Broadcasting from OCW187 FM!! (One Corner of the World)

(Just something funny my friend sent to me...!)


*The awkward first phone call*

The Scene:
The Girl is a 23-year-old investment banker, working in New York.
The Boy is doing his residency in Boston and was given her number by his mother, who is a friend of the girl's aunt's brother-in-law's cousin's uncle's wife in Chicago.

Time:
Monday night, 10 p.m.

Girl: Hello?

Boy: Shit, she's home! Um, hi! Is this Pooja?

Girl: Speaking.

Boy: My name is Karan. I don't know if you know who I am. God, what if she doesn't know who I am? I don't even know why I'm doing this!

Girl: Oh, you live in Boston, right?

Boy: Yeah. Okay, so she was told about me, that's some relief. I wonder what she was told - "He's a resident, tall, and fair and he graduated from Ivy League school!" God, she probably hates me already!

Girl: Yeah, my mother mentioned you had my number. I can't believe he actually called!

Boy: So, how are you? Oh yeah, that's real original, but what the hell else I am supposed to say - Umm, hi, I don't know you, but do you want to be my wife?!

Girl: I'm fine. And you? Okay, this is off to a great start.

Boy: I'm good. Okay, think, think! So, I heard you're an investment banker? Oh, that's a real winner. Now I can be a bad conversationalist and an idiot!

Girl: Yes.

Boy: Okay, she is not helping me at all! Where do you work?

Girl: Merrill Lynch.

Boy: Hey, that's a great firm! I sound like a complete moron. I should just hang up except my mother would somehow find out and kill me!

Girl: Yeah, it's a nice place to work. God, this guy sounds like a complete loser!

Boy: So... Stall, stall!

Girl: So you're doing your residency in cardiology? Like my mom didn't tell me that 500 times already!!

Boy: Okay, I can handle this... Yeah, I'm in my second year. Alright, now say something else, but what do I say? Do you drink? 'Cause if you want to marry me, you can't be one of those goody goody Indian girls who think that if they kiss a guy, they've practically gone all the way! So what do you like to do in your free time?

Girl: Umm... get wasted... Oh, you know, hang out with my friends, go to movies...

Boy: Where do you like to hang out in NY?

Girl: Shit, what am I supposed to say? This guy could be some religious freak! I can't say bars - I'll say clubs, you can go to clubs and not drink... Oh, sometimes we go to the movies, or there's a couple of clubs that are good... That was good, I made it sound like I like clubs, but I'm not really into them...

Boy: Okay, she goes to clubs, that's a good sign. If she was really religious, she wouldn't do that. Yeah? I like to dance as well.

Girl: He likes to dance - that's a good sign. He can't be that stiff! So where do you hang out in Boston?

Boy: Should I say it? Alright, I'll say it, what the hell! Umm, the same, bars, clubs, stuff like that.

Girl: He said bars! So he probably drinks. Good sign. I should explore this further... Are there any good bars in Boston?

Boy: Yeah, there are some nice onces, I mean, I'm not a huge drinker, but I like having a good time. Okay, that gives the impression of someone who enjoys drinking but is not an alcoholic - pretty good, if I do say so myself!

Girl: That sounds really positive. This guy sounds kind of cool. But if he's so cool, why is he calling me? Shouldn't he have a girlfriend? Or not need to call random girls his mother tells him about? God, what if he's completely ugly? Yeah, me too. Although I hope my parents never find out.

Boy: Yeah. I know exacvtly what you mean.

Girl: Okay, so he didn't freak out at the living a double-life reference - another good sign! I just wish I knew what he looked like... So...

Boy: Or she could be really fat with a huge mustache. Well, there's only one way to find out! So... I know this sounds a little crazy, but I'm visiting some friends in NYC next weekend and I wonder if you'd want to get together for coffee some time.

Girl: Coffee. That's totally safe. If he's totally nasty, I can have a quick expresso and run like hell! Yeah, that sounds great.

Boy: Alright, that went pretty well. Coffee's pretty harmless. And who knows, maybe she'll be cool. Now I have to get the hell out of this conversation... So, I have your e-mail, should I just e-mail you soon and we can figure it out?

