From observing the crowds in the library last week and today, it seems that people are generally slacking off this semester...myself included. i remember that in year 3, the library was crowded to the extent that some friends would come early just to reserve our usual tables. then again, our usual table is in high demand because it's next to a pillar with power outlets. these days, i can come into the library at 1:00+pm, and still find plenty of empty seats. not only that, the library seems to be clearing out earlier, too. practically a third to half of the tables become unoccupied by 7:30pm. i suspect that it's because most of the people from my year graduated already, and the juniors aren't as hardworking as to stay late. then again, most of the honours kids aren't staying late either. i remember that in year 3, we stayed back until closing time almost every day. now in our group, i'm the last to leave at around 8:00pm, 8:30pm latest. then again, i'm one of the few people with 3 finals. in fact, some of my friends have already finished their exams by now. the feeling sucks, but in fairness, there have been semesters where i've finished earlier than them (though not by such a large difference in dates). too bad the present counts more than the past, so i still feel pretty jealous of those buggers.

on the topic of slacking, i find that i'm quite guilty of that. worse still, it's my last semester! actually, i think it's precisely because it's my last semester. since we're in the same year, most of the chem kids are also slacking as compared to previous semesters (also partially because most of them have only 1 or 2 finals), which means that there's less positive peer pressure to study. the second reason is because my exam schedule sucks. this so-called second reading week really really feels like summer break has started already. i just haven't been as productive as previous semesters. like for instance, all i did today was start on annotating my asymmetric notes, go through kanji once, and sort out my japanese stuff, like various quizzes and assignments. not forgetting an about-one-hour nap, too. bleh. feels like i could have done way more. that leads to the next issue, which is...

...i don't know how to study for my last 2 modules!! seriously! my professor has kind of hinted that the asymmetric final will be more application-based ("synthesize this" or "what are the products of this reaction?") rather than theory-based ("why does this reagent lead to this isomer?"). and since it's open-notes, there's nothing i have to memorize, unlike bioinorganic. everything should be doable as long as i can find the relevant slide. as for japanese, i'm facing the usual problem, which is that i think i know everything, but when faced with the exam, i'll find out how much i don't know. and knowing the lecturer, goodness knows what crazy things he'll come up with. both my exams are next week, and it's killing me! i actually would be ok with having asymmetric on thursday, though i admit that i need a bit more time to re-familiarize myself with all the vocabulary for japanese.

to make things worse, tomorrow's a public holiday! the chem kids are planning on taking the day off, which means i'll be studying alone. so tempted to take a break as well, but i know that if i do, my momentum will be lost. besides, after skipping yesterday (woke up at 12:45pm), i can't afford to miss another day. for the sake of securing my second-upper, i will soldier on, though i will definitely be distracted. now, what could possibly distract me from studying? grad trip plans, that's what. sadly, the very thing which i was trying to prevent has happened. i had wanted to avoid this by sidestepping all grad trip thoughts until after my exams, but i realized that i had to get in touch with some people sooner rather than later, so that they had advance warning and could respond accordingly. currently, the plan is to spend a week or two in japan, followed by a few days in australia, then a week or so in new zealand. i am quite sure that my bank account will take a severe battering, especially with all the omiyage (souvenirs) which i have to buy. and i'm even thinking of getting myself a new gi (or two) while i'm there, too. saves on the shipping. nevertheless, oh my poor bank balance. on a not-unrelated side note, i'm always accepting donations! feel free to get in touch for my bank account number.

something else made me kind of minorly displeased. 2 of the CJC kids are brown belt, and are eligible to take black belt grading this june. i asked them to ask the coach for permission, as i had wanted to help prepare them by teaching sharing my knowledge of nage no kata (i'm not at all qualified to teach, which is why i use the alternative phrase "help them prepare for grading"). anyway, the coach said yes, but he asked someone else to teach them instead. logically, i have no reason to be anything other than relieved/happy, since the person that the coach had in mind is more qualified than me. but still, a part of me wishes that i could be involved somehow. maybe it's because one of the kids was my tuition kid for 2 and a half years, and i've seen the other kid since he was sec 2. well, at least i can let this one go without much of a fight. i think i would be much more upset if it was favourite SJI boy in question, especially since i've promised to make sure he's ready. the only thing that would make me accept that outcome willingly is if he himself told me that he didn't want/need my help...though i think i'm thinking too much and too far ahead for something that will happen a year later at the earliest.

for now, i've sent out the necessary emails/facebook messages, and am in the agonizing process of waiting for replies. it's more the australia/NZ side, actually. japan is more or less a go. hope i won't be too distracted tomorrow, and can focus on getting lots of japanese and asymmetric done.

-random thought of the day: Sleep cycle is kind of messed up after the wedding dinner.-

Don't know if i've mentioned it here, but i think wedding dinners are kind of a waste of money, and overall quite a hassle. it's part of the reason i don't foresee myself getting married in the future. but anyway, that's my own opinion. i was happy to attend my cousin's wedding dinner last night. it was held at the grand hyatt, which makes it the second time in 6 months i've had some reason to visit (the first being research group lunch last december). the place was nice, as befitting a wedding dinner. despite me saying that a wedding dinner is (once again, in my opinion,) not worth having, i quite enjoyed myself. got to see most of the cousins and nephews again, which was nice. other than CNY, the only other time i get to see everyone gathered together is at weddings or funerals. luckily it's the happier of the two occasions this time.

going for the dinner and hearing the best man's and groom's speeches made me think a bit. they've known each other since sec 1, which is a span of 15 years. while i have friends i've known for that long (i've known some for even longer), i'm actually not sure who i would approach to be my best man in the very hypothetical situation that i get married. looking at it from the other direction, i wonder if any of my friends would ask me to be their best man? i think i might be approached to be one of the groomsmen, aka. "brothers"...you know, those people that have to eat wasabi sandwiches and whatnot so that the bridesmaids will open the house door for the groom. but as a best man? i can't really think of anyone who'd ask. i suppose it's good as well, since i can go as a guest, be nice and relaxed, and not worry about whether the event is running smoothly among other organizational issues.

though i am not one for displays of emotion, i did feel a tear threatening to fall as the bride made her way into the hall. i think more than anything, the slow sad-sounding music was the cause for that. seeing the newlyweds together, and hearing the groom promise his bride all sorts of sappy stuff that he would not normally say in front of such a large crowd also made me wonder if i would ever find someone to whom i could do the same. as far as i know, out of the 19 maternal and paternal cousins who are my age or older, 12 are married already, and i think most of the non-married ones (save 2 or 3) are seeing someone. so maybe i'm not the odd one out (yet). well...as i'm fond of saying, things happen when/if they happen. though i'm kind of starting to wonder if i should be more proactive.

my cousin blogged about why she blogs, and gave me a mention! at least i think it's me...we have another cousin whose name starts with K as well. anyway, she mentioned googling herself, which made me try it out too. googling my full name came out with 2 relevant results...CJC's NYAA list, and the list of chem honours students from NUS. while i don't actively try to hide my identity, it's a relief to know that my name is not directly associated with this blog...except on facebook, where i have messed with the privacy settings so that only friends can see my website. as far as readers go, the people whom i know that read this are probably limited to that cousin, 1 or a few chem kids, a few judo juniors, and whoever clicks the link from my facebook. doesn't sound that little when you list them all out. but similar to my cousin, i don't really blog for an audience. sure, i use a conversational tone (like "you know"), but that's mainly to engage whoever reads, and it's kind of talking to myself, which i find helps me think more clearly. i'd still do it even if my readership fell to zero. one thing different about my style is that i don't name people. not even by their first initial. instead, i use descriptive names, like "SJI boy", "CJC kids", and so on. if someone from the correct social circle reads a post, they should know who i'm referring to...which kind of achieves my goal of being obvious yet ambiguous.

have i mentioned that i'm ridiculously excited about the prospect of getting a car? as much as i appreciate having the family car on weekends, the faulty transmission is kind of getting on my nerves. even though my second-upper is not confirmed yet, there is quite little chance that i'll go to second-lower. not that i'm going to start slacking from here on; a B- or C+ would most probably mess me up good. i also updated my grades spreadsheet, and found out that since my existing CAP is higher than 4, i actually have a tiny buffer zone, which gives me more leeway than i thought. while it's good to know, i worry that that will subconsciously cause me to slack. but back to the topic of a car. my dad mentioned that a good time would be after june, since there's some new law about car loans kicking in, which should decrease demand for cars. based on some articles i've read, though, the law's been implemented since this february...just that some cars are given a temporary exemption for some reason or another, and the last day of the exemption is 4 june. that means the earliest purchase date will be 5 june. i've also done a bit of number-crunching, and my dad was right. assuming i take a 40% loan over 2 years on an about-$35 0000 car, the monthly installment is about $700 to $800. sounds reasonable.

come to think of it, if you've made up your mind on a car, i think that it would be better to complete the purchase sooner than later. worrying about competing offers from other interested parties aside, the car has a fixed "death date", ie. date of COE expiry. no matter how well you maintain the car, you'll have to give it up on that day (unless you choose to extend the COE, which is a different story). assuming you don't do COE extension, there is a limited time for which you can drive the car. and each day you delay is one day less you get to drive around and get utility from the car. of course, the counterargument is that the price drops as time goes by, so by waiting a few days/weeks/months, you may end up saving hundreds (or less likely, thousands) of dollars. i suppose it boils down to how much value each person puts on the convenience of driving. obviously, my willingness to make a purchase as soon as possible shows that i value that convenience quite a lot. actually, i have this slight nagging fear that my dad is just humouring me, though i'm more or less sure he's not that kind of person. but well, we'll know closer to the date.

like i mentioned before, the upcoming week will be split between 2 modules. i'm actually not sure how to study for asymmetric. the only thing i know that i have to watch out for my professor's little tricks, like rotating the molecule so it's facing the wrong way, or hiding valuable information/answers in obscure parts of the notes (maybe even in a totally different set of notes). i think looking through everything again would be useful/beneficial. should also get started with japanese, particularly with remembering all the kanji taught this semester. homework aside, they weren't really reinforced in class or quizzes, which makes it more difficult to commit to memory. even though i know i can't take it as easy as last week, a part of me wonders whether i can find it in myself to study as hard as i should. here's hoping for the best!

-random thought of the day: Been plagued with DNS problems the whole damned night.-

Bioinorganic is over. was pretty much to expectations, except the lecturer tested the ballhausen-gray bonding scheme, which was kind of not really in the syllabus. i mean, it was covered in tutorial, but there wasn't much emphasis on it. granted that we should be able to derive it, but i still feel that it was somewhat of a troll question. at least i'll get some sympathy marks for drawing the structure of the compound in question. well, it's over, so that's that. i'm probably looking at a B+, or optimistically, an A-...hopefully no lower.

with that, reading week 2 begins. not counting this weekend, there are 7 days before my next exam (asymmetric on the following monday). this time round, though, i have to balance between 2 modules, since i don't think i can do much with the one day between asymmetric and japanese. i think asymmetric will be ok, so long as i annotate my notes properly. japanese...who knows? just going to study and hope for the best.

not really in the mood for anything involving brainpower today. and my cousin's wedding means that most of my evening and night will be burned, anyway. think i'll take it easy for now, and restart tomorrow, where the first thing i'll do to sort out the references for my asymmetric report.

-random thought of the day: Rest.-

Exams start tomorrow. i think i'm feeling ok, but there's a bit of uneasiness in my stomach. probably psychological, since i didn't eat anything new/foreign. managed to reproduce all the enzyme structures from memory earlier today, so i think i'm more or less prepared. will probably go through the stuff tomorrow, try to catch all the little details. just hope that the questions are do-able. if it's anything like the past few tests, i think i'll be fine.

i'm slightly worried about the transport arrangements though. you see, tomorrow also happens to be when my cousin scheduled his wedding. so, i think my dad will need the car to drive people around for their various errands...which means i'm stuck with taking the train to school and back home later. not that i mind...it just means that i'll have to get up earlier to get ready, that's all. which means that i should probably think about sleeping soon.

-random thought of the day: Wish me luck!-

2 days into reading week, and i'm already feeling restless. it's weird, because for the past 4 semesters or so, i've been lamenting about the lack of time during reading week. then again, i have another unofficial reading week after bioinorganic, so maybe that's why i'm not feeling the pressure yet. the only thing that i think could go wrong for bioinorganic is if i accidentally didn't study something the professor said was examinable (unlikely), or if i confuse cytochromes c and P450 (even less likely)...or maybe forget an enzyme structure or mechanism (hopefully impossible after studying). right now, i feel pretty good about the content, and that actually scares me. past trend shows that i tend to perform better for modules for which i'm not confident or even nervous about.

so i mustered up the courage on sunday night to ask my dad about a car. he seems pretty ok with the idea, actually, even initiating further discussion about car brands and models. i'm quite neutral about most aspects, though my dad thinks a sedan would be better than a hatchback since there's more space. while i don't think i'll need that much space for my stuff, a bit more space wouldn't hurt, especially if i end up driving people with bags and whatnot. the thing that bugs me a little is that a car is kind of an indicator of status. to me, driving a sedan means that you're somewhat self-sufficient, which i'm not. so i feel a little...guilty(?) getting a sedan. borrowing the family car doesn't count, since it's not really mine. i think i'd feel more at ease driving a hatchback. in fact, i'm kind of partial to the honda jazz, though my dad seems to be inclined to a mitsubishi lancer. while i'll try to gun for the jazz, i'm sure that i can adopt to a sedan if there are strong factors in its favour, like being ridiculously cheaper or something.

my dad also seems to be in favour of taking a loan, as he thinks that paying over time gives me a bit more disposable income every month in case of unavoidable emergency expenditure. while i see his point of view, i still would like to pay everything off at once. but not having the necessary financial resources will most likely mean that i have to go with his plan. not that i mind, since he says interest rates are low, and that it'll set me back by about $700 a month for 2 years. at this point, i should clarify that nothing's confirmed yet...not until i know i've secured second-upper. if all goes well, we're looking around mid-july-ish to early august to make the purchase. fingers crossed.

today, the most retarded thing happened. as i was walking fast to board the train to school, one of the anchoring points in my left slipper broke loose, and SOMEHOW, my slipper slid off my foot and into the platform gap. first reaction: like SERIOUSLY!!?? i approached the control station staff, who were very nice about it. apparently, it's not the first time something like this has happened. they told me that sometimes, even phones suffer the same fate. they said that they would go retrieve it after the train service ended, which was reasonable, i guess. (it also made me wonder how the people would feel, not having their phones for a day). but that left me half-barefoot. to my surprise, they actually had a pair of (slightly tacky/sticky) slippers on standby! makes me wonder exactly how often this happens. while i was overall impressed with their service (and extremely grateful), i found what the senior staff initially said to be rather...not thought through. you see, when i first told them about the problem, she said, "where are you going? is there somewhere that you can buy another pair?" somehow, i think she forgot to consider that even if i bought a new pair of slippers at my destination, i'd have to make the train journey there with one piece of footwear first, which would be kind of odd, even by my standards. i think it was a case of mouth-before-brain syndrome, but ultimately, no harm done. so i'm due to get my slipper back tomorrow, and return the pair which they lent me. think i should do the thing with the bread tag to prevent the strap from slipping again, though i wonder if the bread tag will fit the strap.

for yesterday and today, i've been leaving school early (between 7:00pm to 8:00pm). combined with the fact that i reach school late (around lunchtime), it seems like i don't get much studying done, right? actually, i think i'm making pretty good time! managed to go through the notes twice in 2 days. that aside, the other concern is that it's not worthwhile to stay in school for only around 6 hours (with only about 4 hours spent actually studying), considering the travelling time. part of the reason i've been leaving early is because the chem kids who are studying have also been going off around dinnertime due to other plans. think i should try to go earlier, or stay later despite the lack of people.

actually, i had reason(s) to leave early today. to honour a bet about my japanese grade which i made with some of the chem kids last semester, i went to holland village's crystal jade to make reservations for the xiao long bao buffet. the original plan was to call, but i read internet reviews which said that the phones are unmanned during busy periods, and it takes a while to get an answer, if you even get through. going down in person, i managed to settle it in less than 5 minutes, which was nice. just glancing at the reservation book, i really think that making early reservations is important. 2 and a half weeks in advance (which is what i just did) seems to be a very safe bet. and since i was in the vicinity, i also went to daily scoop to get my mint chip fix, which i have wanted for s little more than a month already. didn't feel like a month, though. guess i was kept busy with thesis and poster. i got a double scoop, mint chip and chocolate. good stuff! next time i think i'll get the same thing, but put the mint chip on the bottom. it may be a minor adjustment, but somehow i think it'll produce significantly more enjoyment.

last floating thought in my mind. if i don't abide by a certain rule, i cannot force others to obey it either. my secondary school teacher used to call it not having the "moral high ground". i realize that some people i know are like this, which sucks. one related idea is judging yourself more harshly than you judge others. like, i can't say someone is rude if i use profanities myself. sadly, these kind of double-standard people exist, which makes me wonder if they realize how stupid they sound. takes all of my willpower to not confront them about it. but oh well. there's only so much i can do in the face of such...brainlessness.

well, looks like it's back to the daily grind tomorrow. objective is to be able to accurately reproduce the various enzymes' active sites from memory by tomorrow night.

-random thought of the day: Ridiculously excited about the prospect of getting a car!-

Had wanted to go to school to begin studying today, but the nice weather made me reconsider. well...i figure 5 days will still be enough for me to tackle bioinorganic. after all, the examinable syllabus is only 2/3 of what we covered this semester. i should be able to get my head around it, especially since i've studied a bit of the content for the previous tests as well.

finally got round to opening my offer package today. didn't expect it to be so thick! there are various forms to be filled in, the most important ones being the acceptance and declaration forms. the submission deadline is 15 may, so i've still got a bit of time. will probably submit it on one of the days after bioinorganic. the process seems to be quite similar to undergrad registration, just that the medical exam seems to be more thorough. i somehow get the impression that i have to go for a blood test, which means scary needles. will cross that hurdle when i get there.

reading the package also helped me to confirm the graduation requirements. i have to read 6 graduate modules (well, more like 5 regular modules + 1 graduate seminar module), and maintain a CAP of above 3.5, which is a B average, and the equivalent of second-lower honours. not too hard, i think, considering my CAP has never dropped below 3.7 in close to 4 years of undergrad study. if anything, finding relevant, interesting graduate modules to take will be the difficult part. it's getting a bit ahead of myself, but so far, i've only found 2 that i would even consider taking: advanced organic synthesis (taught by my professor), and contemporary organometallic chemistry. still have to find 3 more...maybe supramolecular and environmental. of course, the modules (and lecturers) may change from semester to semester, so there's not really much point worrying now. just giving myself a heads-up for now.

i also read that undergrad modules may count towards CAP as well. this actually gives me a very strong argument to take japanese 5. for japanese 1 to 3, i've been getting As, and that has really helped to save my CAP. so, going by the trend, i should be getting at least a B+ for japanese 5, which would definitely help CAP-pulling. since it's also possible to take japanese on an S/U basis, the opposite argument works for me as well. seems like my professor has no good reason to say no, right? we'll see when the time comes.

