Woohoo.. After pretty much 3 years of not blogging I decided it was high time to record some thoughts about the last two crazy days :p
Liestal Fasnacht/Chienbase
Heard about this from Sich since we got here; one of his colleagues or someone one or other told him about how their festival includes burning huge stacks of wood and firefighters are on hand just in case. So I have this picture in my head of some rural countryside town and a procession of wheelbarrows or something stacked with kindling wood. Nothing could be further from reality, it turned out :p
Liestal is a small town northeast of Basel and has a cute little town centre. Admittedly I think we only managed to walk through it on a Sunday or something when most things were closed. The other time we ended up there was for a small Christmas market. Anyway, it gets crazy packed for this event, and people are indeed lining the streets. Prior to arriving, we have been cautioned by multiple people to "wear old clothes" cos embers are flying all over the place and could burn a hole in your clothes. I'm like ?! we have no old winter clothes! We're from Singapore! Anyway.. we managed as best we could and thankfully our clothes escaped damage and destruction :)
First thing we encounter when we get out of the train station is a huge crowd. Well, to be fair, the crowd was already present on the train; we were squished like sardines on the train going there. Anyway, said crowd migrates towards food stalls (your typical wurst aka sausage stands) and a little further down there is a huge band playing. Sich said it reminded him of the Stanford band. I'm like yep, crazy jumping around, a lot of energy, sounds about right! The tuba players have little seals on their tubas! So cute.
After being entertained for a couple of mins we decide to move on. We have also been warned to get there early to get a spot cos the sidewalks fill up quick! I think we were standing there waiting from around 6:20pm to 7:20pm. In the cold! I had trouble feeling my toes at intervals. Then again, that happens somewhat frequently. Anyhow, the lights go out at 7pm promptly. We are like yay!! It's starting! Nope, not quite. The next 20mins or so is spent waiting in the dark (while houses around turn off their lights too). There were a couple of bands entertaining us here and there, but soon they too have to clear off the street. I guess parades don't start on Swiss time (it was supposed to start at 7:15pm but nothing yet).. Or my watch was fast.
Finally we start hearing stuff! Woohoo. I thought it would just kick off straight with all the fire stuff, but it was just a normal parade with the standard Fasnacht piccolo drum combination and head lanterns/bigger lanterns first. Still pretty cool, since I haven't seen any Fasnacht stuff in person yet. Only checked out some videos/pictures online to get a flavour of what to expect.
Soon enough, the fire stuff comes out. Not super impressive at first, people carrying huge brooms (though they do look pretty heavy) lit on fire. But after a while! The big guns come out.. Huge rings of firewood flaming and almost looking like they're going to torch the electric lines overhead! I also realized what people meant about the embers; they really are flying all over the place.
It really seemed like the procession was never ending. After about 40mins or more, I nudged Sich and was like, should we start moving? My idea was actually to go home but Sich wanted to follow the procession. Also, the crowd made it kind of hard to do anything else :p The streets were literally plastered with glowing embers/log bits that had fallen off paraders' broomstick things. Crazy! I'm glad our shoes escaped destruction too, although Sich's shoes did end up with a fine layer of ash on them. Oops.
wow.. i guess it's been a long long time since i updated this blog.
decided i had to jot down some notes about cirque du soleil's totem! since i never got round to doing that for the other shows, although i'm sure i had thoughts about the acts.
sadly, missed the first act. i usually like the trampoline/fast act, whatever they call it. but the last bits that we caught, was not very impressed by. seemed like the carapace made things a bit squeezy. but again, it probably had to do with the fact that we were viewing it from the side and not the front. this is why i would be willing to pay for category 1 seats. but again, these category 2 seats were not bad.. and already totalled almost $100 :( ah well, discount tickets...
umm. hoop dancer. i couldn't figure out if that was supposed to be an act. sort of? filler item? anyway, not very impressed either.
thankfully it got better :p rings trio! it was kind of random though, people dressed in beach clothes read: berms for the guys, showing off their crazy muscles and 6-pecs, and the girl was ridiculously muscular too, quite scary.. i think we found out from the program that she's ukrainian. anyway, the guys were somewhat coordinated i think. although i liked the one nearer us in the orange/yellow outfit than the other guy in blue. seemed like the orange guy was more lithe and acrobatic, haha. stronger. i don't think they were completely in sync though, tsktsk. funky music. oh yes, indie hiphop music. kind of random.
oohh.. good stuff. unicycles and bowl juggling. all asian girls! the requisite all asian act.. lol. usually it's like this or diabolos (tossing these top-like things on strings) or contortion (ooh, haven't seen that in a while..) anyway they were pretty awesome! crazy high unicycles and were tossing bowls (light metal ones) from their feet and catching them on their heads. or tossing them onto other people's heads. crazy!!! really gd coordination. although one of the girls missed once. sometimes i wonder if they purposely throw some mistakes in to remind us they're human. or is it quality lowering, cos the first few cirque shows i watched, i don't recall there being mistakes. or just accidents, which is also possible.
