Strangely enough, I'm bored on the first day of my much-awaited holidays.
There were so many times during the past three weeks when I just wanted to come online and type all that I wanted to. But I was just kept from doing so, I guess I couldn't really formulate what I really wanted to say. Honestly, the past three weeks have been really really long. 5 papers in 21 days. Now that I don't face the prospect of taking hour-long train rides, I feel that there's something missing. As weird as it sounds, I am actually contemplating taking the train one of these days, from one end to the other just for the sake of it.
Anyway, I guess I will do a review of this semester's exams. not for an update, cause I probably spilled all the good parts to many of you already, but for the sake of reminiscing, I shall put the experience down into words, or what I can remember for now.
Public organisation exam was relatively fine, just a lot of unexpected questions which the prof. didn't ask us to prepare for, so I just ended up creating nonsense on the spot. that's for the short-answer qns, for the essay, I really thought hard and long for the points I wanted to write. so it was a pretty good paper. as for bus. law, well, I've never felt more out of place. my pen ink couldn't flow well, my handwriting became like a mess of scrawling(from the start of the paper to the end), and I had no idea where to copy from. haha. everyone around me were like frantically taking information from their own notes and the textbooks, and I was just sitting down there thinking if I can include some of the points from the book. and I was even thinking whether I should include in-text citation (I did btw). so yeah, the experience was unusual, but alright I guess. the passages were quite fun to read on hindsight. Not grey's anatomy, but can do.
well, the most exceptional and astounding exam of the lot was really my 207-contemporary lit paper. my first lit paper in six months, and hence, completely mis-judged the time. haha, thought I had an extra half-hour. but really, the adrenaline that washes over you when you realise you have only 15 mins to write a 33m essay which needs 45 mins to make it decent, is kinda remarkable. for a moment there, I froze, and everything went blank(typical), then my hand stared moving rapidly across the lines. seriously, I had no time to think at all what my ink-filled pages would contain. it felt like a race to put as many words down on the page before time runs out. quite a bad strategy really, I should have at least made some clear ideas rather than pure rambling. but! after soaking this paper in prayer, the word, sharings with friends, I now view the experience as something quite worthwhile. I have faith the size of a mustard seed(or maybe two) regarding the results, but really, even though I know I could have done much better, but it's a paper I really won't forget. and for that, it's quite something. maybe it'll be one of those things I'll remember at the end of our four years. "Remember that time in year two, where I scribbled an essay in 15min and had to join in the extermination of a bag load of ants afterwards?" "Yeah..We remember it..that was quite an event huh?"
alright..I confess. Nowadays, I keep thinking of what's going to happen 2 and a half years later. the future awes me I guess.
anyway, to cut the long story short(sounds familiar?;)), 209- southeast asian lit and 223-american lit went rather well. just that I was pretty disappointed our respective tutors didn't turn up as invigilators. quite a let-down really. less distraction, but what a half-hearted conclusion to the semester. but interestingly enough, for my last paper, I had Ms Mona Chew, one of our previous yj's econs teachers as one of our invigilators. so amusing to have her walk up and down in the aisle beside me, it felt so familiar. and my apology to prof. sim when he collected the papers felt like I was saying sorry for not being able to do well for his module despite his efforts. and thanks, for the experience nonetheless.
and so, our revels now are ended. haha, quoting from sharon, who quoted from beckett, who quoted from shakespeare.
our world is one of inter-textuality.
so, please yue me out this holidays! haha, but I might decide to be an introvert and stay at home. don't feel much like socialising this time round. so probably, I'll meet up with just the close ones=)
right. I want my book and my manga. why oh why is Banville so hard to find? and I want my Stoppard too. Borders it is then.
Still, Thank You lots for the many many blessings You've given all through this while. I've made many mistakes, but Your love has covered them all. so a brilliant Hallelujah to You Lord! Be Magnified Lord; Be Glorified.
Friday, November 28, 2008
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Despedir~
With a wink of the eye, the third semester in Ntu is finished. (three down, five more to go!)
But, I will miss the intriguing lectures on mondays, the grey skies and long days on tuesdays, the 50% free wednesdays, the american thursdays, and even the traveling on the fridays.
Ignore me. I'm just going to do a review on my most recent semester.
HA 201:
this course was a really random choice. sharon and I just had to have a fifth module and all the other courses were full. so in the end, we ended up selecting this, though we had completely no idea what the course was all about. and I remember that after the first lecture, I felt like I was thrown back into the economics days in yj. the technical facts about public organisations were just too much. It was on par with the difficulty of applying law. But as the weeks went by, I really found myself enjoying learning about the way public administrators work and the difficulties they face. and the movie Thirteen Days was absolutely fantastic=)so yes, great choice sharon, thanks!
