Upon being heavily exposed to maths and science related work all these years, I've already lost the ability to appreciate and understand literature.
This realization came when a literature text was given as homework for my Japanese module. Reading and knowing what is happening in the story is not a problem. However after the reading the last line, I was stunned - 'Huh? It ended? What is the story trying to say?'. Then I went to read the questions which followed, and sadly I couldn't answer most of them at the first glance. 'What did that person do wrong? Was he even wrong at all?' I was bewildered by the question which asked to list the bad things that the characters had done. And there was this question about the moral of the story. There were 5 points but I could only fill up one point at most.
Of course I tried to force myself to answer all the questions, based on my own interpretations which I had convinced myself over a long period of time. Well, there was no right or wrong answers after all but I was quite surprised that I had to spend such a long time to answer those seemingly simple questions.
There was another time when I didn't even realise that the story I was reading is from a romance novel... The interaction between the personage didn't appear very romantic to me...
Despite the difficulty in grasping the hidden meaning at first, the inference is actually pretty clear. I could understand it right away when the teacher explained. But why couldn't I figure it out by myself? It should be my own problem then.
Not sure if this is necessarily a bad thing, but I think I'm more suited to objective texts like news articles. There is also a kind of article where the author will describe an anecdote and attempt to link it to some philosophy. Yea, I'm bad at reading that as well, as I don't see the link most of the time.
'If you can see it, you can. If you can't, you can't no matter how much you try.'
Looks like I'll be facing a huge challenge in my Japanese module.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Thursday, January 21, 2010
It has come!
Yep, the Singapore version of Just for Laughs Gags. We used to watch it often on TV Mobile, and laugh at foreigners being teased. How about watching our fellow Sgeans being teased?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnoeXIeMpu0
Embedding disabled
Considering how Sgeans hate being made a fool of in the public, I believe the production team has met with several difficulties dealing with the unsporting attitude of the people teased. Comparatively, the foreigner 'victims' shown in the episode appear to be more accepting towards the joke.
Somehow it becomes unsettling (as well as annoying) to see the frowning and anger expressions by Sgeans. Because it seems to signal an incoming complaint bomb... (via online forums, newspapers, Stomp, etc)
Compared to the original version, the jokes were rather mild - probably to avoid being scolded by the victim as much as possible. Can't imagine how badly the production team will be bashed if the more 'thrilling' ones were carried out.
Previously there were some reports of jokes being played on local artistes, which failed pretty badly. The artistes felt that their trust was betrayed, and the silly unproductive joke deprived them of their precious time.
After all it's natural for people to enjoy looking at people being teased but not themselves being teased.
Makes me want to watch 'Gotcha', hosted by Moe Alkaff many years ago, to know why it used to be so popular then.
As for this one? Somehow it doesn't have sufficient pulling factor to make me want to watch further...
Anyway to those interested, the show is currently airing on Channel 5 every Tuesday 9pm.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnoeXIeMpu0
Embedding disabled
Considering how Sgeans hate being made a fool of in the public, I believe the production team has met with several difficulties dealing with the unsporting attitude of the people teased. Comparatively, the foreigner 'victims' shown in the episode appear to be more accepting towards the joke.
Somehow it becomes unsettling (as well as annoying) to see the frowning and anger expressions by Sgeans. Because it seems to signal an incoming complaint bomb... (via online forums, newspapers, Stomp, etc)
Compared to the original version, the jokes were rather mild - probably to avoid being scolded by the victim as much as possible. Can't imagine how badly the production team will be bashed if the more 'thrilling' ones were carried out.
Previously there were some reports of jokes being played on local artistes, which failed pretty badly. The artistes felt that their trust was betrayed, and the silly unproductive joke deprived them of their precious time.
After all it's natural for people to enjoy looking at people being teased but not themselves being teased.
Makes me want to watch 'Gotcha', hosted by Moe Alkaff many years ago, to know why it used to be so popular then.
As for this one? Somehow it doesn't have sufficient pulling factor to make me want to watch further...
Anyway to those interested, the show is currently airing on Channel 5 every Tuesday 9pm.
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Back to Mugging
Somehow the 1st week of this semester doesn't feel the same as that of the previous semesters. The stress of school term can already be felt right from the first day. Was bombarded with assignments and group work (due tomorrow >_<) during the first Japanese lecture. Can't complain much about that since I already knew Japanese modules are notorious for having a huge workload.
