Draw a House

A while ago, our very busy Collegian Paul handed me a link and asked me to draw a House.

House...House?...House?!...Dr House?!

It was a...house drawing activity on this website. That evaluated you...psychologically? based on your drawn house.



Paul's house was very...Interesting. It had...unusual things in it. Ie, rain on only the dog. Rockets etc etc.



Cedrics house reminded me a bit of Squidwards for some unknown reason.


There were other houses too...such as THIS one...with so. Many. Flowers.



And I think the system couldn't find a proper description about this person whose house was...a box.



=) My house...Spot me?

Read the descriptions and see for yourself if it fits the person. *Innocent face* Though... a lot of the statements are based on the questionnaire at the end of the evaluation...

I was here. House shopping blogging.

Poetry May Not Be Overrated

Every so often, i come across a snippet of poetry that makes me stop and gasp and wonder how poets in general play their words into beautiful, twisted works of art. Sometimes the subject matter is so convoluted and hidden behind a torrent of descriptive adjectives that i have to stop and think it out. Today i'm in such a mood. I found a collection of poems on Valentines day (i know, a month ago) that i bookmarked, not sure if and how i should share it over in BUGS.

But i think i will.

IF YOU WERE COMING IN THE FALL - Emily Dickinson

If you were coming in the Fall,
I'd brush the Summer by
With half a smile, and half a spurn,
As Housewives do, a Fly.

If I could see you in a year,
I'd wind the months in balls—
And put them each in separate Drawers,
For fear the numbers fuse—

If only Centuries, delayed,
I'd count them on my Hand,
Subtracting, till my fingers dropped
Into Van Dieman's Land.

If certain, when this life was out—
That your's and mine, should be—
I'd toss it yonder, like a Rind,
And take Eternity—

But now, uncertain of the length
Of this, that is between,
It goads me, like the Goblin Bee—
That will not state—its sting.

Now what does this poem talk about? You're not sure? Another one, perhaps, on the same subject matter:

HERO AND LEANDER - John Donne

Both robbed of air, we both lie in one ground,
Both whom one fire had burnt, one water drowned.

This is perhaps clearer, since it features the rhyme and the four-part couplet-and-comma structure ... shorter and more breathtaking. It features two mythological lovers, and they are spent.

That should be a hint on what both those poems share. No idea yet? Very well, a third example, this time from the grand master himself:

THE EXPENSE OF SPIRIT (129) - William Shakespeare

The expense of spirit in a waste of shame
Is lust in action; and till action, lust
Is perjured, murderous, bloody, full of blame,
Savage, extreme, rude, cruel, not to trust;
Enjoyed no sooner but despised straight;
Past reason hunted and no sooner had,
Past reason hated as a swallowed bait
Laid on purpose to make the taker mad:
Mad in pursuit, and in possession so;
Had, having, and in quest to have, extreme;
A bliss in proof, and proved, a very woe;
Before, a joy proposed; behind, a dream.
...All this the world well knows; yet none knows well
...To shun the heaven that leads men to this hell.

Now we know that our subject matter is dark, dangerous, as the line 'to shun the heaven that leads men to this hell' tells us. Still no idea? Watch the hedonism projected in the word 'heaven'.

Alright. I'll present one last poem, and then i'll tell you what all these poems are about.

THE VINE - Robert Herrick

I dream'd this mortal part of mine
Was Metamorphoz'd to a Vine;
Which crawling one and every way
Enthralled my dainty Lucia.
Me thought, her long small legs & thighs
I with my Tendrils did surprize;
Her Belly, Buttocks, and her Waste
By my soft Nerv'lits were embrac'd:
About her head I writhing hung,
And with rich clusters (hid among
The leaves) her temples I behung:
So that my Lucia seem'd to me
Young Bacchus ravisht by his tree.
My curles about her neck did craule,
And armes and hands they did enthrall:
So that she could not freely stir,
(All parts there made one prisoner.)
But when I crept with leaves to hide
Those parts, which maids keep unespy'd,
Such fleeting pleasures there I took,
That with the fancie I awook;
And found (Ah me!) this flesh of mine
More like a Stock, than like a Vine.

Ahh. By now you must have guessed.

All these poems are about SEX.

The first by Emily Dickinson, talks about sexual obsession ("It goads me, like the Goblin bee"), and is probably the mildest of the four i've posted. The second is simple - short, well structured, and easy to understand.

The third is Shakespeare, where 'to shun the heaven that leads men to this hell' makes perfect sense, once we see it in this light.

