Finally completed Radio, the last project for the semester. That pretty much ends year 1 in poly, excluding the last Sociology lesson on Wednesday.

Time is running really fast these days.

Job interview tomorrow.

Is a catapult better than a tank?

"Whatever u give a woman, she will make it greater. Give her sperm, she will give u a baby. Give her a house, she will give u a home. Give her groceries, she will give u a meal. Give her a smile n she will give u her heart. She multiplies and enlarges what she is given. So if u give her crap, be ready to receive a ton of shit..."

Saw this on a couple of friends' facebook statuses. The feminists won't like it too much.

Screwed up final presentation for Sociology for Wednesday. Verbal instructions given by tutor wasn't followed + not written in assignment sheet nor marking scheme + tutor was in bad mood + half the class didn't get the instructions as well = hell.

Final speech tomorrow. Not a very good start due to some misinformation (which is still going on). Hope it ends well though.

And after tomorrow, only Radio remains. A whole week just to edit the show. Awesome.

Procrastination, I win this round.

And its the "last" week of school. Well, actually second last week, but most of the projects (except one) are due this week. Besides, I don't see a point in attending lectures/lessons after the final projects have been submitted.

Sociology presentation on Wednesday. I'm worry that there isn't enough content to present in the time given (12 minutes with penalty for exceeding), yet I'm always exceed on content. Guess that being over-prepared isn't always that good.

Final speech on Friday. There isn't much to do for preparation here...or maybe because I have been scoring average grades for this module, I don't give too much of a damn. Either way, my group members in this project seem to be very agreeing in discussions. Groupthink? Who cares. It's slack, and I like it that way.

Radio submission next week. Haven't done much besides deciding on the topic and drafting out the structure of the show (no actual details filled in). Group member for this project seems to be very busy (presumedly on other assignments). I hope I can submit this project by this week so I can have next week "off" - getting my mind to stop thinking about MCM, NP, and projects all the time.

Been "attending" sociology lectures by the University of Berkeley. The university has an open policy to its education ("education for all?"), publishing vodcasts and podcasts of all its lectures. I have no idea why I'm so interested in sociology though.

Regarding the upcoming holidays: I need to earn some money, probably for driving license / camera upgrade and whatever else there is, so I've been looking for a job. Think I might have found one...we'll see.

This week was pretty busy with thoughts, but quite free in reality. So many things (and so little time) to do for group projects, but impossible to start because people are still rushing through their individual assignments.

I thought completing my individual assignments first would provide some buffer time to rest while waiting for others to finish their work, but it's not working. I hope I'm not turning into a workaholic.

Met with XJ, KW (and his gf) on Friday for some catching up. There was nothing to catch up though, and the two of them basically spent the entire time talking about army things. Can't blame them and their mundane lives anyway. I hope I don't become like that when it's my turn. Speaking of which, I have to register for NS next month. I'm guessing most people my age has already done so anyway, since my birthday's late.

Today was supposedly radio project meeting day, but it got canceled last minute so I managed to get some extra sleep (5 hours' extra, in fact) and woke up at 2.30pm. Went for SYD photoshoot session, didn't take much photos as I was merely helping out/mentoring the other guys. The photo above is probably the only "fruitful" gain from the session.

Clearing another two modules tomorrow (hopefully with at least B for each), and a last one next week (would prefer earlier if possible).

I need a job for my holidays. Not that the current one is bad, but its near impossible to do as a full-time temp job. Really envy my bosses for being able to survive 7 hours of work without break everyday. I've already send out about 10 email applications to jobscentral via NP, and called up a few companies. Nothing.

Argh.

Played a game of laser tag with Weijin + Ian and company on Saturday. Awesome game, if not for some weird drunk people fighting/arguing in the forest and blowing my sniper cover (I was on a killing spree!).

Completed quite a number of assignments last and this week, and only have a few left due next week:

- Essay completion
- Group speech
- Sociology presentation

and one assignment due the week after:

- Radio show

all the assignments are group-based except for the essay, which means either the following will happen:

I. "Breakup"
   A. Group members work on individual assignments halfway
   B. Group members realise group assignment is due much earlier than expected
   C. Group members change priority and start rushing out group assignment
   D. Group ends up with substandard submission

II. "Followup"
   A. Group members work on individual assignments
   B. Group members realise group assignment is due in a few days' time right after completion of their individual assignments.
   C. Group members start rushing out group assignment
   D. Group ends up with substandard submission

III. "Giveup"
   A. Group members give up
   B. Group ends up with substandard submission

IV. "Can'tbebothered"
   A. Group members en

The good news is that I've chalked up some "above average" marks for the time being, so if the group projects happen to pull my marks down, it'll get dragged to "average" at most.

