wrong lists

this channel never fails to deliver thought provoking and funny shorts. the latest one is yet another i think it would be sad not to share. do watch from start to the very end.. don't play cheat and skip to the ending.. enjoy.

ball of yarn

yes this is an update of my life.

somehow as each semester past.. it seems to move faster and faster. it really felt as though i just started the semester a couple of days back.. but in a blink of an eye, the second week is about to come to an end. in other words, the tutorials are about to kick in really really soon. i'm not ready for it to be honest.

lectures barely entering the great depth and i'm kind of lost in some of the modules. the struggle is real.. haha. nonetheless, as i have set the aim before semester.. i must really get this shit together real soon if i want to really pull up my CAP this semester and next semester. come year 3, i doubt it will be any easy to pull it up already. right now, i'm like an ant trap in the core of a ball of yarn.. tangled in the fur but trying to find my way out.

modules wise, i would like to talk about two modules for now. the first one is my core module ST2137. this module sort of introduce to us the softwares and programs used by statisticians so i heard. happy to take this module because i think this module requires me to apply whatever i have learn and that how i can bring theory to practical. i hope i won't be disappointed. the second one is not my core but still a requirement.. ES1541. the lat english language module i am probably going to take in NUS. fun as in i can get to interact with different crowd of students.. not just my major. also, i can keep my mind off calculations for a moment. hope the experience will be good too.

guess for now, that's about it. semester begins.. and so is the random posts about academics now and then. if you dislike those, check back here in December lol. kidding.. i try to post other stuffs as well, no worries.

cheers.

magic power

securing classes

yes this is an update of my life.

the beginning of every semester starts of with the tedious process of securing classes. from fighting for modules to take using whatever bid points one has to relying on luck to ballot for tutorial classes. that's of course speaking from a NUS student. i know other schools have other system. nonetheless, regardless of the system used, i'm sure each and every one is tedious and troublesome.. lol.

during the bidding of lecture slots, i've bad couple of poor decisions. this resulted to me paying more bid points for some of the modules. one of the modules i have now also required me appealing to the faculty to give me a slot. just as i thought all was over, the first round of tutorial balloting almost gave me the ideal timetable. sad to say, i failed to secure a tutorial slot for a particular module. gosh.. ohh wells not complaining or what not for i am somewhat numb to it already i guess.

moving on and away from academics, my birthday happens to fall on every start of the academic year. there have been countless surprises and celebrations over the past few days. i would once again thank all those people who were there to celebrate with me and come out with cool surprises. thanks for the wishes, gifts and the the love.

fairytale

swallowing you whole

people say NS changes a person. i say no. no, as in not that NS don’t change someone.. but rather i think what really change a person are the experiences and what not. just that guys have an additional luxury of 2 years to handle such crucial experiences. or at least that is what i feel. personally, i think the years in NS change me as a person. no, not really NS itself changing me but those events that happened during the course of 22 months. comparatively, i find myself better at handling stress and insecurities now as to those times before NS. you see, NS is the period of time where, aside from doing the mundane drills a soldier has to do, i could sort myself out, trying new perspectives and learning. 

stress and insecurities. everyone has them. everyone sure will have them some point or another. these are aspects of life that are inevitable in a fast pacing society like Singapore. however, the thing that really separates individuals when they are all faced with similar pressure is the ability to handle it. it’s an obvious statement but not many people really put it to context. okay.. let me rephrase that. many people know those stress and insecurities are affecting them and what not. they try to take it head on but after seeing not much improvements, they spiral into negative emotions.

well, before moving on, let’s hear the hard truth. stress and insecurities will eat you alive from the inside. upon that, you will feel a great void as you begin to question anything and everything. i say so for i have experienced so.

like i said, those are natural. they will visit you now and then. thing is how one respond to it really makes hell of a difference in your daily life. i used to one who will desperately try all methods to reduce it and after some time of not seeing any improvement, i will wallow in a deafening silence of self-pity. in the end, nothing good came out. no improvement. nothing. then after couple of wake up calls, i tried other ways to handle such emotions. methods differ from individuals as well. for me, i would always i am calm before even getting started to trying to solve the issue. if i sense myself too stressed or what to think straight, i would excuse myself away or not think about the problem for the time being. once calmed, i will not jump to the first solution i can think of. i weigh the pros and cons of all methods before deciding on one.

to be honest, putting those in words seem so silly. but if you can figure what i mean then good for you. if not, don’t fret just take your time to manage them. you know you have learned when those negative emotions don’t hit you often. good luck.

straightforward

came across this article a couple weeks back and i think it speaks certain volume. i can relate to more than half of the things mentioned. kind of a food-for-thought article for your own entertainment.

