But...I'm saving it for next week. Since Tuesday I'm gonna be half-dead coming back from SPH, and Thursday I'm likely to be released early after FOM again.

Speaking of FOM, it's done, thank goodness. Not going into details even though there were a few annoying ones I wanted to point out. However I will mention that class was moved half an hour earlier (to 8.30 a.m.) today, and my group insisted on meeting at 8 a.m., which I was highly dubious about because they're not what you would call the most punctual people in class.

So fine. 8 a.m. I went to sleep at past 3 a.m. and set my alarm for 6 a.m. It rang, I sat up and muttered, "What the hell...what the hell..." 'cos it felt like I'd just went to sleep (which was not too far from the truth!). But eventually managed to stumble into the living room and nearly collide with the wall.

Got to the classroom (locked) at 7.50 a.m., so I sat outside and read my notes. The next member of my group arrived at 8.20 a.m., two more around 8.30 and one quite late.

TOLD YOU! So you made me wake up half an hour earlier for what?!

:P

Anyway, by the end of FOM I was already nodding off since I was so tired, so when the lecturer let us off, I got out from my seat, ignored all the, "Hey, where you wanna go for lunch? Let's go to........." around me, swung open the door, walked out, down the stairs, out the school and to the MRT station. Never once looking back.

Then of course the MRT had to take ages to arrive and the bus, too, so that I almost missed my stop. But...that's another story. :P

Jessica wrote home at 11:22 am

Then you reach for your phone. And see the messages. Messages from one groupmate chasing you to send your PowerPoint slides over to that group member.

And then you mutter something incoherent along the lines of, "You don't expect me to be awake 24 hours to receive sms-es, do you? Some people need to sleep, considering how hard they've been working on their projects...yes, including the PowerPoint I'm supposed to send."

Thud.

Back to square one.

Sigh.

Now I'll tell you slightly more about my day. I was supposed to do more work, but ended up just reading my past entries till 11.45 a.m. Then I rushed out of the library and to the vending machines. Bought a pack of strawberry Hello Panda, after which I decided to be nice to myself and get some Skittles too. So dug out extra change, then walked a few metres to the media studio.

We had a lecture on the printing process today. I was sitting in the back row smiling insanely to myself and shaking my head. When I took that internship at Refine Printing, did I ever guess I'd be learning about their trade less than two years later? Haha.

Advertising is pretty cool. Yeah. Maybe. But if I'm gonna end there again in my third year...

Ahem.

Then we were briefed about our individual project, this celebrity bookcover thingy that Sam knows about. Anyway, it turns out that last year's project was slightly different: the students were supposed to design a bookcover of one of their classmates, pretending he/she was a famous celebrity.

That's, like, ten times more interesting than finding real celebrities, if you ask me. For one, you can get the perfect pose by taking the darn picture yourself.

Plus the fact I can't think of anyone I really want to do on. In the end stuck to Clay, considering I know where to find his biodata and pics and everything.

So anyway, our lecturer went round the lab checking out our celebrities so she could give the all-clear. She announced that we would have to talk more about the celebrity if she didn't know the person - for example if the person was a soccer player. Haha. And I wanted to do on RvN...

Well, at this point of time I had taken the liberty to slip into my own world, and my nose was practically pressed to the screen. Browsed through Clay photos and laughed about some of the poses. Suddenly my lecturer came along and asked who I was doing on.

My hand flew to my mouse to zoom in on a picture of him, and I said, "Er...I'm doing on Clay Aiken..." Before I could add, "The runner-up of American Idol 2", she said, "Okay!" and went on to the next person.

I was left feeling rather surprised. Haha.

There really wasn't much time for me to do anything during class, so I just jotted down ideas, put his picture through a few filter effects, etc. Then time to go!

Well, now I'm sitting here with that stupid FOM script still bothering me. Will get down to it right after this. Found this interesting quiz on Sue Anne's blog, so I stole it. Haha. My apologies but these little quizzies are sooooooooo fun to do!

To continue:

1. Time of starting this? 10.38 p.m.

2. Were you named after anyone? I hope not; I wouldn't exactly be doing that person proud. Haha.

3. When did you last cry? Cry. Hmm. I don't know.

5. Do you like your handwriting? It sucks. Period.

6.What is your favourite meat? Chicken. Don't eat beef and mutton.

7. What is the most embarrassing CD on your shelf? I have to admit, in general I don't like most of my CDs...

8. If you were another person, would YOU be friends with you? NO. Not at all. I'd hate me, to tell the truth.

9. Are you a daredevil? Depends on what you want me to do.

10. Have u ever told a secret you swore not to tell? Ha. Yes. Not like the other party didn't deserve it. :P

11. How do you release anger? *raises eyebrow* Do you really want to know? It ranges from having a total meltdown to making acid remarks to stomping here and there to flinging things with a vicious force. Oh, and sometimes I don't do anything visible at all, which makes it more deadly when I do release it.

12. Where is your second house? I don't have a second home. And don't you even mention the place where I'm stuck from 9 to 5 almost every weekday!

13.Do you trust others easily? One answer, pure and simple: NO. I'm as suspicious/cautious as they come.

14. What was your favourite toy as a child? Don't know. Had too many at varying ages. Only my bolster has stuck around through the years.

