Today must be my most productive day for as long as I can remember.
Spent 5 hours cooped up in DSAP's computer lab, working really hard on my thesis. The final result was the addition of 6 pages and 894 pages into my thesis. Having the counter on the sidebar seems to motivate me more, because there's a sense of achievement when I edit and increase the number. Haha.
These days, I think I'm feeling better even though I can't really describe how I'm feeling.
I'm feeling a little happy today because I have made huge strides in my thesis, but I think I'm still behind time because the deadline is coming up. So I'm not really happy. In fact, the little part of me blames myself for not doing more in December. Oh well, time that has passed will never return. No point brooding over it.
I'm feeling sick (literally) because I have been coughing since the eve of Chinese New Year. I have gulped tons of cough syrup but it's not getting better. Mind you, it's 5 days already. And my throat is feeling really terrible now. Let's hope it gets better before my throat breaks down.
I'm feeling tired of asking people out/planning outings (at least for now). Earlier, I tried to ask friends if they were free in the 2nd half of January to catch up, and none of the 3 group outings that I tried to plan, materialized. None! It's amazing how 4 people cannot even find a free day to meet up. Is everyone so busy? Or has the friendship become less important to other commitments in life?
Alright. I shall stop being negative. It's not good for my mental well-being. Weekend has begun early for me because I have no classes on Friday. Maybe I should go out for some good food and shopping tomorrow. Haven't eaten a decent cheesecake for quite some time.
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Singapore's TFR
The issue of babies turned out to be the headlines for the Sunday Times today, as well as for PM's Chinese New Year message.
This was what PM said in the message:
"Singapore’s TFR picked up slightly in 2011 (1.20) compared to 2010 (1.15), but I do not think we have reversed the long-term downward trend."
Note: In layman terms, you can interpret Total Fertility Rate (TFR) as the number of babies that a woman gives birth to. In demography, the definition is much more complex.
Anyway, I was initially surprised that Singapore's Total Fertility Rate (TFR) actually rose! But after a few seconds, I realized that there's nothing surprising after all. Let's take a look at some historical TFRs for the Tiger year, Rabbit year, and the Dragon year.
1986 (Tiger): 1.42
1987 (Rabbit): 1.64
1988 (Dragon): 1.98
1998 (Tiger): 1.54
1999 (Rabbit): 1.55
2000 (Dragon): 1.68
2010 (Tiger): 1.15
2011 (Rabbit): 1.20
2012 (Dragon): ?
If you look at the yearly data, the TFR has been decreasing steadily. But if you were to look more closely, there's almost always an upward trend from Tiger-Rabbit-Dragon years. The reasoning is largely due to Chinese tradition I guess, as most Chinese prefer to have babies in the Dragon year, and they avoid having babies in the Tiger year. Thus by relative comparison, it results in an increase in the TFR during the Rabbit year.
The dangerous thing is, people who are unaware may give full credit to the policy makers, thinking that we are on the right track. In actual fact, no one knows for sure the true impact of the zodiac signs but I truly think that, more has to be done if Singapore is serious about raising its TFR.
Off my head, things that needed to be done include giving more paternity and maternity leave, reviewing the baby bonus schemes (the amount has been the same since 2007 but prices have inflated), and aside from monetary benefits, helping to improve work-life balance and create a conducive environment for families to raise their children.
To conclude, I think PM is right in saying that downward trend is not reversed. But it puzzles me to wonder why people avoid giving birth in the Tiger year? Isn't tiger a strong and brave animal, second only to the lion in the animal kingdom? After all, it is in Singapore's coat of arms too. If I had to choose, I would rather be a tiger than a rabbit in the wild. :P
This was what PM said in the message:
"Singapore’s TFR picked up slightly in 2011 (1.20) compared to 2010 (1.15), but I do not think we have reversed the long-term downward trend."
Note: In layman terms, you can interpret Total Fertility Rate (TFR) as the number of babies that a woman gives birth to. In demography, the definition is much more complex.
Anyway, I was initially surprised that Singapore's Total Fertility Rate (TFR) actually rose! But after a few seconds, I realized that there's nothing surprising after all. Let's take a look at some historical TFRs for the Tiger year, Rabbit year, and the Dragon year.
1986 (Tiger): 1.42
1987 (Rabbit): 1.64
1988 (Dragon): 1.98
1998 (Tiger): 1.54
1999 (Rabbit): 1.55
2000 (Dragon): 1.68
2010 (Tiger): 1.15
2011 (Rabbit): 1.20
2012 (Dragon): ?
