TPM

I've been working on my dad's site for a while now... TPM Quality. TPM - Total Productivity Maintenance... hehe~ Anyone wanna guess what it's all about? My gf Doca actually has studied about TPM a year ago! Interesting eh? hehehe. Classes start at 1pm and i'm in the library now~ *so borin* sigh~

Surprise Surprise

Gee... guess what? Turns out my indian teacher (Mr. Raj Lewis) - the one we've been expecting became white! Seth... mmm... okay, so Mr. Raj isnt around and the replacement is our new Chaplain Mr. Seth Leamon... MDiv graduate from Andrews University. Ethical Models is the class and well, I'll see what there is to learn from this guy :)

Class has been pretty boring - too much information on the first lesson with too many definitions. Our lecturer has probably not taught before... Anyways... the class is so huge - some people are lying on the ground sleeping too! Amazing...

It's my last class and guess what? I can get a signal here - whee! ONLINE! :P BLEAH!

From the Library

Doca just went back to her room - can't stand th extremely long wait till the class starts at 1pm. It's about 9:35am right now and Im in the library - surfing and getting updates for my softwares~ hehehe... plus blogging. I've got a little bag of cookies and a bottle of water that Doca left for me and well, in the comfort of the library, I think I'm gonna enjoy myself for the next few hours~ heehee :D

The number of new students astounds me - more and more each semester - good for the school, but its getting more crowded :S This campus is kinda teenie and so many students on campus can only mean overcrowding. The nursing students will be having a 2 year tenure here instead of a 1 year stay - according to a brief talk with the president two days ago~

Well, I'm gonna check for more software updates and play a little NBA Live 2006 while I'm here! Might as well - btw, Michael Cordy's The Mirical Strain is a pretty good book - a very nice read if you asked me. Try pick it up at your local bookstore! Tata for now~

Class time changed

Its realy irritating... the class time changed from 8am in the morning to 3pm in the afternoon - basically scewing up most of the plans for my week. I'm wondering if I should add/drop classes instead so that my week's time-table won't be so messed up :S

First day!

Officially the first day of Inter-Semester.... first class - Social Psychology... starts in 10 mins... *ooh* see ya'll l8er!

That was my little ride - the little Red Honda Wave 125cc :)

Another pic that sendy took - thats me... err look so fat! :P

Thanx Sendy, for this pic - sorry i wasnt able to print the pix for u :( Send me your address - I'll send u a nice 4R collage!!!!

Thursday!

Class is almost over and I'm sitting in my little corner blogging... just learnt that my group's presentations have been the most sought after, being highly praised and rated by our lecturer! Woohoo! Hope that the members in our group (Group 4) will all score A's in this course! The presentations are all about the New Testament books of the bible (Introduction to the New Testament).

It's been a pretty tiring day and I'm looking forward for tomorrow to come (TGIF day) cos it'll mean that the stressful week is almost over! This class ends on Sunday and we'll be celebrating by heading out to Sunday market for a celebration on Sunday night - courtesy of our lecturer Dr. Khamsay! Yeah!

Lets see what I need to get done by this week...
1. Wash my bike
2. Clean out my room
3. Complete my term papers
4. Take Doca out on a date
5. Register for classes
6. Read my book (I got it at a discount used book store in Chiang Mai) - The Miracle Strain (Michael Cordy)

Lets talk about the book that I'm reading at the moment... in a sentance, it's a psychological/religious/scientific thriller. There's some brotherhood of the second coming of the messiah who needs the help of Dr. Tom Carter who's the world's leading geneticist. Dr. Carter is desperately trying to find a cure for his daughters fate - brain tumor that is inevitable. The brotherhood needs Carter's help to identify the Messiah and offers him a chance to look into the genes of God...

Yeah, that's the best I can do for a summary of the book that I'm reading at the moment. I'm gonna stop here... Kishen's doing his presentation and it's rather interesting - talking about the original writings of Paul (manuscripts).

UPDATE! :D

Played basketball and man, did I have fun! heehee :D played 3 games and though the team I was on lost three times, we still had fun... yay :) haha weird~

Reading Reports

Reading reports have been driving me nuts these past few days. Reading bout 400 pages a day and reporting on them - contrasting 2 books and having to summarize them before giving a reaction that should be twice as long as the summary with a conclusion at the end... man... it's insane, but it's what you've got to do to earn 3 credits in a week. Tests every single day too - i'm burning out! *faint*

I just finished my reading report for tomorrow and I am so tired - just emailed it in to my lecturer... *phew* - big sigh of relief! Watched MI:III today - pretty good show! Hoping to catch the Da Vinci Code soon. I downloaded the High Definition Trailer - it's fantastic! hehehe... the girl's kinda cute too.

Well, that's it I guess... I'm gonna hit my bed now - uber tired from the long day. 8 - 5pm of studying again tomorrow + presentations and tests :( sigh... I'm glad that it's gonna end this coming sunday, being the last lesson. Take care ya'll! I'm still elated that my results were excellent! Gonna be on the Dean's list! WHeEeEeEEeEEEee!!!

