Haven't been doing a lot for this first week of the Easter holidays. On Monday Pohning and I went to Ruth's flat and we baked brownies and made rojak and curry chicken for dinner. Was quite fun, really miss baking... think I'll try to make up for that when I go back to Singapore hehe. Anyway, I was very clumsy with the peeler which I was trying to use to peel apples for the rojak... heehee, I'm already quite bad with the normal kind of peeler that looks like a knife, but this peeler was another type which I completely dunno how to use... so I dropped the whole apple into the bin. *rolls eyes* Lol I switched to a knife instead. If I continued to use the peeler I'd either take hundred years or drop all the apples into the bin.

On Tuesday we were quite hardworking and went to school to practice, not to mention feasting on two pieces of fried chicken and chips at Adam's Place afterwards at about 3 too. I was thinking of going to practice on Wednesday after we came back from Tesco (earning a 'why you so mugger?!' from Pohning), but on the day itself I was very sian and decided to give it a miss. Besides, it started raining after we got back... best kind of weather to stay indoors and slack! Lastly, I regret to say that I was being very lazy this morning and didn't go to school to practice as planned, again. Haiz... I really must go tomorrow, this must not become a habit like during the Christmas holidays when I procrastinated almost all the time and didn't practice much. Oh but I'm quite happy to say that I didn't slack for the whole day today, I spent most of the time listening to stuff online. Failed to configure the proxy on both mozilla and internet explorer to connect directly to the school's network even though I swear I followed every single instruction on the IS helpdesk webpage. And checked it many times too. Whatever. So I couldn't access the naxos music library online. But I signed up for a free trial on www.classical.com, which Pauline recommended to me some time ago. It's quite cool, I managed to find some things that I previously couldn't find on CDs in the music library! Er ok, I haven't really looked through the central library's CD shelves thoroughly, but I'd rather enjoy this than pay to borrow CDs from the central library unless I desperately need something from there.

This is my shortest essay and yet it took the longest time to do. So loser :(

It's the first time I stayed up for the entire night (last few times I could at least sleep at around 4 or something), yet I didn't even hit the word limit whereas for previous essays I had to lie a little in the word count so that I wouldn't have overshot the limit by too much. Some parts of the essay were totally make-this-point-longer sentences. Actually, when I consolidated points from the books, I had 6000+ words. But it was too much and so disorganised that I got stuck trying to make some sense out of the essay. So early this morning I started being vicious and cut out the bulk of the points, plus summarised the remaining points I thought were the most important. Then I found myself with too little words. -___-'''' Anyway, I'm just hoping that the essay wouldn't be too narrow-minded or worse, unbalanced. Just going to do some laundry and then I'm going to enjoy a nice long nap.

I was on the bus to Selina and Jack's shop after school (they decided to move there recently), when I encountered something quite unpleasant. The bus was very crowded and I was sitting right at the back. When my stop was coming up, another man was also squeezing towards the front from the back so I followed behind him. About one quarter of the way there, I sort of slowed down cos it was getting quite congested and this girl became buay song about that for no apparent reason. She said, 'Are you moving to the front?' and I didn't really hear her properly cos I was concentrating more on trying to move through the people. So I said, 'Sorry?' That was when she became super 'attitude'. She said 'If you're moving to the front do it quick then' or something like that, and pushed past me towards the back of the bus lor. It was definitely on purpose that she bumped into my shoulder and bag. She can't have been much older than me, in fact she looked younger. I really don't see why she was in such a big hurry to move towards the back. There were only two empty seats, vacated by me and the other person, and anyway the other passengers closer to them would have gotten the seats lor. I was quite shocked and pissed but kept moving towards the front cos my stop was right up. I really don't want to sound racist or anything... but what went through my head at that time was ok, I'm a Chinese la, so? So you can bully me cos the whole bus was filled with blacks to back you up? How'd you feel if a white did that to you lor?

Sighs. I missed my stop in the end. Cos even though the 'bus stopping' sign was lighted up, I was stuck somewhere with about one third of the way left to the door. Although the driver stopped, no number of 'excuse me's convinced the people in front of me to move. Especially the man who had been squeezing through before me. I dunno why he had to squeeze through if he wasn't getting down at this stop, maybe he was just being kiasu and wanted to make sure he'd get to the door by his stop. But I just don't understand why he didn't budge no matter how many times I said 'excuse me'. The people around me all heard lor, they were looking at me to see what I would do. But he just refused to move, and the bus driver decided to move on. So a lady behind me started pushing against me cos she was going to get down the next stop. Duh, I want to get down also! But the man just stood there. Argh. It was so frustrating. And then, when we reached the stop, he got down. Diao. Fine. Then tell me that you were going to get down at the next stop and let me squeeze past or something?? Make me walk in the cold somewhere I'm not familiar with... sigh. But it was not too bad, I sort of retraced the bus route back to the stop I meant to get down.

It's so obvious from my dust-covered blog that my life is extremely dull. Anyway, it's the second last week of term and next Monday is the submission of the last essay I'll have to do this year. It's both 'yay!' and 'oh no!'... cos I haven't started even reading the books I borrowed. That just shows how cmi I am.

Sunday was the University Choir concert. We sang Verdi's Requiem, it was ok i guess. The soloists were good. So anyway, both Saturday and Sunday afternoons we had rehearsals so I haven't been doing my work. I spent quite a long time practising harpsichord after lecture today, cos I haven't really practised since dunno when. Until now I've only finished my Schubert exercise and I have to read things for text tomorrow. Sigh. This Friday will be the submission for the final composition for studio comp, and I still haven't made changes since the lesson last Thursday.

