Monday, February 20, 2012
i look at the uncompleted drafts in my log of posts and it brings me back to what i'm thinking now. is it worth it for me to actually continue to try for this research module? it's draining me out in epic proportions and i find myself emotionally wrecked so often.
看不见回报不代表没有回报。可是，这是可以预算出来的。现在为止，我还是认为这是不值得的。我还有六天的时间来决定。
is it time to throw in the towel or should i grit my teeth and endure all the way till november? my estimate now is that during the holidays, i would be roughly working on a 3-day week and my whole july would be free of research. this is a really tough decision.
rotted-9:07 PM
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
haven't finished my post on the album review. it's currently quite low on my priority list, especially with my earphones being sent in for repair. in any case, i'm not really in the mood.
met my UROPS professor today to discuss about the research module that i'm undertaking. i'm expected to work in the lab for about 20 hours weekly. the thought of that is purely depressing. the research paper that he gave me to read is so freaking difficult.
it's just the huge contrast with my life a few days back. the contrast is so stark it smacks me right in the face. before i can fully adapt back to reality, school is already giving me a tough time. even eating dinner reminds me of how Taiwan food is so cheap yet so good.
i've yet to start on my post on the Taiwan trip. i guess it'll come out before the album review still lol. but many things that happen in Taiwan just appear in my mind now. reading the 那些年 book on the train and in the bathtub. eating at 士林夜市. watching stupid and random shows on tv. walking through the different 诚品 stores.
i need to slowly adjust back to this city. the city with horrible weather, horrible metro system, horrible service standards, horrible food (and bubble tea of course) and many other horrible parts of it. lol. still, i must be thankful for the things and people in this city that still deserve my love and who love me too. at least, they help to make life a bit easier for me.
rotted-12:07 AM
Friday, December 23, 2011
Songs of the Week
Been quite a while since I last did this. Heard a few really nice songs lately so here I am. This can be good practice for my album review post too haha.
1. 林育羣 - 人海中遇见你Heard it as my brother was playing the soundtrack of the movie 那些年，我們一起追的女孩. His voice is amazing. After reading the movie production book, I found out this song is a cover and the original version is so obscure that a google search gives near to zero results. Despite not hearing the original version, I feel 林育羣's voice is a good fit for the song, not considering the emotion component of his rendition. Overall, I love it.
2. Adele - Set Fire to the Rain (Live at Royal Albert Hall) I first saw the performance on Youtube. This song never really grew on me. Until this performance. The first thing that attracted me deeply was how they filmed the video and the effects applied. The first point pertained to the camera filming candid shots of the audience singing along, with brilliantly chosen angles. One of my favourite shots is at 2:28. Dunno why. The second point about effects apply to the few times they decide to show some of Adele's gestures in slow motion. Allows you to observe her expressions well. Love it. Love the gestures when she sang the words "burn", "flames"at the end of the lines. And also, the way she sang the word "watch". Haha, very unique. All in all, i started to love this song after watching the video. This came in a very near second as 人海中遇见你 is supported by the movie, which I really love.
3. Christina Perri - A Thousand YearsYesterday, I saw a video shared by my one of my friends on Facebook. It was about a creative marriage proposal, by the co-founder of Nuffnang. Very nicely done video, with the song being the most outstanding part in my opinion. The song choice was brilliant, and carried the mood really well. I was very soothed yet becoming slightly emotional as the song progressed. Christina Perri's voice is very special and I really can't put a finger on how is it so. Got the urge to find the song after watching the video.
4. Kelly Clarkson - Why Don't You TryWell, for this song, I shall retain my comments for the album review post, which should be completed ideally by tml. =P
5. Jennifer Lopez - PapiThis song reminds me of the Batam trip I went on a while back. For the 3 days there, I can't remember how many times did I watch the music video already. Haha it's a rather silly video with the rather lame storyline. But the dances in the video were impressive. They were rather well-executed throughout and the clapping in the video, which was sadly not in the original song, made the melody even more catchy. The main attraction of this song for me is the melody. Highly catchy. Now that I think of it, I can't remember why did I suddenly listen to this song again.
Yup, so those were my choices of the week. Anyway, I was mulling over this random thought that came into my mind. Where you encounter a song, does it matter to how much you would like the song? This popped up in my head as I was writing the part for Christina Perri's A Thousand Years. I think this is very true in the case of romantic movies/videos/scenarios etc. It pretty much links up with my previous point about knowing the story behind a song.
Well the train of thought kind of stopped there. Haha, other things came to my mind suddenly.
