What a day this has been. Sigh. To begin with, I did not have enough sleep. Slept at 1am to study Math, and 5 hours of sleep really is not sufficient for me. Anyway, me being a slacker, only started studying for Math test last night. Obviously, I didn't finish studying, so I spent the whole 2 periods of Econs lecture studying for Math. Which isn't good..cos I'm now totally lost in national income and stuff. Sigh..gotta read up on my own. Anyway, was quite happy that Chem test is postponed..means at least I can enjoy myself tonight. Oh well. Sucky Math test. I can't believe the fact that I forgot my calculator was there. A 7-mark question, correct formula used, alas, I got stuck at tan inverse 2/root3. And I thought that my whole method was wrong, well..cos basically I couldn't recall a value for that..obviously, it didn't occur to me that I was supposed to use a calculator to find the value..which goes to show just how stupid I am. Oh well..in the end I scrapped the method and squared the equation, which is so totally wrong. Sigh. Oh well..it's over anyway.
Right after the test, we had CT period and got to watch 4 short films by Royston Tan. The guy actually came down just now. I thought it was a pretty cool experience, I mean it was really one of those rare times when I actually do not find a talk by invited guest boring. And the films..well, I guess they are perhaps too profound or deep for me, but they were really touching, especially "Sons" and "Mother". Really makes me think of my own relationship with my parents.
Had training just now, well to try out a coach. Haven't had training for like ages and it really showed..was so tired afterwards. The coach was quite pissed off with us I guess, for being slightly late. And he was definitely more demanding than the coach we had this year. Still, doing volleys and smashes didn't really appeal to me, would have preferred to do groundstrokes. When we did, he threw the balls at us and we had to run and hit them..and the balls were thrown at such awkward positions. And the physical training was worse. I mean..it was really exhausting. We had to run along the lines, forward and backward, and make us run a triangle. After that, we had to do 20 jumps non-stop. My legs felt like jelly afterwards. But that was not it. We still had to do 20 push-ups and 20 crunches. Ok..20 may not be a lot, but for a person who has not been training for a long time, well maybe that was a little too much.
Anyway, after dinner, went online, intending to do chem stuff. But, as it was, the IVLE site took such a long time to appear; after five minutes it still hadn't appeared yet, I finally gave up on it. Went to check on US Open news. Couldn't wait to see if Roddick won or lost. He won! Straights sets. Considering that his opponent was Henman, I thought he did well to beat him in three sets. Was obviously very happy.
Just went to see Mars. Had only been trying to see it this week. Tried to on Monday, but didn't get to see it. I'd thought that Mars was next to the moon or something, so that Monday night, I tried to look for the moon, but couldn't find it. I mean..I really couldn't see the moon at all. Maybe it was supposed to be that time of the month where the moon doesn't appear at all. Anyway, finally got to see it tonight. It's such a tiny little red flash in the sky. Haha..my brother and I decided to take pictures of it. Don't know if it'll come out. Hopefully it will, then we'll have some memories of Mars.
Oh well. Shouldn't be sleeping so late tonight. Can't wait for the long weekend! I definitely need a break! But I still have to really sit down and mug over the weekend. Sigh. So many things to do, yet so little time. I don't really want to mug, but I've got no choice, with tests and deadlines pushed to next week.
When I think back on these times
And the dreams we left behind
I'll be glad 'cause I was blessed to get to have you in my life
When I look back on these days
I'll look and see your face
You were right there for me
In my dreams I'll always see you soar above the sky
In my heart there will always be a place for you
For all my life I'll keep a part of you with me
And everywhere I am, there you'll be
Well you showed me how to feel
Feel the sky was in my reach
And I always will remember all the strength you gave to me
Your love made me make it through
Oh, I owe so much to you
You were right there for me
In my dreams I'll always see you soar above the sky
In my heart there will always be a place for you
For all my life I'll keep a part of you with me
And everywhere I am, there you'll be
'Cause I always saw in you my light, my strength
And I want to thank you now
For all the ways you were right there for me
You were right there for me
For always
In my dreams I'll always see you soar above the sky
In my heart there will always be a place for you
For all my life I'll keep a part of you with me
And everywhere I am, there you'll be
That was Faith Hill's There You'll Be. Haven't heard it in a long long time. I know I have the song somewhere, but haven't really listened to it. I think it's a really beautiful and moving song, but that's what I say for every single nice, slow song I hear. Oh well..
