tout cela sent la fin. the end is near: just 6 more papers and i'll be done. for one month at least, till the orals come. no word in any language can convey how thoroughly sickened i am of studying these days. revision has reached a stage where i practically know what stuff is located on which page, and everything that i ought to know is alr up there, knowledge so forcefully crammed that it's only raring to be regurgitated (in the case of philosophy), or applied to the best of my abilities for the e other subjects. thank god i didn't sign up for the école polytechnique concours (knowing full well that the upper academic crust will wrinkle its nose at my bare-faced audacity..), as that will mean i'll have to work on my physical fitness and read all those computing notes that i've gleefully chucked away in the dustiest recesses of my shelf.

basically, the four sets of exams that i'll be done with differ from this one in that the latter comprises an additional physical fitness test, which includes running and swimming, as well as a computing component. computing has never been my forte, but running and swimming competitively against the french will prob seal my fate faster than u can say "boo!". credit, of coz, has to be given to dear napoléon bonaparte, who just had to add a military dimension to this école. word has it that a 2.4km timing of roughly 9.5 mins had earned this guy the 17th position in a pack of god-knows-how-many. when i heard that, i knew i simply stand no chance.

the papers last week were much easier compared to the previous 2 sets, but this was expected as this set only allows entry into 2nd-grade écoles. remind me again why i love this particular elitist system that sifts out the weaker ones. much as i hate the rigour of it, i have to admit that i've learned a lot. granted, i enjoy grumbling and complaining abt schoolwork, especially philosophy and all that anal shizz that comes with it. but it's only on hindsight that i realised that i've unknowingly studied some of the greatest works ever written in the european literary world. authors from the canon of frenc literature include pierre corneille, rené chateaubriand, marcel proust and malebranche. i learned that the classical theatrical period is characterised by a pole of symmetry and equilibrium, be it in the timing e.g the rhythmic pacing in the scenes, or the venue e.g scenes where all the protagonists are present on stage; whereas the baroque era echoed the tumultuous history then, which is marked by a weakening of royal power, violence by duels and a tyrannical control of the arts. as for the Spanish Golden Age, we did Cervantès' Don Quichotte ( or don quixote in english) last year and analysed the power of imagination through the eyes of that spanish errant knight (gawd, i can surely remember those awful dissertations where i have to expound on what imagination does to man, and i remember resisting the urge to conclude that 'too much idle imagination makes one loony'). this year, we studied the edification of the marxist philosophy in the wake of the french revolution, and its links with the class struggles and the misunderstanding that napoléon's nephew would represent the peasants' best interests. what made me vomit blood ten times over however, was the contrast drawn between the ascendant figure of napoleon versus the sham that was his nephew. i rem i was patiently writing the lyrics to an english song for my friend beside me throughout that particular lesson. *shudders* really boring stuff that made my mind wander for a full 2 hours.

in english even, where i have to bi-translate english and french articles, i was somehow able to get a better feel of the nuances in the french language, and i think that sorta helped me in my english as well. engineering physics and chemistry are quite okay, so no comments there. but mathematics, my my my... what can i say about my most revered subject? let's just say i wldn't wanna have anything to do with it in the future if possible. having said all this, it's quite depressing to know that after sitting for so many exams, there's no point aspiring to enter a top-notch grande école as the system is against me. besides, i cannot discount the fact that i'm prob too dumb to beat the french at their own game. dreams wilting even before the seeds are sown. hurray.

thankfully, i had a quick getaway last wkend to visit F in notts. it was a very last-min decision. i was supposed to be studying last tues nite, but i went online instead, saw his mail, decided to try my luck at eurostar.com, and miraculously managed to get my tix at 60 euros!!! and so i was able to meet F after like one year. the train ride there was spent admiring the countryside and reading an excellent novel that was left unfinished from the previous eurostar journey. as the train tore past vast fields of yellow oil-seed flowers, i found it hard to believe that i actually dared to travel during my exam period, and my heart gave a guilty lurch. but i consoled myself with the fact that i'd have bummed my time away even if i had stayed in paris. the weather's so beautiful out there i surely wldnt stay at home to study.

anyway, 4 hours later and i was finally there! hardly any pleasantry was exchanged, and the interaction pretty much cleaved to tradition within 5 mins of meeting him. we were soon catching up and laughing like hyenas throughout that day. nothing much has changed- the slightest thing could set us cackling away like idiots, and i pity whoever crossed our paths in sainsbury's and at broadmarsh; for we found crude humour in the most banal of things, and were positively a social hazard to those around us.

the 3 days passed by in a peaceful blur, and i think this breather did me much good as the past 3 weeks have taken a great deal out of me. a big shout-out definitely goes out to F, for having very graciously hosted me despite this being his exam period, and for all the incessant cooking that he had had to do to satiate this bottomless pit aka moi. it's a pity though, that the summer temperatures are really starting to soar, as it brought about a lull in the conversations in the afternoons, and was prob the cause of his splenetic behaviour. all in all, it was a gd break. on the last morning, i had time to do a bit of shopping. have i mentioned how cheap some books are in england? waterstone's apparently has half-price offers weekly, and W H Smith at st pancras has '3 for 2' offers. i spent a gd full hour in them, and if i weren't already cumbered with 3 bags, i wld prob have gotten myself a few more books. how to find such regular offers in paris, or even in spore u tell me?? and oh, i had a field day at M&S's 'simply food' section as well. i went to notts with 2 bags and a double chin, and came back to paris with extra poundage and a bonus triple choco-fudge chin. looks like i left singapore last august as jevon, and will return back home this summer as jevons. hi mum! hi dad! please get me a new bedframe just in case. im so generously padded at the sides now that i look like a male version of this:

gwen stefani- fantabulously rotund. she cld be an airbag or a trampoline for her kid.

i can't wait to stuff myself silly when i go back to spore. in 2 months' time, hopefully.

i just can't resist putting this up too (after all, this was THE picture at this marvelous photoshop site that made me snort out e water i was drinking):

COUPLE PORTRAIT- when horses unite

come may 30th, sex and the city will be released in the US. if i were to be on the french cinematic board that does the translation for movie titles, i think id come up with 'horse and the city', 'sex at the farm' , or 'Mr. Big and horse' etc. gosh, it will be so much fun horsing around with the titles, bad pun fully intended. =)