Category: the otnaicus daily

Wow!! 4 days since I came back in here to update the blog. Those who check in regularly must be wondering where have I disappeared to the last few days. Well, I’m still here. Just have been busy these past few days socializing and stuff. You know, things that people do after exams to keep away from boredom. Plus, I had to get certain things squared away before I leave for my Australia trip. Things like getting money exchanged and some shopping for necessities.

18 hours to my flight. And as usual for me, I’m feeling nervous and can’t seem to fall asleep. I don’t know why I am nervous though. Or am I just plain too excited. Oh dear…. I can’t even tell the difference… It’s me I’m talking about here and I can’t tell my own feelings apart. Just how well do I know myself… Well, pardon me for ranting, but it is 3.30am as I am typing this.

Weather in Singapore has been extremely hot and humid. I don’t think it has rained in the past week and that’s why the humidity. Cloudless skies has brought temperatures soaring to as high as 35, maybe even 36 degrees. The winds that blow which are usually cool are now warm. And I think I’m having a hard time falling asleep partly due to the superbly warm weather. Here I am, just sitting in front of my monitor typing and I’m perspiring as I go. How streneous can typing be, I wonder…..

Gonna read a magazine for a while before trying my luck at sleeping again. I really need to get some sleep in, not because I haven’t been sleeping well for the past few nights, which I have, but rather I know that I won’t sleep much on the plane ride over to Australia. And that’s not because I wanna watch all the movies they are screening but I just know that the sleep I’ll get is the interrupted kind.

I’m gonna try to get in a post before I shut down my computer for its well-deserved two-week break. Gonna disconnect it from the mains and all so it’ll get a real good rest. It has been working hard for me the past six months. I think it really deserves this break.

I think I better stop typing. As you can see, I’m beginning to rant again. Anyway, good night to all, sweet dreams and God bless. And don’t forget to keep me in your prayers….

It has been three days since my exams ended. Have managed to get a lot done these few days. Tiring but enjoyable….

Went back on duty for CHCTV (City Harvest Church Television Ministry) yesterday. It’s good to be back after such a long break and good to know that nothing much has changed. “Why am I glad?” one may ask. You have to understand that in CHCTV, major changes can take place within a space of two weeks. Sometimes, when I’m just gone for two weeks, things change so much that it takes a while for me to catch up with the going ons. But I’m glad to be able to serve God in the ministry again, although only for this weekend as I’m going away, remember????

Went for dinner with the ministry on Thursday night, which was Vesak Day, a public holiday here in Singapore, at the Marina South BBQ place. It’s actually a whole row of BBQ places but we went to one of them lah… Good time fellowshipping with them but left early to catch Matrix Reloaded. Friend’s friend had some complimentary tickets, so go lah, since it’s free. Plus, another friend, who came along with us, drove.. So even though the show ended late, no need to take a cab back. Praise the Lord for the blessings….

The Singapore Ministry of Education announced a new measure against students “importing” SARS. In case there are still those out there who don’t know what SARS is, it’s Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, or the rather deadly virus going around without a cure. For foreign students, they have to reapply for their student pass before they leave the country and pay a $1,000 refundable deposit. They “quarantine” you when you come back and the $1,000 is used to offset the costs. This is effective 1st June so I’m not sure whether I’ll be affected by this. Need to call up the ministry on Monday to check. For more info, you can go here to find out more. But do pray for me that this will not affect me cuz I’ve been really looking forward to the trip.

Sunday will be a free day for me this week. No cell group cuz we had it on Wednesday night this week. So maybe I can use the time to finish varnishing the shelf unit that I bought from Ikea approximately two months back. Actually applied a layer to it already. Thinking of putting another layer on. So see how my mood tomorrow lor…

Right… I’m going back to TV now. Who’s Line Is It Anyway? is showing and Star Trek: Enterprise is next. Then after that, bed sweet bed. Good night, God bless and tata….

I’M FREE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just in from the otnaicus times‘ Examinations Tracking Department. The exams are finally over….

