musings, educationSeptember 18, 2009 1:23 pm

i’m fully aware i haven’t been updating the least bit about Uni life ever since i’ve ventured into it.

well there’s one reason for that: it just isn’t well, blog-worthy.

 

nonetheless, i shall make a feeble attempt to summarise the past month.

 

1. me, the clueless chick, takes three level 2 modules, one level 1 module and even one level 3 module in my very first semester. do note, most year 1s take start out with five level 1 modules. to put matters simply, what’s believed is that:

 

level 1 modules: idiot-proof

level 2 modules: might need abit of brain work

level 3 modules: you need to stop gaming in lectures and concentrate

level 4 modules: ho sey liao.

 

the reason for my cluelessness is due to my shaved off modules. yes, i get to graduate one semester early since i get to skip five modules. (hah, take that you JC-ers!)

so i was thinking gleefully to myself, since i get to skip the modules, i might as well take some of the harder modules first.

 

ambitious, i am.  

 

turns out, hey, it wasn’t such a bad choice afterall, because quite honestly, the level 2 and 3 modules aren’t all that hard.  

 

i suppose it’s the fear of venturing out of the norm that keeps the students tied to their "year 1, level 1 modules" mentality. yes, i’m talking about the JC peeps here.

i’m not being biased! 90% of them come from JCs anyway, so even if i were to randomly throw a poisoned dart around, the possibility of it hitting a kiasi JC student in the temple is relatively high.

 

but i digress.

 
so anyway, when some of the yr 2s and 3s in my level 2 and 3 modules knew i was the only freshman in class, they kept making funny eyes at me, with some going rather sarcastically, "wah, you very brave ah, i applaud your courage."

 

i would very much like to make them eat their sarcasm when i get my grades but i’ll have to wait till the end of the semester to do that, provided i do score well. -coughs-

 

2. more evidence to showcase the kiasi-ness of the JC peeps.

 
in one of my level 2 modules, my group mates were begging the facilitator to allow them a change in presentation time slots, because according to them, "this week i already have another presentation. the following week after that, i have a test. i’ll be very stressed!" -insert so-worried-i’m-about-to-cry look-

 

uhhh huh.

 

there’s a term known as "multi-tasking" in case you haven’t heard. besides, when you go out into the working world, what makes you think your boss gives a flying fuck if you have 3 presentations to make in a week?

 

once again, i am assuming they are JC peeps because like what i mentioned earlier, 90% of the people here are from there. besides, the people from JCs generally look less cool. -flips hair-

 

3. the people in Uni take their studies very seriously.  

 

or at least that’s what i can tell from my observations made in lectures.  

they’re all hunched over their desks copying notes furiously. even those with their laptops open, they’re either typing intently on their powerpoint decks, or on Word. imagine, no Facebook, no Twittering, no blogs, no MSN.  

 

sounds impossible isn’t it?

 

do note, in the one and a half month since i’ve started school, i’ve only noticed one, ONE, 1! student surfing ASOS during a lecture, and she wasn’t even a local student. she was from the exchange programme.

i must applaud her for her good taste though, the clothes she was bio-ing were all quite chio.

 

so while i was intially rather disturbed by this strange phenomenon, wondering if the problem lied with me instead, (why do i get this strange urge to constantly sms! read magazines! tweet! not concentrate!) i have now came to realize that just because you appear dilligent during lectures, this does not necessarily show in the quality of your brain.

 

why so? two main points:

the first, these students, they seem to be under a hypnotic trance once the lecturer starts speaking. in fact, i believe their personal mantra is "NO MATTER WHAT THE LECTURER SAYS, WHETHER IMPORTANT OR NOT, JUST COPY."

 

so even when the prof says something irrelevant, or unimportant, they’re still conscientiously scribbling away.

they often serve as a form of amusement for me when i get bored during lectures, so i’m not complaining.

 

second, when it comes to tutorials, you see the same students from above answering questions and sounding not-quite-so-smart.

and when the facilitator questions their reply, this dumbfounded look washes across their faces, following which they’ll extract their lecture notes from their hello kitty files and start frantically flipping through them.

