Of Activities and Anticipation

A bare two weeks into the first semester have seen a flurry of activities. From Malaysian night planning (which has yet been finalised) to the Hall AGM to the repeated frustration of not being able to purchase my Geography textbook as well as the Chemistry solution manual, I have yet been able to convince myself that I am prepared for the new semester.

Anyway, I went for the NUS Choir audition, for which I thought I did badly. It was divided into two parts, the vocal audition followed by the interview with the President and Vice-President of the society. For that night alone (of the three nights of audition), about 42 people turned up resulting in an hour wait for the audition. I guessed that paid off quite well since I got into Soprano 2, the role for which I hope to do well given the thin-ness of my voice.

In addition to that, there is this headache about the Hall activities selection, about which I have yet given a serious thought. With MMs, whom I know as casual friends, persuading me to join their activities, I cannnot help but be guilt-ridden for not answering their pleas. Problem is, I am afraid that the time constraints would only allow me to join 2 (or 3, with cut-throat strict scheduling) activities in Hall. Xian Ling said that there are insufficient sopranos in Raffles Choir (I really miss Yi Hui and her loud voice for that) and John, my dear neighbour, is tugging me to get in RH Editorial. This is not to mention that Jerome has put down my name as a member of Pheonix (for which I must say I consented quite some time ago) and that NUS Choir is practicing twice a week!

Nonetheless, my wait for Mum to come to Singapore had finally been rewarded when I saw her two days before, with her signature smile, and her almost reflexive comment about my hair (thank god she said it looked neat!). Anyway, she will be going back this evening and it will only be until after Christmas when I could finally see her again. Sigh...

General Biology

Just got my LSM1301 General Biology results on the 13th of this month. The result was supposed to be out at 3pm and there I was staring point blank at the computer at 2.58pm. Not that I was very kiasu but the anxiety was so great that I could not have a proper sleep the night before. The reason was this: I did not do so well for my practical assignments, having scored below average for 2 of the 7 assignments. It was a dreadful feeling especially when one reads the review about the module and observes the fundamentally the same comments over and over again, which is best summarised in the following quote:

Most people get full marks or close to full marks for lab assignments, so doublecheck your work to ensure that you did not make any careless mistakes (due to bell curve, even half a mark can make a fair bit of difference).

When the clock striked three, I punched in my username and password, logged into the online result portal, only to be surprised by an "A+" printed neatly to the right of the module name. Frankly speaking, I couldn't help but be animated significantly by such revelation. It took me a bare fifteen minutes to succumb to the urge of calling mum and telling her my result (since it is one module). It did not do much to lift my CAP by a triffle but I am happy that at least the $954 dollars did not go into waste.

Enough with all the joy and back to a down-to-earth reflection on taking a module during a special semester. Undeniably, it is a six-week sprint from going to the first lecture to sitting in the examination hall so much so that the I had to increase my learning pace by a significant factor. The classroom size, at about 50, is small, which perhaps explains the more interactive teaching-learning experience. The lecturers are certainly more engaging than any whom I have had in the last two semesters. The labs are also very interesting since I have the opportunity of examining mutant flies, staring at my own cheek cells, extracting and keeping my DNA, engaging in a dispassionate activity of exploding plant cells and bringing back a beer bottle (which I have not sipped).

At the same time, I had float stuffs for which I must be grateful to Jasvind for allowing me to juggle between the two activities. I do learn a lot from float, make invaluable friends, but I should not deceive myself into saying that I love float a lot. I guess different people have different affinities to things.

Anyway, today marks the end of the first week of school. I have several things in my head that, I hope, would work out through the course of this semester. Then again, nothing is certain so I should not put my hopes too high. I have a feeling that the last year has seen slacking a bit so this year should be a time I rev up my engine and concentrate on doing what I have decided to do, whether I like it (Geoscience minor!!!!) or not (Chem Eng....).