more tales from the engin com lab

I sit here close to 40% through with my histo paper and i'm quite happy with how things have progressed in this second half of today.

This time round, however, while there are no annoying couples to distract me, there instead is someone who is listening to Selena's "Dreaming of You" on the com but who has decided to share the song with the rest of the people here (it just finished playing for the second time). And in between the haunting refrains of a now-dead lady, there is also a less musically gifted individual seated in front of me who's listening to some inaudible music on her headphones which she feels obliged to share with me via the gift of bizarre humming.

Anyways, i like totally wasted this morning watching weird stuff on youtube in my room, which is why i moved to school to do my work. By and large it's been successful, save for this...

Okies back to work...

lifeline

So after dinner today, i went to do a bit of (enforced) star-gazing at the src field in order to better understand the universe - it turned out to be more of moon-gazing as all i did manage to see before scootering off after exactly 30 minutes to do right by my conscience (rather than marking attendance and scramming right away) was the moon as seen through a refractive telescope - well, the detail of the image i saw [plus the fact that today's moon is quite gibbous (read: close to full)] leads me to the conclusion that Chang-E does not exist... Mooncakes schmooncakes...

Then went back to the room and later went for a run again - went by a different, longer route this time and nearly died-ed again - getting there though, hopefully...

After that i plopped myself in front of the laptop and after an hour or so of procrastinating, i finally was in the preliminary stages of beginning my histo paper when i opened my mail and read this:

Hi class

The deadline for the essay has been extended to Wed 31 Oct in the interest of quality. Hard copies of the essays should be in my mailbox by 10 pm.

Fwah and boy did i need that - thankfully now my weekend ahead looks a lot less terok to me now since i've two extra days to do up the essay - Dr H, you rock (and not just because of the extension...)

The downside though is that i've now even less motivation to get any work done tonight - so think i shall call it a night and see how tomorrow goes... Dun want to end up piah-ing till wed evening...

Dinner was like more than 7 hours ago btw, and i couldn't tahan, so now i'm having breakfast - it's the morning after all...

And before i go, there's a new random thingy i'd like to put here: basically it's my pet peeve of the day, cos i always seem to be peeved by something - maybe by the end of it all i can set up a pet peeve shop... heh... (the purpose of this is not to complain, but just to provide some sort of outlet lah - sorry if you're reading this and you happen to be a perpetrator - but bo pian leh...)

Well anyways, one thing that annoys me is people who insist on boarding buses/trains before the people on the buses/trains get off - i had always noticed it on the mrt on the rare occasions i took the train, but now i'm noticing even more of it on the nus buses - i really can't stand it (cos to me it's a symptom of the prevailing impatient and "me first" culture that we seem to have here) - these people just seem to be interested in getting a seat before the rest behind them do, and have no qualms about barging their way through the mass of people who want to alight in order to get one. Now, i normally try to be a nice person, but i must admit, when i am the one getting off the bus and i happen to encounter one or more of these inconsiderate people headed in my direction, i do purposely go out of my way to make it as difficult as possible for them to squeeze past me - isolate them to one corner, brush against them slightly more roughly than is needed, that sort of thing - i dunno how right of me it is to do that (but boy does it feel good to do it), so if it isn't, do let me know...

Visit Philippines 2008

There's a histo paper due in just over a week's time which better judgement urges me to continue (though so far have just been doing some reading - no planning or writing) working on, but i've decided rather to ramble on a bit about other stuff and we'll see where this leads to...

Well i've been meaning to talk a bit about my recent trip back to the Philippines for like the longest time and then some right - well just the other day i heard about the bomb blast at Glorietta in Manila, and it troubled me quite a bit, cos especially ever since i came back from there i've been trying to push the Philippines (apart from Mindanao at least) as a safe and worthwile tourist destination, touting, among other things; the tight security at malls. Well, obviously that tight security still fell flat this time round.

