[30]

mug /mahg/ n [C] 1 a large cup with straight sides used for drinking tea, coffee etc. 2 a large glass with straight sides and a handle, used especially for drinking beer: rugby players swilling mugs of beer at the bar 3 also mugful a mug and the liquid inside it: Two mugs of tea, please. 4 BrE spoken someone who is stupid and easy to deceive: I expect they'll find some poor mug to buy their car. 5 spoken a face: What an ugly mug! 6 a mug's game BrE spoken something that is not likely to be successful or profitable: Gambling is a mug's game, Jonah.

mug v mugged, mugging 1 [T] to attack someone and rob them in a public place: A lot of people won't go out alone at night for fear of being mugged. 2 [I] AmE informal to make silly expressions with your face or behave in a silly way, especially in a photograph or a play: Scotty's always mugging for the camera.
mug up phr v [I, T] BrE informal to study something very hard, especially when preparing for an exam: mug sth up He's got to mug up some facts about pollution [+ on] She's mugging up on Racine for her French paper.

mug.ger /'mahgger/ n [C] someone who attacks people and robs them in a public place

mug.ging /'mahgging/ n [C, U] an attack on someone in which they are robbed in a public place: There has been an increase in muggings at the park.

mug.gins /'mahgginz/ n [singular] spoken BrE used jokingly to mean yourself, when you know you have been stupid and let other people treat you unfairly: Everyone disappeared after supper, leaving muggins here to do the washing-up.

mug.gy /'mahggie/ adj muggier, muggiest informal muggy weather is unpleasantly warm and the air seems wet: The air was muggy and damp, threatening a storm later. --mugginess n [U]

Definitions courtesy of Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English.

And here's the definition from an alternative dictionary.

mug v mugged, mugging 1 [T] to study very hard: Students love to mug in the school library. 2 [T] SgpE student colloquial to cram all information from notes and textbooks into one's brains in the hope that they turn out relevant during exams

mug.ger /'mahgger/ n [C] someone who is very diligent and mugs a lot, often staying up entire nights to study

closet mugger /'.. ,../ n [C] someone who mugs a lot but does so in the privacy of his own room so that other people will not find out the extent of his mugging

mug.ging /'mahgging/ n [C, U] a group activity in which muggers gather at a public place, usually a library, to study together: There has been an increase in mugging sessions ever since exam season started.

Mugging sessions are classified into two types: productive and non-productive. They usually start out non-productive, but evolve to become productive as the exam season nears. Non-productive mugging sessions are usually accompanied with relatively high noise levels and a lot of laughter, while hair-clutching and frantic scribbling or highlighting are observed during productive sessions. Productivity has a positive correlation with stress levels, as recent studies have shown, but causative effects have yet to be proven.

[29]

I'll save the definition of mugging for the next entry. Procrastination is bad but I really can't help it; mugging has to come first or I'll die for the final exams.

The revision is going nowhere, by the way. I've been sleeping a lot (i.e. not studying) for the past three days 'cause my stomach hurts. Hopefully it gets better soon 'cause exams are in less than a week's time.

Time to hit the books again...

[28]

The semester is over! Now for the exams. Yay.

I'm really glad that the last day of semester 1 was a good day. Lit. tutorial in the morning was pretty fruitful, even if I didn't quite understand every single thing during the class. (To tell the truth, I didn't understand any of the questions in the tutorial, but oh well.) It helps that my tutor is a nice person. And an excellent tutor. (Unfortunate for him that this lousy lit. student is in his class. Very unfortunate.)

Then I had lunch with Yuekai and Johan at the engineering canteen. Nice food. (I wouldn't be able to stomach science canteen food 'cause I absolutely insist that my last meal in school for this semester must be a nice one.)
The mix of company is rather weird, I know. A girl from the school of business in my lit. class and a guy from my OG. And the guy can be rather weird, to boot.
It was a good lunch 'cause the food was YUM. Everyone should try the Indonesian grilled food stall in the engineering canteen.

Johan is amazing at exploiting people's friendships. I can't reveal the reasons yet... except for one: he calls up friends to serve as lunch company when he's alone in school. Staying in a hall has its downsides huh.

After that I had my last lesson for the semester. Thank goodness it was a fun one. Hahah. Final lesson, final practical: a trip to the zoo! Everyone who can should take the biodiversity module too. LSM1103; go check it out. Heh.

The zoo is a great place to spend the entire afternoon in, but having great company makes it even better. A4 is a funny group. (Maybe 'cause we're named after the standard paper size. HAHAH.)

Okay um, credits to Wes and his brother's camera for the photos. (I plucked them off Facebook.)

