Tuesday, January 23, 2007

for the first time in this new term i was actually entertained during applied econometrics class today.

right. what's there to be entertained about while learning about something as mundane (alright, BORING) as econometrics, which is actually loads and loads of statistics?

clue: miscommunication.

haha.. our prof was going on about assumptions of the classical model and we were trying our darndest best to keep up when suddenly out popped a word none of us (well none of us in the left side of the class at least) understood.

"ocean patties".

huh?!

at first i thought i'd heard wrongly, but a few minutes later it was pronounced, unmistakably: "oceanpatties". i checked with jun n ting, and both gave me the 'i have no idea what the word actually is' look. i say that cos we all knew he couldn't possibly mean 'ocean patties' for real, we just couldn't understand his accent or he'd mispronounced whatever term he was trying to say.

it was crazy. he'd go on and out of nowhere came oceanpatties again and the 3 of us would look at each other, all confused. the only thing that came to me when i tried to decipher oceanpatties was spongebob. like, spongebob and his crabby patties? yeahhh...

so there i was, thinking that we 3 were the only dodobirds in the whole class of 30+ who didn't understand his term when i heard the guy sitting in front whisper to his friend, "what ocean tarik?"

oh man, i went mad. the next time the prof said it he nudged his friend again and i sniggered quite loudly. so he turned around and i gave him the ^_- look and both of us grinned in the common knowledge that we weren't the only dodobirds around.

so finally the guy couldn't take not knowing what the prof said and so he went, "prof, i didn't understand the term you mentioned just now. some ocean tarik thing?"

and the prof obviously didn't understand what he was saying, so he repeated, "ermm, the ocean tarik or something?" his voice faded off as i tried extremely, extremely hard not to burst out laughing cos our prof really look confused. i can't believe he actually said ocean tarik in class! :D :D :D hahahahahahaha...

since the prof didn't get him, he gave up his case.

and we thought all had lost hope.... when suddenly, the prof mentioned 'oceanpatties' again and elaborated about how it was applicable when n was large and therefore normality could be assumed..

we sat up and stared at the screen. and we saw the words "Central Limit Theorem". there it was! i checked with jun and she said yes! but then i checked with ting and she said, "no, i'm sure it's not CLT cos i heard him saying it properly."

then i heard the guy in front asking his friend, "eh, is it Central Limit Theorem?" and i responded positively, so he turned around and we confirmed it. but to dispel any niggling thoughts that ting was right and it wasn't CLT, the brave guy raised his hand once again.

"prof, i'm not sure about the central limit theorem, could you explain it again?"

and the patient prof went "oh, u don't understand? ok, well, the central limit theorem says............ blah blah blah and oceanpatties..............."

i never heard the rest of it cos the only thought dominating my brain at that moment was "so it WASN'T central limit theorem since he pronounced it so clearly and ting was right!" dang. and this time jun heard it as ocean curry. riiight.


therefore, up till now i still have not figured out what in the world is ocean patties. argh!
will make sure to ask the pple gg for AE class tmr to listen for any word that even remotely sounds like oceanpatties.

what a fun class. :D

-blessed
10:41 PM

Monday, January 22, 2007

i love my home.

anyways,
who has the recordings/ mp3s/ listenable tracks of:

-therefore being justified
-lift your voice
-welcome to the family (sunday sch song!)

the first 2 songs are rather old, but are very campfire-y kinda songs! haha. please send to me if you have it, i needa burn certain songs into a cd. thank u very much!


note to self: never ever try to out sing the band during worship prac again. i need to learn how to set up the mikes. arrghh.

-blessed
6:35 PM

Thursday, January 18, 2007

today i had comms! and as jerry gleefully watched the dark clouds approach from the safety and comfort of his home, i made my way to school. Thank God that it only rained after class started! and as usual, comms class was cold so i wore my humongous blue windbreaker.

we had graded assignment so we were free to leave once we had completed writing a letter (request for reimbursement, no less) and submitted it to the prof. finished early and walked outta class w ben n zx. swopped funny stories along the way.. and i've found another gg-home partner! yesh.

the stations passed in a blink of an eye. and we managed to find seats, all thanks to ben's sharp eyes. wahaha.

and so i reached home at 7pm. when normally, i would leave school at 7pm cos lesson was supposed to end at 645! there's the silver lining in my cloud. :D lalala.

things to do (by this wk):
research on DXP
compile comms research
research on daycare
microecons hw
prep sunday's lesson
finalize worship songs! (omw. i so have NOT decided.................................. :X)



this morning when i was distractedly reading up for graded assignment, i composed the following bits- things that have remained constant in my life!

