Pa ra pa pum pum no more...

While all you folk back home are anxiously waiting to check your results i've already gotten them - a couple of days ago in fact - yup guess there's far less red tape to get through before results are made public here than back home - but anyways for once, and since they don't count for anything except for a pretty transcript guess there's no problem with putting them here for once, just for the record...

Course Id	Course Description	Credit Hrs	Grade
HIST475 001	GR BRITAIN 20TH C	3.0	A-
HIST501 001	GENDER OF WELFARE	3.0	A-
HIST584 001	AM CITY 19TH/20TH C	3.0	B
LING202 001	LANGUAGE CHANGE	3.0	A
MUSC211 004	CORE ENSEMBLES	1.0	A
POLI100 006	INTRO TO GOVT IN US	3.0	B

Semester Statistics			Cumulative Statistics
Semester Hours-Earned	16.0		Career Transfer Earned-Hours
Semester Quality-Hours	16.0		Cumulative Earned-Hours	16.0
Semester GPA	3.513		Cumulative Quality-Hours	16.0
			Cumulative Quality-Points	56.20
			Cumulative G.P.A.	3.513

Yuppers, while admittedly i was again hoping for better grades than this, especially after hearing stories of how nus people have come here and gotten their best grades ever, i guess that taking all things into context (grad classes, relative lack of background knowledge, holiday mentality, scary workload etc) there's really a lot to be thankful for innit... Think that somewhere nearing the exams themselves God was telling me to stop worrying about grades per se but just work for the best, and yup by His grace that's what happened, so by the time the exams did approach i was relatively unstressed about them, and in the end things went ok...

What i find ironic about them is that my linguistics grade is the highest of them all, even better than all my hist classes; when the chief reason for taking it was to escape another low-scoring grade for linguistics back home that would pull everything down... The two Bs - well one was in a tough albeit interesting grad class while the other was for a subject where i was at a comparative disadvantage since i'm not American and it was a class on American government after all, so guess i'm fine with them...

What i'm more concerned about now is annoying cors bidding, something i'm a little out of touch with, not having done it for a year now - managed to get three classes pre-allocated, but i dunno if i want to do all of them though (and it felt quite surreal to access ivle after such a long time btw)... Of most concern to me are the annoying breadth classes that i've to take - can't think of anything i'd be remotely interested in, so i guess i'll have to look for the least boring classes yet still potentially at least one where an S/U won't be necessary since i've two S/U options left but three breadths to take - and to do all this while i'm thirteen hours behind and so not in the mood to do so... Ah but think i'm overstating the issue yet again and when this is all said and done all will be fine so...

Now for non-academic issues - for starters i've resolved never to as far as possible never take United Airlines again (save for when i fly home, of course). This is after another long flight delay has been added to my list of bones to pick with them, which already include two other (overnight) flight delays and two instances of lost baggage. This time it only was two hours, but still having to wake up at 5:30am for an 8:45 flight only to have take-off pushed to close to 11am is not pretty at all...

Am glad to be able to spend some time just relaxing here in my cousin's place here south of D.C. After all the busyness of travelling over the past ten days, this is a good change. Granted i could be up north now in Toronto enjoying cooler weather and the higher possiblity of snow, but think that this is a good time to prepare for Urbana ahead too (where again the forecast calls for no snow, but then again being spoken and ministered to by God ranks far more highly than seeing snow rite...) It was a little strange though yesterday when i was at a family Christmas party when my 16-year-old nephew was introducing me as his uncle...

And speaking of Christmas - i've realized that it's not only pesky CNY songs that irritate me to no end - spending hours in the car driving to and from Boston over the two days when the three of us (SJ, Clement n me) were exploring four states in New England and being subject to dozens of radio stations, all of which intersperse their regular programming with Christmas songs, if not dedicate their playlist to such songs and nothing else; has taught me two things - there's only so much of "Feliz Navidad" i can take, and i cannot bear to hear a note more of any of the nine hundred and forty-six or whatever number of versions of "Little Drummer Boy" there are in existence in this world...

Ah, but on that note, annoying Christmas songs aside - have a great Christ-centered Christmas y'all! (There's twelve days rite, so am not being late in wishing this to those back in S'pore...)

Delayed telecast

(The following is just some of what i've noted down over the past two weeks of limited internet access)

Am typing this at the moment on ms word, since where i am now in the Atlanta area does not have internet access. For memory’s (or lack thereof) sake,I’m typing this first, lest i forget everything at a later date. (And of course when this is finally posted, i’ll probably be in Boston already but nvm that.) But that’s a minor issue, overall the place is great, and Atlanta itself has definitely been worth visiting.

But since it’s been a while, i shall start off where i last left off – finishing my last paper – a take-home due just a couple of hours before i was due to leave the Hill for RDU to catch the plane. As usual i procrastinated to the extent that i was up all the way till around 4:30am trying to finish it (so my last night in Chapel Hill turned out to be the one with the least sleep ever), and then packing the contents of my room into my two bags, which was far worse than doing the paper actually. To cut a long story short there's a lot of reorganization and throwing away to do once i repack my stuff just before i leave, and knowing what a hoarder i am, that’s not gonna be easy at all…

So anyways, got to RDU thanks to a ride from Emily, and then the flight to Atlanta via Charlotte was quite uneventful. The only event took place just after landing, when halfway along the very, very long passageway between the arrival gate and the baggage claim; when i realized that i’d stupidly left my passport in the magazine pocket in front of my seat – fifteen frantic minutes later and that was settled thankfully…

Atlanta itself has been a great experience overall so far – lots of different things so far to do and see (one of the most memorable, though not necessarily the favorite, involved sampling methinks more than thirty varieties of Coca-Cola Company drinks from all over the world at the World of Coca-Cola – i’m not one to drink carbonated drinks usually but the lure was just too great). It has also been a great time spent with the others, and we’re staying in like the coolest place (OM HQ- the Doulos people), which i’m very glad and thankful for…

Tomorrow if all works out well i’ll attempt to cook eggs for the rest for breakfast, since i’m up the earliest anyway, and also since i don’t eat breakfast foods typically, technically i won’t have any chance of poisoning myself should anything go wrong. Heh – but methinks the cooking itself won’t be a problem (i mean, how wrong can one go in scrambling eggs?), the thing that i’m more worried about is cracking the eggs in the first place, since i’ve a bad track record of doing so that involves lots of extra calcium (i.e. shell bits) in the eggs as well as untimely splatterings of eggs on adjacent parties whom I did not know…

Updates – well now i’ve reached Boston, and it turns out that i’ve still limited internet access – the hotel that we’re staying in offers wireless, but it costs $9.95 for 24 hours. Good thing that there’s a cost-free alternative, which is to just go downstairs and use the computers at the hotel business center – less convenient and can’t use aim and skype, but better than nothing i guess.

Today after arriving at the hotel (and toot me nearly left my laptop in the cab this time), we took a walk across the river to Cambridge, where we went and explored Harvard and the surrounding area – it certainly felt quite different from UNC and Chapel Hill, that’s for sure, but it was a very interesting campus nevertheless… Never been this far north so far since arriving in the States, so the sunset’s earlier than it has ever been before (5pm)… The weather’s been quite nice here too – at least it’s quite a bit colder than things were in Atlanta (and as has turned out to be a recurring theme with me, the day we left Atlanta was the last day temperatures were near record highs). All that’s missing now is some snow…

Well after the first day, in the end we decided to rent a car and drive around the area. Admittedly, i was all for it mainly cos it meant that i would be able to add more states to my list; but in any case it was fun whatever way you look at it. The second day we headed down to Providence, Rhode Island, which is really no more than an hour’s drive south from Boston. It’s a nice place, with no really big touristy things, but it was worth the drive in any case.

