Rubber Band Day/Independence Day (Norway)
2004-05-17 @ 9:44 p.m.

Was reminded once again of how long I've known Yi-Xun, out of all the people in class. Haha, sorry for not going out to lunch, I was lazy and you're quite boring (to me at least). Ever get the feeling that you can do no wrong in someone's eyes? After hearing what Mr Purvis said about me at the parents-teachers meeting, I feel that way with him. Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to boast, just telling you what some of my friends think and what I increasingly think too (so don't get judgemental all you moralistic people lurking out there in cyberspace). I'm quite freaked out by the parents' reactions though. These range from simple curiosity about my identity (Yumun's), to wanting a photograph of me (Jennifer's), to suggesting her daughter get together with me (Mel's). Isn't it just bizarre the kind of responses I elicit from the girls' parents? I find it very disturbing. It's not funny, I swear! It's weird to know that people are that curious about you, just because of what a teacher's said to them. The power of words is astounding. Mr Purvis thinks my parents are nice, especially my dad. I find that funny, because I can't stand my dad at times. Isn't it strange how quick people are to label you as "brilliant", even they're in all likelihood guilty of it to some extent themselves? Lends a whole new aspect to self-deprecation, no? I don't mind really, it's just that being labelled "brilliant" seems to bring with it an assumption of endowment with the gift of omniscience. There is a certain bittersweet irony in being pressured to accept you have a gift, when it never really manifested itself before. I begin to understand why most geniuses were or went insane. Thank my lucky stars I'm not quite one.

Today, I had the best French lesson ever this year! We've started watching this movie called Ni Pour Ni Contre (Bien Au Contraire). It's a gangster flick, brought to us by the director of L'auberge Espagnole. The lead actor and actress are easy enough on the eye, but I still think the couple in Jeux D'enfants look better. Vincent Elbaz and Marie Gillain are like grittier incarnations of Guillaume Canet and Marion Cotillard. I love the way they're all swearing away in French like nobody's business though. Must pick that useful skill up. We can tell, since there are English subtitles that aren't censored. You know what, for my next birthday, or Christmas even, I want everyone to buy me a French movie DVD. I'd be eternally grateful. I think there's something quirky about all French movies, a certain je ne sais quoi that Hollywood sorely lacks. Suffice to say that if all our French lessons were like that, I'd probably deliberately fail my 'AO' paper this year just to sit through the lessons all over again. Why can't our lessons be like that all the time? 'AO' French resembles GP so much it's quite remarkable...