A Visit from China

In NUS there are many experiments going on regularly, conducted by honors / PhD students, because NUS is a research-focused university.

Thus, they regularly need subjects to take part in these experiments, and they pay anywhere from $8-$10, and for some it's really random like $20-100+. The most I've got was 20-40$ for one expt (3 hours), can't remember. Szehong got $100 from that same expt.

Anyway, I 'signed up' for what I thought was another experiment, cos my friend msged me and asked if I was free for an interview. and so I said yes.

Then lo and behold, after some SMS exchanges, I found out that 23 China students were actually coming to talk to me. TWENTY THREE.

wtf?!

So at first I thought was an experiment, then became an interview (I thought maybe 1-2 or 3) then suddenly 23 people coming!

So anyway I arranged to meet them in school and so they came... they were a bunch of China JC students (like from a China JC) visiting Singapore, and touring the universities. So somehow by some random selection I was the 'NUS ambassador!' wtf! Don't they have official channels for this.

Anyway the super weird and awkward thing was the moment they all sat down,

They all whipped out their cameras and started snapping photos of ME.

What!?! I felt like a celebrity or something la lol and I was dressed in a super cui T shirt (you'll see later) and berms.

So I eventually sat down and started chatting with them (some still took photos upclose wtf!) and it was really nice and pleasant they were all super cute and friendly and they asked me about NUS life, uni life, whether I have a gf (and when I said yes they all went 'waaaaaa' SUPER CUTE HAHA)
(and I swear I saw some disappointed faces HAHAHAHA. No seriously ok. And they kept snapping pics! So I either look like a weird interesting creature or I'm good looking and I choose to believe the latter lololol )

The girl on my right asked alot of questions, and the girl second from the right asked the most.
I alternated between Mandarin and English, and I actually used English at the start and when I started using Mandarin they were all like shocked like gasssp your Mandarin is so good!!

Oh and they also asked me what my sleeping hours are, and because I'm a pig and need a lot of sleep, I said  I slept by about 12 and woke up at 8-9, and once again they all went 'WAAAAA' and I found out it was because they slept at 1 and woke up at 6 >< rofl


So yea we had a chat for like 30 mins , with mostly just the girls asking questions (and the same 2 girls in general, the others asked the odd question) , the boys just quiet quiet and some looked bored. Asked about Singapore food.. the halls.. CCAs.. essays.. etc

After that they asked for a proper pic which is the one you see above and again here:

How's my paparazzi smile? Not bad right. LOL

btw, this 'photo taking' was like a whole row of people standin in front of us holding cameras and snappin pics (cos alot of cameras ma, all the students wanted photos) so it was really like paparazzi. So I just tried to look at all the different cameras at once and keep my smile on my face lol.


So after phototaking they all thanked me profusely and we said goodbyes, then their teacher or something gave me this bag of stuff that I was supposed to give to the NUS side in charge of inviting them - the thing is that I've NO IDEA who in NUS is responsible for it so I'm stuck with the souvenirs:

Some banner from their school (supposedly a v good sch and the students that came were supposedly the best in the school)

Some epic looking book about their school's epic history or something

Was a really fun experience, I would have loved to stay and talk abit more with them but I had to go so was abit sad ;( I felt bad for leaving! Like they were so eager to just talk more with me and learn about Singapore and stuff.

Ok so now what do I do with the epic souvenirs?

This semester is nuts

I really should blog more often, I think about it (blogging) very often but just can't find the time to sit down to do it. It's like my safe haven.

It doesn't really matter if noone reads it, as long as it's available for my own perusal.

I've a swirl of thoughts so I'll try to segment them accordingly, just scroll to the heading that seems interesting to you I suppose.

1) Szehong became a Christian!

If you haven't heard, my gf has accepted Christ (a month ago or so) and has been attending church service regularly.

If you told me this a year ago I would have been incredulous as it didn't seem very likely, as she had already been exposed to Christianity before due to her friends. This was something that I thought, that it would be harder for a person who has been repeatedly exposed to Christianity to eventually accept it (as compared to one who is finding out for the first time), since that person is probably numb to it or has been habituated in some way.