If you look at the yearly data, the TFR has been decreasing steadily. But if you were to look more closely, there's almost always an upward trend from Tiger-Rabbit-Dragon years. The reasoning is largely due to Chinese tradition I guess, as most Chinese prefer to have babies in the Dragon year, and they avoid having babies in the Tiger year. Thus by relative comparison, it results in an increase in the TFR during the Rabbit year.
The dangerous thing is, people who are unaware may give full credit to the policy makers, thinking that we are on the right track. In actual fact, no one knows for sure the true impact of the zodiac signs but I truly think that, more has to be done if Singapore is serious about raising its TFR.
Off my head, things that needed to be done include giving more paternity and maternity leave, reviewing the baby bonus schemes (the amount has been the same since 2007 but prices have inflated), and aside from monetary benefits, helping to improve work-life balance and create a conducive environment for families to raise their children.
To conclude, I think PM is right in saying that downward trend is not reversed. But it puzzles me to wonder why people avoid giving birth in the Tiger year? Isn't tiger a strong and brave animal, second only to the lion in the animal kingdom? After all, it is in Singapore's coat of arms too. If I had to choose, I would rather be a tiger than a rabbit in the wild. :P
Monday, January 16, 2012
Burnt Out
I think I have been immensely stressed out the past few days by the whole FYP saga. In fact, I have been in an awful mood swing since the beginning of 2012. For large periods, I have been moody, distracted and nervous. However, I would believe that this is just a passing phrase (albeit slightly longer than normal), and I'm very sure I'm not suffering from depression or any form of illness.
Sometimes I feel that I have too many things on my mind, and being someone that loathes boredom, I just can't stop thinking, worrying, predicting, analyzing about everything that's happening in my life right now. For the past few nights, I have been staying up past 0200h, doing nothing in particular (while my simulations run in the background).
I only have lessons on 3 days of the week, but I'm not looking forward to any of them. The lectures are VERY dry and boring, and it doesn't help when I'm having difficulty following the accent.
Chinese New Year is next week, but I'm not looking forward to it either. What's so interesting about visiting relatives and the small talk? Plus, the money I get from red packets aren't significant given my other sources of income. The only thing that's good is that I get to wear new clothes - I bought them myself. :)
Valentine's Day is next month, but I'm not looking forward to it as well. I know I'm not young anymore. Even my parents have begun to hint/nag already. Sometimes, I find them amusing. Oh well.
Alright, enough of my negativity. At least there's something I look forward to - splurging on myself. Been buying branded goods for myself, treating myself to expensive restaurants and booking holidays as well. Although we all know money doesn't necessarily bring happiness, it's actually kind of fun and it gives the mood and the burnt out mind a temporal lift! Of course, I'm still spending well within my limits. :P
Talk about working hard and playing equally hard. Hmm. Haha.
Sometimes I feel that I have too many things on my mind, and being someone that loathes boredom, I just can't stop thinking, worrying, predicting, analyzing about everything that's happening in my life right now. For the past few nights, I have been staying up past 0200h, doing nothing in particular (while my simulations run in the background).
I only have lessons on 3 days of the week, but I'm not looking forward to any of them. The lectures are VERY dry and boring, and it doesn't help when I'm having difficulty following the accent.
Chinese New Year is next week, but I'm not looking forward to it either. What's so interesting about visiting relatives and the small talk? Plus, the money I get from red packets aren't significant given my other sources of income. The only thing that's good is that I get to wear new clothes - I bought them myself. :)
Valentine's Day is next month, but I'm not looking forward to it as well. I know I'm not young anymore. Even my parents have begun to hint/nag already. Sometimes, I find them amusing. Oh well.
Alright, enough of my negativity. At least there's something I look forward to - splurging on myself. Been buying branded goods for myself, treating myself to expensive restaurants and booking holidays as well. Although we all know money doesn't necessarily bring happiness, it's actually kind of fun and it gives the mood and the burnt out mind a temporal lift! Of course, I'm still spending well within my limits. :P
Talk about working hard and playing equally hard. Hmm. Haha.
Friday, January 13, 2012
Got A Shock
Yesterday I had a shock of my life when I was doing my FYP.
While probing through my data, I realised one of my assumptions for my model failed terribly. Despite the obvious invalidity, I did a proper hypothesis test, hoping that the p-value would be at least above 0.05. But no, the p-value was 0.0000001.
Imagine you have a coin, and you threw it 52 times...
"TTTTTTTHHHTTTTTTHHHHHTTTTTTHHHHHHHHHHHHTTTTTTHHHHHHH" (25 Tails, 27 Heads)
Does it look fishy?
With only 6 weeks left to the deadline of the submission of my thesis, this was the first time I panicked. Literally.
