'Outspokened'
Okay, so lately there haven't been happy things going on and I seem to ramble on and on about how sucky life is. Not really lah, but yeah, I think I've been putting on my sad/stressed/sky-is-falling face for way too long (I'm not removing it completely anytime soon.. wait till killer week comes next week), and it's about time I cheer up, at least for a while.
And there is good reason to. Because, well, say hello to the new Outspoken Desk Editor of The Ridge!
Hehe. I'm so thankful and pleased and happy and did I say thankful yet? Hehe. The elections were tonight at 6PM, and so I skipped a few hours of choir sound check/tech run for concert tomorrow to pop by LT15 for the elections, and I sure am glad I did.
The election of the editorial team was a bit of a tense affair, and for a while I was just sitting there waiting for the higher-ups' slots to be filled (or not filled.. interesting case for this one particular position), and then it was time for the desk editors, and I began to feel a bit fidgety. The temperature in the LT was frrrrrrreezing cold too, so I didn't know if I was just nervous or what. Anyway, no soul (at least from those in the Ridge) had learned I was remotely thinking of running for desk editor up until then, so I was just keeping it to myself. The other positions before the Outspoken Editor had only one nominee each, so basically it was a for/against vote, and it was usually for votes anyway, unless one had a complicated case.
So Chief Ed Nurul announced that the Outspoken desk editor position was up for grabs, and I looked around and hesitated. To my left, a sincere-looking pretty girl from the existing Outspoken desk stepped up (or down to the front area), and to my right, a Indian-looking Singaporean girl moved forward as well. They had reached the front seats where the nominees were supposed to sit, and, mustering enough courage and murmuring "what the heck" to myself, I stood up and made my way down too.
I didn't look behind me, but I could tell that my editor Asraf was surprised I presented myself as a nominee at all. Haha. I received what I thought was some peculiar applause marked by surprise and incredulity perhaps? Haha.. or maybe it was just because the just-elected editors were mostly girls? Dunno le. Haha, I didn't dare look back and read their faces.
I've been silent about this thing, and although Nurul invited members who were interested to run for some position to join the outgoing editorial team's meetings for some exposure, I didn't have the balls to volunteer myself. Frankly, I wasn't confident my writing was good enough for them because I've been published only once this year so far, but then I took comfort in that many others, including my fellow nominees, also had one article published too. Haha. And I've been in the Outspoken desk for two years anyway, so that should give me a slight edge.
Anyway, to cut a long story short, after a round of self-intro and some grilling, votes were cast through slips of paper. After a few moments was a shocker: there was a tie between me and the Indian-looking girl Kamala. Gasp. Haha a tie seemed unlikely in a crowd of 30-40 people, so I was caught off-guard. We needed 60% of total votes cast, too, to be elected.
A more intensive grilling ensued, and lookee the girl beside me turned out to be a Year 3 Sociology major.. Oooh and you know Soci majors, they're sharp and witty and essay-loving and always have some smart critique or insight about society or what. Haha stereotypes again, my favorite topic. Hehe, so yeah I was a bit intimidated and I would not have been surprised if I didn't get elected, and knew she would be a good editor anyway. Final vote came and I breathed a sigh of relief when it was my name that was called.
I was so thankful to those who voted, although I didn't want to seem as if I was desperate for the job. Haha. So yep, all my good vibes to all of you, I really really appreciate it. And to Nurul, too, for calling me up after the choir rehearsal to say that she was very happy for me, THANKS LOADS. I've secretly admired Nurul for the longest time 'cos she's cool and funky and witty and writes kick-ass well and perennially cheerful and artsy/poetic/bimbotic but still professional and smart and respectable. Means a lot. I was worried the editors thought I pulled a fast one on them by giving them a shocker on election night, but yep thanks a lot for believing in me.
The Outspoken Desk is one of the more popular among the desks, if not the most popular, based on the manpower of the desk and the number of applicants it receives. Haha the lure of it perhaps is that writers have the freedom to write and rant and rave about most anything, but of course standards are kept so the pieces are controversial and substantial and argumentative and of course sensible. Asraf did a mighty good job with Outspoken this year, in terms of article quality and deadlines, and filling in his shoes will be no small feat. (Haha FEAT and SHOES.. haha get it? Get it?! Haha cheap thrill sorry)
Anyway, NUS Choir's Varsity Voices is tomorrow (or later) already! Haha I'm not absolutely ready just yet, but it's gonna be great! I'm a bit sad there wouldn't be choir sessions soon after tomorrow except for the election and maybe some choir outing, but yeah, it's time to get mugging for the exams! I have a good feeling about tomorrow's Varsity Voices concert, let's just see what happens. Good night! :)
Plug
Plug
Been emailing some of my yahoogroups the message below regarding the NUS Choir Concert on Saturday. I haven't memorized the songs yet! Talk about stress man! But then, haha what's new? Anyway, I'm plugging the concert here on my blog as well, as hmm.. maybe Katlyn might chance upon my blog soon and be interested? And I dunno who else might come, really.. but hooray Tatatee a.k.a. Minli is gonna come with 4 other friends.. Haha I'm finally gonna meet you! :)
Ash Wednesday tomorrow (later).. I hope that Lent will make me more prayerful and more in touch with my spirit. And nope, I'm not gonna breakdown anytime soon. Jesus help me please.
And oh yeah I love NUS Choir. Good night!
_____
Hey hello there everyone,
Sorry I have to plug this.. but it's gonna be fun!
* * * * * *
Varsity Voices 2006: An Evening of Flower Songs
by the NUS Choir
The choir will showcase flower songs from the Renaissance to the contemporary period in their repertoire, including award-winning pieces performed at the second Voyage of Songs International Choral Competition in December 2005.
Saturday, 4th March 2006, 7:30 PM
University Cultural Centre Hall, NUS
Tickets at $12
For ticket enquiries, please contact
Li Yi (91121256)
Iris (98355665)
http://www.nuschoir.org
* * * * * *
And the repertoire isn't exactly flower flower songs as one would tend to imagine. We'll have some Baroque pieces, Missa Brevis, award-winning pieces in Advanced Open Mixed and Folklore categories from our competition in Malaysia in December 2005, Japanese songs, and some contemporary English tunes including Stevie Wonder and Billy Joel songs and a Beatles medley.
Sounds good right? Haha, you can contact me at 90745231 or at joseph@nus.edu.sg for tickets. Get them early so I can chope whatever good seats left.
Thanks!
Warm regards
Joseph
P.S. Here's the repertoire:
Baroque Pieces
Been emailing some of my yahoogroups the message below regarding the NUS Choir Concert on Saturday. I haven't memorized the songs yet! Talk about stress man! But then, haha what's new? Anyway, I'm plugging the concert here on my blog as well, as hmm.. maybe Katlyn might chance upon my blog soon and be interested? And I dunno who else might come, really.. but hooray Tatatee a.k.a. Minli is gonna come with 4 other friends.. Haha I'm finally gonna meet you! :)
Ash Wednesday tomorrow (later).. I hope that Lent will make me more prayerful and more in touch with my spirit. And nope, I'm not gonna breakdown anytime soon. Jesus help me please.
And oh yeah I love NUS Choir. Good night!
_____
Hey hello there everyone,
Sorry I have to plug this.. but it's gonna be fun!
* * * * * *
Varsity Voices 2006: An Evening of Flower Songs
by the NUS Choir
The choir will showcase flower songs from the Renaissance to the contemporary period in their repertoire, including award-winning pieces performed at the second Voyage of Songs International Choral Competition in December 2005.
Saturday, 4th March 2006, 7:30 PM
University Cultural Centre Hall, NUS
Tickets at $12
For ticket enquiries, please contact
Li Yi (91121256)
Iris (98355665)
http://www.nuschoir.org
* * * * * *
And the repertoire isn't exactly flower flower songs as one would tend to imagine. We'll have some Baroque pieces, Missa Brevis, award-winning pieces in Advanced Open Mixed and Folklore categories from our competition in Malaysia in December 2005, Japanese songs, and some contemporary English tunes including Stevie Wonder and Billy Joel songs and a Beatles medley.
Sounds good right? Haha, you can contact me at 90745231 or at joseph@nus.edu.sg for tickets. Get them early so I can chope whatever good seats left.
Thanks!
Warm regards
Joseph
P.S. Here's the repertoire:
Baroque Pieces
- Blessing, Glory and Wisdom (JS Bach)
Salve Regina (Antonio Lotti)
Ascendo ad Patrem meum (Jacob Handl)
- Kyrie
Gloria
Sanctus
Agnus Dei
- Sweet Honey-Sucking Bees (John Wilbye)
With a Lily in Your Hand (Eric Whitacre)
Do-kin-do-kin (Akira Miyoshi)
- Wayang Kulit Medley (Traditional)
Dong Dong Kui (Traditional)
- Sakura (Traditional, arr Toshinato Sato)
Tinsagu No Hana (Traditional, arr Jin Okamoto)
Funauta (Hideki Chihara)
- Love's in Need of Love Today (Stevie Wonder)
Lullabye (Billy Joel)
Roads (Steve Dobrogosz)
Beatles Medley (arr Ed Lojeski)
Heaven help us all
Heaven help us all
The title's this inspirational gospel tune I got from study buddy Aaron. Basically it's an upbeat song by Ray Charles and Gladys Knight about, well, heaven helping everybody, from the boy who never had a home and the girl who walks the street alone, to the boy who won't reach twenty-one and the people with their backs against the wall.
God I am absolutely overwhelmed with things to do. And it's miserable, really. Lemme see, so I have to do a script cum cue sheet for the Varsity Voices Concert, memorize all the songs for the same, write a draft of my essay for my film module by Tuesday, study for three midterm tests soon after VV06: financial accounting, calculus, and regression analysis (must study harder especially since I got lousy results for my first few tests), write an article for the Ridge since April's the last issue, and yeah, I don't even want to think about what else.
I've been mugging intensively the past days, and althought it seems I've been exerting quite a lot of effort, the truth is I'm not covering enough ground. I've only studied for two of my six modules, although from the look in my face and the tiredness in my eyes I should've covered all six.
Pressure from Choir is pumped up now as well, especially with the concert just a week away. I feel particularly sucky today because some of us basses weren't quite able to live up to our student conductor Weiwei's expectations especially on the Shah Alam song Dokin-dokin. It sucks too, personally, that I am not able to memorize the songs yet. Especially the other Japanese songs where I am admittedly quite blur. And oh yeah, the Missa Brevis too.
Today after a long day at Siglap South CC for our third to the last practice for VV06, I went to NTU with Kirsten, Cassy and Mike for the Filipino party that was for the first time held at NTU, as it is traditionally held at NUS. I shall not go on and turn didactic now and attempt to describe how people should behave in parties, but let me just say that I think that the organizers and those in the larger clique could have made exerted a little more effort to be more inclusive. It was fun as the night progressed, nonetheless, and the food was good. Special mention goes to the yummy chicken adobo that is Ferron's pride, and the beef steak prepared by the guys from SMU. People were complimenting my shirt too, that Ferron and Karen got for me from Indonesia. Hehe it's a nice shirt and I like it, really -- I guess I must apologize to Ferron a bit for always mentioning that the shirt is too small for me (it is quite small actually), but instead appreciate the shirt more perhaps. :)
Anyway, my current depressant now, the latest in a series of unfortunate events, is the fact that I lost my wallet. I only noticed when during the group photo-taking after the dinner at NTU. It sucks, really, and I'm positively feeling miserable right about now. To the good soul who chanced upon it, please please return it. The $20 or 30 bucks I have there is not much anyway, but I'm just stressed about my matriculation card, EZ link card, cashcard, atm and debit and credit cards. Please don't use my debit and credit cards too, because that would sink me to lower depths.
Hmm.. sometimes I think I take things too seriously, and would sometimes wish I had a more cheerful approach to all these things. I'd like to think I was once a cheerful person, and many times I still am (or so I think), but I dunno, I guess I've become hardened and cynical.
A few more special mentions. To Karen, hey I miss you already let's hang out sometime and drown ourselves in each other's woes. Jasper, where on earth have you gone.. I haven't heard from you in the longest time and I miss you too you bastard. Jacques, hey cheer up okay and study well so you could get the SG scholarship! It's gonna be fun to have you around. To Kai, hey hey I heard about your swimming thing and I'm so happy for you. God bless you in your exams and don't worry too much about next sem k? I'll call you sometime. :)
I've been thinking too about giving up some of my activities next semester because I'm pretty sure 7 modules will drive me insane. I haven't decided what I'm going to drop, but I've come to conclude that it most likely won't be NUS Choir. :)
OK, it's a new day now, must finish the cue sheet and get myself some sleep.
The title's this inspirational gospel tune I got from study buddy Aaron. Basically it's an upbeat song by Ray Charles and Gladys Knight about, well, heaven helping everybody, from the boy who never had a home and the girl who walks the street alone, to the boy who won't reach twenty-one and the people with their backs against the wall.
God I am absolutely overwhelmed with things to do. And it's miserable, really. Lemme see, so I have to do a script cum cue sheet for the Varsity Voices Concert, memorize all the songs for the same, write a draft of my essay for my film module by Tuesday, study for three midterm tests soon after VV06: financial accounting, calculus, and regression analysis (must study harder especially since I got lousy results for my first few tests), write an article for the Ridge since April's the last issue, and yeah, I don't even want to think about what else.
I've been mugging intensively the past days, and althought it seems I've been exerting quite a lot of effort, the truth is I'm not covering enough ground. I've only studied for two of my six modules, although from the look in my face and the tiredness in my eyes I should've covered all six.
Pressure from Choir is pumped up now as well, especially with the concert just a week away. I feel particularly sucky today because some of us basses weren't quite able to live up to our student conductor Weiwei's expectations especially on the Shah Alam song Dokin-dokin. It sucks too, personally, that I am not able to memorize the songs yet. Especially the other Japanese songs where I am admittedly quite blur. And oh yeah, the Missa Brevis too.
Today after a long day at Siglap South CC for our third to the last practice for VV06, I went to NTU with Kirsten, Cassy and Mike for the Filipino party that was for the first time held at NTU, as it is traditionally held at NUS. I shall not go on and turn didactic now and attempt to describe how people should behave in parties, but let me just say that I think that the organizers and those in the larger clique could have made exerted a little more effort to be more inclusive. It was fun as the night progressed, nonetheless, and the food was good. Special mention goes to the yummy chicken adobo that is Ferron's pride, and the beef steak prepared by the guys from SMU. People were complimenting my shirt too, that Ferron and Karen got for me from Indonesia. Hehe it's a nice shirt and I like it, really -- I guess I must apologize to Ferron a bit for always mentioning that the shirt is too small for me (it is quite small actually), but instead appreciate the shirt more perhaps. :)
Anyway, my current depressant now, the latest in a series of unfortunate events, is the fact that I lost my wallet. I only noticed when during the group photo-taking after the dinner at NTU. It sucks, really, and I'm positively feeling miserable right about now. To the good soul who chanced upon it, please please return it. The $20 or 30 bucks I have there is not much anyway, but I'm just stressed about my matriculation card, EZ link card, cashcard, atm and debit and credit cards. Please don't use my debit and credit cards too, because that would sink me to lower depths.
Hmm.. sometimes I think I take things too seriously, and would sometimes wish I had a more cheerful approach to all these things. I'd like to think I was once a cheerful person, and many times I still am (or so I think), but I dunno, I guess I've become hardened and cynical.
A few more special mentions. To Karen, hey I miss you already let's hang out sometime and drown ourselves in each other's woes. Jasper, where on earth have you gone.. I haven't heard from you in the longest time and I miss you too you bastard. Jacques, hey cheer up okay and study well so you could get the SG scholarship! It's gonna be fun to have you around. To Kai, hey hey I heard about your swimming thing and I'm so happy for you. God bless you in your exams and don't worry too much about next sem k? I'll call you sometime. :)
I've been thinking too about giving up some of my activities next semester because I'm pretty sure 7 modules will drive me insane. I haven't decided what I'm going to drop, but I've come to conclude that it most likely won't be NUS Choir. :)
OK, it's a new day now, must finish the cue sheet and get myself some sleep.
Snap
Snap
I've always known that, with the miscellaneous activities I've immersed myself in, sooner or later, I'll snap. Apparently, without realizing it, I may already have. Or, perhaps more accurately, maybe this snapping process isn't as instantaneous after all, and I've been continually "snapping" in slow-mo for a long time now.
Don't get me wrong, I'm loving what I'm doing. I'm mighty proud of KR Choir and NUS Choir, which I am both happy to be part of. It's my decision to take 6 modules this semester, and that ambitious double-minor (in Business and English Studies) masterplan was of course my own doing. I guess I have nobody else to blame for not keeping up with my lectures and tutorials, and I am fully accountable for picking up what I missed this midterm break. And of course, there are the little "messes" here and there, starting off with the current state of my room, which I suspect is beginning to affect me subconsciously, or at least, maybe hindering me from whatever relaxation I'm supposed to achieve (frankly I've forgotten how it is to relax.. makes me wanna go home and sleep all day). And I dunno, I think the monsters in my head just won't hush themselves up, and so it's been a pain trying to bear with them.
* * *
It was Amplitude last night, by the way. It's this showcase of hall choirs and a cappella groups in NUS. I performed with Kent Ridge Choir, and later, with NUS Choir (although technically Amplitude was for halls of residences, it's been some tradition to let NUS Choir sing as well). I thought we did fairly well, and I'd like to think I enjoyed myself. What I did enjoy too, is the company. I've always been vocal how I love the NUS Choir folks, but yep, same goes with the KR choirmates. I tend to be closer to NUS Choir, I guess, but maybe only because I spend more hours there (>6 hours a week) and we've had a number of scarier trials on a larger scale we've had to face together. But I love my KR choir too of course.
Much as I want to comment about how we sang in both choirs, I guess I'd just keep it to myself as I don't really know how we sounded. The UCC Theatre environment sucked the sound from us as we were singing (btw, we couldn't see the audience too), so I don't really know. Bottom line is I enjoyed myself with both choirs, and I am tremendously pleased and thankful to those who came down to support me (OK, even if you didn't really come to support me, thanks for coming down to watch. Special thanks to the Pinoy community of course.
