Saturday, June 25, 2005
my new dream car
the volkswagen golf 1.6.sure its not as pretty as a BMW Z4
or a 6 series
but ,heh, i've never driven those before. i have however driven this! and its a beauty, it drives like a dream. and i love the sunroof. ahhh.i woke up early this morning before work just to wash it and make it shiny and new. its not mine though. yet. not soon i suppose=p. dad says if i stay in penang i'll get one, sounds like a bribe. i see why daddy's so passionate about his car business, he gets to drive all of them.all!.shall post an actual picture of me in it next=p.
p/s.muahahahahhahahahahaha.finally.its simple to load pics on my blog. was this feature always there??i'd feel like a real idiot if so=p
Friday, June 24, 2005
the long long road
Have you ever felt so confusedly lost, like all you ever stood for and breezed through now holds you down and mars you.keeping you captive , wrapping ur bound hands behind you and making you feel like an utter failure,failure. you who aced these paths before, you who did so well that people got so bored of it and all those years of excellence have come to this? Contemplating flinging yourself at the mercy of the scholarship board, begging them to give you yet another chance? How can my castles of sand just be swept away by the desert storm? Or was it a storm? Wasn’t the last time enough of a test? I guess I had more to learn, positioning me like this, seemingly helpless, a wilting flower slowly in the palm of a closing hand. Let the sun come and breathe new life upon me, allow me one last chance to thrust myself away and beyond this helplessness. Please.. my heart pleads. I will soar again, please let me fly once more. Please. I beseech, entreat and beg…please..i pray.
Thursday, June 23, 2005
on writing..
IV. Everything You Need to Know About Writing Successfully
1. Be talented
This, of course, is the killer. What is talent? I can hear someone shouting, and here we are, ready to get into a discussion right up there with "what is the meaning of life?" for weighty pronouncements and total uselessness. For the purposes of the beginning writer, talent may as well be defined as eventual success - publication and money. If you wrote something for which someone sent you a check, if you cashed the check and it didn't bounce, and if you then paid the light bill with the money, I consider you talented.
Now some of you are really hollering. Some of you are calling me one crass money-fixated creep. And some of you are calling me bad names. Are you calling Harold Robbins talented? someone in one of the Great English Departments of America is screeching. V.C. Andrews? Theodore Dreiser? Or what about you, you dyslexic moron?
Nonsense. Worse than nonsense, off the subject. We're not talking about good or bad here. I'm interested in telling you how to get your stuff published, not in critical judgments of who's good or bad. As a rule the critical judgments come after the check's been spent, anyway. I have my own opinions, but most times I keep them to myself. People who are published steadily and are paid for what they are writing may be either saints or trollops, but they are clearly reaching a great many someones who want what they have. Ergo, they are communicating. Ergo, they are talented. The biggest part of writing successfully is being talented, and in the context of marketing, the only bad writer is one who doesn't get paid. If you're not talented, you won't succeed. And if you're not succeeding, you should know when to quit.
When is that? I don't know. It's different for each writer. Not after six rejection slips, certainly, nor after sixty. But after six hundred? Maybe. After six thousand? My friend, after six thousand pinks, it's time you tried painting or computer programming.
Further, almost every aspiring writer knows when he is getting warmer - you start getting little jotted notes on your rejection slips, or personal letters . . . maybe a commiserating phone call. It's lonely out there in the cold, but there are encouraging voices ... unless there is nothing in your words which warrants encouragement. I think you owe it to yourself to skip as much of the self-illusion as possible. If your eyes are open, you'll know which way to go ... or when to turn back.
2. Be neat
Type. Double-space. Use a nice heavy white paper, never that erasable onion-skin stuff. If you've marked up your manuscript a lot, do another draft.
3. Be self-critical
If you haven't marked up your manuscript a lot, you did a lazy job. Only God gets things right the first time. Don't be a slob.
4. Remove every extraneous word
You want to get up on a soapbox and preach? Fine. Get one and try your local park. You want to write for money? Get to the point. And if you remove all the excess garbage and discover you can't find the point, tear up what you wrote and start all over again . . . or try something new.
