Hey all, I wanted to post yesterday but apologies... I was so dead tired and exhausted after Sunday's ordeal that I just dropped everything and slept for a full 10 hours until this morning, in time for school. I don't know when the last time was that I slept for so long before a school day. More on that later.

WoTLK is finally out! I went down on Friday after school to pick up the game at launch site. I didn't really know what to expect when I got there, but I honestly didn't expect what I was met with. 1.5km long queue? Nope. The entrance had a queue sticking out of it, so I was like "Ok, that's pretty normal right, it's Singapore..." and the queue wound around a corner. I go around a corner - wow, there's still a queue? Keep walking down, turning corners... After turning about 10 corners and snaking around the back-ways of clarke quay, I sort of gave up and just kept walking. And walking. All the way to the start of the queue. I ended up queuing for about two hours, but it wasn't so bad somehow. Maybe the atmosphere was pretty good, everyone was pretty cool about it... Though it was sort of funny seeing people's reactions as they rounded the bends up as they followed the queue from the entrance. Most wore shocked expressions, others cursing under their breath. What I found was interesting was the guy:girl ratio, which was really low (about 10 guys for every girl), but somehow still more than I expected. I guess more girls play WoW than you'd expect O.o (though a part of those made up girlfriends, who I sort of felt slightly sorry for).

So yeah, the rest of my free time (not much) has been spent slowly making my way through the new levels. Another reason for doing this post late: I can now talk about the birthday preparations we did on Saturday, since we just celebrated it today =P. A few of us went down to get presents/consolidate ideas for Huiting's and Nikki's birthdays (on Sunday and Monday respectively). It turned out quite well, and we managed to get what we were looking for, plus dinner and a good time just chilling/chatting for the few of us who stayed after.

I also got my hands on some swimming goggles, to replace my mysteriously misplaced pair (which made me quite mad, after I almost went for a swim only to find my goggles decided to lose themselves). There are few things emotionally worse than resolving your mind to do something, and then being disappointed because for some reason you couldn't do it, or didn't in time. I was really quite mad about that, overtly so in fact, such that I realised how long it had been since I got actually angry about anything. Hmm. Something to reflect on. Quadriple alliteration.

Went for that chess tournament on Sunday, met up with a few people from the team and went down together. The thing is, even though I wasn't really taking the tournament too seriously, just as practice and fun more than anything, the whole day was just sort of wrong. We came back too late from the lunch break, only to find I had 7 minutes left on my clock vs a full 25 on my opponent's. Obviously gg (although ALL my friends who were also late back from lunch won that round!!). Then I had a bout of acid reflux about 2 rounds after, that got bad to the point that I couldn't play properly, lost my last two rounds and then vomited twice after. The reflux was still bad after that, and I couldn't eat/drink anything at all. I bought some antacids, but they didn't help that much. My friends asked if I was ok, and I said I would be. Then mum and sis asked if I was ok, I told them not to fuss. Yet I struggled with the urge to vomit, cramping abdominal pains, all the way to my aunt's place after that to collect the stuff I ordered (yay!), and all the way back to my residence. Where I shortly collapsed on my bed and didn't wake up until the next day, and Sunday felt like a forgotten dream, my incredibly empty stomach, the aftertaste of a nightmare.

The birthday surprise today turned out great, and I'm quite glad it did, especially since so much effort went into it, from a few people especially.

Sometimes I wonder how qualified to give advice I really am. According to some people, I give good advice. I don't even know why. I only recently realised how hard it was for me to follow my own advice... People wonder how I'm so optimistic. I look inward and realise... I'm not. What is this that comes out then, especially when i'm trying to be helpful?

I think I'll just sleep. I actually managed to stay awake through all of today's lectures, quite a feat. Sleep does wonders.

Good night.

Hey all, feels like ages since I last posted (probably because it has been...). Well, it's not like there's been much happening anyway. Standard stuff (I just realised a lot of my reader base probably doesn't really know what "standard" consists of anymore... I shall try to clear that up at some point in future).

