Checking out the phones at nex actually raised more questions, much to my annoyance. nevertheless, getting to interact with the phones first-hand was somewhat helpful.

to give myself more options, i tried out both the galaxy s2 and iphone 4. yes, i know i want to get the iphone 5, but there's no sample for me to test...not even a prototype. so, next-best alternative. hopefully the iphone 5 looks similar to its predecessor. anyway, i assessed both phones on some criteria (some of which are based on stuff i normally use in phones), and the results are as follows:

looks/physical
the iphone wins this one for me. i like the minimalist approach to the layout. the metal and the separate volume buttons appeal to me too, as does the silent mode switch. for some reason, i feel that the samsung is a little too thin for its area...i don't feel safe/confident about putting it in my pocket. i know that dropping any smartphone is bad, but if given a choice, i'd feel safer dropping the iphone as compared to the samsung. minor point against the samsung: it looks kind of funny to have a phone that size against your face while answering a call.

first impressions/user-friendliness
this may be a little biased, since i've had exposure to my friends' iphones. overall, i find that the iphone interface is less intimidating. the android operating system strikes me as being more geared towards power users/tech geeks (no offense intended). on a scale of 1 to 10, where 1 represents casual user and 10 represents tech geek, i'd say i'm about a 5.5 to 6. i'm definitely not a hardcore user, and this has some implications which i will discuss later.

text input/messaging
despite hearing how difficult it is to type on an iphone, i personally found no problem with it. i got almost 100% accuracy over 4 or 5 short sentences. autocorrect was helpful too (once again, despite all the stuff i've seen on facebook). maybe i'll have to use it more to grow to hate it. as for the samsung, i was quite intrigued by the swype input. while i like it for the novelty factor, i wonder if i'll grow tired of it, just like the handwriting recognizer on the omnia. as for accuracy, it performs slightly worse than the iphone, but i hear swype is a learning/adaptive software. as it is, i'm pretty happy with its accuracy, what with so many different people trying it out. for this aspect, i'd say both phones are even.

camera
both phones have similar camera interfaces. touch the screen to focus, touch a button on the screen to take a picture. it's quite disappointing to not have a physical button to press for taking photos. i'm judging this based on hardware, and the samsung's 8 megapixel camera wins over the iphone's 5 megapixels. this is very subject to change, since i've been reading rumours about a better camera in the next iphone.

cost
here's the confusing bit. the samsung was released later than the iphone, and yet, it's cheaper! samsung has a $50 lead over the iphone here, though i suspect that the additional purchase of a memory card will ultimately make the samsung more expensive. even then, it's bound to be cheaper than the iphone 5 just after launch.

after my little review, i realized that each phone wins 2 categories, and they tie for one. thing is, the iphone won in the 2 more important categories, ie. looks and user-friendliness. before i reach a conclusion, here's the thing i wanted to discuss:

do i really need either of these phones?

the answer is, of course, no. all i really die-die need out of a phone are calling, SMS, alarm clock, calendar. camera's a nice bonus, but i'll survive with a camera-less phone if i have to. internet access is nice for times when i need to check something up urgently, though it's not essential either. similar story for GPS. come to think of it, smartphones are mainly used for internet access. with me not having a twitter account (and having no plans to get one) and considering that i deactivate facebook during the semester, it doesn't seem logical/practical for me to be using a smartphone. i don't know...it's cool and all, especially with the touchscreens and whatnot. not to mention the games.

new development! as i was typing this post, i posted on facebook, asking my friends to tell me something negative about the iphone and the samsung. one friend basically condemned the samsung, making it seem like trash. so...that's a very strong minus point. maybe i should wait some more. but unfortunately, this is the best time for me to get a new phone! you see, phones are cheapest when you sign a new plan. if i sign a plan now, it'll expire in july 2013, which is when i'll have graduated from NUS (assuming i'm doing honours year). that's also the approximate time for JET program applicants to fly to japan. so, things fall nicely into place. if i wait for say, december to sign, i'd have about 5 to 6 months of my plan left to go at the time of flying off. but then, there's a possibility that i'll be furthering my studies in NUS (if my CAP allows for it), so i don't know. it's a very unpredictable situation.

