(no subject)
Lacking motivation for a term paper again but at least this time most of the pressure is off because it's an art history elective, come on. Whenever people hear that I'm taking a class like that, the reaction is usually along the lines of "What a pointless module!" and I'd say, at least it makes me happy. Which is what most people can't say about uni in general, aha.
So, blogging to get the writing juices going. Some things about this week:
1. Career fair
Actually, better worth not mentioning entirely. It seems like every time I go to one, I end up unloading all my angst on some hapless HR executive who thinks I'm mentally unstable and probably makes a note NOT TO HIRE THIS GIRL. But what did happen to those dreams and aspirations we had at the start of uni? Heck, as a kid? It's sad how we've become so pragmatic, so jaded. Oh well, talk doesn't put food on the table. I probably should get off my lazy ass and start writing cover letters for the organisations that I am interested in...
2. International student ministry
Enjoying this very much! to my surprise. I was really grateful for the campus ministry back in the U.S. for showing me around, giving me lifts around Austin, taking away some of that alien-ness of living in a different culture -- and I'd like to think I'm giving back some of that to the foreigners here in Singapore. There're all these stereotypes about ATs -- admittedly, many of the foreign coursework grad students in my faculty still annoy me -- but getting to know these dear young people really has made me more sympathetic towards them. Their dreams and concerns are little different from ours, and all that separates us are cultural and language barriers that can be broken down, though requiring effort from both sides of the wall. I enjoy demonstrating to them the quirks of our local dialects, translating English expressions, chatting to them about where they come from, finding out about their needs... and at the same time it feels like what God would want me to do, i.e. showing love to the unloved in our midst. That's a struggle that we often have, yeah? like we see doing God's work as a duty or a chore but it's supposed to be something joyful. And this? It feels right.
3. David Copperfield
It's a surprisingly readable book. You'd have thought: omg, it's so long, plus it's written in that archaic 19th century style, but actually Davy/David/Trotwood/Daisy/... is such a likable, relatable character. He's honest. He's not afraid to look bad in front of the reader. He's just so earnest and really goes all the way when he makes up his mind to do something, you end up rooting for him even though he may be a tad foolish. I have about 200 more pages to go and when I'm done with the novel, to revise for the upcoming quiz I shall watch the telemovie starring young!adorable!Daniel Radcliffe, the formidable Dame Maggie Smith, and a distinguished ensemble cast that also includes Imelda Staunton, Dawn French (ohgod it's like Harry Potter, the prequel), and Ian McKellan as well as young chaps like Harry Lloyd. Wow, studying that I can look forward to. Amazing shit.
(I wonder what the term paper questions will be for the adaptations class -- WILL I GET TO WRITE A PAPER ON BBC SHERLOCK? BURSTING WITH EXCITEMENT ASDFGHJKL;)
4. The opposite of computer angst is...?
Lo! I have redeemed my laptop from BSOD limbo! Well, okay, not really. What I did was to get the laptop HDD out and put it in an enclosure, meaning that the contents of my laptop are basically now in a portable hard drive. Excellent stuff. Marched around SLS several times before I found a guy who wasn't trying to con me out of my money by claiming that the dark disk is corrupted, would you like to pay a bomb for data recovery services? So all of my work churned churned out over the past few years is safe and sound, thank God. And now maybe I can be more productive on my shiny new netbook-that-is-practically-a-laptop instead of using to wander around the Internet aimlessly. Goodbye, honeymoon days.
So, blogging to get the writing juices going. Some things about this week:
1. Career fair
Actually, better worth not mentioning entirely. It seems like every time I go to one, I end up unloading all my angst on some hapless HR executive who thinks I'm mentally unstable and probably makes a note NOT TO HIRE THIS GIRL. But what did happen to those dreams and aspirations we had at the start of uni? Heck, as a kid? It's sad how we've become so pragmatic, so jaded. Oh well, talk doesn't put food on the table. I probably should get off my lazy ass and start writing cover letters for the organisations that I am interested in...
2. International student ministry
Enjoying this very much! to my surprise. I was really grateful for the campus ministry back in the U.S. for showing me around, giving me lifts around Austin, taking away some of that alien-ness of living in a different culture -- and I'd like to think I'm giving back some of that to the foreigners here in Singapore. There're all these stereotypes about ATs -- admittedly, many of the foreign coursework grad students in my faculty still annoy me -- but getting to know these dear young people really has made me more sympathetic towards them. Their dreams and concerns are little different from ours, and all that separates us are cultural and language barriers that can be broken down, though requiring effort from both sides of the wall. I enjoy demonstrating to them the quirks of our local dialects, translating English expressions, chatting to them about where they come from, finding out about their needs... and at the same time it feels like what God would want me to do, i.e. showing love to the unloved in our midst. That's a struggle that we often have, yeah? like we see doing God's work as a duty or a chore but it's supposed to be something joyful. And this? It feels right.
3. David Copperfield
It's a surprisingly readable book. You'd have thought: omg, it's so long, plus it's written in that archaic 19th century style, but actually Davy/David/Trotwood/Daisy/... is such a likable, relatable character. He's honest. He's not afraid to look bad in front of the reader. He's just so earnest and really goes all the way when he makes up his mind to do something, you end up rooting for him even though he may be a tad foolish. I have about 200 more pages to go and when I'm done with the novel, to revise for the upcoming quiz I shall watch the telemovie starring young!adorable!Daniel Radcliffe, the formidable Dame Maggie Smith, and a distinguished ensemble cast that also includes Imelda Staunton, Dawn French (ohgod it's like Harry Potter, the prequel), and Ian McKellan as well as young chaps like Harry Lloyd. Wow, studying that I can look forward to. Amazing shit.
(I wonder what the term paper questions will be for the adaptations class -- WILL I GET TO WRITE A PAPER ON BBC SHERLOCK? BURSTING WITH EXCITEMENT ASDFGHJKL;)
4. The opposite of computer angst is...?
Lo! I have redeemed my laptop from BSOD limbo! Well, okay, not really. What I did was to get the laptop HDD out and put it in an enclosure, meaning that the contents of my laptop are basically now in a portable hard drive. Excellent stuff. Marched around SLS several times before I found a guy who wasn't trying to con me out of my money by claiming that the dark disk is corrupted, would you like to pay a bomb for data recovery services? So all of my work churned churned out over the past few years is safe and sound, thank God. And now maybe I can be more productive on my shiny new netbook-that-is-practically-a-laptop instead of using to wander around the Internet aimlessly. Goodbye, honeymoon days.