The Long And Winding Road

Ola!

The semester finally got to me, and once again I've turned into the disorganized lunatic I was during previous semesters. My diary updates have become sporadic, but its still not as bad as my frequency of updates on this blog. Oddly enough, it's the extra classes (Philosophy of Law & Learning Theory) that are draining most of my time..

Anyway, there's always something significant during the weekends, and here's an update on what the past few have been like..

2nd weekend of September

Trip to Six Flags Great America - my 2nd time! Twas' a lot of fun, although we rode less rides this time. Memorable moments include Alex Ong's constant "Why am i here?" quips as well as Esa's application of Physics II to coaster rides. Oh and of course the Roaring Rapids where we all get wet but some more than others.. heh

3rd weekend of September

This is the weekend when I finally got the T400 out of the box for good (Yeah despite it arriving earlier). There was also a nice little dinner and afterparty at HK's new place (I guess you could consider it his housewarming although his hall was as empty as a karate dojo.. lol)

4th weekend of September

It was Homecoming Week at IIT, and it never is complete without its awesome Homecoming Carnival which was no less awesome this year, despite being held indoors due to weather concerns. Seriously, I was having way too much fun I couldn't be bothered to stop and take photos.. To add to the games there were also a lot of take-home souvenirs this time around, as I got myself a sweet little dogtag and.. *deep breath*.. my first caricature!


If that was not fun enough there was a housewarming party at Harry's place right after. That's where I got a chance to meet some familiar faces (some who I had even mistakenly assumed left the school) and discover how much fun Beer Pong can be!

1st weekend of October (oh heck that would be last week)

Our good old friend Sam paid us a visit from Wisconsin. We had dinner at a nice Italian restaurant, although I ordered something quite ordinary. Kinda wish I could have spent more time with him though after such a long time, but hey.. it's a small world after all ain't it?

As much fun as it has been during the weekends, my weekdays have been quite the opposite as my only claim to entertainment lies in that very series that has kept me going in the past - Bleach! (Speaking of which the subbed version of the 3rd Bleach Movie - Fade To Black is finally out and I must say it is quite awesome.. serves as quite a reminder of what Bleach was in the beginning, and what it always will be)

On a side note, I'm still on the lookout for a job, although my hopes are slowly fading into that bleak gap that is creeping towards me. Uncertainty is annoying, even for a fickle mind. Why am I getting this feeling that my environment is slowly shifting back to a not-so-distant past? It is almost like I'm anticipating déjà vu...

Great! Now that I'm done with this post, you won't be hearing from me again till the semester's end - or you will. Either way, there's still a long way to go before I can even think 'end of semester' and 'winter break'... Goodness gracious me! I don't have a plan for the winter break!! Ah just keep me posted if there are any good, economical plans I could join, although I'm already having this vision of a poor, drab me sitting at home, still scouting for jobs.. *sigh* As for now, I shall return to ponder over my pathetic fall break (and life's irrepressible ironies wtf)..

Hasta' luego!

Yearning for Warmer Days

Just 2 weeks in, and I'm feeling the heat already.. Well I wish I was literally feeling the heat though, coz it's been friggin' cold outside! Chicagoans (Chicago-ites? Chicagones? I give up.. you get the point) have told me it's the city's coldest winter in a long time.

Anyway, this semester I've decided to do something interesting.. push myself to the limits with 19 credit hours.. couple this with commitments to ISO and AICHE and my hunt for a summer internship and that's pretty much what's boiling up my bums this semester. At first I figured it wouldn't be too bad really seeing my schedule.. after all I've got my Fridays completely free and only 1 class on both Tuesdays and Thursdays.. The painful parts are the Mondays and Wednesdays.. I leave home around 11am and only finish at 9pm. Oh well, I figured I'd seen worse so I went ahead with the plan. What I didn't really take into account was the 2 online classes I'm taking.. both are integral Chem E classes so catching up isn't really a piece of cake. At this rate I can't imagine what will be of me come the midterms and end of the semester.

On another note, Man U is having an incredible season.. but if you want to find a better team at the moment, look no further than Barcelona, who are on a record-breaking season! Their season's stats-to-date says it all..

21 games - 18 wins, 2 draws and a loss

Goal difference of +50

Goals - Eto'o (19-league leader), Messi (14-3rd), Henry (12-4th)

Never has a team had better stats than this midway through the season. Amazing.

Then there's the Australian Open which recently concluded with Federer being brought literally brought to tears (wth??!) by yet another classic 5-set loss to Nadal. You gotta feel for the guy though.. so close, yet so far..

Whatever it is, I'm in for one heck of a semester.. and NO, I'm not gonna cut down on my sport craze, Bleach or even ranting here for that matter. No compromising those.. :D

Over and out!