enough about phones for the time being, since it looks like i'm in for more waiting. taking advantage of the fact that i was at nex, i went to the huge pet store for a look. the dogs were so cute! i did feel quite sad for them, though, as they were kept in cages/enclosures with nobody to really pay attention to them. makes me think twice about getting a pet from commercial pet stores. who knows what mental/social issues the animals may have developed?

well...it's getting late, and i'm going off to bed. nothing has changed from the previous post, so life is still going to be relatively slow-paced in the near future.

-random thought of the day: Coraline was good!-

Days are passing at a reasonable pace, and there hasn't really been much going on. life is nice and slack, and for the most part, i'm content.

sadly, that's all going to change in another couple of weeks. school's about to reopen soon, so i foresee a sharp increase in my stress levels. so far, module bidding's been pretty smooth. secured my 3 cores (organic synthesis and spectroscopy, instrumental analysis, advanced experiments in physical and analytical chemistry) already, and i'm just waiting for the elective bidding round to start. for my electives, i hope to get japanese 1. not sure what to take for the last elective. right now, i've put financial accounting there as a placeholder. while i don't think i'll mind taking it (since it's S/U-able), i have my reservations too. well...see how things go.

currently, my timetable looks bad compared to last semester. i have 8:00am classes on mondays and thursdays, and if i feel up to it, NUS judo training in the evenings. if things go according to plan, tuesday will be my busiest day, because i intend to put my full-day lab session there, along with japanese class in the evenings. wednesdays and fridays look clear for now, but i'm expecting them to fill up with tutorials (japanese alone has 3 tutorials!) and possibly the last module's lectures. not to mention i'm planning to go for evening runs a few times a week with some NUS friends. taking all that into account, i think that it's a good idea for me to not go back to CJC for at least 2 months.

looking at my core module choices, i think i may have made some questionable choices. my interest lies in organic, though my ability is somewhat lacking there. and after last semester's analytical fiasco, i can't believe i'm actually willingly taking a related module! then again, these choices are the least of the evils. there are 5 core chem modules being offered in total this semester, the aforementioned 3, one called physical chemistry of the solid state and interfaces, as well as another lab module. taking both lab modules in one semester can only be described as "suicidal", so one of the lab modules has to wait. as for the theory modules, it is only logical for me to leave physical out, since it's the area in which i suck the most. either way, i'm not expecting level 3 chem to be easy, so i'll just have to bite the bullet.

before school starts, there are some things i want to do, and some decisions i want to make. things to do include cleaning up and some reorganization...pretty routine end-of-holiday stuff. maybe some shopping, too. interestingly enough, shopping is somehow linked to one of my decisions. i've been contemplating changing my phone, to either the iphone 5 (when it comes out) or to the samsung galaxy s2. here's the sort-of issue...i don't NEED to change my phone. despite the reduced battery life, calls sometimes not going through, dead GPS, and the increasing lagginess, my omnia is still capable of basic phone, SMS, alarm and calendar functions. getting a new phone now is definitely more of a want. and while i can afford it, i still feel a little guilty(?) about spending the money. after all, it's not necessary expenditure. if i want to change phones now, the galaxy is the default choice, because the iphone 5 isn't out yet.

you know, i've had the omnia since january 2009, which makes it about 2.5 years now. strangely enough, i don't feel very attached to it. as in, i haven't customized it very much (the wallpaper's still the default one), and it just feels like a phone i'm using...not MY phone. yes, i know the idea may seem weird, but that's the best way i can express it. so, to change or not to change, that is the question? there's no guarantee that i'll be any more attached to a new phone than i am to my current one. i suppose there's one way i can sort of find out, and that's to head down to the starhub shop at nex (probably) tomorrow so that i can check the phone out. gives me an excuse to get out of the house, too.

other than that, i think that it's going to be a relatively quiet 2 weeks ahead. aside from module bidding, potential library trips, some meet-ups with friends, and MAYBE one last cooking experiment, nothing seems to be on the radar. it's good i suppose, having some quiet time before being flung back into school life. lets me figure my priorities out for the upcoming semester.