15. What class in school do you think is totally useless? Depends on what you really want to learn from this course, but generally it's CD. Even ITB's Word tutorials were useful.

16. Do you use sarcasm a lot? Sarcasm. One of three tools that get me through life.

17. What do you look for in a girl/boy? Not being on the lookout for anyone, I haven't updated the list yet. So it's still - likes to write (wants to be a journalist? hee), likes soccer, likes reading, erm...the strong silent type. Like Hakkai. Oh, and a hairstyle like Hakkai's. Speaking of which, I should just take Hakkai...

19. Would you bungee jump? Maybe. But I'd rather skydive first. I'm dying to skydive!

20. Do you untie your shoes when you take them off? Nope. Always make sure the laces are loose enough to slip my feet out.

21. What's your favourite ice cream flavor? Vanilla. Cookies & Cream. Strawberry Cheesecake. Mmmmmmmmmm. (no, "Mmmmmmm" isn't a flavour!)

22. What is/are your favourite color(s)? Hello? Not obvious enough?? Purple is not to be argued with!

23. What is your least favourite colour(s)? Usually grey and orange and brown. But on a good day I don't mind anything. And orange matches my favourite earrings anyway. :P

24. How many ppl do u have a crush on right now? Which part of "I'm not looking for anyone" do you not get?! (Have forgotten what it's like to have a crush even, after a very bland secondary school life.) But if you're talking fictional characters...hmm. That's different. Just forget about Bailey though.

25. What/who do you miss most right now? Who? No one particularly. I see them often enough, in the real or virtual world. ;) What? The bubble tea across the road from SHSS. *sniff*

26. What colour underwear are you wearing? Even if I wanted to tell you, I'm afraid I don't know. Who keeps track of these things?!

27. What are you listening to right now? Oasis - "The Importance Of Being Idle". Can't seem to get enough of that song lately..."I can't get a life if my heart's not in it..."

28. If you were a crayon, what colour would you be? Firstly, I don't want to be a crayon. Ever. I'll get broken and dumped somewhere or lost sooner or later. But whatever. One of those deep dark purples, I suppose. Indigo, that's it.

29. What is the weather like right now? It's night so not like I can tell.

30. Last person you talked to on the phone? My mother, yesterday after my presentation.

31. The first thing you notice about the opposite gender? Their voice, probably. Definitely not their looks, because if you know me, you'll know I never really get a good look at people.

32. Do you like the person who sent you this? I STOLE it. :P Haha. So this question doesn't make sense!

33. How are you today? The same, everyday: sick and tired and not giving up - do or die trying. Oh, and hoping everything ends. Soon.

34. Favourite drink? Anything with grape in it, seriously.

35. Favourite alcoholic drink? White wine. Haven't had the chance to try much out yet. Ask me again next year.

36. Natural hair colour? Jet black! :)

37. Eye colour? I would like to say black, but they're just a very very very dark brown.

39. Siblings? Older sister.

40.Favorite month? Tie between December and January.

41. Favourite food? Noodles, anyone? I can tell you all about Nissin...haha.

42. Last movie you watched? Bewitched. Last Wednesday.

43. Favourite day of the year? My birthday. A narcissist at heart.

44. Have you ever been too shy to ask someone out? I suppose if I ever wanted to ask someone out, yeah, I'd be too shy to do it...

45. Scary movies or happy endings? Don't like movies, so I'll go with happy endings. In books, that is. :P

46. Summer or winter? Summer, actually. Winter sucks if you're not used to it.

47. Hugs or kisses? Hugs. *hugs huskies*

48. Do you want your friends to write back? Write back to what???

49. Who is most likely to respond? No one really needs to respond, you know...

50. Who is least likely to respond? A lot of people.

51. What book/magazine are you reading? "Turkist Gambit" by Boris Akunin. So annoyed I haven't had the time to read it the past two weeks! Oh, and I don't read magazines, contrary to what people think.

52. What's on your mouse pad? My mouse is one of those optical ones that don't require a mousepad. :P

54. Favourite Smell? Quite a lot of things, actually. Amazonic (haha), Shrooms, ice-blended grape bubble tea, my bag (don't ask!).

55. Do you regret ever breaking up w/ some one? There are many things I regret in life.........yes yes, do the annoying thing and be ambiguous. :P

56. Favourite actor/actress? Don't like any in particular.

57. Your Favourite body part (your own)? Gah. I don't like a lot of things. But for this...probably my fingers. 'Cos for some reason I can scare Sam with them. And I've had people tell me my fingers were pretty noticeable when I was a baby. Oh yeah. Plus you all know how skinny they are and how rings just don't fit. Well, woe to the guy who wants to marry me...*snort*

58. Time of finishing? Oh, it's done already? 11.20 p.m.

Jessica wrote home at 10:13 pm

Anyway, gah. I so wanted to roll over and wake up late again this morning. Then I thought I'd better save it for next Wednesday (when I'll be doubtless needing the extra rest even more).

Got to the lecture theatre reasonably early, took out my Placing Strategy report and tried to work out my script for tomorrow's presentation. In case you were wondering, at 2.15 a.m. I finished the slides but was too tired to continue, so I didn't work much on the script.

