Erwin says my ad doesn't make sense without the word "play" and Himanshu said I stole the idea. (I half-suspected that this idea has been used before cos the henna painting ritual has so much potential to be tapped into.) Click on the photo to look at it close-up.



For you non-Indians, henna, or mehndi painting is done during weddings, special events and any day you feel like a temporary tattoo. For bridal henna, the groom's name will be hidden somewhere in the design. On the wedding night, the bride will ask her new husband to find his hidden name. If he does not find it, he can't go to bed with her. Of course this is all just for fun now.
Abhilash means Desire. hehehe.

They call a thumbdrive a "pendrive" here. I shall not be forced to use such senseless names just because they call it that HERE. Erwin created a poster for my Fight Against The "Pendrive".



Himanshu has been trying to explain that it's called a pendrive because it transfers data, just like how a pen transfers data from your mind to the paper.
BULLSHIT. BULLSHIT!

Every piece of the Shioker is custom made to your liking.
Pink fur? Old leather? Sleek platinum? It's your choice.
The technology used to construct this piece of magic works along the same lines as the science of teleportation. Basically the Shioker contains all the elements found on earth and every possible combination and permutation of atom/particle. (Facts might not be accurate. Non-science people are excused from getting such facts right.) All you need to do is speak into the in-built mic and wait a few nanoseconds for the Shioker to encode the information and replicate the item of your desire with it's inexhaustible supply of atoms.
Your wish is its command.
Feeling low today? You can ask for jokes and laughter.
Caught in the morning jam along the CBD again? Ask for a pair of wings to fly to work.
Cigarette taxes are rising. Why not ask for a never-ending fag?
Three days to prom and you haven't found a date. Who says you can't ask for the perfect guy?
The possiblities are endless.

Create Your Imagination.
SHIOK SIA!

Yesterday was the second day of the CCC module "Creative Search Engines" and our day was spent doing the following:
1. Folding paper planes and competed on whose could fly the furthest
2. Pepsi-cola (primary school game where you have to step on each others' feet)
3. Dog and bone
4. Told stories of mischievous adventures from our childhood
5. Treasure hunt where we had to go around shooting suitable photos to suit given themes like 'wastage', 'luxury', 'khallas'(meaning 'the ultimate') etc

All in the name of creativity. I'm not complaining. One thing about the class is that everyone seems to be so encouraging, to the point where it's sickeningly sweet. "TOO good man" is one phrase that's thrown about wantonly that it's impossible to get a judgement on whether your work truly deserves the accolade it gets. Ego aside, but one is inclined to believe that they really do think that highly of each others' work...although honestly it's not mind-blowing, at this stage at least. The teacher is very sweet, he never fails to say "very well done" after each presentation, and in a genuine way too.

Later in the evening Erwin decided that he had enough of sticking-out-hair in the morning so we set up a barber shop in the Silveroak male toilet and gave him a new do.

Before. I don't know why he was so bothered with his hair that he'd risk a disaster. Despite my warnings that my only experience in shaving/cutting was on a persian cat, he decided to go ahead. Note the nervous smile.



That's Bertie's shaver which he brought from France because he shaves his own hair on a regular basis cos haircuts are expensive in France. Erwin explaining to the expert the cut he wanted.





I could go into hairdressing if all else fails.







A satisfied customer.



Hehehe...can't believe we did it.

Tale as old as time
True as it can be
Barely even friends
Then somebody bends
Unexpectedly...







Awwwwwww.....must I spoil it by writing a 3000 word essay which will break down the metaphors in the story to reach the conclusion that Walt Disney films are all male-centric and the women are all eroticized?

3 minutes later.


While the rest of the class had WTH screamed across their faces.

(cuts wrists.)

For an assignment for our copywriting class we were supposed to write down a list of 5 products or services that we absolutely hate then rank them. We were then required to conceptualize a single ad or an ad campaign to sell the top most hated in the list. My most hated was show-offs but I decided to do a print ad on my number three: mess food.



