things-we-want-to-do-after-EOYs:
warning: this is going to be one long list! everyone just tell me and I'll add yours here :)
1. visit UrbanWrite and make a scrapbook
2. dance in the rain! lol.
3. learn a new language
4. learn an instrument
5. learn sewing
(funny that all the learning is going to take place after EOYs :))
6. make a model (house model, city model)
7. play Sims
8. the-seven-shining-stars-in-the-universe-outing :)
9. movie marathon
That's Ji Inn, Sharon and Stella's list.
. . . (more to come)

Hello, yay Stella changed the name of this blog to Seven Shining Stars! :D :D

Stella I conclude you think too much. LOL. I actually thought Shakespeare's universality was just because his themes can traverse through time and are still relevant today...? Oh god I hope I didn't fail my timed assignment D:

When I was bathing just now, I didn't switch on the light because it was still bright enough. While I was still inside, it got really dark, till the point where everything became colourless and turned into grey-and-black. I remember bathing in total darkness before though. It was a blackout and we were trying to sleep but it was so warm (cos the fans couldn't work) and so my dad told us to go bathe. Yeah, no heater so we bathed in practically ice water. LOL. In total darkness. But it felt really good though. (Aside from the fact that you can't see your body so you can't see how fat you really are, but that's out of the point since at that point in time I don't think I was fat, and I don't really look at my fats when I'm bathing anyway)

So. Have yal ever experienced bathing in total darkness? If not, maybe you can try it someday. Don't slip though, haha.

Jiinn!<3

10 things you feel like doing when it's raining (moderately)

1. Reading a good book! +1
2. Playing a sad song on the violin by the window
3. sleeping!!! +1 +1 totally concur
4. watching a movie at home
5. dancing in the rain (Dancing in the Rain Day in honour of Ji Inn and Jennifer)
6. walking hand-in-hand with your SO (significant other) :)
7. Baking brownies/cookies with your friends
8.挖一个人陪你出去疯狂淋雨（without umbrella）　
９.　打电话. . . talk . . . drink green tea . . . sofa . . . bed
10. writing a story that somehow involves rain. heh heh heh. (the incy-wincy spider . . . )
11. KISSING IN THE RAIN! :O :O :O?! LOL.

I originally planned to scan in the postcard, but I can't find my scanner power plug. So this will have to do. The postcard was also decorated with:
1. Jennifer and Fei Ya's argument over walking dogs in the rain
2. debate over whether we're really going to dance in the rain (Ji Inn, I support you. But only after EOYs and when there isn't thunder and lightning :))

TOP 10 THINGS WE LIKE TO HEAR (ABOUT OURSELVES)

1. "jennifer, you're awesome." not if sharon says it, though. she's normally sarcastic.
I think Jennifer soon regretted writing this. Sharon turned to her and said, "Jennifer, you're awesome". She also heard several variations like "Jennifer, you're awesome . . . and it's from the bottom from my heart" (from Fei Ya, who wrote 4) and "Jennifer, you're so awesome!" yelled by Maddie and Ji Inn simultaneously, and later by everyone standing near the top of the stairs while she was at the landing.
2. "omg why are you so smart". LOL. or, "you've been a great help, thanks!"
3. "OMG YOU'RE SO CUTE/FUNNY HAHAHAH!" :D
4. 任何人表扬that not sarcastic . . . 哈哈

after that, we ran out of ideas so if anyone wants to continue . . .

Hello,
I'll be posting the two postcards-worth of material tonight, but in the meantime, I'll be rambling a bit about two questions I've been asking:
1. Why is Shakespeare universal? (I know we did it for A lit but I really don't know, which is why I didn't choose that question).
2. Has greatness diminished with the generations, or has it become too common?

I was wondering, you know, we've never had an artist as great as Da Vinci or Picasso, never had a writer as great as Shakespeare (great as in universal and for all times). Is it because our world today simply can't match the greatness in skill and craft of past generations? Or is the opposite: so many people have become "great" and greatness is suddenly too common (e.g. Sunday times bestsellers every year, many artists who sell their artwork for thousands if not millions)?

