keeping warm

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I was just about to blog when the fire alarm went off. Thank God I didn’t decide to go bathe after dinner like I usually do. Julliane said they do this fire drill at odd times. Once, they set the alarm off at 2am in the morning.

Anyway, back to the purpose of this entry.

The stupidest thing to do when it’s cold outside is to wear slippers. Ya, my toes got frozen. I learnt my lesson and wore shoes since yesterday. I also discovered that my OP jacket/windbreaker is not enough to keep warm on cold mornings. Out came the pink Illinois(ssssss) sweater. It worked but I don’t think I can wear black tees underneath it coz the inner lining is fluffy and the lint gets stuck on the tee, making it look like I just rolled around in dust. Well, just 2 days of wearing the sweater and I fell in love with it so I got another one at Follett’s. The new one is orange (school colour). 🙂 People wear their school colours proud here. The bookstores sell tons of school memorabilia. From lanyards to mugs, stationery, sweaters, tees, track pants, pyjama pants etc. I’m just jumping on the “I love school” bandwagon.

The transition to autumn is beginning. It’s rather cold in the morning now. Not like super frostbite cold but definitely much much colder than the lowest temperature back home. Some students can tahan the weather coz they still walk around in tees and shorts, but I don’t think anyone from Singapore can do that. Afternoons are a little warmer with the sun out. You can afford to take off the sweater but I keep it on coz I’m just too lazy to keep taking it off then putting it back on.

I went to the planetarium at Parkland College yesterday. It was part of my Astronomy class syllabus. I sort of expected to have a view of the night sky through telescopes etc. Didn’t get that. I got the view of the night sky through this machine projecting images on the dome ceiling. But, it wasn’t that bad coz the guy gave a very good and fun explanation to the night sky. Of course, it’s not an excursion…it comes with a price, in the form of homework and a 150-200 word essay.

Before I sign off, here are some cam-whoring photos…

This is my first time in ages, tying up my hair. After doing that pose, I realised the Massu board was just behind me, so…

Last but not least…

PS: If you’re wondering what’s with the Illinois(sssss) thing, it’s a joke. The ‘s’ is meant to be silent when you pronounce the word but students like to emphasize the ‘s’ as a joke. Learnt that on Convocation Day while singing the school song.

everyday is reading day

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I wonder how my neighbours seem to find the time to watch tv. I seem to be doing my readings everyday and find like I only have about an hour or so for leisure. One hour to play games, watch dramas, update blog etc…where got enough?!

Trying to keep on top of things. Astronomy is interesting but it’s getting difficult. The text is dry with a number of terms and concepts to understand. I just read up about eclipses and thank God I remember how Dad used visuals (his fists) to teach me about them when I was young.

Anyway, I missed out on the lunar eclipse. 3+am, didn’t think I could handle that. But I woke up a few times at night wondering if the orange light pouring in from the window was from the eclipse or the street lights. I bet it was just my imagination. Per caught it. I’m so jealous~~~ Now, I’ve got to wait till next year. Was chatting with CJ sometime in the afternoon and she said we could exchange information on astronomy. Here’s what she also said…”Boss, you are such a geek.” Well, that statement certainly meant no harm. I think it’s sort of true. My aunt has made the observation that my uncle and I share an interest on IT stuff. We could run wild in Best Buy. And here I am, interested in astronomy. HAHAHA… :laugh:

Just for the curious, I survived Rhetoric class. Turns out I’m not the only one who found the readings tough. We got our first assignment which we can begin on after the trip to the school art musuem on Thursday. *nods* I will try my best to analyse my chosen topic so I can write a good paper.

Our floor had dinner together today. As usual, I’m so quiet. But I guess most people do know already that I have a talkative side which is displayed to people whom I’m very familiar with. The girls are nice. Some gave me advice on school and stuff.

