(Bitte - nicht so schnell! = Please - not so fast (drive slowly))

OMG... can't believe this is an actual place in Austria. Imagine putting this in my tourism essay. (negative externalities of sex tourism eh.)

anyway, been worrying about bibs (my cutestfurrywurrydoggiewogie) lately, there seems to something wrong with his right eye, and he looks as if he's squinting all the time. Oh no, this is very bad, but he's not that old (only 10) but everyone says they usually live till 15-16. I'll give it a few days, but if his condition's still not improving, it's off to the vet's...

I feel a complusive Need to blog about this, release some angst and hopefully feel a bit better. The interview was BADbadbad, so the following post is going to be a Blow by Blow (pun intended) account of it.

Argh, it started off ominously, I couldn't really understand what she was saying because of her accent, so when she asked me if I was the last of Mr White's little lambs (ie the last Geoger of the day), I heard "Have you tried any of Mr W's little lambs," which I of course thought was an appreciative tribute to Mr W's culinary skills, so I almost told her all about the chocolate fudge brownies he baked us last week. Fortunately I stopped myself in time and deciphered her question properly enough.

Then she asked me the inevitable Friendly Social Question ("Where would you most like to visit?"), to which I chamged my choice destination THREE times. 1. Africa (then I realised it wasn't a country) 2. Kenya (then I realised I forgot the name of the tribe I wanted to visit) 3. Peru (because it has 28 out of the 32 available climates!)

Following that, she asked me about solving the aging population problem, which was okay, I suppose, but then she asked me why I would want to solve it. So I gave her the standard quip about how sensitive jobs in the political arena and the military should be taken up by Singaporeans. AND THEN -ahem- she accused me of being xenophobic. (!!!BADBAD) So there was this small silence where I frantically tried to save myself, while she went on about "how sewn up our society was", how "PAP (she pronounced it pap) has killed off the opposition," and the" ideal solution would be to kill off everyone aged above 65." In comes horrible joke about recurring costs of burial and funerals.

It goes further downhill-

We went on to talk about The Article (this arcane piece on "Fossils of Quadrupeds"). (AAAAArghhhh)

I didn't really know where to start, so I just gave a summary, and stupidly started talking about Paleoclimatology--> global warming and how skeptics question it, to which she said "Global warming? My foot" (I'm not kidding, those were her exact words), to which I laughed weakly in response and said "So I see you're a Skeptic".

Then she started on this truism "the absence of evidence is the evidence of absence", and she asked me whether the author agreed with the statement. ARghhh. badbad. She had to ask me the question 3x before I gave her the specifics.

I was absolutely freaked out by now, so her constant pausing to cough made me all the more nervous (were my answers so shockingly absurd as to induce a coughing fit?!?!). Then she asked me about a giant mammal found in Madagascar (homoflorenscian or something) and I didn't anything about it!!!!! ("So the debate is, are these creatures a new species of quadrupeds, or were they merely suffering from island dwarfism 20000 years ago?" omgddddd)

I think by this time she was kinda fed up, so she said, "Alright, now, do you have any questions for me?" Diediediedie. Intelligent Question Thinking Time suddenly sprang up, and I wasn't prepared to leap into fluvial geomorphology, so I asked her about some lame thing regarding conducting a census of the ocean, and whether she believed in the existence of exotic, undiscovered species on earth. Then she told me about some giant squid they found off the coasts of Africa or sth.

Her parting words: "Go find out more about those homoflorenscians."

And no I do not feel any better.

urgh, am a bundle of nerves. the interview is tmr, and i'm scheduled to go after sh and jy, both very good students. i'm going to look like a complete moron next to them. and Dr Babs Kennedy (the interviewer) is one helluva geographer. she specialises in -ahem, wait for this- Fluvial Geomorphology. i mean wth is fluvial geomorphology (i even had trouble typing that out)(!!!). argh. Must Calm Down, in order to avoid difficulty pronouncing multi-syllable words-yes- that tends to be a problem sometimes. Mr White very cheerfully informed me that past topics of discussion have included "The Lunar Landscape"- ?!?!?!?. right. (am turning out to be a Punctuation Whore.) argh. the only understanding i have of that topic is it's association with ancient Latin medical hypotheses relating to lunacy, which i am succumbing to slowly - but oh so- surely.

