It's difficult for anyone to start off from scratch in a new place, not knowing anyone. But especially more so if you've lived comfortably in the presence of people who either didn't really care, cared too much for themselves, couldn't be fucked to care or have already cared too much to know that there's no point caring.

It sounds derogatory, but it's really not. I mean it in the nicest way it possibly could be said. Its a society where you could let your hair down and say whatever you want, do most things you could want to do, say things you could never say and totally get away with it. The people around you know you well enough to know that you don't really mean the things you say because you honestly don't really give a shit yourself.

Then after spending years and years in a culture where you greet people with vulgarities, and modesty doesn't really exist, you have to start off again, in a new place, new people.

The hardest thing to do is to put up smiles that you've never used in a long time, to have to remember that you greet people politely and that swear words aren't really part of the English language. To thank people for being nice, to thank them for caring.

Sure if you're lucky enough to find people who are like your old group of friends, and are able to deliberate yourself into their society, you're well and good. Or you could have done things the easier way and simple started off together with some of those friends from before. Then you're fine.

But you feel totally weird when people actually go out of their way to be nice to you and make you feel welcome. And when you visit someone, you're not sure if you should make yourself at home without shame or go through the whole politeness and ettiquette thing and stand around until you're offered a seat and not put your legs up because it's rude.

It's a nice feeling, and you'll always be grateful for things like that. But it's weird, when you have the feeling of all these nice things being piled onto you. You'll never know what to say or how to react when after years of apathy and nonchalance, you suddenly have people all around you raining down affection on you. All you can do is smile and accept the genuine effort and feel bad about being the person you were before. It would be like Sherwin going up to you with a genuine smile on his face and saying, "Here man, I bought you a pack of cigarettes because you're who you are to me."

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I will retract that example because it leaves a disturbing image if Sherwin really did do that to one of us. And THAT would be a scary thought.

You've just finished 5 hours of tiring class in school after waking up late and skipping lunch just to make it in on time.

Hungry gets in the stomach growling attack. (FIRST BLOOD +200gold)

You feel the urge to head down to the canteen, but it's over 20m away.

Lazy uses the oppurtunity to retaliate quickly with a DOUBLE KILL, utilising both its 'you don't really want to do that' attack and its sleepiness skill:

"It's too far and I would have to put down all my stuff to take out my wallet to pay for food and I'm feeling kinda sleepy," you think to yourself.

You trudge out the gate, heading towards the bus stop.

but Lazy forgets to turn off his 'you don't really want to do that' attack, giving time for Hungry to throw in another stomach growler.

You consider turning around to buy food as you feel your stomach churn,

but Lazy quickly cleans up his mistake by forcing in his passive sleepiness skill.

And so you continue on to the bus stop, longing to take a nap back home.

It looks as if Hungry has lost the battle, but he sees a terrain advantage that could push things over in his favour.

An Indian curry shop is just one stop down from your apartment.

Hungry uses its temptation attacks and all its mana in the process.

You suddenly think about the lovely tasting curry, coating the saffron rice with tender lamb and potato chunks. You can almost feel the aroma wafting up your nostrils. Why not just stop at the Indian food place and grab a bite? Alright, that's it! It's settled.

Hungry feels victorious. Once you reach the Indian food stall, it's the perfect opportunity to use its ultimate once its mana is recharged.

But Lazy looks unfazed. He easily forsees what the devious Hungry is up to and devises its secret strategy.

The bus pulls up to the stop just 5m away from your house.

Lazy throws in everything its got.

Passive sleepiness:
Your eyes droop, and the world seems to become surreal after the entire bus ride of succumbing to the sleepiness skill.

'You don't really want to do that' attack:
And the restaurant is a whopping 50m away. One whole bus stop! You might as well have walked to the canteen in school. No point wasting your journey.

Illusions:
You start to visualise all the tidbits you keep in your room that aren't really there because you finished them last night. That will satisfy Hungry temporarily until after you've had your nap.

(KILLING SPREE) (THRIPLE KILL)

and finally its ultimate, Illogical Reverse Psychosis:
Even if you do eat the Indian curry, you realise that it's only 4pm and then you'll have to have a late dinner again. Furthermore, you'd most probably get an upset stomache and splattery burning shit from the curry that's been left under the steamer from lunch. The idiots in the Curry shop don't make a fresh batch until 6pm.

(DOMINATING)

Hungry tries to support its ground by throwing in a few stomach growling attacks, but after spending all his mana on his psyche attacks, he only had enough to cast one which was easily glanced off by Lazy's Illogical Reverse Psychosis.

You quickly get off the bus and head for your apartment.

