haven't apologized to people as much as what i've done today:

i've apologized to a porter from trinity for trespassing on trinity property (long story).

i've apologized to my friend, who had a report sent about him by the porter to his senior bursar about letting non-trinity people playing in their badminton courts.

i've apologized to my badminton friends who walked from their far-flung colleges enthusiastically to play badminton, only to know that we got kicked out.

i've apologized to numerous other people who had their time wasted by me.

i've apologized to my porter who taught me how to fix a light bulb, and replaced all my three defective lights at one go.

i've just apologized to the trinity senior bursar via email.

feel rather down now.. why am i such an idiot? =(

once upon a time, i had four working light bulbs in my room. all my visitors remarked to me that my room was very well-lit.

two weeks ago, my desk lamp died on me. i was too slack to get a lightbulb cos it wasn't that essential to me.

two days ago, one of the fluorescent light bulbs in my room gave way. i didn't really bother abt it cos it was only illuminating the corner of my room and it didn't really affect the brightness at my desk.

two hours ago, tired and exhausted after a long day, i shoved my room door open and switched on the light. it blinked, and died out.

now, my desk's engulfed by darkness, and the only part of my room illuminated is my bed. !@#$%^&*

i've had one of the most wonderful dinners so far on wednesday =) my senior organised this nice dinner outing to brown's restaurant for our gang, and somemore the price of the dinner was discounted cos she collected coupons from the times, which entitled us to a discount.. really 划算 man =P

the food was really good - the pork chop was really tender, my starter was pretty eye-opening (red chilli + tomato + gravy + bread = starter).. however, the highlight wasn't the food, but the company i had yesterday.. cos i had the chance to meet this really senior senior who's nearly gotten her phd, and she had already started working.. we heard numerous stories about her working experience - it was really really interesting, especially her stint in ibanking (investment banking).. apparently some people really work their butts off in this field, like for instance she got scolded like mad just bcos she didn't check her voicemail at 11pm - that voicemail demanded her to finish up sth and put it on the boss' desk by 7am the following day! of cos, the job pays darn well - up to 5 digit SGDs per month..

and she was like comparing the jobs she held so far - teaching in NUS, having a 6-month attachment in the ibanking company etc.. which made me realise how scary politics are in the working office.. i haven't really got a taste of it during my teaching stint - maybe i'm still treated as a student instead of a colleague, and also i've nothing much to out-compete others.. pay? mine was nowhere near other teachers. work? mine was equally tough.. but it made me realise that such politics would be unavoidable in the future, especially in academia, a field which i'm on the verge of plunging into.. sigh =(

and for a change, instead of the normal "how's work?" talk, the conversation was about buying a car, marriage (the really senior senior is married - i couldn't tell cos she looked rather young), interviews, jobs etc etc.. i was the youngest at the table, and i think i really learned a lot from that conversation.. that senior may not know this, but i'm really in awe of her!

although my seniors don't really approve of magd, i'm rather indebted to it, cos by simply being a member of it, i've had the chance to meet really awesome people.. i love magd =D

don't ever get started on this game! cos when you do, u'll spend tons of time on it and neglect ur work..

which is what i did =( regretting it now, but nvm shall wake up earlier tmr to do work.. *yawn*

it was really good! well, it may not be as good when compared to msian nights from other UK unis, but we really did put in our best in doing ours, which was what that matters most =)

during the last rehearsal that we had, we still committed mistakes - some simple, some glaring (like mine - i trooped out to the front of the stage at the wrong scene).. thank goodness our performance was rather mistake-free, but there was a hilarious one though - my mic wasn't switched on when i was speaking into it, but instead someone mike wasn't switched off when he went to the back of the stage.. so the audience was treated with a medley of chattering and the occasional swear word =D

i'm glad that people found the wayang kulit that i was part of hilarious, and generally people agreed that this msian night was rather good compared to previous years =)

i should sleep now, have been struggling with a blocked nose throughout the entire performance.. how come i fall sick at one of the most important days of this term!? 被老天耍 again..

i really shud sleep now.

cos i need to wake up at 7+ am for lion dance, which starts at 8am.. and then, at 10am, rush off to play badminton for the college team against tit hall.. and then, at 11am, rush back to get a shower and change of clothes, and then rush off to msian night rehearsals cos tmr's THE BIG NIGHT!

i'll be lucky to get back to my room before 10pm.. *yawns*

felt bored by my collection of songs today, so tuned in to YES 933 to listen to (hopefully) new chinese songs..

after listening to abt an hour of songs, suddenly i heard a familiar tune..

