Pursuing masters?

Came across an emailer yesterday that introduced double masters in logistics and supply chain. 5 mth in Sg, 6 mth in USA, and 6-mth internship in Sg. On top of that, I am eligible to apply for the EDB grant. Hence, I'm really interested in this program, since supply chain has always been one of my areas of interest.

I talked to my parents about it as I'm very concerned about the foreseen huge expenses. Here's what they said:

"If you feel like furthering your studies, just go for it. Even if you didn't manage to obtain the scholarship, we will still support you since this is what you like. Pursue your dreams. Don't worry about the budget!"

Feeling really touched, I teared and gave my mum a big hug.

I've officially graduated!

Finally, here comes my fruit of labour - graduating with second upper!! Gosh I've always been hanging at 3.9+, and it gets really unnerving at times. Wanted to give up every time I receive the minimal improvement in my cap, but I'm thankful that I did not do so! My prayer worked too! Have been intensely praying for the past days :)

Haha my strategy worked! Overloaded in my last semester with 3 technical electives and 1 econs as UEM. Was quite disappointed with my econs grade, but it was offset by my elation in the 3 electives! Opti and enzyme tech were definitely unexpected! Thought the highest I would get for both are B+. Guess the role play as barbarella really works huh :P

Now that I've officially graduated, everything that mattered to me a lot previously suddenly became trivial. Time to move forward!

Been given quite a number of offers, but I realized that they are not in line with my interests, so KIV first haha

More outings to go! Hopefully my pocket won't burn a hole haha

Done with school, settled the irritating fyp issues and getting ready to graduate! Graduate also means I'm an unemployed. According to Principles of Econs, which I have just taken this semester, I am considered under the category of frictional unemployment LOL

Some updates about what I have done after exam:

Went out with many many groups of people after my paper. Last Saturday, I came to a point where I was so sick of going out. First, I spent too much money on food, and second, I realized I didn't have enough time for my family. Hence, I was quite thankful that Saturday night, my last outing for the week, was finally over. Went home and had a good sleep till Sunday late morning before starting to do housework.

Nevertheless, meeting up with old friends was great! Had lots of laughter with them, especially the ChESS juniors. It was a pure gossip session. Trust me. No mentioning of academics or anything else. Just purely Jason's interrogation on the rest of the people present. Haha luckily I sat at the corner, so I was kinda spared from all these. I was just the absorbent :P

Signed up for basic theory test yesterday! Gosh it was so crowded! I waited for 1 hour in order to register. Guess all the A level grads can't wait to become road hazards huh.. Anyway, I was quite disappointed that my test is scheduled on 2 Feb, which is 2 mths from now. This means that I cannot start practical anytime soon :(((

After signing up, I slacked at home, and started reflecting on what I've done for the past semester. And I decided to pen my very first note on facebook! Haha didn't know that I could write that long, but I guess the thought of thanking everyone was sweet! On top of that, there's unexpected outcome after publishing haha.. Fill you all in should there be any good news :)

Went out with my 5111 project mates today! As usual, we were not shy with revealing secrets. Haha I really dug out a lot from my batchmate.. Hopefully all will turn out well for her, cos I think she's a very sweet girl! Wanted to meet pieps for high tea, since I was quite near where she stays, but she had to work today.. Sigh.. Can't imagine what my working life will be like.. I just wish that I can have a five-day 9-to-5 job, with no OT!

Alright, now I shall carry on with my packing! Will be staying in Mad's house tmr night since we have to reach the airport by 7am the next day :S

Hanoi here I come!!

Reflection on my last semester

3 more days to end of uni life! As I have 12 days to prepare for my final paper, I studied at my own pace, and began to reflect (as usual) on the things I've done for the past semester..

Being alone in school most of the time has set me thinking of the people that are worth my effort to get in touch with but have not done so. That explains my incessant meet-ups with friends :D

These 13 weeks have ended so quickly that I felt Rag Day 2011 had just occurred. Nevertheless, I have made some new friends in my last semester! It is really different dynamics when it comes to interacting with the junior batch. Being much more academic-focused, our conversation topic will surely involve modules. Being much more competitive, they will compare their results for certain quizzes and start lamenting their lower chances of getting better grades. However, I am glad that some of them made me realize there are still good sheep among their batch. Whenever I am in doubt with some concepts, some of them will still stay back and explain to me. It makes my remaining uni life not as cold and lonely as I thought :)

Out of all modules, the most memorable one should be optimization. Being lured in by my dear fyp mate, I thought the module would be rosy enough to end off my semester with a slack life. However, the profs decided to increase the workload this sem, so much that I found it really tough to cope! It was surely comparable to design project, as I spent numerous nights taking the last BTC home, and even took midnight taxi ride in one of the nights! It was indeed an unforgettable experience, having to work with a phd student and my fellow yr 5 batch mate. I certainly enjoyed all the dinner sessions discussing everything under the sun, and the intensive troubleshooting times when all of us came together and solved the problems! We even championed the presentation by my imitation of The Noose's Barbarella, where we received good accolades from peers and the two profs!

The worst day during the sem should be on 8 Nov, where I had to stay up with my group to work on the opti ppt slides due in two days' time. As I have a golden rule of not having to slog on my birthday, I broke it on that night, where I spent my 23rd birthday 12mn alone on the train. However, it was really comforting to see so many wishes, especially the sms-es, that flowed in continuously.. I am certainly blessed to be surrounded by so many friends :)

Moving on to job search, I am still looking for one. Despite sending out so many applications, I have only been to two interviews so far. "Times are bad", that's what I thought. Well, there's still annual career fair in January to look out for! Let us hope that my job can be secured by then! *praying hard*

In the midst of job hunting, I am glad that one of the juniors actually assisted me in keeping a look out for jan intakes. In return of his favour, I volunteered to help him vet his fyp report. Haha hopefully my comments will be useful!

