HMM.
Today was a strange day. I thought it was strange in a good way, since it was a surprisingly good day to accidentally meet up with random friends. Really, I was like, hey!, hello!, how are ya!, hey you!, and on the receiving end of the same as I was walking to and from class, in the corridors, in the bus, at the bus stop, at the canteen. It's great to meet old and new friends around, really, and unexpectedly too, so that's always a nice treat. For a while there I began to wonder if this was a divine sign that indicated something. Something good to perk up my spirits for the strangeness of the day apparently.
It became stranger as the day progressed, me being stressed and sleep-deprived, getting lost in lectures, skipping dinner and consequently getting irritable in choir, and suddenly realizing I have killer tutorials the next day and a take-home calculus exam that I couldn't solve.
But yeah it was okay. I guess.
At around 11PM, after my Indonesian friend Johni (formerly from KR and now with NUS Choir) gave me a calculus crash course, I went back to hall from PGP, ready to plop onto the bed to take a small nap before I finish my calculus take-home exam. I decided to surf the net a bit first, and then it hit me.
Yeah, sometimes life sucks, and I can't blame anyone else but me. Don't ask.
Music of the moment: Green Day's Wake Me Up When September Ends
Currently feeling the need to relax and destress.
Too much, too soon
Too much, too soon
OK, so this is quite a happening semester. This early, I'm already busy and loaded! And still I wanna do a bit more! Let's just make sure I don't fall into that spread-self-too-thin trap again ya?
This weekend is blogworthy actually, but I'm just too tired to blog it. And I have 8AM class later too! But yeah, I have to mark them here so that this blog may chronicle (although incompletely, I must stress) the days and months and years of my life.
So it was the Timeless Classics performance. We at NUS Choir performed with GENUS (NUS Guitar Ensemble), NUS Piano Ensemble, NUS Wind Symphony, and NUS Symphony Orchestra. - Details to HOPEFULLY follow -
Afterwards was a small after-party with terrific food including tasty tasty salmon, tarts with cheese and tarts with strawberries and grapes and kiwi, and chocolate eclairs. The most interesting of the free food was the wine! There was yummy red wine and yummier white wine! I downed one red, then one white, and thought, "Cool these are good." I was feeling some sting in the head already, but I found myself drinking yet another glass of red wine, and another of the irresistable yummy white wine afterwards.
For a while I thought wine was okay, since, well, it wasn't beer! If I get tipsy, see, it's almost always on beer. It's not often anyway, because it's only during my few clubbing sessions (really, what's clubbing without some beer). Kurien (or Yi Yong, I can't recall) reminded me of the alcohol percentage in wine, and then I realized that, oh yeah.. this is the faster way to "drunkenhood".
I was feeling good actually, and it's always nice to have wine to celebrate an occasion. We pulled off the Timeless Classics pretty well despite the overwhelming obstacles, and yeah, we were relieved it was finally over. And yeah, happy people just wanna celebrate and have fun. Huai Zhi asked if I was okay, and I told him I needed it anyway. I was feeling some burnout from school and other stuff already, and I needed to relax and destress.
Then I suddenly got a bit tipsy, and suddenly everyone thought I was drunk. I went to great lengths to prove I wasn't, but yeah, I think they didn't believe me. I'm naturally a bit weird sometimes, and I think my weirdness was rather sharpened that night. Hehe. Plus the fact that I was too defensive and out to prove I wasn't drunk probably didn't help.
Some of us went home already, but a good nine of us, the last to leave the yummy foodfest, suddenly decided to go for KTV. Haha karaoke baby! I've NEVER been in any KTV before, although I know for a fact that quite a number of choir people go to KTV places for fun. Walau, and so we dumped our stuff in Iris' room in Raffles Hall, then headed to Marina Square. It was 11:30PM when we arrived at K-Box, and we were singing all the way till closing time at 4AM! Cool, I can now manage to sing in KTV. It's a little known fact that singing alone with the mic scares me. Terrifies me even. :D But yeah, I was singing like I've been doing it all my life. Maybe I'm getting chummy chummy with my choir friends too much! Which is great, really. :D And oh yeah, I realized there are so many nice Chinese songs! I wish I could make sense of it all really, and learn the language. My occasional karaoke partner and fellow basso Yi Yong nearly totally lost his voice afterwards. And oh yeah, it's a bit sad he'll be "taking time off" of choir this year. He doesn't seem to be keen on talking about it, but good luck to him just the same with the Raffles Hall stuff (JCRC I heard).
At 4am, we decided to walk through the Esplanade area and the Merlion and the bayside area towards this big hawker center Lau Pa Sat. There we ate early breakfasts and joked around, while waiting for the morning bus. I reached hall at 7:30AM, took a shower, and plopped on the bed. After two hours I had to wake up to catch the bus for the 10:30 mass. Lunch at KFC, then I went ahead of the Pinoys since I desperately needed sleep.
Exciting Sepak Takraw match in the evening, and the first KR Choir meeting tonight at 9PM. Good stuff, although now it's past 1:30AM, and I have an 8AM class tomorrow!
It would be nice to drink more white wine though. Darn, come to think of it, it's embarrassing to be tipsy and *appear* drunk after only 4 wineglasses! Haha, I guess Kurien's not a good benchmark for drunkenness since I'll always pale in comparison. Hehe.
Hope I'm not late for class later! And dammit, I thought this shouldn't be a long entry!
OK, so this is quite a happening semester. This early, I'm already busy and loaded! And still I wanna do a bit more! Let's just make sure I don't fall into that spread-self-too-thin trap again ya?
This weekend is blogworthy actually, but I'm just too tired to blog it. And I have 8AM class later too! But yeah, I have to mark them here so that this blog may chronicle (although incompletely, I must stress) the days and months and years of my life.
So it was the Timeless Classics performance. We at NUS Choir performed with GENUS (NUS Guitar Ensemble), NUS Piano Ensemble, NUS Wind Symphony, and NUS Symphony Orchestra. - Details to HOPEFULLY follow -
Afterwards was a small after-party with terrific food including tasty tasty salmon, tarts with cheese and tarts with strawberries and grapes and kiwi, and chocolate eclairs. The most interesting of the free food was the wine! There was yummy red wine and yummier white wine! I downed one red, then one white, and thought, "Cool these are good." I was feeling some sting in the head already, but I found myself drinking yet another glass of red wine, and another of the irresistable yummy white wine afterwards.
