Return of the IWS
I went to a Singaporean church for the first time ever, last Sunday. (Two days ago.) It was with Herr Robson, to a Methodist church two bus rides away from the University. (Doesn't it look simply grand to have the institute's species in capitals?) In any case it was an OK experience, though heaven knows I'm in no place to judge. It's not a performance after all...
Which reminds me, last Friday, the University had a performance by the Singing/ Symphonies Organisation (or something like that--they kept referring to themselves as "SSO" but never said exactly what it stood for) and it simply rocked. Or maybe I like classical music too much... Tee Four was there too, by coincidence, and so was Marsh (who probably only came along to avoid being left alone in his room). I enjoyed it very much, and right now I just think it's a pity they didn't record the performance and give out CDs after it...
Anyway, after church, we visited some place called Book Is. (Well, that's not its real name, but you'll understand why.) Apparently there's a Popular, a Kinokuniya, and a couple Christian bookstores there (unfortunately, being Christian, they don't open on Sunday), plus various other secular bookstores with names like Ah Cow Book Shop or Aunty's Stationery and so on.
Well, I picked up Mr. Norrell and Jonathan Strange at Popular--I've heard of it, and it looked interesting when I cracked it open for a sneak peek. I'd have bought Neil Gaiman's Stardust too, if it weren't so darn expensive. In fact if everything was cheaper I'd have never managed to get back to the hostel for all the weight I'd be carrying.
And then we happened on a bookstore having a clearance sale--3 books for $10!--and I believe I drove Herr Robson quite insane with impatience while I hunted up 3 books worth it. I found some David Eddingses, but they were all from different series, worse luck. I eventually wound up with Castle of Wizardry, from the Belgariad... I plan to complete one series at a time... and a couple others, including The Dilbert Principle (from, obviously, Scott Adams). So far I've finished the David Eddings, and am partway through the Scott Adams.
The Atlantis forum (look under my links) has an extensive music collection! Yay! I've got the Transformers OST from it, plus an album from Jay Chow. (I'd put an apostrophe after that, except Jay Chow doesn't deserve it... the Transformers OST does, though!) But now I'm coming up against some unknown snag: even with my download accelerator on, I can only download from their host site (mediafire) at a maximum of 6 or 7 kbps; and for some reason the download always runs into some problem or other at 99% completion and fails. Several hours' bandwidth down the drain. Yay.
It's very annoying... but I keep on trying, if only for the fact that I can't get the music otherwise... and besides, it's free. (Maybe that's the reason for the rotten download speed.)
My new roommate is here... he arrived yesterday. He told me his name, but I've forgotten it--quite likely I'll remember it sometime though. And the 3 guys who share my/our toilet have also introduced themselves to me, although I'm blessed if I can remember their names. I can't even remember their faces.
In any case the new roommate (I shall call him such until I remember his name) is busy cleaning up his half of the room. I hope he doesn't turn out to be another Very Tidy Person... he's also in Bioengineering--did the hostel office set it up?--but he's in the third year so I get to ask for pointers... until he goes off to his industrial attachment, of course... in any case our communication so far has been very minimal. Quite likely the fact that I've wearing headphones while listening to my playlists contributes to that.
The Co-Curricular Activities (they call themselves the Extracurricular Activities Clubs, though) Clubs have set up little booths around the most crowded canteen, advertising for new members. So far I've given my details (as a step towards registering and joining) to the Mensa Society (I didn't know they were here too), a couple Christian societies, the Board Games Club, the Piano Ensemble, the Student Union and the Student Welfare Clubs (for their generous goodie bags--hahaha), and probably a few others that I've forgotten about. Of them all, the only ones I'm really serious about are the Piano Ensemble, the Mensa, and the Board Games--because the Board Games Club has so many NEW games!--as opposed to Loch Yuck, where "board games" meant rummaging through several boxes of chess sets, looking for the pieces missing from the first box you picked out.--I even found a couple RPG board games.
The Piano Ensemble has an audition, though, which I must say I'm worrying about. I'm not so deluded as to imagine my playing being at a very high level. (That's why I told them I was Grade 4 and had only been playing for "about 5 years".)
...oh, yeah, another one: the Current Affairs Club. Apparently they've got lots of main committee posts available, and they're light on one's schedule, and they even publish a magazine every now and then. I'm very interested.
