running on (near) empty

Saturday was kinda a reunion sorta day - in the afternoon went back to acjc for a choir 20th anniversary thanksgiving service thingy - it's hard to believe that it's already been seven years since leaving jc - but anyways, that was a good opportunity to touch base with old faces (not many, i was one of only two people from my batch who were there) and get reacquainted with some of the music that pulsated through my brain over those two years [me being the kind who retains music in my mind well, i honestly can still remember a good portion of the music and lyrics (in my part, at least) that formed our repertoire (well with four/five-hour-long rehearsals twice a week, it's hard not to actually)]. Good also to see again what the seemingly endless stream of fundraising we did during those two years went into (especially when the school is unadorned with makeshift stalls and decorations during funorama - which has been the only other reason i've been back there apart from this in recent history). And also (unlikely, but at least became more open to the possibility) a widening of potential posting opportunities post-nie. But at the same time i was also reminded of how out of touch i (was and) am with choir life in general. Heck.

After that it was time for a cross-country mrt ride (first of many more to come methinks in the near future) to another barker class reunion. Honestly, in the past two reunions i've attended this year, i would never have expected to enjoy myself as much as i did - it's great to see how everyone looks roughly the same but nevertheless seems to have grown a lot in the emotional/spiritual sense, and also look back on good times all those years ago. Everyone's really come a long way, though i must admit, many of the various classroom shenanigans that people were recalling were stuff i was hitherto unaware of.

I wonder now if that was at least in part because while in sec 3/4 i was admittedly a (relatively) guai student who probably was too busy being a guai student to notice that all this was going on, at a time when many of the others (by their own admission) didn't really study much during that time, but have since gone on to much greater things in their own right, such as getting into good schools and graduating with good degrees or finding a great job, that sorta thing - along those lines i seriously wonder if i had more or less exhausted whatever capacity i had to be that sort of guai student by the time nus, and in particular the period after coming back from exchange, came around, culminating in the spectacular academic failure that is my final sem. And along similar lines, whether my early involvement in all things VCF pre-exchange sort of sapped a good deal of the capacity i had for cf involvement in general, culminating in my dwindling energy put in to cf stuff over the last year (yes, in spite of being in exco), up to the state of near apathy that i seem to be feeling at this moment. Of course, as per my usual disclaimer, i am probably making things out to be far worse than they actually are, but in essence, it's all there.

Well, the obvious alternative to that hypothesis is that things just changed dramatically for me upon coming back from exchange - i've a good portion of what was written in the excellent report in Saturday's ST on disoriented S'poreans returning here after time abroad to support that theory (even if five months isn't exactly the longest of times, as compared to say years/decades). I'd like to think that it's a combination of the two, plus other random factors.

Oh well. i know how much i hate overthinking/overanalysis, and i figure that's exactly what i'm doing in the above, so let's keep it at that for now - just hope that things change soon enough...

hard at work - or as close as possible to that...

Aided in no small part by finally being hit by the fact that the final draft of the ht is due in just over two months from now, and a useful jolt to get cracking during my recent ht consultation, i'd have to say that i don't recall being as hardworking as i've been in the past two weeks ever since probably the first ever sem here (i.e. before i started getting real involved in cf stuff - you can draw whatever connections you'd like, they're probably not true anyways), yes the fabled sem of a string of As stained by one B- for HY1101E of all things...

I'm not exactly the most enthusiastic of readers, but owing to the aforementioned prep i've had to plunge headfirst into book after book for lit review purposes, at the rate of close to one a day in fact. Yes, a book a day, a feat last accomplished when i read through the book of Jude, with 3 and 2 John before that. And if we don't count the Bible, then we're looking at Bookworm books here. Yuppers, you see where i am going here? So in short, i don't really do books, which makes the close-to-a-book-a-day thingy that much more miraculous, by God's grace really...

Yup and thankfully, i'm starting to really like what i'm (supposed to have been) writing about. It hits home quite a bit - to the end that i actually felt a bit emotional when i was reading in one book about the forced eviction of elderly folk from a low-cost residential hotel which some of them had frequented for as long as 60 years to make way for relentless corporate America - real yucks, that was. Anyways, it makes the writing of these 10000-12000 words (including footnotes - aargh!!!) less of a chore. That being said, i'd much rather be writing the acknowledgements page hehe...

Well anyways, today after consultation i went down to the library to borrow more books to (aargh!) read (side note: i'm now holding 12 books - a personal record) and when i pulled out one of them from the shelf, i took a major step back when i saw the cover photo - suffice to say it's not a book i'd be parading around with the front cover facing outwards when i walk, and i'll probably hide it behind another book when i read it too - ask me if you want to see what's on the cover - so paiseh man...

While thankfully distractions have been less of an issue for me in the past week especially, i did succumb to some worthless youtube watching - for some reason i remembered that American Gladiators is being relaunched - one of the must-see shows for me last time in primary school - i remember it was Gladiators at 4pm and then WWF at 5pm on Channel 5. But anyways i wanted to see what it's like now - so i did - for two whole worthless hours. I know to my young eyes it already was bordering on tacky when i saw it on TV all those years ago, but now the new season has definitely outdone itself - see it for yourself - my goodness - some of the gladiators do so amuse me.

Nevertheless, i still remember when i saw it on tv and i was like "oh i can do that". But then i tried some of those things in army and i was sorta persuaded otherwise. Now it's become even more intriguing though cos for some of the events, instead of a mattress to cushion their fall, there's a big pool of water - and they've to swim under a lake of fire (i kid you not) in the final event as well. Quite fun.

Hmm anyways it would be quite interesting to see what a Singapore Gladiators might be like - off the top of my head i'm thinking of gladiator names like lau lee, ah meng, pai kia, MDA senior management...

