The much needed break is finally here. Like finally finally. This time around, I hadn't planned anything to play in advance. In fact, I planned to study all holidays long! Of course, the earlier part of the holidays involve rest and relax. The stress level reached an all time low since the start of the semester. It's like all of a sudden I could breathe after being choked for hours. Also finally, I am going to complete part two of cleaning my room.
I cleaned almost everything when I moved in. Due to the fact I moved in quite late, I actually excluded wiping the table and the shelf, and one corner of the room that I vowed to not step on. (Since it was technically dirty) Finally, I can complete and safely say that I thoroughly cleaned my room. Room cleaning (thorough) is not easy, but it felt very rewarding. Third part of the cleaning involves washing all my clothes again so they continue to smell fresh and in a ready-to-wear state. My room cannot be considered neat yet. In fact, I am shy to open my door or curtains because I still haven't make it real neat yet.
Had project meeting on Monday where the pressure is on. Managed to compile all the survey response in an easy to read manner. Some of the opinions given were too general, which makes compiling the survey response hard. Nevertheless we were able to draw some conclusion from the amount of data we had. In the end, the meeting extended all the way until five o' clock, but we managed a few slides and some pie charts. Donut charts looks good in principle (simply because it's not as traditional as pie chart) but is not that intuitive so we went on with pie charts anyway.
After a few days of sleeping around 12 hours a night, my vision came back to me. I could see the world with such amazing clarity that me myself couldn't believe it. I must have been blind all these while. I felt that all these while, I have not seen the world in its full beauty, at least not for a long time. Everything just seemed more elegant when you could see them clearly. I don't think I am going to throw that away by reading books. =)
Went to Angel's house for a short retreat on Tuesday. All work and no play made Jack a very dull boy. Besides, I don't feel like in a mood for doing work before I seriously relax. I went all out on the work hard, play hard mentality, playing as hard as I could. Well, I think I grasp the basics of Maple Story already. Only cruel part of it is that it takes forever for you to level up. Everytime I level up, I feel very very happy, but I don't know why. Maybe the game appealed to the achiever in me. Besides, leveling up here is permanent, as you would not lose a level once you leveled up.
Somehow the amount of time it sucks from you is just too much. Players like me would always be trying to find the most efficient and fastest way to level. Besides, I am well aware that I do not have that much time to waste. I know I am relaxing at the same time, and technically not wasting, but I always run into the danger of overusing time for games. At the same time, I strive to achieve much in a short amount of time. Therefore, another happy thing that I have found is scrolls that enchant the damage of your weapon. As a warrior, I do melee attack all the time, and I make countless attacks in a short span of time. If every hit is of increased damage, even by a little, my productivity is up a notch. As number of attacks tend to a very big number, the increased damage tends to an even bigger number, therefore effectively saving time.
Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you how else I have been celebrating Malaysian Independence Day. It was also one of the factors that pulled me to play Maple Story. They released a quest to get a cute Malaysian flag as a weapon, and it's both cute and useful. Not only that, you could fly the Malaysia flag proud! It was balanced with regards to other weapons, hence giving it a fast attack speed. However, most other pole-arms are of slow attack speed, so a faster attack speed really increased the amount of damage dealt per unit time by a lot. Not to mention it was a level 30 weapon, and I was approaching that level. After I got it, it was a very great motivation for me to get to level 30 just to fly it.
Angel was lucky that she got a 60% Pole Arm ATT scroll very early in the game, but she wouldn't give it to me, and I did the same quest but got a scroll for a weapon that didn't match my abilities. I persevered a few levels, and did another quest. I think I must have been very lucky that day. Of all the possible possibilities, I managed to get the scroll I just need. It's the 60% Pole Arm ATT scroll! I wasted no time in trying it on, crossing fingers and hoping real hard that it will work. It worked! And I was so so so so so happy that day.
I can't wait to show other people. Now I really am going to save some time leveling up. I don't know how much damage it translated to, but any bonus to damage and strength is welcome to a warrior. I am now dreaming around if my Malaysian flag could ever be a +7 Malaysian flag. I told Angel and she finally decided to give me her scroll. Crossed fingers once again, and it worked again. I misplaced the screenshot, and seems like it didn't register. Oh well, could have been another moment in history. That's two boost in a day, and I haven't feel this happy in a long time.Two boost was really a lot. I waste a lot less potions on the enemy I train for my level. That in turn translate into more mesos for me to use! Tried doing more quests that could gain me scrolls, but none of them yielded the scrolls that I needed. Also, due the the hardworking me playing, I managed to exhaust all the quest available on Victoria Island, and was convinced that the next possible destination for me is Ludibrium. It was with heavy heart that I left Victoria Island since I was just beginning to get accustomed to it. It felt a little bit like home, since I know where to find what. I always feel mildly at home in some places in cyberspace.