And the first line of this entry just about sums up how I feel at this point in time. It’s a relief to know that the exams are finally over. But the other stress coming up will be the release of the examination results. Personally, I feel that I’ve done well enough to pass them, but it’s all up to God’s grace now. Some papers have been tough, others easy. But right now, the only thing I can do is to pray for the best.

Pretty psyched up about my impending trip to Australia. I know I’ve been mentioning it pretty often in my entries but then again, it goes to show how psyched up I am. Just a little afraid that they won’t let me and my friends into Australia cuz of the SARS situation here in Singapore. If God has granted me the visa and the blessing from my parents to go, I’m sure that nothing will go wrong. God’s with me and His grace is sufficient.

The other thing I feel at the moment is total boredom. Usually accompanies the “I am free” feeling that you get after the exams. Quite a lot of things to get done within the next few days. Gotta come up with a packing checklist and get stuff that I need before the big day.

That’s all for now… Take care, God bless…..

YESH!!! Thank God!!! Two more papers to go, tomorrow and Wednesday, although I’ll be needing a double portion of God’s grace for my final paper. Things are not looking so well for that paper. Hee hee……

The interview schedule for interviewing companies for Industrial Attachment (IA) was released this morning. Unfortunately, I wasn’t shortlisted for interview by the company I selected. In fact, the company I chose had already conducted their interviews and have selected the person they wanted. Oh well…. It’s a setback but not a big one. I guess God has something better in store for me. I do hope though, that I land up with a placement at either StarHub or DaimlerChrysler. Praying to Him hard, hard about that. Those are the other two companies that I have interest in.

Unusual time for me to update this blog of mine. Having a hard time concentrating on my books today. Just kept staring on one particular slide of my notes. The music that is being played on radio this morning is not helping either. 98.7FM playing too much rap and R&B and soul, which I don’t really like. 98.0FM also playing too much of 98.7FM’s music. Class 95FM playing too many slow songs, which doesn’t really help the mood. And 99.1FM, a Malaysian radio station, where the music is usually a pretty good selection, is really not helping. I guess the DJ there must be having a bad morning as well.

Haiz… The Monday Blues… Not a good thing… Look at me ranting…

One good thing to look forward to is my trip to Australia. One and a half weeks to departure. Met up with the travel gang to finalise the road-trip itinerary yesterday night and everything is settled. Dad, if you’re reading this, you’ll be getting my itinerary very soon…

Back to the books… See ya….

7 and a half hours to the next paper, which is Computer Networks. Again, everything that I can cramp in to my brain, I have done so. And hopefully, it’s gonna be a good paper tomorrow.

Was reading Wired News today and it reported on a blog by a guy named or “nicked” Salam Pax. This guy is an Iraqi who kept an updated blog in the run-up to the second Gulf War. The blog is called Where is Raed. A pretty interesting read, but since it’s my exams, haven’t had the time to go through it thoroughly.

Anyway, time for me to go shower and do laundry and sleep. It has been a long day today. Good night, God bless…..

7 and a half hours to the next paper, which is Computer Networks. Again, everything that I can cramp in to my brain, I have done so. And hopefully, it’s gonna be a good paper tomorrow.

Was reading Wired News today and it reported on a blog by a guy named or “nicked” Salam Pax. This guy is an Iraqi who kept an updated blog in the run-up to the second Gulf War. The blog is called Where is Raed. A pretty interesting read, but since it’s my exams, haven’t had the time to go through it thoroughly.

Anyway, time for me to go shower and do laundry and sleep. It has been a long day today. Good night, God bless…..

Latest examination update from the otnaicus daily. Two papers down and three more to go. Next paper on Friday, 9th May 2003.

Haiz….. Difficult paper today. For those of you not current about what has happened today, I took my Control and Instrumentation paper today. Althought it was do-able, it was still super difficult. In fact, more difficult than most of the past year exam papers that I have tried. Funny looking configurations of questions popped out today, plus being chucked in an exam hall where the air-conditioning leaves much to be desired of and plus being chucked in a corner of the hall where the lighting wasn’t all that good gave me a hard time trying to concentrate today. But thank God for His grace, I managed to get through the paper. And now it is in His hands, knowing that I have done my very best.

