Window to the Soul

adieu

2010-01-23T23:10:00.003+08:00

I think it's about time I move away from Blogger for a bit. I have been maintaining a Wordpress blog for some time now and have exported most of my posts there already. I can't seem to find a decent, clean looking Blogger theme with everything I need. But have found those in Wordpress. So from now onwards, I will be doing my main updating from my Wordpress blog. If interested, just ask me for the address. If there's anything important that deserves attention, I will continue to post them on both blogs. But for now, it's sayonara to Blogger and hello Wordpress! Hopefully this signals a new beginning.

fever

2010-01-20T20:35:00.001+08:00

Haven't had a fever in ages. And well, I sort of finally succumbed to illness yesterday. I already felt funny the night before when my throat felt really dry out of a sudden but I scoffed it off as one of my usual allergies and went to work as usual. Then came afternoon, went out lunch with colleagues and felt unusually cold. Went back to office, measured temperature. At first it was 37.5 degrees. So I thought borderline, still can work. Then measured again. 37.8 degrees. I was freezing. Then had to ask my colleague for Panadol. Had to finish work before going home. Rushed and my brain froze for quite a bit of the time. Then finished work, left work at around 6 and saw the doctor later. Fever came back again. So I got 2 days MC but most definitely I will be going back to work tmr, because I know there will be tons of work waiting for me. Last time, during university, the thing I hated most was getting sick. But, now having started work, being sick is a good breather. :) How things change in a year.

looking back at 2009

2010-01-03T16:52:00.002+08:00

It's already the third day of 2010. And I'm already dreading what's gg to happen tmr. Sigh. But away with the negativity! I could complain and complain about what was not good about 2009 but I've decided to reflect on what has been good in 2009. Life shouldn't be about regrets and sadness and angst. So here we go, my recap of 2009.

1. My last semester of my undergraduate life.

Well, it can be considered as something sad but well, I consider it as completion. A time when I got the chance to embark on my own honours thesis and actually claim it as my academic legacy (somewhere in the Central Library and the Map Resource Room). It wasn't the easiest of semesters. Interviewees were initially hard to get, some weren't very nice and also a lot of inertia on my part. Having to rewrite whole chapters and tight deadlines. But what was most important is the friends and honours classmates who were ever so willing to help out, whether it was fieldwork or recommending interviewees. If it weren't for you guys, I would have been able to complete the thesis. Seriously. And of course, the end result was more than satisfactory. At least in my heart, I knew I was capable of something. And it was a bittersweet end to perhaps the happiest time in my life so far.

2. Grad Trip

After the exams had ended, I embarked on a dream trip to Europe. Visiting most of the places I had only dreamed of going. The Acropolis, the Coliseum, listening to the Vienna Philharmonic. And 1 month is really not enough for me. I had a great time in the continent of culture and I really do hope that I get to go back soon enough.

3. My First Job

Ironic as it seems, getting that first job has be one of the milestones of 2009. I thought it would be really difficult to get my first job. The interview process was more daunting than I thought and I was almost certain that I wouldn't be able to secure a job. But thankfully, everything worked out in the end. But the road forward is uncertain. I'm still trying to learn but to what extent will I continue to pull through, I really don't know. Perhaps 2010 will be a better year.

4. Family

2009 was a hard year for my family. My aunt had a relapse of cancer early 2009 and many of my family members, especially my mother, took it really hard. We were all psychologically prepared for the worst and we went all out during CNY to celebrate with her as much as possible. Thankfully, our prayers have been answered and my aunt is on the road to recovery. Perhaps this is one of the greatest blessings of the year. The avoidance of tragedy.

So that's 2009 for me. May 2010 bring more opportunities for me to discover myself and ultimately find happiness in my life.

late xmas greetings

2009-12-28T23:08:00.002+08:00

Here's wishing everybody a belated Merry Christmas. Somehow, I never really got into the Christmas mood at all this year. Even though the office was considerably quieter for a period of time, I never really got the chance to clear my leave to relax a bit. Just when I wanted to clear leave, work just comes down pouring. Partly my fault as well. So I anticipate a rather sian New Year's weekend trying to finish a submission, and hence the lack of Christmas spirit on my part. My family didn't even put up our usual Christmas tree this year. Part laziness, part 'sian-ness' I think. Which is quite sad. But at least I got to celebrate Xmas with family and friends. What has my life become? And this blog is becoming even more barren than usual. I don't want to see this blog go away, since it has been part of my life for so long already. It will be sad for it to go. So I will persevere and hopefully pen down a New Year's post in the next few days.

japanese lessons

2009-11-14T21:11:00.005+08:00

For those who don't know, I've started taking Japanese lessons and I've learnt quite a bit. Well, not competent enough to write something in Japanese just as yet, but was quite surprised when Takeyama-sensei said that my Japanese pronunciation was good. :) Hope to learn more in the coming weeks and there's gg to be a written and oral test at the end of it! Dunno whether I will even have time to study for that.

Yesterday, I thought I could happily go off early to the FASS 80th anniversary dinner, but well work always falls from the sky, and I will definitely be going back tmr to finish it. Haix. Met somebody at the dinner who said he will be tendering his resignation next week, because well he didn't like doing the job. For a moment, I was thinking about my own future. But, a little part of me is afraid of it. That I might never find something that I will want to do and be happy doing. Me ranting about the sad realities of life again. I will just end this post with a nice new anime song.

pmb presentation

2009-11-07T22:01:00.002+08:00

Presented my honours thesis at the National Library on Thursday. It was nice to be able to leave the office so early and see so many familiar people at the event. The only thing was that I had to rush all the way from Buona Vista to Bugis during rush hour traffic, whilst eating fries and nuggets in an attempt to have some food in my stomach. It didn't help that I had an early lunch because of the inter division Scrabble competition which I was asked to participate. I didn't win a single game lor! Too rusty and I didn't memorise weird 2 letter words unlike the other contestants. But really the other contestants were super qiang. Anyway, the PMB presentation went pretty smoothly. I was pushed to become the 2nd presenter when the person who was supposed to present was late. I wrote this whole ton of notes and in the end I didn't read from them. So that little practice before the presentation did help. It was nice meeting with old friends, interviewees, professors. Had a little supper with the current hons ppl who came. Just like to extend my thanks again to all who came down to attend the forum, despite your busy schedules. I hope you had fun and well when I have photos, I will post them here. :)

some piano pieces

2009-10-24T12:09:00.003+08:00

To prevent my blog from stagnating any further, decided to post these few videos of some piano pieces that I've come to like. Just so happened that I went back to NUS to listen to my first piano recital and well, these were some of the pieces in Nodame that really wowed me. So enjoy!

Stravinsky's Petrouchka

Chopin's Etude Op. 10 No.4

小人物的心声

2009-09-17T21:10:00.002+08:00

This meaning of this song became so much clearer when I started working. Working made me realise how much I didn't want to be in a position of great power. With great power comes great responsibility. The now famous movie line from Spiderman. It's not that I want to shirk from any responsibility whatsoever. Little kids always say that they want to be the prime minister or the president when they grow up, but I think it really takes that special person to lead and truly believe that he or she is doing this for the people. So what if you get a powerful position, earn lots of money, but yet have to slog everyday and find little time for yourself. Unless a person likes to do this sort of thing, I wouldn't call that a life. So the song encapsulates how I feel. I never felt the need to be somebody powerful or famous, as the line says "因为平凡也是一种幸福". Being ordinary is also a blessing. A blessing that allows you to have time for yourself and to those you love. A blessing that allows you to do what you like doing.

my 911

2009-09-12T11:21:00.007+08:00

This song kept ringing in my ear when the work week ended yesterday. Even though it's close to pay day, yesterday was perhaps one of those days I wished I hadn't needed to go through. And it was so ironic that it was Sept 11 too. It's days like days that make me doubt my own ability. That all these years of studying and supposedly doing well in school had amounted to naught. That I can never attain what other people can do in a matter of minutes, when I could only do a certain thing in hours. When you wished that maybe life could be much simpler. But life isn't simple. Life is meant to be hard. I was quite depressed yesterday and the only good thing that happened was the dinner with friends after that. And perhaps the earliest I've left the office, for fear of what more inadequacies I might discover of myself. But strangely, Daniel Powter's song isn't that depressing. And I suppose this had to happen sooner or later. It's just a matter whether I can pull through this and do better next time.

back to the simpler times

2009-09-06T21:40:00.005+08:00

I always look forward to seeing all my old friends from the NUS days. It allows me (albeit momentarily) to immerse myself back to the good old times, when life was much simpler, and days were much freer. It has already been 2 years since the last D&D. I vaguely remembering saying the last time that the next time D&D is to be held, we would have graduated already. And so, we have arrived at this point. Two happy years have flown by. We have all moved on towards a new stage in our lives. I think as more D&Ds come and go, there will be less people I would recognise. You see all the freshmen, all brown-eyed and bushy tailed. How I wish I could return back to that time again.

It was great that 12 of the us from the Honours class managed to turn up, eat a little atas French food and meet each other up again. But, with time, topics diverge. Some will talk about their work, others will talk about the fun they're having at NIE, yet more talk about the modules they are doing. But for those few hours, I'm back to my comfort zone, where I need not worry about deadlines and bureaucracy. I recently heard on a radio show about discovering one's passion, about the presenter being lost for 15 years before discovering what he actually wanted. He said he was made to pursue the aspirations of others and that made him miserable. I guess I sort of understand what he said. But people might believe that the word 'passion' is just a convenient excuse for saying that you don't like what you are doing right now. In our ever practical society, more often than not we sacrifice passion for what is tangible. The material stuff. Sumiko Tan stated that she would never want to leave Singapore in today's papers, despite the hierarchical structure of the working environment, the materialism of Singaporeans and the endless pursuit of grades. I wonder how true is that.

Till I write again and perhaps when I really find my true passion will I be happy.

'lucky' day

2009-08-28T22:54:00.003+08:00

It's been one and a half months since I've started work. I'm getting used to the rhythm of working already. Although I still complain now and then, I guess complaining is something innate in all of us. When we were all in honours year, we were complaining how we didn't understand the isms or concepts, or that the assignment deadlines were just too unforgiving. Once we enter work, we complain about why our bosses can suddenly throw us work when we are just about to end the day, or about how early we have to wake up everyday. But it's just a matter of time before we sit back and realise that all this complaining doesn't bring us anywhere. Now, upon hindsight, I kinda miss thinking about isms and stuff. Perhaps in a few years time, I might perhaps miss working. Well, today was a pretty lucky day, because I nearly got into an accident while driving to work. Once i felt my car bump against the one in front of me, I thought..."Oh crap, going to be late for work because of this..." Then the driver in front got out of his car, took a look at his bumper, saw nothing was wrong and drove off. Phew! And I realised that the only thing which happened was that my license plate hit his license plate! Damn lucky lah. So the week ends and time to rest up again before the cycle begins all over again...But I will try to be happy and contented that I actually have a job in the first place...

ndp 2009

2009-08-19T22:11:00.008+08:00

Since everybody has sort of turned their blogs into photoblogs, perhaps it's about time that I make such blogposts myself, due to the lack of time to properly write out some vaguely interesting stuff to read. As they say, a picture paints a thousand words! These are just some of the photos that I took while attending NDP this year. Enjoy!

One of my favourite shots. The Red Lions were literally landing right in front of me!

The anti-terrorist ppl right in front of me.

The way the grid was utilised throughout the mass display portion was pretty interesting...

Me at the end of the parade.

25

2009-08-16T21:51:00.006+08:00

Another year has come and gone, and I'm officially a quarter of a century old. Coincidentally, it's my 25th post of the year! Today has been a nice quiet day and to all who have smsed and facebooked their greetings, I sincerely thank you for remembering my special day. I didn't expect any celebrations this year, but was pleasantly surprised when my relatives came over to celebrate my birthday yesterday. With cake, food and a little entertainment. Thanks to my family for making the effort to make me feel special always and for all your love and support. Blog posts have become few and far between now, because of the lack of inspiration to blog and also partly fatigue from the daily grinds of work. I really hope this blog will continue, but if there haven't been updates, I hope my readers understand. Once again, thanks to all my family and friends for remembering my 25th birthday.

the working world

2009-07-23T21:19:00.002+08:00

For those who do not know, I've starting working at MOE since last week and I wasn't very prepared for what to expect. Well, I'm still trying to get the hang of things, especially when everything seems so foreign to me. As in I totally catch no ball about a lot of things and I have to learn Excel from scratch. And I thought by studying geography, I could escape from numbers. Numbers have come back to haunt me! And I find it so hard to apply anything I've learnt in my job at all! Anyway, I foresee a very challenging time ahead of me and I hope I can learn something out of my new job. I'm still trying to get to know my new colleagues, but it's really a very different world out there. I miss having control over my free time, or whatever is left of it. Strangely, it feels like NS all over again. Although I get to go home everyday, I can't do much once I arrive back. Just watch a bit of TV before going to sleep. And weekends have become so precious. To catch up with friends, spend time with family and just sleep. For those still studying, enjoy whatever precious time you have left because once it's over, the real world awaits.

commencement 2009

2009-07-08T01:22:00.003+08:00

Four years of undergraduate education had culminated to this day. All of us donning our academic dress, wearing the mortar board, waiting to get our degrees from the presiding officer. It has been a most memorable four years. Four years of friendship, hard work and mugging. I see all my old classmates once again, after 2 months of holidays. It was a mad rush of taking photos, running around, getting my name broadcasted over the PA system, laughs. My heart was beating so hard as I walked up the stage and Prof Huang called out my name to go receive the scroll from the presiding officer. But hearing the cheers from all your classmates made the extra year all the more worthwhile. From complaining about the thesis, to mugging over Geog Thot exams, the honours year has been one which I will remember for the rest of my life. As all of us head to our separate paths, I would just like to thank everybody for the lunches, MSN chats, mugging sessions and random outings. I would also like to thank all of my wonderful juniors for turning up today. Each and everyone of you had made my time in NUS all the more exciting, fun and memorable. As you guys head into honours year or SEP, always remember that I'm always there if you all need any help and I couldn't be here without each and everyone of you. Although the path ahead of me is uncertain, I can always count on looking back on these beautiful four years with a smile on my face. Thank you everybody!

mr wee goes to europe: spain edition

2009-05-18T03:22:00.002+08:00

Hola from Spain! Yes finally I have a little bit of time to blog about my ongoing grad trip to exciting Europe. I've just arrived in Barcelona and Spain has been such a beautiful country. I especially love the cathedrals here. So dramatic in their architecture and so rich in symbolism. Madrid and Seville were my previous two stops and we managed to soak in the sites, and I managed to gaze upon Velasquez and Goya at the Prado! So happy! Finally all the paintings from the Art and History module have come to life and I just stared in awe at these magnificent artpieces. Shall be going to the Gaudi sites tomorrow which I'm very much looking forward to and photos will come in due course. The uploading speed here is pretty slow and the photos will take some time. Amidst all the new experiences and enjoying the wonderful weather, I hope everybody is fine back home and rest assured, I've been trying to keep myself from harm's way as much as possible, well almost to the point of paranoia. Haha. The swine flu pandemic is not really publicised much here and life seems to be pretty much normal in Europe, but plenty of fluids for me still! If I don't put the photos here, just look for them in Facebook! Adios for the moment!

goodbye singapore!

