//Choices//
Clinton or Obama?
NTU or NUS?
It's kind of funny how things turned out, considering the fact that I wasn't even thinking about NUS 2 months ago when I applied for university.
I spent days reading about the modules in mass comm for NTU and other courses like NTU biz, etc, and spent a lot of time debating on which course I should put as my first choice and so on. And I finally chose mass comm as my first choice after much delibration.
NUS...the whole application probably took me half an hour (inclusive of reading about the modules in the various courses)...cause..it has always been a backup for me, I knew for sure at that time I wanted either NTU mass comm or NTU biz. So who cares about NUS, I just randomly applied for some courses, and some double degree courses.
Then came the interview, I was asked to go for an interview for the ddp in NUS that I applied for. I mean, I didn't even remember that I applied for some DDP when I signed up for that interview. I was actually thinking "great..bookout!" When I finally remembered that I applied for that DDP, I actually had the mentality of using that interview as an preparation for my mass comm interview in NTU which I deemed more important. So you can probably tell that I totally didn't even try to prepare myself mentally for that interview.
Even when the acceptance letters came for both university, I was so ready to accept mass comm in NTU. But over the past week or so, I've been receiving advices from quite some people, from friends to university prof to even friend's bosses. And I can say they definitely made a very very strong case for NUS's double degree programme.
I mean, I admit, I am more inclined towards NUS now. But still, there are so much to take into consideration and so much holding me back from accepting NUS right now, like is the extra year for the DDP worth it, will I be able to cope with the workload, and most importantly, the fact that NTU mass comm has been my choice since the beginning, made it very hard for me to reject it now. It's like abandoning something you've believed in for so long. At the same time, it's very hard to reject NUS too, since apparently it's very very hard to get into the DDP.
Everyone I've asked have given me some pretty good advice I think, but it's their personal opinion afterall, like a friend actually told me that he believed it doesn't matter what degree one end up with, if that person's good, he/she won't have trouble finding a very decent job (which is one of the reason for rejecting mass comm, cause apparently, job prospects of mass comm graduate is not too promising).
He's not entirely wrong to say that, but does it apply to me? I guess I just have to take in all the advices I received, process them and decide if it applies to me.
NTU's mass comm is like Clinton, more established and experienced and started with more support..but gradually losing support till she finally lags behind. NUS's DDP on the other hand, is like Obama, new (which is always a scary thing), but he managed to win over the supporters gradually and is now leading.
Actually to be honest, I think I've made up my mind. I'm just not committed to my decision 100%. I am still holding on, hoping that maybe between now and 2nd June, there would be some dramatic happenings that would sway me to the other side, just like how Clinton refuses to give up although all odds are against her.
That's just me I guess. Indecisive and can't commit.
On a totally unrelated note, 1SIR, here I come! The fact that I'm going to see familiar faces in a totally unfamiliar environment does comfort me a little, but still, I'm worried like hell. Let's just hope I'm worrying over nothing, and things will turn up fantastic.
Monday, May 19, 2008
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
佐贺的超级阿嬷
//佐贺的超级阿嬷//
I know this is waaay overdue, since my signals course ended like a week ago exactly, but still, it's something that I would like to jot down, so that when I do read my older entries in the future, I will actually remember how I felt about the course.
It's really funny cause I was just reading some of my old entries, and there were some entries that really brought me back to the time I was writing it, I actually remembered very very clearly how I felt then and why I wrote what I wrote, but some entries, it just felt like someone else wrote it, and I just feel weird reading it.
Back to my point.
The 6 weeks in stagmont, probably my best 6 weeks in my 24 months in NS? There are lots of things I will miss, like the daily shitting session in the ever so clean CSTH toilets followed by the slacking around at the benches at CSTH while waiting for the PRs to start, or the daily snacking session at level 1 lobby after RO at night (i totally agree with chi weng that Hello Panda is the best snacks on earth), or lazing around in e-plaza waiting for lessons to start.
And it's great to lame around with yenshan, robert and so on, especially on depressing days. They just made the bad days tolerable and the good days even better. I will miss my nickname sluticia (only robert n yenshan calls me that, and since they won't be going 1 sir...it will be kind of lost i guess), which is totally random since I am obviously the least slutty, or rather the only non-slutty one around, especially compared to slutella and sluterina...haha.
I guess this 6 weeks in stagmont is the closest to a student life you will get in NS, which is probably why I enjoyed it so much, which reminds me, god i miss hwa chong!