-random thought of the day: My sleeping habits get worse as school's about to start. Odd.-

Big update time! i've been feeling tired for the past 5 days or so due to refereeing and recovering from the stress, which is why updates have all but dried up.

wednesday was the last day of refereeing, and in my opinion, it was the best day overall. by "best", i mean best for the referees. no major bombs that i can remember, and the referee director even said we refereed well for the last few matches. while i'm happy that it's over, i'm also looking forward to the next round of refereeing...which will probably be sometime in september at the earliest.

there were major plans for thursday...none of which came to fruition. i just couldn't be bothered to get out of the house to do stuff. so, those plans got pushed back to friday, where i went to the bank, then did some grocery shopping at the new fairprice finest in j8.

each of these events sounds boring if i just stop here, but there's more. they actually represent 3 topics i want to talk about today, namely judo, money, and cooking. for judo, i realize that i have to start following a training regimen. i've known it for a while already, but the major revelation came today, when i went to crash the raffles judo coach's club's training. after a reasonably light to moderate intensity training session, i realized that my grip strength was totally gone. now, it's about 2 hours later, and my hands still feel kind of sore.

you know, i've often said that theory and practical are two different things. it's true in my course of study, as well as in sports. as a trained coach, i definitely have the know-how to come up with a training plan for myself. in fact, my senior gave me one when i was preparing for grading earlier this year. so, resources are easily at my disposal. and yet, i just lack the motivation to start. one factor could be because i'm doing it alone, and the other factor is because i have to overcome high inertia. looks like i need to find exercise buddies, and seriously commit to a plan of action. can't let my fitness deteriorate any further. next issue...what can i use to motivate myself? second dan grading is too far off into the future to do any good...maybe IVP? we'll see.

a clear distinction lies between "want" and "need". it's especially apparent when it comes to money. for some odd reason, my parents decided to start giving me money again — but i don't want it. after experiencing limited financial independence (limited because i don't pay the utility bills, internet bills, and other assorted household costs) thanks to army and tuition, it feels weird taking spending money from them. i'd describe this as a case of don't really need, and don't want. as a middle-ish class singaporean, more money is always welcome. but where the money comes from is important too. i may have given back 7.5 months of tuition earnings (based on me seeing my current kid once per week) in one cheque, but my heart feels good after doing it. at the end of the day, i guess peace of mind's what's really important.

last bit about cooking. my modules for next semester aren't confirmed yet, so i don't know whether i'll have a free day. even if i do, the time will probably be spent on lab reports and japanese. therefore, i think i can safely say that my kitchen experiments will range from none at all to the extremely simple. with this in mind, i figured that i should cook while i still have the time. over the next week or two, i'll probably do vegetable soup/stew again, as well as give the avocado dish another try. since fairprice finest is more or less operational, i'll see what else triggers my inspiration. right now, fresh oysters come to mind.

ok...that was last week in 7 paragraphs. summer's 2 weeks from being over, and round zero of module bidding is already underway. i still need one last elective module! sian. guess i'll continue asking around to see what others are taking.

-random thought of the day: I hope that I won't regret taking Japanese in NUS...-

Short update today...over the weekend, i didn't do much, just caught up a bit on reading, and learnt a bit more japanese. didn't have tuition since RJC girl was sick, so i'm expecting that she'll schedule a makeup sometime soon.

what i really want to blog about are the events that just transpired today. namely, refereeing for the national judo individuals. the first half of the day wasn't so bad, but the second half was terrible. as bad as it's going to sound, i was spacing out quite a bit, and had a severe blind moment. in my defense, though, it was because i worked continuously for the first 3 hours or so, causing fatigue. more importantly, there wasn't any grave injustice (or any injustice at all, i think), so that's somewhat mitigating. oh well. i may have gotten bombed by the referee director, but i'm still alive. live and learn. the "newbiness" reason/excuse can only cover me so much. i definitely have to improve, fast.

today's experience has kind of spoiled my mood. have to read over the rules once again, then i'll probably have an early night so that i can be extra alert tomorrow.

