Monday, December 26, 2005

White Christmas

Oh well, the first white christmas in my life is the first christmas i spend alone. But it's not that miserable, cuz i am just alone physically but not emotionally :)

Ironically, it is a rainy instead of snowy christmas here in ithaca, and the snow is melting! These days have been weirdly warm - the temperature has been positive degree celcius these days, something i haven't seen for a month...

I made my first scramble egg today! No screw-ups, no injuries! Hohoho... Some worthy progress in my cooking skill yeah? ;) and indulged myself in 2 slices of cheesecake i bought from the only convenience store that is open in the entire collegetown - oh well, heck, it's christmas! diet plan can resume after that heh... :P

I am soooo excited that linda and zhi'en are planning to do exchange in cornell! i really hope they will get it!! :D if flo decides to come to cornell to attend summer school with me next next summer then it will be wonderful! hmm, now i hope shiyun can come to cornell for some exchange also! heeZ! oh man, i miss 6A! good that i am seeing lindy soon!

oh yay, two and a half more days here!! i survived by myself for a little more than a week! :) gosh, really really need to start packing tmr, no more procrastination!! man, i dun like packing.

Bleach and Desperate Houswives are my best friends these days. hahaha... the time spent watching these shows ought to be spent on studying for my impending jap placement test, really... or at least, spent on reading sophie's world, probably... btw, i gave up on catcher in the rye, thought it's rather crappy leh...

* 3:52 AM

Friday, December 23, 2005

Counting the days

For fear of morphing into a hibernating animal who only sleeps and whose metabolism rate is zero, and being utterly disgusted with my oversized mirror image, I have successfully motivated myself to get out of my room and walk around the deserted campus, even if it's just doing silly stuff like reading my own book in the library and snapping photos of the white campus like a spastic tourist...

This is the same waterfall as the one i took when i first arrived at cornell.. (find the photo in my earlier post!)

The famous (ok, famous in cornell la) Collegetown Bagels a.k.a. CTB!

My lunch, err no, brunch for today: Apple butter on toasted blueberry bagels. Yummy!

Anabel taylor chapel...

Baker Lab! I rmb when i finally decided to choose PUB/Cornell then, i wrote in my blog entry i'll take a photo of my Baker lab myself when i get here... :)

My favourite spot in campus now: the frozen Beebe lake! simply breathtaking!

No major mishaps for my first few attempts at (basic) cooking - aren't you proud of me? ( Oh, btw, cooking, by my definition, is anything that requires me to use pot and stove) Actually, i must admit, it's rather fun to plan what to eat, shop for groceries and make your own meals, even if it includes washing up after every meal. Well i can say this because i have all the time in the world now; cooking would be nothing but a chore if i have lots of homework/essays/lab reports/prelims piling on me right now.

i accidentally saw my final grades online -- 'accidentally' because they are supposed to be out only on 27th dec. haha...

Christina, guojian and huangyu agree that it is damn HOT in singapore. lol... actually, i already don't feel cold in the current -5 deg celcius weather. isn't it amazing that when subjected to decreases in temperature in progressive stages, your body will automatically be able to adapt? I think i can wear just t-shirt and short skirt in san francisco ahaha...

New york city public transportation is in chaos right now. why am i the only one who is unconcerned about the strike?? hmm...

Love is the only rational act -- Tuedays with Morrie

* 7:00 AM

Monday, December 19, 2005

On my own...

My blog title has never been so apt...

All my friends have left ithaca at 4am on sat morning... all residence halls (except mine) have closed, so have all dining halls. cornell is almost like a ghost town now. i will hardly have any company from now until 28th when i leave this place for NYC... and i have to settle all my meals myself, somehow.

so yes, i am really on my own right now. pls dun even ask me how i am going to spend christmas. :( i guess the fact that i dun usually have 'elaborate' christmas celebrations every year is rather consoling.

sighz... whatever the case.... i will survive. 2 days have passed, only 9 more to go...

* 3:27 PM

Friday, December 16, 2005

4 months here

On 15 Aug 2005, i arrived at ithaca in the dark.

On 15 Dec 2005, i took my LAST final exam.

After 10 prelims, 6 essays, 5 essay rewrites, 5 lab reports, and 5 final exams, AND, a (bonus) accident, i proudly proclaim,

"I SURVIVED 4 MONTHS AT CORNELL!"

(and it will only get tougher...)

watching narnia tmr... :)

* 11:42 AM

Wednesday, December 14, 2005

i know i should be studying now but i have to vent my frustrations:

1) I have totally screwed up organic chemistry finals!!! (read: the chem major has screwed up the only worth she has to deserve to be a chem major) GIVE ME MR YEO!!!

2) I am going to screw up the chem lab written exam which is less than 10 hr away and i have barely started studying becuz i was bloody hell working on organic chem final for the past 3 days!

3) I have just walked back from my finals at a temperature of NEGATIVE ONE FARENHEIT which is MINUS EIGHTEEN DEGREE CELCIUS !!!??? WTH!!!

4) At least half of cornell's student population have finished their last finals by tonight and will be going home tmr. i still have 2 more papers! :(

* 12:19 PM

Saturday, December 10, 2005

I will survive

Done with the last bloody lab report at 4.30am on wed morning!

