Nuts.

Cannot remember principles, cannot remember cases, don't understand statutes. Ah, whatever, class participation is my only hope now. That and the fact that this paper's only worth 30% of the entire module (granted, that's still 30% of 8 credits for a substantial 2.4 credits...)

All the best, everyone. Hope y'all are having better luck than me.

Oh, yeah, and to all the usual TG 8 people - thanks for a great evening on Monday night. Also, to Rui and big K - my pleasure to host. Bring the Chubby Hubby next time!

Like, woah, 2 posts in a day

On popular demand...

Pet rates Bert. 10/10 because he's not carrying a textbook today,
and 2 bonus points for the funky shirt and the big smile!

"Pull my finger!"

"No, get away from me! Shy lah!"

Tris, stoned as usual.

...this is becoming a "let's upload weird pictures of Tris and
laugh!" blog. And the madness is contagious - poor
Kelvin, let's hope he recovers soon!

Uhhhh...Kelvin needs help. The madness got him bad...

Even Tris gasps in horror, and Mag covers her mouth in shock...

Rui recoils in fear; will the madness infect her next?
Stay tuned to find out!

Till next time, your friendly host Khel!

Law bash, Bert's hall party, my party, and an excursion to Eskibar somewhere in between... December's looking better and better. Cannot wait for Contract to be over!

Tribute...

...to my LAWR TG. Long overdue, but I mean all this from the bottom of my heart.

Troy, Zah, my lovely binder groupmates...it was a long, tough road, but we got there in the end. I'll remember the late nights in school. The weekends we burnt. The phone and MSN discussions in the wee hours of the morning. Scribbling madly on the whiteboards of whatever classrooms we could grab. The frustrations, the impasses, and the breakthroughs. Thank you for the memories - despite whatever difficulties we had in the process, I can only look back at them in fondness now.

Huay Ching, remember the talk we had on MSN, the night before the Oral Presentation? Was 4am in the morning, spirit and drive had reached a new low, was just slogging through what I had to get through before I showered and went to school in a few hours. Our conversation re-awakened the fire in me. The fire to prove my point, the drive and desire to craft the perfect argument. The motivation to push on, to not just complete the task but also to put in my best. Thank you - it made the difference, and for this I am truly grateful.

Itishree, youngest member of our TG, thank you for the perspective. I don't think I ever said this, but I have nothing but the greatest respect for how you do your best in an environment that must have been at least slightly disorientating at first - I know that I'd definitely be struggling if I were in your shoes. I respect your mental strength - thank you for reminding me of the big picture, whether you meant to or not.

Zhixiang, our learned Lord Seow, time to get used to this nickname, because I suspect you're gonna be stuck with it for a very long time...thank you for all the brilliant insights, and for being such a team player during the duration of the entire research binder. For being such a moderating force. Try not to beat your teammates next time, though, you'll lose brownie points for that...

Xiang - core member of the Holland V group, I'll remember the dinners, the idle talk, our shared interests...am truly thankful that I met someone like you, so different yet so similiar to me. The funny thing is, I thought you were fairly intimidating when I first met you! Appearances are deceiving, after all - looking forward to another semester of Holland V dinners and assorted outings! Oh, yeah, and before I forget, something I once mentioned: Shel Silverstein - Picture Puzzle Piece.

Audrey, my bruddah, yo! Resident thespian/vocalist, she with the not-so-Singlish accent, and proud member of the Holland V group, thanks for the companionship. For the music. For not trusting me when I told you that we were having LAWR when I called you, hrmmm. For being a great person to bounce ideas off. For all the laughter and madness. Rock forever, yo!

Yue-En, Holland V group and 151 gang member, am thankful to have met you, my brother in Christ. Thank you for the prayers, for the theological discussions, for the insights. For the notes. For all the encouragement. May we continue to help each other to grow in Him, and seek to remind each other of our place and purpose, of the big picture. To just be fellow Christians supporting each other in the race we're running.

Joel, sups mah homie, you iz my dawg, yo! Another proud member of both the Holland V group and 151 gang! Thanks for the guy talk, for the sharing, for the encouragement. For being another great team player, always willing to share the fruits of your hard work. For all the inane stuff. While I may still fail to find Spanish Flea funny, at least we can agree that Happy Tree Friends is good stuff!

