You're here at msstraaten.blogspot.com
Be good, and if you can't be good, be careful.
Intro
i am who i am
i hate squatting toilets and people who cycle on pedestrian paths
i love my sg gibson bass guitar and playing crisis core
i spend half my life in yuhua secondary school
nothing left to lose
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Yesterday I watched Bandslam with Merv, Minnie and Mel. 4Ms! Then we watched South Park and Fringe. Yay Fringe rocks. Then Minnie, Merv and I stood at the overhead bridge leading to Lakeside MRT and played That's Your Boyfriend (or in Merv's case, That's Your Girlfriend).
Yesterday was fun.
On Monday Pervy Boy went recording. Our new song (I still don't know the title) is going to be on some compilation for Noise Singapore, if I remember correctly. Anyway it's a nice song, and I'm glad I didn't mess up the bass part.
The more you hold on to something, the more it strains to be let free. The more you can't have something, the more you want it. The more you try to forget, the more you keep remembering.
My eyes are so tired, and Christmas still isn't over.
My feet are still aching from yesterday. Thank you Rahul for walking everywhere with me and listening to me whine about my feet. =)
To the YHCB people who read this, good job yesterday. I enjoyed it, especially the percussion pieces (but I am biased that way ^^). Rising Dragons rocked!
I realised that soon I cannot refer to the Sec 4s as, well, the Sec 4s. Hmm.
Anyway, here is a nice video for you to enjoy.
Animaniacs - Noel
To spell Santa's name is easy to do You write S A N T and another A too But no L, no L Santa's name has no L And he won't be too pleased if you don't learn to spell!
Jack and Jill went up the hill To fetch water from the well But when neither one could find it Jill started to yell, "No well? No well! Can't believe there's no well! We walked all the way here and I'm mad, can't you tell?!"
Captain Ahab took his crew, his harpoon and set sail And he called out to ships, "Have you seen the white whale?" "No whale, no whale, no we ain't seen no whale, Saw a couple of dolphins and a big yellowtail."
If you've listened to this tune then you probably can tell That you've heard it before, it's a song you know well Know well, know well, it's a song you know well And we've ruined it completely so we all say, "Oh well!"
Oh well, oh well We'll just say fare thee well Merry Christmas to you and a joyous Noel =)
Games, changes and fears When will they go from here When will they stop I believe that fate has brought us here And we should be together babe But we're not
I play it off, but I'm dreaming of you And I'll try to keep my cool, but I'm feenin'
I try to say goodbye and I choke Try to walk away and I stumble Though I try to hide it, it's clear My world crumbles when you are not here Goodbye and I choke I try to walk away and I stumble Though I try to hide it, it's clear My world crumbles when you are not here
I may appear to be free But I'm just a prisoner of your love And I may seem all right and smile when you leave But my smiles are just a front Just a front, hey I play it off, but I'm dreaming of you And I'll try to keep my cool, but I'm feenin'
I try to say goodbye and I choke Try to walk away and I stumble Though I try to hide it, it's clear My world crumbles when you are not here Goodbye and I choke I try to walk away and I stumble Though I try to hide it, it's clear My world crumbles when you are not here
Here is my confession May I be your possession Boy, I need your touch Your love, kisses and such With all my might I try But this I can't deny Deny
I play it off, but I'm dreaming of you (but I'm dreaming of you babe) And I'll keep my cool, but I'm feenin'
I try to say goodbye and I choke (yeah) Try to walk away and I stumble Though I try to hide, it's clear My world crumbles when you are not near(when you are not near aahh) Goodbye and I choke (yeah, yeah, yeah) I try to walk away and I stumble (hey, hey, hey) Though I try to hide it, it's clear (say it Lord) My world crumbles when you are not here Goodbye and I choke (I'm choking) I try to walk away and I stumble Though I try to hide it, it's clear My world crumbles when you are not near(when you are not near, yeah, yeah yeah) Yeah, yeah..
You have got to watch this. It made me crack up and roll on the ground laughing.
In other news, yesterday I:
1) learnt how to play Bm on the guitar without hopping to 7th fret (thanks Joshua!);
2) made sickly-sweet trifle at Ai Poh's house, with help from Lihui, Yanwei and Aipoh my turbo stirrer;
3) wrote a song about Ai Poh's house, called "Ai Poh's House" (how original);
4) had to find my way to the MRT from Ai Poh's house with Yanwei who was totally unhelpful but very entertaining;
5) ate Ai Poh's tom yam soup, peeled prawns with Yanwei, played guitar with Minnie, pinched Mel for poking me all the time, slapped Yewliang also for poking me all the time, wandered around the wine & liquor section in Giant with Lincoln, Eugene, Yewliang and Lihui (but we didn't buy anything! We only bought very safe, non-alcoholic sparkling grape juice that didn't sparkle and which Yanwei, Lihui, Ai Poh and I quietly finished in the kitchen HO HO).