For a while I thought wine was okay, since, well, it wasn't beer! If I get tipsy, see, it's almost always on beer. It's not often anyway, because it's only during my few clubbing sessions (really, what's clubbing without some beer). Kurien (or Yi Yong, I can't recall) reminded me of the alcohol percentage in wine, and then I realized that, oh yeah.. this is the faster way to "drunkenhood".
I was feeling good actually, and it's always nice to have wine to celebrate an occasion. We pulled off the Timeless Classics pretty well despite the overwhelming obstacles, and yeah, we were relieved it was finally over. And yeah, happy people just wanna celebrate and have fun. Huai Zhi asked if I was okay, and I told him I needed it anyway. I was feeling some burnout from school and other stuff already, and I needed to relax and destress.
Then I suddenly got a bit tipsy, and suddenly everyone thought I was drunk. I went to great lengths to prove I wasn't, but yeah, I think they didn't believe me. I'm naturally a bit weird sometimes, and I think my weirdness was rather sharpened that night. Hehe. Plus the fact that I was too defensive and out to prove I wasn't drunk probably didn't help.
Some of us went home already, but a good nine of us, the last to leave the yummy foodfest, suddenly decided to go for KTV. Haha karaoke baby! I've NEVER been in any KTV before, although I know for a fact that quite a number of choir people go to KTV places for fun. Walau, and so we dumped our stuff in Iris' room in Raffles Hall, then headed to Marina Square. It was 11:30PM when we arrived at K-Box, and we were singing all the way till closing time at 4AM! Cool, I can now manage to sing in KTV. It's a little known fact that singing alone with the mic scares me. Terrifies me even. :D But yeah, I was singing like I've been doing it all my life. Maybe I'm getting chummy chummy with my choir friends too much! Which is great, really. :D And oh yeah, I realized there are so many nice Chinese songs! I wish I could make sense of it all really, and learn the language. My occasional karaoke partner and fellow basso Yi Yong nearly totally lost his voice afterwards. And oh yeah, it's a bit sad he'll be "taking time off" of choir this year. He doesn't seem to be keen on talking about it, but good luck to him just the same with the Raffles Hall stuff (JCRC I heard).
At 4am, we decided to walk through the Esplanade area and the Merlion and the bayside area towards this big hawker center Lau Pa Sat. There we ate early breakfasts and joked around, while waiting for the morning bus. I reached hall at 7:30AM, took a shower, and plopped on the bed. After two hours I had to wake up to catch the bus for the 10:30 mass. Lunch at KFC, then I went ahead of the Pinoys since I desperately needed sleep.
Exciting Sepak Takraw match in the evening, and the first KR Choir meeting tonight at 9PM. Good stuff, although now it's past 1:30AM, and I have an 8AM class tomorrow!
It would be nice to drink more white wine though. Darn, come to think of it, it's embarrassing to be tipsy and *appear* drunk after only 4 wineglasses! Haha, I guess Kurien's not a good benchmark for drunkenness since I'll always pale in comparison. Hehe.
Hope I'm not late for class later! And dammit, I thought this shouldn't be a long entry!
Little Things
Little Things
I've posted this poem here a long time ago, but since it's one of my favorites I'll post it again. And perhaps yet again if I feel like it. :)
Never fails to make me smile. Like little things, really. It does not take much to make me happy. (It does not take much to sadden me too, but that's beside the point. :D )
Special thanks to my NUS Choirmates. Haha, FRIENDS I mean. I'll expound on that later. Luv ya people.
Oh, it's just the little, homey things,
The unobtrusive, friendly things,
The won't-you-let-me-help-you things
That make our pathway light.
And it's just the jolly, joking things,
The laugh-with-me-it's-funny things,
The never-mind-the-trouble things
That make our world seem bright.
For all the countless, famous things,
The wondrous, record-breaking things,
Those never-can-be-equalled things
That all the papers cite,
Can't match the little human things,
The just-because-I-like-you things,
Those oh-it's-simply-nothing things,
That make us happy quite.
So here's to all the little things,
The everyday-encountered things,
The smile-and-face-your-trouble things,
"Trust God to put it right."
The done-and-then-forgotten things,
The can't-you-see-I-love-you! things,
The hearty I-am-with-you! things
That make life worth the fight.
- Grace Haines
The unobtrusive, friendly things,
The won't-you-let-me-help-you things
That make our pathway light.
And it's just the jolly, joking things,
The laugh-with-me-it's-funny things,
The never-mind-the-trouble things
That make our world seem bright.
For all the countless, famous things,
The wondrous, record-breaking things,
Those never-can-be-equalled things
That all the papers cite,
Can't match the little human things,
The just-because-I-like-you things,
Those oh-it's-simply-nothing things,
That make us happy quite.
So here's to all the little things,
The everyday-encountered things,
The smile-and-face-your-trouble things,
"Trust God to put it right."
The done-and-then-forgotten things,
The can't-you-see-I-love-you! things,
The hearty I-am-with-you! things
That make life worth the fight.
- Grace Haines
I've posted this poem here a long time ago, but since it's one of my favorites I'll post it again. And perhaps yet again if I feel like it. :)
Never fails to make me smile. Like little things, really. It does not take much to make me happy. (It does not take much to sadden me too, but that's beside the point. :D )
Special thanks to my NUS Choirmates. Haha, FRIENDS I mean. I'll expound on that later. Luv ya people.
Found
Found
Lost handphone found! Thanks to my Calculus 2 lecturer who dropped it at the Maths Department for me to claim. Thanks to the two mystery girls who gave it to the lecturer as well. And Grace my D-blockmate, who relayed the message to me as I borrowed her phone to call mine. Thank you Lord, of course.
Cool, I must've just missed finding the phone the day I lost it. Mike, Diana and I were just some 10 steps outside the LT, headed for the canteen, when I doubled back to search my seat and the table for the phone. Nothing. I saw the Dr Wu fixing up his transparencies and paraphernalia, but I didn't think it was with him, as I also entertained the possibility of me stupidly leaving the phone in my own room.
Ah.. life is good. Hui Yin, the choir sec and a Singaporean, told me I was very lucky my phone was returned. Then again, I thought that had this been the Philippines, the probability of my phone being returned would be, well, close to nil. Then again, I just may be biased. But my wallet was once returned by a Singaporean taxi driver who asked for totally nothing in return for the hassle of driving over to NUS, and Jeunesse's handphone was recently returned after a week. Then again, Nestor lost his phone too and never got it back, so did Ivy and Dustin, and oh yes, how could I forget losing my other wallet the other year?