Tomorrow night is Open Doors Night. We leave our room doors open so the other girls on the floor can visit and we get to know each other. My room isn’t that interesting coz it’s kinda simple and bare. I put up all those farewell gifts on the wall since I don’t have posters. They are also there to remind me to study hard and that you guys are always with me. I also moved the 2 cork boards since they kept falling off the wall. Double-sided mounting squares are supposed to be invincible. I never tried tack (it’s not blue so can’t be called blu-tack) coz I believed it wouldn’t hold. In a last resort, I used just that. Well, what do you know? It worked. The cork boards are now on the side wall.

rhetoric makes me go dot dot dot

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I just completed my readings for Rhetoric. Reading for Rhetoric class makes me feel like propelling myself into the air and then crash headfirst onto a hard concrete floor.

So much for being enthusiastic about class or keeping an open mind about class. I’m just getting more and more confused. Let’s hope I survive tomorrow.

The lunar eclipse issue is making me go all excited. But, 3+am is an unearthly hour! It’s not the holidays where I can stay up (like I did to catch NDP online). And I still have to worry about surviving Rhetoric class tomorrow. ARGH! :angry:

Think I’m going to crash (go to sleep)…

i miss home

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I got a printer. It’s a HP All-in-One. I like how it’s all compact unlike the all-in-one I have at home. It even has card slots so you can print photos directly. Also has a small coloured LCD panel. So cool! 🙂

Unfortunately, I won’t be able to bring it home to use after my 4 years here are up. 🙁

I miss home~~~ 🙁 Rhetoric is hard. I still have readings to do and the preparation questions for discussion sound so cheem. How~~~ My Engrish no good lahz… 🙁

If I didn’t have Rhetoric tomorrow morning, I would wake up at 3.30am tomorrow morning to see the eclipse of the moon. At least there is flat, unlit, unblocked land here.

be careful not to get heatstroke

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2 days of classes and to tell the truth, I’m actually quite tired. I am a morning person which means I prefer morning classes but I don’t really like 8am classes. Especially when it’s 2 days in a row! 🙁

Driving is a so-called must in the States but that doesn’t mean it’s a good thing on campus. Mainly coz parking space is limited on campus. I prefer to just walk. Well, I could consider getting a bicycle but not for now. For me, walking was an easy task back in Poly. Everything within stone’s throw. I like~~~ :heart: Here, I need to factor in a good solid 15 minutes of walking plus getting to my class 10 minutes before it starts so I get a good seat in the auditorium. Remember, I’m tiny. So if someone REALLY tall sits in front of me, I’m dead.

It’s definitely worse when the sun is just shining mercilessly on all of us. I keep drinking water but my mouth ends up feeling dry in a few minutes. I take back whatever I commented on having a room in an air-conditioned dorm. Smug me thought that it’ll be the worst in summer and I am not going to be around in the summer. So yea, I’m pretty much covered. Hello, wake up. This IS still summer. Anyway, I don’t exercise or do any sports so you could pretty much say this is exercise for me.  Hey, even going to the shops at Campus Town is exercise. It’s a good 15 minutes away. I’ve got something I need to return at the t-shirt shop but I’m just too lazy to go now. Maybe a little later…

Out of all my classes. I think the more fun ones would be Psychology and Astronomy. Economics is fine…Sis said it’s easy and Man Ling gave me a few tips. Rhetoric is more of a drag. The TA (Teaching Assistant: usually a graduate student) is fun. He made us interview our neighbour and then introduce him/her. Discovered some pretty cool things about my classmates. 2 of them have a twin sibling. One ang moh girl can speak Mandarin. (Darn, I should have gone up to her and asked her something in Mandarin. Maybe next class…) One guy wants to take up Mandarin. I’m absolutely fascinated when an ang moh wants to learn more about our culture. 3 of them are Koreans. I introduced Patrick who is a Business major. He too would like to take Japanese if he hadn’t had to take Rhetoric!

