huh what study notes? :P

something random

I haven't been THIS nervous since- hmm I can't even remember when I last felt nervous! Probably during my Grade 7 piano exam in 2004? Or first time ever playing the keyboard at church here back in 2006? First kiss? :p Or whenever it was when I had my last bloodtest for a medical checkup & the fear of suffering from another panic attack.

But YESH HIGH 5 everyone who prayed for me/texted me good luck/encouraged me in any way at all- my oral exam is over and done with! Well, for this paper anyway. 2 more orals next semester GAH.

Anyway, having to sit through 15 minutes of interrogation-style oral exam by 3 of your lecturers (in a room with you sitting on one end, 3 of them on the other) was so nerve wrecking!!! Clammy hands, fidgeting, babbling, erm-ing and ahhh-ing, talking too fast that I don't even make sense, forgetting basic stuff that I SHOULD know, waiting outside the room while a straight A student is having her turn before me: *phew* big sigh of relief!

Results were out (yeah so fast!) at 6pm ish when I checked my email (my orals was at 3.50pm by the way)- I'm not complaining about the B+ but yes it could have been better. 3 questions: I think I screwed up the answer to the last question by being too specific and hence not really answering the question :P Congrats Ron on the A, you totally deserved it after not having slept for days haha! No matter how stressed I am, not sleeping is NOT an option.

Right in the middle of the exam, got a text from Chyi- haha random. Walked around town for a bit- I was still hyperventilating/suffering from post-traumatic stress then, then bought tickets to go see Terminator 4 tomorrow night :) I checked out IMDB, and realised that the 1st Terminator movie came out in 1984- even before I was born. oh wow.

P.S. Sharon my flatmate bakes really nice almond biscotti. See, I'm so nice to you! winks

another P.S. I've found a link to download the mp3 version of the Love Story/Viva la vida medley by Jon Schmidt here =)

lovely tune

Even if you're not a fan of the song "Love Story" by Taylor Swift, have a listen to this! My flatmate Sharon introduced it to me hehehe :) We proposed having this performed live during someone's wedding day (whoever's getting married the soonest!)

Feeling a little lightheaded after spending loooooong hours in the library. Dinner will be ready soon yay!

want vs. need

For the same reason I'm not keen on being one of them in the photo above, I'm taking a degree most people don't even know what it's about (and will often ask "so what will you work as?" or silly questions like "oh, so that's a combination of biology and technology...?") as opposed of doing a course in journalism- which I admit if circumstances were different I wouldn't mind pursuing.

But still, that doesn't stop many of us from loving photography- who doesn't?

From the ah lians on facebook and friendster who bombard their photo albums with 100 photos of themselves (just in slightly different angles) taken using terribly bad phone-camera quality, to professional wedding photographers charging about $1000/hour for their services; we can't imagine a world without cameras *horrified gasp* Imagine: what would facebook be without any photos?

Anyway, my point is: I'm perfectly happy with my current baby- Canon Powershot SX 110 IS which I bought last September. But the greedy side of me has been researching (besides constant studying :P) on current on-the-market DSLRs.

...and then I found it: Canon EOS 5D Mark II

beautiful, eh?

See the comprehensive review here.

It's fairly new (released August 2008 I think?), hence the insanely high price of close to NZD7000 for body and kit (on trademe, anyway). I know, I know: 7000 is even enough to get a good car here. But hey, a little motivation leading up to graduation wouldn't hurt, right? =P

Take a break, sway your head :P

Sway your head
Move your feet
Wake yourself from the sleep
If there's a day, there's a way
You can get yourself there
Golden smile, you got style
That they can't take away

Scream and shout, get it out
Before it swallows you
No surprise in these times
How it really gets through
All the walks and the thoughts
But can you break through?

You're alive
So alive
Now c'mon

You gotta pull yourself back together
Give it one more shot
Its now or never
With the new day falling for you
You gotta believe

Build a plan, yes you can
You've got nothing to lose
Look around, up and down
What are you gonna choose?
Can you see the sunrise
That came up for you

You're alive
So alive
Now c'mon

You gotta pull yourself back together
Give it one more shot
Its now or never
With the new day calling for you
You gotta believe

You gotta pull yourself, back in the water
Take in one deep breath
You're getting closer
After all you've talked and seen
You gotta believe

I think it's coming back
I think it's coming back
I think it's coming back to me

Now I, I feel I'm getting better
Now I, my world is getting better

~"Sway your head" by We Shot the Moon

Another feel good song I stumbled on *ahem* while taking a short break from studying.

It's a little too pop-ish for my liking to listen to, say 10 times a day, but nice rhythm and intro nonetheless. I find the 'woah' parts quite cheesy as well, heh.

Another weekend with grim weather forecasts. HMMPH!

Celebrating Xander :)

Yesterday was a day worth remembering.

Michelle had her 2nd baby scan and found out that she'll be having a baby boy!!!

-grabbed from Shaza's facebook profile

Baby Alexander ;P No, not Alex aka Canai. We've already started calling him Xander (my nephew's name too!)

Baby Xander was probably feeling shy yesterday as he didn't turn around to face the ultrasound scan thingy. So we couldn't get a good look of his handsome face hehe. But everything else is normal, i.e. measurements of organs looked ok. I never knew the ultrasound technology and all were so high tech! 3D views were even possible when they took pictures from different angles and formed an image.

It was quite funny coz towards the end when Mich asked about finding out the sex of the baby, the lady looked for any "clues" hehe and pointed at a blurry thing on the screen, saying "oh there it is, the baby's penis!" Ah, priceless moment ;)

Again, congrats to you both, Ray and Mich, baby Xander's going to be so loved (he already is hehe). I can't wait for early October to arrive!

***

Had my last group presentation over and done with for this semester earlier on this morning. yay! In a way, I'm glad that our lecturer decided to mix our groups up so we don't just stick to the same groups for all presentations. Getting to know other classmates and reading their interesting comments being scribbled on the journal article is...refreshing. I.e. my groupmate wrote down "leech with a shotgun" on my copy of the article amongst other notes while we were getting ready to present this morning. Oh, if you do any microbiology at all, the leech was referring to CRISPR arrays. haha!

Ok, I really should start revising now. Country road sale coming up hmmmm should I or should I not go?