Eyes of the Cosmic Whale
“…leaving the heavens naked, glistening blue-black, like the belly of some cosmic whale…”Archive for Procrastination
My IGCSE’s in a nutshell
Now the IGCSE examinations are finally over, I feel relieved and relaxed and a lot freer than before. The whole moving thing dawns on me more too, and makes it all the more hard. The intention of this post is to record what the IGCSE experience has been like. (For IGCSE resources, click here)
The IGCSE’s began on Oct 15, with the Spanish first language exam. The exam went ok, though I left with big doubts that made me truly uneasy, like having called someone a cretin in a letter and having given an introduction and a conclusion to my summary. It was a very boring exam, too.
Tuesday was the Spanish literature exam. I had prepared pretty well for it, but the questions can be hard sometimes, so I was panicking a bit. I suddenly felt I no longer had clear what had happened in Doña Barbara. As I was going in, though, I reminded myself something that Mr Andrews told us during his History revision sessions: don’t go in scared to the exam, take it as an intellectual challenge. You have no idea how much that worked. I instantly felt relieved of a lot of pressure, and knowing that I knew the books quite well helped too. When I went in, it was hard to choose what asterisk question to do, because I thought all the essay ones were easy. I chose an asterisk one for Doña Barbara, one on dramatic irony in El Sí de las Niñas and one on Impía, a poem I had done a project on. I was amazed and happy with myself that I could do well the question on Los Heraldos Negros, since Vallejo and his suicidal tendencies can be my weakness. It went well. Read the rest of this entry »
Writing: my anti-drug
Nanowrimo is fast approaching and I’m enjoying every second of the preparation.
The cons is that I’m spending less time studying and focusing in my IGCSE’s.
The pros is that I’m having so much fun, it’s hard to put it into words.
The brainstorming in the last few days has been neverending. Today, while in the library, the character on mine who is a conspiracy theorist suddenly became an avian flu conspiracy theorist. And then I could just see him, in the Biblioteca Nacional (which I’ll have to visit, since it’ll be a recurring setting), flicking through old archives and suddenly screaming out loud “I knew it! It’s all because of the chicken exports!”. And then I saw Marlene, telling her mom to stop buying chicken, and her mom asking why, and she saying “I’ve got this half Swiss friend that told me. The embassy keeps sending them stuff”, and of course her mom would be like wtf? (And she doesn’t even know he’s like 50!)Naughty Marlene would have to fake knowing him from the public speaking classes, because the truth sounds way surreal.
The truth is way surreal. Their truth. This truth. Read the rest of this entry »
If Aidgle is all about Aid, does that mean Google is all about Goo?
As you can see, I worked out why Aidgle is called Aidgle. I’d been wondering, actually, why someone might pick a name that doesn’t roll off the tongue and essentially means nothing. At some point, though, inspiration struck me and I just knew it was because Aidgle is all about Aid. Which leads to the question: is Google all about Goo?
And because I was very bored and procrastinating (surprise surprise!) and searching for inspiration to write the editorial for the Journalism Interhouse, I decided to search the internet (using Aidgle, needless to say) and the results were:
sludge: any thick messy substance
wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn
This is where I should insert a witty statement on how Google really is gooey. Read the rest of this entry »
A short psychological test
This is a genuine psychological test.
It is a story about a young lady. While at the funeral of her own mother, she met this guy whom she did not know. She thought this guy was amazing. So much her dream man she believed him to be, she fell in love with him right there. Unfortunately she forgot to ask for his number and could not find him afterwards. A few days later the girl killed her own sister.
Question: What is her motive in killing her sister?
Give this some thought for a while before you scroll down. Don’t cheat and be as honest as possible.
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Answer: She was hoping that the guy would appear at the funeral again.
If you answered this correctly, you think like a psychopath. This was a test by a famous American psychologist used to test if one has the same mentality as a killer. Many arrested serial killers took part in this test and answered it correctly. If you didn’t answer correctly – good for you. If you got the answer correct, please let me know so I can take you off my e-mail list… unless that will tick you off, then I’ll just be extra nice to you from now on!!!
From http://telcontar.net/Misc/psychtest.php
I would have never thought that was the answer XD. I guessed something along the lines of, the girl saw him with her sister or something. I would make a terrible serial killer. And I’m glad about that.
Psychology seems to interest me more every day. Oh, and yesterday I got rather hurt with my maths teacher because he said I had proved to him I wasn’t committed to the subject, instead I’d been giving moral support. It made me pissy, because I try to be absolutely committed with absolutely everything. And being there for someone sometimes is more important.
I’m tired. Mentally exhausted. I want a break. Thinking about the future confuses me and makes me tired.
Oh, and I haven’t studied french. Not even revised vocabulary or tenses, so I have a guilty conscience.
I want to play the violin, but Estefi’s sleeping. I would play that song, that one that Hatsuho helped me remember by telling me to think it was a story about a boy who had a fish that died.
[deep breath] I’ve unworked me now 
. Oh and even if the story seems tragic, that’s a pretty song…mais non, je dois practiquer mon Vivaldi, mon étude; mon rue à la Perfection.
(et je dois practiquer mon francais)
It’s Time for a Nesquik!
A rant on nationalism -and other things
Nationalism does not exist. Or does it?
That’s what I started thinking about today at lunch while eating the best chicken I’ve had in ages. (I guess that’s what beng sick does to you XD).
But seriously though. Nationalism is purely abstract, a concept. Is it a feeling? I’m not sure it’s a feeling in itself. It may be pride for one’s country, so does that make it a different feeling or does it remain pride? I’m going for the latter.