有时事情演变的速度真是令人感到有点措手不及，但又觉得好无奈。
rotted-11:42 PM
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
今天，我看了最近大家应该都已经看过了的电影，“那些年，我们一起追的女孩”。看完后，感触良多。而且，知道到家了还在想。回家后，第一件事便是想找找看弟弟买的同名的书是否在他桌上。可惜他借给朋友了。其实，也说不上为什么这部电影对我的影响如此的大。在电影院看的时候，大概从电影进行了四分之一后就断断续续眼眸泛泪。某些部分看到眼泪夺眶而出，滑下脸庞。
可能是电影产生了许多共鸣吧。刚才，在与朋友的谈话中，我们都发现最近颇受欢迎的爱情片尽是男女主角最后没在一起的所谓“不完美”的结局。可能这代表人们变聪明了，了解爱情片常上演的梦幻般的爱情与浪漫不切实际。也可能代表人们对爱情的憧憬似乎变得比较实际。可能就因为所谓的“不完美”的结局更能引起共鸣，更印象深刻，深入民心吧。
昨天，我在面薄上说了这句话，“我总觉得了解歌曲背后的意思，作词人想表达的意思，才能将听歌的过程变得更完整。当然这只是用于创作歌手。” 话虽如此，今天看完电影后，主题曲“那些年”里的意境突然变得好清晰。虽然演唱人与作词人并非同一个人，我还是认为我说的也算吧。
就算结果没在一起，至少他们曾共同创造了许许多多美好的回忆。有时，最简单的事其实最刻骨铭心。女主角，沈佳宜，说了一句让我印象深刻的话，“人生本来很多事就是徒劳无功的啊。” 两位主角还运用了平行时空（parallel universe)的概念。不知为何，看的时候就有想叹气的冲动。
今天好累。不知到为什么。本来有许多想法在脑海里打滚着，现在都不知到哪儿去了。忘了也算好吧。好想再看多一次。
就算没在一起，至少他们暧昧的期间好甜蜜。
rotted-11:01 PM
Sunday, November 13, 2011
my physical condition's getting worse by the day. whole body's full of aches and pains. and i'm not sleeping well lately. and i can't find the first half of my CM2111 notes. so annoying. meh, i'm hungry too. time for breakfast.
rotted-10:42 AM
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
couldn't get myself to do work after dinner. it appears to be a rather chronic problem. nvm that. was thinking that i might as well blog since i can't get myself to do any productive work.
was trying to look back on what i've done this semester. it feels like a rather fast one so far. time zoomed past me. that's what i feel at least when compared to the previous semesters. in part i attribute it to the fact that i'm taking 4 core modules this semester. so many lab reports to rush after doing the experiments. and not to mention, the horrible 6 hours of back-to-back lectures on tuesdays and fridays.
but then, there are the things that make my life much more pleasant, no matter how marginal the effect may be. interestingly, one of them is the amount of singing i do. i seem to be singing a lot more. of course, not karaoke kind of singing. it's the singing on the way to school and in my room, along to the music from the speakers. although i do have to be careful with the former. on more than one occasion, i have been spotted (in fact, heard) by some stranger, who gives me an odd stare. heck it. and i like to sing those that i can't sing in karaoke. usually those songs from female singers or Adam Levine. lol. and thankfully for my good earphones, i don't get to hear my horrible falsettos =D
another thing is tennis. it's been a really long time since i picked up a tennis racket again. nowadays, what i do is simply watch tennis. turns out it helps. or maybe some other unknown factor lol. somehow, i really enjoy those lessons. really wanna continue on for tennis. though my reaction to the ball is still pretty bad. can never judge the movement of the ball properly. but it's really fun. and i get some exercise finally. haha. and working hard on practising my double-handed backhand. inspired by Andy Murray.
one more important one is my attitude or perspective or whatever you call it. i can't really define it well. haha. i'm not so obsessed with mugging like hell. lol. sometimes i just take some time to do some other stuff like reading some books, go for a swim. simply put, spending time not doing work. i realised i have this bad habit of not being chill enough. it occurs especially when i'm waiting for transport. i'll be thinking like "time is being wasted while i'm waiting. i could have been spending this precious time studying." haha but i must say that's not the reason why i get mad at people that make me wait while they're late. but well, in any case, nowadays, i've found the solution to these two problems. i'll be reading BBC news on my phone while waiting or simply reading a book. some random book. lately, the books i read range from books on the history of the elements (geeky) to autobiographies (Andy Murray, Subhas Anandan). and i've started watching Big Bang Theory again. never fail to make me laugh. probably one of the few US shows that can make me watch so many seasons.
and of course, the songs in my iPod. can never leave home without my iPod, apart from a few rare occasions. suddenly have quite a lot of new additions and i'm damn addicted to some of them. after watching Kylie Minogue's concert, i started listening to her songs. and instantly, i got hooked to some of them. interesting, i have 3 versions of her song, Get Outta My Way and they're receiving a lot of play counts on my iPod. and Kelly Clarkson's album officially came out yesterday and it's amazing. loads of good songs there. so there you have it, great music for me.
well, now i'm slowly trying to learn how to appreciate the good things that happen to me. as much as i still subscribe to my theory of "number of good days=number of bad days in my life", i guess should still appreciate the good ones. so that when the bad ones come, i'll have something to look forward to.
ok i feel more inspired to do work now. maybe take a shower first then. and will continue to sing in my room lol. good thing that my brother has enlisted and i get the room to myself. =D
rotted-9:54 PM
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Songs of the Week
1. Kylie Minogue - Get Outta My Way (7th Heaven Extended Vocal Mix)
The original song was good. The Yasutaka Nakata remix was brilliant. This is epic. LOL.
2. Maroon 5 featuring Christina Aguilera -Moves Like Jagger
Nice song but I still feel the song would be a lot better if Xtina sang more.
3. 方大同 featuring 徐佳莹 - 自以为
徐佳莹's voice is so nice.
4. Kylie Minogue - Love at First Sight
I'm still amazed by the MTV
5. Katy Perry - The One That Got Away
Forgot about how much I liked the song when I first heard the album.
rotted-8:30 PM
