Updates & Rants
Happenings on Public Buses
Jul 5th
I was told I have quite an experience to top off my bus taking routine daily. I don’t know if I’m a jinx or jinxed but I will compile the more memorable happenings on the bus.
Bus 154
This actually inspired me to write this post. On the way back from Church I was sitting at the backseat waiting to get home when the bus stopped and a smart looking mid to late twenties guy got down the bus. He then proceeded to run towards my direction, jumped up to reach my window and smashed his arm twice into it. It was like an attempt to punch me through the window. He then walked away quietly from the bus. I don’t know if that was some stunt, or he was trying to let off some steam, or he was on some dare but the bus driver did get really pissed and got down to confront him only to find that he had walked too far off. I don’t think I offended anyone but one can only imagine if he had punched me directly, I could have sued him for a sweet amount.
Bus 199
I got onto the bus feeling grouchy that the aircon was down and it was stuffy. The smell wasn’t good either, it smelt like overdone BBQ. So I sat on the top deck ready to take a nap when the bus driver got up and tapped my shoulder to ask me to get down. He spoke in Mandarin which more or less meant I couldn’t understand and so I just got down and looked at the back of the bus. Holy ****! The bus was on fire.
Bus 240
Getting to work in the morning, I sat close to the front on this feeder like bus and was again half asleep when I woke up to realize that everyone was standing behind me and the seats in front of me (bar an old man) was completely empty. I sat up to see a gross mis act of self pleasure that the old man was indulging in which got him to be sent off the bus by a half bewildered and half angry bus driver.
Bus 197/154
These buses ply the AYE and I’ve witnessed 3-4 accidents happening right as my bus was passing by. It’s pretty usual for me to look out of the window and see vehicles go at each other leading to a bloody metal mess. At least my bus won’t be held back in the resulting jam
Bus 96
I was taking a trip back from school when a student had a bug that was at least as big as my thumb (not a cockroach, more like a huge beetle that was mud coloured and had really weird hairy legs) creep up on her from the backseat of the bus and clung tightly to her hair. It was a mess to remove and there was ample screaming to go around.
Bus 199
The bus was again full not because it was at capacity but because some Caucasian chap did not move it and everyone else did not bother. Another Caucasian was trapped outside the bus and badly needed to board it (or so it seemed to be). So he shouted into the bus, ‘Can you guys ****ing move in? Stop being such ****ing *******s.’ He got on finally when the former Caucasian moved in and then realized that he knew him and casually went ‘Ey mate, I didn’t know you were one of them.’ Hold your tongue before you swear.
Bus 240
I’m sure many have seen this before but I got onto witness a long distance conversation spanning between a guy at the backseat and another near the front. It was so bad that everyone was staring them down but they never bothered to tone down or just use the damned phone to call each other. I’m sure the entire bus knew what they were talking about except me cause the conversation was held in Mandarin.
Who said a bus trip had to be boring?
Podcasts! (Why I stopped listening to music)
Jul 3rd
I have a 1st Generation 8GB iPod Touch that I got free in 2006/7 with a SingNet plan. It has been working fine till now and continues to do so. 8GB used to be huge especially coming from a 128MB Creative MP3 player and then a 2GB iPod Nano. But with a 10+GB music collection not counting videos and movies, its definitely too small for anything.
However, instead of splashing more cash to Apple, I discovered podcasts. Podcasts are perfect for everyday commutes and after being around for 5 years or so, the quality and content is exceptional. Basically I listen to about 5-6 different podcasts over the week. Some last about 20mins some take 2 hours. Whichever the case, it fits perfectly to my listening needs whether I’m on the train or at work, etc. Better still, you take in a lot of info and keep yourself current without needing to put man hours at it.
So less talk and more lists. Nearly all of my podcasts are IT related so just a heads up.
Buzz Out Loud (30mins)
A round up of IT and science news of the day by CNet. Hosted by a very commendable team that keeps things enjoyable and alive.
