Having have heard a lot of great things about the movie, I've naturally read all the spoilers. This made me reluctant to watch the movie in its entirety.
I couldn't find any fault with the movie. The plot, the script, the acting, the production, the pacing, etc were all perfect for me. The movie actually encouraged me to watch all these movies that I've read the spoilers to but haven't seen.
The movie mentioned the descrimination of the Hazaras in a predominantly Pashtun society in Afghanistan. It got me interested in the history of that area. I thought I understood much of the conflict in that area but apparently I don't.
The main character's only friend when he was a boy was his servant boy. It became a point of teasing for both of them as other people see it as the servant boy's obligation. After a life-changing event, he tries to get friend of his servant friend by accusing him of stealing. It got me thinking about how my friendships are shaped by how they arrive in my life. Is it really friendship or just a desire to be needed? And wouldn't it be convenient to get rid of people just in one morning.
Where: NUS Central Library
When: 30 January 2009, Froday, 3:50 PM
With whom: Ferron, Mariel
Kite Runner
Myself
I've not been succeeding in my recent quest not to talk about other people. I've never realized until now that a solution would be to talk about myself or to make the other people talk about themselves. But then, one has to make sure one's life is interesting enough.
No one has actually come up to me and told me that I control the conversation much too often although it is the case most of the time. So I shall continue doing so.
During the awesome party I co-organized last Sunday, we managed to not talk about other people but then, we were still getting to know each other. It's unfair to compare with those who I've known for a long time, as there's just not much left to talk about.
I love sharing with people all these little snippets of my life. I would always share these anecdotes, some of which for some people would be utterly uninteresting, which for me helps other understand me better. Sometimes it creeps people out but as I've said, at least it prevents me from talking about other people and hurting them.
Facebook Addiction
Checking people's status messages on Facebook has been quite an addiction for me lately. I just can't get enough of the status updates. Good thing Facebook provides an RSS for status updates and therefore I wouldn't miss any of it.
Their mobile version rocks. Navigation is a bit tricky sometimes when there are links which are too long which results in a horizontal scroll bar and thus disabling the left-as-page-down-key on Opera Mini. I wish they had a dedicated J2ME application.
What I would love to see though on Facebook is a way for me to track the albums people are uploading without having to check Facebook everyday. I feel I am losing out when I don't see every single photo that my contacts on Facebook post.
I love tagging my face and also other people's faces. I wish everyone I know uploads photos on Facebook. I tried uploading once but I couldn't make it work. Because it is not quick and painless, I couldn't blame other people who just don't upload to Facebook.
I'm so excited about the Facebook ads. A lot of people seem to be using them. Maybe because they are not that intrusive and are effective. I wish they're really making some money because that would mean all my emotional investment in their product wouldn't go to waste.
Networking
I hate the term networking when talking about people. The word has just been too sullied for me by the likes of GC and JT. These two people have really clearly defined for me the difference for them of a contact and a friend, if the latter even exists for them. But then, this post is not about them.
As I was recounting about my hopes and dreams at 3 in the morning, about how I would like to run for office to change cities, the people I was talking to jokingly teased me that I am friends with them because I am trying to network and find people who will help me fulfill that ambition of mine: a publicity person, a political strategist, and so on.
It (networking) being a topic that I feel strongly about (or against?), I reacted violently and explained for a good minute or so that that is not the case. I think I over-reacted but I just had to clear that out.
Interestingly, later someone (Gwen G) mentioned that loving and caring and responsibility are distinct concepts. One feels responsibility towards parents who've raised us. Sometime we may not love them nor care for them but there are soicio-cultural duties that we perform.
I think the difference between a contact and a friend is that you care about them. I wouldn't go on a limb and say that one should love them too because I personally don't know what love is.
Drop
It took me two whole weeks to decide which one to drop: AR2223 Intro to Urban Design and Planning or GEK2507 Computational Methods for Basic Finance.
AR2223 Pros:
- Cedric, a Filipino Archi student, is my classmate who is one of the nicest guys around. I haven't had the chance to know him in the previous semesters and this is a good time to do so.
- I love the topic. I have been fascinated about the topic since the break started and it has consumed a lot of my time.