foot juggling! also pretty impressive :) they were twirling these clothes! to make them spin. and i was just marvelling at their coordination.. like, each foot has to spin the cloth.. and then one foot has to be spinning at full speed while the other starts up. i think my feet/hands/brain would get really confused. i unfortunately missed one of the coolest parts though, cos i was trying to take a photo :/ not a gd choice.. to take a photo at that point. cos one girl was balanced on the other and she had both her feet spinning clothes, and somehow they managed to get like 6 (or 8? don't even know if that's possible hm) clothes spinning.. maybe 6. hmm. anyway, was gorgeous :)
perches. business men
it's a pity that when i finally decide to blog again, it's cos i'm in a bad mood. i suppose if i'm in a good mood there isn't much to rant about huh? or it goes into my written diary... e.g. praises for what God has done. the irony. anyway i can't figure out if i'm being PMSy or tired or what it is, but really, I was in such a bad mood today! I think working late last week + on Saturday really made me feel like I'm so done with this stupid report so Monday was kind of unproductive (plus my manager told me I could go home at a decent hour, so I kind of assumed the worst was over - not true). Today at 6:30 he stops by and pretty much tells me I've to stay late (or was assuming that I was going to, whereas I was actually intending on leaving already. More irony). I guess that's why we didn't have to work too much on the weekend.
He was really nice about it though, said to make up for it, if we get an extension I can go home earlier on Friday. I'm like haha... I just got arrowed to audit this other huge report due next Fri, fat chance about leaving at decent hours for the next week or so, it seems. Anyway, was just not very gracious about it in general. Maybe I'm just tired.
God has been good, nevertheless. I did get a nice brunch on Sat and Bobby McFerrin! and hanging out with Selene! and different yummy Vietnamese food + pandan waffle/improv on Fri/finding the hill! But I guess that came with sleep deprivation too so not the most ideal... Ah well, at least there're more waffles coming up this Sat :p and SF Symphony on Sat night! Yeah... maybe that'll motivate me. and I also have to stop stress-eating..
i was just remarking to ser this morning that it's been such a long time since i blogged and she was like ya, you shd blog!
alright that was yesterday as in wed, jan 13.
i have realized that when i don't have deadlines, i tend to slack. a LOT. and be very unmotivated. basically i just wrapped up a case, and the reports were due monday. so the week before i worked late on tues, wed, fri (manager let me off on thurs cos i had tickets to go watch cirque [yay!]), came in on sat and sun. i calculated it was a 70-hr week and have NO idea how i-bankers survive... it really wasn't very fun. anyhow, thankfully the CEO gave us tuesday off :):) i was very happy, it felt like time for the ACTUAL weekend on monday night. and then when i came in on wed i was curious to find out what case i'd be staffed on cos jem's like "20march! tahoe!" and i'm like well... depends on when my next report is due. anyhow. came in for 1.5 hrs with nothing to do (again! gosh, you can't imagine how useless one feels).
and then my first proj mgr gave me a case to work on. but it's pretty far on out and there aren't even that many documents to work with [i guess that's good, better than overload] so i'm just summarizing patent license agreements now. but i'm back to being slack, that i can feel... i guess i need to set my own deadlines else i just float along.
yesterday i was so tempted to go to sushi with my coworkers! but i brought lunch. ah well. and it would've been kind of ex... but i also realized that it's a trade-off between spending $ and getting to know them better. so i guess maybe half the time i should eat out and the other half i can bring stuff. it's also slightly annoying that we STILL don't have a kitchen cos there's no fridge and i can't leave stuff lying around. although today's lunch (portobello mushroom panini) is going to have to sit around until i leave, at least sandwiches are less problematic in that sense i think. anyway it was hilarious, when steve (my 2nd proj mgr) saw that i was going to get lunch with them his jaw dropped and he gave me this utterly SHOCKED look and held it for a while cos i didn't notice at first. rofl.
the funny thing is that i think the staying late thing helped me bond with the rest a bit. like, i'm more comfortable with stopping by offices and asking how things are going. and there was something else but i forget.
mmm. i think i shall try to make pan de sal tonight. :D am excited. and matt gave me his banana bread recipe! also excited about that, but probably not making that just yet... we shall see. he said the measurements aren't exact cos the recipe's at home in minnesota.
anyway the whole getting tuesday off threw me off kilter a little cos it felt so much like a weekend that i thought today is tuesday when it's really thursday... ah well. next weekend! woohoo. and moving. haha. time to unpack in the new house for real! yayyy.
wow, i don't know why i felt so tired by the time it was 5pm... i also don't know why i can't seem to wake up past 9am anymore. i guess it's kind of been like that since last summer/recruiting season last year, but... hm. rather odd. even this summer at home, if i went to bed at 3am i'd still wake up at 9. i guess i wanted to eat breakfast cos there were so many nice things to eat, but really. so greedy! anyway... oh, i got my remote (for the car) programmed today, didn't realize it was so easy! the technician did it for me in a matter of seconds. awesome :) and i paid like USD30 (from ebay) instead of 80 (if i'd gotten it from the dealer).
