Satisfaction

Ok exams are long over and even the results are out. All I can say is that I'm satisfied. And that's all that matter in life. Be satisfied with anything that comes your way and believe that it happens for a reason. To be honest, life has been really kind to me all these while. I whine and complain at things, but come'on, I'm still alive and kicking. =P

Anyway have been stuck in camp for the past 2 weeks for my reservist. It wasn't as bad as I thought I would be. Everyone's so familiar, and I see many of them in school as well. So yea, turned out pretty well. But was down with fever for the 2nd week, but I still didn't take MC to finish my course. So now I'm suffering the after effects of the bug. Haha. Oh and did I mention that the army's such a pain. Just completed my 1st in-camp, and they already booked us for the next! And I have to shorten my SEP slightly for it. DAMN. And I don't wanna defer lest I change my unit and not know anyone for the rest of my reservist life. Haha. Oh well. Be a Singaporean and suck it up. Haha.

Anyway my SEP stuff is finally more or less settled. Hope the embassies won't give me more trouble and work anytime soon. Really want to relax for once this holidays. Spent quite a bit on all the documentation and stuff already. Hope I've seen the end of it. Really excited to head to the Netherlands soon! I really don't mind spending my time in a slower environment. All the hustle and bustle of Singapore city life is really not ideal. =X

Anyway being in a good mood recently, I rewarded myself for hard work well done 2011. Haha. Bought myself a Sony NEX 5N camera!

Have been eyeing this for a really long time. Didn't have a reason to buy the NEX 5 earlier, but now that my whole family is constantly travelling thanks to my parents retiring, I need another camera. Haha. Read lots of reviews and stuff before settling on this. Now I've gotta play around with it and figure out how to use it. Haha.

On a random note, my family and I are officially Sony fans! I think almost everything at home is made by Sony. =P

Mid-Exams Distraction

Alright I'm supposed to be studying but I'm not. Instead, I started watching lectures/talks on Asian vs. Western development by Prof Kishore Mahbubani, Dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy of NUS. It's really interesting how he's so persuasive and a really interesting speaker. He's very pro-Asian, so westerners would definitely not take his words without feeling awfully disgruntled. His speeches and debates are very provocative, which makes them seemingly full of judgments and propaganda. But if you look up the facts, they are all indeed truly objective and as such, would come as quite a shock to westerners. Truly inspiring. I really recommend people to take some time of mugging (ony applicable for those who are still drowning in pyps and lecture notes) and watch some of them. Oh and on a side note, he was just voted one of the world's top 100 thinkers. He really deserve it. =D

Anyway I suddenly thought of Operation Orion 2010. I really miss that trip and the people there.

I really miss the kids! Omg the kids are damn adorable (ok I sound like an absolute pedophile, but I love kids! =D)! And I'm feeling really sore that I will be slogging out in camp instead (after all the studying that made me put on quite some spare tires -.-zZZ). Oh well.

Aww.. It's the exams season again.

This semester, I just so much more relaxed than the last 2. Am I confident? I wouldn't say I'm really confident, but I kinda changed my mentality towards studies this semester. And it's really making learning so much more interesting.

The university shouldn't be like the A levels. All the mugging and frantically doing all the possible PYP ain't studying. It's memorizing. That's why I kinda question Singapore's engineering education. We are just producing students who can study very well. But that doesn't make an engineer. That's why I'm so persistent to study in Europe. In Europe, the universities train engineers, not educate one. And this one word makes all the difference. Engineering is a discipline, and the way it's taught should not be like science and math. So far in the university, I feel that only a couple of modules I've taken have sort of met this expectation - Process Safety, Health and Environment and Separation Processes. All in this semester. It really trains an engineers intuition - it's not always about getting the correct answer (although it would be good to). It's more of understanding what you learn and applying them to new situations. That's something I really enjoy. So exams aside, I really feel that this semester has been really fulfilling.. in every way.

Alright studies aside, I have been listening to Adele's songs these couple of weeks. Here are 2 songs that I really like.