Day 5: Thursday 18th May 2006

We're on the train on the way back to Bangkok and then up to Muak Lek, Saraburi, where Mission College is at right now. The day was pretty long and we had quite an adventure today.

The day started with us having breakfast at Paddy Field hotel, Arak Road, Old City of Chiang Mai. We'd decided that since we forgot to go visit the hill-tribe village, we'd go up Doi Suthep again, past the Wat, past the King's Winter Palace and to where the villages were.

Doca taking a big bite out of her food!


We went up Doi Suthep, with Vivian at the back of Espy's bike with Sendy and Doca and I on the other bike. We stopped at a waterfall on the way up and had some pictures taken :)




The ride up the mountain was pretty normal and nothing that was out of the ordinary but it was getting colder, more wet and slippery. The wide two way road became a narrow lane that did not have a kerb, plain tarmac that slithered through the dense forest. Visibility wasn't that great with clouds obscuring our vision.

About 4km after the King's Winter Palace, on that little winding road, there was a fork - one led down (steep) and one went up (steep too!). We decided to take the road that went up to a Hmong Village that was supposed to be some 7km from where we were at. About 1.5km in, Doca and I heard someone scream and Doca looked behind and saw that Espy's bike had spilled! I quickly turned the bike around and went down to them, checking to see if anyone was seriously hurt. We've all gotta thank God that no one was seriously injured, just minor cuts and abrasions from the fall. The bike survived pretty well, getting away with only a broken right mirror (which was replaced when we went down). Espy and I carried the bike back up and set it right - and Vivian got onto my bike for the rest of the journey up.

Espy and I getting the bike back up. Sendy's picked herself up and moving over to Espy to see his wounds. Doca's moving to look for some stuff to clean the wounds.


The ride up was slow and with much caution cos the roads were uber slippery! We finally reached what seemed to the the top and had to get off and walk the rest of the way because the tarmac became mud...


We walked for quite a ways, probably 2km in the dense forest trail... fog, cold and a slight drizzle and reached a camp site... it wasn't a village... it was a camp site. There, we found a sign that said that the Hmong Village was another 3km into the forest on a really bad muddy road. We weren't prepared to walk the whole way and we turned back. It started to rain pretty bad up there on the mountain and we took refuge in a little hut for the Park Ranger. We waited for about 10-15mins and then decided that we had to get down. The time was already around 3pm and we were all starved, not having eaten since breakfast!

The buffet house was the place we dined at again and well... Doca, Vivian and I had an experience driving in a big carpark and then at a multi-story motorcycle carpark! It was SO fun! Don't have pictures of the place but man, it was a real interesting experience!

======================================

That's the end of our Chiang Mai trip :) Hope you guys enjoyed reading all this... I really did enjoy the holiday! Naka's and Nako!!! Take care :D

Fantastic Results!

I'm like totally elated! Checked my results today and my results were fantastic! My GPA went up and so did my CGPA! 3.6! WOOHOO! :D Feeeeeeeeeeeel the smiles? hehehehehe

Day 4: Wednesday 17th May 2006

Day 4 of the Great Chiang Mai Trip saw all of us (Espy, Sendy, Vivian, Doca & myself) plan to head up to Doi Suthep, a mountain 1.68km in height that is closest to the city of Chiang Mai. It's only less than 8km from the city itself! We got our bikes (I got a red Honda 125cc street bike and Espy got the blue one (semi-auto step-through gear shifting type) and 'cute' green helmets that made us look like VIETCONG - according to my gf who's Vietnamese. Well, it was about 11am after we'd had breakfast early in the morning, washed up, planned our trip and decided that we would:

Drive up to Doi Suthep

Visit the Doi Suthep Temple

Visit the King's Winter Palace

Visit a mountain hill-tribe village

Of all these we only managed to fulfill the first three because we literally forgot that we wanted to visit the mountain hill-tribe villages! Dang! Well, we went up from outside of hotel, helmets on and passengers loaded.


The ride there was a little interesting... I went off-course because we aren't really supposed to have three people on a bike. I saw cops and freaked out so I missed a turn where there were the men in green (police in thailand wear green - a yucky moss green color). We later found the right road thanks to Doca who asked someone along the street and were back on track towards the mountain! There's Doca and Vivian (at the back of the bike that I was riding.


We finally reached the top of the mountain (not really the top... but the place generally regarded as the summit cos there's a big market there with stores and the temple) and took a picture there - check out the clouds at the back of us. In the background you can see a red colored pickup truck - those trucks there are the taxi's. You pay them anything between 20 - 60 baht to take you to places - cheap travels. They're the same as local taxi's back in Singapore in the fact that you have to flag them off from the road. The main differences are that you don't have air-conditioning and you have to speak to the driver and settle on a price before you set off - there's no meter.


Espy and I face off at the carpark area :D


The Wat (Temple in Thai) at Doi Suthep is really really really high up - a super long staircase to get up. We opted the lazy man's way of getting up and down by paying 20 Baht to get onto the 45 degree elevator up the slope to the temple! hehehehe :) At the top, we were treated to a very nice temple - gold plated! Woo :D


We then headed up about 6km up the mountain from the temple to the King's Winter Palace. It was supposed to be good - nice palace grounds with a huge garden that was a sanctuary for over 300 species of birds and i can't remember how many species of plants! We weren't disappointed when we arrived there - very nice place to have photos taken too! NO KIDDING! Wedding pictures here would be a blast! We spent our tie there taking some pix of ourselves. haha!