Not that just now helped a lot. I mean, I can't seem to condense the darn report into a script! It's like everything in it needs to be mentioned!!!

*bangs head against wall*

Looks like another night staying up to memorise lines. Well, I think I can read off the script, but better remember some just in case. :P

Oh yeah, and while Blogger was down, I took the time to read some blogs. Am currently freaked out by Sam's post. Think I better check under my huskies when I get home. And rotate their positions. Haven't rotated them for a long time. Whisky-Oscar-Musher-Slush. Shall change it to Musher-Slush-Whisky-Oscar.

And then there were Ana and Edwin's blogs. Coincidentally, both their last posts were about school project problems. Coincidentally, the same school project problems I've been facing too. The whole I-want-to-do-more-but-they-will-say-I'm-not-a-team-member-but-if-I-don't-then-nothing-gets-done fix (Ana), and stop-slacking-when-other-people's-grades-are-at-stake-too-and-they're-worried-sick-but-you-don't-give-a-damn-and-make-them-rush-at-the-last-minute-because-of-you-and-your-insistance-on-procrastinating (Edwin).

Hmm. So don't go saying I'm getting uptight for nothing.

Now...on to other things.

I keep forgetting to mention something that happened last weekend. It seems I am a bad influence on my mother. We were walking around Wisma Atria and she was mentioning some tourist she'd seen when we in Takashimaya not long ago...then we stepped out of Wisma Atria and bumped into the same tourist. And you know what my mother said? You know what my mother said?

She said: "So zun!"

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!!! You should've seen the look on my face! Hahahahaha. I think I used that phrase waaaaaaaaaaaaaay too many times in the past few years. (Although now I say qiao instead - which was exactly what I said at the same time as my mother.)

Hmm.

Oh, and btw YQ, where exactly are we going on Saturday? I want to shop! And visit Kinokuniya! :)

Well. That's all I can think of to type right now. To end off...

"Je suis du signe du lapin!"

*hops out*

Jessica wrote home at 10:30 am

Hey, it was okay. I remembered practically everything I needed to remember, although my 5 processes were, erm, sketchy. Don't think anyone really cared though. Who the hell is interested in something like that???

Oh yeah, did I mention my shirt matched the background of my slides? (Red, btw) Totally coincidental. Haha.

Ah, the only problem was the Q & A. Heck, you should've seen how many hands were waving in the air when I asked for questions! I was like, errrr... since I had only "planted" three questions with my classmates.

I managed to worm my way out of the whole wax-package thing, and whether the styrofoam is safe for health (Nissin, thank GOODNESS, does not use styrofoam in its cup noodle packaging!). Came up with some crap number for "how many times do you think people should eat it every week?". Spent a particularly long time answering those questions I had already planted. Haha. Oh, and someone decided to pitch in and throw like two or three questions - first he raised his hand, I said, "Yes?" (keeping my face perfectly straight), then he turned away, faced the computer screen and asked the question! Like what the hell. At least I could answer the questions - Maggie, as far as I can see, is NOT the most popular brand out there. And why on earth does anyone care how many times a week I eat instant noodles? :P to you.

Anyway, I think the high number of questions led everyone to think I had planted way more questions than I really did. They even thought I had gotten someone to ask those questions. HELLO? Why would I ask someone I'm not even talking to?!

That said, at least I got a response from them. Went pretty well, I suppose. Better have gotten at least a good B for that, if I want to drag my grade up.

We were released half an hour early, which made me contemplate briefly on going home. Was walking towards the MRT station when I remembered my FOM presentation, so I quickly changed my route and headed for SB instead.

Sigh. If only I could go home now.

But I had more than enough sleep time this morning! :) First time ever. To tell the truth, I think if I had really wanted, I could've gone for the ICP lecture. I woke up on my own just 5 min past my normal time, then turned and went back to sleep again happily. Thought I'd get another good rest, but after that SMSes kept arriving in my phone, and they didn't come all at once. So for more than one hour I was constantly woken up by that annoying message tone of mine. (Remind me to change it!) And when the alarm clock finally rang, I suddenly felt more tired than before. :P

Got to school pretty early, because halfway there I was told that the venue was at the engineering block, which cuts down the walking time by A LOT. When I entered the lab, one classmate shouted, "Jessi-CA! Skip ICP lectURE!" and another went, "Slap her!"

(Yeah, you might've guessed, the second classmate was in my CC group. :P)

Anyway, I think my being second instead of first calmed me down quite a lot. Not to mention that I had done more than enough preparation - Saturday, Sunday AND Monday! Phew!

Erm. Now on to my FOM presentation...sigh. Have to remember more lines - and this time, I don't even have a proper script. Thank goodness there's no set time so I can make it as brief as possible.

But whatever. Looks like another night on my sister's laptop.

Jessica wrote home at 4:27 pm

I realise now that today was in no way a good day. Like for example, I was so caught up in all my post-scriptwriting craziness that I failed to remember what happened right before class started.

Like I said, I was the one who had to spread the message around the class about the CA. Of course, all I did was tell the class rep (who would get the message across far better), and answer anyone who had any questions. Seriously, I don't think some of them believed me. Like right up to before the lecturer entered, some were still asking, "There's really a CA today ah?"

