Majority of the week was spent on the lab report for CE3165 Structural Concrete Design...tested a reinforced concrete beam, loading it until it fails (it literally broke into two, well, almost). Although the observations were expected, the recorded data yielded sort of funky results which left us stumped. No idea how to explain some of the results and (the sad thing is) there are no senior's report to refer to like we usually do. Rushed out something in the end although I skipped webcasted lectures to do it (and very unluckily got my name called during the lecture I skipped =.=). Then there is another design project for the same module which we had to submit a preliminary design by this week.

Then there is a grand total of FOUR projects for the TE module. Alright to be fair we should have started the main one before recess week and nobody did. Lecturer gleefully went "see, i told you so" when he saw all the stressed faces in class. Something about the projects though...in groups of 5, we were supposed to finish two projects, from this group we have to split into two sub groups to complete the third project individually, and the last one is an individual effort. So what happens is my group had a final year undergrad who only came to class once every two weeks (one week he said he got into a car accident, duno real or not), an Indian graduate student (who MIA-ed once in a while too), two working students (one of which had more experience in the industry I guess) and me. For the sub-group I was partnered with one of the working students.

So what happens is progress for the main project is really slow because the bottleneck was the final year undergrad. I cant start on my part (which is rather big) unless he finish his part. We were supposed to attend a tutorial on the sub-group project today...and my partner couldnt make it coz he was working. The other two came an hour late. The older working student (OWS), for some reason he seemed rather impatient today (maybe he was unhappy abt the slow work of the final year undergrad (FY)) so he suggested that he join my sub-group and leave the other two to work (read: die) themselves. "If you are okay with this idea then i will probably just drop them an sms abt it and we can start work today".

I personally hate being pangseh-ed in this manner. I find it really rude (albeit unfair to the other party) and I have experienced this in Phoenix (when my beloved writer quitted without even informing me - worse still). So i politely suggested that he should at least get their permission first before jumping ship. He continued convincing me though (at one point i find it really annoying), saying that he was worried that they wont contribute and I seem to know what I am doing (AHA! that must be the main reason because he said he was completely lost and the other two would be lost too since they din attend). In the end I just said I wasnt planning to start working today anyway since my supposed partner was unable to turn up and I need to wait for him. And perfect timing too coz the other two arrived (FYU said he waited for the bus for an hour =.=). So he had to stick to his group and I left them to work/start on their project.

Don't like being used and luckily I managed to navigate myself out of it.

Another project...term paper for SSD module and was planning to finish it this weekend (deadline is in reading week) but then remembered I have two assignments due on Monday and i usually spend the entire weekend on it coz i had to study the notes before i can actually do. Spent two tutorials discussing the possible topics of the 1500-word paper with the tutor (honestly, a waste of time because what people said in both tutorials were mostly the same). Given up complaining abt him alr. He is just hopeless.

Suddenly 3/4 of the semester is over and I am still rather blank about all my mods. Die. And oh, did I mention? My VIP application status is still "Application pending approval" with a "no response from company". Freaking out. I dun wanna spend the summer doing nothing :(

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Phoenix is beginning on its final stages...collating sem 2 articles (damn you realistic people who just refuse to work properly after points are given out). Hoping everything turns out ok. On the up side, we found our successors! Told them in detail about our roles and they seemed to take the news well (maybe they are secretly freaking out). Oh well.

Interaction Day with our sister hall NTU Hall XI today and apart from friendly sports matches, I dont think I see much interaction. =.= And tech team...sigh horrible horrible continuity problems. The young ones dun seem very ready to take over..I dont think I have ever seen a messier backstage and so many incorrect working habits (like eating on the tech table). The seniors would be horrified to see such work...and part of it, once again, is due to the damn realistic people who just refuse to work properly after points are given out.

There are actually contestants for the post of the next JCRC president. Wow. Healthy competition? Are we going to get something good out of it? What if both candidates are not up to the job? What if. Not saying its the truth.

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Next week must be a better week. Schedule planned out, hopefully can follow through.

Labels: NUS, Raffles Hall, updates