Books, essays and dvds.

That pretty much sums up everything after the dreaded A levels. It didn't end with a blast as I expected it to, much unlike the O levels. Perhaps it was the 4 weeks duration that sort of diffused the effect of the final burst of euphoria at the end. I'm just so glad it's over...though there are other things to worry about, UGH.

After spending 2 days roaming town in search for the perfect outfit (barring budget constraints!) to wear to the promenade, I've bought my stuff! Yay. I think I have entered all the shops that sell men's clothes, from humble Giordano to flashy Zara. And of course, Zara was way out of my league! But it was nice to go touch some really cool blazers and shirts. Really classy, the things they have!

I've also laid my hands some books! Finally I'm making full use of the premier membership that I spent $21 getting. I always end up having to pay $21 to borrow 4 scores for the whole year without ever going back to the esplanade to borrow more. Sigh. But considering next year's going to spent mostly in Tekong and the like, I should have more time to read and I will make full use of the membership! Haha. Here are the titles I borrowed...






















I know this isn't something that I usually read, but I think it's high time I read something intelligent for a change!





























I love this book! It's so beautifully written that everything unfolds like a piece of ornately designed indian tapestry. He really has a way with words. This book is a lot of readable that the Salman Rushdie one, that's for sure! It even has a nice cover! I have a thang for covers.





















Haha. I saw the name Adam Smith on the cover and immediately picked it up. Haven't read it yet, but I dig the cheeky title!



























Freaky cover, interesting blurb. That's why.

***

Now to finish up that stanford essay and the psc application!! Today today!! And there's DALF tomorrow, of which the listening I think is going to scare the crap out of me, since they're mostly going to speak at light speed again.

I wish you'd told me to play on.

Now that most of the content-heavy papers are out, I no longer have to memorise all my notes till they start coming out of my nose involuntarily! Yippee! Econs was a totally traumatic experience and it left me startled and bewildered at the end of the paper...not that I wasn't already lost in the middle of it. I checked through my essays at the last minute (the only time left, really!) and saw to my utmost horror...

"An increase in the supply of the currency will lead to an appreciation of the exchange rate of SGD to USD."

My heart almost leapt out of my mouth when I saw it 'cause there was a whole lot of analysis later about how the exchange rate affects balance of trade and growth and unemployment and blah blah for about 5 lines. SO THERE GOES. Everything about the expansionary monetary policy whoosh down the drain faster than I could even cancel them out.

"Time's up. Please stop writing."

And the examiner had an irritatingly control-freak tone in her voice that really ruffled my feathers.

Case study and data response were difficult too! =( All about some weird virtual water content and scarcity. LIKE WHAT? No China? No unpegging of currencies? No trade? Sigh. Moral of the -nightmarish- story : Can kiss my sorry a** goodbye and receive a B for econs, as always. Only that this time, it's a B - forever.

OHHHH WELL.

That disappointing overture to my 2 years of college econs aside, I think I've managed to find some light in my life after all. One, my Beethoven sonata is coming along beautifully. I've finally gotten the hang of the tricky fast bits and the weird broken arpeggios cum contrary motion thingum! Yay. One I finish this sonata, I think I'll try the Moonlight one. The third movement sounds exciting!

And erm. Korean's been really really fun! Helps loads when the girl host is kinda cute too. You know how almost all Pan-Asians look good? Like er, Tata Young, Utt, Denise Keller...Yeah. You get the drift. It's that nice blend of oriental exoticism with western sophistication and voila. You get a one hella attractive person.

Right, as if it worked like maths mumbo-jumbo.

My french hasn't been looking too chirpy though! I was just sms-ing to another friend in french the other day and it took me so long just to remember how to conjugate "joindre'' (to join) in french. Partially because the verb ends with re so it makes things a wee bit more tricky, but also because I haven't touched my conjugaison for a good half a year. Can't wait to lay my hands on the summary notes from Christl...it should come in handy during the exam.

Prom, prom, prom!!! 'Nough said.

And er, Goong rocks! - says me. I just can't wait to grab a copy after the As. Thank God I end at 9am on Thursday. Much to do on that blessed day.

안녕하세요!

After having finished 4 hours of hardcore macro econs, it's time to learn more korean!! Yay. I've been taking about an hour off each night or in the afternoon to learn a little more 한 글(hangeul) each day so that I can be fluent in at least reading korean after a while. Really excited about it since I've sorta got the hang of reading korean alphabets, though glottalised consonants and compound vowels still own. Seriously. It's a lot harder to pronounce than either japanese or french.

