post-mock gloom

I have found, in all my limited experience of accounting exams, that I have this infuriating tendency to make mistakes immediately upon commencement of the paper. You see, Question 1 always involves a Balance Sheet and mine never balances on the first try. Never. And no matter how hard I try to spot the error, no matter how closely I scrutinise the question, no matter how much I recalculate, it doesn't balance until the very end, after I finish the rest of the paper and turn back to go through it again.

So I guess what I'm saying is, I suppose sometimes it really is important to take a step (or maybe a few steps) back when things seem impossible to solve. Sometimes the harder we try, the further we back ourselves into a narrow corner and the more difficult it becomes to see what went wrong. Giving things time (but not too much, the exam doesn't provide for much extra time) allows us to take a deep breath and perhaps calm down a little. Even if you're still a bundle of nerves when you come back to the problem (I'm usually not, though, I have a funny calmness at this point - rather like someone in the face of mortal danger who's already accepted death as a highly possible outcome), having seen and solved the other problems gives you a tiny boost in confidence that makes a not-so-tiny difference.

Solving other problems, no matter how simple, is great because it gives you a sense of empowerment. It makes you realise that whatever is thrown at you has a solution and that this solution can be found using what you have - most of the time, the key to solving a problem lies within the problem itself - and in that way, you strengthen yourself mentally against the big problem from earlier.

I don't know if this can be applied for anyone else or whether it's just me; some of you brainy people might not even have trouble with your first balance sheet. But yeah, it's just one of those epiphany moments.

p.s.: Look, I applied accounting to life! Ooh I'm a genius. I'm using this for mah Ps! (*warning you not to steal or you'll get caught by CopyCatch*)

Why I Don't Quite Know What to Feel About Friday:

On the one hand, probably the better hand, the one with longer fingers and better-shaped nails, Friday means lunch with the some of the most brilliant people in my life.

On the other hand, the one with ugly skin and superstubby digits, Friday also means IELTS results. Which I am itching to know, but at the same time I do not want to know. I hate getting papers back or collecting grades but I want to know, damn it.

Mmphf.

hi there, burogi

IELTS. Hmm. Yeah. Mm. *hysterical laughter*

Aaaaaaanyway. Tokyohive has made me a very excited kid tonight and now I cannot wait for October the first. Reasons being:

1. It's a suit. Suits are bombs.

2. After the last one with the Panasonic Lamdash, who doesn't want to see another one?

3. His hair, thank goodness it's all right. The sudden scissors scene was terrifying.

4. IT'S. A. SUIT.

I want a Gao Gao toy (some kind of Jenga-like game). It would be the most hilarious thing in the world to play with friends. 8D

nankurunaisa

Lanterns in Vnam Kitchen, Ipoh.

Keep the faith; one faraway day you'll see your real face and understand that no one can rescue you but yourself. If you don't start to love yourself right now, it is only to your detriment. You say you wish to feel no more pain? Then get going! There is no signal, no flag to start your journey but your own will. Start now and DO THE D-MOTION.

Hahaha.

A silly, poorly disguised piece of fandom that was almost obscene to write, what with all my laughter at my own expense. But hey, we all have our vices. Mm. Oh, yes. Nankurunaisa, by the way, is a quirky little bit of Okinawan that roughly means, "It will all work out." Admirable attitude, that. Just the right spirit to take with me into the test tomorrow.

Nankurunaisa, everyone!

we're alive today as well

Tomorrow, I have a mock exam for economics. And here I am ensuring my FAIL grade. I never will learn, will I.

Is it hypocritical of me to repeatedly insist that my level of English is just decent, but then get unhappy when someone misguidedly attempts to correct me? Is it being arrogant or boastful in any way? Worse, am I belittling that someone's abilities?

Tell me it isn't so, or I will die a sudden death by guilt. D:

p.s.: You know, the surest sign of how much I love KAT-TUN is my blithe, feigned ignorance of their atrocious English.

the (war)path home

Image credits go to [link], [link], [link] and [link], respectively. DeviantART is your friend.

Iamemobecausetheresultsarecoming.

If not human, what else?

If there's one message that really sticks in my head after reading Pratchett's books, it's that the human race truly is the most astoundingly monstrous of all, not least because we don't realise it most of the time.

When someone does something shockingly cruel or twisted, we like to say how inhuman he or she is - but that doesn't make any sense, because no other living thing that we know of could possibly do such things. Oh, they often rip each other's guts out, sure, but the intent behind it is completely different. They do so as part of their natural programming. Only human beings could be so sick as to hurt other beings in the way we have done, so malicious as to do so deliberately, so ignorant as to do so in high spirits, and so arrogant as to call such acts "inhuman".

So what is "human"? Are only kind, caring acts of goodness human? Only what is morally right is human?

The drawn-out, cold-blooded, premeditated murder of a woman with her child watching from a ringside seat is every bit as human as a donation to disaster victims. It would be nothing but conceit to deny that. With the good... comes the bad.

Results're in two days. I can't breathe.