PHOTO FRENZY





okay. 5:14pm. i should be getting much-needed sleep right now (if you could just see my swollen eyes), due to extensive work last night and the other night for PR comm, aside from the tremendous pressure caused by the coming midterms, but i decided to blog. i think it's not a very wise decision, but i just have to post some photos before they become stale and moldy and all.



gee, i could be OC pala at times (even if my room, my bed, my notes, my stuff seem to say otherwise).



here here. thanks to my "test post" a few days back, which wayne helped me fix and organize, i can now post lotsa photos without much space.



JUST CLICK ON THE TITLE OR THE BIG PHOTO TO OPEN THE PHOTOS, AND CLICK IT AGAIN TO CLOSE.



methinks there should be some text to accompany the photos, and there will be, but not just now. hehe.

+ "surprise" birthday photos: february 8, 2am

those were taken at around 2am, february 8, after i did an exhausting night-long PR comm task with xiaolong and prashant.

it was a "surprise" party, which i sort of expected. ;)

i even had utensils ready. wahahahaha. it was fun.

tell you more when i'm not too busy.



**

wow. napagod nako dun ah. resize sa photoshop, upload, etc.. haaay. later na lang ung iba ok? study na dapat ko! dinner na muna!

IRKED



i'm irked but i'm okay.

sana di uli kami mag-away ni wayne. i just don't like what he said in his blog.

the one about our sentosa outing last night. ayun, i just had to comment.



tulog na nga muna ako.

i'm okay, don't worry.

dapat sa statistics ko binubuhos ko energy ko.



disclaimer:

this blogger is not initiating a sparring session, verbal or otherwise, with the aforementioned co-blogger.

TEST POST!



this is a test post. i'm trying out stuff how to display lots of photos in a way that they don't consume the whole page. maybe i'm even gonna have a "photo blog" once in a while, so write less and study more. yehey! ;P



testing testing lamang po.

click on the titles to view the photos. to close, click on the title again. ;)

(if too lazy, please just check out the sidebar..:D)



loadsa thanks to wayne for helping me with this. why he helps me? he says he does it

"for the love of html". thanks! =)

+ me

+ kai, my laughing sister

+ fellow titans in singapore: korinna and ibiang

sorry kung recycled ang photos! edit ko pa to uli! i'll post my birthday photos and hall play photos and valentine's day a.k.a. S.A.D. sentosa photos.



there's something wrong with the formatting of the text.

i mean, THIS TEXT I'M TYPING NOW. bigger than normal.

i'll figure it out later. tanungin ko pa si wayne.

for now, i'll go get me some sleep and study stats after! =)

HAPPY S.A.D.!



my pinoy senior nestor's name in msn messenger for today says it's "singles' awareness day".

cool. i thought. tama nga naman.

my dearly-missed friend kirth messaged me just now, we chatted a while, she told me that someone died in UP just this morning due to a riot in the UP fair (which was held since last night until sawa, or about 5am in this case), that she was dateless today but had a kilig time with a guy in the fair too (asus, may date pala talaga), and i told her happy SAD! Singles' Awareness Day! yeheeeey! ;)



my valentine today is my "favorite" (actually i'm still psyching myself up to like it) book, Business Statistics in Practice. woooohooooo! i just love the book. the way it gives me enlightening text a.k.a. "words of wisdom", and of course, the photos and graphs and tables so tenderly presented to squeeze in essential info into my overstuffed brain. i'm even learning a new language just for it: Greek. sigma and mu and rho and alpha and beta! sweeeeet. :)

i've always thought a foreign exotic language was kinda romantic, like french for instance. about greek, i thing my statrs book and i have to "work things out" a little more. ;)



people actually greeted me today, through the wonders of text messaging! i'm so touched and blessed.

a globe handphone person texted me, "happy valentines" at 12:16am,

a singapore person SMSed me, "hapi hapi love and sweets day!!" at 8:02am,

and my terribly-missed friend kristia texted me too:

