Saturday, August 30, 2008
cass
Friday, August 29, 2008
ok now that's done. today was more or less wasted another day again =.=
came to sch just to take attendance then went to zh there to eat with terrence and joey. came back and laze arnd watching the teacher's day games... then later went to do the maths mock test... which only 5 of us came to sit down for the paper in class, namely me sze ying dorcas yingxi and diana who came in slightly later... the whole sch is like a ghost town lah... nobody in sch at all...
later came home and went to the comex fair wif my family to get a new TV, ext hard disk and refill for the printer lol... decent crowd even for a weekday. haha i guess we will really be shifting house at the end of the year haha will be missing the good old days in bishan though... cat high ai tong and all the other stuff like bishan park, the small neighbourhood stores which we bought sweets from when we were young blah blah
yah and now here i am after 3h of torture doing the nj mid yr 08 super sian...
time i think is really in fast forward mode. 3 weeks prelim ends meaning 40 days left to A's then minus another week for going through papers then we'll be left with 33 = approx one more month... too fast too furious man.
Thursday, August 28, 2008
compre 1st question what is the meaning "axiomism"... stunner....
it was so mentally taxing that by the time i reach the aq i was like dozing off on the table.
not to mention today's weather was so nice... raining and windy. haaaa.... on top of mentally drained by the gp paper. felt like after a tedious maths paper 1 haha
went home did the a level maths mock paper 2 to prepare for tmr's maths
then hit the sack... super nice day to sleep.
such blissful slumber... let's u forget that crappy paper :)
and tmr's teacher's day! lol damn and we are wondering why there is maths mock test tmr...
cat high? maybe see how haha
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
THERE SHE IS!! Step 1 (A short animation)
watch! very nice. got till ep 4 ep 5 still haven come out yet :(
GP. paradox of happiness.
for the first time in my 3 yrs i'm kinda worried for gp. hence explaining my actions haha
btw hci notes compared to ours is way superior in terms of argument and concepts.
went to consult mr ng about how to improve my summary aq and compo...
and i realised that for my gp to move up by just one grade, there is like so much things that need to be done.
coherence.language. reasoning framework. arguments based on in depth concepts and not merely superficial facts and reasoning...
haiz last time taking a sch based gp exam... this prelims i think would be used as the last chance to test certain newly learnt exam skills before the A's.
while going through the common test aq just now, mr ng provoked me into thoughts on what i really wanted out of my future career. at first he asked what uni course i want. so i said prob BA or geog.
however geog is not that likely as it limits me to being a teacher (as mentioned in the prev post...) then i said though i dun mind being a teacher, i would also like to earn enough to support my family and parents to live a comfortable life and being a teacher doesn't seem like one of the means to do so.
then mr ng asked " then what do u consider as a comfortable life for ur family. if u work for say 10h a day and dun spend time with ur family as u are too engrossed in ur promotions and work, does it make ur family happy? or would u do something that u like, earn less, but be there physically and emotionally for ur family." " there is a fine line between being trapped in a hedonistic treadmill or in the endless rat race chasing after wealth and earning enough money to lead a comfortable happy life with ur family."
made me spend the whole bus trip home thinking bout it. and i still dun have the ans yet.
luckily i got 6 mths to think of the ans... (aft A level results come out)
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
for my 2nd visit with my new doc, cannon something ( cant remember)...
utterly sian... went there and then his senior dentist in charge of him examined my teeth.
" you have not been putting ur rubberbands issit?"
" i got leh the whole day and at night when i slp"
"u sure not, coz u put the rubberbands for so long still not aligned perfectly leh"
"cfm plus chop garuntee got put leh"
doc see again...
