Reality bites.

I've heard the saying which goes "You are your greatest enemy".

True in most respects, especially with regard to my willpower. In movies they potray it as fighting against your demons, and to the background of epic music, and possibly a smidgen of a love story and a pinch of tragedy for good measure. This unfolds on the big screen, and then after they kick their demons back to their closet, they emerge triumphant. A changed man/woman. One that is impossibly wiser, kinder and even more unbreakable than before.

The story is tasty, yes?

But when we come down to the nitty-gritty it really is just us. Us trying to face that skeleton in the closet. Us trying to write an essay/socialise/whatever la. Without the epic music, and epically awesome "oh I am crying in the rain cause this is so hard" scenes. Living isn't glamorous.


It's just us. Us against ourselves.


No one will see those struggles, no one will understand that pain, no one will face the same demon.


But it is up to us to push through.

Difficult, yes.

Impossible - I know it isn't, but it is so hard. 

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Blingin'

A 60.19 flawless diamond. 

Now who wouldn't want a stone like that? It sold for over 5 million USD in 2000.

Yes, I am procrastinating.

If I had a stone like that I'd uh....

I don't quite know what I'd do with it.

Maybe sell it and buy an island.

What would you do with it?

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Sesame Street

Uhm.

I'm sure if you read about celebrities (or at least what the news deems to be news)... the Sesame Street debacle would sound familiar.

Katy Perry and Russell Brand are a lot more stupid that I previously thought.

Pretty mature way to work it out as adults, yeah.

*cough*

Booo hissssss etc

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Bola

Malaysian ball tonight. Wore a sari. Lots of attention, comments.

Like!

:D

Attention is nice.

Saris are soooooooooo pretty. Traditional dresses are really....hot. They look a heck a lot better than short shorts. And sexier too! Which is a strange thing since traditional dresses generally fully clothe a person.

I may actually go buy some more saris. Even though I have no occassion to wear them after I graduate in December.... :(

Maybe I'll go live in India awhile. Ehehehe.

The Malaysian ball was an absolute blast. Kudos to all performers.

And with that my stint as VP in the Malaysian Club is over. (Technically this won't happen until the AGM. Where there will be much grilling. Eep.)

Thanks guys :). What an interesting experience. The highs and lows, but ultimately a freaking flavourful experience.

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Dislike

Dislike how some events are planned so last minute.

I mean seriously, less than 24 hours notice for a full dress rehearsal?? We're all not first year students for cryin' out loud!

In no way am I slighting anyone here. But it is really stressful when you've planned out your assignment and have arranged everything only to have certain things come back and hit you in the face. And pretending the late prep for the assigment is not my fault (which it totally is), I don't quite think that it is fair that others can impose such onerous burdens onto others.

Whether they are aware of it is another thing. But really, sometimes lack of mens rea does not mean there is a lack of culpability.

Chill, chill. I better chill.

This is frustrating.

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Quiz

What kind of boyfriend brings you a double mocha in the morning when you've had only 5 hours sleep and need to go to work?

Hint - the answer isn't 'whipped'. 

Answer: my boyfriend! :D

Thank you D~~ :)

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Be still, my heart

Yesterday I went to a swanky Japanese restaurant with a friend. Well not swanky. Swanky in the sense that I probably shouldn't be going there for lunch, seeing the kind of budget I'm on.

Anyway!

It was the kind of restaurant which offers nibbly Japanese stuff with beer you buy (of course, for a price). And on that list was deep fried chicken skin. Like below.

T-T

If you know me, my weaknesses are fried chicken, and laziness. A friend of mine called me a closeted African American...but let's not go there.

I bought it. For $4, I got 8 pieces of deep fried chicken thigh skin. Lightly salted.

T_________________T so good. For the record I think I only ate 5. My friend at the other 3.

When I went back to work, I could feel myself getting slightly jittery. Then my heart started hurting a bit.

I think this would be a very good habit to curb, my eating habit. Not because I'll put on weight (my family's genes keep my figure very very constant!), or get pimples, but because it could be the beginning of my end.

T-T darn you fatty food. WHY DO YOU TASTE SO GOOD.