Had taken a pic of the Atrium at Glorietta
(the mall complex where the blast happened) when i was there

In any case though, i'd still say that a great deal of the security and safety concerns that many people have about traveling to the Philippines are stretching it a bit. Media reports tend to give the impression that the entire country is a no-go zone cos it's unsafe, but that's really not the case. The south - Mindanao island and all that's below it - yes perhaps the security situation there may be more questionable, since that's where the hive of seperatist/terrorist activity is (although even within the island there are places that are still relatively safe). But much of the rest is really pretty safe.

Ok, maybe after the latest blast Manila may not be everyone's favorite place to go to (and it was not really one of mine even before the blasts) but it does have good shopping (eh and yup i know that's exactly where the bomb hit) - but seriously, the malls there are ginormous (if that word has been accepted into general parlance yet). And beyond Manila there's a lot worth seeing - i personally regretted spending so much time in the Metro Manila area (even though i was with relatives) and hence not seeing enough of the rice terraces to the north - and to that end a return trip in the near future is definitely a goal of mine.

Eh this picture really doesn't do the terraces justice, but it'll have to do for now

That actually was to me one of the main highlights of going back - the chance to go up to Ifugao Province and take in a bit of the scenery and all. My cousin put me in touch with a local pastor who is involved in work with many of the tribal people in the surrounding hills, and so he showed me around the terraces and put me up at his place for the night. What i was really blessed by though, was his sharing with me a bit about his ministry - stuff like Bible translation and hiking to various villages to screen the Jesus film, among other stuff. The stereotypical awareness of how much i'd taken things for granted in S'pore hit me - yup and to that end this song came to mind (taken from here btw - and since it's more than 100 years old i shall assume am not infringing on copyright restrictions by putting the lyrics here - is that the way it works?):

'Tis the gift to be simple, 'tis the gift to be free,

'Tis the gift to come down where we ought to be,

And when we find ourselves in the place just right,

'Twill be in the valley of love and delight.

When true simplicity is gain'd,

To bow and to bend we shan't be asham'd,

To turn, turn will be our delight,

Till by turning, turning we come round right.

The true simplicity of things there is in stark contrast to the wanton (not the mee) excesses that seem to constantly confront us here in S'pore and in many other parts of the world, and it has really brought me to a point when i wonder how essential is all the excess that we have (am talking within the sphere of the church here, though it extends to society in general).

So anyways, this aspect of ministry really got me thinking about stuff - and i'd like to think that this is something that i would be open to doing if the Lord ever calls me to it (although there'll be a great deal of language-learning to do first haha). Pastor Ardo did say that if things allow for it, maybe one day i could accompany him as he goes about one of his trips - that got me excited (though of course it really is as the Lord leads la - dun want to go just because it sounds cool).

And of course, this aside, i'm really keen on going back real soon (maybe a grad trip? though i'd like to do this on top of another trip to another, more distant place) to hike around a bit of the rice terraces [the terraces i went to were the most accessible ones, and coincidentally (or not), also the least fascinating ones] - there's a far more ulu yet still nearby town called Batad with far nicer terraces along with other cool (literally) stuff like waterfalls and all which i'd like to hike to the next time. And maybe while i'm in the Philippines can see some other stuff like the Chocolate Hills (nope, sorry Debs, they're not made of real chocolate =p) and Yoda's close primate relative. And of course this whole post is so tourist brochure-y for a reason - am also advertising for any possible travel companions - do give it a thought ya =) I can settle most of the arrangements and also communicate with anyone who doesn't speak English with my (laughable) Tagalog (seriously, while i was there, everyone thought i was a local - and hence always talked to me in Tagalog - leaving me smile embarassingly and mutter whatever i could in reply - which usually amounted to "yes", "no" or "no more")... Anyways, if and when this happens, it'll be in May 2008 earliest so there's plenty of time to consider...

Let me know, salamat po ;)

ponderings from pgp

It's been a good three weeks now since i moved (booked?) in to pgp. So far it's not exactly worked out as how i'd expected - in the sense of how the time that would otherwise have been spent traveling to and from school from my house has now been put to use. Of course, what other way would i in theory intend to spend the two extra hours of free time than to do school stuff - i.e. readings, papers, tutorials etc? Instead, the reality so far has been largely one of spending more time sleeping and slacking in my pgp room (read: what i'm doing now) rather than doing exactly the same in my room in the house.

