Pkchukiss - Reality Wine

My head is still spinning from studying for my Database Management Systems module test on Monday. What’s unusual about it is the huge number of theories that get thrown at you for a computing-based subject.

I have to learn how to draw relationship diagrams, which would eventually graduate into a full-fledged UML (Unified Markup Language) diagrams. If you don’t understand any of the last 2 paragraphs, you’re not alone. I don’t either.

While I understand the need to map out the stuff to be included into a database (since these things get very complicated easily; with something that’s in one table referencing something else in another table), an approach I prefer would be to hack everything down into its small parts, then piece it together like Lego pieces. Talk about looking at the big picture!

Since I couldn’t really bear the thought of spending Sunday staring at more diagrams, so back on Tuesday, I tried to psycho my platoon mates to go out for some vocal stretching at a karaoke place. The response was quite ok, with 7 confirmed attendees out of 26 which I SMSed. The Karaoke culture isn’t very strong in my group (they prefer playing LAN games like DOTA), so I thought that the response was quite reasonable. We were initially set for PartyWorld Orchard, but Low Tide came with a suggestion for a place in Katong, which is cheaper.

Taking the idea and running with it halfway, I let everyone know that we could push the time till afternoon, since the Katong place opens from 1pm. What I didn’t think of doing was to call the place to make a booking!

Which led to the huge botch job on Saturday; I only remembered about that when Low Tide called me. You see, I had this pre-conception that like PartyWorld Orchard, which is located in the prime district, the place at Katong wouldn’t be filled to the brim with bookings on a Sunday. I forgot that the place at Katong is way cheaper than at PartyWorld Orchard, and being located straight in the heartlands, would logically be more popular than the deserted mornings of Orchard Road.

When Low Tide made the booking, the Katong place was FULL already!

I didn’t think too much into it: since the plan was for PartyWorld Orchard at 11am, we could revert the timing till the original time! Yay for contingencies!

Yeah right! In total, 3 more people cancelled at the last minute because they couldn’t make it for the original time slot. I could blame no one else but myself for this goof up – I should have checked that the place was REALLY ok for us before confirming a time and place; that would have cut a lot of flip-flops on my part.

So now I am on a Sunday afternoon, staring at my textbook, and mentally stabbing myself .

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Sometimes, when I whine about having “nothing to blog about”, it doesn’t really mean that there is nothing to write about. It just means that the day is not worth writing about.

Why is that so? I have this theory that we humans are perpetually seeking new experiences. New places to go, never-seen-before sights to take in, music to discover, food to taste, different-farts-to-smell, new friends to touch (oops). New things add fuel to our enthusiasm, and we share these newly discovered senses to the rest of the world.

Personally, I have probably covered more of my daily routine than I feel that I should have - even if you’ve never read them because those entries are buried 2 years down in the archives; if this were a knowledge sharing blog, I would probably have been happy to regurgitate the bowels a few more times.

Basics are for informative blogs. A personal blog shouldn’t have to start from the beginning of the story all the time! I want to experience something new, so that I can share them with everyone! I can’t really pinpoint what my driving force is, but a stint in the armed forces has told me that no matter how much I hate the situations I end up in, I always love them for having happened to me.

Those were 2 years of living with 10 people in a bunk. The truth is, I hated communal living at that time. Sometimes people couldn’t get along with each other, and quarrels break out; sometimes it gets too noisy when I try to sleep; sometimes I get angry with someone, but I wouldn’t have the option to close him out; the list goes on… Yet on the day I returned to being a civilian, I looked back at those times, and said to myself, “those were a hell of a time…”

Goodness knows what I would have written if I didn’t have my real life experiences to write about?

• 7am: woke up. Hit snooze button and buried head in the pillow for the umpteenth time
• 7.05am: woke up again. Smashed alarm clock for being such a _______ pain
• 9am: woke up… maybe
• 10am: woke up because I couldn’t sleep - the sun was in my eyes. Proceed to curse at the sun
• 10.05am: brushed teeth. Accidentally hit my gums and cursed again.
• 10.10am: I hate mornings
• 10.20am: I yawned
• 10.50am: thought about doing homework
• 11.30am: thought about lunch
• 12pm: had lunch… forgot about homework
• 12.30pm: killed an ant accidentally when I spilt water on the floor. Poor ant!
• 1pm: emptied a quarter of the insecticide on the floor.
• 2pm: slept
• 3pm: slept
• 4pm: slept
• 5pm: woke up
• 6pm: had dinner… was some crap
• 7pm: watched some stupid TV
• 8pm: thought about doing homework again
• 9pm: gave up trying to think
• 10pm: surfed the Internet
• 11pm: get scolded for floor that was soggy from insecticide
• 12pm: slept. End of day. What an exciting day this was!

Just for the record, I wake up at 6.30 am in the mornings because I like the peace and quiet. It’s so cool that I’m deciding to shift it earlier. 5am doesn’t sound too bad to be taking an early walk around the estate.

Now to end the tortured soul of this post, which is filled with bad style and grammar. Even someone who gets A1 for English can write really bad stuff Don’t you think so?

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My last posting was on 20 May 2007.

Since then, I have had so much things to do during the day that I simply didn’t have the energy, nor the mood to face my computer in the evening - even to do my favourite thing: write.  I guess that’s the nature of being a student of information technology - the screen can get a little intimidating sometimes.

21-25 May was my school e-Learning week: we were supposed to study at home. Well, that week would have been better as a normal school week, because I got hit with a terrible cold the entire week. I ran a high fever, had sore throat, and I was alternating between feeling hot and cold. To double the whammy, I had a Technical Business Communications project to submit the very next week, as well as complete the plethora of eLearning week assignments. I would have been able to finish them all had I not felt wretched that entire week.

Essentially, all my plans were thrown into a disarray. It was terrible picking up the pieces in the aftermath.  Not only had I missed a critical project meeting for the Innovations, Design and Enterprising in Action module, I missed a couple of blog posts at another blog which I write.

It sure didn’t bode well for me professionally, but I had to suck it all up, and stick everything back together.

Over the next few weeks, I dived into my other projects, as well as assignments - studying for my quizzes along the way into the first week of June. The week from 4th to 8th June was the toughest, and saw myself pushing the midnight train for the Database Management module, as well as the presentation for the project meeting that I missed. Couple that with at least 3 quizzes which materially affect the semester’s grades that week, I was a wreck when Friday rolled around.

While the rest of the class rejoiced at the opportunity to rest during the school vacation, I went home to pack my bags in preparation for my in-camp training on the 11th.

Setting off for Tanjong Gul (it’s at the end of Tuas) in the dead of the morning, I bade temporary farewell to the civilian world, and jumped back into the world of military training - and earned an abrasion in my groin. I’m sparing the details of the wound, but it’ll suffice to say that it leaked and stank. You wouldn’t want to be in my boots if you are a scout!

I came back to the world last Friday, which explains why I suddenly ‘decided’ to post again after the hiatus. I’m not sure if this situation will repeat itself, but I’ll try to prevent it. Of course, it helps if there is somebody out there who lets me know that she/he’s reading this - more motivation for me to keep the ink flowing on this blog

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