It's the top view of a metal mess tray with lovely eatables from the mess. 'Surprises' because you never know what you're gonna get until you get it. And once you get it, you don't know what the hell you're eating.

We had an assignment just now to write out, in less than 100 words, what we would say to a dude who is standing at the parapet and about to jump to his death. It is a given a fact that he WILL jump. We had to write from the point of view of a friend who doesn't know him very well and just happened to look for him to return a borrowed book. This is what I wrote:

Singaporean Version (i.e both people on 20th storey of HDB flat) - In Singlish, cannot be translated

Eh Beng ah! Wassup man! You jumping ah?? SHEEEEEEEEET. Eh not my fault ah! I oni wan to return your book. You know you jump sure mati right? If dun mati must go hospital leh. Your mudder already have to give tuition 5 time a week you tink got mahney for doctor issit? Vely ex leh! Summore polyclinic queue damn long, you sure mati before you see doctor. Wah piang eh, then your girrfriend how? Wheeweet (wolf whistles). I take can not? Eh Beng ah! Behind got naked woman! See See! Hurry, she going already! Walau eh, shiok man!


So what if 3/4 of the class didn't get it??
So what if I looked like a retard spewing Singlish to an audience of three?
It's worth it man! Cos...

SINGAPORE ONE, INDIA NIL.
MAJULAH SINGAPURA.

SINGAPORE ROCKS.
I LOVE SINGAPORE.
SINGAPORE IS THE BEST COUNTRY IN THE WORLD.

WOOOOHOOOOOOOOO.

I've just had the single most freaky experience since coming here, involving tarot cards and chai.

Information is for me and me alone so I better not talk about it here.

What is India throwing at me?

Just came back from the city with Kash and Champa boys Pranjal, Rishit and Himanshu (aka Mr Bean cos he bears an uncanny resemblance to the character). *Champa boys-CCC guys, who stay in Champa hostel. Watched my second Hindi movie without subtitles - Mithya. It's about some dude who looks like the head gangster of a gang so he is kidnapped by the rival gang and made to pose as the head gangster to spy on the other gang. I'm too lazy to phrase that in a clearer manner.

Anyway, we ate lunch at SUBWAYYYYYYYYYYY and I got my tuna sandwich set meal inclusive of drink plus cookie for a total of.................RS90 (=$3.50) heehee. I love franchises cos the look and feel when you step into an outlet anywhere in the world is the same. And for a moment you forget that you're in a totally different time zone. It was nice : )

The CCCs are already through one week(?) of ragging, which lasts a total of 15 days. Bertie made a good point about how it doesn't make sense that you get ragged for half a month when you're only in this school for 6 months. Ragging or "orientation" here means you have to abide by silly rules thorughout the day like having 6 ponytails in your hair, wearing only formal clothes to mess, not looking your seniors directly in their eyes, lights-out at 10pm, calling Roxy (PAT's dog, PAT is the Director) "Sir Roxy", not talking to girls (for guys) and not talking to guys (for girls), among other restrictions. These rules apply throughout the ENTIRE DAY for 15 days so you can imagine the hell these guys are going through.

I just think it's the whole idea of being trapped on a campus that is in the middle of nowhere (as seen on Google Earth) that causes these MICAns to repress their inner evil-ness, which they then let out on the newbies during "orientation".

At around 1am every night the CCCs will have to play puppets to the seniors who exercise their creativity in coming up with activities for them to perform. It's all very strange because you see the guys suppressing their laughter while being shouted at to do stupid things.

Listen out for a really scary-sounding laugh in the beginning of this clip. It belongs to a fat senior girl who only knows how to call people vulgar names and says the most awkward things.


Here they are being shouted at...


I'm so glad we're Singaporean and hence with the implication that practicality runs in our blood, we don't waste such talents in torturing people on orientation.

