Don's romantic thoughts (continued)

Chapter 2 - Bugs!

I saw THREE cockroaches on my way to the supermarket last week!!!!!!!!!!!
But nothing happened, I just kept walking, thinking to myself "eww....eww....ewwwwww!!"


Anyway, do you know that penguins are not bugs?
Of course I know that too, but I just want to ask.


Anyway, if you happen to kill a mosquito, it WILL die.
But if you kill a cockroach, it may not die. Even its head is cut off.


I am scared of cockroaches.
oh, have I mentioned that I hate them too?


end of chapter 2 - the most boring chapter ever!


-----------------



The more I work in a customer service environment, the more I realize that being around many people make me really happy, and I really want to become a nurse and I will study really hard to become one.

Paying attention to individuals and satisfying their needs, establishing a personal relationship with the people I like is my thing. I love it!

And it's absolutely THRILLED and wonderful when a customer stepped into the restaurant looking grumpy, obviously having a bad day;
but after a short communication with me, they kind of cooled down,
resulted in a smile of satisfaction.

That's the best feeling ever!
I love my job and I love what I'm doing!

Just so you know

In case you might wonder what happened to Harry Potter and friends when they grow up, here's the details:

"Where do the main characters work as adults?
Harry and Hermione are at the Ministry: he ends up leading the Auror department. Ron helps George at the joke shop and does very well. Ginny becomes a professional Quidditch player and then sportswriter for the Daily Prophet."

- from Time magazine, in an interview with J.K.Rowling

Quote of the day

"The weapon we have is love. And that will win any war."

eighteen

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Jowell =]

a new series

Some quick updates on me, in the States:

I'm making money, lots of it, and I'm also spending lots of it. Nice!
I'm getting fat. Oh no. I've gained 3 kg. I'm visibly fat now.
I'm uglier. But it's no problem, I've never been pretty anyway.
My singing voice is degrading. It's bad.

However, life's good!

----------

I'm starting a new series of writings on my blog, I'm gonna call it "Don's romantic thoughts", as an addition to the "My love story" series!

Tadaa!!!

Without further ado - well, maybe a very small ado - ado, I'll officially start this series...

Chapter 1 - Expressions!

Well, the thing is, there are so many expressions around us. Some makes sense, some doesn't, and some attract women, others attract men, and some just attract bugs! It also depends on the person who says it, for example the expression "What are you doing?" (wait, is that a question? or is that an expression?...)

(oh, I just realize, who cares?)

and... back to the expression. If that comes out of a very pretty man, with hazel eyes, hunky, clean shaved, twitching the expression to "What you doin'?". The expression will become much more dirty and flirtatious, and sure will attract some women, or something, or whatever. You get the point.

Wait, my point is... and I do have one... is that I don't really know where I'm going with those two previous paragraphs.


Anyway, there are just so many expressions around us, and I don't really understand all of them, for example:

"For Petes's sake" "Heaven's to Betsy" "Holly Molly"
......Who's Pete? Who is Betsy? Who's Molly, or Moley, or whatever? Do they know one another? and most importantly, do I know them?

"Do you have a buck I can borrow?" (again, this may sounds like a question but TRUST ME, in the U.S., it's an expression)
......I don't know why, but nearly every time I pass by a teenager, he/she will ask/say that. and ONCE, I gave it to a very pretty girl at the train station (superficial huh!) anyway, Do I look like I have a dollar? Only? and why me, my name is Don, not One-Dollar Nguyen, why people keep asking me that. Strange. and whenever I guy asks me, the question becomes shorter: "Got a buck?" which I usually answer with "No, but I'm buying a bucket of water!"

"You are nut." "He's nuts."
......Whether "nut" is in singular, or plural form, it means "crazy". So the translations of the above expressions are "You are crazy, he's crazy." The point is ... and I do have one, is that I DON't know why nut = crazy. I eat nuts, but they don't make me crazy. How about crazy people who are allergic to nuts? What do you call 'em? "You are nuts-allergic-but-still-nuts?"

?!

Someone, please answer me if you know the answer to my above expression/question!

"Take care."
......It's a short form of "take care of yourself." What does "take care" mean? Where's the care? I'll take it.

"Have a nice day."
......I'm abusing this expression/statement/well-wish these days. Ellen DeGeneres wrote "Cashiers and other service-industry people are forced by their supervisors to say this to every customer. The cashiers don't mean it, except for Don - well, I add in this part. What they are really saying is, "Please, God, I don't want to get fired.""

Anyway, I know this chapter is supposed to be about expressions. But I'm really bored now, so I decide to start my diary. But I'm too lazy to write, and since I'm already on my blog, I'll type out my diary entry here.

Sat, June 21, 1:45 AM

.....Yay, my first diary entry ever. I'll write about what happened today.
Well, in the morning, I went to sleep. And when I woke up, I accidentally stepped on my dog, and thankfully, it did not die, so I was really relieved and happy.

.....Wait a minute! I don't have a dog!!!! What did I stepped on this morning? I hope that was not Celine Dion.