Newcastle 1 MU 2. That was the final score yesterday. Am quite happy with a MU win, even though it was light on goals this time (MU had pounded Newcastle 6-2 last time round), cos I was actually expecting a draw. What can I say? MU is in red-hot form and I was very happy when Nistelrooy scored for the 10th consecutive league game. But I must say the refereeing was poor. No red card given to some Newcastle player for a professional foul on Giggs. And Sir Alex was sent off. This is the first time, ever since I started watching soccer, I have seen him being sent off from the pitch, but then again, I've never really caught their matches live on TV. Was following the match on MU website for the first half yesterday. I thought it was quite incredible that he got sent off. And then of course Shearer scored. A questionable goal though. Was quite scared they'd lose or something when they were 0-1 down, but of course, I still remembered last time round, they were also 0-1 down and they trashed Newcastle 6-2. Oh well.
US Open is starting tomorrow. Can't believe that the last grand slam of the year is just round the corner. So fast! Well, there's no doubts over who I'll be supporting to win. For the guys, I want Roddick to win. Or Ferrero, but I don't think he'll have much of a chance in hard court. For the gals, I want the Belgian players to win, Kim preferably. Venus, I guess, is their only threat as Serena will not be defending her US Open crown. I'm so glad we'll finally see another Grand Slam champion besides Serena. I still remembered last year's open, when Sampras became the oldest man to win the title beating Rusedski, Haas and Roddick along the way, and silencing his critics who had been urging him to retire. But, like Serena, Sampras will also not be defending the title. I would have picked Sampras to win otherwise. But he's not played since winning that title. And he's going to officially retire tomorrow. They're going to have some special ceremony on the first night honouring Sampras I think. So that brings an end to his legacy, that comprises of 14 Grand Slam titles, which is a record. Sampras has always been one of my favourite players and I like his style of play. Too bad I haven't seen him play for don't know how long..I think the last time I saw him play was when he won the Wimbledon in 1998, and I'll never see him play again. How sad. All because there's no cable TV.
I've this growing jealousy inside me seeing my friends have cable TV. If only my mum would be so nice as to subscribe to it. But I know she won't. It'll take a Herculian effort to convince her that we all won't get hooked to watching TV all day. Anyway, even if we manage to do that, she'll always say that we're here in S'pore for education and not for watching TV or anything else. Sigh. I've missed tons of great things not only in soccer and tennis, but also in other sports like Formula 1. Never mind. I've sort of thought of going to Old Trafford one day to watch MU match live. And also watching a Grand Slam match live. Wimbledon, with its prestige and rich history, would be great, but I think the US Open, with its traditional excitement as the last Grand Slam of the year and also its New York atmosphere and night matches, would be more appealing. I know these are fantasies, but who knows, one day they may happen. Never say never. Oh well, such fantasies to console myself. Anyway, with or without my mum's objections, I'll definitely subscribe to cable TV when I grow up. Can't and will not miss seeing great matches live!
I've finally finished reading Gerald Durrell's My Family and Other Animals for English book review. Despite falling asleep twice last night while reading the book, only to be woken up twice, first by my brother and later, for some unknown reason, I finally succeeded in finishing reading the book at 3am this morning. Would have chosen to do my brother's literature book The Outsiders had it not been so thin. Can't believe reading a book this time took a toll on me. It was like a burden reading the book. Normally, I enjoy reading books at my own pace like maybe during the holidays. But this time, being forced to read a book for book review was perhaps too much. Not that I don't like the book. The book was good, it was funny and corny, but I definitely did not like the feeling of being forced to read the book. It was like a chore. I kept on looking at the page number to see how many more pages I would have to read, knowing that I had to finish the book as soon as possible because I still need to do homework. As it is, I have an Everest of homework to clear. Oh well. So much for book review. I just hope that after taking don't know how many hours, or days, to read book, I will not write a bad review. Which is what I fear I will do, seeing that I actually forced myself to read the book.
