A visit.

Being the usual kaypoh senior I am, I went back to ny on impulse today. The juniors have improved by A LOT =) 2 weeks ago it was between silver and gold (which worried me greatly and made me reconsider my desire to watch them in action because I couldn't bear the thought of having the announcer go ny*co - silver again. Once in a lifetime is enough, thank you very much. Some of us seniors think we'd break down in tears again if we ever have to listen to that.) But now I'm quite pleased to say that its between gold and honours. Whee~~ Go nyco! Make your audience itch to dance in their seats =P And with the marked difference in music came the marked difference in 台风. Of course there's still some things to be improved on, but in general, can't wait for 3rd April. Tis' going to be the best performance. Ever.

And I didn't know jh and tc went back too! lol... tc is still as blur sounding as ever, and jh is still suan-ing me like nobody's business. And we flipped through some old photo albums and to my amusement I saw a few previously-unfamiliar-but-now-familiar faces in what must have been taken in maf 1999...? Like there was this shot of (in a row, if i'm not wrong) sirseng, ls with his -ahem-interesting hairstyle looking straight at the camera with the "what?!" face and hs looking really bored, and another pic which seems to involve z-x playing some game. Might have mentioned this before, but its quite amazing how many pple we actually know when we move over to JC and all the hithero-unknown mass of boys from the other co actually take on different names, looks and personalities. LOL.

Wheeeeeee

Okay so all my flight bookings are confirmed =) I hope there aren't any further changes for the immersion end dates because I sure don't want to remain in germany alone while everyone flies off.

Now, to mug.

Issues.

Some people need logic - tis' not concern, tis' paranoia.

Grr.


36 days to LSM1102 paper.


45 days to 11th May. Seriously cannot wait =)

After the Meeting.

Here's to a good year ahead!




To be honest I'm pretty scared. I'm swinging between "Yes I can do this well" and "Oh shit what on earth have I gotten myself into!?" I didn't think that I'd be expected to be the head of something for this post but its alright I'd survive YEA.

Work Woes.

Deutsch, Deutsch, Deutsch.

After vocab test tomorrow, its time to worry about oral. Test format's similar to last sem's - play a dialogue with partner(s), and individual part. However, this time round, memory work alone isn't going to help much: situation details will be given on the spot. I am so dead. While I'm good at talking rubbish, it doesn't apply when I've to do it in german.

time heals all...?

even after so long, i dont understand why we got a ___ when they got a ___.

-shrug-

Lesson #1 on a Sunday afternoon.

Lesson of the day: KNOW WHERE YOU SAVED YOUR FILES AND DON'T CLEAN UP YOUR DOWNLOADED FILES ON FIREFOX RELIGIOUSLY, DAMNIT.

I was so gleeful at having completely my last lab report of the semester.... until I realised that it could no longer be found on my laptop because I had deleted it unknowingly while avoiding clutter on my desktop. Some good habits are just not worth cultivating.

--------------

Its going to be one expensive but good summer. I've worked out much of the travel and associated costs. Now all that's left is to confirm flight back to sunny sg with hs, and of course, to book the flights before the cheaper prices are gone. Time is of the essence! Me am likely to be gone from 8th May to 6th July. (Sg time) Hmm.

nyco

so much to say, don't know where to begin.

Dinosaur.

If nothing goes wrong, I should be able to make a quick trip to ny tomorrow afternoon just before 大组 ends and be able to get back to uni in time for cg.

In vcf apparently the seniors who have graduated recently are termed "dinosaurs" and the even older ones are "fossils." In terms of graduation (2003) and ny*co (current year 2007!!), I guess I'm a really REALLY old fossil. (Er, maybe I should take that back. yl may not like it. =P)

--------

Think its quite weird that I was all fired up and ready to go in terms of digesting the sickeningly long list of german words (BURN MIDNIGHT OIL AHHHHH TEST TOMORROW AND I CANNOT COMMIT EVERYTHING TO MEMORYYYYYYY) and after I realised that I had actually screwed up the dates once again and that the test is actually next week, I suddenly feel really tired and ready to crawl into bed. Ich bin sehr müde.

IT also seems that I am destined to get the dates wrong for a german vocab test each sem. Let's see how next sem turns out.

PHYSICS.

If I had taken physics in place of biology back in sec3, I most certainly wouldn't have remained in the science stream in jc, much less be doing this*cough* now.

But I did not, and now I'm struggling with basic physics concepts. What Fun.

Why i love tutorial sessions

Venue: German tutorial
Task: To write out a dialogue on gift giving to an imaginary character.

Daniela (26) und Uwe (30); wollen im Sommer in die USA fliegen; geben am Wochenende eine Eniweihungsparty; spielen Tennis; machen gern Camping-Urlaub; leben sehr gesund; heiraten bald.



