Firstly I think my mother is getting the point. This was the first time in like all my life when I woke up waaaaaaaaay before the alarm (2 hours), and she didn't ask, "Wah, so excited about going to school ah?"

Anyway I was not excited so I took my time to do everything. The sky got dark almost before it got bright and by the time I left the clouds were racing past and the rain had started.

The bus stop was quite crowded; didn't stand near the edge but still got completely soaked while I was trying to type an SMS to Cheryl. The whole screen was wet and my message went something like, "...blah blah...may all your wishes come true and may it stop raining so I can actually see what I'm typing..."

Got even wetter walking to the MRT, which was also superbly crowded.

Strangely though there weren't many people who got off at Dover. Anyway like who cares. The rain was so noisy I couldn't hear anything on the radio. Gave up as I got to my Web Publishing class.

Went into the almost-empty classroom and occupied myself with finding my thumbdrive.

It wasn't in my pencilcase.

I was all, "You mean I remembered to put in a glitter pen but I didn't remember to check if my thumbdrive was inside???"

Then I conceded that I shouldn't have to check because I don't even recall taking the thing out.

(The above, by the way, also shows that I forgot to clear my thumbdrive before school started.)

But enough of my thumbdrive problems. My view on WP is that it looks fun, all about building web pages. Not exactly thrilled with the final group project, but whatever. We did simple HTML today but I can't say I'm looking forward to the other more sophisticated programs, like Dreamweaver and Flash MX. Oh, and the lecturer is very nice.

Right after WP we had to rush off to MLT 10 for our Fundamentals of Economics (FUNE, because the authorities realised they couldn't use FOE! Haha) lecture. The notes were so brief I didn't see how they would help, but we're required to buy a textbook anyway. The lecturer had some strict rules like only short hair for boys (not like I'm in support of F4 wannabes, nor am I a guy, so who cares), no spaghetti-strapped shirts unless with a jacket (now that I don't recall being a school rule), etc.

I was having a very hard time concentrating, I tell you. Everything had to be sped through because we're missing Thursday's lecture.

Finally lunch came. Something I was clearly not looking forward to. After some deliberation, I walked to FC4. Walked through it only to find it was full to capacity, so had to walk back to FC6 where I thankfully found a seat. Ate vegetarian noodles for the gazillionth time since I started the school year, then left to hang around MLT 10, which was coincidentally the venue for our next lecture.

I'm sorry to say I barely stayed awake during Introduction to Public Relations and Advertising (IPRA). Mostly because the lecturer was talking about the history of advertising and I can't say I see the point. The only interesting bits in the lecture were when the lights kept turning back on when the lecturer turned them off so we could watch some commercials, and when he made some cryptic remark about the business lecturers being amazed at DMC's crappy marketing results last semester.

After that lecture was another one hour break to while away. We were released slightly late so no point using the com; instead I remembered our economics textbook and walked to FC5 to the Popular there.

Now I must make a note to myself: new semesters means new modules means new textbooks so kindly bring enough money for those freaking expensive things.

And it wasn't even my fault. Who asks the lecturers to always tell us the price is around $20-something, and it turns up a lot more than that! *cough*FOM*cough* This time it cost $32-something, and I only had $29 after lunch and topping up my EZ-link card.

Boo. Complained to my mother over the phone that I couldn't do the required reading; halfway to SB I remembered there was such a thing as the BizIT Library. :P

Rushed there, found the last copy, went to the machine to check it out...and was told to go to the counter instead. Bother. Then I wandered off to somewhere to stuff it in my bag and do some reading - reading my novel, that is, not the textbook! :P

Soon it was time for News Writing. The classroom was in the side of T22 that I hadn't visited before, so I was surprised when we entered and the computers were all black IBMs instead of the grey ones elsewhere.

NW managed to cheer me up very soon because it's, well, News Writing. And it's a completely individual-work module, quite like CC (except that CC had that stupid group scriptwriting thing to mess up my grades). Not to mention we have one guest lecture (some journalist from the Business Times) and two fieldtrips, one of which is to the SPH news centre!

Whee!

*squeals*

However, being our fourth class of the day, everyone was highly subdued and I didn't pay attention most of the time. :P Had our fourth stack of notes to read through. Was glad when the class ended slightly early, but our class rep had to tell us to collect newly-photocopied notes from FC5's photocopying shop.

