Brand New Day

Hey all.

Well, tomorrow's a big day since it's the HELP Academy orientation. Yes, I am going to HELP for A-Levels. Sweet. Anyway, I've got to stop staying up late (by late I mean till past midnight) and get some early shut-eye tonight because the orientation's starting at 8.00am and I have to be there before that. Don't worry, it's not strictly in the schedule that you have to be there before eight, but I'm a bit paranoid.

And I'm trying to perfect my posture. Lately, my holidays comprise of me hunching over my laptop (which I'm on practically 24/7. Bad, I know) and I know I don't exactly have the best posture but it really hit me when I realised I was hunching so bad till my face was two inches away from the screen. So I've made up my mind to sit straight. Feel free to berate me if you see me hunching.

The good news: Good posture. Bad news: It bloody hurts my back. It's like you've been huncing so long it feels painful to sit up straight again because the weight of your head is completely on your spine again, and it's agony. But the funny thing is, when I try to hunch back, I am forced to sit up straight again. Mainly because it feels weird to hunch when all my weight is focused on my spine after so long.

So, I'm planning to buy some new trainers (read: sport shoes. They call them trainers in England though) cause now I only have one good pair and one not-so-good pair which I will not wear to college and I can't stand the idea of wearing the same pair of shoes consistently for a week without break. It's bad for your feet. And don't tell me to wear sandals or slippers because 1. If something bad happens (hey, the world's not safe anymore) I'd like to wear something I can run in and not have that annoying slapping sound when I do and 2. I'd be walking around the whole day to get to classes and all. Might as well get comfortable.

Besides that, I'm planning to go stationery shopping for a good, durable notebook. I've got 3, but I have a feeling that my purple notebook is falling apart even though it's got about half left. When I say falling apart I mean the only thing keeping it all together are strips after strips of cellophane tape (which, for some reason, I affectionately call "Spellotape" just like Lou) Really. I have no idea what happened to the binding. One day it was fine, the next day the whole book split from its cover. The second notebook I have is a dark blue one I got from a college amnd haven't used yet, but I doubt it be appropriate to show up at HELP's orientation using a KDU notebook. The third one I have is an IDP Australian notebook they gave us when they wanted us to sign up for IELTS but I dunno. I have an aversion to it.

Yes, I realise I'm being picky over something like a notebook, but I firmly believe that taste is everything. Don't buy something just because your friend has it, or because it's the new thing in town, but buy it only if you really like it. Taste is a way of defining one's self. I got that from a book.

It's weird though. Before I read that book I was the type who'd buy stuff just 'cause my sister has it or because my friend has it or maybe it was the latest thing in town but after reading that, I've started limiting myself to buy only what I really liked.

Like pens. All my pens must fulfill certain conditions.

1. The ink must be dark enough to be seen clearly but not so dark that it will stain my books.

2. The nib of the pen must be just right. Sharp and clean, not thick and dirty. Some of you may have noticed that I obsessively clean the nib of all my pens (especially my G1s) before I use them. And clean obsessively a few times if it's not clean enough. I like my words to look sharp and neat without smudges.

3. Must be smooth to write with. As a writer I tend to mentally narrate things in my head. Including mundane facts and details. I have this habit that manifests frequently where, if I'm watching a movie or something, I tend to third-person describe it in my head. Like, in Merlin, when Morgana was fighting a mercenary in The Moment of Truth, my head goes, Swinging the sword in a wide arc above her head, Morgana slashed the mercenary just below his chest, her fury manisfesting itself in a deep, red gash across his torso. Some of my favourites include Her slender fingers dancing across the keyboard as she typed it out and The pen gliding across the paper in a smooth motion. See the smoothness of the action and the way it flows together? Haha, crapping, but yes, it would totally kill the mood to have such a great scene in your head and when you try to put it to paper, your pen screws up. The mood's gone. Bugger.

4. Preferably it's not a retractable pen. You know, the type where you click the top and the nib comes out from the bottom. I've come to the conclusion that most ball point pens (for me) are of quite cheap standard and their ink is not dark enough/the nib is too thick and makes my words look miserably horrific. Besides, I get buggering annoyed when someone keeps clicking their pen repeatedly. Click-click. Click-click. Click-click. I feel like murdering myself.

Or at the very least, snatch the pen from the annoyance in question and jamming it through his throat like a shish-kebab.

People like YOU are the reason why people like ME need medication.

After experimenting with blah a lot of pens, I've narrowed it down to 3 types: the G-1 0.5 Gel pen which I'm currently using throughout my whole school life, the Faber-Castell 0.7 Fine SS7 ballpoint pen (even though I'm used to 0.5, I fell in love when the pen when I first used it) and a particular G-Soft pen that I received as a gift from the EdBoard. Forgot the brand but it was bloody smooth.

What else? Ooh, I managed to download Morgane by Jacqui McShee thanks to this Youtube to Mp3 converter I downloaded for free! If you want to hear the song, it's in one of the notes on my Facebook profile so look me up and click on notes OK? The link's all there. It's genius. It's from Excalibur The Celtic Rock Opera and it took me a bugger long time to search and realise I can't download it. Hence, the converter. It's all from Morgane's (Morgana's) POV and it tells about her feelings against Camelot and her half-brother, Arthur Pendragon.

I have a huge obsession with stationery. You could leave me in a shop like Popular and I'd go balistic at the pens and pencils and all the yummy notebooks. Yes, I'd like a spiral-bound notebook with separators that have pockets in them (keep notes and leaflets very well) as well as a nice, attractive cover on the front that screams my name whenever you see it. Well, not literally scream my name (that would be cool though) but just that when you see it, you'll know it's mine because no one else can pull off such an insanely-looking but cool notebook except me. Yes, bragging rights here.

Anyway, I'll probably be seeing Erina and Lou at HELP, not to mention Ivan and Hui Ying (was it?) who won the SASA scholarship. As well as this fella nicknamed Batman whom I'm anxious to meet in person...At least I got all my payments and everything done. Even had my student ID done when I was there before Christmas.

So, you people who read my blog, keep in touch with me, leave a note in my cbox, and just generally tell me stuff about your lives.

Cheers.