Girl: E-mail is sooo much better than the phone. Thank God for e-mail! Yeah, just e-mail. I check it all the time at work, so - God, this is getting painful.

Boy: Alright, I'll e-mail you soon. Meaning in two days, 'cause I don't want to look too desperate, but at the same time I don't want to look like I'm trying not to look too desperate.

Girl: Cool. Well, I'm glad you called. I think...

Boy: Me too. Well, I'll see you soon. Please be hot, please be hot!

Girl: Alright. Bye. I can't believe he called! Too late to back out now. Besides, maybe he's cool. He didn't sound so bad on the phone.

Boy: Bye. I did it! I am the man! I think she wants me. Yeah, she definitely wants me...


Regarding my previous post: Chiew Hui said that she was wearing orange, NOT pink, yesterday... I don't know what's right anymore! I can't believe I'm that blur!! Am I?! I have to clarify with Ong Chi... I can't believe this, if Ong Chi says "orange", I think I'll just die. My blurness would be officially confirmed.


I went for my first Ensemble class - they were cancelled for the past couple of weeks. I missed the 1st week since I hadn't transferred then; the 2nd week, the teacher was in Moscow for a music conducting conference. He came back in the 3rd week, but the weather in Russia left him feeling a "little worse for the wear" (because of the "snow and ice"), so that was another class cancelled. We finally had a lesson this week. The Ensemble I was put in is the Faculty Choir (since I joined too late to be able to get into other ensembles).

I really enjoyed it! Lol. Singing!! It may not be pop, or your cup of tea, but it's definitely mine! We're learning this choral work by Gabriel Fauré. It's called Requiem, and it's his most famous work. The text is in Latin, and it sounds absolutely beautiful (even though requiems are technically funeral masses).

Aside from the lessons (which I'm finding rather enjoyable!), I have a couple of assignments, a response paper, and a couple of presentations dued in the coming weeks. Will be quite busy!

I'll update again soon. Jerry thinks that I'm "making up" for the lack of his posts since I'm posting quite often recently.

Well, let's put it this way; one corner of the world is better than silence from all corners! (No matter how lame that may sound.)

Love it or hate it =P

Chiew Hui accompanied me on my piano practicing today, and something that came up was the topic of parents sending (read: forcing) their kids to learn piano or some other musical instrument.

Interestingly enough, my mom never forced me to take. I remember asking her before something about why she sent me for piano lessons (or something along those lines - basically, how did I get started learning the piano, anyway).

"You yourself asked for it," was the answer she gave me.

I remember staring at my mom, dumbfounded. I asked for it? Do all 4 or 5-year-olds ask stupid questions?

My mom started piano lessons while she was pregnant with me, and after she gave birth to me, she continued, until my second brother was born, and then she stopped. Apparently I must have been intrigued by the funny sounds coming from the bulky black box when you press the rectangular black and white blocks on it. I pestered my mom about wanting to learn it, and so at the age of 5, I was promptly sent off for piano lessons.

Because I wanted it.

-_-"

I can't even remember! But then, who remembers things clearly enough at that age? Probably a blur of vague memories.

But I do remember practicing hard everyday in my entire primary years (1 to 6). There was one moment I remember quite clearly; I think I was only in Primary 2 or 3 (because I remember it was in the morning that I went for a piano lesson). I was actually going through all the pieces one more time before I left the house, and I remember discovering one extra piece which I had completely forgotten to practice. I remember panicking and telling my mom, and asking her to wait. I promptly practiced the song on the piano 10 times in a row.

(Not making that up.)

I wish I'm that motivated now.

When I reached Form 1, I kind of lost my enthuasism and motivation; I was supposed to sit for my Grade 6 practical exam that year, but I absolutely hatedthe piano, I loathed practicing everyday. In the end, I had to be constantly nagged by my mother, and in the way, the exam itself kind of 'woke' me up. I almost failed it, passing by just a few marks. It was a major shock to me; I kind of regained back that enthuasiasm.

