Mousetraps

Mousetraps

My marketing tute last week was rather...interesting. Basically we learnt all about mousetraps and we were supposed to design a better mousetrap than all those currently out in the market. I don't suppose mousetraps are very common in Singapore are they? I don't recall seeing one in the supermarkets...

Anyway, it's rather cruel and gruesome really how people kill mice. Mostly the traps work to crush their skulls and it's all bloody and stuff. That's for the standard mousetrap anyway. Newer ones promise you don't see the dead mouse staring at you and you can remove it without touching it. I suppose if the mouse stares at you you'd feel guilty about killing it (and so horribly too!!). Mind you, I like mice. I think they're cute, but I guess not everyone would share the same sentiments...like my flatmate. She's terrified of mice.

The mousetraps I've seen are painful....especially if your finger springs the trap. I wouldn't know first-hand how that would feel but my pen cap flew across the room when I used my pen to poke at the trap. One of the interesting ablbeit most cruel ones (in my opinion) was this spider-looking thing which "strangled" the mice apparently and allows you to catch more than one in the trap. It operates on the rationale that when the mouse sticks its head in one of the holes and springs the trap (which doesn't kill it instantly, but rather strangles it slowly), other mice seeing it still alive and it's head in the hole for a long time would go check out what that mouse was looking at or eating and thus get trapped in the other holes. I dunno if it works but the mere idea of it is cruel.

As for designing a better mousetrap, well, I'd like to say that my design is more humanitarian....or 'mousitarian' ensuring the mouse dies instantly. Whether or not it really does work, I wouldn't have a clue nor would I like to try really. As I said before, I like mice.

Finished!!!

Finished!!!

Finally, FINALLY my marketing assignment is done & I can now breathe properly and sleep properly for a couple of days...until the next one. The silly lecturer had us do a 10 page report on how you would go about re-branding a wine endorsement system. He keeps giving us products we know nothing about...$%*!#@$^!!! PLUS 10 pages isn't enough for the amount of detail he wanted from us and how in the world do you fit basically info from all the other sections and more into 1 page...which was supposed to be a graphic design brief. Sheesh! Ok I guess most wouldn't get what I'm ranting about but in short, the assignment sucked.

It was quite "funny" (if you can call it that) yesterday at around 2am when we decided that our flat should be called House of the Dead. Why? 3 of us - Lucy, my sister and I were zombified, & brain-dead from being overworked. They were studying for an exam, which was this morning, & I was working on that assignment of course(what else could I be doing?). The rabbit was de only one who was well-rested....lazy b******d....

On the upside, once again it's a nice summery day with sky so blue it hurts your eyes and not a cloud in the sky...yada yada... I think we're having a delayed summer. While the warmth is nice, I must say though that summer really eats up your time. Sun sets at like 9pm and so it's nice and bright outside and you THINK you have alot of time. Before you know it de time has gone and you dun have much of the day left...a very dangerous thing if you have assignments...

Anyway I'm hungry...or as de French would say j'ai faim and I've to go print that assignment, so salut for now...

French

French

I have still yet to get internet connection in my flat, which is proving to be quite a pain coz I like working at night & now I've to go down to campus early in the mornings to use the internet for my assignments. Argh!

Well the good news is that we're finally having summer...the bright sun, wear sunglasses kinda summer plus it's warm too!! It kinda sucks that I've to be indoors in classes though when it's nice & warm outside. We did have French class out in de sun one time though coz we were telling our French lecturer/tutor that it was so nice and bright and sunny outside we wanted to go out. So we finished de lesson on de sunny steps of the Central Library.

Oh, there's this cute Russian guy in my French class...from St Petersburg...for anyone interested to know. Never spoke to him but he's nice to look at. lol There are heaps of asians in the class though, and random personality types. It's pretty interesting watching people. Like there's this guy who's a musician and he come to class wearing really weird clothes. Looks like something he made himself. One time he came wearing a red thing (I can't quite call it a shirt coz it really wasn't one but it functioned the same way a shirt does...somewhat) and then there were scraps of tattered black cloth safety pinned all over. There were many many many safety pins and I suppose I could have counted them if I'd bothered. Anyway the whole get-up looked pretty strange but I suppose that suits him. It's probably some kind of artistic expression...