Animal species 1. Our lab group's unofficial rep who was forced upon the job. He does a good job of emailing everyone and telling them to wear the science faculty tee though. He calls himself the monitor lizard. ('Cause class monitor/lab group monitor. Get it? Sorry eh, this isn't very funny. Bio students' joke.)

Camwhoring on the bus. See how well we're camouflaged against the blue backdrop of the bus? Biodiversity lessons come in handy.


Our group with the nice lecturer aka Otterman. (He studies otters hahah.)

Too bad our TA had something on, so he couldn't come. We had an Andrew-Seow-lookalike substitute TA who was very nice to us too.

Animal species 2. Wes in a raincoat that makes him look like he's going trick-or-treating. Halloween's over, my boy.

It was raining very heavily on our way there, and we were all going "OH NO" on the bus. Thankfully after we reached, it slowed to a drizzle, but not after Ricky spent $15 on an umbrella. (More about the brolly later.)

I'm pretending that this act of blogging is a way to consolidate the stuff I've learnt, so humour me. Here goes the more interesting parts. (Gosh I'm actually reading my practical schedule as I type this.)

The tapirs have interesting disruptive colouration. My notes say that they resemble brown watermelons. Hmm.

Each tapir is brown with a white middle section. To me they look like jigsaw puzzles with straight lines; that's how stark the difference in colour is.

It's really a pity we can't see the white tigers 'cause some suicidal guy jumped into the enclosure, got attacked by the tigers, and died. He should have stuck to cleaning the monkey enclosures.

We saw jaguars, leopards and lions though. Big cats are seriously sexy. Especially those sleek lines. Mmmm.

Anyway, tigers are the biggest cats (i.e. the heaviest), followed by lions, jaguars, and leopards. These large cats are slender 'cause of their short alimentary canals (aka digestive tract: mouth, oesophagus/gullet, stomach, intestines etc., you get the idea). Unlike herbivores which need a relatively more complicated digestive system to digest all those cellulose, carnivores don't need so much stuff in their bellies.

One way to remain slim and sexy is to only eat meat huh. HAHAH. (I'm kidding. Don't take my word for it.)

Don't you just love bio terms. Heh. Jargon, jargon.

This just occured to me: Toothpaste is a white tiger!

If you don't know what Toothpaste is, it shows that you haven't been visiting facebook often enough. Check out my (fluff)pet.

Jaguars' coats are patterened with rosettes, with a spot in the centre. Leopards' coats have no spots in the centre of the rosettes but they're really sexy too.

Black panthers are black 'cause of the extra melamine they produce. And black is a sexy colour.

Crap, the zoo trip screwed up my sexual orientation.

Ohhh. Pumas can purr but can't roar, unlike the other big cats. Silent and deadly.

Now about lions. Apparently the darker the mane, the more melamine is produced, the more testosterone the lion has. So lionesses prefer brunette lions to blond lions. (And our TA waited till all the tourists were gone from the little air-conditioned hut before he said this. Hahah.)

The pygmy hippotamus undergoes progenesis, i.e. they develop sexual maturity precociously, so there's no need for them to grow any bigger. Thus they remain small.

Kangaroos are so cute. I love their paws.

There's this whole section on animals found in Australia, which I thought was rather cool. There's also a placard that's dedicated to Steve Irwin. Sweet.

The primates (monkeys/baboons etc.) didn't impress me much, so I won't talk about them. Severe bias. Hahah.

We saw two manatees kissing when we went by their enclosure, and this group of Japanese tourists were going "KAWAII!" and "SO SWEET!".

It was interesting to watch. They were using their tongues... Hmm it should be highly unlikely that they were feeding each other or something. SHOULD BE.

Dugongs have forked tails while manatees have spooned tails. No pun/joke/whatever intended.

Apparently penguins do not only exist at the poles. (I can't remember where else they're found, but they ARE found in tropical areas too.) So there was one open-air area and one air-conditioned area just beside it, and we were like, "Eh why is there an air-conditioned area here?"

Hmm maybe the air-conditioned enclosure is for the richer penguins.

One of the penguins was semi-bald 'cause its feathers fell out, I think. Poor thing.

Otters are cute. And social. And so pretty to watch when they're swimming. Streamlined body shape.

Zebras are black-and-white 'cause their main predator, the lion, is colour blind. And they're striped to mimic their natural habitat, the grassland.

Giraffes are sexy too 'cause they have impossibly long legs with tight skin, such that they look like they're wearing tights. The tight skin on the legs is to prevent excessive blood flow to their limbs (constriction). Their hearts can weigh as much as 20kg, 'cause they need really strong hearts to pump blood all the way up to their heads. Um, their eyes are extremely pretty as they have the thickest and longest eyelashes.

My sentences are badly linked now 'cause it's... 0147h. Oh no, so disjointed.

