Current Views On Studying

So, the econs Common Test is just tommorow, i have alot to study for and yet i'm still sitting here... i wonder why.

Even if i do study for one entire week straight, and then cry my heart out and get frustrated at my inability to do certain questions for whichever subject, and get dejected, and then when the exams are finally over, celebrate with friends, before returning home to enjoy my much-needed sleep... What is there waiting for me, but yet more homework? PW, assignments, playing catch-up to virtually everything... all in preperation for the final A'levels.

The nightmare has only just begun.

C'est la vie.

Such is life...



A Whimsical View on Cirriculums

This person, being a student in a certain Junior College located in Singapore, has been made to sit through lectures. The lesson schematics are completely different from that in secondary school, which this person has been used to, as this person is normally not as tired in secondary school and can simply sit down, copy notes, and comprehend. However, this person has somehow become very sleepy during lessons, especially during lectures, where the droning of certain teachers are enough to act as a sedative and knock this person out for several seconds at a time. This person is aware that normal people call this 'drowsing' but this person feels that in order to blend in with the general tone of composition, the tone adapted as above is more fitting. This person hence proposes that students be allowed to buy Starbucks coffee from an outlet during breaktime, or get Starbucks to design a vending machine that dispenses coffee of the students' choice at subsidised prices in order to prevent inattentiveness. Also, another method that this person feels will be effective is to convert lecture halls into halls without seats, or at least hidden seats. This person feels that by making it mandatory for students to stand up and listen to the lecturer, and copying whatever they feel they need to copy, the level of comprehension will be higher. If need be, this person feels that rows in the lecture halls can be designed to have a step that when flipped open exposes seats to allow people to seat down for purposes other than lectures. This person thanks the reader for reading, and will now attempt to get back to work.
Thank you.

Ring Of Nine Dragons!!!!!.... .

The above is a reference to a certain cartoon show I used to watch. Jackie Chan, whom I mostly idolise apart from the various minor scandals about his life, son, and affairs (right...?) voiced his own character in this show, called Shaolin Showdown. In one episode, a little monk picks up a ring by accident: the Ring of Nine Dragons. This ring, like so many of the other antiques that the monk (along with his associates) collects, posseses a mysterious power: it can create multiple copies of the wearer. Unfortunately, each copy only bears one unique characteristic of a person; hence, the Ring eventually ends up wreaking havoc. Now, just what is the point of this little anecdote?

I am simply voicing my wonderment at those people who manage to do admin matters (say, for CCAs, household issues, relaxation time etc) and Facebook with their several hundred friends and still manage to complete a rather substantial amount of homework in a day. Their brains must be very, very powerful. Meanwhile, lil ol' me gets by with lots of slack time, and hence I don't get anything done in the department of Homework. Considering that I have at least two subjects left to play catch-up on (not going to mention the exact number of chapters- too depressing, although closer friends should know, since I've been coomplaining about them for a few months already), and the entirety of all my subjects to study for, not to mention Bio O, which I have not been doing anything for, mostly forgot everything, and will probably be kicked out from very, very soon, and I have much less than a week's time left to complete all those, as well as sleep, eat, hanging out for CIP, ...  

I can confidently say that I am screwed for the Common Tests.

Somehow, the fact that that's the only thing I can be confident in makes it all the more depressing...


p.s. Being an utter sloth, this lazy author has worked out a plan to train for 2.4km run jog. Which is: to brisk walk in the MRT from my home to school and back (quite a short distance, actually), avoid the escalators, or at least take escalator steps two at a time, and shift feet in a funny position for every step. Basically, I walk, and the foot that lands will be toe-first. Then I try to shift the leg inwards (so clockwise for right leg, anticlockwise for left). I swear, try brisk walking and doing that funny crap for 100m, and you'll die. So I gave up after a short period of time and just brisk walked home.

Thy author art a douche.

That's right.