AR2223 Cons:
- It is during lunch time (11AM to 1PM) which is when I love meeting up with people.
- The topics are a bit off from what I expected. I want to learn about slums and other problems but I don't think that will be discussed.
GEK2507 Pros:
- Chicken Feed. I went through the list of lab sessions and they were just basic Excel stuff.
- The lecturer is interesting. He's German, I think, and he makes lots and lots of funny jokes. He's a physicist teaching a financial math module.
GEK2507 Cons:
- I have to travel far after the lecture to other side of the school for my Environmental Sustainability class. Also, LT32 is at the top of a hill which is hard to reach.
- I might get bored and just not show up for classes at all. I know most of the stuff already and would be pretty useless in terms of life long learning.
I have not registered for the tutorials for both modules that did not affect my decision in terms of how much effort I have to put in so that I could be fully registered for the module. It all boiled down to the bus ride. I dropped GEK2507
Party
It is stressful to organize parties. There are so many things that one needs to do to make the party successful.
There's the issue of guests. It's almost impossible to invite everybody without anyone feeling bad. Two years ago, I made a resolution to not ever feel bad that I wasn't invited to something. Of course there are slip-ups but it made life so much more easier. I've not been invited to so many things that it's very difficult to track.
For example, there was an NUS Filipino undergraduate outing on the eve of the previous Chinese New Year and I found out about it when they're halfway through the movie. So I organized, last minute, my own outing with Dake and Raymund as wallowing in sadness would just be terrible. This year I'm organizing one and I thought I created a system where everyone can get invited but it apparently does not work.
One also has to think of the food. Should I ask everyone to bring food or just ask everyone to bring money. Because I settled for a hybrid, people are complaining that it's confusing. The part I hate the most though is collecting the money. That's why I needed RSVPs so that I could prepare enough food for everybody who is not bringing. I have the whole afternoon of Sunday to cook. I have friends who can help me out.
And then there's the program. Filipino parties are usually not really very structured and people just flow. Having been in Singapore gave me an appreciation of their structure and have been looking forward to such in parties that I attend. But then, there's a need for at least two people who are lives of the party to make a non-structured party work. And there should be games.
I'm just scared I will be spreading myself too thin on the day itself trying to entertain everybody.
National Museum
Last Saturday, I again entered the Singapore National Museum. It's unfair to compare it to the Philippine's own National Museum so I will not do that. I will just gush at how much I love the place. I will definitely go back again and again before I graduate and lose my free entrance to the aforementioned museum.
The building in itself is majestic. It is a restored "neo-palladian" building with an annex that has glass as its roof so that its back is not obstructed.
The highlight of the museum is the Singapore History Gallery where you are given an audio companion. Just press the numbers you see on the floors and beside items and voila, narrations and other information are at hand.
Until last Saturday, I didn't know that all these places in Singapore derived their names from all these historical people: Aljuneid, Boon Keng, Read, etc. Singapore had a very colorful past that I believe every Singaporean should learn about.
Of the four Living Galleries, I loved the Food Gallery the most because of the smelling thingies that they had: cinnamon, coconut milk, star anise, etc.
I've also been to the Asian Civilizations Museum but I didn't get to finish the whole place as I just didn't have enough time.
Australia
The film Australia is 2.75 hours long. It's been a long time since I've seen a movie this long. There were a lot of stuff that could have been removed. Aside from the complaint on the length, I love the film.
The cinematography was just really beautiful. There was an obvious effort to make everything look like a painting and so the colours were a bit disconcerting at first. I loved the performances of Nicole Kidman and Hugh Kackman and that kid. The story is set around the time of the Japanese conquest of Asia (1940s) and the events in the film were just juxtaposed really well.
Aside from Singapore, Australia is the only other country I would like to migrate to, if ever I do. Other countries, including the US and Canada just seem not as enticing to me.
Although much of what was shown in the film was wilderness, the wide open space is something that I've just been seeking since we moved from Baguio to Manila. I think it's very important to have space to explore, to discover what's beyond the horizon.
I have a module this semester that we'll be collaborating with students from the Australian National University regarding Environmental Sustainability. I'm excited for this module.