 

their reactions are quite priceless, and too serve as a form of amusement for me when i get bored during tutorials, so i’m also not complaining.

 

but anyway, the point of point number 3 is to tell you that hey, i’m actually the normal one out there. -nods-

 

4. to date, i have yet to find a clubbing khaki in the form of Uni mates.

 

these people chiong home after classes, chiong to the nearby table during a break and chiong to print notes. how to be party animal when you’re a chao mugger?! :(  

 

5. i’m still a lost child and bloody lazy bum when it comes to public transport. 

 

every morning, i take the train to clementi station, afterwhich i cab it to school. not because i’m late, but because i still haven’t quite figured out where and which bus i should board in order to make my way to the arts faculty.

so just in case i do get lost and arrive late for classes, i should play it safe and take a cab instead, hor?

 

and that, is the thought process that goes through my head every single morning as i make my way to the taxi stand.  

 

6. my exams are in two weeks.

 

and i’m surprisingly calm.

maybe it’s cause the midterms only happen for two modules, and these are the relatively easier modules. so i should be able to do okay for them.

 

i think. -blinks-

 

7. i am now a readhead. 

 

er, yea.

not that this point has anything to do with Uni, but i sincerely believe by morphing into a redhead, my sex appeal has increased tenfolds.

 

just saying! :D  

 

 

 

musings, education, workJune 24, 2009 12:21 am

 

- save up for the olympus pen e-p1 ($1500 bucks!)

 

-pick up photography 

 

- sign up for exotic dance classes

 

- practise writing long articles cause i suck in them

 

- go swimming whenever i’m free in the evenings

 

- go clubbing fortnightly (material for a column in the mag, yes the perks perils emoticon of my job) 

 

- finalise design of namecards and go to print

 

- start writing short horror stories (i want to a mini stephen king)

 

- finish up the dammed erotica article.  

 

- lose more weight

 

- prepare to kick ass in university.

 

 

watch me! emoticon 

musings, educationApril 29, 2009 12:51 am

so i’ve been offered places in two universities, in two different courses.

 

NUS’s Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, and NTU’s Sociology.

 

the first i couldn’t get in with my pathetic 3.36 GPA, and so had to sit through a half-hour long interview which would determine my fate.

 

i made it past the interview though and now the orientation booklet is sitting prettily on my table. :D

 

as for Sociology, i managed to get in, yes, even with my pathetic 3.36 GPA, but still had to go through an interview and a writing test all the same, since this is required of all students who wish to enter NTU’s sociology.

i made it past the interview (the interviewer is a damn hot angmoh! with a tattoo! and a bike in his office! and unfortunately a picture of his wife and kid beside his computer!) and the writing test as well. 

 

the pressing issue here is, which?

 

after thinking it through, and consulting various friends, i’ve decided on NUS’s FASS: Communications and New Media.

 

though you don’t get to graduate with Honours, you get to shave off a couple of modules if you’ve taken Mass Comm back in poly.

 

of course the ideal plan would be to undergo a four year course and graduate with Honours, while still getting to shave off a couple of modules. in which case, this plan would materialise in the form of NTU’s Comm Studies.

 

quite unfortunately though, i didn’t manage to get in to that particular course although it was my first choice.

what i found perculiar, was the fact that i have friends who scored lower GPAs than myself, and yet manage to get into Comm Studies all the same.

 

perhaps it was because that was their only choice, or their CCA records were more succinct (pfftt!) but the reason to that i probably would never know.

 

what i’m more peeved about though, is something i discovered as i was browsing through the Comm Studies website.

 

This is what NTU writes in its FAQ section:

 

What are the admission criteria for Communication Studies?

To gain admission, you should have excellent A-Level grades, and possess good oral and written linguistic skills. We welcome students from all streams as long as you meet the standards set by the Office of Admissions.