To sum up, my last semester has been a very peaceful one. Not much ups and downs, except for a few incidents that changed my perception of some people, be it good or bad.. Here are my belated birthday wishes:

May the people I care for obtain what they want in life, and hope that everything I do will go as smoothly as I want it to be.
And most importantly, hope I can become a better person through Lamrim! :)

Sometimes I wish I were a guy...

Then I can travel anywhere I want without restriction...

Then I can take the active role in making certain decisions...

Then I can swear without being judged...

Then I can do whatever I want!!

Egg-cited

OOH praying really works!

WISH ME MORE LUCK!

I'm currently trying my best to fulfill my targets set at the start of 2011.. From the looks of things, it'll be really tough to achieve all, but I have the confidence that I will be able to succeed soon!

Wish me luck!

Happy Things

Just found out that everytime when I choose to let go of something, I felt much more relieved, much happier. There were many instances where this feeling was triggered in me, but I just want to share one incident.

In the past, there was a person that I disliked a lot. I mentioned about her in one of my entries before, on how she defamed my housemates and I for not helping her during her house hunt. Last week, we met up again. Just before the meet-up, I was still bearing grudges on her for insulting us. However, a thought suddenly struck me. Why am I so unforgiving? If I'm still angry with her over the incident, won't I be the same as her? Hence, I started sorting out my thoughts, and decided to get over it. The meet-up went well. We caught up with each other, and I definitely felt much happier then :)

One of the teachings from Silent Thought is absolutely right: 一个人的快乐，不是因为他拥有得多，而是因为他计较得少。This phrase will be deeply etched in my mind from now on.


Anyway, back to more meet-ups! Recently went for another round of treat with my 2 chem engin buddies. Really enjoyed talking to the two 1.8m body-guard-lookalike guys, even though they can be irritating at times haha. AND I was proud to say that I've minimised my gossip session with them! I've refrained myself from doing that, even after their tough interrogation. Yep, I've not created any bad karma from meeting up with people! So far, I think both of them are the hardest group of people for me to avoid gossiping, and well, I did it :)

I also met up with my dear SAP friend, who happened to work in P&G. I liked talking to her, as she's one of the few friends that I could discuss anything under the sun. Learnt a lot from her about product supply, and I suddenly felt a little hazy about the job. Nevertheless, I've applied for the job, so let's see how it goes!
Gosh some people got called up by P&G one day after the reasoning test already, yet I haven't received anything from them.. Hope they'll give me a chance for interview, cos I really like the job scope of CBD. I'll start praying from now on!

Went to visit Metta Home at Woodlands today with people from my Buddhist society. Even though the mingling session was short, I could tell that the intellectually disabled residents truly enjoyed our presence, and were happy to join us in our activities! As I've been to many such homes with different clubs before, I could really tell that my society was the most peaceful group! There was no unhappiness throughout the event, which was truly rare in the outside world. Think I'll only volunteer in my Buddhist society from now on to make myself happier haha..

It's recess week already! Time really flies.. I still haven't quite adjusted myself back to studies after the long holidays haha.. I treasure the remaining days that I'm still schooling, and hope that I can cope well with studies and job hunting! Hope everything goes well! :)

Massive recruitment exercise these few weeks! Have been really busy with work and job hunting. After attending so many talks, I sort of have an idea on where I want to work in future. I also learnt how to sieve out whether some companies are too good to be true.. It's quite easy to detect actually haha.. Anyway, I've applied for some jobs. Hope that everything will go well! :)

This aside, I have taken a step forward in becoming a vegetarian! Have been restricting myself to having at least one meal without meat everyday. I realized that I felt much happier eating vegetarian dishes as it is less sinful. Think the society has taught me well hahaha

attracting foreign talent

Seeing the recipient of the most prestigious scholarship in Singapore makes me wonder, has the scholarship transformed into an avenue to attract foreign talent to stay put in Singapore? I'm pretty sure there are tons of locals who are as capable and definitely more patriotic than her.

I also wonder, will she still renounce her citizenship if she does not get any scholarship? Haha I guess only she will know..

:(

This week has been a moody week for me. If not for my younger sis who told me that her orientation camp has leftover sponsored track shoes and she will be giving me one pair, I guess I won't be feeling ok now.

Several incidents happened over the week, and I felt that I should just say it out to make myself forget the unhappy stuff. Stocks aside (yes I've lost a great pile, thanks to the americans), I was really disappointed with some people, including myself.

Incident 1 (mild case)
I went out with two groups of close friends last Mon and Tues. In my previous entry, I was already determined not to gossip about anyone, but I still could not control myself. I was quite disappointed with myself that after attending religious class for so long, I would still forget about the bad karma that will result if I were to speak ill of people. Sigh, I always promise myself that I will not repeat the same mistake in the next outing, but I will not keep to it everytime when I see friends who want to share gossips with me. This might sound trivial to you guys, but it was not for me since I know the consequences of it. Guess I really need to stay with my religious friends more often to kick this habit.

