Saturday, August 29, 2009 10:34
I can't help but feel accomplished already. My lab report is all done except for the part where reference to Atkins is needed but Atkins is now resting in BlackRabbit's house. I had the alarm screaming at me from 8 this morning, and had it screaming until 815 before I eventually got off the bed. Oh that noisy merciless loudspeaker of an alarm! But because it was so noisy I managed to do my laundry and finish my report. All that's left are tutorials.
They amount to mountains.
Days ago I suffered from impairment in speech because of that two life-threatening ulcers in my mouth. Ever had to reduce your food intake, or increase your time taken to finish a regular serving just because every single abrasion against that square milimeter of exposed flesh sends sharp pain signals to your brain? That's exactly what happened to me. Imagine having two, and they are half a world away from each other. Usually you would direct your food towards the opposite region to reduce irritation on your ulcer, wouldn't you? But I couldn't do that at all, because no matter where I send my food to, it would still irritate one of the ulcers.
I guess the only thing to be grateful about is they remained in their square milimeter area and not able to conglomerate into one big hole, as ulcers at close proximity to one another naturally would.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009 17:50
It has only been 3 months since I last did lab and I made a complete ass out of myself during lab yesterday. First lab in Year 2, I felt ilke a fish out of water - my brain was frantically groping for oxygen so I wouldn't die because of the amount of mental stress.
My stupid stunts aside, the lab protocol looked as if it was written for lab professionals or an English professor. There was almost no clear directions on doing the lab, and most of us were reading our protocols for the first time because the Smart chem department rearranged the sequence of our labs yet failed to inform us before hand. All that were written were solutions of specific requirements which we were supposed to MAKE out of the existing chemicals that were nothing like what were needed. For example, the protocol said "
Exactly 1M HCl" but what we had was a 2.018M HCl. What totally screwed us up and wasted our time was the ENGLISH and the PHRASING. A good example would be:
"Weigh exactly one-tenth of a mole and add to it the exact amout of solution B which contains one-tenth of a mole HCl."Can't they just make things simple and say 0.1 mole and 1M HCl ??!!?
Now I can't even perform the crucial calculations on my data. I can't even produce the graph. All because I still lack the reading at time infinity, so I gotta go back again on Friday with my partner to measure.
With my first lab already done, it finally feels like school has officially reopened. I'll be furiously rushing out my discussions and reports, coupled with tutorial questions, and I'll be repeating the cycle every week.
Wednesday, August 19, 2009 19:26
The best thing about believing in fate is, you know the inevitable will always befall no matter how hard you pray for it not to, therefore you have ample time for mental preparation before the inevitable happens.
It's been one solid year since my matriculation. Throughout my freshman year I met many new people, laughed at new jokes, at the same time, got reunited with old friends, and laughed at old jokes as well. All in all, Mr. Fate has done me good favour for letting me meet the people who bring me joy and laughters.
Then came one day when I had a meaningful (although some issues were kind of depressing) conversation with She-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. It appears that over there, she's constantly reminded of her -ahem- bad memories although both of them aren't from the same faculty. So my dear friend was lamenting on how small she finds her campus and how the sight of him just stirs up butterflies in her stomach.
It was then that I felt this sudden overwhelming gratitude towards Mr. Fate, for he has been making my life somehow a bed of roses since my matriculation, as compared to my poor friend. My guess is having a timetable that somehow quarantines me at Science helped in some ways too. For one solid year, even in the same campus, even as I travelled between faculties for food, our paths were clear of one another, just like a pair of skew lines in space that don't meet. I believe, like me, he has eaten, drunk and been merry for the past one year but none of them bothered me because they just don't.
But roses do wilt one fine day, don't they? Mr. Fate has decided that one year is enough for me to live in my own lalaland, and it's time to face life's reality - when two lines eventually meet. It happened just today, right outside where I stay.
I was not being arrogant or snobbish - I really did not see him coming, because I was talking animatedly with a friend who lent me a big favour some time ago. It is natural for you to shift your gaze as you talk, and it is even more natural for you to not pay attention to what you see. Then,
"Hi Ivy."He appeared a little different from how I remember him. That is why, I took a fraction of a minute, staring at the guy who just called me, before saying 'Hi'. And without saying bye, we just passed each other and parted ways.
Just like the old time. Without saying bye, we split directions.
Sometimes I used to wonder how I would react should I meet him on a random day in a random way in campus. There were times I even postulated possible scenarios and drew up defense plans should the postulations come true. But it happened so naturally today that none of my defense plans were useful.
I must insist, he is now history.
But a girl is still a girl - she never wants to be reminded of a piece of history that hurt. Hurt, not hurts.
So please, I implore you, understand and don't misunderstand why I would rather not meet him in any ways. I chose to not tell you because I want you to read this, as words do misconvey meanings sometimes.
Sunday, August 16, 2009 21:05
Taken from Confessions of a Shopaholic,
"I shop. When I shop, the world just gets better."Exactly. I would never call myself a shopaholic because I don't have my entire closet packed to its brim with new purchases and risk having a debt collector stalking me. But if there is a term to describe me, it has just got to be this:
Problem ShopperDays ago some guy with a big board approached me, gave me a little brochure with questions like, "Do you find it difficult to stop once you start gambling?" and "Do you gamble down to the very last cent?" And in the brochure, it says that if my answer is
YES to all the questions, then I ought to seek professional help urgently. The guy further explained that most of us often see ourselves as 'social gamblers' but a proportion of us do not realize it when we become 'problem gamblers'. Of course, the guy was representing a group that seeks to help put a stop to problem gambling in our society before it spawns out to become a real big social problem.