2009-05-11T20:44:00.003+08:00

In less than half a day, I will be on board a flight for my grad trip to Europe! Initially, there was a possibility that the trip would be derailed due to the swine flu crisis, but luckily not many new cases have emerged and the grad trip goes ahead as planned. Yay! So to those who read my blog, I will be away from the 12th of May to the 13th of June, heading off to celebrate the end of my undergraduate life before I embark on a new phase of life. In other good news, I have a job! With MOE! Not teaching! But I was selected for the Education Policy Analyst job and I'm so relieved that my job search was relatively smooth sailing. I just await my results, which I will be checking overseas and then I will start working for the next dunno how many decades. Everybody's heading to so many places around the world and I just hope that I will enjoy myself and come back safely. Till we meet again.

no more reading weeks

2009-04-24T23:31:00.003+08:00

This has got to be the slackest exam period I've ever had!!! Reading week has come and gone and I've spent it as if I didn't have any exams to worry about. At least I started doing work on Thursday. Actually, what I remember most about my time in NUS has got to be reading week ironically. Especially the last two years in NUS. Going back to school, cramming like mad in the library, trying to figure out what the heck we are studying, nice dinners to relax. I will really miss reading week. This time round, I haven't had the mood to get myself to study ever since I completed my SSD assignment, that is until Thursday. I've watched so much TV, helped to organise the honours class treat, got to eat at Ivins (which has really nice Peranakan fare), booked my Europe stuff, so it has been pretty exciting. But going back to school on Thursday to study was quite fun on its own, because I studied with Yien and Jared! Nobody came to disturb us, we had lunch at Munchie's and we listened to so many Youtube vids! Sorry for disturbing you guys but studying with friends really makes you want to work harder. As I finish my final two exams of my undergraduate life, I look back to all the memories I've had during Reading Week with much fondness and nostalgia.

lots of fun!

2009-04-18T12:44:00.007+08:00

My final day of official NUS life ended yesterday with a blast. I rushed my SSD assignment, dropped off my books at the library, handed up the report before heading off to Kbox with my geog juniors. I've never been a huge fan of Chinese pop but yesterday was a much needed day to let my hair down, sing my heart out and enjoy the company of those who have made my NUS life all the more memorable. Thanks for inviting me and some of them really can sing very well! We had zhi char at Holland V for dinner, desserts at Essential Brew and tons of random nonsense and laughs. Now I've totally no mood to study for my exams but it is times like these that I will miss the most when I leave NUS. To all my wonderful juniors, thanks for adding so much colour in my life and for the wonderful friendships we have made. For those going for FS and exchange, have a great time overseas. For those embarking on honours year, cherish the last year in NUS. For the freshies, enjoy the last few days of being one because time flies!

I dedicate this song to you guys. I remember this song from my secondary school graduation and it still remains poignant now.

周華健-朋友.mp3 -

and so it is

2009-04-15T23:51:00.003+08:00

Finally, after all the work that has been put in, I finished my HT. Never did I have so many sleepless nights, complaints and heartache just because of one assignment. But, seeing your work printing out, you can't help but wonder how did I manage to churn out nearly 100 pages worth of words and pictures. Printing costs a bomb and I haven't even finished printing all the copies I need to give away. I didn't do an all-nighter to complete the HT because I was sick and couldn't. So I rushed all I could before heading to bed, and did some more on the day itself before rushing to school and spending almost another hour just trying to sort out the printing at Central Library. After submitting the softbound version with Kit, I had to rush all the way down to MOE for my interview with the directors. Well it wasn't 5 minutes this time round and I had quite an interesting time speaking to the directors. Just when I thought I lost all hope of getting a job, this ray of hope shines on me again. I hope I hear from them soon, so that perhaps I have some semblance of job security. Now, I've totally no mood to do my essay due on Friday. I haven't started and spent most of my time playing Bejewelled on Facebook. Hahaha. But these past few months, I couldn't have done it without the help of so many friends and family. I've thanked them individually in my HT, but I don't think I've been able to thank everybody. So here's just a shoutout.

THANK YOU EVERYBODY!

one more day

2009-04-12T14:20:00.002+08:00

One more day to end over 3 months worth of interviewing, writing, formatting and lack of sleep. My undergraduate life has culminated to this. My last day before I hand up my thesis over for marking. Everybody seems to be getting emo about this, and thanking everybody left, right and centre. I've already done that in my acknowledgements but well, one cannot help but feel nostalgic over four years of university life. It doesn't help that I've been sneezing a lot during the Good Friday weekend, so I'm pretty much stuck at home, fine tuning my thesis while I suppose most of the hons class is becoming crazy back at school. You guys can reminisce about the days of nonsense in the Geolab or GIS Lab while I won't have those memories. Perhaps my supervisor had an ulterior motive when he asked me to submit my work earlier, so I wouldn't have to stress over too much over this weekend. And I'm thankful for that. If I had to rush mountainloads of work whilst battling a flu, that would've been memorable.

Attending Good Friday service has been a soul searching experience. Going through the stations of the cross and witnessing how much suffering that Jesus had gone through to atone for all our sins. Every station marked something I could have improved in my life, and I don't think I have been a very good Catholic lately. But, as we celebrate Easter today, we are reminded that we too can triumph over adversity. Things may not go well at times, but with perseverence and faith, anything is possible.

one more month

2009-04-03T17:08:00.002+08:00

And so we enter April. This is the last month of studying, reading, mugging, writing for a very long time. I finally finished my first draft of the entire thesis and I got back my work pretty quickly. But I really anticipated the comments I got. Even I didn't really get what I was saying in some parts, and well, I think I'm not one of those who has like 20 synonyms for 'argue'. I'm less stressed now. But, it will be a week or so more of intensive editing and rewriting. Everybody's been saying and thanking everybody else for being supportive and cracking jokes whilst writing, but well I did most of my writing at home where I'm most productive. A friend told me that he was already feeling nostalgic when he handed in his draft. But I didn't feel likewise. Because I knew it wasn't the end, and I was unsatisfied with what I handed in, because I knew it wasn't my best work. I need some serious motivation. All the jiayous and gambattes become empty after a while. It also doesn't help that I have no job security at all for the moment. Friends are getting offers here and there, and now I don't know what I'm going to do after graduation. The future looks bleak.

crying

2009-03-22T21:57:00.005+08:00

I remember in primary school, everybody was labelling me as the crybaby. And understandably so. I would cry for almost every reason on earth. I cried in the middle of a spelling test because I couldn't spell a word. I would cry when the classmate sitting next to me would bully me and steal my stuff. And the reputation persisted for a very long time. Because being bullied became second nature to me. Almost every year I would get bullied by some person or another and my teachers would often have to try to calm me down, my parents would come to school to settle bullying problems, and I would cry to my parents about the horrific experiences I had in school. So crying had become second nature to me.

But for the longest time I haven't had the opportunity to cry. Perhaps only during army when all the tear ducts suddenly became active again, and I again had several episodes where I just cried my heart out. I'm such a vulnerable person. I cried bucketloads while watching Departures. It's a great movie so do watch it. But today, after watching an episode of Grey's Anatomy I couldn't help crying. There was this patient whose faced has been disfigured after a car accident and he wouldn't face his group of online friends who came to visit him. But his friends came around, looked at him unjudgingly and just accepted the way he was. Izzie, who is facing cancer, also had the support of friends when they finally found out about her illness. I just couldn't help crying since it's now become something that has become quite close to my heart. We are staying positive for the moment, and my aunt's oncologist has been very optimistic over her treatment, and I sincerely hope that that is the case. But it just made me think again, the idealistic me hoping for a friendship that was displayed on a TV show. But I know friendships are never this perfect. It takes work to have somebody who would look out for you when times are rough. I just hope that when times are tough, there would be somebody who is willing to walk along with me.

what do i really want?

2009-03-20T14:50:00.002+08:00

Finished another chapter of my thesis yesterday, after much delay and procrastination on my part. But never did I realise that I would already exceed the word count on just the first empirical chapter, and it would seriously be a challenge to discipline myself for the rest of the chapters, which most definitely need more words to accommodate the amount of data that I have. This is on top of not being able to find a copy of Lefebvre or Dear and Flusty to really start rewriting the conceptual framework stuff. Oh the horror. But I guess I should learn to enjoy the process, because this is the piece of work that will define my entire uni experience, and by doing a sloppy job, it doesn't help me at all. So amidst the stress of writing this thesis, I should learn to take stock and count myself lucky that I had this opportunity to explore a field that has interested me for quite some time, and learn along the way.

Something struck me yesterday. Do I really know what the jobs I'm applying for really entail? I had trouble trying to explaining the differences between two jobs and perhaps this reflects this lack of awareness of what I really want in life. I've breezed through life, mostly getting what I wanted, and in the midst of job applications, I'm slowly getting the feeling that I have no clear goals in life. What do I want to do with the rest of my life? What is my ideal job? My mother told me that my ex tuition teacher had asked her whether I had been called up to the bar yet, because she expected me to study law in uni. Well then the whole why didn't you take something more prestigious speech came back to haunt me. Perhaps it's the way my brain works that deters me from doing certain things. This idealism that I can find the perfect job perhaps has closed up my mind to many possibilities. And that was evident in the MOE interview. People have particular views of what jobs each discipline should go into, and I'm not that flexible in thought as well. I want to help people. I always loved helping people along the way during the years in NUS and perhaps that's my calling. If I can find a job where I can really help somebody, even if it is one person, that will make me really happy.

the interview

2009-03-17T19:52:00.004+08:00

Had my first official job interview today at MOE. It was an interesting experience. The security guard was very nice and I was kind of happy doing the written test, but the interview itself was kind of short. It didn't really help that I was the LAST one being interviewed, and I suppose the interviewers were pretty tired from hearing so many applicants talking about themselves. I wasn't very happy with my performance as I felt that I made several faux pas during the course of the very short interview, and I put myself across as somebody who was too idealistic, and perhaps more suited for teaching! Gasp. Oh well, as the song goes, que sera sera. Whatever will be, will be. If I still manage to secure the job, I will definitely work my hardest to prove that I'm up to the challenge. Thanks everybody for their well wishes today, and jiayou for the impending huge deadline!

recall manning

2009-03-15T15:26:00.003+08:00

And just when I thought it would be the same as the last time, the army had to call me up for mobilisation. Zhibin suddenly phoned me up, saying that we were activated and I was shocked for a few seconds, before seeing the Mindef email appear on my computer screen. Then it descended to a mad rush of checking my fieldpack for stuff that I couldn't find, packing, changing, rushing through lunch, before my dad dropped me off back to camp again. But the good thing about the recall was that I could see all the old familiar faces back again. Despite the fact that I'm not particularly fond of the NS days, there were some genuine happy moments, and I managed to relive some of that yesterday. Catching up with everybody was great, and well, the same old inefficiencies still happen. But, after CO has spoken briefly to us, we were promptly released again, at least for those who came back early. I was like one of the only few medics in my unit, and as I went back out to the gate, I eventually saw more familiar faces from the unit, although I was enjoying the company of firm friends who were in another unit. Sigh. How I wished I was in their unit...Cabbed back with Jianhui and Connor, and talked a bit before reaching home. So that's an afternoon gone when I should have been writing my chapter, which is still no where near completion.

what to do when stressed...

2009-03-13T20:57:00.003+08:00

What an ominous day to blog. Friday the 13th. The second day in 2 months. The feeling of stress is palpable in the honours class. People are venting on the whiteboards, becoming more solemn, haggard, tired. I initially thought I would be able to complete another chapter by today, but realised that it was near impossible, until I had to tell my supervisor I couldn't. And what do I do when I'm faced with stress? Retail therapy!!! Headed off, with my grumbling dad on tow, to the IT Show at Suntec City today, where there were loads and loads of bargains, cut-throat promoters and paper wastage. After deliberating for quite some time, I managed to come back home with some purchases, which will leave my pockets empty for quite some time. I also went to collect a new pair of spectacles as well, so consumerism reigned today. And I received the call from MOE informing me of my impending interview. I'm now scared to my wits, as this will be my very first job interview, and luckily I went for the interview workshop yesterday, or else I wouldn't really know what to expect. I'm on recall manning this week, so there's the likelihood of me being called back over the weekend, so it's good for me as I really need to spend some quality time typing out my chapter, and on top of re-writing another chapter and editing the rest. But I shall try not to be stressed in the meantime.

write write write

2009-03-07T22:48:00.004+08:00

And before you know it, March is already here! This will most probably the craziest month I will ever have in my time at NUS, because I have complete my first draft of my ENTIRE thesis by the end of this freaking month! So, it's practically around 3000 words churned a week! My body clock has suddenly altered and I've been waking up so early these few days, because I had to meet interviewees early and run around all over the place. Only had to do a pair of interviews this week and I should be winding them down by this coming week. Changed the blogskin also. It doesn't reflect my mood but I think it will surely do! And the mangas for D.Gray-Man and Nodame Cantabile will be back this month! Woohoo! I just went to read the latest chapter of D.Gray-Man and it's awesome as ever. Something to make me happy while I face all the many problems besetting my thesis. I'm very very afraid it will screw up so hopefully I get some intellectual epiphany soon. Also, attended the recruitment talk for the post of Education Policy Analyst at MOE, and I must say the job scopes are pretty interesting. So I hope the interview will go fine in a week's time and everything will fall into place.

and my final mid sem break ends

2009-02-28T22:32:00.003+08:00

I think this is the least number of times I've written stuff on the blog. Because I have been incredibly busy. To think that not so long ago, I was actually contemplating going back to Cambodia during the mid sem break, when I wasn't even able to complete my draft chapter on the stipulated due date. Luckily for me, I decided not to test my luck and go to Cambodia, and I managed to complete quite a few interviews during the course of the break. Waking up early, running around the Eastern part of Singapore, talking to people, running back to school to get books, typing...life has been pretty crazy. At least I managed to send some things to the kids back in Cambodia, and I hope they like the colour pencils and crayons. Managed to organise a trip to the Baba House and some of my hons classmates and friends graciously helped me out and I hoped they enjoyed themselves at the Baba House. The Anniversary Bash was alright, Thai food yet again, like the Department Lunch and there were these clip-thingies that helped to hold the wine glasses. Kinda ingenious, but a bit weird that the dinner was not a sitting one. And so my final one week pseudo break is now gone, and time to start writing full speed ahead, and wrapping up the interviews. And also frantically applying for jobs. It's going to be a long March and I hope I can churn out something good along the way.