Flying the flag high while on the way to Orbis, where we can then take another ship to Ludibrium. =) I lost the screenshot on the ship to Ludibrium too. Anyway, Angel's sister is a high level character and she has two Pole Arm Scrolls. Wow, I am going to be much stronger than my level! So happy. Unfortunately, that day, both scrolls didn't work. Sigh, my hopes were so high. I was so so so so so sad. That day everything didn't feel right. Also, that means two slots were wasted on my flag. It could only reach a maximum of +5!
Picked up where I left off, and managed to do some Ludibrium quests. Two of the quests rewarded me with scroll, and on top of that I could choose which scrolls I wanted. Of course I chose the scroll for my weapon. Both of the times, the scroll worked! I am once again very very very happy. Unfortunately, my weapon is quick reaching it's peak. Nevertheless, it is serving me very well now, and I think I might grow out of this weapon very soon. Must earn lots and lots of mesos from it while training at the same time. Experimented with free market, and a lot of good weapons are sold at very very high prices down there. I always jump at a good deal, and end up getting conned. Oh well, as long as I thought it was a good deal, it's a good deal. Besides, you can only cheat someone once. =)
Hehe, Ludibrium is an interesting place. It also have rewarding quests for my level. I didn't regret the move to go there. Besides, the party quest here is a good place to earn experience until around level 50. Not to mention high chance of getting good items too. Then again, I haven't done any serious studying or work this break. Convinced that I am playing too much, my work achiever self begin to shine again. I am then taking a very very long break from Maple Story. Plus I was being a bad influence by playing, because then everyone wants to play, so I decided to finish what I want to finish for now and stop playing.
Overslept my project meeting on Friday terribly. Managed to get back to room but then again there's the next appointment. Suddenly I feel that I need rest again. Jason managed to message me out of nowhere on my way back to room. Soon, after a short shower again, I am back out. Nice to meet Jason again and all. Also nice to meet a lot of MRC people again. Stella was supposed to come but she was not feeling well. Oh no, we had Manhattan Fish Market for dinner and it was a terrible blow to my already almost empty pocket. In the end, we wanted to go Mind's Cafe but it was fully booked till after 11. We sat at Starbucks for the rest of the night. Anyway, it was then we found out that Stella was down with dengue fever. I always knew Singapore reached some epidermic level, but having a friend down with it was very unusual. The last time such a thing happened was when I was in Secondary One, where Jeffrey was down with it.
The MRC people wanted to organize a group visit on Saturday, but by Saturday I am feeling extremely extremely guilty for not doing any serious work at all. I am tired, and need some rest, and at the same time, the week-long break is drawing very close to an end. On Saturday, I decided I should go and study for my upcoming mid-term tests. I couldn't concentrate, and did very very little. In the end, went to play basketball at night too. I played a good game throughout the night but sprained my left ankle while going for a rebound and aggravated it by accidentally stepping on someone's foot while going for the lay-up. Even though it was sprained, I didn't feel the pain until I finally reached my room. Maybe there's ecstasy in playing basketball, that I do not feel pain.
I was limping my way to shower. It was too painful I cannot stand on my left foot alone. Also, I don't know of a good position to place it when I go to bed, hence I slept in pain. No matter which way I turn, it felt painful. By now, I am feeling extremely guilty of not visiting my friend in the hospital too. I began to debate with myself, what is more important in life? I know I won't regret it if I go visit. However, now I am down with a very painful ankle. On Sunday, I finally went to visit her. She wasn't at her bed when I went there but managed to find her somewhere anyway. Of course I didn't regret it. It was nice to see everyone again in such a long time. Besides, catching up with the latest juicy developments. =) Also bumped into Guo Wei after not meeting him for such a long time. Unfortunately his old number no longer works though when I messaged him. He was on his way to visit his grandmother.
Though I didn't do much things productive during the break, I must say that it was a break well-spent. Caught up with quite a few people too. Somehow I felt studies are not that important anymore. =) Maybe I have found my direction in life. But then again, I really need to do well. My CAP is not only embarassing to tell, but it gives people are very grim picture of university. It breeds pessimistic thoughts in juniors. Luckily, time seems to pass a little slower this few days, giving me 'more time' to do things that I need to do. Hopefully, I'll manage to catch up with everything again in the course of the semester. Evaluating my choice to take 6 modules every semester. I appreciate that time and energy is finite. But then again, this is a very pessimistic view of things. I'll rather think I can take over the world. =)
Maybe my body couldn't get used to not having enough sleep. Maybe my body couldn't get used to waking up early in the morning all of a sudden. I started sneezing on Tuesday morning, and I thought it was some morning cold that I occasionally get. (But it usually disappear after a while.) At first it was okay, but it soon escalated into unstopable coughing, and persistent runny-nose. Uh-oh, oh noes, I remember the last time I got a very bad cough, and it lasted more than a month. Sigh sigh sigh sigh sigh. How? I know it's worse to get such a thing during exams, but the timing now isn't that good either.
