To date, I think it has been four months since I last had a haircut? Or more than that. Frankly, I cannot really remember when the last time I had a haircut was actually. Well, I guess things like haircuts have been pushed to the back of my mind by my hectic Uni life and I'm not too surprised, given how much has been happening these first few months of school. Haircuts do seem quite trivial, eh? This is all the more so as our overall appearance gets less regulation now that it is University. The result - people sporting hairs of all kinds of styles and colours(though most still have black hair), many types of dressing and attire and accessories being worn. As such, it is no surprise that my long hair has not gotten much attention in school.
My hair is now really long and thick by the way, the longest it has ever been. I guess this one week break from classes has given me some time to notice my hair which explains my sudden realisation that I need a haircut. I've still not gone for a haircut though. This long hair is giving me a new look and I kind of like it too. So I've decided to let my hair continue growing for now until people around me start finding it inappropriate haha! I might use this opportunity to surprise people with my new look, most likely some friends and relatives who I have not met in the past couple of months.
I have a dilemma though. I miss my short hair and the neat look that comes with it. Now, I just look unkempt. Still, I guess I will keep my long hair for a little while more and get it cut during my annual haircut just before CNY. Well, that was my decision until I had dinner with my grandmother recently.
During a recent dinner with my grandmother, she commented on how long my hair was. I then casually told her that I would be getting a haircut just before CNY. To my surprise, said I looked good with my hair long and told me not to get a haircut. Well, I guess that settles it then!
Monday, December 29, 2014
Monday, December 22, 2014
Quick look back at 2014
We are already nearing the end of December 2014 before I even realised. I guess this month has flown by because there's just been too much going on and I've really been so very busy. With the end of December, this also means that the end of 2014 is coming. I'm on a two week break from school now, like finally.... haha! This break is very much welcome. These first few months back to studying have sure been hectic. Anyways, this break is also the reason I have some spare time to blog now. So I thought I'd do a quick summary of the major events that happened this past year, which would help me reflect on the year 2014 as well.
1.ORD
First up was of course my ORD which happened early in January, With that, I have handed over all my duries and responsibilities to my understudy and am free of my NS responsibilities. Yay!
2. First time taking on a part time job
I guess you can say I was lucky that I got offered a part time job for admin work by an aunt not too long after my ORD. If I had been made to look for some part time job on my own, I might never have started searching for one as I can think of so many other things to do with this long awaited break. Still, these four or five months taking on a desk job has been a fulfilling experience for me, meeting people and experiencing life in an office at a desk. Thanks to all who have contributed to this experience directly or otherwise.
3. Passing of my grandfather
While I was involved with my part time work, my granddad's health took a turn for the worse. His health deteriorated quickly which came as real shock to all of us and he passed on in a matter of months. I should probably count myself lucky that I had this long period of break away from school and work( as it was part time work, my time was more flexible) to be there for my granddad and spend as much time as I could with him in his last days.
My granddad has led a fulfilling life caring for others and placing the needs of those around him as priority, Most of the time, it was us, his grandchildren, who has the greatest share of his care and time, never refusing any requests for his help. Thus, it is only fitting that we be there for him when he needed us. Rest in peace, yeye,,,
4.Starting uni
Finally, I have also received a Uni offer finally earlier this year and started classes not too long after. Thankfully, the offer came in time for me to inform my granddad while he was still conscious. Me getting into university was something he was very concerned about so I'm glad to be able to set his mind at ease about this matter.
Okay, that's is all I guess. What a year this has been!
1.ORD
First up was of course my ORD which happened early in January, With that, I have handed over all my duries and responsibilities to my understudy and am free of my NS responsibilities. Yay!
2. First time taking on a part time job
I guess you can say I was lucky that I got offered a part time job for admin work by an aunt not too long after my ORD. If I had been made to look for some part time job on my own, I might never have started searching for one as I can think of so many other things to do with this long awaited break. Still, these four or five months taking on a desk job has been a fulfilling experience for me, meeting people and experiencing life in an office at a desk. Thanks to all who have contributed to this experience directly or otherwise.
3. Passing of my grandfather
While I was involved with my part time work, my granddad's health took a turn for the worse. His health deteriorated quickly which came as real shock to all of us and he passed on in a matter of months. I should probably count myself lucky that I had this long period of break away from school and work( as it was part time work, my time was more flexible) to be there for my granddad and spend as much time as I could with him in his last days.
My granddad has led a fulfilling life caring for others and placing the needs of those around him as priority, Most of the time, it was us, his grandchildren, who has the greatest share of his care and time, never refusing any requests for his help. Thus, it is only fitting that we be there for him when he needed us. Rest in peace, yeye,,,
4.Starting uni
Finally, I have also received a Uni offer finally earlier this year and started classes not too long after. Thankfully, the offer came in time for me to inform my granddad while he was still conscious. Me getting into university was something he was very concerned about so I'm glad to be able to set his mind at ease about this matter.
Okay, that's is all I guess. What a year this has been!
Tuesday, December 9, 2014
General Equilibrium
Just got back home not too long ago from an Economics lecture conducted specially on two topics in our syllabus. These are topics which our lecturer would not be covering so this series of lectures is obviously very important. So the lecture I just came back from was the first part which was on General Equilibrium.
Well actually, this is the second time I am attending this lecture.
So why did I go for this lecture a second time when I just attended a similar one given by the same lecturer? Here's why.
After attending yesterday's lecture, which was the original slot allocated to me, I found that I didn't understand most of the lecture due to having not read through the lecture notes and study guide before the class. Furthermore, the lecture group yesterday was very unresponsive to the lecturer's questions and he thus had to go at a very slow pace trying to get people's responses and figuring out if we were keeping up with his lecture. Most importantly, I forgot to complete the assignment that he had emailed to us which resulted in me being unable to follow his lesson when he was going through the assignment. I just had too much on my mind and the assignment slipped my mind. Anyways, the lecture proceeded at a really slow pace yesterday and he was thus unable to finish. I thus decided to attend the session today, going better prepared so as to redeem myself. I did feel quite bad for not completing his assignment.
I did manage to prepare for today's session by reading through the subject guide using whatever notes I managed to take yesterday. I also tried a few of the assignment questions that he gave us. Indeed, I did feel better prepared for the lecture today, even if it was just a little bit more prepared than yesterday.
The lecturer started off the session with a question on a graph he drew, similar to yesterday. Once again his question was met with a cold silence. Sensing a repeat of yesterday's snail speed lecture, I thus shouted out the answer. By that time, he had already gone on to trying to persuade the room to just shout out any answer that they had in mind and that it didn't matter if it was the wrong answer. As it turned out, my answer was right to which he replied that I spoiled the fun by giving the right answer as he was now asking for a wrong answer. Well, that got some laughter which sure helped lighten the mood a little. After some further clarification though, he found my answer to be wrong actually and thus I found out I had not fully understood the model he drew.
At the same time that he pointed out my error, there was a murmur of disapproval around the room, an obvious sign that most thought that my answer was indeed correct. Well, so I helped bring to attention a general conceptual error. This was not too bad.
Well, since it has now been established that my answer was indeed actually wrong, a smile appeared on the lecturer's face which brought about more laughter. This laughter was so much better than the awkward laughter yesterday when less than 20% of the room indicated that they had completed his assignment.
The lecture went on with the lecturer clearing up the conceptual error we had and then proceeding with people being more responsive to his questions and with some even asking him questions. I seems as though I had helped to break the ice the in the room for everyone... hahaha!
All in all, the lecturer completed more than he did yesterday and I sure did understand a lot more than I did yesterday. Still, he was not able to complete what he had intended for this session and will thus continue in our next session. Now I just need to run through the notes again and hopefully I would be able to clear up my understanding by reading the subject guide after.
On a separate note, I had quite an intense Sociology lesson today. Intense for me, but not intense for the whole class generally. It was a lesson I had not had in a long while. Well, it was intense because I had to fight to answer the lecturer's questions. Competition was really great today for some reason. Every time I opened my mouth to shout out an answer, I would hear a similar answer coming from someone else. Still, I think the lecturer kind of noticed me this time round. So it sure was a great Sociology lecture today haha!
Well actually, this is the second time I am attending this lecture.
So why did I go for this lecture a second time when I just attended a similar one given by the same lecturer? Here's why.
After attending yesterday's lecture, which was the original slot allocated to me, I found that I didn't understand most of the lecture due to having not read through the lecture notes and study guide before the class. Furthermore, the lecture group yesterday was very unresponsive to the lecturer's questions and he thus had to go at a very slow pace trying to get people's responses and figuring out if we were keeping up with his lecture. Most importantly, I forgot to complete the assignment that he had emailed to us which resulted in me being unable to follow his lesson when he was going through the assignment. I just had too much on my mind and the assignment slipped my mind. Anyways, the lecture proceeded at a really slow pace yesterday and he was thus unable to finish. I thus decided to attend the session today, going better prepared so as to redeem myself. I did feel quite bad for not completing his assignment.
I did manage to prepare for today's session by reading through the subject guide using whatever notes I managed to take yesterday. I also tried a few of the assignment questions that he gave us. Indeed, I did feel better prepared for the lecture today, even if it was just a little bit more prepared than yesterday.
The lecturer started off the session with a question on a graph he drew, similar to yesterday. Once again his question was met with a cold silence. Sensing a repeat of yesterday's snail speed lecture, I thus shouted out the answer. By that time, he had already gone on to trying to persuade the room to just shout out any answer that they had in mind and that it didn't matter if it was the wrong answer. As it turned out, my answer was right to which he replied that I spoiled the fun by giving the right answer as he was now asking for a wrong answer. Well, that got some laughter which sure helped lighten the mood a little. After some further clarification though, he found my answer to be wrong actually and thus I found out I had not fully understood the model he drew.
At the same time that he pointed out my error, there was a murmur of disapproval around the room, an obvious sign that most thought that my answer was indeed correct. Well, so I helped bring to attention a general conceptual error. This was not too bad.
Well, since it has now been established that my answer was indeed actually wrong, a smile appeared on the lecturer's face which brought about more laughter. This laughter was so much better than the awkward laughter yesterday when less than 20% of the room indicated that they had completed his assignment.
The lecture went on with the lecturer clearing up the conceptual error we had and then proceeding with people being more responsive to his questions and with some even asking him questions. I seems as though I had helped to break the ice the in the room for everyone... hahaha!
All in all, the lecturer completed more than he did yesterday and I sure did understand a lot more than I did yesterday. Still, he was not able to complete what he had intended for this session and will thus continue in our next session. Now I just need to run through the notes again and hopefully I would be able to clear up my understanding by reading the subject guide after.
On a separate note, I had quite an intense Sociology lesson today. Intense for me, but not intense for the whole class generally. It was a lesson I had not had in a long while. Well, it was intense because I had to fight to answer the lecturer's questions. Competition was really great today for some reason. Every time I opened my mouth to shout out an answer, I would hear a similar answer coming from someone else. Still, I think the lecturer kind of noticed me this time round. So it sure was a great Sociology lecture today haha!
Sunday, December 7, 2014
Busy week ahead
Just had a look for the coming week and it sure looks packed.
Due to additional economics lectures on two of the five days next week, I would be in school almost the whole day on both the days. Hmm that means I may not be able to smoothly carry out the schedule that I had planned for myself next week. So I shall start the week after then. Okay, that's all I have tonight. Best I go to bed early to be well prepared for what's coming up next week.
Nights!
Due to additional economics lectures on two of the five days next week, I would be in school almost the whole day on both the days. Hmm that means I may not be able to smoothly carry out the schedule that I had planned for myself next week. So I shall start the week after then. Okay, that's all I have tonight. Best I go to bed early to be well prepared for what's coming up next week.
Nights!
Saturday, October 25, 2014
Sociology class
Good morning ppl! Bright and early on a Saturday morning. I'm writing again to express some thoughts I had been having about my Sociology lectures that have been bothering me a little, more so when I'm in class and it's happening there and then of course. So here goes...
Aside from the content which I am still having a bit of problems with (I'll get to these problems later), I have been quite bothered by the fact that the lecturer hardly notices me in class. So why do I say this? She hardly notices me in class when asking for opinions or answers to her questions when I am in class. I sometimes even get the feeling that she is purposely avoiding eye contact with me or even when she sees me, she just glances past me. Her eyes would pause just a fraction of a second on me before moving off to pick someone else, as if contemplating and then deciding that it would be better to pick someone else.
This was all the more apparent during the last class when she had started to pick people to answer questions based on a colour she chose for the day and those who were wearing clothes of that colour or had belongings of that colour would be picked. So last lesson she chose green and I was sitting there wearing a green top and I never got picked.
Of course, I may be overly worried on this seeing as I am usually late and thus pick a seat right at the back of the class. Thus, she may really not have noticed me out of the 100 over students in the lecture room. Or, by the time she got to the back row, she might have gotten enough responses and thus decide to not waste more time, skipping the few people at the back.
Why am I so bothered by this lack of attention? Throughout my years in school, from primary to secondary and then to Junior College, I have always had this expectation of myself to have an answer ready whenever the teacher pops a question. As such, I guess I also unknowingly grew to expect the teacher to pick me to answer questions each time the class keeps silent. This then brings me to my next problem.
As I had said, I usually have an answer ready whenever the teacher asks a question during class. However, this is not the case for Sociology lectures. Most of the time, I find that I am not able to come up with a satisfied answer to the lecturer's question. Indeed, I am still not too sure of the content yet as of now which means I have a lot to catch up on. I am also quite worried that most of the other students that the lecturer picks to answer her questions usually have a ready and well thought out answer which is much better than the ones I come up with. This could be due to me being new to Sociology while there is a fair proportion of the class who are in Year 2. Furthermore, I am still not too confident of applying the content learnt in class to handle questions.
So here's what I've decided to do. First and foremost, getting to lectures on time and even early is the top priority, so that I get front seats. Secondly, I would have to do more reading up of my subject guides and lecture notes to first be sure of the content, theories and memorise the names of important sociologists. Then, with the content, I will then do more writing and get the lecturer to have a look so as to check my progress and understanding/ application of content.
I sure do hope my plan helps:) Jiayous to myself for Sociology!
Aside from the content which I am still having a bit of problems with (I'll get to these problems later), I have been quite bothered by the fact that the lecturer hardly notices me in class. So why do I say this? She hardly notices me in class when asking for opinions or answers to her questions when I am in class. I sometimes even get the feeling that she is purposely avoiding eye contact with me or even when she sees me, she just glances past me. Her eyes would pause just a fraction of a second on me before moving off to pick someone else, as if contemplating and then deciding that it would be better to pick someone else.
This was all the more apparent during the last class when she had started to pick people to answer questions based on a colour she chose for the day and those who were wearing clothes of that colour or had belongings of that colour would be picked. So last lesson she chose green and I was sitting there wearing a green top and I never got picked.