Well, maybe these are isolated cases. Or well, sample size is not large enough to yield statistically significant conclusions about lost-and-found cases here and back home in the Philippines. Just the same, I'm glad good guys still exist, and a good number of people still do the right thing.
Now the right thing to do is to do my killer Statistics tutorial and clean up my room and sleep early! And I intend to do just that.
Lost handphone found! Thanks to my Calculus 2 lecturer who dropped it at the Maths Department for me to claim. Thanks to the two mystery girls who gave it to the lecturer as well. And Grace my D-blockmate, who relayed the message to me as I borrowed her phone to call mine. Thank you Lord, of course.
Cool, I must've just missed finding the phone the day I lost it. Mike, Diana and I were just some 10 steps outside the LT, headed for the canteen, when I doubled back to search my seat and the table for the phone. Nothing. I saw the Dr Wu fixing up his transparencies and paraphernalia, but I didn't think it was with him, as I also entertained the possibility of me stupidly leaving the phone in my own room.
Ah.. life is good. Hui Yin, the choir sec and a Singaporean, told me I was very lucky my phone was returned. Then again, I thought that had this been the Philippines, the probability of my phone being returned would be, well, close to nil. Then again, I just may be biased. But my wallet was once returned by a Singaporean taxi driver who asked for totally nothing in return for the hassle of driving over to NUS, and Jeunesse's handphone was recently returned after a week. Then again, Nestor lost his phone too and never got it back, so did Ivy and Dustin, and oh yes, how could I forget losing my other wallet the other year?
Well, maybe these are isolated cases. Or well, sample size is not large enough to yield statistically significant conclusions about lost-and-found cases here and back home in the Philippines. Just the same, I'm glad good guys still exist, and a good number of people still do the right thing.
Now the right thing to do is to do my killer Statistics tutorial and clean up my room and sleep early! And I intend to do just that.
Closer
Closer
It's always that way, really. There are things we cannot get, things we cannot get into, things we just lose. Whether one loses his phone with two SIM cards (one of which has five years' worth of contacts), or he screws up his second a cappella audition in two years, or he just feels a bit sad about his overall personal affairs (mental health included), the same thing happens. We hang on to what we do have, this time a little bit tighter, and hold it just a bit closer.
It's always that way, really. There are things we cannot get, things we cannot get into, things we just lose. Whether one loses his phone with two SIM cards (one of which has five years' worth of contacts), or he screws up his second a cappella audition in two years, or he just feels a bit sad about his overall personal affairs (mental health included), the same thing happens. We hang on to what we do have, this time a little bit tighter, and hold it just a bit closer.
Random Thoughts
Random Thoughts
* I just came from NUS Choir Camp at the Pasir Ris Holiday Flats. We're very sorry to all freshmen because the weather was a bit unfriendly (sunny enough to let us set up the stations and materials for the beach games and telematch, then it rains heavily 20 seconds into the game, it continues until we decided to cancel, then after a few hours it stops for us to reset-up everything and push through but cancel one game everyone prepared long and hard for), BUT I'm absolutely thrilled to have this new batch. You guys and girls rock! And the seniors.. I love you all! Hehe. It was great to play lots of party games, joke around, watch movies, intellectual games ala Bridge and Dai Di and Hearts (finally I can play the game on the computer!), and, you know, just talking and laughing (and impromptu singing too!). I lost a lot of sleep and energy (barely slept both nights), but I'm not complaining. Not at all. :) NUS Choir rocks.
* The camp's timing was perfect, as I had a totally sucky Friday. Having gone for Block Supper (very fun though I must say.. Go D-block!), I woke up at 8AM, missing precious minutes of the module I had sworn never to be late for EL1101E. LT11 was packed, and the unlucky ones had to make do with sitting on the floor. Strange, I thought NUS has a lot of money. The least the school could do is to at least cap the number of students who can take the module, so that nobody will have to sit anywhere else aside from the comfy chairs.
After MA2108 Mathematical Analysis with Diana and Mike and as we were heding off to Engin for lunch, I learned from Arthur that I had just missed the online Add/Drop/Swap of tutorials, since it was done 2300-0900 just hours ago (CORS people cut the sked and made it available at that ungodly period). OK, so it may have been my fault too, but since CORS screwed up and extended tutorial registration Round 1A and 1B, shouldn't the they also extend and not cut by 7 hours the add/drop/swap period? (original sked was 18/8 1600 - 19/8 0800) Anyway, out of 5 modules, I had a grand total of ONE tutorial allocated to me via CORS. And thus, the horror of manual registration I had to face.
Well, it wasn't exactly horrible, but it just upset me to just suddenly be faced with the task of going through three faculties (Arts, Bizad and Science) and go to four departments (Maths, Stats & Applied Probability, English Language & Lit, Business Policy) and figure out my schedule such that I finally get ANY tutorial slot. I was disappointed too that I had to back out of my intended plan of going to the holiday flats for choir camp earlier at around 4PM, to help Welfare Sec Janice with the preparation. Anyway, after two nice lecturers, one annoyed lady at Bizad Dean's Office, one lecturer who was so engrossed with chatting away with his Indian friend in his room that I couldn't dare to interrupt them by knocking and at least 4 back-and-forth trips around Science area, 2 emails, I finally settled my tutorials. Stressful times, really. But thank God the choir camp was great. Just what I needed, as Karen says. :)
* I've long realized it, but now I am absolutely convinced and determined to *drumroll please* fix my life. It's been a mess for the most part, loosely held together by rough patchwork. You know, one of those things that may seem modestly okay on the outside, but give it a good jab and it falls apart. Maybe I should start with the mess that is my room. Then schoolwork. Then (the most important part) everything else.
And oh yeah, maybe I should post some photos in my blog too! It's getting too full of text.. during the occasional times I get to blog at least. I'll try to blog more often and with less blah and more oomph. Whatever that means. Hehe. Nah, I've done too much self-censoring already to further limit myself. Hehe. On a totally unrelated note, I love you world.
OK this has been too heavy a rambling. Good morning!
