Well, thanks to NUSSU, the S/U option thing has been made much fairer. We seniors even had a bonus of revocing previous SU/ed modules. However sadly, I did not fare as I hoped for my Information Systems. Eventhough I did not complete the final paper, I did pretty well for my projects and CAs, and thought that a B+ and above was feasible. But guess not, it turned out I only got a B. Good news is that my choice to SU that module (considering I made that choice in sem 2 week 6), was an excellent one, saving me my CAP and my dean's list cert. Bad news is that I could not pull my CAP up, and could not save myself one SU. It did bring back scary memories though, when in semester I actually got 2 B-(s) for modules I thought I could score. Oh well.
Was reading the news just now, and I think I'm not the only one to realise, but has anyone noticed how much different Singapore is going to be in just 3 years time?
Firstly, the much talked about integrated resorts, not one, but two. Marina Bay is going to be a damn happening place very soon, and Sentosa is finally going to become an island Singapore can be really proud of.
Secondly, F1 racing is coming, and its even going to be a street course, and a night racing one too. Very exciting.
Thirdly, news reports just came in that Orchard Road will be undergoing a S$40 million uplift, and its going to look very different, with new themes and concepts, wider walkways, new buildings and more!
Lastly, also a big one, Singapore is actually going to bid for the 2010 Youth Olympic Games. The big news is that sports facilities, especially those in the heartlands, are going to go through major uplifts. Very exciting for both the competition, and also residents who can get to enjoy these revamped sports facilities.
If I am not wrong, there a few more major changes which either I can't think of now, or am unaware of. To think of it, it is great news for myself and my peers, and in that 2-3 years time, we will be graduating, and Singapore's economy looks to soar with these new initiatives. Things are looking very bright and promising for Singapore. Even NUS is 'upgrading' with its new Warren University Town, and the government is even working with NUS to use this new town as accomodation for the sportsmen and women if we win the youth olympic bid.
However the reserved side of me somehow tells me that things are changing at too fast a pace, and its also a little scary how Singapore will be so different is just a short span of 2-3 years.
I really hope some people can learn to prioritise. I really hope some people can at least show some urgency. I really hope that some people stop dreaming. I really hope some people realise how much I am already trying my best to put everything in, so eventhough its already so late, please at least try to do the same with whatever time is left. I really hope some people just wake up!
Yes, I may not be any mind reader, or am not even close to being a psychiatrist of any sort. But I sure can easily see whether someone is really trying or not, or is even bothered or not. Please be fair!
When I was in Brunei going through the Jungle Confidence Course, be it either through the navigation phases or the survival phases, my friends and I would usually lay down at night, looking up into the sky, and somehow or rather, we will always ask ourselves why we are going through all these 'hell'. The funny thing is that, many of us usually cannot really give a true definite answer.
Now that those days are over, I find myself asking the same question in this horrendous period of the semester, in NUS instead of the jungles. I fell asleep last night, only to wake up and realise that its the start of the week again, and I still have so much left to do. Not really sure how I am going to pull through this, but suddenly I am just feeling so sad and down.
When I woke up just now at 4am, I went to soccernet and saw that blackburn won. But even that was not enough to cheer me up, like how a usual blackburn winning weekend would. We are now amazingly 5th in the table. Best start ever since a long long time, winning 6, drawing 3 and losing just 1. But after reading the post match report, I simply closed the page, and went back to my assignments.
Feeling kinda sad. This thursday will be my intercultural presentation, and worse, the deadline for the much dreaded and draining advertising report. But more importantly, it will actually be my 2nd year anniversary with my girlfriend, and yet I just cant seem to find time to get anything prepared for this special day of ours. Just feeling damn moody now.
In my first semester, my biggest project for my semester was probably my Changing Landscape one. Did it with Zhimin, Sham, Jessica and Alicia. We were doing on Joo Chiat and the topic of Peranakan, and we went all out for this project.