.....Anyway, despite being a boy, I have tried to write a diary for a millionth times. I don't have the discipline. Not this time. Dear Diary, I vow to write in you everyday, even though I have a huge problem finishing things I start, it seems to me that

the most incredible person

IS Ellen DeGeneres!

girls

there quite a number of nice/cute/funny girls at my workplace.

they cheered me up =]

work is good!

and I LOVE customer service, a role that was so impossible for me in the past, but not anymore!

PEOPLE fuel me!

ACJC Choir at the Cathedral of Bratislava, Rajes and Nat

The choir sounds really good =] 'Soleram' is beautiful =] The sop voices are incredibly pure in there. VERY VERY good blend of voices altogether.

Thank you for the music =]

"Soleram"


'Kojo no Tsuki'


'Sakura'


'Hymn to The Creator of Light'


and the next clip features guitarist Nat C. and singer Rajeswari =], uploaded to youtube by "einehpetz", AWESOME voice and wonderful acoustic version of the song. You know what, IT'S PITCH PERFECT!!!!!!!!!!!!


"Shut up and drive", I LOVE IT =]

AppleCare Protection Plan

My laptop will be warranted until July 11, 2010.

YEAH!!!!

=]

I love Apple!

SHOCKING NEWS

AGAIN, apple did it =]

iPhone 3G will be released in 22 countries on July 11

and the price?

ONLY $199 US Dollars for an 8GB model, and $299 US Dollars for a 16GB model.

That's a REALLY GOOD PRICE, only half the price of the first generation iPhone (which kinda sucks cos it's too slow to connect to the internet)




and that is why I love APPLE =]

I don't think I'll buy the phone, but I hope they will release the iPod touch at that price as well.

I hope!

caution to myself

I need a really strict diet from now on.

I think american food is not suitable for me. I need to select better choices, and erm, FORCE myself to eat veggies.

EIGHTEEN years without much veggies and THREE FULL YEARS in singapore with nearly NO vegetables AT ALL (except the coleslaw from KFC and miso soup) are starting to take a toll on me.


I'm bleeding more frequently those days through my left nose, and even my right ear (really no kidding).

It's quite serious.




BOTTOM LINE: I need to FORCE myself to eat veggies.



and you should too, if you don't want to end up like me.

18

Happy birthday, Gao Ya =]

CONGRATS =] =] =] =] =] <3

ACJC Choir got GOLD for all three categories in FESTA CHORALIS 2008!

WOW =]

and thanks Jiing Jiunn for calling me all the way from Austria =]

and Neville for the sms from Singapore =]

THREE Golds in ONE international competition. History is made, again!

this is SO EXCITING =]



love,
Don =]

things that should be done

Well, I need to be stricter in some issues:

1) Keep a strict sleep schedule.
2) Eat more, I don't even want to be slim. But eat right.
3) Budgeting.
4) Find time to chat with my friends via msn. The time difference is preventing me from doing that. Plus I have nothing to talk about.

I miss them.

And I need another plan for academic issues, although this is still too early for that.
I actually don't want to be mediocre as I was in 2007.

I am quite smart when I'm not depressed.

anyway, on a totally different note, I hope my favorite singers are doing well, both for an audition in mdc and a competition in europe. I hope to hear the good news soon =]

It has been such an honour to know them.

love,
Don

a blog

It's really hard to keep a blog!

Cos:
1) It's public
2) It shows the real me
3) It should be clean
4) While it still retains the essence of me
5) It should not be too personal
6) But it's about the REAL me

well, after six point ramblings, it's really hard to keep a blog, cos it's hard to stay true to myself and reveal ALL my thoughts on a web page, while needed to maintain a high level of privacy and discreet.

I don't keep diaries. Writing takes too much time and I don't fancy my own handwriting. And what kind of guys WRITE (PEN DOWN) anyway. And I'm kind of a slight weirdo in my own hem, I can't keep my thoughts to myself, I need to TYPE OUT for others, cos I'm the kind who SHARES his ideas.

Most probably because I'm an only child since I was born, and that means a lot of things keep bottled-up since I don't have any brother or sister to share them with. So, this blog is my shelter. A shelter where I know I can share my thoughts with my friends.

With YOU =]

Have a nice day =]

love,
Don =]

canon rebel XTI

hey, that's a geeky title =]

cos I GOT MYSELF A DIGITAL SLR CAMERA, with my own hard-earned salary =]

it's a Canon Rebel XTI, it's pretty fierce, although it's only an entry level SLR camera.

But good enough for me, I'm way too amateur for an expensive SLR.


=p


I'm a geek, who loves to take photos =p

Bleeding Love

That's a song by Leona Lewis, and it's the bestselling on iTunes for weeks, and you will hear it on radio stations every FIFTEEN minutes!!!

It's a nice and catchy song, but it's getting boring when you hear it HERE, THERE and EVERYWHERE!

HAHA!

Anyway, Leona Lewis is one lucky singer =]

Way to go English girl!

the BIG realization

I'm given one year to sort out my life, and I think I'm on the right track, I'm doing a pretty ok job.