The HOME stretch

Guys and gals.................. I'M COMING HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yesh yesh.. I finally booked my flight tickets, and should be touching down in Malaysia on the 19th of May. So, it's slightly over a month, and counting down. Can't wait!

Regarding the doorguard interview, I think it went ok. Just waiting for the results now which should be out this coming Friday. Regardless if I get the job or not, the interview was a good experience nonetheless. The Organic Chemistry II exam I was studying for last week is over.. and amazingly the results were out 2 days after the exam! (There are like more than 60 students in class, and it wasn't that simple a paper.. so I think it really was a pretty cool feat for a professor.) I did pretty well, and am glad to have sorta bounced back after my relatively miserable 1st exam for the subject.

Bleach anime is back after a 2-week hiatus and that's even more reason to celebrate.. not to mention the latest episode being the best so far in many ways. On the sports end - Manchester United are through to the semis and will be facing my La Liga pick Barcelona in the UEFA Champions League. On the other half of the draw, it's goodbye Fenerbache (sadly..) and that has translated into 3 English teams out of the 4 remaining in the contest. Should be good. Oh and by the way, Man U just defeated Arsenal 2-1 this morning! Woohoo! I've began following Formula 1 again and it was nice to see a Ferrari 1-2 last weekend. The season, at least for now seems to promise a 3-horse race between McLaren, BMW-Sauber and Ferrari. Should be interesting.. and I wonder what Schumi's up to now.. hmmm. To round off the sports updates, the NBA regular season will come to an end very soon and it'll be time for the playoffs. My all-time favorites - the Los Angeles Lakers are sitting pretty at the top of the Western Conference as i speak (uhh.. i mean blog) with 2 games to go. It's still extremely close though as 4 teams are still in with a real chance of topping the West. Good stuff.

Oh well.. that's about it for now. I gotta get back to my assignments. Busy days indeed. Adios!

Updates, Photos and My Newfound Hobby

Hey again!

Got quite a few interesting updates.. Firstly, my CHA application failed me (Haihzz.. after all that effort I actually put into it..). So, it has become almost a certainty that I'll be heading home this summer. Still haven't booked the flight tickets though, for dad has called me to hold on. Anyway, twas' his birthday yesterday and everyone back home planned a surprise party for him. I was to join in the fun virtually (through web-conferencing), yet things got twisted. I don't have a mic, and the one I borrowed off my friend was apparently not working. Anyway, that didn't really matter for the connection at my campus was surprisingly bad at that very moment. So yea, I missed the action and my parents decided to just call me on my phone after that.

I've got an Organic Chemistry II exam coming up this Wednesday. Kinda messed up the first one, so I'm hoping to do much better this time around. I did get called up for a doorguard interview, which is tomorrow.. (I know, lame job.. but I'm that desperate! Lolz). I received comments that I need some pics in the blog from quite a few of you.. and so I oblige. Just a few random picks though.. hehe.

Right after catching a magnificent sunrise by Lake Michigan.. guess which one's me?

Me before my summer 2007 community college, Kennedy King College!

RHA Boat Cruise 2007 (Pic with Kwong Hann & Bing on the boat)... I was a roulette-dealer! Hehe.. Too bad no photos of me in action.

A collection of my gifts for my 21st Birthday.. (Thank you all...)

I'm looking to start using Flickr and create a more personalized slideshow of photos on my sidebar.. Now then, let's get to the essence of today's post, shall we? (This is as far as it goes for those of you who have no interest whatsoever in Bleach.. heh).

It all began during the second half of my winter break in Iowa.. One fine evening, Julian showed Kwong Hann and me some anime clips and manga excerpts in a blatant effort to 'Bleach' us! Don't think it worked on KH, but I was certainly sucked into a whole new dimension. The storyline intrigued me.. I was able to relate to a number of the sentiments raised in the series.. and the sword-fighting is just awesome. Once I came back to Chicago, my transformation into a Bleach-maniac was well and truly underway. I began watching the past anime episodes on Youtube, and with some help from Wikipedia, I was able to catch up and understand the whole story. I admire Ichigo's (the main character) personality, yet I also developed a liking for Ulquiorra.. yes yes, he's an antagonist in the story, but I just find his calm composure and cool demeanor incredible. A story of friends and family.. of reminiscence and anticipation; of pride and humility.. and what more, the author throws in a dash of humor to lighten things up from time to time.. There are also a whole lot of unforgettable one-liners throughout the series..

So yea.. I'm following both the anime and manga on a weekly basis these days.. My American roommate's a fellow fan too! On another note.. I've gotta say this guy is really a gem of a roommate. I'll probably throw in a post on him some time, and let you guys be the judge. Anyway, I gotta get back to Organic Chemistry now.. Bye for now!