disappointed

2009-02-18T08:07:00.002+08:00

Haven't written since CNY, and well, I had to come back with an emo post. Just when I was enjoying doing my research and thesis, I was met with a very, very heavy blow. Some things did not work out well, and it left me feeling rather defeated and I was cursing myself for not being able to stand up to the challenge. I was naive to believe that things will work out fine and that everything will be pretty much smooth sailing. I didn't expect what happened to actually materialise at all and I panicked. Handled myself pretty badly and I'm sure I didn't leave a good impression at all. I always end up thinking it's my fault when things end up badly. I hate being in a conflict situation, and as much as I try to salvage it, it just went into a death-defying spiral downwards and essentially I crashed and burned. I now really doubting myself and I haven't been able to get over it during the past day. I know I'm super fricking thin-skinned but well, I haven't learnt my lesson at all because I still eventually end up being super affected by what happened yesterday. Now it's time for very significant damage control and crisis management, on a professional and personal level, and also a very opportune wake up call. I wallow in self pity but I need to pick myself up again and well, prove to myself that I can do this. Thanks to all the friends who heard me out yesterday. I really appreciated the sounding board.

year of the ox

2009-01-28T00:56:00.008+08:00

Happy Year of the Ox everybody! Well, two days of public holidays have come and gone and it has been a nice break while it lasted. Had lots of great food, from the Peranakan reunion dinner to the Szechuan lunch I had today. Had better luck in gambling this year and spent quality time with my family and relatives. I even tried to play a bit of Mahjong but the game still eludes me to an extent. Gin Rummy is so much better. Hahaha. But the Chinese New Year specials are getting from bad to worse. Too much singing!!! And kinda boring after a while. Anyway, Detective Conan's latest opening song is very nice! Very jazzy! :P And I've been watching Nodame Cantabile recently and it's quite good. Love the classical pieces and renewed my great admiration for Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue. So that's the break for me and hope I can go full steam ahead with the work that I have for the rest of the term.

slowly taking shape

2009-01-23T20:33:00.002+08:00

Finally I'm gaining a bit more momentum to do my thesis. I've been seriously slacking too much and when I got the email from my supervisor, requesting for us to meet him, I couldn't help but feel embarrassed at my lack of conscientiousness. I see the rest of my classmates trudging along, making progress with interviews and survey questions, and yet I still have nagging doubts as to how to organise my thesis. And everybody thinks I'm too free for crashing tourism 4k lectures when everybody else is frantically doing their theses. But I think I made the right decision in attending that lecture. Dr Sallie touched on postcolonialism and tourism, which was something that we didn't cover when I took the mod last year. And it seemed so perfect for my thesis! As I was leaving the lecture, I bumped into Dr Sallie at the corridor and I talked to her about my thesis. She seemed very interested in my topic and we arranged a time so I could talk to her more extensively. Met her for the consultation a few days after the lecture and she gave me a lot of good ideas, even though she was not too familiar with my topic. She even offered to find books for me, so I'm so glad that I decided to talk to her about it!

Met Prof Chang today to talk about my thesis and honestly I was having butterflies in my stomach. The feeling of not being prepared sucks and I was bracing for some harsh words. But that did not materialise. Prof Chang was ever so helpful, talking about my thesis and fieldwork strategies, recommending me this boutique hotel in Penang, which used to be a mansion for a rich Peranakan family, and introducing me to potential contacts. I feel so blessed for all the help that I have gotten this week, and this is perhaps the motivation I need to make this thesis a great one.

footprints in the sand

2009-01-17T00:37:00.007+08:00

You walked with me, footprints in the sand
And helped me understand where I'm going
You walked with me when I was all alone
With so much I know along the way
Then I heard you say

I promise you, I'm always there
When your heart is filled with sorrow and despair
I'll carry you when you need a friend
You'll find my footprints in the sand.

I see my life flash across the sky
So many times have I been so afraid
And just when I thought I lost my way
You gave me strength to carry on
That's when I heard you say

I promise you, I'm always there
When your heart is filled with sorrow and despair
And I'll carry you when you need a friend
You'll find my footprints in the sand.

When I'm weary, well, I'll know you will be there
And I can feel you when you say

I promise you, I'm always there
When your heart is filled with sadness and despair
I'll carry you when you need a friend
You'll find my footprints in the sand.

I promise you, I'm always there
When your heart is full of sadness and despair
I'll carry you when you need a friend
You'll find my footprints in the sand.

Sung by Leona Lewis

~

This song is so poignant, especially now. I really hope it's true, what this song proclaims...

code geass

2009-01-12T21:53:00.006+08:00

And just when I thought I couldn't find another anime to trump the others I've seen, Code Geass comes along! Just finished watching all the episodes and well, I never experienced something quite like it. Every episode is just one emotional rollercoaster after another, and I cannot help sighing after every single plot twist this series throws at me. This is storytelling at its best. Although the storyline can be rather Shakespearean, that's what I like about it. Wasn't very keen on the emphasis on fighting robots, but at least the writers really tried to keep that to a minimum. Maybe it was a strategy on their part as they didn't want to narrow their potential viewing demographic. And as usual, they deal with universal themes such as justice, morality and friendship, and Lelouch's strategic manoeuvrings are simply mindblowing. And the ending was EPIC. Sigh sigh sigh. And Kururugi Suzaku rocks! Hahaha. Oh well, that's enough anime for me for the holidays as my final semester starts tomorrow. I have been sufficiently entertained and really need to pay much more attention to my studies.

life is short

2009-01-09T13:10:00.003+08:00

The honours class chalet was a success! I was afraid that very few people would turn up as many did not reply my emails, but I'm very satisfied with the turnout. Was the busy bee, buying things, checking in and seeing everything was going ok. Afraid that there wasn't enough food but of course, we ended up with having lots of excess. Thanks to the many, many packets of hotdogs that we bought. Hahaha. Even though the chalet ended prematurely, I hope everybody had as much fun as I did planning this thing out. Especially the all nighter of games. But I'm happy that I finally can come home to my bed and a good bath, and then concussed for 13hrs, nursing a slight sore throat and a headache. Now I'm feeling better.

But, I'm afraid this year will be a most challenging year as predicted. My mother told me of my aunt's medical condition, and we are all expecting the worst. The doctors say that she will most probably not survive the year and that came as an extremely rude shock to me. Cancer is a most horrible disease, especially after she had already survived breast cancer. I hugged my mother whom I could tell needed all the support that she can get. She will be trying as hard as possible to make my aunt as comfortable and happy as possible. But losing your younger sister will definitely be a huge blow for my mother, as for myself, I just hope that God will grant my aunt the strength to tide through her final days and at least let her remain strong for my uncle and cousin, and it would be especially bittersweet if she could be able to attend my graduation. I will pray with all my might and soul as I dedicate my final semester, my honours thesis to my aunt who has always been been there and has been almost like a mother to me.

mosaic kakera

2009-01-05T00:34:00.004+08:00

New anime song which I like. I think I'm slowly becoming an otaku! Lol! Anyway, this song is the ending song from one of Japan's most popular anime series, Code Geass, which I'm starting to watch right now. It's a rather sad song actually, but the melody just sticks for me. Enjoy.

first post of 2009

2009-01-02T23:45:00.005+08:00

First of all, here's wishing everybody a happy 2009! I know this year will be one full of challenges ahead, and also one with hopefully plenty of milestones for me, but it's pretty sad to hear of the Bangkok nightclub fire on New Year's Eve, and yet another Singaporean fatality. But anyway, I'm very lazy to do a recap of 2008, as you can tell from the lack of updates. But on the whole, 2008 has been a rather mixed year for me. I entered my honours year in 2008, and it proved to be the most challenging semester I've ever had in NUS thus far. Made a lot of new friends and managed to travel quite extensively to Malaysia, revisiting many of the places that I have been. Also, it was in 2008 when I began to appreciate Japanese ingenuity more, after stumbling upon Detective Conan and D.Gray-Man. I just hope that 2009 will be an equally good year for me, as it will be the time when I formally end my time in NUS and begin a different phase of my life. I pray for health and happiness to my family and friends, especially my aunt, who is experiencing some medical issues right now.

I had my usual gathering on New Year's Eve at Sharon's house. The food was great, we played something similar to 20 Questions, and a little bit of my Cluedo DVD. Had our countdown while watching the Marina Bay one, and there were really a lot of fireworks this time round. Finished the game and went home early because I was going to Prof Chang's house for tea on New Year's Day. His house was immaculately decorated, like the last time we went. And the food was delicious and we were filled to the brim with pizza, tempura and ice cream! But what provided the most entertainment were Prof Chang's niece, nephew and his dogs! And we had fun walking around Paragon prior to going to Prof Chang's house trying to get nice presents for him. And I never been to so many branded outlets at one shot before. Haha. And Prof Chang gave us geographically inspired presents too. What a nice way to start the year, and now I'm feeling super guilty for not doing enough work in the hols. :(

merry christmas '08

2008-12-24T22:39:00.002+08:00

Here's wishing everybody a blessed Christmas in advance! It's the time to take stock of all the blessings we have had as the year is soon coming to a close. But Christmas for me has been gradually more subdued, as I don't send as many Christmas cards as before, or do not take the trouble of thinking of games to play for the Christmas Eve party. Had a blast at Melody's place during the honours class Christmas party, where I became a pro onion chopper! The food was good and the company was great and I got a cute present for gift exchange. Too bad I started sneezing towards the end. But I have to thank everybody for making the effort to come together to experience the joy of Christmas together. My family also just concluded our own Christmas Eve dinner and we ended up playing Blackjack! Well, CNY is around the corner, so maybe it's time to gain some luck before it really comes, which is like in a month or so. And also, results were released just yesterday. As always, there will be one module which will pleasantly surprise me and even though my CAP dropped, it wasn't as great a drop as I had anticipated. So it's time to work hard for just one more semester before I can say goodbye to studying and examinations for quite a period of time.

musician

2008-12-16T00:24:00.006+08:00

There are already a million reasons why I love D.Gray-Man. But this song just adds another reason to that list. I can't help sighing and feeling this upwelling of emotion when I hear this song. Just listen to it, and even though most of you won't get the context, I think you can see why I love this song. My favourite part is when Allen sings to the lyrics at around 1:20 in the video. Sadly, I've already finished watching all the episodes and now I shall just wait to be filled with joy yet again.

d.gray-man

2008-12-12T23:56:00.006+08:00

I remember during my ICT this year, one of my friends recommended me to watch this anime series, since I told him that I was quite hooked on Detective Conan. He proceeded to tell me the details of the story, of which I was mildly interested at the time, because in part, I just couldn't see any other anime which could possibly surpass Detective Conan.

Nearly 6 months later, I watched an episode of this recommended series. And I found another anime which I'm crazy about now. I think I need both of these animes to tide me through the holidays and the last semester in NUS. Both make me happy in different ways. Detective Conan reaches out to my love for detective fiction. It's happy, ingenious and the cases are most of the time interesting. D.Gray-Man, on the other hand, makes me happy in a different way. Quite strangely, it seems rather Harry Potterish in a way. Young boy discovers a supernatural ability, gets accepted to a new environment, makes good friends and fights evil. But beyond the rather formulaic premise, it is mature, dark and emotionally realistic. All of us want happy endings, but D.Gray-Man denies you that satisfaction. Time and time again, we as viewers are met with disappointment after disappointment. But that's life. That's reality. Character development has always been the most important to me and by far, these two anime have satisfied this basic and vital requirement. D.Gray-Man's Allen Walker is naive and idealistic, but I think Walker's naivete is necessary in order to prevent the anime from being too dark. The characters are unique, multifaceted and are constantly growing. Perhaps that's where Conan can learn from D.Gray-Man. People watch TV, read books to escape from the real world, but in actual fact, all of these, including anime, are reflections of reality. Rather than escape from it, I think we should learn to embrace it.

Have to thank my friend for recommending this anime. It has brought me great satisfaction, and alongside Detective Conan, I think I have come to seriously consider taking up Japanese in the future.

halfway through

2008-12-08T22:19:00.007+08:00

The exams are finally over. And I'm halfway through my honours year. Sigh. At least I'm now away from all the readings and work and theorists, and able to welcome the spirit of Christmas! Not...I know that this will be the holiday which will feel most unlike the holidays when I have to slowly start researching for my HT (well, maybe not that slowly). But ever since the exams have ended, I've taken the time to really relax. Not much work done, and I pretty much rushed through my PMB proposal, which I will have to frantically edit tomorrow, since I only have a day to finalise everything before I hand it up to the department. I hope I get the grant. :P And how have I been relaxing? TV!!! Tons and tons of it. I still love my Detective Conan, but after watching an episode of D.Gray-Man on the telly, I decided to watch it online, and it's very different from Conan. D. Gray-Man is so gothic, dark and out of this world. Something I wouldn't think I would have liked, but it's very compelling and allegorical. I'm just blown away by the staggering creativity of the Japanese. And Mobtv has it for subscription, so I think I will just treat myself by purchasing the subscription for a month, and hopefully I finish all the episodes. Yar...I'm that crazy. And I think I will find it hard to do work when there are so many parties this month. Haha. Well December is always the month of merriment, and it's about time I start spending my Border's gift card. :P I'm just trying to enjoy myself before the exam results get released.

the usual exam post (sort of)

2008-11-30T14:12:00.002+08:00

I just wanted to write this post, so that I will have at least one month where I was able to cross the 3 posts barrier. The number of posts seem so measly as compared to the early days of this blog. I'm not neglecting it. In fact I visit it everyday. But my conscience tells me that I shouldn't blog because I should be diligently studying for my exams instead of hanging around on cyberspace. But I just needed to write this post in order to say a great big thank you to my great honours classmates for the past 3 months for being such a fun, nonsensical bunch of people. And this is the first time I managed to enjoy in the midst of the exams! Crazy lot of us went to Vivo after Geog Thot B exam and we just hung around the rooftop, talking nonsense, eating and playing orientation games. And I nearly got dunked in the water yet again. Haix. My classmates are such spontaneous, crazy people, and this was such a stark contrast to the blank faces that we all were when we first attended the honours briefing. And now instead of studying, I keep thinking of how to plan for the hons class chalet. Haha. Well at least the booking has been made, so will finalise stuff after the exams, and that's after having to do my proposal for the PMB grant. So many things to do, and I'm damn scared for these last 3 papers. Although I love reading the stuff for the other 2 geog mods more, I feel that my mind keeps flying off to some far off land and not doing work. Ok. Time to head back to the books. And it's sad that this week has been a week of much chaos and sadness. Protests in Bangkok. Terrorist attacks in Mumbai. And a Singaporean casualty. Where is the world heading to...

go your own way

2008-11-15T12:24:00.004+08:00

Another pretty song from Detective Conan. I'm slightly happier since there will be a lot of new subbed episodes coming soon! But now I still have to complete an essay before even embarking on studying for the exams. Sigh...

end of hell week part deux

2008-11-07T22:24:00.003+08:00

I survived my second hell week this semester! Well barely...Had three presentations in a row and on top of that I had to complete my assignment for my GEM mod which I handed up close to an hour before the deadline. That assignment irritated the hell out of me. I was trying to input all the food that I had eaten during one week and in the end, I was logged out whilst completing the entries! Then I had to do it again, then I accidentally closed the window in the midst of keying in all the entries again! So sian and I almost memorised what was eaten liao. But well, after seeing the results being processed, I'm very very concerned over what I eat. Need to exercise more and cut down on all the fast food!