No Djoke, the Fed got beat...

last(ish)

So school has started again - and it's the last semester, so to that end today was the last first day of school i'll ever have (well, at nus at least - there are many more to come actually...), the first of a whole host of lasts at nus (since i'm one for such nonsense thingies) - last first lecture, last mid-sem break, last having to deal with the wretched cors etc...

Moving into pgp again went about without any hitches thankfully - think things would be far more of a hassle for me if i had to travel to and fro everyday [of course, i've only a three day week (which i thought was pretty good until i saw some other people's scheds but nvm) but i'd be in school on the free days anyways, or risk totally wasting away the hours at home]. I can only imagine how screwed up things may be next (academic) year at nie, but we'll get this over and done first eh...

Of course now that school has started, there's all the stuff i've been putting off reading staring me in the face, and today i finally got down to looking at them - thankfully when push came to shove stuff managed to get done, and to that end, i managed to plow through two of the initial nine books that i've gotten from the lib. Which makes for (only) seven more to go... Plus innumerable newspaper articles... Bleah. Holiday!

Anyways, went for a sec 4 class gathering the other day - the first one i've been to since i was still in JC methinks - so hadn't seen some of the guys for a real long time - reminded me of how much i really appreciate my time in barker, something that i've sorta forgotten recently. One thing that i was especially (pleasantly) surprised about was that we actually started off dinner by saying grace, something that as my classmate Weiliang pointed out later, we'd never have imagined would happen looking at the class those close to ten (oh gosh has it been that long already?) years ago. It's great to see how the Lord has been working in the lives of many of my classmates since then (eh, and i guess myself included heh =p)

Yay for the Australian Open... And how 'bout them Tar Heels too =)

Oh, and check this out - cool stuff =p

525,600 or some odd minutes ago...

you may know i'm one for remembering random stuff and to that end one such random piece of stuff is that it was exactly a year ago (yup, and almost to the minute too, in fact) that i arrived back here from exchange. One year since the end of one of the best times i've spent in my close-to-quarter-century (eek! - and i say that both cos of the age and cos Bingo just made a prolonged gagging sound which made me think he was barfing - false alarm thankfully) of life so far.

Hmm my last couple of days really don't seem too long ago when i think of it - the time spent at Urbana and the valuable lessons learnt from there, the 14-hour bus ride back to Chapel Hill from St. Louis whilst suffering the unpleasant after-effects of eating 16 White Castle hamburgers in two sittings within a five or so hour period (kinda like how Bingo probably feels now), the last minute picture-taking and what not on the Hill itself, then the looong flight back here, featuring the lady in front of me during the Chicago-HK leg of the flight surprised to see me taking a flight alone cos she thought i was all of 13 years old (i kid you not). And since coming back boy has it been one heck of a ride eh...

Ah well - memories are meant to be cherished and all, but i guess not to be obsessed over - though personally speaking i can't see how the next semester or even year ahead could match up to the five months in total spent there - we'll see how things go nevertheless... [And anyways, while the USD continues to perform as masterfully as it has as of late, hopefully a trip back looms in the near future (or at least before it strengthens again) - so i guess, it's until then =)]

Whither the Weather

Some of you may have heard me complain ad libitum about the (imho) overly-warm and humid weather in S'pore and my penchant for cooler climes (which is one reason why i like to holiday in faraway atas places where possible, as well as partly why global climate change vexes me so much and hence why i'm quite environmentally conscious, but that's another story). Anyways last year around this time i was on the last leg of my time in the States - over the holidays after exams i went to places like Boston and St. Louis. And it so happened that in all these places they were experiencing above-average temperatures - fair enough. So i didn't get to experience snow and what not, hardly the end of the world.

Now that i've cable though, and hence watch CNN/Headline News in lieu of Channelnewsasia (cos imho, the latter sucks and i really could not care any less for mediacrap), i've been observing the weather patterns in North America quite a fair bit - and lo and behold, places which i'd visited last year in the Midwest and New England have already experienced crippling snowstorms, stuff strikingly absent when i was there. Not that i'd have liked to be there during such frigid conditions, but it still seems to reinforce the conclusion that i've arrived at, which is that the mercury always seems to head upwards whenever i'm in town. Apart from this prime example, i also recall last year when there was quite a bit of snow in Chicago just the week before i arrived there, which of course had all disappeared by the time i got there, and which reappeared just after i flew back to Chapel Hill. Even when i went back to the Philippines earlier this year, my cousin-in-law told me that there was hail the morning of the day i arrived (of course, i only arrived at night). And there are more examples where those came from... Sigh - how to ever do stuff like skiing like that (and i don't count snow city as a legitimate example)?

CORS bidding is just around the corner, and i'm as indecisive as ever. Experience obviously doesn't breed ease of action in this case... It doesn't help that i never got around to doing the pre-allocation this time round cos i was occupied with other stuff, and so it totally slipped my mind. I'm as fussy as ever when it comes to choosing classes, even though i've only three to choose in total, and i've already decided on one of them... Anyone else is shopping around for a good s/u-able (and hopefully non-examinable) breadth class?

Managed to go down to Esplanade to watch ACJC Choir caroling the other day - got to meet some of the people from my batch as well which was good... Miss those days quite a bit (well ok, maybe only parts of it) - i could still remember a good deal of my parts from the songs, especially since they've by and large remained the same even after seven years.

Yesterday's PRC camp, by God's grace went well - i think that was the only truly sunny day we've had in the whole of this month (and to that end i now have a painful reminder that i musn't forget to apply sunscreen on the back of my neck...), and thankfully no one got injured or anything like that. Once again, just like the prc camp i was at three years ago, i'm pretty sure that i spoke more Mandarin the whole of yesterday than i have in the rest of the year put together. And i was reminded why i'm so reticent about ever taking a holiday in China/HK/Taiwan etc - language frustrations would just drive me bonkers...

