Time for Some Updates...

Well, well, a week has gone since semester started... Let me give a little updates on what have been happening since the last post. Remember that I mentioned that I need to go back Singapore earlier due to a chess tournament? This is the result:


Jeng, jeng, jeng... (for dramatic effect)

This is the trophy... What do you think of it???

Third Place in National Division of NIC 2009

Yes, we managed to secured third placing in this tournament despite all the hardships we faced. Moreover, we are third in the National Division which is something we can be proud of. Faced with many tough opponents (many which possess international FIDE rating), we managed to make it to the end. Personally, I played 3 out of 5 games (as this is a team tournament) and gained 2 draw and 1 loss. Well, I am the weakest player in my team and I supposed to be the 2nd reserve but due to some unforeseen circumstances, I am forced to play more than I am suppose to. Well, I shall take it as an experience in competitive chess.


After 3 long days of NIC 2009, I started my semester on the following days with an 8 a.m. class. When it was night, I was totally exhausted due to lack of sleep and overuse of brain power from the previous days. I ended up sleeping for 14 hours from 10 p.m. until 12 p.m.. I can't sleep any longer beyond that not because I am fully rested, but because I have lecture at 2 p.m. I could have continue to sleep were not the class. That is to show how tired I was. I am still tired now!!! I didn't have much time to rest throughout the week as my schedule is getting more hectic day by day.

This semester, I took 5 modules, 4 of which were my core modules. The modules I took were:

1. LSM2103 - Cell Biology
   
2. LSM2201A - Experimental Biochemistry
3. LSM2241 - Introductory Bioinformatics
4. ST2238 - Introductory Biostatistics
5. GEK1045 - Introduction to the World of Religion

And I heard from my seniors in my course that Year 2 supposed to be the most "siong" year in the course. I wonder whether I can cope with it or not.

Moreover, these modules not only hurt me physcially and mentally, they hurt me financially as well. All of them required me to buy the textbooks and each textbooks don't come cheap (at least S$20 per book and they are second hand books). So far, I only managed to get one. I need to search for the books. Another headache...

Let me put down all these aside and go and get my precious sleep first. This is the only weekend day I have with 8 hours of sleep at least... I need more. Can someone donate some sleep to me???

*zZzZZz....*

Pre LOUD! 2009

*6 days and 17 hours plus away from leaving Malaysia*
*And still number is still dropping even now*


I just hope time stop this moment... And maybe reversed it too. But the truth is time won't wait for anyone. I really enjoyed my holiday back here in Malaysia. The times that I spent with all my friends became even more valuable to me as time goes on.


Ok, just leave that behind for now. In 14 hours time, LOUD! 2009 will start!!! I am kind of excited about it. Although I am just helping out in Logistic, I am really excited to see 2000 people filled Dream Centre. If you don't know what LOUD! is, LOUD! stands for Living Out Ur Destiny! What is it about? Basically, we are having a concert... Of course, this is a Christian concert but if you think that it is boring, I can tell you that you are wrong... One of the reason we organize LOUD! is to show that Christians too can have fun and more than that, to help people to live out their destiny.

In less than 8 hours, I suppose to leave for church to help the preparations. Well, there are a lot of things to prepare especially in the Logistic departments such as moving chairs, preparing the Sports Centre and Hall 2 (which have Dance Mat games, Guitar Hero and Nintendo Wii) and etc. I am kind of anxious, hoping that all things will go smooth later and I hope that all the equipments needed will be around...

I think I better be going to sleep now...Hope I can sleep well...

Holiday #2...

Oh no, now to think of it, its already July... That is darn fast! Seeing all my ex-schoolmates going back to uni made me felt kind of '...' (I don't know what to say, but its something sad I guess). Not to mention CORS bidding for my modules going to being in like 2 weeks. I still don't know my core modules yet despite that. *Wonder why NUS so inefficient in this* Hence, I have no idea what modules I should take. Haihz, headache headache.

I shall not be distracted by that in the moment. Must see what I can do in this holiday.

1. More yumcha sessions (Eventhough there are overspending probabilities...)
2. Another time of futsal, perhaps?
3. Go for all the church services in DUMC (Really enjoyable) this month.
4. Eat all the nice foods that are around especially those you cannot find in Singapore. (Eh, I think most cannot find leh....)
5. Sleep more! Definitely, without affecting my bio-clock although long time affected already.
6. Play more PC games? Just downloaded The Sims 3 a week ago...
7. Hang kai more... I just love to window shopping, kind of an entertainment to me... XD
8. I have no more ideas!!! Can you suggest some?!?!

And of course, things that I need to do:

1. Book an airplane ticket back to Singapore...Although I am not sure about the date yet...
2. Do some packing especially books that I may need to bring back.
3. Do my CORS bidding... T_T
4. Clean up my laptop and maybe buy a cover for my keyboard.
5. Fix my shoe...
   