This was the case for another friend of mine, as I remember his response when I invited him to a christmas event my church had - 'nah, i've gone to many of these before, it's all the same'.

I thought that because a person has heard the same message so many times, why would he suddenly just accept it?

I have underestimated God's favor and goodness in working, and apparently people DO accept it even after hearing it many times.

And for the case of SH it seems that she has made a pretty informed decision, when I talked to her more about it, it was clear that she knew what she was doing and why she wanted to accept Christ (and she also knew much more about 'religion' in general than me and I had much to learn from her :) )

This was a humbling experience, and obviously a very happy one for me. A heavy and tough task has been placed upon me, to be a good mentor for her and guide her along her Christian walk, and I gladly embrace it. I pray that God will give me the wisdom and ability to do so.

2) School is hectic before it even started.

This is a long section by itself, and probably needs further splitting. I don't even know how I'm going to retell the story coherently.

Basically, this has been the most hectic 2 weeks before school reopened (up to today, 1st day of school). Hectic not because of any other things but because of school-specific stuff.

In previous semesters, the 5 modules that I have to take were always pretty clear cut and decided ahead of time. I will bid for my modules accordingly, and get everything settled nicely (e.g. I'll get what I bid for, and have everything by end of Round 2)

This time round, it's different.

The original plan

I originally wanted to take a Lab module (compulsory for Psych majors) along with 2 Psych mods, 1 of which is a compulsory mod and the other is an elective. The remaining two modules would be Philosophy of Religion and Marketing, and these 5 were pretty set in stone.

The first hiccup

The first hiccup came in Round 1A, when we (me and friends) realized that we couldn't even bid for the lab we wanted - it was reserved for Year 3s to bid for. Being a popular lab, this meant that it would be gone at the end of Round 1A.

It was time to find backups, as I frantically went to search for another module. I settled on one eventually, Personality and Individual Differences, sounded interesting.

Complications

Things began to get complicated when a friend of mine, Nella, who has taken basically same modules as me all the while, suddenly wanted to change her module choices, and introduced a module that I never really considered, Mod X.

The gf had some other modules she was eyeing as well but they weren't of my interest so it didn't factor in. I was also doing considerably more research abt the modules (due to my free time) so I was feeding her information that I got.

But basically this injection of a new module made me realize I shouldn't be too set on taking a module, and I should consider alternatives.

Thus in came Mod Y, a module that is taken by a prof I like but he specifically dissuaded us to take the module, because he didn't really have time to prepare for it and was having 'burnout' from lecturing 4 sems straight. Also, the lessons were at 8AM.

After an extended email conversation with this prof, he basically greatly discouraged me from taking the module. I still wanted to take it, because I had no other real options, so I thought of taking X and Y (and the compulsory mod)

The 2nd hiccup

Amidst all these problems, I suddenly realized something that would have been disastrous had I missed. I had originally planned to do 5 modules worth of Psych modules at SEP (exchange prog) next sem. However, after doing some calculations, I realized that if I did that, I would exceed the limit of Psych mods that I could take!

I had to cut it down to 4 modules worth of Psych mods (which involved amending a submitted form for SEP and going down to school a second time during the holidays), AND also remove one Psych mod that I was taking in NUS this sem.

This meant I had to take only 2 Psych mods, and find a breadth/gem to take in its place.

Cutting down one Psych mod meant I had to choose one out of the 3 options (X, Y and Personality) instead of the originally planned 2. I asked my prof for Y for advice, and he actually told me that I shouldn't take Personality because of the prof taking that mod (I'm anonymizing the modules so that the identity of this prof doesn't get out) . Further checks with friends and stuff also confirmed that the Personality mod Prof was ... not desirable.

This reduced it to X and Y. And now I found a breadth, an LSM, that some friends were taking as well, but the thing was that it clashed with X, so if I took that LSM, I wouldn't have been able to take X and would have to take Y.

First attempt at X.

My preference was to take X because the prof for it is highly acclaimed and won teaching awards before for teaching that module! And the module is supposedly a lot more interesting than Y too.

So I just MPEd Y first (noone wanted it, so easily got it for 1 point), and tried bidding for X, but failed to get it after one round (19/11 bidders).