In short, I had two options. One, to pretend that I didn't discover it and continue as per normal. After all, I bet no one would be free or bothered to look through 20 years of data and list down the details to check for patterns. Two, take the bold move to change it and run the simulations all over again.
Knowing my personality, I would definitely choose the second option. I wrote an email to my professor to tell him about the phenomenon that night, met him to discuss about it in the afternoon. After which, I spent a few hours in the lab cracking my brains, and finally, I managed to write the new code! Night was spent testing out the code to make sure it's what I intended, and making sure there's no errors.
And after a stressful day, I'm glad the model is rectified! All within 24 hours. Of course, the story doesn't end here. I have to re-run over 4 million simulations which will take around 50 hours to complete, in order to get my new results. The old results, which I painstakingly obtained, will be useless. :(
It's quite ironic that I was listening to Sodagreen's 你在烦恼什么 while I'm checking my code. I have never felt so stressed and tensed for a long time, especially when I was struggling terribly to get the code I wanted. To be honest, my coding skills aren't that good.
Anyway, everything's more or less fine now. Lastly, I really want to thank my professor very much for squeezing time at such a short notice to discuss my problem. Likewise, I appreciate the concern showed by my friends after seeing my status update on Facebook. The response was unexpectedly amazing, I must say.
Alright, I need to sleep. I'm exhausted.
While probing through my data, I realised one of my assumptions for my model failed terribly. Despite the obvious invalidity, I did a proper hypothesis test, hoping that the p-value would be at least above 0.05. But no, the p-value was 0.0000001.
Imagine you have a coin, and you threw it 52 times...
"TTTTTTTHHHTTTTTTHHHHHTTTTTTHHHHHHHHHHHHTTTTTTHHHHHHH" (25 Tails, 27 Heads)
Does it look fishy?
With only 6 weeks left to the deadline of the submission of my thesis, this was the first time I panicked. Literally.
In short, I had two options. One, to pretend that I didn't discover it and continue as per normal. After all, I bet no one would be free or bothered to look through 20 years of data and list down the details to check for patterns. Two, take the bold move to change it and run the simulations all over again.
Knowing my personality, I would definitely choose the second option. I wrote an email to my professor to tell him about the phenomenon that night, met him to discuss about it in the afternoon. After which, I spent a few hours in the lab cracking my brains, and finally, I managed to write the new code! Night was spent testing out the code to make sure it's what I intended, and making sure there's no errors.
And after a stressful day, I'm glad the model is rectified! All within 24 hours. Of course, the story doesn't end here. I have to re-run over 4 million simulations which will take around 50 hours to complete, in order to get my new results. The old results, which I painstakingly obtained, will be useless. :(
It's quite ironic that I was listening to Sodagreen's 你在烦恼什么 while I'm checking my code. I have never felt so stressed and tensed for a long time, especially when I was struggling terribly to get the code I wanted. To be honest, my coding skills aren't that good.
Anyway, everything's more or less fine now. Lastly, I really want to thank my professor very much for squeezing time at such a short notice to discuss my problem. Likewise, I appreciate the concern showed by my friends after seeing my status update on Facebook. The response was unexpectedly amazing, I must say.
Alright, I need to sleep. I'm exhausted.
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Sherlock Holmes: A Game Of Shadows
After setting an all-time record of 16 movies in 2011, I have caught my first movie just 9 days into the new year.
Initially, I would have preferred something that was more light-hearted and less 'work' on the mind, but most of the movies that were showing didn't appeal to me. Haha. Unless you are the type that really analyzes every single word of the conversations and pays full attention to all the little details, it's actually not taxing on the brain.
The storyline is actually quite complex to describe (oops, but it's not mind-boggling lah), because it's a detective-based storyline. Ultimately, Sherlock Holmes is supposed to be led to the mastermind where they will have a showdown in Switzerland. Strictly speaking, there isn't a clear climax and most of the scenes are just parts of the storyline. Thus, I didn't know when the movie was coming to an end. Anyway, the movie was listed as 128 minutes but it felt much longer than that. Hmm, I wonder what that means.
Still, I must say I liked the amount of humour that was generously spreaded throughout the movie. The actors and actresses did their parts well, especially Robert Downey Jr. (as Sherlock Holmes), who probably stood out for his performance. Reminds me of Johnny Depp in the Pirates series. To sum it off, some of the scenes were nicely shot.
