read my mind

Thursday, May 28

I've been tagged by Ruth, and I know I should blog more often, so here it is. I don't know if this will help you know me better, but I just hope it's a fun read!

Do you eat a lot of fast food?

Not really; I used to eat more in the past though. Now I cook whatever I have in the kitchen. Which can be as unhealthy as fast food!

Besides your mouth, where is your favorite spot to get kissed?

Why does this question assume that people like to be kissed on the mouth? But anyway, I don't know... maybe the forehead?

Were you happy when you woke up today?

Hmm, like Ruth I think happiness is kind of hard to express. But, no I had nowhere to rush to or nothing to get done quickly, so yes, you could say so.

How about now?

Yes. :)

Have you ever streaked?

I have a problem with exposing myself in public. Even showing people my underwear when my T-shirt rides upwards is a nightmare for me. I keep pulling it down even though I'm safely covered.

Are you an understanding person?

I'd like to think I am. But maybe because I share little of myself to others, they feel no need to pour their woes to me. Not that I won't listen.

Do you eat candy on a daily basis?

Yes. Chocolate. If I can help it I try to skip it of course! But chocolate makes the world go round.

Does it make you happy to get letters?

As long as it's not something I'd consider spam! If people actually bother to get your address and go through the whole process of writing and pasting stamps and dropping it off in the mailbox, a simple SMS just cannot compare. A pity I'm guilty of short, curt messages that rely on your being concise, instead of wordy, hopefully interesting and sincere phrases on the page. Can I just say my handwriting is why I don't like to write for others to read? Haha.

Do raisins belong in cookies?

Erm, no. I've only just begun liking raisins recently, so give me time! But I'm coming round to the idea that you can have fruits in baked goods.

What’s your screen name?

"meisryan". It's a name I gave myself in JC, when a choir friend called himself "notryan". It's stuck ever since, and yes, I am aware that it is not grammatically correct.

Walking into a party, what’s the first thing you notice?

Probably the people. I need to look for the people I know. I will die inside if I have no one I can talk to.

Kiss on the first date?

I don't know, again. Haha. I never kissed on my first dates.

What’s one thing you’ve learned from a good friendship gone bad?

To take responsibility and work to make things right, especially if it's a friendship I want to keep. And if it's a good one...

Would you ever donate blood?

I have, once! But I'm a hypochondriac, and am always worried I'll pass some undetected sicknesses or something.

Have you ever felt replaced?

Sometimes.

Are there deerheads covering any walls in your house?

No but I remember there used to be this sheepskin rug when I was much younger. It was pretty rough though. I don't recall if I liked it or not. Now, I wouldn't buy sheepskin, or rugs for that matter.

Are you good at telling jokes?

Awful, awful. I always tell them out of order and leave out the clues until it's too late, such that when I mention them it's obvious they're important. My best jokes are when I say something funny off the cuff. Doesn't happen too often though.

Have you ever driven without a license?

Nope, I've never driven before. I wonder if I'd be good at it, but am always afraid I will cause some accident.

Do you wish you had smaller feet?

Nope. You know what they say about men and the size of their feet.

Have you ever had a best friend who was of the opposite sex?

Yes. Why the hell not? :)

When ordering sushi, what do you get?

I eat the boring stuff, and have never touched sashimi. But today I tried the Salmon Mentaiyaki Nigiri and I loved it!

Do you write in cursive or in print?

It's hard to tell if my handwriting is cursive or in print. It looks like a child's handwriting. Wait, scratch that. It looks worse. On a random note, I've tried writing with my left hand, hoping it makes me more creative.

Who was the last person you sat next to?

Daniel, in his car.

What were you doing at 10 am?

Brushing my teeth.

Do you sleep on a certain side of the bed?

I have a single bed. But I don't think I'm too picky.

If you could change one thing about yourself what would it be?

I'd like to be taller. I'd like to be able to eat more healthily. But, if I could really change something about myself it wouldn't be any of these. I would like, ultimately, to be a genuinely kinder person. I think the world needs kindness.

Do you know how to play poker?

I don't know how to play poker. I don't think I'd be good at it anyway. I don't have a poker-face. And I'm also bad with surprises. I have to apologise here to Joie and Daniel for ruining your birthday surprises.

I am going to tag:

Yonghui, if you have the time! Hang in there with work okay! And take care of yourself (I sound like the worried parent)!
Daniel, if you don't already have something to blog about!
Guowei, if you still come here and have time after your submission, haha.

I don't know who else reads, so if you found the questions interesting like I did, do it and let me know! :)

Monday, May 25

As mentioned before, I've decided to start reading the books I've accumulated but haven't had the time to touch during semester. But after finishing Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro (which is an amazing read by the way), I didn't know whether I wanted to read a new book or to revisit one I've already read before.

I think rereading is very important, not just because I'm a literature major, but because you're turned onto how the writer plots and places clues along the way that you'd just thought was a minor point during the first read. It is very elucidating, but also painfully real at times. Case in point: the Before Sunrise/Before Sunset screening at Ritchell's house last Wednesday. There were so many more things I noticed as compared to the previous times I'd been watching them, when I was probably more fond of the premise of the movies than what went on within. Maybe it's that our profs' work has paid off, but we were discussing and really getting into the meat of the movies, further than I'd gone. Or maybe it's just the right moment for me to have come to the films again. It could have been the company too, probing and exchanging views. Who's the romantic, who's the cynic? As long as we don't impose.

While I don't mind revisiting something I've enjoyed before (and many people can attest to this), I have to say that spoilers really, really don't fly with me (as before, heh). I even refrained from looking at the blurb of Never Let Me Go before I got started. And perhaps now I can explain why. For me, texts and films and shows are experiences, and with everything, you only get a first time once. Sure you can go back again and again, but you can never just go back with a complete amnesia, a tabula rasa of that book or movie. I'd wished for some kind of selective amnesia, so that I could go back and watch Friends all over again, without having read somewhere else about who got together, who did what and how it all ended. It's a good thing, that we forget sometimes. Maybe we forget just so our lives won't be a constant rerun of "been there, done that"; we forget in order to remember.

Being a literature major makes me spout words. Whether these words mean anything is another matter.