The Rawpinions Weblog

I was chatting with my sister online at around 4pm when she sent me a link about an earthquake that happened after 2pm somewhere in central China. Read more about the earthquake here because this blog is not a news blog *rolls eyes*.

If it’s one thing I’ve learnt in the Philippines, it’s that you should seek cover (like under a table) when there’s an earthquake happening. A few minutes ago in the news, it said that if you’re in a really tall building (in Shanghai) the best thing to do is to stay inside the building because it’s meant to be able to sustain a 7.0-magnitude quake. Also, Shanghai is not on any earthquake belts so there shouldn’t be anything to worry about. ICS news then added that the taller buildings in Shanghai are a lot safer to be in during an earthquake than the smaller buildings (like my dorm?). Just great…as if I’m not hated enough already.

I just found yet another one of my pet-peeves: someone calling me “sis” or “sister”. After this post, I’m going to try to Google-search people who might be feeling the same way, if any…because it is a weird pet peeve.

It bothers me when either my male or female friends call me that. My own biological sisters don’t even call me that, so why should other people?

The reason one of my close female friends call me “sis” is because, according to her I’m the sister she never had. So instead of calling me ‘buddy’, ‘pal’ or anything that sounds like she’s talking to her dog, she calls me “sis”. I totally understand her reasons, but somehow it still bothers me big time. I can’t really tell her not to call me that, because she’s going to sulk and get all sensitive about it.

Even more horrible is when guys call me that. It’s just a word that has never been in my non-existent culture. So the word only has one meaning to me and that’s “female sibling”, of which I have two.

The ultimate worst however, is when a guy - a steaming hot guy, calls me “sister”. It’s as immoral as incest-ism.

It’s a few minutes past 6am and I am awake having breakfast (waffle biscuits and tea). After about 3 weeks of a ‘normal’ schedule, I’ve successfully screwed up my efforts: I didn’t go to bed last night. I spent yesterday morning at an online auction and I’ve spent the last few hours domaining. That’s because I barely had time to domain this week for secret reasons. *Rolls eyes*

I’ve just realized that it’s been about 2 months since the last time I went on a night out with friends, and well over 6 months since the last time I got effin’ drunk. Wow, what an achievement. Which reminds me, I still owe one of my friends an apology because we were supposed to hang out at some club a few weeks ago and at around 1am I told him that I had changed my mind. Since then he hasn’t spoken to me and it only hit me the other day that he might have taken that whole issue personally. I have to do some major arse-kissing…*sigh* Thank goodness I know how to be killer-adorable when needed.

The day before yesterday, I had the oddest dream. I dreamt that the last dog I had was in my room, sleeping on my bed and I was talking to him; I was hugging him and telling him how much I cared about him and all of a sudden I was downstairs with the security guards, and exclaimed (in English) “I don’t give a rat’s ass what you think, I pay rent, I pay my bills {my dog} is going to stay in my room, period”.

That’s just so weird, but my guess is that he was in my dream because a few hours before I went to bed that night I was playing Monopoly and I chose the dog as my marker. I spent all day yesterday down and depressed (once or twice a year, my PMS symptoms will include a bout of depression).

Worst of all, one of my friends told me some horrible news via sms and I wasn’t sure about how to ‘comfort’ her so I sent a “sorry” and that was it. If it’s something that I’m known for, it’s saying the wrong things at the worst times. You’d think my ‘friends’ ought to know that by now.

I have to start listing down the people I owe apologies to.

I haven’t watched the latest episode of American Idol but after reading the latest news online, I know who was voted off this week: Jason Castro - and thank goodness! Was he drunk this week? What was up with him when he sang the Bob Marley song? He didn’t take that song (’I Shot the Sherrif’) and made it his own: he just gave out a bad Bob Marley impersonation. What was he thinking?

Like I said, it was just a matter of time for Jason to leave the show. I said it on numerous posts, namely here and here…and you guys thought I was wrong? LOL! I may sound like a complete nut case half the time, but I do have an idea of what’s just plain bad, period.