I guess it started with Mr. Tan's question: Why is Shakespeare so timeless, so universal?
To be honest, I've never really understood. Yes, I'm an A lit student, and yes I appreciate how plot, character and theme come together (I do admire how so few words can have so many layers of meanings and how characters can be so "rounded"). I realise that the themes he deals with in his plays are universal - human ambition, morality, rivalry and dying for love etc. But don't many books deal with the same themes? I wonder if sometimes, we believe Shakespeare is great simply because everyone says so. Other reasons I thought of, are humans never change and Shakespeare deals with these themes in their rawest form, so that we remember the plays for their themes and probably admire him for the skill with which he wrote them (as in ingenuity in crafting the plot, wit in plays like The Merchant of Venice). Is that it? The themes and his skill as a writer?

Perhaps it is not because greatness is diminishing nor become too common in our generations, but because what there is to be said, has already been said, and whatever follows is only a "subset" of the classics (yup, been studying sets and venn diagrams). I mean classics are classics because they're meant to last through the ages.

But does that mean that everything that follows can never be a classic in the future?

And my last hypothesis, is our education system has something to do with it. I mean, if you think about it, this is actually what we doing:
great scientists of the past experiment and discover, they come up with theories like Newton's laws of motion (which was inspired not by lessons in school but from sitting under an apple tree), and we try to emulate that. We start by spending at least a decade learning what they did and discovered, then we learn the skills they invented (e.g. titration), and then we try and do something that hasn't been done already. I don't deny there is much more to learn about the world and our universe, but don't you think that it means the only reason we're more "educated", more advanced in technology than those of the past is we have all the knowledge that they and the generations after them attained?

That could also be said to be the only reason humans lead different lifestyles from animals. We use things that earlier generations invented - tables, phones, computers, radios. We have only improved on them, combined them etc. What truly universal things have we created (e.g. tables)?

And I'll link this with something else I was thinking about. Our economy works on the producers produce what they think consumers want and consumers buy what they want and can afford. But there are so many times when consumers want things producers don't produce,. At the same time, I admit there are many times when consumers don't even realise they wanted something until producers produced it. My point is we just started out that way, and we've just been continuing with the basic ideas from the past (from little shops selling things to giant shopping malls).

Okay that's all the rambling I'll do for today. I'll be posting the postcards tonight.

Well Jennifer's busy preparing for the Chemistry quiz so she's going to figure out how to log in and post another time. Meanwhile, these are the 2 lists from her blog:

Top 10 Events that Jiggled My Heart

1. From 2008, when a particular someone decided to confess me (completely by accident!). I think you should thank that friend of yours. (:

2. From a week ago, when a particular someone walked from Raffles Place to Boat Quay then to the Supreme Court then to Clarke Quay and THEN to the Esplanade under the afternoon sun with me after an awesome Subway lunch :D I liked it that we didn't even have to try to make conversation. We just did. I think you're the only guy I can talk to without getting in the least nervous. We should go on dates more often. Next stop, East Coast! :D

3. From Dune, when Gurney met Paul again after 3 years (and after assuming he was long dead). It was so relieving that they could finally fight alongside each other again, instead of unknowingly firing missiles at each other ("Oh, man. That was YOU?!").

4. From Kekkaishi, when Gen was introduced to and (somewhat) accepted by the Yagyou. Well, his life was screwed up over there anyway, but at least it was better than staying with that weirdo family of his :/ (If someone has a power that can't control and hurts people without it even though he doesn't mean to, IT'S NOT HIS FAULT, DAMMIT.) I was so happy for him, especially after he started going to school with Yoshi and sparking off a long series of pathetic arguments about coffee milk (and how to grow taller)...and then he decided to die. Ah, well.

5. From 2008, when Stella bought chawanmushi for me when I said I didn't have time for lunch. You taught me a whole new meaning to kindness (: I still remember it! And I don't think I've paid you back yet. YOU JUST WAIT. AHAHAHA I don't have to. You already did remember? :)

6. From some random Japanese movie in which this girl recorded a video for her boyfriend just before she died. She was talking about how she loved him and how she would have liked to carry on living so that they could spend more time together. I didn't even know what the story was about--just happened to flip to that channel--but I started crying, anyway. Dang I hate sad movies D:

7. From the Dark Elf Trilogies, when Bruenor pretended to be dead because he wanted to make Drizzt say he'd accompany him to Mithril Hall. I really thought he was going to die and I was so sad D: Then he suddenly sat up and said, "THERE, YOU SAID IT" and I dunno, half of me wanted to kill him and the other half of me was super relieved. (Note to readers: if any of you try to pull this kind of trick on me, I swear, I will bury you so deep in the ground the heat from the Earth's core will scorch your sorry ass, and then you really will be dead.)

