Almost Over

Oooo... see what I did? One post 2 weeks into the 2 month break, and now this post: 2 weeks before the 2 month break ends. I'm on a roll.

So much for ignoring homework... it didn't go away. (You'd think I know that by now, wouldn't you?)

It's not so bad.... at least I started the reports already!

One of them actually.

Barely...

And Google searching for answers to the unanswered questions on quadrat sampling became blog hopping...

Blleaaarggghh.... Lee Huey Fern, what am I going to do with you??

But on the bright side, I managed to find a great way to auto-plot my kite diagram, which was something that had I had no idea how to do for the past 6 weeks. So yay, one of the toughest parts of the report is taken care of. The next tough part is to try crapping... ahem, I mean explaining the abysmal results in the most 'intelligent' way possible.

Hmm... how about: the beach is polluted and all barnacles are mutants which like to live wherever they want, whenever they want.

Anyhoo... the holidays have been great. Obviously at this point I'm wondering where it all went. Filled to the brim with precious time with mum and dad, good food, plenty of sleep, movies, air-cond, non-academic books and the whole Season 7 of CSI NY on TV (Thank You AXN!! =D)

But as much as all this lazing about had been fun, I am looking forward to going back to Intec. (Gasp! O.o)

Seriously. One year ago, there we were, freaking out about this ulu place we had to be stuck in where cats run rampant and food choices are scarce:

a. unhealthy and cheap, b. unhealthy and expensive, c. gardenia butterscotch bread and maggi mee

(btw, too much of choice c. becomes choice a.)

Now, cats still run rampant and food choices are still the same, but there's also:

the awesome Cs: Church, Campus Alive, Cell Group and Campus Revo...

the awesome friends that come with the awesome Cs (whose initials demonstrate a strange trend: SX, SY, ZX, YX, SY again)...

the ultimate best friend/room mate (time for the fan-hogging, bed-hogging, what to eat? eat you-lah, conversations once more XD)

the brilliant, lovable classmates who make me feel so lazy and dumb... XD

ah, the list goes on and on. The hot weather, cold showers, hard tests and occasional cockroach/lizards are nothing compared to all these precious experiences.

So as emo as I might be about leaving home again next week, I know I have loads of stuff to look forward to going back. And plenty of work and studying as well... gleeps...

Okay, back to my Bio reports. *sheepish laugh*

P/S: Esther, referring to your comment a long time ago: "Mrs. Giovinazzo is hot!"

Well, Mrs. Giovinazzo is pregnant now. XD There go my chances utterly and completely.

=)

I'm no good with titles. I'm no good with short and sweet stuff. Long-winded, that's what I am. No wonder my answers in exams nearly always go beyond the allocated number of lines, which are actually supposed to be more than enough for the answer. Therefore, when no smart short blog post title comes to mind, an emoticon usually works.

And that's my random paragraph for the day.

Anyhoooo...

Only 3 more weeks til the end of Sem 1. Finally all the Topic Tests are over for the semester. I'm not doing too badly I guess, so far...But, obviously I definitely could do better, studying habits-wise. Then I wouldn't have to be so darn stressed out every time a Topic Test draws near and I realize I have to study late into the night and wake up and study in the wee hours of the morning to prepare for it.

And it's all my own fault because of my usual procrastination. Well, either that, or it's the crazy compulsory co-curricular programmes that end at midnight the night before Bio topic test...

Okay, fine... it is more truthful to connect the last two sentences using the word 'and' instead of 'or'. XP

Results I've obtained so far are not bad. In fact, they're actually miraculously okay despite all the burning of midnight oil. That is, other than failing Physics once already (and praying I don't fail again...). XD

Then of course I take a good look around and see my super hardworking peers with their exercise books filled with pages and pages of notes, thick library textbooks, complete understanding of Physics, etc etc. and I go O.o

They are all both inspiring and intimidating at the same time. Wheeee! The society of scholars... a learning experience in every way. =D

But the biggest lessons of all are always only from one source: He who gets me through the toughest days... He who loves me so much... He who always shows how real He is in my life.

This week has been a particularly horrible week thanks to Physics and Bio Topic Tests (which needless to say, I wasn't the least bit prepared for), English Speech, performance for Malam Ko-PLN, and to top it all off, an annoying flu.

If I never got to know Him better, I would probably have gone completely bonkers with the stress. But thanks to Him, I made it through the week unscathed. Sure, there were moments where I felt so stressed that I just wanted to cry/pull my hair out/burn the Bio textbook/sleep and pretend the Bio test doesn't exist etc. etc. etc.

But then, just the knowledge that He is there is enough for me to keep hanging on and not freaking out completely. Isn't it awesome to know that you never ever have to rely on your strength and skills alone, but instead you can always depend on Him, no matter what your circumstance?

For all the academic things that I have been learning this year, nothing could compare to His lessons.

And for that, I am forever grateful.

So yeah, while I am striving to be a better student, I am also striving to be a better disciple of His. No matter how bad the day, I can still smile because of Him. Wheeeeee!

=)

Through You, I can do anything,
I can do all things,

Cos' it's You who gives me strength,

Nothing is impossible!