Oh, signed up for some basic language classes with the rest of the Year 1s, in Malay and Hokkien. The main purpose being to better communicate with patients in the wards I guess. I question how much 6 lessons will be able to do though, but at least after that you can't say you didn't try. I also wonder whether I would be better off in the Chinese classes. I know they'll all not be able to speak Chinese at all, but at my current level, my intuition tells me I'm not that far off. I think it's sort of sad, the state that my Chinese is in at the moment. Technically, I shouldn't be that much worse off. I studied Chinese like everyone else until Sec 2, I've just... Been away from it for some time. What makes it worse is that, due to my only semi-chinese heritage, people tend to forgive me for not being able to speak decent chinese. I'm so certian that contributes somehow. Besides, I get sort of sick of seeing the same incredulous looks on people's faces when I absolutely have to speak chinese, and do, like at the canteen the other day.

So the canteen aunty, who is currently in conversation with two Chinese exchange students (in madarin, of course) is like "Yes?" to me in English (with an accent that says she doesn't really speak it), and I just say "Can I get that?". Then she fumbles, explains to the girls in Chinese that they weren't selling what I asked for anymore, then imploring them to explain it to me. One of them turns to me, fumbles herself, tries in vain to get it out to me. That's about the point I gave up. I politely address the aunty (in Chinese now), tell her that "it's ok if she doesn't have that, can you get me -name of dish- (can't remember, sorry) instead?" The two girls were like wow, you speak chinese?! Those reactions aren't so bad, but the aunty... She just looked at me, eyes wide like saucers, nods, and disappears into the kitchen. She never said another word to me. I could feel her eyes boring into my back as I walked away with the food.

I've had mixed reactions, back in the day when I was less conscious of the subconscious social marginilisation that goes on in minds of the less educated, older generation especially. I will use order-taking as an example, since this was primarily my form of interaction with this category of the public. I might just decide to place my order in chinese, just for the fun of the reaction on people's faces. Some of them refuse to acknowledge that I just spoke to them in Chinese: they are momentarily stunned, then promptly answer me again in English. They obviously understood me (and were thus able to answer), but when they take most of their orders in Chinese anyway, I can think of no other explanation. I've had both extremes I suppose, ranging from no reaction at all, they just carry on taking the order in Chinese (respect to them), to being stared out, and then outright ignored.

Oh, I managed to get my hands on Portal (thanks to David's Steam account), and finally play it through, finally after 6 months. It didn't take very long at all, just a few hours (which is super short to complete a whole game) It was good though =P it had some of the wittiest lines ever, a groundbreaking "portal" concept that made use of the Half-Life 2 physics engine (concerning portals, and physics and the conservation of motion~), and the funniest storyline (without much depth, but still getting you hooked in the process). Managed to combine Puzzle/Action into an FPS (First-Person Shooter), which I think was quite well done on Valve's part. I highly recommend it! (Although I just realised that 90% of my readers probably aren't gamers, and the other 10% don't care enough to read this blog. Oh wait.) Hmm. (Yes, I've been thinking a lot about my reader base lately lol).

One thing that struck me after hearing a psychiatrist speak at VCF today (which was quite enlightening - missions are an inner state of being, not an external one), a lot of my inner reflections seems to hinge over the human psyche, with the occasional outlier. Questions and thoughts that would be much better understood with a grasp of even basic psychology. It's definitely something that's taken my interest before, and, it appears, still does. Perhaps I have yet to have my final brush with the field.

Oh yeah, I don't know what possessed me to, but I somehow ended up registering for a chess tournament this Sunday. After not having played in one for... I've even lost track how long, I wonder how it'll turn out. Looks like I'll get a look at the Singapore chess scene once again. Sort of curious what it's like, and how it's evolved since an age past. I'll probably get trashed, but our team captain recommended that we all go, and it will be a good practice/experience, so why not... Especially since I'm like the only one not having exams at this time as well.

