7:12pm.
okay, i swallowed my words. now i'm back to blogging just after a post about my blogger downtime. oh well. actually, i technically didn't swallow my words, i, or agent tomato rather, also said, "..until (the blogger) could resist the temptation no longer". haha. figure i'd make a good lawyer. ;)
anyway, i just had to blog today. i can't let noteworthy events slip right? look what happened to my sentosa outing and JC visit and our crazy PR comm project, which are, to this day, still un-documented and un-blogged. oh well. i promise to give flashback later (see, i'm really bent on cutting my blogtime and focusing more on studies =p).
anyway, today i had no class. i planned to study all day. i woke up at 9am, had a quick breakfast of cheese and jam sandwiches (separate duh =P), with studying at the library in mind. i went up to my room, decided to check my email for a while, until i saw this email from the PR secretary of the hall (he broadcast it to all his yahoogroups).
anyway, the following is a copy of the email:
***
Date: Fri, 20 Feb 2004 01:37:01 +0800
From: "Wang WeiSheng"
Subject: [Prcomm0304] 2 Very interesting but Very Challenging Flash Games Links
To: KentRidgeMF@yahoogroups.com, "Temasek Holdings" Temasekholars@yahoogroups.com, AiTong6B93@yahoogroups.com, s67@yahoogroups.com, jasmineneo@temasek.com.sg, chuanchoo@temasek.com.sg, ke747@yahoogroups.com, KEVIIswim@yahoogroups.com, Prcomm0304@yahoogroups.com, 28MC@yahoogroups.com
Reply To: Prcomm0304@yahoogroups.com
Hi Pple,
This is one of the best and intriguing Flash Games. It's not easy but sure is interesting. You may get stuck, but I'm sure they can be solved, coz I managed to get past the 2 games yesterday :) ....enjoy?
http://www.datacraft.co.jp/takagism/index_e.html
http://www.albartus.com/motas/
Take Care and all the best!
Warmest Regards,
WeiSheng
***
haha. little did i know that those two seemingly innocent URLs would disrupt my study masterplan. click on the URL's and get hooked.
i've actually loved those types of seemingly-simple games even before, especially when we got our first desktop PC at home. they're smart games really, which require some good mouse tracking skills, a good bunch of braincells to kill, and a never-say-die attitude. GOD these games could be depressing when you get stuck and totally stumped, but it just feels AWESOME to pass a difficult level.
never thought those games would come back to haunt me even when i'm miles and miles away from home. haha.
the first one was just one level. it was mind-boggling as hell, and i even had to search some sites for some help. try to get out of the crimson room without any help from anyone! you'll go bonkers, i tell you, unless you're really good. ;)
the second url, the one about "mystery of time and space", seemed cheesy at first (what with its title), but it turned it to be genuinely C-R-A-Z-Y. it's so baffling i got my brain twisted. then there's this link at the bottom of the screen where you get to chat with gamers online!
hahaha. basically there, people just ask how to do this and that, where to find the key, how to solve the brain-twisting puzzles and where are the small items are secretly located. major headache i tell you, but it was genuine fun.
i spent around 5 hours playing the 2 games (until around 2:30) till i reached level 9, when i decided it was time for lunch. hahaha. but really, a major highlight was that i gained a couple of new friends! i was asking this sonja how to get past this room with a security panel and a laser beam and a log (play the game nlng kasi! hehe). she was very helpful, like many of the people in the chatroom. i was thanking her profusely when i finally passed level 4, and she said that was just the way it worked, somebody helped her, she helps me, and i help someone else. some pay-it-forward type of scheme. i thought that was really nice.
dubber, mrsbigbig also helped me a bit, but it was at past 1pm that i was the one being asked for help, which was a cool thing. i helped this sel and dragonfly and some other guys with mystery nicks.
i think i got to be good buddies with this guy "gnome". we were both helping "sel" in one level, and later i learned that he was in a much farther level than that i was in. since everyone else seemed to be lagging behind both of us, i asked him for help on my current levels. he was extremely friendly and patient, and, although i didn't get past level 9 yet despite his tips, we exchanged emails so he could help me later on! cool dude too. now i realize this game got me HOOKED. haha.
anyway, i left for lunch apast 3pm already, quite annnoyed with myself for wasting studytime, but it was okay. there's always some compromise. i needed to have a break too, from my crazy PR comm work the past days and WEEKS. oh well.
++++
after lunch at science canteen by my lonesome (yep, i'm proud to say i can eat alone comfortably), i was walking towards the science library when i saw, surprise of surprises,
MR NG WEE SENG, my math teacher last sem.
it was a wonderfully pleasant surprise! i couldn't help myself but THANK him profusely for giving me a B- in math last semester (i know that's a miserable grade, but i sincerely thought i failed the exam, which was 60% of my final grade, on top of my miserable midtrerm marks).
i was VERY TEMPTED to think that he did some "magic" on my grade last sem, such that i even had the same grade as nirorn, who i consider to be a brilliant cambodian, and even higher than some of my fellow bridging babies (of course, all-hail-the-great-but-still-humble-and-simple rotana got an A+ =P).
but no, sir wee seng told me that i "did quite well" in the exam and that my answers, although i was quite uncertain about them, proved to merit points after all. so even if i got B-, he said i did "satisfactorily" and "okay".
that, my friends, made my day.
i mean, for someone who used to love math with a passion and even battled several competitions in the name of oh-so-glorious mathematics, only to be disappointed and rather shattered because of university mathematics in singapore, that was just the thing i needed to lift up my bruised self-esteem.
i went to the library to study for a few hours of statistics, met gelo and had a good chat, and later walked by the shepherd's path shortcut to catch the once-a-week western food dinner at the hall.
++++
there was no western food at the hall this week, but nirorn's news at dinnertime was enough to make me endure WEEKS of bland, tasteless food without any complaint.
you see, the non-filipino bridging studes still take up the english course we filipinos took last sem, and guess what they discussed today: my essay last sem.
it was a position essay regarding the issue of genetically-modified food, which all english students had to write after learning the course. i mean, we were given an essay that discusses about a topic like GMF or about raising kids online, and we were to make our own essays about some issues raised in those essays. it was basically a good chunk of the EA1101 course, since a similar essay would be given in the exam (which, by the way, i screwed up last sem =P).
anyway, i felt extremely delighted and flattered and just plain HAPPY.
i mean, having screwed up the exam last sem due to nerves or just plain lack of thinking, i was just GLAD that ms happy goh appreciates my work. (my work however, had an error in one paragraph, nirorn pointed out, but he said that that was the only thing.) writing an essay in university standards is quite a tough act, since there is always some error to find, for some reason. i don't mind really, since it makes me admire english teachers all the more.
and one more thing: i'm exceptionally glad because english is one of the few aces up my sleeve. i mean, math used to be my forte, but it seems it's not going in my favor the past sem. maybe it just means i have some brushing-up to do.
english has always been my friend (never mind my bad exam last sem haha).
anyway, THAT again, made my day all the more complete.
now i can study all night with a happy heart and a peaceful soul.
p.s.
survivor too at 10pm tonight. this is just plain GREAT.
p.p.s.
sorry for this looooooooong post.
hmph. i'll try my darndest to blog in ten minutes or so next time. gotta study!