"i would like to believe that today is our day.:) happy valentine's!:) haha!

hope you're happy and well.:) hug!"



i hope kristia reads my blog today so she'll know she made my day.

i owe her a lot na. sweet girl. surprised me with a friendster testi a few days ago (which also made my day, btw), while i'm all-too-busy to even make her one. sa lahat ng pinagkakautangan ko ng testi, after the midterms, pramis! =)



korinna greeted me last night in the study room a few minutes after 12.

i pray that niel and korinna would conquer distance to keep their almost 4-year flame alive and burnin'! yeheeeeeey! =)

mike greeted me too through yahoo messenger at around 1:30 this morning.

hope he finds his perfect partner.



i hope i find mine too! :D



really, it's all HAPPY SAD.

i told my friends i wanna go to orchard and go to posh cafes and restaurants, or maybe to one of those parks with benches and birds and trees and flowers (many here in singapore).

i wanna be a spectator today (as if i have a choice)! i'll spy on lovey dovey couples who huddle and cuddle, and eavesdrop on their kilig conversations consisting of, really, (sweet) nothing.



happy SAD!

all right, i'm not going to orchard or any park. i'm faithful to my stats book.

if you've read my previous posts, you'll know that i've been wanting to get superdiduper close with my stats book for the looongest time. our relationship will temporarily peak on february 24, actually, specifically at 2pm, when i will answer my stats midterm so damn easily (i hope). but that's not the peak PEAK yet. we will culminate this illicit affair in a hot and sweaty and mind-blowing and body-numbing final exam in april! wooohooo.



shall i wear red today?

my shirt's ready. hmmm.. dunno yet.

maybe that will somehow highlight my "single awareness" and i'm not too sure if that's a good thing.

heck, i don't even know if i'll appreciate seeing happy smiling couples with flowers and cards and all.



but it's a happy day! kirth always says she's "in love with love".





STOP.

blog getting cheesy alert! try again.





as i was saying, happy singles' awareness day.

happy v-day to all the happy couples!

i'm playing "the painter song" by norah jones to let you know my mood for the day.

i wanted to play "don't know why" but my mp3 converter expired already.

tough luck.



anyway, the pinoy singles' here in singapore plan to go to sentosa today!

i really wanna go! but sigh, my stats book is waiting. maybe i'll bring it along (labooo ko tlga), or maybe just borrow the cd-rom from the library. anyway, i hope i fix my schedule now! time's-a-wasting!





may everyday be valentine's day, y'all!

too bad i can't sincerely tell you may everyday be "singles awareness day". hahaha.=P

i know that there are the joys and perks of singlehood and all, but.. um, you know what i mean. :)

THREE AM



funny. was about to sleep when i check my music files just recently finished downloading.



then there it was, and i played it.

a live acoustic version of matchbox twenty's 3am.



"it's three am i must be lonely.."



right. i glance at the clock and it's 3:09am.



sigh. need some sleep.

EXHAUSTED BEYOND BELIEF



1:58am, february 11.



i'm so exhausted i think i'm going bonkers.

i have loads to to do (and blogging shouldn't be one of them but i gotta let this out) and so little time. let me tell you about my day.



tuesday..

sleep-inducing class with lee jin 2-4pm.

borrowed physics book from library for me and korinna.

went home.

wanted to check out the swimming contest at the SRC, but didn't find any good buddy to talk to, so just withdrew money, went back to see the games hadn't started yet, and went home again.

dinner.

relaxed for a few moments but xiaolong messaged to say we had an impromptu task for, what else, my "favorite" PR Comm.

had to read a chunk of chapter 26 for a physics pre-lecture quiz the next day.

struggled to keep awake, slept a while, struggled once more, slept again, until finally, i decided to go out to the E4 lounge to study. went to bed at 3am.





