and i u n f o l d

Friday Five:

1. Do you like to shop? Why or why not?

Hell yes! Dude, shopping is great. It’s just fun, y’know. Well, not so much fun when you don’t have money. But still. Fun. I’m unabashedly consumerist.

2. What was the last thing you purchased?
Make-up. I spent like $50. Sigh.

3. Do you prefer shopping online or at an actual store? Why?
I haven’t actually bought anything online, but I think nothing quite beats shopping in an actual store. ‘Cos you get to see what you’re buying, try on the clothes etc etc.

4. Did you get an allowance as a child? How much was it?
[small voice]I still get an allowance[/sv]. Heh heh. I get like $300 per month, which includes transportation costs, so I have like $220 left for food and my other expenses. It isn’t too shabby actually. But, of course, there are many times when I go over-budget. Heh.

5. What was the last thing you regret purchasing?
Umm… nothing specific comes to mind, but there are a few articles of clothing in my wardrobe that I kinda regret buying ‘cos they either turned out to be too big or too small. So, it’s more like I regretted buying them in those sizes, rather than a more comfortable, better size. Heh.

Finally! Exams are over. The paper really wasn’t that bad, despite my lack of preparation. I checked out the exams from the last two semesters and realized that there were certain themes that came out, so I basically just studied those. And sure enough, the questions weren’t that big of a surprise. I like grinned when I saw the questions. Heh heh.

So. Yeah. Another semester over. Yippeee!

* * *Musing of the moment: You know your love life/social life has hit rock bottom when your younger cousins and younger brother have girlfriends/boyfriends and you don’t. Oy.

Yesterday, my whole family was at my house, celebrating Hari Raya. And I noticed two of my cousins were on the phone quite frequently, and seeking out quiet areas of the house to talk. So I was like “Hmmm…” and sure enough, my brother later proved my suspicions right. One of my cousins is 13 and the other is 15, so it wasn’t really surprising (given that they go to co-ed schools) that they have a little something-something doing on.

And then tonight. My brother bought a phone from his friend and also a prepaid card… and I was just playing with the phone and I checked out his phonebook. Lo, and behold, one of the entries said “It’s My Gal”, so I jumped up and squealed “You have a girlfriend!”. He tried to deny it, of course, but after a while he realized it was futile. I asked what her name is, but he refused to tell and said only that she’s from the same school. Hmmm. Again, not very surprising since I suppose girls would find him cute. Heh. But it was like a kind of “Oh my!” moment. Oh, I’m gonna relish giving him hell for this. Just retribution for all the times he bugged/teased me whenever a guy called me on the phone (which wasn’t very often, but he milked it anyway). Bugger.

So. Yes. My younger cousins and younger brother have a more rockin’ social life than I do. How sad.

*crawls back into hermit hole*

I’ve got one exam to go… but I’ve gotten myself out of that exam-mindset (not that I was ever really in it, actually) which is baaad. It’s my US history module… which is heavy content-wise, which means I really can’t afford to not study. Gaaah.

I spent something like 5 hours on Friday at a hair salon. Got a haircut, treatment, and a ceramic perm for the price of $140. Not too bad actually. And my hair is all prettified, so it’s alllll good. Heh. I am so vain.

One more day of fasting to go! Yay!

Since I was feeling bored and was tired of looking at my old layout, I made a new layout for inmyeyes. Heehee. It’s all blue and pretty and Trory-ish. While I was doing it, I was like sighing every few minutes ‘cos Chad & Alexis are both such gorgeous people. It’s kinda depressing to look pictures of Alexis; she is just so darn beautiful that it almost makes you sick.

Hmm. One of these days I should make a list of ‘Girls I Wouldn’t Mind Being For A Day’. Heh heh.

I’m bored. I need fic to read. Meh.

Tonight was movie-musical night. Heh. Don’t quite know how it turned out that way but it did. My mom hadn’t seen Chicago, and I was the probably the last person in the free world who hadn’t watched Moulin Rouge. (I can hear the collective gasp of outrage from here. Heh heh.) Soooo, we ended up watching both.

Verdict? I prefer Chicago. (Again with the shocked gasps!)

When MR came out, I didn’t buy into the hype. Not even Ewan (sweet, gorgeous, hott Ewan) wasn’t enough incentive to watch it. So, I didn’t. But everyone raved about it, it got a whole shitload of press and it won like a bazillion awards. And every time it won, I was like “Oh. What’s the deal?’. Plus, ‘Come What May’ was so freakin’ overplayed that I came to despise it, while everyone was all like, “Oh, *sob* I love this song!” (Cue rolling of eyes while I switched radio channels.)