And the prevalent conditions actually favor me slacking off a bit, since my deadlines are relatively far away, and hence the panic syndrome that usually kicks in a couple of days before the papers are due has yet to appear. I'm really trying to reverse this apathy towards work though, so watch this space and hopefully the next time i appear (whenever that will be) at least the first paper will be close to done with.

One good thing that has come out of staying here though is that i've finally managed to find ample opportunities to run, something i maintain is absolutely lacking back at home. No more being confronted by traffic lights every what seems like thirty metres or so; or incessant noxious vehicle fumes; or intriguing bohemian types with remarkable hairstyles, creative body piercings, and eternally puffing on a ciggy.

So to that end since i've moved in i've run more times than i have over the entire holiday and the school term before moving in. Or around there, at least. This is not entirely in the interests of a healthy lifestyle though, as ippt is rearing its annoying ugly head again, and so i'm due for that in less than a month. This time i've really no lofty ambitions whatsoever. If i pass (sans $100), i'll already be happy, since i've been largely inactive for months on end prior to moving in. Hope to continue this after ippt too though. Supplemented by tennis at some point or other and maybe a swim (and on that note, the vegetarian stall lady in the arts canteen has for the past few weeks recognized me as the not-so-Chinese guy who cannot understand half the Mandarin she spouts out to me whenever i go to the stall, and hence will automatically switch to English whenever i appear; but this morning she went about the old routine of speaking to me in Mandarin again, and i was actually wondering if that was cos i've been out of the sun as of late and hence have been getting lighter and so am starting to look more Chinese again).

God's been speaking to me in various ways and more than usual this past week or two, glad for that - though there's quite a bit of stuff that requires some revamping though... However, my brain is incredibly slow when it comes to processing such thought, so hopefully things won't be so bad this time...

Make no mistake about it though - i'm at a loss - it's not an intentional delay, that's for sure.

a tale of two (edit: now three) couples and one annoyed me

ok i usually don't do this smack in the middle of a school day but well conditions warrant it...

monday night i was in the engin com lab trying to finish my now-finished paper, but i couldn't get far because this couple seated opposite to me were talking so loudly to each other and i couldn't concentrate as a result, so after thirty minutes of futility i gave up and went back to my room to finish it.

so just now i went back to the same place to get more work done, and i saw the same couple seated next to a computer that i usually use. Wary of them after the other day i looked around for another computer and plopped myself down at one a good distance away. And just as i've started to get down to work, lo and behold another couple opposite me have started to talk loudly to each other as well. Meanwhile the first couple are bust doing work and are hence no even making a noise. I'm tempted to ask them to keep quiet but i'm afraid my irritation will get the better of me - and i'm wearing an FOC shirt too so i dun want to risk binge a bad testimony from the way i ask them to keep quiet...

Rejoice! They've just packed up and left!

ok back to work...

(ten minutes later)

my goodness how do i always kena these situations ah? a third couple has just plopped themselves down in the exact same place that couple two were in and are chatting away...

Prince George's Camp

I just got done with one thesis proposal and two papers within the past four days or so (and kept close to twenty-hour days too), yup so now i'm in the mood for anything but work.

So to that end (gosh you have no idea how many times i used that phrase in my papers), i'm making my first visit back here after quite a while. I guess by the grossly reduced frequency (and length) of my posts here compared to last time you can tell how much more busier have been nowsaday... Hmm...

Well, thankfully after a long drawn-out exchange of emails with the campus housing people, i got offered a room at pgp this past tue. And i figured i really needed it yup, so to cut a long story short i'm now a weekday westie...

It feels a bit weird to be here though. When my parents were driving me and all my stuff to pgp on Sun night, i had a feeling of déjà vu, and i knew exactly why - cos it felt just like old times on Sunday nights when they'd drive me back to book in to camp. Yup here's kinda like army camp, just without the regimentation... But at least now i save an extra two hours that would otherwise be spent traveling and contributing to a public transport system that can always be depended upon to find new ways to irk me each and every day... Even that alone makes it a fair enough trade-off...