Oscar's Music

One down, two to go

Seeing that it ate 20 hours for me to complete the torts exam, I thought that I could stay awake for 24 hours to complete the first exam, which coincidentally (and thankfully) was a take home exam as well. However, as circumstances illustrated, I began to crumble at the 17th hour when my emotions went on a rollercoaster ride - from feeling confident to answering it in one piece to being mad at everything around me. In addition, I was beginning to lose control over my sense of speech although my brain was still coherent.

It didn’t help that I misspelled ‘skunk’ as ‘skunt’.

Let’s just say that I was still sleep-deprived when I was asked that. I know staying up until the wee hours of the morning (or even pulling an all-nighter) is dangerous for the bodily functions, but it has to depend on the situation. As property law is one of the toughest courses to absorb this semester, I’d rather slave over the exam online than in Wayville. I’m not game on the idea of taking the public transport to Wayville thrice either, especially if it is an afternoon exam.

It’s too taxing for the brain to aim for any score higher than a pass, and I always believe that ‘the greater the hope, the deeper the disappointment’. It is better to keep an open heart about the desired grades than to be weeping over the setback.

One exam down, two to go.

Well, technically, only one more (in the form of Public Law) on Tuesday morning. It was only this afternoon that I sat for the International Law exam, so yeah, I’m keeping my fingers crossed for that. I do feel the pressure because I’d like to make the lecturers (both in the university and Mr. Layng) proud with the achievements, but if God decides that I should have a pass instead, it’s fine with me as well.

I should be back with a proper post anytime after this Tuesday. And with that, see you until my next post! =)

Tim McGraw - It's Your Love (Official Music Video)

One of the beautiful songs I've heard today.

The 2 am thoughts

Few more weeks and I’ll be wishing that I’m visiting an unfamiliar horizon instead of burning myself with the melting sun. I’m aware that most of my friends are only returning when it is nearer to the new academic year, but I’d rather remain in town. There is only so much that I can endure in KL without longing to jump on the next flight back to Adelaide.

Exams are just around the corner and I feel that I’m far from prepared to score a respectable grade for especially Property Law, which is bad. The exam is on Sunday, and this leaves me with around 3 days to sail through the revisions and note condensation before throwing caution to the wind. I’ll definitely go broke with the amount of caffeine that I am about to ingest to remain awake and fresh. I know that I should be contented with a mere pass as a freshman, especially for this course, but a part of me wants to aim higher and attempt to bring home a credit. It will be tough, considering that I messed up on the assignment, and my confidence in attaining a credit is dwindling as the time approaches.

What worries me the most is that the assignments and exam are not redeemable in Property Law; it’s similar to the course structure of the subjects I learned in CPU except that the weightage is different. I’ve learnt where I screwed up on the assignment and hope that the lessons learned will slowly guide me on the all-nighter for the exam.

Yet, I am bushed and thinking of reaching out for the bottle of strawberry wine resting in the fridge to relax the nerves. I know that I can’t; not only will I blow the actus rea and mens rea, the countless hours and late nights thrown into the revision will be thrown into the basket instantly.

And I’ll make things worse than they already are, sigh.

At the time of this posting (2 am Adelaide time), I know I should be fast asleep after the intense revision, but I’m instead wide awake and feeling high - not because I was listening to upbeat songs, but through the Week 12 Public Law lecture.

It’s odd that listening to that particular lecture as a refreshment is soothing for the tired soul and before I become exceptionally hyper to the point where I think I can stay awake for 24 hours, it’d be better if I stray away from academic matters at this moment. Inasmuch as my eyes are exhausted from looking at the computer screen, my brain is more alert than ever.

On the bright side, it always takes listening to the gospel songs on Spotify to ensure that I don’t freak out over the course materials. Although it may not be able to inspire me with the confidence and required knowledge needed to tackle all three papers, at least it ensures that I remain cool as a cucumber (or so, I hope).

The Beginning of a Change - Part 3

"Gee, Michelle!" Sophia's jaw dropped. "Are you serious?"

Michelle squinted. "I am not kidding."