WoTLK, the expansion to WoW, releases on Friday, the 14th of November in Singapore (Thursday in the US)! I think I'll be able to go down to the launch venue for the event, should be fun... Too bad I don't really have anyone else to go down with =/

Lol, it really was short this time.

Good night.



The cake is a lie.
The cake is a lie.
The cake is a lie.
The cake is a lie.

Yes! This post is itself a small victory. It may also just be small. But you never know I suppose. I do have a habit of writing terribly long posts... But that might have been a side effect of holding everything in during the week.

Anyway! Lots happened over the weekend, started off with Playhouse on Saturday, a series of drama productions by each of the year levels in our faculty (Medicine), a competition of sorts in itself, and at the same time part of a bigger one. I suppose most of all, it was just for fun and the experience, in which I heard it delivered. A few of us went down on Saturday evening to suppose Feifan and Ben, who were both involved in our Year 1 drama =D. Argh, didn't get to see you guys on the day, but it was great! Michelle brought flowers too, which I thought was really sweet ^^. We got there, waited for like 30 minutes to find that they were 45 minutes behind schedule. So while we only intended to come for the M1 play, ended up watching the M4 one before, then ours, and then finally the M5s. The M4 play was hilarious, as was the M5 one (which also had an incredible amount of impressive props) (they eventually won best play). Our play, unfortunately sandwiched between the two, was a mix of dark and pretty mundane underlying themes, with only scattered jokes but a lot of abstract style. The whole thing had a wonderful film noir touch, with intriguing stage concepts and dynamics, while at the same time . I loved it, but I will admit it felt out of place there. The judges evidently did too.

Our church had their pledge week for the Arise and Build campaign for the proposed new church building... Felt really challenged by God (and not by pressured by everyone else, thankfully (which I was sort of expecting)), especially in this time of breakthrough. The anointing was really strong in that service, glad I made a conscious decision this time to step out in faith, and stuck with it. What pastor was getting at was true though: How can you expect a breakthrough in your life if you don't do something above, beyond, and ultimately different from what you normally do? In the words of Einstein - "Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."

Finally watched High School Musical 3 on Monday, with Nick, Michelle, Lynnette, Xuhui, Chin Ee, Runyu and Weiting! Despite all the comments about HSM3 (and HSM) in general, including "cheesy", "childish" etc, I actually really liked it... Ok some parts were a little over the top, but overall the songs were great as usual, the choreography was really nice, and the story was... Fairytale-tale like. It's the sort of movie you watch with your heart, and not your brain imo. Ask me to watch/appreciate such movies 1-2 years ago, and you might have heard another opinion altogether. Don't know what happened somewhere along the line, but suddenly I find myself a sucker for stuff like cheesy fairytale romance and the like. Warm fuzzy feelings, anyone? I also seem to remain strangely immune to vast amounts of cheesiness, able to maintain a reasonable tolerance at what possibly may be lethal levels (inciting curses and groans of agony from the weak (lol)). I actually finished off the first 2 movies in the series last week as well, and they were nice as well... Though not as fun as watching with friends I must say. The songs have this incredible affinity for my brain music buffer. The equilibrium is so imbalanced that some are able to literally displace music with weaker bonds to the elements of the buffer system.

