That which we call a rose(l) by any other name would smell as sweet.

Monday, November 09, 2009

~~4:27 PM~~

so the worst possible thing happened. ok maybe not. after all, i did have zero immediate failures. thats a plus considering how i used to collect them. but i made mistakes i never thought i'd make - like forgetting to release handbrake, knocking down a pole during parallel park, and not checking mirror before slowing down. i knew that mirror thing was a problem right from the end of stage 2. but i somehow never did anything about it because none of the instructors have ever pointed it out. nevertheless... i failed. that is really not so much to document the experience as much as it is doing my best to make this the ultimate bbdc review blog.

besides, it was raining so heavily (chan hy's words are a prophecy) i could barely see the arrows on the road; and i have never driven at night before i had no idea how to turn on the headlights. not that i was penalised for that, but still. after i knocked down the pole i thought i had failed already so when he told me to go out onto the roads i was like, HUH? and as a result, it affected the rest of my test (as i said, chan hy's words are a prophecy).

ironically the only part of chan hy's words that failed to come true is the thing about me passing. im sorry to all my instructors, cos me failing means they dont get their year-end bonus. and still i wish i got hau kw right from the start considering the rest of the points came from safety issues.

but y'know after the debrief it became apparent to me how the traffic police standard is so different from the instructors'. not because the instructors are slack, but because the tester is just looking out for different things. as such i think the traffic police should release an entire list of official test criteria.

anyway! im not upset anymore (i felt awful after i knocked the pole down and even worse after i got out of the car) and what remains is just the embarrassment from not being able to pass on my first try (cos everyone else passes on first try, right, but its bbdc and most of my friends who learnt it @ bbdc didnt pass on their first try). the truth is i didnt deserve to pass today either - driving in the rain reminded me i wasnt confident enough to deal with such changes in the weather.

fact is, better to knock poles in the circuit and fail driving test than knock down people in real life and spend a couple of years in jail.

must move on. i have exams in less than 14 days and a US trip in less than a month. although i wont be able to drive in arizona, i look forward to passing before the expiry of my PDL. my re-test will be on 7/1/10. long time to go. for now, im going to take a breather from this whole driving thing.

second try please. i'd seriously be too embarrassed to face any of my driver friends if i take it more than twice. xD

~~12:38 AM~~

somehow decided to click on somebody's blog for the first time in at least a year. its been a long time since i read that person's blog purely out of curiosity, i almost left a tag saying hi. which is funny, cos if i did, i'd have typed "omg long time no see", which would've been a very apt addition to his blog.

recently i thought about that part of my past again and i laughed it off. i dont know if it is because there is really nothing (of that event) holding me back now, or because i have simply moved on from it. get the difference: me moving or event moving. its quite funny really; though somehow, nobody really laughs about such things from the past. maybe cos it stings, but someone convinced me a couple of months back that people should not let the hurt of the past stand in the way of the future. he who told me that by the way, is another past, which is so funny right.

perhaps i should start making plans for my old-age in the event i really dont get married. i reckon theres a thin line between not looking and not being looked for. and while i would like to argue that i definitely belong to the first case, i cannot deny i (also?) belong to the second.

i cant seem to get anything done tonight cos im still very edgy about the test, even though ive convinced myself its ok. i mean, my biggest loss is money, which isnt really that big a deal as compared to other things in life. im not wasting money knowingly, y'know. i just think i shouldnt have kept blogging about it cos now everyone knows.

ah, driving.

judy zhou's 寂寞包厢 should come out more often for 百萬大歌星 cos the song is 5mins long and the lyrics are not repeated at all save for the chorus. the mv's damn ugly though.

and. i commented, rather randomly, on a particular hzgg2 episode about how yongyan becomes the next (jia qing) emperor and someone actually replied asking me how i know. didnt know how to answer that: ANYBODY who knows a thing about qing dynasty would know that the jia qing emperor's birth name was yongyan and he was qianlong (birth name hongli)'s fifteenth son. his mother (concubine ling, who plays a major character in the hzgg series) was made posthumously an empress upon his ascent to the throne. but of course, i didnt say that. i simply directed that person to wikipedia.

talking about comments though ive got two "thumbs down" for my comment on niunai's video on yc's chang yi shou ge. which is, i think, quite unexplainable considering all i said was that niunai choreographed the dance. what do they disagree with? it is a fact (zyc said it, and it was in his album sleeve - although both could be faked, but i totally see how it'll benefit zyc or anyone in avex to fake something like that).

i recently found out that yongqi's son (reel and real) mianyi deliberately named his children against the naming rules of the imperial system - an action seen as trying to distance himself from the imperial family.