On the way back we stopped by a giant outlet store. Now, i'm normally not a shopper, not in Singapore at least, but when i’m overseas somehow i become more inclined to purchase things. And this mall was giant – more than 100 shops, several of which i’d be inclined to purchase from – stuff like Nike, Banana Republic, Oakley etc. From browsing through the shops, i found heaps of stuff that i would like to buy. However, it also struck me how consumerist this whole thingy was, and i guess in that sense buying all i wanted would not only be playing up to this, but also not being the best steward of God’s resources. (Also, my already bursting-at-the-seams bags have no room for that much more stuff.) So I tried to limit myself to stuff that i would really need and would be worth it (i.e. forget about US$70 Oakley shades or Teva sandals) – think i still overshopped though, but not very excessively.

Yesterday we drove up north to New Hampshire and Maine, again not more than just over an hour’s drive from Boston. (So in other words, if you want to cover many states in a jiffy, start off from Boston…) The New Hampshire coast was just beautiful – we managed to cover it all since it’s only 18 miles long, and the coastline and the quaint houses and coastal towns was just such a refreshing change and something totally different from what i’ve experienced so far here. The only thing that freaked me a bit was the sheer number of crab claws littering the beach…

Just up north a bit in Maine, we ended up in Portland, the biggest city in the state. It’s another place well worth the visit, though probably not for more than a day, although I’m sure driving up further north all the way to Canada and stopping along the way to soak in the whole New England atmosphere would be a great idea, though one that would take way more time than we had. Again, in keeping with my maritime aversions, my only bone to pick with Portland was the overwhelming odor (at least to me) of the sea, not surprising since the fishing industry’s big there. But everything else more than made up for it…

Slipping off the Hill

Wow, i just had my first paper two days ago and today i'm already more or less done with them, save for the email-submission take-home paper that i'm still in the process of researching on. But knowing me, my desires to be done with this paper by say, tomorrow night, while very possible to be realized, will in all probability not come to pass, and i'll probably end up scrambling to finish the paper just before the deadline on Thursday, while at the same time frantically packing my bags before leaving for the airport.

Well anyways, i'd have to be honest and admit that i did not prepare for my papers as much as i'd ought to have. Thankfully things turned out for large part in my favor. For my Intro to American Government paper the prof had given us in advance four questions to prepare for of which he'd randomly choose two to field in the actual paper, and the two which did come out were those that i'd been better prepared for; while for my American Urbanization paper, one of the compulsory IDs that i had to do was one that the class had been discussing about just minutes before the start of the paper, so i was able to gather more about it than i otherwise might have had. And also enough IDs that i was more familiar with came out so this time i wasn't left grasping for straws like i was the last time... Yah actually come to think of it quite heng ah... Think God's telling me to be more on the ball next time...

Obviously Pilot G-2 ink doesn't sit well with exam writing paper...

And i know i've mentioned this before but i'll say it again, i've been inexplicably calm regarding the exam period. Yes of course the whole pass/fail + non-cumulative + low weightage power combo has in large part contributed to that, but still i can't believe how unworried i've been. Went to the High Point game on Saturday (just after my first paper) and judging from the poor attendance (like just more than half-full only!) it appears that the majority of UNC students do not share my calm demeanor... (Although, come to think of it, had we been playing a team like Ohio State instead on that date, rather than, pardon my saying this, a no-brainer game like High Point, think the Dean Dome would've been packed...) Well, at least i can tell the grandchildren that i was there for Roy William's 500th Division I win, and that the two whole seconds that i was distracted from the game just also happened to be the two whole seconds in which Tyler Hansbrough chose to score only his third three-pointer in his career - dang...

The final goodbyes have been coming in very rapidly as of late - just now had a dinner where i said goodbye to a whole host of people - sad lah - it's times like these that i wish that i'd open my inbox and receive an email from the relevant authorities approving me staying here for another sem (and pass/fail for yet another sem would be but an added bonus), but still at the end of the day i know the Lord has other plans for me back home, and his plans for me while i'm here are still ongoing too - and what's gone on so far has just been awesome. Ah, but guess it's hard to grasp the reality that in around 60 hours i'll leave the Hill almost for good (i mean, there's still the handful of days when i'm here in the new year, but doubt much can be done then...

As of late, i've come to the realization that (especially since i've been covering this in my linguistics course here) i've been un/subconsciously engaging in a great deal of code-switching while i've been here. When i talk to Americans it inevitably has a sort of American accent attached to it (a complete fake-o one, but an accent nevertheless), peppered with the usual Americanisms like "have a good one", "neat", "sweet" and "later". And of course things change once i speak to S'poreans again. I now do this automatically, such as how whenever i talk on the phone to an American, my accent automatically changes and anyone within earshot can guess i'm talking to an ang moh. In fact, rather alarmingly, when i've had to read something aloud, which has been the case several times during Bible study, i've tended to sound more American too - freaky - so my dear cg peeps, next sem if when i read a passage and sound somewhat suspect i give you the authority to offer me a stern rebuke haha... Ah and in any case, think my warped speech patterns when i return will make for an interesting linguistics research project - any takers =p?

And you know i'm one for remembering random dates - today's the five-year anniversary of my enlistment - eek.

Making ice while the sun doesn't shine

Well, for starters, we've been having quite a bit of freezing weather here recently - and i mean freezing as in 0 deg C/32 deg F and below kinda freezing, not as in the nus lecture theatre/central library 5th floor kinda freezing, which over here is equivalent to unseasonably warm. I've been really digging this weather, while it lasts (only regret is the constant 0% chance of precipitation that always seems to accompany these frigid temperatures so far).

And to that extent, the budding boliao scientist in me decided to conduct an experiment. I filled a plastic bottlecap with water and placed it on the a/c unit right outside my window last night and just let it sit there overnight.

There's my guinea pig sitting outside my window close to a Halloween leftover.

Then i woke up this morning, and the first thing i did was to head to the window and take a look at my bottlecap. This is what i found:

Erm so you can't really see the results from this shot,
apart from what looks like a ghost staring at the camera...

Ah now this shot is better - in short, i made ice outdoors =)

Yupyup yet another cheap thrill i know, but still quite cool eh (literally too)?

Hmm well in other news, it appears that the little malady that i had which has its roots in Thanksgiving never went away - it's been more than a week and i still regularly spew gross yellow stuff every morning, and occasionally snort out yellow and red stuff from my nose (who ever knew that sickness can be so colorful?), and also am alternating between wet cough in the morning and dry cough at night. Through my amateur diagnosis, i've concluded that it's some sort of upper respiratory tract infection, something that i get regularly back home too, which is part of the reason why i'm not really batting an eyebrow regarding this (and btw the illness is hardly as serious as the name suggests, at least in my case). And in any case the occasionally bloody nose (and btw my nose has never bled before in my life apart from the little bit during the time i lost control of my bike down the stairs long ago and bashed my head against the concrete floor) is most probably just due to the dry air. Yeah, so it's no big deal really. And since this is a viral infection, doctors and antibiotics won't do any good - so think i should just let this run its course. Of course, at the same time it still is a deal, no matter how small it is - the important thing for me now is to not let it interfere with my finals.

And speaking of finals, well just for the record:

12-9
LING 202 - Language Change (12pm)

12-11
POLI 100 - Intro to American Government (9am)
HIST 584 - The Promise of Urbanization: American Cities in the 19th and 20th Centuries (12pm)

12-14
HIST 475 - Great Britain in the 20th Century (take-home paper: due 10am)
US 1674/2623 - US Airways flight to Atlanta via Charlotte (2:15pm) *hee*

Can you believe that they've papers that start at 7am here? Thankfully i never kena one of those...

Countdown begins...