Yesterday was a crazy day. I only had around 4hrs of sleep the night before and had to wake up at 6am to be able to arrive at 8am for our project meeting. And brought another set of clothes to change out of after I attended the Public Service Networking thing in the 2nd year running. I wished I had much more time to talk to the people as this is really the time that I have to seriously think of my future. Attended the LTA talk which was actually 4 presentations in disguise! But nice seeing so many friends in one place. Then after doing a little networking, I rushed to the car, changed into another pair of shoes which looked so off from my working clothes, then changed in the toilet before rushing to rehearse the presentation which was going to happen in like 2 hrs time. I realised that I talk a lot of rubbish when I lack sleep. Maybe it's my version of being drunk...The presentation went well, and I even danced! And we all ended on a high note with tons of phototaking! Then proceeded to drive home in a semi comatose state and concussed for 12hrs after that!

But I take this time to thank all my wonderful group mates this sem. I have nothing but praise for all the great people I've managed to work with through the course of this sem. Thanks to my GE4101A group, for accepting me into their group when I had no group. Hope I didn't drive you all up the wall with all my critical comments. Thanks to my urban group for all the great fieldtrips we had at Golden Mile and Geylang, with lots of fun and food! Thanks to my GE4101B group for being so efficient and great to work with. And living so near each other so that we need not go all the way to school to meet. Hehehe. And finally, thank you to my spectacular cultural group, for all the laughs, hard work and intellectual discussions. I'm in awe of all of my group mates for their commitment, friendship and fun-lovingness, and I hope I have been a good group mate to you guys, as all of you have been to me. Thank you all!

(oh no!)vember

2008-11-02T12:36:00.004+08:00

Trying to be postmodern here and add the parentheses in front in order to try to sound vaguely intellectual when obviously I'm not. I feel the most inadequate this semester. Grades are not that good, but well that's the challenge of Year 4. I just think because as the pool of students get smaller, the quality improves and then naturally it gets harder to do well.

But, I think the grades I've gotten allow me some time for self reflection. I can only blame myself for doing last minute work, which I don't really like, but I end up doing anyway because I'm lazy to begin writing in the first place. Hence, the subsequent fall in quality and critical thinking and consequently, the profs are astute enough to see that through. But if we always sigh about not doing well, resigning to the fact that I'm not as good as the person who got an A, then that defeats the purpose of learning in the first place. Perhaps it's expectations. You hope to do well, and yet in the end you fail your own expectations. It should instead be a sign, telling you that there are things that you still don't understand fully, or that the style has to change. It's a chance to try and improve yourself, push yourself to be a better person, instead of basking in your happy status quo.

What matters at the end of the day is not the grades you got in this particular assignment or that presentation. Nobody remembers after the initial comparison of results. What I want out of this honours year is a chance to show what I've got, even if it's not appreciated. There have been many disappointments in my life that I don't say, and this is my chance to redeem myself. So, this might seem like a complain-ey, whiny post, but it's just a little self reflection I needed to make to put things into perspective.

a slight reprieve

2008-10-23T23:45:00.003+08:00

Well, the ultra big deadline is finally over. I haven't rushed work for a very long time. The last time was in my very first sem when I was rushing my changing landscapes project. I still rem stupid me refused to go all the way back to school to do project with the rest of my group mates and in the end I was at home liaising with them through msn. Haha. But, a lot of my fellow hons classmates were online too, and cursing and swearing at the work we had before us. But now that is over, I find myself having a little bit of a break, watching a bit of TV shows and resting before the cycle starts all over again with the other assignments. I'm so glad that this week is finally over, so I can recuperate a bit of lost sleep. Haha. And also I got my first choice supervisor! Yay! :P

summer memories

2008-10-13T00:14:00.007+08:00

For a rather long period of time, I never really appreciated J-Pop in any way. But well, Detective Conan has opened my eyes and ears, and I really like this song, which is the current ending song for the show. The animation has improved immensely from when it first started. You can see the real cool rendering of the candle and the soft lighting. Ah...I'm in awe. Even though I don't really understand the song, I think it's quite an emotional song or some expression of longing, and Aya Kamiki's vocal range is really good. Perhaps it's an appropriate emo song for the time now.

month of sheer madness

2008-10-01T19:47:00.003+08:00

That one week was perhaps the most wasted week I've ever had. I didn't have the time to rest at all during the mid sem break, got sick, went back to school to research, and the break just dissolved right in front of my eyes. At least I got to watch the inaugural Singapore Grand Prix on TV and it was super exciting! Totally beyond my expectations and the Singapore skyline looked spectacular. But, now I have to come terms with the fact that this month will be one full of deadlines, research and stress. There's a public holiday this week, and sort of feel like the week is already over, when it isn't. Strangely enough, I feel good about my honours thesis now. I feel that this is really the topic I should be pursuing and I feel unnaturally happy. I like what I'm researching and writing, and I really have to thank Prof Chang for being so nice and asking me whether I want to have a consultation. Cleared up so many nagging doubts during the 45 min plus session, and now I have a new found clarity. Yay!

American TV has come back. I watched some episodes in between me rushing my proposal and honestly, I'm slightly disappointed. Loose ends have been tied up but I don't feel wowed. Perhaps it's because Detective Conan is just TOO good. The more I watch, the more I love the show. I think detective fiction is the evergreen genre. Regardless of historical context, people are always drawn to murder. It's a kind of voyeurism where you see people committing the most heinous of crimes, acting out their rage and discontent, and gratified by the process of slowly finding out who was the one who committed that act of denying somebody's life. It's sad when you realise that the motive actually seems logical and legitimate, but whenever somebody breaks down in one of the Detective Conan episodes, somebody will always bring the audience back to reality and say that murder is unforgivable, regardless of motive. That is what makes the series so powerful. The moral groundedness of the show. And also all the very interesting tricks and puzzles. I don't think anything will ever match up to Detective Conan. Really. If only I could do a thesis on Detective Conan...Hahahahaha!

mid sem break?

2008-09-21T23:55:00.002+08:00

Neglected the blog yet again, but well I've come to expect that the blog will remain rather inactive due to the fact that there has been so much work to do. It's the mid semester break already and there's more work in the weeks ahead. But I can't believe that 6 weeks have already gone by and I've already done 2 presentations and an essay. Usually my deadlines are after the break but now, I need to really start thinking of my HT proposal and the other things I have to do. But at least I managed to have a semblance of a break when I went to Sentosa with the gang yesterday. I had to leave at around 4pm and all of them actually brought academic stuff to do! So funny. Year 4 has really made an impact on us. Sadness. And now my legs are sunburnt and stinging with pain. :( At least all the TV shows are coming back soon, but somehow I don't feel like watching American TV anymore, because Detective Conan is more than enough to make me happy! :) I don't really have much more to say, so till the next post then.

i love detective conan!!

2008-09-07T21:39:00.005+08:00

It's been forever since I decided to write something on this blog. This shows how life is like in honours year. If I'm not trying to complete readings, I'm doing research for some essay or presentation coming up. I've already got deadlines in Week 6. Sigh. It's been a tiring, draining month so far, and time has practically zipped by. Despite the workload, I have found something which has made me really happy. And that is Detective Conan. Some of you must be shaking your head, saying that I must be really stressed if I really have to turn to anime to make me happy.

For those who know me well enough, I'm not an anime person at all. In fact, I was introduced to Detective Conan oh so many years ago by my friend during my army days, as I needed something to pass the time away while I was on my first ever standby. I didn't really follow up after that day. But during the holidays, once all the American TV shows had ended their runs, I was looking for entertainment yet again to help me pass the time. Then I stumbled upon Detective Conan again. And since then, I've been loyally watching episodes almost every night, just for my Detective Conan fix. You can say it's an addiction, but to me, it has really made me happy for the many weeks I have watched it. The Detective Conan universe has really captivated my imagination. It's not too out of this world, unlike so many anime series I've seen my friends watch, and many of the characters are so endearing and complex. You can't help but root for them. There is a right amount of suspense, romance, excitement and it's a perfect homage to the detective genre, which I have grown to love for much of my life. I must thank the creators for continually making millions of people happy just for producing such a wonderful series. I really hope the series doesn't end in the near future.

the challenge that is year 4

2008-08-24T17:54:00.004+08:00

I realised that I haven't recorded what I'm doing for this sem in terms of modules. So here it is...

GE4101A: Development of Geographic Thought A
GE4101B: Development of Geographic Thought B
GE4204: Urban Space: Critical Perspectives
GE4213: Cultural Analysis
GEK1529: Food & Health

And to those considering wanting to do the honours year, you all better be prepared for a culture shock once you enter the first class. The leap from Year 3 to Year 4 is so great! There are so many assignments, presentations, readings that quite a number of us are already having second thoughts of continuing on to torture ourselves just for the honours degree. This is evident through all the MSN nicks of my fellow year 4s. But I must really thank my seniors and friends for all the encouraging words so far. I knew this year was going to stretch me to the max. And I shouldn't feel so resigned when term has only started! Sometimes it's not about who understands the most of what the academics and textbooks have to say about political economy or abjection. But rather whether at the end of the day, you learnt something about yourself that you never knew. If life was smooth sailing, then what's the joy of achieving something when everything is so easy to attain? So I will press on. And hopefully throughout this year, I will learn to appreciate the complexity and richness of the discipline that I have chosen to specialise in, and make more fulfilling friendships along the way.

24

2008-08-16T22:05:00.004+08:00

I cannot thank everybody enough for making my 24th birthday such a memorable one. So I will thank everybody in turn on my blog!

To my family: Thank you Mum and Dad for always being there for me and for all the love these past 24 years. I hope to repay back for all the sacrifices you have made to allow me to pursue my dreams and no amount of words can express the love I feel for you.

To the click: It has been three years of friendship, and we have had our ups and downs. But the measure of true friendship is the ability to withstand these tough times and in the process, strengthening the bonds of friendship. Thank you for the card with the pregnant woman and the heartfelt post-its in it as well.

To the Geog Soc MC (41st & 42nd) and the Geog Dept: Thank you all so much for what you guys did today. I was initially apprehensive on whether I should go today, but it turned out to be one of the sweetest birthday celebrations I have ever had in my life. Thank you to the all the lecturers from the Geog Dept who came and celebrated my birthday! The Geog Dept is truly the Care Bear department! :) Thank you Geog Soc for three years worth of wonderful memories and being such an integral part of my NUS life. Especially to the 42nd MC, for accepting this old man and for the friendships we have cultivated over the past year. Thank you for the cake and for planning everything today.

To Jianhui and Connor: Thank you to my old army buddies for treating me to lunch yesterday. I am so glad that despite being in different faculties, we have managed to maintain our friendship till this day. I feel so ashamed for not being able to reciprocate all you guys have done for me and I will definitely do so! We must meet up more often! And Hongyi! Congratulations for graduating!

Not forgetting every single one of you who have wished me happy birthday through sms, Facebook, MSN, in person or belated, thank you so much making this day a truly special one.

a whirlwind week

2008-08-07T23:30:00.005+08:00

Upon coming back to Singapore, I couldn't believe that I managed to occupy myself so well for this past week. First up was the NDP Preview last Saturday. Dad was lucky to get tickets and I managed to attend the NDP Preview yet again. The audience was pretty much rather not spontaneous (as expected), but the fireworks were really great! And there were a lot too! The Black Knights were fantastic too! Their aerial acrobatics kept all of us at the edge of our seats! So having attended the preview, I can safely go and have dinner with the Geog Soc folks on National Day! :)

Finally met the gang on Sunday at Roy's place after so long. Gave them their strawberry fans and they seem to like it! :) We had drinks and food and talked about so many strange things in the Truth or Dare, without the dares. Some of the things I really never thought about before actually. Next was honours briefing on Tuesday. It has been some time since I went back to NUS and once I entered Earth Lab again, it really struck me how huge my honours batch really was! We occupied like more than half of it, and sometimes even tutorial classes aren't as big as my honours batch. Having listened to 3 Major's Teas, all the stuff sounded very familiar to me. But at least we got free notepads specially printed for us! :D I ordered pizza for the guys as part of our post honours briefing get-together, but unsurprisingly, many of them decided to leave early and stay in their own cliques. Well it's only the beginning, and hopefully as the academic year starts, the ice will begin to melt and we can all have a little more fun! But it's nice to see so many familiar faces and to talk nonsense about so many things. After the pizza party, Val, Winnie and I went around the department talking to a whole bunch of people, networking as we call it. Never talked to so many people in the department in one day! So it was fun and I really miss all the nonsense back in NUS. Hopefully the rest of the year will be as fun.

I went back to NUS again on Wednesday because I was bored and wanted to photostat some of the readings. And collect a library book. Had lunch with Melissa at Megabites and it was super crowded. Met even more friends at Arts Canteen. Realised that the printing room has changed. At least they have changed to photostating machines that I like. Heh. Even the Arts Canteen revamped their cashiers to stylo electronic ones. But the honeydew rockmelon juice I had was the best I've had in ages! Drove back to Compass Point to have dinner with my really old friend Jiancong at Sakae. I haven't talked to him since I entered university and we chatted as if no time had passed since the last time we met. He's now working and studying part time, and we managed to gripe about stuff. Haix. I really miss the good times.

Today. Went to Grace's place for Wii party and it's pretty fun! We played Cooking Mama and Wii Sports and I was dubbed 'The Prince of Tennis' because I practically beat everybody in the tennis game. And I thought I was to translate my poor psychomotor abilities to the game. I even managed to do some special move and still be able to aim for the tennis ball! Hahaha. Dinner at Orchard Hotel with Dad, since he had vouchers to redeem. It was local fare, due to National Day being around the corner, and I think me and my dad were the only people who were not in red, as those who were, were entitled to a 43% discount! But I was filled to the brim with prata, satay, chicken rice, sushi, spring rolls etc. So it has been a pretty whirlwind week, judging from the length of my entry, but I'm looking forward to more interesting things ahead as term begins again on Monday.

last week in malaysia

2008-07-30T13:30:00.005+08:00

This past week has been pretty exciting! Shanjun left for Singapore last Friday and November's friend Shin Min came over. Took a bus to Ipoh over the weekend and finally got that green polo shirt that I wanted since Malacca, although it was a tad expensive even with the discount. Satisfied my Baskin Robbins craving at Kinta City Shopping Centre also. Headed to Ipoh Parade Shopping Centre after that and was rather bored because the place looks like Lot 1 and mainly sold cheena stuff. At least I got to sit on a uGallop like contraption for 15 minutes. But the highlight of the Ipoh trip was the hor fun!

The ipoh hor fun was absolutely delicious! The noodles were smooth, the soup was full bodied, the chicken was tender...I highly recommend Lao Wong's in Ipoh for your ipoh hor fun fix anytime!