Quan Quan, you got an entry already, by virtue of being only person who shares both TGs with me...but thanks for being the voice of optimism even when everyone seemed so down. For refusing to conceed defeat. For faith. For the never-give-up spirit. Your belief in the strength of our case even when it seemed so much easier to make concessions and submit a pessimistic prediction - it spurred me on, even though you may not have noticed this. And I'm thankful, for how your self-belief gave me the will to carry on.

And Jo, our kindergarden teacher, our zoo-keeper, our guide to the labyrinths of the law...thank you for your patience, for being so approachable, for all the encouragement, for being more than just a generic tutor. For not just teaching us about the Law, but also teaching us about ourselves. For your wonderful sense of humour. For your belief in us. For putting your very best in everything you've done for us. Thank you.

I'm truly thankful for everything, everyone. Looking forward to another great semester ahead with y'all!

And then the morning comes

Edgy. Not sure why. Well, it'll be over soon.

All the best, everyone.

SLS, yay.

Passed driving yesterday. Yay! Thanks to everyone for the prayers and encouragement, it made all the difference =) 18 points, cut it a bit fine, but what the heck! It's about time I stopped wasting time and money on lessons... And yesh I'll be buying tehpeng at Al-Meen next time round, you know who you are!

Watched Harry Potter with Laiying and Xuena. The afternoon before SLS. And I'm not even a hardcore fan or anything, just figured it would be cool to catch up with them and chill... It's a distinct possibility that I'm too nonchalant about this SLS thing. Ah wells. The movie was...okay I guess? Doesn't really add to the book. But hey, like I said, I'm no fan, YMMV.

Speaking of which, SLS is in...a bit less than 11 hours. And frankly, for better or for worse...I really couldn't care less. Either way, it's a Good Thing that we have an extra hour now - figure I'll read material for ten minutes before I even begin typing my answer. And I bet that being surrounded by Vanilla Coke and keropok as I hammer out my answers will help the thinking process...

All the best, everyone.

P.S. Entry about my most excellent LAWR TG follows after the paper. I promise.

On popular demand...

You Are 50% Boyish and 50% Girlish

You are pretty evenly split down the middle - a total eunuch. Okay, kidding about the eunuch part. But you do get along with both sexes. You reject traditional gender roles. However, you don't actively fight them. You're just you. You don't try to be what people expect you to be.

How Boyish or Girlish Are You?

Hmmm.

One night at Indochine...

...some people did strange, crazy things.

Beer is good.

Tris, Petrina, Kelvin, Mag, and me. If you think Tris
looks wild-eyed here, you ain't seen nothing yet.

Me, Albert, and Kelvin. The dudes who can drink...

...and those who can't.
This is why we call Weichin the open-mouthed sleeper.

...Uhm, no, don't ask me. I don't know
what the heck Tris is doing, either.

Drunk people are fun to play with.

Oh, RIGHT, that's why he ended up like that...
Ruishan, Petrina, me, Mag, Sheryl and Albert, helping Tris to "exercise" his liver.

Sheryl, Mag, Tris, me, Albert, Petrina, Ruishan, and Kelvin.
Awesome end to an awesome evening.

Again - thanks to everyone for a most excellent evening. Eskibar awaits our next excursion!

This is going to be a long entry.

Okay, so I'm normally really laid-back. But in light of how I said I don't take people for granted, here's an entry about...*drumroll* my torts and contract TG!

To cut a long story short, impulsively decided to go out for dinner and drinks after our final Aunt Dora tutorial. Holland V - NYDC, Gelare, Indochine. Had a friggin good time. Pictures will follow. Just wanted to say a few words about everyone...

Bert: Hot stuff! Single, available, and very very attractive! According to a certain individual, he scores 9.5/10, and only loses 0.5 points because he was carrying Anson's around (like a good hardworking student!) Anybody interested?! Seriously though, super cool to find another drinking buddy! Who happens to have the same studying style! We'll have another drinking session real soon, mate, and you're providing the booze from your bachelor's pad!