Tech News Today (30mins)
Similar to above but it done under the TWIT network. Tom Merrit anchors it and delivers a great show daily with some of his companions.
This Week in Tech (2hrs)
A weekly show hosted by the very talented Leo Larporte. A must listen to if you are interested in the tech world. His panel showcases some of the finest minds in the tech and journalism industry. Also part of the TWIT network.
Maximum PC No BS Podcast (1hr)
I started listening to this after first downloading the PC Gamer Podcast. A good focus on PC based news (the above podcasts mainly mention about consumer electronics instead of PC hardware). Gordan’s Rant of the Week is funny but can be crude at times. A definite highlight. Part of the Future Publishing network.
This is Only a Test (1hr)
Will Smith and Norman Chan were people I listened to at PC Gamer / Maximum PC’s podcasts. They moved to Whiskey Media to start a more general technological test based site with really interesting tips that end users and minor geeks would be interested in. Not a very high quality show as I can’t really grasp the style and they are new but definitely worth to listen weekly. Check out their site. It’s very well made and frequently updated. Great content.
Security Now! (1.5hrs)
A weekly show also from the TWIT network brings security guru Steve Gibson who tackles security issues in a very simplistic manner. Great for those who need a non tech speak update of security news and what they can do to bolster their networks, etc. Again, anything from the TWIT network is naturally top notch in terms of production. However, this podcast can be a little dry at times so watch for it.
PC Gamer Podcast US (1.5hrs)
The first every podcast I listened to and am still listening to after 3-4 years. Well produced and hosted and covers everything I need to know about PC Gaming. They also interview developers and designers and if you’re a gamer, this is the podcast to listen to.
Freaknomics Radio (20mins)
An uncanny look at life and routines from an economist’s standpoint. Very interesting but sadly not very frequently updated.
How Stuff Works (30mins)
I would say the podcasters sound kind of lazy and not very professional in this podcast. But the content covered is great. A good general knowledge show to listen to.
Well, that’s all! I get my podcasts from iTunes but you can really get it from anywhere. Just google for it.
Back From the Dead!
Jun 23rd
Man it has been a long time since I blogged. What can I say? School was much tougher in Sem 2 and I had many side running projects as well. Semester 2 went ok in terms of results. Economics is just Mathematics seriously. Micro was like E Maths and Macro, A Maths. And to top it all off, Econometrics is simply Statistics. So that’s Economics in NUS for you.
I’m not going to write long posts as I had before. Actually the thought of writing long posts has put me off blogging for a bit because I simply have no time to do so. Expect the following to be covered in the next few weeks:
- World Cup, World Cup and more World Cup
- IT stuff. I’m probably getting the iPhone 4 and nVidia and ATI should be releasing new GPUs in the coming months.
- How podcasts have taken over my music.
- Twitter, Facebook and the privacy debacle
Well, a short update. I’m working now and will be working till mid July or so after which I seriously need a break and have to prepare for the next semester.
Till the next update, adiós.
First 2010 Post… In March
Mar 2nd
Busy busy year. Had no time to update and frankly been squeezed out in every way possible way. It has been an extremely quick moving year and I’ll attempt to round up every less sensitive information around me, right here.