* I just came from NUS Choir Camp at the Pasir Ris Holiday Flats. We're very sorry to all freshmen because the weather was a bit unfriendly (sunny enough to let us set up the stations and materials for the beach games and telematch, then it rains heavily 20 seconds into the game, it continues until we decided to cancel, then after a few hours it stops for us to reset-up everything and push through but cancel one game everyone prepared long and hard for), BUT I'm absolutely thrilled to have this new batch. You guys and girls rock! And the seniors.. I love you all! Hehe. It was great to play lots of party games, joke around, watch movies, intellectual games ala Bridge and Dai Di and Hearts (finally I can play the game on the computer!), and, you know, just talking and laughing (and impromptu singing too!). I lost a lot of sleep and energy (barely slept both nights), but I'm not complaining. Not at all. :) NUS Choir rocks.
* The camp's timing was perfect, as I had a totally sucky Friday. Having gone for Block Supper (very fun though I must say.. Go D-block!), I woke up at 8AM, missing precious minutes of the module I had sworn never to be late for EL1101E. LT11 was packed, and the unlucky ones had to make do with sitting on the floor. Strange, I thought NUS has a lot of money. The least the school could do is to at least cap the number of students who can take the module, so that nobody will have to sit anywhere else aside from the comfy chairs.
After MA2108 Mathematical Analysis with Diana and Mike and as we were heding off to Engin for lunch, I learned from Arthur that I had just missed the online Add/Drop/Swap of tutorials, since it was done 2300-0900 just hours ago (CORS people cut the sked and made it available at that ungodly period). OK, so it may have been my fault too, but since CORS screwed up and extended tutorial registration Round 1A and 1B, shouldn't the they also extend and not cut by 7 hours the add/drop/swap period? (original sked was 18/8 1600 - 19/8 0800) Anyway, out of 5 modules, I had a grand total of ONE tutorial allocated to me via CORS. And thus, the horror of manual registration I had to face.
Well, it wasn't exactly horrible, but it just upset me to just suddenly be faced with the task of going through three faculties (Arts, Bizad and Science) and go to four departments (Maths, Stats & Applied Probability, English Language & Lit, Business Policy) and figure out my schedule such that I finally get ANY tutorial slot. I was disappointed too that I had to back out of my intended plan of going to the holiday flats for choir camp earlier at around 4PM, to help Welfare Sec Janice with the preparation. Anyway, after two nice lecturers, one annoyed lady at Bizad Dean's Office, one lecturer who was so engrossed with chatting away with his Indian friend in his room that I couldn't dare to interrupt them by knocking and at least 4 back-and-forth trips around Science area, 2 emails, I finally settled my tutorials. Stressful times, really. But thank God the choir camp was great. Just what I needed, as Karen says. :)
* I've long realized it, but now I am absolutely convinced and determined to *drumroll please* fix my life. It's been a mess for the most part, loosely held together by rough patchwork. You know, one of those things that may seem modestly okay on the outside, but give it a good jab and it falls apart. Maybe I should start with the mess that is my room. Then schoolwork. Then (the most important part) everything else.
And oh yeah, maybe I should post some photos in my blog too! It's getting too full of text.. during the occasional times I get to blog at least. I'll try to blog more often and with less blah and more oomph. Whatever that means. Hehe. Nah, I've done too much self-censoring already to further limit myself. Hehe. On a totally unrelated note, I love you world.
OK this has been too heavy a rambling. Good morning!
Feels Good
Feels Good
Mondays aren't supposed to be this nice to me. But today was terrific. That considering Monday is my busiest day, too. Nothing exceptional or amazing or groundbreaking, really...perhaps just the right dose of companionship and laughter and the always elusive peace of mind .
Thanks to all with whom I made contact --not necessarily physical-- today. I'm buoyed by all your presence, seriously. And thank you to the Master of the Cosmos, who seemed to have set everything in place for me to have a goooood day. (One request from Him, though. Help me with my modules! Thanks!)
Mondays aren't supposed to be this nice to me. But today was terrific. That considering Monday is my busiest day, too. Nothing exceptional or amazing or groundbreaking, really...perhaps just the right dose of companionship and laughter and the always elusive peace of mind .
Thanks to all with whom I made contact --not necessarily physical-- today. I'm buoyed by all your presence, seriously. And thank you to the Master of the Cosmos, who seemed to have set everything in place for me to have a goooood day. (One request from Him, though. Help me with my modules! Thanks!)
The Weekend
The Weekend
Thank God for weekends. Last week was a bumpy kick-off to the semester ahead, and I'm just mighty glad it's over.
Let me see. So I've been through all my new lectures and met my new lecturers, been outbidded over and over for FNA1002, went for Dinner Date with Carina (long story skipped), skipped my third Jam & Hop, unfortunately missed a submission of an article for the Ridge due to time constraints (can't write in 4 busy days), and my choir involvement, both in hall and in NUS, reached new heights. There are more, of course, including the bruises my ego has had to endure, the increased threshold of stress I'm pushing for, and of course, those just very happy and fulfilling moments that make everything else worth it. Yeah, all in a week.
It was after the NUS Choir's practice at grand and empty UCC Hall last night, past 9PM, that I realized something. Yan Ting our Student Conductor was telling the few people involved for the Timeless Classics performance about our upcoming events and practices, when I unknowingly decided to space out. She stopped and asked me, "Are you okay?" Yeah, I was.Just thinking and planning.
I was about to go to Jam & Hop after that, but Mey Ling the new KR Choir Vice-Chair SMSed to say that the seniors were to go for some sort of re-audition tonight with new Chair James. Not a re-audition exactly, but just some sort of voice check. I was glad I came down to the Music Room, and was glad that James, also the ex-KR A cappella Chair, and who auditioned me last year for KR Choir and KR Aca, seemed to noticed the year's improvement. "I see your time with NUS Choir has done your voice good." Or something like that. Thanks.
He said I was fit for Bass 1, but he might probably put me with the Tenors because of lack of manpower. After some piano-playing check, he asked if I'd want to be Tenor SL again. I hesitated, but said it was okay. And then came the question: Are you too busy? Hmm. I know that the bulk of my ECA time is spent with NUS Choir, and he was apparently referring to that. I try to make time for hall and school and NUS ECA's, but I have to admit I'm stretching myself a bit.
I went back to D block, to find Felicia headed for the laundry room. She asked my help on some secret project X, and I was up in her room till 1:30AM, helping her out. Good luck on your project Felicia!
