Personality Disorder Test

So I was doing this test that I found on Christabel's blog. Wahaha. Ok, I'm quite well adjusted lah.

Disorder	Rating
Paranoid:	Low
Schizoid:	Low
Schizotypal:	Moderate
Antisocial:	Low
Borderline:	Low
Histrionic:	Low
Narcissistic:	Moderate
Avoidant:	Low
Dependent:	Low
Obsessive-Compulsive:	Low
-- Personality Disorder Test -- -- Personality Disorder Information --

Good job, me! (As you can see, the narcissism is starting to show).

A few of the AHMs and even HMs have been accusing me of being massively hormonal. I found that to be quite strange, because I used to pride myself on being quite consistent. Obviously, I didn't think much of it until recently when it occurred to me that, looking from a boarder's perspective, my consistency could very well be construed as being slightly crazy.

See, I compartmentalize. This means that it doesn't matter that someone's my favourite boarder, and just 3 minutes ago, we were having a wonderful discussion about my pet hamster. If in the next half a minute, I find out that she has disobeyed the rules, I will come down as hard on her as I would the next guy. I would scold her, and dish out the punishment, and then after that's over, I will resume my chat. Obviously that's quite an extreme example, but the lines are quite clear for me. I would be your friend and do all the things friends would do for each other, but I would rarely, if ever, use my AHM position to grant privileges to a favourite boarder that I would not do for another normal boarder. And if I *do* grant privileges to a favourite boarder that I deny to another boarder, it is because that favourite boarder has proven to be worthy of trust.

See, it sounds complex, but really isn't. And I really am not crazy.

Performance Fest

I judged at the Performance Festival tonight in the hostel. I resolved at the beginning of the event that I would be tactful with my words. Alas, I guess I screwed up because I accidentally made a comment that went something like, "you chose a wrong song". And one of our boarders didn't have any qualms making his opinion known that I should not have said that about the song. It was uncharacteristic of me to be affected by this sort of thing, but I felt lousy the rest of the night.

Talking to Calvin, thankfully, made me feel better. He's coming back soon.

Me: Hey! How you?
Calvin: heyhey! im good
Calvin: youyouYOU?
Me: Not so good..
Calvin: what is it?
Calvin: do you have skype?
Me: Don't have..
Me: It's ok, I'm good..
Calvin: something obviously is bothering you. What is it?
Me: Yeah but it's really not worth mentioning. I'm just moping.
Calvin: alright, if you wont say. there are always things you can do with money to buy some happiness. Like splurging on ice cream or going to the spa.
Me: Haha.. Buying happiness... I can't really buy happiness, my dear.. It's too expensive..
Calvin: expensivity is relative. Happiness is crucial to living. What's the wortth of money if you can't buy a little happiness when you need it?
Me: Hehe. But I'm not earning enough to be happy.. Happiness is a Volvo C70.
Calvin: buy a smaller happy
Calvin: hey do you like to watch taiwanese variety shows?
Calvin: there is this interview that is very funny... you should watch it
Me: Haha. I don't like leh.
Me: The cheapest happy is just talking to you on MSN.. So I'm doing that lah.
Calvin: good to know im a happy and cheap too
Calvin: get a javanese massage! i know where you can go to get that.
Calvin: Or go sun tanning tomorrow
Me: Heh. There's church tomorrow..
Me: And ticklish, so massage won't work!
Calvin: you are hard to please, honey
Calvin: bake brownies then
Me: Heh. Good idea. It's 12.57am in the morning. I'm sure skulking around the hostel pantry is a normal thing to do over there but it's a wee bit different here!
Calvin: oh well..... order a pizza and some spicy wings... make friends with the delivery guy and have some beer together
Calvin: it's tomorrow before you know it
Me: Haha. You're insane do you know that? That, my dear, is the reason why I talk to you.