No, no, there isn't. I made that up 'cos I'm obsessed with CAs. *rolls eyes*

Anyway, then the lecturer asked if everyone had gotten the message, and one of classmates walked in and said he'd just received it. Said he didn't hear anything on Friday.

Right, like that's my fault. You want to bend the lecture rules and sit with your girlfriend instead of with the class, NOT MY PROBLEM.

Then, of course, oh-so-helpfully a characteristically late (see if you can guess who I'm talking about) classmate came in afterwards and said he hadn't gotten the message yet.

Oh, you're telling me that everyone sitting around you got the message on Friday but you didn't?

Can't remember if it was at this point that another classmate pointed out that the message was passed around on Friday and everyone should've gotten it. Would've been all grateful and everything except that I was too busy being annoyed with the others for trying to get me into trouble - intentionally or not.

Yeah, anyway, after the CA I zipped off unnoticed, bought some sausage-french-toast-thingy, and spent an unnecessary amount of time inspecting the contents of all the vending machines on the ground floor. Then it was off to the library to edit my slides and type my first blog entry.

ICP tutorial was lovely. Sat all by myself. Well, in the same row but with an obvious gap left by my classmate who had skipped the tutorial to go watch Kelly Poon sing in school. Was supposed to do some groupwork but I ended up doing the whole stupid thing by myself, not that I minded actually, just that it got pretty pointless when the groups had to go up and present.

I was one of the first to leave the room - class ended slightly early. Figured if my group even wanted me around to compile the project, they'd message, so I found a nice bench hidden on the third floor, and sat there reciting my script under my breath.

That over-one-hour took a remarkably long time to pass - I lost track of how many times I got through the script (albeit I still had problems with the processes and conclusion). Finally I got up and wandered over to the Red Bridges, where it was nice and windy and pretty much secluded. Set about pacing in front of the elevator and rehearsing (louder). I think the few people who passed me thought I was insane, really. Pacing around the Red Bridges looking deep in thought.

Anyway, I realised that it's far easier remembering lines when you're not standing still all the time - but I can't possibly walk up and down and have my back facing the darn audience! Also it's much easier to look down and recall stuff. And that's not possible either. ARGH.

Finally, I left the stupid place and headed for ITB.

ITB was...bleargh. Excel was super crappy. What nested IF, OR and AND. Why do I need to know all these???

Then the lesson finally ended (with me still not figuring out the incredibly long and elusive formula), and my group had half and hour to get the project to our lecturer.

Well, the problem really all began on Friday, when on my way home I reminded the group leader to save the work in a diskette - or at least bring one to save in later.

And in ICP she suddenly turned to me and asked, "We must save the work in a diskette?"

Me: "Yes."

Her: "But I didn't bring a diskette!"

Me: "I told you on Friday!"

Well, suppose it's partly my fault. I had made a mental note to bring a backup diskette just in case she forgot, and I forgot about that. Anyway, so they bought a CD-R during the break, and during ITB had problems burning the report in.

The lecturer tried to help after class but to no avail, so we ended up requesting the assistance of one of those IT administrators in the block, who kindly helped us book a station and burn the thing properly. It worked.

But the damn CD refused to be ejected!!!

By this time we were all panicking, since it was like 15 min to the deadline. The administrator got a pin and proceeded to poke the CPU...until finally the CD popped out. Then we rushed all the way to our lecturer's office (which thankfully was on the same floor) and handed it to her personally.

Then the group left - I was the last to step into the narrow room so obviously first to leave. Turned to walk in the direction we had come from, and heard some characteristically annoying voice saying loudly, "Let's walk this way."

Heard their voices echoing away from me and you know what?

I almost wanted to thank him. By being spiteful he just handed me exactly what I wanted.

Mwahaha. So hurried home without having to converse with anyone.

Jessica wrote home at 11:43 pm

Like I was staring at the word "NISSIN" for the thousandth time since the first week of Term 2...and it dawned on me...

That "NISSIN" is a palindrome! Yup, a palindrome! It reads the same way from both directions.

Not bad. Well done, Jessica!

Now kindly start memorising your script.

ARGH. Brought a little cue card with "The 5 Processes in Instant Noodle-Making" written on it, so I can get down to burning it in my brain. Apparently haven't had the chance to take a look at it yet.

Well, not really that I haven't had a chance, I've just been too lazy. Arrived in class 10 min early, slacked about, and when the lecturer came in and handed round the question paper, I nearly burst out laughing in disbelief.

So...the scenario: you're working for this creative communications firm, and your firm's been hired to write a play advertising Fun Fizz, a new drink that sparkles (???) and pops in your mouth. The play's to be performed outside Takashimaya, in the open-air. The play must be no more than 3 scenes long, and must involve three characters: Professor Timmons, his wife Anne Guish, and the gardener (also Anne's ex-boyfriend) Jack Assassin. (Followed by some details on their complicated history, including some of the prof's inventions before Fun Fizz)

Now, basically I was laughing at three things:

1) What's with promoting fizzy drinks??? First we had to design a phamphlet for OJ Twist in DTP, now this? And, really, "Fun Fizz"???