We were feeling so hungry after that so we decided to leave - forgetting that we had wanted to visit the mountain hill-tribe villages that were up in the mountain! How silly huh? Well, our stomachs led the way and we headed down the mountain towards Chiang Mai city again. We were riding down to Chiang Mai when I saw a big sign saying "BUFFET 79 Baht!" WOW!! I stopped and the 5 of us dug into extremely delicious Japanese and European food!


There's Vivian outside the store, posing with the sign that I saw!


Doca's enjoying herself here! So much sushi and its ALL U CAN EAT!!!


After the meal, we went our separate ways again - Doca and I then headed down to the National Museum of Chiang Mai, hoping that it would be a good experience. Turns out that the place had hardly anything and all we got was a shot of Ganesh, the Hindu God (Son of Shiva). We didn't go in cos the brochure they showed us was horrible... we decided we didn't want to waste our time there. Doca is wondering why we didnt go in.


We then headed to Pantip Plaza cos I wanted to look for some software We ended up eating at the burrito house! Nice burritos and enchiladas!


It was around 4pm I think, and we decided to go driving around. We visited Chiang Mai Lotus before meeting up with the guys at the night bazaar again where we had some food at a restaurant called "Fatty Restaurant" - notice that pic? That dude is carrying a big ball of fats... yuck!







The food at Fatty's wasn't that great so after that, we went our ways again and Doca and I explored the little lanes... finding a VEGETARIAN FOOD OUTLET!!! We popped in and man.... so cosy and cool! The food was GREAT too! :D











That's the end of day 4 :)

Chiang Mai Trip (continued)

So I've posted up the first 2 days of the trip - quite a lot already right? Here's more...!

Day 3: Tuesday 16th May 2006
The day started with Doca & I going to the zoo - it was a lot of torturing walking! Walked so much and so far, up higher and higher and higher we went. The zoo is built into a mountain side... so you can kinda imagine the walking we did.








After the zoo, we were both so tired that we just slept the afternoon away. So tired! Too much walking. My legs were aching, that I do know! When we woke up, it was almost time for dinner... lets see... the zoo was like almost the whole morning and afternoon - I don't think we ate lunch cos we were so tired! Well, we dressed up to go shopping! Doca wore her new skirt that she got the night before at the night bazaar! We hopped into a red taxi and went to the Central Airport Plaza.



This was where I got a pair of jeans for my brother Jeremy :) Nice jeans!!!


Here's the store where I got myself and Jeremy some boardshorts and tee shirts! Oh yeah! Great bargains!


Doca standing all dolled up with nice shoes (i got em that nite too!! so cheap! heehee :P) n all outside the taxi.




We had indian food for dinner later that evening after walking a little more at the night bazaar! Nice cosy place with excellent indian food... uber nice :D so filling too! Nice ambience eh?


Eating air...


Eating more air...


FOOD!! GLORIOUS FOOD!!


Cheap 30min foot massage at the night bazaar for the aching feet!


Thats the end of the 3rd day :)

My Chiang Mai Trip!

Day 1: Sunday 14th May 2006
Doca & I decided to skip the princess' arrival on campus cos we were gonna take the train first~ Well, our trip started with us reaching Future Park (Rangsit) near the airport/train station kinda early. Ended up sitting at starbucks surfing the net (wireless access at starbucks). That's Doca chatting with her friends at starbucks!

After that, we left and went across the road to Major Cineplex... we wanted to bowl but ended up doing nothing. We had some food after that :D Check out the really colorful pix!


I kinda wasted some money... 50 Baht playing some catching game and I didn't manage to catch anything! Watches and stuffed toys! So evil... designed to make it look easy but NO way!!!

Here's the bowling alley we were at - but all the lanes were booked so we couldn't bowl.

A view from the section between Don Meuang Airpot and the Don Meuang Train Station

The train station!


The train FINALLY arrives!!!

Here's the food that we got on the train - it's the night snack! Cakes n orange juice!


Day 2: Monday 15th May 2006
We were on the train and it was morning! Such a long night sitting and my back was aching really bad... a look out the window was cool~

We finally arrived at the train station and were greeted with a very COOL surprise... literally. We weren't prepared for the very cool weather at Chiang Mai. Outside temperature was around 26 degrees Celcius! Indoors was cooler! GEEE - we didn't bring any warm clothes :S

Doca decided that we should walk to the Old City where the hotel the 5 of us would stay is at. We started walking and crossed the Ping river.

Finally we reached the hotel - we took a taxi half way cos it was so far... hehehehe

Some pix of the first day :)





A very funny "Do's and Don't's" sign.

We had japanese food that evening! Yummy! BIG BIG bowls! Bigger than our heads!


THe night bazaar was after that :D YEAHHH!!!


OKAY... more updates later :D

Classes begin!