So. I wasn’t particularly impressed. The plot was reaaally thin, and the musical numbers were obviously designed to disguise that failing. Seriously. Anyone could have written that plot, and probably could have done a better job. I wasn’t sold on the True Love of Christian and Satine, because I didn’t get to see it happen. I, Miss I-Love-Romance-Novels, was not convinced by the flimsy love story. So, of course, all the trite blah-di-blah that was the rest of the movie fell flat to me. I was lyng there, watching that bit at the end where Christian’s walking away all dejected and Satine starts singing, and my eyes were dry. Usually, I’d be weeping bucketfuls by then. The whole “The greatest thing you’ll ever learn is just to love, and be loved in return.” was just like ‘Ehhhhh’ to me. Nice sentiment, but the plot just didn’t make it resonate for me.

That said, I thought Nicole and Ewan did a great job. They’re the only reason why the plot is even slightly believable. I’d still rather not hear Nicole Kidman sing all the damn time, but otherwise, it was good. And Ewan just really, really great. I know everyone was raving about Nicole, but I think it’s Ewan who really makes the ‘love story’ work, especially since it’s told from his POV. The really funny thing is that I thought the chemistry between the two was a little weird… but they’re both so great in their individual roles that it worked out.

MR is a spectacle, that’s for sure. Visually, it’s just astounding. A little too much at times, but I gather it’s Baz Luhrmann’s style. Like I mentioned, the plot isn’t particularly unique, and (in my opinion) rather flimsy. Music? Ehhhh, I got mixed feelings about it. The use of contemporary music threw me off a little (but again, judging from R+J, it seems to be Luhrmann’s preference) but I suppose it made the movie more accesible to a modern audience. I’m not that big a fan of Nicole’s singing… but it really wasn’t too bad. Ewan’s earnestness worked in his favour during his singing parts. I like the choreography, especially during the tango bit. Verra nice.

I’m the kind of person who can get teary while watching Oprah. Seriously. So, I was little surprised (at myself) that I wasn’t moved by the story. Maybe it’s because I didn’t watch it in the cinema, when it came out. Maybe I had expectations that were too high when I watched it. Maybe it’s because the plot really is flimsy. Maybe the coffee in my system made me feel less weepy. Whatever. The thing is, I just didn’t feel it. Entertaining, but it didn’t move me like most ‘love stories’ do.

Chicago, I really enjoyed, even the second time around. Catherine Zeta-Jones just oozes charisma. In my opinion, she outshines Renee. I can’t see anyone else doing a better job as Velma Kelly. What I really did like about the movie is the musical numbers. Catherina Zeta-Jones did a smashing job on “All That Jazz”. Queen Latifah rocked. And “Mr Cellophane” was just… gah. The Cell Block Tango was another stunner. And it all flowed seamlessly from narration to music, using Roxie’s consciousness as the bridge between the two.

The two movies are vastly, vastly different in style, content, presentation, everything. So it really isn’t a fair comparison to make. Personally, I enjoyed Chicago as a movie a lot more. Maybe Moulin Rouge will make a better impression a second time around.

* * *Seriously, I need to study.

Gaaaaaah.

OTH episode? Rocked.

(more…)

It’s the week-long study break. But am I studying? Of course not. I am so screwed. Read some D/Hr fic just now, took an afternoon nap and then I spent the evening changing the layout at Ad Astra. Yes, my priorities are allll screwed up. Color me unsurprised.

* * *Went out with Cal and Hani yesterday. We watched The Matrix Revolutions, which gave me a headache. Then we ate dinner at Pizza Hut and got atrocious service. The incompetence of some people can be quite astounding. Meehhhh.

Then Cal & I went window-shopping. We saw some stuff that reminded us of the white mod Sydney Bristow dress, the Sark leather jacket and Frallison’s fugly leopard-print jacket. Heh. The leather jacket was lovely but completely impractical. Pity. I was also lusting after this jacket with a hoodie that was fur-lined. So cute. But again, impractical. Gah.