With reference to yesterday: I suppose that not sleeping when I promised myself I would (and hence breaking that promise) and then proceeding to read manga till 5.30 in the morn before I finally decided to give myself a few literal slaps in the face; in the meantime, trying to turn off the fan (turned it back on again) and trying out half-squatting (aka phantom chair; gave up after 10 minutes and sat back down) and failing to convince myself to go the hell to sleep (Sounds like a new children's story I've recently read about in the papers, but diversions aside...)
propels me to the high echelons of idiotdom, rubbing shoulders with the likes of DSK and Mr Anthony Weiner (now, it can't be helped if only sex-related fools were featured in the papers recently, right?).

And then, of course I woke up very, very late, even though I clearly asked my dad, mum, and through them, my maid to wake me up at 9, at the very latest. Of course I woke up at... drumroll.... 4.45pm. After repeated calls from two very worried friends, one of whom actually whipped out her phonebook and started looking for a certain household to call (probably... I didn't exactly give her my home number. I guess.).

I have commited multiple crimes- of breaking my own promise, of letting down my friends, my parents, teachers, and most importantly, myself.

Perhaps I should be a fool no longer and get going to sleep, since my Chinese oral exam is in about five hours' time.

Carebears Outing :D?

First off, I just read about an arcticle online:
 http://www.asiaone.com/News/Latest%2BNews/Showbiz/Story/A1Story20110616-284398.html
I found it mildly amusing that a German TV show actually bothers to investigate, like so, into Singapore. If you'd look at the comments, some people actually flow into a temper and feel that Germany, or at least the German TV hosts on the show are insulting Singapore. Others are more jaded and claim that the TV hosts have hit the nail on the head- and that Singapore should know that there is something wrong with what is happening and the Government should do something to at least attempt to solve the problem. But I think such TV shows are to be taken with a pinch of salt. Their main purpose is to entertain, after all, and even though I think some issues stated in the article do exist they have been greatly exaggarated in order to sell to the public, creating a false misconception with some would-be tourists. The claim that someone stopped the correspondent from entering a building without first checking his temperature might be during the SARS period., for example.

Secondly, I am really sleepy now. Perhaps it's just my natural behavious\r, or I'm actually very tired after the Singaprre. Typing this post hallf awake is not really a good thing i guuess. Alright, kthxbai.
Thirdly, I have fnd...

















Ine,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Inner Peace. (commas are cos i was sleeping)

Too many things distracting me, for example, my sleepiness now. And admin stuff, etc. Today, the 'tutee' whom SL tutors along with me didn't come, and the thing that i was in charge of was removed due to a lack of time. Oh, well. In other words, I have just successfully spent my morning (till 4+ in the afternoon) wasting quite alot of time. It was fun, but the guilt... oh, the guilt. Soz. I shall nap for a little while now first. Goodnight, world...

Inner....... Peace.

Yes, there you have it... wait for it.... a reference to Gongfu Panda 2.

Latest update: I have just spent one hour watching TV by accident. What's more, it was random shows that i don't really follow. I finally realised how badly i was doing (in terms of newspaper reading, one paragraph in half an hour) and plugged my knuckles into my ears; they felt like they were on fire after a few minutes. I guess i accidentally obstructed the blood flow to them. I'm getting really agitated lately because of my inability to focus, do work, etc.

A few minutes later, my dad called me over. My mum wanted a ceiling fan with lights below the fan (and attached to it). Logical people ought to understand that the light gets 'chopped up' into little alternating bits of shadow and light- which can get really, really irritating over the course of a few hours. Now imagine trying to study under such conditions. Naturally, I protested, and we both stood our ground... It eventually lead to a huge row, raised voices, the works. What I truly want is a good ceiling light that can illuminate the entire room brightly, and a little drop-down false ceilling near my bed to house downlights to provide light to the area near the bed. Apparently, my parents do not get what i want... Perhaps this is called a breakdown in communication.

*note that the above has been removed from expletives to make it more paatable to the general public who views this humble blog, notably a certain little girl (last time i'm using this, i promise!) who like my friend Jialok, tends to give you a reproachful look whenever she hears you uttering swear words.

Overnight Cycling

Now, before the cycling thing was Chinese lesson, where the teacher made me feel like an abysml failure, as usual. So, on the cycling. Well, actually I don't really feel like typing this blog post at all. The cycling part, which was supposed to be the highlight, has been outstripped by overpowering feelings of resentment and whatnot due to PW. I should have typed the cycling part earlier on in the day, but I was too tired. Once I saw a bed (not even my own, I slept in my sister's bed!) I just conked out from about 9am to 3.45pm. I feel like going back to sleep now, avoiding PW, avoiding the massive amount of work to be done, but which will still be equally large when I finally wake up again...