Two rhinoceros(es?) were fighting when we dropped by their enclosure. They were chasing each other to and fro, and were surprisingly fast. They have thick hides, so predators are not very fond of hunting them. Their butts are huge and saggy. Hahah.

For some reason the rhino reminded me of Jensen Ackles. I'm sure the physical appearances had nothing to do with it.

The orang utan enclosure was closed, but we saw some of them hanging out in the trees. They started swinging on the vines from tree to tree but one was left napping on the platform. And then Wes shouted up to it, "Eh exams are coming!"

In other words, time to get up and study. Wahahah we've become mugging mammals, to use Wes' words.

We saw some bats hanging upside down on branches. Apparently they have to flap and right themselves when they uh, defecate, or their excrement will flow all over their bodies/faces. Ugh.

Alex "Irwin" Goh with a group of croc enthusiasts.

The group went nuts posing with the bronze statues of animals around the entrance/exit. Alex has this series of photos which should be put in an album titled "Alex's dangerous adventures at the zoo". Okay I can't find any of those photos. Basically he was just posing with the statues and taking photos with his foot in their open mouths. He wanted to put his head in but crouching down was a tad too unglam. Hahah.

OHH I forgot about Ricky's umbrella! Anyway after we walked for a while, he started talking about how he wasted $15, and immediately after he said that, it started pouring.

Better still, we were approaching this rainforest open enclosure thing that kinda looked like an aviary, and there was this bridge that we were supposed to walk on. AND, Ricky asked whether we'll see dinosaurs. (Think Jurassic Park.)

I told him, "No. You'd better not say anything in case it really comes true."

Dinner was fun. We ate at KFC, and decided to send a message to our original TA to congratulate him on getting a teaching award. So being the group that we are, we composed identical messages and sent them at the same time. It was like a dictation session HAHAH. One person composed and read it out for everyone to type. Hilarious. People like us with nothing better to do than to annoy others with little pranks... annoying right.

Alex "Irwin" chilling out with a bowl of ice-cream after wrestling with the (fake) croc.

Hahah we shared a Ben and Jerry's ice-cream. Yum yum yum.
We saw this cute caucasian girl with huge eyes and everyone couldn't stop ogling at her. We saw her again at the bus-stop on the way home and the ogling started again. Gosh we're turning into paedophiles!
Maybe the wanting to visit the water playground had something to do with our paedophilic tendencies. Oh my.

I want to visit the zoo again. And the night safari, and the bird park.
Tickets are kind of expensive, but they cost as much as tickets to a concert. Plus you can spend the whole day there, so I guess it's kind of more worth it?

The bus ride and train ride home was hilarious. We've all gone mad with mugging. Normal curve, ellipse, regression line, halophiles, nucleophiles, double-blind randomized control test etc. were terms heard throughout the day. On the other hand, I guess you could say that we were doing some cross-module application. Hahah.

It got so bad that while we were waiting for the train from Choa Chu Kang to Jurong East, while discussing which carriage was more crowded, we hypothesized that the level of crowdedness follows a normal curve (congested in the middle, sparse at the ends). Anyway we found out that that wasn't the case. I can't really draw the curve here, so. Just know that it doesn't follow the normal curve. Don't even ask about the standard deviation and average, which was what Wes did.

I'm tired, and I'm not making sense anymore.
Next entry, I shall explore the definition of mugging. Whee. Do remind me if I get too caught up in mugging and forget all about it.

[27]

I just finished watching the econs webcast. It's kinda fun, but gosh, the time spent being distracted and rewinding-'cause-I-didn't-hear-clearly makes the whole process really loooooong. I'd rather go for class.

Anyway, here's a funny Supernatural video (again) to save us all from the Monday gloom. It's about this wishing well that actually grants wishes, so there's a life-sized teddy bear running around. The Winchester guys went to check it out, and... you can watch the rest for yourself.

[26]

I'm feeling irritable.

It doesn't help that people think I'm freaking free when in fact, I spend most of my time not at home.

It doesn't help that people think university students don't need to make much of an effort at good grades, presumably after they see a few students who are so blinking smart, they don't need to study to score straight A's.

It doesn't help that exams are in two weeks' time. Two weeks. One fortnight. Fourteen days. FOURTEEN FREAKING DAYS!

It doesn't help that I have many many chapters of revision to go before I even feel a teeny bit prepared.

It doesn't help that semester 1 just whizzed past like that.

ARGH.

Sorry, I wasn't supposed to be ranting. Hahah.

Yesterday I discovered that my dialect skills ain't too bad, 'cause I could carry on a conversation with an old lady for two hours. Granted, we weren't talking about current affairs/the deteriorating economy/the US elections/big big issues, so my simplistic vocab was enough. Thank goodness. House-visit-cum-interaction-s get awkward when it's just silence.

