Freedom...


Whew! The exams are finally over.


Though, I'm not sure how I will do. Somehow or other, I still worry about my results. People tell me that I'm a worry-wart, but I simply cannot resist the urge to worry! Gosh, if only they know how difficult it is to just not worry. Life for me is filled with an endless stream of things to worry about. Weird right?


I wonder how I'm going to enjoy my holidays now. Hmm... I can't visit my brothers and their families this year as my holidays do not coincide with Mnemosyne's. We had initially agreed to go and stay at my brothers' place during December. But now we can't! This is so irritating! I don't want to go alone as I hate the idea of flying by myself. Eh, it can really be very boring. I mean, you're up in the air all alone with no one to talk to and share food with. Then, if the flight gets delayed or something, you are resigned to being by yourself. Boring!


I'll probably think of something to do, knowing me, the one who can never sit still. :0)

~ ~ ~ Skye's telling at 10:57 PM ~ ~ ~
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Battle for middle earth...


While the Hobbits, Elves, Dwarves and Humans battle against the Orcs and Uruk-Hais for middle earth, I have to do battle with my exam tomorrow. I'm not so sure whether I've managed to cover everything that I'd need tomorrow, but I live in hope!


After Literature, it'll be another of my English language paper. On Friday morning, I will sit for my Phonetics exam. God! My assignment for this module was difficult to attempt. I had to analyse my recorded speech and compare it to my tutor's recorded one. It was a nightmare! I pray that the exam would not be that tough.


I really enjoy my Literature classes! It's been some time since I've felt this way. I think that it's because the classes are taught differently this semester, unlike my previous Literature classes back in secondary school and during the past few semesters. For my current module, it's all about one's perspectives on Literature. I like to write about my view on things!


2 more battles to go and I'll be able to enjoy my holidays! :0)

~ ~ ~ Skye's telling at 11:33 AM ~ ~ ~
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Inundated with Exams!


Life sure is stressful.


What with being buried under a mountain-load of exams to take, one can only freeze the frolickings for the moment until Pollock calls or when the exams are over, whichever is earlier. I wonder, if Pollock really calls, would I open the door for him? Or would I yell at him to get lost because he is interrupting my studies?


Would life be kind to me and grant me an escape route? Sometimes I just wish that I could end it all and not have to suffer on earth. What is life, that which makes one suffer in pain and agony? Or that which makes one jubilant beyond measure? I really do not know at all. What I have to do now, is to return to the old grindstone and mill away.


Till then, I pray that the Furies will not overcome me.

~ ~ ~ Skye's telling at 7:31 PM ~ ~ ~
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So much to study!


And so little time. Really, the amount of things that I have to memorise for the next 2 papers just seem to pile up, and up and up. I'll be having my Literature exam on the 18th and I still have lots more stuff to squeeze into my brain. I think that my brain is probably revolting against this huge load of information!


Hmm... Literature's not too bad somehow. You just need to memorise certain sections of the required texts and some quotations from other relevant books. I love the subject, but not when it comes to taking the exam! But, my assignment, which takes up 40% of the entire module grade, was pretty easy to do. Not that it was a breeze, but just that I enjoyed doing it.


Just like I enjoyed doing my Pragmatics exam. I know that you'd probably think that I'm a weirdo, but it's the truth. My classmates cannot understand how on earth I can actually enjoy doing an exam. I also don't know how to explain this feeling to them. It's kind of like a sense of satisfaction, like the warm feeling you get when you eat chocolates. Did you know that I was smiling and humming during the entire paper? Heeheehee!

~ ~ ~ Skye's telling at 7:09 PM ~ ~ ~
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Pragmatics...


What is it about Pragmatics that has me going bonkers over it? I'm not so sure. I think that I like the the concepts of Face and Politeness. I really find them very interesting. I mean, it is amazing that there really is a concept of Face in English. 就像华人所讲的面子嘛.


Did you know that each and every one of us has 2 types of Face? One is the positive Face -- the desire to be liked. The other is the negative Face -- the desire to be free, to do what we like to do. We do actions or acts that threaten the Face of people everyday, during our interactions with them. Such acts are called Face Threatening Acts or FTA. When we do an FTA, we are actually saying that we don't care about the other person's Face at all.


There are 4 ways to commit an FTA:
1) Going Bald on Record -- Commit an FTA when you have no fear of repercussion.
2) With Positive Politeness -- With redress to the hearer's positive Face.
3) With Negative Politeness -- With redress to the hearer's negative Face.
4) Off Record -- Commit it with metaphors etc...


Of course, the best thing is not to do an FTA at all!


Hey! I just had an exam on it today and I still can remember all about it. It was a morning paper and it was not too bad, quite okay in a way. Hmm... this sounds like one of Leech's maxims, the Pollyana Principle. Nope, this wasn't tested for the exam, but I happened to read it somewhere, so I kind of remembered it.


You know what? After my paper, I took a cab home, bathed and went out with Mnemosyne and Winter Magick. We went to watch Shark Tale! I love Lenny! He's so cute, in the show. I suddenly developed an aversion to studying straight after the first paper that I decided I needed to relax. So out we went, and had fun together!


If you CANNOT see the Chinese words above, click 'VIEW', then 'ENCODING', then 'UNICODE (UTF-8).

~ ~ ~ Skye's telling at 10:07 PM ~ ~ ~
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