-random thought of the day: Tomorrow will be better.-

No point in starting a new post for another short update, so i'll just carry on. today went, in my opinion, better than yesterday. fewer judgement errors occurred (for me at least), though the number hasn't hit zero yet. room for improvement definitely still exists.

during his debriefing, the referee director told us to imagine that we were competing, and to make decisions that were fair to both contestants. while i know others may not feel the same (based on some reactions earlier today), i can quite confidently say that my conscience is clear, and that i'm ok with all the outcomes.

just as we should put ourselves in the athletes' positions, i sometimes wish the athletes considered things from the referees' point of view. i mean, do you think it feels good for me to award the match to an opposing school? as much as i want CJC to win, professionalism and impartiality come first. i don't know...making tough decisions sucks. perhaps the rule about not refereeing for affiliated schools should apply to corner judging as well. the misery of being criticized for our decisions would be reduced. just a thought.

anyway, tomorrow is the last day, and thank goodness for that. fun things are only fun up to a certain point. beyond that, it becomes tedious, stressful, annoying, or otherwise not fun. well, it'll be ok. with 3 days under my belt already, tomorrow should be smooth.

Has it really been 9 days since my last post? i must have put off updating for longer than i'd intended. bearing in mind the fact that my memory isn't exactly perfect, please do expect some things to be left out. but hey, if i can't remember it, it probably isn't that important anyway. what i CAN remember, though (in rough chronological order) are: training, jelly, glasses, cooking, coaching, refereeing, overdue books, more coaching, various outings, and training (again). yes...i think that about covers it.

my involvement in the bowling nationals ended yesterday. as expected, no top 3 (not even top 10, i think) placing, but hopefully no bottom 5 finishes either. can't be too sure about the latter statement, since i know the girls bowled below expectations. well...it was mentally draining, but at least it's over.

you know, i'm beginning to wonder if it was a good idea for me to be coaching bowling. considering that i'm more or less a recreational bowler now, my knowledge isn't being constantly refreshed, like it is for judo. putting it in terms which most students will find easier to relate to, i feel like i have a PSLE certificate in coaching bowling, compared to an A-level certificate for judo. yes, the gap is at least that wide, if not wider. kind of ironic, since i got NCAP level 1 certification more for coaching bowling than for anything else. things change, huh?

in addition, my boss hasn't exactly been supportive. no wait...let me rephrase that. my boss has been harsher in pointing out my mistakes, which i suppose is normal after taking my experience thus far into account. worse is that my mistakes are being highlighted even more, since my senior (who bowls for NUS) is helping with the coaching as well. my PSLE qualification can't stand up to their bachelor's/doctor's degrees. personally, i find that they're nitpicking over something trivial, but they have the experience, so i'll take their word for it.

i think i'm hitting a wall in my bowling coaching. i'll most probably never coach past the secondary school level, and quite honestly, i'm losing the motivation. my boss prefers making champions out of nobodies, but i'd rather build upon a good foundation, as far as bowling's concerned. for judo, i don't mind laying the foundation myself...simply because i'm more confident in my ability to do so. and i suppose that's another key issue — confidence. having said all that, i think i should tell my boss that i intend to stop coaching after this year. all in good time, hopefully.

moving on, "jelly", "glasses" and "cooking" all happened over the weekend. to fulfill a promise i (oddly) don't remember making, i made konnyaku jelly for the saturday turf city gathering. a week has passed with no complaints of stomach upsets or food poisoning, so i think it was pretty much a success. i wonder, though, how many people actually guessed what i used as the main flavouring agent? here's a hint, if not a dead giveaway: the jelly turned out purple in colour.

