Busy... Playing

I said I had so many things to do before, and now I'm doing as many of them as I possibly can. The counter on my desktop says I have 73 days 14 hours and 15 mins (at the time I wrote this) left to complete all tha I want to do. I've looked through the whole list of stuff that I've been wanting to do all the time but had to concentrate on studies. Sad news — it's longer than I can actually complete lol. Not to mention that my schedule is littered with dates of celebration parties for the month of november, which is drawing to a close, and while I still have the later 3/4 of dec free, I'd bet we'd have more activities soon for FLPJ! (fun laughter peace and joy)

IB doesn't take your life. It throws it in solitary confinement for 2 years and drives it mad! Now that it's finally released, it rages into party mode to redeem itself, and the wisest thing one could do is to let it have its way XD.

I'll definitely go back to EWLD (Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming), not the book, but actually doing it. I'm a part-time oneironaut haha, so you'd see more posts about the dreaming world soon, along with some ideas that need exploration and consideration.

Other than that, updates! The maplestory page should be updated and completed by the end of this year, and renamed to "MapleSheets XD", a revival of MapleSheets. A new section is also planned, that is the projects section, and I'll declassify the project codenamed "Bluewhale" for everyone to be amused at.

So yes, I'm busy! Playing! Partying! Doing things I like! Who's to complain?

A New Beginning

Yes I'm back. I know I'm later by 1 day than I said. Forgot about the partying for that day, so excuse me haha.

Now, most of us are and will be experiencing a new phase in life. The IB Experience has ended, so has secondary and post-secondary education. For the girls and our excellent foreign talents, it's Unis straight away. For the rest of us, NS.

I wonder what I'll take away from all these years in the school? My intended career path is in Research, and I will not be touching Economics and Literature anymore. So many adults say that we will only find application for a mere 5-10% of what we have learnt in school. Maybe... But I think the figures should be higher. Yes, no more debating what a country should do to reduce Structural Unemployment for me, no more conscious finding literature devices in a novel or passage, but we aren't in school just to learn these. We have learnt how to handle projects, worked as a team, handle deadlines, picked up analysis skills, practiced writing essays that express our thoughts, our opinions, our ideas. We have learnt to handle all types of relationships — peer, authority (teachers), Subordinates (juniors). We have handled pressure, stress, anxiety, worry, maybe even very short episodes of depression(?). All these are also part of the learning experience. School's more than just a place to gather knowledge. We gather experience as well. That's what matures us, allows us to make better decisions in the future based on comparatively trivial mistakes committed in the past. It is what many of us overlook as we go through our daily routines in school despite benefiting from it all subconsciously.

When we lived our last day in school officially, I didn't feel anything. It was merely an official date where us students were no longer there to attend lessons. But now, it is different. We are no longer required to go back for any reason at all. We are truly free from IB. Our task there is complete, and that's why we graduate. I'll definitely miss the school, and I'm sure I'll miss it in that particular time coordinate, not just the school itself. We all will.

I'm really thankful to everyone who made my experience as such. I hope we'll all be able to keep in contact as we brace ourselves to travel yet again into the unknown.

Last Chance

"Captain! Bogey sighted approaching rapidly at 3600 sec/hr dead ahead! ETA 10 - 11 hrs!"

We knew they were coming. Our long range scanners had picked them up while they were still on the order of 10⁶s away. We dared not believe. Many hopes were resting on making it through safely. Yet it was useless, for our short range and higher resolution scanners confirmed their detection about 300,000s from the ship. Now they were in sight, all the while, never waivering, always at the same speed. There was little we could do to prepare except maybe psychologically.

"Man the stations people! Brace for impact! I fear that not many will survive this... May God help us all!!"

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Well, I just felt like posting this in case you're wondering. The title's not meant to have a double meaning for those who can catch it, but I guess it works too.

All Things Aside

I'm going to be taking a break from this now, as you may have noticed that my activity dropped recently. I have made it through the final bend, and now the finishing line is in sight. It's been a long journey, and it all amounts to this. The last dash. It will be sad knowing that I'll be leaving the school after this, but that's for another time of reflection. Be clear, be lucid, focus, go! For this is the moment I have been waiting for.

Il Ristorante del Rientri

(The Restaurant of Re-entry)

"Table for two?" the waiter asked. Hudson and his wife were led to one of the many tables under the twilight sky. Strangely, dining at this restaurant was strictly Al Fresco. They sat down at a rather large table for two and could not help noticing an 'X' at the middle of it. Both of them were doing freelance food reviews for one of the local magazines, and being both adventurous and food lovers, decided to try a new restaurant at the outskirts of the city which promised "a revolutionary way of cooking".

After placing their orders, Hudson had a short walk around the area. All the tables were as big as, or bigger than the one that they sat, and each had an 'X' the size of a regular dinner plate in the middle. "The luxury of space in the country," he thought. There was also a long cylindrical chimney rising up from the middle of the kitchen until… Boom! A small explosion sent an object far up into the night sky. No, it wasn’t a chimney. What was it?

Hudson returned to his seat just as the waiter emerged from the kitchen carrying three plates, one was larger than the other two, and a boat of gravy. He laid the smaller plates in front of Hudson and his wife, while the other plate was placed right on top of the 'X'. Then he waited.

"What are you waiting for?" Hudson’s wife asked the waiter inquisitively.
"Oh, I take it that you haven’t been here before? Then I do not want to spoil the surprise," he replied with a smile, and looked at his watch.
"What is that supposed to mean?" Hudson thought, "and what…"

The waiter had looked up suddenly into the sky. There was a small bright speck that was brighter than the stars, and orange in colour. It vanished as both of them looked up. Their mouths opened to ask, but did not manage to get further. With a bang a roughly oval object landed exactly on the plate above the 'X', smoking. The waiter had put on two thick mitts and pried open the coverings of the object. The aroma of sizzling beef steaks filled the air. Taking a large fork, he served both steaks and topped them off with a generous amount of gravy by the side. "Enjoy!" he said as Hudson and his wife stared at him with their mouths open.

Capolavoro (Review)

It's a stall in Hawkerway Coffee Shop at Blk 279 Bishan Street 24. Surprisingly, it serves Western and Italian food. Italian and Romanian, it claims. I'm not sure what Romanian cuisine is like, but at least the Italian cuisine is pretty good for a hawker stall.

My favourite sauce with spaghetti is the cream based "Cabonara", and I have been ordering that as the first dish I try at any Italian restaurant I go to. I have been to quite a few, including overseas restaurants like one in Italy itself, Tasmania, and a few other places I can't quite remember because they did not leave a strong enough impression.

At first sight, the dish looks a bit watery for a cream based sauce, but the taste was pretty good with generous amounts of bacon in the dish. This is also the first time I have actually seen onions in this sauce, but I must admit it went pretty well. The sauce is tasty and feels rich enough, despite being thin in texture (viscosity, to use the technical term). For $5.90, I'm rather pleased with the dish, considering that the same dish in a restaurant would cost at least double the price.

My dad ordered the Fusili alla Amatriciana, also for $5.90. He requested it to be spicy though, so as to mimick the Arrabbiata sauce that the menu did not offer. The man who took our orders and served us was very friendly, even asking further what type of spice would my dad prefer.

Shared between the two of us was a pizza, 13 inches (I think), that you see in the picture below, for $13. Again, generous toppings, tasty, and it was freshly made on the spot, just like in restaurants! It was a little unfortunate that the toppings tended to crowd toward the center. He explained later that it was due to the rising of the pizza that forced them to the center. This caused the center to be a bit soggy, but the pizza still tasted good.

A good place for getting cheap italian cuisine. I would definitely go back another time.