Oh, on a brighter note, even though it's two weeks to exams, it's three weeks to the holidays! Four weeks to the advent concert! Five weeks to caroling!

Um... whee!

Now I have to watch the webcast for the econs lecture I missed two weeks ago. Crap, it's severely overdue.

[25]

I'm in Stats lecture, I'm not really listening, I'm supposed to be finishing up my lit. essay which has to be handed in in 3.5 hours' time, and I'm blogging. This is bad.
And I really feel like sleeping, 'cause I didn't sleep last night. (Yawn.)

Okay actually what I'm doing is testing the comments link 'cause funnily enough, the previous post has no link. Must be Jensen's strange video's fault.

[24]

This is really funny.



I miss Supernatural. When will Ghost Whisperer end?!

[23]

All the literature texts are mind-boggling. Abstract, and so much symbolism going on that it takes a lot of effort to put everything together. (After quite a few tutorials/lectures/essays, I learnt that I'm not really a big-picture person.)

Just watched Hiroshima Mon Amour, the film text we'll be doing soon, and oh my goodness. Because the characters aren't named (in the textbook they're called 'he' and 'she'), they can represent a lot of stuff... and their actions can represent a lot of stuff too.
This goes for Waiting for the Barbarians.
Anyway, the film got a bit creepy 'cause the characters seemed a bit psychotic after a while, and there was this bit that seemed like a horror movie 'cause it involved the female lead walking around in the hotel hallway alone. Yes, I half-expected some random monster/stalker to pop out. The freaky music didn't help.
Whoever said that works in modern English are supposed to be easier than Shakespearean plays?!

I'm losing my motivation. Bad, bad, bad.

Oh, one new thing I learnt today: peppermint milkshake/milk tea/whatever tastes like colgate, so it's not a good idea to try that. Peppermint overkill. Hahah.

[22]

I went swimming/fishing at Changi Beach. In T-shirt and jeans.
It was a very interesting practical, to say the least. My group caught a baby squid. (Its colour-changing was pretty to watch. Hahah.)
Another pretty thing was the rainbow we saw on the way back.

And my mind is really really really really really swamped with a lot of things.
I need order and sanity! Grrr.

[21]

I was using my laptop one day, with Reiko (the 16-month-old-monster that passes off as a very lovable girl) on my lap, when she pointed at my Jensen Ackles wallpaper and went, "Uncle! Uncle!" Oh my goodness.
That was quite funny, except for the part when I realized he's really rather old. Hahah.

Your Autumn Test Results

You are a dynamic, vibrant person. You aren't afraid to pursue your passions. When you are happiest, you are calm. You appreciate tradition and family. You enjoy feeling cozy. You prefer change to come slowly. You need a long transition period when your life changes. You find novelty to be the most comforting thing in the world. You love anything that's new or unusual. Your ideal day is spontaneous and surprising. You like to play things by ear, and you always end up doing something interesting. You tend to live in the moment. You enjoy whatever is going on, and you don't obsess over the past or future.

The Autumn Test

You Are a Cinnamon Raisin Bagel

You are warm, loving, and genuinely selfless. You enjoy comforting other people, and you easily fall into the roll of caretaker. Of all the types, you're the most likely to be an excellent cook. You tend to have something delicious for breakfast that you've cooked up for everyone.

What Kind of Bagel Are You?

Excellent cook? Now that's the biggest joke of the year. I don't even like cooking.

Okay that was purely out of boredom. Time to mug econs.

[20]

I am very honestly sick of being the one who's constantly around for this activity or that.
It is not that I'm so darn bloody free that I can be present at every outing/meeting/rehearsal; it's just that I make time for it, because I see it as a priority.
So stop taking it for granted that I have nothing better to do than to spend time with you.

In any case, that's it. I'm going to stop making you people a priority.
What's the point of all my sincerity if you're just going to treat it like I owe you that much?
You're stressed, fine. But don't take it out on me 'cause I have my own problems to deal with.

As for all my friends, the real friends I've kinda neglected, I'm sorry for cancelling out on our stuff. It's happened far too many times (legitimate reasons, but still). We'll make up for it okay!

Argh the sweltering weather is driving me nuts.

It's time to reprioritize.

[19]

I FINALLY FINISHED MY LIT. ESSAY.
What a relief.

Here goes today's list of things to go AAAHHHHHH about.

1. Aaahhhhh I finished my lit. essay!
2. Aaahhhhh I'm going to get my first lit. test back later today!
3. Aaahhhhh I just watched Les Choristes, and it was really very sweet and heartwarming. Never mind what critics said about it being predictable with nothing new.
4. Aaahhhhh Jean-Baptiste Maunier is cute. He has really nice eyes too. Mmm.
5. Aaahhhhh I have a class in 7 hours' time.

