20030718
haven been posting for 2 dayz.. been really busy...
homework, staying back for red x, preparations for tml's POP....
racial harmony is on monday, & for once we're all gonna wear ethnic costumes...
i'm wearing a Malay kerbaya [correct spelling?] dat is absolutely striking.. hahaz...
the rest haf all got their costumes too... mostly Indian & Malay costumes...
am so looking forward to monday, except the fact that we haf a chinese test and maths remedial on dat day...
finally goin to pass out tml!!! yay~~ after 4 years in red x...
i think i need some decent sleep... been sleeping at 1++ at night without taking any afternoon naps...
coffee seems to haf lost its effect on me.. i can drink a cup and still fall asleep minutes after that...
goin for guitar lessons later... dun think i can sleep early tonight too.. haf to prepare the presents for the sec 3s -____-
anyway, some vocab update...
encumbrance \en-KUHM-brun(t)s\, noun:
1. A burden, impediment, or hindrance.
2. A lien, mortgage, or other financial claim against a property.
As Prince of Wales, George V had himself taken his wife on several foreign or imperial tours, without the encumbrance of their young children.
--Ben Pimlott, The Queen: A Biography of Elizabeth II
He . . . will have to overcome the encumbrance of space gloves to reattach electrical cables and install a hatch.
--"Mir Cosmonaut's Heart Ills Cast Doubt on Repair Effort," New York Times, July 15, 1997
Liberated from the encumbrances of Washington, the editor and his creation were free to embark on the happiest period of their history.
--Edward L. Widmer, Young America
But she knew that each family needed a son to inherit the property and encumbrances and to carry on the name for at least one more generation.
--Annabel Davis-Goff, The Dower House
animadversion \an-uh-mad-VUHR-zhuhn\, noun:
1. Harsh criticism or disapproval.
2. Remarks by way of criticism and usually of censure -- often used with 'on'.
No weakness of the human mind has more frequently incurred animadversion.
--Samuel Johnson, Rambler No. 155, 1751
This animadversion pales before those of other critics.
--Scott C. Martin, "Violence, Gender, and Intemperance in Early National Connecticut," Journal of Social History, Winter 2000
This is neither a compliment nor an animadversion -- just a conclusion.
--Robert Schwarz, "Passion: Ein Gestandnis," World Literature Today, January 1, 1995
It is unfortunate, therefore, that Stephen Holmes mars his otherwise helpful Anatomy of Antiliberalism with a few stray animadversions on libertarianism.
--Hayward, Steven, "Political Liberalism," Reason, February 1, 1994
Pyrrhic victory \PIR-ik\, noun:
A victory achieved at great or excessive cost; a ruinous victory.
Technically it was a victory for the British, who attacked the patriot fortifications -- but a Pyrrhic victory if ever there was: out of 2,200 British soldiers 1,034 were killed or wounded, including one in nine of all the officers the British lost in the whole war.
--Geoffrey Wheatcroft, "A Revolutionary Itinerary," The Atlantic, April 2001
Ferguson argued that British involvement in World War I was unnecessary, far too costly in lives and money for any advantage gained, and a Pyrrhic victory that in many ways contributed to the end of the Empire.
--David Harsanyi, "The Old Order," National Review, May 5, 2003
In short, the Hong Kong government might have won this particular battle against the speculators, just as the Malaysians reckon they have done. But with both administrations' credibility hugely damaged as a result, these are Pyrrhic victories that they may come to rue.
--"Market intervention: Fashionable," The Economist, September 5, 1998
habitue \huh-BICH-oo-ay; huh-bich-oo-AY\, noun:
One who habitually frequents a place.
Here you will meet Disco Bean . . . , a 70s dance-club habitue who spends his days in an empty warehouse polishing his Latin hustle moves and pretending it's still 1978 and he's the next John Travolta.
--Stephen Holden, "The Search for One-Eye Jimmy," New York Times, June 21, 1996
Or as one jaded habitue of El Casbah observes when an unfamiliar face appears in the club: "She's new to cafe society."
-- Stephen Holden, "Cafe Society," New York Times, July 18, 1997
In the public house kept by Jesper Darkes, "zealous partizans in the cause of Liberty," as one habitue called them, met day and night, laying plans, discussing whether this man or that could be trusted or whether he was spying for the government, speculating on what could be done when the British military arrived, as it surely would.
--Richard M. Ketchum, Saratoga: Turning Point of America's Revolutionary War
This animadversion pales before those of other critics.
--Scott C. Martin, "Violence, Gender, and Intemperance in Early National Connecticut," Journal of Social History, Winter 2000
This is neither a compliment nor an animadversion -- just a conclusion.
--Robert Schwarz, "Passion: Ein Gestandnis," World Literature Today, January 1, 1995
It is unfortunate, therefore, that Stephen Holmes mars his otherwise helpful Anatomy of Antiliberalism with a few stray animadversions on libertarianism.
--Hayward, Steven, "Political Liberalism," Reason, February 1, 1994
group1 soared @ 17:22
xoxo