I totally concur with what mr brown posted about taxi drivers. Government affiliations aside, i think that it's just not right that basically no matter how bad the situation gets for the drivers, the cab companies basically are hardly the worse for wear, since regardless of how much (or how little) the drivers earn in a day, they still have to pay a fixed rental to the company. Talk about being out of touch. This latest fare increase basically affects the demand for taxi rides, at the expense of the drivers, whereas the companies themselves definitely feel less pain. It's situations like this that make me more sympathetic towards a proper labor movement in terms of unions and what not (and please NTUC so doesn't count). Of course, this has many messy drawbacks, but still nevertheless the drivers deserve to have it better than they do now (and yup, i'm speaking up for them even though they have caused me many an angry moment when i'm cycling).

plan b

So it's the beginning of the weekend and all, and i'd been meaning to finally try and recap my recent trip back to the motherland over here (not as much for others to read as for me to be able to have something concrete for me to actually recall what happened there in the distant future...)

Alas, circumstances have made it such that it is way past the time when my brain is normally capable of such deep recollective and reflective thought, so the aforementioned post will have to wait till another day for it to reach fruition. Instead i'll stick to random thoughts over the past couple of weeks.

The recently concluded summer break has in certain ways been anything but, owing to the amount of stuff that i had on my plate from both moving house and then settling in (which is, as always, a work in continual, and i fear eternal progress); as well as from cf stuff (which has thankfully been more enjoyable, but still time-consuming and tiring). Still, however, i'm glad it was, when all is said and done, a fulfilling one, not only due to the timely and sorely-needed quick escapes from S'pore to our friendly ASEAN neighbors; but i guess due to the stuff that contributed to busyness as well...

When i was recalling the year past and how i missed things that happened then, one thing that i forgot to mention was how last year's national day was my favorite one in a long time. Um, unfortunately, it was precisely because i was out of the country that it was my favorite one. Yeah (and i hope the people up there in charge of the national pottery don't take offense if they ever should read this) i'm sorry but i'm just not a fan of huge outward displays of patriotism. My personal take is that resources could be far better spent elsewhere, and particularly not spent on things like the commissioning of atas nat'l day songs that seem to be less your love for the country than a lesson in world geography cum a rubbing it in to the average S'porean who probably counts the occasional weekend trip up to Genting or even JB as a real treat that some of us (um and i readily admit i'm one of them) just have been blessed to have it much better or the choreographing equally atas mass display programs that seemed more a showcase either of unwilling or, worse yet, alarmingly enthu parade participants with drag queen outfitting and makeup (more befitting perhaps of The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert than of a country's birthday celebration - and yes, freaky red fish-man, i'm talking about you here...) than the retelling of the S'porean past.

It's not that i don't like this country (though once again i'll readily admit that many people love it more than i do), but rather exactly because i do that i shudder to see how it celebrates its birthday each tacky year after another. Well, if there's anything i am happy about from this year's festivities, is that the engineers played a key role in its execution, and that the guy in charge, the current CEO, is a real nice guy whom i respect from the time i was still serving. And if there's anything that i'm even happier about, it's that he was not tasked to do this five years ago, for if so i might be the one frustratingly burning weekends and then some for an event i don't really care much for...

And so now school has started... As i've probably mentioned somewhere before, i'm really thankful that my workload this year isn't that bad after all, owing to one times favorable exchange last year which cleared me of 37.5% of a typical honors year workload. That's freed up much deeply-treasured time for lots of other things.

It hasn't been all roses though. My classes (especially the honors ones), while hardly as bad as i thought they would be, are still nevertheless a challenge (for one of my classes, i nearly freaked out when i entered the room early and lo and behold the lecturer was talking to one grad student in Mandarin - i immediately put my bag down and went outside to check the room number, and it was correct - but it turns out that he was only talking to the student in Mandarin cos i guess more efficient communication could then be carried out - the proceeding lecture, save for the occasional, incomprehensible cheng yu here and there, was thankfully in English). The future of any possible thesis looks as grim as ever since yours truly is too indecisive thus far to narrow down a topic in any way (although the deadline is still weeks away, i know i'll procrastinate heaps) And the other day, i got so tired after four days of continuous activity, late nights and early mornings, that i think my energy level just fluctuated downwards drastically, so for the first time in my living memory i skipped cg to just go home and rest. I guess it's still early days yet though, so there's the unavoidable slow adjustments that have to be made...

nyet, not yet...

The other day the family went down to Borshch in Serangoon Gardens for dinner. Once upon a time we used to go there at least once a month, but that ritual ended when we moved over to the East, and it's been years since i last went there... But going back there reminded me of the umpteen times i'd go there and order the same thing time and time again - the $12.80 (now $13.80) set dinner with appetiser choice of shrimp cocktail or caviar with egg (no prizes for guessing which one i went for); soup choice of borshch or cream of mushroom (choosing the former is a no brainer - if they name the restaurant after the dish then it had better be good...); main course choice of several things which i barely remember cos my eyes would almost always automatically be drawn to the sirloin steak (first medium, then later in life, medium rare after i discovered the joys of semi-bloody meat - and i never contracted mad cow disease or salmonella, dun worry); drink choice of coffee, tea, coke or sprite (almost always took sprite - though now they've switched allegiances and offer pepsi or 7up instead); and dessert choice of fancy pancake or peach melba (and with the 'fancy' part of the former amounting to it being filled with banana, i'd automatically go for the latter...)

Um, looks like i got carried away there heh... But my point is that the food is not exactly the best around. It's really just above average at best (one thing that never changes is the ever-yellowing newspaper article from some time in the 80s promoting the restaurant, proudly displayed on one of the walls). But the draw of the place (such that by the end of the visit i resolved to go to the place a little more regularly - at least once a year...) lies for me purely in the nostalgia value that it holds. I've been going to that place since before it moved and was about half the size of what it is now - which is probably like since p1 in 1990 (which i now realize is a heck of a long time ago - after finding out that Keisha Castle-Hughes, the once 13-year-old star of Whale Rider was both born that year and also had her first child a couple of months ago) or even before that, and those memories all came flooding back when i went back there... Like how that's the only place i recall ever having eaten frog's legs (tastes like chicken). To top it all off, one particular waitress whom has been there for as long as i can remember took one look at me while we were ordering, and then before she left asked if i was the small boy who once upon a time was half my present height and who once frequented the place...