Of course, I may be overly worried on this seeing as I am usually late and thus pick a seat right at the back of the class. Thus, she may really not have noticed me out of the 100 over students in the lecture room. Or, by the time she got to the back row, she might have gotten enough responses and thus decide to not waste more time, skipping the few people at the back.
Why am I so bothered by this lack of attention? Throughout my years in school, from primary to secondary and then to Junior College, I have always had this expectation of myself to have an answer ready whenever the teacher pops a question. As such, I guess I also unknowingly grew to expect the teacher to pick me to answer questions each time the class keeps silent. This then brings me to my next problem.
As I had said, I usually have an answer ready whenever the teacher asks a question during class. However, this is not the case for Sociology lectures. Most of the time, I find that I am not able to come up with a satisfied answer to the lecturer's question. Indeed, I am still not too sure of the content yet as of now which means I have a lot to catch up on. I am also quite worried that most of the other students that the lecturer picks to answer her questions usually have a ready and well thought out answer which is much better than the ones I come up with. This could be due to me being new to Sociology while there is a fair proportion of the class who are in Year 2. Furthermore, I am still not too confident of applying the content learnt in class to handle questions.
So here's what I've decided to do. First and foremost, getting to lectures on time and even early is the top priority, so that I get front seats. Secondly, I would have to do more reading up of my subject guides and lecture notes to first be sure of the content, theories and memorise the names of important sociologists. Then, with the content, I will then do more writing and get the lecturer to have a look so as to check my progress and understanding/ application of content.
I sure do hope my plan helps:) Jiayous to myself for Sociology!
Monday, October 13, 2014
《愿得一人心》
Just happened to hear this song on the radio recently... and fell in love with it immediately. Very meaningful lyrics in the chorus Very nice melody.
《愿得一人心》
作词：胡小健
作曲：罗俊霖
曾在我背包小小夹层里的那个人
陪伴我漂洋过海经过每一段旅程
隐形的稻草人
守护我的天真
曾以为爱情能让未来只为一个人
关了灯依旧在书桌角落的那个人
变成我许多年来纪念爱情的标本
消失的那个人
回不去的青春
忘不了爱过的人才会对过往认真
只愿得一人心
白首不分离
这简单的话语
需要巨大的勇气
没想过失去你
却是在骗自己
最后你深深藏在我的歌声里 只愿得一人心
白首不分离
这清晰的话语
嘲笑孤单的自己
盼望能见到你
却一直骗自己
遗憾你听不到我唱的这首歌 多想唱给你
曾在我背包小小夹层里的那个人
陪伴我漂洋过海经过每一段旅程
隐形的稻草人
守护我的天真
曾以为爱情能让未来只为一个人
关了灯依旧在书桌角落的那个人
变成我许多年来纪念爱情的标本
消失的那个人
回不去的青春
忘不了爱过的人才会对过往认真
只愿得一人心
白首不分离
这简单的话语
需要巨大的勇气
没想过失去你
却是在骗自己
最后你深深藏在我的歌声里
只愿得一人心
白首不分离
这清晰的话语
嘲笑孤单的自己
盼望能见到你
却一直骗自己
遗憾你听不到我唱的这首歌
只愿得一人心
白首不分离
这简单的话语
需要巨大的勇气
没想过失去你
却是在骗自己
最后你深深藏在我的歌声里
只愿得一人心
白首不分离
这清晰的话语
嘲笑孤单的自己
我很想你
却一直骗自己
遗憾你听不到我唱的这首歌 多想唱给你
As the lyrics go, it takes alot to stick with the one you love until your hair greys. Alot... of sacrifice. time, commitment and love.
《愿得一人心》
作词：胡小健
作曲：罗俊霖
曾在我背包小小夹层里的那个人
陪伴我漂洋过海经过每一段旅程
隐形的稻草人
守护我的天真
曾以为爱情能让未来只为一个人
关了灯依旧在书桌角落的那个人
变成我许多年来纪念爱情的标本
消失的那个人
回不去的青春
忘不了爱过的人才会对过往认真
只愿得一人心
白首不分离
这简单的话语
需要巨大的勇气
没想过失去你
却是在骗自己
最后你深深藏在我的歌声里 只愿得一人心
白首不分离
这清晰的话语
嘲笑孤单的自己
盼望能见到你
却一直骗自己
遗憾你听不到我唱的这首歌 多想唱给你
曾在我背包小小夹层里的那个人
陪伴我漂洋过海经过每一段旅程
隐形的稻草人
守护我的天真
曾以为爱情能让未来只为一个人
关了灯依旧在书桌角落的那个人
变成我许多年来纪念爱情的标本
消失的那个人
回不去的青春
忘不了爱过的人才会对过往认真
只愿得一人心
白首不分离
这简单的话语
需要巨大的勇气
没想过失去你
却是在骗自己
最后你深深藏在我的歌声里
只愿得一人心
白首不分离
这清晰的话语
嘲笑孤单的自己
盼望能见到你
却一直骗自己
遗憾你听不到我唱的这首歌
只愿得一人心
白首不分离
这简单的话语
需要巨大的勇气
没想过失去你
却是在骗自己
最后你深深藏在我的歌声里
只愿得一人心
白首不分离
这清晰的话语
嘲笑孤单的自己
我很想你
却一直骗自己
遗憾你听不到我唱的这首歌 多想唱给你
As the lyrics go, it takes alot to stick with the one you love until your hair greys. Alot... of sacrifice. time, commitment and love.
Tuesday, September 30, 2014
Quite an interesting day
Haha, I had quite an interesting day today.
After my usual lecture which ended at 3pm and then my first PAL program for Maths 1 today, I was supposed to be getting dinner for some friends as I had planned. I had not seen them for some time and we thus decided to have dinner together at an arranged venue.
I had everything planned out beforehand. I would rush off after I was done with school for the day and take a bus a few stops down to a food court where I would be getting dinner for the guys. Unfortunately, some unexpected issues cropped up. Firstly, my hand phone started running low on battery towards the end of lecture. Knowing that I still needed to use my phone to contact my friends later in the evening, I tried to find some way to charge my phone a little hoping that whatever little battery my phone had would be enough to last for me to pick up dinner and to make the delivery. Moreover, the PAL session ended off half an hour later than it was supposed to, which I didn't plan for. Thus, I was really rushing after class finally ended.
For one, I didn't want to arrive at my destination too late cuz obviously it wouldn't be very nice to delay their dinner. Also, there was the problem of my almost "dead" phone and I still had not taken their orders for dinner. On top of that I still needed to make a trip to the bank!
Well, all my effort didn't go to waste though. I managed to get to the hawker centre just after 1830 with around 15% of my phone battery left. I made the call quickly and got their orders. There was even a request to pick up one of the guys' dinner as his mum works there so his dinner was somewhat already prepared. By the time the call ended, I had orders for two packets of fried carrot cake with lots of chilli, one bowl of fishball soup noodles, two packets of western chicken cutlet rice and to pick up the bowl of "bak ku teh" from my friend's mum's shop.
Haha... I am sure I had never taken so many food orders all at once before! From finding the correct food stalls to get the food from, to remembering what to order, to finally collecting all the food and making sure I got everything, it sure was loads of fun hahaha!!
I made the "bak ku teh" my last stop as I intended to just pick it up and leave. However, I certainly needed another three arms to carry all that food as well as my belongings. Thus, I stopped by my friend's mum's char kuey teow stall and place all my stuff on the benches to rearrange the items so that I could carry them better. Thankfully, my friend's mum saw that and offered me two much larger plastic bags so that I could place every thing in and carry them with my two hands. I also got myself some dinner too which was char kuey teow of course! Much to my surprise, my friend's mum fried a really huge packet of char kuey teow and refused to accept my money, saying that it was for me to share with the other guys. Wow... thanks! Hahaha...
After thanking her profusely for all her help, I left, my arms laden down with the food. After meeting up with the guys, we had dinner together and talked. It was only 1945 then! Efficiency much... hahaha! We had lots to talk about and I was too excited to sit down while eating... They saw that and commented that I was the same as before, always standing up when eating. Hahaha, such memories.
After hanging around for about half an hour, I then got up to leave. We were definitely going to meet up again soon.
The story doesn't end here though. It was only when I got all the way home and sat down to do some studying that I realised, much to my horror, that my whole folder was not with me!! Yes, I left it at the hawker centre! I had been so focused on getting the food and feeling so ecstatic about meeting my friends that I had totally forgotten that I was supposed to be carrying my folder. While the shock of my blunder and loss was still coursing through me, I had a brainwave! I quickly sent a few messages to my friend and got his mum to hold on to my file for me. That set my mind at ease. I would go over to pick it up tomorrow. It was a lost and found after all.
I am so shagged and tired right now. It sure had been a really long day.
Nights!
After my usual lecture which ended at 3pm and then my first PAL program for Maths 1 today, I was supposed to be getting dinner for some friends as I had planned. I had not seen them for some time and we thus decided to have dinner together at an arranged venue.
I had everything planned out beforehand. I would rush off after I was done with school for the day and take a bus a few stops down to a food court where I would be getting dinner for the guys. Unfortunately, some unexpected issues cropped up. Firstly, my hand phone started running low on battery towards the end of lecture. Knowing that I still needed to use my phone to contact my friends later in the evening, I tried to find some way to charge my phone a little hoping that whatever little battery my phone had would be enough to last for me to pick up dinner and to make the delivery. Moreover, the PAL session ended off half an hour later than it was supposed to, which I didn't plan for. Thus, I was really rushing after class finally ended.
For one, I didn't want to arrive at my destination too late cuz obviously it wouldn't be very nice to delay their dinner. Also, there was the problem of my almost "dead" phone and I still had not taken their orders for dinner. On top of that I still needed to make a trip to the bank!
Well, all my effort didn't go to waste though. I managed to get to the hawker centre just after 1830 with around 15% of my phone battery left. I made the call quickly and got their orders. There was even a request to pick up one of the guys' dinner as his mum works there so his dinner was somewhat already prepared. By the time the call ended, I had orders for two packets of fried carrot cake with lots of chilli, one bowl of fishball soup noodles, two packets of western chicken cutlet rice and to pick up the bowl of "bak ku teh" from my friend's mum's shop.
Haha... I am sure I had never taken so many food orders all at once before! From finding the correct food stalls to get the food from, to remembering what to order, to finally collecting all the food and making sure I got everything, it sure was loads of fun hahaha!!
I made the "bak ku teh" my last stop as I intended to just pick it up and leave. However, I certainly needed another three arms to carry all that food as well as my belongings. Thus, I stopped by my friend's mum's char kuey teow stall and place all my stuff on the benches to rearrange the items so that I could carry them better. Thankfully, my friend's mum saw that and offered me two much larger plastic bags so that I could place every thing in and carry them with my two hands. I also got myself some dinner too which was char kuey teow of course! Much to my surprise, my friend's mum fried a really huge packet of char kuey teow and refused to accept my money, saying that it was for me to share with the other guys. Wow... thanks! Hahaha...
After thanking her profusely for all her help, I left, my arms laden down with the food. After meeting up with the guys, we had dinner together and talked. It was only 1945 then! Efficiency much... hahaha! We had lots to talk about and I was too excited to sit down while eating... They saw that and commented that I was the same as before, always standing up when eating. Hahaha, such memories.
After hanging around for about half an hour, I then got up to leave. We were definitely going to meet up again soon.
The story doesn't end here though. It was only when I got all the way home and sat down to do some studying that I realised, much to my horror, that my whole folder was not with me!! Yes, I left it at the hawker centre! I had been so focused on getting the food and feeling so ecstatic about meeting my friends that I had totally forgotten that I was supposed to be carrying my folder. While the shock of my blunder and loss was still coursing through me, I had a brainwave! I quickly sent a few messages to my friend and got his mum to hold on to my file for me. That set my mind at ease. I would go over to pick it up tomorrow. It was a lost and found after all.
I am so shagged and tired right now. It sure had been a really long day.
Nights!
Saturday, September 13, 2014
Mid autumn festival 2014
As said in my previous post, I went out with JL after the Stats 2 workshop today. Well, the main reason why we went out today was to visit the Gardens By the Bay and view the lanterns on exhibit there which were for the Mid Autumn Festival. But that was later in the evening. Before that, we had the Beef Samurai Burger as a late lunch/ early dinner at Marina Square Mac's which we had wanted to try since couple of weeks back. Once again, it was just a mess of a burger with lots of sauce overflowing and hardly impressive really. Lately, this has been quite common for Mac's new burgers - too much overwhelming sauces on the burger, not to say all are bad though. Anyways, we left after eating and made our way to Gardens By the Bay for the event there. We walked there via MBS though which really caught me by surprise. I had no idea there was a bridge connecting MBS with GBTB.
We got to GBTB just as the sun was setting, just in time for the lanterns to be lit. We planned to follow the loop around the garden and see if there was anything interesting along the way. As we walked, I realised that there wasn't too big a crowd which was a relief. Then again, it might have been due to the large crowd being spread out over the huge garden. Once again, we were walking through rows and rows of LED-lighted structures and figures with absolutely no sight of any traditional paper lanterns, whether on display or being carried on sticks by the visitors. This was quite a dismay to both of us as we had been hoping to see some traditional elements at the event. Thus, it was pretty much the same as last year when we went to the Mid Autumn Festival event at Chinese Garden.
Having said that, I felt that this year's event at GBTB was slightly better than the one we went to last year. This is due to the few points as listed below,
- Firstly, we did not have to pay an entrance fee for this event at GBTB which was not the case for Chinese Gardens where we had to purchase tickets.
- As I had mentioned earlier, it was also not too cramped due to the huge size of GBTB which sure made the walk more relaxing
- There was some traditional element in the event at GBTB in the form of guessing of lantern riddles (灯谜) which was usually played during Mid Autumn Festival as people gathered around their lanterns, hence the name.
- There were also several other booths set up which featured some beautiful handmade lanterns which were winning pieces for a lantern making competition and some other games or talks.
We soon grew bored and tired of walking and left about two hours after we got there. We then settled down at a Starbucks to have a drink and rest our legs before heading home. Thinking back, I feel that the first Mid Autumn Festival I had with JL was still the most fun and memorable which we celebrated at East Coast Park and was totally planned by the both of us, from lanterns to mooncakes and the venue. Think we should plan the next one on our own again ya?
We got to GBTB just as the sun was setting, just in time for the lanterns to be lit. We planned to follow the loop around the garden and see if there was anything interesting along the way. As we walked, I realised that there wasn't too big a crowd which was a relief. Then again, it might have been due to the large crowd being spread out over the huge garden. Once again, we were walking through rows and rows of LED-lighted structures and figures with absolutely no sight of any traditional paper lanterns, whether on display or being carried on sticks by the visitors. This was quite a dismay to both of us as we had been hoping to see some traditional elements at the event. Thus, it was pretty much the same as last year when we went to the Mid Autumn Festival event at Chinese Garden.
