Joker on the Road

Today while in a taxi on the way to school, there was this guy in a big blue SUV trying to create trouble for us. What happened was that while turning into a slip road towards the expressway, this car had the CHEEK to cut into our lane and overtake us. Missed us by just a bit. Of course my driver sounded the horn. He sounded his horn too. After that he braked suddenly on the slip road, forcing my driver and all the other poor sods behind us to do likewise. then he came over and started shouting at the driver for a while before i intervened.. told him nicely that i'm in a hurry (of course, otherwise why would i be in a cab?) .. .he got the message and drove off.

Anyway, after that driver called the police... hope they do the necessary follow up on this guy and not let him get off scot free. He doesn't realise that his LICENCE PLATE is in big bold letters for all to see... Irritating...

Yet another day in the life of a student

Ok, update again... i guess i will update this periodically so as to
have a 'running record' of my thoughts etc...

The network connection in NUS has been real crappy. Occasionally, I
am totally unable to access the internet. And I must key in my userid
and password regularly to access sites outside of nus.edu.sg, which
is beginning to get irritating.. but perhaps it's a necessary
security measure.. Who knows, perhaps some outsiders may have brought
their laptops in for a free ride, so they needed to put a stop to
this... The other problem is that when I'm on MSN, the connection is
really intermittent, resulting in me being signed in and out
repeatedly - irritating when I'm carrying out a conversation with a
friend.

16 Aug
----------
Basically had Mechanics of Materials (ME2113) with an enthusiastic
lecturer! The subject seems easy enough - the start seems to be a
revision of EG1109 - but I cannot be complacent. This sem is for
pulling my CAP score...

Been meeting friends for lunch recently and today was no exception.
Yesterday I met one of my former church friends from CHC, today I met
one of my NPCC friends

Today there was no NPCC, as the cadets were having exams and all CCA
was cancelled. So I went home for what must have been the first time
in a long while (not considering the short visit back then). Now I
brought most of the things I need back to hall, hopefully I don't
have to make another trip again...

17 Aug
----------
Lunch turned out to be with another former church friend from CHC,
and thing was I did not arrange it beforehand, he just happened to be
in the canteen! The rest of the day was quite fruitful, I did some
studying in YIH before going on to have a swim with a couple of
friends at the SRC pool. It looks like I need more practice as I'm
not really a good swimmer yet.

.38 revolver shooting competition is this Saturday. Initially I
wanted to go, but I'm not sure what time I'm able to go off... and
anyway, I am not particularly good at it so not much of a point. I'll
probably go for a basic badminton course to learn the proper moves...

as i've regained my interest in badminton. After what happened last
year with hall badminton which caused me to lose interest. But now
I'm raring to go... got to get a new grip for my racket (the previous
one is all worn out)..

Rag Day

Today was Rag Day and as usual I got woken up by the repeated
announcements, hee. Anyway it was quite interesting to see most of
the floats and performances which the respective facs and halls had
put together. A culmination of 3 months' worth of effort. Of course,
my opinion on the necessity of such an event is reserved though.

It's T minus 2 days to school starting, and this time round I am
making it a point to get prepared for what the new sem may throw at
me. I've done up a study plan and my plan for my modules for future
sems. Kind of disappointed that I will not be able to accelerate, but
I guess it will do me good to take things at the pace I'm currently
taking and hopefully attain my 2nd upper.

The word 'Impossible' does not exist in my dictionary.

Some pics from my trip to Malaysia:




We did quite a bit of shopping at Mid Valley Mega Mall. The malls
are a few times the size of malls in Singapore.

Dad trying his hand at pool. By the way, I lost, because I hit in
the 8 ball by mistake.

The ice skating rink at Sunway Pyramid.

We stopped halfway for a toilet break somewhere in Johor...

Myself at the hotel lobby...


Continuation (part 2)

9 Aug
-----
Singapore's 41st birthday, but this time round I did something different. I skipped town to go to Malaysia (Petaling Jaya) with my dad.

Boarded the bus to PJ at 10am and had an interesting ride there. We watched a movie on the on board TV - Stealth, about some top secret technology with a poor storyline in my opinion - and dad made me solve some sudoku puzzles as well. Well, i lost interest in sudoku after a while but now i think it's a good time to get started on it again.

Will post pictures when i have time :)

The view from our hotel was magnificent. I saw the famous Sunway Lagoon that my KL pen pal (lost contact now) told me about...

Of course, I took the chance to get my hands (or more accurately my jaws) on some chewing gum. I bet that all Singaporeans go for chewing gum when they are overseas.

The malls in Malaysia tend to be much bigger than those in Singapore. I observed that while I was in Ipoh and Malacca before, and the size of the malls in PJ only tend to reconfirm my observations. Probably has to do with the fact that Malaysia has no issues with land scarcity.

I bought a pair of new shoes which I've wanted to buy for a long time. My SAF running shoes have reached the end of their useful lifespan anyway. Also, I bought a couple of nice bermudas for wearing at the hostel, and two nice shirts. Thanks dad for the gifts :)

10 Aug
------
Was basically a day being driven around by dad's friend and being given a running tour of KL. Didn't get to see the Petronas Towers though, to my disappointment. Maybe the next time...

