Panthera Sapiens Ellipsis: The Blog

I'm so very sorry I've taken so long to get back here to update. The truth of the matter is, I've been so extremely busy these days and it's simply impossible to get a good Net connection around the area...and somehow I don't like the idea of barging into Claus's house just so I can blog or whatever. It just doesn't seem right. And now I find myself with three movie reviews to write, along with a summary of everything that's happened in the past three weeks, plus a complete account of the caroling (from the conductor's viewpoint!) and my church's Christmas celebrations. Not forgetting, of course, a little here and there about my daily life since moving into the Gorillas' place. ...now, where do I start? I do warn you, this is going to turn out extremely long, and I wouldn't be surprised if this post takes you ages and ages to read, never mind understand. Even I am stunned by the sheer volume I'm going to have to write to adequately ex...

I have so so so much to say and am so so so sorry (notice the alliteration!) for not saying it earlier. In my defense, I was busy having a life and actually doing stuff instead of putting it down on paper and forgetting about it. Ummm... so we'll start off with the day after yesterday, when I moved out of the hostel for good. No, wait. We'll start with last week, last Thursday to be exact, when I watched Eragon with Wolf. Yeah, we'll start there because I have got to properly barbecue the movie along with the idiot who wrote the book and indirectly the movie, and I've gotta do it well enough that nobody who reads this blog will ever be able to see the name Paolini without sneering for the rest of their life. Yeah, that's what I'll do. O...K. So Wolf and I haven't met for I have no idea how long (you'll have to forgive me if I make any sloppy grammar mistakes this time round since I'm still operating under two cups' or about 500ml worth of pulled ...

I got back from Cameron's Highlands yesterday. I had a church camp there between Friday and Monday, and my goodness it was draining. Yes, I enjoyed it. Yes, I suppose it was very helpful to a lot of people and I'm sure God blessed the whole thing. But my goodness, I'm so tired. Thank heavens I've got another two weeks or so to recuperate before (oh heavens! mercy on me) I go for the MONTH-LONG RBS in January. (RBS = Residential Bible School, and it simply means a bible school that you can sleep in.) ...before I start making it sound like I was strung up by the ankles and tortured, let me say that it was a great camp. I really did enjoy it, and I do think God was there (then again, He's everywhere) and was busy at it, too. It was most enjoyable and I liked it. And I wouldn't mind going for another one. But...ok, I'll start from Friday morning when I woke up, had breakfast, and apparently took too long to eat my peanut butter because I had to rush off and leav...

I spent 6 and a half hours online yesterday and nearly missed dinner as a result. It's not my fault, you know, if the hostel cybercafe is lacking in business and consequently sees the need to have a promotion. One ringgit per hour on all weekends. Who can resist? ...OK, so lots of people can resist. However, that doesn't include me so I didn't resist and went online. Plus MapleStory is having some kind of Christmas promotion going on too and it's having double EXP gains! (Which, you see, inevitably leads to me having gone up another level yesterday.) But on the credit side, I saw people online that I haven't seen in ages, like Meow and Cheeky for example, and I suddenly noticed that I chat very differently with different people: apparently I have no problem splitting my personality into hundreds of different pieces depending on whom I'm interacting with. Yesterday, for example. I compared the conversations between myself and Meow, and it's mostly banter. Kid...

I spent the last two days trying to clean up my room in preparation for moving out. So far I've got a list of stuff in my room--a complete catalogue, which took me ages to get done--and a list of place sto dump all my stuff, which includes my sister's room, the spare room in the Gorillas' place, and So Hour (which is actually where the bulk of the stuff will actually wind up). I present... The List of the Complete Contents of My Room (arranged according to location of object) Desk: (top) ..... 7 empty plastic containers ..... 2 empty metal tins ..... 1 tin milk powder ..... 1 tin Milo ..... 2 mugs ..... fork, spoon, knife (1 each) ..... 1 plastic bowl + cover ..... 1 water boiler + plug ..... 1 container peanut butter ..... 1 loaf bread ..... 1 complete set mp3 player (including earphones and USB cable) ..... unknown amount of tissue paper ..... 1 folding fan ..... 2 containers dietary supplements ..... 1 container condiments taken from var. hotels (sugar, creamer etc.) .....

