Kenya (let me go to Kenya)?

After a series of rejections from internships, summer programmes and field trips, finally, finally a place has opened up for me! 

On the bright side, the destination is Kenya. That means the Great African Rift Valley! African wildlife - giraffes, rhinos, lions, flamingos! Salt lakes! All these exciting things aside, I think I can really put what I learn in school to use. The aim of the module is the study of conservation in the local context, which I have found to be overlooked in current strategies for 'sustainable development'.

(Did you know that many 'eco-cities' and goals for 'sustainable development' in practice are either unjust or ineffective? But that's a story for another day.)

On the dark side, the destination is Kenya, which means concerns about safety, founded or unfounded. To go, I have to convince my parents that I will not be eaten by lions or shot to death or mugged or kidnapped or anything-else-that-might-happen.

Sometimes I wonder if my parents' plan to capitalise on my (book) intelligence backfired. They pay for my education and I am thankful, but I get this sense that university's encouragement to explore and reflect critically is the antithesis of what they (or what Singapore society) wants. I'm pretty sure a profession like a doctor or lawyer would better suit their tastes.

Anyway, I have finals to study for now. 2 days to my first paper! And 8 days until exams are over!

KITCHN CURE! (Day 1 and 2)

Wow I haven't posted in a long time! Around 6 months to be exact! Anyway, the main topic for today (or tonight) is my horrendous kitchen. ._.

Since I have a month or so to go before school starts again, I decided to clean my entire house. I hope that by having a clean, appealing house my brain will feel more rested and less overwhelmed on a daily basis. In the process of that, I found this thing online called the 'Kitchn Cure', which I thought would help the process of cleaning the kitchen. As the kitchen is one of the most heavily used spaces, at least in my house, it is full of everything that doesn't belong anywhere in particular (like laundry and first aid stuff and appliances). Obviously, it is also full of food that is often not edible anymore or fights for attention such that no one knows certain food exists, until it is not edible anymore. D:

Anyway, here are (a lot of) pictures documenting the before and after of the process. I think I shall post the 'before' pictures in separate posts because I don't want to induce a headache from the utter eyesore it is in its entirety.


Day 1: Declutter and clean refrigerator

Well, obviously the fridge door needed more work haha. But at least I could see yoghurt and asparagus and food that wasn't chocolate and ice cream and sauce (whether expired or not).

Brief interlude:

My lunch after day 1!

Day 2: Declutter and clean pantry

These are the before pictures. I went on to spend 3-4 hours cleaning up. ._. And then a gigantic cockroach appeared in the kitchen because it was attracted to the light and I gave up and went to bed.


 Bonus picture! (Which I accidentally uploaded.) Heart-shaped strawberry!

My life (on two wheels) so far.

Recently I've been thinking that people take life for granted as pedestrians. (Oh how pedestrian!) A nice path is carved out that must lead to wherever you want to go just because there must be one if this country is to call itself civilised! Then, once on the path, the whole path belongs to that person too, so he or she can take up as much space or time as needed.

Come to think of it, the same goes for drivers. Everyone must drive and must learn to drive because that is what an "advanced" civilisation is. Thus, roads and cars must be provided and everyone who is not a driver is inferior and as such, has no right to the road. I suspect this goes through the subconscious of most drivers, "As a matter of fact, anyone who isn't me is inferior and has less right to the road, if any right at all.'

But at least they acknowledge the other exists (sometimes).

As a cyclist, I don't know my place. I mean it literally, but both drivers and pedestrians probably would use that sentence laced with contempt. I've not found a proper set of rules that everyone is supposed to follow. Not even on the official websites! So... Do I follow traffic rules perfectly for the greater good and risk my life (well, it's technically illegal to cycle on pedestrian paths) or do I make up my own rules which might fuel many people's anger or cost them some time? (I didn't mention injuries because I always slow down for pedestrians or swerve away at cost to myself.)

Just irritated because I've been squeezed to the kerb and had drivers honk and speed past me a lot for the past week. Oh. You'd think people would be nicer on a university campus but... They're really bad compared to those on the main road. ):

On studying in peace.

Arghh I can't study for exams!! D: At first, it was confusion. Now, it's just life getting in the way.

As nice as it is of my parents to buy a bed for me, now is not the time. D: Not when exams are 2 weeks away. Hahaha essentially I have no where to study and no where to sleep. -SIGH-

E-learning?

Haha I'm flopping around at home because it's e-learning week! O: In other words, it's click-every-link-or-die week. Apparently, having 'high-tech' lessons is to prevent schools from being crippled in the event of a pandemic but... I prefer worksheets. xD
(To be honest, I haven't clicked on a single link yet eheheh. ^^;)

Anyway, I was trying to deal with my online social life (or lack thereof) this morning. Facebook and Google+ and Instagram are all interesting but annoying in their own ways haha. (I just created an Instagram account at my sister's cajoling! I'm still a pearmountain if you must know!) Ironically, I have to come back to blogger to complain a bit. I have issues with blogger too; what are tags for anyway?! But what's funnier is how I forgot I was a guest to you-know-who-you-are's blog under my other account, which I deleted and merged with my gmail account, which means I can't check what her new WordPress url is. ): I guess I shall have to wait until my friendly, only, regular visitor pops by to leave a comment then. -sigh- It was such a superb surprise when I saw her sometime ago~ :D The alliteration is a not-so-secretive hint.

Ahh I should start work but I'm not done with my lunch/tea/whatever! D: You can see why it's taking quite long to finish.

Oh. The annual wushu buffet thing (sounds funny) was held yesterday, but my mum wanted me home so I couldn't pop by. ._. Ching was busy too oh no! I heard the batch picture consisted of only 3 people oops. xD But never mind! MAF is this Saturday so it'll be a nice reunion with not only the rest of the batch, but with my other friends and seniors too! :D I wonder what the lanterns will be like this year~ Maybe I should bring my own heheh. ...I sound like I have pyromaniac tendencies.

I'm looking forward to visiting the Chinese Gardens too! I've never been there in my life haha! I hope it won't be too anticlimactic, as things sometimes are after you wait and wait in much anticipation.

I wonder if nus celebrates 中秋…

Hmm I want to cycle to school! I was planning to do it last week, but the morning I decided to try, it rained so heavily that there were floods in nus. -.- Maybe the weather has something against my attempts to go green and exercise more? I don't really have to do it this week haha but I'll try tomorrow!

...I should get back to work. Go stare at the glowing orb on my desk!

On listening.

BBC news has really fascinating opinion articles, such as this one.

Could one man have shortened the Vietnam War? http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-23037957

Hazy daze.

-flail- I couldn't breathe this morning! -gasp- D: While waiting for the bus to arrive, since class hasn't been cancelled, it felt like the oxygen wasn't getting into my brain.

Actually, it smells as if Indonesia is burning stuff in advance for the 7th month. .__.

As if to prove my point, a smoke alarm just went off. Ahaha weird.

Hey what if there's smoke because there's really a fire?

...I can't see very far.

Oh wait, there is a fire. T.T Yep, we need more smoke in air.

It seems I can only think in short sentences for the time being.

-gives up and brisk walks to the airconditioned building-

-sneeze- D<