On The Move…

French 273, History A-12 and History 1856 all make me happy in a geeky, intellectual-growth kind of way.  They’re all so very different, and elicit such different responses from me (A-12 often makes me angry; 273 sometimes makes me exultantly hopeful, other times it leaves me farily gloomy; 1856 gives me a sense of discovery and rediscovery that’s exquisite).  There’s more I wanted to say, but there’s really no time.

As I’ve told various people, these three weeks to Spring Break (and into the foreseeable future till the end of the semester) are busy to the point of physical impossibility.  I’ll have to detail my weekend schedule from Saturday and especially Sunday.  I guess I might as well do it quick.

Summary:  Busy-ness level: 4/5 (5 is maximum), Excitement level: 4.5/5,

10am: Wakes up in a panic, 7 hours after going to bed, because I managed to sabotage my alarm clocks which had been set for 7am (none of them went off).
11am: Prints out recommendation letters for summer abroad program, delivers them to Prof Conley’s house on bike, race to Coop to buy book required for Monday class.
11.30am: In church, Park Street.
12.30pm: There’s some kind of international fiesta type thing happening, so I walk around and find Asian food – bak kut teh, hokkien mee and fried bee hoon at the Singapore table and nasi lemak at the Malaysia (or was it Indonesia?) table.
1pm: At Dins gig at Hampshire House on the Common (this is where the original Cheers bar is).
2pm: At Johnston Gate waiting for Limo.
3pm: At Logan Airport waiting to meet/sing for Sharon Stone.  Yo Yo Ma appears, having just flown back from Puerto Rico (he lives in Cambridge, and he has two kids at Harvard).  We shake hands.
4pm: Finished singing for Sharon Stone.  I hand her a large bouquet of long-stemmed roses.  She kisses me.
4.30pm: At the recording studio at Emerson College for first day of work on the Dins’ next CD.
5.30pm: At Filene’s Basement.  I buy organic strawberry jam for personal use at Brain Break.
6.30pm: My recording session begins.  I require many re-takes.
10pm: I’m done at the studio and head back to Harvard.
10.30pm: I start work at HUCEP.
2am: HUCEP shift ends.  I’ve formulated a plan for post-college success based on what I call the MoMA effect.
3am: I’ve written emails to three TFs and my academic advisor, and read some 20 pages for French.  Collapse in bed.
9am:  I’m awake and starting another very packed day.

Today: busy-ness: 4.2/5, excitement level: 3/5

It should be said that I am *very relieved* to have made it to the weekend.

In the past two weeks, I have rarely (if ever) gone to bed before 3.30am or gotten more than 5 hours of sleep each day.  I’m gone to bed at 4am, 4.30am, 5am, 5.30am, 6am, 7am, 7.15am….  awful.  It’s mostly just procrastination and bad time management on my part (should I do overdue reading for class or make a three day trip to New York?  Oh, I guess work can wait.), but the just-completed Spring auditions the Dins just ran must figure into the equation too, having occupied some 35 night-hours in 4 nights.

So sleepy right now.  And I slept through all but one hour of my classes today (which brings today’s hours-slept total to 4).  Plus I have to write an internship application due tonight.

I’m sure I had more upbeat, informative stuff to say, but that’s going to have to wait for a better-rested, less panicky-about-three-midterms-next-week Jason.

–

Turandot was wonderful, and the days following that night were fantastic too.

The concert was well-received and I had a great time.  My sincere appreciation goes to all the people who came and cheered and congratulated us.

It almost shocked me to realise how much of a strain the final, admittedly intense weeks of rehearsals were on people’s tempers, patience and sense of enjoyment.  I really didn’t notice it then, and I’m only just beginning to realise the scope of the fallout.  Was I really too sanguine to notice?  Or maybe I’d already adjusted my expectations appropriately in Vail.

–

So now it’s time to pick up the pieces and try and to haul my academics and the other aspects of my life into a decent state of optimal equilibrium.  So of course this weekend I’m leaving in the middle of my meets-once-a-week class, skipping another section entirely and heading off to New York to see Turandot at the Met.  I’m very, very excited.  I bought a guide to the opera with the full libretto (and a side-by-side translation), plus all sorts of notes and commentary.  Just can’t wait.

In the meantime, I’m very much swamped.  It’s 3.33am right now, and I’m just starting on the reading for History 1856 so I can post a discussion board comment before I go to bed.  Sigh.

–

This semester, I’m taking:

Social Analysis 10: Introduction to Economics (we study macroeconomics during the Spring semester, microeconomics in the Fall)
Engineering Sciences 6: Environmental Engineering (sooo easy, and satisfies Science B!)
Biological Sciences 55: Ecology (sections are too hard, but lectures are a yawn)
French 273: French Thought and Globalization (modern French philosophers in French!)
History 1856: Environmental History of East Asia (China, Korea and Japan)
Historical Study A-12: Global Conflict and Co-operation (intro to IR)

and I’m auditing History of Art & Architecture 170s: Frank Lloyd Wright and the Modern City and Suburb (this class has no work to begin with anyway)

–

All right, no more procrastinating.  Back to work!