On the happy side, it was a great dinner outing with the ones on Tues, since my friend wj treated us after he got his first month pay! We went to Lao Beijing at Novena and had a feast. Haha the other guy wx and I were so pai seh that we promised him we'll reciprocate the favour after we got ours. Swensens from wx next month! :) Other than the treat, wx gave us souvenirs that he bought from Amsterdam, and wj and I really got a shock!

PLEASE DON'T JUDGE ME FOR POSTING THIS. I thought it was really funny as souvenirs, so I decided to let you guys see why we were shocked to receive them!

And guess what, they are BATH GELS. According to wx, the gel is of good quality LOL. Seriously, only wx can think of such gifts. He still asked us to treat it with care cos these bath gels cannot be bought from other countries besides Amsterdam. Haha I took the bottom one in the end, and wj took the top middle one, cos they look more normal than others!

Incident 2

Went out with two NOC girls (one from my batch and one from the junior batch which just came back from Shanghai) last Thurs. Initially, we chatted heartily over the funny incidents that happened in Shanghai, like unable to throw toilet papers into the toilet bowl cos it will get stuck. It was okay until we talked about one of the unhappy stuff that occurred within our batch. The girl from my batch told our junior about her house search after she quit her previous job, and complained about how unhelpful our batch mates were during that period. 

After hearing, I was super pissed. Our house did help her a lot, in terms of house search, and we even allowed her to stay in our house temporarily, and helped her move house! Such stuff are considered unhelpful? Not only that, it happened so long ago, and she still remembered every single detail so clearly. Worse still, she shared this story with an innocent junior, who might spread it to other juniors! GOSH I was so disappointed in her after her sharing. We argued over the entire house search incident, and the junior heard everything. My batch mate concluded that she did not see any practical form of help, even though we did house hunt for her. I told her that we did go to the property agent and helped her see which house was conducive for her stay. I even told her that people were not physically around her during the house hunt period, but it did not mean that they did not help her in the search!  I think she just did not dare to say that she was disappointed with my house why no one wanted to spare a space for her. Well, my house already had 6 people, and it was like a 4-room flat. How to add in one more person?!? I remembered explaining to her for months back in Shanghai, and I thought she had gotten over it. Never did I expect her to talk about it again, this time with what she exactly thought of the incident! This outing really revealed her selfish and unforgiving character, and it changed my perception of her totally. Thankfully we did not have her in our house, which was already in a big mess with people of extreme personalities.

I never felt so angry during an outing, and I promised not too meet up with her for small gatherings in future, unless she changes her mindset about her batch mates and gets over what happened in Shanghai. I did not dare to tell my other house mates, for fear that they would judge her from then on. Hence, I wrote here to vent my frustration. Sometimes, it is really hard to OMAK people that have negative feelings about you. I guess I will start off with forgiving her then.

Incident 3

Work was really great. It had been the most fulfilling 3-week holiday ever for me. I was glad that my colleagues were willing to share their experience with me, and even brought me to meetings with clients. My boss even promised me that he will bring into office his friend Mr. EDUARDO SAVERIN, THE CO-FOUNDER OF FACEBOOK! Haha he is actually the investor of the company I'm interning in. Yep, so I'm really looking forward to my last few days of work next week :)

This aside, my job includes cold calling the F&B merchants. Yesterday, I talked to an American guy over the phone, and it was definitely the worst encounter I've ever met throughout my 3 weeks. I started off with the usual sentences, and he was okay initially. As he probed more into the privacy policy of customers (GOSH luckily I heard my boss briefly mention about that before), I knew that he would be a difficult person to handle. And he really was! He insulted our system, and even mentioned that we're a scam company. I couldn't be bothered to be friendly with him, and it eventually turned into a debate on social media. Apparently this guy was tech-savvy and my instinct told me that he just wanted to win me in terms of the knowledge of the social media industry. FINE, I was only there for 3 weeks, what more did you want from me? I wanted to give up and hand over the phone to my colleague, but the American guy did not permit that. I think he's just those nasty people who feels great after outtalking people. According to my American colleague, such people are very common in US. They are too skeptical of everything, and they are determined to make salespeople's lives difficult. Haha thankfully I have no interest in going there at all!

Well, these 3 incidents, together with the drop in share prices, made my entire week moody. I hope that next week will be better! 

Hmmmm I kinda dread the start of school though... :(

Work has definitely been a roller coaster ride! More of the happy than the sad part. I was really fortunate to have gotten into this group buying company, where the company has only 5 employees including meeee! As I sit beside the founder of the company, I really learnt a lot from him, especially the sales technique! I must thank all my colleagues for being so eager to teach me new stuff. Each day has so many things to learn, making me constantly put on my thinking cap!

Not forgetting to mention that I learn a lot about the western culture, since I'm surrounded by a good number of Americans. Accompanying them to the hawker centre and teaching them how to order was certainly an interesting experience for me! I was really glad that one of my closer friends decided to take up a part time job in my company as well! Another lunch buddy wheeee :)

Finally, I know how group buying giants like groupon and deals.sg work! I shouldn't say much, but I really hope that merchants can be smarter and learn how to choose a more sustainable business model!