My prac time on Tuesday has gone from 1-3pm to 3-5pm. Sigh. Ended up grabbing lunch (McDonald's breakfast really, which we barely missed, literally between orders) with Mich, Runyu and Feifan, then crashed their prac at 1pm lol. Honestly, no difference anyway. The only one worth crashing is really the 11am one, right after lectures (and people do, in frightening numbers). The other two slots are so empty it hardly matters. I then went back to my room and slept. Yes, slept. I guess I was just too tired out, and I didn't manage to correct my sleep imbalance this weekend, what with all the happenings and hustle. Sleep is underrated, as David put it. I felt so much better at VCF tonight, more awake and alive than I usually am ><. I should sleep more. I actually spent Saturday morning going to the bank at Clementi, sorting out some stuff to do with my PayPal account (which I had to delete (thanks PayPal) after coming to Singapore) and other online/financial stuff. I don't know what possessed me after that, but I found myself walking over to Big Bookshop. The moment I walked in, these clear plastic folder things caught my eye. 30 minutes later, I check out with my arms chock full with giant ring folders, hole punchers, staplers, bookends, basically a whole lot of organisation stuff. I then set about putting my room in order. Something I have not done since I moved in here (cleaning yes, tidying no). Well, not much since I had my own room either. Fine, not much at all. Really don't know what made me do it, but I needed to I suppose. My notes were everywhere, and stuff was just super disorganised. It's not that I can't stand the mess, and I can find pretty much anything I need anyway, so... Anyway, my table at least is looking a lot better than it used to, and my bookshelves full. Tidying up always gave me a good feeling, but it was never good enough to motivate me to put in the effort to get stuff organised (recently at least (by recently I mean last 5 yearsish?)). Well, while there's still much to be done, the fact that I've made a start is... Pretty interesting.

I realised something (this pertains to an issue raised previously). You know those MBTI personality tests, and the four letter personality types? I have no idea anymore what my personality type is. I'm probably the only person who can take the same test like 3 times, and get a different type each time. The time of my life which I did the test seems to have some impact, but then it's a pretty difficult factor to measure. I've probably been assigned like 5 different personality types over the course of taking these tests (ISTJ, ISTP, INTP, INTJ, INFP, to name a few), and each time I do these, I take them very seriously everytime, making sure I try to give the answer which best reflects. But really, some of the questions... "When it comes down to it, life is a) very simple, b) very complicated". Like, what?? To me, I'd say the answer is both. Come on, how would you even answer that (actually, don't answer that. Most people seem ok with these tests...). The first few tests I did gave me ISTJ (as I have mentioned before), but reading the descriptor, it seems inaccurate now, sort of. The most recent one I did gave me INFP, which is almost totally opposite. Even then, in some things... I'm not even sure if that's accurate. People's personalities don't just almost completely change like that. Only one letter's stayed the same. And, in tests that score for percentages and strengths of each letter, only my "I" has ever been consistent, and more recently my "N", but not really either. The rest are just barely tipping over onto either side. Descriptors aren't helping either, they would all be sort of moderately accurate, but never quite there. Maybe getting you guys to do a Johari Window might help. It appears I don't know myself very well at all.

I've been feeling pretty unfit recently. Once again, no explanation. I suppose the feeling of being fit once is coming back to haunt me. I'm not exactly living a very healthy lifestyle at the moment =/. Wonder if I'll do anything about it.

Tutorial with "the Grinch" tomorrow. She isn't that bad a teacher really (note, teacher). Just a bad lecturer. Apparently CA results come out tomorrow too. No emotion.

Cya.

Airway resistance is the resistance of airways.

Various starting lines occurred to me for this post, among which were "I PASSED" and "LOLWIN", except the inaccuracy of those statements sort of got me. You see, the Biochemistry department has a particularly sadistic tendency in exams: when there are biochem MCQ questions, they wait for your OAS (the shading paper) to be collected, then proceed to UNLOAD the answers right on top of your heads, literally 5 minutes from the end of it. All you have is your question sheet (probably with your own answers written down), a pencil to write all the correct answers down, and your head in your hands. Ok seriously, I understand it as an attempt to sort of make the most out of the learning experience the test could be, by supplying us with the right answers. The thing is, counter-intuitive to this is the fact that our question sheets then disappear within minutes of the OAS, and seconds after all the answers have been read out. We sort of never see our question sheets again.