**edit**

I was looking for a picture of deep fried chicken skins, and I came upon this: a KFC burger, the filling being 5 layers of chicken skin, with cheese....and topped with bacon. My heart skips beats just looking at that photo.

**edit number 2**

I have to go back. T_____T omnomnomnomnomnom.

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On another note, here's a spoof of the Inception trailer, a cappella style :D. I burst out laughing everytime I see it. Click below!

BRAUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM.

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Aftershocks, aftermath and life in general

Come to think of it, the earthquake hit at the best possible time. At 4.36am, no one (or not many) people would have been up and about. Night shift generally finishes at 6am, and partiers are home by 4am. Even people that may have been in the library are usually home by 3am - this compounded with the fact that it was the holidays meant no one was hurt. So far we've had more than 300 aftershocks. Apparently 1 out of 10 (read it in the papers, but don't quote me on this!) houses have sustained damage.

The following is a picture of our library (possible the 4th floor).

Absolutely insane eh? Thank God it happened during the holidays and at night. I imagine people would have been seriously injured, or crushed to death being caught in it. We are not able to borrow books in the central library for this semester...unfortunately. Poor lib.

Here's another one of the library staircase. Minimal tiling damage.

I promised some quake photos, but the ones I took are a bit poor, and I have not yet uploaded them...so here's some of the devastation the Garden City has suffered - estimated to be 4 billion in damage - this figure seems very likely to rise...

 There's blue and red writing on the white wall where you can just make out the words 'Fish & Chips'. Unfortunately that was my friend's parent's shop. His shop is featured in Yahoo! News...for all the wrong reasons =/.

Fire broke out on Worchester St soon after the earthquake.

The dude in the background taking photos looks strangely like my friend.....similar leather jackets I guess?

Personally I've found this to be quite surreal. The suburb I live in was not touched, not even a jot! The cherry blossom trees are still growing, their buds becoming delicate pink blooms. But it is really really heartwarming to see student volunteers helping clean up the mess in the suburbs (the inner city is still cordoned off) - a couple hundred students giving up their time and energy to clear the silt, water and broken masonry from houses and streets. A couple are helping by baking scones, muffins etc for the volunteers and for the residents who may not be having the best time finding food. Real heartwarming! Shining example pulling together as a community :).

The opening date for term 4 has been pushed forward 2 weeks, 1 week more than the 1 week that was originally planned). That means another extension for my essays, and less material for the exams! I feel sluggish though, =/ I better get my butt back into work.

Aftershocks have decreased dramatically! Good news for people who are still afraid of the aftershocks. As for me I'm pretty much over the novelty of the constantly tremoring ground.

Some clever fish at Canty U wrote a webpage recording the timeline of all the earthquakes - this includes depth, intensity and radius. Check it out!

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Thanks to SL and L, I will be watching 500 Days of Summer. Significant other (lets call him D) thinks Joseph Gordon-Levitt is hot! :D so I've got the all clear to watch it with him. *cough*

Watched a short clip of JGL playing an electric guitar and singing Lady Gaga's Bad Romance....I'm sorry JGL, but you can't sing that well :(.

Oh, and here I compare JGL with D.

• They both play the electric guitar (woohoo!)
• Both studied French (though D dropped it ages ago. Heh.)
• Both look greattt in suits. (Invest in a fitted suit guys!)

Ok, I'm done writing for the night. Writing an email for the club, then I'll be off. Night to all :)

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Aftershocks

They just keepin' comin'!

The latest was a 5.4...and we did only have a 5.4 right after the big 7.1 hit at 4.40am on Saturday morning.

But now we're just standing around, watching the building shake and waiting for it to stop.

As I write this update another aftershock hits. Apparently with shallow earthquakes like this one, aftershocks can take weeks to subside. There has so far been 100++ aftershocks now - so much so that I can't tell if it is my legs that are shaking the table, the wind, or another earthquake.

Just another update before I head to sleep. Be posting more tomorrow hopefully!

Over and out.

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My blog looks so plain without pictures. I should post more up, but really since my blog is open I'd like to preserve my anonymity with randoms.