Studies – Semester 2’s Summary
Back to school and 4 economics modules
I’m taking 5 modules as usual, 4 economic centric modules (3 core + 1 elective) and 1 elective module to cover my final faculty exposure requirement. Basically, the modules I’m taking are:
- EC2101 – Microeconomics 1 [1 Bid Point: Preallocated]
- EC2102 – Macroeconomics 2 [1 Bid Point: Preallocated]
- EC2303 – Foundations for Econometrics [1 Bid Point]
- GEK1018 – Economic Issues in the Developing World [300+ Bid Points]
- EL1101E – The Nature of Language [1 Bid Point]
It’s hard to compare the workload of this sem to the last. Last sem I was highly preoccupied with covering content for GE1101E and SN1101E which yielded very positive results for me. This sem, none of my modules are content heavy but rather concept and practice heavy. If no one has told any ‘A’ level / poly kid who want to be an economics major – Economics in NUS is a whole bunch of Mathematics. I have never manipulated more formulas and graphs as I have done right now. It’s frankly not that hard, comes across as a little shocking in the first few weeks but it gets much better in the end. EC2101 is really basic, EC2102 is made to sound ‘cheem’ but its doable, EC2303 is ‘A’ Level stats which I did not do in my ‘A’ Levels but that’s where I’m catching up now. GEK1018 is a god sent module if you are updated on current economic issues and have studied a particular region in the world marked as developing. That’s where I have reaped the benefits of SN1101E. Very good complimentary module. EL1101E has nothing to do with English but linguistics on its own. It studies the structure both in letter and voice of any language, pretty interesting but can be technical at times.
So here I am facing my mid term exams and I will be doing 3 of them (EC2101, EC2102, EL1101E) in these 2 weeks. Hopefully I can do well in all of them. I’ve cleared some projects, etc so I’m looking to clear this to get some breathing space.
My modules are basically afternoon modules so I have avoided the 8am fiasco of last sem’s mathematics slots. I still do have an 8am slot but the rest of the days allow me to have some late mornings. Sleep. Damn bloody deprived.
IT – Screens and More Screens + Thoughts on Fermi
Add the Samsung T260HD to Dell's Ultrasharp 19" and a future Fermi card...
Have a pretty much dived into the display area early this year and trust me it is the greatest factor in increasing productivity when using the comp.
First up, I got a Samsung T260HD for a really low price which offered a 1920 x 1200 resolution, a big upgrade over my Samsung 2232GW (1680 x 1050). 2 documents side by side is great. I don’t game much and frankly although people swear they have a greater gaming experience with a bigger screen, I don’t feel much of a change but yet again I have no time to fully immerse myself in it. Productivity and work wise. Awesome.
Second, I took my 6 year old Dell UltraSharp 19″ monitor and rotated it to portrait orientation (1024 x 1280). Put it to the left of my T260HD and voila, even better productivity. I’m getting news feeds, updates, social networking on that screen together with running Outlook there while doing my main work on the T260HD. Again no gaming gains because I’m not running a dual screen gaming setup, but productivity wise… awesome. (And free!)
Fermi is finally going to be released in end March 2010. About time too. It has been an insane wait for nVidia’s challenge to ATI’s 5xxx series. My graphics card is a good ol’ 8800GT (3-4 years old now) which holds up really well even now running 2 monitors. The G92 infrastructure is nothing short of impressive but nVidia’s GT200 series have not been able to better innovate on it. You get increased clocks, more cuda cores, better memory (and more) but not a quantum leap. I’m hoping Fermi does different. I skipped the entire GT200 lineup due to that. Save up the cash for a better product. ATI’s 5870 is tempting but I’m waiting on Fermi to deliver a good challenge to ATI and I’m looking to see how their product performs with the premise of better drivers, PhyX and Cuda support. Hope my 8800GT hangs on for a wee bit more. Most of my tech friends have warned me that 8800GTs are dying at the moment as it has been around for a bit too long in a tech cycle.
Football – Trauma and Topsy Turvy-ness
Get Well Soon Ramsey
This season must be the most exciting season for neutrals. There is no runaway leader at this point. Arsenal as much as they have been patchy this season – can still challenge for the title at this stage because Chelsea and Man Utd have not been consistent on their end. More upsets, more underdog wins mean only 3 points separate the top 3. The race for 4th place is also interesting with Liverpool, Man City and Tottenham close in that department. Interesting topsy turvy season. Anything can happen.