The next round actually released module X (5 spaces)... for FRESHIES which was retarded because X has certain pre-requisites that meant that it was like a 0.1% chance that there was a freshie that could actually take it.

At the same time, as the round progressed, I bid (And won) for LSM and my other mods (marketing + philo)

By the end of Round 2, I had 5 modules. I didn't get Mod X because of the stiff competition, oh well. No biggy. All seemed fine and dandy.

Tyranny of Choice

In Round 3, suddenly 18 slots opened up for Mod X. EIGHTEEN F*CKING SLOTS.

What the hell ? Why do you have to save the spots for the last round and not just release it earlier!? It wouldn't have cost 707 points in Round 1 if just 8-9 more slots were released.

And so suddenly Mod X became a viable option, since it was virtually a guaranteed 1 point module. Over time, only 4 bidders entered the bidding arena for it. Waaay under quota, definite 1 point.

Also, over the course of time, Mod X's attractiveness had gone up as I heard more and more good stuff about it. So now I wanted to take Mod X - but it clashes with LSM! How now brown cow?

The IS problem

I have to find another breadth or GEM to replace LSM then. (This was actually alot more complicated, there were other modules I considered in place of LSM but I eventually settled on LSM)

I found a decent sounding module, ISxxxx, and actually managed to rope in a good friend, Candice, to take it with me. However, there were 2 lecture slots for this module (choose 1), and Candice could only take the 1st one. I could take both, but taking the 2nd slot would mean another long problem for Marketing (which I won't elaborate cos it's too longwinded and this post is already mega longwinded)

This meant I needed to get the 1st slot. BUT. Somehow fate has it that the first slot only had 5 spaces, whereas the 2nd slot had 12 spaces. This meant a significantly lower chance of getting the 1st slot (with candice!) !

When Open Bidding ended (and Closed bidding began), the first slot had 10/5 bidders and 2nd slot only had 12/12 (or 11/12, it fluctuated).

After significant deliberation, I actually decided that I shouldn't risk it and I should try for the 2nd slot because it's kinda risky to try for the first one with so much competition and I didn't have that many G points. Also, I would have to drop the LSM to bid for it, and lose 200+ points in the process. Thus, too much risk to try for the 10/5 slot, I'll have to settle for doing IS on my own :(

Quantum Mechanics

BUT. Lo and behold in the last 30 minutes before closed bidding, I stumbled upon this other mod about Einstein and QM - it actually fit perfectly in my timetable. And after quickly texting a few friends, I found out that it was actually quite an easy and slack mod and supposedly easy to score.

The most important thing was that it was actually under quota! like 20/30 or something like that. In fact, it was one of the ONLY breadth/gem mods that still had so much space (besides the super boring ones like 'Plants and Society') (I know because I checked them all) so I could get it for 1 point!

This led me to realize that I should just risk it - I can bid for the 1st slot for IS, the one with Candice, AND at the same time bid for this Einstein mod which I'll definitely get so it's my backup, and if I don't get the IS mod, I'll just take this mod which isn't all too bad.

Verdict

I didn't get the IS mod. :( Sadface. Was looking forward to doing a module with candice, had never done so before (NM101 isn't counted)

Thus I'm doing this module called Einstein's Universe and Quantum Weirdness.

Thus, only TODAY, at the end of the first day of school, did I manage to settle all 5 of my modules and FINALLY finalize my timetable. (Well not quite, there's still tutorial balloting)

What a whirlwind of events it has been.

And you're one heck of a baller if you actually read from start to finish.

Highlights of 2011

The end of the year is a time where I look back at the year that just passed, and think: "What?? That was this year? It seemed AGES ago!"

This may end up being a tradition that I do at the end of every year - at the end of 2010 I also made a 'highlights of 2010' blog post.
Wow actually after reading that again, I think 2010 was ALOT more eventful and awesome than this year. This year was pretty... meh? Let's find out, as I recap my 2011!


1) Joining www.sc2sea.com

sc2sea is a community based website for SEA Starcraft 2 players. I began making posts there in about March/April, and soon after I was pulled on board to join as the Head Article Writer there.

