New Year Resolution for 2007

I must first thank the blessings for everything in the year 2006. Although it is a hectic year for me, I have enjoyed every moment of it. Highlights of the year include going on the Sri Lanka Trip, going on the internship and most importantly, to get to know Wei Zhen.. Coming to the end of this year, I am thankful that everything has gone well so far.

We will be approaching the new year in a few minutes time. It is the time for me to set my new year resolution again. I have thought of it for the past few days but frankly speaking, I do not know what to set this time round. But I know I want to set some goals so that I can work towards it to have a more fruitful life.

In no orders of importance, these are my new year resolutions:

• Save money (~20% of Allowance)
  I need to save sufficient amount so that I can spend during my internship in Shanghai and probably during exchange in Hong Kong
• Spend more time with Wei Zhen
  As I will be away for internship and exchange, I won't be in Singapore for half of the year. It will be a year of travel and new experience for me and I need to spend more time with her this year. However, this is going to compromise because I think there is an ESSENTIAL needs for me to mug for the coming term. I suppose it is a good idea to spend time with her and mug together since she has to mug as well... Haiz.. What a mugging couple.
  
• More exercise + Less Diet
  Have been putting on weights since last summer and it is going to increase further if I do not monitor closely... I really hope that my schedule allows me to exercise thrice a week.. Once on weekend and Twice on weekdays. Diet wise, maybe can be controlled with my budget? Must really get back to reality... IPPT coming soon after graduation!
  
• Putting on smile daily
  I wonder if I can achieve this. This is to reduce stress.. But yeah.. I think if I can smile daily, everything will go smoothly.
• Enjoying every moment and experience
  Going on an internship and exchange will be fun and enriching... I hope to learn more and enjoy more at the same time. It will be a great moments and experience for me. I also want to enjoy every moment with Wei Zhen as well.
  

In addition, these are my wish-lists for this year. It is not a necessity but is a good to have.. And yeah, I must work towards in getting them =)

• Digital Camera to capture all the defining moments
  
• Hard Drive to backup all my data
• A pair of Spectacles
• Bicycle
• ... (Adding on to the lists)

Yeah.. That's all and it is new year now! Happy new year to everyone! Happy new year Steven!

Love is in the air...

Merry Christmas! I must say this Christmas is really special for me... Not only that I have experienced the snowing effects from the rain, I have also been able to spend my Christmas with someone I like. I will never forget this Christmas.

I have been enjoying myself this holiday. Possibly to make myself drunk in this holiday after the long battle last term. After the previous post, have almost finished the InnovateIT tasks (except on waiting for the offices to claim the cash). I have also intended to mug but I have always resisted myself in doing so.

But this holiday, like the Christmas, is memorable because it is when I have spent the most time with Weizhen so far. We have got together more often, cycled together and watched many great movies: "墨攻", "The Holiday" and "Night At the Museum".

Wei Zhen, Thank for your love and everything that you have done for me. I really appreciate a lot. Like what I have told you, I'm really worried we won't have time for each other after holiday. But I'll think of you always. This post is meant for you. And I also want to say: 和你在一起，我也感到很幸福. Merry Christmas. Love Always...

I thought I have adapted well... but nope, I haven't

This term is a test of my limits. Although I am only doing 5 modules this term, the workload is super great. Probably it is because I have taken a few more assignments, which has added on to my workload. That's why during the middle of the term, I have decided to tone down more.

In summary these are the courses and activities that I have done:
1) ACCT201A - Corporate Reporting and Analysis of Financial Statements
This course is interesting even though we need to keep refering to FRS. I get to appreciate annual report and financial statements better and it is an interesting lesson taught by Prof. Garfield. Get to learn all types of consolidation, financial ratios, analysis, earning management, revenues and +++..... I kinda neglected in this course and I didn't think I did well for this course. Anyway, it is over. Lets move on.