wednesday..(that's today..or yesterday)

woke up at 7:20am, had a half-bath, rushed to the dining hall to take-away chicken and char siew paos and rushed back to my room. got my heavy physics book and calculator, and walked through the shepherd's path near my room towards a shortcut to lecture theatre 26.

physics at 8. screwed up pre-lecture quiz due to tricky tricky questions, and even the chinese scholars, who usually give dr roland su a good applause after every class, didn't feel like clapping today.



went back to room, finished my pr comm task, which was to cut out the outlines of our black template for our heritage week noticeboard using paper cutter, and got myself an hour's sleep.



woke up at 1pm, washed my face, wore my jeans again, and left through the shepherd's path again for my physics lab experiment. had a quick lunch by my lonesome in the science canteen, where the chicken from the "chinese cooked food" stall tasted amazingly similar to the $4 japanese food, which i've been wanting to eat but restrained myself due to budget concerns.



walked a while to the 4th floor lab at 2pm, met up with my fellow bridging course babies, and waited a moment for the non-chinese-looking chinese instructor, who was struggling to speak in english clearly. anyway, i did laser wavelength measurements with dustin, and afterwards, moved on to the grueling task of making a lab report in 2 hours.

korinna was armed with her diskette, dustin and brice with their laptops. they prepared a template of their report beforehand, and it was quite a manageable task.

good ol' joseph sorongon prepared too, by attaching his template and the lab manual (in word document form) to an email to himself. and what did he get? no internet in the lab. tough luck.



so cheerful old joseph didn't want to be upset and depressed and even uglier than he is already, so he tried his best to "up" himself. made a lab report that had tables all over, in the hope that the table galore would make it seem like twas scholarly and intellectual and all that.

he typed like mad for 2 hours, while his fellow bridging kids were buzzing around for differentiation stuff that he had zero knowledge of. so typed on he did, and finally printed the stuff (without any form of differentiation whatsoever) at around 5:35. thank God the lab people were considerate enough to extend. some didn't even finish.



diana was feeling quite depressed, but she remained cheerful.

she says she'll figure out stuff for herself, and that calmed my worries.

had dinner a little past six, while looking around the dining hall for my trusty friend xiaolong.

for what? need i say it? PR comm again, duh.



met him as i was going up to my room, and he said he'll just message me.

i rested for about an hour, until he messaged and i had to bring down to the dining hall/workplace the styro and cutter and cardboard and stuff.



xiaolong, prashant and i were the only three members working tonight, as our good ol' friend pacey quit PR comm as he didn't like how the comm works. (i thought about quitting too, due to the ENORMOUS workload, but was persuaded by my good self to stay.) balaji was nowhere to be found. our publicity boss shi jie was working on a video for the hall, while big boss weikai was in the university cultural centre to prepare for hall play the next day.



so we "cuttered", glued, "scissored", taped, "rulered". that was about it.

perhaps scramble those words over and over again, and repeat about 784 times.



also, i was also scheduled to be among 4 "lucky" members to go to a JC (junior college) on friday the thirteenth to promote our beloved hall. our secretary and other big boss karen called for a meeting at around 10:30, but it had to be moved to a later time since big boss weikai had a meeting again with hall play.



so we went through our styro, black cardboard, tracing paper stuff again for a good hour until finally at around midnight, weikai called us for the meeting.



basically, he told us what to do for the JC visit, what to bring, etc.. i thought i was just supposed to "help out", but it seems that, with only 4 of us going on friday (the thirteenth if i may emphasize), i had quite a workload on my back.



the meeting was over, and prashant had to excuse himself to go to his room and rest.

i realized something good actually: that i had a good work ethic.

xiaolong wasn't done yet with the boards, so i helped him out once more. this time, weikai added some new material, the stuff we were actually gonna post the following day in the univ. cult'l centre. so we rulered, cuttered and glued once again.



at around 1:40pm the loooong ordeal was over.

carrying the almost-finished boards we won't use till next week, sleepy exhausted me walked like a drunkard to the fourth floor of E-block, but not before passing by wayne's room to ask why his lights were still on at this unholy hour, and dropping by tuk's room to greet her a happy happy birthday today february 12.