My classes have officially begun... and dear Shimona is still in Singapore because her classes start next monday. Intensive classes have been good so far, from 8-11am, followed with a break from 11-1pm, 1-5pm is the next part. So it's pretty much 8 - 5pm - reminds me of work... 8am till 5pm. GRRR! Oh well, it's pretty fun - Introduction to New Testament. Pretty much history of NT Times.

Someone inquired about my mini mju - might sell it off at 5000-6000 baht. Maybe I'll have Jer get me another one! heehee :P Gotta love cute little compact cameras, especially weatherproof ones! *oh yeah* I love the word 'weatherproof' - it means that I can rough it out with a camera on hand! Whee!

Jer, if you're reading this... I don't know how to send you the board shorts and jeans and shirt that I got for you - by mail? Chiang Mai is a fantastic place to shop - excellent bargains at the Central Airport Plaza (Near the Chiang Mai Airport). The night bazaar is good for the experience, but not for the shopping - things are really expensive there and the quality is usually lower. I got original board shorts (excellent material and stitching) and branded Jeans at a lower or equal price that you can get at the night bazaar.

If you like basketball, like I do, you might wanna pick up a copy of NBA LIVE 2005 by EA Sports. It's a rad game and I totally enjoy playing it! Realism to the max and for those who can't dunk (like me again...), you can dunk here in this game! Wheee!! Have a dunking good time! hehehehe :D

My dorm life... my roommate left and I'm all alone now. Nick has left the room - to move in with his brother on the fourth floor. Hmm... staying alone seems nice - total privacy, but it does get a little lonely. But I've got a possible new roomie - Kishen, a fellow theology major student who hopes to work in Singapore. Might have him over in my room. See how eh? I'll keep everyone updated... BTW, i'll give the update on my trip to Chiang Mai after I upload the pictures to my server. Yupz... that's about it... :)

Finally a post!

Yeah, I've been too busy holidaying that I haven't found the time to blog! hahaha :) Good news is that I'll be blogging my trip later on tonight! Hang on dear blog - I'll make sure I fill you up with posts of my trip; photos included!

Blogging from bed

Just woke up not long ago! Outside temperature is about 26 degrees - with strong winds. wooo! :) i'm gonna get myself a nice new pair of pants later! heheheh~
Breakfast is waiting! :)

Blogging on the way to/ in Chiang Mai

Monday, 15th May 2006
It's about 7:00am in the morning and I'm at Nong Lom train station - one of the countless stops that the train has made over the night. Got on the train at about 8:30pm last night and had a hard time sleeping. It's been an interesting experience so far for one who hasn't sat on a rickety old train that has been converted to have air-conditioning. The seats are fairly comfortable for short rides but definitely not-so-comfortable for an overnight trip - as I'm experiencing. Surprisingly, they keep serving food! I've still got 2 packets of food that I haven't exactly consumed.

Okay, we're starting to move... lets see now. The train ride - yes... I couldn't sleep all night. The train kept shaking and while moving at a high speed, the train kept bumping left and right every few seconds! At a high speed, it kinda knocked us around pretty bad and I was wondering if the train would infact topple over! Thank God it hasn't toppled over or derailed yet... haha... I actually think it would be quite an experience if it actually did! I have a strange feeling that I'll be sleeping much of the morning when we check into the hotel! *yawn* yeah... uberly tired! GOSH! My lappy's running low on batteries... down to my last '15 mins' of power so I think I shall stop for now.

It's 2:00pm right now and I've walked around the old city area, back at the hotel to sleep coz so tired :S nites... till tonight - night bazzar!!!!

Random Meme (Snatched from Jer's Blog)

1. Grab the book nearest to you, turn to page 18, line 4 and write down what it says:
"and rivers that ripple across the region have..."

2. Stretch your left arm as far out as you can. What do you touch first?
"My lappy!"

3. What is the last thing you watched on TV?
Er... that was last night... Liverpool VS West Ham and West Ham was leading 2-0!!! DOWN with Liverpool!

4. Without looking, guess what time it is:
16:01

5. Now look at the time, what is the actual time?
15:57

6. With the exception of the computer, what can your hear?
- people walking
- people talking
- music from across the store (im in a shopping mall)
- more people talking
- sound of footsteps (slippers dragging)

7. Before you came to this website, what did you look at?
hmm... my girlfriend's emails... haaha... she was emailing but i didnt understand a word :S

8. What are you wearing?
nothing... hahaha :X Jeans and a Tee-Shirt

9. When did you last step outside? What were you doing?
I stepped outside to get to the VAN to get to BKK!

10. Did you dream last night?
Yeah... but I can't remember anything :S

11. When did you last laugh?
Just! hahahahahahaha!

12. What is on the walls of the room you are in?
It's a big room... there are like stickers, posters, advertisements and well.. shop ads too. Im in a shopping mall as im typing this...