"ok... seems like got put. but then seems like we align to far left alr. (at first was too far right)"
then i'm like =.=
what the hell man... u at first say i nv put still ok now tell me u overcorrect the alignment?!?!
sian.
then he say "normally most ppl 6mths after op can take out liao. u now 9 mths post op alr ah... hopefully by end of the year can take out."
double sian...
eh not my fault liddat lor i'm not the dentist here who opt to put it for so long zzz.
then later dr cannon ask me what color i wan. so being alr so sian i just randomly picked red and yellow since the olympics just ended. then he come and ask, olympics over alr, and u pick china colors? u not from china rite? =.=" again must i be a chinese national to support china? for some guy who is in dentistry and prob scored super grades for his A's and uni, he aint that smart too...
as for today, the mock geog paper was just a brain killer. can u imagine dumping a whole geog syllabus into a 3h paper. with 10 questions and 2 bonus questions... it was so boring that by the time i reach the last part i just decided to write in point form for most of the ans. hence i had bout 45 min to stone around haha... turns out that the ans scheme and mine didn't differ much :) though admittedly there are some stuff that i really have no clue and need to relook at. e.g. global...
random: zhang zilin will be my new phone wall paper now :)
Sunday, August 24, 2008
only 2 courses come to my mind.
that is GEOG and/or BUSINESS MANAGEMENT.
now the next question comes into my mind.
what in the world are u gonna do with a geog degree?
ans: teacher/lecturer. NEA worker. met service. and civil servant in the stats department.
prob: i dun see myself as any of the above in 10-15 yrs time maybe other than a teacher/lecturer whose pay is stuck at a not so high yet not so low range of anywhere from a 3-10k?
soln: hence a double degree. to serve both practicality and interest. you get to learn what u like and have a backup plan in life, in terms of career opportunities.
so now comes the nxt set of problems:
1) to apply for such a program, according to the nus website, it says the candidate must achieve excellent grades in his A level examinations. (IYOW: score 4 A's)
2) so far in nus, ntu and smu their double degree programs are all BA and law/ec/engineering etc. all but those FASS courses which means no geog. apparently u can try to apply for it, success aint certain though...
soln:
get straight A's aka mug like hell now
pray hard
if the first prob is solved and the 2nd one cant be helped, overseas scholarship?
last option, dun even bother at all with geog :( life is made up of hard decisions and in e pragmatic society we are in now. practicality will have to take over passion. unless if sacrifices are to be made.
:'(
FST?
ppl might say that they are foreign borned players and the silver medal won in the tabletennis women can might as well be China's considering that all 3 members are chinese born nationals that later gave up their citizenship for a pink ic, with feng tian wei only becoming a citizen jan this yr, but i say its still a singapore victory that matters.
after reading sumiko tan's article on the straits times today about how she feel that they are not born singaporeans and how they are unable to assimilate into our society, i'm liking thinking... for one thing her name sumiko suggest a japanese heritage, secondly she looks like one. thirdly if that's the case i suspect that she does have a close relative ie either a parent or grand parent who is a japanese. hence for her to say such a thing seems utterly ironic. what about them who also entered singapore to find opportunities. is she saying that their contributions to singapore no matter how big or small is insignificant as they were not born in singapore? utterly ridiculous...
in a small global city like singapore where immigrants from all over the world come and seek opportunities, i dun see any problems with foreign born athletes at all. after all, u think its so easy for u to leave ur home country and family behind and simply root urself in a foreign land?
i dun think so. furthermore people like li jia wei has been in singapore for 13 years out out of her 27 years, so to say that they aren't true singaporeans, i think is a tad cruel and mean considering half her life was spent in singapore and she helped us break the 48 year medal-less streak to clinch a not too bad silver. as for feng tian wei who only got her citizenship last year, i would say life is a matter of opportunity and in her case singapore was the place for an olympic dream. to say she has no loyalty to singapore is too early, and to say that she is still not a true singaporean is harsh as she only came in so recently. only time can tell. and seriously after winning a medal for singapore how can one not feel a strong sense of pride.
haha just some food for thoughts... (and indirect practice for AQ for thurs)
Saturday, August 23, 2008
what if...
coming to think of it, it really seems not long ago that i had my first tutorial too...
life seems to be in a kind of time warp lately where it speeds up and slows down at moments when u least want it.
Time! Freeze! Put ur hands up in e air and don't move!
frankly speaking, after 3 long years, fighting and crawling till this moment, now that i'm gonna reach the peak, suddenly i dun wanna go there all the way anymore for i know that after the peak lies a free falling cliff. so many uncertainties. after nov 18th this year, i'll step out of ny to become an alumni member. and then move on to the next phase of life where 2 years will be spent in the army and then later to uni. 2 years is indeed a long time. would the frens u made in jc just simply fade away into the nxt phase of life or will it really be frens forever like they all say. at this point, everytime i reflect upon my life, i cant help but ask what if...
i had not entered ny in the first place?
i had not retained?
i was in a different class?
i did not join DB?
i chose to spend more time with the class last yr instead of the DB ppl or the 29-ers?
would things now be different? yes.
would i like such a lifestyle? maybe.