So why is Rhetoric a drag? Coz basically, it’s a mandatory writing class all freshmen have to take. Well, that also depends on your English/Writing score in SAT. Anyway, most freshmen end up taking the class. I don’t write well especially in time constraints. Even writing a blog entry can sometimes take up to half an hour. We had to write a half page on analysing a quote within 15 minutes today. Now, if the topic is something I’m familiar and passionate about, I could ramble on and on. Let’s just say it wasn’t. I know I could have analysed it better if I had been given more time but I was just panicking when my neighbours were furiously writing and I was still stuck at one small paragraph and trying to compose my thoughts. Ok, I should give myself some”false sense of security”…my handwriting is much smaller than my neighbours’ so I can squeeze more words in a line.

My brain really ended up fried after that class. Luckily I had a long break before the next class and I could go back to the dorm to recharge.

My floor is having an activity tonight. Tie-dye. Simple activity but gives us a chance to socialise. I’m not really sociable and I’m already learning to be comfortable eating at the dining hall alone. Something rather interesting too. The frequency of the Americans and Singaporeans are very different. I remember having no trouble talking to a fellow Singaporean, Huiwei at dinner. First time meeting her too. But when I’m talking to Americans, there are more awkward silences. Even from the replies, you know that the frequency is different. Ok, I’ll try harder…

I think I will get a printer soon. There are printers in the library and hall but I just prefer convenience and knowing I can do anything to the printer coz it’s MINE. I’m factoring in what I will do with it after 4 years too. Even getting a phone line. A lot of people are asking me to team up with others for a family plan. It’s technically cheaper but I don’t like having to share bills with friends coz there’s a responsibility to make sure you don’t go overboard with your calls so someone else can get equal talktime too. I will check things out with my aunt first and then make my decision. Sorry, I just like to be in control of my things. I’m not being selfish, I will share my things with others but I like to make the decisions. Whatever…I don’t think I need to explain myself and prove anything.

Some readings to do already…I will try to post up more photos in the weekend. 🙂

Evans 420

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Hey! I thought I lost the entry on going to the orchard. It was just saved and not posted afterall so I just edited the timestamp and posted it. Lucky! 🙂

Haven’t been updating coz Mum took some photos with her digicam and I wanted to post them up. Thing is, she forgot to bring the cable. Anyway, towards the end of their trip, I bought a card reader out of desperation. I’ll post the photos taken during the time they were around later.

I officially moved into the dorm on the 18th. I am very very lucky to get a room at Busey-Evans. Even more lucky to get a single room. It is stated on the website that Busey-Evans has many returning residents thus space for freshmen are limited. Most of the rooms are single rooms except for the corners which are doubles. Normally, hardly any freshie gets a single room. No wonder I kept checking the housing website only to find that I didn’t have any room mate.

Single room means more privacy and I get to decorate the room however I like. I didn’t get a fridge or microwave since I don’t really need them. Anyway, Ethan had a mini fridge when he was staying in the dorm which is now sitting in the basement of their house. Aunty said I can take it if I need it. As for the microwave, there’s a common one in the pantry so I’m fine with that.

I haven’t put up any posters coz I didn’t bring any Japanese related ones from home. I think I’ll do that next year. Have kept my belongings to a minimum so I have enough floor space. I thought I brought too many clothes from home. Seems like I’m fine afterall. I still have about one and a half empty drawers. 🙂

The room is bright enough at night since the building opposite has like 5 powerful street lamps. Usually, I sleep with a night light. I have very poor vision in the dark which is why I’m afraid of the dark. My eyes take a long time to adjust. But here, it just takes a short while and I’m fine. 🙂

A glimpse of my room…

I’m giving my room a pink theme…think pink…hehehe…

Sharing a common bathroom can be quite a hassle but I’m not complaining since Evans Hall is an all girls dorm. If any guy walks into the bathroom, he’ll be the one scared and not any of us. At our floor meeting yesterday, we all agreed to keep our bathroom out of bounds to any male. So, should any boyfriend come visiting girlfriend, he’ll just have to use the bathroom on the first floor.

So why is it a hassle? There are 2 shower stalls side by side. Although there’s a huge curtain to cover both shower stalls, you don’t have much privacy to change. That’s why we figured out I would need a bathrobe. I just go back to my room to change. Another plus point on the single room. Can freely change in the room without someone peeping.

