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...