IT WAS THE S'PORE NATIONAL ANTHEM!

i glanced at my comp clock - 10pm, which means it's 6am in spore.. made sense =)

it made me reminisce the 6.5 years i spent attending flag raising sessions, listening to that familiar tune daily, and at the same time keeping quiet. because, i reminded myself, that my loyalties lie elsewhere =D

but listening to that tune just now, i realise i could remember its lyrics better than my national anthem.. i need a dose of national education from my own motherland haha =)

i initially wanted to send my bike for repairs in the morn, but i just couldn't get out of bed..

so after lects at 11am, i wheeled my bike to king street cycles, which was no mean feat cos the back wheel was jammed - i had to contort myself so to lift the end of the bike with my right hand and grab the handlebar with my left.. after panting and wheezing for 10 mins, i reached the entrance of the shop..

the sign said that the shop opens at 9am (!) but there were no signs of life in the shop.. the bars were down, there was a "closed" sign hanging in front.. cursing my luck, i had to trudge back to college (leaving my bike near the shop, of course.. can't bear to carry it to another shop)..

when i came back at 2pm, the shop was open (finally).. the shopowner took one look at the rear end of my bike, and said that i had to get that thing (aiya i dunno wad's it's called, but it's involved in changing the gears of the bike) changed cos it snapped into two =( anw, he then asked me when i wanted my bike back, and i said sth along the lines of "ASAP, cos i need to cycle to classes".. and he promised me that i could get it done by 5:30pm (!).. for once, i'm amazed at their efficiency.

i got back to his shop at 5:30pm.. it cost me 25 pounds T.T but he realigned my wheels for me, so it wasn't scraping against the brakes anymore - no more weird sounds when i cycle!

to think i actually spent so much money because of v day, and it went to a bike instead of someone from the opposite sex.. sigh guess sometimes life plays tricks on us.

not only i dun get to date anyone on v day, bad things happen to me on this supposedly-filled-with-love day =(

i was cycling back with my sup partner (another one, not the chio one i mentioned previously) and there was a couple kissing while crossing the road that i was cycling down.. i swerved right, thinking they will kiss to the left.. turns out they were leaning towards the right too, so i made a sharp turn and braked to avoid falling down..

and then, i felt my bike getting bumped from the behind.. i thought she hit my wheel, so i tried to pick up speed by pedalling.. and i realised my pedals could not turn =( i thought initially that the chain came loose, cos it happened to me before, but this time round, the entire gear-changing system fell off from the back..

at this moment, the kissing couple turned back and gave me a quizzical look - knn, i was so tempted to smear bike grease over their pearly whites @#$%^&*

i tried to repair it, to no avail, and in the meantime getting my right hand moisturized by bike grease.. the back wheel jammed also, which added to my frustration.. so i had to half-carry and half-wheel my bike to the closest bike repair shop, which i'll barge into first thing tmr morn..

why did the kissing couple cross the road? because it's v day?!

it was simply fantastic =)

i took a train down to london on sat afternoon, reaching there about 4pm.. we had to wait about half an hour there for xiz, cos she was stuck in some jam on some random london street.. after meeting up with her, we proceeded to have THE ritual trip to chinatown in london =)

chinatown with its cny decorations still intact - looks chinese enough to me =D

after chinatown, we diffused around aimlessly for a while - i vaguely remember diffusing down oxford street - in order to pass time.. we arrived at the hotel at about 7pm, well before the start of the real thing.. but it didn't matter cos we started seeing familiar faces - we started to talk non-stop, catching up with people we haven't seen for quite a while..