In exactly a month's time i'll already be back in sweaty S'pore preparing for the new school term - thirty days - that's just about as long as the MEET Thailand trip earlier this year - but somehow at the start of that one i was like "gosh a whole month - that's soooooo long", and now i'm like "ahhh only a month left till i go back - so short =(" Granted, of course that the activities involved in each month are totally different, but in any case think it's fascinating when you come to think of it...

Well, things are definitely beginning to wind down over here - today was the last day of lessons proper, and tomorrow is reading day (yes you heard it right - reading day - one day, that's it) and then finals start on Friday. I myself have four papers to do, one of them being a take home, and the other three being non cumulative (i.e. they only cover what's not been tested so far this sem, so i'm hardly skipping a beat over them (hence my typing of this post). Should get down to more prep soon though...

I originally had five papers in all, the other was for the really killer gender of welfare course that i'm taking, but somewhere down the line my prof also concluded that this was a really killer course, and to that end during our last class this past Monday she announced that, with our approval, she'd scrap having a final altogether - and you can imagine it didn't take much persuasion for us to approve that... Anyways, as much as i initially was dreading every moment of this class, i'm glad in the end that i took it (and not just because it turned out to be non-examinable) - really broadened my horizons a lot... To celebrate the end of the very gruelling course we all had dinner at Los Potrillos - a very nice but still quite affordable Mexican place here - good food - have already been there a couple of times in fact - had enchiladas done three ways, one of them in mole (moh-lay, not as in the animal) sauce, which in fact contains lots of chocolate - and it tasted really good in fact - first real taste of chocolate in an entree - too bad though, it's got no nuts =p

Some of my gender of welfare class with our prof at dinner
- and speaking of gender, apart from me only one guy and like five girls are missing...

Yesterday had another farewell event - this time dinner with IV international small group folks at Jim's (our staffworker). [I wanted to post a picture here but too leche (sp?) lah - so once again you'll have to look there =======> once i post it] We had really good food cooked by Jim's wife Beth, and good fellowship too - fun - looking back, i'm really thankful for how the Lord has provided a group such as this for us international folk =)

Just now it was yet another farewell-ish event - the bunch of us from nus met for dinner with the unc people who were at nus last sem and the unc people who'll be in nus next sem - probably the last time i'll get to see some of the middle group, but it also was good to meet up with the next batch - got me a biiit excited about next sem when they'll be in S'pore. We ate at this place called "35 Chinese" though, and if you know me, judging from the name of the place you'll know how much i enjoyed the meal...

Yup, the time for farewells and goodbyes has come - quite sad i must say - time here has really gone by so fast, have only just over a week left here on the Hill before i go travelling. Well, i'll be back here early in the new year, but don't think will get to see too many, if any people at all in those few days. Though i haven't met as many people here as some of the others have, i'm definitely very thankful for those whom i've met - they've all really been a great blessing to me during my time here - again it makes me realise how important it is to not ignore foreign students back home, which i sometimes tend to do - a little bit can definitely go a long way...

Oh and did i mention the weather these past few days has been wonderful? (Well at least to me, most others are complaining about the freezing cold). Great weather to just take a nice walk in and enjoy the cool, fresh air. No snow though - whenever the temperature is well below freezing the forecast always seems to be for 0% chance of precipitation of any kind *bleah*. And i know when i get back, i'll suffer all the more...

Hope none of my flights kena this sorta thing - talk about a story to tell the grandchildren eh ;p...

Sweet Sunday

A dark and gloomy Sunday afternoon now - forecast calls for perfectly dreary 40-degree showers anytime now. I've actually a term paper to more or less start and finish by this Friday, but already from a few days ago i've felt this peace in my heart (am quite sure it's just peace and not complacency) to just sit back and relax this Sunday, as per what i've always had the conviction to do but have never realized. The speaker at the last IV large group was talking about it somewhat, still working through whatever i remember of her talk through my head, but anyways that served as the final nail in the coffin of my repose today, and hopefully for Sundays to come, as far as possible; since i was thinking about making better use of the Sabbath for a very long time now, instead of losing it in mindless nothingness and work that could be done on other days...

So instead i've decided to use today to do various other thingies like type this, post pics, download music (we've legal song downloading here *whee*) and write farewell notes (hmm sounds a tad morbid). Was actually going to go for a swim today, that has proved to just be the latest of my aborted attempts to do so - i've already pencilled it in to at go at least once before i leave this place - but not sure if anything will come out of that. Maybe i'll go when it's freezing outside, the 85-degree heated pool would be a nice contrast to that...

Yesterday's game was a good experience overall, and an enjoyable one; even if the game itself was rather scrappy and not very electrifying, and i got stuck in the last row of the upper deck (i.e. the nosebleed seats), which afforded a microscopic view of the whole game. 75-63 to us, our lowest-scoring game by far this season. Apparently in the big game on Wednesday (v. the then #1 team, Ohio State - which has been the only home game so far i've not gotten tics to), the Tar Heels put on an electrifying performance to win 98-89, although they were without the #1 freshman in the nation due to a wrist injury (see what a week of bball immersion during Thanksgiving can do to me). And as a result of playing their hearts out in that one, the game i went to was far more subdued - our coach even stood up and tried to rouse the indifferent crowd, he said was only the second time in history he had to do that. Ah well, at least i've at least one more game to go to, and possibly another one just before i leave against my brother's school, so hopefully they'll be far more rested for that one. Add that to hopefully better-located seats (or alternatively, a telescope), and even though our opponent is quite unknown (ever heard of High Point?), maybe that game will be somewhat more thrilling than this one.

It's a looooong way down from here to the action...

This morning i went for another run, my first in around a month. Needless to say, the weather's gotten a lot colder since then - so today for the first time in my life had to wear sweats to run. Felt needed to run in order to clear my head from a lot of stuff as much as to get some exercise (now my mother also said that i've lost weight btw)... Well basically the month off has done its damage, i was struggling through the second lap, but at least managed to get through it - though after that my knees were aching really badly - guess that's a combination of poor technique, cold weather and getting old heh... Well in any case when i'm back in S'pore wringing out buckets from my shirt into the longkang i know i'll miss running in such pleasant, non-sweat-inducing weather...

I just realized [cos (my recently-downloaded) James Taylor's Carolina In My Mind is playing on my laptop now], almost two years after i chose it, that the color of this font is Carolina Blue - sweet =)

And the 1943 song cannot get out of my mind! Though admittedly that's in part cos i downloaded it too =p...

G is for Gone

Well, Jon my roommate's out for the weekend, it's his turn to go to Charleston, which means that i've the room to myself and my nonsense till Sunday. Was intending to spend a good portion of this time relaxing, since i don't have much work to do. A good portion of that relaxing would have been spent on the guitar - as you know a friend David from IV here loaned me his guitar till i leave the Hill - during my time-wasting yesterday i managed to learn how to play 關懷方式 [btw i just cut-n-pasted that from the page i learnt how to play it from - you think i actually know how to use special software to type that - some more it's in whatchacallit - fan(2) ti(3) zi(4) rite...] [and for those who like me would otherwise be unable to read that it's guan(1) huai(2) fang(1) shi(4), the Chen Hanwei/Cai Lilian getai show song] [and just as a disclaimer - i learnt how to play it, full stop. Not how to play it well...] [just to note that this is the first time that chinese characters have appeared here - go buy 4D!] [and this is just plain boliao, but i've never used so many square brackets in quick succession before either] - well, as i was saying, i was playing something just now - ironically think it was supposed to be a quiet worship song, the exact song i've forgotten - when the G string snapped *boing*. Hmm so well that was the end of that - feel bad about snapping it especially when it wasn't mine (and i don't know how to restring a guitar), but David said it wasn't a problem. Sigh...

