230801, 1515hr, illinois time.

all the school computers use netscape. and god, my website looks hideous on netscape! eek! man, what should i do....erm....but i really don't have the time to go do the html again to make it netscape compatible. bleah. too bad then...

the communications class today seems quite tough. it's a combination of analog signal processing and abtract probability, apparently. both of which i won't say i'm really that good at. though i did get an A for each of these courses. i don't know....maybe i should just continue with both communications and biomed imaging. that would bring the number of credit hours this semester to 20 [the normal maximum number the average student takes is 18.] 20 is also the number i had last fall, when i eventually scored my first B and C for 2 of my engineering classes. hmm. i have a bad feeling about this.

the pol s class i had this morning is quite interesting though. political theory. y'know, plato, aristotle, marx, blah blah. it sounds quite abstract, and frankly quite tough. but i think i'm gonna hang on and just do it, cos i'm charmed by the lecturer's accent. he's from south africa. ah...finally a lecturer who speaks clear english. heh. the american lecturers tend to slur their words and they're usually more monotonous. this south african lecturer has this very subtle and polite sense of humour too. rather interesting.

oh yes, i forgot to mention. 2 days ago, i just realised, to my shock, that one of the freshies this year is a past student i had in hwachong. omigod. i can't believe i didn't recognise her from our first gathering in singapore. i can't believe it took me so long to realise.....gosh. and why the hell did she not come acknowledge me! i was sick both the first gathering and on quad day, so i'm excused. y'know, dizziness leads to bad eyesight. heh. i'll have to talk to her this sunday. i can't believe it. my student is in university. man, sheesh! my student! mind-boggling concept.

i'm still pretty excited to be back in school. doing the readings today sort of prepared me for the kind of workload i'll have for the rest of the semester. it'll get worse, but believe it or not, i actually have an natural curiosity and interest in all the courses i'm taking this sem. so though it'll be tough, i think at least i'm intellectually motivated to put in all the hard work. which is why i'm playing with the possibility of taking 20 hours again despite the tragedy last fall. hmm. i'll see how things go.

my vegetarian thing is going well too. feeling no temptation for meat at all. the chicken that a friend was eating for lunch today looked quite good [bear in mind i was eating granola bits for lunch.] but i didn't actually feel an urge to give up, or to sneak a bite of chicken from her. quite proud of myself. everyone's been asking why i'm going vegetarian. i really don't have an easy answer. but i do know it's good for me, and that's all the justification i need, isn't it?

joen has been very sweet in encouraging me by writing to me through the guestbook. i really have to say thanks to him here. officially. thank you!

and i learnt this in jap class today: hajimemashite! khoo-desu. doozo yoroshiku. i like the bowing that comes with it. i match it with my cindy-brand saccharine sweet smile. hahaha...