And the last? Ahh. The last is about an erection and a wet dream. Herrick apparently took the image of a vine from Greek culture (Anakreon, whatever that is), and he chides himself as well as the object of his desire, a certain Lucia (whether or not she exists is interesting, though). And now, in closing, i'm going to put up a poem by Constantine Cavafy, whose love life was homosexual and covert. Read between the lines and try to understand the complex emotions he has while writing this poem:

BODY, REMEMBER

Body, remember not only how much you were loved,
not only the beds on which you lay,
but also those desires for you
that glowed plainly in the eyes,
and trembled in the voice—and some
chance obstacle made futile.
Now that all of them belong to the past,
it almost seems as if you had yielded
to those desires—how they glowed,
remember, in the eyes gazing at you;
how they trembled in the voice, for you, remember, body.

Disturbing? To read more, visit the original article.

School-triggered Nostalgia

Today, I went back to SMK St Thomas, which I can now call my previous school, to get some documents certified. Being there sure triggered a lot of memories. After I came back, as I was searching for photos for a blog post, a few photos taken at school caught my eye.

Now this photo, taken in a different angle from most of the photos shown of this school block, shows how the school is surrounded by so much greenery. And tables and benches are strategically located underneath the shady trees should students ever feel the urge to study outdoors. In fact, this school block is the oldest in the school, which is no mean feat considering our school is the first secondary school built in the state and founded in 1848.

Okay, enough of that commentary..

Here’s a funnier photo. The UGSers after the annual prize giving ceremony, decided to camwhore and there’s no better seat in the house than these plush, cushioned armchairs right in front of the school hall’s stage. Ah Kong Kenny immediately assumed his position in the VIP’s seat right in the middle, as expected. And after everyone was seated, Ben, the youngest of the lot of us (only form 2 then!) had no where else to sit and had to stand behind Kenny, looking much like a …. Hehe.

Next, we proceeded to posing on the stage, everybody had their own poses. There was (from left to right) Kenny looking very authoritative, Ben looking very victorious, me looking out of place, Paul looking cool as a cucumber, Aldrin not looking very Thomian sans uniform, Cedric looking chummy with Tay beside him. Haha. What an odd looking bunch, with me being the odd one out.

Sekolah Saint Thomas. There, that’s proof that I did not remember wrongly and the school was indeed founded in 1848. And beneath the sign, there’s a huge banner which is changed every year. In 2006 last year, it beared this purple banner with the battlecry “Honour and Glory”, the last battlecry done by the previous principal, Mr Peter Foo, who has since migrated to greener pastures in Australia.

So there goes my post about my previous school. It has been a memorable one year and a half there doing my form 6. If anyone asks whether I regret going for form 6, I can confidently answer "no" because of this school.

Do A Good Deed Chatting Today

A lot of us use Windows Live Messenger on a daily basis (locally known as MSN and used as a verb), and since we Malaysians absolutely hate to donate to anything other than one's own bowl of kolo mee love to throw ourselves into philantrophic causes this should make all of us sit up and take notice.

Microsoft is being a nice big brother and is implementing something called the I'm initiative, which is a campaign to direct a percentage of their Windows Live Messenger advertising earnings to select causes. And not just any causes - a whole range of organizations are in the program, ranging from the National Aids Fund to UNICEF. Guess who gets to choose which programs receive the dough?

That's right: you.

You and half a million users worldwide. Users in MSN now have a secret emo (the i'm emoticon ) that you display in your username, your PMs, and even your messages with friends. Microsoft tracks them and at the end of the day sees which emoticon (denoting which organization) their money goes to. To display one of these emoticons all you've gotta do is to type a simple code, all starting with '*'. Here they are:

The i'm emoticon codes and causes ...

• American Red Cross -- ready to help, code = *red+u
• Boys & Girls Clubs of America -- providing a positive place for kids, code = *bgca
• National AIDS Fund -- fighting AIDS, code = *naf
• National MS Society -- joining the MS movement, code = *mssoc
• ninemillion.org -- helping 9 million refugee kids, code = *9mil
• Sierra Club -- exploring and protecting the planet, code = *sierra
• StopGlobalWarming.org -- stopping global warming, code = *help
• Susan G. Komen for the Cure -- finding the cure, code = *komen
• UNICEF -- helping kids survive, code = *unicef

Okay, so maybe just Windows Live Messenger users in the USA. For now. This doesn't stop me from putting up my own badge of honour in my username, to tell Microsoft we Malaysians are capable of doing more than breaking, trashing, reproducing and then enjoying countless copies of your software. (Tze Lun, that was a dig for you calling me The Boss. Grr.)

That's right. We're also extremely capable of directing your funds to causes we choose. Or at least we can pretend to choose.

They want our buddy lists to look like this:


So do i. What are you waiting for?

changing the world. Are you?

Fire Apple

In response to The Boss's post on Cult of Mac, there were 10 reasons why geeks would love anything remotely Apple.

I, on the other hand, have ONE reason to not like it so much, just in case something like this happened...


Now that's what I call HOT !

(Source: http://www.newlaunches.com/archives/macbook_inferno...)