Well, maybe that was God's way of telling me that i should be finishing my work and starting on revision for finals which begin in exactly eight days' time instead - so i'll try and garner enough motivation to do that really soon - and if i'm really hard up to play - can still do so without the wayward string... And in any case, it's great that God has provided me with the guit in the first place - yeah thankfulness in all circumstances...

I thought that birthday surprises had come to an end for me but yesterday night Clement, Jeremy, SJ and Weichang got a cake for me from Cold Stone - a whole bunch of us were there to say farewells to one another - yeah that was really nice of them, and the fact that my throat was then still somewhat not 100% yet did not deter me from finishing a big slice of Chocolate Mint Ice-Cream Cake...

And speaking of farewells, yuppers it's not long before i'll be gone from here and probably won't see many of the people i've encountered here again - but well, at least there's other ways to keep in touch rite... And that also provides a perfect excuse for a return visit sometime soon as well =p

Tomorrow i'm going for my first UNC basketball game - it's the Tar Heels v. UK (U of Kentucky, not United Kingdom) - should be a good game, which we should win =) - this year's the first year they're trying out a lottery system for bball tickets - people register online and then they either get tickets or they don't based on the tickets available and how many people register. Demand eternally outstrips supply, btw. And for once i've been rather successful in these sort of things - of the four games i've bidded for so far, i got tickets to three of them - while there are others who haven't gotten a single one... Normally i never win anything... But anyways, previously they had some kind of bracelet/first-come-first-served system where people would line up outside the Dean Dome (the bball arena here) from 6am in the morning - kinda like how S'poreans like it best methinks - but they've done away with that - and a lot of die hards have protested - reminds me a bit of what they did with ndp tickets a couple of years back - well i must say that at least for me the draw of UNC bball is greater for me than is the draw for ndp by far...

Btw pics from b'day/Thanksgiving/Charleston are all up over there =======>

Looks like i ought to get started on work then,,,

What not to do when your throat's itchy...

I came back from Charlotte with a bit of a tickle in my throat, and i brushed it off as just a little thingy probably a result of the dry air. So i thought nothing of downing a couple of cookies that night and went to bed with a slight cough.

Coughing got somewhat worse the next day, and throat was starting to feel sore - but somehow i didn't really care much, so for dinner that night it was two big slices of pizza for me.

After that when i got back to the room i felt thirsty, but alas, the water cooler on my floor was not working, so i decided to buy a drink from the vending machine in the basement. There i bumped into Brett from my floor who was helping himself to some ice from the ice machine (btw, it was at that moment, three and a half months after moving in, that i realized that there was an ice machine down there). So somehow, the bright idea to just fill my nalgene to the brim with ice and top it off with a drink from the vending machine came to mind - and so i got a bottle of Sierra Mist and poured it into my ice-filled nalgene, occasionally thinking of its potential consequences, but largely not bothering about it - finished the whole ice-cold bottle that night, quenched my thirst, went to bed.

Next morning - throat felt really bad - and had a lot of phlegm in it - coughed into the basin - saw lots of red in what i coughed out - panicked for two seconds or so - then got hold of senses and figured it must be some mild laceration in the throat, and not anything in the lungs, which would be quite worrying, yeah so i figured the best thing to do would be to just eat more throat-friendly food and to buy some throat lozenges (btw why is almost every sore throat medication cherry flavored? For me that's worse than the ailment itself - bad memories of children's panadol). Felt feverish around that time too, but temperature wasn't too high - 98.9 degrees F (37ish C)...

So by the end of the day, things were better, throat less of a bother and fever more or less gone - i musn't have been too sick judging from my appetite at dinner at Lenoir - five plates of main courses and one plate of dessert isn't what a sick man would normally eat - now throat still a little wonky, but more or less ok...

Anyways, thanks again for the b'day video thingy - watching that certainly helped me to forget that i was sick for a while =)

Leave it to beaver

Got back to the Hill from Charlotte a couple of hours ago, and just managed to finish the work that's due for tomorrow (unless i forgot something, which is definitely possible) - after the past few days of relaxation it's back to classes again and it's certainly not the best of feelings (also cos ate oily and greasy chinese food for dinner before leaving Charlotte which did not sit well in my stomach) but ah well better than not having a break rite...

And well to follow up on yesterday, did end up going to the dam after all - located in the muddy woods behind Greg's house - it was great fun, certainly haven't seen anything like that before. The trek was quite a challenge too - we had to walk in ankle-deep mud at times, with the cold swampy water seeping into my borrowed boots that had convenient slits on each one to allow for maximal seepage. I dunno why i always seem to kena water getting into my footwear - it seems to happen whenever i'm outside when it's raining heavily, and my feet are left a wrinkly mess. Army lagi worse - my training basically had me in at least waist-deep gross water half the time. In fact, the trek reminded me a bit of the time during training when my group and i got stranded in knee-deep water at Tekong Reservoir from sunset till around one/two-ish in the morning - that sure wasn't pretty...

The shadows of myself, Greg's neighbor Peyton, and Greg
standing on top of the beaver lodge at the dam

That one beaver dam caused this much flooding - amazing eh...

More pictures of Thanksgiving break (ooh, and Charleston too) will come once i've time to post them over there =======>

Btw, came back from the break only to have Carol say that i lost weight and SJ saying that i gained weight - dunno what to make of that - i guess i can just average it out and conclude that things are pretty much at status quo =p

Happy exam-doing y'all =)

Thanks has been given

Well, am almost at the end of the Thanksgiving break, and it was definitely a good one - got to experience warm hospitality, good food, funny stories, bowling, more football and basketball-watching in just four days than i've ever done in the rest of my life - that sorta thing and it was a refreshing change from school for sure. Even though it was like just under 20 people from the same extended family and one of me and no one else, still felt very much at home and i'm really thankful for that...

Of course there still was (and is, and is to come) schoolwork to do - whenever any break, be it even for just a weekend, comes my way, schoolwork reminds me of that annoying little mosquito that will just not be killed, and admittedly my work ethic is definitely at its lowest during such periods. There's of course the safety net of pass/fail, but it doesn't feel good nevertheless.

So later this afternoon after church it's back to the Hill and to the reality of a book report due tomorrow and another test on wednesday (and there probably is other stuff which i've probably conveniently forgotten about at this moment). Might squeeze in a short trek to the beaver dam behind Greg's house before that too - that would be fun...

Also realizing that the time has come to start saying final goodbyes to people, don't have more than three weeks left on the hill before winter break starts and i start to go gallavanting around the East Coast (haha seems like i can never get away from the east eh?). Sad - so many people who've made a difference to my time here, and goodness knows if and when i might be back to meet them again of if and when they might pop up in S'pore one of these days...

Later...

J'ai vingt-trois ans...

Ok firstly, just to say thanks to all the well-wishes for my turning the big two-three - know that in the previous post i was saying that i wasn't all that enthusiastic about it and was glad to get away from it all, but well i really appreciated and treasured every one that came my way, so thanks - now i think i know why i'm not too keen on birthdays - cos when i think to a year from now, i realise i'll be an age which previously had seemed so far away - i mean, can you believe that i'll be 24 next year at this time? Eek...

And somewhere on that note, promise to reply emails and what-have-yous really soon, once i finish a significant-enough portion of the annoying book report that i've to do by Mon - currently am really skimming through the copied pages of the book in question - had to zap the second half of it (at a ridiculously high price of US 14 cents per page) cos the library only had it on two-hour (read: RBR) reserve and i only managed to get half of the book covered before i left for Charlotte.

Which is where i am now - one random point of interest/annoyance: left the Hill at around one-ish, then later after i'd reached here got a happy birthday message on facebook saying that it snowed a bit on the hill just for me - and i was like "WHAT? YOU MEAN IT SNOWED ONCE I LEFT???!!!" Ok, of course i didn't reply in that brusque a manner but the general gist was there - yes - first snow of the year and it had to come mere hours after i left the Hill... Nice...