I saw my old friend Zhou Yang after the show too, and yep, I'm reminded of all the many old friends I've always appreciated, even if it sucks that we don't get to have much contact of late. I treasure my friends, even if it doesn't show sometimes.
After the show, the KR Choir and Aca groups sang our KR Goodnight song loudly in the lobby. That was some 40 people crowding the UCC lobby man. Sometimes I'm mighty proud to be in KR, and I'm gonna miss it when I eventually leave.
I went off with the NUS Choir bunch for supper, and since Fong Seng was presumably full, and when we dropped by this pub called Blooie's there wasn't any more food but only drinks, we decided to go to Holland Village. It was me, Iris, Huai Zhi, Kurien, Aaron, Visayon, Hui Yin, Adyll, this new girl Mianzi. KK and Michelle went back to Raffles and Winnie went off for home earlier, as well as ex-NUS Choir basso Weizheng. I'm beginning to appreciate suppers more now actually, and the food at the Holland V hawker center is yummy yummy, I like. The company was even better. Arrived back at KR around 2:30AM and I just sank into the bed.
* * *
Monday, 20th February was an interesting day. "Interesting" is by far the safest smart word I know ("nice" and "good" are safe words too, but putting them in your English essay won't do you any good).
Mugged at the Central Forum from late morning till afternoon with so little progress it's virtually negligible (cause for self-annoyance and mild self-bashing), adn went for voice class and later choir practice. Choir practice was heavy today, as we were split into 3 small choirs and the section leaders or SLs and the student conductors gave their critique. Interesting, I must say. Nelson also came down and we fixed Missa Brevis, and sang through the Beatles medley (I love it.. feel-good).
In any case, I dunno what got into me later on and I was feeling tired and stressed and semi-pissed for whatever reason (partly due to those people who did not turn up last week and thus did not get their Beatles scores, and were now pouncing on me asking for their copies, when in fact I had told them to SMS me or gimme a private message me on the choir forum or email me if they lack any score, because it's crazy to bring all the scores around all the time).
* * *
So when, during announcement time and big boss KK was done with a good chunk of announcements and I raised my hand to speak, and speak I did, I guess I suddenly snapped. The stimulus was something that even Kirsten and the other Filipino exchange girls last sem told me. People always laugh when I begin to talk. There's this running joke about me and how my r's are defined and sounded, as when I spoke to the choir during the first few rehearsals about "four scores". See in Singapore, they don't pronounce the r's much, so a car is /kah/ and scores is /skos/ and seniors is /seenyas/, something like that. The four-scores thingy has been going around tickling everyone for quite some time, coupled with the fact that I speak at lightning speed. Treasurer Li Yi jokingly mentioned sometime in front of the choir that I should speak more slowly because only 70% of what I say can be understood (or was it 70% cannot be understood?), and at that time even I found it amusing and funny.
But today, what with the stress and all, I absolutely nothing funny at my mere mention of "Can I say something?" While I would usually smile or put a dumb look and just let it pass, today I just held silent till they wiped off those smirks. Respect, people, respect. It just hit me that they've alwasy been laughing at me, and for some reason, they don't take me seriously. Now this is not gonna be a weepy second to the last paragraph, but I love these guys so much and I take extra effort to fix up their scores well and make sure they're nicely stapled and that everyone gets good copies, and this is how I'm treated. I was walking with Huai Zhi on the way back to hall, and he said it's okay, it's quite cute actually, and they didn't mean to laugh laugh at me. KK also told me through SMS that in his opinion, it may not be a matter of respect, but it's just some quirk I have that makes me funny and endearing I guess. I dunno, I'm just tired of being constantly associated with an unintentional joke.
But I'm okay now, as predicted (then again, "okay" is another very safe word so yeah..). There are still many things troubling my heart (ooh that sounded so drippingly sappy), but I guess I'll just wake up later on and hope I can well, just focus and accomplish the more important things to do, like study Calculus and Actuarial Stats and Accounting and Regression Analysis. Sometimes I think a personality change is in order, but nah, that would just flush away my real personality I guess. (OK, the preceding sentence seems a bit random but what the heck)
My life's a mess, but like everyone else, I keep on moving on anyway.
And oh yeah, I miss home, and everything and everyone associated with it.
I've always known that, with the miscellaneous activities I've immersed myself in, sooner or later, I'll snap. Apparently, without realizing it, I may already have. Or, perhaps more accurately, maybe this snapping process isn't as instantaneous after all, and I've been continually "snapping" in slow-mo for a long time now.
Don't get me wrong, I'm loving what I'm doing. I'm mighty proud of KR Choir and NUS Choir, which I am both happy to be part of. It's my decision to take 6 modules this semester, and that ambitious double-minor (in Business and English Studies) masterplan was of course my own doing. I guess I have nobody else to blame for not keeping up with my lectures and tutorials, and I am fully accountable for picking up what I missed this midterm break. And of course, there are the little "messes" here and there, starting off with the current state of my room, which I suspect is beginning to affect me subconsciously, or at least, maybe hindering me from whatever relaxation I'm supposed to achieve (frankly I've forgotten how it is to relax.. makes me wanna go home and sleep all day). And I dunno, I think the monsters in my head just won't hush themselves up, and so it's been a pain trying to bear with them.
* * *
It was Amplitude last night, by the way. It's this showcase of hall choirs and a cappella groups in NUS. I performed with Kent Ridge Choir, and later, with NUS Choir (although technically Amplitude was for halls of residences, it's been some tradition to let NUS Choir sing as well). I thought we did fairly well, and I'd like to think I enjoyed myself. What I did enjoy too, is the company. I've always been vocal how I love the NUS Choir folks, but yep, same goes with the KR choirmates. I tend to be closer to NUS Choir, I guess, but maybe only because I spend more hours there (>6 hours a week) and we've had a number of scarier trials on a larger scale we've had to face together. But I love my KR choir too of course.
Much as I want to comment about how we sang in both choirs, I guess I'd just keep it to myself as I don't really know how we sounded. The UCC Theatre environment sucked the sound from us as we were singing (btw, we couldn't see the audience too), so I don't really know. Bottom line is I enjoyed myself with both choirs, and I am tremendously pleased and thankful to those who came down to support me (OK, even if you didn't really come to support me, thanks for coming down to watch. Special thanks to the Pinoy community of course.
I saw my old friend Zhou Yang after the show too, and yep, I'm reminded of all the many old friends I've always appreciated, even if it sucks that we don't get to have much contact of late. I treasure my friends, even if it doesn't show sometimes.
After the show, the KR Choir and Aca groups sang our KR Goodnight song loudly in the lobby. That was some 40 people crowding the UCC lobby man. Sometimes I'm mighty proud to be in KR, and I'm gonna miss it when I eventually leave.
I went off with the NUS Choir bunch for supper, and since Fong Seng was presumably full, and when we dropped by this pub called Blooie's there wasn't any more food but only drinks, we decided to go to Holland Village. It was me, Iris, Huai Zhi, Kurien, Aaron, Visayon, Hui Yin, Adyll, this new girl Mianzi. KK and Michelle went back to Raffles and Winnie went off for home earlier, as well as ex-NUS Choir basso Weizheng. I'm beginning to appreciate suppers more now actually, and the food at the Holland V hawker center is yummy yummy, I like. The company was even better. Arrived back at KR around 2:30AM and I just sank into the bed.
* * *
Monday, 20th February was an interesting day. "Interesting" is by far the safest smart word I know ("nice" and "good" are safe words too, but putting them in your English essay won't do you any good).
Mugged at the Central Forum from late morning till afternoon with so little progress it's virtually negligible (cause for self-annoyance and mild self-bashing), adn went for voice class and later choir practice. Choir practice was heavy today, as we were split into 3 small choirs and the section leaders or SLs and the student conductors gave their critique. Interesting, I must say. Nelson also came down and we fixed Missa Brevis, and sang through the Beatles medley (I love it.. feel-good).
In any case, I dunno what got into me later on and I was feeling tired and stressed and semi-pissed for whatever reason (partly due to those people who did not turn up last week and thus did not get their Beatles scores, and were now pouncing on me asking for their copies, when in fact I had told them to SMS me or gimme a private message me on the choir forum or email me if they lack any score, because it's crazy to bring all the scores around all the time).
* * *
So when, during announcement time and big boss KK was done with a good chunk of announcements and I raised my hand to speak, and speak I did, I guess I suddenly snapped. The stimulus was something that even Kirsten and the other Filipino exchange girls last sem told me. People always laugh when I begin to talk. There's this running joke about me and how my r's are defined and sounded, as when I spoke to the choir during the first few rehearsals about "four scores". See in Singapore, they don't pronounce the r's much, so a car is /kah/ and scores is /skos/ and seniors is /seenyas/, something like that. The four-scores thingy has been going around tickling everyone for quite some time, coupled with the fact that I speak at lightning speed. Treasurer Li Yi jokingly mentioned sometime in front of the choir that I should speak more slowly because only 70% of what I say can be understood (or was it 70% cannot be understood?), and at that time even I found it amusing and funny.
But today, what with the stress and all, I absolutely nothing funny at my mere mention of "Can I say something?" While I would usually smile or put a dumb look and just let it pass, today I just held silent till they wiped off those smirks. Respect, people, respect. It just hit me that they've alwasy been laughing at me, and for some reason, they don't take me seriously. Now this is not gonna be a weepy second to the last paragraph, but I love these guys so much and I take extra effort to fix up their scores well and make sure they're nicely stapled and that everyone gets good copies, and this is how I'm treated. I was walking with Huai Zhi on the way back to hall, and he said it's okay, it's quite cute actually, and they didn't mean to laugh laugh at me. KK also told me through SMS that in his opinion, it may not be a matter of respect, but it's just some quirk I have that makes me funny and endearing I guess. I dunno, I'm just tired of being constantly associated with an unintentional joke.
But I'm okay now, as predicted (then again, "okay" is another very safe word so yeah..). There are still many things troubling my heart (ooh that sounded so drippingly sappy), but I guess I'll just wake up later on and hope I can well, just focus and accomplish the more important things to do, like study Calculus and Actuarial Stats and Accounting and Regression Analysis. Sometimes I think a personality change is in order, but nah, that would just flush away my real personality I guess. (OK, the preceding sentence seems a bit random but what the heck)
My life's a mess, but like everyone else, I keep on moving on anyway.
And oh yeah, I miss home, and everything and everyone associated with it.
Whew
Whew
Now I can breathe again. Thank God for giving me the transcription job, but I'm feeling a wee bit more thankful now that it's over.
Basically, the job entailed I listen to hours and hours of speeches in two workshops by the Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF), one on access to justice, and another on environment and sustainable development. My initial reaction was that the job was peanuts. Come on, I'm the one who watches 40-minute TV shows on my PC like Desperate Housewives and The OC for sometimes as long as an hour and a half, because of my habit of rewinding and rewinding the file until I get the FULL dialogue. I derive a good deal of satisfaction out of it for some reason, but the downside is that it eats up a big chunk of time. Anyway, for someone who pays meticuloius attention to words being said in an event (it takes forever for me to watch a movie on DVD or VCD), this transcription job was easy money baby.
As it turned out, the transcription job ate into my mugging time, my free time, ate through my weekend, and crept into the wee hours of the morning. The speakers were from Asia and Europe, see, and it was good enough if they had prepared speeches, but by golly, when they went to the microphone to have a thorough discussion of the topics presented, I thought I could very well have been in the Tower of Babel. Accents from German, Cambodian, Chinese, Italian, American, and even Filipino greeted me as my fingers scrambled to catch up. Many times I had to play "sounds-like" to decipher what was said exactly, sometimes I had to Google to make sense of acronyms, and also when this bigshot UN guy Toepfer mentioned Nobel Peace Prize Laureate "Wangari Maathai", who introduced the Japanese concept of "mottainai" in her environmental projects.. seriously, it's not just listening to ordinary words man. It's the kind of intellectual lingo that involves research! Needless to say, the job drained the life out of me, and I had to ask for an extension too. (Thank God Ira of ASEF agreed :P )
Anyway, so what have I been missing? Haha, blogging I guess. Blogging about V-day, if that counts. Blogging about my birthday! Haha yes yes it's impossible for me to not blog it, so you can just TELL I was really busy. Busiest days of my life, seriously. I couldn't even rest a while to relax myself.
But of course the Version 2_0 post will come up soon. That's me finally venturing into the twentysomething world (technically it's still twenty-nothing but what the heck).
And oh yeah, because of my transcription job I had to give up writing an article for the March issue of the Ridge. I wanted to write, seriously, because it's already difficult enough to get published, what more in the final issue of the year, in April, where all the Outspoken desk writers will presumably turn in something (that's according to my desk editor Asraf).
Hmm.. but in other writing news, I went for this Straits Times focus group discussion at UCC. It was cool man, learned a lot from the VP of Singapore Press Holdings (SPH), and got a lot of premium Dome goodies like muffins and tarts and good coffee (cheapskate) and a goodie bag which includes a cool Straits Times metal water bottle with a nice rubbery whatchamacallit case, and a commemorative coffee table book, 160 years of Straits Times, which is loaded with all these historical and cool pictures, yep among others.
And, still on writing news, my article for KR Hall Bulletin Board is up! It's the Anti-Valentine's Day issue, and mine's on page 7, I think. Haha. Check it out here. The Ridge is a different story of course, because for one, the editors are selective, and I found it pretty neat that they chose my article for the January issue after well, a long wait. Haha. There's no online version methinks, but maybe I'll post my article up here sometime.
And in music news, NUS Choir is singing a Beatles medley! Haha was I overjoyed when I learned we'll be singing the Beatles! Haha, never mind if we had too many songs already, I think this was needed to bring in more oomph to the repertoire. So yep yep, come come to Varsity Voices 2006, An Evening of Flower Songs, by the NUS Choir. It's on the 4th of March, 7:30 PM at the University Cultural Centre Hall.
Haha, can't you just tell I'm bursting with a lot of things to say? Haha. I'm beat, but that can't stop me from spurting away gibberish man. I'm just thinking of the $400 slave labour payment that will soon make its way to my bank account. Haha, finally a birthday gift to self. Ciao! Must get muggin'!
Now I can breathe again. Thank God for giving me the transcription job, but I'm feeling a wee bit more thankful now that it's over.
Basically, the job entailed I listen to hours and hours of speeches in two workshops by the Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF), one on access to justice, and another on environment and sustainable development. My initial reaction was that the job was peanuts. Come on, I'm the one who watches 40-minute TV shows on my PC like Desperate Housewives and The OC for sometimes as long as an hour and a half, because of my habit of rewinding and rewinding the file until I get the FULL dialogue. I derive a good deal of satisfaction out of it for some reason, but the downside is that it eats up a big chunk of time. Anyway, for someone who pays meticuloius attention to words being said in an event (it takes forever for me to watch a movie on DVD or VCD), this transcription job was easy money baby.
As it turned out, the transcription job ate into my mugging time, my free time, ate through my weekend, and crept into the wee hours of the morning. The speakers were from Asia and Europe, see, and it was good enough if they had prepared speeches, but by golly, when they went to the microphone to have a thorough discussion of the topics presented, I thought I could very well have been in the Tower of Babel. Accents from German, Cambodian, Chinese, Italian, American, and even Filipino greeted me as my fingers scrambled to catch up. Many times I had to play "sounds-like" to decipher what was said exactly, sometimes I had to Google to make sense of acronyms, and also when this bigshot UN guy Toepfer mentioned Nobel Peace Prize Laureate "Wangari Maathai", who introduced the Japanese concept of "mottainai" in her environmental projects.. seriously, it's not just listening to ordinary words man. It's the kind of intellectual lingo that involves research! Needless to say, the job drained the life out of me, and I had to ask for an extension too. (Thank God Ira of ASEF agreed :P )
Anyway, so what have I been missing? Haha, blogging I guess. Blogging about V-day, if that counts. Blogging about my birthday! Haha yes yes it's impossible for me to not blog it, so you can just TELL I was really busy. Busiest days of my life, seriously. I couldn't even rest a while to relax myself.
But of course the Version 2_0 post will come up soon. That's me finally venturing into the twentysomething world (technically it's still twenty-nothing but what the heck).
And oh yeah, because of my transcription job I had to give up writing an article for the March issue of the Ridge. I wanted to write, seriously, because it's already difficult enough to get published, what more in the final issue of the year, in April, where all the Outspoken desk writers will presumably turn in something (that's according to my desk editor Asraf).
Hmm.. but in other writing news, I went for this Straits Times focus group discussion at UCC. It was cool man, learned a lot from the VP of Singapore Press Holdings (SPH), and got a lot of premium Dome goodies like muffins and tarts and good coffee (cheapskate) and a goodie bag which includes a cool Straits Times metal water bottle with a nice rubbery whatchamacallit case, and a commemorative coffee table book, 160 years of Straits Times, which is loaded with all these historical and cool pictures, yep among others.
And, still on writing news, my article for KR Hall Bulletin Board is up! It's the Anti-Valentine's Day issue, and mine's on page 7, I think. Haha. Check it out here. The Ridge is a different story of course, because for one, the editors are selective, and I found it pretty neat that they chose my article for the January issue after well, a long wait. Haha. There's no online version methinks, but maybe I'll post my article up here sometime.
And in music news, NUS Choir is singing a Beatles medley! Haha was I overjoyed when I learned we'll be singing the Beatles! Haha, never mind if we had too many songs already, I think this was needed to bring in more oomph to the repertoire. So yep yep, come come to Varsity Voices 2006, An Evening of Flower Songs, by the NUS Choir. It's on the 4th of March, 7:30 PM at the University Cultural Centre Hall.
Haha, can't you just tell I'm bursting with a lot of things to say? Haha. I'm beat, but that can't stop me from spurting away gibberish man. I'm just thinking of the $400 slave labour payment that will soon make its way to my bank account. Haha, finally a birthday gift to self. Ciao! Must get muggin'!
