I've been very busy with truckloads of things lately. But still, I find myself blogging more than once a week. Priorities need to get sorted real soon. Priorities, Priorities. A word with such a heavy meaning. I ned to get my priorities out right. Ok, did I just say a record number of priorities in a paragraph? See? It messes with my head too.

And ya, I can't afford to get my head all messed up. Actually, I don't think my head's messed up. I don't know. I feel fine. People just assume that I'm not. The other day, when I was talking to a pal, he said something which struck a chord with me. He went, "You study at NBS, but I rarely see you around. It's like as if you don't even study there at all!" My initial reaction? Ouch. I was there, alright. Just that we don't meet in school, that's all. It's that simple, isn't it? So why ask? Ok, no link. What I wanted to say is that, I'm fine. I'm still surviving. Sure, I've mastered the art of disappearing and getting brilliant at it, but that doesn't mean that I've, you know, decided that hey! Let's play hide and seek and then practise an isolationist policy! So not me. In fact, I'm more than eager to meet people that I know, just that at this time, it's not feasibly possible for me to do that. No more events coming up, so I'm just reduced to being a small little eensy-weensy ant on the ground, with no one that I can really talk to like how it was during QK days. Ok wait, I did not just make myself sound like a sad sack. I am not a sad sack. I am not a sad sack. I am not a sad sack.

I'm a happy sack, whee!!

Okay, back to serious business. I have to have a definite plan on what's going to happen from now till exams which start on the 26th, and end on the 7th. I can't play hide and seek from my books, that's for sure! I need a plan. I need a plan. I need a plan.

And I'm not about to list everything down here. Some things are best left secret, yeah?

On a happier note, I finally completed my 214 and 228A modules! Yay! No more final exams, I've taken 100% of the assignments, and now, I just gotta concentrate on getting an S for my elective (man, S/U-ing an elective felt gooooood...), and concentrate on getting at least Bs for my other two papers and I'm done. And then I'm going to fly to Kashmir and Gulmarg and have fun in India before semester 2 starts, oh yeah...

Maybe this semester is not as bad as I thought. But who knows what's in store for semester 2, eh? I'm taking modules with a crap load of numbers, I'm not sure...

Check out this interesting fact I found when I was doing my readings:

"Men are often overwhelmed by experience... They roam the aisles like lost sheep, and are afraid to make their wives mad by bringing home the wrong brand of cereal or toothpaste... They do not want to catch any flak for coming home with the wrong thing. They'd say, 'I'll just tell my wife the store is out of this brand', rather than admit that they couldn't find it... Grocery stores aren't organized to make life easier for male shoppers..."

So if that's the case, then why do men always seem like they know exactly what they want and that they will enter the store with nothing and exit the store 10 minutes later with what they want? Or perhaps this is just applicable to the grocery shopping phenomenon? Then if that's the case, what is the difference in the layout of a grocery store and a department store? Is it because of the buying of domestic items? Is that what makes them really frazzled?

I guess this calls for another field research, Shakirah. Time to figure out what exactly is happening out there. Yup. Oh by the way, this makes for a great topic for a final presentation!!

Ok, any idea what items there are out there that are specifically targetted towards Singaporean Indians per se? I thought of sari, but then malays also wear sari. Then I thought of Adabi curry powder (hahah) and then I thought, malays use that as well. Then I thought of flower garlands, and then, don't the chinese use that as well? Then I thought of tekka market. Haha. I earned a laugh from my tutor. For obvious reasons, obviously. Then I thought of the needles that they put on their backs for Thaipusam. Oh wow. My mind goes one full circle just to figure that out. Tsk.

There and back again. The last line before Frodo Baggins the hobbit wrote before ending his hobbit's tale.

Totally unrelated. Woke up at an ungodly hour of 5.30am today, just to go for the Active Ageing carnival at RP. Come to think about it, I can't recall the last time I woke up at 5.30, haha. Let's see, even if my class starts at 8.30, I would wake up at 6.15 and be ready by 7. Yeah I'm efficient like that. But I think my brain can't take the 5.30 wake up call, hence the migraines now. Grrr.. I hate migraines at the beginning of the week. They totally mess up my entire week. Bad way to start the week.