Coughing non-stop and persistent runny-nose are not only irritating from the multiple toilet trips that you have to go, it also disturbs the rest of the people in lecture/tutorial/library trying to concentrate. It also make myself unable to concentrate. Besides, coughing is contagious, not in the sense that they'll get cough after I cough, but their throat feels a little funny/itchy after hearing someone cough. I get such a psychological effect. If someone coughs, I would suddenly feel like coughing. Luckily managed to complete lab on time despite multiple trips to the washroom.
Wednesday was the worse. I couldn't sleep at night. When I finally managed to fall asleep, two hours later I'll be awake because of cough. My sleep got disturbed multiple times in the night, and now when I cough, I cough my lungs out. It's very bad. It's like a long chain if coughs together. The type you feel like dying/vomiting at the end of the chain combo. I couldn't put together a sentence. Whenever I try to speak, I cough. Sometimes I feel like I cannot breathe, and that induces cough, which in turn induces the whole long chain of cough.
Maths lab wasn't any good. I went in high spirits, being able to tackle the last lab with relative ease. Alas, it wasn't easy at all. And there are two questions that are being withheld, which means that we only have 30 minutes sharp to tackle both the questions. Coughing doesn't help much. Sigh, in the end, after wasting a lot of extra time, I am convinced that I am unable to answer those questions. I need to brush up my Maths before I can tackle those questions. Convinced that I was just wasting my time, I left the lab at around 5.41p.m., completely defeated.
Then come the stress night again, trying to complete too many things in too little time. Didn't even look at Lab 3 since I heard it was due on Wednesday 9 a.m., so I am well past the due date. Seems like I am already severely penalized for programming labs. I can't don't do them anymore, and I need to score high marks for each possible lab. Never mind about that already for now, and I realized I have to study a lot of programming, because the next day's lab is sit-in lab. Since it was Wednesday night, I have decided to play basketball because my friends invited me. I don't know why, I just felt I couldn't have done anything even if I didn't play.
I was coughing on court, and was a little convinced that it might not be a good idea. However, as I played on, my situation improved. Soon, I was no longer coughing, and in fact, I felt like normal. Maybe the game just heated up my lungs and improved my breathing. I was happy! See, playing basketball was a good thing. It is one of the best medicine. However, whenever I stop playing, I begin to feel terrible. I begin to feel as if I couldn't breathe, but I wasn't coughing. At the end of it, feeling much better, I went in search of cold can drinks again. They are irresistible after a good/tiring game. At first I was thinking it was all a big mistake, since I am coughing and all, and am just beginning to feel better, drinking cold drinks would make my cough worse. There were too irresistible though, and I went all the way and downed two cans, and only got minor coughs back, but it was definitely a mistake.
Thursday morning, I couldn't wake up. My back felt like it was breaking again. In fact, every part of my body felt like it was breaking. I was still having some cough, and decided maybe I should see the doctor. Since I decided I should see the doctor, I decided to sleep a little later. I am really really really too tired. Everything is feeling like a torture. Best part, I could fall asleep in one second if I wanted too. But I thought the best of the best part was, I fell asleep in one second even if I didn't want to sleep anymore.
I thought early in the morning, the doctors at UHWC would be more free and therefore visiting time should be less. I was wrong. Even as early as 9 a.m.., there were already loads of people there, and many of them were coughing. See, coughing is contagious. They require us to update our weight every time we were there. 70.8 kg, not bad. =) I am starting to feel healthier. The wait made me regret going to see a doctor. I am convinced playing basketball two more times will do more good than seeing the doctor.
Got some pills and a bottle of cough syrup. Went for my SSB class super late. By the time I was there, everyone was leaving already. Sigh, bad outlook again. Well, hopefully I wouldn't be penalized. Then I went for my sit-in lab. Sigh, if only I did more programming practice. That looked like a very easy question, but I couldn't do it. Luckily I haven't come across people who were able to do it. After that, I sat in the library, trying to be a good student, and continue to write my lab report that is due the next day. Now I regret, I should have tried to do the Maths questions instead. I was postponing it because the Maths lab is due on Saturday and the EE2005 lab report is due on Friday.
Had a short nap and ate my medicine just before Maths lecture. Now I regret eating the medicine. Technically, I just woke up from a short nap and am very awake. I also took a cup of hot Milo, which means I have some caffeine that should be keeping me awake. If I was under normal circumstances, I should be awake throughout Maths lecture. Don't know why, I felt really sleepy even when I am standing. I really can't control myself anymore. I slept throughout the lecture, and didn't even manage to listen to announcements. Even after the lecture ended, I continued to sleep on, until the next class finally comes in. Come to think of it, what class have lectures 6 in the evening?
Very sleepy during the tutorial too, and I couldn't concentrate at all. Sigh, and I am coughing more. The cough syrup makes me choke more, then cough, then long chain of cough more. I really couldn't speak as everytime I try to, I'll cough non-stop. At the end of it, all I want to do is reach home and sleep. The bus is taking forever to come too. Why does it always take forever to come when I need it? Uh-oh, this was bad. I felt asleep at around 8 plus, but I woke up around midnight. Sigh, no dinner. Then I stayed up to try to do things. Hey, I am no iron-man, and I ended up feeling very tired again at 4 plus in the morning. I wanted to sleep, but I am supposed to wake Angel up. Sigh, if I sleep, I am positive I couldn't wake up to wake Angel. I am at a dilemma. In the end, I slept at 6 a.m. anyway, setting alarm for the supposed time to wake Angel.
My first tutorial tutor in the morning was late. Though I was around 10 minutes late, it didn't really matter. I actually fell asleep in the class for a good 20 minutes when he finally came. He had some emergency at the hospital or something. Oh noes, half the class have left for their breakfast! Once again I lived in fear. Sigh, why does it always have to be this way? In fear for the next tutorial as well, but I was lucky I didn't get roasted. My effort last week only netted me 12 marks out of 20. Sigh, more room for improvement again. CS1102C was bad too, and I didn't see one of my class mates for two weeks in a row. I seriously hoped she didn't drop this course.
Then lecture and project meeting. I was supposed to teach one of my friend CS1101C lab. The lesson turned well, but there was another problem. It was Engin Day and my lab got cancelled and pushed to the next Monday instead. For a moment I thought that was good. My friend called me while I was on the bus, and so she told me to call her when I reach the forum. I called her just 5 minutes after and my call got rejected after 5 rings. I thought it was because she saw me, that's why she rejected. I turned around right after the call got rejected and saw her. So we went on the lesson and after we finished, suddenly, she said she lost her phone. Panic! We went searching high and low, and even called it, and it was off.
We went into Co-op and asked them to review the security camera tapes to see if she dropped it. Anyway, in the end, she was very sure it got stolen by the couple right behind her, where we were having the lesson, reason being, she was sharing the table with them earlier, then she moved, just before I arrived. She suspect she left the phone on the table. Oh no, how could I be so careless? I should have asked her to check if her phone was there when I called. She could have just turned and recovered her phone. Sigh. I am such a loser. It was a new phone, and it was also an expensive phone. I felt so bad. At least she will remember this day, Engin Day for the rest of her life.
The entire project meeting was converted into the looking for phone meeting. I drank the cough syrup and am coughing lots again. Sat in library to do tutorial and lab report which was both due but decided to give up. I don't feel as guilty because I am sick. I really am. Though now I regret the decision, I think at that point of time I would have done that as well. Taking it home is a mistake, because I know I would never get the motivation to do, and I am proven correct. Friday night, I played basketball again, and I was miraculously healed. I think the cough might have been some viral infection, and it left a lasting effect. Even though I stopped coughing, I still get the I cannot breathe, choking feeling, once in a while.
Suddenly, the stress disappeared. It was Friday, and it marked the start of my mid-term break! I spent the whole of Saturday trying to figure out my Maths lab though. It was pretty bad. Half an hour before the deadline, I opened the assignment to see the question. Oh no, the last two question was very very easy if I had MATLAB. Now I regret not completing the lab while at the lab. Sigh, I am so stupid. This week I had not been a good student, but I am happy because the much needed break is finally here. Remember the box which I talked about last week?
The amount of rubbish in it has escalated. There are duku langsat skins in the Watson's plastic bag and the whole place is already smelling of duku langsats. Walau. Of course I could be a good citizen and help them empty it, but I have decided to test the waters first. I want to see if they really empty it and move resident's stuff into it. If the do not, then those people aren't so bad after all. Hey, I am just internalizing Sun Tzu's Art of War. Also, they need to see the rubbish ot know that their method is not working, or else there is no honest feedback. There's another problem:-
These huge yellow pieces of laminated papers have made their way into my cluster's walls. Yeah, it's one of those legal crap again, with a lot of words typed out in capital letters. They also state the amount of fine that you need to pay for each breach of rule. Well, it's an escalated attempt on making you not able to feel at home. I want to do anything I want in my room, as long as I am not disruptive to others. I don't see a need to fine. If they are breaching the rules, just tell them off nicely. Don't ask me how much is the fines, because I didn't read. Hey, I guess they didn't put it in a corner for nothing. I guess they put it there so you can't see it. =)
Once again, blatant disregard for other people's feelings, and selfishly decides before consulting the people first. I heard one of my friend's cluster already got the warning letter for not locking the cluster gate. These management people seriously have something very wrong in their heads. Just remind them to lock the gate. No need to print nasty letters and kill the trees.
By now, I am somewhat convinced that everything possible was created to annoy me. Basically nothing's going right. This week was just a worse repeat of last week. Project's quite going downhill. I have to present for my SSB2216, and I don't even know what my group members are doing. It worries me, because they undertake something and say they want to do, and I don't quite hear from them until late. I can't believe we are meeting to finalize just one day before the presentation. Time to take matters into own hands, and prepare all backup plans.