And speaking of annoyances, have been catching a lot of college basketball here at Greg's house (nothing like a good time in the States to make you do things you'd never ever think of doing previously) and just caught my first-ever Tar Heels game - we were 3-0 up to this point, but of course the first game that i caught had to be a tame loss to Gonzaga - our first loss of the season.

So a quick recap: First snowfall of the season - missed; first Tar Heels loss of the season - caught. Bummer...

Heh, well anyways, so far i've been having a really good time over here at Greg's - a lot of his relatives arrived today - it kinda reminded me of CNY minus the annoying music and stilted chatter, plus good food and lots of tv... His neighbor's children even somehow got wind of my birthday and gave Greg and i three bags of candy each, and also posted a couple of 'happy birthday' signs outside the house - really sweet of them - also there was a little cake awaiting us at home too; and his relatives area a really nice bunch too. Anyways, am trying to finish my book report asap so that can spend more time just enjoying things over here...

Gosh i'm old - but in the spirit of Thanksgiving tomorrow - guess that's also something to give thanks for =)...

See-sawing

Got back from Charleston this evening - it was a very good and enjoyable trip, and convenient break for me too. I actually had intended to update this while i was there since the place we were staying at had free wireless (yes, i had to bring my laptop along, ostensibly to do more work again) but there was basically no time for that, so will be extremely choppy about how the whole trip was like (especially since i've more work to do and probably around seven hours of sleep over the past two nights) and end it here. Maybe i'll talk more about it another time, perhaps once i get the pics up over there =======>

Between now and one pm on Tuesday afternoon (i.e. less than 40 hours) when i go with Greg off to Charlotte for Thanksgiving (which i'm really looking forward to) i've quite a bit of work to do, including a whole book to read that i can't take out of the library to write a review on, which means that i've to try and finish reading it before i leave so that i can get cracking with the writing cos its due once school starts again on next Monday... So once again this leaves me with the surreal feeling of being so near to a fun time, yet so far cos plenty of yucky work stands in its way...

Many people reading this may remember my Great Depression (a historical euphemism for another term, biological in nature that i guess everyone knows so it shall remain unwritten) episode of last sem's exam period. Well i've to report that while i've never been close to as severely moody as that since then, i've been rather off on and off quite a bit here, more so in the past month or so. And as usual, i can't seem to pinpoint what's the cause of it - can be perfectly fine one moment and then *snaps fingers* a perfect grouch the next. And of course since i'm typing this you can probably guess that i'm in one of those moods again now.

Well maybe it's because i just came from Compline at the Episcopal church next door, as i do every Sunday night, and as i was just there reflecting upon the week past and talking to God was just reminded of a lot of trash that i'm still dealing with in my life, recently confounded by certain other new developments which are best left unspecified here. Yuppers. As usual though, it's nothing to be alarmed about (have mentioned many times how i always make things with me sound worse than they actually are...), but i guess it's really more annoying than anything else - which has a lot to do with the fact that i feel that so much of this is a result of a "poor me" syndrome that i tend to both consciously and unconsciously harbor very often... But anyways, one consequence of this is that i've no mood whatsoever to celebrate a certain otherwise important event happening this Tuesday, which is just as well that i'll be out of the Hill by one-ish...

But i'm guessing that Thanksgiving will put me on a mood upswing... Let's hope so *crosses fingers and prays*

It's a small world after all

Just a little inconsequential but neat observation:

President Bush just spoke at NUS, and since S'pore is so small, he was probably closer to y'all than i ever was or will be. On the flipside, thinking back on my D.C. trip, when i was there who else but the MM of all people also happened to be there... And i'm also reminded of how when the chemical blast happened near here a couple of weeks ago, i first heard of it from my friend in Philly, and then shortly after i read about it online, later on my mother also asked if i was affected... So along that vein, dunno if y'all heard about the tornado that struck somewhere in NC which klled eight people but anyways just in case y'all did that's three hours away from here, near Wilmington so no sign of anything here...

Off to Charleston, SC tomorrow and am trying somehow to get as much work for the weekend done as possible - to that extent today i read the second halves of two books that i've to read for two different classes. Come to think of it, i think i've read more books for classes here than i even read for English Lit back during A levels - and that was within one-and-a-half years - here it's only four months... But anyways am also trying to squeeze in work for post-Thanksgiving (i.e. one-and-a-half weeks away) now, so have been relatively busy - in any case i'm still amazed that i'm actually doing work so far ahead - see what exchange can do for you hehe...

Proffywoodland

You know the feeling of how when that singer/actor that you've admired for as long as you can remember one day whizzes into town, and wow - somehow you get an invite to an intimate meet-the-fans session - imagine the excitement that you must feel...

Well, i've no idea what that must feel like, but over the weekend i had the next best thing (like real) - attending a day-and-a-half-long academic workshop on Family, Work and Welfare (riveting stuff, that) and coming face-to-face with a lot of the people whose academic writings i've been trudging through over the course of this semester for my most terok of classes - it was kinda like a geek's version of a pre-Oscar party perhaps...

Was thinking back to the other occasions when similar occasions have happened - vaguely remember from acjc when the apparently much-esteemed John Sloman of economics textbook fame (btw i never bought, nor in fact even ever laid hands on his book, as far as i can remember, and i still managed to struggle to a B...) came and gave a talk - not that i went though - at that point in time i was already up to my ears in guns and butter and had no appetite for more... Then last year at nus i even shook hands (ah somebody pinch me!) with the author of one of my primary A level history texts...

But this time was certainly the longest such experience ever. Not that i was interested to get these peoples' autographs or anything like that - i can imagine such a moment now: "hi Dr so-and-so, i've been reading many of your articles, but i cannot make any sense of any of them - they do a good job of overriding the effects of caffeine though!" Yes that would win me much approval wouldn't it...

So somehow i made it through the whole workshop - now, it was still a good experience, cos at least now i'm more familiar with the subject matter (although a great portion of what was discussed flew well over the top of my head - bear in mind that i was one of a handful of undergrads in a sea of grad students and academics), and got some idea as to what exactly these people do. There definitely were some characters around - lots of bohemian, earth mother types with flowing robes and heavy chains. Also, one presenter who talks so fast she almost makes Adrian seem to talk like Snuffleupagus in comparison...

Heh well in other news, i took a quick look at the courses available for next sem and their corresponding timetables and almost wanted to cry - Tues 6-8pm and Fri 4-6pm for example are not exactly my choice times for classes (and they shouldn't be anyone's for that matter), and the courses that do feature far better hours also tend to be courses that i've already done - how neat is that... I know i'll really come to miss the spread out but still very reasonable organization of classes here...

Hey so Bushie 43's going to S'pore again eh? After being put through indescribable (not because it's hard to describe, but cos might get into trouble with the higher-ups if i do) hassle the last time he came cos was still in ns then boy am i glad to be here while he's there...

Thankfully my friend David from IV was kind enough to loan me his beloved guit on a semi-permanent basis so i can now get back to growing those left fingertip calluses again - fun.

I did have something more serious to put here but by the time i had time to write this i forgot what it is - so next time maybe...

Later!

Hasta la vista, Donny =)

Am pretty pleased with myself for being able to finish reading a book (albeit only a brief, 200-pager) in one sitting at the library just now, for recitation on Friday. (Of course according to the schedule i was supposed to finish reading this like three weeks ago hehe...) Trying to get as much work done for the weeks ahead done, because i've a history conference/workshop thingy to attend (it's compulsory, for if not i sure wouldn't go for something that burns practically all my daylight hours on Saturday) this upcoming weekend and will be in Charleston, SC for the following weekend (more on that another time) and then in Charlotte almost immediately after that for Thanksgiving, so in the spirit of xian(1) ku(3) hou(4) tian(2) i'm attempting to be more diligent than i usually am (which is pretty easy to do =p)...