I’m trying to get used to where each room is in the basement. It’s a maze downstairs. I could hardly find the dining hall. Finally found it behind a normal looking door. If I hadn’t heard the sound of clinking dishes, I wouldn’t even know it’s there. It’s significantly smaller to the one at Allen Hall. Food is ok, buffet style.

Yesterday was Quad Day. It’s like an open house for all the student organisations. Nothing quite like in Singapore. Imagine about 600 booths covering the quad lawn which is slightly bigger than our National Stadium.

So cool right? Talking about size, the auditorium I was in on Convocation Day…once you’ve seen it, our Indoor Stadium is nothing. Convocation Day was on Monday. It’s like a welcome day where the Dean and professors make speeches and stuff. Quite a sight coz all the professors present wore the gown (the one worn on graduation day). I didn’t take any photos though. Got a photo of the free tee though. Something like a school tee. It has “Hail the Orange” (school song) printed at the back. Orange and dark blue are the school colours.

Back to Quad Day. It was held from 10am-3pm but I didn’t spend the whole time there. There are only 2 Japanese related organisations. A culture related one and an anime one. Signed up to be on the mailing list of both. Haha, I think everyone would have guessed that. Someone should start a cosplay and lolita dressing one. Don’t look at me, I’m not like a pro at lolita dressing so I can’t go start one. Man Ling started a floorball organisation. And of course, I signed up for the Singapore Students Association. Not like I don’t know they exist already. That’s precisely why I know Man Ling since last year.

The rest of the day, I escaped to the mall. Hahaha…my first buy of clothing. Bought an overall dress, a pair of jeans and a shirt at Kohl’s. Had a hard time locating the bus stop to go back though. Luckily I met a UIUC chinese grad student also having a hard time locating the bus stop so together we ran around looking for it.

I think this town really needs to do something about their bus stops. It’s just a stupid small sign. Not even prominant. Probably can’t even see from 100m away. Worse thing is that some roads are one way and go around in a maze so you can’t really make out which is going the other way so as to locate the bus stop. Only a few bus stops at certain locations have a proper bench or shelter. And I think people can just stop anywhere along the route. All they have to do is alert the bus driver. So confusing right? No wonder the primary transportation here is your own car.

First day of classes today. They are ok. Different from Secondary school or Poly. No transperencies to copy from. One has to pick out the main points from what the professor says and make your own notes. I think Astronomy 100 is going to be a fun class. Haha, making up for what I didn’t get in Poly. Beginning of Poly, they made us fill out a survey for CDS. It had Astronomy. I chose it but in the end it wasn’t in the list of classes. Grrr… But then again, Singapore is different. There are planetariums here and we get to go to one as part of our course. At last, I get to fiddle around with a real telescope! :yay:

I didn’t manage to get Japanese class. 🙁 By the time I registered for classes, Japanese class was all full. See, I couldn’t register before Summer Registration/Orientation Day. I vow to chiong for subject selection next semester! Embrace the Singapore kiasu spirit!

I’m taking Econs 102, Astronomy 100, Psychology 100 and Rhetoric 105 this semester. 14 credit hours in total. Maximum one can take each semester is 18 credit hours. Normally, most Singaporeans try to take the maximum since they are on scholarship and want to finish within 3 years. I’ve decided to stay for 4 years and go slower since I have a weaker foundation. Moreover, most Singaporeans come from JCs so they can transfer credit. Sadly, Poly diplomas are not recognised here. I heard from Man Ling that another Singaporean Poly grad tried to transfer credits but couldn’t.

14 credit hours is the average. I keep looking at my timetable and it looks kinda bare. But my aunt said I’m fine. I think I’ll try this for this semester then maybe cover more credit hours next semester if I’m ok. To graduate, I need to cover a minimum of 120 credit hours.