Summer

Summer

Haven't exactly been updating my blog very much since I've been back in NZ. A good reason would be that we've yet to get internet connection in my flat. Aside from the lack of technology within the flat, I've yet to obtain furniture for my room. Currently I'm sleeping on de sofa-mattress thingy that de previous tenants left us & I'm working off de floor...well once I went downstairs to de kitchen to do my work but it gets kinda cold downstairs coz de kitchen is so big.

Undeterred by the fact that I don't have a bed, I went our yesterday to The Warehouse & bought over $100 worth of stuff for my room, de bulk of which was bedding stuff like sheets & a duvet & duvet covers & all. I still wanna get another set of sheets though...looking for lime green sheets which The Warehouse had but wasn't in a set, which would cost more coz it's like $9 for a flat sheet, $9 for a fitted sheet & $7 for a pillowcase. Anyway all de bedding stuff is still in it's packaging in a corner of my room. Oh & I got this really nice rug...it's fuzzy & it's blue & lime green...

My sister finally decided to move in with us...(her rabbit moved in a couple of days before she did) & so now de TV gets used alot. She has also planned all our lunches for de whole of this week & refuses to allow me to touch anything to make dinner!!! Coz it would muck up her plans....nevermind that we've got enough food for like 2 weeks.

Speaking of food & the rabbit, de rabbit is nasty & violent. Sure it looks cute & sweet & innocent but it's evil. It bit my other flatmate, Lucy & scratched me pretty badly when we tried to catch it to put it back into it's hutch. After which, Lucy & I were more than happy to have rabbit stew. The rabbit is a good weed-killer though, it seems to like eating de weeds that grow among our herb patch (we've got mint, chives & some other herb...). Some of de weeds actually come from de garden next door & next door is still empty. I planted lettuce & an assortment of flowers de other day so until they start sprouting we don't have to keep de rabbit away from them yet.

Well, I've gotta go make a couple of phonecalls & stuff now...de list of things I've to do is still endless & I've a French test today that I hopefully won't screw up so I'll juz end here for now.

The True Story Part II

The True Story Part II

And the story continues...

So we headed to the 32 bus stop from Parkway to get to Siglap. Along the way Mr Teo bought a bag of guavas...coz he believes strongly in healthy eating. Anyway it wasn't long before de bus arrived & we boarded it, with Mr Teo claiming that he was a model citizen all the while eating his guavas in the bus!! I kindly pointed out the fact that model citizens obey the "No Eating & Drinking" signs posted in the public bus (coz we know Mr Teo's command of the English language is weak & I'm positively sure that he doesn't comprehend the meaning of 'model citizen'). Mr Teo however showed no inclination to stop eating (coz as I mentioned earlier his English isn't very good & thus he probably didn't have a clue of what I was trying to say in ENGLISH)...he pointed out that de bus driver couldn't see him so it was ok. Following that logic, if you kill someone & noone sees you, guess what? It's ok. Now if anyone wants to kill Mr Teo I'm sure everyone would say they didn't see anything...so then it would be ok (Therefore Mr Teo is free for anyone who wants to kill).

Arriving at Siglap, we proceeded to the Cheesecake Cafe for dessert. Surprisingly Mr Teo was more than willing to indulge in cheesecake which is *gasp* not healthy food! He made a weak attempt to protect his waistline (under the guise of protecting mine...it was a very poor guise) by saying he wouldn't order a chocolate cheesecake & go for peach instead. If anyone is wondering why this is considered a weak protection it's coz cheesecakes are fattening anyway...a bit of chocolate really doesn't make much of a difference. In line with his newly acquired "pot-bellied, lecherous uncle" status, Mr Teo also ordered himself a pot of tea & some warm water...all that was missing was the hairy mole on his cheek & the newspaper.