Version 1_9
Version 1_9
Haha. Here I am, wondering how on earth the past few days turned out to be the way they were. I certainly hadn't planned any of this, that's for sure. I did not plan the eyebags and the accompanying fatigue, I did not plan the sudden caffeine rush to wake myself during long and winding lectures, I did not plan on eating whatever strange thing it was that almost made me puke today.
I had good plans leading to this day, that I'm sure of. I wanted to do this and that, secret masterplans that will just have to be chucked away for the meantime.
I was looking at the mirror yesterday morning, in preparation for my 8AM Regression Analysis test, when I was suddenly reminded of what my high school friend Erine told me one day a few years back.
"You look awful, Joseph," she said one afternoon. Vain little Joseph was taken aback. This was high school, so you can imagine how it must've felt. "Really?" I said, still couldn't quite believe that she had the audacity so say something that blunt to my face. "Yeah."
I looked at her intently and saw that she had a look of sincere and utmost concern. That was the time of countless lab reports, articles to submit, lectures to catch up on, and quizzes and tests to endure. Maybe she was right.
I look at myself in the mirror now and well, with the tremendous amount of work I've set upon myself, how can I not look awful? But nah, I just shrug it off.
I'm still not regretting any of my decisions of late. I'm finally earning my first pay of sorts, for doing this transcription job that I'm mighty proud. I'm feeling good about myself, really. I feel surrounded by love of friends and family. Never mind the occasional bumps; it takes precious little to make me happy anyway, awful-looking or not.
Version 2_0 is coming up very soon. Bring it on, baby.
Haha. Here I am, wondering how on earth the past few days turned out to be the way they were. I certainly hadn't planned any of this, that's for sure. I did not plan the eyebags and the accompanying fatigue, I did not plan the sudden caffeine rush to wake myself during long and winding lectures, I did not plan on eating whatever strange thing it was that almost made me puke today.
I had good plans leading to this day, that I'm sure of. I wanted to do this and that, secret masterplans that will just have to be chucked away for the meantime.
I was looking at the mirror yesterday morning, in preparation for my 8AM Regression Analysis test, when I was suddenly reminded of what my high school friend Erine told me one day a few years back.
"You look awful, Joseph," she said one afternoon. Vain little Joseph was taken aback. This was high school, so you can imagine how it must've felt. "Really?" I said, still couldn't quite believe that she had the audacity so say something that blunt to my face. "Yeah."
I looked at her intently and saw that she had a look of sincere and utmost concern. That was the time of countless lab reports, articles to submit, lectures to catch up on, and quizzes and tests to endure. Maybe she was right.
I look at myself in the mirror now and well, with the tremendous amount of work I've set upon myself, how can I not look awful? But nah, I just shrug it off.
I'm still not regretting any of my decisions of late. I'm finally earning my first pay of sorts, for doing this transcription job that I'm mighty proud. I'm feeling good about myself, really. I feel surrounded by love of friends and family. Never mind the occasional bumps; it takes precious little to make me happy anyway, awful-looking or not.
Version 2_0 is coming up very soon. Bring it on, baby.
Heavy days
Heavy days
Haha the title just popped off my head and just realized, haha I hope nobody relates it with that euphemism used in commercials about, um, monthly feminine care. Hehe.
Anyway, I am officially seriously exhausted. If I were a bank account, the balance is running way too low, and soon, if I don't get reloaded anytime soon, I might be closed and discarded.
I did not want to spend the past and next few days this way initially, but then the opportunity presented itself and, jobless-since-birth Joseph was blinded by the moolah, and tada, here he is, doing semi-slave labor. But the pay is good Jose, and that could be a terrific birthday gift to self on 8th March. *mischievous laughter*
Haha, I have to do *mischievous laughter* one more time just because. =P
Anyway, I suspect I have loosened some screws in the head, but that's all right, because I perfectly know why I'm acting strange. Partly due to the long hours I worked and will work staring at the PC, pushing different buttons, and typing like mad, partly due to the two articles I have to submit to my different editors, partly due to the essay I've long been cooking up in my head for secret purposes, partly due to missed dinner and virtually nobody's in hall while I'm working my ass off, partly due to fatigue carried on from last week, partly due to tense and/or intensive conversations with people through different media, and in large part due to the Regression Analysis killer quiz on Monday morning.
Haha I just hope I even wake up in time on Monday.
I'll live. Jesus give me strength. And thanks to my uppers, you know who or what you are. Haha whatever that meant.
4:15 and it's time to sleep! And oh yeah, happy birthday to my favorite roomie-who-never-was, Pacey! He's gone for this year-long overseas program in Bio Valley in Philadelphia, but he's spending today in New York! Haha take care you!
Haha the title just popped off my head and just realized, haha I hope nobody relates it with that euphemism used in commercials about, um, monthly feminine care. Hehe.
Anyway, I am officially seriously exhausted. If I were a bank account, the balance is running way too low, and soon, if I don't get reloaded anytime soon, I might be closed and discarded.
I did not want to spend the past and next few days this way initially, but then the opportunity presented itself and, jobless-since-birth Joseph was blinded by the moolah, and tada, here he is, doing semi-slave labor. But the pay is good Jose, and that could be a terrific birthday gift to self on 8th March. *mischievous laughter*
Haha, I have to do *mischievous laughter* one more time just because. =P
Anyway, I suspect I have loosened some screws in the head, but that's all right, because I perfectly know why I'm acting strange. Partly due to the long hours I worked and will work staring at the PC, pushing different buttons, and typing like mad, partly due to the two articles I have to submit to my different editors, partly due to the essay I've long been cooking up in my head for secret purposes, partly due to missed dinner and virtually nobody's in hall while I'm working my ass off, partly due to fatigue carried on from last week, partly due to tense and/or intensive conversations with people through different media, and in large part due to the Regression Analysis killer quiz on Monday morning.
Haha I just hope I even wake up in time on Monday.
I'll live. Jesus give me strength. And thanks to my uppers, you know who or what you are. Haha whatever that meant.
4:15 and it's time to sleep! And oh yeah, happy birthday to my favorite roomie-who-never-was, Pacey! He's gone for this year-long overseas program in Bio Valley in Philadelphia, but he's spending today in New York! Haha take care you!
Time's a-wasting
Time's a-wasting
clock's a-ticking
work's a-piling (up)
head's a-spinning
Joseph's a-(sports)writing,
a-triple-article-writing,
a-tutorial-doing,
a-singing
a-reading
a-brainstorming
and still,
a-blogging.
Who would've thought the Road to Twenty would be as bumpy as this?
But nope, Joseph's not a-complaining one bit.
clock's a-ticking
work's a-piling (up)
head's a-spinning
Joseph's a-(sports)writing,
a-triple-article-writing,
a-tutorial-doing,
a-singing
a-reading
a-brainstorming
and still,
a-blogging.
Who would've thought the Road to Twenty would be as bumpy as this?
But nope, Joseph's not a-complaining one bit.
Spring Cleaning
Spring Cleaning
As anyone who knows me can tell, I'm not the un-messy type of person. That doesn't sound very good, actually, so let's just say I have, well, low standards of cleanliness and order. Hygiene is different, I'm high on that, but what I'm talking about is some general sense of structure and system and order.
I remember that in the madness that is the exams, I wouldn't mind sleeping with stacks of lecture notes and miscellaneous formula sheets lying around my bed. So many, in fact, that I have to curl myself to fit in the bed. My PC is messed up too, now with only 70MB of free space, thanks to 9GB of mp3's, a lot of camera pics and whatnot. And when my desktop gets cluttered with files once in a while, I attempt to clean them up. Thus I have folders called, "Desktopdump", "Recent", "Junk", "Recentjunk", "For Sorting". Haha they're dumpsites, really, but at least my desktop's neater now thanks to them. I think I've reached "Desktopdump3" and "Recentjunk3" already. Hahaha. But hey, at least there's an attempt to separate one mess from another. That's the first step baby.
* * *
I'm saying this 'cos I have decided to start the long overdue clean-up process, beginning with my room. This weekend is going to be a long one, thanks to the Lunar New Year, which is a big thing for the Chinese in Singapore. And so it's going to be a four-day weekend, which is quite a break I personally need.
So, finally yesterday, I got down to cleaning up my floor. That's a big thing, and I'm mighty proud to see and feel the floor smooth and squeaky clean now. I did a thorough sweeping of all the corners and difficult spots, and got down to good old mopping. Hehe it feels good on the toes. It's Mama who does the floors at home, and when she finishes, she would go to me and Kai to say she has a "gift" for us, and Kai and I would roll our eyes and say, "Yeah, clean floor". Or "clean house". Haha been taking that for granted I realize. Hello Mother if you're reading. :)
Dad also tells me and Kai to get organized. He tells us to have a place for everything, and have everything in its place. Seems simple, come to think of it, but I don't know. Haha I may be more strongly hit by the slug bug than I like to admit. I'll work on sorting my room out Dad, don't worry. :)
Anyway, room clean-up is still in progress. I'll do my laundry soon, and I have since yesterday working on the stuff in the cabinets and on shelves and tables and the bed headboard. I figure I can do my mugging better when my room's a more welcoming place.
* * *
But the thing I'd most likely love to spring clean is that murky place inside my head. It's gonna be a long break, and I would have time to accomplish many things, including my tutorials and readings, but also, I would have time to think. Think about the monsters in my head, and how to vanquish them.
No I'm not as demented as I may appear to sound, but I just want a little more fresh air to circulate in my head. I hope to get to thinking of what I want to do in my life, what I have done and what I'm currently doing in the two decades I've been around. I guess there's that part of me that's missing people too, and I don't know what to do about that. And there's that part of my head that's nagging me about the urgent work that has to be done, and I need to hush it up by doing my tasks. Basically I feel funny, and I need to get this settled somehow.
I don't blame government leaders and people of responsibility why they cannot, for the longest time, put some peace and order into the world. I myself struggle to sort my personal issues and my immediate surroundings, and it's not peanuts, I tell you.
If there's anything we all should do during this long weekend, Chinese and non-Chinese alike (including all other nationalities celebrating the Lunar New Year), it's definitely spring cleaning. On many different levels.
As anyone who knows me can tell, I'm not the un-messy type of person. That doesn't sound very good, actually, so let's just say I have, well, low standards of cleanliness and order. Hygiene is different, I'm high on that, but what I'm talking about is some general sense of structure and system and order.
I remember that in the madness that is the exams, I wouldn't mind sleeping with stacks of lecture notes and miscellaneous formula sheets lying around my bed. So many, in fact, that I have to curl myself to fit in the bed. My PC is messed up too, now with only 70MB of free space, thanks to 9GB of mp3's, a lot of camera pics and whatnot. And when my desktop gets cluttered with files once in a while, I attempt to clean them up. Thus I have folders called, "Desktopdump", "Recent", "Junk", "Recentjunk", "For Sorting". Haha they're dumpsites, really, but at least my desktop's neater now thanks to them. I think I've reached "Desktopdump3" and "Recentjunk3" already. Hahaha. But hey, at least there's an attempt to separate one mess from another. That's the first step baby.
* * *
I'm saying this 'cos I have decided to start the long overdue clean-up process, beginning with my room. This weekend is going to be a long one, thanks to the Lunar New Year, which is a big thing for the Chinese in Singapore. And so it's going to be a four-day weekend, which is quite a break I personally need.
So, finally yesterday, I got down to cleaning up my floor. That's a big thing, and I'm mighty proud to see and feel the floor smooth and squeaky clean now. I did a thorough sweeping of all the corners and difficult spots, and got down to good old mopping. Hehe it feels good on the toes. It's Mama who does the floors at home, and when she finishes, she would go to me and Kai to say she has a "gift" for us, and Kai and I would roll our eyes and say, "Yeah, clean floor". Or "clean house". Haha been taking that for granted I realize. Hello Mother if you're reading. :)
Dad also tells me and Kai to get organized. He tells us to have a place for everything, and have everything in its place. Seems simple, come to think of it, but I don't know. Haha I may be more strongly hit by the slug bug than I like to admit. I'll work on sorting my room out Dad, don't worry. :)
Anyway, room clean-up is still in progress. I'll do my laundry soon, and I have since yesterday working on the stuff in the cabinets and on shelves and tables and the bed headboard. I figure I can do my mugging better when my room's a more welcoming place.
* * *
But the thing I'd most likely love to spring clean is that murky place inside my head. It's gonna be a long break, and I would have time to accomplish many things, including my tutorials and readings, but also, I would have time to think. Think about the monsters in my head, and how to vanquish them.
No I'm not as demented as I may appear to sound, but I just want a little more fresh air to circulate in my head. I hope to get to thinking of what I want to do in my life, what I have done and what I'm currently doing in the two decades I've been around. I guess there's that part of me that's missing people too, and I don't know what to do about that. And there's that part of my head that's nagging me about the urgent work that has to be done, and I need to hush it up by doing my tasks. Basically I feel funny, and I need to get this settled somehow.
I don't blame government leaders and people of responsibility why they cannot, for the longest time, put some peace and order into the world. I myself struggle to sort my personal issues and my immediate surroundings, and it's not peanuts, I tell you.
If there's anything we all should do during this long weekend, Chinese and non-Chinese alike (including all other nationalities celebrating the Lunar New Year), it's definitely spring cleaning. On many different levels.
Just dropping by
Just dropping by
It's 3:45AM and I'm dropping by to say how incredibly exhausting this sem has been so far. And yes it's only Wednesday of Week 3.
I've been hit by another round of my random bouts of depression (OK, not-so-random), but what's new. Well, I dunno, maybe it's the compounded effect of taking 6 modules (I was even going for 7 before dropping the last one... what was I thinking), working my ass off for Hall and Choir, and I'm beginning to suspect the less-than-squeaky-clean state of my room is not doing me any good.
Oh yeah, it was clubbing for me and Ferron and Myriel and Karen & Mega and Korinna & Sundeep at this new funky clubbing place called Ministry of Sound. Four "rooms" of thumping music baby, to suit everyone's tastes. There was the Smoove (R&B and Top 40[?] music being played in some sort of cage.. most packed of the rooms), 54 (Retro! Haha never thought I'd appreciate it, but this one was a kick-ass happy place, complete with Austin Powers spirals, Eezy Dancing white dance floor tiles that light up, and 20 or so disco balls of different sizes), the White Room (I dunno what it's called but it's like one of those fashion TV places where people just lounge around while trance plays in the background) and Main Arena (where they play House music).
Anyway, my point about MOS is although it was superb, I realize that clubbing in the beginning of the sem cannot count as "clubbing therapy" as I like to call the end-of-sem post-exam clubbing. In fact, I'm just tired. But don't get me wrong -- it was loads of fun. But yeah, I'm tired.
Oh yeah, this is an excerpt of my song of the moment. Kick-ass video, too, seriously. But of course it's my song of the moment for a reason.
________
I've been thinking maybe I'm partly cloudy
Maybe I'm the chance of rain
And maybe I'm overcast
And maybe all my luck's washed down the drain
I've been thinkin' 'bout everyone, everyone you look so lonely
But when I look at the stars,
When I look at the stars,
When I look at the stars
I see someone else
When I look at the stars, the stars
I feel like myself
Stars looking at our planet,
Watching entropy and pain
And maybe startin' to wonder
How this chaos in our lives could pass as sane
- Switchfoot, "Stars"
________
As far as I know, Singapore is virtually starless on a regular day. That, or maybe I need better glasses.
Actually, I haven't been stargazing lately anyway, so I have no idea.
It's 3:45AM and I'm dropping by to say how incredibly exhausting this sem has been so far. And yes it's only Wednesday of Week 3.
I've been hit by another round of my random bouts of depression (OK, not-so-random), but what's new. Well, I dunno, maybe it's the compounded effect of taking 6 modules (I was even going for 7 before dropping the last one... what was I thinking), working my ass off for Hall and Choir, and I'm beginning to suspect the less-than-squeaky-clean state of my room is not doing me any good.
Oh yeah, it was clubbing for me and Ferron and Myriel and Karen & Mega and Korinna & Sundeep at this new funky clubbing place called Ministry of Sound. Four "rooms" of thumping music baby, to suit everyone's tastes. There was the Smoove (R&B and Top 40[?] music being played in some sort of cage.. most packed of the rooms), 54 (Retro! Haha never thought I'd appreciate it, but this one was a kick-ass happy place, complete with Austin Powers spirals, Eezy Dancing white dance floor tiles that light up, and 20 or so disco balls of different sizes), the White Room (I dunno what it's called but it's like one of those fashion TV places where people just lounge around while trance plays in the background) and Main Arena (where they play House music).
Anyway, my point about MOS is although it was superb, I realize that clubbing in the beginning of the sem cannot count as "clubbing therapy" as I like to call the end-of-sem post-exam clubbing. In fact, I'm just tired. But don't get me wrong -- it was loads of fun. But yeah, I'm tired.
Oh yeah, this is an excerpt of my song of the moment. Kick-ass video, too, seriously. But of course it's my song of the moment for a reason.
________
I've been thinking maybe I'm partly cloudy
Maybe I'm the chance of rain
And maybe I'm overcast
And maybe all my luck's washed down the drain
I've been thinkin' 'bout everyone, everyone you look so lonely
But when I look at the stars,
When I look at the stars,
When I look at the stars
I see someone else
When I look at the stars, the stars
I feel like myself
Stars looking at our planet,
Watching entropy and pain
And maybe startin' to wonder
How this chaos in our lives could pass as sane
- Switchfoot, "Stars"
________
As far as I know, Singapore is virtually starless on a regular day. That, or maybe I need better glasses.
Actually, I haven't been stargazing lately anyway, so I have no idea.
Smorgasbord
Smorgasbord
Yeah man, another update. About time too eh?
