Jason's 笔记本: February 2009

Friday, February 27, 2009

24th

One quiet birthday...just the way I like it.

Admittedly, I am getting lazy. But I never saw the reason to fuss over my birthday. Like "just another day man..." Unless someone sees a good reason to make me like it all over again. =)

Just had a good quiet dinner with Yiling at the Waraku in the Central, same place where I brought her for her 21st birthday last year. Again, I need more creativity...suggestions for good eateries that wun blow my budget?

But then, the Waraku there isn't half bad...good service and man, were the dishes we ordered good...we were so stuffed we had to walk it off. Tori Kishimen for her and Chirashi Set for me.

I also revealed a little lingering Chinese culture when I was asking for the bill. Apparently, I spoke a little too loudly when I went "EXCUSE ME!". Oppsy...turned out I managed to make the waitress jump.

After dinner was dessert time at Clark Quay. This was like the first time I walked there at 8pm in a few years so we were both pleasantly surprised by the atmosphere there. Not too crowded, not too noisy and yet, not a ghost town. The Clark Quay at night is a great chill out place. Desserts were Chicago Cheesy and Chocolate Truffle Cake from Nectarie, courtesy of Yiling. Superbly baked...though two slices were a little overwhelming for us. And these were my birthday cakes.

Oh yar, today I drove my sister's VW Beetle to Central. Though I have always said that the car is impractical, it does serve well as a car for special occasions. And serve it did. It felt kind of good being dressed formally and driving the beetle.

Thanks for the nice wallet too...now the question is...do I continue using the wallet I received for my 21st birthday or the one my dear girlfriend chose for me? Hmmm...

oh damn it...recess week is almost over.
DAMN IT I AM 24...

My hotpot...and Yiling

Present time!!!

Totally...

Trying to look decent

The dessert place Nectarie

Yummy cakes...just don't overdose on them!

Her present to me =) I don't care how much it costs, seriously.

# posted by Jason @ 2/27/2009 11:36:00 PM 0 Comments

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Rainbow!

A rainbow!!! Haha. Sounds silly to get excited over this but I have never seen such a huge one for quite a while. This is after the heavy downpour today...And is it the monsoon season already? It has rained without fail for the past 4 days. Shucks...what a damper.

# posted by Jason @ 2/25/2009 07:23:00 PM 0 Comments

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Two Important Details

Sometimes, one will have a boring day. Some other times, a day can be so packed with details that I cannot even begin to comprehend it.

Recess week should be a good example of this sort of days. I had a rude shock when I came home last Friday night from my mother. She told me she had quit her job. So shocking, it slipped my mind to mention it in my previous entries.

My mother. Someone who has been providing for the family of 5 children for the 24 years of my life, someone whom I had never seen stop working and probably never thought of stopping, quit her job at an MNC after 12 years as a high-flying regional executive. The shock also came from the fact that this was a time of economic downturn where jobs are hard to come by and my sister and I are still schooling.

As it turns out, the reason for my mother's abrupt decision to quit was all from the pressure at work and one stupid unreasonable Causasian manager who actually threatened my mother with her job security. Of course, my side of the story is from my mother alone and may I be struck down by lightning if I say my mother is not pulling her weight at work. But from a bigger point of view as a partial observer, I think she deserves a break after working for so many years. No matter her decision to continue working or not, I think I should respect it. It also means my plans to go for a holiday for the first time in my life with Yiling may have to be shelved. But then again, that is no longer important.

Another detail to add, I went back to school on Sunday night despite it being a recess week. But went back i did for two important things: NTU Open House Training Session & our nonsensical Engineers & Society Project meeting.

They both went fine...I even had a pleasant eye-candy to see during the training who made a blunder when she approached me. After the whole thing, realized she wasn't that cute, just that the others weren't dressed as nicely.

E & S is shitty. Can someone out there PLEASE define morality and self-interest?

Cher also came along...and provided entertainment with her silly antics. *ahem*

Who can...

Come to NTU from Sembawang to meet a prof for just 5 mins?
Wait in the rain for a bus home?
Board a bus only to realize she cannot pay for the bus ride?
Come back to NTU and wait?

Hahha. But I shan't give her a hard time, being a good friend that she is. And I felt that she was already so 狼狈 or downtrodden, so I offered her a lift home. (And got 6 masks from her for Yiling! Those masks are good I tell you! Can buy from her!)