We carefully drew up our surveys, and went down to Joo Chiat to conduct our surveys on the locals, and to town to conduct surveys on the foreigners. We toured the Joo Chiat area a few times, took some pictures, and even went to look for shop owners and residents in the area to ask more about about the place. We managed to do interviews with some of the peranakan kueh shop owners. We also managed to contact the president of the peranakan association of singapore, and interviewed him. We then looked up a Prof who is peranakan, and also did an interview on him. Apart from all these primary methods, we also went to look for websites and books pertaining to Joo Chiat and peranakan. Finally when everything was compiled, we stayed over in school and finally managed to rush out our report, all done and nicely formated.
Yes, we did all this for a Singapore Studies module, and our grade turned out to be amongst the average. Lesson learnt, hard work does not necessarily reap rewards. What makes the feeling worse? Is knowing that your friend's group who did everything based on research from the Internet, got a similar grade.
Grades and the certificate is one of the main reasons what we are living our lives for now. But its so frustrating to know that sometimes, as much as you try and try, you just cannot control your grades.
When this week comes to a close, there will be only 3 weeks left of my 3rd semester. 3 weeks seem short, but with the list I am going to come up with, its going to be a hell of a 3 weeks.
18 days I have for my:
- NM2220 Podcast Assignment (just started) - NM2220 Newsletter Project (not started) - NM2201 Project Presentation (not started) - NM3215 Advertising Project (halfway through) - NM3215 Advertising Presentation (not started) - IT1004 Term Paper Assignment (not started) - GEK1520 Final Term Test (not started studying) - GEK1520 Term Paper Assignment (not started)
This list will probably serve as a good reminder for myself. But yet also show how dead I am. Haven used this word since Arts Camp, but this is the time I really wish I could 'fass forward' to the holidays.
Deadlines, deadlines, deadlines. Really hate it. I am having this lazy feeling, eventhough I know that I should be rushing my projects, but just somehow feeling very lethargic and irritated by all the school work.
Been spending the last few hours watching youtube. Was searching for different acapella groups around the world, including those in Singapore. It's really cool how I managed to find so many acapella groups. Since my days in choir, I have always loved acapella singing. For Singapore I now know of Kukrusann, Vocollision, Vocaluptuous, and the more famous, Budak Pantai. But nothing can really beat those world wide ones. King's Singers and my favourite, Rockapella.
Been embeding alot of videos to this blog space of mine recently, and will do so again. Check this out, and you will know why acapella is so cool. And beat boxing too! And yes, all that you hear is human voice and vocal sound effects, no background music or any other special sound effects. 5 minutes long, but worth the watch. Love the robot part in the middle.
How ironic. After typing my previous post on how I have to start rushing for my next project straight away after completing my intercultural project, I fell asleep. And boy it was not a nap. I slept from about 10pm last night, to about 4am this morning. Thats 6 hours. I woke up to bathe, surf the net for a while, and contemplated starting on my next project. But then, I looked at the dark sky, suddenly felt tired again, and went back to bed at about 6 in the morning, and then woke up at around 10am. That adds to about 10 hours of sleep for just yesterday alone. In some way I am feeling guilty that I wasted the time away, but to think of it, it was perhaps time well spent on a much need 'time-out'.
The strange thing is that, this rest did not really make me feel more awake and refresh now. It is enticing me to want to sleep even more. Don't know why. But advertising project is stopping me. Argh, back to work ...
Just rushed out my intercultural project, and am feeling dead beat. Not so sure how Ms Gene will actually like it, but I hope its what she really wants. The sad thing is that there is no time for any rest, as I have to move on to my next project. Really hate this period of time. School has turned into something like a 'house of the dead'. You see zombies walking around due to lack of sleep, you see everyone falling sick, and you see very sad and moody faces. Everyone is just sooo busy and tired.