Actually, I'm sort of getting the can't-be-bothered feeling since it's the last lap. Really want to sit back and say 'heck care la'. But I guess I shall change that feeling into a more positive one, like 'go go go! last lap!' haha hope I can do that. I think this essay is going to be quite cmi, but I'll just try to put in all the effort I can. Hopefully it's not going to be too out of point though. *fingers crossed*

It was so bitterly cold in St. Augustine's Church, where we had the chamber choir concert. I was shivering all the time. I probably looked like I was having spasms or something lol. I wasn't sure whether to wear many layers under my black shirt cos the previous concert at Barber it got so hot when I wore a tube and a tee underneath. So I compromised and just wore a tee under my shirt instead. Horrors. Who'd have expected the church to be so cold!

I learnt that I should probably be more confident of the map I check on a website when I'm going somewhere unfamiliar. I remembered the directions clearly but I thought I was going too far and maybe I'd missed the turn into the road where the church was. So I started asking for directions, and detoured for a while until I came across a pair of policemen (uh, a policeman and a policewoman), who were able to give me the right directions. It turns out that I should have continued walking instead of start asking passersby and going the wrong way.

It was so cold that I just had to cook something when I reached home. Decided to bake fries and to compromise for such an unhealthy choice (at 10+ pm too!), I cooked chrysanthemum tea. It was the ultimate comfort to stand in front of the stove and oven. Actually why do they call chrysanthemum tea that, since there really is no tea in it? Maybe they should call it chrysanthemum water/drink or some other name instead.

I am looking forward to going back to Singapore during the holidays. No matter how much I say I don't want the school year to end, I'm actually getting excited thinking about going home too. Being back in Singapore means being back in the comfort zone, where you don't have to speak with an accent in case people don't understand you (and worry about being fake), or speak without an accent and worry that people can't understand you. And it means no school work! ;D It's my top reason la. I am so looking forward to it.

It's also going to be a comfort zone where you know everything's reasonably affordable, and don't have to think twice before buying something. Finally... I think I'll go crazy buying CDs, scores, books, clothes, watching movies, and a thousand more things. Of course I'll probably have to find someone reliable to rein me in... it's ok, I still have some time to calm down before I break loose in Singapore!

This morning I was walking to school in fantastic sunshine and I caught myself daydreaming about what I'd do in Singapore. Like wear sandals, slippers, and stuff like that... cos I'll probably be taking the MRT/bus so I won't need to wear super comfy shoes to walk around. And it wouldn't be so cold (or rather, it would be too hot) so I could loose all the bulky clothing. And I wouldn't be carrying books around. It means getting to use a washing machine. It means not waking up shivering and huddling under the blanket every morning. It means... hmm so many things! I think I'm going mad right now.

I can think of so many places I want to visit, so many things I want to do. Oh, and the food, how could I have forgotten the food! I'll definitely have to go to the beach. I miss the sun and the sea! No matter that I'm not a very sporty person, or that the beaches in Singapore are not pretty/clean/pleasant. It's just a compulsion I get after being here in the cold wind and under grey skies. Eurgh. I think I shall find a day to spend at the beach, from sunrise to sunset. That would be nice. =)

I'm going to have to start planning after the exams. I'm so sure I wouldn't have time to do everything I want to otherwise. But first, I must probably look for a job. Too bad, daydreams just don't fit into reality all the time huh. It's ok, I just know it's going to be alright. I'm going to use every single minute that I'm not sleeping doing something productive. No more slacking! =P As if... if holidays are not for slacking, then I dunno what is. But whatever, I meant no slacking as in, I better make better use of my time during the holidays.

For now, back to mundane life I guess... heh back to doing my Schubert lied. Was supposed to try and finish my work tonight cos the chamber choir concert's tomorrow night. Ahhh... it's the essay-around-the-corner worries getting to me again. Which was why I just needed to stop for a moment, block out everything and immerse myself in a beautiful daydream. =) Soon soon... it's already March!

Back from a long talking/gossiping/reminiscing session with Poot. Was great drifting from topic to topic, I always thought if you see a friend almost everyday there would come a time when there will be absolutely nothing to talk about. Looks like I was wrong. And anyway not like we are very talkative normally too right. So it seems we still can find lots of stuff to talk about. Makes me wonder a little how it's going to be like next year, when we're staying at different places, maybe taking different modules too. Hmm, I think I'm alright, I'm sometimes too loner anyway, but I suppose it might still feel a bit weird.

Sighs and this term is just flying by even faster than the previous term. I guess it's rather selfish of me, but I sometimes wish term would never end and I can stay here for longer than I could. Anyway, went babysitting today and I learnt quite a lot from Selina. She came home quite early and we were just chatting and we sort of got started on the topic of her really early marriage and stuff, sacrifices, etc. and I realised she's such an ultra strong woman. Respect her man. Yea, I know, I shouldn't be so selfish and think only of me, myself and I.

On a totally different and random note, I walked home after studio compo lesson today in a 'rain' of ice. I dunno if it could be called hail, cos it didn't seem to be dangerous stuff pelting down with a vengeance. But it was definitely not snow, which is more of pieces of white stuff floating down to the ground. It was sort of like little styrofoam balls raining down from the sky. As if some little kid was having fun scattering them from among the clouds. The weather was very weird today. First it was sunny and a bit draught-y in the morning, and then suddenly it snowed/iced, for a bit. It stopped, and then snowed again, etc etc. This went on for about 4 times. The other day my text tutor was saying it's suddenly very cold cos we're under some low pressure, which is sucking the cold air from the arctic. Lol it led one classmate to ask, 'are you a weatherman during your spare time?' My text/TMP tutor has been quite commonly touted by my classmates as some sort of a know-it-all (not in the negative way... more like, wow, how does he know all these things?).