I'm on a high today! Don't know why. But I wouldn't be surprised if it's partly due to my lack of sleep (only 4 1/2 hours). It seems the less I sleep, the more I feel happy and hyper. Oh well. That's what everyone's been telling me too. Church was quite fun today. Then went home for a little while before going to Orchard to meet some of class people, doing their CIP with the mad hair. Haha. Was quite amused. Orchard is like totally flooded in a sea of yellow. Anyway, met Ai Lian, Li Lian, Adeline, Tat Hua, Eline, Jinyong and Yanxi. Then took a picture with them. The girls' hair colours faded already by the time I reach there, so I couldn't really see the colours. Ai Lian's hair was back to black, Eline's one was slightly blue, Li Lian had a slightly brown ponytail. But boy, the guys really had some spunk, going around with such funky multi-coloured hair. They had at least 3 colours on their hairs, and bright, to say the least. Especially Yanxi. He also had some paints on his face. Oh well. Looked as though they were having fun. At least they're out there while I'm now stuck at home, going to do malay compo.
What the world needs now is love, sweet love
It's the only thing that there's just too little of
What the world needs now is love, sweet love
No not just for some but for everyone
Lord, we don't need another mountain
There are mountains and hillsides enough to climb
There are oceans and rivers enough to cross,
Enough to last till the end of time
What the world needs now is love, sweet love
It's the only thing that there's just too little of
What the world needs now is love, sweet love
No not just for some but for everyone
Lord, we don't need another meadow
There are cornfields and wheat fields enough to grow
There are sunbeams and moonbeams enough to shine
Oh listen, Lord, if you want to know
What the world needs now is love, sweet love
It's the only thing that there's just too little of
What the world needs now is love, sweet love
No not just for some, but for everyone
No not just for some, oh, but just for everyone
I'm in my lyrics-typing mood again. This is one of the songs that I think the lyrics are really relevant to today's world. Oh well. I guess that's all from me for tonight. Shall wake up and go to church. And look forward to another week.
I can't believe I'm back to my old ways of staying up till the early hours on a SUNDAY morning, knowing that I'll need to be up at 7.30am, after promising to myself that I'll get at least 7 hours of sleep per day. Well..as of the past week..I've been sleeping approximately 6 hours a day..so if I do the math correctly, I'll need to catch up on 5 hours of sleep over the weekend..which is so humanly impossible for me..now that I also sleep very late and gotta wake up super early. Argh! So fed up..no wonder I keep on getting sick. My cough hasn't really recovered yet..and I've been to doctor at least 5 times this year. My poor liver...gotta take in all those antibiotics. Oh well. Shall not go on anymore about this crap. Think there's something wrong with my mind..after attempting to finish that horrible physics prac. Graphs! I can't believe I'm so disgusted by them now. Whatever. Doing math before hand didn't help either. Especially when I don't know how to do quite a bit of questions, on differentiation, which is supposedly easier than trigo. Oh well. My math is getting lousier. And the condition of my brain and body is probably deteriorating too. Such crap. I'm supposed to finish reading the book for book review by this weekend. I should have known better not to even dream of finishing the first half of the book..what do I know? I've probably only read 5 pages of the book. Sigh.. need to squeeze in some time this week I guess to finish reading the book. Time..it's really so precious.
Anyway..decided to back out from the MAD Hair Day thingy. I guess I can't afford the time to do 10 hours of CIP right now. But I'll probably drop by for a little while and see their mad hairstyles. Hmm..think it's gonna be quite fun for them. At least they'll be out and about whereas I'll probably be stuck at home mugging, as usual.
17 August. Sunday. Well..the day's finally arrived. Indonesia's National Day. I really hope nothing bad will happen tmr..I really don't want any bombing or anything. That'll be really frightening. Gosh! I can't imagine living there now, fearing for my safety, for I'll never know what's gonna happen at any moment. I must be thankful that at least I'm living in a safe place. Shall pray for my mum. Hope she'll be OK by herself there.
