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Browsing entries posted on April 2005
The real, uncensored Hall Guide Part 6
If you are searching for information on: Eusoff, Temasek, Kent Ridge, Sheares, Raffles, King Edward VII - you’re in the right place!
The last up for inspection: Cavey Hall!
A little bit of history:
Cavey Hall is named for the pioneer school of medicine in Singapore, King Edward VII College of Medicine. Owing to that heritage, they continue to be thought of as the ‘medic hall’. They have been on the Clementi campus since the beginning, although they arrived later than Ken Rich Hall. Like Roughly Hall, they are a ‘transplanted’ hall that moved from the Dunearn campus.
Cavey does not seem to have a twin hall, isolated as it is in a hidden corner.
Rooms:
Not renowned for being particularly roomy, Cavey rooms are available in single and double variants. I don’t know anyone living there, although I have seen the exterior. Nothing special, I don’t know if they’ve been upgraded. Online research shows that lizards and cockroaches have been known to visit occasionnally.
Facilities: Their website doesn’t seem to work. Odd. Facilities should be standard, they have a squash court, tennis court and multi-purpose court. Despite this, they are quite, er, average in sports. They’re next to Prince George’s Park residences which has a 24-hour food court, so that’s nifty.
Location: Tucked away in the foresty part of campus, ‘near’ the Science faculty the way that the moon is ‘near’ Earth, as compared to other planets.
Its remoteness from the rest of the campus makes it a choice residence only for Science, Medicine and Computing students. I personally can’t imagine Arts or Engineering students wanting to live there, it’s a very long bus ride to those faculties. Perhaps a plus point is that Cavey is located next to the bus terminal, so the residents can always be the first on the shuttle bus. The surrounding roads are hilly and very quiet because of the secondary forest. It’s good for a midnight jog, but not if you’re faint-hearted because of the ‘nature’ of the area… snakes are a common sight.
Food: Absolutely no idea about their food. I don’t suppose it’s very good, but there’s always the PGP food court nearby. The really desperate can walk out to the main road where they can catch a bus to Holland Village.
People: There seem to be a prevalence of PRC students, but every hall has them. Cavey is reputedly a very quiet and unhappening hall. I’m sure they’re not that dead, but certainly they are not as happening as Yousucks. (heh.) They’re not very strong in sports, but they are good in cultural activities such as choir and ‘xinyao’ or Chinese songs. They organised the combined hall choir concert, which speaks well of their dedication and organisational skills, if not their actual performance skills.
Potential: Cavey probably has the highest proportion of medical students among all the halls, so those craving a doctor boyfriend or girlfriend might be advised to look there. Otherwise… Science and Computing students aren’t really renowned for their good looks (yes, there are a few good looking ones, but they are rare). I will say this however. They are likely to be less pretentious than Arts students, and although they are boring and nerdy and whatnot, they will probably also be more stable partners. And remember - you can teach a nerd to party, but you can’t turn a party animal into a nerd.
Nasty histories: A little vignette concerning the friendly rivalry between Roughly and Cavey can be found under the Roughly Hall post. Other than that… there doesn’t seem to be anything. I think maybe the blocks are placed too close together for anyone to get away with anything. (”Oi you in block D level 2! Keep your moaning down!”)
This has been the hardest post to write, really, due to the lack of information. So kids, if you want a nice quiet hall, in the neck of the woods, go for Cavey. Just a word of warning though: Constant viewing of the posh apartment blocks of PGP might just cause in you such envy that you end up moving.
And with this, the Real Uncensored Hall Guide comes to an end.
p/s: Cavey residents who wish to prove me wrong on the ‘unhappening hall’ basis may email me with valid reasons for me to edit my post. Please include details of drunkenness, debauchery and/or general silliness.
Adventures in the Heartland I
aka “I am not a butch”
I decided that it was high time to visit the threading shop again. The stray hairs snuck up on me while I was studying for exams, the sneaky little buggers. I had a shock when I looked in the mirror yesterday, and declared that “I must go for threading tomorrow!”
So today I had to venture out in the hot sun. I wore cargo pants and a sleeveless tank top, a larger version of which can be found being worn by men who call it a “muscle tee”. Well I have no muscles, to me it’s just a sleeveless top.