On the brighter side, mid-sem break is in one week. Seven days.
Time to count down again!

[18]

I just spent the past hour staring at this poem not knowing what it was about. And I have a tutorial due tomorrow.
Plus, I have a 700-word essay due on Monday. Joy.

AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH I just wasted so much time!

Sometimes it doesn't make a difference whether you do your homework. It's not like one hour of staring helped me to understand the poem.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

(Okay that was really random. I just needed to vent about the lit. tutorial.)

[17]

How much are friends worth?

I always believe that we shouldn't attach a monetary value to things, because there's just no way one can measure joy, or friendship, or passion in dollars and cents. (Yeah, I disagree with how in economics, we fix an arbitrary value for the benefit a certain action brings us. Why, WHY must the benefit of say, eating a durian puff, be $3.22?! It doesn't make sense, does it.)

Friendship's about giving and taking, and not being calculative about whether you're giving or taking.

It's just that sometimes I do stuff and then end up wondering, 'What am I doing all these for?' (I'm becoming one of those annoying econs students who sprouts econs principles at every turn, but bear with me for once. Those principles just happen to prove my point, hahah.)
You know how the principle of opportunity cost goes: if we choose this action, then we forgo the chance to do something else. I go for outings, participate in all these activities, go for lunch, meet up with people, organize this, arrange that, and when push comes to shove, what do others make of it? Or rather, what do I make of it?
It does feel like I'm wasting time, time that could have been spent on my books and on catching up on my studies. Not that I'm one of those antisocial mugger types; I just want to get the year off to a good start.

Honestly, why do I go for OG outings? Why do I bother to try to coordinate Mugspot? Why did I show up every single day during SOW, and for every OG lunch/outing whenever I could?
Why do I go back to school every so often for alumni rehearsals?
Why did I offer to organize a class outing?
Why am I still continuing my piano lessons?
Why do I tutor my cousin in Secondary 2 English at a rate of $8.33 per hour?
Why do I try as much as possible to go home if I have nothing on, so that I can help out a bit with chores and stuff?

WHAT do I do all these for?

I can easily not do all these, and just focus on my own stuff.

It's really alright if we don't share the same interests, but there's no need to bash me down for doing the stuff I like.
I've even given up trying to bring together the different aspects of my life. Like, I do ask people if they want to go for whatever performance, but I've stopped hoping that people will actually turn up. After a while, all the "We'll see"-s and "I don't know"-s get a bit old.
I always, always ask way in advance, as soon as I know the exact details. But people just we'll-see me and then plan for something on that day.
Disappointing, yes. The disappointment decreases over time but never goes away entirely.

I think in my ten years of being a chorister, I can only remember three supportive non-choir friends. Seriously. THREE.

You see why keeping my various groups of friends separate is inevitable?

Don't criticize me for not giving a damn about certain kinds of people, because you don't know what happened to make me think this way.
Don't blame me for being distant, because you may not have had the same experiences of being let down.
Don't expect me to tell you everything about my life, because I know that you'll judge, and you'll disagree, and disapprove.

Sometimes I don't like how compartmentalized my life is. All these different faces I present to different people are just... well, parts of me. It's not faking, per se. Lying by omission isn't really lying anyway.

All of that boils down to self-protection, I suppose.

[16]

Give Me Your Hand

Give me your hand, and I will follow
wherever you would have me go.
Give me your sign, and I will go quickly
for your sweet fellowship to know.

As night follows day, as rainbow follows rain,
your love to me is sweet as nectar.
And I to you shall love the same.

Give me your path, and I shall not falter
nor linger when I hear your call.
Give me your love, and give it me always,
and I shall ever love you more.

As night follows day, as rainbow follows rain,
your love to me is sweet as nectar.
And I to you shall love the same.

Such a beautiful song.

[15]

Shucks, I'm hooked on blogthings!

What Your Bed Says About You

Outward appearances are very important to you. You do your best to look good and have an attractive home. You are an organized and disciplined person. You do the right thing because you want to, not because people expect you to. You are not very high maintenance in general, but you are high maintenance about a few things. In relationships, you tend to kick back and let the other person be in charge. You tend to be a dreamy, head in the clouds type of person. You think in terms of possibilities. You are a traveler. You are comfortable anywhere, and you rarely feel homesick.

What Does Your Bed Say About You?

Quite true. I like this quiz!

What Your Workspace Says About You

You are not organized in the least. Everything in your life pretty much survives of chaos. You are hardworking and driven. You have an excellent work ethic. You enjoy your job and don't feel guilty about how much time you spend working. You have a good balance between work and your personal life. You are still trying to figure out your ideal career. You could quit your current job on any given day. At work, you are an introvert. You don't like people coming around your work space.