Off I went as quickly as possible to FC5 so I wouldn't meet anyone. Expectedly, was the first there. After inquiring in English about the notes, I started my longest Chinese conversation ever, whereby the lady said she had notes for 17 people but the person who sent them in didn't match the name of my class rep and she couldn't give the notes to me in case they weren't the right ones and since my classmates are coming, why don't I just stick around and wait for them first. In fact, the mysterious person was a girl and my class rep is a guy. Couldn't figure out this problem, especially after I took a look at the notes and it was the economics ones we were supposed to collect. Finally some classmates came along and asked if it was our class treasurer who had sent them in instead.

Ohhhhhhhhhh. Bleargh.

Soon the rest of the class entered (so much for my plan) and we all paid $7.15 and left.

Jessica wrote home at 11:53 pm

5 more semesters. 5 more.

Thank goodness it's only going to be a day. Well, okay, three days, but let's think about it one day at a time. :P

I haven't found a solution to my two-hour breaks yet. I can't go back home and there's nothing to do in school except use the computer. For such a big place, there are so few places you can go and sit by yourself.

Sigh. About time I stopped fantasizing about my classmates going back to school and finding that I'd transferred out.

ANYWAY. About our little shopping trip yesterday, which lasted like 8 hours and made us both very tired...

Sam and I met half an hour late and went to KFC immediately for lunch. Had Hot Devil Drumlets, then Sam went to Cold Storage to buy a drink. After that we officially started browsing around. I lost track of how many places we visited because we visited some places twice, thanks to our wonderful indecision. We had an early dinner (walking around so much makes one very hungry!) at Pastamania (guess what I ate!!!) then continued walking again. By 8.30 p.m. (when we finally headed for the bus stop), Sam had bought a white Wild Channel Shirt and white U2 pants; I bought a white Zara blouse (I have to stop going there...) and green dangly earrings from Topshop.

Was so tired I fell asleep for a little while and woke up at 2 a.m. There went my hopes of resetting my messed up internal clock. Instead I switched on the computer. Went online to check match results. I always knew there would be a day when I would see the list of scorelines, go, "Ooooooh...guess who scored...", then get to the scoreline I was looking for, and have a heart attack.

I don't want to talk about that.

P.S. Yes, and Fritz is verrrrrrrrrry cute, but YQ says she is cuter. *shakes head sadly*

Jessica wrote home at 10:22 pm

Taking a break from my other holiday project. I like it when you get a rush of inspiration; it's so fun to be tapping away at the keyboard like that. If you play a little music in the background, it feels like you're playing the piano.

Oooooookay. So I don't actually know how playing the piano is like. Whatever.

I didn't go out today and although I woke up very late and spent the late afternoon lying about lifelessly, I think I accomplished enough. I found a bag for school in my cupboard. It's not exactly the colour I was looking for, but it's the right size - as long as it can fit my file, I'm fine with it. Speaking of my file, I already printed and cut out my new timetable and placed it inside. Did that right after I registered for the genetics thingy and it appeared on my timetable.

Speaking of GEMs, it looks like lots of people didn't get what they wanted. At least I got one of my two choices. But then again genetics isn't exactly the most appealing thing out there. And therefore I am glad to say I don't know anyone going for the same class. The third time I'm going for a class full of strangers this year.

Oh yeah. And I took the initiative of "clearing" my school stuff drawer. By "clearing" I mean gathering the first semester's stuff and placing them behind a divider right at the back of the drawer. So it looks like I'm prepared to mess up the drawer again this semester.

Eh. That reminds me; I've yet to clear my desktop folder and my thumbdrive! Argh. Shall do that later tonight (it's Friday now).

Erm...just ran out of things to say. I think I shall get back to typing.

Jessica wrote home at 12:09 am

Well, I was planning all along on buying another one, either today or Saturday. Had kinda decided on Saturday already but...hehe. I mean, who knows, they might start repricing the books more meticulously before the weekend. :P

Oh, and I didn't only buy a book. Went to Great World City to buy a bag for school, realised the purple wasn't the exact shade I wanted, plus it was a little pricier than I liked.

Of course, that meant I ended up buying a shirt instead. :P

Funny. I keep wanting to buy more shirts. Everyday I stare into my cupboard and look unsatisfied.