Sometimes I really hope to work in start-up, cos the relationship among colleagues and even boss are so close! However, I know that it is hard, since I will be so bogged down by the M factor, no matter how much I'm in denial. Well, hope that this company will emerge as the top leader in Singapore's market soon! With such a great business model, I sincerely hope that they can be successful. I will then consider a full time with them hahahaha

This aside, I went out with friends for dinners quite frequently. Two of the groups were from chem engin. I realized that we always ended up gossiping about who and who are in a relationship, and so and so don't like each other. I know such gossips are really bad for karma, considering that I've been learning Buddhism for almost one year (YES EXACTLY ONE YEAR in 2 days' time! Shall do something meaningful on that day!). I will try to refrain from saying such stuff in future outings! Haha will be meeting the same group of guys next Tues, and one of them will be treating since he just got his paycheck! Another one also kindly mentioned that he will treat us after he got his pay. Life is so much more interesting with all the meet-ups, especially with free treats now that everyone is working haha.. I'll surely return the favour when I start working :)

I also went out with my primary school classmates yesterday. One of them brought old school photos, and gosh, we realized that we looked so young back in those days! It was a nice gathering. Managed to catch up with people I haven't met for a decade (yes I haven't seen some of them after graduating from primary school haha). Hope to have more of such gatherings to meet up with more people!

Found a temporary job! :D

I can't believe that I'm already bored after one week of holidays! Haha like what my friends say, I'm a workaholic. I guess they're right! Last week, as I was surfing social networking sites as usual, I chanced upon an internship position. Casually, I applied for it, and to my surprise, I received a call from the company! Went for their interview this morning, and I realized that the company is a true blue start-up, with only 5 employees in total! GOSH I can even count this with one hand! Haha I'm really excited about it, cos I can get to interact more with the founder, and experience the difficulties faced by a start-up! Yay experience NOCCCCC one more time :))))

Yep so today's my last day of holidays. Time to brush up my photoshop skills and gain more knowledge about group buying!

Done, what's next?

Although it's a bit late, but anyway, WHEE I'm finally done with my FYP report! There are so many people I want to thank, besides the hypocritical acknowledgement of my FYP professor and mentors, who have not been really helpful during my report writing phase :S Not many people will read my entry, so I shan't thank them here haha. Will do it individually :)

After my report, I went out with my fyp mate to celebrate the end of the HORROR. Even though we are not that close to each other, I was surprised that we could chat heartily for 3 hours, and realized that we had to stop since it's quite late! It's really rare that I can talk to a not-so-close person for so long, yet not feeling bored haha.. Wish that we can meet more often to talk about more stuff!

This aside, for the past 2 weeks, I've been attending my friends' convocations. Attended my course's yesterday, and was a tad upset since all my batchmates are leaving the school already. It'll be a lonely semester next year. One of my friends still joked that given my wide network, I can surely find people for lunches next semester.. Haha we'll see how then..

I can finally have a good rest today! Without deadlines, without any event other than a meet-up tonight with the 2 lovely girls from my sec 4 class. Life is great now, and I don't wish to end so soon. Hope that August won't come that fast!

Time to work on the stuff I've been wanting to do ever since May! While spending time on my hobbies, maybe I should set aside time to start looking for jobs haha. Wish me luck in that!

Changing Appetite

Recently, I've been cutting down on my meat consumption. When I am eating alone, I'll try to avoid buying meat-related dishes. Whenever I have craving for meat, I'll think of how they're killed, and by eating them, I will indirectly be the culprit for their deaths. Such thoughts have impacted me quite a fair bit. When my friends talk about how great some meaty dishes are, the images of them being killed will occur in my mind again.

I try to remove such thoughts whenever I'm with friends, but it's really unavoidable. So guys, if you have some good food to recommend and it involves meat, please ignore me if I look disgusted. 

Haha I guess the Buddhist class has really taught me well! But I don't think I'll ever go vegetarian, because dim sums are way too yummy!

Happy Things

There are many happy stuff I wanna mention today :)

1. Completion of the HORROR

Yep after 2 weeks of incessant typing and swearing (haha in a mild way :P ), I am finally DONE with my FYP report!! Wheee!! And this leads to another happy stuff, which is someone offered to help me vet my report! I hope I can acknowledge the person in my report, but haha don't think it's appropriate for me to do so. Hope that I won't have to make many changes after the vetting!

2. Case Challenge

One of my chem engin batch mates smsed me today, asking if I am interested in a case challenge organized by Accenture. I was quite surprised that he asked me, since I don't usually talk to him. In fact, he's not even my facebook friend! Out of curiosity, I asked him why he approached me. His reply was that 'I think NOC people are rare breed'.

WOW. That's how people think of us. Well, not that I'm an elitist, but I sense the difference when I'm talking to this group of 'rare breed'. During our outings, we talk about all sorts of issues, ranging from political to business to even philosophies in life. I always learn a lot after talking to them! Perhaps that's why people think we're different from the rest :)

Anyway, hope that we can win the case together! That will open an additional career path for me, since it's in line with what I want to do in future!

3. Stocks

Yippee! The happiest of all, my stocks are GROWING! Must thank the greeks for it hahaha.. I've waited painstakingly for months, and I can finally sell them :)

4. My dearie is coming back next week!

Haha this is not confirmed, cos she has been keeping it a secret. CY told me that she'll be coming back next Monday, according to her current housemate! Really look forward to that, cos I haven't been seeing her for 4 whole months! In case you're wondering, I'm not a les haha.. I hope she won't come back with an angmoh boyfriend, or else she can really fit into the description of Barberella from the Noose!

5. Convocationssss

Almost all my friends are graduating. Poor me still staying in school. Nevertheless, I'm really happy for them, as they can finally venture into areas of their choices! Work life will be really different from study life. I hope all of them can cope well, while still maintaining our friendship :)

Yay exciting weeks ahead before school starts! I shall take a good break tonight before another mad rush after my friend's vetting!

