Adventures in NYC

Posted in New York on December 25, 2009 by phurian

Awesome week

  • Found Liquor bar
  • Found The Back Room
  • Had Dim Sum
  • Hatched a Grand Plan
  • had Chinese Food
  • had Big ass Xiao Long Baos
  • Met a heckuvalot of people
  • Caught up with old friends.
  • Bought some nice threads

Man, this week has been the best week in NY I’ve had in my entire 4 months here.

Going to Dim Sum again tomorrow, then its off to London!

The Cornellians drop by

Posted in New York on December 23, 2009 by phurian

Wai Kin and Fiona dropped by today! It was good. Had Dim Sum for the first time in a long ass time, and it got me off my ass and onto SOHO and Fifth Avenue, where I randomly stumbled upon some mega sales going on (and no crowds) and got myself a whole bagful of clothes for ridiculous prices. Friends dropping by are such a great excuse to go out and have a good time =)

And now I am correctly geared for the Winter ahead!

4 days to London!

Resolution 2010

Posted in NYU, New York on December 23, 2009 by phurian

It’s so quiet here. Everybody’s gone home. The Americans back to their hometowns, the Singaporeans either prepping to go home as well or just having a jolly good time chilling out after the end of finals. I’ve had my fix of fun over the past couple of days, and it felt good. But in the time between now and Saturday, whereupon I will fly to England to spend an entire 3 weeks, uhm, broadening my horizons, it just feels right to immerse myself in a contemplative mood before all hell breaks loose again.

Regarding the contemplative – its resolutions time again. This has been a really good year, and even though it had its share of setbacks and false starts, I’ve learnt and grown by leaps and bounds; its been a year of epiphanies and revelations. As we move forward the hardest thing to do will be to remember these lessons and leverage on them. I can’t say what these lessons are, partly because these lessons are so fundamental and important that learning them requires a person to undertake an entire set of paradigm shifts, and that’s one thing people don’t like to do, partly because I haven’t even mastered them myself. There are a couple of things, however, that I am dead certain about.

Nothing is Impossible – Really, nothing is. I still find it hard to grasp sometimes, but the truth of the matter is that absolutely nothing stands in your way between you and what you want. All obstacles are arbitrary. You’re never too young, or too poor, or too busy for something. Knowing this is half the battle; numerous are the people who live their lives by these arbitrary markers and harsh is their judging towards those who deviate, but the other, more difficult half is finding it in yourself to keep living the dream.

That I Should Shut the hell up – Because there is a difference between a wise man and a wise guy.

So, resolutions for 2010. I think we shall try living by the two rules above. God knows that’s hard enough.

End of Semester

Posted in NYU, New York on December 18, 2009 by phurian

One hour to the last exam of the semester. Got an hour to kill. Still no idea what to do after the start of Winter break proper. I would go out, but everyone is skipping the light fantastic and going home. I think I’ll just chill out for the next 3 or 4 days and prepare for UK.

Ahh, its been a boring week.

The little boiler of water

Posted in New York on December 17, 2009 by phurian

I have a small, electric water heater in my room. Somehow, when its chugging and puffing away, everything in the world somehow seems to be, I don’t know, peaceful, at ease, better.

Boiling water is zen.

First!

Posted in NYU, New York on December 16, 2009 by phurian

Semester’s over! Finals over! (precalc is not a final, especially when you can BRING IN ONE PAGE OF WRITTEN NOTES lol)

I had a really good day today – woke up early, took a good, hot, liberating, steaming shower and got dressed to go for my Media Studies final. I put on my shoes, selected my best pen from the stack on my table, stuck it in my jacket and walked out the door. I still haven’t gotten used to the fact that you don’t have to regurgitate massive amounts of information when it comes to the test, and walking to the lecture unarmed was pretty exhilarating.

Think I’ll take the rest of the day off today. The past few days were pretty intense.

Slog

Posted in Uncategorized on December 14, 2009 by phurian

Man, we have so much ahead of us.

One step at a time.

Motar/ Pestle

Posted in Poems/ uncollected on December 13, 2009 by phurian

“SAY IT, damn it. Why don’t you just say it and get it over with?!”

She just stood there, tears brimming in her eyes. Wavering, mistakenly believing that there was something noble in the way she was handling it; that somehow simply laying claim to having the best intentions would bring about a situation where we could shake on it, exchange awkward hugs and go our separate ways. She was young. She was so young.

“A week later? You want me to wait here, torturing myself, knowing exactly what you’re going to say when the time comes but hoping against hope that the ghost in the attic is just a bad radiator?”

There is a way it could all turn out roses. But it isn’t noble. You have to lie. You have to construct elaborate plots and carry a secret within you that nobody could ever know. I couldn’t tell her, she wouldn’t believe me. But she’s young. She has time.

My life is in this bag

Posted in Random Thoughts on December 13, 2009 by phurian

It is 10 at night, I’m on the 9th floor of the library, 8 pages away from finishing my paper. The T14 feeling is back, but somehow its not the same without a bike that you can take out for a spin (or Ivan, or Steph). It just isn’t the same knowing that you don’t own the neighborhood. In any case, even if I did own a bike I would be loathe to ride it around lest I get hit by an arrant NYC cab or do a mega fail on the icy ground.

5 days till the end of the semester. Doesn’t feel like it.

I like the fact that I can pack my entire life into a backpack. But I do miss pearl milk tea.

Evaluation

Posted in Uncategorized on December 11, 2009 by phurian

I have a slight inkling of what went wrong here. Whatever the case, I’ll learn from my mistakes.

Though I’ve always wished that it wasn’t easier said than done.