all that aside, though, i saw this clause in the terms and conditions. it states, "The Scholar (me) undertakes to devote his/her full time and energy to his/her studies and to the best of his/her ability, apply himself/herself to his/her programme of study, to the satisfaction of the University". i don't remember agreeing to anything like this when i matriculated in 2009. then again, as an undergrad, i pay to study, whereas as a grad student, i'm being paid. so, it's natural that the terms are a little stricter. the underlying implication to this is that i probably can't do part-time jobs, though i think weekend tuition is still ok. to briefly go off on a tangent, it seems that favourite SJI boy is finding chem to be the most difficult of the sciences. from my point of view, though, he seems to be getting the hang of it quite well after some simple explanation. i figure that he probably won't need it, but in the event he's falling too far behind, i'm prepared to tutor him. back to the main point...i wonder how this will affect my plans of going down for SJI/CJC training at least once a week? even though my professor is quite lenient about how we schedule our time (provided we get our work done), i don't know if the department or university has set compulsory working hours for the grad students. based on some of the hours my grad student friends keep, i somehow don't think there's any such policy...which means i should be free to come and go as i please.

there's still a bit of reluctance at the back of my mind, actually. up till now, i'm still not sure that this is the life i want for the next 4 years. granted that i've done 1.5 years of research work already, so i should know the pros and cons. thing is, postgrad research is more demanding than undergrad research. even in honours year, i was able to take days off quite often...as in, not even come to school. i doubt that will be possible during postgrad studies. i just don't know if i'm prepared for another 4 years. well, at the worst case scenario, i suppose i can terminate my scholarship. good thing is that there's no bond. all i have to do is give a month's advance notice. don't think i'll do that, though, since it will be an extremely "burning bridges" kind of move. whatever the conflict, i'm actually pretty confident i can come to an agreeable resolution with my professor.

with a bit too much time on my hands, i started messing around with my grades spreadsheet again. after the poster presentation, i think the worst grade i'll get for honours is a B. in the event that happens, i'll need the equivalent of a B+ and 2 A- grades to get the bare minimum of CAP 4 for year 4. that actually doesn't sound too hard! my current prediction for my modules (based on the CAs) is B+ or A- for bioinorganic, B+ or A- for asymmetric, and A- or A for japanese. of course, that can change (for better or worse) after the finals. no point thinking so much now; just have to do the best i can for finals and let things take their course.

despite not having brought the topic up with my dad, i've been doing a fair bit of car research. at this point in time, i think an automatic transmission car would be better, as it's easier to drive. i'd really hate to stall a car in the middle of traffic. but even if i somehow ended up with a manual transmission car, i'm sure i'd adapt reasonably quickly. as for models, i'm ambivalent towards sedans or hatchbacks. a sedan might be nice if/when i have to ferry a large number of people around (say, if i'm asked to help entertain guests for SJF events, or driving the SJI/CJC kids to somewhere or another). but i think those occasions will be few and far between. brand-wise, i'm slightly inclined to honda. can't really explain it. i'm seeing the honda jazz (a car i actually quite like) going around the low $30 000s. but of course, i won't say no to a super cheap car in good condition from another brand. the most important thing for me is actually the registration date. since postgrad takes another 4 years, i'm looking for a car whose COE lasts until may or june 2017. subtract 10 years, and that's the registration date i'm looking at. the price for cars registered around that time varies from the mid-$20 000s to mid-$30 000s. not that unreasonable, i think, considering how much new cars go for. part of me wants to discuss this with my dad as soon as possible, so that there's more preparation time. but another part is telling me to wait until results day, when i know for sure that i've secured second-upper. maybe i'll casually mention my postgrad offer later tonight, and see where that leads.

-random thought of the day: My hair's growing out again.-

Oral interview yesterday went not so well. i mixed up the japanese equivalents of "seems to" and "heard that" despite reminding myself about it before the test. if that wasn't bad enough, the interview topic i got for my (no-nonsense, male) lecturer was "shopping". like seriously!? of all the topics i could have picked, it had to be shopping. well, it's over, so i'm not going to think about it too much.

today, i had the last lectures of my undergrad life. we had a recap and went through a past-year question in asymmetric, and my professor strongly suggested that we had to know one reaction very well. so...yes. we all know what that means. considering it's open-notes, i THINK i'll be ok. just have to do the necessary annotations. for the last lecture of japanese, we just went through some keigo and grammar. nothing really sank in, though. have to print the revision notes and take a look through them again. the lecturer also asked us whether we were planning to take japanese 5 or business japanese next semester. somehow, i'm more inclined to japanese 5 now, but that depends on who's teaching the module as well. of course, i may be getting ahead of myself, especially since the decision of whether i can take an extra module or not lies with my professor.

my conversation tutorial tomorrow is cancelled, so my reading week starts early. this semester, my exams are reasonably spread out. bioinorganic is first, on april 27 (the very first day of exams throughout NUS), followed by asymmetric more than a week later on 6 may, then japanese soon after on 8 may. the preliminary plan is to spend reading week on bioinorganic, then split the remaining time between asymmetric and japanese. a quick check of the exam schedule shows all my exams are morning papers. like seriously!!?? what are the odds?? luckily i found out early. the next question i have is when to begin studying? starting tomorrow would be ideal, but i don't think i'll do that. instead, i'll stay home and get most of my asymmetric report done, and review it sometime after bioinorganic, then submit before the deadline, which is the day of the asymmetric final. as for studying...i think sunday would be a good starting day, seeing as parking in school is free.

and speaking about free, i have to do a bit of financial calculations. according to my grad student friend, grad students don't get transport concessions like undergrads. this, of course, is an excuse reason for me to start doing car calculations again. but before that, there's the issues of grad trip and repaying the school fees which i have to take into account. for my grad trip, the plan is to go to japan for a week or two. all in, i'm projecting that i'll spend about $3000. this is after finding cheap accommodation and airfare, mind you. as for school fees, my dad used his CPF, and paid about $3000 per semester for 4 years, or 8 semesters. assuming no interest (i really don't know if there's interest or not), that's about $24 000 in total. the NUS research scholarship gives me $2500 a month (not sure if subject to CPF deductions, let's assume no) for the first year or two, which increases to $3000 upon passing of the qualifying exam. based on what i have in the bank, i plan to pay off half of that sum after getting my first month's allowance/pay. then, the remainder will take me another 6 months, assuming i save $2000 a month. so, it seems like i can only start saving for a car next year at the earliest. and based on my recent research on car prices, saving up for a reasonable second-hand car will take me a bit more than a year (assuming i save $2000 a month again). by that time. i should be in the middle of year 2, which means i get to drive for only a little more than 2 years, assuming i go to japan in the same year that i graduate. i'm not looking at bank loans, by the way. don't want to pay the interest. i see paying interest as unnecessary expenditure.

of course, the age-old question has to be raised again...is it REALLY necessary? strictly speaking, no. if my seniors can plan their time such that they keep regular hours and take public transport to and from school, i'm sure i can, too. and public transport is definitely cheaper than driving everywhere. even taking a taxi everywhere is cheaper than driving, after factoring in the car maintenance and petrol costs. but driving comes with other less-tangible benefits, like really 100% freedom to go anywhere (unless the car is in for servicing), not having to deal with jammed taxi booking hotlines at peak hours, train breakdowns, and assorted other problems, not to mention the extreme destressing effect i get while driving. also, the thing that's different about grad students is that they have this small black gadget called a transponder, which allows after-hours access to the lab and some other places (depending on how it's programmed). so, unlike undergrad research students (ie. honours and UROPS), grad students have less incentive to keep regular hours. meaning that if i wanted, i could work from 6:00pm to 3:00am (not that i'd be that crazy, but it's technically possible). with this new-found freedom, there's more motivation to get a car, as the operating hours of public transport would no longer be a constraint. i suppose that i could compromise and get an off-peak car, though with the hours i plan to keep, i'd most likely spend more time in school than at home. actually, no. if i had an off-peak car, i probably wouldn't even drive to school. can you imagine being in school by 7:00am every day? do you know how early i'd have to wake up? well...maybe i'll discuss the idea with my dad after postgrad studies begin. he might be able to pay first, then we can work out an installment plan between ourselves.

i had wanted to go for one last judo training session before buckling down to study for exams, but it seems like SJI has already stood down for mid-years. not sure about CJC. think i should ask around a bit. i may still be able to make saturday.

-random thought of the day: Why's it so ridiculously hot even at night!?-

Poster is over! yay semi-rhyme. it went better than expected, actually. both my examiners came before lunchtime, so i finished relatively early. i think most of the organic professors made the effort to come down early to put us out of our misery as soon as possible. for instance, my professor, who is usually never in school before noon, showed up bright and early today. maybe the planets were nicely aligned or something. while the presentations went smoothly, i realize i forgot to mention one quite important application of my project. nevertheless, both examiners seemed happy enough, asked questions which i could answer, and were quite positive with their comments. i hope they mean it, unlike some professors who are all smiles and encouragement but end up giving a B at best. as far as i know, both my examiners aren't that sort. to my horror, i discovered a small typo error in my poster as i was presenting to the first examiner! and if that wasn't bad enough, my friends pointed out another one to me later. thankfully, i had the presence of mind not to draw attention to it, and just skimmed over while presenting. i must also have been extraordinarily blessed, because the examiners didn't notice the errors. or if they did, they kept quiet about it. lesson learnt: keep up the confident façade and you can sweep minor errors under the carpet.

with that, our honours project has officially concluded. we (4 honours kids, 1 grad student, and 3 other friends) celebrated by heading to star vista (my first time there!) for dinner at manhattan fish market. the first time i remember visiting manhattan fish market was quite a few years back, in sec 4 or J1. comparing then and now, i think it lost something intangible. back during my first visit, it just felt higher-end than fish and co., which was/is their closest competitor. now, i'd rank them at about the same level. maybe they changed their image to be more student-friendly. my friend and i split a flaming platter. was nice, though i personally would have preferred more rice instead of fries. for dessert, we went to blackball, which was recommended by one of my juniors in his food blog. not being one for taro, sweet potato and similar yam-like things, i just opted for grass jelly tea. i liked it well enough...though i thought that $3.80 was a little steep for what was basically a typical grass jelly drink, but with a whole block of (very soft!) grass jelly instead of the usual strands.

here's something left over from the last 2 posts. in the excitement over poster and whatnot, i forgot to mention that i've got a conditional offer for postgraduate studies in NUS. the condition being that i maintain my second-upper, of course. now that the FYP is over, i'm not too worried about my grade, because based on the way things went today, i am a little bit more confident that i'll be able to get at least a B+ for honours. what does bug me a little is the thought of 4 more years of lab work. while i do like lab work, repeated failures do kind of dampen the interest/passion. i actually haven't even opened the package yet! some of the other chem kids who are likewise staying on say that the deadline to accept the offer is 15 may, which still leaves me about a month. all in good time, i think.

japanese oral interview tomorrow. i tried to get a bit of studying done while waiting for the other chem kids to finish, but that didn't work out so well. the plan is to meet my partner in school at 2:00pm, and go through the stuff again. i'm just hoping that my lucky streak from today lasts another 18 hours or so. that's not too much to ask for, is it?

-random thought of the day: Standing for the majority of 7 hours is bad for my knees and feet.-

Was a little carried away by my rant yesterday, so much so that i forgot that i had some additional points to talk about. my friend, senior, and i went to balestier for bak kut teh once the competition ended. there was a pretty long queue at founder's (my first choice), so we tried 333 bak kut teh, which was a short walk away, and pretty empty. after having dinner there, i can kind of understand why. although it's cheaper than founder's (we paid $23.50 for 3 people, so about $8 each), it loses out in terms of taste. the soup was nice and peppery (plus point), but i thought that it was diluted and lacking in flavour. there wasn't anything really outstandingly good. to be fair, there wasn't anything outstandingly bad, either. i guess it's an alternative if you're in a rush and don't want to spend goodness knows how long queueing for founder's.

dinner was followed by dessert at rochor tau huay. standard stuff, though i somehow feel that the standard of their grass jelly drink deproved. or maybe i'm being fussy...i don't know. at any rate. it was a nice, full conclusion to a somewhat sian day.

today, i had my last japanese tutorial. turns out i still didn't get full marks for the previous week's vocabulary quiz. as far as i can remember, i've not scored a single 10/10 this semester. or if i have, it was a one-off thing which i've forgotten about. nevertheless, i think my average for 12 quizzes is still hovering at about 9, so i'm in a relatively good place.

went to put up my poster after tutorial. since i was a bit early, i didn't see everyone's poster. but there'll be plenty of time for that tomorrow. looking at the posters on display, i see some which i think are better than mine, and also some which i think are worse. normal, i guess. quite a few of my friends (some chem kids and 2 other honours students from my lab) are in the same row as i am, so that's some moral support.

since my professor cancelled asymmetric today, i had an extraordinarily long wait before bioinorganic. the lecturer finished the syllabus, and we got our second test back. i got 83/100, which became 87/100 after i went to ask the lecturer a question. the original goal was just to find out why i was marked wrong, but the lecturer ended up giving me the 4 marks which he'd deducted previously. so that was a nice stroke of luck. i really wonder how i'm doing for bioinorganic. based on the scores which i recall for the tests, i've got about...34/40 for the CA component. looks decent to me. hoping that my final will do decently enough to give me an A- at least.

now, here's the main thing i wanted to talk about yesterday. have you ever let something bother you more than it should? something's been sitting on my mind for a while now, and it's bugging me something fierce. normally, i wouldn't give things like this a second thought, but in this case, it involves someone i care for more than a typical friend. kind of sucks. but well, if they choose to react that way, there's nothing much i can do except move on.

poster is tomorrow! i feel mildly nervous. hope both examiners will come nice and early tomorrow, then i can call it a day early. that'll give me more time to float around and see the other posters, too. which reminds me. i should probably iron my shirt and maybe make some backup schemes in preparation for the examiners' questions.

-random thought of the day: Feeling out-of-sorts.-

Tomorrow's the start of week 13, ie. the last week of school. i seriously don't know where all the time went this semester. honestly, i really don't feel like i have learnt all that much from the lectures, nor made any significant progress for my honours project. but my examiners don't have to know that, do they?

last update was on wednesday, which means i have to catch you up on 3 days of events...or 4, including today. don't worry, it won't take that long. thursday was normal...went through the asymmetric mid-term. don't think i've mentioned it yet, but it's the first mid-term in NUS which i got full marks for. i have to admit, it was easy since the answers could all be found in the notes. the news for japanese, on the other hand, was not quite as pleasing. i got 32.5/50, which sounds decent enough before i tell you that the average score was about 33. this is the first time in 4 japanese modules taken over 2 years i have scored below average for the mid-term. mainly lost marks in the multiple choice and reading sections. i swear, there is a special place in hell reserved for the person who came up with the "one or more options may be correct" thing that the japanese lecturers use. on the bright side, the mid-term may not be worth that much...though we'll never know, since the mark breakdown is a closely-guarded secret.

friday was the last japanese conversation tutorial, which was sad. i think the tutor only teaches up to japanese 4, so i may not see her if i can continue to japanese 5 and beyond. conversation tutorials are the most enjoyable of all my classes, i think, and it's quite sad to not have them any more...though not having to memorize the conversations is quite a big plus point. after that, i presented my poster to my professor, and had to make some more changes. something about it not flowing nicely. but that was subsequently rectified, so no problem. i also met my oral interview partner for a practice session...basically, just running through the sample conversations in the textbook, and trying to work with each other. she's actually my first choice of partner among everyone in the tutorial class, so i kind of lucked out. i guess that also means there's a bit more pressure to perform, but i think we'll be fine. we've both identified keigo (polite/formal and honourific/humble speech) to be the main killer, so i guess i should look through it a few more times...along with smoothening out my speech.

presented my updated poster to my professor yesterday after group meeting, and had to make YET more changes. finally got the OK in the afternoon, and went down to peace centre to print it. saw a couple of NUS kids along the way, too. seems like the printing shops get a surge of business around this time every year. got my poster printed, plus a matte laminate, for $16. i think the shop overcharged, but i'm not really that concerned, since NUS subsidizes up to $20 for poster printing. it looks pretty good, i think, and i just pray that everything goes smoothly for the presentation on tuesday.

today was...interesting. went to watch the national judo championships, where i saw what i thought was substandard refereeing. not all the referees, of course, but a select few. even though i'm not the best referee out there, i think i would have done better than the 2 or 3 people that i'm referring to. but then, it's hard to say. backseat refereeing is always easier since (1) you're not in the spotlight, and (2) you don't have to account for your decisions. the other thing that i saw makes me seriously worry for the future of singapore judo. i've mentioned this before, but i think it's worth several more mentions until something is done. i REALLY have a problem with coaches disputing or trying to influence the referees' decisions. i don't mind if they yell advice to their own players...but even that is controlled at the international level (coaches can only communicate with their players during matte, and not when they're actually fighting). but to have a coach yell for scores, fouls, and whatever just looks ugly. i mean...coaches are supposed to be role models to/for their players, and them yelling at the referee implies that it's ok for the players to follow suit. this mentality will carry on when today's players become tomorrow's coaches. really head-shaking.

what makes it worse is that the coach whom i noticed today has been doing it at the national schools. you have no idea how much i wanted to issue her (big hint to her identity) with warnings during national schools. but since i was not the main referee during the bouts when she did that, i couldn't take action without it looking like i was overstepping my authority. it's not even like some of the other coaches, who just yell scores and fouls. she actually goes, "eh, referee! what are you doing?", which is not only rude, but undermines the referees' authority. in fact, i take it as an insult! and the thing that REALLY tops it off? apparently, she's a certified referee as well. makes me wonder if she would fare any better calling a match. since i've only seen her referee once sometime last year, so i don't have a solid impression...though i do wonder why she doesn't take on more refereeing assignments. well, i just hope i don't have to work with her any time in the future. and if this continues, i may just be tempted to lodge an official complaint.

incidents like this increasingly shake up my faith in singapore judo. as much as i want to contribute, i feel that whatever good i do will ultimately be undone by these sorts of people. and there's the whole political situation, which i don't want to be a part of. think i'm better off sticking to CJC, helping to coach the kids and imparting what i think are good/correct values to them. before that, though, i have to tackle next week. poster presentation plus oral interview. here's hoping everything goes smoothly.

