on hari raya and other concerns...

Tuesday, 23rd October 2007 – 1:20am, Singapore time

I just got back from a run, it’s raining like crazy outside and I blog as I wait for my laundry to be done…

It’s been a while since I last wrote and it’s not because I stopped writing altogether, it was because I was bus writing other shit which I don’t enjoy writing at all! I simply *hate* doing essays! But then again, they’re better than MCQ questions… MCQ questions are cruel… They don’t give you room to make mistakes… Essays are more forgiving… They allow you some leeway and pardon you for your transgressions…

Anyway, I know it’s kinda super late, but I would still like to wish everyone Eid Mubarak! Hari Raya this year has been interesting for me, especially since I was overseas when it happened last year… It was actually really nice to meet up and catch up with some relatives, while it bored the living daylights out of me to be visiting others… I’m kinda at the transition phase… I’m too old to be really playing around with the kids, but not old enough to have meaningful conversations with the more senior relatives… But thank goodness for some of my cousins of course…

Speaking of cousins, the more I look at them, the more I realise how alike we are… The Angullia gene is pretty strong, I must say… We all have the same prominent nose, the same set of bushy eyebrows, big eyes and of course, the same trademark coarse and stubborn Angullia hair…

I am also grateful to the E Lang Honours people for getting together to write me a card… It’s a really sweet and thoughtful gesture which I appreciate very much… Thanks y’all! =)

I am very, very nervous about doing my time trial tomorrow… It’s gonna be a lot of pain and a lot of anxiety and also, the fear of failure… I did a very bad time trial the first time I did it and I’m so afraid that it might happen again… I know I have been training hard and consistently… But I’m not sure if it’s good enough… Somehow I lack the experience with this… We’ll see how it goes… Wish me luck!

It’s Systemic Functional Linguistics day tomorrow… I’m beginning to like Dr. Peter Wignell… I think he’s really nice! But I just wish the classes won’t so intense… I always leave the computer lab with an aching brain… Sigh… Maybe it’s not used to being worked so hard… Heehee…

Time to hang the laundry now!

the one where asraf goes to the doctor's...

Thursday, 11th October 2007 – 10:53pm Singapore time

I went to the University Health & Wellness Centre today to get my feet checked cos I noticed some possible kind of fungal infection going on. Now, the centre functions like a typical polyclinic in Singapore --- tonnes of people, long waiting periods; but cheap or almost free treatments which are quite effective, provided you’re not suffering from anything serious.

So I took a number and waited, and waited and waited… As I did not want to miss dragonboat practice today, I had to leave the centre by 5:30pm or else I wouldn’t be able to make it on time… So at about 5 minutes past 5pm (after waiting for 45 minutes), I decided to throw a tantrum… *grin*

I went to the registration counter and told the lady manning the counter that I wanted to pull out of the queue cos I had been waiting for a ridiculously long time… She somehow got affected by this and asked me to hang on while she checks to see if she could somehow speed me up… I then went on to bitch about how unfair their system was, that people who came much later than I did were given treatment first and blah, blah, blah… I told her I would only wait for 5 more minutes and somehow, that did the magic cos she immediately went to a doctor’s room and I was ushered in a few minutes later…

So being a jerk helps sometimes eh? ;p

Anyways, the doctor suspected that it was foot rot but wasn’t sure, so she sent me to the lab where they scraped off some of the affected areas for testing to be done… It turned out to something less serious and she prescribed me some potassium permanganate lotion to soak my feet in and some cream to apply on the problem spots… I was done in less than 20 minutes and proceeded home to pack my stuff for training…

Training was tough, as it had been the last month or so… I think it’s tougher for me as it is still the fasting month… Somehow, you just wear out more quickly, you lose steam and energy after a while, and it’s a little hard to give 100%... I guess that’s natural, given that you’re deprived of food or water for a substantial part of your waking hours…. But the good news is, tomorrow’s the last day of the fasting month! Yay! My days of dehydration are over, at least for now…

Alrighty, I think I have soaked my feet for long enough now… Time to dry them off and apply the cream!

9am class tomorrow… *groan*

PS: I *did* thank the lady at the registration counter for helping me out, and I did it nicely, ok? ;Pp

happy birthday christine!

Happy birthday to the sweetest, cutest girl I know... Hehe... Christine Chen! She was 17 last year and so this year, she turns 16... She's 'special' that way... You know what I mean... Heehee... May all your wishes come true babe! Hugs... =)

i'm really sick...

of always being the last one...

did i really look like that?

Monday, 8th of October 2007 – 9:34pm Singapore time

It’s official: I am not born to be a scientist… We discussed the answers to the mid-term test on Saturday… The test about DNA structures, translation, transcription and all that shit… Shit which I really hate!

I did *not* do well at all… Sigh…

Anyway, here’s a recap of a funny conversation which I had recently:

Asraf: Those people used to hang out with me a lot.

Friend: Really? They all look like freaky geeks! Or geeky freaks!

Asraf: Don’t say that! I used to be one of them.

Friend: But how do you manage to look so human?

Asraf: I guess that’s why I eventually had to leave the group.

After the conversation, I did really ask myself how I managed to be part of such an unconventional group for so long… I don’t know, I guess people do funny things sometimes… Hehe…

science just ain't it my genes...