Tutorials and labs will begin from the 2nd week for me. Don't really understand why chem engin modules require one additional week of tutorials. This means I've to rush through everything within the first weekend, and the subsequent weeks will be worse. With 4 out of 5 days ending at 6pm (except Friday but I'll most probably go out till late anyway) I can foresee most of my work being pushed to the weekends. If possible, try not to organise any outings during the weekends haha. Even Monday evenings are fine with me, since I won't be doing much work anyway.
Lab is another headache. It's like some kind of biweekly group project, requiring a 20++ pages of lab report each time. The hard part about doing group reports is trying to find a common schedule to discuss and consolidate. And sometimes due to various circumstances you have to do it at the last minute but other members may not want to do so.
Can feel a greater stress approaching. Have to switch to the mugging mode fast before my pace starts to collapse.
Just feel like ranting and grumbling...
Tutorials and labs will begin from the 2nd week for me. Don't really understand why chem engin modules require one additional week of tutorials. This means I've to rush through everything within the first weekend, and the subsequent weeks will be worse. With 4 out of 5 days ending at 6pm (except Friday but I'll most probably go out till late anyway) I can foresee most of my work being pushed to the weekends. If possible, try not to organise any outings during the weekends haha. Even Monday evenings are fine with me, since I won't be doing much work anyway.
Lab is another headache. It's like some kind of biweekly group project, requiring a 20++ pages of lab report each time. The hard part about doing group reports is trying to find a common schedule to discuss and consolidate. And sometimes due to various circumstances you have to do it at the last minute but other members may not want to do so.
Can feel a greater stress approaching. Have to switch to the mugging mode fast before my pace starts to collapse.
Just feel like ranting and grumbling...
Friday, January 08, 2010
Black Market
Before the start of every semester, one of the must-do tasks in my preparation list is textbook buying. Sometimes I feel that buying textbooks is more of a cumbersome affair than bidding modules. We search the forum and try to look out for cheaper prices, but most of the time we don't even know what's the true market price for the brand new original textbook. Therefore we're usually in the dark of how much can we actually save by buying secondhand books. We often base our target price on what the buyers set, but buyers too, often base their selling price on what other buyers set. As a result, the prices will not deviate much from a certain value, which is good in a way though.
We'll probably try to search for one that sells for below the 'standard' price. But those cheaper ones tend to get snapped up pretty quickly. Occasionally there will be slightly better deals when sellers throw in extras such as lecture notes, tutorials and reports. (Good riddance of wastepaper eh?) And sometimes we might have to compromise for an older edition if we are really determined to protect our wallets. The problem is, how low should it get before we're convinced to pay? Will you settle for the same textbook for $30 if you happen to see a sold $25 one? Does the $5 make a big difference? If we decide to become picky and wait for another $25 to come, there might be a chance that it might never come at all. And even if it does come, we must check the forum regularly enough to make sure that we can catch the good deal before others. If we really can't get hold of the desired textbook from the forum, buying from the bookstore is the only alternative. Most of us will be curious to compare the prices between bookstores first before buying, which means more hassle. If we're slow, the textbook may be sold out already and we've to wait for another week or so before the stock comes. This means additional return trip, and more more hassle.
Buying textbooks usually accompanies selling those from previous semester. Selling is more relaxed than buying I feel, since we just have to create a new topic in the forum and wait for somebody to contact us. Occasionally we might need to 'bump' up our topics when it gets too old. But there are some nitty gritty stuff in the transaction which I find interesting to talk about. Haha.
- Do I need your name?
Since the buyer knows the seller's name, it would be courtesy for the buyer to introduce his/her name too. But apparently knowing the buyer's name doesn't matter much to the seller (and vice versa) since both parties will most likely address each other as 'modulecode-seller/buyer', like 'GEM2901 textbook seller'. Probably this same 'name' is also used to save the other party's phone number in the phonebook. In fact I think it might be more confusing to identify yourself as your own name, especially when several transactions are going on at the same time, since we attach the module code to the identity of the buyer/seller rather than name. Furthermore, we will probably conveniently delete the number of the other party from our phonebook after the transaction is settled, so a proper identity is not required. Unless the buyer wants a refund later haha.