So here's one! While I'm still on my Inception run :D

Also there seems to be an unhealthy number of Eames & Arthur fanart. As in EamesArthur fanart. Disturbing.

Ariadne and Arthur I understand only slightly more. Yes, they kissed. They're two pretty, competent people in the movie, but I'm sure it doesn't go past that? Oh wait, I could actually see an Inception 2 featuring Ariadne and Arthur working together :O. It wouldn't be half as creative as the current one though - though Ariadne and Arthur are talented people you'd still need an extractor. With as many problems as Cobb - and Eames doesn't seem to have that problem. But anyway, here's a bit of fanart on Arthur & Eames. :D

And a still of Arthur. I lol-ed at this. Silently of course, as my family was asleep.

His expression matches hillariously with the caption.

Personal update:

Aftershocks have decreased, we've had 50+++ aftershocks so far. There's a north-westerly gale wind blowing (a warm one), and planes keep flying over our house. I can't really tell whether it's an aftershock or a plane, or even the wind - they all make the house creak slightly.

As the planes fly over I can't help but think of the passengers - apparently there are a lot of seismologists/geologists/experts in general flying in to assess the earthquake - it didn't occur along a known fault. We are still due for 'the big one' which can be will be expected to be between 7.5 to 8 on the scale, and due within the next 700 years. Hopefully it'll happen when I'm gone.

Our earthquake emergency bags and such are still packed, though initial concern has faded. Life seems a little more boring now. As it is we were extremely lucky the earthquake struck when it did at 4.40am, had it struck earlier in the night there may have been casualties at clubs, and had it struck later in the morning there would have been people up and about. Casualties from this earthquake stand at one...the poor person died of a heart attack during the earthquake :(.

I drove a bit around Chch city this afternoon. CBD was cordoned off as there were massive structural cracks in some buildings, broken windows etc, things you'd associate with earthquakes. The road was broken in some places, and in some places silt had exploded through the cracks in the road. Bricks had tumbled down off buildings and were lying in a tidy heap - they'd been swept to the side by road cleaning crews. The banks of the Avon river were swollen...from burst water mains or leaking sewage? Unsure.

I took some photos, may post them up here later when I upload em.

*EDIT*

The second after I clicked 'post', an aftershock hit. Whee~

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Earthquake log

In case anyone is interested :). It stops just past noon, but I assure you there have been quite a few aftershocks past noon.

GeoNet data shows a series of very strong earthquakes in Canterbury today:

NZST: Sat, Sep 4 2010 12:18 pm
Magnitude: 4.0
Depth: 12 km
Details: 10 km east of Darfield

NZST: Sat, Sep 4 2010 11:52 am
Magnitude: 3.9
Depth: 5 km
Details: 20 km west of Christchurch

NZST: Sat, Sep 4 2010 11:12 am
Magnitude: 5.3
Depth: 12 km
Details: 10 km east of Darfield

NZST: Sat, Sep 4 2010 10:58 am
Magnitude: 3.9
Depth: 5 km
Details: 20 km west of Christchurch

NZST: Sat, Sep 4 2010 10:17 am
Magnitude: 4.4
Depth: 5 km
Details: 30 km south-west of Christchurch

NZST: Sat, Sep 4 2010 8:15 am
Magnitude: 4.7
Depth: 9 km
Details: 20 km west of Christchurch

NZST: Sat, Sep 4 2010 7:56 am
Magnitude: 5.2
Depth: 7 km
Details: 20 km west of Christchurch

NZST: Sat, Sep 4 2010 7:52 am
Magnitude: 4.0
Depth: 5 km
Details: Within 5 km of Darfield

NZST: Sat, Sep 4 2010 7:13 am
Magnitude: 4.6
Depth: 9 km
Details: 20 km north-west of Little River

NZST: Sat, Sep 4 2010 7:07 am
Magnitude: 4.7
Depth: 25 km
Details: 30 km west of Christchurch

NZST: Sat, Sep 4 2010 6:33 am
Magnitude: 4.3
Depth: 5 km
Details: 30 km south of Christchurch

