tsewei’s blog

i’m writing my 4th paper this week already. sigh. And this one for my international relations class is by far the toughest. And it’s due tomorrow. urgh.

“Can terrorism be combatted with warfare?”

I’ve all the reasons to support why it is wrong and why it is strategically stupid to do so blablablah.

But turning it the other way round, how then should terrorism be tackled?

I don’t know. I’m stumped.

I can criticize a whole lot on the war on terror blablablablah, but I can’t come up with any decent alternative solutions to it (besides the usual lame and vague stuff about understanding others and peace through engaging nations in capitalism — which has a lot of other issues of its own too).

Is it just me, or is the situation something that is beyond solving? Is it that hopeless?

sigh. My brain hurts. Gotta stop reading (and thinking) and hop on to bed now.

Good night.

i bought a bottle of Glaceau vitamin water from Mac’s convenience store this afternoon. Dragonfruit flavour, in deep red hue.

Out of habit, I started reading the label on the bottle (yeah, I read labels for fun. I know I’m weird.)

power-c
dragonfruit (c + taurine)

despite having the word “dragon” in its name, no actual dragons were harmed in the making of this product. however, with 250% of the RDI of vitamin C inside, the fruit wasn’t so lucky. with that said, we’d also like to inform some of you that dragons are actually imaginary. that means they don’t exist. so, will you please, please, pleeease, stop sending us nasty letters. thank you.

vitamins + water = what’s in your hand

one sip, swig or gulp may result in boycott of other beverages.

haha. I like this drink already. Just ’cause of its humour.

Tastes good too. I like their citrus lemon flavour too.

Out of curiousity, I checked out their website at www.drinkbetterwater.com . Pretty funky for a healthy beverage, I’d say. Website’s design is as slick as the bottle’s style. Cool marketing strategy and branding.

The content on the website is pretty amusing too. There’s this page called nutrient glossary. And here’s what you’d get:

if you’re like us and did pretty crappy on the verbal section of the SAT, welcome to the glossary section.
if you haven’t noticed, we tend to throw around a lot of big words on this site. like gingko. vapor distillation. and water.
feel free to reference this section anytime you get stuck or can’t pronounce a word. and for further assistance, call us at anytime and a representative will come over to your house, laugh at you out loud and call you “slow” in front of all your friends.
sorry. it’s a long story… and a lot of therapy.

I really like this.

had meant to blog about this but have been kept busy by my production work, and my plain laziness.

You know how all hostels, schools, offices etc are equiped with fire alarms to help keep us safe by reminding us to run faster ’cause there’s a burning inferno right behind us?

You know how nobody ever really cares about the fire drills (if the management actually conducts one in the first place) and just sits on their asses whenever there’s one, and reluctantly haul themselves out of the place 5 minutes later, happily puffing on cigarettes at the same time (probably to give a more realistic sense of the situation — suffocating in smoke) ?

You know how these alarms somehow always seem to go off for no stupid reason and irritates the hell out of you as you sit there wondering if there’s really a fire or just another false trigger?

On Friday night/Saturday morning, I was rudely shocked out of my skin when the dumb alarm right outside my door went off in an annoying siren at about 2am. Wasn’t asleep yet, but was equally annoyed. Stuck my head out and realized that people were actually moving out of the building!! At 2AM! In the cold!

Realizing that people here do give a damn about fire alarms, I put on my coat and went out to freeze in the snow. Well, you can never be too cautious, right?

All the time I was grumbling about it likely being a false alarm, then when I was out, the campus security patrol cars were parked right outside, like something really did happen. I was like: “o0okay…”

But then, few minutes later, the campus security people were like, “It’s okay guys. You can all go back now.”
50 disgruntled bleary-eyed people shuffled back into the building, mumbling and cursing.

1 hour later, the stupid alarm went off, again!

50 disgruntled bleary-eyed people got more disgruntled and shuffled out of the building. The cursing increased in intensity. All the while, I was marinating in more cigarette smoke.

Heard from a bunch of guys up on third floor that there really was smoke when they opened their door.

me thinking: “Crap. Please don’t tell me this is for real. It’s too cold outside.”

This went on for another ten minutes till the campus security patrol showed up again to check the situation out for us.

We stood outside and froze for a while more before they came out.
And asked: “Alright, which asshole played with the fire extinguisher?”

gargh! Morons!