"It's interesting, though. How he studies here and all. Did you ask what degree he is doing?"

"He only said he's doing arts."

"I can't believe how it transpired. I mean, it's already odd that he'd rather listen to you blasting 'Canon in D' or even 'The Winner Takes It All' than to complete his assignments. For him to compliment you as well? Babe, that takes it to a whole new level. Is he cute?"

"To me, yes, but to you, I don't know."

Hoping that her good friend, Sophia, will be able to shed some light into the random encounter with Mike over the library piano, Michelle recollected on how it happened. From the looks of it, Sophia was more interested in checking him out than to help her debunk the incident.

She shook her head and sipped her flat white, gathering her thoughts.

"You should have asked him specifically. Who knows you two will cross paths considering you want a language elective next year?" Sophia sighed. "At least you've a friend if he intends on taking the same elective."

"Six months away. Anything could happen by then. Plus, I'm still unsure if I want a language elective or something else. Let's kill the exams first."

A moment of silence before: “Did he ask for your number?”

“Oh my God, Sophia! What has possessed your mind? Yes, he may be a peer, but you don’t give out numbers to strangers.”

"Not everyone has social media accounts like us, Michelle. Studying for the international law assignment the entire day in the law library has colored my brain grey. Humoring me a bit won't cause any sudden shock or mental harm on anyone."

"Torts." Michelle broke into a grin. "We only added each other on Facebook."

"Go, stalk him. See what he's doing. Establish communication."

"You..." Michelle trailed off when she saw someone who resembled Mike walking past in the distance to the direction of the Hughes building. The person did glance at their direction, but she wasn't sure if it was Mike as he had his brows furrowed, instead of a familiar smile.

Sophia raised an eyebrow, perplexed. "Cat in your tongue?"

"No, just someone whom I thought was him."

"The right opportunity to drop him a message, honey."

"Fine." Michelle whipped out her S5 from her Kipling and punched the words into her phone. "If anything happens, you'll have to take responsibility because you did not qualify yourself. And there is detrimental reliance on my part."

"We've not touched on estoppel in property yet!" Sophia protested, but was interrupted by a ringing phone. "He replied?"

"Let's see." Michelle unlocked the screen, reading aloud the message. "He said, and I quote, oh, no, you've mistaken me for someone else, with a smile. I'm stuck at home, nursing a cold. Haven't been to uni the whole day, and I unquote."

She replied that he should drink more water and catch more rest. She added that she hoped he'd feel better in no time. Her phone almost slipped from her hands when she received his message. "We've a problem here."

"How bad?"

"This." Michelle handed the phone to Sophia. "I hope it's just manners."

Sophia almost squealed when she read the screen. "He will heed your advice and hopes to see you again? He even gave you a wink?!" She looked up and patted Michelle's arm. "This is pretty interesting."

"Ugh, please. I don't know and I prefer not to know. Speaking of which, when is that lovely boyfriend of yours going to show his face? He owes me a proper introduction, man. Don't tell me he's petrified of me?"

"Nah. He's more shy than he is fearful. The time will come."

Sophia almost fell off her chair in the law library when Michelle suggested three weeks later that they seek Mike's help to critique the video that they filmed for a parody. "Of all people, him?!"

Michelle's eyes widened. "Hey, you were the one who asked me to snoop around and find out what he is doing. I discovered from our conversation that he's pretty good at critical analysis, considering that he is not a media student. Do give him the credit of portraying our dear lecturer. I almost thought he's the real one... Until I remembered that there was a sense of sarcasm that Mike couldn't imitate from our lecturer."

"Right," Sophia answered, not lifting her eyes away from the textbook.

"Oh, and to answer your three week old question, he's doing a double degree in arts. I can't remember the first one, but the second is a degree in language, majoring in French."

"Ah, the language of love."

"Wasn't it Spanish?"

"I've no idea. I've never studied French or Spanish before. How did you get him to agree?"