8. From the Trilogies again, when Zak died. Okay I was actually sort of sad, but it was an honorable death (if you don't mind being killed by your wife and your daughters) and it was for the safety of his only son. It was so selfless on his part and I thought it was kind of ironic coming from a dark elf, but there you go. I was happy when Drizzt dropped the flash bomb on his mother and sisters, yelled, FAREWELL, LOSERS (well, no, he didn't, but it was words to that effect) and went off to live the life his father had always wanted but never dared to live. But I still want Zak back D:


9. From 2009 Feb/March, when a particular someone completely surprised me with his sensitivity and kindness (sorry Linus, I'm uh talking about someone else...but that's not to say that you're not sensitive and kind!). It was great having lunch with the two of you even though I didn't really know you (and please, I still owe you okay, not the other way round, so get over it!). They decided to go to a food place I was familiar with because I said I didn't know how to get back to school from the place they'd initially planned to go to. They changed course in, I dunno, two seconds? Thanks (:

10. When Pei Yu from KC burst into tears after someone swung her way too high on a swing. I would have preferred it if she hadn't cried at all--no one likes watching little kids cry, except maybe those crazy WWII Hitler people--but the way she clung on to me and refused to let go kind of jiggled my heart a little (heh...it sounds funny when you put it in a sentence. Wonder why it sounds okay when you put it in a title?).

So now you know what a loser I am--having a heart that get jiggled by stuff from books and shows and movies. But wait till you see the next list... (:

Jennifer has too many funny things going on in her life, she has to have a whole new list:

Top 10 Things That Make Me Laugh Till I Cry

1. (and currently the top-rated event) Regina's "Tell me more. Tell...me...more...BU YAO ZOU!" AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAA

2. Regina's SMS: "I'm comin' for you turkey!" I suppose it was because I'd SMS-ed her with "Where are you bao!" She likes to respond in kind...so don't hug her.

3. Fei Ya's "ACHOO ACHOO ACHOO...pwah." Oh, man, Fei Ya. You're hilarious. (why does Fei Ya sound like a happy alpaca!) (And second to this is Pamela's sneeze: "meep!")

4. Stella's thing about hyperventilating in Thai Noodle House. I can't remember what it was about...but I know it was hilarious. (Again, this is to Regina's credit). It was about Regina pulling Jennifer's chair towards her, announcing "I've got a fish! It's really big and heavy!". And when Jennifer started laughing really hard, Regina went "the fish is hyperventilating!" which just made us laugh even more.

5. Zhenglaoshi's "wo hui ba ni sa diao ah!" We're all still here, so...

6. Katekyo Hitman Reborn. I tell you, it's hilarious. I love Yamamoto's "oh, it's a game. okay!" attitude. I also love Gokudera's undying determination to be the perfect right-hand man (OMG PLEASE THE DYNAMITES HAHAHAHAHA). It's a wonderful way to spend your holidays: afternoons filled with baseball bats, dynamites, yo-yos, dying-will bullets, sponge turtles (don't ask) and cooking that's so bad it'll kill you. No, really.

7. Ouran High. People grow mushrooms in the background (literally) whenever they fall into depression. Need I say more?

8. Pamela's hypothesis A: "Shakespeare was Buddhist?!"
Pamela's hypothesis B: "Malcolm is gay?!"

9. That episode in Fullmetal Panic, when Sousuke tried to do Japanese Literature and couldn't help but take everything literally (and militarily). "The frog jumped into the pond and made ripples in the water. So? Does it have anything to do with the mission?" And the conversation between him and Kaname that happened in probably about three seconds:
K: "You go look for him. NOW!'
S: "Roger!" (runs off to Staff Room)
S: (returns) "I went to look for him!"
K: "How was it?"
S: "He wasn't there!"
K: (WHACK)

Three seconds.

10. That moment in Midori Days, when the guy's best friend bounced up to him and yelled "MAN YOU'RE AWESOME WORD'S GOING ROUND THAT YOU SMASHED YOUR FIST INTO THAT GANGSTER'S CAR AND TOTALLY DESTROYED HIS CAR BONNET". Then the guy bolted to his feet and smashed his fist onto the desk and yelled back "DO YOU THINK I COULD DO THAT?!"

Being able to laugh is a blessing. SO LAUGH! :D