Even with the exams all over, it seems I can find loads of stuff to procrastinate about. Like my imminent moving-out, for example. Everybody's asking me where I'm going to end up when my hostel stay finally expires on the 26th of December, and so far I can't think of much apart from maybe Jogger's place or the Gorillas'. But either place has not enough empty space to stuff one and a half year's worth of pack-ratting, so I'm going to have to clear out the room before I even start thinking about that: but here's the rub. My room has lots of stuff that I want to keep but can't think of any reason for keeping, like my string collection or my bugs or the dust bunnies under my bed. (Just kidding about the dust bunnies.) And besides, I've got enough small change scattered over my table to metal-plate my entire room. No kidding about that one: I used to keep the coins as poker chips, but now nobody plays poker anymore so the coins are gathering. And gath...

Holidays, it turns out, are surprisingly boring. Apart from the luxury of rolling around one's bed all day, there really isn't very much to do when one is without computer or radio or other devices of entertainment. Which, you see, is why I'm putting up two posts in the same week. Well, actually it's because yesterday's post seems, on reflection, to be rather full of Niche. Wrapping up that little tale, he's gone back and I'll probably never see him again, or his hamsters. He left behind a little note, finally acknowledging his inability to change any aspect of my behaviour through guilt or nagging, and stating that I'm simply extraordinary. I would send him back a similar note, except that I've never tried to use guilt or nagging on him. (Incidentally, I'm probably immune to both these forms of manipulation by now, since I've already gone through lots of both.) Anyway, I pass now to happier topics. Well, relatively happier anyway. I think it...

The A-levels is all over. Completely done and gone. I'm totally, completely free--it's not the first time, but it's enjoyable anyway. The last time I was like this was after the SPM, and at that time I wasn't really all that free because I had loads of stuff to go through. Not this time. I'm free. So far I've had several people asking me when I'm going down to So Hour or Patience, and so far my answers have always been along the line of maybe or sometime later. Right now I just want to get myself back into order before I slide too far. I bought a nice 1GB pendrive from Low Duck the other day, and so far I've got several hundred MB of music in it. I would have put MSN Messenger into it, but it wasn't available; and FF3 is yet to be obtained from Chronicles if he hasn't deleted it yet. After all, he's finished it; and only now do I have sufficient time to even get through it. Well, we'll see. After all, I've got the rest of my life to p...

I have an addiction. It's not a very big one, but it's an addiction all the same, and it's growing by the day. I'm quite well-supplied with what I need, at the moment, since I have loads of sources to get it from, but all the same it's starting to cost me a good deal, since it's fairly rare where I am and it costs a bit more than commoner things. Not to mention that it's probably going to be very unhealthy in the long run, and besides it's not exactly the kind of thing one is supposed to keep on taking. (Of course if I had my way, I'd be guzzling it like crazy and I'd want a direct pipeline to the motherlode, but I'm not having my own way at the moment.) It's even worse than when I got stuck on fried onion (I still love it, by the way, especially with oyster sauce and vinegar on porridge). Ah yes, the latest love of my life is peanut butter. Creamy peanut butter. It's one of the best things since sliced bread (which really isn't v...

The comp lab has just managed to irritate me yet again by blocking another random thread on my Bleach forum. It's no use how I try, I can't view it because apparently there's a banned word on it. Don't ask me what that word is, because I haven't any idea. The comp lab hasn't yet told us what words aren't allowed on the Net. But by the grace of God, I haven't yet accidentally put together that word on this blog or else I'd lose yet another of my only joys of life at the moment. But, obviously, the comp lab staff don't like us spending time online. I have no idea why... but banning that thread especially galls me because I'm IN IT. I've been posting in that thread, and now that it's suddenly gone, my fellow forumers in there are probably going to be left hanging for a bit until they decide I've left or died or something. It's annoying! It's very annoying! If they HAVE to set rules, at least please please set those rules out ...