& about the imperial family's naming system: that whole thing about each generation (of boys) having the same first word in their name followed by a second word with the same element (like 永 and the jade element for qianlong's sons) was not some 'family thing' they came up with randomly - all these names were a product of kangxi's ingenuity. he wrote the names out for (i think) three or four generations coupled with all the potential 'second words' for choice.

Sunday, November 08, 2009

~~5:48 PM~~

slacked the weekend away. made a list of what needs to be studied. watched a lot of house. did a pedicure. had hormones-induced headache the whole of yesterday and hence went to bed very early. woke up very early. watched the last of moonlight resonance on 255. trying to read anthro readings now.

i keep thinking about what will happen tomorrow. on a lighter note, it will be my last time @ bbdc if i do pass. i will, upon getting the letter from traffic police, proceed down to the counter to buy p-plates, and make sure i get the $200-odd left in my bbdc account back. and if i fail, of course, the first thing to do would be to put more money into the account so i have enough for say, 3 more lessons, and to book test date. if i fail and meet any of the g8001 instructors i will be eternally embarrassed i think.

(the earliest re-test date is 29/12, which means failing tomorrow would make it just right for me to take my test early jan, with a couple of revision lessons in between holiday and school. im sure it'll suffice. bbdc has yet to open up training slots for jan, so getting lessons shouldnt be a problem if i stalk the website enough. other than their intention to change groups to 10 instructors/group next year, and the money aspect of things, i dont see any issue that may potentially turn problematic.)

this morning i woke up and my sis stormed in going, "RONALD SUSILO DIED YOU KNOW?? COMMITTED SUICIDE." i was stunned for awhile before i picked up the phone and started smsing people, until i woke up for real, showered, only to receive an sms clarifying that our national badminton player - most famed probably for being li jiawei's ex - is in stable condition now and that he merely attempted suicide.

i have no idea how he attempted suicide but i'd admit im quite interested to know what drove him to do something this drastic. please may it not be love-related because the last time i heard of someone killing himself it was because of some girlfriend issue which is, in my humble opinion, very pathetic. a lot of people upon hearing the news of ronald susilo's attempted suicide immediately linked it to li jiawei. :/

what kind of stupid clothing company signs on yuanchang and cyndi wang as their brand ambassadors?? i mean i like both (i like cyndi outside of momo love) but certainly not together. shes like half his height or something.

topics on the nation-building forum have gotten way out of hand - the most recent one is "the fear of english becoming a link language", as sparked off (i would assume) from the whole lesson about english as our first language in singapore and how that is meant, in the context of singapore, as a 'race-neutral' language to aid communication and integration. first, one very major issue: english is not "becoming" a link language - it was introduced as a link language and, as far as i can understand the situation today, is already the link language between members of the different ethnic groups present in singapore. although there are many people who cannot speak the language, all of the younger, educated generation would've no problems at least in comprehension, if not in speaking it.

besides. what is the 'fear' considering we're forced to study our mother tongue all the same?

by the time i am thirty (ten years), how many friends/classmates/schoolmates would i have lost to suicide over affairs of the heart?

isnt it a bit ironic if you all believe in that whole 'one true love' thing and yet, still allow this whole depression thing to sink it despite the notion that your 'one true love' wont hurt you???

and what is the problem with remaining unattached? is it imperative you have a boyfriend/girlfriend at every point in your life? what will happen if you die single? would people think you were gay/lesbian? probably, but how'd that affect your life? you'd be dead. besides... nobody would think you're gay/lesbian cos gays and lesbians are only gays and lesbians because they are, urm, unlike you, attached/in a relationship/pursuing a relationship.

and songs like that clearly dont make you feel any better:

ohgod.

i signed into nuffnang to check my hits and amazingly, readership has increased over the past two weeks. and guess why!