Where: Golden Village VivoCity Cinema 5
When: 05 January 2009, Sunday, 8:30 PM
With whom: Cassy, Gelo, Cedric
TF
This semester, there are 7 Filipino "exchange" students under a Temasek Foundation (TF) program. Five are from Ateneo and two are from La Salle. I have been spending quite a lot of time with them in the past five days, much to the chagrin of my mother.
Wednesday: Lunch at Science and Registration at MPSH . Friday: Orientation at LT7A. Saturday: shopping & sight-seeing at Sim Lim Square & Little India, dinner at VivoCity. Sunday: Dinner at PGP. Monday (today): Dinner at PGP.
Last Friday, I decided that morning itself that I would go with the four Ateneans who live in PGP to the orientation. I told them it would take forty minutes to get there and thus they met one hour before the event at the PGP bus stop. We got there in less than twenty minutes, which is forty minutes before time.
It just so happened that the Office of Student Affairs did not have enough volunteers and so being me, I gave a hand and asked the four Ateneans to also help. And it wasn't light work. They helped carry big benches and tables and packed a lot of papers into bags and to distribute them. When the La Salle girl arrived, I also asked her to help with the bags.
And today, I had put into motion a presentation for the International Students Night that will be top-billed by them. This year, the person in-charge of the Filipino presentation quit last minute and no one else is willing to take the buck. Smile (one of the Ateneans) commented that am I manipulating them again the same way I asked them to arrive early last Friday. That was so not intentional and they could always say no.
Streams
The practice of streaming (or separating) students into those who are intellectually gifted and those who are not is prevalent. Due to limited resources and to be able to tailor teaching styles to specific types of students, it is almost unavoidable to do so.
But then, there are big downsides to it but so are a lot of other alternatives. These include lower self-esteem for those in the "slower" streams and a sense of elitism for those in the "faster" streams.
In my volunteering for Trybe, there is a marked difference between students who are in the "Normal" stream and those who are in the "Express" stream. Not to over-generalize but N students are generally more stubborn and less compliant to the facilitators. I guess it's just how it's been inculcated that they are unpliable materials and thus was imbibed in them.
I have been a "beneficiary" of streaming as the practice has allowed me to "hone" my science and tech-related skills. It would be very hypocritical if I do not admit to feeling some sort of elitist because of my education and it requires a great deal of restraint to prevent oneself from expressing it.
Sports
Some people describe their relationship with sports as a love-hate thing. But for me, I deny ever having a relationship with it. Going out for me usually never involves any sports so today was an oddity.
With free second-row seats, we watched the 5-time champion of the Philippine Basketball League (PBL) Harbour Centre lose to the almost purely imported Singapore Slingers. The score 97-72 I think. I got to take a picture with the very cute Singapore Slingers mascot care of Cassy.
I really hated it when me and my siblings were young and my father would change the channel to watch basketball games. I never liked the game and so was very surprised when I actually enjoyed watching the game.
After the game, and after dinner, we played bowling. Now bowling, I actually like. It was my favorite thing we did for Physical Education in high school. The game started with me leading but eventually ended up third out of four. Cassy, who didn't even try (in contrast to me who was very competitive) beat me.
Who would have thought a sports-themed day would be enjoyable for me?
2008
Everyone's writing a review of their 2008 and I didn't want to jump into the bandwagon at first but I realized it would be good to ponder over the past year.
In terms of my blog, the frequency of my posts became halved from 142 to 74. As for movies, I think I watched a lot of movies in the past year, most of them in the cinema and 15 of them, I blogged about.
In 2008, I got to travel to Melaka & Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, Bangkok & Krabi in Thailand and Batam in Indonesia for the first time ever. As Anh said before, one can't do traveling with just about anyone and I had the best people to travel with.
In 2008, I reconnected with so many of my high school and primary friends, through meeting up with them, through SMS and even through Friendster. It was buoyed mostly (but not wholly) by my what I thought would be the end of my stay here in Singapore. And then, there's also that intrinsic curiosity to find out what has happened to people and find some inspiration in them.
In 2008, I realized how messed up my emotions are. Like how I couldn't feel what I should feel when I lost my scholarship. And then, there's the self-imposed drama that I was just creating for myself in several occasions. I thought I was an expert in human expressions but I've failed to read others and express myself fully.
I could write more but I've reached my paragraph number limit.
