Timetable or How Tuesday Fucked Me

Posted on February 26, 2010 by Zareth

I got my timetable online a week ago.

When I first saw it, I was happy, because I got a four-day week schedule:

Awesome. No classes on Friday!

Until I saw Tuesday.

What the….

3 Tutorials and 2 lectures.

This is madness.

I know, I know, I only have 13 hours of classes a week. By right (or privilege), I should be happy. I mean, I have friends in Singapore who have 35 hours of classes a week and my brother is one of them too.

But I’m an Art student, not a Premed, not an Engineering or a Science student. I thrive on having as few classes as possible.

I’m not even complaining about the number of hours. I had 13 hours of classes last semester. So having 13 hours of classes this semester is nothing new.

But having 3 tutorials and 2 lectures? All in one day? With only two hours break in between?

Damn it, I’ll die from information overload.

And to add further insult, I have a 9am tutorial on Wednesday.

Oh, boy. I had experienced a 9am tutorial on Wednesday last semester. It was a World Politics tutorial. Knowing my inability to wake up in time and subsequently missing half my tutorials (I still passed, I think my tutor went easy on me), I decided that enough was enough. No more 9am tutorials or lectures for me.

So today, I went down to school to change my timetable. I did it last semester and it was pretty easy. Just go down to a computer lab, talk to one of the student advisors, tell them your problem, do some rescheduling and viola! timetable of your dream.

I planned out my rescheduling first. After all, when it comes to full time slacking, matters like this can’t be done half-assed. It needs proper planning and strategy. So I logged onto the university’s central timetable, checked out all the available timings for tutorials and lectures, made notes and chose which classes I wanted to reschedule.

Done.

I was actually planning to spread out my classes over 5 days. But after last semester’s experience, I decided against it. Because most of my classes was in the middle of the day (I cannot wake up early) and I couldn’t do anything much while waiting for classes to start, except to wait for classes to start. So it was like back in the air force, “rush to wait, wait to rush”. I spend 5 days waiting for classes to start. I had enough. I wanted at least one day free and that would be Friday.

This was last semester timetable:

This is an old one. I changed my English tutorial from 6pm Wednesday to 2pm Tuesday. I hate attending classes in the evening. That is another reason why I didn’t like this semester timetable. I have two Philosophy lectures at 6pm on Tuesday and Thursday. FUCK!

Anyway, I went down to the computer lab and met up with one of the student advisors. He was an old man with a shock of neat, trimmed hair. Like a professor. Or a genial, old grandfather.

“So, what’s the problem here?” Student advisor asked.

“Well, I want to change my Philosophy tutorial from 4pm Tuesday to 1pm Thursday.”

“Hmm, ok.”

Mr. White Hair Man (he did have the most brilliant white hair I ever seen) turned to his computer and started checking out the class attendance for Philosophy tutorials on 1pm Thursday.

“I’m sorry, but they are all full.”

“What….” I stuttered.

“Well, you can have a 9am tutorial on Thursday or a 5pm tutorial. But the rest of the timing, all filled up.”

I was lost for words, so I made an useless and obvious remark: “But… then, that’s the earliest and latest timings of the tutorials….”

“Okay,” I sighed, “How about changing my Art History tutorial from 5pm Tuesday to 4pm Wednesday?”

Mr. White Hair went through the class attendance record for Art History.

“Sorry, all the 4pm tutorials on Wednesday are full.”

“What… the…”

I could feel the walls of my slackerdom crashing on me. I needed to do some damage control.

“Okay,” a tinge of desperation creeping into my voice, “can I change my Philosophy lecture from 6pm Tuesday to 3pm Tuesday?”

Mr. White Hair raised an eyebrow. Doing that would mean having only an hour break. But damn it, I will not have a 6pm class. He went through the attendance again and said:

“Sorry, the classes are full”

I anticipated that sentence from him. I saw from the computer screen that under the remarks section, that time period was filled up.

I covered my face and let out a low groan: “Man……”

“Okay,” more damage control, “how about changing my 9am Psych tutorial to 2pm on Wednesday.

I heard more clicking of the mouse and another:

“Sorry, all filled up too.”

By now, I couldn’t say a single word. I just stared at the screen, shell-shocked.

“You know,” Mr. White Hair said, “these classes are very popular.”

Of course they are, these are afternoon classes, not too early, not too late. Everyone wanted those. And the courses I’m taking are some of the more popular ones too, so it explains why there are such a great number of students fighting for such few available number of classes.

I had one last chance. This better work.