Sunday, 7th October 2007 – 11:29am Singapore time

I had the term test for my Genes and Society class yesterday and it simply *sucked*! I had studied quite a bit for the test and was pretty sure I could handle the questions, but oh, I was so damn wrong! The test had an MCQ format; 40 questions in 45 minutes. I thought that it’d be manageable enough, but yes, I was wrong…

Many of the questions required thinking, like you know, lots of thinking so I ended up spending too much time figuring out the answers to those questions and by the time I got to the second half of the paper, I only had 10 minutes left! So it was a mad rush to finish the paper which was a waste cos the second part of the test had questions which were easier… I could have gotten more of the answers right if I didn’t have to rush through them… Sigh… Oh well, we’ll see how the results are when they come out… *fingers crossed*

Dragonboat yesterday was pretty tough too, we did eight sets of 30-second sprints and after those were done, I was practically flat out… It’s always been hard having to engage in physically-demanding activities when you’re fasting and yesterday was the worst cos I also did not get sufficient sleep (studying for the stoopid test) and was kinda dehydrated… I don’t think I performed very well for the rest of the training session, but I did manage to survive… Just six more days of fasting and soon I’ll be back in optimum shape to handle training again…

It was Daniel’s birthday yesterday! Happy birthday Dan! Didn’t know he was the same age as I was… Somehow I’ve always had the impression that he was younger… Must be me feeling old about myself again… Heehee…

I have another test this week! Grr… It’s for an English class though, so hopefully it’ll be more manageable…

I’ve included two pics taken from the café’s birthday celebration the other night…. I have a retarded smile in the second picture cos I was eating and I think I had some food stuck in between my teeth, so didn’t dare to give a full smile in case unsightly particles of food get caught on camera… ;p

They did mass fumigation at my neighbourhood recently… It wasn’t aimed at the mozzies, but the fumigation was done in the rubbish chutes to kill the pests that dwell in there… Especially the roaches of course… Those who read entries from my facebook profile will know that I absolutely detest roaches and when I heard that the fumigation was going to be done, I was more than ecstatic… One thing they us to do was to seal the chute openings in our apartments while the fumigation was being done so that the roaches won’t be able to make their way into our homes while they try to escape the fumes…

I sealed mine pretty well… They did the fumigation, lots of roaches died and my house has been roach-free for quite a while now… I’ve decided not to take away the seal on the chute opening for now… I think it helps to keep them away…

I think I should be doing some schoolwork now, but I just don’t feel like doing it… How?

happy birthday hoppe/andrew/sean! =)

Friday, 5th October 2007 – 12midnight Singapore time

First and foremost, I’d like to wish Hoppe/Andrew/Sean a very Happy Birthday! May you get to travel (for work) less and may you not be partnered with annoying people during dragonboat practice ever again! So next time, make sure you try to sit next to me… Hehe…

My day went pretty well… Went to stock up on groceries, also for a haircut… A bit pissed that I forgot to buy Milo… It’s the 3rd time I’m forgetting this… Tsk! Even after putting it down clearly on my shopping list… Perhaps Milo and I are not meant to be… Sigh…

It was also the café’s 3rd birthday today… Well, technically it was yesterday, but we decided to celebrate it today, so who cares eh? The food was nice, many nice people came and I guess you’ll see how nice it is when the pictures come out… If they do come out that is…

I’m kinda feeling stupid today… Like I don’t know… I think I lost some brain cells or something… So, I shall stop writing now cos I don’t have anything smart or substantial to say… Till next time, hopefully after the recovery of these lost cells…

happy happy day...

Wednesday, 3rd October 2007 – 10:07pm Singapore time

Wow, it’s been *ages* since I last blogged, but I hope I haven’t lost touch yet… Here it goes, my first entry since my hiatus… =)

I just got back home now after hosting yet another session of Quiz Night at the café… I would say that this was the best session I’ve had so far… I had practically 100% participation rate, the audience were responsive and interacted with me freely and I even have regular Quiz Junkies! A particular group of them have been taking part in the Quiz since I first launched it and even though they have yet to win anything, they always seem to have fun and just now, as they were leaving, they said to me,

“See you next week!”

Happiness! Hehe… Organising the Quiz Night at the café had been my “Baby Project” since the semester started and I am really very glad that it’s working out fine so far…

Another reason why I am soooooo happy is because of what I found in my mailbox just now… If you look at the first picture, you will see a package of sorts… Well, that package came from the other side of the world… It’s a package from Norway! =) My really good friend from Oslo, Jan Benny decided to send me the package filled with lovely chocolate goodies! Although his wrapping skills leave much to be desired, the whole gesture itself is absolutely sweeeeeeet!! I am like soooooo touched la! Especially since he decided to include “Kvikk Lunsj” in the package (circled in red in the second picture)… His choice of including this item was by no means prompted by me, which makes it even sweeter! The thing is, I have a special affinity for Kvikk Lunsj ('Quick Lunch' in English) cos when I was living in Oslo about a year ago, I simply lurrrrved to eat it! And I am sooooo happy to see it again! Hee…

Jan Benny also included a postcard with a nice message inside… The thing that prompted him to send me the package was my little accident while walking down the stairs one day… The accident caused me to twist my ankle and he wrote a note to wish me a quick recovery… Of course, I have recovered… You know, it kinda takes quite long for a package to arrive from so far away… But bottom line: it was a gesture very, very much appreciated! Tusen takk Jan Benny!

Oh, by the way, forgive me for the shitty quality of the pictures… They were taken on my webcam as I do not have alternative devices for photo-taking…

Another thing which made my day was the card I received from Lilian, my team-mate from the Canadian Dragons… It’s a Hari Raya card and it’s in a lovely shade of green! Absolutely love it! So thanks very much to you too, Lilian, for such a thoughtful greeting…

This turned out to be a pretty good day… I managed to really clean the apartment, got myself some loyal Quiz Night Junkies and I got really, really sweet gifts!

Totally feeling the love now… =)

guess who's back??

Hi y'all! Guess what? I've decided to start blogging again... =) So come back whenever, and hopefully there'll be an update waiting for you...