MCAC Paintball was today, the 7th day of the 7th month of the year 2007. Hmm.

A total of 17 people from our party turned up for this event, which was held in Carrom Downs amidst the patter of rain and the insinuation of chilly breezes.

Drue and I arrived ‘late’ to Vu’s place (well, technically we were within the timeframe, but just not as early as the other eager paintballers were), because Drue had been obliging enough to indulge me and my family as we whiled some time away in Eltham chatting.

You see, due to time miscalculations on the family’s part in picking up my cousin from Tasmania and me from Serene’s place, Drue had arrived at my aunt’s doorstep wayyy before our car even approached within 10 minutes of it. And since I was abandoning the family get-together yum cha (which was scheduled for 11am) in favour of the MCAC paintball outing, the relatives insisted that we stay another 20 or so minutes to catch up with each another, which meant that Drue’s and my time estimates for the travel over to Vu’s had to be recalculated.

I have to say that Drue bore up remarkably well with the situation, considering that he knew none of them and was left alone with 4 or 5 of my relatives for a good 6~8 minutes when I went to say au revoir to Charlena =D kudos to him!

The rest of the day progressed reasonably within expected timeframes, though, so no worries about that >.>

Paintball was a blast; check here for piccies. As personal testimonies will attest, we all had heaps of fun despite the mud, the pain, the cold, and (in the case of certain people) bruising injuries.

Dinner was an even bigger blast (just kidding), since it was at Sophia’s and involved big platters of Italian food (lol). A pity the table’s conversation became 3-pronged, with the lefts talking to the lefts, the mids to the mids, and the rights to the rights. There really wasn’t any way around it, though, since we had 15 people and there was simply no alternative arrangement to the seatings.

Made my way back to Serene’s around 8pm, courtesy of Andrew who thankfully knew the way, and toppled into bed a few hours on from exhaustion.

Fun’s over, gal… time for work to start!

I can only hope that the blacks and blues are not too obvious come tomorrow… I have a dinner to attend on Monday, after all! x.x

Or rather, ‘tiring’.

Got off the plane at 7+am, which was behind schedule, and was stuck in baggage reclaim until almost 8, which was… definitely not good!

Took a taxi back to SEF since I couldn’t afford to wait for the next bus (obviously I missed the 7:30 Dandenong) and arrived a few minutes past 9am at my doorstep. This made it… how many minutes until I had to report in for duty?

Dashed for a shower, said hi to Amanda and passed her a packet of muruku, threw a few things into my overnight bag (I’d been planning to overnight at Aunty Soo’s place to catch up with the cousins), and then rushed down to the Welcome Centre to help out with Serene’s Winter Swoop program. Made it with barely minutes to spare x.x

Was paired up with Terence for the on-campus games… what went on next? A quiz, I think, and then some off-campus activities that I was thankfully spared from. The rest of the day passed by in a kind of daze… between resting and worrying, I found out that the relatives would largely not be in until late… so after consultation with varied parties I opted to hitch a ride to Doncaster with Serene, plans which then morphed into me hurriedly packing for the NLC stay as we waited for her dad to arrive at my flats.

Thus in the end I stayed over at Serene’s with the promise that I would drop by Aunty Soo’s place first thing the next morning (it was too late at night for them to come pick me up by then).

Talk about hectic.

Yawn….

The above pic is a wallpaper for the anime Kyou Kara Maou, which has been publicised under the following names: Kyou Kara Maoh! – Our King From Now On; Kyou Kara Maou; God Save Our King! ; and probably one or two others that I’ve missed.

Despite the overall length of the anime (it’s a killer for those who are short on time, but SO GOOD), the plot doesn’t really drag—probably thanks to the antics of certain characters (hint hint, especially the ‘sexy queen’) AND the kawaii-ness of my dear, beloved Wolfram <3<3<3 (yes yes, I have a thing for that lovely golden-haired emerald-orbed little boy, and I’m not afraid to make it known! lolz.)

Though the story doesn’t seem to be BL themed in the long run, it certainly does tickle the imagination a LOT as Yuuri accidentally proposes to the young (?) prince of the demonic kingdom that Yuuri inadvertantly inherits. Many possible pairings also crop up along the way (there are also a LOT of bishonen, kyaaaa!) and a host of fanfics currently pay tribute to this light-hearted series.

I’m putting in a line for KKM because I saw the boxset in the TV room before I left for the airport today, and was (there and then) instantly hit with fond memories of watching KKM during my St Cath days (when I’d borrowed the complete version off Jocelyn after introducing her to the first few episodes. Long story, mate)…

Ah, the good old days.

It seems that Kitty’d loved it so much that she actually has been willing to fork out cash to buy it XD well, that certainly does save a few GBs of my hard drive >.>”

But anyway… KKM is a great watch. Trust me. My younger sister has great taste in anime, and has a decided dislike for most of the more blood-splattering selections or heavy-duty alternative-pairing series that I favour. If she liked KKM so much that she actually bought it after finishing Joce’s last year… it MUST be good =D

Awaiting the release of the OVA!!!

