it's only words

So here's where it stands as of now:

The thesis is due in a week's time, at 4pm (ok so that technically makes it six days, 22 hours and say forty minutes' time...)

I've completed the intro, chapters one and two, and am halfway through chapter three.

However, lots of feedback over the past week or so has (perhaps inevitably) led me to have to try and do a major reworking of the whole thing, for a variety of reasons which if i list here will just remind me of my grief.

So to that end, i've to sorta overhaul (the word of the past few weeks, eh?) the whole thing, strengthen the line of argument in all that's been written so far, which necessitates quite a bit of cutting and reconceptualizing (whoa will the parallels with cg structure never cease?), two things that i'm not particularly good at doing (whoop so they haven't =p)

Which, believe me, is definitely do-able - but it's a matter of how well this can be done. I've recently gone back to calculating caps once again (the most math i've done this side of "Physics in the Life Sciences"), and realize that the magic number i should aim for is 3.7825 - which sounds very possible, if not for the fact that thesis will have to make up half of that figure, which drastically lowers the odds. Especially if the stuff which i submit looks any more than remotely similar to what i have now...

Oh well, i'm definitely glad to have gotten all the feedback, it really has helped me to think through what i'm writing, and make sure that it's not all just some random sociological fluff. Just wish that i were not in as vulnerable a position as i am now.

And of course there's the added bummer that cos of this i practically missed all of CC that was going on, cos even if i were to go for any of it, think i wouldn't be spiritually and emotionally invested enough to make me more than a seat-filler. Same goes for Holy Week unfortunately.

So now all that lies between now and 4pm on 28 March 2008 is a lot of staring at the computer screen trying to add and cut stuff from here and there, hoping to make enough sense of it to posit a possible grade (which hopefully won't stink), plenty of sleep (yes sleep - at least 9 hours a night for the past week in fact), even more food (have gobbled down one-and-a-half loaves of bread since Monday), hopefully some exercise (or the aforementioned food will take its toll), a visit to Goh Bros at src to submit my title (ack!), another to submit the final stuff (and btw when i went down that day i never realized how big the place actually is - always thought it was just a shopfront), and a final one to collect the bound copies for submission. No sweat, huh?

Oh, and lots of prayer =)

RIP Eve

Well, i didn't know her personally, and only vaguely (if at all, i may be remembering the wrong person - may have voted for her, i can't remember), but the news of Eve Carson's sudden passing still has come as quite a shock, even though it's more than a year since UNC. Even though it's so far away (both temporally and spatially, the blow seems to hit much closer than it perhaps logically ought to). I know that where she was shot was near one of my normal running routes there - and it was so near campus too, so on some weird level that was pretty real for me. And if to me it's already like this, can't imagine how things are like over there.

Anyways, prayers with Eve's family and friends, stay strong Heels.

Edit - dook win seems so much more meaningful now...

C'mon

Eh i dunno why as my deadline draws closer i feel more compelled to put stuff here, even as writing has seen (less than adequate) progress since yesterday - oh MSK, why did you have to escape now of all times?

But anyways, i was again paying an excruciating visit to cna in order to check out local news, when i came across some good news - (no, he's not yet found) they're setting up an independent committee of inquiry to find out how the guy escaped and recommend measures to prevent this from ever happening again.

But wait a minute: independent committee of inquiry you say? Let's pay a little visit to our friends over at dictionary.com:

in·de·pend·ent
–adjective

1.	not influenced or controlled by others in matters of opinion, conduct, etc.; thinking or acting for oneself: an independent thinker.

2.	not subject to another's authority or jurisdiction; autonomous; free: an independent businessman.

3.	not influenced by the thought or action of others: independent research.