Having said that, I felt that this year's event at GBTB was slightly better than the one we went to last year. This is due to the few points as listed below,
- Firstly, we did not have to pay an entrance fee for this event at GBTB which was not the case for Chinese Gardens where we had to purchase tickets.
- As I had mentioned earlier, it was also not too cramped due to the huge size of GBTB which sure made the walk more relaxing
- There was some traditional element in the event at GBTB in the form of guessing of lantern riddles (灯谜) which was usually played during Mid Autumn Festival as people gathered around their lanterns, hence the name.
- There were also several other booths set up which featured some beautiful handmade lanterns which were winning pieces for a lantern making competition and some other games or talks.
We soon grew bored and tired of walking and left about two hours after we got there. We then settled down at a Starbucks to have a drink and rest our legs before heading home. Thinking back, I feel that the first Mid Autumn Festival I had with JL was still the most fun and memorable which we celebrated at East Coast Park and was totally planned by the both of us, from lanterns to mooncakes and the venue. Think we should plan the next one on our own again ya?
Friday, September 12, 2014
Clueless about Stats
As I had posted earlier this week, I went for a Stats workshop today which was meant to prepare us for Stats 2 lecturers later this year. Although I had already missed quite a few sessions of this workshop, I was attending today's session mainly for two reasons. Firstly, I have heard quite alot on how Stats 2 was of "out of this world" level of difficulty and that I would not understand what was being taught anyways so there was no point in attending the workshops. Thus, having done Statistics in JC, I just wanted to have a glimpse of how difficult Stats 2 really was and if there were going to be lots of new content being taught so I could prepare myself for them. Secondly, I was also hoping that since Uni lectures were known for going much more in depth than what we learnt in JC, I might gain some new perspectives which may help me understand what I'm learning.
Unfortunately, as I was sitting in the lecture theatre an hour after the lecturer started speaking, I was trying really hard to make sense of what he was saying, while the other half of my mind was already dozing off. My mind barely jolted awake at some familiar words like "Binomial" and "Poisson" but was otherwise unable to make sense of much else.
When break came one an half hours into the lecture, I was so glad to have an opportunity to get out of the LT that I actually thought it was the end of the session. I had no intention of sitting through the next session so I started to pack. I then realised the lecture was not over... Lol! Lucky I had not stood up with my bag over my shoulder yet or I would have looked really stupid.
It was also around this time that two guys behind me started a conversation with me asking how well I was following the lecture so far. I just told them that I could not understand anything at all. They then replied " You are not the only one." Indeed, I could see many clueless faces during the second part of the session and the guy to my right was already dozing off...
By the time the session ended, I came to the conclusion that I needed to put in a lot of effort to prepare for my Statistics lectures before they start November. Moreover, I am sure I would have no problems making new friends in my Stats lectures given that most of us would have something in common. Haha!
Unfortunately, as I was sitting in the lecture theatre an hour after the lecturer started speaking, I was trying really hard to make sense of what he was saying, while the other half of my mind was already dozing off. My mind barely jolted awake at some familiar words like "Binomial" and "Poisson" but was otherwise unable to make sense of much else.
When break came one an half hours into the lecture, I was so glad to have an opportunity to get out of the LT that I actually thought it was the end of the session. I had no intention of sitting through the next session so I started to pack. I then realised the lecture was not over... Lol! Lucky I had not stood up with my bag over my shoulder yet or I would have looked really stupid.
It was also around this time that two guys behind me started a conversation with me asking how well I was following the lecture so far. I just told them that I could not understand anything at all. They then replied " You are not the only one." Indeed, I could see many clueless faces during the second part of the session and the guy to my right was already dozing off...
By the time the session ended, I came to the conclusion that I needed to put in a lot of effort to prepare for my Statistics lectures before they start November. Moreover, I am sure I would have no problems making new friends in my Stats lectures given that most of us would have something in common. Haha!
Stats 2 Workshops
Hi all. So I finally logged in to my school's student portal today and was met with a really cramped schedule for this week! Haha.... I know, it's already almost the end of the week right? Yupp, I missed quite a sessions of the Stats 2 workshop as a result. I had been procrastinating my logging in to the student portal to check on my timetable for this week, even though I knew there were several Stats 2 workshops going on this week. I guess I was just lazy...
I've heard that Stats 2 is on a whole new level from the usual stats that we did in JC. Whole new level meaning skywards... haha! Worse still, it is built on the foundation of stats we did in JC, which I never really got the hang of anyways. As such, now that I know the dates and venues for the few remaining Stats 2 workshop session left for tomorrow and Saturday, I am planning to attend the sessions tomorrow, as a last attempt to get a glimpse of Stats 2 before lectures begin. I haven't had time to read through the lecture slides for tomorrow's lecture though.
Well, and I'm heading out with JL tomorrow after the lectures. It's really late now, feeling really sleepy. ciaos!
I've heard that Stats 2 is on a whole new level from the usual stats that we did in JC. Whole new level meaning skywards... haha! Worse still, it is built on the foundation of stats we did in JC, which I never really got the hang of anyways. As such, now that I know the dates and venues for the few remaining Stats 2 workshop session left for tomorrow and Saturday, I am planning to attend the sessions tomorrow, as a last attempt to get a glimpse of Stats 2 before lectures begin. I haven't had time to read through the lecture slides for tomorrow's lecture though.
Well, and I'm heading out with JL tomorrow after the lectures. It's really late now, feeling really sleepy. ciaos!
Tuesday, September 9, 2014
Hitting the gym once again
Hi guys! I'm just back from the gym and I'm feeling so awesome! It's been a long time since a gym session went so well that I ended off perspiring. Hmm... in fact, this is perhaps the first time I perspired after a gym session, without doing any jogging. On most other gym sessions, I would leave the gym with my muscles aching but not perspiring, unless I spent some time on the treadmill. Somehow, that is not as satisfying a gym session.
It is most likely that I will be going for another workout or two later this week and hopefully I can keep this as a weekly routine haha! I'm also trying to add jogging and swimming into my weekly routine amidst all my studying. Hope the bright sunny skies keep up until I make time to head to the pool. Most likely will do so next week!
It is most likely that I will be going for another workout or two later this week and hopefully I can keep this as a weekly routine haha! I'm also trying to add jogging and swimming into my weekly routine amidst all my studying. Hope the bright sunny skies keep up until I make time to head to the pool. Most likely will do so next week!
Friday, August 29, 2014
Sharks - What you may not have known
Heyyy, so I was watching a program on Sharks this morning on Nat Geo Wild, Starhub, which introduced some sharks with interesting features whether it is for hunting or self protection. Here is the list:
1. Wobbegong shark
This shark was introduced as one with a very huge gaping mouth which it uses to catch prey of course. It also has an outer covering of skin which is coloured just like the sea floor and with patterns and markings to help these fish better camouflage with the seafloor. As such, these sharks spend most of their time on the seafloor and are passive hunters, lying in wait and feeding on small fish which swim too close to their gaping mouths.
2. Thresher shark
Now, this is one interesting shark. It has a really long tail which can be as long as the body of the shark itself. Of course, that long tail helps in swimming but the shark uses that tail for hunting too. It "swipes" or "slaps" the water to stun prey such as small fish or even kill them. It was said that this "slapping" even splits the H and the O of the water. Haha, I dunno how true that is but it sure sounds cool.
3. Epaulette shark
Unlike most other sharks, this one is much smaller, growing up to about 1m at most. The only feature introduced about this shark was the black rings found behind each pectoral fin thus making it look cute. Hahaha... quite an innocent word to describe sharks but given it's size, I guess it might really look cute.
4. Sevengill shark
This shark, as the name suggests, has seven pairs of gill slits. I learnt that this differs from other sharks as most other sharks have only 5. This again is a relatively small shark, growing up to about 1.4m in length.
5. Nurse shark
Okay, here's a shark that actually sleeps. It was said that most sharks are active 24 hours of the day due to the need to be in constant motion to seek waters rich in oxygen. Otherwise, these sharks may die due to a lack of oxygen. Furthermore, sharks, as do most fish, need to be in constant motion to remain afloat and not sink to the bottom of the ocean. This would then be dangerous for the sharks as well.
So basically, the Nurse shark has the ability to respire by pumping water out of their gills even when sleeping thus having the ability to take a rest at the bottom of the ocean.
6. Horn shark
This shark has special features not to aid it in hunting but to protect it. There are large venomous spines behind its two high dorsal fins which predators will inevitably come into contact with should these predators attempt to devour the horn shark. Moreover, this shark also has a rather ugly look with a short and flat head.
More interestingly, the eggs of the horn shark are shaped like huge cork screws which the mother wedges into crevices or rocks to prevent them from being washed away by the ocean currents or to protect the eggs from predators. The female horn shark usually lays up to 24 eggs within 2 weeks.
Moreover, the horn shark prefers using its fins to push itself along the seafloor to move from place to place rather than swimming. Thus, it almost seems like the horn shark is walking. It is also able to store oxygenated water in its gills for up to three and a half hours.
7. Angel shark
Ooops... cannot remember what was special about this fish.
8. Goblin shark
This one looks real nasty, much like an ugly goblin and hence it's name. Much of the reason for its ugliness is a long flat snout protruding out of its head. It also has long teeth which extends out of its mouth giving it a menacing look. It can grow to 3-4m or even larger which makes this quite a huge fish.
One other interesting thing about this fish is that its scientific name, "Mitsukurina Owstoni" is derived from two people, Alan Owston and Kakichi Mitsukuri, both who helped in discovering this shark.
Its snout is also covered with "ampullae of Lorenzini" which help it to detect electric fields so that the shark is able to find its way around, much like us using compasses.
9. Frilled shark
The only thing I remembered about this shark is that the gills on both sides of its head extend out under its head and connect, looking sort of like frills hence its name.
10. Cookie cutter shark
This shark was introduced as one which has hardly been seen. This is likely due to its small size, growing up to around 50cm only. So little is known about this fish and much is merely deduction using scars on its victims. Haha, what is interesting about this shark is its feeding habit. Basically, it swims up to huge sea creatures, be it bluefin tuna, or larger sharks or whales and uses its razor sharp teeth to take a bite out of them. Just one crunch, and the round shape of a cookie is carved out of the flesh, just like a cookie cutter. It was not mentioned whether the bite was deadly so I guess it just goes around taking bites out of creatures and does not finish its prey whole. Oh, and they are definitely not at the top of the food chain, given their size.
So if ever you are out there swimming in the sea and happen to have a round shaped wound... you might just have been bitten by a cookie cutter shark. Yes, they do bite humans too!
11. Great white shark
Okay, so the next few sharks are the more common ones. This Great White Shark is quite well known to many right? It is probably the most feared shark of all. Well, the only new thing I learnt about this shark was that it has the ability to keep its body warm even in cooler waters. Thus, this is how it keeps its energy level up and is thus so powerful in hunting prey.
12. Hammerhead shark
The only thing I remember about this shark, besides how it looks, is that a huge school of this fish gather together at a certain time each year. However, it is not clear whether they do so to mate or for other purposes. Still, it is really a majestic sight!
13. Tiger shark
I learnt something new about this shark too. Apparently, they eat any rubbish they can find in the seas and have stomachs which have really strong acids to digest all that "rubbish" too. It was said that these sharks have been known to eat everything ranging from metal signs to sea creatures and other sharks. They can even turn their stomachs inside out to remove all the excess which they do not need.
Having watched this program and another one about polar bears and their Arctic habitat which I had watched previously, I was once again reminded of how human activities have very detrimental impacts on the fauna and flora of this Earth. More specifically, air and water pollution caused by our mining and burning of fossil fuels has resulted in very toxic habitats for these other occupants which share this Earth, ultimately leading to the deaths and even extinction of these creatures. I do feel more needs to be done to minimise such consequences and at a faster pace too.
Phew, what a long post...
1. Wobbegong shark
This shark was introduced as one with a very huge gaping mouth which it uses to catch prey of course. It also has an outer covering of skin which is coloured just like the sea floor and with patterns and markings to help these fish better camouflage with the seafloor. As such, these sharks spend most of their time on the seafloor and are passive hunters, lying in wait and feeding on small fish which swim too close to their gaping mouths.
2. Thresher shark
Now, this is one interesting shark. It has a really long tail which can be as long as the body of the shark itself. Of course, that long tail helps in swimming but the shark uses that tail for hunting too. It "swipes" or "slaps" the water to stun prey such as small fish or even kill them. It was said that this "slapping" even splits the H and the O of the water. Haha, I dunno how true that is but it sure sounds cool.
3. Epaulette shark
Unlike most other sharks, this one is much smaller, growing up to about 1m at most. The only feature introduced about this shark was the black rings found behind each pectoral fin thus making it look cute. Hahaha... quite an innocent word to describe sharks but given it's size, I guess it might really look cute.
4. Sevengill shark
This shark, as the name suggests, has seven pairs of gill slits. I learnt that this differs from other sharks as most other sharks have only 5. This again is a relatively small shark, growing up to about 1.4m in length.
5. Nurse shark
Okay, here's a shark that actually sleeps. It was said that most sharks are active 24 hours of the day due to the need to be in constant motion to seek waters rich in oxygen. Otherwise, these sharks may die due to a lack of oxygen. Furthermore, sharks, as do most fish, need to be in constant motion to remain afloat and not sink to the bottom of the ocean. This would then be dangerous for the sharks as well.
So basically, the Nurse shark has the ability to respire by pumping water out of their gills even when sleeping thus having the ability to take a rest at the bottom of the ocean.
6. Horn shark
This shark has special features not to aid it in hunting but to protect it. There are large venomous spines behind its two high dorsal fins which predators will inevitably come into contact with should these predators attempt to devour the horn shark. Moreover, this shark also has a rather ugly look with a short and flat head.
More interestingly, the eggs of the horn shark are shaped like huge cork screws which the mother wedges into crevices or rocks to prevent them from being washed away by the ocean currents or to protect the eggs from predators. The female horn shark usually lays up to 24 eggs within 2 weeks.
Moreover, the horn shark prefers using its fins to push itself along the seafloor to move from place to place rather than swimming. Thus, it almost seems like the horn shark is walking. It is also able to store oxygenated water in its gills for up to three and a half hours.
7. Angel shark
Ooops... cannot remember what was special about this fish.
8. Goblin shark
This one looks real nasty, much like an ugly goblin and hence it's name. Much of the reason for its ugliness is a long flat snout protruding out of its head. It also has long teeth which extends out of its mouth giving it a menacing look. It can grow to 3-4m or even larger which makes this quite a huge fish.
One other interesting thing about this fish is that its scientific name, "Mitsukurina Owstoni" is derived from two people, Alan Owston and Kakichi Mitsukuri, both who helped in discovering this shark.