No one cared.

Someone: “whoever did that is probably too drunk and still stuck inside the building.”
Many other people: “$*&@#(*^%$#*!!!”

50 cold and pissed-off people went back in, and thankfully, did not have to run out again. The alarm stayed silent, and that’s the way it should be. (unless there’s a real fire, of course, but that’s different).

Lately I’ve been having lots of fun playing online games. (Evidently I haven’t really been doing work ).

After Yahoo! Pool , au yong has now gotten me addicted to iSketch !

Remember “Win, Lose or Draw” from TV of the yesteryears? iSketch is an online version where you get to draw (in different pen tips, brushes, and colors) and guess words. I particularly like Big Picture, where you are suppose to convey the meaning of two separate words in one single picture (hence, the “big picture”). More challenging than the usual one-word guess, but not too difficult to make you feel like a total dumbass.

The first one that I got to draw was “closet smoker”. Ended up drawing a bald shady-looking stick figure puffing away in a brown closet. heheh..

So, if you’re bored, but not really into any stupid mindless games, iSketch is a good one to while away your time.

ok now just let me get back to my game. heehee.

Except I couldn’t quite cuddle them. Could only to watch them from afar..

Came back from class this afternoon and guess what I saw in the woods right behind my terrace building? DEER!! many of them! (ok, i counted and it’s actually just five. But still, haven’t seen so many of them at one time.) *excited*.

So, I quickly ran upstairs to my room and came back down with my camera, and there were still there, feasting on grass (or whatever that’s there).

Look!

2 of them on the lookout for intruders like me. heheh..

*chew chew munch munch*

“Where’s the grass??!”

I like this one. Got this dumb look on its face that says “HUH?” Cute.

updated@3.04pm:
Just realized I had other photos of other cute cuddly animals that I took on my spring break.
Here’s some more…

Saw a squirrel nibbling on something while I was strolling in Central Park. (or braving the chilly winds, more like).

And at a pond next to the World War II Memorial in Washington DC, this duck put up a show for a nice photo moment..

o0o-kay. Now my blog is beginning to resemble some nature-lover’s blog. haha..

Silje Nergaard’s Dance Me Love, from the album Nightwatch.

Love the slow sway of the song. Clear tinkling of the piano notes against light jazz drums and sax, backed by warm strings in the background. Really puts me in a relaxed mood.

Especially love this part of the song:

Your fire I know
Can warm those bleak tomorrows
The dark must not enter in
So let the dance begin

Dance me, love
Dance me through the dark
Dance me, love
Dance me through the dark

Perfect song for a slow dance, in a literal sense.
Love the song. (minus other parts of the lyrics, which i think, actually suggests a tinge of sadness, and desperate hope of a couple working to move through a difficult time.)

*clicks on iTunes window, and replays the song*
*sigh*
I’m so not focusing on the essay that I’m writing.
oh well.
*sits back and immerse self in the music*

I was down at the Commons in downtown Ithaca a while ago. And guess what I saw at the corner of a street? A Krispy Kreme shop! hahaha. I was like, “eh? since when did they open an outlet here?” And I immediately went in to order 5 of their original glazed doughnuts to go. Paid for my doughnuts (all nicely packed in their ‘lil box) and left happily, with a little bounce in my footsteps.

Was happy indeed, but of course that wasn’t true. It was a stupid dream I had just now! oh my god, what is wrong with me?!?! I can’t believe I just dreamt about doughnuts!

This food craving is really consuming me.

oh btw, go0d m0rning, everyone!!

i don’t know why, but really have been craving for all sorts of junk food to stuff myself silly these 2 days.

Right now, I’m really craving for some nice yummy glazed doughnuts from Krispy Kreme . Tried it while I was in NYC and I’m telling you, it’s definitely the best doughnuts I’ve ever had. The dough’s real soft, and I just love the way they glaze the doughnuts. Also tried one with apple cinnamon fillings. Heavenly!

Unfortunately, there aren’t any Krispy Kreme outlets in this isolated snow planet little town Ithaca. The nearest is like 80 miles away! (believe me ‘coz I went to check hoping to find an outlet here so that I can satisfy this little craving). *sob*

And for dinner just now, I had ice-cream for dessert. Saw that the dining hall was serving Cotton Candy flavour. A mix of blue and pink color. Out of curiosity (and my craving for sugary sweet food), I tried it, sprinkled with nuts and chocolate bits. Yumm, but not enough to satisfy my craving still.

