砂漠のJeffire

Jeffirean Stories

Thursday, August 25, 2005

Phew. I finally finished my lessons for the week this morning. Now to relax a bit and look back..

Tuesday
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Collected the laptop from school which I loaned. It's an IBM R40, that looks to me like a 50yr old VHS player - it's thick and heavy! Nothing like what my friends carried, sleek Sony Vaios, Samsungs, handy Twinhead, flexible Fujitsus and artistic Toshibas! Well, what can you expect from IBM anyway. However, certainly I agree that IBM laptops are rugged and ready for the tough trekking (though dependent on the strength of the trekker). It serves me fine for the use for CAT lessons but I just can imagine carrying the real cool Sony Vaio or the seductive red Samsung (for ladies, but so?!)

Also went to meet up with the manager of Juju Hokkaido Hot Pot, and that means potentially more good deals for us students!

Wednesday
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THREE lessons scheduled for the day, all 3-hour long classes, beginning with the interesting CAT class led by a new professor who was quite humourous, Prof Michelle Chong. Realised my Excel knowledge, while still ahead of most peers, it's still inadequate to be of use on the bigger stage of life. Guess you guys should take it more seriously as it does really saves plenty of time for calculations and modelling.

Noon class began after an interesting coincidence. Saw Reina and Lionel (the golden couple) and waved but Reina didn't recognise me at all for the 1st few seconds. Then, saw Elise (Lionel's onscreen girlfriend and unexpectedly my classmate for 3 consecutive terms) at the wrong venue and told her that she was waiting at the wrong place. Realised there's a Networked Seminar Room 2.2, Seminar Room 2.2 and Classroom 2.2 in SESS! Walked from NSR 2.2 to SR 2.2 but realised it was actually CR 2.2 rather, and one more round we went before reaching the correct venue. As usual, I opted to sit in front of class and thankfully the stranger sitting beside me tried to talk to me. PHEW! I could never have made the 1st move. Made quite a good impression on the instructor Ms Vellina-Collins Loi, as during break we had a short chat and I presented my namecard to her. What made me happy was that there was really plenty to learn - networking, socialising, dress codes, etiquette, etc. Perhaps the seniors presented to us too bleak a picture, for the class was actually very fun. Of course the seniors did warn us for the sake of grades, which wouldn't be dependent on how hard you worked in this course. Rather, it depended on how observant you were, how street-smart, how inquisitive you can get (so as to make sure you wear the right stuff, show the right courtesy and make a great impression).

The last class for the day, MPW, was at the other end of the campus - LKC School of Business. The distant trip was made treacherous as hunger pangs were clearly felt, yet time was scarce. SOB is such a crowded place compared to other places. Reached the classroom with 10mins to spare and promptly went to the washroom to remove the irritating contact lenses. I couldn't wear it too long, not sure why. After I returned to class, very coincidentally the SA Welfare Secretary was sitting beside my place. And while she looked bewildered at the first sight of me, I was teasing her by saying '七月见鬼啦!'(7th lunar month see ghost!) We didn't see each since May I suppose. Nonetheless it was definitely more easy to integrate into the class as she had her friends beside. Our Prof was an AM (ang moh) and my second one. He was very young, 31 and much more interesting and relatable to than my previous AM instructor (perhaps the previous course, being Management Accounting, had a hand in making the lessons feel boring). MPW, as Prof Graham Brown described, is quite an introductory course to OB (organisational behaviour). This time the course had a research element to it and I'm not too sure if I can afford the time off to participate in the research exercises, and definitely it wouldn't sound good if I opted for the other kind of research - analysing published reports by reowned research groups. Hopefully there will be some opportunity for me but I guess I may have to go for the latter option.

Today
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BP resumed part II. One of my classmates sitting behind me said something that will surely describe the class aptly - 'is this JC tutorial class?' Like I mentioned, we were still copying from the board and then we answered questions like in JC times when your teacher asked you those answers that were already written on the board(perhaps only experienced in YJC and also i guess the instructor, Prof Lim, seemed quite desperate trying to get us to talk for the class was dead silent and sleepy and many people left even before he began)

After class, it was back to business for SCS. Passed the contract to Mr Andy of Juju, and had brunch at Paradiz Centre food court. Chatted with my mother (of all people) on administrative and financial issues of my dad's business. Then life was okie as you can see now I'm blogging....

BUT!

Last Night to Today Morning
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While brushing my teeth, my mother was lamenting that my brother should not have put her bottoms on the outside of the bamboo hanging rack but rather, should be nearer to the wall. While transferring it over, she didn't grip carefully and then hit my head. Then we were talking about her being 'pantang' (supertitious) but I am not sure if I should have heeded her at all. Firstly I had a real bad nightmare after being unable to sleep until around 1+am (since my brother and I always have bedside debates, from upper deck to lower deck). The last bits of the nightmare were getting a McDonald photo frame with a video of a laughing bugger inside which never stop despite me smashing it onto the toilet wall of my home. In the end I got rid of it by throwing it downstairs (yeah, get the courts in dreamland to prosecute me) but as I went to my room (in my dream) to look at the computer, it was like you have 27,221 viruses and the numbers still jumping, and the stupid laughing bugger again on the screen that no matter how many times you press the 'X' box, it will never go away. (and to me the biggest disaster in life is computer breakdown). I promptly woke up after the bad scare but I knew bad luck was stuck with me for the day. Then I descended to the floor to relieve myself and then check the football results. I lost 6 out of 7 slips with 2 lost by goals in the last minute (thanks to Pascal Cygan). Yet, Villareal was leading 1-0 as I was looking at all the scorers and determining which teams made it to the group stages of the Champions League, but Everton equalised (bringing a slight hope back), right after I finished my reading. Hanging on to the last hope of survival, (note that my strategy of now is to have every single slip's return value worth the total capital invested,ie, win 1 slip = level or a small margin win, and 2 slips means jackpot, and so forth) Forlan had to score strike one final blow to me on the 90th min when it was immaterial to them while D. Ferguson's goal was disallowed in the 81st! What should I feel?! To add salt (or saline) to the miserable wound, I couldn't put on my contact lenses in the morning and wasted 15mins of my time in front of the mirror.

So now, was that my mother right to be superstitious? You can see.

Ah well, my brother always say I like to blame everything else on the world except myself...haha. That's about all I have for you. Hope it kept you entertained! Enjoy your weekend!

Still happy
Jeffire

PS: Anyone for Mahjong on this SUNDAY? Need 2 khakis and venue is my home!

Acknowledged my existence at
6:50 PM