Chem 6 was three hours ago (that's how long it's taken me to get this page up; GMail hasn't even loaded yet). It wasn't too bad, although everybody else looked a bit dazed when they came out. I think the last two days of frantic cramming did help somewhat; I was worried about having to memorise pages and pages of reactions and colours, especially of transition elements--God must really dislike black-and-white because He came up with at least sisteen different colours and oxidation states PER ELEMENT--but anyway, I didn't memorise the colours. Not a single one, because my Chem lecturer always says not to memorise the impossible. And guess what? Not a single one came out. Nothing about colours, except about a manganese ion that I was quite familiar with (it being involved in one of the more important reactions in the syllabus). God must have been being nice the day the questions were being set. ...anyway, I can relax now. It's all smooth sailing from here on: I...

I just went through more stress in an hour than I've gone through for the past week. Let nobody fool you, Physics is tough! I have no idea why they made it only last one hour, though: all the other subjects' Paper 4 last one hour and fifteen minutes each... or something like that, anyway. I'm not too sure, my sense of time has gone off whack since I don't have classes to regulate myself by anymore. Naturally, I'm in the process of gleefully handing back all my knowledge to my lecturer. I have to fill up on phase equilibria and transition chemistry by Friday, after all, and I can't do that while saturated with one year's worth of formulae and principles. I shall regale you now with the boringness (that's not a proper word, but I find it adequate) of my hostel life for the past week. Because, honestly, I have begun to wish for something more to do than wake up late, eat, and study. And watch anime every night (Gawk Hour and his roommate have an unlimited s...

I forgot to mention this in my previous post, and I did try to rectify it yesterday; but the comp lab was being difficult and refused to let me get into Blogger. Today it's being nicer. The reason I'm in school at all, actually, is because Serene wanted some Physics tuition, plus she wanted somebody to test her newly-brewed herbal tea on. And apparently, since I both live near school and am better at Physics than she is, I turned out to be a perfect candidate. (The tea was pretty good, even if she did obsess about its being too sweet.) As it turned out, not much studying got done because she tends to fall asleep in air-conditioned environments, like the library; and she gets distracted by the clothing of everybody nearby. (She admitted as much during lunch.) As a result, the only studying actually done was for half an hour in the library (before she fell asleep) and for an hour or so after lunch (when the canteen was deserted and so nobody was around for her to play Fashion Pol...

The exams have been going on for a little more than a week now, but this is the first time I've gotten into the comp lab to tell you all about them. Count yourself lucky for this update, because I don't think I'm going to have much opportunity to do this much more often in the next three or so weeks. I'm highly disappointed in the lab's current situation, though. I've been waiting for nearly three hours now for the Blogger page to download--I'm typing all this on Notepad while waiting--and even my Bleach forum keeps on coming back with a Page Cannot Be Displayed notice. It's been doing that for ages now. I think the staff are trying to reduce their workload by offering rotten service (the bag storage staff are getting slower by the day, I swear it) and by ensuring that the lab's computers are unable to access anything of even mild entertainment value. Like, say, Blogger and Bleach forums. The Coconut has said that they seem to have blocked almost all...

Remember the last few posts when I said that I'd study? It's the latest in a long line of resolutions that I've broken, not least being the one that I wouldn't blog during exam periods. *sheepish grin* But you know, the Net has quite a pull--especially when my social life has dwindled into the occasional dinner out with church friends or appearing on MSN. And I've just re-re-started playing Final Fantasy Three... it's quite addictive, which is proven by the fact that I once skipped lunch to play it for, I don't know, an estimated 8 hours in a row. (Which, Chronicles, is how I went through the game so fast--apart from a cheat sheet and a walkthrough, of course.) It's very nice, apart from the graphics--but then if it were any more detailed it wouldn't fit onto my MP3 player. I do declare that my MP3 player is less a "player" than a storage room for a miscellany of files that have absolutely no connection to music. It already stores my entire...