13. Seen anything weird lately?
Yeah... i stepped into watsons and there's this huge "LOVE PACK" for sale at 69 baht. Come to think of it... "69" for a 'love pack' is rather 'interesting'... it could have been 59 Baht or 79 Baht... why choose 69? Hmm... could elaborate on this more but I shall not... it's a package with lubricants, flavored condoms, ribbed condoms and some other 'love stuff'. hahaha this is so funny :S

14. What do you think of this quiz?
Interesting :D

15. IF you became a multi-millionaire overnight, what would you buy first?
I think i'd buy myself some google shares :P

16. What is the last film you saw?
Alien Resurrection - not finished yet :D in my computer now!!!

17. Tell me something about you that I don't know:
I don't have to shave - and I've never shaved in my life...

18. If you could change one thing about the world, regardless of guilt or politics, what would you do?
I'd... get rid of deforestation

19. Imagine your first child is a girl, what do you call her? A boy?
A girl - Chloe! love that name... boy? hmm... definitely not Nate, Nat, Nathan or Nathaniel... would seem to weird to be calling out my own name! :S Probably... Alex

20. Do you like to dance?
I can't dance...........................

21. Would you ever consider living abroad?
I think I am already abroad... thailand... hello?? hehehe

ciaoz for now!

Bloggin from a shoppin center

I'm at FUTURE PARK right now... yeap~ Bloggin frm here... just thought I'd blog a little bit. Sitting down at STARBUCKS surfin the net~ heehee :D

The BIG trip!

The big trip starts today at 12pm when I get on the van to Bangkok - why so early? Because the princess is coming... and the school will be locked down till she leaves (police n all will be here). I've done my packing... some clothes, my camera and computer! Woohoo... wait - my computer's still here.. haha~ last item to pack!

I've got both my cameras... hmm thinking - should i bring the 14-54mm? I've got the 11-22mm already on... *hmmm* Don't wanna be carrying too many lenses on this trip thats why... grrr!~

The train ride's gonna be fun I think - I'll update you guys on that AFTER the trip. It'll be one of two outcomes: 1. I'd enjoy it so much I can't wait for the ride back. 2. I'd hate it so much I'd be dreading to return to school by train. We'll see which it is!

Okays... take care ya'll!

Just like old times~

Just like old times... my ex came back last night for a night (ex-roomie) and I had so much fun - just like old times when we were officially roomies. haha :) It's always nice to relive good memories *oh yeah*



Well, yesterday my gf and I spent a whole 5 hours piecing a 500-piece Jigsaw Puzzle together. We were lucky that our friends Sarah and Suzanna came along to help us out!! Or else we'd NEVER have completed the puzzle! haha!~ That's it, the puzzle (on the left). This is what it looked like some 2 hours after we started it... kinda pathetic right? We pieced the pieces together one by one and tried so hard - it was exhausting! Four pairs of hands working together to get it done!



I guess these puzzles help you in a few areas... 1. to be more patient. 2. improve your I dont know what? haha... im pretty relieved that we got the puzzle finished! Well.. will post up a few more pix to show u guys the completed ones too!



That's all for now! Ciaoz!

Postcards for sale!

I'm putting these up cos it's been something that has been pretty cool for a while... I make postcards and people order them to send to their friend with a personalized message or just for collection. For this month, here are 2 postcards that I've got - for sale. Photography's by me and these come as 4R sized postcards.

If you're interested to purchase these, please contact me HERE to order - for yourself or to send to a friend with a personalized message!

Friends

Description: 2 friends walking up a road with the word "Friends" at the left side of the image
Postcard - (4R Sized in full color - waterproof coating)
Photograph by: Nathaniel Tan
Price: USD$2.00+Postage (PAYPAL)

Evening Sky

Description: Evening sky
Postcard - (4R Sized in full color - waterproof coating)
Photogrpah by: Nathaniel Tan
Price: USD$2.00+Postage (PAYPAL)

I'll be revamping www.nathanieltan.com soon with stock photography and postcards! Take care ya'll!

The exams are FINALLY OFFICIALLY OVER!

I guess I can't really express how I feel here in type but I am extremely relieved and not to mention... HAPPY! ECSTATIC! OVERJOYED! WOOHOO!

The hermeneutics paper was tough, but not as tough as I had expected - which is good because I really prepared hard for it. I was so relieved when I read the paper and realised that I knew pretty much all the answers for it. Okay, I admit that I sped through the examination, completing 7 essays in under 50 minutes - some people still don't understand how I do it... to me, it comes naturally and I'm not rushing - simply jotting down ideas on paper that are running through my head... that I can't really catch; not all at least. My brain works at an amazingly blazing speed - when it wants to. haha!

Okay... Tomorrow's slacking day, Friday's slacking day, Saturday's graduation, Sunday is off to Chiang Mai, Friday to BKK with friends to watch the Da Vinci Code! WOohoo! Group movie outing - first movie at theatres in Thailand for me! Exciting! Can't wait for the holidays to start!!! Wait... the holidays HAVE ALREADY STARTED! WOOHOO!

Okay, back to now... presently... blogging and waiting for my friends to get out of the auditorium and we're gonna BEAN (Bohnanza)! (thanks faithy!) Oh yeah, we're gonna bean all morening till afternoon - so fuN! hehehehe~ kekeke

Enough of my happiness!! I've gotta keep some for myself too! heehee :) take care ya'll!!

One more to go!

1:30pm - and I picked up my pen... going through the questions and answering them one by one...

1:32pm - First question complete... double checked it and moved on to the next question.

1:40pm - Section A complete and checked.