Big K: Sorry ladies, he's taken! And I shouldn't wonder - tall, dark, and handsome (okay, 2 out of 3 isn't bad...cough!) Great to find a namesake who I can talk to about all kinds of random stuff - rock on, mate. You gotta jam for us sometime, man - we'll literally be all ears! And get your friends to stop calling out your name when I'm within earshot, though, so that I don't respond to people I don't know and embarass myself!

CircleCircle: "CircleCircle" is a better nickname than "PunchPunch", ain't it? Remember to set aside mugging time to swim and stuff, and donch overstress! And put aside some "J-time" to spend time with your TG-mates...really! We miss your presence whenever we're hanging out! Or you could always get "J" to hang out with us too, we'd more than welcome his presence (with only a minimum of ribbing!)

The A+ Daniel: We're still waiting for our treat...when are we gonna get it?! Even "Trish" promised a treat, and "she" didn't even match your A+! Anyways, this guy is like how all-rounded lah...smart, good-lookin, and great to hang out with! Doesn't say very very much in classes, but when he speaks, it's best to listen unless you don't mind missing good stuff! Okay, now that you've gotten a blurb, that's another treat you owe me...

GoodChristianGirlMag: Or so she says! But hey I call myself a GoodChristianBoy too so I shall not disrespect how she chooses to describe herself, we should have an alliance and all that! Anyways, really glad to have a fellow Christian I can really talk to about God and perspective and introspective stuff. Thanks for being a sister in Christ and being someone I can be accountable to, somebody who can ground me and remind me of my identity.

Jap Fangirl: Also known as "She Who Sleeps Everywhere". Not in a bad way! Ganbatte! Extremely glad to have a funny person like you around to brighten up our dreary tutorials! Also a person with certain dark secrets that come out after some drinks...hehehe! Looking forward to mooting head-to-head with your LAWR TG next term - I suspect it will be an extremely interesting experience!

Jethro the Flautist: Phew, at least there's a fellow (closet) geek around who makes me feel like I'm not the only nerdy dork who muds and understands gaming humor! A dude who also has a penchance for playing female characters and trying to pick up unsuspecting guys...HRM... Friggin cool to have a guy like you who shares common interests in the class, let's keep sharing silly URLs to stay awake in the long long tutorials hiding behind our notebooks!

Petripoo: One half of the eviiiiil pair that tries to get me into trouble by making me chuckle in class! On a slightly serious note, though, thanks for being around to MSN me in class about stupid fact patterns involving strange people who break their legs running after peas. For the most horrible puns ever conceived. For just being funky (albeit evil and manipulative too)! For making me laugh. For just being around. Looking forward to a second semester of madness in the same class!

Right Said Fred: And amist all the madness and chaos that is our class, Fred is like the sole voice of reason. Thanks for being the straight guy, the steady guy, the guy who only falters and *ahem* drops his pen when a certain SOMEBODY appears... Go ahead and ask her out, mate, we're all 100% behind you! Don't be shy!

R.U.I.: Heh, what can I say? Words fail me...almost. Thanks for being my friend. For being the other half of the evil "make Khel laugh in tutorials" duo. For the listening ear. For the sporadic madness. For teaching me contracts. For the music! For everything you've done. And I'm really glad I got to know you as a friend.

Trish: Look, Thai-boy, your inability to hold your liquor is very unbecoming of a prospective lawyer. I guess we gotta do something about that, eh? And you're in luck - Big K, Small K, and He-Who-Quaffs-Milo don't charge tuition fees! All we ask is that you provide the, ah, "teaching aids". And I can't wait for "lessons" to start! Still, another person I'm so glad to share a tutorial with - the one-liners, the ability to distract the tutor's attention away from less brilliant students (like me!), the unique brand of self-depreciating humor. Props dawg, we iz gonna rock the hood like da homies we are, YO!