I hate the way I look in cargo pants. They are peculiarly unflattering to the female figure. Instead of hugging the thighs and revealing one’s curvy hips, they just make me look bottom-heavy. Yuk. I look like one of those girls who dress up as guys. Aka butches.
I am not a butch ok! And this is why:
1. I have long hair.
Not to say that butches can’t have long hair, but you know and I know that they prefer having very short hair.
2. I’m getting my eyebrows done!
Again, not to say that butches don’t care about their eyebrows, but honestly. How many of them do?
3. I’m going shopping for Gillette deodorant.
Eh. No wonder people thought I’m a butch. Asking the sales assistant for male deodorant some more. The truth is, I was buying it for my boyfriend ok!
4. I was wearing pink slippers.
Enough said lar yah?
The threading this time wasn’t as good as it was the last time. I suppose because the first time I went, I was the only customer there, so they took their time. Today they seemed a bit rushed, and very flustered due to the heat.
I was of the opinion that threading is supposed to PULL the hairs out from the root, that was the only reason why I didn’t tweeze my brows myself. So when I get back and see stubble there, it indicates that the stray hairs were only cut, not plucked… darn. Got to do the maintenance myself. Their shaping skills are all right lar. Just that today’s experience was not as good as the last time.
And while I was in the chair, a brother-sister pair materialized beside my left ear.
Little Boy: What are they doing ah? (in Mandarin)
Not-so-little Girl: Dunno leh.
At this point, the lady starts trimming with a pair of scissors.
Little Boy: Cheh, jian mei mao (cutting eyebrow hair).
He was so nonchalant about the whole thing. Is it because he’s used to the fact that people trim their eyebrows (and hence has been properly socialized with regards to acceptable facial hair) or is it because he doesn’t see anything extraordinary in the act (perhaps people cut eyebrow hair, like they cut their head hair). It makes me wonder, because I was not aware of the need to maintain one’s eyebrows until I hit secondary school.
I went on a stupid treasure hunt around Clementi Central to look for that elusive deodorant. In the end I had to go somewhere else, to a little neighbourhood Guardian store, and bought it there. What a waste of time. If it wasn’t because I had to go for threading and top-up my ez-link card, I wouldn’t bother going to Clementi because it’s so crowded, and someone was riding his bicycle at the bus-stop and nearly hit me. *annoyed*
The Star Wars t-shirts are out. Strangely, they were being sold at Baleno instead of Bossini, which is where I bought the t-shirts when Episode 2 came out. I’m eyeing the Vader one. Then I’ll have one Jedi tee and one Dark Side tee. How cool! There’s also a Yoda design, but he doesn’t look cute and cuddly. I prefer Dagobah Yoda to Jedi Council Yoda.
And before anyone flames me for discriminating against butches:
There’s nothing wrong with wanting to dress up like a guy. It’s just that, if you choose to make a statement with your dressing, expect others to comment on that statement. Live by the sword, die by the sword. When you choose to go against society’s norms in that manner, don’t whine and say that no one accepts you. Deviants don’t have it easy.
The real, uncensored Hall Guide Part 5
If you are searching for information on: Eusoff, Temasek, Kent Ridge,
Sheares, Raffles, King Edward VII - you’re in the right place!
The next up for inspection: Roughly Hall!
A little bit of history:
Roughly Hall was in existence back in the Dunearn campus days. You
might recall them from the post on the old Yousucks college when the male residents from the all-male Roughly Hall launched an underwear raid on Yousucks College. They were considered one of the best halls on the new campus, because of their long reputation.
Roughly may seem to have no twin, but I believe the architecture is somewhat similar to that of the old Ken Rich Hall, now recycled as Ridge View. Same red-brick facade, and split-level arrangement.
Rooms:
Roughly has small rooms. The double room is possibly the smallest on campus, it’s only slightly larger than the Yousucks single room. Two beds are parallel to each other, so there’s no escaping from your roommate. Popular wisdom states that freshmen coming into Roughly Hall will get double rooms, unlike in other halls where a single-room option is available. So learn to get along. Join enough committees to earn yourself a single room as a second-year student. The single rooms are of average size, but the specialty of Roughly is the single-double room. Essentially a double room, but furnished for one person, this is the one that gives you most ‘possibilities’. Hide squatters in your room, host a party, whatever. They cost more than normal single rooms, however.