But then again, there goes my director's list goals.

Conclusion: Working by a schedule does not work in polytechnics.

Writing test went incredibly well today. Finished in 20 minutes out of the 2 hours given. Pretty average score though: 89%. It's just 10% of the total grade anyway (which is less than 1% of my graduating grade), so it doesn't really matter.

Japanese test went sort of well too. Had to rely on memory from previous quizzes (thank goodness for weekly spelling tests!) and short term memory for terms I didn't manage to memorise at all. As far as I know (or calculate/predict), I didn't get any answers wrong. Next week's speaking test, aka "oral examination" as in PSLE / GCE. Paired up with a person whom I have no method of contact to (although our tutor advised us to practice with each other before the test), but I guess I'm not the disadvantaged one here (sorry for the heartless speck of reality).

Essay outline due tomorrow is pretty much done, although I still have problems churning out the conclusion. I hate concluding essays. But it's 4% of the module after all, which, again, doesn't really matter (refer to first paragraph for reason).

Since "reusing" of group members wasn't allowed for final radio assignment, I paired up with another classmate whom I've worked with before. Hoping that the assignment can be submitted next week (so I can work on other things which are more important), which isn't really a rush if the classmate I paired with can complete her assignments for other modules in time.

And a reminder to self: Work one less shift at work this month so I won't "earn too much" and have to pay CPF. Its ironic how CPF can motivate one to work less. But I guess its a good way to moderate my own workloads so I don't turn into a sad workaholic (on top of earning the titles of internet addict and alcoholic).

Is my frequency of blog posts related to my stress levels? Hmm.

Donate to Haiti through UNICEF!

You'll need a debit / credit card. Any amount is appreciated, even a dollar (I donated $5).

In other news, this week will be a busy one:
- Writing test tomorrow in lecture.
- Japanese exam tomorrow.
- Essay outline due Wednesday.
- Prepare slides for IS (thank goodness for co-operative group members) by Thursday.
- Reading & phonetics test on Friday.

That''s an event a day. Wow.

The iconic "Tank Man" photo taken during the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown and banned in China was available on Google.cn Wednesday, hours after the online giant vowed to defy Chinese Internet censors.
- via CNA

Gone were the days where we were little kids and had the thoughts that people could ignore differences and come together peacefully.

I wonder...

Cleared another 2 assignments today:

Radio assignment #4. Finished this surprisingly fast (less than 5 hours' worth of work time in total), and surprisingly effective too. Probably because we had everything planned out before we hit the recording rooms. Didn't even had to book any workstations / equipments.

Contemporary Issues assignment #2. The presentation turned out better than expected, although we could have done somewhat better. A group member had to quit school yesterday, so presentation parts had to be reallocated (which is a headache, since the slides were crafted with 4 presenters in mind).

Speaking of the classmate who quit school (and supposedly went back to JC), she really left quite an amount of mess behind (not that I blame her of it, the timing was not within any of our control). 3 assignments of mine across 2 modules were affected, and I had to send out 4 emails in total to lecturers, other group members and seniors.

If this is really semester 1.2, I wonder what 2.1 will be like. Starting to worry already.

Returned to secondary school to collect my "O"s certificate and testimonials today. I asked the admin staff why we weren't notified about collection, and I was told that it was "the responsibility of your tertiary institution to inform you regarding the collection of these documents". So there's some blame pushing over here. What happens if a student decides to stop schooling completely? He/she will never, and I mean, NEVER, get their (ugly, green) laminated certificate. The staff also said that it was impossible to "contact everyone to inform them that the documents were ready". By this, I suppose that our contact details are completely wiped out from the school system once we graduate?

And I seem to not be the only one who's collecting the documents at such a late time (even the results for last year's exams have been released). When I signed the form, I noticed that a whole bunch of people have not collected their certificates too. I wonder when they will realise.

Came across this print in a photo album while I was clearing my (half of the) room. I believe it was taken in 2005 with my Nikon Coolpix 3100. I don't think I have this photo in digital anymore (my oldest archives are from 2007), so I had no choice but to scan in the 4R print through my cheap AIO HP machine.

Can't seem to remember where exactly I was when I shot this photo. But it did made me realise how much better the sunsets were 5 years ago. And that statement is a fact, not an opinion, having chased 20-odd sunsets in 2009. This photo wasn't post processed either, which means the red is for real.

Wish I had a higher resolution version of this photo, nevermind the handshake and under-sharpening.