2) FIN 101 - Finance
Well.. What can I say about this course. Haha, Prof Jayaram is cool. Always get amused by him on a friday morning. Instead of calculations, he focused on theory and fundamentals.. Well, I appreciate that for the final and doing the paper seems like doing humanity paper. Get to touch on with NPV, IRR (Sounds of a dog??), Efficient Market Hypothesis (EMH), Markowitz Portfolio Theory, CAPM, M&M Theorems, Options, Real Options... Haha, I can only remember this much. But I think I learn more about life from his class. I wish I can be as carefree as him man.

3) CORE 004 - Introductory Economics
I have always wanted to do economics in JC. Now it has given me a chance to do it. It is kinda good because I get to understand society better, by demand and supply. Haha, really and I frequently crack jokes with my friends on econs theory. Like we should achieve marginal benefits >= marginal costs and GPA makes us suffer in the short run and not in the long run... I think this course is good, especially taught by Prof Tan Swee Liang. Kinda fun having her lessons and she is responsible in her workshops (Held in classroom). Haha... Only thing is that I don't think I did well for the paper as well. MCQ is a killer

4) IS203 - Software Engineering
Team NOB... Who will think we have non-business students in our team. I enjoy working with my team a lot, all are responsible and willing to work. Work on RubyOnrails... Wow, super impressed with it. And we are feeling great because we find that we have used our time efficiently. Remember, Marginal benefit > Marginal cost. Everything is good for our project except that I have a great great regret for this course... Didn't use SVN well. Hai...



5) IS304 - Process Modelling and Solution Blueprinting
What should I say about this course?.... A marketing course? A business process course? or an advanced IS101. Get to learn a lot of models for it and have to play with simulation using TIBCO. But do I really learn much from it? I think everything is too theortical and we need to put them to use. Talking like this in class is futile I feel. But well, the prof is empathetic I feel. At least he listens to students.

Other projects
A) IS101 TA
Able to go through the concepts learnt 1 year ago. Haha, but most importantly, get to work with the IS Yr 1 and learn new things every week. In fact, this course makes me understand that one topic can be presented many ways and there are always different points after every presentation. Seeing them rushing through IP1 and IP2 makes me reflect what have I done a year ago. Hai.. Feeling old

2) RA for Jason
Kuala is good.. Just that I could not find time to do it. Have been researching on it but always encounter problems. I feel that I have hindered the progress of the project and I have to ask Jason to suspend it for the middle of the term.

3) CCAs
Finally found a successor for Asoc. I'm wrong that I could not find a webmaster in SOA. Finally it is time for me to relinquish my duties as a webmaster soon. Join OS3 as a recommendation by Yeow Leong and yea, it is fun. Need to build up the society soon. Join Toastmaster Club for a while and know the importance of public speaking. I have not attended the sessions for quite some time. I think I need to go more often. InnovateIT as finance head... Well, It is coming soon, hope that everything should be under control. Another project that I'm working on is Project ROSA... well, the progress doesn't seem to be promising though



Well.. School term is coming to an end. I think I should enjoy myself now more often and spend more time with Weizhen before another challenge next term... After that, I think I will be carefree - Going to Shanghai and Hong Kong for internship and exchange!

First summer coming to an end...

As much as I've hated, Summer is coming to an end soon.. It is the time for me to close my chapter for this summer break and to open another chapter for the coming term.

After my trip to Sri Lanka, I went for my internship in Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). As much as I want to talk about the work that I was doing, I should watch what I'm saying because I'm warned that they are confidential.. However, I must say that I have enjoyed myself during this duration, doing things that I've not done so far in my life and making a lot of friends and seniors from SMU and NTU. Apparently, I'm the only Year 1 (To be in Yr2) during this summer internship.

I must admit that there are times that I've regretted to take internship so early, but overall I feel great about it because I've learnt a lot, both technical and soft skills. I get to do programming, get to work with biometric and cryptography, get to organize events, get to .... But most importantly, I get to know my personality better. Healer(Idealist) & Architect(Realist). Sometimes I really wonder how come my personality can conflict so much. But I'm pretty proud of both personality.