And another note: the University's own newspaper (The Nanyang Chronicle) is waaaay good. I like it very much. But I'm not sure about its frequency: it seems to be a weekly or monthly paper...
Which reminds me, last Friday, the University had a performance by the Singing/ Symphonies Organisation (or something like that--they kept referring to themselves as "SSO" but never said exactly what it stood for) and it simply rocked. Or maybe I like classical music too much... Tee Four was there too, by coincidence, and so was Marsh (who probably only came along to avoid being left alone in his room). I enjoyed it very much, and right now I just think it's a pity they didn't record the performance and give out CDs after it...
Anyway, after church, we visited some place called Book Is. (Well, that's not its real name, but you'll understand why.) Apparently there's a Popular, a Kinokuniya, and a couple Christian bookstores there (unfortunately, being Christian, they don't open on Sunday), plus various other secular bookstores with names like Ah Cow Book Shop or Aunty's Stationery and so on.
Well, I picked up Mr. Norrell and Jonathan Strange at Popular--I've heard of it, and it looked interesting when I cracked it open for a sneak peek. I'd have bought Neil Gaiman's Stardust too, if it weren't so darn expensive. In fact if everything was cheaper I'd have never managed to get back to the hostel for all the weight I'd be carrying.
And then we happened on a bookstore having a clearance sale--3 books for $10!--and I believe I drove Herr Robson quite insane with impatience while I hunted up 3 books worth it. I found some David Eddingses, but they were all from different series, worse luck. I eventually wound up with Castle of Wizardry, from the Belgariad... I plan to complete one series at a time... and a couple others, including The Dilbert Principle (from, obviously, Scott Adams). So far I've finished the David Eddings, and am partway through the Scott Adams.
The Atlantis forum (look under my links) has an extensive music collection! Yay! I've got the Transformers OST from it, plus an album from Jay Chow. (I'd put an apostrophe after that, except Jay Chow doesn't deserve it... the Transformers OST does, though!) But now I'm coming up against some unknown snag: even with my download accelerator on, I can only download from their host site (mediafire) at a maximum of 6 or 7 kbps; and for some reason the download always runs into some problem or other at 99% completion and fails. Several hours' bandwidth down the drain. Yay.
It's very annoying... but I keep on trying, if only for the fact that I can't get the music otherwise... and besides, it's free. (Maybe that's the reason for the rotten download speed.)
My new roommate is here... he arrived yesterday. He told me his name, but I've forgotten it--quite likely I'll remember it sometime though. And the 3 guys who share my/our toilet have also introduced themselves to me, although I'm blessed if I can remember their names. I can't even remember their faces.
In any case the new roommate (I shall call him such until I remember his name) is busy cleaning up his half of the room. I hope he doesn't turn out to be another Very Tidy Person... he's also in Bioengineering--did the hostel office set it up?--but he's in the third year so I get to ask for pointers... until he goes off to his industrial attachment, of course... in any case our communication so far has been very minimal. Quite likely the fact that I've wearing headphones while listening to my playlists contributes to that.
The Co-Curricular Activities (they call themselves the Extracurricular Activities Clubs, though) Clubs have set up little booths around the most crowded canteen, advertising for new members. So far I've given my details (as a step towards registering and joining) to the Mensa Society (I didn't know they were here too), a couple Christian societies, the Board Games Club, the Piano Ensemble, the Student Union and the Student Welfare Clubs (for their generous goodie bags--hahaha), and probably a few others that I've forgotten about. Of them all, the only ones I'm really serious about are the Piano Ensemble, the Mensa, and the Board Games--because the Board Games Club has so many NEW games!--as opposed to Loch Yuck, where "board games" meant rummaging through several boxes of chess sets, looking for the pieces missing from the first box you picked out.--I even found a couple RPG board games.
The Piano Ensemble has an audition, though, which I must say I'm worrying about. I'm not so deluded as to imagine my playing being at a very high level. (That's why I told them I was Grade 4 and had only been playing for "about 5 years".)
...oh, yeah, another one: the Current Affairs Club. Apparently they've got lots of main committee posts available, and they're light on one's schedule, and they even publish a magazine every now and then. I'm very interested.
And another note: the University's own newspaper (The Nanyang Chronicle) is waaaay good. I like it very much. But I'm not sure about its frequency: it seems to be a weekly or monthly paper...
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