My mom has been watching her Korea drama DVDs for the past few days.. dear God there's this infuriating character who really needs to shut it. Her precious daughter is marrying someone against her wishes and she's been acting all pissy and wailing on about how pitiful she is for the past 10 episodes. Saying she is unreasonable is an understatement; she definitely takes the award for "Most Grating Mother-in-law Ever in a Kdrama".

I'm incredulous at how my mom can stand to watch it (she actually manages to derive some entertainment from all that screeching..). My ears are bleeding just from listening!

And urghhh here she goes again. Time to put on some mj..

Last night I picnic-ed with my brothers at Fort Canning Park and we caught the finale show of SRT's Much Ado About Nothing. It was, suffice to say, an interesting experience. As far as I remember I've never watched a theatre performance outdoors! BSD rehearsals in the quadrangle don't count ^^ But thankfully the weather was fine; there was a gentle breeze and a cloudless sky. Thankfully, we also had the good sense to be early -- the entire venue was packed! We ended up about 10m from the stage with a decent view of the entire set plus the actors.

I've never read Much Ado and on hindsight, I should have, because I spent the entire first scene trying to rewire my brain to understand Shakespearan language and thus missed some crucial details. But I wasn't expecting the script to be so.. wholly Shakespearean and I'm pretty sure I didn't get a lot of the subtle jokes. Oh well. I saw Shirley Lee (the younger one) from the NY Home Econs department. True to her profession, she was lugging around bags and bags of food :D Oh and apparently my oldest brother knew 4 people in the cast, why he didn't ask for free tickets I do not know.

As expected, Benedict and Beatrice were the shining stars. Claudios was a sad creature. I guess it was the script's fault, but seriously, his character was so one dimensional and flat and uninteresting. Or maybe I just feel so wronged for Hero. Pfffft.

Haha I have nothing else to add. The big question after the show was whether Benedict went commando in one scene (save for 2 strategically placed hats). I thought he was wearing nude undies but my brother thinks it'a s tanline. さあ｡

Man, I wanted to do a proper "it's the end of examssss! (and year 1)" celebratory post (and also show how awesome my half asleep mind is when I'm scribbling stuff on my study notes) but it's way too late for that now ^^; Have been spending the past 2 weeks in the depths of the kingdoms of slack and bore, from which I desperately need to extricate myself from. Do you hear my plea, the Gods of Part Time/Temporary Jobs?

The only excitement has come from the kitchen. Was making lunch with random stuff I could find. But just a couple of days ago, the years stock of dumplings arrived at my house, courtesy of my aunts, and since I love dumplings = I have been eating dumplings. I am losing coherency!
Made pumpkin cake yesterday. The steamed kind. Which turned out better than expected, because my dad actually finished it \o/ My mum suggested further mincing all the extra condiments (to which I reply, 'but the recipe says coarsely chopped!!') and adding ganbei. And seriously, pumpkin is a bitch to skin and slice. At times like these I really wonder how my grandmama does it. Her pumpkins are always sliced up so perfectly. Like same shape n size n all.

**

Been watching a lot of movies too. I finished 3 of Nino's SPs (which I will not elaborate here because I don't think anyone's interested), Tea Fight! (Vic Zhou has blue hair in this, I die), The Cat Returns, Wolverine, He's Not That Into You (funny and sweet), Star Trek today. And I found out what my brothers think of me.

Me: I think Star Trek is way more interesting than Star Wars.
Bros: Well, Star Wars is for the masses, the ordinary person. Star Trek is for the geeks.
Me: But I like Star Trek more?
Bros: I think you're not really 'part of the masses'; you're pretty geeky.
Me: WHAT.

I'm not geeky, really. My obsessions tend to be rather short-lived, fickle, and faze out fast. And geekinesss is like.. a permanent obsession?? I dunno, I don't think I'm in a position to discuss requisites for geekiness. It was great, though, to finally understand all that inaccuracies the physics prof was ranting on about last sem ^^ I also am beginning to feel the beginnings of a giant crush on Anton Yelchin. And look, he's even my age! gaspshock I know right. I'm surprised too!!! *flail*

**

Omake of sorts:

Me: Yeah my only impressions (of Star Wars) are the characters -- but I don't know their relationships with one another, 'I AM YOUR FATHER'... in fact the films bored me majorly.
Me: All I remember of this series is from that spoof. What was it, Cheeseballs?
Bros: zomg it's SPACEBALLLLLS.

This has been delayed super long - my 5-turned-6 day trip to HK last December hols. I only remembered it after Qiu posted about going there tmrw. Had it under a private lock because there were still some things I wanted to add but I can't remember what now, lol. This is more for my own personal reference, so I won't forget what this experience was like.