 

okay, i shall not bitch about the fact that there is NO mention of poly students in their answer. *grits teeth*

 

then as you go down the list of FAQs …

 

If I have a diploma from a polytechnic, am I eligible for enrolment?

Top students from polytechnics are encouraged to apply for admission to our course. However, competition is very keen because we only have 180 places each year.

 

what’s with the use of words like "encouraged", "however" and "only"?

it’s akin to saying, "well poly students can give it a shot if they want, but we actually don’t quite give a flying fuck cause we ONLY have 180 places which of course will go to the JC students."

 

well, kudos to the copywriter for being politically correct, that i give it to you.  

 

what’s with the biasedness towards polytechnic students?

i know a good number of poly students who can kick A WHOLE LOT of JC students’ asses, whether it’s in the quality of GP essays (double pfftt!) or level of maturity.

 

long gone are the days when JC students ranked superior. emoticon

 

 

and in case you were wondering, no, i’m not lashing out at NTU because they didn’t throw me into Comm Studies.

do i look that petty to you? it’s a real sense of injustice i feel okay!

ROAR! 

 

 

p.s: and yes, i am on a blogging roll.  

educationDecember 19, 2008 1:04 am

what should i do after i graduate?

 

this question has been bothering me for the longest time ever. not to say that’s not a good thing considering i’ll be graduating in 3 months time.

 

i know the areas i’m interested in: public relations, copywriting, and journalism.

 

i’ve tried my hand at the first two in the real corporate world, the third, only as a student.

 

so in order to experience life as a "real" journalist, i have and am going to continue applying for internship positions in magazines/lifestyle publications.  

 

the real problem at hand though, is what do i want to do in university?

 

my parents sure as hell can’t afford to send me abroad so i’m stuck with ntu and nus. (this is assuming my g.p.a actually qualifies me for univerisity. and yes, i left out smu cause i just don’t like it.)

 

if i *touch wood* don’t manage to get into university, i’m gonna work my ass off first then save up for my private studies.

 

if i do get into uni, do i:

a. do mass comm since i get 1.5 years shaved off?

b. take up english literature since i have interest in the english language?

c. erm. marketing? i don’t mind learning and trying out new stuff.

d. i don’t know liao. recommend me courses!

 

or should i just plunge headalong into the rat race and work experience instead of education to my advantage? 

 

i know, i’m a lost child. emoticon

 

let's bitch!, educationNovember 20, 2008 1:15 am

after being tipped off by a coursemate, i checked my school mail and saw this in my inbox:

 

 

i’m not sure if this dude shot out his declaration of love to the entire campus, or merely to my school (FMS)

 

whichever it is, i think it’s completely crazy and unnecessary.

and i’m sure the girl wouldn’t quite appreciate his course of action, unless she’s into the whole "i love you xiaozhu, from xiaozhuzhu" thing in magazines like teens/teenage.

 

geez.

what next?

 

barging into the radio heatwave conty, grabbing the mic and screaming his love out for her to the entire school?

 

emoticon

 

let's bitch!, educationNovember 19, 2008 4:48 pm

and so the school decides to inform us about the NAPFA test two days before we’re scheduled to take it.

 

obviously the word "preparation"’s not in their list of vocabulary. emoticon

 

anyway, i was initially pretty okay about doing it, since i figure i shouldn’t have any problems with any of the stations ‘cept for standing broad jump.

 

situps: been doing them often enough.

2.4 km: all that stair-climbing should help!

shuttle run: still got pretty fast responses

sit and reach: flexy, flexi!

inclined pullups: been working out my arms!

 

so yes, it’s just the damned standing broad jump.

in secondary school, i never passed it, until my pe teacher thought of an ingenious but cruel idea.

 

dump a huge baisin in front of me, so the fear of landing on it and slipping to fall flat on my face empowers me to do better.

 

and so i passed.

