Little-Wonder.Net

08 October, 2003

Sardine-can scenarios in the morning…

15:21:10 | Ranting | writebacks (8)

The past three days have been solely based on endless revision for the upcoming promotional exams. Only three more papers left to go, namely, Chemistry, Physics and Mathematics. There seems to be a slight improvement in terms of Mathematics and Mrs Neo’s words during the Maths lecture today were extremely motivating. For some strange reason, I have decided to try achieving an A for all the remaining subjects, even though that goal is (almost) out of reach…

I have noticed a strange happening in the usual public bus schedules and for some reason, there seems to be less double decked buses, especially on Service 21. I am totally sick of standing in jam-packed sardine-can like buses in the morning, even though this has only happened for the past three days. Unlike in the past weeks where double decked buses used to show up in the morning for Service 21, single decked buses keep showing up at my bus-stop at 7:00am and I have to squeeze my way through till I can hardly breathe. Furthermore, all the seats would also have been taken up by the time I board the bus. Also, I usually spend the morning bus rides catching up on my revision and it is impossible to do so standing up.

Why can’t they, for heaven’s sake, allocate bigger buses for popular bus services during the morning rush hour? At least, I along with the rest of the commuters would no longer have to bear with the stench of pespiration and dead fish in an enclosed air-tight sardine can. Even one aging lady who takes the same bus as me every morning had to bear with the agony of standing up for the entire journey. SBS (Singapore Bus Services) can definitely do better than this…

Sincerely hoping that my usual bus (Double Decked with License no: 9458 :p) would appear at my bus stop tomorrow morning, putting an end to the intolerable bus rides which had taken place for the past 3 days…

Mrs Lim was late for our Physics tutorial lesson today, half an hour, to be exact. By the time she arrived at 1:45pm, 80% of my classmates have already disappeared, leaving only 6 of us. I have been noticing another trend in my JC lately — more and more students are starting to skip lectures and especially tutorial lessons so that they can run off to study for their promotional exams. I must admit that I have been doing the same, but the only lessons that I have ever skipped is PE, which does not even play a part in the promotional exams.

In case you hadn’t noticed, journal entries have suddenly become less frequent, due to more time being devoted to revising. To think that by this time next week, the dreaded promotional exams would be over. Only 5 more days before the promotional exams start and 6 more days before the promotional exams end. And yes, the exams are only held within 2 days, thus shortening my agony…

04 October, 2003

Mishaps during cousin’s wedding

23:57:51 | Events, People, Ranting | writebacks (9)

After procrastinating for almost 5 months, I finally mustered the courage to cut about 4-5 inches off my hair. My head was getting heavier and heavier every month due to the fact that my hair was previously far too long and was close to reaching waist-length. Now, it is about 2-3 inches below shoulder length. Quite a drastic change, I must admit, but I am not regretting it at the moment.

Paul’s (my cousin) wedding tea ceremony which was held today can be described as being rather disastrous. Many unfortunate events had taken place. For a start, my mother had accidentally scalded three fingers after attempting to make coffee with a faulty coffee-making machine. Upon discovering the fault, Paul and his family went into a frenzy in order to replace that coffee machine. Thank goodness the injuries weren’t that serious and my mother only suffered minor burns.

Later on, Uncle Johnny, Aunty Nelly, Aunty Olive, Aunty Margaret, my mother and I were standing around the room and discussing out holiday plans for December when we heard a loud crash coming from outside. Appalled, all the visitors, including the group of us dashed out to the living room to find out the cause of the crash. It turned out that my father and Uncle George had accidentally broken the glass panel on Paul’s brand new coffee table. Even at this moment, it is still unclear as to how they actually damaged the glass panel. But according to some witnesses, Uncle George and my father were shifting the coffee table in order to make a special area for the tea ceremony to be held. There was a glass panel on top of the table which they assumed, was attached to the coffee table. Therefore, they tilted the coffee table lightly while moving it away from the living room. This resulted in the glass panel sliding off the coffee table due to the slight tilt and shattering into many small pieces…

Paul looked exasperated. Really exasperated. My mother later pointed out that all the mishaps which took place during Paul’s wedding were caused by Paul’s maternal family (namely, us) while the family from his other side was so much more well behaved. How embarassing…

One thing which truly ticks me off is how people constantly tell you things which you so not wish to hear. For example, quite a number of pimples have been appearing on my face recently due to examinations stress, and this is something which has been worrying me for a while. I do not need people coming up to me and pointing them out. For example, Uncle Jimmy came up to me during the tea ceremony today and suddenly commented bluntly that I have -insert number here- large pimples on my cheeks.

Hello? I am already upset enough over this and it is already bad enough to have many spots staring back at me each time I peek into the mirror. How do you think I would feel if someone comes up to be and tells me directly that I have so-and-so number of spots on my face? Be a little more tactful, for heaven’s sake.

Thank you do much, Uncle Jimmy. Thank you so much for destroying my self-esteem. I really appreciate it. Loads.

Don’t get me wrong. I am seldom someone who is overly-obsessed with her looks. Pimples are part of parcel of teenage life. But when such a problem is added with pre-examination stress as well as violent moods swings, it would be enough to get me depressed…

30 September, 2003

Horrendous service from Dell Computers :x

21:17:50 | Ranting | writebacks (11)

The past two days have been pretty hectic. For starters, my computer had a major crash on Sunday and it could barely start up. Initially, I suspected that it had to be the Blaster virus but later on, I found out that the Hard drive had actually failed. However, I was lucky enough to back up all my files via my father’s laptop.

The computer repair man from Dell Dimension Systems arrived to fix my computer and to replace my hard drive this afternoon. Personally speaking, his behaviour was so DAO (Translation: Arrogant). He never smiled and he was so unfriendly. Upon arrival, he just announced that he was going to change my hard drive and started into the action despite the fact that I was standing there protesting about how I would lose all my files and data…etc. He just ignored me and continued working. My entire A’Level Project Work was in there and it was the only copy I have. My uncompleted school assignments and notes were also in the hard drive and he just ignored me when I complained about how important my files were to me.

Yesterday, I also contacted Dell’s Support hotline regarding the crashing problem. Although the Support people were (quite) unfriendly, it was quite easily seen that they didn’t really bother much about me. They also mentioned that they had to change the hard drive through the phone and as usual, I was explaining about how important my files were and wasn’t there some way in which the files can be transferred from one drive to another. She just told me in an exasperated voice:

“Sorry, this is a mechanical problem.”

Hello? I wasn’t even asking about the problem. I was enquiring as to how my files can be retrieved. As my Project Final Draft was due this week, I was constantly whining into the phone about the importance of my A Level project and that it was important that they come as soon as possible to rectify the problem. And what happened? They simply hung up.

In the end, all those rude Support prople from Dell were phoned up and yelled at by my Father who demanded that since we paid good money for the computer, it is necessary that we obtain good and quick support service.

Seriously speaking, Dell Dimension systems can really do better in terms of friendliness and efficiency. As mentioned before, the serviceman was so arrogant and uncommunicative that the urge to whack him with my bowling ball was overwhelming. He just went on to do something without my consent. Some people really cannot understand how important files are to a computer user. Probably he looks down on me because of I am a teenager? And that my data aren’t as important as that of an executive? Complete misconception.

Once again, this journal would be placed on a semi-hiatus basis due to my promotional examinations. I really need more study time due to my inconsistent habit of procrastinating. A journal entry might be posted this weekend regarding my cousin’s wedding celebrations and that will be about it. Until the exams are over, take care and enjoy the month of October. See you in 3-4 weeks! :)