7 Struggles Of Having A Straightforward Personality In A World Of Highly Sensitive People

a season begins

after winning the Community Shield against Chelsea, i'm really excited to see what's in store from Arsenal this season..

sharing

recall the time when your teacher asked the class to share some ideas say pertaining to a particular topic that was related to a composition you all were tasked to do. what was the immediate scenario? did anyone raise up their hands eager to spill whatever ideas he/she had? or did the teacher have to single out individually to get the class to spill ideas?

for Singaporean students, i am pretty sure it is always teh case of teacher singling someone out before any answers could be heard. a teacher of mine once said something thought provoking that disturbed me up to today. that is why i am going to talk about it. she was telling us that generally the Asian schooling culture has been brought up in such a way that students are discouraged by the parents to share ideas and information with peers in fear of others getting as good as or better grades than their children. sadly, in the short run it might seemed a little logical but this mentality isn’t exactly healthy in the real world in the near future. at least this was what my teacher pointed out and so i went on to ponder as well.

i remember in primary as i mingle with my friends, their parents are always comparing results and what not. the area outside the school gate was like a place for parents to show off their kids’ grades. but that wasn’t all, i will always hear a parent of a kid who was from a smart class telling him/her not to talk to a kid who was from a not-so-smart class. being in both of such classes before in primary school, i was extremely puzzled at that time as to why they were asked to do such things. now, think back, i think parents told their smart kids so just to ensure that there remain this boundary between them.. separating the smart and the not-so-smart one.

you see, habits that are cultivated from young are not easy to change. such simple “advices” soon impacted the students’ involvement in class. they rather keep answers and ideas to themselves if they were not forcefully asked for it. this brings on to the next part of my discussion.

does hiding knowledge and ideas hinder progress? yes and no. not sharing will not hinder progress as students will keep on keeping track of what he/she don’t know and hopefully go on discovering stuff on their own. independent learning. not sharing will hinder progress when it comes to tackling an issue that no one has a clue on. say each one has bits and pieces only and not sharing will no spark any further thinking. personally, i find it better to share since who knows someone else might be able to take the current idea to the next level. after a while, who knows something new can be discovered.

i know what some of you might be thinking now. if you share and someone else build upon it and find something great out of it, wouldn’t the person claim credit or what not? the fear of losing credit might be a primary concern to some when the idea of sharing comes into picture. however, this is where you have to weigh it out, whether you prefer self-progression or progress as a group.

so yeah think about it. this is probably somewhat related to the fact as to why the Asian culture don’t churn out as many discoveries as compared to the West. discoveries made there, if you realised, often published with multiple credits.

waiting for love

"for if there's love in this life, there's no obstacle that can't be defeated"

crossing fingers

yes this is an update of my life.

so the camps i have signed up for during this summer break have all concluded. got to say i think i spent the first summer break of my university life exactly how i wanted it to be.. all about fun and enjoyment, a real break from the school work and what not. come next year, plans for the summer might be different because i know where i stand in the society. not so smart to make the education part of the resume really impressive. as such, i have to seek another means to beef my resume up as well. internships and work experiences.

moving on, i finally moved into my resident on campus. PGP this year. glad to see the room conditions are pretty good.. slightly better in fact. just that i need to figure how to get fresh drinking water.. at first glance i don't see any cooler lol. ohh and washing of clothes too.. don't want to drag home a bag of dirty clothes week in week out. place is so foreign to me.. just have to slowly explore and get used it.

apart from that, let's talk a little of academics and i think i will say this whenever the semester is about to begin. bidding is a big burden. i gamble but the bidding market is really to unpredictable at times. really sad to be not able to secure two of my core modules that i intended to take. had to reshuffle my timetable a little and come up with a backup plan. my first plan can still be carried out but i can only try again in later days. sigh.. fingers crossed. cheers.