The Post-Exam Beginning

School's out, the holidays are in, and already the post-exam activities are starting to pile up such that I'm having trouble keeping track of them. Not that I'm particularly adept at keeping track of most matters in a non-last-minute kinda way, but it's still wreaking havoc on my schedule nonetheless.

Like waking up at 12pm today to SMSes telling me that I have to be in school for OCIP meetings at 1030h tomorrow.

Anyhooser, the laptop problem's now solved so I've got a computer to use, and I've been spending a huge part of my time the past few days sorting out my data, which has amounted to quite a fsckin' great deal of effort to anyone who might observe me. It's not an especially important endeavour but it's just a personal hang-up if I don't deal with it, so in a 'the best way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it' kinda way, I've been facing the screen in loserish fashion for quite a bit.

The story behind the laptop is this. To make things simpler, the laptops in question shall be dubbed Quasimodo and Immortal II (courtesy of Angie). I've been using Quasimodo since late J1, which was back in 2003. About 3 months or so in January, Quasimodo died for the first time. What ensued were 4 attempts to revive him, and each time he died again. Along the way, the technician upgraded his hardware because hardware glitches were suspected, and I switched to using Immortal II as a makeshift computer, which was actually my dad's but he doesn't use it either because it had slowed down quite a bit and its system was so unstable it couldn't do much else other than simple surfing and MSN, or he's got another laptop provided by his office, or both. To survive the 3 months, I subsisted off whatever minimal things I could do with Immortal II and pimped off the computers in the library, so for once the library became a regular haunt of mine. After the 4th death of Quasimodo, we decided enough was enough so the technician transferred the goodies and upgrades from Quasimodo to Immortal II and, in the process, Immortal II got pimped into Immortal II Hyper.

So yeh that's the story. Quasimodo is somewhat comatosed now in a bag next to me, while Immortal II Hyper sits pristine and pretty on my table. Angie thinks that I'm heartless and that Immortal II Hyper sucks and doesn't deserve to exist because he killed Quasimodo. I think we shouldn't anthropomorphize and humanise computers and other relevant technological apparatus. :] Getting emotionally connected to stuff that can die on you either so easily or so suddenly is like creating little potential suicides.

Saturday marked the end of the exams with the 2hr BGS paper at 9am. My aim was seriously to finish the paper as fast as I could, and that I did, rounding off my last bit of work by the 45th minute. We can't leave until an hour passes, so I waited til 10am, handed in my paper, and then joined a bunch of random people - Eleanor, Peihua and Clara - who were all early-submission champions, for some neither-here-nor-there meal at Raffles City's Mos Burger.

Eleanor is really funny in a kok way. Let's just say that she never knew social science exists as a faculty in SMU; the rest is up to your imagination.

Headed back to school to meet Angie and Isaac, and we whiled the time away by going to the arcade and playing our trademarked Time Crisis II and other random games. Isaac had to join his girlfriend for a bit, so Angie and I ended up catching The Forbidden Kingdom which stars Jackie Chan, Jet Li and Liu Yi Fei.

The movie marks the first time the two martial arts maestros Jet Li and Jackie Chan have starred together. Richard said he heard or read somewhere that the cameras were having trouble keeping up with their fight scenes and stunt sequences.

On first impression, I thought it was gonna be some rather serious Chinese-style show, but it turned out to be really funny and somewhat crappy, but not in a bad way. Some of the dialogue and scenes, though serious at times, were really laden with downright spastic and slapstick content. And the funnier thing is that it might not have been intentional hahar. It was, on the whole, not too bad though. Stuff that homes should have on standby so that visitors can watch on occasions like Chinese New Year.

What really sucked was whenever the Chinese actors and actresses had English dialogue. What's more painful than that is when Jet Li and Jackie Chan both engage in English dialogue coversation.

Liu Yi Fei is quite alluring in a 耐看 kinda way. Her prettiness just grows on you.

We then headed down to the airport to send Yitwen off, forming the biggest fanclub in the house that day. Dude's headed down to Dubai for 3 weeks at least for his business study mission trip. After which we had quite a neat impromptu BBQ-cum-steamboat dinner at Rachel's place.

There was more running around today - meeting Chinhong at Seng Kang, getting my laptop sponge casing at Ang Mo Kio, then meeting Mikaela and Isaac to get the KL trip tickets - and there'll be more running around tomorrow.