collected my glasses at bukit timah plaza after private coaching with some (3) of the primary school kids. they look fairly good, and everything's a bit clearer with them on. had some trouble adjusting to them initially, but things are mostly ok now. funny thing i noticed is that there's a reflection of sorts in the lens when i'm looking at a computer screen. thinking that it was a defect, i went back the next day to get it checked. the optician sent the glasses back to the lens manufacturers, who did some checks, and after 5 days, finally determined that nothing was wrong. guess i'll have to get used to that little line. it's not really a major distraction, but it does pop up in the peripheral vision now and then. oh well. adaptation.

after sending my glasses in, i met up with my judo senior, who happens to live within walking distance of bukit timah plaza. he got wind of my avocado disaster on facebook, and offered to show me how it's done. short digression for background info: i attempted the avocado recipe my cousin gave me. the avocados i bought were all too unripe, and the final result was that i chucked everything. while reading through wikipedia after that disastrous attempt, i learnt that avocados ripen off the tree, so it's necessary to buy them a few days in advance and store them at room temperature. back to the main story, the avocados were significantly riper this time, and resulted in a pretty good final product. have to try it myself again sometime.

usually, i joke about how i'm getting old. but this time, i clean forgot my library books' due date. ended up returning them 6 days late, and paying a $3.60 fine. 15 cents per day per book doesn't sound like much, but multiply that by 4 books and 6 days (which is a factor of 24), and it comes up to something more significant. it's the price of forgetfulness, i guess.

refereeing at the nationals has been a fun experience so far. i'm still not perfect (made some minor mistakes), but overall, i'd say my performance was passable. can't wait to do it again this coming week!

in the past week, there have been a number of meetings with friends from NUS and CJC, in spite of the busy schedule. i met my JC classmates for supper and KTV this past monday, and again on thursday at the airport, since one of our friends (the friend whose sister i tutor) is going to norway on exchange. believe it or not, i haven't seen some of my classmates since results day in 2007! catching up with them and finding out how they're doing was definitely a highlight of the week. as for the NUS kids, the last time i met them was in way more recent history...in the weeks to months range. nevertheless, catching up with them was interesting as well, since a couple of them started their internship(s?). all in all, i've not been lacking in social contact.

training today ended on a pretty heavy note. with the exception of 2 J1 girls who read my blog, i think everyone else was surprised when i announced that today was my last training session in the near- to mid-future. i've explained the rationale here before, so i'm not going to waste space to do it again. i think that it was kind of good timing for me to exit with the people who i taught. part of the reason i don't want to go back that much any more is also because of certain people. if i'm going to be blocked on facebook and all communication is going to be cut off, i'd at least like to be informed beforehand, and better yet, be told why it's happening. the best analogy i can think of is like someone being executed without knowing what his crime was. ah well...dwelling on this matter is not going to help my mental state, so i'll stop here.

whoa...that was another pretty long post! still, i didn't go into as much detail as i would have liked about some things. but i think i've bored you enough as it is already. tonight is nice and cold, which is great for sleeping. it also makes we want to curl up on the sofa to read a book. think i'll finish marley & me before i turn in tonight.

-random thought of the day: It's nights like this when I really wish I had someone special. Damned hormones.-

Getting up before 8:00am during summer break should be a criminal offence.

i'm definitely convinced of that after waking up for coaching at the primary school nationals. today was the first day, and so far, we're doing ok. better than last year, but still lots of room for improvement. personally, i'm not entirely happy, because i still see really idiotic errors (like zero on first throw). but i suppose i can be sort of satisfied with their performance. considering that they're primary school kids who don't train regularly, it'll do.

the last time i fell majorly sick was in january, where i was incapacitated over a weekend due to the flu. i'm thankful that i've been in excellent health (physical injuries aside) for the semester. with such a long streak of non-illness, i'd actually be surprised if i didn't fall sick for the rest of the year. hence, i kind of expected that something would get me down about now. as it turns out, it's a minor stomach bug. except for a bit of pain now and then, i'm mostly ok. at this point in time, it's more of an annoyance than anything else. my boss hypothesized that the stress of nationals might be affecting me. if that's true, i think it's on a subconscious level, because i don't actively feel stressed over the competition. bleh. who knows how my mind works?

my forecasted plans from the last post were pretty accurate, with just a couple of modifications. i didn't end up going to school to search for the professor. instead, i gave him a call. turns out he's not offering UROPS positions this year. so...the prospect of me doing UROPS is fading fast. oh well. at least i have enough modules on standby.

another modification to the original plan was me having to pay a parking fine. apparently, my dad forgot to renew the car's season parking before he flew to vietnam. i was really surprised when i saw a parking ticket on the windshield. thinking that it was a mistake, i called up LTA, which directed me to HDB, where i found out about the expired season parking. so, there was a detour to settle all that somewhere along the way yesterday.

yesterday was also when i went to meet my cousin. we had dinner at parkway, then dessert at sogurt, and drinks at mr. bean. sogurt tastes strangely like frozen vitagen/yakult. i wonder if there's a relation? food aside, we also talked about various topics. something i notice is that the topic of investment and finance-related stuff tends to come up. not surprising, because that's his major. i've considered doing some investments and stuff like that, but i don't trust myself since i have zero knowledge about that sort of stuff. of course i know "buy low, sell high", or "buy high, sell higher". what i don't know is what's considered high and low. confusing.

the blogging mood suddenly evaporated. guess it's because i'm feeling tired despite skipping training and having a short nap this afternoon. planned events for the next 2 days will most likely go on normally, except that i have to do a bit more experimentation in the kitchen. other than that, that's it for now, i guess.

-random thought of the day: Excited about refereeing!-

About a month has passed since my previous fully-free weekend. while it's nice to have a break once in a while, the fact that it's summer anyway, and that no tuition = no money, makes me think that this break was kind of poorly-timed. nevertheless, nothing i can do about it.

i've got several blogging prompts from 2 posts ago, but i'll talk about them a little later. first, i want to briefly recap the past few days' events. thankfully, my eyes were back to normal (as normal as "normal" gets for me, anyway) when i woke up on thursday morning. the weather was nice and rainy, so i decided to rot the day away. plans changed when my boss SMSed in the midst of my rotting. initially, the message was bout the competition dates. but somehow or another, the conversation led to heading down to dempsey road for a fish head curry lunch. the curry was good enough to the point where i wouldn't have minded a bigger head. pity that it's so out of the way...i;d be fine with visiting more often.

went for CJC/SJI training on friday. the competition's slightly more than a week away, and personally, i feel that some of the CJC kids are inadequately prepared. i think that they could benefit from learning some mental training techniques, like visualization and self-talk. maybe i can give the interested ones a crash course on wednesday. too bad i'm involved in refereeing, and cannot interact with them in a non-official capacity while on duty. so i can't give them last-minute advice, or help them to calm down/fire up. well...at least the coach and other seniors will be there.

yesterday was pretty eventful. went down to turf city in the morning, then to vivocity's carnivore after that. the reason for heading back there so soon was because we were having lunch with one of our friends, who is scheduled to be travelling a lot in the foreseeable future. so we wanted to catch him while we could. after a (very, very) heavy lunch, we had a round of drinks at brotzeit (i think that's how it's spelt). i had this sprite and beer mix. pretty light and enjoyable, and i preferred it to the coke and beer mix some of my friends had.