Well, when I look back on the things that happened to me in 2007, I saw GOD's plan. Everything happened for a reason, indeed. From the O level scores I got, my transfer to acjc, new roomate/hostel/environment/rules/lifestyles, my decision to skip ***** audition to go for choir audition, the friends I decided to open up to, the friends I tried to make friends with, the friends that accepted me, the "alone" time with myself, the very lengthy depre**i*n period, the ups and downs, the pw group, the girl in class, another girl in class with boy in class, the trio, the malaysian/indon/thai/filipino/viet/singaporean/myanmar/prc/cambodian individuals, the decision to stay back on friday for a CF meetings, the friends I made on the day before last in Singapore, the surprised note from a choir senior on farewell day, the million times my macbook broke down and I banged all my other stuffs due to frustration, the long msn chats with a few very dear friends EVERY night, small talks with teachers, with Sir,... everything...

has made me realized, at the end of 2007, that certain thing was done for a reason. but not the whole picture, my talk with Sir did clear a lot of things, but not everything.


BUT, I kept what he said in mind, and prayed for an answer, and it indeed came to my senses just yesterday. or was it this morning? or maybe two days ago? I don't really know when, but I know the answer.

The answer is, it's GOD's plan =]

2007 painted a REALLY wholesome 'segment' of my life, with its really dark and intense colors, but that was the colors that I focused on scrubbing away the whole time. I did not realize that the segment also contained so many other vibrant bits, colorful and cheery pieces that I forgot to look at and enjoy. I kept focusing on maintaining a clean, white, decent mural piece of art BUT that's not possible, cos a picture needs its intense parts as well.

The whole time I was wasting my time in scrubbing away those intense parts that actually defined my characteristics and mindset today, not realizing that those terrible experiences made me who I am today. They made me grow, and I should not focus on scrubbing away those memories, cos that's not possible. I was wasting my time and got myself into stress along the way.

Having said that, I should NOT focus ONLY on the BRIGHTt side EITHER. Because, that's delusional, and in the end, I had to part with the bright side - the friendships I made - anyway.

What I need to do is to focus on THE WHOLE PICTURE. To see the whole artwork of myself, examining the intense and the cheery, highs and lows, the depth and the magnitude of it.




- How did I come to this conclusion?
Cos I got time to think, I have been given a one year break to think.

- How did I got the one year break?
Cos I migrated with my parents, so we need one year to settle down and the residency status after one year will get me into a community college to buffer me for the transfer to a university.

- How did I get to migrate?
Cos at the end of november 2007, it was my family's turn to go for a migration interview.

- How can I leave Singapore to come to the United States?
After what happened in 2007, I was free of my contract. So I can leave without a penalty fee.


So do you see the whole picture?

At the end of 2007, you know what happened to me, cos only my true friends read this blog. Yes, I'm talking about YOU =] About what I was saying, yah, suddenly, it was my family's turn to migrate.

REALLY, it was PERFECT timing. Do you know that our migration files started when I was one-MONTH old. And it usually more than 10 years to complete the process.

And suddenly the process COMPLETED RIGHT at THAT TIME, when I had NOWHERE to go.



Let's talk about the other scenario.

- What if I was still ok and continued on year 2?
Then my chance of getting into a US college would be less, and by then it wouldn't make sense if I get into NUS while my parents are in US, and I could not enter Vietnamese university anyway (since they don't make plans for international certificates holder - STUPID STUPID STUPID, that's why grey matters are leaking from VN).



So what happened until now was the PERFECT plan from God!
Cos I really cannot see any OTHER way.


and I'm so thankful for this one year break. I have time to sort out my life!

Thank you GOD!
THANK YOU!
THANK YOU FOR THE WHOLE PICTURE!


don =]

P.S. When I look back at 2007, I saw a really colourful and wholesome picture, with YOU as parts of it. Thank you for being a part of my life, of God's plan for me.

an outstanding singaporean photographer

His name is Tan Ngiap Heng. He's 42 years old and an ACSian (YES!!!!!).

I stumbled on his blog after a blog search about ACJC, and somehow one of his posts showed up. I enjoyed reading the blog and all the photos on it. Thanks to blogsearch.google.com.

Mac and Google, I love you two =]

This is what he said about himself:

"I am a portrait photographer. I am inspired by photographs that go beyond the literal documentation of what a person looks like. I want to show something about the condition of a person or what is inside the person. That is my daily challenge. "

He's a long-term photographer for LASALLE College of the Arts and Singapore Dance Theatre, and they sure are lucky to be in partnership with such a talented photographer.

I'm not crazy about his real life portraits or model shoots, but his dance photography is truly impeccable.

His dance photos full of motion, the lighting is perfect, there's so much finesse going on and they are just so tastefully done.

REALLY!!! Check out for yourself!

Dance =] photography:

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The Lasalle College of the Arts ads:

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au revoir =]

an awesome find

www.uncrate.com

has EVERYTHING that a boy/man wants

I LOVE THE SITE =]