I take 190 and switch to 151 at raffles town club whenever I book out from stagmont, and I happened to run into 2 HC guys on the bus a few weeks ago, J1 I presume, since one of the guys is from tkd too and he's just a white belt. Made me kind of "school-sick" for a while, especially listening to them talk about tutorials..lecture tests and so on (and no, I did not intentionally listen in to their convo, the bus was so packed and I was standing beside them, so it's inevitable)
I miss stoning at the class bench, playing bridge after school, taking hours to decide where to eat or go, and so much more. I even miss the times I spent mugging for all the exams with my friends at KAP/class bench/SRC/marina square foodcourt (the list is simply too long..haha...i mugged in all parts of singapore).
But yea, things are always better when we look back at them. School life seems so exciting, St John is so full of memories, BMT came and went by so quickly and 6 weeks in stagmont is just so fun. Yea, cause I guess we only remember the good things, we choose to keep the beautiful memories, and throw away all the bad ones.
Like right now, when I look back on my 6 weeks in stagmont, the first things I remember are the good times as mentioned above, the ridiculous behaviour of some scums? Not so much.
Selective memory maybe.
Ok, enough about all this. Right now, I am in some Ops, which is apparently such a big secret that I am not supposed to blog about it. Oh well.
Let just say my job scope now allows me to have even more time to read as compared to my days in stagmont. Which is why I read about 4-5 sets of newspaper daily, and I will finish reading at least 1 book daily. I guess that explains why the list of books I read on the left column has been increasing quite steadily.
I realized the books I have been reading are either bimbotic or bitchy. Like “Fashion Babylon”, it is so bitchy, and it’s basically about sex, booze, drugs, gays, and oh yea fashion. But I can’t deny it’s a nice read since it’s pretty funny, though I am totally not into fashion so I got kind of lost here and there.
"Romantically Challenged" on the other hand, is all about dates, dates and more dates. They are all bad dates though, which made it so hilarious and fun to read.
But the book that really left a deep impression is probably “佐贺的超级阿嬷”. Yes, I am very shocked myself that I actually managed to finish reading 1 chinese book too. Didn’t know I still had it in me.
It’s just one of those books that will make you laugh and cry at the same time, because it’s based on the personal experience of the author, which made it so real, and relatable at times. Seeing how the grandma lives with such optimism despite the bad living conditions is really uplifting, but there are also so many parts that made me feel like crying (but of course I didn’t, it would be too embarrassing since I’m in the bunk while reading)
Some interesting extracts from the book:
阿嬷对于贫穷的看法：
“阿嬷，虽然我们家现在穷，以后有钱就好了。”
可是外婆这样回答我：
“什么话？穷有两种：穷得消沉和穷得开朗。我们家是穷得开朗。而且啊，我们跟由富变穷的人不一样，你不用担心，要有自信。因为我们家的祖先可世世代代都是穷人。做有钱人很辛苦，要吃好东西，要去旅行，忙死了。而且，穿着好衣服走在路上，还要担心摔一跤。光从这一点来看，穷人习惯穿着脏衣服，淋了雨，坐在地上，摔跤也无所谓。啊，贫穷真好！”
……
我只能说：
“阿嬷，晚安。”
阿嬷的的考试秘诀:
“阿嬷，我英语都不会。”
“那，你就在答案纸上写‘我是日本人’。”
“对啊，在日本不懂英语也不会特别麻烦啊。”
“是啊，是啊。”
“可是，我也不太会写汉字哪。”
“那你就写‘我可以靠着平假名和片假名活下去’。”
“哦？是有人只认得平假名。”
“是啊，是啊。”
“我也讨厌历史……”
“历史也不会？”
讲到这里，外婆终于有些傻眼。
我以为外婆会叫我“赶快去读书”，但她毕竟是外婆，想了一下，冒出这句话：
“那就在答案纸上写‘我不拘泥于过去’。”
帅呆了！
乐观的的阿嬷：
外婆利落地指挥学弟他们，稳稳地把黑板摆作我们和隔壁邻居的围墙。
隔天，外婆要我从学校拿些不用的粉笔头回家，开始把黑板当作留言板用。
我放学回家时，黑板上都有给我的留言：
“昭广，我晚点儿回来，阿嬷。”
“昭广，去买瓶酱油，阿嬷。”
有一次回去时，看见黑板上大大地写着：
“昭广，钥匙在大门旁的盆栽里，阿嬷。”
再怎么说，写出藏钥匙的地方，不是太不安全了吗？我提醒外婆小心：
“阿嬷，写出放钥匙的地方，很危险哪。”
“哪会啊？小偷看了，说不定会烦恼：‘去偷这么亲切的人家妥当吗？’‘不行，其中可能有诈。’阿嬷是要给小偷改过自新的空间。而且就算进来了，也没有东西可偷，说不定因为我们一无所有，反而留下一点东西才走呢！”
这件事让我觉得，学校里谈恋爱的老师、借故调皮捣蛋的我虽然厉害，但都比不上外婆。
Oh well, as much as I like my current job, it’s not going to last long I think. I would probably be out of this camp by end of the week, and by next tue, I should be in Mandai Hell Camp, I mean Mandai Hill Camp.