2) Wahahaha. How clever. The names - Anne Guish and Jack Assassin. Get it? ANne GUISH? JACK ASSassin? (Can't figure out Professor Timmons though)

3) WHAT ON EARTH CAN I WRITE ABOUT THIS??????????????????????????

The last one, of course, was hysterical laughter. I'm surprised I even managed to think up of a plot and fit it into three scenes - the introduction, the climax, the resolution. As it turned out, I managed to factor in the professor's other inventions. Let's see, according to the brief, he previously invented 1) a B.O. perfume, 2) an edible soap, and 3) a tasteless sugar.

And his new invention is called Fun Fizz. And Jack is jealous and out to get revenge. And the professor is scatterbrained. So...why don't I have Jack attempt to steal the Fun Fizz sample, and have Anne stop him?

That's where the other inventions come in. Since the professor is so scatterbrained, in his haste to leave he only labels the Fun Fizz bottle as "FF". But what if...he has a few other bottles also labelled "FF"?

And then the B.O. perfume became "Foul Fumes", the edible soap turned to "Fibbing Fix" (a truth serum...yes YES, I was thinking about veritaserum!)...and the tasteless sugar, "Flavourless Fructose".

Who'd know Bio'd come in so handy? :)

ANYWAY, after that I happily spent the 1 hr 45 min remaining to type the darn thing out. Thought I'd have enough time, but was rushing at the end. Did NOT help that everyone was standing up to hand in their work, and the next class was waiting impatiently outside. The script came to a total of 7 pages! Gah...well, they didn't give a word limit or a limit on the amount of dialogue in each scene! :P

Don't think I did justice to the description of Fun Fizz, which was the whole point of the play, but what the heck. You think it's so easy fitting everything inside??? :P

ARGH. 5 min to ICP. Better rush off now.

Jessica wrote home at 11:36 am

Jessica wrote home at 10:28 pm

Oh whatever. It's a Friday and I've had more than enough of this stupid sleepless week.

Anyway, about my day:

My group planned to meet half an hour early to rehearse for our play (which, as I said before, was badly in need of a rehearsal). I woke up half an hour late, which nearly freaked me out, but then I got my wits together again and realised that since I usually snooze for an extra 15min, I only had the extra 15min to make up for.

Which I did! I even got to school early.

...Of course, that's not to say the rest of the group did. :P We hardly had time to practise properly, because one member unfortunately turned up too late for it. In fact, the whole class only trooped into the LC Studio at 9.15 a.m.

We drew lots and DAMN, ours was the first group. Our last member arrived just in time, but we had barely worked out anything yet. She had brought the flower Hot Guy was supposed to present to Bitch, though, and at the last minute I suggested to Hot Guy that after I'd thrown the flower back at him, he'd pick it up and walk off to "find Gillian from the next class".

Right before the first scene commenced, I decided I would do away with my specs completely and use only my sunglasses as props. First scene went off all right - since it only involved three people. :P At the flashback I got up, stuck the sunglasses in my hair, strode over and rammed unnecessarily hard into Nerd, then turned, gave what I hoped was a look of contempt, and walked off.

Unfortunately I had forgotten I was the narrator for the start of scene 2 - and coupled with the dim lights...erm, just say I had problems differentiating between all the punctuation marks and stresses. And I wrote that part myself!!! Sheesh.

The problem started right after Nerd and Bitch entered scene 2 - for me it was because my back was facing the lecturer, who had unfortunately chosen to sit at the side. So no matter what I did, she wouldn't be able to see my expressions. Bleargh.

Then the main part of the story started...up till scene 3 I don't think there was a problem, other than Hot Guy missing the "what, you gonna throw your books at me?" line...but then...

Scene 3. I made it through the cheesy lines without laughing, smiled what I hoped was a sickening lovey dovey smile (which really made me feel sick!). Behind me Nerd was throwing away a picture of Bitch - not planned, but interesting. Then everyone got seated and Uptight suggested we all talk about our ambitions.

That's when everyone started forgetting their lines.

Seriously!!! Having read the script like a dozen times during editing, I could roughly remember who would say what. So it was quite horrifying to realise that everyone was taking over everyone else's lines, particularly Noisy Girl. Was actually quite relieved she remembered so much of the others' lines, until the play got to its climax, where everyone gets into an argument and walks off.

WHAT WAS SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN: Oddball recounts seeing Hot Guy and Noisy Girl kissing. Bitch slaps Hot Guy, who takes out notepad and marks her off, commenting something like, "Girlfriend No. ###...lasted 2 months...not bad...broke my previous record". Noisy girl says, "I can explain! I can explain!", Bitch says, "Forget it, Annie!" and storms off. Then Uptight tries to calm everyone down, but Hot Guy goes off in search of a new girlfriend, Noisy Girl scolds Oddball who subsequently leaves, then Nerd gets up to go to the library.

WHAT REALLY HAPPENED: The recount went off as planned (Oddball's expression=very amusing), slapping was a little too rushed (completely my fault), the two lines: "How can you slap my gorgeous face?!" & "Gorgeous? Even my POODLE looks better than you!!!", then the notepad part. Having nothing else better to do, I stood behind looking angry and breathing hard, waiting for Noisy Girl to speak so I could leave.