( And so we begin. )

Had an inkling that nanotech was going to come out for Community with the Academy, and whaddya know, it did! Was sniffling non-stop throughout my paper, I hope it didn't annoy my neighbours. 2 of my BioD labmates take this module too, so the 3 of us was sitting in consecutive seats, 'just like in lab' (:

My mum called to ask about how it went and my reply to her was:

"I think I did as well as I did for my CA."

"That means it's good right? \:D/"

"Noooo that means it's terrible."

At times like this I realise my mum has these unrealistically high expectations of me -- which I honestly have no idea where she bases it upon, since the past week at home I've been just lolling around in front of my laptop watching AnS episodes. (Which reminds me Yujji, I need to show you the latest one with Ayase Haruka... they play Oppai Explosion games. And Sho looks pretty good with boobs. Just sayin' 8D)

Oh well. Tomorrow is JS. Intending to S/U it, but I'm not sure that my half-baked preparation for it so far will even scrap me a C. Wish I was watching CATS with the rest of them! ):

Caught an episode of The S Factor last night. Yes, that local reality show which has been garnering a lot of criticism and negative feedback by the public. Gosh... what a waste of half an hour. It wasn't even entertaining? Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie did it better in a Simple Life. With regards to Stupidity, that is.

Am sick. How untimely. This morning I was totally panicking about the mountain of stuff to mug but I'm feeling surprisingly zen now. Can't wait for the holidays to start... I need to clear out my hard disk pronto and sort out my CDs/DVDs.

**

On Saturday I was super early for Japanese and was peering around the classroom. Discovered this notice at the back of the class:

NO LITTERING
NO SMOKING
NO EATING
NO DRINKING
NO ENGLISH
NO CHINESE
NO TAMIL
NO MALAY

I like my sensei a lot, he's very affable and has a ridiculous sense of humour (:

Today... was not a good day. Among other things, I made a rather stupid decision not to turn in my Genetics CA today, so I'll be getting a 50% mark penalty for handing it in tomorrow instead.

But on the bright side, I got 10 bucks for participating in an experiment! I think I'll start looking out for more of such opportunities; it's a pretty convenient way to earn some extra cash. Plus the Hybrid Dream PV is out. The song is pretty and the vid has a calming effect on me. And today Samantha handed in our JS paper, which means I am really done (sorry for the overuse!) with my second semester. Sans exams, of course. It's so odd to think that a new sem will be starting soon and I won't be the clueless year 1 no more. Riidaa says she dislikes being year 1 and looked down by the seniors, but personally I do like being excusable for things lol. Consequence of being babied at home.

I need to pick up some hobbies. Well actually, after last year's experience of getting mugged, my brother suggested learning self defense, which I think is a very good idea.

Tomorrow's SP will be my last class for this sem. Looking forward to mugging, indeed. Oh, and Tampines 1 this weekend with Yuj! Anyone wanna come? The more the merrier, i haven't gone out in what seems like an eternity.

And if anyone wants to catch Confessions of a Shopaholic, TELL ME. Soon! before it stops showing in the theatres.

SUJA IS.... *dramatic pause* DONE. done done doneDONE! Just closed all my related firefox tabs with a great and happy relish. Although it does mean that I can start worrying about other things now, I'll let myself enjoy this freedom for tonight.

In a way, churning out SUJA was an arduous and painful process, but I'm quite proud of myself. At the beginning of the sem I didn't think I would be able to produce a scientific 3,000 word article and up till this morning I certainly had little confidence of doing a 15 min presentation (by myself!) calmly, but I have done it. Ok maybe not so calmly. But still. Now I just need to find a way to kick ass on the SP exam.

Thanks to Yuj and Evon, my fellow bitching buddies. Thanks to XY for actually reading through my entire disaster-of-a-draft to give me comments (in the face of all your projects and exams, too). Thanks to my dearest darling mummy for buying watermelon just for me last night <3 Thanks to the spider I saw this morning before my presentation, your appearance assured me that today was going to be a good day.


天龙八部 is showing now! Yay, what an unexpected surprise. *goes off to watch*

I just turned in my essay! in a classic case of last minute-ness, I was still editing some stuff which suddenly didn't make any sense to me D: I should have prepared my OP sooner, coz now I have a feeling whatever I'm going to say on Monday will not make any sense/be any convincing.