The whole “going-to-1SIR” thing has been quite an emotional roller coaster. I basically went from 抗拒to恐惧to愤怒to沮丧to finally 认命 in a matter of 6 weeks.
抗拒because who would want to go to a infantry unit? And to announce it on the very first day of the course when we haven’t even settle into stagmont is not the best choice in my opinion.
恐惧because of all the scary stories by the 1SIR people in the platoon, and “sim lim square” isn’t really helping us feel at ease about going 1SIR at all.
愤怒because I was denied of a chance to express interest for the overseas posting, that I really want to go for, which would actually kind of grant me immunity from going 1SIR. (though I must say this is only a very minor factor)
沮丧when I realized yenshan and robert got the overseas posting, life in 1SIR seems more bleak than ever with the 2 of them gone, and joshua and kian hong possibly deferring due to medicine in NUS and PSC.
认命…oh well, what else can I do other than to认命.
Then they gave us hope. We are not going 1SIR afterall due to some conflicts up there. We were excited for like 2 days, then rumours (which are from very very credible sources) that we are going there afterall start to circulate around again.
They simply love to play with our minds don’t they. Like the “go Taiwan, not going Taiwan” deal and the “Driving course, no driving course” issue.
Whatever it is, I’m way past the认命stage already. Currently at the麻木stage.
Too numb to even feel anything about this news anymore.
I know this is waaay overdue, since my signals course ended like a week ago exactly, but still, it's something that I would like to jot down, so that when I do read my older entries in the future, I will actually remember how I felt about the course.
It's really funny cause I was just reading some of my old entries, and there were some entries that really brought me back to the time I was writing it, I actually remembered very very clearly how I felt then and why I wrote what I wrote, but some entries, it just felt like someone else wrote it, and I just feel weird reading it.
Back to my point.
The 6 weeks in stagmont, probably my best 6 weeks in my 24 months in NS? There are lots of things I will miss, like the daily shitting session in the ever so clean CSTH toilets followed by the slacking around at the benches at CSTH while waiting for the PRs to start, or the daily snacking session at level 1 lobby after RO at night (i totally agree with chi weng that Hello Panda is the best snacks on earth), or lazing around in e-plaza waiting for lessons to start.
And it's great to lame around with yenshan, robert and so on, especially on depressing days. They just made the bad days tolerable and the good days even better. I will miss my nickname sluticia (only robert n yenshan calls me that, and since they won't be going 1 sir...it will be kind of lost i guess), which is totally random since I am obviously the least slutty, or rather the only non-slutty one around, especially compared to slutella and sluterina...haha.
I guess this 6 weeks in stagmont is the closest to a student life you will get in NS, which is probably why I enjoyed it so much, which reminds me, god i miss hwa chong!
I take 190 and switch to 151 at raffles town club whenever I book out from stagmont, and I happened to run into 2 HC guys on the bus a few weeks ago, J1 I presume, since one of the guys is from tkd too and he's just a white belt. Made me kind of "school-sick" for a while, especially listening to them talk about tutorials..lecture tests and so on (and no, I did not intentionally listen in to their convo, the bus was so packed and I was standing beside them, so it's inevitable)
I miss stoning at the class bench, playing bridge after school, taking hours to decide where to eat or go, and so much more. I even miss the times I spent mugging for all the exams with my friends at KAP/class bench/SRC/marina square foodcourt (the list is simply too long..haha...i mugged in all parts of singapore).
But yea, things are always better when we look back at them. School life seems so exciting, St John is so full of memories, BMT came and went by so quickly and 6 weeks in stagmont is just so fun. Yea, cause I guess we only remember the good things, we choose to keep the beautiful memories, and throw away all the bad ones.
Like right now, when I look back on my 6 weeks in stagmont, the first things I remember are the good times as mentioned above, the ridiculous behaviour of some scums? Not so much.
Selective memory maybe.
Ok, enough about all this. Right now, I am in some Ops, which is apparently such a big secret that I am not supposed to blog about it. Oh well.
Let just say my job scope now allows me to have even more time to read as compared to my days in stagmont. Which is why I read about 4-5 sets of newspaper daily, and I will finish reading at least 1 book daily. I guess that explains why the list of books I read on the left column has been increasing quite steadily.
I realized the books I have been reading are either bimbotic or bitchy. Like “Fashion Babylon”, it is so bitchy, and it’s basically about sex, booze, drugs, gays, and oh yea fashion. But I can’t deny it’s a nice read since it’s pretty funny, though I am totally not into fashion so I got kind of lost here and there.