As for me, my project for this weekend is to finally, finally, finally clean up my room.
And oh yeah, happy birthday to one of my favorite people, Kerwin, who's 21 today. Stay profoundly happy, you bastard. :)
Thank God for weekends. Last week was a bumpy kick-off to the semester ahead, and I'm just mighty glad it's over.
Let me see. So I've been through all my new lectures and met my new lecturers, been outbidded over and over for FNA1002, went for Dinner Date with Carina (long story skipped), skipped my third Jam & Hop, unfortunately missed a submission of an article for the Ridge due to time constraints (can't write in 4 busy days), and my choir involvement, both in hall and in NUS, reached new heights. There are more, of course, including the bruises my ego has had to endure, the increased threshold of stress I'm pushing for, and of course, those just very happy and fulfilling moments that make everything else worth it. Yeah, all in a week.
It was after the NUS Choir's practice at grand and empty UCC Hall last night, past 9PM, that I realized something. Yan Ting our Student Conductor was telling the few people involved for the Timeless Classics performance about our upcoming events and practices, when I unknowingly decided to space out. She stopped and asked me, "Are you okay?" Yeah, I was.Just thinking and planning.
I was about to go to Jam & Hop after that, but Mey Ling the new KR Choir Vice-Chair SMSed to say that the seniors were to go for some sort of re-audition tonight with new Chair James. Not a re-audition exactly, but just some sort of voice check. I was glad I came down to the Music Room, and was glad that James, also the ex-KR A cappella Chair, and who auditioned me last year for KR Choir and KR Aca, seemed to noticed the year's improvement. "I see your time with NUS Choir has done your voice good." Or something like that. Thanks.
He said I was fit for Bass 1, but he might probably put me with the Tenors because of lack of manpower. After some piano-playing check, he asked if I'd want to be Tenor SL again. I hesitated, but said it was okay. And then came the question: Are you too busy? Hmm. I know that the bulk of my ECA time is spent with NUS Choir, and he was apparently referring to that. I try to make time for hall and school and NUS ECA's, but I have to admit I'm stretching myself a bit.
I went back to D block, to find Felicia headed for the laundry room. She asked my help on some secret project X, and I was up in her room till 1:30AM, helping her out. Good luck on your project Felicia!
As for me, my project for this weekend is to finally, finally, finally clean up my room.
And oh yeah, happy birthday to one of my favorite people, Kerwin, who's 21 today. Stay profoundly happy, you bastard. :)
Sandwich
Sandwich
That's how I feel right now, really. Sandwiched. Lots of things to do, what with school, hall, choir stuff pulling me in every possible direction, and there's not enough of me to go around. Actually, it's more like being stuck in a tiny elevator with originally deflated balloons, and then bam! Choir Balloon first swells to huge beachball size, and then the Hall Balloon gets inflated, and then, slowly at first and now gathering momentum, the School Balloon gathers in air as if it were given sudden puffs.
It gets claustrophobic, and (as Maroon 5 says, Is there anyone out there 'cause) it's getting harder and harder to breathe.
And I'm sick too. Colds and cough and sore throat. Theoretically this should be myexcuse reason for skipping a few choir practices, but nope, Timeless Classics is coming up, and well, I'm not exactly ready.
Sometimes I just wanna take a pin, and burst all these balloons--Choir, Hall, School--so I can just rest and relax and sleep all day. Then again, I know I'll live to regret it if I do so, for these are three things that I've learned to love and be passionate about in my undergrad life.
Music of the Moment: Jason Mraz's Bella Luna
Currently feeling sick.
That's how I feel right now, really. Sandwiched. Lots of things to do, what with school, hall, choir stuff pulling me in every possible direction, and there's not enough of me to go around. Actually, it's more like being stuck in a tiny elevator with originally deflated balloons, and then bam! Choir Balloon first swells to huge beachball size, and then the Hall Balloon gets inflated, and then, slowly at first and now gathering momentum, the School Balloon gathers in air as if it were given sudden puffs.
It gets claustrophobic, and (as Maroon 5 says, Is there anyone out there 'cause) it's getting harder and harder to breathe.
And I'm sick too. Colds and cough and sore throat. Theoretically this should be my
Sometimes I just wanna take a pin, and burst all these balloons--Choir, Hall, School--so I can just rest and relax and sleep all day. Then again, I know I'll live to regret it if I do so, for these are three things that I've learned to love and be passionate about in my undergrad life.
Music of the Moment: Jason Mraz's Bella Luna
Currently feeling sick.
First Day Funk
First Day Funk
Ahh yes, there is another gap in the flow of events of this blog since Rag Day (pre- and post- too) drained the life out of me and I'm too lazy to blog it anyway, I shall skip the details. Then again, let me just say that the NUS Student Union guys, in-charge of the event, need to seriously consider thinking about the welfare of the students and the performers (including the choir that seemed to stupidly just mouth the words because of the absence of the promised mike), and not just parade around as if they're demigods. KR won most environment-friendly float, a gold award for crossing the $50K mark for Flag Day collections, and some Shield (?) for highest collection among halls. I'd have to say I was blown away by the Sheares Float, and they deserved to win. Science won a lot too with their cute float! But too bad Bizad's funky float, which I liked a lot, didn't get the recognition it deserved.
* * *
First day of class today! First of my second year as an undergrad here at NUS. Well it wasn't as funky as this post's title claims (it's the just the title of a cool back-to-school danceable song made by the Philippines' wackiest band, Parokya ni Edgar), and my in fact started baaad.
Having slept at 2am because I had to print out my notes after a long Sunday (mass, grocery with Karen at IMM, small impromptu "picnic" party at Jeunesse's place with the Pinoys at night, NWC file-making for me too), it required maximal effort to drag me out of bed for my 8am class.
Even if I took the Supplementary bus to Science Fac, the fastest bus from KR, I was still a few minutes for my first class, ST2137 Computer Aided Data Analysis. The lecturer was nice, I saw fellow choir fellas Iris and Tang Qing, but the problem was that I was too exhausted to keep myself up. The Indian lecturer finally announced a break, and I dashed to get myself my exam friend: coffee. And then this bastard with a backpack bumped me as he was paying at the counter, and tada, coffee stains on my new shirt! And worst part is, he didn't even apologise! Sigh.