Nowadays, the moment I wake up, I think of Jurong Island and carbon emissions, and more JURONG ISLAND and CARBON EMISSIONS. I think I wrote these two terms in my report over hundred times (fyi: I'm not exaggerating). Gosh I am definitely overwhelmed by FYP! Now I understand why people who initially liked research refused to go into this area after working on their final year thesis. I bet the person who came up with this idea is sadistic and likes to see students suffer from the crazy deadlines!

I'm having Monday blues, because I have to submit the report in one week's time... And I haven't even done any referencing/formatting/table numbering, let alone asking my mentors to vet through!

Sigh~~~ Time to really buck up! And YAY 7 more days to freedom!! :)))

I think there's a correlation between staying at home and blogging. I've been blogging real frequently these few days as I was working hard on my FYP report at home. It's my only source of entertainment as of now other than facebook haha.

Anyway, I have a group of friends who will be embarking on an amazing adventure in 2 days' time! They will experience the life of being a monk for 2 weeks, which means they won't be touching their mobile phones, no meat, no TV and other sources of entertainment.. Gosh how can they tolerate such lives! I tried that for one day, and realized that I wasn't able to abstain from all. Maybe that's why I'm not cut out to be a nun! Yep so all the best to these guys, especially those who aspire to be monks one day! :)

Report due in less than 2 weeks' time! And I'm not even half-done with the report. I really hope that I can be real efficient, so that I can finish it within this week.. Sigh ~ I'm just a procrastinator in something I dislike :(

RUN!!

Decided to sign up for it this year! It will be the first and last time I take part in Run NUS! I have been jogging for the past few days, and I finally feel less resistance when I sit down! Hahaha I'm so proud of my achievement! To think the fats have been happily staying in my warm tummy ever since winter in Shanghai, it's time to shoo them off, for visual and health sake!

This aside, as I jog almost every other day on the tracks of SRC, I will chance upon the freshmen playing station war games or pool games. I find the orientation games really lame, and I can't believe that I organised it 3 years ago! GOSH I think I'm really old.. My mindset has changed so much in just 3 short years! Time to start participating in some youth activities to make myself feel younger!

There are one thousand and one things I want to do after FYP report submission! Argh I was really envious that all my batch mates have travelled, returned and started work. And me? I'm still the same old one who's stuck in E5 computer lab doing my report.

I really hope that these 2 hell weeks can be over asap! And I have already planned out what I want to do before school starts:

1. Learn SWIMMING. GOSH all my friends laughed at the fact that I did not know how to swim. To think I still thought of diving into the Great Barrier Reef previously. What a big joke!

2. Learn French. Have been pondering over which foreign language should I learn. French or German. Just decided on the former after staring at the scary German handbook, which has different words for different genders :S

3. Learn VBA! Hahaha I'm always amazed at the fact that people can come up with powerful macros. It's time for me to master the skill too!

4. Try designing website. Haha my blog will be the guinea pig then!

Whee! So excited over the stuff I can do after FYP! As for now, I have to get back to reality Zzzzz

Recently have been meeting up with many people. Some of them have high-paying job, while some don't even hit 2k a month. After talking to them, I began to ask myself "what do I really want to achieve through my job? Does pay really matter to me, or job satisfaction is more important? When I talked to a group of bankers, they don't seem to have the latter. They had to socialise with clients and colleagues almost everyday.

Do I really want that?

When I shared my goal in life with people, there were mixed responses. Those from NOC encouraged me to go for it, while those non-NOC will snigger at the idea. Maybe that's why I prefer talking serious business with my NOC friends as they share the same sentiments as me haha. Well, perhaps my goal in life is hardly achievable now. But I'm sure with a clear mindset of what I want to pursue in future, nothing else will get in my way.

Just as the gist of Green Lantern (quite a lousy movie though) says, if you have the willpower, you can overcome anything, even the sarcasms around you! To those who have great dreams, don't get bogged down by the money factor. Pursue what you really like, and be happy with what you have chosen. If people doubt you, prove them wrong!

JIA YOU, to all who have started working or are currently hunting for job :)

Two-day children camp is over :(

Felt quite empty today after two hectic weeks of preparation.. The segment I led yesterday was pretty well-received. I even teared when I see some of the kids wash their parents' feet! Sigh I'm so easily touched!

During the Q&A session of my segment, I asked a kid how she felt about Father's Day. She replied with an innocent look, "I don't have a father". GOSH I was so stunned that I did not know how to continue. Thankfully my partner managed to salvage the situation. Thinking back at her response, I was so angry with myself that I looked shocked. Although she's only primary two, she must have felt a tinge of sadness after seeing my expression :(

After pondering that for quite a while after the camp, I was really thankful that I have a complete family, with my parents doting on my 2 siblings and me. What more could I ask for? Therefore, once I reached home, I decided to help my dad wash his feet to express my gratitude towards him throughout my life. Since I led the segment, I should do it myself too!