Except she never did. All of a sudden there were a lot of characters talking. Then Oddball left and Nerd got up (prematurely) to head for the library, and I knew I was going to be in big trouble. So I just cornered Noisy Girl, said loudly, "You owe me an explanation, Annie!", which was entirely not the best thing to say, because I couldn't do anything about her explanation other than to go, "ARGH!!!!", fling the rose (too forcefully - hit Noisy Girl instead of Hot Guy), and storm away finally.

Before scene 4 started I was apologising profusely to my classmate (a.k.a Noisy Girl), haha. Then the scene shifted back to the present and Bitch and Noisy Girl were really apologising as per the script. I was supposed to say, "...He's rich and gorgeous..." but somehow it turned into, "...He's smart...rich and gorgeous..." The moment "smart" left my mouth I was like, what? Where did THAT come from???

After that Oddball revealed that she had fulfilled her ambition - nothing wrong there, and then Uptight mentioned she was married. After that came a whole chunk of mixed-up lines, culminating in (I think) Uptight forgetting to ask if anyone wanted to be her son's godmother. So Noisy Girl's reply to that didn't materialise, and as that had been the cue for me to interrupt and say, "Okay everyone, let's toast to our reunion", Noisy Girl happened to say it instead of me.

I thought, oops..., and as we raised our cups only one thing was apparent:

We had so screwed it.

Very true, 'cos the other two groups had their plays run far more smoothly, since they didn't have so many messy flashbacks and stuff. After it all our lecturer sat evaluating the plays (and some of the actors) out loud. For some reason she felt the need to add me in at the last second, which wasn't very good. Said I wasn't bitchy enough (which I shall take as a compliment that I'm a good, gentle, sweet liiiittle girl), and that I could've played up my bitchiness more since I'm the most "model-esque" person in my class. Yes, those were her exact words, followed (highly unnecessarily) by an elaboration, something like, "Doesn't (name of blog owner) appear to you like the sort of person who...blah blah made up...would blah blah be one of those models?"

No, actually, (name of blog owner) doesn't appear to me that way. Flattering all the same, but I'd rather hide under my seat, okay?

Then the talk happily moved on to the specialist diploma, and how the class is more-or-less interested in it. So the lecturer asked who was REALLY interested in it, and only 3 or 4 really were. And of all things she had to look at me and ask specifically if I wasn't interested. Had to be honest and say I wasn't that interested. :P After which she added, "But I can see you as a scriptwriter."

And I can also honestly say my scriptwriting sucks. Found that out (coincidentally around this time) 4 years ago. Besides, if I'm that keen on scriptwriting, isn't there already an elective for that in the third year? :P

Oh, and then the warning: "The seniors (the first batch, btw) taking it this semester...some are complaining that the workload is too heavy. Not the workload of the specialist diploma but the workload of the main diploma, because Year 2 is full of heavy theoretical stuff...so yeah, if you're one of those people who thinks Year 1's a breeze so far, it'll be okay. For those who have been struggling and already don't have time to do your own stuff.............."

Great. Would I be under the first or second category, I wonder? There are many times when it occurs to me there is actually too much time given to study for so few exams. But somehow I still end up sacrificing almost everything - sleep, reading, writing, television - just to get my work done. Albeit a lot is just revision which isn't compulsory, and I never mention it but on many occasions I think, you know, not revising tonight won't kill you. Just go to sleep or read or something. And then I decide I'm not really interested in doing anything else, so too bad.

You know. Like I enjoy not having a life...

Jessica wrote home at 11:39 pm

Well, I could've had that well-needed nap. It's not my fault PowerPoint vanished from my com and I have to use my sister's laptop to do my presentations. So since she wasn't home for dinner this evening, I took the chance to work on my OC slides.

Had to force myself to get most of them done and the animations added; was nearly falling off the chair at one point. I need pictures for two more slides so I'm back here now and will search for them after I post this.

What? Oh yeah, my Thursday. Actually overslept again; woke up and nearly had a heart attack when I saw "7:47" on my clock. That's the time I go and change out of my pyjamas, and at 7.47 a.m. I'd be rushing around trying to find my planned-outfit-of-the-day. But by 7.47 a.m., I'd have also finished washing up and having my breakfast...

Leapt out of bed, trying to believe that if I worked reeeeaaaaaalllllly fast, I might still be able to catch the 8.30 a.m. bus. Thought I wouldn't have time for breakfast, but thankfully managed to squeeze eating time right before I burst out of the front door.

And yes, I caught the 8.30 a.m. bus. I ended up slightly late, but no more than 10 min off. As usual, though, the FOM classroom was nearly empty except for the same early people every Thursday. The lecturer was talking about something; I caught snitches of "$2 million" but didn't find out what he was going on about. Then he mentioned something along the lines of everyone in our block, including the ICT students, have to take marketing. And they have to factor in the fact that a lot of ICT students got Ds for English, so the lecturers had to make FOM easy to understand.

Well, SURPRISE! It's not. :P

ANYWAY, then I was seated and we were given the choice of either having our tutorial, or using the 3 hours to work on our project presentations. No one could make up their minds so we had the tutorial instead.

The only interesting thing that happened in FOM was me managing (hopefully) to bump my class participation grade up by answering a few questions. More relieved than happy, really, because the questions had to do with pricing strategies and it seems I've absorbed something from my studying. Thank goodness, or else I don't know what I'd do...

