Overdue
Yep, overdue. That's what this entry is. As is the case with everything else overdue, so many things have happened since the supposed due date (whenever that is), and this may be the right time to fill you in (whoever you are).
OK, so let's start with the here and now. I'm home! Here in the beautiful city of Davao, Philippines, and better yet, right in the comfort of our own family home. Jason Mraz's Geek in the Pink is playing for the nth time on the radio (heavy rotation yeah), and I'm sitting here in the living room, having just finished my miscellaneous work for the Ridge and the Choir. My sister's preparing to go to this health and fitness club called Holiday Spa, for which she took a month-long subscription to enjoy unlimited access to the fun fitness services and classes (bellydancing, boxing, pilates, latino dance, etc). Dad's asleep upstairs, Ma's away taking some comprehensive exam for her PhD. Kai, Dad and I will be off soon--Kai to the Spa, Dad to a meeting, and I'll go to the Internet cafe to work on Choir and Ridge stuff again (email people mostly).
* * *
Last time I went online was yesterday, at the mall, right before I went with sister Kai and good buddy Jacques to watch X-Men 3. That's something blogworthy, really. I mean me going online yesterday, not the movie (although for me the movie kicks ass. Kai wanted to watch the movie twice as usual, so I stuck around).
Anyway, being online yesterday was something I looked forward to. Not with enthusiastic anticipation, but with fearful anxiety. Grades were released online yesterday, finally. I wanted the grades issue to be over and done with soonest, because I knew that last semester was the worst ever. A disaster, if you please. I was half-joking to Kai and Ma the night before that I was preparing my toold
I dunno how NUS does it, but every single time during the online release of results, I get stunned. Stunned in a good way, or otherwise, I get taken for a ride. Mmmm.. NUS, all 100 years old of it, and yet still full of surprises. Well, that, or maybe I'm just lousy at estimating my own grades.
I was correct about the general picture though, that last semester was a disaster. And, with utmost conviction, I declare that the next sem will be the beginning of a new life. A new life, ladies and gentlemen, and not just in terms of academics.
After all, truly horrible things always inspire incredible spin-offs.
Closing time
Closing time
OK, so this is it. I'm really leaving now. Haha, the previous post wasn't really goodbye Singapore, but this is. I'm leaving tonight for the airport, sleep there, to make it in time for my 7:00AM flight tomorrow for the Philippines. Yes I'm such a cheapskate for not choosing to take a cab tomorrow morning and incur the 50% off-peak surcharge, but another reason is that I'm afraid to miss my flight again (yes that happened before).
Ten days since that last post, a whole lot of things have happened, and I don't know, those past days were rather fun actually, but right now, I'm just feeling fatigue. Most everybody else have (or has? Hmm.) gone home, and since my block D-block isn't the vacation block, I think as of today, I'm the only soul left in the block. I don't mind really, I haven't been hanging in my room all that much, and I'm fortunate to be kept busy all this time.
I'll blog about my adventures soon (not that they're oh-so-interesting anyway), but yep I had fun and I have my friends to thank. :) But for now, Joseph has to do the final-final packing, as he has to leave for the airport by 11pm, and must chuck away the mess in his suitcases now.
It's been a thoroughly challenging 5 months, I'm just glad it's over, and that I'm going home.
Oh, and goodbye Kent Ridge Hall too. I'm not coming back here next semester, as I move to Ridge View Residences. Something tells me I should take photos of me and my empty room and the main entrance and all that, but nah, let's get the packing done first, shall we?
Bye.
OK, so this is it. I'm really leaving now. Haha, the previous post wasn't really goodbye Singapore, but this is. I'm leaving tonight for the airport, sleep there, to make it in time for my 7:00AM flight tomorrow for the Philippines. Yes I'm such a cheapskate for not choosing to take a cab tomorrow morning and incur the 50% off-peak surcharge, but another reason is that I'm afraid to miss my flight again (yes that happened before).
Ten days since that last post, a whole lot of things have happened, and I don't know, those past days were rather fun actually, but right now, I'm just feeling fatigue. Most everybody else have (or has? Hmm.) gone home, and since my block D-block isn't the vacation block, I think as of today, I'm the only soul left in the block. I don't mind really, I haven't been hanging in my room all that much, and I'm fortunate to be kept busy all this time.
I'll blog about my adventures soon (not that they're oh-so-interesting anyway), but yep I had fun and I have my friends to thank. :) But for now, Joseph has to do the final-final packing, as he has to leave for the airport by 11pm, and must chuck away the mess in his suitcases now.
It's been a thoroughly challenging 5 months, I'm just glad it's over, and that I'm going home.
Oh, and goodbye Kent Ridge Hall too. I'm not coming back here next semester, as I move to Ridge View Residences. Something tells me I should take photos of me and my empty room and the main entrance and all that, but nah, let's get the packing done first, shall we?
Gather up your jackets, move it to the exits
I hope you have found a friend
Closing Time
Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end
-Closing Time by Semisonic
Bye.
Time to say goodbye
Time to say goodbye
As if on cue, the very 'operatic' Time To Say Goodbye by Andrea Bocelli and Sarah Brightman plays on my Windows Media Player. Sigh. What a fitting end to the most difficult semester of my life.
I just finished my final exam for this sem, the one for the Actuarial Statistics module that had me tear at my hair over and over for the past months. Sucked. I declare it is humanly impossible to finish the six-question exam (with parts A and B too) in 2 hours. The formulas (or formulae?) were just too many, the constant reference to both my battered double-sided help sheet (or cheat sheet as we all call it) and the Life Table was dizzying, and on top of that, I was in my semi-bulimic mode perhaps because of the sleeplessness and stress.
