March-ing To An End

March is coming to an end! Which means it will soon be my favourite month! ;)

I have handed in my final report of my thesis yesterday, which means my whole FYP journey is complete. Because the final report is only worth 5% (5% of 12 MCs), most students would celebrate once they completed their presentations and interviews last week, i.e. 95% of FYP done.

The past few days have been back to the mundane semester life. To be honest, I haven't been doing much except doing tutorials and attending lectures. It's good to take a short break after all the FYP mania. Hmm, I plan to kickstart my revision in April. It's pretty early because I'm doing so badly in my core modules. Been submitting wrong codes for my projects because I absolutely have no idea how to do, scoring below average for mid-terms, struggling to even do 1/4 of the tutorial questions. Yes, it's that bad, and I'm beginning to worry about my used-to-be-relatively-safe CAP. Well, let's hope something good will come out of the revision, else I will probably need to seek consultation sessions with the respective professors during the study week.

I went down to get my X-ray report on Wednesday, and the report said everything was normal. That meant 4 different doctors have confirmed that there's nothing wrong with my lungs, i.e. no lung infection or lung cancer. However, the doctor said the X-ray can't identify conditions like sensitive nose or asthma. Hmm, asthma!? It would be so rare for an adult to develop asthma. Anyway, I'm being referred to see a specialist at the respiratory department in mid-April, so let's see what happens. Oh, and I'm still coughing. At times like these, I'm just glad I have a decent amount of monthly income to pay for the medical expenses.

Will be turning 25 soon. It's puzzling when people say it's 1/4 of the life. If you look at the life expectancy, one has probably completed close to 1/3 of their life journey. It's a fact, not a pessimistic viewpoint. :P For the first time, I'm trying to plan a series of mini-celebrations for myself, i.e. splurging on myself. Haha. Looking at some decent food places to feast, as well as getting some better looking clothes to upgrade my wardrobe, and possibly trying out some new activities or visiting new places! Been grounding myself at home too much for the first quarter of 2012! Hopefully, I won't burst my budget. Lol.

Alright. See you all in April! :)

Oral Presentation + Interview

Yesterday was the oral presentation and the interview for my Honours Project, both taking up 25% and 20% respectively.

My main approach for the oral presentation was to keep things simple. This means discarding complicated theorems and throwing out some of the proofs. However, I went to some of my peers' presentations before mine and realized most of their presentations were so technical and incomprehensible. After the introduction, everyone would be lost already.

Still, I decided to persist on the simplicity of my presentation. Having rehearsed 5 times prior to the actual presentation, I was able to articulate clearly and pace myself comfortably throughout the 40 minutes. I think my tuition lessons have given me the confidence and made me feel completely at ease while addressing a group of people. Of course, it helps when I know my stuff pretty well.

Then the interview came after the presentation. That's the "exciting" part. Students (the audience) are supposed to exit the room and it will be a closed-door Q&A session between the student and the two examiners. One of them is my supervisor, and the other one is a random professor assigned by the Statistics department. Usually, the supervisors will be the lenient ones, while the other examiner will be the one firing tough questions. After all, it makes sense because the supervisor has interacted with the student through weekly meetings for the past 8 months and thus have a better idea of the project. Whereas, the examiner is the one that has just received the thesis 2 weeks ago. Depending on one's luck, I have heard horror stories of examiners asking questions that are so demanding, e.g. perform some proof of some theorem on the spot.

My supervisor let the other examiner go first. My examiner fired a total of four questions. Some required further explanation of my presentation, others required me to justify some of the decisions I took in my modelling options. Ultimately, every model has its own pros and cons.

Then it was my supervisor's turn. When the first question came out, I was shocked! Pleasantly shocked. It was so generic and such an open-ended question. The mood in the room instantaneously turned from serious to casual, at least for me. The supposedly Q&A session turned out to be a friendly conversation and an exchange of ideas between me and my supervisor. Unbelievable.

And then, it all ended! :)

I think the Q&A session between my supervisor and I summed up why I enjoyed so much working under my supervisor for the past 8 months. He has a burning passion for Statistics, gives his help and advice readily when one asks for it, cares very much for his students, very approachable and friendly yet serious when the occasion calls for it. I'm glad I have chosen him to be my supervisor for my Honours Project.