1:50pm - 1 question of 2 completed

2:00pm - Last question comleted

2:15pm - Checking complete and I smell an "A" coming :)

yay! On to study for tomorrow's big one - Biblical Hermeneutics... *oooh* Some basketball tonight will be nice... hehehehehe~

First exam of the 'killer trinity' over

Religions of S.E.A. is finally over... talk of Moksha, Karma, Nirvana and all the differents gods and goddesses, vehicles, consorts can slowly trickle out of my head for now. It was a VERY TOUGH paper and I'm not sure if I'll really score - I'd be lucky to get a B I think - I hope my GPA won't be pulled down :( Tough papers bring out the best in a student; so they say.

I've got another big one in the afternoon - Pastoral Theology. You wondering what it's all about? It's about what a pastor does and how to attend to various things... including mental people. Ahh... hehehe~

For example... talk about a pastor's personal finance...
1. Enjoy frugality
2. Be absolutely honest
3. Pay bills promptly
4. Shop wisely
5. Shun debt
6. Avoid sidelines
7. Never borrow money from members
8. Don't seek gifts from members
9. Be an exemplery giver
10. Save a little for the unexpected

and well.. u've gotta kinda expound on each point~ whee... another interesting one..

List Kotter's eight step strategy for major change
- Increase Urgency
- Build the guiding team
- Get the vision right
- Communmicate for a buy-in
- Empower action
- Create short-term wins
- Don't let up
- Make change stick

another interesting and very useful set of answers to a question... And then, tehre's the mental part.

List the four basic types of mental illness and give a short explanation of each.

1. organic mental illness - causes altered behavior, consciousness, perception, thinking or emotion.
2. Psychosis - causes symptoms like delusion or hallucination
3. Neurosis - causes fear, anxiety, depression, weakness, numbness, irritability, pain and discomfort, usually when under stress.
4. Other disorders - an amalgamation of illnesses like schizophrenia with depression or alcohol dependence with anxiety neurosis.

Sounds so 'chim' eh? man...

Definte psychosis - it is a severe mental illness that could be due to abnormal biochemical activities in the brain. Causes delusion and hallucination.

Something interesting about schizophrenia...
- it is not a specific illness but a group of severe mental disorders which have a number of common clinical features
- it is characterized by specific psychological symptoms affecting the patient's hinking, feeling, perfection and motor abilities
- it is NOT spilt personality
- Symptoms include:
1. thought disorder
2. hallucinations
3. delusions
4. disorders of emotions
5. disorders of volition
6. disorders of motor behavior

wahhhhhh......haha~ see it's so tough. Mmmm gotta go revise now. Tata!

An update for the past few days

I realize that the last update was a few days ago so here's an update for well... the past few days! I've been keeping up to date with my brother's blogs, as usual and Jeremy, my youngest brother has been having a whale of a time with his camera and guitar! haha :D Awesome! Alright... lets move on shall we?


May 06, Saturday
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We had a theology club party at Fanwar's house today and so many people came! Dr. Shipton (Our president) and Dr. Valentine with their spouses came too! So fun! That's aunty Sheila preaparing the food that was brought for serving...



Here's the food that was served! Yummy eh? Food from all over the world - Finland, Australia, Africa, France, Singapore (me!!), America, New Zealand, China, Indonesia, Philippines too! Wowza!



So the party or well.. gathering went on and our president sat down with us to eat! On the floor :D Talk about a nice guy~ I don't have to elaborate further do i?



It was a fantastic afternoon of food and hanging out with friends from the same department! woohoo :D I was so stuffed after that! hahaha :D We had AY later and i got my pic taken with my RARA (Crazy) friend Sendy... she'll be leaving after the exams and packing for home (Mexico) so she's signing my yearbook and takin a crazy pic with me *sniff*



The evening kinda ended with me going back to the dorm and taking a funny pic with Doca :) nice way to end the day huh? hehehehe oh yeah... the sky was soooooo nice :)





May 07, Sunday
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Okay, tomorrow's a study day for me and Tuesday and Wednesday are gonna be killer. 2 major papers on Tuesday and one big one on Wednesday. Studied all day, pretty much... at the library (as usual). I'd never seen this many students studying at the second floor since... i don't know when... since ever! Check this out... (might not look like many to you, but really... that's quite a lot of people *for MC*)



Most of them up here are nursing students I think - who never seem to study in the library... they're using the library more, which is a good thing for the school :D The next picture features a close friend and wonderful musician - Daron Loo... he's actually studying! haha :) nah!! Kidding - he studies hard and just thot I'd put his picture here to show the world who this guy is... he plays the piano fantastically!!



Doca's studying here too~ Thats my lappy... doing my work and revising! grrrr revise revise!!!



Okay! I've gotta run now... blog tomorrow!


May 08, Monday
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It's monday... yay! My train tickets arrived - going to Chiang Mai by TRAIN! OOOH AHHH :D hehehe more pictures will definitely be coming your way! Viv, Sendy, Ca!! See ya'll in Chiang Mai too! Up to see the hill tribes, the night bazzar and the highlight of the trip... the train ride on an uber old train all the way up. Rickety ride woohoo!



