenzy  The sari-sari shop!  The mode of transportation, jeepney!  The times when we get out of the school, and see the rest of the village.  Passed by rows of cute houses in the making.   Market Centre  The village people, meticulously bathing their cock :)  Bye bye Erap City.  And then we headed to Puerto Azul resort  I love this peek! Like a scene from Lost or something (:  Then we went to Spanish City, which was so beautiful.   We went to a Cathedral when there was a wedding ceremony taking place.   Yeah I climbed this tree!   And of cos we did loads of shopping! I've been having yet another round of sweet sporadic dreams of flying to Paris and running along the city and basking in the adventurous mood of travelling. Rawr. Back to work when dreams over. | |||||
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April 13th, 2009
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I feel particularly happy, probably because after watching Qalbu twice, being slengerz with ain, seeing khal and eva dancing on stage, see many many many many faces in one day, that made me feel happy. And finally supper with faddy, eva, khal, hermant, the 3 bujang lapoks (khais and syazwan), their ij friends, rauf and syafiq wrap the whole day. Heeeee. Yesterday I was reflecting upon myself. That if you ask me to do certain things, I probably can. I can write a decent piece of work, I can run, I can do math, I can lead, I can sing (to myself at least or within the confines of the shower). Note that the word I use here is 'can', which doesn't imply much on the degree of potential there. I can be pretty average in some things but not necessarily best at them. And I thought, what exactly am I best in? And I'm actually thinking along the lines of talents or similarly to a question of "So, what's your forte?". Like how an actress has a knack in acting for a living, a doctor who can cure, a wrestler of buns of steel worth of energy and so on so forth. And I think I don't exactly have a talent in any particular field. But perhaps in just one thing. Socializing. It's really when I feel alive and kicking. I'm very strongly people-driven that I can feel motivation rising in me whenever I make a connection; be it with a best friend, a close friend or an acquaintance. Like how a soccer player has a connection with the soccer ball, a photographer with the camera, and an accountant with his calculator. Just like how things click, just like when two people fall in love. Except that my 'click' would be at the receiving end of someone else just to socialize. If socializing is even a skill that is. Random reflection, tonight. I have 4 hurdles to go through this week, so I hope everything will run smoothly, insyaAllah. | |||||
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April 8th, 2009
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| French tutorial was fun because I can let my hair down and think of ridiculous lines with Bennie. Conversation at the swimming pool: Me: Attention attention! Je vous interdis de emporter votre nourriture à la piscine. [Attention! Attention! I forbid you to take your food to the swimming pool.] Bennie: D'accord, je ne l'emporte pas là. Je mange maintenant. [Agreed, I won't take it there. I eat now.] Me: Je vous interdis de faire du pipi dans la piscine! [I forbid you to pee in the swimming pool!] Bennie: Oui. Je vais au toilette d'abord. [Yes. I go to the toilet first] Me: Aussi, je vous interdis de nager nus dans la piscine! [Also, I forbid you to swim nude in the swimming pool!] Bennie: Èvidemment! Je ne suis pas idiot! Est-ce que vous êtes fou? Je peux nager maintenant? [Obviously! I am not an idiot! Are you crazy? Can I swim now?] Me: Enfin, je vous interdis de nager trop rapidement. [At last, I forbid you to swim too quickly.] Bennie: Pourquoi?! [Why?!] Me: Parce que pour le sécurité des autres. Alors, je vous permets de nager maintenant. [For the security of others. Then, I allow you to swim now.] Bennie: Non, je ne veux pas nager maintenant! Il y a beaucoup de règlement pour suivre. [No, I do not want to swim now! There are a lot of regulations to follow.] Me: Comme vous voulez! [As you wish.] K, bye. Many many work! | |||||||
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April 7th, 2009
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| Purrty good tuesday I must say, though I sauntered to school and was half an hour's late and missed Alex's presentation on child humour. Daym. The best part about taking a humour module apart from contributing to the resounding room filled with laughter is that I really get to see how humour is perceived at different angles. It just amazes me everytime of the things that are capable of making people laugh no matter how subtle they can be. It's like the depths of humour is infinite, and people just keep coming up with surprising things that elicit some form of humour that we never thought would have deemed as humourous. Ok, one final presentation for me next week and it's a wrap for the entire module. Need to do slides! I think what makes your soul alive is when you're in touch with your deepest feelings at the bottommest pit of your soul, and having them being poured out through light-hearted conversations, be it good or bad. And you only do it with people who value such a connection. And it feels good because you just don't do it with anybody. Thanks qeen for the day ((((((: | |||||
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| 7 donuts | BURP! |
April 1st, 2009
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Me likey some '80s music yo! ((((: | |||||
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I need direction to perfection
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