I was this close. This close. To succumbing to the lull of the possibility that if I really wanted to, I could be free of having to post. Anymore. New environment, new schedule, new everything. Sometimes, it gets so hard to hold on to the things that have remained, should remain, must remain constant, even in the midst of chaos. Yet I somehow out-reasoned my physical, logical, and every other urge, and that is the reason you see this post today, on the brink of pushing the invisible 1-week post barrier, the crossing of which would be a tragedy.

The week past has been unlike any other I've had to face for eons. In fact, the last dates so far back, it surpasses the age of this blog several times over. But I won't go into that now. Well, you can all be thankful that I don't specifically remember events that happened, nor would I want to recount the happenings in great detail (yes, you have been spared the boredom this time around).

The first day of school was the White Coat Ceremony, a formal occasion (which required us to dress accordingly, as such), where we were sort of inaugurated as medical students, and future doctors. At first, we didn't really feel it, but seriously, by the end of the ceremony, as Lynnette actually put it, rather aptly: the feeling and pride of the circle we had actually entered into sort of kicked in. Part of the ceremony involved us first receiving our white coats formally from professors on stage in batches, and then the recitation famous pledge (an extremely modernised and recreated version of the Hippocratic oath). Most people had either one or both parents present for the morning, and although I didn't feel left out in that sense (everyone was so nice, it really would have been a challenge), I won't deny that it would have been nice for my parents to have been there. It really was cool to see everyone dressed formally though. Those who know me would probably realise that I'm not one to dress up, and normally my dressing can be summed up in one word. Casual. All the time. Yet somehow there's this interesting appeal when everyone just dresses up really formally and meets up, and it makes me want to go for a LAN party after actually is a good feeling.

Then they made us go for lectures after that in the afternoon. So fail. Introductions etc. Pretty much sums up what it was. In fact, pretty much sums up this week's lectures. General waste of time. Granted, we have got somewhere in some aspects. Some of which include Law, Ethics, and a little bit on the dynamics of Latin and Greek. Makes you want to go check if you're in the right faculty. Ethics actually hasn't been so bad actually, some parts of it I have some innate interest for (I don't think anyone else really gave a damn). But then they started trying to relate the little they taught to medical/healthcare systems. GG. /cast Hibernate(Rank 10). But I found a way to resist that towards the end of the week (I had to find an alternative until my new laptop arrives)! It's a shameful waste of resources, but I found that by constantly writing down stuff from the lecture, whether spoken by the lecturer, from the presentation, or out of my ass, into a notebook that isn't about to run out anytime soon, I successfully keep awake in a respectful and inconspicuous manner! Waste of ink, paper, and perhaps a little bit of the lecture (I do learn more from simply listening and absorbing from a lesson normally than I do taking notes) but one has to make do.

I went down on Tuesday evening to the Intellectual Games Club, only to find that they were a recreational club, with no CCA points issued for participation. Attempting to find information on the real chess team yielded little. So I once again turned to my old and trusted friend Google, who told me what I needed to know when others failed (who now has a rival Cuil, who I plan to meet and get to know in the near future). Anyway, Wednesday was the Varsity Christian Fellowship meeting, I came late and therefore only managed to attend the cell group component. Overall though, I think I preferred it over the others purely due to the depth, complexity and level of bible study they went to, even in relation to us as medical students. Interesting, and I plan to look further into the fellowship. Went for this free concert at the University Cultural Centre by some budding Chinese singer with Man Ying. She had to write an article (her first for The Ridge, the University publication~) on it, and asked me to go along (couldn't just let her go alone now could I). It wasn't bad, the musicians had more talent than the singer herself though imo, and her guitarist sang better than her >.>.

Well turns out that the trials for the TeamNUS chess team was on this Friday, so I went down for them. And promptly got pwned. Quite a humbling experience, being in a room where the stark reality was, among those there for trials and members of the team itself, the possibility that I was the worst player present was more than probable. Still, I did the selection test, scored 7.5/18 (which I learned of the next day), and now await the decision on whether I'll be accepted after their second day of trials, next Friday. Which I will be welcome to turn up at again, should I choose to do so and reattempt another test, with the possibility of scoring better. Hmm decisions. The problem is, their training sessions are on Friday nights, meaning that I probably won't be able to go for cell on those Fridays anymore if I do get accepted. A heavy burden indeed.

Saturday I just slacked around and played WoW. A little segment for any WoW players who happen to read my blog here:

Decided to do some 2v2 arena with a hunter (I'm a resto druid), and damn, druid/hunter combos have to have the longest arena matches that ever existed. They were averaging 20 minute rounds, and some even surpassing 30 minutes. Honestly, that's 30 minutes of intense concentration, by the end of which you might possibly still lose the round, and consequently arena points. Extremely mentally distressing. I don't know if I'll ever want to do druid/hunter again after last night. We were doing ok as a team, it was just... Too draining to keep up. While it's accounted one of the strongest teams around, I don't think I have the mental stamina, fortitude, and time/dedication to do that on a consistent basis. Not to mention there are still matchups that last 30 minutes, at the end of which we inevitably get walked all over anyway. How do you even find the motivation to go on when you see a geared druid/warlock team. It's summarised in this face: D=

End WoW spiel.