The current status of my head is like that of my room: a terrible mess. I've been oh-so-slowly trying to clear up my room (and there's progress, believe it or not), but as for the mess in my head, I guess it would do me good to vanquish some mind monsters by blogging them all out. :)
* * *
Speaking of my head, I've just had the worst headache of my life lately. In the plane too, of all places. So after a domestic flight earlier during the day, there I was in the Jetstar Asia plane, a good two and a half hours into the flight, when the headache hit me. Wah man, it stung like hell. Like my the pressure in the cabin was pushing my skull inward in all directions to squeeze in my brain. And my brain, being the smart thingy that it is, naturally responded by countering the pressure. Bad for Joshie, though, and he got this sick feeling of his head about to burst.
Then later, as the pilot's voice was heard on the speakers announcing our descent to Singapore, the headache turned to this piercing sensation right smack in the middle of my head. But nope, it wasn't as simple as it was, because soon it was spreading over my head like I dunno, oil or shampoo being poured over me. Seriously, I could even sense the direction of the headache as it creeped from the front to the back to the sides and finally circling my head. That bad, really. It was so bad in fact, that I did Our Father Hail Mary Glory Be until the plane touched down. I wouldn't have been surprised if I found my skull bleeding actually, but thankfully that wasn't the case. Phew.
Oh please Lord don't let it please be migraine. Dad and my sister Kai have it, and for many years I have been thankfully spared, and oh no I don't wish to suffer like them, 'cos I can tell from my sister's headaches that migraine hurts BAD.
I've had a bad headache again over the weekend, with considerably less intensity, but hopefully that's just due to fatigue.
* * *
Speaking of my sister, haha I've recently been posting our wacky pics, just me and her, as my display pic on MSN. Haha dunno what got into me and I posted them, but pretty cute really. I even posted one of the pics as my profile pic on Friendster. Hehe. And oh yeah, I've rediscovered Friendster! Haha it's been a long time baby. And ooh, found nice surprises in my inbox over the weekend. :)
Now my display pic is of me and Karen at Matina Town Square on the eve of her 20th birthday in December. Pretty cute too! Karen and Jasper have pretty potentially scandalous pics too of them. Hehe that was a nice dinner with Karen and Jay, really... too bad we morons forgot to take any picture of the three of us together!
Hmm.. Maybe I should post pics here sometime.
* * *
Oh yeah, I've been thinking I haven't really given justice to significant events that happened to me lately. Justice in terms of chronicling them at least. Haha maybe I should dump all my pics in Flickr or some photo-sharing service and display them all here. I've got dozens of super pics of NUS Choir in Shah Alam, and my December holiday pics in Davao, and heck, even the Czech Republic pics in June! Haha I'm such a sloth.
* * *
I never got around to talk about my new modules this sem much, much less about the tada, grades I got last sem. Haha. I don't intend to post them grades here for well, not-so-secret reasons, but suffice it to say that they were strange.
Strange because the module I didn't really pay much attention to turned out to be an A, and the core modules I worked my ass off for, turned out blah. I was like, "Huh?" when the grades screen flashed. An easy A, and hard-fought B's. Well, thank God for the A! My grades weren't bad really.. I just knew I could've done better. And I could have avoided this particularly BAD grade.. from what else, that Calculus module I was ranting about last sem. And since it can be said anyway, I got this A from my lone English module last sem, the one about linguistics. I can't help but notice that once again, my good grades come courtesy of my English modules, in contrast with my Statistics modules. But that's all right, my Stats modules aren't too bad. :)
This sem, though, it's gonna be a pumped up sem for me, in terms of module intensity. I missed EN2113 Reading Film and Cultural Texts because of the outrageous bid points, so in place I'm taking EL2101 Structure of Sentences and Meanings. Yep linguistics again, but please please let there be essays this sem!
I'm taking, surprise surprise, MA1104 Multivariable Calculus! Haha I thought I was done with Calculus modules but no sir, I need this module to take Financial Mathematics next semester and the one after that. I hope this is a good decision though, taking Financial Mathematics. I hope that my Financial Mathematics will complement nicely my Business Minor. :)
What else, oh yeah, the killer Statistics core modules! ST3131 Regression Analysis and ST3234 Actuarial Statistics. These modules are confirmed hardcore, and I will need intensive and extensive mugging time for them. But don't they sound good? Hehe Actuarial Stats is tough, from the looks of it, but it's more fun than the other Stats modules, 'cos we now talk about money and investment and insurance.. actual tangible moolah stuff. Haha pretty cool.
And then the Business modules of course. I'm doing FNA1002 Financial Accounting and DSC2006 Operations Management. Financial Accounting is ok lah, seems the fun technical dorky stuff, but that's essential for making money! Operations Management is being taught by this nice charismatic lecturer, who one can tell is rather good. At least he's head of some great big NUS projects in the Business school and some soon-to-come NUS campus to be built in China. Haha I love NUS. Anyway, I don't really feel for Operations Management yet, well, partly maybe because I don't know anyone taking the module with me (except Dan Sim from KR but he's with his friends), and hmph, I spent a good fortune of points for this module that I could have very well spent to get my film module! Hehe no regrets of course.
* * *
I could rant on about the stuff that's been keeping me busy lately, including covering the IHG Volleyball games of KR Hall, and consequently developing supreme respect for sportswriters (I know Newswriting, which is supposed to be related, but sportswriting is a different ball game I daresay), and the resumption of NUS Choir and KR activities, but nah, I think this entry has been lengthy enough. And no pics too! Haha once I get some free disk space and more free time I promise!
Anyway, life is good and although a lot of work is waiting to be done, I'm just taking it slowly, one bite at a time. Cheers!
Yeah man, another update. About time too eh?
The current status of my head is like that of my room: a terrible mess. I've been oh-so-slowly trying to clear up my room (and there's progress, believe it or not), but as for the mess in my head, I guess it would do me good to vanquish some mind monsters by blogging them all out. :)
* * *
Speaking of my head, I've just had the worst headache of my life lately. In the plane too, of all places. So after a domestic flight earlier during the day, there I was in the Jetstar Asia plane, a good two and a half hours into the flight, when the headache hit me. Wah man, it stung like hell. Like my the pressure in the cabin was pushing my skull inward in all directions to squeeze in my brain. And my brain, being the smart thingy that it is, naturally responded by countering the pressure. Bad for Joshie, though, and he got this sick feeling of his head about to burst.
Then later, as the pilot's voice was heard on the speakers announcing our descent to Singapore, the headache turned to this piercing sensation right smack in the middle of my head. But nope, it wasn't as simple as it was, because soon it was spreading over my head like I dunno, oil or shampoo being poured over me. Seriously, I could even sense the direction of the headache as it creeped from the front to the back to the sides and finally circling my head. That bad, really. It was so bad in fact, that I did Our Father Hail Mary Glory Be until the plane touched down. I wouldn't have been surprised if I found my skull bleeding actually, but thankfully that wasn't the case. Phew.
Oh please Lord don't let it please be migraine. Dad and my sister Kai have it, and for many years I have been thankfully spared, and oh no I don't wish to suffer like them, 'cos I can tell from my sister's headaches that migraine hurts BAD.
I've had a bad headache again over the weekend, with considerably less intensity, but hopefully that's just due to fatigue.
* * *
Speaking of my sister, haha I've recently been posting our wacky pics, just me and her, as my display pic on MSN. Haha dunno what got into me and I posted them, but pretty cute really. I even posted one of the pics as my profile pic on Friendster. Hehe. And oh yeah, I've rediscovered Friendster! Haha it's been a long time baby. And ooh, found nice surprises in my inbox over the weekend. :)
Now my display pic is of me and Karen at Matina Town Square on the eve of her 20th birthday in December. Pretty cute too! Karen and Jasper have pretty potentially scandalous pics too of them. Hehe that was a nice dinner with Karen and Jay, really... too bad we morons forgot to take any picture of the three of us together!
Hmm.. Maybe I should post pics here sometime.
* * *
Oh yeah, I've been thinking I haven't really given justice to significant events that happened to me lately. Justice in terms of chronicling them at least. Haha maybe I should dump all my pics in Flickr or some photo-sharing service and display them all here. I've got dozens of super pics of NUS Choir in Shah Alam, and my December holiday pics in Davao, and heck, even the Czech Republic pics in June! Haha I'm such a sloth.
* * *
I never got around to talk about my new modules this sem much, much less about the tada, grades I got last sem. Haha. I don't intend to post them grades here for well, not-so-secret reasons, but suffice it to say that they were strange.
Strange because the module I didn't really pay much attention to turned out to be an A, and the core modules I worked my ass off for, turned out blah. I was like, "Huh?" when the grades screen flashed. An easy A, and hard-fought B's. Well, thank God for the A! My grades weren't bad really.. I just knew I could've done better. And I could have avoided this particularly BAD grade.. from what else, that Calculus module I was ranting about last sem. And since it can be said anyway, I got this A from my lone English module last sem, the one about linguistics. I can't help but notice that once again, my good grades come courtesy of my English modules, in contrast with my Statistics modules. But that's all right, my Stats modules aren't too bad. :)
This sem, though, it's gonna be a pumped up sem for me, in terms of module intensity. I missed EN2113 Reading Film and Cultural Texts because of the outrageous bid points, so in place I'm taking EL2101 Structure of Sentences and Meanings. Yep linguistics again, but please please let there be essays this sem!
I'm taking, surprise surprise, MA1104 Multivariable Calculus! Haha I thought I was done with Calculus modules but no sir, I need this module to take Financial Mathematics next semester and the one after that. I hope this is a good decision though, taking Financial Mathematics. I hope that my Financial Mathematics will complement nicely my Business Minor. :)
What else, oh yeah, the killer Statistics core modules! ST3131 Regression Analysis and ST3234 Actuarial Statistics. These modules are confirmed hardcore, and I will need intensive and extensive mugging time for them. But don't they sound good? Hehe Actuarial Stats is tough, from the looks of it, but it's more fun than the other Stats modules, 'cos we now talk about money and investment and insurance.. actual tangible moolah stuff. Haha pretty cool.
And then the Business modules of course. I'm doing FNA1002 Financial Accounting and DSC2006 Operations Management. Financial Accounting is ok lah, seems the fun technical dorky stuff, but that's essential for making money! Operations Management is being taught by this nice charismatic lecturer, who one can tell is rather good. At least he's head of some great big NUS projects in the Business school and some soon-to-come NUS campus to be built in China. Haha I love NUS. Anyway, I don't really feel for Operations Management yet, well, partly maybe because I don't know anyone taking the module with me (except Dan Sim from KR but he's with his friends), and hmph, I spent a good fortune of points for this module that I could have very well spent to get my film module! Hehe no regrets of course.
* * *
I could rant on about the stuff that's been keeping me busy lately, including covering the IHG Volleyball games of KR Hall, and consequently developing supreme respect for sportswriters (I know Newswriting, which is supposed to be related, but sportswriting is a different ball game I daresay), and the resumption of NUS Choir and KR activities, but nah, I think this entry has been lengthy enough. And no pics too! Haha once I get some free disk space and more free time I promise!
Anyway, life is good and although a lot of work is waiting to be done, I'm just taking it slowly, one bite at a time. Cheers!
Too Busy Too Soon
Too Busy Too Soon
Yep, I'm here in rainy Singapore already. Lots to blog about, but I unfortunately cannot chronicle them events all right now because I'm still currently stunned from the work that I've suddenly been plunged into. Well, that's what I get for coming to school on Wednesday afternoon, when classes begin on Monday.
Anyway, it's not too bad, although the rainy weather is dampening my spirits. Rainy days are like sad movies. They depress the shit out of me. Hmph. Must resist the weather!
But really, I'm okay. Room clean-up and Luggage unpacking are still in progress, I'm getting into the groove of the new semester (although I really could not get the film module I so wanted :( ) , and met a number of Singapore buddies already, Pinoys and hallmates and choirmates and classmates. So yep, I'm okay.
Dunno what's wrong with Chikka though. Or my Globe SIM. Hmm. Maybe I should really just call home soon. Goodnight world.
Yep, I'm here in rainy Singapore already. Lots to blog about, but I unfortunately cannot chronicle them events all right now because I'm still currently stunned from the work that I've suddenly been plunged into. Well, that's what I get for coming to school on Wednesday afternoon, when classes begin on Monday.
Anyway, it's not too bad, although the rainy weather is dampening my spirits. Rainy days are like sad movies. They depress the shit out of me. Hmph. Must resist the weather!
But really, I'm okay. Room clean-up and Luggage unpacking are still in progress, I'm getting into the groove of the new semester (although I really could not get the film module I so wanted :( ) , and met a number of Singapore buddies already, Pinoys and hallmates and choirmates and classmates. So yep, I'm okay.
Dunno what's wrong with Chikka though. Or my Globe SIM. Hmm. Maybe I should really just call home soon. Goodnight world.
Six Minutes
Six Minutes
Oops, it's five, not six, minutes now according to this tiny counter on my PC screen here in this internet cafe.
Five minutes left before I'm booted out of the cafe. I don't mind much; lunch awaits me at Lola's. Ho hum. How to kill 5 minutes?
3 minutes. Haha, time's a wasting really.
Well, I guess time's running out rather quickly. SO what really do I wanna say?
Hmm.. well, for one, I hope I get my EN2113 Reading Film and Cultural Texts module. I'm 750 points short as of Round 3A. Hmph. Next round hopefully.
And yeah, I'm leaving for Singapore on Wednesday already. Hmm. That should arouse some emotion, to be sure, but I'm not sure what exactly is brewing in my system right about now.
OK, gotta go! One minute to publish this post! Bye!
Oops, it's five, not six, minutes now according to this tiny counter on my PC screen here in this internet cafe.
Five minutes left before I'm booted out of the cafe. I don't mind much; lunch awaits me at Lola's. Ho hum. How to kill 5 minutes?
3 minutes. Haha, time's a wasting really.
Well, I guess time's running out rather quickly. SO what really do I wanna say?
Hmm.. well, for one, I hope I get my EN2113 Reading Film and Cultural Texts module. I'm 750 points short as of Round 3A. Hmph. Next round hopefully.
And yeah, I'm leaving for Singapore on Wednesday already. Hmm. That should arouse some emotion, to be sure, but I'm not sure what exactly is brewing in my system right about now.
OK, gotta go! One minute to publish this post! Bye!
Back!
Back!
I can remember some other ancient post I made with the same unimaginative title but what the heck, it's been way too long, and although the thought of my blog being old and rotting and moldy was nagging me the entire Christmas break, nah, the laziness got the better of me, but tada, now I'm back. *applause*
Now now, where does a lazy blogger begin when there's three past weeks of blogworthy events waiting to be chronicled? Yawn. I think I'm gonna be good to myself and spare me the trouble. BUT, maybe I'll just give a rough and chop-chop description of what on earth has been keeping me busy the past weeks.
My arrival home in the Philippines was a bit bumpy, what with a sweet-talking lousy taxi driver capping off a sleepless, neck-breaking travel experience that began with a bus ride from Malaysia, an uncomfy night at the airport by my lonesome, two flights, and two heavy bags (on top of the laptop bag slung across my chest) whose straps broke conveniently when I realised I had to walk 1KM from one building of the NAIA airport to another. I was so cranky that I was a bit irritated at my mom, who was alone with me at home when I arrived.
But nonetheless, I was home, and that's always a good thing. My Dad and sister arrived the next day (Dad from a trip to Marbel, South Cotabato, my sister from Los Baños) and it was good to fill the Sorongon household once more. My sister was rushing to the TV as soon as she stepped into the door. "TV! TV!" she said as if in a trance. Well, I can't blame her. Cable TV rocks man.
* * *
Christmas was, for lack of better words, strange. It was less brighter than the previous years, for several reasons. I guess that goes for most every other Filipino household, what with the "exciting" political and socio-economic events of the year. Personally, it was gloomier for a number of reasons, like seeing my ninang (godmother) suddenly sick, my cousins not coming over due to reasons, our high school batch outing not quite being a "batch" outing, both my lolas (grannies) not being in the best of conditions, and some others. My cousins, Patricia and Niño, came over to my Lola's place and it was great to have them around, but yeah, we commented how our big cousins' reunion, with a studio picture as a symbol, was getting increasingly difficult to pull off, especially now that some of my cousins have just graduated and are now chained by their ahem, careers.
But well, Christmas is Christmas, and Christmas at home is just dandy. And thus, it was still the happy and warm and fuzzy event it was meant to be. I've made a mental note of the things I want to do before I turn twenty (because really, 20 is a BIG year and people who cross over are O-L-D, just ask Karen to be sure haha), and one of them is to complete the traditional Filipino dawn masses, called misa de gallo or simbang gabi. They go on for 9 mornings, from the 16th to the 24th of December at the oddest of hours 4AM. And I completed them! Haha, and aside from the few times when I was too sleepy to listen to the homily, I actually listened and put to heart what the priest said. Even that one lousy homily of this priest I couldn't forget, even his two lame totally-unChristmas jokes. Anyway, point is, I finished the simbang gabi set (one of the days we went to church at night though, hope it still counts), and that reportedly entitles me to a wish that's sure to be granted. I haven't thought of one yet, but never mind. I did it before I turned twenty, and that's a big thing already. Definitely a highlight of this year's X'mas season.
* * *
So what else have happened? Dunno, time seems to always keep me off-guard. Speaking of time, I think I'm running out of it in my use of this PC in this internet cafe, so tada, I bid you farewell, dear bloggie, and whoever else is reading this post. Oh, I'm in Kidapawan City, btw, here to spend some time with my other Lola. Hehe. Will be back in Davao tomorrow afternoon.
Maybe I'll rant more in my next post. Now for some Jollibee Chickenjoy to bring home to Lola! Happy new year!
I can remember some other ancient post I made with the same unimaginative title but what the heck, it's been way too long, and although the thought of my blog being old and rotting and moldy was nagging me the entire Christmas break, nah, the laziness got the better of me, but tada, now I'm back. *applause*
Now now, where does a lazy blogger begin when there's three past weeks of blogworthy events waiting to be chronicled? Yawn. I think I'm gonna be good to myself and spare me the trouble. BUT, maybe I'll just give a rough and chop-chop description of what on earth has been keeping me busy the past weeks.