It's all but confirmed that this thurs nite will be the last night spent at my old house. However, that's dependent in large part on whether i can muster up the necessary willpower to pack everything by then. Sheesh. In the meantime, i'm continually unearthing stuff postmaturely like quiet time material that i had thought had not arrived but in actual fact was hidden under a pile of paper on a shelf somewhere, or old vouchers that expired months, if not years ago... It's almost like i'm conducting some sort of archeological dig...

Really need to settle travel details - i was just wondering if i might need to take a new passport picture, but i guess the aforementioned waitress recognizing me from more than half my life ago puts paid to those thoughts... Just hope that when i go through immigration wherever i am going to, no one will think i'm a terrorist...

S'porean Wasp?

Last night i went for the second of three weddings i was invited for over the course of this week. This one was somewhat different since it was not a CF but rather an army affair. One of the fellow specs from my platoon in unit, to be exact. I got to see several people (including the groom, actually) for the first time since ord, which was quite cool. Apparently i look way different from a mere three years ago, since Hong Lee (the groom) gave me a weird stare and thought i was an intruder when i said hi initially, took him a couple of secs to realize who i actually was, which was quite farny...

The wedding itself was a great experience for me. For starters, it was the first non-Christian wedding i recall ever attending, so i found things quite different and unfamiliar. Furthermore, after three long years i was suddenly thrust back into a generally local mandarin/dialect speaking environment - apart from David, another spec at the table, everyone else was far more comfortable talking in the aforementioned languages. It made me recall how much people last time had to accommodate me language wise, since it was only then that i realized that the majority of Singapore does not speak English as the first language of choice, and therefore only then that i made a conscious attempt to try and better my command of Chinese languages (to little success, might i add)... Yeah so all in all it made me realize that my social circles still largely are of the Christian, English-speaking variety, which gave (and still is giving) me a lot to think about... (but then again, i'm not exactly of the elite, uncaring face variety so maybe that's a step in the right direction...)

Added to that was a simple question that Derrick, another spec, asked me while he was giving me a ride home. He asked me something to the effect of "eh Matthew, i noticed something. How come last time you never invited us to church?" Oh boy and if i could just describe the sheer impact of the figurative tonne of bricks that fell on me when he asked that... I didn't even know how to answer him.

Yup, a short three years ago i really was a totally bochap Christian who would not even consider inviting anyone to come to church. My involvement in spreading the Gospel at that time was strictly limited to the (and i hate this term) 'lifestyle' school. But then again people may have known i was a Christian then, but upon closer examination the 'Christian' nature of my lifestyle then came into serious question... A poor testimony. Something i'm definitely regretful about till today. Anyways, things may have changed somewhat since then, but still, i'm not too sure about inviting people down. The importance of sincerity, intentionality, and a Christlike love in so doing is really ringing across my mind now, three things sorely lacking in then. Yup anyways that was a very timely God-given wake-up call for me i must say...

It turns out that Bingo's little fit yesterday was not a once-off, as today the same thing happened yet again, albeit not as seriously as it did the first time. I'm starting to have serious doubts about his level of health, but as i've said previously, we'll just see what happens...

Packing has been going pretty well - today i doubled the amount i've packed. But then again, that equals to filling up the other half of the small box of files i started with like two weeks ago... At least i've more time to pack, since i just received word that we only can move in from the 15th onwards, which gives me one more week to settle stuff.

Think i've decided to forgo catching pirates 3, owing to both bad reviews and laziness... Well, i'm sure if and when pirates 4 comes out channel 5 will trot pirates 3 out as it's latest tv premiere blockbuster... So that still leaves me with only one movie caught this year... Heh.

Am starting to narrow down possible destinations for trip. Parents are going to HK, which i've chosen to avoid like the plague, so no go for that. Phuket/Khao Lak is a big possibility, but even if i go for that i've still some expiring miles that need to be used. Maybe Manila is an option... Ah well. A positive dilemma, i call it, so can't complain...

Talking to myself and feeling old...

Yet another rainy day today, and my sentiments semi-echo that of The Carpenters who once sang that "rainy days and Mondays always get me down." Given the current weather trends which are likely to result in another rainy day tomorrow i may just end up double-down as a result of it being both rainy and a Monday... And come to think of it the only rainy days i ever liked were whenever they signalled the cancelling of outdoor pe lessons or army training of some form or other. Think it's pretty ironic how last time i was hoping for rain to keep me out of going outdoors for exercise and now i'm hoping against rain so that i'll be able to go outdoors for exercise - i'm never satisfied, am i...

Have not done any work at all over this weekend. Not much to do for starters, but ah well i was never in the mood for the little that i did have in any case. Guess while i can still afford to do so it's not too bad. I don't even recall what i did yesterday since it probably amounted to nothing much apart from reading Asterix in Belgium (which i've had with me since primary school but never got around to reading until yesterday) and going to my jc classmate Sze-Li's house in the boondocks of Marsiling for a housewarming kinda thingy, where many an old classmate was wondering who was the long-haired dude who crashed the gathering. Enjoyed myself there for sure though - always like reunions of most varieties - met one of my classmates whom i last saw in December 2001 so that was nice...

In the latest chapter of my housing saga it turns out that the Novena apartment is no longer an option which means we're back to the no-idea-where-to-move-to state of affairs which of course continues to bother me to no end. I must admit, however, that i was relieved and even slightly happy to hear that Novena was out of the picture, although the prospect of having no idea where we are moving to isn't much better i would say...