Surprisingly, my sisters joined in after I prepared a pail of water! I washed my dad's right leg, my younger sis washed my dad's left leg, and my elder sis wiped his legs. All of us felt so happy to do that! It's definitely the best Father's Day gift we've ever given to our dad :)

I really admired the spirit of Bliss and Wisdom Society. Everyone definitely changes for the better after joining the society! Well, at least I did haha. I'm really glad that one of my friends is keen on joining. Hope that she'll stay on to receive all these precious teachings and achieve nirvana :D

children's camp preparation

As mentioned in the previous post, I've been busy preparing for the 2-day children's camp, which will commence tomorrow! A guy and I are in charge of story telling and feet washing segment. It's our first time working together, and we haven't been rehearsing since we're both busy with our own stuff. Through him, I really see the passion in bringing the best to the children. Despite his hectic work in banking industry, and not to mention that he fell sick this week, he still managed to attend all the meetings and contributed constructive ideas. His actions made me feel ashamed and motivated me to work harder on my roles in the camp. As we're in charge of the finale, I really hope that it will go well. Will be rehearsing till late tonight!

This aside, one of the songs we will be singing during the camp is 每年的今天. I find this song really meaningful and touching, since it tells us that we should remember what our parents have done for us during our birthdays. For instance, birthday = our mum's suffering day, since she had to suffer from labour pain before bringing us to this world.

Each time when I hear this song, I will reflect a lot. Hope it works on you guys too!

Have been super busy for the past week! Haha think I'm always saying this. I've been so busy to a degree that I didn't check my gmail account for 3 days! For those who know me, you know that I don't have the habit of not checking my mail..

First of all, SAP certification exam! After 10 days of crazily intensive training sessions, I've finally taken the exam last Friday, and I passed it! And not to mention, I performed the best among my SAP friends, even though the certification is just a pass/fail. I was really glad, for having to understand the concepts within such a short period, and did better than the computing students :)

NOW I'M A CERTIFIED SAP TRAINER! Haha I don't really care about this title, since I have no intention of training other people. I'll just use this certification to apply for jobs in big firms!

Besides this, my younger sis and I were the emcees for Kindness Movement Camp 2 last Saturday. It's organised by Blossom World Society, an organisation that I've been actively involved in for almost a year. We've been slogging really hard for it, from designing the shirt to coming up with games and rehearsing. I was glad that most campers enjoyed it. At the same time, I also got to know more people, and mingled better with the current BWS members!

After being in the society for months, I've really learnt to control my anger, and see the good side of people. Being a perfectionist, things that do not go the right way irritate me. But through BWS and the Buddhist classes, I've learnt that there are many ways to do the same thing, not necessarily people have to follow my so-called right way! It's something like Hess' Law! Being forgiving to others is also a way to make yourself happy. So long as the outcome is alright, why not let others do it in their way, and accept the imperfections along the way! After sorting this thought out, I've certainly become much happier :)

After this camp, we straightaway carried on with the planning for the next event, which will be held this coming Sat and Sun. It's a children's camp where we advocate filial piety through a series of games and stories. I think the more interesting segments are to let the primary school kids try being pregnant mothers by letting them carry watermelons, and to wash their parents' feet to express gratitude. It's a big pity that nowadays, Confucius teaching is becoming non-existent in the modern society. Kids do not bother about filial piety. The society has become a mercenary place where family values are not placed as priority. Hence, I'm really grateful that my Buddhist society is holding such camps to advocate this!

The longer I stay in the society, the more I begin to understand why people like it so much! Everyone is extremely helpful and kind-hearted, and every action that they do has no ulterior motive; they just purely want to help people. I still remembered there's a time where my friends and I walked along the road, when one of them saw a snail crawling in the middle of the pavement, he will pick up the snail and put it back in the grass to make sure no passer-by crushes it! That small action really touched me, and I can finally sense the meaning of 菩提心. I also appreciate it when it comes to any problem, no one will argue over it. Instead, they will resolve any dispute peacefully. Each time when I attend Buddhist classes, I'll feel that the place is truly zen... It's definitely something that I cannot find in other organisations.

I wish I can be like them one day! Shall start by trying to go meatless twice a week!

Just when I thought I will be freer during the holidays, I was totally wrong! For the past few weeks I've been busy trying to juggle between FYP and meet-ups with friends. I find it really hard to strike a balance between the two. At times, when I am trying to source data for my fyp, I was really frustrated. There are always stuff that you cannot find online or anywhere else, which forced you to change the direction of your project. The worst is when you managed to find the information, but you need to pay to get the entire article! Too bad, I'm not willing to spend too much on just a school project that does not really interest me. Thankfully, my FYP mentors are kind enough to always offer their assistance in helping us look for information. I must really give them a good treat for their hardwork :)

Moving on, I've just received my examination results last Monday. Had mixed feelings about it, since I've done much better than what I've expected for my HR and technical elective, but did not fare well in the module that I spent the greatest amount of time in - design project. Well, I guess it's a group effort, so I have nothing much to say about it. All I can say is that most of the people in my group have all put in their utmost effort in producing a good report, so we got to blame it on luck for whatever that happened during the presentation. Nevertheless, I must say, design project is the module that I enjoyed most out of all, as it really puts our chem engin knowledge into practice. As compared to the same module offered in another reputable school (which has 10 people working on just a unit), I'm proud to say that our design project (6 people working on 6 individual units) is more challenging, and allows us to learn much more than just from the books. Communication is one thing. Through the module, we have learnt to compromise each other, as what is good for one might not be ideal for others. Thinking back, I am really glad that I've survived the horrendous period, and it will definitely be one of the things I will not forget throughout my university life!

