A-levels

I am currently in the midst of A-levels... which probably means this is a bad time to post, but whatever~~

Preparing for A-levels the past 2 months has been excruciating because it seems like a very prolonged process with no end in sight. Yet, lo and behold, I am right in the middle of it and am left with about 20 days to the end of it! WOW.

Hmm.. even while I am in the midst of it, I do feel strangely... 'not-as-stressed-as-I-thought-I-would-be'. I wonder why. Yet I know that at this very moment, there will be people panicking.

This papers which I definitely very afraid of are my Humanities subjects though - Economics and History. Somehow, these two feel like bombs waiting to drop on me...

Ah well, since it's come to this point, there is not much I can do.

Meanwhile, I have started reading Gintama (I can already hear people reading this going like WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU DOING SUEQIN). And I am really liking this character called Tsukuyo (I am basically just skipping chapters to read parts with her.)

ANYWAY, I HOPE THAT A-LEVELS WOULD PASS BY PEACEFULLY AND THAT GOOD NEWS WOULD FALL UPON US COME MARCH NEXT YEAR. WOOHOO.

Strong female leads

Hey there! I was talking with two of my friends about how we no longer update our blogs, so I just decided to do so on a whim. 

My life so far has been a mix of studying, manga, movies and just struggling to hang on til my mid-year exams start.

Anyway, an interesting thing I heard on the radio was about how some Chinese tours to Malaysia have been cancelled, about 60 flights I heard. The Malaysian government hopes to recover these losses by getting more Singaporeans over the causeway. Somehow it is just really funny how the easiest way to recoup your losses is to turn over and look at one's neighbour.

Random facts aside, something which I had a fascination with (and still do): manga with PHYSICALLY strong girls. I guess it started with this manga called ORESAMA TEACHER.

This manga is really awesome by the way. It talks about this girl Mafuyu who has recently transferred. In her previous high school, she was the Banchou (head of all the school's delinquents), so she's this SUPER STRONG GIRL. At her new school, her teacher (Saeki) ends up being her previous neighbour who's a few years older than her (not your teacher-student love relationship here phew). She starts hanging out with a delinquent (Hayasaka) who's her desk partner even though she wanted to live a 'normal school girl life' after transferring. Anyway, Mafuyu and Hayasaka gets wrapped up in the plans of Saeki regarding the school and ends up in the Disciplinary Club where she has to keep her strong fighting abilities a secret whilst helping Hayasaka. It's really funny because Mafuyu has to appear in the form of Natsuo (dressed up as a guy) and Usa-Chan Man (a creepy girl with a rabbit mask) in order to help Hayasaka out whenever he's in danger without exposing herself! 

Okay, so this Mafuyu is JUST SO FREAKING AWESOME. SHE'S SO STRONG I CANT HELP IT. Whenever she kicks ass I just go HOORAY for her ahhaahh. 

So this is her. THESE ARE ALL HER BY THE WAY. The guy and the weird rabbit face being her disguise HAHAHAHHA. Anyway, if anyone wants a time-out or comic relief, this manga is definitely something I would recommend. Plus, the girl is not some whiny crybaby (I APPROVE).

After this, I went on a rampage and found these other manga where the girl is awesomely strong:

Matsuri Special

Ichi

Chang Ge Xing / Choukakou

Superior

Anyway, I find great satisfaction whenever I read manga like this because something like this cannot possibly happen in real-life. I mean, considering all the physical constraints of a man vs a woman. Therefore, it's great that I can indulge in a manga where the woman is stronger than most man (MAFUYU IS FREAKING AWESOME AS NATSUO). It's also good to see a woman being physically and mentally strong, so I think it's nice for a change hahaha - feminist me. 

Speaking of strong female leads, I saw Maleficent! It wasn't magnificent (get it???) but it was passable. Seriously, just watch it for Angelina Jolie. They should have probably made her stronger/more powerful though, would have loved to see that!

Yeap, as you can see, in between my studying, I have been distracted by such stuff. VERY DISTRACTED. 

Ah~ but one needs her break from time to time, ya know?

So, this is my first update in aeons.

Signing off and wishing me good luck for exams!

Chinese New Year

Chinese New Year is finally over.

I had gatherings with families and friends, which was a pretty enjoyable and good memory and experience. I don't know what the new year will bring; I hope that it will be something good as this year is my a level year. I hope that I will be able to score well. My teacher told me that this Chinese New Year will be the last holiday of the year for all the years 6. That is actually kind of depressing which is why I have been looking to the end of this Chinese New Year holiday with a certain kind of dread. Oh well, good luck for myself and everybody else!

恭喜发财! 马年行大运! 学业进步!

Dreams

Today, I have 2 types of dreams I would like to talk about.

