Weekend Updates

ONE: Saturday's invigilation for a level 4000 Theater class--which I'm pleased to announce took place without any disruptions. Final exams in NUS usually go smooth and undisturbed, despite all the horror stories and warnings during the invigilators' briefing, but sometimes, things do happen. For instance, during Thea's invigilation last semester, one student got sick and had to to be pulled out of the room, so she could lie down. Thankfully, the student got well enough to resume the exam and did not have to be brought to the hospital, so that Thea only had to stay a bit longer to wait for the student to finish and didn't have to accompany her to the hospital. While I wasn't really worried that something like that was going to happen, I couldn't rule it out, so I was just happy the exam went as it should be: smooth and undisturbed.

There was one noteworthy thing about this final exam though. When I checked the venue of the exam, I saw that it was in one of the LTs (Lecture Theatre). Seeing that it was a big venue--an LT could seat about 165 people--I thought there would be a lot of students--at least half of the total number of seats if the space between students was factored in. When I saw the module though, it was a level 4000 class, which would generally mean a small class, so I thought that there'd probably be another 4000 level module in the venue, and one other invigilator.

When I got to the exam venue, I found out it was indeed a small class, 10 students, and it was the only module in that room. The reason the module was assigned to an LT was that they needed a video wall, because part of the exam was a clip that would be shown for the students to analyze. Can you believe it--10 students in an LT with 165 seats because the class needed a video wall?! I suppose this is another indication of how important final exams are in NUS.

Oh, and another thing: there are special desks for the chairs in the LTs during final exams. The everyday desks are small--the movable type ones that you can use as a desk or move/fold over to the side if you don't want one--which I suppose are ok for taking down notes. For final exams, however, they have these brown desks the size of children's writing desks which can be attached to the existing structure. My thought when I saw the desks and the whole process of bringing them out and fixing them was explained to me: "Ok, this is serious!"

TWO: The Annual Christmas Tree at Takashimaya, which is awesome, because it's a giant tree. Look!

Top of the tree


Base of the tree


The tree


THREE: Kinokuniya, which over the weekend, was having a 20% discount for its Privilege Card members. I'm not a member but Fama is, so YAY! :) Finally got Books 4, 5, and 6 of 'Strangers in Paradise.' I also learned there's a new Winterson novel, 'The Stone Gods,' which, according to reviews is "Winterson at her finest." I shall see. I also got another book, and reading parts of it last night, I thought I might have discovered a new favorite writer. But I shall see about that, too, as I'm not done with the book yet. So far though, brilliant prose. :) And also, Stargirl is back with 'Love, Stargirl,' but this one will probably have to wait until January--that is, if I myself am able to wait until then. Hehe.

FOUR: This:



I didn't realize I had missed Tracy Chapman until I heard this song playing somewhere yesterday. 'The Promise' is one of my favorite songs. It's simple and sweet, and, I don't know, it just seems so right that it's Tracy Chapman singing it. I've been playing this song since this morning. Hee!

That's about it for the weekend, I suppose. I'm kind of dreading this coming week, as it only means I'm getting ever closer to all the deadlines I've been trying not think about. Well, at least, I have a few hours more of Sunday, and I can (and will) spend them any way I want. :)