Lack of Motivation

This semester is proving to be quite a screwed up one. I still have not handed in my brochure and website assignment, eventhough I made a self promise to hand it in by yesterday. No doubt I have kinda chucked it one side to concentrate on studying, but it is somehow still at the back of my mind everytime I hit my books. The project is really getting frustrating, as printing has given me lots of problems. I have been to 3 different printers, but somehow or rather the colors would always give me problems. I gave up and decided to print in school. And just when I thought that would solve the problem, I realised that I can't cut paper for nuts, and have to redo the printing again.

The assignment, together with my slackness this sem, has also screwed up my preparations for exam. A good sign of my unprepared-ness for this exams was for IT1001 today, I actually only realised the night before that the format of the paper was 40% mcq and 60% open ended. I initially thought that the mcq was the bulk of the paper, so you know it kinda meant that I needed to study a little more. The paper in the end was so-so, but I am damn disappointed that I was left totally clueless about one 15-mark question. Eventhough it was open book, I just couldn't find the answer anywhere! Bleah. I am starting to feel a little better about why I didn't use my SU last semester after this paper. But oh well, who knows, I'm praying for a similar miracle I had last semester.

Tomorrow is JS mcq, and this is the most worrying module for me this semester. I know that the mcq tomorrow will be tough, and am still feeling a little all blur and lost about the module. Just finished my first run of studying, but somehow or rather, I seem to lack any motivation to continue studying, despite still feeling lost.

Lost, messed up, screwed up semester, depressed ... ... and to think there are 3 more papers ...

Good Luck Everybody

It was only when I made my way back to my room just now that I realised that the school was exceptionally crowded for a saturday. It was 11.30, and the first paper for the day just ended, and the crowd started to stream out of MPSH. It was only then did it dawn upon me that the exams have started. That feeling just justifies how mentally unprepared I am for the exams.

This crisis was coming all along since the start of the semester, but me being just me, chose to let the crisis happen.

Oh well, just want to wish everybody well for the exams. Good luck!!

End of Semester Crisis

I am currently in the midst of a horrible end of semester crisis. I have spent the entire of this week just rushing my website and brochure, and guess what, it's still not done. Ok I am somewhat close to completion, but as long as its not fully completed, I will still be bugged by this assignment, and that will hinder my revision for finals.

The original deadline for these assignments was actually at 5pm today, but somehow or rather Dr Perry extended it to next Friday. Initially when I saw the announcement, I was thinking that the extension was too long and unnecessary. Now, I am so grateful for the extension. Feeling a little disappointed though as I had planned to hand it up by today, for two reasons. Firstly, to hopefully take advantage of any additional marks awarded for handing up early, although I am still not sure if there are any. And secondly and most importantly, to get it over and done with so that I can finally start revision. I guess both reasons are no longer valid as of now, and I am probably going to waste another 1 day just completing everything.

The problem now is that eventhough my projects are close to completion, I will still tend to touch up and improve on things, eventhough I know the more time I spend on this project, the less time I have for my revision. But somehow or rather, I am left with a mini dilema, as I have already sacrificed so much time for this module, so much so that I fear for not being able to score well, and thus the want to keep improving my website and brochure.

Sleep has been scarce the last few days, and I have officially confirmed that the suspected astig I had at the start of the semester was due to fatigue. I can simply say so because I am getting that same astig feeling again. I need sleep badly, but I just simply have no time for it. I am getting very worried too, as this is the first time I am going into my exams so unprepared. Usually by this time of the semester, I would have at least finished revising for about 2 modules, and touch a little here and there on the rest. But for this semester, zilch, zero, nothing, doomed.

Someone stop the time please.

Oh So Close Rovers

The following post is for once in a very long while not going to be anything about school or studies, but instead, soccer. So for some of you, this line is probably the last line you want to read for the remaining of this entry :)

It's been a while since I stayed home over the weekends to watch soccer, eventhough it has been one of my favourite weekend past times since a long time ago. On top of it, last night saw Blackburn pit up against Man Utd. I used to always complain how rare they telecast Blackburn matches, but ever since improvements were made to the football channel with more matches telecasted at one time, chances of Blackburn matches on TV were much higher. However, I would either be away in school, or be too angry the way Blackburn play so much so that I'd switch my channel to watch another match.