Yepz, that's all for this blog. Recess isn't over yet...which is great because I have things to study. So does Yiling...good luck to her and all who are having their exams this week.

# posted by Jason @ 2/24/2009 03:37:00 PM 0 Comments

Monday, February 23, 2009

I love surprises.

I love giving surprises even more.

To my gf.

I'm just a guy with some free time, some macarons and impeccable timing...=)

# posted by Jason @ 2/23/2009 01:27:00 AM 0 Comments

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Of School, People and Questionable Characters

It is that time of the semester again, recess week, a period where one might expect lots of rest and relaxation. And this was indeed true, at least for today.

The worst of the infamous "Hell Week" is over. I had my two quizzes, which I am fairly sure of failing. The two assignments due of me had been postponed to the coming Tuesday. But by the time it was annouced, I had already completed them. The reason for branding this particular week 'Hell' is not exactly definitive. One can say that having a lot of assignments to submit is a valid reason. Another is the weightage of it all. But for me, it was the fact that these tasks had to be done quickly and well resulted in late nights and early mornings where I had nightmares about my work. I was so caught up with everything, my personal life took a hit as well. I was barely contacting my girlfriend and my friends were chiding me for suddenly becoming anti-social. To top it off, my communications skills suddenly took a dive.

These are things which I cannot and would not deny. The truth is that I had to slog it out just so that I can protect my already mediocre honours. Now with the advent of recess, I thought I could make some sort of amends. Alas, this is not to be, as I realized all my coursemates are sticking to their studying schedules like the good little Singaporean students they are.

NTU students and I believe students from the other Government Universities are doing the same, fighting eye and tooth for good grades. I have friends and aquaintances who, for the sake of gaining an edge over their peers, actually lie to their friends. Conversations can often go

A: "How's your report coming along?"

B: "I have not touched it yet"

When B has actually finished the report.

Is this truely moral? I know that the grades are based on a distribution curve. And no one likes to have a bad grade. However, I seriously think that society's emphasis on grades has gone too far. If students can actually commit this sort of lies now to climb ahead, what else won't they do once they joined the work force? It appears that they are actually hoarding their knowledge for themselves rather than help their peers.

Pushing this aside, it also appears that SOME have embraced the idea of good grades as a measure of their skills and abilities in other areas. Why am I mentioning this point? Because, I think some people have to open their eyes and not be blinded by their success now.

I do admit that I am not a very good student in NTU. I do not get excellent grades. Neither do I do very poorly. In short, I am an average student. To me, that has already been a fall from grace from my hey-day in secondary school where my grades were rather outstanding. But I have accepted this fact as a reality and am prepared to move ahead in life with what I have at hand.

However, there is still one academic area in which I am still proud of and fiercely at that. That is my linguistic skills, namely English. I had devoted my verbal and written skills in this area since I was able to talk. Yes, I had developed the monikor of "Kan Dang", a Singaporean slang for an English proficient Chinese. I loved this language so much, I would have taken my degree in it if not for the limited job prospects in this area.

To me, English has fused to my blood. People can talk about 'nounces' & 'verbs' and I still will be unable to differentiate them. English to me, is natural. If it sounds correct to me, it is. And few people have found a way to argue around it.

To my ire, people in NTU apparently do not appreciate this. Writing a group report is frustrating for me, when I see all the errors in the sentences and cannot amend them. And that's because each time I do that, I can only tell them that it is FUNDAMENTALLY wrong and not explain it. Frustrating, yes. But it is not unbearable.

But, there is a limit to what I can take. I do not take well to criticisms. It throws me out of my comfort zone and shatters my self-confidence. And some 'friends', for want of a better word do not know where this limit is. They had made an attempt to correct my part of a report on my English, on the one thing left which I am proud of. I was extremely upset. Or more accurately, it pissed me off.

Hell week had worn me out mentally. I am entitled to mistakes. But making snide comments and stupid primary school analogies to me screams of people trying to make themselves sound and feel more superior than they already are. This is akin to the behaviour of a bully, kicking a big kid when he is down

It pissed me off so much, I had to run to a corner to yell my frustrations out. Just for the sake of clarity, I do not harbour any ill feelings towards anyone. But seriously, I am only human and am prone to bouts of anger and resentment.

Have the basic morals and social skills which are supposed to be integrated with our childhood development been forgotten and forsaken for a more materialistic and coldhearted society?

# posted by Jason @ 2/22/2009 12:18:00 AM 0 Comments

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Things going through my head tonight...

