Point Form

Right. First of all, my blog has not become extinct. It's just been dormant, like a volcano. Yes, I just compared my blog to a volcano. But I have a valid excuse, unfortunately which has almost everything to do with my trial and impending exams. I have been excessively lazy to update as well, but I don't think that qualifies as an excuse.

OK, so since it's been two months since I last had any digital contact with this blog (or any other online journal, for that matter), I shall take a cue from Amelia and attempt to shorten the tales of the past two months into point form.

• Ironically, I'm typing this from the CIT, when I just held my ground against temptation (well, Daryl and Vishal actually) to go cybercafeing. Oh, I know, people will think, since when does Darren ever go to CC? Just once before actually; but you can never go wrong with computer games that involve visceral violence and mass destruction on a digital scale.
• Dammit, that was too long. This is supposed to be in point form!
• Trials was dreadful. The only thing I will say is that bio, physics and chem are now on equal ground. Let's leave that and move on.
• A2 is in 3 weeks. That, boys and girls, is a very, very short time.
• Celebrated Kern Wen's birthday on Friday. It was great to see everyone again. I find it interesting that everything is still the same even though I only see them every several weeks, and months sometimes.
• I think captainball is the only exercise I've been getting for the past 2 1/2 months.
• I am going to be involved in another performance thingy for church, this time about the life of St. Paul. Not that I had much of a choice, Mum's already been in discussions for weeks.
• Sha just told me that I should be studying; this is my response.
• After exams: Redang trip with college mates, 13th-16th June; Langkawi trip (hopefully I can go this time) with school friends, I don't know when; Shan and Laura coming home, 20th June to 11th July (that's the plan).
• I might go to Australia next year to study, though nothing certain yet. I really wish I had been more proactive about my university prospects.
• I am now an official church organist. It started with church piano, so one might say that I've been upgraded (or downgraded, depending on your disposition).
• I had my IELTS last Saturday, which went better than I thought it would, especially the Speaking component.
• I'm resitting AS physics. Even more reason to study.

I can't believe I actually remembered to do this (by Jun Yow and Cheryl):

DIRECTION: Once you've been tagged, you have to write a post with sixteen random things, habits or goals about you. At last, choose five people to be tagged, listing their names and why you chose them.

1. I've always wanted to visit Antarctica.
2. I have a thing for geology and astronomy. I have a thing for science in general, actually.
3. The Biggest Loser is my new favourite reality show.
4. The one thing I always do when I go online is to check the tennis news.
5. Speaking of which, tennis is the only sport which I care about.
6. My mum is a Manchester United fan; but my brother's for Liverpool.
7. I just don't get football; honestly I couldn't care less if both MU and Liverpool get relegated over Portsmouth and Wigan Athletic.
8. My favourite place in any mall is the bookstore. Say or think what you will.
9. I don't really like sharing books. If I do lend books, there are certain rules the borrower must adhere to. Not so much about textbooks though. I have gotten a little better since my school days.
10. I happen to also enjoy comics. There, I have variation in my reading!
11. I think I watch the E! channel a bit too much.
12. I have a memory for selected and totally unnecessary information.
13. I once painted one of my nails during bio practical.
14. I have seven bags of plastic under my desk which I will take for recycling once I learn how to drive. Which will be very,very soon. After my exams anyway.
15. What the heck's so great about Mafia and Restaurant City?
16. I tend to overthink things. Like how I just spent the last one minute trying to think of the last random thing.

I shall tag --

• Sha ~ because she's told me several times to update my blog and I didn't.
• Sarah ~ since we're formerweds.
• Phraveen ~ I'm not sure if he even knows I have a blog.
• Alyssa ~ just for the sake of doing so.
• Leconte ~ just to fill the last space. And I'm quite sure he won't do this.

I'm not sure I should go to the library or go home. Either way, I need to study. How many times did I mention that I need to study? OK, I should stop now.

Quick Update

Alright alright, I know I have been neglecting my blog of late. Fine, not of late, for the past month.

Honestly, I'm feeling rather tired at the moment, and I don't any inspirational energy to write smart or interesting. Not to mention I have extra classes tomorrow. So this is just something for February and to let people know that I haven't completely abandoned this blog. And that I haven't died yet either.

Oh, and Happy belated Birthday Chin Hong! All right, I should confess that I don't remember the exact date of your birthday, just that it's in late February. And sorry for missing your party! So I hope this will be good enough.

And because she has pestering me to say so the last couple of times I saw her, it shall be stated that Cheryl is an awesome driver. Except for that slight mishap with the ticket booth and potted plant. Don't pretend you don't remember!

Back to the Ball and Chain

Ahh... so college began once more on Monday. It's almost like going back to school, as we follow the public school holidays. All new timetables, some new lecturers, and somehow I feel like I'm already back to college routine even after five weeks of holidays.

For instance, today I asked my applied maths lecturer what'll be coming out for the upcoming tests. Yes, on the second day of the new semester. The disturbing thing is that I only realized the kiasuness when Harn reminded that it was indeed the second of the new semester. This is what happens when one has trials by the end of March and has to finish studying A2 by then. Which is quite a lot and a period of time which will pass faster than we realize.

Blegh... again I'm blogging too much on college stuff. Honestly I couldn't think of anything else to blog about. I have to try to blog on other things.

And I suppose I should apologize to those people (ahem) that freaked out when I posted about the pseudo-release of AS results in my panic-induced stupor. And for correcting it 10 days late. Ahem. Ahem.

2009!