My arrival home in the Philippines was a bit bumpy, what with a sweet-talking lousy taxi driver capping off a sleepless, neck-breaking travel experience that began with a bus ride from Malaysia, an uncomfy night at the airport by my lonesome, two flights, and two heavy bags (on top of the laptop bag slung across my chest) whose straps broke conveniently when I realised I had to walk 1KM from one building of the NAIA airport to another. I was so cranky that I was a bit irritated at my mom, who was alone with me at home when I arrived.
But nonetheless, I was home, and that's always a good thing. My Dad and sister arrived the next day (Dad from a trip to Marbel, South Cotabato, my sister from Los Baños) and it was good to fill the Sorongon household once more. My sister was rushing to the TV as soon as she stepped into the door. "TV! TV!" she said as if in a trance. Well, I can't blame her. Cable TV rocks man.
* * *
Christmas was, for lack of better words, strange. It was less brighter than the previous years, for several reasons. I guess that goes for most every other Filipino household, what with the "exciting" political and socio-economic events of the year. Personally, it was gloomier for a number of reasons, like seeing my ninang (godmother) suddenly sick, my cousins not coming over due to reasons, our high school batch outing not quite being a "batch" outing, both my lolas (grannies) not being in the best of conditions, and some others. My cousins, Patricia and Niño, came over to my Lola's place and it was great to have them around, but yeah, we commented how our big cousins' reunion, with a studio picture as a symbol, was getting increasingly difficult to pull off, especially now that some of my cousins have just graduated and are now chained by their ahem, careers.
But well, Christmas is Christmas, and Christmas at home is just dandy. And thus, it was still the happy and warm and fuzzy event it was meant to be. I've made a mental note of the things I want to do before I turn twenty (because really, 20 is a BIG year and people who cross over are O-L-D, just ask Karen to be sure haha), and one of them is to complete the traditional Filipino dawn masses, called misa de gallo or simbang gabi. They go on for 9 mornings, from the 16th to the 24th of December at the oddest of hours 4AM. And I completed them! Haha, and aside from the few times when I was too sleepy to listen to the homily, I actually listened and put to heart what the priest said. Even that one lousy homily of this priest I couldn't forget, even his two lame totally-unChristmas jokes. Anyway, point is, I finished the simbang gabi set (one of the days we went to church at night though, hope it still counts), and that reportedly entitles me to a wish that's sure to be granted. I haven't thought of one yet, but never mind. I did it before I turned twenty, and that's a big thing already. Definitely a highlight of this year's X'mas season.
* * *
So what else have happened? Dunno, time seems to always keep me off-guard. Speaking of time, I think I'm running out of it in my use of this PC in this internet cafe, so tada, I bid you farewell, dear bloggie, and whoever else is reading this post. Oh, I'm in Kidapawan City, btw, here to spend some time with my other Lola. Hehe. Will be back in Davao tomorrow afternoon.
Maybe I'll rant more in my next post. Now for some Jollibee Chickenjoy to bring home to Lola! Happy new year!
NUS Choir Rocks
NUS Choir Rocks
Ahh.. fresh from Shah Alam, and I'm on a high.
Retelling the Shah Alam experience
would require a lengthy session of my usual stammering and stuttering and it would go nowhere. Let me see, it was crazy and happy and depressing and a laughing session and ooh some tension here and there.
The "depressing" part came when Big Boss made an impromptu revelation during the comm meeting regarding me, and for a while I felt like shit. He didn't mean it of course; he meant it as a positive example of sorts. (It wasn't him anyway: it was the message that sucked, not the messenger.) The pessimist in me took over, and I had to take a walk. But nah, it's all okay now, and so, discounting this minor glitch, most everything about the 2005 Voyage of Songs was super. Loved every moment of it.
So I'd like to profess my sincere fondness and lurrve for NUS Choir. Congratulations to us for winning Gold in both the categories we entered, AND yahooo Best Interpretation of the Set Piece. Even if we missed being the category winner for Open Mixed Advanced (by less than two points!), we still hit the gold despite the majority of the choir being untrained and inexperienced singers. Congrats to Yan Ting for hitting it big on her "virgin" performance (her words) as a conductor of the Folklore Category, and to Wei Wei for his grand splash into the conductor scene alongside the rest of the more established ones. You guys deserve it.
I'm glad the entire choir had crazy fun. We were practically laughing and bonding all four days. Special mention goes to my fellow basses! Haha seriously, we kick-ass guys. I'm also mighty happy that the Filipina girls (Kirsten, Renee, Jenica, Abby) had tremendous fun as well. I'm especially glad that the exchange students (R J & A) had a blast. Haha I'm absolutely sure you meant it when you said you'll miss the choir when you're back in Manila. The Comm members, the Exco and Musico, we did it! Haha Big Boss KK and VP Iris and WW and YT were the ones whose burden was heaviest, so kudos to you all. I'm glad to be part of the comm. The whole choir, really, ahh you rock.
Oh yeah, a Filipino Choir joined the competition too. It was nice to see them as I had some sort of encounter with home. Theirs was quite an unfortunate situation: the choir missed their flight because of some flood, they forfeited their tickets, had to find sponsors last minute, came late. But they managed to come in time for the competition proper, and they were so super cheerful and happy to be there. The exchange girls shrieked with delight when they saw them, and it was, well, as expected, a happy photo session. Hehe.
Speaking of photos, there were probably two million shot, and I'll upload them here when somebody posts them up in the choir forum.
Happy happy. And by this time tomorrow, I'll be in the Philippines already, probably in the plane from Manila to Davao. Hehe just this thought motivates me to endure one miserable night at the airport in Changi later. Hehe.
Next post comes when I'm at home. All my good vibes go out to the world.
Ahh.. fresh from Shah Alam, and I'm on a high.
Retelling the Shah Alam experience
would require a lengthy session of my usual stammering and stuttering and it would go nowhere. Let me see, it was crazy and happy and depressing and a laughing session and ooh some tension here and there.
The "depressing" part came when Big Boss made an impromptu revelation during the comm meeting regarding me, and for a while I felt like shit. He didn't mean it of course; he meant it as a positive example of sorts. (It wasn't him anyway: it was the message that sucked, not the messenger.) The pessimist in me took over, and I had to take a walk. But nah, it's all okay now, and so, discounting this minor glitch, most everything about the 2005 Voyage of Songs was super. Loved every moment of it.
So I'd like to profess my sincere fondness and lurrve for NUS Choir. Congratulations to us for winning Gold in both the categories we entered, AND yahooo Best Interpretation of the Set Piece. Even if we missed being the category winner for Open Mixed Advanced (by less than two points!), we still hit the gold despite the majority of the choir being untrained and inexperienced singers. Congrats to Yan Ting for hitting it big on her "virgin" performance (her words) as a conductor of the Folklore Category, and to Wei Wei for his grand splash into the conductor scene alongside the rest of the more established ones. You guys deserve it.
I'm glad the entire choir had crazy fun. We were practically laughing and bonding all four days. Special mention goes to my fellow basses! Haha seriously, we kick-ass guys. I'm also mighty happy that the Filipina girls (Kirsten, Renee, Jenica, Abby) had tremendous fun as well. I'm especially glad that the exchange students (R J & A) had a blast. Haha I'm absolutely sure you meant it when you said you'll miss the choir when you're back in Manila. The Comm members, the Exco and Musico, we did it! Haha Big Boss KK and VP Iris and WW and YT were the ones whose burden was heaviest, so kudos to you all. I'm glad to be part of the comm. The whole choir, really, ahh you rock.
Oh yeah, a Filipino Choir joined the competition too. It was nice to see them as I had some sort of encounter with home. Theirs was quite an unfortunate situation: the choir missed their flight because of some flood, they forfeited their tickets, had to find sponsors last minute, came late. But they managed to come in time for the competition proper, and they were so super cheerful and happy to be there. The exchange girls shrieked with delight when they saw them, and it was, well, as expected, a happy photo session. Hehe.
Speaking of photos, there were probably two million shot, and I'll upload them here when somebody posts them up in the choir forum.
Happy happy. And by this time tomorrow, I'll be in the Philippines already, probably in the plane from Manila to Davao. Hehe just this thought motivates me to endure one miserable night at the airport in Changi later. Hehe.
Next post comes when I'm at home. All my good vibes go out to the world.
Off to Shah Alam
Off to Shah Alam
In a few minutes I'll be passing my laptop to Ivy for safekeeping for the next 4 days, so I shall squeeze in a tiny entry right here. No doubt the next days will be eventful (yes the safe word), and I wouldn't want it to go unchronicled.
So yep, it's off to Shah Alam, Malaysia (somewhere near KL) for the NUS Choir gang. We're participating in this Voyage of Songs choral competition, and as of 1:17AM, five hours before meet-up time, Joseph is still stuck with his packing chores. (Ugh, what's new.)
But that's not the point, really. The point is that, yeah, I hope we win. I pray we win, and I hope whoever reads this blog takes time to send your good vibes and join me in wishing the NUS Choir well.
I'm sure that the NUS Choir will bond more closely because of this, and yeah, that makes this opportunity cool. I hope to get to know some other choirs as well, and enjoy the music they'll be singing. I dunno about you, but when a choir performs a piece in harmony and with a passion that's electrifying, it's like bam! you got me you guys. I'm moved and would gladly burst with joy. Music therapy.
Anyway, I'll be back on the 13th, and then I'll do a repeat of the sleepover at the airport I did last time, then fly to the Philippines early morning of the 14th.
I'm gonna miss Singapore. But I sure would lurrvvve to be home. But for the meantime, help the choir in Shah Alam, Lord. Goodbye world. Goodbye laptop too.
Yep, as I've long suspected, packing up one's bags is a psychological activity too. One that makes you feel very strange. Must get sleep. :)
In a few minutes I'll be passing my laptop to Ivy for safekeeping for the next 4 days, so I shall squeeze in a tiny entry right here. No doubt the next days will be eventful (yes the safe word), and I wouldn't want it to go unchronicled.
So yep, it's off to Shah Alam, Malaysia (somewhere near KL) for the NUS Choir gang. We're participating in this Voyage of Songs choral competition, and as of 1:17AM, five hours before meet-up time, Joseph is still stuck with his packing chores. (Ugh, what's new.)
But that's not the point, really. The point is that, yeah, I hope we win. I pray we win, and I hope whoever reads this blog takes time to send your good vibes and join me in wishing the NUS Choir well.
I'm sure that the NUS Choir will bond more closely because of this, and yeah, that makes this opportunity cool. I hope to get to know some other choirs as well, and enjoy the music they'll be singing. I dunno about you, but when a choir performs a piece in harmony and with a passion that's electrifying, it's like bam! you got me you guys. I'm moved and would gladly burst with joy. Music therapy.
Anyway, I'll be back on the 13th, and then I'll do a repeat of the sleepover at the airport I did last time, then fly to the Philippines early morning of the 14th.
I'm gonna miss Singapore. But I sure would lurrvvve to be home. But for the meantime, help the choir in Shah Alam, Lord. Goodbye world. Goodbye laptop too.
Yep, as I've long suspected, packing up one's bags is a psychological activity too. One that makes you feel very strange. Must get sleep. :)
I miss blogging but
I miss blogging but..
..I'm still busy! Haha. After the exams I promised myself I'd sleep-all-day-why-don't-we-sleep-all-day (a la Jason Mraz), ringbind my bridging year and Year 1 notes (since my Year 2 Sem 1 notes look spanking good ringbound), watch movies at the Central Library, download lots of mp3's, and watch lots of TV shows. And status? Haha, no sleep-all-day session yet, no new ringbound notes, three quarters of Como Agua para Chocolate (Like Water for Chocolate) before choir big boss KK called me up to ready the keys for choir practice, and yeah good servings of my Desperate Housewives and heck, even Heidi Klum and her Project Runway. Haha. For some reason I'm not craving for OC too much, but I sure damn miss my LOST! I want my tailies story already! Haha. Too bad the NUS Comcen techies decided to disable (or GREATLY reduce the download speed at least) file transfer from the net, and thus poor undergrads have to resort to other ways to make us happy minus TV shows and movies and mp3s.
I never really had a good post-mortem to the exam season. Yeah, especially since I'd love to rant about my exams, which all almost drained the life out of me (especially Calculus!). Come to think of it, though, there never really was a proper closure of the stress season, as right after the exams, although the stress level had dipped to reasonably tolerable lows, there was well, Robinson's confinement in the University Hospital because of some lung problem, the intensive choir practices in faraway Siglap (one hour+ bus ride) and the corresponding chores Mr Records Secretary must perform, my much-needed clubbing therapy thanks to Club Momo (wah it was a very strange night, really.. detoxified afterwards), and last night's Sushi Buffet with the past and present Choir Comm, and oh yeah, my teaching stint with a teeny handful of KR choristers to whom I taught Christmas carols! Haha.
Yeah, so many things, but no time to blog! Haizz. Will post some photos soon of Choir and
my exam period hangout, Med Library (I miss that place!). And oh yeah, finally, after a long wait (seriously NEVER buy a Konica Minolta camera, because not only are the cameras not tought enough, their SERVICE IS THE LOUSIEST ON EARTH.. anyway nuff digression), my camera's back! Haha. I'm so happy.
I'm mighty glad I could bring the cam home for Christmas, and take photos of my family and lolas and my lovely Philippines baby! Haha. I was denied that privilege last Christmas (ugh thanks to Konica again).
Hehe anyway, it's a good time to end this post right here. Haha, 'cause my laundry's probably done too! Haha and I must sleep early to make it to Siglap later at 10am! Last practice before we hit Malaysia on Friday for the competition. :)
OK, good night world. Today was a good day. Packing is a pain, but hey, at least my room's finally getting fixed up. Yahooo. All the better to sleep in it. Heh, goodnight.
..I'm still busy! Haha. After the exams I promised myself I'd sleep-all-day-why-don't-we-sleep-all-day (a la Jason Mraz), ringbind my bridging year and Year 1 notes (since my Year 2 Sem 1 notes look spanking good ringbound), watch movies at the Central Library, download lots of mp3's, and watch lots of TV shows. And status? Haha, no sleep-all-day session yet, no new ringbound notes, three quarters of Como Agua para Chocolate (Like Water for Chocolate) before choir big boss KK called me up to ready the keys for choir practice, and yeah good servings of my Desperate Housewives and heck, even Heidi Klum and her Project Runway. Haha. For some reason I'm not craving for OC too much, but I sure damn miss my LOST! I want my tailies story already! Haha. Too bad the NUS Comcen techies decided to disable (or GREATLY reduce the download speed at least) file transfer from the net, and thus poor undergrads have to resort to other ways to make us happy minus TV shows and movies and mp3s.
I never really had a good post-mortem to the exam season. Yeah, especially since I'd love to rant about my exams, which all almost drained the life out of me (especially Calculus!). Come to think of it, though, there never really was a proper closure of the stress season, as right after the exams, although the stress level had dipped to reasonably tolerable lows, there was well, Robinson's confinement in the University Hospital because of some lung problem, the intensive choir practices in faraway Siglap (one hour+ bus ride) and the corresponding chores Mr Records Secretary must perform, my much-needed clubbing therapy thanks to Club Momo (wah it was a very strange night, really.. detoxified afterwards), and last night's Sushi Buffet with the past and present Choir Comm, and oh yeah, my teaching stint with a teeny handful of KR choristers to whom I taught Christmas carols! Haha.
Yeah, so many things, but no time to blog! Haizz. Will post some photos soon of Choir and
my exam period hangout, Med Library (I miss that place!). And oh yeah, finally, after a long wait (seriously NEVER buy a Konica Minolta camera, because not only are the cameras not tought enough, their SERVICE IS THE LOUSIEST ON EARTH.. anyway nuff digression), my camera's back! Haha. I'm so happy.
I'm mighty glad I could bring the cam home for Christmas, and take photos of my family and lolas and my lovely Philippines baby! Haha. I was denied that privilege last Christmas (ugh thanks to Konica again).
Hehe anyway, it's a good time to end this post right here. Haha, 'cause my laundry's probably done too! Haha and I must sleep early to make it to Siglap later at 10am! Last practice before we hit Malaysia on Friday for the competition. :)
OK, good night world. Today was a good day. Packing is a pain, but hey, at least my room's finally getting fixed up. Yahooo. All the better to sleep in it. Heh, goodnight.
Here comes the crunch
Here comes the crunch
Let me tell you a secret. Calculus scares me. We're not very good friends, really.. and come to think of it, ever since. For a while before, it seemed appealing and "cool" in a dorky kind of way, but now I'm just freaked out about faring in the exam the way I did in that horrible horrible
midterm test. The worst thing about that midterm test is that it could have been easy, had I done this and that and whatever else. How I got 1.0 (top marks) in my Calculus class in my senior year in high school, I'm not too sure now.
My week-long silence from the blogosphere can be explained by what else, the exams. It's been Medical Library or MD7 or Yusof Ishak House for me and fellow muggers Ferron, Arthur, Nestor, Ivy, sometimes Karen and Brian. So, with four exams down and one more to go, I guess my state of mind can be captured by this photo taken at YIH during one all-nighter session.
Ahh. After my Advanced Calculus II paper at 5PM today, the first thing I'm gonna make sure I'll do is get myself some SLEEP. Get rid of my eyebags, and reclaim my sanity!
But of course, if the unplanned-but-sort-of-planned clubbing session pushes through tonight, then by all means, let the party begin!
For now, though, let me indulge in my newfound friend Calculus. We're getting chummy now. I hope. Ahh.. the smell of freedom. Just a day away. Can't wait.
Let me tell you a secret. Calculus scares me. We're not very good friends, really.. and come to think of it, ever since. For a while before, it seemed appealing and "cool" in a dorky kind of way, but now I'm just freaked out about faring in the exam the way I did in that horrible horrible
midterm test. The worst thing about that midterm test is that it could have been easy, had I done this and that and whatever else. How I got 1.0 (top marks) in my Calculus class in my senior year in high school, I'm not too sure now.My week-long silence from the blogosphere can be explained by what else, the exams. It's been Medical Library or MD7 or Yusof Ishak House for me and fellow muggers Ferron, Arthur, Nestor, Ivy, sometimes Karen and Brian. So, with four exams down and one more to go, I guess my state of mind can be captured by this photo taken at YIH during one all-nighter session.