Alrighty, I’m done with this entry. Need to go take a bath coz it’s almost 9pm.

one can never be too careful

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Still waiting for the Golf & Mike PV to complete downloading. While waiting, I’m checking out blogs and listening to 嵐 belt out “Love So Sweet” on winamp. Suddenly, I have the urge to blog.

Nyanyanya…I’m so not blogging about the Japan trip yet. *evil laugh*

Again, I left things to the last minute. Actually not on purpose but coz I didn’t freakin’ read ALL the contents in the envelope. By the time I realised I had to send back the orange form to get my I-20, I had wasted about 2+ months. So I sent it out quickly, figuring that clever me had got everything sorted out. Timing would be perfect. Go for Japan trip. Come home, open letter box and jajang! I-20 form sitting in the letter box.

Well, I would have been clever had I remind myself that “all things that can go wrong, WILL go wrong”. It states on the form that my first name is “Zai-yu” and middle name is “Elisia”. Wait a minute…I always thought my first name is “Elisia” and I don’t have a middle name. However, thinking that if I don’t put in my chinese name which is stated in my passport, the school might deny my attendance. So, I enrolled with first name “Elisia” and middle name “Zai-yu”. Of course my name would then be read as “Phua Elisia Zai-yu”, wrong order but at least all 3 names would be there. Anyway, I suppose the school must have looked at the photocopy of my passport and decided that “Zai-yu” is my first name since it reads “Phua Zai-yu Elisia”.

Best of all, I wouldn’t have freaked out that much but I read this article in the newspapers in Japan that a Japanese lady got barred from entering the States just coz she was still of engagement status when she applied for her visa and when she actually decided to step on US soil, she was of married status. Apparently, she did ask if she could get married while waiting for the visa to be done and was given the go ahead. Later on, officials actually said that she lied about her status. WTH. Small thing like that and she gets barred from stepping on US soil. So, can you imagine what I started to think about my own situation?

Then, I realised I have to fill in a number of forms and fix an appointment date to go for the interview at the embassy. I don’t even have the photo ready. They don’t take our usual passport size photos. Photo studio would need time to get the photos ready. One week? Can I even afford to waste one more week? STRESSSSSSSSSSSSS…never thought filling in a few forms could be THAT stressful. I even ended up unable to sleep last night just coz I was worrying whether I could get a time slot for the interview since I’m so late already. What if I get a time slot but they can’t get my visa done on time? What if they decide to pick on every single detail in my forms and finally deny me of the student visa? What if I’m going to be in deep shit? Ahhhhh…I’m going to die. *shoots myself*

My apologies to Man Ling. I sms-ed her in the middle of the night even knowing that she’s holidaying in Germany. I was just freaking out big time.

So now, I’ve got the forms filled out. I’m waiting for the school to email back with advice. I decided to go ahead with “Zai-yu” being my first name. I now hope that the school has not decided to change something. *crosses fingers and toes* That would mean I would have to wait for them to send another I-20 form. More time wasted. I fixed my embassy appointment date to be this Thursday. I found out that there’s a photo booth at the embassy where I can get my photo taken.

I’m not sure I can come out alive since it says that only the person getting his/her visa is allowed to enter the building. Which means that Mum won’t be able to accompany me through the interview. Of course I should be doing this on my own since at the end of the day I’m going to be in the States for 4 years without my immediate family. But just in case I hear bad news and need familiar hands to support me…

God, please please please let me get my student visa successfully. Please please please let things go smoothly. 😥

uiuc accepted me

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February 16. The day the school’s decision is made known. Although I wasn’t TOO nervous, to say I’m not nervous at all would be a lie. All the “what if”s floating around in my mind. This school had a higher cut-off point for the SAT score. My grades aren’t that wonderful. The Singapore students they have, come from good JCs with wonderful grades. What if? What if? What if?