Rolling in the deep

Somebody like you

These songs really grow on you. The more you listen, the more meaningful it gets. And every time I listen to it, I get this new experience. It's really good. The 2 songs are exact opposites. Rolling in the deep is more about a strong individual living her life to the fullest despite all the adversities that come her way, while someone like you really describes how people sometimes lose themselves in relationships. Really meaningful. It really shows the different sides of relationships. Go ahead and listen to them - I'm sure everyone who listens will get something meaningful out of them. =D

The Future

Someone commented yesterday that I seem to have my future all planned out and stuff. But I sort of think otherwise. The fact that my life's been super fast paced ever since my days of formal schooling ended, just meant that I have to do things spontaneously - to make decisive decisions at every point along the way. It's really not as easy as it seems. Sometimes it really makes me wonder if the choice I made earlier is correct, or if it's really the best choice. At every turning point in my life, I am bound to ask myself questions like "have I done my best?", "is there anything that I would have done differently?" or "What are my priorities?". But at every stage, my answer seem to change.

Actually I wrote a pretty long post about my life story, but felt that a single idea can encompass my entire point. Sounds really cliche, but to me, everything happens for a reason. Don't feel sad or blame everyone and everything around you when things don't turn out the way you want it to. You just have to believe in karma - what goes around, comes around. It may not be in the most obvious and direct way, but everything you do will eventually come back to you. It's really amazing once you experience it once - at least I felt that a couple of times already. So yeps, that's actually the main reason why I'm taking things much more easily that I did in the before. =D

Relationships.

Actually it isn't as nice as the title sounds. I was in school think afternoon for the FYP safety briefing. Such a bore. I really shouldn't have gone for it. 3 hrs of travelling for 45 minutes of lecture. LOL. Anyway the other half of the afternoon has been really productive. Caught up with my 2 hrs lag of online lectures and completed my part for the lab report. Really awesome. I guess that's uni - quality over quantity.

Anyway my entire night's off coz I had to celebrate my grandpa's birthday. So yeps, I self-declared a break for myself away from work. Haha. Sounds pathetic isn't it? But come on, let's face it. That's life for you. Ok that's not the topic for today.

So back to the topic - Relationships. I just returned home from my grandpa's house. Anyway, I realized that over the years, I'm just growing increasingly apart from my cousins from my maternal side. Actually to be honest, we were never close to start with. But every time I meet them, I actually don't know how to talk to them. I think it's because our experiences are very different - the path we have taken in life, the people we meet, etc. It's like at this point, when I talk to my brother, it's usually about university, work, family and cars. Haha. But these are things that my cousins cannot relate to. So after a few exchanges, silence fills the air. Kinda awkward. At least between me and my bro, I'm the far more talkative one. But talking to my cousins, I kinda not know what to say. Haiz. Kinda sad isn't it? I end up talking more to my uncles and grandparents.

But the opposite applies to my paternal cousins. Since young, I've been really close to them, growing up with them, attending almost the same schools as them and everything. As such, we can talk about almost anything under the sun. And over the years, we just got closer and closer. Now, it's as if I've got 4 brothers (coz coincidentally all of them are guys). Really fortunate to have such a close relationship with them. As such, isn't it quite strange that there is such stark contrast in my relationship with my 2 groups of cousins?

Anyway I'm really thankful to have such an awesome family. Actually I can't really remember the time from which I started to treat my parents more like my friends rather than parents so to speak. I can also talk to them about anything under the sun. Really fun people to talk to. Actually, watching dramas, I always watch about favoritism in the family. But at least in my family, I never really felt unfairly treated although I'm the younger child. My parents really strike a good balance between both of us, so yea, I'm really thankful of that. I guess the key is communication and balance. Actually my bro's kinda the more quiet one, so he seldom talks to my parents. But this is balanced with me being the ultra talkative one. So the is still communication within the family. And of course, trust is key. From young, I trust that my parents will make the best choices, and know what is best for me. As such, I respect their choices. In return, they gave me more freedom instead. It's like a spiral, but an upward one. Now, they basically leave me to do whatever I want. They do have their expectations, but it's not something that most parents would prioritize. These include spending some time with them regularly, manners, etc. It has absolutely nothing to do with academics or anything like that. And I'm really thankful for that.

Ok, the second half of this post is basically dedicated to my friends. I really gotta apologize this time to my TMS family peeps. This year, I have been missing and ps-ing you guys so often for outings! Especially since the start of the holidays, I've basically MIA-ed, more often than not, coz I'm not in Singapore. I'm really damn sorry! And I really want to thank you guys for being so understanding! So paiseh sometimes. But yea, I really appreciate you guys! I actually can't remember how we clicked, but our friendship's like... 8 years old already! Really thank you guys for being such an important part of my life for the past 8 years! You guys are damn awesome people! I will try to up my attendance k! =D

Yeps, the same apply to army friends! Omg I'm damn apologetic too! I keep ps-ing you guys too! I really wanna meet up with you guys, but somehow the timing just doesn't fit! Omg. Cursed. Haha. I will organize a dinner very soon before the exam periods begin! I haven't met up with you guys in a long time! =(

And to my JC clique. Somehow I get to meet up with you guys a bit more often. Coz very often, we meet at some damn weird timing and somehow, we are free. Really funny. Like late at night for k and supper.. Haha. And probably coz we meet up mostly when the overseas peeps are back, so we pretty much prioritize. But yea, really appreciate you guys so much! Damn fun to hang around with you guys! =D

To think of it, we actually meet many people throughout of lives, still, good friends are something really precious. They don't come by easily, and we don't need many of them. All I need is a few good friends to be there when I'm down, or when I just need someone to talk to. In fact, many a time, we don't really remember how on earth we actually clicked. But that's the beauty of friendship isn't it? And the most awesome thing about good friends is that I can be myself when I'm with them. I think I don't exactly reveal my personality easily. I think if I don't smile, I look kinda hostile. Hahaha. At least that's what some people tell me. (But then again, I smiling most of the time, like a standard emoticon. LOL... but that's not the point.) And it doesn't take frequent meetings and outings to maintain the relationship. It's all about mutual understanding. I love my friends. =D

Almost there!

Yay, it's almost the end of the semester already! Time really flew by this semester - faster than ever. Haha. Mid terms are pretty much over. I did pretty decent this time round (Phew.. such a relief..). Anyway I finally found the time this week to settle my truckload of administrative stuff. Graduate school stuff, exchange stuff, module planning, etc. Super tedious and time consuming stuff.

Anyway for many months, I was pretty confused with all the possible paths to take, but talking to Prof Quek on Tuesday was the best thing I did in a long time! Haha. I have been MIA-ing since the end of the last semester as I was overseas throughout the holidays. So yeps, thought it was a good idea to drop by for a visit. Haha. He really helped me think through all my options and he sort of gave me a good idea of the path I should head towards. And sometimes I feel very paiseh because he actually goes to great extents to help me. Scholarship, job, career options, etc. He helps me with all of them. Really can't thank him enough. At least now I'm very sure of my future - it's like I've finally found my purpose in university. At every stage of my life thus far, I've always got a goal that I can strive towards, and it's exactly that that really motivates and drives me ahead. But somehow when I came to the university, I lost that goal. For the whole of the last 2 semesters, I've been studying pretty much for the sake of studying, and nothing else. I didn't know what I was studying for. But finally, I seem to have found something worth fighting for - and I really hope to see it through. A great sense of assurance and confidence. Great feeling. =D

I guess that I have been rambling a lot to my friends recently about how I hate my life in NUS, etc. But I have been thinking through. Perhaps my first year was really bad, as I hadn't met the right people and I suffered a lot trying to adapt to a burden so heavy too quickly. Somewhat doing too much for my own good. But this semester, life got very much better. In fact, my workload this semester is the worst to date. But at least I feel much happier. I guess there are a few factors. My research mentor and supervisors are awesome people. They really helped me a lot in terms of getting the hang of things, which made the transition less painful despite  such high expectations. And they are just really nice people to talk to! Haha. =D And I have been quite a bit of stuff for Operation Orion this year, although I'm not going overseas this year because of my NS reservice. Oh well can't be helped. But I've learnt quite a bit as the treasurer as well. Totally worth the work. And my enjoying it as well, meeting new and awesome people. Haha.

Oh well. After this week, it will be the mad sprint to the end. Or at least it should be. Somehow after coming to NUS, to me, exams aren't that big a thing anymore. It's definitely not something I will lose sleep over, or get stressed out over. Haha. I guess I've sort of understood the fact that if you haven't done your work consistently throughout the semester, the last week of mugging ain't gonna help one bit. But if you've done fine throughout, then you will be good. New attitude in life. Haha.

Ok this is a short update for now. Will be back if I have the time. =D

A New Semester!

Ok, the day I landed in Singapore back from Texas, NUS started. LOL. That's pathetic. But I really don't regret going for the 2 summer programmes at INPG and UT Austin. I really couldn't ask for more! Anyway time really flies. It's already the end of week 6, which means next week's recess week! Ok some updates thus far. This semester has been a really fulfilling yet most tiring semester thus far. Here's a glimpse at my timetable..

CN3108: Chemical Engineering Lab II

CN3132: Separation Processes

CN3135: Process Safety, Health and Environment

CN3421: Process Modeling and Numerical Simulation

GEM1535: Clean Energy and Storage

GEK2008: Environmental History

EG2605: UROP

Really intense schedule. Almost fully packed everyday with my 27 MC semester - my heaviest semester to date. Oh and I started by UROP project. Some computational catalysis stuff. Really interesting, but it's really tough learning another programming software from scratch. It's like taking IT1005 again. Ouch. And my supervisor is probably the most infamous Prof in Chemical Engineering in NUS. But he's really a very nice Prof. No idea what's with all of "Are you MAD?!" response I get from my friends when I told them. Working for some PhD student and with an FYP student, who's also super helpful people. Can't thank them enough. I just had my first mid-terms for CN3132. I think I did really badly. I really hate MCQ papers, but everything in NUS is becoming MCQ. Haiz. What to do? Just keep pushing on and see how it goes. And for my history module, I did decent in my tutorials, so hopefully that would translate to good grades. But then again, if not good I can still S/U. So I will just try my best. 

Oh and I have been really busy with Operation Orion stuff as well. All the fund-raising activities and planning, and all the money matters. Really lots of work to do. But it's really fulfilling, so yea, I'm not complaining about it. But it's quite sad that I'm not going overseas this year, coz my STUPID re-service just had to clash with it.. EXACTLY! Really pissed. But it's not too bad, since it wouldn't be a bad idea to stay in Singapore with my family and friends before I go MIA for another 6 months for SEP. Anyway I SEP is more or less confirmed. I'm going to TU Delft. 

But I'm still thinking whether or not I should complete my degree in 2.5 or 3 years. Or rather, it's more of whether I want to stay another semester to pull up my CAP, or just be satisfied with what I have and move on to a M.Sc in Chemical Engineering. Hmm. Maybe I should just apply for a M.Sc Programme and see if I get in or not before deciding. I have been reading through lots of university websites/rankings and it seems like there aren't that many universities that offer a better engineering degree than NUS! My first choice would definitely be Eidgenossische Technische Hochschule Zurich or more commonly known as ETH Zurich, in Switzerland. Why? Coz it's in Europe, and I think the European system really suits me best. And it's probably the best place in Europe to get a M.Sc. Imperial and Cambridge's M.Eng is just equivalent to NUS B.Eng (Hons), so it's totally useless to get it. And the other option is University of California at Berkley. Really good engineering school. But the draw back is USA. I know it sounds insane to many, but to me, the US system isn't all that good. Doesn't suit me. And MIT and Cal tech.. come on, let's be realistic. They are probably too tough to get in, so I would really think twice before applying.

But then again, if I manage to land a good job, then I would give M.Sc a miss. Next thing is IA. If I take 3 years to complete, I can do IA! I have been asking many seniors and Prof's and they seem to advocate IA. Or at least VIP. Reason being it's good to have some Industrial exposure during undergraduate days. But to think of it, if I don't go SEP, I can do IA and still complete in 2.5 years! Such a headache! Gotta straighten out my plans and stick with it before it's too late. Anyone with any opinion about what I should do please feel free to contact me! I really need as much advice as I can get now! =D

And one more thing, I realize that I haven't been keeping in touch with my friends as often as I hoped these days, so to my friends, I'm really sorry if I PS-ed you guys for outings, coz I really can't find the time and energy to get out. So yea, will definitely make an effort to meet up more often!

And thanks to my TMS family for celebrating my birthday with me! Really appreciate it! 

August Babies!

The angry birds gang! =D

Once again, sorry for the PS's (not me)! Will make up to you guys!

Anyway so many things to think about and do these days, I really have no time to relax. Gotta make full use of my recess week to give myself a good break to re-charge! 

Summer 2011 Part II

Ok, I know this is far-over due, but here is part 2 of my summer holidays! At the University of Texas at Austin Summer Nuclear Engineering Institute!

The Admin Building @ UT Austin

My room @ San Jacinto Residence. Fully Air-conditioned, damn awesome in the sweltering Texas heat!