Well, as a result of that fiendish ordeal, I did get my score for half of the MCQs on the paper (which accounts for just under 50%). Wasn't a fantastic result. At all. Far from it, in fact. As of the time of this writing, I still have not encountered another student who obtained a score lower than mine on the biochem MCQs. Well, on the brighter side, it was still a pass, albeit a borderline, mediocre pass that has warning written all over it. Can't say I'm happy with it, but definitely can't say I expected anything more either really. There's still the rest of the exam left to be marked, but honestly I would have to be really bad to actually fail after passing this half.

Still, I simply left too much studying to the end to cope decently. I have learned something from this first term though: when you don't have teachers that care about ensuring you ace exams anymore, sacrifice is called for. Resolution here! At the end of the week, at least try to have gone over all the lectures that week once at some point. And we shall run this setup through the next set of trials. (So anticlimatic, I know. The thing is, I haven't even done that consistently for the last few months, so a few basic study habits are in order, one small step at a time. Cut me some slack!)

We actually had an OG study session, sort of, on Wednesday night (Yes! I succeeded!). Was thanks to Lynnette really... I was supposed to go post a message on the Yahoo Group calling for people to join, but I just totally blanked out wondering what to say, but Lynnette did it for me, and it was perfect =) we had a pretty good turnout too. Honestly, I don't know about everyone else, but I thought that it wasn't only much more fun than sitting alone in your room mugging, it was productive as well. I probably learnt more discussing and opening stuff up that night than I did in all my studying up to that point. So, thanks out from me to all those who turned up, skeptical and furtive... You guys helped me pass!! Just hope I'm not the only one who got something out of it, because that would be... Let's just say I'll have to find another way if that's the case. Feedback appreciated please~! (And please be truthful =/)

Well, the real highlight of the week was really the exam day itself! I know what you're thinking-- The CA was merely a setback! You sad, sad person right? Well actually, in some sense. I honestly don't know anyone else who would go back for lectures after their exams. But still, it happened. They somehow managed to schedule a two hour lecture from 3-5pm in the afternoon, when our exam ended at 12+. Like, come onnnnn?! Oh well, it was what happened after that made it bearable. After 5pm, we went down to the Multi-Purpose Sports Hall (MPSH) and played some badminton =D. It's been ages since I've played, but it was actually quite fun (despite my embarrassing attempts to land a blow on the shuttle cock at all), especially playing with friends.

After that, those of us with rooms at NUS headed back, trailed by whoever didn't to wash up and stuff, before we all headed off for dinner~! Weixin was lucky enough to witness my biologically hazardous and unstable room (the aftermath of studying the night before)... I got a shock myself when I stepped into the room. Like, wow, this was what happened last night? Looked like a mini-hurricane hit or something. Anyway, after that we all met back and headed down to Holland Village, to Crystal Jade where we had the Xiao Long Bao buffet! It was really cheap, especially for an à la carte buffet, with a steamboat (hotpot) too. I've never consciously tasted Xiao Long Bao's before, and they definitely lived up to the hype (we've been talking about it for ages before the exam, with people making wild and extravagant claims about how delicious they were). I've got to say, I really liked the food, despite not being a great fan of chinese food. Actually, it hasn't occured to me that I didn't like Chinese food at some point for a while now. Taste buds adapting? Anyway, altogether we ordered and finished ~45 Longs of Xiao Long Bao (for quantification's sake, one Long contains 5 Baos, which are each one mouthful of goodness exactly). That actually comes to something around 225 Xiao Long Baos (GG kudos to the chef btw, those things definitely did not look easy to prepare either). This not including the steamboat, and everything else we ate. I ate 3 Longs myself, while Ben managed a whopping 10 Longs by himself (that's 50 Xiao Long Baos. GG.). Was a lovely dinner overall, lighthearted chatter -completely unrelated- to the exam we had JUST THAT MORNING. Thank goodness the exam euphoria ran out before then. Really a nice feeling just spending time with the OG after the first taste of stress, which we weathered fairly well I would say. Though not the whole OG turned up (when is that ever the case), it didn't really matter, since the core group were all present =P. We celebrated Nick's birthday at the same time, somehow the coordination managed not to crumble in front of us lol... At least I'm sure he appreciated the effort and the rest that was put into arranging it.