Fair enough. Now let's look at who makes up this independent committee:

"The committee is chaired by Goh Joon Seng, a retired judge (and current member of the Council of Presidential Advisers), with former police commissioner and current ambassador-at-large Tee Tua Ba, and Deputy Secretary of Security at the Home Affairs Ministry, Choong May Ling"

So let me get this straight, "independent" as defined by the higher-ups somehow is able to describe a presidential adviser (ok, that one still can i guess), a former police commissioner and current ambassador-at-large (hmm tricky - but to give the benefit of the doubt, he is a former police commissioner, so he is not currently within the system), and *what?!* a deputy secretary at MHA [ok, this doubt of mine doesn't even have any benefit to worm out of it - seriously, none of the above definitions (nor any from the rest on the list, for that matter) could even in their most liberal interpretation, include a senior official from the ministry in charge of ISD, who run the Whitley detention center in the first place].

Aiyah, but well i've really to be getting back to work - doesn't mean i'm not super miffed at the whole thing though - i still maintain that our friend WKS ought to give a sincere apology for a change and then step down - though chances are, when the findings of this 'independent' committee come out, he'll still be there without a tinge of guilt, and with that same arrogant mug. Sad.

you pay 'em peanuts, you get peanuts

um ok i guess under the circumstances (first draft due in just over 52 hours' time, with only 1/6 of the maximum word count now being actually typed out), typing this perhaps isn't exactly the best idea (and i'd sort of resolved not to put anything new here until i handed the draft up).

but well, to let my rarely-seen optimistic streak manifest itself at an opportune moment, i have at least finished a (tentative) introduction, somehow managing to squeeze everything into the 1000 word limit (and then periodically - as in every fifteen minutes or so - revisiting it for revision, alternating between trimming and adding as it appears to fit best at that point in time, but ensuring that i end up with exactly 1000 words), and i've also done the opening few paragraphs of each of my three chapters, which for me is the most troubling part to do, after that, the content is by and large already up here (points to head). But of course there's nothing to write for a conclusion yet cos i'm still not sure how's that gonna turn out... Well anyways, this is meant to be a work in progress, and i know there'll be a lot of revision to do once i get the draft back, so why do up so much that will end up being cut and revamped? (i can practically see the angel and devil on either side of my head now...)

in any case, they chose, of all times, now to install a drainage system right by the slope outside my window, so there's this constant and jarring drilling noise that i've to contend with... And anyways who am i if not the ultimate last-minute worker (who still never misses a work deadline thank you very much)?

let me randomly grumble aloud as to how somehow the higher-ups tend to get away scot free over here - there was the business with the dunking; our dear friend TT and his shenanigans with the nkf (btw is that word like back in now that Juno has uttered it?); and now this inexcusable escape, yet none of the relevant highly-paid folk get the sack, or even a reprimand for that matter. Instead it's those further below (i wouldn't call them scapegoats, but to some extent that's a valid use of the word) who get it bad. Anywhere else and it's bye-bye seven-figure salary (oh wait, i stand corrected, anywhere else there wouldn't be a seven-figure salary). And in this most recent case, what do we get? Nothing but a smug, insincere apology delivered with the same arrogance and that oh-look-at-me-mr-high-and-mighty face. Surely if people are paid that much, they can at least have the common decency to be more accountable for their responsibilities...

herein ends the rant of a concerned and pissed off S'porean. Now back to writing (oops, actually, think i'll lunch first =p).

Happy 122nd - while you celebrate your birthday at the Shangri-la, i'll be at pgp toiling over my com.

btw, i came across this quick poll on the channelnewsasia website (as much as i hate cna, the other realistic option for getting local news online is ST which requires payment, and imho they don't deserve it). my views on the youth olympics aside (and they shall remain private), when i saw this my first reaction was "what the s***" (pardon the bad language) [btw just cut-n-paste cos couldn't figure out html]

quick poll:

Singapore has won the bid to play host for the 2010 Youth Olympics Games.

-Yes! It shows size doesn't matter and I am glad for the vote of confidence

-I believe this will develop sport in Singapore and teach people to look beyond the material

yup, these were the only two options btw - it's kinda like what Colbert does when he poses visibly annoyed Democratic congressmen this question during "Better Know A District": "George W. Bush - great president, or the greatest president?" Kinda farny in that case, less so here...

oh goodness save me from this crap (cna, i mean)...