I’m glad Sayesha stayed this week, she’s just trying so hard. I do believe she’s got what it takes, and I hated what Randy said about her second song. We’ve heard it all before, Randy: we know you’ve worked closely with Mariah and Whitney…but WTF is your problem, Sayesha can sing. Sure, Mariah and Whitney are divas but they’re not the only women in the world who aren’t tone deaf. Thank goodness Simon behaved that night. Simon, Simon, Simon…if I can only tell you what I’d like to do with you on a mid-summer night…

I’m pretty sure Sayesha will be voted off next week (but you never know). She’s a great singer, but the two Davids are just too popular and they have very strong vocals. Anyway, I’m just glad Jason is out…nothing personal. =/

Almost a year ago (I think it was some time around July), I finally taught myself how to touch-type.  So I’ve spent the past few months touch typing, and practice makes perfect I guess.  There’s a difference in a person’s WPM when their typing something that’s in their head, and when they’re typing something that’s being copied off some place.  So here’s my WPM on the typing test I just took (copying off some text that I’ve never seen before):

There are tons of people who have learned how to touch-type ever since they started using the PC.  Many people I’ve spoken to over the internet have admitted to learning how to touch-type ever since they were kids (before their teens).  They’re even taught how to touch-type at school! So their WPM is at 60+ (no surprise).

I heard that secretaries should have an average of about 60 to 70 WPM.  So it’s only a matter of time for me to be able to add the WPM on my CV just for fun.

Above is just the result for one test, I’ll probably take a few more and then take the mean average as my true WPM.

I’m composing this post on IE8, I was using Firefox a few minutes ago and it just crashed or something.  I don’t trust IE security, my PC always ends up with some sort of virus/malware after using IE.

I’m up (as always)! Woke up at around 5am. If it’s one thing that’ll get me up early morning, it’s a good breakfast. I am having curry mashed potatoes and Tuna in chilli (am.: chili). It’s a very hot meal, in almost every aspect of the word hot (but no, not sexy).

Mashed potatoes (without milk and salt) and tuna in olive oil is one of my favourite combination ever. It’s almost as good as fish and chips (it sort of is like fish and chips but prepared differently). Here in Shanghai, chips are usually categorized as “starters” and the only place I know where ordering chips/fries is a norm is at McDonalds.

So when I’m at a restaurant, I avoid ordering chips as my main course because the person I’m hanging out with might assume I’m on some sort of budget.

I almost forgot that chips is my all-time favourite food, I even like it more than pizza and spaghetti. I’m pretty sure Seychelles adopted the habit from the British, I think people there have this thing for fish and chips as well.

The only fish I eat here in Shanghai is imported Tuna, LOL. They have a thing for river fish here and it’s all full of fish bones.

I really miss the quality fish back home. After a lifetime of big ocean fish from the Indian Ocean , I don’t think anyone would be able to stomach the fish they have here…and I don’t even like to complain about food so I’m just being completely honest.

One thing you might not know about me: I drink a small bottle of Yakult after breakfast everyday (sometimes I drink another bottle after lunch, and sometimes I ‘over do it’ and drink 3 bottles a day). It’s a probiotic drink that helps digestion (among other things) and I used to drink all sorts of Yakult flavours when I was a child in Singapore.

Anyway, I only had a few hours of sleep and I have quite a bit of things to do today so I’ll leave you all to whatever it is you have to do. They’re making us go to class today (Sunday)! Saturday was a weekend so it wasn’t really a public holiday for me..and for a whole lot of other people. They made us believe we’re having a 3-day holiday when we only had one really. Darn clever clogs!

Have a good day!

For weeks now, I’ve been watching ICS for long hours of the day and I swear I heard the Australian tourism commercial saying, “so where the bloody hell are you” right at the end (a girl says it).  Apparently, I was right! According to Wikipedia, the campaign costed 180 million Australian dollars.

Check out the video: www.wherethebloodyhellareyou.com.au

I just got back from Carrefour, I’m feeling very dehydrated (I’m close to switching that aircon on).  So I’m keeping it short tonight.

Oh guess what…I saw a centipede on the streets this evening…! The thin red ones.

Spring moving into summer is probably the worst time in Shanghai - or anywhere abroad if you’ve spent most of your life in Seychelles. When you’re walking on the streets and a cool breeze blows against your face and through your hair, you start to feel very misplaced.

Summer in Shanghai is the absolute worst. Right now, I’m in my room and I can feel the heat burning my skin. Unlike spring time, summer doesn’t come with the cool breeze. For about 2-3 months, it’s like swimming in hot water because from June-August it’s both very hot and humid.

Just 2 weeks ago, I finally switched the heater off and in about a couple of days I’m pretty sure I’m going to have to switch the aircon on. Back home, people don’t really think about the temperature. People just wonder whether it’s going to rain or not, period. It’s amazing how different life is here, and I didn’t keep a blog on my first year so I don’t even remember the little things.

At this point, I do think about missing Shanghai when I eventually have to leave (did I mention how awesome this place is?). I’m anticipating the extreme reverse culture shock I’m going to have to endure when I go back.