Me: Hmm, these characters plays tennis. Let's get them tennis rackets... er no. So boring.

E: Then? Tennis balls?

V: Yea, let's get them 50 bucks worth of tennis balls.

E and me: -_-"

V: Or let's get them a camera, see, here it says that they are going on a holiday!

E: A camera costs 200 bucks... Good idea but that's really expensive.

Me: Makes sense if shared by 3 people wad. Hmm, but we're supposed to disagree with lousy gifts first, right? So let's get them 200 bucks of

All together: TENNIS BALLS.

-After much laughter-

E: So, that's 200 EUROS of TENNIS BALLS.

me: euros?!

V: Are we seriously going to give them 200 bucks worth of balls?

E and me: OF COURSE.





And yes, that's so going into our oral preparation. =P


-------------------

My lecturer let me off for 3rd April!!!! (as long as I attend lecture on 2nd April) So I can go watch ny*co syf!!!!! WOOOOHOOOOOOOOOO~~~~

When I first received ms chek's reply about the syf slot this year my first thought was "SHITTTTTTTT ITS SMACK AT THE START OF MY GERMAN LECTURE" and the people I mentioned it to genearlly agreed that the probability of being allowed to skip lecture is near 0 but things worked out!! =)

Moral of the story: Don't ask, Don't know, Don't get. =)

Stuff.

Okay concert's over, and twas better than expected. Think the rehearsal for most pieces (at least the orchestral items) was better than the actual performance.

Also, have 70% decided to run. As in, I've filled in the form and got 2 people to second the nomination. All that's left is... to submit it.

I Don't Know About Tomorrow.

I don't know about tomorrow,
I just live from day to day.
I don't borrow from it's sunshine
For it's skies may turn to gray.
I don't worry o'er the future,
For I know what Jesus said,
And today I'll walk beside Him,
For He knows what is ahead.

Many things about tomorrow,
I don't seem to understand;
But I know Who holds tomorrow,
And I know Who holds my hand.

Ev'ry step is getting brighter,
As the golden stairs I climb;
Ev'ry burden's getting lighter,
Ev'ry cloud is silver lined.
There the sun is always shining,
There no tear will dim the eyes,
At the ending of the rainbow,
Where the mountains touch the sky.

I don't know about tomorrow,
It may bring me poverty;
But the One Who feeds the sparrow,
Is the One Who stands by me.
And the path that be my portion,
May be through the flame or flood,
But His presence goes before me,
And I'm covered with His blood.

Why am i here?

I suddenly had this urge to open "Create Post" but I have nothing to write about. Maybe this will morph into a Everything-Goes entry with no aim nor direction. Hmm.

If I just type what's at the top of my mind right now, it would be:

1. I can't wait for the semester to end - will be traveling to Europe (Okay tis isn't a holiday but still!!) and North America (Mein liebling!!!!) for the first time in my life!! It's going to be 6 weeks of bliss~

2. I better not be late for German lecture at 2pm later...

3. Concert this weekend and I still haven't got a pair of decent court shoes and my makeup options now look like shit and I want a pair of red earrings... and shouldn't I be worrying about the 10% of the scores I'm still sight-reading and my very screwed up Little Sisters of the Prairie instead?! At least I don't have any major solos to lose sleep over, apart for stray sustained notes here and there. (I'm getting very good at 太极: PUSH TO YOUR LEFT... AND RIGHT...)

4. Because 天涯歌女 just played on my media player, I'm suddenly reminded of the 5th 周璇 CD I was listening to last night. the accompaniment had 20th century styles!! Like clashing notes and offbeat stuff... I guess I shouldn't be too surprised, since its a collection of her later works. Especially in comparison to the 1st CD I'm listening to now. Ooh 四季歌~~~

5. Test test test galore coming right up arghhhhh.

6. A certain comment from seeyan on Wednesday. And also stuff on LDRs.

7. I really should be thinking of MY REMAINING CAS AND FINAL EXAMS instead of the traveling afterwards... as well as FUNDING for my plane tickets and miscellaneous expenditure!!! Any doners for The Care And Feeding of Geraldine XXXX Fund? (XXXX is there because, as usual, I refuse to reveal too many details that will allow me to be easily serachable... not that I'm famous/popular/notorious enough to be anyway.)

8. The office actually replied to my "Feedback" - a politely crafted letter blasting the way applications are handled. (If you don't know what I'm talking about, look 2-3 entries down.) But all it says is that they will look into the matter and get back to me later. Oh well, I don't expect much outcome from this, plus I don't know if I want to spend a grand total of 5 years in this university if I transfer to a course which requires me to start from year1 - it's going to be the length of time a medical student takes to gain MBBS and since I won't graduate with anything as good, why should I stay for that long? Better to get out after 4 years and try for graduate school? Hmm. But feedback is good too: if they do something about it it means that future juniors won't feel the same kind of frustration I did. Email notification is free, anyway.

