Happy Valentines Day Everyone! (I don't mean to burst anyone's bubble)

Happy Valentines Day everyone! 

As for me, I'm dying inside. Bounce back in a few.

Because I Just Couldnt Resist...

My hectic schedule hasn't been allowing me to post frequently. However, even if I don't get to comment on all of your entries, I still am able to read through them from time to time. Anyway, I'd just like to write about the "highlight" of my previous week....

Monday, February 2

I was wearing my favorite black cardigan with pearl buttons and a pair of black capris. I spent the entire day at the IS department cramming readings as usual til my 6pm class. At around 5:30, I headed down to the college canteen for a quick snack and to meet up with a few of my friends. After settling myself on one of those comfortable monobloc chairs, I felt kind of weird. Something wasn't right. I was feeling the chair's plastic on my skin. It wasn't a good thing. I discretely reached down and yes, there it was - A HOLE! I started to panic. How long has it been there? Of all the days (I was wearing a thong. GREAT! It would already be helluva embarassing to have the entire campus see my undies, but to give a glimpse of one of my butt cheeks - that's just DEATH! ) Fudge fudge fudge! I managed to tug at my cardigan enough for it to cover the upper part of my capris. Thank goodness it was an evening class, and there were not a lot of people on campus. LESSON LEARNED: Bring a sewing kit. 

To my new followers: Thanks for dropping by! Looking forward to catching up on your posts!

Hell Week Round1

The pressure of midterms week is getting alarmingly stronger. 

Sorry in advance. I shall bounce back with a vengeance in a few!

I Will Not Fall Asleep... No.... Not...Fall...

It's 2am. I'm one class behind in my readings. I have around forty-eight hours more...

Monday = quiz for the kids and politics of EU integration class (readings done)

Tuesday = make-up class for the IS goddess (readings haven't been touched, not to mention that I am still on the hot seat for the first fifteen minutes )

Wednesday = regular class with IS goddess

Ok. I have... 12 more readings to go. Oh. And an entire chapter on the Cold War for my class.

Sleeping is a luxury.

I am destitute. 

It's a Small World After All

This is effin' unbelievable.

Flashback to last term:

It was a rainy Monday night, and I had to rare opportunity of having dinner with R (one of my guy pal classmates in gradschool) at KFC.

R: I don't understand. No offense, but of all the guys out there, why ATF?

Me: Beats me as well. 

R: You know I have an older brother, he's like six-feet tall, a killer IQ... he even went to Stanford.

Me: Whoa! (to myself: hmmm... probably he could hook us up)

R: But he sucks with the chicks. He even runs to me for advice.

Me (to myself): Oh shit. I've had enough from inexperienced geeks. 

This morning, I accepted R's facebook friend request, and noticed that I had another new friend request from the X (now I write it with an X cause he is one of them "lapse in judgements" if you know what I mean...). I paused for a moment. Wait... I just noticed... that... they... have... the... same... last...name... oh no... this is isn't good... I opened a new tab and decided to visit my dormant friendster account. I hurriedly browsed through my friends, clicked on the page I was looking for... went through his picture albums... and BAM! OMFG. THEY'RE BROTHERS!

Fudge. Fudge. Fudge. I wish X would keep his mouth barred shut. This was the X who called all my girlfriends the night I broke up with him, crying his head off, begging each and everyone of them to convince me to stay. I tried my very best to forget this awful awful mistake, and now it hits me hard on the face. Great. It's a small world after all. 

I've Been MIA I know

I am sooooo sorry for falling off the radar. The previous week was just really extremely toxic. I guess I'm still adjusting to my "new lifestyle". It's no joke really - I have to read for my grad classes, read for the class I'm teaching, come up with modules to keep their minds on the lesson, chat with friends, update my wardrobe and hit the nail spa regularly.... argh!!! Just yesterday I was only able to get an hour of sleep - I had to prepare for an outline presentation for THE grad class (THE cause it's the one being handled by the course god/goddess if you know what I mean). I spent hours and hours reading and typing. In fact, I even consulted my other prof friends regarding my outline, and so far, all of them said it was ok. 

THE CRAZY PART: At the end of my presentation, IS god says, "There is no thesis statement." 

THE EVEN CRAZIER PART: Perhaps if this happened to me last term or maybe a year ago, I would've burst into tears. Yesterday - I ended up laughing at it. I don't know if you guys would see it as a good thing or a bad thing, but right now I see it as a good thing. Last year changed my life in so many ways. This is cheesy I know, but last night, as I was reflecting on the entire reporting fiasco, I sincerely realized that those kinds of moments are part of the entire learning process. Whether it's called character building or whatever, I think it's helping me become a better person. Instead of being hard on myself, sulking, moping, regretting... I don't know, but it really feels right to be laughing. And doing better next time of course. :D

My First Lecture

In preparation for my first lecture, I had to go through a crash course on transformative learning with ATF last Friday. For those of you who are totally clueless, ATF was 2008's ultimate male hang-up. 

* Here's a confession: ATF is a prof. He was my prof and thesis mentor during undergrad and my first term of grad school, and will still be my prof (and hopefully thesis mentor again) next term. 