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Thursday, January 5, 2012
2011/12 Semester 2
My workload for this semester:
ST4199 - Honours Project in Statistics
ST4240 - Data Mining
ST4245 - Statistical Methods for Finance
Bidding has been very smooth for my final two semesters. Select 2 modules in Round 1A and it's all done. It's really puzzling how students can run out of points to bid and have to appeal for modules, when I have over 2800 Programme Points and 2200 General Points left. (For your info, my faculty gives me 600 Programme Points and 400 General Points every semester.)
As usual, ST4199 continues for the final semester. As for my core modules, I didn't have any choice but to take up ST4240 and ST4245 because I have already taken the rest of the Level 4000 modules that are offered this semester. Reviews of these two modules have been pretty negative, partly due to the extreme difficulty of the content, as well as, *ahem* the quality and clarity of lectures. Well, I shall judge for myself then.
If all goes well for tutorial balloting, I should be free on Mondays and Wednesdays. My last chance to slack before I start working in June! Hehe.
ST4199 - Honours Project in Statistics
ST4240 - Data Mining
ST4245 - Statistical Methods for Finance
Bidding has been very smooth for my final two semesters. Select 2 modules in Round 1A and it's all done. It's really puzzling how students can run out of points to bid and have to appeal for modules, when I have over 2800 Programme Points and 2200 General Points left. (For your info, my faculty gives me 600 Programme Points and 400 General Points every semester.)
As usual, ST4199 continues for the final semester. As for my core modules, I didn't have any choice but to take up ST4240 and ST4245 because I have already taken the rest of the Level 4000 modules that are offered this semester. Reviews of these two modules have been pretty negative, partly due to the extreme difficulty of the content, as well as, *ahem* the quality and clarity of lectures. Well, I shall judge for myself then.
If all goes well for tutorial balloting, I should be free on Mondays and Wednesdays. My last chance to slack before I start working in June! Hehe.
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
2012
I realized I will always write something at the start of the year, so this year will be no different. The past days have been spent out partying with friends and I haven't had time to sit down and pen a entry.
On New Year's Eve, I had tuition lessons in the morning, before embarking on a shopping spree in Orchard. Bought a pair of jeans, a leather wallet, a leather bag, and a t-shirt, and it all came up to more than $250. Would have been more if not for promotions/discounts of about 20-30% on average. Haha. At night, I headed to Sengkang West for the countdown to New Year, or rather, for the fireworks lah. I must admit that the fireworks were pretty, but throughout the show, I couldn't help but wondered how much money was spent.
On New Year's Day, I had to wake up early to head down to my grandpa's place and also for lunch with family. After lunch, I went to Jonathan's house for Mahjong with Eugene and Edwin. We managed to play 2 full games, surprisingly broke even after the first game, but some luck in the second game allowed me to return home $10 richer. Should be one of my best and smoothest days, as my "ting pai" to "hu" rate is very high. Almost always.
On 2 January, I met my NS friends for lunch and frisbee at Sentosa. The meeting time was 1200h, and when I arrived at 1201h, I was the first out of 6. This is not the first time I'm the first to arrive and when everyone is late, and I was quite irritated. Next time, I will just be late for frisbee meetings. My time is just as precious as anyone else's, and I don't see why I should be the one waiting for most of the time. Anyway, I was quite surprised at my poor fitness level, considering I did exercise in the past few weeks. Oh well, the frisbee was still fun lah.
The last 3 days have been pretty happening for me right? Hehe.
In 2011, I said 2010 was a great year for me. In 2012, I wouldn't say that 2011 was fantastic. If there was a word to describe the year, it would be 'busy'. The whole year was full of dramatic ups and downs, which means there were times when I felt very lousy, but there were also special moments that I will remember for the rest of the life.
For my studies, my CAP has dipped slightly in 2011 but it's understandable. I shall not be misleading, it only dropped by 0.01. I have one more semester to go, and 2 more months to the submission of my Honours Thesis, and it's time to work hard on my FYP.
For my finances, the past year was definitely a major boost! I'm glad I have comfortably surpassed my pre-Mexico levels! As you would have guessed, it's largely due to the 361 hours of tuition, which contributed to 77% of my income. 12% came from the internship, 9% from parents' allowance, and 2% from miscellaneous stuff such as CNY angbao.
However, my expenses for this year have been very high as well. Increased daily spending, together with one-off purchases of laptop, handphone, and my overseas trips. Thankfully, I still managed to save up 44% of my total income.
For my career, I feel very fortunate, lucky, and relieved that I have secured a job upon graduation. Started job hunting in August, and after going through rounds of tests, interviews, meals, and two rejections, I had three awesome job offers to consider. It was extremely difficult to decide because of various reasons, but I made my decision after thorough evalulations which resulted in some sleepless nights, as well as consultations with my parents, brother and friends. I think my parents seemed pretty happy that their dear son has found a decent job, but for me, I'm just excited to start work in June and learn new stuff at work, because it's getting a little boring in school already. Lol.
