Travelled all the way to Tampines yesterday after the bf ended his paper, because I wanted to see how Tampines1 was like. We had dinner at Manpuku, which is like a Japanese-styled Marché. We were early, so there were plenty of seats to choose from.

由刘力扬所演唱，一首很好听的歌曲，也是《爱就宅一起》的插曲。很喜欢这首歌的旋律，不过如果在心情不好的时候听这首歌，真的很有可能会哭吧。

This is a beautiful song by Liu Li Yang and I love the melody and lyrics. It’s the type so song that can possibly make you tear if you listen to it when you are feeling down. The title translates to something like “I’ll be fine by myself”. The English translation is below the cut.

街 挤满了欢笑
太不适合 眼泪凑热闹
快跑 快寻找 无人的转角
不优雅时候 一个人最好

爱 说退就退潮
我松开手 回忆却没放掉
未来 不来了 地球 继续绕
躲回温暖的梦 我一个人就好

为什么 越相信谁能依靠
越换来 又一次灵魂寂寥
有没有永远 再不会让心绝望的解药
如果说 越踏出世界一脚
越不能 保留住天真微笑
那从今以后 我一个人过 就很好

心 很平静地跳
只是寂寞 潜伏像海啸
突然某一秒 偷袭我眼角
眼泪自己擦掉 我一个人很好

为什么 越相信谁能依靠
越换来 又一次灵魂寂寥
有没有永远 再不会让心绝望的解药
如果说 越踏出世界一脚
越不能 保留住天真微笑
那从今以后 我一个人过 就很好

Seems that I’ve been having dreams quite often lately, and a significant portion (at least of out those I can remember) of them have some relation to school.

One afternoon a few days back, my eyes were feeling tired from looking at the computer screen, and I decided to lie down and shut my eyes for a bit. I ended up falling asleep for about an hour, and dreamt that I went back to the lab in school. The lab area however, looked really different from what it’s like in reality. The lifts were the size of cargo lifts, and the doors looked like those you see in hospitals – they had 2 flaps, and were without handles. You just had to push them and they would open. There was some construction going on, and the whole area seemed more spacious and also brighter. Basically it looked nothing like what I’m used to seeing, and I had no idea how it registered to me that I was actually in the school lab. I had no idea what I was there for as well, and I don’t remember recognising anyone I met in my dream. It was like… a dream with totally no point to it.

The second one happened last night. Everyone had already submitted their theses, and we were required to do an oral presentation before we could officially finish our final year project. Instead of the presentation being done in school, it was done in guess what… a ship! Not everyone was on board though, so it might have been that the whole cohort was split up into different groups to do their presentations at different times. I remember spending a lot of effort preparing for my presentation, and talking to Nicholas about it.

On the actual day of the presentation, everyone from on board the ship gathered in a room, and 3 examiners were there to grade us. They sat behind a long table, which was covered with white table cloth, while the rest of the students sat together. I remember my future boss being one of the examiners. I was called up to present my project, and after finishing my introduction, I was asked to stopped. Apparently the examiners thought that that was all I had to say! I remember being really bothered and upset by it, especially when Nicholas got to finish his presentation when it got to his turn.

After everyone had finished their presentations, we sailed back to school. I was still unhappy with what had happened, so I tried to find someone that might be able to help me. I remember walking through the corridors and seeing some of the profs having a meeting, and Sadler in her office, talking to some students. Like the previous dream, the school looked nothing like what it does in real life. I don’t remember finding anyone in the end, and I woke up after that.

It’s kind of odd why I’ve been dreaming about school so much. I haven’t been to school since Tuesday, nor have I been thinking about school or FYP this couple of days. Usually the things you dream of have some sort of relation to what you have been thinking about in the day, right? My dreams don’t seem to make much sense as well. Well, as long as my poster presentation on the 5th doesn’t turn out like what happened in my dream, then all is fine. I really don’t want to screw up at the very end.

The name Susan Boyle should be familiar to some. I’ve seen videos of her being linked to from Facebook, and The Straits Times has mentioned her at least twice now.

The first time I saw her name being mentioned with a link to a video, I wonder what the hype was about, and decided to check it out. She was a contestant in Britain’s Got Talent, and she sang I Dreamed a Dream, a song performed in the Les Miserables musical.

Just look at the difference in the reaction she got before and after she started singing! When the audience and judges first saw her, they were full of skepticism. I’m sure a lot of it has to do with the way she looks. “She says that she wants to be a professional singer, but was never given the chance to. If she’s that good, she should have been given a chance despite the way she looks.” “She’s probably just one of those people who think that they can sing but in fact can’t.” That’s probably the thought that came to at least some of the audience. But the moment she started singing, the reaction from the audience completely changed. The expressions of the judges were priceless! Look at Simon Cowell smiling as Susan was singing!

I think Susan’s case is a good wake-up call for all of us. If we were part of the audience, seeing Susan up on stage and not having heard her sing yet… how many of us would react like how the audience did? How many of us would be skeptical of her singing abilities? How many of us would have immediately labeled her as someone who couldn’t sing?

This is a world where much emphasis is placed on external appearances. We seemed to have pegged talent to how a person looks. While we know that these 2 things don’t necessarily go hand-in-hand, when we watch contests and such, don’t we tend to believe that the contestants that look at least above-average are likely to fare better? Don’t we tend to dismiss those that don’t fall into that category, and think that they’re probably overestimating their abilities? We always say “never judge a book by it’s cover”, but it’s easy to say, and difficult to do.

I am so thrilled because I know that everybody was against you. I honestly think that we were all being very cynical and I think that’s the biggest wakeup call ever. And I just want to say that it was a complete privilege listening to that.

– Amanda Holden, Britain’s Got Talent

Susan’s story is good reminder that we shouldn’t judge others based on their appearances. That true beauty comes from the inside. Susan might not be the most attractive woman out there, but she’s in no way ugly. It was the reaction given to her that was.

There is another reason why Susan’s story is so captivating, and this article in Societrends sums it up nicely:

In her success, we see a phoenix rising from the ashes of disappointment, sadness and heartbreak. We see prosperity after recession. We see good trumping evil and we see a restoration, albeit ever so slightly, to the belief that dedication and perseverance can pay off in the end.

Yes, she has an incredible talent most of us do not have, but if someone with a story like Susan’s can overcome what she’s lived through to become an instant star, then perhaps each of us can persevere and make good on our dreams.

– Societrends

Yvonne sent out the Happy Hour photos from Friday, so here are some of them!

Some of the food! There was salad, cheese, sausages, ham, cream puffs, eclairs, and more. Lots of food!