If only I would realise that's because there's no space in my cupboard for new clothes, so the new clothes are mostly all in the other cupboard, folded up - and so I'm staring at my old clothes!

The second thing I want to talk about today is books again. But this time my reading list. I just started The Canterbury Papers last night and happened to be thinking how nice historical fiction is. And then it dawned on me that out of the 33 books I've read so far, only one (Noughts & Crosses) is set in a modern society! All the Agatha Christie books - 1920's to 60's...Erast Fandorin - Russia in the late 1800's...The Lady and the Unicorn - Rennaisance...the two King Arthur books - set in an unidentifiable age when everyone was moronic...Kazunomiya - Japan in the late 1800's...I don't need to mention Antiquity and Horrible Histories, do I?

My goodness.

And you might have noticed I didn't mention HP either, but since when does HP feel very modern anyway, when they use scrolls and quills and stay in a castle? :P

Now we come to my last point of today - registration for my GEM. My appointment was the unfairly late 6-7 p.m. slot; I got home at 5.52 p.m.

When I was finally allowed to register, all the popular modules (like Psychology and Backpacking) were full, and in fact the majority of the modules had less than 5 places left. There were 2 left for the Wednesday Astronomy class, and 3 for the Genetics one. After a lot of encouragement from my mother, I took Genetics. At least I don't have to worry about losing my way to class! :P

Although if all they're gonna talk about is cloning a giant mouse, and not genetic diagrams and blood groups and alleles and genes...

Hmm.

Oh yeah, photography was full too. Maybe I'll try to register for it in my third year. Now that this semester's is out of the way, I'm definitely taking Astronomy (maybe they'll have more sense to include a class in the business block, or at least engineering) the next semester, followed by some boring business module in the second semester. So I can keep my options open in the third year, in case they start a new reeeeeeaaaaaalllllyyyyyy interesting GEM.

So there.

Jessica wrote home at 11:59 pm

As you can see I haven't been doing much besides that. But I did just finish The Clocks. Found out I have a slot for one more book on my bookshelf. *blinks*

GEM registration tomorrow. Suddenly more indecisive than ever - photography? Astronomy? Life sciences? Why the hell do all the nice modules have at least one class in the business block...all the nice modules, that is, except for the astronomy one?! ARGH. And there's just a chance I won't even be able to choose what timeslot I want, which means I'll have to settle for 8-10 on Thursdays - that's 5 hours without a single break because I have a lecture and tutorial right after it! And I'd just like to know how I'm gonna make it all the way across SP for my 10 a.m. lecture on time. Have to appeal if it comes to that.

What a bother. And I shall quit talking about school. Something tells me I'll have a lot more to say when school reopens.

Have been sleeping past 5.30 a.m. since I came back, thanks to that wonderful travel blog-which-is-sucking-up-my-free-time. Actually, I started work on it earlier last night and managed to finish it at 4. Except of course I had to spend the rest of the time doing my forgotten French homework, all about sports and games.

Yes, yes. No more talking about school. :P

In other news, you may have heard about my new friend:

And if you've heard about him, you've also heard that I was having problems giving him a name. ANYWAY, no thanks to Sam who kept suggesting "Frank" or "Chelsea" (as in that Frank of that Chelsea, neither of which I like!), I have finally decided to name my dog "Fritz". So there. :P

Jessica wrote home at 9:45 pm

Won't be telling you anything about my trip here, 'cos there's a reason why I am working on my travel blog. :P It's currently under construction (only 5 entries so far, but mostly very long entries) and you can find the link under Friend.Links, which I will post tonight.

Returned in the morning on the 22nd. Was extremely extremely extremely glad to get out and stretch out. Got home around 8 a.m. and immediately started unpacking, whilst describing stuff to my mother. When most of the unpacking was done, save for my bag of souvenirs (consisting mainly of postcards and pointless brochures), and my mother had gone off to my aunt's house, I mustered the courage to go online and check THE RESULTS.

Was freaking out as the page loaded...