FOM ended like one and a half hours later, which left two and a half hours of break before our ICP lecture. All the groups were using the break to practise their CC plays, but the guys in my group kindly decided pool was more important and left us. And since two of the other members hadn't turned up for FOM, we had to wait for them too before we could start anything concrete.

Had lunch first, then they arrived and we went about planning each character's outfits and all the props needed. Obviously couldn't do a trial run so we sat there talking (okay, I was listening far more than I was talking) until it was lecture time. Wanted to skip but in the end headed to the MLT. Was crazily cold inside!!! The lecture was nothing special - half the time I was dozing off, till my nose nearly touched my notes - and the last fifteen minutes or so, another lecturer came in to tell us all about the Specialist Diploma in Digital Film & Television.

All I could think was, how come they don't have a Specialist Diploma in Journalism??? But I paid attention anyway. Apparently, to even be considered for the 20-student course, you need to:

1. Have a grade average of not less than 65%.

2. Get a B in CC (very possible if we don't screw up our play) and a B in OC (my A+ script shouldn't have pulled my C+ first presentation up much, so I'm really REALLY counting on the second presentation).

3. Pass next semester's Digital Video Production & Applications module.

AND on top of it all, the course costs $1500, $500 paid each semester.

So obviously, when the lecturer asked us to recall the criteria for getting into the course, there were a lot of people who said, "must have $1500!".

ANYWAY, then brochures were passed around and when I finally got mine (I was sitting way back in the MLT), I realised it was brochure for our course. Like, the second page is headlined "Why enrol in the Diploma in Media & Communication course?"

Yeah sure. I'd really like some reasons encouraging me to enrol in a course I've already enrolled in! :P

The third page talks more about the Specialist Diploma though, but not much. "Is open to students who satisfactorily pass the first year of their DMC course" isn't very specific; it's almost an understatement!

NOW, the interesting part of the brochure - the part we could all have done with before enrolment. On the back page is the complete list of modules we'll be taking over the three years. I mentioned the above because, until now, a lot of students in my course don't even know what modules we'll be taking in future years. There's something seriously freaky about that - I mean, you came here without knowing what you were in for???

Anyway, seeing the three columns of module names is quite an eye-opener. Like, I counted and we'll be taking no less than 37 modules!!! Is that crazy or what?! And it puzzles me again why we take so many modules that sound very similar - I think 8 modules have the word "management" somewhere inside. For example, why cover that long chapter in FOM on Consumer Behaviour, when there's a whole module dedicated to it next year? Why can't they just chuck Legal Systems & Contracts together with Media Law & Ethics? What's the difference between Digital Video Production & Applications, and Digital Media Applications? Wouldn't it save time to drop Introduction to Public Relations & Advertising, since we're going to do Advertising Management and Public Relations Management & Practices the next year? Why is there an elective in Scriptwritng when scriptwriting is covered in both CC and the specialist diploma? What's Writing For The Media around for if we already have News Writing, Feature Writing and Writing For The Web?

Okay. Shall not complain about the last one. ;) Lalala.

We didn't leave the MLT after the lecture, to my dismay, 'cos the majority of my group wanted to practise there. We staked out the back row of the theatre, with another group right in front. The first trial run was marred with a lot of hiccups, especially when the Nerd shoved the Hot Guy as per the script, but the Hot Guy ended up yelping and stumbling backwards, through the door behind him and into the middle of the third group's rehearsal. There was also a lot of confusion over the copies of the script a few of us had - totally my fault because I can't stop editing after already sending the file to someone. *sheepish grin*

I think we had two or three trial runs (all very dissatisfying!) before our one hour was up and we were all late for ITB. Like I said, we were already late but most of my classmates went to the foodcourt to buy food, whilst the others waited for the elevator. I decided to just run upstairs on my own; got there a good deal earlier than the elevator people! The class was empty for once (usually the class before that is still inside), apart from my lecturer, who actually said my name when I entered! Wow! I mean, she finally remembered...and, well, I sort of had an inkling why she could remember.

We started on Excel again, that dratted program, and I was kinda behind at the start of the lesson 'cos I was busily transferring the script's file to my groupmate's thumbdrive. Somehow by the middle of the lesson I finished our assignment so fast that the lecturer asked me if I had done it, or just opened the model file. :P

So that left me with a lot of time to surf the Net secretly (until I was caught with Sam's blog on my taskbar...). During that time, apparently the class blog was flooded with so many tags that the chatterbox crashed. Hahahahahaha.

After our Excel work for the day, we got back our Word ICA and I subsequently got yelled at by my classmates for getting a 95. :P

In the dying minutes of our ITB lesson, my groupmates begged our lecturer to use her account and do some printing for us ('cos the script's 10 pages long and we'd have to pay a lot); when she finally agreed, one of them changed the number of copies to 6 before she had a chance to stop her! Haha. So I just stayed in front of the printer and collated the scripts.