But last night was different. I was so eager to watch the match as to be honest, I'm for Man Utd to win the title this season. It was just sooo interesting to see how my favourite club would go against the club I wish to see win the title. Now at this point, don't be mistaken then I am a soon to be Man Utd fan or anything (I'll never be), but its just that I appreciate good football, and thats what I think Man Utd have showed this season, thus the title should go their way. Another reason is perhaps that Chelsea and Arsenal have not convinced me enough.

Blackburn vs United have always produced exciting fixtures. I will always remember two rather recent victories Rovers had over United, the 1-0 win which Gary Flitcroft scored, and the 4-3 win which saw Bently net a hat trick. So this time, eventhough I know the odds were stacked against us, I just sooo wanted to see how Blackburn would fare. And boy was I delighted. Blackburn started a little slow, but played sooo well after that in the first half. It was not just the scoreline that kept me happy, but the fact that Blackburn actually kept Ronaldo quiet, kept Rooney frustrated, left Ferguson so frustrated and nervous that he kept calling for penalties and fouls when some were obviously not, and left Rio and Vidic totally lost. Now thats the 38-goals Ronaldo (who will most probably be the European player of the year) we're talking about, thats the English talisman Rooney we're talking about, that's one of the best club managers ever, and thats the best defensive pairing in the EPL we're talking about! It's been a while since I saw a team mess up United's game, and I am glad that team is Rovers.

During halftime, I just knew we were somehow going to slip up, and I was seriously predicting a Man Utd onslaught with a 2-1 or 3-1 final score. Yes, thats how pessimistic I am about Blackburn's defence these days. In the end, it was again super Friedel who saved Blackburn, and I have always felt this way, but for many years already, he is THE best goalkeeper in the league. People can talk about Van de Sar, Reina and Cech, but considering the team and defence in front of the goalkeeper, Friedel is definitely tops, and he showed it again yesterday. I will always remember a few seasons back when Blackburn played an Arsenal side with Henry, Blackburn won 2-1 despite Arsenal having 27 shots on target. Imagine how Friedel performed on that day.

Well 1-1 I would say is a fair result, although the late goal did leave a bitter feeling. Although I am proud of Rovers for putting up such a fine display. From Blackburn's point of view, yesterday's results further cements the fact that Blackburn will not have European football next season, and that is really sad because players are going to leave, namely Bently. Looking at the line up yesterday, Blackburn's squad looked as strong as any club in the EPL, but once players start to leave and Mark Hughes starts to reshuffle, things may get messy. Oh well, maybe we really need an American owner to fund us up.

Yup, so to all Man Utd fans, don't worry. I still think Utd will win the title. As for my Blackburn, it will probably be back to a mid table finish after a season of inconsistency.

End of Semester

Have not blogged for a week, as the past week has been deadlines, test and assignments for me. And despite the week already passing, and the school term officially ending, it's somehow not over for me yet. I still have one website, brochure and printer specifications due next friday. I am already feeling very tired from all the projects, and I don't know how I am going to get through those 3 final assignments.

While doing my assignments over the past week, I realised that being a teacher or lecturer is really tough. Why? Because for this semester's projects, I was mostly in charge of final edits and compilation, and I must say that some of the writing and works I edited did awe me. And trust me, I am not talking about those little grammar, language or punctuation mistakes. Those can be really pesky but can still be edited. But its those super long, repetitive, make no sense and super wrongly used words and sentences that gets on my nerve. I truly understand that everyone has different styles and standards of writing, but I guess one would only understand my plight if you saw the torment I was put through while editing.

As I mentioned, school has ended for many, but not for me at least, with those final assignments. But for some of my friends, yesterday marked their final lap in NUS, and perhaps their final day ever in academic education. I didn't see much of a reaction to that, but I know deep down they did feel something. One has to move on, but it is kinda sad how your lifestyle for the past 3 to 4 years would suddenly just stop there, and move on to something new. Just want to give my well wishes to those graduating, and all the best to your future endeavours. Remember that this is just a new beginning of an end.

On a side note, I checked my exam seating plan just now, and you know what. Being labeled as an ARS3 student makes me feel really old, and I started to realised that it wouldn't be too long before my final day in NUS too. Good or bad? Both.