“Okay, could I change my Philosophy lecture from 6pm Thursday to 11am Thursday?”

More clicking of the mouse.

I stared at the screen, willing that the class could accommodate me. Willing and hoping that at least, I would not have to attend a 6pm class.

“Sorry, it’s filled up too.”

The fuck.

I slowly tore my gaze from the screen and looked at my timetable, thinking how fucked I was for Tuesday. Thinking how Tuesday was going to fuck my head, thinking how dead I was when I had essays, deadlines and discussions piling up on the same day. Thinking how I was going to survive that one day of mind fuckery.

Mr. White Hair broke through my thoughts.

“You know, you can schedule some of your classes to Friday.”

I looked at him, the one guy who was the answer to my dilemma. The one guy whom my whole semester schedule depended on. The one guy who was to be my saviour but yet failed me, no us, because of the system.

Mr. White Hair stared at my desperate face with a mixture of amusement and pity clashing across his face. This guy couldn’t decide whether to feel amuse at my so-called plight or to empathize with me.

If I were he, I would feel the same way too. A student trying to wiggle out of some non-desperate situation. But what the hell does he knows? I don’t want my current timetable. I want changes.

The thought of moving some classes to Friday sounded so good, so tempting. It was so easy. All I needed to do was to give the go ahead, pointed out which classes I wanted to reschedule and Mr. White Hair would do it in a matter of seconds.

It was so easy. Just like that, I wouldn’t have to face 5 hours of brain damage on Tuesday.

“No, Zareth, don’t do it,” a figment of myself floated in front of me, “remember what you promised yourself. You wanted Friday free. You shall have Friday free. You SHOULD have Friday free. Just for one day, endure 5 hours of classes. At least you have the whole Friday off.”

Mr. White Hair stared at me, impatience forming on his face. The line of students outside the lab increasing like a caterpillar engorging itself on its last meal.

I looked at Mr. White Hair. I looked at my timetable. I looked at the computer screen. I had to make a decision. And I needed to do it now.

“Okay,” that would be my last okay, “I think, I’ll just leave my timetable as it is.”

Mr. White Hair smiled.

“You know,” he said, “don’t try to change your timetable by yourself. You might end up with something you don’t like.”

At that point, I thought he was advising me. Now I realized that he thought I did some changes myself but got some messed up timetable. But I didn’t. The system gave me this fucked up timetable. I didn’t catch his hint so I just said, “yeah, I know.”

“Thanks for helping me,” I said, even though he barely helped me out.

“You’re welcome.”

I went out of the computer lab, still dazed by the experience, by the thought of Tuesday. As I stood outside, watching students, friends, staffs and security personnel enjoying themselves with the O-Week festive on Eastern Avenue, I felt a sense of injustice, a feeling of hopeless rage boiling in me, a hurt that crawled towards my throat and clung there, refusing to let go.

Last semester, it was so easy to change my classes. Why not this time?

I felt angry. But mostly I felt numb and hopeless.

Then something inside me snapped.

I turned around and cannoned back into the computer lab.

My target was Mr. White Hair.

I ran fast, ignoring the long line of students and their look of consternation on their face.

Mr. White Hair.

He was my target.

Actually, he wasn’t, he was just collateral damage.

I left my student card behind.

_________________________________________

To summarize the whole story:

(Generate by memegenerator.com)

Search Terms

Posted on February 25, 2010 by Zareth

Was checking out my blog stats when this caught my eye:

I understand the first search term. People want to know if 009 Sound System is a Christian band. Well, it does seems like a Christian band because of all the songs’ titles, for example: Trinity, With A Spirit and Speak to Angels.

First, 009 Sound System is not a band. It is a solo pop experimental project produced by Alexander Perls.

Second, it is not a Christian project. While these few songs’ titles and lyrics may allude to Christianity, in my opinion, I don’t think it is a Christian project. The songs, I think, are more about spirituality.

More info can be found here, here, here and here.

Yes, I’m going to be an a-hole and make you click on those links. No, there are no malware or viruses and it is not some kooky websites. I found them on Google.

That matter aside, who the hell types in behaved awkwardly? And why is my blog linked to that search term? I don’t remember writing any post on awkward behaviours.

Oh, wait… it was about my awkward behaviours.

But still, that term raises so many questions. Was it a guy or girl who typed in this search term? Why did he/she do that? Did he/she fucked up some date? Or did their dates fucked it up? Did the condom break during sex? Or did they just wanted to see people behaving awkwardly on Youtube? If not, then what?