ive been getting hits from google searches for "bbdc worst instructor" as well as a couple of instructors' names. i even got one from "young instructor bbdc". HAHAHA. i cant stop laughing at the thought of having people google such things and come to my blog. indeed, i am running a free-for-all bbdc review service. at the same time i also feel quite freaked out cos if some of the instructors google such things and get my blog, i wonder what they'll think.

they'll probably be damn pressured to be nice to me.

oh man, look at this and this. now it seems i have only blogged about the two of them which is untrue, since according to the statistics (which i intend to publish if i pass tomorrow), i have actually had ronald siew teach me most often. maybe nobody has tried typing ronald siew into google yet. now this becomes another reason to pass tomorrow because how can i risk instructors googling their names and finding my blog??? THATS LIKE THE MOST EMBARRASSING THING EVER, a reason why i dont blog profs' names!

i find it quite surprising nobody has googled sim kh. now there is one reason - sim kh is not computer literate. yes, he happened to mention that while telling me his life story. which would imply that the rest of the instructors, particularly those whose names have been googled, are actually googling themselves. thats quite probable/acceptable since if i were running a service like that i'd probably google myself every night to see what my students say about me.

i now have this terrible image of them instructors googling their names, finding my blog, knowing that its me and the next day going to tell all the other instructors about what ive written.

should be thankful for everyone who has been typing instructors' names into google and in the process raising my readership. thank you. although i hope i wont have any more chances of blogging about them anymore. MUST PASS TOMORROW.

okay, i will blog about my tester tomorrow. may i get one who is nice, lenient and quiet. and please may i pass tomorrow. i keep telling myself less than 11 points (when it comes to things where 20 is the max, i just have to benchmark it against my olevel score.) but truthfully im damn scared ill get some immediate failure crap. because ive been getting immediate failures all this while, get it???

hahahaha.

ok i just found some forum pages discussing driving and some girls (the posts are dated 2004 to be fair) are gushing about "yan dao bbdc instructors" and others are going "bbdc?? i dont see any yan dao instructors there leh!!!" HAHAHA. and i read a blog stating bbdc's passing rate is very low. which is, not unbelievable. i only know ONE person from bbdc who passed on her first attempt. truthfully, i dont know. i just dont want to jinx myself. after reading so much though i have practically zilch confidence, not in myself, but in the testers.

if i do fail though, please dont laugh at me the way my sister does over me not knowing a thing about complex numbers (this is like, the ultimate joke between the both of us, because till date i still know nothing about complex numbers). people pass and people fail. its all part of life.

Labels: bbdc

Friday, November 06, 2009

~~5:18 PM~~

guess who i got for driving today :)

if my hopes come true all the time, then may i please pass on monday!!

ronald siew for my last driving lesson, which would've been a damn freaking good pass if today had been my test date. hau kw also became the first instructor to acknowledge my presence while they're teaching someone else. not bad, considering he only taught me twice. but he was laughing at me doing vertical parking though (cos urm, i couldnt tell if the car was straight during his lesson).

and, i made this random and unimportant discovery about hau kw. i finally understand why he refuses to take off his sunglasses in the car even when theres no sun. hurhur.

ronald siew gave a lot of random advice at the end of the lesson. he said, "if the tester ask you how many lessons you've had ah, dont go and tell him 27, 28 (which is what i've had). inflate the number and tell him 35! otherwise ah later he say not enough then ask you do again." i couldnt help but burst out laughing. SERIOUSLY WTH!!!! im not wth-ing at his advice, but do such things actually happen??? he also said "when you enter the tester's office and he starts pointing out like why just now never do this never do that, dont tell him 'because whatever whatever'! just say 'oh ok yah i should have done that... thanks i learnt a lot from you'! make him happy cos they dont like people giving them excuses." now thats damn funny is it not??

he ended the lesson saying "...then just wait for LTA to endorse".

hahaha.

just spent the whole afternoon watching 与敵同行 and 少年四大名捕. the former just shows how awesome roger kwok's acting is, and the latter is some crappy drama tvb came up with to showcase 4 of their youngest hottest actors and lousy special effects. had to pick out an outfit for my sister's p6 graduation dinner (kids these days...) and i finished one ep of the last emperors, which makes me want to find a way to enter china's historical archives. the thought of having qianlong's handwriting sprawled in front of me tempts me so.

bad headache, i dont know why. meeting jo for dinner tonight. and as usual, we have no idea where we're going nor what we're going to eat. its like some illegal transaction gangs do, y'know? they only confirm venue & time at the very last moment. whoops.

too much hk drama.

Labels: bbdc, tv shows

Thursday, November 05, 2009

~~11:15 PM~~

my mood's like really bad right now, im glad its 11:15pm cos it means i can just go to bed early and wake up in time for my morning walk with shaz.

in my mad rush from place to place to place, i cabbed twice today, including my hour-long ride from bbdc to raffles city during peak hour ($33 thankyouverymuch) plus a booking cos it was raining. thats only $3 cheaper than my haircut @ kimage later on in the evening, where vania had her first singaporean hair cut.

on a lighter note, i am DAMN GLAD it rained rather heavily today (ok not heavily, but it certainly wasnt a drizzle) at bbdc, because i finally had my chance to drive and do all the courses in the rain. parking is a lot harder with your rear windscreen all foggy and wet. but i succeeded. had no problems parallel parking at all. life is great.

chan hy thinks i will pass on monday. that is a plus, y'know, cos even though he isnt as strict as hau kw, hes still an instructor and hes not slack. the good thing about having an instructor you're comfortable with is that you have no qualms voicing your concerns/fears about the test. it was quite reassuring knowing that some testers are humane, even though a particular one apparently derives great joy from making people do the courses in reverse order. and, apparently bbdc instructors all have to undergo an assessment every year end, and that causes great stress for all of them alike us taking our test. its quite funny really if driving and teaching driving everyday isnt even enough to boost their confidence.

i cannot decide if i should hope for a mean/strict or nice/reassuring instructor for my last driving lesson tomorrow. i need to be able to perform up to standard even if i get an awful tester, so the former seems like a good option, but i really need the confidence boost a nice/reassuring instructor may offer.

ok, maybe i should hope i get ronald siew cos hes like The Mix. but i'd need to ask him to keep quiet (!) cos hes always prompting me.

i always imagine driving along bukit batok/teck whye and bumping into my instructors on the roads. but what i envision myself doing most is sending the g8001 instructors a thank-you card. i know, i am so weird; but at least both of these visions reflect my will to pass on my first try. (ill probably send a card to chan hy, one to ronald siew and a general one to the whole of g8001 which encompasses the annoying, deliveryman-turned-taxi driver-turned-bbdc driving instructor sim kh, the i-am-so-tall-i-can-barely-fit-into-the-car hau kw, the please-wait-for-awhile-i-need-to-go-toilet ng hl and the dude who passed me on three modules without teaching me a thing, tan jj.) no seriously. i know i should pass first then talk. but what im trying to imply is that the pressure on myself to pass is not simply out of pride and the $2k, but cos all of them put in so much effort into teaching me and making me a safe and competent driver, i feel the responsibility to pass on my first try.

omg great

its now 12:57 and all ive been doing is the silly 'social interview' thing on facebook. its highly addictive cos its so narcissistic!

Labels: bbdc

~~2:03 PM~~

i really shouldnt be blogging here but im bored and having my lunch @ as7. thankfully theres nobody waiting for coms. otherwise i'd feel eternally guilty. 50mins to go before i leave for driving :/ sucks cos its raining and ive no umbrella - i dont know how im going to get to the other side of the road to take a bus.

my long thursday has been extended even further; im gonna meet vania for haircut after the ccf meeting. must enjoy & run all the errands i must run before hardcore revision starts.

i hope the ccf team dont insist on the scrapbook thing cos ive really no time for it. although im not complaining about having to do more than what i bargained for, truth is exams are in less than 3 weeks, and i have not touched 3209 (stats) since the test.

i shall go to the library and put on that nerd pretence.

