thank GOD it's friday

today was such a cool, nice day. accentuated by the excellent range of music spinned on class 95. it was an electic mix of jazz, retro, ballads and rock the whole time. especially those jazz pieces -- in this cool weather, with a hot cup of tea and a good book. ah. such idyllic scenes.

spent the whole day fussing over a physical geography lab report on global warming -- was especially careful about it because i didn't want to jeopardise my grade. got my human geography project back as well -- i got an A-minus for it. i was glad. but coping with this joy proved difficult because i felt arrogance coming through when my friends asked me how i did. which made me think -- am i just a sucker for the A-grade? shouldn't i rather be just aspiring to do my best and trust the rest to God.

i wonder how i would have reacted if i had gotten a B+. a grade that i hadn't expect. would i still get that sense of satisfaction despite knowing deep down inside that maybe i deserve it for being so last minute about it in the first place. and perhaps that was really my best given the pervading circumstances. would i still be happy that my best was only a B+?

shawn talked to me about the place of primary and secondary events of importance in my life today. he asked me if i am over planning and underdoing. he asked if the reason for my all-nighters the last fortnight was a result of procrastination or a lack of foresight -- that i just dealt and reacted to what i needed to be doing when i should have gotten down to it much earlier. the idea is therefore consistency.

coming from someone who likes to map his entire life mapped out, it was a tellingly brash piece of advice that stemmed from his personal experience. sometimes, shawn said, you'll find yourself best served by improvising as the situation arises. it may sound like a contradiction, but it's actually about trusting God more and planning only the key things -- but not overplanning as well. personally, it was a call to moderation.

which is timely. because i just started studying for the exams today -- like finally? and i need to not overdo things like i tend to. because i still have 2 more research papers and a literature paper due in the next 3 weeks before my first semester comes to an end.

by the way, my research paper for my writing class will examine how blogs undermine the effects of political propaganda. inspired by diana ser's latest get real! episode. and not surprisingly, i stumbled upon this idea while showering. i always get good ideas while showering. you should have seen my teacher's eyes lit up when i asked him if i could proceed with my topic.

ok, i diagress. back to the main topic.

and talking to shawn, i realised that God has been so good to me even without me realising it. he knew i was going to crash at the rate i was worrying and not doing, so in his own subtle ways, he made me stop and forced me to think rationally.

oh well. now for the trivial stuff. for once my prediction turned into reality. maia is finally voted off singapore idol this week. i just thought she was trying to hard to sell her skin. she took the judges' comments too literally and violated the fine line that distinguishes the tasteful and the vulgar.

oh well well well. how would david fare against the rest had he been still in the competition. or jessea for that matter. i guess we will never know.

next week is 'big band week' on singapore idol. i hope the contestants make a decent attempt to pull off this genre. any repeat of last week's disco fiasco would be fatal. period.

oh well. i like this "study' state of mind i am in right now. it was not without much effort. when i tried to start studying this afternoon in the library, suddenly i became drowsy, hungry and sleepy all at once. so instead of succumbing, i got myself out of the comfortable air-con environs and set off for the arts forum. had a meal. and bought myself a steaming cup of earl grey tea. and voila! i was ready to mug.

i hope i get all productive studying this weekend. it's gonna be all chill all right.

have fun wherever you are. and whatever you do.