Okay, just going to quickly update before I go for youth group meeting at church later.

First off: Jerry, so fun!! Makes me also wish I had decided to go USA after all =P And yes, your period is after the apostrophe (in reference to your post). As is, 'sakai'. Sorry, I just had to answer that!

Well, today has been a quite upside-down day; see, we were supposed to be having an Economics test today, and I was a bit apprehensive, having done little revision. I had two free study periods before lunch, so I was thinking I'll just study the whole way through.

Anyway, as with the case - and ALWAYS, with Economics, this is the procedure for What Happens When You Have an Economics Test:

• Econs students in Period 1 take their test. Too bad for them, but lucky for others...
• Period 2. The questions have leaked. Why am I not surprised?
• Recess. According to statistics, and judging from my personal experience, about half the Economics students know, or have an idea of, what is on the paper.
• The situation becomes a huge game of Telephone: where one student tells another, who tells another, who tells another, who tells another...
• Lunchtime. Basically by now, virtually everyone who are Economics students (98%, probably) know what the questions are, have looked up the answers, and are "prepared".

Except that, in today's case, what made the situation twice as bad was the fact that the test paper was based on a past paper, and the answers were online on our school website.

See, the system works this way: every student has his/her own page which you can access by typing in your User ID and password. And on your page, you can access your subject courses, whereby teachers put up solutions to tests we have done, lesson materials, etc. And occasionally, a few past year papers for the diligent few.

Those past year papers sometimes come with suggested solutions.

It doesn't take much to guess what had happened. So with a few modifications to the earlier scenario I have presented, this is what happened:

By Period 3, people were printing the answers from the computers at the library, with a few actually photocopying to resize it to a miniscule size to smuggle into the classroom.

By Period 4, the word that "The answers are online!" have spread like wildfire. The "wonders" of technology. And the student grapevine is as ripe as ever.

By lunchtime, you can see students studying the answers, memorizing...

And by Period 6, the last period of the day, which was when my Economics class is... the situation was pretty much out of hand. I mean, the Economics test has turned into one huge, giant FARCE.

And somehow, I wasn't too surprised when in between changing classes from Period 5 to 6, the word already reached our ears that "the test has been cancelled". The teachers have called our bluff. The conspiracy has been uncovered. The seemingly infallible plot had its flaws, after all. I laugh wickedly at the thought of those students who had spent, excuse me, wasted their credit on their student cards printing out, photocopying...

Haha, that's just mean of me... But I felt relieved: partly, for the extra time, which I can spend revising more, and partly, 'cause I felt guilty about knowing; although almost everyone also knew, except for the odd few. (But come on, the answers were there, the paper was right there, in front of your eyes.) As a friend, Takaaki, put it, "Why are the teachers so stupid to do this?"

So yeah, that's how my day was. Now it's been postponed to next Thursday, and I feel better. It was unfair, and it was simply getting too ridiculous. Even a few rather studious and hardworking people I know were part of the plot. It's absurd.

It's almost laughable.

On another matter, I have to agree with Jerry's last post... coming here, I realize, like him, how much we've been spoonfed and babied. I experienced a lot of "first times" upon my arrival here.. Like, learning how to navigate your way around, taking the bus, making your own decisions, buying your own stuff, and not depending on your parents/driver to chauffeur you around. Instead of asking mom, "Can I go to this or that", you're making that decision for yourself, and being mature and independent. You're on your own out there. There's no mommy or daddy to run back to. They're a million miles away, and what can they do on the phone?

I attended a University of Melbourne presentation yesterday, and the place seems really beautiful, and the credibility and achievements impressive. Applications for international students close on 31st December, and my choices have come down to basically Music, Media or Mass Communication (which I would do Journalism), or I might take Law... But I feel really confused. Oh yeah, congrats, Jerry, on finally knowing what you want to do. =)

No, I'm not going to bother you all with details about my confused state at the moment. And even now, decisions like this, ultimately it's my own, and my mom can't do anything except help and support me.

It's tough 'growing up'.