As for the meet-ups, I was really glad to hear that more and more people around me are going in pairs! I guess this age will be the stage where people start thinking about their future halves. I was especially glad that one of my friends (currently 27 yrs old) has found a girlfriend after 7 years of singlehood! He is always one of the people that I cannot understand why he's still not attached, given his above-average qualities. Haha but well, now that he has found one, all of us are really happy for him, and we hope that this one will be his last one! Another one I want to mention is a very very good friend of mine. Despite all the difficulties, she managed to get into relationship! Hope that her dream of "letting the first one be the last one" will come true!

Yay so happy for all of them! :D

Happy Vesak Day!

It was Vesak Day 2 days ago. Being a regular student of Buddhist teaching classes, I attended the Bathing Buddha ceremony. I was extremely surprised by the turnout. There were over 1,000 people in the small hall, and not to mention there were 3 similar sessions on the same day. The ceremony was like any other event, but what caught my attention was the exhibitions after that.

My society is divided into many segments, where the ones related to food and education are the more "interesting" ones. I went up to the food segment, and they showed us how coke is produced. By adding a lot of chemicals, plain water really turns into fragrant, gassy and dark-coloured coke! Then, they also told us the hazardous effects of taking in these chemicals. On top of that, they also showed us the amount of oil contained in each piece of Prinkles potato chip by burning it. After seeing, I really don't feel like drinking coke or eating potato chips anymore haha.. Besides these, they also showed the organic farms that our members have taken care of. There's a story behind the starting up of these farms:

Initially when the farmers wanted to grow the vegetables on the organic soil, they failed in multiple attempts because the ants kept feeding on them. They wanted to kill the ants, but since they're taught not to kill, they refrained from doing so. Hence, they approached the venerable who set up our society. Here's what he said, "you buy a packet of sugar, and pour along the crops". The farmers really followed his instructions, and the ants ended up feeding on the sugar! From then on, the vegetables grew healthily without the use of pesticides.

After succeeding, the farmers went back to thank the venerable. He explained, "the ants are hungry, so they have no choice but to eat the crops. If you treat them well, they will reciprocate." With that, the farmers started leaving a small space on the crop land specially meant for the pests. They grew small amount of vegetables and fruits on that piece of land, and the pests indeed did not touch their main crops.

Even insects know how repay the kindness! I was really amazed by the story and I begin to trust karma more and more. Hmm looks like I have to do more good deeds from now on!

Other than the food segment, I was really touched by the education segment. As Buddhism is closely related to Confucianism, the society placed strong emphasis on filial piety. There was a station in the exhibition hall, where children need to kneel down in front of their parents to offer tea and express gratitude. My siblings and I did. When it was my turn, the minute I knelt down, tears started trickling down my cheeks. I started thinking back, and realized that there were many incidents where I argued with my parents and got irritated by their constant nagging. Being a daughter, I've never done much in being filial to my parents. Not knowing what to say as there were too many things to be thankful for, all I did was to say "thank you".

After this tea offering session, I suddenly came to realize all my wrongdoings for the past years. I will try to improve on that by first changing my attitude towards my parents.

It was indeed a meaningful Vesak Day! :)

Truth

Recently I met up with my friends. One of them told me that our common friend lied to us about something, which made me change my perception of a person involved.

Upon hearing the truth, I was stunned. I was terribly disappointed that I have a friend, whom I have treated as a good friend for the past few years, lying to me about her past incident. All of us believed in her, and we began to resent the person involved.

Now that the truth has finally revealed by the friends of hers, I was disgusted by the acts of this person, and I think it'll be hard for me to maintain the old friendship with her. Sometimes, I just hope that people don't tell me the truth; let me live with ignorance.

It's quite painful to know that some people whom you consider as kind-hearted and friend-worthy, may not be as good as you think. I'm just sick of having to build trust in people initially, yet the trust gets trampled again and again thereafter.. It starts to make me feel more and more jaded about the society.

When the truth is ugly, I just wish that it will remain hidden for good..

Happy holidays!

Done with all the papers!

Finally, I have some time to smell the roses.. Have been on the lookout for GE2011. I'm really glad that my peers are not as apathetic as they seem before. At least that's what I gather from the tonnes of facebook notification. Well, what I can say is I won't oppose for the sake of opposing. If I do disagree with PAP's notions, I'll look at the opposition with a discerning mind, and see which party gives a better future for me.

As for the most interesting aljunied GRC, I think the workers' party have really put all eggs into one basket. Such a do-or-die mentality is scary, and pressurising the residents to vote with the fear of opposition losing all seats in the parliament. I feel that George Yeo has been a really great diplomat, and has done a good job in foreign affairs. Hence, I will be really disappointed if he were to step down due to the loss in a GRC battle, which was perhaps a moment of anger among the residents to punish the dominant party.

Well, no matter what, I just hope that all my friends will think wisely, as the wise man says.. Too much lightning may not be good for Singapore, but too little won't electrify Singapore's economy!

This aside, I've been busy catching up with friends too! Was quite disappointed when one of my close friends did not disclose her relationship with me. But well, glad that she's gotten a good guy! Think both of them will be very loving :)

Now looking back at myself, there have been many promising 'candidates' around recently, but I'm not sure if they're really suitable. After all, what happened in shanghai made me change my judgement and think twice about guys.. I guess, time will tell then :)

Woohoo the crazy week has finally come to an end. To summarize, I've submitted 3 reports, 2 presentations and 1 quiz, all within 4 days. Year 4 life is exciting, isn't it?

Anyway, I'm really glad that everything is over. I can finally focus on studying for exams.. Think this is the only semester that I look forward to exams than school term haha..

Haven't been blogging for donkey years.. So just a quick wrap-up on what I've been doing for the past few months..