MB 107:
this course came highly recommended by shu hui. and though we complained endlessly about the difficulties about this course, and how we really had to SU it, I still don't regret taking it. I wouldn't say I have passion for this course, but I feel that it has been a good one after it all. interesting to note the rights we have, and the way law can be applied to all aspects of life. and tan peng kwee was really quite an entertaining lecturer. His jokes started out lame, but carried on to be pretty amusing. so yes, this business law module has been an eye-opener, and I'm glad we took it. :)
HL 223:
American Lit! well, there's so much to say about this course! we learnt lots from prof. andrew, about the Harlem Renaissance, Transcendentalism from Emerson to Thoreau, death and violence in Emily Dickinson's poetry, captitalism in Chopin, racism in Twain, German expression in O'Neill, chinese myths and the lives of chinese-americans in Tripmaster Monkey, and of course, the differences between modernism and post-modernism. prof. andrew has been a great teacher, sarcastic, but takes a lot of effort in preparing for his lessons. expects a little too much from us, but oh well, who doesn't? besides, his stumbling over words and his ability to sing are things worth remembering and really he has taught us much.
HL 209:
haha, by now, my hands are getting a little tired, and we've still got two more modules to go! anyway, 209 turned out to be a huge surprise. prof. koh started the module explaining about the history of south-east asia, and it really was quite dry. but as the lectures carried on,she really inspired me to increase my general knowledge and even my knowledge of the Word! haha, cause some of the texts we went through included references to the Bible. so yes, the lectures were really helpful;) and even though I can't quite connect with the prof., but I've always felt that she deserves our respect. and I really do admire her as a lecturer. oh, and some of the texts are really fun to read. well, mainly Letters from Thailand. and I am really quite sad that we probably won't be taught by prof. koh again. but, all the best to her!
HL 207:
=). haha. I can't help smiling when I think of the unexpected turn in events. I was just reading through random blog posts of mine and I saw the very first post commenting on the first 207 lecture. haha, I shall not quote myself, but basically, I remember saying that the whole lecture resulted in my passion for lit. being drained away, and how I will probably not think or reflect on what I'll learn in lessons outside of school. and look what happened. seriously, I've never talked more about lit. and I've never reflected more about what I've learned in lit. the texts we've gone through have been awesome(what with Tom Stoppard's Arcadia, UBL, and Banville), and of course, not to mention, the tutors we have for this course;) haha, prof. murphy has really exceeded expectations, and honestly, so have ching and jeremy. I am really quite thankful I managed to attend one of jeremy's lessons. hearing him speak of what he loves is quite splendid. and ching has very insightful opinions about the many texts. at the end of the day, 207 has got to be my fave module, and I'm really glad we took it:) heh. just by comparing the amt. of words I have typed for each module is enough to realise which I favour more. haha, well, I don't deny my bias-ness=D
that's it for my review, and for the next three weeks, blog posts will prob. centre around the studying for exams.
haha, or maybe not.
Thank You Lord, for the amazing semester and for all the wonderful things You have done for us!it's been a very meaningful journey=)
But, I will miss the intriguing lectures on mondays, the grey skies and long days on tuesdays, the 50% free wednesdays, the american thursdays, and even the traveling on the fridays.
Ignore me. I'm just going to do a review on my most recent semester.
HA 201:
this course was a really random choice. sharon and I just had to have a fifth module and all the other courses were full. so in the end, we ended up selecting this, though we had completely no idea what the course was all about. and I remember that after the first lecture, I felt like I was thrown back into the economics days in yj. the technical facts about public organisations were just too much. It was on par with the difficulty of applying law. But as the weeks went by, I really found myself enjoying learning about the way public administrators work and the difficulties they face. and the movie Thirteen Days was absolutely fantastic=)so yes, great choice sharon, thanks!
MB 107:
this course came highly recommended by shu hui. and though we complained endlessly about the difficulties about this course, and how we really had to SU it, I still don't regret taking it. I wouldn't say I have passion for this course, but I feel that it has been a good one after it all. interesting to note the rights we have, and the way law can be applied to all aspects of life. and tan peng kwee was really quite an entertaining lecturer. His jokes started out lame, but carried on to be pretty amusing. so yes, this business law module has been an eye-opener, and I'm glad we took it. :)
HL 223:
American Lit! well, there's so much to say about this course! we learnt lots from prof. andrew, about the Harlem Renaissance, Transcendentalism from Emerson to Thoreau, death and violence in Emily Dickinson's poetry, captitalism in Chopin, racism in Twain, German expression in O'Neill, chinese myths and the lives of chinese-americans in Tripmaster Monkey, and of course, the differences between modernism and post-modernism. prof. andrew has been a great teacher, sarcastic, but takes a lot of effort in preparing for his lessons. expects a little too much from us, but oh well, who doesn't? besides, his stumbling over words and his ability to sing are things worth remembering and really he has taught us much.