"I told him that I'll treat him to a round of coffee or tea, whichever he prefers, but it has to be walking distance from the uni. Or, more like me buying the coffee of his flavor and delivering it to him on campus. Wait, when the video has gone past the post-production stage and uploaded on YouTube, I'll arrange a mutual timing with him."

"Not bad, not bad at all."

"You are coming along, though." Michelle felt Sophia's eyes on her. "You are coming as a decoy. Yes, he doesn't know you, but I'll let him know that you want to meet him as well. Not to mention, he knows that you are the shier co-creator."

Sophia whined.

"Hey, at least you are able to observe his body language. It always takes a third party to see things that people involved can't see."

Descriptive Poem - Free Verse

Note: Back in CPU, this is one of the many class assignments that I wrote for Writer's Craft. I'm using it as a filler post because it's that time of the semester again, when I'm sprawled with books and running amok with revision.

The wind blows at the edge of the cliff.
My tears are like rocks rolling down the mountain.
I held a piece of your heart,
But she held the rest of you.
Dancing in your eyes is her soul.
Watching how your lips twitched,
How your eyes brightened up,
Whenever you spoke of her,
It pierces my heart like a sword.
It weakens my soul.
I saw her in you, you in her.
All I could do without crumbling apart was zone out,
Zone out into a better world of dreams.
If you won't hold me in your embrace,
If my heart and soul can't be yours,
I'll join Hades in the Underworld.
Me or her, the choice is yours.

The Beginning of a Change - Part 2

He floated to the origin of the melody and saw the bespectacled brunette drowning in the audio pieces that she played. What he heard was whimpering pleas for help; it felt that she struggled to battle her personal demons and it was consumed her alive. He felt his throat tightened as he wanted to comfort her in her miserable state. He wanted to soothe the fears that she harbored and whisper that the pain was just a temporary bleak in life.

Not wanting to risk being reprimanded for the unplanned interruption, he leaned against the railing and patiently waited as the music now began to tease his dancing feet. She took a wide tangent and settled for happier, upbeat songs instead. Yet, he waited until she was finished with the piano before slithering over to approach her.



“Hey.” He cleared his throat.

Michelle glanced up from the piano keys. “Just give me a second to compile my piano sheets and the piano will be all yours.”

He saw that her eyes were rimmed red from what he presumed was sorrow. “Oh, no worries. Take your time.” He spoke nervously. “Um, I actually wanted to compliment you for the beautiful presentation. You see, I was at the other side, trying to complete my assignment but couldn’t focus. I gave up and decided to be an audience.”

“Thank you, uh…” Michelle paused, realizing that she did not know that the guy had a name.

He sensed her thoughts and offered a handshake with a smile. “Mike.”

“Ah, Mike.” Michelle rose to full her height and accepted the proffered hand. “I’m Michelle. Nice to meet you.”

“It’s my pleasure.”

“Look, I’m sorry for having disturbed you earlier, Mike.” Giving voice to her suspicions, she continued. “I take it that you’re a student from Adelaide University?”

Mike nodded.

“What faculty are you in?”

“Oh, I’m doing an arts degree. What about you?”

She gulped. “I’m in law.”

“Wow, that’s interesting.” He suddenly caught a glimpse of his watch and sighed. “I’d love to stay back, but I’ve a tute to catch. Will you still be here in about an hour’s time?”

“No, I’m actually leaving in a short while. How about this? Perhaps we could catch up with each other on Facebook, if you use it?”

“Yeah, sure.” He whipped out his iPhone from the front pocket of his jeans. “What’s your Facebook name?”

“Michelle Charlotte.”

She saw him fiddling with the iPhone before he nodded. “Alright, I’ve just added you. Thanks so much, Michelle.”

“No problem! Have fun with your tute, Mike!”

While Michelle gathered her things from the piano and shoved them into her Kipling, she couldn’t believe that a stranger, although a fellow student in the same university, complimented her on her piano skills. Compliments to her were as rare as truffels. She was always at the receiving end of ridicules and reprimands, be it over her piano skills or her song choices.

“This is going to be interesting,” she muttered under her breath before wrinkling her brows. “Wait, did he ram his words together?!”