Geez… this is driving me insane. I’m going to type that in Google

Oh… fuck.

I feel so fucking bad.

Just click here and scroll down to the middle till you see my blog’s site.

Fuck me.

Moving back to the topic at hand.

I like looking at my blog stats because every time when I look at the Search Engine Term section to see how people find my blog through their search terms, I get a lot of hilarious results:

I know dude, last time the police shaved your head in the public if you get caught having long hair. But you know what? They still do that. It’s called National Service, or military service. Suck it up, I went through that too.

I don’t remember writing about Singapore hunks. That person must have been very disappointed when he/she came across my blog.

Yes I agree, Singapore can be boring sometimes. But you know, you just need to learn how to do the same shit in 1001 different ways. Use your brain, man.

I have a very strong feeling that the person behind this search term is a guy. I think this guy is wondering why a girl is not accepting his friend request. Or maybe he’s hoping some girls will send him a friend request?

Sorry buddy, I don’t have any trick and tips on how to get girls to accept your request or how to get girls to friend you on Facebook. So I’m sorry if you stumbled on my post on how NOT to accept a girl’s friend request.

Sorry buddy. Tough luck.

I feel you brother. I feel you. If it is any consolation, at least your hair will grow back.

What. The. Fuck.

I don’t know what exactly this person is trying to look for. But no, I don’t share the same gift with you. If by gift you meant talent, then I don’t know what talent you’re talking about.

But, it better be some good talent. I don’t want to find that I share some fucked up talent with you.

Wait, I don’t have any fucked up talent.

I’m serious… wait don’t go!

Trust me!

Come back!

Oh you bloody…

_________________________________________

I came across this song when I watching Wong Fu Production trailer for “The Sleep Shift” about two years ago. Wong Fu Productions are also the guys who produced the short film “Yellow Fever”.

Anyway, this is the song:

It’s a great song.

Another song I found while typing in my own random search term in Youtube about a few months back (I think it was along the lines of “Bear vs. Lion”) and I got this music video:

This is not the official music video. Some guy took a video clip and added the song. That guy did a bang-up job.

My eyes sweated when I saw this.

Bye Little Red Dot (and Penang and HCMC)

Posted on February 22, 2010 by Zareth

I will be boarding a Qantas flight 4 hours from now.

I’m heading back to Sydney to resume my tertiary education, which will start in a week from now.

Bye Little Red Dot.

Bye Penang. I’ll miss your beaches and food.

Vietnam VO DICH!

The past two months were certainly fun.

(Taken from Jeffrey Leow’s blog)

See you in 5 months time.

I’ll be back for another cousin’s wedding.

Hello Sydney.

Gong Xi Fa Cai

Posted on February 14, 2010 by Zareth

In the spirit of Chinese New Year, this post will be entirely in red, since the Chinese view red as a colour of prosperity.

Just had a reunion dinner with my relatives and family at my grandparents’ house.

Will be heading back there tomorrow to celebrate the Chinese New Year, and to collect hongbao or ‘red packet money’. It is something I look forward to (collecting money, that is).

So to everyone celebrating Chinese New Year out there, Gong Xi Fa Cai!

And to the couples out there, happy Valentine’s Day.

To those not celebrating Chinese New Year or Valentine’s Day, well, a Gong Xi Fa Cai to you too!

Now I have an excuse to stay up until the wee hours of the morning. Tradition dictates that children should stay up late until the morning of Chinese New Year so that their parents will live long and prosper.

And I have an excuse not to do any housework starting from 12 midnight until after Chinese New Year. Any cleaning will means that I’m ‘sweeping’ out the good luck.

Staying up late, no housework, gorging myself on food and drinks and collecting money from relatives (it’s good to be single sometimes), what’s there not to like?

So I wish you a happy Chinese New Year once again. (Yes, I’m a lucky bastard, it means I get to celebrate New Year twice. So it means I can reset my resolutions).

Gong Xi Fa Cai!

(Taken from HaikalRamlee Blogspot)

The Most Qualified Singaporean Taxi Driver

Posted on February 12, 2010 by Zareth

I’ve just realized that I’ve been blogging non-stop the past few days.

And I have yet to post those way overdue entries from November and December.

I’ll get to it, I promise.

But now, I’ll like to talk about this blogger that I’ve been a fan of the past few months.

This post is long and contains a few big, bombastic words (I’m analyzing a blog and a blog entry). So gore-fest loving people, no gross pictures for now.

