exams
Exam Playlist
Yesterday, I made my exam playlist. Here it is shuffled:
It consists mainly of songs I know fairly well but haven’t listened to for a while. Many of them are songs you can sing along to, just so I don’t fall asleep while revising. Some of them are less familiar to me and that’s to keep things interesting.
(You’ll spy Humpback Oak in there somewhere. Support local music!)
It lasts for about 5 hours, as you can see at the bottom.
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A-OK?
Results came out today, and as always, armed with the capacity to surprise. Overall, not too bad, not too good. Certainly I did worse for a couple of subjects than I thought I would, but the real surprise came in a B-. I thought I would have done significantly better for that.
I did okay for all the subjects I thought I had a real shot at. I had an A+, which was unusual, and it came in a subject that I didn’t expect to get an A+ for. Sociology, that is. I’ve never ever done Sociology before, and I wasn’t starting from the basics, and through the thing I was always aware that I found it slanting towards the challenging side, so it was really unexpected.
I didn’t screw up Literature, which was a kind of a perverse relief, I guess. I mean, it basically has no bearing on my work, but you can’t help relating the two somehow.
In all, I have to say I’m a bit disappointed, but just a little bit. It’s because I had a tiny good feeling coming from two of the subjects, but they evaporated almost instantaneously when the results showed up. Still, at least I didn’t goof too awfully. It just wasn’t as good as I had hoped for it to be, even if realistically my expectations weren’t too high.
On a side note, it wasn’t all that vexing checking the results this year, so I must congratulate the NUS IT department for apparently fixing things up properly.
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Unscheduled Downtime
So here is a post where I’m actually very sleepy. It wasn’t supposed to show up now, but there were some technical problems that I believe the Web Walrus has fixed. I mean, who else could have done such miraculous work? We were actually back up about 24 hours ago, I think, but I was out the whole day and didn’t get back to it until, well, now.
I’m very tired now. It is a good time to sleep. Particularly because I need to get up early tomorrow despite it being a public holiday. Of course, every time I say something like this, it means I probably won’t be sleeping any time soon.
Today was a particularly hot day. That is, even for our sunny country. I guess I picked the wrong day to have a rest. While I was doing my laces before leaving the house, I’d already begun to sweat. And of all things, I had to spend the whole day outside, walking in the open quite a bit too.
This looks like a busy weekend, and I’m not sure how much work I’m going to get done, but I’d expected weeks like this. It’s why I don’t feel particularly good about myself whenever I seem to be cutting into bonus territory. Typically it ends up being a sort of buffer for days like these.
The book club is… hmm, it’s probably too early to tell. I have cause for optimism and also cause for pessimism. I think we’ll see in a week or two.
I’m not particularly tired now, but judging by the structure of this post, my brain is already working out of order. Just let me ramble for a tiny bit more.
It was nice to see all of those friends today. Sure beats the typical stay-at-your-desk day, but it can’t happen every day. Partly because I need to work. Partly because they need to work. And partly because we would really get sick of one another.
I want to drop by at IKEA and get one of those glass oh wait I think I’ve mentioned this before.
Results are coming out on Monday. Exciting times, these. I don’t really know what to expect, particularly because NUS results days are like a whole season of 24.
Finally, I want to say that I just finished Flowers For Algernon, one of my first loves, for the second time. I think I look at it very differently now, though. I also bought a book for two dollars yesterday. It’s a second-hand (third? fourth? fifth?) copy of Imre Kertész’s Fatelessness.
Okay, I’m done for the night.
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Needs a break.
Chain Contingency
I need to do something different. One of these days, I always tell myself. One of these days. Then the next day comes and I’m right back at work, no variations, no weekends, nothing. Just work, work, work. (Not having weekends is actually nothing horrible except that it distorts your idea of the week.) It’s actually all going quite okay, but I’m afraid that it’ll affect me sooner or later, so I better get a contingency planned soon.
Diary of a Bad Ear
Meanwhile, I picked up a ear infection. The last time I had one, I was still in primary school. It was about the time we went for a sea cruise. I remember a few sadist doctors doing very mean things on my ear, such as attempting to wash it with a water jet. One of the specialists eventually (and I do mean eventually) came to my rescue with antibiotic eardrops. I’ve got those this time again and it doesn’t seem as serious this time. Fingers crossed.
