10 years down the road…

Since I am living in Singapore where the government is well known for its visionary plan for the country development status for at least 10 years ahead, I shall attempt to do likewise to vision my life 10 years later.

At the age 0f 31, I hope that I have settled down in life in the sense that I should be pondering over family planning issues. That would mean that it is hoped that I should have a wife then and my career is on its peak. Most importantly, it is envisaged that my wife could be the one who could understand me (well, I must do likewise in return as well) and put priority over family over career at that stage of life. I am not trying to be sexist here. I do not mean that my wife should cast aside her job just because of marriage. I am just trying to say that I hope that my wife (if I have) is not too career minded till the point that procreation plans are being cast aside. To be frank, procreation plans should be executed promptly especially at my age. If not, it is not healthy for her to bear more child at a later age. The reason is simple. I do not think I would be getting a wife more than 2 years younger than me or older than me. Well, I would not disclose the number of sons and daughters that I really want here. This shall be determined by both of us as I believe the might of the market forces (demand by me and supply by her). In any case, I really hope that my wife would not work once we have children as I have been seeing too much articles showing the unfair treatment for pregnant woman by employers. In order to avoid such hassle, I hope that she would stay at home to take care of the children while I would be the breadwinner. Well, it is easy to be said than done.  Thus, I shall resolve this issue when I have managed to find Mrs Tan.

Most critically, I wrote this entry as there is a sudden flash of thought of bringing my future children (if I have) to TTC members’ houses during Chinese New Year.  I kept laughing when I have thought of Derrick, Kevin have set up a family. Best of all, I have to teach my children to address them as Uncle Derrick and Uncle Kevin respectively. It would indeed a joyous moment if we compare ourselves now (the youth life) and 10 years later (the adult life) and began to blabber our nostagic moments in TTC. In short, I could not describe the picture  in words that is painted in my mind 10 years later. Yet, the smirk continues to persist. 😀

In any case, I wish all my family members, friends and colleagues a blessed new year ahead as I do not think I would have the chance to blog tomorrow.

Protected: My flaw

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My love will get you home

Well, the question is does it even exist?

If you wander off too far, my love will get you home.
If you follow the wrong star, my love will get you home.
If you ever find yourself, lost and all alone,
get back on your feet and think of me, my love will get you home,
boy, my love will get you home.

If the bright lights blind your eyes, my love will get you home.
If your troubles break your stride, my love will get you home.
If you ever find yourself, lost and all alone,
get back on your feet and think of me, my love will get you home,
boy, my love will get you home.

If you ever feel ashamed, my love will get you home.
When there’s only you to blame, my love will get you home.
If you ever find yourself, lost and all alone,
get back on your feet and think of me, my love will get you home,
boy, my love will get you home.

If you ever find yourself, lost and all alone,
get back on your feet and think of me, my love will get you home,
boy, my love will get you home,
boy, my love will get you home.

Source: http://www.sweetslyrics.com/464599.Christine%20Glass%20-%20My%20Love%20Will%20Get%20You%20Home%20Lyrics.html

Protected: 爱太痛

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What linguistics have taught me…

For the past 2 weeks, I have been asking myself what I have REALLY gained for taking 5 modules in my first semester of my university course. I realise that I have acquired more knowledge on linguistics despite the fact that I used to struggle the most initially. Best of all, I even have thoughts of withdrawing this course at the initial phase as I doubted myself that I could score well in this module.  Thus, this has become an indelible experience for me till the point that I have began to apply linguistics tools in my daily life. For instance, I began to ask myself if ‘midorimushi’ in Japanese (a green bug) is a headed or headless compound (as I feel that it should be spelt as two words rather than one) while I was reading an newspaper article lately. I have even asked myself why impossible is not spelt as inpossible which could be explained using phonology and morphology. For the latter question, I would no longer accept answers from my friends (especially in my secondary school days) that it is more sensible or logical to spell impossible as impossible and neither inpossible nor ilpossible. Best of all, I have realised the word ‘minute’ is a homograph where minute could exist as a noun (i.e. 1 minute) or adjective (minute creature). For the latter form, I have always been unable to use it as its adjective even though I have been hearing its use in everyday speech. That explains why I felt defeated when I asked one of my friends during project discussion on how to spell minute (i.e. minute object).  It is indeed a joke of the day, isn’t it? In addition, I realise that I do not have a strong grasp of my secondary school English. That is, it is the linguistics course that makes me realise that homographs exists as a noun when there is a stressed syllable at the front of the word – the homograph while it exists as a verb where there is a stressed syllable at the back of the word. Thus, I hope that it is not too late to realise this fact.

In short, I have a puzzle for this blog entry as I have heard from people that it could be explained using semantics (though I am sure if my answers that I have in mind is right or not). That is,  “I was born before my father. I killed my mother. I married to my sister and yet I am a bachelor.” Regardless of that, have fun unravelling the quest.  🙂

Protected: Challenging the conventions

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Post exam symptoms

CAUTION: This is going to be a ranting post for me again. Thus, please pardon me if you feel uncomfortable reading it.

