Today was the dreaded linear algebra II paper. i know i probably screwed up pretty bad, but somehow, i don't feel upset at all, like i do with other modules sometimes. In fact i feel very at ease, happy, and well-driven to study well for the other modules. Maybe because the big bad hurdle is out of the way, and i don't have any more dreaded modules to take care of. Or perhaps because, having obtained a C+ for linear algebra I, my expectations for this module are minuscule. There's some saying, the higher the expectation, the greater the disappointment ain't it. For now its the lower the expectation, the lesser the disappointment. On to other modules, wooz!

me at 4:54 PM

So this is it: the dreaded exams start tomorrow. A Chinese proverb comes to mind, which loosely translates to: One minute of performance on stage, 10 years of practice off stage. For NUS exams, its 2 hours paper, roughly 20 days of stress and tiredness. Oh well. Anyway, on the day before a paper, I always feel that theres no point revising anymore, and whatever grade im gonna get is actually already 'predetermined' the moment i signed up for the module; Maths modules: boo grades, other non-maths modules, better grades, which has been quite the case for the past few semesters. Let's see if the pattern continues this semester...

Hopefully results this semester will be better than the *ouch* results last semester, especially with the boost given by Chelsea's great on-field results of late... Wooz!

Finally, there's certainly no 'better' way to start the exam stretch than with... a Maths paper. Yes, the potential demoralizer. Whats more, the paper has a timing that requires me to wake up at 6+ a.m. , something which i haven't done since... erm, the exams last semester. Boo.

me at 5:07 PM

Chelsea beat Manchester United 2-1!!! Wooz! Following the nice 1-1 draw with Liverpool in mid-week, Chelsea seems to be going through a great patch recently... And given that my fortunes vary consistently with Chelsea results... I'm so motivated to do well for my exams!!!

Anyway, this soccer season is certainly heading towards an exciting finale. Chelsea are now level on points with Manchester United, the relegation battle is heating up, and the automatic promoters from the Championship have yet to be decided. Over in Italy, Juventus is very close to returning to the elite Champions League after their relegation last season, while AC Milan is desperately snapping at their heels. In the Primera Liga, Barcelona is slowly but surely losing in their fight to win the title, even surrendering second place to Villarreal. PSG, one of the best supported clubs in France, is still mired in a relegation dogfight. And theres so many other league happenings... Wooz, so glad to be a soccer fan!!!

me at 10:11 PM

Wooz! Chelsea gained a precious away goal in the 1-1 draw at Anfield, albeit through an away goal. This is turning up to be a really crucial week for Chelsea, with the 'title-decider' with Manchester Utd on the weekend (mathematically still possible for Chelsea to clinch the title, but theoretically no way), and round 2 with Liverpool next week. Go Chelsea!!!

me at 11:53 AM

Seems like i have got a little happening at the wrong time... following yesterday's weeding solemnization, forbidden kingdom was up today.

Basically, this movie was more un-forbidden than forbidden. The story seems more like a fairy tale / dream sequence, featuring a mish-mash of characters from chinese folklore. Bilingual heroes, jokes based on word play, pretty faces all contribute to a nicey film. Action sequences were great (of course, with the double-J combination renowned choreographer Yuen Wo Ping, things can't go wrong). Pleasing the fans further was a big time one-on-one fight between the J masters. In all, a great popcorn film, but not a legendary film one would expect, given the J-J pairing.

me at 8:54 PM

Went to a little solemnization ceremony, of a primary school friend. Didn't really get the chance and time to whip out my camera for photo taking, but well it was a nice experience. May the bride and groom enjoy everlasting love!

me at 11:36 PM

looking back at this semester... is really a complete upside down of last semester. Results last semester were the worst yet, and i was besieged with so many personal problems. This semester, results seem promising, and hopefully will be better than the previous semester. After 3 semesters, i finally touched upon a relevant, applicable, working-world module :insurance and annuities. Another statistics module, survey methodlogy, was fairly interesting too, especially with a nice and 'cute' lecturer. And yes, every semester i have faced a 'killer' module, this semester being linear algebra II. Biology, which im taking for the 1st time ever, was certainly an insightful and fun module, learning about so diverse topics, ranging from DNA, plants, and animals, to systematics, ecology and evolution, where we also touched upon Darwin's theory of evolution. All the topics were really interesting and informative! Also got to meet and know so many friends this semester, and didn't experience any significant personal problems this semester. And of course, Bahasa Indonesia.

So here we have it, Bahasa Indonesia, which is rather similar to Malay. This module really deserves special mention. I took this module because.... well being a Singaporean, it would be really beneficial to learn Malay won't it. Having taken Japanese language previously, i knew language classes wouldn't disappoint. And it absolutely didn't. Highly interactive classes allowed me to mingle with so many people, especially pretty gals, hehe. A big concert-project which involved the whole student cohort (where i joined the logistics team) was more fun and interesting than i expected to be. More importantly, two primary school friend spotted me in this module, and i have seen reestablished contact with at least 6 of them (with many planned outings coming up soon). Well, despite earlier rantings about my screwed up oral test, i still found this module to be a very enjoyable one. The disastrous oral test... i'll just say that it was a pity that the module was superb, right up to the last 2 mins, where i messed up my oral test. haha.

me at 9:11 PM

Chelsea beat Everton 1-0 to remain in the title race, at least mathematically. So the uncanniness continues, with the three days between Chelsea's 1-1 Wigan draw and this win being a nasty period. And the change in fortune came today abruptly. Felt pretty good today (ok, maybe cos its the last day of the semester). After sch i went to my former workplace (during the last 3-month break, at Sengkang Compasspoint). Had such a happy time bantering with the full-time staff there (both Malays) in Malay. It was laughters galore as we conversed, especially with me blurting out incomplete and random stuff. Haha. Ok truthfully, despite my mad rantings yesterday, I still enjoyed Bahasa Indonesia (very similar to Malay) throughly (ok, right up to the last 2 mins of the module). More on that tomorrow.

me at 11:25 PM

... from my dreadful experience today, screwing up an oral test. Im glad i have this blog where i can rant and complain, albeit only to a virtual cyberspace.