What Does Your Work Space Say About You?

You Will Be a Modern Bride!

While you aren't ready to throw away all wedding traditions, you want a wedding with a twist You're more inspired by celebrity weddings on E! than from bridal magazines Whether this means getting married on the beach barefoot or a mariachi band for the reception... Your wedding will be a blend of old and new - white dress cocktail, personalized vows, whatever suits you!!!

What Kind of Bride Will You Be?

You Are a Classic New York Cheesecake

Simple and sweet, you are a smooth operator. You can get along with anyone ... though after a bit of time, you're too much to handle!

What Kind of Cheesecake Are You?

Your Slogan Should Be

Jinghui. Stronger than Pain.

The Slogan Generator

You Are a Grilled Cheese Sandwich

You are a traditional person with very simple tastes. In your opinion, the best things in life are free, easy, and fun. You totally go with the flow. And you enjoy every minute of it! Your best friend: The Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich Your mortal enemy: The Ham Sandwich

What Kind of Sandwich Are You?

You Are Chicken

Bah! You're hardly meat. But you are quite popular, and people aspire to taste like you. You're probably quite skinny and free of vices. Except letting people eat your eggs.

What Kind of Meat Are You?

This one makes me sound like a scaredy-cat. Can you imagine telling people "I am chicken"?!

What Your Taste in Chocolate Says About You

You are sweet, mellow, and easily satisfied. You don't like anything too intense and dramatic. Deep down, you're a kid at heart... and you're nostalgic for the past. You are honest and straight forward. You have a distinct personality, and you make your opinions known. And while people like that you keep it real, you can come off as judgmental. You love the feeling of accomplishment. You enjoy doing what's important. You feel lost when you have to do frivolous tasks or hang out with shallow people.

The Chocolate Oracle

You Are Artemis!

Brave, and a natural born leader. You're willing to fight for what you believe in... And willing to make tough decisions. Don't forget - the people around you have ideas too!

What Goddess Are You?

You Are a Sprinkled Donut

Flamboyant and flashy, you're easily distracted by shiny things. You're definitely a snazzy number, and you usually catch everyone's eye in the room. And you've got the goods to back it up your colorful image. (Though too much of you gives people a stomach ache!)

What Donut Are You?

You Are Fruit Loops

You're very fun loving and easily bored. You need everything in your life to be over the top. You are definitely attracted to shiny and colorful objects. If kids love something, you tend to love it as well. You a very short attention span and are easily distracted. You are likely to eat something very random for breakfast... or forget to eat it at all.

What Kind of Cereal Are You?

You Are Yogurt

Modern and streamlined, you prefer a breakfast that's quick and healthy. You live a fast paced life, and you get breakfast only when you're lucky. And while you are strapped for time, you are still a hardcore foodie. You often eat the best that your money can buy. You figure you're worth it.

What Kind of Breakfast Are You?

Yikes, yikes. Back to books!

[14]

I was supposed to be studying econs. In fact, I have my econs textbook in front of me, but I just can't help myself, so here are the latest interesting quizzes I've found.

You Are Courier New

You have a deep appreciation for tradition and history. You don't eschew modernity, but you do have a deep reverence for the past. You are very literate. It's likely you enjoy writing and reading. Some people may feel you're a bit cold, but you just have high standards for who you hang out with.

What Font Are You?

You Are Black Tea

You have a bold personality. You're not afraid of simply being yourself. You have the courage to speak the truth. You are fearless in your actions. You come off as a bit intimidating and unapproachable. Only confident people are attracted to you. You don't try to scare off anyone. You're just an intense person!

What Kind of Tea Are You?

What Your Ideal Wedding Dress Says About You

Your Personal Style: Classic and elegant. You prefer to make a statement with a few quality pieces. Your Ideal Wedding: Traditional and formal, but not tacky. You think the most beautiful weddings are understated. Your Philosophy on Marriage: It's a serious commitment, and the couple entering it should be ready to work for their relationship. Your Perfect Marriage: Is calm, stable, deep, and meaningful.

The Wedding Dress Test

You Are the Philosopher

You love thinking things over and developing theories. Learning is very important to you, and you pursue knowledge relentlessly. You love to talk about the things you know, often in more detail than people would like to hear. And you know a lot! You're always taking on new subjects, interests, and hobbies. You are at your best when you are left alone to ponder your newest ideas and experiments. You tend to withdraw from environments that are loud, contentious, or passionate.

What Role Do You Play?

People Envy Your Compassion

You have a kind heart and an unusual empathy for all living creatures. You tend to absorb others' happiness and pain. People envy your compassion, and more importantly, the connections it helps you build. And compassionate as you are, you feel for them.

