Diary Clip: Jan 17-20, 2017

Jan 17

IT'S FUCKING HOT. 36/28. I can even feel the heat inside Broadway shopping center. Made the mistake of sitting under the glass roof thing today because I wanted to give the better seats (with larger tables) to other people.

I really do feel like I need to be more evil. My dad implies that a lot: I'm not as good as him at fighting for my own lunch, since I've been a sheltered rich kid all my life, unlike him. Like yesterday one of the guys in my Warframe clan was doing a 100p giveaway (roughly $7 USD). I didn't join coz I figured if I did I'd win and it's better off going to a player who is more desperate for it. But IDK, maybe I should have been more aggressive.

Speaking of Warframe, the laptop has decided to (almost) completely shit itself when I go into game. The temperature of the laptop soars, it drops to unplayable framerates after like ~30-50 minutes of playing, and occasionally just outright crashes. It's amazing because it was perfectly fine last semester. I put my laptop aside for a month, and it starts doing weird stuff. More time to study then, I guess. Hopefully when the weather cools down it will be more functional.

Jan 19
Some plans for the GF for next semester. These are ones that I can definitely fit in between now and July...

Singapore

• ArtScience Museum, apparently Singapore's #1 Instagram spot right now.
• MacRitchie Reservoir. I gotta figure out how to get this one to work. There's no nearby train, so probably bus or car? I don't know if my dad will let me use the car. And I'm not sure which route to take either.

Sydney

• VIVID Sydney. I've had this in the back of my head for a while. GF's seen Darling Harbor a bunch of times, but she hasn't seen Darling Harbor when VIVID is on.
• Art Gallery of NSW. This one is easy, we'll probably just go in the weekend after W1.
• Sydney Observatory. We might be able to get this in the same day as the Art Gallery. Probably head out for lunch together --> Art Gallery for the afternoon --> dinner --> Observatory.

...and here are some that I am admittedly troubled as to how to schedule them in.

• Blue Mountains. This will have to be a day trip, so after exams.
• Leura. Apparently the best time to visit is in October, so this will have to wait until next semester.
• Cockatoo Island. This is FAR. Idk if we'll get time for it this semester. Maybe if we get like, a day after midsemester break, we can do it.
• Taronga Zoo, Bondi Beach. I have no idea how to fit these in as they are in some really inconvenient parts of Sydney and I don't want to take off studying time off GF or myself. IH might do Bondi Beach depending on what the admins decide to do that particular year, but we might not even be around.

Jan 20

Last chance to consult the lecture and tutor before the midterm exam.

I met a new friend. His name is 书锦 and he is obviously PRC, although he claims to have lived in Singapore for 4-ish years. He's...not the brightest light in the classroom. The good thing is he's B. Econ (rather than B. Comm), meaning he can get into Wolstenholme Study Center with his student card. That will come in super useful to me, since the tutor's consultation happens to be inside. (This wasn't planned well...a tutor's consult in a building only B. Econ and postgrads can get into?)

So we went to the lecturer first, and I spent about 15-20 minutes asking questions. 书锦 then spent the remainder of 2 hours asking questions. (Consult is only supposed to last 1 hour.) Eventually he had to get cut off; it was 3 PM and apparently the poor prof hadn't even had lunch yet. Before we left though, he assured us that he enjoys answering and that (书锦's) questions even gave him some ideas to improve his powerpoint for next semester. He also assured us that he doesn't intend for anyone to fail the course and if we feel like we are having trouble we should approach him - I think it's because 书锦 failed this previously and is repeating.

If this is the kind of dedication I'm going to get from all the econ coordinators, I am definitely picking this as a major.

So the story continues: afterwards we went off to the tutor's consultation, who was even more helpful. I learned that all courses, not just the poorly-funded or poorly-taught ones, vary greatly in teaching style and examination style depending on the coordinator. That means that the current prof could make this course extremely easy and end up not having to curve it up (!!!!), or he could turn on full fire (!!!!!!!). The only way to get through is to read it all: textbook, lecture slides, tutorial materials, YouTube recordings, additional readings. You can't spot questions against a prof who is brand new, he exclaimed.

I left after the expected one hour with the tutor, having completely run out of questions to ask. There was a random PRC girl who looked equally confused at everything, but left after the hour like I did. 书锦 stayed to ask even more questions. The tutor did briefly note that he has been around for every single tutor consultation. Poor guy.