BOSS bidding during holiday is quite amazing.. Although it is not the first time that I've started bidding, it is still very challenging because there are so many factors to consider and each BOSS is definitely a different experience. Like what my friends have said, I should do an analysis programme to decide the bid amount, but there are so many factors to consider! Probably I should learn from my friend to use regression model to decide the bid.

The internship has finally ended.. Manage to ask for leaves to go for Asoc Camp and SISS Camp. I kinda regretted to take internship this year. I could not help much in these interesting camps. And also, it is super troublesome to apply for leaves... No-pay leaves somemore! Fortunately, I'm still able to go for the camps, at least. Help to take photos and do up a video during Asoc Camp and help as a gamemaster during SISS camp... I must say the quality of both camps have improved tremendously compared to last year one. I'm really impressed by them.

Just came back from Chow's wake... It was super shocking for everyone to learn that he has died due to a car accident just yesterday. I've just met him in school yesterday when he just came out from Asoc Day interview... Life is so unpredictable & fragile... Most of his friends were there at the wake and I'm amazed to see so many people gather at such a very short notice.. Chow is a good guy and he has contributed a lot of fun and laughter in school. We'll always remember him.

Probably I should stop now and continue next time. There are so many things that I want to talk about for this summer.. Yap! I have 2 more weeks to do that. Let's do it this way.

Top 10 Things I miss in Sri Lanka

I have enjoyed my stay in Sri Lanka during this Project Alchemy trip.. I'm very glad that the project is still able to pull through even though there are some notions of LTTE suicide bombing in Colombo on the day when wenduan and me, the recce team, reached the place.

Just had a msn chat with the team.. After some reflection, I do miss many things that have happened during the trip. Probably I should just list the top 10 of them, not in any order:

1) Friendly Sri Lankans
2) Food and Tea
3) 5 Litre Water Bottles and Cream Soda
4) Intellectual Games
5) Cementing and Painting
6) Sri Lankan Language
7) Beach
8) Tropic Inn
9) Three Wheelers and Traffic
10) Facilitation Sessions

Will be updating them during my free time..

Asoc Gala Dinner 2006

After weeks of preparation, Asoc Gala Dinner has finally come to an end... This is my first time helping out in such event and I have learnt a lot of this. Through this event, the Asoc Exco has become closer.

The dinner is a pretty decent one and I find it as a good gathering for everyone in the School of Accountancy family. After clearing up the place at Noble house, I went to Esplanade to join my friends who left after the dinner. It is a good chilling moment, at least for me, after weeks of struggling in school and projects.

Most of us have our plans for summer after this dinner. Some are going to take summer terms, some are going abroad, some are going to work and more. Going to Sri Lanka soon the next morning. It really sets me what I want to do for this Summer break.

Love is illogical

Love requires no logic
because love is illogical..
People care for it, People look for it..
People worry for it, People long for it..
Why are so many people attracted to it...
and at the same time so many people troubled by it..
cos it is a amazing thing that is illogical..

A learning experience

This term is a killer.... Everything is not executed as planned and every hope is a disappointment. Taking 6 course units is also hectic.. Now I'm considering whether should I continue to take 6 modules next term. I suppose I have to since I have been longing for an oversea exchange within these few years.

There are a lot of bad memories in this term. As much as I don't want to talk about it, I still have to list them here as parts of my memories. Biz law, BGS are my greatest disappointment this term. Screwed up the project and nothing that I can do to salvage it. The rest of the courses are still unknown. Screwed up the AS project and the final paper is difficult as well. CT course is slack and useless and nobody really care about it. The courses that I enjoyed most this term is Management Accounting, Data Management and Object Oriented Analysis & Design.. At least to me, they are more useful and more entertaining. Probably this is what my "mother" says, general courses are a pain, technical subjects are better.

Beside that, there are a few more painful events around. I am really thankful that many people around me supported me and give me encouragements.. Without them, I think my life in this term is really a misery. But yeah.. we have finally survived! This term has come to an end and I shall close this chapter with a light-hearted mode. Now is the time to enjoy the summer and do the things that I want which I can't do during the normal term.. Just treat everything as a learning experience.. Goodbye Misery Term 2 05/06