Harvard Din & Tonics, with Chester French
Friday, Feb 18, 2005, 8pm
Sanders Theater, $8 (students)

Get your tickets from me! Feel free to email me or call me (617-319-5963) for more
information.

The Dins’ big "Matilda" finish.

Life moves quickly in Singapore. My high school has changed principals.  Twice.  And the Junior College I went to now has a spanking new campus at Bishan.  It’s a mammoth place, almost overwhelming, and nothing like the very human-scaled Mt Sinai location.  But it’s beautifully done, and I hope Jenevieve will be very happy there, happier than Janine and I ever were.

RJC Bishan (2 Jan 2005)

My bags are unpacked, and the jetlag is pretty much done with, but I’m still not quite ready to be back in college.  Classes?  Finals?  Problems sets?  What?

But don’t worry, it’ll get done eventually.  It must.

–

Charles, Jos, Lynn and me at Elaine’s annual New Year’s Eve house party.

At the NYE party (1 Jan 2005)

I’ll snap out of the holiday mood soon enough.  I promise.

Taken from the lift lobby on the 26th floor of the Ritz-Carlton after Ethan’s party.  Isn’t Singapore pretty in the first light of the new year? Within minutes this view was completely obscured by a thunderstorm.  Well, it *is* the rainy season.

I’m leaving for the airport very, very shortly.  That’s it, break’s over.

Time to put your game face on et cetera.

It’s just past 10am.  I’m going to lie down.  Pictures to come.  Happy New Year

–

You Are a Warrior Soul

You’re a strong person and sometimes seen as intimidating. You don’t give up. You’re committed and brave. Truly adventuresome, you are not afraid of going to battle. Extremely protective of loved ones, you root for the underdog. You are picky about details and rigorous in your methods. You also value honesty and fairness a great deal. You can be outspoken, intimidating, headstrong, and demanding. You’re a hardliner who demands the best from themselves and others. Souls you are most compatible with: Old Soul and Peacemaker Soul

It almost surprises me, that this vacation is coming to an end, and that very soon I will be headed back to campus.  Which is really another world for me.  A different crowd in a different wardrobe, a different accent and a different outlook.

I’m glad I came back, not least because my luggage is returning at least three times heavier than when I arrived.  I’ve also managed a bit of a tan, sunscreen notwithstanding, and to feel less like I just constantly overate, the past 48 hours notwithstanding.  Very Ipanema, if you know what I mean.

I’ve had time to think about various things, and rest, and be very quiet.  I remembered a couple of things, and realised some other things, and it’s all good.  Right now I’m undecided between feeling that the finals coming up will be just fine, and feeling resignedly calm.

–

Happy New Year, everyone!  May 2004 be remembered fondly, and 2005 even more so

So few people were in Singapore this holiday season, what with the rare two-week break for NUS medical students and the equally brief Winter Recess.  Terence, Wanyi and myself still managed to meet for lunch and some rich dessert though.  I miss you guys lots!

A tropical winter break at NYDC (27 Dec 2004)

How awful.  An undersea earthquake measuring 8.9 on the Richter scale struck at about 7am this morning off the coast of Sumatra in Indonesia, triggering massive tsunamis that have killed thousands in Indonesia, Thailand, the Maldives, Malaysia, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and India.  Resorts in places I’ve visited like Phuket and Phi Phi Island have been completely swept away.  It’s reportedly the fifth largest tremor recorded since 1900, and the largest since 1964.

Tragic.  And just imagine when it’s Tokyo’s turn.

–

Christmas has come and gone again.  Which leaves me wondering – what will the new year bring?  *Apprehensive*

I just arrived home not ten minutes ago, adjusting to the different palette of colours here under the warmer, more intense yellow-white sunlight of the tropics, and the more luxuriant air and vegetation.  I had a good flight home, no problems (other than missing my bus and then nearly missing my plane, you know, the usual) and I think I’ve finally gotten the trick to not overeating on the plane – just don’t eat much that day.

I’m not sure I’ve had such a productive journey since the last December when I read a goodly chunk of Not in Front of the Children for expos ( and mostly on the bus).  I started and finished the very excellent Da Vinci Code I’ve been meaning to read for a while now (thanks Tomas for lending it to me), got through about a third of Six Names of Beauty and saw three movies (here I’ll only reveal that one of them was De-Lovely, which I’ve also been dying to see).

–

So my last day of classes…  I skipped two classes to finish a problem set which I turned in two hours late, and then at 9.30pm I realised that I’d *forgotten* to turn in the chemistry problem set due at 5pm that I’d completed the night before.  I’m an awful student, aren’t I.  And just to add to the unfortunate events of the day, while cycling back from my 9am meeting with Prof Clark I slipped on the icy street and fell very awkwardly, throwing my back out and leaving me with lower back pain that made even putting shoes on a painful experience. 

On the upside, I went to see Whose Wife is it Anyway, which Calum is in.  It was brilliantly done, and quite easily the best stage production I’ve seen at Harvard.  I didn’t get to speak to Calum because he disappeared and I’d lost his number, but he was great.  Go see this show if you get the chance!  So funny, so British, so well executed.