Little victories of the week, someone actually joined me for lunch and we had a great conversation. Then, on finding out that everyone couldn't do the lab too, we decided to go meet their tutor for guidance. However, their tutor wasn't that much of help. She's busy with her own upcoming exam, and she haven't seen the lab question actually. She was just a tutor for tutorial. She had to take her time to figure out the question and the answer as well. Doesn't matter, I felt like I was a good student. Being angry at myself the previous week, I have decided to reform again this week. If my room wasn't productive, I'll go to the library. Besides, there's air-cond there.
So I spent whole of Wednesday in the library after my project meeting, trying to both do the project and lab at the same time since lab is due the following day. I managed to read up lots and I think I have an idea on how to tackle Lab 1 already. I started coding senselessly for Lab 1, which was due the week before, being convinced that if I am able to do Lab 1 easily, I'll be able to do Lab 2 easily as well. I ran out of time naturally. The air-cond was not cold, and it was bad because I couldn't move. I had to guard my laptop, and it didn't make sense to keep the laptop for one toilet break and then resetting it up. I only had 2 toilet breaks the whole day. Since I couldn't move, it was less comfortable than my room even though in library I have air-cond. I can't type as fast too, because the keyboard will make very loud typing noise if I did so. Studying in room is better. If only my room has air-cond! I only like air-cond when I am awake though. I don't like air-cond while sleeping.
In the end, convinced that my project presentation was more important, I went to touch up on the project. It was a little half-baked, and I sense little enthusiasm in it. The hand-outs were a waste of paper, because it didn't even cover half the page in its original font size. Time to add some bulk into it. At the end, I printed those hand-outs and stuffs. Was glad the presentation went well though. I congratulate my project mates for being such good project mates after all. The lecturer always cut-in when I want to speak, effectively cutting my chance to speak. Maybe my arms were a little short, so she couldn't see my hand that was perpetually up. Guess we lost some marks there but oh well, we'll be fine.
Once again, I missed the deadline for my programming lab, this time not even looking at the question. I guess you could feel all the rain in my soul right now. I don't have to tell you the worse part, because you all already know. A new programming lab question have just been released again! Once again, I went for Maths tutorial without doing the tutorial questions. Once again, I feel very tired at the end of Thursday, and am bombarded with all the tutorials I have to finish before the next day. Once again, I feel like crying. Not to mention I actually voluntered to present a question for my tutorial the next day because I wanted to force myself to do the tutorial.
Feeling extremely angry at myself, I finally summoned all the strength to do my tutorials. There was something that pushed my on. It was the tutorial questions. Somehow they seemed easy, and with everyone done, it gave me the force to carry on and do the next. I don't know why is my brain so blocked, but somehow the tutorial questions managed to unblock it. I did questions after questions, and commited the mistake I always commit, staying up late to finish my work. I didn't sleep again, and lasted on coffee, but even the coffee tasted good. Even though my hands and feet were shaking and I dreaded tutorials, I dragged myself to tutorials. Little victories everywhere. I managed to know what the tutor is going to say next, though with some mistake, but hey, it was a good start.
I didn't manage to finish the hand up tutorial, and decided to do it during lecture. At this point, I felt like giving up, because I had just realized all my calculators were spoilt and I couldn't arrive at the final answer. Anyway rushing tutorial questions in front of friends who know their stuff were more productive. I'll be like, "Use this equation right?", and my friends would be like, "Yes.". Even though it was a very simple yes, it saved a lot of time. I don't want to be a freeloader all the time. I want to master something so I can teach them back. Anyway, this is the first Friday I managed to complete everything I needed to complete on time. A lot of little victories along the way adds up. Even though on Thursday night, all I felt was I really need a holiday and more time, by Friday night it has turned to I can take over the world mode.
Hey, there isn't only academic struggle that I went through the last week. I know I was all grumpy from all the not enough sleep and effort not paying off, but there are just somethings that add oil onto fire. Let's see what the week started with.
There was this huge notice on the notice board at the front cluster gate. I usually don't see any notices that huge other than the end of semester room re-application notice. Below is what the notice reads in it's entirety:-
Dear Residents,
GREY BOX IN FRONT OF ROOM DOOR
We observed some residents have placed many personal items along the common corridor. Some of them are fire safety hazards while others pose as tripping hazards in times of emergency evacuation.
In compliance with the Fire Safety Regulations, the corridor has to be unobstructed. We have marked an area in front of the room door for residents ONE pair of footwear in the grey box. Other items left on the common corridor will be placed in a large plastic box in the kitchen for disposal.
Some residents have also placed personal items on the ledge above the shoe rack. These items can be a potential hazard should it fall from height. They also give an untidy impression of the premises. These items will similarly be placed inside the large plastic box for disposal.
If the items belong to you, please collect it from the plastic box. All unclaimed items in the plastic box will be disposed every Saturday. The Managing Agent or NUS will not be responsible for any loss or damage of the items left at the common area.
We look forward to your co-operation.
The Managing Agent.