Ahh. After my Advanced Calculus II paper at 5PM today, the first thing I'm gonna make sure I'll do is get myself some SLEEP. Get rid of my eyebags, and reclaim my sanity!
But of course, if the unplanned-but-sort-of-planned clubbing session pushes through tonight, then by all means, let the party begin!
For now, though, let me indulge in my newfound friend Calculus. We're getting chummy now. I hope. Ahh.. the smell of freedom. Just a day away. Can't wait.
Library Boy
Library Boy
OK, maybe that last post was a bit over the top. Nah, not really, goes my inner Gollum.
Just the same, before my folks panic and send me more words of encouragement (and remind me to watch my language too), and just so I wouldn't freak o
ut some people by seemingly branding them lurkers or noisy moviemates or librarymates when I don't mean them them anyway, or at least, placing them at the receiving end of my random spurts of hatred, I'm posting this post so that that incriminating post will be reduced to runner-up position.
Yeah, that, and to simply just say that I'm not angry with the world, even if that outburst seemed to point in that direction. If you fear you're a lurker, then by all means, please continue to email or send me private comments. Haha, but really, thanks to those who outed themselves. Some didn't have to, really, because yep we're cool. :)
What's the point of this post again? Ahh.. yes. Just so I could post my wonderful library pic. Thanks to Ferron and his trusty camera phone as usual.
Ain't I cute in the pic? Haha, yes... the dorky, cheap-thrill, kiddie sort of "cute" though. Not exactly what every nineteen-year-old wants to look like eh? Blurgh, it's still cute what.
Medical Library rocks. (And I am such a dork. Hopefully this will translate to good grades though!)
OK, maybe that last post was a bit over the top. Nah, not really, goes my inner Gollum.
Just the same, before my folks panic and send me more words of encouragement (and remind me to watch my language too), and just so I wouldn't freak o
ut some people by seemingly branding them lurkers or noisy moviemates or librarymates when I don't mean them them anyway, or at least, placing them at the receiving end of my random spurts of hatred, I'm posting this post so that that incriminating post will be reduced to runner-up position.Yeah, that, and to simply just say that I'm not angry with the world, even if that outburst seemed to point in that direction. If you fear you're a lurker, then by all means, please continue to email or send me private comments. Haha, but really, thanks to those who outed themselves. Some didn't have to, really, because yep we're cool. :)
What's the point of this post again? Ahh.. yes. Just so I could post my wonderful library pic. Thanks to Ferron and his trusty camera phone as usual.
Ain't I cute in the pic? Haha, yes... the dorky, cheap-thrill, kiddie sort of "cute" though. Not exactly what every nineteen-year-old wants to look like eh? Blurgh, it's still cute what.
Medical Library rocks. (And I am such a dork. Hopefully this will translate to good grades though!)
Indisposed
Indisposed
Yeah, that's just the nice way of saying I'm not in the mood.
The revision for the exams must have gotten to me, although I'm pretty sure that's not all that's agitating me right now. And "right now" is an important time too, barely three days before my first exam in a string of five.
Yeah. Three days before my exams. What a time to stray from my intended study master plan. What a time to go all ballistic over what other people would find trivial.
Let it be noted that this is again one of those times that I wish for a private blog. Because that way, I can rant more fucking freely.
What the hell, I'm gonna say it here anyway. I hate spoilers. I hate noisy people in the library. I hate noisy spoilers in the cinema. Fucking spoiled my Harry Potter.
Since I'm so annoyed, let me direct my annoyance at those who read my blog but never mention that they do. I hate you too, you lurkers.
If you lurker, would kindly wish to un-lurk yourself and enter my circle of trust, send me an email or comment privately in this blog. This lurker issue is driving me crazy. Maybe I should put a make this a "Friends Only" blog, but that doesn't quite sit well with me, as some random visitors turn out to be nice friends too, e.g. Kiko and Cruise and Tatatee.
Hmm.. let the one who most deserves it not be spared my infliction of hatred: myself. I hate myself right now, for not studying hard enough, for making a stupid timetable only to render it dynamic and flexible and delaying everything, for giving in to distractions whenever I'm supposed to be studying, and mostly, for allowing myself to get affected by things that I cannot control.
God I feel like such a loser. A bitter, fucked-up loser who's losing it.
Dammit, I'm cramming five modules' worth of information in my head, please bear with me.
Jesus help me.
P.S. I've just read this post, and it seems like I've spewed out a lot of stuff here. That should be enough. That should be a release of the toxins that's been stored too long in my head. Supposedly, I should feel better.
It's 5:37PM now. I've decided that I shall forget this episode and carry on with my life at 6:00PM, and feel better. For now I'm taking a shower.
Yeah, that's just the nice way of saying I'm not in the mood.
The revision for the exams must have gotten to me, although I'm pretty sure that's not all that's agitating me right now. And "right now" is an important time too, barely three days before my first exam in a string of five.
Yeah. Three days before my exams. What a time to stray from my intended study master plan. What a time to go all ballistic over what other people would find trivial.
Let it be noted that this is again one of those times that I wish for a private blog. Because that way, I can rant more fucking freely.
What the hell, I'm gonna say it here anyway. I hate spoilers. I hate noisy people in the library. I hate noisy spoilers in the cinema. Fucking spoiled my Harry Potter.
Since I'm so annoyed, let me direct my annoyance at those who read my blog but never mention that they do. I hate you too, you lurkers.
If you lurker, would kindly wish to un-lurk yourself and enter my circle of trust, send me an email or comment privately in this blog. This lurker issue is driving me crazy. Maybe I should put a make this a "Friends Only" blog, but that doesn't quite sit well with me, as some random visitors turn out to be nice friends too, e.g. Kiko and Cruise and Tatatee.
Hmm.. let the one who most deserves it not be spared my infliction of hatred: myself. I hate myself right now, for not studying hard enough, for making a stupid timetable only to render it dynamic and flexible and delaying everything, for giving in to distractions whenever I'm supposed to be studying, and mostly, for allowing myself to get affected by things that I cannot control.
God I feel like such a loser. A bitter, fucked-up loser who's losing it.
Dammit, I'm cramming five modules' worth of information in my head, please bear with me.
Jesus help me.
P.S. I've just read this post, and it seems like I've spewed out a lot of stuff here. That should be enough. That should be a release of the toxins that's been stored too long in my head. Supposedly, I should feel better.
It's 5:37PM now. I've decided that I shall forget this episode and carry on with my life at 6:00PM, and feel better. For now I'm taking a shower.
Right Now
Right Now
And the mugging intensifies. Yep, the exams are just homing in on paranoid undergrads in NUS, and everyone's in a frenzy.
Even my mood , too. I have, since Sunday, suspected that the Medical Library, does things to its guests (practically inhabitants, as virtually the same faces can be seen every day, mine included). I dunno, I think it loosens some screws in the head. Or maybe I'm just weird by nature. Or weirder by nature during exam season. Well, at least I can attribute my offness to something now.
Anyway, the mood swings have been crazy. I've experienced a good taste of stupid mindless euphoria sometime today, then it was fatigue, then it was disappointment with self, then it was just fun. Hehe well thanks to my mugging-mates Ferron and Arthur and sing-along-mate Ivy and Karen and Nestor. It's been crazy, really. And I cannot pinpoint one general state of mind or emotion that could well describe today. `
But I sure know what I'm thinking and feeling RIGHT NOW. And that's related to what I learned is the worst thing about being stressed. Mentally and physically stressed, as in right now. Yeah, the worst thing is that the stress is taking my sunshine away, and I am bordering on depression. I just get damn depressed. In a strange way. Not all the time. Random bouts of it.
Oh yeah, some thought crossed my mind moments ago. I think Joseph is gonna need a new blog. For X reasons. Doesn't mean I'm resigning from Moonstruck, Inc. I think. Nah, we'll figure that out later. Who knows, maybe a change from one funky layout to new one might do the trick.
7:39AM already. Ahh.. about time I get some sleep.
Big love to you all. Whoever you are.
And the mugging intensifies. Yep, the exams are just homing in on paranoid undergrads in NUS, and everyone's in a frenzy.
Even my mood , too. I have, since Sunday, suspected that the Medical Library, does things to its guests (practically inhabitants, as virtually the same faces can be seen every day, mine included). I dunno, I think it loosens some screws in the head. Or maybe I'm just weird by nature. Or weirder by nature during exam season. Well, at least I can attribute my offness to something now.
Anyway, the mood swings have been crazy. I've experienced a good taste of stupid mindless euphoria sometime today, then it was fatigue, then it was disappointment with self, then it was just fun. Hehe well thanks to my mugging-mates Ferron and Arthur and sing-along-mate Ivy and Karen and Nestor. It's been crazy, really. And I cannot pinpoint one general state of mind or emotion that could well describe today. `
But I sure know what I'm thinking and feeling RIGHT NOW. And that's related to what I learned is the worst thing about being stressed. Mentally and physically stressed, as in right now. Yeah, the worst thing is that the stress is taking my sunshine away, and I am bordering on depression. I just get damn depressed. In a strange way. Not all the time. Random bouts of it.
Oh yeah, some thought crossed my mind moments ago. I think Joseph is gonna need a new blog. For X reasons. Doesn't mean I'm resigning from Moonstruck, Inc. I think. Nah, we'll figure that out later. Who knows, maybe a change from one funky layout to new one might do the trick.
7:39AM already. Ahh.. about time I get some sleep.
Big love to you all. Whoever you are.
Just Because
Just Because
I used to blog a lot. For some reason, there was always something blogworthy going on in my life. Or at least, there was always something I deemed blogworthy. I dunno now whether I've become jaded or grown old (!) or have unknowingly reached some been-there-done-that stage, that it takes much more to catch my attention. Or, well, maybe I'm just lazy. Busy, more like it.
Just the same, I don't know what to blog right now. Nor why I'm blogging, when my Game Theory notes are waiting to be deciphered. Thus I shall revert to the default "reason" some people give when in fact they're reason-less: Just because.
Come to think of it, Just because is one of the nicest reasons one can give. Really. OK so that presupposes that Just because is a "reason" in my book, when it may not really be a reason at all, but what the heck. Do something nice for me and sincerely tell me you're doing it "just because".. and woohoo yeah I love you already.
Well, it's a different case if you eat boogers or don't shower for a week just because. Yeah, you know what I mean.
What I'm saying is that while just because can mean anything, really, it can mean something stupid or mundane, OR it can mean some something that's way up there, something that's inexplicable, but for sure along the lines of happy words such as love and life and light and laughter, or, if you ask Gwen Stefani, somewhere near "Love. Angel. Music. Baby." =P
So yeah. I love my family and friends and KR folks and NUS Choir folks and mugging-mates and tutorial-mates. Heck, I even love Singapore. But of course I love the Philippines more. Hehe. Some of these I love a little bit more than the rest, well, just because.
Sometimes I'd like to believe in some mystical connection between me and people (places and objects too I guess?), really. I dunno, maybe it's the vibe. In fact I've tried to find some pattern in names or check the zodiac or whatever else. I'd like to believe it works. Haha, well, sometimes.
Yeah, that's why it's infinitely easier to simply say Just Because.
`
P.S. Cool. Another impromptu blog entry that I begun with nothing in mind, but somehow I managed to ramble on long enough to produce a few paragraphs. Haha. Now let's get mugging Jose!
I used to blog a lot. For some reason, there was always something blogworthy going on in my life. Or at least, there was always something I deemed blogworthy. I dunno now whether I've become jaded or grown old (!) or have unknowingly reached some been-there-done-that stage, that it takes much more to catch my attention. Or, well, maybe I'm just lazy. Busy, more like it.
Just the same, I don't know what to blog right now. Nor why I'm blogging, when my Game Theory notes are waiting to be deciphered. Thus I shall revert to the default "reason" some people give when in fact they're reason-less: Just because.
Come to think of it, Just because is one of the nicest reasons one can give. Really. OK so that presupposes that Just because is a "reason" in my book, when it may not really be a reason at all, but what the heck. Do something nice for me and sincerely tell me you're doing it "just because".. and woohoo yeah I love you already.
Well, it's a different case if you eat boogers or don't shower for a week just because. Yeah, you know what I mean.
What I'm saying is that while just because can mean anything, really, it can mean something stupid or mundane, OR it can mean some something that's way up there, something that's inexplicable, but for sure along the lines of happy words such as love and life and light and laughter, or, if you ask Gwen Stefani, somewhere near "Love. Angel. Music. Baby." =P
So yeah. I love my family and friends and KR folks and NUS Choir folks and mugging-mates and tutorial-mates. Heck, I even love Singapore. But of course I love the Philippines more. Hehe. Some of these I love a little bit more than the rest, well, just because.
Sometimes I'd like to believe in some mystical connection between me and people (places and objects too I guess?), really. I dunno, maybe it's the vibe. In fact I've tried to find some pattern in names or check the zodiac or whatever else. I'd like to believe it works. Haha, well, sometimes.
Yeah, that's why it's infinitely easier to simply say Just Because.
`
P.S. Cool. Another impromptu blog entry that I begun with nothing in mind, but somehow I managed to ramble on long enough to produce a few paragraphs. Haha. Now let's get mugging Jose!
Good Day
Good Day
Mugging season is finally finally here. It's supposed to be all throughout the semester, really, but now the signs are screaming in your face. Three weeks to to the exams, wrap-up of lectures and tutorials, rushing of projects and assignments, libraries teeming with people... ahh I love it! Not.
But I don't mind much, really. It's OK. It's just that the pressure is starting to build up, and it's taking slowly up my breathing space. But nah, I'll live. There is life after exams. :)
* * *
A string of holidays it is for Singapura this week. It was a public holiday yesterday November 1st, not because it was All Saints Day, but because it was Deepavali day, some Hindu feast about lights and good/light's triumph over evil/darkness. Something like that. Tomorrow, November 3rd, is another holiday, this time for the Muslims, who will celebrate their Hari Raya.
If I were in the Philippines, November 1st and 2nd would be holidays as well, methinks, because it's All Saints Day and All Souls Day, respectively. I am unsure whether these two are Catholic celebrations only (in contrast with other religions including non-Catholic Christianity), although I suspect so. Christians (there's that odd commonly used distinction between "Christians" and "Catholics", with the former referring to those non-Catholic Christians) do not believe in saints, as far as I know, so Nov 1 is out of the question. Regarding All Souls Day, I didn't really hear a buzz about it among my Christian Singaporean friends here (who largely outnumber my Catholic Singaporean friends), so yeah, maybe it's a Catholic thing.
Anyway, Nov 1 was a day of obligation so I made sure I went to mass. Today, Nov 2, was not, but I went again anyway. I'm happy I did. I'm also happy I went alone. I don't know, it's a personal thing, but it just feels light going to church. I could just sit there after mass and feel comforted. Especially now, that schoolwork is taking more than its usual toll on my sanity. Especially now, that we are to remember our beloved family and friends who have gone ahead of us.
* * *
Now let's get mushy. I miss my Kuya Schroeder. And my Lola Nene, Lolo Yoyong, and Lolo S. My brother mostly, because sometimes I can't help but think what would it be like if he wasn't stricken by that strange kidney disease when he was three (I was one). I'm sure my younger sister Kai thinks the same way, because well, when we were little and we'd have these kiddie fights, she'd sometimes blurt out, "Sana si Kuya Schroeder na lang andito!" Haha funny when I think about it now. And come on, everybody who knows me well can tell I'm not as held-together as I want to, and it would be great to have a big brother to do the growing up the trial-and-error way, and to tell me afterwards what works and what doesn't.
Haha. I love my grandfolks too, of course.
* * *
Hmm. The previous paragraphs were a bit too mushy to my liking. This is the part where my blog turns into a journal, more of a diary. Not a bulletin board of "news" that one reads to get updated on the goings-on. Friends can read my journal, by all means, but those who are looking for newsworthy material please go read the entertainment columns of your favorite newspaper. Or please go find other blogs that thrive on the attention that the general public gives them. Not that that's a bad thing, really; it's just not me.
* * *
Lalalala.. did I just digress? Haha. It's a good day today. Did my Statistics assignment and, among the 6 assignments (each of which counts for 5% of the grade), I felt that I contributed most on this one, the last of the six, in the usual trio discussion Kevin, Diana and I have.
It's a good sign. I'm actually liking my major, Statistics, again. Hmm.. now to persuade myself to like Calculus (or more accurately, for it to like me). :D
Mugging day tomorrow. Time to get some sleep.
I'm still happy.
Mugging season is finally finally here. It's supposed to be all throughout the semester, really, but now the signs are screaming in your face. Three weeks to to the exams, wrap-up of lectures and tutorials, rushing of projects and assignments, libraries teeming with people... ahh I love it! Not.
But I don't mind much, really. It's OK. It's just that the pressure is starting to build up, and it's taking slowly up my breathing space. But nah, I'll live. There is life after exams. :)
* * *
A string of holidays it is for Singapura this week. It was a public holiday yesterday November 1st, not because it was All Saints Day, but because it was Deepavali day, some Hindu feast about lights and good/light's triumph over evil/darkness. Something like that. Tomorrow, November 3rd, is another holiday, this time for the Muslims, who will celebrate their Hari Raya.
If I were in the Philippines, November 1st and 2nd would be holidays as well, methinks, because it's All Saints Day and All Souls Day, respectively. I am unsure whether these two are Catholic celebrations only (in contrast with other religions including non-Catholic Christianity), although I suspect so. Christians (there's that odd commonly used distinction between "Christians" and "Catholics", with the former referring to those non-Catholic Christians) do not believe in saints, as far as I know, so Nov 1 is out of the question. Regarding All Souls Day, I didn't really hear a buzz about it among my Christian Singaporean friends here (who largely outnumber my Catholic Singaporean friends), so yeah, maybe it's a Catholic thing.