The oral test for my language consisted of a pair work and individual component. Pair work... well i didn't exactly do a great job but it was, i guess, at least an average performance.

Then came the individual component. Three faced-down topics on the table. Pick one. Reveal. Talk about 'my favourite clothes'. Given a few seconds to ponder, then 2 mins to fire away. Heck, i would have had a bit of difficulty conversing about this topic in English/Chinese. In another language? Basically just screwness. i blurted out irrelevant stuff, struggled to recall names of clothes, and at one point even thought i caught a glimpse of the invigilator frowning (coz i was going wayyy off topic, i believe). Adding a big spoonful of salt to the wound was the fact that my partner picked a topic 'library in singapore', which is considered one of the 'routine' and easier topics. I guess that was bad luck-maximum. So there i have it, one of the most devastating 2 mins i've ever faced.

On the way home, the journey felt so damn long. I felt angry (to the point that if anyone provoked me in the slightest way, i might have backlashed that person physically), sad, wasted, well simply a multitude of emotions.

But coming home, chatting on msn to another friend made me feel so much better. I mean, his oral topic was arguably tougher (talk about your language class). Then he told me about another friend, who met with a disastrous project group for another module, and faced big bad difficulties.

So the lesson learned today: If u think you've had it worst, look around you, and realize how fortunate you already are.

End of super long rantings.

me at 8:37 PM

I didn't drink, I didn't stay out late, but today I feel like I was having a really big ,bad hangover. Sleepy and groggy throughout the day, not wanting to do anything, in fact not even slacking, basically just doing nothing. Perhaps its the lack of sleep. Or its an extended version of the disorientation I experienced yesterday. I had already planned out what to study for these few days last week, but as of now I still haven't done anything useful. Haiz.

me at 4:16 PM

One of the first things I did this morning was to check the Chelsea-Wigan result, which turned out to be a 1-1 draw. Duh. There goes any hope of winning the EPL title. Then i realized that, given my fortunes have been varying consistently with Chelsea results (im not being superstitious here, but its really uncanny), today won't be a good day. And it turned out to be the case.

First was the long-awaited language test. I couldn't find the answers I needed quick enough, was jumping from qns to qns all over the place, and whole process was just so disorganized. After the test, I was just still feeling bad, somewhat. As my friend put it, this is the feeling of 'disorientation'.

Then was another anticipated, primary sch friends reunion dinner. I was kinda subdued throughout the whole meeting, actually starting to stare into space at one point. Ouch. Seemed that the 'disorientation' had carried over.

Anyway heres a photo:



Speaking of which, one of them is actually getting married soon, two of them are holding jobs. Man, I feel like a kid in an adult world. But it was really nice to meet up with friends from so long ago!

me at 11:59 PM

I really recommend everyone, anyone out there to catch the series 'I shouldn't be alive' on arts central, Fridays, 10pm. Yes, this series was already aired some time back on cable, but... well all i can say is this series is absolutely phenomenal. I've seen 3 episodes so far (man captured by guerrillas, man crashed landed in wildlife area, man trapped under boulder). So as u can see, the series revolves around people caught in really deadly situations, and how they survived. And you really do feel for the survivors; how they landed themselves in the unfortunate predicament, and most importantly how they survived. It can really can drive people to the brink of tears when tears well up in the survivors' eyes as they narrate their moment of rescue. Each time i've caught an episodes, i experience to a floodgate of emotions... So please, catch the series!!!

me at 11:57 PM

Yes! Wooz! Yippie! Chelsea has made it to the semi-finals of the champions league for the third time in 4 years. Alas, it is also the 3rd time in 4 years that they will be coming up against Liverpool. Third time lucky, Chelsea! And seeing that my academic results and school life this semester have been varying consistently with Chelsea's on-field results, it just might bode well for my upcoming exams...

However it was an anxious wait for me; this morning I had to go out, and only about 0.5 hour after leaving home, that i realized i hadn't checked the score of the matches played a few hours ago. I didn't want to ruin the surprise by asking any friend, and since online access on my mobile was somewhat negated after it was sent for servicing, i snooped around the newspapers, but all didn't carry the match result. Until, on the way home, I saw someone holding what was presumably the afternoon edition of the Today paper... So i waited with bated breath as the person flipped open the front page... 1st headline was Liverpool beating Arsenal in a 6-goal thriller, but i was struggling to see the Chelsea result... until i finally saw something about Ballack helping put Chelsea on a collision course with Liverpool, meaning... Woohoo!!!

me at 3:45 PM

Finally, a chance to add some pics to my otherwise increasing-boring blog:

A biology assignment required us to visit the Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research. Well, i haven't been to a museum since... wait, i think i haven't really been to a museum before. So yea, it certainly piqued my interest. What's more, this museum is in sch!!!

So here goes, some random pics:












me at 8:08 PM

Happy April Fools day! (what else am i supposed to say?)

me at 10:36 PM