Next paper, Computer Networks. Let’s just pray and hope that this paper is much more do-able than my last one. This module is less of a killer, but then again, interesting questions may pop up. And I got about 50 hours to study for it, and those 50 hours include my “leisure” time, meal times and sleep. I better haul ass.

Time for me to get to dinner now. Hope you all had yours when you’re reading this. Take care, God bless….

Amen, amen and amen… Finally got my application for the visa to Australia accepted and approved, all in 15 minutes. Yup, you got me… The visa was granted to me on the spot. Cool huh?? And I’m so sure that God is behind this. All the glory to Him…

It has been an interesting day for me. Went around hunting for material I needed last minute in my revision for my Control & Instrumentation paper. Finally found it on NTU’s e-learning website where all our course documents, like notes and tutorials and other stuff, are posted. Since I was in the smaller library where there were no printing facilities, I had to run over to the main library where the print shop was. I must have like spent more than half an hour running around to get the stuff I needed together. Plus, the bit lack of sleep I had made me restless the entire day.

Got my phone back. They changed the entire keypad assembly. Hope the keypad light flickering problem doesn’t come back anymore. And the insensitive keys issue. You know, I told myself that I was gonna send in this phone at least twice before the warranty is up, and I’ve already met that quota…. All within a month. And I’m sure it’s not the last time that this phone will be visiting the “doctor”. I like Nokia phones, but I think the quality of the phones coming out of their factories leave much to be desired. The first ever Nokia phone I owned, the 6110, which is still around in the family, still functions well. That phone has never seen the service centre ever before. And my 8210 lasted me about 2 years before I had to send it in to get the LCD changed. But then again, Nokia phones are the more user friendly phones around.

Got a lot of serious practising to do tomorrow. And by practising, I mean getting exam questions done, discussing it with friends and the likes. Drawing close to the next paper and kinda getting nervous. Don’t know why, but I’ll just leave it up to God. I’ll be as ready as I’ll ever be when I step into the exam hall and the rest, I’ll leave it up to Him.

Gotta go now. Take care and God bless…..

One exam paper down…. Four more to go….

Been a pretty good day today. Studied at the library for a while from around 12 noon till about 4pm. Making pretty good progress for my next paper.

My phone is acting up on me again. Time to send it in again, hopefully tomorrow. The keypad is losing sensitivity, especially with the 1, 4, 7 and * keys. Makes typing SMSes very frustrating cuz at the speed I type, I don’t really look at the screen and when a few dozen words down the line and you realise that all your words are screwed, you get pissed. Oh well, you get the idea.

I was browsing around Blogger today and I stumbled upon a blog, which I presume, belongs to a Singaporean Christian lady. The posts there are quite interesting. A different perspective offered on God. Kinda cute, the way she refers to Him as Daddy, which He is. Not really good at describing stuff, but the blog is entitled Days Of My Life. Check it out.

Gotta go sleep now. Cell group is on later and have to wake up pretty early to get there on time. Hope all of you out there will have a great week ahead….

After weeks of trying to chase down professors, I finally managed to get appointments to see the two I really wanted to see. And both tomorrow. Hope both of them can remember that I’m coming and stay in their offices.

After having installed my new hard drive and CD-RW drive, I think it is high time for me to get an auxilliary fan to increase air flow to the drives in my system. I seriously can fry an egg on my hard drive while it’s running. And I’m talking about ATA/100 drives. Imagine if they were SCSI drives. Haiz…..

Exams for NTU starts officially tomorrow. The two weeks extension has come to an end. As for myself, the exams for me kicks off with a paper for my elective on Friday. And it’ll last approximately 2 weeks. I’ll need all the strength and prayers I can get to get through this period. But I’m so looking forward to a semester without exams. But a bit nervous about starting work for attachment. Well, you win some, you lose some.

Going to bed soon. Hope to wake up a bit earlier and get to the library and prepare a bit for my “consultation” with the professors I’m seeing tomorrow. Anyways, good night, sweet dreams, God bless…..