I keep getting distracted. I've been wanting to type this really really long blog post, but I MUST NOW HAVE THE DISCIPLINE TO SIT DOWN AND TYPE THIS THING OUT IN ITS FULL...NESS.

To start off, I have finally been getting some Chemistry practice. 3 weeks to that paper, I must do much better than what my Internal marks are if I want to be scaled up up up. I haven't touched Math yet, and it's my second paper, but I intend to start with that on the week of the study leave. I have my study plan... planned out.

On the other hand, more urgent things for this week. Apart from understanding Chemistry and making sense of Math, I have yet to finish my college essays. I am giving myself until Friday to do so. On Tuesday, I'll have to go back to school and get Pn Lee to print out my Form 4 and 5 results, or something. Or not... I'll just have to photostat my report card and do it the ulu way. Also, I must remember to make copies of my SPM results and together with my report card copies or result tables, get them verified. Because my results and my essays are the only things left for the university applications that I have not finished yet. Poor Ms Cheang, holding on to random pieces of paper.

I already have some post-exam stuff planned out, because they're pretty urgent (to me lah). Like, clearing out my books - NEXT YEAR, I AM GOING TO SELL OFF ALL MY COLLEGE BOOKS AND NOTES. I will make space in my book cupboard, AND IN IT WILL BE MY BOOKS WHICH DO NOT FIT IN MY (measly) TWO RACKS ANY MORE. I have lots of books. Lots of thick books. Yay. I'm totally going to pile the Patricia Cornwells together.

I need to mail in Wisconsin-Madison application by Nov 15. That's if the parents would let me go to Wisc-Mad, because I'm not doing any more Sciences, and... they're known for their Science faculty.

I'm way more excited about December. Because at least I already have FUN THINGS!!1! planned. Dec 7 - 10 will be spent with the classmates in Singapore (My parents want me to wrangle the date to 8-11, but some classmates have to go elsewhere on Dec 12, so...), I will need to CALL A RELATIVE to ask if I can bunk over for... 2 nights... heh heh, for 10 and 11 because 12 will be my grandmother's birthday dinner do and blah blah etc etc. Dec 15 will be the day I cry, whether happy or sad - it's not known yet. Dec 17? 18? Will also be a day I cry, also not known whether it will be happy or sad crying, then more Singapore for Christmas (I think. I'm assuming, here), and maybe this time we'll stay for New Year? (The last time that happened was in 2000) depending on whether I need to mail in more US applications or not.

I just realized how awesomely full my December is going to be. A classmate wants to have us over at her place for a Christmas pot luck thing, hope I can make it. It's not often that one is able to keep close relationships with classmates whom you see every day for only 11 months, compared to awesome schoolmates/Melonademates you see for 11 years (Clearly extrapolating, but you get the point).

Away from things that are actually going to happen to me, BRIDGET SLOAN IS THE 2009 ARTISTIC GYMNASTICS WORLD CHAMPION! WOOHOO! Poor Becca Bross, though. All she had to do was land that last tumbling pass on Floor, and she heads it. Literally. THE PAIN. Sloanie was classy about not-really-celebrating, though. And Rebecca was classy on the podium (from what I've read). The US goes 1-2 AGAIN, and I totally miss Tots, but hey, life must go on. Next year, Cheng Fei hopefully doesn't injure herself and medals on vault, Alicia comes back with an Amanar to go with that awesome Rudi of hers and also medals on vault, Sandra Izbasa doesn't injure herself either, and regains her mental composure and medals on Floor, Chellsie medals on... something, Nastia wins that elusive Uneven Bars gold and Shawn... well, even if she comes back RIGHT NOW! I don't think she'll be ready for next year's Worlds, but it'll be good news if she even comes back. >_>

Oops. Totally went off-tangent there. I was going to say how after the Olympics, I was telling Yih Shan that Bridget would be the one to watch, and I was right! Didn't expect it to be THIS quick, but I was right! National Champion, on to World Champion! Woohoo! Bridget has got to be the only national team member I've read of who watches CSI and House. The others are all "GOSSIP GIRL!" (Nastia, okay, Bridget does that too, Sam and Shayla?) and "GREY'S!" (I'm seriously doubting their tast in TV shows. Chellsie. Alicia. CULPRITS) and Shawnie's all "SECRET LIFE OF AN AMERICAN TEENAGER!" THAT ONE, I doubt her taste THE MOST. GG and Grey's, fine. I watched a 1 minute clip of Shawn guest starring in that favourite TV show of hers, and I gagged. Sorry ShawnJohn.

