sch work

i find myself falling behind in my schoolwork.

MA1505 - missed about 6 hours worth of lectures. i have not seen Prof McInnes for almost 2 weeks plus, miss his corny jokes and his 13.59. Worse, my tutorials are hell behind schedule, and my tutor sucks.

PC1431 - tutorials behind schedule, a lot of key concepts not there yet, and i screwed up the mid term test

EG1109 - no comments, my lecturer and tutor both suck. ditto comments for the mid term test.

EG1413 - good tutor, but little or no progress in the project due to struggling with the other 4 modules

SSA2209 - having s/u'd it, it's less of a worry to me though the essay is still in the way...

whatever, i should just try my best, after all i WAS almost going to fail my 2nd driving test but still passed in the end...

but what if i don;t make the grade and get kicked out after this year? that sounds real crappy to me.

how long can i continue like this?

S/U

i have decided to S/U my SS module, Government and Politics of Singapore. Yes, I have a keen interest in the subject, but it is somewhat inhibited by the following factors:

1. my original essay topic left me with nothing good to say about the current state of politics in Singapore and i felt that to be on the safe side, i should not write on this. i don't want to find myself on the wrong side of the way things are.

2. i am competing with year2 and 3 pol science students who are majoring in this..

also, i have finally chosen my friendly email address! instead of remembering 'u05.....@nus.edu.sg', my email is now matthewchua@nus.edu.sg.

Wonder how to get it? Goto http://www.nus.edu.sg/fea and unlock the magic!

I passed my driving test!

'nuff said.

the past few days leading up to my retest have been a roller-coaster ride for my emotions. i felt woefully unprepared for it, because i had been so busy with stuff in nus that i did not go for lessons until a week before the test...

i was slightly late for my warm up! starts at 10.05, i reached at 10.10 and my warm up instructor was trying frantically to call me! but anyway, the warm up went on. while trying vertical parking, i met sheena! she's learning auto. it proceeded without a hitch and i soon found my self where i was 3 months ago, outside the testers office awaiting my fate.

got car no. 92, and a certain Mr Tan, Route 3. everything went well until the slope. because he chose the steeper slope, i was not used to the required biting point and my car rolled back TWICE! to make matters worse, during crank course, i struck the kerb and when doing corrective action, i did not look backwards (fail to confirm safety!) based on that, i got all my 18 points in the circuit! i thought to myself 'finish already lah...' but i decided to complete the test nevertheless. iu went out on the road and this time, there was no one out there to sabo me.

the whole test went on without a hitch except that he reminded me to switch off my signal! "(oh no) and soon it was time to go back to the debriefing room. i can remember the sigh of relief i had after i stopped the car and off the engine. and i muttered "Thank You Jesus" when i switched off the engine. the second test was over. now to know the results. i did not expect to pass.

we sat down and he started scolding me for the crank course, the slope, etc.. then he turned over the page... for what must have been the longest few seconds in my life.

i will never forget what happened next.

wordlessly he flipped to the last page, and ticked the 'PASSED' box.

then four words.

"ok, i pass you."

cell group today... update from the previous post

the cab fare was $13.30. no more cab, no more macdonalds or kfc or whatever nonsense during the mid term break.

cell group today was great. although i arrived late and tired, but i was refreshed by the presence of God and the message. and at the end of it, sis xiaowei laid hands on all of us and i once again had the opportunity to exercise my catching capability. Today was better but still got room for improvement.

there will be quite a bit of activities lined up for me over the weekend. friday will be the inaugural jurong centre first aid club meeting with dr patrick tan again. saturday will as usual be ushering followed by mooncake festival celebration at ntu. heheh.... the next day, must reach NHQ by 7am to put up the banner and set up all the stuff. i sense this is the litmus test as to whether i can be promoted to grade 4... anyway, mrs tan was not too happy about the tablecloths thingy, but let her be lah...

i got a new student at the tuition centre, bringing my total number of students to 5. when it hits 6, then i will be promoted and my pay will then be $25 per hour which will translate to $300 per month. i hope that happens soon. God is opening the doors for me to receive FINANCIAL breakthrough in this... AMEN GOD BE PRAISED

2nd round driving test around the corner!

i went back for driving lessons after a 3 month break from driving. and it was car 47, a reversal of the numbers 74 which i had for my test car. was a refresing refresher for driving and the instructor was a nice guy, giving me tips for how i should tackle the test round 2 next week! haha.....

i was supposed to help vincent print his theory test result too but i forgot to bring his slip! so i had to go home to take. wasted an hour as mum was home and made me od the usual stuff that i do when i am at home. in the end i had to take cab to go for s/u forum...

speaking of s/u forum, i dunno if i want to s/u my singapore studies or not. cos like some of my friend commented that my english is quite good, so my writing should not be too much of a problem. how arh? should i s/u it or not?

today is taxi day! i went for dr patrick tan's talk after s/u forum. Thought it started at 6, but it ended up starting at 6.45 (the time i need to leave for cell group!!) what a waste. dr tan persuaded me to stay for a while. i ended up staying till 7.30! :( after that i had to rush cab down to cell group. sis xiaowei offered to pay my cab fare but i told her no need. i feel bad imposing on her. this is just so not right.