The A2 officially began yesterday, with the Biology Practical exam--which turned out to be more a killer than I'd expected. Tips had, of course, been given out by the lecturers to those who wished to attend classes, but those were so few that hardly any leaking occurred. In any case, it was easy enough to carry out if one didn't let logic get in the way (and wrongly deduce that bubbles = saliva). And, of course, if one remembered (which I didn't) the correct order of the layers of the kidney--the lecturer had to give me some illicit tips. Of course, it was only a 3-mark question and hardly important to get right, but every little bit counts. I am grateful. I seem to have many people to be grateful to these days: Chronicles has ensured that I shall never be bored again by sending me (via the REAL Messenger) a copy of FF3 and a SNES Emulator. It's fun fun fun! Now if you'll excuse me, I have a garrison of vector pups to destroy. *grin*

I'm in the computer lab as usual, even if it's not really usual times. For one thing, my course is officially over--even if it doesn't really seem like it because the A2 begins this Thursday with the Biology practical paper. This means I'm very very free now--the school, I believe, meant for us to use this very very free time to study instead of blogging. Anyway... I got bored. I woke up at around 7 (due to Niche's alarm clock and his habit of waiting for it to ring at least 5 times before getting out of bed to turn it off AND because I told him to call me up) but actually rolled out of bed at 8.30. After breakfast was when the trouble set in: I found myself all alone in the place (at least, apparently) and without anything to do except study. So I studied. And then I stood up and looked out the window, and lo, it was white; and behold, it was haze. The Indonesians apparently have an unlimited supply of forest to burn, because if I'm right, they've been doin...

"O wad some Power the giftie gie us To see oursels as ithers see us!"--Longfellow The above quote, in English, is "O would a Power the Gifter give us/ To see ourselves as others see us!", and quite recently I've found that some people see me in most unflattering lights. You've heard, I expect, of the Johari or Nohari windows? Simply put, they're grids divided into four areas encompassing your traits, with one area being What You Know And Others Know (Arena), one area being What You Know And Others Don't(Facade), What You Don't Know And Others Do (Blindspot), and the last one What Nobody Knows (Unknown). The Johari window is predominantly positive traits, and the Nohari window negative ones. My Johari window has been in existence somewhat longer than my Nohari one, so it has accumulated rather more descriptions; most of which, I admit, I cannot see in myself (or did see in myself but was unable to select because one can only select six traits to k...

My bag hath my schedule; I shall not be in tardiness. It maketh me to lie down in my nice warm bed: it leadeth me to procrastinate. It destroyeth my determination: it leadeth me in the paths of deep snoring for my beauty sleep's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of tardiness, I will fear no deadlines: for it is near me; my timetable and my clock they comfort me. It preparest a calendar before me in the presence of mine in-box: it places responsibilities on my head; my plate runneth over. Surely tiredness and headaches shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in mounds of paperwork forever. If you want to see the actual, non-parodied psalm, go to BibleGateway.com and look up Psalm 23 in the King James Version--but you'll probably only want to do that for context. At the moment, a couple days in bed is terribly appealing, and I'd seriously consider it if it weren't for the fact that I have school and myriad other things to be done, spanning a wi...

With the A2 in a little over three weeks away, you'd think I would've started studying in earnest already. Apparently, however, I have refined my ability to procrastinate to a whole new level, because even my roommate and his classmates (my juniors by one semester) have begun to marvel at the sight of me not studying. It seems they think I'm able to pass with flying colours even without studying, which means that they've made me into some kind of impromptu tutor, especially Smooth: he seems to come into my room anytime he wants with some Applied Math question or other. So far I've been able to solve them, which only propagates the myth. In any case, I haven't done any revision apart from what the teachers are doing: past-year questions, but nothing extra of my own. I think the Chemistry lecturer has finally given up on asking me for answers, because I've never been able to provide any. What I have been doing is gadding about with ex-classmates and watching m...