I am spending way too much time trying to reduce my portion of tomorrow's group presentation to just 2 minutes. This is absolutely ridiculous; I should be doing other things instead D

I just came home and I was feeling pretty hungry, so I wolfed down a giant.. slab of papaya (my dad slices 'em thick) and some fruit cake and now I am really stuffed. I need to kick this late night snacking habit.

On Friday, we went to the ( zoo for our last BioD prac session. )

After our CA Xinjie had the lovely idea of trying out the Fish Spa! I sound sarcastic but I don't intend to be. A bunch of us first timers went for the 10 min package. I think we didn't dare take the 30 min in case we hated it or sth, lol. All I can say is the fish are very effective cleaners and I definitely want to try it out with the bigger fish next time. Didn't manage to get a clear picture of my feet, but here, ( have one of my hand instead: )

( Yesterday... )

And to-day I had a JS group meeting. I'm whining, but god I just feel so helpless when I think about how to start writing my portion of the paper. Didn't feel like I contributed much to the discussion today either, and I feel annoyed with myself for that.

Tomorrow is my last chance for consultation with my tutor before I have to turn in SUJA and I haven't got a clue what to discuss with her. I should prolly go take a look at it *drags self away from the Arashi and jdrama tabs*.

Approximately 1 more week to my last deadline! できるよ~

Popping in to say I watched the Wild Rice production of ( The Importance of Being Earnest... )


Ok, back to SUJAAAAAAAAA.

I've been having strange dreams of late. Sometime last week, I dreamt that I was in my dorm with my PW group. Totally random. Uhhhh for some reason there was a gigantic field and we were gathered in my room watching some game going on. And then a few days later they appeared in my dream again and then I was like all "HEY guys do you know I dreamt of you all a few nights ago 8D"

Fail-tastic.

And then the night before last I dreamt that I was kidnapped! Not once, not twice, but THREE TIMES. Seriously I can't remember if the same thing just replayed itself 3 times or it was 3 separate occassions. In any case during the 3rd time when things were just getting to a climax (you know how in lucid dreams you know you're dreaming?) I was like telling myself "WAKE UP YOU IDIOT BEFORE THINGS GET TOO FREAKYYY D<"

I had the same recurrent dream last night :/ So... my mind, are you trying to tell me something about myself? Anything other than how I should be putting in more effort for SUJA/am screwed for OP/am screwed for my JS module/am screwed for everything else. Coz I already know that, despite not moving my lazy ass over it.

( Anyone who needs to come say it with me: )

Tonight, I returned to hostel after my Jap class, tired, bracing myself to face a Physics tutorial full of question marks... I took a shower and checked my phone to find 2 missed calls from my mum and this:

"How's today? Everything went smoothly i hope. Went to get our blood test results. As expected, not too ideal. Sigh.feeling very bushed. Going to sleep now. G' night."

For the first time (ever?), it occurred to me that maybe it's not always about me needing my Mummy. Maybe sometimes my Mummy needs me too.

Is anyone interested or knows someone interested in trying diving? I'm thinking of going with my brother for a weekend diving thing at Phuket sometime in June. My bro is an experienced diver so he'll be off doing his own thing while I attend crash course lessons (: Nothing's confirmed yet; I just want to know if anyone might wanna come with me so that 1) it'll be cheaper and 2) I'll have company!

I need some advice. I have a DSTA interview on the morning of Jan 3, but that also happens to be my second day of job training. Should I ask for my interview to be rescheduled (to a Saturday) or just get leave from work? In other words, WHY ARE THE INTERVIEWS SO EARLY??? And I have no idea how to prep myself T___T

**

I can't believe it's only been a month since A's ended. It feels like a few months at least! And there are what, at least 6 months more before university preparations start.

Got some family coming down from Malaysia later :D:D:D Looking forward to going out with them! May be hitting the Night Safari later if my niece is still keen on going there. I feel quite loser-ish ; I've wanted to go there for quite a few years now but never got round to doing it!

Oh is anyone going for the NTU open house thing? I'm quite interested but don't wanna go alone. So yeah if you don't mind going with me please let me know! I think the deadline for registration is Dec 30.

**

Watched w-inds.' Journey tour yesterday and it was utterly mind-blowing. A more detailed report to come tonight! (But maybe on the we love com instead~)

Did anyone else apply for a temporary job with Ernst and Young and get called up for a briefing on Monday? What does this mean? Are we employed? If so, I thought there was an interview round? If not, what is the briefing for??

In other news, today was my first unofficial day of work. Unofficial because working with my parents, aunt and uncle in an office where I've spent many a day revising for my exams doesn't exactly warrant the 'OMG FIRST DAY OF WORK!!!' excitement.