Anyway, 6 exams down and the semester's over man. Lessons learned: taking 6 modules (2 Level 3000, 2 Level 2000, 2 Level 1000 from Science, Business, and Arts faculties) is insane. Be careful next time Jose. Maybe I should just take a few non-examinable modules so I can distribute the stress throughout the year. And yes, I shall never ever underestimate Level 3000 modules, AND that stupid killer calculus module MA1104 that isn't even part of my core modules but which I'm taking as a prerequisite for Financial Maths).
Ugh. fsdhilsafhuasldgfag'f;lghfsdg;h;. ljrg;hksdgihsdgjfogiouiser;
OK, where was I? Oh yeah, lessons learned. Think twice about taking 7 modules per sem, and whether I really want to fulfill my ambition plan of completing two minors.
Also, dear Jose, try try try to not fall in the same spreading-self-too-thin trap again. You been falling into the same trap for a few years now it's becoming a bit stupid. OK? :)
But if there's anything that's come out of this, it's that I'm more psychologically and mentally and emotionally ready for the biggest hurdle to come, Year 3. It's a big thing because it could determine whether I could qualify for Honours Year, Year 4. It's different here compared to the Philippines, because three years is deemed sufficient for a regular Bachelor's degree, while it's generally four years over there.
The other perk that has resulted from this mugging madness of late is that the Choir fellows are so much tighter now. My God, we studied for long hours every day together. Dunno if that's a good thing, because most of us muggers are in the Choir Commitee (both the executive comm and musico of 2005/06 and 06/07 too) and we've been lately been bashing each other (in a joking way of course), but I have no idea how that will affect our professional working relationships next sem, and in front of the new choir members too. Hmm.. oh well.
OK, exams are over and I don't wanna overthink matters anymore. Maybe next week. Maybe on May 26th (or is it 25th) when the exam results will be out. In the meantime, a few of us from choir's going to the Jurong Bird Park this afternoon, and while I'm not super-ecstatic-woohoo-I'm-so-thrilled, I'm sure it's gonna be fun. My first time there too. But mostly, it's just good to be out of NUS after a long time, to just chill and relax and get the exams and schoolwork off my mind.
P.S. This was saved as a draft for the longest time, as I had originally written this entry on May 4th (unfinished), and I'm only posting it up today, May 14th.
As if on cue, the very 'operatic' Time To Say Goodbye by Andrea Bocelli and Sarah Brightman plays on my Windows Media Player. Sigh. What a fitting end to the most difficult semester of my life.
I just finished my final exam for this sem, the one for the Actuarial Statistics module that had me tear at my hair over and over for the past months. Sucked. I declare it is humanly impossible to finish the six-question exam (with parts A and B too) in 2 hours. The formulas (or formulae?) were just too many, the constant reference to both my battered double-sided help sheet (or cheat sheet as we all call it) and the Life Table was dizzying, and on top of that, I was in my semi-bulimic mode perhaps because of the sleeplessness and stress.
Anyway, 6 exams down and the semester's over man. Lessons learned: taking 6 modules (2 Level 3000, 2 Level 2000, 2 Level 1000 from Science, Business, and Arts faculties) is insane. Be careful next time Jose. Maybe I should just take a few non-examinable modules so I can distribute the stress throughout the year. And yes, I shall never ever underestimate Level 3000 modules, AND that stupid killer calculus module MA1104 that isn't even part of my core modules but which I'm taking as a prerequisite for Financial Maths).
Ugh. fsdhilsafhuasldgfag'f;lghfsdg;h;. ljrg;hksdgihsdgjfogiouiser;
OK, where was I? Oh yeah, lessons learned. Think twice about taking 7 modules per sem, and whether I really want to fulfill my ambition plan of completing two minors.
Also, dear Jose, try try try to not fall in the same spreading-self-too-thin trap again. You been falling into the same trap for a few years now it's becoming a bit stupid. OK? :)
But if there's anything that's come out of this, it's that I'm more psychologically and mentally and emotionally ready for the biggest hurdle to come, Year 3. It's a big thing because it could determine whether I could qualify for Honours Year, Year 4. It's different here compared to the Philippines, because three years is deemed sufficient for a regular Bachelor's degree, while it's generally four years over there.
The other perk that has resulted from this mugging madness of late is that the Choir fellows are so much tighter now. My God, we studied for long hours every day together. Dunno if that's a good thing, because most of us muggers are in the Choir Commitee (both the executive comm and musico of 2005/06 and 06/07 too) and we've been lately been bashing each other (in a joking way of course), but I have no idea how that will affect our professional working relationships next sem, and in front of the new choir members too. Hmm.. oh well.
OK, exams are over and I don't wanna overthink matters anymore. Maybe next week. Maybe on May 26th (or is it 25th) when the exam results will be out. In the meantime, a few of us from choir's going to the Jurong Bird Park this afternoon, and while I'm not super-ecstatic-woohoo-I'm-so-thrilled, I'm sure it's gonna be fun. My first time there too. But mostly, it's just good to be out of NUS after a long time, to just chill and relax and get the exams and schoolwork off my mind.
P.S. This was saved as a draft for the longest time, as I had originally written this entry on May 4th (unfinished), and I'm only posting it up today, May 14th.