Talking about refund, since there is no Consumer Act covered for such textbook trading activities, trust and integrity plays an important role here.
Knowing the other party's name does give you other information too, which will bring us to the next point.
- Guy or Girl?
This is one thing a curious seller would want to know. We would probably try to deduce the gender of the other party so that it will be easier to visualize the person when communicating, or to identify the right person when meeting face-to-face. If the name is known, gender can be easily deduced. But sometimes when the name seems ambiguous, in other words - appears unisex, we can't confirm the gender with 95% confidence. Take for example, an hanyu pinyin name without English name, like 'Yihui'. (Sorry to use your name, if you're called Yihui') Can you tell if Yihui is a guy or girl? 义辉 and 怡慧 do make a difference.
Another way perhaps is to deduce from the SMS style. The use of smiley faces tend to give me a female impression, though I know many guys do use it casually too. Personally I don't use smiley, tongue or whatever face towards strangers, or someone whom I've never met before. It's like smiling to a blank wall - you can't visualize a face to smile to at all. The use of extra 'z' or 'x' added to the end of a word might be a indicator of girl too, like 'See ya denz!' A more formal style might indicate a guy. But well, all these are just based on gender stereotypes. Exceptions exist everywhere. The best we could do is to deduce a personal probability that one is a guy or a girl.
- Which faculty are you from?
People who are not very very curious may not want to know this. Plays a little part in setting a convenient venue to meet up, but not very important. If the textbook belongs to a module of a specific course, it's natural to assume that the person is from the particular course or faculty. But it gets tricky for general modules like GEM and SS. My assumption will depend on which department the module belongs to. But somehow my faculty stereotypes will start to kick in haha. I tend to think that girls will belong to Arts, guys will belong to Engin or Science, those who type SMS in a more formal style will belong to Business... Wahahaha...
- The truth is out!
Eventually the buyer and seller have to meet up face-to-face. Have you ever had a shock (ok 'shock' is too big a word, how about 'little surprise') when the other party is different from what you have thought him/her to be?
Hahaa...why does it sound like some kind of blind date...lol.
Anyway hope everyone can get their desired textbooks.
I must be too free to write all these...
We'll probably try to search for one that sells for below the 'standard' price. But those cheaper ones tend to get snapped up pretty quickly. Occasionally there will be slightly better deals when sellers throw in extras such as lecture notes, tutorials and reports. (Good riddance of wastepaper eh?) And sometimes we might have to compromise for an older edition if we are really determined to protect our wallets. The problem is, how low should it get before we're convinced to pay? Will you settle for the same textbook for $30 if you happen to see a sold $25 one? Does the $5 make a big difference? If we decide to become picky and wait for another $25 to come, there might be a chance that it might never come at all. And even if it does come, we must check the forum regularly enough to make sure that we can catch the good deal before others. If we really can't get hold of the desired textbook from the forum, buying from the bookstore is the only alternative. Most of us will be curious to compare the prices between bookstores first before buying, which means more hassle. If we're slow, the textbook may be sold out already and we've to wait for another week or so before the stock comes. This means additional return trip, and more more hassle.
Buying textbooks usually accompanies selling those from previous semester. Selling is more relaxed than buying I feel, since we just have to create a new topic in the forum and wait for somebody to contact us. Occasionally we might need to 'bump' up our topics when it gets too old. But there are some nitty gritty stuff in the transaction which I find interesting to talk about. Haha.
- Do I need your name?
Since the buyer knows the seller's name, it would be courtesy for the buyer to introduce his/her name too. But apparently knowing the buyer's name doesn't matter much to the seller (and vice versa) since both parties will most likely address each other as 'modulecode-seller/buyer', like 'GEM2901 textbook seller'. Probably this same 'name' is also used to save the other party's phone number in the phonebook. In fact I think it might be more confusing to identify yourself as your own name, especially when several transactions are going on at the same time, since we attach the module code to the identity of the buyer/seller rather than name. Furthermore, we will probably conveniently delete the number of the other party from our phonebook after the transaction is settled, so a proper identity is not required. Unless the buyer wants a refund later haha.
Talking about refund, since there is no Consumer Act covered for such textbook trading activities, trust and integrity plays an important role here.
Knowing the other party's name does give you other information too, which will bring us to the next point.
- Guy or Girl?