 

but now!! emoticon

 

and guess what, god decides to be funny and bless me with crimson tidal waves of pain today (term credited to cakie). 

worse, the lecturer-in-charge is quite the charming one (this is the common consensus of all our coursemates hor)

 

so how?

do i brave the bloody waters and go on with the napfa test?

or do i thicken my skin, tell the lecturer that i’m battling excessive blood loss and risk him saying no/*gasp* laughing in my face?!

 

decisions, decisions.

 

emoticon 

 

 

 

 

 

musings, educationNovember 7, 2008 4:29 pm

this week, the school conducted e-learning for our IS modules. (IS modules = interdisciplinary modules, in other words, they’re pretty redundant)

 

so we all had to log on to the server and post reflections on videos, edit wiki pages etc.

 

this comment posted by a particular somone from my IS class cracked me up.

 

 

 

i know, you must be wondering what possessed him/her to post something like that. 

i would like to find out too. 

 

now, to wait for my lecturer to see it.

 

*rubs hands in glee* emoticon

musings, educationNovember 4, 2008 8:13 am

so here i am munching on breakfast, surfing sites randomly when i feel the urge to type in my blog’s address in the address bar and just pop by for abit.

 

thing is, i used to open up a new tab just for my blog every single time i open firefox. now it’s become more of a secondary thing.

 

so i’m staring forlornly at my screen, trying desperately to come up with an explaination for this strange phenomenon, and after about 5 minutes, (i spent 4 minutes admiring noel’s photos emoticon) i finally came up with one.

 

school.

 

oh how so very typical of eileen to push it all to school, you say.

but i’m telling you it’s true!

 

i do make an effort to remember snippets of funny conversations, think of possible blogging topics - basically, collate blogging fodder - but somehow, when i get home and plant my ass in front of the laptop, my mind switches to automode, and i start opening documents after documents of assignments. (fine, there is plurk but it’s just another form of msn!)

 

i know, school is sucking up whatever remnants of life i have in me. emoticon

 

even now, as i’m struggling to reason why i’m neglecting my blog, i’m constantly throwing glances at the clock, making calculations as to how much time i’ve left before i’ve got to head to school.

 

and it’s not much.

 

so since i don’t quite have the blogging mojo anymore (i know i said i found it in my previous entry but unfortunately, mojos ain’t like sex drives, they are unconstant), i might, or might not, be going on a hiatus.

 

of course, the lack of comments left by you guys don’t do much to help too.emoticon

 

so i don’t know. i guess with this entry, it sort of gives me official permission to well, kinda neglect my blog without feeling so guilty.

 

i might be back in a couple of days, perhaps in a month, or even a few.

 

我就真的不知道啦。 *insert saddest face you can think of*

 

p.s: i can’t believe i don’t have a crying face in my emoticons. they have ones of faces drinking, banging their heads against the walll, spouting fire and holding up a white flag but they don’t have one crying?!  

see? another reason for me to not blog.  

 

*insert crying face*

educationOctober 19, 2008 1:58 am

the first week of school has officially ended and all the work’s streaming in!

 

strangely enough, it’s not a sense of dread this time round, but more that of excitement, motivation and well, i’m just on a roll!

 

i attack each assignment with fervent ardour, and wait in anticipation for future ones.

 

the bad thing about this though, is that due to me working on too many articles for online journalism, i’ve somehow lost the mojo to blog.

 

so till something exciting happens, i shall otherwise stick to my trusty pen and notebook.

 

emoticon 

education, relationshipsFebruary 5, 2008 4:49 pm

everything’s finally over!

all the rushing of final reports, sleepless nights, tussels with grpmates …

all these is done and over!

 

and like i mentioned in the tagboard, i’ll blog about the results of our advertising presentation, and so, i will!

 

we had to present our grand idea in front of a panel of four judges, them hailing from the advertising field.

and because of all the warning from ziggy about them being strict, implementing real industry practice blah blah, we were all a bundle of nerves.

worse, we had heard that some groups got screwed pretty badly. emoticon

 

but anyway, we went in and did our thing.

 

and they liked it!