There's been a lot of talk over here regarding the midterm congressional elections which have more or less just wrapped up. I find it highly interesting that here they put in so much effort in mobilizing people to vote (and boy are there a lot of things to vote for - apart from the usual stuff like US House & State Senate/House, there's also County Commissioners, a Sheriff, various court judges etc...) and yet the turnout is at less than 50%, while in S'pore voting is compulsory, but for many people there's nothing to vote for...

Anyways, perhaps in part due to the aforementioned fact, that there's far more action here than there'll ever be back home, i've been watching the races pretty closely. It was such that one guy forgot i was not from here and asked me if i voted (which reminds me, Dan, did YOU vote? haha =p)... But anyways, i shall leave my political views out of this, though the post title might give a clue as to what they are...

It's beginning to hit me as to how my time here is really winding down, in just over five weeks from now the semester here will end, and soon after that i'll be off, back to S'pore again - there's still so much to do here, and so much that i'll miss too... But also much to look forward to back in S'pore i guess...

The circle game

Hmm this is becoming like an eerily-recurring pattern - me posting an entry after close to a week of not being able to do so because of work commitments that seemingly take forever.

Well, the cycle continues, and does the fact that by this stage, yours truly has once again forgotten a lot of what he wanted to say, which means, back to good old random posting again...

The weather's really wonky, i must say, the temperature can jump from below freezing to in the late 70s (think that's early 20-ish celcius wise) within the span of a day - never before have i realized the power that the online hour-by-hour weather forecast could hold over me, and in particular how i dress - berms/jeans? one shirt/two? hoodie/none? - all decisions made on a daily basis with great help from the folks at weather.com =) The thing that's definitely most annoying is stepping in and out of heated buildings when it's really freezing outside - i find it so troublesome to have to keep on putting on and taking off insulative layers of clothing - especially since doing so really messes up my already long and messy hair (when combed down, i kinda look like a Beatle now) - it makes me look as though i'm using - so nowsaday if it's not too cold i'll just eschew the hoodie/sweater altogether to cause less hassle for me...

The other day because of my choir concert in Fayetteville (about two hours due southish from the hill), i had to figure out how to wear the $100 tux that i bought about a week or two ago, including all the attachments like those tiny button thingies that you use instead of normal shirt buttons (i forget the name), and the matching cufflinks, which i was really absolutely clueless as to how to fix on (and in fact still have only a token clue as to how to fix on even now)... Well, tomorrow (or technically, today) marks the second and last performance that i have - that means probably the last time i'll be wearing the tux for a long time to come probably - so i suppose i'd better learn how to put all the stuff properly, to get my full money's worth from the tux... (and for all that effort and expense, i end up looking like a waiter at the Ritz-Carlton...)

I just ate another Sutton's burger today and have come to the conclusion that it's probably the best burger i've ever eaten so far in my life - Sida, your recommendation is much appreciated =)

I've also recently become a fan of eating dogs. No, of course not real dogs, nor hotdogs. I'm talking about these babies *yum* =p

Yeah, judging from the amout of greasy, cholesterol, trans-fat-laden, but oh-so-delicious food that i'm eating here, which can't be obtained back home, i'll definitely be losing weight once i get back to good old S'pore...

Have more or less finalized end-of-year travel plans -that's definitely very exciting - though perhaps my excitement and enthusiasm will dim somewhat once i take a look at my credit card bills...

frustrated on facebook

Ok, this is to clear up the thingy about pictures - apparently the latest development in facebook's policy is to only allow registered users to view pictures - which means that the link there =======> will no longer take you to my pics unless you register first. I expect several facebook users all over America to start a protest group against this soon, but maybe not, since practically everyone here is on facebook anyways...

So yup as i said in the tag, the only solution that i can offer anyone who's really ons about viewing my pictures is to get a facebook account - which is no big deal really - you can use your nus email (assuming you have one) or any other email address - the bonus of doing that, if you can call it that, is that you can also leave your comments on the pictures, and (boy do i sound shallow here) we can be facebook friends too *woo*...

Yup i've also no intention to import all my hundreds and hundreds of pics to another site cos the sheer effort of doing that far outstrips the mere minutes it takes to get a facebook account...

Or if you're dead-set against registering, the last-ditch solution i can offer you is to find someone who has an existing facebook account and tompang on his/her account to view the pics - maybe everyone can gather together and view the pics at one shot, i dunno... However, there's only one person i know whom most of you people reading this know who has a facebook account and who's in S'pore, and think that it would be really inconvenient and inconveniencing too...

Yeah and i'm also too lazy to upload pics here, anyway, it's limited and takes much more time...

Know that it's just horrible that we've to be so beholdent to technology, yup but that's the best i can do - paiseh...

Harrowing Halloween

Well, not wanting to be totally ignorant of what i have been critiquing i decided to join a few of the others and take a look at the revelry down on Franklin Street. Anyways we had just finished having Bible Study at my hall lounge which is right on Franklin so it was no problem to go down there...

Already, during the Bible study itself, Jim, one of the IV staff was talking about some of his own reservations about the holiday which made a lot of sense to me and helped to put things in a better perspective from a Christian point of view. Then, when i saw for myself how things were like on Franklin a lot of my existing preconceived negative notions of what the holiday is all about were basically confirmed when i saw them upfront. Maybe people might attribute it to an Asian and/or Christian point of view, but whatever it is i was disturbed to say the least - a certain disquiet that is still with me even now - a couple of hours later. Hard to put this in words, but basically i just felt that there was just nothing of real purpose going on at all - i guess that for me as a Christian why i'd not want to get involved, apart from all that i've mentioned so far, is that there's no way in which God is glorified in the whole process by anyone participating in it - yeah it may be pure harmless fun to some if one is discerning enough in the activities that one chooses to engage oneself in (and after all, what's the harm in a little participation in a bona fide American institution?), and i totally respect that view, but yeah (and this is strictly my personal opinion here) this time could otherwise be spent in a way that does bring glory to God, for example like the "trick or feed" canned food drive that the IV social justice team helped to organize and that i now wish i'd gone for, or other stuff like that...

Yeah anyways, i suppose that one gets a somewhat prudish impression of me from reading this, but definitely better appearing to be a total prude than doing stuff that i'm not comfortable with in terms of my own walk with God... One thing that i hope that people don't perceive is a self-righteous air about me cos i guess that i may have rubbed some people the wrong way in my unease and discomfort - what i've been struggling with is how to let my own views regarding the holiday known to people if they're interested in it in a way that does not offend or attack...

Yeah well anyways, in other news while i was clearing some risers off the stage after choir rehearsal today one of them that was leaning against the wall came crashing down on me - landing with a bang on my left shoulder - it wasn't really painful or anything, though it took like another half-minute before someone came to my rescue and got that burden off my shoulder - but well it could've been worse - had i been a foot or so more to the left the riser would've crashed right on my head... Anyways, now the area's pretty red though also relatively painless, and the constant compulsive pressing down of my fingers onto the area has led me to conclude that there's not a fracture anywhere, but i guess that the litmus test will be how painful the thingy is tomorrow...

A Tricky Treat

It's definitely an understatement for me to say that i'm feeling rather uneasy right now.

A good kind of unease though - unease at seemingly having little, if any schoolwork to get done at this point in time.

Usually monday evenings at this time are marked by my frantic scrambling (ok i paint a way to hardworking picture of myself there but you get my drift) to get work done in the library, where i usually stay till at least past midnight.

