Saturday, June 28, 2008
It's a (not so) jolly holiday with Zhen Yao
The exams are over and yet I don't feel any less busier than I did prior to the cramfest that is revision. In hindsight, the exams seem to be a break from the trappings of extracurricular responsibilities. To be fair, though, it's not the responsibilities that stress me out. Responsibilities I can handle, but when the shit hits the fan, I can't help but feel royally pissed off.
But I have calmed down a whole lot since then. If you were to speak to me just three days ago, you'd have gotten a rather depressed Zhen. In fact, I just deleted a 700 word long rant because my mood has cooled off (well, since depression should be cold, "my mood has warmed up"?) considerably.
Long story short, a Nature Society trip to Cameron Highlands that I have planned for almost two months had to be abruptly cancelled because an oversight of mine (opting not to collect nonrefundable cash deposits) resulted in the sudden withdrawal of more than a third of the participants just six days before the trip itself. Imagine how disappointed and angry I was calling up 32 people to remind them of a briefing set for the very next day, only to have 12 people telling me that they want out.
"Oh, I wanted to inform you through e-mail" and "I forgot to tell you", they all say. Is it so fucking hard to give me an e-mail or text message when I have spent hours and hours slaving myself and sending you updates on a weekly basis? I have lost almost every ounce of respect I have for those 12, if there ever were any in the first place.
Anyway, that completely ruined my holiday plans. Now I'll probably while my time away playing Portal and maybe even Magic. That's not to say that I'm completely free, though. The next semester's Orientation's in slightly more than a week. Normally, Orientation Weeks go without a hitch, except that this time around, the Pro-Vice Chancellor saw it fit to increase student participation and independence in organising the thing. In other words, that just means more work for the already taxed Student Council. Joy.
A group of law students from Monash Clayton came up here to study Asian law for two weeks. Though it's a holiday, they've seen me four days out of five doing work on campus. One of them said to me, "You work too hard!"
Why, how very perceptive of you!
All work and no play makes you a dull boy, they say. Hence, to offset the work hard part, I play hard too, so don't go all judgmental on me when you see me playing Counterstrike or DotA on my office computer from time to time. Or heading out of the house really often to relax and hang out with a bunch of friends.
In fact, I play so hard this holiday that my cash reserves are running really, really low. It's time to start saving again to undo the damage...
Pointless Fact of the Day:
I saw this on display at MPH 1 Utama last Monday:
It's (some of?) Ian Fleming's James Bond collection, complete with uber-cool matching covers!Too bad Luckily I'm not a fan, or I would have bought a set just for keepsakes.
But I have calmed down a whole lot since then. If you were to speak to me just three days ago, you'd have gotten a rather depressed Zhen. In fact, I just deleted a 700 word long rant because my mood has cooled off (well, since depression should be cold, "my mood has warmed up"?) considerably.
Long story short, a Nature Society trip to Cameron Highlands that I have planned for almost two months had to be abruptly cancelled because an oversight of mine (opting not to collect nonrefundable cash deposits) resulted in the sudden withdrawal of more than a third of the participants just six days before the trip itself. Imagine how disappointed and angry I was calling up 32 people to remind them of a briefing set for the very next day, only to have 12 people telling me that they want out.
"Oh, I wanted to inform you through e-mail" and "I forgot to tell you", they all say. Is it so fucking hard to give me an e-mail or text message when I have spent hours and hours slaving myself and sending you updates on a weekly basis? I have lost almost every ounce of respect I have for those 12, if there ever were any in the first place.
Anyway, that completely ruined my holiday plans. Now I'll probably while my time away playing Portal and maybe even Magic. That's not to say that I'm completely free, though. The next semester's Orientation's in slightly more than a week. Normally, Orientation Weeks go without a hitch, except that this time around, the Pro-Vice Chancellor saw it fit to increase student participation and independence in organising the thing. In other words, that just means more work for the already taxed Student Council. Joy.
A group of law students from Monash Clayton came up here to study Asian law for two weeks. Though it's a holiday, they've seen me four days out of five doing work on campus. One of them said to me, "You work too hard!"
Why, how very perceptive of you!
All work and no play makes you a dull boy, they say. Hence, to offset the work hard part, I play hard too, so don't go all judgmental on me when you see me playing Counterstrike or DotA on my office computer from time to time. Or heading out of the house really often to relax and hang out with a bunch of friends.
In fact, I play so hard this holiday that my cash reserves are running really, really low. It's time to start saving again to undo the damage...
Pointless Fact of the Day:
I saw this on display at MPH 1 Utama last Monday:
It's (some of?) Ian Fleming's James Bond collection, complete with uber-cool matching covers!