For matters on PW: I have confirmed that I would be going for the Carebears CIP outing this Friday a long time ago. Got stuff settled, prepared to go already, been assigned roles. Then today, my PW group wants to meet up for PW, and I cannot go after the outing ends at 4pm because another member has to leave for training. I want to hurl expletives at someone, something now... If i go for the outing, i'll be missing out on PW; if i go for PW, i'll be letting down my fellow tutors (RJ peeps) and 'tutees' (the kids we're tutoring). And cause more trouble for the organisers who will either have to take on my role or find a replacement- either way, a huge hassle. I'm imagining a blissful world where i can compromise and go for both, but that's probably not going to happen. Forget it. This is depressing me. Damn dilemmas to hell.
<Update: managed to find a compromise. Yay!>

Okay, back to cycling. In brief.
After dinner, a little bit of camwhoring, and trying to find our way to the meeting place, my little group of three (SL, CTs and me) finally saw the rest of the group (7 people, all from the same class. Meaning, my class.). I was, and still am envious of the bike a classmate brought. Even thought it was old, it's still a really good bike. Didn't get to ride it though, she said i offended her. I don't know when I did that. Oh well, women...
After setting off, my clique lagged behind to talk, as well as let CTs, who is a poorer cyclist to keep up. In retrospect, the entire journey was actually really fun, apart from the no-free-hands-co-of-safety-rules thing and the irritating helmet and the buttsores and the tiredness (body clocks tend to reset when people don't sleep for an entire night but only crash on the bed in the morning). And that CTs had very bad luck. Firstly, his bicycle sucked. Even though all the bikes were of homogeneous poor standard, his didn't have reflectors on the spokes of the wheel, the tire thread was worn out (massive skidding, especially for those who can't cycle well ><), and the gears kept jumping- something I experienced after swapping bicycles with him because he was complaining about the gear, and only realised it after they acted up. Thankfully, they were alright most of the time. The chain simply went from one gear to another even though i didn't change the gear, like a fickle-minded person. I think I know why CTs skidded more than he ought to, and crashed into more fences and walls and whatnot than he should have on a better bike.
Somewhere along the road, CTs became more and more emo. Firstly his ankle strained because someone crashed into him; then, both his legs cramped. From the feet to the calves to thighs... I could see them tensing as i finally caught sight of him on the emergency vehicle (a lorry). It looked really painful. Having experienced cramps in all three parts (not all at the same time, though) I can empathise with him. In fact, I kept cramping too. My thigh muscles cramped several times along the 50km route, and I had to get off the bicycle and squat down for a few seconds to alleviate it. The intermittent cramping was also irritating, but thankfully I could still finish the entire stretch of route.
I think I now understand why people say that exercise gives you endorphins, because I was awake the whole journey, and felt ready to jog 2.4km after the whole thing ended back at East Coast park, right where we started from. I didn't manage to see the sunrise, though. SL was so tired that she managed to ignore her nasi lemak breakfast and hugged her bag and went to sleep. CTs became depressed and apparently didn't sleep after his cramping experience- all the way till now, even... I think cramping both legs simultaneously is a traumatising experience. Here's to him cheering up soon!

On Sports Day CIP

Yesterday was a whole day (from 7.30-4) of CIP, teaching disadvantaged kids how to play three sports- handball, frisbee, floorball. I somehow landed up with a Malay boy (as it was for this time, it was for previous CIPs... tutoring another malay boy at Carebears and guiding a malay family around the school campus. I must be quite lucky to get so many malays in a row when chinese is the main race in Singapore! But they're all really nice people) who was hyperactive and ran around even though he has asthma. I was rendered helpless (perhaps hapless..?) while he played a staring game with the fishes in the biodiversity pond, dipped his entire hand in the water to try and entice fish over, removed the filter covering the pipe of the pond's water recycling system, threw stones at the fishes, picked up rocks, dived under the staircase landings connecting the humanities block to the ISH block, swung from the movable goalposts while i tried desperately to keep them upright... the list goes on and on.The little terror was also, unsurprisingly, a natural sports enthusiast that learnt fast: his talent was such that he could do antics during frisbee, threw the sponge ball as hard as a JC student (i was watching from the shade), climbed over fences very naturally, and flicked the floorball ball high into the air after two tries and on one occasion, into the shoulder of a poor onlooking girl, who shrieked at the impact (i can't even lift the ball more than 50cm high after four years of playing floorball). 