things that have stayed the same since goodness-knows-when:

i still mix my rice and veggies and soup and meat and whatever mum cooks for the meal altogether before gobbling my food up. you get so many different tastes/ flavours in one bite! of course i only do this with family or reeeeeally close friends so hardly anyone outside home gets to see this.

i still watch cartoons. fan of disney channel and nickelodean here.
i still hate wearing the same thing as others. (unless of course it's a grp thing like riohc or soj.)
i still wear a watch on my left wrist. as always.
i still love ferrero roche chocolate and kinder bueno.

i still eat ice cream everytime my cousins and i visit the playground downstairs of mama's house.

i still love swings. and swinging really high.
i still like reading.

i still fold my legs up on the chair (in class/ at camp/ during soj/ wherever's convenient and comfy. :D)

i still love playgrounds.
i'm still wildly allergic to horror movies or anything that has abit of scary element in it.
i still love coins. [i can imagine the choir pple's reaction to this statement. haha!]
i still love soup.
i still hate durian. yech.
i still like apples best among all the fruits.

i still dip my 'so ta pia' as quoted from mama into hot milo. only so ta pia and nothing else. definitely not bread. and i only dip into milo and nothing else.

i still drink coffee only with yew char kueh. yew char kueh is the only thing i dip into coffee (daddy's coffee, no less) and that is the only time i drink hot coffee at home.

i still sit at the coffee table watching tv and eating my meals at home. unless its exam time of course, which means i read my notes and eat. or i try to multitask and do both and still watch tv.

i still wave to my pops from the window everytime he (or he and mum) drives off somewhere and i'm awake.

i still wake up every sunday for church. no change in that, no sirree.

i still haven't gotten used to 'calling' my elders to eat before meals unless my godbrothers are around.

i still love eggs.
i still love milo. alot. apart from water that is.
i still enjoy joyrides! :D


ah well. many more 'i stills' but i can't be bothered to think of more. hahaha. what are YOUR 'i stills'? cool to think of stuff that haven't changed in our lives eh? :)

-blessed
9:34 PM

Saturday, January 13, 2007

saturdays are extremely inefficient homework days for me cos i wake up late, have a super long brunch while watching disney channel/ axn/ discovery travel and living and also reading newspapers and my microecons textbook... then i finally settle down to doing work. but i'm on my way! must finish microec before youth, then after youth gotta come back and do AE. then there's preparing for LTB and comms mtg next wk.. not to mention deciphering all of the prof's comments on my application letter, preparing for next sunday's children's church lesson, saturday's LG, choosing songs for upcoming connection 33:3 and hopefully coming up with harmonies.. wowww so many things to do!!!

well anyways, while reading today's newspaper i chanced upon the one big takeaway i received from food chem in J2: TRANS FAT.

so for all you people who don't read newspapers (tsktsk), here's a breakdown of trans fat for you.

(mind you, it's really reeeeeeeally bad.)

Trans fat
what it does: clogs the arteries and makes them more rigid. increases the body's bad cholestrol while reducing its levels of good cholestrol. increases risk of coronary heart disease and type 2 diabetes.

sources: shortening, margarine, snack foods eg crackers and COOKIES (arghh!), fried food eg french fries, FAST FOOD (grandpa, are u reading this?? no more macs for you! haha.), baked goods, dairy creamer or coffee creamer, sweets, instant noodles.
(the above are often sources of saturated fat as well!)

WATCH OUT FOR:
ingredients in food/snacks like 'shortening' and 'partially hygrogenated vegetable oil' since there is no proper label for trans fat yet.

[The Straits Times Saturday, January 13, 2007, Science, Tan. A., Ng, K.]


what're we gonna eat now?? O.o


on a lighter note,
i was super encouraged by X cos when i sent him a msg containing some verses of encouragement God impressed upon me when i was praying, he replied much later in the day with verses of encouragement for me too! and i remember the last time those verses came to me, it was when i was running up the slope in tchs preparing for 2.4 in J2. sweet! then i recalled how last time grandaunt/lee noi used to send me verses/words of encouragement out of the blue (not even exam period) and i saved them, but never took much notice of them (though they always came in handy later) and definitely, never replied them with verses of my own! (oh ya, now i feel so... grandaunt-like. sending out stuff is so her la! :D) and it's really different now, i send sth out and that person replies! tho i so did not expect one. real cool, this is. a shift is coming eh? watch out!

also, i want to encourage the youth to do their QT.. if you guys are reading this, do ur QT! and remember not just to read the Bible and leave it at that, but also to spend some time in prayer, thanking God for what He's done for the day, the previous days etc.. or even prayer items you have! and after you've said your piece, always remember to wait before God because it's a 2-way convo, He has something to say to you too! and it's never a waste of time waiting to hear what God has to say/ impress upon your heart, trust me. :)

"Seek ye 1st the kingdom of God and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you."

-blessed
1:23 PM