Update XIV: Reboot

I'm in the school library, and it's cold. For a while I even thought my pants were wet (they're not). I'm waiting on my Final Year Project team members, who are currently late and can only get later. Since there's nothing much else to do, we have a blog entry.

My computer Orpheus has been sick over the past few days, down with a little nasty it picked up from BZP which apparently allows other viruses in. (We don't recommend that you go there right now with Internet Explorer. The exploit is still there - I'd have gotten it again, only my new Spybot-S&D Resident caught the registry change and stopped it. Firefox is apparently immune, so no worries if you use it.) Of course, this just had to happen when I was in the middle of writing my FYP report.

Well, Orpheus is back now, and healthier. I think he needed the reformat anyway, but I could have done without having to painfully get back all the programs, drivers, security updates and whatnot. The IT Helpdesk never reinstalls things the same way twice, and I'm still missing the Chinese language pack. Graagh.

Enough whining from me. It is, after all, the day after Boxing Day, which in actual fact has nothing to do with the sport, but with boxes. And this has been a nice Christmas season for me. My mother made her trademark French-style roast chicken, there was much pudding with custard, and I got to catch up with old friends. Also, my father gave me a wrapped present.

It was a Cornetto. He is very lame sometimes.

I have two shout-outs, which coincide with the two restaurants I had the opportunity to visit this holiday season. One is for Marché, a nice little restaurant in Vivocity (there may be more outlets, but I'm only aware of this one). The restaurant is market-style, with stalls in the middle and the dining tables around the edges. At the entrance you are given a card; you then walk around the stalls picking out what you want to eat. The food is prepared right in front of you, the chef at the stall swipes your card, and you only pay at the end when you leave. The prices are reasonable, the food is very, very good and you have the assurance that nothing shady happened to it during preparation. The interior decoration has a homely, countryside-esque aesthetic, so the atmosphere is very cosy. It's a great place, and the only drawback is that it's in Vivocity which is navigational hell. If you don't mind overcrowded mazes, Marché is worth checking out.

The other is DÔME Café, where D3 went for lunch yesterday. The food is also superb in general, though we did agree that pizza is clearly not their speciality. Nevertheless the sandwiches seemed good, and they make a heavenly tiramisu. But what really impressed me was the service - the waitresses were genuinely nice to us, and really made us feel welcome. As a MasterCard advertisement would say - priceless.

But now the holiday season is behind us, and it's time for serious work again. So we go back to me, freezing in the overly-empty library, wishing my team members would freaking hurry up so we can get started on our project poster, typing up a blog entry on stolen time.

I could really do with a sandwich.

Converging to a Point

The hurdles are overcome, one by one. I went for my medical check-up today, and though I don't know how my chest X-ray went, the rest of it was fine. The tuition grant business also seems to be more or less settled. New passport is ready for collection. All I need are my IELTS results, and I'm ready to fly off.

Well, not entirely ready, but all that remains would be insignificant details like sorting out what to take and saying goodbye to everything I've ever known. The easy stuff.

(I realise that the rule is "sarcasm does not translate over the internet". So to clarify, that was sarcasm. Thank you and have a nice day.)

Oh, and I finished my Christmas shopping. While staying within budget. This is an amazing thing which may never happen again.

So I'm calm now. It's not going to last, but I've found my centre for the time being.

Take care.

Hady Mirza Wins Asian Idol

The news should be all over Singapore by now, but for anyone disconnected from reality... The second Singapore Idol, Hady Mirza, won the first Asian Idol contest last night. Read all about it here.

So my classmates were actually discussing this about last week, and the consensus seemed to be he'd be voted out at the earliest opportunity. Long years of participating in contests, and failing to get anywhere in said contests, has convinced the general populace that Singapore Never Wins.

Singapore won last night. It's actually won several times in the past, but apparently no one was paying attention then. Well, this was front-page news, so pay attention now. Fellow Singaporeans, it's time to start believing in your own country again.

Puffball Fungus

La la la WISHLIST la la la...

1) Anything Bionicle-related (I didn't get any sets again this year... sniff...)
2) Anything car-related
3) Anything shiny (shiny-shiny!)
4) Transformers DVD
5) Chocolate!
6) Universal peace and love

I doubt I'm getting the last one. It's kinda expensive.

Mandatory disclaimer - the above list is only for those who are out of ideas. Y'all know that you have the habit of getting me stuff I didn't even know I wanted. Actually, as long as it's from you guys I'll treasure it anyway, simply because it's something you picked out with me in mind.

Right, I think we've reached our daily sap quota around here. Moving on...

Mariem, you're the only one left who hasn't compiled a wishlist now. HA! Fortunately I know just what to get for you.

Also, I'll make chocolate lava cake if I can possibly manage it (i.e. it doesn't harden into regular cake). Let me know what's happening with the annual meeting, 'kay?

Before I go, I believe a puffball fungus was promised. Here's one, courtesy of Google image search:

(Image originally from here.)

Peace out.