Desktop Publishing - Abominable

Information Technology for Business - Abominable

Funamentals of Marketing - Dist-gusting

Introduction to Communication Principles - Dist-gusting

Creative Communication - Bad

Oral Communication - Bad (perhaps)

Character Development - Bad (perhaps)

Was kinda shocked. No, VERY shocked. With the exception of ITB (can't figure out why I didn't get the only Dist-gusting I was expecting), everything was either better than or as I had expected. DTP in particular made me double and triple-check. How the heck did I end up with an Abominable when I got a C for the group project? I thought hoping for a Bad (Perhaps) for DTP was a little too wishful already...man, my lecturer must've REALLY liked that bookcover. Or maybe she gave me extra marks for being so hardworking and staying back to finish it? :)

And FOM! After I had complained and groaned and moaned to everyone in sight that I couldn't remember anything...*goes to hide head*

ICP...hehe. Now no one can reprimand me for deliberately skipping 3 lectures. :P

OC - no comments. That was the best I could do, after the disastrous group presentation and my individual Q & A. Or else it'd have been an Abominable.

CD - actually slightly annoyed, because almost all our projects were given the same marks, yet I know for a fact I have classmates who managed an A.

CC. *shakes head* At least it means I didn't mess up my ad, but it also means it wasn't so extraordinarily good that I miraculously got a Bad (Perhaps). Bad was always the best I could get for that module. Ironically it was the module I most wanted an Abominable in. Oh well. Still qualified for that specialist diploma. :P

Oh, and for the record, my GPA was 3.76. When I had calculated the best I could do was 3.5!

Suddenly it seems suffering the whole sucky semester paid off eventually. As did not having a life through the two terms. I intend to read more books next semester instead of spending every night on my notes, thank you. A leopard never changes its spots.

Now, as you might not have heard, the day I was originally due to leave, I spent shopping with YQ. We went to Kinokuniya; she bought a Chinese book (*screams and runs off*) and (with some help from her) I got two books. Brought one on holiday and finished it halfway through the trip.

Currently I'm reading the second one, The Clocks. A bit pressed for time because of my travel blog and something else I'm working on. Plus I think I didn't do my French homework...

Well, when I returned on Saturday my mother had kindly cut out a Borders 30%-off coupon for me. She managed to get two extra coupons for my sister and me (again). So off I went yesterday to Borders to buy my books. My sister asked me to help her buy her book, too, and when we reached the store I marched straight to the Literature section and found it the first time through. Fortunately, one of my books was in the shelf perpendicular to it. After which I was torn between three books and finally settled on the thickest (with the tiniest and most cramped font I have ever seen). Since the coupon was only for one transaction, my mother went to queue for my sister's book, and I queued twice at different counters for mine. :P

Dinner was a delicious bowl of instant noodles. Nothing beats coming home to instant noodles. :)

Jessica wrote home at 4:43 am

P.S. Anyone notice what the husky on the far right (the one sticking its tongue out) is wearing? Doesn't that dog-shaped pendant look familiar? ;)

Jessica wrote home at 11:49 pm

So, since "Recover Post" doesn't work, I have to retype. :P

Firstly, let's reply to some taggies!!!

Ana: Actually if it had turned up any other colour, I wouldn't even have posted it...hehehe...but bet you could guess that already.

YQ: Yeah what...purple is the BEST colour!!!

Sam: *ignores what Sam has to say* lalalalala...

Anyway, I notice I haven't been blogging. Nothing much happened, nothing to say. Plus this is the first time in don't-know-how-long that the "Compose" page is not messed up. Hated blogging when the icons were floating all over the place. :P Besides, I was busy with something.

And speaking of which, it would help if someone could tell me whether sucrose or fructose is a monosaccharide? (Don't ask why I need to know though. I just need to.)

Hmm. Went out on Thursday because I woke up late and was held back on Wednesday. Visited Borders, Kinokuniya, Times and MPH in hopes of buying at least one book. Unfortunately all the books I liked were either 1) too expensive, 2) too expensive, or 3) too expensive.

Sigh.

So went home dejectedly for dinner, which cheered me up considerably because it was spaghetti with cheese and herb sauce. Plus chili flakes saved from our last Pizza Hut delivery. :)

Ack...suddenly very hungry...

Think I shall go cook some instant noodles...

Oh! OH! Now I remember. About Wednesday: I didn't go for French! Hehehehe. Not that I ever had any intention of going, but I didn't get to sleep till around 6 or 7 a.m. so there was no way I would wake up in time anyway. Tried to conveniently "forget" about the class but ended up really forgetting. :P

Eh. Now that I come to think of it, after this I can only make it to the last class. Which is completely pointless...

