One down, six more to go!

All right, today is the first day of my examination. It's quite a nice experience thinking of the fact that my examination was in the Chancellor Hall. In fact, majority of my examinations will be held in the Chancellor Hall. Only Engineering Mathematics will be in the Main Hall and my Moral Studies paper will be in the Multi-Purpose Hall.

Dear me, it was COLD in the Chancellor Hall! However, I foresaw that it would be cold so I brought along my coat, not a jacket, but a coat (the ones for formal functions)! I didn't bring my jacket along, so I'd had to make do with the coat. I pity those who were freezing in the Chancellor Hall and yet they had no jacket.

The paper today was Thinking Skills, and it wasn't as hard as the July 2004 paper, in my opinion. I had a terrible experience with this subject, because although I fully understand its scope, I can't seem to fare well for this paper. I'd put in a lot of effort in getting my Thinking Skills marks up, but surprisingly some who put in last-minute efforts or those who fool around most of the time can score better than I! Ironic, huh?

Anyway, for Thinking Skills, it's history now. Nevertheless, I did have a good time under Mrs. Ena Bhattharcharyya as my lecturer. Next ahead of me are Chemistry, English, Engineering Mathematics, Physics and Moral Studies! I think I can handle Chemistry, English and Engineering Mathematics quite well, but I still worry about my Physics. I've tried some past-years papers for Physics and they really scare me! Still, it's good in the sense that I'll pay special attention on Physics.

I won't be in UTP for long now. After the exams, my holidays will start immediately. So, I guess I'll leave examinations aside and think about what I'm going to do during the holidays.

The first thing that I'm going to do is to PLAY THE PIANO! Yes, my beloved piano, which I've neglected for the past six months. It's not that I've never played it while studying in UTP; it's just that I never played that often. It's now time to catch up with my skills again! Let's see, what am I going to master during the holidays? These are the pieces which I'm going to master in the six weeks:

1. Chopin - Revolutionary Etude in C minor

2. Chopin - Etude Op. 25 No. 12

3. Liszt - Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 (just to polish up a bit)

4. Elliot - Idle Impressions

Too many pieces to handle? Well, that is my goal. Besides that, I'm going to work out on my new composition (I've decided that a piano concerto won't be good; I intend to compose a piano concerto using a software, but unfortunately it does not allow me to write more than eight instruments!). Another impressionism piece. It's not my first time composing impressionism pieces, and it will not be the last either.

Now, besides getting in touch with music, I might do some travelling. I've been invited by a friend from Johor Bahru (in fact, two) to go to Singapore for a certain Music Festival (music again?). I do intend to go, if my parents would allow. There, I can also travel around Singapore, which I've not done since 1998. I long to see my cousins and relatives there.

I might be flying to Beijing for summer. I've been to Shanghai, but one of my targetted destinations is Beijing. I really want to step foot on the Forbidden City, the Great Wall of China and many more. If Shanghai was already great enough for me, I would think that Beijing could do better. Well, let's see about it. My parents are at the process of getting the tickets. I hope they can get them as soon as possible before they are sold out!

I think that's all for now. I've just returned from my examination not long ago and I'm feeling hungry now. Well, lunch, here I come!