A Different Kind of Drill

When I was a kid living in California, we used to have earthquake drills at school. When I moved to Thailand and started studying at RIS, it was fire drills.

Today, my brother told me they had a different kind of drill at school--

A terrorism drill.

When I first heard that, it just floored me. I don't want to wax political about the terrorism situation in the south of Thailand -- there are enough blogs and websites out there in cyberspace doing that already -- but to think that my brother's school -- as well as other British and American-based international schools here in Bangkok -- stand a chance of being targeted one day by Islamic separatist groups is too horrific to even think about. Of course, with the increasing violence and unrest down south, it could very well become reality.

Let's hope I'm wrong.

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Fangirl

!!!!!!!!!!!
To hell with studying. To hell with NaNoWriMo. To hell with exams.

At least for one night.

It's not every day an ex-boy bander swings by Bangkok. Pray tell, how can I NOT go to Darren Hayes' upcoming showcase this Sunday?

I know Savage Garden split up ages ago, but Truly Madly Deeply was the love anthem of 1997. They played that song at every single high school dance. EVERY SINGLE ONE. And not just in 1997, either. They also played that diddy at all the dances in 1998, 1999, and 2000 even, which was the year I graduated from high school. In fact, I loved that song so much, I didn't even grumble when it knocked Hanson's MMMBop off the #1 Billboard spot, unlike I did when P. Diddy's (Puff Daddy? Diddy? Mr. Diddy? Mr. P?) I'll Be Missing You did.

And you know what? I don't care if the lyrics are cheesy. I don't care if my dad first thought it was a woman singing eight years ago, when we first heard Darren's falsetto crooning over the radio. I don't care if, technically, only one half of Savage Garden will be here this Sunday, belting out the dulcet tunes reminiscent of many a high school dance.

Because, dude, Savage Garden is to the RIS Class of 2000 as Simple Plan is to my brother's Class of 2007.

Which is just plain sad, because while Savage Garden's songs were, admittedly, slightly on the cheesy side, they at least had Darren and his KILLER FALSETTO.

Unlike Simple Plan, who just have a KILLER WHINE.

Which is why I can't NOT go. After all, Thailand is the only country in Asia Darren will be visiting on his Truly Madly Completely tour. Plus, it took Sony BMG Thailand a great amount of effort in arranging this event, just like it took them a great amount of effort to conveniently release this, this, AND this...

ALL ON THE SAME DAY.

I mean, really. Who do they think I am? A teenybopper? Please, my teeny days are a thing of the past. I haven't been a teeny since, like, 11th grade. Like Sony BMG Thailand seriously thought they could conspire and get mature, intelligent adults like me to dish out the dough all on one day over Hanson, Jay Chou, and Savage Garden Greatest Hits CDs. Unlike before, I am now a smart consumer. I do not make spontaneous retail decisions without some serious thought.

Well, okay. Hypothetically speaking, say I DID buy all three CDs at once -- gasping just slightly when it became clear that all three of my favorite high school artists had gone and released albums on the same day -- it was only because it was convenient. Seriously, think about it. Why make three trips to B2S when you can get them all at once?

So, as the infamous Becky Bloomwood would say--

It was AN INVESTMENT.

*Sigh*

Who am I kidding? I'm such a Fangirl.

Shameless, I know.

But whatever. I'm going this Sunday anyway. Because, dude, it's all about the falsetto.

;)

P.S. There seems to have been a little misunderstanding with my previous post -- my birthday hasn't arrived yet. I still have a few more days of youthful 22-ness left within me. Four days, to be exact.

And yes, I do realize 23 is most certainly looming over the horizon...

But it's not here yet.

*****
Currently Reading: Lecture notes. Bah.

Currently Playing: So Beautiful by Darren Hayes, of course.

Currently Banging: Still the keyboard.

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Conversations With My Brother

[After overhearing some guy let out a huge belch while having kuay thiew at a roadside vendor]
JASON: Man, I can never burp.
LYNN: What are you talking about? Everyone can burp. Even babies can burp.
J: Nuh-uh. I can't.
L: Yes you can, dimwit. I used to burp you when you were a baby. Sometimes you'd hurl all over my shoulder, too.
J (shaking head): Not anymore, I can't.
L: Well, next time you feel a rush of gas coming up your esophagus, let it out.
J: I can't. Whenever a rush of gas comes up my esophagus, it ends up getting pushed back down and out my ass.

[At Foodland]
J: Why do they put the sanitary napkins and tampons next to the dog food?
L: For continuity.
J: What do you mean?
L: Because we women can be total bitches during that time of month. I thought you should know that by now.

[A week ago, while sitting around completely bored out of our skulls during a wedding reception at the Oriental Hotel]
J (completely out of the blue): Would you rather sh*t at the Den Chai train station in Prae province or on the train?
L: At the train station, of course.
J: Why?
L: Because I wouldn't want to sh*t on a rocking toilet.
J: But if you were to sh*t at the train station, you'd have to pay 2 baht just to use the toilet. I know it's only 2 baht, but why should they charge you for your sh*t. Sh*t isn't worth that much, not even my sh*t.
L: No sh*t, sherlock.

NOTE: This last conversation was held while sitting at a table with a well-known khun ying with gravity-defying hair. Later, while slipping away to the ladies' room to give my numb face a break from smiling at yet another stranger I "just had to meet," I was surprised to learn that the person barking on her cell phone whilst taking a dump in the last stall was none other than the khun ying. This isn't the first time I've encountered such a thing, but still I found it rather ironic that this should happen mere minutes after holding a conversation about, well, sh*t.

*****
Currently Reading: My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult. This fantastic book now joins the ranks as one of my all-time favorite books ever. I don't know why I waited so long to getting around to reading it; after all, the premise is brilliant, the issues complex, and at the very heart of it all is a riveting, evocative and incredibly poignant story. Never before has a book made me weep so (well, maybe The Time Traveler's Wife, but still). Though this novel is marketed as YA, I highly recommend it to everyone and anyone of all ages. Go ahead and read an excerpt to get a taste. If this story doesn't touch you in some way, then all I have to say is that you, my friend, have a heart of stone.

Currently Playing: Collide by Howie Day. I drove my brother insane playing Collide on repeat the entire day yesterday, a weird habit I tend to have whenever I get all OCD about a certain song (pretty often). This is one of the prettiest songs I've heard in a long while and is very reminiscent of Damien Rice's radio remix version of Cannonball, another tres beautiful song.

Currently Banging: The keyboard, you perverts. On a whim, I joined NaNoWriMo again this year to see if I could bang out 50,000 words by the end of November. I've got 25,007 words so far, so I think I'm doing okay. I just have to bang out another 25,000 words, somewhere in between the exams on MY BIRTHDAY and the 26th, the four days spent entertaining family friends of ours who will be in T-Land from the 18th-22nd, and THE NEW HARRY POTTER MOVIE THAT HITS THAILAND ON THE 17TH!!!!! GAH. Either everything will work out and I'll pull a total Wonderwoman act this month, or I'll go completely insane. We'll see which happens first...

Currently Pining Over: The new Pride and Prejudice movie. It's already out in the US, so GET YOUR ASSES TO THE THEATER, AMERICA. In the meantime, I must impatiently wait two more agonizing months for dear Mr. Darcy. :( I could download the film off bittorrent, but... No. Must. Resist. Urge, even though I'm dying to see the much talked about first proposal scene. Oooh.

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