i am in the cab now as i type this! i think the cab fare will be in the neighbourhood of 15 bucks! its 11 bucks now. i only have 12 bucks with me. crap. hope driver is nice.

this is the 3rd week i have to rush for cell group. this is not good. but it is the sacrifice i have to make to be there i guess.. hahah

back to school... i am so royally screwed! i can't finish my critique. will probably have to spend engin day tomorrow rushing my critique and statics assignment NOT TO FORGET the phyiscs webassign that i need tol go through with mr andrew. good thing lessons end at 10, Prof McInnes (who always uses 13.59) Maths lecture. He is the all time best joker in NUS i think. His lecture is the only one where people voluntarily go to sit in the front few rows. i skipped his lecture today though, slept at 2.30am last night so cannot really wake up haha. only lesson i went for today was Prof Singh SS tutorial which was interesting. only that next time will be my turn to present. uh-oh.......

today wasnt a fruitful day, mainly cos of my driving lah. because of that i didnt have the chance to take a good nap which explains why i am so tired today. urgh...... my mind is still in 2nd gear whereas the NUS syllabus is in 5th gear zooming down the expressway already! and i just realised to my horror that the SS essay is due NEXT WEEK. a 2000 word essay.

U know what? I may be good and confident of getting an A. But maybe i really SHOULD S/U the SS module cos a last minute job of a 2000 word essay may not really produce the best result.

at this moment, the cab is next to Kang Fei's favorite Italian restaurant al Forno Pasta, where myself, bro Alwyn and a few other of Fei's friends joined his parents for a lunch a while ago. bro Alwyn is in the states now.

ok i am arriving at xubin's house now.. time to shut down my laptop.. out

random ramblings

i am thinking of asking mr yong for a break from st john. after all, it is really too busy... and i doubt that i am accepted by NPCC anymore as no one has got back to me about the collection of uniforms. Let it be then. I probably will formally give up my place, whether or not the St John unit in NUS gets set up, because my main focus now is not on co-curricular activities.

It is on my studies, getting a high CAP, and getting into the Masters programme. In this age whereby just any Tom, Dick and Harry can get into university, a basic bachelor's degree simply won't cut it anymore.

Think about it. It may not be easy to get into an Ivy League university, or NUS, NTU or SMU for that matter. But there's always places like SIM and MDIS, which offer degree programmes, and if one cannot even gain admission to these places, there's always overseas. This translates into B.*. degrees being so common. One needs at least a double degree, or a masters, to at least distinguish himself from the crowd. Sad, but that's the fact of life. I don't know if the craze will eventually catch up to the Ph.D. level though. By definition, a doctorate is the highest academic degree that can be conferred by a university. If a Ph.D. becomes as common as air, how then will people distinguish themselves in terms of their qualifications? Post-doctoral, i suppose..... But this has got to stop somewhere. If this continues, somewhere down the line people will spend half their lives in school which simply cannot happen.

I came into NUS with an aim to graduate with 1st class honours at the end of my fourth year. The proliferation of foreign scholars, especially in the Engineering faculty, and my dismal understanding of the concepts, have dampened my hopes somewhat.

Now I am going on a tirade against the foreign scholar system in Singapore. If you are a foreign scholar reading this, no offence intended. I love you just the same, my gripe is not with you, but it is with the system.

In sec 3, i was supposed to do triple science. But what happened is that back then, there were about 50 PRC students posted to my school, and by default all of them take triple science. One class, 3C, was meant to be solely for the PRC students. But as the maximum class size was 36, some of the students had to spillover to 3D, which was the class i was posted to.

They took out some local students to make space for the PRCs. I was one of them.

If not for the system, i may very well be doing medicine instead of engineering by now. But given the punishing workload of medical students, perhaps it may not be such a pleasant alternative though. The workload of engineering students is far from perfect though...

Actually, from asking around i have heard the faculties in NUS (in order of siong-ness) are as follows...

SIONG
Medicine
Archi
Engine
SDE

NEUTRAL
Science
Law
Biz
SOC

SLACK
Arts

'nuff said.

Driving Test Round 2.... around the corner!!!

To stay in hall.. or not to stay in hall?

First of all, the RH activity allocation system (RHAMS) seems to be down! I can't select my activities.

Had a short chat with JCRC President himself. He advised me that although my tuitions will stop me from coming for Hall activities sometimes, i should still attend the hall activities as much as possible. And if somehow i fail to meet the mark, i can appeal at the end of the year.

so now, i am faced with THE QUESTION: do i wish to stay.. or not????

i have to list out my activities by tomorrow 3pm. i more or less know which ones i want...

the decision to stay in hall or not next year has to be made by tomorrow 3pm.

updates

To all my readers.. sorry for lack of update for the past month.. i have been VERY VERY busy with stuff in NUS. it's like during the first two weeks, the lecturers took us for a slow drive. Then, they jam the accelerator.