The layout of Roughly is unique in that it’s bloody confusing to an outsider. Unlike the other halls, blocks here are given numbers instead of letters. And they have 5 blocks, named Blocks 2 to 6. You can go and find Block 1 by yourself, if you can’t figure it out perhaps you shouldn’t be in university. The double rooms are the main backbone of the blocks, and unlike the other halls where corridors have rooms on both sides, the double rooms open out to a corridor with a view. Those living on the ground floor open their doors to a view of the garden/ open area. It makes for a more airy and bright atmosphere in other halls that have facing rooms. The single rooms are located on a split level between the levels of the double rooms. Corridors here are short and very dark. It makes for bad ventilation in the corridor itself, but room windows open to the outside anyway.
The hall itself is about 20 years old, and probably has not been upgraded in a long time. Cement floors are common, and you might even get to live in a room with tiles on the walls, which I suspect used to be a storeroom of sorts. Washing machines are in the bathrooms and I don’t think there are dryers. And no sheltered drying yard either.
Facilities: Roughly is located opposite the Yusof Ishak house, where there is a food court as well as Munchie Monkey and Genki Sushi. No cheap hawker food available, so residents take a loooong walk down Clementi Road, to Fong Seng. Roughly is located near the Sports and Recreation Centre, although not as near as Ridge View residences. On a totally unrelated note, they have a very posh and high-tech fishtank. Have fun spotting the little critters hiding in the plants. (The fish-tank caretaker has graciously mentioned me on the fishtank blog, found here so now you can have a look at their fishies too!)
There is a large plasma-screen TV in the dining hall, to make up for the fact that there are no other common areas with TVs. Unlike Yousucks, they do not have lounges complete with televisions. They do have a grand piano, which is banged on regularly (as in, people play it often, lar!) It’s slightly out of tune, but due to its location in a cosy nook, is probably a hub of socialising. (Thanks to Kelvin for reminding me.)
Location: Roughly is practically attached to the Engin faculty. The looming building of EW2 shadows the residential blocks, and University Hall where LT7 and 7A are located, is at the other end of the hall. Roughly is nestled in a little valley, so it’s an uphill job to get anywhere. Kuok Foundation house is also near Roughly, but it is a separate building.
Food: Roughly continues its tradition of teatime at 4pm or thereabouts. It is a big deal. People will stop chatting on MSN with the excuse “I’m going for tea.” It’s not just about the food, it’s one of the main social bonding rituals of Roughly. The food in general isn’t bad, and any caterer willing to supply teatime snacks gets an extra point in my book. (Someone just informed me that the food is notoriously bad. Oops.)
People: Lots and lots of Engin boys. It comes with the location. There are also significant numbers of Computing and Science students, since the faculties are just down the road (technically, up and down the road due to the hill). I don’t think there are many Arts people there, it just doesn’t make sense location-wise. Lots of foreign students as well, just like in other halls. Roughly used to be famous for being a ‘Law hall’ as they used to have many Law students. Their ex-Hall Master used to be the Dean of Law, if I’m not wrong. I think it’s on the wane, as Ken Rich is more appealing location-wise.
Potential: No Arts people (sigh) and lots of Engin people (oh dear). It doesn’t sound like they have much going for them, but that would be too mean to say. They do actually have some good lookers, you can visit their website and look at their pictures. Their Computer Committee has been very good about uploading pictures. I know at least one guy who should be voted ‘Eligible Bachelor’, he’s smart and talented on the guitar. Their sportsmen aren’t bad-looking either. Even if you’re not good-looking, don’t worry… neither are many others. I was shown this couple where the guy had been pursuing the girl for 3 years. She had never been seen to smile. Like that also can chase for 3 years! If it can happen for him (the girl was actually quite hot), it can happen for you. Just be prepared for the long haul.
Their sports teams are good, but not great, their cultural groups are good, with the exception of the rock band, which I must grudgingly acknowledge as the winner of the inter-college rock contest. Not famous for their dance, but their choir is very good, due to alumni coming back to help out. Another middle-of-the-road hall, with a few bright spots here and there. I have to commend them on hall spirit however. It is definitely very strong here, and they are really one of the most cohesive halls I’ve seen.
