Have you ever been alone in a crowded room when I'm here with you?

Have you ever been alone in a crowded room; well I'm here with you...

There are Singaporeans at Queens!!!!

I was standing in a comically long queue outside Destinations waiting to buy my Thanksgiving bus ticket when I heard these two girls standing behind start talking. By this point, I am capable of pinpointing a Singaporean accent from a mile away so I knew I was standing in some very rare company (ever try to find a Singaporean in Canada? There are next to none). I took me awhile to actually get the nerve to talk to them (cause you know, I never talk to strangers... ever unless they are thrust upon me like a pie to the face) and by the time I did, the queue had shortened to about half its length.

Yeah, that's about it. Just thought I'd share it. I'm kind of thrilled at this, although with Queen's being enormous, chances are I won't ever accidentally run into them again.

Remember:

Ending a sentence with the word "PSYCHE!"

Singing the rap to "The Fresh Prince Of Bel Air"

When Kurt Cobain, Tu Pac, River Phoenix, and Selena died.

That "WOAH" comes from Joey from "Blossom" and that "How Rude!" comes from Stephanie from "Full House"

When it was actually worth getting up early on a Saturday to watch cartoons.

When you got super excited when it was Oregon Trail day in computer class at school.

Reading "Goosebumps"

The profound meaning of "Wax on, wax off"

Pondering why Smurfette was the only female smurf.

Taking plastic cartoon lunch boxes to school.

Dancing to "Wannabe" by the Spice Girls, Females: had a new motto, Males: got a whole lot gay-er. (so tell me what you want, what you really really want.)

The craze, then the banning of slap bracelets and slam books.

The urge to say "NOT" after (almost) every sentence...Not...

When Where in the world is Carmen San Diego? was both a game and a TV game show.

Captain Planet.

When you knew that Kimberly, the pink ranger, and Tommy, the green Ranger were meant to be together.

Playing power rangers with friends, you fought over who got to be who............and still all ended up being Tommy.

When super nintendo's became popular.

Watching home alone 1, 2 , and 3........and tried to pull the pranks on "intruders"

"I've fallen and I can't get up"

Going to the skating rink before there were inline skates

Two words... Trapper Keeper.

Never getting injured on a Slip 'n' Slide

Wearing socks over leggings scrunched down

Boom boxes vs. cd players

New Kids on The Block when they were cool

All the characters names and their life stories on "Saved By The Bell"

You playing and/or collecting "Pogs"

When you had at least one Tamagotchi, GigaPet or Nano and brought it everywhere

Watching the original Care Bears, My Little Pony, and Ninja Turtles

When NANCY DREW AND THE HARDY BOYS WERE THE BEST MYSTERY BOOKS

When all your school supplies were "Lisa Frank" brand.(pencils.notebooks.binders.etc.)

When the new Beanie Babies were always sold out.

When you used to wear those stick on earings, not only on your ears, but at the corners of your eyes.

A time before the WB.

Getting creeped out by "Are You Afraid of the Dark?"

When you knew the Macarena by heart.

"Talk to the hand" ... enough said

When you thought Brain woud finally take over the world

When you always said, "Then why don't you marry it!"

When everyone went slinky crazy.

When razor scooters were cool.

When we were younger:

Before the MySpace frenzy...
Before the Internet & text messaging...
Before Sidekicks & iPods...
Before MIKE JONES...
Before PlayStation2 or X-BOX...

When you put off the 5 hours of homework you had every night

When light up sneakers were cool.

When you rented VHS tapes, not DVDs.

When gas was $0.95 a gallon & Caller ID was a new thing.

When we recorded stuff on VCRs & paid $3.50 for a movie.

When we called the radio station to request songs to hear off our walkmans.

When 2Pac and Biggie where alive.

When the Chicago Bulls were the best team ever.

Way back... remember:

Tag.

When Get Over Here!!!! means something to you.

Hide-n-Go Seek at dusk.

Red Light, Green Light.

Heads Up 7 Up.

Playing Kickball & Dodgeball until your porch light came on.

Hopskotch.

Super Soakers

Lego

Slip-n-Slides.

Tree Houses.

Hula Hoops.

HOT WHEELS!!!!!

"POWER OF LOVE" BY CELINE DION..ONLY COUPLES COULD SKATE TO THIS.

The annoying Giga Pets & Furbies.

Running through the sprinklers.

That "Little Mermaid"

Crying when Mufasa died in the Lion King.

Happy Meals where you chose a Barbie or a Hot Wheels car.

Getting the privelage to sit in the front seat of the car.

Drinking Sqeeze It "Squeeze The Fun Out Of It"

CAPRI SUN

Watching Saturday Morning Cartoons in your PJ's still wrapped up in your TMNT, Power Rangers, Barbie, Fairy Princess comforter.