The 'I-hate-piano' phase was really bad; bad enough that I even asked my mom to let me quit. But she refused. I guess I'm really grateful now. But I believe everyone has to go through that kind of phase sometime. After all, my life was constantly revolving around the piano, and in a way, "familiarity bred contempt".

It's turned into one of those "love it or hate it" relationships. No matter what I choose, I can't leave it without feeling lots of regret and misery (like I did at the beginning of the semester, but thank God that I made the transfer to Arts/Music). And even if I do go through moments of "I hate piano!", I can't leave it anymore.

Okay, this post is sounding weird now. I shall stop. =P



On a lighter note:

I was with Ong Chi and her friend and walking to the Economics & Commerce building, when suddenly a pink figure materialized in front of us.

Being blur, as always, I kind of "saw through" the pink aura. Actually, to tell you the truth, I didn't notice anyone or anything at all!! I was just intent on getting to my destination.

Suddenly,

"Chiew Hui?!"

I blinked my eyes, and suddenly she was in front of me, materializing out of nowhere.

(Man, I hope I don't walk around looking that blur.)

But apparently I wasn't the only blur one: Ong Chi told me later that in her mind she was thinking, "Who is this pink freak staring at us?"

No offense, Chewy!!! I seriously didn't notice you!! Hehe. Hontoni gomen-nasai!

But part of the shock is just that, the uni is so big, and everyone's timetable is so different, that you're even lucky to meet up once or twice a day during the course of your day. And when you're rushing to go to your next class, you tend to just ignore everything around you.

Well, at least I do that. =p

Ciao!

Gaming... and alter-egos.

Listening to soundtracks from games and various anime on my playing list, I’m suddenly overcome with nostalgia for the past.

I remember spending at least a few hours each day, playing Final Fantasy IX on the PS in my brother’s room, and being all happy and smirking about it, because I was further ahead. Lol.

I miss the feel of the controller in my hand… okay, that just sounds a bit weird. But anyway, I just miss the good ol’ days… when there wasn’t so much worries, so much stress… and there was still enough hours in the day to play and finish your work.

Arrggh. I have a sudden desire to grab a PS and play the RPG games all over again!! Final Fantasy, of course – every gamer’s must-have and must-play! Tales of Destiny, Grandia, and other less well-known RPGs…

Yeah, I know, these games are considered old in the modern gaming world, but they’re still good! XD I remember playing Guardian’s Crusade with GameShark the whole way through, and I was basically just cruising through the game. But seriously, it’s practically impossible to even win a battle without cheating… LOL. But the graphics and storyline were lame. Thinking about it, it was the first game I actually finished. (Yes, with the help of GameShark =p) Oh well, I was just bored… and that was like… how many years ago… back when I was in primary.

Tales of Destiny! Now that is one old RPG, the graphics were in 2D in playing mode and the not really “up” there in terms of the quality and standards of today, but the FMVs were really detailed and remarkably beautiful for its time. I really enjoyed playing that, but never got round to finishing it! ToD was really long, filled with lots of puzzle-solving activities and mysteries that you have to solve in order to proceed on your journey. The storyline was really good though, but I just couldn’t crack one really confusing riddle somewhere at the end. I drove myself crazy over it, and ended up getting lost traveling here and there. I really would love to get back to it sometime; no matter how outdated I may be in doing so!

Then there was Grandia. It was another RPG I was really into. Grandia was around my upper primary/lower sec years. (I kind of gamed less and less as I slowly ‘grew’ up.) Anyway, there I was, happily leveling up my characters, getting new spells, obtaining new skills, etc.

And then I got stuck. (Again.)

Countless hours were spent wandering around that stupid forest (I remember lots of weird plants, typical fantasy games lah) and battling random enemies, which gained me even more experience, which was good I suppose… but I freakin’ just COULD NOT FIND MY WAY OUT. Because of those countless hours, I can still remember how that stupid place looks like in the game!! Yes, even like, 5 years later!

So that was another game give up in frustration. The storyline was quite good, though… sad!!

Does anyone know Star Ocean, the Second Story? Or something like that. It’s one of those RPG games with lots of endings, depending on which path you choose. So lame, and too lazy to explore the so-called “over 80 endings!” (as it said on the back cover of the pirated CD my brother bought). Who actually has that kind of time to play a game 80 miserable times over??