Nuclear Engineering Teaching Lab @ UT Austin JJ Pickle Research Campus!

UT Austin Stadium - I swear it makes the Singapore National Stadium look like crap!

What can be more American that Walmart! Haha =D

Dinner at Solomon's family's place! Really hospitable people from South Africa! (and super yummy dinner!) =D

Round Rock Premium Factory Outlet, where everything's branded and CHEAP! =D

Round Rock Donut - the biggest donut I have ever seen! =D

Texas BBQ! =D

Class Texas BBQ Dinner! =D

Beautiful Dusk at Bat Bridge @ Austin!

Austin Capitol Congress Building at night!

Inside the Congress Building. Beautiful dome!

Comanche Peak Nuclear Power Plant!

I really like this picture! =D

Control Room in the Nuclear Power Plant!

Outside Geroge W. Bush's Prairie Chapel Ranch in Crawford Texas! 

NASA!

Heidified? =X

Galveston Beach =D

Houston, Texas at night!

Hard Rock Cafe, Houston!

Ice Cream Truck! Old school!=D

The core of the UT Nuclear Reactor! =O

The top of the reactor!

Texas Leader Shop! =D

On some random (and exciting) outing! =D

A visit to a river in Austin!

The super adorable squirrel on campus! =D

Really intense month at UT. But really appreciate the hospitality that I received, especially from my classmates and everyone! Thanks so much for making my summer an unforgettable one! =D

Summer 2011 Part I

Summer 2011 will definitely be a summer that I'll not forget in a long long time. Definitely the most fruitful holidays I had. 2 Summer Programmes back to back - the first being the Institut National Polytechnique de Grenoble (INPG) Summer School in France, followed immediately by the University of Texas at Austin Summer Nuclear Engineering Institute (SNEI). Really tough in terms of workload, especially for the SNEI one, but really fulfilling. I've learnt and experienced so many things that I would never be able to get here in Singapore - and I gained quite a bit of credits as well! So definitely a worthwhile experience! Words can't adequately describe the awesome 2 months of experience, so here's just a photo entry of my 2 months abroad!

The first part of my adventures at INPG! =D

Touch down! Lyon Saint Exupery Airport!

Aeroports de Lyon!

Grenoble!

Residence Houille Blanche - My home for 4 weeks!

Really beautiful residence away from the city centre!

My study table - with the very short internet cable causing my laptop to be weirdly positioned. =X

While I was exploring Grenoble, the church that first caught my attention was this.

Beautiful monuments scattered around Grenoble

More beautiful cathedrals around Grenoble!

The main building of INPG - the place I will be studying at for 4 weeks!

INPG is located directly below the alps! Damn beautiful! =D

First lesson at INPG with the NUS trio - Yew Thong, Zhong Hang and me! =D

Another day at school with the NUS peeps!

Lab work in the clean room! =D

Extra armour to deal with the notorious HF!

Testing my photovoltaic cell! I MADE IT MYSELF! =D

Singaporean peeps with our lab instructor Anne (and our photovoltaic cells that were all working! )

Weekend getaway at our mobile home! =D

SG Peeps at dinner at La Taniere at Villard de Lans

A small waterfall in Villard de Lans

The superb view of the mountains!

A distillery near Grenoble!

In the distillery! Huge tanks of wine! =P

Wine-tasting class!

Cable Car to Fort Bastille

Cable Car!

At Fort Bastille!

A museum at Fort Bastille

Really tempting chocs in a chocolatier in Grenoble!

Dinner at a little restaurant in Grenoble! Really nice and rustic look! =D

Dinner with a few of the summer school peeps! =D

Paris! Paris Gare Lyon Train Station! =D

Notre Dame Cathedral

Musee du Louvre

The Eiffel Tower from beneath!

Eiffel Tower!

Barcelona!

Barcelona Airport!

Barcelona City Centre!

Palau Nacional

Musical Fountain at Font Magica

A Harp Player! =D

Zhong Hang, Yew Thong and me in Barcelona!

Nou Camp!

Tram up the hill to Tibidabo! =D

Cathedral at Tibidabo! =D

Really Beautiful cathedral - a couple was actually getting married there! =P

Barcelona from the top at Tibidabo! =D

Barcelona Olympic Village!

La Sangrada Familia! Really a masterpiece yet to be completed!

.... to be continued! =D