Anyway, according to my mum, my normal handwriting is not fit for writing on envelopes. Got quite sore over her with that because none of my teachers have ever had issues with my script! Or at least it wasn't so bad until they had to tell me... Apparently my 'S's morph into 'J's, my 'r's look like 'v's, my 'g's look incomplete... the list goes on. What can I say? It's not very efficient to ensure that your letters look that perfect when you've got only a little more than 2 hours to crank out a recommended 9 pages of essays.

Got many paper cuts RARGH. I hate paper cuts; they're on such inconvenient locations (fingertips!) and they itch so terribly ))):

K i have nothing much to say now. Today was pretty unexciting, in all. But at least I didn't get bored, as I thought I would :D?

Back from prom (: Some notes before I bathe:

- I am growing to like white/blue eye shadow look (well not that I really like eye makeup in the first place).
- Got my hair curled today! :D:D:D Only managed to inspect it closely when I got home, and I must say I am in love with my pseudo-curls. Too bad by the time i wake up tmrw I they'll be gone already. I think I shall go perm my hair next time. still I'm afraid of damaging my hair, so maybe figuring out how to use my curling iron properly is a better investment.
- I've decided that since I've bought so much makeup now I'd better try to hone my makeup skills, or everything will be wasted (i.e. expired by the time the next big event rolls by!)
- ... I'm pretty sure I had more but my brain is dying on me. Still need to head over to XY's tmrw morning so I'm just gonna crash now.

I received an email from Imperial's admissions office yesterday confirming my application, and got a package from Nottingham today with some information sheets and my letter of offer. To think I've been obsessing checking Track everyday... only to find out that Imperial has only just verified my app and will take a few more weeks to process it :|

--

Chem Paper 1 today went ok. I can only hope the weird trend Physics has been sporting will not continue. And that H3 will not be too hard. After that -- freedom. To be honest I don't feel particularly relieved that A's are drawing to a close. The many rounds of exams we've had this year have desensitized me to the entire studying routine, I think. So, on the contrary I think I'll feel rather lost! I felt quite sad packing away my Chem and Econs notes just now, to send off to my cousin for her perusal next year. I hope she takes good care of them :3

--

It looks like I won't be working for my parents after all. You guys have any ideas what job you'll be looking into? Honestly I think I'm only good for admin. I don't have any hard skills to sell! Aniki wants me to do waitressing but the current me is seriously not up to this challenge. Maybe I'll feel more challenged once I've bummed around long enough next year. Saa.

*looks at date of last post*

Ok I really have been neglecting this place since forever!

In the middle of A's now, 6 papers down and 7 more to go! With the exclusion of GP the papers have been OK so far. I'm using OK very loosely here though: OK for Phyics and Maths are 2 very different things altogether...

But! The real battle starts on Monday. 4 papers in 3 days - CRY. My stomach already feels queasy thinking about it. Yeah. And instead of diligently studying interest rates and free trade to prevent myself from developing aforementioned panic attacks... I'm here YOUTUBING (possibly one of the deadliest sins of a slacker) JE videos. But erm. Youtube really is a goldmine for hilarious videos especially when I've been so out of the loop.

But anyway. Got inspired by Qiu's lj entry. So here is the

Obligatory list of Things Grace will do after A's:

1. WATCH LOTS AND LOTS OF JDRAMA
Yukan Club - I heard Mike He is making a guest appearance :D!!, finishing Tatta Hitotsu, Stand Up! and LIFE. oh, the last episode of HanaKimi which I keep forgetting to watch ><

2. GET UP TO DATE WITH JPOP NEWS

3. Rent DVDs
i.e. All the movies I missed this year due to exams/what not. includes Pirates3, The Bourne Ultimatum, Ocean's 13, History Boys... and many more.

4. Reorganize my media files.
The state of my files/folders is seriously even worse than my room, which is saying something. I have randomly burned, nameless CDs lying everywhere around my house. And files in all my hard drives. To top things off I was never very consistent with renaming my files. So yeah. Major digital file rehaul needed.

5. Get a job.
From the current state of affairs I think I'll be working for my parents, since one of their employees recently quit, and my mum has been working overtime since. My dad is totally for the idea and sees it as an opportunity to psycho me into taking up a business degree in uni. But I'm not a long term solution; neither do I fancy spending every single day of my 8 months with my parents, so we'll just see how this goes.

6. Pack/Clean my room.
The 5 inch files and piles of notes have become some breeding ground for weird, tiny insects. ... ENOUGH SAID.

--

And The One Thing Grace has to do now, Before A's end:

1. Get back to studying.

*drags self away*