And I wonder how my french is going to come along. I promised myself I'll listen to 20 minutes of french radio every day so that hopefully by the time my french proficiency exam comes in december, I'll be ready for the listening test, but aaaaack. I haven't been doing it! The last time I remember, I committed about ten minutes watching channel 44 on cable, which is free for now. I used to have to pay 15 bucks per month just to watch french movies and so on...and now it's free?? UGH. I must have been the last subscriber or something.

Anyway, Jodie Foster speaks perfect french. Amazing.

east asian syndrome.

YAAAAAY. Chem essays are dow-n!! I think the standard was ok, and food chem was so easy. At least compared to the previous years. I saw "bread" and "draw a maltose unit" and I was beaming already. Haha. Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Oh yeah.

More maths tomorrow. Judging from how cut-throat the examiners decided to be for paper one, I'm not taking any chances this time round. Gotta mug my ass off for this paper - read through tutorials, past exam questions and just do more difficult statistics questions in preparation for some "what the..." questions tomorrow. You know how they come, like, the first question or something.

anyway.

I've been really distracted by the whole fanaticism over Korean dramas and the how everyone is lapping up the serials like it's sugar-coated candy or something. I mean, I can't deny the fact that I just love the shows, but it's still pretty irrational. I find myself humming away to some Goong tune halfway through maths/chem, which pretty much explains why my reactions were quite mixed up. ACK. But I'm so gonna learn jap/korean. Even though half the world is doing so. It's something...deeper, I think. Appreciation of the culture, perhaps?

I miss learning chinese, which is weird, considering I get a lot of shitty grades all throughout secondary school. But after losing myself in the sciences and in English, I thought it nice to go back to something I'm so familiar with. Well, sort of. Actually started reading some chinese book(!!) as a start.

More than 1/4 through As already! Yay. Pretty much can't wait till it's over so I can bask in all that Korean glory. Ohhhh yeah.

don't try this in church.

Experienced one of the most embarrassing moments ever today during service. You know, today's service was again quite dry and I was semi-conscious and my attention on the slides were waning exponentially by the second. And guess what, I accidentally pressed the "play" button of my handphone in pocket and immediately, everyone could hear the cheesy Sony Ericsson trial mp3 in the phone, ringing away while the pastor was preaching. It was so loud and I could feel my heartbeat race to insane levels. Fumbled with it for a bit before it stopped. Thank God it didn't hang on me in there...if not I would have to run out of the sanctuary with the wailing phone in my hand. And I was seated in front. Sheesh.

***

Never study bio till too late at night! Two days ago, I was struggling with photosynthesis (energetics. again.) and I was at the definition of an "autotroph". Now, you have to understand that yours truly is an aural learner, so I have a habit of reading out my bio notes to myself out loud. I think it helps, though my throat did take a beating during the haze period. But never mind that! Point being, I was just rattling away when I said...

"synthesis of complex organic molecules from inorgasmic (inorganic) compounds."

LOL. I just rolled on the floor and died laughing. Who ever knew plants were so selective? ;)

3036/0524.

Better remember that number. Don't wanna write it wrongly lest I lose like half the total marks for a subject.

Then again, after General Paper on Thursday, I'm not sure so it'll really help anyway. Pronounced myself dead after the Application Question at 11.25am. It was so bleeding difficult! And they required so much...for both the summary and the AQ. Wow- great. And I like the fact how they saved it all for the end, like I can almost imagine them sniggering away as you flip to the back and the big jack-in-the-box springs in your face and you go "what the..." and start to scribble frantically away - without sense, at that.

So there, I said all I wanted to for the world having a single lingua franca and how free I wanna be, which didn't appear to make much sense to me after having written it...but never mind. What will crash and burn, will crash and burn. You get what I mean.

Then again, maths has been going ok...tussling a little bit with the statistics questions have been fun, in a sadistic kind of way. Like how it keeps you on your toes! Have started on maths S at long last! Yay. It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be after taking such a long respite from the hellish questions...doable. I'm still gawking at the ingenious answers the teachers provide. Seriously - 3 lines for a 5 marks question. AMAZING.

Have been watching Goong - Princess Hours. Wow. I've to admit that all the royal family members look damn good, especially the Crown Princess and Prince Lu. Sheesh. They should be together! I just cringe whenever Lu makes a faux pas in front of everyone...and appears as if he didn't even know he committed one. Someone should teach him the meaning of "discretion". But one hour everyday is well spent, I must admit. This fascination of mine with the esoteric lives of royals - and they speak korean, which sounds so good! Love the tones of the language. Perhaps I should go learn korean with georgia or something. Tetra-linguism!

Dialysis and tutorial before I retire. Surprisingly, this time, I could get over the countercurrent shit and the RAAS pathways pretty quickly. Realised I knew a lot of facts already. I also realised I forgot most of my biochem and my bioenergetics. Will have to patch those tomorrow.