Nasty histories: Same old stuff from the old Dunearn campus, supplemented by an interesting story from a former resident and later Resident Fellow. Read it here and rejoice that you no longer have to resort to such means. Must have been fun for the Yousucks girls though, they would never want for dance partners.
A more recent story was related to me recently: At last year’s IHG, the touch rugby team conspired on one of their members, a popular Sri Lankan fellow. After the game, they (probably) taupoked him, and stripped him naked. On the field of the SRC. In full public view.
Wow.
The fellow (who, being a sportsman, was probably easy on the eyes) ran across the road to the toilets at the Science Faculty, causing stunned drivers to hit the brakes in utmost surprise. He became very, very famous after that, even getting fan mail from residents of other halls (or so I heard).
The tradition also goes that guys silly enough to reveal their birthdates to anyone are given a special gift on their special day… namely, a return to their birthday suit. (I don’t know if it’s the full monty, I think it’s just down to underwear. But you never know.) Girls celebrating their day have it better. They get to choose a guy to be their eye candy.
All this sounds like great fun! (I don’t guarantee that they are in fact true. It could just be rumours perpetuated through the ages.) But if you feel like taking your chances, you could do worse than Roughly Hall.
To be continued.
My Extreme Makeover
After the sexyblogger fad, I received many comments that I am ‘cute’ and pretty. I find these comments as bemusing as they are flattering. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate such comments. It’s just very odd to have all this attention over my looks, when 4 years ago no one would have given me a second look. I was the proverbial ugly duckling, with lots of potential but no way to get it out in the open. I wouldn’t say I’m a swan now, but I understand what it means when people say to young girls, “You’ll blossom.” It seems to me that I’ve blossomed too, but not without a lot of external help, which I’ll document below.
In secondary school, I was a total nerd. I had a very plain haircut (long hair, cut straight across), crooked front teeth and large round glasses. I’m surprised that I had the friends I did, all of whom looked better than me. I suppose my brains made up for it, but looking back, I don’t blame the boys for not looking.
In Form 5 (the last year of secondary school) I got braces. While this served to increase my nerdiness for a while, I couldn’t be happier. It meant that my teeth, which had long been an embarrassment to me, were on the straight and narrow path, finally. It wasn’t easy getting the braces either (and this is where the ‘extreme’ part comes in). X-rays revealed that I had an imbedded tooth in my palate, a canine tooth which had never grown out. It had to be removed before I got braces, otherwise it would erode the roots of the other teeth as they were shifted.
I was terrified at the prospect of dental surgery. I particularly dreaded the injection of the anaesthetic, by far the worst part. I asked for a numbing gel to be applied before the injection, but was told that it would be ineffective. So I suffered through the pain of being injected in the palate. I can tell you, it’s much worse that getting one in the gum, because of the thinness of the palate (so the surgeon told me). I honestly never want to go through that again. The good thing was that once the area was totally numb, I could detach myself from the operation and watch the surgeon at work. It was rather grisly. When he made the incision, a jet of blood shot out and sprayed him across the face, spattering his glasses. I was more embarrassed than horrified, really. When he finally reached the tooth, a tug-of-war ensued as he tried to extract the stubborn tooth. It had a hooked root, which was why my procedure had been trickier than usual.
The black stitches he put in were absolutely gross, I looked like I had really advanced gum disease. I actually swallowed one of the stitches, because it had come loose despite my efforts to tie a knot in it. No matter, the wound healed very nicely without any trace of a scar. It’s easy to forget that I had that surgery, because nothing is left to remind me. Except a tooth with a long, hooked root which I kept as a souvenir.
The following year, I entered junior college with another improvement: contact lenses. For years my friends had been telling me to use my eyes to their full potential and get rid of the specs. When I finally did, I liked my look so much that I pretty much abandoned the specs except to wear at night, after I took my contacts out. The braces came off in September of that year, I got a layered haircut and I guess that was really the turning point of my makeover. All that was needed was some fine-tuning.