After our Ipoh day trip, we became farm workers for a day at one of the big farms in Cameron Highlands. We realised that we cannot changkol or rake for nuts, even though it may look easy at first glance. We also scattered a lot of fertiliser, till our arms ached. Next we took turns packing vegetables which were going to be sold in NTUC supermarkets in Singapore. We packed long beans, tomatoes and spinach, but I like packing the long beans the most! So maybe some of those long beans in NTUC could be packed by yours truly! And I'm really scared that I packed the wrong amount of spinach since I was a bit confused with the instructions that were given to me. Compounded with the fact that I couldn't really understand Malay, so the workers seemed to be having a lot of fun, staring and laughing at us city folk. We also pruned the cherry tomatoes, literally getting green fingers from all the fungicide. Harvested capsicum and most probably destroyed a lot of good ones with my bad harvesting skills, although I much preferred removing the rotten ones. Also had grapes grown in the farm as a snack. Overall, my farm experience was a unique one, especially for somebody who leads a very sedentary lifestyle, and maybe more Singaporeans should try to understand the labour that goes into growing our vegetables.

Yesterday was my shopping day in Cameron Highlands. Went to a lot of places trying to find a nice purple orchid for my mum. Mum, I know you are reading my blog, and hopefully you will like the orchid I bought. But it is a surprise...Hahaha. Wanted to buy strawberries too but the person said that it wouldn't last till Thursday, so I decided not to buy. The last thing on my agenda was to engage in something quintessentially English - having tea and scones.

I tried to eat the scones in the traditional way, which I saw in some TV show. Putting the butter, jam/marmalade and clotted cream and it tasted really nice! Usually I'm not very adventurous in terms of eating, but well it doesn't hurt to try.

And here's me in front of some of the chalets and it looks so...British. I like Bala's a lot. So that's it for my final week in Cameron Highlands. On a final note, I really enjoyed my time in Cameron Highlands. I love the friendly people, the cheap food, the cool weather (when it isn't too cold) and the beautiful scenery. I have done things I wouldn't have done back home, so as I step on the bus back to Singapore tomorrow, I shall treasure the days I had here in Cameron Highlands. Can't wait to see everybody again in Singapore!

a break within a break

2008-07-22T21:29:00.003+08:00

Out of pure spontaneity, the Cameron Highlands crew headed over to Malaysia's capital for the weekend for a short trip away from the farms and the coldness. But I wasn't really feeling too well before the trip but decided to go anyway. I was sneezing incessantly at a farmer's house and I felt bad using up his box of tissue paper and constantly going to the toilet. So the three of us headed to KL, with a whole bunch of things to accomplish. For me, most importantly, I wanted to watch The Dark Knight. It's the only movie I had been looking forward to during this hols and well the movie tickets are much cheaper in KL also. And I was not disappointed. We stayed at a hotel near Bukit Bintang Walk, had a lot of soupy stuff since all of us seemed to have caught the flu. I even got to attend mass, although I couldn't really understand what the priest was talking about. And all of us finally got to visit the Petronas Twin Towers but couldn't go up to the Skybridge since all the free tickets had been given out already. But we took plenty of photos outside KLCC at night and some of the pictures look great! Unfortunately, I didn't get to shop much. In fact, not counting the bus and hotel fees, I only bought bottled water and Strepsils! Sigh. But it's nice being in a bustling city once again, and now that I am back in Cameron Highlands, I have grown to appreciate this place a little more.

in the clouds

2008-07-18T21:31:00.003+08:00

Hi everybody! Greetings from Cameron Highlands. Been here for the past four days and I'm having a great time! I'm glad I decided to help out even though I will spending almost a good three weeks away from family and friends. But everyday has been filled with unexpected surprises. From a weird jingle from a mattress (aka tilam) seller, cute puppies, and a super fun, yet treacherous truck ride to a farm at Gunung Brinchang. I love truck rides here! Feeling the wind on your face, although I unfortunately got hit by a banana leaf while riding speedily on a truck. The farmers here have been nothing but hospitable and warm to us nosy Singaporeans. But the weather here is super cold! Even the local people say that these few days have been uncharacteristically cold. But I think when I head back to Singapore, I will be complaining everyday about the heat in Singapore! But the only thing I don't like are the winding roads here and I always get super giddy in the car. But I suppose that cannot really be helped, since I'm in highland territory. At least there is cable in the apartment, and have been watching a lot of TV also. And to all those who wanted tea, I already bought them so look forward to them when I come back. Ok I shall try and upload some pics when I can because my laptop doesn't seem to be able to access the IP from the internet cafe. Hope to see you guys soon and I shall try to update more.

leaving soon

2008-07-14T15:51:00.002+08:00

Well, I'm only about 7 hours away from boarding the bus and heading for a hopefully enriching and relaxing trip to Cameron Highlands. I hope I will learn lots and come back refreshed and ready to tackle what is ahead of me. Because by the time I get back, my final year in NUS will almost start soon. So till then, I hope you guys in Singapore enjoy yourselves with all your post-internship, post-summer school, post-exchange activities! I shall be back before you know it! And also, I will be bringing my laptop, so I can still be reached. Haha. Goodbye everybody!

celebration

2008-07-13T11:40:00.003+08:00

Another week has come to pass and in two days time, I shall be away from Singapore to embark on my (hopefully) relaxing trip to Cameron Highlands. But there was much to celebrate this week as I was invited to attend Vivian's commencement on Wednesday, and it was also my mother's birthday on Thursday.

I had an enjoyable time attending this year's commencement, even though we spent most of the time standing outside and looking at a television screen. It was heartening to see that yet another geography graduate has become valedictorian. Once the ceremony was over, it was time to take photographs with practically everybody! Even people that you do not know at all! After uploading all these photographs on facebook, surely a lot of people would be wondering who exactly is this weird person appearing in their photographs! But seeing the geog honours batch cheering each other on and having a blast, I wonder whether my batch would be like that as well. But anyway, commencement is the time to celebrate academic achievements. But most importantly, it's the time to appreciate the friendships that we have gained during the NUS years, and I hope when it is my time to graduate, I would get the same feeling as I got during this year's ceremony.

My mother's birthday was on the next day and we had lunch at Thai Express at Raffles City, which was really good! I think the Thai Express over there is the best I have eaten, due to the freshness of the ingredients. I had to draw money from the ATM and I forgot my PIN number. How stupid of me. And after quite a lengthy questioning session from the customer service officer, I finally reactivated my card. I must not forget my PIN again! Dinner was at Jumbo restaurant and we were filled to the brim with food, since my dad had discount vouchers. I will just like to say happy birthday to my mother again and may she continue to remain happy always! :)

stuffed

2008-07-06T19:13:00.002+08:00

Have been eating a lot this week! First, had dinner with some of the folks from FIC. It's a pity that most of them could not come, but we still had fun nonetheless. Manhattan Fish Market is ok, even though it's cheaper. But I kind of like Fish & Co. more, because the batter tastes so much lighter as compared to Manhattan. And their sauce had a more buttery taste to it, as compared to the one I had at Manhattan. But, it was the company that was more important as always.

The day after, I had lunch with my ex colleagues at CSC. And I was very surprised at how much the office had changed after one year. It is so much bigger and the coffee table that used to be there has now made way for more cubicles. I thought we were going to have lunch in the office but instead my old supervisor brought me out to Dome at Dempsey Road. I was super full from eating the Chicken Cordon Bleu there, and I couldn't eat much at dinner later. My colleagues have been so nice and patient with me, ever since I entered the old office as an intern a year back. They didn't have any interns this time round, except for this guy who I think is working on a temporary basis. But I think I have seen him in NUS before. I really thank my old colleagues for all their warmth and kindness, and for all their precious career advice!

Finally, I just had dinner yesterday with my old Maris Stella classmates at Breeks in Takashimaya, and ice cream at Swenson's. Well, only Lionel, Jason and Chee Keng made it in the end, but we had an interesting time. Lionel talking about his experiences in Canada and the States, while Jason talked about his trip to Europe. And we attempted to catch a movie on an especially crowded Saturday evening but realised the queues were long and the movies were rather late. We practically walked quite a stretch of Orchard Road, but it was kind of funny actually. Oh well, that's it for the week.

contemplating

2008-06-30T17:37:00.004+08:00

I'm looking forward to my three week trip to Cameron Highlands. Hopefully to smell the fresh crisp mountain air, understand where my veges come from, and perhaps learn a little from those who are already ahead of you in terms of academic life. I wonder whether academic life is right for me. Whether should it be within my horizons when I think of what I want to do with the rest of my life. Will I be happy implementing policies and writing research papers, or teaching undergraduates and continually churning academic articles? I haven't really made my decision yet, but I think it is about time when I have to start seriously considering what I envision my life to be like once I finish my honours year.

Now's the time when people start trickling back from overseas, whether it is for exchange or field studies. Many of my friend's facebook pages are filled with wall posts and photographs detailing the fun they had while they were overseas and the experiences they had. I can't help but kick myself at the back when people ask why didn't I go for exchange. It didn't help that ICT had to happen this year when I could have spent my time at Field Studies. Perhaps it wasn't meant to be. But, as I have mentioned earlier, all these not happening could be just fate's way of allowing me to carve my own experiences. If not for ICT, I wouldn't have met new friends who also constantly gripe about the inefficiencies of the army. If I had went on field studies, I wouldn't have been able to strengthen the existing friendships I had with the 42nd MC in GC and FIC. All the chatting and fun I had! And if I had decided to go on exchange, I might not have even been in the 41st MC and that would have changed my uni life as well. So everything happens for a reason. I hope that whatever life has in store for me, I will learn to treasure every minute of it, instead of complain like while I was in the army.

On a completely unrelated note, I'm now hooked on Detective Conan! I just love detective, mystery, murder stuff! Not all the episodes are great but some of the episodes are really brilliant! And I think I have picked up some Japanese along the way too! :P

at eden hall

2008-06-28T13:56:00.004+08:00

It's not often that you get to attend a lecture by the President of the Royal Geographical Society, and so much so somebody who has been knighted by the Queen! I was slightly apprehensive when I received the email from Jade, but decided to attend the lecture anyway. Even though it is not exactly within my area of interest. And I had to navigate the roads of Orchard on my own, by car. I parked my car at Tanglin Mall as I thought that was near the British High Commission. I walked to the British Council and the security guard directed me to the back. I saw Jonathan at the bus stop, so I had assumed I was at the right place. But, after giving what it seemed at the time as correct directions, we realised we were at the wrong place! So ended up cabbing to Nassim Road and arrived fashionably late at a colonial bungalow known as Eden Hall. Luckily Sir Gordon hadn't begun his lecture proper yet, so we made it just in time.

Sir Gordon provided his perspectives on the current food crisis, and I was pleasantly surprised that the British High Commissioner is actually a geography graduate! With such illustrious alumnus, I kind of wonder why still so many people believe that the only path geography leads its students is the inevitable teaching career. How narrow minded! As all those who have already blogged about this have said, geography is indeed the umbrella discipline! Somehow, Rihanna's song keeps ringing in my ear. Haha. Anyway, we took photos, as usual, walked through one of the most exclusive neighbourhoods in Singapore, and finally had a long yet fun dinner at MacDonald's! And we looked like we were just released from a long day of work, since we were all clad in our office wear. Sigh. My fate in a year's time. But I'm glad I had the opportunity to attend the lecture and this certainly proved to us present of the value of geography, despite the usual torrent of dissenting voices.

happenings

2008-06-23T19:22:00.003+08:00

I have neglected this blog for some time, out of sheer busy-ness! These past 2 weeks have been packed with outings, lunches, activities, and finally I have gotten the time to type out my feelings about what has transpired. I really don't want this blog to die out, because reading my older posts really brings back memories, both fond and not so fond.

The past two weeks have been spent mainly with friends, old and new. From having lunch with Melissa at Serangoon Gardens (and getting a good laugh at a particular chicken rice stall), to an atas lunch at the M Hotel with my mentor, Mr Yeong. I also had dinner at 黑社会 with my old CMC platoon mates, Yude, Alvin and Shunjie. So much eating!! But perhaps the most memorable thing that happened was attending my third Geog Soc FIC. The past four days have been filled with laughter, games, jokes and smiles as we planned the games and events during the FIC. As usual, I was on the quiet side because it's a bit hard for me to warm up to strangers, especially since we have a record number of freshies this year! But, I got to talk about CORS and modules and stuff, and I hope the freshies benefited from the discussion.

It is strange that I would be so involved with Geog Soc activities, having thought that I would most probably be resting from CCA activities this year. But it all began from advising GC 2008, and now it seems that I have helped out in yet another year's worth of organising activities. The 42nd MC has been nothing but gracious and willing to let me help out in this year's activities. I gained so much friendship from the 42nd MC and I especially applaud Shanjun's efforts for making this year's FIC such an astounding success! I am also particularly heartened by all the wonderful comments I got from you guys at the end of the FIC! Finally, I sincerely thank the 42nd MC for making me feel at home for the past year and as all of you begin to step down, I hoped you have enjoyed the ride as much as I did.

gc 2008

2008-06-10T23:23:00.006+08:00

Wanted to write this post earlier. But I had a bad case of diarrhoea on Sunday. Kept going to the toilet and generally felt terrible the entire day. Couldn't even eat much. But I'm feeling better again, and so I should start typing my experiences with regards to the NUS Geography Challenge 2008.

Again, this is my third year involved in this. It all started with Prof Huang asking me and Kit to supervise our rather greenhorn GC committee. Since Kit was busy with Ethelonter, I decided to sit in on meetings to make sure that the committee were heading on the right track. I don't think I really had to advise that much since the committee was more than capable of handling the stresses and rigours of planning for GC. Saturday was the culmination of all their efforts and I must say the committee did a fantastic job of executing the event. But, the weather was rather erratic and unforgiving, and Geotrail went underway despite the heavy downpour. This inevitably tested the mettle of the committee. They needed to make tough decisions under much stress, and some teams were rather upset about the way things were handled. But, the show must go on. I managed to treat some injuries along the way, but I was heartened by the determination of the students who continued to persevere despite the circumstances. Kudos to them, and I hoped they gained much from this experience.

I was literally on tenterhooks while clicking the presentation slides during the Finals. I didn't have the opportunity to run through the slides and most of the time I was afraid of clicking the wrong slides. Some mistakes were made. Despite these mistakes, I'm sure all who were present had a good time. We had an interesting Top 3 this time round, and this also made the competition a little more exciting. But eventually RGS emerged champions. Congratulations to them for a job well done, and to all the other schools for their fighting spirit and tenacity.

I never expected to be involved in this year's GC. But I was glad that I was part of such a dynamic and fun-loving team, dedicated to making the event a great success. And it was. Credit must go especially to Jade, for her poise, steadfastness and leadership in this project. And to the rest of the committee for all the hard work that has been put in for the past 10 months or so. GC changed my life 8 years ago, and I hoped that for at least one student in this competition, it has changed his or her life as well.

optimism and pessimism

2008-06-06T18:12:00.004+08:00

It seems that posts on this blog seem to have become a weekly affair. And every hols, I would have one week which would tax me to my limits, physically and mentally. Well, this is that week. But, it's perhaps my most memorable 'siong' week ever. The first major thing was my inaugural ICT back at Khatib, complete with its ups and downs. All of us were, at some point of time, cursing and swearing at the usual inefficiencies that we had experienced during our NSF days. Time not used productively, regimentation, inflexibility and the usual host of complaints. This was further compounded by a sense of unfamiliarity. This was most probably attributed to the fact that I came from a much earlier batch, not counting the other older medics who were with us. Thus, the other medics had already shared a camaraderie that I wasn't part of. They also recognised the new senior medics at the medical centre, whom I haven't worked with before. So, at times, I missed the nonsense and memories I had with my own batch of medics.

But, one thing I'm happy about is that quite a lot of people still recognise me. Also I made new friends in the process. Had fun playing UNO in the bunk, laughing and joking. Also, I had several interesting conversations which really made me think. I miss having these sort of conversations. I've grown accustomed to listening to people talk about random albeit funny things, so having a truly intellectual and philosophical discussion was particularly refreshing for me. And it happened while sitting in an auditorium, waiting to be out-processed. A discussion about optimism and pessimism. 2 of us on one side of the fence and another on the other side. I have always considered myself a rather pessimistic person. My army entries during my NSF days are a testament to that. Angsty, spiteful, bitter entries. But, I think for the past few years, even though I don't admit it, I've grown more optimistic, looking at the silver lining. Life isn't meant to be smooth, and it is all these bumps along the road which make you a better, more mature person. So, despite the fact that I had to endure bodily aches and rigid commanders, I can safely say that I have gained more that I could bargain for during this ICT. And I hope the friendships made and rekindled during this ICT could maintain for the years ahead.

a summary of the week

2008-05-30T22:39:00.004+08:00

Holiday time is not conducive for blogging. I haven't written anything substantial for a rather long period of time. Because I fell sick recently and thus was giving myself the necessary bed rest so I could recuperate quickly. I think I caught the bug from those who were already sick during the Malaysia trip.

Anyway, I donned my army uniform once again after a three year hiatus as I headed back to Nee Soon Camp for my refresher training. Much has changed. Most of the people whom I will be working with in my reservist unit are not from my batch. I managed to see a lot of seniors and juniors, but none of my own batch people. I had quite a lot of interesting times with the Khatib people from my batch, so it's a bit sad that I wasn't able to catch up with them and reminisce about the times we had. But, it's nice to be updated with what's happening with the people whom you used to work with. Some are working, some are married with kids, and some are the same old people as they were when they were serving. Then I acquainted myself with those I did not manage to interact with, namely my understudies' understudies. They really remind me of what it was like when I first started out in Khatib. Perhaps JC ppl all act in a similar manner. The refresher training wasn't as tedious as I thought it would be, but waking up early didn't really help. Also when I had lunch outside at the Casurina Prata Place, I managed to see RSM again, and he remembered me after so long! It feels nice to be remembered.

Well, it's that time of year again, when the examination results get released. As usual the blogging scene is filled with people writing how well they did for the examinations as well as detailed breakdowns of grades and such. I think this is pretty interesting, as you can see how others have fared. I'm pretty happy with my grades. Although I didn't do as well as last semester, this is perhaps my best Sem 2 results ever. I always believed that I do much worse in Sem 2 and this was compounded by the vague impressions of how I did for the CAs. But those worries were unfounded and I can finally exercise my S/U option! So I'm satisfied, and now I can officially channel my energies to doing well in my honours year.

fass open house 2008

2008-05-19T22:00:00.005+08:00

My third year of FASS Open House. And they had to change it up and hold it at the forum. It was very, very hot and humid, and I was not very surprised that not that many people turned up on Saturday, due to the heat. But, it was a day well spent as I got to see the wacky side of our dear NUS Geog Department. We have such a great department from the professors to the admin staff. Spoke to my fair share of potential students. Although there weren't many, at least our discussions were in-depth, comprehensive and I hope informative. I managed to talk to some of the professors as well, including Prof Yeung, Prof Skelton and Dr Neo.

There were some funny things intermittently. Such as when Dr Neo asked my CAP score, and I subsequently told him. Then he said, "I knew you did well but I didn't expect it to be that high!" (or something to that effect) Then he apologised for any potential insinuations which might arise, but I didn't think of that. He then told me that I'm like one of the only few in my batch who was in that bracket. And I felt good. Hahaha. But then I told him I was worried about deproving, then he reassured me that I will do well. Such a funny and nice person Dr Neo is. Spoke at length to Prof Skelton about her first year in NUS, about a particular prof and her current research interests. I even asked about GE4101B, and she gladly talked to me about it. Hope she remembers me when I start my hons year. :P Prof Yeung as usual, can't remember which year I am in, but I understand, because he teaches so many students. At least he still remembers my name! He asked me how many people would potentially be in my hons batch, and I estimated at around 50, and he was surprised! He said he thought it would be 35 then he would be able to slack a bit!

So I helped out in my third and most possibly last FASS Open House. I got a nice T-shirt with "I Love Geography" in front. I really like the shirt and I hope I can get the black one too! Then I can wear it in hons class. Hehehe. But the shirt really encapsulates my feelings for the department. I love the department to bits and I look forward to an even more memorable and educational year ahead!

genting and malacca

2008-05-17T21:15:00.002+08:00

I haven't felt like updating ever since I came back from Malaysia. Four days of utter craziness, shopping, thrills and spills. It's my first trip to Genting Highlands, and the weather was great. I'm in awe of how Malaysia's physical landscape is so diverse and intriguing, such that even within the tropics, I was able to experience cool, refreshing European-like weather. Walking to the window near our lift lobby, I could see what seems like endless miles of highlands, lush and green. And even one of the days, it was so foggy that many of my fellow travellers thought that we were in heaven. But we were literally in the clouds, and even to the extent of taking the Space Shot at the outdoor theme park. Only 4 of us dared to challenge that particular ride, and we went further up into the air, anticipating the inevitable drop, which would occur within seconds, before descending at great speeds down, screaming and feeling the cool air brush by my face. My favourite ride in the theme park. The other rides were ok, although some were just unexciting. There was lots of laughter and jokes and cheer, but unsurprisingly, it seems that the clique mentality never leaves. At times I don't know what to say. Don't know whether I was enjoying myself as much as the rest. But well, I was there to rest, do a bit of shopping and have some fun. And I did.

Actually most of the spending (other than food) was in Malacca. The Jonkin Street area was a treasure trove of things to buy. From the nice t-shirts at the Orang Utan Shop, to the drinks and souvenirs we bought at the Geographers Cafe, which was the main objective of the trip. But as we walked down the confusing streets, the architecture seems so familiar. But yet it isn't. There is character to the area. Not totally sanitised and geared towards tourists. It was hot, but I was happy because I now had the opportunity to explore Malacca in greater depth from my previous trip eons ago, when my mother just bought some tau sar piah. Malacca is quaint, laid back, historic and modern. It is a blend of familiarity and unfamiliarity. I embarked on this trip to rest and relax, but I arrived back, with a slight cold and learning more about the places I've visited in Malaysia.

first week of hols

2008-05-11T21:46:00.006+08:00

The holidays started off quietly as most of my friends were still having their examinations. Went out with my mother earlier in the week for shopping. Many of the shopping centres have since renovated, thus revealing how many weekends I have been holed up at home trying to complete my assignments and studying for the examinations. Bought quite a lot of clothes in the process. The last few days have been pretty hectic. Firstly, I finally got to host the Taiwanese students from NTNU! Prof Chang kept mentioning that I was involved in hosting the Taiwanese students last year, but I wasn't around because of my internship. So I spent Thursday and Friday talking and bringing them around Kampong Glam and the Orchard Road area. It was fun, and I learnt a lot of Mandarin vocabulary from Shanjun! Also realised how rusty my Mandarin is, so I couldn't talk as much as I would like to. Haha. Well, I hope they had fun in Singapore.

Me with the NTNU students at the Malay Heritage Centre

Yesterday, we went on the Geotrail recce around the city area after a long day out walking around with the Taiwanese students. But the weather was nice and it was fun talking to Jade, Alex and Sarah. We were at Clarke Quay and Raffles Place in the morning. Little did I know that I would be at Clarke Quay again in the evening, because I was meeting the gang at Zouk. I haven't been there before, and I walked all the way from Clarke Quay down to Jiak Kim Street. It was an interesting walk as I have never seen Robertson Quay before, and the Singapore River is significantly quieter downstream. Just people jogging and walking their dogs. I was there too early and the rest only arrived at around 9pm. I almost thought that we were going to be near the dance floor, but soon realised we had reservations at the Wine Bar. Which is much more intimate and stylish. Had drinks and my first tequila shot. Which didn't taste very nice. I don't see why people like drinking so much. It was interesting to see people (most prob uni students) high on alcohol. Some were swearing, others were taking tons of photos, and a girl was crying too. It's nice seeing the whole gang together after so long, celebrating Sharon's birthday. I hope you had a great time! And well, tomorrow I will be in Malaysia, so looking forward to more busy days ahead!

goodbye year 3

2008-05-03T20:05:00.004+08:00

As of yesterday 11am, I bade farewell to my third year in NUS. I finished my terrestrial paper, but I'm slightly disappointed that I made several silly mistakes. But no use complaining about it, maybe it just serves to show how much I still don't understand some things. Must look at the bright side of things more often. Had lunch in the Arts Canteen, but felt really aimless because I see everybody still reading their notes and looking at lecture slides while I stare at the sky and look over which notes to throw away. We complain time and time again that we want the examinations to be over quick, but once it ends, there's no outburst of joy that it's finally over. It is because I always know that there will be still some more exam papers ahead before I can truly say goodbye to NUS. But strangely enough, I kinda like exams. It helps me gauge whether I understood what has been taught, to test whether I had learnt anything out of this semester. Well, I'm on the fence on how well I will do this semester, but I will just accept whatever grades the profs give me. I believe I didn't really do that badly, but well I shall have to wait and see.

Perhaps why I like exams is because it seems there is like nothing to do in the holidays! Ever since I got rejected from summer school, the holidays seem slightly less packed than usual. Partly because I've stepped down from Geog Soc MC. But I should be helping out in several things, including the visit from the Taiwanese students, FASS Open House and GC. Not sure whether I want to help out in FIC yet. Will decide later. But I'm sorta confirmed helping out with November's research in Cameron Highlands in July. That should be exciting. And I asked my old colleagues in CSC whether I can help out in the inaugural World Cities Summit held in Singapore in late June. My old supervisor has already sent my name to the person in charge, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed! So the holidays aren't that aimless after all! But at the moment, I'm just playing with my DS. Haha. So good luck to everybody still having exams, and to all my friends graduating this year, good luck and hope you succeed in everything you do!

rejection

2008-04-30T23:34:00.006+08:00

Looks like I will be stuck in Singapore during the long hols after all. My summer school application was formally rejected today, after receiving an email from the IRO. It was not entirely unexpected, given the rather cold comments they gave me when I was being interviewed. But that doesn't mean that I'm not disappointed. I thought this would be my opportunity to enjoy myself in Europe, but it was not meant to be. It's the curse of being the first person interviewed, kinda like the first person who sings during American Idol. So I will definitely have to think of alternative plans for my holidays. Which will start soon. My dad says I can follow him on his business trips in July, and I will definitely take up that offer. Also, I will most probably be heading to Cameron Highlands to help November with her research. That's not counting the 4 day Malaysia trip this month. So looks like I will be spending lots of time in our dear neighbouring country this holidays. Not what I initally had in mind but still I just need to get away from Singapore, breathe some fresh air before I embark on my final chapter in NUS. It doesn't really help that the weather is very balmy these few days and I am sweating this very minute. So many things not going according to plan this year. Sigh.

thinking yet again

2008-04-28T18:17:00.004+08:00

It's time for the once-a-semester musings of how all the things I've been studying actually makes sense some how. It was a more uphill task this time round because all the modules are not related to each other at all! And most of them disappointed me in one way or another. I held so much expectation for some modules, but in the end, these expectations proved too high and I ended up whining and complaining about my lack of intellectual stimulation. But upon going through the examination period and poring and writing tons of notes (killing many trees in the process), I have curiously found some new linkages between some of the things I've studied. But the operative clause is some. Not all. I still like studying but well, I wasn't as enlightened as I thought I would be.

Then I thought about some other random things. Like when I took Literature at 'A' Levels. I never really liked the subject. I didn't study much for it, but was pleasantly surprised at the grade I got. And I didn't pursue it anymore when I entered university. But, upon closer scrutiny, I thought I actually learnt a lot from literature. My lit tutors were a rather disparate bunch of people. They were rather cruel in their marking and everytime I got back an essay, the usual grade would be a C. But I would chug along and prove to them that I had what it takes, despite the fact that many of my classmates were literary geniuses and enthusiasts, raving about the words and the meanings and the books. I liked reading but not to the point of studying every word. But I've realised the skills I've learnt from studying literature have in fact left a indelible mark on my present writing style. My lit tutors totally ingrained in us this style of writing essays, and I've produced them time and time again, and I get the same result. But now, this style has sort of stuck with me all the way to university and it hasn't failed me since. So all those extra essays I wrote for my tutors were actually worth it!

Anyway, to end off on a random note, I feel like taking up Chinese calligraphy in the holidays. I went through this course during my secondary school days, but never actually took the time to develop it. So maybe that will be one of the things I will do during my long break.

bad planning

2008-04-22T22:30:00.005+08:00

I realised that I made several wrong assumptions this semester, and it has taken its toll on me. I thought by packing my exam timetable together, I would be able to study more efficiently. But the problem is that assignments were due practically every week until the last week of school, and by the time I had finally finished everything, I realised that my studying time has been depleted. And I have to study all 4 papers at the same time! And I haven't started on 2. So basically I'm screwed. Today, while studying at the library, I had to start having a running nose. Another one of those episodes where I have to go to the Co-op to purchase an entire set of tissue paper. I think there were 15-20 packs and I finished half of it. I felt so tired and sian in the middle of the afternoon, so I went back to my room for some shut eye. That proved to be a good decision as I felt better after my short nap. Studying seems to be at a deadlock. I'm writing all my notes, but I don't get them. It's just random information bunched up together and I don't know how to make head or tail out of it. The other 2 papers are facts intensive and I dunno whether I can survive till next week. I just pray that I survive this exam period relatively unscathed and hope for the best. :(

Anyway, happy Earth Day everybody!

exam wishes

2008-04-18T22:36:00.010+08:00

Just want to wish all my NUS and NTU friends...

Good luck for the upcoming examinations! :)

And there goes my third year of lectures and tutorials in NUS. Hiax.

long awaited email

2008-04-16T12:40:00.002+08:00

For the past week, I had been checking my NUS email ever so often, just to see whether the IRO had decided to shortlist me for the U21 Summer School. And for the whole of last week, I didn't receive any emails. So during the weekend, I was already preparing myself mentally that I might not be able to go to Birmingham this July. Monday came and no emails were sent to my inbox. That sort of solidified my chances, and I thought I had to find alternative plans for the summer. Tuesday came. After the final tourism lesson, I went back to the canteen to slack and listen to some music. I went to check my email casually and at 5.30pm, I saw the email I had been waiting for. I was really, really happy, and I immediately replied my availability for the interview. So now my hopes have been renewed and I shall try to impress the IRO people on Monday, so I can fly to the UK in July! Please let me go!!!

And next year's geog modules are out. Not very wowed by the choices, but the department really updates very quickly! But, now I'm in a dilemma of what honours modules to do...Urban, transport, cultural? But at least I have a few months to decide...

idol gives back

2008-04-11T21:44:00.004+08:00

I usually don't like the group numbers in American Idol, but this year's group numbers for Idol Gives Back are simply brilliant. I wanted to download the songs from itunes, but I can't because it is not available in Singapore. Sian. So the videos will suffice for the moment.

This is the opening number for Idol Gives Back. It's energetic, fun and includes the dancers from So You Think You Can Dance! Shameless yet ingenious pairing of the two reality shows.

And this closes the show. Taking such a familiar Christian song and turning it to a soaring, uplifting American Idol group number. Another stroke of genius. The producers really know how to choose the right songs to stir the audience.

almost done

2008-04-08T21:27:00.008+08:00

Finally completed the tourism presentation today, and I must say we did a really good job! I'm so relieved that it is finally over, and I think my worries yesterday were unfounded. Thanks to my dear presentation mates, namely Winnie, Vivian, Sunitha and Vinitha (the twins get easily amused by my inability to count! haha), for a fantastic job and all the hard work we put in! We make a great team! Yay! So with the end of the presentation, I'm mostly done with my assignments for the semester, except for the learning portfolio for environmental sustainability. I think I shall complete some more entries tomorrow, which is a free day that I can finally capitalise on!

Although my assignments were not bunched up together like quite a number of my friends, the stress was sort of sustained throughout the month of March and a little of April, as there were deadlines practically every week! I think there was one day I had written stuff for 3 different assignments consecutively. And I didn't really have the opportunity to complete readings or relax. Last week wasn't that great because everybody seemed moody and I was sort of influenced and became moody as well. Luckily me and Val managed to bump into Kit last Thursday and we went to Vivo! It was a well needed respite from the harsh reality of NUS and we had fun joking around and eating Long John Silver's. Also, my television programmes are back! So TV brought me some relaxation as well. Finally, I managed to meet up with Hongyi on Monday after so long, and his girlfriend too. Too bad Connor was busy. And I finally ate the brownie at Megabites! Also, I got another postcard in the mail! Thank you Weixiong for the nice Italian fresco which now sits together with the French Alps in my study room. And for all the nice stuff you wrote on it. So those with deadlines, continue to strive on and before we all know it, it will be the dreaded exam preparation time of the year again.

drained

2008-03-31T22:04:00.003+08:00

I think my moods are as erratic as Singapore's weather. Been so tired of the workload this semester. Week after week after week of essays, parts to write for project, readings which haven't been completed, blog posts, forum posts, reading boring journals, researching, colouring, measuring and typing. It will be almost three years in university and I have a year more of writing, thinking, wracking my brains and staring at the computer. But is it all worth it? I enjoy the intellectual challenge, I enjoy learning new things and concepts and paradigms. However, this semester, I haven't found a reading where I can seriously smile about, feel enriched by its words and appreciate the intellectual labour that has been undertaken to produce such an awe-inspiring article. None of that this sem. It's just journal articles with numbers, uninspiring analyses and even grammatical errors. But, the workload remains unforgiving. I haven't really had much proper rest for the past few weeks, except for Saturday. Friends. Sigh, that's another thing altogether. I think I expect too much from friendship, and I get disappointed easily. I hate feeling neglected, not talked to, and just left alone as if I never existed, or only to exist when something academic arises. I hate this. I'm not just a tool. I'm a person. I'm not the lame joke cracking, happy-go-lucky, charming person, who has something to say about everything. Maybe that makes me a boring person, unattractive and empty. I seriously need to broaden my social circle. Sigh. Such a long rant.

blog upgrade

2008-03-30T11:41:00.004+08:00

I really haven't been blogging for a very long time. Too much work. Too much procrastination. Too much stress. That pretty much sums up the reasons for my lack of posts on the blog. But, after the Pitstop Cafe outing yesterday, plus feedback that my blog is very hard to navigate, I decided to take a break from my boring assignments and do a serious revamp of this blog. It's not just a change of blogskin kind of revamp, but a really radically different blog now. Because I finally know how to use those .xml templates that I have been seeing online, after looking through several websites and voila! Totally new and much nicer looking blog. And much easier to navigate too. I initially thought that the typing to get into sections of my blog idea was interesting, but well a lot of my friends didn't think it was so. That's why this marks a totally new woosh0420.blogspot.com.

Pitstop was a much needed break also, and my trivia knowledge has sort of resurfaced again. All the random useless information in my brain got unearthed for the Smartass game. Haha. But, I always feel that when I go to boardgame cafes, I want to try out almost every game! But everytime I get to go, I always end up not satisified at the end of the day. That time went by too quickly and we only played several games. Brainless games were fun, violent and required a lot of shouting, but I would have loved to play a detective game! :P Had supper of sorts at Xing Wang at Marina Square, where everybody found time to just chat, eat and enjoy each other's company. It has been ages since we could all fork out a little bit of time to just relax, and not really think about assignments. Hiax. I should be going back to doing my essay now. Anyway, I hope you guys like the new blog!

nus open house

2008-03-18T10:31:00.003+08:00

Just for info, this is my 600th post! Haha. Finally reached the number. Anyway, I spent my Sunday back in NUS, in my room, being bitten by some random insect, but most importantly, selling geography at the NUS Open House. I heard from Kit and Winnie that the crowds were huge on Saturday, and they didn't really have time to rest. But Sunday was much quieter. There were times I just spent giving out brochures and not really talking too much. But I still stood for quite some time. There were several queries regarding geography and I was more than happy to tell them about the discipline. Although the responses got a little rehearsed after awhile. Because there are only a few questions you can really ask, like job opportunities, whether there is a need to take a certain number of physical or human geog mods, getting into the faculty, that sort of stuff. Dr. Lim and Lai Wa were super nice to me, as they kept asking me to eat and rest and got me a whole bag of freebies! Those who want Kimage vouchers can just ask me...Hehe. It was great being able to promote geography to a wider audience, and I hope I was able to answer the queries of most of the people. But some questions were actually rather complex and I don't know whether I actually confused them further! It was a good experience nonetheless.

american idle

2008-03-13T21:38:00.003+08:00

I haven't done an American Idol post for ages now. But, now I just feel like commenting about the season thus far. I have been a loyal viewer of the show ever since Season 2 when I just entered NS, and I find this year's top 12 rather lacklustre and on the verge of boring. There are several good singers, but the rest are either one trick ponies or just normal. I'm rooting for young David Archuleta to win, but he fumbled really badly during the Top 12 performance show. He forgot his lyrics, lost his usual confidence and the song sounded rather bad. Such a pity, but thankfully he has survived and I hope this will be a lesson for him to pull up his socks and deliver even more memorable performances like "Imagine". I still have goosebumps when I listen to it. His voice is so much like Clay Aiken's in a way, and I like artistes with good voices. I don't see the hype over Carly Smithson or Michael Johns. Brooke White is slowly growing on me, and I think she is my favourite amongst the girls this season. The rest, I can't really be bothered right now. They keep saying that this is the most talented Top 24, Top 12 ever, but I seriously beg to differ. I still think Season 2 is the best American Idol season ever! :)

On my playlist now: How to Save a Life - The Fray. I'm beginning to like emo soft rock now. Haha.

realisation

2008-03-11T18:03:00.002+08:00

I'm slightly happier now because I received a postcard of snow-capped mountains in Chamrousse all the way from France. But it took 5 days to get here! And I thought globalisation was speeding everything up. Anyway, thanks again to Jianhui for the unexpected present. :D Anyway, I have not been blogging as much as I would like to as I have suddenly realised the magnitude of my assignments this semester. Every deadline is packed so closely and we have been pushing each other to complete our parts, it's simply crazy. Amidst this realisation, I helped out with the GC prelims last Saturday. Val, Huishi and Winnie kept cam whoring with my camera, I took a photo with the profs, met and caught up with my old geog teachers (Ms Foo and Mrs Chee) from Maris Stella, and joking with everybody else. Tiring! But I feel kind of weird that I feel so far removed from my old buddies who I usually hang out with. Whenever we meet, we talk for a short while before either they or I go off somewhere else. I feel the distance already, just after half a semester of not having lessons together. Which is slightly worrying for me. But I also feel the same distance with new friends I have made. Maybe I'm not that great a friend or that fun to be around. So that worries me also. SIGH.

day at the museum

2008-03-02T13:42:00.007+08:00

Made a trip down to the National Museum to conduct my fieldwork. It was a fruitful day, especially since I managed to capitalise on International Tour Guides Day. I didn't know such a day had existed until I glanced at the STB website and read the press release about their free guided tours at the National Museum. So I made my way, clad in an NUS polo tee so that I appear legitimate as an undergrad needing to do research.

I went for the architectural tour of the museum at the beginning. There were initially quite a lot of people in the group but the numbers eventually dwindled when the tourists were afraid to get caught in the rain for a short period of the tour. And perhaps they couldn't listen properly to what the tour guide was saying. So it eventually ended up being three locals and a couple from Edinburgh. A bit wasted that I couldn't get to talk to the Scottish couple as they had left quickly to tour the rest of the museum. But I ended up having lunch with the tour guide and another lady who was in the same group at the food court near the SAM. They were nice and I learnt quite a few things about the tour guiding scene, even though she was only a freelance tour guide cum property agent cum computer programmer. Lol. She introduced me to another tour guide who had a least 30 years of guiding experience. He's really knowledgeable but a bit reticent, maybe because my questions were a little weird and not really focused.

Headed back to the museum and talked to the concierge outside the Muse Restaurant and Bar and got really interesting answers again. I'm beginning to like fieldwork a lot, although I'm still a bit shy when it comes to approaching people. After a day of asking questions, I finally decided to get a discounted ticket to the exhibits. Finally completed the Singapore History Gallery and went to the Greek Masterpieces exhibition yet again! But this time I managed to catch the guided tour which was very good! The guide spoke very articulately and I finally understood some things which left me a little boggled after viewing the pieces the first time. For example, the weird stumps the statues seem to be leaning on are actually placed there by the sculptors to support the weight of the statue. So there was a practical meaning behind those things.

I spent 5hrs at the museum! Found some interesting things to talk about in my report, which I have to start soon. And guided tours are definitely a must if you want to contextualise and get a more enriching museum experience. No wonder I felt so lost while at the Louvre.

mid sem break

2008-02-28T12:45:00.002+08:00

3/5 way into the mid semester break and I don't know whether I have done enough work. Three days in school, with project meeting, lunch with my mentor and helping out with career's talk even though I'm technically not in the MC anymore. Then people saying that in 2 years down the road, I might be there giving a talk to restless JC students. I shudder at that thought. I think work life really takes a toll on you. One of the speakers was my JC schoolmate and she looks so much older! Either that or I'm just still childish. But having heard three years of careers talk and talking to JC students about geography, I think what the speakers said yesterday particularly resonated in me. They said that they didn't take geography because they knew what they wanted to do when they entered the workforce. It was just interest and passion that motivated them to pursue geography in university. I really agree with what they have said. I have this nagging feeling that what I will do in the future will not be entirely relevant to what I am studying but it is more of the skills and the fun that I will hopefully take away after four years that eventually relates back to what I am doing in the future. But the sad reality of life is that people want to see tangible outcomes from what they are studying and geography doesn't really offer that, unless you are really keen on being a teacher like some of my friends.

Also, I hope the escaped JI operative gets captured soon. I don't want something big to happen because of one mistake like this.

nus crane crash

2008-02-23T14:12:00.004+08:00

It was a rather ordinary day on Friday afternoon. I was talking to some friends when I heard a loud crash and saw a cloud of dust a distance away from the canteen. An entire group of people were beginning to look across to the Business Faculty and we saw people running away from the bus stop. I couldn't see what had happened but I was subsequently told that a crane toppled over and it subsequently uprooted a tree, which marginally missed the nearby bus stop. But when I heard the news on the way back home, 3 people had died from the accident. Although I did not physically witness the accident, it hit so terribly near, especially after we won the rights to host the 2010 Youth Olympics. I pray that this accident be a lesson for not slacking off in terms of workplace safety, especially for the new University Town which will definitely hasten its construction after winning the bid. My condolences to the bereaved families for their loss.

singapore 2010

2008-02-21T21:39:00.004+08:00

Singapore's hosting the inaugural Youth Olympics in 2010! Woohoo! I'm so psyched that an Olympic event will be finally held here. After being snubbed for this year's Beijing Olympics torch relay also. So yay! Hope I can help out some how in 2010, even though I should be working by then. But if I work in the civil service, somehow I will be not surprised if civil servants have to help chip in some way or another. Haha. It's all the more significant since it is the last day of the Lunar New Year.

On a totally different matter, thank you Bijoux for the wonderful dinner. Had so much fun on Tuesday evening, with the great food Bijoux's mum prepared for us. And her flat has such a beautiful view of the city. And as usual, we kept laughing and laughing, and I haven't watched so much Channel 8 shows in a very long time. Lol.

week 5-6

2008-02-18T21:46:00.003+08:00

Time has been passing by really quickly! Before you know it, it's already one week before the mid semester break. And one mid sem break ago, I was in Cambodia. Sigh. These two weeks have been pretty eventful, even though you can see that I haven't been updating substantially. Tons of photographs have been taken. At GC meeting with our red shirts, and talking nonsense into the night and having my own Angels to pose with me. Hahaha! Saturday was dinner at Winnie's place and it was a blast. Checking random horoscopes in Mandarin, trying to brush up on my rusty Chinese, hearing Huishi (or rather Bijoux) laugh every other minute, and taking more pictures. And being matchmaked in the process. Yar, it was a strange week. My dad's birthday was yesterday and we had lunch at Jumbo. Supposed to be forced to play Gin Rummy again, but my aunt was pretty sick and in the end, only a few of my relatives came over for mahjong, while I escaped from the gambling table. And spent the time downloading random free games from the Yahoo website instead of doing my readings.

Today was the first time I ate at the Engin Canteen Indonesian food and the Megabites Cafe! The Indonesian food was not bad but the Megabites fish and chips were pretty excellent and well worth the money. Too bad no brownies for dessert. Had fun talking to Vivian over dinner as well. This is what campus life is supposed to be like. Fun! Now, I'm just wondering whether to apply for the Total Summer School programme in Paris!

just for laughs

2008-02-16T15:36:00.010+08:00

Something Dr Carl showed us in lecture some time ago which never fails to crack me up.

year of the rat!