I grudgingly went back to the lecture theatre for the rest of the lecture. Afterwards at 10AM, I began thinking about what exactly to do in my 2-hour breaks. Because really, if there's a day in the week that's totally screwed schedule-wise, it's Monday. So classes are 8-10AM, break, 12-2PM, break, 4-6PM, short break to rush to hall and grab dinner, then choir practice 6:30-9:30PM. So essentially, Mondays want me to wake up before 8AM, figure out what to do in my two-hour breaks (they're long enough to bore me, and too short to go back to hall and get some sleep), take an either early lunch before 12 or a late lunch after 2, and go for choir practice at night after an already long day.
ANYWAY, I managed to keep my breaks nice and productive today, so that's great. I checked my email and tada, finally after some 12+ weeks of waiting, I now get to borrow The Da Vinci Code for a week (not two weeks since it's still there's a long queue of borrowers still). Finally I get to read the book in print, and not the electronic version. I bid for CORS, but nah, the rest of the school apparently has gazillion points to spare, and I really should delay FNA1002 Financial Accounting next sem.
After an unplanned lunch with fellow D-blocker Allen, I went to Bizad at 12 to take my first Bizad module, BSP1005 Managerial Econs. I'm taking it with Gail and Oliver, a new guy from Ateneo HS, and quite a number of KR people I didn't expect to find. Boon Sern, and my fellow D-blocker Dominic and some other guy. The Korean lecturer had an American accent, and he emphasized that he will teach a different econs from the usual econs, since this is from a business manager's perspective. He was okay, although, well, he could do better by picking up the pace a teeny bit.
Oliver and I sat down for 20 minutes in The Module I Can't Get FNA1002, and walau, the LT was overflowing. I didn't realize it was such a hot module, and even non-Bizad people were bidding for it. I saw D-Block Head Basu, who's from Engin, and he told me he bid 2000 points for the module. Good for him. The lecturer was in coat and tie, apparently because he seemed to look like an undergrad in any other usual clothing. He's got a PhD now, see, so I guess he had to look the part. In fairness to him, he appeared to work a lot on his Powerpoint presentation, and he appeared to be witty and funny and smart. Janice from Choir, my fellow Biz minor stude, is very glad she's in his class.
I went back to Hall to rest a bit, and to kill the 1 hour+ break, I decided to continue reading Da Vinci. I caught the slowest bus in NUS (that's A2 in the afternoon for you), and thus I was late for 15 minutes for my class in Science. But when I reached the LT, surprise surprise Diana and my classmates were moving out already. Apparently the lecturer is quite a man of few words. In fact, the IVLE page, which supposedly contains the syllabus and lecture notes and links and course info was empty as of last night. Well, so much for the rush. Diana was chatting with this guy Kevin, who I had met last sem in my tutorial class. Kevin forgot my name, but I didn't forget his because he saved me from this tutorial question I solved wrongly on the whiteboard, and everybody else was either unwilling or clueless (the former more likely) to help me find what was wrong.
Met Justin in the Science Co-op. Always nice to see old friends. And oh yeah, Zhou Yang too on Sunday night, and Nirorn and Tuk too. Hehe always nice.
Iris and I went to PGP Music Room for the NUS Choir auditions, which were helping to facilitate. Cool, a number of good applicants. And I met Tram an old friend too! Although there was this angmoh (Caucasian) guy who smelled of alcohol, who was accompanying his Indian friend audition. This red-all-over angmoh was talking crap all throughout, telling us he was from Azerbaijan (which we seriously doubt since his first answer was that he was from the moon), asking why PGP has a pond with fish and a water fountain but no swimming pool (Li Yi told him there was one at the SRC, but then no he asked for a sauna), complaining that Singapore is a lousy country which Singaporeans don't really appreciate (to which Li Yi said she doesn't find Singapore lousy at all), and when pressed as to which aspects Singapore was lousy in, he said in fashion of all things. He said that Singapore finds thick-rimmed glasses nice, which to him was very weird. Um, do Singaporeans really? I don't think the think-rimmed glasses fashion is a national phenomenon. He was horsing around the whole time, and when his Indian girl friend was finally finished, we all were relieved it was time for him to leave.
This nice Singaporean guy who was there to accompany his own friend audition had been in the conversation with the angmoh, and commented that the guy was wearing a bad combo of boots and pants, and that the angmoh was in a fashion disaster and thus unfit to comment. Good riddance, Li Yi said.
I went back to hall to take-away my dinner, and was back at PGP for the choir practice for Timeless Classics. It was a good happy one, and when I went back to hall at 10PM, I caught the freshmen practising for their Star to Burst presentation. I joined in and helped them a bit with what little I know, and then proceeded to the lobby to watch another set of freshmen doing a dance number. This year's batch of freshmen are really pretty nice and friendly. I like them a lot. I think I'm feeling more and more comfy in KR now, contrary to what I expected since a lot of my batchmates left KR this year.
Now I blog, tomorrow is National Day, the perfect time to sleep and rest. Finally. Good night and Majulah Singapura!
Ahh yes, there is another gap in the flow of events of this blog since Rag Day (pre- and post- too) drained the life out of me and I'm too lazy to blog it anyway, I shall skip the details. Then again, let me just say that the NUS Student Union guys, in-charge of the event, need to seriously consider thinking about the welfare of the students and the performers (including the choir that seemed to stupidly just mouth the words because of the absence of the promised mike), and not just parade around as if they're demigods. KR won most environment-friendly float, a gold award for crossing the $50K mark for Flag Day collections, and some Shield (?) for highest collection among halls. I'd have to say I was blown away by the Sheares Float, and they deserved to win. Science won a lot too with their cute float! But too bad Bizad's funky float, which I liked a lot, didn't get the recognition it deserved.
* * *
First day of class today! First of my second year as an undergrad here at NUS. Well it wasn't as funky as this post's title claims (it's the just the title of a cool back-to-school danceable song made by the Philippines' wackiest band, Parokya ni Edgar), and my in fact started baaad.
Having slept at 2am because I had to print out my notes after a long Sunday (mass, grocery with Karen at IMM, small impromptu "picnic" party at Jeunesse's place with the Pinoys at night, NWC file-making for me too), it required maximal effort to drag me out of bed for my 8am class.