Before you laugh too loud, let us analyse this notice! Anyway, I can't help but overhear two girls who were talking about it laugh so loud when going for my dinner. The purpose of the notice was good, and the managing agent of our place is like us, law-abiding people. On top of that, they also gave us a chance to recover our items should they be considered a hazard. =) Then again, it arouses a lot of laughter and anger. I know laws were erected so people could live in harmony.
You mean our shoes are tripping hazard? You mean our slippers are tripping hazard? =) Then what is the difference of allowing us to put one pair of footwear instead of more? I used to not even place my footwear along the corridor. Since they said I could put one, I put one then. I thought it was because of convenience too. I have a shoe rack where I can put them in my room. Doesn't make sense. Why are you painting a grey box in front of our room? They are making the corridor look even more messy than before. Besides, the grey box are sticky, making it hard for the cleaning auntie to clean to corridor. Please, spare a thought to the cleaning auntie. Also, I can imagine next time it could be a tripping hazard itself. It could become very slippery like the smiley at the back road of ACJC. Also, are you suggesting that we are intelectually unable to keep our shoes neatly placed? If our shoes are tripping hazard, then what are these?:- =)
Besides, I think more people will die if this corridor is blocked than any other corridor. =) The point is, it's human nature to leave shoes outside your room after you have so painstakingly cleaned the floor. They are just trying to make us not being able to feel at home here. Believe me, it's a place where a lot of people call home. I even call it my heaven. Why do you have to be so picky about that? Is there something seriously wrong with you?
Then they are also scared of killer litter. So what do these people usually put above the shoe rack? Usually shirts. Towels/pillows/shoes are very rare. Why do these people put it there? Because there is not enough place to lay out all your clothes and dry. So where is the root of the problem? Are you saying shirts are going to be killer litter? I don't care, I usually hang my clothes to dry in my room.
Also, when you print out everything in capital letters, (cAPS KEY STUCK AGAIN?) chances are pretty high people will ignore it. I stopped after reading the word GREY BOX, dismissing it as some legal crap. Legal doesn't mean it's ethical. We don't want another Stephen Sing saga. (If you don't know who that is, Google him for some juicy information!, also at this point of time, I don't want to get into another debate.) Remember your Dungeon and Dragons set of rules? There's an alignment called Lawful Evil. Now I wonder what that means. =) Writing in all capital letters is rude. It's like shouting. Do we all not have ears? Why can't you speak gently?
I would like to draw your attention to the last line. The Managing Agent or NUS will not be responsible for any loss or damage of the items left at the common area. Oh, you mean you will be responsible for loss or damage of items not left at the common area? No? What's the point of this line then?
It's blatant disregard to people's feelings. This is what you get when you selfishly make decisions before consulting the people. There are probably around three thousand people in here, (just a rough estimate, I might be off) why can't we be friends instead? They are your customers, your business partners. I want to feel at home. I want to do what I want.
Let's bring ourselves back to the nice little basket that they provided. In principle, it was a good thing, giving us a chance of recovering removed items.
But let's see what happen when you give us a basket, with words all in capital letters, then say, "These items will be removed every Saturday.".
See, my hunch was correct.School felt like it has only started. Time flies and as every week pass by, I am already at week 4. The revelation only came when I realize it was no longer August. It is now September. Trying to motivate myself by repeating these words, "Try to remember, the kind of September...". After a while, it goes more like, "Wake me up, when September ends!". Sigh, I am a month older. The kid that never wanted to grow up in me is crying badly.
Even my project group dropped into a low morale state. We got a new member, lost a new member, and got a new member again. That's not the point or the reason behind the low morale though. It's because we finally did even more extensive research and deep thinking that we found out there are a lot of loopholes with our project. Since we are a group who whole-heartedly want to execute our plan, we have to take into account the initial start-up cost and also the manpower needed. I think by now, everyone is in the low mode anyway, busy with their own stuffs. When it comes to manpower, all of a sudden we are severely short-handed. Our project idea is unstable, and none of us managed to think of a good idea. If a good idea was so easy to think about, everyone would have been a great businessman by now.
I think and think and cannot come up with a good idea. I think it's because I am not wise enough, and I cannot see all ends, at least not yet. I think almost everyone knows our idea was not that great, but none of us can come up with a solution yet. We get roasted by our lecturer every time. Staying with an idea and solving the problems is one way, switching to another idea was another. Though it might be valiant to stick with an idea, I believe one should only do so if it was really a good idea. Also, it didn't help that I won't have lunch on Tuesday. I don't have a free time slot from 9a.m. all the way till 5p.m.. if I have lab, and I happen to have lab this week.
Me and my neighbour for lab was totally blur on what to do for lab. It didn't help when the lab manual actually stated you should read up the PSPICE tutorial before coming to lab. Seriously, not many people read the lab manual unless it's just before lab and they have the free time. Luckily there was an open internet connection. I downloaded a copy immediately from my workbin. Luckily the lab assistant guide us a little on what to do. After a while, we got the hang of it, and we even managed to finish lab early. Now there's lab report to do though, but I am hopeful because all the graphs have been done for me. All I need to do now is write a lot and do a lot of calculations. I wonder how come the lab next to us took sooo long to finish. Later, I found out it was because everyone was trying to print their graphs through one network printer. Imagine the printer queue.