This is one thing a curious seller would want to know. We would probably try to deduce the gender of the other party so that it will be easier to visualize the person when communicating, or to identify the right person when meeting face-to-face. If the name is known, gender can be easily deduced. But sometimes when the name seems ambiguous, in other words - appears unisex, we can't confirm the gender with 95% confidence. Take for example, an hanyu pinyin name without English name, like 'Yihui'. (Sorry to use your name, if you're called Yihui') Can you tell if Yihui is a guy or girl? 义辉 and 怡慧 do make a difference.
Another way perhaps is to deduce from the SMS style. The use of smiley faces tend to give me a female impression, though I know many guys do use it casually too. Personally I don't use smiley, tongue or whatever face towards strangers, or someone whom I've never met before. It's like smiling to a blank wall - you can't visualize a face to smile to at all. The use of extra 'z' or 'x' added to the end of a word might be a indicator of girl too, like 'See ya denz!' A more formal style might indicate a guy. But well, all these are just based on gender stereotypes. Exceptions exist everywhere. The best we could do is to deduce a personal probability that one is a guy or a girl.
- Which faculty are you from?
People who are not very very curious may not want to know this. Plays a little part in setting a convenient venue to meet up, but not very important. If the textbook belongs to a module of a specific course, it's natural to assume that the person is from the particular course or faculty. But it gets tricky for general modules like GEM and SS. My assumption will depend on which department the module belongs to. But somehow my faculty stereotypes will start to kick in haha. I tend to think that girls will belong to Arts, guys will belong to Engin or Science, those who type SMS in a more formal style will belong to Business... Wahahaha...
- The truth is out!
Eventually the buyer and seller have to meet up face-to-face. Have you ever had a shock (ok 'shock' is too big a word, how about 'little surprise') when the other party is different from what you have thought him/her to be?
Hahaa...why does it sound like some kind of blind date...lol.
Anyway hope everyone can get their desired textbooks.
I must be too free to write all these...
Sunday, January 03, 2010
Decade Review
Strictly speaking, 2011 should be the start of the new decade, rather than 2010. But many sites have been doing summary for the past 10 years of 200X. Shall join in too in reminiscing the milestones and major events which happened to me during the past decade. =)
*listed in chronological order as far as I can remember*
2000
- Started secondary school life in TCHS
- Met Genie
- Began my experience with Japanese language in MOELC (but quitted within 1st year)
- Lost my wallet (for the 1st and last time)
- Caught up with Hello Kitty craze
- Did 1st major project on 3D shapes
- Began my 6-years journey in the band as a clarinetist
- Was introduced the book 'Harry Potter'
- Down with 'once-in-a-lifetime' chicken pox (and spread it to someone hahaha)
- 1st outdoor camp @ Sentosa
- Met Relf
- Performed in NDP
- Failed a subject for 1st and last time (shh...)
- Birth of my online nickname 'Servbot'
2001
- Met Han
- Started listening to YES933 on regular basis
- SYF Band Silver Award
- Camping @ Serimbun
- Bought my one and only mandopop album
- Perception of teaching occupation changed after seeing teacher broke down in front of class
2002
- Antarctica clique formed
- Created 1st personal webpage
- Started playing PS2
- Camping @ Pulau Ubin OBS
- 1st experience in kayaking and rockclimbing
- Interest in Chemistry sparked
- 1st O Level paper (Chinese)
2003
- Learnt card game 'Bridge'
- 1st experience in dragonboating
- Handphone stolen (never lost my HP since)
- Welcomed a new member to my family
- Friend passed away
- Holidays extended due to SARS
- Experience program in China cancelled (Awww)
- SYF Band Gold Award
- Learnt bowling
- Farewell to very last Chinese lesson
- Took O Levels
- Tour to Genting
2004
- Chose to study the feared subject F Maths
- Met anon
- Grew a little resentment towards PRCs
- Drank alcohol the 1st time
- Met zzyo
- Created my 1st blog (with colourful but ugly template)
- 1st experience in pool
- 1st experience in golf
- Learnt Mahjong
- Disillusioned towards MAF
- 1st experience in Kbox
2005
- Birth of current Blogspot blog
- Took S-paper
- Met yohfng
- SYF Band Silver Award (ended by journey as a clarinetist since)
- Stopped watching 7pm dramas (after Double Happiness)
- Took A Levels
2006
- Had my own personal room
- Addicted to my 1st MMORPG - Maplestory
- Relearnt Japanese
- Applied for Debit Card (together with ATM card)
- Started watching Jdramas regularly
- Enlisted in NS
- Became a tank mechanic
- Obtained driving license
- Took up 1st tuition assignment
- Took my 1st and last puff
- Learnt cycling
- Took my 1st JLPT (and subsequently once yearly)
2007
- Down with major skin problems
- Watched 1st pop concert in indoor stadium
- Helped out in NDP as contingent marshaller
- Became an admin clerk
- Gained interest in boardgames (not monopoly scrabble those kind)
- Signed up Facebook
- Paternal Grandma passed away
2008
- 1st Cruise trip
- Started jogging regime
- ORD!
