Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Rantings

I received an email from the course director yesterday, saying that it is necessary to buy the required course materials. One check with the online college bookstore and I was greeted by a rude shock. The entire check for 6 books and 2 sets of assignments came up to a mind-blowing US$950!

I managed to get 4 of the 6 books from Amazon and saved some US$100. However the US$300+ spent on 4 books is still very overwhelming. I remembered during my entire 3 years in NUS, I did not spend beyond this amount for the numerous books I had.
The other 2 books which happen to be the most expensive books at US$200 each aren't available at Amazon. Thus I had to grit my teeth and ordered them from the college bookstore. In the end, I spent a massive US$820 on books! Imagine the amount of clothes I could get myself here with this check. Ggrr...


Just last weekend, I was talking to Mum and Granny on the webcam for the first time since my arrival. They both mentioned that I looked like I've put on some weight 'coz my face looks rounder now. So sad.
Yesterday on MSN, Rachel mentioned the exact same thing when she saw the pictures taken during Sat's BBQ. Even more sad.
My face really got so round now meh??!! I normally have very light brunch only leh. It's always a combination of banana, muesli bars, milk, corn, etc. Weekday dinners are always healthy and not too heavy too, ever since I started cooking proper meals for the last week. I think I put on 1kg only lor. Ok lah, I will go gym and hit the pool more often, to rid the calories piled up during the weekend meals. I will try to come up with a jogging regime too, and promised I will attempt to shed 2kg and post nicer pictures!


Recent mornings, I been sleeping with a constant fear. I have been awaken by the slightest noise and struggled to get up by 9am. The reason? It's because I never know when the maintenance guys will spring a surprise check on our apartment. What makes it worse is, they have a set of master keys to access everyone's homes! I've been caught in my PJs twice when they visited to do a repair work and an alarm check respectively. I was just short of being caught in the bed as I sprang out of it fast enough to swipe my messy hair through. I really abhor the idea of them having the keys to access our apartments anytime they want to. Why can't they call before they visit? Is making a prior appointment that difficult? A home is a home; a personal sanctuary! Where is our deserved privacy?!

5 comments:

Sarah Tan said...

That expensive!!
I would have tried to borrow a copy of the books and photocopy the books.

However, at least you managed to get them. I couldn't get my textbook because it was sold out. No book to read!

Gladys said...

Yah man! My heart bled when I made e payments.

I need to bring the books to class, so guess it's not a very good idea to make copies of them while the rest of my classmates whip out their books. sigh...

Junyong and Eve said...

maybe can try looking thru ebay? almost everything can be found on US ebay. next time u might be able to find some lightly used 2nd hand textbooks there? :p

Gladys said...

hmm... ok! i tot amazon would have the cheapest books, so i din bother searching on other sites. Now i regretted buying these books coz my lecturers din even touch on them! only asked us to read up during our free time. angry!

Junyong and Eve said...

omg! I must be blind. I just saw your rant about the maintenance guys. They shldnt be allowed to do that!! I know they have a clause usually stating that they can do that but you should tell them you're uncomfortable with this practice instead of suffering in silence!! It's also very unsafe especially if you're home alone!

Even if they're coming by for maintenance, they should inform you beforehand and ask for prior permission to enter when you're not around. Even so, when they come by, they should always knock 1st & loudly shout "MAINTENANCE" once they're in. At least that's what my past rental place guys have been doing...