met my good friend xiaolong again on my floor, waved goodbye to him, met pinoy senior rex, too, who asked if i was okay, to which i answered i was just tired and finally waved goodnight.





now in my room with afzaal sound asleep, i blog to get this all out.



i need sleep. i need energy. so badly.

the way a vampire needs human blood to keep him alive.

i wish there was just some sort of medicine to give me energy that'll keep me up and awake and active anytime i want. sadly, there's none i can think of, and my medicine cup only has glutaphos and centrum and advil and tuseran and diatabs.



so i guess i'll just sleep.







wait. for the record, i haven't been reading the statistics book THOROUGHLY yet.

i pray again that God would help me study. and focus. and ace next next week's midterms in econs and physics. amen! =)



and oh yeah, i'll post my birthday pics later okay? i mean later LATER.

i'm really bent on setting my priorities straight now. really really.

so help me God.

BLOODY MONDAY



nope, that's not me trying to sound british (although it's brit english here in singapore).

but really, it was a bloody monday. literally.



i donated blood today, as part of my birthday thingamajig.

my own way of doing something worthwhile. my way of "saving lives".

yiheeeeeee. whatever.



but it was fun. the lady told me she was just gonna "numb the area" of the arm with the needle, but it turned out that that was already it. so i watched as this small straw-like tube sucked the purplish reddish fluid out of my body. all 450 CC of it. hehe.



i'm tempted to say that the reddish purplish fluid that was slowly making its way to the blood pouch, reminded me of the blueberry or strawberry or cherry filling in the black forest cake i distributed to friends' rooms last night, but maybe that would offend some readers. wahaha.



anyway, it was a good day. my statistics tutorial at noon depressed me, as it seemed like a foreign language class, and i didn't really feel like talking during lunchtime. math with david chew was okay. 'twas a BIT sleep-inducing, but he seemed sincere and approachable and all so i didn't mind. next was a surprise lab for math with mr chew again.. we tinkered with this quite cool math program that calculates and graphs stuff. then at 4:40pm, i was off to the SRC gym for my blood donation. korinna was feeling quite tired and so didn't come with me. wayne couldn't donate as he was still to turn into a non-minor in march, while ivy was anemic or something.



'twas fun donating blood. my dad donated a liter of blood last time, and he always says he passes out whenever he donates. he's a bit squeamish bout blood, but he still donates, you see. he thinks passing out is just part of the whole thing. cool eh?



anyway, i got a free milo drink (and another extra), some biscuits, a bloody (in color) organizer, a tissue box, some iron supplements, and a small spare plaster if blood continued to bleed.



i never thought donating blood would be SO darn relaxing. the cot was perfect. i wouldn't mind sleeping there even. the people were uber friendly, especially the singaporean lady who administered the injection, as well as the smiling bespectacled chinese-looking guy on the next cot. the other malay-looking young lady who checked on me while i was filling the blood pouch gave me some small talk.



"which country are you from?" she asked finally, after asking me if i was okay or sleepy and answering my questions on how much blood i'll take, if i could go fencing at 8pm tonight yada yada.



"from the philippines," i said.



"sabi pa nga sa tono eh.." she said with a smile.



that was nice. always nice meeting filipinos here in singapore.



and it was also nice that, armed with my green bandage on the right arm, i was able to rest from fencing tonight. i mean, i wouldn't have minded so much if i went, but i just MUST study statistics. i went to the common hall to watch the guys free fence, and chin wee and KC, both in quite a cheerful mood, smiled and said it was okay. i watched a while, and realized too, that, even if i wanted to, i don't have the energy to free fence. i'm feelin a little drowsy and lethargic.