But today, i'm happily seated here in my room typing this at my own leisure, and am probably gonna have an early night as well...

Well, the past few days have been a good time of self-reflection for me, in large part i guess thanks to the lesser-than-average amount of work that i had to do over the weekend - was able to spend time meeting with and talking to people, talking to God, being still, that sorta thing - so the past weekend was definitely one of the most refreshing for me so far - and at least in terms of spiritual refreshment far better than the two previous and otherwise refreshing weekends that i spent out of town. Next week promises to be good too methinks, since many others will either be out of town camping near Boone or going for IV Chapter retreat, while i'll not be able to go for either cos i've a choir concert on Friday night at Fayetteville and so i won't be around the hill on Friday afternoon, which is when both trips leave... While i'd really love to go for either trip (definitely more so than having to perform), at least things will be quieter around here over the rest of the weekend while so many people are gone - which i'm sure could go a long way...

Also managed to get a good long run on Sunday morning - the first in many weeks - and the weather was nice and cool too - that was nice - when i get back to S'pore the first run i go for will definitely be a very painful and dehydrating affair when compared to this - here i feel like i could carry on running for hours on end...

One thing that's been on my mind quite a bit is Halloween. It's a really big thingy here (Franklin Street, where my hall is on, closes every Halloween night for festivities - apparently between 50000 to 70000 people from all over the state will descend upon the hill, and Franklin Street in particular, and party the night away) but i'm far from big about it - apart from the more typically matt reason that i'm too lazy to bother to dress up as anything apart from a study abroad student at UNC from S'pore (i.e. as myself), there's also my own reservations that i have regarding the dubious origins and the poor basis (in my opinion) for celebrating such a holiday in the first place - especially with the roots in paganism and all that (this probably an inheritance from my father). Yeah as much as the holiday can be rationalized in such a way that there really is no issue with Christians celebrating it (and don't get me wrong - personally i see no problem in this rationalization), but on a personal level it just doesn't sit well with me... Yeah really appreciate the advice that some of y'all have given me regarding this - one the one hand i feel like i'm making a mountain out of a molehill but on the other, don't think that i can just brush aside the whole issue like that...

Well, whatever it is, one thing is clear to me - whatever candy comes my way this Halloween will definitely be welcome with open mouth...

Groundhog Hour

I was sorta bummed about the fact that i've yet to finish my work yet (though i'm getting close!) and then i got an IM from Brooke, my ride to church tomorrow reminding me that daylight saving time expires about two hours from now, which basically means that i've an extra hour of sleep tonight and less worries about waking up early enough tomorrow to avoid a rush of activity...

Now to wait for the cheap thrill of setting my watch back an hour and auto-repeat one hour of my life...

One tiny thing though is that i'm no longer exactly twelve hours behind S'pore which means that calculating timing is now gonna be a little tricky, with my bad math and all...

So for the tentatively scheduled skype teleconference that i have with you guys who know who you are, do remind me again when exactly we're supposed to be online (and preferably subtract thirteen hours from your time and let me know when's that) cos chances are left to my own devices i may screw something up...

It's not for a few days yet, but i saw some pretty interesting Halloween costumes on Franklin Street today - one really smart one that i saw was two ladies dressed entirely in white with a big yellow circle on each of their tops, and carrying red pitchforks, and also adorned with pointed ears and a long pointy tail - both red as well. They were Deviled Eggs - that really cracked me up - pun fully intended =p...

Surprise surprise, we lost football again... Sigh...

rumble rumble rumble...

Yeah well this week has gone by just like that *insert sound of snapping fingers here* - it's hard to believe that just a week ago i was on fall break hundreds of miles away and now the first Saturday i've spent on the Hill in like three weeks has nearly arrived...

I've definitely to give thanks for midterms - as in the process of doing them and the results, not the midterms per se - had two over the past week, they were not like done super well, and in fact i don't think that i'll do too well for either of them, but i guess considering my haphazard way of preparing for them i think that they turned out ok... Also have gotten back the results of the two other midterms that i was stressing over in the few days of school left before leaving for Chicago - definitely a very humbling result for one of them - though i didn't read as much of the required readings as i was supposed to, and to an extent methinks was really just winging it, managed to get a good grade; and for the other one, well it was divided into three parts and i got a C- for one of them (my first grade that low in my living memory - well - if you don't count Chinese haha), but got a B and an A for the other two parts so thankfully it was averaged out to a B, which is enough for me... The whole pass/fail thingy also has made me decide to not do the optional paper for the course which would give me extra credit - cos that seriously would take up way too much more time than i'm willing to give...

For choir things are getting somewhat better too - some might know that i've not had the ball of a time that i thought i'd have in choir here so far, but well, to cut a long story short, i'm definitely enjoying it much more now, with the songs continually running through my head, so that's good i suppose. Two grouses that i have though: one of the concerts that we have is on the night of the midterm congressional elections here, and especially as i'm doing a course on intro to American government here - i've gotten quite excited about it and wanted to be in front of the telly to get the latest results live - much like what i did for the eventual anti-climax that was the S'pore general elections this May. The other is that i had to fork out nearly US$100 on a full tux for concert gear, though i suppose should i ever get to attend some swanky function in the future that might come in quite handy...

And this weekend's really good - think that this is the first possible week so far when i may be able to complete all my work before Sunday - so am definitely looking forward to that - with the amount of junk i've been eating here recently, i think i'll try to run and/or swim then - still want to experience the novelty/cheap thrill (depending on how you look at it) of swimming in an indoor heated pool...

Aw shucks am feeling hungry again...

Brain freeze on the floor

My incredibly toot self was in its full element today - i thought that missing getting on the train to Wisconsin even though it practically pulled up at my feet was bad enough, but then this morning when i got to the library i realized that i had left my stationery in my room. I was highly annoyed with myself, so i decided to venture back out into the 40-degree weather (for conversion to celcius just subtract 32 and divide by 9 and multiply by 5) back to the room (albeit only less than five minutes away) to get the stuff. I got back to the room and even saw my pencil case on the desk. But somehow, i left the room again without taking my pencil case, again only realizing it upon reaching school again. Decided to just buy a pen from the student store instead - good thing they carry Pilot G-2s since that's the only type i use...

Yuppers, well after the fall break, it's officially back to school again - of course i still contend that the break was too short, but well, i shouldn't complain... At least i'm less occupied than i was last week at this time - only have TWO midterms for this week, as opposed to three heh...

I'm really digging the cold weather - which apparently is unseasonably cold for this time of year - though my contention that snow seems to be averse to falling wherever i am has only grown stronger since coming back from Chicago. Already, the only time i've experienced snowfall (as i think many of you can attest to me lamenting over) was in 1999 in Niagara Falls, NY; though it was only flurries, and for so brief a duration that it merely looked that a slurpee machine had gone bezerk and covered the sidewalk with a thin white coating of slush. This time, there was some snowfall in Chicago in the week before i got there, and it was forecasted again for Sunday, which is when i flew off. But of course, it was forecasted for Sunday afternoon/evening, while i flew off around noon time... Then again, if there was a snowstorm i'd probably be complaining about the freezing temperature - guess i'm not one to be easily satisfied. In any case, i'm sure some snow is bound to fall somewhere where i am before i fly back...

Will get down to posting rest of pics from D.C. and those from Chicago very shortly, so just watch that space =======>

FYI, have also finally gotten down to replacing the wonky tagboard with a new one...

"Hello Wisconsin!"? Nah...