5. Never look at a reference book while doing a first draft
You want to write a story? Fine. Put away your dictionary, your encyclopedias, your World Almanac, and your thesaurus. Better yet, throw your thesaurus into the wastebasket. The only things creepier than a thesaurus are those little paperbacks college students too lazy to read the assigned novels buy around exam time. Any word you have to hunt for in a thesaurus is the wrong word. There are no exceptions to this rule. You think you might have misspelled a word? O.K., so here is your choice: either look it up in the dictionary, thereby making sure you have it right - and breaking your train of thought and the writer's trance in the bargain - or just spell it phonetically and correct it later. Why not? Did you think it was going to go somewhere? And if you need to know the largest city in Brazil and you find you don't have it in your head, why not write in Miami, or Cleveland? You can check it ... but later. When you sit down to write, write. Don't do anything else except go to the bathroom, and only do that if it absolutely cannot be put off.
6. Know the markets
Only a dimwit would send a story about giant vampire bats surrounding a high school to McCall's. Only a dimwit would send a tender story about a mother and daughter making up their differences on Christmas Eve to Playboy ... but people do it all the time. I'm not exaggerating; I have seen such stories in the slush piles of the actual magazines. If you write a good story, why send it out in an ignorant fashion? Would you send your kid out in a snowstorm dressed in Bermuda shorts and a tank top? If you like science fiction, read the magazines. If you want to write confession stories, read the magazines. And so on. It isn't just a matter of knowing what's right for the present story; you can begin to catch on, after awhile, to overall rhythms, editorial likes and dislikes, a magazine's entire slant. Sometimes your reading can influence the next story, and create a sale.
7. Write to entertain
Does this mean you can't write "serious fiction"? It does not. Somewhere along the line pernicious critics have invested the American reading and writing public with the idea that entertaining fiction and serious ideas do not overlap. This would have surprised Charles Dickens, not to mention Jane Austen, John Steinbeck, William Faulkner, Bernard Malamud, and hundreds of others. But your serious ideas must always serve your story, not the other way around. I repeat: if you want to preach, get a soapbox.
8. Ask yourself frequently, "Am I having fun?"
The answer needn't always be yes. But if it's always no, it's time for a new project or a new career.
9. How to evaluate criticism
Show your piece to a number of people - ten, let us say. Listen carefully to what they tell you. Smile and nod a lot. Then review what was said very carefully. If your critics are all telling you the same thing about some facet of your story - a plot twist that doesn't work, a character who rings false, stilted narrative, or half a dozen other possibles - change that facet. It doesn't matter if you really liked that twist of that character; if a lot of people are telling you something is wrong with you piece, it is. If seven or eight of them are hitting on that same thing, I'd still suggest changing it. But if everyone - or even most everyone - is criticizing something different, you can safely disregard what all of them say.
10. Observe all rules for proper submission
Return postage, self-addressed envelope, all of that.
11. An agent? Forget it. For now
Agents get 10% of monies earned by their clients. 10% of nothing is nothing. Agents also have to pay the rent. Beginning writers do not contribute to that or any other necessity of life. Flog your stories around yourself. If you've done a novel, send around query letters to publishers, one by one, and follow up with sample chapters and/or the manuscript complete. And remember Stephen King's First Rule of Writers and Agents, learned by bitter personal experience: You don't need one until you're making enough for someone to steal ... and if you're making that much, you'll be able to take your pick of good agents.
12. If it's bad, kill it
When it comes to people, mercy killing is against the law. When it comes to fiction, it is the law.
That's everything you need to know. And if you listened, you can write everything and anything you want. Now I believe I will wish you a pleasant day and sign off.
My ten minutes are up.
copyright © Stephen King
Monday, June 13, 2005
vienna,austria
last night, i slept later than i should have bearing in mind i had to wake up early to go to the market and then quickly get ready for work. however, i had some domestic matters to settle ( being the eldest girl happens to bring these sorta responsibilities with it) so,then after a leisurely shower (oodles more enjoyable than the hastened showers in the icky hostel bathroom cubicles), i got into bed and proceeded to fall asleep.that was the plan..i was thinking bout wei zheng though.as i have been. increasedly of late..missing him.wondering how he was and which part of the world he was in. i had a good weekend of leisure and among my activities was reading through his now neglected blog. it was fascinating, even more so than the first time i read it. it was like dissecting literature, it had so much substance in form and structure. it was like taking a peep at him and his life before i knew him. anyways, i was really trying to fall asleep then my handphone starts vibrating. i don't know if i was almost asleep and woke up with a jerk or was just wandering in my mind, but i grabbed my phone, answered it and it was him=D. i heard the noises from a sidewalk perhaps, people and activity swirling behind him. i imagined a sidewalk cafe amidst a quaint row of shops. he was calling from vienna, austria. yes, i do know where vienna is=p. i was thrilled to hear from him.