So, today's carnival was fun, humid, sweaty but totally exciting! Actually part of the excitement lays in me being able to fiddle around with Fir's new baby, yeah his GF1, and that camera was superb! Though I was disappointed that it is not a zoom lens (I keep reminding him how dumb it was not to get a zoom lens), but the picture quality more than compensate for it. Had awesome fun with it, though I was reminded of my own little baby lying in the emergency ward. Hah. Ok, wrong reaction. I was sad for my own camera. It's been a week and a half and the agent still hasn't gotten back to me. :(

After the carnival, lunch was at CP with Rau, Fir, Ashraf and his Al-Azhar graduate friend, Taufiq. I must say, I am impressed with the way this Al-Azhar graduate carried himself. He was charismatic, funny and totally laid-back. The first time Fir told me that he's a graduate of Al-Azhar, I think I gave a :O reaction. Haha. See, it's my first time personally knowing someone who graduates from the best and oldest Islamic university, you see. Of course I was in awe of him. It's like meeting LKY, sort of. I respect all graduates of Al-Azhar, because I know how difficult it is to enter that uni. So, he was telling us about his experiences, which Fir just couldn't resist peppering his own Egyptian experience, and Ashraf dropping the occasional lame humour, that I ended up listening more than talking, haha. :)) But in any case, it was FUN! I truly enjoyed the lunch. :)) Part of the reason was I wasn't feeling too good, hence I was rather 'dead'?

Oh, we were talking about arab blood and how we don't have the Sheikh/Sharifah/Al- prefix in our names. But, Taufiq said, "Orang Melayu memang lucky. Because nanti kat padang mahsyar, diorang semua dapat gelaran 'Al'. 'Almarhum' lah!" HAHHA!!! I almost choked on my noodles!! Typical Aljunied guys joke eh Taufiq?

Two things made me happy today. Awak and you. :)

Last night, just for fun, I went to my old facebook account. Though I'd already deactivated it, it seems that it can be reactivated with your same username and password. So, yes, I accessed it, and apparently, the photos that I have in there have returned and so did my friends. I was shocked plus amazed. I really wonder what has happened. It's all confusing. And yes, you guessed it, I shut down my new account and stuck by this old one, but I changed my password of course. Wouldn't take a second chance with that. So yes, if you will, delete my new account (which has only 2 photos and 2 albums).

Oh did I mention that I love intellectual and witty conversations? Yes, those, peppered with humour and sarcasm. I just found someone who can actually be as intellectual as me, if not more. Haha. The identity, unfortunately, can't be revealed. So too bad haha! And you know you are aging when you talk about babies, life, studies, family and career. It scares me, talking about all these. I welcome the future, but I'm sure deep down, we all miss the innocence of childhood. I know I did. And bingo! The pal has managed to identify my weak spot, which many are unaware of. That says a lot about a person you just met 10 months ago.

Alright now, off to do my 214 assignment. Damn. Whoever said that marketing students have it good ought to be smacked.

"But at the end of the day, what really brought a smile to my face was that you said I could turn to you anytime and you'll listen and be my support. Thank you."

Someone out there just made me feel really guilty. It's that person who celebrated her birthday yesterday. I won't make excuses why I'm so busy and all, it's just the nature of my course, you know. I hardly have a social life now. My life is all school, home, assignments, school, home, assignments. I don't even meet people I am familiar with already! I know, sad right? I only met Khadijah (but that's cos I arranged to meet her cos I had to discuss some matters with her), and I met Muhsin in the lab earlier, and that's about it. I mean, I see people. But I don't meet people that I know. My social life is so going down the drain. And I hate that thought. My, I am contradicting myself, isn't it? Like a couple of entries ago, I said I enjoyed the anonymity. But now, I feel really sad. It must be the numerous assignments I had to complete. Belum habis satu, dah datang satu lagi. Bila mau game?

I just realized: Business is intensive giler.. They don't allow you breathing space, they only know that you only have 3 seconds to lift your head above the water surface to catch a breath, then they submerge you deep deep deep down and force info on you again, while completing several obstacles to ensure survival of the fittest. Then the whole vicious cycle starts all over again and the same things happen. You hardly have time to say hello to your friends living above the water.

As my professor aptly puts it: "We are grooming students into future smart money-makers. Hence, we are intensive like that. Either you like it, or you hate it. Like it now, and have a nice, luxurious life later. Hate it now, and suffer the rest of your life."

Oh, I'm sorry, but I beg to differ.

Yay, Britney Spears went well! Bravo!!! Finally, I don't have to read reports of her past behaviour. It gets kind of sick after a while, trust me. Especially since, like I mentioned, I wasn't exactly a fan of hers. I didn't grow up listening to her music, so that's that. She's great, but when I was doing this report on her, I felt like a bloody hypocrite the whole time. See, I have to seek ways to revert all these negative attention that is coming to her, and make them more positive. But deep down, I didn't exactly want to do that because who cares what's Britney's reputation all about? I personally don't. I don't even feel attached to her. Hence, the hypocrisy. But oh well, what's done is done. I thought I might have done a better job with, hmm, Lindsay Lohan or the Olsen twins, I guess? Why Brit, why?!?!