Ok i know that this is like totally random but this had totally slipped my mind earlier and methinks that it bears mentioning: last Monday during my American govt lecture was the first time ever in my living memory that i fell asleep during class - i had little sleep and little rest over the long weekend that i had in D.C., and had tons of work to do overnight between the Sunday when i got back on the hill and the Monday when i had a midterm to do and other stuffies as well - so by the time that i had to go for my 10am lecture, i was contemplating whether to grab a cuppa - but i eventually decided against it - bad choice since i was nodding off towards the end - i must have been really overworked i guess (though i wouldn't count out that the prof was explaining something by means of using one of those math function thingies that i vaguely remember learning about in maths C in J1 before i came to my senses and finally dropped the @#$% subject for good...)

The next day managed to get some relaxation by going for an NBA pre-season game, held coveniently at the Dean Dome right on campus - think it was billed as a homecoming of sorts since some players on both sides (Bobcats v. Wizards) were on the UNC team at one point in time or other... Anyhoos, it was really fun to watch, more fun methinks than football, probably cos at least i can better understand what goes on during a basketball game... For the record the Bobcats lost 84 to 100.

In the end i didn't go to Wisconsin cos the train scheduling was extremely unfavorable - and there was (and is) still much to do in Chicago itself... Did go south to Gary, Indiana though - again just for the fun of it - another very eye-opener of a place i must say... Anyways after the end of my three full days here i'm already compiling a list of what i want to see, which i missed out the last time; on my next visit here, whenever that may be, if ever...

By the way, it's a little worrying that my laptop is beginning to mimic the sound of a small propeller plane taking off from the runway from time to time...

Blow wind blow...

Realized that i haven't really reflected much upon the Washington D.C. trip and now there's another trip to talk about, but anyhoos...

Well, Chicago so far has not disappointed - there's really so much to see here, the three full days i have here hardly begin to do the city justice - today i had to navigate my way around the city by myself using the train and i didn't get lost and managed to find my way around pretty good.

Of course there were the little blurness-caused hiccups here and there. Dan, originally i was gonna take another train up north to visit your home state (have been catching lots of That 70's Show reruns here so there's been a lot of Wisconsin talk), but when i got on the platform and the corrrect train came, i dunno why but suddenly i the thought occured to me that it was the wrong train, and that the right one would arrive in three minutes, so i didn't get on it, and it was gone in twenty seconds. Of course, the next train to Wisconsin left in three hours, so i changed my plans and decided to go downtown instead.

Was practically walking all the way once i arrived downtown - i must have walked at least ten miles methinks (and now my feet are complaining badly) but at least i saw most of what was on my agenda, and i didn't stumble into some bad neighborhood and get mugged. Chicago is a really nice city (at least the parts i went to are - there are several neighborhoods that i'd never want to step foot in) to visit - and it looks as though tomorrow i'll be wearing my feet out again...

So far of the many pieces of work that i've to do i've only managed to read five pages of one book - go figure...

Pictures to be uploaded there =======> really soon...

Come on babe, we're gonna paint the town...

After two and a half days of intense school stuff once i came back from D.C. i'm off again, this time to the Windy City for fall break...

And once again, accompanying me on my journey is more school stuff, which i can never seem to shale off, for next week...

That being said, i'm really glad for the break whatever the case - even though i'm not quite free from the shackles of school...

One freaky thing is that on the flight back from D.C. on Sunday, i realized that i get a cheap thrill from studying on a plane (hey that's S.O.A.P. - just like Snakes on a Plane!), so i'll probably be doing a bit of that on this trip too...

Yuppers, so that's all from me for now - promise to post the rest of my D.C. pics at the next opportune moment, and to update regarding fall break too, provided i can get online while i'm there...

(And by the way, i've not gotten all looney on ya - the above is the first line of "All That Jazz" from the eponymous musical...)

One, Two, Three

Firstly, i dunno whassup with the tagboard - and i dunno if you're wondering whassup with the tagboard too or you're wondering whassup with me whassup-ing about the tagboard since your view of the tagboard sees no reason to be whassup-ing about it or you just heck care whassup with the tagboard in the first place; but anyways it's a super-peripheral issue at best so i shall leave my whassup-ing at that...

Secondly, the past few days have been very relaxing and enjoyable for me - to spend time with relatives and to see places and just to chill out - i've not actually entered D.C. proper yet up till this time (save for a short and uneventful stint on the metro on the way home from the airport, but that was all underground so i didn't really see anything), but anyways sightseeing wasn't my primary motive in coming here, especially since i've been here before. I have been to the mall (a shopping mall, not the National Mall) however, as well as to Baltimore today to go to the Baltimore National Aquarium (kinky url btw), which was an added bonus; and tomorrow before i fly back to the terrors of school i'll be checking out a Smithsonian or two as well as briefly meeting another cousin of mine who's visiting as well but is only due in tomorrow (Sunday) noontime, mere hours before i leave; so i'm very satisfied as it is...

Thirdly i'm totally bummed about the work and midterms that await me upon my return - i've barely done anything for my twin midterms for the same course on Monday and Wednesday, and my take-home midterm due on Tuesday is still in the stage of initial conceptualization. On top of that, i only remembered once i got here that a written response to two chapters + epilogue of that gripping page-turner of a book on American tax reform is due on Monday morning - and i'm helpless to do any of it cos i don't have the book with me now so i can only start reading the required chapters when i get back to Chapel Hill tomorrow night; and i also stupidly forgot to bring some of the other books/notes that i would need to refer to for the take-home midterm so there's no way i can complete it before i fly back (though realistically speaking, knowing my work ethic there would have been no way i'd complete it even if i had everything with me) Meanwhile though, the joyful refrain of pass/fail is continually ringing on my head, though that's juxtaposed against the melancholy dirge of a consciousness to put in effort no matter what...

So it's really interesting to see how like the next week features its first half being as terok as they come for me, and then the second half (thanks to fall break) will see me probably as relaxed as i'll ever be at least till maybe Tgives comes along... Needless to say i can't wait for that half to come...

No, not the salad place...

Finally am here in Waldorf, MD; in the metropolitan D.C. area. Am staying with one of my Filipino cousins and the family - including their two children, whom technically i am the uncle of, even though they're like 16 and 14 years old... Freaky...

Anyhoos, today was a very fulfilling day, in the sense that two things on my to-do list have finally been struck of, one being (on Sida's behest) to eat a Sutton's burger (which i did for lunch and had no regrets whatsoever about doing - in fact i'll definitely try to find more opportunities to eat there, in spite of the inconvenient hours...), and the other being to take a plane ride by myself (which i did between RDU and here, even though i suppose to get a fuller experience i should also make my own way to and from the airport; which i have no clue as to how to do so).

Additionally, a little bonus came my way in my having an A&W Rootbeer Float - my first this millennium i reckon - while waiting to board the plane at RDU - and since the only A&W that i know of here is in RDU, that provides the perfect value-adding device to any trip taken in and out of there - i shal bear that in mind for next week...

At RDU i stopped at one of the shops to buy some food as gifts, and it so happened that the lady at the cashier was a Filipino - somehow i can often tell who are my kababayan (fellow countrypeople) - and apparently so can she, since she asked me if i was Filipino when i was paying for the stuff. I tried to reply in Tagalog that my mother is Filipino but instead it came out as "nanay mo..." which means "your mother" instead - so i just gave up and conceded that i can't speak the language... Ah well...

It's nice to see my relatives after so long - the last time was 1997 in the Phil - my niece and nephew (gosh is that creepy or what?) look totally different from when i last saw them... Think this weekend will be a very enjoyable one...

The only dampener on the mood (and what experience would be complete without one of those?) is of course the four books and many other notes that i've to consult while i'm here in preperation for my three midterms on three successive days next week. One is a take-home paper with the question only just released - looks like i'll be attempting it while i'm here - while the other two require the reading and reviewing of four books plus lots of notes so naturally i'm choosing to put them out of my mind for as long as possible, though i don't envision this escapist solution as being very beneficial in the long run...