In frustration, Hungry slams its mouse on the table and leaves the game. Lazy carries on attacking until the game is over. (UNSTOPPABLE)

You fumble about your apartment until you find your room and fall onto the bed.

Even though hungry has left the game, it still automatically goes to defend with its stomach growlers, but Lazy knows he's won and finishes him off one last time before he secures his victory. (MEGA KILL)

You fall asleep, ignoring the growling going on in your stomache.

Lazy smirks and leaves the shop, going out to gloat at Hungry who is already smoking outside with Sherwin who was raped in another match as well.

It was a typical winter evening in Sydney, Australia: Cold and dark.

Aninternational university student, having just finished class, would be in his apartment room in front of his laptop, connecting to all the friends he misses back home, basking in the luxurious warmth of his heater.

The warmth of a heater in the winter's cold is a feeling of bliss. It is near orgasmic pleasure to feel each cell of your dry, cold skin being thawed out as the warm air engulfs your body. The student continues to type, grateful of the heat, all he needs now is a steaming hot shower and then he can go out for dinner with his international student friends.

Then suddenly it's quiet and dark. The only light comes from the laptop in front of him. The streetlights outside have also vanished in the blackness. Thinking quickly, the student looks at his laptop settings, "Drawing power from Battery: 98% left".

A Blackout.

The student sits there, wondering how he can make the best of his situation. He can feel his luxurious warm air slowly slipping out of the room while the sharp cool air begins to cut against his skin. That would also be the end of his hot shower for now. The wireless router also has crashed, rendering his laptop unconnected to the world outside.

There the student sits. Alone. In his room. Cold.

Edited

After about 3 weeks in a foreign land where people say 'stuffed' instead of 'screwed' and 'sunnies' instead of 'shades', I have discovered how advanced and complex our Singaporean way of life is. We Singaporeans have developed through years of cultural evolution from a multitude of races, religions and communites, simple words that have meanings that simple cannot be replaced by words from the universal language of English.

A Singaporean can voice an expression in one syllable, while these English speaking people have to voice out the same expression in a whole sentence.

The Singaporean also can use the exact same syllable, to voice out a different expression and any other Singaporean would understand that his meaning is completely different. In proper English, you'd have to come up with a totally different sentence, with totally different words, just to mean the same thing that the Singaporean said.

Eg.

Shiok
Context:
'Guy A' has just stepped into a warm jacuzzi after a long, hard day in the cold.

If 'Guy A' was Singaporean : "Shiok!"

Cometh a day back then we'd never see,
We'd knew it happen sometime. Sherpee

Dodging teachers in school, and still getting caught in the block,
Outside the office, in the void deck. Sherlock

is a hub for culture, creativity and inspiration. Every single thiving economy and society in the world were greatly influenced by the ways of the Europeans. The vibrant mix of cultures and societies in Europe alone makes it the ambassador of our planet to other foreign inter-galactic associations.

A strong factor that makes Europe such a fantastic place is the rapturous variety of delectable cuisines. The giant rojak of races and nationalities leaves many tourists spoilt for choice on their next dinner location.

Another contributing consideration is the artistic value and cultural history of many memorable events and works. (eg. Renaissance Age)

But the most important ingredient in the recipe for such a great country is its people.
The greatest people in the world were Europeans, and so were the most fucked up. Its peoples' clashing convictions, inevitably resulting in extremely interesting conflicts, giving the world something to put in the papers.
There were many an occasion where one or another European almost ruled the entire world. The were also many an occasion where one European or another was ostracised by the entire world.
Europe has also been the home of some of the most refined and cultured people in the world (eg. The Queen of England), along with the most innocently appalling people in the world (eg. Ali G), and the most strikingly apathetic (eg. Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin).

who don't know, sherwin is gone. Unless he posts unwittingly retarded things up here, this blog is as good to me as a condom is to Panda. The de facto replacement for sherwin is Panda, but he gets very sensitive about jacks posted to the public eye (as I am about to discover).

So try and convince sherwin to post something because my Ops Warrant talks to me about very boring yet disturbing things in the office when I don't look busy.

And then there was one..

Chapter I:

The atmosphere of the kampung was as it should have been. Rays of the evening sun cut through the humid air upon the carefree laughter of kids playing in the mud. Cheery talk between the adults as they prepared for dinner instilled a certain tranquility in the air. The aroma of the oxen on the spit overwhelmed the sweat of the hard-worked farmers.

Nos sat on his stilt porch, absorbing the scene which unfolded before him every day of his life. The genuine contentment of the kampung dwellers. The slightest turn away from the daily routine sending waves of excitement through the people. The simplistic lifestyle. What Nos would do for a day away from it all.

Taking a walk by the pipeline near 6th avenue:

15 minutes.