I almost fainted today

There was this fantastic thing called the Inaugural Malaysian International Law Symposium*. I had no idea what a symposium was supposed to be, but the duty description on the notice board went something like: "Volunteers needed to be runners / PA's for the participants of the symposium."

Somehow, the words runners and participants overruled every other word in the phrase.

and it somehow came into my mind that
the law fac would ask law students
to wear sweatsuits (or singlets) and run around
passing bottles to runners.
so exciting.

I signed up.

That was... 2 weeks ago? It never crossed my mind that I might have a little trouble skipping 4 lectures, 1 Islamic tutorial**, and 1 English class.

Well, it crossed my mind yesterday, when I was to attend a meeting with the person-in-charge for a briefing on our duties. Guess who the person-in-charge turned out to be?

Mm-hmm. My uber scary tort tutor. Yeah, the one that shouts at the students during tutorials, and unblinkingly tells latecomers "don't bother coming in" when they knock on the door.

To add to things, both roomies changed their minds about helping out with the symposium the day of the meeting.

And my 2nd year buddy*** said to meet up for our graduating buddy's convo on Wednesday, 11am.


I have a Tort tutorial every Wednesday, 12pm.


The other stuff were not too bad. I can be a volunteer without having my roomies around. I can skip classes and do some studying myself. I can replace the Islamic tutorial any day before Thursday because we all have the same tutor for Islamic Law.

I can't look my Tort tutor in the eye and tell her I can't make it for tutorial. I will mati dengan dasyat-menyashat.

I didn't go for the meeting.

I don't have to skip classes and replace Islamic tutorial anymore. Happy me.

I felt so rotten the entire day. Make that the entire two days. I really, really, really wanted to go. And I never liked the feeling of being a quitter. =( Not to mention an irresponsible person. =( =(

Next, I walked past the notice board and saw the selection of mooters for the NUS-UM Moot Competition in Singapore. I didn't attend the interview because (1) roomies ignored the notice, and I happen to be so unmotivated that if my roomies don't sign up, I won't. (2) it clashes with MGC's JUICE Nite. I knew the 2nd reason was probably pretty good, but I felt like such a loser because I didn't have the guts to do something on my own and to step out of that tiny shell of timidness. And I knew I stood as much chance as those people on the list. =( =( =(

So dejected that day.

I moped around feeling useless after dinner. I looked at that black object on my table, and grabbed it. Psalm 150.

I don't know why, but I felt better. It's the weirdest thing, especially since I'd felt nothing when I'd read it in the morning.

I went to bathe, and halfway through the lengthy process of the Wash Hair Day, I found myself saying, "I surrender it all to You, Lord. I will praise You. I will. I feel very much like it." And I sang Shout to the Lord (not out loud, didn't want to be labelled a bathroom maniac). It just sprang into my head, and I was singing it before I knew what it was. I only sang the chorus, for some reason. And it was so fitting to the occasion:

Shout to the Lord
All the earth, let us sing
Power and majesty, praise to the King
Mountains bow down
And the seas will roar
At the sound of Your Name
I sing for joy at the work of Your hand
Forever I'll love You
Forever I'll stand
Nothing compares to the promise I have
In You

Oh ya, I remember humming the 2nd verse after that:

My Jesus, my Saviour
Lord, there is none like You
All of my days, I want to praise
The wonders of Your mighty love

My comfort, my shelter
Tower of refuge and strength
Let every breath, all that I am
Never cease to worship You!

So I felt much better. And the doughnuts helped a lot too. =D

I decided to join the Tuesday class so I could be exempted on Wednesday. That meant slaving for 2 tutorials (Contract as well), 5 consecutive classes and no lunch (technically, got late lunch, but late lunch for tse hwei means no lunch at all cuz she gets hungry 3 hours after a meal) the next day. I stayed up completing Contract tutorial questions and attempting to read a 13-page, long-winded, repetitive case.

this is half a page

I then woke up at 5.45am the next day to finish reading (ended up picking a page randomly to read) the case and complete Tort tutorial questions.

Rushed up 2 floors (used the elevator lol) to meet the Tort tutor to tell her about the replacement. She wasn't in her room, so I left a note on her notice board:

Dear Cik Suzanna, I would like to attend your Tort tutorial on Tuesday, 12 - 1pm because my senior buddy is graduating on Wednesday, during my tutorial, 12 - 1pm, and has requested for me to be present. Thank you.

