Musical ghosts of a distant past.

Sometimes, I get teased about being born in the “wrong era”. My love for timeless, canonical novels (that you call “classics”), my passion for classical music, right down to watching black-and-white movies… Even the popular songs that I listen to. Sure, I was into the whole pop, contemporary, boy-band era in secondary school – I still enjoy and listen to them from time to time, I must admit. The last time I sat down and actually watched a good hour of MTV or Channel V was probably in form 2 or 3. After which (in my personal opinion), the contemporary music scene just went downhill. They just don’t write songs like those golden oldies, those classic pop hits of the long, bygone years, anymore. I don’t listen to any of the new stuff that’s playing on the radio or on MTV anymore. The popular music scene is now dominated by mostly R&B stuff, a genre of which I confess I do not particularly enjoy. There’s probably only a few odd songs from that genre that I like.

I don’t know why, but the song “Smoke Gets In Your Eyes” suddenly popped into my mind tonight, and I started reminiscing about my childhood, when my dad used to listen to all these oldies. I remember car rides, and Richard Clayderman would be playing from the car’s stereo speakers, mostly sad, romantic ballads, or just instrumental versions of all these songs. (Come to think of it, I think he likes listening to all his old Canto-pop songs as well.) I guess that’s partly why these old songs resonate so deeply with me, and I really love them. Wonderful songs like “Roses Are Red”, “Tennessee Waltz”, “Changing Partnerts”, “I Went To Your Wedding”, “The Great Pretender”, “Only You”, “Moon River”… (A quick search on YouTube will reveal tons of videos). Or maybe I’m just a sentimental, depressed, brooding person at heart. Hm.

They don’t write songs like those anymore – beautiful, perennial melodies that transcend all ages and time. Sigh.

-_____-

“That’s a lovely cardigan you have on there.”

Thanks, but if that can help me get bonus marks for the exam, that would be even better.

Politics? I think not.

One day left, and four more excerpts to get through.

It’s been a long time since I felt stress like this. The past two years of undergraduate study has been relatively stress-free, in that I’ve had mostly assignments in the forms of essays that leave me with very few exams at the end of the semester, usually exams that don’t require me to study study. Even the music exams that I had didn’t feel at all very stressful to me, because I really enjoyed what I was learning (except for theory, but that’s a different story), and studying that didn’t feel like “study” because simply put, I enjoyed it.

Maybe I should just forget taking up a major in this… I don’t even know why I thought it’ll be interesting. The past week has just been a real chore as I struggled to wrap my head around the stupid political theories and wrestle with what these theorists and philosophers are talking about. And their discourses really put me to sleep. The library’s practically my second home now, and I want my holiday now.

Maybe my brain is just not made for these sort of critical thinking and challenging so much of these worldly sort of ideas and theories. Most of the time, I can’t really sympathize with what they’re advocating, and I find myself disagreeing with their arguments, but I can’t even argue back if you asked me to; that, and the lack of knowledge in that department.

And the people in my tutorial the past semester are all freaking smart ang-moh people who REALLY know their stuff and know which political school they lean towards, or are part of. Freaking smart or just brilliant at talking rubbish that sounds intelligent to a political student noob like me.

I think the students who are in this major, really, really know what they want, what they’re doing, and they just really know their stuff. These are people who will probably go on to some brilliant career in the government and politics or whatever political-related stuff.

I can’t wait for next year when I can immerse myself in the familiar territory of English Lit again. I’ve missed it, and it’ll be like welcoming back an old friend again.

I can’t wait for this week to be over, and get my last two exams over and done with. And while we’re at that, please, God, help me to do well for my practical exam, because I really really want to go on to still do practical next year.

The lesser of two evils.

So here I am, sitting on one of the comfortable sofas here in the Reading Room of the newly renovated Frank Tate Building. It’s raining outside, with strong winds (the poor trees are practically bending over backwards) and I’m quite glad to be indoors instead of battling the gales now. Weather forecast for the weekend is a rainy and windy one. Apparently the storm has hit Queensland already, and it’s heading for us in Victoria.

So yes, thankful to be indoors, compelled to study political discourses, because my exam is on Tuesday, and I still have tons and tons of readings to get through

Suddenly I don’t know which is better.

Lalala.

Sighhh. Just two more weeks and I’ll be free..!

I can’t believe I ended up accummulating more than $15 worth of library fines. Yes, I know. The library actually has a policy of giving us a credit of $15, but once we exceed that, then we have to pay off all the fines. I think it was returning that overnight loan a day late that killed off my credit, so I had to go to the front desk and pay off $17 worth of fines, because I really needed to check out another book and I can’t do that unless I clear my record.

Bleh.

Played badminton this afternoon for the first time in practically forever. I am so unfit. I need to take up some form of exercise or sports. I’ve come to learn that being thin does not equate to being healthy – you never know, my heart arteries might already be clogged from all the unhealthy food that I’ve been eating all these years. Not a very pleasant thought.

Random graffiti on one of the study desks in the library. I wasn’t really in the mood for reading Rousseau’s “Discourse on the Origin of Inequality”, and was getting bored so I was playing around with my camera phone. Thought that it sounded rather poetic; it almost sounds like it could be from a cheesy love pop song.

The library odyssey continues tomorrow. I can’t wait for my politics exam and practical exam to be over. Actually, maybe not the practical. I wouldn’t mind if it never comes.