-’The Sweet Escape’ by Gwen Stefani:

-’Good Things: Closed Captioned’ by Rich Boy:

-’Life’ by Mika Nakashima:

-’Beautiful Girls’ by JoJo:

As the happy result, I went bowling with Maya and XiaoFeng today (yep, ’twas ze great meeting of the Clan Seniors, lol). Throughout which, we discussed classes, working hours, clan affairs, plans for the next gathering etc while nibbling on chocolate and avoiding gutterballs. Sometime, somehow, I managed to chip a nail from those ridiculously oiled spheres, which greatly affected my disposition for the next ten minutes >.< (ah, vanity, what a strike thou suffereth!)

In terms of new realisations during the outing, I found out (with no little measure of horror) today that my hubby is more feminine than me, and that the two other girls in our group were all appreciative of things that I can hardly be bothered spending a glance on x.x That… kinda made me wonder if that is the reason why most guys treat me as one of their own. (I.e, my mannerisms and preferences tend more towards ‘guy’ activities than ‘girl’ past times. Deshou?)

Did some random walking around, then posed for pictures (lol, NOW we remember… and mine wasn’t the only camera, to boot!) with the others, especially hubby dearest <3<3<3 Determined that I had indeed gained weight, since in every single picture my face was the roundest =.=” I will squash the temptation of asking for opinions on that, because I know… that… my face was the roundest T.T

The day ended before it could really begin, and though I tried it is really impossible to forget that it’s already Wednesday… which means that a mere 30 hours after this, tomorrow I shall be jetting off for Melbourne again. Morose? Yeah, a bit. It will be hard to part from this bunch of loyal friends and return to the land of changing seasons…

Absence makes the heart grow fonder, but when the ‘data overwrite’ virus comes around… what will happen?

Well, for now… more events planning, lol. And… more grey tones on a blue day.

We are no longer an all-girls school.

The alumni no longer have an alma mater to return to.

http://www.kcalumni.org.my/forum/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=637&p=2985&hilit=&sid=40f7f4e2f4378d58213db32b6cf76772#p2985

If it weren’t so depressing, it would be fascinating to watch the interplay of elbow-bending and ceorcion that went on to make this happen.

It would probably have been very educational to students in politics.

Ah well. At any rate, this makes for an interesting year at KC next year.

I mean… the new male intake will be what? A maximum of 5~7% of the school population? (The 1st year intakes should be around 20% of the total KC students every year.) Being the ultra minority, that makes them sitting ducks ripe for target practice by the irritated and offended seniors (the super majority). Besides that, just wait ’til they enrol into ECAs… 2 guys in a room of 40 girls isn’t really usual @.@ etc etc scenarios that I just can’t be bothered listing out.

And so… based on everything that has been compiled from the current staff+student opinions as well as speculated problems associated with this change… it will be very interesting.

I shall be waiting for weekly news flashes from my sister. They will probably be the highlight of every other alumni’s week, too.

…Would anyone still be willing to return to our alma mater for a stroll after the new changes take place? …I wonder.

Anyone who doesn’t mind reading more on the Kuen Cheng issue, here:

http://ronnieliutiankhiew.wordpress.com/2007/05/23/the-kuen-cheng-fiasco/

Ate with Han Yan, Su Su, Yee Man and Ruth today before we embarked on another shopping expedition (where I did not get anything else >.>). The other girls haven’t changed much in appearance, but Han Yan and Ruth were so pretty I wish I could have seen them at their proms T.T …did some commiserating about the latest conditions back in school and then talked some about what courses we were going to take and what paths everyone was going to embark upon. Han Yan will be doing Actuarial Studies in China, Ruth will be doing International Studies and International Business in the US, Su Su will be taking up medicine locally, and Yee Man will be going into the Traditional Chinese Medicine line (also in China). Sigh… it seems that the next time all five of us can come together will be next year this time, then, when everyone else gets their summer vacation >.<

All in all, I had a really fun day out with the girls… the fly in the ointment? I brought my camera but we all forgot to take pictures =.=” baaaaaka.

This chapter will be on Serial Experiment Lain, a fascinating-horrifying philosopical take on the world, reality as we do or do not know it, the internet, self-identity, identity of self as directed by the views of others, the increasing boundary-less spread of communication, etc etc etc. Released in the November of 1998, it is perhaps a very suitable winter tale as it managed to present itself as an intriguing tale that would take many re-watchings to fully comprehend.

I started on this anime a few days back and had thought up to yesterday that I had it mostly figured out. Today, when I finally embarked upon the final 4 episodes of this 13-epi series, I found out that I had actually absorbed none of what the anime really means. It is because of this that it would be perfect as a winter ‘toy’, as you’d have the whole of the dreary season of cold in which to rewatch, and watch, and watch again this spiral of complexity in an attempt to make sense of what others could not.

As for myself… well, I have failed to comprehend it in this one session. Undoubtedly some other day, when my brain dares once more to take up the challenge, I shall borrow the DVD from the anime library again, and strive to my utmost to see what it is that Chiaki (screenplay), Yoshitoshi (character design) and the others were trying to impress upon us on the reality of this world and the power of the mind (or imagination).

Comments so far? A highly fascinating anime, but not recommended to those who want just a short break from life.

Weekends bring calm. They bring silence from the class, they bring tranquility to the bustling, they provide oases for those in the concrete jungle of the fast-paced world. They bring pleasure, they bring time. They bring families and friends together for drinks and a meal. They bring footsteps to the grass, in slow drawling steps, or energised skips, as the outdoors flow with the warmth of a fine day.

Weekends bring these and so much more, but write more will I not, as the rays of the evening yet beckon, for us together to mark the weekend’s mid~.