6. Practice my chess? *Lost some spirit in me...*

The list is kind of short... Oh never mind, not like I wanted it to be long anyway.Hehe, I think I am off to eat something... *Wave hands*

Holiday #1...

It has been around 2 and half week since I came back for holidays, and of course, I spent a lot too... Once I came back, got so many activities with my friends. I realized I got quite a number of friends for me to spend so much from just going out with them.

Of course, it has been greatly relaxing for past few weeks with ONLY ONE exception, I need to practice for my chess tournament this Saturday. To tell you the truth, I only started playing some chess puzzles (which I found out to be not so enriching). Although I plan to study some openings, I failed to do so with the lack of resources and definitely, motivation as well. Well, you see its holiday and I been really tired and drained of energy for my 1st year of study *realized that I don't like to study after all*. Chess to me, is something I played for fun and when it comes tournament, I can really scratch my head and sometimes have weird imaginations before I sleep *I wonder why*. Yeap and tomorrow I am flying to Singapore for it. *T_T* I really don't want to leave Malaysia now, not when I am enjoying my holiday.

Haihz.... *ok, Mun Lok, look at bright side... Its just a few days away* Let me share a bit of what have been happening this past 3 weeks. There has been a lot of yumcha sessions (I think I spent quite a lot on it)... And then, yesterday, went for my first karaoke session in my entire life in the public with Shang Shi , Ping Ying and SS's son, Yik Mun. Well, got few people who last minute ffk... Thats why so little... We sing until our throats are all dry because the karaoke centre let us continue to sing eventhough our limit's over. We been waiting, and waiting for them to tell us to stop but they didn't... Haha, they like to sing a lot of emo songs too and those that require high pitch songs... How can we survive through that?

After that, we went for fishing (except for Ping Ying because she needs to work)... Again, its my first time! We went from 4pm until around 8 pm... Guess what did I catch??? A lot of "pak guo" (I hope you know what I mean)... I guess the fishes there don't like me. There are few times when the fishes bit but I a bit slow (beginner mah...) and they are gone! At least, Shang Shi and Yik Mun caught something eventhough it is small. I shall try my best again!!! *I think we should the venue for fishing ler next time. I think the fish are biased against me*

Yesterday was also a very memorable time to me besides losing my "first-times" in karaoke and fishing. What happened was an close friend of mine from Secondary school begin to talk to me on MSN. I was quite suprised too as we lost contact for almost one and half year. Well, we begin to chat and she told me about what happened to her for the past one and half year. As she share, it struck me on how I have never care enough for her especially in those times that she needed someone there beside her to help her through. But I am glad that she told me what happened and still considered me as her close friend. I recalled she told me that she only can share these things to me. Right now, I just want to help her get back up and walk back on the right track. I hope I can really help her as I already lost this friendship for 1.5 year and I don't want to lose it the second time.
I had learned how important for us to treasure the relationships around us in our conversation.

Yea, so that a little update on my holidays as of today... Oh, and this Friday my results for 2nd semester is out. I hope I do well considering one of my module gives me a feeling that I will fail... Really hope I don't so that I won't have to replace it next semester... *Pray, pray, pray...*

*Looking forward for greater memories during these holidays...*

There Goes the First Year...

With the last exam yesterday, I declared the end of my first year in NUS. So much have been happening since last year August when I came in here... Kind of nostalgic as I recall bit and pieces of it. I lost much and gained much as well. I think I matured a little since then XD and I do meant a little in case, some of you think I over-exaggerated. Nonetheless, I treasure those moments be it good or bad as they are unique to me.

I just did a little packing. I realized I got a lot of books and notes. Well, I just dump it all in my suitcase and hoping when parents drop by, I can ask them to bring back in Malaysia. As I see those book, I began to think that "NUS systems of MCs" are waste of money and resources. With every semester, we required to take 5 modules, and at the end, we only use them for a semester. I doubt those knowledge will stay in the brain of mine after semester is over. After that, all is thrown away or maybe some fragments left as knowledge. This makes we wonder, if university education really that important? The truth is, I doubt its really that important these days... Eh, wait a minute, what am I doing here??? NO!!!

Talking about packing, this reminds me... I just want to tell everyone I will be back this Sunday or 10 of May! Good to be back but just not in time to join the USJ4's CF adoption by ACTS Church. Afterall, I was a part of it. USJ4's CF, I wish all the best to you all and may God blesses you all in abundance... On the other hand, please come and look for me and of course, ask me out yumcha or something. *I hope I got enough money for outings* Moreover, I got 2 and half months for holiday! I think I want to make it a meaningful one...

Ok, the end....

Missing for a month or so???