On a sadder note, Aaron Ramsey suffered what is the worst injury of the EPL this season so far with a broken leg. It looks like a clean break of 2 bones at the calf area and many football fans feel for him. He’s only 19 and its hard to say what the long term effects are. Arsenal fans took to him because of his talent and more importantly his feverish work ethic and how he was perfectly balanced in both offense and defense. The good thing is he seems to be keeping well and the support of both the team and the fans have encouraged him to quickly recover and be back on the pitch. You can follow him on Twitter – @aaronramsey1. I’ve verified with trusted UK sources and yes, that is his account for sure. I won’t label Shawcross as a villain but come on, don’t go down 2 footed with a high sliding tackle and say – ‘I never meant that’. Learn to control your legs a bit maybe? Recklessness. Gah.
CNY – Taking too much time
Tiger Year - Where has the time gone?
This year marks the longest preparation and celebration of Chinese New Year for my family. The spring cleaning of the entire house took nearly a month. We cleaned out like nuts and scrubbed nearly every surface available. Then came the celebrations, we had like extra visits to our place and that means (pre cleaning, preparation, hosting, post cleaning). Trust me its tiring as hell and although it is great to meet relatives and old friends, it was draining on my end and it affected my time for other priorities a lot.
NUS’s pretty deviously placed the term break on the CNY holiday week. Really a lot of time lost which again explains why the early 2 months of this year have come and gone so quickly.
Endnote
Some site building..
I will be updating more frequently but before I go, here’s a shout out to 2 small sites I’ve done for corporate customers. Have a look and send me some feedback. Frances Beauty Clinic & Will Events.
Till then, take care.
2009 – The Year In Review
Dec 30th
This blog is over a year old already and it is still alive which makes this a new blogging milestone for me. I remember hitting up a post like this before 2008 ended and here is 2009’s edition. Time really flies.
2009 was a largely satisfying year with few hiccups
What Went Right
- Studies: I’m very happy with my performance in Sem 1 in NUS, a 4.4 CAP on first try is an encouraging point to start off with. Hoping to push on further. Getting into good groups for all my team based assignments.
- Geekish: Core i7 Desktop and an incoming Core i7 laptop. Having all my systems run efficiently with no hiccups.
- Soccer: Arsenal is probably doing the best they have done so far in comparison to the last 4 years. Verminator was simply a revelation at the back. More than replaced Toure. Song is maturing into a sold DM that we lacked since Flamini left.
- Health: My sinus operation in 2008 made things better. I seldom had flu or cough this year.
- Family: Improved ties
What Went Wrong
- Studies: Taking Maths as a breadth. Mathematics is not difficult but I was not consistent in the first half of the semester causing me to plunge nearly 80% of my time into Maths during the second half to make up. If you want to take Maths in NUS, you have to bear up with double number of lectures, quadruple the workload and quintimple tests and exams. CAP would have been higher without it.
- Geekish: Loss and theft of my laptops.
- Soccer: Adebayor not being shot in the leg yet. RVP’s injury.
- Health: Lack of Sleep. Slight ringing in my ears when I am sleep deprived. I am eating way too much. Need to cut down.
Aims for 2010
- Studies: Pushing my CAP to 4.6 with better time management now that I learnt from my mistakes in Sem 1.
- Geekish: No more losses and thefts please. Better physical security measures. ATI 5870 or GT300 when Fermi actually lanches.
- Soccer: Either the EPL, CL or FA Cup would be a nice bonus. No more injuries please.
- Health: More sleep! (yea right) Better diet (has to be right)
- Family: Stronger ties
Here’s wishing everyone Happy 2010 and may the year ahead be a generally smooth sailing one (gotta be realistic).
The Law of Equilibrium & Singapore’s Future
Dec 17th
To some the merlion faces its front, to others the back is all they see
When you are a month plus away from hitting 23 (damn) you start to think about your more immediate concerns like a job and stuff. I am at the last stage of my education. Graduate in 3-4 years and move on to a good job. But this rat race is something so difficult to shake off and I wonder if it’ll ever be gone.