but it was a happy day. i almost thought statistics had ruined my day during lunchtime, but turns out it's still a happy day after all. (oh, i also watched the grammys live this morning, and it was fun too! okay.. so that's why i was a little late for my stats tutorial..0=) )



where was i? oh yeah, here's the part where i tell you that i must stop blogging for a while to focus on my stats, and that i will finish the previous post about my birthday (post photos is more like it) when i have time. Lord please help me study.



good night! =)

THANKFUL



that's exactly how i feel right now. just thankful.



i never thought a birthday away from home and family and friends would turn out happy.



i'm thankful. it's been one crazy day (the events of which i'll recount when i'm no longer busy) but it's been just peachy.



maybe i'll tell you all the little details tomorrow or the day after next or the day after that. more probably, i'll post photos so you can tell from my face that it's been one happy day.



but for now, as my statistics book is waiting, suffice it to say that i'm just infinitely thankful to the Lord for giving me eighteen amazing years.



thanks to my loving family and friends! miss you all terribly!





huling hirit:

kaya mo na 'tol! wooohoooooooo!

bangag na yata sa bigay ni boat na carlsberg.

and, as korinna and i like to say, YEHEEEEEEEEEY!! =p

LITTLE THINGS



hahaha. call me shallow, but i realize that i am quite affected by little things.



i'm annoyed kasi di na naman ako nakakapag-aral.

internet na lng lagi. and isa ka pa, my dear bloggie. hehehe.

ewan, naiinis talaga ako.

putik joseph, wala ka pang naiintindihan sa statistics class nyo. kaw tlga. hmph.



full moon din tonight, as i learned from researching sa singapore websites. ayun, it was practically full moon last night, pero i said i'd take a photo of it using my new "toy" tonight kasi it's full FULL. ayan, cloudy tuloy. hmph.



donate sana kami ng blood ni korinna this morning. so there we were, armed with passports, we signed up, answered questions about aids and our sex life (um hellooo?) and possible contact with sars-infected people and all, only to find out na hindi pala pwede. okay lng din, my body was aching dahil sa fencing kagabi anyway. try namin uli on monday.



anyway, ang only consolation ko lng naman is another little thing: survivor tonight!

yehey! episode 2 na. kainis last time when tina was voted. oh well.



and shempre, even if my bloggie is something that disturbs my studies, masaya pa rin pag may nagcocomment. bagong comment as of this time cna anghe, korinna, falqi. ayan, masaya na ako. little things little things.



babaw mo na dude. pero okay lng. whatever gets you through the day.=)



here here. a cool poem. about what else, little things!



[teka, post ko later, magteten o'clock na! survivor time! yeheeeey!]



***

12:30am feb7.

finally found the poem. i couldn't find the poem in my hard disk so i had to search through yahoo using what, the few words that i remember in the poem. finally, after the long search, here it is:





Little Things



It's the little homely things,

The unobtrusive, friendly things,

The "won't-you-let-me-help-you" things,

That make our pathways light.



It's the jolly joking things,

The "never-mind-the-trouble" things,

The "laugh-with-me-it's-funny" things,

That make the world seem bright.



For all the countless famous things,

The wondrous record-breaking things,

Those "never-can-be-equalled" things,

That all the papers cite,



Are not like little human things,

The "every-day-encountered" things,

The "just-because-I-like-you" things,

That make us happy quite.



So here's to all the little things,

The "done-and-then-forgotten" things,

Those "oh-it's-simply-nothing" things,

That make life worth the fight.

- Grace Haines

ayan. nice right? i think it's sweet. never fails to make me smile.



see? it's not a bad day after all, even if i just broke my bed. i mean, something to do with the wood here and the wood there. hmmm.. seems like they didn't use nails on the freakin bed. but it's okay now, thankfully, after some hammering with my hand and my water jug.=)



and of course, survivor turned out to be nice. i was just SO glad ethan didn't get voted off despite his being a hot target as a previous survivor winner. while i sure salute rudy for being an amazing 75-year-old navy seal who still manages to live in the island without complaint, i just didn't want ethan to go because he seems such a humble and good-natured guy. i just wished they voted off the talkative girl from the borneo survivor.. i even forgot her name. oh well.



and, finally, the moon managed to show up after all. just great. i'll see if i could get good photos.



there. enough little things to make me happy...

even if i wasn't able to study statistics -- again.



good night!:)

QUICKIES



hahaha. i just finished posting the photos. that was hard work ah. i mean, i edited the photo size in photoshop, uploaded to photobucket, added some text. tough work, i tell you. although it doesn't seem like it. =)



anyway, here are quick updates about my day yesterday (or, more accurately, a few hours ago).