HL 209:
haha, by now, my hands are getting a little tired, and we've still got two more modules to go! anyway, 209 turned out to be a huge surprise. prof. koh started the module explaining about the history of south-east asia, and it really was quite dry. but as the lectures carried on,she really inspired me to increase my general knowledge and even my knowledge of the Word! haha, cause some of the texts we went through included references to the Bible. so yes, the lectures were really helpful;) and even though I can't quite connect with the prof., but I've always felt that she deserves our respect. and I really do admire her as a lecturer. oh, and some of the texts are really fun to read. well, mainly Letters from Thailand. and I am really quite sad that we probably won't be taught by prof. koh again. but, all the best to her!
HL 207:
=). haha. I can't help smiling when I think of the unexpected turn in events. I was just reading through random blog posts of mine and I saw the very first post commenting on the first 207 lecture. haha, I shall not quote myself, but basically, I remember saying that the whole lecture resulted in my passion for lit. being drained away, and how I will probably not think or reflect on what I'll learn in lessons outside of school. and look what happened. seriously, I've never talked more about lit. and I've never reflected more about what I've learned in lit. the texts we've gone through have been awesome(what with Tom Stoppard's Arcadia, UBL, and Banville), and of course, not to mention, the tutors we have for this course;) haha, prof. murphy has really exceeded expectations, and honestly, so have ching and jeremy. I am really quite thankful I managed to attend one of jeremy's lessons. hearing him speak of what he loves is quite splendid. and ching has very insightful opinions about the many texts. at the end of the day, 207 has got to be my fave module, and I'm really glad we took it:) heh. just by comparing the amt. of words I have typed for each module is enough to realise which I favour more. haha, well, I don't deny my bias-ness=D
that's it for my review, and for the next three weeks, blog posts will prob. centre around the studying for exams.
haha, or maybe not.
Thank You Lord, for the amazing semester and for all the wonderful things You have done for us!it's been a very meaningful journey=)
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
words in ink
Seriously, wordpress hates me. My comments are either considered as spam, or the website tells me that me comments are duplicated, and that I have already said it before. and it was my first time posting the comment!
haha.
anyway, I have to get back to my essay, but after reading sharon's blog, I just had to comment on how greatly our essay scripts differed. honestly, it was really amusing to see all the blue lines and words on her script. there was this particular page where it looks as though neil murphy drew a math diagram in blue on the page. haha, I could really see the pattern of the image. and as compared to that, ching's comments look like he was slumped over on the bed and he scrawled out a few lines of comments in red ink. haha. it really looks like he marked my essay at like 2am in the morning.
and yes, I just want to say THANK YOU to all those people who have prayed with and over me for the peace of God for this essay. Strangely enough, this essay meant quite a lot to me, and even though I know there are much much more impt things, but I just wanted to do well for this. and ever since ching said he would return to us the essays(two weeks ago), it has been bugging me. but thank God! I really felt very comforted that I had Him with me as I collected the paper. even though sharon said she could feel the anticipation radiating from me, I felt quite collected about it, esp. when I was sifting through the stack of papers for mine in ching's office alone.
well. that's that, and let's move on!
haha. one last day tmr for american lit!
oh, and the thing about reading through your own essays after receiving them back is quite surprising. Somehow, the words seem unfamiliar, and I'm not really sure I recall typing those words and those ideas..
haha.
anyway, I have to get back to my essay, but after reading sharon's blog, I just had to comment on how greatly our essay scripts differed. honestly, it was really amusing to see all the blue lines and words on her script. there was this particular page where it looks as though neil murphy drew a math diagram in blue on the page. haha, I could really see the pattern of the image. and as compared to that, ching's comments look like he was slumped over on the bed and he scrawled out a few lines of comments in red ink. haha. it really looks like he marked my essay at like 2am in the morning.
and yes, I just want to say THANK YOU to all those people who have prayed with and over me for the peace of God for this essay. Strangely enough, this essay meant quite a lot to me, and even though I know there are much much more impt things, but I just wanted to do well for this. and ever since ching said he would return to us the essays(two weeks ago), it has been bugging me. but thank God! I really felt very comforted that I had Him with me as I collected the paper. even though sharon said she could feel the anticipation radiating from me, I felt quite collected about it, esp. when I was sifting through the stack of papers for mine in ching's office alone.
well. that's that, and let's move on!
haha. one last day tmr for american lit!
oh, and the thing about reading through your own essays after receiving them back is quite surprising. Somehow, the words seem unfamiliar, and I'm not really sure I recall typing those words and those ideas..
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