It is starting to feel more like an extended holiday now that we've dropped several PGP courses cos we discovered that we've got our backs covered with (much more interesting) CCC modules. The weather has taken a sudden turn for the better i.e. familiar warmth during the day, cool relief at night. I've got 13 Beatles albums in my iTunes, ripped movies in my laptop, a Narayan novel, Ronin by Frank Miller, good stuff from Mr Bean conveniently stored in Erwin's hard drive, and lots of free time.

If not for the two 3000 word essays we have to do (of which i hope the teacher will magically forget about)...
Life is pretty good now.

Leigh and Marine are going to a newly opened beauty parlour/salon at Iscon Mall tomorrow for some pampering. Threading there costs about 80 cents O_o Was thinking of highlighting my hair cos I assumed it would be cheap. But in usual unexplainable fashion here, it would cost about S$90, which is the same price as highlighting with organic dye back home.

We had fish at Micafe yesterday. We could do with more surprise bursts of enterprise to introduce "special" dishes, even without any special occasion. It was probably the fourth time in my 1.5 months here where I had seafood. I fully blame the lack of seafood for my comparatively slower reaction time and complete inability to get down to doing any work. As they say, Seafood is Brainfood.

Long overdue photos from the Heritage Walk of Ahmedabad which we went for on 2nd Feb...

















Missing home.

happy?
(he keeps bugging me for acknowledgement.)

Oh crap, first there was Birkenstocks.
Then came Havaianas.
And now it's........
HERMES SCARVES.
Die.




I so need one to function properly.
NEED.ONE.NOW.

I love you because when I burp, you reply with a fart.

Ok, that was the best I could do cos we were forced to come up with something since everyone's in the Valentines' Mood.

After a fruitless session of Services Marketing with the PGP students, we had Transcreativity withdrawal syndrome so we decided to pop by the Mac lab to look for the CCC bunch. We were just in time for this V day assignment.

Well, anyway, Happy Valentines' Day..Friendship Day, whatever.

Today we had Transcreativity Day 4.

First up we had a fluffy session on dream analysis, of which the supposed expert's credibility immediately dropped once he cited Freud. Then he started talking about what symbols in dreams represent and I had another session of uncontrollable giggles from the absurdity of it all. Tell me how not to laugh when he goes on about how a pendulum in a dream represents a rhythmic sexual act, how falling represents castration and how fountains represent the female vagina. If you dream about clocks you are one perverted soul cos the number
'1' represents a penis
'2' represents an anus
'3' represents the male genitalia
'4' represents the female genitalia
'5' I dunno
'6' represents castration
'7' a limp penis
'8' are breasts
and '9' is castration yet again.

It was so illogical that when he asked us to guess what it means when we dream of twins, Erwin immediately shouted "BREASTS!" which would have been fine as long as someone "credible" legitimizes the association.

Excellent stuff, luckily I'm not in a line where I have to deal with numbers all the time cos I'll never be able to see a 7 as a 7 ever again.

The day was saved with the session on computer-aided palmistry later on. A PALMISTRY EXPERT who is an ENGINEER, who specialises in CAREER GUIDANCE (confused people) came in to talk about his field of specialisation and to give each of us individual palm readings.

I found the palm reading eerily right on the dot. He talked about my past, my future and my personality. I found out that I have the same palm line patterns as the cricket captain of India. Haha, wouldn't hurt if I try out cricket here I suppose. I would do very well in business with an art direction, like in advertising. He guessed that my father was in business, when I said he is an architect he said: "YOU SHOULD HAVE GONE TO ARCHITECTURE. YOU WOULD HAVE DONE VERY WELL." Hah! Not when I have to pay for my own school fees though. He went on to say that I am very logical and I should write down my thoughts cos I have an excellent thought process. He said I have great potential but I'm lazy (so true) and I take my ideas lightly. I need acknowledgement or some sort of push to really take flight. Things will get better after the age of 26, and he guessed exactly that I was 21, which was amazing to me considering that I JUST turned 21. Marriage life would be brilliant. The part that really shocked me and made me a firm believer of the art of Palmistry was when he said 2005/2006 were bad years which made me lose direction somewhat. Those were the shit years spent slogging over Physics, Chemistry, Maths C and Economics in dear NJC. Then he said I had a long break after that...the 8 months before uni(!). And he said the past 2 months have been looking good...which is ever since I got here, partly accurate lah.

