Whew
After a gruelling week, it's finally finally the weekend. Good job Jose, you've proven, once again, that you can still manage to keep your sanity in crazy times (although Karen still thinks I've already snapped).
Today was mad actually (but so were the previous days), and it started with me waking up at 8:15am. What's wrong with that? My Intro to Literature class test was at 8:40! I yanked myself out of the bed with that horrible thought, and the grim realization that I fell asleep studying again. In fact my study time was drastically short (as in I never got to finish reading half the lecture notes) because I was typing away my essay all day yesterday. I panicked and washed my face (I didn't have time to take a bath yes yes) and brushed my teeth and fixed my hair and skipped breakfast and gathered my notes and books and briskly walked out of the KR backdoor. Forgot my Miss Jean Brodie book. Went back to my room with a new wave of panic, and headed toward the backdoor again. Excuse me, someone called. I turned around. It was this guy I'd never seen before in the block, but he was there near the lift. Did you drop something? he says, holding out a crisp $50 bill I had carelessly dropped. OH YESSSS. Careful next time, he called. Thanks thanks to him and I rushed out again.
The bus would take so long, so I climbed the uphill path to Lecture Theatre 8. Thank God LT8 is just walking distance (although not too short) from KR. Was sweating when I arrived, but a good 8 minutes before the test. Sucked in all the names of characters like MacBeth and Duncan and Banquo and Jane and Elizabeth and Bingley and Darcy and Miss Jean Brodie and Jenny and Sandy. Never mind the poems lah, they were sure to replicated in the test anyway.
Two questions, answer one. One hour. The first question was about poems.
1]
i) What is a simile? (2 marks)
ii) Comment on the ways in which similes and other figures of speech in 'Ars Poetica' evoke the uniqueness of poetry. (8 marks)
*Macleish's poem followed*
First part seemed easy, but that's tricky, you know. Just when I thought that similes always have "as" or "like", Dr Yeo changed all that and said that it may not necessarily be so.
Tricky tricky question lah, decided not to do.
2]
1) Comment on the ways in which imagery in this soliloquy from Macbeth reveals the speaker's state of mind. (7 marks)
2) How does sound help to convey the atmosphere and mood of the moment? (3 marks)
*Macbeth's famous soliloquy followed*
This question was surely Dr Ang's. I know she has memorised this bit by heart, and I could even hear her saying it aloud, in the distinct British accent she got from Cambridge, and at the lightning-speed speaking rate she is known for, as I was reading the text. "If it were done when 'tis done, then 'twere well / It were done quickly: if the assassination could trammel up the consequence, and catch / With his surcease success; that buy this blow / Might be the be-all and end-all here, / But here, upon this bank and shoal of time, ... "
(Side note: YES I'm such a dork for posting the test questions here. Haha. I like literature.)
I did question two. It was quite okay, I guess. Except I missed out on some important images, as I learned when I checked this useful Macbeth book after the test. I forgot the imagery produced by "trammel" (a net used to catch birds or fish), and the horse imagery produced by "rider" and "striding the blast" and "couriers". Oh well. I think I did a good description of other meaty stuff, so it should be okay. The sound part I think I managed to find a few, so should be good enough.
At 9:40, I passed some one and a half sheets of paper, and rushed back to hall (walked downhill this time) for some breakfast consisting of cheese and bread and milk. Fixed up my essay, but was unable to finish, and then took the bus to my Lit tutorial. It ended at 11:40, and because I stupidly forgot my wallet (I told you this was mad season), I walked back home again (yes down the slope still), for lunch of cheese and bread and milk (sounds familiar?).
Typed my essay like mad, just doing the fixing up formality and reference part, and tada, finished! It's only a draft actually, so I can't understand why I'm devoting too much time and effort. But it would be critiqued by a peer, so it should be of some level of decency. (I wanted it quite high :P )
Rushed to my favorite small-group class of Evaluating Academic Arguments at 1pm, and yey the CA2 papers were out. That's the critique we did of a paper in some journal or something. Got my paper, and I saw an 80. Not bad, I thought, since and 85 is already considered very high in university standards. Later, Ms Chan told the class that we may refer to the papers of Kay Ping, Ramon and Joseph. Haha. Apparently I was one of the top scorers. Nice to see my hard work has paid off. Highlight of my day. Yahoo.
My position paper (i.e. the essay I've been writing) is getting into some bumpy parts though, as I think organization will be an issue. I think I've spent too much words on the background, and Ms Chan apparently doesn't think it's sound to lump up all the reasons in one heading. Haha. Major reconstruction to take place soon. :)
I accompanied Hui Xian to the Central Library as she wanted to photocopy my critique (ahem) along with Ramon's, and since I lost some blue paper with necessary stuff, I photocopied her blue paper too. It was 3:20 already, and was already late for my calculus tutorial, so I skipped it and took a decent LUNCH at the Arts Canteen.
Ahhh.. nothing like Japanese food to relieve me of stress. Feels good (and tastes good) to eat Katsudon after a loooooooong week.
Went back to hall, and got myself some much-needed sleep.
The stress isn't about to let up, actually, but I'm mighty glad to be still alive and kicking, and woohooo it's the weekend. Happy birthday Jayson! And my favorite High School Bio teacher Ms Tenchavez! And of course, Happy April fools!