Even if I took the Supplementary bus to Science Fac, the fastest bus from KR, I was still a few minutes for my first class, ST2137 Computer Aided Data Analysis. The lecturer was nice, I saw fellow choir fellas Iris and Tang Qing, but the problem was that I was too exhausted to keep myself up. The Indian lecturer finally announced a break, and I dashed to get myself my exam friend: coffee. And then this bastard with a backpack bumped me as he was paying at the counter, and tada, coffee stains on my new shirt! And worst part is, he didn't even apologise! Sigh.
I grudgingly went back to the lecture theatre for the rest of the lecture. Afterwards at 10AM, I began thinking about what exactly to do in my 2-hour breaks. Because really, if there's a day in the week that's totally screwed schedule-wise, it's Monday. So classes are 8-10AM, break, 12-2PM, break, 4-6PM, short break to rush to hall and grab dinner, then choir practice 6:30-9:30PM. So essentially, Mondays want me to wake up before 8AM, figure out what to do in my two-hour breaks (they're long enough to bore me, and too short to go back to hall and get some sleep), take an either early lunch before 12 or a late lunch after 2, and go for choir practice at night after an already long day.
ANYWAY, I managed to keep my breaks nice and productive today, so that's great. I checked my email and tada, finally after some 12+ weeks of waiting, I now get to borrow The Da Vinci Code for a week (not two weeks since it's still there's a long queue of borrowers still). Finally I get to read the book in print, and not the electronic version. I bid for CORS, but nah, the rest of the school apparently has gazillion points to spare, and I really should delay FNA1002 Financial Accounting next sem.
After an unplanned lunch with fellow D-blocker Allen, I went to Bizad at 12 to take my first Bizad module, BSP1005 Managerial Econs. I'm taking it with Gail and Oliver, a new guy from Ateneo HS, and quite a number of KR people I didn't expect to find. Boon Sern, and my fellow D-blocker Dominic and some other guy. The Korean lecturer had an American accent, and he emphasized that he will teach a different econs from the usual econs, since this is from a business manager's perspective. He was okay, although, well, he could do better by picking up the pace a teeny bit.
Oliver and I sat down for 20 minutes in The Module I Can't Get FNA1002, and walau, the LT was overflowing. I didn't realize it was such a hot module, and even non-Bizad people were bidding for it. I saw D-Block Head Basu, who's from Engin, and he told me he bid 2000 points for the module. Good for him. The lecturer was in coat and tie, apparently because he seemed to look like an undergrad in any other usual clothing. He's got a PhD now, see, so I guess he had to look the part. In fairness to him, he appeared to work a lot on his Powerpoint presentation, and he appeared to be witty and funny and smart. Janice from Choir, my fellow Biz minor stude, is very glad she's in his class.
I went back to Hall to rest a bit, and to kill the 1 hour+ break, I decided to continue reading Da Vinci. I caught the slowest bus in NUS (that's A2 in the afternoon for you), and thus I was late for 15 minutes for my class in Science. But when I reached the LT, surprise surprise Diana and my classmates were moving out already. Apparently the lecturer is quite a man of few words. In fact, the IVLE page, which supposedly contains the syllabus and lecture notes and links and course info was empty as of last night. Well, so much for the rush. Diana was chatting with this guy Kevin, who I had met last sem in my tutorial class. Kevin forgot my name, but I didn't forget his because he saved me from this tutorial question I solved wrongly on the whiteboard, and everybody else was either unwilling or clueless (the former more likely) to help me find what was wrong.
Met Justin in the Science Co-op. Always nice to see old friends. And oh yeah, Zhou Yang too on Sunday night, and Nirorn and Tuk too. Hehe always nice.
Iris and I went to PGP Music Room for the NUS Choir auditions, which were helping to facilitate. Cool, a number of good applicants. And I met Tram an old friend too! Although there was this angmoh (Caucasian) guy who smelled of alcohol, who was accompanying his Indian friend audition. This red-all-over angmoh was talking crap all throughout, telling us he was from Azerbaijan (which we seriously doubt since his first answer was that he was from the moon), asking why PGP has a pond with fish and a water fountain but no swimming pool (Li Yi told him there was one at the SRC, but then no he asked for a sauna), complaining that Singapore is a lousy country which Singaporeans don't really appreciate (to which Li Yi said she doesn't find Singapore lousy at all), and when pressed as to which aspects Singapore was lousy in, he said in fashion of all things. He said that Singapore finds thick-rimmed glasses nice, which to him was very weird. Um, do Singaporeans really? I don't think the think-rimmed glasses fashion is a national phenomenon. He was horsing around the whole time, and when his Indian girl friend was finally finished, we all were relieved it was time for him to leave.
This nice Singaporean guy who was there to accompany his own friend audition had been in the conversation with the angmoh, and commented that the guy was wearing a bad combo of boots and pants, and that the angmoh was in a fashion disaster and thus unfit to comment. Good riddance, Li Yi said.
I went back to hall to take-away my dinner, and was back at PGP for the choir practice for Timeless Classics. It was a good happy one, and when I went back to hall at 10PM, I caught the freshmen practising for their Star to Burst presentation. I joined in and helped them a bit with what little I know, and then proceeded to the lobby to watch another set of freshmen doing a dance number. This year's batch of freshmen are really pretty nice and friendly. I like them a lot. I think I'm feeling more and more comfy in KR now, contrary to what I expected since a lot of my batchmates left KR this year.
Now I blog, tomorrow is National Day, the perfect time to sleep and rest. Finally. Good night and Majulah Singapura!
Impulse
Impulse
I'd like to believe I'm still an optimistic youth hopeful about many things, but sometimes, I come across people that are truly impossible.
You Impossible People, just don't seem to "get it", and I sure don't "get" you too.
Next time, spare me the lousy explanations, or the excuses, or any of your miscellaneous crap.
In your eyes I may be "impossible" too, and I thus conclude we shouldn't cross our paths too often, lest we spark an "impossibility" explosion that'll leave us both severely incapacitated.
Or we can do a major fix and have everything settled the Mr. Nice Guy way. Your call.
I'd like to believe I'm still an optimistic youth hopeful about many things, but sometimes, I come across people that are truly impossible.
You Impossible People, just don't seem to "get it", and I sure don't "get" you too.
Next time, spare me the lousy explanations, or the excuses, or any of your miscellaneous crap.
In your eyes I may be "impossible" too, and I thus conclude we shouldn't cross our paths too often, lest we spark an "impossibility" explosion that'll leave us both severely incapacitated.