In my second year of junior college, I discovered wax strips. They were my main weapon against facial hair. I absolutely could not stand the weeds masquerading as my eyebrows and I beat them into submission, triumphantly declaring victory as I ripped the strip off. I know now that waxing isn’t that good for your face, and I have an alternative in threading. But back then, any method that got rid of hair quickly worked for me.
I never got around to buying makeup until the end of junior college, when I decided to do my own makeup for prom. That particular project turned out quite badly, but it meant that I had taken the big step of wearing makeup. I still don’t wear it regularly, but at least I don’t look like I randomly slapped colours on my face in a dark room. Makeup is now one of my major shopping expenses, because I’m still slowly building up my collection (I decided that I wanted all my brushes to be from the Body Shop) and I’m always looking in magazines and thinking, “I don’t have this colour! I need it to match my bag!” So guys, now you know why your girlfriends and sisters will never have enough makeup. At this age, we will buy anything that promises to make us look good. We’re illogical that way.
When I entered uni, I decided to go the whole hog and revamp my look. I’ve always been a conservative dresser, and I’m not the kind who will wear halter tops and tubes to class. I’m too shy, for one thing, and I just find such clothes too troublesome because they require more preparation than just throwing on a t-shirt and jeans. And my personal philosophy has always been “I’m here to learn”. Nothing wrong with looking good, of course, but I guess I have the Hall fashion disease - we live so near to school that we treat it as an extension of home, and dress way too casually.
Due to the enormous amount of freedom granted not only by living away from home but also by the amount of money I found myself in control of, I could buy whatever I wanted (within limits). No more begging for money from my parents because I was down to my last 200 bucks! No more having to pass up on buying a gorgeous top because I had to save that money for my phone bill! Yes! This is the life! Yahoo! auctions is also partly to blame for my rapid accumulation of clothes. Sometimes I buy clothes online, if I’m really sure it will fit and look good. Most times I just treat the auctions as a giant catalogue and see if there’s anything I like, then go out and find it in the shops. It’s like a little shopping fix when I’m too busy to go downtown.
Looking back, it’s been a long journey to where I am now. 400 km and many improvements later, I’m no longer ashamed to put my picture on the Net for public perusal. But somewhere deep inside, I’m still a bespectacled nerd with major self-esteem problems, and I don’t think I can ever get rid of that part of me. It doesn’t matter though. It’s always good to remember where you came from.
p/s: Hall Guide Part 5 on Roughly Hall will be up on Monday after my Japanese Studies paper, I promise.
The real, uncensored Hall Guide Part 4
If you are searching for information on: Eusoff, Temasek, Kent Ridge, Sheares, Raffles, King Edward VII - you’re in the right place!
The next up for inspection: BSers Hall!
A little bit of history: BSers Hall is the new incarnation of the old Dunearn Road Hostel, which was relocated so that DRH could be turned into staff housing. They started BSers Hall in 1981, so yes, they’ve been on campus for some time. DRH was a males-only hostel (famous alumni include President Nathan) and went co-ed in 1968.
Like its twin Ken Rich, BSers was relocated from the centre of the campus, opposite the sports field, to a far-flung corner near the business school. Unlike Ken Rich, the old buildings were not given a second chance to serve students. If I am not wrong, they were sacrificed to the great god of progress and the new, ultra-modern imposing structure of the new University Hall is being built over them.
Rooms: All single rooms, like its twin. Generally they should be similar as they were built at the same time, with almost the same blueprint. The only difference is that Ken Rich has flat roofs while BSers has some sort of sloping, tiled roof topping off the blocks.
The following text was provided by woshiyiduoyun and has been kept in its original form, with minimal corrections by me (I’m a lazy person).
There are 5 blocks and not all have a proper roof-top, some only have an extended balcony, the rooftops are mostly empty and used to hold block suppers and such but no swings or garden like Ken Rich while the highest block is 8 storeys high with the shortest at 6 storeys.
Facilities: BSers got an air-con multi-purpose hall similiar to Ken Rich then still got gym and pool table also.
There’s also a pond on the back of block B, they built it themselves when they moved over from the old hall to the new one, then there’s a swing there also.
