The great depression

I'm starting to get the feeling that there is a curse of some sort on this semester's minor thesis (MT) students. I haven't really talked to Mr M, so I have no idea how his MT is going (presumably much better than mine), but HY and I have been experiencing one setback after another. HY's first problem arose (quite unexpectedly) when she tried to negotiate access to the samples she needs for her MT. As HY described it, what should have been a straightforward process dragged on forever, all because of a "laidback" female staff.

HY's second problem was even more unexpected. It seems like the hard disk in her laptop has crashed for no apparent reason. If you're not a student and you can't imagine what life is like without a laptop, then try imagining life without your handphone. And if you are one of those people who do not have a handphone or if you own one for the sole purpose of making calls and it's off most of the time, then, well, I guess there is really nothing I can say to make you understand, so let's just move on. I really hope HY's laptop gets fixed as soon as possible. One, she really needs it for work (and for surfing). Two, I'm bored and I miss my online MSN partner.

On a side note, HY and I met YX on the tram a few days ago and were stunned to hear about a (very powerful) spider which unwittingly and singlehandedly broke her laptop. Mind you, I'm talking about a real spider (the eight-legged kind) and not some newfangled virus. Apparently, the spider had crawled into her laptop and proceeded to get fried on a microchip which is impossible to replace without replacing the entire motherboard.

As for me, I had a really hard time designing the discourse completion task (DCT) and now that I'm done, I can't seem to find any participants! The data collection is really giving me a monster of a headache. I need 24 native speakers and 24 non-native speakers (intermediate level). My questionnaire comes in three versions, which further complicates matters. I've been "jijoing" (jetting-in-jetting-out; courtesy of CR) of classes for the last week, pleading with students to help me fill up the questionnaire. And I have absolutely nothing to show for all that begging so far. I'm so depressed.