then, cs cooked lunch. or, i guess, technically winston did. haha. man, that sambal was crazy.. :p i came out from the bathroom upstairs and it assailed my nose. i can't imagine what it must've been like for those downstairs! anyway we had to open the windows and all to let the smell out. ridiculous... it was VERY powerful sambal. i guess there was too much... so hot! haha. so had to eat slowly... which i guess wasn't a bad thing. i'm kinda surprised that they were full with just two dishes though. i was good, but then i'm a girl, and a tiny one at that. maybe the rice was filling. hm. and then cs made molten chocolate cake! gosh it was sooo good. but so bad too cos we had crepe + ice cream last night, and then i eat dessert AGAIN today. ah well... -shakes head-
anyhow. dropped bert back at his dorm and got a tour of the newly renovated crothers. man, it is SO nice. i was like why did i graduate again... hm. then went to visit lorra for a bit. and back to talk to cs.. heh. now i understand. the pressure of expectation. the better your track record, the more expectations you've to live up to. but you know, just do the best you can and God will do the rest. after all, He put me in my job and as much as it's tedious right now/people are working crazy hours and not going home... there is a purpose. i'm sorry i'm really not more positive about talking about work right now. it is SUCH a pain to have to explain my job to people. "i work in economic consulting." "what?? what is that?" "well, we work for lawyers and figure out how much damages to pay when one company infringes another's patent." i really need to just write it on the back of my namecard and people can read it themselves... jackie'd probably say that's so me, given that (this she always recalls with great fondness) when we met at international orientation and she asked what my name was, i just held up my nametag wearily. something to that effect. maybe this is what chuansheng means by "clarissa lin! never change..."
yeah anyway that whole job-explaining thing came into effect especially during the sas bbq, when i was meeting so many people. but wait. i get ahead of myself. that will come in soon...
ok, then i dropped by borders. i think i will buy these two francis chan books. one of which was recommended by this lady at church last week. it's called crazy love! just exactly what i need, i think. how do i love God...
after that, went to pick cheukka and shifeng up from the caltrain station and showed them around campus. it's funny, i've graduated and i'm still showing people around campus! it's nice that i get to go back though. bought a decal for my car :p
then brought them over to cs and winston's. wow, the astar scholars are really close. i guess i started getting tired then. and then when it came to the bbq... gosh. all these people i don't know. and don't really want to meet, hm. making conversation is tiring. i guess given that i'd been hanging around people since 12:30pm and it was almost 6:30pm by then.. too much. was really really tired by then. so yoga was good. too tired to run/do elliptical. and yoga music is relaxing. ahh. sooo good. i don't even know why i was more tired today (mentally, i guess) than from work normally.
realizations
so i was re-reading one of my childhood favourite books (the anne of green gables series by l.m. montgomery, haha - yeah i think some of my friends would be appalled i'm reading that at my age, but whatever) and it described one of the characters going off to college and having to leave home and all. when i read that, my mind involuntarily did a flash back to when i first left for stanford. i guess, also because cos i'm leaving again soon and every time i leave the experience is slightly different.
i remember getting a panic attack before leaving (maybe a couple of days before? or a week?) and not wanting to go, and serene having to message me all the way from boston to assure me that it really isn't that bad, i'll adapt.
i remember going to the airport and having so many friends come to send me off - church/chorale/class/... flying to an unknown place which i'd never seen before (well maybe when i was REALLY young) with kiat & wang ning.
i remember being disappointed that we didn't enter stanford through palm drive cos we dropped off a grad student first (-_-) but subsequently being amazed by the open space and greenery that is the stanford campus and finally, the loud noisy welcome by the international orientation volunteers!
kind of crazy, really, that it's been 4 years
[update, after meeting rgs classmates]
while we were sitting around eating at chinatown/on the bus from chinatown to orchard, i looked at my friends and it was just such a weird feeling to think that we've known each other for 8 years (well, 10 if you count from sec 1) and we still get along so well. or so i think, anyway. more ponderings to come later, am too exhausted to think or type anymore.
also realized that going out with girls usually entails dessert, maybe because they don't go out and meet people every day. but since i do that when i'm back, that kind of kills me... sigh. really should not have drunk that milk thingy at tcc... -bloat-
realizations
i really have been overeating and my days really do revolve around food. tummy is growing! felt so gross i had to go run just now. and while running, i also thought about this past sunday's sermon. the preacher ended by asking us whether our spiritual life had been healthier at some other point, and why that was the case. i came to the realization that this summer hasn't been as good as last summer spiritually because i wasn't as convicted in making God/learning about Him the centre of my life. instead, i fell back into the old trap of idolizing food, amongst other things. i would like to blame other people for influencing me, but really it's my own fault. anyhow, at least i know what's wrong now and hopefully will do better at correcting it.
also, am in process of writing a testimony about my senior year and job search. was supposed to try and get it done by today (wed) for the church bulletin but unfortunately that didn't happen cos i had to trawl through emails and chat transcripts to quote my friends accurately. i really should've started it earlier so it would've been in time, but oh well.