After some time, i suddenly grew to empathise with parents... having to bring up children- their looks are cute, but the messes they get themselves into are quite horrible. It's not like i'm even close to being a father yet, though, so that issue could be left till much later in my life.

On another note, today was a waste of time, sleeping from 1-5+pm... when i should be doing something about Chinese. And yet i still feel so tired now... perhaps it is time i tried to delve into homework wholeheartedly.

Micro-stories

Firstly: I have gotten mini weights that can go around most parts of my body but have up till now only been used as ankle weights. They're useful for a lazy person who doesn't like to jog or run, i guess. Although putting them on at home isn't actually doing much at all...



Main topic of discussion:
Basically, because i read a really sweet novel in the newspaper (June 7th) that is actually rather short.
The article touches on the up-and-coming trend in China- 'one-tweet novels', as the headline proclaims in blaring large font. The article seems to be objective, touching on both sides of the argument: some say that 'such micro-novels represent reading and writing fast-food style'- representative of the times we live in now. Detractors, however, say that 'novels that have had the most appeal traditionally are those of considerable length'. Perhaps the wise thing to do while factions argue and squabble over issues is to simply wait, and let the changing trends tell their story... But of course, even 140 words is enough to tell a meaningful story, stories that explore every sort of genre, touching on world issues, snippets of life, still enticing you and holding you spellbound.



Without further ado, the three examples given in the article:



"On Graduation Day, the class monitor suggested we sit in a circle and write a personal secret on a piece of paper and pass it to the person on our left. In this way, everyone shares and keeps a secret. I purposely sat on his left. I have had a crush on him for four years but never told him. It's good to know a secret of his, i consoled myself. ON the paper he passed me were only three words: "'I love you.'"
(it was really, really sweet... if it existed in real life, how wonderful that would be- and lucky couple!)

"On Monday, Chief Liu of the local police station entered his office. On the table was a copy of 'A Notice To Ban Pets In The District' for him to sign. After carefully reading it, Liu extended his right paw and left a red flower-plum mark at the bottom corner of the notice."
(Short, yet succinct; a twist in the story, yet I do not know what Chief Liu's action means- does he acknowledge the notice? Has he approved it, or not? There is a subtle meaning behind that which is evident for the readers to guess.)

"In the village was an orphan named Nasa who often ran around and shouted: 'Oh no, the aliens are coming! Even no one has seen so much as a hair of any alien, Nasa has a secret: He's a super warrior. He has fought off the aliens on numerous occasions. The villagers, who get angry every time they see Nasa, have a secret too: On weekends, they gunny sacks over themselves to pass off as aliens and play with Nasa."
(Yet another short story fraught with meaning. NASA- pretty obvious; with reference to aliens, even more so; and yet looking at it literally without thinking too deeply, the story provides good entertainment.)


*This post is weirdly couloured with different fonts because i suck at cyber stuff. So there.

The Sick Diary

As abovefore mentioned. I am currently in the process of being sick. On Sunday, about 3 days ago, i was in the process of starting to be sick.

I swear, there is none other as stupid as me. Without first lunging into the details of how i screwed myself up, down, left, right, under and in all sorts of directons you'd have me in, I have to say this one thing. Students are most afraid of one thing- especially those who have graduated from primary and secondary institutions, because the higher echelions (i know this is a typo, but who bloody cares) of education go at a faster and faster pace, until you have no time to catch your breath, and 'holidays' are unofficial 'study breaks'. So once you miss even one day of school, regardless of reason, you have to play catch-up feverishly (*laughs at the irony*) until you are on par with the others, or your grades automatically suffer. For me, even though it is supposedly the holidays, i have to catch up on about two months' worth of homework, especially for economics and math, without counting in the multitudes of homework laden upon the poor stdents by the teachers- i imagine them to be ogres, monsters of every kind, with unforgiving faces and leaning down upon you, whipping you, shouting at you to go faster, ever faster...