Wei "Open-mouthed sleeper" Chin: And we round up with a special mention of the person who happens to be the only AC boy in our TG, the only person above 180cm, the only person who's worn a blue top and bottom for a few days, the only person who plays inter-fac basketball, the only person who played inter-formation basketball. And the list goes on...to his detriment! Peace out, man - you may be really thick sometimes, but you're OUR numskull and nobody can take that away from you! Things just wouldn't be the same in our class without you around! And, you also better work on the alcohol tolerance as well - you can bet tonight's session won't be the last of it!

And this in NO WAY sums up all the great people I've been getting to know in Law over the past few months. But this is enough for one night. Next installment: my most excellent LAWR TG! Till then.

Important Announcement!

I don't take my friends for granted. And if I do come off that way, I don't mean to.

All my friends - past, present, future - I cherish you all. I'm thankful for all the help, the encouragement, the support, and the company. For putting up with me. For the memories. For the good times, and the bad. For just being there for me.

Oh, I get by with a little help from my friends
Mm, I get high with a little help from my friends
Mm, gonna try with a little help from my friends

In other news. Research binder is all but done, have an Aunt Dora tutorial to clear by 3pm tomorrow, exams begin in a few weeks, driving test is a couple of days before the first paper, I still don't have any idea what's going on for SLS and Contract, and I suspect that for the first time in my life I'll be sitting for exams with the clear knowledge that I haven't finished studying.

Well, no biggie. Perspective, perspective!

Also, finally picked up Blood Sugar Sex Magik - always wanted to get that album, but never got round to doing it. Amazing stuff. I mean, everyone's heard Breaking the Girl and Under the Bridge. And they are friggin amazing on their own. But to listen to them in the context of the entire album...the rhythm, the funk, the entire sound of it. Ex-ce-llent. Picked up The Very Best Of The Beach Boys too. Bright, easy, but with those undertones of nostalgia and lost youth. Sounds of a more innocent time...

Kudos to "Margaret", too, for her Soho Collection. Very easy listening, with the occasional assertive track which just jumps out and grabs your ears and forces you to drop whatever you're doing to just listen to it with a grin. Cool.

Enough rambling for now, it's a brand-new week and there are things to do, people to meet, and a life to live.

Weird dreams

Okay, so I just woke up, and I had this really weird dream.

Exam time, contracts paper. Strangely, we were taking the paper in some classroom that seemed right out of TCHS. Tables, windows, etc. And when the time came, we had to go get our exam papers from our mailboxes (the ones outside the moot court), then get back into the classroom to begin work.

So we got our papers, and apparently all the normal exam rules were thrown out of the window, because the invigilator kept leaving the room and we kept discussing our papers. Except there wasn't anything to discuss. Half the class had one question, and the other half had another. My half had the question, "Who said that J. T. Poh is nonsense?" Besides the fact that nobody had any idea at all who J. T. Poh was, supposedly we had to know which member of the teaching staff had said that he was nonsense, then discuss it.

The other half of the class had an equally horrible question, involving something about limits and factors. In other words, math or physics. Not contracts. That should really really have tipped me off to the fact that it was a dream, but as they say, hindsight is 20/20.

So we were just there agonising and moaning, and suddenly we had to go down to the LT for some special announcement by the Dean. So, a diversion! Yay! So we trooped down to the LT, where the dean talked for a bit. Then he mentioned that another speaker was going to come on. So people started murmuring about the exam paper, and he went, "Oh, exams?"

(pregnant pause)

"These exams aren't counted. Didn't you all know?" In an absolute deadpan manner.

And the crowd goes wild! Some people are going "Huh?", others are going "WTF?", yet others are cussing like mad, some are screaming for joy. And I was just. Friggin. Happy. That I didn't have to go back and look at that totally incomprehensible, torturous question before me.

So a while later, I woke up, and I just lay there in my bed contented that there were going to be no exams and stuff. Then my mom came into the room to get the digital camera or something, but she couldn't find it, so I got up to get it for her. And as I was looking for the camera, reality finally hit and I realised that it's a Friday morning, I have torts in a couple of hours and SLS after that, and YES WE DO HAVE EXAMS IN A FEW WEEKS.

I really, really, really hate that feeling. When you wake up from a dream and all's good and then the truth of the situation sinks in.

Off to uni now. So much work undone, but hey, at least I finally caught up on my sleep.