-random thought of the day: Make back-up diagrams!-

At this point in time, i find myself again with feelings which are hard to describe. most of them are positive (for a change), so that's a good sign. there's one negative bit, which is regret/embarrassment. as much as i'd like to talk about that first, i can't do that without giving the background. before all of that, i guess the most important thing i want to say is that favourite SJI boy got gold! i think the words which can be used to describe the extent of my happiness, relief, gratitude, and pride haven't been invented yet. for a rough measure, just take how you think i'm feeling, and raise it by power 10 or so. up till now, i'm still having some difficulty believing that i somehow contributed to this. but i can't/won't take much credit for this. the fact remains that if he hadn't been able to use my advice/suggestions effectively, i might have been talking to a block of wood for all it mattered. anyway, let's run through the match, and i can explain why i was embarrassed. by the way, i wasn't refereeing, or even corner-judging for that match, since SJI was playing.

it started out ok, normal grip fighting and all that. favourite SJI boy got a shido for being defensive, which was fair. he threw the other guy for a yuko, then went into groundwork some time later. at that point, the other guy just stopped moving and laid totally flat on the mat. the referee, being concerned for the guy's safety, called matte. while what he did wasn't wrong (he was concerned for the athlete), i think he should have examined the situation for a little longer before he made any call. but that's just my opinion. i'm not qualified to teach anyone how to referee. seeing that something was amiss, the referee director called them in for a conference. that was also when i kind of strongly voiced my opinion that it was a valid hold, and time should not have been stopped. do you see the problem yet? basically, it was the tone i used when trying to convince them, and the fact that i was even trying to convince them. very unprofessional! i should have said my piece to the referee director in private, or better yet, kept my mouth totally shut. i was asked to leave them to deliberate, which i felt was totally appropriate. after the conference, the decision was to reset them into the hold, and resume the timing, after which he won by ippon, as expected. i think it was a good thing i was called up to referee right after his bout, because i think that if i had the opportunity to talk to him just after he won, i may have cried (or at least teared) on the spot. talking to him after a significant delay helped to keep my emotions in check. i also broke my rule for once, and took a photo with him after the prize presentation. couldn't bear to dampen his mood, i guess.

coming back to the embarrassing/regretful issue, i whatsapped the referee director later on to apologize to him. he was very nice about it, and that makes me determined not to repeat the same mistake again. he also said that i need more exposure, and with that, such a problem is not likely to occur in the future. i think i may have to sit far far to one side so that i don't affect or influence the referees in any way. either that, or i have to master my emotions more. the referee director said that we have to control ourselves before we can control the players, or our opponents. as cheesy and zen-like as it sounds, it's true. that's something i have to work towards.

maybe it was because today's matches were all finals matches, but more odd situations presented themselves than usual. some rarely-used rules like sono mama (freeze in groundwork) were used, and the kids didn't know how to respond. just my luck to have been the main referee, too! while i could say that the coaches should have taught the kids, i also understand that the situation is actually rare enough that we don't really expect to see it in competition. in fact, this is the first time in my referee life (close to 10 competitions over slightly more than 2 years) that i've used it. as such, i was also a little unsure on how to apply the gesture. the referee manual said to apply pressure on both contestants, which was what i did. turns out that wasn't enough. the referee director's feedback was that i should have grabbed them hard enough to stop them moving. well, now i know, for future reference. we also gave a hansoku make for diving, which led to a minor uproar. still, same as yesterday, i stand by my decisions, especially after they've been reviewed by the referee director and federation president (who's an IJF international referee). to sum up this refereeing experience, it was definitely a good learning opportunity, though i would have liked it to be smoother. i am mildly concerned whether i can make IJF continental by 2015, and after that, whether i can live up to that badge. but let's focus on working towards SJF A referee first. one step at a time.

after the competition, i bought ice cream for one of the ex-CJC kids, whom i apparently owed ice cream to for a medal she won last year. i think this is the first competition in which i've spent more money than i earned from my referee allowance, mainly on food for some kids. but it's worth it, though. i remember watching a youtube video saying that money actually can buy happiness, provided it's spent on creating memories and accumulating different experiences. we had an interesting conversation over the ice cream, and somehow, she came to the conclusion that i don't like myself, which eerily echoes favourite SJI boy's sentiment a few months ago. i wonder how they arrive at this conclusion. but anyway, it seems that i have to do something about my life, and further details will be revealed in due course.

even now, i'm still feeling the urge to scream my joy from the rooftops (then again, that might be due to the ice cream). a part of me still wonders HOW ON EARTH we pulled it off (me more than favourite SJI boy, actually; i always knew he could do it), and what i did to gain his trust. another part of me is extremely grateful/honoured to be receiving trust of such magnitude, and that makes me want to do everything i can to keep him at the top of his game. like i've told several people, what we accomplished in 6 days (or 3 days of actual face-to-face interaction) normally takes a few months, and most of that time is spent for the coach and athlete to get to know each other and build the large amount of trust that's required for a good relationship. i definitely have to give credit to him for faithfully and actively doing the relaxation and visualization exercises, and for taking the plunge to invest such a significant amount of trust in me. strangely, a part of me still feels like crying (in happiness) as i type this. seems like i'm taking this win more seriously than i thought. wonder what favourite SJI boy would think if he saw this.

since the nationals are over, it's back to real life. have to catch up for the bioinorganic tutorial, which i missed due to schedule conflicts (long story). that aside, have to see if my professor approves of my poster, and if he does, find a place to print it soon. not to forget studying for japanese oral interview. the lecturer seems to be trying to squeeze a disproportionate number of activities into 10 minutes. i really hope things go well.

-random thought of the day: Why hasn't my sprained finger healed yet!??-

Unloading time again, going to make it quick, because i have an early make-up class tomorrow before the last day of refereeing.

as expected, the first draft of my poster got torn to shreds by my boss. basically, it's not informative enough, and the layout and colour combination kind of suck. so, i've done a major major revamp, and have draft 2 almost ready. think i'll send it to him tomorrow, after i figure out what to do for my conclusion, and how to make it more appealing.

today's refereeing was...tiring. we were a little shorthanded, but somehow managed to pull through. i learned my lesson and ate something before, so no horrible gastric this time. of all the decisions i made (or contributed to) today, one of the more significant ones i remember was giving a HCI boy hansoku make (outright disqualification), because he turned his back on his opponent and walked away as time was running out and he couldn't catch up on score. it's not sportsman-like, and was extremely embarrassing to watch. naturally, the coach wasn't happy, but well...we can't please everyone. actually, we may have come down a bit harsh on him, but that's also because he had also expressed his buay song-ness earlier in the match. whatever the case, i stand by this decision, and am sure that the other referees do as well.

favourite SJI boy is through to the finals! seems like my psycho-ing did do some good, after all. for it to work so quickly means that he trusts me to some large degree, which makes me incredibly happy. i just hope he can maintain his form and get gold. goodness knows a win would make my subsequent job SO much easier. that's not to say that i can't continue with him if he gets a silver, just that it'll be more challenging. we'll see what happens tomorrow, and work from there.