NZST: Sat, Sep 4 2010 6:23 am
Magnitude: 4.3
Depth: 5 km
Details: 10 km south of Darfield

NZST: Sat, Sep 4 2010 6:04 am
Magnitude: 3.9
Depth: 60 km
Details: 10 km south of Christchurch

NZST: Sat, Sep 4 2010 5:55 am
Magnitude: 4.6
Depth: 5 km
Details: 30 km west of Christchurch

NZST: Sat, Sep 4 2010 5:26 am
Magnitude: 4.9
Depth: 5 km
Details: 30 km west of Christchurch

NZST: Sat, Sep 4 2010 5:26 am
Magnitude: 4.8
Depth: 5 km
Details: 30 km west of Christchurch

NZST: Sat, Sep 4 2010 5:06 am
Magnitude: 4.8
Depth: 15 km
Details: 30 km west of Belfast

NZST: Sat, Sep 4 2010 4:56 am
Magnitude: 5.3
Depth: 8 km
Details: 30 km west of Christchurch

NZST: Sat, Sep 4 2010 4:35 am
Magnitude: 7.1
Depth: 10 km
Details: 40 km west of Christchurch

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EARTHQUAKE

No really, I'm not kidding.

Our sleepy city was hit by an earthquake measuring 7.1 on the richter scale. This was approximately at 4.40am.

The earthquake happened 10km deep, and only 40km from Christchurch.

We were one of the luckier suburbs - power got cut off, but restored, and our water isn't contaminated!!

Central city has suffered quite a bit. Some fissures, cracks in the ground, collapsed walls.

I don't think there are any casualties so far, but we have been advised to prepare for another large aftershock.

Now for my personal account:

I woke up in the middle of the night due to the bed and room rumbling HEAVILY... and thought it was part of my dream, and that the wind was blowing really hard. Lame eh? So promptly tried to get back to sleep. I had a niggling feeling that there was something wrong, but couldn't be bothered to find out what, despite the numerous heavy-ish aftershocks I was experiencing.

This was until Dad came to check up on me and told me an earthquake had happened.

:O

Now, I grew up in NZ. We've had fire drills and stuff but there has always been an emphasis on earthquake drills - what to do, where to stand, how to act, how to prepare.

I'm ashamed to say I did none of it.

= =

What I really did was to flip the covers over my head, and sleep again. Of course, this was impossible due to the many aftershocks.

After about 10+++ aftershocks I decided to get up and head to the toilet. And check out how family were doing. We had no electricity now, but still we had running water - thank goodness.

After hanging with the family and getting and sending "omigoshearthquakeareyouok???" texts to friends for a bit I went back out to head to sleep. This was difficult due to aftershocks but I fell asleep anyway.

= = feeling ashamed with my earthquake training. My friends had either run outside or hid under tables (proper earthquake training!), and here I was, texting leisurely and trying to get back to sleep. LAME

Apparently there will be a strong aftershock, so we're packing some things. Dad, being the very organised one has bottled heaps of water (about 20 2L bottles lined up).

I'll be prepared for this one. Aftershocks keep hitting as I type.

There are however some pros due to this earthquake:

- ESSAY EXTENSIONS FOR A WEEEK :D
- University is closed for an extra week for health and safety reasons!!
- MORE HOLIDAYYYY

I am really glad no one was hurt though.

I better start packing.

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Third time, playin' the fool

I was planning to watch Salt...but then I realised that there isn't much that could top or even equal Inception.

Yes I have watched Inception twice.

I'm not a movie person.

I still won't head to movies...because I don't like using my time like that. And the feeling of "hey, that was an hour and a half of my life wasted. And I paid him to waste my time." is very frustrating when you walk out of a movie.

I will however go back to watch Inception. For the third time. (Provided that I have enough time in the next 2 weeks =/.)

Sooooo goooood. Need to watch it in Extremescreen this time. The storyline is fantastic - it barely feels like 150mins. So sad but epic at the same time.

AND GUYS IN SUITS WITH WEAPONRY! :D

That's really just a plus though. The storyline and the soundtrack to the movie is really my main drawing card.

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