*typical schoolday. had lunch at science canteen with kor and wayne, as ivy and ferron and jeunesse and later arthur were seated at a nearby table. 2-4pm math class with mr david chew was okay. good guy. good teacher. went back to hall only to rest awhile before kor, wayne and i left again, braved the rain, and headed for the sports and recreation centre gym to donate blood in this blood drive. it was a little after 5pm when we arrived, just a few minutes after the last session, and so we were told to come back tomorrow. no problem. we just went to the new mcdonald's branch in the engineering canteen for some 25-cent sundae cones. wayne had his new digicam, so it was time for picture picture!



* 8-10pm.

won three times in a row in fencing! woooooooooooohooooooooooooo!

actually that's the major update. hahaha. and i didn't actually lose. i had to take a rest because i was injured (just a small wound) on my right pinky. the gloves, you see, were just too tight, so i didn't use em anymore. oh well.

i played with freshmen, so that was perhaps the reason the swordplay was quite okay. but if i were to fight against the seniors like KC and vice-head chin wee (head KY was sick tonight), i'm sure i would've been another waiting target.



* 10-11pm

american idol! hahahaha. always fun to see good talent. yes, even if i had to endure watching simon blow off one contestant's ego after another. the bloopers too are fun.



okay! i hope my quickies were quick and short enough. i'm off to bed! :)





huling hirit: i'm not a loser in sports after all! wahahahahahahahaha!

PHOTO FRENZY



okay! so i got the new digicam, and predictably, i took photos! (i would be a fool not to. ;P)



anyway, for variation, i'm not gonna post too much text here, as perhaps you might already be sick of my random ramblings. anyway, here here. my first photos using my new cammy.





wayne my camera companion




self-photo (it's a little stupid though..haha)






outside sim lim square (we took a photo at burlington square because it had a cool fountain)





the above photos i took mainly because i wanted to try out the new cammy. i mean, there wasn't much of a view, really. hehehehe.



the photos below were still because i was trying out the camera, but i took photos of something that resembles some sort of view, something i see everyday: the view outside my window.



hehehehehe. pardon the simplicity and lack of technical know-how. i had fun doing this. these were taken during different times of the day. i also tried the night vision thing (cool!).











king edward vii hall a.k.a. my singapore home (actually the photos show only the F block)




prince george's park a.k.a. the condominum-type hostel that makes KE7 look so old (hehe)






i like the last photo of my hall, KE7. it looks a little surreal, kinda like a saturated colored image similar to those in video games. hehehe. i took it past midnight, and i used this night vision feature of the cam. here, so that you'd appreciate it. here's a photo WITHOUT night vision:









cool eh?



i realized that to use the night vision feature and when dealing with lights, i really must use a tripod. my hands simply get shaky, or just the mere movement of clicking the button makes photos appear like dizzying neons.



this one, i took last night. guess what it is.











hahaha. it's the good ol' moon! it's gonna be full moon on the 6th, but it was about 95+% full last night. sorry for that awful photo. hehe.



see the great big light seemingly approaching the photographer?

scary. it doesn't even look like the moon at all. or maybe it does, but it seems to be trying to electrocute me. hahahaha.



and if and when that happens, then i would be called ...MOONSTRUCK.

wahahahahatever. =)

ON A ROLL



hey! today is a holiday in singapore. (today meaning february 2 okay? even if it's past midnight)

hari raya haji day. my pakistani roommate afzaal explained that the actualy celebration was yesterday, and today's just a rest day of sorts.