- Met Zhui Xing
- Began university life
- Celebrated 21st birthday
2009
- Trip to Japan
- Maternal Grandpa passed away
- Trip to Australia
- Shifted house
I don't think the next decade is going to be as eventful as this one. After all as one experiences more, there are lesser new things to learn.
Hoping for a wonderful year ahead =)
*listed in chronological order as far as I can remember*
2000
- Started secondary school life in TCHS
- Met Genie
- Began my experience with Japanese language in MOELC (but quitted within 1st year)
- Lost my wallet (for the 1st and last time)
- Caught up with Hello Kitty craze
- Did 1st major project on 3D shapes
- Began my 6-years journey in the band as a clarinetist
- Was introduced the book 'Harry Potter'
- Down with 'once-in-a-lifetime' chicken pox (and spread it to someone hahaha)
- 1st outdoor camp @ Sentosa
- Met Relf
- Performed in NDP
- Failed a subject for 1st and last time (shh...)
- Birth of my online nickname 'Servbot'
2001
- Met Han
- Started listening to YES933 on regular basis
- SYF Band Silver Award
- Camping @ Serimbun
- Bought my one and only mandopop album
- Perception of teaching occupation changed after seeing teacher broke down in front of class
2002
- Antarctica clique formed
- Created 1st personal webpage
- Started playing PS2
- Camping @ Pulau Ubin OBS
- 1st experience in kayaking and rockclimbing
- Interest in Chemistry sparked
- 1st O Level paper (Chinese)
2003
- Learnt card game 'Bridge'
- 1st experience in dragonboating
- Handphone stolen (never lost my HP since)
- Welcomed a new member to my family
- Friend passed away
- Holidays extended due to SARS
- Experience program in China cancelled (Awww)
- SYF Band Gold Award
- Learnt bowling
- Farewell to very last Chinese lesson
- Took O Levels
- Tour to Genting
2004
- Chose to study the feared subject F Maths
- Met anon
- Grew a little resentment towards PRCs
- Drank alcohol the 1st time
- Met zzyo
- Created my 1st blog (with colourful but ugly template)
- 1st experience in pool
- 1st experience in golf
- Learnt Mahjong
- Disillusioned towards MAF
- 1st experience in Kbox
2005
- Birth of current Blogspot blog
- Took S-paper
- Met yohfng
- SYF Band Silver Award (ended by journey as a clarinetist since)
- Stopped watching 7pm dramas (after Double Happiness)
- Took A Levels
2006
- Had my own personal room
- Addicted to my 1st MMORPG - Maplestory
- Relearnt Japanese
- Applied for Debit Card (together with ATM card)
- Started watching Jdramas regularly
- Enlisted in NS
- Became a tank mechanic
- Obtained driving license
- Took up 1st tuition assignment
- Took my 1st and last puff
- Learnt cycling
- Took my 1st JLPT (and subsequently once yearly)
2007
- Down with major skin problems
- Watched 1st pop concert in indoor stadium
- Helped out in NDP as contingent marshaller
- Became an admin clerk
- Gained interest in boardgames (not monopoly scrabble those kind)
- Signed up Facebook
- Paternal Grandma passed away
2008
- 1st Cruise trip
- Started jogging regime
- ORD!
- Met Zhui Xing
- Began university life
- Celebrated 21st birthday
2009
- Trip to Japan
- Maternal Grandpa passed away
- Trip to Australia
- Shifted house
I don't think the next decade is going to be as eventful as this one. After all as one experiences more, there are lesser new things to learn.
Hoping for a wonderful year ahead =)
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