My avatar on SC2SEA

Over the past 8 months or so I have more or less established myself there as a well-reputed member of the community and I think many people, if not most, would have read something I have written. For samples of my blogs there, check out My Blogs and my Road to Masters Series.

My reputation there is pretty good, and I love the site so much that I hang around there almost the entire day :) I'm looking to become a moderator there, after I get certain issues settled...


2) iPhone 4

After a looong time of unbearable waiting, I got my iPhone 4! The wait was because I actually found a buyer earlier than expected for my iPod Touch 4 so I was left without a device.

I still feel abit bad for selling my iPod Touch of course, because it was a beloved present from my best male buddy Pewi! But I tried to rationalize that he bought me the iPhone actually! Because that's really what it was, he bought me the ticket into Apple's kingdom HAHA.

So yea, the iPhone has changed my life in more ways than one, with me becoming more active on Twitter (which led to awesome stuff like making good friends :) ), having Internet on the move, etc etc.


3) The 1000 piece Jigsaw

Feeling ambitious, me and SH tried to solve a 1000 piece jigsaw for the first time in our life.

After literally an entire day of hard work (10 hours, 36 minutes to be precise), we gave up and conceded.

And after a week or two, I sold this jigsaw puzzle to Weiqin, who promptly demonstrates her imba-ness by single-handedly COMPLETING it under 12 hours (should read it, her blog post is pretty interesting)


4) Arts Camp 2011!

One of the best experiences I've had this year, if not the best. The energy that the freshies had was just so refreshing. I felt I could connect with them better than my batch of people for some reason. Much more than me with my seniors for sure.

For the original blog entry, go here.


5) Failed my IPPT

How is this a 'highlight' again?

It was the first time taking my IPPT after I had come out of army, and it was a time to gauge my personal fitness.... which was clearly rock bottom judging by how I totally failed my 2.4KM run.

I did blog about it and it was rather interesting, so do have a read :)


6) First time night-cycling!
Thinking back, I've no idea how I managed to do it! We cycled from Holland V to ECP to Singapore Flyer, and all the way back to Holland V! It's insane man! I recall being dead tired at the end of it. But was fun nonetheless, as I had good company :)


7) First holiday with SH!

me, SH and shimin!

Went to Batam with the gf, shimin and her bf, who was our lovely host because he is Indonesian!

Our tourguide

I think without him our trip would have been a lot more difficult.. because he could speak Bahasa Indo he conversed with the cab drivers, staff, etc and bargained and stuff haha.

Was a pretty fun maiden trip, you can see the pictures and read the blog post here ;)


8) World of Warcraft

So I started playing WoW again, got hacked again (but got it back), hit the level cap

Ding

Raided again, killed bosses again, got into some leet guild
And quit WoW again. Hopefully, for good this time.


9) Taught the gf how to cycle!

This is not just a highlight of 2011 but a life accomplishment for me hahaha.
Yea basically SH doesn't ... wait, DIDN'T know how to cycle, so I told her I would teach her! And initially she thought would take a week or more, I told her NO BY TODAY.

Read more about it here. ;) With videos even!


---

Yup that's it for the highlights of this year! Next year will be an interesting one, as I will be staying in hall and (hopefully) I'm going on my SEP ! (Student Exchange Programme) (To Boston University, USA!)

Happy New Year everyone!

CORS Bidding Dilemma

It’s that time of the year again – no, not New Year’s Day, not post-Christmas, but CORS Bidding!!

I’m just going to pen my thoughts down so I can organize them better and make better decisions. But I know for sure I’m going to have a big headache when it begins because things won’t go as planned.

MUST-HAVE Modules

These modules are those that I MUST take this sem, so I will throw all my points in them:

PL3234 - Developmental Psychology
One of the 5 Core (required) modules for Psych majors, so I have to clear it! I don't want to wait too long to take it too so best to get it over and done with.
Problem is if I take this, I can't take my back-up lab mod of 'Lab in Applied Psych'. That comes in later.

Expected Bid Points - I should get this for 1 point or in MPE

PL3282A - Lab in Interpersonal Relationships

This is the only lab that I want to take in the list of labs, the other one is Lab in Social Psych but that one is only available in Sem1 and I'm going on SEP in Sem 1 so I MUST take this. 