the dinner started at 730pm, and we (camb freshers) were lucky cos we got to sit just beside the stage.. we could literally scrutinize every performance on stage, including every butt-wiggle made by the dancers =P i liked the skit most - it was staged by singapore playhouse london - the story was basically about two roommates who seemingly can't tolerate the presence of the other in the same room.. the niao-ing going on during the play was superb man, eg "it's so cramped in here, i rearrange the furniture whenever i move".. hilarious =D

the view of part of the room from my seat..

after makan and performances, it was the time for us to reminisce our two years in 黄城 - we saw movies from as far back as the 27th council (according to xiz, i think), and sang 黄城 songs like "当你孤单" =D

i had to escape when the mass dances started tho, cos i had to catch the midnight train to go back camb, cos i had tons of stuff on sunday.. sigh.. as cheesy as it may be, i so wanted to dance the sch mass dances lar.. haiz =S

but i had nice food and nice company - what more could i ask for? =D



ps posts would get rather infrequent from now on.. damn busy =(

happy things that happened today, in chronological order:

sup partner (an angmor) was in a super friendly mood today, so we chatted like 25 mins cos our supervisor was late.. and 5 more mins after our sup ended and we were walking back to college.. did i mention she's damn chio? =D i'm starting to look forward to maths sup - learning about partial differentiation is more than compensated by being able to talk cock with a chiobu =P

then during french class, the french teacher actually knew my name! ("yi jin, can you read this sentence out? (in french, meaning has been roughly translated =D") and she pronounced it the correct msian/sporean way, not the weird french way she pronounced it when she was taking attendance a few lessons back.. now i understand why my students like me being able to call them out by names.. espec when i'm like so sucky at remembering names =)

the highlight of the day was the jardine dinner! good food, good company - i was sitting three places away fr my college master.. i had this perception that masters were the 翘脚 type cos they didn't seem that involved in college stuff.. until he was like discussing with us abt magd stuff (the table i was sitting at were all magd jardine scholars / alumna - i was sitting beside a magd alumna who graduated in the 50s! he was an ex-jardine managing director in hk/japan).. and he's the director of the fitz museum - the museum where some guy broke 3 vases by tripping over his shoelaces.. and of course i got some info abt the incident that wasn't published in the papers =) apparently, the number of shattered pieces and the valuation of the vases were quite exaggerated by the sensationalist press, a bit erps lah haha. for the first time, i ate this duck dish where you put some crunchy duck skin into a pancake, add veggie and sauce into it, then wrap it and eat it.. it was quite delicious!

reached back abt 1130pm, but thoroughly happy with my happy wednesday! =P

this week's nights have been (and will be) equally busy..

mon: free(!)
tue: lion dance
wed: jardine dinner
thurs: lion dance agm
fri: free(!)
sat: hwa choo (hc night) @ london
sun: malaysian night practice

busy busy busy.. =(

since the past week i have been very busy, especially at nights.. am seriously tired after my nightly exertions =P

the last two consecutive nights of not having anything to do at all was in the first week of term.. this week, i had:

sun - dinner at charlie chan (it's rather tiring when you have an overfilled stomach)
mon - free(!)
tue - lion dance
wed - free(!)
thurs - badminton, lion dance
fri - msian night practice
sat - lion dance performance (we were pretty good just now =D)
sun - cumsa ball

been neglecting my work.. diediedie.

note: as with all haolian posts, readers are encouraged to navigate away from this page / turn off the monitor and throw the cpu across the room with all your might if you cannot stand people haolianing.. the author will not be responsible for any urges to smash someone's face into pulp =)

i have a feeling this post is rather TOO haolian-y, so please please please take into consideration the fact that:

1. it's not surprising that most angmors din study for the test, cos they were having tons of fun during xmas and new year, and

2. i'm rather lucky this time round =D

ok the results for the four papers i took (every college has its own papers, so i'm pretty sure if it was a uni-wide thing, bun will thrash me FOR SURE):

chem: joint highest
cells: 2.1 (or 2.2? it's kinda hard to average the marks out for this paper)
maths: highest
e&b: first