anyways, since i can't be there with him everytime he goes somewhere i go on the internet and look it up,read about it,look at pictures.he says he'll bring me next time. i'm looking forward to it. so,here's some of what i read bout vienna. when he was in olomouc, i went to the website too. just so i could try to imagine where he was..
vienna
-Culture
Music, theatre and opera
Art and culture have a long tradition in Vienna, in the areas of theatre, opera and the fine arts. Aside from the Burgtheater which, together with its branch, the Akademie theater is considered one of the best theatres in the German - speaking world, the Volkstheater and the Theater in der Josefstadt also offer high - quality theatre entertainment. Also, there is a multitude of smaller theatres, often equal in quality to their larger counterparts and in many cases devoted to less mainstream forms of performing arts such as modern, experimental plays or cabaret.
Vienna also offers a great many opportunities for fans of the opera: The Staatsoper and the Volksoper offer something for everyone, the latter being especially devoted to the typical Viennese operetta. Concerts of classical music are performed, among others, in the well - known Great Hall of the Wiener Musikverein and in the Wiener Konzerthaus. In addition, various concert venues offer concerts aimed at visitors, featuring the best known highlights of Viennese music (particularly the works of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Johann Strauss).
In recent years, the Theater an der Wien has become widely known for hosting premieres of musicals. The most successful by far was "Elisabeth" which was afterwards translated into several foreign languages and performed all over the world. With the opening of the Haus der Musik in 2000, Vienna also has a "Museum of Sound" for all ages now.
Finally, many Roman Catholic churches in central Vienna feature performances of religious or other music, including masses sung with classical music and organ.
Museums
In the Hofburg, the Sisi Museum allows visitors to see the emperor's apartments as well as the silver chamber. Directly opposite the Hofburg is the Kunsthistorisches Museum (along with Vienna's Natural History Museum) that houses multiple paintings by the old masters.
Architecture
There are buildings of all architectural styles in Vienna, from the Romanesque Ruprechtskirche to the Baroque Karlskirche, and classicist buildings all the way through to modern architecture. Likewise, Art Nouveau left many architectural traces in Vienna. The Secession, Karlsplatz Metropolitan Railway Station, and the Kirche am Steinhof by Otto Wagner rank among the best known examples of Art Nouveau in the world.
Other culture
Between Michaelerplatz and Josefsplatz is the Spanish Riding School. It is a famous equestrian school.
In terms of folk dancing, the Viennese Kathreintanz is the best known.
anyways, since i can't be there with him everytime he goes somewhere i go on the internet and look it up,read about it,look at pictures.he says he'll bring me next time. i'm looking forward to it. so,here's some of what i read bout vienna. when he was in olomouc, i went to the website too. just so i could try to imagine where he was..
vienna
-Culture
Music, theatre and opera
Art and culture have a long tradition in Vienna, in the areas of theatre, opera and the fine arts. Aside from the Burgtheater which, together with its branch, the Akademie theater is considered one of the best theatres in the German - speaking world, the Volkstheater and the Theater in der Josefstadt also offer high - quality theatre entertainment. Also, there is a multitude of smaller theatres, often equal in quality to their larger counterparts and in many cases devoted to less mainstream forms of performing arts such as modern, experimental plays or cabaret.
Vienna also offers a great many opportunities for fans of the opera: The Staatsoper and the Volksoper offer something for everyone, the latter being especially devoted to the typical Viennese operetta. Concerts of classical music are performed, among others, in the well - known Great Hall of the Wiener Musikverein and in the Wiener Konzerthaus. In addition, various concert venues offer concerts aimed at visitors, featuring the best known highlights of Viennese music (particularly the works of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Johann Strauss).