 

emoticon emoticon emoticon emoticon emoticon emoticon emoticon emoticon

(there’re eight of ‘em cause eight’s my fave. no. emoticon)

 

the judges said they liked all our print ads, especially the madman one. (you’ll get a glimpse of them later)

let’s take a look specifically at the words they used. 

they said the ads were "cool", "consistent with the grainy effect" and er, well, "good"!.

 

i swear, i was bursting with pride and joy when i heard that. all my effort paid off! emoticon

 

they were really nice as well, contary to what ziggy made them out to be. one of them was especially hot. (common consensus from all my grpmates) heh.

but anyway, cause some people have been nagging at me to let them take a look at the ads, i shall post them up here.

 

we’re selling levi’s 501 jeans and our big idea is "steadfast". so basically, we’re selling the durability of levi’s 501s, as well as the unyielding attitude levi’s 501 wearers get. (tangible + intangible benefit, geddit?)

 

ad 1:

 

copytext: Levi’s 501: UNAFRAID

 

 ad 2:

 

copytext: levi’s 501: UNDESTROYABLE

ad 3: 

 

copytext: levi’s 501: UNDYING

 

 ad 4:

 

copytext: levi’s 501: UNYIELDING

 
this was the ad the judges liked best, they call it the "constipated-looking one". (dan, sorry! emoticon)

 

ad 5:

 

copytext: levi’s 501: UNDEFEATED

 

and now for the outdoor ad,

 

 

this one’s photoshopped by claire, who did a fab job! emoticon  she even went to purchase the denim image from gettyimages. hardcore huh?

 

we actually have one more outdoor ad. unfortunately, i deleted it by accident.

oh well, it’s an adaptation from the archaeologist ad, where the escalator crowns by the side of escalators ( you know the tiny glass frames?) will be filled with sand, and in it, we’ll bury a minature pair of levi’s 501 jeans, together with man-made dino fossils.

so essentially, the message is similar to that of the archaeologist ad’s.

 

this is the sales promo ad, a pretty simple one.

 

 

 

and that’s it!

 

- - - - - - - -

 

in other news, i got posted to bates singapore for my attachment!

 

it’s an advertising company, pretty well-known.
in fact, the heineken ads are all done by them.

 

i didn’t get into today btw, reason’s undisclosed.

ms. zalina said i didn’t fail the written test though, and that it was probably cause my writing style wasn’t what they were looking for.

 

oh well!

 

i’m happy with bates though, cause after the advertising module, i actually feel confident that i’ll be able to do a good job.

 

emoticon

 

 

- - - - - -

i also got back with the ex-ex boyfriend. (the term’s coined by daniel)

so coming 27th, it’ll be our 24th month together! 

 

uh huh, we decided to carry on with the monthly anniversary from where we left off cause we’re too lazy to restart the count. emoticon 

 

- - - - - -

 

according to joanne, world war III nearly broke out today.

i shan’t mention names, but you should know who you are, especially since i know you read this.

 

(people who are interested to know, can pm me. :D )

 

i don’t see why you’re so upset when all we said (or rather, wrote) on the peer evaluation sheets was the truth.

you didn’t do work, admit it, and get over the marking down already.

 

period. 

 

there’s no need for personal insults of any sort.

 

"you failed the test. you’re never gonna be a journalist, you hypocritical bitch".

 

first, i wasn’t being hypocritical.

i talked to you as per normal, cause whatever’s on the peer evaluation’s over and done with. work is work, and i wasn’t going to let it get in the way if we need to communicate. 

 

second, i didn’t fail the test.

 

third, i am going to be a journalist, a bloody good one at that, and make you eat your words.

 

so watch that trap of yours.

 

and in case you didn’t know, yes, my nick was directed at you.

 

"that’s what the losers all say’.

 

uh huh. you.

 

 

- - - - -

 

anyway, people! tell me what your views are regarding our print ads okay!

whether you understand the message behind them, whether the photoshopping is well-done etc . feedback, good or bad, is appreciated.  

 

emoticon

 

and oh, happy cny!