Anyway, Nov 1 was a day of obligation so I made sure I went to mass. Today, Nov 2, was not, but I went again anyway. I'm happy I did. I'm also happy I went alone. I don't know, it's a personal thing, but it just feels light going to church. I could just sit there after mass and feel comforted. Especially now, that schoolwork is taking more than its usual toll on my sanity. Especially now, that we are to remember our beloved family and friends who have gone ahead of us.
* * *
Now let's get mushy. I miss my Kuya Schroeder. And my Lola Nene, Lolo Yoyong, and Lolo S. My brother mostly, because sometimes I can't help but think what would it be like if he wasn't stricken by that strange kidney disease when he was three (I was one). I'm sure my younger sister Kai thinks the same way, because well, when we were little and we'd have these kiddie fights, she'd sometimes blurt out, "Sana si Kuya Schroeder na lang andito!" Haha funny when I think about it now. And come on, everybody who knows me well can tell I'm not as held-together as I want to, and it would be great to have a big brother to do the growing up the trial-and-error way, and to tell me afterwards what works and what doesn't.
Haha. I love my grandfolks too, of course.
* * *
Hmm. The previous paragraphs were a bit too mushy to my liking. This is the part where my blog turns into a journal, more of a diary. Not a bulletin board of "news" that one reads to get updated on the goings-on. Friends can read my journal, by all means, but those who are looking for newsworthy material please go read the entertainment columns of your favorite newspaper. Or please go find other blogs that thrive on the attention that the general public gives them. Not that that's a bad thing, really; it's just not me.
* * *
Lalalala.. did I just digress? Haha. It's a good day today. Did my Statistics assignment and, among the 6 assignments (each of which counts for 5% of the grade), I felt that I contributed most on this one, the last of the six, in the usual trio discussion Kevin, Diana and I have.
It's a good sign. I'm actually liking my major, Statistics, again. Hmm.. now to persuade myself to like Calculus (or more accurately, for it to like me). :D
Mugging day tomorrow. Time to get some sleep.
I'm still happy.
Weekend Ramblings
Weekend Ramblings
Ah yes it's a glorious sunny weekend in Singapura and I am officially resting. This time I won't feel bad not working because all sorts of physical, mental, emotional activity drained the life out of me the past week. It was supposed to be two weeks after hell week already, but it sure felt like hell week all over again.
Not hell hell week actually. Hmm.. I was just So. Damn. Tired. But I was okay. The happy still-can-make-it kind of tired.
* * *
Monday was ST2137 (Computer Aided Data Analysis) 2nd midterm test day. When asked by a few Pinoys how it went, I said it was OK lor. Karen thought that was a good sign, because my usual post-exam mood of late is one of bitterness and ego-bashing. OK lor. Hope the results turn out well.
It was an open-book test, too. And I think for tests of this kind, what one needs to do is to be sufficiently armed with the right tools. Tools that make sense to the examinee, of course. One has to sharpen these tools, and make them accessible. More tools, the better. Throw away the useless blunt ones.
* * *
Tuesday we had my Managerial Econs group's 2nd case presentation, and we discussed two-part tariffs. It was weird because unlike our previous presentation some weeks back, nobody seemed to step up to the plate and take charge of collating and organizing the Powerpoint, or actually, more of piecing everything together to make the presentation, well, presentable. So I did it over the weekend, squeezing it in between my intensive mugging sessions for ST2137 test on Monday morning. Presentation turned out okay, too. My question was a bit on the tricky side, and I thought my argument, although very sensible and smart, had a resonable amount of BS (dunno how it could be smart and crappy but nobody seemed to question it.. no alternative answer I guess). Our tutor asked about it, he seemed to question some things on how I answered the question, but now I don't think he said it was wrong. He also didn't give any concrete right answer methinks. So it must be right!
* * *
Oh, we finished our Calculus lecture on Tuesday too. Freaked out a bit because, well, it's finally over! No more excuse for Dr Wu to exclude some questions because we haven't discussed them yet. And that effectively means the students are supposed to know everything about Advanced Calculus II/Mathematical Analysis I by now. Gasp. That's a bit scary, if you ask me.
* * *
Tuesday night I thought I could rest, but wooot, Wednesday was Tutorial Day, and I could not afford to screw up in probable presentation in our last tutorial for Calculus, nor in the required group presentation for ST2137 . So yeah I burned the midnight oil working on those. Slept before sunrise though, at 4:30AM! *faints*
So after back-to-back tutorials all morning on Wednesday, then came the tough part, the MAD assignment for St2132 Mathematical Statistics. WAAAAAAAAAAAH. It drove me, Diana and Kevin nuts. Kevin is this nice Year 4 Singaporean guy who's taking the same module Diana and I are taking. We've been working for our past 5 assignments together, but this one was the cruelest assignment yet.
The deadline was at 5pm, and we were mugging like crazy to solve the one number the assignment asked us. It was a two-part thingy, though, and we couldn't overcome the roadblocks. We finally arrived at answer, but it seemed too simple, and thus we couldn't go around finding a "smarter" answer. So we were about to submit at 4:30PM, and then Diana saw this guy who got perfect for the insane midterm test we took 2 weeks back (yeah the one I failed), and after she and Kevin ambushed (yeah that's the right term) him for comsultation while I tidied up my solutions, they headed back to the table and announced that we had to do part B all over, because by some twisted sort of magic, the distribution was supposed to suddenly turn up to be from Chi-Square. I seriously DUNNO how that could happen, but there they were, Diana and Kevin calculating like crazy, only to end up with a roadblock similar to the previous.
I was skeptical about going to the "Chi-Square route" because it basically ended nowhere, but maybe it could grant us partial credit, compared with the "Simple Answer Route", which although simple, it seemed somewhat logical and followed an example in the tutorial, and you can pinpoint an answer.
Anyway, I rushed to write something on the paper, and dropped our papers at Dr Chan's pigeonhole at 5:05PM.
Iris, choir VP, submitted her and her friends' papers after me, and together we rushed to Centre for the Arts for a talk by the new CFA Director at the CFA auditorium. KK, choir president, was kind enough to let us do our assignment, even if the talk was to start at 4PM. Haha, so Iris and I, arriving at 5:15PM just came for the reception. And what yummy reception too.
Then it was back to hall to SLEEP.
* * *
OK, long enough entry. I'll tell you more about Thursday and MOMOMOMOMOMO(!) Friday and today as well sometime else.
Night. :P
Ah yes it's a glorious sunny weekend in Singapura and I am officially resting. This time I won't feel bad not working because all sorts of physical, mental, emotional activity drained the life out of me the past week. It was supposed to be two weeks after hell week already, but it sure felt like hell week all over again.
Not hell hell week actually. Hmm.. I was just So. Damn. Tired. But I was okay. The happy still-can-make-it kind of tired.
* * *
Monday was ST2137 (Computer Aided Data Analysis) 2nd midterm test day. When asked by a few Pinoys how it went, I said it was OK lor. Karen thought that was a good sign, because my usual post-exam mood of late is one of bitterness and ego-bashing. OK lor. Hope the results turn out well.
It was an open-book test, too. And I think for tests of this kind, what one needs to do is to be sufficiently armed with the right tools. Tools that make sense to the examinee, of course. One has to sharpen these tools, and make them accessible. More tools, the better. Throw away the useless blunt ones.
* * *
Tuesday we had my Managerial Econs group's 2nd case presentation, and we discussed two-part tariffs. It was weird because unlike our previous presentation some weeks back, nobody seemed to step up to the plate and take charge of collating and organizing the Powerpoint, or actually, more of piecing everything together to make the presentation, well, presentable. So I did it over the weekend, squeezing it in between my intensive mugging sessions for ST2137 test on Monday morning. Presentation turned out okay, too. My question was a bit on the tricky side, and I thought my argument, although very sensible and smart, had a resonable amount of BS (dunno how it could be smart and crappy but nobody seemed to question it.. no alternative answer I guess). Our tutor asked about it, he seemed to question some things on how I answered the question, but now I don't think he said it was wrong. He also didn't give any concrete right answer methinks. So it must be right!
* * *
Oh, we finished our Calculus lecture on Tuesday too. Freaked out a bit because, well, it's finally over! No more excuse for Dr Wu to exclude some questions because we haven't discussed them yet. And that effectively means the students are supposed to know everything about Advanced Calculus II/Mathematical Analysis I by now. Gasp. That's a bit scary, if you ask me.
* * *
Tuesday night I thought I could rest, but wooot, Wednesday was Tutorial Day, and I could not afford to screw up in probable presentation in our last tutorial for Calculus, nor in the required group presentation for ST2137 . So yeah I burned the midnight oil working on those. Slept before sunrise though, at 4:30AM! *faints*
So after back-to-back tutorials all morning on Wednesday, then came the tough part, the MAD assignment for St2132 Mathematical Statistics. WAAAAAAAAAAAH. It drove me, Diana and Kevin nuts. Kevin is this nice Year 4 Singaporean guy who's taking the same module Diana and I are taking. We've been working for our past 5 assignments together, but this one was the cruelest assignment yet.
The deadline was at 5pm, and we were mugging like crazy to solve the one number the assignment asked us. It was a two-part thingy, though, and we couldn't overcome the roadblocks. We finally arrived at answer, but it seemed too simple, and thus we couldn't go around finding a "smarter" answer. So we were about to submit at 4:30PM, and then Diana saw this guy who got perfect for the insane midterm test we took 2 weeks back (yeah the one I failed), and after she and Kevin ambushed (yeah that's the right term) him for comsultation while I tidied up my solutions, they headed back to the table and announced that we had to do part B all over, because by some twisted sort of magic, the distribution was supposed to suddenly turn up to be from Chi-Square. I seriously DUNNO how that could happen, but there they were, Diana and Kevin calculating like crazy, only to end up with a roadblock similar to the previous.
I was skeptical about going to the "Chi-Square route" because it basically ended nowhere, but maybe it could grant us partial credit, compared with the "Simple Answer Route", which although simple, it seemed somewhat logical and followed an example in the tutorial, and you can pinpoint an answer.
Anyway, I rushed to write something on the paper, and dropped our papers at Dr Chan's pigeonhole at 5:05PM.
Iris, choir VP, submitted her and her friends' papers after me, and together we rushed to Centre for the Arts for a talk by the new CFA Director at the CFA auditorium. KK, choir president, was kind enough to let us do our assignment, even if the talk was to start at 4PM. Haha, so Iris and I, arriving at 5:15PM just came for the reception. And what yummy reception too.
Then it was back to hall to SLEEP.
* * *
OK, long enough entry. I'll tell you more about Thursday and MOMOMOMOMOMO(!) Friday and today as well sometime else.
Night. :P
Feel-good Points for the Week
Feel-good Points for the Week
Post-Mugging I-finally-get-it! Moments:
+750 Feel-good Points
Screwed-up (read: earth-shattering) Calculus test:
-5000 Feel-good Points
Screwed-up Mathematical Statistics test:
-3000 Feel-good Points
(only because everybody else did relatively bad as well)
Perceived Screwed-up English test:
-1750 Feel-good Points
Actual Not-too-screwed-up English test:
+1000 Feel-good Points
Red Cross Blood Donation After a Year of Waiting:
+500 Feel-good Points
Greeting Ivy a Happy 19th Birthday and Drawing her "Naruto" Eating Champorado:
+500 Feel-good Points
Not going out with Ivy and the rest of the Pinoys for Halloween Night:
-250 Feel-good Points
Not going for Halloween Night because of ST2137 test on Monday:
+250 Feel-good Points (cancels previous!)
Knowing best friend Jacko won the Clash quiz show:
+400 Feel-good Points
Offering and Doing Mugging-mate Diana Some Degree of Favor:
+300 Feel-good Points
TV Show Therapy (includes dosages of The OC, Desperate Housewives, Survivor):
+200 Feel-good Points
Music Therapy (includes superb music CD shared by KR choirmates Wei Ren and James, and finally finding some inspiring song stuck in my head since Czech Republic competition):
+400 Feel-good Points
Exhausting (small group practices!) but Fulfilling NUS Choir Practices:
+400 Feel-good Points (I love you guys!)
Pinoy friends and NUS friends and D-block and KR friends and other friends:
+600 Feel-good Points
_______________________
For a grand total of.. something! It pays to count one's blessings, really.. I feel better already! Haha.
Actually, I'm still reeling from the back-to-back-to-back blows by my screwed-up tests. Especially Calculus and Statistics. But yeah, never mind, must focus on recuperating than wallowing in agony. Besides, there's this new battle again on Monday with my Computer Aided Data Analysis second midterm test, and a case presentation for Managerial Econs class on Tuesday.
Hmm.. I haven't calculated my total feel-good points of the week, but if it's supposed to accurately reflect how I am right now, I'm guessing it should be some negative value. Quite a long way from being positive too. Well, this'll pass.
Besides, I'm gonna call home tomorrow, and see how Dad and Ma and Kai and Lola Neneng and Lola Doding are doing. That should buoy me up for quite a while.
All right now, back to work. And yeah, maybe I should listen to this nice Irish blessing song for the (n+1)th time. Goodnight!
Post-Mugging I-finally-get-it! Moments:
+750 Feel-good Points
Screwed-up (read: earth-shattering) Calculus test:
-5000 Feel-good Points
Screwed-up Mathematical Statistics test:
-3000 Feel-good Points
(only because everybody else did relatively bad as well)
Perceived Screwed-up English test:
-1750 Feel-good Points
Actual Not-too-screwed-up English test:
+1000 Feel-good Points
Red Cross Blood Donation After a Year of Waiting:
+500 Feel-good Points
Greeting Ivy a Happy 19th Birthday and Drawing her "Naruto" Eating Champorado:
+500 Feel-good Points
Not going out with Ivy and the rest of the Pinoys for Halloween Night:
-250 Feel-good Points
Not going for Halloween Night because of ST2137 test on Monday:
+250 Feel-good Points (cancels previous!)
Knowing best friend Jacko won the Clash quiz show:
+400 Feel-good Points
Offering and Doing Mugging-mate Diana Some Degree of Favor:
+300 Feel-good Points
TV Show Therapy (includes dosages of The OC, Desperate Housewives, Survivor):
+200 Feel-good Points
Music Therapy (includes superb music CD shared by KR choirmates Wei Ren and James, and finally finding some inspiring song stuck in my head since Czech Republic competition):
+400 Feel-good Points
Exhausting (small group practices!) but Fulfilling NUS Choir Practices:
+400 Feel-good Points (I love you guys!)
Pinoy friends and NUS friends and D-block and KR friends and other friends:
+600 Feel-good Points
_______________________
For a grand total of.. something! It pays to count one's blessings, really.. I feel better already! Haha.
Actually, I'm still reeling from the back-to-back-to-back blows by my screwed-up tests. Especially Calculus and Statistics. But yeah, never mind, must focus on recuperating than wallowing in agony. Besides, there's this new battle again on Monday with my Computer Aided Data Analysis second midterm test, and a case presentation for Managerial Econs class on Tuesday.
Hmm.. I haven't calculated my total feel-good points of the week, but if it's supposed to accurately reflect how I am right now, I'm guessing it should be some negative value. Quite a long way from being positive too. Well, this'll pass.
Besides, I'm gonna call home tomorrow, and see how Dad and Ma and Kai and Lola Neneng and Lola Doding are doing. That should buoy me up for quite a while.
All right now, back to work. And yeah, maybe I should listen to this nice Irish blessing song for the (n+1)th time. Goodnight!
Request Line
Request Line
I ask God for a lot of things. A LOT, really, and He has wisely not granted all of them, lest I be likened to a spoiled little rascal. A few granted wishes here and there, and in retrospection (note the emphasis), it's perfectly fine with me.
I've been asking for less and less things lately, but these involve matters on a larger scale. I fervently pray for them still, and whether they are granted or not won't be known anytime soon.
Today I realized something I want. It's not something grand like "World Peace" or something ambiguous like "Happiness" or something abstract like "Wisdom" (although yeah those would be terrific). On the contrary, it is something that's amazingly simple and although semi-abstract, it's identifiably mundane. Argh, it's so trivial I don't know why I can't achieve it on my own. I know a part of it has to do with me, but I don't know, I guess it's just not in my system.. at least not yet. It would make a world of a difference if I had this small gift, really.
And yep, that's my simple prayer request to God this time.
Oh, let me thank You, by the way, for blessing me more than I recognize.
I ask God for a lot of things. A LOT, really, and He has wisely not granted all of them, lest I be likened to a spoiled little rascal. A few granted wishes here and there, and in retrospection (note the emphasis), it's perfectly fine with me.
I've been asking for less and less things lately, but these involve matters on a larger scale. I fervently pray for them still, and whether they are granted or not won't be known anytime soon.
Today I realized something I want. It's not something grand like "World Peace" or something ambiguous like "Happiness" or something abstract like "Wisdom" (although yeah those would be terrific). On the contrary, it is something that's amazingly simple and although semi-abstract, it's identifiably mundane. Argh, it's so trivial I don't know why I can't achieve it on my own. I know a part of it has to do with me, but I don't know, I guess it's just not in my system.. at least not yet. It would make a world of a difference if I had this small gift, really.
And yep, that's my simple prayer request to God this time.
Oh, let me thank You, by the way, for blessing me more than I recognize.
Articles of Note
Articles of Note
I just wrapped up my article for the Ridge. I hope it gets published! If not, then well, write again next time! Haha.
I rarely check other news sites except INQ7.net and ABS-CBNnews.com, but today was an exception. And then I read this on BBC: Fatboy Slim makes Marcos Musical. Interesting. For a while there, I thought I was still on the (web)pages of the (online) Philippine newspapers. Hmm.. strangeness. Fatboy Slim is one of my favorite artists, because his techno dance tunes are just funky! I still can't reconcile him and a local Pinoy political figure though. Hehe. I dunno if this musical will be something Imelda will cry foul over, like the "Imelda" movie, which was presented to her as a documentary while filming, but turned out to be a feature-length film portraying her in a bad light. God bless you Imelda. All I can say.