The central problem to this is comparable to communism and capitalism, and the fact that there is no stable mixed solution. The so called ‘mixed’ solution is a point constantly sliding between the two depending on the mood and sentiments of the ground.
I am not so sure if I want to remain in Singapore. This place is getting really highly saturated with over 5 million people in this little island. Geography explains spatial movements and one of the factors is over population. True we might not have hit the limit yet (I wonder how many storeys the tallest HDB building would have then) but people on the ground are starting to feel the squeeze.
That is just a superficial concern for the non-claustro centric. But things just get worse (if you’re the ground) or better (if you’re higher up the leadership ladder) when you look at education and jobs. The free market economy works on greed – what is termed as covetousness, a sin maybe but still the basic building block of every advancing economy.
That’s the issue isn’t it? If you want to be the best you need a country of likeminded people, striving to be better than others. You need competition, call it healthy competition, etc. Healthy for the economy but not really for your personal health. So that is how the rat race starts. Be better, study harder, work harder, work longer hours, outsmart, out-think, out-maneuver and before you know it, damn the best years of your life just flew past and you are staring at retirement (and then death).
Take it on the flipside, it is even more dire. No reward for being better, no competition, everything is back to the bare minimum level of accepted living conditions. Err, cough, communism. (But hey, life is on a much slower pace and there’s more space to relax)
The common solution is to run the country on a free market model and intervene to help the bottom-most group. In Singapore, we modify it a bit and encourage working by helping out those who are working from the bottom most strata. But as with every system, this is far from perfect. What we have bred is a bunch of elites who see the rest as leechers.
The funny thing is you can’t blame them. They have put in thousands of hours (and cash) into education and their careers. They get taxed and income is redistributed with the poor. Won’t they feel like they got leeched? They are not the government, they are the upper class who won’t really care about the rest of the country bar themselves and their families and it is perfectly understandable why they do so.
On the hindsight, the poor did not have the opportunities nor the means to attain such dizzying levels of income. It is not fair to them. So how do you fix this?
You don’t. Life is not fair, equality is an ideal, if not a joke.
In the long run, the problem will either boil over or the country would just adapt to change. Those less interested in the rat race and more interested in the non-dollars-and-cents measurement of the quality of life would move out of Singapore.
The highly competitive will stay and the competition level will reach to grand new heights / insanely retarded heights (depending on who you are). Bottom line, Singapore will continue to rise as a stunning ASEAN country in any category that can be measured with dollars and cents.
The goal of Singapore was set in stone way back. The Singapore story was that ‘our forefathers worked (extremely) hard to build what Singapore is today’. The story implied in my view is ‘you better do the same (and better) to keep Singapore moving up the ladder, of course benefits will trickle down as well’
If that’s your kind of thing, Singapore is the place for you.
If not, you’d be thinking along my lines and wondering if this miracle island is really a haven for you.
Everything balances automatically in the end.
Post Sem 1 and the 24″ Question
Dec 6th
Exams are over!
Mugging is over!
I just finished (4 days ago) my first semester in NUS. It has been 4 months of hard work and ups and downs but mostly things have been great. I have not seen enough of uni to make much comments but there is generally no real difference from ‘A’ level life with the exception of more freedom to make or break your sem. I think what is most important is to take modules that you like and have an interest for. I took 4 of that and enjoyed all of them. The 1 module that I took (for the sake of a sense of completion) without interest in was one that I had to drag myself through the paces in. I’m really looking forward to the next semester where I would be doing level 2000 economics modules tying up with the completion of my faculty, GEM and SS requirements. Much of my second year would then be freed up for me to focus on the deadly important level 3000 modules for economics which I hope to spread between two sems. It has been an interesting semester and I am looking forward for more of that next sem.