I had fun yesterday. Now to work, and to pray for 4E5 and hope they are all studying (yes, Minnie, I'm looking at YOU).
The other day Weijie said something that made me think. He asked why all my blog posts were emo (no lor! 2 only!) and then he said, why not tell someone? And I replied that there were few, if any, people I trust with my thoughts nowadays. And that made me wonder, is it really better to keep everything to myself? Because I want to spare other people the additional burden of worrying about me? I don't want other people to worry about me, but maybe I need to give them the choice first.
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In other news, 4E5 is first up for the O Level English Oral tomorrow. I think they'll be fine. Am expecting at least 7 A1s, and I think there may be more, but I just hope they will do their best and not stress out. (Also hope will not get sent to fill in for someone else - am on replacement duty - if I don't get sent away, I can do the 2E oral and then wait for them to finish.)
In other other news, I have many things to do and not enough brain cells to complete the tasks, so I am watching silly music videos on Youtube to help my creativity. =)
OHMY GAAWD today was like so EXCITING!!1 I like totally LURVE school! Haha okay no I'm kidding! School sucks!
Yeah we had like, NAPFA crap today! And I totally couldnt run OMG! It was so embarrassing!
And then we also had like, maths, which I hate! and like, chemistry which was boring! and OMG we had physics! I am like SOOOOO bad at it! Hahahaha! But I LURRRRVE English, cos OMG Ms Straaten rocks! Hahahaha!
Yeah and like during recess I saw the guy I like, but I TOTALLY IGNORED HIM OMG! I'm so embarrassed! He's such a retard but I like him! Hahahaha!
And like Musarrat and Sumathi showed me their blazers for tomorrow, but OMG they're so ugly and lame! Poor girls have to wear it hahahaha!
Oh and yesterday I looked at Yew Liang's score for the Avril song and OMG it was like so gay! I can't wait to hear him play it hahahaha!
Hahaha I can't wait for Speech Day tomorrow cos we end school early! Isn't it retarded! I totally love Speech Day!
And OMG Melvyn asked for this video like SOOOOO long ago but I only just remembered! Hahah sorry Mel! You're still my kitty cat and I rurve yew! Herro prease? OMG! Mervvyn is so lame!
*brain is hurting from bimbo accent*
Incidentally, only some of the above is true (eg. I love English, Ms Straaten rocks, etc :P). But here is the video for my kitty cat, who asks me if I'm okay whenever I look as tired as I feel. I rurve Mel!
into a grey sky morning now I'm here to stay love can be so boring
nothing's quite the same now I just say your name now
but it's not so bad you're only the best I ever had
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Some other time, I will explain the complex relationships I have with 4E5. I was determining this over lunch with Melvyn, Hema and Hiang Teck the other day. Melvyn is my kitty cat. Meow.
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You don't need me back You're just the best I ever had
It may take some time to patch me up inside But I can't take it so I run away and hide And I may find in time that you were always right You were always right
(OMG I found it! The guy in yellow reminds me of Raymond, now that I think about it. And the one who sings the first verse reminds me of Patrick. The red one is still Ced. LOL.)
I know too many Christmas carols to have only one favourite, so here are the lyrics of one of them. I have no money to give presents (read: I am cheap) but anyway the gift of music is infinitely more valuable than anything material. Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night, and in the words of Tiny Tim from Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, "God bless us, every one!"
CANDLELIGHT CAROL (John Rutter)
How do you capture the wind on the water? How do you count all the stars in the sky? How can you measure the love of a mother, or how can you write down a baby's first cry?
Candlelight, angel light, firelight and starglow Shine on His cradle till breaking of dawn; Gloria, Gloria in excelsis Deo! Angels are singing, "The Christ child is born!"
Shepherds and wise men will kneel and adore Him, Seraphim round Him their vigil will keep; Nations proclaim Him their Lord and their Saviour, But Mary will hold Him and sing Him to sleep.
Candlelight, angel light, firelight and starglow Shine on His cradle till breaking of dawn; Gloria, Gloria in excelsis Deo! Angels are singing, "The Christ child is born!"
Find Him at Bethlehem laid in a manger, Christ our Redeemer, asleep in the hay; Godhead incarnate and hope of salvation: A child with His mother that first Christmas day.
Candlelight, angel light, firelight and starglow Shine on His cradle till breaking of dawn; Gloria, Gloria in excelsis Deo! Angels are singing, "The Christ child is born!"
... the goose is getting fat; Please put a penny in the old man's hat! If you haven't got a penny then a ha'penny will do. If you haven't got a ha'penny then God bless you!
