Somewhere, over the rainbow, way up high.
There's a land that I heard of Once in a lullaby.
Somewhere, over the rainbow, skies are blue.
And the dreams that you dare to dream
Really do come true.
Really do come true.
--
i predict that this will be a really long entry.. hopefully not a dry one tho. *crosses fingers*
i guess there'd be a thunderstorm coming a lil later.. awesome stuff. i love the rain when im not out. LOL. but i think my mood will be somewhat affected by the looming storm (haha).. well, let's hope not for the worse yeah. am feelin a lil weird now.. and a throbbing headache does not compliment this sorta weird mood.
but i had a great day today.. played squash with shirong in the afternoon today. donkz, my boss loaned us a REALLY oldschool racket. the face of the racket is like half the size of current ones.. and it's so ugly.. HAHA. we kept laughing at it.. tho he said that only those who have standard will use it. hurhur. indeed. it was quite hard to hit. u guys should check it out.. it's really ANCIENT.
well, i just returned home from a buffet at Ritz Carlton Hotel. boss' treat for the tutors.. yeah i know, he's really generous right?! but anw, it's non-stop-laughter with him around.. cus the comments he makes are really hilarious and i would say, something we could relate to, i.e uniquely singaporean. haha. i guess that's another story for another day, no? but the part he mentioned about foreigners not being able to understand the singaporean slang is something that really stands out. he was telling us a story that goes sth like:
foreigner: so what is the brand of the car that you drive?
boss: mercedes (pronounced the typical singaporean way, mer-ser-dis)
foreigner: ????? oh? what's that?
boss: huh?! u dont know mercedes? *goes on to describe the logo of mercedes* (there.. the circle with triangles that one!! OMG LOL)
foreigner: oooohhhhh. mercedes (pronounced mer-seh-diz) eh?
and another situation,
singaporean: do you sell bananas? (ba-nah-nahs)
foreigner: ????? ohhhhh, u mean bananas? (ba-neh-nahs)
****
boss: imagine slanging in the non-singaporean way to a singaporean fruit seller.
shirong and i: *burst out laughing*
HAHA.. the way he said it was a hundred times more amusing than this.. and tho it might seem like a light-hearted joke, in the midst of all that humour, there's something worth noting - that is, you can never be complacent with your language. maybe it isnt very obvious in the singaporean context - sure, u may have the ability blow people's mind away with your bombastic words or your accent. but dont forget, more often than not, you are conversing with people who have been exposed to your culture for at least half, if not all of their lifetime. they are used to such intonation. so, as long as you do not use excessive singlish, or have near perfect grammar.. or even merely talking in a pleasant way, u will pass off as someone being above the average.
however, it's a totally different ball game when you try to communicate with people who have no idea what singaporean culture is like. for me, i can honestly say that i've never really doubted my standard of english, cus it's a medium for conversation since school started, and even more so in my last 2 years of jc. so i was kinda shocked when the aussies had to get me to repeat my sentence 2 or 3 times to catch what i was saying..
so in my opinion, while it is perfectly fine to engage ur daily chats with the use of singlish, one must learn how to switch back to standard english if need be. keep the 'lors' and the 'lahs' to yourself, it does not add meaning to the statement. to some, speaking perfect english might be an attempt in trying to act classy or being pretentious. but for me, it's just a lifeskill one ought to learn - both for communicative purposes and simply cus you should speak a language it's meant to be used.
hmm. then throughout the course of our dinner, my boss brought up some other issues which were really thought provoking, while others just drop dead funny. HAHA. he should be a comedian. honestly. lol. then he told us that he encourages us to go for fortune telling.. cus it's really accurate. i guess it would be kinda interesting, and in a way, it would probably give us a sense of control or security to have some knowledge of your future. but what if u find out that ur odds are less than favourable. would it depress you so much that it takes away ur confidence, causing everything to spiral into nothingness? would the failures then be considered a result of a self fufilling prophecy?
so anw anw, realised i havent commented anything on the food and ambience. well, of course the ambience is fantastic, it's a six star hotel.. everything is really grand, even the washrooms! oh my.. haha. but then i think the variety of food isnt really there. they're nice, but i want more! HAHA. oops. but it was an eyeopener for me to say the least.. haha.
yawns.. am feelin pretty tired now. an hour has passed but the weather is still.. non-rainy. gahh. guess i wont be able to sleep in paradise tonight. HAHA. 's alright ba.. it's just as well. mmmm.. shall go off now i guess. bored.. haha. yawnnss.. ciao~
it sucks that i'm finding it so hard to talk to you these days. just what on earth happened?
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