BUT... if given a choice to start all over again, knowing such things would happen, would i have made the same choices as i once did?
i would say yes to most of them. for each and every choice i made led to different outcomes and allowed me to meet the dear frens i have today...
imagine no ny = no 0622, no 0728, no krt, no db that is the equivalent to about 100 people disappearing from my life excluding the other frens made along the way like the 1st 3 months ppl, the 0729 ppl, the pe class ppl etc.
this whole year really fleeted by. it was in jan when aft my op when i tot i wld quit frm db as i felt like i was dragging the team down wif such pathetic fitness level then. then i held on week after week at a time. then came march block test. later april was A div. we cried. we parted our ways. yet our bonds still held strong. then june. mid years. then now end august. couple days left to GP prelims and officially having the last tut in our jc education.
darn 3 years ago in ny i wld nv in my wildest dreams have said what im gonna say now...
i think im gonna miss ny.
my class of 21 girls and one guy (i gotta admit its awkward at times yet there are many fond memories too). the school which i did many ridiculous stuff (like photocopy my face with mel, jj, bourne haha). the gym where we slogged like mad. the chicken rice store which seem to be the staple diet for 2 years of my life. the track where i broke my 2.4 timing into the 9 min barrier. the pull up bar where i hit 30 pull ups in one shot. most importantly my frens... the thing that kept me going on despite all odds, without them this school is nothing. with them its everything :)
and to my dear class...
i know i haven really gotta know most of u as well as i prob shld. but i just hope that our class will remain tight and closely knitted even after our days in NY are over. haha. life will not be the same without u guys (erm i mean girls, and guy for gabriel lol) one for all, all for one. lets help each other reach the finish line together at the same time to share the gold medal! for A's in the A levels! and really frens forever!
Thursday, August 21, 2008
econs on sat.
geog on tues.
gp on thurs.
and maths on fri after the teacher's day celeb.
and if it makes one feel more complete, there is a phy time practice tmr.
sure ppl can say its no big deal coz nobody's gonna mark most of the test other than econs and GP which btw marks the start of the prelims... BUT one must realise that screwing up any of these mock papers meant a high chance of screwing ur prelims too... not to mention for phy if i dun put in any effort, the risk that involves GT messing up my life is real great.
oh yah our dear principal now says it is banned to use vulgar languages in college esp if it is directed at teachers... by doing so we risk getting expelled on the spot zzz...
i think its simply bull... expulsion coz u said a vulgar word. hmmm... that's interesting
one last thing, check out e teachers in charge of tmr's nsp program. W and V haha...
Monday, August 18, 2008
BIRTHDAY!
PRINCE FUDI JACK-SON
named by dorcas and nad (:
meaning of the name: F(rog)(r)UDI JACK SON(of jack)
ie a chimera of the words frog, rudi, jack and son
lmao frog and pig given by hui rong, the snacks supplied by both my sis and those inside Prince Fudi by huiying and calissa of course haha
and srsly speaking miss low hui rong the pig nor the frog both do not represent me lor... thanks anyway haha!
oh yah and thanks huyang dina kris and calsia for the bdae muffin yah! lol reminds me of the bdae 'pao' i had a couple years back lmao
now the bdae cake!
bird nest
thanks mum for ur wonderful meal. mmm... chicken chop.
sure looks like a restaurant meal and taste like one maybe even better too :)
today is considerably perfect. i woke up late for school around 730 liddat then left the house arnd 750 which almost guaruntee that i'll either be late or only just on time for school under normal circumstances which i gotta wait for the bus. but then when i reached the bus stop, guess what 410 came. then at bishan 58 also came almost immediately :) if that's not all, i reached school super early somemore lah like 810 lol.
then got back econs test. i passed! 25/50 first time in the whole year i passed! yay!
on top of that today's lessons were like almost all free periods in a way where not much thinking is necessary lol
anyway once again to all who made this day special
thank you!
Sunday, August 17, 2008
now off to see if phelps win the last of his 8th gold medal dream then to novena to mug AGAIN... home is always a condusive env to sleep... hence gg out is the only alt.