Holiday Plans
Design work again for the hols
So I have about exactly a month of holidays to enjoy before the next semester. Due to my aforementioned loss of my laptop, I would be working fulltime for much of December for pocket money amongst other needs. Not much leeway for self Christmas presents which used to be a hallmark of past Christmases. Doesn’t matter much because I’m happily blessed in my current state. Besides working, there would of course be things like going out and hopefully a chalet which is still in the works.
Of course I have begun a short return to the World of Warcraft and am levelling up a new toon on another server. WoW is really ezmode in levelling compared to 3 years ago when I was slogging through with my warrior. I have a druid and paladin now and it has been a breeze so far. Not much hope of me reaching 80 by the end of this month. Depending on how sem 2 goes, I might continue playing casually as I am now doing.
The 24″ Monitor Crave
One day... After I upgrade the GFX
I think the largest IT crave that I have had for months is that of a 24 inch LCD screen. My 22 inch is doing great but the extra resolution offered by a 1920×1200 screen would boost productivity and entertainment by a lot. It is hard to look back after being able to put up 2 full sized A4 documents next to each other on a single screen. I don’t understand why people get the 1920×1080 24inch screens handicapping themselves of 120pixels vertically.
I was really tempted to get a 24″ at the end of this year but would put plans on hold due to various reasons most of which is down to my graphics card.
I am running a 8800GT which is 3 years old but still a real gem of a card nevertheless. I am holding out for a DX11 card be it ATI’s 5800 series or nVidia’s yet to be announced GT300 series. Looking for a really good value card like the 8800GT has been. I have not seen any card from the GT200 series that match peformance for value in the way the 8800GT has done. With both companies facing wafer problems and prices being driven up due to the lack of supply and increasing demand, it would be smarter to hold out for a DX11 card next year when hopefully nVidia enters the fray and ATI begins its price drop strategy. Whichever the case, a 24 inch screen has to come after a graphics card upgrade and at current status that has to wait due to industry conditions.
Cloud Services
The cloud is upon us
During the mugging period, I took special interest in cloud services during my times of procrastination. Here are some of the tools I use mainly for two roles – syncing and online backup.
Google Calendar Sync
Extremely useful if you have two or more computers running outlook and you want your calendar in sync. You can also access your calendar online via google if needed. Works extremely efficiently.
Xmarks
Syncing Firefox bookmarks with Internet Explorer is really easy with this. Better still Xmarks stores with encryption your saved passwords in Firefox. Xmarks more or less serves as my Firefox and IE backup in terms of bookmarks and passwords.
DropBox
A gem of a file syncing program. You get a 2GB account with unlimited bandwidth and a maximum single file size upload of 350MB which is more than enough even for my huge PSD and AI files for my design work. Every computer that you install dropbox on and link to your account has its dropbox contents sync. The best part about this problem is using dropbox in tandem with your friends. Files are quickly shared and anyone who updates the file will cause the updated file to be propagated throughout so everyone has the latest updated version. I use it more for file sharing rather file backup but it has been performing impressively so far. If you wish for more storage to begin your account with, drop me a PM on facebook and I can help you start off with 2.25GB instead of 2.0 =)
That’s all for now and I hope to enjoy my hols and make it productive one.
A Hectic Update
Oct 18th
Studies
Studies on the express lane
It’s been a long while since I last blogged. Things have heated up in school pretty much. I have at this point completed 2 projects 1 term paper 5 tests 1 debate and am facing another 3 tests this coming week (and yes, 1 project as well). There are still more tests, projects and of course the final exams which would be in a months time. Which idiot told me uni life was slack? Considering I’m only taking 5x Level 1 modules, I can expect this to be four times as bad in the coming years. Pretty happy with how the results have been showing so far but the amount of time put into school work has rivaled whatever effort I have placed in school before.