I gave up few minutes into the game after being defeated by the enemies… and any RPG gamer can tell you that I’m probably retarded for dying so early in the game, when the enemies aren’t suppose to be that hard!

(Actually, the same happened to me in FFVII, but I’m not going to say more about that. XP)

And, not forgetting Legend of Legaia!! My brother and I were playing it simultaneously, and he was ahead of me, but who cares… it’s a cool game, but I’m ashamed to say I didn’t use skills – I used the power of the GameShark (again), lol… 'cause it was hard!! *hides from stares* Anyway, most of those were played when I was in Form 1, actually.

So now you all know… this pale ghost is actually a gaming freak underneath. Heh. If it wasn’t for my brother, I wouldn’t have gotten hooked. I remember my brother persuading my mom and dad to buy the PlayStation. You know how they always have those promotions, like, buy one console and get 30 or so games free? Yep, that was how it happened. My brother and I messed around with a few dual-player games. It was enjoyable, really… Many games came and went, among them, Parasite Eve(which I watched my brother played - freaky storyline, but enjoyable, with nasty monsters), Resident Evil (I will never find the nerve to play horror games - one memorable scene from the game: main character walks down the stairs, suddenly a zombie crashes through the window. I had the shock of my life and actually screamed), Thousand Arms, Musashi, just random RPG games most of the time. Oh, yes, and there was Crash Bandicoot!! That was a nice one. It feels so long ago... The racing games were good as well.

Most of those days are gone now… playing, often with my brother beside me, watching and forever criticizing the way I play… not that I minded. I usually let him defeat the bosses for me since I often become over-excited and will die anyway! Excited, as in, when the boss attacks my characters, you can hear me squealing, “Oh no, my characters are dying!” (even when they’re not). Every time! No wonder my brother makes fun of me. (But I finished FFIX by myself, so there!!)

I know this is probably a little out of character for me to talk about games out of the blue, and I probably don’t even seem like the gaming type to most of you. Well, now you know! Lol. I actually wanted a PS2 very badly when FFX came out, and that was around after our Form 3 PMB exams finished as well. When my results came out, my brother was bugging me to ask my parents to buy for me, since I – um – did quite well.

But I didn’t. And I regret. =’(

I think I would have preferred most of the old PS RPG games though.

I haven’t touched a game in over a year… (PS game, that is!) Maybe when I go back at the end of this year or something! Lol. Just for ol’ times’ sake.

Disclaimer: What you have just read is not REALLY Connie; she's in a really weird mood now. So for the moment, just assume that this is her alter-ego in an alternate universe where only oddities exist. That’s because you know that she’s not REALLY a weirdo (as blatantly obvious in the undercurrent tones of the above post).

Right?

Live ... from One Corner of the World

I thought I better quickly type up a post before I continue on with my music assignment - and, this time, I shall not apologize anymore for lack of updates, not updating often, or whatever. Thanks to Tiong, who pointed out that almost all the beginnings of my posts start with a "sorry" or some kind of apology.

Therefore I shall not apologize anymore =P. It's my blog after all! Oops, I'm sorry; I meant, the blog which I'm supposedly sharing with a certain 18-year-old who is currently in the States. Yeah, remember him? A lanky, skinny guy whom I have not seen in over a year.

Me: The blog is called OPPOSITE CORNERS OF THE WORLD.
J: Don't wanna blog till something fun happens...if I do, I'll be wasting people's time.
Me: It's not ONE CORNER OF THE WORLD.
J: HAHAHAHAHA
J: Good one.

You dare laugh?? >=/ *glares at Jerry from her corner of the world*

To sum it up, it's like, all communications have been cut off from the other corner of the world, and the data is flowing (though not smoothly!) from only one corner of the world.

This blog might as well be renamed: Silence from All Corners of the World.

Anyway!