-random thought of the day: Favourite SJI boy's handwriting could be better.-

Studying for my bioinorganic test and japanese quiz (tomorrow) should be my greatest priority now. yet, nothing i'm reading is sinking in. think that i should blog to clear my head a little first.

thursday wasn't that happening, except for the fact that i witnessed the worst presentation in my NUS life thus far during asymmetric. there was this masters student whose presentation title was dihydroxylation of allenes or something like that. but she spent all the time talking about alkenes. turns out she didn't know what an allene was. admittedly, it's easy to make a typo between the two, due to the proximity of the K and L keys (which is also why i like typing my initials). but you'd think that she would have checked her title before sending it in to the professor, right? not only that, her presentation was basically copy-and-paste from the reference. how do i know this? (1) she read off the slides and her script without looking at the audience even once, and (2) based on her pronunciation alone, i bet you there's no way she could have written what she tried to say. i gave up trying to understand the presentation by the second slide. it was actually quite painful to watch! hope my presentations never end up like that.

had refereeing on friday. let me just state now, for the record, that refereeing on an empty stomach, especially under the stress of nationals, is an extremely bad idea. i started feeling gastric-like symptoms later into the day...which i thought was weird, because there have been days in lab where i have worked from like 10:00am to 9:00pm without ever stopping for meals! guess i didn't take the stress factor into account. another reason i think i felt the stress too much was because i couldn't get to sleep on thursday night! for the first time this semester (or maybe this academic year), i lay awake in bed for 5 hours, tossing and turning before falling asleep at about 3:30am...only to awaken at 7:30am. that may be why i had an involuntary afternoon nap just now. come to think of it, it may not have just been the stress from refereeing. favourite SJI boy messaged me as i was heading to bed, telling me that he had lost his appetite, so a part of the worry/stress definitely came from there as well...we'll talk about that later.

as for refereeing itself, i think it's a little less smooth than last year, probably because the referee director is interrupting the contest to get us to review the videos more often. it's not necessarily a bad thing, since these are valuable learning opportunities. and based on the video, a fair number of scores have been changed to more appropriate levels, which i suppose is more fair to the players. personally, i know i made one timing error in the calling of matte, and may have given a few scores too high or too low. but ultimately, i think everything was rectified, and nobody lost when they should have won, or vice versa. i'm still rather annoyed at some coaches (and spectators, to a lesser degree) for "backseat refereeing". makes the job that much harder, and contributes to the stress. also, there was one rather prominent incident, where a raffles boy ran out of the competition area after winning his bout. i wasn't the main referee (or even refereeing) at that time, but if i was, i would have at least called a conference to deliberate on disqualifying him. such behaviour actually reflects really poorly on the coach, the school, and everyone the kid is associated with. and in the interest of full disclosure, i have to admit that an SJI boy was disqualified for elbowing his opponent. don't know what possessed him; i'll talk to him this coming tuesday, when it's the B-division individuals.

now, about favourite SJI boy. i had a long talk with him after the competition, and it seems to me that he's taking on more stress than he can handle. from our conversation, i've found out that based on 2 tests, he's left-brained. also, his parents have high expectations of him, as do his friends. and he's trying to live up to these expectations, and takes it very badly when he doesn't/can't. i've mentioned this before, but the thing that throws me off is that talking to him, you'd think he's 4 years older than he actually is. so, i keep assuming that he's capable of dealing with the pressure, but he's not! and it's not his fault, it's mine for assuming too much. i have to remember that for future reference. so, i've decided. he will be my responsibility from now on. similar to what my coach did for me, i will do my best to look out for him, and keep him on then right track. really makes me believe that karma exists. but i suppose it's giving back, paying kindness forward, or whatever other similar phrases that mean about the same thing. right now, i think we got off to a good start, but he's still a little doubtful...which is perfectly natural/expected. in fact, he asked me why i was willing to do all this for him. if you know me as well as i think you do, you should be able to guess my answer. simply, there isn't one. i'm working on my instinct here. i think this might be a rare second chance, for me to make up for the other time when i tried to do something similar, but ended up failing horribly (yes, it's a that person reference). this time, i am hopeful that things will go better.

guess that was pretty much most of the stuff that was on my mind. time to focus on bioinorganic and japanese. with any luck, i'll do decently for both.

-random thought of the day: My left toe feels...disconnected at the first joint.-

Most major piece of news these few days: my thesis has been submitted! what a weight off my shoulders. the plan was to submit it today, actually, but my friend caught me printing it yesterday, and dragged me to go hand it in together with him. that resulted in me being free today, which means if i had planned for this earlier, i might have been able to referee today. but i didn't, so oh well. i'm a little annoyed that i misread my professor's email, and didn't change one formatting error he highlighted. but well, given my heck-care mood yesterday, it's not like i would have changed it anyway. so...yes. i trust the examiners have better things to do than scrutinize my work.

since i was free today, i went to watch the nationals before my class at 4:00pm. not having been a spectator in the last few years (always refereeing), i was unaware that spectators now needed tickets to enter the venue. and i didn't bring my referee badge with me either, so the officials had to verify my identity with the referee director. but since i wasn't scheduled to referee today, i couldn't be allowed in from there either. to cut a really long story short, i was somehow allowed in in the end. watching their matches was...painful, to say the least. all the tiny mistakes, not attacking enough, getting caught by the stupidest things...looks like we have a lot of work to do. there's one thing i remember in particular, which is the question favourite SJI boy asked me after he lost to raffles. i won't say what it is here, but it broke my heart when he asked me that, because i could sense all the uncertainty radiating from him. nobody should EVER have to ask their senior-figures that question. i swear, it caught me totally off guard. and i guess it was also then i decided that i would ask the coach for permission to help with his mental training. i really see something special in him, and my goal is to bring it out before the next nationals. that also means i got to do some revision on mental skills training. goodness knows it's been a while since i've had to use it for other people.

watching the referees in action was also a bit interesting. since i was far away, i couldn't really see the throws as they happened. but interestingly, most of the scores i gave matched the actual referees' scores. and being a spectator also made the referees' mistakes more obvious than usual. must remember that when it's my turn on the mats this friday. also think i should brush up on the rules, and go by the book, so that other spectators will not have reasons to find fault with me.

other than refereeing, i also have to study for next monday's bioinorganic test. should be doable over the weekend, although just looking at the enzymes yesterday gave me a mild headache. guess it'll take a while longer to sink in. better prepare for a weekend of increased brain activity...not to mention planning my mental training stuff. and honours poster...that too. should get a draft to my professor...tomorrow or friday latest?

-random thought of the day: Got a good partner for Japanese oral interview! So lucky.-