20081023

Of things and more things to get done

5 piano pieces that I hope to go through by the end of December holidays:
- The heart asks the pleasure first
- Scarlet
- True Light
- Big my secret
- Fantaisie - Impromptu (Op.66)

5 assignments that I have to get done by the end of December holidays:
- Physics revision packageS
- Maths revision package
- Chemistry revision package
- General paper holidays assignment
- Geography reading materials (measured a few centimetres thick)

5 books that I want to finish reading/reread by the end of December holidays:
- The 5 people you meet in heaven
- The hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy
- The kite runner
- Life of Pi
- 100 years of solitude

5 other random things that I want to at least touch on by the end of December holidays:
- Going through algorithms for 4x4 Rubik's cube
- Making at least 5 birthday cards
- Finding 9 new Messier objects
- Collimating Meade 8"
- Family portraits

Never set goals for manga/anime/drama. It's gonna be exceeding your expectations anyway.

20081020

Orionids


Here comes the last Orionids of my JC life.

With the goal initially set as "a night of gathering, not stargazing" (quoted JP the chicken), it was more than what one would expect. I got both. 

Stargazing, certainly. Sky was not exceptionally good, but it was just enough. Not like there's anything interesting with autumn sky, especially when you're in Singapore. Still, I learned a couple of few things. (That the C8 is heavily out of collimation. And M93 looks like l_c_ p_nt__ according to Mr Mooey).

Gathering and socialising were more than just good.
Because there were random people turning up. Really, like people unrelated to astro. More like, people related to people who are related to astro. Which is to say Singapore is small, or the astro community is just very well-connected.
Because there were weirdos. Weirdo no.1 and weirdo no.2 and weirdo boss and possibly all other kinds of weirdos coming from the same school.
Because talking crap was entertaining as ever.
Because taiti (oh heck the spelling) the ultimate astro game never failed to make me happy.

All just made it ever so worthwhile. Not only because of astro per se but also thanks to the people.

And er, it was the first star party that I slept more than 1 hour although sky was good. 
I'm telling myself not to do the one thing I've done after several star parties.

20081015

Of promos

That's my 1-year worth of notes, measuring 27-cm of thickness, with human geography crowned as the thickest. Next year it will be 2.5 times the amount, and even that is a highly optimistic projection.

Promos.
I don't exactly want to say I did okay. "Okay" on its own is a rather arbitrary adjective, and I deem comparison as a fairer assessment of how I fare among my peers. Everytime this comes, I would be wondering where to look, at those top above or just below, and how I measure against them. Percentile (which is yet to be released) is not entirely accurate either, for my aims at various subjects differ. A 85% percentile for GP is not the same as one for Physics, and in the first place I don't know where I am supposed to be.
One thing is for sure. I obviously did not spend much time mugging. Which shows its consequences through Chemistry, and maybe Physics. 
Geography results gave me this feeling that I just got rather lucky, and DRQ scores do not measure up with essay scores. Taking into account the fact that it was the other way round for Common Test, I suppose I'm messing around with this and not getting the hang of it. Not at all.
Same goes for GP. God knows what can be done to this. More blog-hopping?
I'm only ever contented with Maths, which would just make some go "duh!". Ah well~

I'm not one of plans and goals. The INTP in me only feels motivated and satisfied by the process rather than the outcome. 
As such, I'm telling myself now to just start on the revision package already; the supposed "fun" will persist longer than enough for the entire holidays. And no plans. NO PLANS. No setting goals to finish half of Physics package before mid - November or whatever.

Just that I still haven't bought TYS Physics and Chemistry. Now where has my money gone to?

Sometimes I'm glad I'm kinda nerdy.

And sometimes I feel puzzled by the fact that NJC papers are ALWAYS harder than other JCs. What for? At the end of the day it would just look bad on our certificates.

20081012

Emo warning

I just had a brief nervous breakdown an hour ago.
A piece of news came in. Right in the middle of my dinner. It managed to make me lose my appetite, which, I tell you, is an impressive task, considering the fact that I only ever lose my appetite because of the food itself (you can go on about how easy a life I've been having such that I never have to encounter such a crisis, but whatever).

It just happens that the news concerns the only one thing that I would ever die for (or live for, for that matter). It was the beginning of the new me (which I currently love a great deal). If someone takes that away from me, it's gonna be the end.

I'm going over what to do. And I realise, I don't really have much of a back-up plan. 

I know what will be will be. Just that right when I thought everything's gonna be okay, things are looking fine, etc. etc., it just comes crashing down the lane, burying my efforts altogether.

Talking to friend really relieved the stress, albeit just a little bit. As the advice goes, let's not worry about things until it goes official, then I'll go down with everything I have (that is, if I have enough in the first place).

Desperate times call for desperate measures.


Update: 
It's confirmed. Now tell me what to do. Cos I don't know. It probably will turn out fine afterwards, but things won't be the same way it was before.
I will trade anything, really, ANYTHING, to get it back. But I guess the other party won't agree to the deal.