following that, we went down to bukit timah plaza. since we were there, i got my eyes checked, and after that, made an on-the-spot decision to get a new pair of glasses done. after all, my current glasses will be 4 years old this october. while i can still see decently enough through them, the optician said that the arms were misaligned (probably because i had one of them replaced), and that's kind of affecting the glasses' performance. so, i decided to go for black, half-frame glasses. the frame's arms are (1) plastic and (2) not spring-loaded, which is kind of worrying. knowing how well i take care of my glasses, i wonder how long these will survive. nevertheless, i'm kind of excited about them, too! the lenses i got are advertised as being easy-care and very resistant to abuse, so i'm looking forward to see how well they live up to that. not like i'm going to deliberately smash them with a hammer or anything...i just want to see how easy "easy-care" really is. i'll only find out when i collect them next saturday.

ok. now to get started on the prompts. from two posts ago, they are: avocados, moments of serenity/thoughtfulness, forever/always, manga, finding someone, and potentially messing up a friendship for a relationship. they're not all related, by the way. starting with avocados, that one's simple. on previous shopping trips, i've been eyeing the avocados on display in NTUC. while i really want to try cooking with them, all the recipes i've googled so far aren't appealing at all. either that, or i don't have the right equipment (like a blender) to make whatever they recommend. maybe i should just get one and eat it as a fruit? sounds possible. to be honest, part of the fascination is because i saw how chefs deal with them on youtube. they cut it in half, twist the halves apart, them jam a knife into the huge seed to remove it. i'd love to try that out sometime.

back when i was younger (about 6 or 8 years old), i remember going down to my void deck one evening to play. at the bottom of the stairs near the blind corner mirror, i happened to look up...and saw everything tinted gold by the setting sun. the magnitude of that moment was what i'd imagine a religious experience to feel like. no matter how many times i've tried to recreate the moment, i've never been successful. maybe it's because i've grown up, or the memory was exaggerated/distorted to begin with. anyway, it could be because of that memory, but i've always enjoyed the transition periods when day turns to night or vice versa. that seems to be the best time for me to take a break and stare at the scenery. not to mention it's calming. guess it's also because while growing up, i've always used that time to think about stuff. so...yes. those are the most peaceful moments of the day for me.

the concept of "forever/always" (used interchangeably in this paragraph) is kind of scary. before this year, i didn't really think much of it. but after making one thoughtless promise, i realized that forever is a really long time! i had naively thought that my perceptions and feelings would remain steadfast no matter what, but apparently not. well...lesson learnt, and that's enough said about the matter.

manga and finding someone are, oddly enough, related. reading manga has become one of the most effective time-killers for me now. somehow, the stuff i've been reading leans towards the two genres of romance and school life. i sense some subconscious thing going on here. maybe i should actively try and put myself on the market...or not. the plan now is to focus on studies. i won't fight for a relationship, but if the opportunity comes, i don't think i'll say no. damned hormones.

last thing on the list. one of my facebook friends posted something comparing a friendship to gold being melted in a fire. if the gold is strong enough, it'll be purified and refined. if not it'll be destroyed...something like that. cheesy as it sounds, i think that it does carry some value. as much as i would like to take the plunge, i do not think the risk is worth it for two reasons. i treasure the friendship too much, and there is a much higher probability of rejection than acceptance. so, unless the proper conditions are met, this will just be on backburner.

ah...talking about everything like that is kind of liberating. now, time to look forward! seems like my slacking will be coming to an end once the week starts. monday's plan isn't solidified yet. i'm thinking of going down to NUS in hopes of catching that elusive professor. if not, i'll probably be doing quite a lot of cooking. either way, it'll be busy. the primary school nationals are on wednesday, so i'll be coaching. in view of that, the coaches will be going down to the school on tuesday for a mental preparation session/pep talk. while i think it's too soon and too short to have any effect, you never know. those ARE primary school kids, so it's difficult to predict anything as far as they're concerned.

in addition to the official stuff, i have to meet my cousin and my JC classmates, tentatively scheduled on tuesday and thursday respectively. and of course, there's judo training on wednesday and friday. i just hope everything falls nicely into place, and that my minor stomach upset resolves itself before the hectic period.

-random thought of the day: Finish katakana by Tuesday.-