OH AND ALL THE BEST TO THE TABLE TENNIS TEAM TONITE! HOPE THEY CAN CLINCH A GOLD!
but then again can u imagine sg pays $1.5 mil for an olympic gold... if we had phelps then our govt would have been so broke lol. $8.5 mil off the coffers alr.
TO ALL WHO'S GETTING SICK OR HAVING HEALTH PROBS LATELY, TAKE CARE YAH! BE IT FOR A's OR O's WHATEVER JIA YOU!
Saturday, August 16, 2008
the past the present the future.
later went out to meet the 06/07 db guys to hang out and talk. met yvonne, kai ling and lin hong too at ps. they just came from ntu db trng :p hmm still considering if i wld join db in uni... anyway we hang out and just talked for most of the afternoon. went from ps to novena and later to bishan. saw james and talked a while. the funniest thing was we found out how weiji who got confined this weekend zzz... cant say much except he accidentally caused a cliff to be reduced to rubble (get the point?) and that it was lucky he was just confined not charged
on the way home i passed by cat high as usual. except that this time cat high scouts are having their bi-annual campfire! woohoo! CAT HIGH SCOUTS ROCKS MAN! so many memories both good and bad. frens and foes. trials and tribulations. as the bus just drove pass, it all just came rushing back to my mind, as if i was brought back in time. reminescence of the past.
智仁勇
ubin camp 05
the bird nest: the cat high scouts way
(the gateway for the campfire 4 years ago.)
Friday, August 15, 2008
and we got back our GP common test and i got 5.5 for AQ! lol but got 3 for summary zzz. most people get it the other way round. must do something bout summary within the next 2 weeks.
which brings me to the next point where i owe dorcas another ice cream... the one who scored better in GP treat the other ice cream...
btw dorcas is super funny lah. apparently she claims that old man is wearing a wig! lol.
explain:
coz firstly he doesn't seem young at all... hence the name 'old man'
this leads to the second point that he has so much hair for his age not to mention its all black
thirdly he never seems to have cut his hair before or at least no one noticed.
evaluation:
(a) either he uses some hair growth formula and hair dye
(b) he is stress-free hence lesser white hair or in insignificant amounts
(c) OR..... he wears a wig and is actually bald rofl
tmr maths 8-11am sianz... if i do badly, i think i'm gonna be damn sian lah so close to A's and still screwing around my maths. complex no. differentiation and its apps. well off to try to clear some doubts for maths now...
and my poor mer(lion/tikus) got catnapped by huyang yesterday lol. yesterday was ah meng and merlion day. dina brought ah meng to school :)
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
4 million pounds... in my dreams
for claims kindly contact the claims agent Via her information below.
Name:Mrs. Lizzy James
E-mail: mrslizzyjames@jmail.co.za
Regards,Mr. Norris Wagner.
Information DirectorUK Gaming Board.
OHHH THIS IS SO COOL if it was real that is... lol i mean who do they think i am? a dumb ass maybe? lol pls lah i've never even breathed the air in anywhere near or in europe before let alone UK to buy a lottery ticket... who ever who created this retarded email must really be dumb coz 1stly if its really by the uk gov would the sending add be uk@uk.uk? or would they ask u to reply with such a retarded email...
something really random esp with the olympic fever on...
the US gold medal torpedo... michael phelps. 5 gold medals and 5 new world records. totally imba. and 3 more coming his way.
oh yah while coming home today from nite study (btw i'mm starting to find complex really complex zzz) with yy jason and zl, i saw calissa's fav ki bf HAHAHA! and he stays just one stop before me?!?!?! wth lah and i've never seen him on that bus before... shocking lol
Monday, August 11, 2008
handwriting test??
hmm interesting...
if that's the case i shld be aceing my exams... and that is definitely not happening lol.
my version of that handwriting test is...
first one is for people in good mood and have all the time in the world to sit down, think and write.