* * *I can’t wait for my OTH download to finish. Nathan and Haley kiss! Wooo! *bounce*

Not too sure what I feel about OTH getting picked up for an entire season. On one hand, my Trory hopes have just been brutally, brutally dashed. Which sucks up one side, and doowwwn the other. Gah. On the other hand, I’m getting quite attached to the show… and Chad deserves it, since he’s done a great job as Lucas. So… I dunno. Mixed feelings. Sigh.

I saw the clip of the cast on TRL. Too cute. I wished Chad hadn’t worn that hat, ‘cos I love his pretty hair. But still, boy looked gooood. The way his t-shirt clung to his lovely shoulders? Yummy. It was kinda weird to see how popular he’s become. Kinda surreal. And it’s kinda upsetting too as a long-time fangirl, ‘cos there was a time when very few people knew of him… and it was kinda fun to think of him as this secret thing that the world didn’t know of. Okay, that sounds psycho-stalker-ish.. Well, at the very least, I’m glad I got in the Chad-line pretty damn early. Heehee. [Chris voice]Get in line, you maggots![/Chris voice]

Joie looked really gorgeous on TRL. She just shines. And her hair was so pretty! Sophia looked good too, and really, I can’t begrudge her dating Chad; she seems like a lovely girl (and a babe, to boot!). And I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s Peyton who bugs me; Hilarie’s not so bad. Heh.

And James! He’s so adorable. I never quite think about him being the youngest of the lot, but it showed on TRL. He’s like all limbs and gangly-ness… and it’s just adorable. It was cute how they all referred to him as Baby James. Heehee.

* * *I really should be studying. Really.

…

Maybe Definitely tomorrow. ;)

It just started raining, really heavily. Makes me feel like listening to depressing John Mayer songs. Hmmm. Or maybe Selfish. I haven’t listened to that in a long time.

I have no idea what I’m doing awake at 4am. Especially since I’m doing nothing at all. Nuh-uh. No fic-reading. No posting at messageboards. And sure as hell no studying. I’m just aimlessly surfing around online. How sad is that? Very sad.

I can’t get Split Screen Sadness out of my head. I listened to it on repeat while I was doing the Sarkney layout at Ad Astra… and it’s just been in my head for the whole night. Damn.

Well, actually, I wouldn’t say I haven’t been doing anything. During one of our weird and random conversations, Cal & I were spitting out ideas for this Sarkney fic… and some of the wheels in my head started turning tonight. It figures that ideas come to me at the dead of the night. Heh heh. Anyway, the wheels were turning… but no real concrete ideas came. Pity.

Y’know what? One of these days, I hope I get bludgered in the head with a brilliant Sarkney fic bunny. Yessirreee, I want to be hit with a plot bunny. That’s completely contrary to what I usually feel about those pesky bunnies… but I think I need to write something Sarkney-ish and get it out of my friggin’ system. Gaaaah.

I can hear the rain. Hmm.

[/weird mood]

I think my sleep-deprived brain is begging for mercy. Off to bed, I go.

Out of boredom, I logged onto LJ and surfed through my LJ friends page. I’d had forgotten how fun and crazy LJ is. Heh.

2,500 word essay due tomorrow by 5. Current word count? Zero. Motivation? Nil. Explanation? Procrastination.

I’m just happily digging my own friggin’ grave. Feel free to say “I told you so!” when I (inevitably) get a sucky grade.

I am SO tired. Today was the student-led seminar for my Civil Society module… and I had to wake up at the crack of dawn (and no, I’m not exaggerating), since I had to be in school at 7.30am. Gaaah. Damn. I can’t remember the last time I had to wake that early.

Anyway. The session itself started at 9am, but my group’s timeslot was 11-1pm. Then after that we had to meet with our tutor ‘cos he wanted to know what we thought about our own presentations (what we thought went well, what not so well, if we could have anything better or changed anything etc). So, by the time I left school, it was like 2.30pm. Sigh. The moment I was home, I threw myself on my bed, switched on the air-con and picked up a romance novel. Heh.

My long day is catching up on me. The really sucky thing is that I have a 2,500 word essay (for this same class) that’s due Monday. And, I haven’t started. At all. As in, I haven’t even formulated my thesis statement and decided what to argue.

Craaaaap.

[/whining]

I suppose the upside is that the term has officially ended.

* * *I wanna gush about Alias (Saaark! Nekkid! Eeee!) and OTH (Chaaaad! In a suit! Hotttt!) and other assorted fangirl-y things. But my brain is too tired even for that kind of mindless babbling. Heh.