I guess I did went missing for some time.... Haha been really lazy and busy lately as well. My mid-term is 3/4 over for now. Left only my Chinese mid-term on Thursday. I am still amazed how people were amazed that I am learning Chinese! Chinese cannot learn Chinese want ar? I admit I was banana and am still banana. Just managed to learn to read some words but at a very very slowwwwwww pace that is... I am trying very hard to remember the new words ever since I graduate from Chinese kindergarten last week (according to my lecturer that is). I guess I am still surviving due to my Cantonese background. Without it, I think I will be a 'sotong' most of the time...

In the mean time, I still got a lot of assignment to do... I just managed to finished one today(hopefully that is...) and I realize I got one more to go (a 1000 essay kind) and one more to come this Friday... *Horrors* what happen to my happy, stress-free life??? Oh no! I haven't Google the info I need for it...*Must learn to relax*

Talking about stress, I not sure if any of you know this... Apparently in NTU, Singapore, there had been 2 suicide cases concerning an undergraduate and a graduate. What actually happen to the first student is that his scholarship was revoked and he went to stab his professor (which is still alive today)... After that, he slit his wrist and jump down building. I guess he really stressed. The second one, is a newly graduate who recently was retrenched and was hired by NTU to be some kind of Project Officer... Just 5 days into his work, err, well, he decided to hang himself at his hostel. His housemate must be horrified to find him like that...

The coincidence thing is that both of them were from EEE (I think is Electrical and Electronic Engineering)... I guess EEE is really inhumane in NTU?

So, that is regarding stress... Of course, Singapore being Singapore, the kiasu spirit is also present in NUS... However, this is not a suicide case... Just one of the exchange students well drink alcohol while on medication... This lead to complication and causes him to have breathing difficulties and later died as a result of it. The weird thing that this happen at my hostel. Which block, however, I do not know. And the funny thing is that I didn't notice the commotion that time because I was sleeping soundly. It was 5 a.m. anyway, I shouldn't be awake for that...

This 3 cases happened over just 2 weeks and everyone is basically talking about it...Talk about being famous...For the wrong reason though. Tough life here in Singapore with all the recession talk going around. People are easily agitated due to that? I don't know but it is easy to blame all the problem on media because they stresses us too much!

I think it's time for me to sleep...Hopefully, there won't be fourth case. If not, I think Singapore Uni are cursed!

~~Slacking off... ~~

I had not been busy lately, seriously! Sure, I have some tutorials and assignments to do but somehow, after doing all these, I still had some free time... With that, I choose to slack (I think it's the influences of someone I know...). Although not entirely free, but just free enough to slack.

I assured you that being a university student is not as easy as it might be. Almost everyday, I have classes from 10am to 6pm with Friday being free on alternate weeks. When my class are done at 6pm, I will usually head back to my room. For some unknown reason, I will usually feel very tired by then. I guess I got no stamina? Even more after Chinese New Year, my slackness seems to have increase for 50%... I don't recall being in such a state in the past *Thinking hard, reflecting on my memories...*

Oh well, enough with that... In my previous post, I remember blogging about me taking a Chinese lesson in my university. Well, I got a good news. I did learn some Chinese words after all. A very simple one though, nothing worth bragging but just enough for sharing. I think even a Standard 1 student can beat me in it... Still, its worth mentioning as before I don't even know a single word (Ok, I do admit knowing how numbers look like).

I would like to show you my Chinese textbook and workbook... Quite 'chunt-ed' one, ok, being produced by Beijing University... *Kua jiong-nya*


Of course, some additional exercise besides those from textbook and workbook... Hehe, its all my writing, no cheating. May not look so nice though, beginner anyway...



One of the thing about the Chinese language module that I have is that it have a rather heavy workload with 4 hours of lecture each week and 2 hours of tutorial. Phew! Really spend a lot of time of it, not only in school, but also at home. Really not easy... I still a bit suck in determining tone for 'hanyu pinyin' during listening... Wah, a quiz coming somemore... Sure fail in it one!

Aside from my Chinese language, I still got other module such as sociological studies and understanding the universe (both are optional modules) requiring me to start preparing for its project... For sociological studies, I find it too be a bit deep and require some micro-observation and analysis in which I still not so good yet. It gonna be hard as I need to prepare a presentation on social issues of family or deviance in the coming month or so??? Understanding the universe or astronomy in simple word, on the other hand, have a project that is essay-based. It is basically about reviewing an astronomy article. Of course, it is a group work but I think it require a lot of personal research and studies. Thinking of this both do tense me up...
~Hope it to be over soon~

Anyway, just for a tease... Look down.... Way down....





























The unknown side/secret image of Lee Shang Shi!!! Dang dang dang!!! *Taken during mamak session before CNY*


Enjoy your week!!!