As is often the case, once i open my mouth, the situation changes drastically - this time after celebrating the Tar Heels being ranked #1, they went ahead to lose to the Hokies - i should just learn to keep my mouth shut - for more reasons than this alone...

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 =)

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!

"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...

Football's fine, soccer stinks

Finally since i've come back from the weekend i'm able to relax somewhat - with the two assignments (which turned out to be much less of a hassle than i had imagined it to be at the beginning of the weekend) all done and submitted, and only one small thingy left to do for friday - after which that's it for the week =) Of course, the work never ends and i've lots of stuff to prepare for my toughest class, which is a weekly three-hour-straight seminar on gender and welfare every monday, but still the immediate horizon is clear and that's all i care about for now, though thankfully the procrastinator mode that perennially plagues me in S'pore seems to have taken a vacation of its own, so thing will be able to get myself to get started on the monday work (fairly) early...

Speaking of my weekend assignments, one of them was to read (or more accurately in my case, re-read the first half and finally get down to reading the second half) Orwell's 1984 and then write a character-based response to it. I guess i'll soon enjoy the fact that here a lot of the readings are unconventional by the standards that i've been used to, in that there's a lot of fiction to read too, rather than just sleep-inducing academic stuff. For now, though, i'm still far more used to reading sleep-inducing academic stuff than fiction (i almost never read fiction), but i'm sure i'll enjoy the fiction stuff too eventually...

Oh, but i digress. My point was that right after completing the book [just in time to meet the deadline to return the book to the used book store on Franklin for a full refund (i already have one at home - remember, this is a poor international student typing this here)] and typing out the assignment, i logged on to facebook to find out that they've installed this new feature which is really freaky and weird, in that basically all your contacts' actions on facebook are now neatly listed in front of you when you log in, even all the stuff that does not concern you in the slightest, like "so-and-so is now friends with so-and-so-whom-you-do-not-know" or "so-and-so no longer likes to listen to Michael Jackson (who can blame him)" or other trivial stuff like that. Well, i have not encountered a single person who's for this new invasion-of-privacy program, which to me is really freakily Orwellian in nature, especially after just having read the book. It's such a big issue here (since practically every college student here uses it) that it's made the news, both on the paper as well as online, and is also a hot topic of pre-class discussion now.

So anyway, saturday saw me going for my first-ever football game. It was a very interesting experience - not just the game itself, but the whole atmosphere of the game was just great. Where the game was concerned, i underwent a crash course in how the game works, so that by the end of the game i became really bummed when Rutgers intercepted the ball for the second time - thus ending any chance of a UNC victory. At least when i go for my next game (more on that later) i won't be like clueless anymore, so that's a start i guess...

But it was not just the game per se - the whole atmosphere was just great. One thing i really dig about UNC is the degree of school spirit that they have - it kind of reminds me of AC days - particularly the annual rugby final which used to always be AC vs RJ (kinda like UNC vs Duke) - the enthusiastic spectators with their often too-colourful language, the cheering, the colour-coordination and the like. I genuinely felt involved in the whole thingy, though i've only been here for like less than three weeks - now this would NEVER EVER happen in nus (i wouldn't even go and buy an nus shirt), that i'm absolutely sure of...

The only sad part of the match was that i left my nalgene in the stadium after the match, and when i remembered it and went back in to get it all of five minutes later, someone else had already taken it. So sad... Ah well, the silver lining is that this provides me with the perfect excuse to buy a new nalgene with the UNC logo emblazoned on it...

After the match, had a quick dinner before heading off to Charlotte for the rest of the weekend. Went with Jon and Alex, and Greg drove us there and lodged us at his house. Now, the first time i ever heard of Charlotte was a looong time ago when i watched wrestling and they would introduce Ric Flair as hailing from Charlotte, North Carolina. Then after that i heard about the Hornets, and then the Bobcats. Yup that's basically all i knew about this city.

Although it is hardly the most interesting of places, we all still had a really great time there, to just relax, explore uptown Charlotte, visit the Discovery Place, and take in the sights and sounds of Matthews Alive, an annual Labor Day fair held at Matthews, a town right outside Charlotte near where Greg lives. Of course with your truly being a namesake of the town, it was inevitable that i'd have a field day taking snapshots of myself at strategic places with my name proudly etched on them. Talk about a cheap thrill heh... But anyway it definitely was a weekend well spent - and i'm very thankful for the hospitality of Greg and his family =)

Came back to school again - which is pretty uneventful as usual, maybe the only noteworthy thing that happened was that i went for my first-ever soccer match just now (as you'll probably know, i hate the sport) between UNC and NC State. I was willing to give soccer a chance since it was a UNC game after all... Admittedly however, i just could not tahan watching the full match and left at half time. It's just not my thing - though how i could last through three hours worth of football but can't even last through 45 minutes of soccer is beyond me.

Oh, and this morning woke up really early to head down to the Dean Dome (where the basketball team plays) to get into the line for the remainder of the UNC-Virginia Tech football game tickets. Went together with Clement, Jon and Sarah-Jane - we got to the place just before 7am (tickets were released only at eight) - needless to say we got the tickets, so i'll be off to football again this upcoming saturday... Should be great fun again, though from what i hear, i don't fancy our prospects...

I'm feeling too lazy to post the pictures here as well, but you can easily see them on the pics link there =======> Captions and descriptions coming soon...

Bojangles breakfast and beach bumming

Well, i've certainly been settling in fairly nicely so far, contagious diseases aside =p. The first three days have gone by fairly uneventfully, with the most significant stuff being that by God's grace i was able to get all my courses in the end. Of course that also means that i have quite a demanding semester ahead studies wise, cos my core courses especially (but the other two also) require quite a bit of reading and other stuff that is rather leceh by my standards (though for me practically any work is very leceh to begin with - it is really only by the grace of God that i get through each sem ( with this one definitely not being any exception).

