Exams

It's those dreaded times again. The finals are approaching faster and faster with the mercy of a bullet-train. My days have been filled with 'wonderful' activities...Amongst them, wrestling with confusing Math questions, battling Engineering Science, trying to conquer Visual Basic albeit unsuccessfully, and mind-feeding myself with Production Engineering.

It's a slow Sunday today. And there's really nothing much to do if you ignore the high pile of work to be done currently residing pretty comfortably on my desk. The semester is now winding down to its inevitable end. Many things have happened throughout the course of this semester. New friends have been made, dear friends have been missed dearly. New knowledge has been acquired. I've gone through experiences I wouldn't have gone through otherwise. I know the basics of life-saving though I daren't put my skills to the test. My Mandarin's still as crappy as it first was when I came in. I still can't dive.

Being in a course that's generally populated by guys has it's perks and downs. For one, when it comes to the workshop, the guys usually display 'gentlemanly' attributes and help the 'fairer sex' get our work done. That means we don't have to do the hard work. But, we end up doing almost all the cleaning after that. The downside of being amongst the few girls in class is the lecturers pick up your name fast. And you find yourself getting called up during lectures ! Pretty scary. Like yesterday, my friend and I were sitting in the lecture hall, minding our own business when the lecturer suddenly spoke into the mike

" Joanne ( somehow they can't get my name right) and Kimbery (this is worse, they forget that L is part of the pronounciation and she gets called Kim-Be-Ri instead of Kimberly) what are you both doing there? Came in late is it? This questions should be 'wet-wet-water' for you both right? "

* 'wet-wet-water' is a direct translation from the chinese phrase meaning 'piece of cake' which has become a 'trend' to use here.Somehow, I find it really irritating, especially if the lecturer starts using it.

Anyway, for one thing, I hate being in the spotlight and when such a 'public-announcement' is made, all eyes would inevitably turn to us. Secondly, we were not late for the lecture. And to make such an assumption was a bit unfair to us and thoroughly presumptuous of the said lecturer.Well, I digress.

Back to the topic, I haven't blogged properly in ages but I promise I shall try my best to come up with something better than " I don't really have much to blog about", "I really can't think of anything substantial at the moment", "I have nothing to write here but since my blog's been looking pathetic I decided to drop by and get a round of crapping done". "I can't think of anything to write yet my fingers can't stop it's frenzied tip-tapping"...ah, ONE meaning,so many ways to put it.

Being away from home has taught me how to appreciate things. Things I used to take for-granted. I miss fooling around with my brother. I miss his *ahem* sometimes lame jokes, his wise-ass cracks, his insatiable thurst for graphic thingamajigs, his bottomless stomach and his act-coolness. I miss grandpa's steady calmness and the way he used to spoil us silly with snacks. I miss everything about Ipoh. Even the hotter than hot weather.

On an entirely different note, I realised lightning is beautiful in an awesome way. It really is. The way a sudden blaze of electric-blue illuminates the dark sky. And the sharp crack that accompanies it. There was a thunderstorm on Friday evening. We switched off the lights and rested on the bed. I was facing the window and it was spellboundingly magical to just lie down and watch the lightning play across the sky, while claps of thunder punctuated every voltage-packed firework. A majestic orchestra of sounds and light.