(I don’t know if this is a facility.) You can actually hear chickens crowing from block E (natural alarm-clock) because it seems that the people over at the Salvation Army keep some, then depending on you’re an early riser or a night owl, you either hate them or “love” them. (The Salvation Army orphanage is located behind BSers, and Yousucks volunteers have a program to tutor the kids there. It seems reasonable that they would have chickens as the land area allocated to them is quite large.)
Location: BSers is located at the far end of the campus, and it is farther away from the shuttle bus stop than Ken Rich, then also got no shelter to the bus-stop and it’s a hassle when it rains. (So kids, remember to pack an umbrella in your bags, otherwise you’ll have to run back to hall in the rain. Or wait it out at the bus stop. It’s an uphill walk all the way to Law, Arts and Business. On the plus side, the shuttle bus will pick you up first, so you’re almost always guaranteed a seat. But you’ll have to leave earlier to catch the bus, boo.)
Food: BSers now got a new supper stall also, operated by the caterer, but the selection is very limited but it’s a welcome change from the fried stuff offered by the ‘mini Fong Seng’ at Ken Rich. (For those who are wondering how the caterer can afford to open till 1 am at Ken Rich: If their caterers are like our caterers, they probably live in rooms off the communal hall.)
People: The cultural side got a few lookers, but the hockey team in general (imho) is not bad, can try your luck there. (I only know one male BSers resident. He plays tennis, is very brilliant (Medicine student) and not bad-looking. I don’t know how representative he is of the general population.)
Potential: The people here are generally very friendly so there’s no problem in people trying to fit in, got quite a number of Malaysians here also, so if you’re from Malaysia too, you can find many of them around.
(Disclaimer: There are a number of Malaysians in every single hall, there are too many of us to keep in one hall. We’re insidious, you’d never know we were there unless we told you or, in my case, got found out by someone making fun of my pronunciation. But those who are looking for a “Malaysian” hall need not bother. Every hall has them. Love us or hate us, we’re everywhere.)
BSers is technically not a sports hall, the norm every year is like one gold every year, the Basketball team has been runner-up for 5 years running already, (how unlucky can they get?) and that’s it, but this year BSers got lucky and won one more gold in swimming due to some technical fault commited by the other hall in the finals.
To sum up: BSers doesn’t really have a strong reputation in anything, they’re sort of middle-of-the-road. Their hall production was supposedly not bad, although I did not attend. I think the cultural side is stronger here.
p/s: Halls are referred to both in the plural and singular here. Although grammatically incorrect, I feel it reflects the way we think of a hall: As a single large entity (’it’) but also in terms of its people (’they’).
Nasty histories: (This is not my own text, I stole it from a Google-cached version of an old page because the page no longer existed.)
From the days of yore at DRH:
The Christmas eve of 1965 turned out to be a day of utmost embarrassment. A crackers-and-panties raid on Eusoff College sparked off a row which swept right through the administrative hierarchy of the University, created a furore in the papers and even evoked a comment from the Prime Minister. The affair finally ended with a collective fine on all DRH residents (although not all the residents took part in the raid and not all those participated were Dunearnites.)
Another cracker incident occurred in October. Blocks 1 and 14 were damaged by end-of-the-term crackers. Since nobody owned up for the ‘joke that went too far’, occupants of the two blocks were fined.
(Wow! Undergrads were really wild in those days! Crackers and panties! Now, the only reasons for which Noose gets into the paper are fee hikes, business or research achievements, and the occasional romantic-move-gone-wrong.)
Positive reinforcement day
Today is a good day for my hair(s?). They behaved themselves and to reward them, I took their picture so that everyone else can see what obedient hair I have.
They have learned their lesson, after repeated tangles with the comb and subsequent disciplining with the hairbrush. Nothing a little dose of conditioner can’t fix.
Today it was full of body and fell naturally, which is exactly what I want it to do. Just because one’s follicles dictate that one’s hair is straight, is no excuse for it to be stick-straight. There was a little bounce towards the middle, and it looked alive. I’m thinking about perming it, but it just seems like so much work to maintain.
I feel like a shampoo commercial model today.
THIS HAS BEEN A TEST POST. WERE THIS A REAL POST, IT WOULD HAVE HAD MORE THAN 200 WORDS.
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