Oh yeah... I cleaned my room and washed the balcony too! Check it out... hehe eh, also washed my clothes and hung them out :D So proud of myself. hahaha~



That's it for now... it's 9:05am Thailand time and I've gotta hit my books! Exams tomorrow!!!

Tata!

Eating the lotus

At first I thought it was weird when I saw some of the Thai nursing students picking the pods of the water lilies, opening them and eating them! I was like... "Whoa!!! You can actually eat that thing?" Well, today I asked my girlfriend if she'd eaten them before and she said she had; she kinda dragged me over to the pond and reached out for one. I got to taste it and it's really nice! Tastes like soy beans - these are eaten raw and are nice n sweet! They're a little hard to get - especially if they're right in the middle of the pond... but here are a few steps to eating it! hehehe~

Step 1: Locate a nice pod... as you can see, that's the kind of flower you wanna find first. A nice pod would be a really old one (the little thing on the left of the flower). Reach out, pluck it out - relatively easy to pluck it... make sure it looks old!!! The young ones have nothing to be eaten!


Step 2: After plucking it... this is what it looks like. See that thing in my hand? Yeah - that's it! Hold it in your hand and be ready for the next step!


Step 3: Use your mighty fingers and pull out a 'bean' from the pod. The pod is actually a little tough, so you'll have to really TEAR it open! Don't be afraid - it don't bite.


Step 4: When you get the bean, it'll look green - you'll have to PEEL it open to unveil the little white colored bean that's on the inside!


Step 5: Very simple... EAT and ENJOY!


So... in a nutshell, that's how to eat the lotus plant! BTW, they come in different colors - the flowers; Red, Pink, White, Yellow, Purple too! Awesome. Go eat and Happy Sabbath!

Just things in my head~

Voting has been something I looked forward to, maybe it's not something that everyone looks forward to but when I was younger (before 21) I always dreamt of casting that vote and that my vote would be the crucial deciding vote (what a dream huh?). Turns out that I'm turning 23 this year and I've still not voted yet. Tomorrow is voting day and I'm in Thailand - so no voting for me again.

I've been keeping up to the General Elections news and I wish that I could be home to vote - problem is, I'm here where I am, in Thailand and I won't be able to vote this time round. I'll just wait out and watch the news, to see what's happening.

I read the news this morning that Indonesia has a volcano that's on the verge of eruption! Wow... and they're trying to evacuate people, but the farmers and flock tenders don't wish to leave till the last possible minute - I wish them luck. Hope that it won't be a biggie... If you wanna read the news, you can actually follow this link to check the news out.

Just played a game of 'Coin Soccer' - you take three small coins, sit with a guy on either side of the table and play soccer. Your fingers are the goals... you kinda put them at the edge of the table - both hands together with your pinky's out and the index finger of one hand being the goalie. The 'ball' has to be passed between the two other coins and you can't hit another coin - only go between. Quite fun! Can be quite painful, especially when your opponent can unleash a powerful shot (the coin'll hit you knuckles...). You can play up to as many 'goals' as you wish! very fun - great passtime in the library.

There still isn't anyone around here in the library at the moment and it's kinda well... nice :) Computer's all to myself! heehee~ My girlfriend is upstairs studying (i came down to use the computer) and the air-conditioning is keeping the library nice n cool!~ Was gonna take some pictures but then my battery in the baby oly is dead so no pix today. Sigh. Oh well, that's life isnt it?

Study day?

Today's friday and it's been designated as 'Study Day' so there are no examinations... my question is... is it really a break for us to study or is it actually a public holiday masked and renamed to be a 'Study break' for us students, just to make the school look good? Okay, I'm getting a little edgy here but seriously. I just found out that it's a public holiday and I'm rather furious at the fact that the school kinda announced it as a break for us - a day for studying - can't they just be totally honest?

I'm blogging from the library right now and there's like... nobody around - almost. They've probably headed down to Bangkok or still in their rooms catching some Z's. Alright enough of this... moving on... to...

Bohnanza - it's a hit with some of the students here and the best part is that it's breaking down the cultural barriers and bringing people closer together! Amen to that? hehehe :) All part of doing ministry - card games. If you haven't tried this out, you should - games bring people together, especially interactive ones like Bohnanza where you can barter trade beans with other players (that's where all the fun comes into) and when you can 'team up' with others to take on other 'farmers'. hehehe~ alrighty...

I'll be hitting my books today... since it's 'study day' to prepare for next week. 3 more papers and I'll be done for this semester! Wish me luck! Ciaoz for now!

PS. Jer - update your blog!!!!

Big Fat Greek Exam is OVER!

The greek paper is now over and I'm so extremely happy! I took a grand 35 minutes to complete my paper and walk out of the examination hall! I'm smelling an A of some sort for this module! YAY :D

Nightmare!

Nightmares are what you get when you are sick, tired, when you've eaten too much before you sleep and when you've studied too much - i think. I probably got the nightmare coz of the last reason - it's pretty interesting. Okay, let me tell you the dream that I had (no you may not interpret it!).