What Do People Envy About You?

You See the World Through Blue Colored Glasses

You live your life with tranquility. You have faith that things will work themselves out with time. You judge all your interactions through the lens of hope. You try to get all the facts before forming your opinion. You face challenges with wisdom. You know that all bad things pass, and you have the confidence to see problems through. You see love as the utmost expression of trust. Your relationships tend to be peaceful and stable. At your worst, you can be cool, melancholy, and detached. You sometimes have to step back from emotionally charged situations. You are at your happiest when you are able to reflect and relax.

What Color Glasses Do You See the World Through?

Your Heart is Feeling Indifference

Your heart is pretty much on hiatus right now. You're not particularly interested in love, and you're cultivating a sort of romantic apathy. Whether you've been burned badly or you're just burned out, your heart is cold to passion. Deep down, your heart is susceptible to: A bit of cold heartedness Your current outlook on love: Detached and stoic - you try to analyze love from a logical perspective Your love life will improve if you: Open up a little. Stepping back can help you find peace with your emotions, but it can also make you repress them. Watch out for: Too much cynicism. Indifference can lead you down a dark path.

What Is Your Heart Feeling?

Your Style is Sassy

Your date outfits are flirty and fun - and make guys smile Occasionally you'll take a fashion risk, and it will pay off You're up for flashing an inch or two of skin But your general rule is to leave most of your bod to the imagination

Is Your Date Fashion Style Classy, Sassy, or Trashy?

You Are 58% Independent

Overall, you're a pretty independent woman. You don't follow trends just to fit in. You've got your own cool thing going on, though you sometimes still care too much about what other's think.

Are You an Independent Woman?

You Have Many Alpha Tendencies

You're not a total alpha female, but you certainly know how to - and like to - get your way. You're forceful without being intimidating. You're confident without being vain. A perfect mix.

Are You an Alpha Female?

I had no classes today, which is something to be very happy about ('cause it's probably going to be my last free day for this semester). Anyway, I managed to compile a list of theory dos-and-do-nots, organize my current notes, and practise the piano. Not very productive, but it beats spending 12 hours in school.

I was supposed to start on my stats tutorial and revise econs, though. Too much inertia, and it's honestly very difficult to study with a one-year-old kid who wants to play with you all the time. Not her fault, but still.

Okay, okay. I'm going back to my books.

[13]

I didn't manage to get any free days. In fact, on certain days I have to go to school for just one hour of tutorial.
Oh well. I can always mug in school. That's the first step to becoming a hardcore mugger, isn't it. Hahah.

It's week 2 of school, and I'm still having fun so far. My Mondays are rather killer; 4 hours of lecture, 4 hours' break, another 4 hours of lecture. I start at 0800h and end at 2000h. Not very fun, I can tell you, but at least the company isn't bad. That makes it somewhat bearable.

I'm in a listing mood suddenly, so here goes.

Top Ten Reasons to Love University Life
10. No mandatory uniform. The only compulsory 'uniform' I've heard of so far is the lab coat, goggles, covered shoes and long pants when there's lab.
9. Freedom. Lots and lots and lots of it. It's fun to be so hands-on about my own education, but at the same time there's a lot of hassle too.
8. Getting to know new people.
7. Exploring the school by taking the shuttle bus around (conveniently 'forgetting' to alight at the correct stop).
6. Doing crazy things like the algorithm march anywhere, anytime.
5. Trying out new things, like economics.
4. Field trips! (One excellent reason to take the biodiversity module.)
3. Not slacking around at home and wasting my time.
2. Having all kinds of shops/restaurants/residences/halls in school. It's like a mini-town.
1. Not having to act like a sane soul 'cause I'm not the oldest around anymore.

It's very liberating not to have to be the voice of reason. All the guys are at least two years older than the girls, and it's like gaining a whole bunch of weird elder brothers with drastically different personalities, all at once. The only thing I can't stand about them is how they keep telling me how XXX girl is so hot/cute, 'cause I'm not interested.

New friends are good and dandy, but old friends are the ones who've stuck with you through thick and thin and so deserve even more attention.
If all goes well, Pearl and I are going to crash Germ's lecture next Tuesday. Attending a lecture sure isn't a movie marathon/board games session/kboxing, but any time we can meet up is still better than nothing.

Time to get back to my literature lecture powerpoint slides. One thing I've noticed is that science/math lecturers are organized but they aren't good at using the mikes or their voices, and vice versa for the humanities subjects' lecturers.

I so so so so so need to mug.