I was also distracted from what I wanted to blog by a video of Kim Yu-Na performing a short programme to a James Bond medley. HOW FIERCE IS THAT? I wish I could skate like that. Alas, my sense of rollerblading/ice skating balance has been off ever since I went through my growth spurt in form 3. Ah, well.

ANYWAY, the post I ORIGINALLY INTENDED TO TYPE YESTERDAY was not about ice skaters or gymnasts being awesome or how exciting my life will be after my Finals. It was supposed to be this really boring WHAT I WANT!!1!! AND YOU CAN HELP ME! post that I imagined was going to sound like a very, very, VERY bad advertisement. But bear (Heehee, Min Shen - remember 'bare'?) with me here for a moment, will ya?

Anyway, I've been wanting/needing a new pair of earphones since... I got my iPod. Because I know iPod earphones aren't that great, and my awesome Sony Bass Reflex earphones only has a 4-inch wire (Hey, that's as wide as the balance beam! I digress -). Now that the rubber around my earphones are LITERALLY TEARING AWAY (You should see Yih Shan's iPod earphones. AWFUL), I need to find a replacement pair soon. Those Awful iPod Earphones actually cost RM75. Awful. And aren't really that great either.

However, my point is - have you ever heard of Skullcandy earphones? They're really pretty. And apparently, really good.

THE POINT OF TALKING ABOUT Skullcandy EARPHONES IS... That if you help me, I could get it... FOR FREE. Technically. See how that last sentence sounds like a very bad advert, a very bad scam e-mail? Like "I have USDxxx,xxx,xxx,xxx.xx and I need to put it in an intermediary bank account! You can have a cut!" and scams like that. But no, this is not a scam. This actually is me typing it out. It's me pimping out...

...

Lockerz.com

Ever heard of it? No? It's basically an invitation-only website which is a subdivision of Amazon.com, is legit (but has a lot of issues when it comes to traffic, because it's still in the beta stage), and what happens is that you get invited, log in every day and get 2 points (or Pointz/PTZ), answer questions daily and get 2 more PTZ and when it comes to redemption day (Last redemption day was Oct 15 US time), you get to spend your PTZ on goods! If you have enough PTZ lah. And if the stocked stuff doesn't run out uber fast. For example, I was trying to get this tackle box of sweets (Heehee) for 50 PTZ, it was IN STOCK WHEN I CLICKED. When the page loaded it went out of stock. Sigh. I've got about 67PTZ right now. And I want to redeem a pair of Skullcandy earphones. There are a couple of 125PTZ models and a couple of 175PTZ models.

One gets an extra 2 PTZ when an invited friend accepts the invitation. Wong Yih Shan has not done that yet. DO YOU EVER CHECK YOUR E-MAIL? >_>

Anyway, yes. I'm trying to accumulate AT LEAST 125PTZ by Nov 15 (Because I think that's the next redemption date. They mentioned on Facebook), so that I might have a teeny tiny chance at getting a pair of Skullcandy for 'free'. Or not I'll have to spend my Singapore Dollars on Something Other Than A Tablet In SimLim in December. So, preeetty pleaaaaaase - anyone wants to check Lockerz out, tell me? Oh, and Yenn Ling and Su Ann are already on it. Yay. Aiyah, if you don't like it you can forget about it after taking a look. Or if you want to redeem stuff like xBox 360's or PS3s or PSPs or DSi's or Wiis or games or snowboards (Burton. Burton snowboards are awesome) or whatever else there are. Or even donate to several societies with your PTZ.

The point is, just give me a heads up if you want an invite. :D

This has been a really long blog post, and I totally wish my scanner was working. I just finished a quick sketch which I want to stick on dA and mentally debate opening a PayPal account to earn money and stuff. Uh... yeah.

PS. YAY BRIDGET again! The only thing is that - someone needs to steal the entire freaking USA Gymnastics stockpile of Nastia Bubblegum Pink leotards. Thank goodness it wasn't the Olympic Podium Training ones, but the Nastia AA Gold one is just as hideous. Bubblegum pink is jarring. Bubblegum pink does not go with red/white/blue floors. Bubblegum pink is not a very American colour. Even Shawn AA Silver red was a better colour. By 7907 times. If they're recycling Olympics leotards for Worlds, my favourite is still the blue Flame one. The Shawn BB Gold Nastia UB Silver aSac VT robbery one.