The original Power Rangers

Or what about:

Sonic the Hedgehog
Hey Arnold.
Rugrats.
The Secret World of Alex Mac.
Ren & Stimpy.
Double Dare.
Rocco's Modern Life.
AAAHH!! REAL MONSTERS.
Wild & Crazy Kids.
Clarissa Explains it All.
CAMP NOWHERE
Salute Your Shorts(CAMP ANAWANA)
Are You Afraid of the Dark?
The original cast members of All That.
Kenan & Kel.
"CITY GUYS"...ROLLW/ THE CITY GUYS
Doug.
Magic School Bus.
Nick Arcade.
Flash Forward.
The Adventures of Pete and Pete.
Legends of the Hidden Temple
Hey Dude.Dinosaurs.
Aladdin.
Mummies Alive
Pinky and the Brain
Sailor Moon.
Blossom.
Hangin with Mr. Cooper.
Martin
Beavis & Butt-Head
Wishbone.
Bill Nye the Science Guy
MR RODGERS!!!!
Gulah Gulah Island
Little BearBusy Town
Under the Umbrella Tree
PEE-WEE!!!
The Big Comfy Couch

Remember...

When Kool-Aid was the drink of choice.

Wearing your new shoes on the first day of school.

Class field trips.

When Christmas was the most exciting time of year.

When $5 seemed like a million, & another dollar a miracle.

When you begged to go to McDonalds for dinner everyday.

When Toys R Us overuled the mall.

Go back to the time when...

Decisions were made by going 'eeny-meeny-miney-moe'.

Mistakes were corrected by simply exclaiming 'do over!'

Money issues were handled by whoever was banker in 'Monopoly.'

It wasn't odd to have two or three 'best' friends.

Being old referred to anyone over 20.

A chance to skate as a couple at the local roller rink was like winning the lottery.

Scrapes & bruises were kissed & made better.

It was a big deal to finally be tall enought to ride the 'big people' rides at the fair.

When playing Nintendo was the hardest thing ever.

When Ninja Turtles ruled the world.

Another Baby Sitter Club and Little Sister (Karen) book came out and you put your name on hold for it at the library.

When Aladdin was new, before the trilogy was complete.

Before we realized all this would eventually disappear

Remember when:

Getting high meant swinging at a playground?

The worst thing you could get from a girl was cooties?

When dad was your hero

When your worst enemies were your siblings

And race issues were about who ran fastest?

When war was a card game

And life was simple and care free?

Remember when all you wanted to do…

Was grow up?

"On that night, when I'm naked..."
-- Linda Chew

So started what would eventually morph into her telling us that that was not what she had meant to say. She was apparently trying to say that when we get smashed on the Saturday of our 19th birthdays, don't make her do anything stupid like get naked and dance. But it was funny the way it first came out. Linda has the same birthdate as Grant (Oct 26) which falls on a Thursday this year. So according to her, the plan is that when I too turn 19 two days later on the Saturday, we're going to head to Alfie's and get completely wasted. I'm not sure if I'm a big fan of getting completely wasted on my 19th birthday just because I can, but I adore Linda like the little sister I never had so what can I say. Of course, she's technically 2 days older than I am but she's smaller in stature so...

More fun. Today was the first day we as a house decided to eat dinner together and someone came up with the bright idea that we should all right down what trait we look for in our ideal girl or guy and share our results as a dinner table conversation. That was hilarious. Grant, you've got to read Michael Genin's list. He wrote it after having had 3 pitchers of beer.

It was a good night.

[edit: 3:36 pm]

Oh yes, there's also something I wanted to put down last night but was so tired that I forgot. It's one of my newer revelations reached when I was talking to Linda about how we met last year. She pointed out to me that she doesn't think I like small talk. And of course, she's right and when I think about it, it explains a good deal about me. I mean, it's the reason why people have differing opinions on how social I am. Some people seem to think that I am a very social person while others think I'm very quiet. Both are technically true depending on the kind of situation I'm in. Cause like Linda mentioned, I don't like small talk and am horrible at making it. So if I'm in some new environment where everyone's making derulsatory small talk, then obviously, I'm going to seem very anti-social because I can't stand it. On the other hand, if I'm in a new environment where the people are more open, and jump right into real conversations, then obviously, I'm going to be much more comfortable socially. This also explains why Rachel Manson insisted that when we first met, I didn't seem to be horrifically anti-social when talking to her. I don't think she made any kind of small talk. In fact, she jumped right into telling me about her screwed up knee and other random facts.

[/edit]

What the hell is going on in Thailand?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And why is every freaking account of it different?!

Even Metroblogs is a little confused...

"There are only 2 real professions: teaching and farming... and even farmers have teachers"
-- Mr. Lalonde (Prof 130)

Note to self: I will NOT get smashed this homecoming weekend

Jon Wong is done is first week of classes and so far, they all look alright. My prof for music 291 is a bit queer but what can I say. Definitely not as great as Dr. Burge, my music 191 prof and/or god.

I'm always a little surprised as how little people at Queen's know about me. In some ways, it shouldn't surprise me anymore since it's been proven so many times, and yet, I guess it should surprise me a bit as to how I managed to essentially live with these people for a year and still without them knowing much about me.

Part of this I think stems from me having my finger in so many pies, so to speak, at Queen's. By that, I refer to the fact that I always seem to have groups of friends who don't really know each other. Doorbell Room and their cohorts definitely have little to no affiliation with the old Gord 5 floormates. Jess is kind of a group in and of herself. We kind of share similar friends from the floor, but I think more often than not, when we hang out in a crowd, it's more likely to be with people from her year. That doesn't really surprise me. I always seem to have a requisite group of upper year friends, as evidenced by my years in Somerset and TCMS.