[12]

Out of utter boredom and complete unwillingness to get on with my theory homework, here I am again! School has been exciting so far; I like the freedom and having to take charge of my own learning. Not that I'm succeeding in my resolution to be a mugger. Maybe I will become one after I get all my textbooks, hahah.
I know I just said that I like being responsible for my stuff, but at the same time I kind of miss how everything is readied for us like in secondary school or JC. There weren't so many decisions to make then. You choose your subjects, and the timetabling committee takes care of the rest. No hard choices like which module to choose, how many points to use to bid for it, which lecture/tutorial session to go for, the list goes on.

My classes have been okay so far, I guess. Early mornings (i.e. lecture at 0800h) aren't much of a problem, though I admit I dozed off for a minute during Organic Chemistry. (Sidetrack: many thanks to Weekeat who woke me up, hahah.) I have more of a problem with the contents of certain subjects, especially the Economics module.
Some divine intervention is definitely needed here.
Sure, there're people I can go to for help, but I don't really want to keep bothering them. It took me one whole day and 3 OG mates to understand what on earth the principle of marginal benefit/cost was about. And that's only the first lecture, second principle. There're about thirteen weeks to go before this semester finishes. Can you imagine how the rest of the term will go?

I'm still not quite used to having two 2-hour lectures back-to-back. Four hours of sitting down and taking notes and listening attentively does help us to expend a lot of energy, mainly through trying to keep awake. Hahah. It reminds me of those days when I was in JC 1 and trying not to fall asleep during choir rehearsals. (Now that I think about it, rehearsals were good training for sitting still/not talking/staying awake for like, 5 hours at a time. Very useful.)

Biodiversity is my favourite module this term. Today we just had a field trip to Kent Ridge, and well, it was fun. (The not-so-fun part came when the field trip ended and we had a test that counts towards our grades. Gosh, it's only the first week of school! Worse still, the test had an essay component.) I do like walking around looking at nature, even if the weather was insanely hot. The Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research (aiyah, I can't remember the exact name; it's really very long) is a cool place, literally and figuratively. Some of the exhibits are a bit freaky, but it was interesting. Next time there's an outing, we should go there!

Literature is the other module that I'm slightly worried about, 'cause I'm really out-of-touch with all the Lit. stuff. The last time I had any formal encounter with Lit. was in secondary school, and I got C6 for my combined humanities. Not very promising huh.
The good thing is, the lecturers said that there's no need to have prior knowledge, and that people might even have to unlearn some of the things they picked up in secondary school/JC. So hopefully everything will turn out fine even though I'm not essay-inclined.
At least the texts seem rather exciting. I can't wait to study Shakespeare's The Tempest. We're even going to do a film text, which is all new and fine and dandy.
The other thing I like about this module is that the lecturers all sound like angels. Sitting in the LT, it felt like we were listening to music. It was such a pleasure to hear them talk, hahah.

More than once in a while, we get lecturers who don't speak coherently/don't know how to use the microphone properly/mumble their way through, and then following the lecture gets kind of tough. Listening is already difficult enough without having to deal with these problems. (Yeah, my audio skills are poor. Enough said.)

My only conclusion: it's a time for new challenges.
I won't say that I've been stepping out of my comfort zone, 'cause to do so would be like... joining a sports CCA. I know my limitations, okay. Trying new things has been fun, and the company has been great. (The only bad things are finding out certain things that I never wanted to know, for example, that in secondary school, senior guys actually ogle at cute junior girls. Like, eew much?) To a certain extent, it's better than my JC days, when it felt like I didn't particularly fit in. Or maybe it just stems from being more comfortable in my own skin.

Whatever it is, I'm happy.
And I'll be happier if all my tutorial/laboratory slots go through and I have Wednesdays free!

[11]

Alrighty, I'm back from camp. SOW 2008 was one blast of an experience, and I sure don't regret going. Johnny English (i.e. the OG I was in) has a lot of quirky people; just look at all those photos on Facebook.
Good times and good memories are too hard to put into words, so I won't even attempt to do so.

The use-three-adjectives-to-describe-XXX game can be pretty interesting. Good fodder for conversations on the way home.
Occasionally it does freak me out how easily others read me. Or maybe it's just that others are good at analyzing people and I suck at it.

Running around all week with an average of three hours of sleep per night does tend to make people a little nutty. All the um, unusual tendencies start emerging. Scary. (Half the guys in my OG can testify to that. Heh.)

Sometimes I fear that I don't know who exactly I am any more, 'cause of all the vastly different backgrounds I've been in. (Yes, people still find it weird that an RV girl chose to go to AC.)
It's like I have different personae for dealing with different groups of people, and I don't know if that's a good thing. (Multiple personality disorder huh.) Somehow first impressions do count a lot, and people's expectations just don't allow you to be any other way besides the way they first saw you.

"People are layered, like onions. Friends peel off layers for each other, letting you in deeper and deeper - even if tears are part of the deal."
So. Who's a real friend, and who isn't?