For the past few days after the final exam, my mind keeps constantly reminding me about the essays that I have written during my final exam especially the GEO paper. It is one of the substandard essays that I have ever written as I am simply smoking out the points for the physical geo component and the points that were written were not well thought though I attempted to address the question requirements. In fact, the points were being smattered based on my spontaneous reactions when I saw the question. Thus, I hope that my instinct could allow me to escape my way out for this module.  To be frank, I knew such incident would happen even before the preparation stage for that exam. The reason is simple. I have tried my best to study for that module. Yet, I could not etched any single physical geography theory onto my mind even though I have attempted to fulfill selective physical geo readings way before the exam week (but I must admit I did not fulfill the reading weekly – i.e. in accordance to lecture pace) . I have even resorted to believe to one of my friends words. That is, there are certain knowledge which is beyond your reach as you are not fated to understand them. In view of this, I felt that I was deeply wrong when one of my course mates told me that he went to get hold of the A level geo textbook to unravel the answers to seeming intractable questions for physical geo. As a result, he has clarified the daunting concepts without going through the complex readings which many people could not comprehend anything despite performing the compulsory reading allocated to us. (Well, I did some of the readings for physical geo.) At that juncture, I felt that I was indeed foolhardy as I have lost my dominant strategy (i.e. to source for substitutes) which I used to have when I was a O or A level student. Furthermore, I am indeed convinced that I am indeed adamant in my viewpoint in that all the allocated readings will always help even though it may not be tested in exam directly. Thus, I really hope that I will not repent on such blunder (it may be a strong word in such context but it is a grieving mistake for me) in further semesters.

Worst of all, I have been seeing solutions to one of my geo exam questions via recent newspaper reports after the end of exams. Thus, I was indeed upset for my inability to write solid points raised in the newspaper reports for the question in my exam. (That is, Singapore is vulnerable to global warming as it leads to rising sea levels, dwindling crop yield, possibility of water conflict due to water conflict  by water stress countries, irreversible environmental damage such as forest fires, desertification, conflicts with other goals such as economic growth, social stability)  I knew that it is t0o late to fret over it since I have already lost my comparative advantage to begin with. Yet, I really hope that these points (as listed above) will be useful for future use (i.e. projects), etc. Most importantly, I must practise in writing essay outlines for past years questions even though the questions would definitely be different from the exam questions that I am given.

3 months have passed, what have I gained?

Finally, my final exams for the 1st semester has ended. It has indeed brought me a great relief after tasted the life of being a university student for the past 3 months.

It has been a great transformation for me as the university lecture-tutorial system is a great disparity as compared to the junior college tutorial system. Most importantly, there is no benchmark on the grade that you could obtain (i.e. 75 marks for A1). The fate of my grade is dependent on the bell curve which is a statistical model that assumes everyone is rational (in line with Adam Smith’s invisible hand concept).  This is indeed a scary system which elicit the rising competition among those competitors (which is a rational move for the image of the university). Yet, this leads to more people becoming self-centered. Some of the students that I have met have even resorted to conceal facts in hope that they would have dominant strategy in the exam while some of the students have even go into the extent of unwilling to help you (though you know that they knew their stuff) when you are lost in certain chapters.  This brings to my point on the purpose of education. Isn’t education meant to promote the sharing of knowledge? If not, all the various field experts should conceal their facts and act as a permanent monopoly towards their ideas. If that is the case, they would not be a further discovery of knowledge, isn’t it? 

In addition, I have began to discover the wide discrepancy in standard in the final exam as opposed to materials taught in lecture. Some of the lecturers have deliberately set the paper outrageously difficult and expect us to be able to apply our concepts that we have learnt within 3 months and apply to the case that we have no exposure within minutes.  For instance, one of the modules that I have taken have given 40 MCQ  (no mere testing of concepts but application + calculation) in exam which we need to complete within 60 minutes. This leads me to ponder if the exams are meant to test the speed of answering of questions (i.e. 1.5 min per mark) or testing the concepts of students. Worst of all, lecturers could even accuse you for not attending lecturers when you have underperformed even though you have been attending all the lectures diligently every week.    If they feel that they are testing concepts (i.e. the amount of knowledge that is being grasped), they should not have deployed time as a factor to be examined. If not, they should not associate the students’ attendance for lecture with the grade since there are many factors that are being examined in the exam questions.

Last but not least, I was too ambitious in wanting to juggle between part time work and school work. As a result, I feel drained out trying to balance between the two. This is compounded from the fact that the deadlines for projects are in close proximity across various modules, excessive readings to catch up (Once you lag behind one reading, it is hard to catch up as more stuff awaits you.)  Best of all, I realise that I have problems in remembering facts within short time. Thus, that explains why I could not write a good essay for my exams as solid prepared points could not be recalled especially when I need it in the time-constraint exams. In short, there is a lot of flaws that I need to address for the next semester. One of the move is that I am cutting down excessively on giving tuition. I hope that it is the best trade off in order to reap the maximum benefits (that is, my grades).

In conclusion, the first semester is a critical learning point for me which I should not repent although it is meant to adjust me to the hectic university life. 🙂