So the bottom line is that because I do, to some extent, split my time between these good folk, each of them only knows some aspect of me. I mean, god knows, people from my floor haven't ever seen evidence of me drinking. There isn't anyone that sort of floats around these different groups the way Grant tends to do with my high school chums. He for example, is usually around, whether or not I'm hanging out with Elaine + cohorts, Andrew Kott + cohorts, or David + cohorts. And Asif is no longer here so there isn't someone who hears about everything in my life, even from a second hand point of view.

So yeah, I've concluded. I'm not really part of anything here. I kind of float around and that's why nobody here really knows me even as well as Karen... and she's only seen me like 7 times... the last time being in 2004. I don't think I really have a problem being a floater, but I'm introspectively trying to explain to myself why it shouldn't be a surprise that people know so little about me.

"So Jon, what are your teachables going to be?"
"English and Music"
"Wow, English and Music. That's pretty original. I haven't heard of anyone taking english and music since... you told me last year when you visited my apartment with Jess and I asked you the exact same question..."
-- Josh

So classes begin. Oh well, so much for the spring/summer break. Now onto reading Shakespeare...

"One of the things that I've noticed for the longest time is how people over here like to have some company when it comes to eating. Whether it is in the hawker centres or in restaurants, there seems to be some sort of stigma when it comes to the issue of eating alone. Indeed, from a couple of people (who I shall not name) that I've spoken to, they all feel that it's 'sad' or somewhat uncomfortable eating alone, because they feel that the people around them may view them as unpopular and without any friends."
-- Metroblogging Singapore

Getting in touch with my real roots. I've decided than rather say I have a Chinese background, that I prefer to note that my roots are predominantly Singaporean. That would explain everything. I don't like eating by myself...

Just to expand on that a bit. Singapore pretty much exists the same way Canada and the U.S. of A. do. A bunch of people from China decided that they wanted to live somewhere else, moved to Singapore, and created their own culture. Just like Canada and the States, where a bunch of people from Britan decided they wanted to live/colonize somewhere else, moved to this country, and to a greater or lesser extent, created their own culture. I don't think Courtney Plankton would consider herself to be of British decent, even though by and large, since her family's been in Canada ever since its confederation, you could argue that she is of British decent. In the same way, although in all reality, Singaporean people originally came from China, they have created their own culture in the same way that Canada/the States has done. So really, I am a Canadian of Singaporean decent.

Really though, I don't think it makes much of a difference either way.

"The news was a huge relief. He has a 'transient subluxation.' We all know what that is..."
-- Terry Francona

Yeah, sure we do. I'm an English nerd AND a baseball fan and I haven't the foggiest idea.

Jon Wong is back at Queen's and a little bit bored. See, last year, this entire week was packed with first year orientation and stuff. Now, I'm just kind of... settling in, which doesn't really entail much. I couldn't stay at home of course, cause everyone's gone, but a lot of my compatriots are doing frosh week stuff. Oh well, things will heat up soon enough.

This has been an interesting past few weeks. Steve Irwin died, Pluto got demoted, and I found out that you don't need a special licence to drive a U-Haul. Being a truck and all, I thought you'd need a special licence. Apparently not. This I learned from Qiuwei, who I am currently talking to, who went careening around in a U-Haul, driving her stuff from UPenn to Princeton.

There is a freaking battery-powered radio in the shower of my bathroom. Probably one of Rocco's inane ideas. The man must enjoy listening to the radio.

Derek Jeter lined a single into Luke Hudson's groin.

Ok, something's annoying me. I know this happens all the time, but just think for a minute about the following question:

How are we supposed to globalize if we can't even watch each other's DVDs?

For those of you who've watched DVDs from different countries, you know that each DVD is encoded to play only in specific regions. For example, region one is Canada and the US, region three is South East Asia, etc. Basically, most computers and DVD players will allow you to switch regions a few times. But here's the catch. After a certain number of region changes, you can no longer do it! Your DVD player will lock into decoding only DVDs from one region and that therefore means you can no longer watch DVDs from other countries ever again so long as you own the computer. And no, you can't even reinstall your operating system or switch DVD drives. Your computer itself just locks you out of it.

I found this out like 5 minutes ago. It won't play the Moulin Rouge DVD I brought back from Singapore because it's not encoded to my region.

What the hell? Why can't we just encode all our DVDs the same way? It's almost as bad as the differently shaped plugs.

So much for globalization.

I cut up my old credit card today. That was great fun for some reason...

Jon Wong will be returning to Kingston in 2 days.

My room looks like a freaking bomb raid. This happens every time I pack to go to and from university. I've learned that I'm not the kind of person that fills one box, closes it, then fills the next box. I have a tendency to fill all my boxes at the same time because I like to organize what goes in which box. So I currently have 6 or so half filled boxes strewn all over my room, along with a large slew of stuff that I have to pack.

I would like to think that I am generally a tidy man.

Look! It's a seal!