Catastrophic mid semester

This is why I hate examinations. After the mid semester for English Composition, I feel like tearing up the whole paper and rewriting it. Yes, it was that bad. Half way through the second section, I was literally on the verge of throwing up. The points are not only disconnected, they are also repeating themselves. I could well imagine my revered professor's tone when he would announce in the next class 'there's was one student who did this...I don't know why she is so stubborn...the SAT is going to kill her'.

Aaarrrrggggghhhhhh! I'm so dead!

This is really really frustrating. Everytime I get a question, I just get stuck. And now I have to live in doubt, not knowing if I had blew up my damn important mid semester test.

Another test is coming up, and I have absolutely no confidence in it. The truth is, I have forgotten everything that I have read before, thanks to a holiday spent entirely with the TV.

Anyway, I still have a good whole day tomorrow to study. That's a great consolation, though my foresight on what is going to happen on a free day never fails.

Dreams. Good or bad?

I recently encountered an essay prompt about whether dreams obstructs or helps us. Plus, I have got to know few people's view on dreams. Though I do not agree on some of them, they have their own reasons to think like that. I personally think dreams gives us the drive to work harder, to achieve the impossible. Sometimes, I might think too practically, and therefore did not attempt nor gave any thought to some challenging things. But when the situation permits or rather forces me to dream, I do not think it is a bad thing either. I actually feel priviledged to have the chance to dream.

After some introspection, I can say confidently that I am really a dreamer. I do sometimes dream of goals too high. Many successes in the history of mankind had actually came from dreams thought to be too impractical. How I wish I could use that as a reason to dream. Unfortunately, my situation has a signifiant difference. I am a dreamer, a pure dreamer. I fantasize, but I do not take action.

That is why again, I feel guilty these few days because the mock is coming up and I am still spending excessive time with computer games. Sigh...Another Saturday passed again without productivity.

Now, I really could not think of anything else besides the beautiful one week holiday that strecthes before me...

Myopic people

First, let me clarify. I am not an extremist or a fanatic, nor am I someone as revered as Mother Theresa. I just wish I could do my part in conserving the environment. Hence, I am baffled at how some myopic people reacted when environmental issues came up. Surprisingly, actually not too surprising, the years of education including topics on the environment in subjects like geography, science and moral fail to leave any impression on some people.

That was how the heated discussion between two "environmentalists" and two "don't cares" happened.

At least I can practice debating in English. I have definitely met my match as they kept on producing unreasonable examples that left me speechless and shocked. Another realization also dawned on me. The inability to focus is definitely innate. The evidence: the two defenders kept on deviating from the topic.

Now, the mock SAT is just few days away. And I still could not figure out how my essay is to be written. Plus, there were few contradictory views from two lecturers.

And there is the Class Assessment today again. I feel so sleepy now that I feel my brain is refusing to work. I wonder what masterpiece would I produce this afternoon. Preferably not something worth a big red X.

Good luck to me.

Feeling quite nostalgic today. Really looking forward to the holidays. I kind of miss trips.
So, I decided to post some pictures that I had taken during last year's trip.

















This picture gives me the feeling of returning home before twilight.



































I like the effect caused by the reflection of the water.





















Snowing? Raining?




















The best picture to represent WuZhen, the Eastern Venice.





















Ah, Shanghai. The "ancient" parts of the city feature many old and western architecture.

Aaarrrggghhh!!! Tags!!!!!!!

Rules :
1. Each player of this game starts off with 15 weird things/habits/little known facts about yourself.
2. People who get tagged need to write a blog of their own 15 weird things/habits/little known facts as well as state this rule clearly.
3. At the end, you need to choose 10 people to be tagged and list their names.
4. No tags back!!



15 weird things about me


1. I don't eat prawns, no matter it is dried or fresh. Not that i am allergic, I just don't like it.


2. I am a very very punctual person. That's why I detest anyone who makes me wait long.

3. I love bombarding friends with weird math questions and making them confused.

4. When I am not in the mood to talk, anyone who disrupts the silence gets on my nerve.

5. I am very particular about bathroom cleanliness. Sometimes too particular.

6. I cannot run. Try racing with me and you'll know what I mean.

7. In contrary to some people that I know, I have a good sense of smell. For example, I can smell the smell of fuji apples few meters away.

8. I am a bad speaker. My thoughts become disorganized whenever I try public speaking and nonsense come pouring out.

9. I am very conscious on what people think of me. Hence I would not post anything too extreme lest they think I have some kind of psychological disorder.

10. If I want certain things done I would like them to be done immediately.

11. I'm obsessed with my nails whenever I am bored or nervous.

12. I love sleeping. The only thing I think about everyday is sleeping and napping. I cannot remember anything if I am woken up from my by something, meaning if I did not wake up by myself. For instance I would not remember turning off the alarm and going back to sleep. Or if I am woken up by the phone, I will not comprehend nor will I remember what I said.

13. The one thing I notice most about people is their eyes. I have a special fondness for people with big eyes.

14. I love Warcraft and other strategy games. Not weird to me, but some people think it is very weird.

15. Finally! I hate to introspect on my life. Hence I suffer when I am cracking my head for weird stuff. By the way, I don't think I am weird. How am I suppose to know if I am weird if it is my habit, unless someone else tells me? Get what I mean?