We spent the next 20 min or so doing another rehearsal, minus the Nerd. And where did we do it? Right in the middle of the carpark below the lab! Some of our other classmates came to watch, and in the end we decided to just occupy two parking lots. I don't think that rehearsal went very well either - must not NOT laugh hysterically in Hot Guy's face when he's doing his "cheesy pick-up lines"...because they are SUPER CHEESY!!! All "do you know why I'm so tired everyday? Because I spend every night thinking of you...blah blah blah..."

ANYWAY. Then it was time to go home. Got home at 6 p.m.

And crap!!! So late!!! Must go find my pictures!!!

But of course, I had a ton of project work to edit and appendix - and being the sad perfectionist that I am, that took me well past 6 a.m. to finish.

That's not all, of course. I'm currently online waiting for an influx of more reports to edit, appendix, and send back.

...But I'm online so early because I wanted live updates of the Man U game.

Which, by the way, they WON!!! And guess who scored the first goal - the first this season?????

*bounces*

Okay. Back to yesterday. 145 royally screwed me up again. I missed the quarter-past bus, and the half-past one usually arrives at around 8.25 a.m. ... but NO, by 8.35 it still hadn't arrived! And arriving at 8.25 a.m. already barely gives me enough time to get to class...

Got to class like around 10 min late, I think. But it's CC and CC usually starts late so wasn't too bothered - I certainly wasn't the last to arrive. :p

Had to break into our groups and get finally get started on our script. Remind me to mention (to the group on Monday) that the script gets off-topic very often. But I shall just tell you about it anyway.

Scenario (under the theme "Homecoming"): six friends with different personalities (yeah yeah, we weren't trying to copy Friends but our group happens to have six people) were, erm, friends (haha) back in poly like ten years ago. Why they were friends (considering their widely-differing personalities) is beyond any of the writers, but the point is that right before graduating, something happened that caused some of them to drift apart, and after that they all stopped meeting up...even though, very oddly, some of them still kept in contact.

Anyway, the six personalities are: 1. The uptight, serious girl who wants to be a lawyer, 2. The noisy, gossiping girl who wants to be (I think) a celebrity talk show host, 3. The nerdy guy who wants to be an astronaut, 4. The class bitch who wants to marry a rich guy, 5. The oddball, one-liner girl who wants to be a fashion designer, and 6. The "hot" guy with the big ego, who wants to have as many girlfriends as possible.

So...you wanna guess which character I'm playing?

ANYWAY, the story goes (so far) that before they graduated, Bitch and Hot Guy were dating (how typical), then Bitch thought Hot Guy was cheating on her with Oddball Girl, so they broke up. And obviously now there's bad blood between them.

But Nerd, you see, has always liked Bitch (WHY??? WHY??? Guys.). Sometime within the ten years, they get together (since Nerd is now a rich guy and everything, plus he's not a wimp anymore and Bitch is questionably nicer).

(Don't ask me what happened to the rest, I have no idea where they fit in - that's the only storyline we've got so far!)

ANYWAY, ten years later Gossip gets the shock (and gossip) of her life when, while waitressing at a cafe called "The Cafe" (how original!), she stumbles upon Nerd and Bitch dining together!

Wow! But instead of asking them what on earth they were doing together, Gossip is just shocked (flashback to their schooldays: Bitch purposely bumping into Nerd and making him drop all his books) and Nerd suggests they meet up with everyone and Bitch says she has their contact numbers.

Like I said, there's something wrong with the script.

So anyway, in the next scene they meet up at their old meeting place (some cafe that is not The Cafe) and Uptight is getting, erm, uptight that Nerd and Bitch are late. Hot Guy is (duh) flirting at another table, and Oddball probably says something completely off-tangent. Then Gossip (how slow) suddenly remembers her encounter and begins to talk about it...

...but at that moment the couple appear. How timely. (And by the way, this part was my idea so I have no idea why I'm insulting my idea. Oh whatever.)

Next it gets interesting - Hot Guy returns, sees them together and (I think) makes some rude remark about Bitch, to which Nerd gets angry and looks like he's going to beat him up, Hot Guy says something like, "What're you gonna do? Throw your books at me?" (I remember this 'cos it's one of my favourite lines so far!)

Then at this climax, Oddball of course has to interrupt with, "Hey! The food's here." (and everyone ignores her)

I think Uptight tries to calm them down and get them seated, but Bitch still manages to walk past Hot Guy and tell him to, "Get a life!" (guess who's idea)

Then Oddball tells everyone that she likes pepperoni.

Suddenly, Hot Guy says something about remembering "this place"...

Flashback: You'd think "this place" would flashback to the cafe, but no, someone overlooked that part and it's a flashback to school, when Uptight is once again getting uptight and yelling for everyone to get to class. But Hot Guy is apparently out in the school grounds giving Bitch some flowers, and Nerd is watching them and sobbing. (Okay, that last part was exaggerated...)

Then they all get back to class, Gossip grumbles about the stupid lecturer being late, and I think Oddball says something else out-of-point.

And then we stopped typing.

So you can see, I completely cannot fathom what the plot is leading to, and how Uptight, Gossip and Oddball (to a certain extent) are related to it.

All I know is that we better think of something, and fast. It's due on Friday!!!

And we have thus come to the end of Part I of today's post. Part II will feature the rest of Friday. Sorry this was so long but thought it would be slightly entertaining. Better than ranting, at least. :P