Any other lab would be something Cognitive Psych related which will be considerably tougher because of having to use special program to design stimuli!

My backup for this is Applied Psych (I don't really want but I don't mind doing, not like the Cog Psych labs which I DONT WANT to do), but the problem is Applied Psych clashes with Devt Psych.

Expected Bid Points - 500++.

Previous sems' records show this mod goes for at least 500 points. I will be throwing EVERYTHING I HAVE in this mod, because I HAVE to get it. Fingers -crossed.

Contingency plan is I take this in Y3 S2 I guess, because apparently Y3 students get priority for labs, and from bidding history it seems that this mod disappears after Round 1A (eaten up by Y3 students already). So ;( I need a 5th mod if that's the case.

WANT-TO-TAKE Modules

These modules are what I want to take but not entirely necessary, I can try to find backup if I don't get.

MKT1003X- Marketing

To fulfill my breadth requirement, and also taking this with some friends. Sounds the most interesting of the breadths so why not? S/U ftw!

Expected Bid Points - Not sure how to interpret the Bidding History because there are separate queues and stuff, but shouldn't be too ex! 100? Doesn't affect my other mods though because this is G account.

PL3241 - Personality and Individual Differences

Taking as an elective mod of course, and sounds like an interesting module. Shouldn't have any problems getting it, judging from past history.

Expected Bid Points - 1

PH2211 - Philosophy of Religion

Now it gets tricky. This module is to fulfill my UE, but it also costs a hefty amount in Round 2B (not sure if I can bid for this in 2A or 2B!) (200 + points!)

If I were to splurge everything I have on Lab in Interpersonal, I have to find some alternative for this slot already because I wont' have the points I need to bid for this.

Expected Bid Points - 1 if available in 2A, 200+ if only in 2B

Argh ok I'm gonna go for lunch, when I come back maybe hunt for other alternatives. 

A fulfilling job

I'm working at an education consultancy right now, doing admin work and whatever needs to be done. I'm like an extra pair of hands.

Apart from administering SATs and GMATs and other standardized tests, they also have two 'College Consultants' who are basically advisers for those who are interested in applying for college (e.g. those who finished 'A' levels, etc)

So what they do is guide the individual through the entire process, including writing the application essay, choosing schools, preparing documents, submitting documents, etc. This is naturally a lengthy process, so naturally they spend alot of time with the students, often over a few weeks.

As a temp staff who isn't laden with tooooo much work, and the office being fairly small, I am often able to listen in on everything that happens, like what they talk to the students about, how they give guidance, etc, and it's all really interesting!  The college consultants are both really nice and friendly too, so they're nice to be around :)

And I can feel how fulfilling the job is for them - it IS a pretty huge deal that they're helping out with - they're helping these kids apply for their colleges man! Without them they won't have a future! So it's hugeeee. And many of the clients are really thankful and grateful as well, since they really are v nice and helpful and friendly.

Like right now as I am writing this, one of their past clients came back to say hi, and thank them and even bought like a jar of snacks for them! 

I hope my job in the future is something like this - challenging, fun, rewarding. I don't even need like high pay or anything. 

Random CAP calculations

I’ve been doing some calculations because I’m bored.

My current CAP is 4.33 over 3 sems, meaning a Total Points of 13. I wanted to calculate what I need to get to secure my 2^nd upper class honors, so here are just some random calculations I did.

1)       For my CAP to drop below 4 after next semester, I would have to get a B- average (CAP of 2.96) next sem

2)       To graduate with 2^nd upper honors, I would need a Total Points of (4x7 = 28) (assuming I go on SEP and freeze CAP for one Semester, that’s why multiply by 7 and not 8)

That means I need 28-13 = 15 points for my remaining 4 semesters. That’s an average of CAP 3.75 for each semester, or B+ average for two semesters, B average for 2 semesters.

3)       That means for the coming semesters, any semester in which I get a CAP of above 3.75 = that amount less I need for subsequent semesters. (e.g. If I get 4.0 next sem, I only need 3.5 the subsequent sem)

4)       Assuming I do well (CAP 4.5) next sem, I only need a B average for the remaining sems.