Must have been the worse Tuesday so far. No worries, it's Wednesday coming soon! Supposedly a free day, but I'll have Maths lab. I thought I would die, since my Maths is very bad by now, but it wasn't as hard as thought. I managed to finish in 30 minutes! That was like a great confidence boost! Besides, I got everything correct! Yay, I am so happy now. Looking forward to many more Maths lab to come. Besides, it's Wednesday, and it's meet Valerie day again. Forget all my work for now, it's time to relax.
Went to Bugis for shopping. =) Watched Ratatouille. =) Had some fun and laughter, but once again, the movie was too short. Had problems eating dinner in the cinema too. See, we couldn't watch a movie too late so we had to watch the earlier one and by the time we bought ticket, the movie was about to start. There was no choice then, we don't want anyone to go home with gastric. Besides, we are going to laugh a lot, we don't want anyone to get hospitalized because of stomach cramp. It was too dark, and I couldn't see my food. It felt that I didn't eat dinner even though I did, just maybe because I couldn't see my dinner. I don't know how long this is going to last, but the day definitely lifted my moods a little.
I went home and suddenly all the impending doom fell on me again. I have 4 tutorials, one lab report, one tutorial to do and one programming lab with the next morning 9 a.m.. as the deadline. As it was the first ever programming lab, I want to push off a good start by trying to gain all the marks possible after finishing it. I tried all night through all the way until morning, surviving on coffee, and I did not finish. In fact, I didn't submit anything and just gave up. My back felt like it was breaking, and more importantly, I feel like an idiot, I should have gave up earlier and get a good night's rest. There was no moral victory, only moral defeat. It didn't help because I am supposed to go for my other project group meeting. I am going to potray a very tired outlook yet again. That is not me. Wai Hong is a person full of energy!
Part two of dreaded Thursday. I survived project meeting. Then another straight blow in the face was that not only the last programming lab was due, a new question has just been released. I'll have another week of stress just thinking about it. Never mind, I'll survive. I went to Maths lesson, dead tired but still able to concentrate, and after the Maths tutorial I am glad Thursday is over. By now, I am dead tired. I hate Thursdays. I don't know how to put it in words, but then again, I have 3 tutorials to do, one additional tutorial to hand up and a lab report. Come on, all I want to do is sleep, but I can't. I am denied. At the moment Maths tutorial ended, I just wanted to cry. Tears just come flowing freely. Though I tried to do the tutorial, my brain was too tired it didn't allow me. I naturally fell asleep without myself knowing.
By the time I woke up, I was cursing at myself for falling asleep. It was already 7 a.m... At the same time, I was grateful to myself for falling asleep. I was at the bottom of a bottomless pit. Then I made my way to tutorials anyway, in fear, again. I want to break out of this shameful self, but I don't have enough time and energy. They are both very limited resources. I was lucky I survived them. Didn't manage to hand up the tutorial I was supposed to hand up as well, throwing precious marks there. Then, extremely angry at myself, I summoned all my strength and tried to finish my lab report after my project meeting at 5. The lab report was due at 5 p.m.. that day, and I just started to write bulk of it then. At 8p.m.., I am finally done with the report, nice and shiny, and handed it into the box for lab reports. Hopefully they'll accept it. I hope very hard.
On a lighter note, I am happy that a hectic week have finally came to an end, and I decided to play basketball to drown all my sorrows.
Week 3, the first week I have all my tutorials. Luckily there were no labs yet. It is also the week where we have Malaysian National/Independence Day (31st August) and Singapore's Teacher's Day. (1st of September) By now, the monotony is crawling into me. I am beginning to feel the very tired vicious cycle. You are very tired and yet you don't get enough rest and soon you'll be very, very tired. The cycle repeats till you break. Let's not talk about lessons for the week first, since they are going to be boring anyway.
I got a flood of mail about patriotism in my inbox this few days. A particular one caught my attention. It's promoting civil disobedience. Actually it caught my attention because of the intended sarcasm. Below is the mail in it's entirety. (I also don't know how I was auto-joined into the group)
(Email addresses left out for obvious reasons.)
Hi all,
Read this article from RPK - http://malaysia-today.net/blog2006/holds.php?itemid=7599
Wearing yellow this Merdeka anyone ??? Let's support the rulers!...urm i mean Celcom... fuiyoh.....
Rgds.
The article was basically about civil disobedience, and how we should do it peacefully. There is nothing much to read, as bulk of it was copied from Wikipedia. Also, anyone can just make an account and modify things in Wikipedia, making a somewhat political article based on it unreliable. Who knows who have just recently twisted the words? Checking history only tells you the user account responsible for making the changes. =) I shall not comment more, as things are a little sensitive. Otherwise, if you are happy with the way Malaysia is going, fly the flag, unhappy, fly the flag with a yellow piece of cloth on top. I don't care, I am lazy and it's hard to get a Malaysia flag down here. Besides, I want to fly it high, high above the rest, not below some dirty yellow cloth.