Anyway, just saw this video, and its real funny. Nice harmony too. To those rushing your projects and feeling stressed, watch this, its cool. Enjoy! :)
This weekend can definitely be considered an ultimate sporting weekend. After a 2 weeks international break, the premiership finally came back this weekend, and yes, it's a good weekend because blackburn won again. They were 3-0 up in the first 32 minutes, and I guess the only disappointment is that they conceded two poor goals near the end of the match. Anyway, it was good that we won, but sadly, all other top 6 teams won and there was practically no change in the table. But I guess I should just be happy for a magnificient start to the season. They always start the season near the bottom of the table, or AT the bottom of the table, but things are finally looking better this season. Lets hope their good form stays.
So soccer aside, yesterday was the rugby world cup! Well South Africa won, but I guess England were shaky right from the start. I did fall asleep towards the end of the match, but I guess South Africa did really well throughout the entire world cup journey, and probably deserved to win the cup more than England. Well, I also hope that this result makes Ms Gene happier, and gives everyone better grades for all her modules' projects, haha.
So with soccer and rugby over, today is the final race for F1! This season is especially exciting as there are actually 3 drivers who can still win the championship in this final race. Race is about to start soon, and I am actually hoping for hamilton to win this one. He has been an exceptional rookie and I think he deserves to win after overcoming all odds as a first year rookie.
Phew, what a sporting weekend. I have however been rushing my intercultural project, and am very tired. Thank goodness these sporting events are keeping me entertained and keeping me awake in the late hours. I suddenly detest doing websites. Back to work, and the final F1 face. Lets hope the coming week will be a good one.
Firstly, just wanna say thanks to those who provided me with their views and feedback on my SEP situation. Will update more on that another time.
It's going to be a super busy weekend for me. I have sooo many projects to do, but just a few minutes ago a sudden flashback just came back to my head. I think I have had this flashback before, and may have blogged about it before too. Yes, the thought of my OCS days flashed through my mind again. Everything from SOC, SEOC, Overseas trips, Commisioning parade, etc. all came to my mind. I really miss those guys, and charlie wing.
Somehow or rather this flashback came from no where, but to think of it, it does remind me of how I have been through tougher times, and what I am going through now is really nothing. I have to be strong!
Chanced upon this video. Although short, but brings back memories. Words can never describe how this day really felt. It represented the toughest but most memorable 42 weeks of my life.
Just received an e-mail today stating that SEP application is finally open. I really want to go for SEP, both for the experience, and also to perhaps freeze my CAP (of course hoping that I can maintain my CAP this sem). However, I'm rather upset as something is kinda stopping me from going to SEP. The whole issue is very confusing, but I will try to sum it up here.
As a diploma holder, I have an exemption of one whole semester. As a result, if I apply for SEP now, it would actually fall into my 5th semester of studies, and that is actually my graduating semester. And for SEP, they are actually not recommending students to go during their graduating semester, as there is this process of credit transfer which will happen only after I come back from SEP. Therefore, if the transfer cannot be made in time, I cannot be succesfully promoted to a Year 4 student for the next coming semester, and would thus waste one semester. Argh!
At first the SEP co-ordinator was very helpful, answering almost 5 to 6 of my e-mails. We were kinda like chatting through e-mail as if it were MSN messenger, as I really had quite a few questions. But her final e-mail kinda left me disappointed and angry. I think she was getting impatient with my e-mails, and eventually replied saying that I should just apply for this coming SEP, and worry about the rest later. I can't believe such a reply came from her. Doesn't she understand that this may result in me wasting half a year of my life just waiting for credits to be transfered? I'm already old enough :p
To think of it, it is kinda a fault on my part for not anticipating this problem. I guess I had that mentality that I should not worry about exchange or anything until I am in year 2. Furthermore, I was busy with my arts club commitments and never really had the time to worry about SEP. I was right in a way, that one can really wait until year 2 to worry about SEP. But I was wrong also, because I forgot to factor in my one semester of exemption. Now I'm really feeling it.