so i took advantage of this day to do STUFF. actually there were 3 major highlights of my day:



1. i bought a digicam! it was a looooong bus ride to sim lim square in bugis, but wayne my trusty companion and i finally got a good camera at a good bargain.

here, for the techies out there: minolta divimage X20, 2.0 megapixels, 3x optical zoom, 4x digital zoom, 64mb sd card and 8mb card, video clip capable and with music too, rechargeable batteries. so there. the uncle at sim lim threw in the 64mb sd card (around 50 bucks if bought separately), and a silver tripod too, because he gave us "special prices because we were students."

ooookay! if he says so. 420 singaporean dollars (1 S$=30 pesos).



but no, he just had to sell me the digicam's case too, which he boasted was pure leather (even attempting to ignite it with his cigarette lighter..hahaha), for a whopping 50 bucks! sheeeet. that was too much for some case. he gave me a "friendly" price of 25 bucks, which was STILL, too pricey. i mean, HELLOOOOOOOOOOO?! it's just small squarish case! and so finally he settled for 15 bucks. that was still quite expensive, but what the heck, i spent a fortune on the camera, so i figured i might as well protect it. oh well. uto-uto ka talaga joseph. hehe. but i daresay it was a good deal! even wayne dell thought wanted to buy it! here's what the camera looks like:










and here, for the techno savvy, for the specs and a review.



hmmm... mike thought i'd post photos taken by the cam here, but for the meantime, i'll just post photos OF the cam itself.

i'll post photos promise, when my fingers are too lazy to type and/or my conscience has succeeded in making me study so much i forget to blog.;)





2. fencing! this time, i really was on a roll. remember how i thought i was sucky and all? hahahaha. this time i scored!



not only did i score, i won a match!



not only once. not only twice. no, thrice isn't even enough.



FIVE TIMES!! wooooohoooooooooooo!!!

AND, that's FOUR wins in a row. that's what i call a hot streak! yeah! :D





pardon the hysteria. i was just so overwhelmed that, for the first time, i won a series of matches, and when chin wee, the vice-head, had to go to the non-winning player to pull out the wire that was attached to the lame (la-mey) so that he could connect it to the lame of a new player, i was just SO damn glad that i my "life support" a.k.a. connecting wire wasn't cut at the end of each match. i was uber happy when i won against yesu (who had earlier defeated two other players), and i didn't quite expect 4 more rounds coming.



up next was shao tze (not sure of the spelling, but his english name is also jeremy), who i made me fear a little, as i knew he was from wushu (which, as i recently learned, is the same as kung fu) club. i remember him for poking with such a force that i thought the foil would've pierced through me had i not worn my suit and lame. somehow i managed to get point after point, till i reached 5 (it was a race to 5).



aurelia (a malaysian friend, the only girl that session) was up next, and i was a little hesitant to poke her in the chest. haha. you know why. i mean, even if she had protective gear that's specially designed for females, it was still quite awkward. hehehe. but anyway, i finally poked her finally (LOL), and won the match. i think the score was 5-0. *grin* (nahiya pa raw ako tumusok..hahahaha.)



next up was jeremy, a big tall guy, who i managed to beat although he put up a good fight (maybe because he missed quite a number of training sessions).



that was 4 people down already! that made me feel good! i was exhausted as hell, what with the fancy footwork and the pokes i suffered on my chest, and even one on my arm (off-target hit). i was sweating like crazy, and i didn't mind even that the mask i was wearing was already soaked in perspiration (it was already wet when it was given to me..eww.. hahaha).



anyway, sun zhi was next. he was good! and i lost. it didn't matter that he was reprimanded quite a number of times during our twice-a-week training, because i realized this guy had a great fencer in him. i lost but it was okay. also, i had committed the blunder of covering my chest with my left arm unconsciously, which is a violation of the rules. i was given a warning by KY amny times, until finally, he said that at the third offense, he would have to award my opponent a point. oh well. turns out my left arm has a mind of its own and just HAD to defend my chest. i lost 2 points, but what the heck. i was tired as hell anyway, and the outfit was just a little too wet. ;)



that was four already! and that was a happy time.