Boarded the bus to Singapore at 6.30pm and arrived back at 12 midnight. Watched a movie, Armagaeddon on the way back.. about astronauts being tasked to blow up a rogue asteroid on a collision course with Earth. Well, I pray to God that such a scenario never befalls Earth.

11 Aug
------
Came back and found to my chagrin that I've been out-bidded for Malay. Oh well, now the bid points for Malay is 300+. I won't be able to afford it.

But, Jiefang told me that genes and society is interesting and going for only 1 bid point. Well, worth a try anyway. So I placed my bid and got it, which confirms my 6th module and thus my nomenclature for this coming sem.

I actually have a 7th module out there, intro to world religions which is still in the advance bidding phase. I may very well use my 2nd S/U on it if I do get it, and treat the module as non existent.

I am gunning for as many As as possible this sem. Difficult but "Nothing is Impossible if we put our trust in God".

Update in a long while

Okay, i owe you, my readers an update of what's been going on in my life

I just saw some blog posts with regards to RVSJAB. Some are not very flattering. But I respect my cadets' rights to freedom of speech. So, go ahead and blog, but stay out of trouble please.

Jul
--
Been busy with FSAE stuff, rushing to school after NP for lectures on race car engineering had been real tiring for me. I have since withdrawn from the programme... too stressful.

Late Jul
------
Been helping out at dad's office as he's busy running a course nearby. but he's invited me to join them for lunch from time to time which I have been doing so. Well, I made some new friends there :)

30 Jul
-----
Woke up real early in the morning to do public duty at West Coast Park. Anyway, it was quite peaceful and ended earlier than expected. No casualties too :)

3 Aug
-----
The whole day today was spent performing CSSP duty at NUS Matriculation Fair, in order to fulfil the CSSP component of my probation in NPCC.

Well, as I was wearing the uniform of an NPCC Inspector (which closely resembled the Police uniform), some of the people in the crowd who knew me thought I was a Police Scholar. Yeah, I wish.. :P

I realised that it is not only me who is fed up at the way NUS NPCC is run...

So, with that, I clear all the requirements for fulfilling my probation. Come 18 Dec 2006, I will become a full H/Insp (NPCC).

And, I made a new friend today.

5 Aug
-----
Went for CPR + AED course. Turned out they are practicing the new method of CPR, which is 30 compressions to 2 ventilations. I learned how to operate a defibrillator, something which was exciting and eye-opening.

Actually, I guess the learning curve was quite steep for some of the other participants present. My partner during the test had problems during the CPR component. I am concerned as to whether they are up to it when faced with a real life case. I am confident about myself but about the others... not so sure.

Went for zone meeting after that. I've been appointed to assist William Sir in the zone secretary department. Whether this will eventually lead to me going up to the Zone officially will remain to be seen.

At least I'm glad that we have gotten rid of the biggest red tape in the zone which is the SGT interview. Please, it's a waste of paper and time when all along I have never heard of any SGT being turned down. The next step would be to get rid of the SSG interview as well, and to get the zone to recognise the apex rank of Cadet Leader.

8 Aug
-----
National Day observance ceremony today. Woke up early again to go for the ceremony as one of the flag raisers from NPCC. The only thing was, instead of wearing our full NPCC uniform, we were wearing white shirt and black pants. Quite disappointed at that...

Anyway, i am at a stage where I am reconsidering my involvement in the NPCC, due to personal reasons. I feel that it is not where my area of interest really lies in anymore. Well, I started off being very enthusiastic about the Corps and all but certain events transpired which made me decide otherwise. I shall reserve my comments on this.

Went for NUS flag day after that. Got 2 tins... I arrived at Bishan MRT at 2pm only to find that my group was preparing to move to Toa Payoh. So, there I went with them to try and fill up my 2 tins.

So, for the next 5 plus hours, I basically stood around:

"Good afternoon Sir/Ma'am, donations for NUS please?" (repeated ad infinitum)

The end result was that I DID manage to fill up both tins.

Oh, might I add in, I managed to reunite a lost boy with his family ..heh. I returned to hall exhausted but happy :)

Exam timetable for Sem 3

Well i will have 5 core modules next sem, and managed to piece together my exam timetable as follows:

ME2143 28/11 evening
ME2113 30/11 evening
ME2121 2/12 PM
ME2134 5/12 evening
ME2103 Non exam

The sixth module can be slotted in... maybe right at the end of the exam period. Then I will have a feel of how I MIGHT have done for SSA2209 if I didn't S/U it.

Ok, basically a less punishing schedule than last sem. Hope it will somehow mean it'll translate to better examination results. The non exam module means however that consistent work is required during the sem.

Actually, i *could* still try to earn another year's stay in hall. OMC is almost over and done with (hopefully), EAL is there as it is (and I will probably just join as ordinary member), and I'll probably join another committee (probably Outdoor and Fitness which is basically manning the gym, or LSM which is basically duty storeman)

The other requirements will work themselves out i'm sure:) Not too concerned about the hall secret as I probably have a few external activities from NUS NPCC to cover the lack. If all else fails, there's always that place in PGP or Kuok. And they are bound to get easier to stay in, considering that by then, Law students will be staying in Old Raffles...

Well, i'm beginning to feel sorry for those involved in Concert.

The other side of the coin is that I have absolutely NO EXCUSE to screw up this sem. And that means that I am gunning for straight A- this sem.

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

------
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 ??)