A short paragraph to wrap up the semester. It was kind of horrible towards the end. Grades wise things have been rather neutral, but I am rather skeptical about the final tests and assignments that have just gone by. I must admit of my four semesters, this was one where I was the most slack, and the most last minute. I am not sure if I should, but I am still attributing it to the fatigue in the last 2 semesters, and perhaps the fatigue from school as a whole. Of all my modules, I am most worried about my JS. I have never fared well in 1101E modules, and this time looks like nothing will be different. My final assignments due next friday are going to badly hinder my revision for this module. My project I felt was perhaps here and there. My participation in class was so-so considering how many smoke bombs I have used already. And just yesterday, despite it being the deadline for forum posting, I somehow fell asleep at my computer, and just went to bed without bothering about the forum posting marks anymore. I was sooo tired that I think even toothpicks wouldn't hold my small eyes apart. That's how bad the module is for me. Sigh, I'll just be hopeful again.

A War

I am extremely furious, because a war was brought upon me, and it doesn't help that I can't strike back. In just a short time span of less than an hour, I was left dejected and defeated. It was a war with .... the birds! This is what happened.

I had the car this weekend as my parents are away, but stayed in school so that I could study for my test and do my assignments. So I decided to go to clementi for my dinner, and to draw money. I found a rare parking lot in the clementi central car park, and when I came out from my car, I noticed a whole lot of birds around the car park. I think it was not uncommon as I have heard the loud chirps of birds there for quite a few times already. So when I looked up and saw this not so big tree above where I parked my car, I didn't think much of it. But I was soooo wrong.

After dinner, I came back to find the car totally sprawled with bird droppings! It was soooooo bad that I couldnt really see out thru the windscreen, and had no choice but to dirty the car wiper. But it wasnt just the windscreen. The side mirrors, the front bonnet, the top, the back, the back windscreen, and even the doors. The birds had hit me real hard. I'm telling you it was sooo bad that if insurance companies did cover damages for bird shit, they would have shunned me away. To make things worse, somehow or rather car wash at petrol kiosks seemed to have gone extinct when I tried looking for one (or is it really extincted already?), so I went alllll the way back home just to wash the car myself. And boy did I have a tough time.

Crap!

Presentations

Had my dreaded statistically troubled and dreaded presentation on thursday, but guess what, we somehow managed to get through it really well. The comments at the end somehow rekindled the memories of my group's advertising presentation last semester, which left us really delighted.

For advertising, eventhough the presentation was only 5%, we knew that we had put in tooo much work during the process of generating the report, and did not want to screw it up right the end. But for stats this time, it was the total opposite because we knew that we had perhaps rushed this project a little too tight, so we needed whatever marks we could get from the presentation. Furthermore, it was 10%. I'm just glad it all turned out well. Crossing my fingers for this report though.

Received an e-mail from my friend yesterday who informed of another good news. My slackest module, IT1001, actually has a folder called 'hall of fame' in the workbin, whereby all of the best presentations and projects will be uploaded there. And to my surprise but delight, one of our presentations made it in there. It felt real good to actually be the best group out of the entire lecture population. But guess what, with my extreme last minute-ness this semester, guess how long we actually took to prepare the presentation, and with the presentation at 1pm that day, guess what time I started to design the slides. Haha.

It all goes to show, that packaging and presentation matters alot. As much as how cruel and unfair this may sound, I have seen enough to affirm that to quite a certain extend, appearance and first impression always matters. Yes, even in school work and presentations. And its not just the way you present, but even your slides. I feel real blessed to have been given public speaking opportunities since my secondary school days, as I believe that it has really helped me alot in terms of my formal dialogues, interviews and presentations. Similarly, whatever technological skills I have learnt in my poly days has also given me a nice advantage.

Next week will be the final week of my 4th semester, and it has been a really fast semester. Unlike many who are already preparing for their exams, I still have my JS report, my two IT1001 discussions, my NM3219 report (which we so realised we need to redo alot of things, sigh), my NM3217 test, and of course, my NM3217 website and brochure and printer specs. The very sad thing is that the NM3217 stuff are due at the end of reading week. And me being me, I will most probably finish everything only 1 hour before the deadline, meaning that I will only be left with 3 days to study for my finals.