Should I take the risk, and hope they will transfer my credits in time? Or should I not go for SEP? Or should I just plan for a backup to do something else in that 6 months in case the credits cannot be transfered in time? Argh! Anyway, I will give it a harder thought, and then decide again.
How do you know when you are too over stressed and over concerned about school work? When thoughts of school work keep lingering in your mind even when your watching tv at home? Yeah, I already experienced that, and blogged about that. But no, it's something worse. I actually had a nightmare last night, that I was sitting for some one hour exam paper, like both understanding the universe and advertising paper mixed into this one hour paper, and I just didn't know how to do most of the questions, and I didn't even have time to finish the paper! Yes, thats how bad my mental state is in now. But yeah, when I woke up, I found it quite amusing too.
Anyways, I always dislike mondays because it always means the start of another hectic week, but then again I kinda like it because its one of the days whereby I have only one lesson, and the rest of the day is pretty much about slacking. Although I had a project meeting after lesson, but project meetings with people whom you can click with really makes project work more fun. I guess its because we can always go around joking and teasing each other in the midst of discussions. As much as it steers us off course at times, but its these 'interruptions' which make tiring meetings more fun and relaxing.
Well with most of my test done and dusted, it's now projects and projects. There is one due next week, and my group is so dead as we haven really got anything done. Will try to rush something out by this week. Lets just hope the week gets better.
Oh ya and I realised something else this week. Eventhough soccer will always be my favourite, I just realised that rugby and baseball can be real nice to watch. Especially rugby, now that the world cup is here. I'm now going for England to win the world cup!
Finally managed to get some rest today. Home just feels so good, being able to eat food that is not from school, being able watch tv, and just play games and relax all the way. However, I must admit that at the back of my mind, school work and assignments still linger. To be honest, that is what I totally detest about my life right now. School work and assignment is always on my mind, and I just hate this feeling.
I just had another test on saturday, and yet again, not for the first time this semester, the test left me rather upset. Never did I expect the questions to be like 'Draw a diagram', when all I studied were bullet points and definitions. In the end, I was kinda crapping my way through, and there was even one question whereby I totally left blank. Just didn't know what it wanted, and I'm quite sure I won't do well.
Yup so there I go complaining about my school work again. I realised that I did not really complain that much last semester, despite having arts club commitments to juggle along with school work, so I started to wonder why. And to think of it, I believe its because of the higher level of expectations I have set for myself. Of course I am not complaining about doing well last semester, but somehow or rather, it is adding quite alot of pressure on myself. Been reading Bing De's blog also, and I can tell that he too is very stressed and frustrated about his school work, as he also feels the pressure.
Suddenly, just suddenly, I feel like just going through the motion, and not care. My mum asked me today how school was, and I replied saying its much tougher this semester. I guess she could see the distraught on my face, and she went on to say that it's ok for me to just clear my modules, and that I don't really have to push myself too hard. It felt good hearing that from her, as I know that my parents never want to put any pressure on me. But I guess it's just in me to want to go a step further, and to do well to make them happy.
I will never forget how happy and proud my parents were, when I went on stage to receive my poly diploma, when I was recognised as platoon best at my BMT POP, when I was commissioned as an officer, and when I went against odds and made it into NUS. That is why I want to do all I can to at least do relatively well in what is perhaps my final stage of education, and I want to see the happy and proud faces of my parents again.
Got back one of my assignments today, and results were less than desired. I am not upset over the marks, but more of how it was marked (or how it wasn't for those who know what happened). The only thing to be happy about is that this problem was highlighted, and the lecturers are at least looking into it. How it will turn out I really don't know, and am really hoping for the best. I guess I should just be grateful that at least the problem is being addressed.
Boils down again to the point of the school system. For many of us, its very scary, because our future actually lies with this system. The system which results in modules in sem 1 being totally different in sem 2, the system which can somehow turn A's to B-'s, and vice versa. The system that affects us alot, but does not really show alot. And the system that nearly made the playing field with year 1s uneven. Although in saying this, I acknowledge that no system in this world can ever be a perfect one.