second one is for people who dunno how to do the tut and is pissed so the handwriting gets a tad bit horrible
the last one is for exams during the geog or econs paper when (a) you gotta write 20 pages of stuff in that mere 3h. whoever who can still take their time and write neatly is either they got nothing to write or they are just pro. (b) when you realise that u are out of time to complete either ur essay and case study. aka * looks at clock see 20min left , then see paper and then " oh ****, die left 1 more 25 mark essay question still haven touch*
:) new found EC today from np canoeing lol sit opp me somemore haha. too bad alr attached lol jkjk. at least got "scenery" to see after mugging till ur brain just dies on you. finished normal and hypo plus intl trade today and did abit on droughts so that if gotta see HIM tmr then at least can say i prepared my "weapons" hehe
Sunday, August 10, 2008
not bad. quite productive today. manage to finish vectors, binomial and poisson dist and approx revision :)
tmr will be normal and hypo plus econs. then if time permits, hydro revision.
darn this can really get boring isnt it considering that there's nothing much to talk bout everyday but revision...
managed to catch the men's 400 individual medley finals where michael phelps broke the world record and clinched gold. the gap was like so huge lah. i mean its like more than one body length... super cool. and sianz china is getting own in bball against usa... currently its 56:41...
ok that's all dudes. off to catch some zzz's and get ready for another crappy day mugging again... it cant get any better than this can it... a 4 day long weekend to mug. hopefully can catch a movie tmr before we start to mug again *desperately hope* lolz :)
Saturday, August 9, 2008
rants. u can totally not read this at all :)
Explain how volcanic eruptions can affect weather
“can you explain how and what nat events can cause climate change? I mean lyk volcano may result in e at mo but also can cause global warming coz of added pollution yah? Any others? And for droughts how can they predict it other than el-nino models as mentioned in ur notes”
“See me on tues”
Blah blah
“Not in syllabus to cover nat causes over earth’s history. But I gave a reading. Vol eruptions cool earth. Only GH gases responsible for warming.”
“I saw that reading but nt enough to ans e nov 05 tut question not to mention e prev question 2nd part on how nat events influence climate change…”
“You may have confused evidence for climate change with its causes. Read questions again. Otherwise see me on tues.”
“I think I gotta consult u on tues then. E questions from e tut is …” ( read above for question )
Till now no reply= speechless and that I’m rite lol. I mean who sets a tut question that aint in the syllabus and when asked bout it say I read the question wrongly zzz…
won't say who but most people can directly infer... but seriously speaking i think he is worse than mr N. at least mr N knows his stuff and dun go acting like he knows but act do not know...
to those who read and knows who i'm talking about, take his words with a pinch of salt for i tried asking him another question on a prev occasion and he gave me a totally wrong ans and then asked me to find out on the internet...
grats to those who actually got through reading the post. and sorry to all who bothered lol.
Friday, August 8, 2008
happy 08-08-08!
today's must do events:
watch the opening ceremony of the beijing olympics.
grab a birthday cake for dad as its his 50th birthday!
the rest would of course be to finish up the revision needed for this and nxt week. zzz.
such a nice long weekend somemore as mon is another hol in lieu of nat day :)
tmr's national day too! haha. see how it goes... maybe go catch the fireworks at marina square tmr haha
cya! and hope u enjoy the rest of the weekend :)
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
mugging frenzy
the whole school is filled wif nite study ppl even u till 930 which by the way was the time i left sch just now. even going online now becomes freaky. hardly anyone is online these days or even if they were, their nicks will be things like countdown timers or "mugging" or "busy". welll u know what i mean. basically PMs which mostly involve mugging...
well today's nite study was fairly productive. done finish most of my atmo tut 2 essays and currently in the process of finishing up my s8 hypothesis testing tut :) hopefully by this weekend i can finish my entire phy geog syllabus and complete maths - diff, vectors and integration. if poss i think i'll cram in a couple of econs essay outlines too. as much as possible done by this week so i can enjoy my nxt weekend celebrating my bdae :) :) haha! looking forward to the long weekend which unofficially starts on fri and ends on mon. hint* what nat celeb?* lol
well time to continue my maths tut and then off to hit the sack.
JIAYOU PPL. LAST STRETCH ALR. IN 3 MONTHS TIME ITS ALL OVER! NOW OR NEVER...
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
i think that is so true... hmmm but wonder if it applies to guys =x
better not or else all hell will break lose...
why so upset over small matters. what matters is urself and how u treat the situation. dun always get uptight over rather insignificant matters and make a big fuss out of it. not only does it gain unwanted publicity, sometimes if we had to nit pick on these small matters, frens will nt be frens and family will not be family. it takes months and years to forge a relationship, yet a min to ruin it.
ah said my piece. jiayou for A's now!