Yeah, on to yesterday (Friday). Went to sleep very late as usual, woke up slightly late too. So got to Raffles City slightly late. :P The Cartel there had sold out of Set A (salmon), so YQ and I went to the Marina Square outlet instead. She ordered the salmon, I had some crispy fish pasta with Thai tomato sauce (which turned out to be the last set left). Spent quite a long time there, which was my fault because I was eating so slowly. (Eh, people had a heavy breakfast! :P )

Then we went walking here and walking there...well, mostly visiting shoe shops. YQ finally bought her sandals on our second trip to CityLink's U.R.S. And we visited Candy Empire, but they had *gasp* sold out of the mudsludge thingies! Walked around Raffles City but really, there's nothing much to see there, so quickly ran out of things to do. Left slightly past 5 p.m. (by which time I was almost falling asleep).

Now for one last thing before I go: my timetable. The new one. If the one I have just seen is our real timetable for next semester, then I must say:

1. School ends at 12 p.m. on Wednesdays and 11 a.m. on Fridays.

2. No 2-hour lectures. Phew.

1. School starts at 8 a.m. every day other than Thursday (10 a.m.)!

2. We have four classes on Monday. Most of which are just 1-hour long, BUT that means two of the classes run consecutively - no break from 8-12.

3. We have 3 classes on Tuesday, but two 2-hour breaks between each class. What the hell am I gonna do during those two hours???????

4. There's another 2-hour break on Thursday.

5. I don't get to eat till noon on another day, but can't remember which at the moment.

6. Friday may only have one class, but it's Issues & Viewpoints (something GP-like apparently), 3 hours long, and taught by...well, not one of the class' favourite lecturers. :P

7. While it is lovely going home so early on Wednesday and Friday, as it happens I need to squeeze in my General Elective Module class on one of those days, and there's always.............French. :P I'm thinking break from 12-1 on Wednesday, GEM from 1-3, then French. But I'm quite sure there isn't a 3.30-5.30 or 3-5 French class this term. If I'm not wrong Wednesday is reserved for this semester's twice-a-week French course. (Like who on earth can stand so much French in one week, I have no idea...)

Maybe Tuesday for French again? There's no way I'm gonna give up my Friday afternoon, that's for sure! :P :P :P

Ohhhhhhhhhhhh...and while I'm on the subject on GEMs, I was thinking of doing that astronomy one, but the classes are all held at the Science block! Right beside the Admin Building and across from the Main Library. I suppose it could be worse, but remember...I haven't once walked there without losing my way. OR I can take the genetics class, which happens to be in my block...hmm. ARGH.

Jessica wrote home at 1:33 am

Your Blog Should Be Purple

You're an expressive, offbeat blogger who tends to write about anything and everything.You tend to set blogging trends, and you're the most likely to write your own meme or survey.You are a bit distant though. Your blog is all about you - not what anyone else has to say.

What Color Should Your Blog or Journal Be?

Guess I won't be changing this blogskin anytime soon...*whistles and walks away*

Jessica wrote home at 12:47 am

xxxxSaturday, October 01, 2005xxxx

Whee. Today looked promising from the start: apparently The New Paper decided to publish not one, but TWO very nice articles. ;) Hehehe.

But of course, had to leave the house early so my mother didn't leave me time to read them. :P Not that the shopping trip was extremely fun, but better than staying at home, so fine. And we ate at Mos Burger!

And then we came home and I had a nice nap but was forced to get up and have dinner.

Eh. Maybe I was wrong about today being a nice day and all that.

ANYWAY, but then Man U won and RvN scored 2 goals. :P

Oh yeah. Did I mention I continued my FE game again? Thought I'd never finish Chapter 32 in 20 turns; the enemies just kept coming and coming in droves. Chapter 32x helped in getting four characters up to level 20, but other than that it was nothing great. Now at the final battle but kinda lazy to complete it. :)

As for last night, I was waiting patiently for my new Creatures to grow up. But thanks to some wonderful glitches in the game (7 years playing it and now it starts to fall apart!), I'll have to wait some more. :P

One last thing. I want a good book. Badly. Problem is I can't find anything I like. Amazon.com's reviews don't help much either; I mean people are always either rating books really high or really low - how the heck can you judge from that?! *is annoyed*

Jessica wrote home at 11:58 pm