(note: first class = 70% and above, 2.1 = 60 - 69, 2.2 = 50 - 59, third = 49 and below)

i have NO FREAKING IDEA how i manage to achieve such good results.. i was like thinking i'd bomb maths, but in the end the question i did worst in (20% of the marks only) got cancelled =P damn heng haha..

by the way, my college fares rather poorly (abt 20th place out of 30+ colleges) in the tompkins table (which compares colleges in camb in terms of the year-end results in all subjects), so for starters people in my college aren't that academically-inclined... =)

(note: read flashback #1 first, else some parts of flashback #2 won't make sense =)

i slept at 4am that night, but i had to forcibly wake up at 10am cos i had to attend a lion dance practice >< i joined lion dance about 2 weeks before the performance - my senior, who i later found out to be the president, pulled me in cos he said culdt (camb uni lion dance troupe) doesn't have enough new blood - and i had only about 5 sessions of 2 hrs each to get my cymballing act together..

we had a practice session from 1030am to 1130am, then packed our stuff (drum and cymbals and other props) into a taxi to bring it over to our performance venue - grafton shopping centre.. we changed, set up everything, and then talked cock to pass time =) the performance wasn't starting until 1pm, and we had about half an hour to burn after getting ready.. by then, a lot of people started crowding cos it's not a common sight to see some people wearing obiang red pants and holding cymbals in a shopping centre =D oops i guess i've overestimated my 魅力 - i think the crowd was more attracted to the lion head =P

the performance started at 1pm sharp.. i then started clanging my cymbals non-stop, using the drums as a signal.. it's pretty interesting to know wad's actually happening in a lion dance performance - back at home, i've never appreciated it (i vividly recall lion dance practice creating so much noise that disrupted my *cough* socializing sessions with friends at my class bench) - but now i actually realise the lions are dancing to a story =) and that the drums take their cue from the actions of the lions, and that there is a set of drumming patterns for every action, and that there is a pattern that the cymbals clang to =D

pic of us at the beginning of the performance!

this pic is taken about halfway into the performance - notice the large crowd of angmors around us =P

pic of us at the end of the performance - my senior says that i looked stressed out.. do i?

culdt and the camb mayor! at the extreme right is our really really nice sponsor - he's the boss of charlie chan, a chinese restaurant in camb, and he's the one paying for culdt's expenses.. he even treated us to a nice dinner that night, cos we performed for free that afternoon! the dinner super super nice!! if i can get some pics of the dinner, i'll post it up next time =)

kk finally finish pia-ing all the work i needed to hand up.. so for the time being, i dun have anything to hand up until next mon, so will blog more often for the time being =)

i went to this cny eve steamboat thing at my senior's room.. it's so unfair lor, his rent is slightly higher than mine but his room is humongously big.. and according to him, his room rent is subsidized cos he's a scholar (meaning he had a first for tripos (aka exams) last year).. most colleges have "scholar rooms", but i think only corpus subsidizes the room rents of their scholars.. unfair sia!

anw anw our steamboat started pretty late - people trickled in from 7pm onwards, but we only started eating at 8pm..

the food looked super tempting, so it was a really hard task waiting for those latecomers to come >< anw, i liked the dish with various meatballs in it - i ate tons of crab balls, fishballs and sotong balls that night =)

the only pic i have with our omnipotent rice cookers (we had 4 in the room) - we used this to boil the soup base for the steamboats..

after eating, we started taking photos of each other.. this pic of 7 ppl has 6 generations of magd people in it =P (clockwise fr top left: a 3rd year undergrad, me (1st yr with horribly long hair), 1st year phd(!), 4th year undergrad, 3rd year undergrad, 5th year undergrad, and lastly a 2nd year undergrad)

of cos, keeping up with tradition back home, we 赌钱-ed a bit =) being unfortunately on the poor side, we brought out our shiny 1 and 2 penny coins, as seen in the pic =D

the cookout ended at 3am(!), so we went happily back to our respective rooms with overloaded stomachs and sleepy heads =)