To make matters more complicated, there also is involvement outside academic matters per se to bear in mind - involvement in IV or other Christian stuff, non-academic school-related stuff [on a whim (and a prayer) i auditioned for and ended up in a choir here - which i am quite excited about, though not about the added hours though], just plain slacking =p, and travel, which i really want to do a lot of, though with the limited time at hand i dunno what's possible (methinks i shall have to be more buay pai seh with respect to tompang other people's cars to wherever they may want to go...).

But anyhoos, yesterday and today involved getting involved in various activities organized by various Christian groups catering to new/international students. The whole way that things are done here is definitely something that i can take away lots from, with regards to the organization and the heart behind it. Of course there's still a long way to go (contagious diseases aside) so basically think that even apart from academics there's still a lot to learn...

Yesterday's activities consisted of an international students' welcome dinner by IV international, followed by bowling at the student union (yes, there's a fairly large bowling alley in school - which is really cool save for the fact that this is the first alley i've been to where you still have to write down the score on a piece of paper yourself) and dessert at Cold Stone Creamery (more ice cream, more good stuff). Now that's a lot of stuff for one evening alone - and i'll say it again, to have the tables turned, so to speak, where i'm now in the position of a blur new student who is quite unaware of what's really going on, and threfore in need of lots of guidance in part provided by helpful folk such as these, is a very humbling learning experience.

Today was really exciting - through the first (of many) ice cream social that i went for we (most of the NUS folk) signed up for a day trip to the beach - specifically Wrightsville Beach, just outside of Wilmington, NC (where they film Dawson's Creek and One Tree Hill - not that this matters anything at all to me - just a random fact) - a good three hours' drive away from Chapel Hill. Although it basically took up our whole saturday, it was definitely worth it.

After never having ever eaten it, and on the positive recommendations of several of the local UNC people here, i ate food from Bojangles twice today, as there's one at practically every I-40 pit stop between Chapel Hill and Wilmington, and therefore it's a logical choice for food - be it for breakfast on the way to the beach, or for dinner coming back from the beach. It definitely lived up to the positive reviews that i've heard, and i guess i'm glad that there isn't one too nearby where i stay, or i may be too frequent a customer there to the extent that i may put on too many pounds (cos whatever the food is, one thing that it certainly ain't is healthy).

And what blog post of mine would be complete without a matt-and-his-hopeless-mandarin story? This time what happened was that i was seated shotgun in the not-so-mini-van thingy that we sat to the beach and back, and one of the organizers, who also happened to be the driver; Chad, happened to be able to speak Mandarin (and he's a white American). So he was asking me some questions about Singapore in Mandarin, and i didn't know how to reply in the same language so i had to drop out and answer him in English instead - soooo paiseh i tell you...

Just experiencing the beach - which by far is the best beach i've ever been to (though i can only ever recall going to beaches in Singapore and a random few in Malaysia so that isn't much really - oh maybe Waikiki was better, but much more crowded and commercialized) was great in itself. God blessed us with perfect weather for a day out on the beach - sunny but not oppressive. There was more than enough space to just spread out a groundsheet and lie down and bake in the sun. The water was really salty, but was blue in colour (unlike much of the coastal water we get in S'pore - and as a former boat spec, think you cantake my word for it) and just the right temperature. Also, unlike the dirty sea water in S'pore, the water here did not dry leaving a sticky feeling all over, which makes me wonder (but not want to know) what extra additives (or more specifically, pollutants) are located inside S'porean sea water hmm... The waves were strong enough for us to ride them for quite a distance, yet not overpowering to the extent that we were dragged out. And of course, the people met and conversations had throughout the course of today (as well as whatever other events that i've attended) are just sweet. Aiyah, so basically it was great lah - i just hope that i'm not too burnt after today.

For beach and other pics, as usual click on "US PICS" over there =======>

That poster ain't for free, the best is yet to be...

Am slacking at home now because the ippt of two days ago is still taking its toll on my body, which now is aching all over. Anyway since it's finally over there's no real need to exercise right now i suppose - so that means that i can do more bo liao stuff like experiment with the digicam that i finally got for the immediate purpose of taking photos in the States - and being the kind who has no clue on how to operate such sophisticated technologically-advanced devices, it took me all of half-an-hour just to get everything set up and take the first photo - not exactly the power shot that Maria Sharapova promises every shot will be like, but it will do i suppose...


And btw i am not that crazy about the school lah [in fact, when it was announced during morning assembly in my attachment school a few days ago that they had beaten ACS (I) in hockey with the score being something to the effect of 13-0, i clapped and cheered as loud as anyone else there (but of course if we were talking about Barker now that would be a different story...)]. I only pasted that on my door because my father paid at least $10 (if not $15-20) for it many years ago at an AC Founder's Day dinner, and i am not about to let that $ go to waste by seeing the rolled-up poster collecting dust in some corner of the house...

And also as you can see, my expressed aim to clear up and rearrange my room many months ago has still not achieved anything close to fruition yet - til next year then...

Allow me to wax philosophical

Ok first a couple of pics from the wedding of my JC teacher on Saturday - unfortunately some problems with uploading the picture of the happy couple themselves but anyway here's my class people who turned up...



Well, before i knew it, the thirteen days of school attachment have drawn to a close - so long to waking up at five thirty every morning, wearing on a daily basis the type of clothes that this year i have otherwise only worn at wedding dinners, feeling hungry enough to on occasion eat three meals within three hours, and of course having to adopt an entirely different persona so as not to appear as a total goofball in front of the boys.

Yup but in spite of all these minor inconveniences, i've come to appreciate the time that i've spent there - at the start before the first day i was like super sian, yet today as i left the school for the last time i lamented to the others, as we all did to one another too; that this whole thingy passed really fast, and that in the end we're not exactly the happiest of people to have completed our last day there.