For my social circle, I have 'lost' friends and 'gained' friends this year, which is pretty normal. My top 20 friends in 2011 have seen 6 new names, as compared to 2010. The main core of my social circle is relatively consistent, although 3 new names broke into the top 10 in 2011. The average length of time I have known the top 20 friends in 2011 is 6.25 years (down from 6.45 years in 2010) and the figure is 7.8 years (down from 7.9 in 2010) for the top 10 friends.
Hmm, what else is there to add? Overseas trips? I have no concrete plans at the moment, but it seems pretty likely that I will be heading overseas in May or June before I start work, and maybe in December since I will need to clear leave as well. Haha. Relationship status? I'm still single, as my Facebook profile suggests. Lol.
So, happy new year to all my readers!
On New Year's Eve, I had tuition lessons in the morning, before embarking on a shopping spree in Orchard. Bought a pair of jeans, a leather wallet, a leather bag, and a t-shirt, and it all came up to more than $250. Would have been more if not for promotions/discounts of about 20-30% on average. Haha. At night, I headed to Sengkang West for the countdown to New Year, or rather, for the fireworks lah. I must admit that the fireworks were pretty, but throughout the show, I couldn't help but wondered how much money was spent.
On New Year's Day, I had to wake up early to head down to my grandpa's place and also for lunch with family. After lunch, I went to Jonathan's house for Mahjong with Eugene and Edwin. We managed to play 2 full games, surprisingly broke even after the first game, but some luck in the second game allowed me to return home $10 richer. Should be one of my best and smoothest days, as my "ting pai" to "hu" rate is very high. Almost always.
On 2 January, I met my NS friends for lunch and frisbee at Sentosa. The meeting time was 1200h, and when I arrived at 1201h, I was the first out of 6. This is not the first time I'm the first to arrive and when everyone is late, and I was quite irritated. Next time, I will just be late for frisbee meetings. My time is just as precious as anyone else's, and I don't see why I should be the one waiting for most of the time. Anyway, I was quite surprised at my poor fitness level, considering I did exercise in the past few weeks. Oh well, the frisbee was still fun lah.
The last 3 days have been pretty happening for me right? Hehe.
In 2011, I said 2010 was a great year for me. In 2012, I wouldn't say that 2011 was fantastic. If there was a word to describe the year, it would be 'busy'. The whole year was full of dramatic ups and downs, which means there were times when I felt very lousy, but there were also special moments that I will remember for the rest of the life.
For my studies, my CAP has dipped slightly in 2011 but it's understandable. I shall not be misleading, it only dropped by 0.01. I have one more semester to go, and 2 more months to the submission of my Honours Thesis, and it's time to work hard on my FYP.
For my finances, the past year was definitely a major boost! I'm glad I have comfortably surpassed my pre-Mexico levels! As you would have guessed, it's largely due to the 361 hours of tuition, which contributed to 77% of my income. 12% came from the internship, 9% from parents' allowance, and 2% from miscellaneous stuff such as CNY angbao.
However, my expenses for this year have been very high as well. Increased daily spending, together with one-off purchases of laptop, handphone, and my overseas trips. Thankfully, I still managed to save up 44% of my total income.
For my career, I feel very fortunate, lucky, and relieved that I have secured a job upon graduation. Started job hunting in August, and after going through rounds of tests, interviews, meals, and two rejections, I had three awesome job offers to consider. It was extremely difficult to decide because of various reasons, but I made my decision after thorough evalulations which resulted in some sleepless nights, as well as consultations with my parents, brother and friends. I think my parents seemed pretty happy that their dear son has found a decent job, but for me, I'm just excited to start work in June and learn new stuff at work, because it's getting a little boring in school already. Lol.
For my social circle, I have 'lost' friends and 'gained' friends this year, which is pretty normal. My top 20 friends in 2011 have seen 6 new names, as compared to 2010. The main core of my social circle is relatively consistent, although 3 new names broke into the top 10 in 2011. The average length of time I have known the top 20 friends in 2011 is 6.25 years (down from 6.45 years in 2010) and the figure is 7.8 years (down from 7.9 in 2010) for the top 10 friends.
Hmm, what else is there to add? Overseas trips? I have no concrete plans at the moment, but it seems pretty likely that I will be heading overseas in May or June before I start work, and maybe in December since I will need to clear leave as well. Haha. Relationship status? I'm still single, as my Facebook profile suggests. Lol.
So, happy new year to all my readers!
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