Its snout is also covered with "ampullae of Lorenzini" which help it to detect electric fields so that the shark is able to find its way around, much like us using compasses.
9. Frilled shark
The only thing I remembered about this shark is that the gills on both sides of its head extend out under its head and connect, looking sort of like frills hence its name.
10. Cookie cutter shark
This shark was introduced as one which has hardly been seen. This is likely due to its small size, growing up to around 50cm only. So little is known about this fish and much is merely deduction using scars on its victims. Haha, what is interesting about this shark is its feeding habit. Basically, it swims up to huge sea creatures, be it bluefin tuna, or larger sharks or whales and uses its razor sharp teeth to take a bite out of them. Just one crunch, and the round shape of a cookie is carved out of the flesh, just like a cookie cutter. It was not mentioned whether the bite was deadly so I guess it just goes around taking bites out of creatures and does not finish its prey whole. Oh, and they are definitely not at the top of the food chain, given their size.
So if ever you are out there swimming in the sea and happen to have a round shaped wound... you might just have been bitten by a cookie cutter shark. Yes, they do bite humans too!
11. Great white shark
Okay, so the next few sharks are the more common ones. This Great White Shark is quite well known to many right? It is probably the most feared shark of all. Well, the only new thing I learnt about this shark was that it has the ability to keep its body warm even in cooler waters. Thus, this is how it keeps its energy level up and is thus so powerful in hunting prey.
12. Hammerhead shark
The only thing I remember about this shark, besides how it looks, is that a huge school of this fish gather together at a certain time each year. However, it is not clear whether they do so to mate or for other purposes. Still, it is really a majestic sight!
13. Tiger shark
I learnt something new about this shark too. Apparently, they eat any rubbish they can find in the seas and have stomachs which have really strong acids to digest all that "rubbish" too. It was said that these sharks have been known to eat everything ranging from metal signs to sea creatures and other sharks. They can even turn their stomachs inside out to remove all the excess which they do not need.
Having watched this program and another one about polar bears and their Arctic habitat which I had watched previously, I was once again reminded of how human activities have very detrimental impacts on the fauna and flora of this Earth. More specifically, air and water pollution caused by our mining and burning of fossil fuels has resulted in very toxic habitats for these other occupants which share this Earth, ultimately leading to the deaths and even extinction of these creatures. I do feel more needs to be done to minimise such consequences and at a faster pace too.
Phew, what a long post...
Friday, August 22, 2014
Uni preparations in a flash!
Okay, so I've been really busy with preparing for my new school year in University for around the past one month, I'm of course really excited ( a feeling repeated in most of my recent posts.... haha) and there have been lots going on really. Yea, that explains the lack of updates or posts for the past one month but no worries, I'm going to be putting up some updates here today. Actually... I have written about some of the things that have been going on if I recall. Still, here's a summary...
14/07 - Study Skills workshop 1
17/07 - UOL Offer sent
18/07 - Registered for FOD2/ Enrolment Talk workshop
24/07 - FOD 2 0830 to 1800
30/07 - Enrolment Talk
31/07 - Morning did SSCE and editted my selections in the evening after a discussion with my Dad Realised I should have planned my classes such that I do not need to go to school every day,,, Oops.
Finalised timetable and submitted
01/08 - Preparatory Maths 1 workshop
03/08 - Timbre dinner with FOD OG/ Got selected for FOC2!!
05/08 - Preparatory Intro to Economics workshop 1 ( lecturer did not go through worksheet)
After this second prep course, I understood how it is possible to attend lectures and leave without making any friends. No one seemed to be talking to one another lol
06/08 - Was supposed to be Econs Prep workshop 2 but had to miss it due to FOC2!! It sure was FUN!!!
08/08 - End of FOC2
11/08 - Maths 1 first lecture
12/08 - Just to let you guys know, up until now I had not paid my school fees due to not having gotten my invoice. I was really frantic, worried, even desperate as to why I had not gotten it yet when lessons had already started. Thus I was really relieved to finally get my invoice today!
20/08 - Parents finally made payment of my school fees... A load in my chest was finally released.
Yupp, up until now this I pretty much most of what has been going on in my life. I will go into detail about some of these events in due course when I have had more time to blog,
Now. it's really late and I'm going to bed... so ciaos!
14/07 - Study Skills workshop 1
17/07 - UOL Offer sent
18/07 - Registered for FOD2/ Enrolment Talk workshop
24/07 - FOD 2 0830 to 1800
30/07 - Enrolment Talk
31/07 - Morning did SSCE and editted my selections in the evening after a discussion with my Dad Realised I should have planned my classes such that I do not need to go to school every day,,, Oops.
Finalised timetable and submitted
01/08 - Preparatory Maths 1 workshop
03/08 - Timbre dinner with FOD OG/ Got selected for FOC2!!
05/08 - Preparatory Intro to Economics workshop 1 ( lecturer did not go through worksheet)
After this second prep course, I understood how it is possible to attend lectures and leave without making any friends. No one seemed to be talking to one another lol
06/08 - Was supposed to be Econs Prep workshop 2 but had to miss it due to FOC2!! It sure was FUN!!!
08/08 - End of FOC2
11/08 - Maths 1 first lecture
12/08 - Just to let you guys know, up until now I had not paid my school fees due to not having gotten my invoice. I was really frantic, worried, even desperate as to why I had not gotten it yet when lessons had already started. Thus I was really relieved to finally get my invoice today!
20/08 - Parents finally made payment of my school fees... A load in my chest was finally released.
Yupp, up until now this I pretty much most of what has been going on in my life. I will go into detail about some of these events in due course when I have had more time to blog,
Now. it's really late and I'm going to bed... so ciaos!
Friday, August 1, 2014
Marvel Twist
I had a day free just yesterday in between my activities in school so I went out with JL. In particular, we were going to catch the new Marvel movie, Guardians of the Galaxy. Yesterday was the first day it opened in cinemas. Haha... we were finally catching a movie after a long while. Well, it wasn't that there hadn't been good/ interesting movies for the past couple of months but I had been busy and so we missed out on all of them. So we started off the day with lunch at Mac's.
Talking about Mac's, they have been quite aggressive in competition lately with the introduction of burger after new burger. From what I think, the new burgers haven't been very well received though. Each of the new burgers introduced were removed from the menu after not too long and then another new burger was introduced. Not too sure what is the reason for this but I did find some of the burgers quite interesting, while there were others which did not really make the mark. The newest on the menu was a "Shiok Shiok Satay" burger with a choice of beef or chicken. That was to be our lunch for the day. Both of us picked the beef burger and I kind of liked the combination of beef with onion and cucumber together with the satay sauce. I do wonder how long this burger will be on the menu...
After a quick lunch, we rushed off to catch our movie. I was quite anticipating the movie seeing as it was a Marvel movie. In my mind, I was thinking super heroes and super powers. However, the movie turned out to be really different from what I had expected. I'm not going to spoil the movie for those who have not watched, so let's just say it was a really great movie and we both enjoyed it tremendously.
We ended off the day with a quick dinner at Soup Spoon after the movie. It sure felt great to finally not be eating a home cooked meal! It has been quite some time that I ate a good meal outdoors.
Talking about Mac's, they have been quite aggressive in competition lately with the introduction of burger after new burger. From what I think, the new burgers haven't been very well received though. Each of the new burgers introduced were removed from the menu after not too long and then another new burger was introduced. Not too sure what is the reason for this but I did find some of the burgers quite interesting, while there were others which did not really make the mark. The newest on the menu was a "Shiok Shiok Satay" burger with a choice of beef or chicken. That was to be our lunch for the day. Both of us picked the beef burger and I kind of liked the combination of beef with onion and cucumber together with the satay sauce. I do wonder how long this burger will be on the menu...
After a quick lunch, we rushed off to catch our movie. I was quite anticipating the movie seeing as it was a Marvel movie. In my mind, I was thinking super heroes and super powers. However, the movie turned out to be really different from what I had expected. I'm not going to spoil the movie for those who have not watched, so let's just say it was a really great movie and we both enjoyed it tremendously.
We ended off the day with a quick dinner at Soup Spoon after the movie. It sure felt great to finally not be eating a home cooked meal! It has been quite some time that I ate a good meal outdoors.
Maths prep lecture
Hahaha... I'm just back from my first Uni lecture which was Maths 1 Preparatory lecture. Basically what the lecturer went through was stuff I had already learnt before such as differentiation and functions or graphs. As such, it was not too much of a problem as those were still quite basic for me. Even the notes which we were to print out for the class contained some really basic maths formulae for algebra and differentiation formulae. I guess this is just cuz this is the preparatory workshop so the lecturer is starting from the very basic stuff? Well, I am sure the content is going to go much more in depth once lecture starts. Think differentiation will form the basis of this course, seeing as most of what we went through today was differentiation.
Yay, there's no homework for now. I do need to revise completing the square though, this lecture just reminded me about it.
ciaos...
Yay, there's no homework for now. I do need to revise completing the square though, this lecture just reminded me about it.
ciaos...
Thursday, July 31, 2014
Class schedule
I get to select my timetable for my new school year starting this morning 10am. So after much anxiety, as this is my first time selecting courses and schedule, and the fact that I was really worried that the course I wanted would have been snatched up by the time I figured out how to navigate the site, I have successfully selected my courses and the classes I want. Well, I do not really have any preference for the courses actually, so I was selecting courses more so that the classes do no clash. Thankfully, I managed to fit everything in.
There were some "hiccups" though. First, I only found out that the course I had picked out from a University of London (UOL) brochure was not offered by SIM. I thus had to pick another one from the given selections and I picked Sociology. Haha, I guess I had quite the same mentality when I chose Sociology as I had when I decided to take up Economics for A levels. I have heard about it, and so I now want to know what it is all about. Well, if it really turns out to be a tough course... I guess I'll figure a way around that when the time comes. Who knows, I may grow to like it?
All this while I was choosing classes, I was also worrying that the classes that I want may already be full, and that I may not be able to fit all my classes into my schedule. Every time I validated my selections, I would wait with bated breath, hoping for all to be cleared. Otherwise, I would need to review my classes again to change them around.
After more than an hour of selecting and switching classes around, I have come up with my schedule for the year 2014/2015:)
Tuesday, July 22, 2014
Touring the West
I've volunteered to be home today to do some "babysitting" so I thought I might as well write some posts. Shall talk a bit about yesterday and why I've not gotten out of my bed yet.
So yesterday was the 21st of July again. Remember this date? Yup, that's the day when me and JL first became friends, or met up as friends actually. So we were definitely meeting up again yesterday. Before that though, let me talk about my morning jog yesterday.
As I'm currently on a break from work and have not started school yet, I have decided to go jogging every morning and yesterday was no exception. I was only meeting JL later in the morning so I was free in the early morning. Having found out on google that static warm up exercises was not recommended and that doing some jogging on the spot while lifting my knees high towards the chests would be a better warm up, I decided to try it yesterday. By the end of 5 reps of 10, I sure felt warmed up. Even as I started jogging, I could feel my leg muscles were less tight and I could run more comfortably. Made up my mind then to always warm up before jogging.
After my jog and a quick shower, I went to meet up with JL at Clementi MRT before bringing him to my house. I was going to bring him there for the first time and show him around some parts of the west which I frequent. JL was looking out for condominiums along the way and kept asking which one was my house haha! He was also quite surprised to find that the Bukit Panjang area had HDB flats too. It was really funny.
It was really scorching hot when we finally got to my condominium. To me, it was just the perfect weather to be out walking, better than a downpour at least which is really frequent around the area. However, I was sure JL would object to walking outside in the sweltering heat which indeed he did. Even before we got to my house, while walking under the sun or waiting at the bus stop, JL had been asking for aircon already lol. Knowing how windy it was at my place, I assured him he didn't need the air conditioning. Indeed, he was soon feeling really comfortable with the incessant strong breeze blowing through my house. After getting to my room, he wanted to stay around in my room to watch Adventure Time (AT) as he found my room really cosy and kept lying on my bed. That was when I introduced him to the word "reclined" as in him lying on my bed. After some persuasion though, JL finally decided to get out of the house. I was getting really drowsy and sleepy.
First, I showed him around the condominium. Then, I brought him outside to enjoy some of the greenery and to have a look at the park connectors around the area. By then, we were both drenched in perspiration and even I wanted some air conditioning. Thus, we decided to set off for our dinner destination, someplace in Tanjong Pagar which JL did not disclose as he wanted to give me a surprise. So back to Clementi we went, before taking an MRT to Tanjong Pagar. Although Google Maps stated that it was only a 6 mins walk from the MRT station, it sure felt like hours. The walk brought us through some residential areas, several hotels and some other buildings. We even had a steep uphill climb at one point. All this while I had no idea where I was heading and was just following. It was only when we got to Tanjong Pagar CC that JL announced "We have arrived!"
The Community Centre was not our destination though. It was a buffet restaurant in the CC that JL had made reservations for our dinner. I was really famished by then but there was still a 20 mins wait before the restaurant was open. Not to mention that the morning jog plus the long walk here has left my legs weak and aching. I was sure we both were longing for the same thing at that moment, the air conditioning in the restaurant, the wide spread of food to kill our hunger and a chance to finally sit down to rest our legs.
After a seemingly long wait, and a lot of pacing, we got our table and sat there for a moment to have a rest first. Then, we proceeded to feast our eyes on the spread of food laid out before us, helping ourselves to something simple for starters. Feeling so hungry, I was sure I could at least have second helpings of every dish there. As we walked around filling our plates, we noticed some rather unique dishes which weren't usually seen in buffets. Most were from the dessert section so we decided to have more of the dessert later. I also noticed that there was quite a great variety of japanese sushi.
When I got to my fourth plate, two of which were sushi, I found that I was starting to get quite full. I then decided to try some of the other items which I had not tried. However, besides some pork and beef which I was simply too full to take, I found there was little much else left which I had not tried. So I decided to start on the dessert. Although we had intended to have some ice cream, we were too full after trying out the various other desserts. Thus, we decided we had enough and made the long walk back to the MRT station again.
After the morning jog and all that walking yesterday, my legs are aching now and that is why I am still in bed haha! Gonna roll out of my bed now... ciaoz.
After the morning jog and all that walking yesterday, my legs are aching now and that is why I am still in bed haha! Gonna roll out of my bed now... ciaoz.
Friday, July 18, 2014
Uni offer finally!!
FINALLY!! FINALLY!! AT LONG LAST!! I have received an offer for a place in university!
It only came earlier today around 1230 and I sure am quite relieved to have finally got an offer. , I was still worried. Having been rejected so many times and the fact that this was perhaps my last try at getting a place in university, I had been worried that I would get rejected yet again. Thankfully, that was not so.
Now, I am just really excited to get started on my Uni journey. First up, there are all the orientation activities and camps which I am really looking forward to. In fact, I have already attended one of the Study Skills Workshops earlier this week on Monday and started to get myself orientated by making a new friend, hahaha... Sounds so primary school lol!
Of course, I am also excited about getting all busy with books and notes and writing long essays once again. What is Uni life without all that right? Then again, I have not done any writing since the end of last year. Hmm, I guess I should start doing some writing soon so that I am not too rusty when lessons start. Oh yes, I forgot to add that my course starts on the 11th of August.
So, I have been receiving emails to get me to sign up for Freshmen Orientation Day, Freshmen Orientation Camps, an Enrolment Talk and some other Study Skills Workshops. Hahaha, I am definitely signing up for all of them. I am also hoping the Study Skills Workshops will help to aid me in starting to do some writing.
Okay shall end this off fast. As you can see, I am all geared up to begin Uni life. I have just finished accepting the offer and it sure took up alot of time. I had no idea I would need to read up a contract before accepting. Well, that is why I am only posting this up so late.
Okay, shall end off here. ciaoz:)
It only came earlier today around 1230 and I sure am quite relieved to have finally got an offer. , I was still worried. Having been rejected so many times and the fact that this was perhaps my last try at getting a place in university, I had been worried that I would get rejected yet again. Thankfully, that was not so.
Now, I am just really excited to get started on my Uni journey. First up, there are all the orientation activities and camps which I am really looking forward to. In fact, I have already attended one of the Study Skills Workshops earlier this week on Monday and started to get myself orientated by making a new friend, hahaha... Sounds so primary school lol!
Of course, I am also excited about getting all busy with books and notes and writing long essays once again. What is Uni life without all that right? Then again, I have not done any writing since the end of last year. Hmm, I guess I should start doing some writing soon so that I am not too rusty when lessons start. Oh yes, I forgot to add that my course starts on the 11th of August.
So, I have been receiving emails to get me to sign up for Freshmen Orientation Day, Freshmen Orientation Camps, an Enrolment Talk and some other Study Skills Workshops. Hahaha, I am definitely signing up for all of them. I am also hoping the Study Skills Workshops will help to aid me in starting to do some writing.
Okay shall end this off fast. As you can see, I am all geared up to begin Uni life. I have just finished accepting the offer and it sure took up alot of time. I had no idea I would need to read up a contract before accepting. Well, that is why I am only posting this up so late.
Okay, shall end off here. ciaoz:)
Thursday, June 19, 2014
Coffee
Yupp, this post will simply be about coffee, and my experience with it.
When I was a lot younger, I used to drink coffee. I guess the amount of coffee I used to consume could be considered quite significant, though I don't drink it frequently. Well basically, I always gulp down at least half a cup of coffee every time I drank. So it can be seen that I like drinking coffee a lot ya?
Then, I used to hear adults say that coffee kept them awake or that they needed to drink coffee whenever they started feeling sleepy. I did try using coffee to keep awake when I got tired from studying but I found it had no effect. I still felt really tired and sleepy. As such, I concluded that coffee, more accurately caffeine, had no effect on me.
Fast forward to the present, I have since changed my mind about caffeine and its effect on me. Having been working part time for quite some time now, I have felt really sleepy on many occasions after staring at the computer screen for some time. This is when drinking coffee helps revitalise me, enabling me to continue with my work.
This is what happens. I would be feeling really sleepy and nodding off in front of the computer. Then, after I take a break and get myself a cup of coffee, I find myself able to concentrate much better on my work and my mind is so much clearer.
I usually feel sleepy after lunch though, likely due to having eaten too much. So I have been taking coffee breaks in the afternoons after lunch to keep myself awake for work. Even though my mind still drifts off sometimes, it sure has helped. Still, I am trying to minimize my intake of caffeine though. I don't want to grow addicted to caffeine and have to drink coffee every time I feel sleepy right?
When I was a lot younger, I used to drink coffee. I guess the amount of coffee I used to consume could be considered quite significant, though I don't drink it frequently. Well basically, I always gulp down at least half a cup of coffee every time I drank. So it can be seen that I like drinking coffee a lot ya?
Then, I used to hear adults say that coffee kept them awake or that they needed to drink coffee whenever they started feeling sleepy. I did try using coffee to keep awake when I got tired from studying but I found it had no effect. I still felt really tired and sleepy. As such, I concluded that coffee, more accurately caffeine, had no effect on me.
Fast forward to the present, I have since changed my mind about caffeine and its effect on me. Having been working part time for quite some time now, I have felt really sleepy on many occasions after staring at the computer screen for some time. This is when drinking coffee helps revitalise me, enabling me to continue with my work.
This is what happens. I would be feeling really sleepy and nodding off in front of the computer. Then, after I take a break and get myself a cup of coffee, I find myself able to concentrate much better on my work and my mind is so much clearer.
I usually feel sleepy after lunch though, likely due to having eaten too much. So I have been taking coffee breaks in the afternoons after lunch to keep myself awake for work. Even though my mind still drifts off sometimes, it sure has helped. Still, I am trying to minimize my intake of caffeine though. I don't want to grow addicted to caffeine and have to drink coffee every time I feel sleepy right?
Wednesday, June 18, 2014
Numb already
Okay, so I just received an email from NTU yesterday saying my appeal to NTU was rejected.
I'm kind of getting quite numb by all these rejection replies really. Still waiting for when I get accepted to a university. Hope it comes soon!
I'm kind of getting quite numb by all these rejection replies really. Still waiting for when I get accepted to a university. Hope it comes soon!
Tuesday, June 17, 2014
Overwhelmed!!
Hey guys, so it's the 17th today,two days after my 21st birthday haha! And boy, have I been getting a lot of presents. I'm quite sure it's got something to do with being 21 years of age ya... that number, 21!
So first up, I received a Mac Air three days ago which really caught me by surprise. Firstly, it was on the 14th which wasn't exactly my birthday yet, so I wasn't expecting any gifts. Not that I was expecting any gifts at all though. Secondly, although I did expect to get a Mac (MacBook, MacAir, MacPro... not too sure how many types there are) from my parents as they had been looking around for one, I did not expect it to be so soon. Frankly, I was not even ready to receive a Mac yet. My room is still very messy and I have no space to place it.
Moreover, despite knowing that I was holding a Mac in my hands, there was still the question of whether it was a MacPro or a MacAir. I even thought it could have been an Ipad or something, seeing as it was given to me in a manila envelope, just as how Steve Jobs did his presentation on the MacAir. Hahaha, I'm really clueless about these computers. Still, I feel really excited receiving my first Apple product, a MacAir! That certainly seems a more practical gift for my 21st than getting a "key", which is supposed to be a mandatory gift from parents to 21 year olds.
Moving on, I also received a wallet from my cousins as a birthday gift which really surprised me. I was totally not expecting them to get me a gift! I do need to change my wallet so I sure am glad to have gotten that. Another surprise came in the form of a customized CROSS pen from my siblings with my name on it. It looks really sleek and awesome hahaha! I really love it!
All in all, I had a really awesome 21st birthday even though I did not hold a huge party.
Okay, so those were the gifts I received thus far. I still have some pending gifts though. My uncle has said that he intends to get me a Crumpler messenger bag as a gift. However, there are too many different colours and sizes and he did not want to pick something I did not like so he wants me to buy the bag first and he will pay for it after. That is all alright with me except that he had stated a budget of $200-300!! Frankly, I do not need such an expensive gift man! I am not one to go for branded goods. Still, it is his gift so I agreed.
The best thing is, all my gifts this time round are practical items which I have use for. This sure beats holding a huge 21st birthday celebration and ending up with too many gifts which may not be of much use to me. That would leave me with too many things clogging up my room... hahaha. I am still trying to clear out my stuff lol!
All I can say is, I am really OVERWHELMED with my gifts this birthday. Many thanks!
So first up, I received a Mac Air three days ago which really caught me by surprise. Firstly, it was on the 14th which wasn't exactly my birthday yet, so I wasn't expecting any gifts. Not that I was expecting any gifts at all though. Secondly, although I did expect to get a Mac (MacBook, MacAir, MacPro... not too sure how many types there are) from my parents as they had been looking around for one, I did not expect it to be so soon. Frankly, I was not even ready to receive a Mac yet. My room is still very messy and I have no space to place it.
Moreover, despite knowing that I was holding a Mac in my hands, there was still the question of whether it was a MacPro or a MacAir. I even thought it could have been an Ipad or something, seeing as it was given to me in a manila envelope, just as how Steve Jobs did his presentation on the MacAir. Hahaha, I'm really clueless about these computers. Still, I feel really excited receiving my first Apple product, a MacAir! That certainly seems a more practical gift for my 21st than getting a "key", which is supposed to be a mandatory gift from parents to 21 year olds.
Moving on, I also received a wallet from my cousins as a birthday gift which really surprised me. I was totally not expecting them to get me a gift! I do need to change my wallet so I sure am glad to have gotten that. Another surprise came in the form of a customized CROSS pen from my siblings with my name on it. It looks really sleek and awesome hahaha! I really love it!
All in all, I had a really awesome 21st birthday even though I did not hold a huge party.
Okay, so those were the gifts I received thus far. I still have some pending gifts though. My uncle has said that he intends to get me a Crumpler messenger bag as a gift. However, there are too many different colours and sizes and he did not want to pick something I did not like so he wants me to buy the bag first and he will pay for it after. That is all alright with me except that he had stated a budget of $200-300!! Frankly, I do not need such an expensive gift man! I am not one to go for branded goods. Still, it is his gift so I agreed.
The best thing is, all my gifts this time round are practical items which I have use for. This sure beats holding a huge 21st birthday celebration and ending up with too many gifts which may not be of much use to me. That would leave me with too many things clogging up my room... hahaha. I am still trying to clear out my stuff lol!
All I can say is, I am really OVERWHELMED with my gifts this birthday. Many thanks!
Monday, June 16, 2014
21st birthday dinner treat for family
OMG!! I'm full to bursting point with food! Good food!
Hahaha, I just got home from a buffet dinner at Kiseki with my family for my 21st birthday. Yupp, just the same as JL who celebrated his 21st birthday there as well. The food there was simply delicious and there was such a wide spread... I sure am feeling really happy. Oh yea, also similar to JL, I paid the bill for the dinner. I sure am feeling so happy
To add on to my happiness, I'm glad to say that work is ending soon for me with two weeks left to go. I definitely deserve a break.
Hahaha, I just got home from a buffet dinner at Kiseki with my family for my 21st birthday. Yupp, just the same as JL who celebrated his 21st birthday there as well. The food there was simply delicious and there was such a wide spread... I sure am feeling really happy. Oh yea, also similar to JL, I paid the bill for the dinner. I sure am feeling so happy
To add on to my happiness, I'm glad to say that work is ending soon for me with two weeks left to go. I definitely deserve a break.
Sunday, June 15, 2014
My thoughts on driving
I'm back again! This time, I would be posting about some thoughts I had, rather than updating about my life though.
As what the title says, I will be sharing some of my thoughts on driving today. As in getting a driving license. Recently, there have been a few people asking if I am planning to take on driving lessons and when that would be. I guess that's because I've turned 21 and it is high time I started to drive. Indeed, most of my peers are already taking driving lessons and there are even some who have passed and are driving around now. Not too sure if they are driving their own vehicle or their parents', but who cares? It looks so cool to see them driving, much more cool to sit in the car that they are driving I guess. I haven't had a chance to sit in a classmate's car yet though, haha.
So I just want to share a little about what I feel about driving. Firstly, yes I do of course want to learn to drive, even have my own car in the future. However, that is not so that I get to look cool and get to boast that I drive. More on the reason why I would like to learn driving later. Now, a bit on why I wouldn't see a need to drive.
Having taken the public transport to get around from place to place for at least the past 10 years of my life, I have certainly gotten quite used to it. The early morning squeeze on MRTs and buses and the need to track the arrival times of the public transport so as to better plan my time, for instance. Otherwise, I may miss the bus and that would result in me being delayed and time wasted. I have even accepted the fact that I have to wait long periods of time for buses to arrive sometimes. In short, I am quite comfortable using the public transport to get around without the need to drive.
Next, the high cost of driving in Singapore is a deterrent. Firstly, the high monetary costs in owning a vehicle, high petrol prices, and high costs of road usage are definitely enough to have me consider alternatives to driving. Moreover, there is also the cost in terms of time wasted. Due to the high volume of traffic on roads, there are road congestions more often than not. This results in time being wasted on the road. Oh yes, and there is also the parking fees to take into account too.
So, why would I still want to learn driving?
Have you ever been in this situation where you are sitting in a vehicle travelling along the highway or any other road and you see smaller roads leading out from the main road you are travelling on? And you wonder where those roads lead to? Well, I have. I think it would be quite interesting to travel along these roads and find out where they lead. Yupp, so that's pretty much why I want to learn to drive. Of course, having a car and a driving license does also make it more convenient when I want to travel to some place nearby quickly, such as to a nearby shopping mall.
As what the title says, I will be sharing some of my thoughts on driving today. As in getting a driving license. Recently, there have been a few people asking if I am planning to take on driving lessons and when that would be. I guess that's because I've turned 21 and it is high time I started to drive. Indeed, most of my peers are already taking driving lessons and there are even some who have passed and are driving around now. Not too sure if they are driving their own vehicle or their parents', but who cares? It looks so cool to see them driving, much more cool to sit in the car that they are driving I guess. I haven't had a chance to sit in a classmate's car yet though, haha.
So I just want to share a little about what I feel about driving. Firstly, yes I do of course want to learn to drive, even have my own car in the future. However, that is not so that I get to look cool and get to boast that I drive. More on the reason why I would like to learn driving later. Now, a bit on why I wouldn't see a need to drive.
Having taken the public transport to get around from place to place for at least the past 10 years of my life, I have certainly gotten quite used to it. The early morning squeeze on MRTs and buses and the need to track the arrival times of the public transport so as to better plan my time, for instance. Otherwise, I may miss the bus and that would result in me being delayed and time wasted. I have even accepted the fact that I have to wait long periods of time for buses to arrive sometimes. In short, I am quite comfortable using the public transport to get around without the need to drive.
Next, the high cost of driving in Singapore is a deterrent. Firstly, the high monetary costs in owning a vehicle, high petrol prices, and high costs of road usage are definitely enough to have me consider alternatives to driving. Moreover, there is also the cost in terms of time wasted. Due to the high volume of traffic on roads, there are road congestions more often than not. This results in time being wasted on the road. Oh yes, and there is also the parking fees to take into account too.
So, why would I still want to learn driving?
Have you ever been in this situation where you are sitting in a vehicle travelling along the highway or any other road and you see smaller roads leading out from the main road you are travelling on? And you wonder where those roads lead to? Well, I have. I think it would be quite interesting to travel along these roads and find out where they lead. Yupp, so that's pretty much why I want to learn to drive. Of course, having a car and a driving license does also make it more convenient when I want to travel to some place nearby quickly, such as to a nearby shopping mall.
Thursday, June 12, 2014
Collection of A level certificate
I just got back from the MOE Building in Buona Vista. First time there but it was quite convenient to get there, thankfully. With my horrible sense of direction, I was more likely to get lost while finding my way to new places but thankfully, I managed to get to my destination without much issues this time round. Once there, locating the right building was not a problem once again as the signs for directions were very clear. Being a weekday, it was not crowded at all and I was in and out of there within minutes, with my certificate of course.
I felt kind of relieved finally having collected my certificate. I had been quite worried how I was supposed to be getting my cert, or if there was one at all for private candidates, since this was the first time I was taking the national examinations as a private candidate. Being a private candidate, I was not given updates on certificate collection as well. Thus, I was also worried that the certificates may all have already been destroyed as weeks and months passed from when I first got my A levels results.
It was only just two weeks before on 02/06 that I got my letter giving me details for the collection of certificate. It sure was a load off my chest knowing that I would be getting a certificate... haha. I would need it for University applications.
With my cert now safely with me, A levels finally feels over and done with.
I felt kind of relieved finally having collected my certificate. I had been quite worried how I was supposed to be getting my cert, or if there was one at all for private candidates, since this was the first time I was taking the national examinations as a private candidate. Being a private candidate, I was not given updates on certificate collection as well. Thus, I was also worried that the certificates may all have already been destroyed as weeks and months passed from when I first got my A levels results.
It was only just two weeks before on 02/06 that I got my letter giving me details for the collection of certificate. It sure was a load off my chest knowing that I would be getting a certificate... haha. I would need it for University applications.
With my cert now safely with me, A levels finally feels over and done with.
Sunday, June 1, 2014
Welcome JUNE!
Hahaaa yupp! May's over, now June's ahead of us!
18 minutes into June... my favourite month of the year!
That is not only because this is my birthday month of course, the middle of the year is also approaching. So that means I have made it through half the year already, and there is just another six more months to the end of the year. The end of the year is not far off.
Well, it may also be that June is the long one month break from school for students and thus I have always looked forward to this month since being a student. Whatever it is, I am just glad June's arrived and I'm hoping for the month of June to be a great one.
Oh, and I have been looking forward to June this year as JL will finally ORD! Yes, June will be a great month indeed.
18 minutes into June... my favourite month of the year!
That is not only because this is my birthday month of course, the middle of the year is also approaching. So that means I have made it through half the year already, and there is just another six more months to the end of the year. The end of the year is not far off.
Well, it may also be that June is the long one month break from school for students and thus I have always looked forward to this month since being a student. Whatever it is, I am just glad June's arrived and I'm hoping for the month of June to be a great one.
Oh, and I have been looking forward to June this year as JL will finally ORD! Yes, June will be a great month indeed.
Thursday, May 29, 2014
NTU Appeal
I have been working on my appeal letter to NTU for the past few days since getting the rejection email from NTU for my Bachelor of Earth and Environmental Science course. Well, given that there is a word limit of 50 words, there really isn't much I need to work on. Well, at least not on the content. Given the word limit, I have enough words to only restate my interest in the course, highlight what could have caused my poor grades and then end off by requesting for an interview to better represent myself. This feels more like writing a short note actually, rather than a letter... lol.
As my work in office has eased off quite a bit lately, I had some free time at work the last couple of days. Thus, I did some "research" to see what people usually included in their appeal letters. Out of all the content I found, I only managed to include that little bit in my letter,as stated above, which I felt were more important. So I'm still working on my appeal and will get it done and sent out within the next two days. Hope I at least get an interview this time round!
As my work in office has eased off quite a bit lately, I had some free time at work the last couple of days. Thus, I did some "research" to see what people usually included in their appeal letters. Out of all the content I found, I only managed to include that little bit in my letter,as stated above, which I felt were more important. So I'm still working on my appeal and will get it done and sent out within the next two days. Hope I at least get an interview this time round!
Tuesday, May 27, 2014
Easing of workload
Hey guys! I'm back again!
I'm here to update a little about my work today. It's the 27th of May today, which means May is coming to a close soon. As such, that would mean I have been working for close to four months already. Thus, my workload has also decreased quite a lot. There are less documents coming in for me to settle and less work in office for me really. This is great of course, given that I now have a little time to take a breather between tasks and also to take a walk around so that I am not always staring at the computer screen. Furthermore, these short breaks also enable me to drink water more frequently which sure does help me feel more refreshed, other than getting me hydrated of course.
Despite the smaller workload, I am thankful that work in the office is never ending so I am always able to find something to do at any time so as not to look too idle. I would really hate for someone to think that I am lazing around in office.
Outside of work, I am also being fed quite a lot as my colleagues have been offering me food quite frequently. To them, I am the young guy who should be able to eat a lot so yea... I don't find any reason to reject the food anyway.
Ok nights!
I'm here to update a little about my work today. It's the 27th of May today, which means May is coming to a close soon. As such, that would mean I have been working for close to four months already. Thus, my workload has also decreased quite a lot. There are less documents coming in for me to settle and less work in office for me really. This is great of course, given that I now have a little time to take a breather between tasks and also to take a walk around so that I am not always staring at the computer screen. Furthermore, these short breaks also enable me to drink water more frequently which sure does help me feel more refreshed, other than getting me hydrated of course.
Despite the smaller workload, I am thankful that work in the office is never ending so I am always able to find something to do at any time so as not to look too idle. I would really hate for someone to think that I am lazing around in office.
Outside of work, I am also being fed quite a lot as my colleagues have been offering me food quite frequently. To them, I am the young guy who should be able to eat a lot so yea... I don't find any reason to reject the food anyway.
Ok nights!
Wednesday, May 21, 2014
Uni applications outcome...
Just happened to log in to my email... just. And I saw that NTU had emailed me with my university application outcome. Oh wells, it was another negative reply to my application. So that makes it two.
Already received the reply from SUTD couple of weeks back... which was the same outcome.
Well, I guess I kind of already expected this. Mostly due to the S grade I got for my Maths...
Gonna apply for SIM soon.
ciaoz
Already received the reply from SUTD couple of weeks back... which was the same outcome.
Well, I guess I kind of already expected this. Mostly due to the S grade I got for my Maths...
Gonna apply for SIM soon.
ciaoz
Tuesday, May 6, 2014
Late night thoughts
It's time for me to go to bed once again, but I thought I would post some thoughts that I had been having over the past few nights.
After working for close to three months now I think, I am starting to find my life being kind of mundane. It is basically the same routine everyday with me waking up in the morning around 7am to for work, then heading to work and then geting home from work. After which, I would be so tired that I can only think of dinner and then sleep. Yes. I would fall fast asleep on most nights after having had dinner. This leaves me no time and energy to think about the next day or the weekends, or to do any planning at all. Even during office hours, I am so occupied with work that I have hardly the time to think of much else other than my work. This is definitely not what I had intended.
As such, my weekends are now so much more important to me as those are the only days I have some free time for myself. Well, I guess it is lucky I got to experience working life before having to go into it full force. This way, I will hopefully be able to make some plans to make better use of my time in the future.
After working for close to three months now I think, I am starting to find my life being kind of mundane. It is basically the same routine everyday with me waking up in the morning around 7am to for work, then heading to work and then geting home from work. After which, I would be so tired that I can only think of dinner and then sleep. Yes. I would fall fast asleep on most nights after having had dinner. This leaves me no time and energy to think about the next day or the weekends, or to do any planning at all. Even during office hours, I am so occupied with work that I have hardly the time to think of much else other than my work. This is definitely not what I had intended.
As such, my weekends are now so much more important to me as those are the only days I have some free time for myself. Well, I guess it is lucky I got to experience working life before having to go into it full force. This way, I will hopefully be able to make some plans to make better use of my time in the future.
Sunday, May 4, 2014
Feeling awesome!!
Hi guys, I'm back again!
Some incidents recently had me feeling kinda great!
One of which was that I met some really friendly and thoughtful bus drivers last week. There were at least two mornings when I saw the bus approaching and had to sprint around 200m to the bus stop from my condominium. Of course, the bus did get to the bus stop before I got there but instead of driving off, the bus driver actually waited for me to arrive to board the bus. This was despite no one else boarding or alighting from the bus. I guess the bus driver must have seen me running and was thoughtful enough to wait for me. Haha, such bus drivers sure make my mornings so much better, on top of ensuring I did not get to work late.
Then, my brother's bmt (that's Basic Military Training) mate came over to my house to help out with some work on Sunday. He was quite friendly and approached me for a chat. For me, it was quite interesting talking to a newly enlisted serviceman and our conversation sure brought back memories of some of the feelings I had when I just enlisted too. Haha, it was also quite fun chatting with him too.
Some incidents recently had me feeling kinda great!
One of which was that I met some really friendly and thoughtful bus drivers last week. There were at least two mornings when I saw the bus approaching and had to sprint around 200m to the bus stop from my condominium. Of course, the bus did get to the bus stop before I got there but instead of driving off, the bus driver actually waited for me to arrive to board the bus. This was despite no one else boarding or alighting from the bus. I guess the bus driver must have seen me running and was thoughtful enough to wait for me. Haha, such bus drivers sure make my mornings so much better, on top of ensuring I did not get to work late.
Then, my brother's bmt (that's Basic Military Training) mate came over to my house to help out with some work on Sunday. He was quite friendly and approached me for a chat. For me, it was quite interesting talking to a newly enlisted serviceman and our conversation sure brought back memories of some of the feelings I had when I just enlisted too. Haha, it was also quite fun chatting with him too.
Saturday, May 3, 2014
Omg...I'm going to get fat!
It is rather late at night already and I am just back home from another heavy dinner. Yup, I have had quite a lot to eat for the past two consecutive evenings. What a way to start off the weekend eh? Haha.
So this was how I ended up eating so much. I received a call from JL during lunchtime on Friday to invite me to join his family for "dim sum"( a type of Cantonese style prepared food) at a restaurant near where I worked. I agreed to join them of course!
So I took a short 15 minutes walk over to Swee Choon dim sum restaurant after my work ended at 1700. Even though it was still early for dinner, there was already a long line of customers queuing to get seats. Haha, that is how popular it is. I did not have long to wait before I saw JL's car turning in from the road and soon JL came over with his parents.
We were quite fortunate to get a table not too long after. Having already looked through the menu while waiting in the queue, we also made our order without much delay. The food came soon, and almost all at once. We dug in hungrily, unable to wait any longer seeing the spread before us. As JL's parents had said that they were paying for the dinner, I tried not to order too much or eat too much, as a form of courtesy. That meant I left out quite a couple of my usual dishes which I always have when eating dim sum. It was still okay for me though, as long as I had my egg tarts... hehs. The food there was also only just decent, and there were several other dim sum eateries around which served much better dim sum.
We had almost cleaned out the food by the time JL's sister arrived. Haha! That meant more food! I did not make a second order of food of course. But just helped finish up whatever could not be finished. If I was not already full before, I sure was after finishing up the second round of food. My stomach was full to bursting point with all that mouth watering food and I was really really happy after that fantastic meal. I offered to take the public transport home so as not to trouble JL's parents with sending me home. I also really needed a long walk to help ease my stomach a little... haha!
Before the tastes of Hong Kong had even left my tongue, I found myself preparing for another meal with JL this evening at 1700 at "Sikek" in Novena. This time though, we were eating with some of his friends and it was to be Korean cuisine, a barbeque buffet!
This being my first time meeting JL's friends, it was quite fun for me. I got to meet new people and make new friends as well. I had thought it would be quite awkward for me with them being involved in their conversations and me being left alone as they did not know me well. However, JL's friends were really friendly and kept offering me food that they had helped to cook. Needless to say, I ate more than my fill of food as it was a buffet, despite there being mostly meat available. I drank lots too to wash down all that food, haha! No alcohol though.
So the evening went on with lots of chatting and even more eating. I found JL's friends to be a really joyful group of guys and I sure am looking forward to meeting them again soon.
As I made my way home, I did worry that all these eating was going to make me grow fatter. I guess I need to do more jogging over the next week, but with the wet weather these days... oh wells!
As I made my way home, I did worry that all these eating was going to make me grow fatter. I guess I need to do more jogging over the next week, but with the wet weather these days... oh wells!
Sunday, April 27, 2014
A little bit here and there...
So I'm back again. Haha, finally I have some time to post in the morning. I've quite a bit to write about today but I'll keep it quick.
First up, I am really glad to have finally received my pay last week. It is indeed quite a few weeks overdue. My pay came in the form of a cheque though, my first cheque haha! As such, I was really careful with the cheque. That piece of paper was worth quite a lot, more than I have ever received in a lump sum hahaa! Thus, I made sure that I cashed it in properly.
Next up, I was told just a few days ago that due to the overwhelming workload, which keeps increasing incessantly I might add, I would be employed up until the end of May. This is great of course! As opposed to ending work at the end of April which was my original plan, I will now have another month's worth of work experience, not to mention pay:) This also means I do not have to worry about getting a new job any time soon, which sure is a relief. On my part, I do wish to continue working until I finish up with the work I was tasked with. So I sure am happy with the new request for the extension.
It's Sunday again today which means the weekends are coming to an end soon. However, I didn't go out yesterday. I took the time to clear out and pack the stuff in my room which has been laying around in my room gathering dust. I have not made time to pack those items since I moved in a few months ago. Yup, it is quite shocking but a few months have already passed since I moved in. Anyway, my room does look a little tidier now with some boxes out of the way. There is still lots more clearing to be done though, but I shall take things one step at a time.
Lastly, I am still waiting for news on my university applications. So far, I have not received emails on having been accepted or to inform me to attend any interviews. I have also not received any news that I have been rejected which I hope means that I still have a chance. Well, I sure do hope so.
Instead of sitting around waiting, I would be making phone calls tomorrow to the universities just to be sure.
Okay I'm done! Guess this pretty much sums up the more important things that I have had going on thus far. I sure will find time to update again soon.
ciaoz!
First up, I am really glad to have finally received my pay last week. It is indeed quite a few weeks overdue. My pay came in the form of a cheque though, my first cheque haha! As such, I was really careful with the cheque. That piece of paper was worth quite a lot, more than I have ever received in a lump sum hahaa! Thus, I made sure that I cashed it in properly.
Next up, I was told just a few days ago that due to the overwhelming workload, which keeps increasing incessantly I might add, I would be employed up until the end of May. This is great of course! As opposed to ending work at the end of April which was my original plan, I will now have another month's worth of work experience, not to mention pay:) This also means I do not have to worry about getting a new job any time soon, which sure is a relief. On my part, I do wish to continue working until I finish up with the work I was tasked with. So I sure am happy with the new request for the extension.