There’s a statement on the website to say that the internet decision is not final until you’ve received the official papers through mail. But that’s one hurdle crossed right?

work, school, my life

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Few things to address…

Home
realistic-soul.net is 2! I don’t remember the exact date I bought this domain but since my site went down for awhile coz it was time to pay up then I knew. I downgraded my webspace plan. Over-ambitious me bought quite a huge amount of webspace only to let it go to waste for over one year. I don’t think I’ll ever get round to fixing all my photos for uploading so yea, the space will only be used for my blog, tcg post and fanlisting site. Not forgetting my 2 hostees. 🙂

School
I’m praying hard that I’ll get a better score for SAT. It went ok. Maybe coz I’ve experienced it before, this time round I was more concious of the time constraint. I managed to finish each section on time. Didn’t stumble over any Math question which is like a miracle.

I wouldn’t say I was totally serious about studying, laziness still got the better of me. My preparation was just all the exercises in the super thick preparation book and 3 full papers. Anyone could say that that wasn’t enough studying.

Kinda did the whole comparison thing when I found out that Shaz and my cousin would be taking it at the same time. I started to feel that I couldn’t match up to others. That I would be the lousiest in terms of grades. I know I shouldn’t be doing this but I can’t help it. 😥

Other than the SAT, I need to pick up my referral letter from Mr D and to actually get cracking on those essays. Kinda rush I know but if I don’t start, I never will.

Work
Although I don’t really like what I’m doing now, it’s not like I hate it to the point I’m going to breakdown any moment. For the sake of the pay, which is quite good for a temporary job, I wanted to stick it out for the 6 months. Quitting now would mean that I’ll have to go through the hassle of looking for a job and in that time, I would have lost some income. Besides, this job is at prime location, within walking distance from home. I can wake up at 7am and still not be late.

Alas, it’s not to be. I just went through appraisal. Firstly, they think I’m doing fine. Phew! Then, they dropped the bomb. There are too many inbound call agents. After the peak period, each team would be rotated to do outbound calls aka telemarketing. Frankly speaking, telemarketing is not my cup of tea. Not that I’m writing off the job without even trying but I know that it’s just not the job for me. Even as an inbound call agent, there are times where I struggle to be firm when it comes to requests by customers. I can empathise with some of them and want to accede to their requests but I know I can’t coz I’m not in that position to do so.

I refer to the comment that Pwen made a few entries ago on how to be firm yet able to empathise. She said I could try repeating the fact that it’s the company policy. But if you were to put yourself in the customer’s shoes, there are times where this simply wouldn’t work. I end up trying to put myself in both positions – as the call agent and as the customer and end up feeling more miserable than ever. I don’t think I can block out these thoughts and just be thick-skinned and more persuasive, something which telemarketeers should be.

The only other way would be to request for a change in job within the company. A change to something more of data entry/admin nature. But DUH…we all know that data entry is like a no-brainer job for me. No challenge at all since I know I can handle it. The last time I worked in a data entry job, everyday was just keying in data into those same fields that I practically became a robot. I could type at super speed without even reading those fields coz I could remember the order. There was even once or twice that I fell asleep at the keyboard and if not for the loud beep from the computer that I’m holding on to a key for too long, I would have just slept on.

Anyway, there are very few data entry positions in this branch. Even as we speak, there’s an application waiting for a data entry/admin opening that has been there for some time already. Might have a higher chance in HQ but that would mean I’ll have to spend on transport and wake up much earlier. No more free ride to work since Mum has retired from her job.

No hard feelings if I want to quit though. Although it is said that it is a 6 month contract, there are no conditions that bind me to the company. We can still part amicably even before the term is up. But…but…but…I NEED THE MONEY!!! I’m putting aside $300 each month I get my pay for my Japan trip next year. If I give up the job, there’s no guarantee I’ll get another job of equal pay or higher than that of now. Worse, what if there’s nothing available for some time.

Entertainment
Went to the concert sponsored by ABC Stout yesterday. A concert with Chen Sheng, Pin Guan and Mayday. Went with Sis, Jiemin and Angeline. Enjoyed myself though the concert ended quite late thus I had to take urgent leave today.

I wanted to post this earlier but didn’t have the time to and my site was down for a day or so. Per gave me the link for DBSK’s clips on Youtube. Xiah is just too cute! :rofl: