What do you do with a B.A. in English?
What is my life going to be?
4 years of college,
And plenty of knowledge,
Have earned me this useless degree!
I can’t pay the bills yet,
‘Cause I have no skills yet,
The world is a big scary place!

Listen to it. Thanks dubdew, for providing a link to such an apt verse.

BEIJING - WORRIED that its iconic Great Wall will not be named one of the ‘new’ seven wonders of the world, China has launched a campaign to get its people to vote for it, the Xinhua news agency said yesterday.So far, more than 45 million votes from around the world had been cast in an online campaign hosted by the non-profit New7Wonders Foundation (www.new7wonders.com) to choose the world’s seven ‘new’ wonders, the foundation said.

The final result will be unveiled on July 7.

According to the Academy of the Great Wall of China, the wall has recently dropped out of the top seven and it blamed the voting process, saying relatively few Chinese used the Internet and those who did were poor in the English language.

But people can now vote by mobile phone, and some portions of the website have been translated into Chinese, Xinhua added.

‘China’s Great Wall missed an opportunity 2,000 years ago when the Greeks named the Seven Wonders of the World. It would be extremely regrettable if it became an also-ran this time,’ the academy said.

Other nominees include the Eiffel Tower in Paris and the Taj Mahal in India.

REUTERS

There’s an Academy of the Great Wall of China?

Vote for your ideal new 7 wonders of the world! Cast your vote for the longest cemetery of the world!

So I was cycling to VB lesson (turns out that the teacher was sick so we went home and watched a dvd) when this middle-aged man wearing sunglasses cycled up beside me and, in his very sing-song soprano voice, said, “嘿，你去哪里啊?” (”heyyyyy, where are you goinggggg?”) (still resonating in my head). I turned to see if it was someone I knew (’coz only people I know would ask such a question, right?) but he was a complete stranger, and so to protect myself, despite being in broad daylight and there were plenty of other cyclists in front and behind me, I just stared ahead to ignore him. He overtook me but was later overtaken, and I saw him cycle into Fudan campus. Hmm.

I thought of several possiblities:

1. He’s a predator, and he just so happens to fancy me with my four-month-pregnant-looking stomach

2. He is trying to 响应 (respond to) the government’s 号召 (call) of building a “harmonious society”, trying to be friendly to strangers, but 碰墙 (fell flat) with guarded people like me.

3. A case of mistaken identity. He thought I was someone he knew. Maybe it was his sunglasses giving him illusions. Maybe I just have a photocopyable face.

4. He is someone I know but cannot recognize

5. He is not of sound mind.

What’s your take on this?

Tiny Prints Holidays offers personalized holiday / Christmas photo greeting cards, gift tags, and Christmas party invitations. Not only can you craft your own holiday greetings, you can personalize cards further by using your own photo for custom holiday greeting cards.

Have a look at what I created:

You can choose from plenty of humble designs, load your own picture (some with restricted dimensions, but 10MB is a very generous limit), and write your own words, as I did with mine! All the designs cost less than US$2 each (ranging from $1.29 - $1.85).

The baby birth announcement cards are rather cute:

It’s still very early for Christmas, but do bookmark Tiny Prints for when you want to order Xmas photo cards to send well wishes to loved ones at the end of this year. In the meantime, you can always order personalized party invitation cards or gift tags.

This is a sponsored post. 

I’ve been offfered a place of residency of my choice, first choice in fact, for Gage Towers, where I will be sharing a small apartment with 5 other women (does this sound kinky?).

I have to place an acceptance payment of 700 Canadian dollars, but I still haven’t received my letter of offer. So how can I accept the offer by 8 June?

By pure faith, I suppose. I will have to pay $300 for cancellation should I not be accepted into UBC.

When I was applying for housing, I could select whether I was a drinker, night owl, and a tidy person or not. I could also make the choice of similar habits of housemates. Now, skimming through the Residence Guide, they have even provided portals for us to get to know our roommates better before we move in.

Reflect a little bit about your values, habits and pet peeves. Think about what will be important to you as a roommate. The better able you are to articulate to your roommate what’s important to you – the faster you’ll be able to resolve some of the less important issues.

After you receive your room assignment (typically in mid-August), log on to our Online Service and consent to release your email address and name to your new roommate. Many new roommates like to be in touch over email or MSN before moving into rez. It’s a great way to find out a bit more about one another – and decide if you both really need a microwave – before moving to rez.