Firstly, I would like to talk about dreams in the form of ambitions and life goals. I watched The Secret Life of Walter Mitty this afternoon with my friends. Frankly speaking, I did not have high expectations of the movie before watching it. To me, a movie about delusions which would probably never come true did not seem at all appealing to me; furthermore, Ben Stiller is not exactly a perfect eye candy either.

However, the film managed to pleasantly surprise me. It was definitely not an Oscar winner or anything, but it was many things as well. It was actually rather funny (considering that Ben Stiller's funny is not usually my kind of funny), exciting, touching, and in many ways, inspiring. The movie definitely got me and my friends thinking about our own lives and dreams. Were we another Walter Mitty, simply living our lives without trying new, dangerous and courageous acts? Personally, I have felt that way many times in the past few years. I feel that I have not found my purpose in life. I do not feel the drive or motivation for something bigger, better. All I do is probably, day-dream. As I watch Walter Mitty go on a journey of self-discovery and in many ways, self-rediscovery, I wonder if I will ever be given an opportunity like him to do so? And if I never do, will I be brave enough to venture out of my comfort zone and unearth the opportunities lying in wait? The future is a terrible void which I am definitely very much afraid of - both of entering in, and of not entering in.

While me and my friends were on the topic of day-dreams, we moved on to the other form of dreams: dreams when we sleep. The conversation made me remember a dream I had rather recently which I thought had some form of significant meaning.

My dream
    I was going to take my A-levels Maths examination. I entered the exam venue. I was carrying with me a cage containing my brother's hamster (my brother recently bought a hamster, for real. I can guessing this is why the hamster appeared in my dreams). For some strange reason or another, the centre actually had a corner for students to place their cages of pets while we took the exam. After placing the hamster there, I proceeded to check my seat number which was written on the whiteboard. Here is probably where the tension started.
    I tried to decipher the handwriting; I took a guess at which number it was supposed to be. However, I had a hard time trying to remember my seat number despite four attempts to commit it to memory. I was feeling mildly nervous by this time before the exam. As I went to place my bag down, I bumped into someone. I unconsciously uttered "F***!" (I DO NOT usually say this in real life unless I am extremely emotional) The person who bumped into me did not apologise at all, which made me annoyed at his lack of manners. At this point in time, a strict male teacher went up to me regarding my use of language. I explained to him that I accidentally said the word. Furthermore, I pointed out that the person who bumped into me did not apologise. The teacher then spoke to the boy who bumped into me, and managed to get an apology out of him. After that, the teacher let the boy go, but continued to lecture me.
    I tried to get him to know that I understood that I was wrong in saying the f word; however, I also wanted to let him know that I did not do so intentionally. The teacher either did not get the message, or was simply denying it. Either way, he kept pushing the subject further and trying the push the blame on me. I was feeling very frustrated because I felt he was making this unnecessarily serious. Compounded with the stress before an exam, I blurted out "What the hell." And apparently, this teacher was a Christian (no offence intended for what's to follow). Upon hearing this, the teacher got angrier. To the devout Christian that he was, the mentioning of hell as if it were something light make him furious. I immediately knew that I was wrong, but yet I could not hide the indignation that I felt in that dream. I started rebutting against him. To which, he started preaching about God and how my behaviour was 'unholy'. In that dream, I felt very upset. I felt it unfair that he was judging me based on his religious beliefs (this is probably because I am a free thinker). I got so emotional that I actually started crying.
    I remember covering my face with my hands and asking, "Why are you doing this to me?"
    At that moment, my dream ended because I knew I was dreaming the moment my hands touched my face. When I woke up, I was crying. For real.
~

I am not trying to imply anything about Christianity in this dream. It probably just so happened that the teacher was a Christian. Anyway, it has been a while that I actually cry in real-life in response to a dream. It happens sometimes, but it's been a while.

Either way, the underlying message about this dream is probably how one should not impose one's beliefs upon others. With regards to religion, it probably felt very oppressive to me as a free thinker to have to receive to a scolding based on religious presumptions which I might not agree with. It definitely felt unfair and wrong to the me in the dream. I felt wronged and misunderstood, so much so that I would actually cry.
Just a food for thought for everyone.


Dreams are important, whether real or imagined. 
They give birth to confidence of ourselves.

An Idea

Here's an idea I had while studying. I find typing out content from printed material annoyingly slow and painful. So here's an idea to design a device that allows the user to transfer text from printed material to an online format. Important sentences are often highlighted; so, when one spots something important, the user will use the device to highlight it. As the device highlights the words, the device will scan the alphabets and words and type it out automatically on the computer. This would be especially useful to students (AKA ME), more so when we make use of library books, where we cannot make highlights or marks on them.

So, someone good enough in the engineering department please help me construct this device so that I can use it hahaha,