[EDIT] I TAKE THAT BACK. REBECCA BROSS. WHY DID YOU. I DON'T EVEN KNOW - WHY THE HECK DID YOU TAKE THAT FREAKING PINK OLYMPICS PODIUM TRAINING LEOTARD? WHAT? WHAT? I DON'T GET IT. SERIOUSLY. Sigh. I give up. The Americans are treating the World Championships as if it's Nationals. Leotard-wise, that is. Also, if it's true regarding the switch between Ivana for Bross for BB finals, WHAT THE HECK, PEOPLE? Ivana is no Jana Bieger. She's waaaay more capable than you think! I know you want Brossy to be the Next Big Thing, but stiiiiiiill. Unless you're running with the Olympic mentality that AA silver medalist = BB gold medalist, then...

My mother thinks that I could do better than with Human Resources. She thinks I should be an analyst.

Can't imagine myself working in a bank, though. And I wonder how a Commerce/Analyst background (And later a PoliSci postgrad, if I'm still into it) would bring me to UN Sec-Gen, but whatever.

Got the whole "You're not working at your full potential" lecture, but it's okay. Sometimes I wonder if Mum's trying to motivate me like I'm a member of her team in the bank or something, or whatever. Haaaaha.

I still think I need a subject with more gray areas.

Sleep now. Intensive studying to begin tomorrow onwards. Must spend more time on Maths and Chemistry. I believe what my cousin said, and what my mother said - don't spend too much time on subjects you're good at since you've already got a good ground, but push it when it comes to the weaker subjects.

If I work hard, I still can get into ANU.

But if my essays are more awesome, I'll be able to get into Columbia or Georgetown.

OH, SPEAKING OF WHICH. GEORGETOWN IS NEED-BLIND ADMISSIONS AND NEED-BASED AID. I LOVE THEM.

The classmates want to have a trip down to Singapore. Guess who has to organize? Well, actually I volunteered. LOL. Because I'm probably one of those people who go down to Singapore x1326540367037 times but never really go to 'see the sights'. Apart from Orchard Road lah. And the relatives' houses. And some eating places. Other than that, I've not had a very exciting Singapore life, so to speak.

I really should have that deja vu, wheelchair Grandma around That Route We Took So Many Years Ago for memories.

I recall the Melonaders wanting to have a trip down to Singapore, too. Hahaha. It'll be funny. I have to be down to Singapore twice in December (Grandma's birthday in early December and Christmas, yay!), definitely. Funny if I'd be spending my entire month there. Scary, too, since ED stuff is released in mid-December.

Well, off to finish up some work. Econs 2006, Bio 2008, Chemistry and Maths 2005. Oh, and finish up the second half of my ESL essay. And send some stuff for photostating.

I forgot to bring my blue ink refill today, oh, well.

Also, I'm on holiday this Friday.

And it's terrifying to think that I only have 7 days left in college. :O

We had an awesome lunch with Ms Cheang today. Spontaneous, unplanned (Okay, same meaning) and totally fun.

Must bring camera to college for the whole of next week!

[EDIT]
A lesson for you, kids! Don't trash talk about a person in another country when you don't know if someone in the room may know that person. YOU NEVER KNOW. For all you care, when you're gossiping about someone, their pseudo-daughter may happen to be in the exact same computer lab listening to every little bit of your conversation.

Another lesson is that don't make assumptions. I used to as well, but I learnt that while first impressions are important, you should have space to know the person before handing out judgment. Or at least, don't join in on the trash talking if you don't know the person. Rumours are only spread by spiteful people like you who don't know all the things about a certain person.

It's tempting to turn around to put them in their place, but I don't want to pick a fight with a bunch of trash talkers anyway.

TL;DR Gossiping is not a good hobby when there are strangers around you.

Maybe I should convince my parents to let me do a double degree at ANU - A 4-year Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor of Commerce course. Then I can do my International Relations AND Human Resources.

Sounds good on paper, right?

Sigh. You know how, in movies, you get those protagonists who go through a lot of grief with their parents over what they love and what they want to do and in the end, the parents give in because they just want their child to be happy?

Sucks that it only happens in movies.

Whatever happens in my undergrad, I WILL do Political Science/International Relations (or Studies) for my postgrad. I will I will I will.

Going jogging with Yih Shan and Jia Sheen after this. Will blog later. I realized I haven't done so yet.

ALSO, NUS is ranked higher than Brown. WHAT TRAVESTY IS THAT? But then again, Georgetown is also ranked beneath UWA. But that's all postgrad rankings that undergrads should not be worrying about. The only people worrying are the undergrads' parents.

My mother does not understand the fact that if I don't get financial aid, I won't go to the States. And that I AM keeping a study abroad programme in my options. AND that I want to start in July. What's with the hurry for me to start in February? I somehow want to go to my sister's graduation. If I start in Feb I doubt it's happening. :)

MORE LATER. :D

My ESL was forecasted to be an A17. Thank goodness.