Must Not Panic.

Dr B Kennedy
Summary - Fluvial geomorphology, history of geomorphological and geological thought.

A fluvial geomorphologist by training, Dr. Kennedy's research in that field has moved from valley asymmetry to river networks in general and the role of tributary junction in particular. In parallel with this, she has become increasingly interested in the historical development of ideas about landscapes and land forms, especially valleys, since the Eighteenth Century. Her work at present is focussed upon Charles Darwin's experience of valley forms during the Beagle voyage and the significance of his Patagonian and Chilean travels.

-ohno, i'm too young and ignorant to face such brilliance.-

should i shake her hand? but everyone tells me i have sweaty palms when i get stressed, and tmr, make no mistake, tw WILL "get stressed", to put it mildly.

Somebody please help me. I think i might need to see a doctor for some of those pills hz n k have been popping. seems to have done them ALOT of good :x me want some tooooo.

yes,yes, i know i'm lousy, no need to keep reminding me.

haha, the Beckhams always crack me up.

anyway, just found that that there's not going to be any lessons on tues and wed, cos the tutors haven't finished marking - this break is lasting waaayy longer than i thought it would/should. arghh, can't regain my mugging momentum, so am a bit worried about that. have been relatively happy and carefree for the past few days, cos of, well yeah, the extended break and of course because i have yet to know my results (except for math and gp). heh, so have been spending time watching movies, eating, shopping, lounging around (semi-stylishly :X)

but sending off huixin and co last week brought me much grief. sigh but that has been discussed to DEATH. haha, shuki, risse and i were so depressed after that and worrying about econs, but mr b has *benevolently* decided to drag out our anxiety.

anyway, wanted to blog about "city of god", cos it's a freakin gooood movie. damn sad though, i actually cried a number of times, esp when i saw all these kids (apparently, none of them are professional actors, and they're mostly real ppl pulled out from Rio de Janeiro) shooting and killing with guns bigger than they are. urg, extremely disturbing. and i cried when Benny, (without doubt my favourite gangster-he's kinda cute n v funny, ok, i know i'm trivialising the film but he's cute what...) died after being mistakenly shot by some hoodlum.

the show's based on a true story (originally a novel written by Paulo Lins) about gun/drug gangs in the slums of Rio and the constant power tussle between the lords. the cinematography is fantastic and everything looks so grimy and real. there were times i forgot i was watching a movie, cos it seemed so much like a documentary. the angles are alternately subtle and in your face, and there's an added layer of narration from the central charac, who's an aspiring photographer, so the story is told partly through his lenses.

I was remembering all the facts we learnt abt Rio in Geog last year, as one of the main case studies of slums and sqatter settlements in ELDCs, and i realised how different it actually is in the movie. our notes tell us of all the govt plans to provide cheap mass housing, electricity, jobs etc for the people, with only passing mention of the deep rooted corruption that is so much a part of reality. the situation of the brazilian middleclass sounds really bad, but it 's alot worse for those living in the periphery. everyone is hooked on drugs and it's the only livelihood for many of them, cos we all know that peddling drugs brings decent money in a town where the drug lords make the laws. (it's actually constuctive in a thwarted way cos the drug lords ensure law and order so they don't attract the attention of the cops, which leaves them to carry out their business without interference.) almost everyone in the movie talks about "getting out of here someday". the cynic in me says that sounds like Davies wanting to get to Sidcup, and that there will always be shattered dreams but i better not be too dismissive, cos i just might be at the wrong end of the stick :X cynicism is too much of a luxury right now.

yes, will enjoy last few moments of peace before pandemonium breaks loose when my maid returns to manila for 2 weeks and i start receiving my papers back.