He is a scientist. He holds a PhD. from the University of Stanford and migrated to Singapore (he was originally from China) to work in a top scientific institution.

But due to certain circumstances, he was retrenched (or fired, however you want to look at it) from his position and despite sending out resumes to universities and numerous institutions in Singapore, he was unable to find a job.

I’m not sure why he does not want to get a job overseas like the U.S or the U.K or Europe or China. I think part of the reason why he stay put in Singapore is because he became a citizen. He did explained it somewhere in his blog but I can’t find the post citing his reasons (i.e. not enough time, I’m going to be late for a dinner with friends).

I can’t remember how I stumbled across his blog (I think it was through The Temasek Review) but it was like finding a diamond when I did.

I read his whole blog in one sitting.

What I drew me to his blog was his nuance observations on human behaviours and characteristics. As a taxi driver, he has to opportunity to meet people from all walks of life and I think I can say I learned more about psychology from him than I did from my lectures.

As an aspiring writer, it is my aim to be more observant on human interactions and Mr. Taxi Driver got it down.

Actually, I think that is why most blogs written by waiters, bartenders or anyone working in the F&B, hospitality and service industries are extremely interesting. Because of their daily interactions with people day after day, they are able to understand or have a better understanding of the human psyche.

The other reason why I was attracted to his blog was because I find it rather curious that a PhD. holder from a top American university was unable to find a job in Singapore.

Singapore has a very liberal immigration policy and likes to attract the brightest minds (or what the Government call Foreign Talents) from all over the world (we have one of the lowest birth rates in the developed world). The fact that Mr. Taxi Driver is of Chinese ethnicity, a doctorate holder from Stanford and a scientist (none of that liberal artsy-fartsy character) should be a great catch for most government or private institutions in Singapore.

Yet, he couldn’t get a job.

I decided to read his blog to find out more about his situation. His first few posts describe the situation of his job loss, his inability to find a new one that result in him getting a job as a taxi driver.

In those posts, he also writes about the uncertainties he and his family have to go through since he does not have any stable income. In Singapore, not having any stable income is almost as good as being poor. With our increasing high cost of living standards and stagnant wages, getting by is getting increasingly harder.

Although he does harp about his misfortunes, you get the sense that he is really trying to make the best of his situation.

But the entries I like best are the ones he writes about his interaction with his customers, his company and other taxi drivers.

That is when you discover his powers of observation (he is a scientist after all).

The first few entries can be rather long-winded. But as he wrote more, the writing tightens up, the prose becomes more clear and in fact, sometimes the ending can be totally bizarre and unexpected. It’s like reading mini-short stories again and again.

The mark of a good writer, in my opinion, is someone who can convey a clear message to the readers in the tightest, cleanest, clearest prose possible.

One recent entries demonstrate this:

He was a local Chinese at least in his mid fifties. He was thin, of medium height, and carelessly dressed in a short sleeved shirt and long pants that looked like it had been worn continuously for days and smelled of garlic-marinated chicken barbecued by cigarette smoke. He had been holding the hand of the lady since I saw them.

The sentence that I highlighted, I just love it. Just by reading the sentence, Mr. Taxi Driver managed to emasculate the essence of a character (or in his case, a customer) in a single sentence. You get the idea that his customer is not a savoury character, but neither is the customer a bad person. In other words, he is just a very real human being with flaws.

You can find the whole post here.

There are two stories in that one post. The first one is mentioned above (it is about prostitution) and the second is about another customer (this time, gambling). The second story is short but is extremely well written and has an unexpected twist.

So go visit Mr. Taxi Driver’s blog and enjoy his tales about his interaction with people from Singapore or who came to visit Singapore. In fact, if you want to learn more about the culture of Singapore and the Singaporean psyche, you should read his blog. You will at least learn something from it.

My dream is to flag down a taxi and discover that the driver is none other than Mr. Taxi Driver.

What a happy day it will be for me.

Unfortunately, with me being constantly broke, I can only take cabs under certain circumstances (like when my parents are paying the fare).

One day, one day.

_______________________________________

A Singapore Taxi Driver’s Blog

P.S. I’m just a great fan of Mr. Taxi Driver. I am not promoting his site. He doesn’t needs any promotion. He already has hundreds of fans following his blog.

P.S.S In case you think this is a fake site set up by some writer, I believe Mr. Taxi Driver blogged about his taxi license. Beside, if he was fake, the Singapore blogosphere would have exposed him by now.

P.S.S.S Mr. Taxi Driver has a book out now. Visit his blog for more information: