*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
topic 1: internet death
it's been 2 weeks since my internet down time and 1 week since i've got it fixed. here i was thinking that ppl might actually bother to realize i, the eternally there msn camper, dropped off the face of msn messenger that whole week and be puzzled enough to come talk to me after that but apparently, i'm not as noticible as i hope.
anyways, the cause of my internet death is my screwy router. after 3 days of flaky connections, the router just plain gave up and gone to meet Hades. i had to bash the singnet help line after a day and in the end, after almost half an hour of waiting, they told me to arrange for a line check. and when the line check is done, they told me i hafta go to the modem company directly. that wasted about 2 days, excluding a sunday in between.
giving up, i decided to go sim lim to look for another modem upon my bro's suggestion, and what do you know, the voice message i left for the modem company got through and they called me back--when i'm already in bugis. told me to bring the modem down to their head office in pasir panjang for a check. -_-" got my bro to bring it down instead. no way in hell am i gonna go back to tampines to get my modem and go down to pasir panjang again. so my bro came home with a new modem coz they can't fix mine. i say new because it's new to me. it might've been used for all i know...
it was during the 1 week without internet that i realize i've gotten too dependent on the world wide web. i never thought that without such a technology could leave me feeling disjointed and detached from everyone. (on a side note, i had the most amount of downloads after that week. usually it's 3 or 4 but that week, i had like 10 dls going. it's scary... the lag's scary... hahaha...)
i ended up spending the internet-less week in front of the much neglected tv and woe is me, i am now a regular audience of a lot of taiwanese variety shows. all the less time to do some productive things like study. which brings me to topic 2.
topic 2: poly vs. uni
remember the good ol' days where you don't need to do tutorials beforehand to understand what the lecturers are teaching in poly? well, uni does not allow such luxuries. even if you were to read through the notes before you attempt those questions, there is a 85% chance that you wouldn't get what the hell they're talking about, much less understand it. and to top it all off, some things that might've been taught during year 1 are automatically assumed to be known in year 2 students, even if you are a direct-entry student who did not attend year 1 and skipped right to year 2. effectively, there is still a big gap between the poly and uni standards. quizzes in poly are a breeze but that's not the case in uni... it took me two quizzes to realize that if i don't study, i will definitely fail. so listen to me boys and girls. go hit the books pronto. ...then again, even if i did study, i might fail too. just not as badly as if i don't study. but it's still a fail, da?
time is also a big problem. i know singapore is a fast-paced society but this is ridiculous. 5 weeks and the quizzes start. another 5 weeks and they'll finish the semester. 2 to 3 weeks of revision and the main exams commences. just when i was getting in gear for some major understanding, they want me to regurgitate what they have taught. just when i was beginning to see the light, they shone a laser right into my eye. seriously, i don't know what all the rush is for. with the advanced standard of living and medical knowledge, we could at least be able to live til 80. so why are we cramming all the studying into such a short portion of time in our long life?
maybe it's just me who is taking life a little too easily but wouldn't it be better if we could just slow down our paces and just chew on what we've learnt. wolfing down food is gonna choke you to death you know...
topic 3: driving
12/09/2005 marks the day where i finally got my driving license! it's my 3rd try and i have clocked a total 72hrs of driving lessons. i have spent at least $1,800 on driving alone (lessons plus circuit usage plus test fees) and in another month, i would've been learning for a year (my first lesson starts on 20/10/2004). with so many numbers for you to choose from, you can go buy 4D or toto on wed, sat or sun. just remember to share your winnings with me.
my 1st test amounted to a total of 42 demerit points. the tester's maths fail so he wrote a 32 on the checklist instead. i got 40 demerit points in my 2nd test, all of which were mistakes that amount to 2 or 4 demerit points. the highest single demerit score is 6. my third is 12 demerit points, all of which were checked within the circuit testing itself. i don't know why he gave me 12 but if he were to really nitpick, it would've amounted to at least 35. i stopped a little too far in front during the slope, no backroll though (phew). i'm sure at some point, my gear isn't consistent with my speed. the traffic lights are faulty in one junction and i didn't stop in time for it. i ended up stopping in the middle of the T-junction instead. thankfully no cars are coming from the right but cars are turning from the left and i hafta edge out behind them before turning right at the junction. i thought for sure i'm a goner. the tester looks and sounds very strict and fierce. he didn't even bother ticking the list during the route driving and i thought he's gonna start filling the page when we get to the debriefing room but to my surprise, he just took a look at the paper and scribbled down a 12. O_O stun. shock. disbelief. so i took the paper with shaky arms and got to the video viewing room on shaky legs to watch the 8 minute footage that is being "bought" with almost $2,000.00 spent on driving lessons.
dubbed the very expensive and very mysterious videotape, the ceremonial video watching that is compulsory for all learners who passed was passed with a sense of relief and jittery laughter. the few of us from the same testing batch crowded around to share past failures, driving horror stories and common emotions. we've never even met before but we've all sat down like old friends, talking about our feelings of joy. that is probably the only thread that binded us together but it was enough. names were exchanged but i don't think any of us would remember them, just the moment we shared in that small room and the sense of camaraderie that existed briefly.
topic 4: you get some, you lose some
it's true that i've gotten my license today but unfortunately, my dad met with an accident at his worksite today. i guess my good luck is being drawn from his good luck so all he had left with is bad luck today. immediately after knowing this, my heart sank. all feeling of joy got sucked right out of me. i don't know how to comment on his injuries... if i say it's not serious, that's not true. it looks quite serious. he's lost a fair bit of blood and it looks terribly painful. if i say it's serious, that's not true either. he just got stitched up so hopefully he gets to be discharge tomorrow. thus i'm on standby the whole of tomorrow, ever ready to be mobilized to Alexandra Hospital to fetch him home.
(i actually didn't wanna put this section in but i might as well record it down. 12/09/2005 will be an unforgettable day in 3sa's calendar but just in case i actually manage to forget, i'll have my blog to remind me.)
/end update
0 shots