Contrary to what some of you might think, I didn't give myself any pressure when I stepped in front of the audience. At the back of my head, I know I have a job secured. It is not a do-or-die situation, but the most important thing is that I maintain my focus and give my best. Honestly, I would only rate my chances of getting an A- or better to be around 60-70%, but I know I have given my 100%.

Whatever the result come May, I'm still very grateful for all the assistance my supervisor has given to me right from Day 1 all the way to yesterday. :)

Birthday Wishlist

This is the 4th year I have blogged on this day, primarily to provide some ideas for friends who intend to splurge and reward me with a little gift when I turn a year older in one month's time.

I was reading what I wrote last year.. "Alright, unlike the previous years when I listed down long paragraphs of 'wants' and 'don't wants', I have NO wishlist this year."

Haha. I'm so tempted to copy and paste it for this year. After all, I did receive some nice presents last year. But likewise, some presents weren't that useful for a practical person like me.

I'm the type of person who prefers to do my shopping myself. If I like or want something, I will just buy it myself and not wait for people to buy for me. Haha. Alright, the short and simple list is as follows..

STUFF YOU CAN CONSIDER:
Belt
Cufflinks
Tie
Other interesting gifts
Alternatively, you can get 'general' vouchers from Robinsons, Capitamalls, or similar so that I can buy whatever I want!

STUFF I DON'T WANT:
Electronic gadgets (from iPads to cameras to handphones)
Handphone pouch
Bag
Watch
Cologne
Wallet

March-ing On And On

Hello everybody! It's almost the middle of March already.

I went to the polyclinic last Wednesday, saw the doctor and got my X-ray done on my chest. Thankfully, the doctor said it looked like I had no lung infection based on the initial scan of the film. The formal report will be out in about one or two weeks' time so I hope I'm alright. I'm still coughing though, and I have probably drunk at least a few litres of cough syrup since January. Oh, you can add a few dozen of Strepsils as well. Lol. Oh well.

My FYP presentation is in 8 days' time and I have just done up the slides. 37 slides, excluding the appendices. I haven't rehearsed or prepared my speech yet, but it should be fine for a 45-minute presentation. It has been quite some time since I last did public speaking (if you exclude my weekly tuition classes), but I'm confident that I will be comfortable.



As for my core modules, I haven't been doing well (i.e. below average) for my assignments. More assignments to complete, and I'm having difficulties doing them because I don't know what's going on in the classes. This is what happens when you don't make many friends in the cohort, or either that, your friends take a different module or graduate after 3 years. And then, you are left to fend for yourself. I shall put in more effort after FYP, otherwise it would be an absolute joke if my CAP didn't meet the mark come May.

In case you want to interact with me, you can do so on the tagboard on the right. I'm also available on SMS/MSN/Facebook/Whatsapp/email. Apologies to my dear friends if I haven't been able to spend as much time as I would have liked with you all. But anyway, smartphones are amazing these days. Haha. Oh, last but not the least, my username on 'Draw Something' is Relf. :P

March-ing On

I realized it's almost a week since I last blogged, probably even longer since I last gave an update about what I've been up to.

To begin with, I'm still relatively busy with schoolwork. The assignments and projects of my core modules can be pretty time-consuming. Thankfully, I only have two core modules to juggle. The bad thing is, I'm still very lost in ST4240 (Data Mining), for a long list of reasons. The good thing is, I'm beginning to understand what's going on in ST4245 (Statistical Methods for Finance), partly because some of the topics are relevant to my FYP.

Speaking of FYP, it was surprisingly easy to finalize my presentation timing. The department, my supervisor and my other examiner have been very prompt in their replies and I was able to book the venue smoothly. :) I have not started preparing the slides though.

Okay, I'm still coughing. If I'm not wrong, it has been 54 days. I have already visited Western and Chinese doctors for 6 times in total, and spent close to $200 (something which I'm very guilty about). I really hope it would heal on its own in the next few days, or I might consider seeing a specialist and get my X-ray done to see what's wrong with me.

Oh well, that's all.