And I can’t believe I already finished the Wonka chocolate bar that I bought during my trip! The candy store at NBC studios were selling all these candies from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory story, and I couldn’t resist buying the Wonka Bar . Unfortunately for me, I didn’t get the Golden Ticket. Opened the bar of chocolate, and inside, it said: “Sorry, no Golden Ticket.” Sigh. So this is the disappointment Charlie Bucket felt when he didn’t get the ticket in his birthday chocolate bar. (Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is my all-time favourite children’s story! I love it!)

Sigh.

Shall go drown myself in my International Relations class readings now. Hopefully all that stuff about liberalism/realism/global-humanist/terrorism/war/blablablaBLAH, will be useful to suppress this sudden food craving.

heya people!! I’m back now after a week of fun and ignoring school work! wheee!!

Just thought I’d put some of the photos I took up here so you all can have a look.

Was in New York City for 5 days with my room-mate, then went to Washington DC the following day before taking the 11-hour bus ride back to Ithaca. (ack. yes, 11 hours.)

Realized that I really miss being in the city, where it is always alive and bustling with activity, lights everywhere, and food + shopping everywhere too! haha..

You know those corny tourist tee-shirts that say “I love New York”? haha.. No, I did not bother buying those, but I really do love that city.

Ok. I’ll stop yakking here and start showing you all some of the photos I took. All photos were taken with my Minolta Dimage G400 . Not very sophisticated, hence crappy night photos. Probably something to do with a certain lousy user as well.

To see those photos, click here! –> (more…)

yup, the long awaited holidays are here. Finally. No more essays and readings (well, not until the day before school reopens).

Best of all, I’ll be leaving for a short trip (5 days) to New York City this Sunday and a day trip to Washington DC after that!! Gonna be doing all that tourist-y stuff, and hopefully shopping! I’ve already booked tickets to go catch Phantom of the Opera in Broadway, and I can’t wait! But unfortunately, accomodation’s really expensive there, so me and xiaorong ended up booking a one-star hotel ‘coz it’s the cheapest we can find in the city. Pray it is a decent place. Not asking much. Just a decent place for me to shower and sleep. Fingers crossed, and not expecting too much.

I found out that weather in NYC is tons better than Ithaca. at least 10 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than Ithaca. A real welcomed change to the freezing cold here. Unfortunate thing is that on exactly the days that I’ll be there, it’ll be snowing. Argh. Same goes for Washington. All other days that I wont be there, will be sunny and bright. Is there some kind of conspiracy here??

Have to start packing my stuff and leave the campus tomorrow morning. I’m telling you, Ithaca College has like the weirdest holiday policies I’ve ever seen.

Everything (almost all residence halls, dining halls, etc, everything!) will be closed from Saturday for an entire week, and will not open till the Sunday before school starts. Well, if offices are gonna be closed, I’m pretty fine with it. But the thing is, we all have to vacate the residence halls by tomorrow noon, and I don’t leave for NYC till Sunday!! Doesn’t help that I’ll be coming back before the college reopens. (no money, can’t extend holidays either).

Thus, I’m left homeless. The college does not in any way help us foreign students in seeking places to stay on campus, i.e., if you do not know anyone who lives in the 3 residence halls that are opened, you basically have no way of negotiating a place to stay. I.e., you’re screwed.

Anyhows, I’m gonna end up staying with a friend from Cornell at the other side of the town. So dumb. But at least she’s willing and has enough space to give me a space to stay. I feel like a hobo. Or a refuge, more like. I want my room back.

Worse of all, the college threatens us with 1. $100 fines, 2. judicial action, and 3. immediate removal from the building, if we are found to be hanging around the residence halls during the week that it is closed. Just how dumb is that?

Oh well, plain weird, and they’re just trying to save money by closing everything down. Easy for the locals, since everyone has a car and can pack and leave whenever they want. But for foreign students, it’s not that easy. Guess they just never really thought about it, especially since the student composition here is very largely local.

Still waiting for pizza to arrive. Domino’s! ‘coz I forgot that the dining hall closes at 7pm on a Friday. Again.

Happy holidays..