Yes, Xinhui, I was not at POP like I said I would be, but that was because I was hanging out with a cool bunch of old people (ie. Christmas carolling). I'll have a post on that in a while. Here I just wanted to share some of my favourite Christmas songs, done by a bunch of cool people: the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Nsync, the choir and people of St Paul's Cathedral, some people from St Matthew's Choir and a group of church singers who are OMG AWESUM. Take a listen, and happy holidays. :)
Omg. I miss my students. I. MISS. MY. STUDENTS. (I cannot start naming people because I will inadvertently leave someone out, and then they will get upset/cry/threaten to spam me/slit their wrists/slit my throat, bla bla etc etc)
By the way. I have decided that since EVERYBODY has to do at least ONE book review for EL homework (remember, 3E5? You have one?) (remember, 2N4? You have three?) I will do reviews of the books I have finished reading during the holidays. So far on my list I have: 1. City of Bones, by Cassandra Clare.
Yay! One book. But I will soon have: 2. City of Ashes, by Cassandra Clare. 3. Oscar and Lucinda, by Peter Carey. 4. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, by Jonathan Safran Foer. 5. The Boleyn Inheritance, by Philippa Gregory. 6. Love in the Time of Cholera, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.
See? SEE? Six books. And I will review all of them the way I want you to review yours. AND DON'T PRETEND YOU DON'T KNOW YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE READING.
3E5, don't forget your mag and newspaper articles too. The whole EL folio thingy. And the Holiday Programme homework. ZOMG! So many things for EL. Yay! I love EL. (Well I would, since I teach it.)
I want to go to Bintan. For a holiday. But I have no money. I don't even have money to treat 2N4 or 3E5. And WJ I am NOT going to throw a Christmas party for our class and PAY FOR EVERYTHING. =.="" And don't say, "Never mind, pay 99%, is not everything" NEH NEH.
2009 Sec 3NA people, anybody wants to go Australia? And 3E Lit people, anyone wants to go England? This marks the beginning of Ms Straaten's Secret Projects and Evil Masterminding. (SPEM? Eeeeee! Looks like... Ehm. I need to change the title.) Ms Straaten's Secret Projects and Amazing Masterminding. SPAM! Ahahaha!
Am I not making sense? Never mind. It's 10 to 1 in the morning. I am not supposed to be coherent. KOh-Hee-Rernt. So I am going to sleep. Sleeeeeeeeep. Goodnight :)
That's the name of a song from the musical Avenue Q. It's hysterically funny. Wish you guys could watch but you're all underage. HAHA.
Anyway, hello to people who tagged: Silencer - Yes I am scared of going bankrupt but I am not going to run away. More on that later. Amalia - I miss you too dear!!! Nicholas - Hurrah you're back! Did you bring me a souvenir? LOL kidding. Brenda - Thanks a lot dear, I really love your pic! :) Jesslyn - Slowly slowly. I am only up to number 4 for you. Haiyah I don't see you that often right? :) Shap - Why you keep changing your link eh? Nicholas(2) - Yes my ever-amazing Nicholas, I am updating now. Wenxin - Hey girl! Omg you saw us at WCP? Didn't say hi? Haha. Ceddy - There, I'm updating now. Happy? Oh and thanks! Glad you liked it lol.
Anyway, I am at home now waiting for 2pm so I can go see the doctor (yes I'm sick again, hurrah). I have been reading several books lately, so if anybody needs help with their EL assignment (esp you, 2N4 and 3E5), here are two books I think you can check out:
Samurai Girl by Carrie Asai - about some Japanese kid who gets caught in some serious Jap-style samurai gangland war. It's interesting enough, but I got bored because I can predict what's going to happen next. You all might enjoy it though, esp the girls. Language is pretty simple so it's not a problem.
City of Bones by Cassandra Clare - also about some girl who gets caught in a demon-human war type thing. But her writing is full of imagery and useful vocab, so the picture she paints for the reader is a lot more comprehensive than Asai's. Plus it's really quite funny. This one I think the guys can enjoy too. Plus the story is quite interesting. If you ever watched Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Angel, or you like reading Harry Potter fanfiction, this book is worth checking out. (Better than that stupid Twilight crap anyway. And yes, Twilight is Crap. C R A P. I was so *&#^ing bored when I read bits of it. But hey, if it floats your boat go ahead. Just don't give it to me for your book reviews okay? :)) Btw, Cassandra Clare did use to write Harry Potter fanfiction (which was in my opinion very good) but she stopped.
I miss my students. All of them. I miss seeing them in school. Oh well. When school starts I am going to be wishing I didn't say this. LOL. :) Off to lunch. Toodles!
Today I watched House Bunny with Nicholas, Melvyn, Lihui, Peiling, Joshua, Yan Wei and Minnie. LOL. The guys were very taken by the slapping-breast thing. And yes it was a PG show! Hahaha. Poor Minnie only found the cinema toward the end of the show. But she sat with me while I got a manicure. I am very vain. How sad.
Anyway I owe Boon Hock a Ten-Things post. But first I shall post a couple of videos.
This one is my favourite Japanese song, by an obscure band called Swinging Popsicle.
And this one is specially for Yew Liang! Haha it's a clip from one of my favourite TV shows, Blackadder. Rowan Atkinson rocks!
