And I'm online. That seldom happens.

I'm downloading Running Man episode 31.

Internet speed is about 85kb/s.

I don't feel like sleeping yet.

219MB out of 1016MB is downloaded.

Now 222MB. Now 223. Pretty quick really.

I had to download at this hour because the internet speed is about 35kb/s during daylight hours.

Now 230MB.

It's now 0224 hours.

I'm thinking about tomorrow's lunch.

I'm cooking for tomorrow.

I can't watch YouTube because it will slow down the download process.

I read the profiles of several Korean singers, but didn't find what I wanted to find out.

I just finished downloading Running Man episode 29 about one and an half hours ago.

I want to watch it with my sisters.

They're asleep.

Now 248 MB, and 0227 hours.

I want to go to a mall with my friends.

I don't know what to do right now.

So I'm blogging an entry.

263MB, 0230 hours.

I have nothing else to say.

After nine-plus months of college...

1. I can't believe it's been nine months.

2. I'm starting to watch Korean dramas. The pre-college me would have been horrified. No offence to K-drama lovers! Because now I find that some of those dramas are quite okay.

3. Handwashing the laundry is starting to get tiresome.

4. I lost my spoon, food container and 4GB pendrive.

5. I've become somewhat neater when it comes to maintaining my room. I think it's because now I share it with roommates, so stacking papers and reading materials neatly just comes naturally. When I had my own room at home, any paper with print on it would be properly arranged on the bookshelf and also piled on the side of the queen-size bed that I don't sleep on. (It's easier; when you can't sleep, just reach out, pick up a random book, magazine etc., and read.)

After I finish college in April, I get another few months' holidays. I expect it would be the same as my post-SPM holidays; first fun and exciting though missing school, then progressively boring, everyday is the same routine, then finally going out to everywhere, and do crazy things. Like volunteering to single-handedly repaint the walls of the house. And when that holiday ends, I miss it badly. Oh yeah, I am sure that will happen.

=)

It ended yesterday.

 

(One minute. I really want to update, but I promised my mum to cook some rice. Be back in a jiff.)

 

Okay. So yesterday was the final day of the final exam of Semester I. Loads of things happen in that five-month span. I learned a lot of new stuff. Staying in a dorm has been busy (I mean BUSY), because there's a lot of things I have to do on my own now, like handwashing my clothes. I never thought college life is going to be this busy, but somehow, I like it.

 

However, there is sometimes this sneaking suspicion that the reason I can tolerate with this new independent life is because I still get to go home every fortnight. This notion is further strengthened when I stayed within college compound, never once venturing outside (not one inch!), for one whole month, ending yesterday evening. The final few days, starting last weekend, has seen me thinking about going home all the time. You see, going home means I get to watch TV, surf the net, read novels, wash my clothes with a washing machine and cook meals. (Note : Actually, the first three things I listed can be done in the dormitory, but for some reason that I'm not that sure of, I don't really. I never even stepped into the TV room!)

 

Which makes me wonder how some students, whose homes are too far away to go back to every fortnight, fare well at the college, especially at the start of the semester. I suppose one gets used to it. I'm getting used to it too, bit by bit. The dorm is starting to feel like home. Maybe I'll start going home only once a month the next semester. I mean, I'm not going to stay in this house with my parents forever, so I might as well just get used to it.

 

The highlights of the semester :

1) I dissected a mice.

And then I washed my lab coat twice. It was interesting though.

2) I learned that one shouldn't wash a headscarf with a brush.

It destroys the fabric. Badly. It happened when I handwashed my clothes the first time ever. I think it was overenthusiasm that did it.

3) I learned that there is such thing as Kung Fu noodles.

It's a way of cooking the noodles; not that you actually kung fu it. I didn't know it was a way of cooking at first, and I thought, "You kung fu it?" and I imagined a cook ( Chinese guy in a white apron ) flipping a handful of noodles in the air and giving it a couple of chops with his hands before the noodles plop into the hot wok in front of him. Don't laugh.

The noodles taste good. I may have a new favourite food now.

4) I learned that if you are fast, you win.