It's Sunday again today which means the weekends are coming to an end soon. However, I didn't go out yesterday. I took the time to clear out and pack the stuff in my room which has been laying around in my room gathering dust. I have not made time to pack those items since I moved in a few months ago. Yup, it is quite shocking but a few months have already passed since I moved in. Anyway, my room does look a little tidier now with some boxes out of the way. There is still lots more clearing to be done though, but I shall take things one step at a time.
Lastly, I am still waiting for news on my university applications. So far, I have not received emails on having been accepted or to inform me to attend any interviews. I have also not received any news that I have been rejected which I hope means that I still have a chance. Well, I sure do hope so.
Instead of sitting around waiting, I would be making phone calls tomorrow to the universities just to be sure.
Okay I'm done! Guess this pretty much sums up the more important things that I have had going on thus far. I sure will find time to update again soon.
ciaoz!
Sunday, April 13, 2014
Updates!
It's past midnight on Saturday night as I write. This week sure was a long and tiring one though.
Firstly, some updates on work so far. After some calculations, I was quite surprised to realise I have been working for around seven weeks already! Haha, I've been working close to two months already:)
The past few weeks have been really busy though. There was so much work to be done that I even had to go to work on Mondays, which was supposed to be an off day for me. Well, at least that means more pay for me then since I'm working part time, so I'm not complaining.
With the end of this week comes the end of the work that we had been rushing to complete the past couple of weeks. I sure was glad on Friday to finally see the finished product.That puts an end to all the stress we had been having. As such, I do not need to go to work on the coming Monday... finally! On another note, though still related to work, my aunt informed me a couple of weeks back that I will be getting a pay rise as they felt I had been quite productive. Yayy! Even before I received my first pay, hahaa! I had also been told that my pay should be coming in soon so I am really anticipating it.
There is still lots of work to be done though. I was just lucky to have more free time this past week to finish up most of my leftover work so that leaves me free on Monday. I have still not decided what I would do with a day off from work finally though. This needs some proper planning haha!
As for today, I met up with JL once again. Our only plan today was to catch the movie RIO 2 in Tampines and heading over to Hola Cafe in Simei for pancakes again. Quite unfortunately, we did not have the stomach for pancakes after our dinner. So I shall plan another day to drop by Hola Cafe again.
Despite that, we did catch the movie though. I found the movie rather draggy though, as is the case with most second sequels of such movies, so I feel. Too much emphasis was placed on the characters rather than the story line during the earlier part of the movie and I found myself wondering where the show was going.It became quite a bore then. Luckily, the movie did not end off too badly. The rest of the time today was spent in JL's house which certainly left us sleepy and sluggish. The day didn't go too badly though. Now to plan for next Saturday!
It's getting really late, so ciaoz! Guess I really ought to plan my time better for writing these posts uh?
Firstly, some updates on work so far. After some calculations, I was quite surprised to realise I have been working for around seven weeks already! Haha, I've been working close to two months already:)
The past few weeks have been really busy though. There was so much work to be done that I even had to go to work on Mondays, which was supposed to be an off day for me. Well, at least that means more pay for me then since I'm working part time, so I'm not complaining.
With the end of this week comes the end of the work that we had been rushing to complete the past couple of weeks. I sure was glad on Friday to finally see the finished product.That puts an end to all the stress we had been having. As such, I do not need to go to work on the coming Monday... finally! On another note, though still related to work, my aunt informed me a couple of weeks back that I will be getting a pay rise as they felt I had been quite productive. Yayy! Even before I received my first pay, hahaa! I had also been told that my pay should be coming in soon so I am really anticipating it.
There is still lots of work to be done though. I was just lucky to have more free time this past week to finish up most of my leftover work so that leaves me free on Monday. I have still not decided what I would do with a day off from work finally though. This needs some proper planning haha!
As for today, I met up with JL once again. Our only plan today was to catch the movie RIO 2 in Tampines and heading over to Hola Cafe in Simei for pancakes again. Quite unfortunately, we did not have the stomach for pancakes after our dinner. So I shall plan another day to drop by Hola Cafe again.
Despite that, we did catch the movie though. I found the movie rather draggy though, as is the case with most second sequels of such movies, so I feel. Too much emphasis was placed on the characters rather than the story line during the earlier part of the movie and I found myself wondering where the show was going.It became quite a bore then. Luckily, the movie did not end off too badly. The rest of the time today was spent in JL's house which certainly left us sleepy and sluggish. The day didn't go too badly though. Now to plan for next Saturday!
It's getting really late, so ciaoz! Guess I really ought to plan my time better for writing these posts uh?
Saturday, April 5, 2014
University applications
Well guys, it's April already in a blink of an eye. That would mean that all applications for university has already closed. Well, the application deadlines was on 31st of March actually so it is already few days past that. Thankfully, I did manage to finalised the submission of my university applications by the 31st though it was once again really last minute. Still, I did make sure I did not submit very shabby work.
Anyways, I opened my email today and saw that one of my teachers had already submitted an appraisal for me through SUTD. Haha, that was sure some progress. Now I'm just waiting for more news from the universities. I sure do hope the acceptance notice comes in soon!
Anyways, I opened my email today and saw that one of my teachers had already submitted an appraisal for me through SUTD. Haha, that was sure some progress. Now I'm just waiting for more news from the universities. I sure do hope the acceptance notice comes in soon!
Friday, March 14, 2014
Short work week!
So... it's Friday again in the blink of an eye. My... how time flies. Then again, it was a really short week for me, talking about work of course. This is the third week at work, though I was only in office two days this week. Still, it was an eventful and busy week for me.
Monday - I was as per the previous weeks off on the first weekday of the week. Well, my aunt did inform me that she was going to work that day and asked if I wanted to go to work as well. However, I already had other plans so I didn't go to work. I had a free ticket to Adventure Cove, which is at Sentosa island, and so spent a day there with some relatives and my sister. I have to admit that I did enjoy myself after a day spent there. Considering that I had a totally wrong idea what Adventure Cove was ( I had thought I was going to a theme park and so was actually preparing myself for roller coasters which I did not really enjoy), the water theme park, something similar to Wild Wild Wet, was so much a relief for me. It was also quite a relief for me to soak in the cool water of the pools there which is certainly a much needed respite from the sweltering heat that has become a permanent resident of the weather these last couple of weeks. Apart from the cool water, the rides there were quite exciting, not too intimidating, and generally felt fun after I had overcame it. I did feel that quite a number of the rides were quite mild after trying out a few rides. It was still good enough for me though. While trying out the different rides there, one thing did seem surprising to me. Despite it being a weekday, the start of the week no less, there was a surprisingly large crowd at Adventure Cove that day. This resulted in long queues which I had not been expecting. Still, the long time spent queuing for the rides gave me a great opportunity to get lots of sun on my skin and I sure had a nice tan by the end of the day. I was really glad of this as I had been trying to squeeze some time into my packed schedule for some swimming and tanning. We were almost complete with all the rides there by lunchtime given that there weren't many rides there and even then, I was already drained of energy. We did try out every one of the rides there. Haha, I would say it was having just the right company which enabled me to give each of the rides a go, Otherwise, I am almost certain that I would have backed out from quite a few of the rides there.
All in all, it was a day well spent.
Tuesday - It was yet another day at work today. Apart from clearing the usual stack of papers today, I also picked up a new skill - to use a machine to cut thick stacks of papers. I sure am being entrusted with more tasks each day, which sure is a good thing. Today was also the day I got to have a glimpse how the second level of the office looked like.
Wednesday - I was once again off from work today. My brother was enlisting and I accompanied him for the day. It sure was quite an experience being on Tekong for the first time. Haha, it would be some time before I see my brother again.
Thursday - Another work day for me. My aunt was not in office today so I was left on my own to complete the left over work from Tuesday. I did try out a different place for lunch today. Well, I can't say that I am impressed with the food there. I did get quite a huge mug of lime juice for just $1.80. Still, I had tasted better in other eateries. Fast forward to evening and it was dinner with JL at Long John Silver. I cannot even remember the last time I ate that. Sure was a great meal nonetheless.
Friday - I took the day off again today to make a trip down to my former school to ask some favours from my former teachers and the principal. Unfortunately, they were all busy either having lunch or probably at lessons. Well, seeing as it is the school holidays next week, it is likely I would not be able to find them in school next week as well. I guess I would just have to seek other options for my university application. Despite all that, I did get to meet some former teachers, and also caught up with a friend. Haha, I actually got him to come along with me to school partly to make myself less nervous and partly to get in touch with him.
See... it was still quite a busy week I had yeah? Hahahaa...
Monday - I was as per the previous weeks off on the first weekday of the week. Well, my aunt did inform me that she was going to work that day and asked if I wanted to go to work as well. However, I already had other plans so I didn't go to work. I had a free ticket to Adventure Cove, which is at Sentosa island, and so spent a day there with some relatives and my sister. I have to admit that I did enjoy myself after a day spent there. Considering that I had a totally wrong idea what Adventure Cove was ( I had thought I was going to a theme park and so was actually preparing myself for roller coasters which I did not really enjoy), the water theme park, something similar to Wild Wild Wet, was so much a relief for me. It was also quite a relief for me to soak in the cool water of the pools there which is certainly a much needed respite from the sweltering heat that has become a permanent resident of the weather these last couple of weeks. Apart from the cool water, the rides there were quite exciting, not too intimidating, and generally felt fun after I had overcame it. I did feel that quite a number of the rides were quite mild after trying out a few rides. It was still good enough for me though. While trying out the different rides there, one thing did seem surprising to me. Despite it being a weekday, the start of the week no less, there was a surprisingly large crowd at Adventure Cove that day. This resulted in long queues which I had not been expecting. Still, the long time spent queuing for the rides gave me a great opportunity to get lots of sun on my skin and I sure had a nice tan by the end of the day. I was really glad of this as I had been trying to squeeze some time into my packed schedule for some swimming and tanning. We were almost complete with all the rides there by lunchtime given that there weren't many rides there and even then, I was already drained of energy. We did try out every one of the rides there. Haha, I would say it was having just the right company which enabled me to give each of the rides a go, Otherwise, I am almost certain that I would have backed out from quite a few of the rides there.
All in all, it was a day well spent.
Tuesday - It was yet another day at work today. Apart from clearing the usual stack of papers today, I also picked up a new skill - to use a machine to cut thick stacks of papers. I sure am being entrusted with more tasks each day, which sure is a good thing. Today was also the day I got to have a glimpse how the second level of the office looked like.
Wednesday - I was once again off from work today. My brother was enlisting and I accompanied him for the day. It sure was quite an experience being on Tekong for the first time. Haha, it would be some time before I see my brother again.
Thursday - Another work day for me. My aunt was not in office today so I was left on my own to complete the left over work from Tuesday. I did try out a different place for lunch today. Well, I can't say that I am impressed with the food there. I did get quite a huge mug of lime juice for just $1.80. Still, I had tasted better in other eateries. Fast forward to evening and it was dinner with JL at Long John Silver. I cannot even remember the last time I ate that. Sure was a great meal nonetheless.
Friday - I took the day off again today to make a trip down to my former school to ask some favours from my former teachers and the principal. Unfortunately, they were all busy either having lunch or probably at lessons. Well, seeing as it is the school holidays next week, it is likely I would not be able to find them in school next week as well. I guess I would just have to seek other options for my university application. Despite all that, I did get to meet some former teachers, and also caught up with a friend. Haha, I actually got him to come along with me to school partly to make myself less nervous and partly to get in touch with him.
See... it was still quite a busy week I had yeah? Hahahaa...
Sunday, March 9, 2014
University Open Houses 2014
The weekends are over once again. This being the first weekend after the release of the A levels results, there were a couple of universities having open houses and I thus made it a point to visit visit some of them, namely NTU and SUTD on Saturday. Thus, I didn't do much else this weekend other than being at the universities. I did get JL to accompany me though.
Our first destination was SUTD seeing as that was the university I was most clueless about and thus needed to get most information on. I met JL at One North MRT station and grabbed a quick bite before heading to SUTD. However, it was only then that we realised that none of us had any idea how to get there although we did know it was somewhere near the MRT station.
After some walking around though, it was to our relief that we saw a shuttle bus which would ferry us to SUTD. Haha... why didn't I check up on shuttle bus services? We boarded and soon found ourselves -entering the gates of the university, my school- to- be.
It was already past noon by the time we got to SUTD so it was after only a couple of hours of browsing around that we had to make our way to NTU. Well, I did gather some useful information though. I found out that students did not have to make a choice of their course of interest until after their first year of studies in SUTD. Thus, all students will begin with taking similar subjects and only select courses in their second year. Furthermore, the selection of students for SUTD is based on a broader criteria, taking into account other areas besides academic grades. I sure hope I stand a better chance here. The sustainable development courses offered here do interest me.
After leaving SUTD, our next destination was NTU of course. Having previously looked at the courses NTU offered, on top of knowing where my interests lie, I already had a rough idea which courses I wanted to have a look at this time round. Thus, I made a bee line for the Environmental Science booth, Environmental Engineering booth and Economics booth soon after arriving at NTU. It was just about an hour to the end of the open house so I made a few quick queries regarding the courses before parting ways with JL to join my family for dinner.
It was only after I got home that day that I realised that I had some questions regarding the application process which I had forgotten to ask SUTD. Thankfully, the open house was still open today and so I made a quick drop by SUTD this morning to ask the admissions office staff some quick questions. Now, all that is left is to apply for the universities and hope for the best!
Saturday, March 8, 2014
New experiences at work
Hey guys! Time sure flies uh? Another week just evaporated haha! So that means I have been working for two weeks now as of yesterday. One more week gone by, lots more to write about.
Over the past week, I picked up a couple of "office skills". On Tuesday, I learnt to print addresses onto envelopes. By Friday, I was already getting really used to doing that such that I was churning out stacks and stacks of printed envelopes every day. The next thing I learnt was to seal these envelopes in record time! The method I was taught to seal these envelopes more than tripled the number of envelopes I sealed as compared to before. It came as quite a surprise really. My aunt just saw me sealing the envelopes one by one really slowly on Friday and thus gave me some tips. I didn't know there was a skill to be learnt in something as simple as sealing of envelopes lol! So, with the new skills picked up, I was then able to carry out my tasks with more efficiency and ease.
After two weeks at work, I have pretty much gotten used to working life. The early morning squeeze on the bus, the never ending work waiting to be completed, crowded food centres and then back to squeeze in buses for the evening rush hour home. Haha, of course, I have also had to adapt the way I work to meet deadlines too. Well, and I have also come to realise that no matter how hard or how fast I work, there will always be work brought over to the next day to be completed. There is just ever so much work to be done haha!
