Fever

I've always had a low tolerance for bearing the symptoms of fever. I can bear with the pain of dislocating my kneecap without shedding a single drop of tear but the moment my muscles and joint ache from running a fever, I'll start to be extremely whiney, short tempered and may even start crying. There were times when my joints and muscles ache so much, I couldn't even walk to the clinic (which is less than a five minutes walk from where I uses to live) without stopping and squatting in between. Yes, that's how bad it is. To many people, running a fever is good news because they can easily grab a medical certificate and spend the rest of the day slacking or playing but this was never the case for me.

And for the very same reasons, I prayed hard that I wouldn't fall sick during my stay in australia. Firstly, I do not know of a doctor who is as good and reliable as my family doctor back home in Singapore. Secondly, the nearest clinic is not that near. I have to walk a good 15 - 20 minutes or 5 - 10 minutes if I were to ride my bike. How am I to walk or cycle when I'm struggling to walk around my apartment!?!?! Thirdly, I always tremble in cold when I run a fever. Really tremble and shiver, hence I'm usually hiding under the blanket with the fan off, even if the temperature in Singapore is over 30 degree Celsius. Now, in Australia, the temperature dwindles between -3 to 14 degree Celsius or so. Honestly, this isn't the best time to run a fever, especially when the cold wind blows.

Sighs. This is how terrible I feel at current. I feel like eating a bowl of hot congee, take some medicine, grab a medical certificate and skip school tomorrow but I can't. I still have a graded quiz tomorrow and here I am blogging because I can't get to sleep. The discomfort is getting into me and I'm feeling awful. *sobs*

I hope these negative feelings of discomfort will be gone by the time I wake up tomorrow. I really hope so.

Hot Cross Bun

Prior to studying in Australia, hot cross buns only existed in rhymes and fiction; I have never seen or eaten it before, only heard of it through the nursery rhyme "hot cross bun". It started some time in March when bakeries and supermarkets started selling hot cross buns and that got me really excited.

I was pretty disappointed when it tasted like any other raisin bun decorated with icing without anything special. Plus, I thought it was a little on the coarse and dry side. Not exactly the kind of bun I'd like.

Just recently, I decided to give it a second try. Maybe, the problem didn't lie in the bun but the bakery; the bakery could have done a bad job in baking the hot cross bun. Hence, I approached the bakery and asked for a hot cross bun, only to be told that they are sold during Easter.

Where in the nursery rhyme did they mention about eating hot cross buns only during easter?

I decided to rely on my best friend, Google, for the answer. It was then did I realise that the cross on the bun was a symbol of the crucifixion. No wonder ...

Read more about hot cross buns.

Studying hard but not smart

I've received the results for all the paper I've sat for in the first half of this semester and I fell far from expectations. I sat down and thought for a long while.

Was I setting too high an expectation for myself? Not really. All I asked for is to meet the minimum criteria to enter the honours programme, which is a distinction average.

Was it beyond my capabilities? It shouldn't be because I've done similar modules before.

Did I not study hard enough? I think I've studied hard enough to deserve what I thought was a good grade. I could have studied even harder but that will be at the expense of my sleep and leisure time. Not that I have a lot of sleep and leisure time to start with.

Was I not consistent in studying? Maybe. However, there was this one module which I studied consistently right from the beginning of the semester but when I revised it just before mid sems, I could only remember the main points. I couldn't remember the sub-points of the fine details of whatever I had studied. Sad, I know.

Was the paper too difficult? Not exactly. At least for 3 of the 4 papers I sat for, I sorta breezed through them without much difficulties. When I asked my classmates/friends on how they fared for the papers, they seem to do pretty well. Much better than I did.

Sighs. So what went wrong? Honestly, I've no idea. I guess it could either be my poor memory and/or wrong interpretation of the questions. However, I believe it could be the wrong approach of studying. In other words, it's time I should start re-strategising the way I study and I'd better get it right this time.

Which Idiot's Phone is Ringing?

My lab session for today started off with a graded quiz and my class was given 12 minutes to finish it. Every minute count as there were 15 MCQs which with 5 very tricky options. Hence, silence was greatly appreciated but some idiot's handphone went ringing away and I could immediately recognise that as an incoming message for an iPhone.

Naturally I got irritated but I didn't bother to tell the person off as I was trying very hard to choose the best option for my MCQ. Moreover, I've no idea whose handphone it was. Then, the same phone rang again. This time, I recognised it as the tone which serves as a reminder that you have an unread message in your inbox. At the back of mind, I was thinking to myself "Can the owner freaking read his/her message or switch the phone to silent mode?"

When I was almost done with my quiz, I paused for a moment and in that split second it striked me as to why I could recognise that ringtone so effortlessly; as it turned, that idiot was me.

How awesome, right?