Seriously, I am no mugger, and have never been one since I started studying. The only reason why I did well last semester was because, in my opinion, I managed to 'out-beat' the system, and not 'out-study' the rest of the students. I mentioned this before, that knowing how the system actually 'beat' me in the first semester, I swore to take a different approach to my modules. I went from more exam based, to project based, and together with lots of luck, I managed to succeed.
However, this approach doesn't really seem to be working all too well for me this sem, as projects are killing me. Now, this latest assignment incident adds to the fact again that the system may 'beat' me again this sem. War!
Just came back from intercultural class, and am trying to rush through my studying for e-commerce tomorrow. I just realised that its hard for me to change my habit, and that of studying last minute. Every time I tell myself to start studying early, theres this devil inside me which distracts me from studying. Somehow that devil tells me that I would have more time the day just before the paper, so why really bother to study so early, and I would probably forget quite a few things studying so early as well. Argh, but its a horrible habbit I had since my primary school days.
Ms Gene made a very interesting comment today, regarding photographs. So for all of you who loves to take pictures, do take this into mind. The next time u take a group photo, or a photo with quite a few friends with you, and if you don't look good in it, don't worry. Because the only people who see that photo will most probably be those who took the photo with you, and when they look at it, chances are that they will spend most of their time looking at how they themselves look in the photo, and not really care about how you look. Very true indeed.
First, I wanted to leave home to go to the bank to draw some cash to make payment for insomniac. But just before I wanted to leave home, it started pouring.
Second, when I reached the bank, the queue was all the way up to the front door, and it took me about 1 hour just to reach the bank teller.
Third, the bank was under renovation, and there was no aircon at all in my 1 hour queue wait. To add, it was amazing to see how some people can attempt to cut the queue. Such audacity, considering that she had almost 20-30 angry pairs of eyes staring at her. Thank goodness she finally gave up and left.
Fourth, after getting my cash from the teller, the strap of my sling bag immediately snapped, as my bag with my laptop went crashing to the floor. Thank goodness its an IBM :)
Fifth, the insomniac printing company at kaki bukit was damn ulu, and my arm hurt while trying to carry a heavy sling bag like how I would usually carry a laptop bag.
Sixth, advertising tutorial at 2 pm was initially cancelled this week, but somehow or rather an SMS came at 2.30 pm with this message: "I am sorry for the confusion, but there is tutorials this week. Please inform your friends and it is ok if you have to go for make up tutorials." With my busy week ahead, I don't really think it is that ok to go for make up tutorials.
What a day it has been! Well with all the bad, there were some good. Now that my bag has broken, I finally can carry a bag which is not the same as Chuan Seng's! I'm not a christian, but praise the lord for that, haha. With that, I also learnt my lesson to not try to save money to compromise quality, and got myself a crumpler bag! Left a huge dent in my debit card though.
Last but not least, I realised that Dr Tan actually cut two chapters for this wednesday's test. Praise the lord again! Can't believe that she intially had 8 chapters for a 45 minutes, 6 structured question, closed book mid term. Even now with 6 chapters left, I still find it too much. Although its guessable now that each chapter has one question.
Oh and one final thing, was in clubroom to celebrate the october babies' birthdays today. What I enjoyed most was my chat with Bing De :) You know it feels really good to be able to find someone who could chat with me about blackburn and their past games and players. Feels good that we can even relate well to matches that happened quite a few seasons ago. In fact, it is always a great feeling to chat about soccer with people who have watched the game for many many years already. Then again, it is also sometimes irritating how some people can claim they know alot, and that they have watched soccer for ages, when obviously they have not.
I really have no idea why, but I am feeling kind of down today. After yesterday's advertising mid term, yesterday night and today was suppose to be a little break for me to really catch up from the past few days of projects and studying. Well I did kinda relax last night, playing some silly flash games till 1 am, looked through some project guidelines and instructions, before I headed to bed. However, somehow my body clock automatically woke me up at 8am.
