the death of my chair and other stories.
written: 2:08 a.m. on Thursday, Nov. 22, 2007

Lovely image, I'm sure. To make things really clear, a couple of ocular proof:

A clearer picture:

Utterly tragic. My mom ordered me a new chair but it hasn't arrived. How long does it take for one to get hold of a bloody chair? And what inconvenient timing, considering I've been sitting in this chair longer these past few days than I have the entire year combined.

Okay, I greatly exaggerate, but I'm sure the discomfort and inconvenience of my chair dying on me are pretty clear. When I'm sitting in the chair, like I am now, I have to carefully shift the backing so that it doesn't fall to one side and carefully lean into it so that it doesn't suddenly give way which would then cause me to fall backwards. MY CHAIR IS RETARDED. I HATE MY CHAIR.

I can't believe I'm talking about my chair.

Anyway, I went to school to print my notes and going to school reminds me of why I avoid school like the plague when it's the exam period. Listening to a couple of people discuss Evidence in the Computer Clusters freaked the shit out of me. The very second I heard the word "hearsay" being mentioned, I wanted to get the hell out of there, but I couldn't 'cause my notes were still printing. How do I put this? It's bloody stressful. I prefer doing things at my own pace, even if it's slow as hell, because once I start panicking, nothing gets done. The brain becomes clogged with irrelevant and unhelpful thoughts like, "Shit I don't know this I'm going to fail OMG why am I so stupid?" Objectively such thoughts are not helpful and it therefore stands to reason that it is only wise for me to avoid situations and individuals that have the power of planting such thoughts into my head.

Because I think a part of me actually believes in thinking positively. I keep telling Jolie to think positive and sometimes I only half believe myself, but I think it works. At the very least it keeps the negative, panicky thoughts at bay, which is very valuable in itself. And it's always better to arm yourself with thoughts like, "I fucking rule the world, okay?" when you enter an exam hall rather than, "I am going to fucking fail, okay?" Don't you think so? Of course the truth of the assertions are another issue altogether; it's the mindset that's important.

I have no idea what I'm talking about. It's 2.20 a.m. and I've just had two cups of coffee. I hope I can last till 6 a.m. considering I haven't even showered.

No, I haven't been mugging the whole day. I finished my right to silence notes at around 5, then went to school and printed my stuff, then went to West Mall to get some stationery, then came home and organised my notes, then had dinner, then watched another episode of Dirty Sexy Money to which I am rather hooked, then spent some time playing Scrabulous while continuing to organise my notes, and when it was ten past midnight I decided it was time to start on Hearsay, but only the muggers 'cause it's just way too much shit for me to start from scratch. I think I should have started earlier. Oh well.

I wanted to park at the outdoor car park when I went to West Mall 'cause I'm not a fan of basement/multi-storey car parks. I drove into the car park, and to my dismay saw only an empty parallel lot. I thought, "Shit. How?" Then I decided to try and try I did, and in the end I gave up. Why? Because when I straightened my car, it was only halfway in the stupid lot. How utterly embarrassing. Luckily the probation plate exonerated me from full embarrassment.

I proceeded to the basement car park where I then proceeded to hold up a queue of about six cars as I attempted to park. I over-estimated the distance and almost reversed straight into the car to my right. I had to go forward/reverse about ten million times before my car was into the lot enough for the queue of cars to proceed and I think the driver of first car was totally laughing at me. In the end I was too close to the car on my right but hey, at least no contact was made.

Also, I hit 110 km/h for about three seconds at that stretch of road just after turning out of school, where you go under the overhead bridge. Damn cool!

On another note, I hereby declare Hearsay to be the biggest pain in the ass for this semester, trumping even all the nonsense for Personal Property Law which are definitely and objectively complicated. Then again, maybe I say this because I haven't done Personal Prop, but all the same, Hearsay is horrible.

I mean, you have strange cases like R v Ratten which hold that the operator's evidence to the effect that the deceased made a call saying, "Get me the police please" before she was allegedly murdered by her husband is not hearsay when it's rather obviously hearsay. Because I don't understand how it's not hearsay. I don't understand why it's relevant to show the deceased's state of mind and therefore it's relevant circumstantial evidence, or in other words, it's evidence tendered not for the purpose of proving the fact in issue, which is that the accused killed his wife, but for the purpose of showing that the deceased (the wife) was in a state of fear. Because the logical inference to be drawn is that the wife feared the husband (since the husband was on trial for her murder), which is thereby an implied assertion that the husband murdered her. Why else would she fear him?

But even as I say this I can't explain why I agree with the Privy Council in PP v Subranamian whatever I can't spell that the accused's evidence that he was threatened by some terrorists to carry the weapons is not hearsay. I agree with the Privy Council that the evidence relates to the accused's state of mind, and that whether or not the threats are real or what was said by the alleged terrorists to the accused could be interpreted as threats are not relevant.

Simply put, I can't distinguish Subra-whatever from Ratten. Both show state of mind. Does the fact that Ratten involved a third party matter? If so, how does it matter? I have no freaking idea.

As a strategy then I shall avoid Hearsay questions like the plague and hopefully I won't be forced into a situation where I choose it because I have no choice.

I suppose there was no implied assertion in Subra-whatever? I hate Hearsay. I want to die.

Additionally, I don't understand how the air ticket case can even possibly be construed as hearsay evidence. I mean, I get that the argument was that it was tendered to show that the guy was on the flight, which was a fact in issue (relevant fact? What?). But isn't that...I don't know, isn't that like an eye-witness saying that he saw X at the scene of the crime with the bloody knife in this hands? In fact, isn't the air ticket like a murder weapon with the accused's fingerprints all over it? The murder weapon asserts that the accused committed the crime. Similarly, the air ticket also asserts that the guy was on the flight, especially since it is a used air ticket. But no one would contend that the murder weapon is hearsay evidence. So why was the air ticket argued to be hearsay evidence? (Apart from the possibility that the defence was desperate.) I don't see how it was even in issue, but thankfully it was held not to be hearsay so I suppose it doesn't really matter.

And all that computer print-out/police sketch/photo fit nonsense - oh my god do these people have nothing better to do? Why litigate bloody nonsense at all? It's just giving poor-thing Year 3 law students extra work when the non-extra work is already heavy enough.

I need to resolve that Ratten versus Subra-whatever conflict; otherwise it's gonna haunt me in my sleep.

But if I don't even intend to do a Hearsay question, why bother at all?

I swear, this exam period could NOT end fast enough.

In other news, just like I expected, I got my period. Hahaha. The PMS never lies.

Lastly, I would like to announce to the whole world that Mag is amazing. Every single legal database that NUS subscribes me wasn't working for me last night and I had to get my Right to Silence cases in order to do my notes. So I was all pissed and on the verge of tears (seriously) when I messaged Mag to ask her if she had the cases. Five minutes later she called and said that she didn't have them, but she could download them for me and send them to me - which she did. Even though she has four papers and I only have two. Even though she was studying for her own papers.

I love Mag this much, and so much more.

before sunrise // before sunset

Previously:
- - Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2017
I'm moving. - Sunday, Jul. 11, 2010
In all honesty - Tuesday, Jul. 06, 2010
What I want for my birthday... - Sunday, Jul. 04, 2010
On Roger's behalf. - Friday, Jul. 02, 2010