Anyway, what's really an interesting read is this article on the Inquirer's Youngblood. It's by my junior in high school and now in Singapore, Carina. Haha congrats congrats! I've always wanted to be on Youngblood! Haha but never got around to writing and emailing them. Hats off to you Ca!
Well, about the content of your article, though, I hope you're much better now! I'm just around of course, and same goes for the rest of the Pinoy group here. Hehe, besides, as you've said, it's been a while since you wrote it, and hopefully since then it's been smooth sailing!
I just wrapped up my article for the Ridge. I hope it gets published! If not, then well, write again next time! Haha.
I rarely check other news sites except INQ7.net and ABS-CBNnews.com, but today was an exception. And then I read this on BBC: Fatboy Slim makes Marcos Musical. Interesting. For a while there, I thought I was still on the (web)pages of the (online) Philippine newspapers. Hmm.. strangeness. Fatboy Slim is one of my favorite artists, because his techno dance tunes are just funky! I still can't reconcile him and a local Pinoy political figure though. Hehe. I dunno if this musical will be something Imelda will cry foul over, like the "Imelda" movie, which was presented to her as a documentary while filming, but turned out to be a feature-length film portraying her in a bad light. God bless you Imelda. All I can say.
Anyway, what's really an interesting read is this article on the Inquirer's Youngblood. It's by my junior in high school and now in Singapore, Carina. Haha congrats congrats! I've always wanted to be on Youngblood! Haha but never got around to writing and emailing them. Hats off to you Ca!
Well, about the content of your article, though, I hope you're much better now! I'm just around of course, and same goes for the rest of the Pinoy group here. Hehe, besides, as you've said, it's been a while since you wrote it, and hopefully since then it's been smooth sailing!
10 Reasons Today Was Great
10 Reasons Today Was Great
Come to think of it, "Great" isn't probably the right term. Perhaps "Yummy" would be more appropriate.
1) ChickenWith Mixed Peppers at Swensen's!
KR Choir lunch at Swensen's at Holland Village! Swensen's is this nice ice cream shop/cake shop/cafe/date place with all the yummy sweet food. It was a last minute thing, with Choir Chair James inviting us for lunch only yesterday night. It was even more last-minute for me, as I decided to go only this morning, when I saw that Allen was the only bass to go. Haha. Besides, I needed a break after my crazy week.
My meal, described as "Grilled half chicken smothered with mixed peppers sauce. Served with seasonal vegetable and U.S. potatoes." turned out delicious. Well, except that Huili and Allen, who were seated beside me and ordered related dishes, and I couldn't figure out what this fried squishy potato-like thingy on a tomato slice was. It was yummy, but it wasn't potato or anything we could think of. Haha Allen called it "stuff". It was tasty anyway.
Yummy meal! And it better be! It cost $13.60! Hehe.. now on to the list!
2) Chocolate Peanut Butter
3) Butterscotch
4) Sticky Chewy Chocolate
5) Peach
6) Yummy Raisin (with rum!)
7) Mocha Almond Fudge
8) Cookies and Cream
9) Yam (Ube in Tagalog)
10) Thin Mint (why is it "thin" anyway?)
AHHH... ice cream heaven! Usually $3 each scoop, I got all those scoops for only $1! All of them together only one buck! Haha amazing. James even paid for everyone's ice creams, so I got all of mine for free. Swensen's offered unlimited scoops, but too bad there's a limit one's tummy can handle! I had a tasting of Frosted Chocolate Malt, Pistachio, and still wanted to try the Chocolate Freckles, but I was afraid it was too much chocolate for a day.
My favorites are the Mocha Almond Crunch (ahh.. heavenly), the Sticky Chewy Chocolate (it was as chocolatey as real chocolate.. almost like a cold moist choco bar), Yam (reminded me of Pinas!), Butterscotch (great but a bit too sweet after a while), and surprisingly, Thin Mint (cools off your mouth in a yummy kind of way).
The Yummy Raisin was misleading! I didn't expect it to contain alcohol! It was okay, really, except that I felt the beginnings of a headache after eating it. Maybe not used to my ice cream being spiked! It was not unwelcome, of course. Haha. It threw off-track my master plan of beating (or at least matching) James in the ice cream race though.
James finished with 11 scoops (his max was 14 years ago), while I finished runner-up. Haha. Not bad!
So everybody head off to Swensen's quick! Unlimited ice cream scoops for one dollar with an order of one main course/pasta! Student's discount too on weekday afternoons!
Wah.. I've never had more ice cream in my entire life. And that many flavors too! $13.60 for all that doesn't sound bad. Not bad at all man!
Wah.. I'm officially slightly happier now after my depressing week. Thanks to ice cream sugar rush!
Come to think of it, "Great" isn't probably the right term. Perhaps "Yummy" would be more appropriate.
1) Chicken
KR Choir lunch at Swensen's at Holland Village! Swensen's is this nice ice cream shop/cake shop/cafe/date place with all the yummy sweet food. It was a last minute thing, with Choir Chair James inviting us for lunch only yesterday night. It was even more last-minute for me, as I decided to go only this morning, when I saw that Allen was the only bass to go. Haha. Besides, I needed a break after my crazy week.
My meal, described as "Grilled half chicken smothered with mixed peppers sauce. Served with seasonal vegetable and U.S. potatoes." turned out delicious. Well, except that Huili and Allen, who were seated beside me and ordered related dishes, and I couldn't figure out what this fried squishy potato-like thingy on a tomato slice was. It was yummy, but it wasn't potato or anything we could think of. Haha Allen called it "stuff". It was tasty anyway.
Yummy meal! And it better be! It cost $13.60! Hehe.. now on to the list!
2) Chocolate Peanut Butter
3) Butterscotch
4) Sticky Chewy Chocolate
5) Peach
6) Yummy Raisin (with rum!)
7) Mocha Almond Fudge
8) Cookies and Cream
9) Yam (Ube in Tagalog)
10) Thin Mint (why is it "thin" anyway?)
AHHH... ice cream heaven! Usually $3 each scoop, I got all those scoops for only $1! All of them together only one buck! Haha amazing. James even paid for everyone's ice creams, so I got all of mine for free. Swensen's offered unlimited scoops, but too bad there's a limit one's tummy can handle! I had a tasting of Frosted Chocolate Malt, Pistachio, and still wanted to try the Chocolate Freckles, but I was afraid it was too much chocolate for a day.
My favorites are the Mocha Almond Crunch (ahh.. heavenly), the Sticky Chewy Chocolate (it was as chocolatey as real chocolate.. almost like a cold moist choco bar), Yam (reminded me of Pinas!), Butterscotch (great but a bit too sweet after a while), and surprisingly, Thin Mint (cools off your mouth in a yummy kind of way).
The Yummy Raisin was misleading! I didn't expect it to contain alcohol! It was okay, really, except that I felt the beginnings of a headache after eating it. Maybe not used to my ice cream being spiked! It was not unwelcome, of course. Haha. It threw off-track my master plan of beating (or at least matching) James in the ice cream race though.
James finished with 11 scoops (his max was 14 years ago), while I finished runner-up. Haha. Not bad!
So everybody head off to Swensen's quick! Unlimited ice cream scoops for one dollar with an order of one main course/pasta! Student's discount too on weekday afternoons!
Wah.. I've never had more ice cream in my entire life. And that many flavors too! $13.60 for all that doesn't sound bad. Not bad at all man!
Wah.. I'm officially slightly happier now after my depressing week. Thanks to ice cream sugar rush!
Whisper words of wisdom
Whisper words of wisdom
Ahh yes.. hell week has come. Two killer tests down, one to go, an article due soon, tutorials and readings to dig into, a project looming in the distance. How am I holding up? Hmm.
I'm unwell, really, but what's new. God I dunno what depression wave has hit me that I'm consistently down in the dumps, if not externally, perhaps at least at the back of my head.
Sure I genuinely laugh and talk cock (Singlish for "talk nonsense", "joke around") and enjoy happy conversations with fellow Pinoys and hallmates and first floor neighbors and choirmates and tutorial-mates (I love you all, seriously), but when I think of SUCKY MIDTERM TESTS, especially those just freshly taken, I get that funny familiar feeling.
What's more, whatever emotion is evoked has to be set aside for the moment, as right there waiting is the next test to mug for, the next tutorial to solve, the next lecture to figure out.
What's worse is that, more often than not, these bouts of post-midterm-test blues trigger my other mind monsters that ought to be tucked deep into the subconscious during mugging season. These include the Homesickness (of the mild sort though) Monster, Mr. I'm-not-good-enough and his gang: Mr. What-on-earth-have-I-been-doing-all-this-time, Mr. Maybe-I-can't-even-reach-honours-year, and Mr. Maybe-it's-all-downhill-from-high-school.
Actually, I've not been feeling so low all this week. Over the weekend, I derived some sort of happiness from finally figuring out my Mathematical Statistics and Advanced Calculus. Or at least, from the illusion that I finally figured them out. Thank God for midterm tests that snap us back to reality.
And thank God for the Beatles too. It's strange how I turn to their songs whenever I'm not feeling too good. Try "Hey Jude", "Let It Be" (never mind if "Mother Mary" there was intended by Paul McCartney to mean his biological mom), and "Across the Universe" sometime. Must stop listening to "In My Life" though. You know, the "There are places I remember" song. I can't help but think too much, see.
OK, I feel better now. What's on my plate: an article for the Ridge due Sunday (thank God my editor Asraf extended it), and Linguistics test on Friday.
Let it be, Joseph. Take a sad song and make it better.
P.S.
Kai! You're back in Davao! Hehe, enjoy! Hello to Ma and Dad and Lolas!
Ahh yes.. hell week has come. Two killer tests down, one to go, an article due soon, tutorials and readings to dig into, a project looming in the distance. How am I holding up? Hmm.
I'm unwell, really, but what's new. God I dunno what depression wave has hit me that I'm consistently down in the dumps, if not externally, perhaps at least at the back of my head.
Sure I genuinely laugh and talk cock (Singlish for "talk nonsense", "joke around") and enjoy happy conversations with fellow Pinoys and hallmates and first floor neighbors and choirmates and tutorial-mates (I love you all, seriously), but when I think of SUCKY MIDTERM TESTS, especially those just freshly taken, I get that funny familiar feeling.What's more, whatever emotion is evoked has to be set aside for the moment, as right there waiting is the next test to mug for, the next tutorial to solve, the next lecture to figure out.
What's worse is that, more often than not, these bouts of post-midterm-test blues trigger my other mind monsters that ought to be tucked deep into the subconscious during mugging season. These include the Homesickness (of the mild sort though) Monster, Mr. I'm-not-good-enough and his gang: Mr. What-on-earth-have-I-been-doing-all-this-time, Mr. Maybe-I-can't-even-reach-honours-year, and Mr. Maybe-it's-all-downhill-from-high-school.
Actually, I've not been feeling so low all this week. Over the weekend, I derived some sort of happiness from finally figuring out my Mathematical Statistics and Advanced Calculus. Or at least, from the illusion that I finally figured them out. Thank God for midterm tests that snap us back to reality.
And thank God for the Beatles too. It's strange how I turn to their songs whenever I'm not feeling too good. Try "Hey Jude", "Let It Be" (never mind if "Mother Mary" there was intended by Paul McCartney to mean his biological mom), and "Across the Universe" sometime. Must stop listening to "In My Life" though. You know, the "There are places I remember" song. I can't help but think too much, see.
OK, I feel better now. What's on my plate: an article for the Ridge due Sunday (thank God my editor Asraf extended it), and Linguistics test on Friday.
Let it be, Joseph. Take a sad song and make it better.
P.S.
Kai! You're back in Davao! Hehe, enjoy! Hello to Ma and Dad and Lolas!
Prayer
Prayer
Today let's say a prayer that God would help the poor, the sick, and the dying.
With a few hundred bucks in my bank account, I'm broke. (Ahh yes, but there's the VISA..)
I'm mentally and physically unwell, thanks to intensive mugging sessions for upcoming my Statistics and Calculus tests. I'm emotionally strained as well, as I can't solve some problems and have to scold myself whenever I fall asleep in the library or in bed again.
And "dying"? That's Singlish for suffering of this sort.
In other words, please pray for me.
And the rest of Muggers Inc., i.e. the struggling studious student population. Really, we people who toil this hard for our tests ought to be rewarded.
But alas, the fact of the University is that some people will get rewarded, some will be rewarded more than they deserve, and some will just, well, have to chalk it up to experience, and hope for better things to come.
All the more reason to pray, really.
Today let's say a prayer that God would help the poor, the sick, and the dying.
With a few hundred bucks in my bank account, I'm broke. (Ahh yes, but there's the VISA..)
I'm mentally and physically unwell, thanks to intensive mugging sessions for upcoming my Statistics and Calculus tests. I'm emotionally strained as well, as I can't solve some problems and have to scold myself whenever I fall asleep in the library or in bed again.
And "dying"? That's Singlish for suffering of this sort.
In other words, please pray for me.
And the rest of Muggers Inc., i.e. the struggling studious student population. Really, we people who toil this hard for our tests ought to be rewarded.
But alas, the fact of the University is that some people will get rewarded, some will be rewarded more than they deserve, and some will just, well, have to chalk it up to experience, and hope for better things to come.
All the more reason to pray, really.
Muggers Inc. (for real this time)
Muggers Inc. (for real this time)
Hohoho! I'm still alive and awake and up and running! My, that was a *reasonably* longish break from blogging. And I don't think I'll be blogging too much soon! Hah.
I could give a million reasons, but let's just focus on three: (1) killer ST2132 (Mathematical Stats) midterm test on Monday, back-to-back with (2) MA2108 (Advanced Calculus 2) test on Tuesday! Haha that should be enough to drive me insane, but on Friday comes (3) EL1101E (Linguistics) test! Ah.. The joys of school.
EL1101E shouldn't really bother me too much, but after that disappointing Test 1, and my tutor Ms Wee's announcement to the entire tutorial group that the 30% project we submitted last week, was well, worth worrying about, I guess I shall have to give the module that extra nudge.
Missed NUS choir prac yesterday, but it was okay since it was Culture Night at KR! KRX (drama) came up with a play that incorporated all 6 culture groups Dance, Rockers, Inspire (original music), Acappella, KRX itself, and Choir.
We sang "The Gift to be Simple" in the wedding scene, towards the end of the show, as the bride marched with her Dad. For the wedding recessional (and the curtain call that followed), we sang "Seasons Of Love" (which I suggested to them nyahaha). Haha, my basses were good.. love you guys! It could've been a bit better, really, but we showed remarkable progress people, and we sounded good! Hehe.
Seasons of Love is such a nice song, can I just say. I can't wait for the movie version of the musical Rent to be shown! Watch the trailer here, and tell me if that doesn't give you that "Awww.." feeling. ;)
There's this thingy about choir songs, though, that's well, strange. The Gift to be Simple was supposedly a simple song, but took the choir a number of sessions and whackings before we got it right. Seasons of love is a pop song (check out Paolo Santos and Stevie Wonder and the musical versions), which bam, we got in 5 minutes. We just had to listen to the mp3 and then that's it. The choir version wasn't really choir-y, since for the most part, everyone was singing the same thing. And we only sang the first part anyway, and repeated it twice (for the curtain call). Strangely enough, when I asked some of the audience about what they thought of the performance, they always say the second song was nice. Haha. It's always like that, the pop songs seem to be better appreciated. ;) And of course, how could i forget the applause for the "I'll Be There" during NUS Choir's Varsity Voices concert in February?
Hehe. Interesting.
Alrighty, time to figure out how to relate E(X-Y) with the covariance in a multinomial distribution. Statistics rocks. Sometimes.
Let's go Muggers Inc.
Hohoho! I'm still alive and awake and up and running! My, that was a *reasonably* longish break from blogging. And I don't think I'll be blogging too much soon! Hah.
I could give a million reasons, but let's just focus on three: (1) killer ST2132 (Mathematical Stats) midterm test on Monday, back-to-back with (2) MA2108 (Advanced Calculus 2) test on Tuesday! Haha that should be enough to drive me insane, but on Friday comes (3) EL1101E (Linguistics) test! Ah.. The joys of school.
EL1101E shouldn't really bother me too much, but after that disappointing Test 1, and my tutor Ms Wee's announcement to the entire tutorial group that the 30% project we submitted last week, was well, worth worrying about, I guess I shall have to give the module that extra nudge.
Missed NUS choir prac yesterday, but it was okay since it was Culture Night at KR! KRX (drama) came up with a play that incorporated all 6 culture groups Dance, Rockers, Inspire (original music), Acappella, KRX itself, and Choir.
We sang "The Gift to be Simple" in the wedding scene, towards the end of the show, as the bride marched with her Dad. For the wedding recessional (and the curtain call that followed), we sang "Seasons Of Love" (which I suggested to them nyahaha). Haha, my basses were good.. love you guys! It could've been a bit better, really, but we showed remarkable progress people, and we sounded good! Hehe.
Seasons of Love is such a nice song, can I just say. I can't wait for the movie version of the musical Rent to be shown! Watch the trailer here, and tell me if that doesn't give you that "Awww.." feeling. ;)
There's this thingy about choir songs, though, that's well, strange. The Gift to be Simple was supposedly a simple song, but took the choir a number of sessions and whackings before we got it right. Seasons of love is a pop song (check out Paolo Santos and Stevie Wonder and the musical versions), which bam, we got in 5 minutes. We just had to listen to the mp3 and then that's it. The choir version wasn't really choir-y, since for the most part, everyone was singing the same thing. And we only sang the first part anyway, and repeated it twice (for the curtain call). Strangely enough, when I asked some of the audience about what they thought of the performance, they always say the second song was nice. Haha. It's always like that, the pop songs seem to be better appreciated. ;) And of course, how could i forget the applause for the "I'll Be There" during NUS Choir's Varsity Voices concert in February?
Hehe. Interesting.
Alrighty, time to figure out how to relate E(X-Y) with the covariance in a multinomial distribution. Statistics rocks. Sometimes.
Let's go Muggers Inc.
