Tuesday, April 25, 2006

The big con job

I was just going through the SMU website on the universities that SMU were in partnership with and I just realised that the biggest name they had was the University of Pennsylvania. The rest of the schools, well, there's Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Carnegie Mellon University, and that's about most of the big names. There seems to be primary focus on the United States, because all the universities in the UK and Australia, are all not really renowned. Even those in the US, they don't have those that are the popular choices, like University of California, Cornell, Princeton, Imperial College, London School of Economics. It's like they just have one big name to cover up all the small names they have. It's like being blindsided and I feel a little cheated. How many students actually get to go to uPenn for an exchange? 2 a year?! Ridiculous!

Thursday, April 20, 2006

the scholarship interview and the salsa class

I had my scholarship interview for the SMU scholarship and the Lee Kong Chian Scholars' Programme on Tuesday. It wasn't what I had originally expected but I had at least explored the possibility of the interview format in my mind, a little. Yes, instead of like a one-on-one or two-on-one kind of interview, it was more of a group discussion based selection process. As the instructors had said, it was more of a test of how we think on our feet and interact with our peers. I guess I wasn't too bad, but I wasn't fantastic too. Tense, probably. I was speaking way too fast, and I think my nerves showed. There were some really amazing people there too. This girl called Geraldine (thank God she's on my side), she seemed so incredibly calm and composed. We had 2 topics to choose:

a. Rank the following qualities in some order. Explain the criteria you use.

Kindness
Love
Tolerance
Resourcefulness
Empathy

b. Nothing (yes you read that right)

Okay, the first was pretty easy to discuss. There were much dispute, but I guess it turned out pretty alright. "Nothing" was really hard. Like seriously, how do you discuss about nothing? Think about it.

I don't really think I did that well for the interview, but I'm still hopeful that I get selected for the next round. :)

My first salsa class was yesterday! The class seemed okay, a nice and relaxed setting. I think I'm pretty good at it! The instructor (Ivy) said that she thinks I learn pretty fast and shouldn't have any problems. Haha! We learned the basic steps at the start of the lesson and ended dancing with partners, doing some fanciful turns (okay they were basic, but they looked pretty fanciful).

Anyway, I got home pretty excited and when I saw Bryna online, I asked her if she wanted to learn with me. Seriously, I think I couldn't have been any dumber. How long have I known her? Okay I've known her for pretty long, but it wasn't until like 3 weeks ago that we really started talking. The weird thing is that, even though we've only been talking for 3 weeks. I just have the feeling that we've known each other since forever. You know, the way that we can relate to each other. I guess, sometimes, someone like this comes along in your life, huh? But no, I think I should build a strong friendship with her before anything else. That seems to be what I always tell myself I should do, but I'm never able to follow through on it. Sigh. :( This time, I've got to.

Sunday, April 16, 2006

A good Friday, no a great Friday and Saturday

Bryna invited me to church on Good Friday, the Hebron Bible-Presbyterian Church. It's rather far away, near Yew Tee MRT station, but it's just a surprising 30min away from my place. This was my first time to church, and surprisingly, it felt..strangely good. I don't know how to say it, we just sing hymns and listen to the pastors read some of the bible verses. But at the end of the day, the noble act of Jesus' sacrifice did really touch my heart. In the end, it was as if a weight was lifted off my heart, like I didn't feel so alone in the world anymore. I guess Christianity isn't all what I thought after all. It's more of like spread the love kinda thing. As a result of Friday, I went for Easter Sunday's service as well. This was basically almost the same, but just more lively since it was the celebration of Jesus' resurrection.

Friday was a really good day. I went shopping with Bryna after that. The chemistry between us seems almost right. It could be just that she's good with all people. I think I may really be falling for her. She's like I don't know, confident, caring, spontaneous, and much much more. It can't be just summarised in a few words, you've got to know her, to really know that she's that great. The thing now is that, I don't know if I'm going to church to spend time with her, or it's because I really do enjoy going to church. Probably it's both. Hmm..sometimes, I'm really rather foolish. And the worst thing, I know I'm foolish, and yet I continue being foolish.