Yours faithfully,
Lim Tse Hwei,
LEB 080047, 1st year student

I literally searched my note for loopholes before pinning it to the board, after which I proceeded to rush down 2 floors (public: again, elevator. me: correct.) to attend my first class of the day. Did she get my note? ran through my mind the entire day.

While waiting outside the tutorial room, my new tutorial-mates were practically sweating and trembling with fear, looking anxiously through their notes (not allowed to bring textbooks or any other book, for that matter) and cases, and consoling each other about having to face the fiercest and strictest tutor for our 1st sem. That doesn't help very much, I thought. Once she entered the room, she said, "Is Tse Hwei here?" and proceeded to say that she could not allow me to join the class. Yoh, the tone of voice. I was surprised I could still say, "May I ask why?" "Because it's your buddy graduating, not your relative. Besides, the class only starts at 1.30pm tomorrow, so you have plenty of time."

SYABAS!!

*fireworks**crackle crackle*

Balik college to have my lunch! Yeah!

"kenny rogers" that day

I happily went to the convocation today.

4 more years

24 roses

2nd-year buddy Kean Kang
3rd-year buddy Phaik San
4th-year buddy Sher How running around
snapping pics for the grads

Lunched with senior buddies at a vegetarian (public: you ate veggies!) stall.

phaik san: "if you eat this one hor, your urine will be red wan.
if not, it means one of your kidneys rosak."
i sudah check. tak merah pun. gahhhh. kidney rosak!

Went back to the faculty at 1pm. Met Amreeta in the toilet: "Tse Hwei! Why didn't you go for tutorial just now?"

Wut.

That's exactly what I said, in exactly the same tone.

Wut.

Turns out Cik Su carried on with the 12pm class. And I missed it.

Amreeta: "Cik Su said (while looking at the empty space beside my name), 'Tse Hwei's not here today because she's meeting her seniors.'"

Oh dear.

That sounded really angry.

Rushed up the 2 floors again (this time no elevator) to meet her and explain myself. Mustered up courage before knocking on the door. No answer. Just as I pusing my head to the right, I saw her walking in my direction, while talking on the phone. Went up to her...

"Cik Suzanna, I didn't report (where on earth do these words come from? macam tentera je...) for class because I thought the class is at 1.30pm."

"I told you all last week to wait for me until 12.15, and then the class will be at 1.30pm."

(Oh, this part I really berani)

"But you said the class would be at 1.30pm." (slight tanda seru there)

"Pardon?"

"When I went for the Tuesday class yesterday, you told me the class would be at 1.30pm today."

"Oh. I asked the class at 12 if they wanted to start at 12 or 1.30, and they said 1.30pm."

"Har?"

Yeah, I said that.

After that she said to wait while she continued the phone conversation, and while I pondered the implications of missing her tutorial class.

-habis conversation-

"Look, I went down at 12, and the class said they wanted to start at 12pm. So I'm really, really sorry."

o_O

Yeah. Just like that.

I was almost stunned into silence.

Good thing she walked away pretty fast after I managed a weak "ok, thanks".

Cik Su apologized! To me! Gah!

You're forgiven!

That was totally what I was thinking when I was in the elevator (again =P).

So it was a relaxed day with a good lunch and 1 1/2 hours in between before I went for my Kemahiran Maklumat test. (the test was difficult, but that's another story)

Oh, and while waiting for Cik Su, there was a 2nd-year senior who was asking her for permission to change his duty day to Thursday, and to exchange with a Friday person. I went up to him while he was looking very anxiously at the list of "delegates", after the episode with Cik Su, and - it felt so weird - said, "Er... actually I want to go on Friday."

And then after that my 2nd-year buddy found 3 other people (including the guy just now) who wanted to switch, and I just so happened to know 4 people (including myself) who wanted to switch as well.

Solved. No skipping classes and tutorials. Except that English class la.

Overall, it was a good day.

Mostly because things turned out alright each occasion with the tort tutor.

My life revolves around my tort tutor.

Aah.

*Symposium = formal meeting at which several specialists deliver short addresses on a topic or on related topics

**Tutorial is a class with about 12 people with questions to prepare for and discuss together in greater depth than during lectures.

***Yes, I got my buddy on the last of the 4 days. That's why I said I'm not that emo d.