Or we can do a major fix and have everything settled the Mr. Nice Guy way. Your call.
Quickie
Quickie
I barely have time to blog since it's been a long day practising with choir and ragging and rushing to finish KR's big colorful float for tomorrow's Rag Day, but the thought of my blog getting stale with such depressing recent posts makes me feel very uncomfortable.
Because really, I'm okay now. I'm giddy and happy and hyper although a bit exhausted and still one module short of my planned 6 for the sem. I don't know, it's just a good day today. Maybe it's the company of friends and new friends, both among the Pinoy group and among the KR fellas, or maybe I've just decided I'm through with shitty days and I deserve to enjoy myself as much as I can. Or maybe it's just me winning this round of my everyday battle with the monsters in my head.
Or it could be that after enslaving myself to Rag, cutting and pasting and being exposed to the fumes (?) of rugby all afternoon, I may have gotten a bit loose in the head.
And oh yeah, I met Miss Happy Goh my English teacher in my bridging year at Arts Canteen. Always nice to see old friends. ;)
Time to go to bed! Gonna sing NUS Song and ahem, Singapore's National Anthem tomorrow for Rag Day. Hope KR's float wins!
I barely have time to blog since it's been a long day practising with choir and ragging and rushing to finish KR's big colorful float for tomorrow's Rag Day, but the thought of my blog getting stale with such depressing recent posts makes me feel very uncomfortable.
Because really, I'm okay now. I'm giddy and happy and hyper although a bit exhausted and still one module short of my planned 6 for the sem. I don't know, it's just a good day today. Maybe it's the company of friends and new friends, both among the Pinoy group and among the KR fellas, or maybe I've just decided I'm through with shitty days and I deserve to enjoy myself as much as I can. Or maybe it's just me winning this round of my everyday battle with the monsters in my head.
Or it could be that after enslaving myself to Rag, cutting and pasting and being exposed to the fumes (?) of rugby all afternoon, I may have gotten a bit loose in the head.
And oh yeah, I met Miss Happy Goh my English teacher in my bridging year at Arts Canteen. Always nice to see old friends. ;)
Time to go to bed! Gonna sing NUS Song and ahem, Singapore's National Anthem tomorrow for Rag Day. Hope KR's float wins!
Block
Block
Today I had the strongest urge to use the "Block" option on MSN Messenger. And that's a big thing, since I never quite believed in hiding from my MSN contacts, who, by virtue of their mere presence on my MSN contact list, are supposed to be my "friends" to at least some reasonable degree. Some people on the list I don't chat with often, some very rarely, and one not at all, but at some point our paths crossed and due to work-related or friendship-related reasons, we're on each other's list.
Today Person X was talking and going about verbal communication with me, when I decided to space out a bit while X rambled on. Bam, it hit me. Time to block you off my list.
But nah, being the more rational person that I am, I am not gonna block X.. yet. If at all. I'm gonna message X tonight, and give X a piece of my mind.
Nothing serious, really, just a matter of tact and professionalism and sensitivity that I just wanna settle. And of course, it's a matter of whether we want to still see each other online on MSN.
Today I had the strongest urge to use the "Block" option on MSN Messenger. And that's a big thing, since I never quite believed in hiding from my MSN contacts, who, by virtue of their mere presence on my MSN contact list, are supposed to be my "friends" to at least some reasonable degree. Some people on the list I don't chat with often, some very rarely, and one not at all, but at some point our paths crossed and due to work-related or friendship-related reasons, we're on each other's list.
Today Person X was talking and going about verbal communication with me, when I decided to space out a bit while X rambled on. Bam, it hit me. Time to block you off my list.
But nah, being the more rational person that I am, I am not gonna block X.. yet. If at all. I'm gonna message X tonight, and give X a piece of my mind.
Nothing serious, really, just a matter of tact and professionalism and sensitivity that I just wanna settle. And of course, it's a matter of whether we want to still see each other online on MSN.
If Nurul's recent similar post is any indication, the Monday and Tuesday that just passed were indeed fated to be totally SUCKY days.
Flag day today, so Keith, some freshie girls and I went to Novena to beg for donations. I stayed till noon only, went back to school for NUS Choir practice for Thursday's Welcome Tea for freshmen, then rushed to photocopy scores, went to Central Library, checked CORS, went to CFA office to check the whereabouts of the big choir box, ate at PGP with Pinoys, went to a PGP TV room with Nestor, Ferron & Wayne, fetched another big box of stuff from Arthur's room at KE7 and brought it to KR, went back to the TV Room, went back to hall and helped out the Star to Burst freshmen choir for a good two and a half hours.
There, somewhere among those events were sucky moments. Not just in one or two events, but in most of them. I felt disappointed, awkward, and ultimately sad.
Better days are sure to come.
Flag day today, so Keith, some freshie girls and I went to Novena to beg for donations. I stayed till noon only, went back to school for NUS Choir practice for Thursday's Welcome Tea for freshmen, then rushed to photocopy scores, went to Central Library, checked CORS, went to CFA office to check the whereabouts of the big choir box, ate at PGP with Pinoys, went to a PGP TV room with Nestor, Ferron & Wayne, fetched another big box of stuff from Arthur's room at KE7 and brought it to KR, went back to the TV Room, went back to hall and helped out the Star to Burst freshmen choir for a good two and a half hours.
There, somewhere among those events were sucky moments. Not just in one or two events, but in most of them. I felt disappointed, awkward, and ultimately sad.
Better days are sure to come.
Jesus please help me because I am freakin' exhausted already.
It's been a good day for the most part (I was even on university TV because of NUScast of the Freshmen Inauguration Ceremony), but now I'm just tired and demoralized (a bit..about other things though) and I have to wake up at 5am later for a round of all-day begging sessions for Flag Day.
And I got outbidded for my Financial Accounting module. And this round, the minimum bid I cannot top. CORS can be so annoying sometimes.
Sigh. Someone --anyone-- make me happy tomorrow. Goodnight.
It's been a good day for the most part (I was even on university TV because of NUScast of the Freshmen Inauguration Ceremony), but now I'm just tired and demoralized (a bit..about other things though) and I have to wake up at 5am later for a round of all-day begging sessions for Flag Day.
And I got outbidded for my Financial Accounting module. And this round, the minimum bid I cannot top. CORS can be so annoying sometimes.
Sigh. Someone --anyone-- make me happy tomorrow. Goodnight.