I knew this before, but never really experienced it. Now I know that if you wash your laundry late, there'd be no space on the line where you hang-dry. If you get to night classes late, there'd be no vacant seat in the lecture hall. If you wake up late, there'd be no empty shower cubicle. If you get to the cafeteria late after classes, either the line will extend through the cafeteria, or, in the more popular cafeterias, the food will be finished altogether.

 

It was fun, really.

 

Okay, I also promised my mum to hang the laundry. Signing off!

 

PS. Ever ate a raw spaghetti? Chewing it felt like having coarse sand gritting at your teeth. Tastes like plastic too. Being curious is fun, but can be somewhat... painful.

I started taking driving lessons. I thought driving is a lot like playing video games; the coordination and all. That made me worried; I am BAD at video games. But tut-tut, I find driving easy and fun. I dunno, maybe it's the fact that if you screw up in a real car (as opposed to a virtual one in a racing game) you can DIE. So I gave it more attention and did it more carefully than I'd do with a handheld control thingie.

On my first lesson, I drove on not-so-busy roads near factories and housing areas. At one point, the instructor told me to keep on the left lane. So I did. Until there was a huge vehicle - the open kind which transports newly manufactured cars; I always see them on highways - parked in front of me at the left lane. Remembering his instruction, I glanced at him to sort of get permission to switch lanes. He said, "Get on the vehicle." I was like, "Eh?" Then he said, "No, no! Go right! I'm just kidding!" I giggled for a good 30 seconds. (I know 30 seconds might seem very short, but try it and see. Besides, I'm not the giggling type.) I still laughed silently for hours after that. If the instructor was looking at me (I don't know if he was; my eyes were on the road, duh.) he might notice a sudden smile now and then. That'd be weird, haha!

This morning was my second lesson. I drove on a winding road through like a countryside. The road has a single lane both ways but no divider between opposite lanes. In certain parts, you can't overtake. BUT, as I was driving, this car from the opposite direction suddenly appeared in front of me to overtake and went into my lane. (I actually said, "Oyoyo!") I was doing about 60 km/h. The instructor immediately put a hand on the steering wheel (in case I panic and suddenly swerve left into a lot of trees, I guess.) I think all three of us were surprised - me, the instructor, and that law-breaking driver. (Obviously, nothing happened. That driver went back into his lane fast.) It seems so funny now.

Later, the instructor told me that for a student who's never driven before and just on the second lesson, I'm doing pretty good. He said that I can drive. (Much better than the two girls before me, he said.) I was so HAPPY, because up to that point I had no idea how I was faring compared to other drivers. Then he taught me parallel-parking, and two more types of manoeuvres which I'm not sure how to translate in English.

The steering wheel was so resistant to my handling that it felt as though my palms were chafing. The instructor told me that not all cars have steering wheels made for professional arm wrestlers, so I have nothing to worry about. I can just get a car with steering wheel made for the likes of me. (The likes of me, as in, the type whose palms can bruise just by gutting fish in the kitchen. I'm serious.) Thank God for that!

I've been busy since the SPM results came out. What with scholarship-hunting and -applying, so and so. I even visited the Japan Embassy for information on learning in Japan. It was my first time to an embassy. My dad told us about the strict scanning. I was quite excited though. Yet, despite my dad's warning, I was surprised to see the security checkpoint. As if you're gonna board a plane to another country!!! It was fun. =)

I thought the best thing that could ever happen to a Fifth Former is when SPM examinations are over. I was right... but only up to the first month. I was so bored with staying at home that I volunteered to cook lunch on many days, and I even painted the outside of our house. I also suddenly have this urge to follow my parents everywhere they go. (This is a big change; I am notorious for NOT wanting to follow my parents go out, anywhere.) Its been three months since high school is over for me. And I'm practically dying to have someplace to start going to everyday, where I can learn and make new friends. I miss school.

I sang for a few hours around the house yesterday (well, mostly in my sisters' bedroom) before I slept. Woke up this morning with a sore throat which still hasn't gone till now. LOL. But I'll still sing, because (a) it makes me happy, and (b) it releases some of the tension that's been building up from staying at home for too long. It gives me a satisfying sense of doing something.

CURRENTLY READING
Adeline Loh's Peeing in the Bush.

Apparently this book cannot be found by the Xangazon search. I love Loh's sense of humour and writing style.