Been really busy with WorldMUN from end of Feb till mid March. Stayed in Marina Mandarin for the entire conference, and wore really formal attire (including blazers) everyday. I've concluded that I'm not really suited to wearing blazers haha.. Anyway, worldmun was really an eye opener for me, an engineering Chinese student, who has a traditional mindset and never interacted with a few thousands of caucasians before.

WorldMUN has 2 segments - conference in the morning where delegates act like United Nations representatives, and social events every night. Every night was clubbing event, and I've come to a point where I could memorise all the clubbing songs! As I was saying, the event was an eye opener, because almost every ang moh danced affectionately with each other at night, and some even behaved worse than that (details for you guys to fill in). Worse still, some of the local host team members, who are currently attached, turned crazy after drinking. Two of them even had a fling on the last night.. I was quite disturbed when one of my close friends got so close to another guy friend while they were dancing.. Sigh, I think people should exercise self-control when it comes to drinking..

After WorldMUN, there came design project submission, which totally killed my leisure time. Being a leader in a group with members that have very different dynamics, I have learnt how to manage their expectations of each other. Everything turned out well, except that we submitted one of our reports late. Haha come to think of it, it was a miracle that we wrote a 20-page costing report within 5 hours when other groups spent weeks on it! It was a really memorable experience staying overnight with my group mates to rush the report. I was glad that all of them were cooperative. As we only spent 2 days working on a 80-page report, we were quite proud of our efficiency. Someone even joked that we'll rank first in all groups in terms of man-hour!!

Now that everything has finally come to a closure, and my friends are going to graduate soon, I will surely miss the bits and pieces of my school life with them. Through these 4 years, we've experienced ups and downs. However, we managed to survive by helping one another along the way. Life will be so different next semester, when none of them will be around :(

As the saying goes, 'all good things must come to an end'. I believe the friendship made throughout the uni years won't be the same case. We'll surely keep in contact, or at least I'll try to haha.. Here's wishing them all the best in job hunting, and bon voyage for their graduate trip..

Back to my exam revision and FYP!

Friendship

Had a 2-hr long good chat with one of my closer chem engin friends today. He told me that he's dreading the day he graduates, as it means all the friendship that he had built up for the past few years will die away.

True, as people grow, they meet new friends in different phases of life. Some friendships, which are only built on just academic discussion and nothing else, will just die off. True friendship - those who share joy and sorrows with you, help you whenever u need it - will last and even bloom.

So far, I have many many friends. Haha that's because I'm considered the relatively more "sociable" person in my circle of friends. However, there are very few whom I consider true friends. I probably have less than the count of the fingers on both hands.

Nevertheless, I'm quite thankful to have met one or two who click well with me at each phase of life, so that I have the motivation to carry on leading life to the fullest.

Hence, here's my reply to him:

Treasure those whom you consider as true friends. Don't let it fade away. They'll be your strongest pillar of support at any point in your life!

This piece of advice also goes out to all readers :)

Balance between interests and money

For the past few days I've been very busy with design project. Have been pondering what kind of job I really want myself to be in. Till now, I still can't make up my mind. Perhaps that's because I do not really set my priorities. It's time for me to seriously think about it!

Tomorrow is V Day. Last year of this date, I went Yunnan for an awesome tour. This year, I'm planning to spend it at home. After attending the Buddhist classes, I realize that I'm less and less interested in relationships, more and more keen on self-improvement and volunteerism. Haha but rest assured I won't become a nun. Maybe now is still not the right time for me to settle down. Meanwhile, I'll still keep a lookout for suitable guys!

Lastly, just wanna share with you guys a sentence that I like a lot:

The purpose of life is a life with purpose.

Nowadays everyone has been so obsessed with fame and glory, so much that they have forgotten/chosen to ignore what they are really interested in. Sadly, I belong to this category. When I'm seeking jobs, I actually look at the starting pay instead of what I like to do! Joining non-profit organisation has always been what I like, but I know that I'll be very troubled over the survival factor M in the near future.

Really hope that I can find a way to balance my interests and financial status!

As of now, I shall continue focusing on my studies and working on my design project... Zzzz

Happy V Day everyone :)

Little things to be happy about

Done with the first week of school. Just realized that this semester which includes design project and FYP is not that bad afterall. I was quite lucky to have chosen a reactor that doesn't require mental-draining effort.

Studies aside, I was feeling a bit upset over not being able to graduate together with all my coursemates. During all the small talks over lunches, graduate trips are definitely a hot topic to be discussed, and that makes me feel quite left out.

I started looking back at what I have learnt from NOC. I realized that, no doubt I will be graduating later than the rest, but I have widened my perspectives, and experienced things that I would never think of doing in Singapore. I could see the change in me in terms of handling interpersonal relationships, time management, and most importantly the direction of life. There are one thousand and one things out there to pursue besides studies. Friendship is one, and kinship is another. These are things that I do not pay much attention to a few years back. With that, I am thankful for NOC, and I have no regrets delaying my graduation. Felt much better after thinking in this way! :)

I would like to share with you guys a link that I came across: http://1000awesomethings.com/

This is a blog entry from a person, who previously felt very depressed over the mishaps around him and his friends. He is now a much happier person, by paying attention to the little things around him and paying tribute to the people who have helped him, be it the most trivial thing like a bus driver stopping longer than usual to wait for him to get on board.

Indeed, after reading his entries, I realized that there are many things which are worth being happy about. Change your perspectives and you can easily lead a happier life!