Wednesday, November 04, 2009

~~11:15 PM~~

collected my long-awaited recent craze. read like half a chapter in the last five minutes of anthro lect before ann started asking me religious questions. whoops.

so, OMG I SURVIVED 04/11!!!! *still alive still alive* in case you havent realised, today was the (official) deadline for the food paper, and the date with the nation-building folks for our second test on half the sem's worth of work for only 10% of assessment. (tutor's deadline for the paper is tomorrow, but I HANDED IT IN AT 9.50AM TODAY!!!) stayed up past 3am to do it. thanks to ginseng soup yesterday evening though i slept really well and didnt feel tired even when i woke up at 8am.

the whole physiological stress thing set in though so i just kept having stomach ache and diarrhoea this morning. i knew it was going to be a whole day thing again (cos the same happened just 2 weeks ago) so i quickly spammed medicine. had to cab* to school cos i took too long in the toilet.

more about the cabbing* later.

today felt like the day of lasts. i dont know why, technically next week's the real last. which is sad cos this sem, though busy, was awfully enjoyable in many ways. having friends in my lects, new and old, having funny lecturers, and on the whole, friendly classmates... it was just damn nice. :) unfortunately friendliness isnt in my nature so im not often nice to classmates i dont know. which spells rude, y'know, cos sometimes random classmates mumble a 'hello' and i just look up in shock.

...

anyway i thought the test was ok, until i started writing my answer for #1. suddenly forgot the dates, forgot the details and tried to bluff my way through and failed terribly. so there goes 5% of c.a. and i hope #2 was spectacular.

as usual after the test everyone flew out of the lt and while i was walking that trodden path behind as4, two guys were behind me and they were conversing in mandarin (which is unsurprising cos nation-building has a lot of engin people who are, for some reason, all more comfortable in speaking mandarin). the convo went something like this:

guy A: ehh 今天《溏心风暴之家好月圆》最后一集！我要回去看！

guy B: 好看meh？

guy A: 《溏心风暴》不好看可是《家好月圆》真的很好看！really really damn nice. damn exciting.

im not trying to enforce socially constructed gender roles but who'd expect a guy to be crazy over some bitchy tvb production??? what kinda guy rushes past the whole crowd of nation-building students just so he can get home in time for the last episode of moonlight resonance???

imagine my shock/distaste when they rushed past me and i realised i actually know guy B.

remember i said i had to watch videos for the tutorial? turns out i cant watch them so im free for the night :) im going to upload ccf photos and burn them into discs. i asked my dad for "free thumbdrives" he didnt want anymore and he offered me his YOG collectible item -_- then he said "the rest are all very small like 256."

256 is a number i have not heard describe the capacity of thumbdrives in a very long time.

i have not touched a thumbdrive since june last year. i use gmail to transfer files from place to place. what is the capacity now? 40gb??? he told me to just burn them into discs and i complained, saying it was not environmentally friendly. which is true. i hate them for making me burn into disc. i hate burning things to disc!

second last driving lesson tomorrow, if im lucky.

ah yes, wanted to talk about cabbing. this week alone i cabbed from school to bbdc (tues, $10.70) and from bbdc back home (tues, $20.80) and today to school ($8.40) and back home from holland v ($4.80).

just so you know where all my money's going to.

~~12:35 AM~~

im so tired. ive just finished all the readings for the test tomorrow; although i think it was a rather brief revision. i just hope this 10% wont pull me down, and hopefully my 20% class par will make up for everything.

i cannot decide if i should rush the last two-three pages of my paper out by tonight so i can submit it tomorrow (the official deadline) or do it tomorrow night and hand it up by 9am on thurs (the tutor's deadline). no penalty if i hand up by 9am on thurs, but ill need to find a way to get to school by like, 8am so i have enough time to print. thats not very ideal cos i end at 2 with driving thereafter and a ccf meeting at 6.30pm. and i am still considering dinner thereafter, depending on whether i bring my laptop...

yes, i cannot decide if i should bring my laptop on thurs - i might need it for the meeting, but more importantly should i choose to finish my paper tomorrow evening, i'd need the laptop in school on thurs to watch whatever i can of the two food videos for food tut. but i hate lugging the laptop around especially when ive to travel from place to place (and in thursday's case) to place (and another 'to place' if i choose to meet people for dinner).

seems like i should rush the paper out tonight, but i need to go shower now (its 41min past midnight) and i want to go through the nation-building lect notes.

i have poor time management especially when things fall on the same day. oh how am i ever going to successfully manage yuanchang's career? which is why, i have chosen to change my proposal to that of being his career consultant - that means i give the direction and he & his manage can go execute my plans. to do that though i think i need to eke out a star-studded (pun totally intended) track-record first.

by then maybe taiwan/china would've legalized gay marriages and he'd have gotten married/retired, whichever comes first.

im going crazy. i shall shower then do whatever i can for the paper and try my best to finish it by tonight.

i need to wake up at 8am, did i mention? i hate morning days.