2008-02-08T22:25:00.000+08:00

Just got back from my aunt's place, but first of all, happy Chinese New Year! It's finally my year! Squeak Squeak! And all the rat ornaments have come out in full force, and even the entire Disney clan too. But, after listening to the feng shui person on Channel 8, during those yearly Chinese New Year eve specials, it said that this will be a not so good year for rats. But to treat every obstacle as an experience. Uh huh... But it is kind of true as my gambling luck is very very bad this year. But Chinese New Year seems to be just visiting, gambling and eating. Rather monotonous, and seeing the same old faces for two days and playing with my nephews and nieces. Or rather humouring them. Imagine spending like 5hrs playing Gin Rummy! It's rather tiring also. Anyway, I sort of realised that a lot of friends are not in Singapore to celebrate Chinese New Year this year. Which maybe a good, or bad thing. At least you don't have to tell people that you already completed your NS stint three years ago, or that I won't be graduating yet to almost every other distant relative. And also, so much electricity, resources and time is wasted when work can actually be done...Plus it is not fun when you are either one of the youngest in the family or one of the oldest. At least it is a time to recharge and catch up with family.

just thinking

2008-02-01T21:51:00.000+08:00

First of all, thanks to everybody who sent their "get well soon" wishes through the plethora of mediums that we have in our hyper globalised world. Anyway, I'm feeling much better now, just for the usual phlegmatic moments now and then. I should safely recover over the weekend. Which will be spent trying to complete my learning portfolio. And not going to Malacca which was initially planned, but sadly it will not materialise, but I think my parents wouldn't let me go anyway in my current state.

Anyway, the only tutorial of the week actually asked us undergraduates to think about what we wanted to do when we grew up. Somehow a lot of us felt that the phrasing was a little weird, because we are sort of grown up now, but maybe not really. Until we graduate and get a job that is. But it was interesting that this was raised during a tutorial at university, as previously I don't think this sort of issue would be discussed in such a setting, unless you were talking to a career guidance counsellor or you were directing the question to some innocent looking primary school kids who have yet to experience the world.

In addition, this sort of triggered what my secondary school classmates asked me when we met up early in January. They asked me whether I was going to be a teacher, and I sort of stared down at them. The same old stereotype while they talk about stocks and making money. Also, my old section mate from BMT asked me what I was studying, and after telling him my response, proceeded to ask me whether I was going to graduate soon. I made a rather sarcastic remark, before proceeding on to say that I was going to do my honours. But it is quite true that a lot of arts people graduate after their third year, as I admitted to my old section mate. Again, this reminded me of a blog I recently visited. The writer wrote that geography was a subject that required very little brains in order to score well for it. I was like @#$%! I just hate stereotypes...

ah choo!

2008-01-29T21:49:00.000+08:00

It started with a sneeze. On Sunday night. I didn't know many pieces of tissue I had used that night, but I think I used up at least half a box. I tried to sleep, thinking it was one of my usual sneezing spells. Then I sneezed the entire day on Monday. For the entire five or so hours on campus attending lectures. I used up around 6 packets of tissue. At first I wanted to take the bus home, but I felt so sian and tired that I decided to take a cab back home, so I alighted at NJ, hailed for the cab instead of waiting for 74. Sneezed some more at home and tried to sleep at 11pm, but my throat started to become sore. And it has been sore ever since. Went to the doctor and she didn't give me antibiotics, so I'm just stuck with cold medicine and lozenges. Which I think will not work. And I had to miss my 3hr lecture today, which I didn't want to. But I didn't want to pass this to the rest of the class and I felt rather miserable anyway. So stayed at home, finally typed up a response for the environmental sustainability tutorial, and watched a lot of useless television. Now I am giddy from watching all that television, and I don't feel much better. Sigh. My parents always say I get sick around Chinese New Year time. I wonder when I will get well.

another week

2008-01-25T11:57:00.000+08:00

Honestly speaking, this week has been pretty unremarkable. However, I changed my blog skin yet again! It has a pretty cool curtain thingy which helps me remove some of the clutter of my previous blog skin in terms of my tagboard and archives. Must have taken the designer a lot of time to conceptualise the html code and there was a lot of code for the curtain thing. And I am happy that some of my readers liked it too!

Besides that, school has been pretty run of the mill. It's been almost 2 weeks and nothing much has happened. The work is again starting to pile up. I've got a learning portfolio to do and readings to highlight. All in a day's work for an undergraduate I guess. But, at least I got to attend the Public Service Networking Affair on Wednesday. I didn't get to network as much as the last two career fairs I have been to, but the talks were pretty informative and I got to see my old colleagues from Civil Service College. It was nice catching up with them, and they even told me about their job vacancies! I got free STB stuff again, but not as much as I had expected. Heh. Also, now I am sorta on a quest. I am searching for potential interesting summer school opportunities as I really want to go overseas this year, just to broaden my horizons and possibly boast about holiday photos. Anyway, hope I find a suitably interesting opportunity in the near future.

yet another semester

2008-01-16T21:53:00.000+08:00

So yet another semester in NUS begins again. I really don't feel like I'm ready for a totally new semester's worth of readings, assignments and studying. But I was also rather sick of the holidays, due to boredom and the lack of things to do. Besides going back to school and clearing out the old geog soc room, and moving to a rather secluded, musty room, which is bigger in size than the older one.

As usual, my fingers were itchy and I bidded for extra modules just to expand my choice of mods for the semester. It was a time to see familiar faces, see people who have managed to escape one semester away in a foreign land and to sigh as I kick myself in the foot for not going for exchange. The arts canteen is full of students again, the Mediacorp actors have disappeared and the library is alive with the anxious flurry of photocopying and printing. This is my 6th semester in NUS. A semester which will eventually be occupied by tons of readings, work and also hopefully laughter and nonsense. My honours module is kinda ok at the moment, but I am still rather intimidated by the workload, and the super vague individual assignment. Sent Weixiong and Jared off at the airport, as they were going for their exchange in the UK at Terminal 3. The airport looks a little nicer at night but not much. There was a huge turnout of people to send 2 people off which is pretty amazing. I wonder how many people will send me off if I were to go overseas. Haha. Anyway, hope both of them enjoy themselves in the continent of culture and history, and may this semester be another intellectually fulfilling and fascinating one.

modules

2008-01-12T22:12:00.000+08:00

After what seemed like eternity, bidding had finally come to a close on Friday night when I got my final module. These are the ones I have successfully bidded for this semester.

GE2220 Terrestrial and Coastal Environments
GE3239 Environmental Sustainability
GE4218 Interpreting Tourism Spaces and Cultures
GEK1022 Geopolitics: Geographies of War & Peace
RE1803 Urban Land Use and Development

So it will be a most challenging semester ahead, when the term starts on Monday. And all my module titles seem very long. Haha. Well, this will be the first time I am attempting an honours module, and I hope I won't burn myself too badly as I will be classmates with the current honours batch. But hopefully, it will be an intensive yet fulfilling semester ahead, with more new friends and a lead up to my honours year when it begins in August.

Went out with my secondary school classmates on Thursday, although many of them were not able to make it. Many were overseas, working or perhaps were too busy to meet up since NTU and SMU had started their terms already. And we had Japanese food at The Cathay. I'm always never a big fan of sushi, and the green tea tasted rather weird, but the rest seemed to be enjoying themselves with the food. But, it was a bit strange seeing everybody after so long. And talking about weird things like when are you getting married...Lol. Err...Are we that old that we have to talk about this sort of things? But it was good catching up after so long. Talked to Eddie and Jarel on MSN too, and the usual banter and insulting ensued. Haha. Some things never change, even after so long.

tout les secrets

2008-01-11T14:57:00.000+08:00

Even though I don't understand French (but I know Canadian French is slightly different), I like this song very much. Enjoy! Also, you can look for the English version of the song as well "Let Your Heart Decide", which is equally good.

i need a holiday

2008-01-09T16:10:00.000+08:00

It is strange that I would be writing that I need a holiday when the holidays will be ending soon in a few days time. I just got an sms to go back for my first ICT and therefore, my hopes for going for field studies are most probably going to be shelved. Maybe I could get deferment so that I need not go for ICT, but at the mean time, I still think that I should plan ahead in case that doesn't happen. So most probably, since I don't really have to do much CCA stuff in the next long holidays, I thought a trip overseas would do me good for rest, relaxation and personal growth. And most probably I would want to head back to Europe for an extended trip. Most probably Southern Europe, and plus I hope that the many people who are going for exchange in Europe may be kind enough to be travelling buddies. My dream would be to go to Madrid, Barcelona, Rome, Florence, Venice and Athens. But, if not Europe than most probably Australia. And go visit old friends like Simon and Jarel in Canberra and Melbourne. So I will most definitely want a trip this year. But it depends on circumstances beyond my control.

ode to 2007

2008-01-02T20:02:00.000+08:00

Initially, I didn't really want to blog about the new year. Because I felt all my new year posts will eventually sound the same as the years before that, and thus, it won't be interesting to those who have been loyal readers to my blog all these years of writing my thoughts on this space which I claim as my own. Friends have spent their new year posts thanking their friends and family, recounting the memories and cherishing everything that was good in 2007. But, I don't think this will be a long post because I don't really want to dwell too much on the past. Since it is already 2008, I shall be brief about the special things that I hold dear in 2007.

I cannot claim that I am not happy about what has happened through the course of 2007, but I also cannot say that this has been the best year of my life also. I had been through some tough times in the year, which may seem minuscule to some, but I have been personally affected by these albeit small incidents. Some points of the year have been trying and I seriously regretted some of the decisions I have made. But I think it is no use to mull over the past. I am really thankful for all the good things that have happened in 2007. It has been a year of many new friends. University life has never been more fulfilling. New friends to talk about stuff, complain, laugh, have dinners at the canteen, study, do projects etc. Old friends who continue to remain important in my life. New experiences that have opened my eyes to the highly complex world that we live in. Learning more about myself, my quirks and my abilities. 2007 has been a year of self discovery, and I hope 2008 will be filled with even more great memories ahead.

happy

2007-12-29T22:39:00.000+08:00

Realised that I have become a rather lazy blogger nowadays. Even though I have tons of time to do stuff, I end up not doing anything except staring at the computer screen and doing nothing productive. Anyway, many undergraduates from both NUS and NTU would have received the examination results by now. And once again I'm happy with my results. I was quite worried that I might not do as well, but in the end, I was relieved when I saw my results on the computer screen on Boxing Day, and it was indeed the best Christmas present of the year. On par with my Beanie Baby rat. Haha. Soon enough I heard good news from many of my friends, who really needed to do well to achieve the goals they set for themselves. My heartiest congratulations to all of them. Their hard work has finally paid off. But, amidst the cheer and the celebrations, I do have friends who are still disappointed with themselves. As I tell myself, failure is part and parcel of life. I don't believe there's anybody in the world who hasn't failed before in his or her life. Even the hundreds of scholars will eventually have a moment in their lives where they might have failed to meet their expectations. Treat every failure as a lesson and the future will bring more satisfaction. Also, I just like to thank my friends for studying together with me and cheering each other up during crunch time. You guys rock!

Now the main problem is choosing what modules to do. It has been very nerve wrecking so far and I still haven't really made up my mind on the unrestricted elective and breadth I will be doing next sem. Hiax. Any advice right now will be deeply appreciated!

silent night

2007-12-25T23:03:00.000+08:00

It is the last hour before Christmas comes and goes. I officially wish everybody who reads the blog season's greetings, although the season is about to be over soon. This year was very subdued in terms of celebrations, preparations and any other related Christmas stuff. Usually, I will be super hyper about Christmas, sending out cards, buying presents, having a Christmas eve party and attending one on Christmas Day. But all that Christmas excitement has brushed by me this year. Is it because I'm getting older, that I don't really get presents anymore? Or is it that most of my friends are either overseas or too busy to want to celebrate Christmas with you? My mother gave me a very cute Beanie Baby rat for Christmas, and I think it was the best present I got this year. I wanted to go to the Cathedral of the Good Shepherd for midnight mass but nobody wanted to go with me, and I ended up going today, which as usual was underwhelming and nondescript. Also went to my grandmother's place for Christmas Eve and today for the Christmas family gathering. So nothing much happened this Christmas. It shall come and it shall go. But this year it came quietly, and it shall leave silently. If there's one Christmas wish that I hope to see fulfilled is that tomorrow I will be happy with my exam results...

the songwriters concert

2007-12-19T23:09:00.000+08:00

To be honest, I was slightly hesitant when I decided to attend Firdaus's concert at the YMS Arts Centre last Saturday, because I was not really a fan of original music. This was further compounded that I had decided to attend the concert alone, without the usual company of friends, most of whom are not especially keen on this sort of music. The setting was intimate and the audience mainly consisted of friends and family of the performers. But, I was glad that I had the opportunity to attend the concert, as it literally opened my ears to the many talented songwriters within our midst, even in the little red dot that is Singapore. Firdaus opened and closed the concert, and his songs, with its simple lyrics and universal themes, touched those who had the chance to attend the concert. Songs about love, loss, yearning, hope. These are the songs that need to be played in our radio stations. There were songs that were slightly whimsical, some more melancholic. But there were definitely some that are intensely marketable. Lyrics that are intelligent, thought-provoking and stirring. Indeed, music is the universal language of the heart, a medium for people to express thoughts and emotions not in plain speech, but through melodies, chords, strums of the guitar and tinkling of the ivories. It was an eye-opening evening, and I really thank Firdaus for inviting me to attend his concert.

the cnn future summit

2007-12-14T18:10:00.000+08:00

Geography majors at the CNN Future Summit

With CNN's Richard Quest!

Finally felt slightly more inspired to blog about the CNN Future Summit. And luckily I managed to attend the summit after my previous slip up with the Tony Blair talk that was held in NUS. And it was quite strange that the geography department didn't send me the email about the summit, because technically I was still a shared major with political science, so the department thought that I wouldn't be interested in the talk. But it's not true! Luckily I still managed to go through the faculty and it was extremely entertaining, although not particularly enlightening.

Had dinner at the Marina Square foodcourt, which had a nice view overlooking Marina Bay. But I didn't know it had existed until I had to meet the rest of the geog majors going for the forum. Because the last time I was at Marina Square was in August before the semester began. But the food's damn expensive.

The little troop of eager geographers then made way to the Esplanade to be part of the live recording of the CNN Future Summit. The speakers were highly opinionated which made the debate all the more exciting. But, being undergraduates, we were quietly agreeing with some stuff, speculating about what should be on the agenda, and critiquing what the speakers said during the forum. But in the end, we ended up taking smiling photos with the speakers, including the President of Iceland and of course Richard Quest. I even spoke to Mr Lim, my ex JC geog teacher who was also there at the forum. After helping Mr Lim's colleague to take her photo with Mr Quest, we headed to McDonald's for a little supper, while we laughed about random stuff like Zhengyang's hair. But, it was so fun hanging out with the geog majors. And if honours year is going to mirror what we did that day, all the more excited I am about honours year! And yes, I'm finally a full fledged geog major, after Val Phang told me to do so. Haha. To more outings with my fellow geog majors!