While the day ended here for most, a few of us (Nick, Nikki, Ben and I) actually headed back to King Edward Hall and watched a movie, at 1.30am in the morning (and me suffering from a severe bout of acid reflex I tend to get after overeating). If you haven't seen The Bucket List, I highly recommend it. If you're bothering to read this blog at all, trust me, you'd probably appreciate it =). I'm not really a fan of literature/english-ish analytical films, but this one was different, somehow. Who knows, might just have been the late hour and my severely disrupted senses from the acid. Still, pretty rare finding such films in mordern film nowadays that manage to succeed.

Yeah, so Friday night was awesome, probably the most fun I've had in a while (IRL lol). Probably won't be seeing this happen much, so might as well make full use of the opportunity and just have fun while we can. That appears to be Med School for you (this from a freshman 3 months in).

Oh yes, I went down to Mustafa Centre today to restock on some things that don't normally need overfrequent restocks. Was quite interesting seeing the increased number of chinese people down that area - it seems the Chinese are finally discovering the place. It's located in a primarily Indian district, so you generally would see little or no Chinese present. However, few realise that the prices at Mustafa in general are actually significantly less than from any other retail store outside, to the point that assuming mass purchases are going to be made, it's actually worth the trip down (bought stuff like shaving blades, multivitamins). So yeah, they really do sell pretty much everything. Cheaper. Just a note to self and any prospective customers though: Do try your very best to avoid the entire area on the eve of Deepavali itself (the reason tomorrow is a Public Holiday). The crowds were imba, and you just get zerged like a poor marine and overwhelmed to the point where movement is impossible. Random side note: there were way too many guys holding hands with each other, fingers interlocked, all over the place. Beyond the point of freaky. Is it just me, am I missing out in understanding some facet of culture prevalent in those parts? Not too sure myself, but the lack of the presence of any females around the streets etc in general tends to suggest otherwise. Maybe it's just me being a closed minded conservative (not).

Another random note! Singaporeans need to be less bound in our human interactions with each other to political correctness. It has it's place, definitely, but once social interaction and structure adopts that framework as an ultimate too, I start to suffocate. It can just be all so false sometimes, like everyone's hiding behind some façade. How does one express oneself freely, when freedom of expression seems non-existent? Would it still be taken as such, or ultimately be seen as perhaps a form of rebellion, of insanity, of exclusion? Worry less about saying the wrong thing, and more about actually having said it! I'm sure any reasoning person would agree that the change would be for the better, at least for smaller scale pursuits in cultural change.

I'm eating way too much into the holiday tomorrow. We were meant to watch High School Musical 3, but there were too few responses. Sigh, I would have liked to watch it though, regardless of how many others came along (0 would be questionable though). Oh well, there's always another time.

Ciao.

Milk is 92% sucrose!?

Late night, late week posts, got to love them. I would have posted earlier, but there always seemed to be something better to do. And they were. Just that Sunday night seems to have this place set aside in my mind just for me to make the post. Comes from doing this too many times on Sunday nights.

Well this week wasn't very eventful, started on lower limbs, and back from bones... As you would assume, much less content than the coming weeks. However, the fact that the exams are actually coming up pretty soon sort of just struck me. The Formative Assessment (like a trial assessment to prepare us for the style of the upcoming Continuous Assessment) sort of woke me up to that fact (quite unpleasantly, actually),and although I have a tendency not to study for most things up until the last minute, I decided to Open the Sacred Textbook. Upon which I got quite a nasty shock. I learned one thing from the ordeal though... I think I'll open the book a bit earlier next time. Or, there's always the alternative... Simply abstain from opening.