Tuesday, November 03, 2009

~~11:21 AM~~

OK WTF MAN. i told myself ill sleep early and wake up early to continue studying for nation-building tomorrow. slept past 3 (had a hell lot of fun singing along to 自從有了你 (kala version - HAHA, good ol' days where they used to include kala versions in every cd) while reading about singapore's economy in terribly bad english... "with hindsight, a question one may ask is, was the Malaysian union all that necessary? It did not seem a needed stepping stone before Singapore takes back foreign and security matters from the British." (Low, 1998) and woke up at 10.20 when my second alarm rang, but decided ill snooze till 10.55, but my grandfather came in at 10.45 and conveniently informed me that the contractors had arrived to settle the toilet door issue - which i had no idea about.

cos if ANYONE was coming in the morning (before noon), my dad would definitely inform me personally about it cos he knows i sleep till real late. so anyway, i rushed to change and brushed my teeth. which is i suppose on hindsight good since i have erm, ten minutes more to read, but i have yet to shower and they're not done with the door. my maid came back from the market and said they were supposed to come after lunch.

I HATE CONTRACTORS/DELIVERYMEN WHO THINK THEY CAN COME AT WHATEVER TIME PLEASES THEM. it is none of my business if you finished your previous job earlier, or want to go for lunch later. there is a reason why your boss gives the client an estimated time of arrival (which is usually a range). so that they are free to do whatever they want before and after that and not spend the whole day expecting your arrival.

and as expected, the nation-building forum has been terribly active (cos its the last two weeks of sem and everyone's scrambling for participation marks). which is ok, considering most people try to say something meaningful. but some just say things like "considering how PAP has proven its leadership, it is undeniable that Singapore's economy will fall if PAP loses political control." while i disagree, my point here is not to say i disagree. the point is that if you have SOMETHING TO SAY, or if you want class par marks, shouldn't you bother explaining your pov further?

its quite unlike a fan forum in which saying things like "yuanchang is a good actor" is sufficient to gain a lot of response.

yesterday on sogou.com i learnt that yoga's new album 《感官世界》 has been released. i cant wait to get my hands on it even though the first release sounds damn mainstream for yoga standard. still, YOGA YOGA YOGA.

and once again, fahrenheit's coming to town while im away. i think if there is ONE taiwanese celebrity i have no affinity with, it must be jiro wang. i mean i have seen practically all the taiwanese celebrities i remotely like - danson tang, yoga lin, yuanchang, energy, 5566, rainie yang, show luo, jay chou, ... (fine, i have not seen huang wenxing, gino, f4,... before; nor have i seen any hongkong celebrity before - other than suet nei - nor any korean ones like Lee Minho and donghae.)

i dont know what im talking about already. i sound like some deranged teenage fan.

and they are still not done with the door. its been one hour.

LIFE IS AWESOME!!!!!

food lecture starts (or rather, started) at 12!! and im still at home (i woke up at 11, which was the time i was supposed to leave the house) because i COMPLETELY FORGOT THAT FOOD LECTURE STARTS AT 12 and not 2!!!

i am so brilliant.

i dont know whats got into me, i have never fared so poorly at remembering my own schedule before.

mad rush out of nation-building lect to get to bbdc, was late. had a different car and unheard-of instructor (lim s s) since it was a last-min booking. I AM PROUD TO ANNOUNCE THAT FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER I MANAGED TO PARK WITH NO PROBLEMS AT ALL. please may i be able to parallel park like that from now on, even after monday.

(ethel's story about how she took 30mins to parallel park at chomp chomp scared me so!)

cabbed back from bbdc thinking it'd be faster and less tiring, in the end the ride took 45min (ie same as bus ride) and cost me $20.80. WTH WTH. thats my lunch money for like, this week and next!

ok lots to study tonight, tomorrow's going to be a hell of a day - 10am - 8pm. but on hindsight, ill be able to study for real once friday comes. i find it quite amusing how the best part of every sem is the revision for exams.

