I find that alcohol doesn't have the desired effect on me.
In the proper spirit of Saturday night fun, I went for my roommate's birthday party (a "real" party - i.e. no "surprise", sissy birthday cakes and singing "Happy Birthday" like what I'm accustomed to with the Singaporean crowd here, but beer, spiked punch, hard liquor, music and bump-'n-grindin') to have my first taste of alcohol in a party setting. (I know, I'm behind - I've never even got drunk before.) I had one shot of some liquor, some spiked punch (which was probably stronger than I'd bargained for) - stood around, exchanged cursory conversation, wondered about the supposed euphoric effect of intoxication, felt bored.
Not that I got drunk - I was clear-headed, unless extreme sleepiness counted - but I didn't get the "buzz" either. All I got was dizziness, partial loss of coordination, and unbelievable exhaustion. I excused myself early and - fighting sleep all the way - made it to my room, where I literally collapsed half-conscious on my bed and slept all the way till 10 in the morning.
So much for my first party experience.
But to be fair, I had had a long and tiring day. Saturday was the day of the lecture series organised by the Brown University Merlions (or the BUM's - isn't Brown so much more fun than other schools who just have plain old SSAs?). Cherian George was there, and so was Alfian Sa'at, and there was plenty of intensive discussion about issues pertaining to government policies, globalisation, censorship, race and identity. We invited students from other universities in the Northeast - Wellesley, Columbia, Harvard among others - and the speeches were fascinating and the amount of debate and participation simply impressive. The official website, if you like:
http://www.brown.edu/Students/Students_On_Singapore/SLS/index.html
But, interesting as it was, the whole event left me feeling inadequate. You know the stereotype of the passive, politically infantilised, government-coddled, blindly obedient, narrow-minded and unimaginative Singaporean. I found myself ticking off a personal mental checklist of those attributes, with a sinking feeling, as the talks progressed and national deficiencies were brought up and criticised.
There were many fascinating insights to be gained from the lectures and discussions, but the one that stuck with me most was the unhappy realisation that I still have such a long way to go; the depressing thought that, even after spending more than half my life being educated in "elite" schools and programmes, even after being showered with all the awards, scholarships, trappings of privilege - there's still so little to show for all that.
I have always needed external stimuli to kick myself out of habitual brain-numbing passivity, if only for a while.
On a happier note: this lovely spring afternoon, while walking from crepes to dinner with a friend, the sight of cherry blossoms inspired me to wax fangirl-enthusiastically eloquent on the subject of my fascination with sakura. Or, to be specific, a certain evil, soul-devouring sakura tree eternally blooming in some imaginary corner of Ueno Park, and the outrageously dramatic events revolving around it. I do hope that in my excitement, I was being more entertaining than disturbing - although I think that by now, my Brown friends have some inkling of what to expect from me.
words were spilled on Sunday, April 16, 2006
Comments:
... oh, brenda.
alcohol generally only makes me depressed and tired after at least fifteen minutes of relative well-being. but i can't see you being at home in that kind of environment, and i don't think you should have done shots. or one shot, as it were.
there is sakura in america, i think. gift from japan. a whole bunch of them, in washington or something.
alcohol generally only makes me depressed and tired after at least fifteen minutes of relative well-being. but i can't see you being at home in that kind of environment, and i don't think you should have done shots. or one shot, as it were.
there is sakura in america, i think. gift from japan. a whole bunch of them, in washington or something.
# posted by 
: 10:00 PM
: 10:00 PM
yes, there's sakura in brown too. one of the trees was a gift from the japanese ambassador after WWII. and they are pretty.
interestingly enough, my roommate told me that the way i downed the shot raised my rep a notch. so now i've proven that i'm cool. even though i was a wimp and refused a second shot.
interestingly enough, my roommate told me that the way i downed the shot raised my rep a notch. so now i've proven that i'm cool. even though i was a wimp and refused a second shot.
... they're in bloom now, aren't they?
it's amazing what drinking liquor neat does for your rep, really. although i generally recommend sipping first if you don't really know what it is; it's very sad if you down it neat and then choke a lot.
two shots in quick succession is lots of fun. or not lots of fun, depending.
what did you drink a shot of, anyway?
it's amazing what drinking liquor neat does for your rep, really. although i generally recommend sipping first if you don't really know what it is; it's very sad if you down it neat and then choke a lot.
two shots in quick succession is lots of fun. or not lots of fun, depending.
what did you drink a shot of, anyway?
# posted by : 1:33 AM
: 1:33 AM
yes, they are in bloom. makes walking to classes all the more enjoyable.
i don't know what i drank, honestly. i downed it all at one shot because i didn't want it hanging around on my tongue.
(as you can tell, i haven't acquired the vocabulary of drinking yet.)
i don't know what i drank, honestly. i downed it all at one shot because i didn't want it hanging around on my tongue.
(as you can tell, i haven't acquired the vocabulary of drinking yet.)
that worries me. never drink anything you don't recognise neat.
honestly. that's really very foolish.
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honestly. that's really very foolish.
# posted by : 8:59 AM
: 8:59 AM