16 August. Saturday. Start of the EPL season. Can't believe it's so fast! That just goes to show that time flies very fast and that I'm really ageing at a grossly alarming rate, and before I know it, I'll be an old woman. Anyway, MU made a good start to the season by trashing their bogey-team, Bolton (whom I totally hate, the only team to beat MU at Old Trafford last season), 4-0. Giggs scored a double I think, one of them a freekick, that otherwise would have been claimed by either Beckham or Veron had they not left. Scholes and Ruud also scored. Howard made his debut. Barthez wasn't even on the substitutes' bench! Ronaldo had a fantastic debut, from what I read, and he's really highly-rated. Overall, I guess it was a good game for MU. Except that Ruud missed a penalty for the second consecutive time. I guess all the goalkeepers now know which direction to dive into after Ruud had revealed last season which direction he normally aims at. Oh well. Hope his confidence won't be shattered by the miss. Anyway, he did score in the end also. In another game, Arsenal won 2-1. Surprisingly, or unsurprisingly, Sol Campbell was red-carded halfway through the first half in the very first game. That just shows how poor Arsenal's discipline record is. Really.
15 August. Friday. Amazing Race 4's penultimate episode. Three teams left. My two favourite teams, Chillie and Clowns, have been eliminated, in fact they were the last 2 teams to be eliminated. How sad. I guess now I'll pick on David and Jeff to win. Kelly & Jon - no way..I've always hated them from the start, though speculation has it that they were the ones who won. Reichnen & Chip - the gay couple as they're known - well...after recent episodes which showed Chip's childish outbursts..I don't really like them as much as last time. So I hope David and Jeff win. But my feeling says Reichnen and Chip will win. Let's just see come Friday.
Sigh. Another week has gone by. Another new week has started. Will it be good or bad? I guess it's up to me to go through the week, living it to the fullest. Maybe then I'll find life more meaningful.
Had National Day celebrations in school yesterday. Being part of the Malay LDDS, we were forced to perform an item. I'll say it again - our item was the worst. I mean, I didn't make any mistakes during the performance, but I was dead embarrassed. But that was yesterday.
I seriously think I'm depleting my printer's ink at an alarming rate. So much stuff to print! Oh well. Did homework today, or maybe, attempted to. At least managed to finish my GP stuff and Math. Phew. But haven't started reading a book yet. I'm thinking of recycling my sec sch's book reviews, but unfortunately, I can't find the books. Oh well. I'm just gonna take my brother's lit book, which is abt 130 pages long only, and read it. Hopefully, it's OK. It better be.
Skipped the Bible quiz today. Wanted to go originally, but after yesterday's KTV, I came down with cough and flu again. My mum was super angry when she found out I actually went for KTV, and later on, who knows I became sick again. Felt quite bad though. Oh well. Heard the Bible quiz was quite fun, but only 3 people turned up. Hmm..at least they still managed to win $100. Haha. Shall try to make it next year.
Anyway, it's already quite late now. Since I'm so sleep-deprived, guess I better get some sleep.
Was contemplating this morning whether I should go to church or not, being down with sore throat and flu. But I'm glad I went. Today was supposed to be a Holy Communion Sunday, how can I miss that? Anyway, the sermon was great. It was taken from Psalm 126, and Rev Malcolm Tan managed to draw some parallels and applications to real life. I was totally drawn to it, you know, the sermon kind of gave me a renewed strength and perspective in life after recent setbacks. And the songs that we sang were uplifting. Thank God. I felt so much better after going to church, and my flu sort of recovered.
Anyway, I still have tons of work to do. I kept on telling myself over the week that this weekend, I really need to sit down and mug. But I only managed to start mugging yesterday evening, because I reached home late on Friday, had a dental appointment yesterday morning and CIP yesterday afternoon. Started doing Math Trigo Tutorial 6, which shows that I'm so totally slacking and lagging behind - only doing that tutorial this weekend, which took me at least 3-4 hours to complete. Didn't managed to finish it last night, only finished it this afternoon, after I came back from church. Not surprisingly, had a few wrong questions here and there, but after looking through the hints, I still could not figure what's wrong. I totally suck at 3D stuff. Feeling frustrated, I decided to abandon Math and go to the Internet. Needed to find info for PW and Time Tunnel. The PW stuff is done, but Time Tunnel..the info that I found seems to be contradicting. Oh well. Must keep track to my so-called time plan. Only have half an hour to spare on the Net. After that, gotta clear up all the other tutorials, that have been accumulating over the past few weeks. Sigh.