That said, one down. Three more reports to go. My Tiger Airways, my Canon Digital Ixus 870IS and Waltz with Bashir. I swear, I always get the most interesting topics to write on, it's killing me. It's like, for once, I feel that I am really working on something real, instead of just looking at numbers that might not even be true in the real world. Something that is way better than numbers. Words, haha! So anyways, yes, I'm glad that this semester has been pretty interesting, with all the real stuff and all, but I fear for the next semester cos I have to take my numbers modules again. Wait, I thought I got rid of that when I completed year 1? Apparently not. I think now's the perfect time to ask Fir if he can loan me his accounting text. And ask Randy if he can loan me his research methods text. So that I won't spend money on textbooks again. Sigh sigh sigh...

I am not excited for next sem. Not very excited. Totally tak excited langsung.

Eh but I feel empowered by this song that's currently been playing in my head. Yeah like empowered man!!

I knew I was supposed to finish my presentation slides today, but somehow, after doing 11 slides, I feel like it is too difficult and decided to do a little bit of de-stressing. I mean, there's still tomorrow to do it, right? So, the problem is going to be there even at 1am in the morning, so I might as well procrastinate (haha) and do it at a later time and enjoy the beauty of the surroundings to get myself to freshen up LOL!

So, off I scoot to Suntec City at an ungodly hour of 10.30am in the morning. Ok wait, scratch that. I was already at Suntec City at 10.30am. Haha.. All hail private transport. I was told that I drove like a mad person, but hey, 100km/h doesn't quite cut it, no? At first, I was sceptical of driving through Nicoll Highway cos of the collapse a couple of years ago. Yes I was actually scared of driving past that area. I was afraid it might happen again. Alhamdulillah, God decided that He'll let me live a day longer and allowed me to shop. I love you God. :) And oh my, the ramp leading to the basement parking was so effing narrow, it took me a lot of guts to navigate my way down. But the basement was so spacious, it kinda offsets everything.

Arrived at Suntec and bought shoesssssssssssssss!!! Oh yes, shoessssssss... Not shoes fit for Singapore-school wear, but shoes fit for walking and winter wear. Oh yeah.. We're going to Gulmarg (google the place if you are dying to know what it looks like) and we're spending 2 days there, so proper footwear is a requirement. Oh, it was at Geox where I bought those shoes. And, I couldn't resist getting peep-toes, so yeah. Almost blew a lot of bucks (amount undisclosed) on 2 pairs alone. But, all's worth it. :) And I am happy.

Walked around, found Gap, and bought a thermal sweater. Very crucial or I might die as a result of freezing in the cold. Excellent!

When I decide that I had spent enough, I headed home. And continued doing my slides. Up till now. LOL.

Some idiot decided to have a little bit of fun today and tried hacking into my facebook account, deleting all my photos, my friends, and I don't know what else. Well, congratulations, hacker, you did it! I know who you are. You are that bespectacled computer engineering (no offense, but computer engineers make up a significant portion of hackers, and I did research on that) idiot with no social life and a crazy family. You have done your job well. I hope you are happy.

If you are getting friend requests from me, do accept them ya. I'm trying to create a new account. On the other hand, I am upset cos all my photos of the camp and are all gone already. All all all of them are gone. I feel so sad already. Dah lah. It looks like I need to re-tag myself using my new name. :((( Boo..

I hate you, hacker. You TWERP. I hope Allah punishes you hard for this.

So, as said earlier, my IKEA and Cadbury research papers are done. Now, I have to do a research paper on Britney Spears. Like, who does that? Do you know how difficult it is to do a paper on her? I have to analyse the negative attitude towards her and suggest tactics to revert that negative attitude, and then, do an evaluation on my tactics. Oh, how interesting. Not. I would rather do on Oprah or MJ or Martha Stewart, for that matter! Even Paris Hilton is better than Britney! But oh no, I have to do on Brit. Have to. It looks like I have to kill myself trying to squeeze a paper out.

And the worst part is, I don't know how to start!

A highly salient brand is one that has both depth and breadth of brand awareness, such that customers always make sufficient purchases as well as always think of the brand across a variety of settings in which it could possibly be employed or consumed. Brand salience is an important first step in building brand equity, but is usually not sufficient. For many customers in many situations, other considerations, such as the meaning or image of the brand, also come into play. Creating brand meaning involves establishing a brand image and what the brand is characterized by and should stand for in the minds of the customers. Although a myriad of different types of brand associations are possible, brand meaning broadly can be distinguished in terms of more functional, performance-related considerations versus more abstract, imagery-related considerations. Thus, brand meaning is made up of two major categories of brand associations that exist in customers' minds related to performanceand imagery, with a set of specific subcategories within each. These brand associations can be formed directly (from a customer's own experiences and contact with the brand) or indirectly (through the depiction of the brand in advertising or by some other source of information, such as word of mouth).

And that ends my brand research paper. Phew. An eight-week paper that is finally finally finally done. I was so proud of myself when I handed in the binded report to the UPO just now. :))

Oh yes, if you are smart, try to find my travelblog. Mwahahahahaha...