Being one who isn't picky with what I eat, I am not too choosy about where I have my meals if I eat alone. As such, I have been frequenting the Bendemeer food centre for my lunch. Being able to enjoy my favourite food at low prices is sufficient for me. In fact, I have yet to patronise each and every of the stalls available there... haha!
Despite having gotten used to my work schedule. I have been getting to work kinda late ( ie. at 0900 or even after 0900 on some days). I really got to get out of bed earlier and clock in earlier for work just like last week. This past week was a short work week for me though, as I missed work on Wednesday due to having to attend to some private matters.
Looking forwards to another week at work. Hope my pay starts coming in soon though...
been getting to work kinda late
short work week wed did not go to work
Over the past week, I picked up a couple of "office skills". On Tuesday, I learnt to print addresses onto envelopes. By Friday, I was already getting really used to doing that such that I was churning out stacks and stacks of printed envelopes every day. The next thing I learnt was to seal these envelopes in record time! The method I was taught to seal these envelopes more than tripled the number of envelopes I sealed as compared to before. It came as quite a surprise really. My aunt just saw me sealing the envelopes one by one really slowly on Friday and thus gave me some tips. I didn't know there was a skill to be learnt in something as simple as sealing of envelopes lol! So, with the new skills picked up, I was then able to carry out my tasks with more efficiency and ease.
After two weeks at work, I have pretty much gotten used to working life. The early morning squeeze on the bus, the never ending work waiting to be completed, crowded food centres and then back to squeeze in buses for the evening rush hour home. Haha, of course, I have also had to adapt the way I work to meet deadlines too. Well, and I have also come to realise that no matter how hard or how fast I work, there will always be work brought over to the next day to be completed. There is just ever so much work to be done haha!
Being one who isn't picky with what I eat, I am not too choosy about where I have my meals if I eat alone. As such, I have been frequenting the Bendemeer food centre for my lunch. Being able to enjoy my favourite food at low prices is sufficient for me. In fact, I have yet to patronise each and every of the stalls available there... haha!
Despite having gotten used to my work schedule. I have been getting to work kinda late ( ie. at 0900 or even after 0900 on some days). I really got to get out of bed earlier and clock in earlier for work just like last week. This past week was a short work week for me though, as I missed work on Wednesday due to having to attend to some private matters.
Looking forwards to another week at work. Hope my pay starts coming in soon though...
been getting to work kinda late
short work week wed did not go to work
Monday, March 3, 2014
2013 A levels results!!
So the long awaited day finally arrived. Today, I will finally know how well I did for the A levels exams I sat for last year. Throughout the day, I waited impatiently until 1400 for the release of the results. Then, I logged on to the website as instructed to check my results.
Well, I was not too disappointed with my results. Most of my grades remained the same as my previous results, with the exception of my H2 Chem and H2 Econs. My Econs grade went up by two grades from an E previously to a C. Unfortunately, my Chem grades fell by one grade from a D to an E. My GP grade remained a C as per the last results while my H2 Maths remained unchanged as well which meant a fail grade for Maths. Well, I guess I am just glad that I was able to still retain my C grade for GP despite not having had much practice on writing essays and attempting comprehension passages. I was also quite relieved to see that my Maths grade did not fall to a U.
All in all, I am just glad that I did better overall than before. Well, I guess for one who isn't studying full time what more without coaching, except for Econs and GP, attaining such grades is already quite a consolation. Still, the fight to get a place in university will be tough.
Lots of luck to myself. :)
Sunday, March 2, 2014
Toa Payoh SAFRA
Went TPY SAFRA yesterday with JL to swim finally. It has been quite some time since we last swam and TPY SAFRA is the only SAFRA that we have not swam at. It wasn't our first time there though as we had gone there before not too long after it first opened, hoping to swim before it got crowded. However, the pool was not ready then.
So... we had a really good swim although the pool was really crowded. However, the weather was good with bright, warm sun shining down and the water was warm. A satisfactory first swim there at TPY SAFRA. After our swim, we continued with our plan to have lunch at Yellow Submarines, a fast food outlet which was new somewhere in TPY as well. We wanted to try out the food there. Frankly, I was still clueless about what and where lunch was. All JL told me was that he had a surprise planned for me for lunch.
It was when we got there that I realised we would be having subs for lunch! It was nothing like Subway though. Yes, the buns were longish rather than round but there wasn't a selection of buns to choose from. There was only one type of buns so the only thing we needed to decide on was whether we wanted beef of chicken. We both chose beef and I must say that I found the beef sub to be quite dry as there wasn't much sauce at all. Thankfully, the cheese fries we ordered along with the subs more than made up for the lack of sauce in the buns. It was Nacho cheese all over the thick fries and every mouthful of that fries was flavourful, creamy and yummy! I guess I'm not too disappointed actually and I would love to have the opportunity to go back again for the chicken version.
It was getting a little late by then after our lunch. As there wasn't much to do there at TPY, we decided to head for home. After looking through Google Maps, we realised that we were not too far from Novena MRT station actually. That meant we did not need to walk all the way back to TPY MRT which was quite a long walk. Thus, we walked towards Novena MRT and passed by some rather interesting sights along the way.
First, we passed by a river called TPY river. There was a nice breeze blowing there and it looked rather tranquil. Next, we passed by Whampoa PCN and several other interesting places too such as zhong shan gong yuan (中山公园), zhong shan guang chang（中山广场）and some roads I have never even heard of before. I sure am glad we walked instead of taking the train. It sure made the journey home so much more interesting. In fact, I think we ought to do this more often, visiting places we hardly go to, finding new places and trying new things.
We eventually got to Novena MRT and left from there.
So... we had a really good swim although the pool was really crowded. However, the weather was good with bright, warm sun shining down and the water was warm. A satisfactory first swim there at TPY SAFRA. After our swim, we continued with our plan to have lunch at Yellow Submarines, a fast food outlet which was new somewhere in TPY as well. We wanted to try out the food there. Frankly, I was still clueless about what and where lunch was. All JL told me was that he had a surprise planned for me for lunch.
It was when we got there that I realised we would be having subs for lunch! It was nothing like Subway though. Yes, the buns were longish rather than round but there wasn't a selection of buns to choose from. There was only one type of buns so the only thing we needed to decide on was whether we wanted beef of chicken. We both chose beef and I must say that I found the beef sub to be quite dry as there wasn't much sauce at all. Thankfully, the cheese fries we ordered along with the subs more than made up for the lack of sauce in the buns. It was Nacho cheese all over the thick fries and every mouthful of that fries was flavourful, creamy and yummy! I guess I'm not too disappointed actually and I would love to have the opportunity to go back again for the chicken version.
It was getting a little late by then after our lunch. As there wasn't much to do there at TPY, we decided to head for home. After looking through Google Maps, we realised that we were not too far from Novena MRT station actually. That meant we did not need to walk all the way back to TPY MRT which was quite a long walk. Thus, we walked towards Novena MRT and passed by some rather interesting sights along the way.
First, we passed by a river called TPY river. There was a nice breeze blowing there and it looked rather tranquil. Next, we passed by Whampoa PCN and several other interesting places too such as zhong shan gong yuan (中山公园), zhong shan guang chang（中山广场）and some roads I have never even heard of before. I sure am glad we walked instead of taking the train. It sure made the journey home so much more interesting. In fact, I think we ought to do this more often, visiting places we hardly go to, finding new places and trying new things.
We eventually got to Novena MRT and left from there.
Saturday, March 1, 2014
Working life is just shaggggggg!
Hi guys. So I am back once again after a really long hiatus from updating my blog. Haha, that is coz my com just got repaired... like finally! So I have started working just earlier this week on Tuesday and I shall talk a bit about it here.
So my first ever job, which is a part time job, consists of data entry, filing of papers and quite a fair bit of writing and sending out letters. I had certainly sent out more letters today than the other three days combined... haha! With the exception of the sending of letters, the other tasks are much more relaxing although there has to be full concentration at all times to ensure that papers are not misplaced and details are not overlooked. Furthermore, a clear mind is also needed to remember instructions and to keep track of what I had been doing. Thus, I have been getting myself used to carrying out the tasks in the office over the past couple of days. I am quite happy with my progress I might say.
Outside of work, I have also gotten a feel of what life in an office is like these past few days. From bringing my own water bottle on the first day of work, I have now started to make myself coffee and tea and thus drink from my desk. I have also been helping myself to the CNY goodies left there for us to munch on. Of course, I no longer bring my own water bottle haha! As such, I do have to make a conscious effort to remind myself to take periodic breaks to get myself hydrated.
Talk about breaks. Sitting in an office for long hours, what more staring at a computer screen, sure is very unhealthy. Thus, I again have to consciously make a effort to move around and look away from the monitor every half an hour or so to rest my eyes and not to be too inactive. Haha, what better time to work my muscles than lunchtime then.
Being in an office, my lunch comes from my pocket. Well, not literally. But you do get the idea yeah? I have been frequenting a food centre not too far down the street from where I work, ever since I had been introduced to that food centre. I have thus been walking to and from the food centre instead of taking the bus. This is partly to get more exercise and to save some money, however little, on bus trips. Furthermore, the slow walk to the food centre enables me to slow down the pace of my life and take a break from the hectic work in the office.
Upon arriving at the food centre, I am greeted by the usual lunch crowd. Despite the food centre being fairly big with a wide variety of food choices and stalls, it has been quite packed for the past couple of days. Having tried the "lor mee" and duck rice over at the Bendemeer Food Centre for the past two days and having not been too impressed, I decided to give one of the other food centres a chance today. The "char siew" rice which I picked sure did appeal to my tastebuds more than my previous selections.
After a quick lunch, I would then take a walk back to the office under the hot scorching midday sun. I never fail to return to the office perspiring profusely. Then, I would get back to work sorting out the huge pile of papers on my desk. Thankfully, work ends at 1700 for me daily regardless of the amount of work that needs to be done.
Yupp, that seems to sum up how I had been spending the last four days. The only surprising thing is that I am always so drained mentally and physically by the time I get home each day no matter how awake I had been while working. It is to the point that I just have one thing on my mind when I step into the house... Sleep! Hahas, so ciaoz guys, till my next update!
So my first ever job, which is a part time job, consists of data entry, filing of papers and quite a fair bit of writing and sending out letters. I had certainly sent out more letters today than the other three days combined... haha! With the exception of the sending of letters, the other tasks are much more relaxing although there has to be full concentration at all times to ensure that papers are not misplaced and details are not overlooked. Furthermore, a clear mind is also needed to remember instructions and to keep track of what I had been doing. Thus, I have been getting myself used to carrying out the tasks in the office over the past couple of days. I am quite happy with my progress I might say.
Outside of work, I have also gotten a feel of what life in an office is like these past few days. From bringing my own water bottle on the first day of work, I have now started to make myself coffee and tea and thus drink from my desk. I have also been helping myself to the CNY goodies left there for us to munch on. Of course, I no longer bring my own water bottle haha! As such, I do have to make a conscious effort to remind myself to take periodic breaks to get myself hydrated.
Talk about breaks. Sitting in an office for long hours, what more staring at a computer screen, sure is very unhealthy. Thus, I again have to consciously make a effort to move around and look away from the monitor every half an hour or so to rest my eyes and not to be too inactive. Haha, what better time to work my muscles than lunchtime then.
Being in an office, my lunch comes from my pocket. Well, not literally. But you do get the idea yeah? I have been frequenting a food centre not too far down the street from where I work, ever since I had been introduced to that food centre. I have thus been walking to and from the food centre instead of taking the bus. This is partly to get more exercise and to save some money, however little, on bus trips. Furthermore, the slow walk to the food centre enables me to slow down the pace of my life and take a break from the hectic work in the office.
Upon arriving at the food centre, I am greeted by the usual lunch crowd. Despite the food centre being fairly big with a wide variety of food choices and stalls, it has been quite packed for the past couple of days. Having tried the "lor mee" and duck rice over at the Bendemeer Food Centre for the past two days and having not been too impressed, I decided to give one of the other food centres a chance today. The "char siew" rice which I picked sure did appeal to my tastebuds more than my previous selections.
After a quick lunch, I would then take a walk back to the office under the hot scorching midday sun. I never fail to return to the office perspiring profusely. Then, I would get back to work sorting out the huge pile of papers on my desk. Thankfully, work ends at 1700 for me daily regardless of the amount of work that needs to be done.
Yupp, that seems to sum up how I had been spending the last four days. The only surprising thing is that I am always so drained mentally and physically by the time I get home each day no matter how awake I had been while working. It is to the point that I just have one thing on my mind when I step into the house... Sleep! Hahas, so ciaoz guys, till my next update!
Tuesday, February 25, 2014
To travel roads less travelled
Okay. Lately I have been hearing about some of my friends learning how to drive and even others who have already gotten their driving licenses and are driving around. So cool right?
Then that got me thinking about me learning driving. Of course I do want to learn, though I cant't at the moment due to being on long term medication. Haha, then again, I want to start driving not so much because it is cool and I want to go speeding around on the highway or be able to say "Let me give you a lift!" when a friend wants to go somewhere. Frankly, having been taking the public transport for the past 10 years, I have grown used to using the bus and MRT to get around really. So I am quite okay getting around Sg with the public transport system. Yes, that despite the having to take a longer time to get to places and the squeeze on the buses and MRTs. Not to mention the high volume of vehicles on the roads which more often than not lead to major traffic jams and the high cost of owning a car or using the roads.
So then, why would I want to learn to drive?
Well, have you ever travelled on the highways and looked out at other roads leading out of the one you are travelling on, then wondering where that road leads to? Or looked further out to the labyrinth of winding roads of the highways and wondering how long each road was, or where they end? Haha, I have. Always.
Yupp, so that explains why I want to learn to drive - to travel those roads which neither my two feet nor my bicycle can bring me to travel on.
okay then, nights!
Then that got me thinking about me learning driving. Of course I do want to learn, though I cant't at the moment due to being on long term medication. Haha, then again, I want to start driving not so much because it is cool and I want to go speeding around on the highway or be able to say "Let me give you a lift!" when a friend wants to go somewhere. Frankly, having been taking the public transport for the past 10 years, I have grown used to using the bus and MRT to get around really. So I am quite okay getting around Sg with the public transport system. Yes, that despite the having to take a longer time to get to places and the squeeze on the buses and MRTs. Not to mention the high volume of vehicles on the roads which more often than not lead to major traffic jams and the high cost of owning a car or using the roads.
So then, why would I want to learn to drive?
Well, have you ever travelled on the highways and looked out at other roads leading out of the one you are travelling on, then wondering where that road leads to? Or looked further out to the labyrinth of winding roads of the highways and wondering how long each road was, or where they end? Haha, I have. Always.
Yupp, so that explains why I want to learn to drive - to travel those roads which neither my two feet nor my bicycle can bring me to travel on.
okay then, nights!
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