In other news, I promise I'll update tomorrow, after my SATs, since it'll be the last time I'm truly free before plunging into the deep hole that is Final Exam Mugging and University Application Soul Searching.

Things to blog about:
- Obama winning the Nobel Peace Prize. Like, whut? I like him and all, but he's barely spent a year in office! I can barely see what he's done for world peace. On the other hand, this reassures me that winning the Nobel Peace Prize before becoming the Sec-Gen is entirely possible. ;)

(What is with American universities mailing me TONIGHT? Interestingly enough, the secone email was from an American university... in London.

Ohio State also sent me a letter. OSU isn't too shabby a public institution, but I'm not into the whole Huge College Town thing that it's got going on (Which UCLA has, too).

OOH, and I got an 8.5 for my IELTS. WOOHOO!

Gloating over. NIGHT!

Super tired, what with SATs and Finals and Columbia/Georgetown app deadlines coming right up (Finals + Applications directly related. My first paper's Nov 3, deadline for Columbia is 2 and Georgetown, 1. 1st's a Sunday! Whut?!)

Sigh. All I need now to perk my month up would be awesome IELTS results this Friday (MUST be higher than 7.0! Settle for nothing less!), and a good round of SATs on Saturday. Then I can focus on my application essays and my Finals. I have a couple of ideas for my essays, writing down bits and pieces here and there. I've written one piece, but even after the first re-read, I thought it was boring and lame. Don't think it'll inspire the adcoms much.

Anywho, Trials results all out. Sucks. As usual. Bio B15, Econs B15, English B16, Maths C12?, Chem D9 (Chemistry is the bane of my Year 12 existence). But of course, compared to my Mid Years (Bio B15, Econs C13?, English B16, Maths... something awful... C11?, Chemistry C11), there has been... some improvement?

My forecast marks (and Internal marks), though, are looking a little more chipper. I'm forecasted for an A17 for Bio, a B16 for Econs (The travesty. But what's with me and my sense of self-entitlement when it comes to an A in Econs?), B16 for Maths (AHAHAHA. Mr James was asking if I wanted an A17. Looking back, I should've said yes), Something Horrible* for Chemistry and Something Not Known for English. My Internal assessment is a B16 for Bio, B15 for Econs (Don't look at me like that. I screwed up 2 exams with Cs. I've been a B15/B16/A17 ever since >_>), B14 for Maths (I was surprised) and B14 for Chemistry with Unknown English Internalses.

SO, NOW ALL I NEED TO DO IS TO STUDY MY ASS OFF AND GET GRADES HIGHER THAN MY INTERNAL ASSESSMENTS SO THAT THE SACE BOARD WILL SCALE ME UP, AND TO GET AT LEAST ONE GRADE HIGHER THAN FORECASTED. HA.

*My lecturer downgraded my forecast because of my Trials results... >_>

I was only going to blog about Rio getting 2016, but that was an hour or so ago, before the Thunderbirds whizzed around in the sky, engines roaring. So I shall blog about both. And once I'm done blogging about both, I'm off to finish Literature.

So, about last night. I was on the Internet, then I remembered that the voting for the 2016 Olympics were happening yesterday, I just didn't know what time. I found out that Chicago and Japan were voted off (First and second rounds, respectively), and that voting was still underway and was being shown on CNN. So I ditched whatever I was doing (Which was, in reality, nothing) and went downstairs to watch CNN.

Bloomberg had better coverage, by the way.

Anyway, blah, blah, watching paint dry - I mean, people vote, while the press whine about how Chicago didn't win and they were 'strong favourites' to win 2016 - please, I can tell you several opinions on why Chicago DIDN'T win right now. And me, being the person who always jumps from one topic to another in 20 seconds, will do just that.

Why Chicago didn't win:
1. The AMERICAN press hyped up Chicago's strengths waaaaaaaay too much. I don't think a lot of Americans were too keen about Chicago 2016 either, judging from some of the forums/blogs I read. I mean, sure, there were the really passionate ones (The USOC, the Olympians, some Chicagoans, Oprah, the Obamas, etc etc), the problem was that... their passion wasn't quite... I don't know... passionate? It was barely there.
2. In times of financial crises CAUSED by the AMERICAN MARKET, I don't think anyone's (Especially them Europeans) very happy. Also, the Olympics tend to damage economies more than help, unless you're a big economic power like China. It was just very in-line with China's emerging - they were freeing up their markets, opening them up to foreign investment - Beijing 2008 was like this big welcome party to China. Athens, however, is not as fortunate. Sydney took a loooong time to recover after 2000, apparently.
3. If the bid video I saw was the right one, it was ridiculously boring.
4. Rio was strong competition.
5. The general attitude is that the IOC needs America, and America doesn't need the Olympics. Americans get so enamoured by their perceived awesomeness - an American Footballer who won a Superbowl saying that they're "WORLD CHAMPIONS"? You have got to be kidding me. America =/= THE WORLD. Pittsburg/New England? NOT COUNTRIES.
6. Apparently the USOC went ahead with something that the IOC said 'no' to. Won't be surprised if the IOC held that against them.