TAGGED!
B] Tag 8 people to do this quiz & those who are tagged cannot refuse. These people must state who they were tagged by & cannot tag the person whom they were tagged by.Continue this game by sending it to other people.
#1. If your lover betrayed you, what will your reaction be? pissed off and upset. maybe even confront her and give her a well deserved slap esp if it aint my fault at all.
#2. If you found out your lover is a transexual, what will your reaction be? oh pls, i aint as dumb as ronaldo lol. but if it was really true then i'll puke first and then kick the he-she in the .... lol. i mean who in the right mind won't
#3. If you could be at one place right now, where would it be? anywhere that has nothing to do with school work, a levels, prelims and in-house politics
#5. What's your ideal lover like? sweet gentle and always making me laugh
#6. Which is more blessed, loving someone or being loved by someone? being loved...
#7. How long do you intend to wait for someone you really love? saying eternally is so cheesy and impractical, so prolly till she finally changes her heart towards me. unless if i've found another person before that happen :P
#8. If the person you secretly like is already attached, what would you do? bless them and then move on.
#9. Is there anything that has made you unhappy these days? umm... nothing in particular other than seeing people i know unhappy?
#10. What do you want most in life? a smooth-sailing life and a life long partner to share ur world with
#11. Is being tagged fun? its ok i guess. let's u think bout stuff u normally won't bother
#12. How do you see yourself in ten years time? by then hopefully i can take care of mum and dad alr letting them retire and worry free. my dad still expects me to get married by then ?!?!
#13. Who is the current most important person to you? mommy & daddy (:
#14. What kind of person do you think the person who tagged you is? super funny person who is pretty trustworthy
#15. Would you rather be single & rich or married but poor? i'm greedy, i like the best of both worlds. fine maybe not rich but average? i dun wan my loved ones suffering simply coz im poor.
#16. If you could have any animal for a pet, what would it be? i guess it would still be a dog. a golden retriever? well they are still man's best fren
#17. What are one of those things which you would prefer not to do? not being myself.
#18. What kind of person do you think you are? quiet at times but fun loving
#19. What do you define as a bad day? erm as of now, it is test every lesson from 8-5pm and then having to put up wif people's rants and problems during breaks.
#20. If you have to choose between love and friendship, what would it be? the difference is seperated by such a fine thread, to me they are all the same. frens can love each other and lovers can also be frens :)
and finally, i tag:
1. osborne
2. jia jie
3. huyang
4. kristine
5. dina
6. hui rong
7. ren kai
8. edmund
or anyone who wants to do it can have fun with it too!
Friday, August 1, 2008
the countdown begins
8 days to dad's bdae and the beijing olympics
18 days to my birthday
28 days to GP prelims
38 days to prelims
88 days to a levels
isn't 8 suppose to be a lucky number... really 'fa' liao. in this case it is 'fa shen jing' le. suddenly time seems to be trickling away bit by bit ever so quickly. and sleep happens to be proportional to time. as the days go by, the nights grows ever longer. as each week fades past, the feeling seems as though you are watching some fast forward movie watching the daily events flow by. strange.
lately i'm seriously not sure if its just me or is it the class. but every now and then someone will suddenly pop the question on who i like?!?! LOL.
as for the past week, it was rather uneventful other than on mon being hui rong's bdae and we had to celeb it in the morn. to get her to sch that early is such a chore that i'm not even gonna bother to start. huyang's blog captures the gist of it. the other more eventful day was phy prac today where we got to see actual resonance, superpos and electron emission through diffraction grating. it would be officially the first h1 lesson i had that time seems to fly past and we're having fun :) got the video of the superpos but too lazy to upload it. quite cool yah!
next week will be called test week wif maths, econs and gp possibly all on the same day. there goes my weekends.
PS: today is the 1st day of the 7th month... dun stay out too late hor! that's if u believe it in the first place haha!
btw i so hate the ash flying all over the place. esp if it gets caught in my hair urgh....
another random thing: hmm high chance of moving house by end of this yr! to some place called springside near yishun off mandai road. darn if so then i can only fully enjoy the new house for a couple of months till i'm stuck in army for 2 yrs zzz...