9. Bored. I have work to do BUT BUT BUT. Heh.

Weird, but True.

And after my previous post, I got this email yesterday.

We are pleased to announce that you have been selected for the German Language Immersion in Stuttgart, Germany. Further details will be given later on.

I'm good, ain't I?

However, this isn't my first choice for immersion... And there are STILL vacancies for my first choice!! Grr. I think I could go ask to be transferred to the first immersion should it not be taken up by 15 March, which is the dateline for any new applications. The one I'm currently allocated to starts a week later, ends a week later, which translates to one less week spent in Montreal. Hmph.



Die, you stupid lab report, DIE.

For the want of a good title

Since I always eat my words soon after I utter them (or at least, eventually), I think I can say that at this rate, the results for the Immersion Award will not be out by Friday (tis just 3 freaking days more!!!), and the language centre Immersion application will also be closed, and us LPP students will be left high and dry with no immersion to go to. And the irony is, we are the ones who are supposed to be obliged to go to Europe for exchange, and we'd end up with inferior language skills. Vielen dank, iro. Ich liebe dich sehr.


To Run or Not to Run; That is the Question.



Deadlines, deadlines everywhere.

Birthday.

You think you've got weird relatives?

Mine put 20 small candles on my birthday cake. TWENTY.SMALL.CANDLES. Collected over a few weeks by buying cakes every few days and asking for candles.

I swear, the cake was almost collapsing. And the birthday song was the fastest.ever. so that the candles wouldn't go out before I blew them out.


They should do that for my godma next year... but I think by the time they light the last candle, the first one would have been exhausted. =P

ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

OH WTF.

just found out that the application to transfer course is 1-21 february. I have completely, utterly MISSED the chance to apply for admission to you-know-where again. HOW COULD I HAVE NOT CHECKED THE ADMISSIONS PAGE LAST MONTH?!



oh well, next year then. I'm not going to forget this in a hurry. and yes, even if i'm in my final year of study, if i'm allowed to transfer to you-know-what, i will do it.

ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH


I AM SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO AGITATED. AND FEELING EXTREMELY VIOLENT.









its okay, i'm still young, wasting another year is nothing... patience is a virtue. ONE YEAR IS 365 DAYS ONLY.

-repeat for as long as necessary-


I'm still thinking whether I should reapply overseas. Hmm.

---------------

I tried to make a claim (since I pay student insurance) for my A&E visit. Rejected. Why? Because my visit to the A&E wasn't recommended by the university health centre doctor. The nurse asked me why didn't I visit the clinic instead of going straight to A&E.

I wanted to tell her, if I could climb the stupid flights of stairs to the 3rd floor of the blasted building where the clinic is located in my semi-paralysed state on Friday, I might have. As it were, I couldn't walk on flat ground without assistance for hours after the incident, and moving a step up/down hurt like hell. Would I even think of going to the clinic? I didn't have to navigate steps at NUH. I'd readily admit that on HINDSIGHT my condition isn't anything serious enough to warrant an emergency room visit, but it sure didn't seem like it 2 weeks ago. Plus if it seemed mild enough to see a GP, I wouldn't go all the way to Buona Vista just to see a doctor when I can see one right in Jurong.

But of course, the saying goes "Don't Kill the Messenger," and I know it just sucks to be the bearer of "bad news" so I just smiled and said, "Oh okay no problem, yes, I understand, yup thank you very much" and left.

Is there anywhere I can air my views about the utter waste of $60 paid for health insurance as a local student annually and practically not being able to use a cent of it? As a local, if I was ill, I'd just go see my regular GP at the nearby market, which is a 10min walk/ <1 min drive away, with no challenging terrain to navigate in my ill state. Common sense dictates that I wouldn't make an hour's journey and climb up/down a damned slope and go up a few flights of stairs to see a doctor I'm not even familiar with if I have access to medical care in less 1/6 the travelling time, for crying out loud! As a virus bag, I'd rather spend more time asleep than travelling.

Maybe they put this policy to make sure people don't make frivolous claims. Well, I don't know how people function, but I would say that I'd rather stay AWAY from having to visit the doctor. At any rate, even if the claim was allowed, its only $50. I'd still "lose" $30 from visiting the A&E. But this is the issue of not being allowed to touch the money I have paid for "health insurance." So my $60 every year is to enrich the coffers of the insurance provider?

As I see it now, the insurance is practically redundant for local students. I WANT TO OPT OUT. Hmph. $60 extra a year can buy 3 books for leisure reading, or part of my National Geographic subscription, or a textbook, or send 1kg parcel to Montreal by air (with some $$ left over), or 2-3 meals at Crystal Jade La Mian Xiao Long Bao for 2...