IT
My laptop is now a Studio 1450
I lost my HP laptop. Yep, within 5 mins my entire laptop was stolen. I was down for like a week. You know how it feels like to lose $1,850.00 for nothing. Well, not to cry over split milk, I have replaced it with a Dell Studio 14 which is a slight upgrade over my HP ProBook 4310s. Better CPU, GFX, Stronger Battery Life, Back lit Keyboard, Sweat resistant palm rest, tougher build, slimmer charger, better multimedia controls, brighter display. Everything sounds nice except for one thing. It does not have a hard disk indicator light. Yup, zilch, I never thought that was possible. I had to install a software end hard disk indicator to work around it. But besides this rather small yet irritating missing component, this laptop has been working absolutely great. I have Win 7 Ultimate (x64) running on it really smoothly. And am using the MS Presenter Notebook Mouse 8k with it. Managed to cut $100 off the price by importing it from the U.S. The reason for my loss of the HP ProBook was down to carelessness caused by me leaving around cause I couldn’t keep the laptop in my sling bag. So to ensure I do not lose another big bunch of money I got a Targus Wanderer backpack where I can dump all my school shit in together with the laptop. I’m not going to lose this and I will personally ******** the person who took my HP ProBook if I find him/her.
Football
Keep this consistency going boys
On the brighter side of things, Arsenal have been going on smooth after 2 defeats in Manchester where they were frankly the better team. I think there’s one thing to learn from Utd and that is losing big games do not really matter. United took only 1 point from Arsenal from 2 league games last season but were yards ahead because they could kill off the small teams. Something that Arsenal could not do. That part seems solved. The Verminator has been a massive addition to the squad and Song is finally showing some promise. Early days yet, but encouraging nevertheless. Actually I’ll trade the EPL title for breaking Adebayor’s legs (into multiple parts). Seriously.
Back to WoW
Not my screenshot, but very similar
On the gaming end, yes I have returned to WoW and am primarily playing on a new server (goodbye dragonblight) on recommendation by some of the friends who first showed me the game 3 years back. Rolling a druid since they need one but I might shift my warrior over some day. No real time to play it yet as my studies are hitting its most feverish point.
In short I can’t wait for the hols, I want to end this semester well and enjoy my hols. Goodness knows if I am able to post here before dec. If I’m not, here’s saying I’m still alive and I really want to get to dec.
Adjusting to School
Aug 22nd
It has been 2 weeks of lectures in NUS. And more or less I’ve gotten used to the routine of rushing in between lectures, revising and preparing for them, maximizing free time in between at the library and facing a continual bombardment of adverts on the walkways, in lectures and in my email. A run down of the modules I’m taking
EC1101E – Economics (Planning to Major – CORS Bid 1pt)
Everything still seems ‘A’ levels like except it is categorized slightly differently. I’m watching the keywords used by the lecturer and noting the changes to curriculum structure to ease the assimilation. EC1101E also seems one of the lightest of all my modules this sem.
SN1101E – South Asian Studies (Faculty Exposure – CORS Bid 1pt)
Extremely content heavy especially if you did not take a study of history in South Asia. Nevertheless, one of the more interesting modules. Currently covering the political aspect of India, Bangladesh and Pakistan (hey they all came from the same colony!). To be frank I’m quite unsure how the assessment style is like but I’m covering content as much as I can (101 readings to do for this module) and cross analysing to see how far I can dig into each topic.
GE1101E – Geography (Faculty Exposure – CORS Bid 1pt)
The most entertaining lecture so far. Dr. T. C. Chang is good on stage. I bet he must have taken Literature or Linguistic Studies before. It’s a fun class but workload wise it does seem the heaviest as it requires 2 projects and a field trip or two. I’m keeping my fingers crossed for a good group. Let’s just say that we’ve people crashing this lecture just for entertainment. That’s how fun it is.
GEK1500 – Geekland (General Education Module > Science – CORS Bid 318pts)
Highest points I spent for a module (ok considering the rest were nearly free lol). Interesting especially for IT freaks like me. It goes to a semi advanced level and is an eye opener for non IT tuned people. It does provide an extra technical background for those who are… like me ><. Interesting so far and there’s nothing much to do. The stuff taught are easy to remember, probably because of my interest.