I was thinking nationalism, if you compare it to religion. Like, is it something people believe in to believe in something? (Though, and I’ll make this clear, I don’t think people believe in religion to believe in something .__.; ) Is it the real opium of the masses? I’d tell Marx it is. That’s why dictatorships and authoritarian governments work so well.
Nationalism is an invention of politicians. They can control people with nationalism. They can claim the end justifies the means, if it’s done for one’s country. The media takes advantage of nationalism, because since it’s so deeply etched in society, it works for marketing and stuff. It’s all over the place in advertisements. Then I stopped to think: if nationalism is really an invention of politicians, why do parents build it up? I suppose because that way they have something to be proud of. Even if you have nothing else, you have that. You have a sense of belonging, and what you do can be for a ‘greater good’.
ORISINAL: There are cuter ways to procrastinate
Everybody has played online games at some point or another. The Internet is just full of them, from MMORPG’s with lots of users to smaller ones in interactive E-Cards. Orisinal is a gem unknown to many, so I want to share with the world Ferry Halim’s adorable creations.
Orisinal is certainly different. Ferry himself says, in an interview by b3ta.com that “Everyone has their own style, and mine is the “clean & nice” style.” and that he avoids first person shooters “there’s already a lot of those games on the net”.
Truth is, except for a minimal number of them, Ferry Halim’s games are anything but violent. Most games involve cute little situations with very lovable animal characters. The artwork is lovely and the music fits the games well while being relaxing. The overall effect is a heartwarming addiction to his games, which are certainly dripping originality.
Not surprisingly, the site has millions of hits. Just checking out the Guestbook confirms it. The Guestbook too happens to be a work of art. It allows you to choose and create your own little blob character that reacts differently when the mouse is rolled over.
Anyway, Orisinal is worth being discovered. I, for one, certainly recommend it.
It’ll get your mind off things and into fluffy worlds of squishable cuteness.
<3
Entrenched in quotes
-’expectation keeps us standing
but it’s the unexpected
that changes our lives’-
I found the quote while studying learning for the History Mock Exam. Suddenly, in the lower right corner, a quote caught my eye. There it was, written in cursive and with a pen that wrote in a blue different from the one used in the timeline itself.
My first reaction was a smile of approval at the quote itself, followed by intrigue. Where did this come from? Who said it? Faithful old Google could not find an exact match, only something roughly similar- a quote from Grey’s Anatomy (*bricked*).
But then I thought, halt there! Last year I didn’t even know of the show’s existance! How could it be…? And then the scene flickered through my eyes. Me watching Grey’s Anatomy on the laptop, finding that quote excellent, muttering it to myself as to not forget it, grabbing the closest copybook, my beloved Orange debate one, opening it in a random page, scribbling what my memory could recall.
Turning the quote into something that wasn’t Grey’s Anatomy and that wasn’t my own, but something in between. This is the explanation I give as to why I didn’t annotate the author of the quote. (There remains the chance that it’s from somewhere else) Oh well.
Plugged into another world
Long time no write. I’m back now from the three week holiday. It’s paradoxical how, looking back, it seems to stretch out and out, but now I’m here in Lima, it’s as if barely any time had passed.
It was probably one of the few times we returned at daytime. It’s so much different from returning at night! I felt like I had been plugged into another world. (Notice the use of the word ‘plugged’. A plug can’t plug itself. ‘Plugging’ suggests that the change wasn’t voluntary- someone else forced it).
I guess the change between Europe and Peru had never been so evident. We can start with the weather. Coming from sunny, blue skied, warm Barcelona, grey grey grey Lima hit me hard. Not so much the cold, because I was clothed enugh but still. It was all so gloomy! Then the poverty. European streets are all filled with fully built houses, and in places like Amsterdam and Barcelona, it’s all about the architecture. In Lima, (hello!) there is no architecture. Thinking more about it, I realized we live with the poverty so much, it doesn’t seem out of place anymore. We get used to it. And then we really really notice it when we have a clear picture in our heads to what we can compare.
Anyway, it all seemed so different. And the greyness of it all was choking. Honestly, if Lima was sunny all year long, it would be so much different. Even with the poverty. Well, at least there are things to look forward. (Though not the mocks. AT ALL.)
Today we put on the fireplace and now it’s all more cosy, and at least the atmosphere isn’t as frozen as when we came into the house.
I felt like writing a bit . I was (yet again) avoiding homework. These physics past papers are killing me slowly and painfully.
Ah well, I will write about the trip when I have the time.
Land of the beluga
I was doing some history homework on Korean War prisoners of war and mentally preparing to study historia del peru (XP) when all of a sudden I had an urge to sing the Beluga song. A true childhood classic!
Baby beluga in the deep blue sea,
Swim so wild and swim so free
Heavens above, and sea below
And a little white whale on the go!
That’s as much as I remember by heart. -loves the song -
So, somehow, attached to the song came a fond reminiscence of the days of the beluga whale and Miss Camogli’s (CA-MOU-LEE) lessons, and racing Belen on who finished classwork first, and Miss Camogli’s oboe CD’s. And I started looking for the song in YouTube. Here’s some real life belugas cutely swimming around whilte the song plays
And here’s some 3 year old kids singing the song with cuuuute preschool voices and gestures and stuff. To think I was only some years older (about 6) when I sang it myself!
Ohman…that was mom asking me if the sound she heard was mine. This is the sort of moment in which I wish my headphones, which were super duper cool, weren’t now super duper broken.
I’ll just turn the volume really really low and do finish off my homework in a light, happy, baby-beluga sort of way n___n.