5)       Assuming I do badly for next sem (CAP < 3.5), I need a 3.83 CAP average for the remaining sems.

NUS Semester 1 AY 11/12 results

So... Gonna be blogging about my results which I just received this morning. Don't read on if you're going to be all judgmental and ngeh ngeh why this guy so lame put his results up online. 

If you're looking for a module review, go here.

The myopic gamer

Life can be reduced to a video game. Everything and anything we do can be described as some aspect of a game. Many parallels can be drawn between things you do in a game as well as things you do in life.

I will list each example with the real life activity first, followed by the gaming example.


Real Life: Earning money
We all need money. To eat, to travel, to buy frivolous things for ourselves. Unless you were born with a silver spoon or you grow a money tree, most of us would have to actually work to earn money. We slave for hours to end and when we get home everyday, deadbeat and exhausted, we ask ourselves, 'Why am I doing this? Oh right, I need the money."

In a Game: Farming Gold
We have all done it. From breeding Air Dragons to sell in Dragonvale and spamming collect on the Plant Habitats, memorizing mining routes like these to level our Mining profession in World of Warcraft to trade more lucrative ores,

Typical Mining Route in World of Warcraft

to killing more mobs in Skyrim to collect more material for sale. We often do things that are boring and monotonous and grind-like to get more gold. When you are extremely bored and tired and ask yourself "Why am I doing this? Oh right, I need more gold."


Real Life: Multi-tasking
If you have a dog, a girlfriend, a clique, and a family, that is already 4 different groups that you have to divide your attention between them. You fail to do so in any aspect and that could mean soured ties, and the effects could snowball and just come back and bite you in the butt later on. You could even lose your girlfriend.

In a Game: Multi-tasking (Macro)
In Starcraft 2, players have to multitask constantly to keep their economy going. If you are unable to multitask to keep up your larva injects, Chronoboosts and MULEs, it could snowball and come back and bite you in the butt later on when you cannot produce enough units to defend a push. You could even lose the game.

Don't lose your MULES!

Real Life: Building friendships
Psychologists list many types of relationships, and a famous related principle is the social exchange theory, in which individuals focus on the costs/benefits of a relationship to determine whether it's a worthwhile relationship.
Whether we like it or not, relationships involve investment, effort and time to maintain, and you have to put in some amount of these, otherwise you will never have good, healthy, friendly relations.

In A Game: Farming Reputation
Anyone who has played some kind of RPG that requires reputation with a faction will know what this point is about before even reading on.
In many games, you have certain ties with groups of people (factions) in the game. You will need to do quests for them, kill monsters for them, etc, to improve your honor/reputation with them. There are various thresholds such as Neutral -> Friendly -> Honored -> Exalted, etcetc, to indicate your level of relationship with the particular factoin.
Whether you like it or not, forming these reputations involve investment, effort and time to do so, and without these, you will never have a good, solid reputation with any faction.

Someone with leet In-Game reputation but probably terrifail Real Life relations.

Real Life: Work in a Team
School project groups, work project groups, teammates in a sport... I could go on and on listing the different types of teams we work in. You can't escape it, you have to learn how to work with other people and coordinate efforts to contribute to a joint result. You may have problems such as people not turning up, people being late, conflicts within your group, etc. But if you are the leader, you're going to have to mediate and iron these out, in order to have any level of success in your group's tasks.

In A Game: Work in a Team
Whether you are in a 25-man raid in World of Warcraft or playing a 5v5 DoTA game with your buddies, teamwork and coordination is usually crucial in winning/killing a boss. You can't escape it- you can be the best Rogue, the best Lina Maiden, the best Holy Paladin in your group, but if the rest of your team f**ks up, you're going to fail.
You may have problems with people being late or not turning up for raid, and maybe even conflicts over whose fault it was that you failed the last wipe. But if you are the leader, you're going to have to get everyone focused on the task at hand and stop pointing fingers, in order to have any level of success in your group's tasks.

Mid-fight in a game of Dota 2

These are just 4 of the more common examples, there are probably others more trivial cases which you can easily draw a gaming parallel as well. I think this will suffice to prove my theory though.

Life is a video game.