In recent years, the Theater an der Wien has become widely known for hosting premieres of musicals. The most successful by far was "Elisabeth" which was afterwards translated into several foreign languages and performed all over the world. With the opening of the Haus der Musik in 2000, Vienna also has a "Museum of Sound" for all ages now.
Finally, many Roman Catholic churches in central Vienna feature performances of religious or other music, including masses sung with classical music and organ.
Museums
In the Hofburg, the Sisi Museum allows visitors to see the emperor's apartments as well as the silver chamber. Directly opposite the Hofburg is the Kunsthistorisches Museum (along with Vienna's Natural History Museum) that houses multiple paintings by the old masters.
Architecture
There are buildings of all architectural styles in Vienna, from the Romanesque Ruprechtskirche to the Baroque Karlskirche, and classicist buildings all the way through to modern architecture. Likewise, Art Nouveau left many architectural traces in Vienna. The Secession, Karlsplatz Metropolitan Railway Station, and the Kirche am Steinhof by Otto Wagner rank among the best known examples of Art Nouveau in the world.
Other culture
Between Michaelerplatz and Josefsplatz is the Spanish Riding School. It is a famous equestrian school.
In terms of folk dancing, the Viennese Kathreintanz is the best known.
Thursday, June 09, 2005
facade
so, we meet and part and meet again as years wear on and all at once you feel it all rush back and then not. and what is it you try to prove to yourself and to them? that time has indeed been kind to you and harsh to them? and which them, for each of them has a different inflection of hurt or is it hurt? or merely the symptoms of time and loss. for each day we lose something, each minute passes, never to be gotten again. and yet if we choose, each minute we gain and grow and prosper and laugh in the face of what time bears. so, we hold on to old hurts and though we heal, we sometimes cant stop trying to ease and make up for the past hurt. like, how a discarded girlfriend sees him later in life and still wonders if he regrets, and wishes he did. just to ease the hurt that once stung. there is a quotation, we are so vain that we even care for the opinion of those we don't care about. could it be that we really stop caring anyhows? if we did, what would it matter what he thinks. or what anyone else thinks for that matter? why do we always care so much what others think of us? old friends, new friends, acquaintances, colleagues, even people on the street who seemingly glare and stare and mock inwardly. or hostel mates, or friends of friends, and housemates of friends, and the list goes on and on and on. it should'nt matter what the one who left you thinks as long as you know what the one you're with thinks? it should'nt matter what friends who aren't really friends think as long as you know what your true friends think. it matters most, i think, what your family thinks and those closest to you. and mostly..what you yourself think of who you are and the course of your actions and the consequences which follow. and why bother always explaining to those who don't understand. just so you're not misunderstood?
Friday, June 03, 2005
musical baton..for you sherry
Total volume of music files on my computer: 5.74GB,more on my ipod.hee
The last CD I bought: hmm. passionate classics. seriously. helped tremendously during my late night,early morning study sessions and essay rushing season. (Do u noe how much a blinking CD costs in sg??)
Song playing right now: Collide-Howie Day (Sherry!!I want the rascal flatts song!!!)
Five songs I listen to a lot, or that mean a lot to me: (just what comes to mind now-not necessarily steadfast choices)
(i) Win-Brian Mcknight.my exam theme song.worked the first few times back in form 5 and form 6.seems to be fading.sighhh
(ii) You were meant for me-Jewel. It’s the 1st song that comes to mind everytime I plan to sing out loud with an audience.besides, it sounds good when I do a duet with marie or mel.
(iii) Here,There and Everywhere-The Beatles. It was song to me over the phone. I swooned,melted and jumped up and down inside simultaneously.
(iv) Canon in D-Pachelbel.it’s just so beautiful.definitely in my future wedding playlist.besides wooi min and I agree that the crescendo sounds like a soundtrack for being right below the sun,reaching out to God.We even have corresponding actions=p.drama queens.
(v) Own Me-Ginny Owens. when I want to be reminded that I belong to God.
Five people to whom I’m passing the baton:
Marie-wonder what she listens to now
Wei zheng- duh.
Mel- forcing her to choose from her many many faves
Al-he has funky taste..and he reads my blog.i think
Terrence-even funkier taste
a real post when i've regained the heart to feel and write..
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)