I can't quite recall what our conversation was but I do recall Mr Teo did make an attempt to talk about expanding wasitlines & exercise & healthy diets...for awhile. If there was any intelligent conversation....it was on my part. lol Well we kinda juz sat there talking till we got smoked out literarily by this couple sitting beside us who also happened to have a taste for snails. I shan't give my view on that coz then I'd never finish writing this, but to summarize it....ugh! Mr Teo has eaten snails before though & in a rare moment we actually came to an agreement that snails are icky & overpriced.

Anyway after we got smoked out Mr Teo suggested a walk so we kinda started heading in de direction of my place & we were walking along Frankel Ave when he suggested going by de Siglap connector. He said there was a road joining Frankel to de Siglap connector. Well one would expect that Mr Teo, having haunted de area for such a long time would know de way & all, which perfectly justifies me following him. BIG mistake on my part (n anyone else's who chooses to follow him). We ended up walking along Dunbar St (is tt the right street name?) and hit a dead end. Basically we were lost. Mr Teo however refused to admit it he was very sure there was a road somewhere...what's with guys & their egos anyway when they refuse to admit that they are lost?

So we walked n walked up n down, mostly up n then...voila! We were a few metres away from the Cheesecake Cafe thanks to Mr Teo's superb navigational skills. Well of course then we knew where de Siglap connector was n if he didn't know, I did. Thankfully de Siglap connector is fairly idiot-proof, as long as one can walk in a straight line.

Along de way back, Mr Teo had my umbrella n was swinging it about happily. Thereafter he said he really liked my umbrella coz it made a good sword. He then proceeded to show me de various ways de umbrella could be swung out...just like a sword!! Oh we also passed the "road" that Mr Teo was positively sure led to de Siglap connector. Turn out it was more of a dark, creepy little narrow path between 2 houses that kinda went around de canal n stuff. I must mention here that I've observed that every time I've been out with him, he never fails to point out to me a dark place where it's "good to take a walk". Translation: It's a good place where you could "hairy hands and hairy legs (mao shou mao jiao)". So you can see juz how decent Mr Teo is.

After walking off my cheesecake, dinner, lunch & de previous day's dinner, we finally arrived at my place whereby Mr Teo debated on whether he should take the bus or walk back from where we came from. I did offer him my umbrella which he now thought of as his trusty sword as he mentioned he might meet a couple of boogiemen along de way, but he declined asking me to look after it for him instead. Well you know how to deal with delusional people...juz smile n nod. So I did.

My account of New Year's Eve ends here as Mr Teo would have filled in de rest on his escapedes with Bangladeshis n all.

Disclaimmer: No animals were injured in de process of writing this piece, although a certain ego may have been bruised. Please consume this with a pinch of salt...he really isn't too bad.

The True Story Part I

The True Story Part I

Here's the long story of what really happened New Year's Eve:

Renjun arranged to meet me at 5pm in Parkway coz he had an appointment with exterminators. I was late though...I'm quite sure tt de bus companies in Singapore have something against me coz 15 refused to show up despite the long waiting time & finally when it DID show there were (surprise surprise) 2 of them. Grrr.... Mr Teo however told me not to worry. He was at de MPH recent releases section attempting to acquire some knowledge & culture (well he didn't say tt EXACTLY....I merely helped to interpret his txt to me...but knowledge n culture were his own words!). So being a kind soul & totally sympathising with Mr Teo's desire to TRY n acquire knowledge & culture I was late. (Warning: I am not condoning the act of not being punctual. However in this case or any cases with Mr Teo involved, it's ok to be late...but not too late coz he needs supervision.)

Anyway met him at MPH & he passed me a card...where de envelope looked like he'd sealed it...changed his mind abt something, ripped it open again & then finally resealed it. lol but it was de thought tt counts so tt didn't really bother me, although Mr Teo hastily assured me tt it wasn't a recycled envelope...not tt I had even thought of tt!!