Nip the problem in the bud, isn't it always what they say?
And I wonder, if there are social gamblers who gradually become problem gamblers as the thrill of gambling becomes an addiction, would shopping be the same as well?
Some people pull a piece or two off the shelves on a random day in a random shop with some random friends, and spend the entire day grinning at how they are now ten years younger. Some people pull out just a few pieces more because of that magical numbers strewn all over the store - numbers like
20, 30, 40 and even
50. Of course, the higher the number the greater the craze. Most people would be able to do what the Singapore government used to ask us to do -
stop at two or
three or more if we can afford. Most people would be able to stop without feeling any guilt and continue to live their lives like how they did the day before. This majority of the people I would say, fit perfectly into 'social shoppers'.
I am a different story.
Do I find it difficult to stop once I start buying?
YESDo I (often) find myself buying to the last dollar in my wallet?
YESThe thrill of holding something you paid for as you leave the shop is addictive. Once I've made my first purchase, the excitement turns full circle and becomes a drive and drives me right into another shop to buy more. It's like slipping down a slippery slope - you just can't help falling deeper and deeper into it. But what always happens to me is, as long as I am still in the shopping complex, I can't help buying more; but as soon as I am out of the building, the guilt sets in. The mental calculator will be on auto pilot, calculating the total casualty for the day.
And in less than one week, my bank account is SGD 77.80 less than what it should be. And this is entirely due to shopping. I have not even counted the proportion of money spent on other 'areas'.
The global credit crunch has now moved to my wallet.
Thursday, August 13, 2009 23:55
It's 21 and the second day of it. Feels awesome, simply because there are new people smiling at my face and saying "Happy Birthday!" in an all so excited fashion and receiving cutely wrapped gifts for two days in a row.
BlackRabbit tipped me off about the supposed MunchieMonkey 'surprise' I was gonna get on 12 Aug, so when time was up I waltzed into that place and pretended to be so surprised at seeing Gambits' faces all properly seated. But not everything was a pretense because I was indeed genuinely, deeply touched okay! So we sang song, we cut cake, we ate stuffs, and we did what we all do best - sit there and talk til the cows come home.
Then came the day when I got real surprises - those I totally did not see them coming. The Conans got a cake too, but we were running late for lecture so we sang song, we blew candles, and we rushed to the LT. That's the end.
JOKING!
We found ourselves a secluded place after the lecture for the cake-cutting ceremony. And we sang song, we cut cake, we ate cake, and everybody said goodbye and left for their next agendas. As for us the Looneys, we prepared ourselves for the hotpot buffet that was set to happen at 6pm later.
For us, dinner set at 6pm usually means it's not gonna happen until 630, with Suzzy being the last to arrive definitely. So our table of seven had a great time making terrorizing orders to the waitresses and maximized our 15% service charges. We talked, we ate, and we groaned about the prospect of dying from overstuffing.
Then suddenly out came a song from the speakers which threw me off guard, and suddenly people around me started singing Birthday Song! I totally did not see it coming at all! And so in the end we sang, we cut cake, we tried to stuff ourselves with that piece of heavenly tiramisu. It was heavenly, but a little too agonizing for most of us to finish our portions after steamboat buffet. Come to think of it, that must be our negative karma for terrorizing the waitresses.
Camwhore at roof terrace! But the story is best told with pictures, which will only be up when their camera owners decide to not procrastinate! Keep a close watch on FaceBook!
All in all, my 21st has been a blast. Many faces, many greetings, handful of presents, and most importantly, a great deal to take with me down the walk through memory lane. 12 August 2009 is definitely something to remember, and I sincerely thank each and everyone of you for playing a part in it.
I thank you.
Friday, August 07, 2009 23:33
Finally, I can stop being merlion for awhile and take some personal time off to consolidate my thoughts.
Current hideout: OKR Block B
Current mood: BAD
The last five days have been nothing eventful. Contracted a powerful flu bug that gave me literally headaches which was aggravated by Flag Day & McDonalds on Tuesday. After which somehow the flu migrated from the head to the stomach and as a result, I made friends with the Merlion with the urge of throwing up every alternate minute. Five days it was, five days I had to stay in bed.
When my stomach stopped being hostile to me today, I made the decision to travel back to school to get the sleeping bags for the two of them. Then I began to wonder if this is a good idea after all. I mean, this is THE room with so many faults I reported earlier.
You know how your stomach always give leap when you are at the highest point of a rollercoaster ride, just before you take the plunge?
It just happened to me again. Means gotta go.
16:16
This is sucking the life out of me. For two days I feel like Merlion yet nothing comes out. It doesn't only agonizes me but also poses alot of trouble to Blackrabbit's family. I really want to stop everything and move back to RVR but this stupid stomach of mine just would not allow any 1.5 hour journey.
This is hell. This sucks. I have been a lifeless hermit for five days already.
WHEN WILL YOU LEAVE ME ALONE, O'STOMACH FLU!