From then till now, I have been feeling very tired and down about studies and my life as it is now. I was so sick of school that I skipped universe lecture, and am having a horrible mentality of probably already wanting to S/U that module, despite not even doing my project and final paper yet. To think of it, S/Uing IT1003 last semester really did pay off, not in terms of results, but workload. Its until now then I really realise the benefits the S/U option brought to me last semester, which played a huge role in my results last semester.
I look to my left, I see notes and readings. I look to my right, I see textbooks and even more notes. In front of me is my pencil case and even more notes and projet guidelines. Really like the phrase Tse Siang used on his facebook, that NUS is probably cheating me and many of us of our early 20s years. In fact, just a couple more years, and I will already surpass that stage. Damn ...
Just some reasons why I am sometimes so afraid and sceptical about doing group projects:
- My project group mate confidently volunteers to undertake all presentation duties, and when you ask him how confident he is of presentations, he says he totally sucks at it and have problems designing powerpoint slides.
- My project group mate rather uses an ugly powerpoint template (and I really mean ugly) on his notebook, instead of a nicely designed template on mine, just because his laptop has a wireless click-to-advance-slide function.
- My project group mate decides to stare at his laptop's small words during presentations, rather than using handy cue cards.
- My project group mate says that powerpoint presentations can be great by just using semiotics, and all words can be omitted from the presentation, just pictures and graphics will do.
- My project group mate gives up halfway and says 'heck care la, everything also can one la'.
Am I just being too cynical here, or am I right to say that the points listed above just too hard to tolerate? Well, but projects are a huge core of my major modules, so I guess this is all part of the learning process. On hind sight, I have also had alot of experiences with great project group mates, so I guess it evens up.
To add, today's advertising mcq test is perhaps one of the hardest mcq test I have ever done. It was also one of the first times I have finished reading both the lecture notes and textbooks, revised through them a few times, and yet still cannot do the paper. Quite upset as it adds on to the list of horribly done assignments and mid terms this sem. Save Jeremy's Semester Scheme doesnt seem to be working too well.
Oh and my room fan is finally repaired, after surviving two days in my hot and stuffy room with only one small semi-typhoon fan. My ceiling fan now spins 3 times faster than usual. Literally coolness!
I really don't know why, but this semester seems really hectic and stressful for everyone. Everyone seems to be rushing assignments, having tonnes of project meetings, and seem to have so much work on their hands. I seriously don't remember it being like that for my previous 2 semesters. Just take a look at all the facebook profiles and MSN nicks, and you will roughly know what I mean.
Perhaps the only thing to cheer about amidst this frenzy week is the fact that my trip to bangkok with Josh, Mich, Amanda and TK has been confirmed. It's this coming december! Yeah, real excited about it, although I hate to admit that we all have to get pass this horrible semester first before we can get to the trip.
The stress is really getting to everyone. I noticed something in the RVR lift just now. I took a lift from the first floor up to my level. On the way up, the lift stopped at the 4th storey, and a girl came in. For some reason, she kept pressing the 4th storey button, but being already on the 4th storey, the lift kept 'unlighting' the button. The girl refused to give up, and kept pressing and pressing for many many many times, forgeting that there is actually someone in the lift waiting to go up to the 8th level. It was only until the 129384th time she pressed the level 4 button did she realise that she was already on the 4th storey, and had instead wanted to go to the ground floor. Only then did she embarassingly press the level 1 button. Bleah :P
Oh and I just realised, that today marks 2 years since I got commissioned. How time flies. I never mentioned this before, but very frequently random thoughts of brunei, taiwan and my 9.5 months in OCS always flash through my mind. To date, those 9.5 months are still the toughest days in my life, and it will definitely be one to remember. Tough, but damn memorable. Charlie 2!