I'm still struggling through what seems like a heap of information in the book that they don't come close to imparting (despite the fantastic lectures and insightful tutorials by Prof. Voon >.>). The worst thing is that, that's the stuff that comes out in the assessments. It's almost unfair in that sense... Maybe I'm still clinging to the spoon-fed goodness from my classroom.

I've got some sort of ear infection I think. Nothing major, but bad enough to piss me off. Feels like my hearing is partially impaired, and I think my ear canal is swollen, and it hurts. I guess I'll get it checked tomorrow if it doesn't improve. The clinic in NUS doesn't open on weekends anyway (what sort of clinic...), and can't be bothered going out searching for one, paying the doctor to diagnose it as otitis externa, and then paying for some ear drops to relieve the pain (no, I don't want antibiotics). But sigh, if it stays any longer I'll probably need them, so I've resolved that I'll go tomorrow (if it's still bad).

Ok, just felt like saying this. No offence to anyone, but seriously, what is with the whole "appear offline" thing on MSN? I mean, yeah I know, wow look I can be on MSN, but not get disturbed? Nifty! It's certainly handy, being able to stealth mode messenger. But I disagree with people who constantly make use of the feature. I mean, what are the motives behind appearing offline? I would say being able to choose who you talk to (eg. According to your own need), and not be socially obligated or disturbed by other people talking to you, would be a big one. Now just think about this: what would happen if everyone did that? You're going to sign into MSN messenger, and get hit by a wall of offline contacts. Everyone's just waiting for someone else to go online so they can say/ask/do whatever, but only to that specific person(s). What I'm trying to say is, I think appearing offline, while having it's uses, when used overmuch, is ultimately not a very generous gesture. It really boils down to taking without giving back (or only selectively doing so). Once again, there are reasons/times/places where this doesn't/cannot apply, but in general, I find this the case. Nothing against anyone though, just my thoughts on the concept =)

Oh yes, I met up with my grandparents on Thursday, they were in the country so I just went to meet them in the city at Peninsula Hotel, and we had dinner there. They certainly aren't dull or unrefined or unread (I almost typed undead here, too much games), and I must say they have a lot of dignity, especially for people of their age, really respect that. I find it sweet that my grandfather still treats my grandmother like a lady ^^. Anyway, there wasn't much to talk about really, double generational gap does a lot to conversation. Still, went through a fair bit... They flew off today, but I'll be seeing them on December when I fly over to Sri Lanka with the rest of the family for the birthday/anniversary celebrations.

Also just speaking a bit about politics and stuff made me realise something. Controversial as it sounds, I think that religion plays some part in inhibiting third world country advancement and development. Corruption actually has a foothold to take root from when a country is largely populated by majority of people with strong religious beliefs. I suppose education is sort of related to this, but then again the two are interconnected. Honestly, I think it's hard to find a first world country with a largely dominant religious belief held strongly by the majority of the population. It allows for seriously desperate and foolish measures by opposing parties (such as declaring extra weekly holidays on religiously significant days (which actually happened btw >.>)). They won the election (by a long shot, so sad), but killed the economy. So yeah. Just a noob's take.

Also, a friend of mine commented on a very valid point the other day: What's with everyone studying so hard?? I mean, you study hard in final year to get into the course you want. And then you get into the course you wanted, and you study even harder? What's the point? Why not kick back, relax, and ease up a little? I mean, sure, you study because you have to... But I think it's excessive in many cases (especially in Singapore). Unless you're gunning for the Dean's list, I can't really see any justification for it (unless you enjoy mugging). Maybe I'm just being shallow and not seeing the big picture.

First Aid course next week, should be an interesting change to the repetitive nature of daily lectures. The WoW arena season (4) is ending with this Tuesday's prepatch to the expansion (releasing on the 13th of November!). Some big changes incoming, but also means I can ease up on WoW a bit until then. My fingers hurt from playing my guitar (probably still sounds like sounds you'd get from hitting it). Oh well.

Bye.