Monday, November 02, 2009

~~3:02 PM~~

hau kw for driving. because it was a revision lesson and not some trial thing (though my first and last lesson with him was also not a trial - so why was he so unfriendly that day?!) he was a lot nicer today. and i have, as a result, started to think that perhaps on the driving side of things, the situation would've been different if i got him earlier on. if i didnt have lessons with the first few instructors who couldnt be bothered to teach me properly. hes like, the best instructor in the group, aside from chan hy. but chan hy is a bit too nice sometimes. whereas hau kw is DAMN STRICT with everything - he even has problems with the way i put down the handbrake. but aside from being damn strict, hes also quite funny/nice without distracting you unnecessarily during lesson. he does have the tendency to give instructions a little late though.

OK AM I REALLY RUNNING A BBDC REVIEW SERVICE HERE???

was supposed to have two more revision lessons on thurs and fri, but i just booked one more for 4pm tomorrow, which means rushing off from nation-building lect ten mins early and having less time to study for the test on wed.

but i think i should give it my best shot next monday. i get the feeling there is a chance i can actually do well for my first attempt. i just need a bit more confidence.

lets all say "VAMOS ROSEL!" and perhaps, ill have good news for you next week.

i selected my modules for next sem within like ten minutes of receiving the mpe reminder email. the modules next sem look terribly interesting. six mods: social thought and social theory, deviance, religion, moral philosophy, philosophy of law and japanese food. alright the last one is tentative (in fact ALL are tentative cos i havent looked at the timetable) cos im not sure if i'll be too sick of all food after this sem. but i do know who's lecturing it, so thats a plus. moral philo again because same prof as mmp. philo of law because the prof wrote one of the books i used in my IS, and the course reading's hart's philosophy of law (which my entire IS was based on). st&st because its compulsory, deviance cos i heard its damn good, and religion cos i miss nz's santa claus. yeah, lets just hope i get whatever i want and they dont remove any modules.

looking forward to next sem!

Labels: bbdc

~~12:41 AM~~

so tired. i spent half the day clearing up my essay and now it is moving towards a clearer direction and more focused. at least i think it is. so although i am only at 7pgs, i am happy. again, i almost cannot wait to print and submit this. i hope i do well for it.

sociology of food is such a demanding course, with lots of things to do for just a few % of c.a., but i must say 3209's the worst: the prof's demanding our participation in the forum (threatening to not give us solutions for the questions if we dont) and not even giving us 0.5% c.a. for it. i fail to appreciate the benefits of making 21 lives miserable.

checking out taiwan tourism bureau's website for information on food tourism & cultural heritage makes me hungry and interested in taiwan all over again. (kind of gave up the idea in the last couple of years, realised there was nothing that interested me there) still, even if i want to visit, it'll have to be next year or later. this winter we're going to orlando and spending christmas in sedona. the photos look horrendously geological. but im looking forward to it despite my lack of interest in geography and its associated fields. because it is not often you get to spend christmas with one side of the grand canyon. its going to be the longest holiday ive ever gone for; although if im lucky, i get to spend more than 3 months in california/beijing/paris/hong kong next year.

DAMN.

i shouldnt be thinking about all this fun prospects until after exams. my paper is still at seven pages, i have not studied for nation-building, and i have FIVE FREAKING EXAMS THIS SEM (with essays in 4 of them and math for the last one). life is beautiful.

(ya'all should see the title of this entry. it is a pity you can't.)

click!!!

two things to take note of:

1) yoga is an amazing singer. fine, i made that very clear before. but i just watched his jaw-dropping rendition of mathilda tao's 年紀大了一點. i get the feeling i didnt enjoy his concert because i was too far away from the stage (ahem) and because his is the kind of performance you need to watch quietly. he should start performing at esplanade!

2) his wikipedia page is very well-written for a taiwanese celebrity (save for a couple of grammatical errors) with well-made citations, substantiated claims and updated information.

now wikipedia 'joe cheng' and tell me why #2 cannot be achieved for him when he is, although not an amazing singer, an amazing actor and model. the grammar! the facts! the citations! (or rather, lack thereof)