Failure is not an option; it comes bundled with the software.

Audio Candy:
Tenacious D Vs Sum 41 - Things I Want

The More I Step Into The Sun, The More I Step Out Of The Light

I think it's really intriguing how an idea, a concept, a thought, an answer, or any revelatory or epiphanic conjecture can suddenly materialise in our heads, only after which we figure out the building blocks that led us to that thought. It's like reverse mathematics, when you get the answer and then figure out what the equation or formula was. Our minds can seem really separate and independent of ourselves this way.

In many instances, from finding out from taking intro classes for subjects that really matter to seeing the other side from behind your own fence, there's just so much I do not know.

Edwin brought the laptop back while I was away during the weekend, so I got home last night and spent quite a bit of time tweaking with the settings and stuff. Then exhaustion really hit and I went to sleep and ended up waking up late today. So that leaves me about an hour left before the paper at 1330h to totally sort out my mess of political science.

But I'm not too worried because sometimes nothing is sweeter than confidence in the ability of your strength in a subject you enjoy.

Liberation is imminent!




In science as in love, too much concentration on technique can often lead to impotence.

Audio Candy:
Petey Pablo - Show Me The Money

The First To The Final

This week is the last run of lessons before school's out for the study break next week and subsequent final exams. Econs has been fading and has duly faded away into oblivion as our AskDrMoney prof Larry Haverkamp (yeh he's an economics journalist for The Newpaper) rushed through yet another 376.2 chapters again and abruptly wrapped things up, much to our bewilderment. But nothing new there.

Tuesday also marked the end of the political science intro class under Rahul Sagar. Things wouldn't be so darn sentimental if he wasn't moving away to teach in Princeton, but alas, yes he's leaving SMU. Apparently, Princeton made the top graduate from Harvard an offer he couldn't possibly resist, and who can blame the dude? He'd be really underemployed if he stayed. I'm not particularly proud of thinking that way (in a "we're only second-rate and we're not good enough for him" manner), but that's the reality of the situation I guess.

So we're planning on throwing a party for him after the finals are over. Things are still in the email planning phase (read: LOTS OF SPAM), but we're thinking of baguettes, for his favourite obsession with French political quirks, and whiteboard markers, cos he never has them when he needs them. But yeh he'd be one teacher I'd do this anytime for. I'd love to be able to meet him for a talk about majors and future prospects not only pertaining to political science but social sciences in general as well. I'm particularly curious about what going into academics will entail.

That leaves BGS for tomorrow, where the remainder of the class that hasn't presented last week will be presenting tomorrow. I could've started studying since last Sunday but there's still that pesky BGS report to deal with that keeps gnawing at the back of my mind. The most of this week has surrounded meeting up and working on the report, so hopefully we'll be done by tomorrow so we can bury it dead for once.

Starry Nite, that final-day-of-school pre-exam rock concert, will be on tomorrow too. Richard's performing with his band, Lost in Slumber, this time around. I was slacking around big time in school today with Jacq and Mikaela and I inevitably eavesdropped a little on their conversation as they recalled and talked about the last Starry Nite, which was the exact same kinda time and day last term as tomorrow.

I'm quite amazed at the detail of recollection the both of them managed to come up with. From what people wore to what happened - Früjch, the broken bag, the heels, the CCA room, etc - they were retelling the story of Starry Nite part I in such vibrant colours that a lot of it came flashing back to me as well.

And I guess what really strikes is the distinct notion of change as things are different now from they were just a few months ago, and as Jacq was saying, it really felt as if it was all just yesterday. In a way of looking at it, it's as if as each Starry Nite comes and goes, each one will symbolise a particular moment or phase in time and will have its own story to tell.

I recall my own side of the story too, and it really makes me wonder how on earth things have unfolded this way, because it's quite inexplicable to say the least. In all honesty, it is so weird it is seriously puzzling. That was the first time, and the best time, and I guess I really had my hopes up but time and again they come hurtling down, only that each time it crashes lower and lower, til I'm reaching a point of resignation and apathy. I can only speculate, and I can only choose whether or not to wait.

The laptop's headed for the tech tomorrow as well, so it'll be a while without a computer for me for real this time. Hopefully this induces some degree of studying. 2+ more weeks to socially-accepted slacking.




If you are going to walk on thin ice, you might as well dance.

Audio Candy:
Colbie Caillat - Bubbly