Results
Oh dear, results will be in in a week and a half. I suppose there’s nothing that I should be worrying about, but you can never really tell, can you? If there’s one thing I’ve learnt in NUS, it’s that results have a tendency to surprise you. On a lighter note, I’ve tried not to spend my money on anything in this couple of weeks (and the one to follow) both because of the GSS and also because it’ll be nice to be able to buy myself a little something if my results turn out okay. I’m thinking something to do with clothes, though I haven’t made up my mind yet.
Beginnings
These are exciting times. The book club officially begins life on Monday. I don’t know if it’ll work. I can’t remember the last time I was so uncertain about any such enterprise, but let’s keep it positive, optimistic, and whatnot. I think it might stand a chance, but all I really can do is to make sure I do my job well as the proprietor. The rest of it will of course depend on the club roster. But it looks okay. I think it’ll be okay. Please be okay.
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Over!
Yeah, it’s all done.
The last paper was somewhat bumpier than the first five, but I suppose it wasn’t too bad.
Next on the menu? Hmm, I imagine I’ll be getting back to work soon enough. I’ve started also to list down all the little things that I have to get done as well, meeting this person and that, buying this and selling that, et cetera. I’m not entirely sure how that will all fit but I’m working on it.
In the immediate future, however, I’ve got a movie marathon lined up. I’ve bought some music too. And I want to do a little bit of shopping online later. Books. I’m sure all of this will help me to slow down a bit, as the Radiohead song goes, which is a really nice prospect.
I’m going to get this place back up to speed soon enough, though it wasn’t as if it was cruising or anything anyway.
My workload will depend on what happens in (I believe) a couple of weeks, so until then, I’m assuming the worst and planning that way.
There is something of an itch to get back to work, but there are so many other chores… And I’m a little restless right now, so I’m just going to take a bit of time to drift back into my sort of pace.
On a completely different note, my fridge broke down. It’s been almost a week, I think, since it happened. We’ve ordered a new one but Hitachi apparently has carried over the Labour Day holiday to Monday, so we’re still stuck with the old box until tomorrow. Since the breakdown, we’ve been buying ice to sustain some kind of cooling system, but it hasn’t kept us from throwing out lots of stuff.
Right, dinnertime. And shopping later.
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Exams are fun.
Who would’ve thought? No, it’s not the stress getting to me or anything. It’s just that this approach to the exams has actually been working, insofar as finding the exams fun can be considered as a sign of it working. I’m not quite sure how the results will pan out, but there’s only one way to find out.
So, five down, and it’s Friday, and things look fairly good. I’ve enjoyed my examinations so far, and there’s one more to come on Monday. The final frontier, in a sense. I’ve got three days to prepare. That’s probably more than I would’ve liked, partly because I’d naturally want to finish as soon as possible, and also because you tend not to know what to do with so much time on your hands. I’m essentially trying to space out my revision properly now, so that I don’t finish too soon.
That sounds absolutely ridiculous, but it’s true.
Yesterday’s paper was all right. I don’t think it did me any grievous harm, though sometimes it’s difficult to tell until you see your eventual result. I’m sure that I didn’t do as well as I could have, but the same could be said about most, no, all of the other papers because exam conditions tend to make me feel a little out of sorts.
What am I supposed to do after the exams? Well, that will take some sorting out. I better get to planning soon. To my mind, there are several little things, all of them minor, that require action. There is also work, and all of the associated things, as usual. I’m not convinced, however, that I have as many minor things to do as I actually think I have. Let’s see, I have to buy books; I have to meet a few friends; I have to start my book club; I have to wrap books; I have to do a bit of shopping (and I don’t even remember what I have to buy); I have to pack something in the house, I’m sure; I have to email a number of people; I have to say goodbye to a couple of guys too; I have to…
Hmm, yeah, better write a proper list soon.
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The worst is over.
Or at least I would hope so. Papers to come tomorrow and Monday, but I think I’ve weathered the storm. Things have been okay, I suppose, especially given the potential for disaster. So no, no disaster, and now that we’re on the home stretch, I’m just looking forward to getting it all over and done with.
Apart from random exclamations, the exams have also brought terribad haiku out of me. Witness the magnitude of utterly horrigible haiku:
Electric Ener-
Gee, I hope I do okay
Help sheet, please help me
Chain Contingency
Triggered by certain danger
Like 3401
Isn’t it just awful? I suppose it’s so awful that I can be proud of it.
Tomorrow’s sociology. I haven’t exactly prepared because I was in grave danger not so long ago, and I guess this means I should start preparing now. It’s social inequality, and how to deal with it, et cetera. Two essays. I hope they have interesting questions; I hope I know how to do two questions.
And Monday is BioMEMs, which is essentially a cute way of saying very small bioelectronic things. That’s kind of far from my mind right now because I still have sufficient time to make the final preparations.