There has been numerous changes in Seychelles since I left (according to what I heard):
- Apparently, the buses now use smart cards and people can now choose to pay a little more for the public aircon buses (which did not exist when I was there).
- There’s a new building called Bodco and there’s either a restaurant or a pub somewhere in there, as well as a supermarket.
- The Seychelles rupees is now 8 rupees to the dollar after devaluation. It used to be 5.5688 to the dollar in 2004.
- Mandarin is being taught after class, in some schools (e.g. Plaisance).

That’s pretty much what I can think of right now. No doubt there’s a whole lot more that nobody really bothered to mention.

Seychelles aside, Shanghai’s had a whole bunch of changes too…
- From only 4 metro lines in 2004, there’s now about 9 lines (see? I even lost count!) that stretches all the way from the CBD to Songjiang (what I like to call the outskirts of Shanghai).
- I also noticed this building next to the JinMao Tower…where did come from??? I didn’t see it a couple of months ago, LOL.
- Ooh and language! The first year I got here restaurants couldn’t deal with anything but Mandarin. Now you’ll find English menus all over the place. Small Chinese restaurants will have pictures in their menus, so eating out is not a problem anymore (esp. for people who can’t read characters). This is why my Chinese is actually quite underdeveloped - ‘coz you can actually live here without understanding 90% of the language.
- The staring thing the Chinese used to do at foreigners is a whole lot less obvious than a few years ago. You can’t go to a place and not see a foreigner - so I’m pretty sure the Shanghai residents are already used to seeing weird skin tones that they’re not accustomed to seeing on themselves. So if you’re a foreigner and someone’s staring at you, that person’s probably new to Shanghai…or just very bored.
- The bund thing has changed. They’ve diverted the traffic (something along those lines) so instead of seeing the fab bund view from inside the taxis/buses, it’s a construction area.
- Let’s talk about currency…China’s economic boom is pushing them to constantly undergo currency revaluation. Renminbi is now at 6.9 to the dollar. Back in 2004, a person told me that it was at 8.3 but when I was here on late 2004, I only caught it at around 8.1 to the dollar. Interestingly, someone’s predicting that it’ll reach 5.x by the end of this year. At this point, it’s just better to hold RMB than USD esp. if you’re not doing anything with your cash. LOL. Allowance for Seychellois students have decreased dramatically, esp. because we are sent USD and not RMB. Worst of all, cost of living in Shanghai is also increasing…it’s not even funny.

The other day, I came across an American’s blog where he decided to bad-mouth China because he’s siding with Tibet and their cry for Independence. At that point, I was thinking “how would you guys feel if your states started to demand independence, one by one?”

Today, when I was chatting on MSN Messenger with one of my Sey-buddies I received a China Daily MMS that I subscribed to yesterday. One of the titles caught my attention: “Hawaiian Seeks Independence”. I had to burst out laughing…in fact, we both LOLed.

This is perfect timing for Hawaiians, especially because the Olympic committee had such a hard time dealing with all these Tibet-related sabotage attempts. It makes perfect sense for the US to just let Hawaii go at this point in time. Americans are so good at talking the talk, let’s see them walk the walk.

Related Links:

• Native Hawaiians demand independence from US (Hawaii Telegraph)
  
• Native Hawaiians Blackade Historic Palace (CNN)

I’ve grown to like Sayesha and David Cook more than anyone else over the past few years. I feel Sayesha has really developed her own style and she keeps doing better and better over the weeks. David Cook is very talented but he’s almost too monotonous now, you know what to expect with him: rock…or something loud. Pretty much the reason that got Melinda in trouble last season: great but too monotonous (like surprise me!). I like David Cook because even if he’s predictable, he’s got attitude. He doesn’t seem to accept criticism, but he delivers so there’s nothing wrong with that.

I think Brooke deserved to be voted off this week. Sad because of her likeable personality but she just sang the worst this week. She should have been a bit louder in her singing, LOL. You can’t go wrong when you’re singing really well, and really loud (e.g. Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey).

Jason, Jason, Jason…not surprising that Paula thought he sang two songs after his first song: fact of the matter is, it doesn’t matter how many songs Jason sings - it is all forgettable and it’s all the same thing. If he sang 5 songs it would seem as if he sang 20 (bore me why don’t you?). In Paula’s defense, apparently the judges get to listen in to their rehearsals so Paula probably already heard his version of the second song before his stage performance.

David Archuleta should probably be this season’s American Idol. He’s cute, not my favourite but he’s very deserving. He’s killer-talented, he’s got the looks, personality, pretty much the whole package…and best of all he’s charitable.