"Romantically Challenged" on the other hand, is all about dates, dates and more dates. They are all bad dates though, which made it so hilarious and fun to read.
But the book that really left a deep impression is probably “佐贺的超级阿嬷”. Yes, I am very shocked myself that I actually managed to finish reading 1 chinese book too. Didn’t know I still had it in me.
It’s just one of those books that will make you laugh and cry at the same time, because it’s based on the personal experience of the author, which made it so real, and relatable at times. Seeing how the grandma lives with such optimism despite the bad living conditions is really uplifting, but there are also so many parts that made me feel like crying (but of course I didn’t, it would be too embarrassing since I’m in the bunk while reading)
Some interesting extracts from the book:
阿嬷对于贫穷的看法：
“阿嬷，虽然我们家现在穷，以后有钱就好了。”
可是外婆这样回答我：
“什么话？穷有两种：穷得消沉和穷得开朗。我们家是穷得开朗。而且啊，我们跟由富变穷的人不一样，你不用担心，要有自信。因为我们家的祖先可世世代代都是穷人。做有钱人很辛苦，要吃好东西，要去旅行，忙死了。而且，穿着好衣服走在路上，还要担心摔一跤。光从这一点来看，穷人习惯穿着脏衣服，淋了雨，坐在地上，摔跤也无所谓。啊，贫穷真好！”
……
我只能说：
“阿嬷，晚安。”
阿嬷的的考试秘诀:
“阿嬷，我英语都不会。”
“那，你就在答案纸上写‘我是日本人’。”
“对啊，在日本不懂英语也不会特别麻烦啊。”
“是啊，是啊。”
“可是，我也不太会写汉字哪。”
“那你就写‘我可以靠着平假名和片假名活下去’。”
“哦？是有人只认得平假名。”
“是啊，是啊。”
“我也讨厌历史……”
“历史也不会？”
讲到这里，外婆终于有些傻眼。
我以为外婆会叫我“赶快去读书”，但她毕竟是外婆，想了一下，冒出这句话：
“那就在答案纸上写‘我不拘泥于过去’。”
帅呆了！
乐观的的阿嬷：
外婆利落地指挥学弟他们，稳稳地把黑板摆作我们和隔壁邻居的围墙。
隔天，外婆要我从学校拿些不用的粉笔头回家，开始把黑板当作留言板用。
我放学回家时，黑板上都有给我的留言：
“昭广，我晚点儿回来，阿嬷。”
“昭广，去买瓶酱油，阿嬷。”
有一次回去时，看见黑板上大大地写着：
“昭广，钥匙在大门旁的盆栽里，阿嬷。”
再怎么说，写出藏钥匙的地方，不是太不安全了吗？我提醒外婆小心：
“阿嬷，写出放钥匙的地方，很危险哪。”
“哪会啊？小偷看了，说不定会烦恼：‘去偷这么亲切的人家妥当吗？’‘不行，其中可能有诈。’阿嬷是要给小偷改过自新的空间。而且就算进来了，也没有东西可偷，说不定因为我们一无所有，反而留下一点东西才走呢！”
这件事让我觉得，学校里谈恋爱的老师、借故调皮捣蛋的我虽然厉害，但都比不上外婆。
Oh well, as much as I like my current job, it’s not going to last long I think. I would probably be out of this camp by end of the week, and by next tue, I should be in Mandai Hell Camp, I mean Mandai Hill Camp.
The whole “going-to-1SIR” thing has been quite an emotional roller coaster. I basically went from 抗拒to恐惧to愤怒to沮丧to finally 认命 in a matter of 6 weeks.
抗拒because who would want to go to a infantry unit? And to announce it on the very first day of the course when we haven’t even settle into stagmont is not the best choice in my opinion.
恐惧because of all the scary stories by the 1SIR people in the platoon, and “sim lim square” isn’t really helping us feel at ease about going 1SIR at all.
愤怒because I was denied of a chance to express interest for the overseas posting, that I really want to go for, which would actually kind of grant me immunity from going 1SIR. (though I must say this is only a very minor factor)
沮丧when I realized yenshan and robert got the overseas posting, life in 1SIR seems more bleak than ever with the 2 of them gone, and joshua and kian hong possibly deferring due to medicine in NUS and PSC.
认命…oh well, what else can I do other than to认命.
Then they gave us hope. We are not going 1SIR afterall due to some conflicts up there. We were excited for like 2 days, then rumours (which are from very very credible sources) that we are going there afterall start to circulate around again.
They simply love to play with our minds don’t they. Like the “go Taiwan, not going Taiwan” deal and the “Driving course, no driving course” issue.
Whatever it is, I’m way past the认命stage already. Currently at the麻木stage.
Too numb to even feel anything about this news anymore.
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