Also, dear people, Obama pitching for 2016, but Chicago winning it has got nothing to do with your President. If you're whining about how Obama lost you the Olympics, just remember that all your previous Presidents NEVER went to those IOC Congresses before. So don't blame the man. He's got enough crap in his plate, what with the wars and the health reforms and all that.

I will honestly tell you, though, that I, along with many other people, would have expected Chicago to reach the finals, because Asia and Europe has had/is having the Olympics in recent years.

Besides, look on the bright side - the only money you're going to spend is on merchandise or travel to Rio, NOT paying even more taxes to build the venues and stuff.

Anyway, I'm glad that Rio won. I felt like Madrid being in the finals was just... stupid. No offence to Madrid, but the fact is that, in the last decade or so, Europe has had a majority of the Olympics, both Summer and Winter. Take a look -

2000 - Sydney, Australia (Australasia)
2002 - Salt Lake City, USA (North America)
2004 - Athens, Greece (Europe)
2006 - Torino, Italy (Europe)
2008 - Beijing, China (Asia)
2010 - Vancouver, Canada (North America)
2012 - London, England/UK (Europe)
2014 - Sochi, Russia (Europe)
2016 - Chicago, USA/Madrid, Spain/Rio de Janeiro, Brazil/Tokyo, Japan (North America/Europe/South America/Asia)

Had Chicago won, North America would have had 3 Olympics in 16 years. If Madrid had won, Europe would have had 5 Olympics, 3 in a row. If Japan had won, it would've been Asia's 2nd, but Japan also had Nagano in '98.

Key selling point of Rio: South America has NEVER hosted an Olympic Games before.

I guess Madrid got all the way into the finals because one of their key figures in their bid was the former IOC President, Juan Antonio Samaranch, who had probably given most of the current IOC people their jobs. His appeal was something along the lines of... he wanted to see Madrid get the 2016 Olympics before he goes. He's 89. I guess Madrid got that far out of respect for Samaranch, and from what I've read, the Madrid pitches were really good. Kudos to them for that, though. Sucks to be 1st runner up for the second time in a row, but really, Europe didn't need ANOTHER Olympics just yet.

Anyway, whoever was at Copacabana beach probably partied all day long after the announcement.

I will now end this long (pointless) segment on the 2016 Olympics with a video of Rio de Janeiro's Masterplan. Which is, suffice to say, amazing videowork.



EDIT:
I was right! I WAS watching the wrong Chicago 2016 video. This one is waaaaaaay more interesting. And hilarious. Shawn, bb, I love you and all, but you might want to practice NOT sounding like you're reading off a page/teleprompter/whatever.

PS. Rio's video is still nicer. xD

--------------------------------------

Now, WHAT IS LOUD, FAST, AND EXTREMELY COOL?



THAT'S RIGHT, PEOPLE. IT'S THE THUNDERBIRDS. Not the cartoon (which I loved), but the USAF Aerobatic team.

REMEMBER THOSE DAYS WHEN I WANTED TO BE A FIGHTERJET PILOT?


This is not as close as they flew, but close enough. It's not easy to get a good picture of fighter jets, I tell you that.

I loved the roar of the engines. :D

My brain's not focusing properly today. I don't know why. I barely studied in the library - just some discussion with Jia Sheen on Economics, barely any Literature practice, some Maths, some Chemistry... At this rate I'd fail everything I sit for. SAT Lit, Math I, Bio, my Finals... Ugh.

Anyway, I've been invited to represent Taylor's College in the Inter-College Squash Tournament happening at HELP on Monday and Tuesday. It is very tempting. We have a Malaysian national squash player playing for the team and all they need is a girl. It's very, very tempting. But I don't know what my parents would say. That, and the fact that I haven't been seriously training in the past one and a half years.

It's 10pm. Time to sleep lots - tomorrow's gonna be STUDY ALL DAY DAY! I'm getting my Maths Past Year Papers tomorrow, gonna do them in the library with Pei Lyn and Ms Nah Jia Sheen (Who Yih Shan is currently calling - my 'slave'). Eh, Jia Sheen - remember those days when we used to call you 'Windy Cindy'? Heeheehee.