-Planetshakers-

P/S: Go Tricia, go! Conquer that Bio report! You can do it!! Muaks! =)

>>>

>> One week of classes already
=)

>> Two hours straight of lecture for every subject is often too much for the brain
=(

>> Most of my lecturers are pretty nice and good
=)

>> But that still doesn't prevent me from nearly falling asleep in the 2 hour lectures...
XD

>> We have 6 hours of English classes a week, same amount of time as our Science subjects
O.o

>> Buying lunch when everyone has the same lunchtime, at the same cafeteria, requires lots of patience and strategizing
=P

>> Lining up for the bus at the correct time to prevent being late for class requires even more patience and strategizing
=D

>> Campus is huge... and the labs happen to be the furthest away from the classroom...
+_+

>> Met several dead cockroaches. And one dead lizard in the bathroom with ants devouring it's body...
XP

>> Melina Kanakaredes has left CSI NY. Stella has already appeared on the show for the last time.
=( =( =( =( =( =( =( =( =(

>> Carmine Giovinazzo has married Vanessa Marcil, who has been married before, and has an 8 year old son, who is NOT the son of her first husband, but yet ANOTHER man...
-_-"

>> First Topic Test in a week's time. And it's Physics. And Topic Tests count for our sem exam marks.
X_X

>> Taking a short trip home for Speech Day in 2 1/2 weeks time!
=D

>> Missing Stella Bonasera already... *sigh*

=(

One Week In

Voila! I have finally managed to appear back to the online world after one week of absence. The Orientation Week here at Intec was long and tiring. It was informative and pretty fun at times, and the facilitators were nice people. But each day lasted from 6.30 am til 11+ pm. And the facilitators adhered to the timing very accurately. There's no such thing as starting late, nor ending early, nor much periods of rest in between. There was of course, plenty of 'ending late's. But anyway, even if we still had that wee bit of energy left to go online after ending the day, there is no decent internet anywhere... I finally managed to get my hands on Digi Broadband. It's not as good as home, obviously, but it'll have to do.

On the plus side, we now have 4 days off to recover from MMS (Minggu Mesra Siswa). Classes only begin on Wednesday. Immediately after the last session last Friday, most of the new students could be seen scuttling across the hostel grounds with their bags, eager to go home and get back to civilisation. Tricia and I stuck around and spent our day exploring Shah Alam, and of course, saying 'hi' to good ol' Sunway Pyramid.

I thank God for the strength He has given me. 6 months ago, I would have cried every time I realized that I'll be away from home for 2 weeks, 1 month etc. But now, even with 2 months until my next long holiday, I'm actually feeling okay and happy with where I am. God heals!

So, what's home for the next two years? Kolej Akasia in Shah Alam. Yes, it's a hostel, but it's called a college... *shrug*. While there are some definite adjustments and changes in lifestyle that we have to adapt to, it's not a bad place to be in.

For example, anytime we want to leave our rooms, even if it's just to make a one minute trip downstairs to the water cooler, we have to begin the process of taking off our shorts and T-shirts... change into our long pants... put on our jackets... and put on proper shoes. Oh, and we're 'fortunate' enough to be on the 5th floor, which is the top most floor. It's no wonder my parents keep saying I get thinner and thinner every time I go home...

Then, of course there's the misbehaving piping. As a church friend puts it, there's either too little water or too much. The tap at the sink has not worked since we arrived, and the toilet stopped being able to flush for a few days. Meanwhile, some other block had a burst pipe. XD

There's also of course the little critters sharing the apartment with us. Ants which appear in the manner of minutes if there's a tiny crumb on the floor, mosquitoes every night, spiders and a big lizard which is currently hiding from Tricia and her rubberband. So yeah, it is a pretty crowded house.

Also, we're in an area where there really isn't anything to do. Which is the point, I suppose. They keep us in a place where there is nothing for us to occupy our time with, except to study. :P

As Esther also mentions in her blog about her Kolej Terlampau Talented, it's the same here. There are 675 JPA scholars here! And maybe a hundred more from other sponsors like MARA, BN etc. The ALM group (A-Level Medicine) is the largest. Lots of doctors and pharmacists coming up... Other programmes include ADFP, A-Level German, Russian, AUSMAT, etc. Classes have yet to start yet, but uh-huh... we're obviously in a community of smarty-pants, which is quite intimidating and pressuring at times, haha.

The A-Levels we're taking is different in the sense that we don't take the AS and A Level exam separately. We sit for everything at the end of two years. So basically, we just have to keep downloading information into our brains and pray our heads don't explode with the overload of facts. Also, it would be good if someone invents an external hard drive for human brains sometime in the next month or so.

The campus itself is a bus ride away. Commuting on the bus back and forth the campus and hostel is of course another part of Intec life which requires skill and strategizing. The campus grounds are big and hopefully we won't feel so lost walking around in circles soon.

So yeah, that's my first week at a glance. Let the journey begin!

Here We Go Again

Whaddya mean it's only one week left?! O.o

Have I really been stuck in the rotting-into-a-worthless-ball-of-slush-that-merely-takes-up-space phase for a month already? And is it already time to insert some bones and brain back into myself and head back to college? In INTEC no less... home of all the smart-smart scholarship holders whose hardworking-ness and studying habits put mine to shame... gaaaaaaah...

And of course there's the whole issue of leaving the comforts of everything-in-it-SS15-Subang Jaya and trading it for the uh... limited resources Intec campus. Rough it out time! I'm treasuring every precious moment of my air-cond and water heater now. Haha, it's actually funny. In my future dwellings, it's going to be hot when one wants it cold and it's going to be cold when one wants it hot.

But heck,

Regardless of the baju kurung dress codes, the lack of TV and refrigerators, the hot weather and cold showers, the cockroaches and lizards and mosquitoes running free etc. etc, it's going to be a great 2 years! I am proclaiming it, yes-sir-ree!

More often than not, your environment is what you make it out to be. If you think it's gonna suck before you even experience it, it is definitely going to suck. A little positivity goes a long way. Bring it on, baybeh!

But I'm still going to miss sitting around doing nothing =(