No Man Is An Island

Things are getting better

2004-10-25T08:33:00.000-05:00

A new week has begun. Last week was pretty darn hectic. I had two papers due and one mid-term test. This week's pretty much the "lull" week. Great!

I watched Team America on Fri night. Hilarious (pretty much slap stick humour) but grotesque at parts. I mean there was this part where two puppets were nude and making out, and another where one puppet puked and puked and ended up lying on top of his pool of puke. Yucks!

Anyway I'm definitely not going back to Singapore during Winter break. I'm going to ski near Lake Tahoe and I'll be going to Las Vegas and New York City as well. Something to look forward to at the end of this quarter!

A quick update

2004-10-17T08:50:00.000-05:00

Last night I went to watch "Grease" the musical. It was pretty good. Totally worth the USD 39.50 and we actually sat on higher priced seats because we were late and didn't know where our seats were. Haha. But my favourite musical of all time is Les Miserables. Anyway we had good Chinese/Malay/Peranakan food at this restaurant in Chinatown called "Penang", but the cabs took so long to come after dinner (I admit we took kinda long to finish our meal) and we ended up late for the musical. A blessing in disguise however.

Oh and I'm gonna be broke soon. I had to pay USD 600 for my cellphone deposit which is only refundable in a year's time, and I spent circa USD 400 on my shopping trip to Aurora Premium Outlets for winter clothing. Ouch. I'll be going for a ski trip to Lake Tahoe during winter break but I want to buy a car too. Any philanthropists out there?

Writing, writing and more writing.

2004-10-08T14:16:00.000-05:00

Last week I was complaining about the readings. Now that I'm gathering pace about the readings, the writing's thrown me off-balance. This week I had two writing assignments (for the Iliad) - the kind where I'm supposed to respond to the readings and throw up provocative questions or analyse the text. Although they were just one-page assignments, double-spaced, they took me quite some time to complete since no topic was given and it was really difficult to think of something creative to discuss within a page. Well there's not gonna be any reprieve with regard to the reading and writing assignments. Next week I have another writing assignment (the Iliad) and a draft (for a 4-6 page paper on the Iliad) due. Then the week after I have 2 big, i.e. 4-6 pages and highly crucial to my final grade, papers (for the Iliad and the Wealth of Nations) due as well as a Math test. Math test, especially the 15000 series (I'm taking 15200), seem manageable on the surface, but the theorems, claims, proofs and definitions are driving me crazy. Why can't Math be the way it was at A levels! Haha. In case you all think my homework revolves around reading and writing, I have Math and Music homework due every class too. Tell me about being loaded with work!

Anyway I was at John Hancock Tower last Sat and had dinner thereafter at the Cheesecake Factory. Awesome view and awesome food. Sorry I don't have pictures to show. Tonight I'm going for a cruise at Navy Pier in downtown Chicago and tomorrow I'll be shopping at some factory outlet. A good opportunity for me to take my mind off the ever-piling on work!

Reading, reading and more reading.

2004-09-30T23:16:00.000-05:00

Haven't blogged for some time. Life's busy in Chicago despite the wonderful class schedule I have. There's just too much reading to do. I need to read 200 pages of the Iliad and 50 pages of the Wealth of Nations by next Tue. And there are writing, composition (music) and other reading assignments too. It gets stressful sometimes.

I've also switched courses so I'm now taking:
Human Being and Citizen (Humanities Core)
Self, Culture and Society (Social Sciences Core)
Calculus 15200 (Math Core)
Intro: Music Materials/Design (Music Core)
The first two are reading and writing intensive courses but I've enjoyed the classes so far. I'm so glad my pink slips (to get into class sections which are already full) worked out.

Anyhow I've gotten a cellphone here so those who are rich enough to call/sms to USA can ask me for my number. My address too if Christmas cards are headed here. =)

My Courses This Quarter

2004-09-23T01:00:00.000-05:00

Just came back from my registration appointment. The course registration system for 1st years is so bloody screwed up. I didn't get my first choice classes/sections. So I'm in such a big mess right now. My 4 courses for this quarter are:
Human Being and Citizen (Humanities Core)
Mind (Social Sciences Core)
Honors Calculus (Math Core)
Introduction to World Music (Music Core)
There's a general education requirement here in Chicago which is why I'm doing all these courses. Hope they'll be fun.

Anyway I didn't do too badly for Calculus Placement Test, else they wouldn't have "urged" me to do Honors Calculus. Haha. Chinese was good too. Got placed out of the language requirement. And I don't have to do PE or swimming either. Good news! Later.

Crazy Calculus

2004-09-20T07:40:00.000-05:00

It's morning now. Lotsa interesting stuff happened yesterday. Tell you all in private or something. Anyway there was Calculus Placement Test yesterday (not interesting ok!) which was so majorly screwed up. Part I was MCQ and Part II was some proving/define principles questions. In Part II we were required to define limits, first derivatives, integrals, (property of) real numbers and the like. Insane. I basically just sat there wondering how to get started. Haha. Well there's gonna be Language Placement Test in Chinese today. Hope this one will be much better. Really need to get as many advanced credits as I can.

Chicago!!!

2004-09-18T13:20:00.000-05:00

I'm safe and sound in Chicago. Lotsa unpacking left to do, admin stuff to settle and placement tests to study for. Here's a big thank you to everybody who bothered to send me off. It meant a lot. Later.

Chicago Beckons

2004-09-16T01:00:00.000-05:00

A new chapter of my life is about to begin. On Fri, 17 Sep at 1600 hrs I'll be leaving for Chicago and it's gonna take 20 hrs on 2 separate flights and 6 hrs at LAX before I arrive in O'hare airport in Chicago. Exciting prospect no doubt, but there's so much back here I'm gonna miss. I don't think I'll have the opportunity to say goodbye to everyone, but if you know me personally and happen to be reading this: adios amigo and see you in 9 months' time I hope!

To my friends:
All of you have been terrific. Whether we got acquainted in NAPS, RI, VJC, SAF, MAS, TP, SCC or from other unique (or strange) circumstances, you people rock just the same. Life would've been a lot rougher without your friendship and your company, and I cherish every single one of you and will always remember all the good times together. God put all of you in my life for reasons unbeknownst to us and it doesn't matter whether they've expired or not. Do drop me an email now and then if we don't bump into each other online. (The time difference between Singapore and Chicago is +14 hrs.) On my part I'll try to keep everyone updated via this blog. I know I may appear dao, insensitive, crappy and the like but deep down inside I'm really the sentimental fool. Haha.

To my dear sis:
Please take care of Dad, Mom and Aunt. They care a lot about us and they've loved us despite all of our nonsense. Age is catching up on them, so offer to help whenever possible. All the best for O's and hope you get into the course you want to. Remember Proverbs 3:5,6.

To my darling Dorothy:
You are an amazing girl with a big heart. Words alone will not do you justice. Sorry if I've been too harsh on you sometimes. Thanks for being there for me and for being so caring and understanding. Gonna miss you very much.

Thanks for the presents, treats and well wishes! Take care and God bless people!