So, back to the 'sick diary' thing.

Sunday- Being the fool that i am, i picked up my male friend from the nearest MRT station, then proceeded to buy breakfast home to consume (we were doing a project, a competition for something called WLC- World Leadership Conference). At this point it started raining, kind of a drizzle, and so being the dunce that i was, rejected my parents' kind offers to send me and my frend home, and proceeded to walk ahead of him. Who had an umbrella. After getting myself drenched, i didn't change out of my clothes, ate breakfast, switched on the air- conditioner, and did some work till lunchtime. Then we went out and sweated, and played badminton; came home, more air-con, lunch, some more work, went out in the sunny weather to welcome the other female member of our group, came back to air-con, and played more badminton after everything was more or less settled. Then i rushed to rinse myself in moderately cold/lukewarm water, changed, and went out with the two of them, to a certain shopping centre called Nex (mentioned this in the previous post), and ate dinner in a cold environment. It was supposed to: watch Kungfu Panda 2 first, but the cinema was totally sold out, so- dinner. After that, sitting at the rooftop terrace at Nex, then home. Full-blown fever.

The uncomfortable feeling lasted much of the next day (Monday)- no energy to eat, inflammation at the back of the throat, blocked nose, fever, highest being 38.5 degrees Celsius, the works. Until i got dragged by my mother to the nearest doctor near my home, got medicine, rushed upstairs to sleep, and woke up and ate food and medicine at about 6pm. Then everything subsided. Ah, the wonders of medicine...

On Tuesday, i was feeling well enough to start doing a little bit of work. Then: my idiotic self took control again. I went out for a concert at the Esplanade, forgetting to bring along a jacket, and my pile of medicine. So i bought Stepsils instead (I was coughing really badly, it felt as though the lining of my throat was tearing out, spilling out blood...). After eating most of the packet (while lazing around in the Esplanade Library, in the concourse, seated and listening to the band, watching the weird actions of the various conductors...) I finally realised that it merely numbed, not reduced the likelihood of a cough. Stupid, useless Strepsils... (cursing myself, not the brand) And then, together with my other male friend, I proceeded to drink soup at NewYork NewYork along the underground stretch of mall (CityLink Mall? Can't remember). At first it was some mushroom soup, but that sold out, considering the time (nine plus in the evening); minestrone soup looked really tomato-soup-ish (I don't like tomato soup, and didn't even bother eating tomatoes till recent times) and so i chose the last option- calm chowder in a bowl of bread. The bread killed my throat, and so did my friend's bread stick (came with the minestrone soup HE ordered, and he didn't eat breadsticks...) So: back home, to fever once more. I rock.

And finally today. Wednesday. After having to skip Chinese class on Monday, and missing various other pieces of work to do (for example, PW- GPP), i was behind schedule, about two days or so... And I still have not collected my yearbook from Victoria School. I was dreaming/hallucinating in the morning, probably due to a lack of food, and my brain was forcing me to eat in order to survive... Dreamt of riding a really souped-up car-like thing and racing other cars and drivers around a converted multistorey carpark, and i couldn't access the small lanes meant for motorcycles and the like... Then i woke up, tried to eat really dry tarts, and finally came alive. The old cliche "breakfast is the most important meal of the day" apparently has more than a grain of truth in it. And after lunch, and finally more medicine, here i am, sweating it out (can't turn on the fan, too cold) and typing this post. Oh well, life sucks as usual. It feels like I'm wasting the same amout of time as Pre-U Seminar, but I'm worse off, because i don't even get to do anything fun, or sleep in an air-conditioned lecture hall, or catch up with my old VS mates, who apparently turned up for the Seminar in large numbers. Well, touch wood, and pray that i recover BEFORE Pre-U Seminar ends. And in time to do GPP, lots of other homework, catch Kungfu Panda on Friday night, et cetera, et cetera...

ADIOS.