I'm currently surviving in NUS Engineering (Common Engineering = this year is an important year = you better not cock up else you land yourself somewhere u dun wan). I am also staying in Raffles Hall.



My hostel room. Guess which side is mine.

I've come to realise that now it is WEEK 5, mid-term break (as well as the DRIVING RETEST) is just TWO weeks away! Which means there will be a test coming up after the mid-term break. Time to really get my act together.

Also I am rushing to complete the NTU e-Prep course. I am in the final stage with just a couple more assignments to complete but the due date is 8 Sep (this thursday). Three days to live. Oh well. Got to rush already. My two tuition assignments are not doing anything productive for my stress level. I don't understand how the foreign scholars can cope with 6 or 7 modules and still have so much time while we locals are trying to keep our head above the water with 5. Sucks. Maybe that's why they're scholars, since they must be the cream of the crop in their home country in order to be here.

And also, I met a girl whom I like, but i have no time to get into any relationship now so i shall leave things as it is...

I have went for and passed the interviews for NUS NPCC which means that, if all goes well, I will soon be known as P/H/INSP (NPCC) Matthew Chua, in addition to my current involvement in St John. I will have the same rank in both uniformed groups. Cool eh? But then again, whether i can manage is a different thing. Perhaps I have to give up one or the other.

And that leaves another vital question unanswered: DO I WISH TO STAY IN HALL NEXT YEAR??

To stay in hall requires a fair bit of committment in hall activities. 4 activities and 3 auxiliaries ("aux") over the year. I chose to be garang and signed up for SEVEN committees. Most of them were as major members (i.e. i will have people under me), and one even as a middle management (something like ad-hoc chair in council). Upon learning about the true involvement of the committees, i realised that i wouldn't able to juggle all these and studies (in addition to my involvement in SJAB and NPCC). So i declined. Anyway, most major activities in hall take place on Mondays and Wednesdays, which excludes me due to my tuition assignments. Sucks. I have an uphill task trying to stay in hall next year...

And I still do not know.. DO I WISH TO STAY, OR NOT?

1) Stay - but i will have to clock a lot of activities, at the expense of my other CCAs and most importantly, my studies

2) Go to Kuok - i have to clock some activities as well, maybe one or two activities, advantage is that i can leverage upon my involvement in NPCC and SJAB (if it does get recognised as an official CCA) for points

Advantage of Kuok over RH is that 1) no hall activities - it was started by one guy who said 'screw hall activities'... 2) no meals - no need to get stressed over meal timings and packing food

Disadvantage is that hall generally has the more communual culture while places like Kuok would be more isolated since the residents don't really need to interact with each other. I've grown to love the RH culture in the month that i've been here. Disadvantages 1) and 2) are easily negated by the abovementioned factors.

Guess the bottom line will be this: i enjoy my 1 year in RH, and if worst comes to worst that i cannot stay, so be it. I did not get to serve out a full term as class chairperson in sec3, but it played a really important part in my leadership development and my confidence level. I would probably not have got the courage to run for council, or to become an officer in SJAB, if not for the 6 month stint as class chairperson, might i add in the absence of support from my classmates.

So my 1 year (or more i hope) in RH hopefully will play a part in my life as an NUS undergraduate, and I will treasure the memories in time to come.

Enough of my uni life.

For SJAB, yesterday was AGI and Zone 9 formed the Guard-of-Honour! This was my seventh AGI and once again it was at Serangoon Stadium. (I hope to get a chance to be in the parade one of these days.. see how it goes.) I took part in the parade twice in 1998 (where former President Wee Kim Wee was the reviewing officer) and 1999 (where President S.R. Nathan came). This year, it was Prof. Low Cheng Hock, President of the National St John Council. Some of my fellow officers were speculating on whether he could have run for presidency this year.. but i don't know if he is interested.. haha. Maybe if got the chance to ask him, then we will know.. ha ha

Once i reached there i went to look for some of my fellow CHC ppl in SJAB and there was one, Lynette. She was one of the contingent commanders! anyway her contingent was one of the best during the march past. Some of the officers didn't really march properly, sad to say.. a disgrace... guess the standard of officer training is really going down the drain...

I spoke with one of the others about possibly starting a St John open unit in NUS. We have a wide member base, based on the fact that about half the OTC batch was from JC and most of them would go on to NUS, and more importantly, the medical students can potentially be recruited as future Brigade Surgeons. This may very well be the 'X-factor' in reviving the fledging SJAB, as we need more leaders to help out with the original objectives of the St John Ambulance, which is the teaching of first aid and nursing.

Once this idea takes off, more open units can be set up especially in NYP (is it the one which offers Nursing diplomas??) Then we can have a pool of medical and nursing students taking this all-important role, while clocking CCA points at the same time.

Anyone within the St John fraternity feel free to comment :)

selling my iPod

selling my brand new iPod 20GB for $450 (negotiable). Market price $528. Need the $ for my uni studies. Interested drop me an email matthew_chua@yahoo.com