I totally forgot to mention! Commonwealth Games are currently going on in Melbourne. It's been one week already. I don't know if there's any news about it back in Brunei, but the newspapers and media here is so pro-Australian, it gets a bit tiring to see all the glory and credit focused on the Australian winners. The other countries who do win get little publicity. Shows how biased the media can be. Anyway, apparently Brunei is in lawn bowling and some other weird events? Lol. Not that I know.

I was actually out on the opening night of the Games, and for the first few days, the newspapers often showed pictures of the Queen and other royal and distinguished dignitaries. But opening night! Not that I actually went, but I happened to went out with Chiew Hui and her friends, and then, and then....


There were fireworks!!!


Hahaha!! I was so sakai. I think Chiew Hui was probably embarrassed by me. But it was really really beautiful, okay!! It went on for about 5 minutes, and a lot of people were on the streets in the city, so there were quite a few crowds at the various spots where you could see the fireworks clearest.

Last Sunday, there was also a marathon, but I didn't get to actually see it. The roads outside my building were blocked, but I attended church in the morning, and probably missed it altogether. By the time I walked back home, the roads were cleared already.

For all the hype over the Commonwealth Games, I actually don't see much action, apart from that first night, and the various officials and volunteers dressed in blue or wearing name tags, that you see every now and then. It still feels pretty normal, save for the increased security on the first night. Police cars patrolling the roads every few minutes, and security guards walking up and down the streets.

Well, uni life, as I said, is hectic, but it probably depends on what course you are doing. My timetable, at first glance, is actually quite relaxing, but if you calculate the number of hours you have to spend on practice and homework and self-study, it pretty much eats up all the spare time you have. In lectures, you just sit there and listen to the lecturers drone on and on, but most of the time, you have to study by yourself. No more spoon-feeding, you have to print out all your lecture notes yourself, you have to go online like, everyday.

I swear, if you do not have Internet access, you can just DIE and FAIL all your subjects. Everything is online, and one of my music units, Music Techniques, has its whole textbook on its website, so I'm basically dead if I can't access it. I think for other courses, the teachers sometime assign online tests as well.

Makes you wonder how students in the 70s, 80s, early 90s actually survived. I mean, most of the material went from books and paper to electronic media just like that.

Okay, got to stop here now. I've got a really busy morning tomorrow. I have 2 assignments dued by 9.30 a.m., a Music Techniques lecture at 10 a.m., a Concert Class at 11 a.m., a two-hour lecture of Media, Politics & Society at 12 p.m., all the way till 2 p.m. No break!! =(

I can already hear my stomach complaining. "Be patient and quiet, O dearest Stomach!"

Right, that's for your reading pleasure today, ladies & gentlemen! Will update again soon!

I'm really sorry for not updating; I finally have got my internet set up!! *does victory dance* The stupid company gave me the wrong username and password, which explains why I wasn't able to log on for the past week! Arrgh.

Anyway, this blog has become so dead that I bet no one visits here anymore.

First day of uni - I know I had promised to blog, but it's already the 4th week, and honestly, the past few weeks have been so hectic that I can barely remember. I made the internal transfer to the double degree, so thank God! I'm now doing BA/BMus. I still find it highly amusing that UWA had rejected my application for music, while Uni of Melb accepted me.

But in the process, I had to drop many units from the previous BA degree, so I'm no longer taking Japanese, I was compelled to drop Modern Lit, because it clashed with my Piano Class. I have three weeks of work to catch up on since I came in late. I always do things like this! >=/

But apart from the troublesome paperworks and tedious process of the transfer, I think I can just start to enjoy it all, once I catch up to my work. But, still: Uni - relaxing? Hah. It's far from relaxing. There's assignments to do every week, and though my timetable is actually quite relaxing, it's the amount of work that you do which takes up all your spare time.

This guy told me that if you are already dying in first year uni, then you have to get used to it - "dying". Not funny, I know! It sounds scary, man... Because the 2nd, 3rd, etc. years are much more hectic. And to think that most of us are already finding first year busy!

I suppose it's all about finding the balance, and juggling work and play properly.

I can't think of anything else to say, and I've got loads to do anyway. I'll try to blog about more interesting stuff next time. Jerry has gone AWOL on me! Blog, you donkey!! Contribute YOUR share of uni life as well!!