Conquered 2 prelims on thursday alone! oh wait, correction: conquered one (first A+ coming from psych! whee!) but was conquered by the other one (screwed up math...MATH?! gah..). i honestly hate 2 papers falling on the same day - i will always rmb that fateful alevel phyS+chemS day when my brain died.

Finished 2 essays in one fri morning! That's ALL for my writing seminar for this sem! yay!

3 more papers, 6 more days to go! but weekend never fails to be a source of great inertia to study... i'm too used to slacking hard on friday nights liao! but i will still jia you la... (tks da jie! :) )

temperatures are permanently negative now. i saw minus 13 deg on the weather page on one night... brrr... i seriously think this kind of weather is unfit for human beings to live in - remember thermal equilibrium with the surroundings? that's the state we are approaching if we stay outdoors (in the howling wind) long enough?! shudder....

i've been eating instant noodles/soup/pasta for lunch since the start of study break cuz it's so cold to walk outside and i am too lazy to change into PROPER ATTIRE to get out - time taken for me to change and pad up is longer than time taken to walk to nearest food place! wth!

it will be a cold and LONELY winter break until i meet lindy in NYC...... :(

It's so nice to do little things for friends from time to time, even if doing these 'little' things screws up your priorities. cuz it's just so comforting to know my actions bring a smile to them, and consequently, that fact brings a smile on my face too :) but i am still going to pester gary for a decent treat when i get back to spore! gary owes me one for that god-like peer evaluation! lol..

i know it has been a well-known and highly publicized fact since j1, but i now seriously suspect i am bisexual! i really think shiyun is soooooooo pretty i have a crush on her liao la! Les, I LOVE YA ALWAYS!!!

(no matter what decision you make, i will always be on your side...)

Shoutout to my other les: I LOVE YA TOO!!!

9 dec 2005. someone told me i have to remember this date, so i am blogging this down. ;)

psych 101 lesson #1: Multiple personality and schizophrenia are NOT referring to the same mental illness. (sidenote: P should be suffering from the former, cuz she has no memory of what this other personality has said :P)

* 9:50 AM

Tuesday, December 06, 2005

I <3 my new dancing shoes!

Silver is just awesome!! i wore it to the salsa party and they are fantabulous! the shoes are rather ex, but i think it's a good long term investment! after attending the salsa party, i realise 1) i am seriously not good enough in salsa, 2) i watched the cornell ballroom dancesport team danced and i am convinced i want to learn ballroom dance from them!! so yes, my shoes shall serve double-purpose next semester! :)

friday was the last day of all the lessons. can't explain why but just felt kinda down... i guess i dun like the feeling of 'parting', even if it's just parting with classmates whom i dun even know the name but have gotten used to seeing them every lesson... though i was damn happy (and relieved!) my horse riding course finally came to an end and i have survived ultimately, i was rather sad to bid farewell to my instructor and her assistant who have been so sweet and helpful and understanding and encouraging ever since i had the accident. i wouldn't even have dared to ride the horse again (though i must admit i am still very uptight on top of the horse) without these 2 nice ladies.

revision progress is SLOW. omg, i am going to have a major screw up for the first time in my life, i can feel it coming... what is wrong with me?!

* 12:20 AM

Friday, December 02, 2005

On the morning of Thanksgiving...

...we woke up and saw a snowy cornell :)

Beautiful? well... imagine seeing this for the next 5 months....? hmmmz...

But of course, the excitement of seeing the first REAL snow is inevitable!

Word of the day
Traying: To smuggle food trays illegally out of dining hall, and then slide down a slope on the tray ~ FUN!!

On the night of Thanksgiving, we drove in frozen cars on icy roads in falling snow to Woodbury, and an eventful night/day began:
First, my car witnessed the other car swerved to the right, then left, then right, then spinned 180 deg to the left of the highway! :S
Then, starting from midnight, kickstarted the midnight sale by joining in the insanely long queue in sub-zero deg weather outside armani exchange.
Suffered from crazy shoving and pushing and more long queues at the cashiers at almost every shop we visited. I now appreciate the subdued form of kiasu-ism displayed by singaporeans compared to the americans and asians here.
Succumbed to the temptation of frappacino as usual everytime i see a starbucks outlet, but earned a weird stare from the guy who took our order as christina and i were the only crazy people drinking non-hot beverage in the entire shop!
Joined an even longer queue outside over-rated north face. We were counting the number of people who walked past us wearing north face jackets and bitching about the people who were already wearing north face jackets and still queued up (grrr...) in order to distract us from the cold. Honestly, i almost fainted when i finally got into the shop; yet the sale was pathetic! felt so CHEATED!! :(
After north face, everyone agreed enough was enough. no one was alert anymore after 9 hours of shopping through the night, hence both cars encountered more swervings on our way back.

conclusion? certainly a ONCE in a lifetime experience. no more thanksgiving woodbury sale and exhorbitant car rental for me thank you very much.

the long thanksgiving break has long ended, but no work had been done during the entire break, and my studying mood and motivation still have yet to return.

damn screwed damn screwed damn screwed damn screwed

i hate myself.