It's a bit tricky especially now that we're colleagues, but I promised myself to break free from the shackles of the hang-up for 09. However, in the hour of training we had (fortunatley, G, my great gal pal who is also a prof was there), I'd just like to say that it is unbelievable how he keeps changing my life (Oh I am so hoping that my students would never get a hold of this blog and read this post). The guy is BRILLANT! I don't think I've ever met any guy who comes close to how intellectually stimulating he is. Anyway, enough about him...

As always, I had to wake up at 4:30 am to prepare (as in beauty preparation) for the 8am class. I wore a satin turqoise off-shoulder blouse, black capris, and gold greek-style sandals (nope, not gladiators). I started the class with a quiz (yeah I know, evil right!). Since it's a global studies course, I require the students to log on to the BBC website every Sunday and read two articles. The first would be the main news front page of the day, while the second would be the news front page for Asia-Pacific. I got yesterday 's question from the main page article and my question was "What did the Israeli Defense Forces leave on the Gaza Strip, and what are its contents?" Don't get me wrong, the BBC articles are relatively short, and my maximum sentence requirement is three (so if they are able to hit the mark in one sentence, they are very free to do so), so I'm a bit surprised with how the results turned out. 

Only four out of five students got the answer. I was looking for the following keywords: fliers/leaflets/pamphlets and warning. Ironically, the first sentence of the news article reads:

"Israel has dropped leaflets on the Gaza Strip warning residents that it is to escalate its military action." :(

Other answers ranged from telling me how many Palestinians died, what sort of weapons were launched... there was even a student who answered, "The IDF left nothing but destruction." There are all valid answers yes, but they missed the point of the question. I already printed a copy of the article onto a transparency and would discuss this matter with them tomorrow at the beginning of the class. 

On the brighter side, I was able to go through the discussion smoothly - they were attentive and quiet (it was also a bit awkward cause one of my classmates during undergrad is now my student), and I had no difficulties controlling the class. They also participated and gave good input, I ended the class showing them a video animation on globalization, which should've presented the concept in a more entertaining and simple manner. 

Tomorrow is graded recitati0n day, and I'm looking forward to seeing my class again!:D

... and I'm Back!

Sorry for dropping off the radar for a bit, cause I got so wrapped up in post-New Year happenings. Nevertheless, I now come crashing back into harsh reality - the holidays are so over (unless you squeeze in Chinese New Year on the 26th) and it's time to get the house in order. It is extremely stressful to look at the holiday rush mess left unattended just like this one:

Yes, that is my desk, and that is how it usually looks during finals and hell week/month.

I know it's horrible so I'm off to clear it up right after I post this. Classes are starting tomorrow, but my professor in International Political Economy is still in HongKong, so I'm crossing my fingers that he would let us have the day off (I only have two classes this term: the one I've just mentioned and Politics of European Integration... sounds like serious business I know - cause they really are! If you guys could only see the amount of reading load we get per week... it's totally crayzeh!). 

Anyway, I started my healthy eating lifestyle yesterday. It is a great thing especially since my friends noticed my holiday weight gain :( 

Yesterday's meal log:

Bfast

decaf tea

vegetable quiche

AM snack

pistachio nuts 

Lunch

grilled chicken

side salad

PM snack

cottage cheese

Dinner

steamed fish

mixed florets

pandan jello

Everything was so bland... I am seriously having difficulties adjusting to the "flavor" of my meals. I'm a sugar addict you see, so yesterday was quite a "shock" to my system. I had a terrible terrible headace, but I couldn't tell whether it's my body's withdrawal or my new astigmatism (I had my lenses fixed in any case and I'm glad the headache's gone when I woke up). I kept craving for my usual cup of coffee and desserts the entire day! I really couldn't help myself that I decided to eat a cookie and a brownie in the evening :( It made me feel so effing guilty, but fortunately I read a passage from the South Beach book that featured a dieter's story (he was going through the same cravings thing) and he said that instead of depriving himself, he cured his intense sweeth tooth gradually. Perhaps I should do the same. *sigh*

Anyway here is my menu for today:

Bfast

lite milk tea

hardboiled eggs and canadian bacon

AM snack

dry roasted nuts

Lunch

chili shrimps

side salad

salad dressing

PM snack

celery sticks with salmon dip

Dinner

roast pork

cabbage in olive oil

chocolate tapioca

I'll keep everyone updated with my food log (sorry if it would bore some of you) in the hopes of helping me stay motivated and focused with this whole new healthy eating lifestyle thing I'm in. 

Final Straw

One more day and I'm finally free.


*BREATHE*

The X Friend (gradeschool all over again)

Dear X Friend,

You suck! How could you think, say and do all those things when I've always wanted only the best for you? 

I kept all your secrets. You gave away a few of mine.
I totally trusted you. You fabricated a couple of lies.
Bases fully covered?
Nah.
We shared peanut and jelly sandwiches.
We giggled all night.
Those days are long gone now.

F.O. bye!

Emotional Cyclone