New design and matthew needs to trust God.

I've revamped my blog... after two years of the same design:P

Right now, I am faced with decisions. Whether I should join FSAE. To prioritise my time to focus exclusively on my studies. Reason being that to attain my goal of graduating with a 2nd Upper Honours, I need to maintain a SAP of 4.3 for the rest of my university life. That means at least a B+, preferably A- on average for most of my modules.

It's not going to be easy. And a lot of people say it's hard. But hard is not impossible. And, the new title of my blog says it all. Nothing is impossible if we put our trust in God.

Thanks Jonathan for the testimony of your friend who needed 4.6 to raise CAP to 4.0. And he got into dean's list in the process.

I thank the One who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all whom I can ask or imagine, and I repent from doing things by my own strength, for it is at this point when I acknowledge that I am weak and cannot accomplish anything by my own strength, that He comes in and intervenes, and works miracles far above my expectations.

Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Praise Him all creatures here below, praise Him above all heavenly hosts, Praise Father Son and Holy Ghost. A-men.

FSAE

His(sic) guys

Congratulations! You have been shortlisted for FSAE. No interviews are necessary.

I will be gathering you guys for lessons starting next Tue night. Because there are 18 of you, I will confirm the venue later. The first class will be a general introduction to a race car and how this project is conducted as a whole. After that, what topic I cover each week will depend on availability of resources and personnel. I do involve my ME4s to help teach certain topics because by the time they get to ME4 they know more than me in their respective areas. When you get to ME4, I expect you to reach their standard too. For those of you who don't quit the team later, there's really A LOT A LOT A LOT for you to learn in these 3 years. But it will be a very enriching experience you will not find anywhere else in this country.

A/P KH SEAH

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It's a long journey ahead. Will I be willing to sacrifice NPCC, SJAB and Hall for this, only time will tell.

Other Matthew Chuas out there

A simple google of myself turned up the following...

Me a diver?

Oh and there's also the econs teacher at VJC. He doesn't seem very well liked though...

Check this, and this out.

There are a lot of sites referencing an Olympian called Raphael Matthew Chua.

I wonder whether this guy wanted to use this blog address, and i beat him to it... and this too!

As a trivia, when I went for my medical check up (for enlistment), there were two other guys on the same day also called Matthew Chua.

SYFOC - the actual day

Whew! Back from one whole day of SYFOC - the actual day! It's a really satisfying feeling seeing that months of training which started from that day in March has come to this and I am really proud of the team of Officers, HI and CIs whom I have worked with during these past months.

We shall meet again, at some other HQ event or something. Thanks guys, it's been great working with all of you.

Oh, by the way, my tagboard is up! Do tag away and i'll respond (if i have time.. once term starts.. that is a big ??)

SYFOC

This post is dedicated to the Singapore Youth Festival Opening Ceremony for which training began in late March...

Late in January, Siming sent out an email asking for volunteers to come forward to help as key parade personnel and trainers for NPCC Day Parade and SYFOC. Naturally, I was quite interested. However, NPCC Day Parade (or NPDP as known) fell smack in the middle of exams so I had to rule myself out. (Maybe I can take part in a future NPDP if it falls during my IA, when I won't have exams.. But unlikely as i'll probably take B.Tech modules during IA.)

Initially, I went with the intention of trying out for parade personnel posts. However, at the last moment I was told that the organiser only wanted CIs. So I thought to myself, okay then, I still do not mind helping out in other areas...

Well, to cut a long story short, I do not regret being part of this SYFOC myself. I've made several new friends (other trainers like FIs/CIs, other HOs/HIs, the first aiders, etc) in the process who have helped to some extent smoothen my learning curve towards NPCC, and this experience has surely been a fruitful one for me.

This Saturday will be the actual day and the last time I shall see many of the CIs and trainers - the team of SYFOC 2006 whom I count myself blessed to be a part of. After this, I do not know when will be the next HQ event which I will be involved in - and I think it's mostly over for the rest of the fiscal year of 2006, with the exception of the shooting competitions like ARSC, .22 and .38 (the last of which, I might or might not be taking part). In 2007, there's NPDP (which I can't take part again due to exams), there's no SYFOC, there might be CIBTC chaperon (depends)... and of course during holidays there's
SANA and LMSC...

The thought that this process which I have been through with the rest of the team, is coming to an end.... it leaves a bittersweet feeling. Because, after 1 July, when the marchpast is over, and the dust has settled, we will all go back to our own schools and units.. and life goes on as per normal.

I already miss coming down to HTA for training so often.... and kind of dread that very soon, I will be moving back to Hall and resume the cycle of studying and my books...