So, off to my revision then.
Inequality
(Gah! that used up one whole line)
Have at you, Karl Marx!
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Exam Survival Kit
Music
- Narrow Stairs, Death Cab For Cutie
- Good Evening New York City, Paul McCartney
- 桑田さんのお仕事 07/08 ～魅惑のAVマリアージュ～ The Works Of Mr. K. Kuwata 07/08, 桑田佳祐 Keisuke Kuwata
- The Velvet Underground And Nico, The Velvet Underground and Nico
- All The Plans, Starsailor
Most of the time, music just keeps me awake so I don’t fall asleep halfway through my revision, but let me just say that I know the songs of 2 and 3 so well that it is often tempting to sing along.
Games
Well, I have to entertain myself every now and then. I was in the process of completing a Mass Effect 2 game, but I think I’ll suspend that. I started a new Metal Gear Solid 4 game yesterday under the influence of my friend who just got a PS3. (Congrats!)
I just have to play. Even for an hour a day or so. I would feel very unbalanced if I didn’t, and that definitely isn’t what I want going into the exams.
Idle Thinking
Any moment I can spare on “hobbies” is spent on thinking about how to implement my forthcoming book club experiment. I’m supposed to get that running in the holidays, and if it succeeds, that will bode well for the prospects of an actual book club in the future. Here’s hoping.
Rewards
To have something to look forward to after my exams, I’m going to buy a few books at the end of this. I might buy a couple of other things too. Call it retail therapy.
Specific to books, however, I’ve been going through my list, adding and subtracting, trying to work out a nice list to go all guns a-blazing on by the time I’m done with these pesky exams.
Miscellany
I’ve been trying to sleep earlier because it’s an early paper tomorrow and I need to get used to sleeping early. I hope it works. Most of my papers are in the afternoon, so it probably won’t be too bad, but let’s just hope tomorrow works out fine.
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Last Day of Sem 6
What a semester.
Today’s the last day. I have a test today.
Exams start next week. That startled me briefly when I realised that I have a paper on Thursday. I thought that it was illegal to have exams during reading week, but it’s not the first time I’ve thought wrong.
I have The Shining on video. I better get to watching it.
I’m suspending my writing officially soon. Maybe I did that a week ago or something, but I forgot, so I better do it again. I’ve written bits and pieces since.
The ideas are slowly filling up, so it’s fair to assume that we should be all right by the time the exams are over.
Will I be posting during the examination period? I imagine so, but in what manner and at what capacity I’m not entirely sure yet. We’ll improvise, I think.
Making new friends is always a nice thing.
Well, maybe not always, but most of the time.
The lift-building at my block continues.
Is it just me or are the StarHub ads for the new channel organisation scheme really badly designed and poorly written?
Finally:
I especially like the guy at about 0:36. My friend says that it’s like doing the 5BX. I guess I understand its purpose now. We can never over-prepare for killer giant piranhas.
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Exceptionally Unexceptional
Results
Results day came and went, and my results (as they so often have a habit of doing) turned out exceedingly normal. It pulled my cumulative grade point average up slightly, though that’s nothing to write home about. Still, I’m relieved to survive, though slightly unhappy that it’s not better than what it is. No room for regrets, though. It’s better just to keep your head down and carry on working at it the next semester.
Christmas Time
All right, it’s time to look forward to Christmas. The years have been unkind and I can’t do so with the same exuberance that I would possess when I was younger. It’s hard to look forward to anything when it feels like just the same old stuff year in year out. My family has stopped putting up trees.
Today I’m sending out some email greetings. Just simple greetings. I used to SMS people, but I’ve found that to be slightly on the troublesome side of things. So it’s emails this year. Simple, uninteresting emails, really. But we’ll see when we get to composing them.
I did send out a few cards earlier. I like mail. That is, the slow mail. The snail mail. The Please Mr. Postman mail. I like receiving stuff, but no one sends me anything, and I’m too lousy at sending people things. I’m trying to change that, of course, so this year, I’ve resumed what once used to be a family tradition. I sent out my own cards. It’s been years since I’ve done anything like that. Well, in fact, it’s the first time I’ve sent Christmas cards on my own.
I should make that one of my objectives for the upcoming year, sending more stuff to more people. In fact, I should make a list of objectives for 2010. Yes, I will do that next time. Maybe next week. In some post-Christmas pre-2010 post.
Couple Of Links
What various people read this year. [via The Book Bench]
Antarctic sea life. [via Mail Online]
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