Seized

Oh my – I should be busy with an application right now, but I was so gripped with emotion just now that I just had to post this:

I LOVE THE MIT APPLICATION BLOGS

Every time I read an entry I feel myself nodding, marvelling at the fact that THERE ARE PEOPLE OUT THERE WHO THINK THE SAME WAY I DO! Who exhibit the same patterns of thought and examine their surroundings under a magnifying glass and ponder incessantly and tirelessly and pour it all out in writing <333

Look at this entry about being average. I have that niggling fear in my head all the time. 

Or this entry about being qualified for MIT. Touche. (I love the ending, btw – apart from assuaging some of my fears, it also showed me that compassion is still appreciated, even amongst super-smart individuals whom one perceives to be less in need of human interaction. Stereotypes, gah.) 

Or this entry about children, also by Anna H. 

These blogs make me want to know these people, to talk to them and pick their wonderful minds and discuss Things with them! I love this very human face of what is perceived as an exclusive, elite institution. 

If I get to be in such an environment in Uni – that great looming Unknown – I’ll be happy. 

I feel like an essay-writing machine

Perhaps not – the volume of essays I have to write is certainly characteristic of a machine, but my response echoes that of a fatigued human struggling for inspiration! NEED. MORE. AND. BETTER. IDEAS.

I think I will be happy when Jan 1 comes. (Or maybe not, maybe there’ll be something even more ominous round the corner *shivers*)

Here are some photos of Convo to prevent me from boring you all with my laments…

Everyone's favourite Math teacher!

My roommate thinks she has very big eyes

Hark! A dementor!!

She walked into my office like a centipede with 98 missing legs.

Next deadline: Nov 30, B_____ application.
JY me one more essay left!

Don’t you think the title of this post is very funny?

Graduation

I liked many of the shiny, flowy dresses at prom but think I could never take part in that sort of public pageant. 

For half a day I actually regretted fretting over my NUS exam and not bothering about prom – dispensing with the elaborate process of dressing up and getting a professional hairstylist/make-up artist. 

Luckily I came to my senses. The stress must have impaired my judgement – NUS exam is 10 times more important because the grade I receive will be sent separately to the Unis I’m applying to (thus gaining prominence in my application)!

I’m glad I didn’t cave in to the dizzying pressure to conform I think my time was much better spent writing letters to those people who made a difference in my Year 6 life. 

Truth 1: I am ambivalent about graduation. Just think: who exactly are we saying goodbye to? Our level-mates. But of the large volume of people in our batch, only a few are our close friends. With these friends we will meet up of our own accord.

So it’s not goodbye, not in the least – except to those who are going back home overseas. To Seo Youn, Keren, Viet Anh, Tingyi, Kristacia, Anqi, Lim, Chau (none of whom read this blog, I expect) – I will miss you.  

Truth 2: I have not had a break since the end of exams, and I am exhausted. US Uni apps, C____ test, C____ interview, Convo rehearsals, EG1108 exam – apologies to everyone I’ve black-faced or been less than chirpy to (I expect it is a significant number of people), but I didn’t mean it. Probably^^

Truth 3: Prom would have been a very facile event if I hadn’t been sitting at a table of REALLY AWESOME TROLLS who insisted that counting must be done in multiple of twos and all the balloons in the venue (as well as some potted plants) must be aggregated at our table. 

tmp, JE T’AIME!!! 

If

Rudyard Kipling - If

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream – and not make dreams your master;
If you can think – and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build ‘em up with wornout tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: “Hold on”;

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings – nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run -
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And – which is more – you’ll be a Man my son!

Love this poem!

I quoted it in what I wrote for the Convo booklet. Unfortunately I have a feeling that my 267-word piece is going to be edited to high heaven because I made sure it was different from the bland dissertations that were served to previous batches. I honestly think there is no value in deluging the reader with laundry lists of your achievements -.-

Title

A comparison of internet speeds (ranked from fastest to slowest):

1. At home
2. NUS Central Library
3. Free wifi at random restaurant
4. NUSHS canteen
5. NUSHS hostel, if you stay on or below the 3rd floor and/or you camp near your boarding counsellor’s room to scavenge the remnants of signals from there.

NUSHS internet: A monument to inefficiency. Toiled through it today when convo rehearsal ended 2 hours (?!) early. Apparently reluctant to see me leave, NUSHS internet made sure to sear its amazing inertia into my mind as a graduation present.

Still coming to terms with the fact that my foreign friends will be departing (likely forever from my life, though not from my Facebook) soon. Someone I met for 15 minutes told me that we spend our entire lives moving from one set of friends to the next. Much as I would like NOT to believe that friendship is ephemeral, I have yet to see a convincing counterexample.

Why is it that good writers are not always good orators?

To cheer myself up let me recommend you a wonderful game: GIRP (http://www.foddy.net/GIRP.html) It is totally unrealistic but seems burdened by a sense of realism – and if you concentrate hard enough it will soon have you in its girp. Yes, that was an intentional misspelling.

I have not started playing it intensively yet but I think I’ve figured out a strategy~

Ms Sweetie Poo

Ever heard of Ms Sweetie Poo? Neither had I, until my fellow RIG members told me about her.

I quote from the excerpt of the video below: ‘The organizers of the Ig Nobel Prize ceremony solved an ancient problem: How to keep speeches from droning on and on… The solution, called “Miss Sweetie Poo”, is an 8-year-old girl who tells long-winded speakers to “Please stop. I’m bored. Please stop. I’m bored…” ‘

You absolutely have to watch this video. IT IS COMPULSORY. In any case, why would you want to miss out on 9 minutes of nerdy hilarity

I love it when scientists have a sense of humor – no, humour. Gahh CommonApp has turned my brain to permanent American English autocorrect mode.