I know it's easy to be unhappy with something. I am rather unhappy with some of the aspects of PGPR and the way it was ran too. More of it soon. I think I can see more unhappy reasons coming. Maybe I could just compile it all into one post. On a lighter note, the curtains came! =) I am soooo happy now. It's very dark in here even though it's 12 in the afternoon. That means I can safely sleep until very late every day. That also means I am getting good rest every day! At this point of time, I don't know where I can get a Malaysia flag. Also, there isn't enough people for me to shout "Merdeka!" three times when the clock struck 12. Finally, this day is going to past silently. However, it was a great day, the weather and all.
Teacher's Day seem to bring more good memories to me. Every year without fail, we'll be back in ACS(I) in the morning and watch the nice skits put up by teachers to entertain us. They'll never fail to make us laugh, and there's just so many things to catch up on. Usually, ACJC celebrates a little later and therefore we'll make our way there after everyone got dismissed in the secondary school. This year it was a little different. ACJC was celebrating on a Thursday, 2 days in advance. I have lessons from 8a.m.. all the way till 7p.m.., with only a 2 hour break in between in the late afternoon. Not to mention some of them were unskippable. Finally, I am really guilty because I haven't been back to visit in a long time. Guess I'll have to keep feeling guilty.
Friday morning is full of tutorials. No go either. Why can't they celebrate on a Wednesday? =) I am sure they'll understand. I'll plan to go back one of these days, probably during my term break.
Ok, lessons time. Start of the week was a little slack so I could catch up with some rest. Tried doing the tutorials but had to pass. There's just not enough time to finish everything! Should have started during the weekend. Even though Wednesday was a free day, there's not enough time to finish everything even if I spent the whole day at it. This is probably because you need to understand the notes before you could do it, and there you need some time. Then, they like to give hard questions then you'll be stuck for a while more. Almost every module is like that. Tutorials consumes a lot of time to do.
I haven't met Valerie for a long time and since she's in town for her break, we decided to go out on that day since I am absolutely not free on any other day. We had fun, the weather was great, and the Indonesian Panggang food that day was especially nice. We went to Plaza Singapura after that and watched Rush Hour 3! It was great and we laughed all the way. I complain, because I think the movie was too short. =) Then she had to leave, and that's how I spent the earlier part of my Wednesday. Later part? Doing tutorials that I could never finish.
It was taxing, and I can't extend into the night because the next morning I need to wake up early. Not to mention I have a lab that's impossible to finish, and Maths which I am very weak at and need more time. In the end, I couldn't attend tutorials without not finishing those works. At the same time, I don't want to repeat the mistake I did last semester by staying up late (and still not finishing) and then throwing the day of lesson away because I cannot concentrate. Frankly, at the end of Thursday, I feel like dying. I am very mentally and physically tired. I'll be awake at 7 in the morning and finally only reach home around 8 at night. I just want to sleep at the end of it, but I can't. Reason being, there's 3 tutorials class on Friday. Gathering the remaining hours left to Thursday, I valiantly try and do tutorials due on Friday. Keep in mind I started on Tuesday night, did some on Wednesday night.
Friday? Horrible! I did not finish anything. I just went to tutorial class being blur. Sigh, the stress level was definitely very high, and every moment I live in fear that the tutor would ask me a question that is simple but yet I don't know how to answer. There are even simple questions that I am unsure, and questions that I am sure, but I answer wrongly. It can be due to lack of sleep or whatever, but the main reason why I think I am having such a hard time was because I didn't finish tutorials before I went there. But then again, they are impossible to finish. Anyway, at the end of Friday, I still have things to do! It's called project meeting because most people aren't free on other days and are reluctant to come back on a Saturday.
My mind hasn't even recovered from the Thursday shock and you are giving me another shock on Friday. I feel totally miserable at the end of it, and I guess my mind has auto switched off after my last lecture on Friday. Luckily, they managed to get me going for a while longer. The beautiful sea-view from The Deck did help. Can you Anyway, it's Friday night, the night that I have been playing basketball every week when I was a Year 1 and they still continue to play now. I really really want to play basketball, but I am too tired, so I slept. It doesn't make sense to play because I'll probably have a bad night missing all my shots. My hands aren't steady when I am tired. But then again, I really really want to play for reasons unknown to myself. Maybe it's what they call passion.
Wai Hong is currently an undergraduate student at National University of Singapore. He majors in Computer Engineering at the Faculty of Engineering. He is a member of the forever sixteen :) club since he was sixteen. He was lucky enough to end up in Anglo-Chinese School Independent and then Anglo-Chinese Junior College, where he spent his best years and still looking to spend more best years. He was born into the world on 16th October, sixteen years ago. =)