MA1301 – Mathematics (Breadth Module – CORS Bid 1pt)
Heaviest in terms of time in lectures (2x 2hr lectures and 1x weekly tutorial) compared to the rest. I took this not out of interest but rather as a prerequisite for my Econometrics that is a core module for Econ Hons. (Keeping my fingers really crossed). It aims to cover H2 Maths in 6 months. Pace seems to be slow as the lecturer is rather occupied with taking the class quickly through A. Maths level topics. So pretty easy for me now and it really helps to get the 2 years of NS rust away. Lecturer does put in a lot of work in providing extra exercises and frequently communicates via IVLE.
There you go! All the modules I’m taking and such. Tutorials are starting next week and there is pressure to put on a good class performance as it is graded. Going to have to thicken my skin and give it a good shot.
I’ve been doing a lot of moving around these 2 weeks. Sometimes you wish everything and everyone was in one place.
I must say I have been happy these two weeks for various reasons. I’ve never felt more independent when it comes to learning and the self driven desire to go out and get myself immersed deeper into the subjects makes learning a hell lot more fun. There are also many even more important reasons to be glad about which I will not elaborate. Things are settling in pretty well and I hope things get better and smoother as the time continually flies by.
(BTW, in response to my troubleshoot post last week. The real problem for my main computer is the bloody SATA cable. Somehow, it got damaged. Changed it and everything has been working awesome).
Till the next time, adios!
Thoughts for the coming semester
Jul 26th
Back to school!
Well there’s no hiding that everyone in my shoes is anticipating with excitement and a certain level of anxiety of being a freshman. I have been trying to gather as much information to ensure I get my homework done about my school. Didn’t want to join any orientation camp as I had work to complete and honestly this may sound antisocial but I’m not the type that will go out to make friends just for the sake of having plenty of friends. I take my time with friendships preferring good long term quality friendships as opposed to multiple frivolous ones. The good ones will make themselves known over time. Take it easy.
Economics, no?
I always wanted to major in Economics and I have been told by every source out there that Economics is the hardest major in my faculty and no one dreams about getting a honours there. I’m not superman and I see myself as the bottom half of the cohort but I’ll do my best to maintain that crazy CAP requirement (>4.0 at all times) and see how far I can go. I guess the only way forward is doing plenty of background preparatory work and giving my 100% in every assignment. This is going to be a heavy 3-4 years but I kinda waited all my life for this final round of studies so might as well give it my all. Fingers crossed!
CORS
Much to hate and love about this system. The great thing about it is complete freedom in selecting your modules, choosing your lecture groups, tutorial groups, etc. The bad part? A lot of work planning your own academic journey (there are tons of requirements to fulfil before you can file for graduation) and you have to balance your timetable and examination schedule. Any clashes is your own fault. And a wrong move can cost you a wasted module in that semester. To maximize your experience in NUS and to maintain a good CAP, you’ve to be wise about picking modules that interest you and are generally easy to score. I’ve heard of some who took supposedly easy to score modules, know the content on the back of their hands but did miserably at the exams just because they were not used to the style of writing that particular subject required. Been familiarizing myself as well with the different rounds and I more or less know what to do when the Round 1C comes on 30 Jul 0900hrs. Planning is done, now its eBay time!
Adapting
I don’t really have trouble adapting anyway as I’m easy going and accommodating but as usual the first few days will be a little awkward. Just hoping that I get to meet the right friends along the way. Well for those who know me well, its not just personal adaption that counts. I’m going to have to adapt in another way as well. I’m hoping that will turn out great too. =’)
Well here it is for now as I will be attending Orientation Talks on this coming Monday and Tuesday and would be matriculating on Wednesday. The week has finally come and its time to make the most of it from here on.