Yup. That's the reason. On hindsight, I don't think I was really wrong. It was the truth after all, and I don't think I said it in a way that was tactless or wrong. They chose "Bring Me Back To Life", which was a really popular song and notoriously difficult to sing. With that level of difficulty, pulling it off will take another level of skill. Although they might have been superior technically (with all the electrical equipment), there was a greater chance of screwing up, and the fact that the guitar amp *did* screw up didn't help.

Whatever. I think my mistake tonight was that I made an effort to give comments that I thought would help them perform better in the future, rather than the standard "I enjoyed myself".

The Perfect Diet (for me)

You start with a cup of coffee in the morning. Latte. Lots of milk.

Then it's emptying the bowels for the large part of the morning.

The effect normally lasts about 4 hours, so take a cup of latte at tea time.

Just in time while your lunch goes into the sewer, as well as the rest of
what you ate in between.

Lather, rinse, repeat.

This is the result of a potent intolerance to a combination of caffeine and
lactose. Or one, or the other.

Madness

I had this one funny conversation with Calvin today. Calvin, if you all remember, is that friend of mine who gave up a prestigious architecture career to study writing. He's now on scholarship in the UK somewhere studying English and Literature. He's developed a quick wit, so I assume he's enjoying himself there.

Me: How are you doing?
Me: Do you have school today?
Calvin: yes, one class.... which im not at all excited about, mainly because the tutor is crazy
Me: Haha. Do tell.
Calvin: he is just crazy not in an endearingly erratic way but just so wannabe sort of madness by making things difficult to grasp when what he's saying is mostly crap
Me: Hahah
Me: This is interesting. Define "wannabe madness"
Calvin: madness cannot be defined, my dear. you should watch him. he fidgets alot and talks wierd
Calvin: "oh, erewhon, erewhon, nowhere nowhere, is victorians nowhere, what is nowhere, nowhere nowhere, erewhon..."
Me: Are you sure?
Me: Hahaha
Me: That's quite surreal...
Calvin: he is not convincing to me
Me: But still, I think trying to be "wannabe mad" qualifies him as crazy in my book.
Calvin: craziness is more subtle.... he deliberately tries to be unusual which is plain irritating
Calvin: he says things like.... "have you considered the shadow your hand casts over the paper when u write, like some ominous shade? the effect it has on writing."
Calvin: we go
Calvin: 10 minutes later we are like get on with THE lesson!
Me: Hahaha
Me: You're so funny!
Calvin: trust me, eel, he's unbearable. i hardly talk in his class. the overbearing silence weighs in the room like madness itself!!!
Me: Wah. Being quite poetic about your angst eh?
Calvin: im an aspiring writer you see. words preserve me.
Me: Yes indeed..
Me: Just let it preserve you then!
Calvin: like pickles
Me: Yeah, then you'll be wrinkly and sour.

Ang pows and the CNY etiquette

There is something crass about the practice of giving angpows during Chinese New Year that I can’t seem to come to terms with. I suppose it’s got to do with the principle of harvesting. You reap nothing, you should not be sowing anything. What have I done that deserves receiving money? Ok, granted that I’ve been a good girl all year, and surely taking money from my parents is justified enough, considering they are after all giving me out of my monthly contribution to the household, and I am only taking a small fraction of what they used to give me. Something they said about earning power being inversely proportional to the size of the angpow. Heh heh.

I never really know how to react when I receive an angpow. Should I exude uncharacteristic ebullience? Should I display effusive ardour? Should I remain nonchalant? Should I crack a joke and pocket the money? I guess traditional CNY etiquette dictates that we should just be polite and take the money with a smile. But then I’d be obliged to stand around and make small talk while the giver enquires about my studies/work/love life/various personal questions about the colour and texture of my faeces. I hate CNY with a vengeance.

On the other hand, taking money is always nice. I’d be stupid to let some minor discomfort like making small talk deter me from taking money from people who are willing to give it. Trader-in-training, I am. Heh heh.