Of course it helps that the school was on a whole very hospitable towards us (a few hiccups and arrows shot our way notwithstanding), and that the four of us were similarly able to get along well with one another. A lot of the staff, including many of the higher-ups are extremely friendly folk, and i both respect and have learnt quite a bit from them. While not every experience with them may be a pleasant one, but still overall it was good to get a much better picture as to what teaching is like, and what i have gotten myself into at least from graduation all the way to 2013 (gasp!).

One thing that i also appreciate about this attachment was the fact that it was my first experience in a secular (i.e. non-Christian) formal school environment since primary school, where seriously, i was too young to know what was going on. No chapels once a week, nor any devotions read every morning, or even an identifiable group of Christians meeting together. It reached a stage when i was heartened even to see a teacher wearing a cross pendant, or sticking Bible verses in his or her cubicle.

Yup, this has made me thankful and more appreciative for stuff like that when i was in AC (not to say that the 'Christian' environment there was always an immaculate one - but that's another story for another day...). And it also reminded me of what the message at FOC was talking about - how do we reflect our faith to the glory of God in whatever environment we are placed in? Well, to me the secular school environment is a better representation of the so-called real world of the education system here, especially in this school, where the racial profile of the country was much more accurately represented by the makeup of the student population than in AC or even NUS. So how identifiable are we as Christians when placed in such an environment - especially when as a teacher the chance to influence others is perhaps greater, while having to bear in mind the need to be mindful of the limitations that are in place? While i was in the school, i felt a semblance of a burden especially for some of the pre-believer staff, and even my fellow attached personnel (not so much with the boys because of my limited interactions with them)l - and the Lord was reminding me to pray about how to in any possible way show His love to them (and to do so in love too, and not out of obligation)... In this short period well not much was achieved so to speak, but i'm thankful for the Lord reminding me of this - something to pray about... (and i could go on and on, but of course it would take forever...)

One Hundred and Fifty-Seven Days

That's how long i'll be away for, according to the mindef online overseas trip notification service - hmm it certainly seems much longer in days rather than in months - ah well...

How apt to get a reminder in the mail to do this notification just in time before i leave - or i wouldn't have done so at all (i am positive that the last time i tried to do so - which was for the MEET trip, the website clearly said that i didn't need to as long as it was less than six months - so i didn't - oh well, i was only following orders), and risk some unpleasant surprise upon my return...

Another possible unpleasant surprise that may await upon my return is rt in the event that the higher-ups really care that i don't clear ippt, if indeed i don't clear it on thursday - it's just too bad i have no physically fit identical twin brother at hand to help me out here...

In a follow-up from yesterday's post - i did sleep at ten, and finally got up only at eight thirty am - boy was that a much needed rest - i think that i can honestly say that this is the longest i have slept continuously at least for this year (recalling bmt days - PC: "Has everyone had seven hours of uninterrupted sleep?" moi: "Yes Sir!!!") - just too bad that such a schedule cannot be kept up for the next week...

can't come up with a decent title

Went for a wedding today - that of my JC class teacher Mr Koh, at KKMC. Realised that over the course of the month before i leave i'd have had reunions of sorts with classmates from primary school, secondary school and JC. All that's left is for Ascension Kindergarten to organize a Class of '89 reunion (like that would ever happen heh). But back to my point - it's good to finally see him settle down after so long - wonderful how God's appointment was clearly evident in how they met... Also had the usual "oh, i haven't seen you in soooo long!" moments with teachers, and also saw other familiar faces too.

After that it was time to head down to school for anniversary celebrations where i was more or less just a flower vase (hua ping) save for the occasional smile to a guest or a token hand gesture directing them towards their seats. The school really put in a lot of effort - reminded me quite a bit of AC Founders' Day celebrations - though think that since this time i see things from a different perspective, i really appreciate all the effort that goes into such celebrations, unlike last time when these things were very much just touch-and-go - which is why i am not one for organizing gatherings/parties etc... The highlight of my day? Maybe it was getting to shake the hand of the oompa loompa lookalike - he was the guest of honour - he's a really affable guy - was just being my flower vase self in one corner, together with a fellow attached personnel - and when he passed us he even stretched out his hand first to greet us... Considering the sheer number of hands he has to shake at any public appearance, i thought that he'd be totally sian about it... Must give him kudos for that...

Due to this school job, i have had to resort to taking a cab three times within one short week - on tuesday i took one back to school from the embassy cos i didn't want to be late, then today i took one to the church cos i figured in the oppressive heat i didn't want to be walking in the sun to the bus stop and then to the church wearing a thick long-sleeved shirt which i needed to wear for the subsequent anniversary celebrations cos i knew that i'd soak it in sweat if i did, and then lastly after the service when i had to rush down again to school in order not to be late... Think in total it's cost me almost $30 - and i wonder, why does it seem to hurt my pocket so much when i have to change bus and threfore pay more for bus fare, but i don't even bat an eyelid whenever i have to pay the cab fare?

From this point onwards till i fly off i realise that i'll have an extremely packed schedule ahead - with school stuff, final sep preperations, worship practice and worship itself (of which i am still very much in the initial prayer stage of planning), saying last goodbyes to people (and there still are more that i want to arrange), preparing for and (in faith) clearing ippt, and then some... And it's guaranteed to tire me out - i mean already now as i type this i have almost no energy left and hence have decided to go to sleep once i post this - sleeping at ten - almost unheard of...

So i shall sleep now - nitey...

Wah, sir must be very boring...

No, i did not overhear the boys say that, but i suppose that was definitely the impression that they must have gotten when i took over their class today. Why? Well here's a sample of the dialogue that went on during the class today.