Not sure what to talk about? Read on…

There are other advice that are helpful, but make us sound like kids. Advice on how to get along, what to do if you don’t get along, what to do when you meet (!), and even a sample cleaning schedule!

Sample 1

Sample 2

Update: I’ve been informed that I will be able to get back my acceptance fees if I should be an unsuccessful applicant of UBC’s exchange programme. No refund for the application fees (CAD $50) though. I can only accept.

Tucked away in a corner (literally) on Huai Hai Road (淮海路), Phillipino waiters (but it’s not a Philipino restaurant) welcome you in their accented English (and some waiters are quite good-looking!).

We chanced upon Whisk, the Chocolatey restaurant (lots of chocolate drinks and desserts on the menu) when we were trying to find a place to eat after watching the play, Brothers. I hope it was a great birthday dinner for CG heh.

Whisk is a very suitable place for intimate chats with its warm yellow glow, chillout music, and urinals with icecubes. Filling main courses and delectable desserts.

What is the best amount of chocolate to have? “More than a little, less than too much.” I may have had a tad too much, heh.

1250 Huai Hai Road, near Hua Ting Road (淮海路1250号靠近华亭路)

You’ll be able to find it near the KFC exit of Chang Shu Road metro station (常熟路地铁站).

There is the book, and there is the play.

I’ve done both!

I finished reading the book just before leaving for the play tonight. Quite a feat for Squareface ok, reading a thick 2-part Chinese novel. Well, obviously if Squareface actually sat down to read the 2 volumes, you can rightfully assume that:

1) The novel is very easy to read

2) It contains interesting enough elements to have held Squareface’s attention and made her put in the effort of reading the 500,000 Chinese characters.

I strongly recommend the novel (and this is not a sponsored post!).

Under the veneer of mostly comical scenarios, the author captures and exposes the underbelly of Chinese society for the past 40 years (which author Yu Hua says took the Western Civilization 400 years to “achieve”). Beneath the easy, straightforward fictional narrative, lies a loaded non-fictional documentary.

If I even continue trying to write words that make up a review, I think I’ll be tearing away the value of the such a fine piece of work, so I shall stop here (also due to laziness) for my $0.20 worth on the novel. (The novel can even be read online, but come on, it’s just nett 16RMB for part 1 and 27RMB for part 2, available with discounts at certain bookshops.)

Appreciation of the play might have been clouded by the images I established in my head after reading the novel. The play excluded many characters, merged several incidents, and made some adjustments due to time constraints and for theatrical dynamics. So it may have been a little confusing (although it might be the precise purpose, to reflect the chaotic nature). I might have been lost in the middle of the play had I not read the book. The dramatic effects were really good, as were the cast. The playwright did a good job adapting it to local tastes, but left some loopholes which I hope will be filled by a greater talent soon.

I know I should know Chinese history better. I’m working on it, give me time.

Hey blogger of Shadowscope, firstly, I think it’s great that you actually offered to pay for a review of your blog. Your colour scheme is alright, and your presentation and layout are clear. Not cluttered or anything, and that’s really important for readers who are more likely than not to have a short-attention span. You might want to place your google ad links at a more prominent place though.

The way your “About Me” loads is quite cool. How did you do that? I wanna have something like that for myself too.

You’ve got plenty going on in your sidebar, and that can be an eyesore.

Other than that, I think it’s a pleasant personal blog. Keep up your posts on personal opinions and don’t let sponsored posts rob you of your own words.

This is a sponsored post.

This semester’s theme may be about meeting friends, who I don’t get to meet much in Singapore, here in Shanghai.

Here’s Shuh Tien and me in 2000/2001 (?!):

And here’s a picture of us fresh off my camera:

It was great meeting up with you here!

This semester marks a prominent number of ex-SCGS girls in Shanghai/China, eh?

A drug rehab program in Michigan is treating addicts across the country.

Stopyouaddiction.com doesn’t actually highlight it’s new 28 day drug treatment program, but instead gives you information on different addictions, and the different types of drug abuse. So if you identify any of the symptoms for yourself or for a loved one, you might want to be included in their mailing list at the bottom of the page.

This may be a friendlier approach than screaming “You need help!!!” at prominent places in the site. Its tactful placement at the bottom of the pages lets you first read and identify, and then choose to seek help if you wish to. There is even a toll-free number for counsultation.

This is a sponsored post.