Sunday, December 25, 2005

Merry Christmas everyone!

I just got back from Indonesia. Dead tired.
Unfortunately my camera kicked the bucket when i came back from NZ, and the price quoted to me for repairs was three quarters of the original price i bought it 2 yrs ago i decided it was unjustifiable, so i went to Indo without a camera. Therefore i will have to rely on other people for photographs, and when they compile their photos and i get it from them i shall post it up for all to peruse.
Visited the Southern Beaches most will know as Pengandaran; then the 4th largest city in Indonesia Bandung, in particular the very famous "clothing street" called Jalan Cihampelas where i splurged S$80 on 6 t-shirts and 1 pair of jeans; then to Puncak to experience the wonderful mountain-top temperate weather, then back to the perpetual traffic grid-lock we call Jakarta.

Man.... so tired... they say if you come back from a holiday feeling tired then you can be sure it was holiday time well-spent... but then isn't it supposed to be a holiday?

Dr@n|xX at 2:31 PM

Friday, December 16, 2005

Well i'm back in Singapore.
I've finally gotten back my room in Serene, and i spent most of yesterday cleaning it :/ Its finally clean and habitable again :)
Been trying to unpack my clothes to be put back in the cupboard, but i suddenly realize HOW MUCH clothes i've accumulated over the years, and i'm basically awe-struck that i've so many clothes, and its not as if i've never seen most of them before, i've worn all of them before just that it never occured to me i had that many clothes... I'm battling inertia now to put that (to me anyway) immense amount of clothes back in the cupboard... :(

Was supposed to fly off tomorrow to Indonesia for the trip i came back from NZ early for... one of my buddies unfortunately couldn't get off work, so we had to delay the trip by 2 days becoz we booked the tickets as a group package, and if he can't fly we have to pay a penalty which didn't make sense... well at least i'll get a little bit more time to put my room in order then...
In any case, i'm looking for a bubble sofa set, like this one from Yahoo. Bean bags are far too expensive for my tight budget, so i have to settle for these bubble sofas, but they seem to be a little out of fashion these days and are quite hard to come by. Anyone know where to find them? And if yes anyone know how much one that can seat abt 2 people will cost?

Thanks Gwen. I've sorta resigned to my fate of having to stay an additional term. I've emailed the Vice-dean of the Business School and he emailed back saying they've got limited resources and spaces, and that his answer was not going to be any different from the one the lady at the Registrar gave me...

Dr@n|xX at 3:57 PM

Tuesday, December 06, 2005

Sigh...
NUS says that DSC3201 Supply Chain Management is apparently a very popular course for exchange students so it is already fully subscribed...
I suppose that's final then...

Is it time to finally give up?
Going on exchange despite being an out-of-this-world experience is beginning to look more and more like a very big excruciating mistake... even if deep down i refuse to accept that...
So is that it?

Dr@n|xX at 10:20 PM

Thursday, December 01, 2005

If i could personify Fate, it would seem that he (or she, lets just say its a he to skirt the sexism issues this could possibly unravel) is that slow-coach in front of your car in a traffic jam. He's the one who moves his car far too slowly when the car in front of him moves and frees up half a car-length's worth of space, so that a decisive driver from another lane can immediately rush out of his lane and "cut" into our supposedly faster lane - this obviously puts us the drivers behind that slow-coach in a debilitating position because we're going nowhere behind the slow-coach.
He misses it once probably because he was slow on the clutch or the transmission.
He misses it twice because he was fumbling with the radio when the car in front moved.
He misses it thrice because the driver in the other lane was too aggresive.
He misses it again because he zoned-out after not having moved for the past hour or so.

By now any human with a limited lifespan and hence a shortage of time and much more likely a shortage of patience would've manifested his frustration either in the form of a hoot, or a more masculine winding down of the window and hurling obscenities over the din of engine rumbles. This might turn out to be a mistake if you ask me, or at least to the slow-coach that seemingly governs the traffic jam i call my life.

Upon exhibiting your frustration to the slow-coach, he now knows his actions are significant, and that his choices impact on your life. From now onwards, its no longer about driving incompetence or general sloth towards the predicament of traffic congestion, its about satisfaction.
From now on, he lets other cars come in because
he knows this transfers his increasing blood pressure from the stresses of life to you;
he knows every time he does it your fuse burns all that shorter;
he knows he's now enjoying his time alot more than he previously was;
he knows he's in absolutely no hurry at all but you certainly are;
and he knows there ain't a damn thing you can do about it because he's got a good lawyer.


Everything that has happened to me this year has been the above-mentioned traffic jam.
The happy moments were the times when the radio plays the songs you've been humming all day, and you temporarily forget you're actually stuck in a stupid jam. When the song ends you're suddenly pulled back down to Earth with the weight of the realization that reality is real (pun intended), and that the jam's still there and the slow-coach in front still requiring more brain power than you'd have hoped to move just that wee bit faster.
Exchange to NZ was nothing short of breath-taking, but it had to end, just like the song on the radio.
Every other disappointment is like the gleeful drivers that jump into our fast lane thanks to the slow-coach, to our detriment and to the slow-coaches' satisfaction at our displeasure.

Today another car just jumped into my lane.
NUS finally replied, and for reasons that have as of yet still escape me, my application to take DSC3201 Supply Chain Management in NUS has been rejected. I was told NUS students only bid for their classes about a couple of weeks before school starts, that means that there technically shouldn't be a problem about a shortage of places for me since i'm enrolling into the class way before the school actually starts. If it were a problem of pre-requisite subjects they would've mentioned it in the email or requested my school to furnish details of the foundation modules i've already covered in my past 3.5yrs. If they just didn't like my face or name they would've rejected my exchange application altogether rather than just reject the course i need.

I've already replied to the email and asked if a small leeway be made since i was in my final term and there weren't many other courses i could map back anyway, so DSC3201 was the only option available to me.
Not sure if the NUS administration has any pity left, what with all the stories i've heard of them.
Hooray.


In any case i'd rather end off my post with a slightly happier finale:
Belated birthday wishes to my cousin Tizi enjoying the Scandinavian summer.
Future birthday wishes to the lil'gal Cindy and to Rachel who's still enjoying the country i didn't want to leave.

Dr@n|xX at 5:53 PM