Boy A: "Sir, do you play dota?" (and he asked this twice btw)
moi: "No."
Boy B: "Sir, then what online games do you play?"
moi: "Erm, none."
Boy C: "Sir, then what's your hotmail contact, erm, i mean msn?"
moi: "Sorry, i don't have one."
Boy C: "Wah sir so low tech one ah? *chuckles*
moi: ...
Boy D: "Sir then do you like sports?"
moi: "Not really..."
Boy B: "Sir, got girlfriend or not?"
moi: *shakes head*

(and so to elaborate on my response to Ade's question on the tagboard there ------->, one step at a time lah - not even attached, then think about possibly pesky children for what? And come to think of it, no, i don't want to have kids - cos i ain't no billy goat =p)

Anyway, this was a sec one class, the first one that i've taken - and i tell you - it's boys like this which remind me why i get irritated by children so easily. Of course, they're already thirteen this year - but at least some of their actions today didn't correspond with their supposed age. Suffice to say that i've never shouted so much in a class in my life as i did during this class (though to be fair to them, that was only my fourth out of four classes), to the extent that whenever they were making unnecessary noise and one particular boy saw me inhaling deeply, he would go: "wah, going to explode again!" then he and certain other boys would cover their ears... Was just thinking, since it was in school and not say, in an army camp, the good old "whole lot knock it down!!!", which was always my last line of defence with my men last time (though said in a strange tone cos my attempted fierceness always can never make it one...), would only land me in hot water... By the end of the class i had given up on shouting for fear of aiding the growth of throat polyps so i just wrote a note on the board - something to the effect of "you don't keep quiet for three minutes and you can stay back with me after the dismissal bell rings" - worked like a charm =)

Well, i could get extremely irritated by them and be extremely thankful that when i do finally teach for real chances are i won't kena sec ones again, but then i realised that all of ten years ago my sec one class (full of playful young boys as was this one ten years on) did all sorts of horrible things (which i can honestly say i played but a minimal part in) - what takes the cake of course was how some of the boys succeeded in delivering a mild but dramatic electric shock to our old lao shi (back in the days when i still was xue-ing hua yu - which meant i couldn't stand her as much as any other of the boys), dramatic because it resulted in a big flash of light and a loud boom, and also threw back the poor lao shi a few metres (but she was still standing) and made her hair even frizzier than it already way. I dunno if this incident played a part in her hasty departure from the school only six months after she had become our teacher (but in the defence of our class, she actually said that she liked our class when compared to the other sec one classes that she taught - i'll leave it to your imagination as to what they did to her...)

Ah, but pesky sec one boys aside (need lots of grace for that one) actually am beginning to see myself a bit comfortable in the shoes of a teacher - was rather enjoying explaining to a sec three class (whether they actually were interested i dunno though) more about the origins of the Malayan Emergency of 1948-1960, so much so that i ran out of time only having covered but bits of what i wanted to cover - gosh i feel like such a history geek...

In other news, went for another mega run today of 51:40 minutes at ecp again, then went to try pull-ups again and finally reached my (puny but realistic) target of six - which is the minimum needed to pass - laid my mind to rest quite a bit - though am not out of the woods yet... Over the past few times that i've been running (sparked by a train of conversation at Jasmine's sacred-secular divide workshop at FOC regarding how running could become a so-called sacred activity by praying while doing it), i've been trying just that to very limited success (have had better productivity when swimming or cycling) - but today went on fairly okay, less disruptions than usual...

Was subject to S'pore Idol torture just now cos my mother was watching it while i was eating - practically everyone i heard was really flat -terok sia...

Je suis très fatigué

(by the way, a French-titled blog post titles indicate utter sian-ness on my part)

I've been very physically and mentally tired over the past few days for some strange and unexplainable reason(s). Perhaps part of it had to do with the rollover effect of having too little sleep last week because of school. Averaging five hours a night is seriously not the brightest of ideas... That aside think that the pace in school also has picked up over the last couple of days, with projects to prepare and present and classes to supervise, definitely more so than last week.
The net effect has been to leave me falling asleep for practically the whole afternoon on Sunday, as well as most of yesterday once i got back home as well, in lieu of the original intention of ippt prep of some kind on both days, though think that if i had done that instead, i'd be even more dead beat now so i suppose in the larger scheme of things it's ok - everything in moderation...

Today marked the first time i got to handle a class - two in fact - though it was only to administer a test and then to screen a WWII-related film. Had to try and appear more serious though, even though today's classes did not entail that much effort on my part. Didn't help that i was feeling a little tired, having gone in the morning to the embassy to settle some visa stuff (which thankfully is near it's rightful completion), but in the end everything went alright. Ooh, did i mention that to spend so much time in the staff room, behind the scenes so to speak, is a very amusing experience indeed - i hadn't a clue as to what i was missing on the other side of the staff room door all that while...

Then originally i again had the intention of going for a run after school, but decided to tag along with some cf folk to catch Pirates 2 (and just for the record i can't for the life of me figure out what made me decide to watch Pirates 1 as a midnight show on the eve of army half marathon three years ago - sleeping all of two or so hours and eventually waking up the next day after the tortuous, cramp-filled run practically bedridden due to the pain). Wasn't the best of shows, i thought, and well, come to think of it i didn't really care much for the ride at Disneyland either... Went more for the fellowship (especially since i won't be seeing these people for a whole five months really soon) than for the movie, cos i could do without watching it since the first one didn't exactly knock my socks off. Was still rather tired though, so so much for the fellowship - since too tired (and consequently, moody) to talk much. Also meant that i probably couldn't appreciate the movie for what it was worth (though that was mainly the funny antics of Johnny Depp). But overall still ok lah (though i got pretty turned off by the abundance of seafood in the movie - almost to the point of nausea - yuck)...

So have decided to try and sleep a little more tonight - another long day ahead tomorrow - the fact that this tiring life will be over in a week, and that i am leaving in almost two weeks (plus a few hours) is just plain surreal - yes so surreal that i shall only ponder over it in my sleep... Nite folks...