Someone save me.

Intro to Computing

I so want to blog about this module.

Another IT1001 presentation ended today, and for the first time ever, I totally played no part in a 15% presentation. Well this was because our group had two 15% presentations, and so we split the work up. Guessed it worked out quite ok. Considering that I wouldn't have the time to have prepared for today's presentation if we didn't split the work up, it was good.

Something nice happened. Our group couldnt really finish our presentation on time, so we were kinda stopped right at our last slide, which was conclusion. And guess what? During the Q & A session, this guy from another group popped the question of "so what is the conclusion?" That actually allowed my friend to finish up the conclusion, without having to worry about going over time. I was really thankful to that guy, eventhough that may not guarantee saving us any marks. Haha the thing was that, his group also got stopped halfway, so I did the exact same thing, and popped a question to allow him to finish his last slide. To be honest, I have seen how the competitiveness in NUS can be so cruel and ugly. But today, a small gesture of mutual help and kindness to save each other's group during presentation was just a great to see. If only it were always like that.

Well when I took this module at the start of the semester, I was kinda hoping to actually score, hearing how relatively easy it was. Although right in the back of my mind I knew that easy to score modules were always going to much harder to score, I somehow knew that getting decent grades was definitely still possible. Furthermore, I heard that this module was pretty slack, so I was thinking even if I didn't score, I would still be able to use this module to lighten my semester load, and perhaps S/U the module (like how I used it for sem 2). One good reason for why I wanted to save my S/Us.

However, it turned out that the module had more work than I thought. Eventhough I missed a bulk of lectures, which gave me a free day, the assignments were more than I hoped for. And it didn't help that all assignments were group projects and presentations, meaning the hassle of meeting up again and again and again. We had one project website, project presentation, two other group presentations, and now before the final exam, we actually have to attend some second life discussion, and another ivle forum discussion, so as to get the necessary marks. Not to mention, forum participation also holds some marks. And yes, there is still a final paper! So much for this module lightening my semester work load.

Boo Hoo

It feels like I am currently in a 14 day week. Under usual circumstances, a long week will always be capped off with a good break (or at least some break) during the weekends, but last weekend was non-existent. Spent the entire saturday and sunday rushing the 2102 project, and I am just glad that we got it over and done with. Now for the presentation left, and I can take one module off my mind until the finals.

This semester has been pretty much quite bad. Apparently, I found out that I could actually be more last minute than I usually was, and that is not something I should be proud off. Capping off a 4000-word-until-now-still-dont-understand-and-very-statistically-troubled report in one weekend was tiring, and to be honest, its one of those papers I think we did quite ok to salvage the situation, but yet I do not want to get the results back at all.

It's that time of the year again. It's just horrible to know that it is only 3 weeks from the exams, and I still have countless assignments to conquer. Oh dear, IT presentation, 2102 presentation, folder justification, japanese studies report, website for 3217, folder for 3217, 3219 report, alot of other miscellaneous stuff here and there ....

Everything's a big mess now.

Food Hunt 08

The soreness in my legs have finally gone away, after what was 2 days of aching leg muscles after a round the island food hunt. It was really fun, and being in my group was even more fun. I guess joining these kinda events with friends you are closer and more comfortable with will always add to the element of fun.

It was funny how we wanted to be a relax team, most of us reporting in slippers and sling bags, only to find that the competitiveness side in us overwhelming our slackness as the hunt went on. Eventhough we didn't win anything (argh so close!), it was good fun, and I think our team did great. From finding food stalls, to solving riddles, to my slow sudoku solving skills, to tk's amazing hangman ability, everything added up to this memorable experience. Kudos to the ocomm for yet another year of great food hunt! Another arts club event gone well, as the 28th start counting down their days to FOP.

As for school, I am at an all time low. Deadlines are piling up, and I am worried because I don't think I can meet those deadlines. It is a very scary thought because as the crucial final hurdle of the semester approaches, I am getting less and less motivated to study. Someone help me.

In more ways than one, I realised that I am in deep deep trouble. I never thought this day would come, but it's been a while since I felt this way. I'm so in trouble.