What is disconcerting, however, is the way in which people “celebrate” CNY by demanding angpows like it’s their right. In a joking manner, of course. Whether in a corporate environment or to people higher up on the social order, I think it never is wise to behave indelicately when it comes to matters pertaining to money. This is just my own set of beliefs, but one should never use “face” to force someone into behaving in a way that is not natural or that the person is unwilling to behave in, no matter how wealthy or traditional, poor or stingy. You need always to provide a way out. When I ask questions about sensitive topics, I would never ask directly, and when I do and the person changes the subject or directs the conversation elsewhere, I would never ask it again in that same conversation.

So much for being a straight-shootin’, trash talkin’, ball-beatin’, brash, boorish trader-to-be. Maybe I should be in sales after all. Heh heh.

Surprise!! (Part 2)

So anyway, subsequently, I went back to my room, pottered around and then went for Council meeting. The meeting was at 10:15pm instead of 9:30pm as originally agreed because “they came back late and wanted to bathe and get ready”. Yeah right. To be honest, I half expected them to have something for me, so when I walked into the Council office at 10:25pm and there were only 3 people in there – Ricky, Indora and Grace, I figured it was a normal meeting, and put that thought out of my head.

Me: How come so few?
Grace: Errh.. They’re coming later
Me: How come? (slowly, in a tone they later told me was quite menacing)
Grace: They have to study for their test tomorrow *shrug*
Me: [Sigh] So what’s on the agenda today?

At this point, Ricky jumped up and switched off the lights in the room, and 4 of the councillors popped up from under the table with a chocolate cake with *lit* candles!! And of course they yelled the “Happy Birthday” song in the dark. Heh heh.

The danger signs of a lit candle under a wooden table were apparent immediately but all I was thinking about was how I got duped, and how they managed to squeeze 4 students under that table without Ricky kicking any of them.

Those sweet kids. I should have known better. But I was surprised. They had me.

Surprise!!

Birthdays have always secretly been quite special to me. It used to kill me that this special day is only special to ME, and nobody thinks I'm extra special or anything. After my, like, 21st birthday, I got over the narcissism and decided that it would be a completely regular day, just like any other day.

So it was quite a pleasant surprise when we celebrated my birthday at the hostel today. I was secretly touched, but I didn't tell them, of course! I sent them an email instead. Heh heh.

-----Original Message-----
From: Me
Sent: Tuesday, January 30, 2007 12:09 AM
To: 'OH-AHMs'
Subject: You're welcome.

Hi guys…

Yeah, you can thank me one by one later when you see me for providing you all with an opportunity to get together and eat seafood and have fun. I guess that it’s inevitable that we all want to relax, and it was quite fortuitous of me to have that sort of foresight to see more that 20+ years ago (let’s not be too specific about that) that the staff of Old-ham Hall would be tired out, and in my wisdom, deigned to be born on 30^th January, hence giving everyone an opportunity to meet up and eat yummy food.

Wahaha.

Yeah.. Ahem. Thanks for everything… Thanks for remembering poor us who have no friends and no one to celebrate with when you were planning the seafood party. You only *say* that. We know you love us.

(silence)

I dunno what to say… Except thanks!! *bawl*

Me

Who loves you guys very much too… J

So anyways, this is supposed to be a largely-pictorial entry, so here goes.

First, of course, we trot out the food. This is the spread we had, among other things:



And what's food without people to eat them?



And obviously, the photographer has some baby issues to work out. I'm too lazy to post the sheer number of photos she took of those babies.

There's the obsession with Baby Zoe...



And of course, the obsession with Baby Asher.




(Methinks she was stalking the poor dude)



But who can blame her? Everyone loves babies.

(As you can tell, we didn't have many babies to go around - It's always the same few..)

There's also the cake cutting ceremony - There were 4 of us.

That's the cake



And that's us!




Someone cracked a stupid joke while we were attempting to take pictures.




Old-ham Hall's very own bimbo squad.

All in all I'd say we had fun.



There's nothing in the world quite like the feeling of being an Old-hamite!!