I dreamt that it was today, Greek exam day, and that I was sick (I am sick... hmmm!) and high on medicine. I went down to the exam hall and did my thing and left. A few hours later, the medicine kinda wore off and I got my head back, but I was off on the way to Bangkok with some friends (now why'd I do that?). I suddenly realized that I only remember doing the first section of my paper and that I missed like three sections of the paper - transliteration, translation and parsing! I called up my professor and he said that I'd failed the exam... I was devastated. Thank God it was a dream! I'm gonna do my best this afternoon :D

Last night before I slept I did a little something though - this little thing called "LITEplay" is a little photo-montage of the lights in my room when the main lights go out... I put them all together and it looks pretty wicked! Courtesey of the little Mju!



I'm going off to revise for my BIG FAT GREEK EXAM now!!

Hmm... a greek joke from class - What do you get when a French man marries a Greek woman? A Freek!

Taking a break from Greek

Taking 15mins off my GREEK to rest a little! (It's so fun having a small camera!) So I took a picture of what I'm doing right now, a few minutes ago rather - studying my GREEK! Reading Greek is so much fun - taking the exam is a different story! There's me on my bed (try to imagine) with my greek bible there, my greek notes and greek parsing sheet and greek inter-linear photocopied pages of the bible... with my greek file... hehehehehehe~ It's all greek to u eH?

The books on my bed :)


Lets ZOOM in a little closer and see what's on those pages shall we? If you can't read it - it's 1 John Chapter 2. I'm actually studying chapter 4... but the fan kinda blew the page back to chapter 2... oh well~ It's still greek...


Okay, enough of the really boring greek. Lemme take you on a little tour eh? A tour of my life... Okay, here's me in the morning... I'm getting ready to go out and meet a new day - out with my camera (after putting most of my clothes on - notice there's no pants? hahaha - NOT!) and snap snap snap! Putting on my shirt!


I get out of my room and hobble down the stairs... okay, maybe I don't hobble... more like hop, skip... walk? Okay, walking's cool... I WALK down the stairs and I see... *doh* the landing of the 2nd floor. Stop! Take out camera... Take a picture of what I see every morning! Welcome to the VERY PLAIN AS YOU CAN SEE boy's door, 2nd Floor landing.


I then get through my day and prepare for my exam (the Revelation class I posted about earlier) and meet my cute and very funny soon-graduating friend, Ben (Soontorn) who obligingly smiles from behind a pillar to pose for this very cutesy shot~ Aren't theologians cute? *hehehe*


Alright! My 15mins is kinda up... Gotta go back to my books~ Tata!

*PS. Does anyone actually read this stuff???

The lowdown on poop

Since my tummy's not doing too well and I've been having diarrhoea, I decided to look up the net to find out about poop/turd/faeces/shit - whatever you call it... it's that thing that comes out of you after you eat and it doesn't smell good! You guys might wanna check out this site I found... very informative - all about poop!

The Scoop on Poop!

First paper down!

I'm groggy, can't think straight at the moment... but can blog! Exams are on the way... and today was the first paper. Just posting some pictures of today. My paper today was Apocalyptic Writings (Revelation) and it was a tough paper... one guy left after only 40mins... quite impossible - probably was an expert in it or didn't know anything at all. Anyways, here are some pix!

Bayu and I are stressed out over the paper...


Guys relaxing over at the other side of the building...


The 'Theology Group' hanging out in a corner before time~

Sick nat

I'm actually feeling heaps better than this morning and this afternoon - that IS a good sign. Went for dinner finally! Finally, a proper meal. Doca and I went out to Pinoy's to eat... I had porridge (rice in soup) and she had rice n chicken. Do I look sick? I was trying to give a sick look... hehe





headed to 7-11 after that and got a loaf of whole-wheat bread, skippy's peanut butter (chunky) and a bottle of marmalade to go along with it! I'm munching on a peanut butter n jelly sandwich right now in fact! yeah! hehehe :) Gonna dig into my books after this post... wheee!

Just woke up... feeling...

Just woke up... my gf came over to see how I was doing and brought along the school nurse, who said that I wasn't in too bad of a condition to go to the hospital. I'm not sure what she meant by that but I hope I'll get well cuz tomorrow's my first paper and it's a big one too!

Feeling groggy... stomach aching (diarrhoea). Oh well... hope i get well soon!

7 reasons to hang out at the library

This isn't officially a school thing - it's a mock-up series of 'advertisements' to encourage people to go to the library. Basically sitting in my room, resting a little and using photographs I took this morning for this! Update - I'm feeling slightly better but staying in my room in case of anything... heh~

Chatted with my bro who's in australia - he just got back from Rural Week where the school brings them to some place that's really rural for a whole week! He took like 800 photos... so I'm waiting for an update on his blog!

Okay, so here it is......... "@ the library", the series.

Feeling the temperature

I was feeling the heat last night - body aching and head spinning... probably the effects of mild food poisoning. Beats me where it came from... but I'm still feeling very weak today. Oh well! The fever wasn't that high... only 37.2 degress celcius and I hope it doesn't come back again.

In the library now preparing for my paper tomorrow - Revelation! Wheee! That's an awesome class... but the paper's gonna be difficult. Hope I do well. Kaes, thats enough for now! take carez ya'll!