chinwee gave excellent advice to let my left arm settle. he told me to grab my suit on the left shoulder with my left hand, so it wouldn't try to cover my chest. =)



we were quite few in that session, and soon, after a round robin, it was again my turn. i beat jeremy the big guy, although he put up a REAL good fight this time, working out some strategy, and, was beaten by jeremy the wushu guy (shao tze) during the next match. i didn't mind. i was happy already. =)



besides, my last highlight was coming, and i couldn't wait.







3. the final highlight of the day was SURVIVOR! the premiere of season 8, ALL-STARS (see the survivor link on the sidebar).



hahahaha. it was on at 10pm, and, after checking the clock in the common hall for about a hundred times during fencing, waiting impatiently for the free fence to finish and rushing into the airconditioned lounge in my sweaty shirt, i finally settled myself on one of the comfy couches and braced myself for the ultimate survivor showdown.



it was about 10:15 when i arrived, but ivy tells me i didn't miss too much. still, i'm thinking about downloading the episode from the internet to see what few minutes i missed (fanatic alert!).



anyway, it was fun to see the survivors all over again, in this new brutally cool series. i mean, it's gonna be fun, seeing them strategize, suffer in amazingly-crafted challenges, have fun once in a while, and yes, backstab one another in the hope of not getting voted off the island (which is somewhere in panama). it would be interesting to see how these clever survivors, who have been such dominant personalities in the last 7 seasons, outwit, outplay, and outlast one another when they've already seen how their competitors maneuvered through the previous seasons.



okay, so it's set again in panama, where they held last season's survivor.

but this is an all new-playing field, where the "human terrain" is gonna make the show one helluva ride. =)

FEBRUARY FEVER



sigh. february is finally here. happy new month!



i just love februaries. for some reason. it's a little cold, a little rainy usually, but the fever is there. the weather makes it all the more cozy to cuddle up in the arms of some significant other especially on V-day. (oh, and btw, PDA (public display of affection) is popular here! especially in the MRT! and even in the bus stop!)



sigh. i'm not sure, but this february of my life is gonna be a little more cold than usual.

why?



1. i'm away from family and friends. sure i have friends here too, and i love em to bits, but it sure would be wonderful if i could get the WHOLE family-friends bunch together. family, and the bigger chunk of friends are, of course, thousands of miles away.



2. it's my first time to spend a special holiday away from family.



3. i don't quite grasp my lessons yet. especially in econometrics. sigh. and the internet is still a major temptation i almost always give in to. i hope i get a good grade this sem, which is hopefully not as awful as the last.



4. i feel a little lonelier everytime my buddies, especially during fencing, speak in mandarin! i mean, they all talk to one another and all, and laugh and joke around. and, since i'm the only one not chinese-speaking there, i'm left to listen and watch. hmph. it's not horrible really, since i also understand that although they know how to speak english, they aren't super comfy speaking it. sometimes i can barely understand even, when they talk to me. but it's okay.



5. sheeeet. "forevermore" is playing on my media player. hahaha. not the right song. i mean, it's the right song to take advantage of my vulnerability, but joseph doesn't like. no no no. there. toploader's "dancing in the moonlight".



oh well. i'm not feeling uber depressed, you know.

for one, it's the premiere of SURVIVOR ALL-STARS tomorrow! hahahahaha.

and american idol! and guess what, it's on two nights a week. NICE.



and i'm taking up mandarin lessons next sem. hahaha. hope that works.



and of course, i'm not MISERABLE. my friends here keep me sane and happy and laughing.



so it's not too bad, really. but still, the fact remains that february is rainy and cold and damp, but i'll manage, like i always do. ;)