2009 has officially begun! Muahahaha... Anyway, I have decided to list out resolutions for the new year; though whether or not they will be done is another matter altogether...

1. Work my ass off (and any other body part if I have to) to do well for my A2.
2. Have a definite plan for university and courses by March.
3. Lose all (or at least 75%) of my body fat and become healthier and fitter.
4. Not run away when I see people with whom I'm afraid of experiencing (imagined or feared) awkward conversations or situations.
5. Give birthday and christmas presents to family.
6. Further increase my piano-playing skills and knowledge in basic music theory and harmony.
7. Continue learning to play my violin, and not lose my patience even if it makes my ears bleed.
8. Get some kind of music player.
9. Learn to f***ing drive, and not put it off for 2010.
10. Be as environmentally conscious as financially possible.
11. Be more friendly, sociable and outgoing.
12. Don't be afraid to speak or to be myself.
13. Open up more to friends and family.
14. Always think the best of others.
15. Take chances (sensible ones, anyway).
16. Be more optimistic and relaxed in everthing I do.

And that, good readers, is what I plan to do for myself in 2009. I wonder if it's more than the usual number of resolutions than people normally do. Hmm... Anyway, cheers to a great 2009, everyone! :D

2008

Life is always so full of ironies. I've been putting off blogging for the past few days, so to save time for today's post, being the last day of the year. Originally, I had wanted to write about a (ahem)contemplative and retrospective reflection on my year that was 2008. This kind of deep thinking (ahem, again) usually takes a while, and since I've been out of the house for most of the day, and I have to get ready to go for New Year's Eve mass in about an hour, there really won't be sufficient time.

So I'll just keep it simple. It really just feels like another day, even though the next day I'll be stepping into a brand new year. 2008 was the first year I'd spent out of school, and my first year as a college student. Though I have to say, I feel like I've been studying more than anything else. The only difference is that I am more independent, and there's no longer the burden of school uniforms.

And this year I feel as though I've really grown as a person, more figuratively than literally (I think I've already maxed my height. Oh well.) I don't really know how to explain it; but I just feel less afraid of being open with people, of trusting them, of being friendly and proactive. Not completely anyway, I still many ways to go. And I've also learnt the value of good friends and family. There, I hope I've managed to say it without getting too schmaltzy. And there's a bunch of other stuff too, but I can't really fit it in now.

So I think I'm more or less ready for 2009. Hopefully :)

Knock Wood, Knock Wood

I just found out that the AS results would be out tomorrow (that is today, 22nd Dec), and really not in a way which I would have thought. Wynxon (thanks a lot, man) typed it in passing while commenting on, of all things, a picture of an infrared lizard. At which when I saw his comment, I gasped very audibly at the computer screen and immediately chatted him up, which went something like this:
Me: AS results out tmrw?!
Wynxon: (long explanation which I am too lazy to post)
Me: omh
omg
seriously ah?!
Wynxon: huh?
So as one can easily deduce, I momentarily (and completely) freaked out. Still a little jittery, to be honest. This is coupled with the fact that I've haven't really studied much of A2. This is the first time that I've ever felt so unnerved about receiving a public exam result, mostly due to the possibility that I may have screwed up pretty badly.

I can actually get by tomorrow, or I can just wait until the new semester begins. I usually believe in getting things over and done with quickly (most of the time anyway), especially when it comes to receiving exam results. But I don't think that I could spend the rest of the holidays asking myself every 'what if?' question I can think of. So for now, I think I'll wait till after New Year.

Edit (31/12/08): Well, this is a little late, but it was actually a false alarm. I can collect the slip to access my results online, which will only be available from 21 January, at 0900 hours Greenwich time. So I basically panicked for nothing. Oh, well. At least I got most of the nerves out of my system.

Blathering Rants

When I woke up this morning it was raining. Apparently it had been raining since pretty early this morning too. And it is still raining! Not very heavy rain, but steady enough to make the air pretty cool. But cool is good; it's the closest thing this country has to a snowy day. And I haven't seen a single patch of blue sky since, well, yesterday. Not that I've been able to check; it's hard to check the entire skies without stepping out of the house and getting wet. The assumption is based upon observations looking out the front porch window.

Frankly, the sky looks so dull and grey and gloomy that it's like it just went through a bad breakup. Maybe the sun had an affair with the moon during the last solar eclipse and the sky found out during the last lunar eclipse and is taking out its misery upon us poor unfortunates upon the Earth. That's just a theory anyway.

Concerning other matters, my phone has been acting kooky lately. I haven't been able to hear anything when making or receiving calls, but the caller or receiver can. Strangely enough, it works perfectly fine when I put the phone on speaker. I want to get it checked out, but I have the feeling that this will somehow get procratinated until the next blue moon.

Speaking of blue moons, I'm actually typing this post from my home computer (last post was from my dad's laptop). So yes, the home internet is running at a very respectable speed. Unlike for the past few days, when internet usage usually included the internet not responding, sending (or not) a report to Windows, rebooting the computer so that the Internet could (or not) work properly again, and repeating the process several times until I gave up decided to go watch TV instead. No doubt it will happen again, so I'm trying to savour the moment.

And last night the parents went to play Bingo in church! Hahaha. They didn't come home till one-thirty in the morning. It's actually a regular thing; Father Patrick has a Bingo set, and a group of them get together in the Resource Centre. It costs RM 5 to enter one round, so if several people play, you can actually win quite a bit of money! And no, the parents hardly won any money last night; Lady Luck is really quite very fickle.

As I type this last sentence, it is still raining.