The next SYFOC where NPCC will be organising will be in 2010. By then, I will have graduated from NUS and will possibly be working, or in NIE (or whichever prepartory training for other civil service jobs i wish to join.) I do not know who will be the in-charge then. I do not know if I will even choose to continue with NPCC after I graduate. But I will definitely not be medical OIC again, need to give the chance to other new HOs whom I am sure will be up there by then. But I still do not mind helping out on the actual day itself, to support the actual medical OIC...

SYFOC 2006. An experience I will never forget.

Pek chek

As of now I have succeeded in gaining a place in Hall on masters' list. I will have to commit to OMC and EAL as MM. However, i decided that I do not wish to stay in hall from year 3 onwards.

- My CAP suffered as a result of my involvement in Hall activities as, due to DnD and Open House, I barely had time for my studies.
- Just as I thought OMC resources work is more or less settled, Float came along with another set of requests. Reasonable, or not, I shall not go into it here.
- I feel I wish to focus my time more on my core CCAs - NPCC (of which SANA is a subset) and St John, instead of spreading my resources too thin. I continue to have passion for NPCC and St John - and I feel that where some ppl excel in the Sports and others excel in the cultural, I excel in the uniformed groups which unfortunately is not really represented at the tertiary level. Whereas, for Hall activities, it is really doing for the sake of doing and I don't find it enjoyable at all. At worst, it takes away time which I can use on my other activities like NPCC, St John and my studies.

random musings of a 22 year old.

after seeing my dismal results i have this thought to myself:

CHIONG 2ND UPPER FOR F*CK?

seems very sad that our worth in university is characterised by this number between 0 to 5.

do i really need a 2nd upper to do what i want?

i only get a first degree ONCE. a 2nd first degree is possible, but the cost of it is prohibitive.

career choices?

teaching - 2nd upper recommended. Also a strong will and control over the kids
police - 2nd upper required. Also strong physical fitness, etc
hypnotherapist - B.Eng, after that i can go for my training

coming to engin was a mistake. i need to minimise the other mistakes, do damage control, to prevent them from fucking up the rest of my life.

1/4 of my life is done, the foundation is already built. i guess having made it to uni, i am within the top 25%, but not good enough.

i was within the top 10% to make it to special stream and i bombed out. my l1r5 should have been single digit. i failed.

then, dropped even worse. not a single A on my A levels.

now, got a pathetic cap score.

i'm considering just dropping out, destroying everything, work full time for dad and train under him. No point memorising and regurgitating formulae which i am not going to use anyway.

results

Name : CHUA JIE HONG MATTHEW
Matric No :

2005/2006 Sem 2 Examination for ENGINEERING 1

Module Code Module Title Grade
CS1101C PROGRAMMING METHODOLOGY (ENGINEERING ONLY) A-
EG1108 ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING C+
MA1506 MATHEMATICS II C+
MNO1001 MANAGEMENT AND ORGANISATION B-
PC1432 PHYSICS IIE C+
SC1101E MAKING SENSE OF SOCIETY B-

CAP: 3.12

amazing how last sem's results came out before christmas. not a very good christmas present. this sem's results came out ON my birthday. DARN

random musings after a long hiatus

I'm beginning to wonder whether i indeed have any audience for my blog, or whether i am just talking to a wall... but nevermind. After all, i've not been updating my blog on a regular basis so i can't really expect too much...

As of now, i have quite a lot of committments outside NUS. Hall activities are one of them, and the other two major ones are St John and NPCC. St John wise, my involvement is now limited to public duty and advising the TICs and junior officers when advice is needed. It's NPCC for which I have a lot to look after. Currently many of my CIs are not able to make it as often due to their own committments in Poly/ITE. I have agreed to help with the training of the Sec 1s for the time being, but I am not sure as to whether I can commit to it or not, especially after term starts in August.

Currently, I have LMSC and SANA during the June holidays, not to forget my unit camp. I really don't know if I can commit fully to these three activities. Most likely I'll have to pull out of LMSC.

I ask myself, do I still wish to be involved in NPCC past my undergraduate years. There's a strong indication that I might not, unless there is a compelling reason to do so. Even if I do so, I would prefer to be involved at headquarters level. I feel i have passed the time when I still like to train cadets. That's just not my thing anymore.

In August, i'll be a second year. I have to stop those unproductive habits that put me behind in terms of studies. This include thinking falsely that I have nothing to do when in actual fact, I have quite a lot of outstanding work which is out of sight and out of mind.

As a second year, i'll really have to focus my energies once term starts on my studies. Everything else is secondary. I cannot repeat the same mistakes I made during first year. The second year will make or break my class of honours.

If that means not coming for NPCC as often as I would like to, so be it. I've got to know where my priorities lie. I'm sure OC will agree with me, and understand, should I not be able to turn up all the time.

for all you cat lovers out there

http://www.catsleep.com

Enjoy!