Jason's 笔记本

I did mention that the Holidays this year has been especially boring since I have spent an entire month at home doing nothing.

I did not go out every day.
I did not find my friends.
I did not spend quality time with my girlfriend.

Well, things are looking up starting from this week!

How should I start...Let's try Monday.

Final Year Project is finally upon us. And the first phase is termed "Project discussion with the professor". Apparently, when it comes to snatching items, the Singaporean (Student) always jumps the gun. I went back to school a week after the projects were uploaded to find out more. To my dismay, one of the profs told me she had already pre-allocated students based on a first come first serve basis. It was disgustingly unfair, especially to people who stay so far away and those students who are still on their attachments and have no means of coming down to the school in person to meet the profs and guarantee their projects. My disappointment was pretty much migated by Cher who again provided entertainment (with her insane obsession with the Korean show Boys over Flower). Also, I had learnt of a project which is done in conjuction with A*Star DSI. Sounds pretty important right? The project is about Holograms! And the professor was nice enough to respond swiftly to my E-mail and called me down for a meeting at NUS on Wed (today as a matter of fact).

Come Tuesday...sai kang day. Cher had, on the night before pleaded for help! Okay, "pleaded" is not the most pleasant word...but she needed someone with a car to spare. To collect her parcel from Sing Post. 15kg. Was even willingly to spring for the 20 dollar coupon for my weekend car. So it was to be a drive from Paya Lebar to Sembawang. Sounded simple at first. But THEN...I realized...her place only had a multistorey carpark which meant that I had to climb down with the 15kg box. I'm a sweat bucket by nature. And boy was I drenched! Oh well, I'm too helpful, sometimes too much for my own good. *ahem* Made use of the coupon too to drive Dear home. =)

The long drive also let me realize the shortcoming of the new Toyota Vios. It is no doubt frugal and zippy. However, the overall setup and 107bhp became apparent. This was the first time I drove the Vios for such a long period of time and I realized it was giving me a 'rocky' ride, probably from the hard springs and light body. For the first time, I really wish the Sonata is back with me because its suspension system has been tuned for long distance comfort.

Wednesday
It was a busy day right from 7.30am. Woke up to make it to NUS at 9.30am and was surprised to meet Weijie there who is also interested in the DSI FYP. Was nice enough to give me a lift back to school as I had to do some admin submission. With that done in the morning, I crawled home for some SLEEP!

Adequate rest is important...because I was to go to the Singapore flyer with my GIP kakis for dinner! Turns out to be quite a good outing. We ate, talked cock, made fun of each other and of course, using our status as students to go up the Singapore Flyer for 10SGD!!! Cheap and the night view was spectacular. The ride was not exactly smooth, with some jerks. This and my natural phobia of heights caused a little vertigo incident. But still WORTH IT!

Pity the nice photos are all with Siying....I only got a few with my handphone's camera.

Oh well, enough rambling. This long post is to remember a page in my life.

Yiling's exams will be over on Friday!

I did not get the research position.

I did not get a job for May.

I did not do very well for this semester.

Firstly, research-wise I may have been expecting too much. No one will hire someone with no experience with a degree-to-be in an unrelated field.

May is wasted but I do intend to use it to analyze the FYPs available and make trips down to NTU to secure them.

Finally, I seriously thought I will do well for this semester. Especially Process Control which I thought I had nailed. Even my friends were shocked when I told them the grade...C+. Damn it I was too careless for that paper. But the shocker must have been Biochem. I got a C for that and I don't know why. The ironic thing is my other biomodule, taught by the same professors got me a decent A-. The range of grades really suck. On the hindsight, I did do better than my semester one year ago. THe most terrible one of all...but still...

Crap...

What can I say about the IBN Interview today...well, it did go smoother than I had expected. But when I chatted a little with the other interviewees, I realized I may have stepped a little out of my league. An overage chemical engineering undergrad with minimal knowledge in research and biology is trying to fight with the hardcore SBS students. So help me if I do pass the first round of interview. Of course, they may accept me for being the oddball...sheesh. And the results will be out on Friday.

Both the result of the interview as well as my grades for the semester.

Do you sense impeding doom? Well, I do.

Let's see shall we? In the mean time, more baby photographs of my little niece and nephew. The former 'likes to move it move it', the latter likes to be on his belly. The sprawled position looks uncannily like me when I was young...*scratch head*

A rare update now because life can be monotonous at times.

Current status: Unemployed for May.

I have had some good job offers but the irritating thing was that it was either

1) demeaning (standing under the sun for 12 hours for 3 months at TTSH)
2) far (woodlands!)
3) Totally not related.


Ok I am being picky here. But I am entering the final year. After which, I have to find a real job to support myself and a family in the future. I need all the job experience I can get, especially after seeing my seniors having a hard time securing a job. One is even going to join the police force! While GIP is supposed to help boost our future pays, I seriously doubt that Engineering firms will want someone with my sort of experience. (i.e none)

And thus, I am trying to get into the IBN Youth Research Program. Thanks to Daniel for this route. Having some experience researching into fields which are related to some areas of Chemical Engineering. ALL for my future! First interview is tomorrow...sure hope it goes well.

But in the event that I don't get it, I did secure a job for June at orchard after pulling some strings. The weird thing will be that I am going to do with a friend I have neither heard or seen in over a year...wondering how that will work out.

Moving on to daily life markers...
y'day went back to help out for the CBE Tea Party and saw some of the people who will be Year 1 next sem. Yours truly will be the lao ah pek in year 4. They seemed so blur...was that how I looked like last time?

After that went to meet Yiling and friends for dinner. Pity I didn't get to eat much as I was QUITE late. But it was fun walking around in a group for that hour. Again, we (yiling and I) had to vamoosh early as she was getting tired. One final exam paper for her and it will be over SOON.

Today went to Orchard with a friend to get her camera. Despite some coaxing, I couldn't convince her to get another model. She was set on the Sony T90. Quite a looker but I can't say the same about performance. If I were to buy a camera, I would surely have bought a Canon Superzoom! But to each their own...cameras are so private. She was quite kind to help me search for a present though. And my book, 'His Dark Materials' (The trilogy of books of which the Golden Compass is based upon). Found it but couldn't bear to buy it.

Oh well, time to sleep. Updating for the sake of updating and someone's yapping at me. nightz!