Decided to grab dinner at Delifrance b4 playing pool. Over dinner Mr Teo regale me with tales of The Exterminators. Apparently they started to fumigate outside without informing him & so de windows were still open n fumes started getting into de place. If you ask me I think they were meant to fumigate him....after all they're pest control aren't they? But that's besides the point... I then attempted to have an intelligent conversation on business & marketing with Mr Teo, unfortunately de conversation was one-sided simply coz Mr Teo's knowledge of such stuff is...well...erm...ok u get de picture.

Headed to play pool afterwards or at least tried to for awhile. Why tried to? Because Mr Teo having a very deprived childhood, decided tt he wanted to play with elevators for awhile...all under the guise of looking for the pool place. He thought de 7th floor was a good place to start & a peek around de corner reveal tt *gasp* de pool place wasn't there!!! So he led me to de elevator to try de 9th floor this time...which of course wasn't de correct floor (coz we know Mr Teo usually takes more than juz 2 tries to get things right). It was then to de 4th floor which wasn't de right one either & then Mr Teo hit on de supremely "brilliant" idea to go back to de 1st floor so he could count which floor de place was on. And so he did....nevermind tt he looked very ridiculous standing in de middle of de McDonald's area counting floors. It kinda took him awhile to count to 5 as well but I shan't elaborate overly on tt coz de story's already pretty long.

Well playing pool with Mr Teo was interesting....at least my skill level wasn't too far from his so I didn't really get trashed. However Mr Teo (being who he is) somehow managed to come up with all sorts of very interesting poses while playing. His favourite I believe was a pose with one leg up on de table much like a dog about to do it's business. I've taken pictures of course...all's left is to convince Mr Teo to publish them (I'm not gonna even try!). Mr Teo also had a slight problem with arranging de balls within de triangle, although tt's ok....since I cldn't break for nuts.

By the time we left de pool place to head to Siglap's Cheesecake Cafe, it was pouring again...which wasn't surprising seeing as to how it HAD been pouring de whole day. I had an umbrella so de fact tt it was raining didn't disturb me. Guess WHO didn't bring an umbrella even when he knew it had been raining de whole day? No points for correct guesses coz if u didn't get it right, u're even more pathetic than he is. lol Well, not only did someone not bring an umbrella but tt someone also had de cheek to complain tt mine was too small!!! Sure ok if it's too small well it was meant for one....ME!!!

Ok shall end Part I here in Parkway n continue Part II later!

Ugh...Packing

Ugh...Packing

Packing has never been one of my favourite activities. But I'm glad to say that I manged to be disciplined enuff to spend de afternoon packing. I've packed like about a third of what I need to bring over...mostly clothes. I can't believe just how much clothes I've got!!! Rolling everything up helps save space in the suitcase but still I can't quite do anything about the fact tt they DO weigh something.

Well I still need to pack utensils & stuff for my flat...like bedding stuff. Oh and shoes n bags!! It's ironic that I'm worrying about packing bedding stuff considering I dun even have a bed in my flat. Gonna be spending a couple of nitez on the floor...or on de couch which de previous tenants kindly left behind...until I buy a bed along with the rest of de furniture for my room.

Still can't quite believe I'm going back in a few days time as a 2nd year!!! Hmm it'll be a really busy year and I've got mixed feelings about beginning juz thinking of the workload! Holidays are only missed when you actually are at de end of it...coz I was really bored in the 1st couple of days back. Dunno when I'll be back this time when I leave...another 3 or 4 years maybe?

New Year's Eve Entertainment

New Year's Eve Entertainment

So it's another new year... At least my New Year's Eve wasn't that boring. Had a very entertaining evening with a certain delusional "knight-in-shining-armour" who got us lost....or rather made us walk a whole long way around and hit dead ends ("coz the Siglap Connector IS this way. Trust Me. Relax.") But that's ok he says....walking is GOOD for you. All along the way he swings the umbrella...thinks it is a sword...brandishes it about...so on and so forth.

But I muz say he has certainly given me lots to blackmail him with. I should prob make this short...and then edit it at a later time. Coz I'll be seeing him again one more time...where there's this slight chance I may get killed. So I'll write again of this when I'm miles away!! (One of the great things abt studying overseas!!!)