I'm going to tag dai lou. Its high time you write something in your blog.

Another weekend

A much anticipated time of the week. I often look forward to Friday nights, and on Sunday nights like this, I feel a sense of dread, as a whole new week streches before me. Next, I also feel guilty because I haven't been productive this weekend again, for I spent too much time with my laptop.

For the SAT, I am more and more frustrated as my scores decline by the chapter. At least I know which part is my weakest part now. I tend to get half wrong in the sentence error part and passages regarding American Constitutions and political issues continue to baffle me no matter how hard and careful I read the passage.

As for the essay part, I have no idea what am I going to do during the mock test. Now if I try to write an essay, I will end up daydreaming because the ideas just can't seem to form in my mind. As for my vocab, those in my essays are hackneyed, anyone would feel like dozing off before finishing reading it. I really am not eloquent.

The decline in scores are also not exactly a great motivation. In fact, after correcting sections with uncountable crosses, I resolve to playing computer games to relieve the frustration. I have the feeling that my "improvement" has been such a rate that if it happens in out society, we would be arboreal people.

Hey! Don't those contradict with my stand in the SAT essay-"complaining is pointless"? Maybe I should change my thesis. After all, complaining helps relieve stress and prevents me from having any night terrors or sleepwalking episodes.

Apart from enjoying college life...

Had the first TOEFL class yesterday. It was flawless in trying to build up stress. With all the obscure past year questions, I could well imagine what kind of situation I would have been if it was presented to me in the real test. With two test coming up, I really couldn't find any anodyne or any assurance that I am really prepared. Sigh...back to the essays, I know the way of writing is significantly different from what we have previous did in high school. And I had trouble in finding apposite examples to fit into my essay to be convincible enough like the ones the lecturer read out in class.

Now, what I need is celerity in my studies. Unfortunately, as a believer of determinism had argued, we cannot resist temptations. The mood of studying is still not here.

Therefore, we still had time to spin grandmother tales from various rumors. Kinda love that. It was really entertaining. Free soap operas with live telecast. With some of the best narrators, that was fantastic. Deriding people still had been the culture during meals.

Great stress reliever, or else I'll go nuts.

By the way, I found out that more and more blogs are comprised of SAT words these days.
The power of Ivy League...

Of potatoes and other things

What a great way to start ENL. Firstly, we went into the wrong class.... That was soooooooo embarassing. Everyone was looking at us. And I bet the lecturer had a funny look on his face.
Haha.

I never had such a fun class. Our lecturer told us to write a sentence about living in America and pass the paper round the class so everyone would contribute a sentence to it. My two classmates beside me started to write riddiculously funny things, and I have to crack my head to continue with the next sentence. For example, when they said they wanted to know blondies, or improve on kissing, I really had a headache. I couldn't contain myself when they wrote they wanted to swim in the river and catch piranhas for barbecue. Or the time when they started talking bout adjusting to the temperature in America, they proposed swimming topless, sleeping topless with air-con on...And I continued with bathing in ice cold water.

I had a laughing fit when my paper came back.

The last few sentences goes like this:
Americans have potato for dinner. This is a problem for me as I am allergic to potato. There was once I fainted after eating potatoes. This is because eating potatoes makes me feel like one. But I am the most expensive potato in the world where nobody can afford me.

Haha.

Crazy games

Without the TOEFL class, we were quite free today. Hence, we did not hesitate when our dear big bro Justin called us out for a game of frisbee.

How could I be so reckless?

I am fully aware of my ability in the field of sports. Since young, I was pathetic in all aspects of sports, even in school, I barely managed to scrape a pass in my Physical Education assessment.

I should have predicted the outcome after playing such a "rough" game.

No doubt I was terrible in throwing, and my catching was "fantastic". I could well imagine Justin the pro's exasperation at watching me play. Have some patience, Justin.

In the end, Jyo and I sustained multiple injuries to our hands. Though the practice was catastrophic, I actually felt quite good as there were not much chances for me to play any games except computer games.

After being disappointed as the sports hall was not open, we decided to have our own private game of ping pong anyway. You may be asking how did we do it. Well, we divised a whole new game that would make the inventor of table tennis proud. We use the door as something like a squash wall, and use the ball to hit it. So it was actually something like miniature squash+ping pong.

It was great exercise, if you ask me, as we could not stop laughing.

Hence, I summarise today as a day with plenty of crazy games.

Long live Warcraft!

My love with Warcraft started when I was in primary school. That was when my friends and I become skilled in Warcraft II. Then 3 or 4 years ago, I played Warcraft III, but not such enthusiasm as there were many more interesting strategy games. I have not played this game for more than 2 years. You could expect how ecstatic I was when I found out that I could download this game here not only for free, but also fast.

Wonder how I could be so free? As everyone knows, we have been studying like hell for the past few days for the upcoming psychology test. Naturally, I would want to rest after having faced such a stressful subject for so long. So, I am now telling myself, rest for few days and then only continue studying. That's me, procrastinating again. I know what's wrong with me, I would try hard to keep my promise.

Well, something about the psychology test. He gave us one and a half hours for the test, but only half an hour had past and I had nothing to write already. Sigh... I could well imagine what my test would look like as I saw most of the people writing novels.

In order not to dwell on such pathetic things, I'd better go back to my Warcraft game.