Great stuff man. Things are starting to look up. Tomorrow we have a puppet show : )

Hello Extra Tender Beef Nuggets : ) BEEF oh sweet beef...

No I haven't been abducted by elephant-riding bandits, thanks for the concern though Eveline. Laziness and frustration with the slow network has put me off blogging and uploading photos all this while.

We're currently taking a course called 'Transcreativity' with the new batch of CCC* people, who are somewhat like the ADM of MICA. The course is a welcomed relief from all the hardcore business modules and directionless electives that we're ploughing through with the PGP** gang.

*CCC - Crafting Creative Communications. This is an intensive 6-month course that MICA offers to outsiders that focuses on print and broadcast advertising. The current batch consists of around 20 people who have just moved into campus 3/4 days ago. I've learnt today that it is very scary and dangerous to play frisbee with the CCC guys.
**PGP - Post Graduate Program. This is what the main bulk of the students are here for.

The aim of the workshop is to help us get in touch with our hidden creativity, i suppose. So we spent CNY watching a traditional Indian dance demonstration and a magic show. Absurd as it sounds (like almost everything here), I'm not complaining because I'm getting two free AUs to BE INSPIRED.

The best dancer from the whole troupe was Korean. She has spent the last four years studying traditional Indian dance in India. There was a dude on drums who looked like Vivian Balakrishnan, as in the MP.


Magic show


Martial arts


Traditional indian music. That's the auditorium we're in. There are cushions for everyone to sit on instead of seats with attached tables. Anyway the drawing that Erwin is holding up is his caricature of Kash, which made Romain and I laugh uncontrollably...not a good thing when there's a performance and less than 25 people are in the auditorium.


CNY eve was spent at Mirch Masala, where I could get MEAT. We treated the Frenchies and Harshal to reunion dinner - great cheese naan and chicken, chicken and more chicken. Leigh has the group photo of all of us but I'm too lazy to walk over to get it from her so this is the only thing I have...

Crazy Kash


Leigh's friend sent over a package with CNY goodies and it arrived just on time. Notice the look of glee on her face.



I apologise for the shoddy write-up about what has happened ever since the Udaipur trip. I have photos in my camera of stuff that we did but I haven't gotten around to upload them. Free time is spent either playing frisbee, playing badi (badminton), or snacking at Micafe. I haven't been healthier since the last time I had PE lessons.

Til the next time I force myself to blog, adios.

It is 3.30am and I'm holed up in my room (what's new?) in an attempt to escape from the chaos that is going on at Chhorta now. Today and tomorrow are the Alumni Meet days when old students are invited back for I have no idea what else other than to take their pick on nubile bodies of the current batch.

Something that I suppose resembles a disco club has been set up in the area around Chhorta and people are now going crazy shaking their booties to bad techno music and migraine-inducing green laser lights. During the short time I was hanging around, I saw things I'm not supposed to see and I saw things I didn't exactly want to see. All in great fun though...laughing with Erwin at the stupid things people with too much alcohol in their system do under the cover of darkness and collective escapism. Made me realise that I'm gonna save so much money because clubbing will never, can never, be something I'll ever crave for. Why the addiction for some, I can never understand.

Ok, my eyes can't stay open. I'm so tired that I'll have no trouble sleeping despite pounding music that'll probably go on for a few more hours. I wonder how much people will regret their activities of tonight by the time the sun rises.