Okay, second part of Friday was spent with my ex-classmates from Kuo Chuan Presbyterian Primary School - Phuay Eng, Garvin and Tammy. And I met up with some others later on - Kenji and Serene. I think all these years, I've been thinking that neighbourhood school students grow up to be Ah Bengs, but after Friday, I just felt enlightened and I felt that I shouldn't have gone to Ai Tong at all. Garvin was sophisticated, he had that aura of calmness about him, he was speaking confidently and had the air of a real man. Kenji was speaking even more confidently, and he had a remarkable wit, able to turn any conversation into something ridiculously funny but sensible at the same time. The best thing about all of them, their mastery of English was better than their Chinese. This completely destroyed the stereotype that only the best students speak English. I think the fundamental difference between the Ai Tong people and the Kuo Chuan people was that the Kuo Chuan people really treated you as a true friend, and not harbouring any hidden intentions. Okay, some of the Ai Tong guys were great too, like Joel who helped me a great deal in Primary 3. But the level of friendship was markedly less deep. People were more concerned about studying, rather than building bonds and making friends. Even though Kenji hadn't met Garvin in ages, they still looked like they were the best of friends. It was the same in RI as well. There were lots of people who were the cool crowd and only mixed among themselves. But hey, that's all in the past, now I know better than to try to fit in into something that I'm not, I just create a new kind of cool.

Elitism is a creeping problem, amongst our elite. You don't want to know that the people who would be the future leaders of Singapore are people who were part of the exclusive crowd when they were young.

On to Saturday, I had a great shopping trip with Yahui in the evening. First, we went to cut my hair, which turned out pretty alright. We looked through the magazines and found 3 nice hairstyles. One, an ultra short one, low maintenance but a little too short. The next, a short length type, that was relatively quite easy to style and rather common as well. The last, a really suave haircut, in the David Beckham mould. And I really like the David Beckham haircut, I think a few months back. Alas, it was the kind that could only last about 2 to 3 weeks before you had to cut it or it would look horrible. Oh I chose option 2 in the end.

We had dinner at Thai Express and shopped at night. We went to tons of places, and Yahui rejected most of what she saw. And in the end, she didn't get anything. I got a really nice white long sleeved shirt from Topman. It cost $79 (!!!!!!) but I guess it's worth it, because the design's really good. And it's my FIRST long sleeved white shirt. I so needed one.

Went home after that, and stepped into the house with my Dad announcing that Chelsea had beaten Bolton comprehensively. Chelsea, on the brink huh. What a disappointment. And I was really hoping for a romantic finish.

Tuesday, April 11, 2006

How to piss off your customers

I was just reading this article in HWM (Hardwaremag) about how to kill your existing customers. It was basically this swipe against Singnet for dropping the prices for their broadband internet plans and laughing at existing customers who already had signed for a 2 year contract under a more expensive rate. A memorable quote: "a Liquidated Charge of S$630 would be applicable, and that Singnet seeks your understanding that this Liquidated Charge is not targeted specifically at you or any other subscriber in particular". Okay it may not be what Singnet typed exactly. But it still gets on my nerves knowing that the suckers who had the misfortune of signing an earlier plan would be left forsaken, hung out to dry. I'll probably just sign up for Starhub after my contract ends.

I realise it's been quite some time since I last blogged. It's not that I haven't been wanting to blog. So often I'm on this page, typing my sentences out and I just feel at a loss for words. So I close the window, deleting the few already penned out sentences.

Falling sick is bad. I don't understand why I always stay awake in the middle of the night when I feel sick. And I know I'm sick, not just feeling cold or uncomfortable or something. But there's something in me telling me that I'm sick. So last Thursday, I stayed up from 3.15am all the way till when I saw the doctor in the morning at 8am. Medicine has a wonderous effect of making me drowsy. Haha. It's sort of feeling high. Everything seems to be floating about and you don't feel yourself. No, it's not a good feeling.

Saturday, April 01, 2006

Watching grown men cry

I was just watching the highlights of the 1966 World Cup Finals between England and West Germany. When England won the cup, some of the players just broke down and wept. The English were crying tears of joy, the Germans, well they were swept by disappointment.

Watching them cry, I was touched too. Have you ever thought about winning the World Cup? I mean, seriously, something you work so hard for, the ultimate dream? You can take any kind of situation, just being able to achieve your ultimate dream, it will really take everything out of you trying to take in everything.

Conversely, the Germans, they just broke down, knowing that they were so close, but still unable to achieve their goal. That's really the hardest to stomach. Being so close, yet still so far.

2 different emotions, the same outcome. I wish I won the World Cup too.