Biochem Quiz on Friday
Process Control Assignment 3 (Damn those partial fractions!)
Formal Lab report
Biz Fin Presentation assignment over recess
Internship opportunities during 3mth break

# posted by Jason @ 2/19/2009 12:30:00 AM 0 Comments

Sunday, February 15, 2009

My little nephew is 1 month old. Finally and after much trials and tribulations. It was a big party sort of gathering where my sister's friends and family came. Jadelle was being totally spoilt and I really hope my sister and bro-in-law can take her into hand, 'Jason's mother' style. And it was also with a little regret that I brought Yiling along.

Don't get me wrong because there is no fault with her but rather, with me. I had often wondered how I can introduce her to my relatives, at least on the paternal side when I am already not close to them and there is the perpetual language barrier. I got chewed upon by my uncle today for speaking 'Hokkien' instead of my native 'Teochew'. And the fact that my extended family really pushes the limits of the word 'extended' didn't help. The both of us ended up feeling somewhat awkward.

And tired. Both of us had a life-force draining week last week with late nights and a stressful day. I flunked a quiz with flying colours and even had to drink tea with the prof to explain myself. Right now, I can't see why working ppl envy the life of a student. Yiling and I talked about it and realized that both lives, working adult and student carry with them their benefits and drawbacks. I was very happy during my IA because there will never be the nagging conscience at the back of my head to do school related work. Yet somehow, with human nature, we all tend to forget the drawbacks of that alternative life and crave the benefits.

My hell week life is not over yet as I still have 2 quiz, 2 lab reports and 1 graded assignment ahead. But I am looking forward to my recess week where I can finally take a break. I wish that I can have more quality time with Yiling. I do owe her that, something away from my duties as a fillial son to my family. And also for being away for 5 months. But as students, the drawbacks are making themselves very obvious right now, with her mock exams in a week and my heavy school load. They seem to be bent at forcing the two of us apart. Tough luck though...

(Btw, this son helped to unchoke a toilet bowl he never used at 2am in the morning.)

# posted by Jason @ 2/15/2009 09:22:00 PM 0 Comments

Sunday, February 8, 2009

Crapz...School sucks.

I hate having all these deadlines and projects that require so much effort and braincells but always often yield little results.

Whatever free time I have is eaten away by the guilt and doubt for NOT doing any work.

In spite of these, I persisted in having a totally work-free day on Sat. No tutorials, no computer, just time spent for pursuits that I otherwise won't even have the chance to pursue.

Went to 'bai nian' with yiling to her grandma's. wasn't that bad...I just wished I could understand cantonese. But hopefully, I left a gd impression with them. Had a pretty okay lunch at capitol Restaurant. Wasn't fantastic, maybe because I wasn't hungry. But dear said the same...the desset afterwards was better. =) Dear's favourite at the shop next to CHinatown Kbox.

Jalaned a bit (Gosh, I wish I can do this any time I want) and then went home cos little Pico has to go for his hair cut. We were afraid of sending him cos the last time he had a cut, it cost over a thousand bucks cos the barber dislocated his leg.

Turns out to be good..Holland Village Pet's Lover Centre...big. But they charged extra for him cos of hyperactivity. At least he is clean now...entertaining to Yiling too. Haha.

Saturday night...brought Yiling over to see Ashton and also 'Bai Nian' at my sis's. Jadelle was naughty yet so cute...and she was EXTREMELY fascinated by my zip shirt. All of us had fun with the Wii...

Atter sending Yiling home, we had a small topical conversation...

she made me realise that memories are sweet.

And I should really thank two of her poly friends for their assistance almost 5 years ago.

# posted by Jason @ 2/08/2009 07:31:00 PM 0 Comments

Sunday, February 1, 2009

Nothing much, just some more photos and a video. CNY is over...had fun and the food rocked. Since it is Chinese New Year, I shall type in Chinese for a bit.

Just went to visit Jeanie's house for CNY. Pretty nice to take a break from school...though it was only like a three day week, it felt like 5. I had lessons on Sat and it sucked...workload is steadily increasing and I'll be having my formal lab next week. Oh dear...this week's lab was Distillation which is my feared Unit Ops...Argh! Shan't complain, just work hard on it...and all the reports...

-_-

Pico went to see the vet today and it was confirmed that he has hookworms...poor dog.

Status now: Typing out pros and cons of Nuclear energy and waiting to go to the temple to pray.